Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 11, 2013
Robert A. Hall
Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion--who needs newspapers or TV? 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.
Eddie Grabowski's Gift: A Marine Chris tmas Story
Eddie Grabowski’s Gift is a short novella, with an old Marine’s lessons on life, love and giving. All author royalties are donated to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation to support the National Museum
Book Recommendation: Coolidge by Amity Shlaes
This long, but well-written book has a wealth of historical detail from the first thirty years of the last century, for the US in general and Massachusetts Cleveland
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Lady Macbeth may have been one of literature’s most famous villains, but at least she had the guilty conscience to eventually try and wash the blood off her hands. It is doubtful that Hillary Rodham Clinton will start hallucinating bloody spots on her palms during the book tour for her upcoming 14-million-dollar tome or compulsively washing her hands during the 2016 campaign.
Important: Cleveland
Excerpt: Officials said they may seek the death penalty in a case that has riveted — and repulsed — television viewers and social-media users across the nation. Cuyahoga County
Surprise: Former Gitmo prisoner recaptured as suspect in assault on US consulate in Libya
Excerpt: A Libyan warlord and jihadist leader suspected of being involved in a 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi Darna
Excerpt: Few people enjoy the distinction of having been both imprisoned by the US Afghanistan
Pell Grants Fund Remedial Education with Poor Results
Excerpt: The Federal Pell Grant Program awards a maximum of $5,550 to needy students. A large portion of the program's expenditures, which total about $40 billion, is flowing to people who simply aren't prepared to do college-level work, says Michael Petrilli, executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a research fellow at Stanford University
Part-timers to lose pay amid health act's new math. By Chad Terhune Los Angeles
Excerpt: Many part-timers are facing a double whammy from President Obama's Affordable Care Act. The law requires large employers offering health insurance to include part-time employees working 30 hours a week or more. But rather than provide healthcare to more workers, a growing number of employers are cutting back employee hours instead. (Progressives: screwing the poor for 100 years so they can feel good about being for the “right” things. ~Bob.)
Failed Green dreams: European carbon market in trouble
Excerpt: As the centerpiece of Europe ’s pledge to lead the global battle against climate change, the region’s market for carbon emissions effectively turned pollution into a commodity that could be traded like gold or oil. But the once-thriving pollution trade here has turned into a carbon bust.
Government Assault on the Chinatown Bus Industry Fueled By Bogus Federal Study: An influential report by the National Transportation Safety Board used the wrong data and committed "statistical malpractice." By Jim Epstein
Excerpt: But over the past two years, the government has forced 27 bus companies based in Chinatown to close. The regulatory clampdown was fueled by a government study that found curbside carriers were disproportionately killing their passengers. … The study is bogus. Not only is the “seven times” finding incorrect, the entire report is a mangle of inaccurate charts and numbers that tell us virtually nothing meaningful about bus safety. … Enter Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who had been scrambling for evidence that Chinatown buses were unsafe going back to 2005. (If it was a Muslim bus service, they wouldn’t have dared say a word. ~Bob.)
Email scam?
I got this e-mail. Has to be a scam, but I can’t figure out how. Maybe they Spam it out and swindle anyone with a restaurant on the list. I replied, “Sorry Sam. We don't serve chicken salad to chicken shit scam artists.” ~Bob. Hello I will like to place an order for individual chicken salad for 150 people on 30th of May and pick up time is 4pm .This for my Son Birthday Party and let me know if you don't serve chicken salad and email me your menu so I can choose other option from it. The food will be picked up by my courier and I am ready to pay the full payment with my credit card so get to me with the following information below......Restaurant Address: Total cost for the food: Cell Phone #: Sam Mathew
Latino student group says eating tacos is offensive to Mexicans
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/09/latino-student-group-says-eating-tacos-is-offensive-to-mexicans/#ixzz2StZNdluv
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/09/latino-student-group-says-eating-tacos-is-offensive-to-mexicans/#ixzz2StZNdluv
Excerpt: Northwestern University continued to stumble over diversity issues this week as Mexican students voiced disagreement with a campus wide letter that advised students not to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by engaging in racially-offensive activities, such as eating tacos and drinking tequila. (So I suppose the fence-jumping contest is off too? People desperate to find things to be offended by to reinforce their status as victims. ~Bob.)
Ariel Castro, Cleveland
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/ariel_castro_cleveland_kidnapper_is_a_registered_democrat.html#.UYvs3tnSN4M.facebook#ixzz2SpFSZKmR
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/ariel_castro_cleveland_kidnapper_is_a_registered_democrat.html#.UYvs3tnSN4M.facebook#ixzz2SpFSZKmR
Excerpt: According to voter registration records, Ariel Castro, the Cleveland Vietnam
'Deleted' Snapchat photos saved in phone data, can be examined as evidence
Excerpt: Imagine the panic running through high-school cafeterias upon hearing this news. It turns out Snapchat, the app that sends and then automatically deletes pictures, doesn’t actually delete them. A digital forensics company discovered that the app actually saves the images to a hidden folder.... (You didn’t REALLY think those photos would remain private, did you? Surprise. Tell the kids (of all ages!). --Ron P. Dear Anthony Weiner, Bad news...~Bob.)
Hearing: Local Law Enforcement Never Informed About Tsarnaev Brothers. By John Rossomando
Excerpt: Last month's Boston Marathon bombings exposed that federal and local law enforcement agencies still haven't corrected failures in intelligence sharing emphasized after the 9/11 attacks, according to testimony given Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee. "We learned over a decade ago, the danger in failing to connect the dots. The cornerstone of the 9/11 Commission Report was that agencies had 'stove-piped' intelligence, which prevented us from seeing potential terror plots," Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said in his opening statement. (Well, if they had been right wing militia types, the FBI would have been all over it. But have to tread carefully with Muslims. A charge of "Islamophobia" is career ending. Better take a chance on people dying than risk that. ~Bob.)
Obamastan. By Melanie Phillips
Excerpt: The Obama administration is playing down the Islamist threat to the US and the free world, empowering Islamists at home and abroad, endangering America and betraying its allies -- and covering up its egregious failure to protect the homeland as a result of all the above, while instead blaming America for its own victimisation.
Via suspects discussed alternative plans to poison air/water to kill up to 100,000 people: Court docs: Third man arrested in plot to derail train
Alert President Obama. More Muslims who missed his “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Two of the Via Rail terror suspects allegedly contemplated poisoning the air or water before settling on the plot to target a passenger train, according to newly released U.S. Canada
The Hand of the Prophet: A Novel of Islamic America
By the year 2053, large parts of the United States Chris tians are the terrorists. All author's royalties from this book are donated to a charity to help those who have suffered in the War on Terror.
The Talibanization of Gaza
Excerpt: What a relief that Israel withdrew from Gaza
Obama Pushes Funds for Islamists —- Trashes Their Chris tian Victims. By Faith J. H. McDonnell
Excerpt: The “Islamist apologist choir” described in Cinnamon Stillwell’s recent story “Profs on Boston Bombing” doesn’t sing solely on behalf of Chechnya and Cambridge Nigeria Chris tian victims, as well.
The Media’s Muhammad Blackout Defers Again to Islam. By Andrew Harrod
Excerpt: Yet again depictions of Islam’s prophet Muhammad are causing controversy. The French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo has published a special edition released in January 2013 entitled La Vie de Mahomet, 1ère partie: Les débuts d’un prophète (“The Life of Muhammad, Part One: The Debut of a Prophet”; part two will follow in June 2013). Press reaction in both France and Germany
Excerpt: It’s amazing to watch the media bury yesterday’s explosive testimony on Benghazi. Just imagine for a moment that today is the day after a veteran career diplomat – the top man on the ground in Libya after the murder of the ambassador – testified that a Republican administration told him not to cooperate with Democrat congressional investigators, shook him up with a menacing phone call from the top political “fixer” for a Secretary of State widely viewed as a leading 2016 presidential candidate, demoted him under cloudy circumstances so they could portray him as “disgruntled”… and then spent eight months loudly boasting of their enthusiastic, transparent cooperation with Congress.
Worth Reading : Exclusive: Benghazi
Excerpt: When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack. (Here's the kicker: "In an email to officials at the White House and the intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland took issue with including that information because it "could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned . . ." Hey, why would they want to accurately inform the public if it might result in criticism from Congress, right? -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
Veterans for Truth Petition on Benghazi
Naturally, they also ask for money. I have no info on them. Before you contribute to any group, check them out. ~Bob.
Excerpt: Today, Barack Obama heads to Texas Texas Texas was just named the best place to do business by CEO Magazine, several other groups have listed Texas as the most favorable state for jobs, Raytheon just abandoned California for Texas
Seven dead in Indonesian terror raids
Excerpt: THE death toll from the latest anti-terror raids in Indonesia
"Moderate" "Palestinian" official: "I swear that if we had a nuke, we'd have used it this very morning"
Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob
Excerpt: But it’s also absolutely true that our lack of robust economic growth, caused in part by Washington Washington
Is Gabriel Gomez the next Scott Brown?
Excerpt: He is hailed as the second-coming of Scott Brown: A young, telegenic military man with moderate Republican views and a candidate with a real possibility of winning the Massachusetts Senate seat. But Gabriel Gomez is quick to warn that this is not 2010. And on this point, he agrees with Democrats: He’s no Scott Brown.
Tweet from David Burge @iowahawkblog
Pretty damn impressive, NY. Nearly 1/4 of your dominant political party's state senate delegation facing jail. IL tips its collective hat.
Hezbollah says Syria
Excerpt: The head of Hezbollah has said he is ready to receive "game-changing" weapons from Syria
Kerry Prefers Russia Not Aid Syria
Excerpt: Speaking at a news conference in Rome , Kerry addressed a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday that Russia
The Humiliation of John Kerry. By Michael Ledeen
Excerpt: The secretary of state was back in Washington Tehran
David Frum Is Going to Rock Your World on Immigration
Excerpt: This analysis measures fiscal effects, budget-related effects. The government's budget is not the economy -- not yet, anyway, though we are getting close to that. And this amnesty would bring us closer to that. Those who claim that bringing in a lot of low-skilled, low-income workers into our social safety net will actually pour money into the safety net have to answer one question: In what country, anywhere, are the poorest citizens net-payers into the government's fisc?
Worth Reading
Here's a Campaign Spot reader who tried to help out, and found himself growing cynical:
“For several years I worked in inner-city church ministry. I assisted minority families, helped their children with homework, watched kids while parents went to the hospital, took their children trick-or-treating, attended their kids' high school football games, etc. I'm not giving myself a pat on the back -- I genuinely loved the work. I worked mostly with teens and pre-teens. Working with adults would require the slightest amount of commitment on their behalf, a commitment zero percent of them were willing to give (unless, of course, we offered a free meal). I know it's anecdotal, but two incidents stand out in my mind as turning points. One was the week before Thanksgiving. I worked hard to collect food for needy families so they could enjoy a nice Thanksgiving meal. I gathered all the groceries and headed downtown to a home that was in disrepair. The roof was caving in, the foundation was cracked, it hadn't been painted in who knows how long. A typical inner-city home. When I walked inside there's five young ladies, three of them pregnant. They've got a 72 inch plasma on the wall and they would hardly look up form their brand-spanking new iPhones to tell me where to put the groceries. When they directed me to the kitchen, there were several other Thanksgiving packages other churches had sent. I couldn't believe it. I left the groceries on their porch -- I figured the least they could do was carry the groceries in themselves. A second story, I'll be more brief. Whenever a young lady in our ministry would get pregnant (usually around 15 or 16), she'd be lauded as a hero. The other girls saw pregnancy not only as an excuse to get out of high school permanently, but the government checks start rolling in. And they actually say that to each other, "When you gonna start collecting?" And the more babies they make, the more money they get. Who knew baby-making was a source of revenue? They do, apparently.” (the girl babies grow p and have more welfare babies. The boy babies grow up, join gangs, sell drugs, rob people and murder each other and anyone in the line of fire. But it would be racist to try to do anything about it. Not race, but culture. ~Bob.)
IRS apologizes for inappropriately targeting conservative political groups in 2012 election
Excerpt: The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. (Gee, wonder why they picked conservative groups to target? WH blamed bush today!~Bob)
Meet the Average American
How and why Barack Obama was elected - twice. We are screwed! --Andy
Excerpt: One summer during the early 1970s, I was given a document distributed by a protest group which came from the Students for a Democratic Society or one of its radical affiliates. The item pretended to present a comprehensive platform for reshaping a “just” society. One of its key economic positions was something which recently, thanks to the passage and clumsy implementation thus far of the statist “train wreck” known as ObamaCare, has become a very hot topic: the idea of a 30-hour work week.
Giulio Andreotti Takes his Leave. By Michael Ledeen
Excerpt: No one in political life today can possibly aspire to a career like his, and I don’t know anyone who can remotely match Andreotti’s wit, wisdom, cunning and humor. There may be a high position in the Italian government that he never held, but I can’t think of it. Seven times prime minister, and for decades he was universally believed to be the most powerful man in the country, the puppet master of the whole system, the master of maneuver. (We get a treat: two Ledeen columns today. Ron P.)
Obama Gave Benghazi Stand Down Order: Congresswoman Ann Wagner
Excerpt: According to Congresswoman Ann Wagner from Missouri on the Dana Show (video below) in comments that have gone almost completely un-noticed by the mainstream media (wonder why?!), ONLY Barack Obama could have given the Benghazi stand down order.
North Korean Nuclear Weapons Matter Of When, Not If, Experts Say
Excerpt: After three nuclear tests of apparently increasing power and a long-range rocket launch that puts it a big step closer to having a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead to American shores, many believe that in a matter of years – as little as five, maybe, though the timeframe is debated – Pyongyang will have a very scary nuclear arsenal. Though it's a view not embraced by everyone, one respected South Korean expert says North Korea could be working toward 80 to 100 nuclear-tipped missiles. Bruce Klingner, a former U.S. intelligence officer specializing in North Korea, provides a less dramatic but still bracing assessment: If the path is A to Z, with Z being nuclear missiles that can hit the U.S. mainland, North Korea is maybe at T. (WHY do “experts” persist in the belief that only ICBMs can deliver a nuclear warhead? Have they never heard of ship-mounted intermediate-range missiles? How about a speed boat launched from an off shore ship with a suicide crew? Or, a motor vehicle driven in from a “friendly” country. There are even supposed to be some small enough to be man-portable, or at least horseback portable. The delivery system is the least important part of the equation. That’s why anyone serious about security has been concerned since India and Pakistan both went nuclear. And, have we secured our borders and ports? Of course not. Ron P. Easy to ship a nuke into New York or other port in a container on a cargo ship. Few are inspected. If they get nukes, NY won’t have to worry any more about large size sodas or concealed carry laws. ~Bob.)
Africa Must Prepare for Indian Ocean’s Rising Importance
Excerpt: Fifty countries and organisations are gathered in London for an international conference aimed at bolstering political stability in the conflict-battered Horn of Africa country.
Tweet from Philip Klein @philipaklein7m
Carney saying that edits were to make sure no incorrect info was used. Uh, like the fact that it was spontaneous attack motivated by video?
Tweet from Katie Pavlich @KatiePavlich11m
Carney says he didn't want to "speculate" about who was responsible for Benghazi attack, sooo, they said it was a video.
Visualizing The Collapse Of Fiat Currencies. By Tyler Durden
Excerpt: Presented with little comment - aside to note, it's never different this time...
Congolese soldiers raped girls as young as six: UN
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/congolese-soldiers-raped-girls-as-young-as-six-un
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/congolese-soldiers-raped-girls-as-young-as-six-un
It’s their culture. Racist of us to condemn it…~Bob. Excerpt: The 391st battalion was trained by the United States in 2010 as "a model for future reforms within the Congolese armed forces," according to the US Africa Command website.
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