A Question For Rep. Adam Schiff

Rep. Schiff:

Are you really saying that a potential hack of Hillary Clinton's campaign emails by Russians is more important than the lives of four Americans in Benghazi?


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34 Afghan Districts Now Under Full Control of the Taliban

Shocking stats revealed in this report by The Long War Journal.  All of those years, all of those sacrifices....

Afghan Taliban lists ‘Percent of Country under the control of Mujahideen’

The Taliban issued a “report” that attempts to determine areas in Afghanistan it controls as well as contested areas and areas under the influence of the Afghan government. While the report may be seen as propaganda to bolster its claims of controlling territory, it does not inflate or exaggerate the Taliban’s control of districts centers and contested areas throughout the country, compared to data compiled by FDD’s Long War Journal. The report was actually a rather conservative estimate, painting a dire but realistic picture of the security situation in Afghanistan. The Taliban also admits that there are large areas in Afghanistan where it has only a minimal presence.

The report, entitled “Percent of Country under the control of Mujahideen,” was released on Voice of Jihad, the group’s official website. It was “published by the Commission for Cultural Affairs of the Islamic Emirate after a long rigorous research” on March 26.

Of the 400 known districts in Afghanistan, 349 are covered by the report. FDD’s Long War Journal was unable to match 38 districts listed by the Taliban with known districts throughout the country, and the Taliban did not provide the status of an additional 13 districts; therefore, the status of 51 districts could not be determined.

FDD’s Long War Journal mapped the Taliban’s report (see map above) and color-coded and categorized the districts as follows:

According to the Taliban, it fully controls 34 districts, including the district centers, and contests another 167 districts (these are districts where the Taliban claims it controls between 40 to 99 percent of the territory). The Taliban has a significant presence (10 to 39 percent) in another 52 districts, and a minimal presence in six more districts (1 to 9 percent). The Taliban said it has no presence in 89 districts, however, in some of those provinces it says it is conducting “guerrilla activities.”

Additionally, the Taliban claims it controls areas in 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The percentages range from 10 in Maimana, Faryab to 97 in Tarinkot, Uruzgan.

According to the Taliban, it controls or contests nearly all of the districts in the southern provinces of Helmand, Nimroz, Uruzgan, Zabul, and Ghazni, and half of Kandahar. Eastern and northwestern Afghanistan look equally bleak, as do the northern provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan.

The Taliban report may be dismissed as propaganda by Resolute Support, however its claims of district control largely match with press reporting from Afghanistan. Additionally, in early Feb., the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a report stating that the Taliban controls, contests, or influences 171 districts. By contrast, the Taliban report, as of March 26, claims that 211 districts are controlled or contested.

The Few. The Proud.

Video: Where In the Hell Is Hill?

ISIS leaders’ families escape Raqqa

When ISIS begins bailing out of Raqqa, you KNOW they are up shit creek.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

ISIS leaders’ families escape Raqqa

As ISIS is weakening in Raqqa, dozens of ISIS leaders, their families and foreign militants fled the city to other areas controlled by the organization. According to the Syrian Human Rights Watch, a military operation carried out by the Syrian Democratic forces managed to besiege the city.

In the past 24 hours alone, some 80 leaders and foreign militants have left the city with their families.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fugitives used boats to cross the Euphrates to reach the southern bank of the river, and then headed towards the southern countryside of the city of Raqqa.

More than two weeks ago, about 300 ISIS families and some Syrian families left the city of Raqqa towards other areas controlled by ISIS, such as al-Mayadin.

The Observatory monitored the escape of these families through boats and ferries from Raqqa to the southern bank of the Euphrates River.

They then headed to two different directions, where some of them fled to the province of Deir al-Zor, the other moved to the eastern countryside of Hama.

Khalid Masood: ‘A nice guy’ turned extremist

Blah blah blah - how many times do we have to hear this bullshit about some Muslim who was the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet that one day just went out and killed a boat load of people?  Does anyone recall the Glasgow Airport bombers?  They were two doctors - yes, I said DOCTORS who took an afternoon away from treating their patients to fill up their SUV with propane tanks and tried to blow up the Glasgow, Scotland airport.

The fact of the matter is - don't bother with the type of person these people are....just research the ideology that they follow and you have your answers.  Do as Mohammed did, that's how it works. 

The story comes from DAWN.

Khalid Masood: ‘A nice guy’ turned extremist

LONDON: The man who mowed down pedestrians and stabbed a policeman in Wednesday’s deadly assault outside Britain’s parliament has been identified by police as 52-year-old former convict Khalid Masood.

Known by “a number of aliases”, London’s Metropolitan Police said he had been convicted for a string of offences but none of them terror-related.

Born on Christmas Day 1964 in Kent in south-east England, Masood had been living in the West Midlands where armed police have staged several raids since the attack, storming properties in the city of Birmingham.

At 52, his age has been highlighted by commentators as unusual, with most Islamist extremists behind similar attacks far younger.

Although the police believe Masood acted alone, the militant Islamic State group claimed he was one of its “soldiers” acting on a call to target countries fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

Masood rented the car used in the attack from the Solihull branch of Enterprise, on the outskirts of Birmingham, the company confirmed in a statement.

According to the BBC, he told the car rental company that he was a teacher. “He was a nice guy. I used to see him outside doing his garden,” Iwona Romek, a former neighbour of his told the Birmingham Mail.

“He had a wife, a young Asian woman and a small child who went to school,” she added, pointing out that the family had abruptly moved out of their house in Winson Green, a neighbourhood in western Birmingham, around Christmas.

Other media have reported that he was a married father-of-three.

You Can Tell A Lot About a Man By His Golf Game

Bahrain Gets Tough On Terror

About time....

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Bahrain arrests terror cell with links to IRGC, Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq

Bahrain security forces have arrested a terror cell that plotted to assassinate important senior government and community figures.

The suspects were arrested on Sunday, a statement from Bahrain’s interior ministry has confirmed.

During security operations in several cities across the small Gulf island kingdom, investigations revealed that the extremist group worked under direct supervision in terms of financing, planning and implementation of attacks by two known extremists; Mortadha Majeed al-Sindi and Qassim Abdullah Ali.

Several of those identified and arrested were proven to have received military training in camps under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Others arrested on Sunday were also responsible for a bomb attack that struck a bus carrying Bahrain police on February 26 that left four officers injured.

Video: One of Antifa's New Recruits

Karma Chameleon

Boots and Blood

O Canada! My home and Islamic land.....

Canada's Parliament has just declared criticism of Islam off-limits. The anti-Islamophobia motion, M-103, passed by a margin of 201 to 91.

— Andrew Lawton (@AndrewLawton) March 23, 2017

Video: Witness Accounts of the London Islamic Terror Attack

Friday Night Terror In Lille, France

The French better join the war and soon.

The story comes from RT.

Lille shooting: Gunman opens fire at metro station in northern France, reports of multiple injuries

At least three people, including a minor, have reportedly been injured in the city of Lille after a gunman opened fire near the central Porte d’Arras metro station. A heavy police presence is reported at the scene.

Witnesses heard at least five shots fired in central Lille late on Friday, local outlet La Voix du Nord reported.

The injured reportedly included a 14-year-old teenager, who was shot in the leg. Another person has suffered a neck injury and has been hospitalized.

Taliban takes key district in Helmand province

Sitting at home now, one of the Taliban's biggest fans, Barack Hussein Obama, can start waving his little pom poms as his beloved Taliban begin their move to retake control of Afghanistan.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Taliban takes key district in Helmand province

The Taliban seized the district of Sangin in southern Helmand province, forcing Afghan troops to withdrawal and Coalition forces to launch airstrikes to destroy bases and government facilities left behind. Sangin has been a battleground in Helmand for several years and has exchanged hands multiple times.

In a statement released on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban said that it controls the “Sangin district administration center, police headquarter and a key military base” after the district center was “completely overrun by Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate last night.”

According to the Taliban, Afghan forces “fled by airplanes overnight, leaving many tanks, vehicles, heavy artillery and a sizable amount of military equipment behind.” The group claimed that 39 armored personnel carriers, one tank, 34 pickup trucks and other vehicles and equipment were taken during the assault.

“[The] Enemy has bombarded the said installations after escaping,” the Taliban claimed.

The Taliban’s update from Sangin cannot be independently verified by FDD’s Long War Journal, but their claims can largely be substantiated by press reporting from Afghanistan. TOLONews reported that “security forces moved all their equipment out on Wednesday night before the air force bombed the installations in order to destroy them.”

While the spokesman for Helmand’s governor denied Sangin was overrun, “local Afghan government and military officials said there was no doubt Sangin had finally fallen to their enemy,” The New York Times noted.

The Taliban had previously overran Sangin’s district center in July 2016, but Afghan forces – backed by US air support – pushed the jihadists to the outskirts of the town.

Afghan security forces have telegraphed their weakness to the Taliban for several years. In Aug. 2014, senior officers attempted to negotiate a “peace deal” in Sangin, which was overrun by the Taliban in June of that year.

The security situation in Sangin is a microcosm of that in Helmand. All of the southern province is an active battleground. In Helmand, the Taliban now controls seven of the province’s 14 districts (Baghran, Dishu, Khanashin, Now Zad, Nawa, Musa Qala, and Sangin) and contests another six, including the provincial capital (Lashkar Gah, Nahr-i-Sarraj, Kajaki, Nad Ali, Marjah, and Garmsir), according to data compiled by FDD’s Long War Journal. The status of Washir district is uncertain as new reports from the district are scarce. Nearly all of Helmand has been controlled or influenced/contested for well over a year.

The situation in Helmand is so bleak that the Taliban has effectively surrounded the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah for well over a year, and have launched several forays into the city. Two days ago, a suicide bomber killed eight Afghan security personnel in an attack in the capital. The Taliban have also launched major attacks in the district. In Oct. 2016, the Taliban ambushed a large convoy of Afghan troops after they negotiated their safe passage from their base on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah. More than 200 Afghan troops were killed, wounded, captured, or surrendered. [See LWJ report, Taliban details deadly ambush of Afghan military convoy.]

As the Taliban has ramped up pressure in Helmand, it has also increased its footprint throughout Afghanistan. FDD’s Long War Journal has identified 45 Afghan districts under the Afghan jihadist group’s control, and another 55 that are heavily contested. The number of Taliban controlled and influenced/contested districts has risen from 70 in Oct. 2015 to 100 this month.

This assessment has been verified by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which noted last month that the Afghan government “has lost territory to the insurgency” and “district control continues to decline.” According to SIGAR, the Afghan government controls or influences just 52 percent of the nation’s districts today compared to 72 percent in Nov. 2015. An estimated 15 percent of Afghanistan’s districts have slipped from the government’s control over the past six months. [See FDD’s Long War Journal report, Afghan government ‘has lost territory to the insurgency’.]

U.S. Drone Strikes Gold in Afghanistan - Al Qaeda Commander Wandering In Hell

I so miss the days of a daily drone strike that puts an al Qaeda leader or a Taliban commander straight to the gates of Hell.  Well, for old times sake, we got a good one in Afghanistan.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Pakistani Taliban confirms senior al Qaeda commander killed in Afghanistan

The Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) confirmed in a statement today that Qari Muhammad Yasin, a senior al Qaeda military commander, was killed in a US drone strike. The bombing took place in the Laman area of the eastern Paktika province on Mar. 19. The statement confirming Yasin’s demise was released online and is attributed to Mohammad Khurasani, the Pakistani Taliban spokesman.

Khurasani describes Yasin as a “close assistant” of the Pakistani Taliban and a “trainer of Mujahideen.” He claims that three of Yasin’s “companions” were also killed in the US drone strike.

Khurasani confirms that Yasin “was one of the closest companions of Shaheed Amjad Farooqi…a famous personality of Pakistan Jihad.”

Yasin’s relationship with Farooqi was previously reported by The Nation. Farooqi engineered two assassination attempts against Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf in Dec. 2003 at the behest of al Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al Libi and is suspected of involvement in other terror attacks as well. Farooqi was a member of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, the Harkat-ul-Ansar and its successor – the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen – as well as Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Yasin’s connections with Farooqi positioned him to become a key leader in what is often described as the Punjabi Taliban, which includes jihadists from various other Pakistani terrorist organizations who are aligned with al Qaeda. Khurasani refers to Yasin as a “Punjabi Taliban commander,” thereby confirming his role in the group.

The Punjabi Taliban is led by Asmatullah Muawiya, the commander of what Osama bin Laden described as one of several al Qaeda military “companies.” [See FDD’s Long War Journal report, Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan].

Khurasani refers to Yasin in glowing terms, describing him as “as one of the greatest trainers of explosives and electronics in the fields of jihad.” Yasin’s “students” are “still…performing their duties in the field of jihad relating to such sectors of jihad,” meaning they are manufacturing explosives.

Therefore, Khurasani’s eulogy confirms that Yasin trained his potential replacements long ago. As has often been the case in the 9/11 wars, the US kills a senior al Qaeda figure, only to then face his successors.

Khurasani adds that Yasin “participated enthusiastically in the various jihadi operations in Pakistan,” including an attack on the Pakistani Army’s general headquarters (GHQ). Yasin “was considered as the master mind of that plan and attack” on the GHQ, Khurasani writes.

The Pakistani Taliban’s eulogy contains the standard language about “martyrdom,” saying Yasin wished to be “martyred” and now he has joined others who have perished along the way.

“We, [the Pakistani Taliban], send our deep condolence to the survivors and companions of respected Ustad (trainer) on his martyrdom,” Khurasani’s statement reads. “May ALLAH grant patience to the survivors.”

Those “survivors” likely include Yasin’s “students,” some of whom are likely operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

New program allows Saudi prisoners on path to rehabilitation

So, how exactly do you rehabilitate someone who follows the teachings of Mohammed?

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

New program allows Saudi prisoners on path to rehabilitation

A joint program between Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry with Imam Muhammad ibn Saud university celebrated its first batch of student-prisoners.

The majority of the students were former extremists but who have rehabilitated themselves while studying under the new program.

Eighty-two of them graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sharia and Islamic studies, 25 in business administration, four in economics while three finished their degrees in the Arabic language.

“I was given the chance to read a learn a lot through the ‘Time Management’ program. I also learned to differentiate between right and wrong. There are more people like me here in prison who have benefited from these types of programs,” one prisoner told Al Arabiya.

Let's All Meet Leftist Operative Jennifer Sisk

Some people are just discovering Jennifer Sisk of Boulder, Colorado.  Some of us have known her for a couple of days since she came upon the scene as the hired gun of the Left in America contracted to take down Judge Gorsuch with her "story" of sexist positions by Gorsuch when he was teaching at the University of Colorado.

Jennifer Sisk wanted to be famous.  She wanted to be the one that robbed President Donald Trump of his golden pick for the Supreme Court.

Jennifer Sisk wanted the spotlight.  Well folks, let's oblige Ms. Sisk.  Splash her photo above from here to kingdom come.  Let's find her Twitter handle, Facebook page - let's pay attention to Jennifer.  Let's make her out to be the star she wanted.  She wanted to be the giant slayer.  She wanted to be the tool of the Left.  Let's make sure that not a day goes by that Jennifer isn't reminded of her newfound notoriety.  

Make Jennifer a star, folks.  I'm sure she will appreciate it.


UPDATE:


By the way Jennifer, perhaps you remember another young lady who wanted to be a star.  Julie Bosman published the home address of Officer Wilson from Ferguson, MO and then Julie became a HUGE star of a lot of us out here.  Here's Julie's pic:

Ask Julie how it feels to be the darling of the Left in America.
Go ahead, Jennifer....ask her.




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Insurgents launch new offensive in outskirts of Damascus

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Insurgents launch new offensive in outskirts of Damascus

Jihadists, Islamists and rebels affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) launched an offensive in the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital yesterday. The sudden attack began in the Jobar district of Damascus and then spread into a nearby area.

Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), a joint venture led by al Qaeda’s arm in Syria, launched two suicide attacks with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIEDs) at the beginning of the assault. HTS (“Assembly for the Liberation of Syria”) posted pictures of the two suicide bombers, as well as images glorifying the moment of their “martyrdom,” on its official Telegram channel.

It appears that small drones were used to generate footage of the SVBIEDs from above. Like their rivals in the Islamic State, al Qaeda’s men in Syria have long used drones to capture the instant when one of their suicide bombers detonates.

Other photos show HTS jihadists moving throughout Jobar, a fighter with an amputated lower arm engaged in combat, a garage complex, a smashed regime poster and a truck captured as part of the group’s “spoils.”

The images can be seen below. (WARNING: In addition to the aforementioned photos, some of the pictures are graphic, showing dead regime fighters on the streets.)

The leader of HTS, Abu Jaber (also known as Hashem al Sheikh), promised just days ago that his men would soon “escalate” their operations against Bashar al Assad’s regime. It appears that the Damascus offensive is part of what he meant. In addition, HTS has carried out suicide bombings in Damascus and also killed a senior military intelligence official in Homs. [See FDD’s Long War Journal reports: Leader of al Qaeda’s joint venture in Syria promises to ‘escalate’ operations and Al Qaeda front group claims responsibility for suicide attacks in Damascus.]

Ahrar al Sham, which frequently fights alongside HTS and its predecessor (Al Nusrah Front), is also taking part in the effort. The group has released a series of photos from the fighting on its social media sites. One tweet claims that the “industrial area” between the Jobar and Qabun districts had been mostly “liberated” after many members of the Assad regime’s forces were killed or injured.

Ahrar’s fighters are shown preparing for the battle, fighting in the Damascus neighborhoods, and displaying their “booty” in the images below.

HTS’ current leader, Abu Jaber, and other senior HTS jihadists were once prominent figures in Ahrar al Sham. However, al Qaeda’s forces in HTS and Ahrar al Sham’s members reportedly clashed in northern Syria earlier this year. Indeed, some of Ahrar’s leadership refused to join HTS, deciding to operate their own entity and absorb other factions in the process. But this hasn’t stopped HTS and Ahrar from cooperating on Syria’s battlefields. In addition to the fighting in Damascus, the two have also coordinated in Daraa, a southern Syrian city, Homs province and likely elsewhere in recent weeks.

Faylaq al Rahman, a FSA-branded organization, has played a significant role in the battle as well. Faylaq al Rahman has used American-made TOW missiles, including in recent weeks. FSA-affiliated groups have frequently allied with al Qaeda’s jihadists, as is the case in Jobar district. Faylaq al Rahman’s propaganda from the battle places its members in the same areas as HTS and Ahrar al Sham’s men.

Faylaq al Rahman claimed in a statement that two tanks were destroyed. It has tweeted photos of identification cards that allegedly belonged to regime loyalists in the area. And in one video, a Faylaq al Rahman fighter can be heard calling on Assad regime fighters to surrender, as they are surrounded inside a captured building.

Insurgents from all three groups — HTS, Ahrar al Sham, and Faylaq al Rahman — are pictured wearing the same red and white headbands.

It is possible that still other organizations are involved in the fighting. For example, Jaysh al Islam has had a strong presence in the area surrounding Damascus, especially in the eastern Ghouta region.

There is an ebb and flow to such battles, so it is too early to tell where the offensive will lead. The rebels (including jihadists and Islamists) have controlled only small pockets in the areas immediately surrounding the center of Damascus. The new effort is likely intended to clear out more space for them to operate, but also to make the Assad regime and its allies fight on additional fronts. Since losing Aleppo late last year, the insurgency has been looking for an opportunity to gain the initiative once again.

Video: Reason #284 Why Marine LePen Is Leading In French Polls

Hands. Cold. And Dead.

New Paris Terror Attack Reveals EVERYTHING Wrong With the Media

Okay, I'm reading this article from Al Arabiya about the lone jihadist attacker at the Paris airport and it very thoroughly details the EVERY motive of the attack.  The article says:

Yelling that he wanted to kill and die in the name of faith, a suspected Islamic extremist attacked a French soldier Saturday morning at Paris’ Orly Airport

the attacker yelled: “Put down your weapons! Put your hands on your head! I am here to die for Allah. Whatever happens, there will be deaths,”

Okay, so with all of that spelled out in plain English.  With NO DOUBT that this Muslim was performing this jihad in the name of Islam and in the name of Allah, the article then turns to the one line that MUST be in every news article printed everywhere in the world in 2017:

The attacker’s motives were unknown but the anti-terror section of the Paris prosecutors’ office immediately took over the investigation.

There it is.  The money line.  The one line that every media outlet puts in a story like this so as to not enrage the Islamists across the world.  It's the "get our new outlet out of the way of Jihad retribution" free card line.
Great job Associated Press.
And here we all thought that just once we'd get the truth.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Details emerge of Paris attacker's motivation to kill

Yelling that he wanted to kill and die in the name of faith, a suspected Islamic extremist attacked a French soldier Saturday morning at Paris’ Orly Airport and wrested away her assault rifle, a French prosecutor said. Two colleagues on her patrol shot and killed the man before he could fire the military-grade weapon in the busy airport terminal.

The attack forced the airport’s terminals to shut down and evacuate, sent passengers and workers fleeing in panic and trapped hundreds of others aboard flights that had just landed. It was the violent climax of what authorities described as a 90-minute spree of destructive criminality across the French capital by the suspect, identified as Ziyed Ben Belgacem.

The attack further rattled France, which remains under a state of emergency after attacks over the past two years that have killed 235 people.

Orly, Paris’ second-biggest airport behind Charles de Gaulle, has both domestic and international flights and the 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT; 4:30 a.m. EDT) assault brought its operations to a screeching halt.

Stopped first by police in Paris’ northern suburbs early Saturday morning for driving too fast and without lights in a small Renault, the 39-year-old Frenchman opened fire with a revolver loaded with bird shot, injuring an officer in the face, authorities said.

He then fled by car to a bar that he frequented regularly and where he had already stopped a few hours earlier and again opened fire. No one was injured.

Finally, in another car stolen at gunpoint, he parked at Orly. A few minutes later, he hurled himself at three soldiers on patrol in its South Terminal, throwing a bag with a gas can at the floor and wielding his 9 mm revolver, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

“With a pistol in his right hand and a bag over his shoulder, he grabbed (the soldier) with his left arm, made her move backward by three to four meters (yards), positioning her as a shield, and pointed his revolver at her forehead,” Molins said.

According to soldiers, the attacker yelled: “Put down your weapons! Put your hands on your head! I am here to die for Allah. Whatever happens, there will be deaths,” Molins said.

In a struggle, the attacker managed to wrest free the captive soldier’s Famas assault rifle and sling it over his shoulder. Molins said video surveillance footage appeared to show that Belgacem was “determined to see the process through to the end.”

“Everything suggests that he wanted to take the Famas so there would be deaths and to shoot people,” he said.

In between the moments when he ducked behind his hostage, the two other soldiers fired three bursts, eight rounds in all, that killed the attacker, Molins said.

“Her two comrades thought it was necessary - and they were right - to open fire to protect her and especially to protect all the people who were around,” said French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Le Drian had said the soldier kept hold of her weapon. Molins said while she did wrestle it back from Belgacem at one point, he managed to snatch it off her in the end.

Witnesses described panicked bystanders fleeing, flights halting, traffic chaos and planes under lockdowns. Traffic was jammed near the airport and people wheeled suitcases down the road.

“We’d already registered our bags when we saw a soldier pointing his gun at the attacker who was holding another soldier hostage,” said Pascal Menniti, who was flying to the Dominican Republic.

Authorities said at least 3,000 people were evacuated from the airport. Hundreds of passengers also were confined for several hours aboard 13 flights that were blocked in landing areas, and 15 other flights were diverted to Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Passengers were allowed off their blocked planes around noon, once a search of the airport was complete, but the airport’s South Terminal did not reopen until late afternoon, authorities said.

Despite the transportation chaos, French authorities stressed that security planning - reinforced across the country in the wake of repeated attacks - worked well.

The soldier was “psychologically shocked” but unhurt by the “rapid and violent” assault, said Col. Benoit Brulon, a spokesman for the military force that patrols public sites in France.

The attacker’s motives were unknown but the anti-terror section of the Paris prosecutors’ office immediately took over the investigation.

His father and brother were detained by police for questioning later Saturday, which is standard operating procedure. Molins said a cousin of Belgacem’s also turned himself in for questioning, having spent time with the attacker in the bar the previous night.

A search of Belgacem’s residence found cocaine and a machete, Molins said. The father and brother told police that Belgacem phoned them Saturday morning, minutes after shooting at the police traffic patrol, to say that he’d “made a mistake,” Molins said.

The prosecutors’ office said the attacker had a record of robbery and drug offenses. Molins said he was out on bail, banned from leaving France and obliged to report regularly to police, having been handed preliminary charges for robberies in 2016.

Molins said Belgacem was flagged as having been radicalized during a spell in detention from 2011-2012. His house was among scores searched in November 2015 in the immediate aftermath of suicide bomb-and-gun attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

French President Francois Hollande said investigators will determine whether the attacker “had a terrorist plot behind him.” But he ruled out any link between the attack and the two-round French presidential election in April and May, noting that France has been battling extremist threats for years.

At a Saturday evening news conference, Molins gave reporters a timeline for Belgacem’s last hours.

He said about 90 minutes before the airport attack, Belgacem was stopped by a police traffic patrol at Garges-les-Gonesse in northern Paris. As he showed his ID papers, he pulled out a gun and fired bird shot, injuring an officer in the face.

Police fired back. He fled in his car.

He then drove to the bar in Vitry, south of Paris, and opened fire. He abandoned his Renault and stole another car at gunpoint. That car was later found at Orly Airport, and Molins said video surveillance showed Belgacem was alone when he parked it.

The military patrol at Orly was part of the Sentinelle force installed around France to protect sensitive sites after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks. Saturday was at least the fourth time that Sentinelle soldiers have been targeted since the force, which includes 7,500 soldiers, was created in 2015.

Saturday’s attack comes after a similar incident last month at the Louvre Museum in Paris in which an Egyptian man attacked soldiers guarding the site. He was shot and wounded and taken into custody.

Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

The last thing Bashir al-Assad should be worrying about is some Israeli jets knocking out Iranian missiles crossing Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon but being the good little servant to the Ayatollah, Assad is bitching to the UN.  Lord knows the Israelis are going to fear the UN....hahaha

The story comes from Israel National News.

Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

Syria on Friday sent two letters to the UN in which it said that Israel’s airstrikes on the country violated international law, the UN Charter, and “the sovereignty and the sanctity of Syrian territory,” the Syrian news agency SANA reported.

In letters sent to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that “in flagrant defiance of the international legitimacy and UN resolutions and the sovereignty and the inviolability of the Syrian territory,” four Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace and targeted a military site in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

“As part of its right to defend the sanctity of its territory, the Syrian air defense responded to this aggression and shot down one of the planes while the rest of them were forced to flee,” the Ministry wrote, according to SANA.

“The Israeli aggression this morning comes as a new Israeli attempt to boost the collapsed morale of terrorist groups after they were defeated recently by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in many areas,” the Ministry said in the letters.

“Syria calls on the UN Secretary General and the President of the UNSC to condemn this blatant Israeli aggression, to force Israel to stop supporting terrorism in Syria, to implement all UNSC resolutions on counter-terrorism, including resolution No. 2253, to withdraw from the whole occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4th, 1967, and to implement resolution No. 497 for 1981,” it wrote.

Syria launched several anti-aircraft missiles towards the Israeli aircraft that carried out Thursday night’s airstrike.

One missile was intercepted by Israel's Arrow air defense system, one of the first times the system has been used.

While Syria claimed that it shot down one of the Israeli aircraft, the IDF denied that any planes had been struck and stressed that Israeli troops and citizens had not been in danger at any point during the incident.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel would continue to act to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.

“Our policy is very consistent: when we identify attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, and we have the intelligence and operational feasibility - we work to prevent this," the Prime Minister said.

"That's how it’s been and that’s how it will be, we have determination, and the proof is that we are acting, and everyone has to take this into account," he added.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry’s complaint to the UN was filed after the Syrian army reacted angrily to the Israeli airstrike on Friday and threatened to respond harshly.

"This flagrant attack is part of the Zionist enemy's persistent efforts to support the terrorist gangs of ISIS," the army said, adding, “It will be responded to directly with all possible means.”

The Holger Hiatus

Gang, it's time for Holger to get away from FakeNews, Leftists, Trumpthisandthat, and the countless jihadi attacks in this world.  

I'll be away from the blog for about 10 days - check back in then please...I'm sure I'll be all full of piss and vinegar by then.

Thanks to all of you for the continued support here!


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ISIS imposes ‘Afghan-style dress code’ in Syria’s Raqqa

No, it's not for the women folks...it's for the MEN!  Read on.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

ISIS imposes ‘Afghan-style dress code’ in Syria’s Raqqa

ISIS has imposed an “Afghan-style” dress code on men in its Syrian stronghold Raqqa to help its fighters blend into the civilian population, a monitor and activists said today.

“For more than two weeks, Afghan-style clothing... Has been imposed by Daesh,” said Abu Mohamed, an activist with the “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” group, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

“Anyone who does not comply faces prison and fine,” he told AFP.

The new restriction comes as a Kurdish-Arab alliance of fighters nears Raqqa, backed by the US-led coalition launching air strikes against ISIS.

The rule “is an attempt to make it harder for airplanes and the Kurdish forces... To distinguish between civilians and Daesh members,” Abu Mohamed said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, also reported the new rule in Raqqa.

“ISIS has imposed Afghan-style dress on residents of Raqqa so that informants giving coordinates to the US-led coalition will not be able to distinguish between civilians and fighters,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Abu Mohamed said there was a “state of alert” in Raqqa, with new checkpoints springing up and ISIS arresting anyone who describes the situation as dire.

“Prices are skyrocketing and there is no electricity or water,” he told AFP.

The Observatory also said civilians and the families of ISIS families were attempting to flee into Raqqa province from neighboring Aleppo, where ISIS is under assault in the east.

“Thousands of families in recent days have tried to reach the administrative borders of Raqqa province, along with around 120 families of fighters and commanders of ISIS,” the monitor said.

The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces alliance advancing towards Raqqa on Monday cut a key supply route between the city and ISIS-held territory in Deir Ezzor province to the east.

The alliance is now eight kilometers from Raqqa to the northeast, according to the Observatory.

It said IS was preventing civilians from entering the province “but granted families of its fighters” a document allowing “passage to Raqqa city by boat as ground transportation is now impossible because the bridges across the Euphrates have been destroyed.”

Sometimes, Just Wearing a Black Mask Doesn't Protect You

Okay, so this is fairly fast moving, but pay attention to the 0:06 point and look for the kid in the black helmet with the stick coming into the screen then bringing it home on the noggin of the left.

Pure gold, Jerry.

Family of eight Iraqi asylum seekers are found guilty of gang-raping 'blind drunk' woman, 28, after luring her away from her friends at New Year's Eve party in Austria

The story comes from The Daily Mail.

Family of eight Iraqi asylum seekers are found guilty of gang-raping 'blind drunk' woman, 28, after luring her away from her friends at New Year's Eve party in Austria

Eight asylum seekers from the same family have been found guilty of gang-raping a German tourist in Austria and jailed for between nine and 13 years.

The Iraqi nationals had gone on trial in the Austrian capital, Vienna, accused of the New Year's Eve 2015 attack on the 28-year-old teacher.

Prosecutors had originally charged nine men with 'abuse of a defenceless person and rape in a very humiliating and agonising way for the victim.'

But the court on Thursday dismissed charges against one of the suspects. A court statement said that the victim has been awarded 25,000 euros in damages.

All eight convicted men - who cannot be deported because Iraq is deemed too unsafe for them to return to - launched immediate appeals against their sentences.

At the opening of the trial in February the court heard how the woman, identified only as Sabine K., was 'blind drunk' when she went with the men to an apartment.

Most of the men deny the charges but DNA from six of them was found in or on her body.

The court heard how the victim arrived in Vienna on December 28, 2015 to spend the New Year with a female friend in the city.

Shortly before midnight on December 31 they wandered into the city centre to join crowds celebrating the arrival of 2016 and at 2am were seen drinking in a bar-restaurant called Cactus.

Shortly before 3am Sabine's friend noticed she was no longer there and was told by another patron that the men she had been talking with had 'taken her away.'

The defendants, aged between 22 and 45, all arrived in Austria between May and December 2015 via the Balkan route.

At the time of the attack, five of them had cemented their right to stay, the applications of the other four were still pending.

Judge Petra Poschalko heard how the woman was taken by four of them to an apartment in Vienna's Rustenschacher Allee, where more men were waiting.

Sabine later said she found herself naked on a double bed being assaulted by the men one after the other.

Her lawyer Karina Fehringer told the court that her client was assaulted in the dark so she could not identify the men.

After the attacks, which went on for several hours, the victim needed in-patient treatment at a trauma clinic and now is under psychiatric care for post traumatic stress disorder.

She had a breakdown before the trial and was too fragile to be in court to face her attackers.

Only one man, Mohamed Al-A., 31, admitted his role in the rapes and he sobbed in court as he said he was 'really drunk' on vodka at the time.

His Muslim faith may forbid him to drink alcoholic beverages, but on New Year's Eve he said he made an exception and drank vodka. 'I was really drunk,' he said, and he further admitted; 'this act is a crime in Iraq.'

Palestinian Authority: 85% say they want Sharia law

Live by the Sharia, Die by the Sharia.

The story come from Israel National News.

Palestinian Authority: 85% say they want Sharia law

Only a quarter of Gaza residents blame Israel for the electricity crisis from which they suffer. This, according to a poll carried out last month by the Ramallah- and Jerusalem-based Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre (JMCC).

JMCC was established in 1988 by an Arab group of journalists and researchers in areas of Judea and Samaria now under Palestinian Authority control.

In its most recent poll, cited above, 1199 PA residents people over the age of 18, randomly selected, were interviewed face-to-face The interviews were conducted in randomly selected homes in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, and the margin of error is +/-3 percent.

Over 85% (!) said that the Palestinian Personal Status Law must be based on the principles of Islamic Sharia. Half of these said it must be exclusively Sharia, while the other half said it should be based both on Sharia and civil law. Only 14.7% said it should be based only on civil law.

Another question was: "Who is more responsible for the aggravation of the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip?" Of the 449 respondents who live in Gaza, nearly half (49.4%) said, "the Hamas government in Gaza," and 21.2% blamed the Palestinian National Authority; Only 25.8% of the Gaza residents blamed Israel; this proportion was nearly twice as high among the PA residents living outside Gaza.

Asked if they feel that Mahmoud Abbas "is performing his job as President of the PA: in a good, average or in a bad way," 35.4% said, "bad," while 28.7% said, "good." It should be noted that in January 2005, Abbas was elected to head the PA until Jan. 2009, thus that he is now in the 13th year of his four-year term. He has used the conflict between his Fatah faction and Hamas as an excuse to remain in power, as no elections have been held since he took office. 46.9% of the respondents said they prefer that elections be held even before a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is achieved.

Asked what is the best method to achieve the goals of "ending the occupation and establishing a [PA] state," 27.1% of those in Judea and Samaria said, "Armed resistance;" this was the choice of 35.6% in Gaza. A total of 37.6% chose "peaceful negotiations."

Three-quarter of the respondents believe "there is corruption" in the PA, while 16.2% said there is none. Nearly 40% said the government collects taxes and other fees from citizens in a fair manner only "to a small extent."

A full 68.9% do not expect Fatah and Hamas to reconciliation in 2017. Nearly 20% blames Hamas for this state of affairs, while 12% blame Fatah and 39.2 blamed both. No information was provided on how the respondents in Gaza as opposed to those in Judea and Samaria responded. 22.9% blamed Israel.

One of the poll questions was: "If negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians were to be resumed, who would you prefer to act as mediator between the two sides?" Only 7.6% chose the U.S., while 23.7% chose the European Union. The Mideast Quartet, the United Nations and Egypt were chosen by 16.1%, 14.3% and 18%, respectively.

Asked to choose one word to define themselves, 52.5% of those in Judea and Samaria said, "Palestinian;" this was the choice of 58.1% in Gaza. Only 21.7% said, "Muslim," and 5.3% said "Arab."

March 4 Trump Rally In Minnesota Gets Rowdy

Oh yeah...Holger was there.  Trump supporters and patriots didn't take kindly to the tactics of the 50 counter protesters.  6 of the deviants were arrested and charged with felonies.

#March4Trump rally at capitol building in St. Paul turns violent. Agitators spray mace/use what appears to be stun gun. At least 5 arrested pic.twitter.com/MFnhTEF4Z4

— Craig Norkus (@CraigNorkus) March 4, 2017

Iranian sniper embedded in Iraqi militia killed near Mosul

 Photo 1: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member Ali-Asqar Karimi holding Islamic State flag in what appears to be Iraq, posted on social media on February 27.


The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Iranian sniper embedded in Iraqi militia killed near Mosul

A casket carrying the body of an Iranian sniper killed in combat in Iraq on February 25 was received in Tehran three days ago. An Islamic State mortar killed Ali-Asqar Karimi near Mosul, according to a colleague. A military campaign by Iraqi forces to dislodge Islamic State is underway in Ninewah province, backed by Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite militias as well as US airpower.

Iranian media and officials have released few details about the 35-year-old’s military record, but Karimi was a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Basij paramilitary. A Basij unit stationed in Tehran released a statement expressing condolences for “our Basiji brother.”

The Basij, also known as the Organization for the Mobilization of the Oppressed, is an all-volunteer force that acts as auxiliary to the IRGC Ground Forces branch and also as a vigilante group enforcing public morality laws. Over the past five years, Basij members have deployed to Iraq and Syria as part of IRGC expeditionary forces.

The photograph on Karimi’s casket shows him wearing the armband of the Hezbollah Brigades, an Iraqi Shiite militia close to the Guard that has been designated by the US Treasury as a terrorist group. IRGC elements are known to operate out of such militias, and his armband indicates that he was as well.

Karimi had several previous “voluntary” deployments to “defend the shrine of the House of God,” according to Iranian media. That also could denote deployments to Syria, where Iran claims to defend Shiite shrines against extremist Sunni militants. Karimi was injured in his last tour, and returned to the battlefield after a two-month stay in Iran, according to his colleague. It is currently unclear whether Karimi was embedded only in the Hezbollah Brigades throughout his tours.

Karimi is the second confirmed Iranian combat fatality in Iraq since the Mosul campaign commenced in October 2016. An IRGC Ground Forces commander was killed last month near Tal Afar, an Islamic-State-held town west of Mosul.

Since November, IRGC-backed Shiite militias have held positions in that western Mosul axis. Those forces are operating within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella organization of diverse militias constituted by many IRGC-backed elements. In the past week, the PMF and Iraqi army forces have made gains to the west of Mosul, and near Tal Afar in preparation of an assault on the town, according to a PMF spokesman who spoke with Fars News.

Iranian military officials may be obfuscating Karimi’s record because IRGC chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari proclaimed in November 2016 that no Iranian forces were present in the battle for Mosul. While Jafari acknowledged an advisory footprint in Iraq, the deaths of a senior commander and a young sniper near the battlefield suggest that Iranians are engaged in combat as well.

Regular Iranian military personnel have been operating in Iraq since the 2014 Islamic State incursion. Last summer, for instance, at least two Basij members were killed leading up to the Fallujah operation. These fatalities, however, do not reflect the full Iranian losses: the Qods Force, the IRGC’s extraterritorial branch, is not known to acknowledge deaths, lest a senior commander be killed.

The fatalities of regular Iranian military personnel in Iraq indicate that elements from the Ground Forces continue to augment the Qods Force, which has been strained by deep involvement in Iraq and Syria, and further afield as in Yemen.

Tehran’s military involvement in Iraq covers training, advising, assisting and equipping Iraqi militias as well as limited combat roles. That engagement is expected to continue after the Mosul campaign as IRGC-backed elements vie for political, military and social influence in Iraq.