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By Editorial Dept - Feb 21, 2020, 12:00 PM CST

Haftar Waiting Out Another Turkish Misstep in Libya

Last week, international media said that Libyan oil production had dropped to just under 164,000 bpd. Less than a week later, on Monday, Feb 17th, the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) said that oil production was down to just under 136,000 bpd. That represents a financial loss of over $1.6 billion.

The NOC is still supplying the Central and Eastern regions with enough to meet their transport and domestic needs, though storage facilities in and around Tripoli are facing supply shortages.

It is not a sustainable situation, even as the media claim that both sides in the conflict are in it for the long haul. Money will dictate otherwise.

The tension on the ground this week was palpable, and more confusing than ever as Libyans celebrated the revolution that overthrew Ghaddafi on February 17 eight years ago. After eight years of chaos hijacked by various militias, no one knows exactly what theyre celebrating.

It will be important to watch what Turkey does next because its in a tight spot and has overstepped in multiple venues. Its being overrun by the Syrian Army and the Russians in Syria, and its sent Syrian mercenaries (with false promises) to fight in Libya. They are not likely to represent a loyal mercenary force when they realize they wont get what they want back at home in Syria. Again, that is leverage for Haftar in Tripoli, where hes

Read more:
The Fate Of Libyan Oil Hangs In The Balance - OilPrice.com

In 2010, a plane travelling from South Africa to Tripoli crashed in Libya, leaving a sole survivor in the form of nine-year-old Ruben van Assouw. A total of 103 passengers and crew members, including Ruben's mother, father and older brother, died in the crash. Ruben was found half a mile away, semi-conscious and still strapped into his aeroplane seat.

n New York, the tragedy hit writer Ann Napolitano particularly hard. With two sons (aged one and three) of her own, she began to "obsess" over the story, and in particular Ruben's experience of losing his parents and brother.

"Part of it obsessed me immediately and my sticky writer's interest," Napolitano recalls. "I couldn't read enough about it."

One aspect of the scenario fascinated Napolitano in particular. In 2010, social media was in its infancy, and the aftermath of the crash played out on Facebook and Twitter in ways she had never witnessed before.

"When I was reading everything I could about the crash, that included young girls posting up Facebook pages about how cute he was and how sad they were for him," she recalls. "Elsewhere, aviation aficionados were speculating on how the plane might have crashed, because (authorities) hadn't released this information.

"For the first time, there was this massive event, and it wasn't just journalists reporting on it," she adds. "There was a picture of (Ruben) in the media in his hospital bed, and he was so beautiful and small and broken. How was he going to get out of that hospital bed without his mom and dad and brother, and possibly create his own life?"

The question formed the backbone for Napolitano's third novel, Dear Edward. Here, 12-year-old Edward is the sole survivor of a flight from New York to Los Angeles, where he is relocating with his mother, father and older brother Jordan.

After being discharged from hospital after the plane crash, he is adopted by his sole surviving blood relative, his aunt Lacey, and her husband John. They are weathering their own personal problems, but now have to not only help Edward through his physical and emotional recovery, but shield him from the world's considerable attention.

Edward finds a friend in his new next-door neighbour, a young girl named Shay. One day, he discovers a large bag of letters written to him by the loved ones of those who did not survive that fateful crash.

Ruben van Assouw's new family have done such a stellar job of protecting his privacy that Napolitano never found out much about the fate of the youngster, now 19.

"I needed to know that he was okay, but of course there was no way for me to know that, so for me to believe that somehow the boy was okay, I had to create a set of fictional circumstances. When I started writing the story, my boys were at that toddler age - they don't know who they are, but they were completely devoted to each other and deeply in love since I brought the second one home," Napolitano adds.

"I would have assumed that for a boy like Edward, the loss of his parents would be the greatest loss, but then I started to think that the greatest loss for one of my boys would be if I separated them. You're not supposed to be separated from your sibling. You grow up and move apart from your parents, but the love you have for a sibling bakes itself into you."

In writing the novel, Napolitano has spent much of the past 10 years researching aviation science, not to mention similar tragedies. She read extensively to create the other passengers on the flight, from an ailing billionaire octogenarian to a soldier recently returned from service. Napolitano was keen, too, not to sensationalise the tragedy, and has written about the crash and its aftermath in a measured, wholly affecting way.

"To do otherwise would simply have been disrespectful to those who had gone through a similar situation," she admits. "The pressure I put on myself in that regard was immense."

Dear Edward shot to Number 2 in the Hardcover Fiction category of the New York Times' bestseller list last month, and has become a word-of-mouth sensation. Closer to home, the book has been blurbed effusively by John Boyne and Emma Donoghue, and has been compared to the latter's novel, Room.

"I feel very grateful when writers you really respect even take the time to read it, let alone say nice things," Napolitano notes. "(Boyne's) The Heart's Invisible Furies is one of my all-time favourites, and for people to relate the book to Room that's a real case of 'I'm Done'. Nothing else I could do would possibly top it."

As to how it feels to have a potential global hit on her hands, as predicted by many in the business, Napolitano adds: "Mostly, it's interesting. I feel like I'm playing the role of an author that everyone's excited about. But I can feel that the book has a longer life in front of it than some other books might have. It's not a role I thought I'd play, so I'm curious about it."

Several interested parties have expressed a desire to option Dear Edward for the screen, and now the latest word is that it could soon be made into a TV series.

For now, Napolitano is readying herself to write Dear Edward's follow-up, after letting new characters percolate inside her head for the past year.

"Edward and Shay will be in the next book, too, although it's 10 years later and a much different story," Napolitano explains.

"I'll have to start writing soon. I write for my mental health mainly. It's just part of who I am, so I have to do it to be myself," she adds.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano and published by Penguin Random House is out now

See original here:
Libyan air crash: 'There was a picture of Ruben in his hospital bed. He was so beautiful and small and broken' - Belfast Telegraph

HONEY, WE MOLESTED THE KIDS!

I wonder if any liberals are re-thinking their insistence that the Boy Scouts allow gay men to take 13-year-old boys on overnight camping trips.

HEADLINE: Boy Scouts Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the Face of Thousands of Child Abuse Allegations

The Boy Scouts of America have long been on the lefts hate list. Any organization that has the temerity to train young men in the virtues of integrity, patriotism and self-reliance is putting itself on the fighting side of liberals!

At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, a little group of Boy Scouts took the stage as part of the opening ceremony and were promptly booed by the delegates.

For decades, the BSA has fended off lawsuits demanding that they embrace the holy trinity of Gs: girls, gays and godless atheists. (If only it had occurred to the plaintiffs to start their own organizations! They could have given them names like The Girl Scouts.)

Why would any liberal want to join an organization that was, according to them, sexist, Bible-thumping and bigoted? They didnt. The lawsuits were kill shots.

For the left, whats not to hate about the Boy Scouts? Their oath is: On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

Nearly 200 NASA astronauts were Boy Scouts. The great outdoorsman, Teddy Roosevelt, was such a BSA booster than he was made the one and only Chief Scout Citizen, a scout for life.

A Louis Harris & Associates study in 1996 found that men who had been scouts placed a higher value on honesty than those who had not.

But now the lawsuits have killed them. Congratulations, Democrats, The New York Times and corporate America. (I hope all their future employees steal from them, after being raised on Grand Theft Auto instead of the Boy Scout oath.)

From the beginning, BSA has had to deal with child molesters eagerly signing up to go camping with 13-year-old boys in isolated areas away from all observation.

Within a decade of its 1910 founding, the BSA began keeping internal files on ineligible scouting volunteers, known as the perversion files.

Scout leaders were not to be alone with boys and, starting in 1988, all adult applicants were subjected to aggressive background screening. The organization promptly removed any scout leaders based on mere suspicion and alerted law enforcement in about a third of the cases.

Nonetheless, between 1970 and 1991, up to .04% of Boy Scouts may have been molested. Thats about 2,000 out of several million boys.

Given all of this, what sort of escaped mental patient would demand that the Boy Scouts admit openly gay scout leaders?

Yes, we know most gays arent child molesters. How could we not? Its part of our secular catechism, along with the one about most Muslims not being terrorists and most immigrants not being criminals.

But men who molest boys are a small slice infinitesimal really! within a larger category known as gay. Its not two totally different things, like an architect and a dentist. Some men like blondes. Some like brunettes. But theyre all within the category of heterosexual.

No parent is going to send their young sons camping alone in the woods with an openly gay man for the same reason they wouldnt send their adolescent daughters to be alone in the woods with an openly heterosexual man.

And now the BSA has been whiplashed into bankruptcy by liberals demanding, on one hand, that the scouts allow gays to be troop leaders and, on the other hand, filing lawsuits accusing the scouts of not taking strong enough measures to prevent gay troop leaders from molesting boys.

Couldnt liberals get together and decide for themselves whether the Boy Scouts should have been more aggressive in preventing child molestation or less?

For their defense witnesses, the Boy Scouts should call New York Times editors, Democratic politicians and corporate CEOs.

Back in 1980, when a gay guy lost his lawsuit against BSA for dropping him as a scout leader, Wells Fargo, the United Way of San Francisco, Levi Strauss and the Bank of America cut off funding to the organization. San Francisco and Oakland schools prohibited the scouts from using their facilities on weekdays.

After the Supreme Courts disturbingly narrow 5-4 decision in 2000 holding that the Boy Scouts could not be forced to admit gay scout leaders, the Times denounced the decision in an editorial, calling the courts ruling one of its lowest moments of the term.

The following month, the Times ethicist, Randy Cohen, advised a reader to pull her son out of the Cub Scouts, saying it was the ethical thing to do. The ethicist explained: Just as one is honor bound to quit an organization that excludes African-Americans, so you should withdraw from scouting as long as it rejects homosexuals.

Also in response to the Supreme Courts decision, Chase Manhattan Bank, Textron Inc. and dozens more United Way chapters withdrew millions of dollars in contributions. More cities dropped their support of the Boy Scouts.

In his pre-Super Bowl TV interview in 2013, President Barack Obama was still harping on the Boy Scouts refusal to allow gay scoutmasters: Gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does.

On CNN, host Carol Costello haughtily informed a guest opposed to gay scoutmasters, Well, Ill just say that the American Psychological Association has studied the issue that you just mentioned. Homosexuals arent any more likely to molest kids than straight men.

Throughout the lefts 30-year assault on the Boy Scouts for discriminating against gays, the Catholic Church was embroiled in its own molestation crisis. More than 80% of the molester priests were accused of victimizing teenage boys.

Instead of saying, Oh I see what the Boy Scouts are doing, liberals responded to the gay sex-abuse crisis in the priesthood by blaming ... celibacy!

Isnt it a thought crime to question whether sexual preference is determined at birth? But liberals not only believed gayness was the result of an adult lifestyle choice celibacy but they knew how to cure it: Allow priests to marry!

Since the one thing we know is that men molesting boys has nothing to do with being gay, I guess this time its camping that causes sodomy.

Ann Coulter is the writer of 12 best-selling books,

including In Trump We Trust.

Read the original:
ANN COULTER:The Boy Scouts have long been on the left's hate list - MDJOnline.com

I wonder if any liberals are re-thinking their insistence that the Boy Scouts allow gay men to take 13-year-old boys on overnight camping trips.

HEADLINE:Boy Scouts Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the Face of Thousands of Child Abuse Allegations

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have long been on the lefts hate list. Any organization that has the temerity to train young men in the virtues of integrity, patriotism, and self-reliance is putting itself on the fighting side of liberals!

At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, a little group of Boy Scouts took the stage as part of the opening ceremony and were promptly booed by the delegates.

For decades, the BSA has fended off lawsuits demanding that they embrace the holy trinity of Gs: girls, gays, and godless atheists. (If only it had occurred to the plaintiffs to start their own organizations! They could have given them names like The Girl Scouts.)

Why would any liberal want to join an organization that was, according to them, sexist, Bible-thumping, and bigoted? They didnt. The lawsuits were kill shots.

For the left, whats not to hate about the Boy Scouts? Their oath is: On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

Nearly 200 NASA astronauts were Boy Scouts. The great outdoorsman, Teddy Roosevelt, was such a BSA booster than he was made the one and only Chief Scout Citizen, a scout for life.

A Louis Harris & Associates study in 1996 found that men who had been scouts placed a higher value on honesty than those who had not.

But now the lawsuits have killed them. Congratulations, Democrats, the New York Times, and corporate America. (I hope all their future employees steal from them, after being raised on Grand Theft Auto instead of the Boy Scout oath.)

From the beginning, BSA has had to deal with child molesters eagerly signing up to go camping with 13-year-old boys in isolated areas away from all observation.

Within a decade of its 1910 founding, the BSA began keeping internal files on ineligible scouting volunteers, known as the perversion files.

Scout leaders were not to be alone with boys and, starting in 1988, all adult applicants were subjected to aggressive background screening. The organization promptly removed any scout leaders based on mere suspicion and alerted law enforcement in about a third of the cases.

Nonetheless, between 1970 and 1991, up to .04 percent of Boy Scouts may have been molested. Thats about 2,000 out of several million boys.

Given all of this, what sort of escaped mental patient would demand that the Boy Scouts admit openly gay scout leaders?

Yes, we know most gays arent child molesters. How could we not? Its part of our secular catechism, along with the one about most Muslims not being terrorists and most immigrants not being criminals.

But men who molest boys are a small slice infinitesimal really! within a larger category known as gay. Its not two totally different things, like an architect and a dentist. Some men like blondes. Some like brunettes. But theyre all within the category of heterosexual.

No parent is going to send their young sons camping alone in the woods with an openly gay man for the same reason they wouldnt send their adolescent daughters to be alone in the woods with an openly heterosexual man.

And now the BSA has been whiplashed into bankruptcy by liberals demanding, on one hand, that the scouts allow gays to be troop leaders and, on the other hand, filing lawsuits accusing the scouts of not taking strong enough measures to prevent gay troop leaders from molesting boys.

Couldnt liberals get together and decide for themselves whether the Boy Scouts should have been more aggressive in preventing child molestation or less?

For their defense witnesses, the Boy Scouts should call New York Times editors, Democratic politicians, and corporate CEOs.

Back in 1980, when a gay guy lost his lawsuit against BSA for dropping him as a scout leader, Wells Fargo, the United Way of San Francisco, Levi Strauss, and the Bank of America cut off funding to the organization. San Francisco and Oakland schools prohibited the scouts from using their facilities on weekdays.

After the Supreme Courts disturbingly narrow 5-4 decision in 2000 holding that the Boy Scouts could not be forced to admit gay scout leaders, the Times denounced the decision in an editorial, calling the courts ruling one of its lowest moments of the term.

The following month, the Times ethicist, Randy Cohen, advised a reader to pull her son out of the Cub Scouts, saying it was the ethical thing to do. The ethicist explained: Just as one is honor bound to quit an organization that excludes African-Americans, so you should withdraw from scouting as long as it rejects homosexuals.

Also in response to the Supreme Courts decision, Chase Manhattan Bank, Textron Inc., and dozens more United Way chapters withdrew millions of dollars in contributions. More cities dropped their support of the Boy Scouts.

In his pre-Super Bowl TV interview in 2013, President Barack Obama was still harping on the Boy Scouts refusal to allow gay scoutmasters: Gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does.

On CNN, host Carol Costello haughtily informed a guest opposed to gay scoutmasters, Well, Ill just say that the American Psychological Association has studied the issue that you just mentioned. Homosexuals arent any more likely to molest kids than straight men.

The defense rests.

Throughout the lefts 30-year assault on the Boy Scouts for discriminating against gays, the Catholic Church was embroiled in its own molestation crisis. More than 80 percent of the molester priests were accused of victimizing teenage boys.

Instead of saying, Oh I see what the Boy Scouts are doing, liberals responded to the gay sex-abuse crisis in the priesthood by blaming celibacy!

Isnt it a thought crime to question whether sexual preference is determined at birth? But liberals not only believed gayness was the result of an adult lifestyle choice celibacy but they knew how to cure it: Allow priests to marry!

Since the one thing we know is that men molesting boys has nothing to do with being gay, I guess this time its camping that causes sodomy.

Excerpt from:
Ann Coulter: Honey, We Molested the Kids! - Breitbart

Childish bickering and name calling without debating or an end in sight. Only a few I recall. Friends Republicans and Candidates: Little Marco Rubio, Lyin Ted, The Three Stooges; Mark Sanford, Joe Walsh, Bill Weld, Sloppy Steve Bannon, Wacky nut job Ann Coulter, Mr. Magoo and Dumb Southerner Jeff Sessions. Foreign leaders: My favorite dictator President of Egypt, Little Rocket Man North Korean, Britain Trump Boris Johnson, Juan Trump Mexico President.

The enemy list goes on and on: Little Michael Bloomberg, Crazy Hillary, Crooked Hillary, Heartless Hillary, Lyin' Hillary, SleepyCreepy Joe, Very slow sleepy Joe, etc. and the long media list.

Way beyond sophomoric our President, our World Leader continues his tweets, antics, name calling and embarrassing behavior while fear keeps the adults that should call him out for it cringing in the corners. Im so tired of it, please give a ballot, Mickey Mouse is looking really good.

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

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Letter: Anyone as tired of this as me? | Letters to the Editor - Arizona Daily Star