So, what's on your mind?
Here is your chance to opine within the parameters listed below:
1. Any use of profanity or abusive language
2. Off topic comments and spam
3. Use of personal invective
Note: comments consisting of blog gossip will be deleted as soon as an administrator of this blog becomes aware of such comments.
A link to get this thread started...ISIS thugs take a hammer to civilisation: Priceless 3,000-year-old artworks smashed to pieces in minutes as militants destroy Mosul museum.
And one more...How ISIS Plans to Sack Rome.
Still do not understand why people believe that net neutrality means the government will control content.
ReplyDeleteDoes the FCC regulate television content? And since the FCC is still keeping the rules SECRET, who's to say that they aren't planning upon regulating content?
DeleteIt's true that the Republicans (Brownback, Graham, Santorum, Lieberman) all got together and passed the Broadcast Decency Act in a typical grandstanding stunt after the Super Bowl malfunction. That's a point taken, Farmer.
DeleteHasn't had any effect on cable.
Is net neutrality going to block internet porn sites? I doubt it.
Is it going to block me if I want to stream Oshima's Empire of Passion? I doubt it and I suspect obscure films are mor likely to be blocked by being put in the "slow lane".
If there is going to be Internet censorship (which would be opposed by the same group that supports net neutrality) it isn't going to be Obama who initiates it and the Teabags aren't going to need the net neutrality act to get it done. They just need another Michael Powell.
The censorship is a concern but an ongoing concern independent of the act.
Duck,
DeleteThe censorship is a concern but an ongoing concern independent of the act.
Maybe, maybe not.
The other day, Blogger/Google took down one of my IBA posts because my blog post "offended a religion."
Will Blogger/Google take down blog posts that offend Christianity? I can't imagine so in the current political climate.
As I said, something independent of the act.
DeleteDuck,
Deletesomething independent of the act
Could be. But the timing is interesting. That blog post had been up on the web since 2010.
"Sensitivities" have ramped up quite a bit since 2010. Allowing any group immunity from criticism is erosion of our First Amendment.
ISIS could not take Kobane. I think Rome is safe.
ReplyDeleteDuck,
DeleteFrom what I understand, Kobane is a ruined city. See THIS (BBC) and THIS.
As always, the Kurds will rebuild -- or try to, anyway.
Another 6 inches of snow forecast.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any good news?
Duck,
DeleteMore snow for Boston? Sheesh.
Here in the D.C. area we expect a wintry mix tomorrow afternoon. All depends on where the front's line is and the temperatures.
I assume nobody on the East Coast wants to hear any good news about the California weather today, right?
DeleteZ,
DeleteProbably not.
What ISIS [Da'ish] "wants" to do is irrelevant. We know they should be squashed by lead and hellfire.....from the nations in the region who under the threat. Let's provide the enabling assistance that we can...and quit whining as if their breaking down the door of western civilization.
ReplyDeleteThe true enemy, will always be ourselves.
CI,
Deletequit whining as if their breaking down the door of western civilization
Let's see what happens if ISIS pops up in Rome.
Meanwhile, in Indiana:
ReplyDeleteMan accused of providing money, weapons to ISIS arrested in Plainfield
(February 26, 2015) – Court documents provide new details about a man arrested along Ronald Reagan Parkway near Indianapolis International Airport on the same day Pres. Barack Obama visited Indianapolis....
More at the above link.
"No existential threat." Nope, nope, nope.
A guy [or guys] providing money to ISIS, does not constitute an existential threat.....unless you're trying to redefine the term.
DeleteI'm wondering when people are going to realize how fast and powerfully ISIS is growing and where it could be in just a year. Particularly when our own military is lessened and feeling weakened (at least by the generals who've had to quit or were fired for saying so?)
DeleteNot sure anybody thinks ISIS is going to annihilate N. America tomorrow. it's in every state; that's kind of known by now...at least some shadow of ISIS is looming over a lot of our country. I hope we wake up. All the Right has right now, or so it seems, is "We can't fight it until he calls it what it is". I say "Get over it, he WON'T...let's move on and start giving good ways to thwart any chance of an existential threat.
The most recent report is that Kurds have taken another town and cut an important supply line.
DeleteThey have not been able to expand their territory since the first surprise attack on Mosul.
I am curious about this fever dream you're having that finds you believing Obama thinks ISIS is some kind of benevolent society.
Duck,
DeleteI am curious about this fever dream you're having that finds you believing Obama thinks ISIS is some kind of benevolent society.
Who here at this blog said that?
But let us not forget that Obama is eager to disengage from the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and in Afghanistan -- so eager, in fact, that he perseverates the narrative of "We got 'em on the run" in the face of evidence to the contrary.
His "JV" evaluation was way off the mark, too.
Z,
Deletehow fast and powerfully ISIS is growing and where it could be in just a year
Just a year ago, who was worried about ISIS? Not Obama, that's for sure.
I'm being sarcastic, AOW, over this fixation on what ISIS is called as if that is going to strengthen our position.
DeleteDuck,
Deletethis fixation on what ISIS is called
Care to clarify that?
AOW...the Right's spending more time "fixated" on HE DOESN'T CALL ISIS ISLAMIST TERROR than they do warning people to the ways we're ignoring the threat. I personally don't give a darn what Obama calls it as long as he tries to STOP it.
DeleteAnd yes, AOW....we'd never heard of ISIS a year ago. That's some growth; and they're having a blast with Social Media; definitely making America look like the big dope. Which it's turning into under this president, frankly. He just has to wake up and realize we're not dealing with "really mean Americans" here, we're dealing with a people of a very different mindset and different values. He needs to wake up fast.
Z,
DeleteHE DOESN'T CALL ISIS ISLAMIST TERROR
Why won't he call it that? People have figured it out -- and I don't mean only the Right wingers have figured it out. Furthermore, for this administration to aver over and over again "We don't know the motive" is inane and, worse, a bald-faced lie. I heard that we-don't-know-the-motive yet again yesterday -- in reference to this week's slaughter by meat cleaver of the American blogger/author in Bangladesh.
He just has to wake up
IMO, he full well knows. I don't ascribe what he's saying to ignorance. Not at all.
Possibly because we need the cooperation of states like Egypt (which just declared Hamas terrorists), Jordan, and Turkey and it benefits us NOT to mention Islam any more than necessary.
DeleteMake ISIS the outliers as much as possible.
Duck,
DeleteYou mentioned Egypt. What kind of diplomatic relationship does the United States have right now with Egypt?
From what I've read, the Obama administration is not supporting Jordan's efforts against ISIS. I might be wrong about my assertion, but I know that I read something about that about 10 days ago. What is the situation now?
Also with regard to Jordan, I don't know that Jordan has a big enough and strong enough military force to go up against ISIS. A few bombing raids? Sure. More than that?
Turkey is going to be problematic -- in part, because of the situation with the Kurds, who might really be good to ally with.
Well a Turkish Kurdish leader just urged his followers to end armed conflict.
DeleteI still believe we have to be calm and trust that the states in the region see ISIS as an existential threat and will join against them.
We need to stay calm. ISIS would just as soon increase recruitment by drawing the "great satan" into ground combat.
It's a damn tough complicated neighborhood.
"Duck,
Deletethis fixation on what ISIS is called
Care to clarify that?"
He might be referring to the feigned outrage over calling them ISIL v. ISIS.
CI,
DeleteI don't know if it's feigned outrage. Maybe on the part of the pundits, but a lot of Americans do not like the fact that Obama refers to the Islamic State as ISIL; even worse in the suck-up terminology that John Kerry uses.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe Office of the Director Of National Intelligence sets the ontology for terrorist groups, when there are competing labels. The US intelligence community used ISIL, whereas the drive-by media chose ISIS. The groups itself has taken to now calling itself the State of the Islamic Caliphate (SIC). The confusion on our end, with the group changing it's name more often than they surely change underwear, is the transliteration of "al Sham"....which simultaneously means the Levant, Syria, and Greater Syria [which again, is the Levant].
DeleteThrough PDBs and other intelligence briefs, Obama and the Administration used ISIL.
FWIW, the standard term for the group is now Da'ish...and it's not complimentary to ISIL/ISIS/IS.....and there are threats of the lash for any members who use the term.
About the term daesh:
Delete...As nobody seems to have the faintest idea what DAESH stands for, here’s an attempt to explain.
The capitals in the word DAESH point out it is an acronym of some sort. And indeed if we single out the beginning letters of the Arabic name for ISIS : الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام
we get the Arabic: داعش
د = Dawlat (Nation)
ا = (al-) Islāmiyya
ع= (fī’l-) ‘Irāq
ش = (wa’s-) Shām (Greater Syria or the Levant)
So, roughly transcribed to the Latin alphabet that leaves us with DAESH. (The E stands for the ‘ayn in ‘Iraq)
At first the name DAESH was merely an acronym indeed. Activists and more moderate rebel coalitions used it as referral to Dawlat al-Islāmiyya fī al-Irāq wa s-Shām. But it didn’t take long before all kinds of interpretations arose.
In se the Arabic word داعش doesn’t even exist. But if we look at the tone of voice within circles (opposing ISIS) ever since they introduced the acronym, we might conclude the acronym has a double meaning.
Most likely ISIS opponents are referring to the Arabic verb دعس, meaning : to thread underfoot, trample down, crush (see The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, p. 325 and 326)
Another theory is that the name refers to the Jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic) strife between two Arab tribes on the Arabian peninsula : داحس والغبراء
Dāhis wa’l-Ghabrā’ can be literary translated as ‘felon and dust’ (see http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/داحس_والغبراء ). This referral seems to have a more theological background yet it seems unlikely all sources using this would have in depth knowledge of the Jāhiliyya.
Which ever theory suits best, it is quite clear that the acronym DAESH (داعش) is mostly, if not only, used by opponents of ISIS in Syria....
Your opinion of the above, CI?
PS: Comments at the above thread are interesting, too.
DeleteFor some reason, I can't get Wordpress to open with the internet here in Germany, but from the excerpt, I'd say that's a decent gist. Our transliteration is only slightly different.
DeleteThanks, CI.
DeleteThat's your proof of an existential threat?
ReplyDeleteIt's been a good week for Americans. We have Net Neutrality! For now. At least it gives decent people a chance to turn around the mal-informed useful idiots of the cable carriers.
JMJ
How do you figure that truth hasn't seen the light of day before now? And with/without the infotainment media?
DeleteJMJ,
DeleteProof? No. But a warning of what might be coming? Yes.
CI,
DeleteHow do you figure that truth hasn't seen the light of day before now?
The media try very hard to avoid telling much about anything that contradicts the Obama administration's narratives. There are several narratives going -- as I'm sure you know.
I tend to feel that there are undependable sources but I don't think you can say this started with Obama.
DeleteDavid Brooks has been spreading lies for some time.
Undependable sources.
DeleteABC, NBC, CBS, MSLGBT, CNN.
But Fox is reliable? Bore me later, Ed.
DeleteSurprised you forgot PBS.
@Z,
Delete"making America look like the big dope. Which it's turning into under this president, frankly"
If you ask me, the "big dope" part came first otherwise this "president" wouldn't be there in the first place; reaffirmed in 2012. In the aggregate we have opted to become the laughing stock of the world?
If we were informed we would have voted for Knuckles McCain and the Pole Dancer?
DeleteThat's a rather warped idea. Damned if I can figure out how we'd be better off.
Ducky, Whose "warped idea" is that here? Who mentioned John McCain? I can't stand Palin but she's no pole dancer, by the way, and you know it. We can only vote for people like that because they're the only choice compared to leftwing country-destroyers.
DeleteWHEN WHEN are you people going to wake up and realize freebie distribution doesn't work after a while? WHO does the Left think is going to fix the debt and,meanwhile, keep up the free cell phones, free college (not to Americans but to iillegals), free ....you name it?
ED...astonishing that our tax dollars still go toward supporting very liberal PBS, by the way. I once asked a liberal how she'd like her tax dollars supporting Hannity.
DeleteNo comment. Typical.
Jon,
DeleteMuch of the electorate consists of big dopes!
Z,
DeleteWe can only vote for people like that because they're the only choice compared to leftwing country-destroyers.
Exactly.
I need to take a clothespin to the polls every time I go so as to have both hands free!
Z,
DeleteI once asked a liberal how she'd like her tax dollars supporting Hannity.
No comment.
Crickets, huh?
Ed,
DeleteMSLGBT
Good one!
How can Newshour be considered far left when the they feature David Brooks?
DeleteDucky's right about Brooks. He is not far left. He represents the best and brightest of the squishy middle, which to extreme leftists appears to be dangerously conservative.
DeleteI never hear he word "Escape"
ReplyDeleteWithout a quicker blood ––
A sudden agitation ––
A flying attitude.
I never hear of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug -- childish --
At my bars --
Only to fail again.
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
In Australia...
ReplyDeleteTerrorists threaten Senator Jacquie Lambie with beheading unless she helps introduce sharia law:
POLICE are investigating a poison pen letter claiming that terrorists plan to behead Tasmanian Senator Jacquie Lambie unless she helps introduce sharia law in Australia.
The letter warns that “you are the enemy of Islamic State, therefore, I will take the honour in beheading you”.
It includes graphic images of a man having his head sliced off by a knife.
Her office conceded the letter could be a fake threat, linked to opponents of a new mosque in Adelaide, but said that they were taking the threat seriously and had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
It claims to have been prepared by the “Adelaide Islamic State Mujahideen” and makes references to plans to build a mosque in Adelaide, suggesting that the development would represent a celebration of Lindt gunman Haron Monis’s efforts to expand the Islamic State’s philosophy.
The outspoken senator, who recently called for the introduction of the death penalty for terrorists, has confirmed her staff received a letter this week....
AAAAAAAAAA!!! SHARIA LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHopefully they find the guy and arrest him. Meanwhile, of all the real things in the real world that effect your life and the lives of the vast majority of the people around you,why is it that this, this odd thing, is what concerns you? You know why? Because every minute someone is born who will spend the rest of their lives fussing over sensationalism never once concerning themselves with the reality of their lives.
You cons complain about the news media, but from the get go, the news in the US, from Pulitzer and Hearst to Murdoch and Turner, directly targets people like you for sensationalist nonsense, experimenting with you to the point of starting wars just for the fun of it. Every minute.
JMJ
JMJ
JMJ,
DeleteMeanwhile, of all the real things in the real world that effect your life and the lives of the vast majority of the people around you,why is it that this, this odd thing, is what concerns you? You know why?...
You're wrong. I am concerned ("watching") a wide variety of matters.
I know more about "the reality" of my life than you do. I have plenty of "reality" in this household! If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask FT, who can give you a clue.
And there is nothing fun about what I do, either. I don't enjoy it.
JMJ,
DeleteHere is one clue as to the reality of my life.
Here is another clue.
So, don't you dare ever again tell me that I don't know about the reality of life.
Here's a guy who hangs around your blog as if, maybe subconsciously, he's hoping to actually learn something...and you've discussed your very trying situation at home many times (he's missed it?), you've discussed a thousand subjects other than Sharia (he's missed it?)...and then he insults you on both counts.
DeleteTHIS is the problem; many on the left just will not see what they don't want to see...and even if they DO know what's truly going on (that you cover all subjects constantly, and you have more difficulties at home than most, which he has to know because he lives here on this site), it's easy to ignore just to make his own points and be nasty, too....just to throw that in.
I'm sorry AOW..... You sure do know the reality of life, and everyone who comes here knows that.
If anybody wants to see true sensationalism, please look at a Yahoo home page any day of the week....the Leftist Yahoo considers Kardashian's breasts information that needs to be above Iran and nukes or ISIS or any other TRULY important story. The Left thrives on sensationalism and it's doing a lot of harm to our country.
Please contrast that with the FOX home page or most any other.
Z - I'm not ecstatic about appearing to defend Jersey.....but you're not seriously trying to make an honest comparison between Yahoo [the McNews of the internet] and FNC are you?
DeleteAnd Fox doesn't sensationalize infotainment on celebutwits?????
"You Cons"?
DeleteWho the hell died and made YOU emperor ?i think this Jersey guy walked a bit too far to the left and got lost along the way , hey sweet-nuts, the cesspool is further down the road and make a sharp Left turn.
Z,
Deleteyou've discussed a thousand subjects other than Sharia
No kidding! One would be hard-pressed to discern the main theme of this blog. I am interested in so many different topics -- many of them not political at all.
And, yes, the situation in this household is trying. At least! Mr. AOW right now has serious cabin fever on top of his severe physical disability. No wonder he has the winter blues! He'll cheer up on Friday, however, when his good friend Steve will take him out to an evening with the guys at the VFW. God bless Steve!. He does some caregiving for his own mother and grandmother and understands that I need an occasional respite.
CI, I'm sorry to let you down, but I don't see celeb stories on FOX. I'm quite sure I've never heard the name KARDASHIAN there, that's for sure.
DeleteAnd, you're right...it's ludicrous to compare Yahoo's idiocy with the FOX homepage.... I just get so sick of the FOX bashing by people who clearly never watch it enough to know how both sides are nearly always presented, etc., I figured I'd beat Jersey to the ridiculous idea that they're comparable before he got there.
Z - Strange that I just watch more Fox than you. You already know my feelings about the limiting nature of the facade of 'both sides'.
DeleteDoes Obama love America? Thta’s a very interesting question....
ReplyDeleteIn a recent Rassmussen poll it showed that 35% of Americans agrees with Rudy that Obama DOESN'T love his country (to be clear we are now referring to the America, not Kenya or Indonesia) and 14% aren't sure! So, lest face it, almost half the country doesn't believe that Obama loves America. Those are BAD numbers for the President but totally predictable. And it also shows that Rudy was speaking for a lot of people. He said what many of Americans have been thinking and what many American didn’t want to say.
And before people start screaming about a Rasmussen poll not being very reliable, remember even if you want to assume it skews a bit to the right - they don't but fine - even at a combined 45% that's a disaster. And for months Obama has been doing better in Rassmussen's daily presidential approval poll than any other poll. So if you want to argue with these results, you can’t have it both ways!
So no matter how you want to look at it, it is a big deal.
I also know that the Leftist want to use Snopes.com or FactCheck.org as their Bible , but lets face it. Those sites are controlled by George Soros.
I've found out that its hard to comment from a tablet.
ReplyDeleteAnyway,
McJones, keep on living that fantasy and drawing those disability checks for your mental illness.
Nostradumbass, you might have a diploma or credentals, (or not) but you're still an uneducated boob. Your educationial pool may be quite large but its only deep enough that a field mouse could walk across and keep his ankles dry.
Warren,
DeleteI see that you're checking in. Quite a thread here, huh?
I may have to use that field mouse/pool analogy. Good one!
PS: I love my iPad, but its "keyboard" and I are not friends.
Reading the comments here it is becoming clear to me that many of the
ReplyDelete"progressive" commenters here mix up progressivism with Bullcrap.
Here is some good news (dated March 1, 2015):
ReplyDeleteISIS releases at least 19 Christian captives
Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteFrom this recent essay (dated March 1):
In 2004, Obama released an update of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” with a little-noticed new preface about the attacks.
“On September 11, 2001,” Obama wrote, “…history returned with a vengeance; in fact, as Faulkner reminds us, the past is never dead and buried — it isn’t even past.”
“This collective history, this past, directly touches my own,” he added. “Not merely because, as a consequence of 9/11, my name is an irresistible target of mocking websites from overzealous Republican operatives. But also because the underlying struggle between worlds of plenty and worlds of want…is the struggle set forth, on a miniature scale, in this book,” which at its core is an indictment against Western imperialism, racism and colonialism.
Obama goes on to say he identifies with the “desperation and disorder of the powerless,” and how they can “easily slip into violence and despair.”...
Has anybody here seen that new preface?
The point of the negotiations is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Pay attention to something other than Faux Snooze and rabies radio.
ReplyDeleteDuck,
ReplyDeleteThe point of the negotiations is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Has the Obama administration drawn any kind of red line during those negotiations? A red line such as the one BHO drew for Syria turned out not to be a red line at all. Frankly, I doubt that any red line that he may have drawn with Iran will be adhered to any more than the red line drawn with regard to Syria.
"The point of the negotiations is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon"
ReplyDeleteSimpleton. The point is for Obama to bail out the Mullahs by handing them billions of dollars as they buy time until they get a nuke weaponized.