Is it time yet to talk honestly about Maya Angelou?

Via Cousin John

When excited bulletins on cable news let the public know that Maya Angelou had passed away, I bit my tongue and stayed my keyboard.  I generally follow the rule of letting the dead rest in peace for a day or two before writing critically of them. But this fine piece by Daniel J. Flynn in the American Spectator covers many of the points I would have brought up about the late poet/madam/actress/communist/all around phony.

More @ American Thinker

U.S. Special Forces Back Channel Account on Bowe Bergdahl Desertion

Via LH

"We were at OP Mest, Paktika Province, Afghanistan. It was a small outpost where B Co 1-501st INF (Airbone) ran operations out of, just an Infantry platoon and ANA counterparts there. The place was an Afghan graveyard. Bergdahl had been acting a little strange, telling people he wanted to "walk the earth" and kept a little journal talking about how he was meant for better things. No one thought anything about it. He was a little “out there”.

Next morning he's gone. We search everywhere, and can't find him. He left his weapon, his kit, and other sensitive items. He only took some water, a compass and a knife. We find some afghan kids shortly after who saw an american walking north asking about where the taliban are. We get hits on our voice intercepter that Taliban has him, and we were close. We come to realize that the kid deserted his post, snuck out of camp and sought out Taliban… to join them. We were in a defensive position at OP Mest, where your focus is to keep people out. He knew where the blind spots were to slip out and that's what he did. It was supposed to be a 4-day mission but turned into several months of active searching.

More @ American Power

Top 10 Improvised Weapons

Via comment by  cavmedic68w on Many pictures/videos from Ukraine

 

Whenever we need a weapon that’s powerful and deadly enough to stop a criminal in his tracks, we typically turn to top-notch gun manufacturers like Glock, Smith & Wesson, or whatever gun company happens to be your top pick. But, what do you do when Glock shuts down? What happens when the local gun store closes its doors for good?

It’s simple: you make your own weapons. Mankind has been doing it for thousands of years, so it can’t be that hard, right? Just to prove how it could be, here’s a list of the top 10 most deadly improvised weapons throughout history.

More @ GUNS

SPLC 2014 — All White Execs Since 1971

Via Nancy

Once again the Southern Poverty Law Center has released its annual IRS Form 990 and once again the form shows that the SPLC’s executive suite is as lily-white as when Morris Dees opened for business in 1971.

The SPLC’s 43-year record of no minorities at the top stands unbroken because it stands unchallenged. To date, Watching the Watchdogs seems to have a monopoly on exposing the total lack of diversity at “the nation’s leading civil rights organization.”

It’s a dirty job, as they say…

More @ Watching The Watchdogs

Many pictures/videos from Ukraine

ENLARGED

Anyone have  info on what looks like a sniper rifle?

More @ Military Photos

Issa releases Kerry from Benghazi testimony, accuses him of trying to avoid select committee probe

 

Rep. Darrell Issa called check in his ongoing chess match with Secretary of State John Kerry, announcing Friday that he would release the top diplomat from testifying before his committee out of concern he was trying to avoid testifying before a separate congressional panel probing the Benghazi attack.

Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused Kerry of obstructing congressional investigations. Issa said Kerry agreed to testify before the oversight panel on June 12 as a means to avoid testifying before the 12-member select committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, assault on the Libyan outpost.

The California Republican said he had no choice but to reassess.

More @ Fox

Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial – and Kerry is wrong

Via Nancy

 As the author knows from direct chat-log conversations with him over the past year, Snowden acted in full knowledge of the constitutionally questionable efforts of the Obama administration, in particular, to use the Espionage Act in a way it was never intended by Congress.

Edward Snowden is the greatest patriot whistleblower of our time, and he knows what I learned more than four decades ago: until the Espionage Act gets reformed, he can never come home safe and receive justice

 ohn Kerry was in my mind Wednesday morning, and not because he had called me a patriot on NBC News. I was reading the lead story in the New York Times – "US Troops to Leave Afghanistan by End of 2016" – with a photo of American soldiers looking for caves. I recalled not the Secretary of State but a 27-year-old Kerry, asking, as he testified to the Senate about the US troops who were still in Vietnam and were to remain for another two years: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

I wondered how a 70-year-old Kerry would relate to that question as he looked at that picture and that headline. And then there he was on MSNBC an hour later, thinking about me, too, during a round of interviews about Afghanistan that inevitably turned to Edward Snowden ahead of my fellow whistleblower’s own primetime interview that night:

More @ The Guardian

600+ Horsepower for Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Hemi

The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will feature an all-new supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI, the most powerful V8 engine ever produced by the Chrysler Group.

Sticking to their plan to “unleash a true GT car,” the Challenger SRT Hellcat is being offered with an upgraded six-speed manual transmission. Of course for those that don’t want to wrangle 600+ horsepower with their left foot, there’s also an available eight-speed automatic.

We’re looking forward to finding out exactly how much horsepower this monster makes. Our guess is closer to 700 than 600.

More @ Racing Junk