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Today: 56 articles and 95 comments as of 23:58.
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Brahimi: Syria Peace Talks Break Off, No New Date Set
Today's Headlines
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
6 18:06 Uncle Phester [10]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Pot Fuels Surge in Drugged Driving Deaths
[NBCNEWS] During each shift at her drive-through window, once an hour, Cordelia Cordova sees people rolling joints in their cars. Some blow smoke in her face and smile.

Cordova, who lost a 23-year-old niece and her 1-month-old son to a driver who admitted he smoked pot that day, never smiles back. She thinks legal marijuana in Colorado, where she works, is making the problem of drugged driving worse -- and now new research supports her claim.

"Nobody hides it anymore when driving," Cordova said. "They think it's a joke because it's legal. Nobody will take this seriously until somebody loses another loved one."

As medical marijuana sales expanded into 20 states, legal weed was detected in the bodies of dead drivers three times more often during 2010 when compared to those who died behind the wheel in 1999, according to a new study from Columbia University
...contributed $547,852 to the 2008 Obama campaign. Is there a reason universities are among the top financiers of political campaigns? And where do they get all that money they piss away buying politicians?
published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"The trend suggests that marijuana is playing an increased role in fatal crashes," said Dr. Guohua Li, a co-author and director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University Medical Center. The researchers examined data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), spanning more than 23,000 drivers killed during that 11-year period.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Leave well enough alone, it clears out the druggies, (And a few innocents)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/16/2014 5:22 Comments || Top||

#2  "The trend suggests that marijuana is playing an increased role in fatal crashes,"

No kidding. It's always been a trade off in deaths. It's just that the advocates to legalize never acknowledge in their campaigns. Some legit medical drugs have side effects and consequences that allow lawyers to engage in the great tort lotto against manufacturers as advertized daily on television. How do think juries would respond if those manufacturers knew of the negative side effects but withheld that info from the public? However, it's all OK if advocacy in legalizing these drugs do exactly that. It all boils down to 'I want', damn the consequences.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/16/2014 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

I don't know where this article falls, but I'd like to see the absolute numbers before I get too excited.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2014 9:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Booze is legal but driving under the influence is not legal. They are different things and the public needs to be informed or arrested.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/16/2014 21:23 Comments || Top||

#5  There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Drug tests show the presence of the metabolic byproducts of marijuana. Being fat soluble, these stay around for days/weeks depending. So the data from dead drivers shows they smoked some time in the past, not that they were high at the time of the accident.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/16/2014 23:08 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Utmost respect: Solemn guard at the Tomb of the Unknown amid driving snow
Another excellent photograph at this link.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Connecticut will accept 160 late gun registrations
The 160 representing 1/100 of one percent of the estimated number of rifles the state says are now classified as illegal. The press can polish this turd all they want, but it is still a turd.

From Mike Vanderboegh

HARTFORD -- The state will accept rifle and magazine registrations from gun owners who tried to mail them in before the Jan. 1 deadline but found a post office closed early or missed the deadline for another reason.
I think I'll mail mine in on the 12th of Never...
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, made the decision not to deny those registrations late Friday. It came after the governor consulted with Attorney General George C. Jepsen.

Gun owners had complained that post offices closed early and without notice on Dec. 31, the last day to mail in registration forms to comply with last year's gun control law. Violators could face illegal gun possession charges.
Posted by: badanov || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..Second Circuit is 8:5 Active Judges appointed by Liberals..hoping for some closet Conservatives to hear the 2nd Amendment argument, then the big show begins..
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Another "Exception".
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/16/2014 5:24 Comments || Top||

#3  They'll use these 160 "late" registrations to prove that the law is working.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2014 9:21 Comments || Top||

#4  another 160 on the confiscation register list
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2014 14:35 Comments || Top||

#5  While not all gun grabbers are racists, all racists are gun grabbers.

I'm sorry guys, but you can't take my gun. Let's compromise, and you can take my ammo. One round after another.
Posted by: regular joe || 02/16/2014 15:27 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela Protests Leave 5 Injured in Fourth Day of Unrest
[BUSINESSWEEK] At least five protesters were maimed today in Venezuela's capital as opposition groups and government supporters marched for the fourth day.

Tear gas shot by national police around the Plaza Altamira in Caracas after student protesters blocked access to a highway left five people injured and more with breathing difficulties, Ramon Muchacho, mayor of Chacao municipality, said in a post on his Twitter account.

"Protesters have informed us that they plan to come to Altamira every day," Muchacho said. "Take precautions."
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Faustas got links galore. A great site for Latin America news
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2014 16:44 Comments || Top||

#2  3 dead, 66 injured, 69 arrested
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2014 18:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Economic ruin and a pile of bodies. Smells like socialism.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/16/2014 19:26 Comments || Top||


Europe
Opposition ready to vacate seized Kiev building
[SEATTLEPI] A top Ukrainian opposition leader said Saturday that protesters are ready to vacate the Kiev City Hall they have occupied for nearly three months -- if the government drops all charges against the demonstrators.

This week, the last of the 234 protesters were released from jail as part of an amnesty. The amnesty law also calls for the opposition to vacate seized government buildings in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine.

Oleh Tyahnybok, head of the nationalist Svoboda party, said Saturday the opposition is ready to vacate the Kiev City Hall, used by protesters as a dormitory, if criminal cases against protesters are dropped. He added that a final decision will have to be approved by demonstrators on Kiev's Independence Square, known as the Maidan.

"If we have guarantees that right after this step the government will close all the criminal cases against participants of the protest movement, with the consent of Maidan we are ready to take this step," Tyahnybok told news hounds.

The protests erupted in November after President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned a long-anticipated political and economic treaty with the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and sought a bailout loan from Russia. After police violently dispersed several rallies, the protests turned into a broader movement for human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and against corruption. Yanukovych still remains popular in the Russian-speaking east and south of the country, where cultural and economic ties with Russia are strong.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Hungary's Jobbik party holds rally in former synagogue
Hungary's far-right Jobbik party has prompted criticism after holding a rally inside a former synagogue in the town of Esztergom. Jewish groups called Friday's event "disgusting", and said it was insulting to the memories of Holocaust victims. Jobbik leader Gabor Vona insisted his party didn't want to "provoke anyone, including the Jewish community".

The party, which professes to protect Hungarian values, is the third largest in parliament. It regularly issues anti-Semitic statements.

Around 100 protesters gathered with candles outside the police-guarded building, which is now being used as a cultural center. Some wore a yellow star on their coats.

The demonstrators tried to form a human chain to prevent Jobbik supporters from entering the building, but were thwarted by security forces. Protest leader Agnes Drelyo said, "It is a perversion from Jobbik to organise a forum at a former synagogue."

Inside the cultural center, Vona told supporters that he had "nothing to be ashamed of". He said, "As a legal party which won the votes of around one million people in 2010, we have as much right as anyone to hold an event here."

The mayor of the town said she had asked Jobbik to choose another venue, but had no authority to block the party from holding a rally in the old synagogue.

Jobbik's deputy group leader, Marton Gyongyosi, caused outrage two years ago when he said officials of Jewish origin should be listed because they might be a "national security risk".
Posted by: ryuge || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkish politicians suffer broken finger, blood nose in parliament brawl
[ABC.NET.AU] Politicians have suffered a blood nose and a broken finger in violent scuffles in Turkey's national parliament.

The punch-up happened during a heated debate over a controversial bill which gives the government more control of the judiciary.

Fighting erupted with fists flying in the air between ruling party and opposition politicians as the bill was debated in a marathon 20-hour sitting.

The bill gives the government more influence over the appointment of judges and prosecutors, which is significant in light of the feud between prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet...
and his rival, a US-based holy man called Fethullah Gulen.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did Erdogan get punched while he was picking his nose?
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2014 20:37 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
John Kerry to urge climate action in Indonesia address
[BBC.CO.UK] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
is to deliver a speech urging the global community to act against climate change, during a visit to Indonesia.

He will make the point that there is scientific proof of climate change threatening not only the environment, but also the world economy.

Mr Kerry is due to give his address on Sunday in the capital, Jakarta, as part of a regional tour.

The US, along with China, is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. On Saturday, both nations issued a joint statement pledging to do more to curb their carbon dioxide output. Steps include reducing car emissions and improving the energy efficiency of buildings.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The US Kerry, along with China, is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

That's better...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/16/2014 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Wattafokntuhle
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/16/2014 1:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Steps include reducing car emissions and improving the energy efficiency of buildings.

And after that maybe you can figure out how to plug that damn volcano.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/16/2014 11:11 Comments || Top||

#4  The biggest threat to the world economy is tax.

The biggest threat to phoney baloney jobs is people realising the truth, i.e. CAGW is a scam.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/16/2014 12:21 Comments || Top||

#5  And now Jawn is recommending the US hire an Ambassador to the Arctic. This man is certifiable.
Posted by: Mugsy Glink || 02/16/2014 14:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Why not appoint an ambassador to the Antarctic?

1)Unlike the Arctic, there is land underneath the ice.
2)If the Antarctic ice cap melts, sea levels will actually rise, unlike the Arctic ice cap.

In a few thousand years, the Antarctic could actually be inhabitable. So we should get ahead of the curve and appoint an ambassador.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 02/16/2014 14:06 Comments || Top||

#7  As Americans endure one of the worst winters in memory, these morons on the left continue to try to sell their lies in order to attempt to gain CONTROL of the energy sector. That is the bottom line. Totalitarianism in America.
Posted by: Omavising Ebbemp9815 || 02/16/2014 16:52 Comments || Top||

#8  Gov't CONTROL is necessary. How else will they be able to sustain their financial extortion. Half way through Harry S. Dent's The Demographic Cliff. Not a very uplifting read. Revealing, but not uplifting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/16/2014 16:57 Comments || Top||

#9  The problem is that there is never enough money for govt. e.g., see Venezuela for the end game.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/16/2014 19:24 Comments || Top||

#10  See also TOPIX > [CTV] CLIMATE CHANGE "WORLD'S MOST FEARSOME WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION": KERRY.

RELATED AP-EXCITE = IN INDONESIA, KERRY BLASTS CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS.

MADONNA???

D *** NG IT, I also thought it was 1960's-1970's AEROSMITH + OLIVER STONE'S MASSIVE "TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROIDS"???

Or Nicholas Cage's "KNOWING"???

Well-l-l, I'm certainly embarrassed!

lol.

AND THEN THERES ...

* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > UN CHIEF SAYS COMMUNISM THE BEST ECONOMIC MODEL FOR WORLD.

D *** NG PART II, I should had asked my former Afghan War cohort Osama + Ayman, etal. on whether they remembered reading a Document(s) about this decades before???

[OWG BRIC "TRIP TO BRAZIL" GIRL PAULA "YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER/DELILAH-BATHSHEBA" ABDUL here].

but I digress ... ...
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/16/2014 20:04 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai protesters still in place, vow to press on with campaign
[EURONEWS] Anti-government protesters vowed on Saturday to maintain their campaign to unseat Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra despite dwindling numbers on the streets and a first tentative move by police against sites they are occupying in Bangkok.

Riot police reclaimed a thoroughfare in the capital's government district on Friday without resistance, but backed off from confrontation elsewhere in the city and made no move against the largest protest sites at intersections in the main shopping and business areas.

"Our mission is still going on, which is to reform the country," Ekkanat Promphan, the protesters' front man, told news hounds. "All protest site are still occupied by us and we will still continue our activity during the weekend."

The protesters view Yingluck as a proxy for her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a self-exiled former prime minister who clashed with the establishment before he was tossed by the army in 2006.

They are demanding that Yingluck makes way for an appointed "people's council" to overhaul the political system and rid it of the influence of Thaksin, a telecoms billionaire they accused of using taxpayer money to buy votes with populist giveaways.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
U.S. changing suits after dismal speedskating start
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the most scientific suit in the whole world," said U.S. skater Patrick Meek. "These guys make F-16 fighter jets. If they can invade Afghanistan and Iraq, they can build a speedskating suit"
(emphasis added - UP).IMHO, Mr. Meek seems to be unfamiliar with Positive Transference limitations.

It is a poor workman who blames his tools - Anonymous
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..sorry TW..
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 1:12 Comments || Top||

#2  For what ought I to forgive you, Uncle Phester?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2014 6:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, someone has to rearrange the deck chairs.
Posted by: gorb || 02/16/2014 9:19 Comments || Top||

#4  TW -- I pushed SUBMIT" before highlighting my comments. Someone, charitably, accomplished this task for me, but you "stinging rebuke" TM of a couple of months ago still has me cowering in fear.. ;)
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Changed US to U.S.
/pedant
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/16/2014 12:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Pedant is gud. Keeps on the straight and narrough. Nobody wants to be a looser
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2014 14:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Uncle Phester, 'twas I that fixed the lack of highlighting. You're welcome. I was afraid you'd done something truly dreadful that I lacked the skills to either recognize or repair.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2014 17:36 Comments || Top||

#8  ..TW - my core essence convulses with fear at the thought that you may not be enabled to recognize or repair one of my FUBARS.. ;->
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/16/2014 18:03 Comments || Top||

#9  Equipment problems? Let's talk about the men's shuffleboard, and the severe lack of a proper bar - its obviously hurting their performance.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/16/2014 18:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Uncle Phester, West Point teaches a computer security course. Apparently dreadful things can be done to computers, which is why Fred, badanov, and Bright Pebbles are on the job, while I fix missing highlights
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2014 23:59 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
25[untagged]
5Govt of Pakistan
4TTP
3Arab Spring
3Govt of Syria
2al-Shabaab
2Commies
1CAIR
1al-Qaeda
1Islamic State of Iraq
1Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Seleka
1Taliban
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Nusra
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Boko Haram

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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
Sun 2014-02-16
  Brahimi: Syria Peace Talks Break Off, No New Date Set
Sat 2014-02-15
  15 Dead in 'Terrorist Attack' in China's Xinjiang
Fri 2014-02-14
  Suicide Bomber Targets Police Bus in Karachi, 13 Killed
Thu 2014-02-13
  Thai terrorists kill woman, set her on fire
Wed 2014-02-12
  12 killed as three grenades rock Peshawar cinema
Tue 2014-02-11
  British Man Jailed for Threat to Kill Prince Harry
Mon 2014-02-10
  19 killed in violence in Iraq
Sun 2014-02-09
  As many as 500 feared dead in drug massacre in Coahuila
Sat 2014-02-08
  Evacuation operation in Homs begins
Fri 2014-02-07
  Syria Rebels Seize Most of Aleppo Jail as Bombing Toll Hits 257 Dead in 6 Days
Thu 2014-02-06
  Baghdad Bombs, One near Foreign Ministry, Kill 33
Wed 2014-02-05
  Suicide blast near Imambargah kills nine, injures 50 in Peshawar
Tue 2014-02-04
  Kenya Charges 129 as Shebab Members after Mosque Raid
Mon 2014-02-03
  Al Qaeda fighters in Syria kill rival rebel leader
Sun 2014-02-02
  46 Civilians Killed in Aleppo Barrel Bomb Raids


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