DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
Nigeria Islamist raid 'kills 63'
Dozens of people are killed in bomb attacks on police and churches in Nigeria's north-eastern town of Damaturu - Islamist group Boko Haram's deadliest raid to date.
No public memorials were planned at Fort Hood to mark the second anniversary of the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation.Is that because the PC crowd doesn't want this to be remembered or known about? Don't be surprised if it is.
"The thing I've heard a lot of families who've lost people in Iraq and in Afghanistan (say) is that they just don't want people to forget," Kerry Cahill said. "People don't bring it up because they don't want to remind you—well, I remind myself every day. I don't want people to forget that it happened, and I don't want people to forget my father."And we must hope he receives the former punishment, since he really deserves it.
On that sunny autumn day two years ago, a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform stood near the front door of a Fort Hood medical building where deploying and returning soldiers received vaccines and other tests. He shouted "Allahu Akbar!"—which means "God is great!" in Arabic—and opened fire, witnesses said. Some soldiers thought it was a training exercise.
He rapidly fired, pausing only to reload, shooting at soldiers hiding under desks and those fleeing the building, according to witnesses. Capt. John Gaffaney was fatally shot after throwing a chair at the gunman. Spt. Jason Dean "J.D." Hunt, Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow and Pfc. Michael Pearson died while trying to protect several nurses at the back of the building. The others who died, most in the front area, were Capt. Russell Seager, Sgt. Amy Krueger, Spc. Frederick Greene, Pfc. Aaron Nemelka, Pfc. Kham Xiong and Pvt. Francheska Velez, who was pregnant.
Some witnesses identified the gunman as Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Muslim who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan the following month. His trial is set for March. If convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Membership in the upper ranks of the Chinese Communist Party has always had a few undeniable advantages. There are the state-supplied luxury sedans, special schools for the young ones and even organic produce grown on well-guarded, government-run farms. When they fall ill, senior leaders can check into 301 Military Hospital, long considered the capital’s premier medical institution.
But even in their most addled moments of envy, ordinary Beijingers could take some comfort in the knowledge that the soupy air they breathe on especially polluted days also finds its way into the lungs of the privileged and pampered.
Such assumptions, it seems, are not entirely accurate.
As it turns out, the homes and offices of many top leaders are filtered by high-end devices, at least according to a Chinese company, the Broad Group, which has been promoting its air-purifying machines in advertisements that highlight their ubiquity in places where many officials work and live.
AWESOME.The disk is made of gas and dust, slowly being consumed as it spirals down into the black hole’s center. As it falls in, the material spews out a tremendous amount of energy, forming what is known as a quasi-stellar radio source, or quasar.
Among the brightest objects in the sky, quasars are short-lived phenomena that only existed during the earliest eras of the universe. They are known to be huge — most are around 60 billion miles across — yet they lie billions of light years from Earth, making them nothing but insignificant pinpricks in even the most powerful telescopes.
Hubble was able to image the distant disk, which is approximately 18.5 billion light-years away, because a huge galaxy happens to sit between Earth and the quasar. The mass of the enormous galaxy bent light from the quasar and directed it toward our telescopes, acting like a gigantic gravitational lens.
The technique allowed the Hubble telescope to see with unprecedented detail. Because of this, researchers were able to measure the disk’s size — between 60 and 180 billion miles across — and determine the temperature of different parts of the disk.
The flare originated in a humongous sunspot that was sighted earlier this week, which ranks as one of the largest sunspots seen in years. The event began at 4:27 p.m. ET (2027 GMT).
The flare "triggered some disruption to radio communications on Earth beginning about 45 minutes later," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Scientists are continuing to watch this active region as it could well produce additional solar activity as it passes across the front of the sun."
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in Lower Manhattan have finally landed something they've badly needed: portable toilets.OF COURSE, THESE TOILETS ARE BEING PAID FOR BY AN ANONYMOUS DONOR.
For seven weeks, the occupiers of Zuccotti Park -- a block from Wall Street -- were mostly relying on fast-food restaurants and the kindness of other establishments to do their personal business. But neighbors complained to public officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that demonstrators were also urinating and defecating outdoors.
The group’s website announced Friday afternoon that Occupy Wall Street “is providing access to porta-potties in a private, well-lit space with 24-hour security, only 2 blocks away from the square.”
The announcement said the portable toilets would be “maintained by a professional service” and that volunteers would be blanketing the park with fliers directing people to the facilities.
... The portable toilets are located on a loading dock of the United Teachers Federation building that the protesters have been using to store supplies donated from around the country.
Lymus began designing jewelry when she was 7, and now has a line of clothing called Amirah Creations. She is a devout Muslim, but her dresses will surprise you.
They are full of color: blues, purples, prints and tapestry woven pieces. Lymus is determined to break down many of the stereotypes about Muslim women — like the assumption that all Muslim women are docile and wear black.
"I like colors and I like flowers, and I like head pieces with feathers coming off of them, and all I do is just put it on top of my hijab instead of putting it on my hair," Lymus says. "I am a woman — I am attracted to those things, so I really want to break down that stereotype."
Trip to the Grocery Store Costs You More. “As if Americans haven’t noticed, their trip to the grocery store over the past couple of years has cost them more. How much more? Between 12-20% depending on what you purchase.”IT'S WORSE: the packages are smaller, too! That pint of Tropicana is now 14 oz.
UPDATE: Reader Ken Alwes writes: “It’s a good thing that the cost of food and energy are excluded from the government’s formula for tracking inflation, otherwise we might be experiencing an inflationary cycle. That formula makes sense, really. I don’t know anyone who buys food or energy.”
Posted at 10:57 am by Glenn Reynolds
Could a guy who didn’t know what the “right of return” was and who whiffed on the biggest softball question ever about Gitmo really not know that China has a nuclear deterrent? I’m thinking … maybe.
"The breathtaking contempt at the heart of the British government for its own people and for democracy was showcased by its Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition on October 24. Prompted by popular sentiment, a non-binding motion on Britain and the European Union was scheduled to be debated by MPs. The motion proposed holding a referendum, giving the public a chance to express their opinion on whether the country should withdraw from the EU, or remain a part of the EU, perhaps with the intention of negotiating some powers back from Brussels.
"Neither the British nor any other people in Europe voted for its President, Herman Van Rompuy. Nor do they --or anyone, for that matter -- have the power to vote him or anyone out. Yet at least 75% of laws passed in Britain are currently drafted in the EU. Vladimir Bukovsky, a former jailed dissident who fled the former Soviet Union, calls it, "The EUSSR." The EU is, fundamentally, totalitarian.
The reaction of the three main parties has been baffling, to put it mildly. Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party congratulated the Prime Minister over the ousting of the Gaddafi regime, and spoke of the importance of Libya being able to decide its own future. Without the slightest hint of irony, he then claimed that Britain had to remain in Europe, negotiating its place. As such, he asserted, it would be wrong to allow the British public to vote on EU membership. It might be good for Libyans to decide their future, but apparently not for Britons.
Most astonishing, however, was the response by the Conservative Party leadership, rightly described by Peter Hitchens – author of The Abolition of Britain, and brother of Christopher Hitchens – as "a near-medieval group of courtiers beyond the reach of any sort of accountability." Prime Minister Cameron and his clique made British democracy appear as little more than an elaborate sham on Monday as they attempted to justify denying the public a voice on their future, and the future of their children and grandchildren. That may seem a dramatic statement, but unfortunately it is accurate."
PARIS (AP) - Palestine became a full member of UNESCO on Monday, in a highly divisive move that could cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the U.S. and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.The UN is long past time for closure already. They're not worth being a member of, and are costing billions of dollars better spent on other, better projects. Not even their science unit is worth the bother.
Lawmakers in the United States, which provides about 22 percent of UNESCO's funding, had threatened to halt some $80 million in annual funding if Palestinian membership was approved. It wasn't clear in the immediate aftermath of Monday's vote whether the threat would become reality. [...]
Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but it alone won't make Palestine into a state. The issue of borders of an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved.
Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the U.S. has said it will veto it unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO and other U.N. bodies. [...]
The U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said Monday's vote will "complicate" U.S. efforts to support the agency. The United States voted against the measure.
Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy.
"UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction," he said. "They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence."
"They've forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization," he said.
Okay, okay, let’s all stand up and say it together: We are appalled at the kind of Jews who deface graves, burn down mosques and spray-paint hate slogans. I don’t know a single person in this country who disagrees or could find any way to excuse, condone or rationalize such indecent behavior.The Jawa Report agrees with her that the court's decision is some of the most bottom of the barrel political correctness ever seen, not to mention that the authorities' allowing this harvest of hate to go into Itamar is abominable. This is exactly why legislation is needed to overcome this kind of putrid PC mindset.
Do we feel better now? I know what would make me feel better: never having to read another self-righteous, one-sided demonization of “settlers” or another hand-wringing, groveling apologia from my government. Although I suppose the words have to be said, they do no good, except to make the writer or speaker feel superior. They don’t illuminate the problem or in any way set us on a road to redemption.
Instead, let us all open up the books and look directly at the pictures in this bloody album, something we Jews in Israel are loath to do, preferring – if we agree to look at all – a soft-focus lens, or, better still, to shift focus completely, like the post-bus-bombing haste to pick up body parts, wash away blood and hide the charred metal carcasses before, God forbid!, a foreign reporter can snap a picture.
See, we are back to normal, whoever-is-in-charge seems to be saying with a smirk of self-congratulation. Good as new. Don’t make a fuss. Suck it up.
That actually works for most of us in Israel, most of the time. But there are those few who find it hard to move on, who want closure of some kind, call it justice, retaliation or revenge. That said, very few of them are arsonists or the ones with the spray cans.
Those are mostly idiot kids, or the kind of criminal element that always finds its way into extremist circles in all countries, religions and movements. The ones that concern me are the normal people forced to face extreme circumstances, who could very well be pushed over the edge.
Let’s start with the people of Itamar[...]
On September 13, Hakim was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences. Explaining their decision not to invoke the death penalty, the judges said: “The imprisoned criminal, whose life would be taken after being sentenced to death, might turn into a martyr, a shahid in their terms, with all the meanings that are attached to it.”
Dear judges, so what? He’ll go on the PA national heroes list, with every other suicide bomber and other scum. He’ll have a street named after him in Gaza. Isn’t that better than making him into an incentive for yet another terrorist kidnapping, subjecting us all for years to the pleas of desperate, grieving parents, and inevitably opening the doors and setting him free? As if that decision weren’t enough, last week residents of Awarta were permitted by Israeli authorities to enter Itamar to harvest their olives. The result could certainly have been foretold. Residents of Itamar, who firmly believe that Amjad used the last harvest to scout their homes and plan his barbaric slaughter, claimed that the Awarta villagers had drawn fingers across their throats and told them they’d be “Fogeled.”
ONE OF THE SUICIDE BOMBERS IN SOMALIA WAS RAISED IN THE USA:
He had been an ambitious pre-med student at the University of Minnesota, hoping for an internship at the Mayo Clinic, before he disappeared in 2008. The audio recording, in which the speaker exhorts Westerners to join the fight, appears to reflect those qualities.
“Don’t just sit around, you know, and be, you know, a couch potato and just like, just chill all day,” the voice on the recording says. “Today jihad is what is most important. It’s not important that you become a doctor, or some sort of engineer.”
... During high school, he sold sneakers out of his locker to make money to help support his family. He lifted weights, and his friends called him “Bullethead.” He was elected president of the school’s Somali Student Association, and he later became a caseworker at a prestigious law firm. At the University of Minnesota, he majored in chemistry and held a part-time job as a security guard at the management school there.
“He was a highly motivated kid,” said a fellow student, an upperclassman who became his mentor. “He wanted to change lives.”
Why and when he turned to Islamic militancy is unclear.
... In Arabic class [IN COLLEGE], he started sitting in the back, not talking to anyone. “But then again, you’re not going to look at him and say his personality changed, he’s going to get radical and leave the country,” she said. “In college that’s when you find out who you are, so I didn’t think much of it then.”
... Speaking of Saturday’s suicide attack, the weak American-backed transitional government expressed sorrow over what it said was not just a loss of life, but of a vital human resource.
“It’s tragic, because we were hoping for this young man to come back and take part in the rebuilding of the country,” said Suldan A. Farahsed, a government spokesman. “We needed young people like that.”
HE WAS RAISED IN A FINE NEIGHBORHOOD, WITH ENOUGH MONEY, AND WENT TO FINE SCHOOLS. SO IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN POVERTY OR A LACK OF EDUCATION THAT DROVE HIM TO BECOME A SUICIDER.
SHOULD WE ATTACK IRAN THIS SPRING, OUR TROOPS WOULD BE SAFER IN KUWAIT.In addition to negotiations over maintaining a ground combat presence in Kuwait, the United States is considering sending more naval warships through international waters in the region.
With an eye on the threat of a belligerent Iran, the administration is also seeking to expand military ties with the six nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. While the United States has close bilateral military relationships with each, the administration and the military are trying to foster a new “security architecture” for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval patrols and missile defense.
The size of the standby American combat force to be based in Kuwait remains the subject of negotiations, with an answer expected in coming days.
A Saudi royal offered a $900,000 reward to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier, on Saturday. Prince Khaled bin Talal, the brother of business tycoon and Fox News co-owner Walid bin Talal, told the Saudi-based broadcaster Al Daleel that the captive would then be released in exchange for Arabs held in Israeli prisons.RUPERT SHOULD BUY THE SCUMBAG SAUDI "PRINCE'S" BROTHER'S STOCK OR HAVE ALL HIS MEDIA PROPERTIES BOYCOTTED.Khaled's offer comes days after the prominent Saudi cleric, Awad al-Qarni, put $100,000 on the head of every Israeli soldier.
... report to be published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation includes a graph of world average temperatures over the past ten years, drawn from the BEST project’s data and revealed on its website.This graph shows that the trend of the last decade is absolutely flat, with no increase at all – though the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have carried on rising relentlessly.
AGW = TFBS.
CO2 = :-)
One killed and another wounded in air force attack launched just hours after Islamic Jihad said it had agreed to a cease-fire; 10 Palestinian gunmen and one Israeli civilian killed in cross-border violence since last week.GOOD!
“You don’t say that the reason you’re not showing up [to debates] is that you can’t handle the pressure or the heat and you might make a gaffe,” [...] “these debates are not covering new ground; we’re not covering new issues.”
Perry’s statements, he concluded, were the equivalent of saying, “Gee, this is really hardball, isn’t it?” [...] What’s more, the gaffes, he concluded, are meant to go away gradually with experience. When you’re playing a difficult song, Huckabee explained, “you don’t put your guitar away” to perfect it.
TEXAS IS GREAT. PERRY.... NOT SO MUCH.
