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 16, 2015

Jersey Fats, John Quesadia and Caustic Florina want to get it on with Russia


Kasich: Punch Russians in the Nose; Christie: Shoot Down Russian Warplanes; Paul: Hello to WWIII

By Susan Jones | December 16, 2015 | 5:38 AM EST


(CNSNews.com) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich said when it comes to foreign policy, "you have to know how to pick and choose." One of Kasich's choices would be to punch Russia in the nose.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was even harsher: He said not only would he set up a no-fly zone over Syria, he would shoot down Russian warplanes that violated that zone.

Sen. Rand Paul's response to Christie: "Well, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate," he said at Tuesday night's debate hosted by CNN.

Kasich, who advocates regime change in Syria, said he would not have toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein "if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction."

He told the debate audience that Iraq needs to be broken up into three parts -- Sunni, Shia, and Kurd -- because the current arrangement doesn't work.

"And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose," Kasich said. "They've gotten away with too much in this world, and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies."

CNN debate moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Chris Christie, "If he U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia?"

"Not only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it," Christie replied. "A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means.

"See, maybe -- maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear -- I would not (not) talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, 'Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you.'

"And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now."

Blitzer then turned to Rand Paul, asking him to respond to Christie.

"Well, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate, Paul said. "My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, 'Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes.'

"Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with, the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace.

"And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone -- and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III.

"We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war," Paul said.

For the record, Carly Fiorina said "now is not the time" to be talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She, like Christie, advocates a no-fly zone over Syria.

"There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action," Fiorina said.

"I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't bother to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength.

"So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny ISIS territory; until I've called the supreme leader of Iran and told him new deal -- new deal. We, the United States of America, are going to cut off the money flow, which we can do; which we don't need anyone's permission or collaboration to do.

"And I will not speak to him personally until we've rebuilt the 6th Fleet a little bit right under his nose; rebuilt the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose; and conducted a few military exercises in the Baltic states

73 comments:

  1. ...When asked if a Russian plane encroached that no-fly zone would he be willing to shoot down the plane and risk war with Russia, Christie said, “I would do it. A no-fly zone means no-fly zone. That’s what it means. I have this plain language hang up. But I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. I would say to him, listen, Mr. President, there is a no-fly zone in Syria. You fly in and it applies to you. And yes we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots, if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president is the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the oval office is right now.”

    Paul countered, “If you are in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. Here’s the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment not someone so reckless as to stand on the stage and say ‘yes, I’m going to shoot down Russian planes. Russia flies in that air space. I may or may not be in love with the fact that they are there. But they were invited by Iraq and Syria to fly in that air space. If we announce a no-fly zone it’s a recipe for disaster and World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength but not from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something—this type of judgment is having that kind of judgment who you would appoint and conduct affairs that is important. When we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III we might think about someone who would shut down a bridge because they don’t like their friends. They want to get a Democrat. I think we need to be very careful about that.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. ,

    In other words, 'Bellicose Carly' (sounds like a doll) wouldn't talk to Putin within her term in office.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. .

    While waiting for a new show to pop up on the Sci-Fi Channel, I flipped over to CNN. Donald 'Fourth Reich' Trump was talking about how he would not only go after and punish the terrorists but how he would also go after and punish their families. I watched for a couple minutes more before with abiding disgust I flipped channel.

    I realize I am a bit idealistic maybe even a little naive in my views of the American people as a whole but until this election I didn't realize how really bad it was. Trump's statement turned into an applause line. A good chunk the audience applauded. I was amazed. Rand Paul and Jeb Bush seemed to be the only two on the stage that objected to the idea.

    It is amazing (to me) that a good portion of the American public (if you can believe the polls) go along with Trump's wild ass ideas including based on the audience reaction his call for collective punishment. Oh, we've seen it in the past with hate groups like the KKK, the JDL, white-supremacist groups,radical anti-abortionist nuts,and in the 1850's there was even a national political party devoted to it. However, I always considered it to be part of the wacko fringe or in some cases an isolated but temporary reversion to an atavistic past. Evidently, not so.

    Trumps call for collective punishment echoes the purges we see in authoritarian regimes across the globe, in the reigns of terror throughout many countries in Africa, in the destruction of homes of terrorists in Israel. It smacks of despotism and tyranny. Yet, a good chunk of the audience applauded the idea.

    Disgusting.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. before with abiding disgust I flipped channel

      bwabwabwahahahaha

      You old fraud.

      Delete
    2. (no one is ever good enough for Ol' Quirk-O)

      Delete
    3. (of course Quirk-O has Zero -"O"- Idea what to do himself)

      Delete
    4. with abiding disgust is truly most excellent.


      Bwabwahahaha

      Delete
  4. It happened in Germany; it can happen here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Highly, highly unlikely.

      We could avoid all the trouble by not letting any more moslems into the country, which is what we should have been doing before now.

      Delete
    2. If totalitarianism gets a grip in the USA it will come from the left, not the right.

      By the way, Hillary is for a 'no-fly zone'- at least as of a little while ago.

      I was for a no-fly zone before the Russians got involved.

      Too much danger now.

      Maybe we ought to leave Syria to the Russians and concentrate on fighting ISIS is Iraq.

      Obama, is, of course, responsible for all this mid east chaos, Obama and Hillary.

      Delete
  5. Debate's greatest historical/literary moment, worthy of a Chauncey Gardener -

    "There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action," Fiorina said.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hugh Fitzgerald is back !!

    Hugh Fitzgerald: Christian Arabs, Muslim Arabs (Part 2)

    December 15, 2015 8:17 am By Hugh Fitzgerald 32 Comments

    Israel and Arab states

    The second great grim given in the Middle East, along with the persecution of ancient Christian communities by Muslims, is the steady under-hum of hate, directed at the Infidel Jewish state of Israel. Through the din of warfare between Sunni and Shi’a, Kurd and Arab, Berber and Arab, Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda, there is the noise of another warfare: the endless war against Israel.

    This war is a product of the Muslim worldview. In that view, the world is uncompromisingly divided between Dar al-Islam, the Domain of Islam, where Muslims dominate, and Dar al-Harb, the Domain of War, where Muslims do not yet dominate. It is the duty of every Muslim to participate in the struggle or Jihad, to remove all obstacles to the spread, and then the domination, of Islam, everywhere. And they are doing it, through terrorism, and propaganda, and economic warfare, and hijrah, the newest and most dangerous instrument of jihad, jihad through migration into the vulnerable (because confused about the threat they faced) lands of Dar al-Harb.

    Israel’s existence is regarded by Muslims as especially insufferable. For it is an Infidel nation-state, the Infidels in question being the long-despised Jews that sits smack in the middle of Arabdom, contra naturam, an insult to the amour-propre of Muslims everywhere, but especially to Arab Muslims, who conceive of that tiny country metaphorically as either a knife plunged into the heart of Arabdom, or as a cancerous growth in the middle of Arabdom. And you don’t pull a knife out part-way, you don’t cut out only part of a cancerous tumor. In other words, for most Arabs, Israel eventually has to go, to disappear, to become again what it once was, part of Dar al-Islam. Until the Six-Day War, the Arabs never hid — just read their propaganda — the final result they desired — an end to Israel, and by military means. But their colossal defeat in that war, and the loss of the territory that the Jordanians had renamed the “West Bank,” led to an entire rethinking of Arab strategy. They understood that they would now have to use non-military means to recover that “West Bank” through diplomacy.


    ReplyDelete
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    1. That diplomatic maneuvering required the transformation of the local Arabs — those in Israel proper, those in the “West Bank,” and those who had fled Mandatory Palestine in 1948-49 and had been called “Arab refugees” — into the deliberately-created “Palestinian people.” This newly-invented “Palestinian people” would first recover, through negotiations, the “West Bank,” and only then, with Israel pushed back into the armistice lines of 1949, would the Arabs, as many as chose to join in, go in for the kill.

      This Arab strategy of conquest-by-stages has gone pretty well. The existence of the “Palestinian people” has been uncritically accepted, or almost so: Golda Meir always doubted their existence, but that’s not surprising — after all, she was the Prime Minister of Israel. But another who doubted their existence was a “Palestinian” Arab named Zuheir Mohsen, head of the As-Saiqa terrorist group, who confided to a Dutch newspaper that “between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese there are no differences. We are all part of ONE people, the Arab nation. Look, I have family members with Palestinian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian citizenship. We are ONE people. Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity. Because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new tool to continue the fight against Israel and for Arab unity. There is no such thing as the Palestinian people.”

      And to back up Zuheir Mohsen, you might add that phrase “Palestinian people” was never heard. If, however, you ask someone to explain why that phrase was never heard before late 1967......


      http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/hugh-fitzgerald-christian-arabs-muslim-arabs-part-2


      A most excellent writer, one of the best.

      Delete

  7. galopn2Wed Dec 16, 10:00:00 AM EST

    It happened in Germany; it can happen here.
    Reply

    Replies






    Idaho BobWed Dec 16, 12:37:00 PM EST

    Highly, highly unlikely.

    We could avoid all the trouble by not letting any more moslems into the country, which is what we should have been doing before now.

    -----------


    When you have a whole bunch of Americans like Bob, who can, in all sincerity, make such a comment trouble awaits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The poor, ignorant asshole doesn't even recognize that he's making my case for me.

      Delete
    2. .

      What bigot thinks he is a bigot?

      They call themselves patriots, protectors of American culture, 'real' or 'true' Americans, 'realists', and they are protecting us from the 'other', the brown skins creeping in from the south, the Muslims creeping in from the east, the other boogeymen creeping around in the night; and they throw out claims that are repeated over and over again on their nut job hate blogs, and in their ignorance assume it must be true since it is popping up in so many places; and when all the claims when confronted by objective truth prove to be false they double down, deny the facts, and argue it is all evidence of a great conspiracy and cover-up promoted by the other other, the media, the government, the Idaho Fish and Game, etc., etc. etc. You can always find someone to blame.

      Bigot, naw.

      These are the 'Great American Heroes' we see spoken of on their tv shows, radio programs, and blogs.

      And their political leaders understand exactly what they are and feed into it, giving them their daily fair of vitriol. And satisfied, the sheeple withdraw under their beds and feel secure knowing that there is someone out there that understands their fears and will 'protect' them.

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      These bigots are repellent on more than one level.

      Take Trump's claim that we need to keep all Muslim's from coming into the country. Forget the disgusting nature of the proposal. These nuts seem to think it is actually physically possible to accomplish it.

      Nutzo coocoo. Straight from bizarreville.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      I was looking through a number of the fact checking sites today. One of them, Politifact, has looked at about 100 statements made by Trump. They rated none of them, '0', fully accurate. About a fifth of them were rated 'pants on fire' lies.

      And what do his minions say, media bias or 'even if what he says is wrong, at least, Donald Trump says what he means'.

      Lordy.

      .

      Delete
    5. .

      They fail to see the obvious oxymoron. Even if Trump is lying, he is 'honest' about it.

      .

      Delete
    6. The Washington Compost newspaper won the Pinocchio Award for this year, hands down, going away....

      Lies every day.....365/year

      Actually more than 365 lies, some days in the high multiple lies....

      Delete
    7. They fail to see the obvious oxymoron. Even if Trump is lying, he is 'honest' about it.

      That certainly beats Hillary, who is shameless about it.

      Delete
    8. Beats O'bozo too, come to think on it.

      Delete
    9. The remarkable thing about The Donald is that he's the poor working man's Billionaire.

      His true base of support is the white working class, or the out of work white working class.

      They love his talk on immigration.

      They are tired of losing jobs to non US citizen illegals, who drive wages down too.

      The Donald isn't just your average everyday Wall Street Billionaire. At least that is the perception of the white working or non working class.

      Delete
    10. The Washington Compost Wins The Colin Flaherty Pinocchio of the Year Award

      (Colin will never be published there again) --


      December 16, 2015
      Biggest Liar of 2015: The Washington Post and Its Pinocchios
      By Colin Flaherty

      In its annual roundup of this year’s biggest lies and liars, the Washington Post forgot the largest liar of all: The writers and editors of the Washington Post.

      We are of course talking about the Post’s recent decision to name the “hands up, don’t shoot’ campaign as one of its “Biggest Pinocchios of 2015.” But the collection of prevarications was curiously incomplete.

      The Post reporter had no trouble identifying the biggest liars behind the other lies: Trump, Hillary, Kerry, Warren, whatever: The liars and lies were locked together.

      Except for the biggest lie of all; the lie the Post left for last. The lie that took more ink, and went unchallenged by more professional skeptics than all the other lies put together. A lie that, apparently, told itself, because this was the only Pinocchio unmatched with a specific liar.

      The Post, of course, was an early and gleeful adopter of the narrative of the unarmed black person shot for no reason whatsoever by racist police in Ferguson who apparently did that kind of thing all the time.

      This Lie infected more than just miles and miles of newsprint in the hard news sections. It was also reported and spread in the sports, lifestyle, opinion, entertainment, and virtually every other nook and cranny of the Post -- even after the attorney general grudgingly admitted the entire thing was a hoax in March of this year.

      The lies are legion. A few of the more deceitful:

      The Post led the way in glorifying the hundreds of black Capitol Hill staffers who gathered for a photo op in their $1000 coats, soft leather gloves stretched into the air, proclaiming ‘hands up, don’t shoot.’

      The Post took the lie hook, line, and press release and characterized the December dog and pony show as “quiet and dignified.”

      But deceitful? Delusional? Or just plain denial? Not a hint.

      Delete
    11. Almost a year later, The Post enthusiastically reported on Elizabeth Warren’s Black Lives Matter speech where she talked about ‘hands up, don’t shoot.’ But by then, the paper had to grudgingly admit “conservatives have attacked (it) as a lie because the Justice Department concluded that Michael Brown's hands were most likely not up in the air when he was shot and killed by Darren Wilson.”

      That’s kind of the point, isn’t it: only conservatives demanded that the thousands of editors and reporters at the Post and other papers around the country somehow justify their big lie.

      But they could not. Did not. Many were too busy following the Post with their own fairy tales concocted for the benefit of the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ mob.

      Your humble correspondent figured it out, just a few days after the shooting, in an article called "The Ferguson Lie Comes Undone".

      Lots of people did. But all we got from the Post and its minions was more denial, deceit, and delusion. Acres and acres of it. The liars loved it.

      Even the attorney general’s announcement of 2015 did little to alter the Post’s willingness to print the Pinocchio as the Truth.

      In July, the Post reviewed an art installation that featured the body of Michael Brown lying dead. The family objected because they were not getting a cut of the loot. But as for the whole idea that the entire show was based on a lie, not a word.

      The Post even joined Jon Stewart in mocking some Fox News personalities who demanded that all the liars behind the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ campaign should apologize.

      Other columnists used the Dan Rather defense: We got the facts wrong, but the story was for a good cause so what’s the damn difference, said Alyssa Rosenberg on March 20.

      The Sports pages were another enthusiastic and uncritical adopter of the Biggest Lie of Our Generation: There was no pushback to any of the pro football players -- including a Washington Redskin -- who insisted the lie was true, long after many reasonable people knew the lie was just another lie.

      Delete
    12. The Sports pages were another enthusiastic and uncritical adopter of the Biggest Lie of Our Generation: There was no pushback to any of the pro football players -- including a Washington Redskin -- who insisted the lie was true, long after many reasonable people knew the lie was just another lie.

      Last December, the Post featured Redskins defensive lineman Chris Baker making the ‘hands up don’t shoot salute’ on the field during a game. And just in case we missed it, they published a few musings from Baker’s Twitter account:

      “They go out the way to put us in jail for dogs but kill us like dogs and go home and say #STANDMYGROUND”

      “The BLACK MALE getting killed by white cops and there's never any justice. They get away with it every time. #THINGSNEVERCHANGED #racism.”

      How many more lies do you want? That’s how many there are. The Post published the term ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ almost 700 times this year alone. Which is just a fraction of the stories that depended on this lie to tell even more lies.

      Which the Post was even more eager to publish, with even less evidence. Lies are not evidence, for those who need a reminder.

      One or two Post reporters came out of the ghetto to suggest that maybe they should take a fresh look at the facts. Even before the attorney general. But they were ignored, or their stories shuffled off to the back pages.

      Curiously, the biggest truth teller in the Post during the entire ‘hands up don’t shoot’ campaign of deception came on the sports’ pages, none other than Iron Mike Ditka.

      Ditka was talking about how he was disgusted that five members of the St. Louis Rams took the field in December with their hands up, as a tribute St. Michael of Ferguson.

      Ditka tried to set the reporters straight.

      “What do you do if someone pulls a gun on you or is robbing a store and you stop them?” asked Ditka, in a way that editors used to ask tough but simple questions. At least in the movies. “I don’t want to hear about this hands-up crap. That’s not what happened.”

      But to the thousands of reporters and editors at the Post and their enablers around the country, that did not matter.

      And now the Post wants to pretend that somehow it had nothing to do with the thousands of stories it has run that featured or depended on this Pinocchio?

      That is the biggest lie of all.

      Colin Flaherty is the only two-time winner of the Washington Post’s Summer Spy Novel writing contest. The paper dubbed him its “strong favorite.” Follow him on YouTube at ColinFlaherty712.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/biggest_liar_of_2015_the_washington_post_and_its_pinocchios.html#ixzz3uXTsPmPT



      Delete
  8. Let's be honest; as a species, we still require a little "work." :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recommend we start with the moslems first.

      Always start with the biggest sinners and work down the ladder.

      Delete
    2. If they could ever make the break from their book they'd have true potential.

      Alas, it is a killing offense to break with the book.

      They got a good meme working, surviving generation after generation.

      Delete
  9. SOUTHWEST ASIA, December 16, 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 six strikes in Syria:

    -- Near Ayn Isa, one strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

    -- Near Manbij, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint and an ISIL bunker.

    -- Near Mar’a, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, an ISIL fighting position, and an ISIL staging area.

    Strikes in Iraq

    Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Qaim, three strikes struck an ISIL headquarters, an ISIL improvised explosive device facility, and an ISIL vehicle bomb facility.

    - Near Hit, one strike destroyed two ISIL-used bridges.

    -- Near Kisik, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar position.

    -- Near Ramadi, five strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL tactical vehicles, two ISIL vehicles, nine ISIL staging areas, five ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun, three ISIL bed down locations, cratered eight ISIL-used roads, and denied ISIL access to terrain.

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

    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.

    DOD

    ReplyDelete
  10. three ISIL bed down locations

    We should knock it off with hitting the bed down locations.

    In the morning they are really grumpy, and head out and crucify some young Christian lad or lass, or force 12 year olds into prostitution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Bed down locations" - I find that totally absurd.

      The entire desert is a bed down location.

      What we are doing is improving the bed down locations.

      Who among us wouldn't want to snuggle up in a cozy crater rather than on the open desert floor ?

      **********

      Qatari royals among 26 hunters kidnapped by gunmen in Iraq after their armed guard fled

      Taken by gunmen on 50 vehicles with mounted machine guns, police said
      Group was snatched from camp in Bassiyah at 3am, its governor claimed
      Two Iraqi officers protecting them were also abducted but later released
      The hunters entered Iraq with 'official permit', said Qatar's foreign ministry
      Rich Gulf citizens known to travel to Middle East nations to hunt falcons

      By Jay Akbar For Mailonline

      Published: 10:44 EST, 16 December 2015 | Updated: 15:11 EST, 16 December 2015

      Qatari Royals have been kidnapped by gunmen while out hunting in a remote desert area of southern Iraq after their armed guard abandoned them.

      It emerged today that the gunmen kidnapped at least 26 Qatari falcon hunters, including members of the royal family, after they were snatched from their camp near Samawah province, 230 miles from Baghdad.

      The raid was carried out at around 3am this morning, said the area's governor, Faleh al-Zayadi, adding that around 100 kidnappers on 50 machine gun mounted SUVs launched the attack.

      The group of Qatari hunters, which included members of the royal family, were snatched from their camp near Samawah province, 230 miles from Baghdad

      Police said kidnappers driving SUVs mounted with machine guns snatched the group which included Qatari royals (file photo of Qatari royals who are not known to be the ones who were abducted)

      Police said kidnappers driving SUVs mounted with machine guns snatched the group which included Qatari royals (file photo of Qatari royals who are not known to be the ones who were abducted)

      A Samawa police colonel told Reuters the hunters were being escorted by an Iraqi security detail but that it decided not to fight the large group of gunmen.

      'We are talking about at least 100 gunmen armed with light and medium weapons who broke into the Qatari camp and abducted the hunters,' the police colonel, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

      It is the second high profile abduction in Iraq since September when 18 Turkish citizens were kidnapped.

      Two police officers confirmed the kidnappings today and said Iraqi security forces had launched a wide scale search for the Qataris in Samawah, a largely desolate expanse where armed militia groups are known to operate........

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3362669/Qatari-royals-26-hunters-kidnapped-gunmen-Iraq.html

      ********

      I certainly wouldn't want to be in their royal shoes.

      Delete
    2. If we were attacking a dormitory filled with a couple hundred ISIS, that would be one thing.

      But 'bed down locations' ?

      Who the hell thinks this stuff up ?

      Delete
  11. .

    How stupid are the Qatari royals to be strolling around a war zone hunting for falcons.

    Allah forbid, they are killed. However, even though it would be an unspeakable and unforgivable act, there would be at least one small positive. It could only improve the breed. Having these dolts NOT procreate could actually be a good thing, not good good, but kind of viewed from afar in a narrow sense 'save the children kind of a good thing.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed !!

      There's plenty of inbreeding among the moslems as a whole, but in the upper reaches of the royalty....well, it's really bad, and they are giving birth to morons.

      Hell, nobody even eats a falcon.

      What the hell are they up to ?

      PETA ought to get up their dumb asses, big time.

      Delete
  12. Quirk has, quite correctly, intensely criticized our institutions of 'higher learning' here in the USA, and the student bodies of same.

    Here is yet another example -


    VIDEO: YALE STUDENTS SIGN 'PETITION' TO REPEAL 1ST AMENDMENT.......Drudge


    If totalitarianism comes to the USA, it will arrive from the left, not the right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/16/yale-fail-ivy-leaguers-caught-on-video-clamoring-to-kill-first-amendment/

      If the Ivy Leaguers get their way, The Elephant Bar will be among the very first of their victims.

      Delete
  13. "Hell, nobody even eats a falcon."

    Honest to God, can Anyone, even a hick republican from Idaho, be this stupid?


    Just in case: They're not hunting for falcons, you moron, they're hunting With Falcons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Well, you have to admit the comment isn't that clear.

      Rich Gulf citizens known to travel to Middle East nations to hunt falcons

      Now, it could very well mean hunting with falcons. On the other hand, before you hunt with falcons you have to get some falcons which would require that someone hunts for falcons.

      :o)

      No argument on the 'eating falcons'.

      You aren't likely to find many falcon recipes on google.

      .

      Delete
    2. :) nah, :) They breed those falcons - have for centuries (many centuries) (many, many centuries) (a whole buncha fuckin' centuries.) :)

      Delete
    3. Congratulations, Detroit Dimwit !

      You have yet again made an outstanding fool of yourself.

      And, once again, violated Rule Number One (1) --

      Thou Shalt Think Before Posting

      Obviously they were hunting falcons, because it says they were hunting falcons.

      It does not say they are hunting with falcons.

      They are hunting falcons.

      This is a silly thing to do because nobody eats falcons, at least that I have ever heard about.....

      Perhaps these inbreds really do eat falcons in which case the author had a duty to so inform us, as no one else on earth eats falcons.

      Eating a falcon is as bizarre as Rufus eating gator tails, and as mentally and physically nauseating.

      Delete
  14. Force Beddown

    The provision of expedient facilities for troop support to provide a platform for the projection of force. These facilities may include modular or kit-type facility substitutes. See, also, facility substitutes. (JP 4-04)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Extremely interesting, and informative, too.

      Delete
    2. A Force Beddown is not a Forced Bed Down, for which criminal penalties can apply.

      A young college student (20 yrs old) is learning this lesson, as he has just now been charged with rape for forcing a young lady of the same age to bed down with him during an alcohol fueled fraternity party of recent date.

      The news reports are underlining the fact that he is not a member of the fraternity, and she did not find the situation to her liking, having called the police immediately after the bedding.

      He is currently sitting in, not on, the can, and will make a plea in a few days, probably 'not guilty' on the grounds of consent.

      The old adage applies:

      Always get it in writing

      Delete
  15. Evidence suggests that the art of falconry may have begun in Mesopotamia, with the earliest accounts dating to approximately 2,000 BC. There are also some raptor representations in the northern Altai, western Mongolia.[3] The falcon was a symbolic bird of ancient Mongol tribes.[citation needed] There is some disagreement about whether such early accounts document the practice of falconry (from The Epic of Gilgamesh and others) or are misinterpreted depictions of humans with birds of prey.[4][page needed][5][page needed] During the Turkic Period of Central Asia (7th century AD). concrete figures of falconer on horseback were described on the rocks in Kyrgyz.[3] Falconry was probably introduced to Europe around AD 400, when the Huns and Alans invaded from . . . . . . .

    Falconry Wiki

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. early 7th century – Prey caught by trained dogs or falcons is considered halal in Quran.[12] By this time falconry was already popular in the Arabian Peninsula.

      Delete
    2. Hybrid falcons first gained large popularity throughout the Arabian Peninsula, feeding a demand for particularly large and aggressive female falcons capable and willing to take on the very large houbara bustard, the classic falconry quarry in the deserts of the Middle East. These falcons were also very popular with Arab falconers as they tended to withstand a respiratory disease (aspergillosis from the mold strain aspergillus) in stressful desert conditions better than other pure species from the Northern Hemisphere.

      Delete
    3. How can prey caught by trained dogs be halal, when dogs themselves are haram ?

      It says clearly in the holy koran one is to slay dogs, just the same as one is to slay infidels.

      I can buy the assertion that prey caught by trained falcons are halal.

      Delete
    4. Come on, use your head. If Mohammed liked to hunt with greyhounds, which he probably did, then the rabbit becomes halal.

      Delete
    5. Leave it to the moslems to attack man's best friends -



      Dog has been man's best friend for 33,000 years, DNA study finds
      First domesticated dogs came about 33,000 years ago and migrated to Europe from south east Asia, rather than descending from domesticated European wolves 10,000 years ago as had previously been thought
      A new study finds Dog has been man's best friend for over 30,000 years
      A new study finds Dog has been man's best friend for over 30,000 years Photo: Alamy

      By Agency

      11:59PM GMT 15 Dec 2015

      Comments123

      Man's best friend came about after generations of wolves scavenged alongside humans more than 33,000 years ago in south east Asia, according to new research.

      Dogs became self-domesticated as they slowly evolved from wolves who joined humans in the hunt, according to the first study of dog genomes.

      And it shows that the first domesticated dogs came about 33,000 years ago and migrated to Europe, rather than descending from domesticated European wolves 10,000 years ago as had previously been thought.

      Scientists have long puzzled over how man's best friend came into existence but there is conflicting evidence on when and where wild wolves were first tamed......

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12052798/Dog-has-been-mans-best-friend-for-33000-years-DNA-study-finds.html

      ************

      Showing my love for my daughter, I just bought today an upscale doghouse for her best friend,
      an Egyptian Royal Hound. We know he is an Egyptian Royal Hound because when his ears go up on 'alert' they look exactly like an Egyptian pyramid in outline.

      She got him at the dog pound, and he has won both of our hearts.

      He has learned - he is really really smart - how to remove the lid of a peanut butter jar.

      I have asked my daughter to get a video of this feat, but it is difficult as he performs this only when she is asleep.

      Why he uses this MO neither of us can figure out.

      Delete
    6. Greyhound of the Desert



      Swift scion of an esteemed and ancient line, the saluqi still speeds across the arid landscapes of Saudi Arabia.



      The saluqi may be the oldest pure-bred dog known to man. Egyptian tomb drawings from 4,000 B.C. show this lean, wind-swift hunter streaking after desert gazelles. And even earlier (6,000 B.C.) carvings show saluqis hunting gazelles; pre-Islamic poems extolled "the fine-trained, lop-eared hounds with slender sides which lightly outran the sharp-horned white antelope." Two thousand years later the Egyptians mummified him, and Babylonian artists made carvings of him. The saluqi was referred to in Egyptian literature as "El Hor," The Noble One, Royal Dog of Egypt. His gaunt beauty was memorialized by Mogul miniaturists, Veronese frequently included him in canvases and frescoes; and Cellini saluted him in a bronze has relief. The speed and hunting prowess of the saluqi are often recited in Arabic odes. In the oral tradition of the vast Saudi Arabian desert his pedigree was passed on by word of mouth at the Bedouin gift-distributions of new litters. And today he courses after hare in . . . .

      Saluqi

      Delete
    7. Come on, use your head. If Mohammed liked to hunt with greyhounds, which he probably did, then the rabbit becomes halal.

      Hmmm - that makes a lot of sense in an odd Arabic sort of way....

      I see it !

      I see it !

      Delete
    8. .

      Salukis Wiki on you too.

      You guys miss the metaphysics of it all. Inbreeding, centuries and centuries and centuries, hybrids, blah blah blah. Reason demands there must have been a First Falcon at some point and Occam's Razor would argue for a First Falcon Hunter that was there to hunt, and trap, and train that First Falcon. If you search long enough you will see its all part of the monomyth?

      .

      Delete
  16. This has a ring of truth, but also seems a little off key for this particular writer - from this the logical step is to disengage - and I haven't read him advocating that before, though I may have missed it -


    Why Syria Can’t Be Fixed
    The root cause of the conflict is Islam.
    December 17, 2015
    Daniel Greenfield


    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.

    Obama is betting the last of his foreign policy cred on beating ISIS by fixing Syria through a peace process that brings together Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and just about everybody who is anybody in the international terrorism and regime change racket to fight the ISIS war that he doesn’t want to fight.

    There’s just one little problem. Nobody on the guest list wants to fix Syria. They want to control it.

    The reason that ISIS exists is the same reason that Syria can’t be fixed. ISIS didn’t get so big because Muslims are angry about our foreign policy. It got huge because Sunni Muslims hate Shiite Muslims.

    Al Qaeda in Iraq didn’t become popular because it killed American soldiers, but because it suicide bombed Iraqi Shiites. It really took off once there was a civil war underway between Syrian Shiites and Sunni Islamists.

    Osama bin Laden wanted Al Qaeda in Iraq to focus on Americans, not Shiites. Zarqawi knew better. Al Qaeda’s base in Iraq was a Sunni population that hated its Shiite and Kurdish neighbors even more than they hated the American soldiers trying to keep the peace between them. By massacring Shiites, Al Qaeda in Iraq stopped being another franchise of a goofy Saudi rich kid making snuff videos for Qatar’s fake Al Jazeera news network and instead became the protectors of the Sunni minority.

    That’s why Osama bin Laden died in a room full of old cassette tapes and porn while the Caliph of ISIS has carved out its own country. ISIS was built by men who understood that Osama’s vision of a global Muslim Ummah pitted against the West was too remote to appeal to the Arab on the street. Instead it offered the local Sunni in Iraq or Syria the opportunity to steal from his Christian neighbors, take Kurdish girls as sex slaves and slap around some arrogant Shiites. Is it any wonder that ISIS is a hit?

    Obama set up this mess by pulling out of Iraq and letting Iran and its Shiite puppets have their way with the country, while at the same time backing Sunni Islamist takeovers in the Arab Spring. He couldn’t have made a worse mess if he had deliberately set out to burn down the Middle East. But like Osama, Obama saw Muslims idealistically as a collective group united by their grievances against the West.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Muslims hate the West, but they’re also torn apart by tribal and ethnic rivalries with a thick gloppy layer of Islam on top. And it’s those rivalries that make Syria and Iraq and much of the region so explosive.

      Al Qaeda wanted to rally Muslims by attacking Americans globally. ISIS rallies Muslims by building a Caliphate locally that exploits existing fracture lines of ethnicity, tribe and religion. It’s not a new idea. The entire Syrian Civil War happened because the Saudis, the Turks, the Qataris, the Russians, the Iranians and the rest of the long horrible list have been exploiting these same divisions and rivalries.

      Obama’s peace process has no chance of working because they don’t want to fix the very divide and conquer element that gives them power over Syria. And even if they wanted to fix it, they couldn’t.

      This is a region where government jobs are a family business and meritocracy is an alien concept. Everything works outward from smaller to larger family and kin groups. Government is either tyranny or a temporary power sharing arrangement between rivals; often it’s sizable doses of both.

      Democracy just means that the majority oppresses the minority. The judiciary is another part of the power sharing arrangement. All politics is a tribal conflict by other means. The Sunni-Shiite split adds another layer of opposition and a violent fracture point that can turn a country into a civil war.

      The Middle East’s great game is finding the fracture points in another country and exploiting them. That’s what Syria did to Iraq and Lebanon. Then the Saudis, Iranians and Turks did it to the Syrians. And then someone else, maybe even a reassembled Syria, will do it right back to them.

      The so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict is just most of these same countries doing to Israel what they do to each other on a regular basis, find an angry minority, arm and train them, and grin at the carnage.

      It’s not about human rights or justice. It’s about destabilizing your neighbors by exploiting their internal divisions. It’s how Islam achieved its original conquests by pitting Christians against each other.

      Russia wants to put Syria back together again, but it also wants it vulnerable and in need of Moscow’s help. Iran feeds the chaos to control Syria’s Shiites and set off civil wars around the region. The Saudis, Qataris and the Turks want Obama to put the Muslim Brotherhood and various Islamists in power.

      Obama wants the problem to go away because ISIS is making him look bad. But all the other players care even less about ISIS than he does. Russia did not get into Syria because of ISIS. Since then the terror group has become a major nuisance and Putin isn’t likely to forget or forgive, but neither is he going to spend too much time and money fighting a non-aligned terror group. ISIS is not a threat to Russia. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar however are a threat to Russian interests and fighting their militias comes first.


      Delete
    2. The state sponsors of Sunni terror find ISIS more irritating because the Caliphate’s major objective is to crush rival Jihadist groups funded by Sunni countries and force them to submit to the Caliph. ISIS doesn’t want to be another Saudi or Qatari terrorist puppet. It wants to be its own terror state and subsume them all. But it’s exploiting the Saudi and Qatari popularization of Islamic terrorism to do so.

      The Sunni states see Iran as much more of a threat than ISIS. If their various Islamist militias lose, ISIS is their backup plan. And while they may put on a show, they won’t fight too hard against it. They may still need ISIS. Iran and Assad likewise see ISIS as a useful way to entangle their Sunni enemies in infighting.

      And so, despite all the posturing, fighting ISIS is not actually a priority for anyone.

      The Russians have put on a good show, but it’s more about boosting arms sales through pointless displays of advanced weaponry than about destroying ISIS. Putin’s bombing campaign is the equivalent of one of his staged pictures hunting zebras or diving underwater to spear sharks. Obama is no slacker at staging photoshoots either. His bombing campaign is also a show, but it’s an even more hollow display.

      And there’s no realistic endgame to any of it.

      Syria’s problems are built in. The only thing that would help is fundamentally redrawing the maps of the region along ethnic and religious lines. But while everyone is eager to impose a two-state solution on Israel, no one talks about two-stating Syria or three-stating Iraq. And so it isn’t going to get any better.

      ISIS is smarter and more practical than Al Qaeda. That makes it more dangerous in the long run. It’s not thinking about terrorist attacks in Europe or America just in order to kill us, but to build the beginnings of Islamic states in the West by creating local terror networks that pledge allegiance to it.

      Obama isn’t completely wrong when he says that ISIS wants to divide us. But what he refuses to admit is that we didn’t create those divisions. Islam did. If Sunni and Shiite Muslims can’t live together after over a thousand years, what are the odds that they will learn to coexist with us within the next decade?

      What about the next hundred years? Because if this miracle doesn’t happen, we will be the next Syria.

      We didn’t create Muslim xenophobia. We didn’t invent the tribalism and the intolerance that are tearing Syria apart. And we can’t make them go away by blaming ourselves or pretending that they aren’t there.

      If we all converted to Islam tomorrow, we would have even more terrorist attacks. Syrians are massacring each other over differences in theology because Islam has a long history of settling theological disputes with violence. ISIS is a symptom of the problems inherent to Islam.

      Obama speaks of defeating ISIS by fixing the root causes of the conflict. But the root cause of the conflict isn’t poverty, unemployment or Global Warming. It’s Islam. Unless Obama has more luck bringing Shiites and Sunnis together than Osama did, he can’t fix Syria. All he can do is find more ways to make it worse.


      http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261147/why-syria-cant-be-fixed-daniel-greenfield

      Delete

    3. The Russians have put on a good show, but it’s more about boosting arms sales through pointless displays of advanced weaponry than about destroying ISIS. Putin’s bombing campaign is the equivalent of one of his staged pictures hunting zebras or diving underwater to spear sharks. Obama is no slacker at staging photoshoots either. His bombing campaign is also a show, but it’s an even more hollow display.

      Yup.

      Delete
    4. I knew Pooty was a fraud and showman the moment I saw him fly fishing without a shirt.

      There are biting insects out there over the water

      Delete
    5. .

      Bull.

      None of this applies. The mess is do solely to Obama taking the troops out too soon.

      (sarcasm button: off)

      .

      Delete
    6. Clarification needed:

      Was the sarcasm button off during the entire magnificent 18 word post ?

      If it were you are on to something, for once.

      Or was it on from the start, and turned off at the end ?

      In which case you are full of shit, as per usual.

      Reading you is like doing the word jumble in the paper each morning, something of a struggle, though fun for those easily amused.

      Delete
    7. .

      It was on from the start and turned off at the end.

      Only a moron and/or a farmer from the boondocks of Idaho would think it was turned off at the beginning and turned back on at the end.

      .



      Delete
  17. Bad hijab -

    Iran impounds thousands of women’s cars for “improper” hijabs 3 / 24

    Frida Garza


    Since March, Iranian traffic police have seized more than 40,000 cars from women driving while “improperly” wearing their hijab, or headscarf, reports Agence France Presse.

    A spokesperson for the traffic police told the AFP that most of the cases have been referred to the judiciary, and in some cases, women drivers have faced fines or received warnings for their “bad hijab.” This comes after Iranian police warned last month that women could risk having their cars impounded for a week if caught driving without a hijab, or wearing a hijab that shows too much hair.

    The Guardian reported that the warning was part of a “wider traffic police crackdown” on all drivers—male and female—and that men could also face violations for driving recklessly and harassing women.

    The hijab—a loose headscarf used to cover the head and neck—is compulsory in Iran for all women, including foreigners. However, since the 1990s, restrictions around the hijab have eased, allowing women to incorporate color into their wardrobe.

    But women are allowed to drive in Iran, unlike in neighboring Saudi Arabia. In the capital of Tehran, woman-run company Women’s Taxis staffs hundreds of female drivers, providing an alternative for women who feel uncomfortable with male drivers, and making it easier for those who don’t drive to get to work (with written permission from their husbands).

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-impounds-thousands-of-women%E2%80%99s-cars-for-%E2%80%9Cimproper%E2%80%9D-hijabs/ar-BBnDeZc?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=SK2HDHP

    ReplyDelete
  18. Can Islam be reformed ?

    Nope.

    Islam and the Constitution are immiscible.


    And it's not about the oil, either.

    Thus we should not accept Islamic 'refugees' in our Constitutional Republic.
    *********

    December 17, 2015
    Is Islam Reformable?
    By Amil Imani

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, and a host of others believe that Islam can and should be reformed. But how?

    The idea of reforming Islam is not entirely new. But Islam cannot be reformed the way Christianity was. For one, Islam claims that it is the perfect eternal faith for mankind. Divisions have happened and will continue to occur in Islam. Yet reformation has not happened in nearly 1,400 years and is not going to happen. In the mind of millions of Muslims, Islam is carved in granite, just the way it is. No change. Allah's book is sealed.

    About the only universal agreement that exists among Islamic scholars is that every word of the Qur'an is the word of Allah and is not subject to human modification, ever. The Hadith enjoys a similar sacrosanct standing. And of course, the faithful Muhammad's conduct as recorded in the Sunna is the model to be emulated. Hence, one can pick and choose, but one cannot discard or revise any part of the Islamic scripture. For this reason, a Martin Luther-type reformation has not happened and will not likely ever happen within Islam.

    Numerous people have tried it in every imaginable way. The Mu'tazelis tried it, the Sufis tried it, and hundreds of old and new schools tried it, and they all failed. Many open-minded Muslim intellectuals have tried reforming Islam, including Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Sayyid al-Qimni, Nasr Abu Zayd, Khalil Abdel-Karim, Abdolkarim Soroush, Mohammed Arkoun, Mohammed Shahrour, and Ahmed Subhy Mansour. Sheikh Mansour was fired from Al-Azhar University after expressing his Hadith rejector views. Edip Yuksel, Gamal al-Banna, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Ahmed Al-Gubbanchi, Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, and Faraj Foda, Taha were hanged in 1985 under the sharia regime of Jaafar al-Nimeiri, and Foda was assassinated in 1992 by al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. Persian scholar and historian Ahmad Kasravi was also assassinated by Fada'iyan-e Islam (the devotees of Islam).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thus, Islam is not reformable for the following primary reasons:

      * At the heart of the problem is the Qur'an, Islam's sacred book, considered as literally perfect and the immutable words of Allah.

      * Islam is a perfect religion.

      Qur'an 5:3: Today have I perfected your religious law for you, and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me shall be your religion.

      How can fallible, limited humans possibly reform or improve the handiwork of the all-knowing, all-wise Author of the Universe?

      Freedom of all forms is anathema to Islam, which is squarely based on total submission to the dictates and will of Allah. Muslims must obey Allah and His Messenger.

      Qur'an 33:36: And it behoves not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he surely strays off a manifest straying.

      * Violence is part and parcel of Islam.

      Qur'an 2: 216: Fighting is ordained for you, even though it be hateful to you; but it may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and God knows, whereas you do not know.

      * Reforming Islam requires discarding sharia, and also purging the Qur'an itself of enormous suras that are not only patently false, but totally repugnant to a civilized humanity. This line of thinking, to sanitize Islam, is explicitly forbidden in the Qur'an.

      Qur'an 2:85: Do you, then, believe in some parts of the divine writ and deny the truth of other parts? What, then, could be the reward of those among you who do such things but ignominy in the life of this world and, on the Day of Resurrection; they will be consigned to most grievous suffering? For God is not unmindful of what you do.

      Delete
    2. * Islam is a super-religion.

      Muslims consider Islam a super-religion and the final religion of Allah. Judaism and Christianity are the only other two religions that are granted a grudging minimal recognition by Islam. All other religions and those without religion are blasphemy and blasphemous.

      In short, Islam is not reformable. Reforming Islam requires purging of its sacred book, the Qur'an. In so doing, we have a different religion, not Islam.

      Muslim leaders advance to their positions of leadership in Islam Inc.'s numerous subsidiaries by cleverly and ruthlessly navigating their way through the hierarchical labyrinth of cutthroat competition. Kissing up and demonstrating unconditional loyalty to the higher-ups is required. Undeviating, total devotion to the charter of the corporation as defined and promoted by the particular subsidiary, while vigilantly exploiting any opportunity for climbing up to the next rung of the ladder of leadership is a prime requisite of staying in the game.

      The individuals who attain high leadership positions in Islam have invested their all with great acumen and gone through a tortuous wringer for years to attain their positions. They deeply covet that position and will do absolutely nothing to rock the boat.

      The individual who ascends to a high leadership position must craftily and successfully work his way through a maze of high intrigues for many years. These leadership positions are greatly coveted, and the person would hardly be inclined to do anything that would endanger his status. The slightest deviation by any of the Islamic high clergy entails tremendous risks. The late grand Ayatollah Ali Montazeri of Iran, for instance, who was initially tapped by Khomeini to become his successor, was disgraced and placed under house arrest for daring to voice his concerns about the Islamic government's summary mass execution of political prisoners.

      The profession of a clergy is to attract a select segment of men, men who have already significantly bought into the Islamic charter and its methods. As these men undergo formal indoctrination, a culling process takes place. Hundreds of thousands of these men, for a variety of reasons, do not advance very far. A great number of Muslims function in lower positions for the rest of their lives. They are the drones, so to speak. They loyally keep working the rank-and-file Muslim believers in villages and towns, making them toe the line and pay their tributes and cash to their parasitic handlers, who continue their highly successful smoke and mirror charade. A significant number may leave the ordination altogether, for a variety of reasons, and begin earning their living like the rest of the people.

      In short, those who claim that they want to reform Islam want to transform it by stripping it of a great many provisions that are anathema to civilized humanity. These people are trying to make a new religion out of the old, with none of the divine authority that was supposedly bestowed upon Muhammad to form and launch his religion.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/is_islam_reformable.html#ixzz3uZPqpduX

      Delete
  19. (IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – On Tuesday the commander of the army’s eighth brigade Brigadier-General Majid al-Fatlawi announced the death of 37 elements of ISIS including Asian leaders east of Ramadi.

    Fatlawi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Yesterday, fierce battles took place in the eastern axis of Ramadi and resulted in the death of 37 ISIS elements including Asian leaders,” adding that, “The Iraqi Aviation and the international coalition aviation contributed to this operation.”

    On Tuesday, Head of Khalidiya District council in al-Anbar province, Ali Dawood, announced the repulse of violent attacks by ISIS on “Tel Mshahydh” east of Ramadi, while indicated to the destruction of four booby-trapped vehicles, in addition to inflicting a massive loss upon the organization.

    Iraqinews - Ramadi

    ReplyDelete
  20. Italy plans to send 450 soldiers to protect Mosul Dam from failure

    (IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – Italian Prime Minister “Matteo Renzi” announced on Wednesday, that combat troops from his country are about to head to Iraq to participate in the confrontations with ISIS and the protection of Mosul Dam from failure, while noted that 450 soldiers will leave to Mosul after the Parliament approval.

    Renzi was quoted by Kuwait News Agency “KUNA” as saying, “The Italian combat troops are about to head to Iraq to participate in the front lines of the confrontation with ISIS to protect the Mosul Dam.”

    He added, “The dam, which witnessed long battles, is suffering from severe damage threatening of its failure, which will cause a disaster that will lead to the complete destruction of Baghdad,” indicating that, “Italy, which one of its companies won a bid to repair the dam, will be deploying, along with the United States, 450 soldiers to Mosul to protect the dam located on the Tigris River, a vital infrastructure of the country, after Parliament approval.”

    Noteworthy the Ministry of Water Resources announced on more than one occasion during the past few years that the dam is not liable to failure, and that it continues to maintain it and fill its foundations with cement to prevent damages or appearance of cracks.

    The dam located on the Tigris River is considered as the largest dam in Iraq and the fourth largest dam in the Middle East. It was inaugurated in 1986 and costed more than one billion dollars. The dam reaches a height of 113 meters and a length of about 3.4 km, while holds a vast lake behind it and a huge reservoir of about 8 billion cubic meters of water.

    ReplyDelete
  21. .

    The US House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to impose tough new sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with the Lebanon-based Shiite movement Hezbollah.

    The bill targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by Washington and Israel, passed the Senate last month. It now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.


    -------------------

    The administration will list those particular countries that support Hezbollah, or in which the group maintains a key logistical base.

    [This should prove interesting. The last I heard there was one country in the EU that classifies Hezbollah a terrorist organization. A few other condemn its military wing as a terrorist organization. For the EU to declare it a terrorist organization, all 27 members would have to approve it. Does not declaring Hezbollah a terrorist group constitute support?]

    ----------------

    “We cannot afford to jeopardize our national security by letting Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, continue to pose a direct threat to us and our allies including Israel,” Rubio, a presidential candidate, said last month. “It is time for us to reveal the expansiveness of its dangerous network, and guarantee that our government is focused on eliminating this terrorist group.”

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-congress-votes-to-sanction-banks-financing-hezbollah/

    .



    The House adopted the measure 422 to 0, following a unanimous vote in the Senate on November 17.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Someone will have to explain to me how Hezbollah is a threat to the US.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Nobody voted no.

    All you have to do is call your congressman, Deuce.

    ReplyDelete