COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Thursday, June 30, 2016

The Empire Strikes Back - Finally!

250 ISIS fighters reportedly killed in US-led coalition airstrikes on convoy near Fallujah (VIDEO)

ISIS convoy hit by US air strike near Fallujah, Iraq © Stahlgewitter Syrien

US defense officials claim at least 250 Islamic State fighters were killed and around 40 trucks destroyed in a series of US-led airstrikes near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was a key Islamist stronghold before being recently liberated by Iraqi forces.

US-led coalition aircraft hit about 40 vehicles in an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) convoy south of Fallujah on Wednesday, according to reports. US military officials told Reuters that the convoy was largely destroyed and at least 250 militants were killed.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, however, and warned that the preliminary estimate may change.


Combat footage that surfaced online shows dozens of completely gutted civilian trucks, minivans, and SUVs that were allegedly part of an Islamic State convoy. Some were apparently transporting heavy weapons or ammunition.

Fallujah, which is located some 60 kilometers from Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, had been under the control of Islamists since 2014. Top Iraqi officials declared full victory over IS in the city in mid-June after a nearly five-week offensive, but due to the back-and-forth nature of the struggle, urban fighting still continued for more than one week more.


Iraq finally declared Fallujah fully liberated last week after government troops entered the al-Julan neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city, which had been IS’ last remaining stronghold.

The US-led coalition, which first launched air strikes on the Islamists in Iraq last August, claims to have destroyed 565 IS targets in 106 air raids over the last week.

The unexpectedly swift victory in Fallujah has raised questions about how many militants had actually been occupying the city. Colonel Chris Garver, the US-led anti-IS operation’s spokesman, said on Wednesday that Iraqi estimates suggest that the Islamic State group suffered more than 1,000 casualties.
During the battle for Fallujah, some IS units engaged Iraqi forces in street-to-street fighting, but some preferred to fall back. The terror group “was not monolithic” in Fallujah Garver said, as cited by the Military Times.
“Some people fought harder than other people did. Some people tried to melt away,” he noted. In “different neighborhoods, you get a different answer.”
Once Fallujah is fully free of Islamic State fighters and mines, the Iraqi government aims to concentrate on launching an offensive to take back terrorist-controlled Mosul, the country’s second largest city.
The Russian Air Force has been striking IS targets from its Khmeimim air base since autumn 2015 to help the Syrian Army gain ground in its four-year war on terror.
In May, Moscow suggested that Russian and US forces plan and conduct joint airstrikes against the Islamists, but has so far received no response to the offer. Instead, Washington asked Moscow not to target Al-Nusra Front – which is Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria – for fear that members of the “moderate opposition” could also be hit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June.
Before the ceasefire, much of Islamic State's manpower was eliminated in hundreds of combat sorties, which also targeted the terror group's supplies, oil refineries and convoys.

113 comments:

  1. I’d feel better about this if I saw some secondary explosions. I hope they were not civilians trying to escape.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm..

    Isis is responsible for the slaughter of 40 thousand or so civilians, Iran, Syria (with the help of Russia and the USA) have hit the 1 million civilians killed in Syria and Iraq...

    Nothing to be upset about after all it's the the IDF or Jews doing the killing...

    BTW delete my comments all you wish, there is still no nation called Palestine. Your own thread points to the collapse of Arab nationalism, thus Palestine as well.

    It is STILLBORN.

    The islamic world, (arab included) its dying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You speak like there is a single borg like unified people...

      The Islamic world is imploding on to itself.

      Arab nationalism is dead.

      1.4 billion and counting?

      More like 1.4 billion against the entire world and it's self

      As pointed out the single biggest victim of Islamic violence? Is Moslems.

      Delete
    2. Only 20% of the Islamic World lives in Arab countries. Get your facts straight.

      Delete
    3. The US has attacked and destabilized Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan. The blowback is in Turkey and all of Europe.

      I would estimate that more Muslims have been killed and injures as a result of US actions than that caused by all radical Islamic terrorism.

      One would have thought that after the US caused debacle in Vet Nam and Southeast ,Asia that resulted in the death of millions, a lesson would have been learned.

      The killing goes on.

      Delete
    4. Deuce ☂Thu Jun 30, 12:15:00 PM EDT
      Only 20% of the Islamic World lives in Arab countries. Get your facts straight.


      I got that straight, your blood pressure and hatred is causing you not to read straight.


      My points are correct and you are still a lunatic

      Delete
    5. Deuce ☂Thu Jun 30, 12:21:00 PM EDT
      The US has attacked and destabilized Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan. The blowback is in Turkey and all of Europe.

      I would estimate that more Muslims have been killed and injures as a result of US actions than that caused by all radical Islamic terrorism.


      I love the way you "qualify" things.

      "by all radical Islamic terrorism"

      LOL

      How about de-qualify it and say "caused by islamic nations" but you can't...

      Delete
    6. The islamic world, (arab included) its dying.

      Delete
    7. The US government owns ISIS. Look at the photo op at the top right of this blog of the dope Ronald Reagan, patron saint of the GOP, and his astute observations about the founders of al Qaeda. Reagan also intervened in Lebanon to save the incompetent IDF and that set off another chain of events with incalculable consequences.

      The Saudis are a construct of English imperialism as is the Israeli fabrication.

      The cost to the US public? Pick a number.

      Delete
    8. I love the way you "qualify" things.

      "by all radical Islamic terrorism"

      LOL

      How about de-qualify it and say “caused by islamic nations" but you can't...


      You never think about what you write. Try thinking for a change and focus on the implications of what you said.

      I’ll punish Quirk and let him try and explain it to you if you are perplexed.

      Delete
    9. The Saudis are a construct of English imperialism as is the Israeli fabrication.

      Hardly.

      But you can't accept reality.

      Delete
    10. Deuce your friends? The Palestinians and Iranians?

      You don't count their violence as "radical Islamic terrorism"

      Their wonton murders are just normal acceptable behavior by you.

      Delete
  3. I didn't see any of the usual machine guns in the backs of whatever pickup trucks there among all those vehicles of all types.

    Nor did I see any dead, blown apart or injured bodies. Did see a couple of humans running away.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Active shooter reported at the Air Force One airbase somewhere or other....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joint Base Andrews....no one knows what's going on

      Delete
    2. False alarm....shooting practice.

      Delete
  5. POLL: TRUMP PULLS INTO LEAD
    43-39....DRUDGE


    Last week the same poll, Rasmussen, had Clinton ahead by five.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/white_house_watch

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.newenglishreview.org/Ibn_Warraq/Demographics:_Why_Islamic_Societies_are_Dying/

    One of the most startling and original books I have read in the last five years is surely David P. Goldman’s How Civilizations Die (And Why Islam is Dying too).[1]

    Right from the beginning of his Introduction, Goldman shatters so many of our strongly held beliefs that we are left reeling, and pondering the truly disturbing implications of his conclusions, which are all backed by statistics from recognized sources such as the United Nations. Here are some of his observations from his dramatic introduction, “For the first time in history, the birth rate of the whole developed world is well below replacement, and a significant part of it has passed the demographic point of no return.”

    However, all is not well in the Islamic world either, “But Islamic society is even more fragile. As Muslim fertility shrinks at the rate demographers have never seen before, it is converging on Europe’s catastrophically low fertility as if in time-lapse photography. Iranian women in their twenties who grew up with five or six siblings will bear only or two children during their lifetimes. Turkey and Algeria are just behind Iran on the way down, and most other Muslim countries are catching up quickly. By the middle of this century, the belt of Muslim countries from Morocco to Iran will become as gray as depopulating Europe. The Islamic world will have the same proportion of dependent elderly as the industrial countries - but one tenth the productivity. A time bomb is ticking in the Muslim world”.[2]

    But, as Goldman warns, population decline will cause violent upheavals, and already Iran is responding with aggression. “We love death, and you love life”[3] is the common attitude among various Islamic groups. Goldman continues, “A people facing cultural extinction may well choose war, if war offers even a slim chance of survival. That is just how radical Islamists view the predicament of traditional Muslim society in the face of modernity. The Islamists fear that if they fail, their religion and culture will disappear into the maelstorm of the modern world. Many of them would rather die fighting.”[4]

    The Muslim world is facing the fastest demographic or population decline ever recorded in history.[5] Hania Zlotnik, director of the population division at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in a conference in 2009, “In most of the Islamic world it’s amazing, the decline in fertility that has happened.”[6] The New York Times reported, “From 1975 to 1980, women in Iran were giving birth to nearly 7 children per family, according to the latest U.N. population report; from 2005 to 2010 that number is expected to be less than 2. Other Middle Eastern states in the top 15, in order of the steepest drop, include Tunisia, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Kuwait, Qatar and Morocco.”[7] Fertility in the Muslim world has declined two or three times faster than the world average.[8]


    Now of course it is NOT just a numbers game.

    It's a murder game.

    In a recent thread Deuce put up the facts that islamic nation states are disintegrating at an alarming rate.

    Couple this with Sunni verses Shiite war?

    Hundreds of millions of moslems across the globe are under duress.

    The numbers are staggering and are all self inflicted.

    And we aint seen anything yet.


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  9. .

    Bill Clinton Meets With Loretta Lynch

    Attorney General Loretta Lynch met with former president Bill Clinton at the airport in Phoenix this week — an encounter that she described as “primarily social,” but one that drew instant attention because of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the email practices of his wife, Hillary, while she was secretary of state.

    Lynch publicly confirmed the meeting, first reported by ABC15 and others, saying it occurred at the airport where she had just landed for a stop on her nationwide tour of law enforcement agencies. She said that she, her husband and the former president discussed their travels, the former president’s grandchildren and the golf he had played in Arizona.

    “No discussions were held on any cases or anything of that,” Lynch said, “and he didn’t raise anything about that either.”

    The FBI and the Justice Department are in the midst of a high-profile investigation into leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state — a probe that has, at times, been the subject of intense focus on the campaign trail. The decision on whether to bring charges in the case would ultimately run through Lynch.

    A Justice Department official familiar with the meeting said that Bill Clinton initiated the encounter, boarding Lynch’s plane — to the surprise of some aides — after the group had landed in Phoenix Monday evening. The official said Lynch staffers remain unsure how exactly Clinton knew the attorney general was at the airport — though it was possible their security details had coordinated as a matter of routine — and there were no conversations between Lynch and Clinton aides to set up the meeting...


    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/06/29/attorney-general-meets-with-former-president-clinton-amid-politically-charged-investigation-into-his-wifes-email/?utm_term=.8b0a9461c9e5

    .

    ReplyDelete
  10. .

    Pentagon Drops Case for Reimbursement of Hazard Duty Pay for Bomb Squad

    The Pentagon has decided that members of its civilian bomb squad will not be obligated to pay back up to $173,000 that it says it each of them were erroneously paid since the unit was established in 2008, a defense official said.

    The Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) waived the debts “after completion of the normal waiver of debt process,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Badger, a Pentagon spokesman. The decision was acknowledged late Wednesday, a day after The Washington Post published a story that detailed how members of the bomb squad faced potential financial ruin after the Pentagon decided in 2015 that it had incorrectly paid them a 25 percent hazardous duty incentive for years.

    [In Pentagon bomb squad, an investigation and a fight to stave off financial ruin]

    The waivers were completed despite some members of the bomb squad expecting that their cases would not be heard for several more weeks. Badger said the approval of hazardous duty pay — promised in offer letters to the bomb technicians — was “an administrative error made in good faith, but with severe financial consequences for the employees...”


    .

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    I’ll punish Quirk and let him try and explain it to you if you are perplexed.

    Oh no you don't. After dealing with these guys for any length of time, pointing out the illogical arguments, the rewriting of history, the defensiveness, the atavistic fears, the rationalization, etc., I am tempted to fall off the wagon.

    After looking at yesterday's blog comments I assumed it must be 'Caddy Day' (pardon the Caddy Shack reference) where once a year the Loony Tunes are allowed to freely run rampant at the old EB.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk thanks for not trying to put your altered universe nonsense on reality.

      You have proved your bias and quite frankly?

      You support the jihadists.

      Nuff said.

      Delete
    2. .

      You support the jihadists.

      Yet, it is you who report here on their killings every day and always end with a gleeful LOL.

      It is you who refuses to condemn any Israeli action even when they admit they are helping jihadi groups in Syria.

      A strange brew.

      .

      Delete
  12. A US Citizen, a 13 year old girl, sleeping in her bed was stabbed to death by a Palestinian yesterday.

    Of course the family of the terrorist will be now honored for their sacrifice and be given a monthly stipend but the PA.

    Quirk mourns the death of the palestinian as he believes the Israelis should have shown restraint.

    The girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, was attacked after an assailant climbed a security fence and entered a home.

    "We have now confirmed that she is a US citizen," State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing.

    But really who cares, after all she was a Jew and deserved it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Pure nonsense. I mourn the death of any innocent whether they are Jewish or Palestinian. You on the other hand see only one side and will brook no criticism of Israel whatsoever though this kabuki has been going on for 50 years.

      .

      Delete
    2. Hardly Quirk.

      But once again, you define "innocent palestinains" as those not doing violence at the very moment of their being shot.

      Whereas I see innocence as innocence.

      And once again your knowledge of arab terror seems to be rooted in 50 years ago.

      what, would it strain your brain to learn that the violence on the world by the arabs started in 640 ce?

      Delete
    3. .

      But once again, you define "innocent palestinains" as those not doing violence at the very moment of their being shot.

      I assume you are talking about the snuff video you put up.

      What I am talking about is proportionality. You applaud seeing a teen shot down in cold blood, even share the video with your son, even though the teen wasn't involved in any actions that could harm another at the time he was shot.

      Most wouldn't accept those actions if they happened in this country but you find them acceptable in Israel.

      Sure the Palestinians are to blame for the past 50 years. But so are the Israelis. Equally.

      Yesterday, you pressed the point that the Palestinians will not get their state. Well, duh. I've been telling you that for years.

      Mensa-boy said he heard the Palestinians are demanding the right of return, a precondition everyone admits will never happen. However, he fails to mention the preconditions Israel has, an undivided Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a recognition of Israel as not only a legitimate state with a right to exist but as a Jewish state, an Israeli military presence in the new Palestinian state for security reasons, a presence Bibi once described as including the Jordan valley, 25% of the WB.

      All of these things could have been negotiated but they haven't been.

      It's absurd that Abbas has to go to his benefactors like SA and Egypt to get permission to negotiate on these items. But there is no desire or momentum from peace in Israel either.

      A couple years ago I saw a roll talked about in one of the Israeli papers. The poll showed over 50% of the Israeli people favored a two state solution. However, when it was pointed out that a negotiations and compromise would be required on many of the key issues, the results changed to 81% opposed to a two-state solution.

      A two state deal will never happen between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The only way it would ever happen is if forced by the outside.

      That's why the death, the destruction, the murders, the arsons, will continue. It's inevitable.

      That's why you will keep saying it's all the Palestinians fault and why I will keep saying same shit, different tribes.

      .

      Delete


  13. Idaho BobThu Jun 30, 01:45:00 AM EDT

    What alternative methods do you suggest ?
    Delete






    Idaho BobThu Jun 30, 03:47:00 AM EDT

    No alternative methods yet suggested....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Often, talking to Quirk is like talking to a self righteous wall.

      He always criticizes this that and the other, but never offers up any alternative workable methods.

      This fans his fancy that he is upmost ethical fellow and takes any responsibility away from his dear self at the same time.

      In other words, he's just a big gas bag who was never even offered a chance to make application to Mensa Society.

      I'm was at least a Mensa Candidate so I therefore assert my superiority over our ad man from Detroit.

      The rape/canola is looking great, the stand up peas are at attention, and the big boomers are rising 30, 40, 50,000 ft white and fluffy over the Wallowas and the Bitterroots where, hitting the super cool air, they flatten out like anvils, giving off an occasion flash of summer lightning.

      It's that time of year again.

      I love it.

      Delete
    2. Not being a big canola fan, I didn't know it was rapeseed.

      http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canola-crop-choking-fungus-now-in-canada-1.2180375

      Delete
    3. Jeeze, 19 Billion in Canada alone!

      "The Canola Council of Canada estimates the industry contributed more than $19 billion to the economy in 2013.

      Clint Jurke, the council's agronomy director, said the disease is a soil-borne fungus that invades canola and other plants and literally chokes them by plugging up their roots.
      He said severely infested canola fields in Sweden have lost up to half of their yields.
      "It can cause significant yield loss," he said from Lloydminister, Sask. "It is the first time that it has been found in the canola crop in North America. We are not too happy that it has been found.""

      Delete
    4. "I mourn the death of any innocent whether they are Jewish or Palestinian."

      ===

      Good thing he restricted himself to Jews and Palis:

      He wouldn't have had time to write any ads!

      Delete
    5. Probly woulda been trapped in bed with Mourning Sickness.

      Delete
  14. Look at this, folks ! Gun used by terrorist in France had O'bozo's fingerprints all over it -

    June 30, 2016

    Shocker: Gun used in Paris terrorist attack part of Fast and Furious gun walking op

    By Rick Moran


    One of the guns used by terrorists to shoot up Paris on November 13 of last year originated in Phoenix,, AZ and was sold illegally as part of the Fast and Furious gun walking operation.

    And ATF agents did their best to cover up that information....


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/shocker_gun_used_in_paris_terrorist_attack_part_of_fast_and_furious_gun_walking_op.html

    HEY, ARE WE A FUCKED UP COUNTRY OR WHAT

    And, O'bozo created ISIS too, and The Criminal Hillary owns Libya.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's another one of Obama's moves in Rufus's list of favorites.

      One must conclude Rufus joins his leader in hating this country.

      Delete
  15. Gee, a similar strike a couple of years ago would have had 100 times the effect.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "The US government owns ISIS. Look at the photo op at the top right of this blog of the dope Ronald Reagan, patron saint of the GOP, and his astute observations about the founders of al Qaeda. Reagan also intervened in Lebanon to save the incompetent IDF and that set off another chain of events with incalculable consequences.

    The Saudis are a construct of English imperialism as is the Israeli fabrication.

    The cost to the US public? Pick a number."

    ===

    I just recently learned that Ron was carrying on a program already put in place by the Peanut Farmer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "Nobel War Prize"

      https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=president+carter+and+the+founders+of+the+founders+of+al+Qaeda

      Delete
    2. Ron got the hostages out.

      Peanut Farmer was in over his head.

      Billy Beer Carter would have been just as good a President as Peanut Farmer.

      I've always wondered what Ron said that turned the corner.

      Perhaps, something like -

      H I R O S H I M A

      spelled out a letter a day for nine days.

      Delete
    3. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former President Jimmy Carter for:

      "his decades of untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development." (Norwegian Nobel Institute,

      http://www.nobel.no/eng_ins_new.html , 11 October 2002)

      Delete
    4. I recall when Peanut Farmer was asked in a debate some question about a possible nuclear arms treaty, or some such, and he answered:

      "My daughter Amy and I were discussing that just the other night"

      Then, looking as foolish as if he'd just shit his pants, he struggled on....

      I also remember when he battled manfully the killer rabbit that was attacking his canoe.

      You didn't fuck with Jimmah Carter in those days.

      As a farmer at the time, I particularly appreciated the 21% interest rates, and the wheat embargo.

      Delete


    5. Most American high school history books describe how the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, "without provocation and with overwhelming force". America then "came to the rescue" of the Afghan "resistance". This happened under president Jimmy Carter.

      Yet Carter’s National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski confirms that it was the US and not the Soviet Union which started the war:

      "According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention…." (Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Le Nouvel Observateur, 15-21 November 1998)

      In other words, the Soviet-Afghan war was triggered on the orders of President Carter, the latest recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

      Jimmy Carter was not only instrumental in unleashing the war (which has been ongoing for the last 23 years), he was also the architect of the CIA’s covert support to Islamic terrorism. In fact, it turns out that prime 9/11 suspect, Saudi born Osama bin Laden, was recruited during that period "ironically under the auspices of the CIA, to fight the Soviet invaders". (See Michel Chossudovsky, War and Globalisation, The Truth behind September 11 , Global Outlook, Shanty Bay, 2002, Chapter 2)

      http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO210B.html

      Delete
    6. It's the End Times, Because Mika Brzezinski Might Be Doin' It With Joe Scarborough.

      Delete
    7. "In other words, the Soviet-Afghan war was triggered on the orders of President Carter, the latest recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize."

      Will Deuce add an addendum?

      Delete
    8. Don't know that I believe anything/everything Big Zbig says, but inducing a Soviet military intervention might have been a wise move if USA had just left it at that.

      The Russians might still be bogged down there....

      Delete
    9. Yeah, impossible to imagine it woulda turned out worse than this.

      Delete
    10. Mika likes Joe's glasses and Zbig Hair.

      Delete
    11. i put up a slide show on life in Afghanistan during the sixties, before the Soviets and Washington wrecked the country. I cannot find the post but check this out:

      http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2

      Delete
    12. Doug is correct about Reagan picking up what Carter started. Remember Carter wrecked the Soviet Olympics. Both Carter and Reagan were religious nuts.

      Delete
    13. I had a friend who was in Afghanistan in the sixties. A Berkeley grad in Art, he was in heaven. Re-upped a time or two in the Peace Corps.
      Never was the same again, perhaps because of the quality of the Hash.
      Later found out he was gay, adding even more pleasure to his stay, perhaps.

      Delete
  17. The Electoral College vote for President this year is going to be:

    Trump 279
    Clinton 259

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

    ReplyDelete
  19. The oil we get from grape seeds is obviously grape seed oil; the oil we get from corn is corn oil, so surely canola oil must come from canola seeds? Well, not quite, because there’s no such thing as a canola seed, at least not here on planet earth. Canola oil actually comes from rapeseed, and in the past it was simply known as rapeseed oil. At that stage, rapeseed oil was not used in the food industry. Instead, it was primarily used as a lubricant in the industrial sector.

    Somewhere further down the line, it did start finding its way into the food chain, but because it is so toxic, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intervened and officially banned it in 1956, stating that it was unsafe for human consumption due to its high levels of erucic acid.

    http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/is-canola-oil-bad-for-you.html

    I've become a big fan of Coconut Oil

    ...and there's nothing better for popping corn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They decided to quit calling it “Rape Oil” for marketing reasons...

      I wonder if Quirk had anything to do with that?

      ...or Joe Scarcock.

      Delete
    2. While genetic modification was successful at lowering the erucic acid content, it also increased the amount of oleic acid, and this was once again a serious cause for concern because oleic acid has been linked to a number of health concerns, including the following:

      Retarded growth (banned in infant formulas)
      Abnormalities in blood platelets
      Damage from free radicals
      Increased risk of developing certain types of cancer

      Delete
  20. .

    The elementary proto-brain rises from alfalfa fields of northwest Idaho and with great effort manages to generate a pulse, weak but sufficient to generate an impulse connecting enough neurons to ask the question…


    Idaho BobThu Jun 30, 01:45:00 AM EDT

    What alternative methods do you suggest ?


    Had this inchoate blob evolved to the point of rational thought, it might have asked a more relevant question like “What the hell is the US doing bombing indiscriminately in countries like Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen?” I mean after all the history we have on our failed interventions does anyone expect different outcomes by pursuing the same strategies?

    Face it.

    Pakistan along with Saudi Arabia and the US helped birth al Qaeda in Afghanistan and initially helped raise the Taliban to power. Now they continue bombing the country in pursuit of the WOT.
    The two positives about drone strike:

    One, some kid in the US sitting at a computer and flying a drone in Pakistan is unlikely to receive return fire from 8,000 miles away. Two, every so often after one of the strikes and after sorting through the body parts we find we have killed an important militant.

    On the downside:

    The dead militant is replaced the next day by another. Also, there is a good chance we have taken out a few civilians along with the militant. This tends to have a negative impact on the families of the dead civilians. That antipathy is mirrored in the general Pakistani population, likely the reason for the growth in the militants there.

    Pew Research has documented the US’ declining popularity in Pakistan. According to Pew, 80% of the Pakistani population views the US as an enemy. The same amount have an unfavorable view of the US. Only about 8% view the US favorable. I would imagine seeing drones flying around all day and every so often destroying a person or group of people with a Hellfire.

    Then you have Somalia, Yemen, and Libya, all failed states. Somalia has been a failed state for a couple decades. We all know about Libya and the fact that the US contributed to it becoming a failed state. Without the US, there would be no ISIS in Libya today. And Yemen, the same as Libya except that the dying still continues. In Yemen, al Qaeda (IQAP) was a small force struggling to get by. With the civil war, IQAP now controls a huge territory along the coast and are bragging about the stability and services they are now providing in the area. Again, every place the US visits turns to shit. Every action we take in the WOT generates more terrorists.

    So my ‘alternative method’ is to get the hell out of any intervention that doesn't advance US interests. And IMO, that would include all the countries mentioned in the article I put up.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  21. .

    I noticed the second Bobbsey Twin made it to 'Caddy Day' yesterday still moping about my inability to decipher his indecipherable missive and bemoaning the fact that 'other audiences' could understand it. In my defense, its possible that Doug has exposed himself to the other audience enough that they have discovered the code. Or, perhaps they merely look at his posts, sigh, mumble 'its just Doug again, and then scroll by.

    :o)

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is hard to imagine how 750,000 illegal immigrants might lower the quality of life for Angelenos.

      ...for some.

      Delete
    2. .

      Nonsense.

      You are merely trying to deflect.

      What I said was I was surprised that 50% of the traffic accidents in LA involved hit-and-runs. Nothing amazing about that comment but you take it as a defense of illegal immigrants.

      Idiocy.

      .

      Delete
    3. I said it was largely BECAUSE of the illegal immigrants.
      ...making it less than amazing.
      ...for some.

      Then again I take your word that crime is a problem in Detroit.

      Delete
    4. Fire Bad:

      http://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/erskine-fire-update-power-restoration-expected-final-numbers-on-lost-homes

      Delete
  22. .

    And the other twin dropped this doodoo in the pool...




    Idaho BobThu Jun 30, 01:08:00 AM EDT

    To wit: Let's stop dumping a million Muslim immigrants on the country every year, some percentage of whom we know will commit mass murder.


    And to add insult to injury O'Bumble bolded the statement so as to emphasize his own credulity.

    :o)

    Too funny.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  23. Before Quirk got into advertising, he was a juggler, and tooted upon a pipe.

    ReplyDelete
  24. After Quirk's run in the ad business, he went into the illegal alien industry.

    His usual gig was 45% of whatever benefits he could procure for the illegals.

    He specialized in what has now become known in the game as 'the Sanctuary Cities sector'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Word is they're gonna put up a shrine for Quirk where Kate Steinle got plinked.

      https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1AVSU_enUS357&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=kate+steinle

      Delete
    2. We got the Pacific Primate Sanctuary here on Maui.
      ...luckily none of them are armed.

      Delete
  25. Quirk is a nitwit.

    He equates a sleeping 13 year old girl murdered in her bed by a terrorist who did a home invasion with the sole purpose of murder with boys tossing firebombs and rocks that got killed when they took a break from their efforts to murder jews..

    both innocent victims in his pea brained mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Hypocrite.

      The only young girls you are concerned about are Jewish young girls. You could give a shit about the murder of Palestinian young girls. You were tellingly silent about the WB family that had their home firebombed while they slept by settlers or the young that die in the fire along with her parents or even the brother that survived but was burned over most of his body.

      Spare me your umbrage, prick.

      .

      Delete
    2. Kiss my ass Quirk.

      there are THOUSANDS of attacks by the palestinains a year on Jews and you are silent.

      There ARE a couple of attacks by Jews on Arabs, and when they are arrested and convicted they do go to jail, unlike the palestinians.

      So shove it up your bigoted ass....

      Jewish terrorism? Happens rarely...

      palestinian terrorism? Happens DAILY and is rewarded by the PA with stipends and statues..

      You are a piece of work Quirk.

      You hypocrite.

      Delete
    3. I seem to remember when Hamas kidnapped and murdered those 3 Jewish kids.. Of course one was American, just a s this 13 year old Jewish girl was, American, and there was the claim by Rat that the Israelis kidnapped the 3 and murdered them in a false flag. You of course accuse Israel of flash flags and any act of violence against an arab? You blame Israel with or without any proof or facts.

      Of course, there are thousands and thousands of palestinians attacks to which you are silent. I'll stack that against the one or two Jewish terrorist attacks (which there have been a couple)

      Your silence is deafening, by the thousands....

      I do condemn those Jews convicted of terrorism. But it just doesn't happen very often, do you require me to condemn the same Jewish terror EVERY time I point out palestinian terror? Come on Quirk, grow the fuck up, the Palestinians attack on a DAILY basis....

      That is why I hope your grandkids marry them...

      Delete
    4. .

      There ARE a couple of attacks by Jews on Arabs, and when they are arrested and convicted they do go to jail, unlike the palestinians.

      You're full of shit. I put up the numbers here many times before when you bring up this shit.

      Go to Wiki and run a search on 'settler violence'. Check out the You Tube videos. Check out how many complaints against the settlers and other right wing nuts are actually acted upon and indictments drawn. Check the conviction rate.

      I do condemn those Jews convicted of terrorism.

      Nonsense. Whether its called murder or terror its the same thing and you are constantly trying to excuse when an Israeli does it. An IDF soldier acts likes like judge, jury, and executioner summarily killing a teen when he presented no danger to the soldier and you applaud it. that's disgusting.

      The same for the IDF soldier who shot the Palestinian terrorist who was bleeding out on the ground. Your response, 'hey the guy was a terrorist, he could have had a bomb.'

      Your irrational.

      Then, when I won't put up with your bull you stoop to bringing my family into the discussion.

      You are one sick shit.


      Delete
  26. Palestinian headcutters....

    A terrorist stabbed two Israelis near the city market of Netanya on Thursday evening. A 40-year-old-man was seriously wounded and a 60-year-old woman sustained moderate injuries. The 40-year-old terrorist, a resident of the village of Shwika near Tulkarem who was residing illegally in Israel, was shot and killed by an armed Israeli who intervened.

    ReplyDelete
  27. So Billy boy decides to board Loretta Lynch's private plane for thirty minutes while its sitting on the Tarmac. What a sleaze bag and what a sleaze bag family. I don't blame Lynch. What do you do when an ex President decides to board your plane? Despicable. Any one who votes for HRC is either mentally retarded or just plain stupid. Maybe he thought he was gonna get a quick hummer.

    ReplyDelete
  28. BAD OPTICS?

    Attorney General Loretta Lynch tells us that her meeting with Bill Clinton aboard a private jet on the Phoenix airport’s tarmac was “primarily social”—you know, just the two Democrats swapping stories about their grandkids and whatnot.

    The nation’s top law enforcement official and the former president and husband of the presumptive nominee, who is under federal investigation, had a talk. Rather than conceding that such a private encounter is at the very least a conflict of interest, Democrats preemptively complained about the “optics.” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), for instance, told CNN Lynch “should have steered clear” and that the meeting “sends the wrong signal.”

    What signal is that? Do Coons and every other politician “groaning” about the optics of the meeting understand that they’re arguing for Lynch to recuse herself from the Clinton investigation? As Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who’s been pushing for a special counsel for a while, pointed out, there is a clear ethical duty for an Attorney General to recuse herself at the mere appearance of impartiality—a standard this little meeting clearly meets.

    The requirement of recusal does not arise in every instance, but only where a conflict of interest exists or there is an appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality.

    Acknowledging that the meeting was bad “optics” is a way for Democrats to intimate that while some rubes might get the wrong idea, there’s really nothing unethical about it. But they can’t know that’s true, can they? One of the parties involved is Bill Clinton, who’s already been impeached for lying under oath and obstructing justice. The other is Loretta Lynch, who’s politicized virtually every major case under her watch.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
  29. {...}

    JUST AN IMPROMPTU SOCIAL CHIT CHAT ON THE TARMAC:

    It’s David Axelrod’s prerogative to take the two at their word. Others do, as well. “All I can say is Loretta Lynch is one of the most outstanding human beings I have ever known,” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters. “Her ethics are above reproach. No one could ever question her strong feelings about the rule of law, and her ethics are the best.”

    Chuck Schumer said. “So, you have two choices, to say this didn’t matter, or she is lying. I think it didn’t matter.”

    Lynch might be Mother Teresa for all we know, but we still have codes of ethics for a reason. Any truly impartial attorney general would have told the former president, “Why don’t we table this meeting until after the high-profile, politically charged criminal investigation of your wife is over.” Would that really have been so difficult?

    Moreover, it’s not like these two randomly bumped into each other at the grocery store or while picking up dry-cleaning. People don’t have a lot of “impromptu meetings” on private jets sitting on the tarmacs at airports. As KNXV ABC 15 television reported, Clinton heard Lynch was en route to that airport, sought her out, and waited there for her arrival. Maybe it was just dumb luck that this happened only a day before Congress released the Benghazi Report, or a few days after the Associated Press published another 165 pages of e-mails Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent via her unsanctioned and unsecure private e-mail server and did not want anyone to see. Or perhaps, as his wife’s stories are becoming increasingly impossible to believe, Bill felt the need to say a few words to the attorney general overseeing the criminal investigations of his wife. Whatever the case, the appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality is clearly present.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. {...}

      BOTTOM LINE

      But given the way this administration treats the law, we can safely assume Lynch will never recuse herself. That will give millions of Americans who already assume the Department of Justice will let Hillary slide no matter where the evidence leads quite a bit of evidence of corruption in the Obama DOJ. If you’re Hillary Clinton and you’re truly innocent, Bill’s little get-together creates even more questions about your shady conduct. Mostly, though, if you want to know why Americans don’t trust their government, this meeting is a pristine example of why.


      TRUST HER?

      Delete
    2. She has no grandchildren.

      Unless she figured out a way to have them without having children first.

      Delete
  30. Former London mayor Boris Johnson has abruptly pulled out of the race to become Britain's prime minister that he was once favoured to win, upending the contest less than a week after he led a campaign to take the country out of the European Union (EU).

    ...

    It makes Home Secretary Theresa May, a party stalwart who backed remaining in the EU, the new favourite to succeed Mr Cameron.

    ...

    EU leaders are scrambling to prevent further unravelling of a bloc that helped guarantee peace in post-war Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Like I stated, I don't blame her. Not sure how Ash's comment about Trump has relevance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you will notice all those ass holes are defending her, not Billy Boy. They are afraid of the Clintons. Afraid they will go the way of poor Vince Foster.

      Delete
    2. Not sure how Ash's comment about Trump has relevance.

      It doesn't have any relevance.

      But when has that ever deterred Smirk from commenting ?

      Delete
  32. A Syrian refugee has been hailed a "hero" in Germany after handing in 50,000 euros and bank books he discovered hidden inside a second-hand wardrobe.

    ...

    Police are now trying to determine the rightful owner of the cash.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Strikes in Syria

    Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted seven strikes in Syria:

    -- Near Abu Kamal, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL vehicles, an ISIL tactical vehicle and an ISIL mortar system.

    -- Near Manbij, six strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL mortar system and an ISIL vehicle bomb.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL staging facility and destroyed an ISIL bunker and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Qaim, a strike struck an ISIL vehicle bomb facility.

    -- Near Beiji, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and an ISIL vehicle bomb.

    -- Near Fallujah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 42 ISIL vehicles and denied ISIL access to terrain.

    -- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 120 ISIL vehicles, an ISIL tactical vehicle and three ISIL vehicle bombs.

    -- Near Haditha, a strike struck an ISIL staging facility.

    -- Near Hit, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 13 ISIL vehicles and damaged another.

    -- Near Mosul, four strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and an ISIL supply cache.

    -- Near Qayyarah, a strike destroyed eight ISIL rocket rails and five ISIL rocket systems.

    -- Near Ramadi, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL mortar system and an ISIL staging area and damaged two ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle.

    -- Near Tal Afar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Waleed, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle and two ISIL weapons caches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. June 29

      Strikes in Syria

      Attack, bomber, fighter, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 15 strikes in Syria:

      -- Near Abu Kamal, eight strikes struck two ISIL tactical units, an ISIL intelligence training center, two ISIL-used bridges, an ISIL headquarters, an ISIL training camp and an ISIL bed-down location and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

      -- Near Manbij, six strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL anti-air artillery piece.

      -- Near Mara, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb.

      Strikes in Iraq

      Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 17 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

      -- Near Qaim, five strikes struck two ISIL weapons caches, an ISIL finance distribution center and two ISIL communication facilities.

      -- Near Rutbah, a strike struck an ISIL vehicle bomb facility.

      -- Near Fallujah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL vehicle bomb and denied ISIL access to terrain.

      -- Near Mosul, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

      -- Near Qayyarah, five strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, two ISIL bunkers, four ISIL rocket rails, two ISIL rocket systems, an ISIL excavator, an ISIL rocket propelled grenade system and ISIL-used engineering equipment.

      -- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

      Delete
    2. With Fallujah cleaned out it's surely fair to say they are making some progress now.

      But after all the fighting over the years I wonder if there's much left there.

      Delete
  34. Victory in Fallujah

    Beginning with Iraq, Garver said the world watched as Iraqi fighters raised the Iraqi flag over Fallujah June 17, and Iraqi military leaders announced the city’s full liberation June 26.

    “Since that time we have seen rapid clearing operations within the city as [Iraq] consolidates its gains and prepares for future operations, which will include handing over the security of Fallujah to the holding force” of local police and Sunni tribal fighters, the colonel added.

    The assault phase of the ground campaign began May 21, and during that time the coalition conducted 106 strikes in support of Iraqi operations, he said.

    “We know there is interest in the physical state of Fallujah after the battle,” Garver said, adding that press reports indicate that the city is in better shape than Ramadi was last year after its liberation.

    “If initial reports [are] accurate, we hope this will bode well for getting the residents of Fallujah back into their homes as quickly as possible. We do not have an estimated timeline from the Iraqi government yet but all parties involved in the care of the displaced citizens are working to develop that now,” he said.

    In the Tigris River Valley, Iraqi forces are conducting shaping operations to prepare for the eventual liberation of Mosul. On the western access, Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service forces and 9th Iraqi Army Division brigades continue to push the attack north out of Beiji, Garver said.

    Fighting on the western access has ranged been between light and moderate, but Iraqi forces continue to make steady gains toward Qayyarah. Over the past week, the coalition has conducted 34 strikes in the Qayyarah region in support of these operations, the colonel added.

    Toward Manbij

    In Syria, in addition to progress made by Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian Arab Coalition toward Manbij, SAC forces are fighting to establish footholds on the southern and western edges of the city, Garver said.

    “They’ve seized the entrances to an intricate tunnel complex on the southern edge, which will reduce [ISIL’s] ability to relocate fighters inside the city,” he added, noting that SAC forces have seized more than 10,000 documents from the outlying edges, including textbooks, propaganda posters, cell phones, laptops, maps and digital storage devices.

    “Exploitation of this information is ongoing to better understand [ISIL] networks and techniques, including the systems [used] to manage the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq,” the colonel said.

    To protect citizens inside the city, Garver said SAC leaders have assumed a slower and more deliberate rate of advance to clear booby traps and homemade bombs and to avoid civilian casualties, although ISIL continues to establish fortified defenses in the city.

    “We expect the fighting to continue to be intense and progress slow but deliberate due to the strategic importance [ISIL] places on this city for keeping lines of communication between Manbij, Raqqa and outside Syria open,” he said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Increasing Pressure

      In southeastern Syria, Garver said that partner opposition forces running the Tanf Garrison launched an attack in the past 48 hours to seize the town of Abu Kamal in the Euphrates River Valley.

      “The announced purpose of this attack by the New Syrian Army, also known as the … KAA, is to liberate Abu Kamal and cut [ISIL’s] military supply lines in the Euphrates Valley between Syria and Iraq,” he said. “Cutting these supply lines will impact the flow of foreign fighters and supplies between the upper and lower Euphrates Valley.”

      Garver said that as local fighters with coalition support have worked to interdict lines of communication between Iraq and Syria in the north near Sinjar Mountain on Highway 43 and in the south near Rutbah on Highway 10, “we are now working to interdict the last major line of communication between the two countries.”

      Doing so, he added, will better isolate ISIL operations in the two countries, limit high-speed routes to reinforcements, resupply and foreign fighters flowing between the countries, and increase pressure across the so-called caliphate.

      Tidal Wave II

      Operation Inherent Resolve continues to target ISIL illicit oil and natural gas activities in an operation called Tidal Wave II, Garver said, whose targets include oil sites, equipment and vehicles for transporting oil and natural gas.

      Since September 2014, the coalition has conducted about 300 strikes against oil-related facilities, infrastructure and equipment, he said, and last week the coalition conducted eight strikes in support of Tidal Wave II near Raqqa in Syria and Mosul and Qayyarah in Iraq.

      Coalition airstrikes have attacked ISIL oil tankers, oil and gas separation plants, wellheads and pumping infrastructure, he said, and the self-proclaimed ISIL ministry of oil headquarters in Mosul, affecting management of illicit oil operations.

      “The Tidal Wave strikes affect ISIL’s ability to fund governance activities and terror operations,” Garver added.

      (Follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter: @PellerinDoDNews)

      DOD

      Delete
  35. Deuce ☂

    i put up a slide show on life in Afghanistan during the sixties, before the Soviets and Washington wrecked the country. I cannot find the post but check this out:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2

    Be sure to click "View as one page" in the lower right corner.

    ReplyDelete
  36. But the pair of massive strikes are just the latest attacks that are likely eroding the militants' combat power.

    During the fight in Fallujah, the Islamic State group suffered more than 1,000 casualties and the Iraqi military detained another 1,000 extremists, said Army Col. Chris Garver, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

    Those forces will be hard to replenish. The estimated flow of foreign fighters heading into Iraq and Syria to join the ranks of the Islamic State group has dropped from more than 2,000 fighters a month last year to current estimates as low as 200 per month, Garver said.

    ReplyDelete
  37. We are probably killing around 2,500 headcutters/month, currently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That doesn't include what the Iraqis, and Kurds, themselves, are killing.

      Delete
  38. Bill Clinton And Loretta Lynch Don’t Have An ‘Optics’ Problem, They Have A Corruption Problem

    If Democrats don't like the optics of the Loretta Lynch-Bill Clinton meeting, they should ask the attorney general to recuse herself.

    June 30, 2016 By David Harsanyi

    Attorney General Loretta Lynch tells us that her meeting with Bill Clinton aboard a private jet on the Phoenix airport’s tarmac was “primarily social”—you know, just the two Democrats swapping stories about their grandkids and whatnot.


    The nation’s top law enforcement official and the former president and husband of the presumptive nominee, who is under federal investigation, had a talk. Rather than conceding that such a private encounter is at the very least a conflict of interest, Democrats preemptively complained about the “optics.” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), for instance, told CNN Lynch “should have steered clear” and that the meeting “sends the wrong signal.”

    What signal is that? Do Coons and every other politician “groaning” about the optics of the meeting understand that they’re arguing for Lynch to recuse herself from the Clinton investigation? As Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who’s been pushing for a special counsel for a while, pointed out, there is a clear ethical duty for an Attorney General to recuse herself at the mere appearance of impartiality—a standard this little meeting clearly meets.


    From the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual:



    The requirement of recusal does not arise in every instance, but only where a conflict of interest exists or there is an appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality.


    Acknowledging that the meeting was bad “optics” is a way for Democrats to intimate that while some rubes might get the wrong idea, there’s really nothing unethical about it. But they can’t know that’s true, can they? One of the parties involved is Bill Clinton, who’s already been impeached for lying under oath and obstructing justice. The other is Loretta Lynch, who’s politicized virtually every major case under her watch.

    It’s David Axelrod’s prerogative to take the two at their word. Others do, as well. “All I can say is Loretta Lynch is one of the most outstanding human beings I have ever known,” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters. “Her ethics are above reproach. No one could ever question her strong feelings about the rule of law, and her ethics are the best.”


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chuck Schumer said. “So, you have two choices, to say this didn’t matter, or she is lying. I think it didn’t matter.”


      Lynch might be Mother Teresa for all we know, but we still have codes of ethics for a reason. Any truly impartial attorney general would have told the former president, “Why don’t we table this meeting until after the high-profile, politically charged criminal investigation of your wife is over.” Would that really have been so difficult?


      Moreover, it’s not like these two randomly bumped into each other at the grocery store or while picking up dry-cleaning. People don’t have a lot of “impromptu meetings” on private jets sitting on the tarmacs at airports. As KNXV ABC 15 television reported, Clinton heard Lynch was en route to that airport, sought her out, and waited there for her arrival. Maybe it was just dumb luck that this happened only a day before Congress released the Benghazi Report, or a few days after the Associated Press published another 165 pages of e-mails Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent via her unsanctioned and unsecure private e-mail server and did not want anyone to see. Or perhaps, as his wife’s stories are becoming increasingly impossible to believe, Bill felt the need to say a few words to the attorney general overseeing the criminal investigations of his wife. Whatever the case, the appearance of a conflict of interest or loss of impartiality is clearly present.


      But given the way this administration treats the law, we can safely assume Lynch will never recuse herself. That will give millions of Americans who already assume the Department of Justice will let Hillary slide no matter where the evidence leads quite a bit of evidence of corruption in the Obama DOJ. If you’re Hillary Clinton and you’re truly innocent, Bill’s little get-together creates even more questions about your shady conduct. Mostly, though, if you want to know why Americans don’t trust their government, this meeting is a pristine example of why.

      http://thefederalist.com/2016/06/30/bill-clinton-and-loretta-lynch-dont-have-an-optics-problem-they-have-a-corruption-problem/

      Delete
    2. Good find, except I posted that above three hours ago:

      Deuce ☂Thu Jun 30, 10:20:00 PM EDT

      Delete
  39. :)

    Hillary was blubbering on reading the Teleprompter recently before her morons.

    Who ever wrote the speech had put in emotion signals for her to do.

    In this case "Sigh"

    So she's reading along and makes her point then says "Sigh"

    Bwahahahahaha

    Hell, they might as well put a mechanical robot up there in place of the human one.

    Ha ha ha ha boo booo boooooooooo

    ReplyDelete
  40. I had once thought that Quirk should get a self driving car. But considering he's now officially "off the sauce" and reading the below, I believe he should still do his own driving --

    Tesla driver killed in crash while using car's 'Autopilot'

    June 30, 2016

    Tesla driver killed in crash while using car's 'Autopilot

    FILE - In this Monday, April 25, 2016, file photo, a man sits behind the steering wheel of a Tesla Model S electric car on display at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing. Federal officials say the driver of a Tesla S sports car using the vehicle’s “autopilot” automated driving system has been killed in a collision with a truck, the first U.S. self-driving car fatality. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at a highway intersection. NHTSA said the Tesla driver died due to injuries sustained in the crash, which took place on May 7 in Williston, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
    More

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- The first U.S. fatality using self-driving technology took place in May when the driver of a Tesla S sports car operating the vehicle's "Autopilot" automated driving system died after a collision with a truck in Florida, federal officials said Thursday.

    The government is investigating the design and performance of Tesla's system.

    Preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer rig made a left turn in front of the Tesla at an intersection of a divided highway where there was no traffic light, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The Tesla driver died due to injuries sustained in the crash, which took place May 7 in Williston, Florida, the agency said. The city is southwest of Gainesville.

    Tesla said on its website that neither the driver nor the Autopilot noticed the white side of the trailer, which was perpendicular to the Model S, against the brightly lit sky, and neither applied the brakes.

    "The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer," the company said. The windshield of the Model S collided with the bottom of the trailer.

    By the time firefighters arrived, the wreckage of the Tesla — with its roof sheared off completely — was hundreds of feet from the crash site where it had come to rest in a nearby yard, assistant chief Danny Wallace of the Williston Fire Department told The Associated Press. The driver was pronounced dead, "Signal Seven" in the local firefighters' jargon, and they respectfully covered the wreckage and waited for crash investigators to arrive.

    The company said this was the first known death in over 130 million miles of Autopilot operation. It said the NHTSA investigation is a preliminary inquiry to determine whether the system worked as expected.

    Tesla says that before Autopilot can be used, drivers have to acknowledge that the system is an "assist feature" that requires a driver to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. Drivers are told they need to "maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle" while using the system, and they have to be prepared to take over at any time, the statement said.

    Autopilot makes frequent checks, making sure the driver's hands are on the wheel, and it gives visual and audible alerts if hands aren't detected, and it gradually slows the car until a driver responds, the statement said.

    Tesla conceded that the Autopilot feature is not perfect, but said in the statement that it's getting better all the time.....

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/self-driving-car-driver-died-205642937.html

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hillary Must Come Clean about Huma Abedin

    The disturbing new revelations about the top Clinton aide's past ties to terrorist-supporting organizations.

    July 1, 2016

    Joseph Klein

    Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Affairs Department website contained a passage extolling jihad: "The Muslims are required to raise the banner of Jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in this world…” (As published by The Middle East Media Research Institute) The Saudi government and some of its influential radical Islamic citizens and groups are pursuing the export of jihad in two ways. The first is through what has been referred to as “civilization jihad.” Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars in funding Sunni mosques, madrasas, and Sunni cultural centers all over the world, which spread the Saudis’ radical Islamic Wahhabi ideology. However, Saudi Arabia’s jihad also includes the support of terrorism. A cable released by WikiLeaks under then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s name stated: "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."

    The Muslim World League is an organization with ties to jihadist terrorist groups, including Hamas and al Qaeda. The Muslim World League was founded by members of the Saudi government. Abdullah Omar Naseef exemplifies the connection between the Saudi government and this terrorist-supporting organization. He served as Secretary-General of the Muslim World League from 1983 to 1993. He also served as Vice-President of the Kingdom’s Shura Council. In addition, he founded the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, which, according to former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew McCarthy, seeks to “grow an unassimilated, aggressive population of Islamic supremacists who will gradually but dramatically alter the character of the West,” and to “infiltrate Sharia principles in our law, our institutions, and our public policy.”

    The Muslim World League escaped being placed on the list of terror groups sanctioned by the United States shortly after the 9/11 attack, reportedly due to concern by President George W. Bush’s administration about embarrassing the Saudi government. Nearly thirteen years later, the Saudi government is still getting a free pass. The American people have still been denied access to the portion of the 9/11 Commission report relating to any Saudi Arabian government ties to the 9/11 hijackers.

    Into this morass steps Huma Abedin, the co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a person likely to have significant influence in a Hillary Clinton White House. Huma Abedin has had murky associations in the past with the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, which not only is a radical Islamist group in its own right but, as Breitbart has reported, was “located in the offices of Saudi Arabia’s Muslim World League.”

    Huma grew up in Saudi Arabia, where she was exposed to the Wahhabi ideology during her formative years. The Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, founded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, has been an Abedin family affair. Huma herself served as the assistant editor of the institute’s journal for a dozen years until she joined Hillary’s State Department. Abdul lah Omar Naseef was on the board of advisers of the journal while Huma was its assistant editor.

    Hillary Clinton owes the American people an explanation of the role that she would foresee for her close confidante, Huma Abedin, in a Hillary Clinton administration. And Huma Abedin owes the American people a full accounting of the associations which she and her family have had with any radical Saudi-backed Islamic groups, such as the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs and its co-located Muslim World League, or radical Islamic Saudi individuals such as Abdullah Omar Naseef.

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    1. It’s not as if Hillary is unaware of Saudi Arabia’s connection to terrorism. As mentioned earlier, a cable sent under Hillary’s name while she was Secretary of State warned that Saudi Arabian donors “constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide." Following the Orlando shooting, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president said: “It is long past time for the Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism.

      It’s also obvious that Saudi Arabia and ISIS share the same basic underlying Islamic supremacist and jihadist ideologies, despite the Saudi government’s protestations that it is committed to fight terrorism.

      For example, ISIS beheads apostates. Saudi Arabia treats apostasy as a capital offense. They are both following literally the path of Prophet Muhammad’s sayings, collected in what is known as the Hadith: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” (Bukhari 9.84.57)

      ISIS kills and persecutes Christians. It destroys Christian holy sites. Saudi Arabia does not allow public worship of any religion other than Islam. It has even arrested Christians praying in a private home. Its religious leader, the Grand Mufti, has called for destruction of all Christian religious sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Smuggling Bibles into the country is a capital offense. Persecution of Christians, Jews and other “non-believers” by ISIS and Saudi Arabia is also based on core Islamic teaching, rooted in the Koran itself. Infidels are regarded as Muslims’ “inveterate enemies.” (Sura 4:101) Muslims are directed to “seize them and put them to death wherever you find them, kill them wherever you find them, seek out the enemies of Islam relentlessly.” (Sura 4:90)

      ISIS beheads suspected homosexuals or throws them off rooftops to die. The Saudi judiciary is calling for capital punishment against homosexuals who display their sexuality in public or on social media. Again, ISIS and Saudi Arabia are both following traditional Islamic teachings. Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying, "Whoever is found conducting himself in the manner of the people of Lot, kill the doer and the receiver." (Hadith: al-Tirmidhi, Sunan 1:152)

      Finally, Saudi Arabia, like ISIS, believes in exporting its Islamic ideology as widely as possible. ISIS has declared its goal to expand until its flag “covers all eastern and western extents of the Earth, filling the world with the truth and justice of Islam.” Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Affairs Department website contained a passage, quoted at the beginning of this article, which talks about raising “the banner of Jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in this world…”

      Huma Abedin was brought up in Saudi Arabia and was subject to the influence of the very kind of Saudi individuals and groups supporting terrorism that Hillary Clinton has warned about. If Hillary is as concerned as she says about Saudi-funded terrorism and its export of radical Islamist ideology, she must fully address the real concern of many Americans that she may bring an individual susceptible to such ideology into the inner circle of the White House.

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/263365/hillary-must-come-clean-about-huma-abedin-joseph-klein

      Delete
  42. More on "Q"Nit: Idaho: Sex Assault -


    Robert Spencer in PJ Media: Obama-Appointed Prosecutor Chills Free Speech in Idaho Migrant Sex Assault

    June 30, 2016 10:27 am By Robert Spencer 26 Comments


    Over at PJ Media, I discuss the attempt to cover up Muslim migrant crime in Idaho, and to criminalize free discussion of what happened there:

    “The Obama administration has on numerous occasions shown its distaste for the First Amendment. Now, in Idaho, an Obama-appointed federal prosecutor has gone to war against it, behaving as if it doesn’t exist.The occasion for this latest Obama salvo against the freedom of speech took place in early June. Residents of Twin Falls, Idaho, dissatisfied with the response they received from government and law enforcement after a brutal assault, began a petition that contended:

    The little girl was at the FAWNBROOK apartment buildings where both her parents and grandmother reside. She was playing in between those two apartment units when 3 boys (from 2 Syrian refugee families, ages 8, 10, 13) pulled a knife on her, held it to her throat, forced her into the laundry unit, stripped her naked, raped, and urinated on her. The 13 year old “coached” the younger boys as he videoed. Due to age restraint the boys could not ejaculate but did urinate on her.

    Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs almost immediately disputed this scenario on numerous particulars:

    “There was no gang rape, there was no Syrian involvement, there were no Syrian refugees involved, there was no knife used, there was no inactivity by the police. I’m looking at the Drudge Report headline: “Syrian Refugees Rape Little Girl at Knifepoint in Idaho” — all false.

    A couple details were incorrect, but Loebs’ string of denials did not challenge the essentials of the story. Loebs obviously knew this, yet he made his statement anyway.

    The perps were not Syrian, but they were Muslim migrants. There was no rape — but there was sexual assault.

    The Twin Falls residents’ petition was revised:

    “This little girl, as stated in the news, was assaulted, and urinated on by three boys under the age of 18. The boys took her into a laundry room and proceeded to take part on the previous stated actions which was videotaped by the eldest boy. The incident as well as the video was submitted to the police department.

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    1. However, due to the ages of the children involved, this case is being sealed. Many people in this community are in awe, and outraged that minimal consequences will be served to these boys and their parents for this vile incident.

      An eyewitness to the incident, Jolene Payne, recounted:

      “This happened three weeks ago around 3:30. I was sitting on my porch patio and I looked over and saw this boy taking pictures with a camera. He was from Africa or somewhere overseas, standing outside the laundry room taking pictures of kids in the laundry room. I found them in there. I knew there was something going on because the boy (with the phone camera) was acting funny, he was taking pictures but he was telling the two younger boys what to do.

      The door was cracked enough for him to see the pictures he was taking. I opened that door and I almost fainted when I saw what was going on and here I’m a nurse. What a pitiful thing for a poor little girl to go through.

      The worst thing was the way they peed all over her clothes and on her too, and I thought that was one of the meanest things I’ve ever saw done. … The little girl had no clothes on. The boys took them off.

      This horrifying story involved Muslim migrants. So the mainstream media went into full cover-up mode. They focused on the inaccuracies in the initial complaints to portray the whole thing as racist, right-wing, anti-immigrant hysteria. That became the dominant theme of media coverage of the story.

      Ultimately, the Obama administration adopted that theme as well. Wendy J. Olson, U.S. attorney for Idaho, warned Twin Falls residents (and others interested in the case):

      “The spread of false information or inflammatory or threatening statements about the perpetrators or the crime itself reduces public safety and may violate federal law.

      She made clear that her primary concern was protecting the Muslim migrants:

      “We have seen time and again that the spread of falsehoods about refugees divides our communities.

      Eugene Volokh, a professor of free speech law, noted in the Washington Post:

      “[T]here is no First Amendment exception for “inflammatory” statements; and even false statements about matters of public concern, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held, are an inevitable part of free debate. … [Olson’s warning] looks like an attempt to chill constitutionally protected speech through the threat of federal prosecution.

      That’s exactly what it is.

      Olson’s statement fits with the Obama administration signing on to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Resolution 16/18, which called on UN member states to work to criminalize “defamation of religion.”

      This subjective term grants enormous power to the person given the authority to determine what it constitutes. The administration noted that nations with protections on the freedom of speech would have to find creative ways to implement the resolution….

      Read the rest here.

      https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/06/robert-spencer-in-pj-media-obama-appointed-prosecutor-chills-free-speech-in-idaho-migrant-sex-assault

      Delete
  43. OK, DOUG, I GET IT NOW WHY YOUR ELECTORAL VOTE IS 1 VOTE DIFFERENT FROM MINE - MAINE

    Your figures are correct, Maine being one of only two states that do not allocate on a winner take all basis, the other being Nebraska.

    Trump will get one electoral vote from the 2nd Congressional District in Maine.

    Excellent work by yourself.

    Trump 280
    Clinton 258

    ReplyDelete

  44. Pamela Geller

    Japan Supreme Court Upholds Government’s Blanket Surveillance of Muslims

    ByPamela Geller on June 30, 2016
    Current Affairs 11 Comments

    Here is a country that is dealing with reality. There is a problem in Islam, and the reason the West is losing this war is that we will not recognize or acknowledge that problem. Japan does.

    This is war, and Japan is taking appropriate measures. If you are a Muslim who rejects the Islamic texts and teachings that call for holy war, creed apartheid, gender apartheid, Islamic Jew-hatred and domination over the unbeliever, then I am sure Japan will welcome you. If not, you should not be welcome in any Western country. This is what is required when a country is at war. Any nation targeted by devout Muslims needs to adopt this measure.

    A group of Japanese Muslims sued the government for invasion of privacy etc. They lost but they were were awarded ¥90 million ($880,000) as compensation due to violation of their privacy by the leak.

    Litigation jihad.

    “Japan Supreme Court Upholds Government’s Blanket Surveillance of Muslims,” By Tiffany Gabbay, TR, June 30, 2016:

    It’s a necessary “safeguard” against terrorism.

    Unlike those beholden to the failed ideology of multiculturalism, some countries don’t mess around when it comes to terrorism. Japan, for instance, has no qualms whatsoever monitoring mosques, halal restaurants, and all Islamic organizations and community centers.

    What’s more, Japan’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s blanket surveillance policy even after being sued. The Independent reports:

    The court struck down the second appeal by Japanese Muslim plaintiffs against what they perceive as an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy and freedom of religion.

    A 2010 leak of 114 police files revealed nationwide surveillance of Japanese Muslims. The files revealed that Muslim places of worship, halal restaurants and Islam-related organisations across the capital, Tokyo, were being monitored.


    A group of 17 Japanese Muslims, mostly from Middle Eastern and North African countries, decided to sue the Japanese government for infringing on their constitutional rights.


    […] The Supreme Court finally dismissed the case after two appeals on 31 May. The plaintiffs were awarded ¥90 million ($880,000) as compensation due to violation of their privacy by the leak.

    The presiding judges only focused on the actual leaking of police files which had begun circulating on the Internet. When it comes to profiling and conducting surveillance of the country’s Muslims and Islamic institutions, however, the court upheld the government’s policy as a “necessary and inevitable” safeguard against Islamic terrorism.

    It’s fascinating — the left loves to embrace and even emulate other cultures until said culture stands up to Islam.

    http://pamelageller.com/2016/06/japan-supreme-court-upholds-governments-blanket-surveillance-of-muslims.html/#sthash.qLC075sQ.dpuf

    ReplyDelete