Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please
forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for
“Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion,
which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three
hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses
my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post
articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and
discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with
every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the
information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to
post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point,
but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you
must read critically and with skepticism.
Getting a lot of stuff that seems far-fetched and paranoid.
The trouble is that stuff I dismissed initially as far fetched--like the first
reports of Fast ands Furious--have turned out to be not only true, but worse
than the first reports. So I'm letting some through, so you can make up your
own mind. Don't take anything on the Net, including links from this blog, at
face value. ~Bob.
Information on my
books
State paying 6-figure
pension to ex-teachers union lobbyist: Long-ago employee of House Speaker
Madigan took advantage of 6-month window to rejoin retirement plan
Ah, Illinois .
Another day, another expose in the Trib
of a connected Democrat-Teachers Union operative ripping off the public. Ho
hum. Here in Blagobamaville, we hardly notice. Outrages is burned out. ~Bob.
What we said 90 years
ago: Snicker if you want to
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/what-we-said-years-ago-snicker-if-you-want-to/article_b67a48d6-febe-11e1-b3a1-001a4bcf887a.html
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/what-we-said-years-ago-snicker-if-you-want-to/article_b67a48d6-febe-11e1-b3a1-001a4bcf887a.html
Excerpt: Had we unanimously tittered when "cubism"
and other modern freaks in painting and sculpture were sprung, we should have
avoided much waste of good paint and stone. If foolish stump speeches in
politics got the laugh their absurdity warrants, many an empty balloon now
soaring in high places would be collapsed in obscurity.
Documents: Obama, Holder have approved one of Bin Laden’s bodyguards for
release or transfer from Gitmo. By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: “Detainee is assessed to
be a member of al-Qaida and was identified as a bodyguard for Usama Bin Laden
(UBL) beginning shortly before the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Detainee is also assessed to be an al-Qaida recruiter associated with a
Salafist network in Yemen ,” the document reads. “Detainee transited through multiple
extremist support guesthouses, received militant training at the al-Qaida
al-Faruq Training Camp in Afghanistan (AF), and is assessed to have received
advanced training.”
Excerpt: The State Department contends that the
assassination of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the three American
officials who defended him was an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment reaction to a
low-budget film called Innocence of Muslims. That is nothing more
than a fairytale lullaby designed to put American outrage to sleep. The only
reaction to this fantasy seems to have been among the Muslim terrorist leaders,
who understand it as a go-ahead to attack our embassies all around the world
with impunity. (More good output from someone with real expertise. --Del )
Excerpt: Nevertheless, the Journal-Sentinel played
it safe, putting attendance at roughly 5,000-plus, a small but respectable
turnout….Darren Samuelsohn of Politico reported that the president addressed
"a crowd the Obama campaign estimated at 18,000 in a city park overlooking
Lake Michigan" in an attempt to "lock up" Wisconsin. Laura
Meckler of the Wall Street Journal--whose news section, according to UCLA
professor Tim Groseclose, is the most liberal of any major mainstream outlet--repeated the campaign's 18,000 claim without even
revealing the source of the official-sounding estimate. Both outlets described
the location of the rally as a "park," without revealing the name of
the arena itself, which would have given the game away.
Excerpt: Morsi says the anger in the Arab world and the
geopolitical tensions between Arab nations and non-Arab nations are Washington 's problem to
fix. He suggests a step toward fixing those things is "respecting the Arab
world's history and culture, even when it conflicts with Western values." He
also added that it's unrealistic to expect Egypt to live by US rules,
saying his government would not be hostile to the West, "but would not be
as compliant as [President] Mubarak had been either."
Excerpt: I found it hard to believe this story when I read it,
but it’s true. The state legislature in California
has passed a law BLOCKING cooperation between California police and the federal
immigration enforcement agency.
Excerpt: The white-shirt hoodlums arrived in convoy just as
the 7 Eleven was due to have its ‘grand launch’ and ‘asked’ the staff to turn
off the lights. They then sealed the franchise, as it was judged to sell liquor
with too high an alcohol content.
Saudi
Billionaire Did Help Obama Into Harvard
Excerpt: With Hillary out of the race, no newsroom in America felt
compelled to follow up on Timmerman’s research. At the time this story was
gelling, in early September 2008, the media were doing all their digging in
Alaskan dumpsters. …The Obama media will try to ignore this new revelation or,
if not, kill it….Yet from the casual tone of the introduction, the listener
senses that within black nationalist circles, the story Sutton told is believed
to be true.
Excerpt: President Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a
virtual tie in Florida, according to a Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald/Tampa Bay
Times poll that indicates the Democrats’ convention buzz and the Republican’s
recent troubles haven’t altered the race in this biggest of battleground
states.
Syrian rebels:
"We have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us"
Excerpt: "Israel may find itself 'confronting
an even more determined, uncontrollable and fanatical enemy than the Assad
regime has ever proved to be.'" Indeed.
Excerpt: The left-wing organization that helped spring Qumu
was the Center for Constitutional Rights. Last April, the group issued an
indignant press release painting Qumu as a harmless victim and blasting those
concerned about his unrepentant jihadi ways. After a trove of Gitmo documents
found their way to Wikileaks and were published by the New York Times, CCR rose
to Qumu’s defense and parroted jihadi propaganda that the aggrieved Qumu was actually
a friend of the U.S.
The Passion Of Andrew
Breitbart: ‘Occupy Unmasked’ Hits Theaters
Excerpt: As Occupy Unmasked shows, the top-down
coordination of the Occupy
Wall Street movement relied on a leftist
leadership willing to mold a conglomeration of the naïve and the criminal into
a potent political force. Occupy Unmasked features Andrew delving
into the roots of the Occupy movement, and uncovering the coordination between
the Obama administration, its allies in the media, and Occupy. …It morphed from
a ridiculous camp-out movement into a dangerous political force, wielded by the
Obama administration and the media as the counter-Tea Party, even as it smashed
windows, burned property, and assaulted police.
Excerpt: Reports indicate the Obama administration
indirectly relied on the Muslim Brotherhood for security in Benghazi….Because
of these contrary interests, there are even reports that part of the February
17 Brigade stood down as the Islamist attackers stormed the U.S. consulate.
This squares perfectly with Libyan Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif's early
claims that Libyan security forces essentially handed the US consulate personnel over to
the attackers.
CNN: Libya Ambassador Diary Showed Worries
About Benghazi
Excerpt: In essence, the Obama Administration tasked an
unarmed British firm with security responsibilities that should have
been handled by armed American servicemen, and it was all approved by the
Secretary of State. Needless to say, the plan failed and an Ambassador was
murdered, along with several others.
Report: State Dept
Left Consulate Unsecured Days After Ambassador Murder
Excerpt: CNN’s report today that they found Ambassador to
Libya Chris Stevens’ diary lying on the floor of the “largely unsecured
consulate compound where he was fatally wounded,” four days after Stevens’ death,
raises serious questions about State Department security procedures. Not just
security procedures for our ambassadors, which were clearly lacking. Security
procedures for the crime scene itself.
Excerpt: CNN, in an effort to protect the Obama
administration while still getting a scoop, hid the fact that they were in
control of the diary of the Ambassador to Libya from September 15 to
September 21. According to CNN, they found Ambassador Chris Stevens’ diary
“four days after he was killed.” They then told Stevens’ family about the
diary, and spent the next few days “corroborating” what they considered
“newsworthy tips” in the diary.
Obama to Release One Third of Gitmo Inmates. By AWR Hawkins
Excerpt: President Barack Obama is
about to release or transfer 55 Gitmo prisoners, despite reports that the
Libyan believed to be behind the killing of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens
was a former Guantanamo inmate
transferred to Libyan custody. The large percentage of those scheduled to be
released are Yemeni, according to a list made
public by the Obama administration. Obama stopped the release or transfer
of Yemeni inmates in 2010, because the conditions in the country were viewed as
too "unsettled" at the time.
Excerpt: The American people don’t expect much, but they do
expect their elected representatives to do their jobs. Until the people’s work
is complete, the members of the so-called “People’s House” should stay in Washington and do what they were all sent there to
do: govern….Public servants in Washington were
supposed to be statesmen, driven by a common commitment to steering our country
on a course toward prosperity.
Obama fudges truth on Fast and Furious in Univision interview.
By Matthew Boyle
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/22/obama-fudges-truth-on-fast-and-furious-in-univision-interview/#ixzz27GkKjzH7
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/22/obama-fudges-truth-on-fast-and-furious-in-univision-interview/#ixzz27GkKjzH7
Excerpt: During a Thursday interview with Spanish-language television
network Univision, President Barack Obama made at least one false statement
about the Operation Fast and Furious scandal plaguing his administration. As
ABC News’ Jake Tapper noted, Obama incorrectly stated that the program began under
the George W. Bush administration...But Fast and Furious began in October 2009,
which Tapper pointed out is “nine months into the Obama presidency.”
Excerpt: Within the next three to
five years, more than 200 coal-fired electric generating units will be shut
down across 25 states due to EPA regulations and factors including cheap
natural gas, according to a new report by the American Coalition for Clean Coal
Electricity (ACCCE)….However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a
role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their
report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states —
more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal
fleet. The most affected states include Ohio ,
Pennsylvania , West
Virginia , Virginia , and North Carolina , which
will see a combined 103 coal-fired generators shut down.
Muslim Brotherhood
'Infiltrated' U.S.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical Islamist organization
that has successfully penetrated both political parties and the delicate areas
of defense and national security. Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry”
Boykin, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, told WND’s
Greg Corombos that people with connections to the Muslim Brotherhood are in
vital positions within every significant area of the U.S. government.
He specifically cited high security clearances for such people in the Pentagon
and the Department of Homeland Security.
'Fast And Furious'
Whitewash By Justice Dep't: Exclusive: Chuck Norris declares, 'American people
deserve answers'
Excerpt: “The bottom line is that the American people
deserve answers that go well beyond the OIG report. Congress needs to proceed
with a comprehensive investigation, and it must have the unfettered cooperation
and access that the Department of Justice has thus far withheld. And the
Department of Justice is clearly in need of new leadership. Let’s give it to
them.”
'Muslim
Rage' Turns Against Libya
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/shashankjoshi/100182273/muslim-rage-turns-against-libyas-jihadist-militia-so-much-for-lazy-stereotypes-of-fanatical-arabs/
Excerpt: Galvanised by anger over the killing of the popular American ambassador here last week, thousands of Libyans marched through this city on Friday, demanding the disarming of the militias that helped topple the dictatorship but have troubled the country with their refusal to disband. In a show of mass frustration at the armed groups, protesters seized control of several militia headquarters on Friday night and handed them over toLibya Benghazi
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/shashankjoshi/100182273/muslim-rage-turns-against-libyas-jihadist-militia-so-much-for-lazy-stereotypes-of-fanatical-arabs/
Excerpt: Galvanised by anger over the killing of the popular American ambassador here last week, thousands of Libyans marched through this city on Friday, demanding the disarming of the militias that helped topple the dictatorship but have troubled the country with their refusal to disband. In a show of mass frustration at the armed groups, protesters seized control of several militia headquarters on Friday night and handed them over to
Assuming The Best About Muslims. By Paul Sperry
Excerpt: Newsweek's latest cover story, titled "Muslim
Rage," is meant to shock the average American — as if Muslim fury is a new
phenomenon. "Muslim rage" is in fact a tedious redundancy. When are
the followers of Islam not enraged? (This writer has decided to just lay it all
out there, very plainly spoken, very direct, not the remotest hint of trying to
be kind or diplomatic or subtle at all. I have to say that while I think he's
95% on target, I still believe there are moderate/secular Muslims in
significant, if still not large, numbers. A few have been seen to speak up,
like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but they don't begin to get the play from the MSM that
they should. And they are instantly attacked, as Ali has been for her article
in Newsweek, by a host of Muslims and some non-Muslims, as misstating and
grossly exaggerating the situation, and for supposedly bitter bias against the
religion. But the point that a very large fraction of Muslims are very
sympathetic to the propaganda and hate mongering of the jihadists is hard to
ignore once you really examine what goes on in the Islamic world. Those who
really hate us most do not hate us for what we do, they hate use for who we
are. That base of boiling emotion is always there for them, and it only takes
any kind of stimulus to bring it to surface, like lava erupting from a
simmering volcano. They don't have to see the movie trailer, just hearing about
it is ample stimulus to get them moving, and once the moving starts, it feeds
on itself and very soon the berserk crowd spills out onto the streets and
starts looking for things to break or burn. Or people to really make pay. And
the moderates are not about to stand in front of that crowd, in fact they're
best advised to at least pretend anger and cheer the crowd at least nominally. Those
who do not can end up in trouble very quickly, as we've seen just recently. (Let's
be fair- when the Nazi storm troopers were holding their torchlight marches,
the many Germans who did not like Hitler were not about to hold up a sign
criticizing them as they marched past.) The rise in fundamentalism and
extremism in the Islamic world started over 30 years ago, and has been funded
heavily by the Saudis and others spending oil millions upon millions building
mosques and staffing them with firebrand mullahs. When you take over the media
and especially the training of the young for decades, you get results! The
underlying anger and frustration of many Muslims stemming from how poor
they've been, how bereft their societies have been of various kinds of progress
while the infidel West has been building riches and generating technology
continuously, and various historical factors (plus myths aplenty) all feed into
that reservoir of burning emotion that says the infidels are exploiters,
degenerates, and godless bastards who really have a big fall coming to them. It's
a bad situation, for everyone. Those poor Muslims still living in conditions a
century or three in the past need social progress, not conflict with the West
or each other. Fractured societies with a pack of opposing groups based on
tribe or religion or just history of conflict need a hell of a lot of change,
education, and learning that compromise is preferable to unending blood lust. You
might say that in the West we learned a while ago that compromise is critical
to finding peaceful solutions and progress.... which is how the 13 colonies
became a nation. I don't know how we in the West, especially in America , can
best contribute to peace and progress in the Islamic world. All I am sure of is
that we need to recognize the way things are there, and figure out better
approaches than we've used in the past. --Del )
Report: Al
Qaeda, Ansar al-Shari'a Coordinated Benghazi
Excerpt: According to the sources, Ansar al-Shari'a is an
umbrella group that coordinates a number of splinter organizations, including
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group, which is sympathetic to
the goals of Al Qaeda, has attempted to establish a Shari'a state, or
caliphate, in eastern Libya but
failed. The security situation in Libya remains somewhat
chaotic, especially in the eastern section of the country, following the
"Arab Spring" revolution in which the 40-year regime of former
dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi was toppled.
Excerpt: A 63-year-old man with stage 4 lymphoma, steady
nerves and a double-barreled shotgun thwarted a break-in at his western Michigan home and
convinced two suspects to surrender, police said.
WH Silent Over
Demands to Denounce ‘Piss Christ’ Artwork
Excerpt: Religious groups are blasting President Obama for
not condemning an anti-Christian art display set to appear in New York
City and one Republican lawmaker said he is “fed up with the
administration’s double standard and religious hypocrisy. “Piss Christ,” once
branded as a “deplorable, despicable display of vulgarity,” will be displayed
at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery in Manhattan on
Thursday. The artwork features a “photograph of the crucifix submerged in the
artist’s urine.” (So, just do "Piss Mohammad" and he'll have to speak
out. ~Bob.)
MEK decision:
multimillion-dollar campaign led to removal from terror list; Revealed: the
steady flow of funds to members of Congress, lobbying firms and former
officials in support of Iranian group. By Chris
McGreal
Excerpt: Supporters of a
designated Iranian terrorist organisation have won a long struggle to see it
unbanned in the US after
pouring millions of dollars into an unprecedented campaign of political
donations, hiring Washington lobby
groups and payments to former top administration officials. A Guardian
investigation, drawing partly on data researched by the Centre for Responsive Politics,
a group tracking the impact of money in US politics, has
identified a steady flow of funds from key Iranian American organisations and
their leaders into the campaign to have the People's Mojahedin Organisation
of Iran removed from the list of
terrorist organisations. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is
expected to notify Congress that the MEK will be removed from the terrorism
list in the coming days.
Lynden Dorval Fired:
Excerpt: Dorval made headlines over the past months
after after he was suspended in May for having assigned zeros to students for
incomplete work. (A friend of mine, lifelong Democrat, is a chemist.
He got a certificate to teach chemistry late in his career, and a job doing
that in an inner-city high school. But unfortunately, he remember what teaching
was like when we were in high school together. When a majority of the kids in
his class did zero work, he failed them. The parents complained and he was
fired for racism. Expecting black kids to do work or learn in school is, apparently
racist. They are to be passed regardless of effort. And meanwhile, the fact
that so many black adults are not employable is a mystery. probably racism as
well. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Moments ago we saw the following amusing headline
crossing the BBG: ILLINOIS TEACHERS' PENSION FUND CUTS RATE OF RETURN TO 8%
FROM 8.5% It's amusing because these are the same teachers who were demanding,
and received, higher pay - 17% higher over four years in fact -
following a several day strike. (Ok, we have seen that the elitists all
imitate each other. If there is a next step (and I guarantee there will be),
then this is it--bailouts for the states, paid for by money-printing by the
Fed. Look for it. What does this mean? It means that, unless the fiscally
responsible states (almost all Republican or libertarian) start printing their
own sound money (which they will probably have to do at some point) and declare
themselves independent (as Catalan might, from Spain ), they will be slaves to the
Federal Reserve and Washington. For example, a state like AZ would not receive
a bailout unless they fell in line behind the Fed and started encouraging
illegal aliens to come into the state and opening their border to them. The
bailout is a whip. In Europe , it is being
taken to the Greeks, the Spanish, the Irish and anyone else who asks for or
gets a bailout. The central government, like the Soviet Politburo, keeps
everyone in line this way. States must pull back, must at least threaten
to print their own sound money to defend against the phony play
money from the Fed, which is getting weaker and weaker by the day, and
will inevitably cause galloping inflation of the Weimar type. It may be the only way, no
matter who becomes the next president. --Don Hank)
Propaganda Update: TV Networks Will Be Asked to Boost
ObamaCare In Plots of Their Top Shows. By Tim Graham
Excerpt: Abby Goodnough of The New York Times is reporting as the California state
government is setting up its ObamaCare exchange, the exchange has hired a PR
firm (with federal government money). "Realizing that much of the
battle will be in the public relations realm, the exchange has poured
significant resources into a detailed marketing plan — developed not by state
health bureaucrats but by the global marketing powerhouse Ogilvy Public
Relations Worldwide, which has an initial $900,000 contract with the
exchange," she wrote. Ogilvy's plan is to tap major network TV shows like
"Grey's Anatomy" and "Modern Family" to sell Americans on
the health care law: (Once again we see the Obama machine running along merrily
way outside the guideropes. This is NOT what the gov't is supposed to do with
our tax money, and if Bush had ever done anything this brazen, the media would
have gone into a total meltdown. But see, this is now and it's Him, so it's
really OK. -Del )
Military leader ties
'last messiah' to regime's preparations for conflict
Excerpt: For the first time, Iran ’s highest-ranking military
official has tied the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah to the regime
being prepared to go to a war based on ideology.
“With having the treasure of the Holy Defense, Valayat (Guardianship of the
Jurist) and martyrs, we are ready for a big war,” Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi
said, according to Mashregh news, which is run by the Revolutionary Guards.
(This is definitely a Right Wing website, but they don't publish lies. And the
idea of the "final battle" when the Mahdi returns to bring the world
to Islam is what is scary. Religious zealots who don't fear death and believe
they cannot lose are not the kind of people you want to have access to nuclear
weapons. If I were an Israeli I'd be totally for a protective strike to take
out as much of their nuclear refining sites as possible, and the hell with the
consequences. Israel
is too small a country, one nuke would do horrendous damage, three would
obliterate is as a functioning state. After that the conventional forces of
their neighbors would be ample to wipe out all survivors. --Del )
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