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."

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Russia joins France in bombing ISIL




SHOCK & AWESKI

11.17.155:35 PM ET THE DAILY BEAST

Russia Pounds ISIS With Biggest Bomber Raid in Decades


Putin’s air force just used its nuclear bombers to lay waste to the capital of the ‘Islamic State.’



The Russian air force just pulled off one of the biggest and most complex heavy bomber missions in modern history—sending no fewer than 25 Backfire, Bear, and Blackjack bombers on a coordinated, long-range air raid against alleged ISIS forces in Syria.
The Tuesday mission, which launched under the cover of darkness from a base in Ossetia in southern Russia, signaled a significant escalation of Moscow’s air war in Syria—and heralded the rebirth of Russian heavy bomber squadrons that once had withered from a lack of funding.
Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s general staff, announced the raid on Tuesday, calling it part of “a new plan [for] the air campaign.”
“During a massive airstrike today, 14 important ISIL targets were destroyed by 34 air-launched cruise missiles,” Gerasimov said, using an alternative acronym for the terror army. “The targets destroyed include command posts that were used to coordinate ISIL activities in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, munition and supply depots in the northwestern part of Syria.”
Idlib and Aleppo are not ISIS strongholds. Indeed, U.S.-backed rebels hold much of both provinces. Russia has maintained all along that its roughly six-week-old intervention in Syria is aimed at defeating ISIS, but in fact many Russian air and missile strikes have hit rebel groups that oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ISIS.
Russian officials notified U.S. planners at a coalition headquarters in Qatar before the strike, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. It was the first time the Russians and Americans have put into action an October agreement to coordinate their countries' respective operations in Syria.
The raid came the same day Kremlin officials publicly announced that a “terrorist act” brought down Russian Metrojet 9268 last month over the Sinai Peninsula. ISIS has since taken credit for the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video depicting three types of Russian bombers arming, taking off, dropping munitions, and then returning to base, escorted along their flight paths by Su-27 fighters.
The swing-wing, jet-propelled Tu-22M Backfires apparently carried unguided “dumb” bombs. The video depicts airmen loading clusters of cruise missiles in the bomb bays of the propeller-driven Tu-95 Bears and the huge, swing-wing Tu-160 Blackjack jets, which at 177 feet long are the biggest combat planes ever built.
All three models of bomber can fly thousands of miles while hauling no less than 20 tons of weaponry. Only China and the United States possess similar heavy warplanes.
Launching 25 bombers on one mission is an impressive undertaking. Russia possesses just 70 Backfires, 58 Bears, and 13 Blackjacks. The 14 Backfires, six Bears, and five Blackjacks that reportedly struck Syria represent a significant portion of the overall fleet. The massive raid is evidence of improving readiness on the part of the Russian air force, which in the 1990s and early 2000s grounded most of its aircraft because it couldn’t afford to fuel them or pay their pilots.
By comparison, on any given day 57 of the U.S. Air Force’s 77 B-52s, 35 of its 60 B-1s, and nine of its 20 B-2 stealth bombers are even flyable, according to statistics from 2013.
The Tuesday mission signaled a significant escalation of Moscow’s air war in Syria—and heralded the rebirth of Russian heavy bomber squadrons that once had withered from a lack of funding.
And when they do fly, America’s bombers often sortie alone or in pairs, only rarely coming together in large numbers. Seven B-52s flew together to launch cruise missiles at Iraq in the early hours of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and a group of eight of the giant warplanes repeated the feat on the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.
In other words: This Russian attack was “shock and awe”—on steroids.
Russia’s bomber raid was certainly impressive, and has propaganda value in addition to bolstering Moscow’s operations in Syria. When 25 of the planet’s most powerful warplanes attack at the same time, it’s more than a mere air raid. It’s a statement to the whole world.
___________________________________________

IS PUTIN OUR ALLY IN SYRIA?
by , November 17, 2015
Among the presidential candidates of the Republican Party and their foreign policy leaders on Capitol Hill the cry is almost universal:
Barack Obama has no strategy for winning the war on ISIS.
This criticism, however, sounds strange coming from a party that controls Congress but has yet to devise its own strategy, or even to authorize the use of U.S. military force in Syria.
Congress has punted. And compared to the cacophony from Republican ranks, Barack Obama sounds like Prince Bismarck.
The President’s strategy is to contain, degrade and defeat ISIS. While no one has provided the troops to defeat ISIS, the U.S. is using Kurdish and Yazidi forces, backed by U.S. air power, to degrade it. 
And recent months have seen measured success.
The Kurds have run ISIS out of Kobani, captured much of the Turkish-Syrian border, and moved to within 30 miles of Raqqa, the ISIS capital. Yazidis and Kurds last week recaptured Sinjar in Iraq and cut the highway between Mosul and Raqqa.
The terrorist attacks in Paris, the downing of the Russian airliner in Sinai, the ISIS bomb that exploded in the Shiite sector of Beirut, are ISIS’s payback. But they could also be signs that the ISIS caliphate, imperiled in its base, is growing desperate and lashing out.
Yet consider the Republican strategies being advanced. 
In Sunday’s Washington Post, Mitt Romney writes:
"We must wage the war to defeat the enemy. … [Obama] must call in the best military minds from the United States and NATO … and finally construct a comprehensive strategy that integrates our effort with the Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians."
The Kurds excepted, Gov. Romney ignored all the forces that are actually fighting ISIS: Russians, Hezbollah, Iran, Bashar Assad, the Syrian army. 
Mitt urges instead an alliance of countries that have done next to nothing to defeat ISIS.
The Turks are instead hitting the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The Saudis are bombing the Houthis in Yemen, not ISIS in Raqqa. The Egyptians are preoccupied with their own homegrown terrorists. 
"Now is the time, not merely to contain the Islamic State," says Mitt, "but to eradicate it once and for all." But why did he not mention Russia, Iran, Assad and Hezbollah, all of which also wish to eradicate ISIS?
We partnered with Stalin in WWII. Is Vladimir Putin an untouchable?
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham want U.S. ground troops sent into Syria and Iraq. But as Turkey has an army of 500,000 next door and Assad’s army would happily help wipe out ISIS, why not let Arab and Turkish boys do the fighting this time?
"America must lead," is Jeb Bush’s mantra, and he wants U.S. boots on the ground and a no-fly zone over Syria.
"We should declare war," says Bush. 
Why then does Bush not call up Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and dictate the war resolution he wants passed? 
And whom does Jeb propose to fight? Why declare a no-fly zone when ISIS has no air force? Does Bush plan to shoot down Syrian planes flying over Syria and Russian planes flying in support of Assad? 
Has Jeb, like his brother, not thought this through?
If we declare a no-fly zone over Syria, or establish a "safe zone," we risk war not only with Syria, but Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. 
None of these allies of Assad will meekly stand aside while we take military action to deny the Syrian regime and army the right to defend itself and survive in its war against ISIS, al-Nusra and other assorted jihadists and rebels.
Having invested blood and treasure in Assad’s survival, and securing their own interests in Syria, they are not likely to submit to U.S. dictation. Are we prepared for a war against both sides in Syria? 
Who would fight Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria alongside us?
Yet New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ready to rumble.
"Well, the first thing you do is you set up a no-fly zone in Syria, and you call Putin, and you say to him, ‘Listen, we’re enforcing a no-fly zone, and that means we’re enforcing it against everyone, and that includes you. So, don’t test me.’"
And if Russia violated his no-fly zone? "Then you take him down," said Christie, meaning we shoot down Russian jets.
But what vital interest of ours has ever been so engaged in Syria as to justify a major war in the Middle East and a military clash with a Russia with a nuclear arsenal as large as our own?
In any war it is usually wise to enlarge the roster of one’s allies and reduce the roster of enemies. If ISIS is the implacable enemy and must be annihilated, we should welcome all volunteers.
As for those who decline to fight, but claim a veto over whom we may ally with, we should tell them to pound sand.
If Putin wants to enlist in the war against ISIS, sign him up.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World. To find out more about Patrick Buchanan and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.

WHAT IS OUR GREATEST ALLY EVER DOING TO HELP THE US  IN DEFEATING ISIS? SURELY THEY ARE WITH US IN THE FIGHT? WELL NO:  ISRAEL IS LOBBYING TO GET THE US CONGRESS TO TAKE DOWN THE ONE POWER THAT IS FIGHTING ISIS: HEZBOLLAH AND LOOKING FOR US MONEY: SOP

CHECK OUT TODAY”S FRONT PAGE OVER AT AIPAC:


113 comments:

  1. Turning Raqqa into Grozny.

    Make rubble and call it peace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can't say they didn't ask for it.

      Delete
    2. I think the Russians are doing a pretty good job of it, and we ought to let them, and stand aside.

      Delete
  2. Well, they obviously bombed somebody - but who?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The swing-wing, jet-propelled Tu-22M Backfires apparently carried unguided “dumb” bombs.

    ? ? ?

    They flew those monstrous swing-wing bombers round-trip from Ossetia just to drop dumb bombs from altitude?

    eh, . . .whatever

    ReplyDelete
  4. .

    Ralph Peters thinks its a great idea.

    What's 10,000 lives if you hit ISIS hard?

    You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      And he seems to have a fan at the IMA.

      .

      Delete
    2. You're right. I've nothing against the Idea. All the decent folk are long gone. In fact, I suggested warming up the B-52s long ago and was, of course, called a war monger.

      Now that Pooty's going to do it, it's a great idea.

      Delete
    3. Rufus, in particular, howled, I recall.

      Delete
    4. .

      It's moronic. As was proved by the fact that Ralph Peters and the IMA support it.

      .

      Delete
  5. .

    Ben Carson Fails Foreign Policy 101

    Ben Carson’s remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State.

    Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Mr. Carson, who leads in some Republican presidential polls, was capable of leading American foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews that he had struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security and that intense tutoring was having little effect.

    “Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,” said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to Mr. Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so “we can make him smart.”

    As the deadly assaults in Paris claimed by the Islamic State reframe the presidential race, the candidates’ foreign policy credentials are suddenly under scrutiny. And Mr. Carson has attracted extra attention because his statements give rise to questions about where, as a retired neurosurgeon without government experience, he turns for information and counsel on complex global issues. What is unusual is the candor of those who are tutoring him about his struggle to master the subject.

    In last week’s Republican debate, speaking of the turmoil in Syria, Mr. Carson said that “the Chinese are there.”

    Both the White House and China denied that China had intervened militarily in Syria...

    This week, Mr. Carson’s advisers said that his source for claiming Chinese involvement in Syria was a telephone conversation he had had with a freelance American intelligence operative in Iraq...


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I admit I'm giving Ben a second thought. He has some retired military guy advising him and they don't seem to communicate so well. He seems to want to put boots on the ground back in ISIS land to take back the land. Trump, in contrast, wants to bomb the oil fields. Ben Carson is a wonderful human being but may not make the best Commander -in-Chief. I await developments.

      Delete
  6. Just what we need, another ignorant GOP candidate, clueless about the world and international culture and politics, talking and jiving his way into the White House. One is worse than the other. No wonder they take the word of their paymasters that talk with s much authority on Israel’s Likud agenda to destabilize the Middle East.

    None of them realize that Assad’s army and his Hezbollah and Iranian backers are the only credible force that could fight Isis on the ground in Syria. They don’t know it because the Israeli Lobby lies to them and tells them ain’t so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not so at all. We'd have to put a lot of troops in there, and nobody really wants to do that. But we certainly are capable of doing so if we wished. We are in the situation we are in because we took the troops out.

      Delete
  7. CASE IN POINT

    The Senate is backing a bipartisan push to get the Obama administration to take a tougher line in going after Hezbollah and its supporters.

    The Senate passed by unanimous consent Tuesday evening legislation that aims to crackdown on the Lebanon-based group's access to money and logistical support. The bill was put forth by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), who is running for president, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

    The legislation would let the administration sanction any banks that knowingly work with Hezbollah or supporters of the group. It would also require the administration to hand over a report detailing foreign financial institutions that are aiding the terrorist group or supporters.

    Rubio said that the legislation would help "guarantee that our government is focused on eliminating this terrorist group."

    “We cannot afford to jeopardize our national security by letting Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, continue to pose a direct threat to us and our allies including Israel," he added. "It is time for us to reveal the expansiveness of its dangerous network."

    The bill would also require the administration to detail what countries that group has support networks in, what steps the foreign governments are taking to disrupt those networks, and how the administration is encouraging other countries to do more.

    Shaheen suggested that passing the legislation would also send a signal to Iran, which has been accused of funding the group.

    "The U.S. government must be relentless in disrupting Hezbollah's operations. This legislation turns the screws on its network of support and sends a message to Tehran that there will be zero tolerance for financing terrorism," she said.

    The legislation would require the administration to identify any Internet and telecommunications companies that knowingly contract with al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated TV station, as well as give to lawmakers a list of which companies have been sanctioned and which have not.

    The legislation would also require reports and briefings on drug trafficking and transnational criminal activities by Hezbollah, and what procedures would be needed to designate the group as foreign narcotics trafficker and a "significant transnational criminal organization."

    The legislation still needs to be passed by the House, with a release from Rubio’s office noting that the lower chamber "is expected to consider the legislation in the coming days."

    THE ISRAELI LOBBY IS NOT SATISFIED THAT A COALITION IS DEVELOPING TO DEFEAT ISIS AND IS USING THE US CONGRESS TO INTERFERE WITH THE ONLY FIGHTERS ON THE GROUND THAT ARE TAKING ON ISIS

    ReplyDelete
  8. These people are going to destroy this country.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is the work of Aipac and Netanyahu. The entire world is galvanizing a response to ISIS and Israel is once again doing its best to use the US Congress to pursue the agenda of Zionists and Neocons at the expense of all the rest. Unbelieveable.

    Hopefully, the Russians and the Europeans will have had enough and ignore anything that comes out of the US Congressional whore house,

    ReplyDelete
  10. US Governors are using the Paris attacks as an excuse.

    It is always a challenge to accommodate migrants. The rebellion of 24 US Governors against possible Syrian migrants is hypocritical. The Paris attacks aim to destabilize France, and so far seem to have boomeranged against the perpetrators.

    The number of migrants in the US represent less than one per thousand of the population. They cannot be a real threat. The excuse that Syria is not an American war is also unacceptable, particularly since the turmoil in the Middle East has been the result of misguided US politics.



    There is an urgent need for consensus that integrates the humanitarian aspect of immigration. As far as I am concerned, the "jury is out" on the reaction of France to the Paris attacks. They have certainly created a debate in France that has opened Pandora's Box on issues which politicians had chosen to ignore. Now is the time for wisdom and courage, not revenge.

    Huffington Post

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Israeli Lobby knows how stupid the GOP is and how ignorant they are about foreign policy. Read Q’s post on Ben Carson. Rubio is worse.

    The Neocons are running around screaming about Hezbollah and the dopes equate ISIS with Hezbollah,even as ISIS terror bombs attack Hezbollah in Lebanon. WE see it all the time on this blog when the Israeli-firster tries to equate Hezbollah and Iran with ISIS and up over the fence jumps Clumpy the labotomized Idaho setter.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replies
    1. :) Heh

      Unc Clump had a great talk with his niece yesterday. She's doing well. She's been all over Germany now, really knows the place. She's coming back here though, which makes me happy.

      Delete
  13. Check out the front page of AIPAC’s website at the bottom of this post. No mention of ISIS. Look at the topic of every interest. What has Israel ever done for the US that makes it an ally? Hezbollah is doing more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hezbollah is busy bombing Sunnis, no matter when they are done they will go bombing Americans and you will be pleased

      Mr Checkers...

      Delete
  14. AIPAC should change the name of their website to The Congressional Daily Task Report.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Getting it all out early in the morning is a good way to go Deuce. Might make the rest of your day calmer and more enjoyable, important when getting older, when serenity counts.

    ReplyDelete
  16. For Rufus, over at the Huffington Post -


    In response to Paris jihad attacks, Huffington Post calls for “elimination of all world religions”
    By Robert Spencer on Nov 17, 2015 04:13 pm
    In response to Paris jihad attacks, Huffington Post calls for “elimination of all world religions”
    Erika A. Meister, “Travel Writer, Event Planner and Mother to the coolest 4.5 year old,” doesn’t explain how the “elimination of all world religions” will be accomplished without bloodshed that would make the Paris attacks look like a Tea Party meeting. Nor does she explain, even as she laudably notes (perhaps for the first time […]
    Read in browser »

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here, try this link -

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/11/in-response-to-paris-jihad-attacks-huffington-post-calls-for-elimination-of-all-world-religions

      Delete
    2. Syrian ambassador to India says that over 20% of refugees to Europe may have links to the Islamic State

      November 17, 2015 11:35 am By Robert Spencer 11 Comments

      What could possibly go wrong?

      RiadAbbas

      “Over 20% of Refugees to EU May Have Links to ISIL – Syrian Envoy to India,” Sputnik News, November 16, 2015:

      NEW DELHI (Sputnik) – In early September, media reported, citing an unnamed ISIL operative, that an estimated 4,000 covert ISIL terrorists had arrived to Europe disguised as refugees.

      “Among the refugees, who went to Europe, maybe more than 20 percent belong to ISIL groups. Now Europe has received bad element into their ground. They will face further problem in future,” Riad Abbas said, commenting on recent deadly terrorist acts in Paris on November 13.

      According to the diplomat, terrorism has penetrated everywhere in Europe….

      Syrians who fled their homeland due to the ongoing civil war will return to their cities and their work, Abbas noted….

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/11/syrian-ambassador-to-india-says-that-over-20-of-refugees-to-europe-may-have-links-to-the-islamic-state

      Delete
  17. Deuce ☂Wed Nov 18, 06:51:00 AM EST
    Check out the front page of AIPAC’s website at the bottom of this post. No mention of ISIS. Look at the topic of every interest. What has Israel ever done for the US that makes it an ally? Hezbollah is doing more.


    Sorry Deuce, your opinion of israel is do demented.

    Hezbollah (with Iran's orders) is fighting in Syria. They are murdering countless little arab babies for which you have no problem as long as it's not Israelis doing the killing...

    hezbollah is fighting those opposed to Assad's house of horrors. but let's be honest, Hezbollah is a Shiite militia trained, funded and supplied by Iran. they are, by USA law, a terrorist group who have repeatedly murdered scores of Americans (on purpose)

    Why is Hezbollah allowed to murder Americans and still have your praise?

    ReplyDelete
  18. How many Sunni civilians are being killed in Syria?

    Why the care for the Gazan civilians during the last war with hamas but no care about the civilians of Syria that are being bombed?


    It's amazing to watch this blog's lack of standards.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. WBUR Poll: Trump More Firmly On Top In N.H.; Voters Split On Middle East Military Policy
    November 18, 2015
    Listen

    0:00 / 0:00
    Download
    Embed Code

    Donate
    Our latest poll shows Donald Trump regaining lost ground among likely GOP voters in New Hampshire. Conducted just after the Paris attacks, it also suggests Republican voters are split on how to deal with ISIS. (Wade Payne/AP)
    Our latest poll shows Donald Trump regaining lost ground among likely GOP voters in New Hampshire. Conducted just after the Paris attacks, it also suggests Republican voters are split on how to deal with ISIS. (Wade Payne/AP)
    By Fred Bever

    BOSTON Donald Trump is holding on to his lead in the latest WBUR poll of likely voters in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary, while his closest rival, Dr. Ben Carson, appears to be fading.

    And in the wake of the attacks in Paris, the new poll also shows that the state’s GOP electorate is divided on Middle East military policy and immigration.

    Trump More Firmly On Top, But Rubio Is Rising

    After losing a few percentage points in a WBUR survey two weeks ago, Trump is more firmly on top in the latest poll (topline, crosstabs), with 23 percent of likely Republican primary voters choosing him or leaning his way.
    Latest From Politicker:
    In N.H., Debate On Campaign Trail Focuses On Foreign Policy After Paris Attacks
    November 18, 2015
    WBUR Poll: Trump More Firmly On Top In N.H.; Voters Split On Middle East Military Policy
    November 18, 2015
    Commentary: Iowa Democratic Voters Prefer Clinton After Paris Attacks
    November 16, 2015
    Pindell: Presidential Candidates Up Debate Over Foreign Policy In Wake Of Paris Attacks
    November 16, 2015
    All Politicker stories »

    Many of Trump’s supporters, including Gerard Scolamiero, an Exeter Republican, say they’re done with political insiders.

    “I’m tired of it,” Scolamiero said. “And I want someone who’s outside of the system, who’s not going to game the system for their own ends.”

    Carson had also benefited from that sentiment. But the new WBUR survey, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, shows Carson’s appeal may be waning.

    Carson was in a near tie with Trump in September, but he’s 10 points behind now, with 13 percent support.

    MassINC Pollster Steve Koczela says voters gave Carson an early honeymoon, but the attraction is fading.

    “The counter example to that is Marco Rubio,” Koczela noted, “where the better voters get to know him the more they like him.”

    While Carson’s overall favorability score is falling, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s is rising.

    Rubio started to shoulder through the GOP pack in the last WBUR poll, and now he’s supported by 13 percent of respondents, in a dead heat with Carson.

    Unlike Trump, Rubio draws appreciable support from both the 46 percent of respondents who prefer an outsider, and the 36 percent who prefer an experienced candidate.

    “I’m not someone who’s just looking for an outsider for the sake of it being an outsider,” said Wolfeboro independent Constance Miller. “I’m looking for someone who’s going to fix some of the issues that are going on in our country right now.”.............

    http://www.wbur.org/2015/11/18/wbur-new-hampshire-poll-trump-middle-east

    ReplyDelete
  21. Are we dumb, or what, suicidal ? -


    November 18, 2015
    Why Muslim Migrants Always = Terrorism
    By Selwyn Duke

    What’s the point in the West sending troops to the Middle East if we bring the Middle East to the West? The preceding is a money line, one that should be used by Islam realists from Germany to Georgia.

    The Paris terror attack has inspired much debate, from conservatives saying we need to confront ISIS aggressively overseas to liberals wringing their hands over rising anti-Islam sentiment that they claim will exacerbate the jihadist problem. And while I’m more sympathetic to the former sentiment than the latter, nothing should distract us from what must be our number-one priority: stopping the Muslim influx into the West cold.

    Many say this is a cold position. And, unfortunately, their prescription for (misguided) compassion is seldom sufficiently refuted.

    In an attempt to salvage a failing multicultural model and strategy for importing left-leaning voters, we hear that the Muslim migrants must be “vetted” better. A simple practical problem with this notion is that Syria’s and other Middle Eastern countries’ databases are woefully inadequate, making accurate information on many migrants impossible to obtain. This confronts us with a simple matter of probability: if 1 million migrants enter a nation over time and just 1/10th of 1 percent are terrorists, that’s 1000 dangerous jihadists. Is this acceptable? Note that my estimate may be conservative.

    Yet there’s also a fundamental problem with vetting that goes unmentioned: even with complete information, it only tells you about the past.

    It cannot tell you about the future.

    In other words, even if those one million migrants have “clean records,” how many will become terrorists in the future? Again, 1/10th of 1 percent is 1000.

    And what of their children? How many of them will become terrorists? No point repeating best-case-scenario percentages.

    One response here is that the children will be more integrated and thus the problem should diminish over time. This is logical, but, unfortunately, also apparently untrue.

    Studies have shown that young Muslims in Europe are actually more radical than their elders. This certainly is counterintuitive, but only because the average Westerner’s cranial database also doesn’t contain accurate information. For example and related to this, moderns take as a given that religion is declining in our “enlightened times.” Yet religious belief is actually increasing worldwide, a phenomenon poised to continue. Islam’s adherents are growing in number.................

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/11/why_muslim_migrants_emalwaysem__terrorism.html


    The second and third generation become more radical than the first. It's happening all over Europe. They club up, mosque up, start demanding special treatment, finally start shooting things up, you get no go areas, women are raped, hell breaks out.

    The correct number of moslem immigrants is zero.

    They want Sharia law, we want the Constitution.

    Wake up, America !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quote from member of the newly elected moslem majority city council in Hamtramck, Michigan:

      First we show the Poles, then everybody else.

      Delete
    2. .

      The daily post from the IMA website.

      Like his brother in ignorance, all he does is read the headlines. Or possibly (or more than likely?), he is selective on purpose. He takes the words of a Muslim buffoon and projects them onto the balance of the Muslim members of the city council.

      A much worse offense than the words of some dolt is the fact that Hamtramck has to put up with hearing the Muslim call to prayer a few times a day.

      Hamtramck has been going down hill for a long time and during that time the Poles have been leaving for the suburbs. And they were leaving long before the Muslim started moving in.

      The real tragedy in Hamtramck is that you can't get a good gwumpkie there anymore. Or pierogis or krupnik.

      .

      Delete
  22. .

    AIPAC

    I have suggested before that all anyone has to do is go to is go to AIPAC home page to see exactly where the organization is coming from. Deuce's screen grab above makes my point.

    It's called the American Israeli Political Action Committee. It's stated aim is to 'improve relations between Israel and the US'. Yet, one only has to look at the stories/articles on its home page to see this is only half true. Other than congressmen and other political leaders you will find no articles on Americans, even American Jews, unless they are buried somewhere in the bowels of the website or possibly if American Jews support some policy AIPAC/Israel is promoting.

    Look at the stories above.

    No, AIPAC is simply a lobbying group. However, unlike other lobbying groups such as the NRA, AARP, AFSCME, and others is that they represent the interests of Americans. AIPAC merely represents the interests of a foreign government, that of Israel.

    That's why I have contended that it should come out of the closet and register as such.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Join APOLEPAC

      I'm in ASWEDEPAC

      Delete
    2. .

      You lied about being an AIPAC member?

      Doesn't surprise. In fact, I didn't believe you from the start. You are too lazy to join up.

      But all that is irrelevant, the same as your comments. Just one more diversion. SOP.

      .

      Delete
    3. No, I did join up, and am still a member far as I know.

      I failed to hit the button to send me stuff.

      Thank you for reminding me, I will try to get that done.

      I was lying about ASWEDEPAC though.

      I doubt there is such a creature.

      Delete
    4. You are correct about me being lazy. And, it's getting worse.

      Delete
    5. Quirk: That's why I have contended that it should come out of the closet and register as such.


      Sorry but you are wrong on your assertions.


      The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.


      Americans that lobby for the security of BOTH America and Israel and their joint relationship are not in the pay of Israel. They are American citizens doing their citizen lobbying.

      For you to take your position?


      Is anti-American.

      All citizens of America have a right to petition their government on ANY issue that they deem important enough to lobby.

      To call out those that support israel as foreign agents is to single out them and is in fact quite "McCarthy-like" of you.

      If you called all the Italian-American friendship society and all other groups for equal change in their status you'd still be a fool but at least your Israel hating colors would not be showing.

      Quirk you are incorrect and quite frankly INSULTing to the tens of thousands of Americans that are sincerely in their support for a strong Israel - American relationship.

      You should be ashamed of yourself.

      But I doubt you are capable.

      Delete
    6. .

      Bushwa.

      If it walks like a duck and squawks like a duck...

      .

      Delete
  23. And this pisses me off beyond measure too. No even the Republicans mention it much -


    D.C. Refuses to Arm Persecuted Christians Fighting ISIS
    To still not know which “side” U.S. leadership is on is to be beyond naïve.
    November 18, 2015
    Raymond Ibrahim
    3

    Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

    In recent months, Mideast Christians have been forming militias to fight the Islamic State (IS) and other jihadi groups in both Iraq and Syria—even as the Obama administration, which arms the “opposition,” refuses to arm them.

    In Iraq, some of the few remaining Assyrian Christians have formed militias under the name Dwekh Nawsha (literally meaning “self-sacrifice” in Christ’s native tongue of Aramaic). Most of these fighters are from among those Christians displaced from the Ninevah Plain due to the atrocities committed by IS and are on the frontlines fighting the jihadis.

    They were formed soon after the U.S.-supported Kurdish Peshmerga, who are leading the fight against IS in the region, retreated from many Christian villages without a fight last summer, declining to protect them from the IS advance which led to the usual atrocities.

    According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Christians have taken up arms because they want to protect their own land, and many no longer trust the Kurds to do it for them.” Indeed, the Kurds, including the Peshmerga, have been known to abuse and even persecute Christians. Like IS, Kurds are Sunni Muslims too.

    “We will stay here, and Christians will protect Christians. Not Arabs or Kurds protecting us, but Christians,” said local commander Fouad Masaoud Gorgees.

    In neighboring Syria, approximately 500 Syriac Christian fighters recently assembled and managed to prevent the Islamic State from entering the ancient Christian settlement of Sadad. But on October 30, IS captured a town less than five miles away, leaving Sadad vulnerable to continued assaults.

    Even the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox church, Ignatius Aphrem II, traveled to Sadad to boost the morale of Christian defenders. Said Aphrem:

    It was emotional but it was also very encouraging to see our young people determined to defend their land and stay in their homeland. To see them ready to fight and to sacrifice for their land, I think that’s what’s very meaningful, that made me very proud of them.

    There’s a reason why Christians are frantically trying to save Sadad from the clutches of IS. As one Syriac Christian fighter put it, Sadad “is a symbolic place for us and we will not allow it to fall again.”

    He is referring to the events of October 2013, when the U.S.-supported Free Syrian Army—widely touted as moderate but in fact working with al-Qaeda’s Al Nusra Front—captured the town. They made a graphic video (with English subtitles) of those whom they killed, the “dogs of Assad”—“dog” being an ancient Islamic epithet for Christians—while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, “Allahu Akbar” (which John McCain equates to a Christian saying “thank God”) and praise for the Free Syrian Army.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. During their one week occupation of Sadad, the moderate/radical coalition tortured, raped, and murdered 45 Christians; the bodies of six people from one family alone, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians).

      At the time, Syriac Archbishop Selwanos Boutros called it Syria’s “largest massacre of Christians.” Even so, this massacre was wholly ignored by the Obama administration and so-called mainstream media in an effort to maintain the narrative that the Free Syrian Army was “moderate.”

      Concerning the Sadad massacres, the archbishop had asked in 2013:

      We have shouted aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers?

      As persecuted Mideast Christians have well learned since, most Western governments—the Obama administration at their head—could care less about their fate. They care only about one thing: overthrowing Assad—at any cost, including by directly or indirectly arming the Islamic terrorists that persecute Christians in horrific ways, including slaughtering those who refuse to renounce Christ for Muhammad.

      Yet truly “moderate” Christian militias fighting the Islamic State are denied arms from Washington: “Lobbyists in D.C. are blocking weapons and equipment from reaching Dwekh Nawsha, the Christian militia force that has been fighting ISIS in Iraq’s Assyrian Nineveh plains.”

      Retired Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari, an Iraq war veteran who served 20 years in the army, says: “As much as you’re giving money to all these individuals who are killing each other [the “moderate” terrorists, Kurds, etc.], why don’t you try to give it to the Assyrians?”…. Currently, their [Christians’] lack of resources prevents them from launching an offensive.” U.S. funding, training, and equipment would allow these Christian militias to take the fight to IS, added Sangari.

      Of course, all of this assumes that U.S. leadership actually wants the Islamic State and other “moderate” jihadis to be defeated in an offensive by anyone—a dubious assumption.

      Delete
    2. Still, persecuted Christian pleas have not totally fallen on deaf ears. A few Western Christians, mostly Americans, have traveled to the Middle East to help the indigenous Christians fight the jihadis.

      Seeing their governments, which possess the military capability to annihilate the Islamic State, do next to nothing—not even help arm Christians—against IS, these Western Christians have decided to take it on themselves to fight the good fight on behalf of the weak and oppressed.

      Brett Felton, a former American soldier who once served in Iraq, now sees himself as a “soldier of Christ” and has returned to help train Dwekh Nawsha against IS.

      According to the 28-year-old, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. But here we’re actually fighting for the freedom of the people … to be able to live without persecution, to keep the church bells ringing.”

      U.S. vet Jordan Matson, who has the words “Christ is Lord” inscribed in his vest, said: “I decided that if our government wasn’t going to do anything about it, I would… We’re getting shot at [by IS/jihadis] on pretty much a daily basis…. We don’t have the technology that the United States military has to push our enemies away.”

      First the Christians of Iraq and then Syria implored the West for help against the Islamic persecutors that the United States unleashed by overthrowing secular strongman Saddam Hussein and now against Bashar Assad.

      Brutally persecuted Christians were totally ignored by both government and media.

      Then they implored the Obama administration to simply stop arming their persecutors. When that too fell on deaf ears, vastly outnumbered and underequipped Christians gathered to fight the Islamic State head on, hoping the U.S., which showers the “opposition” with weapons, would help equip them against IS.

      No such luck. As a result, a few Western Christians who believe in religious freedom are risking their personal lives to help their Mideast brothers against the scourge of “ISIS.”

      In light of all this, to still fail to understand which “side” U.S. leadership is on—they currently claim to be on the side of “democracy,” “freedom,” and “human rights”—is to be beyond naïve.

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260821/dc-refuses-arm-persecuted-christians-fighting-isis-raymond-ibrahim

      Delete
  24. Interesting little technical solution to the wind/solar power storage problem:

    "Hydrostor launching compressed air power storage off Toronto Island

    ...

    The system uses electricity to compress air in a building on Toronto Island, just off the city’s downtown. The air is then pumped through a pipe into six large balloons anchored on the lake bed about three kilometres offshore, 60 metres below the surface. The weight of water keeps the balloons pressurized.

    To convert the stored energy back to electricity, the pressurized air returns to the surface, where it runs a generator.


    ..."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/hydrostor-launches-compressed-air-power-storage-system-off-toronto-island/article27306527/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmmm.....sounds overly complex. Are you sure you are coming out energy positive ?

      Delete
    2. Oh I see, wind power is used to generate the electricity to compress air in a building on Toronto Island.

      Quite creative..

      Delete
    3. anytime you can passively capture energy in off peak times and store it?

      its a good thing

      Delete
  25. America's 'enemies within': How nearly SEVENTY have been arrested in America over ISIS plots in last 18 months - including refugees who had been given safe haven but 'turned to terror'

    Federal and local law enforcement agencies have made dozens of arrests of men and women suspected of ISIS involvement
    Analysis shows that they include refugees who entered the United States as refugees
    Increasing pressure from Republicans not to accept refugees from Syria on scale demanded by White House
    Ted Cruz plans to introduce legislation forbidding refugee status to Syrian Muslims and moves also under way to defund settling refugees

    By Ben Ashford For Dailymail.com

    Published: 09:19 EST, 18 November 2015 | Updated: 13:35 EST, 18 November 2015

    18k
    shares

    163

    View comments

    US authorities have charged at least 66 men and women with ISIS-related terror plots on American soil – including a handful of refugees, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

    The terror group has set its sights on Washington, D.C. as it vows to further infiltrate the West and ramp up its blood-soaked offensive.

    Presidents Obama insists says that 'slamming the door' on Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS would be a betrayal of American values.

    But 34 governors are refusing to take in any more, in case jihadi fighters slip into their states and repeat the carnage of Paris.

    Analysis by Daily Mail Online reveals that a handful of foiled plots have already involved immigrants accused of harboring sympathy for ISIS.................

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322649/The-enemy-Nearly-SEVENTY-arrested-America-ISIS-plots-include-refugees-given-safe-haven-turned-terror.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. Quirk: That's why I have contended that it should come out of the closet and register as such.


    Sorry but you are wrong on your assertions.


    The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.


    Americans that lobby for the security of BOTH America and Israel and their joint relationship are not in the pay of Israel. They are American citizens doing their citizen lobbying.

    For you to take your position?


    Is anti-American.

    All citizens of America have a right to petition their government on ANY issue that they deem important enough to lobby.

    To call out those that support israel as foreign agents is to single out them and is in fact quite "McCarthy-like" of you.

    If you called all the Italian-American friendship society and all other groups for equal change in their status you'd still be a fool but at least your Israel hating colors would not be showing.

    Quirk you are incorrect and quite frankly INSULTing to the tens of thousands of Americans that are sincerely in their support for a strong Israel - American relationship.

    You should be ashamed of yourself.

    But I doubt you are capable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      You must have blacked out there, WiO. You are repeating yourself. Or perhaps, its just an elongated stutter. Try and keep it together.

      Anyway, here is the answer I gave above.


      QuirkWed Nov 18, 02:21:00 PM EST

      .

      Bushwa.

      If it walks like a duck and squawks like a duck...


      .

      .

      Delete
  27. This is a good sign:

    American expect to spend 15% More on Christmas presents this year.

    Gallup

    ReplyDelete

  28. Bloomberg Poll: Most Americans Oppose Syrian Refugee Resettlement

    Americans agree with Republican presidential candidates on refugees, but are divided on whether to send U.S. troops to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State, according to the poll.

    Margaret Talev

    November 18, 2015 — 11:23 AM PST


    Most Americans want the U.S. to stop letting in Syrian refugees amid fears of terrorist infiltrations after the Paris attacks, siding with Republican presidential candidates, governors, and lawmakers who want to freeze the Obama administration’s resettlement program.

    The findings are part of a Bloomberg Politics national poll released Wednesday that also shows the nation divided on whether to send U.S. troops to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State, an idea President Barack Obama opposes, and whether the U.S. government is doing enough to protect the homeland from a comparable attack.

    Fifty-three percent of U.S. adults in the survey, conducted in the days immediately following the attacks, say the nation should not continue a program to resettle up to 10,000 Syrian refugees. Just 28 percent would keep the program with the screening process as it now exists, while 11 percent said they would favor a limited program to accept only Syrian Christians while excluding Muslims, a proposal Obama has dismissed as “shameful” and un-American.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-11-18/bloomberg-poll-most-americans-oppose-syrian-refugee-resettlement


    Most Americans are still sane, despite appearances.

    ReplyDelete


  29. November 18, 2015 - Carson Is Top Doc In Colorado Republican Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; All Top GOP Candidates Lead Clinton By Double-Digits


    With 25 percent of the vote, Dr. Ben Carson is the clear leader among Colorado Republicans and tops Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton 52 - 38 percent in a general election matchup, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

    In fact, Clinton trails all leading Republican contenders by margins of 11 percentage points or more, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University Poll finds.

    Trailing Carson in the Republican race are Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with 19 percent, Donald Trump with 17 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with 14 percent, Carly Fiorina with 5 percent, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky with 3 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 2 percent and 11 percent undecided.

    Among Republicans, 32 percent say they "would definitely not" support Trump, followed by 21 percent who would not support Bush.

    Clinton leads the Democratic field with 55 percent, followed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont with 27 percent, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley at 2 percent, with 15 percent undecided.

    "A chilly if not frigid reception for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her second quest for the White House," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

    "As winter moves into the Rockies, Coloradans say the Democratic front-runner would get bruised and beaten by all the top GOP opponents, and absolutely crushed by Sen. Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson."

    Colorado voters back any leading Republican contender over Clinton by wide margins:

    Rubio over Clinton 52 - 36 percent;
    Carson leads Clinton 52 - 38 percent;
    Cruz tops Clinton 51 - 38 percent;
    Trump beats Clinton 48 - 37 percent.

    Sanders runs better than Clinton in general election matchups;

    Rubio over Sanders 52 - 39 percent;
    Carson beats Sanders 52 - 40 percent;
    Cruz tops Sanders 49 - 42 percent;
    Trump gets 46 percent to Sanders' 44 percent.

    Clinton has the lowest favorability rating of any top candidate in Colorado, a negative 33 - 61 percent.

    http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/colorado/release-detail?ReleaseID=2303


    :):):)

    ReplyDelete

  30. Only 30 Paris Muslims in City of 224,000 Muslims Turn Out to Protest Bloody ISIS Attacks

    Jim Hoft Nov 18th, 2015 12:25 pm Leave a Comment

    It’s a religion of peace—
    Only 30 Muslims turned out to protest the bloody ISIS attacks in Paris last week.
    Muslims against terror Dan Sanderson

    Muslims against terror
    Dan Sanderson

    A small group of around 30 French Muslims from Bangladesh joined mourners in the Place de la Republique in Paris to protest the bloody ISIS attacks.

    Approximately 10-15% of Paris is Muslim or at least 224,000 people.
    Only 30 felt moved enough to protest the ISIS massacre.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/11/only-30-paris-muslims-in-city-of-224000-muslims-turn-out-to-protest-bloody-isis-attacks/

    ReplyDelete
  31. Abbas Admits He Said No to Israel’s Peace Offer
    November 18, 2015

    The question of what happened in the late 2008 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas has been controversial since those talks took place.

    But now we have the admission from Abbas that the Israeli version of events is correct: he said no.

    In a lengthy interview with Israeli TV, the admission takes place:

    At 24:05 of the video, Channel 10 reporter Raviv Drucker asked Abbas: “In the map that Olmert presented you, Israel would annex 6.3 percent [of the West Bank] and compensate the Palestinians with 5.8 percent [taken from pre-1967 Israel]. What did you propose in return?”

    “I did not agree,” Abbas replied. “I rejected it out of hand.”

    The interviews (including with Olmert) contain detail that will be of great interest to many people, but that’s the bottom line. Abbas walked away, just as Yasser Arafat had walked away at Camp David in 2000.



    So there you have it...

    The fault of lack of peace rests squarely on those that refuse to compromise.

    The Palestinians.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Quinnipiac "adjusted" that poll (their words) to show 33% Republican - 26% Democrat in a state that went for Obama, if memory serves, by about 4 points.

    One more fucking time - for the morons - if a poll isn't, at least, 65% Cellphone it's overpolling Republicans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Having said all that, Hillary is probably losing Colorado by a couple of points - Sanders, probably, running about even.

      Delete
    2. .

      One more fucking time - for the morons - if a poll isn't, at least, 65% Cellphone it's overpolling Republicans.

      Nonsense.

      Another of those famous Rufus assumptions? Or are you quoting someone making an assumption?

      Cellphone only respondents make up about 25-30% of poll respondents. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that any poll without cell phone respondents is unrepresentative and can contain bias. To argue that any poll that is not polling at least 65% cell phone numbers is overpolling Republicans is nutz. Or rather, just speculation. Or perhaps just assuming too much.

      :o)

      .

      Delete
  33. SOUTHWEST ASIA, November 18, 2015 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

    Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

    Strikes in Syria

    Attack, fighter, and bomber aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Syria:


    -- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes struck two ISIL oil and gas separation plants.

    -- Near Hasakah, four strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 13 ISIL buildings, an ISIL bunker, and an ISIL fighting position.

    -- Near Hawl, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building and four ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Raqqah, four strikes struck three ISIL headquarters and an ISIL bivouac.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Bomber, attack, and fighter aircraft conducted 16 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:


    -- Near Kisik, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL bunkers, two ISIL weapons caches, and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

    -- Near Mosul, four strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, an ISIL staging area, an ISIL headquarters and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun, an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL fighting position, and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

    -- Near Ramadi, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL vehicle-borne bombs, 29 ISIL fighting positions, six ISIL vehicles, 16 ISIL machine gun positions, three ISIL tactical vehicles, four ISIL vehicle-borne bomb staging areas, an ISIL bulldozer, five ISIL weapons caches, an ISIL building, an ISIL staging area, and denied ISIL access to terrain.

    -- Near Sinjar, one strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes suppressed an ISIL rocket position and an ISIL mortar position.

    The strike release published on Nov. 16 includes a French strike listed as “Near Ar Raqqah, one strike struck an ISIL storage depot.” After further coordination with the French Ministry of Defense, CJTF-OIR officials said they have determined that France conducted two separate strikes on two different targets. The first target was an ISIL storage depot and the second strike against an ISIL command and control node.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definition of a ‘Strike’

      A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect for that location.

      So, the officials said, having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike. Multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, with the cumulative effect of making that facility [or facilities] harder or impossible to use is also considered a single strike, task force officials said.

      Accordingly, CJTF-OIR does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in each strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

      DOD

      Delete
  34. Indiana's Republican governor kicks out Syrian refugees, reserves place for himself in hell

    by Hunter

    Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has won the prize for biggest piece of shit in America.

    Two Syrian refugee families who had been approved to be moved to the United States and were scheduled to arrive in Indianapolis on Thursday have been officially told they are not welcome.

    I want to hear not one damn thing from Republicans about the "Christian" thing to do from here on in. Not one damn thing. Not one fucking stupid, sanctimonious, pompous-ass thing about Christian values or American exceptionalism or anything that is not Gov. Mike Pence or other noble bullshitters standing up and saying "I am a huge, gigantic racist afraid even of women and children and babies and I have no more moral fiber than a wet sock clogging a toilet."

    The letters also told Exodus Refugee Immigration Inc. and Catholic Charities Indianapolis to notify its national resettlement agencies that all subsequent arrivals be suspended or redirected to other states.

    One of the families has been has been waiting in Jordan for three years before getting approval to move to the U.S., according to the New York Times. The family of three will be resettled in New Haven, Conn., the Times reports.

    This is where we're at. Mr. Governor Family-Values Christian Bullshitter Extraordinaire is blocking two Christian charities from doing the charity work of helping war refugees because, despite three years of "vetting," those people are still brown and from a place Mike Pence's racist shit-stain “Christian” supporters are a'feared of. The last we heard, mind you, religious charity groups were groups so sacrosanct that even federal law could not stand against their whims, at least when they had whims about womenfolk, but now the Republican thing to do is to block those charities from helping families fleeing war zones because other deeply "family oriented" American shit-stains are afraid of them.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Not one word. Not one goddamn word about "Christian" values. Don't say it, don't imply it, don't go to the bullshit conferences where you profess your deep love of God and thump the podium as you demand America Does His Will. Shut the fuck up.

    This may literally be the single bluntest, most famous, most photocopied, most needlepointed, most etched-in-stone-behind-the-altar lesson of the entire New Testament, and you got it wrong, and then stood up to make political points about just how wrong you promise to get it from here on in. Shut up now. Shut up, the whole damn lot of you.

    Hunter Rants

    ReplyDelete
  36. Do any of you bible-thumping, republican dickheads recognize this?

    “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Matthew 25:31-47. The pertinent part:

      “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

      Delete
    2. Jordan ???

      Why don't they stay there ?

      It's a safe place.

      Matthew 25:31-47 was written before the moslem commandment to subjugate the entire world to Islam by force if necessary.

      How many refugees have you living down there with Clan Rufus these days ?

      Delete
    3. Zero.

      I thought so.

      Let us know when you accept your first refugee family.

      Delete
    4. I'd love to have a young family with a couple of children move in next door. My Grandson would have more kids to play with when he comes to visit.

      And the big, brave chickhawks wouldn't be a bother, as they'd be home hiding under their beds, shitting their pants,

      just like they were 50 years ago.

      Delete
    5. Put your name in with 'Welcome Wagon' through Immigration/Syria.

      Delete
    6. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan all much better fits for moslems (sunni) than Mississippi.

      And like WiO says there's Iran for the Shia.

      Delete
    7. rufus, I hope your family marries them...

      really, you would deserve it.

      Delete
    8. galopn2Wed Nov 18, 05:42:00 PM EST
      Do any of you bible-thumping, republican dickheads recognize this?

      “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

      Reply



      It's called Torah Rufus, not the New Testament.

      As your flock would call it the "old testament" your translation is a little off but acceptable.

      Except you don't know what a stranger is...

      Islam, as a culture or faith is not strange to us, we know it and it's people all too well...

      Since 640 ce Mohammed has been shoving a sword up our collective asses about "submission". Now the superior race, the moslems, are fleeing their brother moslems...

      Naw not a stranger in sight.

      Delete
  37. Where are all the 'moderate' moslems out protesting these atrocities ?

    Gunning young people down at a rock concert....

    In Paris, a total of 30 came out, all from Bangladesh.

    Here in the USA, none that I have read about.

    ReplyDelete
  38. galopn2Wed Nov 18, 05:42:00 PM EST
    Do any of you bible-thumping, republican dickheads recognize this?

    “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”


    These are not strangers Rufus, these folks have supported and cheered the murder of countless Jews. Glad to see how you are reading the Hebrew Scriptures.

    You might learn something.

    When you are reading that book, also read where it says...

    Ezekiel 37:21 ESV / 38 helpful votes

    Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Genesis 12:3

      I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”\

      G-d was speaking to the Jews..

      LOL

      Delete
  39. At Least 15 US ‘Citizen Terrorists’ Are Also Legal Immigrants
    Photo of Rachel Stoltzfoos
    Rachel Stoltzfoos
    Reporter
    3:05 PM 11/18/2015

    Dozens of the U.S. citizens arrested in recent years on terror-related charges are immigrants admitted to the United States legally who later obtained citizenship.

    More than 70 U.S. residents have been publicly arrested and charged with conspiring to help, attempting to help, or actually helping terror networks such as Islamic State in recent years. At least 15 of them received U.S. citizenship after being admitted to the country legally, including one of the Boston bombers. (RELATED: U.S. Refugee Chief Didn’t Know Boston Bombers Were Refugees)

    Here are five examples.

    Two immigrants from Pakistan who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship were convicted of plotting to detonate a bomb in New York City in 2012, and were sentenced to a combined 55 years in prison.

    Federal prosecutors accused a Somalian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen of plotting to “go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style.” The man had trained with a terrorist group in Syria and was told to return to the U.S. and carry out an act of terror.

    An immigrant brought by his family from Kuwait at a young age and later approved for U.S. citizenship killed four Marines in a shooting rampage at two military centers in Chattanooga, Tenn., in July.

    A woman born in Saudi Arabia who obtained U.S. citizenship and taught pre-school in Queens, N.Y., was arrested on terror charges in April. She and a friend also living in Queens pledged allegiance to Islamic State and considered bombing a police funeral. FBI raids on their apartments turned up bomb-making materials, including propane tanks and a pressure cooker, in addition to bomb recipes and jihadi literature.

    An immigrant from Ghana who obtained U.S. citizenship was arrested in June and charged with conspiring to support a terrorist group after investigators allegedly found he was plotting a terror attack on New York City landmarks in the name of Islamic State.

    The Obama administration has ignored a request from Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions for detailed immigration histories of 72 U.S. residents arrested in the past year on terror-related charges.

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/11/18/at-least-15-us-citizen-terrorists-are-also-legal-immigrants/#ixzz3rtRVcxjk

    ReplyDelete
  40. I would much rather live next to them than next to one of you, two.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Isaiah 11:12

    He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Genesis 32:28

    Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

    ReplyDelete
  43. Rufus says that Jews have no right to live in the middle east.

    But he says that syrian refugees do have a right to move to America.


    Hmm

    ReplyDelete
  44. "Prevailed?" :)

    Yeah, your fathers begged money, and land off of corrupt politicians.

    Your prevailing ass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tsk tsk there Rufus, now you will have settle the score with the big guy upstairs..

      Oh wait, he has already made you into a drunk loser of a guy...

      Guess he knew in advance.

      Delete
  45. The vetting process is 2 years. Only 2% of those that make it through are young, unmarried men of military age.

    The vast majority are young families with children.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You make a stew and only put in one cat turd. The vast majority of the stew is ok...

      That's your logic.

      Delete
  46. Those Syrian refugees do Not have a "right" to come over here, and take someone else's land.

    And, neither do the stinking Zionists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry Rufus, the stinking "zionists" have as much right to their lands as any one else on the planet.

      Sorry if you want to roll the clock back, oh wait if you did that? before the arabs stole the lands?

      or were you selecting so specific date that would make your argument seem rational?

      Israel is a legitimate nation for the Jewish people. Whether you approve or not.

      Amazing how you support the arab theft of the entire middle east as right and true.

      By your logic? America should be disbanded..

      One standard for the stinking zionists rufus and no standards for anyone else?

      Delete
    2. Rufus will now claim he doesn't have any issues with Jews, just the fake ones in Israel, you know the "stinking zionists"


      LOL

      What a dick you are rufus

      Delete
  47. There Are Serious, Unbigoted Reasons to Be Wary of a Flood of Syrian Refugees



    fullscreen Jewish refugees aboard St. Louis, June 1939 (Three Lions/Hulton/Getty) Share article on Facebook share Tweet article tweet Plus one article on Google Plus +1 Print Article Email article Adjust font size AA by Ian Tuttle November 18, 2015 4:00 AM @iptuttle

    Among politicians and their clingers-on, journalists, nothing takes hold like a bad historical analogy. Thus as politicians — 29 governors chief among them — call for a halt to our Syrian-refugee-resettlement program on the grounds that it might be exploited as a conduit for terrorists, pundits are invoking the plight of Jewish refugees fleeing Adolf Hitler’s Germany in an effort to soften American hearts. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote Monday, “This growing cry to turn away people fleeing for their lives brings to mind the SS St. Louis, the ship of Jewish refugees turned away from Florida in 1939,” while his colleague Ishaan Tharoor contended: “Today’s 3-year-old Syrian orphan, it seems, is 1939’s German Jewish child.” Meanwhile, a Daily Kos headline shouts: “Replace ‘Syrian’ with ‘Jewish’ and we’re back to 1939.” This is prima facie nonsense, which should be obvious from the terms being compared: Jews, an ethnic group, with Syrians, a national one. An honest, apples-to-apples comparison would line up German Jews and Syrian Muslims — the relevant ethnic group within the relevant political entity. But do this, and the failure of the analogy becomes clear. The first, and most obvious, difference:

    There was no international conspiracy of German Jews in the 1930s attempting to carry out daily attacks on civilians on several continents. No self-identifying Jews in the early 20th century were randomly massacring European citizens in magazine offices and concert halls, and there was no “Jewish State” establishing sovereignty over tens of thousands of square miles of territory, and publicly slaughtering anyone who opposed its advance. Among Syrian Muslims, there is. The vast majority of Syrian Muslims are not party to these strains of radicalism and violence, but it would be dangerous to suggest that they do not exist, or that our refugee-resettlement program need not take account of them. RELATED: Europe and the Refugees On a related note, the sympathies of Syrian Muslims are more diverse than those of Nazi-era German Jews. A recent Arab Opinion Index poll of 900 Syrian refugees found that one in eight hold a “to some extent”-positive view of the Islamic State (another 4 percent said that they did not know or refused to answer). A non-trivial minority of refugees who support a murderous, metastatic caliphate is a reason for serious concern. No 13 percent of Jews looked favorably upon the Nazi party. Share article on Facebook share Tweet article tweet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Third, European Jews in the early 20th century were more amenable to assimilation than are Syrian Muslims in the early 21st. By the time of the rise of Nazism, Jews had participated in the intellectual and cultural life of Germany for a century and a half — a life that, despite regional particularities, indisputably fell under the broad banner of Western civilization, in which America participated, too. Moving from Munich to Miami took some getting used to, but you could hear Beethoven in both. Syria stands largely outside of that tradition. For 500 years, Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire. When it collapsed, Syria fell briefly under French rule, eventually gaining independence only to succumb to the dictatorship of the Assads, père et fils. The intellectual, cultural, and political traditions of Syria are not in concert with those of the West, and it would be foolish to think that that does not matter — especially when combined with the uncertain sympathies noted above. RELATED: Refugee Resettlement Is Immoral Finally: Jewish refugees — for example, those in the SS St. Louis — were coming from Germany (or Nazi-controlled Austria or Czechoslovakia), but most Syrian refugees seeking entry into the United States have already found refuge elsewhere.

      Of the 18,000 refugee-resettlement referrals that the United States has received from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “the vast majority,” according to the State Department, are from Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Egypt (and Iraq, parts of which remain sanctuaries from the Islamic State). It is one thing to rescue Jews from imminent danger; it is another to offer greater safety to those who already have it. More Refugee Crisis The Trouble with the ‘Nation of Immigrants’ Argument It’s Not Just Republicans Who Distrust Obama on the Refugee Question The Left’s Dishonest Biblical Argument for Taking in Syrian Refugees But because they are invested in condemning skeptics of this resettlement program as “xenophobes” and “bigots” — Milbank’s words — many have papered over these concrete historical differences, preferring to scold America for a failure of “compassion” 75 years ago, and to warn against a similar failure now. As Refugee Council USA tweeted: “B4 WWII Americans didn’t want Jewish #refugees -we came to regret not letting them in. We can’t do same w/ Syrians[.]” “No regrets” is a hashtag, not a policy proposal. \

      There are serious, bigotry-free reasons to be wary of accepting Syrian refugees en masse, and historical comparisons should aim to illuminate the situation, not obscure it.

      Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/syrian-refugees-arent-1939s-jews

      Delete
    2. The Tsarnaev Brothers were 'vetted'.

      Delete
    3. The Tsarnaev Brothers were not Refugees, and were not vetted as such.

      Meanwhile, the Democratic Governor of Connecticut, Dan Malloy, invited the shopkeeper, his wife, and 5 year old son, that the ignorant, racist Governor of Indiana refused, to come live in a state with sane, Democratic, and, dare I say, "Christian," leadership.

      Delete
  48. 8 SYRIANS CAUGHT AT TEXAS BORDER................Drudge

    This group evidently didn't want to be vetted.

    ReplyDelete
  49. And, no one notices . . . . . except, Drudge.

    But, that would make infinitely more sense for a terrorist than putting himself through a two-year multi-department grilling, with a 10% chance of success.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Five Syrians With Stolen Passports Arrested in Honduras on Way to U.S.

      by M. Alex Johnson and Erika Angulo

      Five Syrian nationals were in custody after they flew into the capital of Honduras using stolen Greek passports, authorities said Wednesday.

      The arrests stoked concerns raised by reports that some of the attackers who killed 129 people last week in Paris may have entered Europe from the Middle East through Greece. But Honduran authorities stressed Wednesday that they believed the men were simply seeking to immigrate to the United States and had no connection to terrorism.

      "They are normal Syrians," said Aníbal Baca, a spokesman for the national Police Investigation Department. They are expected to be charged with falsifying documents, he said.

      The men were arrested Tuesday night at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa after they got off a Colombian Avianca flight and presented the stolen passports, Baca told reporters. Officials from the Greek Embassy confirmed that none of them spoke Greek, Baca said.

      A State Department official told NBC News that the agency was aware of the arrests and that the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa was working with Honduran authorities to identify the men.



      Greek passports but couldn't speak Greek. Sounds like the Syrian contingent of the IMA. Do we really need to be worried about terrorists this stupid?

      .

      Delete
    2. yeah we do, stupid terrorists do all sorts of violent random things..

      Delete
  50. Dancing With Dictators Against Islamic State
    The U.S. and its allies can defeat ISIS. Joining with Putin, Assad and Iran’s regime would be immoral.

    Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Obama in Antalya, Turkey, Nov. 16. Photo: pool/Reuters
    By Garry Kasparov
    Nov. 17, 2015 6:37 p.m. ET
    183 COMMENTS

    Three days after coordinated terror attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people and put the lie to President Obama’s recent claim that Islamic State was “contained,” Mr. Obama took to the podium on Monday. Speaking from Antalya, Turkey, where he was attending a G-20 meeting, he threw the full weight of his rhetoric behind solidarity with France and behind the French military response against Islamic State, or ISIS. But he offered no policy changes. In other words, once again America is leading from behind.

    Mr. Obama’s remarks in Turkey came after he sat down for an impromptu discussion with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who has shipped troops and military hardware to Syria to prop up the Bashar Assad regime and to produce desperately needed new war propaganda back home. A suggestion gaining currency in recent days—encouraged by the Putin-Obama photo op—that the U.S. and NATO cooperate with Mr. Putin against ISIS is ludicrous on many levels. The most obvious one being that Russian forces aren’t in Syria to fight ISIS.

    Even after the death of 224 people—most of them Russian tourists—in the Oct. 31 Metrojet crash in Egypt that was almost certainly an ISIS terror bombing, Mr. Putin remains focused on his goals. He is in Syria to help Iran and Mr. Assad destroy any legitimate alternatives to the status quo. What is that status quo? The Assad regime and its Iranian backers controlling the region by force.
    Opinion Journal Video
    Editorial Page Writer Sohrab Ahmari on the political class’s response to Friday’s terrorist massacre. Photo credit: Getty Images.

    The Kremlin also wants to maintain a stream of Syrian refugees pouring into Europe. The migrant crisis is useful to Mr. Putin in two ways. It distracts European attention from his continuing military campaign against Ukraine. And the flood of refugees will enhance the fortunes of far-right European parties that openly embrace Mr. Putin, increasing pressure on the European Union to lift sanctions against Russia. If one of the terrorists in the Paris attack slipped into Europe with Syrian refugees, so much the better.

    President Obama and other Western leaders desperate to resolve the conflict in Syria should keep in mind that the enemy of your enemy can also be your enemy. For the U.S. and the West, allying with Iran, Mr. Putin’s Russia and the Assad regime would be morally repugnant, strategically disastrous and entirely unnecessary. The immorality of such an alliance is self-evident: The U.S. officially designates Iran and Syria as state sponsors of terror.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The argument in favor of such an alliance cites the World War II precedent that the Allies joined Stalin to defeat Hitler. The comparison is inapt. First, NATO doesn’t need the help of Mr. Putin or Iran to defeat ISIS; NATO simply needs the resolve to do it. Second, such an alliance would only undermine the effort. Seeing the U.S. working with Mr. Assad and the Shiites of Iran—who essentially control Baghdad, too—would further convince the region’s Sunnis that they have no choice but to turn to ISIS for protection.

      Americans above all should realize the importance of the Sunnis. The 2007 U.S. military surge in Iraq was so successful because it included the protection and recruitment of Sunni tribes to fight Sunni extremists. The Obama administration’s hasty exit from Iraq left the Sunnis at the mercy of a hostile Shiite government in Baghdad. Conditions were made ripe for the rise of Islamic State.

      Even with France’s stepped-up bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria, and U.S. vows to intensify its own bombing effort, the fact remains: You can’t win hearts and minds from 30,000 feet. The problem with an air-power-only offensive is not only that you don’t always kill the right people, but that you can’t protect anyone. The people of Syria and Iraq need the protection and stability that will starve ISIS of its main source of recruits. No bombs, whether American or French, can provide that. Airstrikes will inspire as many ISIS volunteers as they kill, while also creating countless new refugees. Destroying infrastructure makes the refugees’ eventual return less likely.

      “Boots on the ground” is the phrase that must never be mentioned, but mention it we must. Anything less than a major U.S. and NATO-led ground offensive against ISIS will be a guarantee of continued failure and more terror attacks in the West. It is immoral to continue putting civilians—Syrian and Western alike—instead of soldiers on the front line against terrorists.

      Pacifying the region and protecting its people from the predation of terrorists and brutal dictatorships is the only path left. It is also the only way to ever repatriate the millions of refugees the Syrian civil war has created. We must support these people now, not watch from afar as they are slaughtered and enslaved, paying attention only when the horror makes its way into our capitals. Our fate is tied to theirs.

      Heartfelt expressions of solidarity and candlelight vigils for the victims won’t stop ISIS unless that goodwill is turned to action. Playing defense is hopeless. The world today is too small, the threats too big. The only solution is to fight the problem at its source. You cannot have liberté, égalité, fraternité without sécurité.

      Mr. Kasparov is the chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation and the author of “Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped” (PublicAffairs, 2015).

      Delete
  51. .

    The Failure of the Surveillance State

    Countries spend tens of $ billions every year spying on their citizens, and when they fail to prevent security threats or terrorist attacks, they double down and go for more and more toys.. We're already hearing the moaning from the intelligence community on the evils of encryption.

    Last weekend, terrorists shot up various venues around Paris, killing 129 and wounding over 300. The attacks have been labeled by many as an intelligence failure and a sophisticated attack on Western civilization.

    OpinionsFrench Intelligence and even the Americans blew it, even with advanced surveillance technology at their fingertips. The NSA's reach is well-documented in the Snowden leaks. Billions of dollars spent to track cell phones, email, instant messages, and social network activity.

    The French spy on their citizenry, as do the Russians, the Germans, and the British. We are living in a surveillance state mostly targeting mobile users, social users, communication users, Internet users. In other words: you.

    Yet...seven guys who may have been sent over from some organization, ISIS or otherwise, who probably kept to themselves and didn't spend all day posting selfies, could have stayed in play for decades if they just met together every week or so and plotted this scheme in the privacy of a residence.

    Unless one on the group was a mole, or stupid enough to chat about the scheme online, there was no reason to suspect anything was going on. This is the way traditional secret operations have been carried out. It is only a recent phenomenon that the Internet, computers, and Facebook have made it appear as if everyone wants to post selfies with the title "Jihadist."

    This change in the electronic landscape led to a phenomenon called "chatter." The spy agencies often talk about the volume of chatter they perceive before a major terrorist event, as if everyone knows so much about it that the communications traffic increases amongst these groups. Apparently, they all get giddy before any attack they know about in advance.

    The chatter is up, the chatter is increasing, the chatter is down. Chatter, chatter, chatter.

    In the Paris attack, there was no chatter. For some reason this is shocking to intelligence agencies, because the terrorists all had to somehow be in communication. It seems sophisticated, but it's probably not. A bunch of guys planned to create havoc, and likely used a technique called verbal communication, aka talking to each other. Haven't mobsters done this sort of thing for ages?

    To today's snoops, though, the idea of a secret meeting to plan an attack is unheard of.
    Because the intelligence organizations all think that everything is done over modern electronic devices (it's a miracle that the American Revolution happened without mobile phones and Twitter), these murderers must have used some sort of advanced encryption. It's already started, but get ready for officials to take another run at demonizing encryption.


    .







    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they tap my phone, they're gonna be bored to death.

      Delete
    2. If they tap your brain their going into a coma.

      Delete
  52. .

    This Is Why America Should Fear China's Air Force

    Want to know just how far Chinese airpower has advanced over the past 20 years? The U.S. might need 15 times as many aircraft to defend Taiwan as it did in 1996.

    That's the estimate of a RAND Corporation analysis of trends in China's air capabilities. Researchers examined two scenarios: A Chinese invasion of Taiwan and a Sino-American clash over the Spratly Islands, in four specific years—1996, 2003, 2010 and 2017. Using mathematical air warfare models, they calculated how many U.S. air wings—each of 72 aircraft—would be needed to achieve 24/7 air dominance over Taiwan and the Spratlys in the face of a massive surge of Chinese aircraft. They also looked at attritional scenarios to estimate how many U.S. air wings would be needed to destroy 50 percent of Chinese aircraft over those targets within 7 days and 21 days, which presumably would force China to call off its invasion.

    The results were staggering. In 1996, China would have been a pushover, with just 2.1 U.S. air wings needed for air dominance over Taiwan. By 2003, that number would have soared to 10.6 wings, and 19.6 wings by 2010. By 2017, the U.S. would need 29.9 air wings—the equivalent of 2,000 aircraft. In other words, more aircraft than America could have the faintest hope of realistically deploying to defend Taiwan.

    Simply attriting Chinese aircraft, though not necessarily stopping them from hitting their targets, would be easier but still formidable. From just 0.8 air wings to destroy 50 percent of Chinese airpower attacking Taiwan in 1996, the U.S. will need 7 air wings in 2017, a nine-fold increase.

    The Spratly Islands would be easier to defend because they are more distant from China. The U.S. would need just 10.1 wings to maintain air superiority over the islands, though this still dwarfs the 0.5 wings that would have been sufficient in 1996.

    "Historically, PLA [People's Liberation Army] air forces have not posed much threat to neighboring countries," the study noted. "In the two decades, however, China has rapidly modernized its airpower. Whereas in 1996 China had just taken delivery of its first batch of 24 fourth-generation fighters, it now operates more than 700. The United States, in the meantime, has added fifth-generation fighters to its inventory, and its fleet remains both more advanced and larger than China’s..."


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All we need do is tell the Chinese you mess with Taiwan we won't buy your plastic shit.

      Delete
  53. Kentucky counties with highest Medicaid rates backed Matt Bevin, who plans to cut Medicaid

    Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article45093165.html#storylink=cpy

    (wait, it gets better.)

    The 66 percent of Owsley County that gets health coverage through Medicaid now must reconcile itself with the 70 percent that voted for Republican Governor-elect Matt Bevin, who pledged to cut the state's Medicaid program and close the state-run Kynect health insurance exchange.

    By John Cheves - jcheves@herald-leader.com
    LINKEDIN
    GOOGLE+
    PINTEREST
    REDDIT
    PRINT
    ORDER REPRINT OF THIS STORY
    BOONEVILLE — The 66 percent of Owsley County that gets health coverage through Medicaid now must reconcile itself with the 70 percent that voted for Republican Governor-elect Matt Bevin, who pledged to cut the state's Medicaid program and close the state-run Kynect health insurance exchange.

    Lisa Botner, 36, belongs to both camps. A Kynector — a state agent representing Kynect in the field — recently helped Botner sign up for a Wellcare Medicaid card for herself and her 7-year-old son. Without that, Botner said, she couldn't afford the regular doctor's visits and blood tests needed to keep her hyperthyroidism in check.

    "If anything changed with our insurance to make it more expensive for us, that would be a big problem," Botner, a community college student, said Friday at the Owsley County Public Library, where she works. "Just with the blood tests, you're talking maybe $1,000 a year without insurance."

    Yet two weeks earlier, despite his much-discussed plans to repeal Kynect and toughen eligibility requirements for Medicaid, she voted for Bevin.

    "I'm just a die-hard Republican," she said.

    Owsley County Judge-Executive Cale Turner, a Democrat, said the election results didn't surprise him. His constituents wanted to express their opposition to Democratic President Barack Obama and what they perceive as "the liberal agenda" on social issues, Turner said.

    "To be honest with you, a lot of folks in Owsley County went . . . . .

    Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article45093165.html#storylink=cpy

    clickable


    ReplyDelete
  54. Replies
    1. Jeb! looks to be about finished, and Carson is fading.

      Delete