[BREITBART] More than seven months after a young mother fought off and killed a home intruder in Washington state, the King County Sheriff's Office released documents indicating the dead attacker "may have intended to commit an abduction and sexual assault."
Moreover, it appears he was planning to videotape the whole thing.
According to The Seattle Times, when 48-year old Ken Boonstra broke into a 26-year old woman's North Bend home on May 13, he "had a camera and a flexible tripod in one pocket." He also had "a roll of duck tape and a flashlight."
The attacker originally entered the house on May 12 when the husband was not home. He grabbed the 26-year old woman and took all the cash she had. He then "struck the woman in the face with enough force to send his ball cap flying" and fled the house.
Just over 12 hours later--at 1:40 a.m.--the dogs began barking as the husband and young wife lay in bed. The husband got up to investigate and was attacked by Boonstra in the hall. The wife then went to the kitchen, retrieved a steak knife, and stabbed Boonstra until he quit attacking her husband.
When sheriff's deputies arrived, they found a bloody steak knife and Boonstra's body.
They later found a place behind the house where someone "had been loitering, as if they were doing surveillance on the residence."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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Wonder whether she and her husband have a CWP yet? Surely Washington State authorities would not deny her one? /s
#1
Warren suspended the Early Bird during the 16-day government shutdown last month, when the two Pentagon employees who compiled it every day were furloughed.
Two? Obviously killed because competent efficient employees were involved.
#2
Probably shut down because the people it was published for don't get up early anymore. And don't read it anyway. Though lack of usefulness almost never causes government programs or processes to be shut down...
[CHRON] An attack by a school of carnivorous fish has injured 70 people bathing in an Argentine river, including seven children who lost parts of their fingers or toes.
Director of lifeguards Federico Cornier said Thursday that thousands of bathers were cooling off from 100-degree temperatures in the Parana River in Rosario on Wednesday when bathers suddenly began complaining of bite marks on their hands and feet. He blamed the attack on palometas, "a type of piranha, big, voracious and with sharp teeth that can really bite."
Paramedic Alberto Manino said some children he treated lost entire digits. He told the Todo Noticias channel that city beaches were closed, but it was so hot that within a half-hour, many people went back to the water,
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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Zoiks. I remember reading a number of years back, a story from South America about some poor schlub who was being chased down a rain-forest trail and repeatedly stung by a swarm of Africanized killer bees. He came to a river and leaped in hoping to escape the bees, only to be promptly devoured by a passing school of piranha. And I thought my Mondays sucked...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/27/2013 9:51 Comments ||
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[PHILLY] Jackson is now requesting meetings with both A&E and Cracker Barrel to discuss any future broadcasts or merchandising options regarding Duck Dynasty and their evidently bigoted patriarch.
Jackson is now requesting meetings with both A&E and Cracker Barrel to discuss any future broadcasts or merchandising options regarding Duck Dynasty and their evidently bigoted patriarch.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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...Popcorn, anyone? If anyone will balk the Reverend Jackson, it'll be the Robertsons. A&E and Cracker Barrel, on the other hand, will fold faster than a kids' origami class.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/27/2013 6:52 Comments ||
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Did you get around to apologize to the Duke lacrosse student athletes yet Jesse?
#3
The worst thing that Jesse Jackson could have happen to him is if Nobody pays ANY attention to him, just turn off the Television when he's going to speak, that'll hurt him more than anything.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/27/2013 9:41 Comments ||
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A top financial advisor, worried that Obamacare, the NSA spying scandal and spiraling national debt is increasing the chances for a fiscal and social disaster, is recommending that Americans prepare a "bug-out bag" that includes food, a gun and ammo to help them stay alive.
Clearly a message not approved by the Center for America's Future...
David John Marotta, a Wall Street expert and financial advisor and Forbes contributor, said in a note to investors, "Firearms are the last item on the list, but they are on the list. There are some terrible people in this world. And you are safer when your trusted neighbors have firearms."
There's an opinion that will get him in trouble with the MSM and the DoJ...
His memo is part of a series addressing the potential for a "financial apocalypse." His view, however, is that the problems plaguing the country won't result in armageddon. "There is the possibility of a precipitous decline, although a long and drawn out malaise is much more likely," said the Charlottesville, Va.-based president of Marotta Wealth Management.
Like the way Argentina fell apart. In 1913 Argentina was a near-first world country. In three generations it was a basket case, and three more generations have turned it into a near third-world state.
Marotta said that many clients fear an end-of-the-world scenario. He doesn't agree with that outcome, but does with much of what has people worried.
"I, along with many other economists, agree with many of the concerns expressed in these dire warnings. The growing debt and deficit spending is a tax on those holding dollars. The devaluation in the U.S. dollar risks the dollar's status as the reserve currency of the world. Obamacare was the worst legislation in the past 75 years. Socialism is on the rise and the NSA really is abrogating vast portions of the Constitution. I don't disagree with their concerns," he wrote.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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"Thereis the possibility of a precipitous decline, although a long and drawn out malaise is much more likely,"
"Long and drawn out malaise" or as the current regime refers to it, the 'economic recovery.'
[An Nahar] The United States on Thursday reaffirmed its vow to cut aid to violence-wracked South Sudan if the government of President Salva Kiir is tossed in a coup.
Troops loyal to Kiir have been battling forces allied to former vice president Riek Machar in a wave of ethnic violence that has left thousands dead, according to the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... .
"We continue to call on all sides of the conflict to work through their differences peacefully and democratically," a State Department official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"We've made clear that any effort to seize power through the use of military force will result in the end of longstanding support from the United States and the international community."
The official said Washington's special envoy to the country, Donald Booth, was still "on the ground in Juba, urging calm and a peaceful resolution to the crisis."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] Interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree on Thursday reinstating Salah Eddin Abdel Sadek as chairman of the State Information Service.
Sadek had resigned after an embarrassing controversy about a banner that appeared at a presser held at SIS headquarters last week.
The banner, which was used in a conference to introduce the new draft constitution, featured stock images, easily searchable online, of foreigners posing as Egyptians.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A Saudi judge has recommended that a liberal activist be tried in a higher court for apostasy, a charge that could carry the death penalty, rights campaigners said Thursday.
A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom sentenced Raef Badawi in July to seven years in jail and 600 lashes for setting up a "liberal" network and for allegedly insulting Islam.
On Wednesday, a judge remanded Badawi to the General Court on charges of apostasy, rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair told Agence La Belle France Presse.
After Badawi's sentence, the appeals court had sent the case back to the court of first instance, where a newly-appointed judge remanded it to the General Court, saying his lower court was not qualified to deal with the case, Abulkhair explained.
Human rights activists said, however, that the apostasy charge was only a recommendation from the judge and not a decision.
But online news website Sabq.org quoted Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar as saying that "the new judge has requested the case be referred to General Court, and demanded the death penalty."
Badawi, 35, was enjugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in June last year in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for unknown reasons.
The network that he co-founded with female rights activist Suad al-Shammari had declared May 7, 2012 a "day of liberalism" in the kingdom, calling for an end to the domination of religion over public life in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... .
The strict version of Islamic sharia law applied in Saudi Arabia stipulates death as a punishment for apostasy, but defendants are usually given the chance to repent and escape being beheaded.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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Saudi health authorities announced Thursday a new MERS death, bringing to 57 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities. The health ministry said in a statement on its website that a 73-year-old Saudi man, who suffered from chronic illnesses, died in the capital Riyadh after he contracted MERS.
Authorities also registered four other new MERS cases in Riyadh. Two of them are Saudis, one is a 57-year-old who is chronically ill and is in intensive care and the other is a 27-year-old medic. The other two people infected are foreign medics, a 43-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man.
The ministry said 141 cases have been reported in the country since the virus appeared more than a year ago.
MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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3 medics says P2P. Color me sceptical on 'less transmissible than SARS'.
Once viruses start P2P, it doesn't take them long to get better at it.
Taiwans Ministry of National Defense (MND) has encountered a number of difficulties of recruiting enough professional soldiers to supplement the manpower gap left by the termination of compulsory military service. The MNDs latest report to Taiwans parliament reveals poor recruitment levels at roughly 30 percent of the target, between January and November 2013. In infantry and armored units, the recruitment rates are even lower, at just 4 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
As a consequence, the MND has postponed the introduction of the all-volunteer military from 2015 to 2017. Some relevant policies such as increasing salary and looser requirements are proposed by the MND in order to attract more young people to join the armed forces. However, the MNDs ongoing attempts at constructing an all-volunteer military will be unlikely to succeed and will very likely undermine Taiwans defense capacity and capability in several ways.
The most persuasive reason for an all-volunteer military is the short term of Taiwans present military service, which at one year is inadequate to training needs. Professional soldiers on multi-year contracts would solve this problem. The problem lies in attracting young people to a military career.
First, despite a relatively good salary, a series of scandals have considerably damaged the reputation of the armed forces. For example, the recent death of a conscript, who had been bullied, has provoked several massive protests against the MND and numerous indictments. Other issues, such as bureaucracy and factionalism, are well known to the public through the negative experiences many conscripts report. As a consequence, young people find a military career an unappealing option. Making matters worse is the shrinking youth population caused by Taiwans birth rate, which has been plummeting since the 1980s, placing a structural constraint on recruitment that will only become more severe.
Finally, the government has little capacity to provide additional funding for the MND to offer pay incentives, given that it is struggling with the constraints of a lackluster economy and extensive welfare issues. In terms of budget, rising personnel costs have compromised other defense expenditures. With Taiwans overall defense budget remaining static, the portion allocated to personnel costs has been rising back towards 50 percent, tantamount to downsizing resources for other purposes, such as maintenance, training and investment, all crucial for defense. In the face of Chinas expanding and strengthening military capacity and capabilities, Taiwan with its relatively low defense budget, less than 3 percent of GDP in the last decade, has put itself in an increasingly vulnerable position.
Although the MND has been able to adjust its military strategy toward asymmetrical operations through denial means, such as anti-ship missiles and stealth missile craft, a credible deterrence still requires proper military procurement, sufficient training and exercises. Given the poor performance and incidents such as aircraft crashes in recent years, cutting training and maintenance expenditure would be negative for Taiwans defense. In addition, since a number of outdated weapon systems of Vietnam War and even Second World War vintage are still in service, Taiwan needs to make available the consistent funding for vital renewals or upgrades. Moreover, adding capabilities such as cruise missiles to counter Chinas military superiority also demands adequate investment. Thus, Taipeis falling budget allocation to maintenance, training and investment, as it shifts resources to hire professional soldiers, will only weaken its military imbalance with Beijing.
Since its democratization in the 1990s, the conscription system has been unpopular in Taiwan, and the incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou pledged during his campaign to end it. Given Mas current political problems, the MND is unlikely to renege on that promise. Yet the effort seems unlikely to succeed, and the MND will face increasing budget pressure from rising personnel costs. All the while Chinas military edge will grow, leaving Taiwan looking increasingly vulnerable.
#2
Perhaps the potential recruits are seeing the way the U.S. Gov't is treating it's all volunteer force (see breaking promises about retirement dollars, free medical, etc) and decided 'the hell with THAT crap.'
#3
At the rate relations are deteriorating between China + Japan, Taiwan had better do something pronto to reverse it.
Taiwan is to "Mahanist" China what the Hawaiian Islands + other were to "Mahanist", Isolationist/
Continentalist-vs-Internationalist America back in the late 19th-early 20th Century.
POTUSes McKinley + Teddy [Roosevelt], Horace Greely + Randolph Hearst, and that US-should-build-the-Panama-Canal, etc. "Manifest Destiny" thingys.
* E.G. WORLD MILITARY FORUM > MIYAKO WATERWAYS/STRAITS, EAST CHINA'S MARITIME LIFELINE MORE VULNERABLE THAN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA [South China Sea]. EAST CHINA SEA + DISPUTED DIAOYU ISLANDS [Japan = Senkakus], TAIWAN ISSUE, + SEA LANES SECURITY ARE THREE MAJOR ISSUES RELATED TO CHINA'S RISE AS A GLOBAL MARITIME POWER, OVER 20 MOSTLY JAPANESE-CONTROLLED ISLANDS BLOCK OR THREATEN CHINA'S SEA LANE THROUGH THE MIYAKO STRAITS.
DARE CHINA-VS-JAPAN/EAST CHINA SEA = NOT-CUBA, NOT-NUKULAAR? "SPLENDID LITTLE WAR"???
D *** NG IT, ISN'T THAT CAROLINE KENNEDY COMING OUT OF THE NOT-OUT-OF-THE-WEST US NORTHEAST RIDING THE LONE RANGER'S WHITE HOUSE, AND WID LEONARD DECAPRIO AS TONTO???
[An Nahar] The son of Turkey's prime minister will likely be the next target of a widening graft probe that led to a major cabinet reshuffle after three ministers resigned, Turkish media said Thursday.
Several newspapers said a bitter struggle between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his one-time ally turned opponent Fethullah Gulen was set to become more venomous as the corruption scandal inches closer to the premier's inner circle.
The opposition Cumhuriyet daily predicted an "earthquake" as Sherlocks turn their attention to an NGO connected to the premier's son Bilal.
The paper said prosecutors were pressuring police to investigate construction tenders granted to the NGO by an Istanbul municipality, whose mayor has been implicated the corruption scandal.
The mayor, a member of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), was briefly jugged I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! last week but later released pending trial.
Three ministers also resigned this week over the corruption inquiry, two of them after their sons were taken into custody.
Erdogan on Wednesday announced a major cabinet reshuffle after the resignations.
But there was no sign that he himself would step down as demanded by anti-government protesters as well as by the environment minister who resigned.
Observers say the graft probe is the result of a rift between Erdogan and Gulen, an Islamic scholar who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999.
Gulen's followers hold senior positions in the Turkish judiciary and police.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A graft probe that has shaken Turkey's government to its core and threatened Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule has been blocked, a prosecutor alleged Thursday.
"Clear pressure" from Istanbul's chief prosecutor and police commanders have stymied further arrests in the investigation, which has already netted several high-profile political and business figures suspected of bribery and corruption, state prosecutor Muammer Akkas said in a statement.
His charge came the day after Erdogan reshuffled nearly half his cabinet following the resignation of his interior, economy and environment ministers, all of whose sons have been implicated in the scandal, and the first two tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! pending trial.
The outgoing environment minister, Erdogan Bayraktar told NTV television he had been pressured to quit, and stated "I believe the prime minister should also resign".
The premier, though, appears determined to weather the storm, even as it inches closer to his inner circle and family.
He has claimed the probe was launched by a shadowy international cabal, and has ordered the sacking of dozens of coppers involved in carrying it out.
But many observers see the developments as a grievous blow to his 11-year reign, during which he has built a reputation as a formidable economic steward but also an autocratic leader.
On Thursday, the Turkish lira dived to a new record low on the developments. The Istanbul stock market has also taken a beating.
PM's son reportedly next target of probe
The opposition Cumhuriyet daily predicted an "earthquake" would ensue as Sherlocks turned their attention to a non-governmental organization connected to the premier's son Bilal.
The paper said prosecutors were pressuring police to investigate construction tenders granted to the NGO by an Istanbul municipality, whose mayor has been implicated in the corruption scandal.
The mayor, a member of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), was briefly detained last week but later released pending trial.
Akkas said in his statement Thursday that Turkey's public "should be aware that I, as public prosecutor, have been prevented from launching an investigation".
On Wednesday he was reported to have ordered the detention of 30 more suspects in the case, including ruling party politicians and businessmen.
Akkas said police chiefs were acting illegally by disobeying court orders furthering the probe.
But Istanbul chief public prosecutor Turan Colakkadi hit back at Akkas's charges by saying prosecutors were not mandated to launch "random investigations".
Colakkadi also claimed Akkas was removed from the investigation because he had mishandled the proceedings and had leaked information to the media.
The internal row did not look likely to stop there.
Turkey's Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors is backing Akkas. It says police are required to obey his orders.
Scandal linked to struggle between erstwhile allies
Political observers have linked the bribery probe to tensions between Erdogan and one of his most powerful former allies: Fethullah Gulen, an influential Moslemholy man who lives in the United States but whose followers hold key positions in Turkey's police and judiciary.
The Turkish premier says he is fighting against a "state within a state", widely seen as a reference to the influential Gulenist movement, a key backer of his government when he first came to power in 2002.
Gulenists have their own media, universities, think-tanks, and businesses, and with their followers in key positions, analysts say, the movement appears to be the only force that can undermine Erdogan's party in the run up to local polls in March.
"There is not even a little sign of a ceasefire, let alone peace," columnist Rusen Cakir wrote in the Vatan daily on Thursday. "To the contrary, it appears the battle (between Erdogan and Gulen) will turn even more violent."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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The son of Turkeys prime minister will likely be the next target of a graft probe that led to a major cabinet reshuffle after three ministers resigned.
But of course. Erdogan needed a trusted family member to watch the family boodle. Who better than Sonny-boy?
Several newspapers said a bitter struggle between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his one-time ally turned opponent Fethullah Gulen was set to become more venomous as the corruption scandal inches closer to the premiers inner circle.
The opposition Cumhuriyet daily predicted an earthquake as investigators turn their attention to an NGO connected to the premiers son Bilal.
The paper said prosecutors were pressuring police to investigate construction tenders granted to the NGO by an Istanbul municipality, whose mayor has been implicated the corruption scandal. The mayor, a member of Erdogans Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), was briefly detained last week but later released pending trial.
Three ministers also resigned this week over the corruption inquiry, two of them after their sons were taken into custody.
Erdogan on Wednesday announced a major cabinet reshuffle after the resignations. But there was no sign that he himself would step down as demanded by anti-government protesters as well as by the environment minister who resigned.
Observers say the graft probe is the result of a rift between Erdogan and Gulen, an Islamic scholar who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999. Gulens followers hold senior positions in the Turkish judiciary and police.
Erdogans government, which weathered mass street protests in June, has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Gulens backers over plans to shut down a network of schools run by the movement. The struggle between the two men poses the biggest threat to Erdogans undeclared ambition to run for president in 2014.
There is not even a little sign of a ceasefire, let alone peace, columnist Rusen Cakir wrote in the Vatan daily on Thursday. To the contrary, it appears the battle (between Erdogan and Gulen) will turn even more violent.
It is obvious that the (Gulen) movement have more tricks up their sleeve, he predicted.
Gulenists have their own media, universities, think-tanks, and businesses, and with their followers in key positions, analysts say, the movement appears to be the only force that can challenge Erdogan in the run up to local polls in March.
If the government rushes to act with hostility and moves ahead with hurtful (police) sackings, it will open deep wounds ... which will not be forgotten for centuries, Ali Bulac wrote in the Zaman daily, which is affiliated with the Gulen movement.
Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) has dominated politics for 11 years and won three successive elections, gaining almost 50 percent of the vote in 2011 after presiding over steady economic growth.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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What I compare bike lanes to is swimming with the sharks. Sooner or later youre going to get bitten Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes. My heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but its their own fault at the end of the day.
Evil visual of the day; Uncle Si in spandex biking trousers? No, me neither.
[DAWN] The mosque and the cloth market in Raja Bazaar, which were burnt during the Ashura violence and subsequently pulled down for being dangerous, stood on the disputed land of a Hindu temple, it has been learnt.
An official of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) told Dawn that the department was the owner of the land.
He said after Pakistain came into being, the mosque was built on a piece of land surrounded by the temple.
"Total 103 shops were constructed on Khasra No U-1310 and U1310/A under the name of Madina Market and 22 shops on the temple property, U-1330, 1331 and 1332." He added that the issue was taken up with the federal secretary religious affairs and minorities in 1985 but it was still not resolved. He admitted that the ETBP did not pursue the matter fearing a religious backlash.
When the mosque and cloth market were burnt in the sectarian clash, rescue officials broke a building in front of the plaza on the Hamilton Road side to enter the premises.
The temple, built on 12x14 square feet, became visible after the demolition of the burnt-down building.
Jag Mohan Arora, a leader of the Hindu community, said he never visited the temple because it remained hidden among the buildings.
"This is very strange that the temple remained out of the sight of the holy mans. I was of the view that the temple had already been pulled down because over 10 temples in the city were demolished after the Babri mosque incident in 1992," he said.
In a report, the ETPB Rawalpindi chapter stated that it owned total two residential properties and six commercial units, comprising the madressah, mosque and the cloth market.
The residential area of the two buildings owned by the ETPB was on rent of Rs590 per month and Rs900 per month, four commercial units adjoining the temple area rented out on Rs93 per month to Rs3,401 per month.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... the area comprising the madressah, mosque and the cloth market, including Madina Market and Al-Umar Plaza, were under litigation since 1985.
"At present, the case is pending with the federal secretary," the report said.
When contacted, ETBP assistant administrator Asif Khan said the land on which the mosque and madressah had been built was disputed.
He added that not the whole land but some of its portions given to the seminary during the Zia era were disputed.
Maulana Ashraf Ali, the caretaker of the Taleemul Koran Madressah, told Dawn that his late father Maulana Ghulamullah Khan had established the mosque and seminary after partition.
"Hindus gave their property to my farther before leaving for India and I have all the documents. The land of the mosque is not disputed nor is the mosque built on the temple land. If we had any bad intention, how could the temple remain intact," he said.
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12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] A daylong brouhaha on electronic media about the expected debut of Pakistain Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Baby Bhutto Zardari ...Pak dynastic politician, son of Benazir Bhutto and grandon of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. As far as is known, Bilawal has no particular talents other than being pretty and being able to memorize political slogans, but he had the good luck to be born into the right family and he hasn't been assassinated yet... in electoral politics died down on Thursday when a party front man said the young leader would not become a politician until the next general elections in 2018.
Earlier in the day, dozens of news channels speculated with gusto that Bilawal would enter contest for the NA-204 (Larkana) constituency and that Ayaz Soomro, the PPP leader who previously won the seat, had already resigned as MNA.
"There is no truth in the speculation that the party chairman is contesting by-election for a Larkana seat," Senator Farhatullah Babar told Dawn. "In fact, he is not going to contest any by-election till 2018 as per the decision of the party's high command."
Bilawal turned 25 last September and became eligible to contest for seats in the national and provincial legislatures.
Since then he has assumed charge of the party and made several speeches about its future vision.
In his speech on the PPP's 46th foundation day in November he explicitly mentioned 2018 as the year when the party would be regaining its 'past glory'.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The situation in Tando Bago town of Badin district became tense following the burial of a 75-year-old Hindu man, in a local graveyard of Bachal Shah.
Late on Wednesday night, a few people of the town dug the grave and took out the body a resident of village Yar Mohammad Lund, some 4 km off the Tando Bago town, who was buried by his relatives on Monday. it seems many people in the town have eentsy-weentsy miniature souls.
But the body was reburied in the same place by the local police on the wee hours of Thursday, following which the holy mans belonging to various mosques of the town made announcements that a Hindu was buried again in their graveyard. The small-souled are ministered to by clergy with equally infinitesimal souls.
The burial infuriated the Mohammedan community of the town and its adjoining areas, who gathered in the town and staged a sit-in on the Bago Canal bridge. Speaking to media persons the protesters threatened to dig out the body from the grave again.
The protesters further claimed that a decision had been reached nearly four years ago according to which Hindus would not bury their deceased in the same part of the graveyard.
It is pertinent to mention that this graveyard had been shared since many years by both the Hindus and Mohammedans of the area.
There was only a small wall erected by a former taluka Nazim of Tando Bago to separate the parts of the graveyard.
Strict security measures were taken by Badin's district administration to control the law and order situation in the town.
Heavy contingents of the police have been deployed in and around the graveyard under the supervision of DSP Tando Bago.
The relatives of the Hindu man, who was buried in the graveyard, spoke to Dawn.com and claimed that the dear departed was buried near the grave of his father.
The people of various rights groups voiced their concern over the issue and demanded that the government functionaries should take security measures for the minority communities.
On Oct 6, in a similar incident the body of another Hindu man was dug out of the grave and thrown away, in a local graveyard of Haji Fakir in Pangrio town of Badin district.
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12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Sixty-two-year-old Rizwan Hashmi is like any other retired gentleman his age. On a personal front he has led a fulfilling life, worked hard and raised his four children to become educated and successful professionals. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... over the last couple of decades, and more specifically the last few years, his life and that of his family has been torn apart by blinding hatred.
Not only has Rizwan had to deal with his colleagues transpiring to frame him and get him fired but he was forced to leave his family home and relocate within the country due to safety concerns. Three of his children fled the country after growing tired of being targets.
Like thousands of others from his community, Rizwan Hashmi is paying the price for being an Ahmadi. The excessive prejudice and downright violence the community has been subjected to stems from extreme misinterpretation of a religion which is first and foremost a religion of peace and preaches tolerance as opposed to targeted annihilation of a community that may not share the same beliefs.
We often hear Ahmadis being referred to as 'wajibul qatl', meaning liable to be killed. Despite this very real threat to his life, Rizwan refuses to leave his motherland, Pakistain. What he does want, however, is his rights as a citizen of this country.
This wasn't always the case though, Rizwan recalls. "My family belongs to a village in Sialkot where intermarriages were very common. There was no conflict and by and large people were very tolerant and forbearing."
Times have drastically changed since then. Rizwan tried to be as patient as he could until he finally packed up and moved to Rabwa. "There were instances when garbage was thrown inside my house; it was pelted with stones and attempts were made to set it on fire. We lived in a constant state of fear and insecurity."
Of late, news reports on the Ahmadi community being targeted have been regular. Take the last few months for example. From a 72-year-old British Ahmadi doctor being nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! in Lahore for 'posing as a Moslem' to some Ahmadis not being allowed by neighbours and police to sacrifice animals this Eidul Azha, there is no shortage of attempts to harass and repress an already marginalised community.
Yet another report told the story of an Ahmadi graveyard being desecrated and vandalised. A separate report was on three members of the community who were killed in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Sadly, such reports consistently pour in to the news, so much so, that many Ahmadis feel it has desensitised the nation to their plight.
A seasoned researcher, commentator and archivist Ahmed Saleem has written extensively on Pakistain's political and social issues. When asked to comment on the ongoing atrocities faced by minorities in Pakistain, he bitterly responded: "As a nation, we are bothered about any real or imagined atrocities against the Moslems, for example in Paleostine, Myanmar, Syria or India. We are also ready to burn property worth billions of rupees on a blasphemous film and profane cartoons. But we are not pushed when a community is targeted in our own country and subjected to inhuman treatment."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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[BREITBART] On Tuesday, Twitter apologized for "mistakenly" blocking the iStandWithPhil.com website, which meant users who supported the Duck Dynasty patriarch who was suspended from A&E for supposedly "anti-gay" remarks could not link to the site in their tweets.
The petition demands the reinstatement of Phil Robertson and has nearly 250,000 signatures.
"The URL IStandWithPhil.com was mistakenly flagged as spam tonight, by an outside organization that tracks spam sources. We have restored access and apologize for the error," Twitter told Marketing Land on Tuesday.
Twitters users expressed outrage when they discovered that the site was blocked and demanded that it be reinstated on Twitter. Faith Driven Consumer, which runs the website, noted on Monday that three sites that supported Robertson had been blocked and implied that Twitter may have intentionally blocked them.
Twitter generally does not act to block content until receiving a report from another user or group of users," the Christian advocacy group said in a statement. "That complaint is then reviewed by Twitter, who decides whether to take action or not. Normally, the blocked account holder receives an email notifying them of the action being taken.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/27/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm not concerned about social media. They'll never find us.
#3
Twitter generally does not act to block content until receiving a report from another user or group of users
So, you in turn have now blocked those groups for falsely claiming the original site was spam? Yeah, right. When you have individuals inside an organization who have more loyalty to their tribe than to your organization, best to move them to someplace other or out to protect the integrity of that organization. Cracker Barrel Part II.
#4
I continue to be amazed at the impact of the mass of social creatures. They are seemingly immature with little world experience. It took me a while to realize social media isn't social, they are a easily measured techno-microcosm of the left leaning overprivileged undercontributors. Their opinions carry so much more weight than the working class simply because of their ability to expose those opinions repeatedly, anonymously, with the push of a button.
#5
Skidmark: to which I would add: those who have a lot more free time because of being rich/poor apparently get to express their opinion a lot more than those of us in the middle whose time is taken up by work.
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.
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.
[PHILLY] Jackson is now requesting meetings with both A&E and Cracker Barrel to discuss any future broadcasts or merchandising options regarding Duck Dynasty and their evidently bigoted patriarch.
Saudi health authorities announced Thursday a new MERS death, bringing to 57 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities. The health ministry said in a statement on its website that a 73-year-old Saudi man, who suffered from chronic illnesses, died in the capital Riyadh after he contracted MERS. 
[An Nahar] A graft probe that has shaken Turkey's government to its core and threatened Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule has been blocked, a prosecutor alleged Thursday.
[DAWN] The mosque and the cloth market in Raja Bazaar, which were burnt during the Ashura violence and subsequently pulled down for being dangerous, stood on the disputed land of a Hindu temple, it has been learnt.
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...
[DAWN] A daylong brouhaha on electronic media about the expected debut of Pakistain Peoples Party chairman 
[BREITBART] On Tuesday, Twitter apologized for "mistakenly" blocking the iStandWithPhil.com website, which meant users who supported the Duck Dynasty patriarch who was suspended from A&E for supposedly "anti-gay" remarks could not link to the site in their tweets. 
