COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Sunday, May 31, 2015

The GOP Likuds Force Trekking To Israel For Further Instructions

Americans politicians' pre-occupation with Israel is absolutely bizarre. There are over five millions Jews here in the US--more than any other country in the world except for Israel itself. There are also millions upon millions of people of Irish and Italian descent living in America--yet no American politician feels the need to continuously kowtow to a "pro-Ireland" or "pro-Italy" lobby in D.C., to constantly re-affirm their commitment to a foreign government's policy goals at the expense of those of their own nation.
At the same time, the governments of Italy and Ireland and their supporters in the American press do not reflexively attack Americans who dare to question the motives of the Italian or Irish governments as being mindless bigots whose motivations can be summarily dismissed and vilified.
If the Irish or Italian government had been engaged in a decades-long policy of Apartheid and indiscriminate violence against an entire people, how much fealty would our (right-wing) politicians demonstrate towards them? -cjbussey 


GOP Presidential Candidates Go to Israel and Return With Fairy Tales

Israel is playing a greater role in the Republican presidential race than perhaps ever before. 
The past year has seen an effective merger between the Republican Party and Israel's right-wing Likud Party. This is particularly explicit with regards to the presidential race, where contenders are courting pro-Israel billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who could instantly unleash tens of millions of dollars to bolster their candidacies.
As a part of this “Adelson primary,” as it has been dubbed by the media, these presidential candidates are taking trips to Israel, where they meet with far-right politicians and studiously avoid interacting with everyday Palestinians or the occupation. They then come back and tell fairy tales of a liberal democracy under existential threat.
Here's who has gone and what they've come back to say.
Rick Santorum: Santorum has not yet announced, but is considered a likely contender. He visited Israel last year on a trip organized by the right-wing group “Patriot Voices.” While there, he called the right-wing outlet Newsmax to give an interview. Despite the tremendous political, economic and military support the United States provides Israel, Santorum said “the average Israeli knows whose side that John Kerry and Barack Obama are on, and it's not to protect the security of Israel.” For Santorum, re-arming the Israelis as they were assaulting the Gaza Strip while vocally defending their actions simply wasn't supportive enough.
Scott Walker: Walker visited Israel this month, and when he returned he wrote a post on Medium detailing his “reflections.” The Israel Walker says he saw is “one of the world's most vibrant democracies,” and one of “America's most important allies.” That's an odd phrasing for a country that systematically disenfranchises 4.5 million Palestinians and gives millions of non-Jews citizenship without the same full legal rights as Jewish Israelis. Walker also seemed to endorse the Bush administration's foreign policy, saying he would “take the fight to them before they take the fight to us,” which echoed similar remarks by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in support of the unprovoked war against Iraq.
Ben Carson: The former neurosurgeon's strange comments about Israel actually began before he actually got there. GQ's Jason Zengerle accompanied Carson on his trip to the country, and witnessed a bizarre conversation he had with his Israeli guide. He admitted he did not know what the Knesset (the Israeli legislature) actually did, and had his guide explain it. After she finished, he responded, “It sounds complex. Why don't they just adopt the system we have?” When he actually got to Israel, he was quick to draw conclusions. When informed about foreign fighters ending the Syrian civil war, he concluded, “It's just like the troublemakers in Ferguson.”
When he returned to the United States, Carson was suddenly an expert on world affairs, trying to lump in Iran with ISIS. “We need to recognize that the Shia in Iran are every bit as dangerous, perhaps more dangerous,” he said, a sectarian warning that could easily be found in the text of an extremist Saudi cleric.
Carly Fiorina: The former HP executive visited Israel in 2010, in a trip widely seen as oriented around courting pro-Israel political forces. This spring, she claimed that tensions with Israel are “in no small measure due to President Obama,” simply ignoring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's series of provocative words and actions. She also went further, pledging to repudiate an Iran deal on her first day in office—essentially rejecting Obama's diplomatic efforts.
Coming Polarization
Israel is playing a greater role in the GOP presidential race than perhaps ever before. The Adelson primary is transforming the same political party that once harshly clashed with Israeli leadership over its failure to make peace into one that is indistinguishable from the Likud.
But something else is happening on the Democratic side. While candidates there are not openly calling for sanctions or cutting aid to Israel, they're not leaping up to defend it, either. The topic is all but absent in the Democratic primary, despite the fact that the party is the traditional base of the pro-Israel lobby. Polling shows that the party's rising base of young people and racial minorities is increasingly hostile to Israeli foreign policy, in ways that will surely at some point impact American policy.
Many in the United States have lamented the increasing polarization of the Israel issue, but it is that polarization that may finally give Americans a choice about policy, rather than bipartisan support for Israel, right or wrong.
Zaid Jilani is an AlterNet staff writer. Follow @zaidjilani on Twitter.

99 comments:

  1. The GOP is bought , paid for and owned by Israel Inc. Any American that believes that US interest should be #1, #2, and #3 should dump the GOP, support a reasonable opposition that has not been corrupted by a foreign lobby.

    The only way to permanently clean house is to have public financing of federal elections paid for with a surtax on incomes over $1,000,000.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are making less than a $1,000,000 a year now ?

      Well, you are partially retired, like me......

      ;)

      Delete
  2. >>>There are also millions upon millions of people of Irish and Italian descent living in America--yet no American politician feels the need to continuously kowtow to a "pro-Ireland" or "pro-Italy" lobby in D.C<<<

    Rejecting the word kowtow,etc. one reason may be that millions upon million of Irish and Italians no longer are Druids nor believe in the Roman gods, but rather are in the broad Judeo/Christian tradition, and feel an affinity for it.


    >>>The GOP is bought , paid for and owned by Israel Inc.<<<

    What was the actual price tag, anyway ? I've always been curious about that.

    And, is Israel Inc. sold on the NYSE ?

    I've always made it a policy to not buy stocks, but I may have a little extra soon and might consider a good investment, and that sounds like one I might well be very interested in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perhaps 90%+ of all Americans have an instinctive dislike of Islam, with its sharia, and severe repression of women, amputations, stonings, beheadings, dhimmihood, its total lack everywhere of real democracy, its always turning to violence, its aggressiveness, its general insanity, and feel it is a threat, and think well of Israel in contrast ?

    I know I do.

    ReplyDelete

  4. Organizer of Phoenix Anti-Islam Rally Going Into Hiding, Says ‘Tyranny Is in America’

    by Josh Feldman | 11:23 pm, May 29th, 2015 video

    ritzheimerJon Ritzheimer, the ex-Marine behind tonight’s anti-Islam rally in Phoenix, told reporters tonight that he’ll be going into hiding for his own safety and the safety of his family.

    He said the rally was peaceful throughout, thanked the police for the job they’ve been doing, and said that there have been people “calling for folks to come and behead me,” which he decried as “tyranny” and “terrorism right here in America.”

    When asked if it was all worth it, Ritzheimer said to ask the Founders if it was worth it to put their lives on the line in signing the Declaration of Independence. He declared that when you “start trying to oppress American citizens,” people will fight back.

    Watch the video below (the audio will sound a little off and you’ll hear commentary from reporters during the clip), via Fox10 Phoenix:

    video

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/organizer-of-phoenix-anti-islam-rally-going-into-hiding-says-tyranny-is-in-america/

    ReplyDelete
  5. The government reckons that the American economy shrank over the winter, but no one really believes it.

    Specifically, the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday revised the nation’s gross domestic product to a new estimate that it contracted by 0.7 percent in the first three months of the year from its initial guess that the economy grew over the winter at an annual rate of 0.2 percent.

    There seem to be as many asterisks on this report as might apply to Barry Bonds’s baseball records. A better reading is that the economy continued to grow through the winter, albeit at a slower rate than in late 2014. While it is unlikely that growth was actually negative, it was still disappointing.


    Continue reading the main story

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    Even as the housing market pointed to strength, the first quarter’s showing in the gross domestic product was hurt in part by labor trouble at West Coast ports and a harsh winter.

    U.S. Economy Contracted 0.7% in First QuarterMAY 29, 2015


    As I reported before the initial release of these numbers, many economists believe that there’s a glitch in how government statisticians calculate these numbers. At issue is problems with how they adjust for the economy’s usual seasonal ups and downs. These problems — which the government statisticians have acknowledged and promise to fix — mean that the official numbers have year after year understated economic growth in the winter quarter.

    A reasonable guess is that this problem subtracted one or two percentage points from the headline measure. So this glitch alone explains why the numbers recorded a shrinking economy even when it probably grew.

    Fortunately, there’s a more reliable measure of economic growth, although it remains scandalously underappreciated. The headline that attracts all the attention is based on adding up each dollar of spending across the whole of the economy. But because every dollar you spend is a dollar of income to someone else, you can also measure the size of the economy by adding up people’s incomes. In theory, the two measures should be identical. In practice, they differ because they’re based on different surveys. An impressive body of research has demonstrated that the income-based measure is more reliable.

    This alternative measure, called gross domestic income, grew at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the winter, after growing at an impressive 3.7 percent the previous quarter. This alternative measure bears special emphasis right now because it appears to be unaffected by the seasonal adjustment problems that are muddling the spending-based estimate.

    Here at The Upshot we have been emphasizing this alternative measure for some time. It’s a point that the Bureau of Economic Analysis has recently endorsed, announcing that as of July it will publish a new measure of gross domestic product: a simple average of the spending- and income-based measures. Economic commentary will be enormously improved if this becomes the new headline that analysts focus on. Right now, it suggests that the economy grew a healthy 3.1 percent over the past year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The other asterisks on this report are less about problems with measurement and more about what the measurements represent. For instance, this winter was especially snowy in heavily populated areas, and international trade was disrupted by a port strike. Jason Furman, the White House economist, estimates that the snow alone “reduced annualized growth by about a full percentage point this quarter.” The port strike might be worth another quarter or perhaps half a percentage point. But the snow has melted, and the ports are open again, so this is the sort of setback that should not cause too much worry.



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      Moreover, much of our economic weakness occurred in types of spending where weakness is often fleeting. To get a sense of the underlying momentum of business and consumer spending, economists often focus on those components that tend to predict future momentum. In particular, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will soon emphasize a measure called “final sales to private domestic purchasers.”

      Continue reading the main story

      Recent Comments




      Dweb
      1 day ago
      A few more derivative hedge funds and a dash of dynamic scoring, and it will all be good. Trust me!



      Andy Hain
      1 day ago
      We don't need any "surge" - we need reliability and steady growth. Trouble is, Congress is not reliable, which puts us in the hole at the...



      Tim
      1 day ago
      Why is it if the numbers are bad there are all kinds of excuses for why the number is not accurate, and if they are good they are spot on?....

      See All Comments

      It’s a dreadful mouthful, but it’s basically a measure that discards the volatile parts of G.D.P. — inventories, international trade and government spending. That measure grew by 1.2 percent in the winter quarter. Even as the headline estimate of economic growth was revised downward, this measure of underlying momentum was revised up a tick, suggesting that all of the bad news in this report occurred in volatile measures that do not much speak to the economy’s prospects.

      All of this suggests that the economy is growing faster than this extremely pessimistic report suggests. This isn’t an argument for optimism, though, so much as reduced pessimism.

      However you view the numbers, economic growth looks to have slowed through the winter to a disappointing pace. More worryingly, the one-off factors that slowed the economy in winter should cause faster growth in the spring, as the economy snaps back on track, but this has yet to materialize.

      Given the statistical fog, the best forecast I can muster is to expect uncertainty to continue to cloud the outlook.




      Justin Wolfers is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. Follow him on Twitter at @justinwolfers


      The Upshot provides news, analysis and graphics about politics, policy and everyday life. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our newsletter.

      NY Times Upshot

      Delete
    2. Just put some decline/growth numbers up on the dart board and throw darts.

      The result is how the economy actually performed.

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

      Delete
  6. The senior Tajikistan police official who apparently defected to ISIS had taken part in United States training on five separate occasions, a State Department official has said.

    Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, the head of the Ministry of Interior special forces OMON units, claimed in his ISIS promotional video that he gone to the U.S. three times for counterterrorism training, including with American mercenary firm Blackwater. "Listen, you American pigs: I've been to America three times. I saw how you train soldiers to kill Muslims," he said. "You taught your soldiers how to surround and attack, in order to exterminate Islam and Muslims."

    That claim was confirmed by the State Department on May 30. "From 2003-2014 Colonel Khalimov participated in five counterterrorism training courses in the United States and in Tajikistan, through the Department of State's Diplomatic Security/Anti-Terrorism Assistance program," spokeswoman Pooja Jhunjhunwala told CNN.

    OMON has been one of the key elements of U.S. security cooperation in Tajikistan, which has focused on training and equipping the country's various special forces units. That training has been controversial, even before there was any ISIS connection: while the special forces are Tajikistan's most capable units and would be used to combat genuine security threats, they also are a key element of President Emomali Rahmon's repressive rule and have been implicated in indiscriminate force in suppressing internal opposition.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In another 2008 cable, the embassy wrote: "Critical training tasks that the Tajik National Guard, Border Guards, and OMON squads have requested include the following: staff organization and planning, orders production, mission analysis and the military decision making process, intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), direct action (raids and ambushes), special reconnaissance, close quarters combat/battle (CQC/B), sniper/observe operations, military operations in urban terrain (MOUT), Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED), Sensitive Site Exploitation (SSE), tactical communications and basic combat life saving."

    In briefing slides, the U.S. embassy also has reported that it supplied "Equipment and weaponry for OMON," though it's not clear what weaponry that might have been. OMON played a special role for the U.S., providing protection for the American embassy in Dushanbe. In 2013, U.S. Ambassador Susan Elliott tweeted a photo of herself with two OMON officers, adding: "Thanks to OMON for their support to keep our Embassy safe and secure."

    So what does this mean given Khalimov's defection to ISIS? Probably not much in operational terms, and may actually damage U.S. interests less than the U.S.'s longtime support for Tajikistan's repressive state apparatus, writes John Heathershaw, a political scientist who studies Islamic militancy in Tajikistan:

    By providing considerable military training to Tajikistan’s security services during the regime’s crackdown on the Islamic Revival Party [Kabiri's party] and all unofficial public expressions of piety, the US Government has associated its counterterrorism efforts with this campaign.... [S]uch military assistance is likely to be counter-productive and should be stopped.



    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/73666

    ReplyDelete
  8. How a US prison camp helped create ISIS
    By Brad ParksMay 30, 2015 | 9:38pm

    The facility spread out below him, row after row of neatly aligned white aluminum roofs, looking like Chiclets set against the endless beige of the desert floor.

    It was called Camp Bucca. To coalition forces in Iraq, it was the primary detention facility for enemy prisoners of war. To Mitchell Gray, then 48 and serving his country for the third time, it was simply the place where the US Army had decided his skills, which included a law degree and a fluency in Arabic, were needed most.

    He and the rest of his unit, the 45th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard, were flying helicopters in from Kuwait. It was shortly after landing that he got a first glimpse at a few of the 26,000 detainees, staring at him from the other side of the concertina wire.
    Modal Trigger

    “You never see hatred on the faces of Americans like you saw on the faces of these detainees,” Gray remembers of his 2008 tour. “When I say they hated us, I mean they looked like they would have killed us in a heartbeat if given the chance. I turned to the warrant officer I was with and I said, ‘If they could, they would rip our heads off and drink our blood.’ ”

    (Note: We were in their country imprisoning them - the ungrateful bastards - They didn’t recognize how exceptional we were!)

    What Gray didn’t know — but might have expected — was that he was not merely looking at the United States’ former enemies, but its future ones as well. According to intelligence experts and Department of Defense records, the vast majority of the leadership of what is today known as ISIS, including its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did time at Camp Bucca.

    And not only did the US feed, clothe and house these jihadists, it also played a vital, if unwitting, role in facilitating their transformation into the most formidable terrorist force in modern history.

    Camp Bucca started, as so many policy blunders do, with nothing but the best intentions. The Army simply needed a place to stick bad actors where they could not harm US troops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We can’t really be this stupid, can we?

      Delete
    2. No good deed goes unpunished, and the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

      Delete
  9. ...It is with sadness that Stone, Gray and other soldiers look at the chaos now in the region. They came to help an oppressed people build a new Iraq. The end result, as ISIS rewrites the rules of region, may be that Iraq is wiped off the map altogether.
    “There were obviously mistakes made in how we handled Iraq,” said Greg, the ex-officer. “In retrospect, bringing every jihadi and insurgent into the same place and giving them all the time in the world to get to know one another may go down as our biggest mistake.”


    Brad Parks is a novelist. His next book, “The Fraud,” will be released from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books in July.

    ReplyDelete
  10. In retrospect we had our head up our ass at every level of government.

    ReplyDelete
  11. But it was doing OK until Barack came along. Once we left the inevitable happened.

    I'm getting fascinated wondering what Hillary is going to do. What the hell IS she going to do ? She's got a real problem here, seems to me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. May 31, 2015
    Even Amnesty International, no lover of Israel, condemns Hamas
    By Michael Berenhaus

    Amnesty International, which has made many accusations against Israel, has finally accused Israel's adversary Hamas of brutal war crimes inflicted against fellow Palestinians in the recent Gaza war (Hamas accused of summary executions). One can only wonder if those killed were counted toward the death tolls of Palestinians, in order to incriminate Israel in the war. In fact, an earlier AFP article stated, "A March report by Amnesty found that rockets fired during the war by Gaza militants killed more Palestinians than Israelis."

    Most chilling about The Washington Post article was that six of the executed Palestinians "were paraded in front of a mosque in Gaza City after Friday prayers on Aug. 22, 2014. They were hooded and their hands bound behind them, and they were forced to their knees. As a crowd watched, an executioner fired a bullet into each man's head. Each man was then shot in the torso with an AK-47 assault rifle."

    It is clear that this Hamas move was a deliberate form of intimidation. It sent the message that no Gazan should ever attempt to do or say anything anti-Hamas. When the Washington Post interviews Gazans, they should take this into account and at the very least include a disclaimer that Gazans are not free to speak, with death hanging over their every word.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/even_amnesty_international_no_lover_of_israel_condemns_hamas_.html

    These people do not deserve a state. And, it would not be a democratic state. There is not a truly democratic state in the entire moslem world.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Same ole crap...

    Israel bad...

    Yeah Deuce, you are on the wrong side of history....

    ReplyDelete
  14. >>>Solar power is still a marginal energy source, accounting for about 1 per cent of global electricity production. Yet, its environmental impact is already considerable, according to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. The San Francisco-based group started out three decades ago tracking the e-waste produced by high-tech industry. It now produces an annual Solar Scorecard on panel manufacturers that depicts an industry that has got worse over time. Most producers refuse to provide any environmental data on their supply chains or manufacturing operations at all.<<<

    The darker side of solar power

    KONRAD YAKABUSKI

    The Globe and Mail

    Published Wednesday, May. 27 2015, 5:20 PM EDT

    Last updated Thursday, May. 28 2015, 11:44 AM EDT

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-darker-side-of-solar-power/article24649804/?click=sf_globefb

    ReplyDelete
  15. An Embarrassment of Riches - and over on the dem side three worn out old hacks - one a Neo-Con - and one a pretend American Indian law professor populist -


    May 31, 2015
    Why Can't Republican Presidential Debates be More Like the NCAA Playoffs?
    By Clarice Feldman

    My husband was ecstatic when Rick Santorum threw his hat into the already overcrowded Republican presidential primary ring. Since he’s no fan of Santorum’s I was puzzled by his response and he explained.

    “As soon as there are 16 candidates you can have a regional sweet sixteen. Then you can do what the NCAA does. Rank the candidates one through sixteen. The top ranked candidate debates the lowest ranked candidate. The second ranked debates the fifteenth ranked candidate and so on. The highest surviving seed debates the lowest surviving seed until two remain for the final debate.”

    I know nothing about the sweet sixteen procedure, but the idea struck me as a better alternative than the notion of a silly kick line of heaven knows how many candidates, vying for attention with two-minute soundbyte answers to gotcha questions by certain-to–be-partisan liberal media personages. (By my count in the 2012 run up there were 10 Republicans in the debates and no less than 20 debates.)

    A quick check shows there are probably 27 potential or announced Republican candidates with more standbys in the wings now that John Kasich has announced.

    The weak Democrat bench consists to date of a corrupt Hillary Clinton whose achievements (besides padding her own nest and résumé with titles) are nil, the loony leftwing Bernie Sanders who thinks if we restrict the number of deodorants on the market more hungry children will be fed, a pretend American Indian law professor populist, a failed governor and once-upon-a-time Republican with a dynastic name (Lincoln Chafee), and the former governor of Maryland whose fame rests on magically turning his blue state red. In contrast, the Republican bench is deep and wide.

    They’re old and tired and unimaginative. In the past, Democrats won the White House with bright, energetic, young candidates. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was 43. Bill Clinton was 46 in 1992. Franklin Roosevelt was 50 when he won the presidency in 1932. Today the youngest of the Democratic Five is O’Malley. He’s 52.

    The Republican presidential race, in sharp contrast, features a whole new generation of candidates in their 40s: Marco Rubio (44), Bobby Jindal (43), Ted Cruz (44), and Scott Walker (47). Rand Paul and Chris Christie are slightly older at 52.

    In Congress, Republicans are simply younger. The average age of House members is 54 for Republicans, 59 for Democrats. In the Senate, it’s 60 for Republicans, 62 for Democrats

    For good reason, voters have a preference for electing governors to the White House. They’ve done things and have records. Senators give speeches and vote on legislation. Among Republicans, Jindal, Walker, Christie, Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, and John Kasich have impressive records as governors. Democrats have Chafee, a flop as governor, and O’Malley, the tax man.

    The simple truth is Democrats have a weak bench at the presidential level, Republicans a strong one.

    The problem is, the bench is too good and needs to be whittled down for us to make the best choice. It’s truly an embarrassment of riches................

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/why_cant_republican_presidential_debates_be_more_like_the_ncaa_playoffs.html


    ReplyDelete
  16. .

    Just put some decline/growth numbers up on the dart board and throw darts.

    The result is how the economy actually performed.



    Economics is the best example of 'lying with statistics'. If you don't like the numbers, change the way they are calculated.

    Guarantee the 2nd Quarter GPD will be positive. A second quarter of negative growth would meet the definition of 'recession'. There is no way that is going to happen going into 2016.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you are right.

      The economy could crash like Black October, '29 but we won't have a recession with an election on the horizon.

      Delete

  17. Isis could obtain nuclear weapon from Pakistan, warns India

    Comments by Defence Minister Rao Inderjit Singh follow Isis's own 'far-fetched' claims it could obtain a Pakistani nuclear device via corrupt officials
    Alexander Sehmer

    Sunday 31 May 2015

    India's defence minister has voiced concern that the radical Islamist group Isis could obtain a nuclear weapon from "states like Pakistan".

    Rao Inderjit Singh made the comments on the sidelines of the Shangri-La regional security conference in Singapore, Bloomberg has reported.

    "With the rise of Isis in West Asia, one is afraid to an extent that perhaps they might get access to a nuclear arsenal from states like Pakistan," Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

    Earlier in the month Isis suggested it could attempt to buy its first nuclear weapon within a year and that it might come from Pakistan.

    An article in its propaganda magazine Dabiq said: "The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah [official] in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region."


    The article, supposedly authored by John Cantlie, the British journalist held hostage by Isis and regularly used by the group in its propaganda campaigns, admits the scenario is "far-fetched".

    Political analysts also see the scenario as unlikey.

    Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme began in the 1970s in response to India's development and testing of its own nuclear device.

    Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who helped develop Pakistan's nuclear bomb, confessed in 2004 that his network had sold nuclear know-how on the black market to states such as North Korea and Iran.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-warns-isis-could-obtain-nuclear-weapon-from-pakistan-10287276.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. kowtow, commitment to a foreign government's policy goals at the expense of those of their own nation, attack Americans who dare to question, mindless bigots, vilified, Apartheid, indiscriminate violence against an entire people, occupation, The GOP is bought , paid for and owned by Israel Inc and on and on...

    Deuce will you accuse the Israelis of Christ killing next?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The US owes Israel nothing. It never did. Israel is the most ungrateful nation on the planet. Israel is a taker. If Israel had any honor whatsoever, they would have thanked the U.S. For past help and took care of their own affairs.

      They would have cooperated with settlements instead of their default in your face position.

      One million Russian Jews were not in any danger and deserving of a Mediterranean vacation home on the US taxpayer.

      Why should the U.S. pay for them?

      Billionaire US jews pay off US politicians to leverage the bribe for massive taxpayer money to be transferred to Israel.

      When someone objects, slime balls claim the objector is a nazi Antisemite.

      All in all it is a parasitic relationship and the ultimate responsibility of the U.S. politicians who should be thrown out of office for forgetting who put them there in the first place.

      Delete
    2. When someone objects, slime balls claim the objector is a nazi Antisemite.

      Hardly...

      But you know that...

      Delete
    3. Israel is the most ungrateful nation on the planet. Israel is a taker. If Israel had any honor whatsoever, they would have thanked the U.S. For past help and took care of their own affairs.


      Wow.. really, how do you really feel?

      LOL

      Delete
    4. Such an opinion, did you come to that conclusion from actually going there and seeing with your own eyes?



      Oh right, no...

      Delete
    5. Billionaire US jews pay off US politicians to leverage the bribe for massive taxpayer money to be transferred to Israel.



      Sorry Deuce, 75% of all military aid, there is no economic aid, is spent in America on American supplies, creating American jobs.

      The other 25% is spent domestically in Israel on military systems that many times are invested in by both Americans and America...

      Israel innovates and partners with America.

      Delete
  19. I don't care who killed Christ. That was his problem two thousand years ago . I care more about who is killing today. Crazed religious cults on both sides killing for a foul myth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. America is killing today far more than Israel ever has...

      :)

      Drone strikes and bombing runs...

      don't look to close you will see the civilians stacked like cordwood.

      Delete
    2. Iran, your held up example of perfection, has with syria, murdered 300,000 in 40 months...

      are you proud?

      Delete
    3. I'm not proud , never was but you are the same asshole you have always been. Now go to your own blog and exercise some crowd control

      Delete
    4. Now you agree, I am the same asshole I have always been,

      That blows your pal Rat's theory to shit that I was 2 people...

      lol

      Delete
  20. like I care who killed Christ? Don't project your nonsense on me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You blame israel and the jews on everything else that is wrong in the world why not blame them for the crucifixion?

      Delete
    2. Christ was tried of a crime of heresy. The heresy was not against Zeus. Whose God was Christ heretical against? Who demanded his death' Greeks? Pilate offered the mob a choice on who was to die and who to be spared. The mob chose Christ to die. Who was the mob? They could Not have been Muslims. They were obviously by definition not Christians. I wasn't there in Jerusalem. I suspect that Jerusalem being the home of the Jews, the mob was composed of Jews. Maybe you claim that they were Persians . I don't care. Christ was convicted and killed for his own sins and transgressions against the God of the Jews.

      The God of the Jews is easily offended. That is his problem. It has turned out that the God of the Jews is fickle and mostly AWOL when the Jews needed him most. Christ was obviously not on his A list either.

      You may want to talk with him about that. It's not my problem .

      Delete
    3. Wonderful Deuce!

      Jesus was tried and executed by the Romans.

      There would be NO Christ if you believe in that, unless he rose from the dead (hence not dead)

      Yes there were NO PALESTINIANS or Arabs around, since they didn't invade for centuries to come. They are not indigenous to the area.

      So now you affirm to blame the OCCUPIED people for Rome's crucifixion?

      Wait, I thought you supported the concept that Abbas say, that there was no Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.....

      I am so confused.

      The Romans killed Jesus, but it's the Jews fault, but they are not real Jews since the Palestinians are really Jews (according to your friend Jack)

      So are you now claiming the Palestinians KILLED Christ?

      Delete
    4. jack says the Jews are frauds, and that the Palestinians are jews.

      Deuce says the jews killed him

      SO it stands to reason that the modern day palestinians are the killers of God.

      Delete
    5. No , if history is to believed the roman governor found no crime against Rome. You forgot that part. The mob objected and was given a choice on life or death for Christ . The mob wanted Christ dead and Pilate wanted some peace and quiet and Christ got death. Christ looked for help from the God of the Jews but he was AWOL as usual . The Romans who were nether Muslim or Christians did the dirty work and Christ the Jew, who would be king, died a miserable death . In his delusion he probably believed that he would be saved. It was a collision of hope versus fact. No anti-semitism involved , except possibly that of the God of the Jews. Now there's is a real candidate for being an anti-Semite.

      Delete
    6. When Archelaus, heir to Herod the Great, was banished to Gaul in A.D. 6, the territory that he ruled—Judea, Samaria, and Idumaea— was made into a province and was placed under a Roman procurator, or governor.

      If history is to be believed there is no Palestine

      The "mob"?

      LOL

      Getting weaker by the hour Deuce.

      The Romans were in power, they crucified 100,000 Jews in 10 years, why would they hesitate to murder another?

      So now the MOB was in charge?

      Delete
    7. and yes, you are now blaming the Jews for killing Jesus.

      Delete
    8. Christ was tormented and taunted by the mob, being called "the king of the Jews" , not "emperor of Rome". Like it or not, the mob (Jews) wanted christ dead. To the Romans he was just another crazy Jew and hey if the mob wants another one dead, it was not their concern.

      Delete
  21. Deuce ☂Sun May 31, 01:09:00 PM EDT
    I don't care who killed Christ. That was his problem two thousand years ago . I care more about who is killing today. Crazed religious cults on both sides killing for a foul myth.


    Israel is not killing anyone. Now if Hamas or Hezbollah attempt to KILL Israelis? then those that try to kill her will die.

    Just like the Gaza war and the 2006 Lebanon war, both started by Islamists funded and supplied by Iran.

    There is no myth in fighting for survival.


    It's a right of all nations...

    And at last check?

    Gaza/Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorists groups..

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fannie Mae reported today that the Single-Family Serious Delinquency rate declined in April to 1.73% from 1.78% in March. The serious delinquency rate is down from 2.13% in April 2014, and this is the lowest level since September 2008.

    The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59%.

    Earlier week, Freddie Mac reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate was declined in April to 1.66%. Freddie's rate is down from 2.15% in April 2014, and is at the lowest level since November 2008. Freddie's serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 4.20%.

    Note: These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure".

    Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2015/05/fannie-mae-mortgage-serious-delinquency.html#TvY6WEICCvK4saHA.99

    When this chart gets below 1% the Economy will be somewhat normalized

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      :o)

      All the foreclosed properties have been sold.

      .

      Delete
  23. .

    Many groups are terrorist groups until they are not.

    Yesterday Cuba was a terrorist nation. Today they are not.

    The Taliban was a terrorist group until we wanted to deal with them. Suddenly they are not, they are 'armed insurgents' according to WH.

    In some quarters Israel and the US are called terrorist countries. It all depends on who is doing the naming and what are their goals.

    .


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well if Cuba is not a terrorist nation and Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood are accepted by the world?

      Then the word has become meaningless.


      But at last check, America, the nation we are citizens in, name Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists.

      But Quirk, you are correct, words and labels are meaningless. After all guys who get their dicks chopped off call themselves girls....

      So I guess you are saying that you will be dating a dick-less man and calling him "female"?

      I am not so sophisticated.

      If it walks like a duck? Quacks like a duck? And kidnaps my cousin and bashes his skull in just because he is a Jew?

      He's a terrorist.

      Delete
    2. .

      So I guess you are saying that you will be dating a dick-less man and calling him "female"?

      You are an idiot.

      It is easy for the partisan to define the evils of his enemy but ignore the actions of his side.

      But at last check, America, the nation we are citizens in, name Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists.

      Spare me your bullshit. You sit here daily denigrating the US when it suits your meme but you are the first to start singing 'God Bless America' when that is in Israel's interest.

      .

      Delete
    3. Spare me your bullshit.

      When some palestinian or islamist blows up the plane, subway or restaurant your grandkids are at?

      you will clean up your shit..

      til then?

      you are full of it...

      Delete
    4. Actually Quirk, Deuce denigrates America.

      I do not.

      Delete
    5. .

      Diversion as an argument. Totally expected.

      As I said, 'It is easy for the partisan to define the evils of his enemy but ignore the actions of his side.'

      Everything I say here you have said yourself at one time or another, the only difference is you deny that Israel has any blame in these events.

      You are either self-delusional or a propagandist.

      .

      Delete
    6. Well, even if you are right, Quirk, that is better than being both self delusional and a propagandist !

      And it is not you of whom I think. Nor WiO.

      ;)

      Delete
    7. .

      I do not.

      Nonsense.

      Perhaps, my fault for not being clear enough. Instead of saying " You sit here daily denigrating the US when it suits your meme...", I should have said, "You sit here daily denigrating US 'actions'when it suits your meme.

      While no one here denigrates America, everyone here denigrates America actions for one reason or another depending on their political and social beliefs. You are the only one here who denigrates American actions simply because they don't bend to the interests of a foreign country.

      .

      Delete
    8. What is "Occupation"Sun May 31, 02:28:00 PM EDT

      Actually Quirk, Deuce denigrates America.

      I do not.
      *****

      Deuce does seem to be a little heavy on the good old USA on occasion.

      Delete
    9. I denigrate American politicians that don't support US interests and flag waving Israeli firsters that have wrapped the flag around the blue star.

      You have never criticized Israel and you are contemptuous of the Christians you claim to hold so dear when they are cheering your team.

      And I have news for you, there are more like me than you. The majority hates Washington , crooked politicians all wearing flag lapel pins and the media. A majority, keep that in mind.

      Delete
    10. God Damn the crooked politicians and Washington, D.C. for allowing the Feds to put Canadian wolves in my back yard !

      Are you folks aware of the newest EPA power grad initiative ?

      If not you should be -- if you take a piss in your back yard the EPA may have your jurisdiction because of the piddle puddle -

      EPA power grab? Pols, states claim new water reg...
      www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/24/epa-power-grab-pols...Cached

      Nov 23, 2013 · Environment EPA power grab? Pols, states claim new water reg could bring feds into your backyard
      New EPA Power Grab Over Water News

      Why farmers are concerned about EPA’s new rules on protected water
      The Online NewsHour2 days ago
      Under new EPA rule, Clean Water Act protections will cover all active tributaries
      Los Angeles Times4 days ago
      GOP opposes federal water rules
      Coeur d'Alene Press1 day ago

      EPA unveils comprehensive water regs, critics...
      www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/27/epa...water-streamsCached

      May 26, 2015 · The Obama administration issued controversial new rules Wednesday aimed at ... critics as a regulatory power grab. ... rejected the EPA’s water ...
      Arizona Republicans decry EPA ' power grab' over...
      www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/03/arizona...Cached

      Jun 01, 2014 · Rule would apply Clean Water Act regulation to waters with "substantial nexus" to navigable waters. Arizonans fear rules could apply to backyards and dry ...
      EPA power grab to regulate ditches, gullies on...
      humanevents.com/2012/06/11/epa-power-grab...private-propertyCached

      EPA power grab to regulate ditches ... an unprecedented power grab by the Environmental ... in order to tighten their regulatory grip over every water body in ...
      GOP Slams New EPA Water Rules as Another Obama ' ...
      www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/EPA-more-smaller-waterways/2015...Cached

      May 26, 2015 · GOP Slams New EPA Water Rules as Another Obama 'Power ... the Environmental Protection Agency ... EPA rules as an "overreaching power grab" by ...
      Clean Water Act Deemed EPA Power Grab By Opponents
      www.inquisitr.com/1085161/clean-water-act-deemed-epa...Cached

      The Clean Water Act complete with new EPA proposed regulations could soon impact how ponds and streams on private property are maintained and used. A series of ...
      Property Rights at Stake in EPA’s Water Power Grab
      dailysignal.com/2014/...rights-stake-epas-water-power-grabCached

      Property Rights at Stake in EPA’s Water Power Grab. ... against the Environmental Protection Agency’s and U.S. Army Corps of ... between the New York Times and ...

      Delete
    11. The growth of government is at least slower with the Republicans.

      The EPA has flown so far now it really needs a wing clipping.

      Delete
  24. >>> It all depends on who is doing the naming and what are their goals.<<<

    This makes a good deal of sense, especially the part about goals.

    By whatever name, those who pledge genocide in their Hamas Charter are terrorists out in the boondocks here.

    That would include Iran, who has pledged to wipe Israel off the map, and a world without our USA.

    The Taliban, Hezbollah, Boko Haram and a long list of others, most certainly ISIS......

    .I don't like these goals.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm getting a little tired of Rand Paul's grandstanding.

    ReplyDelete
  26. >>According to the complainants, we need to stop acting as if doctors can tell the sex of a baby just by looking at the baby’s genitals<<


    Oh, Canada: British Columbia may be removing gender from birth certificates
    posted at 12:31 pm on May 31, 2015 by Jazz Shaw

    http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/31/oh-canada-british-columbia-may-be-removing-gender-from-birth-certificates/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Once again, Canada is behind the curve even in 'gender spectrum, fluidity'.

      Parents furious over school’s plan to teach gender spectrum, fluidity

      One of the nation’s largest public school systems is preparing to include gender identity to its classroom curriculum, including lessons on sexual fluidity and spectrum – the idea that there’s no such thing as 100 percent boys or 100 percent girls.

      Fairfax County Public Schools released a report recommending changes to their family life curriculum for grades 7 through 12. The changes, which critics call radical gender ideology, will be formally introduced next week.

      “The larger picture is this is really an attack on nature itself – the created order,” said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council.

      “Human beings are created male and female. But the current transgender ideology goes way beyond that. They’re telling us you can be both genders, you can be no gender, you can be a gender that you make up for yourself. And we’re supposed to affirm all of it...”


      http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/05/15/call-it-gender-fluidity-schools-to-teach-kids-there-s-no-such-thing-as-boys-or-girls.html?intcmp=latestnews

      This is merely another step in the 65 year old struggle of the gay rights movement to try to normalize and mainstream the idea of what remains an alternative lifestyle.

      .

      Delete
    2. gender spectrum, gender fluidity

      Heh

      Confusion, I call it.

      Delete
    3. A better way of saying is they are trying to overcome duality, like the abos, return to the origins, to the Dream Time, return to the myth of Plato, before each us was broken into two, like you half a hard boiled egg with a hair.

      The Movement does come up with some interesting words.

      'gender fluidity'

      heh :)

      Delete
    4. .

      A better way of saying is they are trying to overcome duality, ...

      You are no longer of this world, or perhaps a better way of saying it is 'you, sir, are batshit crazy'.

      .

      Delete
  27. Walk into any working man's bar in any part of the country and ask for a show of hands ffor anyone for sending another three billion to Israel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You might be right there.

      Nevertheless the American People support Israel, as always, 60 something to 30 something.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. I long for the day America stops the funding to Israel, Of course a few hundred thousand jobless Americans is a price to pay for cutting Israel off...

      LOL

      That would also free up Israel from selling it's arms to ANYONE it chooses without limitations from America.

      As it stands now?

      the 3 billion is chump change for the value it give to the USA.

      That's the reason America GIVES it. Its a bargain...

      Delete
  28. You would have to remind them that when Americans were losing their homes in the millions , it was Israel that was sending loans and grants to Christian Americans to help them as gratitude for American help to Israel over the years

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, there you go. You said all they ever did was suck.

      Probably many of those Christian Americans didn't go homeless due to Israel.

      Thank you, Israel.

      Delete
    2. I guess we'll leave that old sarcasm arrow in the quiver from now on, eh? :) :) :)

      Delete
    3. .

      The question then becomes if Israel has money to send to American Christians why the constant appeal on our TV's asking American Christians to send money to starving Jews in Israel. Doesn't seem all that efficient.

      .

      Delete
    4. :)

      I was pleasantly surprised he didn't blame the Israelis for millions of Americans losing their homes.

      Attitudinal progress no matter how you slice it.

      I call this 'personal growth'.

      Delete
    5. That was irony. There was no money sent.

      Delete
    6. Sorry Uncle Nood, I'll flag it next time.

      Delete
    7. Who is this Uncle Nood ?

      I'm Uncle Bob, as is:

      "It's not an ending if it's not a happy yet, Uncle Bob"

      Innocent mistake, or are you just name calling again ?

      We have all been making lots of progress on the name calling stuff.

      Delete
    8. Maybe your gal friend calls you Uncle Nood/Nude ?

      Delete
    9. >>>QuirkSun May 31, 03:48:00 PM EDT

      .

      The question then becomes if Israel has money to send to American Christians why the constant appeal on our TV's asking American Christians to send money to starving Jews in Israel. Doesn't seem all that efficient.<<<<

      It's all part of the Israeli disinformation/propaganda campaign, Quirk They get the money from the sympathizing Christians, then send it back to them again, in another form, and the Christians love them all the more.

      I'm surprised and old pro like yourself didn't catch that immediately.

      It makes the Christians feel like they are living their faith, and proud of themselves, and in the end enriches their dedication to Israel all the more.

      Delete
    10. .

      I'm Uncle Bob, as is:

      "It's not an ending if it's not a happy yet, Uncle Bob"



      Sounds like the 'been spending too much time in a Asian massage parlor' uncle Bob.

      .

      Delete
  29. Headline:

    Is Bernie Sanders Trying To Get To The Left Of Hillary Clinton On Rape ?

    God only knows and probably the devil only cares.

    ReplyDelete
  30. At present, the world's 8th largest economy is obtaining 33% of it's electricity from Renewables (25% from Solar.)

    CaISO

    ReplyDelete
  31. Why hasn't Marie Harf offered these Taliban 'Five' some job opportunities.

    She certainly has the pull now to do that.

    They could even work for our State Department.

    She could find a place for them somewhere.

    These jihadis guys need jobs programs, or they may go back to terrorism.

    Come on Marie, walk the walk....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come on, John Kerry.

      Break a leg.

      Get these guys employed.

      You could hire them at Martha's Vineyard yourself if need be.

      Delete
    2. Can you find a place for these guys in one of your LLC's, Quirk ?

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

    ReplyDelete
  33. As a country Israel is the very definition of a looter

    ReplyDelete
  34. O Dear God, I knew paradise could not last.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Holy Shit !

    Humor comes to Iran for the first time since the Revolution -

    Iran hosts anti-ISIS cartoon competition

    By Don Melvin, CNN


    Story highlights

    Contest calls for drawings of "crimes committed by the Islamic State"
    More than 1,000 cartoons submitted; 270 finalists chosen
    Winners to be announced Sunday

    (CNN)Political cartoonists from around the world are flying into Iran, not exactly a bastion of free speech, to take part in a competition featuring anti-ISIS cartoons.

    Can this be the same country that hosted a competition for cartoons that questioned the Holocaust?

    Well, yes, it can.

    And believe it or not, it is possible to criticize ISIS -- the barbaric group also known as ISIL and the Islamic State that is aiming to create a caliphate in the Middle East -- without actually making sense. Some of the cartoons submitted as part of the contest, for example, depict ISIS as a puppet whose strings are pulled by none other than the United States and Israel.

    The contest called for cartoons showing "crimes committed by the Islamic State." The winners will be selected on Sunday.

    Cartoons submitted from around the world

    More than 1,000 drawings from around the world were submitted from places as far-flung as Italy, the UK, Peru and Australia, according to Press TV, an Iranian channel. And 270 were chosen for the competition.

    "ISIL tries to associate itself with Islam but in essence has no idea about Islam," Massoud Shojael Tabataii, a graphic artist who is a member of the jury, told Press TV.

    Some of the cartoons submitted show ISIS destroying historical artifacts, as the group has done in places like Mosul, in northern Iraq. Others depict the group's attack on a pencil, the tool of cartoonists, as futile. And one drawing showed members of ISIS leaving their hearts and brains at the door.................

    http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/31/middleeast/iran-cartoon-competition/index.html

    ReplyDelete
  36. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    2. Deuce is Not the majority in the United States of America on this issue. Far, far from it. He is far in the minority.

      Delete
    3. Our little "O"rdure stands on the bodies of Palestinian children.
      That is "Occupation"

      Delete