COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Hillary Clinton - Libya - ISIS - US in Syria


89 comments:

  1. Instead, Obama has pursued diplomacy. Previous rounds have gone nowhere, though last week's U.N. Security Council resolution setting up talks between Assad's government and the opposition offered some new hope.

    "When you have an authoritarian leader that is killing hundreds of thousands of his own people, the notion that we would just stand by and say nothing is contrary to who we are," Obama said last week.

    But when asked whether Assad might still be in office when Obama leaves the White House in January 2017, the U.S. president sidestepped the question.

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  2. Assad will be in office when Obama is gone, the Russians having his back.

    Heh. Trump, like him or hate him, has had zero to do with any policy of the US Government, (other than maybe a little influence peddling, of course :(o) never having been elected to anything, nor being a judge.

    Hillary is up to her ears in it.

    ISIS, the creation of Hill and Barack, is now even in Afghanistan, making the Taliban a sort of moderate faction there. :(

    Things are really the shits, and, since most here have indicated ISIS must be defeated some way or other, I think we ought to stay in Afghanistan. I realize this is unpopular here. In my defense I look to Barry himself, who said it was the war we must win. Sending troops into Iraq or Syria......I like the sounds of carpet bombing better than that.

    In my defense, Ted Cruz is for it.

    Whatever one thinks of Cruz, he is an extremely intelligent and capable guy.

    Alan Dershowitz (sp) said he was out of this world in law school, he has clerked for a Supreme Court Justice, has debating awards all over his wall, won his Senate seat against a Democrat who spent twice the money in the effort, and lots of other achievements.

    If he could accomplish a personality transplant, taking on Rubio's good looks and wonderful smile, and gracious winning ways, he'd be unstoppable.

    He must have some sort of nasty intellectually superior attitude and ungracious personal presentation, as many who knew him well don't seem to like him a lot. One of his room mates in college said he was a real a-hole.

    Basically I have zero real idea what to do. I'm just a witness.

    The whole thing is sickening.

    Not voting for Hillary though.



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    1. The Long Battle for Ramadi

      Iraqi government forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, have launched a ground offensive against the Islamic State in the Iraqi city.
      raqi security forces fire their weapons during clashes with Islamic State militants on the outskirts of Ramadi on June 15, 2015. Reuters

      Marina Koren Dec 22, 2015 Global

      Iraqi ground forces stormed Ramadi on Tuesday in an attempt to wrest control of the Iraqi city from the Islamic State, which has controlled it for months.

      The troops began their offensive Monday night on the edges of the city, and by midday Tuesday had advanced to its center, according to news reports from journalists on the ground.

      The offensive was backed by airstrikes from the U.S-led coalition fighting the Islamic State. The troops numbered up to 10,000 men, and included Iraqi government troops and U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces, according to The Wall Street Journal, as well as Sunni tribal fighters, according to The New York Times.

      A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, Colonel Steve Warren, told the Journal that U.S. intelligence estimates that only about 250 to 350 Islamic State fighters remain in Ramadi, down from about 600 to 1,000 fighters. Officials told news organizations that they believe Iraqi troops could clear out Islamic State militants and take control of the city in a matter of hours.

      The Islamic State, which controls about one-third of Iraq and parts of Syria, seized Ramadi from Iraqi forces in May. The government in Baghdad has launched several ultimately unsuccessful offensives to retake the city since July. But earlier this month, Iraqi forces retook Tamim, a large neighborhood on the southwestern outskirts of Ramadi, as well as a key Islamic State operations center there.

      Reuters reported that Iraqi military planes dropped leaflets over Ramadi on Sunday that warned residents to leave the city within 72 hours, advised them to carry proper identification, and provided safe routes out.

      Local forces have made gains against the militant group elsewhere in Iraq in recent months. In October, Iraqi forces and Shiite militias recaptured most of the country’s largest oil refinery in Baiji. In November, Kurdish and Yadizi forces pushed militants out of Sinjar, which had been under Islamic State control since August 2014.....

      http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/12/ramadi-iraq-isis/421620/

      Delete
    2. My influence is zero, maybe even a negative number.

      I have succeeded in even getting my wife pissed off at me lately, for criticizing lightly some of The Donald's recent verbals, and for introducing that Yiddish word for dick into the discussions, schmonged or whatever it was.

      Delete
    3. “Even a race to Obama, she was gonna beat Obama. I don’t know who would be worse, I don’t know, how could it be worse? But she was going to beat … she was favored to win — and she got schlonged,” Mr. Trump said late Monday in a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Mich. “She lost, I mean she lost.”

      The yiddish term refers to a penis.


      http://hotair.com/archives/2015/12/22/quotes-of-the-day-2282/

      When Quirk starts saying they are all schlongs we will know he's been sucked into The Donald's gravity field.

      Delete
  3. Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province and a city with about 450,000 people, as long ago as May.

    ...

    Since over-running Ramadi, Isil has destroyed all the bridges around the city. It also demolished the Anbar operations command and fanned out into the city's residential areas to set up less conspicuous centres of command.

    ...

    Iraqi officials say they believe civilians will be able to flee the city, but coalition officials report that so far they have only witnessed small groups doing so.

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  4. Jihad Watch

    Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

    Saudis shut down camel urine shop: owner was selling his own urine

    December 22, 2015 12:21 pm By Robert Spencer 95 Comments

    Some hadiths depict Muhammad touting the medicinal benefits of drinking camel urine. This one also shows him in his full compassionate, merciful glory: “The climate of Medina did not suit some people, so the Prophet ordered them to follow his shepherd, i.e. his camels, and drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they followed the shepherd that is the camels and drank their milk and urine till their bodies became healthy. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels. When the news reached the Prophet he sent some people in their pursuit. When they were brought, he cut their hands and feet and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron.” (Bukhari 9.76.5686)

    And so drinking camel urine is just as much a matter of obeying Muhammad (as the Qur’an repeatedly exhorts Muslims to do; see 3:32; 3:132; 4:13; 4:59; 4:69; 4:80; 5:92; 8:1; 8:20; 8:46; 9:71; 24:47; 24:51; 24:52; 24:54; 24:56; 33:33; 47:33; 49:14; 58:13; 64:12) as is waging jihad and subjugating Infidels (see Qur’an 9:29). But this wily shop owner tried cutting costs by using his own product instead, and is now getting his comeuppance.

    camel urine

    “Saudi authorities close down shop selling traditional camel urine drinks… after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste,” by Julian Robinson, MailOnline, December 22, 2015 (thanks to Robert):

    Saudi authorities have closed down a shop selling traditional camel urine drinks after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste.

    Health inspectors swooped on a vendor in the port city of Al Qunfudhah, in south-western Saudi Arabia, and confiscated more than 70 full bottles.

    The practice of drinking camel’s urine mixed with milk is believed to date back centuries while some insist it has health benefits.

    But the shopkeeper’s business was closed down indefinitely amid claims he had been selling his own urine to unsuspecting customers.

    The traditional camel urine drink is believed to have originated from a passage in the Hadith.

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/saudis-shut-down-camel-urine-shop-owner-was-selling-his-own-urine

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    ReplyDelete
  5. Jihad Watch
    Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

    Hugh Fitzgerald: People Are The Same The Whole World Over

    December 22, 2015 11:13 am By Hugh Fitzgerald 40 Comments

    people are the same

    Nine years ago I wrote about President Bush’s dreams of creating a Light Unto the Muslim Nations in Iraq (you may remember that $2 trillion dollar, decade-long campaign in Iraq, and how wonderfully it all turned out):

    “The sentimentalist in the White House contents himself with bromides about how people everywhere ‘love freedom’ and that all we have to do is bring ‘freedom’ to Iraq. And with that ‘freedom’ (demonstrated by those purple-thumbed elections that drew tears from sentimentalists everywhere) all manner of things will be well. Islam’s resurgence — not return, because it never left — in Iraq is nothing to worry about, because Islam is not the problem, only those ‘extremists’ who ‘pervert’ a ‘noble religion’ are the problem. Nonsense on stilts.”

    After the Iraq adventure, the next incarnation of that curious and entirely fantastic notion that “people everywhere love freedom” turned out to be the celebrated “Arab Spring.” Now the freedom-loving impulse extended far beyond Iraq. Freedom would naturally flower, so it was believed, in any Muslim land where despots could be deposed — just get rid of a Mubarak in Egypt, a Ben Ali in Tunisia, a Qaddafi in Libya and, if we just hold on, an Assad in Syria, and freedom, democracy, the whole works, would forever flourish.

    Behind this deep belief that “all people love freedom” is the equally baseless proposition that “all people are the same the whole world over.” And if “people are the same the whole world over,” then surely the God they worship must be the very same God. And that statement is usually put in a narrower form, allowing the dismissal of Buddhists and atheists and at least a billion Hindus, to wit: “Muslims and Christians worship the same God.”

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    1. Those who utter this phrase never bother to adduce any evidence for this extraordinary remark. They do not tell us about the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, and thus spare themselves the effort of explaining how that conception of a triune God is like tauhid, the anti-trinitarian monotheism of Islam. They try to overlook the fact that in Christianity, God has a Son, while in Islam Allah it is an insult to Allah’s transcendent majesty to say he has a son. They do not discuss the Muslim Allah who rants and raves about Christians and Jews, and calls them all sorts of names (apparently the Muslim Allah does not himself believe either that “people are the same the whole world over” or that “we all worship the same God,” for if we did, what need for him to denounce Christians and Jews?), and compare him with the Goodness-and-Mercy Brotherhood-of-Man-Fatherhood-of-God — all that Bomfoggery — of Christianity.

      And still another way in which the Muslim God can be distinguished from the Christian God is in the way Allah can do anything He wants — see Robert Spencer or Stanley Jaki. He can govern the universe as He pleases, is not bound by natural laws. The Christian God — see Robert Spencer or Stanley Jaki — operates according to natural laws. But, as Spencer has noted, Allah’s “hand is unfettered — he can do anything. The Qur’an explicitly refutes the Judeo-Christian view of God as a God of reason when it says: ‘The Jews say: Allah’s hand is fettered. Their hands are fettered and they are accursed for saying so’ (5:64). In other words, it is heresy to say that God operates by certain natural laws that we can understand through reason….Allah was not bound to govern the universe according to consistent and observable laws. ‘He cannot be questioned concerning what He does’ (Qur’an 21:23). Accordingly, observations of the physical world had no value; there was no reason to expect that any pattern to its workings would be consistent, or even discernible. If Allah could not be counted on to be consistent, why waste time observing the order of things? It could change tomorrow.”

      We could dilate upon all the differences between the Muslim God and the Christian God. But what good would adducing the evidence from the Qur’an, or Al-Ghazali, or the Hadith, do in convincing the kind of people who like to say, because they want so desperately to believe, that “Muslims and Christians worship the same God”? Just keep saying that. Just the way you kept saying that the Arab Spring would work miracles, and that Iraq would prove to be a Light Unto the Muslim Nations. Go ahead, believe two or three or four impossible things about Muslims and Islams before breakfast. And now would be an especially good time to do it, as I’ve just heard, on NPR, that a million Muslims have entered Europe as “refugees” this past year. What does it matter, if our God is the same, if we all want the same thing, if People Are The Same The Whole World Over? Why even bother, if we are all so very similar and worship and want the same things, to have such silly impediments as passports, and national boundaries? One World, for One People. What could be better?

      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/hugh-fitzgerald-people-are-the-same-the-whole-world-over

      Delete
  6. If you can't win a war. Stop losing it. By any intelligent measure, this ship is sinking as the band plays on. Pennsylvania has been without a state budget since July 1, straining both school districts and human service agencies who have had no state funds since then. Pennsylvania is not alone and still Washington plays on. Federal debt, accumulated deficits, is at $18 trillion.

    The fear mongering and our magnificent mercenary army will consume $700 billion this year fighting more wars and winning none of them. All for what?

    40% of Americans name terrorism and national security as their number one priority. The breakdown in common sense and the failure to recognize the game played on them by Washington is effectively complete and has passed the point of being stoppable by reason.

    OOrah.

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    1. POINT IN FACT:

      In 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control, 33,636 people were killed by guns in this country; in that same year, 127 American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan.

      Delete
    2. We will end this year with about 1200 Americans killed by US cops, mostly all with an American flag sewn to the shoulder of their uniform.

      Delete
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  7. ENTERS A RATIONAL MAN

    Lawrence Wilkerson, a former United States Army colonel and chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell, expands this month on his exploration of the US national security state. In an in-depth interview this week with host Abby Martin at teleSUR, Wilkerson explains how “interminable war” is a goal of the national security state.

    Many people suppose that US foreign policy is purposed to protect the American people from danger or to achieve altruistic aspirations overseas such as the spread of democracy or the protection of human rights. Consider, for example, the Afghanistan War that was justified as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on America and also promoted as having humanitarian purposes. In August of 2002, President George W. Bush claimed success in achieving some of these humanitarian purposes as follows:

    In Afghanistan, the Taliban used violence and fear to deny Afghan women access to education, health care, mobility, and the right to vote. Our coalition has liberated Afghanistan and restored fundamental human rights and freedoms to Afghan women, and all the people of Afghanistan. Young girls in Afghanistan are able to attend schools for the first time.


    While such humanitarian achievements proved to be largely illusory in Afghanistan, and in other recent recipients of US military intervention from Iraq to Libya to Syria, many Americans still extend to Bush and other American politicians the benefit of the doubt. “Their hearts are in the right place,” conclude many Americans – despite the repeated failures of US foreign policy to enhance Americans’ security or to achieve humanitarian goals overseas. While the implementation of US foreign policy may be bumbling, the argument goes, we have to trust that the policy is guided by the best of intentions.

    {...}

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    1. {...}

      Enter Wilkerson, a Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity Academic Board member, with a counter-argument that the purpose of US foreign policy is neither to protect Americans nor to alleviate the suffering or protect the rights of foreigners.

      Wilkerson, in his first answer in the interview, presents the following motive for US foreign policy:

      Today the purpose of US foreign policy it to support the complex that we created in the national security state that is fueled, funded, and powered by interminable war, and the ramifications thereof. That’s a sad commentary on what America has become, but it’s a realistic and, I think, honest appraisal of what America has become.

      From there, Wilkerson, who teaches at the College of William & Mary, proceeds with a probing analysis of US foreign policy, along with the companies and former military officers that profit from it.

      Not only is the foreign policy not purposed to accomplish the claimed aspirations used to achieve support from the American people, Wilkerson exposes that the policy also diminishes US real power in the world. “History demonstrates,” says Wilkerson, “this is what empires do when they are getting ready to collapse; they begin to be so zealous of their own power and its expansion that they actually decrease their power until it becomes inevitable that they cease to exist or they don’t exist in the same form they did when they were an empire.”

      Delete
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgig1QVU2lY

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    1. “History demonstrates,” says Wilkerson, “this is what empires do when they are getting ready to collapse; they begin to be so zealous of their own power and its expansion that they actually decrease their power until it becomes inevitable that they cease to exist or they don’t exist in the same form they did when they were an empire.”

      Delete
  9. In 2008, over 2400 former US generals worked for 50 US defense corporations focusing on selling weapons to the Pentagon.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That's a lot of generals.

      Are you certain about that number ?

      I didn't think we had that many retired generals.

      Admittedly I have no good idea as to the number of generals.

      Delete
  10. 70% of retiring US generals go to work for US defense contractors.

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    1. I'm surprised that 70% of retirees with a good package go out and do anything.

      I'd go to the Bahamas, Hawaii or Australia, myself.

      On the other hand, if they are going to do anything, it's not surprising they work for defense contractors.

      It's what they know.

      They're not going to go into farm management.

      Delete
    2. .

      The idea of political payback and quid pro quo seems to have eluded the Idaho faux farmer.

      .

      Delete
  11. December 23, 2015
    ISIS doesn't need Donald Trump for recruitment!
    By Carol Brown

    The media is all abuzz about Hillary Clinton’s statement that ISIS used Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims as a recruitment tool. Was it true? Was it false? (It was false.) Should she apologize? (Yeah, right.) A recent video of this absurd chatter can be found, here. (Trigger warning: Howard Dean is a featured guest.)

    And although it matters whether prospective leaders are honest or not (Hillary’s been vetted on that front = not honest), the discourse about Trump and ISIS is completely off track.

    So what if ISIS used statements by Trump (or anyone else for that matter) in their videos? Our misguided concern about this suggests savages should dictate our speech. And if we believe that, then we are enforcing blasphemy law under the sharia. Is that what many in our country would prefer? (Apparently so.)

    In any case, devout Muslims don’t need to quote non-believers. They’ve get a holy book that’s chock full of quotes that drives their barbarism. And that is the problem. The more we babble on about Trump and ISIS and things we say or do that presumably push people to become jihadists, the more we peddle a dangerously false meme.

    There was no Trump to blame over these past 1400 years, just as there was no Israel to blame, and on and on. Jihad is rooted in the Quran. One could say the Quran is the big book of jihad.

    That’s it. It isn’t complicated. All the rest is distraction. And the more we deviate from the truth, the less able we are to defend ourselves from this vile threat sweeping the globe.

    So let’s stand strong against evil instead of cowing to it.

    And if I may note, ISIS uses videos of beheadings and other barbaric acts as a recruitment tool. Should we blame the innocent victims for being non-believers? Do we say, if only they weren’t Christians, they would not have been killed and therefore there would be no video of their slaughter to use as a recruitment tool?

    No. We don’t say that. And for good reason.

    Let’s top being idiots. Just for a change. Let’s try. Even for just one day. Go for it America!

    Hat tip: The Right Scoop

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/isis_doesnt_need_donald_trump_for_recruitment.html#ixzz3v92zwA2O

    ReplyDelete
  12. I doubt I can find it now, but today sometime I was reading an article about US nuclear targeting at the end of the 1950's, before sub based missiles and ICBM's came along.

    It was all bombers at that time of the focus of this article.

    We had many time more nuclear weapons than the Russians at that point, and their only option was bombing Europe or perhaps the American mainland if they could succeed in making it here, so the primary targets were their air forces bases.

    Then their defense industry I think, then industry as a whole, finally down towards the end population centers.

    Eisenhower thought this over and came to the conclusion that if a nuclear war broke out it would be equivalent to the end of humanity.

    He cut our nuclear stockpile down considerably according to this article.

    It's a wonderful thing and something of a wonder that the world got through those years.

    That particular horror has receded, thank the gods, or luck, or something.

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    1. Here 'tis -

      1950s U.S. Nuclear Target List Offers Chilling Insight 4 / 13
      The New York Times
      The New York Times
      By SCOTT SHANE
      11 hrs ago
      Oil back at $95 – but in 24 years?
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      A deactivated Titan II nuclear missile in May at the Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley, Ariz.© Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A deactivated Titan II nuclear missile in May at the Titan Missile Museum in Green Valley, Ariz.

      WASHINGTON — Target category No. 275 from the nuclear target list for 1959 may be the most chilling. It is called simply “Population.”

      For the first time, the National Archives and Records Administration has released a detailed list of the United States’ potential targets for atomic bombers in the event of war with the Soviet Union, showing the number and the variety of targets on its territory, as well as in Eastern Europe and China.

      It lists many targets for “systematic destruction” in major cities, including 179 in Moscow (like “Agricultural Equipment” and “Transformers, Heavy”), 145 in Leningrad and 91 in East Berlin. The targets are referred to as DGZs or “designated ground zeros.” While many are industrial facilities, government buildings and the like, one for each city is simply designated “Population.”

      “It’s disturbing, for sure, to see the population centers targeted,” said William Burr, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, a research group at George Washington University that obtained the target list in response to a request first made in 2006. Mr. Burr, who specializes in nuclear history, said he believed it was the most detailed target list the Air Force had ever made public.

      The targets are identified only generically, with code numbers that correspond to specific locations. The exact addresses and names of facilities from that period are in a still-classified “Bombing Encyclopedia,” which Mr. Burr said he was trying to get declassified.

      Sign Up For NYT Now's Morning Briefing Newsletter

      The 800-page document, marked “Top Secret” and in a fuzzy gray typescript, comes to light as the issue of air power and the possible targeting of civilians is again in the news. The United States has avoided bombing the Islamic State’s headquarters in Raqqa, Syria, for instance, because of the presence of civilian prisoners in the same complex.

      But some presidential candidates have criticized President Obama for not ordering more strikes, including Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who has called for “carpet bombing” the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. When challenged, Mr. Cruz said that “the object isn’t to level a city.”

      “The object is to kill the ISIS terrorists,” he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

      The newly declassified target list is titled “Atomic Weapons Requirements Study for 1959.” It is essentially a huge spreadsheet, produced by the Strategic Air Command in 1956 and projecting what could and should be hit in a potential war three years later.....

      http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/1950s-us-nuclear-target-list-offers-chilling-insight/ar-BBnQleB?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=SK2HDHP

      Delete
  13. .

    Deuce, you are a man shouting into the wilderness.

    You are preaching to the ignorant and the immutable and they will not hear.

    If 40% of Americans think that terrorism is our biggest problem, we may have already passed the tipping point and the cause is probably lost.

    The world sees and understands as noted in worldwide polling that expresses the US is the greatest threat to world peace (by a wide margin).

    Those that don't admit it have mostly been sucking at the US teat for so long they can't but go along.

    The 9th Beatitude of Matthew: Blessed are the ignorant and the fearful and the credulous for they shall inherit the US (though at that point the only reason they would likely want it is because they are the ignorant and the fearful and the credulous).

    .

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    1. You are totally full of crap this snowy morning.

      10th Beatitude of Quirk the Nitwit -- Blessed are the fools for some read my crap and it seriously.

      Delete
    2. .

      You should be joyous at this Christmas time for the Lord even includes poor befuddled hicks like you amongst his children.

      .

      Delete
  14. .

    Ted Cruz Blasts Washington Post Cartoon of Daughters as Monkeys


    The article above shows how slimy the 2016 campaign has become. Cruz uses his daughters as political props in his advertising and then as fund-raising tools. The Washington Post in order to embarrass Cruz portrays the 2 daughters as monkeys in a political cartoon and then tries to justify it.

    What is obvious in this is that neither side gives a shit about the victims in this episode, the kids. Both sides are trying to make political points (and in Cruz' case a few bucks)and the kids be damned.

    Disgusting on both sides but from a parents point of view, I would say Cruz is the most disgusting.

    .

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    1. It's the exception in politics when a politician doesn't use the kids in political advertising.

      You're just prejudiced against the Latinos.

      Chelsea is out there singing the praises of her dear mom, and raising money this very minute.

      Out this family oriented way, we often see politicians out hunting elk with the kids, etc.

      Out your Detroit way your politicians will have some other local theme with which to hustle money and votes using the kids.







      Delete
    2. .

      Out this family oriented way, we often see politicians out hunting elk with the kids, etc.

      Damn, you are stupid. What has this to do with what Cruz did? Didn't you read the damn article? He complains about the WaPo exploiting his kids. Then he turns around and instead of launching a campaign against the WaPo, he launches a fund raising campaign. He doesn't consider the abuse of his kids abuse, he considers it a find-raising opportunity.

      Worst of all, the very cartoon he decries, the cartoon he says is so egregiously unfair and "distasteful" he re-prints for everyone to see on his fund-raising post.

      The only thing any sane person can conclude is that far from feeling upset he is gleefully using this incident as an opportunity.

      Are you blind or just nutz?

      .

      Delete
    3. You're nothing but a schlong who spends have the day driving around Detroit, drinking, and the other half pissing in Transgender Rest Rooms.

      Take that !

      Delete
    4. half the day, dammit

      I was chuckling to myself over my wonderful image of Quirk, who is simply too good for this world.

      Delete
    5. .

      Quit the bull.

      Do you approve of what Cruz did, posting the very cartoon of his kids that he described as so "distasteful" just so he could make a buck?

      .

      Delete
  15. 40 ISIS elements killed in Ramadi cleansing battles

    (IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Tuesday, the local council of Khalidiya District in Anbar Province announced, that 40 elements of ISIS were killed in the cleansing battles in the center of Ramadi, while emphasized that the security forces are going to purge the government complex shortly.

    The Head of Khalidiya Council Ali Dawood said, “The security forces began purging the center of Ramadi from three axes including Albu Diab and Albu Fahd areas in the northern axis, Haouz area in the southern axis and Husaibah area in the eastern axis,” noting that, “40 ISIS elements were killed during the operations.”

    Dawood added, “The security forces shelled ISIS using artillery and rockets, destructing nine car bombs and three missile vehicles, in addition to a fuel reservoir in the Russian neighborhood west of Ramadi,” pointing out that “The security forces are going to purge the government complex shortly.”

    ReplyDelete
  16. Heh

    Trump’s latest treatise deploys subliminally sinister attack on Clinton


    If you think “The Art of the Deal” was a yuuuuuuuuuuge success — and it was — just wait until Donald Trump comes out with his latest masterpiece, “The Art of the Schlong.”


    In “The Art of the Deal,” the real estate mogul tutors budding young mogul wannabes on how to make deals so that they, too, can build giant glass skyscrapers emblazoned with their names in gold.

    “The Art of the Schlong” is a political treatise, like “The Art of War,” only more devastating and infinitely more entertaining. It is more psychologically sinister than Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” It is like Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” only the opposite. Except for the influence part.

    The treatise is a tactical primer for anybody thinking of getting into politics, especially as a Republican these days. Tough world out there right now.

    It is a schlong or get-schlonged world, so you’d better learn how to schlong.

    One of the early chapters is titled “Why Jeb! Doesn’t Deserve an Exclamation Point.”

    It is about the vaunted scion of a political dynasty with an immaculate pedigree who waltzed onto the political stage with trunks full of money other people gave him. The political scion was going to be the next Republican presidential nominee and would kneel to reward illegal aliens for acts of love and all would be right in the world again. And he would launch World War III, in all probability.

    He went out and got himself some German-looking glasses, shed all the tubbiness he had gained and basked in the glow of front-runner.

    America was less enthusiastic but, you know, whatever. Mr. Trump, instinctively understanding Americans’ low enthusiasm for the candidate they had been served, sized up the scion and instantly declared him “low energy.”

    It is true that these dangerous diets can wreck a person’s energy level and slow the thinking. But Mr. Trump’s evaluation was clearly about so much more than the diet. It was how voters felt about the man. And, most important, it was a carnal assessment about the man’s ability — inability, really — to perform.

    It was savage and devastating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another chapter is titled “Ain’t Brain Surgery: Saving Children’s Lives Won’t Spare You.”

      It tells the story of a pediatric brain surgeon who performed miraculous feats to save children’s lives. He emerged from the worst poverty and social circumstances to become one of the kindest, sweetest, most decent men alive. And, basically, how he really didn’t belong in politics.

      Just as the brain surgeon was gathering a real head of steam, Mr. Trump declared him “pathological” for all his past talk about his inability to control his temper as an angry teenager.


      Game, set, match. Brain surgeon gone.

      As genius as “The Art of the Schlong” is from page one, it doesn’t quite reach its complete and blinding brilliance until Mr. Trump gets into the general election campaign against the Joan of Arc character, who — spoiler alert! — winds up getting horribly schlonged after suffering a stunning and humiliating public schlonging eight years earlier.

      But because Mr. Trump operates at a level of psychological sophistication so far above this modern world of dummy politicians, none of the politicos gets that Mr. Trump wasn’t even talking about the man who beat Joan at the polls.

      He was actually talking about how Joan had been so horribly schlonged by her very own betrothed husband, who was a politician before her and has been her only meal ticket for her entire career.

      It was during the primary in South Carolina in 2008 when Joan’s husband — gifted politician — became unhinged and started invoking racial undertones in a campaign against America’s real First Black President. Everyone marveled that he would have so openly sabotaged his own wife’s presidential campaign.

      But, truth is, it wasn’t the first time he had publicly schlonged her in such a humiliating way.

      You see, Joan’s husband has always been like a bull elephant in musth, with reproductive hormones leaking from his temples, charging at females of every size, shape and age. Females who know the couple tell their daughters to stay away.

      And, so, now, thanks to Mr. Trump’s treatise, Joan of Arc will never again be pictured in the mind’s eye of the American voter except as the bride of the most unrestrained public schlonger of our time.

      • Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com and on Twitter via @charleshurt.

      http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/22/charles-hurt-donald-trumps-art-of-the-schlong-port/

      Delete
    2. At least Trump has put some humor into things.

      Beats watching Hillary and The Bern, that's for sure.

      Delete
    3. .

      But because Mr. Trump operates at a level of psychological sophistication so far above this modern world of dummy politicians, none of the politicos gets that Mr. Trump wasn’t even talking about the man who beat Joan at the polls.

      The faux farmer posts an article by a faux psychologist about a faux politician.

      What's new?

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      At least Trump has put some humor into things.

      It's easy to see why Trump's crude sophomoric barnyard humor might appeal to a callow rural bumpkin.

      .

      Delete
    5. It's supposed to be a little humorous, you dense advertising fraud.

      Here, read this, and think about moslems with nukes, and how the USA is your source of all evil in the world, you schlong -

      December 23, 2015
      Obama's denial of theological roots of Islamic terror endangers the nation
      By Thomas Lifson

      Andrew McCarthy has published the read of the day. For those few who do not know his background, McCarthy prosecuted the Blind Sheik for the first World Trade Center bombing as an assistant US Attorney. In the course of this prosecution ansd since, he has become a genuine expert of Islamic theology and its relationship to Islamic terror.

      For a mixture of reasons ranging from political correctness to naiveté (how can one of the world’s “great religions” be so flawed?) to lusting after oil money (how many universities have received how many millions of dollars from oil producing countries?) to vote pandering, the American political, media, academic, and ruling classes have been in denial about the nature of scriptural Islam. The cold, hard truth about Islam is daunting. Its scriptures demand a cruel and ruthless approach to establishing world dominance, and terrorists who are trying to kill us have sound scriptural reasons for believing they will achieve blessings in the afterlife.

      I really wish this weren’t so. But it is, and we only harm ourselves by pretending otherwise. And for those Muslims who don’t follow this interpretation of their religion, I say thanks. And keep it up. For those brave few Mulsim like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who energetically point out the need to reform Islam, I say blessings upon you. And watch your back! And for courageous former Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who revolt against the oppression and cruelty, I hail their bravery, for other Muslims are commanded to enforce the death penalty for apostasy upon them.

      McCarthy lays out in compelling and readable form why President Obama’s obstinate refusal to acknowledge the facts is so dangerous. Read the whole thing. But here are two excerpts:

      It is not just that the word terror appears several times in the Koran; it is that the word appears in a particular context: The duty of Muslims to act as Allah’s instrument to terrorize non-Muslims is a recurring scriptural theme. In Sura 3:151, to take one of several examples, Muslims are admonished:

      Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers.

      Delete
    6. Omar Abdel Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” I prosecuted in the mid-'90s after his cell bombed the World Trade Center and planned similar strikes against other New York City landmarks, was a renowned scholar of Islamic jurisprudence. Indeed -- and this is worth pausing over -- his mastery of our enemy’s ideology was the sole source of his authority to approve jihadist attacks.

      And

      Understand: the president is not refusing to associate terror with Islam out of political correctness. His delusion is ideological. It informs his every decision. It is why the terrorist threat has so intensified, and why we are in more peril today than at any time since before the 9/11 attacks.

      The Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) strategy has gotten some way overdue attention in the two weeks since 14 Americans were killed by the San Bernardino jihadists. As I’ve recently recounted, Obama’s Department of Homeland Security published CVE training instructions for federal agencies involved in national security. All of the two-page “Do’s and Don’ts” [sic] document is breathtakingly detached from life here on earth, but buried in the middle is a specific directive that speaks volumes:

      Don’t use training that is all “war stories,” which may rely too much on outdated information and overgeneralizations. Regaling an audience with a blow-by-blow account of a 2003 terrorism investigation does not address the changing nature of violent extremism we face today.

      Obama believes the nature of terrorism is changing. This is absurd. The violence today is executed by jihadists. They are motivated by a scripture-based doctrinal command to impose sharia -- Islam’s societal framework and legal code, which is the necessary precondition to Islamicizing a society and, ultimately, establishing a caliphate. That is why they kill today, it is why they killed in 2003, in 1993, in 1800, in 1565, in 1064, in 732, and so on all the way back to the raids Muhammad himself led in the seventh century. The technology and tactics of violent jihadism have changed over time; the nature of it has been the same for nearly a millennium-and-a-half.

      We may or may not be at war with Islam. But Islam is most definitely at war with us, and we live in what it calls “The House of War” (Dar al harb)

      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/obamas_denial_of_theological_roots_of_islamic_terror_endangers_the_nation.html#ixzz3v9kYBKcz


      Delete
    7. That is why they kill today, it is why they killed in 2003, in 1993, in 1800, in 1565, in 1064, in 732, and so on all the way back to the raids Muhammad himself led in the seventh century. The technology and tactics of violent jihadism have changed over time; the nature of it has been the same for nearly a millennium-and-a-half.

      And Quirk tries to suggest we are the font of evil in the world.

      80,000,000 million Hindus, among millions of others, might disagree, if they came back from the dead.

      I'm going to go get the morning paper and do the crossword puzzle.

      It beats listening to the holier than thou Quirk fart off.

      Delete
    8. And for courageous former Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali

      I didn't know she had given it up.

      Good for her.

      She joins many other brave women with a bulls eye target on her back. This is to say the least not easy to do.


      Delete
  17. .

    From the Guardian,

    US Bans British Muslim Family From Disneyland Trip

    As a young girl I dreamed of going to Disneyland. Like many of my friends I hoped to one day visit places I’d only seen on television shows and in films. That’s why when I heard from a family of 11 from my Walthamstow constituency whose holiday to LA had had to be abandoned, my first thought was for their kids. How long they had watched their parents save for the trip; how excited they must have felt telling their friends they would see Mickey Mouse, and how upset they must have been at Gatwick airport to watch their dad being taken aside by officials and told that their right to travel was being revoked. Instead of heading to Universal Studios for two weeks of fun, they were told to go back home and unpack.

    This is more than a sad consumer affairs story about missed gate numbers or paperwork problems. The official who stopped them was from the US Department of Homeland Security – and in the ensuing furore other local residents have come forward to say that they, too, have been summarily refused entry to America.

    What is the one thing these stories have in common? Religion. A growing number of UK Muslim citizens say they have been similarly treated. This raises troubling questions well beyond how to diffuse the heartache of small children unable to meet Elsa from Frozen. Indeed, if the US thinks it has good grounds for stopping people going there, we cannot be contented that the UK does not take any action to follow this up here.

    The family trying to get to California were due to leave last Tuesday – that a week later they have yet to receive any details at all as to why they were prevented from travelling only adds their distress. Yet there has been no further contact from either the UK or American security services to follow up any potential threat that they are perceived to represent.

    Despite making enquiries, I’ve hit a brick wall too – except to get confirmation that the £9,000 they spent on flights will not be refunded. Norwegian Air’s small print states that if you are refused entry it has no liability – and without any information from Homeland Security, the family cannot query whether this clause is invoked on fair or unfair grounds. Faced with no holiday, no explanation and no compensation, it is little wonder that festive cheer is in short supply and anger is growing.

    It is not just the family themselves who are livid. The vacuum created by a refusal to provide any context for these decisions is fuelling resentment and debate.
    Online and offline discussions reverberate with the growing fear that UK Muslims are being “trumped” – that widespread condemnation of Donald Trump’s call for no Muslim to be allowed into America contrasts with what is going on in practice. Faced with such claims, our concern should be to offer more than a critique of American Republican primary political positioning. Because this isn’t happening in the US. It’s happening on British soil, at our airports and involving our citizens and challenging their sense of place in our society too...


    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/22/us-british-citizens-holiday-muslim-families

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, gee.

      Maybe someone in the family didn't pass vetting.

      Good for Homeland Security.

      They have been criticized recently, as they should be, for not having a clue concerning the whereabouts in the USA of thousands of high risk muslims they are supposed to be tracking.

      Delete
    2. .

      Maybe someone in the family didn't pass vetting.

      Who the hell knows?

      This is why Trump has made inroads among the sheeple in the US. Homeland security or any other groups within US Security empire declares someone a threat; yet, they don't have to tell those involved why they are a suspect. They simply have to accuse someone and the sheeple automatically bleat, well they must be guilty of something.

      The sheeple's intellectual curiosity ends with the trigger words 'security' or 'terror'; however, this incident takes the police state beyond that. HS doesn't offer any explanation at all yet the resident sheeple is willing to rationalize and justify its actions away.

      With the Patriot Act, Bush and his friends in Congress summarily stripped Americans of many of their basic rights. Simply by 'declaring' someone a terrorist or even a suspected terrorist or someone that aided or is suspected of aiding a terrorist, they can lock the person away without due process. They can collect data on a person without his knowledge and indicate it is even a crime for someone to tell the person he is being investigated or that they gave up info on the person. At least now, if you have the time and the money to fight the government through the courts you might be able to find out why you have been put on the 'no-fly' list. Of course, once you find out the reason and if you disagree with it you will have to go through the same course over again with the appeals process and the money.

      But that is just for US citizens. If you are a foreign national, forget about it.

      In the case above, it cost the British family over $13,000 and they were given no explanation. Zip. Nada.

      Now it's possible that HS had a legitimate reason for denying the family admittance to the US. If so, why not tell them the reason? Give them some explanation?

      The usual explanation is that it is secret. Or, that they can't compromise their sources or their processes. Or some other bull. The real reason they do it is because they can.

      The same people who support this type of overreach are the ones who say, "It's all right with me. I have nothing to fear." These are the same people willing to sent US troops to conflict areas 'to save the women' or spread 'democracy' or some such shit because they know they themselves won't be going.

      It's always easier to give up the other guys rights.

      .

      Delete
  18. SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 23, 2015 — U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

    Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

    Strikes in Syria

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

    -- Near Hawl, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL building, an ISIL vehicle, four ISIL fighting positions, and an ISIL rocket system.

    -- Near Hasakah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.

    -- Near Manbij, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Mar’a, two strikes destroyed two ISIL heavy machine guns and two ISIL mortar systems.

    -- Near Raqqah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 24 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Huwayjah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Habbaniyah, five strikes struck four ISIL staging areas and an ISIL headquarters.

    -- Near Mosul, eight strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL building, an ISIL crane, an ISIL bulldozer, two ISIL excavators, two ISIL vehicles, five ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun, an ISIL light machine gun and an ISIL checkpoint and wounded an ISIL fighter.

    -- Near Ramadi, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL bunker, 19 ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL sniper positions, an ISIL anti-air artillery piece, four ISIL rocket-propelled grenade positions, two ISIL recoilless rifles, two ISIL grenade launcher positions, two ISIL heavy machine gun positions, three ISIL command-and-control nodes, two ISIL bed-down locations, an ISIL staging area, cratered an ISIL-used road and denied ISIL access to terrain.

    -- Near Sinjar, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

    -- Near Fallujah, one strike destroyed an ISIL bunker.

    -- Near Kisik, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions.

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

    Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

    ReplyDelete
  19. WASHINGTON, December 22, 2015 — Coalition and local forces have inflicted a "recent string of defeats" on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said today in Baghdad.

    Army Col. Steve Warren, speaking in a phone conference with reporters at the Pentagon, said Iraqi security forces in the southern access crossed the Tharthar Canal south of the Euphrates River today.

    Despite ISIL destroying Ramadi's bridges, the Iraqi forces were able to access the city using an Improved Ribbon Bridge, Warren said. The Iraqi security forces are beginning to push north into downtown Ramadi, he said.

    The colonel said coalition airpower delivered 33 munitions in direct support of offensive operations in Ramadi in the last 24 hours. "We're encouraged by this tactical development, which is a continuation of the progress we've seen over the last several weeks," he said.

    Warren estimated there are between 250 to 350 enemy fighters remaining in the Ramadi city center, and several hundred in the area around the north and west of the city. He said there is expected to be "tough fighting ahead in Ramadi's dense urban terrain." However, he added, "I think the fall of Ramadi is inevitable."

    Other progress in Iraq, Warren said, includes coalition airstrikes that supported Iraqi forces who were clearing through the Makhoul Mountains north of Beiji.

    That strike on Sunday killed a "fairly large number" of enemy fighters who were gathering perhaps for an attack on the Beiji oil refinery area, he said.

    'Significant Blow' to ISIL Oil Operations

    In Syria yesterday, forces successfully seized from ISIL a town along the Mara Line, Warren said. That operation was aided by four strikes against four separate ISIL tactical units, he said.

    Coalition airstrikes continue in the eastern Syrian deserts against the ISIL oil network as part of Operation Tidal Wave II, Warren said. The coalition "dealt a significant blow" to ISIL's oil revenue by striking five gas and oil separation points, as well as two crude oil collection points near Raqqa on Dec. 19.

    "This strike was the largest deliberate or pre-planned strike that the coalition has conducted since the start of the operation," the spokesman said.

    Twenty fighters, bombers and other attack aircraft from three nations were involved in the strike and dropped more than 140 munitions, he said. The strike is a reminder that the United States and its partners "continue to apply pressure to ISIL across the breadth and the depth of their so-called caliphate," Warren said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ISIL Behavior Turning 'Desperate'

      ISIL documents recovered around Fallujah indicate the terrorists are "beginning to feel some of this pressure that we've been applying to them," Warren said. Iraqi security forces obtained a document from an ISIL unit that appears to be a formal order directing ISIL fighters to impersonate Iraqi security forces, Warren said.

      The fighters are directed to bomb mosques, kill and torture civilians, and break into homes, before withdrawing from Fallujah, he said. They are directed to film their actions and distribute the videos, in an effort to discredit the Iraqi forces and the government of Iraq, Warren said.

      "Clearly, this isn't the behavior of a legitimate government or of a legitimate military force," he said. "It's the behavior of thugs, it's the behavior of killers and it's the behavior of terrorists."

      A separate ISIL document recovered bans people from watching television or from buying, installing or repairing satellite systems, the spokesman said.

      "The reason I bring this up is to illustrate where ISIL is right now," Warren said. "I would submit to you that we're starting to see a change in their behavior that may be related to some desperation."

      Warren said ISIL appears to be trying to hide information regarding the "recent string of defeats" as the United States and its partners kill ISIL leaders, increase the security capacity of regional partners, and strike the terrorists "across the battlefield and all of their formation."

      (Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter: @FerdinandoDoD)

      Delete
  20. If I were in Ramadi, with 500 or 1,000 guys probably running low on ammo, surrounded by 10,000 troops supported by USA aircraft, unable to retreat, I'd be getting a little desperate too.

    In fact I might think about putting on the opposing force's uniform if I could find one, and basically giving up on Allah, and try to head home, where ever that may be, but that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. It's that time of year again. This year we got Lady Gaga & Billy “Asphalt Potato” Idol to sing a White Christmas Duet.

    http://asphaltpotato.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh, once in, O, I don't know, every third full or so your contributions sometimes make the day, Potato Butt.

      :)

      But -

      1) I object to Lady Gaga's moslem head scarf
      2) That ermine fur wrap is totally home sapiens superiority insensitive towards the weasels
      3) You are giving Gaga a Politically Incorrect uncool leering sexual stare most of the vid - you need to hold that down and not drool in public
      4) And sometimes you have a really stupid look on your face, too

      Delete
    2. And

      5) White Christmas is uncompromisingly racist

      Delete
    3. 6) You definitely need a chin tuck

      Delete
  22. Ah, Russia !

    The decades come and go, the names and the faces change, but the underlying themes remain always the same -


    Thursday, December 24, 2015
    Russia
    Russia Issues International Arrest Warrant For Khodorkovsky


    Mikhail Khodorkovsky

    [Pin It]

    December 23, 2015

    A Russian court has ordered the arrest of the exiled Kremlin critic and ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

    A spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, was quoted by Russian media on December 23 as saying the court had issued an international arrest warrant for Khodorkovsky, who spends much of his time in London.

    Earlier this month, investigators accused Khodorkovsky, who spent 10 years in jail before he was pardoned by Putin in 2013, of involvement in the 1998 killing of a Siberian mayor.

    Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky has dismissed the charges. He's also accused President Vladimir Putin of flouting the Russian constitution and leading the country to ruin.

    On December 22, Russian investigators searched homes of several employees of a charity foundation funded by Khodorkovsky.

    Khodorkovsky's charity foundation Open Russia said that the homes of its employees were raided in connection with a 2003 criminal case which led to Khodorkovsky's jailing.

    Based on reporting by Interfax and Reuters


    *******

    London seems to have become of late the City of Refuge of Choice for many of the world's most wanted, lately.

    **********

    Breaking:

    Ukraine Bans Limp Bizkit Lead Singer For Five Years

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll tell you the guy that seems our time's best survivor of Moscow's political intrigues over the decades -

      Vitaly Churkin

      Once worked for Gorby, who, on his death bed, is currently threatened with a treason charge, now working for Pooty as UN Ambassador, I think it is.

      Would typical Russian behavior change for the better with some global warming ?

      Would they switch from the killer booze Vodka to something a little more healthy, like Coors Lite ?

      Would the Russian women cease putting ads all over the internet offering sexual favors for a little immigration help ?

      Only the changing thermometer will finally tell the tale...

      Delete
    2. (my sister used to read Russian literature like an alcoholic going through the liquor cabinet)

      Delete
    3. Not even "Q" could survive like Churkin.

      Delete
  23. Highlights

    The consumer is solid though price pressures are still mostly dormant. Personal spending rose an as-expected 0.3 percent in November in data released last night by mistake. Income, data not released early, also rose 0.3 percent and the wages & salaries component is very strong for a second month, up 0.5 percent in November following a 0.6 percent gain in October.

    Turning to inflation, core PCE prices rose only 0.1 percent in the month which was expected keeping the year-on-year rate, as it has been nearly all year, at plus 1.3 percent and showing no movement yet toward the Fed's 2 percent target. Total prices are unchanged though the year-on-year rate, getting a lift from an easy comparison with this time last year, is moving higher but from a very low level, up 2 tenths to plus 0.4 percent which is still the largest gain since December last year. The low rate of inflation in this reading shows the effect of oil prices.

    The 0.3 percent gain for spending, though positive, doesn't quite offset October's no change reading (downwardly revised from plus 0.1 percent). The fourth-quarter spending data are running at an annualized rate of just 1.6 percent which doesn't point to outstanding fourth-quarter strength. But the holidays are still underway and last minute shopping could give a boost to fourth-quarter GDP. And the outlook for future spending does look positive with the savings rate, boosted by job availability and low gas prices, still very solid at 5.5 percent though down 1 tenth in the month.

    The consumer is getting a boost on the income side but is still holding back a bit on the spending side. The spending data along with the inflation data in this report won't be raising expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes.

    Note that the Bureau of Economic Analysis mistakenly released the spending data of this report last night.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Turning to inflation, core PCE prices rose only 0.1 percent in the month which was expected keeping the year-on-year rate, as it has been nearly all year, at plus 1.3 percent and showing no movement yet toward the Fed's 2 percent target.

    I admit to being an economic illiterate, and I realize a little inflation is sorta built into the system, but for the life of me I can't understand what is wrong with stable prices.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or even, horror of horrors, a little lowering of prices just once in a while.

      Delete
    2. The only things I ever see trending downward once in a while is wheat prices, and the cost of gas.

      The second at least seems good, wonderful right now.

      Delete
  25. Why have college tuition cost gone up so much ?

    Ans: because of all the easy federal college loan money.

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 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 -

    December 23, 2015
    U.S. visa form asks foreigners if they are terrorists. Seriously.
    By Carol Brown

    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.”

    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.

    OK. I see no show of hands.

    Moving onto the next bit of WTH? The second paragraph in the report reads:

    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)

    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.”

    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.

    It’s insane and circular thinking. And that’s putting it mildly.

    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?

    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.

    Thomas Lifson adds:

    It gets worse. According to Republican congressman Bob Goodlatte:

    “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.”

    “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.”

    “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.

    “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.


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/us_visa_form_asks_foreigners_if_they_are_terrorists_seriously.html#ixzz3vCvjG6TA


    ReplyDelete
  27. 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.

    Negotiations now ongoing with Russia, Iran and Arab allies are grappling with this dilemma.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Pooty



    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.

    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.”

    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.”


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      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.

      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.

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      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.

      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.

      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.

      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.

      Robert W. Merry is a contributing editor at the National Interest and an author of books on American history and foreign policy.

      Delete
    2. What Trump Gets Right About Putin

      http://nationalinterest.org/feature/what-trump-gets-right-about-putin-14697?page=2

      Delete

    3. 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.



      This is surely wrong. The West didn't 'lure' anyone.

      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.

      What is NATO and the EU to have done ?

      Turn them away ?

      No.

      Delete
  29. Merry Christmas to you, Rufus !

    MAP

    Where To Say ‘Merry Christmas’ vs. ‘Happy Holidays’
    Mapping the “war on Christmas”

    By Andrew R. Lewis and Paul A. Djupe
    Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland on Dec. 21, 2002.

    Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi, Finland on Dec. 21, 2002.

    Tony Lewis / Getty Images

    ‘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?

    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.

    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.
    lewis-waronxmas-map

    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

    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).

    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.

    Merry holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/where-to-say-merry-christmas-vs-happy-holidays/

      Delete
  30. SCHLONGFURTER !

    (with meatballs ?)



    Islamic Revenge? Muslim Eats Enemy’s Penis to 'Cure Heartache'
    A macabre true-life story and its roots in the Religion of Peace.
    December 24, 2015
    Raymond Ibrahim
    1

    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:

    [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.

    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.

    “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.

    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.

    Yet there is that curious statement that he made: mutilating his enemy and eating his genitalia was the only way “to cure my heartache.”

    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.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      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.

      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.

      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).”

      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!’”

      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”:

      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).

      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”?

      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.

      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).

      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.

      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?

      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.

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261219/islamic-revenge-muslim-eats-enemys-penis-cure-raymond-ibrahim

      Delete
  31. My last. I've had enough for one day. As so, I am certain, have you.

    God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Gentleladies -


    Jews Denied Security Clearance While Huma Infiltrates the Government
    How the administration treats a Jewish dentist with family in Israel compared to an Islamist ally.
    December 24, 2015
    Joseph Klein
    2

    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.

    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.

    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.

    “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.”

    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.”


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      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.

      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.”

      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.

      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:

      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.


      Delete
    2. 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.

      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.

      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.

      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.

      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.

      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?

      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261228/jews-denied-security-clearance-while-huma-joseph-klein

      Delete
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