It’s no surprise that President Barack Obama is dragging his feet when it comes to engaging with the serious threat that is the Islamic State terror group.
But now it appears that the Obama administration is actually hindering the efforts of allies who are more willing to take on the brutal jihadists.
Lt. Col. Oliver North told Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday night that both Egypt and Jordan
have requested information from the United States regarding Islamic
State group targets in Libya and Syria, respectively, but the
intelligence was denied them.
For several months now I have been seeing tidbits on the Internet about
internet regulation, a little something here and a little something
there. Some articles have said it’s really bad and others have sought to
paint it as the last best hope for man. When anything is supposed to be
that “good” for us, I get suspicious. I begin to wonder who it will
really be “good” for, us, the unwashed masses, or the One World elitists
in Washington who claim they represent us. Usually it ends up being
good for them and bad for us and Internet regulation, like Obamacare, is
no exception to this rule.
Most of us realize that the Internet is the one remaining source of
real information out there that the federal government has not, until
now, been able to muzzle. I imagine there are countless thousands like
me who get their news off the Internet rather than from the
federally-approved and controlled “news” media.
I notice that, on the 26th of this month, the FCC will vote on
implementing a new “net neutrality” regulation. That sounds so nice and
“neutral” doesn’t it—no sides taken, just a nice neutral approach to all
issues and questions, right? Folks, in all honesty, if the feds are
running it you have to know it ain’t gonna work out that way. The real
aim of this regulation is to neutralize all the information the feds
don’t want on the Internet so it will be unavailable to the public.
Barack Obama, in a column for the Los Angeles Times, tries to explain
his position regarding the “threat” facing the United States, mentioning
al Qaeda, ISIL, the massacres at Fort Hood and the Boston Marathon, but
in the process, reveals
his Marxist leanings, his refusal to acknowledge the religious nature
of the threat, his belief in the racism of the United States against
Muslims, and ironically, his agreement with George W. Bush that regime
change is the answer to the global threat.
Obama begins with his usual self-puffery: “The United States has made
significant gains against terrorism. We've decimated the core al Qaeda
leadership, strengthened homeland security and worked to prevent another
large-scale attack like 9/11.”
But facts, as they say, are stubborn things, so Obama immediately
segues to reality: “At the same time, the threat has evolved.” He lists
terrorists’ actions around the globe, and naturally avoids naming the
common thread:
Could
that be Jim Webb? Across the parking lot of the Eden Center, a
Vietnamese-American strip mall in the Washington suburb of Falls Church,
I've spotted a smallish figure in a tan ball cap, jeans, and boots,
huddled against the bitter cold of an early February afternoon and
peering around.
Webb's communications director, Craig Crawford, had told
me to meet the one-term Virginia senator under the Vietnamese flag—the
old South Vietnamese flag, actually, the bright yellow one with the red
stripes. That's where this fellow is standing. Even as I draw closer,
and he waves tentatively, he looks less like a man who might be running
for president than an early retiree running errands.
But it's Jim Webb,
all right. If there were any doubt, it's gone once he gets on the phone
with Crawford, who has gotten lost on the spidery highways of Northern
Virginia. "Where are you?" Webb barks into his phone. "Do you see the
Vietnamese flag? What? What are we doing? We're out here freezing our asses off!"
He shoots me
a conspiratorial grin, as if to reassure me that he's only
mock-angry—not flashing the temper that folks in Washington are forever
tut-tutting about—then says, "Come on." He leads the way toward his
favorite "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant, the Banh Cuon Saigon.
Is
President Obama a Muslim? A lot has been written about this, but if
photographs speak louder than words, then a photo taken at last August’s
U.S.-African Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. might shed considerable
light. It shows Barack Hussein Obama flashing the one-finger affirmation of Islamic faith to dozens of African delegates.
Rebels report ammunition dump left by Ukraine troops
The
order to retreat was kept secret until the last minute, and soldiers
were told to prepare in 10 minutes and pile into the beds of troop
transport trucks, according to Albert Sardaryen, a 22-year-old medic who
made the journey.
The
trucks lined up on the edge of town, Mr. Sardaryen said, while tanks
and tracked vehicles formed lines on either side of the truck convoy to
try to shield the soldiers. The column drove through farm fields rather
than use a main road that had been mined, and the trucks kept their
headlights off to make them harder to spot.
The
column came under attack almost immediately, he said, and trucks
started breaking down and colliding in the dark. By dawn, the column was
strung out on the plain and taking fire from all sides.
“They
were shooting with tanks, rocket propelled grenades and sniper rifles,”
and firing at the disintegrating column with rockets, he said. Dead and
wounded soldiers were left on the snowy fields because there were too
many of them to carry once the trucks were hit.
“We
stabilized them, applied tourniquets, gave them pain killers and tried
to put them in a place with better cover,” Mr. Sardaryen said of the
wounded. Later, a Ukrainian unit from outside the encirclement drove in
to try to retrieve the wounded, he said.
Mr.
Sardaryen said he ran on foot for the final four miles or so. Many of
the soldiers who made it out also did so on foot, though some trucks
made it all the way through, he said.
The Adolescent Sexuality Conference is held each April in Seaside, Oregon. The theme for the 2014 edition was “Building Blocks of Youth Sexual Health”, and they say about 25% of the attendees are youths. Their webpage says the conference “is
for educators, health personnel, administrators, counselors, social and
youth service workers, parents, clergy, teen parent program staff,
teens, community members and others who wish to increase their knowledge
and skills in addressing adolescent sexuality issues. Emphasis is on
covering a wide spectrum of adolescent sexuality topics.”
One of the primary sponsors and presenters of the conference is the Cascade AIDS Project, which has published several pamphlets for the event. One such pamphlet is called “A Young Males Guide To… An informative zine for guys who like guys“,
and though they claim this is intended for those over 18, it is
littered with little drawings that appeal more to a 9 year old than a 19
year old.
While the Marine Corps has no intention of procuring new rifles or pistols in the near future, the service's top marksmanship experts will study a number of potential upgrades this year that would give current M16A4 rifles and M4 carbines a makeover with significant improvements to accuracy.
The
battle between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists (DNR) for
Donetsk Airport has raged for months, bringing significant losses on
both sides. In late January, the airport fell to the DNR, ending
Ukrainian forces’ hold on the site. The now unrecognizable airport lies
in ruins.
*******************************
VICE News travelled to Donetsk Airport, a once modern
facility now reduced to rubble after months of fighting, to discuss with
DNR fighters the battle for, and the future of, the strategically
important site.
After weeks of relentless fighting, the embattled Ukrainian rail hub
of Debaltseve fell Wednesday to Russia-backed separatists, who hoisted a
flag in triumph over the town. The Ukrainian president confirmed that
he had ordered troops to pull out and the rebels reported taking
hundreds of soldiers captive.
Associated Press reporters saw
several dozen Ukrainian troops retreating with their weapons Wednesday
morning from the town in eastern Ukraine, covered in dirt and looking
exhausted. Some were driving to the nearby town of Artemivsk in trucks
while several others, unshaven and visibly upset, were on foot.
One
soldier spoke of heavy government losses, while another said they had
not been able to get food or water because of the intense rebel
shelling. A third spoke of hunkering down in bunkers for hours, unable
to even go to the toilet because of the shelling. They smoked cigarettes
in the frigid winter air and gratefully accepted plastic cups of tea
given to them by locals.
"We're very happy to be here," the hungry
soldier told the AP. "We were praying all the time and already said
goodbye to our lives a hundred times."
California's gun laws are among the nation's strictest, but a looming
decision in a federal lawsuit could effectively ban handguns altogether
in the Golden State, according to plaintiffs who want a judge to toss
out a state law requiring all new handguns to be equipped with
technology that "stamps" each shell casing with a traceable mark.
The problem with the “microstamping” law, which was signed into law
by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 but only took effect in 2013,
is that it relies on an unworkable technology, according to gun
manufacturers and attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and
Calguns Foundation. If guns without the technology can't be sold in
California, and gun manufacturers can't implement the technology, the
law is, for practical purposes, a handgun ban that violates the Second
Amendment, goes the argument.
The Islamic State group may be planning to use Libya as a staging
ground to send boatloads of jihadi militants posing as migrants to flood
southern Europe, create “pandemonium” and close down shipping lines,
according to a recruiting document circulating among the group’s
fighters.
The document, titled “Libya: The Strategic Gateway for the Islamic
State,” describes how important some members of the militant group
believe Libya to be due to its proximity to Europe and its vast arsenal
of weapons that could potentially be seized by the group.
Black tribal areas, secured, not defined, by the 1913 Land Act.
The recent uproar in South Africa over
the claims by ANC president Jacob Zuma that the 1913 Land Act
dispossessed blacks is a blatant lie, and forms part of four core lies
about South African history, a New Observer correspondent Yochanan has written.
Submitted in the comment section of this newspaper, Yochanan’s remarks are so pertinent that they deserve greater publicity:
“We let them out once, and now they’ve come back to fight with us
again. We told them to surrender in Debaltseve, but they didn’t. Now
we’re not going to let anyone out,” says Sergey, nicknamed “Kunduz,” the
company commander from Uglegorsk who has been fighting from Slavyansk
since May.
“As soon as our enemy started to run out of breath,
suddenly it’s time for peace, we lay down our weapons? Did our comrades
die for nothing?”
**************************
Horrific Images Capture The Sheer Brutality Of War In Ukraine
LOGVINOVE, Ukraine — When Russian-backed rebels went on the offensive
in east Ukraine a month ago, the focal point of the clashes quickly
switched to Debaltseve, a strategically key rail junction linking their
two unsanctioned states. For weeks, Ukraine’s government denied rebel
claims to have the town surrounded, even as artillery fire prompted most
civilians to flee, killed hundreds, and destroyed the town beyond
recognition.
On Tuesday, however, rebels seized most of the town
and took several Ukrainian soldiers captive. A catastrophic defeat is
now all but inevitable. In the days preceding their victory,
photographer Max Avdeev embedded with the First Slavyansk Brigade of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in the nearby town of
Logvinove. The rebels had just seized the town, cutting Debaltseve off
from the last road leading to Ukrainian territory. The soldiers were
mostly local volunteers, though their commanding officers were Russian —
as were the men who delivered them tanks and artillery. As the deadline
for a new cease-fire deal came and went overnight on Sunday, the rebels
kept on shelling Debaltseve.
