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."

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Paris in the Springtime



EXPRESS

Marine Le Pen EXTENDS lead in first round of French presidential voting, new polls find

Charlie Bayliss


Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron and Francois Fillon

Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron & Francois Fillon are among the frontrunners for the French election

The Front National leader has cemented her position as the frontrunner to win the first round of voting in the French presidential election on April 23.

An Elabe poll has surging ahead of her nearest rivals and snatching 28 per cent of the vote, while her nearest rival and former frontrunner loiters on 21 per cent of the vote.
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, who visited Theresa May in Downing Street yesterday where he announced he wanted to take banks and academics from Britain to when the UK leaves the clutches of the EU, is struggling on 19 per cent of the vote.

Benoit Hamon, who has been dubbed the French Jeremy Corbyn, is expected to only win just 13 per cent of the vote, according to the same poll.

An Ifop poll puts Le Pen on 26 per cent of the vote, while Macron and Fillon trail on 19 per cent each.
Marine Le Pen refused to wear a headscarfGETTY

Marine Le Pen refused to wear a headscarf when visiting the Grand Mufti in Lebanon
Hamon would snag just 14 per cent of the vote in the same poll.

Despite the positive predictions in the first round of presidential voting for Le Pen, pollsters believe the eurosceptic 48-year-old will struggle in the second round of voting on May 7.

The latest Elabe polls found Macron would clinch 59 per cent of the second round of votes while Le Pen would only win 41 per cent.

Despite a dominant performance from Macron, the Elabe poll found Le Pen had closed the gap gained and extra six per cent of the vote while the former banker dropped the same amount.
Marine Le PenGETTY

Pollsters claim Le Pen will fall short in the second round of the French presidential election
An Opinion Wall poll also found Fillon would crush Le Pen in the second round of voting. After weeks of narrowing gap between the scandal hit conservative and the anti-EU Le Pen, Fillon sits on 57 per cent while the Front National leader is expected to win 43 per cent.

Despite losing the run-off in the second round of voting against Fillon, Le Pen has increased her share of the vote an extra three per cent from the last poll carried out by Opinion Wall while her rival fell by the same tally.

.

86 comments:

  1. I love Marine.

    She told the mufti to fuck off.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The video - ah, Quirk's kind of people.

    To anyone but a friggin bigot the notion of anti-anyone language or actions would be troubling.

    Indeed !

    "Ah, to be young and to be in love and to be in Paris in the springtime"

    Ernest Hemingway

    I wish he were around to give us his thoughts about Paris these days.

    I believe he'd weep.




    ReplyDelete
  3. Marine is running on a Michael Savage like program of Borders, Language, Culture.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Le Pen refuses to wear headscarf, walks out of meeting with Grand Mufti

    FEBRUARY 21, 2017 3:00 PM BY CHRISTINE WILLIAMS

    Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen cancelled a meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti after refusing to wear a headscarf.

    Brava to Marine Le Pen! She is the model of a modern leader who respects human rights and equality for all, unlike her leftist faux-feminist political counterparts of Sweden’s “first feminist government,” who donned headscarves in Iran, and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who sat with a headscarf in the back corner of a mosque while the men prayed. Le Pen refused to bow in shame to a misogynistic culture in which men subjugate women as inferiors.

    The regular use of the term “far-right” to describe sensible politicians such as Le Pen and citizens who refuse to be subjugated by Islamic supremacists is intended to malign them and discredit their fine work.

    Ms Le Pen said that in a meeting in Egypt with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar – considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority in Sunni Islamic thought – she had not been forced to cover her head.

    Photo

    “Marine Le Pen walks out of meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti after refusing to wear headscarf,” by May Bulman, Independent, February 21, 2017:

    Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen cancelled a meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti after refusing to wear a headscarf.

    “You can pass on my respects to the Grand Mufti, but I will not cover myself up,” she told reporters.

    The front National leader was told by Lebanese officials that she would have to wear a veil for her audience with Grand Sunni Muslim Mufti, Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian.

    Video footage shows Ms Le Pen at the entrance to his office shaking her head.

    Ms Le Pen said that in a meeting in Egypt with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar – considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority in Sunni Islamic thought – and she had not been forced to cover her head.

    “He did not have this demand,” said Ms Le Pen. “But it’s not a problem, you can pass on to the Grand Mufti my considerations, but I am not putting the veil on.”

    Once told that customs were different in Lebanon, Ms Le Pen walked out of the building and left in her car.

    Her aides had reportedly been informed before her visit that she would be required to wear a headscarf.

    The anti-immigration politician made a three-day visit to Lebanon this week to meet officials in an effort to bolster her presidential credentials two months before the first round of voting in the French presidential election.

    Polls suggest Ms Le Pen is likely to get the highest proportion of votes in the first round of voting in April, but then lose to a more mainstream candidate in the second round in May…..

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/02/le-pen-refuses-to-wear-headscarf-walks-out-of-meeting-with-grand-mufti


    Far Right my ass.

    She just wants her country back.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LAST NIGHT IN SWEDEN
    Problems? What problems?

    February 22, 2017 Bruce Bawer


    ....At the Times, of course, as I wrote the other day, “fake news” is old news. And “fake news” about Trump has been a staple at that newspaper ever since he rode down that escalator in Trump Tower. But this new bout of “fake news” about Sweden was even more transparently fake than usual. If everything's fine in Sweden, then why the hell are the Sweden Democrats rising in the polls? Hell, if everything's fine in Sweden, why do the Sweden Democrats exist at all? Chan and Baker interviewed a couple of leading Swedish politicians and other top members of Sweden's cultural elite, but they didn't quote any Sweden Democrats.

    Nor did they quote any ordinary Swedes like my many Swedish friends on Facebook, every one of whom gave Trump a full thumbs-up. (Example: “Trump may be clumsy but it is true that we have a crisis in Sweden. It is not about what happened or what didn't happen on a specific night. It is a crisis which has lead to a complete U-turn in the debate about immigration. The self-proclaimed humanitarian superpower has zealously introduced border checks and tougher asylum laws. Attitudes are changing by the hour.”) They didn't quote anybody from the Australian version of 60 Minutes whose crew was physically attacked last year when they tried to report from one of those non-existent no-go zones. They didn't quote the Bosnian immigrant to Sweden who calls himself “The Angry Foreigner” and who has recorded a number of highly informative videos about the Swedish crisis. (On Monday, he posted a new video responding to the whole Trump debacle.)

    They didn't quote Stephen Jerand, chief of police in the Swedish city of Östersund, who three weeks ago urged Swedish women to “adjust their behavior” in order to avoid rape by you-know-who. They didn't quote Swedish police inspector Lars Alvarsjö, who warned last year that the country's police departments and courts were on the verge of collapse because of the crush of immigrant crime. They didn't quote the Swedish cop who told one reporter just the other day that he would never drop his daughter off at the central train station in Stockholm because of the abusive conduct of the Moroccan youths who congregate there. They didn't quote Peter Springare, a police investigator in Örebro, Sweden, who got in trouble with authorities for stating publicly that virtually all of the criminals he deals with are Muslims. They didn't quote Stefan Sinteus, police chief in Malmö, who has complained about the “upward spiral of violence” by Muslim immigrants in that city, Sweden's third largest. They didn't quote any of the other Swedish police officers who last year told Norway's NRK that more than 50 neighborhoods in Sweden were, indeed, no-go areas where “lawlessness reigns.”



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They didn't talk to John Dübeck, who teaches English, considers himself a leftist, and recently reported on Facebook about students of his who admit freely that they want sharia law in Sweden and look forward to a world “where all the whites have been killed.” (Wrote Dübeck: “I know students who've been raped by relatives, but don't dare report it because they're convinced other relatives will kill them....I know students who don't dare remove their hijab because they're afraid of being abused and raped....I know ethnic Swedish students who speak with a [Muslim immigrant] accent, just to avoid being frozen out. I know students who use 'fucking whore' or 'fucking faggot' to address ethnic Swedes.”) They didn't talk to the gutsy Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist, who has powerfully spelled out the truth about Sweden for the Glazov Gang and for Gad Saad. They didn't quote the indispensable Pat Caddell, who in a memorable November 2015 video summed up the Swedish nightmare quite succinctly.

      Nor did they quote any of the dozen-odd pieces I've written on Sweden in the last few years, most recently last week. “Sweden is self-destructing,” I wrote here in December 2013, adding that “even as concerned observers in neighboring Denmark and Norway are sounding the alarm about the fallout of Swedish immigration policies, Sweden's own mainstream media – and the rest of its cultural establishment – are laboring overtime to silence the truth-tellers and keep the rabble from openly questioning the wisdom of their betters.” In the same piece I quoted recent pieces by two savvy Danish Sweden-observers. One of them, Morten Uhrskov Jensen, had published an op-ed entitled “Sweden's Race to the Bottom” in Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's biggest newspaper. It began: “Sweden has chosen to break down.” Jensen proceeded, as I explained,

      to outline the steady slide in the quality of education in Swedish primary schools over the last decade or so...and to link that decline to what Jensen bluntly called the country's “insane immigration policy.” Sweden, warned Jensen, “will have to pay a very high price for its experiment with permitting excessive immigration from dysfunctional states.” ....

      https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265877/last-night-sweden-bruce-bawer

      Delete
  6. CLASH OF THE RADICAL TITANS
    Keith Ellison and Thomas Perez vie for the post of DNC chairman.

    February 22, 2017 John Perazzo

    It is a classic matchup that places the Democratic Party's unwavering commitment to diversity on full display: The two front-runners in this week's election for DNC chairman are a race-obsessed black hate monger and a race-obsessed Hispanic hate monger. The former is Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. The latter is Thomas Perez, who served as Assistant Attorney General in the Obama Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and subsequently as Obama's Secretary of Labor. A clash of titans, if there ever was one.

    Consider, first, Ellison's track record. At various times, he has characterized the U.S. Constitution as “the best evidence of a white racist conspiracy to subjugate other peoples”; advocated slavery reparations as well as the creation of a geographically self-contained “homeland” for black people; and defended the late Nation of Islam spokesman and black supremacist Khalid Abdul Muhammad, who famously rejoiced in the murder of white and Jewish “devils.” From the late 1980s through the late '90s, Ellison spent at least a decade as a spokesman for that same Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan, whose long history of venom-laced references to “white devils” and Jewish “bloodsuckers” is well documented.

    Over the years, Ellison, who is a Muslim convert, has been a featured speaker at major conferences held by such organizations as the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Islamic Society of North America. All of these groups have deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which in turn is the ideological wellspring from which both Hamas and al Qaeda were born.

    Moreover, Ellison's very obvious Jew-hatred only enhances his resumé as a Democratic leader. Aside from his aforementioned ties to the anti-Semitic cesspool known as the Nation of Islam, Ellison in 2010 authored a Congressional letter calling on President Obama to use diplomatic pressure to end Israel's “blockade” of Gaza—a blockade which had been imposed in order to stop Hamas terrorists from continuing to import deadly weaponry for the slaughter of Jews. At a 2010 fundraiser hosted by jihad supporter Esam Omeish, Ellison made plain his belief that Israel played far too large a role in controlling American foreign policy. During a 2014 Israeli military incursion that was launched in response to myriad rocket attacks by Hamas-affiliated terrorists in Gaza, Ellison argued that any ceasefire should be predicated upon Israel ending its Gaza blockade. That same year, Ellison was one of only eight House members to vote against a resolution to increase the amount of U.S. financial aid earmarked to help Israel maintain the Iron Dome missile-defense system that had successfully intercepted hundreds of Hamas rockets aimed at Israeli population centers....

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265884/clash-radical-titans-john-perazzo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Expect investors to continue ditching French equities and selling the euro if the prospects for Marine Le Pen becoming the country’s next president keep strengthening, analysts said.

    The shared currency could drive toward its lowest level of the year against the U.S. dollar on more polling gains by the far-right French politician, they said.

    In the fixed-income market, investors are demanding a higher premium to hold French debt ahead of the first round of voting in France’s presidential election on April 23.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Could the Republicans, and the nation, be so lucky ? -

    Ellison holds edge in DNC race
    BY BEN KAMISAR AND OWEN EAGAN - 02/22/17 06:00 AM EST

    http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/320553-ellison-holds-edge-in-dnc-race

    ReplyDelete
  9. From James Robbins

    President Trump has been remarkably consistent in pursuing the agenda he laid out on the campaign trail: strong borders, good schools, great high-paying jobs, fair trade deals, rebuilding the depleted military, reining in bloated government, and repealing and replacing Obamacare.
    His actions in office are directly related: instituting a federal hiring freeze, directing that two federal regulations be cut for every new one, approving the Dakota Access and Keystone pipelines and mandating that the pipe used in them be made in America, ordering construction of the border wall with Mexico, killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, undermining Obamacare, restricting lobbying by former federal officials, and attempting to temporarily ban refugees from select conflict zones.
    The Trump White House has faced its share of challenges in getting things up and running, such as the departure of national security adviser Michael Flynn and the Democratic-led slow-rolling of the confirmation process. But the news media are making much ado about what is just the rough and tumble of putting a new administration in place.
    Eight years ago, the buzz was about former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson having to bow out from becoming President Obama’s Commerce secretary because of a federal pay-to-play investigation involving Richardson’s political action committee. Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle de- clined a nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services due to tax problems. Taxes also cost Nancy Killefer her prospective job as White House chief performance officer. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and trade representative Ron Kirk were forced publicly to explain their tax irregularities, too, but were later confirmed. Obama’s first-month appointment foibles were so noteworthy that The Washington
    Post assembled a roundtable of eight respected political analysts to discuss what was going wrong.
    Recall also that when President Clinton nominated Janet Reno for attorney general in 1993, she was his third choice — Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood had been knocked out by the Nannygate controversy.
    Polls show divergent results on whether the public approves of the Trump administration’s course. The polls are not as important as the fact that Trump does not care what they say. If he fretted about polling, he never would have been elected in the first place. Trump is not the kind of needy, approval-driven president who even feels it necessary to consult public opinion when naming his dog, as Clinton did.
    It is easy to predict what the Trump White House will do during the rest of its first 100 days. Simply look at what the president has promised. You can bet he will try to deliver. And this is what annoys his critics most.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      If he fretted about polling, he never would have been elected in the first place. Trump is not the kind of needy, approval-driven president who even feels it necessary to consult public opinion when naming his dog, as Clinton did.


      :o)

      Good one.


      .

      Delete
  10. Mika Brzezinski: our job is to control what people think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They certainly have succeeded with Ash.

      Delete
    2. Turned his noggin into a potato.

      Delete
    3. And not just what they think but Exactly what they think....

      BRZEZINSKI: ‘OUR JOB’ IS TO CONTROL ‘EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE THINK’
      ‘He is trying to undermine the media’

      https://news.grabien.com/story-brzezinski-our-job-control-exactly-what-people-think

      She's a damn Harpy with her claws in Ash.

      Their name means "snatchers"

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpy

      Harpies in the infernal wood, from Inferno XIII, by Gustave Doré, 1861

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpy#/media/File:DVinfernoForestOfSuicides_m.jpg

      Delete
    4. They have an unrecognized claw or two into Quirk as well.

      Delete
    5. .

      Their name means "snatchers"


      Always with the potty mouth.

      .

      Delete
  11. Why Le Pen Will Win


    Le Pen Wins Over Women Voters Who Feel Left Behind in France
    by Helene Fouquet
    February 21, 2017, 9:00 PM PST February 22, 2017, 8:27 AM PST

    Anti-EU candidate attracted 2 million women voters since 2012
    Nationalist vows to defend France’s freedom against Islamists


    CFR's Haass Sees Le Pen Building Momentum in France

    French women are starting to picture their next president as a divorced mother of three.

    The anti-euro, anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen has been playing up her gender as she seeks to convert a likely first-round victory into an overall majority in the run-off on May 7 -- and it’s paying off. The 48-year-old National Front leader has already rallied some 2 million additional female voters to her cause since her last run for president in 2012 and she’s betting more will follow.

    “Women are the key,” said Nonna Mayer, a researcher at the Sciences Po institute in Paris who has studied the National Front for 25 years. “These women often abstain and now they are backing Le Pen to protect their jobs and their security.”

    While women make up just over half of the electorate in France they are far less likely to turn out than men, offering a well of untapped support for the candidate who manages to tune into their concerns. Le Pen’s pitch weaves together concerns about immigration, security, and the economic decline of many white French communities into a potent populist brew that borrows freely from U.S. President Donald Trump, blaming “the elite” for the problems of ordinary voters....

    https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-02-22/le-pen-wins-over-the-women-voters-who-feel-left-behind-in-france

    ReplyDelete
  12. Possible mole in security detail of Dutch frontrunner Wilders

    Dutch far right Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders campaigns for the 2017 Dutch election in Spijkenisse, a suburb of Rotterdam, Netherlands, February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Michael Kooren


    Dutch far right Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders campaigns for the 2017 Dutch election in Spijkenisse, a suburb of Rotterdam, Netherlands, February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Michael Kooren


    A Dutch secret service agent who was part of the team responsible for protecting Geert Wilders, the frontrunner in next month's election, has been suspended on suspicion of leaking details to a criminal organization, the secret service said on Wednesday.

    Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam platform that includes closing mosques and banning immigration from Muslim countries that has led to the protection, condemned the alleged breach, saying he cannot function without adequate security.

    Dutch newspapers De Telegraaf and NRC Handelsblad and the country's national broadcaster NOS identified the suspect as an experienced officer in his mid-30s, using his first name and last initial.

    Secret Service chief Erik Akerboom said he could not confirm the man's identity but confirmed media reports he has a "Moroccan background".

    Akerboom told Business News Radio that "as far as we know" Wilders' safety had not been jeopardized.

    Wilders has frequently railed against rogue elements within the Netherlands' Moroccan community and pledged to crack down on "Moroccan scum" who he said were making the streets unsafe as he launched his campaign on Saturday for the March 15 vote.

    The agent who was suspended was one of a team tasked with prescreening locations where Wilders is scheduled to make public appearances. He was not a member of Wilders' physical protection team, Akerboom said.

    "My heavens" Wilders tweeted. "If I cannot blindly trust the service that's supposed to protect me, then I cannot function."

    Prime Minister Mark Rutte met Wilders, his chief opponent in the vote, to discuss the suspension.

    The ANP News agency reported that Rutte declined comment after emerging from the meeting with Wilders and Justice Minister Stef Blok.

    "I can say nothing about these kinds of conversations," Rutte said, repeating his standard response to questions on security measures.

    ALSO IN WORLD NEWS

    British suicide bomber in Iraq had won compensation for Guantanamo stay
    Exclusive: Russia asks energy companies for PR info ahead of election
    Other Dutch politicians reacted with concern, including Wilders' most vocal critic, Alexander Pechtold of the centrist D66 Party.

    "These are very alarming initial reports, and they must be terrible for Wilders to hear," he said in a tweet. "We must not be naive. More clarification quickly, please."

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-election-wilders-idUSKBN1611LB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geert's had his own private security men for years. Maybe he should stick with them.

      Delete
    2. Secret Service chief Erik Akerboom said he could not confirm the man's identity but confirmed media reports he has a "Moroccan background".

      But of course.

      Delete
    3. Sweden needs a Geert Wilders, or a Marine Le Pen.

      Someone willing to point the finger of blame right where it belongs.

      Someone willing to fight for their own culture.

      Delete
    4. Someone named Erik Vendel perhaps, with red hair.

      Delete
  13. February 22, 2017
    The Left: False Premises and Suicidal Actions
    By James Lewis

    ....When Trump won the last election by running circles around the media-political complex, fifty million liberals went stark raving mad, and they haven't come down yet. You always pay a price for living in a world of lies.

    ​Germany's ​Angela Merkel, a bona fide leftocrat, tells us that Muslim hate propaganda and violence have nothing to do with Islam. Apparently she hasn't read the Qur'an lately, or she believes that the Crusades (which ended in the 12th century) show how violent Christianity really is.

    But being stuck in ​self-delusion won't solve the threat of jihad, and Mutti Merkel is now considered to be batty to the eyeballs ​by her own ​voters. With luck, they will turn her out soon, and ​maybe ​try a saner candidate​.

    What liberals never, ever learn is that jihad is a basic dogma of Islam. It is Allah's command to indoctrinate children to hate Jews and Christians and atheists, one of the five duties every Muslim must obey. The strategy and tactics of Islam are ruthless intimidation and terrorism. Every suicide-bomber is sent to accomplish very specific military objectives, including scaring enemies into surrender, sabotaging other beliefs, and getting folks like ​Obama to block U.S. domestic ​energy production. (The Saudis pay big bucks to Green Democrats ​if they can block our coal and oil.) These are all carefully considered military objectives.

    ​We think of jihadi as mad. But they aren't mad; they are ​just ​deeply indoctrinated, like Japanese pilots diving ​their planes ​into American carriers at the Battle of ​Okinawa.

    Holy War cults aren't technically mad. In their own ​terms of reference they are sane and extremely dangerous.

    ​You will never talk them out of their beliefs as long as they can keep killing you.​ They will only be stopped when they are defeated, militarily and psychologically....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/02/the_left_false_premises_and_suicidal_actions.html

      Delete
  14. .

    Great Picture of Trump


    Once Trump sees this picture you can bet we will see it again; either in the dining room at the White House, on campaign ads for 2020, or on the $20 dollar bill replacing Harriet Taubman.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Naw.

      Harriet will retain her place.

      A new $1,000 bill will be designed, with the 1% in mind, and The Donald will grace that.

      Delete
    2. Maxine should fill the bill!

      Maxine Waters Calls Cabinet Picks: 'Bunch of Scumbags'...

      http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/02/democrat-maxine-waters-calls-trump-cabinet-picks-bunch-scumbags-video/

      Delete
    3. .

      The Monopoly game is being update. Maybe they could put it on the front of the box to replace that other old fart.

      .

      Delete
  15. Trappist 1 System, only 40 light years away, must have life !

    7 earth sized planets in the Goldilock's zone.

    Fox News

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      I liked Cavuto's observation. If there are 7 'earth like' planets out there in the system, it's likely one has a President Trump who hates the other six.

      That might be taking the comparisons a little far, but still...


      .

      Delete
    2. They're out there, that's fer sure.

      Delete
    3. Good to know you're getting your head straight by watching Fox, by the way.

      Delete
  16. ‘Cheerleader’ does cartwheels during a sobriety test. Things go sideways.

    http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/nation-world/national/article134245959.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      She should have stopped after the first cartwheel.

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

    ReplyDelete
  18. Rebuild the Santa Barbara Mosque
    Help us Build a New Home for the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara, after our Mosque sustained extensive damages in a fire.

    We Must Rebuild Together
    In a time where we have seen so much hate in the news, we have seen an outpouring of love from the local Santa Barbara community in support of the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara.

    For the last ten year's our Mosque has been on the top floor of a two-story complex in Goleta. Sadly, last night our Mosque sustained extensive damages as most of this complex was burnt down. As of now we don't know the cause of the fire, but at a time when we need our Mosque home more than ever this is absolutely devastating for our community.
    We call on you people of good will from throughout Santa Barbara, from California, and around the world to help us rebuild. All money collected will go for the immediate needs of the community and towards building a permanent home for the ISSB.
    Please Support and Share Widely.

    https://www.launchgood.com/project/rebuild_the_santa_barbara_mosque#/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Family Endures More Than Business Losses in Goleta Commercial Structure Fire

      Blaze destroyed personal possessions stored in Ward Drive building that housed Mission City Fumigation, Islamic Society and other tenants

      Other tenants in the building include Derrick’s Roofing, Above All Storage, the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project, Augie’s Water Systems, Gold Crest Inc. and the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara, according to a sign near the entrance.

      After sustaining extensive damage in the blaze, the Islamic Society is looking to raise $100,000 to rebuild its mosque, which has been located on the second floor of the charred building for 10 years.

      https://www.noozhawk.com/article/family_endures_more_than_business_losses_goleta_commercial_structure_fire

      Delete
    2. I wonder if their stocks of AR-15s are still usable.

      Delete
    3. That Afghanistan Dental Relief Project sounds phony as hell.

      Afghanistan is on the other side of the world.

      It's a front, and a ruse.

      Delete
    4. It's a cavity in our culture.

      Quirk wants it to become a feature.

      ...then the headliner/chopper.

      Delete
    5. .

      From today's Times of Israel...


      BDS activist raises $56,000 for vandalized Jewish cemetery

      BDS activist raises $56,000 for vandalized Jewish cemetery

      Palestinian-American Linda Sarsour says she hopes crowdfunding effort will help bring ‘a sense of security’ to US Jews...


      .

      Delete
    6. .


      Evidently, many realize that the bigotry evident in much of the country is pretty disgusting.


      .

      Delete
    7. .

      Quirk wants it to become a feature.

      ...then the headliner/chopper.



      Ol' Doug blowing it out of his ass again.


      His motto: If you can't say something intelligent or clever, at least say something.


      .

      Delete
    8. Just demonstrating how easy it is to pull your string to elicit the bigotry meme.

      Delete
    9. .

      Oh, it's always easy with you, Doug.

      You are what we call the low hanging fruit.

      .

      Delete
    10. That story from The Times of Israel sounds like fakeroo news to me.

      At the very best it's propaganda....

      Those are my hunches.

      Delete
    11. At least Doug is fruit.

      I often think of SMIRK'n'QUIRK as ground tubers.

      With SMIRK it's obvious to all.

      Delete
    12. .


      That story from The Times of Israel sounds like fakeroo news to me.


      :o)

      Channeling Trump again?


      Maybe, you can take Kellyanne's job when she gets booted.

      .


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

      Delete
    14. .

      I often think of SMIRK'n'QUIRK as ground tubers.


      This from Idaho Bob aka 'The Turnip'.


      .

      Delete
  19. I'm sure the fine folks of Santa Barbara will just let them use the Mission. Or perhaps those excellent individuals over in Monticeto will let them in their dining halls.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does a resident of Burr Oak know so much about Santa Barbara?

      Delete
    2. (15 Miles from the Geographic Center)

      Delete
  20. Seven Alien 'Earths' Found Orbiting Nearby Star

    The Earth-size worlds orbit a star just 39 light-years away, and most may have the right conditions to host liquid water on their surfaces.

    Illustration of a dwarf star
    An illustration shows the view from just above one of the middle planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system, which is now known to host seven Earth-size worlds.

    ILLUSTRATION BY M. KORNMESSER, SPACEENGINE.ORG/ESO

    By Nadia Drake
    PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 22, 2017

    Seven rocky planets orbiting a nearby star may be roughly the size of Earth and could even be right for water—and maybe life—to adorn their surfaces, researchers announced Wednesday.


    The planets, which circle a star called TRAPPIST-1 just 39 light-years away, are tucked together so tightly that they routinely spangle each others’ skies, sometimes appearing as shimmering crescents and at other times as orbs nearly twice as large as the full moon.

    “The spectacle would be beautiful,” says the University of Cambridge’s Amaury Triaud, coauthor of a study describing the otherworldly heptad that appears in the journal Nature.

    The TRAPPIST-1 system is now tied with several others that have seven planets for the greatest number of planets in a stellar system other than our own (which has eight, not counting dwarf planets like Pluto). The system’s existence suggests that Earth-size planets are much more plentiful than previously imagined.

    And now, it’s among the best neighborhoods to study for signs of life beyond Earth: The relative sizes of the planets and star, plus the system’s proximity, mean that plucking the signatures of living, breathing organisms from the planet’s atmospheres could be within reach.....

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/seven-planets-not-aliens-nasa-earth-space-science/

    ReplyDelete
  21. .

    Judge Napolitano on FOX indicates some talking points of Trump's new immigration order is being 'leaked' by the White House.

    :o)

    The judge says the new order 'bans immigration from 'all countries' worldwide who have immigration standards that do not meet those of the US.'

    In theory, it would probably be a permanent ban on immigration since there are very few countries that have programs in place that are as rigorous as ours and of those that do most of them are enemies.

    But let's talk reality, just as Trump's new immigration rules allow for the deportation of any illegal aliens 'guilty of a crime' opens the door for the deportation of all illegals since they are already guilty of a crime when they entered the US, this new plan can allow Trump's Muslim ban through selective application. For instance, count on all Western European countries 'meeting our standards'.

    Quirk's opinion: Another bullshit sop to parts of his base.

    Though a tighter vetting process, if it is possible, may be a good thing, Trump's ban is likely to be of little value other than in generating headlines and pumping up the right wing yahoos.

    Trump says the initial 7 countries on his list offered the most danger to the US. Complete bullshit. Look at what's going on in Europe. Thousands of European have left their home countries and gone to the ME to fight with radical groups there. Many of them have returned to Europe and create a danger there.

    How does this apply to Trump?

    Currently, whether Trump likes it or not, the US has a strict vetting system in place for refugees. What it doesn't have is a policy dealing with visitors from Europe. Any one of those people discussed above who are not on a no-fly list can hop on a plane and be in the US within a few hours without even having to have a visa. This presents a far greater danger to the US than the current vetting system for Syrian refugees.

    And as we've seen, the home grown terrorist lone-wolves (Boston, San Bernadino, Orlando(?) [hard to say with the Orlando guy what his motivation was] have presented and still present the greatest danger to us.

    Trump's priorities are screwed up. Same approve of that.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk's opinion = bullshit sop

      Currently, whether Trump likes it or not, the US has a strict vetting system in place for refugees.

      Then why are about 15-20 % of the illegal aliens in our country refugees from Central America ?

      What it doesn't have is a policy dealing with visitors from Europe.

      Last I knew the USA wasn't part of the EU.

      I need a passport to even go to Canada.

      Visitors from Europe need a passport to enter here, last I knew of it.

      Am I wrong ?

      Then this:

      Any one of those people discussed above who are not on a no-fly list can hop on a plane and be in the US within a few hours without even having to have a visa.

      But then, as you had said before: Currently, the US has a strict vetting system in place for refugees

      None of this makes a lick of sense, of course.

      I conclude:

      Quirk's sippin' the Black Velvet Whisky again

      Mellowed out and listening to:

      Alannah Myles - Black Velvet

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT4d1LQy4es

      Soooo Smoooooooth...

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

      Delete
    3. .

      Why ask why, Bob.

      It's really pretty simple.

      It's obvious you don't know the difference between a refugee and an illegal alien.

      It's obvious you don't know what the 'Visa Waiver Program' is or what countries are on it.

      It's obvious you don't know the requirements for those needing to get a visa.

      It's pretty obvious you don't know much about immigration policy.

      [It's possible some portion of that 15%-20% from Central America you are talking about could qualify for refugee status and admitted 'legally' to the US IF they were first vetted by the UN, referred for settlement to the US, and accepted through the US' own vetting program if in fact they were political rather than economic refugees. Until then they are just illegal aliens.]

      .

      Delete
  22. "there are very few countries that have programs in place that are as rigorous as ours "

    ===

    You are so full of shit.
    ...then again, the MSM IS your gospel.

    Truth from the MSM for a change:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/us/san-bernardino-attacks-us-visa-process-tashfeen-maliks-remarks-on-social-media-about-jihad-were-missed.html?_r=0

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This right wing yahoo thinks government "workers" might be able to checkout Facebook occasionally.

      Delete
    2. Tashfeen was SO hard to spot.

      ...to those who ascribe bigotry to anyone with common sense.

      Delete
    3. You are so full of shit.
      ...then again, the MSM IS your gospel.


      Doug

      Doug, see my:

      Idaho BobWed Feb 22, 05:47:00 PM EST

      as confirmation of your views.

      Delete
    4. Here Quirk:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCphbDRkZSo

      Chill, Dude.

      Delete
    5. Versus the Passively Programmed. tm

      Delete
    6. (Melissa would walk across the fire for you Quirk-O, the only one)

      Delete
    7. Meld Melissa and Marine Le Pen, you got somethin'.

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

      Delete
    9. .

      :o)

      You two make my day. I keep coming here for the laugh riot you provide. [Admittedly, I'm addicted to black humor.]

      "there are very few countries that have programs in place that are as rigorous as ours "

      Once again, you cut and paste and leave out the context. Here is the context...

      The judge says the new order 'bans immigration from 'all countries' worldwide who have immigration standards that do not meet those of the US.'

      In theory, it would probably be a permanent ban on immigration since there are very few countries that have programs in place that are as rigorous as ours and of those that do most of them are enemies.

      But let's talk reality...


      So, instead of looking at the context, instead of noting the difference between the theoretical and the practical, instead of providing examples of other countries that have more stringent immigration policies (other than those run by autocrats or dictators) he cites one example of where the US system failed. And even in doing so, he makes my point.

      And for the two yahoos who missed my point or never really looked for it, this is it...

      Trump's priorities are screwed up.

      He worries about the vetting of refugees from the ME yet ignores the real dangers in our immigration system.

      The wife of the San Bernadino terrorist didn't come here as a refugee, she came in legally under the K-1 Visa program.

      This from the link Doug thoughtfully put up...

      After the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, a furor arose over whether the United States should accept Syrian refugees. Governors in more than two dozen states balked at accepting any. But the vetting for refugees is a separate, longer and more rigorous process than the checks for K-1 and most other immigrant visas. And there is an extra layer of scrutiny for Syrians, who are referred to a national security and fraud office at the Department of Homeland Security for a final look. In that last step, officers can include a social media search, federal officials said.

      But will the twins believe their lying eyes even when they put up the link? Don't count on it. They scan for trigger words. Their eyes cloud over when confronted by other facts.

      And Doug, do as Bob asks and go to...

      Idaho BobWed Feb 22, 05:47:00 PM EST

      for his imprimatur on your thoughts.

      Also, if you have time and your eyes don't cloud over, see my response to it.

      .

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

      Delete
    11. .

      This right wing yahoo thinks government "workers" might be able to checkout Facebook occasionally.


      Once again, I suggest you read all the article including the notes and corrections at the end.

      The original version of this article, based on accounts from law enforcement officials, reported that Tashfeen Malik had “talked openly on social media” about her support for violent jihad.

      On Wednesday, however, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said that online communications about jihad by Ms. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, involved “direct, private messages.” His remarks indicated that the comments about jihad were not made in widely accessible social media posts.


      .

      Delete
  23. FOREIGN Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said North Korea’s “provocative behaviour” was discussed at length in her first face-to-face meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

    ...

    Ms Bishop said Mr Tillerson was very focused on some of the challenges facing South-East Asia, including the rise of terrorism.

    ...

    “As IS comes under more pressure in the Middle East, it wants to see more attacks elsewhere,” said terrorism expert, Sidney Jones.

    ReplyDelete
  24. CLASSIC TUCKER

    Tucker vs. The No Gal

    http://hotair.com/archives/2017/02/22/tuckers-guest-to-trump-way-more-people-have-protested-than-were-at-your-nazi-inaguration/

    That gal ain't no Snowflake.

    She's hell and hail and high water....

    ReplyDelete
  25. The deputy Liberal leader said there was "enormous goodwill" between the two governments but no request had been made for more Australian troops to join ongoing military operations in the Middle East, but any future request would be considered carefully by the Turnbull government.

    "We're talking in terms of Australia's contribution over many years, so we have a particular perspective and insight that we wanted to share with the new administration."

    Ms Bishop confirmed the government has invited Secretary Tillerson, the former boss of international oil giant Exxon Mobil, to visit Australia this year for annual bilateral talks.

    ReplyDelete

  26. The Trump Bump or the Trump Surge displayed in charts
    http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-trump-bump-or-trump-surge-displayed.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Wall Street loves him.

      For now.


      When it comes to my investments I love him too.

      For now.


      .

      Delete
  27. In commodities, oil prices gained in early Asian trade after data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a surprise drop in U.S. crude stocks last week. Official data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration is expected on Thursday.

    U.S. crude (CLc1) added 0.8 percent to $54.02.

    The stronger dollar dragged gold lower, with the precious metal (XAU=) slipping 0.1 percent to $1,236.90 an ounce.

    ReplyDelete