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Former DOJ attorney blasts DOJ for failing to protect American soldiers’ right to vote
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Law, News on 24/Jul/2010 17:53
U.S. Department of Justice Building
“In the wake of the Department of Justice’s New Black Panther Party scandal, a second former DOJ attorney has now come forward, blasting the department for failing to protect American soldiers’ right to vote.
What’s even more alarming, the attorney claims, is that despite congressional mandates passed in 2009 to ensure military personnel overseas can participate in elections, the DOJ’s Voting Section is ignoring the new laws and may allow thousands of ballots to slip through the cracks uncounted in November.
… legal complaints, news stories and studies all showed dozens of states failing to give soldiers enough time to vote in the 2008 election – resulting in tens of thousands of soldiers’ mailed ballots that arrived too late to be counted, perhaps enough to swing, for example, Minnesota’s closely contested election of Democrat Senator Al Franken.”
Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) Launches Complete Lead Bullet Ban Campaign
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 24/Jul/2010 17:28
“As announced in a recent fundraising letter to its members, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) will launch a “once-in-a-lifetime campaign†this summer to “ban all lead bullets everywhere in the United States.†Make no mistake, hunters and shooters are in the crosshairs of this extremist group.
Center for Biological Diversity
…Hunting should not be an activity limited to the wealthy; every hunter is essential to sustaining our great American sporting heritage.Similarly, the recreational shooting that allows gun owners to hone skills and exercise their Second Amendment rights would be dramatically curtailed due to cost increases. The boxes of .22 long rifle, 9mm and .30-06 that families have shot for generations during trips to the range, the back 40 or at public shooting areas will be priced beyond reach for most.”
Photo: Iraqi special operations forces
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 17:24
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Iraqi special operations forces run toward a Black hawk helicopter during a joint air-insertion training exercise, Oct. 2. Soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard's Company B, 1st Battalion, 150th Aviation Regiment, supported the training exercise. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Jones
Taliban using children to plant IEDs
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 23/Jul/2010 00:48
“In mid-May, a 9-year-old boy and his 4-year-old spotter died when an IED they were laying blew up, Kidnie said. And on June 6, two Afghan kids, aged 11 and 8, were caught in the act of planting an IED. Their hands tested positive for explosive residue, Brown added.”
Oscar Company savoring some payback
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:42
Canadian soldiers patrolling for IEDs in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, are finding it easier to take out insurgents due to a shortened "kill chain." LOUIE PALU/THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO
“Oh ya, baby!†one soldier shouted up at the sky as the airborne gatling gun spewed repeated bursts. Whoops and cheers rippled across the dust-blown camp.
In a war where the enemy hides in villages, and fights mainly with homemade bombs hidden in cooking pots, water jugs, farmer’s fields and trees, it’s not often Canadian soldiers get to fight back.
Oscar Company was savouring some payback, a sweet taste they’ve been enjoying more often in recent days.”
Canadian Commander in Afghanistan Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance
Since Brigadier-General Jon Vance returned to take command in early June, the kill chain has been cut shorter, and Canadian troops on the battlefields of eastern Panjwai district say it’s getting easier to take the fight to the insurgents.
Major Steve Brown, commander of Oscar Company, in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, called Vance “a no-nonsense kind of guy†whose personality has helped reshape battlefield operations.
We’re getting quite a few stories about the frustration soldiers are having with the operational restrictions brought in by McChrystal (which was actually the focus of the Rolling Stone article that got him fired). I can understand the frustration…but let’s remember why those restrictions were brought in, yes? It’s the big picture. The negative effects of dead civilians almost always outweigh the benefits of dead Taliban.
“Always we women should do the sacrifice?”
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:36
Governor of Bamyan Province, Dr Habiba Sorabi
“Habiba Sorabi, the governor of the Bamiyan province — where the Taliban terrorized Shiite members of the Hazara minority during their rule, and destroyed ancient Buddhist monuments — rejected a suggestion from a minister in the national government that women would have to “be sacrificed†in return for a deal with the fundamentalist insurgents. Speaking in English to a crew from Channel 4 News, Ms. Sorabi said:
“Why are they not doing the sacrifice? Always we women should do the sacrifice? Always women during the war and during the conflict, for a long period in Afghanistan, women sacrificed. So this is enough I think.”
Ms. Sorabi was not invited to the conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Tuesday.
http://canada-afghanistan.blogspot.com/
The Canada-Afghanistan Blog: Nation-building in Afghanistan is a noble and justified cause, consistent with our broad Canadian values of democracy and human rights. We recognize the military aspect is a vital, but not sufficient, component of this mission.
Riding with Ghosts
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:30
“Doing the Canadian thing: getting the job done without all of the fuss and fanfare.”
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—We are motoring down a bare-dirt back road in Kandahar Province, a road where NATO patrols never go. This way is better, explains the ghost behind the wheel, because roads without soldiers tend not to explode….
…Nearly every other civilian foreigner has fled Kandahar. Some have taken refuge inside nearby NATO bases, others have retreated to comparably calmer Kabul. But not Team Canada, despite the rash of bombs and targeted killings that torment this crucial southern city. They are working under the radar to rapidly turn tens of millions of international aid dollars into jobs for thousands of Afghan men.
Fighting-age Afghan men, you understand, some of whom, in their desperation for income, would join the only other gainful employers in town — the cash-paying Taliban, or, more likely, one of the corrupt private armies that Panjwaii Tim assesses bluntly as “akin to the Sicilian mafia.â€
Never mind hearts and minds, Team Canada is about hands and bellies — a largely invisible aid network on the front line, offering stay-alive sustenance to Afghans who might otherwise plant roadside bombs aimed at sending more Canadian bodies home down the Highway of Heroes…
…“They are the best crew in the country,†the blogger, Tim Lynch, an American contractor who does work similar to Team Canada in safer Nangahar Province, wrote in an email to the Star. “They have balls the size of grapefruit.â€
http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=3357
Afghans soldiers during a patrol near Kandahar.
The Military in Pictures
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 22/Jul/2010 23:40
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An MV-22B Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares to land on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan during routine flight operations.
Members of Task Force Cyclone load a Chinook helicopter while another lands in Surkh-e Parsa district, Parwan province, Afghanistan, Nov. 16. Task Force Cyclone's mission was to check on current building projects, meet with Afghan police officials and talk with civilians about concerns in the area. Photo by Spc. William Henry
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An Afghan national army soldier speaks with the elder of one of the villages visited Sept. 23 during Operation Gator Crawl. Photo by Cpl. Daniel Flynn
http://www.freemilitaryphotos.com/photo/03-23-2010/operation-enduring-freedom-ghazni-prt
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An Indiana National Guard Soldier fires his M4 Assault Rifle on a range at the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in central Indiana, Jan. 22. His unit is training for deployment to Afghanistan slated for the following
Petty Officer Scott "Doc K" Kuniyuki, Medic from Provincial Reconstruction Team Ghazni, provides security for the landing zone during 9-line training with Polish medics and Special Forces along with U.S. Army personnel on the side of a mountain inside Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Photo by Master Sgt. Sarah Webb
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An F/A-18C Hornet from Carrier Air Wing 5 prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. George Washington, the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, is underway supporting security and stability in the western Pacific Ocean. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class John Hageman
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U.S. Army Sgt. Benjamin Cascarano, from Lisle, Ill., Security Forces member assigned to Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team, keeps watch as members of the Ghazni PRT conduct a quality assurance/quality control inspection at the construction site of the Ergato comprehensive health clinic located in Waghez district, Ghazni province, Feb. 3. Photo by Master Sgt. Sarah Webb Date: 02.03.2010
U.S. Soldiers with Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment fire a 155mm illumination round using an M-777A2 towed howitzer at Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, Jan. 10. (Photo by: Tech Sgt. Francisco V. Govea II)
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MV-22B Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced), 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, fly over the Egyptian coastline during Exercise Bright Star 2009 in Egypt, Oct. 12. The multinational exercise is designed to improve readiness, interoperability, and strengthen the military and professional relationships among U.S., Egyptian and participating forces
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Residents of western Paktika stand in line to receive saplings handed out by members of the provincial government, the Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team, and the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, March 24. Afghan national security forces escorted the tree saplings to their respective district for distribution as well as providing security for the class and distribution process to prevent thievery and corruption. These trees will be equally distributed and planted throughout the region in order to allow the root systems to hold the soil in place.
Juarez Graffiti Message to U.S. law enforcement Warns of Another Car Bomb
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 22/Jul/2010 23:33
“A graffiti message found Sunday night in Juárez warned U.S. law enforcement that another car bombing will occur if they do not arrest corrupt federal police agents.
The unsigned message told the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate authorities that support the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Otherwise, there will be another car bomb placed in Juárez to kill federal police, the threat stated.
“If in 15 days, there is no response with detention of corrupt federales, we will put a car with 100 kilos of C4,” the message read.”
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/07/graffiti-message-in-juarez-warns-of.html
More Dead in Nuevo Laredo
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 22/Jul/2010 22:48
Nuevo Laredo
“More bloody gunbattles erupted in Nuevo Laredo on Wednesday night, leaving several people dead and an unknown number injured as armed gunmen fought each other through the streets near the center of the city, on Colosio Boulevard in the Parque Viveros area, on Guerrero, on Reforma and other parts of the city.
“I saw a dead body hanging out of a car,†near the restored historic train station downtown, said one witness who asked not to be identified.
Special Forces Police in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
On Monday, an unknown person dressed in civilian clothes tossed a grenade into a late-night crowd at a sports complex, killing one person and injuring 16, including several children.”
Man saves family from road-side robbery, shoots assailant
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 22/Jul/2010 22:39
David Jayquon Jakes of Smoaks, armed robbery suspect
“…At that time, a silver-colored sedan pulled up occupied by three individuals and a male subject, later identified as David Jayquon Jakes, 19, exited the back seat and pointed a large caliber handgun at one of the women.
The victims said Jakes was covering his face with a cloth of some type and started ordering her as he referred to her as “pretty lady.” At that time, the woman’s son-in-law stood up from behind his vehicle and she ran to her daughter as they took cover.
Her son-in-law was armed and drew his weapon and ordered them to leave several times. As Jakes turned and pointed his large caliber weapon, the son-in-law fired several rounds striking Jakes who then fell to the ground and dropped his weapon.
The two subjects in the suspect vehicle helped the wounded Jakes back into their vehicle and fired several rounds back at the victim and then drove away.
A short time later, the Colleton Regional Hospital staff notified the Sheriff’s Office that they just had an individual come in to their emergency room with several gun shot wounds.”
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12598387
“The man who shot him recently returned from the Middle East as an Army Specialist and has a concealed weapons permit to carry his weapon.
Sheriff George Malone said he will not be charged since he acted in self-defense.”
Fanning the Flames of Jihad
Posted by Gary in Threat Watch on 22/Jul/2010 11:05
By Scott Stewart
On July 11, 2010, al-Malahim Media, the media arm of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published the first edition of its new English-language online magazine “Inspire.†The group had tried to release the magazine in late June, but for some reason — whether a technical glitch, virus (as rumored on some of the jihadist message boards) or cyberattack — most of the initial file released was unreadable.
The magazine was produced by someone who has a moderate amount of technological savvy, who speaks English well and who uses a lot of American idioms and phraseology. We did not note any hint of British or South Asian influence in the writing. A government source has suggested to us (and we have seen the claim repeated in the media) that Inspire was produced by a U.S citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia named Samir Khan. Khan is a well-known cyber-jihadist — indeed, The New York Times did an excellent story on Khan in October 2007. Given Khan’s background, history of publishing English-language jihadist material and the fact that he reportedly left the United States for Yemen in 2009 and has not returned, it does seem plausible that he is the driving force behind Inspire.
“This report is republished with the permission of STRATFOR: www.STRATFOR.com.”
Comic Relief
There are always serious and terrible things happening around the world. Every now and then we need to have a laugh. From the web comic XKCD:
“I always ALWAYS carry a knife”
Posted by Jack Sinclair in Knives, News on 20/Jul/2010 19:03
“I always ALWAYS carry a knife. I have a few that I mix it up with. A nice 4 inch Gerber, a small Swiss army, a jack knife I got from my grandfather.
My reason is a little sad so be forewarned. When I was young (8-10) My brother and I were friends with these kids across town named Rob and Tom. We were over at their house or them at ours at least 5 nights a week. One night we were building a bridge out of sticks and boards across some water in a shallow ditch after a big rainstorm. It couldn’t have been more than half a meter deep. We hear brakes squeal and see a car flip into the ditch a ways down the road.
We ran over to see what happened and recognized the car. It was Rob and Toms father. He hit a puddle going a little to fast and lost control. This was not an abandoned road so 2 other cars had stopped to help by the time we bolted down to the crash.
The car was upside down in the water and we could see him struggling with his seat belt. Everyone tried to get him loose but the belt was twisted and no one had a knife on them. We tried to fray it with keys and burn it with a lighter but to no avail. I watched with my brother, my best friends and 3 adults as said best friends’ father drowned in front of them in half a meter of water because no one had a knife to cut him loose.”
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/crocy/how_many_folks_carry_a_knife_on_a_daily_basis/
Our Porous Southern Border: 7,000 illegals a year – on one trail?
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 20/Jul/2010 18:16