Blog Heap of Links for the day 9 March 2015

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – ISIS militants have used explosives to demolish a much-loved 19th century mosque in Mosul city, deeming it sacrilegious, a Kurdish official has said.

“Last night ISIS militants blew up the Hamo Mosque at the city center of Mosul. It was the shrine of some revered clerics and local residents used to visit it every Thursdays and Friday,” Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdistan Democratic Party official in Mosul, told Rudaw on Friday. …

…one man who was detained had ties to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed a policewoman on January 8 and then four more people at a kosher supermarket on January 9 before being killed by security forces. They said the man’s girlfriend, a policewoman, is also in custody.… has been claimed the policewoman worked at Fort de Rosny-sous-Bois, in north east Paris, which is the location of a police intelligence centre. …

Rouheni adviser: "Iran is an empire and Baghdad is the capital."

"ISIS supporters set up their own rival to Facebook called “Selafabook” recently. The social media site aims to become an alternative to Facebook and Twitter amid the crackdown against the terrorist group’s followers. …" (Middle East Eye report)

It’s a remarkable irony: the same U.S. president whose administration has gone to great lengths to monitor journalists, whistleblowers and the public, claims to be oddly in the dark regarding basic information on some of his biggest controversies.

Here are eight instances in which President Obama said he heard it on the news—or way after-the-fact—just like ordinary Americans.

…"We've gotten together and just talkin' about it, and all four of us can swear that we heard somebody inside the car saying, 'Help,'" officer Jared Warner recalled Sunday.

But when they flipped the vehicle resting on its hood in the Spanish Fork River onto its side Saturday, they discovered there was no one inside able to speak.

"The only people in there were the deceased mother and the child," said officer Bryan Dewitt.

"We're not exactly sure where that voice came from…"

Pete kicks the news around with links and comments that burn like acid.

"In the history of this nation there has never been a single man more successful at fomenting racial hatred than the one who was supposed to bring about racial harmony. And he does so with zeal…."

Vic rounds up the world and gives it a kick, starting here.

"On this date in 1954 CBS television broadcast the See It Now episode, "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy", produced by Fred Friendly. …"