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Police hunt BMW driver who mowed down six French soldiers in Paris
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea doesn't need an ICBM to attack U.S.
[Baltimore Sun] For years, politicians and TV experts have mollified Americans by claiming that the public shouldn’t worry about North Korea attacking the United States with nuclear-tipped missiles because they have no intercontinental ballistic missiles yet. But neither rogue nations nor rogue groups need ICBMs to nuke U.S. military bases overseas or the continental U.S.

Allegedly, North Korea has successfully experimented with a small nuclear warhead and has greatly enhanced SCUD missiles so that they can fly longer, higher and carry heavier payloads than ever before ("North Korea vows more ’gift packages’ of missile tests for U.S.," July 4). And they have demonstrated that they know how to launch SCUDs from mobile launchers. Thus, the North Koreans have assembled what they need for an asymmetric nuclear missile attack on U.S. troops in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and the West Coast from Alaska to Southern California. By retrofitting a small nuclear warhead to a much-improved SCUD, covertly loading the SCUD on a mobile missile and covertly loading the "loaded" launcher aboard a 300-400 foot long container ship, they have assembled a poor man's ICBM.

Once a loaded SCUD missile launcher is lashed to the innocent-looking merchant ship, it could covertly steam within launch range of Okinawa or Guam or Hawaii, Alaska or even Seattle. If secretly refueled at sea or manned by a suicide crew (for a one-way trip to a launch point near the U.S. coast, they could "bore sight" either a ground burst warhead, or worse yet a high altitude nuclear explosion warhead. Such a high-altitude warhead, if it exploded above Hawaii or a West Coast city, could produce an electro-magnetic pulse that could destroy the electric grid for hundreds of square miles.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd always assumed they would try to bring one in on a private jet or something.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/09/2017 9:06 Comments || Top||

#2  There are lots of possible and even improbable 'what if' scenarios out there to scare us into inaction. To paraphrase Grant, quit worrying about what they are going to do and make them worry about what we're going to do.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 11:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Consider a leaflet drop delivered via cruise missile over Pyongyang warning that our patience has run out...
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 08/09/2017 12:37 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Dems point to Russians as culprits in H.R. McMaster's slip in popularity
[PJ] WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers said today that it would be within Moscow's known M.O. to orchestrate or join a campaign calling for the ouster of National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster.

The knives came out for McMaster among some on the right after Circa reported last week on an April letter in which McMaster tells former National Security Advisor Susan Rice that the NSC "will continue to work with you to ensure the appropriate security clearance documentation remains on file to allow you access to classified information."

"I hereby waive the requirement that you must have a ’need-to-know’ to access any classified information contained in items you 'originated, reviewed, signed or received while serving,' as National Security Adviser," the letter adds.

Intelligence officials told Bloomberg's Eli Lake that McMaster "concluded that Rice did nothing wrong" in using her authority to request that some U.S. names in FISA surveillance connected to the Trump-Russia investigation be unmasked. The Weekly Standard reported that revoking Rice's clearance would actually have been out of the norm and that McMaster wrote the letter to all former national security advisors as has been customary, and even the current clearance doesn't allow continued asking privileges for sensitive info.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 07:27 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And why would the Dems care ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 7:37 Comments || Top||

#2  I consider the headline proof that he's a (D) mole.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/09/2017 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  I ask again "if KGB/FSB is so good, how come Soviet Union broke down?".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/09/2017 7:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Is it me, or is it whenever I see a discussion about the Democrats involving accountability, it's been some form of 'Democrats blame...' for the past two decades?
Posted by: Raj || 08/09/2017 11:49 Comments || Top||


Farage: 'Biggest Enemy of All That We Face are Those Within Our Ranks'
[PJ] WASHINGTON ‐ Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party, said President Trump is "a true conservative hero" with an agenda that conservative Republicans should rally around.

"Worst of all, the biggest enemy that we face, those of us that have fought for conservative values and goodness, me, I spent 25 years fighting for Brexit, but perhaps the biggest enemy of all that we face are those that are within our ranks, those that masquerade as conservatives but actually follow liberal agendas," Farage said during the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference on Friday.

"Now I say that in light of the remarkable events of 2016. You know, we all lived through it. We were all a part of it but actually in 100 years’ time, in 200 years’ time, when history is being taught, 2016 will be seen to be the pivotal year, the year that good, ordinary, decent people took back control of their lives from career politicians who have taken us in the wrong direction," he added.

Farage described his impression of Trump after he last met with him, saying that Trump is determined to carry out the agenda that he laid out during the campaign.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 07:24 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...an agenda that conservative Republicans should rally around.

Which explains the behavior of McCain, Graham, McConnell. Spell it R-I-N-O.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 9:28 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/09/2017 10:21 Comments || Top||


Trump's Unintended Consequences: The Unmasking of the Deep State
[American Thinker] The term "Deep State" unleashes many paranoid fantasies. Movies and spy stories abound about the existence of dark, nefarious forces from our government aligned against us. But as Joseph Heller once wrote, "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you." One of the more disturbing revelations after Trump's win was finding that these dark forces not only exist, but are powerful and seemingly out of control.

"Deep State" is hard to define, because it is composed of overlapping groups and individuals with complex and differing agendas. It's an amalgam of people, agencies, and bureaucrats that changes. The current leakers are part of it. For now, let's say it's a mostly unelected, mostly leftist group within our government that wants to govern us against the will of America's founding principles. These people want the final say over our Republic. They want to rule, and they form part of a powerful alliance against the current administration and its voters. The one thing we can be thankful for is that they are showing themselves to us in a way that should anger Americans of all political persuasions. In the end, that's what we might hope for.

"Big Brother" was the term Orwell used for the totalitarian presence of 1984. We are not there. Maybe not even close. But the problem of the Deep State is that there seem to be those who want the kind of power Orwell described, the kind of power the Soviets had, or the East Germans. It's likely that many Deep-Staters don't even realize just how power-mad they have become.

Here is a small list with their fingerprints on it:

- The unmasking and subsequent takedown of General Michael Flynn

- The daily leaks designed to impede or embarrass the Trump administration

- The unmasking of hundreds of private citizens working with the Trump campaign as reported by Circa News

- The bogus "Trump dossier"

- The bogus Trump-Russian collusion narrative.

- The unseemly collusion between Robert Mueller and James Comey

- The seeming insanity of Mueller probing a nonexistent crime

- The exoneration of the Clinton crime family

- The IRS targeting conservative groups

And lots more.

What we are watching is a group using power willfully, wrongfully, and oftentimes illegally to undermine and destroy political opponents. They are after somebody. For real. From this list, we can surmise that their opponents appear to be those of us on the center-right. And to those of you on the left who don't know: This happened, and it's happening. You can pretend it's not so, but it is.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 03:06 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe Trump did intend to unmask the Deep State. His speeches prior to the election seemed to indicate that he grasped the DS.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/09/2017 7:03 Comments || Top||

#2  He probably had to pay off lots of the DS to do his line of business.
What unites the "deep state" is their sense of entitlement to other peoples money in reutrn for their "enlightened rule".
AKA NPD
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/09/2017 7:09 Comments || Top||

#3  He probably had to pay off lots of the DS to do his line of business.

Phrased a bit differently, but I believe he said as much at one or two points in his campaign.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 7:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Repeal the Civil Service Act, period. There was an article a couple of days ago that stipulated that in pay and benefits, the GS system pays better than the citizenry. The long abandoned concept was a modest pay and modest retirement but job guarantees. Now they get good pay, good retirement and job guarantee. What's there not to like, except if you are a taxpayer stuck with the bill and no way to hold the bureaucracy accountable. Put the burden directly upon your elected officials.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 9:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Civil service act gets canned and outlaw unions for government workers.

Then trim down all agencies by 75%. Solve most issues right there.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/09/2017 11:16 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 Civil service act gets canned and outlaw unions for government workers.
Then trim down all agencies by 75%. Solve most issues right there.
Yes to all three but I doubt these will ever be rolled back except for trimming back the agencies.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/09/2017 11:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Since he is attacked constantly this would probably be the best time to make those three changes. Let the Democrats go into the elections promising gravy for the bureaucrats and see how far they get.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/09/2017 13:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Once our courts start imposing taxes / confiscating public funds to fund pension plans of unionized public workers, the outlawing of public worker unions will follow in rather short order. Probably not until then.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 08/09/2017 15:52 Comments || Top||

#9  "Deep State" is hard to define, because it is composed of overlapping groups and individuals with complex and differing agendas.

All however, share a common denominator....POWER !
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 15:55 Comments || Top||

#10  Anyone remember the OPM hack?

Seems to me that anyone who was in the system at that time is, by definition, a security risk.

Start by letting those people go.
Posted by: charger || 08/09/2017 20:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
The JuD’s new clothes
[DAWN] THE run-up to elections usually produces some strange bedfellows who come together out of political expediency. Sometimes, however, a new iteration of an old entity emerges on the electoral landscape. Enter the Milli Moslem League, a vehicle whereby the Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
plans to venture into mainstream politics. Its formation was announced on Monday by JuD and MML representatives who pledged to implement the ideology of Pakistain in accordance with the 1973 Constitution and the vision of the Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal. Defining their objectives for the country, the MML president hit all the expected talking points: corruption of the politicianship, deliberate fanning of sectarian and ethnic tensions, the country’s direction towards liberalism and secularism, etc. He also touched upon the work being carried out by the JuD’s charitable arm.

According to the law, any group or association of people has the right to form a political party. In fact, a democratic system gains vitality when the electorate has a number of options to choose from. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
a political party launched by the JuD comes with a considerable degree of baggage, a questionable pedigree of sorts. For the JuD is on the government watch list under Schedule II of the Anti Terrorism Act, and its own predecessor, the Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
-- now banned -- is associated with jihadist adventurism across the border, including operations such as the Mumbai attacks in 2008. It should also be noted that the LeT was an obdurate opponent of democracy, deeming it incompatible with Islam, and Monday’s meeting with the press also indicated MML’s ambivalence about the Constitution. For all these reasons, even if one disregards the laudatory references to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
-- notwithstanding his omission from the new party’s leadership -- on the same occasion, the MML should be emphatic in its repudiation of militancy. There are several examples globally of former Lion of Islam outfits evolving into political entities, such as the Irish Republican Army: if the JuD indeed wants a change in direction, it is to be welcomed.

Posted by: Fred || 08/09/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Sharif and the family feud
[DAWN] FOR Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
the battle is far from over. The former prime minister now returns to the masses before the start of the second and more critical phase of the impending legal and political battles. And for that he has chosen the heartland of Punjab, along GT Road, described as the bastion of political power.

It is, indeed, a calculated move intended to galvanise popular support in his political stronghold by playing the victim card. His tenor is becoming increasingly strident as the battle lines are redrawn. There is no more mincing of words about those he thinks plotted his ouster -- the deep state. Nawaz Sharif is not willing to go down without a fight.

It is a completely different situation than what Sharif had confronted in his two previous ousters. He may be out, but his party still holds sway in both the centre and Punjab, giving him the political advantage he did not have in the past. It is not like an ousted leader braving a hostile state power.

Of course, Sharif knows that he may not be reinstated as prime minister, but he wants to defend his legacy and maintain his family’s dynastic hold over power. And for the latter, the area along GT Road is absolutely critical. What gives the former prime minister hope is a divided and squabbling opposition unable to capitalise on his disqualification.

His main nemesis Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
now seems to be trapped in a texting scandal affecting the PTI’s campaign against the House of Sharif. The PPP appears marginalised in this war for the GT Road area. Moreover, there is a limit to the perceived powers of the security establishment to manipulate the entire range of emerging political dynamics. The Tahirul Qadri
...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him...
card has long been exposed and that spent force cannot deliver.

Posted by: Fred || 08/09/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Sharif, he don't like it. F*ck the casbah, f*ck the casbah...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/09/2017 13:55 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Struggling for inspiration? A pint of beer could release creative block, say scientists
[Telegraph] Artists throughout history have claimed that alcohol can boost creativity and trigger flights of productivity.

Now a new study has proved that their assertions are not just wishful drinking.

Downing a pint of beer for men, or around 350ml for women, boosted test scores in 132 men and women who were given a range of creative tasks. In one word association test, alcohol increased test scores by around 40 per cent.

In the test participants were given three words and asked them to think of a word that can be connected to each - for example, the word "pit" can be attached to "peach", "arm" and "tar".

Researchers from the University of Graz, in Austria, believe that alcohol helps remove the parameters which surround a problem, allowing more creative thought, and helping drinkers to think outside of the box.

The study suggests enjoying a glass of wine, or beer, could be the key to unlocking the mental alacrity need to complete a cryptic crossword or write a witty best-man’s speech.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 04:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Beer always made women look more beautiful in the bars. I don't know that beer inspired the muses within. I do know that beer seemed to inspire barroom fights--often involving women.

I wonder if beer made men look better to women? It may have even inspired their muses within. I've seen women dancing on tables in bars after imbibing. I've often heard women singing along with the music--sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/09/2017 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Lots of Country songs seem to back up the study. Personal observation confirms. And I get lots better looking as a bonus.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 08/09/2017 8:36 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess I'm Davinci at night then.
Posted by: chris || 08/09/2017 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, but I like whiskey better.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 08/09/2017 11:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Booze removes the second guessing.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/09/2017 13:24 Comments || Top||

#6  What they're basically saying is "quit worrying about it."
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/09/2017 16:16 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
An insight into SJW psychology from Sarah Hoyt
...Female social structure is completely different from male social structure. Men tend to organize in a hierarchy of sorts. There’s one guy at the top, a few guys he trusts underneath him, etc. downward until you reach the guys that are on the bottom of the pile. The structure makes sense. It’s efficient, everyone knows who’s in charge, and it’s largely based around the individual. Someone can rise or fall in this hierarchy based on any number of things, but their position is usually pretty clear from the outside looking in.

Female social structure is more fluid. It’s based more on group identity than on individual characteristics. You tend to have one woman who is kind of in charge, your queen bee as it were. Those in her favor circle around her, and the circles continue outward until you have the women who are not part of the group. They aren’t at the bottom of the pile, they pretty much don’t exist. At least, if they’re lucky they don’t. One’s position in the social hierarchy can change at any time, to include who the queen bee is. Remember the scene in Mean Girls where Regina tries to sit at the lunch table with the other plastics but isn’t wearing the right color clothes? She was just knocked out of her position in the social hierarchy.

In a social structure like this, there’s no room for difference of opinion or people who stand out too much. If an individual, even by noncompliance, threatens the group identity; she will gain the ire of the entire group. They will hunt her without mercy until she complies with the demands of the group, is removed from their reach by either death or physical distance (which is getting much harder with the internet), or manages to win enough females to her side to either form a new group around her or replace the existing leader. The last option allows her to push her standard on the group as a whole. There is no option to live and let live. In other words, female social structure is closer to the Borg than the complex world we currently enjoy.

...So what would a world made up totally of women really be like? It would be tyrannical beyond belief. No one would be willing to speak against the accepted narrative unless they were willing to be unpersoned or killed. Think of a mix between 1984, the very worst social aspects of socialist regimes, and the Borg. There would be constant pushing for position, usually by starting whisper campaigns or setting someone above oneself up to be badly embarrassed.
Now, why does this sound familiar?
Look at the SJWs of today’s world and see how they operate. That’s what it would look like, writ large across the entire planet. They attack anyone outside the group who doesn’t comply with their demands, and if someone inside the group says a single word out of line according to the ever-shifting standards the entire group turns on them without mercy. The only way to get back in their good graces is to loudly proclaim your "sin" and accept their abuse until they get bored of you. Even afterward, you’ll forever be "tainted" with the sin of noncompliance.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/09/2017 12:58 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So what would a world made up totally of women really be like? It would be tyrannical beyond belief.

DPRK
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/09/2017 14:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Nope, Skids... California
Posted by: Chunky Prince of the Giants7198 || 08/09/2017 14:52 Comments || Top||

#3  So, we're being pushed around by a bunch of leftists who are basically broads?
Posted by: Raj || 08/09/2017 14:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Not just CA, look how our political parties behave. We were at a tipping point in the feminization of USA and HRC was meant to complete the process - except Trump happened.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 08/09/2017 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Sarah Hoyt makes the point that this is a guest post, but that her experience in girls schools in Portugal leads her to agree completely.

I'm so glad I was oblivious as a child. I found the popular kids completely uninteresting, and I was puzzled by the concept that "Brain" was an insult. I'm still pretty oblivious, which apparently spares me all sorts of drama.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/09/2017 15:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Quite insightful.

I'd add that all progress results from someone deviating from the group. Which makes the term 'Progressive' rather ironic.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/09/2017 16:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe this "better half" thing works both ways.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/09/2017 16:19 Comments || Top||

#8  So what would a world made up totally of women really be like? It would be tyrannical beyond belief

OK, but all the caves would have nice curtains. And those little matching throw pillows.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/09/2017 18:40 Comments || Top||

#9  So what would a world made up totally of women really be like? It would be tyrannical beyond belief

F-150 sales would plummet.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 18:41 Comments || Top||

#10  Political correctness is nothing more than female authoritarianism.
Posted by: Iblis || 08/09/2017 19:32 Comments || Top||

#11  Subarus! Drink Up!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/09/2017 21:30 Comments || Top||


BRING DIVERSITY TO GOOGLE BY BREAKING IT UP
h/t Instapundit
A Google engineer wrote a manifesto calling for diversity of the mind, for ideological diversity, over the identity politics diversity that companies love so much. And Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded by firing him.

Point made.

Pichai's post is endorses free speech but claims that the employee was fired for perpetuating "stereotypes". Anyone worried about free speech can pay a visit to Pichai. And he'll fire them too. The post is full of the usual prog horror at the agony suffered by other leftist employees who had to experience the torture of free speech they disagreed with. The cries of the oppressed, who remains oppressed even though they're the ones with the power to fire other employees for disagreeing with them, ring in Pichai's ears.

Diversity is a great thing. Who can argue with that.

Take Google.

Google needs to be more diverse. Why should Google be one company when it can be split up into a diverse collection of 5 or 6 separate companies.

Currently Google is a giant monopoly which leverages its monopolistic control over search, online advertising and video (not to mention a few other fields) to crush competitors and promote its own products and services.

All of this is illegal. But Republicans toe the capitalist line. Even with anti-capitalist companies. And Google is a friendly lefty corporation so the Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders types (to say nothing of the Obama types) leave them alone.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/09/2017 12:30 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But Republicans GOPe toes the capitalist line.

FIFY
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 13:47 Comments || Top||

#2  If there are 5 capitalists total inside the beltway I'll eat my airedale...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 08/09/2017 13:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Are you kidding? They won't break up a bank that mismanages it's assets and has to be bailed out by the public.
Remember Too Big To Fail?
Posted by: ed in texas || 08/09/2017 18:40 Comments || Top||

#4  AG Keebler Elf is too busy hurdurring at those darn hippies growing their wacky weed on his lawn.

But it's Trump who's ultimately accountable for this fecklessness, because he chooses to put up with it.
Posted by: charger || 08/09/2017 19:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Sure, worked with AT&T.
Posted by: Skidmark || 08/09/2017 22:28 Comments || Top||


Government
T-Rex contracted survey reveals many at Foggy Bottom don't know WTF their job is
[Town Hall] As part of what he calls a "redesign" of the State Department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has surveyed more than 35,000 State employees on the most fundamental questions facing the organization. And Tillerson -- or, more accurately, a consulting firm hired by the secretary -- has found that large blocs of State workers do not agree on what the department's mission should be.

"For an organization with a very significant role in the world, too many in the Department of State were not clear on the exact mission of the agency," consultants from Insigniam wrote in a "Listening Report" completed in June.

Some said the mission is, or should be, "installing democracy" around the world. Others said it is "spreading American values." The one mission that the largest number of employees could agree on was "protecting Americans and the interests of America throughout the world."

Beyond that, no single phrase united the department's employees. So now, Tillerson and his top aides are trying to craft the material gathered from those 35,000-plus questionnaires into a new mission statement. (Changing the department's mission statement is pretty much standard procedure when a new president and party take over.) Working with Insigniam, a group of leaders from State and the U.S. Agency for International Development came up with three draft sentences, one to describe the department's purpose, the next to describe its mission, and the next to describe its ambition.

The purpose statement: "We promote the security, prosperity, and interests of the American people globally."

The mission statement: "Lead America's foreign policy through global advocacy, action, and assistance to shape a safer, more prosperous world."

The ambition statement: "The American people thrive in a peaceful and interconnected world that is free, resilient, and prosperous."

Rubbish, total rubbish! "Prosperity, prosperous, interconnected, free".... free unicorn burgers for everyone ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 07:43 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How might this sound ?

The safety and security of the United States of America and it's citizens through the cultivation of international diplomacy and dialogue.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 8:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Might try this Mission Statement Generator.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/09/2017 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, the value of an Ivy League education.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/09/2017 8:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Their mission has been intentionally muddled for decades. It gives them a license to do virtually anything they wish.

They've failed miserably at diplomacy, just as the CIA has failed miserably at counter-proliferation of nuclear weapons. But I digress. I give you our ever-expanding tea cart of endless wars as an example of DoS failure. But how can one pick winners and losers if their is no contest ?

I'll wager 90 days into his job, Tillerson was convinced he'd inherited a fecal sandwich.

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 8:31 Comments || Top||

#5  intentionally muddled

BINGO!! We have a winner!!

If you have a definite mission/goal it is too easy to identify failure and assign blame. That is the nightmare of any bureaucrat.
Posted by: AlanC || 08/09/2017 8:36 Comments || Top||

#6  "To create a sinecure you cannot get sacked from until retirement."
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/09/2017 9:39 Comments || Top||

#7  At home we investigate those American citizens applying for passports to make sure they aren't criminals or terrorists, and if so, process them quickly; we interface with embassy staffs on American soil.

Abroad we investigate those applying for visas to make sure they aren't criminals or terrorists, and if so, process them quickly; we provide aid and advice to American citizens who find themselves in difficulty in the country where we are stationed; we interface with the local government and other embassy staffs to deliver on our president's objectives, whatever they might be, and from our knowledge and experience advise the president and his representatives about persons and situations that will help them better formulate objectives. We will aid but never acknowledge CIA staffers in our midst.

At the UN we deliver on our president's objectives and from our knowledge and experience advise him (or eventually her -- but never Hillary Clinton) and his representatives about persons and situations that will help them better formulate objectives.

Did I miss anything important?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/09/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||

#8  I think I see the problem,35,000 State employees.
Posted by: Snakes Hatrack7000 || 08/09/2017 10:32 Comments || Top||

#9  Did I miss anything important?

Probably that your 'we' and the 'we' of the ruling cosmopolitan class aren't the same? Their 'we' thinks your and my 'we' just shut up and do as told.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 11:11 Comments || Top||

#10  Ah, the value of an Ivy League education.

I thought about this a few months ago - the Kennedy School of Government, a fairly big part of one of the most 'prestigious' universities in the world, is where you go to learn how to be a high level government hack. To me, this is not the right form of ambition.
Posted by: Raj || 08/09/2017 11:43 Comments || Top||

#11  If many don't know what their job is, it is time for a good housecleaning. We need a better focus in these agencies. I'm afraid these agencies have become a dumping ground to make the economy look better than it really, to have a store of Democrat votes that is assured and to increase the ranks of the Deep (or Perpetual) State.
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/09/2017 12:05 Comments || Top||

#12  I always thought their job is raising Israelis blood pressure - it isn't?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 08/09/2017 12:49 Comments || Top||

#13  ...only the portion which is a unregistered lobbying agency for the Palestinians (which appears to be a large portion).
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/09/2017 13:48 Comments || Top||

#14  Strange. Every time I needed them they seemed to know that their mission was to help me only if it didn't involve any effort whatsoever.
Posted by: gorb || 08/09/2017 21:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
The Left's Own Goal Ushered In a President Trump
[American Thinker] The American left’s ongoing denial of last November’s reality -- Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still managed to lose the presidential election -- has prevented many of Donald Trump’s adversaries from asking what is, for them, the really important question: What might have produced a different outcome?

It’s a simple question, with an equally simple, accurate answer: Democrats merely needed to contrive a way to hold on to a few of those states that went for Obama in 2012, but that switched into Trump’s electoral column in 2016.

The electoral gap that finally separated the candidates, after all, was exceedingly narrow. A swing of just 38 electoral votes would have put Hillary in the White House. With that shift, the final electoral tally -- 306 for Trump to 232 for Clinton -- would have been reversed to the magic 270 for Hillary to 268 for Trump.

This outcome was eminently within reach. Indeed, it is the very plausibility of the election breaking entirely differently that has fueled the search for the covert shenanigans - Russian hacking, anyone? -- that Clinton’s supporters insist cheated her of what was a sure thing. Had the Democrats managed, for instance, to hold on to just three of the vaunted "blue wall" states that voted for Barack Obama -- Pennsylvania with 20 electoral votes, Michigan with 16 and Wisconsin with 10 -- they would be back in control of the executive branch.

All three were bitterly contested, and ended up in each case breaking for Trump -- barely -- by around one percent of the total number of votes cast. He carried Pennsylvania by 53,292 (out of a total of nearly six million), Wisconsin by 27,257 (before the recount), and Michigan by just 10,612. Had Clinton been able to round up 90,000 more voters properly distributed in these three crucial states, Donald Trump would be hosting reality TV, and Hillary Clinton would be in the White House.

Instead, Hillary just managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And Democrats might well be asking, "What happened to our voters?"

And the most accurate answer to that question might well be "They were dead. They were aborted as part of the savage ’reproductive rights’ strategy your party pursued for the last five decades." And, to be even more specific, the answer would mention the role that Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Party’s most intolerant, radical, and well-organized constituent interest group, has played in promoting and providing abortions among those who were statistically most likely to have been Democratic voters, American racial minorities.

Before dismissing that response as mere provocation or sensationalism, it is worth looking at some of the startling numbers. First, however, a caveat: data collected on abortions -- customarily described as ’abortion surveillance’ -- are neither conclusive nor complete.

Posted by: Besoeker || 08/09/2017 03:15 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...prevented many of Donald Trump’s adversaries from asking what is, for them, the really important question: What might have produced a different outcome [than Hilda losing]?

Did they ever consider that maybe, just maybe they should not have pissed-off so many voters during the Clinton and Obama administrations?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/09/2017 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but still managed to lose the presidential election

If the voter rolls were cleaned up, I doubt that the bolded would be true.
Posted by: charger || 08/09/2017 20:03 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2017-08-09
  Police hunt BMW driver who mowed down six French soldiers in Paris
Tue 2017-08-08
  Kurdish authorities arrest 1700 Islamic State militants among displaced civilians
Mon 2017-08-07
  Taliban kill 30 villagers in Afghanistan's Sari Pul province
Sun 2017-08-06
  Governor of Galgaduud region shot dead in Somali capital
Sat 2017-08-05
  US confirms airstrike killed al-Shabab commander in Somalia
Fri 2017-08-04
  Al Qaeda frees South African hostage after six years
Thu 2017-08-03
  Police Make Arrest in 2003 Case of Grooming Gang Victim Believed Ground Up and Sold as Kebab Meat
Wed 2017-08-02
  Gang who called themselves 'Musketeers' guilty of plotting UK bomb attack
Tue 2017-08-01
  IS claims attack on Iraq embassy in Kabul
Mon 2017-07-31
  Besieged IS mufti blows himself up in northern Baghdad
Sun 2017-07-30
  Four arrested in plot to bomb plane over Sydney
Sat 2017-07-29
  IS cuts ears of 23 elements who fled battles in Western Nineveh
Fri 2017-07-28
  Pakistan's prime minister removed amid corruption probe
Thu 2017-07-27
  Deadly truck bombing foiled in Kabul city
Wed 2017-07-26
  Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested At Airport After Transferring $300k To Pakistan From House Office

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