Day: February 23, 2015

The Costly F-35 Program, or How Not to Build a Warplane

The A-10, Warthog, is to be retired and replaced with a technological piece of crap that has NO value in close support of the troops…..

I have written my disapproval of this plane from the start,,,,,as a former grunt I do not want a fine close support plane like the A-10 to be taken from the field and taken from the troops that need it.

Read for yourself about this piece of crap……and then it you value the safety of the troops then let your Congress person know that you are against the replacement of the A-10 with the new piece of manure known as the F-35.

Do it NOW!

 

The Costly F-35 Program, or How Not to Build a Warplane.

A Blatant Threat!

By now every American has heard the startling news…..an extremist could be targeting our American citadels of worship….the MALLS.

Over the weekend the news was everywhere……al-Shabaab, a Somali extremists group has said that they would authorize an attack on the malls of America…….

The Mall of America has beefed up security and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is urging shoppers there to be “particularly careful” in the wake of a terror threat yesterday, reports CNN. “There will be enhanced security there, but public vigilance, public awareness and public caution in situations like this is particularly important, and it’s the environment we’re in, frankly,” Johnson said this morning on State of the Union. His comments came after al-Shabab yesterday released a video in which a militant referenced the 2013 attack on a Kenya mall, then asked, “What if such an attack were to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota?” A security spokesman tells the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the mall has “implemented extra security precautions. Some may be noticeable to guests and others won’t be.” CNN notes that al-Shabab has recruited heavily in the Minneapolis area.

My question is….just how credible is this info?  I mean the other big news is the Dept. of Homeland Security is running out of money and may have to shutter its offices by the end of this month.  Could this be a story planted story to speed up the process of restarting the department?

Some think it, the warning,  may be a ploy……..

The Department of Homeland Security did some backtracking soon after its chief warned yesterday that Mall of America shoppers should be “particularly careful” after a terror threat. A department spokeswoman says that although the mall was named in a video released by Somali extremists al-Shabab, “we are not aware of any specific, credible plot against the Mall of America or any other domestic commercial shopping center” and that people shouldn’t avoid malls, Reuters reports. The Minnesota mall beefed up security after the threat, and a law enforcement official tells the New York Times that he worries the video message, which also names sites in Canada, Britain, and France, could inspire extremists in the area to launch an attack.

Come on people does not that smell like a set up to you?

Are we so damn afraid that we will believe a con job without any thought?

Personally, I believe that it was a planted story aimed at the people in Congress that control the fate of DHS.  The administration and the media are in league to pump this kind of misinformation unto a scared public…..for they will buy it and buy it hook, line and sinker.

What say you?

The “Hit List”

Sorry not some review of some random network melodrama….in this case I am reffering to the government sanctioning assassinations.

If you have a grasp on American history then you may know that Pres. Ford signed a bill that would NOT allow assassinations by the US ………how many Americans even know that this law exists?

– In 1976, President Ford issued Executive Order 11905 to clarify U.S. foreign intelligence activities. The order was enacted in response to the post-Watergate revelations that the CIA had staged multiple attempts on the life of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

In a section of the order labeled “Restrictions on Intelligence Activities,” Ford outlawed political assassination: Section 5(g), entitled “Prohibition on Assassination,” states: “No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.”

Since 1976, every U.S. president has upheld Ford’s prohibition on assassinations. In 1978 President Carter issued an executive order with the chief purpose of reshaping the intelligence structure. In Section 2-305 of that order, Carter reaffirmed the U.S. prohibition on assassination.

One could argue that the drone strikes are a form of assassination and I am sure there is a ruling that makes that somehow exempt from the law Ford signed into policy……and now there is another break in that law……

A new report from CNN reveals that the Obama Administration has created a “hit list” of suspected ISIS members it intends to kill. Officials say the project has been at work for months, with people getting added all the time.

Topping the list, unsurprisingly, is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the ISIS state in Iraq and Syria, and leader of the group. “Jihadi John,” the unidentified man with a British accent in some videos, is also up near the top of the list.

I am not here to argue whether the people “targeted” are deserving or not…..only that it appears to be a blatant breaking of the law.  All I am saying is that a cold calculated killing of another individual is murder……and ergo assassination.

Are we a nation of laws or not?

Speak up!

The “Islam” Speech

I know I am a bit behind the headlines….sorry….but my lady friend was far more important………but as some say….”better late than never”…….

Yep….the prez made his “Islam” speech.  After weeks of Right wing bullshit on what to call the murders of ISIS the prez stepped up and made that speech….kinda along the lines of GW’s speech after 9/11….you know the stuff about Muslims are not our enemies, stuff about the good qualities of the religion…..stuff like that…….

Did it answer all the detractors that have made headlines in the last weeks?

President Obama today elaborated on why you’ll never catch him referring to “Islamic terrorists.” Doing so would give them too much credit, said the president at a White House summit on violent extremism. “No religion is responsible for terrorism—people are responsible for violence and terrorism,” Obama said, as quoted by USA Today. Again and again, he stressed the point:

  • “We are not at war with Islam—we are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”
  • “They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam. We must never accept the premise that they put forward because it is a lie. Nor should we grant these terrorists the religious legitimacy that they seek. They are not religious leaders. They are terrorists.”
  • “The terrorists do not speak for a billion Muslims who reject their ideology. They no more represent Islam than any madman who kills innocents in the name of God represents Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism.”

Obama, however, also stressed the need to be vigilant on the hunt for extremists, adding that Muslim leaders “need to do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam,” reports CNN. For an opposing view on the president’s word choice, see this op-ed in the New York Post headlined “Say it, Obama: Islamic.”

The difference between the speech of Obama and that of GW is that GW’s speech was made in an attempt to save the family friend…..Saudi Arabia’s bin Laden family….Obama’s was meant as a way to explain certain things he has said or in most cases not said…….

The Prez’s speech left a lot to discuss….all of which is unimportant…..you will either love the speech or hate it……which do you think will get more headlines?

I guess since I am a bit late….it is a moot point……

Is Brian Williams The Only Liar?

Appears as today is my day to bitch and moan about the media……I cannot think of a group that needs criticism more than the MSM….how about you?

The Right has been having a field day with the revelation that Brian Williams told a lie about his time in Iraq.  The problem I have is not that he lied but rather Bush gets a ride for all his lies about Iraq, especially from the same Right wing primates.

But with all the hub-bub about Williams I would like to ask….is he the only media liar?

What is the old saying about pointing a finger?

 

Bill O’Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem | Mother Jones.

 

To be fair Billy boy has denied any lies about his reporting…….

Bill O’Reilly aggressively defended his own war reporting last night, dismissing accusations that he embellished his work about the Falklands and El Salvador in the 1980s as a “political hit job” from a “far left zealot” and “liar.” The Fox News host is referring to David Corn of Mother Jones, who posted a piece Thursday headliined, “Bill O’Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem,” notes the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, Corn says O’Reilly has repeatedly stated that he reported from the Falklands while he was with CBS. Part of O’Reilly’s response:

  • “Everything I’ve said about my reportorial career—everything—is true. Thirty-three years ago in June, Argentina surrendered to Great Britain, ending the Falklands War. I was covering the conflict from Argentina and Uruguay for CBS News. After learning of the surrender, angry mobs in Buenos Aires stormed the presidential palace—the Casa Rosada—trying to overthrow the government of General Leopoldo Galtieri. I was there on the street with my camera crews. The violence was horrific, as Argentine soldiers fired into the crowd, who were responding with violent acts of their own. My video of the combat led the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather that evening and, later on, I filed a report that ran nationwide. That’s what happened. I never said I was on the Falkland Islands, as Corn purports. I said I covered the Falklands War, which I did.”

Corn begs to differ, citing examples including O’Reilly’s own 2001 book in which he writes, “I’ve reported on the ground in active war zones from El Salvador to the Falklands.” You can read the transcript of O’Reilly’s remarks here, and Corn’s annotated response here.

The game of news tennis goes on……Billy boy would not lie to his adoring public, now would he?  A self-styled idol such as Bill would not stoop so low as to lie about anything……(Sorry have stop there….my sides are killing me from the laughter that is pouring out uncontrollably).

Tea Party News Network website staff quits after report on ‘despicable practices’

There seems to be some trouble in paradise….Tea Party paradise that is……appears that there is some hint of “despicable practices” within the sector……

I think more media types should be appalled at the content of their reports…….but this is a little tipped to crazy……

Whatcha think?

 

Tea Party News Network website staff quits after report on ‘despicable practices’.

FOX News Is Stroking Out!

I want to apologize for the lateness of this post…..I wrote it as the problem was occurring but got sidetracked with a family medical emergency….ergo it did not make it in when planned…..

Before I begin let me say……if someone is a political hack then they have a gig with FOX news.  Liars and mental midgets, each and every one.

The morons on the Right are having a good week…..the first is a story, a made up story, about whether the people killed in Libya were ‘Christians” and if they were why not acknowledge the fact?  This was a YAWN and has NO value after the fact….

But the biggest one, at least for a day or so, was the State dept employee, Harf, and her statement that the problem in the Middle East was the lack of jobs……after she stated this the hawks both right and left began to stroke out…….(to be honest it is just great to see morons argue over something that does not fit their narrative)…….but to be honest….FOX is not the only outlet stroking out……MSNBC’s Morning Joe, who is a tool in his own right, is also going the distance and the same network’s Chris Matthews is another one that belittled the person that made the statement……

I know what statement?

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf also had this to say about ISIS recruiting and the Obama administration policy on the ongoing terror threat:

“We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs. We can work with countries around the world to help improve their governance. We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.”

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1849533/isis-recruits-join-because-they-lack-job-opportunities-obama-official-marie-harf-claims/#GoCp1qYLZVOI5tbi.99

She made the statement and Twitter lit up like a Christmas tree……and the media pundits heads began exploding.

Okay my take…….she is right but not completely……..jobs and opportunity and good governance would go a long way to lessening the amount of people available for a terrorist pool.

I realize that most of the media pundits cannot see poverty and what it does to people from their ivory tower while sitting on their stacks of cash……do not care where they came from…..they have lost all perspective of what devastating poverty will do to a person.  Or what lengths they will go to to remove themselves or their family from the debilitating  state of affairs.

Since war has a way of increasing the state of poverty….then apparently it is not a solution at all……it will however increase poverty and in turn will increase those searching for a way out of the situation.  Extremist groups have been known to pay the families of bombers for their devotion.

Job creation is the solution. With jobs come dignity, stability, choice, and typically moderation. Regretfully the Middle East region is pursuing the path of accelerated job destruction. War, political uncertainty, and increasing governmental focus on financial control and centralized planning are destroying opportunity and maintaining economic power with the traditional elite.

Only a mental midget would dismiss that facts because they cannot grasp the characteristics of poverty or the end result.  And apparently this country is chock full of mental midgets.

It is too late to try and fix the Middle East problem with jobs…….it is a vicious cycle that will go on and on…….war, destruction, poverty and extremism….a path that NO one has any idea how to resolve.