Random Politics & Religion #00

Didn't the US offer ceasefire negotiations for the apprehension and overturning of high profile targets, that were ultimately refused?

I think Hamas has rejected the last three ceasefire proposals, they have an interesting strategy to say the least.

A man with a concealed carry permit shot at an armed robbery suspect who was running from a cell phone store in Crestwood, prompting an officer who was also chasing the suspect to take cover, police said.

The man with the permit told police he was about to step inside an AT&T store at 4756 W. Cal-Sag Road around noon Saturday when he noticed the store was being robbed, Crestwood police said in a statement.

The man said he stayed outside to prevent anyone from entering, police said. After he saw the suspect leaving through a back door, he entered the store and ran out the back too, according to police.

Meanwhile, an officer had been flagged down by several people who told them the store was being robbed, police said. The officer spotted someone running from the rear of the building with a large duffel bag and a gun in his hand, police said.

As the officer began chasing the suspect, the man with the concealed carry permit saw the suspect and fired two shots, police said.

"Since the officer did not know where the shots were fired from, he was forced to terminate his foot pursuit and take cover for his own safety," police said in the statement.

The man with the permit later told police he ran through the store and fired at the suspect because he had seen the officer run behind the building.

"He was concerned for the safety of the police officer that he saw go behind the building," police said in the statement. "It was at this time that he ran into the store and out the back door and fired two shots in the direction of the suspect who was running towards the canal"

Crestwood and Palos Heights police set up a perimeter along the Cal-Sag Canal and arrested the suspect as he ran from the woods, police said.

No injuries were reported.

The suspect, Demetrius Merrill of Chicago, was charged with armed robbery and ordered held on $1 million bail.

Where's our gun regulations to prevent our burglars from being hit by law-abiding citizens while they are robbing a store?

/cues the "Won't somebody please think of the robbers?" cry

As a matter of fact, we see that in legislation being pushed all across the United States, to punish people who don’t agree with that viewpoint. And I think that’s very reflective of where we are at in the culture and why we see the rise of tyranny. It’s the basis for hate-speech laws across the United States. It is an attempt to have government coerce and force speech and behavior. Let me say that again: This is an effort to have government coerce, force speech and behavior. And it’s being pushed and advocated by the gay community. This is their ultimate goal. It’s to not allow for diversity of opinion on this issue, because they don’t want to be celebrated, they want to force everyone to not only agree with them but also have to finance their agenda. And they also believe that they have the right . . . to determine on a near daily basis what their agenda is. Today, the big push is on transgender, and so they’re continuing to push us down this the road. I believe that we’re going to see coming an effort for multiples in marriage. Not just two, but multiples in marriage. I think they want to legalize that. I think also they want to abolish age-of-consent laws, which means . . . we would do away with statutory-rape laws so that adults would be able to freely prey on little children sexually. That’s the deviance that we’re seeing embraced in our culture today.

The CC holder in question is not 'law abiding', he's in violation of the law.

I wonder if she ever thinks about what she's saying when she says it.

I wonder if she ever thinks about what she's saying when she says it.

Oh Michele Bachman! You have no shame!


Rep. Michele Bachmann slams gay agenda on radio show

The U.N. Security Council is condemning the offensive waged by the extremist Islamic State group and allied militants in Iraq, calling it "a major threat" to the country's future.

The council stressed in a resolution adopted unanimously Wednesday extending the U.N. political mission in Iraq that the only way to address the threat is for political leadership "to make decisions that will unite the country."

Council members called on all political groups to overcome divisions and urged Iraq's leaders to quickly form a government reflecting all segments of the population "that would contribute to finding a viable and sustainable solution to the country's current challenges."

The Islamic State group now controls a vast swath of eastern Syria and western Iraq, including Iraq's second-largest city Mosul.

The U.S. government has approved plans to send an additional 5,000 Hellfire missiles to Iraq to help the embattled Baghdad government tackle the threat posed by Sunni militants, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The $700 million deal for the missiles, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT +0.50% , comes amid other signs that Washington is tackling a backlog of approvals for weapons sales to one of the largest defense-export markets for U.S. contractors.

Pressure on the Pentagon's procurement budget has pushed U.S. defense companies to focus more on export markets. Iraq has emerged in recent years as one of the fastest-growing, with billions of dollars in deals for fighter jets, helicopters, armored vehicles, radar equipment and munitions.

In response to the expanding attacks in Iraq by forces centered around the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the U.S. has stepped up surveillance flights over the country, and dispatched more than 700 U.S. forces there to determine how the U.S. might help. But U.S. defense officials have been concerned that weapons sent to Iraq could fall into hands of the ISIS forces.
Related

The Pentagon already has expedited the sale of hundreds of Hellfires, which can be fired from planes and helicopters, to replenish Iraq's stockpile. The request for 5,000 more was disclosed Tuesday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which coordinates exports. The State Department has approved the proposed deal, and lawmakers have 80 days to decide whether it should proceed.

Lockheed said it had boosted Hellfire production in the wake of increased demand.

European airlines and a Dubai-based carrier are rerouting flights over Iraqi airspace as a security precaution amid fears that militants with the Islamic State group have weapons capable of shooting down planes, despite Iraq saying its skies are safe.

A number of European carriers, including Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Air France, say they have devised alternate flight plans for their planes. Air France specifically said it detected a "potential threat" on July 24 which triggered the airline's decision, said Eric Prevot, a spokesman for the Air France's Flight Operations Center.

The decisions come after a Malaysia Airlines flight crashed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say it was shot down by a missile from rebel territory, most likely by mistake.

The Ukraine crash has many in the aviation industry reconsidering flight paths as hot spots from West Africa to Central Asia could potentially put passengers at risk. Though experts say the skies are largely safe, there is a danger of militants using sophisticated weapons.

Iraq is facing its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops amid the blitz offensive launched last month by al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State group, which captured large swaths of land in the country's west and north, including Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul.

When the group overran the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in June, Iraqi security forces virtually collapsed. In most cases, police and soldiers simply ran, abandoning arsenals of heavy weapons. Some fear the militants may have captured some sophisticated weapons, such as ground-to-air missiles capable of shooting down airplanes.

Many international commercial flights said they were continuing to fly normally over militant-held areas in western and northern Iraq until recent days, when Dubai-based Emirates publicly announced it would avoid the regions.

Meanwhile in Argentina the rest of the world, economy default.

Meanwhile in Argentina, economy default.

The best comment I saw on that story was "Time for them to try out bitcoin as a national currency."

Might as well, nothing to lose.

Didn't the creator of Bitcoin mysteriously go missing, or was that just a hoax?

I think the mystery was who the creator was and why he left the bitcoin market.

The Aston University team looked at the writing of 11 men, all of whom at one time or another have been rumored to be “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the author of the 2008 white paper. In addition to Mr. Szabo, they were Dorian S. Nakamoto, the man named by Newsweek in March; Hal Finney, the first person to work with the pseudonymous Nakamoto on bitcoin; Jed McCaleb, the founder of Mt. Gox; Dustin Trammell; Gavin Andresen, currently the chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation; Vili Lehdonvirta; Michael Clear; Shinichi Mochizuki;Wei Dai; and the team of Neal King, Vladimir Oksman, and Charles Bry, whose names appear on patents in August 2008 for systems that look similar to bitcoin.

France says it will go ahead with the sale of a warship to Russia despite calls for an arms embargo against the country, highlighting how Europe's strong business ties are hindering its ability to punish Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine.

Applications for US unemployment benefits increase to 302k; still at pre-recession levels.

Let's see what else is out there...

We got this one:
Amid sanctions, France in warship sale to Russia


Then we have this breaking news story:
Applications for US Unemployment Benefits Increase to 302k; Still at Pre-Recession Levels

Currently the headline is the story, we'll have to get back to this one later.

IS that the total unemployment applications for a standard year, or quarter?

Amongst 310-330million US citizens, assuming that's a federal number, at 302k, it seems rather minute in comparison, though the rise can be implicational of underlying economic problems that don't get addressed.

Since that's the only information provided, we can only guess for now.

Strange for ABC to have these numbers, since these numbers aren't released to the public until the first Friday of the month (tomorrow).

Either way.

Makes you wonder if:

A) AP has insider information in the Department of Labor or,

B) AP is pulling numbers out of their *** or,

C) ABC is preparing for tomorrow's numbers and put in a random number just to get the webpage ready for quick edit/release, and accidentally publicized it.

I hope it's C, I wouldn't be surprised if it's B, and if it's A, that's actually illegal (to a degree).

I'm hoping A. We need more sensationalized stories about reporters being taken to task, and strung up by their journalism degrees, for bad journalism.