Update
My granddaughter, Britnye, graduated from middle school Thursday night. One of the reasons I've been swamped. She asked me to do the father-daughter dance with her, her dad being in NJ. So, for fun, I wore a tux. She lives in a small farming town. I saw two grads with ties, three dads with ties, but I had the only bow tie. And the only suit jacket. Very rural area--lots of jeans. Been swamped lately, between obligations and my friend John being in town. ~Bob
General News and Comment
Hillary goes ugly early with racism claims. By Chris Stirewalt
Excerpt: If Hillary Clinton is concerned enough about her candidacy to already be making accusation of racism against her potential Republican rivals, this is going to be a long election cycle for her and for the rest of the country. Down in Texas for a campaign event aimed at restoring her relationship with black Democrats who rejected her 2008 candidacy, Clinton said that laws requiring voters to show identification at polls were part of “a sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color, poor people and young people from one end of our country to the other.” Note the language here. It’s not a misguided effort with an unfortunate result, it is a deliberate effort to prevent minorities from voting. That’s not just racist, that’s evil.
IRS sends Congress unsigned form letter to brush off demands for Clinton
Excerpt: The IRS responded to a Republican request for an investigation into the Clinton Foundation's tax-exempt status with a one-page form letter that starts with "Dear Sir or Madam."
In May, more than 50 House Republicans asked the IRS to review the Clinton Foundation's tax-exempt status, after it became clear that the foundation had failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments. That letter, led by Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee , said a review was "appropriate" given that this money was accepted and not reported while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of state.
Democrats fret over recent Hillary Clinton polling
Excerpt: Early-state Democrats are evenly divided over whether Hillary Clinton’s campaign should be worried about recent polls showing her highest unfavorability ratings in years. Exactly 50 percent say there’s cause for concern while the other 50 percent saw no reason for alarm.
Of course: Inevitable Hillary Calls for Universal Vote. By Lewis Morris
Excerpt: The media and the Democrat establishment have done a fine job trying to convince the American people that Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States . We only need to sit back and accept it like we would the next sunrise. But all isn’t well with the Clinton brand these days. In fact, the case could be made that her road to the White House is not nearly as foregone a conclusion as we’ve been told. The lengthy list of Clinton scandals hasn’t seemed to stop the Hillary machine just yet, but the Clinton Foundation’s numerous sketchy dealings are beginning to take their toll. (Democrats support universal voting because the more low-info, or ignorant voters they can get to the polls, the better they will do. Same reason they oppose Vote ID--voter fraud is about 90% in their favor, always has been in the cities. ~Bob)
Excerpt: He has virtually no chance to get the Democratic nomination but former Rhode Island Governor and Senator Lincoln Chafee deserves credit. He finally said what all responsible Democrats need to acknowledge about their inevitable nominee:
Longtime Clinton
http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/05/longtime-clinton-insider-says-hillary-hasnt-given-convincing-explanation-for-email-donation-scandals/#ixzz3cF3wWlOY
Excerpt: Reich says that Hillary Clinton needs to be more transparent and that she has more yet to explain concerning her use of a private email account as secretary of state and the millions of dollars she and Bill have been paid for speeches. “She hasn’t yet given a convincing explanation for why she used a private email account when she was secretary of state, and why she and her husband have made so many speeches for hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop from special interests that presumably want something in return,” the former Clinton confidant told ABC News.
Excerpt: Reich says that Hillary Clinton needs to be more transparent and that she has more yet to explain concerning her use of a private email account as secretary of state and the millions of dollars she and Bill have been paid for speeches. “She hasn’t yet given a convincing explanation for why she used a private email account when she was secretary of state, and why she and her husband have made so many speeches for hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop from special interests that presumably want something in return,” the former Clinton confidant told ABC News.
Rick Perry has the best story to tell of any GOP contender. By Matthew Yglesias
Excerpt: Nobody seems to be taking Rick Perry very seriously in 2016 because he proved to be such a poor candidate during the 2012 Republican primary debates. Those inclined to write him off may well be right. But he does have at least one big thing going for him — far and away the best and most coherent story of any candidate in the field about why his record in office should make you think he could deliver the kind of prosperity the voters crave.
George Pataki: a Vanity Candidate among Vanity Candidates. By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419222/george-pataki-vanity-candidate-among-vanity-candidates-jonah-goldberg?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=GFile&utm_campaign=Gfile06052015
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419222/george-pataki-vanity-candidate-among-vanity-candidates-jonah-goldberg?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=GFile&utm_campaign=Gfile06052015
Excerpt: I am trying hard not rule out anyone in the GOP field prematurely. So far, only Donald Trump has been too heavy a lift. Trump sees the presidential race as self-marketing opportunity, a way to extend his run as a reality-TV star. He’s a more plausible candidate than, say, Honey Boo Boo, but that’s mostly because of constitutional age limits. Pataki vexes me for similar reasons. The pro-choice, liberal Republican has virtually no chance of getting the nomination. But lots of people run as vanity projects. I wish they wouldn’t, but it’d be unfair to single out Pataki for it.
Hypocrisy nirvana attained: Obama admin targets airplane emission cuts as John Kerry is chauffeured home in a C-17. By Doug Powers
Excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to report as early as Friday its conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes endanger human health because they significantly contribute to global warming…A US military C-17 transport aircraft that usually carries at least 100 troops flew to Geneva Airport to pick up Secretary of State John Kerry and flew him to Boston where he’ll be treated for a broken leg.
Surprise! NYT’s Embarrassing Rubio Hit Piece Came From Democratic Super PAC. By Alex Griswold
Excerpt: A reporter at the Washington Free Beacon discovered that The New York Times’ embarrassing story attacking Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio for traffic violations was almost certainly planted by a Democratic super PAC. “Marco Rubio and His Wife Cited 17 Times for Traffic Infractions” is the headline of Friday’s Times piece, which credits three separate reporters. Missing from the headline is the important context that the candidate himself only had four violations to his name, over the span of two decades.
Ted Cruz discusses radical terrorism and ISIS at WRKO Town Hall
Standing Ovation For Saying Words Obama Won’t. --Del
A 14-week-old unborn baby appears to clap its hands together while the parents sing!
A Marine Trod Hallowed Ground. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Comment for today was not planned. But a note received this morning, and read over coffee, from a Marine changed my mind. Not much too say, I've. The Marine said plenty...
Scots heroic last stand in 1940 to be remembered
Excerpt: A HEROIC but ultimately tragic last stand by Scottish troops against the Nazi onslaught in France in 1940 is to be commemorated this week at the northern French town of St Valery . The defiant action of the 51st Highland Division, which held back General Erwin Rommel’s tanks as thousands of British troops made their escape from Dunkirk , will be remembered in three days of ceremonies. The events will involve families of veterans, the British consul, French dignitaries, a detachment of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and Geoffrey Bridden, a veteran of the fighting. The action comprised the worst Scottish military disaster since the Battle of Flodden 1513 and saw 10,000 Scottish troops captured by the Germans, to spend the rest of the war as PoWs. The fighting flared around the town of St Valery , south of Dunkirk , where the 51st Highlanders were put under the command of the French in an effort to persuade France to not surrender. (The Reel of the 51, devised by the highlanders in a POW camp, and traditionally dance in all male sets, was always one of my favorite Scottish Country Dances. ~Bob)
Re-founding Father
Excerpt: The central feature of Mr. Obama’s rewrite of what one might call the Founding Fathers’ original vision has been to abolish Congress. Yes, the 535 men and women elected to Congress still show up at the old Capitol building, as they have since November 1800. But once past passage of ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, the 44th president effectively retired Congress from its historic function. If you put the president behind the wheel of a car in front of the White House to visit Congress, he’d probably get lost.
You've Been Hacked ... Do This Right Now
Excerpt: Notify the credit agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and request a 90-day credit alert. (Each reporting agency is supposed to notify the others, but you may want to contact all three yourself.) The alert tells businesses to contact you before opening any new accounts in your name. You can renew the alert every 90 days, or you're entitled to keep it in effect for seven years if you find that your identity is stolen and file a report with police. (Simple, basic information here. The article also has a link to the FTC’shttp://www.identitytheft.gov/ website. I hope none of us ever need to use this info, but better to have and not need.... Ron P.)
Marcus Luttrell: Navy SEAL and American hero to you. “Sweaty bodyguard” to the left.
Excerpt: When Governor Rick Perry announced he was running for president there were two bearded men standing behind him: Marcus and Morgan Luttrell. Marcus Luttrell was (as much as you can ever use the word “was” in this context) a Navy SEAL and the sole survivor of Operation Red Wings. His story was made into a bestselling book and popular movie called Lone Survivor.
EXCLUSIVE: UN sex abuse scandal: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces new inquiry
Excerpt: Another way to look at it is that the U.N.’s top bureaucrat was trying to keep the explosive sex abuse issue from spinning further out of control, amid a gout of document leaks, finger-pointing and U.N. investigations criticized as focused on hushing up leakers than on protecting additional young and starving children in the war-torn CAR from rape, sodomy and other predatory offenses. Moreover, the CAR controversy is only the latest crest in a swelling critique of the U.N.’s ability to protect the innocent from sex abuse where its blue-and-white flag is flying—a critique that includes a long-suppressed report of U.N.-appointed experts who have decried a “culture of impunity” in U.N. peacekeeping missions when it comes to such crimes. The latest controversy has been further fueled by U.N. document leaks that raised the possibility of retaliatory collusion by the organization’s independent Ethics Officer; the head of its main independent internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS); the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Ban’s top deputy against Anders Kompass, a senior U.N. human rights official who first brought the Central African Republic scandal into the daylight. (This article regarding UN's issues. Saw a special on a TV network about an American who set up shop in Malaysia , bragging about his string of youngsters under 16, confessing his wife had "just found out about my business here." Special noted each branch of the US service had its own kid bar. They were selling their virginity--with elder relatives' help--to get money and food for their families. They could make more money with wealthy foreigners. An Irish priest was trying to reclaim them, recondition their thoughts to be children, go to school, give up soliciting, working in conjunction with Malay social services and government forces. The American had no remorse about being arrested and cursed the hidden cameraman/network reporter for "causing me the inconvenience of being taken to the capitol." He said his Mamasan resolved the last raid on his place by producing documentation that the girls were legal age; they brought in birth certificates from older siblings. Finally had to change the channel. Wanted to vomit. Take God out of the US ; put in all kinds of sex, orientations, money, drugs, anything goes, service to self gratification. Add a hefty dose of corruption and "I don't give a damn" attitude. Voila. Transformation of the United States . Maybe it has always been this way and we just thought we were better folks. But you can't put this out in the Universe without it coming back....or at least, the Blood Moon prophecies say it is around the corner. --Barb)
NSA reportedly has expanded US
Excerpt: The warrantless surveillance was legalized in 2008....Under the PRISM program, the NSA, pursuant to secret court orders, collects intelligence about foreign threats through U.S. Internet companies. ...At least one NSA lawyer was worried that a lot of information about innocent Americans would be incidentally collected, the reports said. (Only one lawyer concerned about constitutional rights of the folks? Everyone else has the "Pearl Harbor " mentality to go carte blanche. --Barb)
Latest CNN Poll Holds Big (BAD) Surprise for Obama
Excerpt: The latest CNN poll holds some tough news for president Obama, finding that of all of our living Presidents, he is now the least popular. It seems that the rehabilitation of President George W. Bush’s image continues to proceed as planned, because President Bush is now more popular than President Obama! While many Democrats believed this day would never come, it seems it has come much sooner than Republicans could have ever dreamed.
12 Questions about WWII All Americans Should Be Able To Answer
I thought this was easy, got all 12. I'd expect every educated American over the age of 65 to get them all. But maybe I'd be disappointed. --Del. 12/12. ~Bob
Angry American--Country Song
Rising Dragon News
Another Controversy Over Hillary Clinton’s Time at the State Department. By Fred Lucas
Excerpt: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did nothing to stop the sale of a Michigan battery company to a Chinese firm, despite making complaints about it on the campaign trail last month, the Detroit Free Press reported. A123 Systems was sold to Wanxiang in early 2013. During a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, Clinton raised concerns about the sale during a town hall meeting. “That does concern me, because a lot of foreign companies, particularly Chinese companies … are looking to buy American companies,” said Clinton, the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Inside the Chinese Boot Camps Designed to Break Video Game Addiction
Excerpt: The camo and calisthenics in these photos may call to mind a military academy, but they actually document a rehab center for internet addicts. China has more online gamers—368 million—than the United States has people. Perhaps it's no surprise then that Chinese parents, psychiatrists, and media often describe wangyin, or internet addiction, as a clinical disorder. Sometimes called "digital heroin," it is said to afflict 24 million young people.
Yes! "Letters of Marque" for hackers? By Jonah Goldberg, The Goldberg File
The Chinese hack-attack on the United States is shocking only in its scale. Last night on Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said we need to threaten the Chinese with reprisal attacks of a similar nature. I agree entirely. But I wish I’d been on the panel last night so I could once again make the case for Letters of Marque for cyber privateers. Cyberspace today is essentially like the oceans of the 18th century: full of bad actors and vast realms of lawlessness. We don’t have the ability or the technology to police it all, but we can create incentives for others to police the digital ocean in ways the United States can’t. Now some of you will object that we signed some stupid treaty promising not to issue Letters of Marque anymore, to which I say “Nah, nah, nah I can’t hear you.” But I will add that we don’t have to call them Letters of Marque, even though I think that sounds so frick’n cool. The point is that we need to be getting a lot more creative in how we teach the Chinese and the Russians that cyber anarchy is not in their interests, either.
CBS: Suspected Chinese Cyber Attack ‘An Embarrassment’ for Obama Administration. Official tells Garrett: 'This is bad. There is no way to put lipstick on this pig.' By Davit Rutz
Excerpt: A suspected Chinese-engineered cyber attack that compromised the personal data of about 4 million current and former federal employees is an “embarrassment” to the Obama administration, CBS White House reporter Major Garrett said Friday. On CBS This Morning, Garrett reported U.S. officials suspected Chinese hackers were responsible for the massive attack based on the “malicious software used and the information targeted.” Both the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Interior were breached. Neither agency was protected by “Einstein,” the U.S. government cyberdefense system that currently protects about half the government’s agencies and will be fully deployed in 2016.
Excerpt: China is building massive databases of Americans’ personal information by hacking government agencies and U.S. health care companies, using a high-tech tactic to achieve a traditional goal of espionage: recruiting spies or gaining more information on your enemy, analysts say. Groups of hackers working for the Chinese government have to date compromised the networks of the Office of Personnel Management, which holds data on millions of current and former federal employees, as well as health insurance giant Anthem, among other targets, the researchers said.
Troubled Waters. By Clifford D. May
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/may-clifford-d-asias-troubled-waters/
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/may-clifford-d-asias-troubled-waters/
Excerpt: “Creating facts on the ground” means changing reality through actions rather than diplomacy. China ’s rulers have gone further: Over the last 18 months they have been creating ground: over 2,000 new acres of islands more than 600 miles from China ’s coast, many built atop rocks and reefs claimed by their neighbors, including the Philippines , an important American ally. In recent days, the Chinese have been installing landing strips, helipads, harbors, radar installations, artillery pieces and other weapons. What makes this real estate so valuable? Location, location, location. The South China Sea is home to some of the world’s busiest and most strategic shipping lanes, a rich fishing area, and possibly large undersea oil and natural gas reserves.
Gun News
Police officer shoots, kills man at gas station
http://www.cbs46.com/story/29185542/witnesses-police-working-fatal-shooting-at-carrollton-gas-station#ixzz3c88OnraY
http://www.cbs46.com/story/29185542/witnesses-police-working-fatal-shooting-at-carrollton-gas-station#ixzz3c88OnraY
Excerpt: Dothard became agitated when he heard the corporal call for back-up and Dothard put his hand on his gun, police said. Police said Cook tried to physically restrain Dothard's hands and gave him verbal commands to not draw his weapon. Dothard did not comply with the verbal commands, according to police, and began to draw his weapon. Cook fired two rounds striking Dothard in the head. Dothard died at the scene.
NJ Woman Stabbed to Death While Waiting for State Permission to Own Gun. By Awr Hawkins
Excerpt: On April 21, Carol Bowne from Berlin Township , NJ
Kahr Arms set to open next month Gun manufacturer that fled
Excerpt: “About 40 to 50 people are already employed,” Harris said. When all plans come to fruition in to five years’ time, the number of employees is expected to reach 80 to 100. The company is now based in Rockland County , N.Y. , and has branches in Massachusetts and Minnesota , with a captive outlet in Los Angeles . New York 's new strict gun laws passed after the Newtown massacre in 2014 prompted the company to seek a more gun-friendly state.
Homeowner shoots man during attempted home invasion
Excerpt: "As he was making entry, the homeowner started shooting rounds through the door," Saulter added. "Evidence shows it was definitely a burglary." Relatives of the suspect said Trent Sinyard, 32, was shot once in the back and also suffered a deep graze in the back of the head. Deputies confirmed that information.
Teens at scene of deadly shooting charged in robbery plot Homeowner who fired deadly shot will not be charged, Berks DA says
http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/teens-at-scene-of-deadly-shooting-charged-in-robbery-plot/33373312
http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/teens-at-scene-of-deadly-shooting-charged-in-robbery-plot/33373312
Excerpt: The teens, along with Robert Stoudt, the man who was shot and killed, formed a plot to rob a man at his home in the unit block of Long Lane Road in Earl Township
Race Card News
Democrats and African Americans. From The Patriot Post
Upright: “African-Americans have been loyal to the Democratic Party, but there is a group of African-Americans that feel like the Democratic Party has not been loyal to us. ... We have a large, disproportionate number of people who are impoverished. We have a disproportionate number of people who are incarcerated, we have a disproportionate number of people who are unemployed, the educational system has totally failed, and all of this primarily has been under Democratic regimes in our neighborhoods. So, the question for me becomes, how can our neighborhoods be doing so awful and so bad when we’re so loyal to this party who is in power? It’s a matter of them taking complete advantage of our vote."—Chicago pastor Corey Brooks
Undocumented Democrat News
ICE Admits Putting Most Dangerous Illegals Back on the Street. By Michael Ware
Excerpt: The administration has not hidden its desire to see all of Mexico cross our borders and become American citizens. It is also easy to understand that ICE is overwhelmed. It should be harder to believe that this agency, which is meant to protect America is setting dangerous criminals back on the street. This would be unacceptable, but this is exactly what has been going on for years.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
EPA: Fracking's no big threat to water. For both anti-fracking groups and the industry, it's another example of Obama’s mixed messages on fossil fuels. By Elana Schor
Excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency’s long-awaited report on fracking dismayed liberal green groups Thursday while pleasing the oil and gas industry — the latest episode in both sides’ fraught relationship with President Barack Obama. The study, more than four years in the making, said the EPA has found no signs of “widespread, systemic” drinking water pollution from hydraulic fracturing. That conclusion dramatically runs afoul of one of the great green crusades of the past half-decade, which has portrayed the oil- and gas-extraction technique as a creator of fouled drinking water wells and flame-shooting faucets.
Bad News For Obama, Good News For Africa . By James Delingpole
Excerpt: In your Coast Guard Academy speech on May 20, you said that "severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram." You can retract that now - because the latest evidence, published yesterday (6/02), is that northern Nigeria and the entire area of the southern Sahara Desert Senegal to Sudan , boosting crop yields since the 1990s and helping the population to feed itself again. The journal Nature Climate Change found that Sahel summer rainfall was about 10 per cent, or 0.3mm, higher per day in 1996-2011 than in the drought period of 1964-93. (I just love seeing the rare "Good News" article these days. Heaven knows, we need to see them now and then! This one is a real winner. The writer is a tad zingy towards Mr. Obama, but he gets to do that, it's part of journalism now, as long as you still only quote facts and give references or links. And it IS good news that people should hear about. --Del )
Religion of Peace News
Israeli TV: Islamic State Is Approaching Israeli Border On Golan Heights
Excerpt: Today, Israeli TV Channel 2 reported that Islamic State is approaching the Israeli border on the Golan Heights . ISIS forces are now only 40 miles from Kuneitra, Channel 2 News reported at 12.00 PM local time. ISIS is advancing in the direction of Israel from the Druze Mountains
Important: U.S.
Excerpt: Nearly 75 percent of U.S. bombing runs targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria returned to base without firing any weapons in the first four months of 2015, holding their fire mainly because of a lack of ground intelligence and raising questions about President Obama’s key tactic in pushing back an enemy that continues to expand its territory in the war zone. Key lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated by the slow rate of U.S. bombing sorties, a frustration shared by a former Navy pilot who said in an interview that U.S. forces are clearly needed on the ground in Iraq to help provide targets for these pilots to hit. Without ground forces, argues Cmdr. Christopher Harmer, a retired Navy helicopter pilot, U.S. airmen are essentially flying half-blind and, as a result, are returning to base with their bombs still in the bay. (More of what we've just seen recently from the pilots. When will this Administration and the PC generals learn? Apparently, never. --Del )
US Can Only Watch as Disaster Looms in Ramadi. By Zachary Fillingham
Excerpt: The Obama administration’s strategy of arming and training the Iraqi armed forces to stabilize the country is a failure, and an expensive one at that having cost US taxpayers around $26 billion in aid. If some were willing to reserve judgement after the fall of Mosul – it was, after all, a shocking turn of events – the fall of Ramadi removed any shred doubt from rational minds. The Iraqi Army does not have what it takes to reverse the tide of Islamic State’s advance. The US-led air campaign has also disappointed.
Poll: Arabs Prefer to Live in Israel , Not ‘Palestine
Excerpt: Oppression? Apartheid state? Persecution? Racism? A poll recently commissioned by Channel 10 and conducted by the Statnet research institute, which is headed by Israeli Arab statistician Yousef Makladeh, shows that the vast majority of Arabs living in Israel , including Judea and Samaria
Turkish Islamists Target Historic Hagia Sophia Church. By Burak Bekdil
Excerpt: In 2014, a group of marketing gurus produced impressive visual material that became Turkey 's public relations (PR) face across the globe. The campaign, aiming to make Turkey one of the world's top five tourist destinations by 2023, danced around the slogan "Home of...""Home of Coffee," one poster said. "Home of Trade," said another. The list included "Home of Troy,""Home of Ancient Gods" and "Home of the Iliad," too. But not just that. According to the PR campaign, Turkey was also "Home of Virgin Mary" and "Home of Christianity." The latter two sufficed to make Turkey "Home of Bad Jokes." Ironically, as the PR campaigners put out posters telling the world that Turkey was "Home of Christianity," crowds of Islamic religious "imam school" graduates gathered in Istanbul and issued a press statement demanding that the historic Hagia Sophia Church function as a mosque:
Shaked: “‘It’s not politically correct to be anti-Semitic, but it’s super-in to be anti-Israel.” By Lahav Harkov, JPOST
Excerpt: The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is the new anti-Semitism and wants to destroy Israel , Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said on Wednesday, in response to a motion to the agenda from coalition and opposition MKs calling to fight those who seek to delegitimize Israel . The discussion was marked by shouting matches over whether BDS is an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic movement or simply seeks to bring an end to Israel ’s presence in areas liberated in 1967. “BDS opposes Israel as the Jewish state. It wants to blacken us and destroy us as a Jewish and democratic state,” Shaked explained. “The boycotters don’t talk about Judea and Samaria , they talk about the State of Israel.”
Enemy of my enemy: Re-evaluating the Islamic State's Relationship with the Ba'athist JRTN. By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Excerpt: Since the full-blown revival of Iraq 's Sunni insurgency at the beginning of 2014, there has been much misunderstanding of the relationship between the Islamic State and insurgents of Baathist orientation, principally represented by the Jaish Rijaal al-Tariqa al-Naqshabandiyya (JRTN). Much of the discourse on this subject attempts to tie the JRTN to the Islamic State, arguing that a so-called 'alliance of convenience' between the two groups has been key to the Islamic State's maintenance of power in areas outside of government control. Linked to this theme is the portrayal of the Islamic State as somehow Baathism reincarnated, most commonly noting the former careers that many leading figures in the group had in the security apparatus of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's government. As such, it is worthwhile to trace the relationship between the JRTN and the Islamic State from the initial emergence of the former until the present day, primarily focusing on the aftermath of the United States' military withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011, in order to highlight that the common notion of the 'alliance of convenience' is mistaken and that there is a clear dividing line between the two groups.
Sunni Tribes Need Arms and Support to Fight ISIS, By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/gartenstein-ross-daveed-sunni-tribes-need-arms-and-support-to-fight-isis/
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/gartenstein-ross-daveed-sunni-tribes-need-arms-and-support-to-fight-isis/
Excerpt: While American officials point their fingers at the Iraqi military’s shortcomings, the Islamic State’s recent conquest of Ramadi is a U.S. policy failure. The United States still has an opportunity to turn that around, but the window is rapidly closing. Ramadi had for years been a symbol of the errors made by ISIS’s predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq . The Awakening movement — in which Sunni tribes rebelled against Al Qaeda’s excesses during Iraq ’s civil war — was announced in Ramadi in September 2006. The anti-Qaeda uprising served as a model that was exported throughout Iraq , with the U.S. military playing a key role. This method of tribal engagement was central to Al Qaeda’s defeat in 2007-08.
Worth Hearing: Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL
Scary: Quietly, al-Qaeda offshoots expand in Yemen and Syria
Excerpt: Al-Qaeda affiliates are significantly expanding their footholds in Syria and Yemen , using the chaos of civil wars to acquire territory and increase their influence, according to analysts, residents and intelligence officials. The gains have helped the terror group’s affiliates become major players in the countries and have complicated efforts to resolve the conflicts. Al-Qaeda offshoots could also be gaining sanctuaries to eventually plan attacks against the United States and Europe , analysts say.
ISIS Fighter Tweets Selfie And In Less Than 24 Hours He Gets a ‘Reply’ – from the U.S.
Excerpt: Selfies being all the rage, one ISIS fighter just didn’t want to miss out on the hottest thing around. Little did one jihadist know that humble-bragging online to get some RTs on Twitter would get subtweeted along with 3 JDAM bombs. ... “It was a post on social media to bombs on target in less than 24 hours,” Carlisle told Military.com. “Incredible work when you think about [it].”
UNHCR reinforcing presence in Greek islands amid six-fold increase in refugee arrivals
Excerpt: UNHCR is stepping up its field presence in the eastern Aegean islands of Greece where in recent weeks sea arrivals from Turkey have been averaging some 600 people a day, straining limited (and in some cases non-existent) local reception capacities. In the first five months of 2015, over 42,000 people arrived by sea to Greece , most of them refugees. This is six times the level of the same period last year (6,500) and almost the same as the total for all of 2014 (43,500). More than 90 per cent of the people arriving are from refugee-producing countries, principally Syria (over 60 per cent of arrivals this year), Afghanistan , Iraq , Somalia and Eritrea .
*****
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.
