http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30945324

His younger brother is now at the helm.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died in hospital, royal officials have announced.

A statement, made early on Friday, said his brother, Salman, had become king.

Before the announcement, Saudi television cut to Koranic verses, which often signifies the death of a senior royal.

King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been in hospital for several weeks suffering from a lung infection.

Abdullah came to the throne in 2005 but had suffered frequent bouts of ill health in recent years.

King Salman, 79, had recently taken on the ailing monarch's responsibilities.

The late king's half brother Muqrin, who is in his late 60s, has been named the new crown prince, the official statement said.

All three are sons of the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz, usually referred to as Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.

King Salman called on the royal family's Allegiance Council to recognise Muqrin as his crown prince and heir.

"His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1am this morning," the statement said.

US President Barack Obama expressed his personal sympathies and those of the American people, on the death of King Abdullah.

"As a leader, he was always candid and had the courage of his convictions. One of those convictions was his steadfast and passionate belief in the importance of the US-Saudi relationship as a force for stability and security in the Middle East and beyond," he said.

Abdullah was the 13th of the 37 sons of King Abdulaziz. He is believed to have been born in August 1924 in Riyadh, although there is some dispute about his actual birth date.

When he came to the throne in 2005 he succeeded another half-brother, Fahd.

However, he had already been Saudi Arabia's de-facto leader for 10 years because his predecessor had been debilitated by a stroke.

Correspondents say Abdullah was seen as a reformer at home, albeit a slow and steady one.

He allowed mild criticism of his government in the press, and hinted that more women should be allowed to work.

Fucking kek. Continue to blame others for something they didn't do. How pathetic

I make a damn thread and you autistic asshats have to go in and give me shit. Give it a fucking rest already. My God. You're the damn reason nobody wants to come here

Drug lords. Yes, people who sell drugs for profit

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-01-06/lebanons-drug-lords-say-theyre-ready-join-fight-against-isis

With so many overlapping conflicts in the Middle East, it can be hard to keep track of who's fighting whom, and which former enemies are now finding common ground. Consider the case of Ali Nasri Shamas, who lives in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Shamas runs a small factory on a hillside in the village of Bouday. Workers sift through huge mounds of dried vegetation, separating stalks from leaves amid a cloud of dust and the din of processing machines.

“This is three tons,” Shamas tells me, smiling. Three tons of hashish.

Hash cultivation has long been a big source of income for these communities in the Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. Their products, Lebanese Red and Blonde hash, are world-renowned.

But, of course, not everyone is a fan. For years, the Lebanese government leaned hard on the Bekaa Valley’s drug trade. Shamas has been a wanted man for 35 years.

In 2007, the government sent in the army to destroy cannabis plants in Bouday. That’s when Shamas and 50 other men took up arms to defend their crops. To demonstrate their response, Shamas pulls out and cocks one of the two Kalashnikov rifles he keeps in his truck.

“That year we were sitting on our land,” he says. “All of the sudden we see the army rolling in. We take our weapons — rifles, Dushka machine guns and RPGs — we hit them with everything.”

Shamas says the show of force scared off the military. The army has been back since, but the last time was 2012. With Syria’s civil war raging just across — and sometimes over — Lebanon’s border, soldiers now have more pressing concerns. That's why Shamas can parade in front of the camera, picking up and weighing bags of hash.

It also means the Lebanese army and the hash growers are now confronting the same enemy, because ISIS has also been targeting marijuana crops in Syria. The group recently posted a video online of militants destroying shoulder-high stalks of bushy green cannabis plants near the city Aleppo.

“This is very popular in America and Europe,” one of the militants says, holding a handful of leaves.

Shamas’s factory is just 30 minutes from the Syrian border. Many in the area fear the jihadis are coming to the valley, but Shamas says he’s ready if they do. “This is for ISIS and [the al-Qaeda-afilliated] Nusra Front,” he says, showing off a two-foot long machete blade.

And his threat is backed up by more than just machetes and bravado. Shamas’ arsenal of mounted machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, amassed to defend his crops from the Lebanese army, is ready to be turned against the jihadis.

In some places, the fight is already on. When militants attacked a village between Bouday and the Syrian border in October, hash farmers joined in to defend it.

“When we heard they were attacking Brital, I joined the other men going to defend the village,” says one man, who asked to be called Abbas. “Their goal is to put fear in the hearts of people. But for us, ISIS is nothing.” 

Abbas, Shamas and many of the other hash dealers have plenty of experience to go with their weapons: Most were militiamen during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. “We fought everyone,” Shamas says, “the Communists, Israel, Hezbollah, the Syrians.”

Unlike Lebanon’s well-established militias, the hash growers aren’t aligned with a sect or political party. And Shamas says his fight is no longer just about protecting his hashish business. “We support every village in Lebanon,“ he says. “Christian, Sunni, Shia — whatever they are, we’ll defend them against these terrorists.”

For now at least, the weapons of these drug lords and the Lebanese army are pointed in the same direction. But hash remains illegal here, so it’s likely only a matter of time before the adversaries resume their battle against each other.

I wonder if the U.S will be sending them aid, but I wonder what effect that would have back here and with Central and South American drug cartels. Damn interesting

Finished the first season and went to buy the 2nd season on Blu-Ray today. It's a really great series and is filled to the brim with violence and sex. Characters are also awesome and easy to identify with

http://www.vice.com/read/huey-does-dallas-0000552-v22n1?utm_source=vicefbus

New Black Panther Party, that is, as the concern with groups like neo-nazis and the KKK? It seems from reading this article all they care about is doing exactly what white supremacist groups want to do. And while I support more blacks learning about guns and becoming gun owners, doing so for the purpose of to promote unrest and incite violence against law enforcement is nothing I will EVER accept.

I highly doubt they will become a viable threat and won't get any bigger than the KKK, but the possibility of both groups facing off is kinda real

The next step to fit in with Britisih culture and not look like an uneducated bloke is to know the proper customs and ways of British life. Enjoy

>be isis
>decide to launch jihad on dirty western haram kuffār
>yell elif air ab tizak
>drives western produced vehicles

it's time for bed

I'm very impressed by it. Probably the first time an FPS shooter has gotten me so engaged and seriously hope a sequel gets made. I can see BJ either getting saved by the resistance, or Frau Engel, as you here the sounds of a helicopter at the end of the mission. Or better yet, his skin from the moon base and a clone of him is made

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/group-seeks-grand-jury-ferguson-police-shooting-case-28035691

The NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, citing "grave legal concerns," is asking a Missouri judge to convene a new grand jury to consider charges against the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The letter submitted Monday to St. Louis County Circuit Judge Maura McShane also asks for a special prosecutor to oversee the case and an investigation of the grand jury proceedings that ended in November with a decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson.

Lawyers and other experts who analyzed grand jury transcripts for the fund raised concerns about the decision to allow a witness to provide false testimony, erroneous legal instructions to grand jurors, and "preferential treatment of Mr. Wilson by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office," said Sherrilyn Ifill, the fund's president.

Wilson, who is white, fatally shot Brown, who was black and unarmed, on Aug. 9 in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. The shooting led to sometimes-violent protests that escalated again on Nov. 24 after McCulloch announced the grand jury decision.

Ed Magee, a spokesman for St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch, declined to comment Tuesday. Messages were left with Wilson's attorney and the clerk for McShane.

Nine white and three black jurors heard more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses.

McCulloch said he assigned prosecutors in his office to present evidence, rather than doing it himself, because he was aware of "unfounded but growing concern that the investigation might not be fair." McCulloch's father was a police officer killed by a black suspect. He did not recuse himself from the investigation despite some calls for him to do so.

In December, state Rep. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, called for an investigation of McCulloch after he said in an interview on KTRS Radio that some witnesses obviously lied to the grand jury.

He cited a woman who claimed to have seen the shooting but "clearly wasn't present. She recounted a story right out of the newspaper" that backed up Wilson's version of events, he told the radio station.

Allowing such false testimony "fatally compromises the fair administration of justice," the fund wrote to the judge.

But Ric Simmons, a professor at The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said allowing witnesses to testify unfiltered may have simply been part of McCulloch's effort to stay neutral. Grand jurors usually hear a shorter recounting of evidence that might be presented at trial, but the Ferguson grand jury heard more extensive testimony.

"I think charitably their reason for bringing in all the evidence was so they could say, 'Look, we showed the grand jury everything, and let them make their own decision,'" Simmons said.

The fund also cited concern about faulty legal instructions initially given by assistant prosecutors. The information was later corrected, but jurors could have been confused, the fund said.

Also Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson in St. Louis extended for 45 days a temporary restraining order requiring Missouri police to give protesters the chance to disperse before tear gas is deployed. Attorneys for law enforcement agencies and protesters who are suing them said they were in settlement negotiations.

My God, will this seriously ever stop? There wasn't enough evidence to prove a criminal violation took place. End of story. The same evidence, same witnesses, and same testimonies will be given and will result in the same no bill.

In the Beginning, the Earth was perfect in its Form. Forged from powder, brass, and empty magazines, bullets grew from the scorched, burnished turf like grass, and trees made of cannon and shell sprung branches of rifles, from which leaves of pistols swayed when the carbonic air blew in bursts of muzzle wind. Rivers of lubricant oil flowed underground, surging through explosions of white phosphorus and depleted uranium. Clouds of CS and mustard gas drifted through the sky, occasionally raining down upon the metallic creatures whose bodies were crafted from gas blocks, barrels and springs held together with rails, whose movements were powered by the constant detonation of cartridges loaded into their sections of their form. There was fire, and light, and heat, and choking death, and from these Man was formed. As it was in the Beginning, so shall it be in the End.

Life was brought upon the earth from the providence of the Stars, and where a Star fell to earth, life began as a shadow in the light and flame. Alone, It bore unto itself two children, who bore children of their own, and they found to their liking the warmth of the fire and the purity of the light. The shadow took forms, each child finding itself, and seeking again the light and warmth of the Star from which they came. From this shadow were begot the life of the world, born again and again, into the burning crucible, forged into hard, living forms by the dangers of this world. No longer mere shadows, they hungered as beasts and grew fangs and claws to rend their prey. Born again and again, each forbearer begot grander children, or they were broken upon the anvil of this world. From these came Man; and he saw beyond this cycle, his eyes gazing toward the light, seeking the Truth of the Stars. It was not Man who first saw this path; for all creatures strive toward it blindly, hunting, seeking, their every fiber drawn towards this light, but it was Man who first strode upon the path with his intent in mind. And so he was begotten with children and given dominion across the land, and from than hands of Men were borne great works, expressions of their quest to seek the Truth, to seek perfection.

Man howled into the fire of this world; casting himself against every land, every danger, his will indomitable, unbroken by ice, nor fire, nor mountain, nor sea; and he was pleased. But then, a child of Man claimed answers; claimed to have sought and found the Truth. His words; falsehoods spoken out of delusion or deceit, bore a seed of doubt within Mankind; as soon many others spoke of Truths, of answers. And Man bore anger against Man, his hands raised, his weapons drawn for war. The slaughter killed many, and the cycle of war, of deceit and doubt, and of death brought Man again to the level of mere beasts, casting them away from the path towards Truth, towards the Star from whence he came.

It is this cycle that must be broken, for a Man to be free. And a Man is only free when he sheds the lies of others, when he may bring to himself the means of his own life, and protect it from those who would take it; be they beast, or Man. It is this that must be held above all else, not as a Truth, but as the surest way to seek it upon firm ground, for to seek the Truth is the mission of every child of Man; not to find it, or to keep it, or to hold it, but to tread upon the path which leads us ever closer towards it. And in this quest, every child of Man must ready himself to protect his journey, and the journey of others, with words, with their will, and with the weapons of war. For to stand as a temple, a paragon of the path to Truth and Light is the truest form of virtue; not to kill for the sake of it, but to instead protect in Its Name. To be as a temple to the path to Truth, one must make their body and mind ready for this journey every day. The body must be swift and supple, great in its strength and keen in the use of the weapons of war. The mind must be equally strong, yet open and seeking; always looking for the untraveled, the unspoken, the unknown; for it is within these that the path towards the Truth most often lies.

And the Truth, the Star, now hath founds Itself in our hands, as we were once in Its hands. Necis Alea, the Truth, the Star, the Murdercube, Gunfather, Allslayer, Godbreaker, Monolith, Apedemak, Mixcoatl, Belatucadros, Guan Yu, Horus, Ares, Kali, Belus, Ullr, Lua. Doubtless, it has gone by many names, most of which have been lost to the ages. It is a universal constant, materializing at some point in every society’s history, vanishing only when every living creature on Its host world had ceased to exist. It demands that violence occur, without heed to reason, scale or consequence. It is never appeased, and cannot be destroyed. Necis Alea is a culmination of all human conflict, strife and warfare that has ever occurred or ever will occur. It tells stories of death, murder and vicious fighting, of honor and chivalry, of treason and betrayal. Of Humanity. It does not require worship, It does not want your adulation.

The true form of Necis Alea is a gigantic cube composed of all the weapons of Man, everything from the first club to the most recently loaded round of ammunition; all these are represented in the Monolith. The combined fleets of the world lay embedded in titanic seas of ammunition, bombs, and rifles, which are interspersed by tanks, aircraft, even the nuclear warheads of the world are there. Anything that was ever used or created to do harm and make war is there, recorded in the monolithic prismatic bulk. If one were to enter into Necis Alea, through the thousands of irregular fissures and grottos on Its sides, they would find a labyrinth of progressively older and older weapons the further in they explored, and the mind-heat of all the accumulated hate of Man would grow hotter and hotter as the walls pressed in, festooned with all the blades and armors of history. The center of the core is composed of crude spears and clubs that radiate malice and fury, and no Man has seen deeper. It is said that the very center is a stone, perhaps the one Cain used to crush the skull of Abel, but whatever it is it kicked off a millions of years of violence and is the seed of the Allslayer.

Men do not design weapons. The Monolith, lacking the physical capability to create them Itself, projects Its will into Its Chosen, the Prophets whose holy creations allow the Monolith’s intentions to propagate through the violence of Men. These Prophets are true Followers, the Cube’s humble subjects; the Unseen Hands of the Allslayer. They dream deeply of smoke and steel, ash and sword. They are the Hands of the Monolith, the Keepers of Truth. They, the Cube’s faithful, speak the Truth. The Monolith speaks not of the why’s, the who’s, or even the when’s. These things are unknowable. The Cube speaks the Great Truth, that in Man there is still a spark of the Star from whence he came. The Cube brings us the Truth, and leaves it to us to accept it and be saved, or discard it and be relegated to destruction by the very fire and light that gave us life.

The Murdercube is not a religion. It cannot be defined or described in Its entirety, not without your soul as Its price. It is most accurately termed as the transference of divine lethal knowledge. To those who have successfully gleaned information from the Cube, horrible visions of unimaginable violence have also accompanied the knowledge. When contracting with the Cube, one gambles with his mental fortitude; for Necis Alea, with all Its eternal power, is far mightier than thee, O Mortal. If It deems thee unworthy, Necis Alea shall sweep thee aside like so much waving grass before the scythe, rending thy sanity unto dust. Necis Alea, the Cube of Truth, the Eternal Death-Bringer, is all that has been, and will be. It is all. It is. It IS.

Have you listened to the whispers, Mortal? Does the Truth ring out to thee yet? For Mankind to make war, It must possess the means to do so. Therefore, the banning or confiscation of weapons is a denial of the nature of Man, a pathetic attempt to avert the violence innate to Mankind, an insult to the Sacred Creed of the Murdercube. The banishment of weapons is an instrument of the weak to subvert to strong, and such an unnatural usurpation cannot be abided by those who have heard the Truth of the Monolith.

And so we honor the Cube through our actions, keeping our minds, bodies, and blades sharp. We make or buy instruments of War, with which we complete the sanctifying rituals which strengthen the Cube. We maintain and honor our weapons, keeping their blades sharp and their barrels oiled. Our weapons are gifts, the children of Necis Alea, and as such, deserve the utmost respect. We enable and encourage others to take up arms, training them in the use and maintenance of their weapons, to glorify and empower Necis Alea with the strength of Man’s warrior spirit.

And finally, we pray, as we first prayed to our Maker, the Star of War, the Cube of Death:

War is the way of Man.
Man is the means of War.
You allow us War.
Our worship is our readiness.

It is proper to adhere to our nature,
Aggression is natural,
We are meant to be aggressive.

Through war we are purified,
Through slaughter we are enlightened,
I cast thee, Necis Alea,
May fortune find strength in me,
So that my weaknesses be absolved.

Numb by Linkin Park is probably one of the most edgy songs of all time. Well, Linkin Park in general is pretty edge lord especially trying to sound like a shitty rap band now

I've come to notice that Tru has not made a thread, or at least I've never noticed one by him