Day: June 1, 2015

2016: Another Clown Joins The Circus

We now have 9, count them 9…..clowns in the GOP battle for the nomination and today another one joins the club.

Today one of my fave war hawks has jumped into the ring to duke it out with fellow Repubs, Sen. Lindsey Graham of south Carolina…….

Lindsey Graham has confirmed the all-but-confirmed: He’s joining the field of Republicans seeking the presidential nomination in 2016, reports Politico. “I’m Lindsey Graham, and I am running for president of the United States,” he told a crowd this morning in his South Carolina hometown, where he sought to underscore his humble beginnings, his self-made success, and his national-security experience. “I want to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us, not just penalize them or criticize them or contain them, but defeat them,” he said in advance comments via the Hill, which notes his stance sets him up as a “foil” for Rand Paul’s hands-off foreign policy. The AP runs down some things to know about Graham.

Is Graham serious?  Or is the GOP using him as a butt against Paul?

There could be an answer to that question from VOX……..

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/29/7944905/lindsey-graham-president-2016

Graham is just another clown for the car……and his statement about……”“I want to be president to defeat the enemies trying to kill us, not just penalize them or criticize them or contain them, but defeat them,” Graham said from his home town of Central, S.C..

Big talk from a coward that spends all his time hiding out in Congress…..Graham has NO chance of winning….all he is doing is keeping his defense contract benefactors happy.

Like I said….another clown joins the circus.

Is The Patriot Act Dead??

Today we will hear all about the victory of Rand Paul and the American people over the Patriot Act……(and the peasants danced)………

But maybe you should save the victory dance for a later day……why?

Critical parts of the Patriot Act expired at midnight, but while the White House and security officials have warned that this lapse in surveillance could open the US up to terror attacks, others are saying there are workarounds that allow the US to still collect intelligence on possible terrorists and spies, the New York Times reports. The biggest bone of contention is the Patriot Act’s Section 215, which enabled the government to retrieve any “relevant” records in terrorism or spy investigations, the Daily Beast notes. But the “zombie Patriot Act,” as the Daily Beast calls it, features grandfather clauses and still-available national security subpoenas that let the feds collect records in certain situations. “I think there are other tools that can be used, but I’m not going to elaborate on them,” Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe notes.

Key to the workarounds are the grandfather clauses, which extend three expired laws if investigations started before today, the Times notes. And national security letters, which the FBI and other intelligence organizations can use to gather phone and Internet records, are still “comparatively easy” to obtain, per the Daily Beast. Officials also acknowledge that there are other existing methods to get around two of the expired laws—one that addressed wiretaps of a person using more than one device, another that allowed officials to wiretap “lone wolf” suspects—and that those two laws were rarely or never used, per the Times. Still, the White House is wary of this limited new scope. “I don’t want us to be in a situation in which … suddenly we’re dark … and we could’ve prevented a terrorist attack,” President Obama told reporters on Friday, per the Daily Beast.

Your rights are still NOT safe!  BE EVER VIGILANT OR BE FOREVER ENSLAVED!

Whose Patriot Act Is It?

The big news over the weekend was that part of the Patriot Act was somehow slowed down and many are blaming Rand Paul……..personally I think it had more to do with the upcoming election and not as much about any rights violations…..but that is just me……..I see ulterior motives in everything a politician does or says……….

The question has been asked if Bush;s original Patriot Act is any different that that of Obama…..and there is an answer…..

 

Can you tell the difference between Bush and Obama on the Patriot Act? | Trevor Timm | Comment is free | The Guardian.

 

How about that?  NOT a whits difference between the two presidents when it comes to the Patriot Act.

Another Week–Another Candidate

So begins another week and the list of candidates keeps expanding……the newest candidate is not yet another Repub but rather this time it is a Dem……….here we have Hillary, then Bernie and now O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland…..

But what are his chances?  What does he bring to the table?

Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor and Baltimore mayor, announced his long-shot bid to win the Democratic nomination from Hillary Clinton this morning. “Today, the American dream seems for so many of us to be hanging by a thread,” the 52-year-old said in Baltimore, accompanied by his wife and four children. “It does not have to be this way. This generation of Americans still has time to become great. We must save our country now. And we will do that by rebuilding the dream.” A sampling of coverage:

  • Washington Post: “He is banking, boosters say, on the prospect that Clinton’s widespread support will crater as more voters assess the baggage she brings to the race and that O’Malley—a two-term governor with string of progressive accomplishments—will emerge as the most credible alternative.”
  • Baltimore Sun: “Analysts give O’Malley little chance capturing the nomination, and speculate he is angling to raise his profile for a future run—or perhaps a Cabinet post.”
  • CNN: “The treatment of Freddie Gray, which sparked a national dialogue about police conduct toward racial minorities, drew renewed scrutiny to the controversial zero-tolerance policing strategy that O’Malley advocated for as mayor—part of an aggressive strategy to crack down on crime.”
  • Politico: “The run-up to his launch here could hardly have been worse, complicated in recent weeks by unrest in the city where he served as mayor and the unexpected early momentum of another Hillary Clinton challenger: Bernie Sanders.”
  • New York Times: His resume “might be irresistible” to Democrats—in any other year. It’s “unclear whether Mr. O’Malley can aggressively raise funds without a devoted base of support, which Mr. Sanders can draw on, or a raft of major donors, which Mrs. Clinton enjoys. His aides have declined to say whether he has a single backer who would be willing to contribute millions of dollars to a ‘super PAC’ to keep him afloat.”

Personally his chances of securing the Dem nomination are slim to none…..but at least there are challengers to Clinton’s inevitability……..maybe this will bode well for some good debates….we can only hope.

So You Wanna Be A Killer?

In blogging most of us want to try and present information to our readers that will be educational as well as informative……..now with the popularity of a movie like “Sniper” many Americans are dreaming of being that hero…….there are a few things one needs to know………….. regardless of the motivation you will still be a killer.

While surfing around today I found a study (there is always a study) of what it takes to be a killer…….can you measure up?

How do assassins kill strangers without a second thought or an ounce of guilt? A successful one convinces himself or herself that their victim is a target rather than a human, and that the killing is just another day’s work, criminologists say in a new study. After reviewing cases of novice hired killers—including 15-year-old Santre Sanchez Gayle, who killed a target for $310—a team at Birmingham City University found a killer could avoid negative feelings about a murder if they believed the task was all business, RedOrbit reports. Whereas Gayle killed her victim as she opened a door, then slipped away in a taxi, another would-be killer, Orville Wright, broke into a target’s apartment and began conversing with the woman he intended to kill. Afterward, he couldn’t go through with the crime, researchers say.

“When contract killers aren’t as successful in switching off their emotions, their jobs tend not to go to plan,” researcher Mohammed Rahman says in a press release. That wasn’t a problem for Jimmy Moody, a gang henchman operating in the UK in the 1960s. Known for torturing his victims before shooting them once behind the ear, Moody eventually became the Irish Republican Army’s “perfect secret weapon” because he “reframed his victims as targets, seeing getting the job done as a normal business activity,” Rahman says. He and other successful killers “are akin to ‘criminal undertakers,’ who have given themselves ‘special liberty’ to get things done in the name of business.” So what’s the secret to seeing the target over the person? The answer is usually money, researchers say. The best hitmen “want to minimize risk and effort in the pursuit of maximizing profit.”

They are said to be able to disconnect from the subject….distance themselves from their target…….all of which is easily said but remember you are looking into the eyes of the person you are about to kill.  Believe me when I say it is not easy to kill another human being…….but that will not deter all those that romanticize the act of killing…..and that is sad.

Introduction to Middle East Sectarian Wars – Palestine Chronicle | Palestine Chronicle

Too many Americans have learned hate for the wrong reasons……like when they mention Islam that invariably use quotes around religion of peace a clear shot of hatred…..they hate but have little idea why they hate.  I mean there are few Americans that would know one Islamic sect from the other and they only know Muslims by their appearance…….maybe one should know what they hate (just a suggestion)……..

Everyday the news is full of the Middle East situation…..and daily we hear about the Shia and the Sunni and their hatred for each other…..actually kinda reminds me of the wars between the different Christian sects back in the Middle Ages (just had to get a historical reference in there).

I have tried to explain what the problem is and I am not an expert in Islam……I found this article that can help explain the situation within Islam……this may not go too far in helping relieve some of the hate but at least you can have the knowledge to know why they hate……as for you……… that is up to you……HATE for the sake of hate or know what the Hell you are talking about…….you might learn something useful.

Ignorance I can understand but the wonton pursuit of Stupidity is just pathetic!

 

Introduction to Middle East Sectarian Wars – Palestine Chronicle | Palestine Chronicle.

Dear Commander-in-Chief: A Route to an ISIS Rout | Amb. Marc Ginsberg

These days every known politician has something to say about ISIS, most of which is just macho bullshit, and even a few that have to say that we must do something to defeat ISIS.

But not one of these long winded douches has a real plan just more idle words to impress those with little education……I have found very few with a plan but I did read a piece by former Amb. Marc Ginsberg and he has a plan……please read and pass on your opinions……

 

Dear Commander-in-Chief: A Route to an ISIS Rout | Amb. Marc Ginsberg.

The Left’s Dubious Antiwar History by Andrew Syrios — Antiwar.com

Part of my blogging process is to have drafts on hold in case they are needed or wait for the time when they will be most effective…….there are times when my drafts number 15 or more……and I need to clean the drafts out to make room for new stuff…….so today is a “Draft Dump” Day……..

I am not ashamed of the fact that I was an anti-war protester in the 70’s…..after 2 tours of Vietnam I felt that it was time for the US to stop the game, a geopolitical game, it was playing and bring those brave souls home…..I feel that we did make a difference.

Today I weep for the country because few seemed concerned with the saga of endless wars that we are now living….why is that?

I have some thoughts on that but for the sake of brevity I will direct my reader to the article I have pressed……

 

The Left’s Dubious Antiwar History by Andrew Syrios — Antiwar.com.