Starvin Larry

Paris (AFP) – Meet Nassrin Abdallah. With her diminutive height and broad smile, it doesn’t seem like she should strike fear into the hearts of hardened Islamic State jihadists.

But this 36-year-old Syrian Kurd woman has been at the tip of the spear of the Kurdish forces that last month liberated the symbolic city of Kobane from IS militants.

“In Kobane, women were fighting on all fronts, in all the trenches against a brutal enemy,” she told cheering crowds during a visit to Paris this week.

As the head of the armed wing of the Kurdish PYD, “commander” Nassrin has led both men and women into battle against Islamic State fighters who have overrun large areas of Iraq and Syria.

“We kept the promise we made to the people and we won the day,” she said to thunderous applause.

According to Nassrin, around 40 percent of the Kurdish fighters battling over the town on the Syrian-Turkish border were women.

Some, like her, are hardened warriors but also joining their ranks were mothers who sent their children over the border to the safety of Turkey, then rushed off to join their sisters in arms.

Fighting alongside Nassrin are other powerful female commanders who have achieved legendary status on the battlefield.

Women like Narine Afrin, who played a key role in the defence of Kobane. Or Arin Mirkan, who blew herself up on October 5, killing dozens of IS fighters encircling the town, according to Kurdish sources.

In total, there are 4,000 women fighting in the armed wing of the PYD, say Kurdish officials, who refuse for strategic reasons to disclose the total number of people who have taken up arms.

More @

http://news.yahoo.com/sisters-arms-kurdish-women-front-line-against-145252809.html

Drive into tiny Conoy Township, Pa., and you’ll see the standard “welcome” sign, but it also comes with a warning: “THIS IS NOT A GUN FREE ZONE.”

The signs are meant to alert criminals to the fact that many people in the rural Pennsylvania town of 3,000 are armed. A dozen have been installed so far and three more are slated to go up, which would cover every major road into the town. Officials hope the signs give would-be criminals second thoughts before causing trouble.

“I think even those who have bad intentions can read,” Stephen Mohr, one of the township supervisors, told FoxNews.com. He said the town’s five supervisors unanimously decided to put the signs up.

“What we’re telling people is that when they do come here, they should feel safer knowing that everyone in the township is watching out for them.”- Stephen Mohr, township supervisor, Conoy, Pa.

Read the rest @  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/10/pa-town-packs-heat-and-wants-visitors-to-know-it/

“Malone is expected to plead guilty next week and let the government keep the money, under a plea agreement filed Monday. The charge carries up to one year in jail and a $250,000 fine.”

  .gov inc. extortion at it’s finest-seize legally earned income-charge the person with violating some rules supposedly enacted to help catch drug dealers-yet .gov inc. uses it to hoover up all the $$$ they possibly can-gotta fund the “War on Drugs” the “War on Terror” the NSA and the Utah data center.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa widow is charged with a crime and had nearly $19,000 seized from her bank after depositing her late husband’s legally earned money in a way that evaded federal reporting requirements.

Janet Malone, 68, of Dubuque, is facing civil and criminal proceedings under a law intended to help investigators track large sums of cash tied to criminal activity such as drug trafficking and terrorism. But some members of Congress and libertarian groups have complained that the IRS and federal prosecutors are unfairly using it against ordinary people who deposit lawfully obtained money in increments below $10,000.

At issue is a law requiring banks to report deposits of more than $10,000 cash to the federal government. Anyone who breaks deposits into increments below that level to avoid the requirement is committing a crime known as “structuring” — whether their money is legal or not.

The IRS has increasingly used civil forfeiture proceedings to seize money from individuals and small businesses suspected of structuring violations, according to a review by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group. The agency seized $242 million in 2,500 cases from 2005 to 2012 — a third of which arose from nothing more than cash transactions under $10,000. Nearly half was returned after owners challenged the action, often a year later.

Some of the depositors had broken up the deposits to save their bankers from having to submit paperwork or because they mistakenly believed it was a way to avoid unwarranted government scrutiny. The Treasury Department receives millions of reports every year, and deposits above the $10,000 threshold incur no additional fees or taxes.

Facing criticism of the practice, the IRS announced in October that investigators would no longer seize funds in cases involving legal sources of money “unless there are exceptional circumstances” and would focus on illegal sources. A U.S. House subcommittee is expected to hear testimony about the practice Wednesday, at a hearing called, “Protecting Small Businesses from IRS Abuse.”

Larry Salzman, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, criticized the government’s case against Malone given its declared shift in practice.

“This is shocking because it demonstrates that prosecutors are not taking seriously the IRS’ alleged policy change not to prosecute legal source structuring,” he said.

After the policy change, federal prosecutors in Iowa agreed to return money the IRS seized from two people accused of structuring, including a restaurant owner who had $33,000 taken and a doctor who fought to get back $344,000 in earnings from his medical practice. But prosecutors declined to drop the civil forfeiture case over $18,775 the IRS seized from Malone.

Instead, they added a misdemeanor criminal charge last week alleging she willfully violated the law, after her husband had been warned about the practice four years ago. Malone is expected to plead guilty next week and let the government keep the money, under a plea agreement filed Monday. The charge carries up to one year in jail and a $250,000 fine.

IRS agent Jeff McGuire first went to Malone’s home in 2011 to investigate alleged structuring by Ronald Malone, who was dying of cancer, records show. Ronald Malone admitted that bank deposits totaling $35,500 he’d made could appear to be structured and signed a form acknowledging he’d been warned about the law; no charges were filed. Janet Malone was present for part of the meeting.

Shortly before his death in October 2011, Ronald Malone told his wife about a briefcase containing $180,000 cash from his job as a publishing executive, gambling winnings and investment income. She deposited some of it in increments between $5,800 and $9,000. The IRS obtained a warrant to seize it based on suspicion that the transactions were meant to avoid reporting requirements.

Janet Malone was irate when she learned of the 2013 seizure, noting that she didn’t sign the form warning her husband and didn’t remember details of the earlier visit because “she was in a state of despair over her husband’s health,” according to an IRS affidavit.

“You won’t prosecute a widow,” Malone said, according to the affidavit. McGuire responded that the family had been given a pass from the IRS once.

Spokesmen for the IRS and U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to talk about how the case fits with the new policy. Malone’s attorney declined to comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-charges-iowa-widow-over-she-deposited-husbands-190710409.html

Via David Codrea…

“That looked like a waste of time and effort. All they did was lock the doors,” an anonymous troll on the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog posted in comments underneath the text of Mike Vanderboegh’s Saturday speech at the State Capitol in Olympia. It was an obvious attempt to either diminish the significance of government officials hiding from freedom activists, or to put his own ignorance on display. That the significance of the day is lost on him is not surprising. Neither would it be surprising to learn it’s not lost, and that the anonymous put-down was as much an act of sabotage as his courage permits. That’s in character with the sadist /psychopath / infiltrator / disruptor nature of those who abuse the marvel that is the internet by attacking others from the shadows, seemingly protected from all personal repercussions but the corruption they do to their own souls.

The character of those who proudly advocate for their rights, assuming risks of condemnation and worse from lesser men, including those with power posing as greater men, was on display as activists, accompanied by politically courageous representatives Elizabeth Scott and Matt Shea, marched through the Capitol halls determined to make their voices heard, even as those who feared their message foolishly presumed locked doors could stop the signal.

While those trying to steal that to which they have no claim would not face and address fed-up constituents, they still were not able to avoid being put on notice, as demonstrators knocked firmly on massive wooden doors, and called to be let in. In a move some have likened to Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses against clerical abuses to the church doors in Wittenburg, an act many — who could not foresee what a transformative event that would be a catalyst for — dismissed as extremist and insignificant, the protesters affixed their list of grievances to the House Gallery doors.

Read the rest @  http://www.examiner.com/article/child-demanding-entrance-to-gallery-captivates-freedom-knocks-activists?CID=examiner_alerts_article