Day: March 18, 2015

The (Rep.) Schock Of It All

Friends have asked me why I no longer write on politics and political theory…..the easy answer is why?  It is a waste of time and effort on my part when we have NO true politicians left…..just ego-centric twats that are in it for themselves……they are worse than clowns…..for clowns can be entertaining….politicians are not………but they are pathetic and disgusting………….as this post will attest……

Remember back, my friends……in 2008, I believe, this Dem. Rep from Louisiana was found with lots of cash in his home freeze…….and the right wing media went batcrap crazy.  Then there was the Repub senator from Nevada that was bumping his employee’s wife while in DC…..and who can forget Weiner’s weenie?  Let’s not forget the Repub Rep that threatened a journalist in the Capitol Building and was then caught with his winkie in the till.

My point is that the clowns we elect are not something to be proud of…….and now the most recent ego centric little prick has resigned……that Rep. from Illinois…..Rep. Schock…..the one that decorated his DC office like Downton Abbey, the one that was using campaign funds for joy rides in planes and the one that claim 175,000 miles of travel on his expense account when his SUV only shows 80,000 miles……does that refresh your memory?

Now that he is resigning he will continue to stick it to the American taxpayer even after he leaves DC……..

Schock, a Republican from Illinois, could eventually collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded retirement benefits, depending on how long he lives.

Starting at age 62, he will be eligible for just under $18,500 annually, according to estimates by the National Taxpayers Union, a conservative nonprofit organization.

According to a June report from the Congressional Research Service, members of Congress who have completed at least five years of service are eligible for taxpayer-funded pensions beginning at age 62.

The amount of a former congressional member’s pension varies, but the payout is based on the number of years of service and an average of the member’s three highest years of salary.

Is it not about time that the US takes perks away from the morons that act in an unprofessional way?  There should be NO benefits for being a disgrace to the American people…..PERIOD!

ISIS Coalition SITREP #79

Good day….and welcome to the briefing……

The conflict against ISIS drags on and there is little to report….lots to say and most of it is all hearsay and misinformation…….these briefings are slowing down because I cannot confirm most I see and read……I want to give my readers truth…..so please forgive the slowness of these briefings…..

Item 1–The battle for Tikrit and Kirkuk rages on and info is in short supply…..

Iraqi security forces and allied militias burned and looted homes and destroyed entire villages in territory retaken from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

These violations took place after government troops and militias broke a siege on the town of Amerli in August last year with the help of US and Iraqi airstrikes. Businesses, residences, public buildings and even mosques in the area were subsequently razed, possessions of Sunni residents looted and entire properties and villages destroyed using explosives and demolition equipment, according to evidence gathered by HRW.

The problem is sectarian in nature and this is only building…..

Item 2–The battle to re-take Tikrit has slowed……supplies are being blamed….but the truth is that ISIS snipers are taking a toll on the attackers….

Item 3–

47 Years Ago in My Lai: ‘We were there to kill ideology’ – BSNEWS

History is a BITCH!

The year is 1968 in the sleepy little South Vietnamese village of My Lai…….and the incident is something that most Americans have erased from their memories.  But re-writing history does not erase the truth.

It was a dark day and should not be forgotten…..that way maybe it will never happen again……

 

47 Years Ago in My Lai: ‘We were there to kill ideology’ – BSNEWS.

Middle East: While You Were Otherwise Distracted

I know I am back on the Middle East….well it is more exciting than American politics……this coming from a guy with a degree in polisci……..what can you write about clowns….only that they are creepy and should be avoided.

There are many stories that are newsworthy but for some reason seldom make it to the talking heads……to be fair usually the talking heads are more focused on e-mails or whose butt is bigger or some random car chase in Po-Dunk California……you know the mundane crap that we all crave……..

So while you were otherwise distracted there is news in the War on Terror……..

Though there was no formal announcement of any policy change accompanying it, the latest Worldwide Threat Assessment, issued by the office of the Director of National Intelligence, conspicuously did not list either Iran or Hezbollah as terrorist threats to the United States.

The 2014 report declared both were direct threats to the US and its allies, and Iran had been given an entire segment of the terrorism section in the previous years.

This year, the assessment on Iran praised the nation for its attempts to “dampen sectarianism” and to “deescalate tensions with Saudi Arabia,” though they did warn that Iranian attempts to protect regional Shi’ites risked fueling a secfarian backlash against them.

An interesting turn in international relations……these two have been on the list since its inception…….but now we are cutting them some slack…….

There is another side to this coin……is it possible the US could be painted as protecting the Shi’a sect over the Sunni?  If so then this could be yet another of our trips that could provide recruitment opportunities for extremists.

I have been researching and analyzing the Middle East for decades and I cannot for the life of me understand what the US id doing…….since 2003 it has been one misstep after another……and now it looks more like some secret plan as opposed to accidents….

I understand that we are in negotiations with Iran and we are trying to prove to them that we can trust them and that they could benefit from a successful negotiations……but I think that this may be sending the wrong message within the extremist circles that could be disastrous….

Any ideas?

Were mere copies of Iraq’s national treasures destroyed? | Middle East | DW.DE | 11.03.2015

About a week ago one of the big stories was that ISIS was destroying ancient Assyrian artifacts in Iraq…….the competent world was aghast.

As a history buff especially the Middle East, I was appalled at the wonton destruction of history by ISIS….I also said at the time that, to me they did not appear to be the genuine relics, that they were too difficult to break up for them to be sandstone………

Iraq went from the “cradle of civilization” to the “cradle of barbarism”………

I am pleased to see that my observations were not inaccurate…..others seem to agree with me……

 

Were mere copies of Iraq’s national treasures destroyed? | Middle East | DW.DE | 11.03.2015.