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Monday, December 25, 2017

And they wonder why Trump wants the wall




Mexico murders hit record high, dealing blow to President  Peña Nieto



A total of 23,101 murder investigations were opened in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the 22,409 registered in the whole of 2011, figures published on Friday night by the interior ministry showed. The figures go back to 1997.

Pena Nieto took office in December 2012 pledging to tame the violence that escalated under his predecessor Felipe Calderon. He managed to reduce the murder tally during the first two years of his term, but since then it has risen steadily.

At 18.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, the 2017 Mexican murder rate is still lower than it was in 2011 when it reached almost 19.4 per 100,000, the data showed. The rate has also held below levels reported in several other Latin American countries.

According to U.N. figures used in the World Bank's online database, Brazil and Colombia both had a murder rate of 27 per 100,000, Venezuela 57, Honduras 64 and El Salvador 109 in 2015, the last year for which data are available.

The U.S. rate was 5 per 100,000. 

(4 out of 5 is probably due to Chiraq)

(Bear in mind the population in Mexico is only 130 million as opposed to the United States with 325 million)

Still, Pena Nieto's failure to contain the killings has damaged his credibility and hurt his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which faces an uphill struggle to hold onto power in the July 2018 presidential election.

The current front-runner in the race, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has floated exploring an amnesty with criminal gangs to reduce the violence, without fleshing out the idea.

Mexican newspaper Reforma said on Saturday that after a campaign stop in the central state of Hidalgo on Friday, Lopez Obrador again addressed the issue when asked whether talks aimed at stopping the violence could include criminal gangs.

"There can be dialogue with everyone. There needs to be dialogue and there needs to be a push to end the war and guarantee peace. Things can't go on as before," Reforma quoted Lopez Obrador as saying.

Such a strategy harbors risks for the former Mexico City mayor.

A poll this month showed that two-thirds of Mexicans reject offering an amnesty to members of criminal gangs in a bid to curb violence, with less than a quarter in favor.

The law bars Pena Nieto from seeking re-election.







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Chelsea bomber tried to radicalize inmates, prosecutors say






The man convicted in the 2016 bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood that injured 30 people has been trying to radicalize other inmates, federal prosecutors say. 

This is precisely the reason these bastards should be treated as enemy combatants and sent to Gitmo.

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Ahmad Khan Rahimi also told a judge he is on a hunger strike.

Rahimi provided inmates with copies of terrorist propaganda and jihadist materials, including speeches by Osama Bin Laden and the late militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, bomb-making instructions, books on jihad and issues of the al Qaeda-backed magazine Inspire, prosecutors said.

Rahimi "has been attempting to radicalize fellow inmates in the Metropolitan Correction Center by, among other things, distributing propaganda and publications issued by terrorist organizations," according to a letter from Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim to US District Judge Richard Berman.

Rahimi let other inmates view the items on his laptop and gave them electronic copies, Kim's letter said. Discs of the materials were found in two inmates' possession.

Defense attorneys for Rahimi have yet to respond to the allegations.

Prosecutors said Rahimi began distributing these materials in October if not earlier. Rahimi was convicted October 16 on eight federal charges in connection with the Chelsea bombing.

Among the inmates Rahimi gave the materials to, prosecutors say, is Sajmir Alimehmeti, who is scheduled to go on trial next month on terrorism-related charges.

Alimehmeti is represented by attorney Sabrina Shroff, who is also on Rahimi's defense team. Kim wrote to Berman asking for a hearing to make sure Rahimi "has knowingly waived the potential conflict of interest that exists between [Rahimi] and his attorneys."
Hunger strike

Rahimi also says he's on a hunger strike. In an undated handwritten letter to Berman, Rahimi states that he began a hunger strike on December 8 out of protest because he says his wife and children have not been able to visit him since the end of his trial.

"I am on a short time because my sentencing date is on January 18, 2018. Because of this short time and the frustration I have decided to go on a hunger strike," Rahimi wrote.

Berman received the letter December 21 and has ordered attorneys for both the government and defense to respond, according to court documents.

Rahimi was arrested and charged after a pressure cooker bomb went off in New York's Chelsea neighborhood on September 17, 2016. A second pressure cooker bomb was found a few blocks away, on 27th Street, but didn't detonate.

Earlier the same day, a bomb went off near the start of a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey.

After a two-week trial and roughly four hours of jury deliberation, Rahimi was convicted of charges including the use and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, bombing a public place, destroying property by means of fire or explosives, and using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.

During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence -- including DNA and fingerprints -- linking Rahimi to the bombs that were placed in New Jersey and New York.

Rahimi faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison, according to an earlier statement from Kim.

Rahimi faces separate charges in other jurisdictions in connection with the bomb that went off in Seaside Park, a backpack containing improvised explosive devices found the following day at a transit station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and a shootout he had with police before being taken into custody.





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Well...that didn't take long




Haley announces $285M cut in 2018-19 UN operating budget



Calling it “a big step in the right direction,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday night announced a historic reduction in the U.N. biennial operating budget.

Haley said the plan calls for a $285 million cut for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

“The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known,” Haley said. “We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked."

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"The inefficiency and overspending of the United Nations are well known. We will no longer let the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of or remain unchecked."- Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations

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She added, “This historic reduction in spending – in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable U.N. – is a big step in the right direction.”

The U.N. budget now covers a two-year period, beginning in January of an even-numbered year.


The United States was seeking a $250 million cut to the U.N. budget for 2018-19, on top of $200 million in savings already proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Agence France-Presse reported two weeks ago.

Guterres has proposed capping the U.N. biennial budget at $5.4 billion, shaving off $200 million from the 2016-17 budget.

The U.S. pays about 22 percent of the U.N.’s budget, or roughly $3.3 billion, and fully 28 percent of its peacekeeping effort.

The U.N.'s operating budget is separate from its peacekeeping budget, which was cut by $600 million this year, under pressure from President Donald Trump, AFP reported.

Trump last week threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor of a draft U.N. resolution calling for the U.S. to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The final tally was 128-9, with 35 nations abstaining, including five members of the European Union.






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Saturday, December 23, 2017

FBI arrests ex-Marine accused of plotting San Francisco terror attack




If they can lure an ex-Marine over to the dark side imagine the potential in the fertile minds of millions of Syrian refugees around the world.

 

Dec. 22 (UPI) -- The FBI has arrested a former U.S. Marine on charges he hatched a plot for a Christmas terrorist attack on San Francisco's Pier 39.

Everitt Aaron Jameson, 26, of Modesto, has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, according to a federal complaint obtained by the New York Times and published online. Jameson was arrested this week, the Modesto Bee reported.

A paid informant reported Jameson to the FBI after they saw him liking posts on Facebook supportive of the Islamic State and terrorism, according to the complaint. Jameson also reportedly praised the Oct. 31 truck attack in New York City that killed eight people. Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who has been charged with eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering in that case, allegedly asked for Islamic State flags to be brought to his hospital room and felt satisfied with the attack.

On Dec. 16, Jameson met with an undercover FBI agent, who asked about the ex-Marine having "something to offer," according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Jameson then said San Francisco needed to face an attack similar to the New York truck attack or the 2015 gun attack that killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif.

Jameson continued by saying that he'd like to use explosives to chase people into a tight space, where they could be more easily injured, according to the complaint. He reportedly suggested San Francisco's Pier 39 because of the large amount of foot traffic there and Christmas as an ideal day of the attack.

Separately, Jameson also offered part of his wages as a tow truck driver and said he would be open to travel to Syria, according to the complaint.

Two days later, Jameson told the undercover agent, "I also don't think I can do this after all." But when FBI agents conducted a search warrant at Jameson's Modesto residence on Wednesday, they said Jameson expressed his support for the Islamic State and said he would be happy if an attack took place.

Jameson completed basic training in 2009, earning a sharpshooter rifle qualification, but was discharged from the Marines some time later when it was discovered he didn't disclose his history with asthma, court documents show.






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Thursday, December 21, 2017

The full UN vote - US & Israel lost 128-9, with 35 gutless abstentions



Fear Defined

How else do you explain it? 

Our 'allies' including France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and a whole host of others side with the likes of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Cuba, etc.

Wouldn't have anything to do with the likely repercussions of allowing throngs of Muslims into their countries would it? 

 South Korea is really a surprise. Trump said, "we got your back" then stuck a knife in his. 



Click to enlarge 




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