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US drone attack kills four in North Waziristan
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Page 6: Politix
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Home Front: Politix
Ted Cruz: Why I expect to oppose Hagel
h/t instapundit
... Hagel's willingness to accept rogue states as legitimate players on the international stage on par with our friends. For instance, he voted against designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, opposed renewal of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act and opposed the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act. He has advocated direct, comprehensive negotiations with Iran's government, along with Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria.

...Hagel's willingness to subject the United States to the whims of international organizations. He supports the Law of the Sea Treaty, for example, which would undermine our sovereignty and require American businesses to pay global royalties for oil and gas development.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/08/2013 14:24 || Comments || Link || [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cruz is showing quite a bit of sense--a unique trait in Washington.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/08/2013 17:08 Comments || Top||


Hagel and the Jews
h/t instapundit
A friend and admirer of Senator Hagel called the other day to ask whether we’d ever met the nominee to be secretary of defense. We expressed our regrets that we hadn’t. Our friend wanted us to know that Mr. Hagel does not dislike the Jews. We said we were delighted to hear it, but we also tried to convey that the Sun doesn’t care one way or another whether Mr. Hagel likes the Jews. His private views are not what we care about. What we care about is the policy line to which Mr. Hagel would hew were he to get a chance to run the defense department and advise the President.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/08/2013 13:30 || Comments || Link || [336113 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The real problem with Hagel isn't that he's anti-Israel or anti-semitic, it's that he consistently sides with America's enemies.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/08/2013 21:01 Comments || Top||


Obama Appoints French Economist Funded by Saudi Billionaire to Shape US Global Development Polic
The pieces fall into place for Champ as the place falls into pieces...
Esther Duflo is one of those people who are taken seriously by the sort of people who eat up TED talks with a silver spoon. Her big number is how to help people in the Third World up from poverty, which is a surprisingly profitable branch of economics when you consider the sheer number of NGOs and billionaires interested in getting into the aid business.

But there's one particular billionaire at Duflo's back. Abdul Latif Jameel.

Esther Duflo is one of the co-founders of the Poverty Action Lab at MIT, more commonly known as J-PAL for the father of Abdul Latif Jameel aka Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi billionaire with a net worth of approximately 5 billion dollars.

Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel owns the world's largest Toyota dealership and sits on the board of Coexist as well as a number of other organizations. And Jameel provided 3 major endowments for J-PAL. Around the same time the Abdul Latif Jameel Group sued the Wall Street Journal for reporting its presence on the list of accounts monitored for funding terrorism.

Mohammed's brother was sued by victims of Al Qaeda on accusations that he helped fund its terrorist activities after his name was found on a list in the offices of Benevolence International Foundation, an Al Qaeda front group started by Bin Laden's brother-in-law.

Now Obama has chosen Duflo to serve on the President's Global Development Council which will shape American global development policy worldwide.
Posted by: tipper || 01/08/2013 12:09 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds about right.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/08/2013 14:19 Comments || Top||

#2  What Could Possibly Go Wrong?®
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/08/2013 16:09 Comments || Top||

#3  This Global Development Council is essentially window dressing. Presidents (not just this one) appoint cronies, friends of cronies and friends of friends to them all the time. The crony gets some prestige, the President gets continued praise, lackeydom, etc.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/08/2013 19:51 Comments || Top||


Ed Koch on Chuck Hagel Nomination: Obama's Reneging on His Conveyed Support for Israel Has Come Earlier Than I Thought
[ALGEMEINER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336114 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Picked right up on the Jeremiah Wright thing did he? Eat your watery soup Ed and quityobitch'n. Champ says you're too old and someone else needs the matzo balls.

Kerry is fine, but Hagel is a no-go? Gotta be kiddin me.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/08/2013 4:21 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought reneging was a policy of the Champ.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/08/2013 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Koch voted for him twice thinking he was going to do something like this eventually, just later than this?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/08/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Isn't "renege" a racist word?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/08/2013 10:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Former Mayor Koch didn't merely vote twice for Mr. Obama. Both elections he campaigned hard for the man, touring the country speaking in front of Jewish groups and writing opinion pieces for newspapers as far away as the Jerusalem Post, selling the idea that this man is good for America, American Jews, and Israel. In between times he occasionally wrote a piece critical of this or that action, warning that it could be seen as undermining Israel -- I've posted some of them here over the years -- but in the end Mayor Koch is first and always a loyal member of the Democratic party machine that made him.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/08/2013 11:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I have not been keeping tabs on him. Thanks for the information.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/08/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#7  So, Obama LIED again, so what, he's known for it.

And I'll repeat each lie.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/08/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Koch does give an explanation. His support for Obama was an act of appeasement and he believed Obama would win anyway.
“I did what I thought was warranted and intelligent,” he said, “He was going to win! There was no question about it. I thought it would be helpful to have a Jewish voice there, being able to communicate.”
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/08/2013 13:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Koch's explanation for why he became a useful idiot™ does not cut it. Others have tried this route in history and it worked out very badly for them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/08/2013 19:19 Comments || Top||

#10  The excuse is, Ed's lost it. Comes to all of us. He said he thought Obama would do the right thing because he's "an honorable man".
Lost it but good.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 01/08/2013 20:49 Comments || Top||

#11  "He said he thought Obama would do the right thing because he's "an honorable man"."

I want some of what he's been smoking drinking. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 01/08/2013 21:39 Comments || Top||


Obama nominates Hagel for Defense, Brennan for CIA director
[FREEBEACON] President B.O. announced Monday his nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to secretary of defense and and John Brennan to director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The Hagel nomination formalizes what many expect to be a bruising battle for the president.

"Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve," Obama said at the event Monday.
That comment rather demonstrates the antipathy he has for the military, doesn't it?
"He is an American patriot." Obama noted that Hagel is the first secretary of defense to have held enlisted military rank and the first Vietnam War veteran to serve in the post.

Obama also praised Brennan, saying, "John knows what our national security demands." He noted Brennan's work ethic and extensive experience.

Hagel, a Republican, currently serves at co-chair of the president's Intelligence Advisory Board, a position he has held since 2009. When appointed to that role, Obama praised Hagel's "sound judgments" which he saw while traveling with Hagel to Iraq and Afghanistan during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Before becoming Obama's adviser, Hagel served two terms as a Senator from Nebraska, during which time he sat on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees. He voted for the Iraq and Afghanistan war resolutions before becoming critical of both wars.
Posted by: Fred || 01/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...The point here is that the President is making sure that there's a Republican in charge at DOD when he starts dismantling it. That way, he can say they helped.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 01/08/2013 5:38 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/08/2013 13:25 Comments || Top||

#3  The reality's worse than that. He wants to make sure there won't be another Operation Nickel Grass by bankrupting/Weimarizing the United States. With a lot of Morgrenthau Plan thrown in. Then it doesn't matter who wins in 2016.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/08/2013 13:47 Comments || Top||

#4  The nomination of Hegel shows the course O takes. The senate can knock down Hegel, and O will put up another equal or worse. Every nomination he makes will be like this. O is on a roll with his socialist marxist agenda, and I don't mean Groucho.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/08/2013 16:57 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rand Paul calls for gradual cut in aid to Israel
JERUSALEM - In his first visit to Israel, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is calling for a gradual reduction of American foreign aid.

It’s an unlikely place to deliver the message, since Israel is among the largest recipients of American assistance. But Paul said in a Monday meeting with reporters that the U.S. can’t afford to keep sending money overseas, even to allies like Israel. He says it would be “harder to be a friend of Israel if we are out of money.”

The Kentucky Republican, a longtime opponent of foreign aid, acknowledges he’s expressing a “minority opinion” and doubts Congress will cut aid. He insists Washington should first cut aid to countries with strained ties to America, such as Pakistan and Egypt.

Israel gets about $3 billion a year in military aid.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tie it to a TOTAL aid reduction to Saudi, that'll stop it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/08/2013 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Him & Bibi.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/08/2013 1:49 Comments || Top||

#3  IOW, the US can no longer come to Israel's defense because it can no longer economically afford it.

THIS HAS GOT "MUNICH CONFERENCE IN EAST ASIA" WRITTEN ALL OVER IT, VEE THE US-VS-RISING-CHINA.

Another reason why the China-vs-Japan brouhaha over the Senkakus/Daoyus may NOT end well for Amerikka.

GOOD FOR ANTI-US GLOBALISTS + ANTI-US OWG + ANTI-US OWG NAU - ORDINARY AMERICANS + TRADTIONAL NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, NOT SO MUCH.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/08/2013 1:53 Comments || Top||

#4  some of the military aid to Israel is probably wasteful

however, a lot of it results in real time, real target, tests of weapon systems, both defensive and offensive, which could not be done anywhere else and which is of enormous benefit to the US DOD
Posted by: lord garth || 01/08/2013 7:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Washington should first cut aid to countries with strained ties to America, such as Pakistan and Egypt.....

Kaliphornia, New and Old Mexico.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/08/2013 7:16 Comments || Top||

#6  $3 billion/year? We spend almost that much on Obama per year. Cut aid to Obama--fewer golf games in Hawaii and fewer perks. No more expensive trips for FLOTUS, don't take the kid to Mexico for a trip, cut the pay of the dog handler--it is about #102,000/year. Let the kids take care of the dog. It is good training for them. Obama can use Camp David more--it is closer to D.C. Pull the kids out of Sidwell and send them to public school. Obama has said how much he thinks of public schools in public statements. I'll bet we can get that $2 billion down to a range of 1/2-1 bn.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/08/2013 9:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds good to me, MAKE him hurt as much as he's made us.

Shortly the HURTS will end.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/08/2013 11:58 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
U.S. proposes minimum sounds for 'quiet cars'
[DETROITNEWS] The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing new rules to require minimum sound levels from electric vehicles, hybrids and other quiet cars to warn pedestrians.

NHTSA's proposal -- required by Congress in 2010 -- sets minimum sound levels for hybrid and electric vehicles to help make all pedestrians, especially visually impaired people, aware of approaching vehicles.

Electric and hybrid vehicles do not rely on traditional engines and at low speeds can be very difficult to hear.

NHTSA plans to phase in the new rules starting in the 2016 model year over three years. It expects the proposal will cost the auto industry about $23 million during the first year.

NHTSA estimates the cost of adding a speaker system to comply with the requirements to be around $35 per vehicle.

The new rules would also apply to electric motorcycles and heavy-duty vehicles.

NHTSA estimates the odds of a hybrid vehicle being involved in a pedestrian crash is 19 percent higher compared with traditional gas- or diesel-powered vehicles. For a bicycle crash, it's 38 percent higher.
Posted by: Fred || 01/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if this will be like the fleet mileage standards - some vehicles can be nearly silent just as long as enough others are really, really loud.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/08/2013 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  To warn pedestrians which means Prius going below 15 mph or so. Seems reasonable and I'm surprised the Japanese didn't add that themselves.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/08/2013 0:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Not a bad idea. I have seen several new hybrid, 4 cylinder and electric cars that have been so quiet, if I wasn't watching I wouldn't have known they were there. After which I have always wondered why they didn't have those things make more noise.

On a related topic, good police and military vehicle to sneak up on a target building.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/08/2013 1:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't fergit the Black Boxes = Cameras + Voice Recorders, etc. soon-to-be-mandatory devices.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/08/2013 1:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Now while I reeeeally don't like the idea of data-recording devices being required by the Feds, the idea of a noisemaker on a Toyota Prius or Nissan Leaf electric drive makes sense. There are a LOT of these things on the streets of Seattle where I walk to & from work daily, and I've learned to make a special effort to look for them, especially when walking from the office during the fall & winter.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 01/08/2013 2:00 Comments || Top||

#6  I have the solution...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/08/2013 2:06 Comments || Top||

#7  You could generally hear a... clunker coming.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/08/2013 4:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Either a sound like Fred McMurrays flubber powered Model T or a Ferrari 365GBT4/A
Posted by: Shipman || 01/08/2013 5:17 Comments || Top||

#9  My Smart Car is so quiet I often sneak up on people.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/08/2013 7:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Or replace the hood ornament with a Van de Graaf generator to give nearby pedestrians and bicyclists powerful electric shocks.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/08/2013 7:30 Comments || Top||

#11  Cowbells! It's even eco-friendly!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/08/2013 7:39 Comments || Top||

#12 

If the proposal for minimum sounds passes into law, these guys have a chance of "customizing your sound".
Posted by: Au Auric || 01/08/2013 10:05 Comments || Top||

#13  When gas gets up to around $4.00 per gallon, my entire fleet gets very, very quiet.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/08/2013 10:53 Comments || Top||

#14 
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/08/2013 11:55 Comments || Top||

#15  I imagine the sound the cars made in the Jetsons cartoon.

bebebebebebebebebebebebe
Posted by: Hellfish || 01/08/2013 12:14 Comments || Top||

#16  Forget rngtns, there's a real market here. Prius: flivver. Leaf: slipping fan belt.
Posted by: KBK || 01/08/2013 12:35 Comments || Top||

#17  There are some things you cannot say on the Burg. :-)
Posted by: KBK || 01/08/2013 12:36 Comments || Top||

#18  Whaddabout the noise pollution? Now wwe'll have upper and LOWER limits?

How about the increase in carbon footprint and corresponding reduction in mpg? The energy to make the noise ultimately comes out of the gas tank.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/08/2013 12:56 Comments || Top||

#19  Maybe they could have a guy walk ahead of the car, ringing a bell...
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 01/08/2013 16:07 Comments || Top||

#20  So now they want a whine for their cheesy cars?
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/08/2013 18:40 Comments || Top||

#21  So now they want a whine for their cheesy cars?

We have a winner!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/08/2013 18:42 Comments || Top||

#22  Out of the ballpark, BreRabbit.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 01/08/2013 18:45 Comments || Top||

#23  Golf clap, Brer Rabbit. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 01/08/2013 19:13 Comments || Top||

#24  Wire wheels. With playing cards (or baseball cards) clothespinned to the fenders.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/08/2013 19:37 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
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Fred
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2013-01-08
  US drone attack kills four in North Waziristan
Mon 2013-01-07
  Syria Opposition Rejects Assad's Reconciliation Plan
Sun 2013-01-06
  Dronezap in South Wazoo send 18 TTP Jihadis to their rewards
Sat 2013-01-05
  Syria jets, troops wage offensive on rebels near capital
Fri 2013-01-04
  New U.S. Drone Strike Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen
Thu 2013-01-03
  Iran to Citizens: Flee Isfahan
Wed 2013-01-02
  Fourteen Killed as Nigerian Troops Clash with Islamists
Tue 2013-01-01
  Pakistan: Six charity workers shot dead
Mon 2012-12-31
  Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for killing US ambassador, troops
Sun 2012-12-30
  Pakistan reports 21 tribal policemen kidnapped, found dead
Sat 2012-12-29
  At Least 15 Killed in Sect Attack in North Nigeria
Fri 2012-12-28
  Militants kill two, kidnap 22 Pakistani soldiers
Thu 2012-12-27
  Somalia sets 100 days for Al Shabab militants to surrender
Wed 2012-12-26
  6 Killed in Attack on Nigerian Church
Tue 2012-12-25
  Drone Strikes Kill Six Qaida Suspects in Yemen

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