Monday, March 23, 2015
Tikrit - Update
From Aljazeera:
The Iraqi army, supported by Shia fighters, is laying "full siege" to the city of Tikrit where Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group fighters are now surrounded, according to Iraq's defence minister.
The Iraqi military - backed by at least 20,000 Shia fighters - has been fighting to regain control of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, one of several predominantly Sunni towns to fall to ISIL last year.
Operations to recapture Tikrit have been on hold for nearly a week, with Khaled al-Obeidi, the Iraqi defence minister, saying the army was trying to minimise casualties by not rushing the final assault.
"When we see that the time is right for the Tikrit alliance, we will storm in as quickly as possible," he said.
"Tikrit is under full siege. We are taking caution to not take any losses and to protect civilians in the city.
"The terrorists are surrounded inside the city and their morale is low. When the right moment comes, we will storm the city without any resistance or losses."
The Tikrit siege is one of the first major operations in which the US-led coalition is not taking part, with US officials saying they were not asked to participate.
Possible divide
Against the backdrop of the Tikrit siege, the head of a Shia armed group has criticised the Iraqi army, saying it has asked for coalition air strikes to help retake the city.
Hadi al-Ameri's remarks on Sunday pointed to a possible divide between the Iraqi army and Shia units, most of which are made up of fighters.
While the US has been working to train Iraqi military brigades, it has not worked with the Shia groups, since doing so would bring them uncomfortably close to Iran, which offers significant assistance to the groups.
John Brennan, CIA director, said having the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force direct Iraqi forces against ISIL is complicating the US mission.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Brennan described General Qassem Soleimani as being "very aggressive and active" in advising the Shia militias, adding that he "wouldn't consider Iran an ally right now inside Iraq".
Iranian advisers have played a prominent role on the front lines of Iraq's Salahuddin province.
If Iraqi forces are unable to push ISIL back and recover lost territory, US President Barack Obama would be faced with a choice of accepting failure in Iraq or committing US combat troops - something both US and Iraqi officials have spoken firmly against.
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ReplyDelete"The terrorists are surrounded inside the city and their morale is low. When the right moment comes, we will storm the city without any resistance or losses."
Nosostros tropas sigue avazando sin perder una palma de terreno. (military communique in For Whom The Bell Tolls) Our troops continue advancing without losing any territory.
:)
John Brennan, CIA director, said having the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force direct Iraqi forces against ISIL is complicating the US mission.
!!!!
What US mission ?
Shia Iraq is becoming part of Iran. I guess that's our mission.
All due to the genius of our Napoleon on the Potomac.
Quirk fought in Spain for the Republic, and knew Robert Jordan, and wrote that communique.
DeleteAnother famous Quirkian communique was:
"Battle bloody as a damn bullfight"
On leave, Quirk used to hang out at the Casa Botin in Madrid, and drink vodka with the Russian General Karkov, and was famous there for the time, very drunk, when he played Russian Roulette, and won.
DeleteFive times in a row, with a six shooter.
DeleteKarkov took the Five Stars off his uniform, and gave them to Quirk, and Maria gave him kisses and roses. The bartender gave him another bottle of vodka.
DeleteAnd Robert Jordan took the gun away.
DeleteAnd said to Quirk:
Delete"If you feel up Maria again, I'LL blow your brains out."
And Quirk said to Robert Jordan:
Delete"Your desires are mine also, Comrade."
This saying of comradely solidarity became famous in Madrid, and became engraved on a plague that hangs on the wall in the Casa Botin.
It is true. I have seen it with my own eyes.
The US mission in Iraq is clear ...
ReplyDeleteTo support the government elected by the "Purple Fingers of Freedom".
As the President said ...
"Ladies and gentlemen, with grateful hearts, we honor freedom's defenders and our military families," Bush said.
The wave of purple fingers, raised by dozens of House Republicans, was organized by Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La., to demonstrate solidarity with Iraqi voters. In a letter to fellow lawmakers, Jindal said he wanted to display support for "people throughout the world who seek freedom."
The results of the campaign are clear, the US Mission a success, the elected leaders of Iraq are leading the fight for the sovereignty of their nation. Declaring their independence from those foreign influences they revile.
Striking a blow for freedom, fighting for peace. ...
... in the best of American traditions.
"Tikrit is under full siege. We are taking caution to not take any losses and to protect civilians in the city.
Delete"The terrorists are surrounded inside the city and their morale is low. When the right moment comes, we will storm the city without any resistance or losses."
Doing what is just and right, taking their time in an effort to minimize loss of life.
The Iraqi are not subject to a artificial schedule, one set by either optimistic nor pessimistic foreigners far from the fight.
Their decisions are based upon what is best for Iraq and the people, those with "Purple Fingers of Freedom" that elected them.
Three cheers for the Freedom Loving Iraqi, whose gained their liberty with US assistance and a trillion dollars, which according to Dick Cheney could not have been better spent.
"What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action."
... whose gained ...
Delete... who gained ...
We didn't all succumb to Ebola, and we're all not going to have our heads chopped off by ISIS.
ReplyDeleteMedian Family Income is rising, again, and gas and interest rates are cheap.
If we can get the housing market moving, again, it could turn into a pretty good year (although, we got another weak first-quarter start.)
Anyone need anything from Alabama?
ReplyDeleteIf not, I'll see youse in a few hours. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/03/starbucks_ends_race_together_campaign.html
DeleteMarch 23, 2015
Starbucks ends 'race together' campaign
By Thomas Lifson
Following an explosion of derision on social media and in the blogosphere, Starbucks has instructed its baristas to stop writing “race together” on coffee cups in hopes of generating deep conversations on sensitive issues as caffeine-addicted customers wait in line for their fix..........
Bob,
ReplyDeleteYou have posted many time here about Obama being unqualified to be POTUS because he was not a natural born citizen. Your fellow Tea Party friends have had much to say on that issue as well. I have a few questions for you:
Will you argue against Ted Cruz on the same grounds? At least Obama presented a Hawaiian birth certificate but Cruz has admitted to his birth outside the US and it is well documented.
Do you think the Tea Party folk will also campaign against Cruz on this issue?
Noble Ash, I answered that a year ago, when you asked then.
DeleteI said I might sit the election out. Didn't he have dual citizenship for awhile ? I find that troubling for a Commander in Chief.
But being born out of the country isn't the problem. It is having or not having two citizen parents. I can't count the times I have tried to explain that to you.
I'm a country Republican, not Tea Party, whatever that is.......a country Republican is different from a country club Republican. I have no idea what the Tea Party folk will do.
Please Ash, I’m begging you, don’t do anything to impede the nomination of Cruz.
ReplyDeleteAnother false flag entry ...
DeleteSo, so lame.
I've always been puzzled by the market for long term securities - i.e. buying a 20 year bond that only pays a few percent. Anyway, I thought this stuff interesting:
ReplyDelete"Top links: Pros fear 'disorderly collapse' in global bond markets
Subscribers Only
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Mar. 23 2015, 7:08 AM EDT
Professional managers are professing a growing tide of concern regarding global bond markets, highlighting rising risk among the asset class usually classified as “risk free.” The Financial Times reports:
“Four out of five fund managers said bonds were overvalued in a survey of 300 global managers by CFA U.K. Corporate bonds are more overvalued than ever before, while government bonds are the most overvalued asset class, the group said …fears grow that a fixed-income bubble will collapse in a disorderly sell-off.”
For government bond investors intending to hold their positions until maturity, this is only a minor inconvenience – as long as there’s no defaults they get their money back. A “disorderly collapse” would be much different – more painful for holders of bond ETFs, particularly in corporate and high-yield bonds. The apparent liquidity of ETFs will prove an illusion if there’s no bids for the underlying bonds. To add to the fun, the higher yields that would result from a bond rout would threaten dividend sectors like REITs and utilities.
“Global fund managers warn of a bond bubble” – Financial Times
“How Scary Is the Bond Market?” – Shiller, Project Syndicate"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/inside-the-market/top-links-pros-fear-disorderly-collapse-in-global-bond-markets/article23576994/
.
ReplyDeleteI know I shouldn't respond to this as it has all become so painfully redundant after awhile but of course you knew I would. I assume it is just your masochistic tendencies coming to the fore.
[Idaho Bob from the last stream]
Good God, Quirk, what evidence do you personally have that ISIS beheads its opponents, for instance ?
How about multiple reliable news sources.
What else do YOU go by ?
Can YOU personally PROVE that Saddam invaded Kuwait ?
No you can’t. You know it is true though from reading multiple reliable news sources...
Multiple reliable sources?
John McLaughlin, GOP strategist, Netanyahu pollster.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
Multiple reliable sources?
Well, I guess they do qualify as multiple but reliable? Hardly. One paid Republican hack that works for Bibi, and two Republican lawmakers, one a nitwit from Texas running for president, all of them offering innuendo and libel with no supporting evidence. I won't even comment on the The American Thinker article you posted as it was so over the top and bizarre none but the low-information readers they appeal to could get past the first few lines.
The stuff you put up here is just plain weird. You are not the only one here that puts up similar stuff but that still doesn't excuse it. Anyone with reading and comprehension skills beyond the third grade would have to laugh at it. The fact that you accept this stuff without question qualifies you as the poster boy for the low-information voters these rags appeal to.
.
Quirk, I put up a perfectly good article at the end yesterday answering all your questions, go back, look it up and read that.
DeleteIIRC it's where I told you to stuff this in your clown nostril and sniff it. You will find the Republicans have done the same sort of stuff which doesn't make it right
Damn cat tipped over my Cashew can cigarette ashtray last night. Real bummer.
Off to the Big City today. Got to run.
tata,
and
Cheers !!
out
.
DeleteAnother example of the same nittwittery you post was The American Thinker article you put up last night involving a CNN poll on what voters wanted in their next president and then offered AM's 'informed insight' on the poll results such as the following statement.
.................Even with the partisan divide, a majority of independents would also like to see an un-Obama president. Of course, this plays right into the GOP wheelhouse because their candidate will almost certainly have more experience than Obama had when he ran for president. And every potential Republican candidate to date has promised to overturn most of Obama's policies....
Here is one of the poll responses they are talking about,
The candidate would continue most of the policies of the Obama administration 41%
The candidate would change most of the policies of the Obama administration 57%
No opinion 2%
The logical fallacies built into the AM conclusions are obvious. First, the statement about Obama's experience is irrelevant since he will not be running. Second, they make the assumption that because the majority of respondents in the survey were dissatisfied with most of Obama's policies and because the GOP has pretty much been opposed to most of Obama's policies that ipso facto the majority of respondents would favor GOP policies. So friggin illogical it is laughable.
Things to remember.
Obama's current job approval rating is around 45-47%.
Congress' approval rating is around 18%.
The percentage of those who self-identify as Republicans in this country has been dropping. Last year, it had dropped from around 30% down to 25%.
What convinces these nitwits at AT that anything the GOP comes up with will be more acceptable than what Obama has offered?
The polls, all the polls, indicate that the public is dissatisfied with the performance of both parties.
They are all dicks.
.
Delete
.
DeleteIdaho BobMon Mar 23, 12:20:00 PM EDT
Quirk, I put up a perfectly good article at the end yesterday answering all your questions, go back, look it up and read that.
Do you really want me to go through and critique that piece of garbage?
.
Ah, that didn't last long, the Boss says the rain falling here is cancelling our trip.
DeleteSo I will be around to answer your questions, correct your errors and generally enlighten you on all things.
You are blessed.
I put that CNN poll up, Dread Quirk, in mockery of Deuce, who had quoted some CNN poll a day or so earlier.
I would not believe a CNN poll if it were the last poll on earth.
I see you are back to your idiocy of 'they are all dicks'.
You don't seem to ever get it. You are correct in a narrow way. They, and we too, are all dicks, but some are more dicky than others, and it's all you will ever have to choose from.......otherwise you are left mumbling 'they are all dicks' and, presumably, waiting for some Messiah or other.
Let me be perfectly clear - you, too, are a dick.
Delete:)
I take this from your Catholic Father St. Augustine.
>>>>Do you really want me to go through and critique that piece of garbage?<<<<
ReplyDeleteHeavens no !
It would be more profitable to you, and everyone else, if you would critique your own garbage. Start there.
Mətušélaḥ Fri Nov 14, 12:48:00 AM EST
DeleteFuck, you're a dumbass, Bob.
==
STUDY: 45 minute power nap boosts memory five-fold........Drudge
ReplyDeleteI often take these power naps.
It's why I am able to, say, quote Deuce as saying 'I think the son of a bitch was born in Kenya', without having to look it up, and know that I've got it right ;) or say that Deuce declared the birth certificate to be some sort of forgery or computer created falsity.
It's why I know that Trish said "There's something really wrong with you, rat" without having to go look it up.
Some things just stick in my mind. Power naps are the secret.
bobal said...
Deleteah, hell, after having thought it over, and considerging that my brother was a doctor, and my sis a med tech, who almost got roughed up by some niggers in Oakland, California, maybe the best thing to do is let the niggers abort, abort, abort themselves.
They do a good job of that.
Thu Nov 13, 01:29:00 AM EST
... the best thing to do is let the niggers abort, abort, abort themselves.
They do a good job of that.
http://2164th.blogspot.com/2008/11/spot-on.html
It's why I can recall Noble Ash arguing that the US Marines had no right to have a recruiting station in Berkeley, California, and then, thinking better of it, apologizing for his nitwittery.
DeleteThis is why I call Ash noble.
No one else has ever apologized for being wrong about anything.
DeleteList of former and current EB posters who have affirmed d. rat is a Liar.
Trish
Whit
WiO
allen
Bob
Quirk
Miss T
Ash
et.al
We all agreed with d. rat when he said of himself "I am a professional asshole".
d. rat, do you recall when Whit first asked you to leave ?
Here's what he said to you:
"Why don't you just take a hike. All you ever do is argue with everybody"
He was tired of you whanging on Trish, and everybody else.
Of course you didn't leave, so Whit did, to our loss.
And you've continued to be an asshole ever since.
It's what you are, just as you said.
And Trish said: "There's something really wrong with you, rat."
Quirk, who is slow to anger, and reticent about his criticisms of others, even went so far as to call you, rat:
"Pathetic"
Lordy bob, you are insufferable.
DeleteYou live in a fantasy world and, this is what classifies many as insane, they, like you, believe it to be reality.
Jack is tearing you apart with your own words, linked, and you blithely ramble on.
Even your biggest supporter Quirk seems to have fully had enough of your crap though it is interesting to watch him actually entertain what you write and to expose it for the crap it is. I hope he continues that arduous task.
Your buffoonery does have some merit as it highlights the absurdities that seem to run throughout American political culture and thus makes one laugh.
Carry on!
Cruz does have two cute little daughters.
ReplyDeleteThey almost look to be twins.
I also think Obama's daughters are nice looking kids too.
We've all known people who think their shit doesn't stink, that it is made out of Gold -
ReplyDeleteScientists plan to mine human feces for precious metals..........Drudge
bob, on the Cruz birth certificate thing - if being born outside of the country is ok why were you, and still are, hyped up about Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate?
ReplyDeleteNoble Ash, for the 20th time, I am hyped up by the fact he doesn't have two citizen parents (unless Frank Marshall Davies is daddy) which I believe our Constitution requires. I believe this just like most of the entire nation used to do. It was what I was taught in high school, and I believe it to be correct, and wise too.
DeleteAs for Cruz, am I right he had both a USA and Canadian citizenship?
DeleteIf so, I find this problematical. Though I don't see the Constitution actually addresses it.....
Under this way of doing things, one could be, say, a citizen of Iran and of the USA, or of China and the USA, and still be President of the USA.
I don't like this idea.
Ted Cruz's fathr was not bon in the US, was not a US citizen, by the Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson standard, as applied to Mr Obama, Ted Cruz is not a "Natural Born" US citizen.
DeleteThat Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson does not maintain the same standard for those he opposes and those he supports, the norm for Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.
As to the Hawaiian birth certificate, I take my lead from Deuce, who concluded in about a day it was some sort of computer generated fraud.
DeleteThis would make Obama a world class Liar, like d. rat.
List of former and current EB posters who have affirmed d. rat is a Liar.
Trish
Whit
WiO
allen
Bob
Quirk
Miss T
Ash
et.al
We all agreed with d. rat when he said of himself "I am a professional asshole".
d. rat, do you recall when Whit first asked you to leave ?
Here's what he said to you:
"Why don't you just take a hike. All you ever do is argue with everybody"
He was tired of you whanging on Trish, and everybody else.
Of course you didn't leave, so Whit did, to our loss.
And you've continued to be an asshole ever since.
It's what you are, just as you said.
And Trish said: "There's something really wrong with you, rat."
Quirk, who is slow to anger, and reticent about his criticisms of others, even went so far as to call you, rat:
"Pathetic"
Ted Cruz's fathr was not bon ...
DeleteTed Cruz's was not born
father got dropped ...
Deletemea culpa
Cruz was born in Canada and was a dual citizen until just a few years ago when he renounced his Canadian citizenship. I think he got his US citizenship because his mother was a US citizen at the time of birth.
DeleteYour interpretation of the constitution with respect to Obama is obviously wrong or he would have been DSQ'd from being POTUS.
Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson now cuts and pastes his own quotes, unable to find anyone else from the archives that agrees with him.
DeleteI cut and paste Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's quotes, he cannot abide that.
He is a bigot, a fraud and a liar.
He stole his own aunts' honor, then institutionalized her to save himself from prosecution.
. It was tough, in them days. They couldn't do a damn thing about it, I put her in the rest home, age 96. What you going to do, when she is institutionalized?
He is lower than whale turds.
The Courts punted.
DeleteToo hot an issue for them. They declined to risk a civil war. Riots in the streets, Fergusons all over the USA.
We need a Constitutional Amendment to clarify the issue.
Where DID Obama get his height ?
Both his proclaimed parents were squat short little things.
And why does he resemble Frank Marshall Davis more than his proclaimed daddy ?
Just askin'.
Bob, he links to your actual posts - he isn't lying; you said that shit!
DeleteRobert "Draft Dodger" Peterson just does not like to be reminded of what he has said.
DeleteHe lives in a world of his own delusions, unable to find the quotes he claims others have made, while it was easy as pie to find the plank in his eye.
List of former and current EB posters who have affirmed d. rat is a Liar.
DeleteTrish
Whit
WiO
allen
Bob
Quirk
Miss T
Ash
et.al
We all agreed with d. rat when he said of himself "I am a professional asshole".
d. rat, do you recall when Whit first asked you to leave ?
Here's what he said to you:
"Why don't you just take a hike. All you ever do is argue with everybody"
He was tired of you whanging on Trish, and everybody else.
Of course you didn't leave, so Whit did, to our loss.
And you've continued to be an asshole ever since.
It's what you are, just as you said.
And Trish said: "There's something really wrong with you, rat."
Quirk, who is slow to anger, and reticent about his criticisms of others, even went so far as to call you, rat:
"Pathetic"
*************
Ash, he said Jews were 'the scum of the earth'.
He said he was on a death squad in Central America.
He said his wife fled from him.
He said he was on some super secret project off the shores of Panama.
He said he manages a huge Portfolio.
He has death threated WiO, and myself.
He has said.....on and on and on
So, I've just developed my generic reply.
oh man, gotta luv the right wing nutters - from the front page of the NYTimes.com
ReplyDelete"Cruz Enters 2016 Race First With an Appeal to G.O.P. Base
By NICK CORASANITI and PATRICK HEALY 11:50 AM ET
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas asked conservatives to imagine a president who would abolish same-sex marriage, the Internal Revenue Service and the Affordable Care Act."
bob wrote:
Delete"Where DID Obama get his height ?
Both his proclaimed parents were squat short little things.
And why does he resemble Frank Marshall Davis more than his proclaimed daddy ?"
hee hee, I gues Cruz is right up your alley!
Cruz looks like he was fathered by Dracula.
DeleteI doubt he can carry ten states.
DeleteI'll definately support him in the primaries.
DeleteI'm still registered as a Republican.
DeleteHe loses PA, NJ, OH, NY and everything north of NY, MD WV, VA,CA, FL,GA,WA, OR, IL, and TX.
DeleteWalker has eaten Cruzs 20 point lead in a few months.
Deletein Texas
Delete1 in 4 Texans lack health coverage, more uninsured residents than any other state.
DeleteHey Quirk,
ReplyDeletere - our God discussion of a while back you might find this article at "The Stone" at NYTimes mildly interesting:
The Stone
Why God Is a Moral Issue
By Michael Ruse
March 23, 2015 7:05 am
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/why-god-is-a-moral-issue/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
It is linked of the main page at the moment.
.
DeleteI've used up my free articles at the Times. I will save the link and if I remember will look at it in April.
.
I can post the whole thing here if you like. Another way to get more free articles is to install other browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer (or read on your phone or another computer...). Each browser gets 10 free articles
DeleteAsh, you've a good idea there. I knew you'd have a good idea someday.
DeleteI have run into the same problem...
Thanks !
You best remember when discussing morality with Quirk that he is a moral absolutist.
You ought to be able to tear him apart on that issue alone.
They are ALL dicks.
DeleteTorture is ALWAYS wrong.
etc etc
.
DeleteDidn't know that about the browsers; however, I was able to pull up the article and scan through it.
I thought it might be 'mildly interesting' when I started out but it eventually came back to a mere statement of the atheist case.
I didn't really see anything new there.
.
The crux of my argument, back then was similar to what was stated in the last paragraph:
Delete"Here it is worth recalling the Victorian philosopher and mathematician W. K. Clifford’s admonition: “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” "
I agree with the author that the statement is too strong but - that is where I was going with my argument against the agnostic position - either you believe or you don't, the middle ground 'I don't know' doesn't cut it in the realm of 'belief' would be a better formulation of the argument then I made before.
p.s. with respect to browsers - the News sites use cookies to keep count of how many articles you've read. It used to be easy to find the cookies and delete them but not anymore. The easiest way to get more articles is to use multiple browsers because each browser has its own set of cookies. Mind you if you really are reading that many articles maybe you should belly up an pay ;)
DeleteIntruding, but you are so confused.
DeleteHigher experience - the monomyth - is itself its own evidence.
You are just wandering around in some lower world bumping into trees.
I point you to Song of Myself, and Hinduism, etc etc etc.
Put in the effort !
It is worth it !
Obviously, Bob, you don't understand the argument/discussion we were having. Your point is moot.
DeleteI understand the argument. Something about blind men feeling an elephant and trying to guess what it is, or something......
Delete"Nothing I have ever seen with my eyes was so clear as my great vision. I did not have to remember it, it remembered itself all these years."
Black Elk
ummm, no, my assertion was, and is, the agnostic position is untenable - Quirk disagrees.
Delete.
DeleteAs I said, Ash, it was the same argument, although, as I recall yours was more colorful.
:o)
.
.
Delete...maybe you should belly up an pay ;)
It's the principle of the thing, after all those years of not paying.
Besides, if I see a topic that interests me, I can usually see both sides of the argument by looking at a couple spources with opposing editorial positions, i.e.
The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press
The LA Times and the Denver Post
The Guardian and the Telegraph
.
ya, old principles are hard to break. I pay for one and that is enough in my current books at this time.
Deletenow, about those pink unicorns in the sky... ;)
Quirk would not put a little water up the nose of some grimy ISIS turd to find out where 300 Yazdis girls are being held in sexual slavery so as to try and free them.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of idiotic position to which moral absolutism so often leads.
Bob Oreille Thu Aug 07, 01:07:00 PM EDT
DeleteIf you can't see it any other way, think about all those clits, Quirk, think about all those coming clipped clits.
..............................
The discovery of widespread FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan suggests the assumption to be incorrect that FGM is primarily an African phenomenon with only marginal occurrence in the eastern Islamic world. FGM is practiced at a rate of nearly 60 percent by Iraqi Kurds, then how prevalent is the practice in neighboring Syria where living conditions and cultural and religious practices are comparable?
Why should a single US soldier die to protect this horrid cultural practice,
Answer US that Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson
Yemen's Houthis advance closer to Aden
ReplyDelete#InsideYemen
Houthi rebel fighters seize Taez to the south, open a new front to the east, as country moves closer to civil war
Yemeni supporters of the Shiite Houthi movement hold a portrait of the movement's leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi (AFP)
Yousef Mawry's picture
Yousef Mawry
Sunday 22 March 2015 16:18 GMT
Last update:
Monday 23 March 2015 11:36 GMT
SANAA - Houthi rebel fighters have captured key facilities in Taez, Yemen's third-largest city, including the international airport, ramping up a seven-month offensive against the government here that diplomats say could draw in neighboring Saudi Arabia and its main regional rival Iran.
The Houthis’ advance into the city appears to have placed the rebels on a path toward direct military confrontation with opposing troops loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, based in Aden, about 120 miles southeast of Taez.
A security official in Taez told Middle East Eye that the Houthis were airlifting troops and military equipment into the city’s airport.
Yemen has witnessed deadly and widespread violence for almost a week, raising fears that the impoverished country is headed toward civil war. Diplomats have all but admitted failure in brokering negotiations to end the conflict, while opposing forces on the ground accelerate their preparations for battle.
The Houthi advance into Taez was met by angry protesters who used catapults to fire rocks at the Houthis' vehicles upon their arrival.
The Shiite militia then opened fire and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. According to local media reports, at least one protester has been killed and others wounded.
According to protesters in Taez, the Houthis entered the city in a military convoy with hundreds of fighters.
The Houthis have also opened a new front near the border of the oil-rich Mareb province, east of Sanaa, where sporadic clashes broke out over the weekend between Houthi fighters and local Sunni tribes loyal to Hadi.
'Military coup' in the making
Hadi last month fled the capital for the safety of Aden.
A member of the Houthis' political bureau, Mohamed al-Bukhati, said his movement will take new security measures to protect Yemen.
“No one should blame us for the new security measures, which we will undertake because these measures are intended for the protection of Yemen and protecting ourselves,” he said on Sunday.
In a televised address also made on Sunday night, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi faction, vowed to send fighters farther south into Aden to track down Hadi, the president forced from the capital by the Houthis’ advance.
In an hour-long speech, Houthi repeatedly denounced what he called a “conspiracy” against Yemen that included Hadi, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, as well as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel. He called a suicide bomb attack that hit mosques in the capital on Friday part of the conspiracy, and said Hadi was merely “the puppet used by these powers as a cover for the conspiracy"......
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemens-houthis-advance-closer-aden-642764856#sthash.EeWZDGSJ.dpuf
For Deuce -
ReplyDelete>>>If you’re keeping track, we’re now up to 414 of the 535 members of Congress whom the left would consider traitorous rebels merely because they oppose the president’s approach to nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.<<<
367 Traitors: Majority of U.S. House signs letter to Obama warning of opposition to Iran deal
posted at 3:21 pm on March 23, 2015 by Noah Rothman
For liberals, opposition to Republicans is as much about defending President Barack Obama’s honor as it is in opposing the GOP’s policies. The left’s antipathy toward the GOP is shared by many in the political press, which spent the better part of the last two months defending the president’s patriotism, his devotion to the Christian faith, and examining the basis for charging 47 Republican senators with violating the Logan Act. The president’s good name, not his policies, moves the left to rise to his defense.
It was this impulse that inspired the Democratic base and their allies in the media to embrace the logic behind the asinine “47 traitors” campaign. This month, the left’s most historically illiterate supporters claimed that the decision by these senators to send an open letter to Tehran reminding them (and the administration) of their constitutional role in ratifying international agreements was met with disproportionate condemnation from the left. Those who did not irrationally insist that this maneuver amounted to treason against the United States insisted that it was historically unprecedented. Neither was true, and this tantrum said more about the left than it did Republicans.
It seems like those liberals who gnashed their teeth over the Senate GOP’s impertinence will have many more lawmakers to attack for their sedition. On Monday, a massive, veto-proof majority of the U.S. House of Representatives signed an open letter addressed to the president warning that their consent will be required for any nuclear deal the administration secures with Iran.
Via CNN:
DeleteThe letter, which was signed by 367 members of the House and released Monday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, follows a similar one, issued to Iran’s leaders and signed by 47 Republican senators, warning that any deal with Iran could be rolled back by a future president.
That letter sparked fierce criticism from Democrats, who said it was inappropriate meddling in delicate diplomatic talks and meant to undermine negotiations, and even some Republicans expressed reservations over the tactic.
The House letter lays out lawmakers’ concerns in more diplomatic terms, hitting on the potential time restraints as a key sticking point for a final deal. The emerging deal would lift some restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in a decade, which critics say could allow the country to resume its pursuit of a nuclear bomb at that point.
The lawmakers’ letter does not focus on the constitutional necessity of the upper chamber’s ratification of international treaty, as the Senate GOP’s letter did. Instead, the House version dwells on the fact that the Congress has had a significant role in constraining Iran’s path to a bomb in the past, and they will not be sidelined by this administration merely due to its myopic obsession with securing a legacy achievement for Obama before his second term in the White House expires.
The United States has had a longstanding interest in preventing Iran from achieving a nuclear weapons capability. Over the last twenty years, Congress has passed numerous pieces of legislation imposing sanctions on Iran to prevent that outcome, ultimately forcing Iran into negotiations. Should an agreement with Iran be reached, permanent sanctions relief from congressionally-mandated sanctions would require new legislation. In reviewing such an agreement, Congress must be convinced that its terms foreclose any pathway to a bomb, and only then will Congress be able to consider permanent sanctions relief.
Resolving the nuclear crisis with Iran remains of grave importance to our nation’s security. As the Administration continues to negotiate with Iran, we are prepared to evaluate any agreement to determine its long-term impact on the United States and our allies. We remain hopeful that a diplomatic solution preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon may yet be reached, and we want to work with you to assure such a result.
If you’re keeping track, we’re now up to 414 of the 535 members of Congress whom the left would consider traitorous rebels merely because they oppose the president’s approach to nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic. The left should ask itself why it is increasingly surrounded by enemies on all sides, even among members of its own political coalition. Liberals would be equally well-served if they were to consider that it might be the president rather than the vast majority of the American Congress that is jeopardizing American national interests.
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/03/23/367-traitors-majority-of-u-s-house-crafts-letter-to-obama-condemning-prospective-iran-deal/
Why Bob, doesn't Hotair publish the conclusion of the letter? Maybe, because it all amounts to that:
DeleteAll those Congress critters are "...prepared to evaluate any agreement to determine its long-term impact on the United States and our allies"
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/sites/republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov/files/03.20.15%20-%20Iran%20Letter%20-%20POTUS.pdf
DeleteBob, I have mentioned this to you before. You have a serious comprehension problem. Now pay attention:
Delete367 Traitors: Majority of U.S. House signs letter to Obama warning of opposition to Iran deal
posted at 3:21 pm on March 23, 2015 by Noah Rothman
Who is the letter addressed to?
Now think.
Who was The GOP Likuds Force letter addressed to?
It's only a big deal in your mind, Deuce.
DeleteThe Big Deal is Obama's intent to bypass the Constitution and marginalize the Senate.
This you seem to find no big deal at all.
No big deal?
DeleteNetanyahu humiliated the US Congress and any American that has any national pride at all. Netanyahu had those fools dancing like a monkey to the organ grinder. Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister is a foreigner who was there to humiliate The President of The United States.
Those ignorant fools, were spun by the Israeli dreidel master. The GOP Likuds Force was so juiced up by their gotcha boy moment to Obama, they wanted to continue the fun and towel snapping and wrote that stupid letter.
It was an outrage and undignified and should offend every American.
The letter states the US Congress must be convinced that Iran does not have a pathway to build a nuclear weapon. US House of Representatives members called the provision to negate such a pathway a key requirement for considering permanent congressionally-mandated sanctions relief for Iran.
ReplyDeleteEarnest noted that Monday’s letter offers a “variety of differences” from the US Senate’s letter to the Iranian leadership, which sought to undermine the ongoing talks with Tehran.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/us/20150323/1019909517.html#ixzz3VFYHsIxD
Letter to Prez, in short: We'd like to be shown that it's a good deal, and accomplishes the goal.
Show us
14 More Air Strikes
ReplyDeleteScore is approx. 9,400 to 0.
Dead Men Dying
.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of idiotic position to which moral absolutism so often leads.
Once again, you prove yourself the fool, Bob. I am not a moral absolutist. I judge every issue individually and set my red lines accordingly. In the case of torture, it is not moral considerations alone but also pragmatism that defines my position. Torture doesn't work.
The last time we discussed this subject I listed all those who have rejected the use of torture, the FBI, the CIA, academics, experts on interrogation techniques, the Geneva conventions, federal judges, the agents there when the torturing was being done, etc. on and on. The only ones in this country who seems to think it works are neocon nutjobs and the psycho faux psychologists they hire who are trying to make a buck off it. Oh, and the weird little right wing nut jobs scattered around the country that think it is a great idea.
I don't care whether your opinion on torture is because you are immoral, amoral, or just some shit moral relativist. I don't give a shit. What I do care about is your stupidity, the fact that you buy whatever the GOP is selling, the same GOP that got us into Iraq and spent a trillion dollars and countless lives trying to get us out.
I care that you fabricate ridiculous hypotheticals that would never happen in real life as you try to parse the issue in an attempt to justify your position. You mimic Allen's absurd admonition, "Assume I am Jack Bauer..."
While I do personally find your moral relativism objectionable, I find your cretinism appalling.
.
In addition I would add that it is indeed immoral and thus it would be wrong to make it a permissible action by the US government and its agents - institutionalizing torture as a means of information gathering is immoral and, as Quirk has argued, ineffective as well. Heck, if we buy your rationale we might as well allow Cops to use it on suspects in the continental USA.
DeleteTorture doesn't work.
DeleteNon sense.
It often works very well.
So Quirk and Ash would let the 300 Yazdis girls languish in sexual slavery when we have an ISIS turd right before us who knows where they are........we certainly part company on this question.
This is akin in a way to Deuce wanting to leave the slaves to languish in slavery in the Southern USA in the hope that eventually slavery would 'wither away' and a civil war avoided, that the north did not even start.
Ash, your other comments are not to my point, so shove them along. You have no memory. You don't recall what I actually said last time around, something like nearly a year ago.
You need to get some 45 minute power naps on a regular basis.
It is wrong to let 300 Yazdis girls languish in sexual slavery and parade one's o so pure 'morality'.
DeleteYou got a turd right in front of you who knows where they are.....give him a real incentive to talk.
You don't agree.
We part company on the issue.
Of course if it were your own daughters involved you would be singing another tune.
DeleteYou need to get some 45 minute power naps on a regular basis, Ash.
DeletePlus some of that memory boosting brain building ooze recently found in jellyfish.
;)
.
DeleteYou don't agree.
We part company on the issue.
You are the one that keeps bringing it up asshole.
.
I was answering Ash, asshole.
DeleteAnd, I specifically said, a year ago, torture should NOT be a set policy, but used only in extreme circumstances where you are certain, or nearly so, that the man or woman before you has the knowledge that will save lives.
Getting a little testy, are we ?
Those are impossible pre-conditions for anyone to achieve so you are ruling out the use if torture or, in your world, should we just accept the individuals 'gut' as sufficient certainty?
DeleteWhen the rapist assaulted Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's very own daughter, he did not even bother to call the police, let alone torture the miscreant to get a confession.
DeleteHis own life tells the tale of his lying, fraudulent ways.
They are perfectly possible.
DeleteThe Yazdis girls have been kidnapped into sexual slavery. This ISIS jerk was heard talking in jail of being there and using the girls himself. He knows where they are.
It seems to me to not try to make this asshole talk makes one complicit in the whole thing.
The ticking nuke scenario is much further out.
>>should we just accept the individuals 'gut' as sufficient certainty?<<
Hell, Ash, just go back and read what I said.
Anyway Quirk has now called me an asshole so I best leave the subject.
I can't stand it, simply can't stand it, when Quirk calls me an asshole.
Mətušélaḥ Fri Nov 14, 12:48:00 AM EST
DeleteFuck, you're a dumbass, Bob.
==
The 8th Largest Economy on Planet Earth is, at this moment, getting 31.4% of its electricity from Renewables.
ReplyDeleteYowza
California needs a good rain like in the days of Noah.
DeleteFarmers are beginning to sell their water as it is worth more than the crops.
DICK MORRIS: Hillary Can't Type...
ReplyDeleteLook To Huma's and Cheryl's Emails........Drudge
:)
"Huma" is Hillary's little muslim loving puppy. And constant companion. And...?
Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is a piece of shit.
DeleteHe denigrates anyone with an opinion he does not approve of.
Especially if they are more accomplished than himself.
bobal Sun Oct 19, 04:07:00 PM EDT
Colin Powell went to the U.N., carrying water for Bush.
And now he is for the black that was against the whole thing.
Colin Powell is a black piece of shit.
List of former and current EB posters who have affirmed d. rat is a Liar.
DeleteTrish
Whit
WiO
allen
Bob
Quirk
Miss T
Ash
et.al
We all agreed with d. rat when he said of himself "I am a professional asshole".
d. rat, do you recall when Whit first asked you to leave ?
Here's what he said to you:
"Why don't you just take a hike. All you ever do is argue with everybody"
He was tired of you whanging on Trish, and everybody else.
Of course you didn't leave, so Whit did, to our loss.
And you've continued to be an asshole ever since.
It's what you are, just as you said.
And Trish said: "There's something really wrong with you, rat."
Quirk, who is slow to anger, and reticent about his criticisms of others, even went so far as to call you, rat:
"Pathetic"
Kelly File Alert
ReplyDeleteBrand new revelations coming up on the next segment of The Kelly File by Judge Napolitano on the Hillary e-mail Scandal.
Tune in right NOW to Fox News.
Should be good.
Was good. Hillary has perjured herself time and again.
ReplyDeletePrivate individuals had access etc etc
If I know my Fox the segment will be replayed later tonight.
ReplyDeleteIdaho BobMon Mar 23, 07:26:00 PM EDT
It is wrong to let 300 Yazdis girls languish in sexual slavery and parade one's o so pure 'morality'.
we should simply label that "the Rufus doctrine" .. Sry, "the Rufus b00bie* doctrine.
You are continuing to shovel old manure, Ash.
DeleteAnd Ash, you and Q can continue to discuss religious/spiritual/consciousness/belief issues from the perspective of 'rationality' but you will never get anywhere with it.
DeleteWhy ?
Because rationality breaks down, and can't deal with it.
You are really wasting your time, chasing your tail, so to speak.
Again see: Kant, the antimonies
DeleteThe First Antinomy (of Space and Time)
Thesis:
The world has a beginning in time, and is also limited as regards space.
Anti-thesis:
The world has no beginning, and no limits in space; it is infinite as regards both time and space.
The Second Antinomy (of Atomism)
Thesis:
Every composite substance in the world is made up of simple parts, and nothing anywhere exists save the simple or what is composed of the simple.
Anti-thesis:
No composite thing in the world is made up of simple parts, and there nowhere exists in the world anything simple.
The Dynamical Antinomies
The Third Antinomy (of Spontaneity and Causal Determinism)
Thesis:
Causality in accordance with laws of nature is not the only causality from which the appearances of the world can one and all be derived. To explain these appearances it is necessary to assume that there is also another causality, that of Spontaneity.
Anti-thesis:
There is no Spontaneity; everything in the world takes place solely in accordance with laws of nature.
[Note: It is important here to distinguish between Spontaneity and Freedom or Free Will. This Antinomy is often thought to refer to Free Will, but that comes not in the Critique of Pure Reason, but in the moral philosophy, where Kant sets up three other antinomious concepts, all three of which are only relevant to thinking, rational, sentient beings: God versus no God, Life after Death versus no Life after Death, and Free Will vs. Determinism. Spontaneity is a broader category and can apply to non-sentient beings and random events. Spontaneity encompasses Freedom, which for Kant means acting in accordance with the categorical imperative and applies only to sentient beings. Spontaneity, on the other hand, can include random occurrences that are not determined by either rationality (the rational principle of non-contradiction) or mechanical causality, It might, arguably, apply to quantum events that are only probabilistic. Speculating far beyond Kant, the process of decision making and free choice may consist in skewing that probabilistic outcome in one direction or another. This interface between the two spheres is not In Kant, but I think he hinted at it. Unfortunately, I do not know the German word for Spontaneity, so I might be wrong.
The Fourth Antinomy (of Necessary Being or Not)
Thesis:
There belongs to the world, either as its part or as its cause, a being that is absolutely necessary.
Anti-thesis:
An absolutely necessary being nowhere exists in the world, nor does it exist outside the world as its cause.
********
Rationality breaks down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant%27s_antinomies
Idaho BobMon Mar 23, 07:14:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteIt's only a big deal in your mind, Deuce.
The Big Deal is Obama's intent to bypass the Constitution and marginalize the Senate.
This you seem to find no big deal at all.
Delete
Deuce ☂Mon Mar 23, 09:30:00 PM EDT
No big deal?
Netanyahu humiliated the US Congress and any American that has any national pride at all. Netanyahu had those fools dancing like a monkey to the organ grinder. Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister is a foreigner who was there to humiliate The President of The United States.
Those ignorant fools, were spun by the Israeli dreidel master. The GOP Likuds Force was so juiced up by their gotcha boy moment to Obama, they wanted to continue the fun and towel snapping and wrote that stupid letter.
It was an outrage and undignified and should offend every American.
"Netanyahu humiliated the US Congress"
DeleteUtter non sense.
He was invited.
He spoke well.
He was heavily applauded.
I repeat.....the letter is no big deal, except to you.
The Big Deal is the bypassing of the Senate.
That is a Big Deal, if it happens.
>>If you’re keeping track, we’re now up to 414 of the 535 members of Congress whom the left would consider traitorous rebels merely because they oppose the president’s approach to nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.<<
And no, those 414 Members of Congress are not controlled by the Israelis.
DeleteOnly a person that did not take his responsibility to his nation would consider the lack of respect the congress showed to the President of the United States Utter non sense"
DeleteBut then a draft dodger and bank fraudster, a miscreant looter that stole his aunts' honor and destroyed her good name would not be a person that had any understanding of civic responsibility.
Anyone that would consider the actions of the House of Representatives to be "Utter non sense" has no sense.
Only a person that did not take his responsibility to his nation seriously would consider the lack of respect the congress showed to the President of the United States "Utter non sense"
DeleteBob Sun Jun 22, 01:42:00 PM EDT
DeleteWhen did I ever say I was a scholar??
I don't recall saying that.
I have a college degree in English Lit. from U of Washington.
To avoid being drafted in part. ...
List of former and current EB posters who have affirmed d. rat is a Liar.
DeleteTrish
Whit
WiO
allen
Bob
Quirk
Miss T
Ash
et.al
We all agreed with d. rat when he said of himself "I am a professional asshole".
d. rat, do you recall when Whit first asked you to leave ?
Here's what he said to you:
"Why don't you just take a hike. All you ever do is argue with everybody"
He was tired of you whanging on Trish, and everybody else.
Of course you didn't leave, so Whit did, to our loss.
And you've continued to be an asshole ever since.
It's what you are, just as you said.
And Trish said: "There's something really wrong with you, rat."
Quirk, who is slow to anger, and reticent about his criticisms of others, even went so far as to call you, rat:
"Pathetic"
March 23, 2015
ReplyDeleteSCOTUS upholds Wisconsin voter ID law
By Rick Moran
The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of Wisconsins voter ID law, giving a victory to proponents of free and fair elections. The court refused to hear an appeal by the ACLU, clearing the way for the law to be implemented at the next election...........
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/03/scotus_upholds_wisconsin_voter_id_law.html