#4
Happy Independence Day!
America is the most interesting (and successful!) political experiment in the last 500 years. We managed to create a new thing - a nation based not on soil or blood, but on an idea. No matter their race, color, creed, or planet of origin, anyone can raise their hand and say "I believe in the Constitution of the United States and will defend it against all enemies, both foreign and bureaucratic" and *snap* you are in the club. We made it and we made it work. No wonder we are a bit smug.
Thank you all for your participation.
The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
#13
The Tale of a Handmaid, Ofred
"They forced me to get into bed
With a creepy old dude
And his wife -- but not nude! --
And yet, dammit, I'd vote for them, dead."
#14
A direct relative and cousins gunned and manned the USS United States, the ship out of Warren, Rhode Island, was the first American vessel to take to the seas following the Declaration of Independence. The sloop attacked and took possession of two British ships. It then captured a Brigantine out of North Carolina and took it to port where in October it was adjudged not to be trading with the enemy. With their pockets filled the United States owners returned to New York City where the sloop was sold off and assumed anew name and took to sea under the first American flag.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has received a case of a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, who is accused of participating in an international terrorist organization and an armed attack on a military man.
The man was charged under Part 2 of Article 205.5 (participation in the activities of an organization that is recognized as terrorist in accordance with Russian legislation), Article 317 (attack on the life of a serviceman for the purpose of obstructing his lawful activities) and Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (threat to use violence against government officials in connection with the performance of their official duties).
According to the investigation, the man, being a supporter of the "Islamic State", committed an armed attack on a serviceman in Nalchik and also threatened to use violence against two employees of the internal affairs agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria. He was detained at the scene of the crime, Interfax wrote on July 1, citing the republic's prosecutor's office.
Earlier, the " Caucasian Knot " wrote that at the end of May, the Southern District Military Court sentenced a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kantemir Nafedzov, finding him guilty of preparing a terrorist attack in Nalchik and sentencing him to 15 years in a maximum security penal colony.
[ABC7CHICAGO] Dozens of pro-Palestinian protestors walked free Tuesday, after having their charges dropped following their arrests in May.
Now, some local leaders are concerned this sends the wrong message, with the Democratic National Convention just a month away.
"None of us showed up to be arrested. I didn't show up to be arrested," protester Jeffery Sun said. "We're trying everything we can because of the ongoing genocide in Palestine."
Sun is one of the 80 protesters whose charges were dropped after being arrested for criminal trespassing when creating an encampment at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Art Institute said earlier this summer they would not pursue prosecution against their students. And the state's attorney's office referenced their peaceful protest policy as the reason for dropping the charges. But others say this sends the wrong message.
"No question that crimes were committed during this illegal encampment, there was criminal trespassing. There was refusal to disperse and follow lawful orders. There was vandalism; there was assault. Several police officers were physically attacked," 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins said.
SEE MORE: Art Institute of Chicago no longer pursuing charges against 68 arrested at pro-Palestinian protest
Hopkins said he's working with the Secret Service and Chicago police to prepare for the Democratic National Convention, where many protests are expected.
"They need to be prosecuted. If we're not willing to do that, then we as a society are saying we're willing to let protesters do whatever they want, without regard to the damage that they cause," Hopkins said.
"They did not have a case against us; I think on some level they just did not want to actually engage with considering what protesting genocide means," Sun said.
Daniel Goldwin, executive director for the Jewish United Fund, said he believes in free speech, but worries after seeing places like Buckingham Fountain recently vandalized, that protesters are taking things too far.
"If they have a place and a location that the government has established, 'here is a place that's appropriate for you to speak your mind and be heard,' then they should go there," Goldwin said. "But there are rules. And there are limits to what is allowed under free speech."
Those who had their charges dropped said they have a protest scheduled for July 4 at Millennium Park.
[ZERO] Another senior Hezbollah commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. He was killed in a daytime strike on the coastal city of Tyre, in what appears a neighborhood or city area (according to widely circulating video). No more JERGA, JERGA, JERGA.
Hezbollah in a statement confirmed the death Muhammad Nimah Nasser, also known as Abu Nimah. Regional reports say that he commanded Hezbollah’s Aziz regional division in southern Lebanon (one of three divisions operating there).
His high rank within the organization is confirmed in the fact that the Hezbollah statement referred to him as a "commander" - which it reserves for only the most senior level operatives.
With the situation already on edge, given both sides are warning that 'all-out war' could be imminent, the marks the second high commander that Israeli has killed in less than two weeks.
Last month a commander named Taleb Abdulla, who headed the Nasr regional division, was taken out in an Israeli strike. Before that, in January the deputy head of the elite Radwan unit Wissam al-Tawil was killed.
The Associated Press reports that "In a video circulated by local media, residents rushed toward a charred vehicle with a large plume of smoke. Civil Defense said its first responders transported an unnamed wounded person to a hospital."
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told troops during a visit Gaza border that tanks currently completing their tasks in Rafah and now being pulled from the theater can be deployed in the north where they "can reach as far as the Litani" river. The Lebanon river lies 10 miles north of Israel’s border.
#2
".....Oooooooh, so sorry, Muhammad! But thanks for playing, and as a parting gift here's a copy of the home version of our game and a case of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat!"
#4
Until a Dresden (you can easily name the targets) scenario unfolds, they will always resurface and continue their islamic slaughter of the infidel. Hundreds of years of regional history is replete with easy to understand examples.
[An Nahar] Hezbollah said it fired more than 100 rockets at Israeli positions on Wednesday in retaliation for a strike that killed a senior commander in south Lebanon, the movement's second such loss in recent weeks.
Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza, but an uptick in bellicose rhetoric from both sides in recent weeks has raised fears of all-out war.
"A Hezbollah commander responsible for one of three sectors in south Lebanon was killed" in an "Israeli strike on a car in Tyre," a source close to the group told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Hezbollah later said that "commander Mohammad Naameh Nasser," also known as "Hajj Abou Naameh" had been killed, and also announced the death of a second fighter.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it "eliminated" Nasser, saying he was "the commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organization's Aziz Unit which is responsible for firing from southwestern Lebanon at Israeli territory."
In consecutive statements, Hezbollah said that "as part of the response to the attack and assassination that the enemy carried out" in south Lebanon's Tyre, its fighters attacked three positions in the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights with over 100 Katyusha rockets.
Hezbollah also claimed another retaliatory attack with Falaq rockets on a base in northern Israel's Kiryat Shmona as well as an attack with Burkan rockets on the Zar'it barracks.
An Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that about 100 rocket launches had been made towards Israel from Lebanon.
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.
I'm wishing all the best to my fellow Rantburgers on this day commemorating the birth of these United States of America.
[ZERO] Another senior Hezbollah commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. He was killed in a daytime strike on the coastal city of Tyre, in what appears a neighborhood or city area (according to widely circulating video).
