Both drivers of the train were unhurt in the crash. One of them was reportedly seen wandering dazed among the dead saying: "I've derailed, what am I going to do, what am I going to do?" It is still not clear whether the apparent excessive speed was the result of human error or a technical fault.
Spain's national rail company, Renfe, admitted that the service was running five minutes late, fueling the hypothesis that it was trying to make up time.
A computer can land a drone on an aircraft carrier, but that asshole can't drive a train around a curve.
ReplyDeleteAs the discussion progresses there are interesting realities that emerge, seen again just yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIn the past our AIPAC member, Quot, has described the state of Israel as a "Jewish nation" and that any criticism of the state of Israel was, ipso facto, "anti-Semitic". So the logical progression to that description of the state of Israel was that the government of Israel is a theocracy. Oh no, was the response from Quot, the state of Israel is not a theocracy, but a secular state. This is confirmed by a quick perusal of the founding documents of the secular state of Israel.
The logical progression from this, is that criticism of the secular state cannot be considered to be anti-Judaic, as the secular state does not represent Judaism. It is not a Judaic nation.
Quot uses decades old propaganda themes, promoted by secular Israeli, which have no basis in fact, to attempt to intimidate those that disagree with his secular politics.
When real defenders of Judaism are quoted, when the atrocities committed by the secular Israeli government against Jews are brought forward, by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, there is no response but to whine and howl about women's rights.
Women's rights are not all that prevalent in Judaic Law, not when those supposed rights are balanced against the lives of Jewish babies. At least according to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which is the leading authority on Judaic Law in the world. Quot offers no published rabbinic opinions that would counter those of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
The murder of those 20,000 Jews, annually, by the secular state of Israel is not considered, by Quot, to be significant . He does not consider the murder of over 250,000 Jews babies during the first years of the 21st century to be anti-Judaic. Nothing it seems is anti-Judaic if it is sanctioned and financed by a secular government in the Israeli portion of Palestine. There is no action that the secular state of Israel that our AIPAC member does not defend and attempt to justify.
Our AIPAC member attempts to justify the Israeli attack upon a US naval vessel, justify acts of piracy against civilian shipping in the Mediterranean Sea, justify the murder of US citizens in the Israeli portion of the lands of Palestine and attempts to justify the murder, as defined under the precepts of Judaic Law by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, of 20,000 Jews each year.
The state of Israel is not a "Jewish state", it is a secular socialist state. Criticism of that secular state is not anti-Judaic, or the term coined by the proto NAZI propagandist, Wilhelm Marr in 1873, "anti-Semitic".
I would submit that anyone that would continually use the term "anti-Semitic" to describe anti-Judaic behaviors is, at heart, a proto-NAZI. They are promoting a propaganda theme developed by a German Jew hater that is false and misleading
I love the fact that Rat's continues to argue with himself about "israel", Jewish abortion, what is a Jewish state...
DeleteAnyone that reads his "crap" will quickly understand the insanity of his thinking.
I just noticed the same. Here we are on a thread about a train wreck in Spain and there's the rat bullshitting on and on about abortions in Israel.
DeleteI don't see the connection between the two topics myself.
He is obviously tormented innerly by the subject some way or other, and in an unhealthy way too.
And now, down below he is talking about a lady on the Zimmerman Trial, quoting only the damning sounding quote, and not mentioning she said there was no evidence.
And, indeed, as there was no evidence, she really has no logical way to say Zim 'got away with murder'.
She is obviously emotional, and the other five jurors have distanced themselves from her comments. She was the only 'minority' member of the jury.
I read the whole article. I think it was on Drudge. If I can find it again I will give the link, as rat did not do.
The very fact that neither of you can voice a reply other than to talk about me, well, that speaks volumes.
DeleteThe very fact that you beg to discuss a subject above your pay grade says volumes.
DeleteIn the past any attempt at discussion with you is met with distortion, lies and misdirection.
We have learned.
You are not worthy of a rational discussion.
Your anti-Israel invectives SPEAKS volumes as to your hatred.
Arose by any other name is still a rose, and Rat? You are an anti-semite.
Period.
Not one statement makes me say that, but the THOUSANDS of posts you have made.
Not a friend of the jews, not of Israel and quite frankly? I see you, as others do, as an enemy.
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DeleteThe boy does seem fixated on 'Israeli' abortions.
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Interesting point...
DeleteBoth Deuce and Rat have claimed that the jews that occupy "palestine" are not the true jews, they are fake european wannabes...
So by that logic?
The vast majority of abortions in Israel? Are for Russian emigrants and such, not Jewish souls at all.. Just human beings, just like the 55 million Americans snuffed out of their wombs...
Excellent point, WiO.
DeleteHadn't thought of that. Your logic seems impeccable.
They are actually criticizing Russians, not Jews, and don't even realize it.
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ReplyDeleteMore voices add to the charge that US fiscal and monetary policy aids Wall Street and the 1% BIGTIME.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/25/us-usa-earnings-qe-analysis-idUSBRE96O03U20130725
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Can anyone explain to me why there is an urgency to pass any immigration bill?
ReplyDeleteAn aide to House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) confirmed for Breitbart News he is open to attempting to salvage the Senate’s immigration bill via a conference report with a single House bill or combination of House bills.
“As Speaker Boehner has emphatically stated, any immigration reform bill and conference report must have a majority of support from the House Republican majority," the House Judiciary Committee aide said in an email.
Despite this stance, Goodlatte's aide said that he "opposes the Senate bill since it makes many of the same mistakes made in the 1986 immigration law, which got us into this mess in the first place. Among his many concerns, the Senate bill does not adequately address the interior enforcement of our immigration laws and allows the President to waive many, if not most, of the bill’s requirements. Unlike the Senate, the House Judiciary Committee is taking a step-by-step approach to immigration reform, carefully and methodically reviewing each component in detail so that we get immigration reform right.”
Goodlatte differs from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul, who told Breitbart News that he does not think the House should try to salvage the Senate bill via a conference with any House bills.
Conservatives activists worry that House GOP leadership—Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Whip Kevin McCarthy and Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan—may take a group of House members to conference with the Senate bill. In conference, representatives for House GOP leadership would negotiate with Senate Democratic leadership, and potentially the White House, on what they would call a “compromise” on immigration reform. Conservatives worry the legislation that would come out of a conference would look more like the Senate bill than not—or even identical to the upper chamber’s legislation.
Such a “compromise” would only receive a short amount of time for actual review, and votes could be whipped up without thorough scrutiny. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), whose amendment with Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) made a series of massive changes to the bill, argued to justify the amendment, saying his colleagues would “have more than 72 hours to read and review the proposal before any votes.”
Congress passed the Homeland Security Bill in a hurry, a mistake, but understandable at the time. There was a national emergency.
ReplyDeleteDo we have a landscaping emergency?
Is there a shortage of dishwashers and a critical need at the nation’s Car Wash’s?
Is there a humanitarian emergency of starving immigrants?
READ ON
On Tuesday, the Hispanic Speaking News reported that wire transfers or remittances to Mexico increased by 7.8 percent in May 2012 over the same month in 2011.
Financial BurdenRemittances
In May, Mexican workers sent home 7,096 transfers, totaling $2.34 billion.
The average size of the remittances also increased over last year by 3.7 percent to $329.21.
Even more impressive, Mexico's central bank reported that the amount of cash received by such transfers increased by 15.32 percent between April and May and this year.
The recent figures are further evidence, that as US workers are being left out of the job market in increasing numbers, illegal aliens are taking the place of their American counterparts.
The Pew Hispanic Center study released in late 2010, which found that while every demographic of native-born workers had lost millions of jobs during this deep recession, foreign-born workers have actually increased their employment numbers.
Between June 2009 and June 2010, immigrants (including illegal aliens) have gained 656,000 jobs, while US born workers lost 1.2 million jobs during that same period.
The Pew study found that 57 percent of those that they refer to as “immigrant” workers, were actually non-citizens.
Remittances, such as Western Union Monograms from the United States represent the second largest source of income for Mexico. In 2009, Mexican workers, mostly illegal aliens, sent home $21.2 billion in such transfers.
____________________
Migrants working in the United States sent a staggering $120 billion back to their families last year, it was revealed today.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of money being sent by migrants across the entire world reached $530 billion last year, making it a larger economy than Iran or Argentina, the data from the World Bank showed.
This worldwide figure has tripled in the last ten years and is now three times bigger than the total aid budgets given by countries around the world. It has sparked debate whether this so-called remittance money could be a viable alternative to relying on help from other governments.
In the United States last year, more than $120 billion was sent by workers to families abroad - making it the largest sender of remittances in the world. More than $23 billion went to Mexico, $13.45 billion to China, $10.84 billion to India and $10 billion to the Philippines, among other recipients.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271455/Revealed-How-immigrants-America-sending-120-BILLION-struggling-families-home.html#ixzz2a4oWd16Y
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Immigrant workers are so thrifty and industrious that they were able to send $120 billion to their home countries. What is the emergency?
ReplyDelete$23 Billion to Mexico. Assume the average annual remittance is $8000, that would imply that there are 2,875,000 Mexicans alone.
They, as a group, are able to take care of themselves, find work and send home $23 billion. Assume that they can send home 25% of what they are making. Assume half of the money is being sent home by legal immigrants. That implies a $56 billion underground economy with Mexicans alone.
And that, Deuce, is why immigration reform is so important.
DeleteThat $56 billion should be brought in to the daylight, not allowed to be part of an underground economy.
Those undocumented residents are not going to "self deport". To believe that, just fanciful.
Those same undocumented residents need to be known and legitimized, one way or another.
To leave them in the shadows, a disservice to the citizens of the nation.
Nature abhors a vacuum. As soon as they become legalized their effective wages will increase as will their demand for social services. Another wave of undocumented illegals will take their place and the net overall affect will be a further depression of wages for domestic workers. The only change that needs to take place is to forget the whole thing and let the market clear it out or to go after the employers. It would take a law of a single sentence:
DeleteAny employer, regardless of size, who knowingly or unknowingly hiring an undocumented worker after a date certain is liable for a $10/hour fine on each undocumented worker for each hour worked after this date.
The challenge with that, is an ever increasing intrusiveness by the Federal government, Deuce.
DeleteI would go back to the case of the Pro's Ranch Markets, in AZ, back in 2010.
They had over a thousand employees, each of which had been processed through the Federals E-Verify system. When audited by the INS/IRS over 300 of those employees had used false but verifiable documents to pass the E-Verify hurdle.
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/20100421ranch-market-fires-workers.html
Hard to fault the employer.
Which has recently, May 2013, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Would you advocate for semi annual or annual INS/IRS audits for all employers in the US? Or would you suggest that the INS/IRS use selective "Key Words" in deciding which employers would face audits?
I would think that the IRS use of "Tea Party" as a key word in assessing viability for tax exemption would be an indicator of how selective audits could be politicized.
What about regular families, those that contract with nannies and landscapers on a non hourly basis. Would they have to check the immigration status of every one they hired on a "Sub Contractor" basis.
Would every home in the nation have to be inspected, by the INS/IRS to find undocumented nannies?
Your "solution" is unworkable, while it increases the power of the Federals to interfere in each citizen's life and I do not think would solve the problem.
I would strongly object to each of US having to have national identity cards, which could, after all be counterfeited.
Nannygate, exemplifies that EVERY household in the nation would have to be audited
Delete"Nannygate" is a popular term for the 1993 revelations that caused two of President Bill Clinton's choices for United States Attorney General to become derailed.
In January 1993, Clinton's nomination of corporate lawyer Zoë Baird for the position came under attack after it became known that she and her husband had broken the law by employing two illegal aliens from Peru as a nanny and chauffeur for their young child. They had also failed to pay Social Security taxes for the workers until shortly before the disclosures. While the Clinton administration thought the matter was relatively unimportant, the news elicited a firestorm of public opinion, most of it against Baird. Within eight days, her nomination lost political support in the U.S. Congress and was withdrawn.
The following month, Clinton's choice of federal judge Kimba Wood for the job was leaked to the press, but within a day it became known that she too had employed an illegal alien to look after her child. Although Wood had done so at a time when this was legal, and had paid Social Security taxes for the worker, the disclosures were enough to cause the immediate withdrawal of Wood from consideration. The Clinton administration then said that the hiring practices for household help would be examined for all of the more than thousand presidential appointments under consideration, causing the whole process to slow down significantly. Determined to choose a woman for the Attorney General post, Clinton finally selected state prosecutor Janet Reno, who was confirmed and served through all eight years of the administration.
The Nannygate matter caused wealthy Americans to ask each other if they too had a "Zoë Baird problem", as the hiring of undocumented workers and the paying of household help off the books were both commonplace. Two fault lines, gender and class, were exposed in the discussion over Nannygate: in the former, a double standard was seen wherein female appointees faced a greater risk of being questioned and disqualified based upon their childcare arrangements, while in the latter, affluent professional women who could afford live-in childcare arrangements were seen as trying to get away with an illegal act. Nannygate-type controversies have subsequently affected other political appointees both in the U.S. and in other countries.
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DeleteNonsense.
99% of the country can't afford nanny's and maids.
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DeleteI agree with Deuce. Make the penalties stiff and don't let them buy their way out when caught.
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Think you are getting screwed?
ReplyDeleteSenators soliciting ideas for what deductions and credits to keep as tax reform moves through Congress have promised colleagues that their input will be kept secret for 50 years, according to a report in the Hill newspaper.
Sens. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and Orrin Hatch of Utah, the panel’s top Republican, have given fellow senators a deadline of Friday to send in ideas under the committee’s “blank slate” process. That approach, unveiled about a month ago, asks senators to justify what credits and deductions should be kept in the tax code.
The Hill said the tax-writing duo assured lawmakers that their submissions will be kept under lock and key by both the committee and the National Archives until the end of 2064.
Baucus told the newspaper that he expects more senators to participate in writing due to the guarantee of confidentiality.
Meanwhile, at least one senator is skeptical that Republicans will participate in writing. North Carolina GOP Sen. Richard Burr told the Hill he thought all Republicans would decide against written submissions.
KGO-TV
ReplyDeleteWritten by
Alyssa Newcomb
The only minority on the all-female jury that voted to acquit George Zimmerman said today that Zimmerman "got away with murder" for killing Trayvon Martin and feels she owes an apology Martin's parents.
That was a lash-up from the start. They didn't want to charge; then they overcharged; then they put in a prosecutor that didn't know a pistol from a petunia. A very bad job, all around.
DeleteHere it is, WiO --
ReplyDelete>>>>When asked by Roberts whether the case should have gone to trial, Maddy said, "I don't think so."
"I felt like this was a publicity stunt. This whole court service thing to me was publicity," she said.<<<<
As you will see the the quote by our rat doesn't really do justice to the article as a whole. It is just cut, paste and mislead, one of his most used tactics.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/george-zimmerman-juror-murder/story?id=19770659
Whatever her 'feelings' the Lady has proven herself much more honest, logical and lawful, in the sense that she actually read the law, and followed it, rather than her emotions, than our Gentleman from Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that it is time to change some stupid laws that lead to such ludicrous outcomes!
DeleteIndeed!!
DeleteWe should get rid of 'beyond a reasonable doubt, to a moral certainty', mandate that people cannot defend themselves, replace logic and law with 'however you feel at the moment' and let 'er rip.
Soon however blacks all across America would be complaining as juries would do 'justice' to inner city blacks, whose behavior is becoming unsupportable. They don't like a verdict, out come the flash mobs, old white men get beaten in the street, and it's basically open war on whitey.
Great idea there, Ash.
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DeleteThe way the Florida law is written, it does appear it should be called the 'no witness, no problem law', not because of the TM case but in general.
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It was a slam-dunk manslaughter, but the prosecutor didn't seem to know (or want to know,) the significance of the round being in the chamber. It was a totally bolloxed (again, for whatever reason) prosecution.
DeleteNon sense. Our concealed weapons permit instructor taught us to always have a round in the chamber.
Delete.....
July 25, 2013
Black America's True Nemesis: Liberals, Not Zimmerman
By Lloyd Marcus
In the midst of all the racial hullabaloo stirred up by so-called advocates for black empowerment after the Zimmerman trail, guess who is really being harmed? Answer: black America.
All of you black pastors, black politicians, and black celebs who have joined Sharpton and the MSM's lynch mob to "get Zimmerman" should be ashamed of yourselves. You are doing a huge disservice to the very people you claim to champion by chasing a straw man while ignoring the real issues that are devastating black America.
Everyone knows that the black community is a mess. White folks ain't killin' us. We are killing each other. Over 70 and increasing percent of black kids grow up in fatherless homes. Researchers warn that we blacks are aborting ourselves into extinction. Black school dropout rates are at epidemic levels. Fatherless households and school dropouts fuel through the roof high black unemployment, gangs, and incarcerations.
And yet, all of you so-called defenders of black America are hell-bent on destroying the life of one Hispanic for defending himself. Displaying remarkable evil intent, the MSM launched a false narrative filled with lies about the incident, not giving a darn about the consequences, like loss of property and lives.
To strengthen their "America is racist" storyline the MSM creatively called Zimmerman a "white Hispanic." The MSM edited Zimmerman's 911 call to make him sound racist. To gin up black rage, the MSM promoted a photo of Martin as an innocent 12-year-old rather than the 17-year-old 6'2"-160-lb. thug he was at the time of the incident. Yes, Martin's history documents that he was a thug.
By the way, black activists saying that the jury declaring Zimmerman not guilty means that it is open season on young black men is pure evil race-baiting crap. Statistically, blacks are 50 times more likely to assault whites than vice-versa.
DeleteYou black avengers should be totally outraged that CNN's white liberal host Piers Morgan presented Rachel Jeantel's ignorant ghetto language as representative of how we speak in the black community. Morgan called Jeantel "one smart cookie," and you knuckleheads probably consider Morgan and his condescending fellow white liberals our friends.
Please forgive my use of "knuckleheads." I just find it extremely frustrating that liberals continue to urinate on blacks and tell us it is the Republicans' fault...and we fall for it. Liberal pandering has destroyed the black family and continues to wreak havoc in the black community -- and my fellow blacks cannot see it. They continue to kiss white liberals' derrieres. Yes, I am frustrated.
In the eyes of a relative of mine, her son could do no wrong. She created a spoiled brat who grew up to be a jerk -- no self-discipline or respect for authority. His personal relationships were disasters. He could not keep a job. He died young. While I believe that everyone is ultimately responsible for his own behavior, this boy's mom's lack of parenting contributed to his demise.
DeleteFolks, this is exactly what liberal black leaders and liberal whites having been doing to blacks: refusing to hold us accountable for destructive behavior and making excuses for us.
Real compassion is honestly dealing with the issues plaguing the black community rather than so-called advocates (Democrats and the MSM) using our dysfunction for their political and financial gain.
All of you black celebs and black politicians demanding Zimmerman's head on a platter make mega-millions of dollars a year. With blacks being only 12% of the population, you would not be who you are without white support. Thus, your accusation that America is hostile towards black males is absurd, racist, and worst of all, discouraging to young blacks.
America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it. Period! End of subject!
Black advocates indulging blacks in irresponsible self-destructive behavior serve only to undermine black progress, creating spoiled, entitlement-minded, undisciplined, hopeless, and angry black youths. Do you guys not see the disservice you are doing to your own people? It is the same as bad parenting.
But here is what is truly sad and frustrating: every word in this article is true, and yet, liberals, black and white, will read it and seek to silence, punish, and destroy me. They'll call me a traitorous sellout, an Uncle Tom, and a self-loathing stupid N-word.
Meanwhile, liberals' exploitation will further the decline and suffering of black America. Race-hustling ambulance-chasers like Sharpton will continue seeking opportunities to extort a buck and increase their political power. Liberals will continue treating us blacks like inferior idiots, demanding lowered standards and expectations. Lord, help us.
Black males will continue killing each other over the slightest dis. That 70% rate of black out-of-wed births and fatherless homes will continue rising, along with school dropouts, abortions, unemployment, and incarcerations. And blacks will continue rewarding liberal Democrats with almost 100% of their vote.
In keeping with liberals' lowering the bar for blacks, Rachel Jeantel will probably get her own reality TV show. Millions of black youths will be able to learn "new school," as Rachel described it, black language -- "creepy ass cracka" and "nigga." I wonder what her TV show will be titled. "Rachel Jeantel: She Be All Dat"?
Go ahead and accuse me of not being down with authentic blackness or of being a traitor to my race if you want to, but I will not be tuning into Rachel's show.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who inspired black excellence, must be turning over in his grave.
Lloyd Marcus is a good writer who happens to be black.
DeleteStand your ground against idiot wannabe cops!
DeleteUnfortunately, what evidence there is indicates TM did not do that, but rather, as one of the jurors said, 'threw the first punch'.
DeleteHere is Lloyd Marcus again --
>>>>To strengthen their "America is racist" storyline the MSM creatively called Zimmerman a "white Hispanic." The MSM edited Zimmerman's 911 call to make him sound racist. To gin up black rage, the MSM promoted a photo of Martin as an innocent 12-year-old rather than the 17-year-old 6'2"-160-lb. thug he was at the time of the incident. Yes, Martin's history documents that he was a thug.<<<<
We can always count on Ash to go unthinkingly with the liberal fairy tale storyline, every damn time.
I've gotten so I can see some humor in it.
Good ol' Ash!
heheh
Story Number One
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - The United States has quietly been testing the Syrian opposition's ability to deliver food rations, medical kits and money to rebel-held areas as Washington prepares to send arms to the rebel fighters.
U.S. officials meet weekly in Turkey with Syrian opposition leaders to work out how best to keep supply lines open to rebel fighters and war-ravaged towns and districts.
One of the Syrian opposition's best-known female leaders, Suhair al-Atassi, attends the meetings as coordinator of the "non-lethal" aid that includes equipment for rebel fighters and local councils, as opposed to humanitarian aid for the displaced.
Supplies are handed to officers of the moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) at clandestine locations that cannot be divulged for security reasons.
"I sign the paperwork, and shake the hands of the FSA official," said a U.S. State Department official involved in the effort. “I wish them well and walk away."
Story Number Two
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – the official denomination of al-Qaeda in Iraq – does not even pretend to be not responsible for the relentless bombing, political assassination and mostly sectarian horror unleashed across Iraq during Ramadan.
But this is exactly what they’re doing, with relish; throwing arrays of crude bombs made with fertilizer enhanced with ball bearings, manipulating a small army of foreign suicide bombers. Most of these, by the way, crossed the desert from Syria.
July has been a deadly month ; over 600 Iraqis killed up to July 25. May was even worse; at least 963 civilians killed and more than 2,000 injured. And now comes the coup de grâce; the already notorious Abu Ghraib jailbreak.
Abu Ghraib is charged with symbolism – indelibly linked with the American occupier. When the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted in 2004 I was on the road in the US. This is what I wrote at the time; in Texas especially, everybody saw the routine humiliation of Iraqi prisoners as the new normal.
To the Syriamobile !
Fast forward to 2013. The al-Maliki government insists anti-terrorist forces are on top of everything going on in Baghdad. Not really. My matchless source in Baghdad, Asseel Kamal, explains how the commander of the 17th Army Division, General Abdul Naser al-Ghanam, apparently did not resign; he fled, before advising al-Maliki that all hell would break loose. The government was stunned by the veritable horde that staged the double attack - on Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and Taji prison in the north of the city.
The siege of Abu Ghraib started with nine bombs thrown at the entrance, and dozens of mortars, followed by a battle against the guards; a group of suicide bombers attacked the walls while another group of car bombers attacked the main entrance. And then the critical gambit, when a series of car bombs exploded all along the main road up to the bridge that links the prison to the highway leading to Baghdad, cutting all its connections with the capital.
The numbers game is still a mess; everything from 500 to 1,000 and even 1,400 escapees. Same for the official numbers of dead prisoners (65), dead guards (28), injured prisoners (124) and injured guards (43). Kamal quotes prisoners’ families saying prisoners who did not manage to escape were brutally "interrogated". And helicopters bombed them mercilessly.
According to Hakim al Zamili, a member of Parliament who’s part of the Committee for Defense and Security, this operation has been prepared for at least two weeks – and plenty of guards were onto it. Kamal reveals that at least 15 men dressed in military garb got inside and "released" - as in escorted to freedom - selected al-Qaeda princelings ; and left the rest to fend for themselves. Better yet : this selected group – which includes a bunch of Jihad International foreign fighters captured by the US military in 2006 and 2007 - has fled to, where else, Syria.
{…}
ReplyDelete{…}
It’s the occupation, stupid
Al-Maliki’s government has closed Iraq’s borders with Syria – to no avail; it’s desert on both sides, it’s powerful Sunni tribal Sheikhs on both sides, it’s 'family' on both sides. This proves once again that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – with its tactical alliance with jihadis of the Jabhat al-Nusra kind – is already establishing the embryo of a beyond-borders Islamic Emirate. They even have secured territory in northern Syria.
Most of the best commanders on the ground in Syria are Iraqis – and have battleground experience of fighting the Americans. Their long-term wishful thinking strategy is that once Bashar al-Assad’s government falls, the next will be al-Maliki’s.
These jihadis see that fighting a secular, apostate, “infidel” government in Syria – supported by Iran and Hezbollah - is the equivalent of fighting an “apostate” government in Iraq enjoying close relations with Iran. This – a ghastly sectarian war - was always the plan since the bombing of Samarra’s golden shrine in 2006.
As much as Syrian civilians are caught in the crossfire of the proxy war involving Western powers and Gulf petro-monarchies against the support of Iran (and Russia) to Damascus, Iraqi civilians are now caught in the resurgent civil war. Civilians in Baghdad do fear what these escapees might unleash.
It’s always crucial to go back to the basics. With the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the clueless Bush gang handed out a base to al-Qaeda on a plate.
Yet when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in 2004, the prisoners were not al-Qaeda, but the Sunni resistance. When the Petraeus surge started in 2007, the plan was to buy the leaders of the Sunni resistance to fight al-Qaeda. The Sunni sheikhs took the money and decided to wait. Al-Qaeda dissolved and regrouped.
Now, with Syria as the new magnet of global jihad – once again a direct consequence of a US power play, via Barack “Assad must go” Obama - al-Qaeda is resurgent on both fronts. Washington has already destroyed the social fabric of Iraq. Now it’s helping to destroy Syria’s. If Abu Ghraib was the new normal in 2004, the jailbreak cannot but be the new new normal of 2013.
The US is supporting al Qaeda. There is no getting around it. It is criminal and shameful what we have done to Iraq and then Libya, but what is happening in Syria, is stunning in the heights of hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteThere are reports that from 500 to 1000 of these “fired up” Jihadis are heading for Syria to pick up their new American arms.
Yesterday (3/14) NPR’s “All Things Considered” ran a “discussion” about Syria and the U.S. All options were not on the table – at least not the anti-interventionist option.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Block hosted three guests seriatim: the aptly named Anne-Marie Slaughter, former “director of planning” at the State Department. Paul Wolfowitz, architect of the criminal war on Iraq and Daniel Serwer, a former U.S. “special envoy” and “coordinator” for the Bosnian Federation. How is that for a broad spectrum of views?
Going first, Slaughter suggested that “no-kill” zones be established but that plan quickly morphed into the need for a supporting air campaign by the U.S. and NATO and “defensive” arms to the pro-Western forces in Syria. When Melissa Block inquired about the nature of a “defensive” arms, Slaughter conceded that there was no way to prevent the arms from being used in other ways, “revenge attacks” and “offensive actions” in Block’s terms.
For Slaughter time is of the essence, because there is “brutality on an extraordinary scale” in Syria (There are indeed 7000 dead in Syria – thousands on each side of the civil war there.) Enter the second guest Paul Wolfowitz whose Iraq war has resulted in the deaths of 1.4 million Iraqis and the displacement of 4 million. That, however, is not to be considered “brutality on an extraordinary scale.” Of course the U.S. was not killing its own people in Iraq but other people – which seems to make it OK. Block and her editors apparently were clueless about the irony of this juxtaposition of Slaughter’s claim and Wolfowitz’s appearance.
What was Wolfowitz’s prescription for Syria? “Defensive weapons.” Where had I heard that before? But Wolfowitz wants more US control over the weapons saying: “Hamas, which used to be in bed with Assad, has now distanced itself from the Assad regime. I’m sure the bad guys are figuring out how they can help the opposition so that they can have a position later.” Hamas the democratically elected government of all Palestinians and still in control of Gaza, daily under an assault by Israel (backed by the U.S.) is of course one of the “bad guys,” the infantile designation for official enemies, at least weak ones. Block concluded by raising what lessons Iraq holds for the present situation in Syria. And Wolfowitz had the answer. The problem was that the US did not invade earlier, in 1991, rather than 2003. No challenge from Block on that one.
So far two guests – one opinion. Surely the third guest, Mr. Serwer must be an anti-interventionist. Early on he made his position quite clear: “I don’t believe that there is a military solution in Syria without a massive U.S. effort to defeat the air defenses, the artillery, the tanks of the Syrian army and I see no will in Washington to do that kind of thing at the moment.”
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Serwer simply says he opposes military action because it must be big and costly and there is no will “at the moment” in Washington to do so. That lack of will is due to the fact that the average American is fed up with the endless wars in the Middle East. Serwer continues: “You know, if you take military action, I think you have to think about taking serious military action. And serious military action would be aimed at decapitating this regime. The problem is you don’t know what comes after because there is no really consolidated opposition political structure.” Like Wolfowitz Serwer is concerned about “the bad guys.” Again no opposition to intervention but there is concern that once the dogs of war are unleashed, the new rulers may be one of “the bad guys.”
Serwer tells us that regime change could be effected if only Russia and China would go along. But Russia and China saw what happened in Libya, with “humanitarian” cover used to plunge Libya into an orgy of death and destruction; they are unlikely to be fooled again. So Serwer advises the “opposition” to bang on pans in the middle of the night.
Three interventionists, with one, Serwer, opining that intervention is impractical now so that we have to hope we can effect regime change through diplomatic means. The idea that we have no right to intervene in Syria is not even discussed. The anti-interventionist view is not even considered. Humanitarian Imperialism holds sway in the corridors of NPR.
NPR is one of the main opinion shapers for the intelligentsia in the US, and hence a very valuable asset for the Empire. What is an anti-interventionist to do? This writer has stopped contributing. If I want to listen to the occasional decent show (Car Talk is the only thing that comes to mind.), then I take heart in the fact that my tax dollars more than cover that one hour a week.
John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar@gmail.com
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Delete"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right."
Mark Twain
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Deuce, I think you will enjoy this: an interview with one of the smartest guys alive.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Grantham
Excellent. If he made a point that I disagree with, I missed it.
ReplyDeleteDeuce,
DeleteGotta disagree with you on this guy... Aside from some, imho, false assumptions, he's wearing a pinky ring for crying out loud!
And, to top it off, that unctuous blowhard Rose interrupted, to no point other than to stroke himself, at least three times when Grantham was getting steam up on some interesting observations...
DeleteThen, oblivious to the thread he'd cut off, he didn't have the awareness to circle round and invite Grantham to resume his thought..
Jeez, and he's got a rep as interviewer?
You are dead on about Rose. He didn't get the case being made that all the extra debt had very little affect on job creation. On the macro level, energy consumption, population growth, the 250 year economic expansion based on an underpriced depleting resource, I saw little to disagree
DeleteI thought his observations about the depletion of phostphate and the implications for food supply, the unsustainable impact of fossil fuels, the declining population over the next 250 years, his comments about economic bubbles, Bernanke, the 12000 year history of mankind, were all accurate. The one thing that impressed me most was that he was smart and wise enough to state what he was not expert of, what he did not know and where his limitations are. Compare that to the legions of talking heads that have an answer and a solution to everything.
DeleteKucinich: Print Money to Fund Infrastructure
ReplyDeleteDennis Kucinich!
There is a simple way to pay for needed investments which doesn’t require taxing or borrowing. Congress has the power under Article 1, Section 8, of the United States Constitution to originate money, and Congress can use this power to pay for upgrading our infrastructure. We can provide direct investments and grants to the States to deal with their infrastructure needs
I’ve introduced a bill, H.R. 2990, The National Emergency Employment Defense Act (The N.E.E.D. Act), to allow our nation to fund this much-needed investment.
H.R. 2990 enables money to be issued by spending it into circulation on programs approved by Congress — without taxing or borrowing. A priority is the repair or replacement of infrastructure, starting with the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers reports we need to spend over the next 5 years to make it safe. It also calls for grants to the States, to enable them to make investments in their own infrastructure renewal programs.
This makes more economic sense than borrowing money for infrastructure. To be successful, and here is the rub, it must be limited to infrastructure and not for operating expenses and transfer payments. If the infrastructure project is funded by fee for usage, all the better.
That is the only solution that I see that can increase both wages and employment. Keep the banks and Wall Street out of it. There is no limit to the demand for economically useful infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteOn this day in 1965, Bob Dylan played electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival, stunning fans and representing a major shift in the culture surrounding folk and rock music.
ReplyDeleteCarlos Danger's Big Career Move
ReplyDeleteJuly 25, 2013
Just a few weeks after carrying the biggest flag in the Gay Pride parade, Anthony Weiner's weinermobile is about to come to a screeching halt.
Weiner Goes Limp In Polls
Weiner Is Not An Upstanding Man
Carlos Danger Must Apologize To Hispanics
Poll: Weiner Goes Soft.....
Cross sextion look at recent Weiner headlines
As to its latest 787 issue, an Air India spokesman said: "due to overheating of the oven, there was some smoke inside the aircraft." He didn't specify what caused the incident, or if the oven was being used to prepare food at the time.
ReplyDelete...
Air India is one of Boeing's first Dreamliner customers and has received seven of the 27 ordered in January 2006.
The fuel-efficient Dreamliners are central to Air India's efforts to return to profitability. The national carrier has recorded losses for five years because of high fuel and interest costs as well as competition from budget airlines.
Egypt’s military warned Thursday that it was prepared to use force to counter what it called "violence and black terrorism" as protests over the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi continued.
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"We confirm that the Egyptian Armed Forces is the army for all the people and of all the people and would never raise its weapons in the face of its people, but [it would raise its weapons] in the face of violence and black terrorism [that] has no religion or country," the statement added.
The OSS wing of the CIA’s museum, which opened in 2011, traces the short history of an organization that was founded in 1942 to aid resistance fighters and run spies behind enemy lines before morphing into the CIA four years later.
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Among the exhibits is a tribute to Virginia Hall, an OSS agent who posed as a French farmhand as she counted German military units prior to D-Day. Hall, who had a wooden leg, organized sabotage and trained Resistance fighters.
The Gestapo knew her as the “limping lady,” and called her the most dangerous of all Allied spies. She later became one of the CIA’s first female officers.
In the United States today, there are very few words that provoke as much outrage as the name of Jesus. It is being banned from graduation ceremonies, chaplains all over America are being forbidden from using His name in their prayers, and many school officials all over the nation have become absolutely fanatical about eliminating every trace of Christian expression from their schools.
ReplyDelete...
The following is an excerpt from a speech that Rand Paul gave earlier this year…
There is a war on Christianity, not just from liberal elites here at home, but worldwide.
And your government, or more correctly, you, the taxpayer, are funding it.
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-In recent months, daredevil Nik Wallenda has walked a tightrope across Niagara Falls and has walked a tightrope across the Grand Canyon, and yet both times the mainstream media has gone out of the way to keep the name of Jesus out of news reports…
Despite Nik Wallenda’s frequent mentions of God the Father and Jesus during his high-wire crossing of Niagara Falls Friday night, an ABC News blog documenting virtually every moment of the achievement makes no mention of his verbal thanks to the Creator.
Wallenda, 33, the great grandson of legendary tightrope walker Karl Wallenda, walked across Niagara Falls on a high wire, as hundreds watched on TV at a block party in his Florida hometown of Sarasota, Fla., and millions of others tuned in for ABC television coverage.
The accident came a day before a public holiday in Galicia: the feast of St James, after whom the region's capital Santiago is named.
ReplyDelete"24 July will no longer be the eve of a day of celebration but rather one commemorating one of the saddest days in the history of Galicia," said Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the region's president.
Residents of the semi-rural neighbourhood by the accident site struggled to help victims out of the toppled cars on Wednesday night. Some passengers were pulled out of broken windows as rescuers used rocks to try to free survivors from the wreckage.
On Wednesday, July 17, Senator Mike Lee strode onto the Senate floor and called for Republicans to defund Obamacare. His case was simple.
ReplyDeleteIf the White House is calling for a yearlong delay in the implementation of two key elements of the law—the employer mandate and verification of eligibility for subsidies on health care exchanges—then Congress shouldn’t fund it.
Lee’s speech emphasized the fundamental unfairness of delaying the employer mandate but enforcing the individual mandate. “Republicans in Congress must now stand up for the individuals and families who do not have the money, lobbyists, and connections to get this administration’s attention,” he said.
Sequestration, which was enacted as a fallback option in the Budget Control Act when congressional negotiators failed to agree on budget reduction measures following the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, mandates automatic spending cuts through 2021. For 2014, those spending cuts take the form of spending caps on appropriated funds, allowing appropriators more discretion in targeting the cuts.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama and members of Congress issued dire warnings about the impact of sequestration cuts earlier in the year. So far, however, few signs of any major pain from the sequester have shown up in economic data.
Nevertheless, the CBO has consistently projected that the effect of the broad-based cuts would be slower growth than otherwise would have occurred, rather than a sudden shock.
Asked about the divorce rumors, Spitzer spokeswoman Lisa Linden told us last night, “Eliot is running for comptroller on his record and the issues. We will not comment on the absurd barrage of stories about his personal life.”
ReplyDeleteIt is not believed that Silda has yet hired divorce lawyers.
A very private person, Silda has never commented on Eliot’s patronizing of prostitutes or their marriage. But multiple sources say she is unhappy with his decision to reenter politics, thrusting their relationship back into the public spotlight.
QuirkThu Jul 25, 06:58:00 PM EDT
ReplyDelete.
Nonsense.
99% of the country can't afford nanny's and maids.
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Limbaugh caller had worked as housecleaner in CA.
When she learned that one of her employers was on welfare and foodstamps, she started listening to Rush.
For every "New Job" under Obama Who Cares, two people go on foodstamps.
...and the WORKFORCE continues to shrink.
Never had a nanny, never had a maid.
Never had a teacher for our son.
Except for two lying preschool "teachers" who convinced us to homeschool.
Considering some type of help around the homestead as my body disintegrates, and the need for funds for the future diminishes.
Fuck Crazy Ass Spaintards!
ReplyDelete'What joy to set police speed guns off':
Spanish driver whose derailed train killed at least 80 people while travelling at 120mph in 50mph zone posted boasting Facebook photo of speedometer
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2377113/Spain-train-crash-video-At-78-people-killed-140-injured-Santiago-Compostela-derailment.html
He is a Cutie, tho.
ReplyDeleteOne of the drivers was trapped in his cabin and told the railway station by radio that the train entered the bend at 190 kilometres per hour (120 mph), reported newspaper El Pais.
ReplyDeleteThe speed limit on that section of track is 80km/h (50mph).
'We're only human! We're only human!' he told the station, the newspaper said, citing sources close to the investigation. 'I hope there are no dead, because this will fall on my conscience.'
Police have put an unnamed train driver under formal investigation - the Galicia government said one driver was in hospital.
Subhuman, maybe.
ReplyDeleteNo comment
ReplyDeleteThe Lincoln Memorial was shut down Friday morning after being vandalized overnight, U.S. Park Police said.
The memorial — including the statue of Abraham Lincoln and parts of the floor — were splashed with green paint, police said.
Authorities believe the vandalism happened around 1:30 a.m. Police are reviewing surveillance footage, but no information has been released about possible suspects.
The National Park Service will work to clean up the paint. The memorial will be closed to the public until cleanup is complet
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ReplyDeleteHalliburton to admit destroying evidence in spill
Houston-based company will admit that it directed workers to destroy simulations done after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and leaked nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil.
Anyone surprised? Bueller?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/halliburton-to-plead-guilty-to-destroying-evidence-in-bp-spill/2013/07/25/bab8f30c-f57b-11e2-aa2e-4088616498b4_story.html
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ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration has been rebuffed at the first hearing of a landmark case into the constitutionality of the mass collection of telephone data.
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Justice Department lawyers argued for the case to be delayed because the intelligence community is busily working through classified material related to surveillance to see what can be made public. Some of that declassified material could be pertinent to the case, but it is a time-consuming effort, they said.
But at the US district court in New York, judge William Pauley dismissed the request and set a schedule, with motions to be filed by 26 August and oral arguments to begin on 1 November.
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit five days after the Guardian revealed the NSA is engaged in the mass collection of US phone records.
Jameel Jaffer, representing the ACLU, said: "We are arguing that the programme is not authorised by statute and, even if it was, it is unconstitutional."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/25/justice-department-case-nsa-collection
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I am glad to see this lawsuit (and others) seem to be working their way towards the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I am concerned it may not make a difference. I didn't know it before the Snowden stories started hitting the streets but Chief Justice John Roberts is the guy who actually appoints the FISA judges. I will be surprised (pleasantly so) if he votes against the people he has appointed.
We shall see.
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ReplyDeleteObama nominates Caroline Kennedy, divorcee and lawyer, as Ambassador to Japan, the third largest economy in the world.
Knows not a word of Japanese.
Never been in foreign service.
However, she is a single mother now. Maybe she needs the money.
At least, I haven't heard she hangs with prostitutes or is a pedophile.
I guess you could say things are improving.
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