You didn't know I had one, did you?
"Baghdad’s decade-old curfew to be lifted" Associated Press February 06, 2015
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister on Thursday lifted a decade-old, midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew in Baghdad, ordered that long-blocked streets in the capital be opened, and declared some neighborhoods weapons-free zones.
The measure by Haider al-Abadi appeared to be aimed at restoring a sense of normalcy in Baghdad, where residents enjoyed a vibrant night life before the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The curfew was imposed in 2004 as security deteriorated across the city and beyond.
I guess they "liberated" them from that night life.
A government statement said Abadi met with security officials at the
Baghdad military command at dawn Thursday and ordered the curfew to be
lifted starting Saturday.
He also ordered that streets, long blocked off for security reasons, reopen for traffic and pedestrians.
The prime minister’s order also banned the carrying of weapons in four
major neighborhoods — the Shi’ite Kazimiyah area, the Sunni Azamiyah
district, the Sunni Mansour, and the southwestern Sayidyah neighborhood.
There was no indication how the last measure would be implemented and Abadi gave no reason for the lifting of the curfew.
Baghdad is still witnessing frequent attacks by militants, including
suicide bombings, seeking to undermine the Shi’ite-led government’s
security efforts.
With last year’s blitz by the Islamic State militant group, the country
is going through its worst crisis since US troop withdrawals in 2011.
The offensive by the group has captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq and parts of neighboring Syria.
Even though we have been told by the same press the U.S. and its allies have pushed them back the last six months, blah, blah, blah.
You know, guys, if the propaganda narrative is to work it needs to be consistent.
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There is only one thing I can think of that will spoil the party:
"Bombings kill at least 40 in Baghdad" by Vivian Salama, Associated Press February 08, 2015
BAGHDAD — Hours ahead of Baghdad ending a decade-old nightly curfew, bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people in a stark warning of the dangers still ahead in this country torn by the Islamic State.
The deadliest bombing happened in the city’s New Baghdad neighborhood, where a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a street filled with hardware stores and a restaurant, killing 22 people, police said.
‘‘The restaurant was full of young people, children, and women when the suicide bomber blew himself up,’’ witness Mohamed Saeed said. ‘‘Many got killed.’’
The Islamic State later claimed the attack, saying their bomber targeted Shi’ites, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based terrorism monitor. The militants hold a third of both Iraq and neighboring Syria in their self-declared caliphate.
Then I am sorry to say these events were either staged and scripted false flags or complete hoaxes. SITE has been outed as an instrument of Zionist war propaganda.
A second attack happened in central Baghdad’s popular Shorja market, where two bombs some 25 yards apart exploded, killing at least 11 people, police said. Another bombing at the Abu Cheer outdoor market in southwestern Baghdad killed at least four people, police said.
In Tarmiya, a Sunni town 30 miles north of Baghdad, a bomb blast killed at least three soldiers in a passing convoy, authorities said.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to brief journalists. No group claimed the other attacks.
The bombings came as Iraq prepared to lift its nightly midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew on Sunday. The curfew largely has been in place since 2004, in response to the growing sectarian violence that engulfed Iraq after the US-led invasion a year earlier.
There was no immediate comment Saturday from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who announced the end of the curfew on Thursday by decree. He also ordered the reopening of streets long blocked off for security reasons, allowing access to traffic and pedestrians.
Iraqi officials repeatedly have offered assurances that the capital is secure, despite Sunni militant groups occasionally attacking Baghdad’s Shi’ite-majority neighborhoods.
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Didn't spoil the party after all:
"Baghdad residents cheer end of curfew" by Liz Sly, Washington Post February 09, 2015
BAGHDAD — Jubilant Iraqis thronged Baghdad’s main square at midnight Saturday to celebrate the end of the curfew imposed by US troops in 2003, hailing the new freedom to stay out all night as a sign that their capital is finally coming back to life.
Wow, a 12-year curfew.
Earlier in the day, the capital was darkened by a rash of bombings in which at least 40 people died, a reminder that the city still is far from safe.
Hmmmm. Reminder from who?
Baghdadis, hardened by years of war, seemed undeterred, however, by the uptick in violence. The crowd that gathered in downtown Tahrir Square numbered in the hundreds as midnight struck, and as word spread that people were gathering, cars streamed through previously forbidden streets to join the fun.
A band played Iraqi songs, children were lifted onto their fathers’ shoulders, and even some of the policemen keeping watch joined in the dancing.
“I am just crazy happy,” said Sara Adams, 22, who was 10 when the curfew was first imposed and has never stayed out after midnight. “Maybe it’s still a little dangerous, but I just want to live my life for the moment.”
If Iraqis are happy, I'm happy.
Bombings had become relatively rare in recent months, and Baghdad had already begun to breathe a little easier, prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to announce last week the curfew would be lifted Saturday night.
So they have repelled ISIS (remember when they were on the outskirts of Baghdad before Obummer started bombing)?
Abadi also ordered that streets long blocked off for security reasons be reopened for traffic and pedestrians.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said he did not believe Saturday’s attacks were linked to the lifting of the curfew, which was first imposed by US troops when they entered Baghdad in 2003.
He accused the Islamic State of carrying out the attacks in order to assert its continued presence in the capital at a time when setbacks on the battlefield elsewhere have left the group feeling vulnerable.
And yet the narrative is they still control a third of Syria and Iraq.
"Personally, I think ISIS is just a couple hundred spooks and a video production team, but...." -- whatreallyhappened.com
I'm starting to come around to that view in light of all the lies, frauds, and hoaxes we have been fed by the propaganda pre$$ and ma$$ media over the last few years. They are in overdrive on the stuff.
“They need to do these attacks to show their people they are still here,” he said.
Even if the attacks escalate, the government won’t change its mind about the curfew, he added.
“Of course they will try to make problems,” he said, referring to the Islamic State. “But we have our destiny, we have our faith, and we can manage.”
The attacks Saturday morning harkened to the past, with three bombs exploding in rapid succession in two separate parts of the city.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest outside a restaurant in a busy street in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing 22, Maan said. Shortly afterward, two bombs exploded in the Souk al-Araby clothing market in the center of the city, killing 10, he said.
A fourth bomb exploded a few hours later in the southwestern neighborhood of Abu Dshir, killing four, the Interior Ministry reported.
The frequency and intensity of bombings have decreased significantly, however, since the Islamic State surge into northern Iraq last summer focused the war outside the capital, suggesting the group’s capacity to wage the kind of mass casualty attacks that terrorized Baghdad for years has diminished.
Then why does Obummer need more war authority?
The replacement of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister also heralded a more relaxed mood, many Iraqis say, and Iraqis had begun to enjoy themselves.
Yeah, everything was Maliki's fault (because the U.S. wanted him gone, which is right when ISIS showed up!).
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And on the ride home:
"Uber driver charged with assault" by Steve Annear and Aneri Pattani, Globe staff and Globe Correspondent February 09, 2015
An Uber driver was charged with indecent assault and battery against a passenger on Sunday morning, police said, an incident that comes amid an intensifying debate over how to regulate the popular ridehailing service and after several similar assault allegations.
Easy. Don't use it.
According to an Uber spokeswoman, the driver recently passed a background check and the company is cooperating with the investigation being conducted by the Boston Police Sexual Assault Unit.
“The driver in question has been removed from the platform pending the ongoing investigation,” said Kaitlin Durkosh, an Uber spokeswoman.
A 30-year-old Boston woman told police that she and three friends had summoned an Uber ride. After her friends were dropped off, the woman remained in the car to go to a separate location and during that time, the driver touched her indecently several times, according to police.
The woman left the car and was helped by another person, who called police.
The driver, Abderrahim Dakiri, 36, of Boston was arrested at about 3:25 a.m. Sunday in the North End and charged in the assault, Boston police said in a statement. Dakiri remains in police custody, according to the department.
The arrest follows a string of attacks late last year on women who had hailed rides using ride-hailing services.
They were just putting on the charm.
In December, Alejandro Done, 46, of Boston, who worked as an Uber driver, was charged with raping and kidnapping a woman, though it is unclear whether he was working as an Uber driver at the time. His case is pending.
In three earlier indecent assaults on Dec. 14 in Boston, it was not known whether the assailants were Uber drivers, though the victims said they had hailed a ride via the Uber smartphone app.
Durkosh said Dakiri drove as part of the UberX service, a lower-cost option in which drivers use their own vehicles. He had previously been affiliated with UberBLACK, a higher-end service. Durkosh said Dakiri passed a background screening as recently as Jan. 13.
The arrest comes as local governments and the administration of Governor Charlie Baker consider how to regulate ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. Baker has said the companies can continue their current practices until lawmakers agree on how to regulate them.
“As announced last week, the administration has begun the process of gathering input from municipalities to draft statewide regulations to enhance the safety of both riders and drivers, including mandatory background checks,” Elizabeth Guyton, the governor’s press secretary, said in a statement Monday.
Taxi owners, who must buy medallions that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, have sued the City of Boston for allowing the services to operate without the same regulation that they face. Cab companies have cited the recent assault allegations against Uber drivers in their arguments for more regulation of the ride-hailing companies.
I think you are better off in a cab, yeah.
Britni de la Cretaz, a member of Safe Hub Collective, a group whose goal is to make public spaces safer, said the collective reached out to Uber Boston representatives more than a year ago to discuss developing a rider-safety training session for their drivers, but a partnership was never formed.
“The onus needs to be on Uber to ensure as safe an experience as possible for their passengers,” said de la Cretaz.
Anyone with information on Sunday’s alleged assault can call Boston police or....
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