Monday, February 9, 2015

DISCOVERY: U.S Unemployment Data, War Against ISIS Monitoring Now Using Identical Formulas

2/9/2015

 Newly Discovered Fact?: Monitoring the impact of progress against ISIS and rating U.S. unemployment appear to now be using the same formula/philosophy. 

 Example: The unemployment rate is currently 5.6 percent without counting the tens of millions who are chronically unemployed (no longer eligible to collect U.E. benefits). 

 Meanwhile, Syrian and Kurd have recaptured "some" territory, while ISIS has captured Mosul and the vast majority of Iraq AND Syria. 

 Maybe this philosphy also applies to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants the democrats talk about are only counts the ones in prison. Hmmm....

Christian Science Monitor: Sec. Kerry: US-led coalition 'on the road' to defeating Islamic State (+video)



 Increased airstrikes in Syria and the retaking of territory by Kurdish fighters in Iraq appears to indicate some progress in the US-led coalition fight against Islamic State militants.

Sec. Kerry: IS Atrocities 'Must Be Stopped'
AP
In the wake of stepped-up airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and some success in Iraq by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Secretary of State John Kerry says the US-led coalition is “on the road” to defeating Islamic State militants.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Sec. Kerry said he “absolutely” believes the coalition is moving toward its goal of degrading and defeating the group also known as ISIS, including killing “a significant proportion” of their top leadership.
“We believe everything, including the governing process in Iraq itself, is moving in the right direction,” Kerry said.
Since reports surfaced of the fiery execution of a downed Jordanian fighter pilot, Jordan has significantly increased its bombing sorties against ISIS targets.
At a press conference Sunday, General Mansour Al-Jbour, head of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, said nearly 20 percent of the militants’ capabilities have been degraded by the air attacks, including killing 7,000 of the enemy.
In 56 raids over three days of intensified bombing, Gen. Jbour said, “We achieved what we aimed at.”
“We destroyed logistics centers, arms depots and targeted hideouts of their fighters,” he said, as reported by Al Arabiya News in Dubai.
On ABC Sunday, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh took a more measured view.
“They are not gone yet,” he said of ISIS. “The air campaign has degraded their capabilities on the ground. They still control territories. They still have access to Syria’s cash and funds and sophisticated weaponry…. But there is no doubt we shall prevail.”  
As evidence that progress is being made, Kerry notes that coalition forces have recaptured 22 percent of the populated areas that ISIS once held “without launching what we would call a major offensive,” as he put it on “Meet the Press.”
Much of that has been achieved by Kurdish forces on the ground in northern Iraq.
Also speaking on the Sunday TV news shows, Sen. Ted Cruz, (R) of Texas, said he wouldn’t rule out the use of US ground troop in the fight against ISIS – beyond, that is, the several thousand US trainers, air strike targeters, and special forces troops already in northern Iraq.
But for now, he said, the US needs to arm Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting ISIS.
"We need to arm the Kurds now because they are our boots on the ground," Sen. Cruz told CNN's "State of the Union."
 Chancellor Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish region of Iraq made that pitch in an interview with NBC’s Richard Engel. “So far we have not seen any serious action which can quickly defeat ISIS,” he said.
“I understand Mr. Barzani's impatience fully,” Kerry said in response. “The Peshmerga have been particularly brave and courageous. We have supplied them with enormous amounts of ammunition, weapons, supplies, other things. And others are supplying them, our allies…. As we've said from the beginning, people need to recognize the importance of putting in place a strategy that can win.”
Not everyone agrees with Kerry’s positive assessment of the fight against ISIS.
Retired US Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says the United States’ strategy for combating Islamic extremist groups is not working.
“The counterterrorism component works just fine to go after the high-value targets and key leaders,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “But we need a much broader strategy that recognizes that we’re facing not just this tactical problem of ISIS in Iraq and Syria…. I think what I’m saying is the strategy that we have is not working, and it’s clearly not working.”
Iraqi Kurds Say They Have Secured Route to Besieged Sinjar Mountain
Inform



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Nine Dead, 35 Wounded in Armed Clashes in Benghazi

2/9/2015

 TRIPOLI – At least nine people died and 35 others were wounded over the past few hours in fighting between rival Libyan militias in different neighborhoods in the eastern city of Benghazi, a source with the local Medical Center told Efe.

Six of the dead were soldiers and civilians – including an Egyptian citizen – who were killed by rockets.

The fighting broke out late Saturday and lasted through the night, a police official in Benghazi said, adding that forces allied with Gen. Khalifa Hafter bombarded Islamist positions there.

Hafter, who is supported by the internationally recognized parliament established in Tobruk, conducted air attacks with rockets that hit the Al Sabri neighborhood, apparently killing Faisal al-Tayuri, a commander of the Islamist militias, the source added.

Two other Islamist fighters died in clashes in Benghazi, he said.

The former general, who supported dictator Muammar Gaddafi and then became one of his biggest opponents in exile, has heavy artillery and air assets at his disposal, not to mention the support of the regular Libyan army.

Last May and October, he launched military operations with the aim of wiping out the Islamist militias controlling eastern Libya, thus weakening the power of the rebel parliament installed in Tripoli.

In recent weeks, however, the general has broadened his offensive to several cities near Benghazi and into the western portion of the country, where he is also attacking positions of the Islamist Libya Dawn movement and its allies.

Libya has been mired in chaos and civil war since October 2011, when NATO began supporting anti-Gaddafi rebels, ultimately resulting in the toppling of the Gaddafi regime.

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Islamic State Loots and Destroys Ancient Religious Sites in Mosul

2/9/2015

 MOSUL, Iraq – Jihadists with the radical Islamic State over the past few days have been looting and destroying ancient religious sites in this northern Iraqi city, a local government official told Efe on Sunday.

The extremists on Saturday stole relics, historic books and manuscripts that were inside one of the religious sanctuaries in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, before demolishing the buildings with large earthmoving machines.

In addition to razing several sanctuaries, they destroyed the mosque of Muhsin, from which they stole valuable objects that had been housed there.

The government source said that the jihadists demolished that site, which consisted of a small 5th-century mosque with a large cupola and contained one of the tombs of the imam Muhsin.

The IS, meanwhile, released a video showing the group’s destruction of mosques and religious sites, calling it a “fight against ... heresy.”

The IS practices an extreme version of Sunni Islam that rejects the existence of mausoleums inside mosques because it feels that then the faithful could potentially direct their prayers to the dead resting there rather than to God.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces recovered control of most of the city of Biyi, 40 km (25 mi.) north of Tikrit, capital of Saladin province, provincial governor Jasem al-Jabara said.

Iraqi troops, aided by tribal fighters, retook the city’s industrial zones, the military district, the market area, the railroad sector and all the neighborhoods near the Biyi refinery, along with other sections of the city.

They also advanced toward Al Siniya, 10 km (6.2 mi.) west of Biyi, where they retook control of the region’s oil refinery in clashes with occupying jihadists that resulted in dozens of dead and injured in the IS ranks.

Iraqi authorities last November had announced their intention to regain control of strategically important Biyi, although the IS had made significant advances in the area and took over parts of the city on Dec. 21 after a series of attacks on government positions.

Biyi is the site of Iraq’s largest oil refinery – which produces 250,000 barrels of crude per day, although it was shut down on June 10, 2014, after jihadist advances in the area – and a hub for supply routes to Nineveh, Al Anbar and Kirkuk provinces.

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Oh Look! A Government That Stands Up Against Idiot Enviro-Mentals

2/9/2015

 Sonatrach to Use Fracking in Southern Algeria Despite Protests

ALGIERS – The head of state-owned oil company Sonatrach said Sunday that gas exploration in southern Algeria would not be halted despite protests by residents against the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

“We are not going to interrupt the drilling activities” underway at the Ain Salah field, Sonatrach chief Said Sahnoune said in a press conference.

The drilling work is at an advanced stage and the second pilot well will be completed in a matter of days in the town of Ahnet, located south of Ain Salah, Sahnoune said.

“We are at the point of finishing this project, it’s a matter of a few days, when we will finish, the drilling apparatus will be transported to another exploration site that is already planned,” Sahnoune said, without providing further details.

Residents of Tamanrasset region and Ain Salah have been protesting against production of shale gas since late December on the grounds that the extraction methods being used threaten the environment.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal expressed support recently for the gas exploration project, saying that the goal was to “learn about Algeria’s non-conventional energy potential, in a country with high dependence on the petroleum business.”

Fracking is a controversial method that involves pumping a pressurized fluid – usually composed of water, sand and chemicals – into a shale formation to create a fracture in the rock layer and release trapped petroleum or natural gas.

Anti-fracking groups contend that the technique pollutes aquifers and causes earthquakes in the areas where drilling takes place.
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Sunday, February 8, 2015

3 from St. Louis County accused of supporting ISIS terrorism

2/8/2015



ST. LOUIS • Three St. Louis-area residents and three others from around the country supplied money and military equipment to terrorist fighters overseas, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Iraq, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Friday.
Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, all live in St. Louis County, prosecutors said. The others indicted were Nihad Rosic, 26 of Utica, N.Y.; Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 34 of Schiller Park, Ill.; and Jasminka Ramic, 42 of Rockford, Ill.
All face charges of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and with providing material support to terrorists. Ramiz Hodzic, who also went by the first name Siki, and Nihad Rosic were also charged with conspiring to kill and maim persons in a foreign country.
The indictment claims that the conspiracy began by at least May 2013.
The Hodzics, Salkicevic, Ramic and others solicited money in the United States for fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. All six donated their own money, the indictment claims. The Hodzics used some of the money to buy supplies including U.S. military uniforms, combat boots, military surplus gear, tactical gear, range finders and rifle scopes. They, and unnamed others, then sent more than $10,000 in cash and supplies to third parties in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, the indictment says.
The Hodzics also sent money to Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to support the families of fighters, the indictment says.
The indictment says all six knew that the money and supplies were going to those “engaged in violent activities overseas, including conspiring to murder and maim persons,” the indictment says.
The conspirators used Facebook, email and phones to communicate, coordinate, rally support and update each other about the status of the fighters, using coded words such as “brothers,” “lions” and “Bosnian brothers,” the indictment says. They used Western Union and PayPal to send money.
The fighters “fought with and in support of” the Islamic State group, al-Qaida in Iraq and the al-Nusrah Front, the indictment says, and one of those fighters included a former St. Louis-area resident, Abdullah Ramo Pazara. Pazara left St. Louis in May 2013 and traveled via Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina before arriving in Syria that July.
Pazara boasted in March 2014 that he’d just returned from a mission where fighters killed 11 people and captured one, whom they intended to “slaughter” the next day, the indictment says. Pazara was killed while fighting in Syria, according to news reports.
Rosic tried to board a Norwegian Airlines flight in July, intending to travel to Syria to fight, the indictment says.
All six of those charged are natives of Bosnia who immigrated to the United States, prosecutors said. Three have become naturalized citizens and the rest either have refugee or legal resident status, they said.
Five have been arrested, and the Hodzics had a first appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in St. Louis Friday night. Ramic is overseas.
The charge of supporting a group designated as a terrorist organization carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Conspiring to kill and maim persons in a foreign country carries a penalty of up to life, prosecutors said.
Court records were not yet online Friday, so it was not clear if any of those charged had hired attorneys yet. None could be immediately reached for comment, nor could relatives.
U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan declined to comment on the case Friday, “because this case involved national security.”
William Woods, head of the St. Louis office of the FBI, released a statement that said, “The indictment unsealed today epitomizes the FBI’s commitment to disrupting and holding accountable those who seek to provide material support to terrorists and terrorist organizations. This case underscores the clear need for continued vigilance in rooting out those who seek to join or aid terrorist groups that threaten our national security.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the U. S. Postal Inspection Service and police in St. Louis and St. Louis County were among the agencies that investigated the case, prosecutors said.
Speaking about the Islamic State earlier this week, FBI Director James Comey said, “We have open cases all over the place focused on this threat.” He said that the bureau had cases in every state but Alaska, and was focusing “keenly” on those traveling “to join this band of murderers” in Iraq and Syria, those returning from the fight and others who were not traveling but were inspired to acts of violence.
Comey issued a similar warning at a press conference in St. Louis in August.
The person listed as the owner of Hodzics’ condominium at the Chateau De Ville complex off Forder Road in South County could not be reached for comment. Larry Sorth is a property manager at the complex and lives there with his wife, Joyce Sorth.
Larry Sorth said that about 11:30 a.m. Friday, undercover FBI agents set up in the parking lot. A SWAT team and other FBI vehicles, including a white box truck, showed up later. The truck was parked at the complex into Friday evening as agents took evidence from the home and placed it into the truck.
“This is just a shock,” Larry Sorth said of the Hodzics’ arrest.
He and his wife said the Hodzics had lived there about 18 months, along with their three children. They described the pair as friendly.
“She was very sweet, to tell you the truth,” Joyce Sorth said of Sedina Hodzic.
Joyce Sorth said Sedina Hodzic had at first worn a head covering that revealed her entire face but recently had started wearing a veil that showed only her eyes.
Larry Sorth said that some neighbors said Ramiz Hodzic was a truck driver, but the man didn’t seem to have a job. “He was always at home,” Larry Sorth said.
He said that of the 41 units he oversees at the complex, 16 are home to Bosnian families. He said the Hodzics always made their required payments on time.
Vivian Franklin, 62, another neighbor said: “All of us we speak to each other, meet out here and talk in the parking lot. They really didn’t have anything to say to anybody, not that they were rude …”
She added: “You never know who is in your neighborhood, right?”
Valerie Schremp Hahn of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2015 stltoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Report Exposes EU Illegal Settlement in Judea and Samaria

2/8/2015
Regavim details how EU breaches Oslo by conducting widespread illegal building in Israeli-controlled area to create de facto 'Palestine.'
European Union in Judea and Samaria
European Union in Judea and Samaria
Regavim
Despite the 2012 Levy Report proving the legality of Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria under international law, the European Union (EU) has bitterly opposed that presence and even threatened sanctions - however, a new report reveals that it is in fact the EU that is guilty of "illegal settlement" in the region.

Judea and Samaria was divided into Areas A, B and C in the 1993 Oslo Accords which created the Palestinian Authority (PA), and under the agreements Area C is under complete Israeli administrative and security control.

However, the new report by Regavim, an NGO watchdog group for Jewish national property rights, reveals the extent of the EU's illegal actions aiding in PA land grabs in Area C. In doing so, the EU is creating illegal facts on the ground to pave the way for a de facto Palestinian state in the Biblical heartland of Israel.

 According to the report - which was first published several months ago on Arutz Sheva but has since made waves for the first time in the European press, featuring in the UK's Daily Mail - since 2009 European support has shifted from being passive diplomatic and financial aide to the PA, to becoming fully active cooperation in the PA's unilateral illegal construction.

One of the major goals in these EU efforts is to advance illegal Arab building precisely in Area C which is under full Israeli control, and therefore to slowly cede the areas and create a continuity between Arab-held land between Har Hevron in southern Judea, through Yericho (Jericho) and up into Samaria.

A continuity of this sort would critically harm the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, as well as endanger Israeli security and Israel's ability to guard itself along defensible borders. A full 550 illegal Arab buildings were put up in Area C in 2014 alone.

The report features a detailed mapping of hundreds of illegal Arab structures built by the EU in the corridor from Jerusalem out past Ma'ale Adumim to its east. It also expounds on the changing EU management as seen in official documents, and dissects the impact of the illegal building.

"European hypocrisy"

 "Between the lines rises in full force the European hypocrisy, which accuses Israel of taking unilateral steps, even as it is sunk up to its neck in illegal and unilateral activities for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority," Regavim stated.

The organization emphasizes that the construction it documented breaches international law which requires obedience to the sovereign power ruling a given area. It is also in complete contradiction of the Oslo Accords which the EU signed off on as a witness, and which establishes Israel as the authority for security and civilian matters in Area C.

In concluding the report, Regavim summed up that the EU's activities "are not legitimate. There is no avoiding a drastic change in terms of the Israeli government's treatment of the issue."

That change would come "firstly, by understanding and internalizing that the European Union is a problematic player that causes great damage to Israeli interests in Judea and Samaria," Regavim said.

"Secondly, the supervision and checks on the Union's activities and organizations funded by it must be tightened."

The group also recommended that Israel "take a series of steps - political, legal and publicity based."

"The Israeli actions must be comprised of a combination of political actions through the accepted diplomatic channels, legal actions, intensive enforcement, and widening the publicity to create international legitimacy to end the delegitimate actions by the European Union," concluded Regavim.


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Breaking: OBAMA to Subsidize Iranian Nuke Program, Sacrifice Israel, In Exchange for Less Jihad

2/8/2015
Obama to Sacrifice Israel in Exchange for Less Jihad
iran nuke dance
Iranian dancers perform their blessed nuclear dance on the first National Nuclear Technology Day, in 2006. (The Lede)
The Obama administration is going to offer the Iranian regime technical aid for its nuclear program in exchange for less jihad in the region. The move will put Israel in great danger.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
At a security conference in Munich, the two leaders met to discuss ongoing negotiations over the nuclear program— and that program only, according to American officials. But the warning from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underscored core motivations driving Western diplomats in the talks: The realignment of Tehran towards cooperation with Washington elsewhere in the region, from Syria and Iraq to Yemen and Lebanon.
That is a departure from their original goal, set explicitly at the beginning of negotiations, to dismember Iran’s nuclear program thoroughly and permanently.
Rare is Zarif’s acknowledgment of US influence in Iranian politics: The 1979 revolution, and the regime born from it, was a sweeping rejection of American involvement in Iran’s domestic affairs. Today, politics within the country fiercely debate whether to accept a nuclear deal— or any deal— with the government’s oldest foe.
But reports began surfacing last week that the Obama administration is offering Iran technical concessions on its nuclear infrastructure in exchange for Iran’s use of its leverage to tamper regional turmoil.
Meeting for over two hours with Kerry, Zarif said that discussions focused on how sanctions will be lifted once a deal is reached, and how many uranium-enriching centrifuges will remain.
Zarif also met with European Union high representative Federica Mogherini, who said publicly that the time was ripe to reach an agreement. The two acknowledged conversations went beyond the nuclear file and covered the conflicts embroiling much of the Middle East.
Three months ago Ambassador John Bolton said Obama was giving Iran, “An open path to nuclear weapons.”
And now Obama’s going to subsidize the program, too.
Did you ever think you’d see an American president compare Christians to Islamic terrorists and offer up Israel to Iran in the same week?


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