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Pakistani Taliban have called off a ceasefire mediated with the help of the Afghan Taliban
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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3 22:33 Merrick Ferret [13]
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-Great Cultural Revolution
Charlottesville: Lessons in Leftist Sadism and Media Dishonesty
[News With Views] This is a book I was anxious to read. The author is the daughter of respected Southern historian Clyde N. Wilson, the leading authority on John C. Calhoun. I had a boots-on-the-ground source for information on what really happened on August 12, 2017 (relayed here and here). I became even more convinced that CNN (for example) is a lie factory.

The year 2017 was a turning point. The unholy globalist-leftist alliance having lost the presidency in 2016, its denizens wanted revenge. Antifa and Black Lives Matter became increasingly violent. Corporate mass media invariably blamed race-related mayhem on "fascists," "white supremacists," "white nationalists," "Nazis." I knew of just one case where such a description might have been veridical: Dylann Roof shooting nine black people in North Charleston, S.C., which prompted a new wave of cancellations of Southern culture when a photograph surfaced of Roof posing with a Confederate flag. Black-on-white violence, which has always far exceeded white-on-black violence, continued to go unreported except on alternative sites that are now up against Big Tech censorship.

With that as background, Anne Wilson Smith’s book is a welcome treatment of Unite the Right, and what happened that day. It is the only thing I’ve seen that even attempts fair-mindedness. Critics will say she is sympathetic to Jason Kessler, et al. Of course she’s sympathetic! Has anyone else given them half a chance? Wilson Smith pointedly asks:
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2021 09:30 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very upsetting. I downloaded the Kindle sample chapters for later, when I’m calmer.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2021 15:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah'm reading 'Lays of Ancient Rome', a book of four narrative poems about life and war in Roman times. Written by Thomas Babington Macaulay, first published in 1842.

An amazing set of ballads which someone from Rantburg thoughtfully referenced. Thank you.

Then out spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods...


Fantastic.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2021 15:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, speaking of "leftist sadism and media dishonesty," Fredo Cuomo's producer at CNN has been outed and arrested as a ped0phile-rapist

CNN Senior Producer Who Worked With Cuomo Arrested For ‘Sickening’ Child Rape Crimes Just Days After The Anchor Was Accused Of Sexual Misconduct





Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 23:17 Comments || Top||


To Princeton students: Show some self-respect and reclaim your freedom
Good stuff. Long. So many good paragraphs, but here is how she opens the essay:
[AbigailShrier] The question I get most often—the thing that most interviewers want to know, even when they’re pretending to care about more high-minded things—is: What’s it like to be so hated? I can only assume that’s what some of you rubberneckers want to know as well: What’s it like to be on a GLAAD black list? What’s it like to have top ACLU lawyers come out in favor of banning your book? What’s it like to have prestigious institutions disavow you as an alum? What’s it like to lose the favor of the fancy people who once claimed you as their own?
Posted by: Bubba Lover of the Faeries8843 || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Substack is rapidly becoming national samizdat in the USSA.

Thank you for this. We are not alone. Dum spiro spero
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 10:06 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
A look ahead: Predictions for 2022
[American Thinker] If we thought 2019 was weird and 2020 worse, 2021 was off the charts. What will 2022 bring?

January 1: Americans gladly say goodbye to 2021 yet welcome the New Year with skepticism and trepidation.

January 17: Democratic governors in five states sign legislation in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day making it a crime for a person not to immediately acknowledge the color of any other person with whom he interacts. Punishment for people "of color" (POC) will be waived. Whites, however, will be sentenced to up to $10,000 in fines and/or one year of imprisonment.

January 25: New Barack Obama autobiography hits bookstores.

January 29: Last three Americans abandon their New Year's resolutions.

February 1: The Biden administration celebrates the Chinese New Year. Joe, Jill, and Hunter get take-out kung pao chicken, pot-stickers, and fried rice...and attempt to eat with chopsticks. The president calls Xi Jinping to wish him a happy new year and asks him what his New Year's resolution is. Xi tells Biden it is to take Taiwan. Biden distractedly wishes him good luck and asks him about egg rolls.

February 3: The Democratic Congress passes a bill changing the name of the erstwhile federal holiday "Presidents' Day" to "FDR, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama Day."

February 12: BLM observes Lincoln's birthday by burning Springfield, Illinois to the ground.

February 21: Americans observe "FDR, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama Day."

And on it goes.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2021 05:53 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


-Land of the Free
Stopped Clock Syndrome - The Bartender Gets one Right
[Wash Examiner via Insty] During a Wednesday House hearing, the New York congresswoman gave impassioned remarks railing against "civil asset forfeiture." This refers to various federal and local law enforcement practices wherein private citizens’ assets — such as cash, cars, or homes — are confiscated due to the mere suspicion they’re associated with criminal activity. Often this occurs without much due process at all.

"Civil forfeiture means that the government, law enforcement, etc., is allowed to take away your property — often your car or even your home — without an arrest, without criminal charges, and without ever going to court. And then the police can sell your property and use the proceeds as revenue."
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Basically "civil asset forfeiture" allows those most likely to take the $$$$ property, to have an incentive to be creative in taking it.

Remember, this law was originally created to strip Drug Dealers and Cartel of Illegally obtained $$$$/properties.

But a growing number of poorly funded (De-funded) Police Departments have used it creatively to supplement their budgets.

Example: If you were to test any 2 year old $20 bill on your pocket. About 92% would come up Positive for Cocaine or other Drug residue.

YOUTUBE - YOU ARE ALREADY A FELON

So you could get arrested, lose your car, just going into a bank and withdrawing $100 in small bills and walking out the door into shady cop waiting on the bank side walk.





Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/11/2021 6:27 Comments || Top||

#2  The 14th apparently is no longer in effect:
"...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/11/2021 9:00 Comments || Top||


Britain
HMS Victory - The Original Fast Battleship
Posted by: badanov || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Huh. After reading so many stories about her, I thought she'd be bigger.
Posted by: Mercutio || 12/11/2021 8:55 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Negotiations between Putin and Biden: what did the leaders of the superpowers agree on?
Direct Transalation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Oleg Tsarev
[Rusvesna] So, perhaps, the most anticipated meeting of the leaders of the two modern superpowers has come to an end . And although the bulk of the communication between Putin and Biden remained outside the scope of the general public's attention, I think that even from the little that we know, certain conclusions can be drawn.

Immediately: both supporters of "peace right in the morning" and supporters of an immediate war were hardly satisfied with the results of the talks between the presidents. It is not difficult to understand them: the situation of "neither peace, nor war", in which Ukraine and Donbass will be for a long time, is not very comfortable for anyone.

What is important for me personally: the suspension of the situation does not suit many Russian and Russian-speaking people, who now in Ukraine feel like second-class people. Now let's take a closer look at the situation. I'll make a reservation: not as easy as it might seem at first.
Read the rest here
Posted by: badanov || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What did they agree on?

Nothing. Why do you ask?

The US still has not clarified what exactly is it's vital national interest there? Is Ukraine being primed for entry into NATO? If so, why? To prevent Russia from from invading... West Germany? Romania?
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Favorite ice cream?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/11/2021 15:46 Comments || Top||

#3  The US still has not clarified what exactly is it's vital national interest there?

Merrick,

Let me suggest that the issue here isn't so much the Ukranians...but the Poles. Their 'never again' mindset is pretty much that of Israel, and if Putin ends up absorbing or politically controlling the Ukraine the Poles aren't going to be putting a whole lot of stock in a NATO promise to defend them. That might start a Big One faster than anything else - they are not going to listen to counsel to be calm, to negotiate, and not to provoke.

They've seen that movie, and they know how it ends.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/11/2021 15:47 Comments || Top||

#4  I get why Stalin, or his predecessors, wanted to control Poland. Assuming that NATO were not on Russia's doorstep, what possible benefit would today's Russia -- not the "USSR" of Lloyd-have-mercy's fever dreams, or Magoo's delusions -- how exactly would Russia in 2021 or 2022 gain from dominating Poland?

The Gdansk shipyards?

Satisfaction in liberating the Silesian weavers?
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 17:01 Comments || Top||


Economy
World Economy Entering Period of Oil Scarcity, Halliburton CEO Says
[Business & Economy VIA ET] Halliburton CEO and president Jeff Miller made waves on Monday predicting that the world is due for a period of oil scarcity in comments at the World Petroleum Congress in Houston, Texas.

"I think that for the first time in a long time, we will see a buyer looking for a barrel of oil, as opposed to a barrel of oil looking for a buyer," Miller said.

Since 2014, the oil industry has generally deemphasized building new infrastructure in the face of low prices. However, that trend may now catch up with the industry, which now finds demand for oil exceeding the available supply given current infrastructure.

Some analysts have speculated that it is increasingly likely that oil prices will soon climb to $100 per barrel, a price unseen in the past seven years and which has serious potential to disrupt the economy.

An additional factor contributing to predicted oil scarcity is a labor shortage in the fossil fuel industry surpassing that in the general economy.

The widespread perception that fossil fuels will be marginalized in the future of energy and transportation makes long-term careers in petroleum unattractive to young workers, with many oil workers seeking to switch to renewables or leave the energy industry outright.

A recent survey revealed that 43 percent of oil industry employees sought to transition to other sectors in the next five years, as reported by Reuters.

As baby boomer employees retire, the industry struggles to replace them with young workers, who see the oil industry as unfavorable to long-term careers because of concerns about climate change models, and pressure by politicians, environmentalists, and investors to transition to renewable energy sources.

This combination of infrastructural underinvestment and labor shortages is likely to result in an oil supply stretched thin to meet demand, resulting in higher prices and possible shortages.

With oil extraction occurring at a significant time lag from industry investment and the skill shortage in the labor industry showing no signs of abating, there are major reasons to believe that any scarcity in oil supplies could last long into the future.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2021 06:36 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A recent survey revealed that 43 percent of oil industry employees sought to transition to other sectors in the next five years, as reported by Reuters.

Plenty of oil and gas available, the environmental whackos simply driving the industry out of business.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2021 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Its been a while since someone spouted teh Peak Oil BS...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 12/11/2021 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  likely that oil prices will soon climb to $100 per barrel

I suspect that, along with CO2 'fears,' will be used to justify nationalization of the domestic oil industry - with consequences like those in Venezuela.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/11/2021 10:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Not oil scarcity, oil extraction scarcity.

Then we lose the on-hand wisdom and culture.

Totally self inflicted, and with malice.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/11/2021 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  How to Shoot Yourself In The Foot, or the Green New Dope Playbook

1. Harass, limit, block tight-oil extraction and transport (Keystone, etc)

2. Badger institutional investors not to invest in oil and gas companies; promote "ESG" investing

3. Watch said companies curtail new investment in production
4. Watch supply contract
5. Watch oil prices soar

6. Watch said companies' stock prices soar -- as ESG companies' stock prices slide

7. Watch the (smarter, wiser, non-Woke) institutional investors flock back to oil & gas company stocks

8. Watch O&G stock prices rise even further

9. Declare success and change the subject: Why aren't there more Noble Mulattas on Exxon's board?

Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 11:45 Comments || Top||


Foreboding – U.S. Productivity Declined 5.2 Percent in Third Quarter, Largest Quarterly Drop in 61 Years
[The Last Refuge] U.S. nonfarm productivity is a measure of economic activity within the engine of the U.S. economy. The U.S. productivity rate is a measure of how much value is produced by the economy through demand for the products and services, and the labor associated with the creation of those products and services.

Anecdotally, it has looked for quite some time that around May of this year the economy peaked, plateaued for a few weeks, and then began a slow downward progression. Today the Bureau of Labor statistics puts some revised data to that third quarter (July, August and Sept) economic activity {data here}. The quantified results align with what we sensed was taking place.

The value of all products and services generated increased by 1.8 percent. However, the labor cost of generating that small amount of added value increased by 7.4 percent. The difference between those two numbers is a drop in productivity of 5.2% over the entire quarter.

This is the largest quarterly drop in productivity since 1960 !

The Biden administration will blame the drop in productivity on a lack of material to produce the end product (ie. the COVID excuse). Which means employed people were sitting around waiting for goods to arrive and being less productive. There is a small amount of that which might be true. However, it is not the biggest factor, at least not on this scale. Keep in mind we are talking about both goods and services.

The more likely cause of such a massive decline in productivity is a genuine decline in demand. In the aggregate, consumers needed less goods and services. This likelihood aligns with the diminished and softened retail sales figures recently noted. It is a simple cause and effect. When gasoline, energy, and essential products like food cost more, consumers have less money for other stuff. Demand for the non-essential products drop.
Posted by: Flatch Wittlesbach3456 || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gift wrap and a bit more can be found at this link.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/11/2021 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  How many workers are being paid to wait for imported foreign parts?
Posted by: magpie || 12/11/2021 2:14 Comments || Top||

#3 

This can't be so?
I heard Biden tell us on the Radio yesterday that we were in the strongest economy in 60 years.

At least that was what they put on the teleprompter for him to read.
Posted by: NN2N1 || 12/11/2021 6:07 Comments || Top||

#4  US productivity declines when you ship jobs outside the borders.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2021 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  If the only thing US workers are allowed to do is deliver imported goods and/or collect "benefits" that are fueled by inflation...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/11/2021 13:41 Comments || Top||

#6  A global version of Heinlein's "bad luck" is right around the bend. And as Francisco D'Anconia said in Atlas Shrugged, "You asked for it, brother."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/11/2021 13:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Stagflation, here we come
Posted by: Merrick Ferret || 12/11/2021 18:09 Comments || Top||


Europe
Biden's Nord Stream 2 Move Opens The Door To A Russian Invasion Into Ukraine
[Daily Caller]
  • President Joe Biden’s lax policy on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, choosing to remove barriers to its construction, has opened the door to a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  • "Biden made a preemptive concession at the beginning of his administration without going to the table and talking with Putin," former Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in August that his government views the project as a "dangerous geopolitical weapon of the Kremlin," AFP reported at the time.

President Joe Biden’s lax policy on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, choosing to remove barriers to its construction, has opened the door to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, an expert told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Opponents of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was recently completed, argue it would make Russia less reliant on the Ukrainian gas pipeline network, potentially stripping a key deterrent to invasion, according to The Wilson Center. Nord Stream 2 would remove both a key revenue source from Ukraine and a powerful tool the nation has in defending itself against Russian aggression.

In May, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would waive sanctions placed on the pipeline by former President Donald Trump. Biden gave a final stamp of approval to the $11 billion project, which is operated by the Russian state-run firm Gazprom, on July 21 after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"Biden made a preemptive concession at the beginning of his administration without going to the table and talking with Putin," former Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Wilkie added that once the natural gas begins to flow from Russia to Europe via Nord Stream, the European nations relying on it for their energy needs will be less inclined to protect Ukraine from potential Russian aggression. (RELATED: Dozens Of Republicans Slam Biden Administration For Considering Crude Oil Export Ban)

"Once the natural gas starts to flow, you have just tethered Western European comfort and prosperity to Moscow," said Wilkie, who also led the Department of Veterans Affairs from July 2018 until January.

"The Ukrainians have figured correctly that the Europeans are going to be neutered, they’re not going to want to turn off that flow for economic reasons," he continued. "And that leaves the United States, and perhaps the Eastern European friends of America, particularly Poland, as their only buttress against Russian adventurism."
Posted by: Flatch Wittlesbach3456 || 12/11/2021 00:00 || Comments || Link || [24 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
4Islamic State
4Hezbollah
4Taliban/IEA
3Govt of Iran
2Antifa/BLM
2Migrants/Illegal Immigrants
2Govt of Pakistain Proxies
2Muslim Brotherhood
1Pak Taliban (TTP)
1Sublime Porte
1[untagged]
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Banditti
1Devout Moslems
1Hamas
1Houthis
1Moslem Colonists
1Narcos

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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
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tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2021-12-11
  Pakistani Taliban have called off a ceasefire mediated with the help of the Afghan Taliban
Fri 2021-12-10
  Bandits Raid Another Mosque In Niger State, Shoot 15 Worshippers Dead
Thu 2021-12-09
  French cops foil 'ISIS' Christmas knife rampage as they arrest two
Wed 2021-12-08
  Syria Says Israeli Warplanes Hit Latakia Port Containers
Tue 2021-12-07
  Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga retake northern village from ISIS fighters
Mon 2021-12-06
  Turkey Agrees to Withdraw Foreign Forces from Libya
Sun 2021-12-05
  'Horrific, cold-blooded murder': Sialkot blasphemy lynching
Sat 2021-12-04
  Philippine Troops Kill Suspected Leader of IS-linked Group in Mindanao
Fri 2021-12-03
  Biden officially RESTARTS Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy
Thu 2021-12-02
  Record of Waukesha massacre suspect's $1,000 bail hearing missing
Wed 2021-12-01
  Waukesha massacre suspect Darrell Brooks faces new charge for death of 8-year-old boy
Tue 2021-11-30
  Turkish lira skids again after Erdogan orders manipulation probe
Mon 2021-11-29
  Iranian arrested in Kenya for planning attacks against Israeli targets
Sun 2021-11-28
  Police fire tear gas at anti-government protesters in Burkina
Sat 2021-11-27
  Hamas banned in the UK


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