tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post3168717989997648740..comments2024-03-28T21:41:52.558-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Hillary Clinton - Libya - ISIS - US in SyriaDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82710945783699509192016-11-10T18:41:12.604-05:002016-11-10T18:41:12.604-05:00نحن نقدم مجموعة واسعة من الخدمات المالية والتي تشم...نحن نقدم مجموعة واسعة من الخدمات المالية والتي تشمل: تخطيط الأعمال،<br />التجارية وتمويل التنمية، خصائص والرهون العقارية، وتوطيد الدين<br />نقدا، الأعمال التجارية، والنقدية خاص، نقدا سيارة، والنقدية فندق، نقدا طالب.<br /><br />موافقة سهلة وسريعة<br />سداد مرنة<br />البريد الإلكتروني: jacksonprivatefinance@gmail.com<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10787011559454894180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-25349165521142114922016-08-26T06:11:14.004-04:002016-08-26T06:11:14.004-04:00
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Huma Abedin returned to the United States from ...<i>2. Huma Abedin returned to the United States from Saudi Arabia to attend George Washington University, where she was an executive board member of George Washington University's Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Muslim Students Association.<br /><br />3. Huma's late father founded IMMA's Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, now run by Abedin's mother, Saleha Mahmood Abedin. Saleha Abedin is a sociologist with ties to numerous jihadist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood. She has directed the Jordan-based International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC), which supports the implementation of strict sharia law. Saleha Abedin still lives in Saudi Arabia.<br /><br />4. Huma Abedin served as an assistant editor for the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs for twelve years, leaving shortly before she joined the State Department in 2009. The first seven of the years in which Huma was an assistant editor overlapped with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Naseef's active presence at IMMA, including one year in which Huma and Naseef served together on the editorial board of the journal. <br /><br />5. Huma Abedin did not distance herself from her mother, despite her mother’s jihadist views that place sharia law over man-made law and self-governance. In fact, Huma Abedin introduced Hillary Clinton to her mother during a visit to Saudi Arabia, while Hillary was serving as Secretary of State.<br /><br />In short, Huma Abedin has a family connection to Saudi Arabia, the source of the Wahhabi jihadist ideology and the country where fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers came from. She grew up there. Huma’s mother is a well-known jihadist in Saudi Arabia still active in pushing a sharia law agenda that is antithetical in material respects to the Constitution of the United States and American values. Dr. Gershon Pincus has a mother, brother and sister living in Israel, which, at least prior to the Obama administration, has been our closest ally in the Middle East. His mother has dementia and neither she, nor Dr. Pincus’s siblings, have expressed any ideology incompatible with the U.S. Constitution or American values. <br /><br />Yet Huma Abedin, a self-proclaimed “proud Muslim,” slid through her security screening to a highly sensitive job at the State Department and is now a key adviser to the leading Democratic candidate for president. No such luck for Dr. Pincus, who just wanted to take care of the dental needs of some Navy personnel. If this isn’t an example of blatant discrimination against American Jews with family members living in Israel, then pray tell what is? <br /><br />http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261228/jews-denied-security-clearance-while-huma-joseph-klein</i>Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53432586310323460862015-12-24T02:14:56.920-05:002015-12-24T02:14:56.920-05:00In Dr. Pincus’s case, the Statement of Reasons exp...<i>In Dr. Pincus’s case, the Statement of Reasons explaining the decision to deny his security clearance does not point to any security risk posed by the dentist himself or his relatives living in Israel. There is not a single shred of evidence cited, including any questionable statements or associations, which calls into question the loyalty of Dr. Pincus’s family members to the United States. Nor are any activities referenced that could pose a conflict of interest for Dr. Pincus in serving as a dentist at the Navy clinic. The dentist’s son who had served in the Israeli army is no longer alive. His mother is ailing. His brother does not want to become an Israeli citizen. His sister does hold dual citizenship, but there is nothing to indicate that she is in a position of influence in Israel that would force Dr. Pincus to have to choose between Israel’s interests and the interests of the United States, assuming there were even a circumstance in which his dental activities and access to the Navy clinic could cause a problem.<br /><br />Moreover, the Statement of Reasons admits that Dr. Pincus himself has “no intentions of moving to Israel, or obtaining Israeli citizenship.” Nevertheless, the second investigation led to his disqualification.<br /><br />This disgraceful decision was not an isolated occurrence. Although subject to an appeal, there is not much cause for optimism that it will be reversed. A Wall Street Journal Op Ed by Bret Stephens reported that “there have been a total of 58 cases in which Israeli ties were a significant factor in the decision. Of these, 36 applicants—an astonishing 62% of the total—lost their appeals and had their clearance applications denied.”<br /><br />Contrast the arbitrary, discriminatory treatment of a Jewish American dentist who has family ties to Israel with a Muslim American who has family ties to Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter, Huma Abedin, was allowed to serve in the Obama State Department and remains a close confidante of Hillary Clinton.<br /><br />Obama’s Office of Personnel Management and State Department evidently did not consider Ms. Abedin a security risk for a much more sensitive job than serving as a dentist at an off-base Navy clinic, despite the following undisputed facts:<br /><br />1. Although born in the United States, Huma Abedin grew up in Saudi Arabia, where her parents were recruited by Abdullah Omar Naseef (a jihadist affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Muslim World League) to establish an organization known as the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA). The principle underlying the notion of Muslim Minority Affairs is to discourage assimilation of Muslim minority populations into the culture and society of their host non-Muslim majority countries. Such separatism would enable the Muslim minority population to grow over time and expand the influence of sharia law in their host countries. </i><br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-42457350670742538172015-12-24T02:12:02.082-05:002015-12-24T02:12:02.082-05:00My last. I've had enough for one day. As so, I...My last. I've had enough for one day. As so, I am certain, have you.<br /><br />God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Gentleladies -<br /><br /><i><br />Jews Denied Security Clearance While Huma Infiltrates the Government<br />How the administration treats a Jewish dentist with family in Israel compared to an Islamist ally.<br />December 24, 2015<br />Joseph Klein<br />2<br /><br />The Obama administration’s anti-Israel sentiment knows no bounds. The latest example involves the denial of a security clearance to a Jewish-American dentist, Dr. Gershon Pincus, on the grounds that he has “divided loyalties.” All that Dr. Pincus wanted to do was to use the experience and skills he had gained over a lifetime of private practice to give back to his country – the United States of America. He wanted to serve American troops as a dentist at an off-base U.S. Navy clinic. Nothing doing, decided the Obama administration after a second security investigation of the dentist. Using a McCarthyite guilt by association rationale, the dentist was disqualified because of his close family ties in Israel and the possible contact of his family members with their Israeli neighbors. <br /><br />Dr. Pincus’s original security investigation had reached a positive conclusion: “There is nothing in subject’s background or character that would make him vulnerable to blackmail, extortion, coercion or duress.” That should have ended the matter. After all, Dr. Pincus was not applying for a sensitive job in the Department of Defense or the CIA. He was simply seeking to provide dental services at an off-base U.S. Naval clinic.<br /><br />However, the Obama administration was not through investigating Dr. Pincus. It ordered a second investigation, conducted this time by a contract investigator sent by the Office of Personnel Management. The bill of particulars resulting from this second investigation are set out in the “Statement of Reasons” for denying Dr. Pincus’s request for security clearance. They included such shocking details as the fact that the dentist’s ailing mother now lives in Israel along with his brother and sister. He sends money to his mother to help her pay her rent. He calls his family members and has even visited Israel three times in the last eight years for his father’s funeral, his niece’s wedding and to see his mother. Dr. Pincus’s deceased son was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel and also served for six months in the Israeli Army. <br /><br />“Foreign contacts and interests may be a security concern due to divided loyalties or financial foreign interests,” quoted the Statement of Reasons from the federal government’s Adjudicative Guideline B – Foreign Influence. They “may be manipulated or induced to help a foreign person, group, organization, or government in a way that is not in U.S. interests, or is vulnerable to pressure or coercion by any foreign interests.”<br /><br />Just regurgitating this expression of security concerns from the Guideline is meaningless without considering the context in which it is supposed to be applied. Guideline B lists a number of mitigating circumstances that investigators are expected to take into account, among which are whether “the nature of the relationships with foreign persons, the country in which these persons are located, or the positions or activities of those persons in that country are such that it is unlikely the individual will be placed in a position of having to choose between the interests of a foreign individual, group, organization, or government and the interests of the U.S.”</i><br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-71093675097534152302015-12-24T02:01:54.123-05:002015-12-24T02:01:54.123-05:00To understand the significance of any passage from...To understand the significance of any passage from the Koran, one must turn to the sira and hadith—the biography and anecdotes of Muhammad, respectively—for context.<br /><br />Koran 9:14-15 deals with the mockery, murder, and mutilation of ‘Amr bin Hisham, a pagan Arab chieftain dubbed “Abu Jahl” (“Father of Ignorance”) by Muhammad for his staunch opposition to Islam. <br /><br />After ‘Amr was mortally wounded during the Battle of Badr, Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud, a close companion of Muhammad, saw the “infidel” chieftain collapsed on the ground and went to him. Among other abuses, Muhammad’s friend grabbed and pulled ‘Amr’s beard and stood on the dying man’s chest.<br /><br />According to Al-Bidaya wa Al-Nihaya (“The Beginning and the End”), Ibn Kathir’s authoritative history of Islam, (and a controversial staple at Al Azhar University): “After that, he [Abdullah] slit his [‘Amr’s] head off and bore it till he placed it between the hands of the Prophet. Thus did Allah heal the hearts of the believers with it (emphasis added).”<br /><br />Moreover, according to al-Alusi’s tafsir, or exegesis of Koran 9: 15-16, Abdullah dragged the decapitated head on the ground with a rope on his way to Muhammad: “Then [the angel] Gabriel, peace be upon him, came laughing and saying, ‘O prophet, you got an ear and an ear—and the head between for a bonus!’”<br /><br />The logic here is that the only way for wronged and thus infuriated Muslims to regain their composure is that they see their enemies utterly crushed—mutilated, humiliated, and decapitated. Then their enraged hearts can be at ease and “healed”:<br /><br />Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people, and remove the rage of their hearts (Koran 9:14-15). <br /><br />How much of this passage and its exegeses informed the actions of the wronged Indonesian man who utterly crushed—mutilated, humiliated, and decapitated (at least the private member of) his enemy, only to justify his actions by telling reporters that “the only way ‘to cure my heartache’ was to eat the victim’s genitals”?<br /><br />Even if one concludes that the parallels are purely coincidental, the fact remains: other modern day Muslims refer to this passage to justify the gory mutilation of their enemies.<br /><br />For example, the Islamic State published several pictures of slaughtered, beheaded, and mutilated “infidels,” with the caption “healing for hearts” written in the verbatim Arabic that appears in Koran 9:14-15 (see Arabic caption in bottom left hand corner of picture below).<br /><br />Based, then, on the treatment of ‘Amr bin Hisham as recorded in Islam’s core texts—Koran, hadith, sira, and tafsirs—all sadistic acts being carried out by the Islamic State and other Muslims were in fact committed by the earliest Muslims and all to the complete approval of Muhammad. <br /><br />One wonders: If Muhammad (and apparently the “angel” Gabriel) found it humorous that ‘Amr’s head was hacked off, mutilated, and dragged in the dirt, would they object to a wronged husband who decapitates and devours the penis of his wife’s alleged rapist?<br /><br />This question may be somewhat redundant to those knowledgeable of Islam’s arcane history—including that the prophet Muhammad reportedly insulted his enemies by telling them to “bite your father’s penis,” and early Muslim heroes cooked and devoured portions of their enemies. <br /><br />http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261219/islamic-revenge-muslim-eats-enemys-penis-cure-raymond-ibrahimCharltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30019455775513282522015-12-24T02:00:34.868-05:002015-12-24T02:00:34.868-05:00SCHLONGFURTER !
(with meatballs ?)
Islamic Rev...<i><b>SCHLONGFURTER !</b></i><br /><br />(with meatballs ?)<br /><br /><br /><br />Islamic Revenge? Muslim Eats Enemy’s Penis to 'Cure Heartache'<br />A macabre true-life story and its roots in the Religion of Peace.<br />December 24, 2015<br />Raymond Ibrahim<br />1<br /><br />Is every bizarre and/or savage anecdote committed by Muslims related to Islam? Consider the following story of a man who “decapitated” the penis of his wife’s alleged rapist before ordering her to prepare it for their dinner:<br /><br />[T]he bizarre tale begins in September, on the wedding night of 30-year-old Rudi Efendi and his new bride, Nuriah, in the Indonesian province of Lampung. When Efendi discovered that Nuriah was not a virgin, he demanded an explanation—and was told that she had been sexually assaulted by a man she dated.<br /><br />Efendi ordered his wife to contact the alleged rapist and set up a meeting. But when the ex arrived, he found only Efendi, who proceeded to stab him to death and set him on fire—first taking care to chop off and collect his man parts. <br /><br />“I was so outraged,” Efendi told reporters last month, that the only way “to cure my heartache” was to eat the victim’s genitals—which he ordered his 20-year-old wife to cook for him. He also insisted that she sit down and eat along with him. <br /><br />Although the man who did this is of Muslim background (as evinced by his name and Indonesia’s status as the world’s most populous Muslim nation), one would normally conclude that such behavior—if not the killing and burning, then surely the penis eating—has nothing to do with Islam.<br /><br />Yet there is that curious statement that he made: mutilating his enemy and eating his genitalia was the only way “to cure my heartache.” <br /><br />As it happens, utterly mutilating and humiliating one’s enemy as a way to “heal one’s heart” is derived straight from Koran 9:14-15. “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people, and remove the rage of their hearts.” <br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44841080727680290792015-12-24T01:27:10.473-05:002015-12-24T01:27:10.473-05:00http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-to-say-m...http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-to-say-merry-christmas-vs-happy-holidays/Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-39879162156535052902015-12-24T01:26:04.477-05:002015-12-24T01:26:04.477-05:00Merry Christmas to you, Rufus !
MAP
Where To Sa...Merry Christmas to you, Rufus !<br /><br />MAP<br /><br /> Where To Say ‘Merry Christmas’ vs. ‘Happy Holidays’<br />Mapping the “war on Christmas”<br /><br />By Andrew R. Lewis and Paul A. Djupe<br />Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland on Dec. 21, 2002. <br /><br />Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland on Dec. 21, 2002.<br /><br />Tony Lewis / Getty Images<br /><br />‘Tis the season for some to take offense when a store clerk says “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas,” or when a coffee chain converts to plain red cups for the holiday. The “war on Christmas” trope seems to surface with Black Friday sales, but who is actually at war?<br /><br />It is easy to imagine saying “merry Christmas” as another cudgel in the culture wars between Christians and the irreligious. The actual story, however, is much more nuanced. Public Religion Research Institute asked a nationally representative sample of Americans whether retailers should greet their customers with “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings” — rather than “merry Christmas” — “out of respect for people of different faiths.” Although a slim majority of those with a preference want retailers to say “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings,” we found that preference depends on your level of tension with the culture where you live. To explore these cultural tensions, we analyzed the PRRI data jointly with the 2010 Religion Census results.<br /><br />According to the findings, evangelicals, on average, strongly favor “merry Christmas” and seculars prefer “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings.” But the war on Christmas is not simply a religious divide. One of the more surprising findings is that the Bible-Belt South does not show the weakest preference for “happy holidays” (54 percent). That distinction belongs to the Midwest (44 percent). One reason for the difference is African-Americans (20 percent of the South in this sample), who strongly prefer “happy holidays” despite their high levels of religiosity.<br />lewis-waronxmas-map<br /><br />Preferences, not surprisingly, are filtered through a political lens, with Republicans opposing “happy holidays” at the strongest rates and most consistently across the nation. Republican responses probably reflect opposition to political correctness as much as (and perhaps more so than) spiritual sympathies. Republicans as a whole (30 percent) outpace even evangelical Republicans (38 percent) in their anemic support for saying “happy holidays.”1<br /><br />Since Christmas is such a public holiday — people put out displays and pass out cookies, and they feel compelled to wish people some version of merriment — it is no surprise that reactions to it vary across communities. Non-Christians and the nonreligious in states with large white Christian populations are the most likely groups to urge stores to adopt a “happy holidays” regimen. Support for “happy holidays,” however, drops dramatically for secular citizens in largely nonreligious states like Oregon. In these areas, the social stakes are low — Christmas is not an entre to conversations about what church you attend, but more about presents, ugly sweaters and Santa. In such nonreligious states, seculars’ support for “happy holidays” is the same as it is among evangelicals nationwide (48 percent).<br /><br />The next time you hear or read a media dispatch about the war on Christmas, such as Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s threat to slap the next person who says “happy holidays” to him, realize that it does not reflect a national war but rather local skirmishes. There is no orchestrated war against saying “merry Christmas,” but it is important to recognize that Christmas can be a potent symbol that reflects intergroup tensions and signals exclusion to some Americans.<br /><br />Merry holidays!<br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-825792463255225012015-12-24T01:17:44.997-05:002015-12-24T01:17:44.997-05:00Through this lens it can be seen just how foolhard...<b><br />Through this lens it can be seen just how foolhardy it was for the West to push eastward toward the Russian border after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to seek to lure into NATO countries that for centuries had constituted a buffer zone between Western Europe and Orthodox Russia—or, worse, had been part of Russia’s sphere of influence for centuries.</b><br /><br /><br />This is surely wrong. The West didn't 'lure' anyone.<br /><br />Once the Soviet prison gate opened with the collapse of the Soviet Union, all those eastern countries headed West, to NATO and the EU as fast as their legs could carry them.<br /><br />What is NATO and the EU to have done ?<br /><br />Turn them away ?<br /><br />No.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-73700983576277099912015-12-24T01:12:42.334-05:002015-12-24T01:12:42.334-05:00What Trump Gets Right About Putin
http://national...What Trump Gets Right About Putin<br /><br />http://nationalinterest.org/feature/what-trump-gets-right-about-putin-14697?page=2Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-684155918891346602015-12-24T01:11:12.291-05:002015-12-24T01:11:12.291-05:00Thus, he forged a classic authoritarian system, pr...<i>Thus, he forged a classic authoritarian system, preserving the state’s control over politics while opening up other facets of civic and personal life. It was and remains a far cry from the totalitarian Soviet system, with its assault on the country’s traditional religion and cultural heritage, the freezing of artistic expression, and its gulag of dreary prison camps to enforce its total dominance over the private life.<br /><br />Through this lens it can be seen just how foolhardy it was for the West to push eastward toward the Russian border after the collapse of the Soviet Union, to seek to lure into NATO countries that for centuries had constituted a buffer zone between Western Europe and Orthodox Russia—or, worse, had been part of Russia’s sphere of influence for centuries.<br /><br />Particularly incendiary was the effort to pull Ukraine, right on the Russian border, out of Russia’s influence zone, where it has resided for nearly four centuries. No self-respecting country could allow that, particularly given that the crucial strategic enclave of Crimea, Russian territory through most of modern history, was part of Ukraine. Russia promptly took back Crimea and extended support to Eastern Ukraine, populated largely by Russian-speaking people with deep Russian sympathies.<br /><br />Ads by Adblade<br />Trending Offers and Articles<br />20 Popular White Celebrities Who Have Black Spouses<br />Bill Cosby's Net Worth Will Blow You Away!<br />This Is Why You Don't Mess With The US! Watch What Happens!<br /><br />The result of all this has been the widespread demonization of Vladimir Putin throughout America, expressed in harsh, dismissive language by journalists, academics and politicians of all stripes and both parties. He’s a killer, they say, a tyrant, a gangster.<br /><br />And then along comes Donald Trump, a brash, undisciplined developer with no political background or foreign policy sophistication. But somehow he sees what the vast majority of establishment denizens can’t seem to perceive. He says, essentially: There’s something wrong here. Putin seems to be doing what any effective leader would do in the same circumstances. He could easily take Ukraine’s eastern regions militarily and nobody could stop him, but he hasn’t. His proposals for a negotiated settlement have been summarily rejected by the West. He’s true to his allies in the Middle East, such as Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, in sharp contrast to President Obama, who threw over Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for no particular reason. He could become a significant geopolitical counterweight to a rising China, which is emerging as a major U.S. adversary. So, I think I could get along with the guy, and I certainly think it’s worth a try.<br /><br />It’s unfortunate that Trump doesn’t know how to press his case with finesse. But his instincts merit some respect, as does his fortitude in taking on a foreign policy outlook that is so thoroughly embedded in elite thinking throughout the country. But then, one reason Trump seems to beguile so many Americans, as reflected in the polls, has been his willingness to slam the elites that have left the nation mired in such a civic mess.<br /><br />Of course the West must always fortify itself against any possible encroachment by the Russian bear, as it has had to do for centuries. But that doesn’t mean America and Europe need to pursue their own policies of encroachment or employ the kind of bellicose diplomatic language that destroys prospects for finding common ground on matters of mutual interest. The country is on the wrong course on this powerful diplomatic matter. Nobody in politics seems to see it or care about it—except Donald Trump. Kudos to him.<br /><br />Robert W. Merry is a contributing editor at the National Interest and an author of books on American history and foreign policy.</i>Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11690262647097659682015-12-24T01:09:50.410-05:002015-12-24T01:09:50.410-05:00Pooty
Certain convictions and traits illuminate...Pooty<br /><br /><i><br /><br />Certain convictions and traits illuminate these elements. First, he is a statist, in the tradition of Russian history going back far beyond the Soviet era and extending through the 300-year Czarist period. “In the United States,” write Hill and Gaddy, “the state exists to protect the rights of the individual. In Russia, the state is primary. The state stands above the individual, who is subordinate to the state and its interests.” This is almost impossible for many Americans to understand and appreciate, but it is central to understanding Putin and also to understanding the reality that his statist views “have broad resonance in Russia,” as Hill and Gaddy put it.<br /><br />Another element is the Russian obsession with survival, born of the country’s geopolitical vulnerability to invasion and its history of struggle (often to fend off the multiple invasions it has experienced over the centuries). This bolsters the country’s statist impulse as people there look for a strong government to protect them from the vicissitudes of fate. Write Hill and Gaddy, “The ‘survivalist’ may be the mentality that is the most widespread among Russians of nearly all backgrounds and ages, given the shared experiences of war and privation.”<br /><br />The authors also explore Putin’s embrace of free market principles. Many Russians were prepared to toss aside these convictions after the disastrous 1990s, when, in the name of free enterprise, the country was essentially auctioned off to well-positioned citizens who got fabulously rich in the process. Putin went after these people—the so-called Oligarchs—while clinging to his view, formulated during the disastrous final Soviet years, that central economic planning could not work. Thus, he emerged, as Hill and Gaddy put it, “as a statist who determines the state’s interests but protects entrepreneurs, gives them a free hand, and only intervenes in businesses’ decisions and operations in extreme cases that appear to threaten state priorities.”</i><br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-16348257476622532042015-12-23T23:01:28.189-05:002015-12-23T23:01:28.189-05:00Yet the debate begun by Cruz and Rubio is an impor...<i>Yet the debate begun by Cruz and Rubio is an important one. The Bush Doctrine of regime change has failed repeatedly. At this point, it may be impossible to remove Assad for the foreseeable future, something the Obama team is beginning to recognize.<br /><br />Negotiations now ongoing with Russia, Iran and Arab allies are grappling with this dilemma.</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-71145874772958116692015-12-23T22:59:31.502-05:002015-12-23T22:59:31.502-05:00I think The Donald is on to something with his tem...I think The Donald is on to something with his temporary ban on Moslem immigration until we find out what the hell is going on -<br /><br /><i>December 23, 2015<br />U.S. visa form asks foreigners if they are terrorists. Seriously.<br />By Carol Brown<br /><br />What is wrong with the following sentences? A Reuters report begins: “San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik denied having any militant sympathies or intentions when she was asked in an application form for a U.S. visa two years ago, documents described to Reuters on Tuesday showed.”<br /><br />OK. This is nuts, no? We are asking people on their visa applications if they’re terrorists or if they support terrorists. Seriously? Who came up with that idea? A 2-year-old? Please raise your hand if you think a person with evil intentions would answer such a question in the affirmative.<br /><br />OK. I see no show of hands.<br /><br />Moving onto the next bit of WTH? The second paragraph in the report reads:<br /><br /> Information in the documents could bolster complaints of critics in Congress who said flaws in the immigration system meant Malik was not thoroughly investigated. The papers also showed that statements by Malik and her husband and fellow shooter Syed Rizwan Farook did not raise any alarms among authorities that they were potential Islamic State militants. (snip)<br /><br /> In other parts of Malik's immigration file, described to Reuters by congressional sources, she denied anything in her background and activities that might have raised suspicions, including answering no when asked if she ever had used or sold weapons or engaged in “"terrorist activity.”<br /><br />Got it? The good people at Reuters are actually suggesting that because a jihadist didn’t tell us in advance of her murderous plans, no red flags went up, and therefore those who are complaining that our immigration system is flawed have no basis for such complaints.<br /><br />It’s insane and circular thinking. And that’s putting it mildly.<br /><br />Does anyone think jihadists will lie when asked such questions and that national security policy based on expecting them to tell the truth is beyond childishly, embarrassingly, dangerously insane?<br /><br />Witnessing this level of intentional recklessness on a daily, if not hourly basis, challenges one’s ability to have any hope for our future. How we will dig our way out of this level of pervasive and entrenched self-destructiveness, I do not know. Perhaps the ship has sailed and we’re living through the decline of a once great nation. I pray it is not so, but signs of hope are hard to come by.<br /><br />Thomas Lifson adds:<br /><br />It gets worse. According to Republican congressman Bob Goodlatte:<br /><br /> “It is clear that immigration officials did not thoroughly vet her application. In order to obtain a fiance visa, it is required to demonstrate proof that the U.S. citizen and foreign national have met in person. However, Malik’s immigration file does not show sufficient evidence for this requirement.”<br /><br /> “Visa security is critical to national security, and it’s unacceptable that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not fully vet Malik’s application and instead sloppily approved her visa,” according to the statement posted on Goodlatte’s website. “The House Judiciary Committee is working on a bill to strengthen visa processing security and protect national security.”<br /><br /> “What is worse, the immigration official reviewing Malik’s application requested more evidence to ensure the two met in person, but it was never provided and her visa was approved anyway,” Goodlatte wrote.<br /><br /> “Even if Farook and Malik were in Saudi Arabia at the same time, this does not provide evidence that they met in person,” Goodlatte wrote.<br /><br /><br />http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/us_visa_form_asks_foreigners_if_they_are_terrorists_seriously.html#ixzz3vCvjG6TA</i><br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-78474281994404375192015-12-23T22:52:57.448-05:002015-12-23T22:52:57.448-05:00Why have college tuition cost gone up so much ?
A...Why have college tuition cost gone up so much ?<br /><br />Ans: because of all the easy federal college loan money.<br /><br />A bachelor's degree is hardly worth the cost any more. It doesn't usually lead to much, and you end up owing a ton of money.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-64202654403400515102015-12-23T22:50:57.932-05:002015-12-23T22:50:57.932-05:00The only things I ever see trending downward once ...The only things I ever see trending downward once in a while is wheat prices, and the cost of gas.<br /><br />The second at least seems good, wonderful right now.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-10038335687597488852015-12-23T22:49:31.001-05:002015-12-23T22:49:31.001-05:00Or even, horror of horrors, a little lowering of p...Or even, horror of horrors, a little lowering of prices just once in a while.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.com