Thursday, June 26, 2014

Lots of important news and good comment

Latest: Was weak and shake at Rehab Wednesday, couldn't do as much. The PT put a heart monitor on me and said I was having extra heart beats. Could be from several things. And the coughing pulled a muscle in my back again, but so far not as painful as last time. Still hurts a lot when I cough and can't use the Spirometer to gets FEV until it gets better in a couple of days.  Bronchoscopy Monday.

But I had a cell call while I was in rehab. It was a head hunter, said they had a position for an executive director opening up in California, fairly large national medical association with 18 staff. Would I be interested in applying? I thanked her, but said my current health precluded a return to the workforce at this time. Good for my morale, though, that my accomplishments are still remember enough to put me in a search in my field. ~Bob

General News and Comment

A Good Man: Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker dies
Excerpt: In 1973, Baker gained national prominence – and found himself working against his former ally – when he served as the vice chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee. During the panel’s proceedings, Baker famously asked: “What did the president know, and when did he know it?” (In 1980, i introduced Baker when he announced for President in Massachusetts. All the other GOP legislators were with Bush or Reagan, and many wound up in DC. Still think he was a good man. ~Bob)

Must Read: They Had a Dream: Rule by experts comes a cropper. By Noemie Emery
Excerpt: Out of sorts and out of office after 1828, when power passed from the Adamses to the children of burghers and immigrants, they had begun to strike back by the 1920s, led by the likes of George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, H. L. Mencken, Herbert Croly, and Sinclair Lewis. Their stock in trade was their belief in themselves, and their contempt for the way the middle class thought, lived, and made and spent money: Commerce was crude, consumption was vulgar, and industry, which employed millions and improved the lives of many more people, too gross and/or grubby for words. “For the American critics of mass culture, it was the good times of the 1920s, not the depression of the 1930s, that proved terrifying,” says Fred Siegel, whose book The Revolt Against the Masses describes and eviscerates this group and its aspirations. In their dream world, “intellectuals, as well as poet-leaders, experts, and social scientists such as themselves would lead the regime,” as Siegel tells us. “It was thus a crucial imperative to constrain the conventional and often corrupt politics of middle-class capitalists so that these far-seeing leaders might obtain the recognition and power that was only their due.” Not the shortest read to be found on the subject, but a true, old fashioned detailed essay on a broad subject. Not much in here you don't know already, but put together like the proverbial Swiss watch. I recommend it. But sending it to any Liberal friend who still believes in ObamaCare would be dangerous. Del)

Satire: Canadian Adopt a Terrorist Program

Important: High court rebukes Obama on recess appointments
Excerpt: The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the president's power to fill high-level vacancies with temporary appointments, ruling in favor of Senate Republicans in their partisan clash with President Barack Obama. The high court's first-ever case involving the Constitution's recess appointments clause ended in a unanimous decision holding that Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 without Senate confirmation were illegal.

The liberal view in 2011: Dear Mr. President: Make a recess appointment right now!: By Jonathan Bernstein
Excerpt: Republicans in the House of Representatives are currently attempting to prevent Barack Obama from making recess appointments, contrary to the spirit of the Constitution — the same Constitution that they read on the House floor at the beginning of the 112th Congress. It’s a complete farce, and there’s no reason at all for Obama to play along. Obama should make a recess appointment in the face of the House GOP’s antics — now. It would be good for his Presidency, as a display of his influence. Not only that, but it would be good for the Constitution, too.

Supreme Court strikes down law on abortion clinic buffer zones. By Ferdous Al-Faruque
Excerpt: The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that created a buffer zone, barring protesters from coming within 35 feet of abortion clinics, as unconstitutional. The court found that the law violated First Amendment free speech rights. 

Worth Reading: A Majority of Young Adults Are Having Kids Outside Marriage. Why That Hurts Kids’ Futures. By Rachel Sheffield  
Excerpt: Among young adults, first comes baby, then (maybe) comes marriage. This increasingly is the new normal. According to a new study from Johns Hopkins University, 57 percent of mothers between 26 and 31 are unmarried when their child is born But not all young adults are having kids outside of marriage. Instead, the key factor appears to be whether a young woman has attended college. (This, not gay marriage, is the cultural crisis that will contribute to the collapse of America. A recent study said that 2% of the kids who grow up in two-parent families spend their lives in poverty. 20% of those in single parent families do. And it is not just minorities with this unfolding disaster. Add to the culture the desire of liberals to create ever-more government-dependent zombies because they vote for the party of big government, and I see little hope. ~!Bob)

Worth Reading: The Education Establishment's Success. By Walter E. Williams
Excerpt: Many view America’s education as a failure, but in at least one important way, it’s been a success – a success in dumbing down the nation so that we fall easy prey to charlatans, hustlers and quacks. You say, “Williams, that’s insulting! Explain yourself.” OK, let’s start with a question or two. Are you for or against global warming, later renamed climate change and more recently renamed climate disruption? Environmentalists have renamed it because they don’t want to look silly in the face of cooling temperatures. About 650 million years ago, the Earth was frozen from pole to pole, a period scientists call Snowball Earth. The Earth is no longer frozen from pole to pole. There must have been global warming, and it cannot be blamed on humans. 

Cochran beats McDaniel in nail-biter in Mississippi
Excerpt: Cochran outperformed his vote totals from the primary election three weeks ago in many parts of Mississippi and he held a lead throughout the night. With 99.9 percent of precincts reporting, Cochran beat McDaniel 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. They were separated by about 6,300 votes out of more than 375,000 cast. Cochran relied heavily on boosting voter turnout in the runoff among not only mainstream Republicans but also black Democrats, whom his campaign and its allies aggressively courted in the final days of the campaign.

Gun Violence is Down
Have not verified. ~Bob

Boehner: House will sue Obama
Excerpt: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday said he plans to sue President Obama on behalf of the House over his frequent use of executive actions that Republicans believe are beyond his authority. During his weekly Capitol press conference, the Speaker accused the president of violating his oath of office by not “faithfully executing the laws of our country.” But Boehner said the lawsuit would not lead to an attempt to remove Obama from office.

Chinese Men Buying Brides From Vietnam Is Getting Out Of Control
Excerpt: H'mong ethnic teenager May Na (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) sits in the living room at a government-run centre for trafficked women in the northern Vietnamese city of Lao Cai, May 9, 2014 When Kiab turned 16, her brother promised to take her to a party in a tourist town in northern Vietnam. Instead, he sold her to a Chinese family as a bride. The ethnic Hmong teenager spent nearly a month in China until she was able to escape her new husband, seek help from local police and return to Vietnam. (How terribly sad this is. In all the history of Viet Nam, there has not been this horrific selling of women to foreigners and brothels. This is the "liberty and justice" that the victory of the communists brought? --Del)

U.S. Economy Shrinks By Most Since Great Recession in 1Q
Excerpt: The U.S. economy contracted at a much steeper pace than previously estimated in the first quarter, but there are indications that growth has since rebounded strongly.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annual rate, the economy's worst performance in five years, instead of the 1.0 percent pace it had reported last month. (Obama's strongest base is in the intellectual greenie elites, and their wishes and fantasies will always come ahead of jobs for the average guy. ~Bob)

Video: MSM Scoffs at White House, IRS Excuses. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Mark Halperin admitted on Monday that if a Republican administration were presiding over the exact same scandal, the press would have turned it into a "national obsession." He and other media members are conceding this point as if they're detached analysts, as opposed to longstanding members of the biased club.National Journal's Ron Fournier -- who's been calling for a Special Prosecutor to probe the matter for some time -- is sheepishly admitting that he was "naive" to give Obama the benefit of the doubt:

Excerpt: I was excited when I learned that the parents of a student I knew produced a product my family used and enjoyed. His response to me was “Yea, they’re getting rich off you.” He was quite confused when I replied “They should be. They make a very good product. If they are not getting rich, they are not good business people.” The student expected me to be envious of his parents’ success rather than thankful for the product that met my family’s needs better than anything else. (Old, but interesting. By the way, racism is the new smoking. --GS)

The Liberal Blame Game on Iraq: Given the Left’s own checkered foreign-policy history, it’s a dangerous game to play. By Jonah Goldberg
Excerpt: It’s a fact of human nature that it’s easier to talk about who’s to blame for a problem than it is to figure out what to do about the problem. Case in point: There’s a near-riot in liberal circles over the very idea that supporters of the Iraq War should even be allowed to criticize the president’s handling of the current Middle East crisis, never mind offer advice on how to proceed.

Worth Reading: Mulligan for Hayek: Casey Mulligan gets the Hayek Prize for proving that redistribution hobbles the economy over time. By Amity Shlaes
Excerpt: The truth is that government programs, financial or social, were what impeded the recent recovery. The best thing for policy leaders to do is to acknowledge old truths about economics, and explain the consequences of recent policy. Big Truth No. 1: In 2008, the government and the Federal Reserve rescued too many banks, and too arbitrarily. Too Big to Fail can’t be a perpetual doctrine. Big Truth No. 2: Programs that aim to help the poor reduce overall work, including, eventually, work opportunities for the poor. Many people understand the theory behind this argument, but lack data. Especially precise data. (The catch is the phrase "over time." Democrats are not interested in helping the poor or working class "over time." They are interested in buying the votes of economically-ignorant voters in the next election, and pushing redistribution des that. ~Bob)

The Coming Ice Age - 1978
It's settled science--the scientists all agree.

Excerpt: The North Pole has already lost one fifth of its summer with essentially no melting.
Nobel Laureate Al Gore says that it will be ice free in a few weeks, which may be tricky given that the ice is about three metres thick, and the forecast is for below freezing temperatures the next two weeks. Or perhaps Big Al can just change the freezing point of water?

She Showed Restraint as He Smashed the Cash Register. But Everything Changed When He Pressed His Knife Against Her Chest. By Jason Howerton
Excerpt: After he collected the money from the register, he then reportedly pressed his knife against the female store owner’s chest. It seems she was armed the entire time, but didn’t pull her firearm until she felt threatened. The store owner, identified only as a 46-year-old woman, neutralized the suspect with one very accurate shot to the chest. The suspect was later pronounced dead.

Banned Books: City Shuts Down 9 Year-Old Boy’s Little Library. By Jordan Richardson
Excerpt: It all started with Spencer’s plan to create a little free library in front of his house. With the help of his father and grandfather, he built a small bookcase to allow neighbors to freely borrow and exchange books. This concept has been widely promoted by the non-profit group Little Free Library as a community movement to encourage literacy and a love of reading. According to Little Free Library, there are around 15,000 little libraries all over the world. (Spenser could use my Reading List for the Educated Voter. http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-list-for-educated-voter.html There was a time when we were a free people. ~Bob)

Important: History's Warning: A U.S.-China War Is Terrifyingly Possible
Excerpt: Many Americans believe that the United States and China have entered a long-term strategic competition. The way we use “competition” in many ways resembles a literary trope. At the US Naval War College, for example, we teach several historical case studies explicitly built around this narrative: Where a “rising power” challenges the “hegemon,” and its aggressive bid only increases tensions that at some point lead to military conflict. This is the story as much with Athens and Sparta in classical Greece as with Britain and Germany in the early 20th century.

Playing a Name Game with the Redskins. By Dr. Ben Carson
Excerpt: When the government is in charge of deciding what is offensive and what is not, and has the power to punish the "offenders," we move further away from a free society and closer to a tyrannical nanny state. We are not talking about a political issue that should have Democrats and Republicans coming down on different sides, but rather the fundamental freedom to express oneself, which is a part of the fabric of America. (The Redskins trademark was cancelled as offensive. I bet "Polygamy Porter" from Utah is still fine--no one in DC is worried about offending Mormons. But I also bet they wouldn't license "Allah's Ale." If I owned the Redskins, I'd change the name--The Officious Bureaucrats has a nice ring--and then I'd move the team to another city, give the fans the addresses of the Democrats who complained. ~Bob)

Reporters Show Egregious Bias in Scott Walker Coverage. By Matt Batzel
Excerpt: Let’s walk through some of this false reporting. A Google search for “Scott Walker” reveals it is hard to tell what reporters were actually publishing in the minutes following the release of the John Doe Documents. Reporters raced to proclaim their knowledge of what was taking place in Wisconsin, but few captured the whole story or put it in a truthful, accurate context. Since the first wave of stories, reporters have updated their reports numerous times as readers and editors pointed out significant errors. Thankfully, cached versions of some of the stories were saved, so it is possible to go back and look at the errors they made. Their changes or updates are basically admissions of error.

8 Ways the New York Times Misled You about Gov. Scott Walker. By Brian Sikma
Excerpt: By burying key information, and paying extraordinary and unqualified attention to previously discredited theories, the Timessought, intentionally or not, to convict Gov. Walker in a makeshift court of public opinion. Here is why the Times is wrong, and why its story and editorial piece reveal a deep bias against a Republican governor.

Doe prosecutor: No determination whether Walker committed crimes
Excerpt: "Mr. Schmitz has made no conclusions as to whether there is sufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime. It is wrong for any person to point to this sentence in a legal argument as a finding by the special prosecutor that Governor Walker has engaged in a criminal scheme. It is not such a finding."

Looking in Depth at the Kaiser Obamacare Poll
Excerpt: Unsurprisingly, much of the media has portrayed it as showing a generally positive response to the healthcare law. In particular, they emphasized that about 6 in 10 of the enrollees were previously uninsured. This is all, per the poll, true, but these write-ups did not look at the questions of the poll, which reveal a much more negative picture for the ACA. 

Why Democrats Are The Reason We Lost The Vietnam War
Excerpt: Did the United States win or lose the Vietnam War? We are taught that it was a resounding loss for America, one that proves that intervening in the affairs of other nations is usually misguided. The truth is that our military won the war, but our politicians lost it. The Communists in North Vietnam actually signed a peace treaty, effectively surrendering. But the U.S. Congress didn’t hold up its end of the bargain. In just five minutes, learn the truth about who really lost the Vietnam War

Surprise: ObamaCare Costs More Than Predicted
Excerpt: The Los Angeles Times reports that if these subsidy numbers hold true for the 14 state-run exchanges, ObamaCare's first-year subsidy costs will climb to $16.5 billion. Some of the increase is due to the higher-than-expected sign-ups. But a big cause was the fact that a larger share of enrollees got subsidies than the CBO expected. And the average tax credit was bigger. The CBO had assumed the average credit would be about $222 a month. The actual number was $264 — about 19% higher. The Affordable Care Act is looking less affordable by the day.

EPA employees warned to stop defecating in the hallways
Excerpt: Apparently, this EPA office needed to “consult” with a workplace violence expert on the matter in order to ascertain that leaving human feces in office hallways was “very dangerous.” (These folks regulate YOUR behavior. Bet they file a "right to crap" grievance with their union. ~Bob)

I once asked a Marine I dated if he was afraid of being killed. He said "I'm the one the killers should be afraid of." Keep it.

Native American Groups To Sue Cleveland Indians Over Chief Wahoo Mascot
Excerpt: Native American groups plan to file a federal lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians to force them to retire the Chief Wahoo mascot.

Obamacare Causes 2,130 More Insurance Cancellations in Colorado
Excerpt: Colorado’s Department of Insurance (DOI) announced today in a letter to Colorado Senate Republicans that 2,320 more insurance policies in Colorado will be canceled due to ObamaCare.

"The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and an ally - not a 20% traitor." -Ronald Reagan

6.9 million multiple voters in 28 states, report finds. By Kenric Ward
Excerpt: Some 6.9 million Americans are registered to vote in two or more states, according to a report obtained by Watchdog.org.

Excerpt: The increase of 3.2 percent – about $342 per student – will pay for state-mandated employee pay raises, health and retirement benefits, and Affordable Care Act implementation, campus leaders say. Implementing Obamacare is estimated to cost the state’s flagship university up to $4.5 million. (TANSTAAFL kids. ~Bob)

Presbyterian Church Votes 'No' On Protecting Babies Born Alive During Botched Abortions
Excerpt: The nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination has been busy these days. It has voted to approve same-sex marriages, to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, and now has approved allowing babies to die who are born alive during botched abortions.

Mother Of Imprisoned Marine Obama 'Hasn't Shown Any Interest'
Excerpt: Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), who has visited Tahmooressi in prison declared that Tahmooressi would be free “if the president would invest one ounce of care on this issue,” and that “if the president made the call [Tahmooressi’s release] would happen quickly.” 

The Feds Prepared for the ‘Surprise’ Surge of Child Migrants: Immigration authorities anticipated the consequences of Obama-administration laxity. By Spencer Case
Excerpt: When tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien children poured across the southern border in the past few months, many Americans were surprised. But government documents suggest that federal immigration authorities, to some extent, anticipated the crisis and prepared for it.

Cutting Down on Welfare Abuse in Indiana
Excerpt: What has kept welfare recipients from spending taxpayer dollars on alcohol, slot machines and strip clubs? Very little, writes Jillian Kay Melchior for National Review, until Congress passed a bill in 2012 outlawing the use of benefits at such places and encouraging state governments to institute similar controls. Indiana has been especially successful in its crackdown on unlawful use of welfare funds: The state passed a law requiring ATM vendors to block withdrawals of cash benefits at certain restricted locations. ... In 2012, Indiana TANF users withdrew more than $120,000 from ATMs with their EBT cards in liquor stores, strip clubs, tobacco shops, casinos, resorts, golf clubs and amusement parks. In 2014, fewer than 15 first-time EBT violations have taken place each month, according to Indiana officials. Additionally, there have been less than 5 second-time offenses each month and only two third-time violations in all of 2014.

Sugar Subsidies Are A Bitter Deal For American Consumers. By Jared MeyerPreston Cooper |
Excerpt: Perhaps no industry has received as much bipartisan federal support as Big Sugar. Cochran, a supporter of pro-sugar agricultural policy, has received a total of $40,500 from the sugar industry this year, and his position is hardly unique. American Crystal Sugar Company has donated over $1.3 million to 221 members of Congress this election cycle, following $1.4 million spent on lobbying in 2013. Lawmakers across the political spectrum, from Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) to Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), support using taxpayer dollars to subsidize the American sugar industry. 

Mississippi Republicans vote their appetite. By George F. Will 
Excerpt: Also, Democrats and independents who had not voted in the Democratic primary could vote in the Republican runoff. They probably care more than Republicans like to admit that they themselves care about legislative pork, of which Cochran has served up heaping amounts during his 33 years on the Appropriations Committee. This bright red state has the nation’s lowest per capita income, the highest federal funding as a percent of revenue and a surplus of cognitive dissonance between its professed conservatism and its actual enjoyment of the benefits Cochran can now continue to shovel its way.

Book: Jason Riley: How Liberals Make It Harder For Blacks To Succeed. By Claire E. Healey
Excerpt: Dr. Jason Riley discussed his new book, Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder For Blacks To Succeed, on Monday at the Heritage Foundation. Riley is an editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal. In his book, Riley discusses where the Civil Rights Movement has gone wrong. He emphasizes that liberals only encourage blacks to blame their problems on whites and to make themselves out to be victims. ... "The Civil Rights Movement has become an industry that does little more than monetize white guilt," Riley said in his talk. "Liberal solutions to the black problems were just as wrongheaded today as they have ever been." (On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Please-Stop-Helping-Us-Liberals/dp/1594037256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403800117&sr=8-1&keywords=Please+Stop+Helping+Us%3A+How+Liberals+Make+It+Harder+For+Blacks+To+Succeed ~Bob)

The president who preaches climate change is now flying Air Force 1 to Minnesota to visit a woman who wrote him a letter.

IRS "The Dog Ate My Emails" News

Fox News Poll: Voters think IRS emails were deliberately destroyed. By Dana Blanton
Excerpt: The consensus is: it’s no accident. More than three-quarters of voters -- 76 percent -- think the emails missing from the account of Lois Lerner, the ex-IRS official at the center of the scandal over targeting of conservative groups, were deliberately destroyed. ... That suspicion is shared across party lines, albeit to varying degrees. An overwhelming 90 percent of Republicans think the emails were intentionally destroyed, as do 74 percent of independents and 63 percent of Democrats. (The other 24% would be good to play poker with--they'll fall for anything. ~Bob)

Mounting Proof of an IRS Cover-Up. By Matthew Vadum 
Excerpt: More proof the Obama administration is covering up the political persecution it inflicted on its conservative political enemies through the Internal Revenue Service emerged yesterday as a federal official accused the White House of breaking the law by hiding emails. Whenever the records, including emails, of federal agencies are destroyed — whether intentional or inadvertent — the law requires that the National Archives be notified.

Lerner sought IRS audit of sitting GOP senator, emails show
Excerpt: Congressional investigators have uncovered emails showing ex-IRS official Lois Lerner targeted a sitting Republican senator for a proposed internal audit, a discovery one GOP lawmaker called "shocking." (I'm shocked too--that the email didn't vanish with the rest. And how did she get an invitation to a US Senator "by mistake"? ~Bob)

Even Dems, by 3-to-1, believe someone at IRS broke the law. By Mike Hashimoto
Excerpt: Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of independents are of a suspicious mind. What should have the Obama administration rethinking their strategy so far is that 63 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of self-identified liberals also believe the email destruction was no accident. Because that means, by a 3-to-1 margin, even Democrats and/or liberals believe a crime was committed somewhere in the IRS with the intentional destruction of government records.

Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: Melancholy Lessons from Iraq. By Bruce S. Thornton
Excerpt: The unfolding collapse of Iraq’s government before the legions of al Qaeda jihadists is the capstone of Barack Obama’s incompetent and politicized foreign policy. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), armed with plundered American weapons and flush with stolen money, is consolidating a Sunni terrorist state in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, replete with mass executions, sharia law, and the beheading of violators. With revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calling the Shia faithful to arms, a vicious civil war between Shia and Sunnis will likely intensify in the coming days. But whoever wins, the fallout for our security will be disastrous – a Shiite “crescent” from Aleppo to Mosul allied with Iran, which looks ever more likely to be nuclear armed, and a safe haven for terrorist training camps to prepare “martyrs” for attacks against the West. And our allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel all will to various degrees find their own security and interests impacted by this administration’s criminal foreign policy negligence.

Worth Reading: Looking Back at Iraq: It is historically inaccurate to say the war was cooked up by Bush alone. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Do we remember that Bill Clinton signed into law the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that supported regime change in Iraq? He gave an eloquent speech on the dangers of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. In 2002, both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution authorizing the removal of Saddam Hussein by force. Senators such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Harry Reid offered moving arguments on the Senate floor why we should depose Saddam in a post-9/11 climate.

Important: Missing the target: Why the U.S. has not defeated al Qaeda
 Excerpt: All conditions are set for a series of significant terrorist attacks against the US and its allies over the next few years. But that's not the worst news. Conditions are also set for state collapse in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and possibly Jordan. Saudi Arabia, facing a complex succession soon, is likely to acquire nuclear weapons shortly, if it has not already done so. Turkey and Egypt confront major crises. Almost all of Northern and Equatorial Africa is violent, unstable, and facing a growing al Qaeda threat. And Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine is likely to empower al Qaeda-aligned jihadists in Crimea and in Russia itself. That eventuality is, of course, less worrisome than the prospect of conventional and partisan war on the European continent, likely threatening NATO allies. The international order and global stability are collapsing in a way we have not seen since the 1930s. There is little prospect of this trend reversing of its own accord, and managing it will require massive efforts by the US and its allies over a generation or more. (It is critical to realize this presentation was made over two months ago, and the expertise of the writer is now only too well established by the flow of events since then. Which means we can take the rest of his analysis that much more seriously. As discouraging at that may be. --Del)

Important: Prominent Female Activist Killed In Libya. By Maggie Michael
Excerpt: One of Libya's most prominent female activists was assassinated in the restive eastern city of Benghazi when gunmen stormed her house, the state news agency reported Thursday, in slaying that stunned many Libyans. Salwa Bugaighis, a lawyer and rights activist, was at the forefront in the 2011 uprising against dictator Moammar Gadhafi and had since become an international face for Libyans' efforts to build democracy in their country. She was among the most outspoken voices against militiamen and Islamic extremists who have run rampant in the country since Gadhafi's fall. (Progressives attack the phony Republican #WaronWomen, while the real War on Women goes on without comment or criticism. This is the result of Obama's non-authorized, lead-from-behind war that made Libya an al Qaeda stronghold. ~Bob)

ISIS Close To Surrounding Baghdad
Excerpt: While Iraqi government officials continue to claim that they are making advances in defeating the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), Kurdish forces on the ground report that ISIS has begun to slowly isolate Baghdad, targeting cities in the Sunni north as well as Shi'ite south. An extensive McClatchy report quotes several Kurdish military leaders who are significantly concerned that Baghdad could fall to ISIS. At least two critical towns that hold a supply route to Baghdad have been captured, they reported, and ISIS appeared to be traveling south to capture routes on the other side of the capital.

With Obama’s foreign policy adrift, concern spikes here and abroad. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: Republicans are plainly nervous about President Obama’s Middle East policy. To be more precise, they are worried he doesn’t have one. Speaker of the House John Boehner at a press conference today observed: “You know, the situation in Iraq continues to worsen by the day. The terrorists have seized control of border crossings in Syria and in Jordan. And their march toward Baghdad continues. The president has a number of options in front of him, which, if part of a larger regional strategy, I would support. But my concern is whether the president will make a decision in time to reverse the terrorists’ momentum as it sweeps toward Baghdad.”

Afghan troops battle mass Taliban assault in Helmand
Excerpt: At least 100 Taliban militants have been killed in fighting around four military checkpoints in southern Afghanistan, local officials say.

Pakistan plane fired on during Peshawar landing
Excerpt: Gunmen have opened fire on a passenger plane arriving at Peshawar airport in Pakistan, police say. The Pakistan International Airlines flight PK756 had been carrying about 178 passengers from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. One female passenger was killed and two crew members were injured.

Nigeria's Boko Haram 'seizes women' in Borno
Excerpt: More than 60 women and children have been abducted in northern Nigeria by suspected militant Islamists, residents and officials say. The abductions are said to have taken place during a series of raids over the past week on villages in Borno state. Dozens of people were killed in the attacks, and people have been fleeing the villages, a BBC reporter says. (These guys better be careful. They might incite another #BringBackOurGirls hashtag from Michelle. that would fix them. ~Bob)

Three Frightening Facts About Iraq. By James Carafano
Excerpt: 1. Prepare for the Next Wave of Transnational Terrorist Attacks. The war in Syria was fueled in part by a pipeline of foreign fighters, which gravely concerned European officials. Last month, a U.S. citizen committed a suicide bombing in Syria. The numbers have grown dramatically with the ISIS intervention in Iraq

ISIS Rape Christian Mother and Daughter, Kill 4 Christian Women for Not Wearing Veil
Excerpt: In one instance, ISIS members entered the home of an Assyrian family in Mosul and demanded the poll tax (jizya). When the Assyrian family said they did not have the money, three ISIS members raped the mother and daughter in front of the husband and father.

Excerpt: Here is a Muslim cleric calling for attacks on Americans who are going about their business in tourist resorts, universities, coffee shops, restaurants, airplanes, ships, shops, and companies. Where did he get the idea that Islam would possibly sanction such a thing? As a Muslim cleric, how did he miss the Religion of Peace’s messages of peace? Will mainstream analysts ever bother to explain the huge gulf between their explanation of Islam and its reality?

Sunni Militants Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam
Excerpt: Iraqi security officials said Wednesday that fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were advancing on the Haditha Dam, the second-largest in Iraq, raising the possibility of catastrophic damage and flooding.

Warning--graphic pictures: Woman and Child Abuse Under Islam

Brussels Jewish Museum murders: Nemmouche to be extradited
Excerpt: Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, had spent a year fighting with Islamists in Syria. His lawyer says he will appeal against extradition, arguing that the court in Versailles failed to guarantee that he would not be sent to "a third country". The suspect is said to fear that once he is sent to Belgium, he will be extradited to Israel.

Israel Must Defeat the Tactics of Terrorists. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: In Jerusalem, Israelis pray for the return of three missing boys and in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers hunt for them and for their captors. But in the midst of all this, it is important not to lose sight of the larger conflict. Israel made one tragic mistake with the Gilad Shalit deal. That deal, aside from already costing the life of one Israeli, is what led to this kidnapping. One kidnapping turned into three. It can easily become many more.

CIA OFFICER: We Had No Idea Militants Would Seize Iraqi Cities
http://www.businessinsider.com/cia-capabilities-eroded-2014-6#ixzz35lRGEnLL
Excerpt: In Iraq in 2014, by contrast, CIA officers have been largely hunkered down in their heavily fortified Baghdad compound since U.S. troops left the country in 2011, current and former officials say, allowing a once-rich network of intelligence sources to wither. Maguire and other current and former U.S. officials say the intelligence pullback is a big reason the U.S. was caught flat footed by the recent offensive by a Sunni-backed al-Qaida-inspired group that has seized a large swath of Iraq.

Iraqi Officials Say Suicide Bomber Has Targeted An Outdoor Market South Of Baghdad, Killing 13

Gang of five men 'smashed American tourist's eye socket with bottle after they saw him drinking in east London street - three days after he arrived in Britain'

Excerpt: Shaleem Uddin, 20, Shadhat Hussain, 19, Kamrul Hussain, 22, and Massom Rahman, 22, targeted Mr Hounye when they saw him swigging from a bottle of Jagermeister. They then chased him, beat him, and smashed the bottle over his head, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard. CCTV footage shows Mr Hounye being kicked mercilessly as he lay crouched in the road. (To stay safe, stay out of Muslim-territory---like Londonistan. ~Bob)

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