As you've probably noticed, we've been under some kind of DDOS attack for the past few days. The hosting company's probably tired of me asking them to restart the machine. You'll notice it first when Postgresql 'can't connect.' Shortly after that, I can't connect over ssh at that point to restart and I have to submit a help ticket.
I'm trying to trace what's being attacked. The @rantburg.com email server is now shut down and may remain so for good. I use my fred . pruitt @ gmail . com address for virtually everything and fighting off people trying to relay over it to send spam is a minor pain in the sitter. It's also something to overload with connections.
I'll keep working on it to try and fix the problem. Faithful Penelope is a pretty robust server, so it takes a lot to overload her. The problem is finding which logs hold the evidence, then trying not to break something else while I fix the problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 11:32 ||
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#1
Take heart that if you weren't doing the Lord's work they wouldn't bother with you.
#4
Fred is on other business at the moment, but he'll return.
Our problem is a double whammy of overeager Evil Chinese, even more Evil Kansans, Evil Microsoft and an encoding error. The last should be fixed before too long, the others are and will likely be ongoing.
[Tolo News] Around 10:00AM Friday morning a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated at a Jahenda Bala - Nawroz Flag Hoisting Ceremony - in Kandahar, Deputy Governor Abdul Qayoum Patyal said on Friday.
Every year on the first day of the solar month of Hamal, Afghans celebrate Nawroz Festival with special zeal and enthusiasm to welcome the beginning of the new year and spring. The Kandahar ceremony was part of the celebration festival but ended tragically.
The Narwoz event was expected to happen in the Khakrez District at the Shah Agha Shrine, but it was called off after the kaboom.
"The bomb killed two coppers and maimed another eight," Kandahar Deputy Patyal said. "I call on the Afghan people to know their enemies; the perpetrators not only target the Afghan cops, but also civilians."
The Kandahar Police Chief, his deputy, Khakrez District Chief, the Deputy Govenor and the head of Kandahar governor's office Parwiz Najib were among the maimed. Najib's condition was said to be critical.
The Taliban grabbed credit for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The four gunnies were swift as they entered the luxury hotel in Kabul, although it took them a few minutes to find the restaurant that was their target, Afghan officials said Friday as they pieced together details of the brazen attack that killed nine people, including four foreigners and two children who were shot in the head.
The Afghan capital has been hit by several attacks, but authorities appeared stunned that the Death Eaters had managed to get through the tight security at the Serena hotel -- considered one of the safest places to stay in Kabul.
The shooting spree was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks as the Taliban and allied Death Eaters step up a campaign of violence in the weeks leading to the April 5 national elections.
It also came on the heels of an uptick in bombings and shootings against foreigners in Kabul, something that had been relatively rare. Earlier this month, a Swedish journalist was shot on the street execution-style and a Lebanese restaurant popular with foreigners was attacked by a jacket wallah and gunnies in January.
The attacks show the Taliban are following through on their threat to use violence to disrupt next month's elections. The presidential vote will be the first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban movement. President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahid grabbed credit for the hotel attack, saying it shows that "our people, if they decide to attack any place, they can do it."
The restaurant was packed with Afghans celebrating the eve of the Persian New Year, Nowruz as well as foreigners who frequent the hotel.
Interior Ministry front man Sediq Sediqqi said most of the non-combatants were killed when two of the attackers walked into the restaurant and began shooting, while the others were shot to death as the gunnies made their way through the hotel. Police killed all four attackers after a three-hour standoff, with shooting resounding through the cordoned off streets outside.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[STREAM.WSJ] The four men sat down for dinner, ordered juice and then excused themselves to the bathroom. There, they extracted tiny pistols from the soles of their shoes, and, after returning to the restaurant of Kabul's most luxurious hotel, started shooting patrons point-blank.
The first target was the Afghan family of Sardar Ahmad, a 40-year-old Afghan journalist with Agence La Belle France-Presse, the government said. The gunniesrubbed out Mr. Ahmad, his wife, his 5-year-old daughter Nilofar and 3-year-old son Omar. His youngest son Abuzar, not even two, is in coma with bullets in his head.
Then, the gunnies shot other prominent Afghans and foreign officials who had gathered on Thursday night for a festive dinner at the Serena Hotel here. Soon after, at least nine guests--including a U.S. citizen, two Canadians and a Paraguayan election observer--and the four attackers were dead and several injured. Even by the grim standards of the Afghan war, the Serena bloodbath was shocking.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... condemned the killings, saying that such attacks "are carried out for the purposes of the outsiders and unfortunately, the victims are innocent civilians, children and women."
The Taliban, which grabbed credit for Thursday's attack, has carried out a series of assaults in recent days aimed at disrupting the presidential elections on April 5 to pick a successor to Mr. Karzai.
A successful election--combined with the planned departure of foreign forces--would mark the first democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan's history.
That would undercut the Taliban's appeal, rooted in resentment against foreign presence and the widespread corruption of Mr. Karzai's administration. This explains the Taliban's attempts to derail the vote and undermine its legitimacy.
The Taliban's tactic is certain to reduce the international role in vote monitoring. The National Democratic Institute, a Washington nonprofit that planned to observe the vote, ordered its personnel out of the country Friday after one of its members was killed in the Thursday attack.
As some of the leading candidates voice fears that Mr. Karzai's favorite will win the presidency by fraud, the presence of foreign election observers is vital to legitimize any result. In contrast, their departure as a result of the Serena attack could spark a dispute over the outcome, fracturing the country's political and military establishment to benefit of the Taliban, which hope to retake political power.
Mr. Karzai isn't allowed to run for president again under the Afghan constitution. The leading candidates in the race--former Foreign Ministers Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... and Zalmai Rassoul ... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France..... , and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani--have been crisscrossing the country this week, holding campaign rallies despite Taliban threats.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
surprised Karzai didn't blame the US. Prolly this week
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2014 11:24 Comments ||
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As force in control you almost never do that. You do however make sure the nearest opposition village violently takes over the village where the trouble makers came from.
This is the problem,in a nutshell. Bush tried to build a nation out of warring tribes. It would not work.
The hunt for Kenya's most wanted terrorist, Abdukadir Mohammed Abdukadir, alias Ikrima, has gone a notch higher with the US government placing a $9 million (Sh779.4 million) bounty on his head alongside two other men.
Ikrima is being sought alongside the two who have been identified as Jafar and Yasin Kilwe. Both are said to be based in Somalia and responsible for terror activities in the East African region. The bounty was announced on Thursday in a statement from the US State Department.
The American government said it was authorising "rewards of up to $3 million (Sh259.95 million) each for information leading to the arrest of Abdukadir Mohammed Abdukadir alias Ikrima, Jafar and Yasin Kilwe".
Ikrima is believed to have been one of the masterminds of the September 21, 2013 Westgate Mall terrorist attack, with calls made by terrorists from the besieged mall going to contacts in Uganda and to Ikrima in Somalia.
Intelligence officers, security experts, Somalis, friends and former Al-Shabaab members who spoke to The Standard on Saturday have painted a clear portrait of the man being sought by several nations. Ikrima is the man believed to have planned the Westgate Mall attack.
The US government has described Ikrima as having "medium-length hair and has worn a thick moustache," with "missing three fingers on his left hand".
What follows is a long discussion of how the SEALS just missed nabbing Ikrima, and a long biographical profile of the mutt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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According to news reports from the Buloburde of the Hiiraan region, there was an IED explosion in a market in the district.
If only the Ahlusunnais had been on duty, all this could have been prevented...
This bomb was targeted at Somali government troops that were in the market at the time in Buloburde and although the casualties have not been specified yet. After the explosion, Ahlusunnai militia Somali government troops killed 2 men at the market suspected of being responsible for the blast.
Buluburde district in the Hiiraan region was recently liberated by Al-Shabaab although since then it has been subject to various insecurity attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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An exclusive interview featuring the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation Mahad Mohamed Salaad to Radio Shabelle over the phone in Mogadishu, mentioned of a meeting they had with leaders of Ahlusunna Waljamaaca and the outcome was that they jointly agreed to start operations in the region to wipe out Al-Shabaab. The Deputy Minister was among a delegation of Ministers of the Federal Government that reached Dhuusamareeb.
But don't tell anyone lest the Shaboobs find out...
Mr Mahad Mohamed Salaad described that the spiritual leaders of Ahlusunna Waljamaaca fought for at least 5 hours with terrorist insurgents known as Al-Shabaab in some areas they occupy and are ready to stand alongside the Somali Federal Government to fight the insurgents.
âVery recently did they start their offensives to battle Al-Shabaab to ensure peace in territories and districts of Galgaduud,â Said the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation
The Ministerial delegation that arrived in Dhuusamareeb consisted of the Minister of Interior & Federalism, Minister of National Security, Minister of Defence, Minister of Information and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation and all were present at the meetings with Officials from Ahlusunna Waljamaaca.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Two rockets struck a runway at the international airport in Libya's capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on Friday, forcing the suspension of flights, an airport source said.
"Two rockets went kaboom! on the main runway of the airport, causing damage. For security reasons, flights were suspended until further notice," the source said on condition of anonymity.
The blasts took place at around 05:00 am (03:00 GMT), at a time when the day's inbound and outbound traffic had yet to begin.
An airline representative in the capital told Agence La Belle France Presse that the authorities had informed firms operating at the airport that flights would remain suspended until 1030 GMT on Saturday.
Since long-time dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... was deposed in 2011 and killed by rebels in October that year, the international airport has been under the control of former snuffies from Zintan, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of Tripoli.
It is at Zintan that Qadaffy's son and one-time presumed heir Seif al-Islam is being held by ex-rebels.
The North African country's transitional authorities have so far failed to disarm former rebel militias or integrate them into Libya's nascent armed forces.
Eastern Libya has become a bastion of Islamist bully boys, with authorities avoiding a full-blown confrontation with heavily armed former rebels pending the formation of a regular army and police force.
On Thursday, however, the government announced it was mobilizing its security forces after acknowledging for the first time that "terrorist groups" were behind dozens of attacks against security services and Westerners.
"The nation finds itself in a confrontation with terrorist groups, and it falls upon the government to mobilize its military and security forces to fight this scourge," said a statement published on the government's website.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAILYPOST.NG] An air force fighter jet launched an attack on a group of Death Eaters holding a meeting at Kayamla village of Konduga Local Government Area on Thursday killing at least 17 of them while several others were maimed, a resident told DailyPost.
It was gathered that the group were sighted holding a meeting with the intention of re-launching another attack on residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The military have continued to engaged the bully boyz following attack on Giwa Barracks last Friday.
DailyPost also gathered that there was tension at Polo GRA on Wednesday, following a rumour that the bully boyz were coming to attack the area.
Over 200 members of the sect were reportedly killed in the area during last Friday's attack in Maiduguri.
A source at the state specialists hospital in Maiduguri, told DailyPost that so many corpses of the bully boyz were brought to the hospital.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... parents and students in Maiduguri have decried the decision of the Borno State government to close all public schools in the state for fear of attacks by the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Mallam Buji Mallum, a father of 10, said the decision would demoralize youths that are attending schools and also embolden the Death Eaters whose aim according to him is to force normal life to a standstill.
"No right thinking person will query the decision of the people in government because they know things better, but honestly, the Boko Haram miscreants will feel they are winning the war.
"There should be a way of sustaining schools; schools should continue running", he said.
Madam Hannatu James said she cried when she heard the news of the abrupt closure.
"Yes, it is sad that students and other people are being killed by the Boko Haram but once schools are closed, the Death Eaters would intensify attacks on other people oriented policies", she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] A Death Eater commander and five family members including a child were killed when a bomb he was tinkering with went kaboom! at his home, officials said on Wednesday.
Aalim Deen Mehsud, a local commander of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) in the North Wazoo tribal area, was trying to remove kaboom from a mortar shell, triggering the blast, a security official said. "He was trying to cut the shell with a hand saw and take out the explosives when the kaboom occurred, killing himself, four women and a child of his family," the official told AFP. Two other children were maimed in the blast, the official said. A local in the village of Talib Jan, where the incident happened, confirmed the deaths. "Aalim Deen Mehsud and five members of his family have been killed in an kaboom at his house," said Gul Hajjan, a resident of the village which is close to the Afghan border.
North Waziristan is one of Pakistain's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions which Washington consider to be a major hub of Taliban and al Qaeda faceless myrmidons plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. The government opened negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) last month in a bid to end a bloody insurgency which has cost thousands of lives and cost the economy tens of billions of dollars. The process broke down for more than two weeks after faceless myrmidons killed 23 kidnapped soldiers, but later resumed after the Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire. The Bajaur Levies Force had on Tuesday defused an improvised bomb planted along a road in Kharyan area of Nawagai Tehsil.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
next time, use the chisel
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2014 11:26 Comments ||
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#2
And I thought I had a problem with cell phones at the dinner table.
Posted by: Steven ||
03/22/2014 11:57 Comments ||
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#3
More, More.
And More Often.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/22/2014 14:00 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Militants controlled a northern Iraqi village for several hours Friday as attacks nationwide killed 27 people, including at least 10 coppers, amid a surge in bloodshed ahead of parliamentary elections.
The latest unrest comes barely a week before campaigning begins for the April 30 election due to take place as Iraq grapples with its worst protracted bloodletting since a brutal 2006-2007 Sunni-Shiite sectarian war in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
The unrest has been primarily driven by anger among the minority Sunni Arab community, which alleges discrimination at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces, as well as by the civil war in neighboring Syria.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israeli soldiers shot and moderately maimed two Paleostinians in the Gazoo Strip Friday as they approached the security fence on the border with the Jewish state, the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run health ministry said.
Spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Agence La Belle France Presse the incident took place east of Jabaliya, which is in northern Gazoo.
The army spoke of only one hit.
"Ten Paleostinians rioted adjacent to the security fence in the northern Gazoo Strip. One instigator attempted to climb over the security fence," a front man said.
"After he failed to comply with the soldiers' calls to stop, the soldiers fired towards his legs, identifying a hit."
Clashes are common on Fridays,
Boys will be boys.
with regular protests near the border in support of Gazoo farmers who say troops uprooted their trees to create a buffer zone.
Earlier Friday, the army said it had uncovered a new tunnel from Gazoo reaching into the Jewish state, which it said was designed for carrying out a "terrorist attack."
Hamas said the tunnel was old and had been exposed by storms.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] At least seven Syrian soldiers and 17 rebels were killed Friday as three Islamist groups battled to take a border crossing into Turkey.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamists included the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front.
"Al-Nusra Front, Sham al-Islam and Ansar al-Sham are engaged in fierce festivities around the Kasab crossing with Turkey in Latakia province," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"They have seized guard posts around the crossing but are not yet in control of it," he said.
They also took a nearby hill and directed mortar fire at the crossing and at the nearby Alawite village of Karsana, killing five people including a child.
State television said the army was "tackling attempts by terrorist gangs to infiltrate from Turkish territory and attack border crossings in northern Latakia province".
State news agency SANA said 17 rebels were killed, including Al-Nusra's chief in Latakia province.
Friday's festivities came after the three Islamist groups announced the beginning of the "Anfal" campaign in the Latakia area.
Al-Nusra is the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda and one of a number of jihadist groups fighting to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa...
Large parts of Latakia province have remained relatively insulated from the fighting elsewhere in Syria.
The province, which includes Assad's ancestral village, is considered a regime stronghold, and many of its residents are from the Alawite minority, like Assad.
Elsewhere, an air strike on the Qudsaya suburb northwest of Damascus killed three women, two children and a man, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... was witnessing fierce festivities on Friday as the casualty toll from nine days of fighting rose to at least 25 dead and 175 maimed amid a call for a unilateral ceasefire and intensive political contacts to end the violence.
"After we held contacts with the army command in the North, we asked the leaders of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the neighboring areas to cease fire starting 10:00 PM and the army must respond to any source of gunfire," MP Mohammed Kabbara said after an emergency meeting for the Islamic National Gathering at his residence.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Shells fired from Syria landed on several areas in the northern border region of Wadi Khaled on Friday evening, the state-run National News Agency reported.
"Several shells hit the outskirts of the Buqaiaa town in Wadi Khaled near the old railway," the NNA said.
LBCI television said four shells were fired from the Syrian side of the border and landed on Khat al-Petrol, Sheikh Mohammed Hill, and Mashta Hammoud regions in Wadi Khaled.
"No injuries were however recorded," LBCI noted.
The same source added that gunshots from Syria also hit the northern border region.
Meanwhile in the Bekaa, the NNA reported that Syrian helicopters raided the Wadi Ajram region in the Arsal plains.
"The raids targeted gunnies on the move," it said.
Earlier on Friday, a Lebanese and a Syrian shepherd were killed after Syrian forces opened fire on them on the outskirts of neighboring towns in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
Yasser Mohammed Yassine, a 44-year-old Lebanese, and his Syrian relative, Ahmed Nader, from the town of Kfaryabous were killed on the outskirts of Anjar and Majdal Anjar, a security source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2014 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Thanks 3dc. 
As you've probably noticed, we've been under some kind of DDOS attack for the past few days. The hosting company's probably tired of me asking them to restart the machine. You'll notice it first when Postgresql 'can't connect.' Shortly after that, I can't connect over ssh at that point to restart and I have to submit a help ticket. 
We have systems experts as well. Do not hesitate to contact us. 
The hunt for Kenya's most wanted terrorist, Abdukadir Mohammed Abdukadir, alias Ikrima, has gone a notch higher with the US government placing a $9 million (Sh779.4 million) bounty on his head alongside two other men.
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] The northern city of 
