NC Renegades

North Korea appeared to conduct a submarine-launched ballistic missile test on Saturday but it ended in failure with no indication that the missile successfully ejected from the vessel and took off, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

The test, if confirmed, follows a test-launch in May of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which Pyongyang boasted as a success but has not been independently verified.

“There is no identification of a missile taking flight and only fragments of a safety cover was observed so it’s highly likely that the launch was a misfire,” a South Korean government source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry declined to confirm the report citing its policy of not commenting on intelligence matters.

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China’s main share index closed down by more than 5% after several major brokerage firms announced they were under investigation.

The Shanghai Composite index ended the day 5.5% lower at 3,436.3 points – marking its biggest drop since August.

Late on Thursday, it was announced that China’s securities regulator was investigating the country’s largest brokerage, Citic Securities.

The firm is being probed over the possible breaking of market rules.

Rival brokerage Guosen Securities is also being investigated, and shares in both Citic and Guosen fell by 10%, the maximum allowed in one day.

In addition, trading in China Haitong Securities shares was halted and later in the day the firm also confirmed it was under investigation.

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Employees of midsize and large companies in 2015 paid an average of $4,700 for their health insurance, up from $2,001 in 2005, according to recent analysis fromAon Hewitt.

Because they are looking for solutions to high costs, companies are changing the design of their benefit programs, Aon Hewitt Senior Vice President Mike Morrow said, moving toward leaner plans. In fact, 38% of employers have increased their participants’ deductibles and/or copays in the last year, and another 46% may do so in the future, the report from Aon said.

Companies are also beginning to offer high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) more frequently, an option that didn’t really exist for employers until the last decade, said Gerald Kominski, the director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research; they are now the second-most popular plan choice, surpassing health-maintenance organization plans (HMOs).

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Protesters disrupted holiday gift shopping in downtown Chicago on Friday, marching up and down the city’s “Magnificent Mile” retail district, in the largest and most concentrated demonstration since the release of a video late Tuesday showing the shooting death of a black teenager by a white city police officer.

The video showing the October 2014 slaying of Laquan McDonald, 17, by officer Jason Van Dyke, who was charged with first-degree murder this week, has stirred the protests. In the video, taken from a police cruiser, Van Dyke is seen shooting McDonald 16 times.

As they have all week, protesters — frustrated by the fact that it has taken more than a year for Van Dyke to be charged — on Friday demanded the resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and the assignment of a special prosecutor to take over the case from Cook County officials. Protesters also accuse Mayor Rahm Emanuel of being tone deaf to what they allege is a systematic trend of police misconduct against African Americans in the city’s most impoverished areas.

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See additional comments on Tea Party Nation.

The number of refugees from Syria coming to the United States is officially 10,000 in addition to the 2234 refugees already here:

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he wants to welcome at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the 2016 fiscal year, on top of the 2,234 Syrians whom the State Department says have been admitted to the United States since October 2010.

Let’s do a simple math exercise concerning refugee radicalization using the following information:

1. The percentage of Muslim Syrian refugees is 97%.
2. The number of refugees from Syria is 12,000 (instead of 12,234).
3. None of the refugees is radicalized.
4. Radicalized means killing kafirs (infidels) through jihad.
5. The number of radicalized mosques in the United States is 3.9%.
6. The percentage of refugees 14 and older is 57%.

If 97% of the refugees are Muslim:

12,000 x 97% = 11,640.

If 57% of 11,640 are the target for radicalization:

11,640 x 57% = 6634 (rounding down).

Let’s assume that 1% of the incoming refugees are “prone” to becoming radicalized. This means over a period of time, 66 of the refugees from Syria would be a threat to the security of the country. It only took 19 Islamist terrorists to carry out the 911 attacks. It only took 9 Islamist terrorists to carry out the Paris attacks.

The reality is much different than 66 Islamist terrorists. A large percentage of these “refugees” is already radicalized. The number of radicalized mosques does not include schools or underground mosques. The number of Muslims in the country is much larger than the Syrian refugee number and they are radicalized, organized and well funded.

However, we all know how this ends. As does the government:

The National Counterterrorism Center says there were 1.1 million people in the database at the end of 2013. The government doesn’t need evidence linking someone to terrorism in order for the person to be in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, which feeds to smaller lists that restrict travel.

So the question becomes simple: why is the government aiding and abetting the destruction of the country?

David DeGerolamo

A lawsuit filed by a Muslim activist organization against a Florida firearms retailer who posted a “Muslim Free Zone” sign has been dismissed and the case ordered closed because the statement was protected by the First Amendment and the activists couldn’t show they were injured.

The decision was released by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in a case brought by a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations against Florida Gun Supply, which was defended by officials with the American Freedom Law Center.

AFLC Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi said, “This dismissal was yet another AFLC victory against CAIR and its jihadi lawfare against patriotic Americans across the country. This victory follows on the heels of a recent victory against CAIR in a Michigan federal court where CAIR’s subpoenas were quashed and CAIR’s nefarious client sanctioned for abusive practices.”

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On November 25th, 2015, President Barack Obama has signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, included in which is a provision for the Civilian Marksmanship to sell 1911 handguns to the United States shooting public. The bill includes Section 1087, which allows the transfer of handguns from the United States Army to the Civilian Marksmanship program, and the subsequent distribution of those handguns to members of CMP-affiliated clubs:

SEC. 1087. TRANSFER OF SURPLUS FIREARMS TO CORPORATION FOR

(a) AUTHORIZATION OF TRANSFER OF SURPLUS FIREARMS TO CORPORATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE AND FIRE- ARMS SAFETY.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 40728 of title 36, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

THE PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE AND FIREARMS SAFETY.

S. 1356—288

‘‘(h) AUTHORIZED TRANSFERS.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary may transfer to the corporation, in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this subchapter, surplus caliber .45 M1911/M1911A1 pistols and spare parts and related accessories for those pistols that, on the date of the enactment of this subsection, are under the control of the Secretary and are surplus to the require-
ments of the Department of the Army, and such material as may be recovered by the Secretary pursuant to section 40728A(a) of this title. The Secretary shall determine a reasonable schedule for the transfer of such surplus pistols.

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h/t Matt Bracken