tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post378081624370315046..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Pentagon skeptical about Russian claims on bombing ISIS oil refining and tanker facilities - You Decide:Deuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-79958885087828816512015-11-27T00:21:25.258-05:002015-11-27T00:21:25.258-05:00.
Tapes.
..<br /><br />Tapes.<br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-16909619340906131632015-11-27T00:19:11.588-05:002015-11-27T00:19:11.588-05:00.
:o)
Why would anyone bother to try to smear Tr....<br /><br />:o)<br /><br />Why would anyone bother to try to smear Trump when all they have to do is play the tape?<br /><br />.Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-36914742466987354522015-11-26T23:19:19.065-05:002015-11-26T23:19:19.065-05:00'16 Presidential Race:
Trump / Clinton - Clin...'16 Presidential Race:<br /><br />Trump / Clinton - Clinton +4.4<br />Carson / Clinton - Carson +2.4samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-29473041158460907822015-11-26T23:13:52.713-05:002015-11-26T23:13:52.713-05:00'16 Republican Presidential Nomination:
RCP A...'16 Republican Presidential Nomination:<br /><br />RCP Average - Trump +7.7samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-76569422234473415202015-11-26T23:01:03.902-05:002015-11-26T23:01:03.902-05:00More important, such messaging can also elevate th...<i>More important, such messaging can also elevate the status of the messenger, who by convincing the public of its own weakness can position himself or herself as a potential savior, as the only one who can successfully lead the charge against those evil, undeserving victors and bullies on the other side.<br /><br />Tell everyone to buck up, that their country is already great, that their economy is already improving, that their political mission is already succeeding, and you’ve ceded the premise you need to argue that you and you alone can turn things around.<br /><br />To the leader of the losers go the spoils of election season.</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-38728799928963519072015-11-26T22:18:08.756-05:002015-11-26T22:18:08.756-05:00As a newspaper The New York Times is the shits, on...As a newspaper The New York Times is the shits, one of the least objective of them all, a propaganda sheet.<br /><br />I hope they go broke. Maybe The Donald could buy it, turn it around, and call it <i>The Trump Times</i>.<br /><br />I'll vote for the guy, but he's not my first choice. I have at least two ahead of him.<br /><br />There, got if off my chest.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-78668277173970260062015-11-26T22:12:23.997-05:002015-11-26T22:12:23.997-05:00That guy had been attacking Trump in the New York ...That guy had been attacking Trump in the New York Times <i>forever</i>, and very severely too.<br /><br />Doesn't really excuse The Donald waving his arms a little which he says was misinterpreted, but also the guy had written an article back then about Moslems who were on rooftops in Jersey celebrating 9/11 being rounded up by the Police for questioning. He had criticized The Donald about his statements, having forgotten his own old article. The Donald has called him on it.<br /><br />There <i>were</i> some Moslems, not thousands, but maybe hundred or two or three or something celebrating 9/11 on the rooftops back East.<br /><br />I've read three separate articles by writers who said they saw the same thing.<br /><br />People are out to smear The Donald any way they can. He deserves some of it, but not all of it.<br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-74758837450432521192015-11-26T22:06:44.246-05:002015-11-26T22:06:44.246-05:00.
Idaho is at the very low tail end of the mappin....<br /><br /><i>Idaho is at the very low tail end of the mapping violence meter...</i><br /><br />It also comes in at the low end of the intelligence meter.<br /><br />,Quirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00272168240606512672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-3279623193916681702015-11-26T22:01:41.516-05:002015-11-26T22:01:41.516-05:00Same from up over !Same from up over !Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59150934571275705122015-11-26T22:00:28.149-05:002015-11-26T22:00:28.149-05:00Well, :) , it was fully 25 years ago.
A very mino...Well, :) , it was <i>fully</i> 25 years ago.<br /><br />A very minor age related error, youngster.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-1033218146291265852015-11-26T21:53:34.148-05:002015-11-26T21:53:34.148-05:00Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has...<i>Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has denied mocking a disabled New York Times reporter during a campaign address earlier this week.<br /><br />...<br /><br />The New York Times has called Mr Trump's actions "outrageous".</i>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-84534155881704118232015-11-26T21:47:06.498-05:002015-11-26T21:47:06.498-05:00Happy Thanksgiving from down under!Happy Thanksgiving from down under!samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-75517878286435984752015-11-26T21:39:10.078-05:002015-11-26T21:39:10.078-05:001988 was 27 years ago, not 25.1988 was 27 years ago, not 25.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-76218145467698425412015-11-26T21:17:14.935-05:002015-11-26T21:17:14.935-05:00
Study suggests Alabama could see fights during Bl...<br />Study suggests Alabama could see fights during Black Friday sales<br />Posted 3:26 pm, November 25, 2015, by Lisa Screws, Updated at 03:30pm, November 25, 2015<br /><br /><br />black-friday-map <br /><br />HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Your trip to the mall could leave you with a shopping injury. A new study shows Alabama is one of the most dangerous states for Black Friday shopping.<br /><br />The blog Estately ranks our state as the third most dangerous for Black Friday shoppers. Arkansas is ranked number one, followed by Tennessee at number 2. Louisiana and Missouri round out the top 5.<br /><br />The findings come from ranking each of the 50 states on Facebook users’ interest in Black Friday sales, and the frequency of aggravated assaults.<br /><br />http://whnt.com/2015/11/25/fights-during-black-friday-sales/<br /><br /><br />Most of the crazies seem concentrated down South. <br /><br />Idaho is at the very low tail end of the mapping violence meter, being one of three or four remaining civilized states in the USA.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-77671797023456528612015-11-26T21:01:29.335-05:002015-11-26T21:01:29.335-05:00He used to have the reputation as being something ...He used to have the reputation as being something of a pacifist.....always treated females and blacks well......held many Democratic positions on many things.....those that love the guy don't seem to be leaving......no matter what he says, or is accused of saying......Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59581148571088094822015-11-26T20:57:30.979-05:002015-11-26T20:57:30.979-05:00I read an article today that I can't find now....I read an article today that I can't find now.....The Donald was on the Oprah Winfrey Show back in 1988....fully 25 years ago.....looking good too.....wonderful hair then......rather handsome young devil.....she asked him if he might ever run for President......he denied having the urge but said....."If the country was in really, really bad shape...."Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51712277257779722642015-11-26T20:54:06.745-05:002015-11-26T20:54:06.745-05:00Grief for family of WALMART worker trampled to dea...<br />Grief for family of WALMART worker trampled to death by wild shoppers...............Drudge<br /><br />Good Lord.<br /><br />What a way to go.....trampled to death in WalMart by wild shoppers....<br /><br />"He died as he lived, serving Sam Walton"Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51374347734106294532015-11-26T20:00:02.422-05:002015-11-26T20:00:02.422-05:00SOUTHWEST ASIA, November 26, 2015 — U.S. and coali...SOUTHWEST ASIA, November 26, 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.<br /><br />Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.<br /><br />Strikes in Syria<br /><br />Bomber and remotely piloted aircraft conducted four strikes in Syria:<br /><br />-- Near Hawl, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and wounded two ISIL fighters.<br /><br />-- Near Raqqah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL vehicle staging area and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.<br /><br />Strikes in Iraq<br /><br />Bomber, fighter, attack, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 23 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:<br /><br />-- Near Baghdadi, one strike destroyed two ISIL rocket positions.<br /><br />-- Near Albu Hayat, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle.<br /><br />-- Near Kisik, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and five ISIL bunkers.<br /><br />-- Near Mosul, five strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL checkpoint and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL building.<br /><br />--<b> Near Ramadi, seven strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL vehicles, an ISIL mortar, two ISIL structures, an ISIL boat, an ISIL front-end loader, cratered an ISIL road, suppressed an ISIL vehicle’s movement, and denied ISIL access to terrain.</b><br /><br />-- Near Sinjar, five strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL heavy machine gun, two ISIL fighting positions, damaged an ISIL vehicle, suppressed an ISIL heavy machine gun, and wounded an ISIL fighter.<br /><br />-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck two ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.<br /><br />Definition of a ‘Strike’<br /><br />A strike, as defined in the CJTF releases, means one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect for that location.<br /><br />So, the officials said, having a single aircraft deliver a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike. Multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, with the cumulative effect of making that facility [or facilities] harder or impossible to use is also considered a single strike, task force officials said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/631383/military-strikes-continue-against-isil-terrorists-in-syria-iraq" rel="nofollow">DOD</a>galopn2https://www.blogger.com/profile/10149969176825932175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-15786133203423095782015-11-26T18:43:06.728-05:002015-11-26T18:43:06.728-05:00Happily, he inserted that almost in there.
Otherw...Happily, he inserted that <i>almost</i> in there.<br /><br />Otherwise it would seem the world would always be totally cooked, like a good turkey.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44630753679774531782015-11-26T18:39:37.897-05:002015-11-26T18:39:37.897-05:00"You are right, boots on the ground are ultim...<i> "You are right, boots on the ground are ultimately essential if bombing is to be relevant. <br /><br />I want you to convince me that what you refer to as the Free Syrian Army actually exists rather than is a label we apply to a rag-bag group of clans and tribal forces with no coherent force. <br /><br />I'd like you to convince me there is a moderate group we can back whereas <b>in times of constitutional dissolution it is almost a law of human nature that people rally to the most extreme and forceful advocate of their group</b> - there are no moderates." </i><br /><br />Peter Lilley<br /><br />Veteran former UK Government minister in debateCharltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30906712529740990402015-11-26T16:46:53.660-05:002015-11-26T16:46:53.660-05:00For me, each new terror outrage is a good sign. It...For me, each new terror outrage is a good sign. It tells me that we are getting closer to the inflection point where we demand that our glorious leaders “do something” and in response our glorious leaders will ditch their ridiculous War on Climate and realize that the War on Radical Islamism will be way more fun for them.<br /><br />Yes. I mean that. Government is force, and governments are born to fight wars, even liberal governments. The New Dealers were never happier than when they were fighting fascism in World War II and the future liberal lion John Kenneth Galbraith, deputy head of the Office of Price Administration, was teaching captains of industry how to price a widget.<br /><br />In fact, fighting a war is the only thing that government can do. That’s why governments insist on fighting wars on poverty and racism and sexism and rape culture and climate change when there isn’t a real war for them to fight. So it’s a good thing when the ruling class gives up on the phony wars, and turns its brilliant collective mind to fighting a real war against a real threat.................<br /><br />................In Winston Churchill’s great history of World War II he records his relief when the levers of power had been finally handed to him in the dark days of 1940. Now at last the years of crying in the wilderness were over, and he could lead the British people in their existential fight against Nazism.<br /><br />I feel a similar relief as each new terror outrage splashes into the news. Each new event gets us nearer to the point where we will select the Churchill of 1940 or elect the Reagan of 1980 with the mandate to take decisive action.<br /><br />In my view the meanderings of a Chamberlain, the malaise of a Carter, and the utter incompetence of an Obama cannot be avoided. In their mistakes and bumblings the fools enable the rest of us to gain clarity on the problem we face, and to develop the resolution to do something about it. We are humans; we make mistakes, we learn from them, and the worst human mistakes are usually connected with government.<br /><br />Usually the ruling class starts to wake up to its follies in the months before the Churchill or the Reagan takes over. Britain did start to rearm in the late 1930s. It was Carter that started the “Reagan” defense buildup after the Soviets went into Afghanistan, and appointed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Fed as inflation raged. This time the bumbler-in-chief can’t even be bothered to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.<br /><br />I’m pretty serene about that too, on Napoleon’s view that you shouldn’t interfere with your adversary when he is making a mistake.<br /><br />http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/11/after_paris_i_understand_winston_churchills_relief.html<br /><br /><br />And there you have the whole spectrum of opinions....Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-31007617325807701872015-11-26T16:46:19.623-05:002015-11-26T16:46:19.623-05:00On the other hand........
November 26, 2015
After...On the other hand........<br /><br />November 26, 2015<br />After Paris I Understand Winston Churchill's Relief<br />By Christopher Chantrill<br /><br />When everyone was emoting about the Paris massacres last week, I am afraid I did not join in. This is war, after all: what do people expect? When you have a war and one side is militarily weak, it tends to use terror as a weapon, because it’s the only way to show it is not weak, not really, but strong!<br /><br />We in the West are rather irritated by the War on Terror, or whatever it gets to be called this week. We like to think that the questions of the modern age -- democracy and tolerance and cities and trusting the stranger on the other side of the world to deal faithfully in market transactions -- have been decided in our favor.<br /><br />(OK, our lefty friends have a slightly different take. Democracy is fine, but don’t ever trust a capitalist, and woe betide anyone that warns, as Enoch Powell did a lifetime ago, that a “concentration of immigrants and their descendants in large communities [would kill] the prospects of integration.”)<br /><br />So when inhabitants of the desert start replaying the Dervish War in Sudan that made Winston Churchill’s reputation, or a new generation of immigrants starts rioting in big city slums, we ordinary people feel irritated. Don’t “those people” understand that the ship has sailed?<br /><br />Simple answer: they don’t. So the rational ethical thing to do would be to teach and instruct them how to wive and thrive in the post-industrial-revolution-city using our own experience and the experience of our parents and grandparents as a guide. But that would be rational. Instead, everyone from radical imams to lefty safe-spacers are telling “those people” that they are exploited and oppressed and ought to burn the place down.<br /><br />(Imagine the world if the left had spent the last 160 years teaching the working class and then women and blacks and now Muslims how to wive and thrive in the capitalist economy instead of teaching them how to wreck it. But I digress).<br /><br />Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-20012394700090866012015-11-26T16:41:57.520-05:002015-11-26T16:41:57.520-05:00That's why I say the end of religion is the be...That's why I say the end of religion is the beginning of wisdom.<br />Dougmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08468871451814828157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-22415365544803435432015-11-26T16:40:24.866-05:002015-11-26T16:40:24.866-05:00Look at all the Crusades, the wars that were fough...Look at all the Crusades, the wars that were fought, the mass killings that were all justified by the "Love of Jesus".<br /><br />It is all still there, Mr Trump and his cohort have just scratched the veneer, exposing the truth of our religious society.Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-70097232687278621582015-11-26T16:37:26.989-05:002015-11-26T16:37:26.989-05:00The pretend war: why bombing Isil won't solve ...The pretend war: why bombing Isil won't solve the problem<br /><br />The deployment of our military might in Syria will exacerbate regional disorder – and it will solve nothing<br />Andrew J. Bacevich<br /><br />28 November 2015<br /><br />Audio Player<br />Andrew J. Bacevich and Con Coughlin discuss the West's war with Isis<br /><br />Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.<br /><br />Not so long ago, David Cameron declared that he was not some ‘naive neocon who thinks you can drop democracy out of an aeroplane at 40,000 feet’. Just a few weeks after making that speech, Cameron authorised UK forces to join in the bombing of Libya — where the outcome reaffirmed this essential lesson.<br /><br />Soon Cameron will ask parliament to share his ‘firm conviction’ that bombing Raqqa, the Syrian headquarters of the Islamic State, has become ‘imperative’. At first glance, the case for doing so appears compelling. The atrocities in Paris certainly warrant a response.............<br /><br />.......................In this conflict, the West as a whole appears to enjoy the advantage of clear-cut military superiority. By almost any measure, we are stronger than our adversaries. Our arsenals are bigger, our weapons more sophisticated, our generals better educated in the art of war, our fighters better trained at waging it.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Yet time and again the actual deployment of our ostensibly superior military might has produced results other than those intended or anticipated. Even where armed intervention has achieved a semblance of tactical success — the ousting of some unsavoury dictator, for example — it has yielded neither reconciliation nor willing submission nor even sullen compliance. Instead, intervention typically serves to aggravate, inciting further resistance. Rather than putting out the fires of radicalism, we end up feeding them.<br /><br />Although the comparison may strike some as historically imprecise, the present moment bears at least passing resemblance to the last occasion when British and French leaders got all worked up about taking on obstreperous Arabs. Back in 1956, the specific circumstances differed, of course. Then, the problem attracting the ire of British and French policymakers was the Arab nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who in seizing the Suez canal had committed a seemingly unpardonable offence. And the issue was preserving imperial privilege, not curbing terrorism. But then, as today, in both London and Paris, an emotional thirst for revenge overrode sober calculation.<br /><br />The vicious Isis attacks in Paris represent another unpardonable offence. Through war, Cameron and Hollande seek to avenge the innocents who were killed and wounded. But as the humiliating outcome of the Suez war reminds us, there are some problems to which war is an unsuitable response.<br /><br />Across much of the greater Middle East today, we confront one such problem. For western governments to reflexively visit further violence on that region represents not a policy but an abdication of policy. It’s past time to think differently.<br /><br />Andrew J. Bacevich is a retired US colonel, and author of America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, due out in April.<br /><br />http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/sorry-but-just-bombing-isis-in-syria-wont-help-anyone/Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.com