Syrian opposition: 18 Iranians, including a senior Revolutionary Guards military official, killed after Israeli strike.

DEVELOPING: Unknown aircraft reportedly carries out strikes against Iranian assets in Syria pic.twitter.com/rR4Hw57J7R

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 29, 2018

Syrian opposition: 18 Iranians, including a senior Revolutionary Guards military official, killed after Israeli strike. (TOI).

There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties: Syrian opposition officials have reportedly said that 18 Iranians, including a senior Revolutionary Guards military official, were killed, according to Israel Radio.

Other opposition-linked outlets placed the overall number of fatalities at 38. Missile strikes against Syrian regime forces in the central province of Hama overnight killed 26 pro-regime fighters, mostly Iranians, a monitor said Monday.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said the fighters had been killed in a raid, “probably” carried out by Israel, on the 47th Brigade base in Hama.

State media reported overnight that “enemy missiles” had struck government targets in Hama and Aleppo provinces, without mentioning any casualties or who may have been responsible. While some sources blamed Israel for the strikes, Syrian state-owned news site Tishreen said late Sunday the raids were carried out by the United States and British forces.

The Western troops launched nine ballistic missiles from military bases in northern Jordan that struck Syrian bases near Aleppo and Hama, the news outlet said on its Facebook page.

Other media outlets claimed the attacks were carried out by aircraft bombers, and Hezbollah-linked sources and other regime outlets attributed the strikes to Israel. Read the full story here.

@WTEpaminondas The impact of the #Israeli attacks was so intense, it resulted in an earth tremor measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale.https://t.co/1I863Gr5ki

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 30, 2018

North Korea ready to carry out nuclear test at any time, most likely period is between April 25 and May 9 — South Korean paper.

North Korea ready to carry out nuclear test at any time — South Korean paper. (Tass).

The most likely period for the nuclear test is between April 25 and May 9

North Korea has stepped up activities at its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in the northeast and is ready to carry out a nuclear test at any time, the Dong-A Ilbo daily said Monday, citing a research by the Johns Hopkins University experts.

The US-Korea Institute department at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, which analyzed the recent satellite images of the testing ground, said Pyongyang may carry out its sixth nuclear test at any time, upon an order from the country’s leader Kim Jong Un.

According to the sources, the most likely period for the test is between April 25, the Military Foundation Day in North Korea, and May 9, when South Koreans will vote in early presidential polls.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula began to grow in early 2016 when North Korea conducted a nuclear test and after that launched a ballistic missile carrying a satellite. In September 2016, Pyongyang carried out another nuclear test while mover than 20 missiles were test-fired during the year.

More:

Work seems to have resumed at #DPRK's nuclear test site around the North Portal and Main admin area. https://t.co/HTGQqagfTa

— 38 North (@38NorthNK) April 21, 2017

Iranian Red line already reached? Pyongyang nuke test may also be Iranian.

Kim Yong-Nam arrives at NAM conference in Tehran Photo: REUTERS/Handout

Iranian Red line already reached? Pyongyang nuke test may also be Iranian.(JPost).By Yaakov Lappin.

Expert warns Tehran may be bypassing int'l inspections via North Korea, says Iranian scientists may have been present at test.

In addition to provoking the West, North Korea’s nuclear test on Tuesday may have also been carried out on behalf of Iran, and in the presence of Iranian atomic scientists, a security expert warned on Tuesday.
North Korea is making progress both in its nuclear weapons capabilities and its ICBM missile research, Dr. Alon Levkowitz, coordinator of Bar-Ilan University’s Asian Studies Program and a member of the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, told The Jerusalem Post.
“The most disturbing question is whether the Iranians are using North Korea as a backdoor plan for their own nuclear program. The Iranians didn’t carry out a nuclear test in Iran, but they may have done so in North Korea,” Levkowitz said. “There is no official information on this… but Iran may have bypassed inspections via North Korea. If true, this is a very worrying development.”
Speaking to the Post in April, sources highly familiar with North Korea said a nuclear test was imminent, and that Iranian scientists could be present at the explosion site. During North Korea’s previous two nuclear detonations, Iranian nuclear scientists were present, according to several indicators, Levkowitz said.
It remains unclear whether the North Koreans detonated a plutonium- based nuclear device or one that was based on enriched uranium on Tuesday. The latter option would further suggest increased cooperation with Iran, he added.
“There is regular cooperation, since the 1980s, between North Korea and Iran. North Korea also helped set up a plutonium nuclear facility in Syria, which was bombed by Israel in 2007, according to foreign sources,” he said.
The feeble response by the international community to North Korea was due to China and Russia’s refusal to pass harsher binding UN Security Council resolutions, Levkowitz said, adding that this sent a worrying message to Iran. Tehran was learning that the international community would fail to monitor and prevent nuclear proliferation, and that consequences for blatant transgressions were mild, he added.Read the full story here.

Bibi: Why Doesn’t Abbas Condemn Hamas’ Threat to Destroy Us?

Bibi: Why Doesn’t Abbas Condemn Hamas’ Threat to Destroy Us?(INN).Khaled Mashaal has revealed Hamas’ real face, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday, while Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas hides behind him by not condemning remarks to destroy Israel.
Mashaal, Hamas’ surpreme leader, visited Gaza, kissed the ground and triumphantly stated that Arabs will never cede “one inch” of “Palestine," referring to all of Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, “Yesterday we were re-exposed to our enemies' true face. They have no intention of compromising with us; they want to destroy the state. They will fail, of course; in the annals of the history of our people, we – the Jewish People – have overcome such enemies.”

He noted that Abbas, who has fostered an image of a “peace partner” while recently declaring unity with Hamas, “has issued no condemnation, not of the remarks about the destruction of Israel, just as previously he did not condemn the missiles that were fired at Israel.”

“To my regret, he strives for unity with the same Hamas that is supported by Iran," the Prime Minister added.
“We in the government have no illusions. We want a true peace with our neighbors. But we will not close our eyes and stick our heads in the sand. We are not prepared to repeat the same mistake of a unilateral withdrawal and withdrawals that, in effect, led Hamas to take control of Gaza.
“I have always been astonished at the delusions of others who are prepared to continue this process and call it peace. You would hand over more territory, in this case in Judea and Samaria that controls Israel's cities, to the same people and the result, of course, will be a Gaza on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Hadera and Kfar Saba.”
He vowed to withstand international pressure, which almost universally condemned Israel for responding to the UN’s upgrading the PA’s status in the United Nations by announcing new building projects for Jewish homes in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.Read the full story here.

Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal: "Hamas Won’t Recognize Israel."

Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal: "Hamas Won’t Recognize Israel."(YNet).Hamas marked the 25th anniversary of its inception today, with a ceremony and a mass rally held in Gaza City’s al-Katiba Square.
Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal, his deputy Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook and politburo member Izzat al-Rishak attended the ceremony for the first time ever; as did top Fatah leaders.
Senior politburo member Saleh Al Arouri was also scheduled to attend the rally, but according to Egyptian media, Israel vetoed his presence; stressing that his presence in the enclave would jeopardize the recent ceasefire deal struck between Israel and Hamas.
Israel further vetoed the presence of Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Shallah and his deputy, Ziyad Nahala.
Thousands of Hamas supporters, some of them flashing victory signs, were braving the rain to attend the event. Some parents brought children dressed in military uniforms.
A spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades addressed the crowd, and spoke of Ahmed Jabari, whose targeted assassination sparked Operation Pillar of Defense.
Jabari, said the spokesman, played a key role in the resistance: “We vow to keep on with the resistance and with the Jihad until we defeat the occupation and purify the holy sites.”
He thanked Iran and Turkey for their support during the days of the recent Gaza conflict and pledged that Hamas’ military wing “will never abandon Gaza.”
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told the cheering crowds that Gaza was victorious in the last military campaign because of “Hamas’ thorough preparations beforehand.” The movement, he said, “Has thousands of combatants, on and under the ground, who are ready to ward off any Israeli aggression. The occupation will not remain on this land,” he declared.
“Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land,” he said.
“We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take.”
The politburo chief continued: “Jihad and the armed resistance is the only true path to liberation.”

He congratulated the militants who were able to target cities in central Israel, saying that “We don’t kill Jews because they are Jews. We kill the Zionists because they are conquerors and we will continue to kill anyone who takes our land and our holy places.

“The conqueror is not just the enemy of the Palestinians but the enemy of the entire Arab world. The Zionist plan is a danger to us all.
“We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone…the right of return is sacred to us and we will not forfeit it.”
Earlier today, Hamas released a statement, carried by the “Palestine Information Center” website, saying that the movement has “renewed its adherence to the option of resistance for the liberation of Palestine.”
“Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, their land and holy sites only boost the Palestinian people’s steadfastness and resistance and cannot succeed in breaking their will,” the statement said.
“We will stay faithful to Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic and Christian holy sites, and will not relinquish any part of them. We also support those steadfast in Jerusalem and our 1948 occupied land in the face of Judaization and displacement schemes.” Read the full story here.

Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal: "Today Gaza: Tomorrow Ramallah. After that Jerusalem then Haifa and Jaffa."

Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal: "Today Gaza: Tomorrow Ramallah. After that Jerusalem then Haifa and Jaffa."(IMRA). Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal made his first visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday, telling crowds he hoped his next visit would be to Jerusalem, Ramallah and a liberated Palestine. After passing through the Egyptian border crossing, Mashaal knelt on the ground to offer a prayer of thanks and was then greeted by dozens of officials from an array of competing factions lined up to meet him in warm December sun.
Mashaal praised the people of Gaza and the political factions in his first ever speech on Palestinian soil. "We politicians are in debt to the people of Gaza," he said.
The leader was briefly tearful as he was welcomed by Gaza's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Mashaal said his visit to Gaza was his "third birth" referring to an assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents in 1997 as his previous "re-birth." "I pray to God that my fourth birth will come the day we liberate Palestine," he said, clearly moved by his reception, with uniformed police breaking ranks to try and kiss his hand. "Today is Gaza. Tomorrow will be Ramallah and after that Jerusalem then Haifa and Jaffa," he said.
Haniyeh welcomed Mashaal's arrival as a historic moment in Palestinian history.
Hamas denied seeking guarantees via Egyptian contacts with Israel that Mashaal would not be targeted for assassination in Gaza. There was massive security for his arrival, with gun-toting, black-masked guards from the Hamas military wing patrolling the streets in open-topped trucks and motorbikes.
Mashaal, 56, had been widely understood not to have set foot in Palestine since he left his native West Bank with his family aged 11. However in his speech he indicated he had returned for a visit as a teenager in 1975.

The Hamas chief will visit the home of the late founder and spiritual leader of the party, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004, and the homes of Hamas military commander Ahmad al-Jaabari and his bodyguard Mohammad al-Hams, who Israel assassinated on Nov. 14 at the start of its eight day war on Gaza.
The Hamas chief will also visit the al-Dalou family home. Israel killed 10 members of the family, including four children and five women, as well as two of their neighbors, in an airstrike on Nov. 18.
"All Palestinians will eventually return to their homeland. Khaled Mashaal is returning after a victory," said veteran Hamas strategist Mahmoud al-Zahar.
Mashaal will stay for a little more than 48 hours in the coastal enclave, which Hamas has ruled since a 2007 war with Fatah that rules the West Bank. Hamas politburo members Mousa Abu Marzouq, Izzat al-Rishq, and Saleh al-Arouri accompanied him.
Hamas plans an open-air rally on Saturday to promote what it says was last month's victory against Israel, and at the same time commemorate the 25th anniversary of the group's founding.
Saturday's rally is not being held on the exact date of Hamas's founding, but on the 25th anniversary of the start of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israel.
That is being seen as an overture to other factions and a hint of a new willingness to seek reconciliation with Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, who last week won de-facto statehood recognition from the UN General Assembly.
Gaza City has been festooned with green Hamas flags and a stage set up, complete with a huge model of the makeshift M75 rocket, fired at both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem last month.
Israeli media have barely mentioned Mashaal's return. Israeli officials say the week of round-the-clock bombing raids in November had not only killed al-Jaabari, but also severely depleted Hamas's weapons stockpile.
"They can dance in the streets as much as they like, but their leaders know what damage was inflicted," said a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, who declined to be named.
However, the conflict clearly boosted Hamas's political standing in the region, winning it the support of Sunni regional powers, such as Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, who dispatched senior delegations to Gaza in a rare and public display of solidarity.Reuters contributed to this report.Hmmmm......

"All I want for Christmas?" - Hamas chief Meshaal hopes to be 'martyr in Gaza'.

"All I want for Christmas?" - Hamas chief Meshaal hopes to be 'martyr in Gaza'.(HD).Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal said on his first-ever visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday that he hoped to become a "a martyr" in the Palestinian territory. "I hope God will make me a martyr on the land of Palestine in Gaza," Meshaal told reporters shortly after crossing from Egypt into Gaza via the southern Rafah crossing. Accompanied by his deputy, Mussa Abu Marzuk, and other senior officials, Meshaal drove through the crossing and then got out and kissed the ground before embracing Gaza's Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya. 
The Islamist group's leader, Khaled Meshaal, who has not visited the Palestinian Territories since leaving the West Bank at age 11, emerged emboldened from the eight day conflict which ended in a truce he negotiated under Egypt's auspices. He has since spoken of reaching out to other Palestinian factions. "There is a new mood that allows us to achieve reconciliation," Meshaal told Reuters in an interview last Friday from Qatar, where he has set up home since leaving Syria earlier this year. He will stay for a little more than 48 hours in the coastal enclave, which Hamas has ruled since a 2007 war with Fatah that rules the West Bank. Hamas plans an open-air rally on Saturday to promote what it says was last month's victory against Israel, and at the same time commemorate the 25th anniversary of the group's founding.
The Arab Spring revolts of the last two years have brought friends of Hamas to power across the region, above all Egypt's new President Mohamed Mursi, whose long-banned Muslim Brotherhood is spiritual mentor to Hamas.
The Arab Spring has seen Hamas, long supported by Shi'ite Iran, grow closer to neighbouring Sunni Arab states. Although Israel steadfastly refuses to talk to a group which calls for its destruction and rockets its towns, Meshaal, who has survived poisoning by Israeli assassins, could yet emerge as an important figure in the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Workers have festooned Gaza with the green flag of Hamas ahead of Meshaal's arrival via neighbouring Egypt. 
A large stage has been set up in the strip's main city, complete with a huge model of the homemade M75 rocket, which was fired at both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in last month's conflict. His abrupt departure from Syria initially weakened his position within Hamas: ties with Damascus and Tehran had made him important, but with those links damaged or broken, rivals based within Gaza had started to assert their authority. However, the exiled leader regained the initiative during the November fighting, working closely with Egypt and its new Muslim Brotherhood rulers to secure the ceasefire. His newfound confidence was evident when he appeared alongside Mursi after the deal with Israel. Nevertheless, he told Reuters he plans to step down as Hamas leader, despite calls on him "internally and externally" to carry on. Many Gazans doubt he will actually leave his post. It has not been made clear whether his visit will mark the end of a secretive leadership election ongoing for six months. Gaza, which is still cut off from the outside world by an Israeli land and sea blockade, has been breaking out of its isolation, with recent high level delegations from Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and the Arab League. "There is a new Arab presence, there is a different kind of support," Meshaal said last week.Hmmmmm.....Lets hope the IDF Santa grants his wish.Read the full story here.

"Sanctions that Benefit" - Iran buys Turkish gold via UAE, economists say.

"Sanctions that Benefit" - Iran buys Turkish gold via UAE, economists say.(HD).Turkey’s trade deficit fell 30 percent in August, reportedly on the back of strong gold sales to Iran even though the United Arab Emirates was the leading gold buyer from Turkey in the given period. The trade deficit fell to $5.86 billion, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, compared with a $7.89 billion deficit in July and a forecast of $8.10 billion in a Reuters poll. “This data is a result of soaring gold exports, which broke a record with $2.3 billion in August,” Oyak Securities economist Mehmet Besimoğlu said on Sept. 28. “Gold exports were generally to Iran, made via the United Arab Emirates.” Turkish gold sales to Iran have soared as Iranians turn to the precious metal to protect savings and, potentially, to trade, as Western sanctions aimed at forcing the Islamic republic to curb its nuclear program tighten. Some trader firms also speculated that gold to the UAE might be for Iran in deed. As a whole, Turkey’s gold exports jumped more than fourfold to $11.2 billion in the first eight months of 2012. Overall exports to the UAE jumped eightfold to $2.23 billion, making it Turkey’s largest export destination in August. “The lower-than-expected August trade deficit was mainly due to the slowdown in domestic economic activity and net gold exports,” researchers from local lender TEB said. Exports rose 14.5 percent to $12.87 billion, as growing trade with markets in Africa and the Middle East eclipsed a slowdown in demand from Europe. Imports fell 4.8 percent to $18.74 billion.Hmmmm......Sanctions that benefit Obama's BFF Turkey.Read the full story here.

Afghanistan President Karzai Wants Americans Tried for Quran Incident; Will Obama Defend Troops?

Afghanistan President Karzai Wants Americans Tried for Quran Incident; Will Obama Defend Troops?(BP).By  AWR Hawkins.
Thanks to Barack Obama’s failure to lead, events surrounding the burning of religious materials at Bargam Airfield–materials that included Qurans in which detainees were writing “extremist messages or inscriptions”–are perilously spiraling out of control. And now, Afghanistan President Karzai is calling for the American troops who took part in the burning to stand trial.
Karzai’s doing this because he can. And the reason he can is because all Obama has displayed up to this point is weakness.
Think about it: although U.S. military personnel have come forward to say the materials were only burned was because of the messages and inscriptions detainees had written within them, Obama has apologized twice to Karzai. One apology was what you’d call a regular apology, and the second one was what Obama spokesman Jay Carney called a “severe apology.”
What’s next? Will we offer to behead ourselves so Taliban and Al Qaeda members don’t have to go through all the hassle of catching us and tying us up?
Obama may have missed this, but we are at war in that part of the world. Not a play war, like on Xbox, but a real war where American men and women in uniform are in harm’s way day and night. We’ve already lost two brave military personnel via an Afghan solider who was incited by the alleged burning of these materials, used by detainees to exchange extremist messages. And our troops could face even more loses if Obama doesn’t stand up and fight for change.If Obama would do that, this situation could be handled quickly.When Karzai asks for our troops to be put on trial for burning the religious materials that contained the extremist messages, we should simply ask whether he’ll put the extremist who shot and killed two of our soldiers on trial as well.Hmmmm..........Do the soldiers get 'combat pay' for being shot by 'allies'?Read the full story here.More here.

Pakistan Allies with Iran Against US.

Hamid Karzai (L),  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) and Asif Ali Zardari, why so cheerfull?

Pakistan Allies with Iran Against US.(RT).Pakistan has pledged to support Iran if the US launches a military attack against the Islamic Republic. The Pakistani president assured the Iranian leader that his country’s territory will not be used as a launch pad for such an assault.Should the United Stated decide to attack Iran, Pakistan will not support the move and will not allow the US to use its local airbases for military operations, the Pakistani leader Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday.
His assurances of support came during a meeting of the leaders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan in Islamabad. The talks are seen as Pakistan’s way of sending a message of defiance to the US.
Meanwhile, Turkey has denied Israel the right to use intelligence from its NATO radar system. In the wake of a recent US-Israel joint missile test and the ongoing tensions between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday that any intelligence gathered by the NATO facilities should not be shared with a third country, especially if the country is Israel.Hmmmm.....Nobody else to blame for this Debacle than President Obama....'leading from behind'.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                   Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 07. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan between 5.1 and 6.0 today. More info here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 76.

Breaking New Eartquakes in Japan !Tsunami alert issued! Source.

07.04.2011 16:57:42       7.4 Asia Japan Honshu Ishinomaki EMSC

07.04.2011 17:00:14       7.4 Asia Japan Miyagi-ken Niiyamahama USGS-RSOE  Source.

• Breaking News :HT:IsraelMatzav.Two wounded in anti-tank missile attack on school bus ,one critical!They won't say whether the injured are children, but there are two people wounded - one seriously and one moderately - as a result of an anti-tank missile hitting a school bus in the Gaza envelope (I'm typing this as I listen - it happened at 3:17 pm Israel time).

The bus was traveling from Kibbutz Saad to Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the Gaza envelope area. Israel Radio is now confirming that the seriously wounded person is a child and is being taken by helicopter to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva.Israel Radio said it might have been a mortar and not an anti-tank missile. This may be the statistical anomaly that the terrorists scored a direct hit.There was also a kindergarten hit.Police now saying that bus was hit by shrapnel from an 82mm mortar.Local residents now told to take shelter.Read the full live updated story here.

Related : Teen critically injured in attack on Negev bus.Initial report suggests mortar bomb or anti-tank missile fired from Gaza Strip hit bus driving near Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. A 16-year-old boy was critically injured. A 16-year boy was critically injured after a bus driving near the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council was hit by either a mortar bomb or an anti-tank missile rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The bus was hit in its rear side causing its windows to shatter. Security forces are evacuating the victims.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.General Dubik: Boots on the Ground in Libya Soon.“The way the United States and its allies have intervened in Libya has placed them on a dangerously slippery slope. Air power alone has not protected Libyan civilians, the declared objective in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorized the military intervention. Nor have the rebels proved capable of making significant advances against Muammar al-Qaddafi’s forces. To effectively enforce the Security Council resolution, the coalition would need to put combat air controllers, advisors, and trainers on the ground — steps it appears unwilling to take. Where does that leave the coalition when it comes to developing a coherent war strategy? Mostly empty-handed.”Hmmm....."No American troops on the ground"Watch my hands sign the documents?Read the full story here.

• Um, Where’s My Crowd Screener?President Obama got some tough questions today at THE LAST UNSCREENED TOWN HALL HE WILL EVER BE DOING. Well, who knows, but you sure ain’t gonna see many events like this once the campaign heats up.He got probing and detailed queries during an event at an technology company outside of Philadelphia. These people, unlike the generalists in the White House press corps, knew exactly what they were talking about and weren’t holding back.Obama tried to kind of chuckle his way through it but wasn’t quite clever enough in his responses to pull it off, so he just seemed kind of oafish. I think I caught him gazing around for his teleprompter where perhaps Austan Goolsbee would be feeding him the answers..If Bush pulled this, the media would have already turned it into a failed IQ test.POLITICO has done a good job of splicing Obama’s uncomfortable moments together. Take a look.Read and see the full debacle here.

• Federal workers’ union preps government shutdown lawsuit.The largest union representing federal government workers may sue the Obama administration if there’s a government shutdown at the end of this week.With a shutdown looking increasingly likely by the hour as congressional Republicans and the White House stay stuck at an impasse, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees says the union will file suit against the federal government if it’s not clear that essential employees will be guaranteed pay for their work during the shutdown.“We’ve asked the Obama administration how they would guarantee employees’ pay, what the conditions are for essential employees to be paid,” John Gage, president of the 265,000-member union, told POLITICO on Wednesday. “Should essential employees be required to work without a guarantee of pay, we will file a lawsuit.”The shutdown battle is “more political theater than anything else,” Gage said, and it’s “deeply disturbing when people don’t know whether they’re going to be able to make a mortgage or pay their bills.” Government workers, he said, need more clarity about whether they’ll be required to work and whether they’ll be paid for that work.His request for more information has gone to Attorney General Eric Holder and to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry. Late Tuesday night, OPM published a brief overview of how a shutdown would work. Federal agencies do not have the authority to pay employees during a shutdown. Workers “excepted” during the shutdown would be paid for their work once the president signs a new appropriations bill or a continuing resolution, OPM said, but it’s up to agencies to determine who is excepted and who isn’t. Workers who are “non-excepted,” or furloughed, “are not permitted to work as unpaid volunteers for the government.”AFGE has already filed one lawsuit against the federal government over a possible shutdown. Last week, after not hearing back on Freedom of Information Act requests made to the White House Office of Management and Budget for details of how government agencies will handle the shutdown, the union sued OMB Director Jack Lew. “It’s inside baseball with the Obama administration about the lack of information coming from the agencies,” Gage said.In a statement, OMB spokeswoman Meg Reilly said it has taken “unprecedented steps to improve government transparency” as it plans for a government shutdown.“Plans for shutdown operations, which are governed by the law, remain in development and are pre-decisional at this time,” she said. “When plans are finalized and reviewed for sensitive information, we will work with agencies to provide to the public.”Read the full story here.

• Government shutdown will delay millions of tax refunds as economy goes into meltdown.Millions of tax refunds could be delayed if eleventh hour crisis talks over the budget deadlock fail to prevent a shutdown of government services on Friday.The Obama administration warned about the dire financial repercussions today with time running out to broker an agreement.Small business loans and government-guaranteed mortgages could also grind to a halt, sabotaging the U.S. economy’s faltering recovery.As many as 800,000 government workers are likely to be temporarily laid off and left in limbo waiting for federal funding to resume.The nation’s parks will be closed and Washington’s traditional springtime Cherry Blossom parade, one of the capital’s largest public events of the year that draws 100,000 visitors from around the world, would also be wiped out.Tempers are flaring today on both sides of the aisle with demands from Republicans and Democrats that leaders must find a compromise deal to break the budget impasse by midnight on Friday.If the shutdown goes ahead, the Inland Revenue Service will suspend processing tax refunds for people who file paper returns - about 30 per cent - according to government officials.President Obama said on Tuesday that he would have congressional negotiators back to the White House if they didn’t make any progress.But after a terse three-minute phone conversation this morning with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Mr Obama flew off for a series of scheduled appearances in Philadelphia and New York.He offered no comment on the crisis, just a friendly wave to supporters.Hmmm....So long suckers?Read the full story here.

• President Obama's New Anti-American Secretary of State. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it clear that she will not serve another term under President Obama. Who can blame her? She has become the face of a fecklessly reckless administration, a pathetic press relations lackey for the worst foreign affairs president in the history of the country.To replace her, Obama is reportedly looking to tap another prominent female diplomat. Her name is Samantha Power, and she bills herself as a human rights activist. A Yale University graduate, Power became a leftist foreign policy journalist for various major news organizations. She then came back to the United States, where she attended Harvard Law School.Her book, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," implicated the United States in virtually every major genocide of the last century. As a fellow radical Harvard Law School grad, she quickly penetrated Barack Obama's inner circle and became his senior foreign policy adviser during the 2008 campaign.Now she is a member of the National Security Council, and according to media reports, successor to Hillary's throne. There's only one problem: Power is an anti-Israel fanatic and a myopic internationalist who couldn't care less about doing what is right for America.Not only does this ignore the fact that the human rights abuses in the Israel-Palestinian conflict have been almost universally attributable to the Palestinian Arabs, it throws our liberal democratic ally under the bus. But then again, Power is used to throwing allies under the bus. She, along with her NSC colleague Ben Rhodes, reportedly told President Obama to undercut Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in order to please the Arab street.Pleasing the Arab street seems to be first priority for Power. It was Power, along with Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who pushed President Obama to go to non-war in Libya. Her fingerprints cover this abortive military operation. The problem in Libya isn't that we have no exit strategy -- it's that we had no entrance strategy, no definable goals or reasons for being there.That is, no reason except for prevention of "genocide" as broadly defined by Power. Each time Obama cites the prevention of genocide as a rationale for intervention -- even as Muslims slaughter Christians wholesale in Darfur, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, and kill non-radicals in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- Samantha Power's ventriloquism shines through.Power is yet another theory-first, know-nothing liberal who places her vaguely cotton candy ideals above realistic appraisal of American interests. Unfortunately, her asinine ideas have disastrous real-world consequences. Consequences about which President Obama does not care, apparently. When it comes to the White House, idiocy loves company.Hmmmm......May God protect Israel and those who side with her.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Obama’s Islamic Envoy Getting a Pass… Again.As the American media debates whether a small Florida pastor’s actions have enflamed the Muslim world, a member of the Obama administration may have done far more damage when he spoke in Kabul, Afghanistan recently. Yet, Obama’s envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Confernce (OIC), a devout Muslim who has memorized the Qur’an, Rashad Hussain continues to fly under the proverbial radar. Why?General David Petraeus has condemned the actions of pastor Terry Jones but has said nothing of Hussain’s speech, which only served to encourage Islamic fundamentalists who endorse the murdering of innocents in Afghanistan recently in response to the Qur’an burning. In his February speech, Hussain said:

“I am of the opinion that one of the strongest tools that you can use to counter radicalization and violent extremism is Islam itself, because Islam rejects violent extremism.”

Regardless of one’s interpretation of Islam, fundamentalists in Afghanistan interpret such words coming from an envoy representing the White House as justification for outrage in response to Jones’s actions, especially when Islamic law calls for such violence when the Qur’an is defiled. Wasn’t our mission in Afghanistan supposed to be about freedom?The actions of an obscure pastor from a Florida church with a flock numbering in the double digits were met with scorn from our Commander in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a man with curious ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, who fed far more fuel to Islamic fundamentalists with words he spoke – in Afghanistan – on behalf of the President of the United States, got a pass.Last year, news broke that Rashad Hussain gave a speech at a Muslim Students Association (MSA) event in 2004, during which he expressed support for convicted Islamic terrorist fundraiser Sami al-Arian. Hussain blamed the publication and denied saying the words attributed to him. Then, POLITICO obtained a recording of the event and reported it.Hussain was caught in a lie and had to backtrack; he was not fired. One year later, he was in the Capital of Afghanistan preaching that his brand of Islam – which includes sympathy for a convicted terrorist – should be promoted in that country.The MSA is a group that resides under the Muslim Brotherhood umbrella. In light of the pass Hussain received last year, the pass he’s receiving this year, and the disturbing world view the Obama administration official holds, isn’t the derision being directed at Terry Jones’s actions by our commander in Afghanistan grossly disproportionate in light of what’s known about Hussain? A General in the United States Army is choosing to attack a small Florida pastor while having no words for someone with far more power doing far more damage on the ground in Afghanistan.Indeed, isn’t it interesting that in virtually every Islamic uprising that’s been taking place lately, the actions of this administration with respect to the likes of Egypt and Libya coupled with its inaction in places like Iran, United States policies have consistently come down on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood? Perhaps that also explains the words of condemnation Petraeus has for Jones’s actions and the lack of words he has for Hussain’s.Hmmmm....."To protect the constitution"?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Confirmed: Israel behind Sudan airstrike; Saudis involved?Time Magazine Jerusalem bureau chief Karl Vick claims to have confirmed that the IDF was behind the air strike on Wednesday at Port Sudan in which Hamas' chief arms procurement agent was allegedly killed."This is absolutely an Israeli attack," Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti told reporters. He found in the air strike evidence of a plot to keep Sudan on the State Department's list of countries that support terror.Now wouldn't that be something if Israel had gotten permission to overfly Saudi Arabia on the way to the Sudan?On Thursday, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported that jailed Gazan engineer Dirar Abu Sisi gave Israeli intelligence 'valuable information' that led to the attack on the arms smugglers. According to the source, Abu Sisi passed along the sensitive information to Israel during his remand since he was abducted by a train in Ukraine last month.The source also told Al Jarida that Israel received valuable information on smuggling routes and cells operating from Sudan, through Egypt, and to Gaza, from a 'network' of southern Sudanese refugees who have migrated to Israel. Hmmmm......Read the full story here.

• IDF arrests at least 100 women in West Bank village. News sources quote council head as saying soldiers entered Awarta after midnight, imposed curfew, rounded up dozens of women from homes. The IDF arrested more than 100 women from the Awarta village in the West Bank in connection to the ongoing investigation into the deaths if a couple and three of their children, including one baby, in the Itamar settlement last month, AFP reported Thursday. Awarta lies close to the Itamar settlement and Nablus. The local council head told AFP that the IDF had stormed Awarta shortly after midnight, imposing a curfew and beginning to round up women. Though the IDF has been conducting consistent raids in the last four weeks since the Itamar murders, this is the first time the IDF has arrested women, the local council head added.The IDF was yet to comment on the operation.Hmmmm....sounds like someone is doing a serious DNA investigation.Read the full story here.

• Turkish mission in Libya, NATO's missile defense program 'inter-linked'.While a European Union diplomat has linked Turkey’s involvement in Libya operation and the proposed missile defense shield for NATO, Turkish diplomats deny such a link, saying they are ‘two different concepts'.NATO’s deliberations over the Libya mission and Turkey’s involvement witnessed tough bargaining over recent weeks as a Western diplomatic source said the Turkish role and its contributions were loosely linked to the proposed missile defense system being debated by the trans-Atlantic alliance.“I think they are two inter-connected issues,” a European Union ambassador told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, requesting anonymity.He said Turkey was pressing hard for NATO, not the United States, to take command of the missile defense system set out in the alliance’s strategic concept adopted at last year’s Lisbon summit.About the Libya operation, Ankara, which was initially reluctant for NATO to be involved, changed its approach and provided one of the two NATO headquarters for monitoring the no-fly zone in the crisis-hit North African country. The Turkish base in İzmir was one of the two headquarters that NATO was planning to shut down last year.A senior Turkish Foreign Ministry diplomat, however, denied such a link, saying that they were “two different concepts.”Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, was the subject of discussions over a potential NATO missile defense system originally proposed by the United States during the Bush administration. It is unclear whether Turkey will actively participate in the proposed system directed against Iran, which much of the international community considers a threat due to its controversial nuclear program.In previous statements, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had laid down Turkish principles saying that Turkey was at the center of NATO; NATO should take into account “indivisible security,” meaning that the alliance should preserve each and every member state’s security; and Turkey does not perceive any threat in its neighborhood and does not plan to be a frontier country as it was during the Cold War era.The United States has often portrayed the missile defense system as a safeguard against a possible ballistic strike from Iran. At the time of the discussions about the strategic concept, Ankara was concerned that such a perception could damage its growing relationship with its neighbor. To Turkey's favor, NATO’s new strategic concept eventually avoided identifying any specific neighboring country, whether it be Iran or Syria. But it is still unclear if Turkey will allow the deployment of such a system in its soil and who will be in the command of this system.Hmmmm....It's becoming very obvious that Turkey will never act against Iran or perhaps will act with Iran against the West and America!Perhaps weakening NATO as we speak!Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Absolute’s democracy.There is a demand from the people of this land who are aware what democracy is for Turkey moving on to an “absolute democracy” while the bitter reality biting souls clearly underline the existence of an “Absolute’s democracy” or some sort of a “democratic governance” which is shaped at the discretion of the sole executive, decision-maker, legislator and indeed family planner.The army of opponents of the secular democratic Turkish republic’s founding principles or the Kemalist ideology often claim that Turkey moved on to democratic governance with the 1950 elections and the period in between the creation of the republic in 1923 and Turkey moving on to pluralist parliamentary democracy in 1950 was an era of dictatorship.As regards hegemony of political party leaders on the choice of the electorate, however, definitely, Turkey has a serious problem. On June 12 millions of Turks will go to the booths to elect their representatives. But, will they be voting for the candidates of their choice or the candidates already chosen by the party leaders?“I will make use of the friends I will leave outside of [candidate] lists at duties at the party headquarters,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told parliamentary deputies of his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, this week. That short sentence is indeed the summary of the “fiasco democracy” that this country has. The ruling party claimed to have established its candidates through works of first six commissions. But, the prime minister says “he will make use” of those current deputies “he will” leave outside candidate lists. What he said was indeed a reaffirmation of the existence of a crooked democracy of absolute leaders – whatever it might be – in this country.Right, Erdoğan has publicly reaffirmed that he is the sole executive, decision-maker, legislator in short everything in the AKP. Are other party leaders, including the social democratic Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. much different than Erdoğan in view of their current performances? Yes, in less than a quarter of Turkish provinces Kılıçdaroğlu “allowed” his Republican People’s Party, or CHP to determine candidates through by-elections, but the CHP as well mostly prepared its candidate lists at the party headquarters. Not only there is a prime minister who believes he has absolute power but we have party chiefs who consider themselves “absolute leader.”The 10 percent threshold bans minority views from Parliament, leaders decide who should be the deputies to represent the nation, a court bans an unpublished book, over 60 journalists are behind bars (some allegedly of trying to stage a coup with their pens or typewriters). And, we still call this country a democracy? What an absolutes’ democracy!Hmmmm....Welcome to Turkey....Iranian style!Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Obama’s New Energy Policy: A Lesson in Stealth Socialism.His speech and policies utilize the bait-and-switch.President Barack Obama, facing political heat and plummeting poll numbers inevitably generated by rapidly rising gasoline and energy prices, is calling for a one-third reduction in oil imports over the next decade. How will this potentially laudable — but likely farcical — goal be accomplished?By boosting domestic energy production, offering incentives to increase the use of biofuels and natural gas, and making cars and trucks more fuel-efficient.

According to the AP and Fox:

Obama long has said the U.S. needs to reduce its dependency on oil — particularly from overseas sources — for financial, security and environmental reasons. In his State of the Union address in January, he set a goal of having 80 percent of U.S. energy come from clean sources like wind, solar and nuclear by 2035.

But what about domestic oil production?

The administration says it still sees vast opportunities to expand on domestic oil and gas production. An Interior Department report released ahead of Obama’s speech Wednesday said more than two-thirds of offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico are sitting idle, neither producing oil and gas nor being actively explored by the companies who hold the leases. The department said those leases could potentially hold more than 11 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

And what about nuclear energy?

Officials said Obama also would reaffirm his support for nuclear power, which has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after an earthquake and tsunami in Japan severely damaged a nuclear power plant there.One might initially be tempted to see this as an admission of past failings and the adoption of new, rational policies to lower energy prices for Americans, but it is no such thing. In Clintonian fashion, it depends on what the meaning of “boost” is, but this is primarily one of the oldest cons in the book: bait-and-switch.Mr. Obama, as I’ve previously argued in these pages, is provably a socialist, but a particularly American kind: a stealth socialist. Stealth socialism is a matter of tactics. Stealth socialists, recognizing that an open Marxist agenda will never fly with the American people, adopt a patient, long-term strategy whereby they attain the same goals but through misrepresentation, misdirection, lies, and bait-and-switch. These are, coincidentally, the tactics of the con man. Having been a community organizer, Mr. Obama is particularly adept at these tactics and with the use of the primary vehicle for their implementation: rhetoric.

In Radical-In-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism, Stanley Kurtz carefully and convincingly documents stealth socialism and Mr. Obama’s full immersion in it. Stealth socialists are careful never to allow themselves to be known as socialists, which is certainly Mr. Obama’s practice. Mr. Kurtz does what the media would not do in 2008, and still scrupulously avoids: he investigates and reports on Mr. Obama’s associations, motivations, and the truth of his policies.Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.OBAMA: Get Used To High Gas Prices. “Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”High gas prices aren’t a bug, they’re a feature.

UPDATE: Rapid Reaction: I got an email from Haley Barbour’s office with this reaction: “Instead of changing his policies, President Obama is trying to blame the American people for skyrocketing gas prices by saying they should trade-in their cars.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Broderick writes:

“Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”I was confused when I clicked the link on your page and couldn’t find this quote. So I googled the quote. It shows up in all the google hits but when I click on those articles, it’s nowhere to be found. Looks like AP scrubbed it from all copies of the article! Nothing like a compliant media, eh? Hope you got a screenshot.

In fact, I did. And a good thing, because the story’s been almost completely rewritten. But the “memory hole” doesn’t work very well any more. Here, for the sake of history, is the story as it used to be. And if anyone from the Associated Press would like to email me to explain this change, I’m all ears.Hmmm....Don't drill......higher oil prices ...sell electric car?Read the full story here.

• Obama's friend Robert 'Bobby' Titcomb arrested in Hawaii prostitution sting.One of President Obama's close friends has been arrested in an prostitution sting operation.Robert 'Bobby' Titcomb, 49 - a long time friend of the President - was arrested after he allegedly approached an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute in the downtown area of Honolulu.Titcomb was one of four arrested during the sting, according to the Honolulu police department.The news could not have come at a worse time for Mr Obama, who has just launched his 'billion dollar' 2012 re-election campaign.Police have been conducting undercover operations in the downtown Honolulu area after reports from general public that the area was a hotbed for prostitution.Titcomb, 49, of Waialua, was arrested on suspicion of solicitation Monday night. He allegedly offered money for sex near the intersection of South Street and Pohukaina Street at about 9:40 pm.According to Hawaii News Now, Mr Obama and Titcomb have been close friends since high school and the pair often get together to golf and dine when the President visits the state.Titcomb has spoken to the press about the President on several occasions.Titcomb's father was a well known judge on the island for over 30 years, before he died in 2000 of a heart attack.Hmmm....A man is known by the company he keeps?Read the full story here.

• HRW report says PA abuses journalists.Harsh report from Human Rights Watch exposes abuse, harassment of journalists at hands of Palestinian Authority, Hamas security forces. The Palestinian Authority is happy to boast that it operates according to the values of democracy but when it comes to freedom of the press they seem to have followed the example of the Arab dictatorships.A harsh report published Wednesday by Human Rights Watch exposes the harassment, abuse and arrests of journalists in the West bank and Gaza Strip by Palestinian Authority and Hamas security forces.The report documents the testimonies of journalists who were beaten and arrested for no apparent reason. Some noted that among other things, Palestinian Authority officials confiscated their equipment. The report also expresses harsh criticism towards the Palestinian leadership for not acting to prevent the beatings and harassment, or trying to punish those that carry out the acts. This is why the report determined that the actions taken against the journalists reflect Palestinian government policy. Moreover, the report reveals that reporters in the Palestinian territories have become part of the ongoing struggle between Fatah and Hamas. As attempts of reconciliation between the two factions increased in recent months – so have the number of attacks carried out by security forces against members of the press. In one of the cases described in the report 15 members of plain-clothes Hamas' security forces raided the Reuters news agency offices in the Gaza Strip, smashed computers, beat journalists, aimed a weapon at one journalist and threatened to throw another journalist out the window.Freelance journalists that are suspected of researching articles critical of the Palestinian Authority are arrested and interrogated. For example, the Palestinian Authority’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) detained Muhannad Salahat, a freelance journalist and filmmaker, when he was returning to the West Bank from Jordan without telling him why he was being arrested; he was detained for two weeks without charge in Jericho. According to Human Rights Watch deputy director of Middle East and North Africa division Joe Stork, Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs. He says both rival Palestinian governments need to end what he calls "blatant attacks on free expression" Hmmmm.....Obama friends 'the Palestinians'and the Turks guess what they both have in common?Read the full story here.

• HT:BNI.IVORY COAST: Barack Hussein Obama demands Christian President step down so Muslim challenger can take over.In the Ivory Coast it was reported that forces loyal to the Muslim led forces of Alassane Ouattara have just massacred between 800 and 1,000 Christians.The United Nations, the U.S., the African Union and the U.K. renewed calls for Gbagbo, 65, to hand power over to Ouattara, 69, whom they recognize as the winner of the nation’s first vote in a decade. Incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo is contesting the results of the election.However, in the new democratic world order of President Obama, the European Union and United Nations, this will not infringe on them supporting Alassane Ouattara and the massacre of up to 1,000 Christians will bite the dust before the dust is even settled.In Abidjan the military forces who are loyal to the Christian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, were attacked by a joint operation of United Nation forces and the French army. This will lead to deadly silence in the so-called “Muslim street” because just like Bosnia, Cyprus, and Kosovo; the “Muslim victim card” does not wash and Christians are once more expendable while power games are being played in higher circles.Read the full story here.

• HT:ThePage.Trump’s Hawaii Investigation.Magnate tells “Today” he has people in the Aloha State conducting on-the-ground research into the president’s birthplace.

MEREDITH VIEIRA: So, is the time right now for you?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, the time certainly is right. We’re a laughing stock as a country throughout the world. We’re being taken advantage of by other countries

DONALD TRUMP: I am saying I want to see the birth certificate. It’s very simple. I want to see the birth certificate. How come his own family doesn’t know which hospital he was born in? How come-- forget about birth certificates. Let’s say there’s no birth certificate. How come in the hospital itself, okay? This is one of the…in the hospital itself, there’s no records of his birth. In other words, it doesn’t say how much they paid, where is the doctor, here’s your room bill. You know, all the

MEREDITH VIEIRA: You’ve been privy to all of this to know this?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they’re talking.

MEREDITH VIEIRA: You have people now out there searching-- I mean, in Hawaii?

DONALD TRUMP: Absolutely. And they cannot believe what they’re finding. And I’m serious--Read the full story here.More here .

• NBC’s Brokaw: Saudis ‘So Unhappy' With Obama They Sent Emissaries to China, Russia Seeking Enhanced Ties.(CNSNews.com) – Reporting from Baghdad, Iraq yesterday, NBC’s Tom Brokaw said the Saudi Arabian monarchy is “so unhappy with the Obama administration for the way it pushed out President Mubarak of Egypt” that it has sent senior officials to the Peoples' Republic of China and Russia to seek expanded business opportunities with those countries.After remarking on the difficulty of establishing democracy in the Middle East, Brokaw said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates “will face some tough questions in this region about the American intentions going on now with all this new turmoil, especially in an area where the United States has such big stakes politically and economically.”“And a lot of those questions presumably will come from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia,” reported Brokaw on the Nightly News. “I was told on the way in here that the Saudis are so unhappy with the Obama administration for the way it pushed out President Mubarak of Egypt that it sent high level emissaries to China and Russia to tell those two countries that Saudi Arabia now is prepared to do more business with them.”Brokaw continued, “Back here in Iraq, the political and the economic situation remains fragile. So fragile that the U.N. secretary general is worried that this country could now see massive protests in the streets once again.”Earlier in his report, Brokaw noted that while U.S. military forces are supposed to leave Iraq at year’s end, the U.S. Embassy staff was being beefed-up from 8,000 to nearly 20,000 personnel.“So Iraq is a reminder of just how difficult it is to establish a democracy in this part of the world,” said Brokaw. “After all, we've been at war here for eight years now, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, and thousands and thousands of lives have been lost on both sides.”Hmmmm.....Don't you love how the world has become a better place with dear leader on the helm?read the full story here.

• Muslim Student Attacks UN Rights Council for Anti-Israel Bias.Muslim student Amran Hussain, speaking on behalf of the European Union of Jewish Students, recently spoke out for Israel a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where he castigated the Council for anti-Israel bias.“Why is Israel consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation on the grounds of human rights violations, yet the world turns a blind eye to the human rights situations in the Arab countries …or the Far East...or Africa?” he asked.Hussain told the Council he came to the session “to remind you of the moral obligation we all have here today to protect the only country in the world whose very existence is constantly under attack."The world was very quick to condemn Israel for defending itself from unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza. I ask you, what about the human rights of Israeli Jews, Israeli Muslims [and] Israeli Christians living constantly in fear of attacks from Hamas."He added, ”There are members of the international community present today who do not even accept the existence of Israel…. Hussain says that he is “an active campaigner for human rights and justice all over the world [but] has always remained disheartened by the disproportionate and unfair focus of the Human Rights Council on Israel, the disregard to human dignity for Israelis and the ignorance shown to some of the worst human rights violators around the world.”Hmmmm.....Brave guy!Read and see the full story here.

• Goldstone to face libel suit.MK Danny Danon enlists help of Jewish-American lawyers to file libel lawsuit against South African judge following his retraction of his Gaza war report. MK Danon: Report is '2010 version of blood libel'.Judge Richard Goldstone is expected to stand trial for libel following his retraction of his Operation Cast Lead report, in which he accused Israel of war crimes.Knesset Member Danny Danon (Likud), currently in the United States, has enlisted the help of a number of Jewish-American attorneys who agreed to file a lawsuit against the South African judge at no charge. A petition will be filed with a New York District Court next week, in which the plaintiffs will demand a formal apology and a symbolic financial compensation for the State of Israel. A second lawsuit may be filed in an Israeli court if Goldstone arrives in Israel.The decision to file the lawsuit is a direct response to the judge's op-ed in the Washington Post in which he claimed his report caused significant damage to the State of Israel in the United Nations and internationally.Despite his retraction, Goldstone announced he does not intend to try and nix the report."The Goldstone Report is the 2010 version of a blood libel. The twisted image Goldstone painted of the State of Israel caused damage, is still causing damage and will continue to damage Israel and its citizens for years to come. A public apology published in every country might lessen the harm already done," Danon explained.Hmmmm....You can not undo the damage done.Read the full story here.

• Turkey Offers to Mediate Between Iran and Arab Gulf States Over Bahrain Crisis. (CNSNews.com) – Turkey’s foreign minister visited Bahrain on Tuesday but did not publicly voice support for the small Gulf nation’s decision last month to invite troops from Saudi Arabia and other neighbors to help restore stability.Instead, it was left to his Bahraini counterpart, Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa, to defend the decision and fend off Iranian charges that the arrival of the Saudi forces was akin to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.“I hope they [the Iranians] realize that what is going on in Bahrain is different from what is going on in their minds and stop such statements that do not help in strengthening relations,” Khalifa said at a joint press conference with the Turk, Ahmet Davutoglu.On the eve of his visit, Davutoglu spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart. According to Iranian state media, the two stressed the importance of Bahrain resolving its current crisis – anti-government protests that erupted in mid-February – “without foreign interference.”Shi’ite Iran has accused Sunni Saudi Arabia and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of helping Bahrain’s minority Sunni rulers crack down on the island’s restive Shi’ite majority. Iran also accused the U.S. of giving the go-ahead for the Saudi deployment.For their part, GCC members say it is Iran that is stoking the unrest in the strategically-significant Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and just 150 miles from the Iranian coast.Iran has historical links with and territorial claims to Bahrain (an advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2007 described Bahrain as a “province” of Iran and said Bahrainis wanted to be ruled by Tehran).The turmoil has raised some concerns about the prospect of the replacement of the Sunni monarchy that has ruled for more than two centuries with an Iran-friendly Shi’ite government.The role Turkey may play remains unclear.Seeking to exert its leadership in the region, Turkey – like Iran an Islamic but not Arab Middle East country – has established closer ties with Tehran in recent years, to the dismay of its allies in NATO.It has also offered itself on occasion as a mediator – between Israel and Syria, Syria and Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Israel and Hamas, Iran and the West, and, just this week, between the Libyan regime and anti-Gaddafi rebels.Davutoglu said Tuesday the crisis in Bahrain was an internal affair, but added that Turkey would be willing to mediate between Iran and the Arab states of the GCC if asked to do so by both parties.Hmmmm....Turkey the NATO 'ally' that never was an ally,but Iran's shadow?Read the full story here.

• HT:EmergingCorruption.Does Government Own Your Remotely Backed Up Computer Files, Your Emails, or Your Cell Phone GPS Info?By Warner Todd Huston.Did you know that there are no laws to prevent government agencies from raiding your computer’s remotely hosted back up files, your third party emails, your cloud computing files, or your cell phone GPS location records? Well, there aren’t. As the law stands today government can go into your private computer files or trace your cell phone location without a warrant. As a result of this lapse in protection form unlawful search and seizure a new group of concerned parties intends to change the law with the Digital Fourth Amendment campaign.The problem is not necessarily that government is out to steal all our computing information, but that the laws have simply not caught up to today’s technology. The laws that cover how policing agencies and governments can access your emails, computer files, and cell phone GPS records are currently governed by rules that are decades out of date. These rules were written in the 1980s, long before the Internet came along, before cloud computing was invented, before email, and well before cell phones that could track your whereabouts became pervasive.

You see, today all your personal information that is stored in third party storage space is not considered to be the kind of personal property that would require a court-issued warrant for government to access. If you have email stored at Google, if you use a cloud computing service, or if you have a third party data back up service it is all open for government to view without a warrant because it is in the actual possession of a third party. Currently none of these computer records are considered your private records. This also holds true for cell phone GPS location records. As the law stands today government can access your cell phone location records and find out where you’ve been and all without a by your leave from the courts.The Digital Fourth Amendment campaign aims to change that and bring the laws against unlawful search and seizure into the digital world of the 21st century.Hmmmm.....Democracy or Dictatorship?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Tribesmen Should be Permitted to Take Revenge Against the U.S. for Drone Attacks; The Time has Come for Pakistan to Exit the War Against Terror.

On March 17, 2011, a day after CIA contractor Raymond Davis was released by a Pakistani court under a blood-money deal, U.S. drones fired four missiles in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda sanctuary. At least 38 people, including civilians and policemen, were killed in the attacks. Davis's release came as anti-U.S. protests were at their peak in Pakistan, threatening to further seriously damage Pakistan-U.S. relations. The drone attacks further ignited the anti-U.S. sentiments in Pakistan.

Following the drone attacks, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a key commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban), threatened to break a peace accord agreed to with the Pakistani military since 2008. The tribesmen belonging to the affected area held a press conference in Peshawar, allegedly at the behest of Pakistani officials, and vowed to wage jihad against the U.S. if the drone attacks did not stop. In an unprecedented step, Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani also formally criticized the U.S. drone attacks, while in protest Pakistan pulled out of the tripartite talks involving the U.S. and Afghanistan in Kabul.

A few days later, the Urdu-language daily Roznama Ummat interviewed former Pakistani military officer Brigadier (retired) Mahmood Shah, who has served as secretary of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATAs) of Pakistan. He has also served as chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In addition to serving in senior positions in the Pakistani military and government, Brigadier Shah is also a well-known columnist and commentator on political and security issues in Pakistan. In the interview, the former Pakistani officer urged the Pakistani establishment to give a clear message to the tribesmen to that they have a right to avenge the U.S. drone attacks.

''Instead of Making the Tribes Declare Jihad, the Situation would Turn in Favor of Pakistan If the Government Announces that These Tribesmen have Full Rights to Take Revenge''

Question: ''Has the government made the tribesmen declare jihad to stop these attacks?''

Brigadier (retired) Mahmood Shah: ''Instead of making the tribes declare jihad, the situation would turn in favor of Pakistan if the government announces that these tribesmen have full rights to take revenge. Now with the announcement of jihad by these tribesmen, some of the Taliban might join hands with them and the whole issue might go into the hands of these tribes, creating problem for the government. This is a very delicate situation.''The government should use this opportunity in its favor and should consider its options. It should break its tripartite treaty with the U.S. [and Afghanistan] and recall its ambassador from Afghanistan. At present the government has taken a step in this direction by not participating in the tripartite conference in Afghanistan but it should consider more such steps. It is an opportunity to get out of the U.S. net because America has done much oppression. Presently, Pakistan has a golden opportunity to do so.''The situation in the tribal areas could change; the course of movement there could be changed. If Pakistan gets out of this tripartite alliance, there would be peace in the tribal areas. If the U.S. viewpoint is that it can advance up to North Waziristan in its defense, then the [Pakistani] government should announce that these tribesmen have a right to defend themselves and take revenge from the U.S.'' Hmmmmm....Sounds like those tens of Billions of Dollars did not help Mr President.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• The volatile Lybian situation live streams here.

Live Blog Libya - Al Jazeera. here.

Hmmm....by the way it seems Al Yazeera is now available on cable in Canada?"If you live in Canada, contact the following cable and satellite providers to subscribe to Al Jazeera English" Bell TV: 516 - Cogeco: 182 - Rogers: 176 - Shaw: 513 - Videotron: 173

• HT:WZ.Video : Bolton on Obama Regime’s Response to the Middle East: “This is incompetence of the worst kind”.“These people make the Keystone Cops look organized. . . .”Hmmmm......When will Congress finally impeach this Obamamination?Read the full story here.

• Libyan diplomat: Gaddafi has hours left.Recently resigned Libyan representative to Arab League, Italy's Berlusconi both say embattled Gaddafi regime no longer controls large parts of country. Meanwhile Erdogan speaks out against planned UN sanctions.The recently resigned Libyan representative to the Arab League, Abd Al-Mun'im al-Huni, said Saturday that "the regime in Libya is in its final hours". Muammar Gaddafi no longer controls large parts of Tripoli, he added.Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also commented on the deteriorating situation in Libya, saying the leader does not seem to be in control of the country any more. "It appears that, effectively, Gaddafi no longer controls the situation in Libya," Berlusconi told a political meeting in Rome. In an interview published Saturday by London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily, al-Huni said Gaddafi is in dire straits and that he had sent calls of assistance to his tribesmen in the coastal city of Sirte.The tribe sent 30 armored vehicles armed with machine guns, al-Huni explained, but anti-government protesters prevented their arrival in the capital. He added that Gaddafi currently controls just a small part of Tripoli – his estate and four camps.On Saturday, UN diplomats said a new resolution on Libyan sanctions includes an arms embargo, as well as travel bans and asset freezes for the country's top 23 leaders. The diplomats said the Security Council has already discussed the proposal, which was drafted by France and Britain, and is similar in content to the proposal approved by the European Union on Friday. The council is expected to vote on the resolution in the next 24 hours. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out against the sanctions, warning that the Libyan people would suffer most, not Gaddafi's regime. He also suggested Saturday that the international community was acting out of concern about Libya's oil reserves and not its people. "We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values, not out of oil concerns," he said. Hmmmm.....Good to know the Iranian Turkish point of view transmitted by PM Erdogan.Read the full story here.

• Gadhafi's Nurse Says She's Going Home .KIEV, Ukraine—Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is set to be deserted by another close ally after his Ukrainian nurse said she was heading home.Galyna Kolotnytska, described in a diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks as a "voluptuous blond" who "travel[s] everywhere" with Col. Gadhafi, called her family in Kiev on Friday to say she intends to return to Ukraine, her daughter told daily Segodnya."Mom got in touch yesterday. She said she was now in Tripoli," Tetyana Kolotnytska said. "She spoke in a calm voice, asked us not to worry and said she'd soon be home."According to the cable from September 2009, contacts in Tripoli told U.S. diplomats that Col. Gadhafi "relies heavily" on Ms. Kolotnytska, then 38, as "she alone 'knows his routine.'"The cable also reported claims from unnamed sources that the eccentric Libyan leader and the nurse, part of a retinue of four Ukrainians, "have a romantic relationship."Ms. Kolotnytska's daughter said her mother had been in Libya for nine years, originally employed in a hospital before starting work for Col. Gadhafi."Other Ukrainian women also work for him as nurses. Mom is one of them," she said. "For some reason, he doesn't trust Libyan women with this matter."Hmmmmm......Nothing like "Home sweet home" i guess?Read the full story here.

• HT:CreepingSharia.American Bar Association, like CAIR, advocates for sharia law in US.Tuesday, in an article called The ABA’s Jihad in The American Thinker, I exposed the Islamic supremacism taking root at the American Bar Association, breaking the story of the ABA’s support for Sharia law. I revealed the notice, circulated among ABA members, of an organized ABA campaign to oppose the anti-Sharia legislation that has been introduced in 14 state legislatures. Then on Wednesday the ABA issued a statement in response to my article, claiming that “the American Bar Association has taken no action in support of, or in opposition to, judges considering Islamic law or Sharia.”How dishonest and disingenuous.The ABA statement said that the organization has “nearly 400,000 members, many of whom volunteer with any of the ABA’s 2,200 entities. One of those 2,200 entities is the Section on International Law, which has elected to assemble a taskforce of several individuals to examine this issue.” The statement makes it sound as if this examination is completely neutral: “These individuals are examining whether the proposed changes to the law impact important constitutional questions. They are also considering implications for international commerce.”Above all, the ABA claims that this taskforce has nothing to do with the organization itself: “The actions of a few interested members within one section are not and cannot be interpreted to be those of the entire American Bar Association. Claims to the contrary are erroneous.”This is spin and damage control. In my Tuesday article I quoted the Section on International Law stating that the ABA’s Executive Counsel “has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced.”All this makes it obvious that the ABA’s statement disclaiming any support for Sharia was completely false and dishonest.If the ABA continues to forward this deceitful rhetoric, I will expose even more information about its support for Sharia.There is one way the ABA could make at least partial amends now: it’s time the ABA created a task force to help those of us who are fighting the introduction of Islamic law in America.We’re waiting.Are we living in an alternate reality? Please do expose them further. Each and every ABA individual who is pushing sharia law in the U.S. Hmmmmm......"We don't want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• HT:ThePoliticalCommentator.Does FEMA know something you and I don't know?FEMA is apparently trying to stockpile hundreds of millions of MRE's (meals ready to eat). In light of the Saudi student arrested in Texas on charges of plotting terrorist attacks throughout the United States. In light of global food prices rising 29% in the last year and now only 3% from the all-time high that was reached in 2008. In light of riots that have begun in parts of the world over these very food prices that make this basic human need unaffordable. In light of solar flares that have recently disrupted the electric grid in China.Does FEMA and the federal government know something that you and I don't know?Is there scientific knowledge of a Katrina size solar super-storm? A storm, were it to occur, that researchers anticipate would cause a widespread national power outage. Such an outage, if it lasted for any significant length of time, could lead to “disruption of the transportation, communication, banking and finance system, and government services; the breakdown of the distribution potable water owing to pump failure; and the loss of perishable foods and medications from a loss of refrigeration…” "... One of the nation's largest suppliers of dehydrated food has cut loose 99% of their dealers and distributors. And it's not because of the poor economy. It's because this particular industry leader can no longer supply their regular distribution channels. Why not? Because they're using every bit of manufacturing capacity they have to fulfill massive new government contracts...... Earlier this month, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) put out a Request for Proposal, or RFP, for even more dehydrated food. The RFP called for a 10-day supply of meals - for 14 million people. That's 420 million meals. Typically, FEMA maintains a stockpile of about 6 million meals. Why the sudden need to increase the stockpile by 420 million more...... In this economic climate, you would expect FEMA also to be minimizing expenses. But clearly, they're not. If you do the math, the approximate tab for 420 million meals comes to about a billion dollars.What is so urgent that FEMA is spending a billion dollars on survival food..." Hmmmmm.....What else is the Obama regime hiding from the American people?Anyone expecting a Nuclear blast in a mayor city?Or Bill Ayers estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million American people in reeducation centers? Read the full story here.

• HT:AmnonAndJonathan.Where Is The Outrage Now?Obama and many others in the international community have been quicker in condemning settlement construction in Israel than atrocities by Arab dictators against innocent civilians.Has retired South African judge Richard Goldstone considered the possibility of heading a special commission of inquiry to look into the war crimes that are being perpetrated against Libyans and other Arabs? Settlements may be a problem, but they are not more dangerous than the massacres that are being perpetrated against Arabs.It took President Barack Obama nine days to condemn Col. Muammar Gaddafi's massacres in Libya as "outrageous" and "unacceptable."It took the UN Security Council more than a week to hold a closed-door meeting and issue a tempered statement condemning the violence in Libya and calling for its immediate end and for those responsible to be held accountable.This is the same Security Council that one week earlier held a special and open session to condemn construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Fourteen out of fifteen members of the council voted in support of the anti-settlement resolution, which was vetoed by the US.The same members, however, saw no need to hold a vote on the slaughtering of thousands of Libyans by Gaddafi.But both Obama and the Security Council stopped short of calling for Gaddafi's removal from power for perpetrating atrocities against his own people.Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, on the other hand, who for over 30 years served Western interests in the Middle East and did his utmost to preserve the peace treaty with Israel and support moderate Arabs and Muslims, was thrown to the dogs by the Obama Administration as soon as his people started demanding regime change.Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seem to be more troubled by the death of 300 Egyptians than the brutal massacring of thousands of Libyans. Obama and Clinton seem to be more worried about construction in Jewish settlements than war crimes and serious human rights violations in the Arab world.The US Administration and the rest of the international community have once again sent a message to the Arabs that they do not really care about human rights and democracy and that they are ready to sacrifice thousands of Arabs to keep the oil prices as low as ever. Mubarak was unfortunate because his country does not have oil.Now at least the Arab people know that they can no longer rely on Obama and Clinton to support any of their pro-democracy movements.Hmmmm....."They don't trust me because of my middle name"?Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Iranian Leaders Order Arrest of Mousavi & Karoubi.Reports from inside Iran indicate that the regime in Iran has decided to officially arrest both opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.Just last week, security forces cordoned off the residence of Mousavi and Karoubi and entered their homes. No one can contact either man or their wives. Their food is being provided by the Iranian security forces. They are virtual prisoners in their own homes.Today a large number of military and security forces were deployed across Tehran. Based on other reports, the head of the intelligence ministry is set to speak on the State TV regarding the recent protests and the opposition leaders. In recent weeks, the officials of the Islamic Republic have been calling for the arrest and the prosecution of the opposition leaders for inciting unrest against the Islamic government of Iran; many have gone further demanding the execution of Mousavi and Kahroubi.The reports indicate that the deployment of such forces and their heavy presence in Tehran is due to the leadership’s decision to arrest the opposition leaders and fully suppress the movement before it gets out of hand, as has happened elsewhere in the Middle East.Mir Hossein Mousavi served as the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989 and was commended for his work by Iran’s then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomenei. Mousavi ran for the presidency in 2009. The official results showed Ahmadinejad winning by a landslide, though Mousavi and many others believe the results were fraudulent. He is currently the leader of the Green Movement.Mehdi Karoubi served as the chair of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections. He is considered a moderate and one of the leaders of the opposition movement in Iran.Hmmmm........Silence...that's all you will hear from the Obama regime.Read the full story here.

• British Jihadist Calls for a Muslim “Revolution.” Imam Reportedly Arriving in Washington to Urge Establishment of Shariah Law in America.Liberty Alliance, a coalition of American groups and leaders, are expressing deep concern about recent reports that British jihadists Imam Anjem Choudary, Abu Izzadeen and Sayful Islam, have announced that they will arrive in Washington next week to lead a rally calling on American Muslims to establish Shariah Islamic law and an ‘Islamic state in America.’The coalition is calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Obama to let the American people know if Anjem Choudary, Abu Izzadeen and Sayful Islam will be admitted into the United States.Anjem Chaudary in London. Will he be coming to DC?The coalition is seeking assurance from the Administration that the U.S. Government has plans to address the threat of a jihadist gathering in our capital. Abu Izzadeen has been released from a prison term he served after he called for beheading of any Muslim in the British Army.The coalition has published online an Open Letter to Barak Obama (see text below), which is being signed by leaders and concerned individuals across America. To add your name to the letter, go to Liberty Rocks.As reported in the Daily Mail, Choudary, who has declared, “the flag of Islam will fly over the White House,” has announced that he will lead his protest in front of the White House on March 3rd. Choudary adds: ”The event is a rally, a call for the Shariah, a call for the Muslims to rise up and establish the Islamic state in America.”An announcement of the D.C. rally has been put on the website, shariah4america.com, which calls for “revolution,” and states:“The decades of Western backed oppression that have violated the sanctity of Allah and plundered Muslim resources is coming to an end and the dawn of a new age is indeed beginning. In light of this, sincere Muslims have come together, from different parts of the world, to orchestrate an unprecedented event on 3rd March 2011 that will undoubtedly add a new dimension to this intensifying conflict and send shockwaves across the world.”The website continues:“On 3rd March 2011, at Pennsylvania Avenue, outside the White House, the Muslims will let the tyrant Barack Obama and the American people know that a new constitution beckons the US called the Shari’ah, and that this worldwide revolution will see it implemented inshaa’allah (God willing) very very soon…”Whether or not the Imam follows through with his stated plan, the Coalition seeks a clear and public response from President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Secretary Napolitano, and our elected leaders at this time.Hmmmm........"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." does it counts for Barrack HUSSEIN Obama?Read the full story here.

• HT:PointOfNoReturn.Arab journalist laments state of Ezekiel's tomb. Mazin Latif is a journalist who visited the contested shrine of Ezekiel at al-Kifl (Kefel) at Hilla, south of Baghdad, in 2010. He found the site in bad condition: marble panels on the walls had been removed, the Sefer Torah in the synagogue adjoining the tomb was missing, and the Jewish books deposited in the shrine's library had been stolen. With thanks to Mrs Eileen Khalastchy for kindly summarising Latif's article for the As-Sabaah newspaper.Lately, a lot has been said about the shrine of Kefel or what is called by the Jews 'the shrine of the Prophet Ezekiel.'The shrine is of great importance to all Jews, but in particular to the Jews of Iraq to whom ownership was given by the Ottoman Sultan Abdel Hamid.The Jews used to visit the site yearly to pray and hold big celebrations. They used to slaughter and distribute the meat to the poor. The men in charge and the rabbis used to pray daily there until the mass exodus of the Jews from Iraq in 1951.The village of Kefel is situated about 20 miles south of the town Hilla. In the Kefel is buried the Prophet Ezekiel z"l. The prophet Ezekiel is said to be a Cohen (descendant of the High Priest) from Jerusalem. Another seven Cohanim are buried there.According to the Jews, the Prophet Ezekiel is mentioned in the Torah. The tomb of Ezekiel used to be covered with an expensive carpet and a hand-embroidered cloth. King Yehoyachin built a fence around the tomb with the help of many Jews.The Jews bought the land near the shrine where they built a market and houses to be used by the Jewish guardians of the shrine and by the Rabbis in charge.In 1860, the Muslims claimed the shrine and all the buildings around it for themselves. With the help of the Daniel family and and after many inquiries to Istanbul, the Ottoman authorities decided that the shrine belonged to the Jews and that the minaret did not belong to a mosque as the Muslims claimed.The Muslim story claimed that the Prophet is an Arabic prophet descended from the Prophet Isma'el (Yishma'el). They lost their claim.The Muslims from Hilla visit and pray in Kefel as they believe that the Prophet is a great one and mentioned in the Koran.The Jews used to own large libraries in their homes. When an owner died, all his books went to the Kefel library. After the mass exodus in 1951, all the books were kept in wooden boxes and covered with bricks. In the Seventies, someone destroyed all the boxes and the Hebrew books were scattered in the streets. As for the marble tablets that decorated the walls with the Hebrew inscriptions, they were stolen and sold to collectors who are interested in Jewish art.Lately, after my visit in 2010 to the site, unfortunately what I saw was heartbreaking. Most of the Hebrew writings on the walls were erased. The tomb of Daniel was also in bad condition as well as the tombs of members of his family.I did not see anything indicating that the site had a mosque or any sign of a Muslim site.Unfortunately the Jewish shrine is in a very bad shape. Also there was no sign of the Sefer Torah the Jews used to pray with.Hmmmm......You can't destroy what is in the people their hearts.Read the full story here.

• HT;DougRoss.WaPo does its level best to bury reminders that Obamacare was declared null and void by a federal judge.The Washington Post tried its very best to ignore the biggest Obamacare news story of the day. But they couldn't quite mask it entirely. Please consider the effusive reporting of "States argue against implementing health care law".Florida and 25 other states suing to stop President Barack Obama's health care overhaul say in a new legal filing that they should be allowed to stop following the law immediately.The states filed a response late Wednesday to an earlier Justice Department request. The states say a federal judge in Florida declared that the law is unconstitutional, meaning they do not need to implement it.The Justice Department wants the judge to order the states to follow the law pending an appeal to a higher court.The entire law was voided by the judge. An injunction was not necessary because there is no law to enforce.The law is dead. Kaput. Bupkis. And any HHS bureaucrat who is in the process of implementing it risks a violation of 18 USC 641, punishable by up to ten years in prison.Eric Holder won't be a feckless hack AG forever. And By Crom's Anvil we will pursue and prosecute those who have attempted to rip our society apart.Remember that, losers. We will pursue you. We're elephants. We never forget.Hmmmm........Democracy or Dictatorship?Read the full story here.

• U.S. Airport Officials Fear EU Plan Will Create Security Gap.WASHINGTON -- A European Union plan to partially lift a ban on passengers carrying liquids onto planes has U.S. airport officials worried that it will create a security gap and may confuse passengers traveling to the United States.Beginning April 29, the EU plans to allow airline passengers carrying wine, perfume and other liquids purchased at duty-free shops in airports outside Europe to take those items into airline cabins with them when they catch connecting flights at about two dozen European airports.That means, for example, that travelers flying from Asia and Africa to European airports to connect to flights to the United States can keep liquids, aerosols and gels purchased in airport duty-free shops in their carry-on bags the entire way. The items will be screened at European airports before passengers board connecting flights.Christopher Bidwell, Airports Council International-North America's vice president for security and facilitation, said the effectiveness of the technologies European airports will use to screen liquids for explosives is unclear. There are several new technologies that European airports plan to use, he said, but none have undergone real world testing, only laboratory tests.The Transportation Security Administration hasn't said whether passengers arriving in the U.S. from Europe with liquids purchased outside the EU will be allowed to board domestic flights with those items, but that appears unlikely, Bidwell said in an interview on Friday.He said he's concerned passengers will become frustrated or angry if they've carried expensive items on board multiple flights for thousands of miles only to be told they have to dump them in order to board a domestic flight to reach their final destination.Hmmmm......A job at the TSA...Free booze and women groping?Read the full story here.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.By Epaminondas.The Israeli intelligence community has determined that Turkey, under Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, has formed strategic alliances with both Iran and Syria.Officials said Ankara, particularly its intelligence and security agencies, were helping Iran and Syria in such areas as intelligence-sharing, the battle against Kurdish insurgents and combat doctrine.“Turkey has joined a radical axis that consists of Iran, Hamas, Hizbullah and Syria,” a senior intelligence official said.The official said the Turkish contribution to the so-called axis began with diplomatic support for the regimes in Damascus, Gaza City and Teheran. But he said Turkey has been providing support for Iranian operations meant to help arm Hizbullah and Syria in plans for a war against Israel.“There are Iranian shipments that move overland through remote areas of Turkey to Syria,” the official said. “This is coordinated with Turkish intelligence and the United States knows about this.”On Jan. 25, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Ankara was cooperating with Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran and Syria. Kochavi said the cooperation marked the transformation of the Middle East into a hotbed of Islamic extremism.“The Middle East is heading toward extreme Islamization and exhibiting less of a desire to reach agreements,” Kochavi said.The intelligence assessment did not envision Turkey reducing its strategic ties to Iran and Syria or their proxies. The official said Turkey has sought to become a bridge between Teheran and the West while benefiting from Iranian energy.Turkey is also seeking investment from it wealth neighbors to develop advanced military systems.Bahrain and Turkey have agreed to bolster military cooperation, for example, but not in the usual format.Instead, officials envisioned a partnership between Turkish defense companies and Bahraini capital. One option was that Bahrain serve as an investment house and marketing center for Turkish combat platforms, weapons and military equipment. In 2010, bilateral trade reached $244 million.In December, Turkey launched the fighter-jet project, estimated at costing at least $4 billion. Gonul said Ankara was negotiating with South Korea to enter its aircraft project.But after several months of talks, the Turkish government has concluded that South Korea was not a suitable partner. Officials said Seoul insisted that Turkey be granted a minority stake in the fighter-jet project, which would focus on air-to-air missions.As a result, SSM has been discussing the prospect of a partnership with European and other firms. Officials cited Brazil’s Embraer and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica, both of them leading aerospace companies that have not produced fighter-jets.The most likely partner, officials said, was Alenia, a leading defense contractor in Turkey. Alenia has been working on the coproduction of up to 91 attack helicopters for the Turkish military.Alenia has been selected as the marketing partner of the Eurofighter consortium. So far, Turkey, a partner in the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter program, has rejected procurement of the Eurofighter Typhoon.So far, SSM has allocated $20 million to the state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries to draft the conceptual design of FX. Officials said TAI, expected to be the eventual prime contractor, would require two years to complete the task.Officials said SSM has also authorized TAI to find a foreign partner for the fighter-jet project. They said an agreement could be signed with a foreign contractor by 2013.FX was meant to result in an advanced fourth-generation aircraft that could rival the U.S.-origin F-16 and Eurofighter. Officials said the FX would replace the aging F-4 fighter-jet fleet acquired in the 1970s.And what are we prepared to do?What are our plans?How are we going to safeguard American interests?THAT IS NATO.Hmmmmm......Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• 'The 99' Muslim superheroes to hit TV screens soon.As many as 99 Muslim superheroes are set to hit the television screens around the world this summer.Dana Ebrahim aka Noora, an Emirati superhero has a special gemstone that allows her to see the light of truth in others. The 98 other superheroes will also be gradually introduced in the 'The 99' animated series, which is based on the now-world famous comic books created by Kuwaiti psychologist Nayef Al Mutawa.With its work complete, the 26-episode first season that introduces 16 of the 99 superheroes, and preparations on for producing the second season, Al Mutawa said that he hoped the books and the show, which use Islamic archetypes, would reposition Islam in right perspective."As a psychologist, I usually work with people's perceptions and I am not happy with how Islam sees the West or with how the West sees Islam. I believe in the power of media to change a civilisation and its way of thinking," Gulf News quoted him as saying.The tale is set in a factual event that took place in 1258, when the Mongol army destroys the then-affluent city of Baghdad. Hmmmm.....MFS : Another great example of Al-taqiyya ! 1258 An army that includes Christians and shi'a , led by Mongke's brother, Hulegu, attacks Baghdad, the spiritual capital of the Sunni Muslims. The Abbasid caliphate there comes to an end.We're on to you! Read the full story here.

• Websites to Google: 'You're killing our business!'.NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Google made one of the biggest changes ever to its search results this week, which immediately had a noticeable effect on many Web properties that rely on the world's biggest search engine to drive traffic to their sites.The major tweak aims to move better quality content to the top of Google's search rankings. The changes will affect 12% Google's results, the company said in a blog post late Thursday. "Our goal is simple: to give users the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible," said Gabriel Stricker, Google spokesman. "This requires constant tuning of our algorithms, as new content -- both good and bad -- comes online all the time. Recently we've heard from our users that they want to see fewer low quality sites in our results."Typically, Google's algorithm changes are so subtle that few people notice them. But these most recent changes could be seen immediately.The current top Google result for a search of Charlie Sheen rant target "Haim Levine" is a New York Daily News page, followed by a story from gossipcop.com. The old algorithm would have featured two Huffington Post stories at the top, with the New York Daily News story not appearing appear until the second results page."Why is it that every single time the search engine result page starts to stabilize and sales return, Google has to throw a monkey wrench in the system again?" asked commenter backdraft7. "Hey Google, this is not fun anymore - YOU'RE KILLING OUR BUSINESSES!""My God. I just lost 40% of my traffic from Google today," said commenter DickBaker. "Referrals from Yahoo, Bing, direct sources, and other sources are the same, but Google dropped like a rock."Hmmmmm.......Remember that meeting last week with Obama?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different!Artists Recreate the Face of Ötzi, a 5,300-Year-Old Iceman Mummy.Take a good look at this face: It hasn't been seen in over five millennia.in the year 3289 BC, Otzi trekked up the Schnalstal glacier in the Italian Alps. The Neolithic guy -- dubbed Ötzi the Iceman, or "Frozen Fritz" -- wore a coat and leggings made of sheep's fur and moccasins made of cattle leather as he climbed, having just polished off his last meal: unleavened bread and meat.Severely wounded by an arrow and possibly dispatched with a blow to the head by a cudgel, he died, his body froze and was mummified, and he lay in place for a very, very long time.Erika Simon was on vacation in the Italian Alpine province of Bolzano in 1991 with her husband Helmut, when they stumbled across the corpse in its astonishing state of preservation (she earned over $200,000 for finding what would turn out to be the world's oldest ice mummy).Now, 5,300 years later two Dutch forensic experts Alfons and Adrie Kennis have painstakingly created the first image of Ötzi, relying on 3D images of the mummy's skull and infrared and tomographic images, Discovery News said.Hmmmm......Ötzi the Iceman i presume?Read the full story here,more on "Ötzi the Iceman" here.