The author is another writer that came up through the left'sfarm league. A writer, Harry Maddox, associated with The Gateway Pundit does a takedown of the writer.
This recent midterm election was my first real setback since I became a committed liberal (after years on the other side), and what I don't understand is why so many well-meaning liberals refuse to fight dirty. Sure, some Democratic politicians "sling mud," but the "professional left" (as they are often derisively called) spend too much time debating the exactitude of certain issues and not enough time shutting down the bad ideas of the opposition. It might speak well to one's character, but it's an ineffective way to do battle. There is a place for self-examination, but it's not on the battlefield. Sometimes the proper reaction to cruelty or stupid ideas is disgust or even a well-timed insult. For many on the left this art is sadly as dead as the late hero of mine quoted above.
I got married, dropped out of college, joined the military and became a father all before I was 21 years old, and I spent the next 20 years dealing with my early missteps. It was a painful climb, but one benefit of the circuitous route I took is that I understand the angry, white and rural right wing of America better than most. It’s a group that grows ever more desperate and irrational no matter which way the electoral winds blow.
As a member of the frothing right wing, I always spouted nonsense, even when I wasn't sure I believed it. Sometimes I would throw out really crazy stuff just to see how it fit the big picture and sometimes to get a rise from the opposition. Rhetorical bomb throwing is well respected on the right, and it's not always a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with trying out ideas, letting them roll off the tongue to see how they sound. I'm always playing with ideas, most of which get discarded before I let myself believe them or write them down. There is one caveat to this and that's the racist, hateful and homophobic rants that have become too common among the worst of the Tea Party. This ugly side of conservative rage is one of the major factors that drove me (and many others) away from right-wing politics. More at the link...
#2
Ah. Reassuring noises to the Salon readership to keep them from considering that they may be mistaken. "No, no. Those are just a bunch of angry hateful rubes. You're so much better than them. Go back to sleep and keep donating and voting Democrat Transnational Socialist."
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/16/2015 8:29 Comments ||
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#3
refuse to fight dirty
Nothing like getting sealed divorce papers release in a Senatorial election to take out the Trunk candidate too late in the election cycle to stop your community organizer. Shall we start with the list of a thousand cuts? Or are you just jealous that they finally decided to play the same game?
#4
The three pillars of the left are autocracy, government forced redistribution of wealth, and anti-Christian bigotry.
If those are your three core principles how can you accurately be described as not fighting dirty?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/16/2015 10:36 Comments ||
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#5
It's called 'projection', right?
the angry, rainbow coalition of lefty liberals white and rural right -- a group that grows ever more desperate and irrational no matter which way the electoral winds blow.
As a member of the frothing right left wing, I always spouted nonsense...
Yeah, that seems to fit.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/16/2015 13:14 Comments ||
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#6
That was a waste of time and space--my time and Salon's space.
[DAWN] IT may not have had the dimensions of Sundays Gay Paree march, but Tuesdays rally in Berlin symbolised the German leaderships determination to preserve the countrys multicultural character in the face of a rising wave of xenophobia, a large part of it in reaction to acts of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. While President Joachim Gauck said Germany had become more diverse religiously, culturally and mentally, Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... pledged to use all the means at our disposal to combat intolerance. The challenge before the Merkel government shouldnt be underestimated. Home to four million Moslems, mostly Turkish immigrants, Germany has been witnessing a growth in support for hard boy groups many of whom have been mobilising people against the governments immigration policy; some groups display their Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... openly. The most notorious of them is Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, which on Monday organised a rally in Dresden. Another anti-immigrant group gaining attention is Alternative for Germany. Both are anti-Moslem and demand stricter immigration and asylum policies. The Dresden marchers carried Chancellor Merkels doctored pictures showing her wearing a scarf. Fortunately, rallies in other cities have drawn fewer participants.
There can be no doubt that murderous attacks such as the Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... killings only strengthen anti-Moslem lobbies worldwide, creating difficulties for those who believe in tolerance and pluralism. While the far right in the West is in a minority, many among the majority do listen to what it has to say when Lions of Islam spill innocent blood. The killers should know that whether it is 9/11, the London bombings, the Mumbai attack or Gay Paree, the losers are Moslems worldwide, especially those who have made the West their home and want to live in peace. Chancellor Merkel has made no secret of her determination to take on the hard boys, and declared at Tuesdays rally that xenophobia, racism, extremism, have no place in Germany. Hopefully Moslem community leaders in the West will support the chancellors inclusive stance whether in the fight against European xenophobia or Islamist militancy.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LONG in denial about Punjabs militancy problem, the PML-N appears to finally be waking up to the dangers in its home province.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan briefed the prime minister on steps taken under the National Action Plan against militant groups and extremists operating in Punjab and even the scant details offered to the media make for sober reading: 14,000 individuals hauled up for investigation; 341 allegedly involved in hate speech; 1,100 warned for misuse of loudspeakers; and 41 shops closed for distributing hate material.
Those numbers though surely represent only a fraction of the militancy and extremism in Punjab. Consider just a few factors: the population of Punjab is in the region of 100 million; the province has a vast mosque-madressah-social welfare network operated by multiple groups some of them household names, others unheard of outside the sub-regions of Punjab; and virtually nothing has been done in over a decade to clamp down on extremist and militant outfits in the province.
That is perhaps why the number of proscribed groups operating in the province has soared to 95, according to the interior ministers presentation to the prime minister on Wednesday.
However, for all the attempts by the PML-N leadership to get serious about problems in its home province, the revelations by the interior minister indicate a continuing unwillingness to be as forthright as possible.
Statistics are important, but should not be a substitute for meaningful details. To begin with, which groups comprise the proscribed 95? That number is well above the nationally proscribed 72 groups that the interior ministry itself has listed, so which are the additional groups active in Punjab?
To expect the names of proscribed organisations to be shared is the bare minimum. Who are the leaders of these groups? Where do they operate? What is their reach? Who funds them? Which madressahs, mosques or religious networks are they tied to? What attacks have they carried out? And, perhaps most relevantly, what type of attacks are they suspected of planning?
Worryingly none of these details were provided. That would inevitably lead to speculation about the true identities of the individuals targeted and whether the state is simply indulging in a cover-up.
Consider that according to the interior ministers own claim, of the 14,000 individuals rounded up in Punjab since the NAP implementation has begun, a mere 780 have had some form of preliminary charges drawn up against them. What about the rest?
Have they been wrongly scooped up? Where are they now? What about the hardcore terrorists and militants who do exist in Punjab have they been allowed to slip out of the province undetected?
Encouraging as it is that the PML-N is willing to acknowledge a militancy problem in Punjab, defeating the militant threat will require a great deal more transparency and determination by the state.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] IN the wake of the 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. carnage, the entire nation was united in its mourning for children whose dream of a bright future through education fell apart in a pool of blood. This tragedy will hopefully prove a game changer as we see the nation finally reject the morbid narrative and ideology of the Taliban.
The immediate question was that while united in grief, are we united too in the will to fight the terror that stalks the length and breadth of our land. The military and politicianship resolved to be on the same page through a concerted counterterrorism strategy. Given the mandate by a multiparty conference in Peshawar, a parliamentary committee headed by the interior minister and advised informally by some counterterrorism professionals, including this writer, came up with a comprehensive framework for state and society to tackle the menace of terrorism and violent religious extremism in all its forms.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Apart from the presence of religious and sectarian krazed killers, 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... s law and order situation is also jeopardised by political and ethnic holy warriors, as well as criminal gangs.
But while the citys crime and militancy problems are indeed major and require effective approaches to tackle them, the answer certainly does not lie in relying on extrajudicial methods to address the violence.
Of late, there has been an uptick in the number of alleged encounters and extrajudicial killings in the city.
The MQM cried foul when a party member died in police custody on Jan 10.
While police claimed the man was in possession of an illegal weapon and had confessed to several murders, other reports indicated that the individual was tortured in jug.
Following the mans death, party leaders said the Muttahida was being targeted both by religious bully boyz and the security establishment, while the MQM shut down the city on Sunday in protest. Around the same time as the custodial death, the bodies of three MQM supporters were discovered on the outskirts of the metropolis bearing torture marks.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes... several suspected religious gunnies have been bumped off in alleged encounters over the past few days.
Two suspects with reported links to Al Qaeda and the banned TTP were killed by police on Tuesday, while two individuals allegedly belonging to holy warrior groups were also shot a day earlier.
It is not only political parties that are complaining about the extrajudicial deaths of their workers; civil society activists have also raised concerns about the all-too-frequent encounters in Karachi.
Supporters of Sindhi and Baloch nationalist groups have also been targeted. It appears likely that some within the law-enforcement apparatus are using the cover of anti-militancy operations to settle scores and eliminate suspects by circumventing the criminal justice system.
Yet in a civilised, democratic society there is simply no room for extralegal methods. Especially now, with the creation of military courts despite their drawbacks the law-enforcement agencies have no excuse to skip the investigation and prosecution process and play executioner.
The criminal justice system surely needs a massive overhaul, while militancy in Karachi must be addressed through firm action.
But neither of these realities can justify extrajudicial killings.
The authorities need to fix the investigation and prosecution systems, at the same time making it clear to law enforcers that no extralegal methods will be tolerated when it comes to dealing with militancy and crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2015 00:00 ||
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#4
Unless there's a fundamental change to the strategy adopted after 9/11/2001 liberal democracies won't survive.
That's because the post 9/11 strategy was a strategy against 'terror', not against islamofascism nor for the preservation of liberal democracy in the West.
There was a limited war-like military engagement with militant groups that actively attacked, or planned to attack Western nations.
This was combined with a policy of making huge concessions to mainstream Islam, i.e. the Muslim population in the West and the countries of the OIC.
The hope was that mainstream Islam would realize that the West would concede what was demanded without there being need to resort to 'terrorism.'
Hence any mainstream Islamic support for 'terrorism' would cease and 'terrorism' would end and the 'War on Terror' would be won.
This looks like an elegant, sophisticated and clever solution that avoids unnecessary bloodshed and will restore security.
There's just one snag to it.
Mainstream Islam demands Earth & Water from the West.
Mainstream Islam demand that the West submit to its will.
The price for winning the 'War on Terror' as defined by the Western elites is the end of liberal democracy in West.
The price is surrender of the West.
#5
Methinks FREEREPUBLIC + HOTAIR.COM say it more succintly ... ...
* ABOVE > [HotAir] THE WAR AGZ ISIS IS NOW BEING FOUGHT ON EUROPEAN SOIL.
Succeeded in forcing Communism-Socialism - you know, FASCISM?, on the US or US-NORAM, BUT LOST MOST OR ALL OF THE REST OF THE WORLD TO THE NUCLEARIZED-N-NUCWEAPONIZED-WID-WESTERN//JUDEOCHRISTIAN-HELP HARD BOYZ???
Once again, to paraph CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER = "Say it wid Me, Amerika, OOOOOOOPPPPPSSSIES"???
* CHINA DAILY > VIDEO: AL-QAIDA TO UK - "YOU'RE NEXT"!
Hard Boyz over time to ultimately threaten UK Royals???
IN THE NAME OF GOD + NOSTRADAMUS - ARISE, MADONNA [US-born UK-Commonwealth Queen], ARISE.
With only two years left in office, Obama probably is more inclined to polish his moral legacy than to take all available action to avoid another catastrophic jihadist attack, which, even in the best of intelligence circumstances, remains an abstract threat until the moment it is not.
[Townhall.com] The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that five Yemeni terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay had been transferred out of the facility, despite renewed concerns from lawmakers about the risks of releasing detainees.
The newly transferred prisoners had been held for more than a dozen years. The men had been cleared for release since at least 2009, but the U.S. has balked at repatriating Guantanamo prisoners back to Yemen, where the government is battling an Al Qaeda insurgency.
All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the U.S. as suspected Al Qaeda fighters. Charlie Hebdo media-hog martyrs replaced at nearly a 2 for 1 ration. The work of the prophet must continue.
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.
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
