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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
At Least 25 Die in Nuevo Leon in Shootout
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
6 00:00 no mo uro [5] 
0 [5] 
13 00:00 Frank G [9] 
2 00:00 trailing wife [5] 
5 00:00 Bright Pebbles [5] 
11 00:00 DMFD [4] 
4 00:00 anon1 [6] 
6 00:00 Bright Pebbles [3] 
1 00:00 mojo [6] 
2 00:00 anon1 [5] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
1 00:00 DarthVader [12]
6 00:00 Hupusosing Bucket8370 [10]
14 00:00 Mullah Richard [10]
1 00:00 Mike Ramsey [7]
0 [7]
5 00:00 mojo [6]
7 00:00 borgboy [5]
0 [10]
3 00:00 Frank G [11]
0 [9]
9 00:00 anon1 [9]
1 00:00 mojo [5]
0 [6]
0 [6]
2 00:00 Frank G [9]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [11]
1 00:00 airandee [7]
Page 2: WoT Background
17 00:00 Besoeker [5]
3 00:00 rammer [7]
2 00:00 Mike Hunt [10]
4 00:00 Spatch Speaking for Boskone8774 [8]
3 00:00 Canuckistan sniper [5]
0 [9]
6 00:00 Rob Crawford [7]
1 00:00 anon1 [6]
4 00:00 trailing wife [5]
1 00:00 Jeremiah Flainter9609 [5]
0 [5]
1 00:00 DepotGuy [5]
1 00:00 Frank G [9]
5 00:00 Rob Crawford [8]
Page 4: Opinion
9 00:00 Frank G [8]
1 00:00 JohnQC [5]
1 00:00 DarthVader [6]
0 [5]
5 00:00 trailing wife [10]
2 00:00 Sleque Barnsmell1141 [5]
5 00:00 flash91 [4]
5 00:00 Entertaining Prose [6]
Page 6: Politix
11 00:00 Entertaining Prose [7]
4 00:00 James Carville/Karl Rove [5]
1 00:00 JohnQC [5]
5 00:00 Procopius2k [5]
37 00:00 OldSpook [7]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Underwear-wearing man severely beaten in heinous Wiffle bat attack
A Pennsylvania resident wearing only his underwear received a severe beating with a Wiffle bat after he declined to clothe himself.

The man, identified as Donald Fehr, suffered a number of severe injuries including a broken jaw, a fractured skull and several broken teeth in the beating.

Bethlehem police indicated in reports that Fehr was sitting on his porch wearing only his underwear when he was approached by three men, one of which, a 19-year-old named Hector Morales, Jr., asked the man to “stop being disrespectful” and to put on some clothing because his girlfriend would be arriving shortly.

When Fehr declined the invitation to put on proper attire, Morales allegedly began beating the man with a Wiffle bat and subsequently with his own fists after the bat broke.

For his role in this heinous Wiffle bat attack, Morales was charged with aggravated assault and a number of other related offenses and is currently being held in Berks Country Prison on unrelated charges, according to the Associated Press.
"Assault with Intent to Wiffle"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2010 13:19 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He wiffed it.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/02/2010 13:35 Comments || Top||

#2  a broken jaw, a fractured skull and several broken teeth

That's pretty impressive Wiffle battery. Sign him up.
Posted by: regular joe || 09/02/2010 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The "heinous" scene from Kentucky Fried Movie (slightly NSFW)
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2010 15:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Soon to be drafted by the 'Nats.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/02/2010 16:32 Comments || Top||

#5  "Take me to the drive in and prove you love me!"

Thanks for the link and the chuckle, 'moose. One of the better and funnier moments from the '70's, that movie.
Posted by: no mo uro || 09/02/2010 18:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, when Wiffle ball bats first came out, they were made of wood:

http://www.wiffleballusa.com/history.html

That would leave a mark.
Posted by: no mo uro || 09/02/2010 18:05 Comments || Top||


Milsatcom Pirate Busted Here in the US
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 09:21 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The FCC letter may be viewed here.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/02/2010 12:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Would someone please translate all that? I'm not sure what's lurid about a pirate radio station.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 15:18 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China 'Has More Warships than U.S.'
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 09:44 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Amount of warships is not really a good measure. More important is tonnage, and most important is how many of them can get underway, stay at sea for over a week, and effectively shoot their weapons.
Posted by: Penguin || 09/02/2010 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  China 'Has More targets than U.S.'

Fixed that headline for you.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 09/02/2010 10:26 Comments || Top||

#3  the big worry is aircraft carriers

we should be afraid when they get too many aircraft carriers. because then they can launch bombing raids.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 10:48 Comments || Top||

#4  and bye the way, they are testing their new fleet all over the Indian Ocean, in the Gulf of Aden patrolling for piracy. They are mean, new looking beasts as well. I wouldn't want to come up against them.

But still, I am more worried about their silent subs and the possibility they may have aircraft carriers.

They are aggressive and expansionist, they have a wounded sense of entitlement, they think the West is holding them back.... like Germany...circa 1938.

They want the "String of Pearls" a series of army bases through the pacific/indian ocean to guard the trade route through to Europe. Down Under, we are the ones to be scared.

They have lain in wait among us, seeded us with spies... we couldn't rid ourselves of Chinese agents even if we wanted to. They like that we are the listening post for the US in the Pacific and they have white-anted us.

They have probed our northern borders, mapped our shores. War is coming eventually I can smell it.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Oops that should read "navy bases" they want a string of pearls of navy bases... and they are getting them. Guarding the sea lanes of transit China to Europe
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 10:53 Comments || Top||

#6  China 'Has More Warships than U.S.'

So does Toys R Us, but I bet China's are better.

Still, compared with the USN . . .
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 09/02/2010 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Are they counting "Zodiac Patrol Craft" the way Iraq did?

I'm still wondering just what the hell the A-6 in a news report back in the first Gulf War dropped on one of those "Zodiac Patrol Craft" to destroy it. A-6's don't have guns so it had to drop some kind of bomb.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 09/02/2010 12:08 Comments || Top||

#8  "A-6's don't have guns so it had to drop some kind of bomb."

While with VA-155 we dropped all sorts of ordnance; my guess is that it was a Rockeye. Cannister opens up and a veritable overcast of 'bomblets' are dispensed. Firing mechanism can discriminate between hard (tanks,trucks) and soft (zodiacs, people) targets. Much fun to watch, not so much to receive.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/02/2010 14:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Breakdown of forces:

USN:
433,500 personnel
289 ships
3,700+ aircraft
Breakdown of ships:
11 Aircraft carriers
10 Amphibious assault ships
9 Amphibious transport docks
12 Dock landing ships
22 Cruisers
55 Destroyers
30 Frigates
71 Submarines

China:
* Strength: 255,000

Surface Force

* Destroyer: 26
* Frigate: 49
* Large landing Ship: 27
* Medium landing Ship: 31
* Fast attack craft: 200+

Submarine Force

* SSBN: 3
* SSN: 5~7
* SSK: 56

Naval Aviation

* Manpower: 26,000
* Aircraft: 400~500


I'd say they're counting fast attack vessels
Wiki has a further breakdown of their vessels:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army_Navy

Short answer is they're counting nearly 960 gunboats, missile boats, landing craft, and mine warfare vessels, which are basically for the most part considered a "green water" fleet element.
Posted by: Valentine || 09/02/2010 19:27 Comments || Top||

#10  thanks valentine, very informative
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 20:42 Comments || Top||

#11  The other thing that China does not have, that the USN does, is lots of experience with a blue water navy. We have been doing unreps - underway replenishments - for many years. We have it down to a science. With enough support ships, our warships can stay at sea until the crews break down.

As for carriers, a carrier by itself is useless. You need a surrounding battle group to protect it. You need lots of experience with launching and recovering aircraft in all kinds of conditions. You need to know how to do the command and control for all the ships in the battle group. Again, the US has that experience, and China doesn't.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 09/02/2010 22:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Interesting, Rambler.... but the Chinese are fast learners don't forget

and they are rich
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 22:32 Comments || Top||

#13  the fast learners are the dead ones. The politically correct ones will be the second round of dead ones
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2010 22:56 Comments || Top||


Economy
Fed spending rose a record 16% in 2009
Federal domestic spending increased a record 16 percent to $3.2 trillion in 2009, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, largely because of a boost in aid to the unemployed and the huge economic stimulus package enacted to rescue the sinking economy.
...and a fine job it did on that.
The rise in spending was the largest since the Census Bureau began compiling the data in 1983. The Washington DC region was among the biggest beneficiaries of the government's spending.
Johnson! Stop the presses!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Govt funds increased spending by issuing bonds.

Bonds bought in turn by:
the Federal Reserve Bank (a private entity)
China
Japan

The borrower is slave to the lender. If the lender refuses to buy more bonds the US G won't be able to pay its workers, military, etc.

Interest rates would soar.

Economists are now speculating there is a bubble forming in US Bonds as buyers distrustful of stocks pile in for negative real interest rates.

It is a big threat.

If the bond bubble busts, interest rates rise. Kiss goodbye to what is left of the housing market...
It won't though as China and Japan will keep buying to artificially repress the Yuan and Yen.

But China does have the US by the balls.

If I were able to rule the US for a day I could fix your woes by:

1) Withdrawing all funding for the UN. Can't afford it, sorry, broke.
2) Withdrawing all foreign aid
3) bringing the troops home from afpak, iraq

Next step: pay off all debt, get budget to surplus, issue no more debt.

Then when China no longer has the US G by the purse strings it will be time to talk about the unfair subsidy that is the artificially low yen. Tarrifs then on CHinese-made goods until they float.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 3:27 Comments || Top||

#2 

4) Restrict and eventually end imports from mainland China.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/02/2010 3:54 Comments || Top||

#3  ahh Besoeker, after mine own heart.

Let us not forget the Chinese "miracle" is built on the back of UNFAIR trade practices namely the artificial suppression of the yuan.

A low Yuan is a subsidy for Chinese exporters.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 9:36 Comments || Top||

#4  When you owe the bank a billion dollars you have a problem (well, you used to.)
When you owe the bank a trillion dollars the bank has a problem.
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/02/2010 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  When the bank has a big enough problem then suddenly the taxpayer has that same problem and the bank no longer has it.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 09/02/2010 12:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Yep, The trade was unfair to the CHINESE.

I cannot believe how silly they were. The Chinese worked for low wages to produce goods in exchange for bits of paper with IOUs on hot off the photocopier.

Daft.

The only thing dafter was the West using Chinese beneficial deflation to expand the size of the state.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/02/2010 18:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Polls say Dems in Meltdown
Such is the scale of the expected losses that analysts are already focused on how Mr Obama can turn Republican domination to his advantage in his 2012 re-election race.
Stall for two years, plame it on the Pubs. Who needs focus?
Washington is awash with speculation on whether the Republicans will over-reach as Mr Gingrich did in 1995 when Bill Clinton won a stand-off that had resulted in the shutdown of government.
One poll says 51 seats in the House.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/02/2010 06:23 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a counter to: " Democrats whom would vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican.";
I offer: "I'd vote for an Orange Orangutan rather than a Democrat."
Posted by: Zebulon Threremble2404 || 09/02/2010 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "I'd vote for an Orange Orangutan rather than a Democrat."

Does that make you a racist??
Posted by: armyguy || 09/02/2010 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  "An orange orang"?

Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2010 9:09 Comments || Top||

#4  Oren orang - Orange person in malay
Posted by: phil_b || 09/02/2010 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  The donks have done it to themselves (and us).
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/02/2010 10:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, paint me surprised. I was never on board hope and changy, but after the election, the dude is my president, and if he is successful, we all are.
I didn't expect his presidency to be THIS BAD. It's like a failed Mars probe, pile-driving into the ground.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 09/02/2010 10:34 Comments || Top||

#7  The “Taking it to the Streets” race-baiting scheme didn’t create much momentum. And the “Blame Bush and the Pubs” rhetoric is increasingly sounding petty. It appears like the Dem’s are down to their last power play – class warfare. It’s time to cash in on their Union investments. Get ready for the constant drone of Fat Cat vs. Wage earner.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 09/02/2010 12:19 Comments || Top||

#8 
I offer: "I'd vote for an Orange Orangutan rather than a Democrat."

I'd support the Librarian from the Unseen University.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/02/2010 12:52 Comments || Top||

#9  It's possible BHO and fellow travelers might come up with some September or October surprise to try to get their ratings up.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/02/2010 16:22 Comments || Top||

#10  I didn't expect his presidency to be THIS BAD. I thought it would be worse than it has been so far.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/02/2010 16:36 Comments || Top||

#11  I'd support the Librarian from the Unseen University

Mega-ooks
Posted by: DMFD || 09/02/2010 19:57 Comments || Top||


Judge rules against guvmint on oil drilling ban
Judge tosses the lawsuit brought by Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc and others on June 7th. The original was tossed in New Orleans on June 22nd. The B.O. regime changed a bit of the language and kept the net effect, requesting dismissal of the suit since the new ban overrode the original. Judge Martin Feldman points out that the new attempt to murder jobs contains "no substantial changes" from the original. Hornbeck suit goes forward.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Which part of 'No' was unclear? The N or the O?"
Posted by: mojo || 09/02/2010 16:41 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Peace talks to fail in just a few days
Posted by: The Telegraph || 09/02/2010 03:30 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems like Hamas is not wanting the peace talks to succeed.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/02/2010 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Fair enough, since the Palestinian side is only there to see how much pressure President Obama will exert on the Israelis.

But once that's over, can we please ignore the issue completely, at least until the Palestinians understand they aren't going to win, and choose to bargain in good faith?
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 10:25 Comments || Top||

#3  thanks fred...

fred fixed this link for me, i screwed it up first time.

Personally i don't see the point to any peace talks. Hamas executed some Israeli settlers, civilians. SO , time for war. Just crush Hamas, take back their territory and send the remnants to Jordan.

everyone don't forget to donate to Fred to fight the evil people trying to crush free speech by suing rantburg
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 11:18 Comments || Top||

#4  yes, tw and jqc that is insightful and true, both your points!

but i wish that we would let hamas succeed and just have another war but properly crush and defeat them this time. Take their territory, re-educate their children as well.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 11:20 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Public stoning. Note the all male audience and cell phone cams. VERY graphic.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We should have absolutely nothing to do with a society, culture, or religion which practices such utter barbarism. These monsters and their ilk would be a stench to the most paleolithic of civilizations. Our continued succor and collaboration with these vermin is well beyond my comprehension.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/02/2010 3:51 Comments || Top||

#2  so who are the Yazidis then?

They are Kurds

wikipedia says: their beliefs are a mix of Sufi Islam and local Kurdish beliefs.

Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 4:01 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Wikipedia Editing: A Tool for Hating (Zionists)
Posted by: miscellaenous || 09/02/2010 11:45 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Telepathic gorilla group disown James Lee
Posted by: tipper || 09/02/2010 06:32 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, wouldn't want to seem peculiar in any regard. Not that that stopped you from writing a book about a telepathic gorilla demanding radical social change...
Posted by: American Delight || 09/02/2010 7:22 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Loved the headline at instapundit that said "Hostage Taker Demands Population Reduction; Gets It."

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/02/2010 8:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Like many enviro-weenies, Quinn's argument that a return to a more tribalistic, hunter-gatherer way of life is the answer to the ills of globalization, he's got it totally wrong. Unless of course he wants to give up all the comforts of globalization, such as cheap energy, etc. He and his cohorts would do well to read Matt Ridley's latest, The Rational Optimist. It is one of the better and more persuasive arguments laying out clearly and with strong historical and empirical evidence the benefits of small government, free enterprise, free and fair trade, and the division and specialization of labor. I highly recommend it.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 09/02/2010 9:02 Comments || Top||

#4  An anti-globalization regression to self-sustainability (i.e. growing your own food, living off the grid, etc.), while tempting in many ways to some, will only delay prosperity and exacerbate misery for the masses. If history is any indication, our best hope is to encourage and promote innovation, entrepreneurship, free enterprise, free trade, specialization, and perhaps most important of all, SMALL GOVERNMENT, etc. as doing so gives humanity the best chance of living a prosperous and relatively peaceful existence.

In other words, the best defense against humanity's challenges is a good offense.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 09/02/2010 9:22 Comments || Top||

#5  The soviet union is not a good example of Environmental Care.

Why? Environmentalism is a luxury good, that wealth destroying Marxism cannot afford.

Forced non-reciprocation would be even more wealth destroying and thus ecologically damaging.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/02/2010 18:36 Comments || Top||



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

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

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

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2010-09-02
  At Least 25 Die in Nuevo Leon in Shootout
Wed 2010-09-01
  Gunman Holds 1 Hostage in Maryland
Tue 2010-08-31
  Molotov Cocktails Thrown: At Least 8 Killed In Cancun Bar Attack
Mon 2010-08-30
  Iran media brands Sarkozy's wife as 'prostitute'
Sun 2010-08-29
  Series of US drone attacks in Pakistan, at least six killed
Sat 2010-08-28
  Yemen officials, Houthis reach peace deal in Qatar
Fri 2010-08-27
  10 Tonnes of Bomb Chemicals found in E. Afghanistan
Thu 2010-08-26
  56 killed, 250 injured in string of Iraq attacks
Wed 2010-08-25
  Reports: 3 killed in Beirut clashes
Tue 2010-08-24
  MPs slain as Somali gunmen storm hotel
Mon 2010-08-23
  Israel says Iranian reactor use 'totally unacceptable'
Sun 2010-08-22
  Six turbans dronezapped
Sat 2010-08-21
  Russians Flatline Mastermind of Moscow Subway Attack
Fri 2010-08-20
  Blast in China's Xinjiang kills 7
Thu 2010-08-19
  Goodbye Iraq: Last US combat brigade heads for home


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