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Masked gunmen attack TV stations reporting the protests in Iraq
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Page 4: Opinion
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13 23:01 Skidmark [4] 
4 20:02 Chereting Pelosi1889 [10] 
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Page 6: Politix
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7 14:16 Lex [7]
-Land of the Free
NYT Article DENOUNCES Free Speech??! Says "Free Speech Is Killing Us"
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/05/2019 09:16 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Free Speech Is Killing Us"

From your mouth to the ear of G*d.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2019 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2  The truth will set you free. But it will give woke assholes a tummy ache too...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/05/2019 10:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Free SPEECH is killing us. A free PRESS (i.e., the NYT) is still important.
You should only listen to your betters - us.
To me, that is the real message in the NYT article.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/05/2019 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks, Lord Vader. Free Speech is killing us.

You simply have to read this stupid bastard. He goes from Donald Trump, Modi and Duterte winning on trollspeak to the christchurch foxtrot uncle and his televised spree. He even includes a critique on the first amendment itself, indicating there may be a need to review it !

The underlying premise is that from words on a blog or post, people escalate to actual violence. Hence it is necessary to curb the initial freedom to speak or write, and the violent stage should never arrive, voila !



Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 11:13 Comments || Top||

#5  ....Wandering if anyone else has noticed that when these articles come out, the liberals writing them ALWAYS assume that they'll be the ones imposing the rules...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/05/2019 11:59 Comments || Top||

#6  I think 50% of these writers could just as readily churn out right-wing propaganda, were we to pay them enough, ensure upward mobility and inclusion in some X-tasy fueled dyke parties.

Mercenary media, aggrandized academics and presstitutes.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 12:06 Comments || Top||

#7  DarthVader, I fixed the non-appearance of the video by changing the dimensions thusly:

width="400" height="215"

I have to admit that I merely copied the dimensions Herb McCoy used when he submitted the same video for tomorrow, for which he commented,

The Media: "Trump is trying to suppress the free press and is a dictator."

Also the Media: "Big brother government, I demand censorship of the people that say things I don't like."

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
-- George Washington
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2019 12:15 Comments || Top||

#8  I wonder why liberal tools
Assume they'll be making the rules?
You'd think they controlled
Our mass media, polls,
Civil service, courts, workplace, and schools!
Posted by: Angerert Grumble4096 || 10/05/2019 13:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Your free speech, not theirs.
Posted by: charger || 10/05/2019 13:29 Comments || Top||

#10  NYT is no longer involved in reporting or journalism.
It's a cross between a church, a group blog and group therapy, with a large jolt of Democratic Party lobbying & advocacy.

And all of it focused on driving higher subscription revenues.

But they have nothing in common with "the press," and should not be treated as such at law or in common discourse.
Posted by: Lex || 10/05/2019 14:14 Comments || Top||

#11  My annoyance at being copied is ameliorated by the fact that someone else is following Tim Pool.

All of you should. Head on over to YouTube and subscribe to his channel. Lots of good stuff there. Unless you're a warmongering neocon. Then you can take a long walk off a short pier because we and Tim Pool have nothing in common with you.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 10/05/2019 16:56 Comments || Top||

#12  Thanks TW!

Tim Pool is awesome. Definitely don't agree with him on everything, but the level headed way he presents things is always welcome.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/05/2019 18:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
The war in Yemen is a homegrown affair
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Many international commentators continue to present the war in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
through the lens of 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...
n intervention or sectarian conflict. This narrative has even influenced the US Congress, where some members have passed legislation that rests on the assumption that the war is between the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Abd al-Majid al-Zindani was a Yemeni Afghan-Arab, Salafist, al-Islah (Reform) Party leader, chief of the Hashid tribal confederation of North Yemen. Zindani was a crucial element in the Afghan-Arab jihad. In the period 1984-1990 he had been responsible for the movement of some 5,000-7,000 Yemenis to camps in Afghanistan for training and religious indoctrination. In the war in Afghanistan he became well known to the Saudi royal family, and he was feared by most of them. Zindani was a corrupt Sunni who could lead Arab-Afghans abroad but failed to lead at home. It has all been downhill since then.
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889 || 10/05/2019 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  The last paragraph, the appeal to the international community to understand the core reasons - it basically means if given enough money, Yemen should become a happy place.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Abd al-Majid al-Zindani was a Yemeni Afghan-Arab

All good to know, Chereting Pelosi1889, but I don’t see him mentioned in the article. What am I missing?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2019 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Note first sentence. And, "The Houthis’ ties to Iran, which they emphasized after they took control of the government in 2014, reinforced Saudi historic fears..."

Just giving depth to the Saudi "lens" and its "fears". I could have gone to great lengths to explain how the Saudis have chosen the wrong partners. Their blunders have given the Houthis the Sanaa access that has allowed a religious minority to create a schism that now seems unbridgeable.
Sometimes in depth reporting requires an in depth response.
Posted by: Chereting Pelosi1889 || 10/05/2019 20:02 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi Protests Highlight Importance Of Autonomous Kurdistan Region
[Jpost] During the recent protests in Baghdad, the difference between Erbil and Baghdad was clear.

As protesters gathered in Baghdad this week, an important forum took place in the autonomous Kurdistan region. Titled ’The Kurdistan Regional Government’s emerging strategy for stability in Iraq and the Region,’ it sought to emphasize the important role that the Kurdish region of northern Iraq plays in the country. Yet as guests gathered and speeches were given, including by the Prime Minister of the KRG, Masrour Barzani, the protests in Baghdad were harshly suppressed by the security forces.

The two scenes symbolize two parts of Iraq, one of which has gone through economic difficulties but emerged more stable and secure, and the other of which has large numbers of young people who wonder about the future.

It wasn’t this way two years ago. In the fall of 2017, the Kurdistan Region held a referendum on independence. Kurdish flags blanketed stadiums and a vote was held, overwhelmingly pro-independence. But Baghdad would have none of it and sent its tanks, soldiers and militias into Kirkuk to remove the Kurdish Peshmerga from the disputed city. It was a message to the Kurdish region: Don’t challenge Baghdad, we can sweep you aside.

Iraq has, since its foundation, been a contest between its center and periphery. When it was under the British and King Faisal, it was cobbled together with parts of Ottoman provinces. djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, which some thought might end up in the hands of a re-surging The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
under Ataturk, was tacked on to Iraq to make sure the country had more Sunnis. The Faisal regime eventually was tossed and a revolutionary Ba’athist Iraq emerged, full of the arrogance, social engineering and genocidal intentions that revolutionary nationalist regimes tend to have. Shi’ites were crushed and Saddam Hussein used gas against the Kurds.

Things changed after the 1991 Gulf war and after the 2003 US-led invasion. Now the center is dominated by Shi’ite political parties, many of them close to Iran. For the US, after 2009, this has been seen as a way to stabilize Iraq. Strengthen Baghdad, disregard the periphery.

However the KRG is rapidly become more central than Baghdad in some ways. Its cities like Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk, are cleaner and function better than many other places in Iraq. The region has been free from the krazed killer terrorism that affected other parts of the country. It has challenges, such as political impasses between its two leading Kurdish political parties and their dominant families. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
there is deeper investment and new infrastructure in the KRG.

The Kurdistan region which obtained its autonomy after years of hardship has nevertheless been treated shabbily by some western powers that should have admired its stability and success. Instead they seem generally to want to strengthen Baghdad and not hold Baghdad to the same standard as Erbil.

Posted by: trailing wife || 10/05/2019 01:44 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Home Front: Culture Wars
Homeschoolers Go On Field Trip To See Wild Animals At Public School
[Babylon Bee] TULSA, OK‐Local homeschool mom April Wilson and her husband took their kids on an outing they will never forget.

Like most homeschool parents, the Wilsons decided to homeschool solely on the conviction that public schools today just don't have enough Bible courses. Things were going smoothly until April's oldest son, Malachi, started acting out. The homeschool bad boy began cheating when grading his own work, his chicken sculpture project was going nowhere, and he was secretly playing "Thunderstruck" on his fiddle.

She had tried threatening her kids with public school, but Mrs. Wilson knew it was time for something drastic. Inspiration came while binge watching Scared Straight reruns. "I thought, why don't I let them see where they'll end up if they don't take homeschool seriously."

So she loaded up the fourteen passenger van and took the kids on their first outing this year other than Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby. As they pulled up to the school, Malachi and his siblings, Mark, Mary, Matthew, Miriam, Moses, Micah, etc. stared from the van at children in the worst possible conditions.

They first saw some kids running around screaming inside a cage full of what appeared to be exercise equipment. Next, they peered through a glass at some sedated looking children in a room full of chairs while an adult was brainwashing them with some kind of propaganda. Soon, a loud siren blared and the students lined up in rows like inmates.

"I've never seen anything so scary in my life," said Malachi. "Those kids were clearly drugged. They weren't wearing pajamas. They used pens that weren't made from chicken feathers. They were stuck doing schoolwork all day. They talked about things I had never heard of like 'Walking Deads' and 'Stars War.' And the food! Was that gruel? I don't ever want to end in a place like this."

At the time of this report, Malachi is much more appreciative of his life as a homeschooler. His youngest brother, Malchus, however, has recently been caught eating sugar and telling lies. If the problems persist, Mrs. Wilson is considering taking them to the local DMV to show them where they will end up working if they don't straighten up.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2019 00:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe I'm wrong, but is the Bee not shaking a bit to the left in the wind ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 3:55 Comments || Top||

#2  The "homeschool series" by the Bee is a long running fan favorite. Even among the hoomschooled. Good God how I love the Bee.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 10/05/2019 15:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I've worked in schools, I've 14 years old son. This is a great piece.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2019 15:41 Comments || Top||


Supreme Court To Hear Potentially Monumental Abortion Case
[Townhall] The United States Supreme Court announced Friday morning that it will hear the potentially monumental case, June Medical Services v Gee, brought forth by abortion providers against the state of Louisiana over what they say is an unconstitutional law which requires abortion practitioners to have admitting privileges at local hospitals.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2019 00:06 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is nothing monumental about it. It's a simple health and safety reg. The left would be 100% in favor if it didn't happen to mention abortion.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/05/2019 11:35 Comments || Top||


Science
Brain structure change in Holocaust survivors hereditary, study finds
[Medium] According to research presented at the 5th European Academy of Neurology Congress in Oslo on Sunday, the horrific ordeals of the death camps left a mark on the survivors’ brain structure, specifically in the form of grey matter reduction affecting the parts of their brain responsible for stress response, memory, motivation, emotion, learning, and behavior.

The study, called “Life-long effects of extreme stress on brain structures — a Holocaust survivor MRI study,” compared the brain function of 28 Holocaust survivors with the brain function of 28 people whose family had not been involved in the Holocaust utilizing MRI scanning.

As explained in a statement by the European Academy of Neurology, survivors showed a significantly decreased volume of grey matter in the brain compared with controls of a similar age who had not been directly exposed via personal or family history to the Holocaust.

The average age of the participants in the study was between 79 and 80.

The scientists also detected a similar reduction of grey matter in areas of the brain associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in combat veterans and those suffering early-life stress experience. However, compared to those suffering from other forms of PTSD, survivors presented a higher level of stress but also higher levels of post-traumatic growth, calling themselves generally satisfied with their life after the war.

“We revealed substantial differences in the brain structures involved in the processing of emotion, memory and social cognition, in a higher level of stress but also of post-traumatic growth between Holocaust survivors and controls. Early results show this is also the case in children of survivors too,” he added.

The study is not the first that identifies epigenetic changes in the children of those who experienced severe trauma.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/05/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My guess is that starvation will do that to a person.

The average age of the participants in the study was between 79 and 80

So these were babies/toddlers at the time?
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 10/05/2019 6:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Or perhaps that reduction helped survival?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/05/2019 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  affecting the parts of their brain responsible for stress response, memory, motivation, emotion, learning, and behavior.

Basically all that makes some of us human.
Posted by: HeyZeus || 10/05/2019 13:13 Comments || Top||

#4  The study may be grounded in actual phenomena discovered, relating to the effects of the holocaust on its victims. The conclusions and hypothesis it tries to posit are however... suspect.

Or maybe I'm just a cynical bastard wary of devious antisemitic academics.

'Epigenetic changes' from one generation only are called transgenerational. The size of the brain or retarding of the growth thereof is beyond the scope of one generation of change.

What I want to know is which survivors lined up to be tested by the eggheads ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 13:27 Comments || Top||

#5  parts of their brain responsible for stress response, memory, motivation, emotion, learning, and behavior

The most likely explanation is that people with these handicaps had a better (not good but better than average) chance of surviving death camps. And, if the cause is genetic, they've passed these attributes to their descendants.

p.s. No need to invoke antisemitism, Dron66046. Simply recognize the fact that the researchers are likely biophysicists i.e., physicists working in biology. And physicists can't understand the theory of evolution - look at all the prominent physicists who published "proof" that evolution cannot work (the morons appear incapable of grasping the idea that variation is followed by selection).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2019 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe you're right. I did say I'm a cynical bastard.

Yes, so the traits passed on would've been inherent for far longer then, in only particular individuals. Because there's no way PTSD could have induced the children to have reduced gray matter or cerebral mutations (!)

Early results show this is also the case in children of survivors too

This is what I think was suspect.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 14:13 Comments || Top||

#7  I did say I'm a cynical bastard.

That's why you belong here.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2019 14:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Reality is oftentimes confused with cynicism.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/05/2019 15:17 Comments || Top||

#9  A pessimist's life is full of pleasant surprises.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/05/2019 15:37 Comments || Top||

#10  I try to be cynical enough to understand the news, but lately it's hard keeping up.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 10/05/2019 15:39 Comments || Top||

#11  #9 is right ! You go through life smiling and oddly chuckling at the most inopportune moments though.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 10/05/2019 15:42 Comments || Top||

#12  #7 I did say I'm a cynical bastard.
That's why you belong here.
Posted by g(r)omgoru


I've been here since 2001. You're right
Posted by: Frank G || 10/05/2019 16:52 Comments || Top||

#13  So, environment shapes multi-generational behavior.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/05/2019 23:01 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
5Govt of Iran
5Govt of Iraq
3Islamic State
2Hamas
2Govt of Iran Proxies
2Govt of Sudan
2Houthis
2Sublime Porte
2Taliban
1PFLP
1Antifa
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
1Human Trafficking
1al-Qaeda
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Palestinian Authority
1Arab Spring
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Govt of Qatar (MB)

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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
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2019-10-05
  Masked gunmen attack TV stations reporting the protests in Iraq
Fri 2019-10-04
  At least 35 Russian mercenaries killed fighting for Haftar in Libya
Thu 2019-10-03
  Breaking: Paris knife attacker kills 4 people at police headquarters
Wed 2019-10-02
  Soleimani claims he and Nasrallah barely escaped Israeli air raid in 2006
Tue 2019-10-01
  Uzbekistani militant among 64 killed, wounded in Faryab clashes
Mon 2019-09-30
  Yemeni army captured over '2000 troops', inflicted heavy casualties on Saudi army
Sun 2019-09-29
  Susan Rice: Obama Put Call Transcripts On Top Secret Server, Too
Sat 2019-09-28
  Egypt Armed Forces kills 118 takfiris in anti-terrorism operations in north, central Sinai; 10 army personnel killed, injured: Statement
Fri 2019-09-27
  US deploys air defense systems, troops to Saudi Arabia
Thu 2019-09-26
  Israeli woman stabbed near Modiin; 14-year-old Palestinian arrested
Wed 2019-09-25
  High Alert In India As JeM Cells Feared Active | Balakot Camp Reopens For Business
Tue 2019-09-24
  Iraqi court sentences 6 IS militants to death over 2013 car bomb attack
Mon 2019-09-23
  Aramco’s Repairs Could Take Months Longer Than Company Anticipates
Sun 2019-09-22
  Greek police make arrest in 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
Sat 2019-09-21
  US to send troops to Saudi Arabia, hold off on striking Iran


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