Jack be nimble Jack be quick, jack jumps over the candlestick.
Mr Checkers, aka the jackass comments:
Jack HawkinsWed Feb 17, 12:07:00 AM EST "O"rdure tells us that the Israeli will be selling nifty new military technologies to the Russians ... Who will the provide them to Iran.
Now let's examine the Jack "ass" Hawkins checkers logic. Not everything that Israel sells to Russia is sold to the Iranians But Jack, being the self confessed military / geopolitical expert MUST know that?
Of course he does. that's why Jack "the ass" Hawkins is exaggerating, distorting and misleading AGAIN. Par for the course...
He continues :President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian defense minister in Moscow
In a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s defense minister Hossein Dehgan talked about strengthen military cooperation between the two countries. The topics discussed at the meeting were about the delivery of advanced S-300 air defense systems. The purchase of powerful weapons including tanks and jet fighters were also addressed in the conference.
Wow, S300's! Now we all KNOW that those are NOT the state of the defenses that the Russians have... Those pesky S400 are..
Now Jack why not elaborate on WHICH S300 the Iranians are getting?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_(missile)
It would seem that you really don't know JACK SHIT about military armament and technology sales.
But keep trying you are amusing in your checkers-like stupidity.
Russia's self interest demands that it NOT provide the Iranians with state of the art technology, but rather technology that it can use against Pakistan, Turkey and some select arab nations.
Israel is quite aware of weapon sales to Iran by Russia. 8 billion dollars worth...
Russia has a long and funny history of selling weapons to Israel's enemies that will be destroyed in time by israel only to be repurchased after the fact...
Of course you remember the famous Israeli wiping out the Syrian MIGs over the Beka Valley?
The pattern is clear.
It's been repeated over and over again...
But now the game is getting interesting...
Syria and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions in their little war in syria...
Shia militias and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions in their little war in iraq...
Hezbollah and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions on their little war in lebanon and syria
Hamas and Iran have spent billion on weapons and munitions on their little war in gaza
Yemen's shia iranian proxies and iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions on their little war in yemen....
Israel and its proxies are losing the war in Yemen, losing the war in Syria and Iraq. Losing the economic battle in Europe and the US to the BDS movement.
If "O"rdure wants to laugh about it, he certainly can
I don't claim to be any military genius, but even I knew Jack didn't know jack shit when he made that infamous and idiotic prediction that all of ISIS would be gone from Iraq by Memorial Day, 2015.
Even with the use of his 'rat Doctrine' it didn't work out, didn't even come close.
And at one point he really despoiled himself by sneakily trying to move the date to Labor Day 2015 and of course that was not a whit more accurate.
The Bern is beginning to wonder why it is that he has only 30 some delegates after Iowa and New Hampshire while Hillary has like over 300.....he is beginning to learn how corrupt the Democrat Party is, and the meaning of the term 'super delegate'.....bwbwbwaaabwabwahahahaha
Why not explain that those 'Super Delegate' votes are not made until they are at the convention, and, while they may have said that they will vote for Mrs Clinton, they are not bound to do so. They can and probably will change their minds if Bernie continues to steamroll the Clinton machine.
Brazil will accept payment from Iran in euros and other currencies for planes, cars and machinery to sidestep lingering US sanctions on the oil-rich nation and also strengthen Iran’s economy, Monteiro told Reuters on Tuesday.
Everyone is racing after Iran now ... The trade potential is very big," said Monteiro. "We will find ways to settle payments, the type of payment and currency."
Monteiro said Brazil aims to triple trade flows with Iran to $5 billion by 2019.
60-strong Iranian trade delegation in Germany Tehran Times Economic Desk
TEHRAN - A 60-strong trade delegation from the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) arrived in Germany on Sunday.
A freight train from China has arrived in Tehran, Iranian and Chinese media report, calling it a historical first that opens a new trade link between countries seeking to strengthen ties as Iran emerges from years of economic isolation.
During a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Iran in January, the two countries agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10-fold to $600 billion in the next decade, with cooperation on nuclear energy and the "One Belt, One Road" project.
Japan has lifted its sanctions against Iran, joining the ranks of the world’s major economies to normalize trade ties with the Islamic Republic.
The Japanese cabinet approved the lifting of the sanctions on Friday following the implementation of a nuclear deal between Iran and the US, the EU, China and Russia.
“Japan would like to strengthen our cooperative relationship with Iran further and contribute to the peace and stability of the Middle East through our traditional friendly relationship with Iran,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
NEW DELHI: Iran has invited India to invest in infrastructure projects worth $8 billion following the lifting of the sanctions imposed by the West and offered the country a stake in expansion of the second phase of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini international airport. An Iranian delegation visited India recently and invited the country to invest in various infrastructure projects in sectors including railways, ports, bridges and rail electrification, Iran’s ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari told ..
I do recall our Israeli contingent boasting that the Israeli had found a new patron in China. Look again, because money talks and the Zionist bullshit got walked.
"Counterfeit Bob", he thought that the Indians were worthy of NATO membership ... Now, I wonder if he will now find the Indians to be as repugnant as he now finds the Kurds and their allies in the war against the Islamic State - Israel Axis.
I do recall our Israeli contingent boasting that the Israeli had found a new patron in China. Look again, because money talks and the Zionist bullshit got walked.
For the first time, Israel imported more from China that it did from the United States. Statistics released on Wednesday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics showed that Israel imported $8.1 billion in goods and services from China in 2014, compared to $7.4 billion in from the US during the year.
And Israel is likely to import – and export – more to China in the coming years, the result of the signing of an agreement between the two countries setting up an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program
The Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria has shifted the balance of power in the region, the Iranian Defense Minister stressed while visiting Moscow, eager to purchase billions of dollars worth of “defensive” weapons to secure its own position in the region.
“Russia's presence in Syria, of course, changed the security atmosphere, [and] changed the balance of power,” Hosein Dehqan said in an interview with Rossiya 24 news channel.
Dehghan also stressed that Iran, which has “a unique position in its region” and is a “big, influential regional nation,” wants to expand military, technical and industrial ties with Moscow. Iran is also seeking Russia’s consultations on the “security of the region.”
Calling the security situation in the region and the entire world “turbulent” and characterized by a “lack of stability” with different countries playing “their own role,” especially Washington which wants to “destabilize the region,” Dehqan stressed that Iran wants to purchase “defensive” weapons from Russia.
“The most important thing is to raise the level of our security [both] qualitatively and quantitatively, so that we could insure protection against possible attacks of our enemies,” Dehqan said.
he Iranian defense chief also stressed that his country’s defense doctrine “rules out” any aggression against other countries. “We believe that improving our defense will lead to stability in the region,” he said.
With regards to arms contracts with Russia, Dehran said that Iran is seeking to improve its defense system with the “the best quality and those that can be used most efficiently.”
At the same time, the minister stressed that many countries have realized that Iran is moving toward “security arrangements" and is “not making a move," or has ever had a program aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Dehghan arrived in Moscow for a two-day visit to discuss defense cooperation and arms contracts with senior Russian officials. On Tuesday Dehghan met with President Vladimir Putin and also held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.
“We believe that the implementation of bilateral projects will largely depend on the effectiveness of Russia's and Iran's measures to combat international terrorism,” Shoigu said. “We seek to make Russian-Iranian cooperation in this field long-term and multidimensional. Our countries face common challenges and threats in the region, which we can only withstand together.”
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday said Sunni Arab states are “frustrated and furious” at the West for a “lack of support” in dealing with Iran, and joined widespread criticism of the Western approach to Syria.
Trump is successfully exposing the Bush era lies about Iraq that cost trillions of dollars and ruined millions of lives
THE NEOCONS ARE IN SHOCK AND AWE
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said last night at the Republican presidential debate when candidate Donald Trump said President George W. Bush knowingly lied us into the war in Iraq that “could be a moment where finally Republican voters say enough.”
Kristol said, “The commander-in-chief issue, which Donald Trump raised squarely last night by saying that George Bush knowingly lied us into the war in Iraq. To Republican primary — It’s one thing to say that the war was a mistake. Knowingly lied us into war in Iraq. Are Republican primary voters going to accept this? I believe Donald Trump’s candidacy was dealt — I said this before and I’ve been wrong— but I really do believe last night could be a moment where finally Republican voters say enough, enough. Trump’s interesting. He’s saying things I like. He’s sticking it to the those politicians. But finally people will focus on can and should he be president of the United States? And I think Republican primary voters will say no.”
’Wonderful!’: Donald Trump celebrates after new poll shows him crushing rivals in South Carolina
Donald Trump is the clear front-runner heading into Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary.
A new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Trump leading in the crucial third-nominating state by a large margin.
According to the poll, 35% of likely Republican voters supported Trump. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tied for second with 18%.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) trailed in fourth with 10%, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson each captured 7% of the support.
Trump blasted out the poll results almost immediately in a Tuesday tweet.
"New PPP Poll just out — Trump up big, Cruz, Rubio and Bush down.
SodaStream arrived in Israel in 1978, and in 2006 it was purchased from its British owners for $6 million with the aid of a private fund owned by Yuval Cohen. After the deal was made, Cohen asked Daniel Birnbaum, then Nike Israel's CEO, to manage the company and revolutionize it. The product got rebranded into an eco-friendly product that is healthy for its drinker and the environment, unlike other soft drinks.
In 2010, under the management of Birnbaum, who bubbly and energetic, not unlike the product itself, the Israeli company went public on Nasdaq and was valued at $335 million. In 2011, the Israeli product was marketed worldwide, jumping from 13 to 42 countries with ten million customers and a market value that reached $1 billion. Most of the production was done in the industrial zone of Mishor Adumim that is east of Jerusalem, at a factory previously used by the Israel Military Industries to manufacture fuses for shells. "They will beat their swords into plowshares" was the motto that Birnbaum adopted. ... When Birnbaum is asked to estimate the financial damage caused to the company because of BDS, he says: "It is difficult to determine its direct effect. Obviously BDS does a lot of damage. The BDS activists claim credit for the recent drop in our sales, especially in the United States; the sharp decline in our stock from $75 to $20; and finally for our decision to move our main factory from the West Bank to the Negev, even though it is part of the reorganization of the company. We do not believe BDS had a material effect on our business performance. However, BDS was a constant nuisance that required our attention. Our reputation as individuals and as a company was hurt, and of course there were customers who decided not to buy our products because of their propaganda."
Purchased for 6 million it's now doing almost 1 billion in sales and making over 110 MILLION in profit each year....
The latest company that has made a place in the list of Zacks value stocks is SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA). Value stocks investors look for stocks that are assumed trading at lower price levels as compared to company’s fundamentals. Such stocks are identified by calculating the price to book ratio or price to earnings ratio. If these ratios are low of a company, it indicates there is an opportunity to invest in the stock. Value investors believe that the stock’s existing market value necessarily doesn’t indicate the company’s actual performance.
Zacks has designed a rating scale for investors. This scale has ratings starting from one and ending at five; wherein one is taken a recommendation to invest in the stock. SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA) has a rating of 2.75 on its stock. The rating highlights the view of 5 brokerages covering the stock.
Price Forecast
The sell-side analysts analyzing the company’s fundamentals have initiated a price target of 20.8 on the stock. For the coming period, the stock’s range is set in between $15 and $29, respectively.
Jack the issue here is simple. SodaStream?
DOING FINE, regardless of what speculators thinks..
The actual company, now has shed over 500 jobs to fakistinians and has moved into new and tech savvy manufacturing plant in the Negev is still employing 500 people and creating stable good income for MANY...
On the plus side?
Sodastream is a cash machine.
:)
Thanks for your continued interest.
You might want to google "Buy low, sell high" Since you are a self confessed google expert...
What is "Occupation"Sat Jul 19, 10:54:00 PM EDTit's a great time to buy the stock (Sodastream) Herr Rodent.. It's undervalued. ($29.11) LOL you really just don't understand business..
That was then ... This is now
October 11, 2014 by Doug Henwood for Mondoweiss SodaStream: is BDS hitting where it hurts?
SodaStream’s stock is now 70% off its all-time high set in July 2011 Sodastream price 25DEC2014 - $21.15
Now let us review ... "O"rdure recommends buying Sodastream on 19July 2014 at $29.11 telling us it was undervalued.
On 5FEB2016 Sodastream closed at $13.21. A decline of $15.90 per share or 54.6% since "O"rdure told us it was 'undervalued'.
Someone really does not understand business, and it ain't Herr Rodent
President Barack Obama has said he believes Donald Trump will not become president and warned the American public to consider that his successor would have access to the nuclear codes.
Mr Obama launched a scathing attack on the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in which he identified Mr Trump by name.
He said: "I continue to believe Mr Trump will not be president. And the reason is I have a lot of faith in the American people. I think they recognise being president is a serious job. It's not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it's not promotion, it's not marketing, it's hard and a lot of people count on us getting it right.
"It's not a matter of pandering and getting in the news every day. It requires being able to work with leaders around the world in a way that reflects the importance of the office, and gives people confidence that you know the facts, and you know their names, and you know where they are on a map, and you know something about their history."
Mr Obama added: "The guy who's standing where I stand has the nuclear codes with him. He can order 21-year-olds into fire.
"This is reported as entertainment but as you get closer (to the election) the reality has a way of intruding. The American people are pretty sensible and I think they'll make a sensible choice."
Mr Obama was speaking at a press conference in California after hosting a summit with Southeast Asian leaders.
He also attacked the Republican Party saying foreign observers were "troubled" by the rhetoric of its candidates.
He said: "This is not just Mr. Trump. Everyone's focusing on Trump because he says it in a more interesting way. He may up the ante in anti-Muslim sentiment, but if you look at what the other Republican candidates have said, that's pretty troubling, too. They're all denying climate change and that's troubling to the scientific community."
Mr Trump responded: "This man has done such a bad job and set us back so far. The borders are like Swiss cheese. For him to say that is actually a compliment.
"He's lucky I didn't run last time, when (Mitt) Romney ran, because he would have been a one-term president."
Mr Obama also singled out Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate, although he did not name him.
He referred to a law Mr Rubio had proposed to solve the immigration crisis, which the president himself had supported.
Mr Obama said: "Now he's running away from it as fast as he can."
So, 1.6% of SC Republicans are white supremacists that support Trump
That means that the 33.4% of the SC Republicans that support Trump are not white supremacists. And that 84% of the white supremacist Republicans support someone other than Trump, or are undecided.
I would say your comparison of Trump to David Duke is off the mark, just by analyzing the lack of support that Trump has from the white supremacist portion of SC Republicans.
ISIS publishes names of 1065 people executed in Mosul
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Tuesday the so-called Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the names of more than 1,000 people who were executed in Mosul.
al-Hashed al-Watani spokesman in Mosul Mahmoud al-Surja said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today, ISIS published the names of people who were executed by ISIS members in Mosul,” pointing out that, “The number of the executed people reached 1065, and they had been arrested previously during ISIS control on Mosul.”
Al-Surja added, “ISIS pasted those lists on the walls of the forensic medicine department and hospitals in the province.”
The Latest: Turkey vows not to halt shelling of Syrian Kurds Washington Post - DAMASCUS, Syria - ... Turkey's president responded angrily to calls for his country to halt its cross-border shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria, saying Ankara “has no such plans ...
I notice when confronted with absolute truth you just skip the charges or post a some form of smily face....
Jack, why did you stalk Chocolate Emporium for 3 years?
Jack, why did I call the AZ FBI on you?
Jack, why did you brag about having a "source" inside the AZ FBI and claimed to have read MY FILE on an ongoing international weapon investigation???
Jack, if true, did you not release classified information on an ongoing investigation by the FBI and risk the job of your "source"? Oh yeah you said you didn't care...
Only the blind would not see that the Assad regime and the Iraqis have, with close air support provided by the US and Russia, without significant ground troops in the fight are decimating the Islamic State.
Sorry "Counterfeit Bob" but your side is losing. The Assad regime and its supportive militias, made up of the Kurds and Lebanese fighters are kicking the Islamic State and its Israeli 'conflict oil' financiers ass.
In Iraq, the Islamic State is falling back, thrown out of Ramadi and losing its grip on Fallujah and Mosul.
The coordinated airstrikes are making all the difference.
And the coordination of those air strikes with the local forces on the ground is the essence of the Rat Doctrine and, like it or not, "Counterfeit Bob" it is working.
Please spare me the bullshit about the Dems being less corrupt than the GOP. They are all dicks. In foreign policy there is little difference. In domestic policy the Dems simply talk a better game than the GOP.
Israeli officials lobby Facebook to remove pages it says incite violence against Israelis, and there has been talk of advancing legislation to restrict Facebook in Israel. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/covertly-israel-prepares-to-fight-boycott-activists-online/2016/02/17/bd3c9198-d579-11e5-a65b-587e721fb231_story.html
Violence defined by Israel includes calls not buy Israeli goods.
They are afraid of words and thoughts; words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home — all the more powerful because forbidden — terrify them.
A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words; they are afraid of the workings of the human mind. - Winston Churchill
Apartheid, censorship of the press, separate and unequal citizenship and lack thereof, book burning, all hallmarks of fascists, all celebrated in Israel.
VOTERS SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH KEPT AMERICANS SAFE - Morning Consult “In our new national poll, 34 percent of respondents said [President George W.] Bush’s policies kept us safer, while 35 percent said he kept us less safe. Twenty percent of voters said they didn’t think his policies made any impact….And along partisan lines, 57 percent of Republicans said Bush kept us safer, compared to only 19 percent of Democrats. Independents were split on the question: 30 percent said Bush’s policies kept us safe and 32 percent said we were less safe because of them.
"I'm not dodging the question; I think ISIS is a serious danger to the United States, and I've said for some time that we will have to kill them."
Your reasoning has not been coherent. You make the simplistic statement "We must kill ISIS" yet you then say that Syria doesn't matter. ISIS is present in Syria, to put it mildly. You also claim that Obama says they must be killed, which I think is a mistaken interpretation of what he has said. In any case, in order to "kill ISIS" it can't be done simply by flinging bombs from the sky. Troops need be on the ground. If it is imperative that ISIS be killed then it will most likely require US troops on the ground as the bombing campaign alone won't do it and, to date, our 'allies' in the fight have failed to "kill ISIS". In addition I have seen little from you as to how ISIS is a mortal threat to the US. You have claimed that since they killed a US reporter the US must go to war - an absurd claim.
I think that your desire to treat ISIS in Iraq as something fundamentally different than ISIS in Syria demonstrates your lack of understanding of the complexities in the region and the relative insignificance of some of the borders drawn by foreign powers in the region. This thinking that you display mirrors the simplicity of your past notion that ISIS was '25k headcutters running about in pickup trucks that will be easily dispatched' by that absurd date you used to tout.
With respect to Canadian involvement in the fight against ISIS your understanding of it seems to be gleaned from scanning a few headline. While Canada appears to be about to withdraw the use of its' 6 fighter jets it is increasing the forces on the ground.
Syria, itself, is of no consequence. The ISIS fighters in Syria must, of course, be killed. And, they are being killed.
In Iraq, meanwhile, the government is doing the job (with the help of our air power) quite nicely.
I don't know why you want those people to live, but that's your business. It looks, to me, to be safe to say that they're not going to live, but are very much on their way to extinction.
If that hurts your wittle Canadian feelings, tough titties; better luck with your next hand.
I don't want them to 'live'. I also don't want Boko Harum and many other groups to 'live'. I also don't think that the US is well served by flinging bombs from the comfort of the sky has much utility in thwarting groups like these and can possibly serve to strengthen them.
Yes, I think you are right in that local forces are the key. One of the big problems In that region, though, is that the local forces are many and varied, as is well documented here, and that finding a coalition with the will and power to rule to our liking is, to put it mildly, difficult.
ISIS beheads boy accused of having obscene pictures on his cell phone
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – An informed source in Nineveh Province announced on Tuesday, that the so-called ISIS beheaded a boy east of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad) on charges of having obscene pictures and songs on his cell phone.
The source said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, ISIS slaughtered a boy named Ayham with a knife in Nabi Younis area east of Mosul, on charges of having obscene pictures and songs on his cell phone.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “The execution was carried out after arresting the boy 20 days ago in Nabi Yunis market,” noting that, “ISIS members delivered the child’s body to his family with his head separated from his body.”
gee, are you going to start acting even more like Bob and put up regular posts reminding us of bad acts? Hey, AM Thinker just might be the source for you.
Attack, ground-attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Syria:
-- Near Hasakah, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles, four ISIL buildings and an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Hawl, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL buildings and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes cratered a road ISIL uses.
Strikes in Iraq
Fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL mortar system.
-- Near Mosul, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, destroying an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL supply cache and suppressing an ISIL mortar position.
-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL beddown locations, an ISIL command and control node, two ISIL-used bridges, and an ISIL vehicle-bomb facility.
-- Near Sinjar, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed five ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.
-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL tunnel.
Libya’s Western-backed popular uprising officially began on February 17, 2011, resulting in the toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, the oil-rich nation has been plunged into political chaos amid the growing threat of Islamic State. The uprising proved to be a pre-cursor to NATO-led intervention in Libya, which would eventually result in the brutal killing of Gaddafi.
The outpouring of adulation and messages of support to the opposition forces from Western world leaders spoke of a ‘bright’ new dawn for Libya after Gaddafi’s toppling.
“People in Britain salute your courage, and while we are proud of the role we played to help, we know this was your revolution from your bravery from people in Benghazi, from people in Tripoli … You showed the world you would get rid of a dictator and choose freedom,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a 2011 visit to Benghazi.
However, five years on from the start of the uprising, Libya is in a markedly worse position. Its oil revenues have halved, while it is also facing a growing threat from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which is looking to capitalize on the lack of political stability and political infighting.
Intel on ISIS being cooked by analysts' superiors to make Obama look good
By Rick Moran
More evidence of cooked intelligence reports coming out of U.S. Central Command headquarters. Last September, the Daily Beast reported that 50 intelligence analysts were having their reports on ISIS altered or deleted by superiors in order to make President Obama's statements of progress against the terrorists match up with the product being delivered by CENTCOM intelligence.
Now there's more evidence that the practice hasn't stopped.
Daily Caller:
This complaint to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is distinct from previous reports of over 50 analysts blowing the whistle to the Department of Defense inspector general regarding similar concerns, The Daily Beast reports.
Analysts from CENTCOM believe the report manipulation is purely for political reasons. The Obama administration has made confident proclamations of its success against ISIS, and high-level intelligence officials have seemingly felt pressure for their final reports to reflect those statements to avoid embarrassment. Government regulations prohibit the modification of intelligence reports to support political agendas. But given two separate sets of allegations, officials who receive CENTCOM reports, according to The Daily Beast, are taking extra time to parse through the reports to see if they can separate genuine from massaged information.
The claims of manipulation arose out of a series of surveys conducted by the ODNI. Military analysts reported superiors skewed data on the success of the anti-ISIS coalition and also added that officials went out of their way to delete emails which showed manipulation.
Apparently, ODNI didn’t see fit to investigate the claims listed in the survey responses because the IG was already conducting an investigation into similar allegations. Whether the survey responses led to any change in practice is unclear.
These are serious allegations and raise the question why local commanders would alter intelligence reports – even if it was to please superiors in Washington trying to curry favor with the president. There doesn't appear to be much incentive for CENTCOM commanders to cook intel from their analysts on their own. It suggests that orders to do so came from Washington.
This is just more evidence that Obama is not serious about engaging ISIS and has been conducting a sham war to fool the American people that he's doing something about the problem. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/02/intel_on_isis_being_cooked_by_analysts_superiors_to_make_obama_look_good.html#ixzz40ScrRshX
Looks like we may not have been hitting nearly as many 'bed down locations' as we've been letting on...
No one wants to embarrass The O'bozo, cause you can get demoted if you do that.
But I think whoever has been including those strikes on 'bed down locations' and attacks on 'inoperable vehicles' has been trying desperately to send a subliminal message.
One would need do be dumb as Rufus to take those reports seriously, a high hurdle to jump.
From the minutes of the January 26–27 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, it's clear that many participants saw tightening labor market conditions during 2015:
In their comments on labor market conditions, participants cited strong employment gains, low levels of unemployment in their Districts, reports of shortages of workers in various industries, or firming in wage increases.
Based on the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker (WGT), the median annual growth in hourly wage and salary earnings of continuously employed workers in 2015 was 3.1 percent—up from 2.5 percent in 2014 and 2.2 percent in 2013. That is, the typical wage growth of workers employed for at least 12 months appears to be trending higher.
However, wage growth by job type varies considerably. For example, the WGT for part-time workers has been unusually low since 2010. The following chart displays the WGT for workers currently employed in part-time and full-time jobs.
For those in part-time jobs, the WGT was 1.9 percent in 2015, versus 3.3 percent for those in full-time jobs. The part-time/full-time wage growth gap has closed somewhat in the last couple of years but is still large relative to its size before the Great Recession.
Note that full-time WGT is similar to the overall WGT because most workers captured in the WGT data work full-time (81 percent in 2015).
In addition to hours worked, median wage growth also tends to vary across occupation. The following chart plots the WGT for workers in low-skill jobs, versus those in mid- and high-skill jobs. (We define low-skill jobs as those in occupations related to food preparation and serving; building and grounds cleaning; and maintenance, protection, and personal care services.)
Notably, after lagging during most of the recovery, median wage growth in low-skill occupations increased 2.8 percent in 2015, versus 2.0 percent in 2014 and compared to 3.2 and 2.7 percent for other occupations in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
The improvement in wage growth for low-skill occupations seems mostly attributable to full-time workers; wage growth for people in low-skill jobs working part-time was about half that (1.6 percent versus 3.0 percent) of those working full-time (see the chart).
This pickup in low-skill wage growth fits with some anecdotal reports we've been hearing. Some of our contacts in the Southeast have reported increasing wage pressure for workers in lower-skill occupations within their businesses. One can also see evidence of growing tightness in the market for low-skill jobs in the help-wanted data. As the following chart shows, the ratio of unemployed to online job postings for low-skill jobs is always higher than for middle- and high-skill occupations. But the ratio for low-skill jobs is now well below its prerecession level, and the tightness has increased during the last two years.
The take-away? Wage growth for continuously employed workers appears to have picked up some steam in 2015, and the recent trend in wage growth is positive across a variety of job characteristics. Wage growth for people in lower-skill jobs has increased during the last couple of years, consistent with evidence of increasing tightness in the market for those types of jobs. The largest discrepancy in wage growth appears . . . . . . .
Here's an article worth reading though it doesn't really get into how O'bozo aborted the whole dream, which can and will be argued about until this generation passes away -
America's unlearned lesson: the forgotten truth about why we invaded Iraq
Guevara said she asked the marshals whether there were "any signs of foul play. And they said, 'Absolutely not,' " she told the station. After talking with Scalia's personal physician, she said, she pronounced him dead and declined to order an inquest.
Scalia's body was taken to the Sunset Funeral Home by a procession of about 20 law enforcement officers. It arrived there about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Lujan. The funeral home is about 3 1/2 hours from the ranch where Scalia died.
Lujan said that Scalia's family did not request an autopsy and that the body is being prepared for the funeral and will be transported back to Washington on Monday. It is under guard by six law enforcement officials, including U.S. marshals and Texas state troopers, Lujan said.
... prepared for the funeral, blood drained and embalming fluid added, there will be no autopsy.
How the police and media have whitewashed the truth about the Columbus attack.
February 17, 2016
Robert Spencer
Last Thursday there was yet another jihad terror attack on American soil: a Muslim named Mohammad Barry entered the Nazareth Restaurant & Deli in Columbus, Ohio, screamed “Allahu akbar” and began slashing at patrons with a machete. Immediately, the denial and obfuscation machine cranked into high gear. Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner said: “Right now there’s nothing that leads us to believe that this is anything but a random attack.” The Washington Post wondered: “Random act or Islamist terrorism?”
It’s actually abundantly clear that this was not a random attack, but an incidence of “Islamist terrorism,” and not just because Barry screamed “Allahu akbar” (which was not reported in mainstream media accounts about the attack). Barry was on the FBI’s radar for his jihadi views, although they dropped any investigation of him back in 2012 (why?). An initial report said that Barry “walked into the restaurant, had a conversation with an employee and then left,” only to return later with his machete. The owner of the restaurant, Hany Baransi, explained what the conversation was about: Barry “came in and asked where I was from.” An employee of the restaurant (Baransi was not in the restaurant at the time) told him that Baransi was from Israel.
Hany Baransi is indeed a Christian from Israel. A large Israel flag along with an American flag greets restaurant patrons at its entrance. “I am a very outspoken Israeli,” said Baransi, “and I have an Israeli flag in my restaurant. When people [from the Arab community] ask me where I am from, I tell them I am Israeli, I am an Israeli Christian Arab, it’s not like I am Palestinian, and then they start arguing and fighting with me.”
To sum up: a Muslim who was known to the FBI as having jihadi sentiments entered a restaurant owned by a proud and outspoken Israeli and prominently displaying an Israeli flag. He asked where the owner was from and then, having found out, left the restaurant and returned with a machete, which he used to slash patrons after screaming “Allahu akbar.” Yes, that’s a real head-scratcher. There is just no telling what could be going on here. Never mind that there is a global jihad being waged by Muslim groups all over the world who hate Israel, hate Christians, and tend to scream “Allahu akbar” as they commit murder. Sgt. Rich Weiner is determined not to recognize that. The Washington Post is determined not to recognize that. So to them, this can be nothing but a random act.
Hany Baransi knows better: “Is it a random attack? Yes, but it wasn’t a random attack like you’re walking in the street and there are 10 shops and you pick one,” he said. “It was a random attack [insofar] that I was one of the Israelis [picked] between all of the Israelis that are around here. It was a terrorist attack.”
The law enforcement and media refusal to face this obvious reality is entirely unsurprising: after every jihad terror attack now, it seems as if the first priority of the media and every official who says a thing about it is to make sure that no one gets a negative view of Islam because of the attack. It must be very nice for Islam to have so many eager PR agents, but it does create a problem for the rest of us: what if a jihad terror attack really does have something to do with Islam? What if the fact that Mohammad Barry screamed “Allahu akbar” is entirely relevant to the case as a revelation of his motives and goals? And aren’t those motives and goals useful to know so that authorities can take realistic steps to prevent this kind of thing from happening again?
I have said all this before and will no doubt say it again, unless the jihad gets around to me first. It is worthwhile to keep repeating it, but both law enforcement officials and the mainstream media appear to be absolutely unshakeable in their resolve to ignore, deny and obfuscate the true root causes of Islamic jihad.
And so we are on our own. Hany Baransi shows us the attitude we should have in such a situation: “Actually I have another flag, and I am going to get a bigger flag, and I am going to get a Star of David necklace and put it on my chest, and I am going to get a tattoo. Honest to God, I am not kidding. They don’t scare me. We are Israelis. We are Israelis. We are resilient, we fight back.”
This is what we need: defiance and courage in the face of evil. Instead, the whole West is surrendering, and calling their surrender “respect.”
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programs the most expensive military program in the world, is even more broken than previously thought. The jet can’t tell old parts from new ones, randomly prevents user logins into the logistics information system, and trying to eject out of it will likely result in serious neck injury and maybe death. A Pentagon office is warning that the plane is being rushed into service.
The Pentagon’s office of testing and evaluation on Monday released a report detailing major problems, or “deficiencies” with the aircraft. The report follows the release of a December memo by Michael Gilmore, the Department of Defense’s director for Operational Test and Evaluation, or OT&E. The report goes on to question the logic of pushing other governments to purchase large blocks of the aircraft until the issues are fixed.
The Air Force is currently scheduled to announce their version of the plane is ready to begin flying, known as “initial operating capability,” in August or December at the latest. That follows the Marines declaring their version flight ready last summer. After that, the next F-35 milestone is the initial operational test & evaluation phase, scheduled for 2017, in which program watchers test of the plane is operationally capable but also effective. That 2017 projection is unrealistic unless the Air Force takes some serious shortcuts in testing, according to the new report.
So what’s wrong with the F-35? Below are some of the report’s key findings...
The F-35 has three main models: the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant, and the F-35C carrier-based Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) variant.
The variants are what makes it palatable to all the services, "Counterfeit Bob".
Otherwise they'd have stuck with the Harrier for the Marine's STOVL requirements, the F18 for the Navy CATOBAR missions and the F16 for the CTOL for the Air Force mission requirements.
After the report came out Monday, Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, of the F-35 program executive office, issued a statement to cast the report’s findings in a rather more flattering light. “Once again, the annual DOT&E report points out the progress being made by the program,” the statement read, as though responding to a different report altogether. “This includes the U.S. Marine Corps declaring Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in July 2015. The USMC declared IOC with Block 2B software because it provides increased initial warfighting capability. Marine F-35s have the necessary weapons to conduct close air support, air interdiction and limited suppression/destruction of enemy air defense missions.”
That means that the $90 to $180 million Joint Strike Fighter shares many—if not necessarily all—of the same close air support capabilities as the $18.8 million A-10...
It was the Marine Corp's STOVL requirement for their version that lead to to many of shortcomings of the F-35, design compromises, performance, costs, and delays.
It was probably insurance in case Syria got stupid, and turned on the anti-aircraft radar.
Or, in case some local hero decided to fire up his Mig and go fight a war.
Of course, you're right, we don't need F-22's to kill Taliban, or ISIS, but what plane is stationed in Alaska, first to meet the marauding Russkies? Yep.
The Russians are coming in the old turbo-prop Tu-95s ...
They have at most 35 of the 1981 model Tu-160 most of which are grounded ...
Russian media reports in August 2011 claimed that only four of the VVS' sixteen Tu-160 were flight worthy.[15] By mid-2012 Flight reported eleven were combat-ready[4] and between 2011 and 2013 eleven were photographed in flight
There were two assigned to bomb Syria, an interesting story ...
The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday released multiple videos showing Moscow’s continued air and sea operations against targets in Syria.
In one of the videos, Iranian F-14 fighter jets appear to escort Russia’s long-range bombers as they fly toward Syria to strike areas held by the Islamic State, the terror group that claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and killing all 224 people aboard at the end of October.
The video purports to show “combat sorties of the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force against terrorists in Syria,” according to its the caption.
Boris Zilberman, an expert on Russia and the Middle East at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the video points to continued military cooperation between Russia and Iran and also suggests that Russia may be launching cruise missiles into Syria from Iranian airspace.
“That portion of the video was very likely taken over Iranian airspace,” Zilberman told the Washington Free Beacon, pointing to the portion of the video showing Iranian fighter jets escorting the Russian bombers. “And it begs the question of whether Russia is firing cruise missiles into Syria from Iranian airspace. Either way, this shows again continued Russian-Iranian military cooperation.”
A second video published Friday by the Russian Defense Ministry showcases the air operations of another long-range bomber.
“Strategic missile-carrying aircraft performed air-to-air refuelling in the course of the combat sorties with cruise missiles,” the caption to the video reads.
According to Zilberman, the videos indicate that Russia is “showing off its military capabilities and enhancing its readiness to conduct such operations.” Another video published Friday captures a “massive strike with cruise missiles” fired by Russian ships from the Caspian Sea. The missiles purportedly hit targets in Raqqa, Idlib, and Aleppo in Syria.
Israel i fighting along side the Islamic State and Turkey against the Kurds, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army
Report: Israel Strikes Syrian Army Outposts Near Damascus
Three Israeli rockets hit military outposts south of Damascus, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Pro-Assad source, Hezbollah TV deny report. read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.703990
If the reports are true, then Israel is now an active supporter of the Islamic State.
Tell us "Counterfeit Bob", does that make Israel repugnant, to you? That they are now actively engaged in providing combat support to the Islamic State and radical Islamic terrorists? If the reports are true Israel is backing those Islamic 'clit clippers' with combat force.
If they are not true, then you have to be a Hezbollah believer.
Jack "the self confessed supporter of Hamas" Hawkins....
You are an either or kinda guy.
Mr Checkers so to speak...
Israel is fighting for itself. It BORDERS on Syria. It's not fighting along side ISIS.
But once again it shows your hatred of Israel.
Jack, are you proud of Syria's Assad, Hezbollah and Iran for it's slaughter to close to 400,000 Syrian citizens (and palestinians that live there without equal rights)?
No Sam, it has nothing to do with how much they're spending. It has to do with their level of income, adjusted for inflation, compared to all other days, months, years . . in the past.
Family Income, today, adjusted for inflation, is Higher than at any time in History.
Cracks Emerge In GOP Strategy On Supreme Court Nominees
WASHINGTON -- GOP senators are straying from their party's line on a potential Supreme Court nominee, saying they would welcome the chance to vote on a candidate put forward by President Barack Obama.
They're small, but significant, departures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has warned Obama not to even think about putting forward a name to replace the late Antonin Scalia because the chamber won't act on it.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," McConnell said Saturday. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President."
But since then, GOP senators have indicated a willingness to move forward on a nominee -- even if it's not their ideal outcome. (Their preference would be to wait until after the election to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, in hopes that a Republican will win the White House.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Wednesday if Obama nominates someone, she will give that person her "full attention."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the nominee should, at the least, get a fair hearing.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) put out a statement Wednesday saying, "The chances of approving a new nominee are slim, but Nevadans should have a voice in the process.
"That’s why I encourage the President to use this opportunity to put the will of the people ahead of advancing a liberal agenda on the nation’s highest court. But should he decide to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, who knows, maybe it’ll be a Nevadan," he added.
His spokesman later clarified, however, that Heller was not indicating a willingness to vote on a nominee, despite the way his comment was initially interpreted.
"I think we fall into the trap, if we just simply say [no], sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionist," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in a radio interview Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the most vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in 2016, also indicated a willingness to vote on a nominee Tuesday after taking a harder line days earlier.
Democrats don't have a ton of leverage. After all, Republicans still control the Senate, and Obama would need to get the vote of every single Democratic senator and 14 GOP senators to get his nominee through.
Still, they've been trying to shame Republicans for their refusal to even consider a nominee, before Obama has even put forward a candidate.
"I ... think that they're going to cave in," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said during a caucus event in Reno, Nevada, Wednesday, adding he believed McConnell made a "mistake" with his initial comments. "I think the president’s going to give us a nominee that's a good one, and I think they're going to have to hold hearings and have a vote."
The fight could have consequences not only at the presidential level, but also in Senate races. Most of the at-risk GOP senators up for reelection have backed McConnell's strategy as the party fights to retain control of the chamber after 2016.
Democrats have to defend only 10 seats in 2016, the residual benefit of the shellacking they took in 2010 when tea party Republicans swept into office. The two Democratic seats most at risk are in Nevada and Colorado. The GOP, meanwhile, needs to defend 24 -- and six of them are in states that Obama won twice.
If I were Obama, there would be in process an analysis on the most vulnerable Republican senate seats and a simultaneous hunt to find the most capable Supreme Court candidates from those same states. I would invite those same GOP senators for dinner at the WH and a chat to discuss the findings.
Obama has the option, while the Senate is in recess, of naming a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday. A recess appointee would serve until the end of the current Congress in January 2017. White House officials did not dismiss the idea that the president could use the recess maneuver if the Senate fails to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination Obama has promised to send to the Senate.
“Our intent is to nominate an indisputably qualified individual to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “And our expectation is that the United States Senate will fulfill their constitutional responsibility to give that individual a fair hearing in a timely up-or-down vote.”
5 possible Supreme Court picks that could make Republicans squirm
Almost all such picks could make life difficult for Senate Republicans — especially in the 24 GOP seats that are up for reelection and for the eight or so vulnerable Republicans seeking another term.
Here are five potential picks that could make Republicans squirm the most — and why:
1. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch 2. Judge Sri Srinivasan 3. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) 4. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah 5. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval
We all remember when desert rat argued that Iran was a 'democracy' because it had 'elections' -
No, Iran is Not a Democracy
16 February 2016
Michael J Totten
Vox magazine just published a video on YouTube narrated by Max Fisher that supposedly explains how the next Iranian election could make history.
He starts by saying that Iran is confusing because it has “an unelected Supreme Leader at the top” and a president who is chosen in “far from perfect” elections. “So is Iran a dictatorship, or is it a democracy?” he asks before answering, “as it turns out, it’s both.”
No, it’s not. Max Fisher answered the question correctly before he answered it.
The head of state isn’t elected.
And his description of the elections as “far from perfect” is the kind of condescending euphemism that’s only ever used to describe somebody else’s problems.
Let’s leave aside the blatant vote-stealing in Iran’s 2009 presidential election, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in districts that opposed him as overwhelmingly as San Francisco opposes Dick Cheney. Never mind that disgraceful episode.
Elections in Iran are rigged even when they aren’t rigged.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hand-picks everybody who runs for president. Moderates are rejected routinely. Only the less-moderate of the moderates—the ones who won’t give Khamenei excessive heartburn if they win—are allowed to run at all. Liberal and leftist candidates are rejected categorically.
Imagine Dick Cheney as the overlord of America allowing us to choose which one of his friends will be in the co-pilot’s seat. That’s not democracy. That’s not even a fake democracy.
The Iranian system is worse, though. The president isn’t even the co-pilot.
He’s not quite a figurehead. He can tinker with a few things around the edges. But the country is run by the unelected Supreme Leader, the Guardian Council, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is officially designated as a terrorist organization.
Fisher thinks the upcoming election may be a game-changer, though, because the so-called Assembly of Experts is an elected body, it will choose the next Supreme Leader, and the current Supreme Leader acknowledges that he’s likely to die soon. Therefore, if “moderates” win the election, the next Supreme Leader will almost certainly be a moderate.
That would be great. Really, it would. I’d pop a champagne cork. Iran would still be a dictatorship/democracy hybrid in Fisher’s formulation, but at least it would be a less extreme one. It could be like post-Maoist China, perhaps, or post-Soviet Russia. Unfree, but no longer totalitarian. It would be progress. No doubt about it.
But “moderates” in the Iranian regime aren’t moderate by any objective international definition. Everyone who gets to run in the election for the Assembly of Expert will be hand-picked by the Supreme Leader. And every single one of them will be an Islamic theologian. That’s what the Assembly of Experts is. A theocratic institution of Islamic theologians.
None of the “experts” are atheists. None of them are secularists. None of them are agnostic. None of them are liberals under any conceivable definition of the word liberal. Certainly none of them are Christians, Jews or Baha’is. They’re all Islamic theologians or they wouldn’t even be in the Assembly of Experts.
So let’s run another thought experiment here. Let’s say Christian fundamentalist Pat Robertson is the dictator-for-life in America. He’s more powerful than the White House. We get to vote for the president even though he isn’t our head of state, but Pat Robertson decides all by himself who’s on the ballot. And he chooses Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Those are our options.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio is unemployed, Hillary Clinton is under house arrest and Bernie Sanders is languishing in an orange jumpsuit at the Camp X-ray prison in Guantanamo Bay. Liberal activists who complain in the streets vanish into dungeons forever.
Meanwhile, Pat Robertson is going to die soon, so he hand-picks hundreds of Evangelical Christians that we get to vote for or against. The winner will choose who replaces him.
Does that sound even remotely like a democracy? Like a system that has authoritarian elements alongside democratic elements?
Not to me, it doesn’t. And I’d bet my bottom dollar that Max Fisher wouldn’t think so either if he had to live in such a distorted version of America. He’d call it fascist, or something similar, and he would be right.
Vox uploaded the video to Facebook as well as to YouTube, and the comments are overwhelmingly hostile. Huge numbers of Iranian grownups are chiming in and schooling the Vox kids. It's fascinating and educational—hopefully for Max Fisher as well as the rest of us.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered a besieged Damascus suburb on Wednesday in a major, UN-backed deal to deliver help to tens of thousands of trapped residents in several of Syria's worst-hit areas, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent source said.
...
Syria's opposition says it will not negotiate with Damascus until sieges imposed by government forces and their allies have been lifted – one of many issues that led to a suspension of peace talks in Geneva this month.
...
A fighter from al-Tawhid al-Janub Brigade, part of the Southern Front rebel alliance, said the bombing of the old quarter of Deraa city, which has been in rebel hands for nearly three years and whose residents have fled since the start of the conflict, was the heaviest in more than two years. The army controls the rest of the city.
Iran is actually a type of Platonic Republic. The 'philosopher kings' ( the mullahs, The Council of Experts, The Supreme Leader) rule the roost, being kept in power by the 'Guardians' (Republican Guards) with the army supporting and defending the realm, and everybody else farming and making out down below.
The exception is that rather than the people being given 'the gods' to worship, in Iran they are stuck with the mumbo-jumbo of Islam, promised this and that, and, in this outlook shall, one fine day, they are promised, rule the world.
Thus Iran has an aggressive stanch to the world, which as far as I recall, a Platonic Republic would not have.
The governance of Europe in the hay days of the Catholic Church bore a distinct resemblance to a Platonic Republic.
For anyone born in the USA with an understanding of our Constitution, all this Platonic Republic/ Iranian Islamic Republic stuff is total crap.
The State of Israel much more resembles our better western ways and ought therefore be supported as over against the Iranians, who, we hear, want to wipe them from the face of the earth, as they do ourselves as well.
Much depends on how seriously the Iranian 'philosopher kings' take their own clap trap.
All this of late in the middle east has reminded me lately of the famous 'Three Conjectures' from over at the Belmont Club.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has fallen behind Ted Cruz in the national GOP horserace, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
In the poll, Cruz is the first choice of 28 percent of Republican primary voters, while Trump gets 26 percent. They're followed by Marco Rubio at 17 percent, John Kasich at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 10 percent and Jeb Bush at 4 percent...
Jack be nimble Jack be quick, jack jumps over the candlestick.
ReplyDeleteMr Checkers, aka the jackass comments:
Jack HawkinsWed Feb 17, 12:07:00 AM EST
"O"rdure tells us that the Israeli will be selling nifty new military technologies to the Russians ...
Who will the provide them to Iran.
Now let's examine the Jack "ass" Hawkins checkers logic. Not everything that Israel sells to Russia is sold to the Iranians But Jack, being the self confessed military / geopolitical expert MUST know that?
Of course he does. that's why Jack "the ass" Hawkins is exaggerating, distorting and misleading AGAIN. Par for the course...
He continues :President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian defense minister in Moscow
In a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s defense minister Hossein Dehgan talked about strengthen military cooperation between the two countries.
The topics discussed at the meeting were about the delivery of advanced S-300 air defense systems. The purchase of powerful weapons including tanks and jet fighters were also addressed in the conference.
Wow, S300's! Now we all KNOW that those are NOT the state of the defenses that the Russians have... Those pesky S400 are..
Now Jack why not elaborate on WHICH S300 the Iranians are getting?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_(missile)
It would seem that you really don't know JACK SHIT about military armament and technology sales.
But keep trying you are amusing in your checkers-like stupidity.
Jack, the truth?
DeleteRussia's self interest demands that it NOT provide the Iranians with state of the art technology, but rather technology that it can use against Pakistan, Turkey and some select arab nations.
Israel is quite aware of weapon sales to Iran by Russia. 8 billion dollars worth...
Russia has a long and funny history of selling weapons to Israel's enemies that will be destroyed in time by israel only to be repurchased after the fact...
Of course you remember the famous Israeli wiping out the Syrian MIGs over the Beka Valley?
The pattern is clear.
It's been repeated over and over again...
But now the game is getting interesting...
Syria and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions in their little war in syria...
Shia militias and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions in their little war in iraq...
Hezbollah and Iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions on their little war in lebanon and syria
Hamas and Iran have spent billion on weapons and munitions on their little war in gaza
Yemen's shia iranian proxies and iran have spent billions on weapons and munitions on their little war in yemen....
LOL
and Russia is supplying Iran in all of it....
way to go putin...
for a price... that is...
DeleteLOL
DeleteIsrael and its proxies are losing the war in Yemen, losing the war in Syria and Iraq.
Losing the economic battle in Europe and the US to the BDS movement.
If "O"rdure wants to laugh about it, he certainly can
Your constant predictions of the demise of Israel are recorded.
DeleteHowever just because you say it doesn't make it a reality.
Remember Jack "I am a killer of civilians in Central America" Hawkins, Israel is rising as your buddies are dying..
I don't claim to be any military genius, but even I knew Jack didn't know jack shit when he made that infamous and idiotic prediction that all of ISIS would be gone from Iraq by Memorial Day, 2015.
ReplyDeleteEven with the use of his 'rat Doctrine' it didn't work out, didn't even come close.
And at one point he really despoiled himself by sneakily trying to move the date to Labor Day 2015 and of course that was not a whit more accurate.
General Jack don't know jack shit.
Even a laid back English major knows more......
DeleteThe idiot English major can't sign into his Google account.
He fails the functional literacy test of the 21st century.
Jack we commend you for being able to "login" to your dozens of Google accounts.
DeleteHowever Identity Thief is not something the Court will commend you for...
As to Trump, yup, he sure has tapped into something that been there waiting to be tapped.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think it will be President Trump, and I certainly cross my fingers, and wish him well.
Thomas Sowell, have some soul searching, endorsed Cruz today, after giving lots of thought to Dr. Ben Carson.
Hillary has a 'dog' that is reported to bark when Republicans lie.
Damn good thing it doesn't bark when she lies.
It would sound like the Dog Pound under a full moon....
Thomas Sowell, after some soul searching...
DeleteThe Bern is beginning to wonder why it is that he has only 30 some delegates after Iowa and New Hampshire while Hillary has like over 300.....he is beginning to learn how corrupt the Democrat Party is, and the meaning of the term 'super delegate'.....bwbwbwaaabwabwahahahaha
40 some delegates..(I think it is)
Delete
DeleteWhy don't you Google search it and find out, "Counterfeit Bob", just how many delegates Bernie has?
Oh, that's right, using Google is beyond your functioning mental capacity.
DeleteWhy not explain that those 'Super Delegate' votes are not made until they are at the convention, and, while they may have said that they will vote for Mrs Clinton, they are not bound to do so. They can and probably will change their minds if Bernie continues to steamroll the Clinton machine.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
ReplyDeleteBrazil will accept payment from Iran in euros and other currencies for planes, cars and machinery to sidestep lingering US sanctions on the oil-rich nation and also strengthen Iran’s economy, Monteiro told Reuters on Tuesday.
Everyone is racing after Iran now ... The trade potential is very big," said Monteiro. "We will find ways to settle payments, the type of payment and currency."
Monteiro said Brazil aims to triple trade flows with Iran to $5 billion by 2019.
60-strong Iranian trade delegation in Germany
Tehran Times Economic Desk
TEHRAN - A 60-strong trade delegation from the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) arrived in Germany on Sunday.
A freight train from China has arrived in Tehran, Iranian and Chinese media report, calling it a historical first that opens a new trade link between countries seeking to strengthen ties as Iran emerges from years of economic isolation.
During a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Iran in January, the two countries agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10-fold to $600 billion in the next decade, with cooperation on nuclear energy and the "One Belt, One Road" project.
Japan has lifted its sanctions against Iran, joining the ranks of the world’s major economies to normalize trade ties with the Islamic Republic.
The Japanese cabinet approved the lifting of the sanctions on Friday following the implementation of a nuclear deal between Iran and the US, the EU, China and Russia.
“Japan would like to strengthen our cooperative relationship with Iran further and contribute to the peace and stability of the Middle East through our traditional friendly relationship with Iran,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
NEW DELHI: Iran has invited India to invest in infrastructure projects worth $8 billion following the lifting of the sanctions imposed by the West and offered the country a stake in expansion of the second phase of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini international airport. An Iranian delegation visited India recently and invited the country to invest in various infrastructure projects in sectors including railways, ports, bridges and rail electrification, Iran’s ambassador to India Gholamreza Ansari told ..
DeleteI do recall our Israeli contingent boasting that the Israeli had found a new patron in China.
Look again, because money talks and the Zionist bullshit got walked.
Delete"Counterfeit Bob", he thought that the Indians were worthy of NATO membership ...
Now, I wonder if he will now find the Indians to be as repugnant as he now finds the Kurds and their allies in the war against the Islamic State - Israel Axis.
Really?
DeleteThe Chinese invented GO, you play checkers.
Jack HawkinsWed Feb 17, 06:07:00 AM EST
DeleteI do recall our Israeli contingent boasting that the Israeli had found a new patron in China.
Look again, because money talks and the Zionist bullshit got walked.
For the first time, Israel imported more from China that it did from the United States. Statistics released on Wednesday by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics showed that Israel imported $8.1 billion in goods and services from China in 2014, compared to $7.4 billion in from the US during the year.
And Israel is likely to import – and export – more to China in the coming years, the result of the signing of an agreement between the two countries setting up an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program
Did Jack say something?
DeleteThe Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria has shifted the balance of power in the region, the Iranian Defense Minister stressed while visiting Moscow, eager to purchase billions of dollars worth of “defensive” weapons to secure its own position in the region.
ReplyDelete“Russia's presence in Syria, of course, changed the security atmosphere, [and] changed the balance of power,” Hosein Dehqan said in an interview with Rossiya 24 news channel.
Dehghan also stressed that Iran, which has “a unique position in its region” and is a “big, influential regional nation,” wants to expand military, technical and industrial ties with Moscow. Iran is also seeking Russia’s consultations on the “security of the region.”
Calling the security situation in the region and the entire world “turbulent” and characterized by a “lack of stability” with different countries playing “their own role,” especially Washington which wants to “destabilize the region,” Dehqan stressed that Iran wants to purchase “defensive” weapons from Russia.
“The most important thing is to raise the level of our security [both] qualitatively and quantitatively, so that we could insure protection against possible attacks of our enemies,” Dehqan said.
he Iranian defense chief also stressed that his country’s defense doctrine “rules out” any aggression against other countries. “We believe that improving our defense will lead to stability in the region,” he said.
With regards to arms contracts with Russia, Dehran said that Iran is seeking to improve its defense system with the “the best quality and those that can be used most efficiently.”
At the same time, the minister stressed that many countries have realized that Iran is moving toward “security arrangements" and is “not making a move," or has ever had a program aimed at developing nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Dehghan arrived in Moscow for a two-day visit to discuss defense cooperation and arms contracts with senior Russian officials. On Tuesday Dehghan met with President Vladimir Putin and also held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.
“We believe that the implementation of bilateral projects will largely depend on the effectiveness of Russia's and Iran's measures to combat international terrorism,” Shoigu said. “We seek to make Russian-Iranian cooperation in this field long-term and multidimensional. Our countries face common challenges and threats in the region, which we can only withstand together.”
ReplyDeleteDefense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday said Sunni Arab states are “frustrated and furious” at the West for a “lack of support” in dealing with Iran, and joined widespread criticism of the Western approach to Syria.
DeleteOf course Israel and its radical Islamic allies are upset that the US is not doing more to support al-Qeada taking power in Syria.
DeleteEven more interesting is that the Israeli are now taking it upon themselves to act as the spokesmen for radical Islam.
Seems that ...
Yahweh = Allah
hat tip: "O"rdure
Seems that you are distorting and lying again.
DeleteJack, a question, when you were killing civilians in Central America how much did you get paid per hit?
Trump is successfully exposing the Bush era lies about Iraq that cost trillions of dollars and ruined millions of lives
ReplyDeleteTHE NEOCONS ARE IN SHOCK AND AWE
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said last night at the Republican presidential debate when candidate Donald Trump said President George W. Bush knowingly lied us into the war in Iraq that “could be a moment where finally Republican voters say enough.”
Kristol said, “The commander-in-chief issue, which Donald Trump raised squarely last night by saying that George Bush knowingly lied us into the war in Iraq. To Republican primary — It’s one thing to say that the war was a mistake. Knowingly lied us into war in Iraq. Are Republican primary voters going to accept this? I believe Donald Trump’s candidacy was dealt — I said this before and I’ve been wrong— but I really do believe last night could be a moment where finally Republican voters say enough, enough. Trump’s interesting. He’s saying things I like. He’s sticking it to the those politicians. But finally people will focus on can and should he be president of the United States? And I think Republican primary voters will say no.”
DeleteKristol and his crew have run out their string.
The public is sick of their lie and misrepresentations.
Voting at the ballot box to "Kick the Bums Out".
Nothing will be finer than to see the oligarchy get its hat handed to it, on both sides of the aisle.
’Wonderful!’: Donald Trump celebrates after new poll shows him crushing rivals in South Carolina
ReplyDeleteDonald Trump is the clear front-runner heading into Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary.
A new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday found Trump leading in the crucial third-nominating state by a large margin.
According to the poll, 35% of likely Republican voters supported Trump. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tied for second with 18%.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) trailed in fourth with 10%, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson each captured 7% of the support.
Trump blasted out the poll results almost immediately in a Tuesday tweet.
"New PPP Poll just out — Trump up big, Cruz, Rubio and Bush down.
http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-donald-trump-leads-south-carolina-ted-cruz-marco-rubio-2016-2
The people know who owns Washington, The Media, Special interests, Lobbyists and the Washington War Party establishment.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSodaStream, alone in the fight against BDS
SodaStream arrived in Israel in 1978, and in 2006 it was purchased from its British owners for $6 million with the aid of a private fund owned by Yuval Cohen. After the deal was made, Cohen asked Daniel Birnbaum, then Nike Israel's CEO, to manage the company and revolutionize it. The product got rebranded into an eco-friendly product that is healthy for its drinker and the environment, unlike other soft drinks.
In 2010, under the management of Birnbaum, who bubbly and energetic, not unlike the product itself, the Israeli company went public on Nasdaq and was valued at $335 million. In 2011, the Israeli product was marketed worldwide, jumping from 13 to 42 countries with ten million customers and a market value that reached $1 billion. Most of the production was done in the industrial zone of Mishor Adumim that is east of Jerusalem, at a factory previously used by the Israel Military Industries to manufacture fuses for shells. "They will beat their swords into plowshares" was the motto that Birnbaum adopted.
...
When Birnbaum is asked to estimate the financial damage caused to the company because of BDS, he says: "It is difficult to determine its direct effect. Obviously BDS does a lot of damage. The BDS activists claim credit for the recent drop in our sales, especially in the United States; the sharp decline in our stock from $75 to $20; and finally for our decision to move our main factory from the West Bank to the Negev, even though it is part of the reorganization of the company. We do not believe BDS had a material effect on our business performance. However, BDS was a constant nuisance that required our attention. Our reputation as individuals and as a company was hurt, and of course there were customers who decided not to buy our products because of their propaganda."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4766549,00.html
Now the stock does not sell at $20, but at $12.
The BDS Movement has scored a win, wonder which Israeli company will be targeted next?
DeleteNot $20, not $12, but $13.40, as of 16FEB2016 @ 4:00pm EST
Glad to see you are still following SodaStream...
DeletePurchased for 6 million it's now doing almost 1 billion in sales and making over 110 MILLION in profit each year....
The latest company that has made a place in the list of Zacks value stocks is SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA). Value stocks investors look for stocks that are assumed trading at lower price levels as compared to company’s fundamentals. Such stocks are identified by calculating the price to book ratio or price to earnings ratio. If these ratios are low of a company, it indicates there is an opportunity to invest in the stock. Value investors believe that the stock’s existing market value necessarily doesn’t indicate the company’s actual performance.
Zacks has designed a rating scale for investors. This scale has ratings starting from one and ending at five; wherein one is taken a recommendation to invest in the stock. SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA) has a rating of 2.75 on its stock. The rating highlights the view of 5 brokerages covering the stock.
Price Forecast
The sell-side analysts analyzing the company’s fundamentals have initiated a price target of 20.8 on the stock. For the coming period, the stock’s range is set in between $15 and $29, respectively.
Jack the issue here is simple. SodaStream?
DOING FINE, regardless of what speculators thinks..
The actual company, now has shed over 500 jobs to fakistinians and has moved into new and tech savvy manufacturing plant in the Negev is still employing 500 people and creating stable good income for MANY...
On the plus side?
Sodastream is a cash machine.
:)
Thanks for your continued interest.
You might want to google "Buy low, sell high" Since you are a self confessed google expert...
Following your advise ...
DeleteIt was buy high and lose your ass.
What is "Occupation"Sat Jul 19, 10:54:00 PM EDTit's a great time to buy the stock (Sodastream) Herr Rodent..
DeleteIt's undervalued. ($29.11)
LOL
you really just don't understand business..
That was then ...
This is now
October 11, 2014 by Doug Henwood for Mondoweiss
SodaStream: is BDS hitting where it hurts?
SodaStream’s stock is now 70% off its all-time high set in July 2011
Sodastream price 25DEC2014 - $21.15
Now let us review ...
"O"rdure recommends buying Sodastream on 19July 2014 at $29.11 telling us it was undervalued.
On 5FEB2016 Sodastream closed at $13.21.
A decline of $15.90 per share or 54.6% since "O"rdure told us it was 'undervalued'.
Someone really does not understand business, and it ain't Herr Rodent
President Barack Obama has said he believes Donald Trump will not become president and warned the American public to consider that his successor would have access to the nuclear codes.
ReplyDeleteMr Obama launched a scathing attack on the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in which he identified Mr Trump by name.
He said: "I continue to believe Mr Trump will not be president. And the reason is I have a lot of faith in the American people. I think they recognise being president is a serious job. It's not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it's not promotion, it's not marketing, it's hard and a lot of people count on us getting it right.
"It's not a matter of pandering and getting in the news every day. It requires being able to work with leaders around the world in a way that reflects the importance of the office, and gives people confidence that you know the facts, and you know their names, and you know where they are on a map, and you know something about their history."
Mr Obama added: "The guy who's standing where I stand has the nuclear codes with him. He can order 21-year-olds into fire.
"This is reported as entertainment but as you get closer (to the election) the reality has a way of intruding. The American people are pretty sensible and I think they'll make a sensible choice."
Mr Obama was speaking at a press conference in California after hosting a summit with Southeast Asian leaders.
He also attacked the Republican Party saying foreign observers were "troubled" by the rhetoric of its candidates.
He said: "This is not just Mr. Trump. Everyone's focusing on Trump because he says it in a more interesting way. He may up the ante in anti-Muslim sentiment, but if you look at what the other Republican candidates have said, that's pretty troubling, too. They're all denying climate change and that's troubling to the scientific community."
Mr Trump responded: "This man has done such a bad job and set us back so far. The borders are like Swiss cheese. For him to say that is actually a compliment.
"He's lucky I didn't run last time, when (Mitt) Romney ran, because he would have been a one-term president."
Mr Obama also singled out Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate, although he did not name him.
He referred to a law Mr Rubio had proposed to solve the immigration crisis, which the president himself had supported.
Mr Obama said: "Now he's running away from it as fast as he can."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/12160747/Barack-Obama-Donald-Trump-will-not-be-president.html
According to that PPP Poll, 10% of S.C. Republicans are White Supremacists, and 16% of those supporting Trump are.
ReplyDeleteTrump is just David Duke in a nicer suit.
So, 1.6% of SC Republicans are white supremacists that support Trump
DeleteThat means that the 33.4% of the SC Republicans that support Trump are not white supremacists.
And that 84% of the white supremacist Republicans support someone other than Trump, or are undecided.
I would say your comparison of Trump to David Duke is off the mark, just by analyzing the lack of support that Trump has from the white supremacist portion of SC Republicans.
Oh, perhaps I misread your remark.
DeleteYou are saying that it is not 16% of the 10%, but half of the 35% of the SC Republicans.
Well, that's South Carolina, in a nut shell.
A whole bunch of Boobies
Umm, let me have another cup of coffee, and then look at this again. :)
Delete
Delete... or is it 16% of Trump's 35% ...
Which would make it 5 or 6% of SC Republicans are white supremacists that support Trump, or about half of the 10% of SC Republicans that are WS.
That makes the most sense, and still would not justify the comparison of Trump to David Duke.
ISIS publishes names of 1065 people executed in Mosul
ReplyDelete(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – On Tuesday the so-called Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the names of more than 1,000 people who were executed in Mosul.
al-Hashed al-Watani spokesman in Mosul Mahmoud al-Surja said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today, ISIS published the names of people who were executed by ISIS members in Mosul,” pointing out that, “The number of the executed people reached 1065, and they had been arrested previously during ISIS control on Mosul.”
Al-Surja added, “ISIS pasted those lists on the walls of the forensic medicine department and hospitals in the province.”
Iraqinews
ReplyDeleteWashington Post
The Latest: Turkey vows not to halt shelling of Syrian Kurds
Washington Post -
DAMASCUS, Syria - ... Turkey's president responded angrily to calls for his country to halt its cross-border shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria, saying Ankara “has no such plans ...
DeleteWe have to realize that the US has declared the PKK a terrorist organization, and the YPG is an affiliate of the PKK.
Yep, the Kurds and Hezbollah, the primary militias fighting the Islamic State, have been designatd by the US to be terrorist organizations.
So, our NATO ally and Israel are confused by the US not supporting the Islamic State and al-Qeada taking power in Syria, as they do.
It has "Counterfeit Bob" in a quandary, as well
And yet you support Hamas and Hezbollah....
DeleteSO you are a terrorist supporter..
Are you still on the "No Fly List"?
I notice when confronted with absolute truth you just skip the charges or post a some form of smily face....
Jack, why did you stalk Chocolate Emporium for 3 years?
Jack, why did I call the AZ FBI on you?
Jack, why did you brag about having a "source" inside the AZ FBI and claimed to have read MY FILE on an ongoing international weapon investigation???
Jack, if true, did you not release classified information on an ongoing investigation by the FBI and risk the job of your "source"? Oh yeah you said you didn't care...
But it's an actual crime...
:)
One day Jack you claim that I am a team from Israel, you tell us of ghosted IP addresses
DeleteThen you tell us all that you agree that I am "Pork Rinds for Allah" and continue to post your distorting "Yahweh = Allah" nonsense..
Then you go and SEARCH back 6 years for a prediction I said to prove I was wrong..
Jack you are insane.
Seriously,
insane.
No, I just took one of the many posts you have made, and then used it to invalidate your current claims.
DeleteThere are many such posts, more than a few of them having to do with your lack of business acumen.
Others relating to your lack of strategic thinking and dismal grasp of military affairs.
We only have to go back a week to find your confusion with regards the relationship between Yahweh and Allah.
Your claim that they are synonymous, one of the mot interesting you have ever made.
DeleteAs for the SEARCH, that was not required.
While perusing the archives that one just jumped out at me.
It is rather entertaining, skimming through those archives.
Yes please waste whatever is left of your life reading over the posts from 2008.
DeleteIt is fitting.
REUTERS ROLLING: TRUMP 40.8%, CRUZ 16.9%, CARSON 11.5%... MORE.....DRUDGE
ReplyDeleteI put this up because it shows my guy Ben hanging in there, will most other polls don't. If being clobbered 4 to 1 can be said to be hanging in there.
When will Jeb! drop out ?
I see General 'Mirage' rat has been blabbing all over the screen again this morning.
ReplyDeleteThe General was tagged with the moniker 'Mirage' when he kept predicting victories that never happened.
One of his most infamous predictions was that all of Iraq would be ISIS free by Memorial Day, 2015.
It was a real laugher.
He kept arguing that some 'rat doctrine' would save the day.
Didn't happen.
He doesn't like the subject brought up, for the obvious reason it shows him to be an idiot, as if we didn't know, but it makes him feel bad.
So I'll get off the subject and see what is going on over at Fox News.
Only the blind would not see that the Assad regime and the Iraqis have, with close air support provided by the US and Russia, without significant ground troops in the fight are decimating the Islamic State.
DeleteSorry "Counterfeit Bob" but your side is losing.
The Assad regime and its supportive militias, made up of the Kurds and Lebanese fighters are kicking the Islamic State and its Israeli 'conflict oil' financiers ass.
In Iraq, the Islamic State is falling back, thrown out of Ramadi and losing its grip on Fallujah and Mosul.
The coordinated airstrikes are making all the difference.
DeleteAnd the coordination of those air strikes with the local forces on the ground is the essence of the Rat Doctrine and, like it or not, "Counterfeit Bob" it is working.
.
ReplyDeleteCurrent Democratic Delegates
Needed to win nomination: 2,382
Hillary Clinton: 394 Bernie
Sanders: 44
Not yet allocated: 4,325
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-delegate-tracker/?cmpid=yhoo.headline
Please spare me the bullshit about the Dems being less corrupt than the GOP. They are all dicks. In foreign policy there is little difference. In domestic policy the Dems simply talk a better game than the GOP.
.
ReplyDeleteIsraeli officials lobby Facebook to remove pages it says incite violence against Israelis, and there has been talk of advancing legislation to restrict Facebook in Israel.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/covertly-israel-prepares-to-fight-boycott-activists-online/2016/02/17/bd3c9198-d579-11e5-a65b-587e721fb231_story.html
Violence defined by Israel includes calls not buy Israeli goods.
They are afraid of words and thoughts;
words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home
— all the more powerful because forbidden — terrify them.
A little mouse of thought appears in the room,
and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.
They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words;
they are afraid of the workings of the human mind.
- Winston Churchill
Winston did not like the Nazis, nor would he like you, BDS or Hamas.
Delete:)
DeleteWinston did not like fascists, who count the Likud among their numbers.
Once again you lie and distort.
DeleteTypical.
Tick tock goes your life countdown to your passing
No wife or even any children that give a dam about you...
I suggest you waste some more time pouring over your past writings of years gone by...
DeleteApartheid, censorship of the press, separate and unequal citizenship and lack thereof, book burning, all hallmarks of fascists, all celebrated in Israel.
VOTERS SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH KEPT AMERICANS SAFE - Morning Consult “In our new national poll, 34 percent of respondents said [President George W.] Bush’s policies kept us safer, while 35 percent said he kept us less safe. Twenty percent of voters said they didn’t think his policies made any impact….And along partisan lines, 57 percent of Republicans said Bush kept us safer, compared to only 19 percent of Democrats. Independents were split on the question: 30 percent said Bush’s policies kept us safe and 32 percent said we were less safe because of them.
ReplyDeletebut, boy, did he create a "security apparatus"! No doubt about that!
Deletegalopn2Tue Feb 16, 11:13:00 PM EST
ReplyDelete"I'm not dodging the question; I think ISIS is a serious danger to the United States, and I've said for some time that we will have to kill them."
Your reasoning has not been coherent. You make the simplistic statement "We must kill ISIS" yet you then say that Syria doesn't matter. ISIS is present in Syria, to put it mildly. You also claim that Obama says they must be killed, which I think is a mistaken interpretation of what he has said. In any case, in order to "kill ISIS" it can't be done simply by flinging bombs from the sky. Troops need be on the ground. If it is imperative that ISIS be killed then it will most likely require US troops on the ground as the bombing campaign alone won't do it and, to date, our 'allies' in the fight have failed to "kill ISIS". In addition I have seen little from you as to how ISIS is a mortal threat to the US. You have claimed that since they killed a US reporter the US must go to war - an absurd claim.
I think that your desire to treat ISIS in Iraq as something fundamentally different than ISIS in Syria demonstrates your lack of understanding of the complexities in the region and the relative insignificance of some of the borders drawn by foreign powers in the region. This thinking that you display mirrors the simplicity of your past notion that ISIS was '25k headcutters running about in pickup trucks that will be easily dispatched' by that absurd date you used to tout.
With respect to Canadian involvement in the fight against ISIS your understanding of it seems to be gleaned from scanning a few headline. While Canada appears to be about to withdraw the use of its' 6 fighter jets it is increasing the forces on the ground.
Syria, itself, is of no consequence. The ISIS fighters in Syria must, of course, be killed. And, they are being killed.
DeleteIn Iraq, meanwhile, the government is doing the job (with the help of our air power) quite nicely.
I don't know why you want those people to live, but that's your business. It looks, to me, to be safe to say that they're not going to live, but are very much on their way to extinction.
If that hurts your wittle Canadian feelings, tough titties; better luck with your next hand.
I don't want them to 'live'. I also don't want Boko Harum and many other groups to 'live'. I also don't think that the US is well served by flinging bombs from the comfort of the sky has much utility in thwarting groups like these and can possibly serve to strengthen them.
DeleteYes, but on Military matters you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground.
Deleteriiiight, mr. arm-chair general SIR! You have certainly displayed the extent of your knowledge.
Deletep.s. - the US military can't solve the problem that is ISIS.
DeleteSimilarly, the IDF can't solve the problem that is Hamas, militarily
DeleteBut the US military can assist local forces that can solve the problem of the Islamic State, Ash.
DeleteJust as the Russian military is assisting the Syrian government in solving the problem of internationally sponsored terrorists in Syria.
Yes, I think you are right in that local forces are the key. One of the big problems In that region, though, is that the local forces are many and varied, as is well documented here, and that finding a coalition with the will and power to rule to our liking is, to put it mildly, difficult.
DeleteAsh, the IDF can, but is not as cutthroat as you claim..
DeleteIf they were?
There would be not issue.
"no issue"
DeleteRussia, Iran, Syria, America and Hezbollah are responsible for killing almost 400k civilians.
The experts vary as to the actual number of ISIS/Isil members but I have heard numbers of 20 thousand to 40 thousand.
If Israel had the same numbers of kills in Gaza?
There would be no Hamas.
In the last gaza war? 2200 gazans were killed.
Israel says about 1/2 were terrorists, Palestinians aka Hamas says 2/3 were civilians.
Either way...
2200 dead verses 400,000 dead in syria..
LOL
ISIS beheads boy accused of having obscene pictures on his cell phone
ReplyDelete(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – An informed source in Nineveh Province announced on Tuesday, that the so-called ISIS beheaded a boy east of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad) on charges of having obscene pictures and songs on his cell phone.
The source said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, ISIS slaughtered a boy named Ayham with a knife in Nabi Younis area east of Mosul, on charges of having obscene pictures and songs on his cell phone.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “The execution was carried out after arresting the boy 20 days ago in Nabi Yunis market,” noting that, “ISIS members delivered the child’s body to his family with his head separated from his body.”
Iraqinews
gee, are you going to start acting even more like Bob and put up regular posts reminding us of bad acts? Hey, AM Thinker just might be the source for you.
DeleteWhy don't you just quit reading my posts?
DeleteI promise you, my feelings won't be hurt.
Strikes in Syria
ReplyDeleteAttack, ground-attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Syria:
-- Near Hasakah, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles, four ISIL buildings and an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Hawl, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL buildings and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, two strikes cratered a road ISIL uses.
Strikes in Iraq
Fighter, attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL mortar system.
-- Near Mosul, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units, destroying an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL supply cache and suppressing an ISIL mortar position.
-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL beddown locations, an ISIL command and control node, two ISIL-used bridges, and an ISIL vehicle-bomb facility.
-- Near Sinjar, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed five ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.
-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed an ISIL tunnel.
How many civilians did we kill?
DeleteI guess we don't care as long as it's US doing the killing...
DeleteZero civilians killed.
DeleteWe don't kill civilians.
We just cook the books.....see post below.
LOL
DeleteLibya’s Western-backed popular uprising officially began on February 17, 2011, resulting in the toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
ReplyDeleteSince then, the oil-rich nation has been plunged into political chaos amid the growing threat of Islamic State.
The uprising proved to be a pre-cursor to NATO-led intervention in Libya, which would eventually result in the brutal killing of Gaddafi.
The outpouring of adulation and messages of support to the opposition forces from Western world leaders spoke of a ‘bright’ new dawn for Libya after Gaddafi’s toppling.
“People in Britain salute your courage, and while we are proud of the role we played to help, we know this was your revolution from your bravery from people in Benghazi, from people in Tripoli … You showed the world you would get rid of a dictator and choose freedom,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a 2011 visit to Benghazi.
However, five years on from the start of the uprising, Libya is in a markedly worse position. Its oil revenues have halved, while it is also facing a growing threat from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which is looking to capitalize on the lack of political stability and political infighting.
February 17, 2016
ReplyDeleteIntel on ISIS being cooked by analysts' superiors to make Obama look good
By Rick Moran
More evidence of cooked intelligence reports coming out of U.S. Central Command headquarters. Last September, the Daily Beast reported that 50 intelligence analysts were having their reports on ISIS altered or deleted by superiors in order to make President Obama's statements of progress against the terrorists match up with the product being delivered by CENTCOM intelligence.
Now there's more evidence that the practice hasn't stopped.
Daily Caller:
This complaint to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is distinct from previous reports of over 50 analysts blowing the whistle to the Department of Defense inspector general regarding similar concerns, The Daily Beast reports.
Analysts from CENTCOM believe the report manipulation is purely for political reasons. The Obama administration has made confident proclamations of its success against ISIS, and high-level intelligence officials have seemingly felt pressure for their final reports to reflect those statements to avoid embarrassment. Government regulations prohibit the modification of intelligence reports to support political agendas. But given two separate sets of allegations, officials who receive CENTCOM reports, according to The Daily Beast, are taking extra time to parse through the reports to see if they can separate genuine from massaged information.
The claims of manipulation arose out of a series of surveys conducted by the ODNI. Military analysts reported superiors skewed data on the success of the anti-ISIS coalition and also added that officials went out of their way to delete emails which showed manipulation.
Apparently, ODNI didn’t see fit to investigate the claims listed in the survey responses because the IG was already conducting an investigation into similar allegations. Whether the survey responses led to any change in practice is unclear.
These are serious allegations and raise the question why local commanders would alter intelligence reports – even if it was to please superiors in Washington trying to curry favor with the president. There doesn't appear to be much incentive for CENTCOM commanders to cook intel from their analysts on their own. It suggests that orders to do so came from Washington.
This is just more evidence that Obama is not serious about engaging ISIS and has been conducting a sham war to fool the American people that he's doing something about the problem.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/02/intel_on_isis_being_cooked_by_analysts_superiors_to_make_obama_look_good.html#ixzz40ScrRshX
Looks like we may not have been hitting nearly as many 'bed down locations' as we've been letting on...
No one wants to embarrass The O'bozo, cause you can get demoted if you do that.
DeleteBut I think whoever has been including those strikes on 'bed down locations' and attacks on 'inoperable vehicles' has been trying desperately to send a subliminal message.
One would need do be dumb as Rufus to take those reports seriously, a high hurdle to jump.
I will translate the message being sent:
We are just fucking around
Ranch owner 'clarifies' how he found Scalia's body...
ReplyDeleteJudge violated law?
Death Investigator: Probe 'Very Troubling to Me'...
Obama to skip funeral...
'Regrets' his filibuster of SCOTUS nominee...Drudge
If Scalia gets planted without an autopsy, then even more shame, shame, shame.
I'd think some of his many children would be demanding one.
Not to mention his wife.
O'bozo to skip funeral.
DeleteProbably has a meeting with some CAIR guys.
DeleteHis wife didn't want an autopsy, "Counterfeit Bob", you ought to read more.
Stalker Dead Beat Dad, she should have had one done to put the minds of the American people at ease, is the point, you dumbshit.
DeleteHigh profile guy, in a sensitive position, at a sensitive time.....conspiracy theory situation.
I'm a little surprised you haven't latched onto it, desert rat's ass.
ole Bob thinks the State should over-rule the wishes of the family.
Delete
DeleteHe's always been a fascist.
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
ReplyDeleteAre Paychecks Picking Up the Pace?
From the minutes of the January 26–27 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, it's clear that many participants saw tightening labor market conditions during 2015:
In their comments on labor market conditions, participants cited strong employment gains, low levels of unemployment in their Districts, reports of shortages of workers in various industries, or firming in wage increases.
Based on the Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker (WGT), the median annual growth in hourly wage and salary earnings of continuously employed workers in 2015 was 3.1 percent—up from 2.5 percent in 2014 and 2.2 percent in 2013. That is, the typical wage growth of workers employed for at least 12 months appears to be trending higher.
However, wage growth by job type varies considerably. For example, the WGT for part-time workers has been unusually low since 2010. The following chart displays the WGT for workers currently employed in part-time and full-time jobs.
For those in part-time jobs, the WGT was 1.9 percent in 2015, versus 3.3 percent for those in full-time jobs. The part-time/full-time wage growth gap has closed somewhat in the last couple of years but is still large relative to its size before the Great Recession.
Note that full-time WGT is similar to the overall WGT because most workers captured in the WGT data work full-time (81 percent in 2015).
{very nice simple chart}
In addition to hours worked, median wage growth also tends to vary across occupation. The following chart plots the WGT for workers in low-skill jobs, versus those in mid- and high-skill jobs. (We define low-skill jobs as those in occupations related to food preparation and serving; building and grounds cleaning; and maintenance, protection, and personal care services.)
DeleteNotably, after lagging during most of the recovery, median wage growth in low-skill occupations increased 2.8 percent in 2015, versus 2.0 percent in 2014 and compared to 3.2 and 2.7 percent for other occupations in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
The improvement in wage growth for low-skill occupations seems mostly attributable to full-time workers; wage growth for people in low-skill jobs working part-time was about half that (1.6 percent versus 3.0 percent) of those working full-time (see the chart).
{another very nice, simple chart}
This pickup in low-skill wage growth fits with some anecdotal reports we've been hearing. Some of our contacts in the Southeast have reported increasing wage pressure for workers in lower-skill occupations within their businesses. One can also see evidence of growing tightness in the market for low-skill jobs in the help-wanted data. As the following chart shows, the ratio of unemployed to online job postings for low-skill jobs is always higher than for middle- and high-skill occupations. But the ratio for low-skill jobs is now well below its prerecession level, and the tightness has increased during the last two years.
Delete{and, even another very nice, simple chart}
The take-away? Wage growth for continuously employed workers appears to have picked up some steam in 2015, and the recent trend in wage growth is positive across a variety of job characteristics. Wage growth for people in lower-skill jobs has increased during the last couple of years, consistent with evidence of increasing tightness in the market for those types of jobs. The largest discrepancy in wage growth appears . . . . . . .
DeleteMacroblog -
Atlanta Fed
Here's an article worth reading though it doesn't really get into how O'bozo aborted the whole dream, which can and will be argued about until this generation passes away -
ReplyDeleteAmerica's unlearned lesson: the forgotten truth about why we invaded Iraq
by Max Fisher on February 16, 2016
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/16/11022104/iraq-war-neoconservatives
Guevara said she asked the marshals whether there were "any signs of foul play. And they said, 'Absolutely not,' " she told the station. After talking with Scalia's personal physician, she said, she pronounced him dead and declined to order an inquest.
ReplyDeleteScalia's body was taken to the Sunset Funeral Home by a procession of about 20 law enforcement officers. It arrived there about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Lujan. The funeral home is about 3 1/2 hours from the ranch where Scalia died.
Lujan said that Scalia's family did not request an autopsy and that the body is being prepared for the funeral and will be transported back to Washington on Monday. It is under guard by six law enforcement officials, including U.S. marshals and Texas state troopers, Lujan said.
... prepared for the funeral, blood drained and embalming fluid added, there will be no autopsy.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/antonin_scalia_is_said_to_have.html
DeleteThe Fix
ReplyDeleteWhy those conspiracy theories about Antonin Scalia’s death don’t add up
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/17/why-those-conspiracy-theories-about-antonin-scalias-death-dont-add-up/
An autopsy would have 'laid the conspiracy theories to rest'.
That is why one should have been done.
Now people will conspire about a conspiracy to avoid an autopsy....
Machete Jihad in Ohio
ReplyDeleteHow the police and media have whitewashed the truth about the Columbus attack.
February 17, 2016
Robert Spencer
Last Thursday there was yet another jihad terror attack on American soil: a Muslim named Mohammad Barry entered the Nazareth Restaurant & Deli in Columbus, Ohio, screamed “Allahu akbar” and began slashing at patrons with a machete. Immediately, the denial and obfuscation machine cranked into high gear. Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner said: “Right now there’s nothing that leads us to believe that this is anything but a random attack.” The Washington Post wondered: “Random act or Islamist terrorism?”
It’s actually abundantly clear that this was not a random attack, but an incidence of “Islamist terrorism,” and not just because Barry screamed “Allahu akbar” (which was not reported in mainstream media accounts about the attack). Barry was on the FBI’s radar for his jihadi views, although they dropped any investigation of him back in 2012 (why?). An initial report said that Barry “walked into the restaurant, had a conversation with an employee and then left,” only to return later with his machete. The owner of the restaurant, Hany Baransi, explained what the conversation was about: Barry “came in and asked where I was from.” An employee of the restaurant (Baransi was not in the restaurant at the time) told him that Baransi was from Israel.
Hany Baransi is indeed a Christian from Israel. A large Israel flag along with an American flag greets restaurant patrons at its entrance. “I am a very outspoken Israeli,” said Baransi, “and I have an Israeli flag in my restaurant. When people [from the Arab community] ask me where I am from, I tell them I am Israeli, I am an Israeli Christian Arab, it’s not like I am Palestinian, and then they start arguing and fighting with me.”
To sum up: a Muslim who was known to the FBI as having jihadi sentiments entered a restaurant owned by a proud and outspoken Israeli and prominently displaying an Israeli flag. He asked where the owner was from and then, having found out, left the restaurant and returned with a machete, which he used to slash patrons after screaming “Allahu akbar.” Yes, that’s a real head-scratcher. There is just no telling what could be going on here. Never mind that there is a global jihad being waged by Muslim groups all over the world who hate Israel, hate Christians, and tend to scream “Allahu akbar” as they commit murder. Sgt. Rich Weiner is determined not to recognize that. The Washington Post is determined not to recognize that. So to them, this can be nothing but a random act.
DeleteHany Baransi knows better: “Is it a random attack? Yes, but it wasn’t a random attack like you’re walking in the street and there are 10 shops and you pick one,” he said. “It was a random attack [insofar] that I was one of the Israelis [picked] between all of the Israelis that are around here. It was a terrorist attack.”
The law enforcement and media refusal to face this obvious reality is entirely unsurprising: after every jihad terror attack now, it seems as if the first priority of the media and every official who says a thing about it is to make sure that no one gets a negative view of Islam because of the attack. It must be very nice for Islam to have so many eager PR agents, but it does create a problem for the rest of us: what if a jihad terror attack really does have something to do with Islam? What if the fact that Mohammad Barry screamed “Allahu akbar” is entirely relevant to the case as a revelation of his motives and goals? And aren’t those motives and goals useful to know so that authorities can take realistic steps to prevent this kind of thing from happening again?
I have said all this before and will no doubt say it again, unless the jihad gets around to me first. It is worthwhile to keep repeating it, but both law enforcement officials and the mainstream media appear to be absolutely unshakeable in their resolve to ignore, deny and obfuscate the true root causes of Islamic jihad.
And so we are on our own. Hany Baransi shows us the attitude we should have in such a situation: “Actually I have another flag, and I am going to get a bigger flag, and I am going to get a Star of David necklace and put it on my chest, and I am going to get a tattoo. Honest to God, I am not kidding. They don’t scare me. We are Israelis. We are Israelis. We are resilient, we fight back.”
This is what we need: defiance and courage in the face of evil. Instead, the whole West is surrendering, and calling their surrender “respect.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261850/machete-jihad-ohio-robert-spencer
.
ReplyDeleteContinuing F-35 Problems
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programs the most expensive military program in the world, is even more broken than previously thought. The jet can’t tell old parts from new ones, randomly prevents user logins into the logistics information system, and trying to eject out of it will likely result in serious neck injury and maybe death. A Pentagon office is warning that the plane is being rushed into service.
The Pentagon’s office of testing and evaluation on Monday released a report detailing major problems, or “deficiencies” with the aircraft. The report follows the release of a December memo by Michael Gilmore, the Department of Defense’s director for Operational Test and Evaluation, or OT&E. The report goes on to question the logic of pushing other governments to purchase large blocks of the aircraft until the issues are fixed.
The Air Force is currently scheduled to announce their version of the plane is ready to begin flying, known as “initial operating capability,” in August or December at the latest. That follows the Marines declaring their version flight ready last summer. After that, the next F-35 milestone is the initial operational test & evaluation phase, scheduled for 2017, in which program watchers test of the plane is operationally capable but also effective. That 2017 projection is unrealistic unless the Air Force takes some serious shortcuts in testing, according to the new report.
So what’s wrong with the F-35? Below are some of the report’s key findings...
tp://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/02/f-35s-terrifying-bug-list/125638/?oref=d-dontmiss
.
ad an 'ht' to the front of the web address, so it reads
Deletehttp://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/02/f-35s-terrifying-bug-list/125638/?oref=d-dontmiss
I swiped it and got it just fine.
DeleteAnd that should be 'add' not 'ad', dumb-bo, since you are in the busyness of telling others what to do.
Delete
DeleteThere you go, "Counterfeit Bob", if you signed in we might believe your tripe about your computer capabilities, but as it is, no one does.
You remain functionally illiterate in the 21st century
The F-35 has three main models: the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant, the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant, and the F-35C carrier-based Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) variant.
ReplyDeletewiki
Too many variants.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe variants are what makes it palatable to all the services, "Counterfeit Bob".
DeleteOtherwise they'd have stuck with the Harrier for the Marine's STOVL requirements, the F18 for the Navy CATOBAR missions and the F16 for the CTOL for the Air Force mission requirements.
But the MIC wanted to build new planes ...
.
DeleteThe variants are what makes it palatable to all the services, "countrfeit Bob".
And saved the program all that money.
For rat, sarcasm off.
:ol
.
DeleteThe A-10 Warthog will remain the better Close Air Support platform.
DeleteThe F35 is a horse designed by a committee, in other words, it's a camel
Will not do any of the tasks required better than the purpose built aircraft already in service.
The avionics on the current fleet could have been upgraded.
.
DeleteAfter the report came out Monday, Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, of the F-35 program executive office, issued a statement to cast the report’s findings in a rather more flattering light. “Once again, the annual DOT&E report points out the progress being made by the program,” the statement read, as though responding to a different report altogether. “This includes the U.S. Marine Corps declaring Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in July 2015. The USMC declared IOC with Block 2B software because it provides increased initial warfighting capability. Marine F-35s have the necessary weapons to conduct close air support, air interdiction and limited suppression/destruction of enemy air defense missions.”
That means that the $90 to $180 million Joint Strike Fighter shares many—if not necessarily all—of the same close air support capabilities as the $18.8 million A-10...
It was the Marine Corp's STOVL requirement for their version that lead to to many of shortcomings of the F-35, design compromises, performance, costs, and delays.
.
Ahhh, we heard it all with the F-22. So, when we first went into Syria, what plane led? Why, the F-22, of course.
ReplyDeleteAir Supremacy in the 21st Century means, having stealth. Period.
DeleteCancelled that F22 project first day Mr Obama was in office.
If the plane won't function to combat specs, how 'stealthy' it is matters not at all
DeleteAnd many, if not most, of the missions that the F35 is tasked for are not air supremacy.
DeleteIf the plane (F35) won't function to combat specs, how 'stealthy' it is matters not at all
DeleteAnd using the F22 n Syria, that's just 'eye wash'
Otherwise the plane would be just what Mr Gates said it was ...
not relevant in post-Cold War conflicts such as in Iraq and Afghanistan
It was probably insurance in case Syria got stupid, and turned on the anti-aircraft radar.
DeleteOr, in case some local hero decided to fire up his Mig and go fight a war.
Of course, you're right, we don't need F-22's to kill Taliban, or ISIS, but what plane is stationed in Alaska, first to meet the marauding Russkies? Yep.
The thing is, we don't need an ICBM Defense System, Nuclear Submarines, or B-2 Bombers to protect ourselves from ISIS or the Taliban, either.
DeleteBut, if the Russians, Chinese, or N. Koreans was to think about getting frisky, we don't want antiquated stuff on the front lines.
Btw, did you know that we're building a new long-range, stealthy bomber?
The Russians are coming in the old turbo-prop Tu-95s ...
DeleteThey have at most 35 of the 1981 model Tu-160 most of which are grounded ...
Russian media reports in August 2011 claimed that only four of the VVS' sixteen Tu-160 were flight worthy.[15] By mid-2012 Flight reported eleven were combat-ready[4] and between 2011 and 2013 eleven were photographed in flight
There were two assigned to bomb Syria, an interesting story ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/12009123/Russian-bombers-fly-around-Europe-to-strike-Syria-in-8000-mile-show-of-strength.html
DeleteThe F16, F15 or F18 would cut 'em to pieces
These over flew Iran, on the way to Syria ...
DeleteThe Russian Defense Ministry on Friday released multiple videos showing Moscow’s continued air and sea operations against targets in Syria.
In one of the videos, Iranian F-14 fighter jets appear to escort Russia’s long-range bombers as they fly toward Syria to strike areas held by the Islamic State, the terror group that claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and killing all 224 people aboard at the end of October.
The video purports to show “combat sorties of the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force against terrorists in Syria,” according to its the caption.
Boris Zilberman, an expert on Russia and the Middle East at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the video points to continued military cooperation between Russia and Iran and also suggests that Russia may be launching cruise missiles into Syria from Iranian airspace.
“That portion of the video was very likely taken over Iranian airspace,” Zilberman told the Washington Free Beacon, pointing to the portion of the video showing Iranian fighter jets escorting the Russian bombers. “And it begs the question of whether Russia is firing cruise missiles into Syria from Iranian airspace. Either way, this shows again continued Russian-Iranian military cooperation.”
A second video published Friday by the Russian Defense Ministry showcases the air operations of another long-range bomber.
“Strategic missile-carrying aircraft performed air-to-air refuelling in the course of the combat sorties with cruise missiles,” the caption to the video reads.
According to Zilberman, the videos indicate that Russia is “showing off its military capabilities and enhancing its readiness to conduct such operations.” Another video published Friday captures a “massive strike with cruise missiles” fired by Russian ships from the Caspian Sea. The missiles purportedly hit targets in Raqqa, Idlib, and Aleppo in Syria.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/video-iranian-fighter-jets-escort-russian-long-range-bombers-to-syria/
Israel i fighting along side the Islamic State and Turkey against the Kurds, Hezbollah and the Syrian Army
ReplyDeleteReport: Israel Strikes Syrian Army Outposts Near Damascus
Three Israeli rockets hit military outposts south of Damascus, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Pro-Assad source, Hezbollah TV deny report.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.703990
If the reports are true, then Israel is now an active supporter of the Islamic State.
Tell us "Counterfeit Bob", does that make Israel repugnant, to you?
That they are now actively engaged in providing combat support to the Islamic State and radical Islamic terrorists?
If the reports are true Israel is backing those Islamic 'clit clippers' with combat force.
If they are not true, then you have to be a Hezbollah believer.
Yahweh = Allah
hat tip: "Ordure.
Jack "the self confessed supporter of Hamas" Hawkins....
DeleteYou are an either or kinda guy.
Mr Checkers so to speak...
Israel is fighting for itself. It BORDERS on Syria. It's not fighting along side ISIS.
But once again it shows your hatred of Israel.
Jack, are you proud of Syria's Assad, Hezbollah and Iran for it's slaughter to close to 400,000 Syrian citizens (and palestinians that live there without equal rights)?
Mr Checkers, I forgot to ask, why is it not possible to hate both sides?
Delete
DeleteIt's not a matter of hate, "O"rdure.
It is a matter of US national interest.
Hate has nothing at all to do with it.
Only fools hate, but that does describe you, to a T
You really can't comprehend English can you?
Deletethe question was about Israel hating both sides...
try again retard.
Apple vs The Feds
ReplyDeleteheh
Sounds like a hell of a phone.
Certainly a hell of a situation.
If you take the red line (Nominal Household Income) from this chart:
ReplyDeleteMedian Household Income
and deflate it with this line:
Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index
You will see that what I said the other day is true.
Median Household Income adjusted by the PCE Index is at an All-Time High.
You're Welcome.
.
DeleteI didn't get what you were trying to say the other day and I still don't.
.
It's a fancy way of saying people are spending less.
DeleteNo Sam, it has nothing to do with how much they're spending. It has to do with their level of income, adjusted for inflation, compared to all other days, months, years . . in the past.
DeleteFamily Income, today, adjusted for inflation, is Higher than at any time in History.
I bring this up because all of the politicians continue to get this wrong.
DeleteWell, shit. :)
DeleteCracks Emerge In GOP Strategy On Supreme Court Nominees
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON -- GOP senators are straying from their party's line on a potential Supreme Court nominee, saying they would welcome the chance to vote on a candidate put forward by President Barack Obama.
They're small, but significant, departures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has warned Obama not to even think about putting forward a name to replace the late Antonin Scalia because the chamber won't act on it.
"The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice," McConnell said Saturday. "Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President."
But since then, GOP senators have indicated a willingness to move forward on a nominee -- even if it's not their ideal outcome. (Their preference would be to wait until after the election to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, in hopes that a Republican will win the White House.)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Wednesday if Obama nominates someone, she will give that person her "full attention."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the nominee should, at the least, get a fair hearing.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) put out a statement Wednesday saying, "The chances of approving a new nominee are slim, but Nevadans should have a voice in the process.
Delete"That’s why I encourage the President to use this opportunity to put the will of the people ahead of advancing a liberal agenda on the nation’s highest court. But should he decide to nominate someone to the Supreme Court, who knows, maybe it’ll be a Nevadan," he added.
His spokesman later clarified, however, that Heller was not indicating a willingness to vote on a nominee, despite the way his comment was initially interpreted.
"I think we fall into the trap, if we just simply say [no], sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionist," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in a radio interview Tuesday.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the most vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in 2016, also indicated a willingness to vote on a nominee Tuesday after taking a harder line days earlier.
Democrats don't have a ton of leverage. After all, Republicans still control the Senate, and Obama would need to get the vote of every single Democratic senator and 14 GOP senators to get his nominee through.
Still, they've been trying to shame Republicans for their refusal to even consider a nominee, before Obama has even put forward a candidate.
"I ... think that they're going to cave in," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said during a caucus event in Reno, Nevada, Wednesday, adding he believed McConnell made a "mistake" with his initial comments. "I think the president’s going to give us a nominee that's a good one, and I think they're going to have to hold hearings and have a vote."
The fight could have consequences not only at the presidential level, but also in Senate races. Most of the at-risk GOP senators up for reelection have backed McConnell's strategy as the party fights to retain control of the chamber after 2016.
DeleteDemocrats have to defend only 10 seats in 2016, the residual benefit of the shellacking they took in 2010 when tea party Republicans swept into office. The two Democratic seats most at risk are in Nevada and Colorado. The GOP, meanwhile, needs to defend 24 -- and six of them are in states that Obama won twice.
Krak me up
If I were Obama, there would be in process an analysis on the most vulnerable Republican senate seats and a simultaneous hunt to find the most capable Supreme Court candidates from those same states. I would invite those same GOP senators for dinner at the WH and a chat to discuss the findings.
Delete
ReplyDeleteObama has the option, while the Senate is in recess, of naming a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday. A recess appointee would serve until the end of the current Congress in January 2017. White House officials did not dismiss the idea that the president could use the recess maneuver if the Senate fails to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination Obama has promised to send to the Senate.
“Our intent is to nominate an indisputably qualified individual to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “And our expectation is that the United States Senate will fulfill their constitutional responsibility to give that individual a fair hearing in a timely up-or-down vote.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-officials-obama-could-use-recess-appointment-to-fill-scalia-seat/2016/02/17/75b0d1be-d5b9-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html
Delete5 possible Supreme Court picks that could make Republicans squirm
Almost all such picks could make life difficult for Senate Republicans — especially in the 24 GOP seats that are up for reelection and for the eight or so vulnerable Republicans seeking another term.
Here are five potential picks that could make Republicans squirm the most — and why:
1. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch
2. Judge Sri Srinivasan
3. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
4. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah
5. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/17/5-possible-obama-supreme-court-picks-that-could-make-republicans-squirm/
He's smarter than I am, and undoubtably of higher moral fiber, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't put Loretta Lynch up there.
DeleteLet'em jack her around in an election year.
The Oren Hatch option is definitely an interesting on, he is 86, said he would do it and ...
DeleteWell, read the piece.
We all remember when desert rat argued that Iran was a 'democracy' because it had 'elections' -
ReplyDeleteNo, Iran is Not a Democracy
16 February 2016
Michael J Totten
Vox magazine just published a video on YouTube narrated by Max Fisher that supposedly explains how the next Iranian election could make history.
He starts by saying that Iran is confusing because it has “an unelected Supreme Leader at the top” and a president who is chosen in “far from perfect” elections. “So is Iran a dictatorship, or is it a democracy?” he asks before answering, “as it turns out, it’s both.”
No, it’s not. Max Fisher answered the question correctly before he answered it.
The head of state isn’t elected.
And his description of the elections as “far from perfect” is the kind of condescending euphemism that’s only ever used to describe somebody else’s problems.
Let’s leave aside the blatant vote-stealing in Iran’s 2009 presidential election, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in districts that opposed him as overwhelmingly as San Francisco opposes Dick Cheney. Never mind that disgraceful episode.
Elections in Iran are rigged even when they aren’t rigged.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hand-picks everybody who runs for president. Moderates are rejected routinely. Only the less-moderate of the moderates—the ones who won’t give Khamenei excessive heartburn if they win—are allowed to run at all. Liberal and leftist candidates are rejected categorically.
Imagine Dick Cheney as the overlord of America allowing us to choose which one of his friends will be in the co-pilot’s seat. That’s not democracy. That’s not even a fake democracy.
The Iranian system is worse, though. The president isn’t even the co-pilot.
He’s not quite a figurehead. He can tinker with a few things around the edges. But the country is run by the unelected Supreme Leader, the Guardian Council, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is officially designated as a terrorist organization.
Fisher thinks the upcoming election may be a game-changer, though, because the so-called Assembly of Experts is an elected body, it will choose the next Supreme Leader, and the current Supreme Leader acknowledges that he’s likely to die soon. Therefore, if “moderates” win the election, the next Supreme Leader will almost certainly be a moderate.
DeleteThat would be great. Really, it would. I’d pop a champagne cork. Iran would still be a dictatorship/democracy hybrid in Fisher’s formulation, but at least it would be a less extreme one. It could be like post-Maoist China, perhaps, or post-Soviet Russia. Unfree, but no longer totalitarian. It would be progress. No doubt about it.
But “moderates” in the Iranian regime aren’t moderate by any objective international definition. Everyone who gets to run in the election for the Assembly of Expert will be hand-picked by the Supreme Leader. And every single one of them will be an Islamic theologian. That’s what the Assembly of Experts is. A theocratic institution of Islamic theologians.
None of the “experts” are atheists. None of them are secularists. None of them are agnostic. None of them are liberals under any conceivable definition of the word liberal. Certainly none of them are Christians, Jews or Baha’is. They’re all Islamic theologians or they wouldn’t even be in the Assembly of Experts.
So let’s run another thought experiment here. Let’s say Christian fundamentalist Pat Robertson is the dictator-for-life in America. He’s more powerful than the White House. We get to vote for the president even though he isn’t our head of state, but Pat Robertson decides all by himself who’s on the ballot. And he chooses Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Those are our options.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio is unemployed, Hillary Clinton is under house arrest and Bernie Sanders is languishing in an orange jumpsuit at the Camp X-ray prison in Guantanamo Bay. Liberal activists who complain in the streets vanish into dungeons forever.
Meanwhile, Pat Robertson is going to die soon, so he hand-picks hundreds of Evangelical Christians that we get to vote for or against. The winner will choose who replaces him.
Does that sound even remotely like a democracy? Like a system that has authoritarian elements alongside democratic elements?
Not to me, it doesn’t. And I’d bet my bottom dollar that Max Fisher wouldn’t think so either if he had to live in such a distorted version of America. He’d call it fascist, or something similar, and he would be right.
Vox uploaded the video to Facebook as well as to YouTube, and the comments are overwhelmingly hostile. Huge numbers of Iranian grownups are chiming in and schooling the Vox kids. It's fascinating and educational—hopefully for Max Fisher as well as the rest of us.
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/no-iran-not-democracy
DeleteNo, "Counterfeit Bob" no one remembers that argument.
You had better provide the link.
I doubt if it is within your capabilities to do so, since it never happened.
Hmmm....you don't recall when I had to tell you the candidates were chosen by the higher elites ?
DeleteYour memory is shot.
Or you are choosing simply not to remember that you made a fool of yourself.
It is the latter.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered a besieged Damascus suburb on Wednesday in a major, UN-backed deal to deliver help to tens of thousands of trapped residents in several of Syria's worst-hit areas, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent source said.
ReplyDelete...
Syria's opposition says it will not negotiate with Damascus until sieges imposed by government forces and their allies have been lifted – one of many issues that led to a suspension of peace talks in Geneva this month.
...
A fighter from al-Tawhid al-Janub Brigade, part of the Southern Front rebel alliance, said the bombing of the old quarter of Deraa city, which has been in rebel hands for nearly three years and whose residents have fled since the start of the conflict, was the heaviest in more than two years. The army controls the rest of the city.
Iran is actually a type of Platonic Republic. The 'philosopher kings' ( the mullahs, The Council of Experts, The Supreme Leader) rule the roost, being kept in power by the 'Guardians' (Republican Guards) with the army supporting and defending the realm, and everybody else farming and making out down below.
ReplyDeleteThe exception is that rather than the people being given 'the gods' to worship, in Iran they are stuck with the mumbo-jumbo of Islam, promised this and that, and, in this outlook shall, one fine day, they are promised, rule the world.
Thus Iran has an aggressive stanch to the world, which as far as I recall, a Platonic Republic would not have.
The governance of Europe in the hay days of the Catholic Church bore a distinct resemblance to a Platonic Republic.
For anyone born in the USA with an understanding of our Constitution, all this Platonic Republic/ Iranian Islamic Republic stuff is total crap.
The State of Israel much more resembles our better western ways and ought therefore be supported as over against the Iranians, who, we hear, want to wipe them from the face of the earth, as they do ourselves as well.
Much depends on how seriously the Iranian 'philosopher kings' take their own clap trap.
All this of late in the middle east has reminded me lately of the famous 'Three Conjectures' from over at the Belmont Club.
Hillary has been talking 'black' again.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally, she also barks like a dog.
Next time she talks 'black' I hope Huma charcoals her up black face.
To see Hillary talking 'black', barking like a dog, in blackface......well, I'd have seen everything and could die laughing....
g'nite
.
ReplyDeleteWho Says Trump Is Not a Masterful Instinctive Politician ?
NBC News/Wall Street Journal?
Surprise: Trump Falls Behind Cruz in National NBC/WSJ Poll
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has fallen behind Ted Cruz in the national GOP horserace, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
In the poll, Cruz is the first choice of 28 percent of Republican primary voters, while Trump gets 26 percent. They're followed by Marco Rubio at 17 percent, John Kasich at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 10 percent and Jeb Bush at 4 percent...
.