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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
Philippine airstrikes target ISIS-linked militants near Marawi
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Lindsey Graham To DOJ IG: How Can We Trust Strzok's Findings On Hillary's Email Knowing That He Wanted Trump To Lose?
[HOT AIR] Graham is always good during Q&A at hearings (a rarity on both sides of the aisle) and this is no exception. A simple logical progression: If Strzok was the lead investigator on Emailgate and we know that he didn’t want Trump to be president and it’s universally understood that the FBI recommending that Hillary be indicted would have fatally weakened her candidacy...

...should we not assume that the outcome of Emailgate was gamed to protect her? Why should we give Strzok any benefit of the doubt in assuming that his investigative decisions were pure? We shouldn’t ‐ and the IG doesn’t really disagree. That’s the only slightly odd note here. Michael Horowitz went out of his way to say in last week’s report that Strzok might have prioritized Russiagate over Emailgate in the final month of the campaign for partisan reasons, not wanting to reopen the Pandora’s box of Clinton’s classified-material practices so soon before the vote. To the extent that there’s any dispute here between him and Graham, it’s the differing degrees to which they’re willing to assume that bias infected the probe. Horowitz thinks the decision not to charge Clinton and much of the investigation itself were vindicated, albeit with Strzok’s motives a troubling question mark. Graham thinks Strzok’s participation necessarily taints the whole process and leads us to doubt the results. The tree was poisoned by Strzok; its fruit must necessarily be poisonous too.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 01:51 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fruit of the poisoned tree.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2018 9:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Lindsey's realized he has to face a lot of us SC voters in 2 years.
Posted by: Tom || 06/19/2018 13:43 Comments || Top||

#3  By extension:
How can we trust Congress's investigation of the rigging of the election knowing that they wanted Trump to lose?
There's some rocks you don't want to turn over, particularly if you know there's a snake under it.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/19/2018 16:31 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 - Maverick isn't around to tell him what position to take
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2018 16:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Maverick isn't around............

Certainly has a nice ring too it, that three word phrase.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 16:48 Comments || Top||


CBP Sector Chief: We Created This Problem By Not Enforcing The Law All Along
[Hot Air] "Do you think we’re all too emotional about this?" Gayle King asked the right question of Manuel Padilla, the man running the Customs and Border Patrol sector that accounts for the most illegal crossings and detentions, even if the CBS This Morning host didn’t get the answer she wanted.

Padilla patiently explained why he supports the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy, calling the flood of children separated from their parents a consequence of a refusal to enforce border laws in the past. That refusal set up a series of perverse incentives to smuggle children across the border, with the expected perverse outcomes ‐ including one MS-13 gang member who thought a one-year-old was a Get Out of Jail Free card:
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 01:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And we're supposedly the villains, not the parents who abandon their children in a bid for American welfare.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/19/2018 6:44 Comments || Top||

#2  You know that providing the countries that dump their population upon the US with a return visit, literally locked and loaded to clear out the ruling class that created the problem would go a long way in deterring repeat behavior. File under - if you won't clean up your problem, we'll clean it up for you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2018 8:15 Comments || Top||


As the Cartels Flood the Zone, The Migrant Crisis Is About More Than Just Kids
[The Federalists] Yesterday on Face the Nation, I responded to questions about the migrant separations from their children under the Trump Administration’s policy announced last month by trying to shift the focus to what drives these migrations in the first place ‐ something that can’t be addressed by a simple band-aid piece of legislation paving the way for more lax border requirements.

Here’s the video, and the transcript.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 01:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A good start, but comes to an interesting conclusion:

There’s something going on here that brings to mind the ignorance of the U.S. military when it came to the early days of ISIS. It’s as if we refuse to acknowledge that the enemy reads the same media we do – that they can’t follow coverage of the issues, and understand how to manipulate the storylines to their advantage. That’s clearly what is going on here, and the Trump administration’s zero tolerance crackdown in response to this increased migration is playing into their hands.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2018 15:27 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
POTUS Warns U.S. Could Follow Path of Germany on Immigration
[Roll Call] President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to defend his administration’s policy of separating migrant families by warning that Germany’s and Europe’s immigration issues could be replicated here.

He used several tweets Monday morning to blast not only German and European immigration laws, but also Democratic lawmakers. The GOP president claimed anew that the opposition party is withholding the votes needed to pass a sweeping immigration overhaul measure that would address a list of unresolved matters.

Trump criticized Democrats for refusing to "give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws" as one of his deputy press secretaries, Hogan Gidley, was on the White House’s North Lawn calling on Democratic members to meet with Trump to come up with a broad immigration bill.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


DHS Chief Hits Back at 'Offensive' Questions at WH Briefing
[Townhall] The hottest topic at Monday's White House press briefing was, expectedly, the Trump administration's policy of separating children from parents who are attempting to enter the country illegally. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen took the press's pointed questions, and she did not hide her emotions when answering them.

She denied accounts that the policy amounted to "child abuse" or was comparable to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War Two.

She was especially offended by the following exchange.
"Are you intending for parents to be separated from their children?" one reporter asked. "Are you intending to send a message?"

"I find that offensive," Nielsen shot back. "Why would I ever create a policy that purposely does that?"

At an earlier event Monday, Nielsen said the White House would not apologize for the policy.
"To a select few in the media, Congress and the advocacy community, I'd like to start with a message for you," she said. "This Department will not longer stand by and watch you attack law enforcement for enforcing the laws passed by Congress. We will not apologize for the job we do."

If Congress closes the loopholes that allows adult migrants to take advantage of the undocumented children's policy, then the families will be able to stay together throughout the proceedings, she agreed at the briefing.

That was the message from White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders too, who followed Nielsen to the podium. The president, she said, is trying to work with Congress to find a solution.

If you walk into a bank with your minor daughter, hold it up (break the law), and are subsequently arrested, you go to jail. Your daughter goes to an Office of Children and Family Services, not jail. What about this process does the media and this petulant WH press corps not understand ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the other side sees:
Trump And His Allies Are Lying Through Their Teeth About Family Separations
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2018 3:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Besoeker

Parents who go 75mph on the interstate are also breaking the law. That doesn't mean their daughter in the backseat is taken away from them.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/19/2018 3:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Texas interstates are generally 85mph.
But you gotta wear seatbelts, EC.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2018 3:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Ann Coulter Smears Immigrant Children as ‘Child Actors’
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2018 3:28 Comments || Top||

#5  "We're leaving, mi hija," sez Pedro.
"I'm tired of Tijuana. Yo migro,
And the gringos won't mind
If I bypass that line
To explore, at high speed, San Ysidro."
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/19/2018 4:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Parents who go 75mph on the interstate are also breaking the law. That doesn't mean their daughter in the backseat is taken away from them.

This ain't Bavaria.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 5:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Poor Pedro was feeling dejected.
His family, it seems, were ejected.
He'd swerved on the pike --
Dodged himself on a bike! --
And the parts are still being collected.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 06/19/2018 6:30 Comments || Top||

#8  EC, invading a country isn't speeding.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/19/2018 6:34 Comments || Top||

#9  In my part of the country the adult charge with speeding is likely to get a second charge of child endangerment with a complementary visit from Child and Youth Services. Of which the later, could indeed result in the child pulled from the home. CYS dropped a couple of high profile cases and is more than a bit defensive in the "child's" welfare.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2018 6:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen gave a good accounting of herself in the presser.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2018 9:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Parents who go 75mph on the interstate are also breaking the law. That doesn't mean their daughter in the backseat is taken away from them.

Can you say moral relativism? Around here, 75 mph isn't considered all that bad. At most the driver would have to pay a fine. But if the driver is found to be under the influence that is another matter altogether. The parent would go to jail and the cops would be left with the task of figuring out what to do with the child. Hopefully the drunkard's spouse or some other close relative would be available but that is not always the case.

But the question you raise is how should we compare a minor traffic violation to the invasion of a foreign country. You can take Merkel's position that all borders should be left wide open. But the people of this country elected Donald Trump because we don't believe that. We don't want to speak Spanish, we don't want to bow down to Mecca and we don't want foreigners telling us we shouldn't defend our country.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/19/2018 11:53 Comments || Top||

#12  we don't want foreigners telling us we shouldn't defend our country

Or how fast we can drive.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/19/2018 13:11 Comments || Top||

#13  Weak example, EC, but spoken like a true EU Brussels "patriot".
Posted by: Clem || 06/19/2018 13:33 Comments || Top||

#14  This is not original with me; but it's been pointed out that these families can all stay united by staying south of the border.
Posted by: Tom || 06/19/2018 13:45 Comments || Top||

#15  What about the kids weeping for their parents in Trenton? What about the parents, weeping for their children in Chicago? Do the progressives prefer Central Americans to American urban dwellers?

You'll notice I cleverly avoided a hot-button issue by not distinguishing between groups of urban dwellers?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2018 15:23 Comments || Top||

#16  I read that something like 10k of the 12k kids were not separated from but arrived without their parents.

If this is true the discussion should be about the morality of returning a child to such an unfit parent or not. Or about what kind of culture produces a parent willing to do that.

We should also talk about why south of the border is so bad that folks risk death in the desert to escape, why it has been so bad for decades, and what could done about it.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 06/19/2018 15:44 Comments || Top||

#17  "Trump Says Democrats Want Immigrants to ‘Infest’ the U.S."

Out of respect for this board I won't mention where I've heard these words before. But maybe I don't have to.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/19/2018 17:07 Comments || Top||

#18  We're not trying to ship them out, EC. We just want them to stay home.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2018 17:11 Comments || Top||

#19  "Trump Says Democrats Want Immigrants to ‘Infest’ the U.S."

Since 1994 unchecked immigration has resulted in immigrant swarming of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontain, and other South African cities and towns. The result:

a. A ready pool of very cheap labor.
b. Instant government dependency.
c. Huge expansion of government funded police and security services.
d. The flight of whites.
e. Huge numbers of new African National Congress (ANC) members.

Anyone spot any similarities ?

Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 17:20 Comments || Top||

#20  ...why it has been so bad for decades generations, and what could done about it.

FIFY!

We're not trying to ship them out, EC. We just want them to stay home.

No, we definitely want to ship them back and for the rest of them to stay home.
Posted by: Lampedusa Uluter1671 || 06/19/2018 20:14 Comments || Top||

#21  "Trump Says Democrats Want Immigrants to ‘Infest’ the U.S."

Democrats want poor, illiterate people because those people are reliable voters for the Democrat Party. Poor, illiterate people want free health care, welfare, rent control and $15 an hour for flipping hamburgers. Democrats are more than willing to provide these things for the poor, illiterate people at the expense of people who work and pay taxes. It's no secret.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/19/2018 20:27 Comments || Top||

#22  ...you spelled Socialist wrong.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2018 21:35 Comments || Top||

#23 
Out of respect for this board I won't mention where I've heard these words before.


Because foreign citizens are the same as citizens who are members of a minority? Because "stay home" is the same as "exterminate them"?

It's not America's fault Europe got together and tried real hard to kill all the Jews, then in bizarre misplaced guilt have since been trying to either finish the job via proxy or import the most rabid Jew-haters alive. Take your guilty feelings, fold them so they're all corners, and stuff them up Brussels.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/19/2018 21:40 Comments || Top||

#24  "Trump Says Democrats Want Immigrants to ‘Infest’ the U.S."

Out of respect for this board I won't mention where I've heard these words before.


I searched “Trump immigrants”and got the following headline from Yahoo among others:

Trump says immigrants will 'infest our country' in Twitter tirade, as US border row rages on

Then I read the article, as one does, and discovered that Yahoo had included the tweet in question:

Donald J. Trump✔
@realDonaldTrump
Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!
9:52 AM - Jun 19, 2018


Emphasis is mine. European Conservative, there is a big difference between legal and illegal immigrants, as there is a different big difference between immigrants, whether legal or illegal, and refugees and asylum seekers.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2018 22:40 Comments || Top||


Economy
Gallup: Satisfaction with direction of country highest since 2005
[American Thinker] Satisfaction with the direction the country is going is higher today than it's been since 2005, according to the most recent Gallup survey.
Thirty-eight percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States today, similar to last month's 37% satisfaction rate but marking the numerical high since a 39% reading in September 2005.

The satisfaction rate, which Gallup has measured at least monthly since 2001, has now topped 35% three times this year ‐ a level reached only three times in the previous 12 years (once each in 2006, 2009 and 2016).

Satisfaction with the nation is now back to the historical average of 37% for this trend, which was first measured in 1979, but is far below the majority levels reached in the economic boom times of the mid-1980s and late 1990s.
Not surprisingly, Republicans are more ebullient about the direction of the country compared to Democrats. But it is striking that the largest increase in satisfaction occurred in rural America compared to big cities and small towns.

Much has been written in recent months about rural America's disappointment with Trump. These numbers seem to belie that reporting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 02:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like the Rasmussen Presidential Poll agrees. Trump's numbers are the best since April, 2017 (my quick analysis). Approval rating 48% and disapproval 50%.

Their site notes - Now that Gallup has quit the field, Rasmussen Reports is the only nationally recognized public opinion firm that still tracks President Trump's job approval ratings on a daily basis.
Posted by: Bobby || 06/19/2018 10:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Tucker Exposes 'Ruling Class' Behind Border Policy Uproar ‐ ‘Their Goal Is To Change Your Country Forever
[Daily Caller] Before playing a clip of examples, Carlson began the segment by calling the "spectacle of illegal immigrants separated from their children at the border" an "event in which the elites vie to see who can reach greater heights of rhetorical excess and self-righteous posturing" rather than a news story.

"So the same people who support the third term post-viability abortion for purposes of sex selection are now lecturing you about God and sin and the holiness of children. Feel chastened?" Carlson asked sardonically before launching into a few more examples, including Michael Hayden’s comparison of the border situation to Nazi Germany. (RELATED: DHS Sec Nielsen Defends Trump Administration’s Migrant Policies From ’Irresponsible And Unproductive’ Press)

"We could go on," The Daily Caller founder said. "There was so much more just like that. The rich and powerful reminding you just how virtuous they are. Do you think any of these people really care about family separation? If they did, they would be worried about the collapse of the American family, which is measurable and real, but they are not worried about that. In fact they welcome that collapse, because strong families are an impediments to their political power. That’s why they are always lecturing you about the patriarchy and the evil of the American family."

"This is one of those moments that tells you everything about our ruling class. They care far more about foreigners than their own people," said Carlson, pointing out that they also aren’t "interested in solutions to anything. They are great at yelling and at preening but not so much at fixing and building." (RELATED: Laura Ingraham Blasts Former RNC Chair Michael Steele For ’Concentration Camps’ Comment)

The Fox News host finished the segment by contrasting the views of those whose "goal is to change [our] country forever" with their actual lifestyles, which generally involve "no demographic change at all, just like they like it."

"Lots of people yelling at you on TV don’t even have children, so don’t for a second let them take the moral high ground," Carlson concluded. "Their goal is to change your country forever, and they are succeeding by the way. Since 2014, to name one example among many, at least half a million Central Americans who came here illegally have been released inside of our borders. Did anyone vote for that? Who’s going to pay for that? Not the people you’ve been watching on television today. Their kids go to private school if they have them. Their neighborhoods look like they did in 1960. No demographic change at all, just like they like it. There is no cost to them. The cost is entirely on you, but don’t complain or else they will call you Hitler."
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 06:19 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Same people who demand late term abortions. Really concerned about the 'children'. /sarc
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2018 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Rents up, wages down.

Good for them, terrible for you.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2018 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  As his popularity and influence grows, and he becomes increasingly direct in his assessment of the people, power and tactics of the socialists/progressives, I increasingly worry about how he will be targeted and to what lengths they will go to stop him.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/19/2018 11:10 Comments || Top||

#4  I'll say one thing for the elites. They have whipped up one helluva mass hysteria this time. People are freaking out about this, going completely bonkers. It is truly frightening.

Nobody seems to understand that this is war.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/19/2018 11:30 Comments || Top||

#5  When the insurgency takes hold, they'll realize too late what they've set off.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/19/2018 13:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't 'Catch and Release' because there is an established procedure: Posting a Bond. Charge La Raza, charge the DNC, and especially make Senator Schumer also have to be personally responsible with his own private funds for the illegal immigrants to show up on time.
Do you think they would show Charity? Nah, me neither.
Posted by: magpie || 06/19/2018 19:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Nobody seems to understand that this is war.

Nonsense! There are lots of people that realize we’re at war, and more reach that conclusion every day. That’s why the Left is so frantic, they see the end of everything they’ve been working for.
Posted by: Betty Hatfield5124 || 06/19/2018 20:44 Comments || Top||


Miami-Based Group Presses Trump for More Cuba Restrictions
[Free Beacon] Group praises administration’s decision to tap new head of Radio and TV Marti

A Miami-based group opposed to the Castro government praised President Trump's appointment of a new director of the U.S.-taxpayer-funded broadcasting operation directed at the Cuban people but wants the administration to impose additional restrictions on Havana.

Inspire America Foundation, whose advisory board contains several former U.S. ambassadors and prominent Cuban American scholars and executives, sent Trump a letter late last week on the one-year anniversary of his announced reversal of President Obama's détente with Cuba.

The group specifically mentioned the appointment earlier this month of Tomas Regalado as the director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which oversees the Radio and TV Marti stations that broadcast news and other programs to Cuba.

Inspire America Foundation in March ran ads asking Florida residents to call the White House to urge Trump to name a new director.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 06:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
ISIS festering amid tribalism, sectarianism in Pakistan
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS has largely been removed from its territorial claims in both Iraq and Syria, but that does not mean that it has been completely eradicated.

There are many groups throughout the Moslem world who have previously pledged allegiance to the "caliphate" and which continue to operate under that label. And there are, of course, many ISIS fighters who have escaped the Levant before the collapse of the organization there and have moved to other theatres.

In both cases, the losses the group has suffered in the Levant will not have dampened their radicalism, or their violence. Quite the opposite: in order to remain relevant in the global militancy pecking order, those affiliated with the group will feel compelled to continue and, if possible, escalate the levels of brutality typical of their brand.

And there remain plenty of areas in and around the Moslem world where that brand of political violence will flourish.

Libya remains a broken country with a viable ISIS enclave thriving in between the territory of the two belligerent sides of that civil war, the Philippines’s Moslem areas have seen plenty of recruits in a political climate which normalises large scale, arbitrary violence for political purposes.

And of course, as always, the volatile cocktail of tribalism, sectarianism and Islamism that is Pakistain is also proving fertile ground.

Attack on Christians
In recent news, ISIS in Pakistain has grabbed credit for attacks on Christians. Of course the targeting of religious minorities such as Pakistain’s Christians and Shiite Moslems has been par for the course for many of the country’s other holy warrior Sunni groups.

But even in the Pak swamp of radicalism and violence where the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and many others like them fester freely, there is genuine concern over the rising influence of ISIS. ISIS affiliates in the country could number anywhere between hundreds and a few thousands recruits, and they are beginning to stamp their influence in the wider ecosystem of Islamism.

The concern is not necessarily that these relatively small numbers of committed snuffies will become the dominant group in the country, but rather that their presence and example will compel other more established groups in the country such as the Pak Taliban, groups with established infrastructure and clearly defined political aims and means, to ratchet up their activities as well as the levels of violence in order to continue to dominate the discourse.

This could set off something like an "arms race" between the established groups as each vies for a greater share of the attention economy in Pakistain’s poisonous political environment, in the hope of radicalizing and recruiting new fighters to their respective causes. And it is indeed worth noting that some of the more extreme elements of the Taliban are already on record welcoming these developments.

Political violence
For all the Islamist poison in Pakistain’s political discourse it is worth noting that political violence has been on the decline in the past three years after the military crackdown on radical groups in the wake of the 2014 Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
school massacre.

Even as politicians continue to cynically exploit ethnic and sectarian tensions for personal gain, there has been an broader understanding that ostentatious displays of violence will attract the attention of country’s notorious military and intelligence agencies, along with their typically uncompromising manner of crackdowns.

This has kept the levels of violence in check, and the volatile tussle for power between the various holy warrior groups had to be fought by other means ‐ for example by disrupting the country’s infrastructure during organised political protests.

The increasing presence of ISIS, who have no regard for such subtleties, threatens to upend this recently established, delicate power play between the established players and plunge the country once again into an orgy of violence.

And it is not yet obvious whether the military and the intelligence agencies are either willing or able to snuff this trend out before it becomes entrenched.
Posted by: Fred || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Cutting off Iran’s 'road to the sea' in Syria
[Jpost] A US official claims Israel struck Iranian-backed Iraqi militia in Syria, and now Tehran must think twice about moving fighters across the mostly non-existent border.

Tehran must re-adjust its policy in Syria a day after an Arclight airstrike killed and maimed dozens of Iranian-backed Shi’ite Kata’ib Hezbollah members in Syria near the Iraqi border.

The first of its kind strike, targeting Iraqi militias who have been crossing into Syria to aid the Assad regime since last year, sought to cut off Iran’s "road to the sea" by striking at a strategic area near the border town of Albu Kamal.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies


David Petraeus Supports Trump Administration's Withdrawal from Iran Deal
[Breitbart] Former CIA Director and retired general David Petraeus said Sunday he supports President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran deal.

"Speaking at an event in Israel, the former top US spy said the move will lead to much greater pressure on Iran, not just in areas covered by the nuclear deal, but also the Islamic Republic’s missile program and Tehran’s malign activities across the Middle East," the Jerusalem Post reports.

A global deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions contains elements "of great concern," Petraeus warned in December 2016.

"There are some significant downsides that should cause us great concern," Petraeus told the Manama Dialogue security forum in Bahrain of the accord.

He pointed to the 10-15 year validity of the pact, and the fact that it gives Iran access to tens of billions of dollars in previously frozen assets.

On May 8, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum withdrawing from the 2015 agreement and announced plans to reinstall sanctions on the Iranian regime.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Well, there's that...
Posted by: Raj || 06/19/2018 0:22 Comments || Top||


Government
Trump's 'Space Force' Motivated By Russian, Chinese Threats To Critical U.S. Orbital Systems
[In Military] If you thought President Trump was just musing when he publicly broached the subject of a U.S. "space force" in recent months, guess again. On Monday, he disclosed at a meeting of the National Space Council in Washington, D.C. that he is directing the establishment of a sixth military branch to address operations in space. And he didn’t mince words about what he had in mind:

"We are going to have a Space Force. An Air Force and a Space Force. Separate, but equal."

That is a stunning prospect, given the modest state of the current military space program. What we have, basically, is a collection of satellites orbiting the Earth that have almost no capacity to defend themselves, much less conduct offensive operations against the orbital assets of other countries. The satellites are crucial to terrestrial civil and military operations ‐ they consist mainly of communications, navigation, weather and surveillance satellites ‐ but none of them was conceived with an eye to waging war in space.

However, because the satellites have become integral to how America conducts military operations on Earth, Russia and China are developing ways of degrading or destroying U.S. satellites in wartime. If such attacks achieved their intended aims, they would thoroughly disrupt the U.S. military’s ability to conduct war anywhere. For instance, the U.S. Army figures each of its armored brigades contains over 2,000 pieces of equipment that rely on space assets to function. Kill the satellites, and the brigades are hobbled.

This isn’t just a military problem. Where would Google Maps be without access to global positioning data from at least four GPS satellites? It wouldn’t take much to suppress U.S. space systems to a point where damage rippled through the military, the economy, and much of Western civilization. The Russians and Chinese wouldn’t even have to destroy the satellites ‐ they might just jam the relatively weak signals originating from spacecraft many thousands of miles away, or compromise the functioning of ground control stations via cyber attacks.

So now you know why the Air Force, which leads military space operations for the Pentagon, is in a near panic over moves that Moscow and Beijing are making in space. It has undertaken a raft of initiatives aimed at building greater "resilience" ‐ its term ‐ into U.S. orbital constellations and launch plans. But it takes a long time to develop new space technology and architectures; the threat is advancing much faster than the remedial steps military planners say are needed.

Against that backdrop, the president’s announcement today is arguably timely, because the military space program may be approaching a moment of crisis. Mr. Trump made it clear in his remarks that he wants America to regain its lead in space across all relevant areas ‐ military, civil and commercial ‐ but it is in the military realm where great-power rivalry is most apparent. If the Pentagon doesn’t step up its game, the nation’s security will be significantly degraded.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 14:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just hope that Space Command will be diverse and no one wears offensive T-shirts.

Also, I was a little disturbed to see no discussion of Muslim outreach.
Posted by: charger || 06/19/2018 18:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Very superior field guidance.
Posted by: Grunter || 06/19/2018 20:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I want to be a door gunner in space!!!
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/19/2018 22:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Coulter calls weeping immigrant children 'actors': 'These kids are being coached'
[Wash Times] Conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter claimed Sunday that the crying immigrant children shown across cable news channels are "child actors" who are "given scripts to read by liberals."

"I would also say one other thing, these child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now: do not fall for it, Mr. President. I get very nervous about the president getting his news from TV," Ms. Coulter said on the set of Fox News’ "The Next Revolution."

"A New Yorker article ‐ the New Yorker is not a conservative publication ‐ they describe how these kids, these kids are being coached. They’re given scripts to read by liberals, according to the New Yorker. Don’t fall for the actor children," she added.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 02:14 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't think 4 year olds need any coaching when they are separated from their parents.

Ms. Coulter doesn't have children, so maybe she doesn't know.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/19/2018 2:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Where is the concern for the millions of 'children' who will never have an opportunity to weep, or laugh, or love ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 2:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Not a question you have to ask a conservative Bavarian.
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/19/2018 2:47 Comments || Top||

#4  My how the world has changed. ~80 years ago parents would have and did sacrifice everything to keep their kids out of a concentration camp; now they just drop them off.
Posted by: Airandee || 06/19/2018 2:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Wow, so a "European Conservative" is in favor of unlimited immigration from the third world. Does this apply only to the US, or to Far North Africa (formerly Europe) as well?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/19/2018 6:31 Comments || Top||

#6  It's a known policy before they break into the country illegally. The parents are solely responsible for their children's status and separation. Fuck the sobbing and fake rending of garments. Don't cross and there won't BE any separation
Posted by: Frank G || 06/19/2018 9:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Reunite in mexico...

Should bill mexico for allowing them to get to the border.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 06/19/2018 9:36 Comments || Top||

#8  #5 Wow, so a "European Conservative" is in favor of unlimited immigration from the third world.

And where did I say such a thing?
Posted by: European Conservative || 06/19/2018 11:17 Comments || Top||

#9  What's sad, aside from being separated from the parents, is this is probably the best the kids have ever had it.
Posted by: Fleart Phert3955 || 06/19/2018 14:51 Comments || Top||

#10  This is the worst kind of emotional blackmail, the entire point is that the parents are making the conscious decision to use their kids as pawns to game their way into the country. They willingly cross between the points of entry, knowing they will be apprehended, then know the kids will be placed in separate facility while they undergo separate processing, know they will be reunited when the holding period ends, know they will get their kids back, remain with a court date to review their asylum plea, and know they are liars who never intend to appear. And the American people are being emotionally guilted into forcing the whole DACA, Illegal Alien votes before the midterm, and all this burying the Horowitz DoJ testimony proving what criminal behavior has been going on in the Obama DoJ. Proof that the media are now all-in for the Socialist Progressive Revolution
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 06/19/2018 16:57 Comments || Top||

#11  They are foreign invaders and should be treated as such. Using their kids is a war crime and these people should be put up against the wall, shot and their kids sent back to their native countries.

Enough is enough. Time to realize the US is in a war for survival against these people.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/19/2018 20:42 Comments || Top||


Government
Senate: Two-Tiered Justice System in FBI Clinton/Trump Investigations
[Sara Carter] Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) of the Senate Judiciary Committee outlined the stark double standard at Monday’s much anticipated hearing on the FBI’s handling of its investigations into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for government business and the bureau’s highly partisan investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Grassley stated "justice should be blind" but contended that it was not in the case in the FBI’s handling of the Clinton and Trump investigations. He noted that based on the evidence collected in the 568-page report released by Inspector General Michael Horowitz last week, along with information and evidence collected by numerous Congressional committees, evidence of bias against Trump was insurmountable.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/19/2018 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Only in Washington is political bias deemed not political bias. It is agonizing to watch this train wreck.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/19/2018 9:24 Comments || Top||

#2  So what are the Senate and House gonna do about it?

Do they know that the power of the purse doesn't just mean carrying one?
Posted by: charger || 06/19/2018 18:34 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2018-06-19
  Philippine airstrikes target ISIS-linked militants near Marawi
Mon 2018-06-18
  Houthis say Saudi-led forces bogged down outside Hudaydah
Sun 2018-06-17
  Israeli Air Force Attacks 'Leader of Gaza Cell Behind Burning Kites'
Sat 2018-06-16
  Kurdish-led forces claim 15 Turkish soldiers, rebels killed in Afrin
Fri 2018-06-15
  US claim drone strike kills Mullah Fazlullah
Thu 2018-06-14
  Taliban supreme leader offers direct negotiations with the United States
Wed 2018-06-13
  ISIS corpses litter Euphrates after Syrian Army wipes out terrorists trying to cross
Tue 2018-06-12
  34 militants killed in NDS Special Forces operation in Nangarhar
Mon 2018-06-11
  Austria Is Shutting Down Mosques And Ejecting Imams
Sun 2018-06-10
  Wasserman Schultz Refuses To Respond To Accusations She Attempted To Shut Down Awan Probe
Sat 2018-06-09
  Iran Facilitated Passage Of 9/11 Attackers, Iranian Politician Says
Fri 2018-06-08
  German-Jewish teen found raped, murdered; Turkish refugee suspect arrested, Iraqi refugee suspect fled to Iraq
Thu 2018-06-07
  Syria opens Homs-Hama highway after near 7-year closure due to war
Wed 2018-06-06
  Shin Bet says it thwarted plot to assassinate prime minister, Jerusalem mayor
Tue 2018-06-05
  Teenager, Linked to ISIS, Guilty of Plotting Attack on London Museum

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