COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The Guardian and Greenwald deserve the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Manning and Snowden deserve the Freedom Medal. Some stories are more than stories…they can become vehicles for social change. For a decade we’ve been in a surreal limbo with a soundtrack that sounds like extra-judicial mumbling. The NSA and their master manipulators in DC are the problem.



Revealed: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'



XKeyscore gives 'widest-reaching' collection of online data

NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches
Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history



Wednesday 31 July 2013 08.56 EDT

A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.
The latest revelations will add to the intense public and congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs. They come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court oversight.
The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10.
"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email".
US officials vehemently denied this specific claim. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said of Snowden's assertion: "He's lying. It's impossible for him to do what he was saying he could do."
But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed.
XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA's "widest reaching" system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). One presentation claims the program covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the internet", including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their metadata.
Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing "real-time" interception of an individual's internet activity.
Under US law, the NSA is required to obtain an individualized Fisa warrant only if the target of their surveillance is a 'US person', though no such warrant is required for intercepting the communications of Americans with foreign targets. But XKeyscore provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst.
One training slide illustrates the digital activity constantly being collected by XKeyscore and the analyst's ability to query the databases at any time.

126 comments:

  1. Good Morning, NSA.

    Go fuck yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And yet, when I say the NSA hijacked the USS Liberty, sailing the boat into a war zone, against standing orders I am wrong?

      Delete
    2. In fact the record clearly indicates that the Israeli knew whose ship the USS Liberty was. Telling the US on 7June that they would attack the US vessel... and they did.
      They knew that it was the US Navy, just as the NorKs knew the USS Pueblo was a US Naval vessel.


      24 May 1967. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) orders USS Liberty, an intelligence-gathering vessel, to depart Abidjan for eastern Mediterranean, via Rota, Spain.
      ...
      2 June 1967. Liberty departs Rota at top speed of 18 knots en route to a point 13 miles off the Gaza Strip, well within international waters.
      ...
      5 June 1967, 7:45 (all times cited are local Liberty time). Israel attacks Egypt, simultaneously putting out false reports that Egypt had attacked first. Captain McGonagle asks Vice Admiral William Martin at Sixth Fleet headquarters to send a destroyer as an armed escort and auxiliary communication center, noting that Liberty’s “self defense capability limited to four .50 caliber machine guns and small arms.”

      6 June 1967. Admiral Martin replies “Liberty is clearly marked United States ship in international waters, not a participant in the conflict and not a reasonable subject for attack by any nation . . . Request for escort denied.”

      7 June 1967, shortly before midnight. Office of the U.S. Defense Attaché in Tel Aviv sends coded message to U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) that Israel intends to attack the Liberty if her course is not changed.

      8 June 1967:

      0030: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Reconnaissance Center (JRC) orders Liberty to go from 12½ to 20 nautical miles off coast. An error by the U.S. Army Communications Center at the Pentagon results in message never reaching the ship.

      0130: JRC orders Liberty to approach no closer than 100 miles to the coasts of Egypt and Israel. Due to misrouting it will take 16½ hours for message to reach Liberty.

      0600: Israeli Nord 2501 Noratlas (flying boxcar) reconnoiters Liberty.

      0603: Reconnaissance aircraft reports to Israeli naval headquarters that “GTR-5” is written on the ship, identifying it as an NSA intelligence vessel.


      Delete
    3. 7 June 1967: 0720: Fresh American flag is raised.

      0900: Jet aircraft approaches Liberty, then veers off towards Gaza. Liberty crewmen unable to identify markings.

      1000: Two unmarked, rocket-armed, delta-winged jets circle Liberty three times. Liberty officers can count rockets and see the pilots, but see no identifying marks on the plane. The jets radio Israeli headquarters that the ship is flying an American flag.

      1030: Israeli “flying boxcar” with Israeli markings circles Liberty at about 200 feet. Crew member Larry Weaver says, “I was actually able to wave to the co-pilot, a fellow on the right-hand side of the plane. He waved back, and actually smiled at me.”

      1055: Pinchas Pinchasy, naval liaison officer at Israeli air force headquarters, reports to Naval Headquarters that the ship cruising slowly off El Arish is “an electromagnetic audio-surveillance ship of the U.S. Navy, named Liberty, whose marking was GTR-5.”

      1100 & 1130: Israeli reconnaissance aircraft again circle Liberty.

      1205: Three Israeli motor torpedo boats leave Ashdod at high speed headed toward Liberty. They are followed by Israeli air force fighters, loaded with 30mm cannon ammunition, rockets, and napalm.

      1215 & 1245: Israeli reconnaissance aircraft again circle Liberty.

      1341: Israeli torpedo boats spot Liberty and call for an immediate air strike.

      1358: Two unmarked delta-winged Mirage jets attack Liberty. After taking out gun mounts, they target ship’s antennae and bridge with heat-seeking missiles.

      1405: Three unmarked Dassault Mystère IIIC jets attack with napalm and rockets. Ship tries to contact Sixth Fleet headquarters, but five of Liberty’s six shore circuits are jammed. Radio operator manages to send distress signal from Captain McGonagle: “Under attack by unidentified jet aircraft, require immediate assistance.” Attack lasts approximately 22 minutes, involving 30 to 35 sorties, killing nine men and wounding around 60.
      Israeli pilot reports to base: “Great, wonderful, she’s burning, she’s burning.”

      Delete
    4. here were no standing orders to the USS Liberty, DIMWIT.

      The Israeli knowingly and with premeditation attacked the USS Liberty in international waters.

      Then, over forty year later the Israeli did the same against Turkish flagged shipping, in international waters.

      No chance those Pirates of the Mediterranean will ever gain admission to NATO.

      Delete

    5. 8 June 1967:

      0030: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Reconnaissance Center (JRC) orders Liberty to go from 12½ to 20 nautical miles off coast. An error by the U.S. Army Communications Center at the Pentagon results in message never reaching the ship.

      0130: JRC orders Liberty to approach no closer than 100 miles to the coasts of Egypt and Israel. Due to misrouting it will take 16½ hours for message to reach Liberty.

      Delete
    6. Bullshit, I was on a TAC base in East Anglia, UK in early summer 1967. We had two fighter squadrons and were converting over to F4 Phantoms. Pilots and support crews were rotating TDY between Da Nang and RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge. I watched ground crews painting out the stars and stripes on F4’s designated to go to guess where?

      While US servicemen were doing that, the Israeli air force was returning the compliment and killing US serviceman in the Med.

      Delete
    7. We expected to lose pilots in Viet Nam. Not to our greatest ally ever.

      Delete
    8. Was just pointing out that, according to rat, the Liberty was not where it was ordered to be, or perhaps, not where they were trying to order it to be.

      No one here knows for certain what happened.

      It's a Rorschach Test.

      Delete
    9. Bullshit², the facts are clear, numerous and verifiable. The zionists and Israeli-firsters do their best to mislead, distort and constitute the Liberty Deniers, of which you are now one of them. There is as much historic evidence to the intentional Israeli assault on The Liberty, as any event in history.The audacity of the cover-up and the practitioners of the disinformation is telling as to the degree of other acts of terrorism committed by individual Israeli politicians and the paid killers in the Israeli secret services. They never admit to any of the killing. Why expect The Liberty to be any different.

      Delete
    10. 16 US military surveillance flights were downed by the Soviets during the entire Cold War.

      Israeli attacked the surveillance ship USS Liberty in 1967.

      North Korea’s seized the USS Pueblo in 1968.

      WHO KILLED THE MOST AMERICANS?

      Delete
    11. Seems like no one had the guts to answer the question.

      The Liberty was in a war zone, all ships were ordered to be 100 miles away.

      Who ordered the liberty to spy on Israel.

      WHO?

      The NSA?

      Those same folks that spy on us now..

      The responsibility for getting the crew of the Liberty KILLED? The NSA.

      Delete
    12. DeuceWed Jul 31, 01:55:00 PM EDT
      Bullshit, I was on a TAC base in East Anglia, UK in early summer 1967. We had two fighter squadrons and were converting over to F4 Phantoms. Pilots and support crews were rotating TDY between Da Nang and RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge. I watched ground crews painting out the stars and stripes on F4’s designated to go to guess where?

      While US servicemen were doing that, the Israeli air force was returning the compliment and killing US serviceman in the Med.




      SO in fact, you were not there.

      Since YOU claim it was not an accident and it was on purpose. Why it in the middle of a active war zone. To quote one of your sources: "so close we could hear the egyptian shells exploding"

      International waters? Do you really think there is some kind of magic marker on top of the ocean that shows pilots while flying the exact line?

      You think it was on purpose. FINE, let's take your point on it.

      WHY?

      Unless it was actively SPYING on Israel IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR. An ACTIVE fast paced WAR....

      Why was America SPYING on Israel, where was the INTEL going? To HELP the arabs? To help the Arabs destroy the state of Israel?

      Hmmm... Let's examine how this HELP could have caused ANOTHER genocide of Jews barely 20 years after the murder of 6 million....

      Oh that's right, Deuce doesnt give a shit about Jews in Israel, they should all die cause they are colonists.

      Delete
    13. rat says: 7 June 1967, shortly before midnight. Office of the U.S. Defense Attaché in Tel Aviv sends coded message to U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) that Israel intends to attack the Liberty if her course is not changed.


      So I had asked...
      What is "Occupation"Wed Jul 31, 12:35:00 PM EDT
      And yet, when I say the NSA hijacked the USS Liberty, sailing the boat into a war zone, against standing orders I am wrong?



      So now Rat asserts that the USA's NSA sent a spy ship to spy on Israel during an active war, to collect data to give to WHOM? Not Israel..

      It sounds like the USA was SPYING on her ALLY Israel to HARM Israel.

      Now that's not what an ally is supposed to do.

      The more we learn the more we question why was the NSA spying on Israel, at 12 miles off the coast of gaza, DURING an active war?

      If NOT to help Israel, it was to HARM israel.

      Sounds like the NSA got Americans killed (again)

      Delete
    14. .

      Who ordered the liberty to spy on Israel.

      WHO?

      The NSA?

      Those same folks that spy on us now..

      The responsibility for getting the crew of the Liberty KILLED? The NSA.


      Your reasoning is absurd. It's like blaming the police chief for sending the cops in to patrol a bad part of town.

      .


      Delete
    15. DeuceWed Jul 31, 02:35:00 PM EDT
      16 US military surveillance flights were downed by the Soviets during the entire Cold War.
      Israeli attacked the surveillance ship USS Liberty in 1967.
      North Korea’s seized the USS Pueblo in 1968.
      WHO KILLED THE MOST AMERICANS?

      Most?

      Well the Soviets certainly murdered many more Americans in total, As did the Germans and the Japanese.

      As for "friendly fire"?

      23 September 1950: During the "Battle of Hill 282", three USAF P-51 Mustang aircraft attacked a position held by British Army of 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with guns and napalm, killing 17 and wounding 76.[1]


      Gulf War[edit]

      26 February 1991: Nine British soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, were killed and further 11 injured after their Warrior armoured vehicles were hit by Maverick missiles fired by two U.S. A-10 ground attack aircraft.[2] An Oxford inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killings.[3]
      27 February 1991: Two British soldiers of the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars were injured when their Scorpion armoured vehicles were fired on by U.S. M1 Abrams tanks.[2]
      14 April 1994: In the 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident, 26 Allied military and civilian personnels, including two British Army officers, were killed when two U.S. Air Force F-15Cs fighter aircraft shot down two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawks helicopters they were in.

      Delete
    16. War in Afghanistan[edit]

      5 December 2006: British Marine Mne. Jonathan Wigley's death was caused by gunfire from a U.S. F-18 aircraft.[4]
      July 2007: British Guardsman Matthew Lyne-Pirkis, of the Grenadier Guards, was wounded along with three other allied soldiers of the Afghan National Army after being hit by gunfire from a U.S. Apache helicopter gunship.[5]
      23 August 2007: A bomb dropped by an F-15 killed three soldiers of the Royal Anglian Regiment and wounded a further two.[6] During the subsequent inquest, issues such as inadequate communication equipment and incorrect coordinates from a British forward air controller were raised.[7] The coroner finally stated it was down to the "flawed application of procedures" rather than individual errors or "recklessness".[8]
      2009: A British soldier was fatally shot by a US helicopter crew in Afghanistan who thought they were attacking an enemy base. Gunfire from the helicopters left 11 injured on the ground. [9]

      Delete
    17. Iraq War[edit]

      23 March 2003: A British Tornado jet was shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile, killing two crewmen.[10][11]
      28 March 2003: British Lance-Corporal of Horse Matty Hull was killed by U.S. A-10 jets as well as five others wounded in the 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident.
      6 April 2003: BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson and members of his crew were injured when a bomb dropped from a U.S. F-15 aircraft hit a friendly Kurdish and U.S. Special Forces convoy, killing 15 people, including BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed.[12][13]

      Delete
    18. QuirkWed Jul 31, 03:30:00 PM EDT
      .Who ordered the liberty to spy on Israel.
      WHO?
      The NSA?
      Those same folks that spy on us now..
      The responsibility for getting the crew of the Liberty KILLED? The NSA.

      Your reasoning is absurd. It's like blaming the police chief for sending the cops in to patrol a bad part of town.

      Hardly.

      Rat and Deuce claim that the Liberty was attacked ON PURPOSE. Not an accident.. WHY?

      Who controlled the LIBERTY? If not the NSA?

      If the ship was in a place it should not be? Why was it there?

      Simple questions.

      No answers except Israel bad, America good.

      Delete
    19. .

      If NOT to help Israel, it was to HARM israel.


      More foolishness and logical fallacy, the false dilemma.

      Check it out to see what it means.

      .

      Delete
    20. .

      Hardly.

      You try to blame the victim for the crime of the perp.

      Fact: The Liberty was a spy ship. It was spying. It was picking up broadcasts from whoever happened to be broadcasting in the area.

      Why? That's what spy ships do.

      Fact: The Liberty was in international waters.

      Fact: Israel intentionally attacked the Liberty, the ship of an ally, in attacks spanning hours on a clear day.

      No answers except Israel bad, America good.

      If that's the way you want to put it, that's fine with me. I doubt anyone here with the exceptions of you and Bob would argue with that on this subject.

      Speculation: It sounds like the USA was SPYING on her ALLY Israel to HARM Israel.

      Pure speculation dreamt up by a crackpot author whose only authority is 'our sources' and 'old spies'.

      .



      Delete
    21. You are really hung up on this concept of international waters.

      If the spy ship was sitting 12 miles off the coast, and the international maritime border is 10 miles how long does it take to cover that distance in a PLANE?

      It was an active war zone.

      Have you ever been in one? Has America ever crossed a border unintentionally, lets say (keeping it to the same period) Cambodia?

      Delete
    22. It was not "Friendly Fire", it was an intentional attack on a US ship.

      The ship was never hijacked, which was the term you used, quot.

      Hijacked.

      www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hijack‎
      a : to steal by stopping a vehicle on the highway. b : to commandeer (a flying airplane) especially by coercing the pilot at gunpoint. c : to stop and steal from


      You really need to get back to those remedial English classes, amigo

      ;-)

      Delete
    23. There were no "Standing Orders" to the USS Liberty.

      So, your premise, that the ship was hijacked by the NSA and that the Captain was in violation of his orders are both patently false.

      In fact the Captian was award the Medal of Honor, for his heroism that June day in 1967, when his ship was attacked without provocation, repeatedly, by the air and naval forces of the secular and socialist state of Isael.

      Murdering US sailors in an act of state sponsored International Terrorism, well before the term gained popular currency. One of many acts of state sponsored terrorism that the secular state of Israel has committed, even if we were to use the quot doctrine's definition of terrorism.

      Operation Cast Lead killed hundreds of civilians, women and children, targeted schools and hospitals in a section of Palestine. Gaza is a portion of Palestine that is without any military targets. The Palestinians of Gaza have no military, and that's a fact.



      Delete
    24. Staying on target Rat, but we will concede you have PERSONAL experience murdering civilians....

      desert ratWed Jul 31, 04:50:00 PM EDT
      It was not "Friendly Fire", it was an intentional attack on a US ship.

      So an attack by another country, by it's air force by definion is NOT terrorism.

      It may be anb act of war. But not terrorism.

      You say "Murdering US sailors in an act of state sponsored International Terrorism" No, IF the attack was intentional it was war.

      You really need to get back to those remedial English classes, amigo

      Your sloppiness with English is amazing.

      Delete
    25. Rat: Operation Cast Lead killed hundreds of civilians, women and children, targeted schools and hospitals in a section of Palestine. Gaza is a portion of Palestine that is without any military targets. The Palestinians of Gaza have no military, and that's a fact.


      How many Japanese did America kill when she nuked Japanese cities?

      Delete
    26. Rat: In fact the Captian was award the Medal of Honor, for his heroism that June day in 1967, when his ship was attacked without provocation, repeatedly, by the air and naval forces of the secular and socialist state of Isael.


      Well Rat, SPYING on Israel during an active war? I'd say that aint sitting playing checkers...

      The Captain got his shiny medal and the same folks that gave him the medal accepted Israel's friendly fire explanation.

      you don't?

      You are out of step with EVER administration since 1967. How un-American of you.

      Delete
    27. Rat: So, your premise, that the ship was hijacked by the NSA and that the Captain was in violation of his orders are both patently false.



      Ship was off course by a hundred miles. In the middle of an active war zone. Why was it disobeying orders?

      Unless America got CAUGHT spying for the arabs (again)

      Delete
    28. desert ratWed Jul 31, 04:50:00 PM EDT
      It was not "Friendly Fire", it was an intentional attack on a US ship.



      And yet 6 board of Reviews by this nation did not find the way you did...

      Wow will wonders ever cease?

      Delete
    29. It sounds like the USA was SPYING on her ALLY Israel to HARM Israel.

      Quirk: Pure speculation dreamt up by a crackpot author whose only authority is 'our sources' and 'old spies'.


      And yet you offer NO ideas? You just say "above my pay grade" "not my job to offer ideas"

      Simple fact.

      Liberty was sailing 100 miles off course.

      The NSA has a record of doing this, shall we say, extra-legal.

      Deuce, Rat and you say it was intentional.

      What was the motive? To simply murder USA sailors?

      Doesnt sound plausible.

      Now UNLESS israel did attack that ship on purpose to stop it's spying.

      Now if that is the truth? WHY WHo was America spying for?

      Was this intel going to be shared with the brits and the arabs?

      Was israel fighting for it's life?

      What was one small spy ship doing so close the sailors could hear the egyptian shells exploding?

      Delete
    30. desert ratWed Jul 31, 05:03:00 PM EDT
      There were no "Standing Orders" to the USS Liberty.


      How do you KNOW?

      Sounds like it's just one Jew hating, Israel bashing person's opinion. Not based in fact, but "feelings"

      Delete
    31. DeuceWed Jul 31, 02:29:00 PM EDT
      Bullshit², the facts are clear, numerous and verifiable. The zionists and Israeli-firsters do their best to mislead, distort and constitute the Liberty Deniers, of which you are now one of them. There is as much historic evidence to the intentional Israeli assault on The Liberty, as any event in history.The audacity of the cover-up and the practitioners of the disinformation is telling as to the degree of other acts of terrorism committed by individual Israeli politicians and the paid killers in the Israeli secret services. They never admit to any of the killing. Why expect The Liberty to be any different.



      I aint misleading I ask a simple question.

      What the heck was the liberty doing 100 miles off course, hovering on the international border of Gaza/Israel IF NOT SPYING?

      Try that ONE point

      Delete
    32. DeuceWed Jul 31, 02:35:00 PM EDT
      16 US military surveillance flights were downed by the Soviets during the entire Cold War.

      Israeli attacked the surveillance ship USS Liberty in 1967.

      North Korea’s seized the USS Pueblo in 1968.

      WHO KILLED THE MOST AMERICANS?




      Tobacco.

      Delete
    33. Frankly, I can understand Wio’s fractured loyalties. It is an ancient religious and ethnic comfort zone and an organic distrust of anything too far out of the zone. It is the classic dilemma of a wife and a girlfriend.

      Bob, on the other hand, does not have that inherent dilemma. He is more like a camp follower.

      Delete
    34. Camp follower ...

      That is another word for whore, isn't it?

      Delete
    35. In the 1960's the Israeli killed more US sailors than the NorKs.

      In the 21st century the Israeli have killed more US citizens that the NorKs.

      The NorKs are not US allies, neither are the Israeli.

      Neither could ever join NATO.
      Neither meet the qualifications required for a treaty ally of the United States.

      Turkey does.
      Croatia does.
      Albania does.
      Latvia does.
      Even Slovenia does.

      Israel is right there with North Korea, birds of a feather, flocking together.

      Delete
    36. IN the 1960s?

      LOL

      How about this...

      The North koreans have killed more americans that Israel in the entire span of human history times 150,000?

      Delete
    37. Germany is an ally of the USA today.

      It has killed more Americans in 4 years than Israel has killed in 4 years times 400,000....

      Delete
    38. Japan and Germany, both recipients of vast American aid, have killed tens of thousands of Americans in the short span of 4 years.

      This number of American dead exceeds the amount killed by Israel since the time of King David multipled by 980,000.

      In fact, the number of Americans murdered and or killed by Israel since Moses is less than the amount killed by North korea in ONE hour of battle in the Korean Conflict in a fight for ONE hill...

      Delete
    39. More Americans have been murdered by the secular state of America, JUST counting fetuses than all killed in WW2. 55 million dead fetuses..

      Amazing stats..

      Delete
    40. desert ratWed Jul 31, 06:15:00 PM EDT
      In the 1960's the Israeli killed more US sailors than the NorKs.

      In the 21st century the Israeli have killed more US citizens that the NorKs.

      The NorKs are not US allies, neither are the Israeli.



      Well rat that puts you OUTSIDE the policy and practice of the USA since 1948. You are on the wrong side of history.

      Every President of America has called Israel "America's Ally" I guess you are not a loyal AMerican after all, seeing how you are at odds with American law, American policy and AMerican values.

      Congrats amigo, you being the squatting foreigner that you are...

      Delete
    41. That is correct, quot, the NorKs are never going to be an ally of the US, neither is Israel.

      They are peas in a pod, twin sons of different mothers.

      Both use terrorism, assassination and unprovoked military aggression as bulwarks of their foreign policy.

      Delete
    42. As long as you talk about me, I'm ahead intellectually.

      I could talk about you, easy enough.

      You once asked if I had ever participated in an abortion, your wife told me she'd rather have the kid.

      Delete
    43. desert ratWed Jul 31, 09:28:00 PM EDT
      As long as you talk about me, I'm ahead intellectually.
      I could talk about you, easy enough.
      You once asked if I had ever participated in an abortion, your wife told me she'd rather have the kid.



      wow... deep insult...

      not...

      Is that the best you can come up with?

      Delete
    44. desert ratWed Jul 31, 09:26:00 PM EDT
      That is correct, quot, the NorKs are never going to be an ally of the US, neither is Israel.
      They are peas in a pod, twin sons of different mothers.
      Both use terrorism, assassination and unprovoked military aggression as bulwarks of their foreign policy.


      Still talking out your ass Rat. Now you may not like it, but it is a fact, Israel is an ally of the USA, since 1948.

      It is you on the wrong side of history.

      Your continuous, libelous attacks on Israel just prove to the world what a nut job you are. And it does this blog proud.

      Your words? Speak volumes about WHO and WHAT you stand for and are..

      I stand with Israel.

      Delete
    45. Rat: Both use terrorism, assassination and unprovoked military aggression as bulwarks of their foreign policy.



      One standard for Israel, no standards for any other western or asian or arab nation.

      Thanks for proving to all of us your bias again.

      Delete
    46. Israel is in an Arab country, Palestine.

      Israel is certainly not western. It is in the middle of the Islamic Arc.

      That you would say that the Israeli portion of Palestine is a western nation, makes it clear you are as geographically challenged as you are in English composition.

      Delete
    47. The Middle East is by definition, quot, not western.

      Look at a map.

      ;-)

      Culturally, Judaism is a Middle Eastern religion, not western.

      Nothing about Israel is western.

      It is Semitic, don't you know.
      I thought you knew what that word meant.

      Delete
    48. I know you use words that you do not understand the meaning of, a lot.

      But Semitic, Middle East, Palestine, even Israel, nothing western about any of them.
      Why in the world would you compare Israel to any western nation?

      Delete
    49. Rat your ability to spin shit grows on a daily basis. Posting as many threads as you do and actually saying nothing! Amazing.

      Delete
    50. desert ratWed Jul 31, 10:09:00 PM EDT
      Israel is in an Arab country, Palestine.


      Do you actually read a history book Rat?

      There has never been a "country" called Palestine, unless you mean the meaningless action the PA took in the last few years.

      desert ratWed Jul 31, 10:09:00 PM EDT
      Israel is in an Arab country, Palestine.


      Please tell oh wise one, When the "arab" country of Palestine was formed, Who was it's 1st President? Or King if you wish...

      We are waiting...

      wiggle wiggle wiggle.

      talk about getting dumber by the day.

      Do some history on the term Palestine. When and by whom was it named... (please notice not an arab to be found for 640 years)

      Delete
    51. Yeah, well it is entertaining watching you twist in the wind.

      When it comes to posting content without real coherence or meaning, I leave that crown to you.

      We should anyone consider Israel to be a "Western" nation?

      It is not in the West, it is in the Middle East.
      The Judaic religion was not formulated in the West, it is not "Western" it is Middle Eastern.

      The current cultural center of Judaism is not in the West, it is in the Middle East.
      The majority of the immigrants are not Western, but came from Arabic nations in the period immediately after 1948, as you have told us, often.
      The majority of the Europeon immigrants are not Western, but Eastern Europeon.

      Why should Israel be counted amongst Western nations?

      Even boobie compares it to India, which is Southwestern Asian.

      Tell us why you think that Israel should be compared to Western nations.
      Then tell us why it should be compared favorably, that'd be even more entertaining.

      I can enumerate why Israel and North Korea are soul mates.
      Why can you not follow suit?


      He's twisting in the wind, bettin' on that losin' card
      He's makin' the same mistakes he swore he'd never make again.

      ;-)

      Delete
    52. Your understanding of the word country, quot is quite colloquial.
      A country is not a political entity, it is a piece of ground. A geographic area.




      Country - Definition
      Tract of land inhabited by people of one or several nations.
      Whereas the term 'country' emphasizes the physical dimensions and boundaries of a geographical area, 'nation' emphasizes a particular community of people with shared history and culture, and 'state' a self-governing legal and political entity.

      Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/country.html#ixzz2agXDBsp6


      A country does apply to a single political entity. It is a geographic area.
      It does not apply to any political entity, except colloquially.

      Like AMERICA.

      There is no political entity called AMERICA.

      AMERICA has no government, no President, it never has had. AMERICA is a geographic area in the Western Hemisphere.
      As Palestine is a geographic are in Arabia.

      Now, the was once a Land of Israel, but ...
      When I would refer to Israel you and the AIPAC crowd objected.
      I was told it was the "state of Israel" and should be referred to as such.

      I try to comply.

      Now, pay attention, the state of Israel was recognized by the United States of America as being in a portion of Palestine. Palestine is the country where the state of Israel is. Like America is the country where the United States is.

      So, it makes little difference when the first reference to Palestine was made.
      The only reference that matters is that made by President Truman, when he recognized the state of Israel as being in a portion of Palestine.

      If there is no country of Palestine, there is no state of Israel, as recognized by the United States.
      If the United States of America had not recognized the state of Israel in a portion of Palestine, neither would I. But the United States did recognize the state of Israel, in a portion of Palestine, you demanded that we call the polity the "state of Israel", which means it is not the Land of Israel, but a state, in a portion of Palestine.

      Hope you can get up to speed with your English
      Happy to help in that effort.

      ;-)

      Delete
    53. America is also the country where Canada is.
      America is also the country where Mexico is.

      Palestine is the country where the state of Israel is.
      Palestine is the country where the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is.
      Palestine is the country where the state of Israel has taken and annexed land in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

      Delete
    54. You are so full of shit it's entertaining.

      Delete
    55. If you were a citizen you'd recognize this diddy...


      "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", is an American patriotic song, whose lyrics were written by Samuel Francis Smith.

      My country, 'tis of thee,
      Sweet land of liberty,
      Of thee I sing;
      Land where my fathers died,
      Land of the pilgrims' pride,
      From ev'ry mountainside
      Let freedom ring!
      2
      My native country, thee,
      Land of the noble free,
      Thy name I love;
      I love thy rocks and rills,
      Thy woods and templed hills;
      My heart with rapture thrills,
      Like that above.
      3
      Let music swell the breeze,
      And ring from all the trees
      Sweet freedom's song;
      Let mortal tongues awake;
      Let all that breathe partake;
      Let rocks their silence break,
      The sound prolong.
      4
      Our fathers' God to Thee,
      Author of liberty,
      To Thee we sing.
      Long may our land be bright,
      With freedom's holy light,
      Protect us by Thy might,
      Great God our King.
      Additional verse to celebrate Washington's Centennial [4]
      5
      Our joyful hearts today,
      Their grateful tribute pay,
      Happy and free,
      After our toils and fears,
      After our blood and tears,
      Strong with our hundred years,
      O God, to Thee.
      Additional verses by Henry van Dyke
      6
      We love thine inland seas,
      Thy groves and giant trees,
      Thy rolling plains;
      Thy rivers' mighty sweep,
      Thy mystic canyons deep,
      Thy mountains wild and steep,--
      All thy domains.
      7
      Thy silver Eastern strands,
      Thy Golden Gate that stands
      Fronting the West;
      Thy flowery Southland fair,
      Thy North's sweet, crystal air:
      O Land beyond compare,
      We love thee best!
      Additional Abolitionist verses, 1843, A. G. Duncan [5]
      8
      My country, 'tis of thee,
      Stronghold of slavery, of thee I sing;
      Land where my fathers died,
      Where men man’s rights deride,
      From every mountainside thy deeds shall ring!
      9
      My native country, thee,
      Where all men are born free, if white’s their skin;
      I love thy hills and dales,
      Thy mounts and pleasant vales;
      But hate thy negro sales, as foulest sin.
      10
      Let wailing swell the breeze,
      And ring from all the trees the black man’s wrong;
      Let every tongue awake;
      Let bond and free partake;
      Let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.
      11
      Our father’s God! to thee,
      Author of Liberty, to thee we sing;
      Soon may our land be bright,
      With holy freedom’s right,
      Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King.
      12
      It comes, the joyful day,
      When tyranny’s proud sway, stern as the grave,
      Shall to the ground be hurl’d,
      And freedom’s flag, unfurl’d,
      Shall wave throughout the world, O’er every slave.
      13
      Trump of glad jubilee!
      Echo o’er land and sea freedom for all.
      Let the glad tidings fly,
      And every tribe reply,
      “Glory to God on high,” at Slavery’s fall.


      Your "views" on what constitute's a country? Is about as solid as jello...

      Delete
  2. Mankind has been genetically altering plants since we took up farming -

    You are confusing hybrids with genetics.

    ReplyDelete

  3. Triumph of the Doves


    I mentioned this in my post on Janet Yellen, she-devil, but the WSJ article on the predictive success of the Fed’s doves deserves a post of its own.

    When we first entered this crisis, economists and economic pundits quickly sorted themselves out into two camps. One camp — the “doves” — basically said, we’ve turned into Japan; we’re a liquidity-trap economy in which even large deficits won’t drive up interest rates and even huge expansion of the Fed balance sheet won’t cause inflation. The other camp said that we weren’t Japan, we were or soon would be Weimar, or maybe just the 1970s: high rates and high inflation were just around the corner.

    These differing views reflected fundamental differences in economic models — differences that tended to be associated with political leanings, although there are a handful of politically conservative market monetarists out there.

    And history has given us as decisive a test of rival economic theories as I’ve ever seen.

    In the first couple of years, as the data kept coming in favoring the liquidity-trap view, I kept hearing accusations that those of us citing these data were “cherry-picking”, that the evidence was actually running the other way. I don’t hear that so much now — it’s just too obvious that the promised inflation and rate surge never materialized. Still, it’s good to have someone without a personal stake in this debate do a systematic analysis, and that’s what the WSJ did. Sure enough, doves rool. And Janet Yellen, among the most dovish of Fed officials, roolz especially.

    If past experience is any guide, however, all of this will make no difference. Inflation phobia does not, it seems, require any actual inflation to persist. And being a gold bug — or, in general, being a right-winger — means never having to say you’re sorry.

    Triumph of the Doves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      And being a gold bug — or, in general, being a right-winger — means never having to say you’re sorry.


      :)

      All politics, all the time with Krugman.

      .



      Delete
  4. Quirk's comment from the previous thread is apt -

    >>>QuirkWed Jul 31, 09:57:00 AM EDT
    .

    I would have made the same comment about Roundup as you Deuce. My wife keeps me up on this stuff and has talked most of the neighbors out of using Roundup in their yards for weed control not only for health reasons (the stuff has a half-life of a billion years) but for the business practices the company uses worldwide. Perhaps, a billion years may be a bit hyperbolic. :)

    Developed by Monsanto, it is part of the big scam pushed by Big Ag, in this case Monsanto, to monopolize first the genetically modified grain market and then the world wide grain market.

    I am not sure that I would buy anything grown from ground sotted from a heavy hit of Roundup.

    Neither would the EU, that's why the US/EU ag-trade agreement is in trouble right now. The EU refuses to accept GM grains from the US.

    Monsanto may do the world a great deal of good but they are also, like the tobacco companies before them, dishonest in their business practices, misleading in their marketing, and deceitful in their defense. Also, we are creating the potential for a major food crisis by reducing the diversity of the various seeds used worldwide. Even the seed banks set up in various countries are pretty much controlled by a few seed companies. This doesn't even discuss the monopoly practices employed and the cost to farmers from using these seeds.

    .


    BobWed Jul 31, 11:53:00 AM EDT
    "the stuff has a half-life of a billion years) but for the business practices the company uses worldwide. Perhaps, a billion years may be a bit hyperbolic"

    Only just a little off, maybe a billion years.

    Perfect Quirk, what 'facts' are given are wrong by magnitudes, killing weeds and genetically modified foods are confused, a blanket attack is made on big business, and a total mess is made of the whole discussion.

    Pure Quirk.<<<

    Notice how it is Q's wife, not Q himself, who "keeps me up on this stuff".

    One's wife might believe in chem trails, or Sasquatch, or The Lake Ness Monster, but really one ought to do one's own research.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      ...killing weeds and genetically modified foods are confused, a blanket attack is made on big business, and a total mess is made of the whole discussion.

      More non-sense from Mr. Green Jeans.

      The first part of post addressed Deuce's concern regarding Roundup.

      The second part involved both weed killers and GM food products both of which are major concerns in the EU and both of which directly or indirectly are affecting trade talks on US AG exports or the lack of them to the EU. That you are unaware of the issues or the EU concerns, not at all surprising.

      Your comment regarding 'a blanket attack is made on big business' is either intentional hyperbole or merely absurd. My attack was specific to Monsanto (supplier of Roundup and GM seeds), although it can also apply to other Ag giants who supply seeds. Attack 'big business'? Tell it to Ford or Apple.

      I will not respond to your misogynistic attack on my wife. I consider the source.

      .

      Delete
    2. Heck, why not respond to his misogynist attack on your wife? You respond to the boobie regularly. I quite enjoy the read as you chase him down the rabbit hole.

      Delete
    3. My Dear Quirk - I wasn't in any way attacking your wife, who I am certain is a much better person than you.

      Sir, I was attacking YOU for being so damned lazy you can't get up and do your own fucking research.

      Green Jeans

      Delete
  5. "Good Morning, NSA.

    Go fuck yourself."

    Concur.

    I often these days put that or something similar in at the beginning of e-mails to folks.

    Since it is short, pithy and to the point I will use that from now on.

    ReplyDelete
  6. From the "Everything You Think is True, isn't True" dept:

    This isn’t to say that the Affordable Care Act is causing restaurants to increase their hours; there wouldn’t be much of a reason for that. Instead, this graph makes the case that we haven’t seen widespread cutting of worker hours at restaurants in anticipation of the Affordable Care Act.

    This chart also doesn’t predict the future: It’s possible that, come 2015, employers could scale back hours when the employer mandate hits. But at this point, restaurants aren’t taking widespread steps in that direction.

    Ain't true

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the same vein, I went back to the BLS website, and checked out the growth in part-time workers over the last year. It was, basically, non-existent. 16,000 in a workforce of 155,000,000.

      Delete
    2. .

      One assumes that if there is a negative effect from Obamacare it will increase as we approach the effective date in 2013.

      Therefore,

      1. Not sure how pertinent the White House charts are since they go back and cover a period starting in 2010 which would tend to skew the data and mask the effect of Obamacare.

      2. As for the BLS data on part-time work, not sure what period we are talking about.

      From the July 5, 2013 BLS Employment Situation Report for June.


      The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes
      referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased by 322,000 to 8.2
      million in June. These individuals were working part time because their
      hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time
      job. (See table A-8.)

      In June, 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
      essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
      adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
      were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior
      12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not
      searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)


      http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

      .


      Delete
    3. .

      s/b '...as we approach the effective date in 2014"


      .

      Delete
    4. But, if you'll remember, part-time jobs decreased by about 330,000 from March to April, and stayed more or less stable from April to May.

      The Year on Year numbers are here:

      BLS Website

      Delete
    5. I'm not saying that this move to part-timership isn't something that "is going to happen," just that it really hasn't happened, Yet.

      Delete
  7. INEOS Bio’s biorefinery, Indian River BioEnergy Center, is now producing cellulosic ethanol at commercial scale. The first ethanol shipments will be released in August. According to the company, this is the first commercial-scale production in the world using their gasification and fermentation technology for conversion of biomass waste into bioethanol and renewable power.

    “We are delighted with the progress made by our team at Vero Beach,” said Peter Williams, CEO of INEOS Bio and Chairman of INEOS New Planet BioEnergy. “They have successfully addressed the challenges of moving a new technology to large production INEOS BIO BIOETHANOL FIRST FACILITYscale for the very first time. Consequently, we are now pleased to announce that we are producing commercial quantities of bioethanol from vegetative and wood waste, and at the same time exporting power to the local community – a world first. We expect to . . . .

    Up and Running

    ReplyDelete
  8. Despite all the warnings about the dangers of talking or texting while driving, transportation experts say the situation is only getting worse.

    The driver of the train that derailed in Spain, killing 79 people and injuring many others, was talking on his cellphone to an employee of the state-run train company, Renfe, according to court statements released Tuesday. Francisco José Garzón Amo reportedly picked up his cellphone to receive directions on his route before the derailment, the official statement said. The train was moving 119 mph at the time—more than twice the recommended speed on that stretch, according to the court. This kind of cellphone distraction in all modes of transport is a growing problem in the U.S. too. “It’s on our most-wanted list of transportation-safety improvements,” says Terry Williams, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.

    Some 25% of car crashes are likely caused by cellphone use, according to a May 2013 report from the National Safety Council. Drivers using cellphones fail to see up to 50% of the information in their environment, says David Teater, senior director at the NSC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are driving a train on tracks why do you need directions? comes to mind. I know there are switches and whatever, but he's probably been on that route 500 times. Twice the recommended speed, wow. I think the guy was drinking Gallo and smoking weed. Everything seemed slower.

      Delete
    2. If Quirk drinks and drives, as he once said, watch out when he is driving, drinking and using his cell phone.

      Quirk!!

      Delete
    3. Weed smokers tend to move, and drive, slowly, but hey, why let reality get in the way of yet another boobie dropping?

      Delete
    4. It, reality, has never gotten in the way before. Why start now and ruin the fiction?

      Delete
    5. They just think they are moving and driving slowly when the weed is mixed with Gallo, pot head.

      Delete
  9. As the Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz wrote recently about the reasons inequality is impeding an economic recovery:


    The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically driven our economic growth. While the top 1 percent of income earners took home 93 percent of the growth in incomes in 2010, the households in the middle – who are most likely to spend their incomes rather than save them and who are, in a sense, the true job creators – have lower household incomes, adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1996.

    This is not complicated. All you have to believe is the following:

    ¶There are people who want to work more but can’t find either jobs or the hours of work they seek; in fact, there are more than 20 million people (over 14 percent) in the current work force who are involuntarily un- or underemployed.

    ¶Many of them are income-constrained; as per Professor Stiglitz, if they had more income they would spend it. Though the economy has expanded since the second half of 2009, real median household income is down 4.4 percent.The inflation-adjusted stock market is up 60 percent and corporate profits are at a record high relative to national income, so there’s your inequality: the economy’s growing but it’s not reaching the middle on down.

    ¶If less inequality – or stimulative fiscal or monetary policy – steered more growth to lower-income households, they’d be more likely to spend the extra dollar than a non-income-constrained rich family (see the statistics on this in my earlier post). That’s certainly what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office believes (see Table 2) as it applies a G.D.P. growth multiplier that’s more than three times larger for transfer payments to those with lower incomes than tax cuts for the wealthy.

    Most economists would consider that logic and evidence a slam dunk linking . . . . .

    Chicken or Egg?

    ReplyDelete
  10. .

    Only die-hard supply siders would deny it.

    Currently, US fiscal, monetary, regulatory, and tax policy are all geared towards supporting the 1%.

    The message for the rest of us, pound sand.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm for dividing things up with those that have more than I.

      What this country needs is more transfer payments.

      Delete
    2. That way, all you have to do is sit on your ass, and divide things up with people that work.

      Delete
    3. .

      More views from the nitwit fringe.

      No wonder children are usually barred from adult conversation.

      .

      Delete
    4. Hey, look what transfer payments did for Detroit!

      Delete
    5. .

      Though I realize you are likely incapable of embarrassment, I still can't help but observe that any normal person would likely be highly embarrassed by the simplistic comments you post here.

      There are at least half a dozen 'major' reasons Detroit now finds itself in the straits it is in, and yet you try to distill the whole issue down to 'transfer payments'.

      Lordy.

      .

      Delete
    6. The Vandals arose in East Germany.

      Bwabwabwahahahhahaha




      And how can there be at least a half dozen 'major' reasons for anything?

      There is usually, in normal discourse and accepted world wide understanding, one 'major' reason for something, and a bunch of other little shit.

      Delete
    7. As in, the 'major' reason Quirk crashed his car into the telephone pole was because he was soused while driving, and contributing minor factors were he was on the cell phone, sexting, and didn't put the brakes on in time.

      Delete
    8. The "Major" reason for city of Detroit's decline and the bankruptcy of the city's government has been the exodus of the population, since the 1960's.

      The "transfer payment" deficits are a symptom of the population decline, not a cause.

      You are getting dumber by the day, boobie..

      Delete
    9. Where did I say exactly that transfer payments were the cause of anything in Detroit?

      I said:
      "Hey, look what transfer payments did for Detroit!"

      I did not say:
      "Transfer payments ruined Detroit."

      I did not even say:

      "Transfer payments harmed Detroit."

      It was a way of saying with mocking sarcastic intent that I don't think more transfer payments would do much of anything and not much good anywhere, and not in Detroit.

      I know this is extremely hard for a total dumb and nasty fuck like you to understand, so I will leave it at that.

      Delete
    10. "There is something really wrong with you, Rat."

      Trish

      out for the remainder of the day

      Delete
    11. Bob Wed Jul 31, 03:32:00 PM EDT

      Delete
    12. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    13. .

      And how can there be at least a half dozen 'major' reasons for anything?

      There is usually, in normal discourse and accepted world wide understanding, one 'major' reason for something, and a bunch of other little shit.


      :)

      You are always looking for the 'simple' one word answer to every complicated issue, even those that have taken 50 years to evolve. Sorry old timer, that might be the way it works in Idaho sitting in ye old rocking chair but not in real life.

      Detroit today. Product of,

      1. The '67 riots that destroyed thousands of middle class businesses that were never replaced, riots that turned large areas of the city into wastelands.

      2. The FED imposed school busing program in the 70's that opened the flood gates on the white flight that started in the 50's and escalated after the riots, a program that aggravated the segregation problem it was designed to help and further hurt race relations.

      3. The oil embargo that gave the Japanese the opportunity they needed in order to displace the Big Three. In the 80's, the decline of the Big Three resulted in factories being moved from Detroit to the south, to Mexico, and to other countries. Detroit lost a good chunk of its industrial base at the same time the population drop further reduced its tax base.

      4. The 20 year run of Coleman Young a mayor created a black/white, city/suburb divide that still haunts the city. During the Young years, Detroit became the 'Murder Capital' and the 'Arson Capital' of the U.S.

      5. There was a massive increase in crime in the '80s and 90's due to drugs. Drugs gangs (heroin in the 80's and crack in the 90's) pretty much ruled the streets of Detroit.

      6. A run of corruption in City Hall and surrounding Wayne County government in this century has resulted in Kwame Kilpatrick and his cronies ending up in Federal prison and the County Executive and his cronies being currently under Federal investigation.

      How about this for small shit?

      The 2008 recession that hurt Detroit more than most places. It resulted in not only unemployment but an increase in crime and arson, businesses closing, more abandoned buildings, people stripping street lights for their copper, etc.

      Incompetent city administrations (primarily City Council) that refused to give up control over their 'jewels' (zoo, Belle Isle, DIA, water department, etc.) even if it meant they couldn't pay to keep the street lights on.

      The fact that the blighted areas and abandoned homes are scattered all over the city rather than in just one or two areas, which means you still have to provide services to the entire city, a city the size of Philly that has a third of the people it had 50 years ago.

      I could go on but I'm sure this is a little too complicated for your tastes. Why don't you just pick one and roll with it.

      .

      Delete
  11. CNN: We interviewed a lead Benghazi suspect, whom the feds apparently can’t find, for two hours

    POSTED AT 1:41 PM ON JULY 31, 2013 BY ALLAHPUNDIT


    A nice catch from the Standard. Actually, John King never says that the FBI can’t find the Benghazi suspects, only that they’ve never contacted the guy whom CNN interviewed. Why? According to an AP story published in May, the feds are keeping their distance because they’re surveilling them electronically. (Them and everyone else in the world, right?) As of two months ago, they supposedly had enough evidence on the suspects to justify sending in troops to grab them but not enough to support either a drone strike or a trial in federal district court. A C-in-C who’s willing to authorize attacks from the air in Pakistan on targets whose identities he doesn’t even know is apparently a stickler for due process when it comes to Benghazi. Go figure.

    That was two months ago, though. Two months later, they … still don’t have the evidence they need? My theory at the time, which I see no reason to revisit, is that O’s determined not to make any sudden moves militarily towards Libya while the new central government there is unstable. If he sends in the Marines to grab the suspects, it’ll give the local jihadis a pretext to rally Libyans against the new government for being “puppets of America” or whatever. (The Libyan government already released one Benghazi suspect whom they had in custody, in fact.) If anything, that logic is truer today than it was in May: Just look at what happened last week. Maybe O thinks that it’s fine to hold off on capturing them for now so long as America’s eye in the sky knows where they are; maybe he’s planning a big operation for around September 11, the one-year anniversary of the attack, to trump the inevitable headlines that nothing’s been done to get the bad guys if he fails to act. Or maybe Obama would prefer not to dredge up a political liability like Benghazi by grabbing these guys and bringing them back to America, where they’ll remind the world through their lawyers just how little security there was at the consulate. When the time is right, he’ll drone a few of them. Some of the others might solve his problem for him by decamping to Libya to fight against Assad, where they’ll be ostensible U.S., ahem, “allies.” We need able-bodied “freedom fighters” on the ground there and some of these degenerates would surely be both willing and able. See? He knows what he’s doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suspect?
      What is his name?
      What is he suspected of, what could he be charged with, boobie?

      None of these "suspects" have names, aye?

      Reads like poorly written fiction.

      Delete
    2. Call CNN or the author of the article and ask for the name.

      Delete
    3. Obviously he is suspected of taking part in the attack at Benghazi. He may be the same guy who was heard bragging about it at the cafe/bar or where ever it was.

      God, you are stupid.

      Delete
    4. Who, you are the one that posted this piece of fiction.
      It does not carry the CNN byline.

      It is a total fabrication, a piece of fiction.

      Who is Allahpundit?
      What is his phone number?

      Be happy to call 'em, if they existed.

      Delete
    5. You post garbage, boobie, is it because you are a boob?

      Delete
    6. Allahpundit is the Co-Head Poobah at Hotair.com

      Delete
    7. CNN has so little confidence in the story they have not written it.

      Like John McCain in Syria, the CNN folks talked with "someone", no guarantee he was who he said he was.

      Delete
    8. Even less that he is the same person on the DoJ list of "suspects".

      Delete
  12. ACE hailed “ACE” yesterday in Galva, Iowa during an event where Quad County Corn Processors broke ground on its Adding Cellulosic Ethanol “ACE” project a bolt-on technology innovation that will specialize in converting corn fiber into cellulosic ethanol. On hand for the groundbreaking ceremony was American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Executive . . . .

    Breaking Ground

    ReplyDelete

  13. Topics: Energy and Environment Washington Secrets

    Photo - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, apparently has plans to launch an EMP attack against the United States, say experts. (AP Photo) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, apparently has plans to launch an EMP attack against the...
    The earth barely missed taking a massive solar punch in the teeth two weeks ago, an "electromagnetic pulse" so big that it could have knocked out power, cars and iPhones throughout the United States.

    Two EMP experts told Secrets that the EMP flashed through earth's typical orbit around the sun about two weeks before the planet got there.

    "The world escaped an EMP catastrophe," said Henry Cooper, who lead strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union under President Reagan, and who now heads High Frontier, a group pushing for missile defense.

    "There had been a near-miss about two weeks ago, a Carrington-class coronal mass ejection crossed the orbit of the Earth and basically just missed us," said Peter Vincent Pry, who served on the Congressional EMP Threat Commission from 2001-2008. He was referring to the 1859 EMP named after astronomer Richard Carrington that melted telegraph lines in Europe and North America.

    "Basically this is a Russian roulette thing," added Pry. "We narrowly escape from a Carrington-class disaster."

    Pry, Cooper, and former CIA Director James Woolsey have been recently demanding that Washington prepare the nation's electric grid for an EMP, either from the sun or an enemy's nuclear bomb. They want the 2,000-3,000 transformers in the grid protected with a high-tech metal box and spares ready to rebuild the system. Woolsey said knocking out just 20 would shut down electricity to parts of the nation "for a long time."

    But Washington is giving them the cold shoulder, especially the administration. Woolsey told Secrets that some in Congress are interested in the issue, but the administration is just in the "beginnings" of paying attention.

    Woolsey said that Air Force One and aircraft used by the Strategic Air Command to control nuclear-tipped missiles are hardened against an EMP.

    The EMP effect is not rare. One occurred in Canada in 1989, knocking out Quebec's electric transmission system. And North Korea is reportedly testing a device to attack the U.S. with an EMP attack.

    The trio appeared at an event in Washington this week, but Pry said getting the nation's leaders interested in the issue is difficult and educating the public about EMP hard too. "The education curve isn't going up fast enough," he said.

    At the event, Cooper suggested that North Korea might already have the capability to launch an EMP against the United States. He said in December, North Korea tested its so-called Space Launch Vehicle which could deliver a stealthy nuclear attack on the United States by orbiting a nuclear weapon over the South Pole where the U.S. has no radar or missile interceptors facing south. North Korea, he said, apparently orbited a satellite over the south polar region on a trajectory and altitude consistent with making a surprise nuclear EMP attack against the United States.

    Woolsey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are the honorary co-chairs of a new EMP Coalition pushing for protections to the electric grid, national security, and civilian infrastructures.

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/massive-solar-flare-narrowly-misses-earth-emp-disaster-barely-avoided/article/25337

    video interview

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's always a bright side - would put the temporary kibosh/kabosh on texting flash mobs and Facebook too.

      Delete
  14. Here's the story, boobie

    CNN Interviews Accused Benghazi Attack Perpetrator: Not In Hiding, Claims FBI Not Looking For Him

    CNN reporter Arwa Damon recently sat down with Ahmed Abdu Khattala who has been accused of playing a role in the Benghazi attack.

    “He seemed to be confident,” Damon said. “His demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon.”

    RELATED: Obama Administration Reportedly Deliberately Edited and Whitewashed Benghazi Talking Points

    Khattala told Damon that no one from either the Libyan or American governments has contacted him asking for his take on the events of that deadly night in 2012. “Even the investigative team did not try to contact me,” he said of the FBI team that traveled to Libya in the wake of the attack.

    Damon said that Khattala told her that he would be happy to speak with American investigators about what happened on the night of the Benghazi attack. She stressed, however, that he would not voluntarily submit to interrogation.


    They have the video at this site
    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-interviews-accused-benghazi-attack-perpetrator-not-in-hiding-claims-fbi-not-looking-for-him/

    ReplyDelete
  15. The U.S. economy registered subpar growth and low inflation in the first half of the year, factors that led the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to keep its easy-money policies in place.

    The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the economy grew at a 1.7% annual rate in the second quarter, enough to ease fears of a full-on summertime economic stall but still a sluggish pace by historic standards. Economists had feared tepid global growth and the budget cuts known as the "sequester" would lead to an even worse result of growth below 1% in the second quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  16. On this day last year, American Michael Phelps set the record for the greatest number of medals earned at the Olympics. He has a total of 22 medals, including a record 18 gold medals, which is double the second-highest holder.

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  17. Funny stuff.

    For years our AIPAC contingent has told us that the Judaic claim to the Israeli portion of Palestine is biblical. That God granted them that portion of the Middle East.

    The cultural heart of Judaism is Middle Eastern, it is in Jerusalem, iin the Middle East.

    So culturally and geographically Israel and its peoples are Middle Eastern.

    No matter where in the world the folks that qualify for "Right of Return" to the Israeli portion of Palestine go, or were born, their roots are in Arabia. They are Middle Eastern no matter where they were born.

    Yet that same AIPAC crowd would have you believe that they are "Western", not Middle Eastern in culture and breeding.
    Nothing could be further from the truth.

    As in most things Israeli, they want it both ways.
    To have their cake and eat it, too.

    Comical, they are.
    Selling their thread worn propaganda themes and finding willing takers, like boobie, the camp follower.

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    Replies
    1. When did I say the Israeli claim was Biblical? Fact is I didn't. That's not the sort of language I would use. Quit pulling turds out of your ass, as usual. It gets disgusting after years of it. It is historical, partly from the deeper past and partly from the 20th Century and all that happened then. It is also cultural. Which is the real reason I like the Israelis. They have done one hell of a lot with nothing. I celebrate that.

      Delete
  18. THE STATE has filed a lawsuit against a Montgomery County official for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

    ...

    "Compliance with Pennsylvania law by its public officials is a mandatory obligation," the suit states. "Ours is a government of laws, not one of public officials exercising their will as they believe the law should be or will be."

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  19. .

    Ron Paul is soundly defeated in his attempt to cut off aid to Egypt.

    John McCain was the leading force opposing him.

    This is interesting. In a debate over a bill to cut off aid to Egypt, the other GOP douche bag, Linny Graham, read aloud a letter from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee opposing Paul’s amendment.

    Then the MSM offered their opinion of Paul,

    Paul responded to all this with rambling speeches and wild gestures, refusing to yield when colleagues asked him to and accusing his opponents of “empty thoughts and empty promises.” He called the AIPAC letter “a canard” and he wandered into an account of a Paris shopping spree by the wife of Mobutu Sese Seko, the late Congolese dictator.

    McCain needled Paul. “The question here is whether the senator from Kentucky knows what’s better for Israel, or Israel.”

    Paul shook his head, reclaimed the floor and challenged the “so-called leadership” of AIPAC.

    When the clerk called the roll, McCain whipped his colleagues aggressively: arguing with Dean Heller (R-Nev.) after the new senator took Paul’s side, applauding when John Hoeven (R-N.D.) voted against Paul and working over Tim Scott (R-S.C.) until the senator cried uncle. “I’m with you,” Scott said.

    For the Republican internationalists, this wasn’t about winning but dominating.



    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-rand-paul-rebuked-by-fellow-republicans-on-foreign-aid/2013/07/31/8b2ec348-fa24-11e2-9bde-7ddaa186b751_story.html?hpid=z2

    Well, we know at least two people AIPAC has in its pocket.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  20. Re: Liberty

    anecdotal agitprop...not a single source, attribution, or link (not even Wiki!)...five inmates making the same silly statements year-in, year-out...

    Every official investigation has yielded the same finding. Live with it.

    Try something new, say, today's story about a Secret Service agent's accident discharge that hit Kennedy in the back of the head. No Jews were involved, but juicy, comedic paranoia doesn't require Jewish participation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Translation: Its official. The Johnson administration said it was an accident and you know your government wouldn't lie to you.

      As a matter of fact, I believe I was once called un-American for arguing such a thing.

      Good to see you popping in now and then, Allen.

      (Even though you are still flogging that dead horse)

      :)


      Hang in there though, you'll soon have us all joining AIPAC. You've probably heard, WiO already has convinced Bob to join (although as far as I know he hasn't received his initial welcoming package yet).

      .

      .

      Delete
  21. .

    You know Assad must be doing pretty good in Syria.

    Syrian rebel fatwa bans croissants as a symbol of Western colonial oppression .

    .

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  22. Voters also appreciate a redemption story that they're familiar with. It's easier to accept Spitzer's flaws than to research his opponent's indiscretions or wait for them to appear after that person is elected.

    ...

    Weiner and Spitzer betrayed the public's trust when they were in power. Weiner continues to betray such trust, launching his latest campaign knowing that he continued his electronic sexual liasions long after he resigned from office.
    Isn't it time we give other fresh candidates a try? After all, we won't know what they can accomplish until we do.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Poor rat is having another bad day. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for him, he struggles so, but only briefly, and it passes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "There is something really wrong with you, Rat."

      Trish

      Delete
    2. "Why don't you take a hike, Rat?"

      Whit

      Delete
  24. And by the way, it wasn't WiO who talked me into joining AIPAC. He never ever mentioned it to me. It was rather Deuce and rat with their continual daily attacks on Israel the prompted me to join AIPAC. It is to be expected of rat, because he is truly nasty, and really not very bright. But Deuce is usually a Gentleman, and is very bright and accomplished, so it has been something of a surprise to me to hear some of the things he has said recently about Israel. I do not know what to make of it. So much of what he says about Israel is simply preposterous.

    So I decided to join AIPAC to show a little solidarity with those arch- enemies of Deuce and rat, the Israelis.

    WiO had nothing to do with it.

    out for the night

    ReplyDelete