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Paul E Ester
Paul E Ester's Journal
Paul E Ester's Journal
April 3, 2013
Taliban raids Afghan city, killing dozens
Source: Washington Post
At least 48 people, many of them civilians, were killed Wednesday in western Afghanistan when heavily armed Taliban insurgents, including suicide bombers, stormed government buildings and fought a seven-hour gun battle with security forces, police said.
More than 90 people were reported wounded in the assault on the city of Farah, capital of Farah province. Police said all nine of the attackers died in the fighting, either in exchanges of fire with security forces or by detonating suicide vests they were wearing.
The death toll was the heaviest in many months in Afghanistan, where the radical Islamist Taliban movement is fighting to drive out foreign troops and topple the government of President Hamid Karzai.
Several government buildings, including the provincial courthouse, were badly damaged in the clashes, officials said, adding that the Taliban fighters used explosives, assault rifles, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taliban-raids-afghan-provincial-capital/2013/04/03/ff0233f8-9c47-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html
April 1, 2013
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-30/israel-begins-gas-production-at-tamar-field-in-boost-to-economy
Israel Starts Tamar Gas Production
Israel started gas production at the Tamar offshore field in an effort to put the country on the road to energy independence and save a projected 1 billion shekels ($274 million) a month, according to the government.
The gas was expected to reach Israel’s port city of Ashdod by afternoon today, the Energy and Water Ministry said.
The field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, estimated to hold 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, is being developed by a group that includes Noble Energy Inc. (NBL), Delek Drilling-LP, Avner Oil Exploration LLP (AVNRL) and Isramco Negev 2 LP. (ISRAL) Along with Noble, Israeli energy exploration companies have discovered enough gas under the Mediterranean over the past three years to supply the country for 150 years.
“We are talking about billions of dollars coming to the state from tax revenues from Tamar gas over a 20-year period,” Gilad Alper, a senior analyst at Excellence Nessuah Brokerage Ltd. in Tel Aviv, said in a phone interview. “It will also reduce energy costs as we will replace expensive imports with a cheap domestic supply of natural gas. The start of the flow is a big positive for the economy.”
The gas was expected to reach Israel’s port city of Ashdod by afternoon today, the Energy and Water Ministry said.
The field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, estimated to hold 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, is being developed by a group that includes Noble Energy Inc. (NBL), Delek Drilling-LP, Avner Oil Exploration LLP (AVNRL) and Isramco Negev 2 LP. (ISRAL) Along with Noble, Israeli energy exploration companies have discovered enough gas under the Mediterranean over the past three years to supply the country for 150 years.
“We are talking about billions of dollars coming to the state from tax revenues from Tamar gas over a 20-year period,” Gilad Alper, a senior analyst at Excellence Nessuah Brokerage Ltd. in Tel Aviv, said in a phone interview. “It will also reduce energy costs as we will replace expensive imports with a cheap domestic supply of natural gas. The start of the flow is a big positive for the economy.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-30/israel-begins-gas-production-at-tamar-field-in-boost-to-economy
April 1, 2013
Criticising the emir is illegal in Kuwait and is considered to be an offence against state security.
Kuwaiti opposition tweeter jailed for emir insult
Source: France 24
Kuwait's lower court on Sunday sentenced opposition tweeter Hamed al-Khaledi to two years in jail on charges of insulting the Gulf state's ruler, a rights activist said.
"Khaledi has been sentenced to two years in jail with immediate effect," the director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad al-Humaidi, said on his Twitter account.
Khaledi was charged with writing remarks on his Twitter account deemed offensive to Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The verdict is not final, but his jailing was immediate pending the appeals process.
His lawyer Jasser al-Jadaei said he will file an appeal later on Sunday against the verdict and seek an early hearing.
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130331-kuwaiti-opposition-tweeter-jailed-emir-insult
Criticising the emir is illegal in Kuwait and is considered to be an offence against state security.
March 31, 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ecstasy
From a comment on the video:
Amazing video.
Religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in time,[1] there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_ecstasy
From a comment on the video:
These guys are Sufi, the mystical branch of Islam, they're in Chechnya, and they are performing a type of Zikr, a type of meditation which can take many forms; singing, dancing, whirling, drumming, or anything that induces a trance state.
Amazing video.
March 31, 2013
Ex-official: Government agents behind Nigeria bombings
March 30, 2013
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57576722/ap-master-plan-underway-to-help-syria-rebels-take-damascus-with-u.s.-approved-airlifts-of-heavy-weapons/
"Master plan" underway to help Syria rebels take Damascus with U.S.-approved airlifts of heavy weapo
Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday.
A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts.
Saudi Arabia and other regional powers have been arming Syria's rebels for months, but the scale and coordination with the West -- and the suggestion by the AP's sources that the effort is linked to a plan for the rebels to try and seize Damascus -- represents a potentially significant escalation in the civil war.
The Arab official said the number of arms airlifts has doubled in the past four weeks. He did not provide exact figures on the flights or the size of the cargo. Jordan opened up as a new route for the weapons late last year, amid U.S. worries that arms from Turkey were going to Islamic militants, all four told The Associated Press in separate interviews. Jordan denies helping funnel weapons to the rebels.
A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts.
Saudi Arabia and other regional powers have been arming Syria's rebels for months, but the scale and coordination with the West -- and the suggestion by the AP's sources that the effort is linked to a plan for the rebels to try and seize Damascus -- represents a potentially significant escalation in the civil war.
The Arab official said the number of arms airlifts has doubled in the past four weeks. He did not provide exact figures on the flights or the size of the cargo. Jordan opened up as a new route for the weapons late last year, amid U.S. worries that arms from Turkey were going to Islamic militants, all four told The Associated Press in separate interviews. Jordan denies helping funnel weapons to the rebels.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57576722/ap-master-plan-underway-to-help-syria-rebels-take-damascus-with-u.s.-approved-airlifts-of-heavy-weapons/
March 30, 2013
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_22899409/police-video-shared-facebook-was-child-porn
Anyone know why facebook has not announced that the people who shared the video and "liked" the video had their accounts suspended and have been referred to law enforcement? The only reason this woman was arrested was someone on her feed called the cops, and they saw the video before facebook deleted it.
Did facebook delete the evidence of a crime? Is commenting on a child porn clip by saying "thats disgusting", which then shows up in all your other friends feeds sharing child porn? I think there should be zero tolerance for child porn and if you find it on facebook step away from the keyboard and call the cops.
One arrest in Facebook childporn scandal
A York City woman and a mother of four charged with child pornography told police she posted a video depicting the sexual assault of a very young girl on Facebook to alert parents of "pervs" out there, according to charging documents.
However, a West York Police patrolman said Tabitha Mae Munoz-Martinez, 26, should have called police instead of distributing the video online.
<>
West York Police were alerted to the video after a borough resident found it on Munoz-Martinez's Facebook page, which is under the name of Tabbi Luvinmykids Babyluv, about 11 p.m. Monday and called police.
However, a West York Police patrolman said Tabitha Mae Munoz-Martinez, 26, should have called police instead of distributing the video online.
<>
West York Police were alerted to the video after a borough resident found it on Munoz-Martinez's Facebook page, which is under the name of Tabbi Luvinmykids Babyluv, about 11 p.m. Monday and called police.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_22899409/police-video-shared-facebook-was-child-porn
About two hours after the video was discovered, police questioned Munoz-Martinez. She told Mendez she found the video on her news feed, which shows what friends post on the social networking site, and thought about calling police after viewing it, documents state.
Instead, she downloaded the video and posted it on her Facebook page along with a comment stating how disgusting it is. Several other people also commented on the video, police said.
Munoz-Martinez told police she posted the video "to make parents aware of the 'pervs' that are out there" but then deleted it, documents state.
She also told police she saw the video on Facebook pages belonging to several other people, but officers were unable to locate it.
Instead, she downloaded the video and posted it on her Facebook page along with a comment stating how disgusting it is. Several other people also commented on the video, police said.
Munoz-Martinez told police she posted the video "to make parents aware of the 'pervs' that are out there" but then deleted it, documents state.
She also told police she saw the video on Facebook pages belonging to several other people, but officers were unable to locate it.
Anyone know why facebook has not announced that the people who shared the video and "liked" the video had their accounts suspended and have been referred to law enforcement? The only reason this woman was arrested was someone on her feed called the cops, and they saw the video before facebook deleted it.
Did facebook delete the evidence of a crime? Is commenting on a child porn clip by saying "thats disgusting", which then shows up in all your other friends feeds sharing child porn? I think there should be zero tolerance for child porn and if you find it on facebook step away from the keyboard and call the cops.
March 30, 2013
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/388090/Shame-of-the-deserters
Shame of the deserters
OF ALL the men who took up arms in the Second World War, Private Eddie Slovik was surely the unluckiest. Nearly 150,000 Allied soldiers deserted but the 25-year-old ex-convict from Detroit, Michigan, was the only one to face the firing squad.
In 1944, as the war still hung in the balance and his colleagues in the 28th Infantry Division were suffering heavy casualties, he refused to fight. Slovik told his superiors that he preferred prison but unfortunately his appeal against "death by musketry" happened to coincide with a German counter-offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.
His execution, ratified by General Dwight D Eisenhower, was meant to send a strong message to any other soldiers considering desertion.
The mental collapse and desertion of tens of thousands of men - the equivalent of 10 army divisions - reached near epidemic proportions in Europe in the Second World War.
In 1944, as the war still hung in the balance and his colleagues in the 28th Infantry Division were suffering heavy casualties, he refused to fight. Slovik told his superiors that he preferred prison but unfortunately his appeal against "death by musketry" happened to coincide with a German counter-offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.
His execution, ratified by General Dwight D Eisenhower, was meant to send a strong message to any other soldiers considering desertion.
The mental collapse and desertion of tens of thousands of men - the equivalent of 10 army divisions - reached near epidemic proportions in Europe in the Second World War.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/388090/Shame-of-the-deserters
March 30, 2013
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2301119/North-Dakota-college-student-Mary-Kate-Gullickson-advertised-mock-rape-sex-fantasy-Craigslist-arrested.html
Student 'advertised a mock rape sex fantasy on Craigslist then claimed to have been abducted...
abducted and attacked'.
A student who advertised a sex fantasy on Craigslist involving a mock rape has been arrested after she later claimed to have been abducted and attacked.
Police launched a search for an alleged attacker who wore a ski mask after Mary Kate Gullickson claimed she was the victim of a sexual assault.
The 20-year-old psychology major told police in Fargo, North Dakota, that she had been forced into a vehicle and raped before being dropped back at a parking lot at the North Dakota State University.
Campus police launched a hunt for the attacker while warning other female students to be on their guard.
Police launched a search for an alleged attacker who wore a ski mask after Mary Kate Gullickson claimed she was the victim of a sexual assault.
The 20-year-old psychology major told police in Fargo, North Dakota, that she had been forced into a vehicle and raped before being dropped back at a parking lot at the North Dakota State University.
Campus police launched a hunt for the attacker while warning other female students to be on their guard.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2301119/North-Dakota-college-student-Mary-Kate-Gullickson-advertised-mock-rape-sex-fantasy-Craigslist-arrested.html
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