Update
450th Anniversary
Tuesday, June 23, is the 450th anniversary of the fall of Saint Elmo on Malta in 1565. St. Elmo was a star shaped, poorly designed fort that both Muslim and Christian commanders believed was the key to Malta 's defenses. Malta , in turn, dominated the center of the Mediterranean, and thus was vital to protecting Christian Europe from Muslim conquest--the Turkish Sultan, Suleiman "The Magnificent" had his eye on Rome , as the center of the Christian faith. The Turkish commander thought it would take four days to take St. Elmo. Instead, the defenders fought so well it to 26. They were slaughtered almost to a man, but their defense of the small fort gave the Knights of Saint John, who held Malta , and the valiant local Maltese volunteers time to strengthen the two larger fortresses, and thus hold out until reinforcements and bad weather forced the Muslims to break off the siege. Their defense was an Alamo of it's time, but greater in size, in sacrifice and in importantance. For more information, see the book recommendation below. ~Bob
Book Recommendation: Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta , the Battle
I asked LtCol Tom Kratman, USA (Ret.), the author of excellent military science fiction, for a recommendation for a high school graduation gift for a nephew of my wife who is joining the Army. (My fault, I think; the last time I saw the lad he was about 10 and I showed him the manual of arms with a training rifle.) The book looked so good, I bought a copy for myself. It is excellent history. I knew, of course, about the siege of Malta and Lepanto, but this filled in all the details. The author writes, "The idea of conquest was central to the Sultanate, intricately interwoven with it's holder's position as leader of the Muslim world. ... Only spectacular conquests could legitimize a sultan." The battle of Lepanto, the most decisive sea battle between Salamis and Trafalgar, ended the efforts of the Muslim Ottomans to conquer Europe and capture Rome , though they rebuilt their lost fleet. I was interested to learn that the commander of the Holy League, Catholic King Philip II of Spain 's illegitimate half brother Don Juan, was only 22. Philip had ordered him not to fight to preserve the fleet, but he was eager for battle and glory. Some interesting notes: One of the fleet's Spanish arquebusiers was Maria la Bailadora, a flamenco dancer, disguised as a man to stay with her lover. The writer Cervantes, then 24, was there as a volunteer and was wounded in the battle. 25,000 Muslims died as did 15,000 Christians, but 12,000 Christian galley slaves were freed. (Both sides depended on slaves, often but not always of the opposite religion, to power their fleets. Raids by Muslim pirates/slave catchers were one of the causes of the conflict.) The author writes that, "Not until Loos in 1915 would this rate of slaughter be surpassed." I highly recommend this well researched and balanced history. ~Bob
Lepanto By G. K. Chesterton
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy ,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross,
(One of my favorite poems since I was a teen. ~Bob)
General News and Comment
The Left Is Eating Itself. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: In the hot days of summer, the progressive revolution that took over cities and even the national government is frenziedly devouring itself. The media is pounding away at Hillary Clinton, not because it cares about her foundation’s dirty deals or the contents of her email server, but because it doesn’t trust her ideological commitment. If the media were sure of that, both stories would have been treated like Benghazi ; mocked, ridiculed, falsely fact checked and then buried in a haunted Indian graveyard under the New York Times building at midnight.
Dem Strategist: We Shouldn’t Be Surprised if Sanders Beats Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire
Excerpt: Democratic strategist Maria Cardona posed the idea Sunday that frontrunner Hillary Clinton could lose critical early-state nomination races in Iowa and New Hampshire to socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt. ). Cardona, a self-described Clinton supporter, said on ABC’s This Week that no one should be surprised if Sanders wins both races. This could be a sign of just how worried Clinton ’s camp is about Sanders, who has garnered huge enthusiasm among the left-wing base of the party.
Hillary Will Glide Above It All. The Democrats can enforce party discipline. The Republican contest will be a free-for-all. By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: Some observations on the announcements of Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, and on a looming problem for the Republican Party. Mrs. Clinton’s announcement, last Saturday on Roosevelt Island , was first of all a concession that her April announcement, in a pretty, content-free video, didn’t quite do the job. As a speech it was largely anodyne, did the candidate no harm and probably a little good. The crowd of some 5,000 was small for a June morning in deep-blue New York . The speech quickly took on a State of the Union laundry-list quality, as if her campaign calculated the recitation of policy proposals would yield an impression of substantive depth.
Church of Scientology Lobbied Hillary’s State Department
Excerpt: Church of Scientology International spent $80,000 over three quarters to have Mitchell lobby the State Department in 2011, during Clinton ’s tenure as the head of the agency. The church had never lobbied the State Department before the second quarter of that year. The church’s lobbying continued in 2012, as it spent a total of $80,000 ($20,000 per quarter) to lobby Clinton ’s State Department.
Here’s Why Hillary Clinton Is Staying Quiet on National Security. She's gambling that the Democratic base will vote on other issues. Will it pay off in November 2016? By Josh Kraushaar
Excerpt: When it comes to the politics of national security, Republicans and Democrats are worlds apart. Not only do they differ on the threat posed by Islamic terrorism and the appropriate tactics to defeat it, but they don’t even agree—at least publicly—on how significant an issue it will be in the presidential election. Hillary Clinton barely touched on foreign affairs in her lengthy campaign relaunch last week, while her advisers are confidently proclaiming that 2016 won’t be a national security election. Meanwhile, nearly every Republican presidential candidate emphasizes the emerging threats abroad in their stump speeches. The approach mirrors where the party’s supporters are
Good Thing There’s Nothing Important Going On In the World
Excerpt: Man, the fun never stops. President Obama continues to cast a pall of unseriousness over his presidency, which was already of questionable seriousness, planning a weekend of golf out in California following two days of fundraising on the Left Coast Europe where she is promoting health and education overseas while taking in some sights with her daughters and her mother.
Terrorists and Criminals Yes, Trans Fats No
Excerpt: Obama's tragicomic reign recently has taken several truly frightful turns. On his eagle-eyed watch, we now learn, easily preventable homicides actually occurred, and designated potential terrorists are manning the secure areas of U.S. airports. Meanwhile, Obama deployed the federal government's ferocious power . . . against a food additive.
AP Photo Symbolically 'Kills' Ted Cruz. By Tad Cronn
Excerpt: The Associated Press has certainly topped itself with one of its recent photos showing its official disdain for Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz. ... The photo is a close-cropped picture of Cruz's face in profile. In the background is a poster of a large handgun. The way the image is framed, the gun is pointing at Cruz's forehead.
Scott Walker’s biggest victory was giving power back to taxpayers. By M.D. Kittle
Excerpt: We get it mainstream media: Gov. Scott Walker missed the mark on his overly ambitious jobs-creation goal in his first term.
That certainly was the bold headlined, top-of-the-fold story in the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday. ‘2 Walker pledges fall short.’ Yes, Wisconsin ’s private-sector employees added 131,515 jobs over Walker ’s first four years in office, 52.6 percent of the 250,000 jobs he said the state’s economy would create.
Interesting: Inside Scott Walker’s $20 million push to lay groundwork for presidential run
Excerpt: To build a war chest for his all-but-official presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been inviting wealthy prospective donors here for a series of private, leisurely dinners — 10 to 20 people at a time — at the top of the Edgewater, a luxury hotel with sweeping views of this capital city. He tells the crowds that he is a “winner” and a “fighter” with a unique ability to unite the disparate wings of the Republican Party. The reception has been warm, and the checks have rolled in. But the reaction to Walker ’s likely candidacy has been cooler in another key city, New York , where he has struggled to make inroads among the powerful and monied financial community...
Excerpt: Ahead of Monday's European Union summit, the only thing you can rule out is a happy ending. Whatever happens at the leaders' meeting -- even if a deal of some sort emerges -- the EU has suffered lasting and perhaps irreparable damage. The available choices run from bad to terrible. The costs to Greece and to the EU of a default followed by Greece 's ejection from the euro system could be huge. But even if the worst doesn't happen, Europe has suffered a total breakdown of trust and goodwill. That can't easily be undone -- and it's a dagger pointed at the heart of the entire project.
Let Greece
Excerpt: Now come Greeks bearing the gift of confirmation that Margaret Thatcher was right about socialist governments: “They always run out of other people’s money.” Greece , from whose ancient playwrights Western drama descends, is in an absurdist melodrama about securing yet another cash infusion from international creditors. This would add another boulder to a mountain of debt almost twice the size of Greece ’s gross domestic product. This protracted dispute will result in desirable carnage if Greece defaults, thereby becoming a constructively frightening example to all democracies doling out unsustainable, growth-suppressing entitlements. In January, Greek voters gave power to the left-wing Syriza party, one third of which, The Economist reports, consists of “Maoists, Marxists and supporters of Che Guevara.”
Md. Gov. Hogan announces he has ‘advanced’ cancer
Excerpt: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan disclosed Monday that he has been diagnosed with late stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he described as “a very advanced and very aggressive” form of cancer. The 59-year-old Republican, who was sworn into office in January after winning an upset victory over then-Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D), described the diagnosis as a hurdle he was determined to surmount.
WaPo Fact Checker: Rand Paul’s ridiculous story of an elderly man imprisoned for ‘dirt on his land.’ By Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Excerpt: The Fact Checker takes no stance on the merits of this case, but just about every aspect of Paul’s recounting is inaccurate at worst and misleading at best. Lucas was convicted of mail fraud, conspiracy and environmental violations — not of organized crime. He was convicted for his role in developing 67 lots inside federally protected wetlands, building on wetlands without approval and knowingly selling land with illegal sewage systems that were likely to fail. And he did not serve the full nine-year sentence in prison. We imagine retelling the whole, sewage-bubbling-up portion of the story might not be the most appetizing anecdote for a dinner. But this story is about much more than an elderly man simply putting dirt on his land. Paul’s storytelling of government gone amok has run wild on its own.
Four Pinocchios
Excerpt: Eleven people were arrested last week in a sting operation aimed at catching sexual predators soliciting minors online. "We got 11 bad people off the street, that don't live here. They are from out of town,” Galveston Police Chief Henry Porreto said. The Galveston Police Department and the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force executed Operation On the Hook, designed at netting sexual predators who were targeting children.
Key Army commander accused of steering a contract to ex-classmates
Excerpt: A key Army commander in the U.S. war against the Islamic State has been reprimanded by the Pentagon for steering a defense contract to a firm run by two of his former classmates at West Point , becoming the latest high-ranking officer to land in trouble for personal misconduct.
Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, who as the Army’s deputy commander for operations in the Middle East oversaw the training of Iraqi forces, was formally reprimanded in February after a three-year investigation by the Army’s inspector general, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act. (Given recent events, they should have reprimanded him for his "training of Iraqi forces." ~Bob
Important: ‘Die, Dad, Die! Go to Heaven!’ By Molly Powell
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420104/mental-health-system-reform-helping-families-in-mental-health-crisis-act?utm_source=jolt&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Jolt&utm_campaign=Jolt06222015
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420104/mental-health-system-reform-helping-families-in-mental-health-crisis-act?utm_source=jolt&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Jolt&utm_campaign=Jolt06222015
Excerpt: Joe Bruce has told his story a number of times, including before Congress, but the brute facts bear repeating: His schizophrenic son was discharged from the psychiatric hospital against the advice and repeated pleas from the family, who warned doctors that they did not feel safe and that their son needed ongoing treatment, including supervision and medication. The psychiatrist, social workers, and “patient advocates” disagreed, believing that they knew better than the family. William Bruce was released, put on a bus, and given enough money to pay for a hotel room for two weeks. Two months later, he returned home and murdered his mother with a hatchet. Naturally, no one on William Bruce’s treatment team — all of whom were government employees — was held accountable for their fatal error in judgment.
Bonds and Banks
Bonds and Banks
Excerpt: The article below, “Bonds and Banks” by Alasdair Macleod, is rare in these hyperbolic times. It provides a reasoned basis for the position that financial assets are grossly overvalued and that a major correction (collapse) is coming. Broken clocks are correct twice a day. Doomsayers holding to their views are bound to be right eventually, sometimes even within their own lifetimes. Mr. Macleod is neither and provides a reasoned analysis. Debt, not surprisingly, is expected to be the trigger for the correction in one way or another.
Patients Euthanized Without Their Consent. 'Physicians were disguising the end-of-life decision as a normal medical practice'
Excerpt: In 52.7 percent of these cases, the patients were 80 years of age or older. The decision to euthanize was not discussed with the patient in 77.9 percent of the cases because he/she was comatose, had dementia, or “because discussion would have been harmful to the patient’s best interest,” according to the study. Belgium passed the Euthanasia Act in 2002, which states that only voluntary euthanasia is legally permissible.
Egg Shortage Cutting Into Restaurant Profits, Menu Items
Excerpt: Those who like to indulge in a good omelet or quiche at the local cafe should prepare to pay a little more — if it's even on the menu. Restaurants are struggling to deal with higher egg prices and an inability to get enough eggs and egg products in the midst of a shortage brought about by a bird flu virus that wiped out millions of chickens on commercial farms this spring. Some restaurants are pulling especially eggy dishes off menus while others are contemplating raising prices until the supply returns to normal.
Plague confirmed in death of Colorado
Excerpt: Colorado health officials reported this weekend that a healthy 16-year-old boy’s sudden death earlier this month was caused by a rare strain of plague. High school star athlete Taylor Gaes was believed to have contracted the septicemic plague from fleas on a dead rodent or other animal he came in contact with on his family’s ranch in rural Cherokee Park , northwest of Fort Collins , Fox 31 said Saturday. Septicemic plague occurs when bacteria enters the bloodstream directly.
Report: Wait lists for vets even longer today than last year
Excerpt: The number of veterans seeking health care but ending up on waiting lists of one month or more is 50 percent higher now than it was a year ago when a scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, The New York Times reported. The VA also faces a budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion, the Times reported in a story posted online ahead of its Sunday editions. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported.
Report: US Needs New Small Nuclear Bombs. By Marcus Weisgerber
Excerpt: CSIS’ Clark Murdock argues that only such weapons can deter rogue states from seeking nukes of their own. -- The United States should develop new low-yield, tactical nuclear weapons to deter countries from seeking nuclear weapons of their own, a new think-tank report says. It also argues that the U.S. should base more nuclear weapons around the world to better deter attacks.
Rising Dragon News
It's there culture: China
Excerpt: An annual dog meat festival in south-west China has begun, amid uproar on the part of animal rights activists. About 10,000 dogs will be slaughtered for their meat at the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin in Guangxi province on Sunday and Monday to mark the summer solstice, state media said. One retired school teacher from Tianjin hit the headlines when she purchased dozens of dogs to save them. (Who are we to judge? ~Bob)
Excerpt: While Wall Street is keeping a wary eye on Greece, fewer folks are focusing on whether or not there is a bear in the China shop — but maybe they should be. Shanghai shares fell about 13 percent last week, after an extraordinary run in the past 12 months. Similarly, shares on the smaller, but no less euphoric, Shenzhen Exchange have enjoyed a similarly spectacular run.
Gun News
Excerpt: This morning’s story comes from Detroit , Michigan
Excerpt: Customers at a Detroit restaurant are calling an employee a hero for shooting an armed robber that pointed a gun at customers during a Sunday morning holdup:
An Uber Driver Stopped A Potential Mass Shooting With A Concealed Weapon. Naturally, Uber Bans Guns. By Bob Owens
Excerpt: The decision comes less than two months after an Uber driver in Chicago was hailed as a hero for using aimed fire from his licensed concealed weapon to drop a 22-year-criminal who was firing into a crowd. It seems that the San Francisco-based company would rather that their drivers and passengers be helpless victims than be lawfully-armed, which was allowed under their previous policy.
Excerpt: One of these days criminals are going to learn that armed robbery is not a smart career in a nation where citizens are increasingly obtaining firearms and quality training in defensive gun use. Wednesday was not that day. An attempted robbery at a Fort Worth grocery store ended in one of the alleged robbers shot to death by the owner.
Federal Court: Second Amendment Right Is Reason for Cops to Detain You
Excerpt: In a stunning move, the US District Court of Western Michigan have ruled the police have legal authority to detain individuals who exercise their rights under both the US and Michigan constitutions to open carry a gun.
Serial Lies: Politifact Blasts Obama Over Gun Claim About Mass Killings In Other Countries. By John Nolte
Excerpt: That statement is such a brazen and provable lie that even the left-wing PolitiFact couldn’t find a way to turn it into anything but a “Mostly False. Still, using this data, it’s easy to dispense with the first claim Obama made — that “this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” Over the decade and a half studied, the researchers found 23 incidents of mass shootings in the other 10 countries, resulting in 200 dead and 231 wounded. In the United States over the same period, there were 133 incidents that left 487 dead and 505 wounded. … [T]he U.S. doesn’t rank No. 1. At 0.15 mass shooting fatalities per 100,000 people, the U.S. had a lower rate than Norway (1.3 per 100,000), Finland (0.34 per 100,000) and Switzerland (1.7 per 100,000). …
Race Card News
Liberal hypocrisy at its finest
Hillary Clinton's Confederacy Hypocrisy. By Jim Hoft
Excerpt: Yesterday, Hillary Clinton argued that South Carolina should remove the Confederate Flag from its statehouse grounds: ... She must have forgotten about celebrating Confederate Flag Day each year…at the Arkansas capital.
S.C. Gov. Haley calls for removal of Confederate flag near the state Capitol. By Jeremy Borden and Mark Berman
Excerpt: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday that the Confederate flag near the state Capitol should be moved, reversing an earlier position she had held and adding a powerful voice to the growing chorus of calls for the flag’s removal. “It’s time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds,” Haley, a Republican, said at a news conference on Monday. She was joined at the news conference by South Carolina ’s two U.S. senators and an array of other elected officials. Her announcement was greeted by a round of applause and cheers inside the statehouse.
Excerpt: The Bible tells me to love my neighbor. I have a number of black friends and I do not know any of them who would feel comfortable coming into my house if I were flying the Confederate battle flag. So I don’t. In fact, in my life, the people I can think of who proudly fly the Confederate battle flag outside their homes are people in whose yards, let alone houses, I would not feel comfortable. I think if a Christian is to love his neighbor, he cannot fly a flag that so many of his neighbors associate with the defense of slavery. I agree with my friend Russell Moore in that, but I disagree in that I do think there are places that the Confederate flag is appropriate. I think it is appropriate at Confederate soldiers’ cemeteries. I think it is appropriate at Confederate memorials and museums. Frankly, considering a majority of citizens in Mississippi , both black and white, voted to keep it on their state flag, I think it is appropriate there. Mississippi, unlike many Southern states, put the Confederate battle flag on their state flag shortly after the Civil War, not in protest in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Obama uses the n-word in discussion. By Jose A. DelReal
Excerpt: Appearing on the popular podcast “WTF With Marc Maron,” the president spoke candidly about the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws in American culture, saying he believes they remain “part of our DNA.” He used the n-word to make his point. “Racism, we are not cured of it. And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say 'nigger' in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not,” he said. “It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."
NBC News Blunder: ‘Meet The Press’ Airs All-Black Gun Violence Video. By John Nolte
Excerpt: Just days after America woke up to the horror show of a white man’s racist terror attack in a Charleston, South Carolina, church that left nine innocent black parishioners dead, “Meet the Press” made the unfathomable decision to air video of a group of convicted murderers expressing regret over their use of a gun. All the murderers presented in the video were black.
Redefining The Word: Examining A Racial Slur Entrenched In American Vernacular That Is More Prevalent Than Ever.
Excerpt: The word is too essential as an urban slang term to be placed in a casket and buried, as NAACP delegates attempted to do in a 2007 mock “funeral” for the word. It is too ingrained in youth culture to be eliminated from city streets, as the New York City Council attempted with a symbolic resolution banning the word the same year. And more than likely, it will prove too complex and nuanced to be policed by football referees wielding yellow flags and penalties. Never mind the troublesome optics of a group of mostly white NFL executives dictating the language rules of a majority-black player pool. If anything, in 2014, it is the very notion of banning the n-word that appears dead and fit for burial. It was a long and noble fight, waged largely — but not exclusively — by an older generation for which the word is inseparable from the brutality into which it was born. If there is still a meaningful n-word debate left to have, it is over context, ownership and the degree to which it should be tethered to its awful history — or set free from it. A word that is used 500,000 times a day on Twitter — as “nigga” is, according to search data on the social media analytics Web site Topsy.com — is almost by definition beyond banning. (Seems to me to be blacks that keep it alive. ~Bob)
Owner of NFL’s Carolina Panthers to pay for funerals of the nine victims in Charleston
Excerpt: The owner of the NFL's Carolina Panthers is paying for the funeral costs of the nine victims killed in Wednesday's church massacre in Charleston. Jerry Richardson detailed his donation in a letter that was shared via social media by Bakari Sellers, a democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
‘Just Some Advisor’ My @ss: White House Lied About Gruber’s Role In Developing Obamacare
Excerpt: Remember the guy who called Americans ‘stupid’ and Obama brushed him off as being ‘some advisor’? It actually turns out he had a lot more to do with developing Obamacare than the White House would like us to think, according to some new revealing e-mails.
More Honest Accounting Shows That Repealing Obamacare Is Good for the Economy. By Paul Winfree and Drew Gonshorowski
Excerpt: For the first time, the CBO and JCT found that repealing Obamacare would increase the gross domestic product by 0.7 percent and that effect alone would reduce projected deficits by $216 billion over the 2016 to 2025 period. This may sound trivial, but a 0.7 percent increase in GDP is equivalent to an additional $1,400 in the pocket of each household per year. CBO also found that repealing Obamacare would increase capital stocks and the number of people working over the next 10 years.
Undocumented Democrat News
Border Patrol Agents: Government Making It Impossible to Nab Drug Dealers. By Steve Neavling
Excerpt: Border Patrol agents said the federal government is making it impossible to make drug busts, a move that has contributed to a “morale crisis,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “We lack the political will to enforce the law and allow our agency to be effective,” said National Border Patrol Council spokesman Shawn Moran in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
Bloodshed In El Salvador
Excerpt: El Salvador has just experienced one of its most violent months since the end of the civil war in 1992, with 635 homicides reported in May for the country of just over 6 million people. June is on track to break that mark, with the latest bloodshed coming Sunday when suspected gang members killed two soldiers guarding a bus terminal in the capital.
Fear is pervasive across San Salvador . As daylight fades, stores close early and streets empty. At night, roadblocks go up to thwart possible grenade attacks on police stations, where officers sleep rather than risk being attacked while riding buses home.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
How Climate Change Has Helped the Democrats Get Millions of Votes. By Rob Knowles
Excerpt: The Democratic Party has attached itself to the theory of anthropogenic global warming and used it as a device to scare people into voting for them. They set up the scenario: the ice caps are melting, the sea levels are rising, the world is in grave danger. Then they claim to have a solution: reduce our carbon emissions, get rid of coal, oil, and natural gas. It even gets down to the consumer directly: green your world, change your light bulbs, drive electric cars—you can even get tax breaks for doing so!
Skeptics Found Scientific Society To Escape Journals That ‘Keep Out’ Dissenters. By Michael Bastasch
http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/19/skeptics-found-scientific-society-to-escape-journals-that-keep-out-dissenters/#ixzz3dpYH0dY0
Excerpt: Some scientists and meteorologists have banded together to create their own scientific organization so they can study, publish and engage in science debates they argue mainstream scientific bodies don’t want to have. The Open Atmospheric Society was founded to “give you a voice where other societies may not.” The group is meant to be an alternative to traditional scientific societies that have members who are actively trying to shut out scientific debate, according to OAS founder Anthony Watts. “In 2009, with the release of the Climategate e-mails we saw a disturbing revelation: a small clique of scientists were actively trying to keep out scientific papers that gave other viewpoints on climate,”Watts , a meteorologist who is skeptical of man-made global warming, told The Daily Caller News Foundation
Excerpt: Some scientists and meteorologists have banded together to create their own scientific organization so they can study, publish and engage in science debates they argue mainstream scientific bodies don’t want to have. The Open Atmospheric Society was founded to “give you a voice where other societies may not.” The group is meant to be an alternative to traditional scientific societies that have members who are actively trying to shut out scientific debate, according to OAS founder Anthony Watts. “In 2009, with the release of the Climategate e-mails we saw a disturbing revelation: a small clique of scientists were actively trying to keep out scientific papers that gave other viewpoints on climate,”
Religion of Peace News
Worth Reading : Bahrain ’s rulers now flout the U.S. Washington
Excerpt: GOVERNMENTS ACROSS the Middle East perceive that President Obama has subordinated much of U.S. policy in the region to the goal of completing a nuclear bargain with Iran . Policies that might disturb Tehran , such as acting against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, have been put on hold; meanwhile, traditional U.S. allies that are skeptical of the deal, such as Saudi Arabia , have been promised stepped-up U.S. military assistance.
One U.S. client that has sized up the situation with particular cynicism is Bahrain , a Sunni monarchy in the Persian Gulf that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Since 2011, the regime has been harshly repressing opponents calling for greater political representation for the country’s Shiite majority. Regular demonstrations in Shiite areas are put down by force; activists are arrested and often tortured; and opposition politicians and human rights monitors are prosecuted on trumped-up charges.
Excerpt: The Taliban launched a suicide assault on the parliament building in the Afghan capital of Kabul today. At the same time, two contested districts in the northern province of Kunduz, where the Taliban launched a major offensive at the end of April, have fallen to the Taliban. Meanwhile, the jihadist group has renewed its push to regain control of districts in the southern province of Helmand
Obama Negotiating With Terrorists: State Department: By the Way, Iran is Still an Active Terrorist State
Excerpt: This would be the very same State Department whose leadership remains singularly obsessed with striking a nuclear accord with the very same regime in Tehran
I'm Offended: University Press Bans Word ‘Pork’ Because It Offends Muslims
Excerpt: Oxford University Oxford on an educational book series. “Among the things prohibited in the text that was commissioned by OUP was the following: Pigs plus sausages, or anything else which could be perceived as pork.” (Banning Pork is a micro-aggression against us pig eaters and offends me. ~Bob)
ISIS to Turn Biblical Prophet Jonah's Tomb into a 'Fun Park
Excerpt: After destroying the Tomb of Jonah (Yonah), one of the Jewish prophets from Biblical times, shortly after conquering Mosul in Iraq where the tomb is located last July, the brutal Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization is now planning to construct a park over the important site. Al Arabiya reported on Saturday that local sources in Mosul had revealed the day before that ISIS is beginning to level the area of the tomb and transform it, noting a budget has been allocated for the project and "specialized companies" have been tapped to commence building. Responding to the reports, Iraqi Deputy Minister of Antiquities and Tourism Qais Hussain told the local Al-Sumaria News that ISIS apparently intends to transform "the tomb into a park and fun city which is another crime against Iraqi heritage."
Allah Approves: New low: ISIS reportedly gives away sex slaves as 'prizes' in Koran contest
Excerpt: ISIS has already committed countless unspeakable acts on Yazidi and Christian girls and women in Iraq, but the terrorist army may have reached a new low with a twisted new contest in which female slaves captured in war are given away as "prizes" to fighters who show the have mastered the Koran. The shocking practice of giving away human beings as prizes, called "sibya," was organized by the Da'wa and Mosques Department in Al-Baraka province in Syria in honor of the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and was announced June 19 on ISIS Twitter accounts, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute and the Clarion Project, two independent research institutes that track social media accounts linked to terrorist groups. (Extra credit if you know the section where Allah allows sex slavery. ~Bob)
What a Yemeni Missile Teaches Us About the Iran
Excerpt: The U.S. and its regional partners are going to have to work a lot harder because missiles are missing from the P5+1 nuclear negotiations. One may be forgiven for not noticing that Saudi Arabia on June 6 used Patriot missiles to intercept a Scud-class missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen . Besides adding the Saudis to the very short list of states that have intercepted a ballistic missile fired in anger, the episode holds several lessons about regional security concerns — and in particular, about Iran’s ongoing missile development.
Islamic Republic of Iran
Excerpt: Here again we see the empire of fear that is so much in evidence also in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State, and everywhere Sharia is implemented.
Police suspects honour killing in Meerut
Excerpt: A seventeen-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her father in what appears to be a case of honour killing. According to police, Yusuf Ali Quraishi, a resident of Adda village in Meerut , strangulated his daughter Rubina on Friday allegedly for having an affair with her neighbour Ajju. (Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University
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Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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