Obama Presses for ‘Creative’ Ways to Bypass Congress
BY ROB GARVER,
July 1, 2014
If House Speaker John Boehner thought threatening to sue President Obama over his use of executive orders would force the White House to scale back on efforts to work around Congress — the Ohio Republican may have miscalculated.
For the second day in a row, the president took direct public shots at Boehner personally and the House Republicans in general. On Tuesday, he went as far as telling members of his cabinet to look for “creative” ways to work around Congress.
In public remarks delivered before a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, Obama said, “What I’m going to be urging all of you to do, and what I’m going to be continually pushing throughout this year and for the next couple of years, is that if Congress can’t act on core issues that would actually make a difference in helping middle-class families get ahead, then we’re going to have to be creative about how we can make real progress.”
“We’re not always going to be able to get things through Congress, at least this Congress, the way we want to,” the president continued. “But we sure as heck can make sure that the folks back home know that we’re pushing their agenda and that we’re working hard on their behalf and we’re doing every single thing we can do to make a difference in their lives. So I want to make sure that we emphasize not what we can’t do, but what we can do in the coming months.”
Obama has, in fact, issued fewer executive orders than any president in the past 50 years. Buthe has exercised his executive authority in ways that have greatly irked the GOP, leading to Boehner’s announcement last week that he would file a federal lawsuit against the president seeking to rein him in.
While Obama has derided the suit as a “stunt,” not all of his presidential actions have passed legal muster. Just last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the president violated the Constitution in making some of his recess appointments.
“As the Supreme Court reminded us this week, under our Constitution there are sharp limits to what the president can accomplish if he ignores the American people and their elected representatives,” Boehner said in a statement Monday.
Obama, though, is working overtime to paint his use of executive actions as a response to real middle class problems and is wearing Boehner’s lawsuit as a badge of honor.
In remarks delivered on the Georgetown waterfront Tuesday afternoon, the president urged Congress to act to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which will expire this summer. But it wasn’t long before he returned to the subject of working around Congress.
“Republican obstruction is not just some abstract political stunt. It has real and direct consequences for middle class families all across the country,” he said.
Obama cited numerous executive orders, including raising the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, and improving equal pay protection for women. “And they criticize me for this,” Obama said bitterly. “Boehner sued me for this.”
He continued, “Middle class families can’t wait for Republicans in Congress to do stuff. So sue me. As long as they’re doing nothing, I’m not going to apologize for trying to do something.”
OBAMA SIX YEARS AGO:
AND HERE IS WHAT HUEY LONG HAD TO SAY ABOUT BOTH PARTIES IN WASHINGTON EIGHTY YEARS AGO:
OBAMA SIX YEARS AGO:
AND HERE IS WHAT HUEY LONG HAD TO SAY ABOUT BOTH PARTIES IN WASHINGTON EIGHTY YEARS AGO:
Passing bills? How about enforcing existing laws?
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to that Border Fence?
ReplyDeleteBill O'Reilly had this solution to immigration from Mexico.......cut off trade with Mexico until the Mexicans stop it.
Dumbest thing an agent of the Saudi Arabians could say.
DeleteThe immigrants in the new wave are not Mexicans.
The amount of trade that the US would lose ...
Mexico already buys more U.S. products than any other nation except Canada- Woodrow Wilson Center
Bill & Draft Dodger Bob would have US cut off our nose, to spite our face.
So far this year the Mexicans have bought $770 million worth of products from US in the first four months of this year.
DeleteIn addition, a million American citizens live in Mexico. US tourists to Mexico numbered over 20.3 million in 2012 making Mexico the top destination of US travelers. Mexican tourists to the northern neighbor were about 13.4 million in 2011, and they spent some $9.2 billion.
Bill and Draft Dodger Bob are both dumber than rocks, looking for simple solutions to pretty complicated problems
General Motors is making its iconic Silverado pickup trucks in central Mexico’s Guanajuato state. Cadillac SUVs that retail for $40,000 roll off the assembly line here in the sprawling industrial parks west of Monterrey.
Delete...
Hemi engines at the Saltillo Motors plant here in the deserts south of Texas. At another Chrysler plant nearby, $35,000 Ram pickups fly off the assembly line at a rate of one every 80 seconds.
The average pay at his plant, Rabago said, is $3.20 an hour
...
GM said last week that it will invest $691 million to boost its Mexican assembly lines.
Some of the vehicles built in Mexico are bought by the country’s expanding middle class. But about 80 percent are for export, primarily to the United States.
Close all the car and truck dealers, Draft Dodger Bob, you really want to do that?
“Mexico is not siphoning off jobs from the U.S.,” said George Magliano, senior economist at IHS Automotive, an industry research firm. “North America is becoming a new hub for export production, and the bulk of it is occurring in Mexico,” he said. “But some of it is happening in the U.S.”
DeleteOf the more than 15.5 million vehicles estimated to be built in North American auto plants last year, over 10 million were built in the United States, while Mexico produced about 3 million and Canada 2.5 million. By 2020, according to estimates by Magliano’s firm, the industry will make 17.8 million vehicles a year in North America: 11.7 million in the United States, 4.1 million in Mexico and 1.9 million in Canada.
“If anything,” Magliano said, “the loser will be Canada.”
Really Draft Dodger Bob, your ignorance is legend
Point out, Mr. Professional Asshole, rat of the desert, liar in chief, man nobody wants to be around, all round piece of human shit, just where I said I agreed with Bill O'Reilly?
DeleteDeuce, can't you put a stop to this continual bullshit stalking of rat?
Nobody wants to read that crap CONTINUALLY.
It always starts with him.
Michigan-based parts giant Delphi is one of Mexico’s largest private employers, with more than 50 plants and 50,000 employees.
DeleteSo all the US manufacturers would shut down, when the auto parts cannot cross the border.
Dimwitted Draft Dodger Bob
Yes, Jack, but Mexico is all brown people, those jobs don't count. Would that we might saw off Mexico and float it over next to the Philippines.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteYou are a racist bigot
DeleteFuck off and die.
The same can be said to you.
But it's another Bar 1st.
Calling for the open death of another...
Wrong, again Israeli Butt Boy.
DeleteDraft Dodger Bob called for the murder of FOUR Million of US, then butchery and cannibalism of the meat.
BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST
"The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."
Exactly.
Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.
You can join Draft Dodger Bob, if you want.
As if Deuce is gonna do anything about it.
DeleteWhat is interesting is Wi"O" has just admitted that NO ONE ever threatened his life, previously, at the Elephant Bar.
DeleteThat his entire meme of his life being threatened, here at the Elephant Bar was a LIE.
That he acknowledges that Draft Dodger Bob's claims that his life was threatened, cannot be confirmed by Wi"O".
Sweet Justice, indeed.
Gosh, Jack, are you trying to tell me that the same guy who says I didn't really have stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer is a..uh...liar?
DeleteJack is on crack.
DeleteI was threatened by rat/jack you...
You read the AZ FBI report.
You are a named suspect.
jack: You are a racist bigot
DeleteFuck off and die.
The same can be said to you.
But it's another Bar 1st.
Calling for the open death of another...
open death...
your threats to me and bob were more subtle, you are less patience and more vulgar now..
I don't doubt that the time you spent in prison recently coarsen you up a tad...
Deletedon't want to go there....
Well, would it be too much to ask for the Congress to step up, and help out a little bit?
ReplyDeleteSure, if the money for your pet project comes from their lobbyists, or honoraria, or family fortunes. Otherwise it's coming from you and me, and amounts to wealth redistribution.
DeleteOh, give it a rest, for Christ's sake. We have thousands of children / week washing up on our Southern border, and congress won't do anything but sit back and throw rocks. A little work, here, would go a long way.
DeleteSomeone needs to send those kids on their merry before they grow up and register Donk.
DeleteIf the funding comes from "You and Me", Ms T it is only because of the corrupt tax structure in the US.
DeleteIf one looks to where the wealth is, where the funding should come from, it is not from "You and Me".
The wealth distribution in the US is fully skewed to the top.
The top 10% of the families control 75% of the wealth.
The lowest 90% of the population shares just 25% of he wealth.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-03/top-tenth-of-1-percenters-reaps-all-the-riches
So 75% of all revenue of the government should come from 10% of the population.
DeleteThat is where the money is.
By taxing income and not wealth, it just exacerbate the inequities of the system
Well, that's fine, but in the meantime, they have to be fed, and sheltered, and cared for until all the logistics can be worked out. It wouldn't hurt the pubs to pitch in, and lend a hand.
DeleteAnd that is not "Redistribution" it is funding the continuing operation of the country.
DeleteJack, your appeal to some possible envy I might have toward the 1% falls on deaf ears. The commandment "Thou shalt not covet" has made the journey from my head to my heart. I write blog posts on Wordpress that run thus:
DeleteThe Warrior Princess said to her favorite padawan learner, “Gabhopper, why do you stop pouring when a cup has nearly been filled?”
“Because a cup can only accept so much liquid and no more, Lady Xena,” Gabrielle replied. “Everyone knows that.”
“And why do you stop sharpening a sword after it has acquired a keen edge?”
“Because the sword can only accept so much sharpening and no more, Lady Xena. Everyone knows that.”
“If everyone knows these things, then why do they go on devoting their life to acquiring more and more wealth? Do they not see that every person can only accept so many things, and no more?”
$2 billion in additional funding, to send them 'back'
DeleteAnd they will return, because of the situation the US has imposed upon their countries of origin.
Ask Smedley Butler. He wrote a book about the inequities we have laid upon those countries, and have for the past 100 years. The chickens are coming home to roost.
No, Ms T, it is not an appeal to envy.
DeleteIt is the wisdom of Willie Sutton.
'That's where the money is'
Whatever the financial needs of the country are, the top 10% have 75% of the wealth and that is where the funding should, must, come from. Not from the 90% of the people with 25% of the country's wealth.
What a lot of bull shit.
DeleteAll my neighbors could have 35 foot boats, the latest 4K resolution HD TVs, and swimming pools set into their backyard decks, and I wouldn't give a flying rat's ass, because totally I've opted out of the consumer treadmill. My happiness comes entirely from within. It sounds like a cliche, but it's true.
DeleteThe thing is, "redistribution" is what government does. It's, basically, their entire job. They take from citizens, mostly the richer ones, and distribute it to build roads, operate the military, provide social services, and a zillion other things.
ReplyDeleteIt's called, "civilization."
It's what the government does, it's not what the government ought to do. I'm a romantic. I prefer tales about the way things ought to be, not the way things are.
DeleteWell, then, pray tell, Teresita, what "ought" the government to do?
DeleteWell then, Ms T, where should your pay check come from?
DeleteThose without wealth, those that have wealth, or should your money be manufactured out of thin air?
Yup, we got to have a government, and we got to have taxes. The only question is how much government and how much taxes.
DeleteThese arguments are all the same as I read in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, 2000's, and 20teens.
Young people come along and think they have a new idea or two and sometimes I almost laugh.
But it will be better after the next revolution, or three.
Yessiree
Assuming you still work for the Federals or a contractor that acts as a middleman.
DeleteRufus IITue Jul 01, 11:23:00 PM EDT
DeleteWell, then, pray tell, Teresita, what "ought" the government to do?
Yup, that's the argument, always has been.
"Libertarians" couldn't run the sewer system of a small town.
You already know the answer, Jack.
ReplyDeletePrint up trillion dollar platinum coins.
Bwabwabwabwahahahahaha
DeleteThat was one of crapper's best ideas !!!!
That only works if the Congress will not cut the spending and will not approve borrowing.
DeleteIt is an option the GOP passed into law, back in the GW Bush days.
It would be better for the Congress to cut spending, in real terms and to restructure the tax code, at the same time.
Close the off-shore shelters, etc.
As it is now, they just create the money from thin air.
DeleteAnd then it flows, disproportionately, to the top 10% of the wealth holders
DeleteHobby Lobby opted out of four abortificants. They still cover:
ReplyDeleteMale condoms
Female condoms
Diaphragms with spermicide
Sponges with spermicide
Cervical caps with spermicide
Spermicide alone
Birth-control pills with estrogen and progestin (“Combined Pill)
Birth-control pills with progestin alone (“The Mini Pill)
Birth control pills (extended/continuous use)
Contraceptive patches
Contraceptive rings
Progestin injections
Implantable rods
Vasectomies
Female sterilization surgeries
Female sterilization implants
And they pay all their employees at least twice the minimum wage. So I read. And heard too.
DeleteGoddamn these Christians who value life !!!!
They are all a bunch of old WHITE men who just want to save labor costs, according to one commentator here.
DeleteYes, but, as I posted, earlier, their decision covered All Birth Control Pills, Devices, and Procedures - a point that they clarified, Today.
DeleteWhat's a girl gonna do these to keep from getting knocked up?
DeleteHobby Lobby is only applying that wide decision to four methods, as mentioned. Libs are melting down, and it's fun to see.
DeleteAny company that wants to deny All birth control in their insurance is, now, Good to Go.
DeleteMaybe she could use all those sixteen methods all at once ?
DeleteWhat's a girl gonna do these to keep from getting knocked up?
DeleteIn Basic they gave us Birth Control Glasses.
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt262/Minnesotahorn/2009727170086187596MGTaVL_fs.jpg
If Catholic companies should be able one day to deny all birth control payments to their employees, they should hire all Catholics.
DeleteWhich would probably some kind of illegal discrimination in this day and age.
DeleteWell then, Ms T, where should your pay check come from?
ReplyDeleteIf only you saw the range data I get to see, and the part at the end where the USS Guinea Pig breaks in half and goes straight to Davy Jones locker, you'd say, "If the government has to waste money, THIS is how I want them to do it!"
I doubt it.
DeleteBobTue Jul 01, 09:36:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteNobody wants to read that crap CONTINUALLY.
Well, Bob, don't. Everytime you complain his dick grows 0.0001mm. He now has a 2" cock, and it's all your fault.
He also has a VA issued hearing aid. Everytime you complain it works; stop talking and it dies. It is that easy.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteAll this talk about dicks, what kind of bar is this really?
Deletenot for lesbians. fake or real
DeleteFarmer Bob's baby picture
ReplyDeleteThat will come back and haunt you. I shall revenge !
DeleteMany women take the birth control pill for medical reasons other than birth control. Now, if they work for certain companies, that medicine won't be available to them.
ReplyDeleteThis was a horrible decision, that is going to create a mess before it's all over.
It will be available for them if they work for Hobby Lobby, since the pill prevents conception, not aborts afterward. They won't have access to RU486 maybe. Perhaps they should consider working for somebody else, OR, since they're all about "My body, my choice" how about they pony up from "My checkbook" too?
DeleteOther women can't use the pill, and have to be fitted with an IUD, and that can get expensive - prohibitively so for a poor gal making minimum wage, and trying to raise a child.
DeleteOR, since they're all about "My body, my choice" how about they pony up from "My checkbook" too?
Delete:) Not a bad idea, but I think what will probably happen is that they will eventually get the kind of birth control devices they desire and may need, even if they cause abortion, and it will be out of the general funds. Unless ObamaCare is overthrown altogether.
This is a stupid, unforced error for a society to make.
ReplyDeleteThe Court has spoken and that is the law. Live with it. That's what genuine Americans have been doing since "Judicial Review" became the law of the land. Don't like it? Move to Belarus.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, one day soon, if he hasn't already, Deuce is going to ask himself he if wants to continue his relationship, via blog, with less than a handful of misanthropes. My guess would be, no; he has more class than that. While he and I will disagree on a single subject, he has a first-class mind. A mind is not a brain, which the common housefly proves.
As another aside, chimpanzees enjoy shit throwing. Chimpanzees also have brains; there is no scientific evidence to suggest they have minds.
Carry on.
:)
DeleteThis "Genuine American" immediately thought of this decision:
ReplyDeleteDred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court held that African Americans, whether slave or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court,[2][3] and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. Dred Scott, an African American slave who had been taken by his owners to free states and territories, attempted to sue for his freedom. In a 7–2 decision written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the Court denied Scott's request. For only the second time in its history the Supreme Court ruled an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional.[4]
Although Taney hoped that his ruling would settle the slavery question once and for all, the decision immediately spurred vehement dissent from anti-slavery elements in the North, especially Republicans. Most scholars today (and many contemporary lawyers) considered the ruling regarding slavery in the territories to be dictum, not binding precedent. The decision would prove to be an indirect catalyst for the American Civil War. It was functionally superseded by the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which gave blacks full citizenship. It is now widely regarded by scholars as the worst decision ever made by the Supreme Court.[
That case was appealed to a higher authority, and overturned on the appeal.
Delete:)
"Genuine" Americans know damned well that the Supreme Court fucks up royally, from time to time, and that rank stupidity does not have to be passively accepted as some sort of writ from god, or somesuch.
DeleteHey, they have made a bunch of rulings I find obscene. And? It is a nation of law or a nation of men. You cannot have it both ways.
DeleteBy the way, your point is well taken and Scott the ideal example. Your presentation allows for rational discourse. Thanks
DeleteThey sold a ton of cars last month. The best month since 2006.
ReplyDeleteI am temporarily driving a rental Toyota Prius. I like it, though it took a day or two getting used to. The instrument panel is up on the dashboard, and not behind the steering wheel. I kept looking behind the steering wheel for a couple of days. It is hard for me to read that instrument panel up on the dashboard. It doesn't have a key, it doesn't have a starter. You push a button and start out in electric and then if needed the engine engages. It doesn't indeed get great gas mileage. The gear shifter has one position "B" that I asked about. Just DON'T use that, the guy said. I did not ask why, as I was in a hurry. I got to thinking, it may indicate BOMB. So I have not come near using it, I am afraid I might blow up the shopping mall.
DeleteAll in all, a really nice, quiet car. And I love the cruise control. Which prevents the car from accelerating even on a really steep downhill.
It DOES indeed get great gas mileage.
Deletehttp://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WGWZDPNX
ReplyDeleteBon Jovi
http://www.businessinsider.com/israel-doesnt-seem-to-want-an-all-out-war-in-gaza--and-neither-does-hamas-2014-7
ReplyDeleteIsrael Doesn't Seem To Want An All-Out War In Gaza — And Neither Does Hamas
It is a strange and all too often sad world. For no particularly good reason, I hope this guy catches a break and makes a ton of money. Yes, he is a criminal and I'm a saint, but I can live with it.
ReplyDeletehttps://gma.yahoo.com/hot-mug-shot-felon-signs-agent-modeling-contracts-001204845--abc-news-topstories.html
'Hot Mug Shot' Felon Signs With Agent For Modeling Contracts
:) Nice sentiments.
DeleteNot me though. He looks too much like a guy I know and don't like.
Breaking on Fox -
ReplyDeleteThe Inspector General can't find 2.8 million of the 8 million said to have signed up for ObamaCare/
Where did they go? Where they ever there in the first place?
Are they hiding in Lois Lerner's hard drive?
Ah, jeez, you can't believe a word that comes out of the Obama Administration.
DeleteHere is what is going on in Iraq -
ReplyDeleteShare Share |Share on twitter Twitter
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July 2, 2014
A Threat Assessment of Iraq
By Wesley Martin
Ads by BlockAndSurfAd Options
During my tenure as the senior anti-terrorism/force protection officer for all Coalition Forces in Iraq, I identified six basic threat groups against us: national terrorists, international terrorists (al-Qaeda and others), former regime elements (Saddamists), religious extremists, criminals, and tribes.
It was recognized that some individuals and organizations would fall under more than one threat group. How each was operating determined its threat group classification. The tactics and objectives of each group differ to varying degrees. Even within the groups, differences were identified. Sunni and Shia national terrorist courses of action differ. As a result of these understandings, threat expectations for current and upcoming coalition missions could be developed. In turn, defensive measures could be constructed.
There was one caveat: during Operations Iraqi Freedom 1 and 2, any defensive measure taken was allowed to remain in effect for only ninety days. A year later, that window had closed to fourteen days. During those periods, it was found that our adversaries had adapted, with new ways to attack. We needed to continually identify and characterize evolving weaknesses and push effective defensive windows to increased periods of validity.
By the time General Petraeus wrapped up his mission in 2010, the impacts of all groups had been minimalized. This was not just because of the surge in forces and how General Petraeus used those forces; equally important was his concurrent strategy of community and information engagement. In the north and west, his success with the Sunni tribes resulted in locals ridding themselves of terrorist elements.
Unfortunately, the work of all coalition forces and dedicated Iraqis of all faiths has been undermined. The antics of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have resulted in every one of those threat groups being reinvigorated. Of the six threat groups previously identified, al-Maliki has been the most aggressive and powerful operative in the criminal element. Little of the hundreds of billions of dollars pumped into Iraq by the United States had a positive impact on the Iraqi population. Not happy with his share of the skim, Nouri al-Maliki has established a criminal organization far more greedy, corrupt, and brutal than Al Capone could ever have hoped to be. The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre was the show piece of Capone's brutality. For Nouri al-Maliki, mass murder, unjustified warrants and arrests, torture, and overcrowded, disease-ridden, prisons have become a routine attribute of his rule.
DeleteFor years, al-Maliki has been conducting genocide on Sunni populations. Anyone opposing him is subject to being assassinated, being declared a terrorist, or being wrongly accused of crimes and arrested. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi is the most classic example. During my tour as senior operations officer for Task Force 134 (Detention Operations), I personally worked with Vice President al-Hashemi, and we shared equal dedication in stopping death squads from capturing and killing Iraqis just released from American-operated detention facilities.
Vice President al-Hashemi did not care if potential victims were Shia or Sunni. He was determined to do everything possible to stop all the killing. Independent of American operations, he was also working to expose al-Maliki’s illegal and secret prisons. Yet, immediately after American forces left Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki declared that Tariq was organizing death squads and called for the Vice President’s arrest. Al-Hashemi avoided the mockery of a trial and is now living in exile in Turkey.
Whether on an individual or community basis, al-Maliki’s method of operation is always the same. Every time he is met with resistance or fears exposure for his crimes, Nouri al-Maliki identifies those who oppose him as terrorists and threats against Iraq. I was in the auditorium last year during his presentation in Washington, D.C. At every turn, he blamed the ills of Iraq on al-Qaeda. It was not al-Qaeda inside the Fallujah hospital that his forces recently dropped barrel bombs onto, killing children and one doctor.
No matter what Nouri al-Maliki has done to his fellow countrymen, he has had the unfailing support of two governments: the United States and Iran. While U.S. mainstream media was asleep at the switch and all this was going on, the U.S. State Department was operating an information deception campaign in support of al-Maliki. The most blatant case was the murder of 52 Iranian dissidents trapped at Camp Ashraf. Fully covered by video footage taken by survivors of the massacre, and even on recording devices undiscovered by the assault forces, Maliki’s elite “Golden Division” passed through two lines of Iraqi security forces and, in full view of guard towers manned by Iraqi soldiers, systemically moved through the camp, killing people. Immediately following the massacre, and later during congressional testimony, State Department employees claimed, “There is no evidence the Iraqi government was involved in the Ashraf massacre.”
The 2010 national elections resulted in supporters of former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi winning the most seats in parliament. Per the Iraqi Constitution, it was Allawi's responsibility to form the government. The U.S. State Department supported al-Maliki in blocking this from happening, even though Allawi supported a unified Iraq and opposed discrimination. Al-Maliki remained in power. Corruption and genocide continued. In 2014, both the American and Iranian governments backed al-Maliki’s third term as prime minister, even though it is strictly forbidden by the Iraqi Constitution.
DeleteTo ensure that the election went in his favor, just prior to polling, al-Maliki ordered the release of waters from the Fallujah Dam, causing massive evacuations of Sunni communities. His several military assaults on Sunni communities resulted in many potential voters fleeing to Kurdistan. Many of those who did return were informed that they had no place to vote. Military personnel were required to vote a day early under direct observation of their commanders. Ballot boxes for other communities suddenly disappeared. Even before the completion of ballot-counting, President Obama telephoned and congratulated Prime Minister al-Maliki on his win.
Despite what al-Maliki and Obama administrations claim, the majority of the fighters in northern and western Iraq are not religious extremists or, in this case, the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria. Elements are clearly there, but valid statistics do not support the proclamation that all these communities are falling to the ISIS. The communities and tribes are in revolt against the corruption and genocide performed by Nouri al-Maliki. Western governments and media claimed that the ISIS slogan “We have a score to settle” referred to the execution of Saddam. It did not. It pertained to atrocities against the Sunni population by the government of Nouri al-Maliki.
What is now happening is that the entrance of international terrorists has caught the support of residents of the north and western provinces – the Sunni population base. Meanwhile, the wrath of ISIS is not just against the Shias, but also against the Sunnis who cooperated with the Americans in years past, and against the Iraqi government. The wrath is also against anyone who does not share Islamic extremist views and will try to minimize ISIS influence in the region and the minds of other Iraqis. The moderate Sunni tribal and community leaders and elders are in a difficult situation and face the threat of their people being annihilated from two sources – ISIS and the Iraqi government.
General Petraeus did an excellent job in developing peace with the Sunni tribal leaders. Now President Obama is talking about dropping bombs on the very same people and communities that accepted peace. If that is done, then the United States will have destroyed whatever remains of legitimacy with the Iraqi people. It will also destroy all credibility throughout the Middle East.
The Obama administration may wish to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Nouri al-Maliki; however, citizens of the Middle-East know better. American bombs on Iraqi communities and defenders of survival will be a bigger rallying call against the United States than the atrocities of Abu Ghraib could have ever achieved.
DeleteAl-Maliki’s regime is a much greater threat than the United States government appears to understand. Currently, al-Maliki is arming civilians and militias to defend Baghdad and the Shia south. That takes us back to the threat groups described at the beginning of this assessment. Al-Maliki is now arming everyone. His own military proved a total lack of discipline when thousands of soldiers fled from a few hundred adversaries in Mosul, Kirkuk, and Tikrit. Now al-Maliki is creating armed mobs. It is only a matter of time before these mobs start a genocide campaign of their own. Civil war in Iraq has already begun. If proper action is not taken immediately, it will not be long before a reign of terror commences. Religious extremists and criminals will be raiding communities, and mass murder will be the result.
That reign of terror will not just be between Shias and Sunnis. The tribes and criminal elements will go against each other. Former regime elements will be back in the fight. One major fact concerning mob violence is that it can turn in any direction. For the past year, bodies have been stacking up, and Shia parents have grown angry at having their sons serving in the military returning home in coffins. Al-Maliki does not have the support of the Shia population as he once did. Even Moqtada al-Sadr has stated that his Mahdi Army will protect only the holy sites and cities. Moqtada has said nothing about protecting the current Iraqi government or his former ally, Nouri al-Maliki.
At present, Moqtada is moving elements of the Mahdi Army north to Baghdad. Iraq has always had a very bad retirement program for previous rulers. As with the monarchy and republic before him, al-Maliki is very subject to being dragged out into the street and publicly executed.
If allowed to continue spiraling out of control, this upheaval will not stop in Iraq. Thanks to al-Maliki’s military, ISIS is much better-armed and more maneuverable than before. Many of these weapons and vehicles will find their way back to Syria. Under the leadership of Massoud Barzani, Kurdistan will be effectively defended. Even the Kurdish Peshmerga received a windfall of equipment that will be very useful in the future. Unlike al-Maliki’s military, the Peshmerga will not run from danger.
DeleteThere is a potential solution, and peace can still be achieved, but not until Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agrees to abide by the Iraqi Constitution, accept the mandated limit of two terms, and remove himself from government. That includes giving up his co-positions as minister of defense and minister of the interior. This will be difficult, because al-Maliki knows that once he has released control of the Iraqi government, he will be investigated and brought up on charges of crimes against humanity. A warrant against him has been standing for several years in the Spanish Court. Al-Maliki knows that, if tried in his own country, he will be convicted and face the same fate as Saddam Hussein.
As he either steps down from power or is dragged out into the streets, as in the case of the monarchy, a new ruling coalition needs to be immediately formed. This too will not be easy, because the Iranian government wishes to maintain a puppet in Baghdad. The Sunnis are not going to accept anyone of Tehran’s choosing, nor should they. If that happens, genocide will just pick up where al-Maliki left off.
The Sunni tribal and community leaders still have the means to throw out the international religious extremists, bring their own national fighters and tribe members under control, and hold criminals accountable. Time and lack of proper action are working against them. Both are also working against the entire Middle East. What happens or fails to happen over the next few weeks will soon have an impact on Jordan and Israel as well.
Bottom line: Nouri al-Maliki needs to leave power willingly, or he will be dragged out. A moderate government needs to be installed. The Sunni tribal chiefs and community leaders need to be supported and their people freed from the threat of genocide – not bombed by the United States military, as President Obama is suggesting.
Colonel Wes Martin (Ret.), Military Police; Former Senior Antiterrorism/Force Protection Officer for all Coalition Forces; Former Operations Chief, Task Force 134 (Detention Operations); Former Base Commander, Ashraf, Iraq.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/06/a_threat_assessment_of_iraq.html
DeleteHell of a mess. And Obama contributed to it by all the backing of Maliki.
None of this makes any sense to me.
I conclude: Obama has no idea what he is doing.
Contributed to it - and by pulling our troops out way too early.
DeleteCaused it by sending the troops in the first place
DeleteAgree with your sentiments completely...
ReplyDeleteJust downright incompetence by supposed leaders everywhere.. it's like a ww3 scenario is being deliberately manufactured...with multiple flashpoints...
Does common sense exist anywhere in the world right now or are we just plankton with pants destined for self destruction?!!
...great metaphor...
DeleteFinally, after 49 years the Turks may be facing reality, or have decided that having a Kurdish buffer state may not be all bad. With all due respect to my old occasional Metroliner neighbor , Joe Biden, this is a BFD:
ReplyDelete23.04.2014
Hemin Salih
BasNews, Erbil
Kurdistan Democratic Party – Turkey (KDP-T) was established secretly in 1965 but has recently been granted a formal license from the Interior Ministry in Turkey.
It will be the first political party in Turkey to have the word “Kurdistan” in its name.
The license, allowing the party to exist in legal terms, was granted by the Interior Ministry on the request of the KDP-T.
The head of the KDP-T, Mohammed Amin Kardash, told Turkish media that the Interior Ministry of Turkey has formally confirmed the KDP-T’s license, allowing it to operate legally as a political party.
He also proudly said that the KDP-T is the first licensed party in the country with the word “Kurdistan” in its name.
...
If you are interested in the Kurds, this site may interest you:
http://basnews.com/en/News/Details/KDP-T-awarded-license-in-Turkey-after-49-years/18442
From the same website:
ReplyDelete2.07.2014
Bestun Kakayi
BasNews, Erbil
The Peshmerga Ministry has said that only a small portion of the Iraqi border with Kurdistan region has remained under the control of the Iraqi army.
Jabar Yawar, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces, told reporters in a press conference Wednesday in Erbil that currently only about 15 km of the Iraqi-Kurdish border is under the control of the Iraqi army. Militant group formerly known as ISIS, now simply IS (Islamic State), has defeated armies and gained control of the whole remaining border area.
Kurdistan originally shared 1,050 km of their border with the Iraqi government. Since early July when IS militants began their attack against the Iraqi army, much of the border control has been lost. Now the Peshmerga only have control of about 15 km of their border with Iraq.
Yawar said that currently the extremist group controls 1035 km of Iraqi border with the Kurdistan Region. Formerly around 200 thousand of Iraqi soldiers resided in the region to assist in holding off the IS, but now only a small number has remained in the area.
“The geopolitics of the region have changed greatly as a result of the recent attacks,” added Yawar.
He also rejected reports that the Kurds have played any role in the current Iraqi crisis and said that a main factor behind latest developments is the quick collapse if Iraqi army itself.
He also revealed that Kurdish officials informed Iraqi officials months ago about the danger of the rising extremist groups in the region, but the Iraqi officials refused to take the warnings seriously.
Since the ISIS insurgent attacks began against the Iraqi army in northern Iraq, they have been able to capture most of the mostly Sunni-populated cities and towns of the region, including the Nineveh and Salahaddin Provinces.
-------------------
Elsewhere, Isis is inviting “settlers” into the new Islamic State.
US sends 300 more troops to Iraq
ReplyDeleteJuly 2, 2014 by Ahmed Hussein IRAQI NEWS SOURCES
US sends 300 more troops to Iraq
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The United States is ramping up its military presence in Iraq, deploying around 300 additional troops as well as helicopters and drone aircraft in response security concerns in Baghdad, officials said on Monday.
The decision announced by the Pentagon puts U.S. military personnel in a security role at Baghdad International Airport in the face of advances by an al Qaeda splinter group, three years after America’s military withdrawal.
As speculation swirls about whether President Barack Obama might authorize U.S. air strikes, a U.S. defense official said the moves were primarily focused protection of American personnel in Iraq, including civilians.
“This is not about (preparations) toward air strikes,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon said about 200 forces arrived on Sunday in Iraq to reinforce security at the U.S. embassy, its support facilities and Baghdad International Airport.
Another 100 personnel arrived in Iraq and many would be stationed at the airport, the official said.
“I think there’s an appropriate level of concern about the airport,” the official said, noting it was a vital transportation hub.
The Pentagon said a small number of helicopters and drone aircraft were also being deployed to Iraq.
ReplyDeleteBaghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Ministry of Defense announced receiving the second groups of the Russian Sukhoi fighters.
A statement by the MoD received by IraqiNews.com cited “Iraqi received five Sukhoi fighters from Russia to have ten of them and will use them in its battle against terrorism.”
Iran is not pleased
ReplyDeleteBaghdad (IraqiNews.com)
The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for the Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday that the wise Iraqi Kurdish leaders are not thinking about autonomy, adding that certain parties that speak of splitting Iraq, are not aware of the consequences.
A statement by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) received by IraqiNews.com quoted Abdollahian, as saying “Iran underlines respecting Iraq’s independence, national sovereignty and solidarity and territorial integrity in line with the country’s Constitution.”
“Wise Iraqi Kurdish leaders do not consider autonomy and adhere to the country’s Constitution, he said,” he added.”
“The remainder of Saddam and Takfiri terrorists will not be allowed to put the Iraqi and regional security at risk,” he concluded.
Allen, thank you for your kind words:
ReplyDeleteI will be busy today, so cut the shit and act like adults.
Death Spiral? eh, I don' thin' so.
ReplyDeleteStates Adding Insurers Like Crazy
Oh, and a lot of states are seeing Rate Decreases.
DeleteHuge ADP Number
Delete281,000
Biggest in a long time
Deuce ☂Wed Jul 02, 05:19:00 AM EDT
ReplyDeleteUS sends 300 more troops to Iraq
July 2, 2014 by Ahmed Hussein IRAQI NEWS SOURCES
...saw a report this morning that puts the total number at about 800...There is, to my mind, an intentional lack of clarity on the number of troops. This is not a bad thing, necessarily, and may even be a wise move; however, it renders accuracy impossible.
My impression is that the Iraqi Army is in far worse shape than anyone wants to admit. As a consequence, Iraq's "allies" are incrementally, almost off the radar, engaged in mission creep, hoping, I presume, to find that magic number of boots and bullets that will stabilize the situation around Baghdad. The counterattacks in the northeast are getting mixed reviews. Peshmerga activity seems to have kept momentum from completely evaporating.
We may be witnessing IS (formerly ISIS/ISIL) at its high-water mark. If so, its days are numbered. The worry to me would go to any strategic weapons systems being held in reserve for deployment at just the right time. For instance, have they surface-to-air technology? If so, it has not been switched on, avoiding detection. In the Yom Kippur War, unanticipated air defense arrays mauled the IAF badly and initially denied it air supremacy; which in turn led to a pummeling of IDF armor. Time will tell.
Egypt's attack consisted of 240 warplanes and 2,000 pieces of artillery, followed by 8,000 troops crossing over the Suez Canal. At the same time, 600 Syrian tanks advanced across the Golan Heights. By Oct. 10th, the Israeli counterattack in the Golan reached the line from which Syria launched their attack on October 6th. On October 13, 264 Egyptian tanks were knocked out, to Israel's ten. On the 14th another Egyptian attack on the Suez Canal was stopped with the destruction of 200 tanks and a thousand Egyptian soldiers killed. The following day Egypt lost 150 tanks to Israel's eighty. So when you say that Israel was mauled badly it sounds like Hillary saying she's po' folks.
DeleteYou really don't have a clue about this subject, as usual.
DeleteContributed to it - and by pulling our troops out way too early.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the handful of good things he did. We made a wrong turn in 1917 when we went Over There, and it's about time the doughboys came home.
A series of constitutional amendments made it possible to go "Over There". The combined effect changed entirely the US system of government: among other bad things, reducing the states to mere fifes. Having once tasted the power brought by placing the entire country on a war footing, centarlizing bureaucracy has grown to its present all-encompassing size and power. I can think of no state which has voluntarily committed seppuku in the interest of public good.
Delete"Brown Shirts"! This is what it has come to?
ReplyDelete"The sources said workers were guarded by a security force from the Baptist Family & Children’s Services, which the Department of Health and Human Services hired to run the Lackland Camp."
"The sources say security forces called themselves the “Brown Shirts.”
“It was a very submissive atmosphere,” the counselor said. “Once you stepped onto the grounds, you abided by their laws – the Brown Shirt laws.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/02/medical-staff-warned-keep-quiet-about-illegal-immigrants-or-face-arrest/
Medical staff warned: Keep your mouths shut about illegal immigrants or face arrest
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteI guess we can start calling Allen and WiO the Brown Shorts, because of how they react to the slightest thing that might sound anti-Jewish, if people weren't as ignorant of history as they usually are.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can call you the "head lying bitch" too...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteTeresita RedingerWed Jul 02, 09:12:00 AM EDT
DeleteI guess we can start calling Allen and WiO the Brown Shorts,
There was no need to personalize that link and insult others, other than your obsessive need to be mean-spirited. You should read my comment concerning the life expectancy of this blog and Deuce's response. I do not expect either to motivate you to clean up your act, since you will simply flit off elsewhere to spread joy and light.
When folks in Texas are concerned about a group of people who will take on the trappings of Nazi Germany to define themselves, we might have cause for concern.
I should have described the security folks as paramilitary. That was the mission of the Brown Shirts as well. So, I would have to say that we have a problem in Texas.
DeleteJERUSALEM – Orthodox Jews have burned hundreds of New Testaments in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in Israel.
DeleteUzi Aharon, the deputy mayor of the central Israeli town of Or Yehuda, says he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and urged people to turn over hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material recently distributed by missionaries.
The books were dumped into a pile and religious students set them afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said.
The Maariv newspaper reported Tuesday that hundreds of students took part in the book-burning.
The parallels are striking
On the night of May 10, 1933, an event unseen in Europe since the Middle Ages occurred as German students from universities once regarded as among the finest in the world, gathered in Berlin to burn books with "unGerman" ideas.
The students, along with brownshirted storm troopers, tossed heaps of books into a bonfire
I do not expect either to motivate you to clean up your act, since you will simply flit off elsewhere to spread joy and light.
DeleteSaid the man who in just the last thread rebuked me for suggesting new recruits were called boot by saying:
"Boots" were not called "Boot"...shithead, dumbfuck, shit-for-brains, ass-wad, scumbag, turd, pussy...
Burning book that are confiscated by the authorities is one thing.
DeleteBurning books given as propaganda and is now the property of the others is another. In America and other western nations the owners of said property have a right to burn anything they own.
Your comparison to germany is specious.
But you know that....
The good news? By now you are so discredited NO ONE gives you any cred, they just think you are an insane, bitter anti-semite who hates Israel and Jews...
Teresita RedingerWed Jul 02, 09:55:00 AM EDT
DeleteI do not expect either to motivate you to clean up your act, since you will simply flit off elsewhere to spread joy and light.
Said the so called woman who in just the last several threads called me all sorts of names from terrorists to mass murderer to not even a Jew...
That's why Ms t, teresita, Xena, whatever name you are using today, you lack credibility...
A family-run concrete business in Michigan, the U.S.’s second-biggest carmaker, the largest railroad and a solar power provider in California are all hiring as industrial companies lead a broad labor-market rebound that’s on pace to add the most jobs in 15 years.
ReplyDeleteEmployment may be headed for a “breakout year” as companies feel more secure adding to payrolls following several years of demand rising only to stumble on threats from U.S. budget standoffs, a debt-ceiling induced default and a European credit crisis, said Marisa Di Natale, a director at Moody’s Analytics.
“It’s the first year in several where we haven’t had some kind of manufactured fiscal showdown in Washington, which weighs on business confidence and consumer confidence,” Di Natale said.
Industries from construction to autos to oil and gas are increasing jobs as growth accelerates after a harsh winter stunted business. As some sectors, such as . . . . .
Bloomberg
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteRufus,
DeleteIs Walgreen's moving offshore? I recall reading something about a major chain moving in that direction.
That's where Draft Dodger Bob's son got a job.
DeleteDoubt if he can afford to expatiate.
Minimum wage workers tend to stay close to home.
Hands down Obama is the worst president since WWII:Quinnipiac poll
ReplyDeleteThat Obama sticker on your bumper might as well say "I'm a dumb ass".
Largest newspaper in Montana admitted they were wrong in endorsing Barack Obama in 2008. It took 6 years to figure that out?!
ReplyDeleteHe is not running for an office in Montana, is he?
DeleteI'll stick with him. He's trying; the republicans aren't.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletelol
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDeuce,
ReplyDeleteI guess you see now in what high regard your efforts are held. You are being cynically used just like some of the rest of us to meet the sick needs of a couple psychos. Unlike the rest of us, you control the "off" switch. I hope you eventually use it...selectively. It would be a shame to lose the blog entirely.
The historical analogies disturb you, allen?
DeleteThe striking parallels between Zionism and Nazism, just don't fill your cup of joy?
There are more to come.
Mass punishment of civilian populations, another parallel between the two forms of Fascism.
Oh, please tell US when students in Texas massed in political protest and burnt books?
DeleteOn a coffee break. No one is interested in gay Jews, gay cowboys or gay gays.
ReplyDeleteIt is not hapy people we are speaking of.
DeleteIt is fascists. Abusers of women, children and themselves.
Hypocrites that make public pronouncements of righteousness, while wallowing in the muck and mire of what they claim to reject.
Hypocrites that claim to be a "Jewish" state, while by their actions renounce the God the claim as their own.
Hypocrites that embrace the policies and lifestyle of those that they claim are evil incarnate.
But it's your house, so we'll stick to book burning, mass punishments and apartheid,
.
ReplyDelete“It’s the first year in several where we haven’t had some kind of manufactured fiscal showdown in Washington, which weighs on business confidence and consumer confidence,” Di Natale said.
I doubt very much that this had much to do with the stagnation in the economy. It was frustrating because it shows what fools inhabit OZ but it was a mere sideshow. Most of the episodes were short term and companies likely ignored them in building their business plans.
This on the other hand is the reason there has been no expansion:
“We do see and feel and hear from our clients that there is a building of demand,” Manpower’s Joerres said. Many employers that once held off on hiring now can’t wait any longer because “they have stretched everyone for the most part to the maximum.”
Although the article still projects the rise in jobs to be steady rather than robust it's always good to hear positive forecasts.
.
“they have stretched everyone for the most part to the maximum.”
DeleteThat's an interesting statement, inasmuch as "hours worked" has been running about 34.5
34.5 hrs. being a not particularly strong number.
DeleteWe could have a 300,000 + Payroll Number, tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteor, not :)
I like the Year on Year chart of this data has value.
DeleteRight now, it seems to me to be showing an economy that's kind of thinking about breaking out of its 2% straitjacket.
Dept Store Sales
Hitler used his Brown Shirts to intimidate adversaries and putative enemies of the German state. These adversaries and enemies included rival nationalist politicians, Communists, artists, actors, gypsies, homosexuals, musicians, judges, clerics, architects, writers, authors, publishers, newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, film producers, doctors, lawyers, professors, Jews, etc., etc., etc. When a Federally funded security firm takes unto itself the trappings of a brutal, fascist paramilitary and threatens American citizens using the language of that foreign paramilitary, there is a problem, Houston.
ReplyDeleteIf form follows function, we will see the "Black Shirts" (SS), a military organization dedicated, in its day, to fight to the death not for the German people or the German state but for the person of Adolph Hitler, solely. If memory serves, his personal army amounted to 38 divisions of the best troops Europe had to offer, using the best equipment Germany could manufacture. The SS ruled the roost with an iron hand, headed by Heinrich Himmler, a psychopathic chicken farmer.
It may be great sport to take silly shots at others with this as backdrop, but it is cause for care to citizens who love their own country more than they hate that of another.
The parallels continue Zionism follows the path blazed by the Nazis
DeleteIsraeli settlers torch Palestinian farm in 'price tag' attack
NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers early Wednesday set fire to an animal farm in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, a Palestinian official said.
...
Settlers spray-painted the words "blood vengeance" and "price tag" in Hebrew on the outer walls of the farm, he added.
...
...the settlers came from the illegal settlement of Itamar south of Nablus.
Later, in the Bethlehem district, Israeli settlers hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles as they drove on a road near the village of Husan, locals said.
The claims of "Racial Superiority" are running parallel.
hat tip: allen
We know that both the Israeli and the NAZI embrace the concept of...
Lebensraum ("living space") as being a law of nature for all healthy and vigorous peoples of superior races …
DeleteIsraeli settlers torch Palestinian farm in 'price tag' attack
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=709309
Yeah I heard about the bombings in Gaza....
DeleteNot one hamas member killed in 34 air strikes...
Hmm... Nor any civilians.. Hope Israel improves it's aim soon...
Jack HawkinsWed Jul 02, 11:57:00 AM EDT
DeleteIsraeli settlers torch Palestinian farm in 'price tag' attack
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=709309
Cool that was for the the factory hamas burnt down last week...
The very definition of "price tag' is retribution for acts of terror and murder that the palestinians do...
DeleteHense...
If the Palestinians didn't fire rockets, stab kids, bomb pizza shops, kidnap teenagers?
There would be no "price tag" attacks ON PROPERTY...
Now what might be interesting is IF it blows up into a new palestinian war against Israel?
There could be hundreds of thousands of fleeing palestinians into Jordan and Egypt from the west bank and gaza...
Then they could have a holiday of the Nabka2 Nabka (squared) - Get it? The Nabka Nabka Holiday...
Then the "refugees" could be "refugee refugees"
Sounds like a cool plan...
desert rat/jack hawkins in drag said:
DeleteWe know that both the Israeli and the NAZI embrace the concept of...
Lebensraum ("living space") as being a law of nature for all healthy and vigorous peoples of superior races …
And yet? the arab world now occupies 899/900 of the middle east...
Israel sits on 1/900th AND has a population that is 20% arab.
The facts say you are wrong and full of shit...
Again...
LOL
You are entitled to your opinion but not the facts....
Fact is? Arabs squat on MOST all the Middle east 899/900th and factoring in the amount of Israeli arabs control? it's almost 899.4/900th of the middle east..
wrap that fact around that thing you sit on that is your brain....
899/900th verses 1/900th
got any facts to rebut that point..
Look at a map and show me the land mass of Israel and the land mass of the arab world...
Come on fake ranger...
On a coffee break. No one is interested in gay Jews, gay cowboys or gay gays.
ReplyDeleteThou Shalt Not Bore The Deucemeister.
I'm elated to see Deuce for once acting the Meister.
ReplyDeleteAt 17,000 the Dow is going to take a tumble.
Buy land, not stocks.
From my OGF, whose husband is half Jewish half Lutheran (!) -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/Ry3NzkAOo3s?rel=0
...well said...
Deleteexcellent
DeletePrivate property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main bulwark. ~Walter Lippmann
ReplyDeleteThe roots of Israel’s land policies trace back to 1948, when Zionist militias destroyed or depopulated over 500 Palestinian villages. In the wake of the Nakba, Israel expropriated the vast majority of lands previously belonging to Palestinians. The 1950 Absentees Properties Law transferred the lands of those who became refugees into the hands of the state, while a 1953 land acquisition law delivered another 1.3 million dunams into the state’s hands.
These laws and policies have shrunk Palestinian areas in Wadi Ara.
Before 1948, Umm el-Fahm constituted 140,000 dunams. After Israel’s land expropriations were carried out, Umm el-Fahm was left with 12,000 dunams, according to Palestinian scholar Sami Hadawi. Ar’ara, too, has been hit hard by land confiscation. In 1953, Israel expropriated over 8,000 dunams from the village.
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/05/confiscation-struggle-palestinian.html
The Israeli government has, to a large extent, continued the Ottoman legal system in regard to land ownership.
Thus, today the vast proportion of land within the State of Israel (roughly 93%) is owned and managed either by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) or the JNF. This figure includes much of such extensive regions as the Negev and the Judean Wilderness (near the Dead Sea), which are sparsely populated.
Jewish settlements in the State of Israel usually are located on lands that are owned by the ILA or the JNF and that have been consigned to each settlement through long-term leases.
Less than 7% of the land in the State of Israel is privately owned.
http://elearning.la.psu.edu/jst060/lesson_2/land-ownership
Since Israel is a fully functioning democracy, if they weren't cool with the government controlling the desert, they'd change it.
DeleteJust like most Americans are fine with the National Forests.
Chill
DeleteThese national policies to confiscate Palestinian lands and transfer them for exclusive Jewish use can be seen from an overlook point near Umm el-Fahm in the moshav of Mei Ami.
Named after the Florida city that financed the community in 1962 along with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), Mei Ami, meaning “our nation” and pronounced “Miami,” is the first of four localities now inside Wadi Ara that are called “settlements” by Melhem and other Palestinian neighbors. When the moshav was established, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency also called Mei Ami a “settlement,” despite the farming community’s location inside of the armistice line. This word “settlement” was carefully selected because in Wadi Ara these towns are, by law, for Jewish-Israelis only, on the hilltops and gated to the teeth.
It is not a Democracy, it is an Apartheid System of Fascism.
LOL
DeleteGood fences make good neighbors....
JERUSALEM — The body of an abducted Arab teenager was found in a Jerusalem forest early Wednesday, fanning outrage among Palestinians and threatening to further escalate the broader tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
ReplyDeleteEye for eye, life for life. Once again Israel perpetrates the Cycle of Violence.
Wow now anti-Semite.....
DeleteThere is a death, there is a body. But there is no evidence, unlike arabs who routinely kidnap Israelis and hold for ransom and murder.
But in your world Jews are to blame 1st.
Teresita Redinger
DeleteEye for eye, life for life.
You really are ignorant of what you say.... Don't have a CLUE what "eye for an eye" actually means.
Thanks for showing us that know just how uneducated you actually are.....
Teresita Redinger - Once again Israel perpetrates the Cycle of Violence.
DeleteIf Israel were doing so we'd need to murder 2999 MORE arabs to be even, after all Hamas and Hezbollah have valued the life of one Jew = 1000 arabs.
Now if Israel kills 2999 MORE innocent arabs? You MIGHT have a point, till then?
You are just a low intelligence bigot...
While the Israeli is a NO intelligence bigot.
DeleteIsraelis - they wear Brown ShirtsWed Jul 02, 12:48:00 PM EDT
DeleteWhile the Israeli is a NO intelligence bigot.
Wow, did your mommy help you write that all by yourself?
Federal judge threatens to have outside expert investigate 'lost' IRS emails...
ReplyDeleteSHOCK POLL: Obama worst president in 70 years...
Voters say Romney would have been better...
ZOGBY: 'It's all over'...
Setbacks Cloud Second Term...
'Sue me': Defiant President Taunts Republicans...
'It's Not Crazy, It's Not Socialism, It's Not The Imperial Presidency'...
GALLUP: Americans' sense of freedom drops........drudge
Looks like you can't fool all the Americans all the time !
Yep, no third term for Obama!
DeleteJuly 2, 2014
ReplyDeleteLook! Squirrel! IG report shows Obamacare in a world of hurt
By Rick Moran
Ads by BlockAndSurfAd Options
What crisis should we focus on today so that we can safely ignore the latest IG report from HHS on Obamacare? The IRS is always good for a distraction but I think wse should resurrect Ukraine. There hasn't been a war scare there for weeks.
Anything but the IG report. That's because the conclusions reached by the HHS inspector general are so damning of the failure of the entire enterprise that an already angry public will probably reach for the pitchforks and start warming up the tar and tearing up the feather pillows.
There are 5 major issues found by the IG - all of which have the potential to massively increase calls for Obamacare's repeal.
Washington Examiner:
1. Fraud could be significant. The audit found the federal government has been unable to resolve 2.6 million out of 2.9 million “inconsistencies” in the information provided by people who applied for health care subsidies. In other words, it could not verify the data provided by people seeking subsidies.
2. Most inconsistencies were about citizenship and income. The vast majority of the questionable data provided by those receiving health care subsidies relate to citizenship and income level. The audit found that 44 percent of inconsistent information concerned verifying citizenship or lawful presence. Income information made up 33 percent of the potentially faulty data, and in 11 percent of cases, the government couldn’t verify whether a person was truly ineligible for employer-sponsored insurance.
Citizenship and income are the two categories where you would most expect fraud to occur. If so, it looks like about 1/3 of enrollees may be receiving tax money in the form of subsidies that they don't deserve.
Republicans warned years ahead of time that the systems in place were inadequate to prevent his kind of massive fraud.
4. The healthcare.gov site is still incomplete. According to the audit, the federal government was unable to resolve inconsistent data from subsidy applicants because the system “was not fully operational.” In fact, the government was not able to determine how many applicants with whom the government had at least one problem verifying the information they provided.
5. Some state-run marketplaces have problems, too. Four states do not have the capacity to determine how many applicants for health care subsidies have provided potentially faulty information. Nevada and Oregon reported their systems “were not built with the capacity to provide that data.” In Colorado and Minnesota, health care marketplace officials relied on state Medicaid offices to do the verifying and said they had no access to the information.
The other problem is also with the website; it's still not working correctly.
According to the audit, one health care marketplace was unable to verify the information on 15,000 applications because of outages on the federal website for verifying data. The federal data hubs also contained old and inaccurate information. In some cases, for example, infants were identified as “incarcerated.”
This is an absolutely horrific report - possibly billions in fraud, a still dysfunctional website, and baby felons.
Isn't it time we did the humane thing and pump a bullet into the ACA to put it out of its misery?
Draft Dodger Bob, why do you refuse to put the quotes into italics?
DeleteWhy do you want us to be confused about who wrote what, when?
Why can't you meet the basic blogging standard?
Bob is a writer of poor fictionWed Jul 02, 12:36:00 PM EDT
DeleteDraft Dodger Bob, why do you refuse to put the quotes into italics?
Why do you want us to be confused about who wrote what, when?
Why can't you meet the basic blogging standard?
Sounds like an Ad hominem attack by some ball-less coward...
How are three questions an attack?
DeleteThere is no statement made, just questions asked.
Stories happen in the mind of a reader, not among symbols printed on a page.”
― Brandon Mull
Another European making a Big Impact in the Middle East.
ReplyDeleteHe does not clam to be a Semite.
The rising star of ISIS, the Sunni insurgent group terrorizing Iraq, is a fighter known as Omar the Chechen — a young, fierce military commander whose most distinctive feature is an unmistakable red beard.
His nom de guerre is Omar al-Shishani, and he’s only 28. Terror analysts say his growing profile demonstrates not just the reach of ISIS but its ferocity: Al-Shishani grew up in the spartan Pankisi Gorge of Georgia, hardened by decades of fighting.
“That’s the Harvard of terrorist upbringing,” said Patrick M. Skinner, director of special projects for the Soufan Group, a security consulting company, who has studied ISIS and its predecessor groups for years.
“It’s very different than being a kid in Saudi Arabia, where you’re coddled and you come to the ideology later,” he said. “He was raised this way.”
Al-Shishani has commanded ISIS forces in Syria as they work to erase the border between Syria and Iraq. Analysts say he may already be the military chief for the whole movement.
The last man to hold the job, Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Bilawi al-Anbari, was killed in the city of Mosul last month, just as ISIS fighters were sweeping across the Iraqi north and capturing swaths of land.
Unlike Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader, Omar the Chechen is not afraid to show his face. He appeared in an ISIS video over the weekend, asking God to grant his fellow fighters martyrdom if they can’t establish an enormous Islamic state.
...
Al-Shishani, whose given name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, is from the Caucasus region of Georgia, torn by strife as long as he has been alive. He served in the national army and was discharged after an illness, a former neighbor told The Associated Press.
....
Al-Shishani commands perhaps 500 to 1,000 fighters and has risen with a sustained campaign of success. His groups have avoided crippling losses, including fighting both the Maliki forces and the troops of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Last August, it was al-Shishani’s fighters who helped capture Managh, an air base in the Syrian north that had been disputed for months.
Until recently, ISIS was thought to be recruiting heavily inside Iraq. It has shifted its focus and is picking people who have demonstrated fighting prowess no matter where they are fighting — the opposite of the cronyism of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, analysts say.
“Shishani’s unit is the best performing wherever he goes,” Skinner said. “In the jihadist world, there are levels of fear and respect, and the Chechens occupy the top.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/rising-star-isis-has-chechen-background-fierce-reputation-n146466
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ReplyDeleteA recent Gallup poll showed that jobs and the economy remain the highest priority for the American people. It has been that way for the past six years, yet the dicks in OZ either don't get it or they don't care. The arguments are about scandals, foreign policy, healthcare, immigration, in fact, anything but jobs and the economy.
Is it any wonder Obama is voted worst president since WWII and the Congress is rated even worse?
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No, not a wonder at all.
DeletePerfectly understandable.
But the DC elites do not work for the people.
The perfect example of this ...
Mrs Clinton got paid $8 million by Leslie Moonves.
While as Secretary Of State Mrs Clinton's annual salary was $186,600.
Follow the money.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI was perusing the comments and I came across yours attributing the murder of the 3 Israeli teens to problems with the Muslim religion - really?
How about doing a thought experiment for me? You are concerned about the Mexicans coming to America and settling are you not, especially the illegal ones, right? Now, imagine if you would that they were coming over in such great numbers and they set up towns which they were able to wall you out of and the US government was powerless to stop it. They kept coming, and settling, and world bodies such as the UN said those settlements were illegal. How would you feel about those Mexicans? Now imagine that 3 of those Mexican were teens hitchhiking home from school and they were found dead. How would you feel? Enraged at their deaths?
I'm curious as to how you'd feel Bob.
:) heh, that's what I love about you, Ash. What a perfect analogy......r i g h t.
DeleteDear Ash, that doesn't even come close. But I won't go into it unless you really press me, cause I'm tired and just want to read.
Teresita RedingerWed Jul 02, 11:48:00 AM EDT
ReplyDeleteOn a coffee break. No one is interested in gay Jews, gay cowboys or gay gays.
Thou Shalt Not Bore The Deucemeister.
...another brilliantly vacuous observation...Suppose for a moment that your supercilious arrogance, sense of entitlement, and ingratitude might be at fault. When you are in another man's house, you live by his rules. If that is a burden, shove off, Swabbie.
...another thought on personality: If Deuce shuts down, you will be at the BC in a microsecond cackling like a little wet hen about how YOU finally put it out of its misery...
Feb 11, 2014 - Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger suspected of accepting millions of shekels worth of bribes during his 10-year term.
Deletehttp://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.573689
Wow... that is late breaking news!!!!! Had to search the PAID haaretz archives for that one....
DeleteImpressed... I guess only Jews have had corruption in their religious leaders....
If you say so, as you are the self-proclaimed expert on corruption and the Jewish religion.
DeleteYou will not get an honest response.
ReplyDeleteMEXICO CITY (AP) -- Soldiers killed 22 people at a warehouse in central Mexico state Monday in a shootout that also left a soldier injured, the Defense Department said.
ReplyDeleteThe department said in a brief statement that soldiers were patrolling the town of Tlataya when they came across a warehouse being guarded by armed men, who opened fire on the troops.
Twenty-one men and one woman were killed in the shootout and soldiers rescued three women who said they had been kidnapped, it said. Soldier also seized 22 automatic rifles, two shotguns, 13 handguns, a hand grenade and dozens of round of ammunition.
The town of Tlataya is in the mountains near the state of Guerrero
If Deuce shuts down, you will be at the BC in a microsecond cackling like a little wet hen about how YOU finally put it out of its misery...
ReplyDeleteI don't want the BC shut down, I think it does an outstanding job setting people straight that to be anti-Zionist is not to be anti-Jew, and that there are other folks who are Semites besides Jews.
Er, "I don't want the EB shut down,..."
ReplyDeleteI don't want either one shut down.
Suppose for a moment that your supercilious arrogance, sense of entitlement, and ingratitude might be at fault
ReplyDeleteGreat minds discuss ideas. Mediocre minds discuss people.
Poll: http://t.co/HVdAeRsWDi
ReplyDeleteIndependents more likely, 53-39 %, to back anti-ObamaCare candidates.
Rufus.
Too bad you can't make clickable links, any more.
DeleteGallup - U.S. Job Creation Index holds at 6 year high
ReplyDelete27
http://www.metaspoon.com/quartet/
ReplyDelete...nothing controversial...
It's interesting that all of the Governors that are in trouble are "anti-Obamacare" Republicans.
ReplyDeleteLepage
Corbett
Brownback
Scott
Walker
.
DeleteIn the same poll that found Obama the worst president since WWII, finds Obama negative on the issue of healthcare 40-58%.
Attributing one issue as the reason for a politician's unpopularity is usually a mistake.
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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/senate/
DeletePuts the Democrats ahead, state by state
2014 Generic Congressional Vote - CBS News/NY Times - Democrats 42, - Republicans 39 - Democrats +3
Congressional Job Approval / Approve 13.0 - Disapprove 77.5 Spread -64.5
Too bad you can't make clickable links, any more.
ReplyDeleteNavy doesn't like those anonymous links, I couldn't check it out. If I was home I would. I didn't want to make an unsourced assertion.
By Juan Cole | Jul. 2, 2014 |
ReplyDeleteAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s proclamation of himself as “caliph” is rather like the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan declaring himself the Holy Roman emperor. A small criminal/ terrorist group making claim on an archaic institution is more worthy of ridicule than awe. Having offended educated Muslims around the world, the extremely violent psychopath and serial mass murderer, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Badri, went on Tuesday to call on Muslims to immigrate into his so-called ‘Islamic State’ in northern Syria and northern Iraq. He also declared a holy struggle (jihad) against his enemies during the fasting month of Ramadan.
At the same time, the anti-Assad opposition in Syria issued a joint statement from its “Religious Law Bureau,” saying that al-Baghdadi’s declaration of a caliphate is illegitimate both according to Islamic law and according to simple reason. In Syria, al-Baghdadi has killed his putative allies against Bashar al-Assad with such vicious abandon that even core al-Qaeda threw him out of their movement.
The religious affairs bureaus of the opposition groups said that “the prerequisites for the caliphate do not exist in our own time.” They said it was particularly invalid with regard to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.” They said that al-Baghdadi’s declaration of the caliphate was an attempt to escape from his crimes and to endow his violent activities with an Islamic patina, especially his war on his opponents and on those who refuse to pledge fealty to him.
Al-Baghdadi’s call for immigrant Muslims refers to some medieval jurisprudents who forbade Muslims to live under non-Muslim rule and who urged them to emigrate to a Muslim-ruled kingdom. He is implying that Middle Eastern states are actually non-Muslim, and as such are apostates who should be killed. The “true” Muslims should therefore leave their homelands and come to live under ISIS.
In fact, the some 75 million Indian Muslims in British India in 1900 declined to emigrate even though they were ruled by the British non-Muslims. Muslim clerics mostly ruled that since Britain allowed them to practice their religion, it was licit for them to live and work there. Of course many Muslims served Hindu rajas of the princely states, as well. There was one sad episode in British India in 1920, where a hysteria spread that Muslims should not be living under foreign Christian rule, and some of them emigrated to Kabul in Afghanistan. They hadn’t made proper preparations, and there were not exactly a lot of jobs in Kabul for foreigners, so the whole thing quickly collapsed. Most straggled back, broke and traumatized. A few, ironically, ended up in Soviet Central Asia. The great clergymen condemned the movement as ignorant of Islamic law. Al-Baghdadi is attempting to provoke a similar hysteria.
As for jihad or holy struggle, al-Baghdadi is not recognized as having the prerogative to issue such a command. Classical Sunni law invested such a call in the duly constituted government. Current radical movements in Middle Eastern Islam see jihad or holy struggle as an individual duty (fard `ayn) on all Muslims. This is a heresy from the point of view of the Sunni tradition.
Deuce,
DeleteWhile admittedly a long stretch, Napoleon was lampooned. It did not seem to affect his performance on the battlefield. As you know, there is an enormous painting at the Louvre of "The Emperor" taking the crown from the Pope and installing himself.
Mr. Cole is struggling: This is not supposed to be happening in the civilized world he thinks he shares with Muslim friends et al. Whether he likes it or not, the bad guy is occupying a lot of the high ground and no one, other than the Kurds, has been able to lay a glove on him; and even the Kurds are keeping at a respectable distance. IS is going to be a thorn in Mr. Cole’s side until the West puts lots of boots on the ground; the Iraqi Army is hopeless. For Mr. Cole to have to admit that is going to be humiliating, but there you have it.
Obviously, there will be the argument that the death of “A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.J. abu Boo” will conclude the whole unfortunate affair; but that was said also about ObL…Hmm…No, we have reached the beginning of the beginning.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see where "boot" might have come up in this touching interlude between the recruit and the Gunny. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest the Gunny was "counseling" the lad about anatomical placement of the "boot."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/ConcernedVetsforAmerica/photos/a.361835077271956.1073741826.158791100909689/541471782641617/?type=1&theater
You need to expand your field of vision, allen.
ReplyDeleteYou need to get your access to the world wide web expanded, if you do not want to continue to look the fool.
Israel Pays Students For Pro-Israeli Social Media Propaganda
boot
(n)(v)Military term: 1. Used to describe someone who is right out of boot camp and or their MOS school; 2. one who is unexperienced; 3. usually the target of hazing; 4. One who is still stuck in boot camp mode.
"We just got a fresh shipment of boots in our victor unit yesterday. Let's give them a warm infantry welcome!"
"You still put your cover in your cargo pocket? You boot!"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boot&defid=1295359
ARMY SLANG
boot n: An inexperienced soldier just out of boot camp.
http://www.slangsearch.com/army.html
The Highway and Transportation Act has to be Refunded in a couple of days, and it looks like the pubs might not do it.
ReplyDeleteThat's another bunch of jobs lost.
Thanks, guys.
Where's that pipeline from Canada?
ReplyDeleteWhat is holding that up?
........
Alfalfa is in the barn. Relieved.
Private property rights.
DeletePeople are going to court, to fight the condemnation of their land under Eminent Domain.
Many locales enacted legislation after Kelo v New London, and it is resulting in lengthy Court battles.
I mention because rat in his friendly way was hoping rain would ruin it. It did indeed rain, but not enough to matter. They had to rake it over once is all.
DeleteSorry to disappoint, rat.