[CBS] When the FBI showed up at Don Miller's home in rural Indiana in 2014 to seize part of his vast personal collection of artifacts, it was a shock for people who knew him.
"He was very beloved. He was very charismatic," former local reporter Liz Dykes said. Dykes interviewed the 90-year-old former engineer about his time in World War II, his missionary work in Haiti, and most of all, his huge collection of artifacts from around the world.
"The entire house is a museum. There are things everywhere," Dykes recounted. "It was just mind-blowing."
Miller willingly showed his collection to reporters, residents, and even local Boy Scout troops, so when the FBI came calling, she said, "I wanted to know what they were looking for... There had to have been something."
There was: something the FBI hasn't talked about‐until now.
"When I first went into his house and saw the size of the collection, it was unlike anything we'd ever seen," Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI's art crime unit, told CBS News correspondent Anna Werner. "Not only me, but I don't think anybody on the art crime team."
FBI photos ‐ never before shown publicly ‐ give a glimpse of the collection: some 42,000 items, including pre-Colombian pottery, an Italian mosaic, and items from China, some that Miller labeled "Chinese Jewelry" from 500 BC.
[NYPOST] An Oklahoma prison inmate took justice into his own hands last month ‐ beating and strangling a convicted child killer to death inside the cell they shared, according to officials.
Anthony Palma, 59, was allegedly murdered by his cellmate, Raymond Pillado, on Jan. 11 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
A medical examiner’s report, which was obtained Wednesday by KFOR, described the cause of death as "ligature strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head."
Palma had been sentenced to life in prison two years ago for a 1997 cold case murder involving an 8-year-old girl whose body was never found. Pillado, 35, is also serving several life sentences for murder and shooting with intent to kill, among other charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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Ummmm Cold case. No body...… Could be the guy. I go fifty-fifty.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
02/28/2019 0:08 Comments ||
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[PULSE.NG] A cesarean section carried out on an 11-year-old girl raped by her grandmother's husband has reopened the debate about abortion in Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , where rules on pregnancy terminations are strict.
"I want you to take out of my tummy what the old man put there," the girl had said in a complaint lodged with authorities in the northern province of Tucuman.
She and her mother then submitted an abortion request.
That procedure took seven weeks, though, as doctors invoked their right to conscientious objection.
Argentine authorities often drag their feet in such cases until the legal window for an abortion has passed.
At 23 weeks, doctors deemed the girl to be in danger but instead of an abortion, they performed a caesarean section.
"The child's wishes should have been taken into account. There were two reasons for the abortion," said the family's lawyer, Cecilia De Bono.
Argentine law allows for pregnancy terminations in extreme cases, such as rape or when the mother's life is in danger.
"Vaginally, it wasn't possible. Her body wasn't sufficiently developed for a 23 week pregnancy, and even if it had been, she wasn't psychologically ready given the many abuses she'd suffered," said gynecologist Cecilia Ousset, who took part in the intervention at the Eva Peron hospital in Tucuman.
The five-month-old fetus was extracted alive but doctors say it has almost no chance of surviving.
"The State is responsible for torturing Lucia," said #NiUnaMenos, which means 'not one less,' one of the feminist organizations leading the campaign to legalize abortion.
The Tucuman local government justified its actions, claiming to have put in place "the procedures necessary to save both lives."
Last year, a bill to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks was adopted by the chamber of deputies but defeated in the senate, under strong pressure from the church.
In Argentina, the home of Pope Francis, the question of abortion is a hugely divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... topic that inspires equally passionate debate from both sides of the argument.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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[Breaking Defense] The move could save more than $30 billion over 25 years -- but Congress is sure to explode in outrage.
Amidst rising anxiety over whether the US Navy’s thousand-foot-long flagships could evade Chinese missiles in a future war, the Pentagon has decided to cut the aircraft carrier fleet from 11 today to 10.
By retiring the Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Truman at least two decades early, rather than refueling its nuclear reactor core in 2024 as planned, the military would save tens of billions on overhaul and operations costs that it could invest in other priorities. But the proposal, part of the 2020-2024 budget plan due out mid-March, is sure to inspire outrage on Capitol Hill.
“I can’t imagine this will go over well at all,” one Hill staffer told me. We’re pressing congressional leaders for official responses, but the Pentagon decision seems to have blindsided them entirely. Navy officials have declined to comment on the forthcoming budget.
#1
...Word from the herd is that this one is an absolute non-starter and at best is a fairly clumsy tactic to get Congress to cough up a few extra bucks...not to mention that as a practical matter, it leaves us with nine carriers through most of the 2020s and 2030s.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2019 4:24 Comments ||
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#2
I'd be more concerned about running low on qualified personnel to man them all, given all the 'issues' we've had lately.
#5
What percentage of the world's population is within 200 miles of the coastline? If you need a sustained aerial campaign and no local SOF Agreement then -- carriers. The smaller ships and submarines will quickly run out of cruise missiles and the Air Force has only so many tankers for long missions...
What Is worrisome is that the US Navy seems to be building fewer and fewer of the smaller vessels that would be needed to screen these ships and do all of the other odd jobs. Flash back to the Age of Sail where the navies never seemed to have wnough frigates!
#6
Carriers have had a great run, and continue to be relevant now, but in 30-50 yrs, they'll probably be too risky and expensive. intermediate/long range missiles will make huge advances, drone-ish techs will have made huge advances, etc.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/28/2019 11:57 Comments ||
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#7
Our carrier fleet is designed to secure the entire world, if we no longer intend to do that we should scale back. Drop even one carrier and you no longer need the carrier fleet that supports it.
#8
Keep the Truman, retire the Ford and all the Ford class what with the unworkable Jetson launch system and all the other high teckky gee whizzy but unuseable in the real world toys ( despite what the consultants say)
And while you are at it congress; look into how good the new medical program Genisis is working. Go on, I dare ya.
#11
Hmmm, carriers that run on fracked natural gas. perhaps even the launch system. If we could run a ship on bull poop Washington DC could keep us going for several centuries.
[Law & Crime] Isn’t salsa great? There’s something magical about the assortment of chopped tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Maybe buff it with all-stars like garlic and onions. Spicy peppers are a nigh-requirement. There are countless recipes to try. Match the final product with some good tortilla chips, and you’ve got a party. So good!
In other news, a man in Maryville, Tennessee allegedly dipped his nuts into a customer’s restaurant order of salsa. Howard Matthew Webb was the passenger in the vehicle, police said in The Daily Times report. The delivery driver implicated in this is out of a job.
Video uploaded to social media seems to show a male passenger in a vehicle putting a white cup to his groin under his pants.
"This is what you get when you give an 89-cents tip for an almost 30-minute drive," says a woman from off-screen.
"Oh! It feels good on my balls," says the man. You can see the footage above.
Police said that guy is Webb. The investigation is ongoing.
The defendant’s attorney of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment. He faces a count of adulteration of food, liquids, or pharmaceuticals. A preliminary hearing on Tuesday was rescheduled for March 12. No charges were announced against the driver.
Local woman April M. Pennington told the Times that she saw the footage through a Facebook group chat, reported it to the driver’s employer Dinner Delivered, and that she posted it last Thursday because the company didn’t seem to be doing anything about it.
Dinner Delivered general manager Aliyah Wilson said the driver will no longer work for them. She also said Webb was not connected to the company. Wilson said the company was able to track down the video due to the 89-cent tip remark.
#2
My neighbors get almost everything delivered. Often, if the delivery people come to my door by mistake, they act like complete assh*les when told politely that they are at the wrong address. I guess doing gig economy deliveries attracts a certain type.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/28/2019 7:17 Comments ||
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#3
Dinner Delivered general manager Aliyah Wilson said the driver will no longer work for them. She also said Webb was not connected to the company.
Thanks, Aliyah, for two contradictory self-serving statements of stoopid
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2019 8:36 Comments ||
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#4
Beso, that time of year; even have irons still hot.
#5
two contradictory self-serving statements of stoopid
I read the “no longer work for them” as informing GrubHub or whatever delivery service Mr. Webb’s friend is contracted with that he’s been blackballed. (Yes, I know: to my room) And the other part confirms that the restaurant never had the friend on the payroll — though his misjudgement was allowing his stupid friend, Mr, Webb, to be in the car when he was working.
[WashingtonPost] If the forecasts for first week of March are verified, the groundhog may have to go into hiding over its early February prediction of an early spring. One of the coldest weeks of the winter season, compared to normal, is on its way.
What that means on the ground is that large portions of the north-central U.S. could struggle to get above zero, with widespread nighttime lows in the minus-10 to minus-20 range a decent bet in that region [up to 40 degrees below normal].
It's also possible that every state except perhaps Georgia, South Carolina and Florida will face high temperatures at or below freezing for at least part of the day during the stretch.
Feb was cold, too
Great Falls broke another record low Tuesday morning, with a reading of at least minus-22. The average temperature there is about minus-1 this month to date. That's the second coldest February on record for the city, and the coldest since 1936, when observations were taken at a different location nearby. Third place there is an incredible 10 degrees warmer!
Although Great Falls might not get its coldest February ever recorded, it is still a remarkable chill compared to recent history. A number of other locations nearby, like Rapid City in South Dakota, are testing similar marks. also Los Angeles will likely have its first February without reaching 70F
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
BUT,BUT Glo-bull warming??? It just cant be COLD! The adjusted data, just does not say it can be COLD??
[PULSE.NG] Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika remains at a Swiss hospital as protests grow in his country against his bid for a fifth term, the Tribune de Geneve newspaper reported Wednesday.
Citing what it described as multiple and well-informed sources, the TdG reported that Bouteflika has been at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) since Sunday.
HUG is a public teaching hospital, but has a private wing that could accommodate VIPs seeking privacy, according to the hospital's website.
A HUG spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Bouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, announced on February 10 that he would seek re-election in the April 18 vote.
The 81-year-old has repeatedly received medical care in Switzerland since the 1980s.
His office had previously announced that the president was scheduled to travel to Switzerland for "routine medical checks" ahead of the election.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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[ELUNIVERSAL] Romel Guzamana, deputy to the National Assembly (AN), denounced on Wednesday that 25 Pemón were killed during the 22nd and 23rd of February, in the framework of the failed entry of humanitarian aid, considering that it is unknown "which It is the reality of what is happening there now. "
"Twenty meters away they start firing, seven pemons fall (...) at that time, and they were taken, one to the morgue, the others, maimed by bullets, to the hospital, then they take some to Santa Elena (from Uairén) Twenty-five (25) dead, but we do not know what is currently the reality of what is happening there, "he said, cataloging later the" absolved assassins "psuvistas, including the minister Vladimir Padrino López, Diosdado Cabello and Nicolás Maduro, who, he says, "are doing a murderous media show".
"Thank God that in Venezuela there is no death penalty because they have to pay with jail day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, thinking of conscience, in the head for those deaths they did there in Santa Elena de Uairén, "he said.
The deputy and president of the Amazon Parliament, Ramón Flores, also spoke on the matter, explaining that they will denounce "crimes against humanity contemplated in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court." Not only twenty-five cowardly and vile murders, but forty-five maimed , five of them in a state of gravity ".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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#1
Have seen the Makuxi Pemon Indians on the Amazon. The simplicity of how they live is beautiful.
#2
"Thank God that in Venezuela there is no death penalty
because they have to pay with jail day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, thinking of conscience, in the head for those deaths they did there in Santa Elena de Uairén, "he said.
Hey pal, guess what - there is a death penalty.
These guys just flat out ran the town shooting everyone, and your plan is to see their day in court?
I understand not taking on armored vehicles with bows and arrows (not stereotyping, Gun Free Zone is all over it), but this is not a winning attitude.
[ELUNIVERSAL] Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Tuesday that there will be no monarchies or self-proclaimed presidents in Venezuela and said that the true destiny of the country lies in the freedom and illusory sovereignty of the people.
"As our Liberator said 200 years ago:" A republican government has been, is, and should be that of Venezuela; its bases must be the illusory sovereignty of the people, the division of powers, civil liberty ... "Our destiny today are not monarchies or self-proclaimed presidents," wrote Padrino López on the social network Twitter.
The minister referred in this way to what they have called the pretension of the "American empire" to invade by force the national territory, taking as an excuse the sending of humanitarian aid; also the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) has reiterated on several occasions its recognition and loyalty to Nicolás Maduro Moros as head of constitutional State, to the detriment of the request of the "president in charge" sworn in by the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó.
Maduro and the hierarchy of the military force defend that their period of legitimate government is 2019-2025.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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[The Hill] The schedule for President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s second day of meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam was abruptly changed Thursday.
Trump left the Metropole Hotel, where the summit took place, before 1:30 p.m. Vietnam time, or 1:30 a.m. Washington time -- more than an hour before originally scheduled.
About 45 minutes before Trump left, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters in Vietnam that talks would wrap up earlier than expected.
Trump and Kim were originally supposed to hold a working lunch was canceled.
The two leaders were also scheduled to participate in ceremony to sign a joint agreement. Sanders declined to say whether that ceremony would still happen, but it appears unlikely.
Trump’s press conference, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Vietnam time, or 4 a.m. Washington time, will now be at 2 p.m., Sanders said.
Pool reporters who had been waiting in the dining room at the Metropole Hotel, where the summit is taking place, were originally told lunch had been delayed for 30 minutes. The table in the dining room was set with menus and name cards on chairs.
Then at about, 12:35 p.m. local time, reporters were told by a White House spokeswoman that "there has been a program change."
Trump has been lowering expectations for the results of the summit even as he has touted his "very special relationship" with Kim. Trump has said repeatedly he is in "no rush" to get a denuclearization deal as long as North Korea refrains from nuclear and missile tests, saying at the top of the meetings Thursday that "speed is not important."
[FoxNews]
A planned signing ceremony set for Thursday afternoon in Hanoi, Vietnam, was scrubbed, and Trump took the stage soon after for a solo news conference.
Donald Trump's talks with Kim Jong-un ended abruptly on Thursday as the president said he was forced to walk away after the North Korean dictator demanded that all sanctions be lifted in return for giving up only some of his nukes.
Trump said the final snag that caused the sudden breakdown was over sanctions – and Kim's push to have all of them lifted in exchange for a concession Trump and his secretary of state could not live with.
'Sometimes you have to walk away,' Trump told reporters at a press conference in Hanoi that was abruptly moved up after a breakdown in talks.
The president expressed his hope that the two leaders would meet again, but acknowledged: 'It might be soon, it might not be for a long time. I can’t tell you.'
#3
I’d bet on Pudgy calling with a more serious offer in the near future. He’s never encountered a serious deal maker before... nor likely ever been spanked or treated like a reasonable adult, either.
#4
This is where The Narrative switches from "Trump is going to get rolled by the Norks" to "That boorish imbecile Trump has totally bollixed the negotiations".
[Ynet] US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... and North Korean leader Kim Pudge Jong-un ...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished... cut short their summit schedule during a second day of talks in Vietnam on Thursday, but it was not clear whether it was because of a deadlock in their nuclear negotiations.
Project Veritas has obtained and published documents and presentation materials from a former Facebook insider. This information describes how Facebook engineers plan and go about policing political speech. Screenshots from a Facebook workstation show the specific technical actions taken against political figures, as well as "[e]xisting strategies" taken to combat political speech. Catch it quick before Google memory holes it.
[PULSE.NG] Spain is probing an incident linked to the North Korean embassy in Madrid, the interior ministry and police said Wednesday, which Spanish media described as a break- in by people who stole computers.
"We are investigating," a ministry front man told AFP, saying the probe centred around "mild injuries to a North Korean citizen in the street."
A police source, who refused to be named, said the mysterious incident had taken place "near the embassy," describing the incident as "unusual."
The interior ministry front man said the North Korean embassy had not filed any official complaint.
Online news media El Confidencial reported that intruders made their way into the embassy on Friday, tying up and gagging employees for several hours before taking away computers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] MUZFFARGARH: A student of a religious seminary was allegedly kidnapped and subjected to torture and rape at Khangarh on Tuesday.
In the FIR, a student of Madressah Ashrafia stated that he was going to the mosque to say Maghrib prayers when two men riding a cycle of violence intercepted him near the seminary. The bikers, he said, blindfolded him at gunpoint and took him to an unknown place where they also called some other men, who subjected him to torture and rape.
He said the kidnappers and their accomplices also inflicted cuts on his body with a knife and blades, leaving him unconscious.
Later, the suspects threw him near the seminary and fled away.
The police after recording the victim’s statement shifted him to the district headquarters hospital for treatment. The police sources said the medico-legal report confirmed torture and rape.
A police official said initial investigation suggested that a land dispute could be a motive of the heinous crime.
The Khangarh station house officer said a case had been registered against the nominated and unidentified suspects under sections 377 and 324 of the Pakistain Penal Code and they would soon be enjugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! .
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] As part of its continued energy sector audits, Deloitte announced on Wednesday that the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) sold crude oil and condensate worth more than $2.26 billion in the third quarter of 2018 up from $1.84 billion in the previous quarter.
It had two findings.
"Oil export and consumption - We did not identify any misstatements in the 1 July 2018 to 30 September 2018 oil export and consumption data," stated Deloitte in their report.
The Kurdistan Region had a "gross value of crude oil and condensate sold (piped exports and local sales)" of $2,262,409,784 in the three-month period.
"Oil sales ‐ We did not identify any misstatements in the 1 July 2018 to 30 September 2018 oil sales data and the net amount received in the period by the KRG," added Deloitte.
Because of payments to other companies, licensing agreements, repayment of debts, payments to oil producers, among other costs, the KRG netted more than $1.3 billion ‐ $1,288,773,374 for sales and related activities, and $104,598,002 in additional advance payments made by buyers.
It averaged $63.098 per barrel of oil exported through the Ceyhan pipeline (totaling 35,246 851 barrels), and $67.734 for crude and condensate sold locally (totaling 174,761 barrels).
In the previous quarter, the KRG exported 30,190,384 barrels of oil through the pipeline.
An advisor to KDP President Masoud Barzani explained that the audits help in improving Erbil-Baghdad relations.
"It's an important issue between Iraq and the KRG," Masoud Haider, a former MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw English. "We hope that in 2019, with an open discussion ‐ all the issues, economic issues between the KRG and the federal government will be on the table and so on."
The audits are also a tool for the KRG when drafting contracts with foreign energy companies.
Deloitte was appointed to review the KRG's oil activities for 2014-2017 by the KRG's Regional Council for Oil and Gas Affairs.
The KRG welcomed the report.
"The Regional Council for Oil and Gas Affairs acknowledges the positive feedback received from stakeholders, including the international community, and reiterates its commitment to the people of Kurdistan that the two international audit firms, Deloitte and Ernst & Young, will continue to independently review the oil and gas sector, inclusive of all the streams," it stated.
[Rudaw] Baghdad can expect to receive 250,000 barrels of oil per day from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if it meets its own commitments to pay the Region’s civil servants, repays debts to oil firms, and supplies an adequate budget, a KRG source told Rudaw.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani are taking part in a meeting of the KRG’s oil and gas committee to discuss the budget, oil, and economic relations between Erbil and Baghdad, the source said.
"The Kurdistan Region is prepared on condition to send 250,000 oil barrels to Baghdad daily," the source told Rudaw, provided "Baghdad too is prepared to send salaries of Kurdistan Region employees, is committed to paying off the debts owed to oil companies, and dedicate functional budget."
KRG Finance Minister Rebaz Hamlan will present a report about the Region’s expenses and revenues, and Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami will present a report on its oil revenues, Rudaw has learned.
The meeting will also cover the agreement between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad on the budget, civil servant salaries, and Kurdistan Region oil exports.
Independent oil exports by the KRG have always been a sticking point in relations between the central and regional governments. Tensions boiled over in 2014 when the Iraqi government cut the region’s budget share.
The KRG has argued it can sell its oil according to the Iraqi constitution, while Iraq argues oil sales are a strictly federal matter. The vague, inconclusive nature of the issue stems from the document’s writ.
Article 111 of the constitution stipulates that oil and gas are owned by Iraqis "in all the regions and governorates". Article 112’s first and second sections provide vague detail.
In the first section, the federal government "shall undertake the management of oil and gas extracted from present fields" with the producing governorates and regional governments, and for the revenues to be distributed proportional to population in a "fair manner."
The second section of the document agreed upon in 2005 stipulates that the federal government, with the producing regional or governorate governments, "shall together formulate the necessary strategic policies to develop the oil and gas wealth". The two articles are vague and both governments have interpreted it differently.
This has led to crippling financial crises, coupled with a drop in oil prices, and the onset of the costly war against ISIS. The KRG had to slash the salaries of its public employees.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... after the events of October 2017, Iraq agreed to send 317 billion Iraqi dinars ($266 million) to supplement the loss of the Region’s oil revenues to pay public servants.
Under the administration of current Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, relations have improved. The 2019 budget is soon to be implemented.
The new budget bill has a protection for civil servants in the Kurdistan Region. No longer will their salaries be cut if the KRG does not hand over the oil. Rather, Baghdad could cut other non-salary related budgets for the KRG.
Iraq is unlikely to receive the 250,000 bpd it expects from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 2019 because previous international oil deals by the KRG and such high exports may put unneeded pressure on the Kurdistan Region’s recovering economy.
The Kurdistan Regional Government cannot hand over 250,000 bpd to Iraq’s state marketing company SOMO as part of the Iraqi budget bill mainly as its oil is subject to legal terms in long-term contracts. Iraq has shown flexibility.
Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban said on state media al-Iraqiyah on Sunday that the KRG is yet to over 250,000 bpd to SOMO. "It hasn't been handed over up to now", he claimed.
"We expect there soon will be dialogue. We see that the atmosphere is conductive and appropriate," added the minister.
Independent oil exports by the KRG have always been a sticking point in relations between the central and regional governments. Due to this in 2014, the Iraqi government cut the budget share of the region.
KRG has argued that it can sell its oil according to the Iraqi constitution, while Iraq argues oil sales are a strictly federal matter. The vague, inconclusive nature of the issue stems from the document’s writ.
Article 111 of the constitution stipulates that oil and gas are owned by Iraqis “in all the regions and governorates”. Article 112’s first and second sections provide vague detail.
In the first section, the federal government “shall undertake the management of oil and gas extracted from present fields” with the producing governorates and regional governments, and for the revenues to be distributed proportional to population in a “fair manner.”
The second section of the document agreed upon in 2005 stipulates that the federal government, with the producing regional or governorate governments “shall together formulate the necessary strategic policies to develop the oil and gas wealth”. The two articles are vague and both governments have interpreted it differently.
This has led to crippling financial crises, coupled with a drop in oil prices, and the onset of the costly war against ISIS. The KRG had to slash the salaries of its public employees to pay a salary at times once in three months.
However after October 2017 events, Iraq agreed to send about 317 billion Iraqi dinars ($266 million) to supplement the loss of the region’s oil revenues to pay public servants.
In the administration of current Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi relations have improved. Now, the 2019 budget that has become a law and is soon to be implemented.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/28/2019 00:00 ||
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h/t Instapundit
[PsychologyToday] ... I was surprised to learn from a new review article by Daniel Rosenfeld of Cornell University in the journal Appetite that reported vegetarians are more likely to be depressed than meat-eaters. Intrigued, I took a deeper look at this body of research. I located 11 peer-reviewed papers on the topic published between 2007 and 2018. Rosenfeld was right. Here’s what I found in each of them: Followed by theorizing. Of course, one could just go to Google Scholar and type "meat, chimpanzee"
#3
Ratatouille may be good, but it will never be beef tenderloin good.
Some personal observations:
I see a lot of vegetarian dishes trying to disguise themselves as meat, such as tofu 'burgers'. I don't see many meat dishes disguising themselves as vegetarian, such as pulled pork 'pasta'.
Vegetarian evangelicals don't seem to be having much fun; its always 'beans really do have enough protein to live on', 'kale tastes good really'. Carnivore evangelicals have the BBQ song from yesterday. I don't think a single band member was concerned that a stomach settler sponsored the video.
In the land where meat is a luxury, the person who brought the bags of beef jerky is lord.
There are good reasons to have a low meat, even no meat diet. Absolutely there are people who use that lifestyle as leverage in social situations, known them, depression would be a mild way to put it. Maybe not sociopaths. Maybe. I've seen vegetarians invited to the omnivore's table, and demand vegetarian dishes. I've seen omnivore invited to the vegetarian's table, and the vegetarian spent the meal trying to convince the others that the pressed and textured tofu was really chicken. It was some real 2+2=5 crap.
#4
"I see a lot of vegetarian dishes trying to disguise themselves as meat, such as tofu 'burgers'. I don't see many meat dishes disguising themselves as vegetarian, such as pulled pork 'pasta'."
While I agree 98% I've had a number of Indian dishes where I wonder why they bothered to add chicken because you simply couldn't taste it with the saunces and such.
[MindanaoExaminer] A POLICEMAN was killed and another was maimed when a group of gunnies, believed to be communist rebels, attacked them while patrolling an area in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon Monday evening.
Supt. Surki Sereñas, Police Regional Office 10 (Northern Mindanao) spokesperson, described the attack in Barangay Sumpong that killed Police Officer 3 Jerry Tropel as "treacherous."
Tropel’s companion, P01 Rene Caña, sustained injuries and is recuperating at a hospital.
"Caña narrowly escaped death but was also maimed after shooting it out with four button men armed with M1 rifles and caliber .45 pistols," Sereñas said, adding that they believe the New People’s Army (NPA) was responsible for the attack.
Sereñas said the coppers were on a night patrol in the area in response to frequent street crimes in the village.
A local radio report Tuesday morning indicated that the NPA has admitted the attack.
[MindanaoExaminer] A GROUP of 50 unidentified gunnies and two women believed to be members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) burned down some PHP3 million worth of heavy equipment at the Longa Hermosa Hacienda in Barangay Sta. Monica, Manjuyod town in Negros Oriental on Monday night.
The suspects set fire to five tractors and a Trio weapon carrier around 7:35 p.m., according to the police.
Authorities said they received a call from Martin Longa, 54, married, barangay captain of Sta. Monica and also hacienda supervisor, who reported that gunnies were in the vicinity of his house.
A witness, Rey Acibo Baldado, 45, married, also a resident of the barangay, claimed that while he was on duty inside the compound of the hacienda, the suspects suddenly entered and pointed a long firearm at him.
They introduced themselves in the Cebuano dialect as NPA members and asked for the barangay captain, the police report said.
The suspects then proceeded to Longa’s house, pointed a gun at him, and in the dialect also asked him for his firearm and "ngano wala mo nihatag ug kwarta" (why did you not give us money)?
Longa later told the police that he had previously received phone calls from unknown persons who threatened him for not paying revolutionary tax to the NPA.
He added that in the past nine years, he has received two extortion letters, one of which demanded PHP500,000.
He said he turned over the latest letter to the hacienda’s board manager, Ignacio Longa Vicente, 89, married, and a resident of Barangay Lapas, Bais City in Negros Oriental.
He further told the police that the suspects took his two cellular phones, two hand-held radios, and a Wi-Fi modem.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... .
Generations of hard work cultivating women's sports, oceans of money spent, and "transgender activists" will burn it all to the ground in a matter of months.
Women's sports are over, feminists. You lost an intersectional squabble with a more preferred victim group. https://t.co/QzwCHcvMwa
#3
Thing is a lot of companies have invested a lot of money in women's sports, especially equipment and apparel - I just watched a big name commercial with a bunch of girls whining to me that they too can play sports. Basketball, golf, tennis, meter ball have been pushing hard for a long time.
Strangely the battlefield will be women's power lifting. If women's sports loses that one it only a matter of time before all women sports get corrupted.
Back to the commercial, one of the sales points was about how nobody ever thought a woman could dunk the basketball, but that happened. Where I was 'yeah, one gal. Boys been dunking since junior high.' I like girls sports, and if my daughter gets passionate and skilled enough to get noticed by the next level, how discouraging would it be for Nutless Joe Jackson to run the court dunking on these gals.
So not just no. Hell no. I'm told trannies are everywhere, so tell them to start their own farking league. Set it up American/National league style with boys to girls in one division, and girls to boys in the other, and see which league will win every. single. time.
Hold on, wait a second. Team names. Trans-National Railroads. The Trans American Pipelines.
Back to the point. I don't want to see girls get crushed by boys with princess issues, and I don't want to see boys absolutely destroy some gal who thought she could be an offensive lineman.
[St. Louis Post Dispatch] A Virginia state employee has complained that her eighth-grade daughter was upset during a tour of the historic governor's residence when first lady Pam Northam handed a ball of cotton to her and another black child and asked them to imagine being enslaved and having to pick cotton. Yes, the vintage graphic is correct. That is a non-entitlement person picking cotton. I can assure you, there were many others doing the same type of work, at least in Georgia.
"The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions," Leah Dozier Walker, who oversees the Office of Equity and Community Engagement at the state Department of Education, wrote Feb. 25 to lawmakers and to the office of Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat.
"But the actions of Mrs. Northam, just last week, do not lead me to believe that this Governor's office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness," she wrote.
The incident highlights the scrutiny and doubt that envelope the governor as he tries to push past racist incidents from his past and ignore continued calls for his resignation. His first attempt at a promised "reconciliation tour" had a hiccup last week, when the student government at Virginia Union University asked him not to attend a black history celebration there.
And though Northam has vowed to dedicate the remaining three years of his term to racial equity, members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus say he is not doing enough to help disadvantaged minorities in the state budget.
#5
Sad the "Liberia" project didn't pan out as hoped. A United States of West Africa populated by ex-slaves that had more in common with each other than with the tribe that sold them out could have made a difference to Africa.
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.
[PULSE.NG] A cesarean section carried out on an 11-year-old girl raped by her grandmother's husband has reopened the debate about abortion in 
[Breaking Defense] The move could save more than $30 billion over 25 years -- but Congress is sure to explode in outrage.
[WashingtonPost] If the forecasts for first week of March are verified, the groundhog may have to go into hiding over its early February prediction of an early spring. One of the coldest weeks of the winter season, compared to normal, is on its way.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
North Korea
Project Veritas has obtained and published documents and presentation materials from a former Facebook insider. This information describes how Facebook engineers plan and go about policing political speech. Screenshots from a Facebook workstation show the specific technical actions taken against political figures, as well as "[e]xisting strategies" taken to combat political speech.
North Korea
[Rudaw] As part of its continued energy sector audits, Deloitte announced on Wednesday that the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) sold crude oil and condensate worth more than $2.26 billion in the third quarter of 2018 up from $1.84 billion in the previous quarter.
[St. Louis Post Dispatch] A Virginia state employee has complained that her eighth-grade daughter was upset during a tour of the historic governor's residence when first lady Pam Northam handed a ball of cotton to her and another black child and asked them to imagine being enslaved and having to pick cotton.
