Real bullets, real foxholes, real Marines, real rations, real hunger and real tears - star tells the true story of filming Vietnam classic Platoon on 30th anniversary of its release

Via David

I remember seeing it in South Laguna and sure wish I was 30 years younger. :)

It's regarded as one of the greatest and most realistic war movies ever made.

Acclaimed director Oliver Stone's wartime classic Platoon landed a Best Picture Oscar in 1987 for its gritty and disturbing depiction of life for young soldiers serving in the Vietnam War.

And as fans of the movie celebrate its 30th anniversary this Christmas season, one of its stars recounts the extraordinary lengths to which Stone pushed his cast to achieve his masterpiece - and reveals how some actors, including Charlie Sheen, tried to quit as they were put through their paces.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com actor Kevin Dillon, who played Bunny in the film, detailed the brutal training regime and preparation he and fellow stars Sheen, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger and Forest Whitaker undertook to replicate the lives of US Marines. 

More @ Daily Mail

Hungary President says Donald Trump heralds a year of rebellion

Via Billy

 

President Viktor Orban of Hungary, who is often compared to Donald Trump, praised the American president-elect while addressing his countrymen on Christmas. Orban, who deflected thousands of refugees away from Hungary while they headed towards Germany, insisted that the European Union must change. While reflecting on the recent terrorist attack in Berlin that claimed 12 lives, Orban told his fellow Hungarians, "It is unprecedented that in the heart of Europe, Christians were murdered at Christmas."

 

He added, “It’s clear that, in the case of migration, nothing can remain the way it was before." As for European Union authorities who have countenanced the influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim refugees and migrants over the last 18 months, Orban said:  “Brussels needs to change, migrants who entered Europe illegally must be deported, the borders need to be protected and the inflow of migrants has to be eliminated.”

 

Moreover, Orban said that the election of Donald Trump in the United States signals a coming year of significant change.

More @  Spero News

Assange: Clinton did herself in, not WikiLeaks

Via Billy

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said it was Hillary Clinton's "own words" that sunk her run for the presidency, not WikiLeaks' decision to publish them.

"What is the allegation here exactly?" Assange asked in response to a question in an interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica about whether he had done a "hit job" on Clinton. "We published what the Democratic National Committee, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, and Hillary Clinton herself were saying about their own campaign, which the American people read and were very interested to read, and assessed the elements and characters, and then they made a decision," Assange said. "That decision was based on Hillary Clinton's own words, her campaign manager's own words. That's democracy."

More @ Washington Examiner

Liberals who claim Electoral College is ‘racist’ need a history lesson

Via Billy

The sore losers of the 2016 presidential election have now soured upon the Electoral College. Having gone through the first two of the five stages of grief — denial and anger — the left is now plotted firmly in the “bargaining” stage, wherein the Democrats seek to change the electoral results.  

Since the election of President-elect Donald Trump, Democrats have repeatedly blamed everyone and everything for the loss of Hillary Clinton except for Clinton herself.

First, it was the fault of the vote counting, and a recount was demanded only to result in more votes for Trump. Then, F.B.I. Director Jim Comey was to blame, just before the Russian government was at fault.

Now, the Electoral College, a “racist” vestige of our founding — or so the left would have you believe — is the new culprit.

More @ The Hill

Tesla, Panasonic to make solar cells in Buffalo, New York

Via Billy

Japanese electronics company Panasonic and U.S. electric car maker Tesla said Tuesday they plan to begin production of solar cells at a factory in Buffalo, New York.

The two companies said they finalized an agreement calling for Tokyo-based Panasonic to pay capital costs for the manufacturing. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla made a "long-term purchase commitment" to Panasonic.

Their statement gave no financial figures.

The factory in Buffalo is under development by SolarCity Corp., a San Mateo, California-based solar panel company owned by Tesla. The photovoltaic cells and modules will be used in solar panels for non-solar roof products and solar glass tile roofs that Tesla plans to begin making, the announcement said.

More @ Yahoo

Islamic State arrests, including police officer, reveal jihadi threat near seat of U.S. government

Via Billy

 

Law enforcement agencies have arrested nine Northern Virginia residents on charges of aiding the Islamic State since the terrorist group rose to power in Syria and Iraq in 2014 and launched social media propaganda to attract followers, a government message to police states.

The Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center issued profiles of the nine in a Dec. 21 report labeled “law enforcement sensitive.”

Such reports are designed to help state and federal agents recognize trends in the types of individuals who are influenced by the Islamic State’s message and how they communicate across terrorist networks.

More @ The Washington Times

Dems’ Nuclear Option will allow Trump to fill over 100 court vacancies quickly

Via Billy

We’ve written many times about the Democrats’ destruction in 2013, under the leadership of Harry Reid, of the filibuster for judicial nominees below the Supreme Court level.

Most of the columns written recently, including by us, discuss whether Republicans will extend that “Nuclear Option” to the current Supreme Court vacancy.

And certainly, that’s very important.

But there is another way in which Harry Reid’s gambit is going to hurt Democrats.


There currently are over 100 vacancies in the federal appeals and trial courts.

As Philip Rucker and Robert Barnes at WaPo write, that will allow Donald Trump to reshape the federal judiciary rather decisively and quickly, Trump to inherit more than 100 court vacancies, plans to reshape judiciary:

More @ Legal Insurrection

John Kerry Is Working On Another UN Resolution That Would Officially Recognize A Palestinian State

Via Billy

Multiple media outlets are reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is finalizing a document that the Obama administration hopes will form the basis for a UN Security Council resolution that officially recognizes a Palestinian state before the end of Barack Obama’s term on January 20th.  This comes on the heels of the UN Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2334 on December 23rd. 

That resolution declared that all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, it stated that the Security Council recognizes the 1967 ceasefire lines as the border between Israel and “Palestine”, and it officially gave East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.  But it stopped short of formally recognizing a Palestinian state.  Resolution 2334 speaks of a Palestinian state in the future tense, but this new resolution that John Kerry is reportedly working on would give immediate and permanent UN Security Council recognition to a Palestinian state.

More @ The Economic Collapse

Huckabee: We should jackhammer the UN into the East River

Via Billy

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) on Tuesday called for the U.S. to rid itself of the United Nations, after the U.N. voted to censure Israel for settlement-building.

“I think we ought to get jackhammers and we ought to jackhammer the whole thing off, float it into the East River,” Huckabee told “Fox & Friends.”

“Ask anybody who would like to host it, to come pick it up, haul it off. And it will be a lot easier to park in Manhattan after we get rid of it.”

More @ The Hill