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."

Monday, August 21, 2017

I supported Trump and opposed Clinton over US Middle East policy. Trump promised to get out of Afghanistan. What has changed?


The Lies on Afghanistan

Photo by DVIDSHUB | CC BY 2.0 COUNTERPUNCH

There has never been progress by the U.S. military in Afghanistan, unless you are asking the U.S. military contractors or the Afghan drug barons, of whom an extremely large share are our allies in the Afghan government, militias and security forces, there has only been suffering and destruction. American politicians, pundits and generals will speak about “progress” made by the 70,000 American troops put into Afghanistan by President Obama beginning in 2009, along with an additional 30,000 European troops and 100,000 private contractors, however the hard and awful true reality is that the war in Afghanistan has only escalated since 2009, never stabilizing or deescalating; the Taliban has increased in strength by tens of thousands, despite tens of thousands of casualties and prisoners; and American and Afghan casualties have continued to grow every year of the conflict, with U.S. casualties declining only when U.S. forces began to withdraw in mass numbers from parts of Afghanistan in 2011, while Afghan security forces and civilians have experienced record casualties every year since those numbers began to be kept by the UN.

Similarly, any progress in reconstructing or developing Afghanistan has been found to be non existent despite the more than $100 billion spent by the United States on such efforts by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR). $100 billion, by the way, is more money than was spent on the Marshall Plan when that post-WWII reconstruction plan is put into inflation adjusted dollars. Oft repeated claims, such as millions of Afghan school girls going to school, millions of Afghans having access to improved health care and Afghan life expectancy dramatically increasing, and the construction of an Afghan job building economy have been exposed as nothing more than public relations lies. Often displayed as modern Potemkin Villages to visiting journalists and congressional delegations and utilized to justify continued budgets for the Pentagon and USAID, and, so, to allow for more killing, like America’s reconstruction program in Iraq, the reconstruction program in Afghanistan has proven to be a failure and its supposed achievements shown to be virtually non-existent, as documented by multiple investigations by SIGAR, as well as by investigators and researchers from organizations such as the UN, EU, IMF, World Bank, etc.

Tonight, the American people will hear again the great lie about the progress the American military once made in Afghanistan after “the Afghan Surge”, just as we often hear the lie about how the American military had “won” in Iraq. In Iraq it was a political compromise that brought about a cessation of hostilities for a few short years and it was the collapse of the political balance that had been struck that led to the return to the violence of the last several years. In Afghanistan there has never even been an attempt at such a political solution and all the Afghan people have seen in the last eight years, every year, has been a worsening of the violence.

Americans will also hear tonight how the U.S. military has done great things for the Afghan people. You would be hard pressed to find many Afghans outside of the incredibly corrupt and illegitimate government, a better definition of a kleptocracy you will not find, that the U.S. keeps in power with its soldiers and $35 billion a year, who would agree with the statements of the American politicians, the American generals and the pundits, the latter of which are mostly funded, directly or indirectly, by the military companies. It is important to remember that for three straight elections in Afghanistan the United States government has supported shockingly fraudulent elections, allowing American soldiers to kill and die while presidential and parliamentary elections were brazenly stolen. It is also important to remember that many members of the Afghan government are themselves warlords and drug barons, many of them guilty of some of the worst human rights abuses and war crimes, the same abuses of which the Taliban are guilty, while the current Ghani government, and the previous Karzai government, have allowed egregious crimes to continue against women, including laws that allow men to legally rape their wives.

Whatever President Trump announces tonight about Afghanistan, a decision he teased on Twitter, as if the announcement were a new retail product launch or television show episode, as opposed to the somber and painful reality of war, we can be assured the lies about American progress in Afghanistan will continue, the lies about America’s commitment to human rights and democratic values will continue, the profits of the military companies and drug barons will also continue, and of course the suffering of the Afghan people will surely continue.

Matthew Hoh is a member of the advisory boards of Expose Facts, Veterans For Peace and World Beyond War. In 2009 he resigned his position with the State Department in Afghanistan in protest of the escalation of the Afghan War by the Obama Administration. He previously had been in Iraq with a State Department team and with the U.S. Marines. He is a Senior Fellow with the Center for International Policy.

108 comments:

  1. Here is the opposing argument -

    How Trump can win in Afghanistan
    David Andelman
    By David A. Andelman
    Updated 11:15 AM ET, Mon August 21, 2017

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/10/opinions/afghanistan-trump-andelman-opinion/index.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, Russia is gradually edging back. A CNN report suggesting that some factions of the Taliban have been receiving arms from Russia -- a dramatic reversal from the 1980s, when it was the CIA supplying arms, including lethal Stinger missiles, to Taliban insurgents battling Russian forces.

      Delete
    2. That above is what has changed.

      Delete
    3. USA, Russia, China, Pakistan, India....all are involved in Afghanistan now. I may be forgetting a few.

      Delete
    4. .

      I didn't bother reading the CNN article but I can tell you it's crap. How many articles have we seen telling us how we can win, are winning, or would be winning if only we had a new strategy, more money, more troops? We've seen them about every country where we send troops. We got the same in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, et. al. with the added insult to our intelligence of those saying how we actually won in Iraq and Libya. If that's winning, you don't want to see losing.

      Sixteen years ago, we fought al Qaeda there. Now we fight ISIS.

      We kicked the Taliban out and today they are there and stronger than ever.

      Obama surged 30,000 troops there doubling the number of troops on the ground. It didn't help. Now, Trump is adding 4,000 troops to the 8,000 already there and he expects that will offer what? Anything more than the current stalemate is pollyannish.

      The one constant in those 16 years? U.S. troops and US money wasted.

      One more Trump promise down the tubes.

      .

      Delete
    5. I'm tired of winning so much.

      Delete
  2. More than 500 soldiers from both 19 Light Brigade and 20th Armoured Brigade fought in Afghanistan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We were winning.

    Then we brought in the regular army.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The military is in charge now. Expect more and more hammering of nails.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obama's policy was hammering nails. That is what is was called - The Obama Hammering Nails Policy in The War That Must Be Won, The Important War, The Afghanistan War.

      O'bozo had the policy in two countries.

      He hammered nails in Iraq and Afghanistan.

      He made both places worse.

      He was a GREAT Commander-in-Chief, O'bozo was.

      His true secret of success was micro-managing both wars from The Lincoln Bedroom.

      That is why we are still there, hammering nails.

      He is sorely missed already by the US Military.

      Delete
  5. Spanish police shot dead Younes Abouyaaqoub Monday afternoon, meaning that all known members of the terror cell that perpetrated last week’s deadly attack have now been killed or arrested by the security services.

    According to reports in Spain’s La Vanguardia, a local of Subirats, a small town 30 miles West of Barcelona spotted a man that resembled the description of the Barcelona attacker and alerted police. Shortly afterwards response teams arrived and shot the man dead.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/08/21/spain-man-wearing-suicide-belt-shot-police-driver-barcelona-attack-truck-arrested/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a relative, you ought to get some big bucks out of this development.

      Delete
    2. I don't know how, but you ought to.

      Delete
  6. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North has made a career and a good living out of telling us how to win in Afghanistan.

    If we ever 'win' he's out of a lucrative job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lt General Keane is making a good living out of telling us how to win, too.

      General Quirk applied for the job of telling us how to win on TV, but when it was found out that his idea of victory was to declare victory and go home they didn't hire him, as it doesn't sell well on war segments, is too easy and quick and lacks the blood and spilled guts necessary for a winning program about winning wars on TV.

      Any fool can call himself a General and say the same thing. The trick is to get paid for saying it, and even General Quirk failed at that.

      Delete
    2. Some here have tried to become famous for stating a date certain when the war in Iraq would be over. Both failed miserably, to the laughter and disdain of all.

      Delete
  7. As I predicted, Commander-in-Chief Don has basically declared he is expanding the war into the Northwest or is it east territories of Pakistan.

    This will be an easy victory to accomplish through his tweets.

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Donald Trump (2016 campaign rally)...

      "The people opposing us are the same people — and think of this — who’ve wasted $6 trillion on wars in the Middle East — we could have rebuilt our country twice — that have produced only more terrorism, more death, and more suffering – imagine if that money had been spent at home," Trump said at a Oct. 26 rally in Charlotte, N.C.

      "We’ve spent $6 trillion, lost thousands of lives," Trump said. "You could say hundreds of thousands of lives, because look at the other side also..."


      And the Trumpkins moan, "Donny, we hardly knew ya"

      .

      Delete
    2. This is a well know tactic used by General Quirk- issue an order then rescind it before anyone has a fighting chance read the order, then say we didn't win because the order was not carried out.

      Delete
    3. I speak of this here:

      QuirkMon Aug 21, 10:53:00 PM EDT
      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. .

      More jumping to conclusions. (And once again jumping in the wrong direction.)


      The quote shows what Trump was saying during the primary race. It was his views as he expressed them to the American people. A lot of people actually believed him. Heck, maybe he believed it himself. Maybe, he still does. Regardless, he has done nothing to get us out of the ME. In fact he is doubling down, not only in the ME but globally. We don't need words. We see it in the budget priorities he has proposed. So much for those that argue Trump is a different kind of politician.

      As for the article the quote came from, it was a fact check article from Politi-fact fact checking the $6 trillion number he used. It was the first one that popped when I ran a google check looking for his quote. Here...

      http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/27/donald-trump/did-us-spend-6-trillion-middle-east-wars/

      .

      Delete
  9. They are mocking Trump mercilessly on MSNBC for not possessing the required qualities of a Commander-in-Chief such as they all possess, and for his policy of winning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Policy of winning?

      Tell, where exactly are all these wins you are talking about? I can understand you guys trying to make excuses for Trump; however, I can't understand how anyone can say he has done a good job.

      Enlighten me.

      .

      Delete
    2. He is just starting to win. Give him a chance.

      Give him one term, you will see.

      Give him two terms the entire earth will be at peace, and people will be tired of winning.

      Delete
    3. He is going to get Pakistan out of the terror business too.

      Delete
    4. And we are going to do all this without getting back in the nation building business.

      Delete
    5. .

      I can see the pigs flying.

      .

      Delete
    6. Yes, you will be seeing pigs with jet engines.

      Our Aeronautical Engineers can do anything.

      Not even needing human pilots.

      Delete
    7. Afghanistan has been experiencing something of a population boom.

      The experience of the last twenty years seems to have been good for them in that regard.

      This is just what the world needs....millions more illiterate Afghans.

      Delete
    8. Pigs are smart, and take to flying like fish to water.

      Delete
    9. Especially with jet engines attached.

      They really take off.

      Delete
  10. I think it is tomorrow night when Sheriff Joe gets pardoned, live on TV, in Phoenix, Arizona, or whenever that upcoming speech occurs.

    I am actually for this.

    It was nothing but a political show trial put on by a lefty judge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How dare a lawman enforce the law!

      Delete
    2. It's disgusting.

      Doesn't Sheriff Joe know by now we have open borders ?

      Delete

    3. No, Sheriff Joe did not recognize that a Federal Judge trumped his local power base.
      He broke the Law, the Law won.

      But then, "Draft Dodger", you have shown that you do not respect the law.
      So, you would excuse law breaking by the police, when it suits your political goals

      Delete
  11. Rogue Spooks: The Intelligence War on Donald Trump

    Prager interview with Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

    https://www.podbean.com/site/Download/DIR2B65EFDC3WMW

    Terminal Corruption

    ReplyDelete
  12. The only possible way to win in Afghanistan is to kill everyone in Afghanistan. If you can't handle that, then do the next best thing; leave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Killing all the males might suffice, if the replacements were not moslems.

      Delete
    2. Wrong, dumb ass

      The children will grow into adults.
      If you cannot kill 'em all, do not kill any of 'em, well still lose.

      It'll just take longer.



      Delete
  13. Mission accomplished. Trump just saved ISIS.

    They will all be flocking to Afghanistan. They will be bumping into to each other to get there like US Navy ships in the night. Recruitment will be up.

    North Korea must be ecstatic.

    The Chinese will get finally get the US out of Asia.

    Apart from Afghanistan, Trump also ramped up pressure on Pakistan, the closest thing we have as an ally in the area.

    The only ones who will not get tired of winning , will be the Afghan Mujahideen.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Afghanistan was not a threat to anyone and US forces have tested Afghans for around 16 years Zabihullah Mujahid

    Zabihullah Mujahid, while reacting to the Donald Trump’s policy to wipe out terrorism from Pakistan’s neighbour, Afghanistan, stated that US was not realising the ground realities and was hell-bent to keep forces on the ground considering Afghan soil, a threat to itself.

    The official went on and threatened that as long as a single American soldier remains in Afghanistan, Taliban would sustain Jihad against them with ‘lofty spirits, absolute determination and additional firmness’.

    Quoting that Afghans have been tested by US forces for around 16 years, Mujahid’s message stated that liberating the land of Afghanistan from the American occupation was a religious obligation and national duty.

    ‘We shall remain true to this duty so long as souls remain in our bodies’ it said.

    Advising America to mull over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the spokesperson dared to further inflict heavy loss to the already embattled US forces.

    ‘The Afghan Mujahid nation is neither tired nor will it ever get tired in pursuit of winning their freedom and establishing an Islamic system’ stated Zabihullah Mujahid.

    ReplyDelete
  15. 'We cannot repeat in Afghanistan the mistake our leaders made in Iraq,' President Trump says without the slightest hint of irony.

    ReplyDelete
  16. MEMO TO THE US NAVY:

    Bring back portholes to your ships. Issue the crew night vision binoculars. Get the crew out of their racks, made for two, and place them on watch:


    US Navy collisions stoke cyber threat concerns

    BY TIM JOHNSON
    tjohnson@mcclatchydc.com
    AUGUST 21, 2017 5:16 PM

    WASHINGTON
    The Pentagon won’t yet say how the USS John S. McCain was rammed by an oil tanker near Singapore, but red flags are flying as the Navy’s decades-old reliance on electronic guidance systems increasing looks like another target of cyberattack.

    The incident – the fourth involving a Seventh Fleet warship this year – occurred near the Strait of Malacca, a crowded 1.7-mile-wide waterway that connects the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea and accounts for roughly 25 percent of global shipping.

    “When you are going through the Strait of Malacca, you can’t tell me that a Navy destroyer doesn’t have a full navigation team going with full lookouts on every wing and extra people on radar,” said Jeff Stutzman, chief intelligence officer at Wapack Labs, a New Boston, New Hampshire, cyber intelligence service.

    “There’s something more than just human error going on because there would have been a lot of humans to be checks and balances,” said Stutzman, a former information warfare specialist in the Navy.

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article168470432.html#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
  17. US Navy collisions stoke cyber threat concerns

    10 sailors missing after USS John S. McCain collides with oil tanker 0:48

    The USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer is docked at Singapore's naval base on Monday with "significant damage" to its hull after a collision with an oil tanker. Warships from four nations are searching for 10 missing American sailors. This is the second crash involving a ship from the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. Meta Viers McClatchy
    August 21, 2017 5:16 PM

    The Pentagon won’t yet say how the USS John S. McCain was rammed by an oil tanker near Singapore, but red flags are flying as the Navy’s decades-old reliance on electronic guidance systems increasing looks like another target of cyberattack.

    The incident – the fourth involving a Seventh Fleet warship this year – occurred near the Strait of Malacca, a crowded 1.7-mile-wide waterway that connects the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea and accounts for roughly 25 percent of global shipping.

    “When you are going through the Strait of Malacca, you can’t tell me that a Navy destroyer doesn’t have a full navigation team going with full lookouts on every wing and extra people on radar,” said Jeff Stutzman, chief intelligence officer at Wapack Labs, a New Boston, New Hampshire, cyber intelligence service.

    “There’s something more than just human error going on because there would have been a lot of humans to be checks and balances,” said Stutzman, a former information warfare specialist in the Navy.

    Ten American sailors are still missing.

    Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. John Richardson, did not rule out cyber intrusion or sabotage as a cause of the fatal collision. “No indications right now ... but review will consider all possibilities,” Richardson said in a tweet on Monday.

    It’s not the first time the Navy has suffered such an accident.

    On Jan. 31, a guided missile cruiser, the USS Antietam, ran aground off the coast of Japan. On May 9, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, was struck by a South Korean fishing vessel.

    In the wee hours of June 17, a destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, a $1.5 billion vessel bristling with electronics, collided with a container ship, resulting in the deaths of seven sailors. The commanding officer and two other officers were formally removed from duties.

    “I don’t have proof, but you have to wonder if there were electronic issues,” Stutzman said.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. {...}

      Todd E. Humphreys, a professor at the University of Texas and expert in satellite navigation systems, echoed a similar concern: “Statistically, it looks very suspicious, doesn’t it?”

      {...}

      Delete
  18. Get the LGBT crew to look into it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. More diversity and sexual identity classes should solve the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "Bring back portholes to your ships. Issue the crew night vision binoculars. Get the crew out of their racks, made for two, and place them on watch"

    Yeah, but if the high tech shit says full speed ahead, full speed ahead it is!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am gobsmacked they had a collision and this us a second one. Something else must be going on as there is no excuse for it. Maybe if they relied on crew on deck sight for discovering oil tankers but they are easily visible with radar. On top of that all commercial shipping sends out AIS data on vhf. Nope something elsr besides oops has to be at play.

      Delete
  21. I've been on vacation.
    What have the Joint Chiefs said about this decision?
    Or won't they comment?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First vacation in over ten years by the way.

      Delete
    2. Make the next vacation much sooner than ten years away.

      All work, no play, and you'll shrink like one of Santa's helpers, who never catch a break.

      Delete
    3. Retirement in about ten years.
      Although I'll believe that if I see it.

      Delete
    4. All work, no play is universally regarded as a recipe for disaster in the myths of the world.

      Delete
    5. That was the good thing about farming. Work yourself to death until the snows come, then it's forced retirement for a few months.

      :)

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

      Delete
  22. Trump said many different things about the wars. His main theme was always 'they screwed it' up and 'bad deal'. He always claimed he would WIN, he was a WINNER. I think one must be quite gullible to believe he wouldn't further the prosecution of the wars given his need to WIN. Withdrawing and leaving the field to the enemy is not winning, it is admitting defeat. He will never do that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good comment, nigatator. I think you may be onto something.

      Delete
  23. Tax cut odds -- going UP?

    SIGNIFICANT strides...

    Stocks LOVE....DRUDGE


    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/21/tax-cut-odds-may-be-going-up-with-trumps-troubles.html

    'Bout time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any politician that promises a tax cut and then doesn't deliver should be hung.

      Delete

    2. Should we call the Secret Service, since you are threatening th assassination of the President?

      Delete
  24. August 22, 2017
    Lightning bugs the NORKs
    By Russ Vaughn

    Was it the January introduction of Lightnings that perhaps bugged the blustery North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to rein in his threats of nuclear annihilation for possible targets ranging from Seoul to San Francisco? I refer to the deployment of a squadron of Marine F-35B aircraft from Yuma Marine Corps Air Station in Arizona to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan back in January of this year. North Korea has long been under the watchful eye of two squadrons of Air Force F-16 Wild Weasels out of Misawa Air base in Northern Japan, planes designed to swoop in at the outset of a conflict and destroy the enemy's ground-to-air radars and missile defenses and thus deny the enemy any further ability to defend against succeeding attacking air forces.

    Those Weasels were a serious strategic threat prior to the arrival of the F-35s. Now, because of the F-35's incredibly advanced sensor packages that bring their highly enhanced defense and attack capabilities to the fight, as well as their ability to communicate all that targeting data to the Weasels, those F-16s at Misawa represent nothing short of the certain death of North Korea's air defenses, including her Soviet-era air force. From undetectable standoff positions, the Marine F-35s would be able to provide all manner of aerial defense as well as enhanced target selection for those Air Force Weasels as they chew their way through North Korea's air defense assets like a bunch of...well, mad weasels....




    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/lightning_bugs_the_norks.html#ixzz4qUpMDBDP

    ReplyDelete
  25. Cursed work calls -

    Ciao

    Cheers !

    ReplyDelete
  26. On Afghanistan ...


    Trump lied, more Americans will die.


    A lot more than four.

    ReplyDelete

  27. Excellent Angelo Codevilla interview.

    https://www.podcastone.com/The-Laura-Ingraham-Show-Podcast

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Says the biggest mistake is bringing India/Pakistan into the argument.

      Delete
    2. I say Britain, Russia, and the US have not tried hard enough, quitting is not an option.

      Delete
    3. A 'Treaty' with the Taliban ?

      Bwabwabwahahahahaha....

      A temporary ceasefire until conditions change in such a manner that the fight can continue....Haven't we learned anything at all ?

      I suggest say to hell with the Pashtuns, ally with the old Northern Alliance and other such, defend Kabul.....basically divide the godforsaken place up.

      Then turn it over to Britain, whose turn it is now.....when things go badly they can hand it off to the Russkie.....hence to us for awhile, repeat forever.....

      Delete
    4. Tactical Hudna, I think they call it....

      Tactical Hudna and Islamist Intolerance

      by Denis MacEoin
      Middle East Quarterly
      Summer 2008, pp. 39-48

      http://www.meforum.org/1925/tactical-hudna-and-islamist-intolerance

      Delete
    5. Former NATO Chief: Trump’s Afghan Policies The Best Of Bad Options
      ED MORRISSEYPosted at 8:01 am on August 22, 2017

      ....The inclusion of India in the mix seems more risky. It will definitely put pressure on Pakistan, but that in itself is a roll of the dice. If we anger the Pakistanis too much, we might find our lines of communication cut off entirely and tip Pakistan toward the radicals who hate India. It might be a game changer in ways that we won’t much like, both in Afghanistan and globally against Islamist terror. As long as India’s assistance remains in the sphere of “economic assistance and development,” it may not be a problem, but Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s current government of colluding with India against them.....

      http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/22/former-nato-chief-trumps-afghan-policies-best-bad-options/

      Delete
  28. I see I left just in time, the spot being filled by the psychologically challenged fellow from Phoenix.

    So, I shall check out again for some time.

    Ciao

    Cheers to all you others !

    ReplyDelete
  29. Roger J. Stone Jr., a Republican strategist who has advised Mr. Trump for decades, said the president needed to “take a scalp” in order to force cooperation from Republican elites who have resisted his agenda. Mr. Stone urged Mr. Trump to make an example of one or more Republicans, like Mr. Flake, who have refused to give full support to his administration.

    “The president should start bumping off incumbent Republican members of Congress in primaries,” Mr. Stone said. “If he did that, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan would wet their pants and the rest of the Republicans would get in line.”

    But Mr. McConnell’s allies warn that the president should be wary of doing anything that could jeopardize the Senate Republican majority.

    “The quickest way for him to get impeached is for Trump to knock off Jeff Flake and Dean Heller and be faced with a Democrat-led Senate,” said Billy Piper, a lobbyist and former McConnell chief of staff.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-trump.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poll: McConnell's approval in Kentucky at 18 percent

      https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CAACAO_enUS720US720&q=mcconnell+poll+numbers+in+kentucky&oq=McConnell+poll+numbers+in+k&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.33i22i29i30k1.2889.12187.0.15522.20.19.1.0.0.0.405.3747.0j11j6j0j1.18.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.16.3157...0j0i20k1j0i22i30k1j0i13k1j0i13i5i30k1.OQs4tGT2lts

      Delete
    2. Top Arizona Republicans won't attend Trump's rally

      McCain and Flake

      Flake and Flakeyer

      Delete
  30. An Islamist militant cell that used a van to kill 13 people in Barcelona had planned one or several major bomb attacks, possibly against churches or monuments, one suspect has told a court, according to sources close to the investigation.

    ...

    Police on Monday shot dead 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub, whom they had identified as the driver of the van that careered along the packed Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona last week, killing 13 people and injuring 120 from 34 countries, including a seven-year-old Australian boy.

    ...

    In Cambrils, a car rammed passers-by and its occupants got out and tried to stab people.

    The five assailants, who were wearing what turned out to be fake explosive belts, were all shot dead by police, while a Spanish woman died in the attack.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Black guy wearing shirt saying "Republicans Not Racists"

    http://gods2.com/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RturpZ8Ato

    ReplyDelete
  32. The information contained in the judge’s ruling also appears to confirm the involvement of the Islamic State. In the ruins of the bomb-making house, a green book was found, with a piece of paper that refers to “the soldiers of the Islamic State in the land of Andalus,” which was the medieval name used by the Moors for their conquered territory in the Iberian Peninsula.

    ...

    The ruling also said that several plane tickets were found for Brussels, issued in the name of the imam, Abdelbaki Essati.

    The judge’s ruling also provided further details about how the assailants planned their attacks, including the fact that part of the group bought an ax and four knives in a store in the hours between the first assault in Barcelona and the attack in Cambrils.

    ReplyDelete
  33. MSMBC has whack jobs taking apart The Donald's words even as he speaks them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's new thing - running commentary.

      Delete
    2. .

      Split Screen

      .

      .

      Trump Side - The Lie !

      .

      .

      MSNBC Commentator Side - The Truth !

      .

      Quirkster

      Delete
    3. You had it right the first time, MSMBC.

      Delete
    4. I'm elder.

      M&M or M&N, makes no difference to me.

      They were blah blah blahing all the way through The Donald's speech, cutting it apart.

      Pissed me off to the extend I got my letters wrong, in my mind and on screen.

      Never seen anything like it before.

      Delete
    5. The Donald made it clear that Sheriff Joe has nothing to worry about.

      Said he wasn't going to talk about it tonight so as not to cause a disruption.

      Sheriff Joe is getting pardoned.

      I expected the announcement at the speech.

      But it is coming.

      Delete
    6. Maybe he will pull it out on a bad news day to change the subject.

      Sheriff Joe deserves to be pardoned.

      He's only facing a fine anyway but he deserves a pardon.

      Delete
    7. He's still got an appeal in the works.

      Delete
    8. Sounds like Trump did talk about it.

      Delete
  34. This was Trump’s ninth rally in the state — and his fourth at the Phoenix Convention Center.

    His first event at the convention center was on July 11, 2015, a few weeks after he announced he was running for president and gave a rambling speech that cast undocumented immigrants as criminals and “rapists.”

    Although those remarks prompted criticism and led several corporations to cut their business ties with him, the support for his campaign was evident in Phoenix, where he had to upgrade to a larger venue and then still had to turn away many supporters — a turnout that shocked many Arizonans.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Call 337-232-8796 now to Buy Blacks For Trump T-Shirts For $5.99 a T-Shirt.

    Click here to see all Blacks For Trump Merchandise.

    http://www.honestfact.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For a good time, call 1-800-ONO-POKE. Ask for Doug.

      Delete
    2. Buy Black Tees Q LLCees is a clearing house for such merchandise.

      Once he had a 'Don't Tip Guam Over' - (front) - and 'Bring The Troops Home' - (back) T shirt.

      Quirk works out of an undisclosed location in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan.

      A Safe House in other words.

      A 'hide out' is another way of saying it.

      'Hole in the Wall' is another.

      Hole-in-the-Wall
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      Coordinates: 43.6087°N 106.8888°W

      This article is about the place in Wyoming. For the place in England, see Hole-in-the-Wall, Herefordshire.
      For other uses, see Hole in the wall (disambiguation).

      Hole-in-the-Wall site, Wyoming

      Hole-in-the-Wall is a remote pass in the Big Horn Mountains of Johnson County, Wyoming. In the late 19th century the Hole in the Wall Gang and Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang met at the log cabin which is now preserved at the Old Trail Town museum in Cody, Wyoming.[1]

      Hole-in-the-Wall is located in the Big Horn Mountains of Johnson County in northern Wyoming. The site was used in the late 19th century by the Hole in the Wall Gang, a group of cattle rustlers and other outlaws which included Kid Curry, Black Jack Ketchum, and Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang. Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and other desperados met at a log cabin in the Hole-in-the-Wall country which has been preserved at the Old Trail Town museum in Cody, Wyoming. The cabin was built in 1883 by Alexander Ghent.[1]

      The area was remote and secluded, easily defended because of its narrow passes, and impossible for lawmen to approach without alerting the outlaws. From the late 1860s to around 1910, the pass was used frequently by numerous outlaw gangs. Eventually it faded into history, with gangs using it less frequently. At its height it featured several cabins that gangs used to lie up during the harsh Wyoming winters, and it had a livery stable, a corral, livestock, and supplies, with each gang contributing to the upkeep of the site.


      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hole-in-the-Wall

      It's actually a mountain pass in The Big Horn Mountains, which I had the privilege of visiting once.

      Delete
    3. I think Butch spent a bit of time in Eastern Washington. In the hills around Cle Elum and Ellensburg, I think.

      Delete
    4. Mad Dog Mattis went to high school in Pullman, Washington.

      I may have played against him in a High School basketball game, who knows ?

      Delete
    5. Far out, I didn't know that. My mom and dad went to WSU.

      Delete
    6. Wiki says he was born in Pullman, Washington but it sounds like he went to high out in Hanford Area. He's four years younger than I.

      Early life[edit]
      Mattis was born on September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington.[7] He is the son of Lucille (Proulx) Mattis[8] and John West Mattis (1915–1988),[9][10] a merchant mariner. His mother immigrated to the United States from Canada as an infant and had worked in Army Intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War.[11] Mattis' father moved to Richland, Washington to work at a plant supplying fissile material to the Manhattan Project.[12] Mattis was raised in a bookish household that did not own a television.[12] He graduated from Columbia High School in 1968.[12][13] He earned a B.A. degree in history from Central Washington University in 1971.[14][15][16] He later earned an M.A. degree in international security affairs from the National War College in 1994.[17]

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

      Delete
    7. My grandfather worked at Hanford for a bit.

      Delete
  36. samWed Aug 23, 12:37:00 AM EDT
    For a good time, call 1-800-ONO-POKE. Ask for Doug.

    An ONO Poke is when you are getting poked by Yoko Ono.

    It's a "reverse roles" sex doll, that is a ringer for Yoko.

    Another product sold by Q,LLC out of Detroit.

    I looked it up on his Web Page and the reviews of the product were all 5 STAR

    There's a glow in the dark option for those living in lava tubes.

    Run by battery, it can last for up to twelve hours.

    Handy solar powered/and/crank charger at no extra cost.

    If you can last 12 hours you need to visit a sex therapist as you may have PPE (perpetual penis erection).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She's reversible. If you turn her inside out you get a grinning Willie Nelson wearing an 'I (red heart icon) the IRS' t-shirt.

      Delete
  37. For The Quirkster, so he won't have the wool pulled over his eyes so often -

    How the Mainstream Media Operate
    Dennis Prager Dennis Prager |Posted: Aug 23, 2017 12:01 AM


    "Our leading media" are characterized by "indefensibly corrupt manipulations of language repeated incessantly."

    Patrick Lawrence in The Nation, Aug. 9, 2017, on the media's reporting of the alleged collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia

    To understand America's crises today, one must first understand what has happened to two institutions: the university and the news media. They do not regard their mission as educating and informing but indoctrinating.

    In this column, I will focus on the media. I will dissect one issue that I know extremely well: the national and local coverage of the invitation extended to me to guest-conduct the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The concert took place last week.

    I am well aware that this event is far less significant than many other issues. But every aspect of the reporting of this issue applies to virtually every issue the media cover. Therefore, understanding how The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and NPR covered my story leads to an almost-perfect understanding of how the media cover every story where the left has a vested interest.

    When it comes to straight news stories -- say, an earthquake in Central America -- the news media often do their job responsibly. But when a story has a left-wing interest, the media abandon straight news reporting and take on the role of advocates....

    https://townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/2017/08/23/-n2372061

    ReplyDelete
  38. Police have fired pepper spray to disperse rival protesters at US President Donald Trump's first public appearance after his widely criticised handling of deadly demonstrations in Charlottesville last week.

    ...

    The President used his speech to again tease about a possible pardon for Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in federal court for disobeying court orders to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.

    ...

    Before and after the speech, anti-Trump protesters engaged in minor scuffles and shouting matches with supporters of the President.

    Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sergeant Jonathan Howard said some people in the crowd after the event began throwing rocks and bottles at police.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Typhoon Hato, a maximum category 10 storm, has slammed into Hong Kong lashing the Asian financial hub with destructive winds and waves which uprooted trees, flooded streets and forced most businesses to close.

    ...

    The city's flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific, said the storm would "severely" impact flight operations, with the majority of flights to and from Hong Kong between 0700 AEST and 1900 AEST Wednesday to be cancelled.

    Hong Kong Airlines also suspended most of its flights on Wednesday up until 1900 AEST.

    ReplyDelete