[The Everyman] Clint Eastwood's latest film is based on the real-life exploits of Leo Sharpe, an elderly WW2 vet the Sinaloa drug cartel used as a "mule" to transport drugs and money for almost 10 years in the early 00's.
Like the real-life Sharpe, Eastwood's character, Earl Stone, is first shown as a gregarious and successful horticulturalist and celebrity breeder of custom day lilies who is admired and honored. However, beneath that we also see that he is a consummate workaholic who is so enthralled with the fame, adulation, and wealth his success has brought him, that he completely neglects his family and caused the breakup of his marriage. We see how he missed the day of his own daughter's wedding so that he could attend a horticultural convention to receive a prestigious award.
The movie then shifts to a few years later as his business and home are about to be foreclosed on. He pays his workers their last paycheck before heading off to his granddaughter's wedding engagement party, who is the only member of his family he has any relationship with. There, after arguing with his ex-wife and the daughter whose wedding he missed, Stone meets a young man who gives him a card which connects him to drug runners who eventually offer him a job delivering drugs because of his spotless driving record.
From there the movie shows Stone making a total of eight runs, all the while DEA agent Colin Bates (wonderfully played by Bradley Cooper) and his partner Trevin (Michael Peña) are trying to find him based only on the description of his truck and his nickname, "El Tata" (the grandfather).
In between runs, he spends money on his friends and especially his granddaughter to put her through school, all the while trying to reconcile with his family. As he becomes increasingly successful at his work, he is given a handler who watches his every move and is even brought to Mexico to meet the cartel boss El Laton (played by Andy Garcia).
[Aljazeera] The government redistributed land to black people in the 1980s to alter the ethnic balance of land ownership.
In Zimbabwe, white farmers who lost everything in a government policy to redistribute land to black people say compensation plans fall far short of what's needed.
They're sceptical about ever seeing any money from the cash-strapped government.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit enters the secretive world of the surveillance industry. Spy Merchants reveals for the first time how highly-invasive spyware, which can capture the electronic communications of a town, can be purchased in a 'grey market’ where regulations are ignored or bypassed. Mass surveillance equipment can then be sold onto authoritarian governments, criminals or even terrorists.
During a four-month undercover operation, an industry insider working for Al Jazeera filmed the negotiation of several illegal, multi-million dollar deals that breach international sanctions. The proposed deals include the supply of highly restricted surveillance equipment to Iran. The undercover operative also secured an extraordinary agreement to purchase powerful spyware with a company who said they didn’t care who was the end-user.
[ForeignPolicy] The president's shift in policy has been portrayed as a surprise—but America's foreign-policy machinery was quietly tasked with preparing for it months ago.
Washington narratives, once determined, are almost impossible to change. A pristine example has been President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, which prominent foreign-policy voices condemned as impulsive, dangerous, and a betrayal of America's Kurdish allies. Worse yet, the withdrawal order came about, these same experts say, because of the U.S. chief executive's ties to (choose one) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or, most recently, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul. Gotta keep that "He is crazy" narrative going
But the narrative doesn't fit the reality of Trump's Syria decision. Far from being caught by surprise, senior State Department and Pentagon officials were tasked earlier in 2018 with planning for the eventual withdrawal. While it's true that, as one foreign-policy commentator recently noted, Trump's Syria decision took place without an "interagency review, an often-prolonged process that methodically develops options," or even "major deliberations with allies," the idea that Trump's decision shocked Washington's foreign-policy machinery needs to be rethought. "This wasn't a surprise," a senior State Department official who works on Middle East issues told me last week. "We've been talking about getting our troops out of Syria since at least last March." Continued on Page 49
Posted by: DarthVader ||
01/05/2019 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Everyone in the Pentagon and around the world was surprised, keep spinning that Trump is Caesar story.
[Babylon Bee - Satire, OK?] In a late-night show interview Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders politely asked the nation to please stop mailing him books on basic economics, revealing that he's been "absolutely flooded" with works on the most rudimentary concepts of supply and demand.
Sanders made the request after receiving yet another daily shipment of books from well-meaning Americans who simply assumed that he has never read a book on the subject in his life.
"I've got 1,200 copies of Human Action, 1,500 copies of Basic Economics, and 4,700 copies of Economics in One Lesson," the angered senator said. "I'm drowning here." Sanders also showed the late-night host a small mountain of children's books on the subject of economics from the easy-to-read Tuttle Twins series, sent to him from Americans who assumed he had somehow missed classroom discussions on the value of a dollar and supply and demand while in elementary school.
Sanders further confirmed he still hasn't read a single one of the books, stating that they look like they're "full of harsh facts" and that he prefers a more emotion-based approach to economics. He added that he's "a little peeved" that our nation has so many choices for books on basic economics on the market. "Do we really need that many?"
At publishing time, Sanders had arrived to one of his other houses and began screaming at the sky in anger upon discovering fifty-eight more books on basic economics had been mailed there.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2019 08:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
#1
Maybe he could send the overage to Alex. O-C.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/05/2019 9:48 Comments ||
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#7
Whackademic Economics seems to be mainly Marx worship these days.
If you went to a Biology class and they taught you creationism you'd suspect your time and money was being wasted. At least creationism didn't kill 120 million people.
[Hot Air] Of all the lines of attack available to him on Tlaib, this is the one he goes with. Feigned outrage over decorum. After three and a half years of Trump.
If you’re going to dunk on Tlaib for profanity, at least place it in the context that Miller does. Hang it around Hillary’s neck. "Democrats, beginning with their last nominee, vowed that they were going to bring civility back to Washington, that they’d be the party of ’adults.’ That lasted eight hours." Some Democrats would sympathize with this argument too: Civility, where did we turn the corner ?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2019 12:11 Comments ||
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#3
Those people in DC are in such a bubble they dont realize what we have seen for years: the left is serious, they are playing hardball, and they are uncouth assholes. And they should be treated bluntly, no decorum offered or given.
[PJ] WASHINGTON -- President Trump said it's necessary to use eminent domain to seize border properties like any other infrastructure project, and warned at a Rose Garden press conference today that he has thought about using "emergency powers" to grant himself authority to build a wall without the approval of Congress.
"We could call a national emergency because of the security of our country. Absolutely. No, we could do it. I haven't done it. I may do it. I may do it. But we could call a national emergency and build it very quickly and it's another way of doing it," he said. "But if we can do it through a negotiated process, we're giving that a shot."
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) countered such a declaration would be a misuse of military construction readiness funds. "This is as clear a statement as any that President Trump values the construction of his wall over military readiness and support for our troops and their families," Smith said.
Trump had just emerged from the second White House meeting this week with congressional leaders to negotiate an end to the government shutdown.
#3
They've come down a little in price, so sell an F-35 to Israel at half-price. Use the funds to restart wall construction.
The latest contract for 141 of Lockheed Martin’s F-35′s will come at a price tag of $11.5 billion, the lowest in the history of the weapons program. Of the 141 aircraft, 91 will be used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the remaining 50 will be used by international program partners and customers.
#4
The problem with the National Emergency option is that like an Executive Order, the next President can reverse it. Better to have legislation, slightly...
#7
Look on the bright side, a gov'ment shutdown should bring the deficit down. Especially if Congress doesn't include a get out of jail free card when they do pass a budget.
“We’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone" B. H. Obama.
#11
Play hardball with Mexico and tell them we will tax remittances 70% (the number provided by the new Congresswoman from Brookland). If Mexico pays for the wall we won't do so.
Mexico will pay for the wall out of self interest.
#12
"This is as clear a statement as any that President Trump values the construction of his wall over military readiness and support for our troops and their families," Smith said.
The military is no damn good if we can't even protect our border.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/05/2019 15:53 Comments ||
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#13
It really isn't about the money.
No, it isn't. Pelosi and Schumer squander $5 billion every morning before breakfast. Then after breakfast they really get started.
What it's really all about is a steady stream of Third World invaders who will likely vote Democrat when they get here. Without those people, Pelosi and Schumer will be out of business. That's why they will fight Trump and the wall with everything they've got.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/05/2019 15:59 Comments ||
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#14
National Emergency or not, send troops to the border and start closing ports of entry. Mexico will take care of the problem in short order.
After a couple of tumultuous years, President Donald Trump seems to have reached the conclusion that he has had quite enough of generals. Now, as a retired admiral, I have certainly been annoyed over the years by a number of generals. Yet by and large, I’ve found them quite effective as leaders, organizers, planners and strategists‐the type one would expect from those who have proved their mettle in the long hierarchical climb up the ranks of the modern armed forces. Additionally, the vast majority are driven by integrity and the values of courage, honor, commitment‐while having been tested in life-and-death situations. All in all, a pretty good selection of qualities. So why, after hiring quite a few, is the President turning on them?
#1
He wishes to disengage from overseas military adventurism (wiki: 150 countries). He thinks Private Military Contractors (PMC) may be part of the solution. He distrusts the intelligence community, and he refuses to read my PPT slides. He must surely be evil.
#5
M. Murcek - nobody is stopping you from starting your own echo chamber blog
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2019 7:57 Comments ||
Top||
#6
For nearly two decades the military leaders went along with war policies. Naturally a number of commanders are wrapped up in that way of thinking now. It’s all they’ve really known. That doesn’t make the policies right or even goood for America.
#8
There is a certain aversion to failure within the careerist leadership structure of the military. Bouncing back from a difficult or failed assignment is quite difficult, if not impossible. Not so much for a moneyed real estate developer and builder.
Lincoln didn't care about their careers. Neither does Trump.
#13
NYTimes: By Ashley Parker and Maggie Haberman
July 12, 2016: Hillary Clinton’s campaign is vetting James G. Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral who served as the 16th supreme allied commander at NATO, as a possible running mate, according to a person with knowledge of the vetting process.
#16
InstaHypocrite,
My guess is that is a reference to Instapundit. I've heard him called a hypocrite by folks that don't understand libertarianism but think they do.
[American Thinker] Whether Americans like it or not, abortion has become the defining issue of the two main parties. A Democrat can be many things ‐ a moderate; a corporatist; or a shrill, uninformed socialist ‐ but he must be pro-choice, as shown in the recent move to repeal the pro-life Mexico City policy, which prevents foreign aid going to organizations that fund or encourage abortions. The same applies to the Republicans, who range from government-friendly "moderates" to staunch say-no-to-all-spending libertarians but who all must try to uphold the rights of the unborn ‐ except Gov. Kasich, who apparently thinks cursive is more important than saving infants with a heartbeat.
Considering the respective platforms of each party, this sometimes places political leaders and their constituents in strange places. It seems odd that Democrats, who claim to champion the poor and people of color, support a procedure that decimates those very communities and accounted for a staggering 41 million deaths worldwide in 2018. For Republicans who claim to advocate for freedom and limited government, it also seems odd, at least on principle, to limit parents' freedom in planning their families.
The division makes more sense within the context of morality than politics. Democrats espouse a materialist secular morality that stresses quality of life over the sanctity of life. This means they believe there is a point for individuals when life is not worth living, usually in cases of poverty, sickness, or suffering, which then makes it permissible to terminate that life. By contrast, Republicans have embraced the Christian/Natural Law morality, which contends that all human beings have the right to life, regardless of circumstance.
[National Review] Carlson accurately identifies certain maladies, but they are maladies that public policy can’t cure.
Yesterday Tucker Carlson delivered the monologue heard around the conservative world. He addresses one of the fundamental questions of our time ‐ why, when GDP is rising and America is immensely rich, are so very many of our fellow citizens dying deaths of despair? As he bluntly says, "Anyone who thinks the health of a nation can be summed up in GDP is an idiot."
He says many true things ‐ that people long for connection with each other, that we can’t separate economics and family life into distinct spheres, and that men suffer from a unique challenge in modern American life.
But he also says false things. He says that manufacturing "all but disappeared over the course of a generation." It hasn’t. He says, "increasingly, marriage is a luxury only the affluent in America can afford." Yet a healthy, faithful marriage is often the gateway to affluence. Affluence is not a prerequisite for marriage.
He casts American boys as a generation of burnouts, yet the best evidence shows that marijuana use is only on a slight uptick and is still way down from its highs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. (Some evidence even suggests its use has stabilized in recent years.)
And he talks about wealthier Americans as if they’re indifferent to the plight of their fellow Americans. Here’s Carlson: "Those very same affluent married people, the ones making virtually all the decisions in our society, are doing pretty much nothing to help the people below them get and stay married. Rich people are happy to fight malaria in Congo. But working to raise men’s wages in Dayton or Detroit? That’s crazy."
#1
But he also says false things. He says that manufacturing "all but disappeared over the course of a generation." It hasn’t. He says, "increasingly, marriage is a luxury only the affluent in America can afford." Yet a healthy, faithful marriage is often the gateway to affluence. Affluence is not a prerequisite for marriage.
Obviously a racist, pro-family, globalphobia statement. You must reject it immediately !
#3
Whining is not going to help. As a media drone, I'm not sure Carlson is allowed to do more, and I certainly don't dismiss the strong possibility he is a beard for FauxNews' real stance.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/05/2019 6:39 Comments ||
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#4
As a media drone - him, not me, a clarification.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/05/2019 6:40 Comments ||
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#5
I'm with Tucker here.
Land prices went from 2.5*earnings to around 10 and thus houses fell in affordability especially family houses.
Impossible to start a family with the fed ruining the real economy by transferring so much wealth to the establishment.
#9
NR has turned to complete shit ever since WFB passed away. If they printed a story titled 'the sky is blue', I will look out my window to verify the accuracy of that statement. Fuck all of them with rusty spiked dildoes.
#15
Tucker is a huge breath of fresh air after O'Reilly and the others in the Fox evening lineup. He is candid, genuine, courageous in topic selection to a fault, and speaks more about things long dismissed than any commentator in recent memory. DO I agree with everything he says, and some of the chump lefties he brings on to embarrass repeatedly? no, but he's closer to my viewpoints that any at present on a wide range of things. I fear for his safety and blood pressure though.....
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit enters the secretive world of the surveillance industry. Spy Merchants reveals for the first time how highly-invasive spyware, which can capture the electronic communications of a town, can be purchased in a 'grey market’ where regulations are ignored or bypassed. Mass surveillance equipment can then be sold onto authoritarian governments, criminals or even terrorists.
[ForeignPolicy] The president's shift in policy has been portrayed as a surprise—but America's foreign-policy machinery was quietly tasked with preparing for it months ago.
[Babylon Bee - Satire, OK?] In a late-night show interview Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders politely asked the nation to please stop mailing him books on basic economics, revealing that he's been "absolutely flooded" with works on the most rudimentary concepts of supply and demand.
