American warplanes struck an ISIS training camp in Sabratha, Libya, which on the Mediterranean coast, about 50 miles west of Tripoli. At least 41 people are reported dead, possibly including senior operative Noureddine Chouchane, thought to be involved in two terror attacks in Tunisia last year.
Read more at CNN, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, Fox News and The Guardian.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Russian Authorities Arrest Suspected Passport Forgers
Russia's Federal Security Service, with help from the Interior Ministry, has arrested 14 people suspected of forging passports for Islamic extremists trying to travel to Syria. The suspects were detained near to but outside of Moscow.
Read more at Russia Today, The Moscow Times and Sputnik International.
Read more at Russia Today, The Moscow Times and Sputnik International.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Music Break
This type of post has recently been preempted by tributes to musicians who have gone off to join the band in the sky, but I've still found a few songs worth presenting. Since my attention has recently been turned toward Jefferson Airplane, due to the passing of two of their original members, my first offering comes from this group. During their performance at Woodstock, lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen took a rare turn at lead vocals with Uncle Sam Blues, which does not appear on any of their studio albums. The video also shows bassist Jack Casady, drummer Spencer Dryden, rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner, vocalist Marty Balin as he shakes some maracas, and vocalist Grace Slick as she stands next to a piano played by guest musician Nicky Hopkins. Kaukonen wears a swastika on a necklace, not because of any neo-nazi leanings, but as a salute to his Finnish heritage, the symbol once being used by the Finnish air force.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Apple Ordered To Help Hack Terrorist's iPhone
This story was put out by the Associated Press, to which every article I can find refers. As reproduced by Fox News:
UPDATE: From USA Today, Apple's CEO says that the company will oppose the court order.
A U.S. magistrate ordered Apple Inc. on Tuesday to help the Obama administration hack into an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the December attack in San Bernardino, California, in a first-of-its-kind ruling that pits digital privacy against national security interests.
The ruling by Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, a former federal prosecutor, requires Apple to supply highly specialized software the FBI can load onto the county-owned work iPhone to bypass a self-destruct feature, which erases the phone's data after too many unsuccessful attempts to unlock it. The FBI wants to be able to try different combinations until it finds the right one.Read the full story.
UPDATE: From USA Today, Apple's CEO says that the company will oppose the court order.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Links For Presidents Day
As many Americans take a day off and some of us in the northeast are getting snowed on once again, here are some things going on in the world:
From California Political Review, "why the middle class can't afford a house".
From WQAD, the debate heats up over when a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia should be nominated.
From the Washington Examiner, one senator has said that Supreme Court appointments from lame duck president, "except in extraordinary circumstances", should not be approved.
From MySA, the owner of the ranch where Scalia was staying recalls the judge's last hours.
From National Review, presidential candidate Donald Trump (R-NY) is not a revolutionary, but a Democrat.
From Breitbart's National Security, a human trafficker who gets $580 a head says that he's "doing God's work".
From Fox News, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has cut ties with the parent group, based in Egypt, and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert goes to prison.
From CNN, here are nine things to do in China's Yunnan province.
From News With Views, today is the anniversary of America POWs coming home from North Vietnam. (H/T luchadora for putting this on Twitter)
From Frontpage Mag, things are running out in Venezuela.
From The Straits Times, Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people allegedly plotting terror attacks.
From The Washington Post, the man who "sweats the small stuff" for President Obama.
From AOL, according Green Party members of the European Parliament, IKEA avoided paying about a billion Euros in taxes from 2009-2014.
From Sports Illustrated, former Auburn football player Kodi Burns returns to coach running backs.
From ZDNet, hackers have been scamming Netflix users.
From Stoke Newington Chambers, yes, it is illegal to throw a blow-up doll around the stands at a soccer game in the U.K.
From the Chicago Tribune, Zimbabwe has impounded an American cargo plane, on board which are a dead body and millions of South African rand.
From The Telegraph, a hospital in Syria run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has been destroyed by Russian strikes.
From the Daily Surge, there's a special place in you-know-where for Hillary (D-NY) voters.
From BBC News, a Virgin Atlantic flight returns to Heathrow Airport after being hit by a laser. (via The Blaze)
And from JG-TC, a picture of a horse race on Lake St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Yours truly recently visited the adjacent city during a warmer part of the year.)
From California Political Review, "why the middle class can't afford a house".
From WQAD, the debate heats up over when a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia should be nominated.
From the Washington Examiner, one senator has said that Supreme Court appointments from lame duck president, "except in extraordinary circumstances", should not be approved.
From MySA, the owner of the ranch where Scalia was staying recalls the judge's last hours.
From National Review, presidential candidate Donald Trump (R-NY) is not a revolutionary, but a Democrat.
From Breitbart's National Security, a human trafficker who gets $580 a head says that he's "doing God's work".
From Fox News, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood has cut ties with the parent group, based in Egypt, and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert goes to prison.
From CNN, here are nine things to do in China's Yunnan province.
From News With Views, today is the anniversary of America POWs coming home from North Vietnam. (H/T luchadora for putting this on Twitter)
From Frontpage Mag, things are running out in Venezuela.
From The Straits Times, Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people allegedly plotting terror attacks.
From The Washington Post, the man who "sweats the small stuff" for President Obama.
From AOL, according Green Party members of the European Parliament, IKEA avoided paying about a billion Euros in taxes from 2009-2014.
From Sports Illustrated, former Auburn football player Kodi Burns returns to coach running backs.
From ZDNet, hackers have been scamming Netflix users.
From Stoke Newington Chambers, yes, it is illegal to throw a blow-up doll around the stands at a soccer game in the U.K.
From the Chicago Tribune, Zimbabwe has impounded an American cargo plane, on board which are a dead body and millions of South African rand.
From The Telegraph, a hospital in Syria run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has been destroyed by Russian strikes.
From the Daily Surge, there's a special place in you-know-where for Hillary (D-NY) voters.
From BBC News, a Virgin Atlantic flight returns to Heathrow Airport after being hit by a laser. (via The Blaze)
And from JG-TC, a picture of a horse race on Lake St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Yours truly recently visited the adjacent city during a warmer part of the year.)
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Antonin Scalia 1936-2016
Antonin Scalia, the longest-serving Justice on the Supreme Court, was found dead today while on a hunting vacation at a ranch in western Texas. Reports indicate that he appears to have died of natural causes.
Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to a father who had immigrated from Italy and a mother whose parents had also come from Italy. He was an only child. When he was 6, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He would attend Xavier High School in Manhattan, Georgetown University, and Harvard Law School. During his professional career, Scalia worked for a law firm in Cleveland and taught law at the University of Virginia, before entering government service. He served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel and as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, before being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
Scalia is survived by his widow Maureen and their nine children.
Read more at MySA, The Hill, The New York Times, CBS News and Politico.
Scalia was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to a father who had immigrated from Italy and a mother whose parents had also come from Italy. He was an only child. When he was 6, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He would attend Xavier High School in Manhattan, Georgetown University, and Harvard Law School. During his professional career, Scalia worked for a law firm in Cleveland and taught law at the University of Virginia, before entering government service. He served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel and as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, before being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
Scalia is survived by his widow Maureen and their nine children.
Read more at MySA, The Hill, The New York Times, CBS News and Politico.
Friday, February 12, 2016
In Islamic Writings, Muhammad Was White
Because Arabs and other Muslims often have darker skin than Europeans, opposition to the spread of Islam and negative opinions about Islam are often called "racism", even though Islam is an ideology and a religion, not a race. Its adherents, like those of Christianity, come in all colors. And as James Wood points out, in Islamic sources such as the ahadith, the founder of Islam is called "white". (In Arabic, hadith is singular and ahadith is plural.)
According to other ahadith, Muhammad also owned and traded slaves, including black slaves, and preached from a pulpit built by a slave.
According to other ahadith, Muhammad also owned and traded slaves, including black slaves, and preached from a pulpit built by a slave.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Signe Anderson 1947-2016
Signe Anderson was an original member of Jefferson Airplane, appearing only on their debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, before leaving and being replaced by Grace Slick. She died in Beaverton, Oregon on January 28, the same day as her former bandmate Paul Kantner.
Signe Toly was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Portland, Oregon. After traveling to San Francisco, she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1965 and soon married Jerry Anderson, a member of the Merry Pranksters, a group of people who lived communally and had taken a road trip across the United States in 1964. She became pregnant, and after giving birth, decided to leave the band and return to Oregon. She would later divorce Anderson, survive a battle with cancer, sing with the band Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company, remarry, and occasionally perform as a guest with some later incarnations of Kantner's band Jefferson Starship.
Read more at the Independent, Rolling Stone, the San Jose Mercury News and Ultimate Classic Rock.
Signe Toly was born in Seattle, Washington and raised in Portland, Oregon. After traveling to San Francisco, she joined Jefferson Airplane in 1965 and soon married Jerry Anderson, a member of the Merry Pranksters, a group of people who lived communally and had taken a road trip across the United States in 1964. She became pregnant, and after giving birth, decided to leave the band and return to Oregon. She would later divorce Anderson, survive a battle with cancer, sing with the band Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company, remarry, and occasionally perform as a guest with some later incarnations of Kantner's band Jefferson Starship.
Read more at the Independent, Rolling Stone, the San Jose Mercury News and Ultimate Classic Rock.
Physicists Detect Gravitational Waves
Scientists using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) have detected gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity. The source of the waves was a pair of black holes that collided about 1.3 billion years ago. The waves formed distortions in space that are extremely small when they passed the earth about five months ago.
Read more at Space(dot)com, Science, CNN, Science Alert and The Telegraph.
I had previous run across the subject of gravitational waves in another Space(dot)com article, which reported the discovery of "B-node" polarizations in the cosmic background radiation, which are believed to have been in turn caused by gravitational waves generated during the inflation period of the Big Bang. However, that discovery did not detect the waves themselves.
Read more at Space(dot)com, Science, CNN, Science Alert and The Telegraph.
I had previous run across the subject of gravitational waves in another Space(dot)com article, which reported the discovery of "B-node" polarizations in the cosmic background radiation, which are believed to have been in turn caused by gravitational waves generated during the inflation period of the Big Bang. However, that discovery did not detect the waves themselves.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Primary Politics And Other Stories
Some news about yesterday's New Hampshire primary, and some other stories, political or not:
From Herald & Review, a tracker of delegate totals.
From the Daily News, Donald Trump (R-NY) wins the GOP NH primary.
From USA Today, Carly Fiorina (R-CA) suspends her presidential campaign.
From CBS News, Chris Christie (R-NJ) suspends his presidential campaign.
From Politico, according to White House press secretary Jay Carney, President Obama supports Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for their party's nomination.
From The Washington Free Beacon, Democrats who care about honesty support Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
From WGN, a voting place in Pelham, New Hampshire got hogged.
From ABC7, Obama addresses the Illinois General Assembly.
From France24, two female suicide bombers kill over 60 people at a refugee camp in Nigeria. (via The Blaze)
From The Daily Beast, Boko Haram uses cluster bombs.
From Yahoo News, Jordan rejects an extradition request from France, for two suspects who allegedly carried out an attack in 1982.
From Reuters, Poland will join the fight against ISIS.
From NBC News, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticizes the United States for supporting the Syrian Kurds.
From The Times Of Israel, the U.S. tries to "stitch together" a cease-fire in Syria.
From Albawaba, Iranian state TV releases a picture allegedly showing a captured American sailor crying.
From the Express, a Qatari military officer and his wife living in San Antonio have been ordered expelled from the United States for treating "two women as slaves".
From Breitbart London, a German museum charges an entry fee for dogs, but not for migrants.
From the New York Post, Burger King will soon be selling hot dogs.
From Fox News, San Francisco faces complaints and a suit over an open-air urinal.
And from The Roanoke Times, former Virginia Tech football player Logan Thomas visits his high school alma mater, which retires his number - in basketball.
From Herald & Review, a tracker of delegate totals.
From the Daily News, Donald Trump (R-NY) wins the GOP NH primary.
From USA Today, Carly Fiorina (R-CA) suspends her presidential campaign.
From CBS News, Chris Christie (R-NJ) suspends his presidential campaign.
From Politico, according to White House press secretary Jay Carney, President Obama supports Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for their party's nomination.
From The Washington Free Beacon, Democrats who care about honesty support Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
From WGN, a voting place in Pelham, New Hampshire got hogged.
From ABC7, Obama addresses the Illinois General Assembly.
From France24, two female suicide bombers kill over 60 people at a refugee camp in Nigeria. (via The Blaze)
From The Daily Beast, Boko Haram uses cluster bombs.
From Yahoo News, Jordan rejects an extradition request from France, for two suspects who allegedly carried out an attack in 1982.
From Reuters, Poland will join the fight against ISIS.
From NBC News, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticizes the United States for supporting the Syrian Kurds.
From The Times Of Israel, the U.S. tries to "stitch together" a cease-fire in Syria.
From Albawaba, Iranian state TV releases a picture allegedly showing a captured American sailor crying.
From the Express, a Qatari military officer and his wife living in San Antonio have been ordered expelled from the United States for treating "two women as slaves".
From Breitbart London, a German museum charges an entry fee for dogs, but not for migrants.
From the New York Post, Burger King will soon be selling hot dogs.
From Fox News, San Francisco faces complaints and a suit over an open-air urinal.
And from The Roanoke Times, former Virginia Tech football player Logan Thomas visits his high school alma mater, which retires his number - in basketball.
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