Day: March 14, 2016

Russians In Syria…..WTF?

Breaking News!

Yes I know we all are well aware that there are Russians in Syria…..at least if you have been playing attention….that is for the last 6 months….but that is not what I am talking about……

A report is circulating in the news…….

Surprise, surprise: Vladimir Putin is pulling most of his troops out of Syria with his own version of “mission accomplished”:

  • “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished,” he said Monday, per RT.com. “That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow.”

Moscow authorized Russian fighters to begin airstrikes in September with the stated goal of helping Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad defeat the Islamic State. Russia’s “entry into the Syrian civil war tipped the balance in favor of the Syrian government, allowing it to recapture territory from rebels,” says the BBC. On Monday, Putin said he coordinated the withdrawal with Assad, adding that it should give a boost to peace talks currently underway in Geneva, reports AP. He added that a Russian airbase in Hemeimeem and a naval base the Syrian port of Tartous would continue to operate.

There is more as I type…..

Russian officials aimed to save the Assad government, at the time suffering mounting losses, with their intervention, and appear to have succeeded, at least for now, as the government regained considerable territory. They also wanted to back the rebels away from the Tartus base on the coast.

Russia’s ultimate goal, however, was not an outright military victory for Assad in the civil war, but a brokered settlement which would resolve the rebellion with constitutional reform, while still maintaining Syria as an historic Russian ally. While there is much work to be done in the peace talks toward actually ending the war, Russia seems to be pushing Assad to the negotiating table by insisting that they’re not going to keep backing offensives.

An interesting turn of events…..but the question should be….what the Hell is Putin up to?  Is there more to this report than is known at this time?

Any ideas?

Sit! Good Boy!

My last post of the day is a disturbing one, at least for me……

My daughter is a big fan of Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, she enjoys watching him turn bad dogs into good dogs…..it is her little guilty pleasure…….so it was not nice of me to break the news of his investigation into his possible abuse of an animal……

A strange turn of events for the “Dog Whisperer”: Police say they’re investigating Cesar Millan for alleged animal cruelty after Millan’s Nat Geo Wild show Cesar 911 featured a dog attacking a pig during a training exercise. “There was a complaint that we received and we are investigating the matter,” an LA County Animal Control rep tells TheWrap. TMZ reports officials visited Millan’s Dog Psychology Center in Santa Clarita on Thursday night to check on the health of the pig after receiving “numerous complaints.” However, Millan was out of town on a business trip at the time, reports NBC Los Angeles. Officials say Millan was then given 24 hours to get in touch with investigators. It isn’t clear if he has now done so.

The episode showed a French bulldog/terrier mix named Simon, who had previously attacked its owner’s potbellied pigs, biting the ear of a pig when introduced to the animal. “It was really difficult to watch,” says a professional dog trainer. “It’s not the way to rehabilitate an animal that is fearful and aggressive to pigs.” A pair of Change.orgpetitions are calling for the show to be cancelled. Nat Geo Wild, however, says viewers “did not see or understand the full context of the encounter.” It adds “Cesar took precautions” and the pig “was tended to immediately afterward, healed quickly, and showed no lasting signs of distress.” A clip from the same episode shows Simon calmly interacting with the pig after the attack.

I am a dog lover…..and I do not believe this guy’s hype even before this incident…..if this is true then he needs to be charged and sent to a jury …..then call me for a punishment…..

Don’t Let The Door Hit You In The Butt!

Back in January iw rote a piece telling of the abuse of a charity by office insiders…..a popular veterans charity, the wounded Warrior Project, is having a problem of a high ranking officer that is pissing away the donations….(in case you missed my post)…….

Source: Wounded Warrior Project:  Say It Isn’t So – In Saner Thought

After that story it has been learned that the chief operating officer has been terminated from the charity……

The board of Wounded Warrior Project, one of the nation’s largest veteran support groups, has fired two top officials amid news reports accusing the group of wasteful spending, the AP reports. According to a statement released late Thursday on behalf of the group, CEO Steve Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano are no longer with the organization. The Wounded Warrior Project’s board of directors had hired outside legal counsel and forensic accounting consultants to conduct an independent review of the Jacksonville, Fla.-based organization’s records and interviews with current and ex-employees. In late January, CBS News and the New York Times reported the organization spends 40% to 50% of its money on overhead—including extravagant parties—while other veterans charities have overhead costs of 10% to 15%.

The review found that the group’s most recent audited financial statement showed the organization spent 80.6% of donations on programming, and that an employee conference at a resort reported to have cost $3 million actually cost about $970,000, according to the board’s statement. However, the organization says it will cut back on events such as the employee conference and is putting limits on employee travel and expenses; financial statements will be independently audited and posted on the group’s website, the board said. A newly created Office of the CEO, led by board chairman Anthony Odierno, will oversee the Wounded Warrior Project on an interim basis. “It is now time to put the organization’s focus directly back on the men and women who have so bravely fought for our country and who need our support,” Odierno says.

Good!  Now can they do something about the overhead costs of 50%?

Other charities work on about 15%……why is WWP so high?

How sad that greed has invaded even our charities for veterans…..that is nothing short of pathetic!

He Must BE Stopped!

I never thought that the 2016 election would be so damn fascinating to observe….no matter the party it is interesting to see how the American voting public is reacting to this candidate or that…..

Since one man in the race has won almost everything….the GOP “establishment”is pulling NO punches……they must find a way to stop the man from the prize, the nomination……

They are resorting to get a failed presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, to do an info-mercial to dissuade voters from his side……

Now an editor for Breitbart, Ben Shapirio,  has issued 3 reason that Trump is NO conservative……

First, the idolatry of a certain segment of his following. Trump has drawn some of the worst elements of American life to his campaign. To be sure, most of his supporters are decent Americans who find his approach to politics a revelation: He’s an outsider, someone who will “get things done.” Some of his followers identify with his hard-line position on illegal immigration and his dislike of free trade, even though Trump could flip those positions in a heartbeat if he felt the political necessity to do so.

Which leads to the second reason Trump should concern conservatives: his appeal to nasty causes. Trump desperately wants popularity. He gauges his success by the size of his crowds, his success in the polls, and the compliments he receives in the press. He’ll talk up Russian dictator thug Vladimir Putin so long as Putin calls him “brilliant.” And he’ll go easy on former KKK leader David Duke if Duke endorses him. Trump’s lack of moral principle makes him an easy mark for some of the worst people on the planet. Combine the fact that he is drawn to those who would manipulate him with the fact that he has a worshipful crowd following him, and it’s not difficult to see how the Trump movement ends in tragedy.

Finally, conservatives should oppose Trump full-throatedly because he’s perverting conservatism. Even as he cultivates idolatry and massages white supremacists and global tyrants, Trump proclaims that he’s a conservative. Many of us who have spent a lifetime fighting against the false notion that conservatism is a toxic brew of secret racism and fascism; Trump’s rise provides easy fodder for the opposition. And his followers refuse to acknowledge that Trump has little to do with conservatism. Instead, they allow him to use the mantle of Lincoln and Reagan and the founders to shield his own egocentric rise from criticism.

But wait  I thought the Breitbart group was a cheer leader for Trump….what’s up with this?

I find it interesting that the GOP would try to sabotage the candidate that about 30% of their party supports….this is a story to watch, I believe…..

 

The Darkness is Coming!

There is one issue in this race that can truly be called bi-partisanship……armed conflict.

No matter the party……hawkish sentiments prevails in both….as a foreign policy geek, especially the subject of war….I am having a hard time finding a candidate that I can get behind 100%……all seem to be too far right to my liking……

I read a really good piece on this unlikely bi-partisanship…….

One grim party game for election 2016 involves the question, which candidate will be the least bloodthirsty? There is no answer to be found, just educated guesses. Sen. Bernie Sanders and wildcard Donald Trump might be the least overtly, specifically hawkish candidates left, but neither of them can be trusted not to continue the warmonger […]

Source: On Killer Bipartisanship – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

It is as if the Democratic Party has moved into the sphere of the neocons….while I like most of Bernie’s stands there is still the nagging question of what he will do as far as foreign policy is concerned……

It is as if he believes that this interventionism is a good thing for the country….with that I cannot agree……

Has the Democratic party moved so far to the neoconnish right that red-baiting is now back in fashion in those circles? One would certainly think so if the latest Clinton-Sanders debate is any indication. I’ve covered the Republican presidential debates in this space while mostly neglecting the Democratic debates for the simple reason that foreign […]

Source: Sanders, Clinton, and the Neoconning of the Democratic Party – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

No matter who wins this contest…..there is a darkness coming……a new Neocon shadow will spread across the nation…..

Democracy and Its Discontents

This election has two distinct “firsts”……the voters are really pissed and have shown it by the candidates they are supporting….on the GOP side the voter has forsaken the more traditional candidates for the likes of Donald Trump and on the Dem side the voter is torn between a populist like Bernie Sanders and a more “establishment” candidate in Hillary Clinton…..

The media has been trying desperately trying to find something, anything that could help explain why their polling is so wrong…..after 6 months of pushing one candidate over another…their massive mind f*ck has not worked and they are totally confused and a bit irritated….

There has been op-ed after op-ed trying to explain this phenom….some of the best political minds in the media are completely stumped and are scrambling hoping that the “disturbance in the force” will soon right itself…..

But until then……I offer yet another op-ed to the growing list……

Source: Democracy and Its Discontents: “I’m as Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore” – LA Progressive

Remember the stories about the 1929 Wall Street crash about those weaklings that threw themselves out of windows…..well if these guys cannot get it right soon there will be a rush for the local bridge and the standing room only line waiting to jump…..

What would Pres. Trump mean for the Middle East?

The next president will be up to his/her proverbial butt in the Middle East…..that may well be the deciding policy for his/her presidency…..no matter how they try to ignore the situation it will be there like a bruised rib….aggravating and lasting…….

I am pretty sure that I have an idea, a good idea, of what a Clinton presidency will look like for the Middle East…..more of the same as we have today and probably a lot deeper in action….

Most of the other candidates I can get a bead on their possible course of action in the region…..most but not that of Donald Trump.  Will he stick to his rhetoric?  Or will he be more open to solving problems without the use of force?

What would a President Trump mean for the Middle East?

Could the Republican candidate’s proclaimed ‘neutrality’ on Israel-Palestine off-set his rhetoric about Muslims?

Source: What would Donald Trump mean for the Middle East? – Al Jazeera English

Let’s say the he, Trump, follows the suit of his predecessors and decides that armed conflict is a must….will he do what most have done and block out Congress on any decisions?

Trump will have the power……which direction will he decide is the prudent one?

Beginning with President Truman’s decision to go to war against North Korea without congressional approval, U.S. presidents of both parties have unilaterally ordered the use of military force. As George Washington correctly recognized, the Constitution “vests the power of declaring war with Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be authorized until they [Congress] have deliberated upon the subject, and authorized such a measure.” Washington had it right — the drafters of the Constitution only intended for presidents to act unilaterally in an emergency, when there was no time to consult Congress.

Source: Could a President Trump go to war at his sole discretion? | TheHill

These are issues that the voter should take into consideration before voting…..after all their families are the ones that will have to make a Trump policy work or not……