Fire Hydrant of Freedom

Asked to post this here...  Political satire from Bill Whittle is always entertaining and generally 'spot-on':

https://www.billwhittle.com/


Also, if you can still find them on Youtube, the Whiteboard voice-overs he did (I think for PJ Media) are great, i.e. the one on the Palestinian conflict.  I wish he would do more of these.  It's quite evidently his voice.  These were actually how I 'discovered' him.  I recall there being at least a half dozen ofthem on various subjects but I'm not in posession of a single repository site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZY8m0cm1oY

Bill Whittle is scathingly awesome.

https://www.billwhittle.com/

Another one I came across recently that appears to offer intelligent information...  see their 'about'.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/default.asp

"Kill kill kill Kill Christians."   ...Probably something just lost in translation there...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/14/Boko-Haram-Mocks-Social-Media-Campaign-For-Adducted-Schoolgirls

Interesting... tx

This is going to seem a little OT at first...   the recent immigration crisis has sparked a discussion here in Michigan in a little town called Vassar.  Wolverine Services, a juvenile social serrvice provider, has been approached to house illegal Unaccompanied Minors.  According to a YOu tube video of a spokesperson from the company appearing before the town last night, Wolverine was approached by Heartland Alliance, a Chicago non-profit that runs the Heartland Alliance for Refugee Ressettlement-- basically a pro-amnesty/ pro-immigration / pro-"refugee" (their word) group.

The interesting part is, in looking into Heartland, I discovered that several blogs link Heartland to the Woods Fund, where both Obama and Bill Ayers served as members of the Board, but (I understand) at different times.  Woods Fund has made multiple contributions to not only Heartland, but also ACORN, Tides, etc.

Also perhaps interestingly, I came across a Gateway Pundit report from 2009 about the denial of a long-standing grant to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) specifically on the political refugee issue, stating "While the Obama administration extended the contract briefly in March, the bishops were recently notified that it would not be renewed. Instead, Obama officials awarded the grant to three other groups (Tapestri of Atlanta, *****Heartland Human Care Services of Chicago***** and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants of Washington) — even though the bishops have helped more than 2,700 victims with the funding."

Maybe nothing, maybe something.  All of this is of course HIGHLY circumstantial, but it serves to explain why I would be posting links about Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground in this thread.

And, of course, critics will say 'that all that stuff about Ayers was all a long time ago', and etc.  I have listened to videos of Ayers several times recently.  For the most part, in his speeches, he comes across to me as a fairly 'typical' leftist  professor.  The exception maybe being the recent interviews I saw he gave Megan Kelly.  In his debate with Dinesh D'Souza, for example-- while I disagree with 95% of what Ayers said, he comes across as at least 'lucid' and I thought he managed to comport himself with the same degree of 'articulation of points' as D'Souza, for the most part.  In other words, while I am philisophically inclined toward the D'Souza side myself, I thought the debate was pretty much a 'tie' on points of reasoning.  For the most part, Ayers comes across **TODAY** as 'socially concerned' and 'not especially violent'.  And, for the most part, most Americans today younger than me (1970) have no idea who the Weather Underground even was.  i.e. 'So Obama launched his campaign in the house of some guy named Ayers?  So what.?'

Anyway,  I am a big believer in not taking the spin, but in trying to get as close to first hand accounts as I can.  So I was Googling around today and coame up with what I thought were some interesting links, which I will post in reverse order.

The first is to the WU's 1974 written manfesto 'Prairie Fire', which i found especially interesting as it goes into lengthy detail about the need to "open a new [domestic] front" in "the revolution"; and on the need to work from INSIDE the castle walls, so to speak in an effort to overthrow the government, described as "neo-colonialist", "imperialist", etc..  For instance, descibing "their transitional strategy [SDS to WU} to maintain the militant mass base on the campuses, while we deepened our base among the working class."  Etc.

http://www.sds-1960s.org/PrairieFire-reprint.pdf

If nothing else, a thorugh skim will give you a deeper understanding of the Obama presidency, as , in as far as I can tell, this reads like a play book.

The second is to a declassified FBI report into the WU, which is where I got the name and idea of trying to Google the former and see if there was an extant copy of the floating around on the internet.

http://vault.fbi.gov/Weather%20Underground%20%28Weathermen%29/Weather%20Underground%20%28Weathermen%29%20Part%201%20of%206/view

Other people (D'Souza, for instance) have done a better job than I could  in unpacking the circumstantial evidence regarding a possible relationship between Ayers and Obama.  To me, not really being a conspiracy theorist, it's enough to describe them as "Fellow Chicago Leftists"  But the repeatedly recurring connections are intriguing to me.

Thirty or forty years from now, maybe we'll know.  

1.   
2.   
3. 

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/wh-weve-substantially-improved-tranquility-global-community

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/14/us-libya-violence-idUSKBN0FJ0ZT20140714

Verdict expected this week...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/07/14/live-updates-from-courtroom-tsarnaev-friend-trial/pmSRzLwtWsls0LRoZ6wDrK/story.html

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/14/urdu-dictionary-found-on-texas-ranch-near-border-we-just-dont-know-whos-here-already/


(Woof Mike:  Nice find.  To help future research efforts, please put something descriptive in the subject line, e.g. as I have done for you here-- TIA, Marc)

One word:  "Hiroshima."

Your argument is invalid.
 
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/12/Column-Israel-s-Iron-Dome-Provides-Unfair-Advantage-Against-Hamas

http://www.thejerusalemconnection.us/blog/2014/07/05/isis-already-in-gaza-strip.html

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, GATESTONE—
 
Despite denials by Hamas, there is growing evidence that the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] — also known as “The Islamic State” — has begun operating in the Gaza Strip.
 
Palestinian Authority [PA] and Israeli security sources are convinced that followers of ISIS in the Gaza Strip are responsible for some of the recent rocket attacks on Israel.
 
Hamas, they say, seems to be losing control over the dozens of terror cells belonging to ISIS and other jihadi groups.
 
Eyad al-Bazam, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior, earlier this week denied reports ISIS terrorists had infiltrated into Egypt through tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip. He described the reports as “lies and fabrications,” adding that they are part of a campaign to “distort the image of the Gaza Strip,” and that “There is no presence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip.”
 
The denial came in response to a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm according to which Egyptian security forces arrested 15 ISIS terrorists who tried to enter Sinai from the Gaza Strip. According to the report, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip facilitated the infiltration of the ISIS terrorists into Egypt so that they could carry out a terrorist attack against Egyptians.
 
The report said that the terrorists had been entrusted with establishing terror cells and branches of ISIS in Egypt.
 
Hamas is obviously nervous about the presence of ISIS terrorists in the Gaza Strip and sees them as a direct challenge to its rule. ISIS believes that Hamas is “too moderate” and is not doing enough to achieve the destruction of Israel.
 
Last month, Hamas sent its policemen and militias to disperse a rally organized by ISIS followers in the Gaza Strip to celebrate the recent “military victories” of the terrorist group in Iraq. Hamas prevented local journalists from covering the event as part of its attempt to deny the existence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip.
 
At the rally, attended by dozens of Islamists, the crowd chanted, “Khaybar, Khyabar, Ya Yahud, Jaish Mohamed Saya’ud!” (“O Jews, Mohamed’s army will return.”)
 
This is a battle cry that many Islamists like to chant to remind the Jews of the story of the battle fought in 629 CE by the Prophet Mohamed against the Jews of Khaybar, an oasis in northwestern Arabia. The battle resulted in the killing of many Jews, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
 
Earlier this year, masked militiamen in the Gaza Strip posted a video on YouTube in which they declared their allegiance to ISIS. The militiamen are believed to be members of a radical Islamist salafist group that has been operating in the Gaza Strip for the past few years.
 
Then, Hamas also denied that ISIS had any followers in the Gaza Strip. But Hamas seems to be trying to cover the sun with one finger.
 
At the funeral of two Islamists killed by the Israel Defense Forces last week in Gaza, funeral-goers carried flags and banners of ISIS.
 
Over the past decade, it has become clear that Hamas is not the only terrorist organization operating in the Gaza Strip, which has become a base for dozens of jihadi groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
 
The smuggling tunnels that used to link the Gaza Strip with Egypt (most have been destroyed by the Egyptian army over the past year) have facilitated the movement of thousands of Islamist terrorists in both directions.
 
The Gaza Strip is no longer a threat to Israel, but also to the national security of Egypt.
 
The only way to confront this threat is through security cooperation between Israel and Egypt, which have a common interest in preventing the Islamists from exporting their terrorism beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip.

I think you will enjoy it.  If nothing else, it will make your kid more aware of the arguments the left uses to undercut the country.  (But I'm guessing that probably isn't a problem at your house, either  )

Likewise, I plan to see it with my sons, they were just out of town and i didn't want to wait. 

I am actually hoping the movie gets a ton of positive press, I just wished DD could have gone into more detail...  It could have been a three hour movie and it probably would still have barely scratched the surface of how the intellectual left has pursued their current agenda.  Particularly their penetration of Academia and the Media.

And, for me it was at least 'awareness raising' as far as 'further follow-up'.  For instance, one anecdote from the movie that I hope will not be a spoiler.. according to the movie, the first female millionaire in America was a black woman, I didn't know that.  There are several other surprises, but I'll just drop that teaser out there in the hope that folks will see the movie.

Personally, while I think it would be highly satisfying to me personally as a conservative, I hope that conservatives WON'T try to impeach Obama.  My own preference is that they simply attempt to turn him into a post-November lame duck legislatively (presuming that conservatives get enough seats back to overide a veto).  My reason being that O still has a... let's just say 'zealous' in the religious sense of the word... 25-40% base that is going to become very, very (very) galvanized if Conservatives make that move, either after, or especially, before November.

Please don't misconstrue-- I think this president is an overt liar, he is a terrible president, he is actively trying to sink the country, and  he is ENTIRELY impeachable, quality wise.  I just think it would be a bad idea.... imagine how twirled up the media will get about it.  It will just pour political gas on the fire, whereas I think Obama can be just as effectively neutered legislatively, *assuming* conservatives gain that super majority.   A two-year impeachment trial portrayed for that duration by MSNBC as 'white racist conservatives gunning for the black guy' every night on  the news running up to 2016 is a mistake.

Eric Holder, now, HIM I hope they tar and feather after November.  I understand that he is also impeachable. ( )  If Conservatives win back the Congress, I will wager a digital beer that he simply resigns in the face of what is likely to be a very swift campaign to unseat him.

But, I'm open to opposing vp's.

BBC reporting last night that it is costing the Israeli's about $100,000 for every $1,000 rocket they shoot down.  In my view, for their own security, a ground operation into Gaza is therefore not only 'inevitable', but probably 'imminent', (Not a very 'stellar' prediction, I know. FYI, I also guess weights at carnivals).  ) 

And I have to say, if it happens within the current context, 'I support'...  Whatever 'rights' the Palestinians might have to an independent homeland, barring conquest, it will only ever be achieved via peacable means.  The Israeli's have (in my opinion) a larger right to defend themselves, in the face of the Palestinians shooting first, and the Palestinian politicians have to control the Palestinain guns.  We would not expect our own government to put up with the Canadians shelling Detroit, I think it's pretty obvious that the Israeli's should not have to put up with the shelling of their cities, either.   If Hamas wants to stop the airstrikes, stop the shelling.  In addition to demonstrating a willingness to respond, the other thing the Israeli's have been consistent about is showing restraint when the Palestinians stop.

Like for individuals, the inherent 'rights' of nations to defend themselves when attacked are, in my opinion, self evident.

@ GM, "LOL"

I think it wil be interested to see how Paul straddles this fence (FP).   As a 'good' conservative in my eyes, I am actually quite hopeful about his ability to serve the pro-Constitutional movement; and actually went to a RNC luncheon just to watch him speak once last year (first time, that).   However, as regards his father, I could not have supported, precisely becuase of his apparent ideology of Non-interventionism at (what apepars to be) almost any cost-- basically that's the same polciy we have right now and it's clearly not working.  So, Rand has his work cut out for him in eclipsing that legacy, (or rather, maybe I should say in 'not allowing it to eclipse him'.)   Personally I appreciate, however, his apparent ability to possibly appeal to the left, and his focus on privacy/ Fourth Amendment issues.  So I think whehether as president or something else, his future contributions to the conservative movement wil be strong.

As a Michigan resident (I only live about 20 miles from 'the lake' as we say, meaning Lake Michigan), I am happy to offer a first hand report that Lake levels are returning to higher levels after the severe winter... One of my favorite beaches to run my dog is physically under water.

This is a foreign policy thread of sorts, or at least a 'world news' thread...  After reading four or five good editorials about the situation in Iraq tonight, I thought that in lieu of posting specific articles I find interesting personally, it might be more helpful if I just posted some of my own sources of info and let people take their own interest.  I also thought it might be helpful to forum members to have a place to deposit links to good sites for finding intelligent, vetted, or at least 'apparently well reasoned' information.

Here's a few I use:

For a conservative perspective on what I would call 'mostly corroborated news which I generally find to be accurate when I conduct my own fact checks'... probably no surprises here:

www.breitbart.com (news)
www.reuters.com (news, I prefer UK versions which have different info than the US versions of the site, esp. mobile versions)
www.theblaze.com (more toward editorial than news)
www.nationalreview.com (editorial which usually follows world events by a few days)

For info generally:
www.drudgereport.com
Personally, I like Drudge, and I usually jump off from there, but I break his site out from the prior group because occassionally I find the links he posts to be a little... maybe... 'less vetted' and occassionally wandering into what I personally consider to be 'tin foil hat land'.  That said, he often has stuff that beat the others to the punch, I just find that the others seem to do a better job in my opinion in waiting to corroborate before they run it out, whereas Drudge just seems to throw it all out there sometimes and leave it up to users to check.

For news on Terrorism:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/  Really like this site as an aggregator for what is going on in Middle East / North Africa and acompanying policy ramifications.

Sources which I am less sure of, or which I have found to be 'less consistent' quality wise, but from which i have previously obtained good information, often well before US news gets around to it:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/home.html
http://www.theguardian.com/uk
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/  I put FP down here because I sometimes find the editorials to be more politically polemicized than other sites, meaning he articles often seem to have an evident lean right or left.
http://www.criticalthreats.org/  A little more toward editorial, but still toward policy and not industry.

Suspect sources, but still useful in considering what the other side is making into their news, and for alternate viewpoint:
www.rt.com (User beware:  the old radio Kremlin from the dark ages )

Historic Interest:
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html

Military/ Defense:
http://www.janes.com/security/terrorism-insurgency
http://www.stripes.com/

Econ:
http://www.zerohedge.com/

Misc. local news from overseas hotsposts:
Iraq:   www.iraqinews.com
Israel: http://www.jpost.com/
In general:  http://www.world-newspapers.com/

The door to the rabbit hole...?  This is a weird one, a blog almost, but it's an occassionally useful aggregator for stuff I want to read up on from sources I tend to trust more.  My reaction to it may be more of the 'old internet look' but I still have found out some interesting things from stuff I've seen here:
http://wnnetwork.com/

None of these are obviously "warranted", and I would be interested to see what others use.  No real need to post the typical 'mains' like CNN (etc.) as we all know they are out there unless there is something unusual about them.  I am looking for more 'off the beaten' path direct sources in English if people have them.  Personally, I have found the lattter to be generally a lot more reliable than relying on any sort of TV news any more. 

Happy reading.

Hi, my name is Mike, Crafty asked me to come by and introduce myself here...  I am a nearly 30 year practitioner of various martial arts; including Shorin-Ryu karate; Matayoshi Kobudo; Yamashita Suikendo; and to lesser extents; kali, judo, boxing/kick/ thaiboxing and jiujitsu.  Although I have followed and admired DBMA ‘from afar’ for some time, I was invited here by Marc after making his acquaintance on FB.

As my connection to Marc was primarily a shared interest in ‘things political’, I suppose maybe I should ‘declare’ or introduce myself in that regard, as well...  I’m a fairly staunch conservative who believes that almost above all things the US needs to ‘reground’ itself back closer to founding principles;  I.e. that what we need in the US regardless of personal party affiliation is a ‘Constitutional Reformation’ of sorts (in the sense that the latter word is typically applied to religion).  Socially I’m a mostly-libertarian, but fiscally and defense wise I’m a pretty arch Reagan-conservative who believes strongly in small government, a strong military, equality with responsibility for everyone, and in the US looking out for both our own interests and the interests of our allies where it needs to.

I also fashion myself to be somehwat a student of history; of late focused especially on events surrounding the US Colonial period; and martial arts wise, I'm fairly well versed in the history of Okinawan martial arts in particular and in some of their roots in SE Asia.  Trainig wise, my interests for the last five to ten years have been on 'improving' traditional training via the application of 'modern' methods more closely associated with sport and RBSD training.  Looking forward to some good discussions, I hope.