Category: Foreign Policies

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Iraq ISIS Syria

The Pentagon Confirms – ISIS Now Has U.S Weapons

What now Republicans? What great idea do you have now to fight ISIS. “Arm the rebels” you screamed every day on my television and although the president told you that was not a good idea, you screamed louder. Well the President listened, and now it has been confirmed that ISIS has our weapons!

What now Republicans? We are giving them weapons to fight us! Not Smart! Unless… wait a second… was this your plan all along?

The Pentagon confirmed Wednesday that Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters took possession of a stray bundle of U.S.-airdropped weapons and other supplies in the Syrian border town of Kobani earlier this week.

The U.S. had dropped 28 bundles filled with grenades, mortar rounds and other supplies intended for Kurdish fighters in Kobani battling ISIS, but at least one had gone astray and was immediately destroyed.

However, Pentagon officials confirmed a second one had gone off course and ended up in enemy hands. A YouTube video uploaded on Tuesday appeared to show an ISIS militant going through an array of boxes, at least two of which contained grenades.

“We have determined a second bundle also went astray,” Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren acknowledged on Wednesday.”There’s always going to be some margin of error” when airdropping supplies, Warren added. “Wind can cause a parachute to move off its intended target.”

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Iraq ISIS war

Congressional Cowards Decide to Run Away From a War Vote This Year

John Boehner, the Republican House Speaker  and leader of the cowards in the House of Representatives, told The New York Times that the goal of this Congress has absolutely nothing to do with the Constitution. The leader of the congressional cowards explained their main goal is sitting back and waiting ’till next year when hopefully that congress will have a backbone and do what is required of them.

Are you aware that we are fighting a war? The United States is leading a the fight against ISIS, or ISIL as they are called by White House personnel. And according to the United States Constitution, it is the job of Congress to declare war. But this is an election year and the cowards in Congress are more concerned with appearing favorably in the eyes of their constituents.

These cowards want to be reelected, and holding a vote for or against war could have negative effects on their reelection chances. So they have decided to do nothing – like they have done since taking office – hoping that the next congress in 2015 will be brave enough to actually do what the Constitution demands.

In his interview with the New York Times, Boehner explained that a new congress would be the ones holding this vote on war! The war we have already began fighting.

Doing this with a whole group of members who are on their way out the door, I don’t think that is the right way to handle this.”

The amazing and ironic thing is that John Boehner and the Republicans in Congress are currently suing President Obama for following his constitutional authorities. They claim that the President is doing too much through Executive Privileges, and they are taking the president to court to essentially stop him from working. This war against ISIS, or ISIL as thery are called by White House personnel, is the work of the President. Knowing that congress would not act, the President is yet again, left holding the bag, doing it on his own.

But what about the Constitution, the document every member of Congress swore to uphold when they took office? What should happen when these members, these congressional cowards decide for whatever reason, to turn their back on the the very document they are supposed to follow? That Constitution, that document containing the rules, the regulations and what is expected of every member of Congress. That document they pledged to follow. What happens when they choose to rip that document to pieces?

Republicans say their are the protectors of the Constitution. They print it up into little booklets and it is required reading by all when it fits their politics. But when their leaders blatantly disregard the document, blatantly refuse to follow its requirements, these same “protectors of the Constitution” turn a blind eye and vote again, and again, to keep their so-called ‘leaders’ in office.

And somewhere along the way, our democracy suffers and the society that separates us from the rest of the world crumbles. These so-called leaders are ripping apart the very fabric of what makes us exceptional, but, whatever. No one cares!

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isil ISIS Syria Syria

Breaking: The U.S Has Began Bombing ISIS Targets in Syria

The United States launched airstrikes in Syria against ISIS targets, sources tell NBC News. The U.S. military plans to strike up to 20 targets — logistics, fuel and weapons depots; training sites; troop encampments; command and control sites; and headquarters for the Sunni fighters.

The U.S. military will deploy manned and unmanned air assets, including F-22s, B-1 bombers, F-16s, F-15s and F/A-18s. The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is at the ready in the Persian Gulf, and the USS Arleigh Burke, a guided missile destroyer that fires Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs), is in the Red Sea.

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Iraq ISIS Syria

ISIS Releases 49 Hostages

Dozens of Turkish hostages abducted by Islamist militants in northern Iraq were freed Saturday after three months in captivity, CNN reports.

Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria raided the Turkish consulate in June and seized 49 people, including Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz.

Others abducted included his family, children and other citizens who were at the consulate in Mosul at the time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Of the total, three were local employees and 46 were Turkish citizens. All were freed and the latter are now in their home country, Turkish authorities said.

It’s unclear how they were freed, but Erdogan thanked Turkish intelligence officials in a statement on his website.

“I thank … every single member of the national intelligence agency from the director to the field operatives,” he said. “I congratulate them for their big success from the bottom of my heart.”

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Foreign Policies News Politics Republican Sarah Palin Teaparty Terrorism vote

Go Home

I came across this article by Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard because I happened to be trolling around right wing sites and thought he had a provocative, interesting idea. I also found a site that castigated Progressives for Palin Derangement Syndrome. You know, that knee-jerk negative reaction the left has whenever Palins’s name comes up. The author seemed to suggest that those on the left were offended by Palin’s obvious feminism and suggested that the left loved women’s rights and opinions, but not Palin’s. Especially when she was shown shooting a gun. What the author missed is that Sarah Palin just sounds uninformed whenever she speaks. I have plenty of respect for her as a woman, as a mother, as someone who wanted to serve the people of Alaska. I just happen to disagree with every single word she utters. Nothing more, nothing less.

But I digress.

Fred Barnes wants the GOP to Go Big or Go Home, hence the title of my response. He says that if only the Republicans would advocate abolishing the IRS and a stronger, more muscular foreign policy, then they would win the hearts and minds of the American people. He does say that these positions might not win the GOP the Senate this fall, but would provide a template for action that the party could run on in 2016.

The problem is that most Americans do not want to get rid of the IRS, even though they hate its very guts. Deep down, they understand that if the United States is going to make good on its mission to protect the homeland and the common good, then it will need funds and a means by which to collect them. That’s what the IRS does. What Mr. Barnes should really be advocating is that all the companies that evade U.S. corporate taxes should actually pay up. That might lessen the burden on the overburdened middle class and it might provide more funds for, you know, schools, roads, bridges, job programs and Medicare.

Barnes is not at all specific when he talks about why the country needs a more muscular foreign policy, or even what that looks like. I have a suspicion that it looks like a foreign policy that throws bombs and bullets on people who are either innocent or who already hate us to the point that more bombs and bullets will help their recruiting efforts. But he doesn’t say, so this is all conjecture.

The article is instructive because these positions are precisely why the GOP has only won one big election since 2008, when they took over the House in 2010. Every other election has gone to the Democrats despite the baying from the right that Obama is abusing his power and is wrong on every issue. Clearly, America does not agree with that.

And that’s why the Republicans will not win a majority in the Senate this fall, nor will they win the presidency in 2016.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Dick Cheney George Bush Iraq ISIS

Jesse Ventura – Bush and Cheney are Responsible For Whats Happening in Iraq – PIC

I must say, I totally agree.

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Domestic Policies Entertainment Foreign Policies Gun Control NFL Ray Rice

USA AND NFL BOTH EMBRACE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE

As seen on America The Not So Beautiful

September 16, 2014

By Mike Caccioppoli

I’ve heard enough excuses when it comes to Adrian Peterson’s beating of his four year old son for which he was recently indicted. No it’s not OK to whip your child with a tree branch or anything else for that matter. It’s not something that is excusable because someone’s father might have done it to them or grandfather or uncle or whomever. The kid is also just four years old. Adrian Peterson is a parent in the 21st century, in the year 2014. He is a millionaire with a good if not great education and he should know right from wrong. His excuses are his own. Same goes for the others who are trying to excuse his vile behavior.

That behavior is unfortunately not isolated in this country. It’s not just blacks and it’s not just in the NFL. It is a mindset that is prevalent. The idea that violence is the way to go. The only way. Your kid doesn’t listen? Beat em. Your wife gives you lip? Beat her. There are some people in other countries that annoy us? Bomb the shit out of them. Spread that capitalism and freedom far and wide. Make em eat it.

In 2014 we are actually talking about how a professional sports league, run by well schooled rich guys, needs to “learn” about things such as domestic violence and child abuse. So they have “learned” about this in other countries but not here? Why are we the last to learn about such things as basic human compassion? The answer is because we don’t want to learn. We want things our way. The only way. The American way.

We are very much stuck in the 1950’s in many ways. As other nations advance we regress. The NFL just symbolizes what is so wrong with this country. The alpha-male, out of control masculinity that we need to flex in everyone’s face on a daily basis. It really is very simple folks. Don’t hit your spouse. Don’t beat your kids till they bleed. Don’t bomb everyone you don’t like. What exactly do we need to “learn”?

If you assault someone in the street, you get arrested, Period. So why aren’t you arrested if you hit your spouse or your kid? Why are these “exceptions”? People say things like “My father whooped me when I was a kid” or “Domestic disputes should be between husband and wife” as a way to excuse vile behavior as the American “norm” and in a way it is just that. As though things that were once acceptable behavior, or behavior that wasn’t talked about in public, is still OK. It’s not.

The idea that the NFL needs a manual to tell its players to not beat their wives or kids is insane. The bottom line is until we really start to admit that we are a violent, backwards country in so many ways, none of this will ever change. I don’t want to hear about “education”, as though we need courses to teach this common sense humanity to people. What does that say about us?

The violence as a cure all that some parents may have passed on to their kids hasn’t stopped with this and future generations because we continue to have that same old world mentality when it comes to just about everything. We want our politicians to “talk tough”, to bomb and fight and use war to get what we want, even though it never does, ever. We let our kids shoot high-powered weapons when they are six years old. That this is what it means to be “respected.”

Since so many Americans are caught in this sick mindset it allows the NFL and the Vikings to continue to play a guy like Peterson when he has been indicted. You think your boss is going to keep you if you are indicted for ANYTHING? The NFL knows that enough Americans will excuse Peterson, will “pray for him”, so they can get away with allowing him to play. Just as Ray Rice will now appeal his ban. As I said before, Rice should not have been banned because of a video, he should have been banned because he beat his wife. Nobody should be able to enjoy a millionaire’s life, a star’s life, when they are beating their wife or kid. Nobody.

This country’s gun obsession, or jingoistic mentality goes hand in hand with its high tolerance for domestic abuse, and child abuse, since the psychological factor is the same. Dominance. Using the fist to get our way. It can be an actual fist, or it can be a gun, a drone, or the whipping device of your choice. The child can get a beating from his dad then turn on the television and see how his/her country is about to give the middle east another beating.

No manual is going to help them. Or us.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

@CaccioppoliMike

Visit America The Not So Beautiful

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Domestic Policies Foreign Policies Fox News Healthcare Iraq ISIS Israel News ObamaCare Politics Syria Syria

From Summer to Serious

I’ve always found it interesting when the calendar changes to the day after Labor Day and the country gets serious. The rest of the world doesn’t know from this holiday and I’m sure there’s a great deal of literature on how the calendar affects world affairs. Thus, here we are.

The world continues to be on fire. ISIS, Syria, Israel, Palestine, West Africa, and English towns that breed terrorists are mainstays of the 24-hour news cycle. The president is excoriated for suggesting that we are at a loss over what to do about increasing threats overseas. Texas is on alert for possible infiltration across the Mexican border. But don’t worry about that too much because Chris Christie was just in Mexico and I’m sure he’ll scare off the militants. Of course, he hasn’t a clue about foreign policy, but at least he didn’t pull a Romney on his first foreign trip.

On the domestic political front, the big issue is that Congress is going to meet for a few days, adjourn, and go home to run for those all-important safe seats that 96% of the members occupy. Excepting, of course, those few Senate seats that are up for grabs. It’s interesting to note that except for 2010, a big exception, I know, the Republican moon-bayers have been unable to defeat Obama and the Democrats and scare the country into giving the conservatives the control they will never, ever have. Yes, the House has been able to wreak havoc on the country and, by the by, their own party, but they have not been successful at implementing their agenda. They’ve only stymied the Democrats but for the 2009-2011 Congressional session.

Oh, and that ACA law thing? It’s working fairly well. You know, millions of people now have health insurance, doctors are able to give elderly people more care, poor people can get Medicaid, except in states that don’t take free money but say they are fiscally responsible. But no worries on that because those states that deny the money are actually paying so that the states that did take free Medicaid money can cover their populations. I live in one of those states. My governor wants to be president. Scared yet?

But if the Senate goes to the GOP, then both houses of Congress will vote to repeal the ACA, right? Well, possibly, but right now the GOP isn’t taking the Senate. And chances are good that they won’t. You heard it here third.

Did we even have a summer?

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Iraq isil ISIS Syria Syria

Mother’s Emotional Plea to ISIS for Her Son’s Release – Video

After seeing the brutal killing of American journalist James Foley last week, Shirley Sotloff, mother of another captured American journalist Steven Sotloff, issued a video plea to the leader of the terrorist group asking for her son’s release.

“”Steven is a journalist who traveled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants. Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson,” Shirley Sotloff says, adding that her son “is an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak.”

“I ask you to please release my child,” she says, “I plead with you to grant me this.”

Video

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Foreign Policies Iraq ISIS Syria

Breaking News – There Was an Attempted Rescue of James Foley in Syria

James Foley
James Foley

The news came just moments ago from the White House.

U.S. special operations forces early this summer launched a secret, major rescue operation in Syria to save James Foley and a number of Americans held by the extremist group ISIS, but the mission failed because the hostages weren’t there, senior administration officials told ABC News today.

President Obama authorized the “substantial and complex” rescue operation after the officials said a “broad collection of intelligence” led the U.S. to believe the hostages were being held in a specific location in the embattled Middle Eastern nation.

When “several dozen” U.S. special operation members landed in Syria, however, they were met with gunfire and “while on site, it became apparent the hostages were not there,” one of the officials said. The special operators engaged in a firefight in which ISIS suffered “a good number” casualties, the official said, while the American forces suffered only a single minor injury.

The American forces were able to get back on helicopters and escape.

“Intelligence is not a perfect science,” the senior official said. As to how the intelligence failed and why the hostages were not there, the official said, “The truth is, we don’t know. And that’s the truth. When we got there, they weren’t there. We don’t know why that is.”

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Israel Politics

Rick Perry – So What if Kids are Killed in Gaza, People “Lose Their Lives in War!” – Video

Innocent women and children are being slaughtered in Gaza, some of them killed when Israeli bombs dropped on their schools, hospitals and UN sanctioned “safe zones.” But if you listened to Rick Perry, there is no problem here. War is war and innocent people die!

In an appearance on CNN, host Candy Crowley asked Perry,“When you look at 1,700-plus civilian deaths in Gaza — the large majority of which are civilians we are told — what is your thought about that, what is your reaction to that?”

Without any form of emotion, the gun tooting Republican governor from Texas responded;

“War is a horrible thing. There are individuals who lose their lives in war.”

“But when we have a fairly good understanding that Hamas is actually using their citizens as shields, at that particular point in time, it loses a lot of the the power, if you will, from my perspective. When you look back at Hamas’ statements that they will not be satisfied until Israel is wiped off the face of the Earth, then you start understanding the mentality a little bit better of a terrorist organization like Hamas.”

Here in America, crazy Republicans have gone into Churches to disrupt services, and in Dr. Tiller’s case, a crazy Republican even killed the man while he worshiped in Church because he didn’t share their ideology. They’re apparently accustomed to these safe zones being attacked, so Perry’s statement come as no surprise.

Video

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Israel Palestine Politics

Heartbreaking Video – UN Official Breaks Down Talking About The Deaths in Gaza

In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, UN Official Christopher Gunness could not contain his emotions when asked about the clear massacre of innocent lives in Gaza. “The rights of Palestinians, and even their children, are wholesale denied… and its appalling,” Gunness said, right before breaking down in tears, a breathtaking image captured on video.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue bombing Gaza with or without a cease-fire agreement in place. He claims the goal of the Israeli military is to demolish all the tunnels used by Hamas.

Meanwhile, 24 days into the war, over 1400 innocent Gaza civilians have died. Some of those killed were hiding away in UN Shelters and schools, so-called “safe zones.”

Video

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