I'm not saying you have to read this. I'm just asking you to remember that "Mad Dog" has a plan to kill you.
We are masters of our character, choosing what we will stand for in this life. "Chaos" is sooo not getting an invite to speak at Yale.Veterans today have had a unique privilege, that of having seen the tenacious spirit of our lads, like those young grunts preparing for a patrol by loosely wrapping tourniquets on their limbs so they could swiftly stop their own bleeding if their legs were blown off. Ripley to the white phone.Yet day after day they stoically patrolled. Adversity, we are told, reveals a man to himself, and young patriots Whoa! We don't use that word in Champ's America. coming home from such patrols are worth more than gold, for nothing they face can ever again be that tough.
Now, most of us lost friends, the best of friends, and we learned that war's glory lay only in them--there is no other glory in warfare. They were young men and women taking responsibility for their own actions, never playing the victim card. *cough* Sharpton *cough*Rather, they took responsibility for their own reaction to adversity.
This was something that we once took for granted in ourselves and in our buddies, units where teenagers naturally stood tall, and we counted on each other. Yet it is a characteristic that can seem oddly vacant in our post-military society, where victimhood often seems to be celebrated. Seems, general? In Blue World victimhood is the defining characteristic.We found in the ranks that we were all coequal, general or private, admiral or seaman. We were equally committed to the mission and to one another, a thought captured by Gen. Robert E. Lee, saying his spirit bled each time one of his men fell.He invoked Robert E. Lee! I must lie down.
Looking back over my own service, I realize now how fortunate I was to experience all this and the many riotous excursions I had when I was privileged to march or fight beside you. And a question comes to mind: What can I do to repay our country for the privilege of learning things that only you in this room could have taught me? For today I feel sorry for those who were not there with us when trouble loomed. I sometimes wonder how to embrace those who were not with us, those who were not so fortunate to discover what we were privileged to learn when we were receiving our Masters and Ph.D.s in how to live life. Which is nothing compared to having a degree in Advanced Gender Studies from Smith.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/18/2015 11:09 ||
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[Wash Times] Florida Gov. Rick Scott has compared the Obama administration to HBO's "Sopranos" mob family, saying he's being strong-armed into expanding Medicaid under Obamacare because the feds want to phase out the low-income health program that he prefers. Soprano metaphor used here for at least five years.
"They're using bullying tactics to attack our state," the Republican told Fox News late Thursday. "It's wrong. It's outrageous that they're doing this."
Mr. Scott said this week he will sue the administration for linking the expansion debate in his state to a $2.2-billion demonstration program known as the Low Income Pool, which reimburses hospitals for treating the poor and uninsured. The funding is set to expire in June, and Mr. Scott wants a renewal.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent Florida a letter Tuesday saying it had doubts about the LIP program. It reiterated its belief that Obamacare's Medicaid expansion is a better way to cover the poor and rein in hospital costs.
Mr. Scott took that as a direct threat -- essentially, either expand Medicaid or lose the other funds.
He says the administration is violating the very decision in 2012 that upheld Obamacare, but which also ruled states must be given a choice over whether to expand Medicaid or forfeit all of their health money under the federal-state partnership.
It is unclear when Mr. Scott plans to actually file suit. The governor's office said it is still working with state Attorney General Pam Bondi to draft the complaint.
#1
Bad metaphor. Gangsters, not being ideologically motivated, can be persuaded to act pragmatically. For example: Bill Clinton was a gangster. These are more like Khmer Rouge.
Egypt was/is the cultural center of the Arab world. And the one who has the best chance of becoming a real country
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is fighting for his country's survival -- and his own.
Islamic terrorism is not abating, hampering vital efforts to bring a better life to the people through a revitalized economy and political stability. Sisi knows he has to show results soon to prevent Egypt from slipping back into anarchy and chaos.
Despite the army's all-out effort to defeat Islamist insurgency in Sinai, there is no end in sight. F-16 fighter planes and Apache helicopters have joined the campaign, security forces have killed or wounded hundreds of terrorists, destroying their haunts and their training groups -- but more keep coming.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis gunmen, who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, continue making daring raids against police stations and other security targets, leading to loss of life and heavy damage.
...Islamic State dispatches terrorists and weapons to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula from Libya, where there is an unlimited supply of both. No matter how many guerrillas are intercepted or killed by the Egyptian army, more are coming through the vast mountainous and desert region, along the 1,200-km border between the two countries.
Then there is Gaza, where terrorists can find refuge, regroup and train, and where new weapons can be tested.
[ALMANAR.LB] Whom will the Saudi journalist Dawood al-Shiryan insult this time by saying: "You have deceived our sons." You escaped punishment in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria "but this time you will not escape"? Will the journalist - one of Mohammad Bin Nayef's men - dare to say to the Saudi emirs: "You are traders of religion and strife"?
The call of the Saudi Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh for enforcing obliged recruitment for young people, which is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, almost does not fulfill its task to provide fighters for the Saud dynasty's war, which is seen by many observers as a war intended to resolve the conflicts within the royal family before anything else.
The Kingdom hired preachers and proposed offers and benefits to attract "deaders" ready to die on behalf of the Saudi princes. In conjunction with the Saudi aggression on Yemen, media have been mobilized, preachers have been dedicated, and money has been allocated in a way that reveals the mentality of those seizing power in the kingdom, who think that buying lives is quite easy as buying consciousness, the trade in which Soddy Arabia
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2015 00:00 ||
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Western intellectuals have long had a soft spot for Russia. Voltaire, the French teacher of tolerance and a great friend of Catherine the Great, said that he would gladly move to Russia, though only if its capital were Kiev, not icy St. Petersburg. Johann Gottfried von Herder, the German philosopher of enlightened nationalism, dreamed that he would obtain earthly glory as the “new Luther and Solon” for an as-yet-unspoiled Ukraine, which he would transform into a “new Greece” within the Russian empire.
And in the last century intellectuals like André Gide, Pablo Neruda and Jean-Paul Sartre all stumped for the Soviet Union as what Lenin allegedly called “useful idiots,” apologizing for its monstrosities long after the rest of the world recognized them.
To those in the Eastern Europe left — myself included — who know Russia better than most, such naïveté has long been a source of chagrin. And yet it continues, even today, as many American and Western European intellectuals do all they can to minimize the dangerous aggression by Vladimir V. Putin.
Writing in The Nation, the Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen argued that Mr. Putin was largely blameless for the conflict in Ukraine, that he had tried to avoid it but that the West had forced his hand. In Mr. Cohen’s eyes, the West has unnecessarily humiliated Russia by inviting countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to join NATO.
Ukraine, he wrote, is part of Russia’s sphere of influence, so why can’t we just accept Mr. Putin’s proposal that Ukraine be federalized, with neutrality guaranteed in a new constitution?
Mr. Cohen’s defense of Russia’s sphere of influence overlooks the question of whether the countries that fall within it are there by choice or coercion. Ukraine is willing to be in the Western sphere of influence because it receives support for civil society, the economy and national defense — and Russia does nothing of the kind.
Mr. Cohen and others don’t just defend Russia; they attack the pro-democracy activists in Ukraine. Another American pundit, Max Blumenthal, described the Euromaidan movement as “filled with far-right street-fighting men pledging to defend their country’s ethnic purity.”
True, such people were present at the square, but they were marginal figures, and slogans about ethnic purity never gained popularity. Yes, generally speaking, Ukraine has its skinheads and its anti-Semites and even serial killers, pedophiles and Satanists. They are not present in smaller or larger numbers than in any other country, even in the most mature European state. More at the link...
#4
I've isolated the cause at para-14. It's the usual culprit:
What naïve American intellectuals say free of charge, the canny Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, says for 250,000 euros a year as a board member of Gazprom, the Russian oil giant. Mr. Schröder, the German father of “Gazprom socialism” — a new subspecies of limousine liberalism — has repeatedly embarrassed Berlin by supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
#5
"And in the last century intellectuals like André Gide, Pablo Neruda and Jean-Paul Sartre all stumped for the Soviet Union as what Lenin allegedly called “useful idiots,” apologizing for its monstrosities long after the rest of the world recognized them."
In the case of André Gide, this is not quite true. He went to the Soviet Union in 1936 and immediately after his return published the disillusioned report "Retour de l'URSS".
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/18/2015 7:16 Comments ||
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#6
"Except, in this particular cases, Russians are the good guys who are defending their country from Tranzi aggression."
Oh really gromguru. I must have missed the part in which Ukrainian troops invaded Russia.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/18/2015 7:18 Comments ||
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#8
I must have missed the part in which Ukrainian troops invaded Russia.
Hardly the only thing you missed.
Besoeker, you really don't see that USA and it's allies (except USA is not the leader but the tranzi Mongo) are the new totalitarian empire bent on imposing its ideology on the rest of the World? While, I might add, gradually but surely, eliminating unreliable elements like yourself within.
#10
I'm not kidding Besoeker. IMO, the currently dominant "Western" ideology is the most dangerous ideology ever invented. Compared to what various SJW have are planning, an old fashioned, pragmatic, autocrat like Puti is practically St. Francis of Assisi.
#11
grom has an exceedingly twisted idea of what the word totalitarian means. There's nothing the West is doing that compares with Soviet terror killing millions, Soviet gulags imprisoning millions under extreme conditions, Soviet police state activities, Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, etc. There's also nothing the West does that compares with Nazi concentration camps, Nazi murders of people for being other ethnicities, Nazi police state tactics, Nazi invasion of non-belligerents, Nazi widespread use of slave labor, etc.
Totalitarianism has an actual meaning and to apply it so randomly cavalierly diminishes the horrible suffering of its Soviet and Nazi victims.
#14
g(r)omgoru, it would be helpful if you described what you mean by the currently dominant "Western" ideology, so that the discussion could be around that instead of insults in all directions.
#17
No matter how one defines the currently dominant Western ideology it can't possibly be described as totalitarian. Perhaps grom doesn't only admire Putin, but also Stalin, Beria, and Yezhov.
#20
The point grom is making is that while we are told we are spreading democracy and self-determination, what is actually rising is a feudalism and oligarchy mix.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/18/2015 11:17 Comments ||
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#21
Voltaire. He had a decidely sharp opinion, and likely looked at Russia as an escape from the fingernail pulling he saw coming in France.
18th century Russia is like talking about 18th Britain.
Time and Place.
And everything I used to point and laugh at as a kid is happening in triplicate.
#24
Now badanov, you disappoint me. Somebody with that name should know Russians have a significant Asian admixture (going even back, before Mongols). Although, come to think of it, Asians are not exactly popular with cognitive elites either.
#25
Russians will tell you that their particular brand of imperialism is based on their language, and their past, especially as it applies to WWII, and specificaly as it applies to Soviet communism.
If you yourself had seen fotos of Russian divisional commander just before Barbarossa in June, 1941, you could only conclude that Russians were mostly white male.
And the overwhelming majority of them died, along with their charges by the millions, fighting for their society and against German imperialism.
Now, another generation fights for Russian imperialism.
But, I don't want to get into a pissing match over race, or ethnicity with you or anyone else, but your post about the hasthags of unhappy people were neither relevant, nor necessary.
[Hurriyet Daily News] About 2.5 years ago, I wrote a piece titled, "The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... : Fears of Illiberal Democracy." I argued that with the subordination of the Kemalist military-bureaucratic establishment by elected politicians, Turkey had finally consolidated its electoral democracy. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... this did not guarantee these elected politicians would act in liberal ways. There were rather worrying signs that Turkey could be heading towards what some political scientist call, "illiberal (i.e. authoritarian) democracy."
These signs have only increased since then, and Turkey has growingly become the illiberal democracy par excellence. We have an elected government which keeps winning the ballots, giving it popular legitimacy, but it is also demonizes its opponents, intimidates any critical press and curbs the rule of law. When it is criticized for these authoritarian practices, the government's response is only, "well, the people like us" -- "the people" being roughly half of the society. Meanwhile the more sophisticated apologists of the government argue that "extraordinary measures" are necessary for extraordinary times. They, in other words, resort to the exact "revolutionary" narrative that their Kemalist predecessors used for almost 90 years.
There is no doubt that this illiberal paradigm deserves powerful criticisms. But it also begs analysis. For authoritarianism does not come from nowhere. It comes from a certain mindset, which sees its way as the only way to govern a society.
One aspect of this mindset is the state having an overbearing role in human affairs. The state, with this in mind, exists not only to secure our borders and streets, provide us with education and healthcare and collect our trash, but also has the right, if not the mission, to lead society to Truth, by raising Truth-seeking generations and correcting deviants who stray from the Truth.
Mind you, this Truth can be anything. It can be dialectical materialism or Aryan Supremacy. It can be a utopia of a Westernized Turkish society, like the Kemalist model, or a utopia of a re-Ottomanized Turkish society, like the current Turkish model. There is no doubt that these models are based on a "goodwill" of sorts. The problem is they claim to know what is good for all of us.
The other fundamental aspect of the illiberal mind is a powerful belief in conspiracy. Since its ideals are so evidently good, its opponents and even its critics can be nothing but manifestations of evil: a well-organized, wicked, nefarious evil. This nefarious force can be "the bourgeoisie," "the enemies of the people, "the Jews," the Freemasons, the liberals, or all of them. They cannot be allowed to carry out their evil plots under deceptive shields such as "freedom of speech" or "freedom of assembly."
Those freedoms might be okay for normal people, but the enemies of the Truth and the Revolution are not normal people.
Sadly, this is the kind of ideology Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been pumping into society for the past two years. To be fair, it barks much more than it bites. "The enemies within" are not enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! en masse, tortured, or killed, as in dictatorships. Turkey, after all, is still operating under the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... legal standards, and, ironically, the AKP itself advanced these standards in the early 2000s, when it had a totally different mindset. Its current and unabashedly illiberal mindset, however, is worrying. But it is also an interesting experiment to watch, for its exact destination is completely unknown at this point.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
That's why you want a Republic of laws where the individual is sovereign, not a Democracy where the biggest mob rules with impunity.
Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. -- Plato
#2
I argued that with the subordination of the Kemalist military-bureaucratic establishment by elected politicians, Turkey had finally consolidated its electoral democracy. However,
this did not guarantee these elected politicians would act in liberal ways.
#3
See, the democrats"" removed the republic by removing State appointments of the Senate, the only sane branch of the US Government.
So now, mob rule.
And willful ignorance and dementia and apathy and the media and the unions and our "higher learning" Mental Institution and K-12 and .....
#4
See, the democrats"" removed the republic by removing State appointments of the Senate, the only sane branch of the US Government.
Given the corruption at the state level, any such appointments represent the interest of the party controlling the state government. See - Illinois replacement of Obama's Senate seat. You've gained nothing by going back to the old system.
If you want to represent the state's interest, then senator should be selected by giving each governmental subunit (county or parish) one electoral vote in an election. It's not one man one vote because its not to represent the interest of the people, that what the House is for. It also removes the dominating power of big cities which have in essence placed their interests above that of the state.
#6
One aspect of this mindset is the state having an overbearing role in human affairs. The state, with this in mind, exists not only to secure our borders and streets, provide us with education and healthcare and collect our trash, but also has the right, if not the mission, to lead society to Truth, by raising Truth-seeking generations and correcting deviants who stray from the Truth.
Mind you, this Truth can be anything.
A better description of the Democrat/Progressive MO would be hard to find. These are the scary ideas of the vicious left.
[DAWN] THE decision by the full bench of the Supreme Court to suspend the death sentences awarded by military courts to six convicted forces of Evil is the right and courageous one and ought to have been taken earlier. Far too many individuals in far too many quarters have cheered on the death sentences as just and deserved -- with only the vaguest details of who has been convicted, under what circumstances and for what specific crimes having being revealed in the most shameful of circumstances.
Perversely, the Supreme Court itself is now being criticised for belatedly doing its job by supporters of military courts. In the desperation to wreak vengeance on Death Eaters for the ghastly atrocity that was Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , the cheerleaders for military courts appear willing to sacrifice the structure and principles of the state itself. There must, at all times, be a basic separation of powers: parliament legislates, judiciary interprets. And at all times, all institutions of the state must hold the rights of the people paramount. Violate those principles and neither will militancy be eradicated nor will the society and state emerging from this war be recognisable as anything close to the foundational values of this country.
To critics of the Supreme Court's temporary decision and proponents of the new, post-December regime of military courts, there is also a straightforward response. Yes, there is a desperate need to draw up a coherent and cohesive policy to fight militancy here, but military courts can be no part of such a strategy, in principle or in practice. Consider what is now known about the six men who were, before the Supreme Court's intervention, sentenced to be executed in the name of the power that the people have invested in the state.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] FOR the London Metropolitan Police, the obstacles in the way of solving this whodunnit must be baffling. The victim, MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq, sought political asylum in the United Kingdom as a Pak citizen. The two men suspected of having killed him in London are also Pak citizens and who, media reports said, arrived in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... via Colombo soon after the murder on Sept 16, 2010 and were whisked away from the airport by intelligence personnel in whose custody they have been languishing since.
Yet the Pak government, which has only recently and somewhat tacitly acknowledged that the men are indeed in its custody, appears to be in no hurry to cooperate. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan has stated unequivocally that in the absence of an extradition treaty between Pakistain and the United Kingdom, they will not be handed over "unilaterally" to the British authorities and that Pakistain would extend "additional cooperation" only if the UK agreed that this case would become a precedent for it to follow when Pakistain sought extradition of a wanted person in the future.
Although according to the principle of illusory sovereignty Pakistain has jurisdiction over people within its borders, and there is indeed no extradition treaty with the UK at present, the interior minister's stance does not stand to reason. The government should be keen to see that a crime against a former political leader from Pakistain allegedly carried out by Paks is successfully prosecuted instead of withholding possible evidence as a bargaining chip.
There is already enough evidence to suspect that the revelations about Dr Imran Farooq's murder have been timed with a view to political expediency rather than driven by the desire for justice to be served. There is nothing to stop the government from pursuing an extradition treaty with the UK to put in place a legal framework for exchange of individuals suspected of committing crimes in each other's countries; just as there is nothing to prevent it from rising above institutional interests and responding appropriately in the Imran Farooq murder case.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] WHAT do Afghanistan, Somalia, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , Mali, northern Nigeria, Pakistain's tribal areas and Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... have in common?
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/18/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"Until we can learn to distinguish between these different strands of Islam, we will not understand why and how our faith has been hijacked."
If, and I say IF it has been hijacked.
If no one is going to do it the right way, and use Hadith to commit awful atrocity, then burn the book.
#2
I don't want to understand Muslims. I want Muslims, and any other scumvermin---whatever their self justification is, to understand that messing with me and mine is suicidal. If they can't, on their heads be it.
h/t Instapundit
The best explanation for black mob violence just might come from a place where it is an everyday fact of life: Memphis.
"It's fun," said one black person to a local reporter inquiring about why so many "teens" are so eager to be so violent.
But the central organizing feature of the violence is not age. It is race. The members of these mobs are black.
That goes for Memphis, Louisville, Indianapolis, and the hundreds of other cities big and small where black mob violence has resisted every other explanation. And solution.
[Breitbart London] Liberal Democrat activist who sits on two national party committees has been suspended from her regional party after a string of sexist comments on social media. The activist in question, Sarah Noble, made multiple tweets of a disturbingly hateful nature, including "kill all men", "fuc* men", and "die cis[gendered] scum".
The comments were brought to light by by HEqual, a gender egalitarian campaigning group. After being made aware of them, former Lib Dem Equalities Minister Jo Swinson was quick to condemn Noble's comments. Writing on Facebook, Swinson said the comments were "completely unacceptable" and "in no way represent the views of Liberal Democrats". The former Minister also said that Noble has been asked to delete her tweets and apologise. No apology has yet been forthcoming.
#2
Muslim men too, liebling? Because, you know, if you exterminate---or just psychologically castrate, as you did in Europe---enough of us, Muslim men are the ones you're have to deal with.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[DAWN] FOR the London Metropolitan Police, the obstacles in the way of solving this whodunnit must be baffling. The victim, MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq, sought political asylum in the United Kingdom as a Pak citizen. The two men suspected of having killed him in London are also Pak citizens and who, media reports said, arrived in 
[DAWN] WHAT do Afghanistan, Somalia, 
