News Miscellany

[Watser?]

The Financial Times reported jihadi groups, some of which have been armed by the US and the UK, have moved into areas of the wartime economy previously inhabited by human traffickers and smugglers and that as ISIS has lost territory, its fighters have become highly prized commodities, fetching at least $50,000, and even claims of upwards of millions of dollars.

Money can also be earned from ISIS defectors who pay to be smuggled out of ISIS territory and beyond. It can cost $10,000 (£8,200) for a fighter to leave Isis-controlled regions and a further $10,000 to enter Turkey, the IB Times report continued.

Captured ISIS fighters can sell upwards of millions of dollars

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

A message to my doomed colleagues in the American media

Congratulations, US media! You’ve just covered your first press conference of an authoritarian leader with a massive ego and a deep disdain for your trade and everything you hold dear. We in Russia have been doing it for 12 years now — with a short hiatus when our leader wasn’t technically our leader — so quite a few things during Donald Trump’s press conference rang my bells.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Obama awards Biden Presidential Medal of Freedom...

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Merica, Komrade.

C-SPAN's online feed interrupted by Russia Today - Jan. 12, 2017

[Watser?]

While native Americans in the US have been fighting DAPL, native Mapuche Argentinians are fighting Benetton:

The Pu Lof community started mobilizing in March 2015 in order to recover their ancestral lands occupied by transnational corporation Benetton.

The province’s Governor Mario Das Neves threatened communities with a “tough hand ... up to the ultimate consequences.”

Violent Repression Against Argentine Mapuche Fighting Benetton | News | teleSUR English

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Kinda neat, North Korean expat describing the how to live in modern society experience.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Straight to work rolling back to 1950.

H.R.490 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit abortion in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detectable. | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Justice Department Announces Findings of Investigation into Chicago Police Department

tldr:

Justice Department Finds a Pattern of Civil Rights Violations by the Chicago Police Department

[Watser?]

Simon Pegg is taking a stand on Yemen:

Britain Has Crossed A Red Line In Yemen Simon...

[Kyuss Apollo]

Better NOT do it in the road.

Running over protesters on roadways could soon be legal in North Dakota

Protesters may want to think twice about blocking roads in North Dakota.

Republican lawmakers in the state introduced a bill last week in the legislature that would not hold motorists liable for negligently running over someone obstructing a roadway. The bill was introduced in response to a year of protests over a proposed pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation...

Lawmakers told the Bismark Tribune that the bill is needed after protesters blocked traffic during oil pipeline protests.

"It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” Rep. Keith Kempenich told the paper. (Roads) are not there for the protesters. They’re intentionally putting themselves in danger."

The bill will be heard by the North Dakota's House Transportation Committee on Friday.

show spoiler

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Ready!

[BrotherMan]

Originally Posted by Kyuss Apollo

Okay, that's great and all, but what if they do it on purpose?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kyuss Apollo

Better NOT do it in the road.

But seriously, terrible reporting. Didn't even say the bill number to look it up. (Not giving you the stink eye, Kyuss.)

It's House Bill 1203, and the Bimsark Tribune here has actual links to stuff! Motorist liability introduced in response to pipeline protests | Government and Politics | bismarcktribune.com

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

Okay, that's great and all, but what if they do it on purpose?

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-...0351-01000.pdf

5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a driver of a motor vehicle who
unintentionally causes injury or death to an individual obstructing vehicular traffic on a public road, street, or highway is not guilty of an offense.

1-4 describe the ordinary and permitted modes of pedestrian travel.

[JoeP]

Turkish cargo Boeing 747 crashes in Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyzstan News | Al Jazeera

"At least" 32 people killed, mostly in the village the plane landed on. Dense fog.

[Watser?]

The Syrian Army will be looking to quickly end the siege on the air base or the city will face a humanitarian disaster as most of the food and supplies that reach civilians in Deir Ezzor are deliveries to the airbase.

Syrian Army to begin counterattack against ISIS in Deir Ezzor with Russian air cover

[Watser?]

There was some kind of conference in Paris for some reason...

The Paris peace conference was beyond useless - everyone knows a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine is impossible now | The Independent

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

If Obama grants Manning clemency, Assange will agree to US prison in exchange -- despite its clear unlawfulness https://t.co/MZU30S3Eia

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 15, 2016

WikiLeaks on Twitter: "If Obama grants Manning clemency, Assange will agree to US prison in exchange -- despite its clear unlawfulness https://t.co/MZU30S3Eia"

A clemency can come in the form of a pardon, which is forgiveness of a sentence, a commutation, which is reduction of a sentence, or a reprieve, which is a temporary putting off of punishment while the situation is analyzed further. ... A common use of commutation is to reduce a death penalty verdict to life in prison.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Wyoming Bill Would Outlaw Renewable Energy

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2017/Introduced/SF0071.pdf

In gamer parlance, we call this 'being a tryhard'.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Obama commutes sentence for political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera | World news | The Guardian

[Watser?]

[erimir]

You never know, Trump may give it a go on the second half of that.

Trump's statements about other wars mean nothing. If it's unpopular, he was against it; if it's popular, he was for it, and probably it was his idea, even. If his responsibility is indelible (as will be the case for any conflicts started under his watch), then it will forever be justified. There is no principle for him that says bombing innocent people is bad (especially not Muslims).

The problem with the Iraq War is merely that it was unpopular. Since he could deny responsibility and the media didn't hold him to account as well as it should have, he did.

But he doesn't know shit and his instinct is to hit back "ten times as hard" when attacked. Seems like a recipe for disaster. If ISIS were to bomb a Trump property, who knows what his response would be. And ISIS seems like the type to do it...

[Watser?]

It's not about the disappointment that Trump will be, it's about the total disappointment that Obama was. He was a peace candidate and a war president.

[Watser?]

Even if Trump starts bombing them too they won't miss Obama any more than they missed W.

[erimir]

Why would they have missed W? Obama wasn't worse than him.

The contrast between Obama and Bush on the Middle East was not nearly as large as it should have been. But he was still better.

Anyway, I got your meaning. I'm just saying however bad you think it is... it's likely to get worse. But yes, that doesn't necessarily mean any of those people will "miss" Obama.

On the other hand, the first part of the picture is bullshit, implying that it's only celebrities/rich people who will miss Obama.