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Pakistan denies Indian president's request to use its airspace for overflight
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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1 19:49 USN, Ret. [9] 
8 21:00 ruprecht [10] 
2 14:44 trailing wife [4] 
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17 21:02 ruprecht [10] 
3 21:19 Regular joe [4] 
1 09:34 Omorong Black8889 [3] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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1 05:10 g(r)omgoru PB [6]
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6 22:29 Elmerert Hupens2660 [10]
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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10 14:43 Lumpy Gletle1053 [7]
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4 15:29 Lumpy Gletle1053 [9]
5 21:14 Bill Borgia6417 [10]
4 19:13 M. Murcek [8]
3 09:30 Omorong Black8889 [3]
10 17:42 Seeking Cure For Ignorance [6]
1 04:50 magpie [7]
-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Possible Arctic Oil
[Twitter-Stratfor]
Posted by: 3dc || 09/08/2019 13:42 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "..And this, Dear Kamalalaladingdong, is why there needs to be so many ice breakers in the artic (well that, and the fact that that is where the ice is)."
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/08/2019 19:49 Comments || Top||


'People are shooting each other for food and water': Bahamas Hurricane Dorian
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Government has deployed extra security to Bahamas northern islands amid reports of looting and violence

  • Corpses have piled up and officials have ordered in hundreds of body bags, and freezers, to store the dead

  • Officials are now evacuating people to capital in Nassau but efforts are hampered by flooded airport runways

  • Up to 70,000 in need of 'life-saving assistance' while health minister has warned of a 'staggering' death toll

  • Dorian struck the Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm on Sunday, unleashing deadly 185mph winds

  • Half of Bahamas homes destroyed or severely damaged, with $7bn in insured and uninsured property losses
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All the big name celebs that go to the Bahamas should all fork over at least 100 large each.

Plus all the tour companies that have been raking in the bucks for taking cruise ships to the islands should kick in too.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/08/2019 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't be. The Bahamas are a "gun free zone," are they not? So it's impossible.
Posted by: Secret Master || 09/08/2019 21:07 Comments || Top||

#3  As a protectorate of UK and by extension, EU, our betters need to pony up.
Posted by: Regular joe || 09/08/2019 21:19 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Prosecutors call for Felicity Huffman to spend just ONE MONTH in jail after she pleaded guilty in admissions scandal
  • [Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Court said Friday Felicity Huffman should serve a month in jail and pay $20,000

  • She was recommended a year's supervised release after her time behind bars

  • Prosecutor's said house arrest in her Hollywood Hills home was not good enough punishment

  • Her attorney's responded by asking for her to only have a year's probation, 250 hours of community service, plus the fine

  • Huffman's husband William H. Macy, Desperate Housewives co-star Eva Longoria, and Huffman herself wrote some sentencing memorandum letters

  • Her 161-page filing featured 27 letters of support including Huffman's words that she thought by cheating she was giving her daughter a 'fair shot'

  • Huffman pleaded guilty earlier this year to committing mail fraud and honest services fraud in connection with the college admissions scandal

  • She paid $15,000 to have an SAT proctor correct her daughter Sophia's answers
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Force her and her husband to pay the 4-year tuition of not fewer than ten students who would have gained admission to the school her daughter attended but did not because that school reserved those spaces for spoiled and undeserving children like hers.

10 four-year private all-in costs = ca. $2.8 million.

Pay up, bitch.
Posted by: Lex || 09/08/2019 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  A fair shot = outright fraud

Rules for thee but not for me. Our elites hate us.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 09/08/2019 1:58 Comments || Top||

#3  I have no sympathy with this person, but am a little uncomfortable with the way she is considered a monster.
Her crimes are giving bribes to corrupt officials of a University and the SAT.
I can recall a day not that long ago, and perhaps now, in which failure to pay bribes to officials of NY City put one on a blacklist which made one ineligible to do business with the City.
To claim that paying bribes to corrupt officials (people not known to her but arranged at the suggestion of an intermediary) is bad, but actually very common in the real world. (In many countries it is universal).
Thus the treatment of this woman is a bit overmuch.
Second, bribery is an activity involving the corrupt individual being bribed. I do not hear of any great punishment, or any vilification or much publicity about those who accepted these bribes.
i am certain that she was not the first to make use of their corruption, since she did not know them.
If the purpose of the justice system is in part, to deter crimes of the sort involved here, severe punishment of the arranger, and of the corrupt officials would be far more effective than punishing the person bribing an already corrupt official through an intermediary.
Third, what she did was actually harmful to her daughter; academically, placing a person in a position in which one is not qualified to be is a recipe for failure. So this is a person who did something that seems like it helps her daughter while actually harms her. It may also tend to corrupt the morals of her daughter, something unwise in the long run.
Finally, it is very common and legal and even wise, for a parent to seek advice from an expert as to which colleges or schools for one's child to apply to and how to go about doing so.
What happens then if the expert is dishonest and recommends bribing corrupt officials to get preference for admission?
A perfect idiot with too much money will fall for advice to offer bribes, as she did.
In a sense she paid quite a bit of money to harm her daughter, the action of a fool.
To me, it seems like being herself is in itself almost sufficient punishment for this behavior.
What she did is almost nothing compared to what that other entertainer did by faking a hate crime.
And what was his punishment?
Was bribery or undue influence involved in that case?
What annoys me is that almost all commentators on this case assume that she was doing something smart by paying these large bribes, when what she was doing, just by corrupting the morals of her child was actually a form of child abuse, let alone by guaranteeing her child's failure as a student.
Posted by: Daniel || 09/08/2019 2:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I was a bit harsh on the advisor and the bribe takers above, because I ignored how they were corrupted.
There are individuals who are highly qualified for admission to universities that are discriminated against by those universities, quite unfairly, and that discrimination is approved of by certain governments.
In particular, today, well qualified applicants, particulary those of East Asian descent, are not admitted to places like Harvard, while those with worse credentials are admitted. Parents of those denied admission unfairly through normal channels, are merely righting a wrong, by paying off those who can get their children into these schools. And the officials such as tennis coaches are aware of the injustice of the admissions process and feel they are righting a wrong by helping out those who seek admission by pretending to be great tennis players. Similarly, those who advise parents are sympathetic with those discriminated against, and do not feel it wrong to help them out by making connections with sympathetic tennis or yachting coaches.
And then some foolish woman with lots of money and wants to use this pathway to ruin her child? Well, the advisor, who considers himself a hero for helping those unfairly treated by dishonest institutions, is tempted by the large fee to help this woman in her folly. And that is what happened here.
What this means is that the bribe takers and intermediaries are not necessarily all bad people, deserving of harsh punishments.
The real culprit is the unfairness of admissions processes.

Posted by: Daniel || 09/08/2019 3:34 Comments || Top||

#5  And the university officials to whom she paid bribes, what happens to them? I suppose they fall into the same category as employers who knowingly hire illegals.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/08/2019 3:46 Comments || Top||

#6  To claim that paying bribes to corrupt officials (people not known to her but arranged at the suggestion of an intermediary) is bad, but actually very common in the real world. (In many countries it is universal).

Which is why so much of the world is a sh*!hole. Check the cultures that actually make an effort in integrity and those that don't. Which are the more successful in true economic and social progress (as validated by 'people wanting to live there' migration and application for residence*).

* not to be confused with those who don't tolerate uncontrolled migration so the seekers settle for something less but accessible.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/08/2019 6:26 Comments || Top||

#7  ...I think she needs to spend 4-6 months at Club Fed, at a minimum. She's no monster, she's just an entitled moron whose sentence would have a beneficial effect upon other entitled morons. It does need to be said that she's stepped up and taken responsibility for what she did (though I would be willing to bet the rent that it took some arguing by her esteemed counsel to get her to understand exactly what she'd done). The fine is okay; it actually exceeds what she spent to get her snowflake a good SAT score. Short version - the sentence could be longer, but overall not bad. She cooperated and will reap the benefits of said cooperation.

Lori Laughlin, however, is going to get her backside handed to her. She's going to end up with a year at least (though probably won't serve the whole thing) and a fine that's gonna hurt. She fought it and thought she could duke it out with the Feds, and only when they started dropping hints that both of her snowflakes could be looking at charges did she see the light. They have to make an example of her, and they shall.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 09/08/2019 6:56 Comments || Top||

#8  One month is a slap on the wrist; six months in a prison on the other side of the country away from her family without visitation rights should be a sufficient deterrent for the rest of her crowd.
Posted by: Raj || 09/08/2019 9:00 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't think she should serve any time in prison. Be fined, yes. Community service? I think that is just a form of being pilloried, and is more in line with corrupt prosecutors tendencies. She will never live this down. Plus she has injured her daughter, inadvertently I think. They will have the rest of their lives to work with that.

I think the bribe takers, the corrupt enablers are the ones who should pay with hard time. There is a system in place to be enriched, manned by the corrupt. If they did not have their little toll booths established, she couldn't have been steered to them. These are the criminals, not the dummy who is snared. What is happening there? Anything?

This sounds as much like corrupt prosecutors tacitly working with corruption in academia to put the screws to a dummy who got ensnared. Note: I think all prosecutors are criminals at heart. Otherwise why would they have been threatening her kids? They see it as another splinter to jam under a fingernail, another finger to break, except they are figuratively torturing her kids. God how I hate those bastards. Corrupt and evil to the core.

If you like those tactics, you are no better.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 09/08/2019 9:13 Comments || Top||

#10  She and her ilk likes to bribe? No problem, your bribe cost to avoid jail is $14,000,000, payable to the US Treasury for the specific purpose of steel and concrete for the border wall.

NEXT please, NEXT !
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/08/2019 10:26 Comments || Top||

#11  If the punishment is to discourage further similar actions, this don't do a whole lotta discouraging. Especially when the enablers (apparently) go unpunished.
Posted by: Bobby || 09/08/2019 11:42 Comments || Top||

#12  "She paid $15,000 to have an SAT proctor correct her daughter Sophia's answers."

I wonder if the proctor was ever charged and if so what was the result?

I couldn't find about this despite a DDG search.

Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 09/08/2019 13:53 Comments || Top||

#13  Find out if any of the prosecutors are black or white apologetics of opportunity and you'll see where all this misplaced indignation is coming from.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/08/2019 13:59 Comments || Top||

#14  I think the bribe takers, the corrupt enablers are the ones who should pay with hard time.

Good point - I didn't take the rest of the food chain into account, and firings / jail time for all involved is fine with me.
Posted by: Raj || 09/08/2019 15:58 Comments || Top||

#15  I'm cool with the harshest penalty possible, especially with L. Loughlin. Time to make Hollywood play by their rules and to sow internal dissension among their ranks: "I hardly knew her!"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/08/2019 16:22 Comments || Top||

#16 
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 09/08/2019 17:42 Comments || Top||

#17  Personally I'd go lenient on her and toss the bribe acceptors into prison long term.
Posted by: ruprecht || 09/08/2019 21:02 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian Satellite Intelligence notes
[DEFACTO] Rendezvous & Proximity Operations manoeuvres and even anti-satellite weapons can be disguised under peaceful objectives, such as repairing satellites instead of tampering with them (Vice, 2015)

One of the biggest concerns for operators who see Luch approaching their satellite is the possibility that Luch will be able to steal their transmissions
Another satellite operating close enough to the intended recipient could pick up that signal (C4ISRNET, 2019)

While the Russian satellite’s mission is not clear, its manoeuvres have been the subject of classified meetings within the Defense Department and captured the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill (Spacenews.com, 2015)
Posted by: newc || 09/08/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Omorong Black8889 || 09/08/2019 9:34 Comments || Top||


Economy
Jobs Up in August, not Down
[Bloomberg] U.S. companies added the most jobs in four months in August while jobless claims stayed low last week, reports showed Thursday, suggesting the labor market remains healthy despite a slowdown in manufacturing and global weakness.

Businesses’ payrolls increased by 195,000 after a downwardly revised 142,000 gain in July, according to the ADP Research Institute. The latest data compared with the median estimate of economists for a 148,000 increase. A separate Labor Department report Thursday showed filings for unemployment benefits were little changed last week, near the lowest level since 1969.

Contrast with Mediocre Jobs Report from the Dept. of Labor Friday, and reported at Rantburg.
Job growth continued at a tepid pace in August, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by just 130,000 thanks in large part to the temporary hiring of Census workers, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The good news came from the August ADP National Employment Report.
Broadly distributed to the public each month, free of charge, the ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis
ADP Link
Posted by: Bobby || 09/08/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the ADP and the Dept of Labor use different data bases and different definitions of 'employed' and 'part time employed'

both attempt a very large sample of employers however, given that there are 150 million employed, a difference of 60k in the 'total' isn't much
Posted by: lord garth || 09/08/2019 7:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Mediocre Jobs Report link fixed. Sometimes the automatic quotation marks around the URL causes problems for reasons I do not understand, but the fix is simply removing them. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/08/2019 14:44 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
13 arrested, restaurant sealed in Lahore for allegedly serving alcoholic beverages
[DAWN] A well-known food outlet in Lahore was sealed on Saturday for allegedly violating the ban on the serving and sale of alcoholic beverages, police said.

Police arrested 13 people and filed a criminal case against the outlet’s administration, SP Malik Imran said.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with DawnNewsTV, the joint raid by the police and excise and taxation department was conducted on Cafe Aylanto on the directives of the Lahore commissioner.

On the basis of a tip-off, the commissioner had tasked Assistant Commissioner Revenue Muddassar Nawaz to take action against the cafe if any illegal activity was taking place there.

Later on, the assistant commissioner shared the intelligence information with Model Town Assistant Commissioner Zeeshan Ranjha, Lahore Excise Department ETO Masood Bashir Waraich and Model Town SP Malik Imran.

The high-ups discussed the matter and constituted a raiding party. To further investigate the matter, undercover agents were sent to the restaurant. The undercover agents purchased foreign liquor worth Rs12,000 and signaled the two assistant commissioners who then stepped in and initiated a legal action.

A police party, meanwhile, remained alert outside the cafe to avoid any untoward situation. A large number of liquor bottles were seized and the restaurant staff as well as some customers were placed under arrest.

Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Home Front: Culture Wars
Colorado Doctor Sounds Alarm on Marijuana Legalization
[Free Beacon] Colorado's experiment with marijuana legalization has been an epic disaster, according to one doctor seeing its effects on the front lines.

Dr. Karen Randall, an emergency room physician certified in "cannabis science and medicine," said the legalization of marijuana has damaged, rather than helped, her home state. Randall, who spoke alongside former White House drug czar John Walters at the right-leaning Hudson Institute on Friday, said the public is being misled about the effects of recreational marijuana.

"I think the public needs to know that we are not okay," Randall said. "The grand experiment is not going so well. I don't think the public is hearing about this as they should be."

In 2012, Colorado and Washington become the first states in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The Centennial State is often pointed to as a success story with more than $1 billion in tax revenues generated since legalization. Eight more states followed in approving recreational use.

While the country has plowed ahead with marijuana legalization, less attention has been paid to potential downsides of the weed market. Randall said legalization has brought with it high-potency dope: The average joint in Colorado, she says, now contains 20 milligrams of THC, 10 times as much as the average joint at Woodstock. Concentrated products, sometimes called "shatter," can be up to 99 percent THC.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/08/2019 04:09 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dr Randall's resignation (for health reasons) in 5 4 3
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 09/08/2019 5:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Gee,

Number of people killed due to DUI > Number of people killed in war, since the repeal of Prohibition.

Nothing is going to happen Doc.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/08/2019 6:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Colorado used to be a nice place....before Hollywood and hippie crews took over.

I blame John Denver.
Posted by: AlanC || 09/08/2019 7:51 Comments || Top||

#4  But but but if we legalizes it we can tax it. Yesss we taxesss it my preciousss.


Posted by: jpal || 09/08/2019 16:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Boulder was taken over in the 60s
Posted by: 3dc || 09/08/2019 16:10 Comments || Top||

#6 
Posted by: 3dc || 09/08/2019 16:12 Comments || Top||

#7  I still remember it was autumn and the moon was shinin'
Our 60 Cadillac was roarin' through Nebraska whinin'
Doin' 120 man the fields was bendin' over
Headin' out for the mountains knowin' we was traveling further
All our fires were blazing and the spinnin' wheels were turnin' turnin'
Had my girl beside me brother.
Brother she was burnin' burnin'

Up walked a Baptist preachin' southern funky school teacher
She had a line on somethin' heavy but we couldn't reach her
We told her that we needed somethin' that would get us goin'
She pulled out all she had and laid it on the counter showin'
All I had to do was lay my money down and pick it up
The cops came dustin' in and then we lit out in our pickup truck go

Get out of Denver better go go
Get out of Denver better go
Get out of Denver better go go
Get out of Denver cause you look just like a commie
And you might just be a member better
Better Get out of Denver
Better Get out of Denver

Well red lights were flashin' and the sirens were a-screamin'
We had to pinch each other just to see if we was dreamin'
Made it to Loveland Pass in under less than half an hour
Lord it started drizzlin' and it turned into a thundershower

The rain was drivin' but the Caddy kept on burnin' rubber
We kept on drivin' till we ran into some fog cover
We couldn't see a thing somehow we just kept on goin'
We kept on drivin' all night long and then into the mornin'fog.
It finally lifted when we looked to see where we was at
We're starin' at a Colorado state policeman trooper hat

And go Get out of Denver he said go go
Get out of Denver better go
Get out of Denver better go go
Get out of Denver cause you look just like a commie
And you might just be a member
Better get out of Denver
Better get out of Denver better go

Oh better better better go
Hey go
Ah better better go go go go
Cause you look just like a commie
And you might just be a member better
Get out of Denver better go!

Posted by: 3dc || 09/08/2019 16:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Daily pot use linked to psychosis in pre-desposed individuals.
Posted by: ruprecht || 09/08/2019 21:00 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
19[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
4al-Nusra
2Taliban
2Govt of Iran
2Hamas
2Muslim Brotherhood
1al-Qaeda
1Palestinian Authority
1PFLP
1Sublime Porte
1Moslem Colonists

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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.
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
Sun 2019-09-08
  Pakistan denies Indian president's request to use its airspace for overflight
Sat 2019-09-07
  Taliban loses deputy intelligence chief, dozens of militants in Farah city clash
Fri 2019-09-06
  Comrade Robert ''Bob'' Mugabe Finally Croaks at 95
Thu 2019-09-05
  Arrested Terrorist Admits Being Pak National, Says Many Waiting At Launching Pads
Wed 2019-09-04
  Libya's Coast Guard rescues over 100 migrants off the coast of Sabratha
Tue 2019-09-03
   Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen rebel-run prison kill over 100
Mon 2019-09-02
  Haftar's forces strike Murzuq in southern Libya
Sun 2019-09-01
  Live blog at this link on IDF vs Hezbollah current battle.
Sat 2019-08-31
  Islamic State claims suicide bomb attack on separatist fighters in Yemen's Aden
Fri 2019-08-30
  28 Taliban militants killed, wounded in Balkh operations
Thu 2019-08-29
  Israel Police Arrest Palestinian Trying To Enter Court With Pipe Bomb
Wed 2019-08-28
  Drone belonging to #Haftar destroys an ambulance
Tue 2019-08-27
  VIDEO LINK MUSK DID IT! Starhopper flys and LANDS!
Mon 2019-08-26
  IED exploded outside holding area of Pak Consulate General in Jalalabad
Sun 2019-08-25
  Taliban militants kidnap a member of Provincial Council from Samangan-Baghlan Highway


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