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."
It's so much easier just to be a poor honest faux farmer.
ReplyDeleteIn a new study aimed at collecting and analyzing all of the relevant facts surrounding President Donald Trump’s legally questionable conduct in office—particularly his firing of former FBI director James Comey—three lawyers conclude it is “likely” that Trump has obstructed justice, and that whether he is held accountable for his actions “will have significant consequences for the functioning of our democracy.”
ReplyDelete...
The study goes on to highlight several pieces of evidence that could form a cumulative case that Trump obstructed an ongoing investigation, including:
* Trump’s “fabrication” of his initial reason for firing Comey (which was that Comey poorly handled the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server);
* Trump’s role in crafting his son Donald Trump Jr.’s “inaccurate statements about the purpose of his meeting with a Russian lawyer” during the 2016 presidential campaign;
* Trump’s threat to Comey that he “better hope there are no ‘tapes'” of their conversations;
...
According to a Public Religion Research Institute survey in August, 40 percent of Americans believe Trump should be impeached—up 10 percentage points over a period of six months.
What's a Public Religion Research Institute doing in the business of casting faux political aspersions ?
DeleteThey would do better tracking the decline of the ELCA:
http://www.elca.org/
and the rise of new Protestant churches and the Mormons, or some such.
Sorry, bobal head, but you have no idea, at all, of what the bus i ness of the Public Religion Research Institute is.
DeleteThe Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of different topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political issues as they relate to religious values.
Not studying Mormonism or some such.
You prove my point, ratso.
DeleteThey should change their name.
They don't seem to be really researching religion at all, but politics.
specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political issues
DeleteFancy way of saying they're in the polling bus i ness.
A polling company with an agenda, too.
DeleteHard to keep up -
ReplyDeleteIMF: Venezuela Inflation May Rise Beyond 2,300%....DRUDGE
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-10/imf-sees-venezuelan-inflation-rate-rising-beyond-2-300-in-2018
We also have appended a number of documents that form the factual and legal basis for this white paper. Appendix A contains a factual chronology with the sources we relied on as well as a copy of former FBI Director James Comey’s statement for the record before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
ReplyDeleteAppendix B contains copies of the federal obstruction laws and other relevant criminal statutes. Appendix C contains the authorities governing Special Counsel Mueller, including the Department of Justice’s special counsel regulations and the order defining his jurisdiction.
...
Finally, one crucial caveat that is important to note: the publication of this paper comes at a time when our understanding of the facts is still developing and without the benefit of the investigative tools that a prosecutor (or even a defense attorney) might employ. While we fully expect that our understanding of the facts relevant to this case will improve in the weeks and months ahead, we believe that the analysis we provide and the precedents we have collected will be relevant to the discussion regardless of what the investigations by Special Counsel Mueller and by Congress uncover.
The Case of Trump
Finally, one crucial caveat that is important to note: the publication of this paper comes at a time when our understanding of the facts is still developing....
DeleteWell, at least they're honest, and admit they're full of made up shit.
Honest, unlike The New York Times.
DeleteAnd The Washington Compost.
DeleteVenting or ranting, bobal head, can't really tell.
DeleteAlways demanding that other people 'change', to suit you and your sense of political correctness.
Such a liberal you truly are, Draft Dodger.
Now, now, ratso, you know the new rules here.
DeleteBe polite.
President Donald Trump "likely obstructed justice" when he fired FBI Director James Comey and could face impeachment, according to an analysis from the Brookings Institution.
ReplyDeleteThe liberal-leaning think tank released a 108-page report on the issue Tuesday.
...
Should Mueller find that Trump did indeed obstruct justice, he either could refer the issue to Congress, as was done with the Nixon-Watergate scandal, or pursue an indictment against Trump and prosecute, according to the report.
Bannon called it early on. Firing Comey the biggest political mistake in history.
Delete"Modern" political history ...
DeleteYeah, he did correct himself.
Delete15 Minutes to Live
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/36426106/if-nkorea-attacks-hawaii-youll-have-minutes-to-prepare-heres-what-the-state-wants-you-to-do
Haven't read it yet but will.
DeleteBut just guessing......
State of Hawaii wants you to pay up your taxes ?
Aha -
DeleteGet inside, stay inside and stay tuned.
And if one is in a bar, just keep drinking.
On a wave.....keep surfin', I guess.....
I'm not criticizing the advice.
I can't think of anything any better.
The Tube.
Delete1. Get out of your car.
Delete2. Stay sheltered for 2 weeks.
3. Stock emergency kits with:
- 2 weeks food and water
- AM radio
- lighter
- compass
- CamelBak water carrier
- cell phone
- fire starters
- energy bars
- first-aid
- canteen
Facebook to donate $1 million to Wine County fire relief
ReplyDeleteThat should cover it. Hope it doesn't bankrupt facebag.
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Facebook-donate-zuck-Wine-County-fire-12268038.php
Nuclear weapons could proliferate throughout the region if the world fails to stop North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has warned.
ReplyDeleteBut Ms Bishop believes Pyongyang could be prevented from threatening its neighbours "if we make it clear that any attack against the US or its allies will be met with an overwhelming response", and has not given up on deterrence through diplomatic means.
...
"It's a campaign of constant and increasing pressure on North Korea with the aim of compelling North Korea to return to the negotiating table."
In another sign of her determination to isolate North Korea, Ms Bishop this week blocked a North Korean soccer team from visiting Australia to play in the Asian Football Confederation U-19 Championship in country Victoria.
Had to look her up -
DeleteJulie Bishop - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Bishop
In December 2014, Bishop became only the second female Acting Prime Minister of Australia, after Julia Gillard (who served in the capacity at various points between 2007 to 2010, before becoming Prime Minister in 2010).
Julie Bishop - Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, The ...
foreignminister.gov.au/Pages/biography-bishop.aspx
Julie Bishop is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Australia's Federal Coalition Government. She is also the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and has served as the Member for Curtin in the House of Representatives since 1998.
The Hon Julie Bishop MP | Prime Minister of Australia
www.pm.gov.au/your-government/hon-julie-bishop-mp
Deputy Goaltender.
DeleteHARVEY OFF TO REHAB....DRUDGE HEADLINE
ReplyDeleteWell, good, I guess.....at the very least it's a handy way to get oneself out of the headlines.....
He'll learn about the care and treatment of potted plants.
DeleteCiting claims made by Lauren Sivan, a local New York reporter who alleged Weinstein had exposed himself to her and masturbated into a potted plant, Colbert joked,
“Pro tip: if you ever have dinner at Harvey Weinstein’s house, avoid the fresh basil.”
http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/10/colbert-mocks-harvey-weinstein/
Kauai hotel accused of discriminating after nearly canceling drag pageant
ReplyDeleteNice video.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/clip/13801959/kauai-hotel-accused-of-discriminating-after-nearly-canceling-drag-pageant
The Machinist
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL15Fvgg7L8
HMMMM....
ReplyDeleteOctober 10, 2017
Why did the New York Times go after Harvey Weinstein, one of its own?
By Thomas Lifson
Has nobody else noted the movie project apparently being dropped with Harvey out of the picture?
When the New York Times story on Harvey Weinstein's sexual predation broke, I speculated that the reason the Times would go after a stalwart Dem donor was the irresistible nature of the scoop, and the prospect of it being lost, once the "O'Connor Memo" (an internal Weinstein Company report) was being leaked.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, a regular AT contributor, has a different perspective and emailed me:
My opinion: He was no longer truly one of their own. At the annual Algemeiner Dinner in NYC, Weinstein openly praised the Israelis and how they are willing to fight. He said he loves Israel...and admires how the Israelis use weapons to protect themselves. He contrasted the Israelis with the misfortune of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto who did not, unfortunately, he said, have guns. Indeed, he announced, as he had a few months previously, that he was in the midst of preparing and making a movie about the Warsaw Ghetto. He loved fighting Jews, he said.
Nothing irks and riles the N.Y. Times more than someone who is a proud, vocal supporter of Israel, believes in Jews fighting in their own defense, physically and with guns...especially if that person is a liberal and Democrat. That cannot be allowed! And to boot, equating Israel's efforts against the Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians with the Warsaw Ghetto. They could never allow that. No way! So they brought him down. They have dossiers on many they don't use until they need to make an example.
According to your blog post, Weinstein said he was temporarily going to stop making movies...in other words, including the Warsaw Ghetto movie. That was the response they wanted, the quid pro quo. And his repentance for abusing women was, get this, to work against the NRA. That's his mea culpa? But you see, their problem was his position on guns. So that's the mea culpa. Sexual sins are forgiven if one agrees to work against gun ownership.
No, the Times was not being an equal tormentor to all, rather setting an example to destroy one of their own who had strayed too far from the reservation by supporting an armed and victorious Israel. The Times despises a strong Israel as much as it hates Donald Trump.
Update. Ethel C. Fenig calls our attention to a similar hypothesis from J.J. Gross in the Times of Israel.
Can it be because barely a month ago, Weinstein announced his plan to direct a movie based on Leon Uris's epic Warsaw Ghetto novel 'Mila 18'? Can it be because Weinstein, despite his bleeding heart liberalism, despite his having shoveled truckloads of dollars into the Obama coffers, despite his blind obeisance to the Clinton corruption machine, crossed the Israel-hating Time's red line and declared himself a Zionist and a lover of Israel?.......
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/why_did_the_new_york_times_would_go_after_harvey_weinstein_one_of_its_own.html#ixzz4vAMVXC00
American Pravda, NYT
DeleteJust remember in Australia:
ReplyDeleteliberal = conservative
labor = democrat
Minister for Foreign Affairs = Secretary of State
You folks always have everything upside down.
DeleteActually the old classical definition of liberal would better suit the conservative parties of today than the lefties, so you folks have it right.
DeleteNFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday wrote a letter to all 32 league owners regarding the protests that have taken place during the national anthem, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
ReplyDeleteIn the letter, which Schefter shared on his Facebook page, Goodell wrote that the “current dispute over the National Anthem is threatening to erode the unifying power of our game, and is now dividing us, and our players, from many fans across the country.”
Indeed, the welcome for the Chargers has been short of a group hug. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Rams fan, said in a recent radio interview that the city will “embrace any team that comes” and is “certainly happy to have the Chargers.”
ReplyDeleteBut he added that L.A. “could have been happy with just [the Rams] too.”
All of this has prompted questions about whether the team would actually consider moving back to San Diego. For now, that has been quashed, with the team noting they have already committed tens of millions to their facilities in the L.A. area.
“Jemele Hill has been suspended for two weeks for a second violation of our social media guidelines,” ESPN said in a statement. “She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet.”
ReplyDeleteThe network previously censured her for calling Mr. Trump a “white supremacist.” ESPN did not specify which of Ms. Hill’s tweets ran afoul of its policy.
On Sunday night, Ms. Hill suggested in a series of tweets that fans and advertisers boycott the Dallas Cowboys.
This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
She later clarified that she was not calling for a boycott.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said ESPN’s ratings have “tanked” in part because of Ms. Hill.
With Jemele Hill at the mike, it is no wonder ESPN ratings have “tanked,” in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017
The owner also isn't violating constitutional rights as long as he's addressing the players' conduct in the workspace, First Amendment legal expert Chad Baruch told SportsDay.
ReplyDelete...
"Having said that, all of us should be very wary of a world where employers make employment decisions based on political beliefs. All of us can understand in the long run why that might not benefit society.
But that's a values issue, not a First Amendment issue."
NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath is a Fox News regular — frequently stopping by as a guest on many of the network’s programs. But during an appearance Tuesday on Fox & Friends, Broadway Joe did not toe the Fox line while speaking about the NFL protests.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Bowl-winning New York Jets quarterback spoke out in support of the cause of the protests — shining a light on racial and social oppression in the United States.
A football player at Division III Albright College in Reading has been dismissed from the team after taking a knee during the National Anthem on Saturday.
ReplyDelete...
School officials say Durante remains enrolled as a business major. He did not respond to requests for comment.
.
ReplyDeleteTrump Expected to Dump Iran Nuclear Agreement in Congress' Lap
Trump is expected to decertify the Iran Nuclear Agreement this Thursday not because Iran isn't following the letter of the agreement, they are, and the UN and key allies (the UK, France) agree that they are. No, he is going to decertify them because he says they are violating the 'spirit' of the agreement.
This is a typical CYA move by Trump. It's a way of shifting responsibility and blame and as we've seen over the past 9 months it is classic, right out of the Trump playbook. By decertifying the agreement he can say he did his part. However, that act is meaningless unless sanctions are reinstated. So Trump dumps that part of it on Congress. In Trump world, winning becomes secondary to not being seen as losing.
If the reports are correct and Trump ends up decertifying the agreement, whatever bad that happens will be blamed on Congress.
If the US decertifies the Iran deal, the US brand and our credibility will be further diminished by Trump's actions. The British Embassy, following Trump's lead, put out their own tweet on the agreement...
https://twitter.com/ukinusa/status/916061153335349249
.
Some 'deal'.
DeleteA majority of Congress including all republicans and some democrats opposed the deal.[3
wiki
And, it's not a 'deal' it's a treaty. It should have been passed in the Senate by - what it it ? - 2/3rds ?, 60% ?
And there are no inspection rights on Iran's military facilities, among other farces.
What do you suppose is going on there ?
And then there are the missiles....
Back in Congress' lap is probably where it should be, giving them another chance to do it right, or not at all.
Wasn't it the cockroach Corker that pulled some cork out of his arse that got it through someway ?
DeleteWhy, yes it was:
The Deciding Vote for Obama’s Iran Deal Was Bob Corker, Not Barbara Mikulski
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/03/the-deciding-vote-for-obamas-iran-deal-was-bob-corker-not-barbara-mikulski/
Hell, Quirk, in your personal business you wouldn't sign a 'deal' with so many flaws like that.
DeleteIt would really test even your skills to create a passable ad campaign for this flawed product.
DeleteWrong, again, bobal head.
DeleteIt is an "Agreement", not a Treaty ... If it was a Teaty, it would not require to be certified, every 90 days.
But as an "Agreement", the US can negate the "Agreement", if it is violated by the Iranians ... Which they have not done.
The Iranians ARE in conpliance
Mr Trump, being an Apprentice President, just does not know how to govern.
So much to do, so few skills
Convicted murderer kills again less than a year after being released from a life sentence for ‘strikingly similar’ attack
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4657820/convicted-murderer-kills-again-less-than-a-year-after-being-released-from-a-life-sentence-for-strikingly-similar-attack/
ReplyDeleteThe Deciding Vote for Obama’s Iran Deal Was Bob Corker, Not Barbara Mikulski
Mr Corker voted NO on passage, a recorded reality.
If that had been the deciding vote, bobal head, there would have been no Agreement.
Bteitbart Pravda
DeleteWe understand your confusion, it comes from using a RINO source
One that is, in reality, trying to destroy the Republican Party.
But the budget busting neoRepublicans that have rallied to the economic nationalism propagated by the Bannon/Trump perpetual campaign is a dismal fiscal policy that will bankrupt the country.
DeleteAs experts in bankruptcy, that is where the Bannon/Trump neoRepublican ideology will take US.
Militarism with no fiscal responsibility, the Bannon/Trump program
Newsweek: ISIS may be withholding proof that Las Vegas shooting was jihad in order to discredit FBI
ReplyDeleteOCTOBER 10, 2017 2:17 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER
“If Islamic State did indeed cultivate Paddock, as it has claimed was the case, the group surely has some evidence of its engagements with him. If it does, it may be the case the group is waiting on FBI and other agencies to dismiss its claim of responsibility for the Las Vegas attack before posting contradictory evidence online for the world to see. Islamic State has been very focused on undermining confidence among civilians in the West that their technologically-superior governments are competent managers of our collective security.”
No one should have confidence in the FBI at this point anyway. Bruce Joiner, the security guard wounded in the May 2015 jihad attack at a free speech event in Garland, Texas co-organized by Pamela Geller and me, is suing the FBI for allowing its undercover agent to aid ISIS in plotting that attack. There are many, many unanswered questions about what happened at Garland, and about what the FBI was doing there. 60 Minutes ran a feature last March about the FBI’s curious role in the Garland jihad plot. It was, predictably enough, viciously biased, sloppy, and incomplete, but it was nonetheless illuminating in raising a hard and unanswerable question: did the FBI want Pamela Geller and me dead?
CBS did a good job of highlighting a curious and still unexplained aspect of the attack: the FBI clearly knew the attack was coming (although it didn’t bother to inform us or our security team), as the FBI agent was right there, following behind the jihadis, whom he had encouraged to “tear up Texas.” But even though they knew the attack was coming, they didn’t have a team in place to stop the jihadis. They had one man there, and one man only. The jihadis were not stopped by FBI agents, but by our own security team. If the jihadis had gotten through our team, they would have killed Pamela Geller and me, and many others. (They would no doubt have loved to kill Geert Wilders, but he left before they arrived.)
The Daily Beast wrote in August 2016 about how this undercover FBI agent encouraged the jihadis. The Beast’s Katie Zavadski wrote: “Days before an ISIS sympathizer attacked a cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, he received a text from an undercover FBI agent. ‘Tear up Texas,’ the agent messaged Elton Simpson days before he opened fire at the Draw Muhammad event, according to an affidavit (pdf) filed in federal court Thursday.”
What was the FBI’s game in telling them to “tear up Texas”? Why didn’t they have a phalanx of agents in place, ready to stop the attack? Or did they want the attack to succeed, so that Barack Obama’s vow that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” would be vividly illustrated, and intimidate any other Americans who might be contemplating defending the freedom of speech into silence?
Pamela Geller twice asked the FBI for an investigation into this matter. They ignored her requests.
And now the Islamic State may be working to undermine confidence in the FBI? They wouldn’t have to work very hard.
“If ISIS Was Behind Las Vegas Shooting, There’s a Terrifying Reason It Won’t Prove It Yet,” by Tom O’Connor, Newsweek, October 9, 2017 (thanks to David):............
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/newsweek-isis-may-be-withholding-proof-that-las-vegas-shooting-was-jihad-in-order-to-discredit-fbi
When the first word of an article is "if" ..
DeleteA knowledgeable reader knows that there is nothing to the article.
You're a waste of space, bobal head
Providing conjecture, with no substance.
DeleteTypical of your past inanities, to be sure. Try to raise the Bar.
Not diminish it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
ReplyDeleteBob Tue Oct 10, 06:23:00 PM EDT
It's so much easier just to be a poor honest faux farmer
You know nothing of honesty, bobal head. You ripped off that bank, remember.
No honest man would use theft by fraud, even when on their knees, financially.
Look in the mirror and come to terms with the reality of just the type of dishonorable scum you really are, bobal head.
It's way past your bedtime, General ratso, you are not making a lick of sense.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you will do better later this day.
But I doubt it.
You really do need sleep, though.
You need to acknowlege, bobal head, what a low life piece of shit you really are.
DeleteJoe Lombardo said Stephen Paddock investigation has not revealed a motive
ReplyDeleteClark County sheriff said exam showed 'no abnormalities' with Paddock's brain
Meanwhile girlfriend Marilou Danley had 'no concerns' over his mental health
Lombardo added that 'we may never know' why he killed 58 innocent people
By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline
PUBLISHED: 09:24 BST, 11 October 2017 | UPDATED: 09:33 BST, 11 October 2017
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4969140/Las-Vegas-gunman-no-abnormalites-brain.html#ixzz4vC5eZP00
ratso my be on meth.
ReplyDeleteSomething has kept him up all night.
October 11, 2017
ReplyDeleteBob Corker, media-beloved Republican, to retire not a moment too soon
By David Zukerman
Maybe one day, if not now, outgoing Tennessee senator Bob Corker will be asked why he up-ended the Constitution's treaty ratification procedure......
....Democrats should well miss this "Republican" who worked with President Obama to nullify the Constitution's requirement that treaties be approved by two thirds of the senators present. This was not the procedure that was applied to the agreement with Iran concerning its nuclear weapons program. Senator Corker accepted a reversal of the treaty-ratification procedure set forth in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution – and so the agreement would go into effect unless two thirds of the Senators opposed the agreement. With Democrats constituting well over one third of the Senate, Corker gave Mr. Obama a sure thing on that Iran matter. (Has anyone ever seen the text of the agreement, treaty, document...whatever?)
Please note that the media do not ask the not-soon enough to be retired Corker why he accepted a procedure on Iran that was quite outside the text of the Constitution he took an oath to defend and uphold. Perhaps eventually, they will raise the matter.....
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/bob_corker_mediabeloved_republican_to_retire_not_a_moment_too_soon.html#ixzz4vCKkBw5u
Kurdistan Deserves U.S. Support. Here Is Why
ReplyDeleteBy Francis Rooney
October 10, 2017
Kurdistan Deserves U.S. Support. Here Is WhyChris McGrath/Getty Images
With 72 percent turnout and a 93 percent affirmative vote in a referendum on independence in September, there is little doubt that the people of Iraqi Kurdistan seek freedom from the Republic of Iraq. Last week’s vote in the autonomous region was overwhelming and showed that the country’s Kurds are deeply invested in a quest for self-determination reminiscent of our own more than 200 years ago. Yet the U.S. response was terse. The State Department said that Kurdistan’s independence would impede the effort to defeat ISIS, despite the fact that we are fighting side by side with these same Kurds and that they have proven to be a well-organized, effective force.
Given our own tradition and the recent history of Iraq and Kurdistan, we should at least consider the potential strategic advantages of Kurdish independence.
First consider that a stable and diverse nation in Iraq may be unachievable. Iraq was arbitrarily created by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916; British and French diplomats drew its boundaries to serve their own postwar interests with little respect for the history and nature of the peoples they lumped together. The country is therefore comprised of large communities of both of the principal schismatic Islamic sects, Sunnis and Shiites. It also contains a sizable community of Kurds. These groups are in a constant state of enmity and conflict which appears to be intractable.
Asserting that an independent Kurdistan would impede efforts to defeat radical Islam depreciates the Kurds' current contributions to that very cause and seems to excessively defer to the Iraqi government. A strong and independent Kurdistan might actually strengthen our efforts by reinforcing the role of the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force, as a full-fledged participant in the coalition opposing the Islamic State.
In a similar vein, the Kurds might help reconcile Islam with 21st Century values. Contrary to what we see throughout much of the Middle East, Kurds have promoted a secular brand of Islam in which church is separated from state and many different religions flourish. Drawing Muslims into a tolerant and secular interpretation of the Koran is a critical element in reducing radicalization and Islam-inspired violence. Pope Benedict XVI launched this argument in his well-known address at Regensburg in 2006, where he stressed the need for a modern construction of Islam that can peacefully and tolerantly co-exist with the rest of the world.
Furthermore, an independent Kurdistan would establish another countering force to Iran’s quest for hegemony in the Middle East. An independent Kurdistan securely aligned with the United States would undermine, or at least influence, the Shiite nexus Iran has created among Hezbollah, the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Iraq, and Bashar al-Assad's Syria.
DeleteFinally, despite sharp political rhetoric between the two parties, Kurdish trade ties with Turkey have recently increased. Iraqi Kurds built an oil pipeline in 2013 linked to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean and have signed multiple energy deals with Turkish entities. If this strategic linkage developed enough to replace Iraq with Turkey as the Kurds’ principal economic partner, it might offer more stability. Such a relationship could also be a better conduit for regional U.S. interests than is Washington’s partnership with the ineffective al-Abadi government. The question remains, of course, whether Turkey would allow trade to continue with an independent Kurdistan. There is longstanding enmity within Turkey for the Turkish Kurds. The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States, continues to cause violence and disruption within Turkey. Could Ankara be persuaded to distinguish the PKK from an independent former Iraqi Kurdistan? Perhaps not, but it may be worth trying.
The Kurdish situation is analogous to Kosovo. There, an ethnic Albanian culture successfully divorced Slavic Serbia, which expressly did not want to lose it, after the Dayton Accords resolved the conflicts in former Yugoslavia. Kosovo and Serbia have ethnic and cultural differences like the Kurds have with the rest of Iraq. They lack the common values, the history, and the cultural alignment that, for example, Catalonia shares with the other provinces of Spain.
Given how elusive success has been in the Middle East, and the number of American lives and amount of our national patrimony which have been invested there since 2003, it seems that our foreign policy leaders should embrace an open and thorough debate on all of the issues and factors bearing on the question of Kurdish independence before reaching a final conclusion.
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2017/10/10/kurdistan_deserves_us_support_here_is_why_112579.html
Harvey is in a sexual addiction clinic in......Switzerland.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteTrump and the Trumpkins in Trump World
Bob, I realize the possibility that the continuous action involved on the chart in that tweet put out by the British Embassy to explain the Iran Nuclear Agreement may trigger an epileptic attack or another of your various pathologies but perhaps you can have a responsible adult view it and explain it to you.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Explained for Dummies
Is the Iran agreement perfect? No. No agreement is.
Is the agreement better than we had before? Of course. Way better. It slows any movement towards an Iranian bomb to a crawl. It removes most of their physical capability for producing a bomb.
Prior to the agreement, our military along with Bibi Netanyahu and every other crackpot politician and neocon pundit projected Iran was only six months away from having a bomb and that their capabilities were expanding. The agreement put a hold on all that and gave us breathing space of between 10 and 25 years, breathing space that allows for an extension to be negotiated or as Trump would put it 'a better deal'. But what is happening? Rather than trying to negotiate on a new deal or an extension, Trump threatens to attempt to tear up the old deal and in the process destroy any credibility the US still has among allies and enemies alike.
You disagree. So does Trump, Bibi, Geller, Spencer, Bolton, the neocons and much of the GOP, a-holes all. Those that agree with me that the deal is much better than what we had before are the US military brass (all those generals Trump called the greatest in the world), the State Department, the intelligence agencies, the IDF brass, half the politicians in Israel (the intelligent ones), most of our allies, all the co-signers on the agreement.
For his own personal vendetta against Obama, Trump is willing to invite confrontation with two nuclear parties rather than the current one he goads daily.
The present Iranian agreement took years to negotiate. Instead of working with Iran on an extension of the current agreement or working on a new one to replace it, Trump simply whines and threatens to destroy what currently exists. The arguments Trump and you dolts throw out for trashing this deal are inane and clearly political.
Trump is clearly a man-child suffering from arrested development. In order to destroy anything and everything Obama ever did, he is willing to destroy US relations with allies and enemies alike, to destroy the health system millions depend on, to gut environmental and health and safety regulations, and anything else simply to prove he is some kind of tough guy.
All he proves is that he is weak, a petulant child throwing a continuous hissy fit one twitter rant after another. I would comment on you and your support of him but anything I can say would have become redundant long ago.
.
.
ReplyDeleteNewsweek: ISIS may be withholding proof that Las Vegas shooting was jihad in order to discredit FBI
OCTOBER 10, 2017 2:17 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER
Bob is like one of those delusional nuts who swear they have been captured by aliens or chased by bigfoot. Jihadwatch is his Discovery Channel, stories by Pam Geller substitute for Finding Bigfoot episodes, ISIS is Bob's Reptilians. His conspiracy theories about Muslims are based on bigotry and hate like those previously (still?) spread about Jews and Catholics and Blacks.
ISIS is his fallback position for everything. The stories he reads are filled with 'ifs' and 'supposedly', and 'maybe' and every other conditional out there. If there is no answer available, to these dummies, it is only logical it must be ISIS. If ISIS claims responsibility for every terrorist attack that happens anywhere on the planet, they automatically believe them. In their clouded thought processes, they can't conceive of any reason ISIS, a criminal organization that Bob and his friends would likely admit lies about just about everything in their recruiting material, would actually lie about this.
Geller and Spencer, like Alex Jones, make a fortune off the gullibility and prejudice of those who read their bullshit. To them, Bob is just one more of the useful idiots that support their lifestyles.
.
His conspiracy theories about Muslims are based on bigotry and hate like those previously (still?) spread about Jews and Catholics and Blacks.
DeleteWhat conspiracy theories about muzzies, Jews, Catholics, and Blacks ?
By the way, Jihad Watch and Geller are a lot like Drudge.....almost all their stuff is based on some other reporting from around the world.
Your transmission is a little low on fluid today, Quirk.
EXCLUSIVE - Harvey's f**k you to the world: Defiant Weinstein surfaces in LA with his middle fingers high after lying about flying to rehab, threatening suicide to his daughter and whining he has been abandoned by his friends
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4972056/Weinstein-LA-middle-fingers-law-offices.html
'Suicidal' Harvey Weinstein begs stranger for a ride while trying to flee his daughter's home, leading LAPD to visit and make sure 'depressed mogul does not harm himself'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4971670/Suicidal-Harvey-Weinstein-begs-stranger-ride-LA.html
Jeeze: All this for masturbating in a planter and taking a few showers.
DeleteIt's amazing how all the women seem to pop out of nowhere with the same type stories at the same time.
DeleteActress Lea Seydoux: ‘Everyone Knew What Harvey Was Up To’
DeleteJOHN SEXTONPosted at 7:21 pm on October 11, 2017
French actress Lea Seydoux joins a growing list of women who say Harvey Weinstein tried to initiate an unwanted sexual encounter with her. Writing in the Guardian she says Weinstein demanded to meet her for drinks after a fashion show. She says he kept looking her over “as if I was a piece of meat.” She was invited up to his room and went. After a female assistant was dismissed, Weinstein literally pounced:
We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. He’s big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted. I wasn’t afraid of him, though. Because I knew what kind of man he was all along.
Seydoux says she saw Weinstein making similar moves on a young actress at a subsequent event. “That’s the most disgusting thing,” she writes, “Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything. It’s unbelievable that he’s been able to act like this for decades and still keep his career.”....
https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/11/actress-lea-seydoux-everyone-knew-harvey/
"I'd suck any dick in Hollywood to get what I want"
DeleteMarilyn Monroe
If Harvey is giving everyone the middle finger he might come through all right.
DeleteIt's a sign of defiance and resistance, not submission.
Shows the old boy still has some fight left.
Heh -
DeleteHarvey Weinstein’s wife is leaning on Huma Abedin
By Emily Smith October 11, 2017 | 7:45pm
Georgina Chapman and Huma Abedin Getty Images
Harvey Weinstein’s estranged wife, Georgina Chapman, is leaning on fellow scorned spouse Huma Abedin after announcing that she is leaving the movie mogul.
A well-placed source tells Page Six that Marchesa co-founder Chapman reached out to Abedin, the soon-to-be ex-wife of convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner, as the scandal engulfing her movie-mogul husband intensified and more women — including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow — came forward with allegations that Weinstein had sexually assaulted or harassed them.
Chapman and Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s top aide, have known each other for some time because of Weinstein’s numerous fund-raising events for the former presidential hopeful. Plus, the Clintons rented a Hamptons house next door to Weinstein and Chapman’s Amagansett estate for three summers.
A source close to Chapman said, “One of the people Georgina has reached out to is Huma, who has been through this kind of scandal and media storm, and survived with her dignity intact. They are both mothers, they have both been in a situation where their husbands turned out to be a different person than the man they thought they knew.”.....
https://pagesix.com/2017/10/11/harvey-weinsteins-wife-is-leaning-on-huma-abedin/
Harvey's wife is a good looker, for sure. Huma's a hag in comparison.
Quirk used to have an ad agency at the Corner of Hollywood and Vine.
DeleteSaid the behavior of everyone in the whole area was so disgusting he got out of there, even though he was getting rich.
Went advertising in rural China instead, during the days of the Cultural Revolution, I think he said.
As Quirk left Hollywood, he gave everyone the dirty finger.
DeletePresident Trump pitched his tax plan Wednesday to truckers just outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as his administration tries to persuade Congress to pass legislation.
ReplyDelete"The confidence in our country is back, like it hasn't been in many, many years," Mr. Trump said as a truck with a "Truckers for Tax Reform" sign was seen behind him.
...
Still, Mr. Trump emphasized that his plan will benefit the lives of his audience members.
"No one knows America better than America's truckers," Mr. Trump said.
A Senate GOP source acknowledges fundraising has begun to lag since June and that the National Republican Senatorial Committee – the entity tasked with electing GOP senators – has spent more than it's raised over the preceding two months.
ReplyDelete...
Terry Schilling, executive director of conservative think tank the American Principles Project, agrees that Republicans need an accomplishment on tax reform that they can hold in front of voters next year.
But unlike others, he doesn't view Bannon's efforts as necessarily counterproductive. Instead, Schilling says, Bannon's looming threat of outside fire provides a constant incentive for even the most dependable incumbents to make good on Trump's agenda.
October 11, 2017
ReplyDeleteBob Corker, media-beloved Republican, to retire not a moment too soon
By David Zukerman
Maybe one day, if not now, outgoing Tennessee senator Bob Corker will be asked why he up-ended the Constitution's treaty ratification procedure.
When Senator Corker appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on October 1, moderator Chuck Todd asked the senator why "your wing [of the Republican Party] ... is taking the ire of this insurgent populist base." Todd provided his own answer a bit later in his chat with the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggesting that "many Democrats" are sorry that Corker has decided not to seek a third Senate term.
Democrats should well miss this "Republican" who worked with President Obama to nullify the Constitution's requirement that treaties be approved by two thirds of the senators present. This was not the procedure that was applied to the agreement with Iran concerning its nuclear weapons program. Senator Corker accepted a reversal of the treaty-ratification procedure set forth in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution – and so the agreement would go into effect unless two thirds of the Senators opposed the agreement. With Democrats constituting well over one third of the Senate, Corker gave Mr. Obama a sure thing on that Iran matter. (Has anyone ever seen the text of the agreement, treaty, document...whatever?)
Please note that the media do not ask the not-soon enough to be retired Corker why he accepted a procedure on Iran that was quite outside the text of the Constitution he took an oath to defend and uphold. Perhaps eventually, they will raise the matter.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/10/bob_corker_mediabeloved_republican_to_retire_not_a_moment_too_soon.html#ixzz4vFrCXqZz
SNAPSHOTS FROM A MUSLIM PHOTOGRAPHER: ISLAM REJECTS RACISM? (PART 2)
ReplyDeleteA convert to Islam and his curious plan to photograph young American Muslims.
October 11, 2017 Hugh Fitzgerald
When last we looked at the plans of a convert to Islam, Carlos Khalil Guzman, to publish a book of photographs of young American Muslims, with each being asked to choose a single favorite verse from the Qur’an, or a single saying of the Prophet, and explain why he/she chose it, we were left with his remarkable assertion that “Islam is against all types of oppression…It’s against racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism.”
Sounds good. But is it true? Let’s take those claims one by one. Islam is against ‘“racism”? But what of the many Hadith that tell us otherwise, such as this: “Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet said to Abu-Dhar, “Listen and obey (your chief) even if he is an Ethiopian with a head like a raisin.” And this: Ahmad ibn Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun said, “Anyone who says that the Prophet was black should be killed.” (Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Qadi ‘Iyad, p. 375)
And there is this from the celebrated historian Al-Tabari: “Noah prayed that the hair of Ham’s descendants [Africans] would not grow beyond their ears, and that whenever his [Ham’s] descendants met Shem’s, the latter would enslave them.” (Al-Tabari, Vol. 2, p. 21, p. 21)
Why was it so terrible for the Prophet to be called “black”? Because for the Arabs, blacks were unquestionably inferior. And therefore Prophet Muhammad could not possibly have been black. Such misidentification, according to Ahmad ibn Abi Sulayman, was an insult to the Prophet, and deserved death. And blacks, as descendants of Ham, are fit to be slaves (Shem’s descendants “would enslave them”).
Many of the most famous Arab writers and Islamic scholars were certainly “racists” in the full meaning of that word.
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was, among other things, an Islamic jurist, Islamic lawyer, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and hafiz (one who has memorized the entire Qur’an). He is one of the most important figures in Islamic history. Here are two (among many) remarks he makes about black Africans in his Muqaddimah:
“Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated.”
“Beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings.”
Ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037), was another celebrated figure in Islamic history: a Hafiz, an Islamic psychologist, scholar, and theologian and, by our lights, a racist: “[Blacks are] people who are by their very nature slaves.”
Ibn Qutaybah (828-889), was a renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq: “[Blacks] are ugly and misshapen, because they live in a hot country.”
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274), was a Shia Muslim Scholar and Grand Ayatollah:
“If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth –In no other peculiarity or property – except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent.”
Delete“[The Zanj (African) differ from animals only in that] their two hands are lifted above the ground,… Many have observed that the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanj.”
Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000) was a medieval Muslim geographer:
Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that “there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people — but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence.” [Kitab al-Bad’ wah-tarikh, vol.4]
Al-Masudi (896-956), was a Muslim historian and geographer, known as the “Herodotus of the Arabs”:
“Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence.” (Al-Masudi, Muruj al-dhahab)
Ibn al-Faqih was a Muslim historian and geographer:
“A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq … do not come out with something between blonde, buff and blanched coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Somali, and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two.” (from his Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan, 903 AD)
These are just a small sample of the racist remarks made by outstanding figures in Islamic intellectual history. All of them have apparently escaped the notice of Carlos Khalil Guzman. And I have the feeling that even if he were made aware of them, he would prefer not to bring them to the notice of Unbelievers, lest they think ill of his beloved Islam. Perhaps I underestimate him. Perhaps — should we allow ourselves to believe? — that if he became aware of the racism that all the most important figures in Muslim Arab culture exhibited, he might even begin to question Islam.
Carlos Khalil Guzman takes no notice of the Arab Slave Trade, where Arab cruelty toward black Africans was so obviously in evidence. What does he know about this traffic that involved, over 1300 years, 100 million black Africans? That trade began earlier, and ended later (and only under Western pressure), and claimed many more victims, than the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Arab trade consisted mainly of capturing black boys in the bush and castrating them on site, then herding them to the slave markets of Islam. Only about 10% survived both the castration and the difficult journey, according to Jan Hogedoorn in his study “The Hideous Trade.” Estimates of the numbers involved are that 17 million Africans made it alive to be sold as slaves; if we take the estimate of Jan Hogedoorn that that represented 10% of those originally seized, that would mean, if only black boys were taken, 170 million black Africans were captured by African slavers. But while the boys made up the greatest number of slaves, some women and girls were also among those seized. They would not have undergone castration, and thus a greater percentage of them would have survived. It is likely, then, that fewer Africans — say 100-120 million — might have been involved in the Arab slave trade. The latest estimate of the number of slaves who died en route to the Islamic slave markets was made by John Alembellah Azumah in his 2001 book, The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa; he estimates that over 80 million black people died en route to the Islamic slave markets, with about 20 million surviving, for a total of 100 million. In the Atlantic Slave Trade, the scholarly consensus is that about 12.5 million slaves were taken, and of those, 10.7 million survived the Middle Passage. In other words, the Arab Slave Trade involved at least eight times as many slaves as did the Atlantic Slave Trade. Are we to conclude that this largest and cruelest of slave trades had nothing to do with how the Arabs thought of blacks (see the many quotes above)? Nothing to do with “race”? Don’t you think that Guzman is most likely unaware of the dimensions of that Arab Slave Trade, and with the rampant anti-black racism among Muslim Arabs that both justified and promoted it?
Deletehttps://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268092/snapshots-muslim-photographer-islam-rejects-racism-hugh-fitzgerald
Confirmed: Kaepernick's girl friend is a moslem
ReplyDeleteUnconfirmed: Kaepernick has become a moslem
Google: 'Is Kaepernick's girl friend a moslem'
So what if he or she is?
DeleteThe idea is she put him up to the taking the knee thingy.
DeleteDon't have any idea whether that is true or not.
Not that it in itself makes any difference.
But if Kaepernick thinks the USA is so racist, he ought to read what I posted by Hugh Fitzgerald, above, concerning racism in Islam.
I think he would do well to read Hugh rather than listen to his girl friend.
The idea is that she might be trying to sow discord among the unbelievers.
DeleteThe actions of the government have caused discord amongst US citizens.
DeleteIslam is not the driving force behind that discord, it is just along for the ride
RJ Cipriani, AKA Robin Hood 702, a professional gambler/philanthropist and known FBI source, claims to have knowledge of the Weinstein case.
ReplyDeleteHe told DailyMail.com: 'My connections and sources within the law enforcement community have told me they're looking to bring a case against Harvey Weinstein for rape and various other charges.
He continued: 'We must stop these sex predators from crossing any border to allow them to escape justice.'
Has any woman yet actually gone to the police with a complaint ?
ReplyDeleteThere's a starting point.....
We read this stuff has gone on for years, perhaps decades.
DeleteHas any woman actually filed a complaint ?
I don't know the answer.
I mean a criminal complaint.
DeleteI was just hearing on CNN that there was a police sting operation to get Harvey, and a complaint was filed, but the DA declined to prosecute on the grounds he/she didn't think they had enough evidence.
DeleteWhy haven't we seen footage of Paddock checking in?
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Mandalay Bay staff call the police when the security guard was shot?
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Mandalay Bay staff call the police when the building engineer reported someone firing at him?
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with the room service receipt indicating 2 guests?
ReplyDeleteHadn't even heard that before.
DeleteWhy haven't we seen the note found in the room?
ReplyDeleteWhy did DeLaney tell her nephew, 'Don't worry about it. Everything will be o.k. I'll take care of everything.'?
ReplyDelete.
DeleteWhy did the authorities allow Paddock's Reno house to be broken into?
.
.
DeleteWhy has the timeline previously provided recently been changed?
.
.
DeleteWhy did it take police almost 20 minutes to respond?
.
General Mattis said: "It is right now a diplomatically led, economic-sanction buttressed effort to try to turn North Korea off this path.
ReplyDelete"Now what does the future hold? Neither you nor I can say, so there is one thing the US Army can do.
"And that is you have got to be ready to ensure that we have military options that our President can employ if needed."
.
ReplyDeletePlease note that the media do not ask the not-soon enough to be retired Corker why he accepted a procedure on Iran that was quite outside the text of the Constitution he took an oath to defend and uphold. Perhaps eventually, they will raise the matter.
More simplistic twaddle from American Thinker and their paper boy.
Treaty? Executive agreement? Always an open question. In truth, an agreement is only a treaty when the president says it is. There have been numerous agreements signed by presidents of both parties. In most of these cases, the other party bitches about it but to no avail. Shit happens. Suck it up.
While there is a possible legal case in opposition to this 'agreement', it is a thin one. That's why the GOP didn't bother with any lawsuits on it. For the same reason SCOTUS ruled in Trump's favor on the Muslim ban they would have almost certainly ruled in Obama's favor in this instance. SCOTUS has a long history of granting deference to the president when it comes to matters of foreign policy.
But why kid ourselves. This article wasn't written to talk about the Iran Agreement. The legal questions are history now. The deal has been implemented. It's old news. No, this article was merely another childish attempt by the Trumpkins to smear Corker using lies and misrepresentations.
It's the typical scapegoating Trump uses and his minions emulate. They can't bring the numbers together to get things done so they have to find someone to blame.
As noted above, the GOP didn't have the confidence (or the cojones?) to file a lawsuit and Obama was determined to proceed without approval of Congress. The GOP decided to negotiate with the White House. Corker as chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee was one of the co-sponsors and did the negotiating with POTUS.
Corker might have been outsmarted by Obama on the review bill but to argue he was for the deal is ridiculous. And before blaming this on Corker consider that the review bill was approved by the Senate on a 98 - 1 vote with only Sen. Cotton willing to play hardball. Didn't the rest of the GOP senators read the bill before voting for it? Face it, it couldn't have been that long a bill.
This is just another example of the Trumpkins throwing a hissy-fit because someone had the temerity to criticize (mock?) their boy.
.
It's an odd bill of any kind that only needs 33 1/3 Senators to get it 'passed' somehow or other.
DeleteMaybe that's how it's done in Michigan, though.
Democrats should well miss this "Republican" who worked with President Obama to nullify the Constitution's requirement that treaties be approved by two thirds of the senators present. This was not the procedure that was applied to the agreement with Iran concerning its nuclear weapons program. Senator Corker accepted a reversal of the treaty-ratification procedure set forth in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution – and so the agreement would go into effect unless two thirds of the Senators opposed the agreement. With Democrats constituting well over one third of the Senate, Corker gave Mr. Obama a sure thing on that Iran matter. (Has anyone ever seen the text of the agreement, treaty, document...whatever?
Paper boy. :)
DeleteIt's hard work but somebody has to deliver the news to those still snoozing in bed.
Delete
Delete(Has anyone ever seen the text of the agreement, treaty, document...whatever
YES
With Quirk it's double trouble.
DeleteOne not only has to deliver the news, but read it to him in such a manner that he can comprehend it.
You can see it, too, bobal head
Deletehttp://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/full-text-iran-deal-120080
Has anyone.....
DeleteYES.
True.
Are there some parts that have not been made public ?
No
DeleteThe Iran Nuke Documents Obama Doesn’t Want You to See
Deletewww.thedailybeast.com/the-iran-nuke-documents-obama...
But today in these deeply secure settings are a series of unclassified documents—items dealing with the Iran nuclear deal that are not secret, but that the Obama administration is nevertheless blocking the public from reading.
Iran: U.S. Banned from Knowing Details of Iran Nuclear ...
freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-u-s-banned-from...
"These side deals, concerning the ‘roadmap for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programs,’ have not been made available to the United States Congress," it states.
Crucial Parts of Iran Deal to be Hidden from the American Public
irantruth.org/crucial-parts-of-iran-deal-to-be-hidden...
Crucial Parts of Iran Deal to be Hidden from the American Public. ... may not be made public, ... presidency yet negotiations with Iran have been shrouded ...
While I am no expert on this matter, a simple google seems to indicate there may well be some parts of the 'deal' that have not been made public.
Iran Warns Trump Against Disclosing Secret Iran Deal Documents
Deletefreebeacon.com/national-security/iran-warns-trump...
... related to the nuclear deal that have long been ... why parts of the deal ... not be instructed by Iran about what can and cannot be made public. ...
IAEA Tells Congressmen of Two Secret Side Deals to Iran ...
Deletewww.nationalreview.com/article/...secret-side-deals-iran...
This means that the secret arrangements have not been released for public scrutiny and have not been submitted to Congress as part of its legislatively mandated review of the Iran deal.
An Important Part of the Iran Nuclear Deal Was Just Made ...
www.tabletmag.com/scroll/208467/an-important-part-of-the...
An Important Part of the Iran Nuclear Deal Was Just Made Public ... that hasn’t been made public, ... of the nuclear deal. But there is strong ...
? - From all of the above the public may well reasonably wonder whether or not it is fully informed about what has been done.
At least that part of the public with a working noggin.
DeleteA US military helicopter crash landed in Okinawa earlier today just hours after exercises kicked off.
ReplyDeleteThe Regan will take part in joint drills with South Korea later this month.
...
Six US planes – including a “nuclear sniffer” and two Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers – took part in the brazen show of force last night.
Traces of Iodine-131 were found in Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, France and Spain in January, but the public were not immediately alerted.
ReplyDeleteThese radioactive particles are produced by atomic bomb explosions or nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.
They appear to have come from Eastern Europe, but experts have not been able to say exactly what produced them.
Would anyone here sign an agreement that contained a payoff for compliance and then ship the payment early in the term of the agreement ?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't we all at least insist that the payment for compliance be doled out, say, annually, as compliance is verified ?
And yet I seem to recall USA shipping what was it a $billion and a half in newly minted $100 dollar bills to....the Irnaian Revolutionary Guards, basically.
It all seems quite odd to me.
Quirk ?
DeleteWould you fall for this nonsense ?
I really, really doubt it.
That was ransom money for US prisoners.
Delete.
DeleteAre you talking the $400 million that Iran paid the US in the late 1970's for planes that the US never delivered?
The $400 million that was the first installment of the $1.7 billion the US agreed to in a private deal with Iran in an effort to avoid the $10 billion settlement they thought we might have to pay if the decision was left up to the international panel that was set up to arbitrate the disputes?
If you are actually interested in the details of negotiations that had been going on for something like 4 decades to come up with settlement on claims that arose from both sides after Iran took over the US embassy, this article gives a brief overview...
http://time.com/4441046/400-million-iran-hostage-history/
.
I admit I'm not much interested.
DeleteWhy in the world would the US deliver planes to a new revolutionary theocratic government who wants to kill us ?
I did find this -
Why the U.S. Owed Iran That $400 Million
Karl Vick
Aug 05, 2016
It does look fishy as all get out: $400 million in assorted denominations, stacked on wooden pallets and flown to Tehran in the dead of night by the government of the United States. Hours later, five imprisoned Americans are released and board planes to freedom. If that situation—which took place in January—doesn't look like a hostage deal, what does?
Answer: The actual hostage deal that in fact accounts for the cash payment, which President Obama said on Thursday was not a ransom.
The currency shipped to Iran in the dead of night drew attention from presidential candidate Donald Trump this week, who on Friday appeared to walk back an earlier assertion that he had seen a payment being delivered. But that money was owed to the Islamic Republic since 1979, the year the U.S. froze all the Iranian funds in American banks as retribution for seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, as revolution swept that nation.
What was universally known as the Iran hostage crisis went on for more than a year, and finally ended with a bargain: In exchange for the release of 52 American diplomats and citizens, both sides agreed to resolve the question of money through international arbitration. The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal has trudged along for almost four decades now, and the money has flowed both ways. By 1983, Iran had returned $896 million to U.S. banks, which in turn had returned hundreds of millions in frozen funds to Iran. Today, private claims from the U.S. side have been resolved to the tune of $2.1 billion.
But still at issue as Obama began his second term was $400 million that Iran in the late 1970s had paid for U.S. fighter jets, while Tehran was still a U.S. ally. After it turned into an enemy in 1979, Washington was not about to deliver the jets. But, all these years later, Iran wanted its money back—and with interest.
All told, Tehran was asking The Hague arbitrators (comprising equal numbers of U.S., Iranian and neutral judges) for $10 billion. Fearing they might actually be awarded that much, or something like it, the Obama administration negotiated privately with Tehran, which agreed to settle for $1.7 billion. The $400 million stacked on pallets was the first installment.
The day it arrived, however, a great deal else was going on. January 17 was the day the international compact rolling back Iran's nuclear program was set to take formal effect. It was also the day that Iran had, privately, agreed to release five Americans it had imprisoned on spurious charges. At the same time, the Obama administration would release seven Iranians the U.S. had held for violating sanctions—the same sanctions that had brought Iran to the negotiating table, and indeed had necessitated doing business in cash, Iran's banks having been cut off from the international banking system.....
http://time.com/4441046/400-million-iran-hostage-history/
How do you feel about capital punishment in Iran ?
Do you think the Iranian People were
Delete1) Better Off
2) Worse Off
3) About The Same Off
under the Shah ?
(that should take him a couple days to intelligently answer, giving us a break in the proceedings)
Germany’s Office for Radiation Protection reported increased radioactivity in parts of central and western Europe over the past week. The heightened levels were detected at several trace measuring stations in Europe, and at six locations in Germany.
ReplyDelete...
Russian nuclear facilities cannot be seen as the source of the reported release, Rosatom said, calling the speculation about a Russian origin “invalid.”
Similar spikes in radioactive particles have occurred across Europe in the past, but they are rare.
Donald Trump: Iran gets to keep $150 billion even if U.S. rejects nuclear deal
ReplyDeleteBy Lauren Carroll on Sunday, August 16th, 2015 at 6:26 p.m.
Our ruling
Trump said of Iran that "if the (nuclear) deal gets rejected, they still get" $150 billion.
Experts told us that even if Congress rejected the nuclear deal -- thus maintaining current U.S. sanctions -- other countries could stop enforcing their own sanctions anyway. As a result, Iran would be able to access at least some of its assets that have been frozen under international sanctions. However, experts said it’s highly unlikely that this would amount to $150 billion, the maximum estimate of how much Iran could benefit by the lifting of all international sanctions without regard to Iran’s outstanding financial obligations. Without United States participation, the best estimate we could find was $40 billion.
Trump’s claim is partially accurate but cherry-picks the high end of estimates for the unfrozen assets. We rate Trump’s claim Half True.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/16/donald-trump/donald-trump-iran-gets-keep-150-billion-even-if-us/
Politifact's Truth-o-Meter is running a little low and slow.
DeleteThe rating should be at least 3/4 True.
ReplyDeleteARMY TO DEPLOY ISRAELI TROPHY ARMOR SYSTEM ON TANKS
Israel’s battle-tested wonder weapon impresses the Department of Defense.
October 12, 2017 Ari Lieberman
On March 1, 2011 an Israeli Merkava IV tank on patrol along the Gaza periphery was fired upon by Hamas terrorists from concealed positions within Gaza. Using a deadly RPG-29, a more advanced version of the RPG-7, the terrorists waited for impact. But their moment of glory never transpired. As the anti-tank projectile neared its target, a revolutionary platform – the Trophy Armor Protection System (APS) – deployed on the Merkava IV detected the threat and instantly fired a number of pellets at the deadly menace, destroying and rendering it inert yards from the tank.
Barely three weeks later, Hamas terrorists experienced further failure. They once again attempted to engage a Trophy-equipped Merkava IV. This time, the Trophy calculated the missile’s trajectory and determined that the missile posed no threat, allowing it pass along harmlessly. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Based on the missiles flight path, the Trohy was able to determine the source of fire and transmitted the coordinates to the tank’s crew as well as to nearby units who instantly directed their accurate counter-fire toward the source of the attack, causing at least one terrorist casualty.
The Israeli made Trophy APS had instantly revolutionized armored warfare. It was the first time that such a system had been successfully deployed in battle and the results elated the army’s top brass as well as Trophy’s designers, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries' Elta Group. No longer would an armored vehicle have to rely on its own armor to defend against anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and other forms of anti-tank threats. Tanks and other vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers and even HUMVEEs would henceforth go into battle with an active protection system designed to swat anti-tank missiles, shells and rockets as though they were pesky mosquitos.
Trophy works like a mini Iron Dome, another Israeli wonder weapon that intercepts and neutralizes short-range rocket threats, like Russian GRAD rockets, from the skies. It utilizes a combination of sensors and radar along with fire control technology and intercepting pellets to detect and neutralize incoming missile threats. A secondary feature enables the Trophy to accurately determine the source of fire and transmit the coordinates to nearby ground and air units through the Tzayad battlefield management system. All friendly units in the theater are instantly apprised of the enemy’s position making escape and evasion difficult.
Trophy proved its mettle once more during Operation Protective Edge, a seven-week counter insurgency campaign undertaken by the Israel Defense Forces against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza during the summer of 2014. During the operation, Trophy succeeded beyond all expectations, intercepting a variety of anti-tank threats. In fact, according to IDF sources, the Trophy system intercepted no less than 15 anti-tank missiles and rockets including the deadly Russian Kornet missile which is believed to be capable of penetrating 3.9 feet of armor and has a range of about 5,500 yards.
These missiles were used by the Iraqi army against American M1 Abrams tanks during Operation Iraqi Freedom and by Hezbollah against Israeli Merkava tanks during the Second Lebanon War. The Trophy system is an outgrowth of the Israeli experience during the Second Lebanon War and became operational some four years later. By 2010, an entire battalion of Merkava IV tanks had been outfitted with the Trophy. The Trophy has also been adopted for use in Israeli Namer & Eitan armored personnel carriers and there are plans in the works for deployment on naval craft.
Despite its revolutionary design features and battle-tested capabilities, the United States Army was initially hesitant in adopting the Trophy APS, preferring instead to see how a locally produced variant performed. But a confluence of emerging threats coupled with a new, no-nonsense attitude adopted by Trump’s secretary of defense, James Mattis, has finally convinced the U.S. Army to adopt the Trophy APS for its M1A2 tanks, at least in limited numbers.
DeleteA Trophy-equipped brigade of over 80 Abrams tanks is slated to be deployed to the European theater by 2020 to counter recent Russian aggressive actions, which include the seizure and occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine as well as menacing, large-scale military exercises including one ominously code-named, “Zapad 17.” Zapad is Russian for “West.”
Some U.S. Army Abrams tanks are fitted with reactive armor tile, which is designed to deflect the penetrating blast away from tanks. That system has proved to be effective against some rocket and missile threats but later generation missiles, such as the Kornet, are equipped with tandem or dual warheads. The first charge destroys the tanks protective reactive armor allowing the second and more lethal charge to hit the tank.
According to Col. Glenn Dean, the Project Manager of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Combat Ground Systems, of live-fire testing at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the Israeli Trophy APS “exceeded [his] expectations.” He noted that during testing, he “tried to kill the Abrams tank 48 times and failed.” New procedures adopted by the Department of Defense allowed for a streamlined acquisitions process, bypassing the usual bureaucratic red tape resulting in quicker deployment of the Trophy.
The U.S. and Israeli militaries have always maintained close ties despite malevolent efforts by the Obama administration to sour relations. The two militaries share common symmetrical and asymmetrical threats and represent beacons of strength and stability in a world threatened by apocalyptic mullahs and petty dictators with imperialistic designs. The acquisition of the Trophy by the U.S. military further underscores the closeness of the relationship and advances the shared interests of two great democracies with winning traditions.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268116/army-deploy-israeli-trophy-armor-system-tanks-ari-lieberman
The US has not won since 1945, so there is no 'winning tradition' and Israel is an apartheid State, witb a very limited democratic forum.
DeleteBack to your old 'apartheid state' bs.
DeleteMaybe they should be, but they aren't.
sleep time here
A little light good night reading for Ash -
DeleteCanada: 21-year-old Muslim man savagely beats 75-year-old woman in “random” assault, “most severe beating I’ve seen”
OCTOBER 11, 2017 10:34 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER
“This is not just another assault…This is maybe representing a new, dark side of Windsor that we can’t let propagate.”
Indeed. But it is propagating, and will continue to propagate. Justin Trudeau, stand up and take a bow.
The Qur’an says “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (47:4). Instead, Habibullah Ahmad left Sara Anne Widholm with “multiple brain hemorrhages, a blood clot on the surface of her brain that was immediately threatening her life, extensive skull fractures, fractured vertebrae in her neck, a lacerated scalp, and a badly bruised face.” He must be a moderate.
“Unprovoked attack on 75-year-old woman ‘the most severe beating I’ve seen,’ says Windsor surgeon,” by Dalson Chen, Windsor Star, October 11, 2017 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):
The shocking weekend assault of a 75-year-old woman left her with head injuries so terrible that the surgeon who treated her says they’re among the worst he’s seen in his medical career in Windsor.
“In my 12 years in Windsor, this is the most severe beating I’ve seen,” said Dr. Balraj Jhawar, a neurosurgeon at the Ouellette Campus of Windsor Regional Hospital.
Sara Anne Widholm, a grandmother and Riverside resident, remained in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.
She has not awakened since she was found unconscious and battered on the Ganatchio Trail east of Riverdale Avenue and Little River on Sunday morning.
Speaking to the Star with the permission of Widholm’s family, Jhawar detailed a long list of damage.
She was brought to the hospital suffering from multiple brain hemorrhages, a blood clot on the surface of her brain that was immediately threatening her life, extensive skull fractures, fractured vertebrae in her neck, a lacerated scalp, and a badly bruised face.
“The worst skull fractures I’ve seen in my 12 years here in Windsor,” Jhawar repeated.
“I’ve submitted pictures to Windsor police. This is among the most brutal things I’ve seen in my career. … Her eyes were so bruised, they were swollen shut.”…
Windsor police are acknowledging the extreme nature of this unprovoked assault in a popular park area.
“This was, without a doubt, a vicious, vicious attack,” Windsor police spokesman Sgt. Steve Betteridge said Tuesday.
“It’s very alarming to see an attack of this nature, at that time of day, at that location.”
Windsor resident Habibullah Ahmad, 21, who goes by the first name Daniel, has been charged with one count of aggravated assault. He remained in custody at press time.
Aggravated assault is an indictable offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. It carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
It isn’t yet clear what led to the one-sided altercation. Police said Tuesday that the incident “appears to be random in nature.”…
“For all of us who live here in Windsor, we can’t tolerate this. This is not just another assault,” Jhawar said.
“This is concerning to me. This is maybe representing a new, dark side of Windsor that we can’t let propagate.”…
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/10/canada-21-year-old-muslim-man-savagely-beats-75-year-old-woman-in-random-assault-most-severe-beating-ive-seen
He didn't exactly help the old woman cross the street.
Prominent Israelis call Israel an apartheid State.
ReplyDeleteThey know more than Robert "Draft Dodger"Peterson does, about Israel and its method of governess.
DeleteShe adds: “Whoever deludes themselves that they can win this battle without help from the outside holds a mistaken, dangerous illusion, based on Zionist-Israeli macho pride”.
Read: Rabbi denied entry to Israel over support for BDS
Marton compared Jewish Israelis who oppose BDS and “think it is possible to change from within” to “the parable of the rabbit who wanted to change the lion from within. So the lion ate him”.
“To change from within today is an illusion, the radical left cannot think and act in such a way”.
In answer to the claim that boycotting Israel would “drive the entire Israeli public into the arms of the settlers”, Marton suggested a different analysis.
#BDS
“If the occupation and apartheid lead to economic, cultural and diplomatic suffering because of an international boycott, it is very possible that a change will occur in Israel’s worldview, which is based on one hand on the enormous benefit to the country and its Jewish citizens from the occupation and separation, and on the other hand the cowardice of what is called the Israeli left, or peace camp”.
Marton served in the Israeli army’s Givati Brigade during the 1956 Sinai War, before going on to attend medical school. In her professional life, Marton has worked as a senior psychiatrist and taught at Tel Aviv University.
In 1988, Marton co-founded the Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights, now known as Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. She is also a co-founder of The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, as well as having been active in a number of other issues.