Population – 310. Male/female – 159/151. 96.1% white.
100% of people older than 25 are high school graduates.
Number of families/individuals below federal poverty level – 0%.
Fischer is in Comal County, 20 miles northwest of New Braunfels.
Here is a history of the town: http://www.visitwimberley.com/category/travel/fischer-ls.shtml
The remark about no one being happy with the new post office building replacing the store is common throughout Texas when the federal government decided the PO Department seemed a rather ramshackle outfit if local mail business was conducted in a general store. Congresspersons always make a big deal about getting a new post office, but seldom remark about the new fancy building not having a potbellied wood stove for winter heat and conversation around.
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnf48
pushes settlement back a few decades.
Here are pictures of dog-trot houses:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dogtrot+house&qpvt=dog+trot+house&qpvt=dog+trot+house&FORM=IGRE
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
And you got a Participant ribbon, too
An internet poster:
Love yourself.
without your
flaws, you
wouldn’t be you.
From something called jar of quotes. Unfortunately, someone took the lid off the jar, and that one got loose.
Another one, from another site.
Uhh, show me
there’s nothing
to afraid.
Kind of makes you want to say, “WHAT?”
Love yourself.
without your
flaws, you
wouldn’t be you.
From something called jar of quotes. Unfortunately, someone took the lid off the jar, and that one got loose.
Another one, from another site.
Uhh, show me
there’s nothing
to afraid.
Kind of makes you want to say, “WHAT?”
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Gluteny trannie fats out, FDA says
Or maybe it was transfats. These days, it’s hard to tell what the govmnt is saying. Today. Or yesterday.
“When the federal government's 1980 ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ warned about the baleful effects of saturated fats, public interest activists joined the fight and managed to persuade major food companies to switch to the shiny new alternative: trans fats. Thirty-five years later, the Food and Drug Administration finally determined that trans fats are not just useless but unsafe, and ordered them removed from all foods. Oops. So much for settled science.”
Also useless: Vitamin C megadoses, Omega-3 supplements, gluten-free anything … Soon to make the list are other foods/supplements deemed healthy by people/companies making money with alternatives.
I'm waiting for the peanut allergy shoe to drop. "Help me! I dreamed I saw a picture of a peanut and now I can't breathe!"
http://www.newsmax.com/CharlesKrauthammer/fda-diet-celiac/2015/12/26/id/707143/
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
“When the federal government's 1980 ‘Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ warned about the baleful effects of saturated fats, public interest activists joined the fight and managed to persuade major food companies to switch to the shiny new alternative: trans fats. Thirty-five years later, the Food and Drug Administration finally determined that trans fats are not just useless but unsafe, and ordered them removed from all foods. Oops. So much for settled science.”
Also useless: Vitamin C megadoses, Omega-3 supplements, gluten-free anything … Soon to make the list are other foods/supplements deemed healthy by people/companies making money with alternatives.
I'm waiting for the peanut allergy shoe to drop. "Help me! I dreamed I saw a picture of a peanut and now I can't breathe!"
http://www.newsmax.com/CharlesKrauthammer/fda-diet-celiac/2015/12/26/id/707143/
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Monday, December 28, 2015
‘I’m from Brooklyn’
That’s what the older woman at the table said. “I remembah the Dahdghas.”
I said, “Do you remember when they won the World Series in 1955?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “It was a wondahful time.”
She said she remembered 1957, too.
“All the drivahs were blowin’ their horns. I asked my mother, ‘What’re they doin’?’ She said the Dahdghas were moving to Los Angeles.’ What’d they want to do that for?”
I told her I was a Dodgers fan. A Northeast Texas boy, a Dodgers fan. My father and my older sister were Yankees fans. We had some disagreements.
I’m with the Brooklyn born and raised woman.
“What’d they want to do that for?”
I said, “Do you remember when they won the World Series in 1955?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “It was a wondahful time.”
She said she remembered 1957, too.
“All the drivahs were blowin’ their horns. I asked my mother, ‘What’re they doin’?’ She said the Dahdghas were moving to Los Angeles.’ What’d they want to do that for?”
I told her I was a Dodgers fan. A Northeast Texas boy, a Dodgers fan. My father and my older sister were Yankees fans. We had some disagreements.
I’m with the Brooklyn born and raised woman.
“What’d they want to do that for?”
1970s
MALTHUSIAN: Population growth will be greater than food production, resulting in mass starvation, food riots and wars.
CLIMATE ALARMIST: Statistics show the earth is growing cooler, which means we will have another Ice Age in the next 30-50 years.
HISTORIAN: With the end of the war in Vietnam, we have seen the last war of nationalism, just as 300 years ago history saw the end of religious wars.
(A search for “predictions 1970s” brings hits mostly on climate misguesses. The rest of the stuff – starvation, overpopulation, religious wars – people kind of forgot about. This subject came from a morning dream in which a college student preached Malthus predictions as reality. Another character rebutted her with … something. I woke up and forgot what the other character said. The way of dreams sometimes.)
CLIMATE ALARMIST: Statistics show the earth is growing cooler, which means we will have another Ice Age in the next 30-50 years.
HISTORIAN: With the end of the war in Vietnam, we have seen the last war of nationalism, just as 300 years ago history saw the end of religious wars.
(A search for “predictions 1970s” brings hits mostly on climate misguesses. The rest of the stuff – starvation, overpopulation, religious wars – people kind of forgot about. This subject came from a morning dream in which a college student preached Malthus predictions as reality. Another character rebutted her with … something. I woke up and forgot what the other character said. The way of dreams sometimes.)
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Florida white Christmas
Accompanied by our two sons and daughter-in-law, my wife and I on Saturday went to Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island. Lots of other people had the same Dec. 26 destination. Those other people went in cars, of course. And on motorcycles and bicycles. Traffic was thick, and parking places not so many.
The beach was nice. Waves from the Gulf rolled in, onto the mix of ocean-crushed shells and white sand, mostly shells. The afternoon sun was warm, but not too hot.
Altogether, a nice day after Christmas.
The beach was nice. Waves from the Gulf rolled in, onto the mix of ocean-crushed shells and white sand, mostly shells. The afternoon sun was warm, but not too hot.
Altogether, a nice day after Christmas.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Christmas presents
1951. I got a cap pistol that had a cylinder that rotated when I pulled the trigger. That was a big deal, the cylinder that rotated. I had never seen a cap pistol like that. The toy … No, it was more than a toy. It was like one carried by Lash Larue or Hopalong Cassidy or Johnny Mack Brown in Western movie serials. The cap pistol was burned up in a house fire in September 1952.
1956. I got a stamped metal, wind-up bulldozer with rubber tracks. The bulldozer climbed books I stacked on the floor; first one book, then two, and three. It wouldn’t climb four books. Outside, the bulldozer scraped sand with its blade and destroyed German and Japanese twig bunkers. I think the spring broke, or maybe I wound it too tight. The bulldozer was the first self-propelled toy I ever had. It made a good tank, too.
1962. Daddy gave me a Mossberg .410 bolt-action, three-shot shotgun. It was the first gun I owned. Daddy didn’t keep a gun. I never killed anything with the gun, except a few bottles and cans. Sometime the next year, I came home from school and saw a black Ford pickup in the front yard. Daddy was at work, so I asked Momma, “Where’d Daddy get the truck?” She was sitting on the couch in front of the front windows in the living room. She said, “He traded for it.” I asked, “What’d he trade?” She said, “Your shotgun.” Daddy didn’t ask me to approve the trade. When I saw him next day, he didn’t say anything about the truck or about my shotgun. He never did.
1956. I got a stamped metal, wind-up bulldozer with rubber tracks. The bulldozer climbed books I stacked on the floor; first one book, then two, and three. It wouldn’t climb four books. Outside, the bulldozer scraped sand with its blade and destroyed German and Japanese twig bunkers. I think the spring broke, or maybe I wound it too tight. The bulldozer was the first self-propelled toy I ever had. It made a good tank, too.
1962. Daddy gave me a Mossberg .410 bolt-action, three-shot shotgun. It was the first gun I owned. Daddy didn’t keep a gun. I never killed anything with the gun, except a few bottles and cans. Sometime the next year, I came home from school and saw a black Ford pickup in the front yard. Daddy was at work, so I asked Momma, “Where’d Daddy get the truck?” She was sitting on the couch in front of the front windows in the living room. She said, “He traded for it.” I asked, “What’d he trade?” She said, “Your shotgun.” Daddy didn’t ask me to approve the trade. When I saw him next day, he didn’t say anything about the truck or about my shotgun. He never did.
Cornell joins war against pagans
Things that may not be displayed at Cornell University:
Nativity scene; menorah; angels; mistletoe; stars at the tops of trees; crosses; stars of David.
While banning mistletoe, Cornell does allow representative snowflakes and trees “(in accordance with Fire Safety Guidelines)”) that are decorated with snowflakes and other non-religious symbols. Snowflakes and trees of non-religious decoration are “Consistent with Cornell’s Commitment to Diversity …”
Mistletoe is not a Christian or Jewish symbol, so why does Cornell ban it? The only logical reason is the university’s war against Paganism, Celtic religion and Nordic worship. This something up with which we must not put.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-23/christmas-safe-space-cornell-bans-menorahs-crosses-mistletoe
http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1572
Nativity scene; menorah; angels; mistletoe; stars at the tops of trees; crosses; stars of David.
While banning mistletoe, Cornell does allow representative snowflakes and trees “(in accordance with Fire Safety Guidelines)”) that are decorated with snowflakes and other non-religious symbols. Snowflakes and trees of non-religious decoration are “Consistent with Cornell’s Commitment to Diversity …”
Mistletoe is not a Christian or Jewish symbol, so why does Cornell ban it? The only logical reason is the university’s war against Paganism, Celtic religion and Nordic worship. This something up with which we must not put.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-23/christmas-safe-space-cornell-bans-menorahs-crosses-mistletoe
http://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1572
Monday, December 21, 2015
Yes, but is sex while driving legal?
The government in the Netherlands has clarified that it is legal for driving instructors to offer lessons in return for sex, as long as the students are over the age of 18.
However, it is illegal to offer sex in return for lessons.
Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Justice minister Ard van der Steur addressed the issue in response to a question tabled in parliament by Gert-Jan Segers of the socially conservative Christian Union party, noting that, although ‘undesirable’, offering driving lessons with sex as payment is not illegal.
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/one-way-driving-markets-the-polity-that-is-dutch.html
Link at http://ace.mu.nu/
However, it is illegal to offer sex in return for lessons.
Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Justice minister Ard van der Steur addressed the issue in response to a question tabled in parliament by Gert-Jan Segers of the socially conservative Christian Union party, noting that, although ‘undesirable’, offering driving lessons with sex as payment is not illegal.
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/one-way-driving-markets-the-polity-that-is-dutch.html
Link at http://ace.mu.nu/
Making fire
There are no matches in my house. The garage might have one of those long-barrel butane lighters, the kind used to light candles and start kindling burning for a fireplace fire. There is no fireplace, so lack of a fire starter for a fireplace doesn’t matter.
Why would I need fire? Well, if everything should fall apart and governments and economies collapse, I’ll need fire to boil water for drinking and for cooking the canned and frozen foods and for beans and pasta.
If everything falls apart, electrical plants will stop running when the gas or coal is gone. Without electricity, water treatment plants stop working, which means water does not get pumped to storage towers or into homes. No water for drinking, cooking, bathing or flushing. Waste water treatment stops, too, and sewage backs up and people get sick and die because hospitals can’t function without water and electricity and general cleanliness.
With matches, I could start a fire, if I had wood. There are trees out back, trees now part of the landscaping and protected by homeowner covenants and signs that say the trees are part of wilderness preservation. If everything fell apart, my neighbors would be after the same branches and limbs, those who could start fires and who would not wait for a government to tell them what to do. We might have to arrive at an agreement on who gets what in the way of fire supplies, or maybe he who has the biggest gun and is the most willing to use it.
Also behind the house is a three-acre pond. The water is somewhat brackish, certainly filled with all sorts of microscopic creatures that want to find a home inside human intestines and such, but boiling the water would kill those murderers. The pond has turtles, too, and lots of fish. And an alligator. The alligator would find itself somewhat popular, given its amount of meat and its hide. I have never gone after an alligator, but I do have a number of rifles in calibers of .22, .30, 7.62mm, 7.92mm and .30-30, as well as pistols and revolvers of .22, .32, 9mm, .38, .357 Magnum, .40 and .45 calibers, and shotguns -- .410, 16 gauge and 12 gauge. Several of those are large enough to kill an alligator, all, in fact, with proper bullet placement.
So, with fire, my wife and I could get by for a while. But we have no seed for planting. Weather here is good enough for at least three harvests, growing the right things in the right months.
Like most of our neighbors, we are nearing elderly years. And, most of the people here take one or 12 prescription drugs to maintain mobility or life. Those would stop if everything fell apart.
I would guess a death rate of 80 percent in industrialized countries within a month of everything falling apart. With Walmart looted and trucks not running, people would starve, bodies would not be collected, diseases would spread, no drugs would be available to keep the diseases away.
Just some thoughts.
I am reading Without Warning by John Birmingham. In the book, most of the United States, much of Canada, half of Mexico and about 99.9 percent of Cuba are depopulated.
The world without America. It falls apart. As of Page 175, anyway.
Why would I need fire? Well, if everything should fall apart and governments and economies collapse, I’ll need fire to boil water for drinking and for cooking the canned and frozen foods and for beans and pasta.
If everything falls apart, electrical plants will stop running when the gas or coal is gone. Without electricity, water treatment plants stop working, which means water does not get pumped to storage towers or into homes. No water for drinking, cooking, bathing or flushing. Waste water treatment stops, too, and sewage backs up and people get sick and die because hospitals can’t function without water and electricity and general cleanliness.
With matches, I could start a fire, if I had wood. There are trees out back, trees now part of the landscaping and protected by homeowner covenants and signs that say the trees are part of wilderness preservation. If everything fell apart, my neighbors would be after the same branches and limbs, those who could start fires and who would not wait for a government to tell them what to do. We might have to arrive at an agreement on who gets what in the way of fire supplies, or maybe he who has the biggest gun and is the most willing to use it.
Also behind the house is a three-acre pond. The water is somewhat brackish, certainly filled with all sorts of microscopic creatures that want to find a home inside human intestines and such, but boiling the water would kill those murderers. The pond has turtles, too, and lots of fish. And an alligator. The alligator would find itself somewhat popular, given its amount of meat and its hide. I have never gone after an alligator, but I do have a number of rifles in calibers of .22, .30, 7.62mm, 7.92mm and .30-30, as well as pistols and revolvers of .22, .32, 9mm, .38, .357 Magnum, .40 and .45 calibers, and shotguns -- .410, 16 gauge and 12 gauge. Several of those are large enough to kill an alligator, all, in fact, with proper bullet placement.
So, with fire, my wife and I could get by for a while. But we have no seed for planting. Weather here is good enough for at least three harvests, growing the right things in the right months.
Like most of our neighbors, we are nearing elderly years. And, most of the people here take one or 12 prescription drugs to maintain mobility or life. Those would stop if everything fell apart.
I would guess a death rate of 80 percent in industrialized countries within a month of everything falling apart. With Walmart looted and trucks not running, people would starve, bodies would not be collected, diseases would spread, no drugs would be available to keep the diseases away.
Just some thoughts.
I am reading Without Warning by John Birmingham. In the book, most of the United States, much of Canada, half of Mexico and about 99.9 percent of Cuba are depopulated.
The world without America. It falls apart. As of Page 175, anyway.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Refugees leaving Austria, going back home
Not enough free stuff, no quick movement to a better country, treated worse than dogs.
“The Caritas charity confirmed that between September 1st and December 14th 257 Iraqis, 35 Afghans and 53 Iranians flew home - most of whom had been resident in Vienna. In 2014 only two Iraqis, nine Afghans and one Iranian chose to return to their own countries.”
…
“Three Iraqi men in their 20s who spoke to the Kurier newspaper say they plan to fly home on Wednesday after three months in Austria. They are all computer engineers and had hoped to build a better life here. "We wanted peace, freedom and a future," 23-year-old Muqdad said. He and his friends have been living in emergency refugee accommodation in Vienna’s 3rd district.
"’We’ve just been humiliated here,’ said Omer. ‘It was a mistake to come. People look at us here as if we were terrorists, and all we want is peace. Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria - at least they have something good to eat, and are even given something to wear.’”
…
“Günter Ecker, the head of Vienna’s human rights association (VMÖ), expects the trend to continue. ‘Many Iraqis say that they expected better social care here, and many also had a misleading idea of how long the asylum process might take. They didn’t realise that they might have to wait a year or more until their families could join them here.’”
http://www.thelocal.at/20151215/asylum-seekers-return-home-as-austria-fails-to-meet-expectations
“The Caritas charity confirmed that between September 1st and December 14th 257 Iraqis, 35 Afghans and 53 Iranians flew home - most of whom had been resident in Vienna. In 2014 only two Iraqis, nine Afghans and one Iranian chose to return to their own countries.”
…
“Three Iraqi men in their 20s who spoke to the Kurier newspaper say they plan to fly home on Wednesday after three months in Austria. They are all computer engineers and had hoped to build a better life here. "We wanted peace, freedom and a future," 23-year-old Muqdad said. He and his friends have been living in emergency refugee accommodation in Vienna’s 3rd district.
"’We’ve just been humiliated here,’ said Omer. ‘It was a mistake to come. People look at us here as if we were terrorists, and all we want is peace. Dogs are treated better than refugees in Austria - at least they have something good to eat, and are even given something to wear.’”
…
“Günter Ecker, the head of Vienna’s human rights association (VMÖ), expects the trend to continue. ‘Many Iraqis say that they expected better social care here, and many also had a misleading idea of how long the asylum process might take. They didn’t realise that they might have to wait a year or more until their families could join them here.’”
http://www.thelocal.at/20151215/asylum-seekers-return-home-as-austria-fails-to-meet-expectations
I can live with that
Life is short.
Eat dessert
First.
The suggestion is on a mouse pad here:
http://www.zazzle.com/life+short+eat+mousepads
I didn’t get paid for that. It’s a freebie.
From my mind:
Life is short.
Leave Planet Earth now.
Life is short.
Get good sight alignment
And a good sight picture.
Life is short.
Get that 1966 GTO
You always wanted.
Eat dessert
First.
The suggestion is on a mouse pad here:
http://www.zazzle.com/life+short+eat+mousepads
I didn’t get paid for that. It’s a freebie.
From my mind:
Life is short.
Leave Planet Earth now.
Life is short.
Get good sight alignment
And a good sight picture.
Life is short.
Get that 1966 GTO
You always wanted.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Fruitcake
My wife made a fruitcake last night. She makes the best fruitcake I have ever had. Anybody who says he doesn’t like fruitcake would change his mind if he had my wife’s fruitcake. I had a piece for breakfast. I told my wife, “This is the best fruitcake I’ve had since the last time you made fruitcake.” I will have lots of fruitcake breakfasts and some lunches, too.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
‘Knucklehead’
“Mike Rowe, host of the TV show ‘Somebody's Gotta Do It,’ blasted socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders as a ‘knucklehead’ for suggesting that those who don't go to college end up in jail.
"’At the end of the day, providing a path to go to college is a helluva lot cheaper than putting people on a path to jail,’ Sanders tweeted on Sunday.
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/mike-rowe-bernie-sanders-college/2015/12/17/id/706273/
(Wasn’t there a Democratic candidate for some office said kids might wind up in the Army in a war in some far-off desert land if they didn’t go to college or something? Typical Northeast liberal.)
"’At the end of the day, providing a path to go to college is a helluva lot cheaper than putting people on a path to jail,’ Sanders tweeted on Sunday.
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/mike-rowe-bernie-sanders-college/2015/12/17/id/706273/
(Wasn’t there a Democratic candidate for some office said kids might wind up in the Army in a war in some far-off desert land if they didn’t go to college or something? Typical Northeast liberal.)
Obama leading fight against terrorists
My wife said Obama’s speech today sounded like excuses given by millennial membership specialists during sessions on not meeting written and stated goals.
Millennial: “I attended four neighborhood meetings.”
“But you didn’t recruit any new leaders.”
Millennial: “I told them what the programs were, but nobody wanted to volunteer.”
We have programs, the programs are working, I’ve told people what they should be doing, everything is fine. I’ll be in my office.
Millennial: “I attended four neighborhood meetings.”
“But you didn’t recruit any new leaders.”
Millennial: “I told them what the programs were, but nobody wanted to volunteer.”
We have programs, the programs are working, I’ve told people what they should be doing, everything is fine. I’ll be in my office.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Something is wrong here
The Associated Press
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla, — Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy two days after a stabbing at the Florida nudist resort where he lives.
An 18-year-old woman was wounded Sunday at the Sunsport Gardens Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee. Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Therese Barbera said in a news release Tuesday that the boy is being charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Authorities haven't identified the woman. Resort general manager Morley Schloss told The Associated Press on Sunday that the woman arrived at the resort about 60 miles north of Miami by bicycle Saturday evening. She'd been walking on a trail when she was stabbed multiple times.
Deputies say the motive isn't known. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center.
(Raised in nature, nudists are supposed to be more peaceful than the normal population … That’s what naturists say, anyway.)
And on the west coast
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Homicides detectives were investigating Tuesday after authorities found two children dead inside a commercial storage unit in northern California.
Autopsies were planned Wednesday for the 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, whose names were not released. No charges have been filed in their deaths.
The investigation also led to a starved and injured 9-year-old girl, who was taken to a hospital, the Plumas County sheriff's office said.
It began with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small town of Quincy, about 220 miles northeast of San Francisco.
On Friday, authorities found the 9-year-old at a Quincy home, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. Her name and medical condition were not available Tuesday.
Sheriff's officials later arrested a 17-year-old boy and 39-year-old woman on suspicion of felony child abuse, torture and mayhem. Each remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bail.
(If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair. People are more gentle there.)
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla, — Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy two days after a stabbing at the Florida nudist resort where he lives.
An 18-year-old woman was wounded Sunday at the Sunsport Gardens Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee. Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Therese Barbera said in a news release Tuesday that the boy is being charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Authorities haven't identified the woman. Resort general manager Morley Schloss told The Associated Press on Sunday that the woman arrived at the resort about 60 miles north of Miami by bicycle Saturday evening. She'd been walking on a trail when she was stabbed multiple times.
Deputies say the motive isn't known. The teen was taken to a juvenile detention center.
(Raised in nature, nudists are supposed to be more peaceful than the normal population … That’s what naturists say, anyway.)
And on the west coast
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Homicides detectives were investigating Tuesday after authorities found two children dead inside a commercial storage unit in northern California.
Autopsies were planned Wednesday for the 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, whose names were not released. No charges have been filed in their deaths.
The investigation also led to a starved and injured 9-year-old girl, who was taken to a hospital, the Plumas County sheriff's office said.
It began with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small town of Quincy, about 220 miles northeast of San Francisco.
On Friday, authorities found the 9-year-old at a Quincy home, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. Her name and medical condition were not available Tuesday.
Sheriff's officials later arrested a 17-year-old boy and 39-year-old woman on suspicion of felony child abuse, torture and mayhem. Each remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bail.
(If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair. People are more gentle there.)
1893 naval parade, New York
Forty-eight photographs; ships from Russia, Britain, France, Italy and U.S., including USS Miantonomoh, a monitor.
Ships have sail and steam, some with turrets; overall, pictures of navies in changing times.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/sets/72157646922353152/
Ships have sail and steam, some with turrets; overall, pictures of navies in changing times.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/sets/72157646922353152/
Monday, December 14, 2015
Hell in a handbasket
Nigerian told she is insensitive to Islam.
A Boston landlord has been ordered to take an introductory course on Islam. As you might expect, the landlord took exception to the order. Now, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case and decide whether a lower court judge may order a citizen to take a course on religion.
The landlord, Daisy Obi, is 73 years old. She is pastor of Adonai Bible Center in Somerville, Mass. She is from Nigeria.
One would think the judge who ordered the courses on Islam might have read a news story or two on murderous, terrorist Muslim activities against Christians in Nigeria. One would think the judge might realize that the Christian pastor already has been introduced to Islam.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/12/13/daisy-obi-forced-to-learn-islam-muslims/
We should revolt against this kind if thing.
Here is a subhead at http://legalinsurrection.com/
‘Treasury Secretary delays their $10 bill update announcement’
How many treasury secretaries do we have? One. How can one secretary be referred to as “their?”
It was hell, not merely next door.
A website I read several times a week recently had this to say about the Muslim terrorist murderers of San Bernardino:
One of the murderers “brought their spouse back to the US …”
“(T)he foreign national had said they wanted to be a part of (ISIS) …”
“(T)he foreign national used a false address on their application.”
In each case, the writer is focusing on one (1) person. One person may not be a “they.”
I posted a comment on grammar; singular vs. plural; Progressive attempts at making no things different, but all things the same; and refusal by some writers to recognize the pronouns “he” and “she.”
My comment disappeared. Reckon the web site owner doesn’t appreciate criticism. Here at my place, anyone who wishes to criticize is quite welcome to do so. Honest and accurate criticism usually leads to better writing and thinking.
A Boston landlord has been ordered to take an introductory course on Islam. As you might expect, the landlord took exception to the order. Now, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case and decide whether a lower court judge may order a citizen to take a course on religion.
The landlord, Daisy Obi, is 73 years old. She is pastor of Adonai Bible Center in Somerville, Mass. She is from Nigeria.
One would think the judge who ordered the courses on Islam might have read a news story or two on murderous, terrorist Muslim activities against Christians in Nigeria. One would think the judge might realize that the Christian pastor already has been introduced to Islam.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/12/13/daisy-obi-forced-to-learn-islam-muslims/
We should revolt against this kind if thing.
Here is a subhead at http://legalinsurrection.com/
‘Treasury Secretary delays their $10 bill update announcement’
How many treasury secretaries do we have? One. How can one secretary be referred to as “their?”
It was hell, not merely next door.
A website I read several times a week recently had this to say about the Muslim terrorist murderers of San Bernardino:
One of the murderers “brought their spouse back to the US …”
“(T)he foreign national had said they wanted to be a part of (ISIS) …”
“(T)he foreign national used a false address on their application.”
In each case, the writer is focusing on one (1) person. One person may not be a “they.”
I posted a comment on grammar; singular vs. plural; Progressive attempts at making no things different, but all things the same; and refusal by some writers to recognize the pronouns “he” and “she.”
My comment disappeared. Reckon the web site owner doesn’t appreciate criticism. Here at my place, anyone who wishes to criticize is quite welcome to do so. Honest and accurate criticism usually leads to better writing and thinking.
Another internet "What???"
Buddha was not a Buddhist.
Jesus was not a Christian.
Mohammad was not a Muslim.
They were teachers
Who taught love.
Love was their religion.
Aww. Ain’t it sweet?
It’s from “Good Thoughts” at Pintrist. I guess you think that stuff all day long, you are at peace with the world and will remain so until the Islamist begins slicing your throat. Then you can tell him Mohammad was not a Muslim.
I’m pretty sure Jesus was a Jew. As was Gideon the judge. As was the conqueror David. As was the warrior Joab. And etc. and etc.
Jesus was not a Christian.
Mohammad was not a Muslim.
They were teachers
Who taught love.
Love was their religion.
Aww. Ain’t it sweet?
It’s from “Good Thoughts” at Pintrist. I guess you think that stuff all day long, you are at peace with the world and will remain so until the Islamist begins slicing your throat. Then you can tell him Mohammad was not a Muslim.
I’m pretty sure Jesus was a Jew. As was Gideon the judge. As was the conqueror David. As was the warrior Joab. And etc. and etc.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
You mean U.S. law agrees with Trump?
Title 8, Section 1182 of the U.S. Code provides in relevant part:
"Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182
Linked from a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy site, which I X’d out of and then could not find again.
"Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1182
Linked from a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy site, which I X’d out of and then could not find again.
Liberal woman rabbi serves up Obama Kool Aid at WH alleged Hanukkah celebration
Posted even though lots of vast right-wing conspiracy sites are doing the same, because this pisses me off.
Translation before reading: If you oppose Obama, you are a racist Zionist apartheid pig.
Rabbi Telve:
With all the schmutz in the world, can you believe that we are here with the President of the United States and the President of Israel celebrating Hanukkah, in the White House? And I know we bring many people here with us, each and every one of us. I stand here today with my 90-year-old father, whose parents fled the Ottoman Empire. And as they passed by Lady Liberty they planted within us the promise that the gates would stay open for all immigrants and all refugees who would come to build America. And I also stand here with my fierce family of clergy and Black Lives Matter activists who took to the streets of Ferguson to stand firm until all members of the community would see God in the face of the other.
I stand here for two groups of St. Louis moms, one working to get the guns off of our streets, and the other working to get help clean up the fires of the toxic nuclear waste that are threatening our lives in St. Louis and throughout the country.
And, of course, I stand with my sisters who lit these lights at the Kotel this year.
I stand here to light these lights that say no to the darkness of Islamophobia, and homophobia and transphobia and racism and anti-Semitism and all the other isms that dare to dim our hope.
And I stand here, like President Rivlin said, the Maccabees of old who defied the culture of their time that said that destiny could not be changed, and instead they jumped in to write a new story that demanded freedom and equal opportunity for all.
And today, friends, we stand with the President of the United States and the President of Israel, who today stand together in this critical moment in history when we must do everything to ensure security for Israelis and justice for Palestinians as allies committed to a lasting peace for all people.
Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah.
As a mother with a son named for a fallen Israeli soldier and with a daughter living in Israel, I offer these blessings to inspire all of us to jump into the story, to stand up to those who try to fill us with fear and to dare to believe that we can make a better, less violent world for our children.
\
Remembering that the real miracle occurred when knowing that there was not enough oil, we still had the holy chutzpah to light that first candle, because we knew that godliness and goodness are beyond what we think we know, and there is always a chance, always a chance for something more, and something new.
The real miracle, that no matter how much violence there is in Paris, in California, or in the streets of our nations, we will respond with more love and more understanding and more compassion, and we will see that the good in us has grown like the lights of Hanukkah -- and in spite of all odds, like the Maccabees of old, we too, we too, will win.
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2015/12/13/ap-ignores-outrageous-rant-rabbi-white-house-hanukkah-event
Dainel Greenfield, Front Page Mag, observed:
“... Chanukah is a celebration of the Maccabees defeating a Syrian occupation, but Talve may not even know that. Radical clergy tend to be light on the religion and heavy on the social justice.
“... Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda.” (Also newsbusters link.)
So, like all Progressives, Talve believes one or two things: (1) Once Muslim Arabs are in charge of a one-state Palestine, they and Jews will live in peace and harmony; (2) Peace in “Palestine” will occur when Jews return to their European homeland.
Translation before reading: If you oppose Obama, you are a racist Zionist apartheid pig.
Rabbi Telve:
With all the schmutz in the world, can you believe that we are here with the President of the United States and the President of Israel celebrating Hanukkah, in the White House? And I know we bring many people here with us, each and every one of us. I stand here today with my 90-year-old father, whose parents fled the Ottoman Empire. And as they passed by Lady Liberty they planted within us the promise that the gates would stay open for all immigrants and all refugees who would come to build America. And I also stand here with my fierce family of clergy and Black Lives Matter activists who took to the streets of Ferguson to stand firm until all members of the community would see God in the face of the other.
I stand here for two groups of St. Louis moms, one working to get the guns off of our streets, and the other working to get help clean up the fires of the toxic nuclear waste that are threatening our lives in St. Louis and throughout the country.
And, of course, I stand with my sisters who lit these lights at the Kotel this year.
I stand here to light these lights that say no to the darkness of Islamophobia, and homophobia and transphobia and racism and anti-Semitism and all the other isms that dare to dim our hope.
And I stand here, like President Rivlin said, the Maccabees of old who defied the culture of their time that said that destiny could not be changed, and instead they jumped in to write a new story that demanded freedom and equal opportunity for all.
And today, friends, we stand with the President of the United States and the President of Israel, who today stand together in this critical moment in history when we must do everything to ensure security for Israelis and justice for Palestinians as allies committed to a lasting peace for all people.
Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah.
As a mother with a son named for a fallen Israeli soldier and with a daughter living in Israel, I offer these blessings to inspire all of us to jump into the story, to stand up to those who try to fill us with fear and to dare to believe that we can make a better, less violent world for our children.
\
Remembering that the real miracle occurred when knowing that there was not enough oil, we still had the holy chutzpah to light that first candle, because we knew that godliness and goodness are beyond what we think we know, and there is always a chance, always a chance for something more, and something new.
The real miracle, that no matter how much violence there is in Paris, in California, or in the streets of our nations, we will respond with more love and more understanding and more compassion, and we will see that the good in us has grown like the lights of Hanukkah -- and in spite of all odds, like the Maccabees of old, we too, we too, will win.
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2015/12/13/ap-ignores-outrageous-rant-rabbi-white-house-hanukkah-event
Dainel Greenfield, Front Page Mag, observed:
“... Chanukah is a celebration of the Maccabees defeating a Syrian occupation, but Talve may not even know that. Radical clergy tend to be light on the religion and heavy on the social justice.
“... Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda.” (Also newsbusters link.)
So, like all Progressives, Talve believes one or two things: (1) Once Muslim Arabs are in charge of a one-state Palestine, they and Jews will live in peace and harmony; (2) Peace in “Palestine” will occur when Jews return to their European homeland.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Russians: You lost, we expelled your ancestors. Get over it
Circassians: Not blood likely.
“Circassians were once the largest ethnic group in the North Caucasus and dominated the region, especially the central and the western parts. However, after the Russian state conquered the region in a long and bloody war that spanned the 18th and 19th centuries, the Circassians were reduced to a small ethnic group in the area. After dealing the final blow to Circassian forces near modern-day Sochi in 1864, the Russian government expelled the remaining Circassian population and replaced them with Cossacks and ethnic Russians, who were quickly dispatched to the area. By 1870, an estimated 2 percent of the Circassians’ prewar population remained in their homeland (Onkavkaz.com, December 1). The rest were either killed, starved to death or expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Currently, the Circassian diaspora in Turkey is several times larger than the Circassian population remaining in the North Caucasus. Even within the North Caucasus, the Circassians are split among four regions, which also irritates many Circassian activists.
“Discussion of their lost homeland has become especially popular among Circassians due to the ongoing war in Syria, which has influenced Circassian self-consciousness in a big way. Since Syria used to be part of the Ottoman Empire, it had a substantial Circassian population. After the war started there, Circassians pushed for the evacuation of the estimated 100,000 Circassians in the affected areas. However, Moscow allowed only a handful of the Syrian Circassians—about 1,000—to resettle in their homeland. Moreover, they do not have full residency rights, and constantly have to pay various fees as temporary residents (Facebook.com/psekups.kulokova, December 1).”
http://www.jamestown.org/regions/thecaucasus/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44878&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=54&cHash=1a7e41e61923fdc3316cfdc64af0ddc4#.VmxUq2DMs5s
“Circassians were once the largest ethnic group in the North Caucasus and dominated the region, especially the central and the western parts. However, after the Russian state conquered the region in a long and bloody war that spanned the 18th and 19th centuries, the Circassians were reduced to a small ethnic group in the area. After dealing the final blow to Circassian forces near modern-day Sochi in 1864, the Russian government expelled the remaining Circassian population and replaced them with Cossacks and ethnic Russians, who were quickly dispatched to the area. By 1870, an estimated 2 percent of the Circassians’ prewar population remained in their homeland (Onkavkaz.com, December 1). The rest were either killed, starved to death or expelled to the Ottoman Empire. Currently, the Circassian diaspora in Turkey is several times larger than the Circassian population remaining in the North Caucasus. Even within the North Caucasus, the Circassians are split among four regions, which also irritates many Circassian activists.
“Discussion of their lost homeland has become especially popular among Circassians due to the ongoing war in Syria, which has influenced Circassian self-consciousness in a big way. Since Syria used to be part of the Ottoman Empire, it had a substantial Circassian population. After the war started there, Circassians pushed for the evacuation of the estimated 100,000 Circassians in the affected areas. However, Moscow allowed only a handful of the Syrian Circassians—about 1,000—to resettle in their homeland. Moreover, they do not have full residency rights, and constantly have to pay various fees as temporary residents (Facebook.com/psekups.kulokova, December 1).”
http://www.jamestown.org/regions/thecaucasus/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44878&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=54&cHash=1a7e41e61923fdc3316cfdc64af0ddc4#.VmxUq2DMs5s
Friday, December 11, 2015
The ruling class has no idea what is going on …
… and, therefore, no idea of how to stop it.
“The way it is supposed to work is the GOP works with National Review, Fox News, ‘grass roots’ organizations that have K Street offices and so on. That way, these folks can make some money, get relatives jobs in the bureaucracy and look like players in the ‘arena of ideas.’ In return, these groups go to the megaphones and rally the voters by declaring the GOP candidate the next Ronald Reagan.
“Trump, obviously, is having none of that and he is winning. That’s a big problem if you make your living selling GOP product in conservative media. The folks at Fox News used to think they were the gatekeepers, the king makers on the Right. Now they look like chumps because the guy most likely to win the GOP nomination treats them like human footstools. The ditsy blonde they sent out to whack Trump in the first debate came back in a shoe box and they have never recovered from it.” – “The Battle Cry of the Ruling Class”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(A problem with running things for a long time, the two parties forget there are ideas other than theirs. Leaders of the ruling parties, then, are unable to recognize as valid any belief not springing from party headquarters. The response: “This cannot be true! This … OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”)
“The way it is supposed to work is the GOP works with National Review, Fox News, ‘grass roots’ organizations that have K Street offices and so on. That way, these folks can make some money, get relatives jobs in the bureaucracy and look like players in the ‘arena of ideas.’ In return, these groups go to the megaphones and rally the voters by declaring the GOP candidate the next Ronald Reagan.
“Trump, obviously, is having none of that and he is winning. That’s a big problem if you make your living selling GOP product in conservative media. The folks at Fox News used to think they were the gatekeepers, the king makers on the Right. Now they look like chumps because the guy most likely to win the GOP nomination treats them like human footstools. The ditsy blonde they sent out to whack Trump in the first debate came back in a shoe box and they have never recovered from it.” – “The Battle Cry of the Ruling Class”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(A problem with running things for a long time, the two parties forget there are ideas other than theirs. Leaders of the ruling parties, then, are unable to recognize as valid any belief not springing from party headquarters. The response: “This cannot be true! This … OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”)
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Tibor Rubin, American soldier
When freed by American soldiers from Mauthausen concentration camp, Tibor Rubin asked God to let him go to America so he could become an American soldier.
Rubin died last Saturday. He repaid those who freed him, as well as the entire country.
From his Medal of Honor citation:
“Corporal Tibor Rubin distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period from July 23, 1950, to April 20, 1953, while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Republic of Korea. While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He inflicted a staggering number of casualties on the attacking force during his personal 24-hour battle, single-handedly slowing the enemy advance and allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to complete its withdrawal successfully. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8 th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. On October 30, 1950, Chinese forces attacked his unit at Unsan, North Korea, during a massive nighttime assault. That night and throughout the next day, he manned a .30 caliber machine gun at the south end of the unit’s line after three previous gunners became casualties. He continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted. His determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward. As the battle raged, Corporal Rubin was severely wounded and captured by the Chinese. Choosing to remain in the prison camp despite offers from the Chinese to return him to his native Hungary, Corporal Rubin disregarded his own personal safety and immediately began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food for his comrades. Breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens, he risked certain torture or death if caught. Corporal Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but also desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp. His brave, selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners.”
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=63173
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/tibor-rubin-holocaust-survivor-and-korean-war-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-86-1.382721
Rubin died last Saturday. He repaid those who freed him, as well as the entire country.
From his Medal of Honor citation:
“Corporal Tibor Rubin distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period from July 23, 1950, to April 20, 1953, while serving as a rifleman with Company I, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in the Republic of Korea. While his unit was retreating to the Pusan Perimeter, Corporal Rubin was assigned to stay behind to keep open the vital Taegu-Pusan Road link used by his withdrawing unit. During the ensuing battle, overwhelming numbers of North Korean troops assaulted a hill defended solely by Corporal Rubin. He inflicted a staggering number of casualties on the attacking force during his personal 24-hour battle, single-handedly slowing the enemy advance and allowing the 8th Cavalry Regiment to complete its withdrawal successfully. Following the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the 8 th Cavalry Regiment proceeded northward and advanced into North Korea. During the advance, he helped capture several hundred North Korean soldiers. On October 30, 1950, Chinese forces attacked his unit at Unsan, North Korea, during a massive nighttime assault. That night and throughout the next day, he manned a .30 caliber machine gun at the south end of the unit’s line after three previous gunners became casualties. He continued to man his machine gun until his ammunition was exhausted. His determined stand slowed the pace of the enemy advance in his sector, permitting the remnants of his unit to retreat southward. As the battle raged, Corporal Rubin was severely wounded and captured by the Chinese. Choosing to remain in the prison camp despite offers from the Chinese to return him to his native Hungary, Corporal Rubin disregarded his own personal safety and immediately began sneaking out of the camp at night in search of food for his comrades. Breaking into enemy food storehouses and gardens, he risked certain torture or death if caught. Corporal Rubin provided not only food to the starving Soldiers, but also desperately needed medical care and moral support for the sick and wounded of the POW camp. His brave, selfless efforts were directly attributed to saving the lives of as many as forty of his fellow prisoners.”
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=63173
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/tibor-rubin-holocaust-survivor-and-korean-war-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-86-1.382721
All he wanted was the flight he paid for on the stupid airline
Subject: Application for Refund of Unused Ticket.
It is informed that I buy a returned ticket from London United Kingdom to Lahore Pakistan. The travel world 36 wood grange road forest gate, London make an e-ticket for my visit. My visit consists of 6 days stay in Saudi Arabia. What happened!
When I was reached to Jeddah airport to take my flight for Lahore Pakistan on 2 march 2012, I found a long queue for the boarding I also joined the queue for boarding in the meantime towards counter I also found that the Saudi Arabian airline staff, supervisor and manager were in tension because there was some baggage’s were left at Jeddah airport of one aeroplane which was left.
Well in short they refused to give me the boarding card as they mentioned that counter was closed. I do try a lot and go to the customer care counter and also tried to speak to the manager to resolve the matter, but all in vain. Customer care officer told me that this ticket is finished and you have to buy a new ticket if u wants to fly to Lahore, Pakistan.
I was in great tension and then unwillingly buy a new ticket from Jeddah to Lahore, Pakistan as my family waiting for me over there. I buy a new ticket from FLYNAS airline and fly to Lahore. After reached at Lahore I visit Saudi Arabian Airline office in Lahore to confirm my next flight seats from Lahore to Riyadh and Riyadh to London Heathrow airport which was scheduled on 29 March 2012. But the office was not confirming my next flight seats. I was visiting 3 weeks to office but the matter was not resolved and I am unable to fly with Saudi Arabian Airline to finish my journey. So, I was forced to buy a new ticket from Lahore to London and I buy a new airline ticket from Uzbekistan airline to London.
So, I am not able to use my 3 parts of the ticket as airline staff were not helping me to deal with it. I requested to you that please refund my remaining amount as I just use London to Jeddah service and the rest are unused. Following are details how much I pay for only one journey.
Sr.# Airline/flight Local Currency Currency in GBP £
1. Saudi Arabian Airline/ 4 flights from London to Lahore and back. GBP 619.00 £ 619.00
2. FlyNas Airline/ Jeddah to Lahore. SAR 1049.00 £ 175.00 approx
3. Uzbekistan Airways/ Lahore to London. PKR 38, 064.00 £ 262.00 approx
Looking forward for a positive response and give a chance to thanks as this is my legal right to applied for a refund of the service which I am not getting.
I attached all the tickets scanned copies herewith for your information and necessary actions. Please feel free if u wants any further information or proofs regarding this matter.
Note: I already emailed this matter to the customer relations department but no answer given at the moment.
Regards
(Name, address, email)
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/saudi-airline-ticket-ticket-refund-request-c604155.html
It is informed that I buy a returned ticket from London United Kingdom to Lahore Pakistan. The travel world 36 wood grange road forest gate, London make an e-ticket for my visit. My visit consists of 6 days stay in Saudi Arabia. What happened!
When I was reached to Jeddah airport to take my flight for Lahore Pakistan on 2 march 2012, I found a long queue for the boarding I also joined the queue for boarding in the meantime towards counter I also found that the Saudi Arabian airline staff, supervisor and manager were in tension because there was some baggage’s were left at Jeddah airport of one aeroplane which was left.
Well in short they refused to give me the boarding card as they mentioned that counter was closed. I do try a lot and go to the customer care counter and also tried to speak to the manager to resolve the matter, but all in vain. Customer care officer told me that this ticket is finished and you have to buy a new ticket if u wants to fly to Lahore, Pakistan.
I was in great tension and then unwillingly buy a new ticket from Jeddah to Lahore, Pakistan as my family waiting for me over there. I buy a new ticket from FLYNAS airline and fly to Lahore. After reached at Lahore I visit Saudi Arabian Airline office in Lahore to confirm my next flight seats from Lahore to Riyadh and Riyadh to London Heathrow airport which was scheduled on 29 March 2012. But the office was not confirming my next flight seats. I was visiting 3 weeks to office but the matter was not resolved and I am unable to fly with Saudi Arabian Airline to finish my journey. So, I was forced to buy a new ticket from Lahore to London and I buy a new airline ticket from Uzbekistan airline to London.
So, I am not able to use my 3 parts of the ticket as airline staff were not helping me to deal with it. I requested to you that please refund my remaining amount as I just use London to Jeddah service and the rest are unused. Following are details how much I pay for only one journey.
Sr.# Airline/flight Local Currency Currency in GBP £
1. Saudi Arabian Airline/ 4 flights from London to Lahore and back. GBP 619.00 £ 619.00
2. FlyNas Airline/ Jeddah to Lahore. SAR 1049.00 £ 175.00 approx
3. Uzbekistan Airways/ Lahore to London. PKR 38, 064.00 £ 262.00 approx
Looking forward for a positive response and give a chance to thanks as this is my legal right to applied for a refund of the service which I am not getting.
I attached all the tickets scanned copies herewith for your information and necessary actions. Please feel free if u wants any further information or proofs regarding this matter.
Note: I already emailed this matter to the customer relations department but no answer given at the moment.
Regards
(Name, address, email)
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/saudi-airline-ticket-ticket-refund-request-c604155.html
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Caucasus migration threatens Russian security
Under the Soviet system, movement was strictly controlled. Now, though, Russians are moving back to Russia, non-Russians are sneaking into Russia for work, and Muslims leave Russia for Syria and Iraq.
The latter movement is of greatest concern. “It involves those who have gone to Syria or elsewhere in the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State or other radical groups and who are then returning home, where they will continue their fight or recruit others. Russian officials, from President Vladimir Putin on down, suggest that there are only a few thousand of these, but regional experts say that Moscow is understating the problem by a factor of at least ten. The Kremlin says there are only 500 Dagestanis in the ranks of the Islamic State; whereas, local experts say the figure is 5,000 or even more (Onkavkaz.com, December 7).”
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44873&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7#.VmiZ8WDMs5s
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a number of stories concerning Islamist attacks in North Caucasus.
http://www.rferl.org/section/North_Caucasus/167.html
The latter movement is of greatest concern. “It involves those who have gone to Syria or elsewhere in the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State or other radical groups and who are then returning home, where they will continue their fight or recruit others. Russian officials, from President Vladimir Putin on down, suggest that there are only a few thousand of these, but regional experts say that Moscow is understating the problem by a factor of at least ten. The Kremlin says there are only 500 Dagestanis in the ranks of the Islamic State; whereas, local experts say the figure is 5,000 or even more (Onkavkaz.com, December 7).”
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44873&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7#.VmiZ8WDMs5s
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a number of stories concerning Islamist attacks in North Caucasus.
http://www.rferl.org/section/North_Caucasus/167.html
Free fire zone 3
The last time I machine gunned the abandoned village was in the summer of 1967. I was door gunner on a UH-1D that day. The Huey went to Long Binh for some kind of delivery. On the way back to Blackhorse, the aircraft commander decided to give the crew chief and me a little gunner practice. He made three runs over the village at a higher than usual altitude. I emptied the ammunition can, firing every round from the M-60D machine gun. The crew chief had stoppages on all three passes.
By that date, the village was a mass of broken concrete blocks and red roof tiles. Not a single building or wall remained standing. Six months as a free fire zone target will do that.
By that date, the village was a mass of broken concrete blocks and red roof tiles. Not a single building or wall remained standing. Six months as a free fire zone target will do that.
Commanding officer’s report, USS Neosho
The USS Neosho was a fleet oiler based at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Surviving that attack, the ship in the coming months served the fleet, until sunk on May 11, 1942, following the Battle of the Coral Sea. The commanding officer's report is a witness to standing to duty as well as instances of sailors abandoning stations.
http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AO/ao23-Coral.html
http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AO/ao23-Coral.html
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
One of those internet poster things
“I hate it when I’m singing along with a song on the radio and the artist sings the wrong words.”
I mentioned that to my wife. She said, “Yes, you expect the person who wrote the song to get the words right. Like ‘There’s a bathroom on the right.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “That follows ‘I see the toilets overflowing.’”
There are web sites for that, probably an app somewhere. Compilers of wrong lyrics can’t get their numbers straight, though.
’23 song lyrics you’ve probably been singing wrong …’
http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/23-song-lyrics-youve-been-singing-wrong-for-years#.cuvxdOpkV
(Most of those songs are new to me.)
And: ’46 songs you’re singing wrong’
http://mashable.com/2013/07/29/wrong-misheard-lyrics-song/#XEh0wqHsbGqA
(Why 23 and 46?)
I mentioned that to my wife. She said, “Yes, you expect the person who wrote the song to get the words right. Like ‘There’s a bathroom on the right.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “That follows ‘I see the toilets overflowing.’”
There are web sites for that, probably an app somewhere. Compilers of wrong lyrics can’t get their numbers straight, though.
’23 song lyrics you’ve probably been singing wrong …’
http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/23-song-lyrics-youve-been-singing-wrong-for-years#.cuvxdOpkV
(Most of those songs are new to me.)
And: ’46 songs you’re singing wrong’
http://mashable.com/2013/07/29/wrong-misheard-lyrics-song/#XEh0wqHsbGqA
(Why 23 and 46?)
Monday, December 7, 2015
Free fire zone 2
A couple of months after shooting up several roofs in the abandoned village, another gunship team went in to check gun and rocket sights alignment. The two ships made one pass each, and as the first ship went in for another run, some kind of smoke round streamed down about a hundred meters to the right.
“What is that?” the pilot of the trail gunship asked the team leader, who replied: “I don’t know, and we are not sticking around to find out.”
The two gunships quickly left the area and continued the assigned patrol.
Smart man, the team leader.
“What is that?” the pilot of the trail gunship asked the team leader, who replied: “I don’t know, and we are not sticking around to find out.”
The two gunships quickly left the area and continued the assigned patrol.
Smart man, the team leader.
Arrgghh!
“In this world, there are
“somethings that you are
“happier without knowing them.”
--cosmas
("somethings?" Is that like "some things?"
And another:
“Your a lie.”
Help me Rhonda!!
“somethings that you are
“happier without knowing them.”
--cosmas
("somethings?" Is that like "some things?"
And another:
“Your a lie.”
Help me Rhonda!!
Free fire zone
An abandoned village sat in a large clearing northeast of Blackhorse base camp. The village consisted of half a dozen concrete block buildings with red tile roofs and a small Catholic Church building, also with red tile roof. The village was in a free-fire zone. That meant the area was so infested with Viet Cong that everyone had been suspect and relocated to a village under government control. Free fire zone also meant anyone could fire into the area at any time, no reason or approval required.
The village became a favored place to test helicopter machine guns and rockets following aircraft overhaul as well as evaluating new gunship pilots, and for registering artillery pieces.
One day in spring 1967, the gunship team leader in whose platoon I flew that day decided to test his two ships’ door guns and side mounted flex guns, six M-60 machine guns on each helicopter.
I learned that day: it is fun as hell, rolling into a number of concrete block buildings and firing a machine gun; and, roof tiles shatter when hit by 7.62mm slugs.
The village became a favored place to test helicopter machine guns and rockets following aircraft overhaul as well as evaluating new gunship pilots, and for registering artillery pieces.
One day in spring 1967, the gunship team leader in whose platoon I flew that day decided to test his two ships’ door guns and side mounted flex guns, six M-60 machine guns on each helicopter.
I learned that day: it is fun as hell, rolling into a number of concrete block buildings and firing a machine gun; and, roof tiles shatter when hit by 7.62mm slugs.
The Chuck Norris of military rifles
AR-15 vs AK-47 vs Mosin-Nagant.
AR-15: Your enemies will giggle
AK-47: Your enemies will take cover and swear as they ready their weapons
Mosin-Nagant: Your enemies will flatten themselves to the ground and offer up prayers of salvation to whatever god they believe in…then they will die.
AR-15: Carried by elite special forces and highly-trained American soldiers
AK-47: Carried by illiterate peons and unwilling conscripts.
Mosin-Nagant: Carried by Vassily Zaitsev.
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2011/10/10/ar-15-v-s-ak-47-v-s-mosin-nagant/
Link at www.neveryetmelted.com
AR-15: Your enemies will giggle
AK-47: Your enemies will take cover and swear as they ready their weapons
Mosin-Nagant: Your enemies will flatten themselves to the ground and offer up prayers of salvation to whatever god they believe in…then they will die.
AR-15: Carried by elite special forces and highly-trained American soldiers
AK-47: Carried by illiterate peons and unwilling conscripts.
Mosin-Nagant: Carried by Vassily Zaitsev.
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2011/10/10/ar-15-v-s-ak-47-v-s-mosin-nagant/
Link at www.neveryetmelted.com
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Chestnuts roasting over a pagan fire
Centuries and centuries ago when our pagan foremothers at this time of year began gathering small evergreen branches and took decorative dried berries from storage pots and announced the time for winter solstice decoration, our pagan forefathers found reason to be elsewhere.
“I believe,” said pagan forefather Lars, “this is the most opportune time for me to track and kill the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison.”
Pagan foremother Megan then said, “You are not going to help me decorate this massive log dwelling with decorations proper for welcoming the winter spirits?”
Said Lars, “You know I would like nothing better, but the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison waits for no man.”
“But,” rejoined Megan, “the bison have traveled to lands more southward.”
“Ah, the reason they are so elusive,” said Lars.
“You just don’t want to help.”
“No, no,” remonstrated Lars. “That is not the reason at all. But … I promised Rothgar and Hagar I would accompany them on the hunt.” Lars then went to the clothing alcove, from where he took fur boots and a bison hair coat, and the to the weapons locker, selecting four of his best hunting spears. “In fact, I agreed to meet Rothgar and Hagar this day at the Glade of Gathering.” He hugged Megan and opened the door and stepped into snow lightly falling. “I will return in a seven-day,” he said, and he closed the door before Megan could say anything else.
***
My wife today finished decorating the Christmas tree and has laid out plans for outside light hangings. Alas, there is no Florida bison for me to hunt.
“I believe,” said pagan forefather Lars, “this is the most opportune time for me to track and kill the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison.”
Pagan foremother Megan then said, “You are not going to help me decorate this massive log dwelling with decorations proper for welcoming the winter spirits?”
Said Lars, “You know I would like nothing better, but the elusive, and soon to be extinct, European bison waits for no man.”
“But,” rejoined Megan, “the bison have traveled to lands more southward.”
“Ah, the reason they are so elusive,” said Lars.
“You just don’t want to help.”
“No, no,” remonstrated Lars. “That is not the reason at all. But … I promised Rothgar and Hagar I would accompany them on the hunt.” Lars then went to the clothing alcove, from where he took fur boots and a bison hair coat, and the to the weapons locker, selecting four of his best hunting spears. “In fact, I agreed to meet Rothgar and Hagar this day at the Glade of Gathering.” He hugged Megan and opened the door and stepped into snow lightly falling. “I will return in a seven-day,” he said, and he closed the door before Megan could say anything else.
***
My wife today finished decorating the Christmas tree and has laid out plans for outside light hangings. Alas, there is no Florida bison for me to hunt.
Rice, Texas, 75155
A town in Navarro County, not the university in Houston.
Population – 2,670 for Zip Code; 798 in town as of 2000 census; 928 estimated 2014 population.
Home sales 1st quarter 2009 – 14, at $140,000 median cost; 2nd quarter 2012 – 3, at $30,000 median cost.
Cost of living index – 80.5, U.S. average 100.
Nine registered sex offenders in Zip Code as of 3 December 2015; ratio, one of 37 residents.
Racial makeup: 76.3% white; 9.77% black; 12.53 from other races. 36.5 % of population 65 and older live below poverty rate.
Police department has six officers.
Young’s Recycling will pay 22-32 cents per pound for aluminum cans; 30-33 cents for aluminum siding, up to $1.72 a pound for bright copper wire.
There is not much to say about the town. Here is a site that has information:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Rice/Rice.htm
Population – 2,670 for Zip Code; 798 in town as of 2000 census; 928 estimated 2014 population.
Home sales 1st quarter 2009 – 14, at $140,000 median cost; 2nd quarter 2012 – 3, at $30,000 median cost.
Cost of living index – 80.5, U.S. average 100.
Nine registered sex offenders in Zip Code as of 3 December 2015; ratio, one of 37 residents.
Racial makeup: 76.3% white; 9.77% black; 12.53 from other races. 36.5 % of population 65 and older live below poverty rate.
Police department has six officers.
Young’s Recycling will pay 22-32 cents per pound for aluminum cans; 30-33 cents for aluminum siding, up to $1.72 a pound for bright copper wire.
There is not much to say about the town. Here is a site that has information:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Rice/Rice.htm
Friday, December 4, 2015
What??
“That feeling when your future
“is already planned but here’s
“someone coming who wants to
“stay the same what you are.
“So confusing!”
(An internet posting. I suppose it means to say "who wants you to stay the same what you are." Or maybe the someone wants to be what you are. Or maybe something entirely different, with no realization a person is a "who," not a "what.")
“is already planned but here’s
“someone coming who wants to
“stay the same what you are.
“So confusing!”
(An internet posting. I suppose it means to say "who wants you to stay the same what you are." Or maybe the someone wants to be what you are. Or maybe something entirely different, with no realization a person is a "who," not a "what.")
Easier than spelling, I guess
Headline: “‘OITNB’ star accused of assaulting teenager’
Everybody who knows what “OITNB” stands for, raise your hand.
Me, too.
Or, the purpose was to get readers to say “What?” and then click to find out just what the heck OINTB means. A consumptive pig, maybe? (OIN from “Oink” and TB from “Tuberculosis.”)
Everybody who knows what “OITNB” stands for, raise your hand.
Me, too.
Or, the purpose was to get readers to say “What?” and then click to find out just what the heck OINTB means. A consumptive pig, maybe? (OIN from “Oink” and TB from “Tuberculosis.”)
Thursday, December 3, 2015
West Side Story
My wife bought tickets to the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s production of West Side Story. I wore socks.
West Side Story is not in my 100 favorite things to watch. Or in the 200. It’s not on my list at all. I’ve seen parts of the movie, and when TV had variety shows in the 1950s, I sat and watched and had reinforced the idea I did not want to live in New York City, or any other place where people were jammed so close together and Italians fought Puerto Ricans. The “white” gang was never identified as Italian, but to an East Texas boy, who else would have gangs? Irish gangs? German gangs? Polish gangs?
The idea of a gang was foreign. And, the idea of really, really tough guys dancing around in pretend fights … Unusual types, you might say. Laughable, really.
The big girl’s dance, though … In the Sarasota production, three of the PR girls were of Serena Williams’ size. But, man, could they dance. Skinny girls like you usually see as normal on TV and in movies? No contest. Any time a 180-pound-plus dancer can touch her nose with her knee, that is one healthy woman.
In short, the big girls’ dance saved the production. In my mind, anyway.
West Side Story is not in my 100 favorite things to watch. Or in the 200. It’s not on my list at all. I’ve seen parts of the movie, and when TV had variety shows in the 1950s, I sat and watched and had reinforced the idea I did not want to live in New York City, or any other place where people were jammed so close together and Italians fought Puerto Ricans. The “white” gang was never identified as Italian, but to an East Texas boy, who else would have gangs? Irish gangs? German gangs? Polish gangs?
The idea of a gang was foreign. And, the idea of really, really tough guys dancing around in pretend fights … Unusual types, you might say. Laughable, really.
The big girl’s dance, though … In the Sarasota production, three of the PR girls were of Serena Williams’ size. But, man, could they dance. Skinny girls like you usually see as normal on TV and in movies? No contest. Any time a 180-pound-plus dancer can touch her nose with her knee, that is one healthy woman.
In short, the big girls’ dance saved the production. In my mind, anyway.
Caddo Mills, Texas, 75135, home of Texas’ first drag strip
There used to be a saying (and I am not making this up): I’d rather my sister work in a whore house than live in Caddo Mills.
I don’t know the origin of the comment, but then I’ve never been in Caddo Mills. Driven past it a few dozen times in journeys west and east along I-30, but never in the town.
Caddo Mills is in Hunt County. Estimated Zip Code population is 5,223, with 1,432 for the town. Racial makeup is 93 percent white. It’s in the county whose county seat – Greenville – used to have a banner across a downtown street reading: “Greenville, Texas. Home of the blackest land and the whitest people.” Hunt County is in the blackland prairie and is one of the meanest places in Texas. Not necessarily for cuttings, stabbings, shootings and overall murder rate, although there are quite a bit of those. Hunt County is mean because black people and white people just don’t like each other, and a lot of white people don't like other white people and black people don't like other black people. Greenville is 70 percent white and 20 percent black. Hunt County overall is 84 percent white and around 10 percent black.
Caddo Mills businesses include: Courteous Carpet Care; Triple H Trash Solutions; Alpaca Spirit Ranch; and Boutique Doodle-do’s.
During World War II, the Army Air Force built an air field at Caddo Mills. As with a lot of post-war long stretches of concrete, the strip was used for drag races and is considered the first in Texas.
http://www.dragzine.com/news/flashback-friday-texas-first-nhra-sanctioned-drag-strip/
The state of Texas and Hunt County in 2011 filed suit against owners of the strip, alleging “contamination and illegal dumping.” There probably was beer drinking going on, too.
http://www.heraldbanner.com/news/settlement-reached-in-caddo-mills-dragstrip-lawsuit/article_47d58cd6-2a88-11e4-9f74-0019bb2963f4.html
There are many internet stories on the drag strip. Many, many stories.
I don’t know the origin of the comment, but then I’ve never been in Caddo Mills. Driven past it a few dozen times in journeys west and east along I-30, but never in the town.
Caddo Mills is in Hunt County. Estimated Zip Code population is 5,223, with 1,432 for the town. Racial makeup is 93 percent white. It’s in the county whose county seat – Greenville – used to have a banner across a downtown street reading: “Greenville, Texas. Home of the blackest land and the whitest people.” Hunt County is in the blackland prairie and is one of the meanest places in Texas. Not necessarily for cuttings, stabbings, shootings and overall murder rate, although there are quite a bit of those. Hunt County is mean because black people and white people just don’t like each other, and a lot of white people don't like other white people and black people don't like other black people. Greenville is 70 percent white and 20 percent black. Hunt County overall is 84 percent white and around 10 percent black.
Caddo Mills businesses include: Courteous Carpet Care; Triple H Trash Solutions; Alpaca Spirit Ranch; and Boutique Doodle-do’s.
During World War II, the Army Air Force built an air field at Caddo Mills. As with a lot of post-war long stretches of concrete, the strip was used for drag races and is considered the first in Texas.
http://www.dragzine.com/news/flashback-friday-texas-first-nhra-sanctioned-drag-strip/
The state of Texas and Hunt County in 2011 filed suit against owners of the strip, alleging “contamination and illegal dumping.” There probably was beer drinking going on, too.
http://www.heraldbanner.com/news/settlement-reached-in-caddo-mills-dragstrip-lawsuit/article_47d58cd6-2a88-11e4-9f74-0019bb2963f4.html
There are many internet stories on the drag strip. Many, many stories.
A person schooled in today’s grammar
An insurance company cut my brother-in-law’s Medicare Part B coverage when John moved from Texas to Florida. OK. Insurance companies pretty much cut insurance when someone moves from a state, but the moving was not the reason given. The company said it did not have an office in this part of Florida. The insurance company is called Blue something, and I'm fairly certain the company has offices everywhere.
My wife called the company to get coverage re-established. She talked to a young woman who, my wife said, “was reading from a script.”
After taking information, the woman said, “I will give this to an agent and they will contact you.”
“He will contact me,” my wife said.
“What?”
“He will contact me.”
“That is what I said.”
“No,” my wife said, “you said ‘they’ will contact me.”
“That’s what I said. They will contact you.”
“Right,” my wife said. “It’s only English, so what does it matter?”
My wife called the company to get coverage re-established. She talked to a young woman who, my wife said, “was reading from a script.”
After taking information, the woman said, “I will give this to an agent and they will contact you.”
“He will contact me,” my wife said.
“What?”
“He will contact me.”
“That is what I said.”
“No,” my wife said, “you said ‘they’ will contact me.”
“That’s what I said. They will contact you.”
“Right,” my wife said. “It’s only English, so what does it matter?”
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Soros groups 'undesirable' in Russia
Some newspaper and TV reporting from the Caucasus and other areas are funded by the Open Society Institute, which is funded by George Soros.
The Russian government has decided Soros’s organizations are undesirable and a threat to constitutional order.
“The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has recognized George Soros’s Open Society Institute and another affiliated organization as undesirable groups, banning Russian citizens and organizations from participation in any of their projects.
“In a statement released on Monday, prosecutors said the activities of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation were a threat to the foundations of Russia’s Constitutional order and national security. They added that the Justice Ministry would be duly informed about these conclusions and would add the two groups to Russia’s list of undesirable foreign organizations.
“Prosecutors launched a probe into the activities of the two organizations - both sponsored by the well-known US financier George Soros - in July this year, after Russian senators approved the so-called ‘patriotic stop-list’ of 12 groups that required immediate attention over their supposed anti-Russian activities. Other groups on the list included the National Endowment for Democracy; the International Republican Institute; the National Democratic Institute; the MacArthur Foundation and Freedom House.
“In late July, the Russian Justice Ministry recognized the US National Endowment for Democracy as an undesirable group after prosecutors discovered the US NGO had spent millions on attempts to question the legitimacy of Russian elections and tarnish the prestige of national military service.
“The Law on Undesirable Foreign Organizations came into force in early June this year. It requires the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry to draw up an official list of undesirable foreign organizations and outlaw their activities. Once a group is recognized as undesirable, its assets in Russia must be frozen, its offices closed and the distribution of any of its materials must be banned.
“If the ban is violated, the personnel of the outlawed group and any Russian citizens who cooperate with them could face heavy fines, or even prison terms in the case of repeated or aggravated offences.
“The Soros Foundation started working in Russia in the mid-1990s, but wrapped up its active operations in 2003.”
https://www.rt.com/politics/323919-soros-foundation-recognized-as-undesirable/
Link at http://moonbattery.com/
(officepc will not allow pasting hyperlink.)
The Russian government has decided Soros’s organizations are undesirable and a threat to constitutional order.
“The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has recognized George Soros’s Open Society Institute and another affiliated organization as undesirable groups, banning Russian citizens and organizations from participation in any of their projects.
“In a statement released on Monday, prosecutors said the activities of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation were a threat to the foundations of Russia’s Constitutional order and national security. They added that the Justice Ministry would be duly informed about these conclusions and would add the two groups to Russia’s list of undesirable foreign organizations.
“Prosecutors launched a probe into the activities of the two organizations - both sponsored by the well-known US financier George Soros - in July this year, after Russian senators approved the so-called ‘patriotic stop-list’ of 12 groups that required immediate attention over their supposed anti-Russian activities. Other groups on the list included the National Endowment for Democracy; the International Republican Institute; the National Democratic Institute; the MacArthur Foundation and Freedom House.
“In late July, the Russian Justice Ministry recognized the US National Endowment for Democracy as an undesirable group after prosecutors discovered the US NGO had spent millions on attempts to question the legitimacy of Russian elections and tarnish the prestige of national military service.
“The Law on Undesirable Foreign Organizations came into force in early June this year. It requires the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry to draw up an official list of undesirable foreign organizations and outlaw their activities. Once a group is recognized as undesirable, its assets in Russia must be frozen, its offices closed and the distribution of any of its materials must be banned.
“If the ban is violated, the personnel of the outlawed group and any Russian citizens who cooperate with them could face heavy fines, or even prison terms in the case of repeated or aggravated offences.
“The Soros Foundation started working in Russia in the mid-1990s, but wrapped up its active operations in 2003.”
https://www.rt.com/politics/323919-soros-foundation-recognized-as-undesirable/
Link at http://moonbattery.com/
(officepc will not allow pasting hyperlink.)
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Long memories vs. admitting ‘I know nothing’
Turkey and the Caucasus and that part of the world.
“One of the many reasons America has no business mucking around in that part of the world is we know pretty much nothing about that part of the world. On the other hand, the people in that part of the world know everything about that part of the world. History for them is a nightmare from which they can never awake. All sides have old scores they would like to settle for no reason other than that’s who they are and that is what they do.” – ‘Ruminations on the Great Game’
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Hittites, Amorites, Persians, Azeri … the list of peoples done wrong goes on and on.
“One of the many reasons America has no business mucking around in that part of the world is we know pretty much nothing about that part of the world. On the other hand, the people in that part of the world know everything about that part of the world. History for them is a nightmare from which they can never awake. All sides have old scores they would like to settle for no reason other than that’s who they are and that is what they do.” – ‘Ruminations on the Great Game’
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Hittites, Amorites, Persians, Azeri … the list of peoples done wrong goes on and on.
Monday, November 30, 2015
An appropriate Christmas present
My wife bought a nice Christmas present for our exchange student of two years ago. "That's a nice present," I said when she said, "Here's what we are sending K for Christmas." I also said, "We should send her a pistol, a couple of boxes of ammunition and a terrorist recognition handbook." That wouldn't work, though. K lives in a European country, where individual ownership of firearms is illegal, because civilians with guns represent a threat to common peace or something.
The arrogance of some veterans
Each quarter I get a magazine-style newsletter from a Vietnam veterans organization. The group is not a large organization like VFW or American Legion, but limited to soldiers who served with the unit or its attachments in Vietnam and/or in Cambodia.
In the latest edition, a member wrote: “In September 2014 about a dozen members … were returning to the Tampa, Florida area on a Southwest Airlines flight after attending our reunion. One of our members … mentioned to one of the flight attendants that she might want to let the other passengers know we were on board the plane.”
When reading that, I thought: What? She might want to let the other passengers know …”
I wondered: Does he not recognize the arrogance in that statement? Why did the speaker or the writer believe they need special recognition?
When someone asks me, “Were you in Vietnam?” my thought is: Damn straight. My answer is: “Yes, I was.” I don’t need any special recognition; I don’t want any special recognition. I don’t even want a “Thank you for your service,” although if someone says that, I reply, “Thank you.”
“You might want to let the other passengers know we are on board the plane.”
That is an arrogance we can do without. That is arrogance that lessens all veterans.
In the latest edition, a member wrote: “In September 2014 about a dozen members … were returning to the Tampa, Florida area on a Southwest Airlines flight after attending our reunion. One of our members … mentioned to one of the flight attendants that she might want to let the other passengers know we were on board the plane.”
When reading that, I thought: What? She might want to let the other passengers know …”
I wondered: Does he not recognize the arrogance in that statement? Why did the speaker or the writer believe they need special recognition?
When someone asks me, “Were you in Vietnam?” my thought is: Damn straight. My answer is: “Yes, I was.” I don’t need any special recognition; I don’t want any special recognition. I don’t even want a “Thank you for your service,” although if someone says that, I reply, “Thank you.”
“You might want to let the other passengers know we are on board the plane.”
That is an arrogance we can do without. That is arrogance that lessens all veterans.
You can find ‘em, but we’ll kill ‘em
Civilian contractors flying Air Force drones on combat patrols.
“Contractors control two Reaper patrols a day, but the Air Force plans to expand that to 10 a day by 2019. Each patrol involves up to four drones.
“Civilians are not allowed to pinpoint targets with lasers or fire missiles.”
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/11/30/questions-raised-af-hires-civilian-drone-pilots-combat-patrols.html
The Air Force gives a BS answer:
"Planning and execution of these missions will be carried out under the same oversight currently provided for military aircrews, and the resulting sensor information will be collected, analyzed, transmitted and stored as appropriate by the same military intelligence units."
(Isn’t a non-uniformed person who engages in armed action susceptible to military trial?)
“Contractors control two Reaper patrols a day, but the Air Force plans to expand that to 10 a day by 2019. Each patrol involves up to four drones.
“Civilians are not allowed to pinpoint targets with lasers or fire missiles.”
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/11/30/questions-raised-af-hires-civilian-drone-pilots-combat-patrols.html
The Air Force gives a BS answer:
"Planning and execution of these missions will be carried out under the same oversight currently provided for military aircrews, and the resulting sensor information will be collected, analyzed, transmitted and stored as appropriate by the same military intelligence units."
(Isn’t a non-uniformed person who engages in armed action susceptible to military trial?)
Sunday, November 29, 2015
This blog is killing the planet!!
From a bat-**** crazy, got to be one of the dumbest things I ever read:
A long list of seemingly harmless everyday actions contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climate-altering greenhouse gases.
Driving a car and flipping a light switch have a clear ‘carbon footprint’ -- much less obvious is the harm caused by sending a simple text message or opening a bottle of water.
Here is the environmental impact of some common activities:
Digital footprint
Sending even a short email is estimated to add about four grammes (0.14 ounces) of CO2 equivalent (gCO2e) to the atmosphere.
To put this into perspective, the carbon output of hitting "send" on 65 mails is on par with driving an average-sized car a kilometre (0.6 of a mile).
The culprits are greenhouse gases produced in running the computer, server and routers but also those emitted when the equipment was manufactured.
It gets worse when you send an email with a large attachment, which puts about 50 gCO2e into the air. Five such messages are like burning about 120 grammes (0.27 pounds) of coal.
Receiving a spam message - even if you do not open it - has an environmental impact of 0.3 gCO2e.
Paper or plastic?
The global carbon footprint from spam annually is equivalent to the greenhouse gases pumped out by 3.1 million passenger cars using 7.6 billion litres (two billion gallons) of gasoline in a year.
Here is something to keep in mind the next time you type in a non-essential Google enquiry: A web search on an energy-efficient laptop leaves a footprint of 0.2 gCO2e. On an old desktop computer, it is 4.5 gCO2e.
And that text message? It comes at a cost of about 0.014 gCO2e.
Plastic grocery bags each have a carbon footprint of 10 gCO2e, but the paper ones are even worse at 40 gCO2e each.
Store-bought bottled water has nearly 1,150 times the emissions attached to it than a glass poured from the tap.
Leisure time
A 500-millilitre (one-pint) bottle is responsible for 160 gCO2e compared to 0.14 gCO2e for tap water.
A large cappuccino comes with a footprint of 235 gCO2e, partly because of the emissions from raising the cow which produced the milk. For a cup of home-made black tea or coffee for which just enough water was boiled, the figure is 21 gCO2e
The bigger the TV, the bigger the cost in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Watching two hours of tube on a 24-inch (61-centimetre) plasma screen pumps out 440 gCO2e - about the same as driving a car for 1.6 km.
The footprint is 68 gCO2e and 176 gCO2e respectively for two hours watched on a 15- or a 32-inch LCD screen.
A mile of cycling fuelled by a meal of bananas would be responsible for 65 gCO2e, compared to 260 gCO2e for a mile powered by cheeseburgers.
SOURCES:
- "How Bad Are Bananas?" by Mike Berners-Lee
- Fifth Assessment Report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- McAfee study, "Carbon Footprint of Spam"
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/whats-the-carbon-footprint-of-an-email/ar-AAfMkPO?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=HPCDHP
I opened my eyes this morning, and … OMG!! I put 1.475 gCO2e into the atmosphere! I killed a butterfly in a rain forest in Indonesia! Or Brazil. Or maybe the Congo.
A long list of seemingly harmless everyday actions contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climate-altering greenhouse gases.
Driving a car and flipping a light switch have a clear ‘carbon footprint’ -- much less obvious is the harm caused by sending a simple text message or opening a bottle of water.
Here is the environmental impact of some common activities:
Digital footprint
Sending even a short email is estimated to add about four grammes (0.14 ounces) of CO2 equivalent (gCO2e) to the atmosphere.
To put this into perspective, the carbon output of hitting "send" on 65 mails is on par with driving an average-sized car a kilometre (0.6 of a mile).
The culprits are greenhouse gases produced in running the computer, server and routers but also those emitted when the equipment was manufactured.
It gets worse when you send an email with a large attachment, which puts about 50 gCO2e into the air. Five such messages are like burning about 120 grammes (0.27 pounds) of coal.
Receiving a spam message - even if you do not open it - has an environmental impact of 0.3 gCO2e.
Paper or plastic?
The global carbon footprint from spam annually is equivalent to the greenhouse gases pumped out by 3.1 million passenger cars using 7.6 billion litres (two billion gallons) of gasoline in a year.
Here is something to keep in mind the next time you type in a non-essential Google enquiry: A web search on an energy-efficient laptop leaves a footprint of 0.2 gCO2e. On an old desktop computer, it is 4.5 gCO2e.
And that text message? It comes at a cost of about 0.014 gCO2e.
Plastic grocery bags each have a carbon footprint of 10 gCO2e, but the paper ones are even worse at 40 gCO2e each.
Store-bought bottled water has nearly 1,150 times the emissions attached to it than a glass poured from the tap.
Leisure time
A 500-millilitre (one-pint) bottle is responsible for 160 gCO2e compared to 0.14 gCO2e for tap water.
A large cappuccino comes with a footprint of 235 gCO2e, partly because of the emissions from raising the cow which produced the milk. For a cup of home-made black tea or coffee for which just enough water was boiled, the figure is 21 gCO2e
The bigger the TV, the bigger the cost in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Watching two hours of tube on a 24-inch (61-centimetre) plasma screen pumps out 440 gCO2e - about the same as driving a car for 1.6 km.
The footprint is 68 gCO2e and 176 gCO2e respectively for two hours watched on a 15- or a 32-inch LCD screen.
A mile of cycling fuelled by a meal of bananas would be responsible for 65 gCO2e, compared to 260 gCO2e for a mile powered by cheeseburgers.
SOURCES:
- "How Bad Are Bananas?" by Mike Berners-Lee
- Fifth Assessment Report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- McAfee study, "Carbon Footprint of Spam"
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/whats-the-carbon-footprint-of-an-email/ar-AAfMkPO?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=HPCDHP
I opened my eyes this morning, and … OMG!! I put 1.475 gCO2e into the atmosphere! I killed a butterfly in a rain forest in Indonesia! Or Brazil. Or maybe the Congo.
The only team he could beat, beat him
With the Boston/Milwaukee Braves and Chicago Cubs 1950-54, pitcher David Cole’s won-loss record was 6-15. On March 19, 1955, Cole was sold to the Philadelphia Phillies.
“That’s too bad,” he said. “They’re the only team I can beat.”
With the Phillies in the 1955 season, Cole’s won-loss record was 0-3.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=coleda01
In Cole’s first major league game (Sept. 9, 1950), he pitched one inning of relief, giving up two hits and one earned run. He was the losing pitcher. Against the Phillies. So, his first loss was against Philadelphia, and his last loss was while playing for the Phillies.
“That’s too bad,” he said. “They’re the only team I can beat.”
With the Phillies in the 1955 season, Cole’s won-loss record was 0-3.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=coleda01
In Cole’s first major league game (Sept. 9, 1950), he pitched one inning of relief, giving up two hits and one earned run. He was the losing pitcher. Against the Phillies. So, his first loss was against Philadelphia, and his last loss was while playing for the Phillies.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Forget nukes. What about that Iranian fried chicken?
Pizza Hat? Hash Donald’s? Finger-biting good.
By Golnaz Esfandiari
November 04, 2015
Nothing says "America" quite like the opening of a bogus Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Iranian capital.
Too American, it seems, for Iranian authorities, who apparently spoiled the grand opening of a Turkish-born, Muslim-focused, "KFC Halal" restaurant in Tehran because they considered it a serious cultural threat.
Just two days after it opened, potential customers were greeted on November 3 by locked doors bearing an announcement that the restaurant had been closed down.
No reason was given, but criticism on hard-line websites suggested that the restaurant -- whose signage includes images of the American chain's iconic mascot, Colonel Sanders, before a red-and-white striped backdrop that some suggested resembled the U.S. flag -- could be viewed as American influence on Iranian culture, and thus is a grave danger to the Islamic republic.
It was a sharp reversal from the fanfare that accompanied the restaurant's November 1 opening, when pictures posted on the store's website showed customers lined up to get a taste of southern fried chicken.
In reporting the closure, Tasnim described the restaurant as the first branch of the U.S. fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken.
But that was news to KFC's parent company, Yum! Brands.
"We are shocked with the news that an illegitimate KFC outlet has opened in Tehran, Iran," the Kentucky-based company said in a statement sent to RFE/RL. "No franchise rights have been granted to any party in Iran. We are in contact with local authorities and external advisers and will be filing a legal action against any company or individuals claiming to have rights to open KFC."
Tasnim and other Iranian media reported that the restaurant did not have a license to operate in Iran, but the restaurant's manager has said a mistake has been made.
"The shutting down of KFC Halal was due to a misunderstanding," the store's manager, Abbas Pazuki, was quoted as saying by Tasnim. "We are part of a brand known as KFC Halal, which comes from Turkey. It belongs to Muslims and its target market is Muslim nations."
Lest there be any doubt, Pazuki clarified that KFC Halal was indeed a rival of the American chain. "We as Iranians didn't like to work with Americans, [so] we worked with Turks."
In the "about us" section of KFC Halal's website, the company draws on mythology and Iran's history of overcoming its enemies, and characterizes the opening of the new restaurant as an example of a modern, scientific business model.
Ali Fazeli, the head of Iran’s chamber of commerce, confirmed that KFC Halal has no connection with the U.S. fast food chain.
"In accordance with orders from the Supreme Leader, we do not give any authorization to Western brands" in the fast food sector, Fazeli was quoted as saying by ILNA news agency.
The restaurant’s closure comes amid growing warnings in Iran by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior hard-line officials over alleged efforts by the United States "to infiltrate" the Islamic republic following the landmark nuclear deal reached in July.
Khamenei was quoted on November 1 as telling officials to be to "be watchful about irregular imports after lifting sanctions and seriously avoid importing consumer goods from the United States."
On November 3, Iranian media reported that 16 lawmakers had issued a letter to the interior and commerce ministers, warning against the opening of "Western-style" cafes and restaurants, particularly fried chicken restaurants.
Iran already has numerous Western-style restaurants that operate under names such as "Pizza Hat" and "Mash Donald's." In other cases, such as with the Starbucks impersonator Raees Coffee, company logos closely resemble those of American brands.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-kfc-branch/27344257.html
By Golnaz Esfandiari
November 04, 2015
Nothing says "America" quite like the opening of a bogus Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Iranian capital.
Too American, it seems, for Iranian authorities, who apparently spoiled the grand opening of a Turkish-born, Muslim-focused, "KFC Halal" restaurant in Tehran because they considered it a serious cultural threat.
Just two days after it opened, potential customers were greeted on November 3 by locked doors bearing an announcement that the restaurant had been closed down.
No reason was given, but criticism on hard-line websites suggested that the restaurant -- whose signage includes images of the American chain's iconic mascot, Colonel Sanders, before a red-and-white striped backdrop that some suggested resembled the U.S. flag -- could be viewed as American influence on Iranian culture, and thus is a grave danger to the Islamic republic.
It was a sharp reversal from the fanfare that accompanied the restaurant's November 1 opening, when pictures posted on the store's website showed customers lined up to get a taste of southern fried chicken.
In reporting the closure, Tasnim described the restaurant as the first branch of the U.S. fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken.
But that was news to KFC's parent company, Yum! Brands.
"We are shocked with the news that an illegitimate KFC outlet has opened in Tehran, Iran," the Kentucky-based company said in a statement sent to RFE/RL. "No franchise rights have been granted to any party in Iran. We are in contact with local authorities and external advisers and will be filing a legal action against any company or individuals claiming to have rights to open KFC."
Tasnim and other Iranian media reported that the restaurant did not have a license to operate in Iran, but the restaurant's manager has said a mistake has been made.
"The shutting down of KFC Halal was due to a misunderstanding," the store's manager, Abbas Pazuki, was quoted as saying by Tasnim. "We are part of a brand known as KFC Halal, which comes from Turkey. It belongs to Muslims and its target market is Muslim nations."
Lest there be any doubt, Pazuki clarified that KFC Halal was indeed a rival of the American chain. "We as Iranians didn't like to work with Americans, [so] we worked with Turks."
In the "about us" section of KFC Halal's website, the company draws on mythology and Iran's history of overcoming its enemies, and characterizes the opening of the new restaurant as an example of a modern, scientific business model.
Ali Fazeli, the head of Iran’s chamber of commerce, confirmed that KFC Halal has no connection with the U.S. fast food chain.
"In accordance with orders from the Supreme Leader, we do not give any authorization to Western brands" in the fast food sector, Fazeli was quoted as saying by ILNA news agency.
The restaurant’s closure comes amid growing warnings in Iran by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior hard-line officials over alleged efforts by the United States "to infiltrate" the Islamic republic following the landmark nuclear deal reached in July.
Khamenei was quoted on November 1 as telling officials to be to "be watchful about irregular imports after lifting sanctions and seriously avoid importing consumer goods from the United States."
On November 3, Iranian media reported that 16 lawmakers had issued a letter to the interior and commerce ministers, warning against the opening of "Western-style" cafes and restaurants, particularly fried chicken restaurants.
Iran already has numerous Western-style restaurants that operate under names such as "Pizza Hat" and "Mash Donald's." In other cases, such as with the Starbucks impersonator Raees Coffee, company logos closely resemble those of American brands.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-kfc-branch/27344257.html
Islamic radicals in Georgia and Azerbaijan
“One issue is that Syria has activated a more sectarian understanding of Islam in Azerbaijan. Usually, many Azerbaijanis just say ‘we are Muslims’ but do not actually have a good concept of what that means. Now, some who were ostensibly Shi’a became Salafis.”
…
Countering terrorism: “Specifically, authorities sought to bring mosques under greater control by installing cameras inside, replacing Salafi clerics with moderate leaders, forbidding Salafis from taking leadership roles in mosques, banning books promoting extremist views, and increasing control over public television.” – U.S. State Department Bureau of Counterterrorism.
http://dfwatch.net/radicalisation-in-the-south-caucasus-39101
(Freedom and Democracy Watch is supported by Open Society – funded by George Soros – and Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, named for the first Weimar president who was originally a supporter of the Freikorps.)
…
Countering terrorism: “Specifically, authorities sought to bring mosques under greater control by installing cameras inside, replacing Salafi clerics with moderate leaders, forbidding Salafis from taking leadership roles in mosques, banning books promoting extremist views, and increasing control over public television.” – U.S. State Department Bureau of Counterterrorism.
http://dfwatch.net/radicalisation-in-the-south-caucasus-39101
(Freedom and Democracy Watch is supported by Open Society – funded by George Soros – and Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, named for the first Weimar president who was originally a supporter of the Freikorps.)
It must be over
Nine weeks ago, news organizations said Yogi Berra had died. I’ve been waiting for a retraction, but it has not yet been made.
Berra was more than a Hall of Fame, All Star player. He represented his generation. He was the man who went to work every day, did his best, and looked to tomorrow when maybe he would do better.
More than any other player, Berra was the New York Yankee on a team of DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford and Stengel.
On June 24, 1962, Berra caught all 22 innings of the Yankees’ game with the Tigers in Detroit. In 10 at bats, he had three hits and one run batted in. Twenty-two innings behind the plate, squatting, standing, walking to the mound, three times a base runner. He was 37 years old.
An amazing statistic -- In 1950, Berra hit 28 home runs, drove in 124 runs, played in 159 games, scored 116 runs … and struck out 12 times. Twelve strikeouts in 159 games.
I saw Berra on the field in Arlington Stadium on April 9, 1980, the day before Opening Day. The Yankees were working out that afternoon. I got home from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just after 3 p.m., got Michael, who was almost 3 years old, and drove 10 minutes to the stadium. Michael and I sat in the second row behind the Yankees dugout. Berra was on the field, taking grounders at third base. He was around 55 at the time. He short-hopped every grounder hit to him.
Berra was more than a Hall of Fame, All Star player. He represented his generation. He was the man who went to work every day, did his best, and looked to tomorrow when maybe he would do better.
More than any other player, Berra was the New York Yankee on a team of DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford and Stengel.
On June 24, 1962, Berra caught all 22 innings of the Yankees’ game with the Tigers in Detroit. In 10 at bats, he had three hits and one run batted in. Twenty-two innings behind the plate, squatting, standing, walking to the mound, three times a base runner. He was 37 years old.
An amazing statistic -- In 1950, Berra hit 28 home runs, drove in 124 runs, played in 159 games, scored 116 runs … and struck out 12 times. Twelve strikeouts in 159 games.
I saw Berra on the field in Arlington Stadium on April 9, 1980, the day before Opening Day. The Yankees were working out that afternoon. I got home from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just after 3 p.m., got Michael, who was almost 3 years old, and drove 10 minutes to the stadium. Michael and I sat in the second row behind the Yankees dugout. Berra was on the field, taking grounders at third base. He was around 55 at the time. He short-hopped every grounder hit to him.
Friday, November 27, 2015
What difference does that make now?
Answer to question: Why is the country at this point in history?
Question asked in reference to Princeton president’s decision to erase any and all official mention of Woodrow Wilson, former president of the university and of the country; of “the recent decision by UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism to eliminate requirements that journalism majors take certain basic courses in economics, U.S. government, and American History since 1865;” and of a so-called historian’s attempts at correcting long-dead Judah P. Benjamin’s status as U.S. senator and C.S.A. secretary of state, because said Benjamin owned slaves.
Or: “Doesn’t our epidemic dumbing-down have undeniable advantages for those institutions (the media, the advertising industry, the government) whose interests are better served by a population not trained to read too closely or ask too many questions?”
http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=3288
Question asked in reference to Princeton president’s decision to erase any and all official mention of Woodrow Wilson, former president of the university and of the country; of “the recent decision by UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism to eliminate requirements that journalism majors take certain basic courses in economics, U.S. government, and American History since 1865;” and of a so-called historian’s attempts at correcting long-dead Judah P. Benjamin’s status as U.S. senator and C.S.A. secretary of state, because said Benjamin owned slaves.
Or: “Doesn’t our epidemic dumbing-down have undeniable advantages for those institutions (the media, the advertising industry, the government) whose interests are better served by a population not trained to read too closely or ask too many questions?”
http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=3288
Police are to blame. ‘They wouldn't leave the boy alone’
“Saydulla refuses to believe that his son, who left behind a 2-year-old son and a newborn daughter, would join the Islamist fighters on his own, and he blames officials for not stopping him.”
http://news.yahoo.com/russian-crackdown-muslims-fuels-exodus-111516479.html
(Sounds as though the police are leaving Saydulla’s son alone. They did not stop him from leaving. Of course, the writer, Nataliya Vasilyeva, was completely objective in her reporting, presenting equal statements from both sides.)
Link at http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-helping-islamic-state-moscows-attacks-muslim-caucasus-region-helps-isis-2196200?rel=latest4
http://news.yahoo.com/russian-crackdown-muslims-fuels-exodus-111516479.html
(Sounds as though the police are leaving Saydulla’s son alone. They did not stop him from leaving. Of course, the writer, Nataliya Vasilyeva, was completely objective in her reporting, presenting equal statements from both sides.)
Link at http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-helping-islamic-state-moscows-attacks-muslim-caucasus-region-helps-isis-2196200?rel=latest4
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
The Zman’s theory of everything, Parts II and I
Gems.
“Hearing a guy like Paul Ryan say, ‘proactively leverage other’s high standards in infrastructures’ generates warm thoughts of Gavrilo Princip.
“Anyway, I slowly came to the conclusion that the whole Right-Left dynamic was just a myth. One of things about working in Washington, even briefly, is you learn quickly that politics is nothing like you see on TV. Two people on a show ripping one another apart will be at the bar after the show yukking it up like old pals. That’s because they are old pals. The Right-Left narrative has simply become a convenient framework for the reality show called politics. This has been true since the 80’s.”
…
“The men of the Tidewater who crafted (the Constitution) understood that we needed a strong central government for managing trade, national defense and the courts. At the same time, they knew the Puritan lunatics in New England would immediately try to pervert the national government so they could dominate the rest of the country. James Madison had no illusions about the nature of John Adams. The result was a government based on Negative Liberty.”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Supports the ideas that talking/writing heads in DC/NYC talk and write to each other, and, American history is the story of competition between Virginia and Massachusetts.
“Hearing a guy like Paul Ryan say, ‘proactively leverage other’s high standards in infrastructures’ generates warm thoughts of Gavrilo Princip.
“Anyway, I slowly came to the conclusion that the whole Right-Left dynamic was just a myth. One of things about working in Washington, even briefly, is you learn quickly that politics is nothing like you see on TV. Two people on a show ripping one another apart will be at the bar after the show yukking it up like old pals. That’s because they are old pals. The Right-Left narrative has simply become a convenient framework for the reality show called politics. This has been true since the 80’s.”
…
“The men of the Tidewater who crafted (the Constitution) understood that we needed a strong central government for managing trade, national defense and the courts. At the same time, they knew the Puritan lunatics in New England would immediately try to pervert the national government so they could dominate the rest of the country. James Madison had no illusions about the nature of John Adams. The result was a government based on Negative Liberty.”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
Supports the ideas that talking/writing heads in DC/NYC talk and write to each other, and, American history is the story of competition between Virginia and Massachusetts.
If you were thinking about turkeys …
'How wily wild turkeys struck it lucky in America'
WE HUMANS have a fondness for calling someone or something we consider inept a “turkey”. Could turkeys talk, they might be inclined to throw the insult back the other way.
Ecologist Michael Chamberlain of the University of Georgia has witnessed the bird’s ability to outsmart people at first hand. He was in the field tracking a mother turkey and her poults. Thanks to the micro-GPS units he co-developed, he knew their exact whereabouts, and sent a fieldworker into the forest to find them. His colleague walked around for almost an hour trying to track them down, and never once spotted them. Chamberlain did, though. “I was sitting in the truck,” he says. Through the windshield, he saw the turkey sneak across the road with her brood, right in front of him. The fieldworker had been behind her the whole time, but she was clever enough to keep out of sight.
“Smart” isn’t a word most of us associate with the bird that graces many a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner plate. Yet it is the domesticated cousin of the wily wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, which without its guile might well have gone the way of the passenger pigeon. However, in a heart-warming success story for conservation, this native American has made it back from the brink of extinction. Better yet, while many other species are feeling the heat of climate change, the wild turkey is going from strength to strength.
Turkeys are native to North and Central America, with six regional subspecies. Although domesticated by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica some 2000 years ago, the wild variety was an important resource for many Native American peoples, not just for its meat and eggs, but also for feathers, bones and spurs, which were used to make clothing, spoons, musical instruments, arrow tips and more. Estimates put the wild turkey population before Columbus arrived at some 10 million, though no one was counting. Around 1600, when Europeans first began settling in North America, the wild birds were so abundant they could be seen in flocks of hundreds.
Ironically, early settlers brought domesticated turkeys with them – these were the descendants of Mesoamerican poultry that had been introduced to Europe by earlier explorers. But turkey farming was small-scale and settlers soon learned that wild turkeys were good tucker and easy prey, owing to their habit of roosting in large groups in trees. Turkeys became so established in the pioneer psyche that in 1784, commenting on the choice of the bald eagle as the national bird, Benjamin Franklin quipped: “The turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America…He is besides, though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards.”
Despite such affection, the hunting of wild turkeys continued unregulated. And the birds faced another threat, too. Turkeys aren’t particular about where they live, but they do have one requirement: trees. As settlers crossed the country, logging for timber and clearing forest to create farmland, suitable turkey habitat diminished. All this unfettered felling and trapping meant that by the end of the 19th century – around the time that passenger pigeon populations began to plummet – the wild turkey was in trouble. By 1920, it had been eradicated in 18 of the 39 states it had once occupied, and had also disappeared from Ontario, Canada.
Estimates of the population size at its nadir range from 30,000 to 200,000. Yet, as the passenger pigeon was sucked into the vortex of extinction, concern arose about the disappearance of wild turkeys. This was especially fervent among those who liked to hunt them, and efforts were launched to bring the birds back from the brink. In 1937, these came to fruition when a new excise tax on guns and ammunition generated revenue earmarked for wildlife management and restoration. The wild turkey was to get a share.
Armed with conservation dollars, wildlife agencies in several US states began collecting turkey eggs from nests in the wild, bringing them into captivity to rear for later release. Two decades of time and money later, nothing had changed. Almost all of the efforts were “dismal failures”, says Tom Hughes, a biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation – most of the young turkeys didn’t survive once released. “They hadn’t grown up under the direction of a wild hen,” says Hughes, so they had no idea how to behave in the wild. “They didn’t know what to avoid. They didn’t know what to look for.”
By 1960, most wild turkey breeding had been ditched. Instead, wildlife agencies used spring-loaded rocket nets to capture whole flocks and relocate them to a suitable turkey-free habitat. Bingo! Turkeys began spreading like wildfire. Able to adapt to new settings before potential predators had learned to hunt them, they enjoyed a honeymoon period in many places that enabled populations to establish and thrive, says Hughes.
Fast-forward to today, and wild turkeys are abundant across the continent, with numbers estimated at over 6 million. One factor that limits their northward expansion is snow. “When the snow is really deep, turkeys can’t move through it, and can’t find their food,” says Britney Niedzielski. While at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, she found that many wild turkeys don’t survive the winter at the northern limits of their range. However, those hanging out near farms can often get enough spilt grain and corn to see them through.
And with a helping hand from climate change, wild turkeys are likely to spread further north, says Niedzielski. So, in a warmer world we can expect to see more of these canny birds… and fewer frozen ones.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830490-500-how-wily-wild-turkeys-struck-it-lucky-in-america/
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
(The writer, whoever it was, just had to get "climate change" in the story.)
WE HUMANS have a fondness for calling someone or something we consider inept a “turkey”. Could turkeys talk, they might be inclined to throw the insult back the other way.
Ecologist Michael Chamberlain of the University of Georgia has witnessed the bird’s ability to outsmart people at first hand. He was in the field tracking a mother turkey and her poults. Thanks to the micro-GPS units he co-developed, he knew their exact whereabouts, and sent a fieldworker into the forest to find them. His colleague walked around for almost an hour trying to track them down, and never once spotted them. Chamberlain did, though. “I was sitting in the truck,” he says. Through the windshield, he saw the turkey sneak across the road with her brood, right in front of him. The fieldworker had been behind her the whole time, but she was clever enough to keep out of sight.
“Smart” isn’t a word most of us associate with the bird that graces many a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner plate. Yet it is the domesticated cousin of the wily wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, which without its guile might well have gone the way of the passenger pigeon. However, in a heart-warming success story for conservation, this native American has made it back from the brink of extinction. Better yet, while many other species are feeling the heat of climate change, the wild turkey is going from strength to strength.
Turkeys are native to North and Central America, with six regional subspecies. Although domesticated by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica some 2000 years ago, the wild variety was an important resource for many Native American peoples, not just for its meat and eggs, but also for feathers, bones and spurs, which were used to make clothing, spoons, musical instruments, arrow tips and more. Estimates put the wild turkey population before Columbus arrived at some 10 million, though no one was counting. Around 1600, when Europeans first began settling in North America, the wild birds were so abundant they could be seen in flocks of hundreds.
Ironically, early settlers brought domesticated turkeys with them – these were the descendants of Mesoamerican poultry that had been introduced to Europe by earlier explorers. But turkey farming was small-scale and settlers soon learned that wild turkeys were good tucker and easy prey, owing to their habit of roosting in large groups in trees. Turkeys became so established in the pioneer psyche that in 1784, commenting on the choice of the bald eagle as the national bird, Benjamin Franklin quipped: “The turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America…He is besides, though a little vain and silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards.”
Despite such affection, the hunting of wild turkeys continued unregulated. And the birds faced another threat, too. Turkeys aren’t particular about where they live, but they do have one requirement: trees. As settlers crossed the country, logging for timber and clearing forest to create farmland, suitable turkey habitat diminished. All this unfettered felling and trapping meant that by the end of the 19th century – around the time that passenger pigeon populations began to plummet – the wild turkey was in trouble. By 1920, it had been eradicated in 18 of the 39 states it had once occupied, and had also disappeared from Ontario, Canada.
Estimates of the population size at its nadir range from 30,000 to 200,000. Yet, as the passenger pigeon was sucked into the vortex of extinction, concern arose about the disappearance of wild turkeys. This was especially fervent among those who liked to hunt them, and efforts were launched to bring the birds back from the brink. In 1937, these came to fruition when a new excise tax on guns and ammunition generated revenue earmarked for wildlife management and restoration. The wild turkey was to get a share.
Armed with conservation dollars, wildlife agencies in several US states began collecting turkey eggs from nests in the wild, bringing them into captivity to rear for later release. Two decades of time and money later, nothing had changed. Almost all of the efforts were “dismal failures”, says Tom Hughes, a biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation – most of the young turkeys didn’t survive once released. “They hadn’t grown up under the direction of a wild hen,” says Hughes, so they had no idea how to behave in the wild. “They didn’t know what to avoid. They didn’t know what to look for.”
By 1960, most wild turkey breeding had been ditched. Instead, wildlife agencies used spring-loaded rocket nets to capture whole flocks and relocate them to a suitable turkey-free habitat. Bingo! Turkeys began spreading like wildfire. Able to adapt to new settings before potential predators had learned to hunt them, they enjoyed a honeymoon period in many places that enabled populations to establish and thrive, says Hughes.
Fast-forward to today, and wild turkeys are abundant across the continent, with numbers estimated at over 6 million. One factor that limits their northward expansion is snow. “When the snow is really deep, turkeys can’t move through it, and can’t find their food,” says Britney Niedzielski. While at Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, she found that many wild turkeys don’t survive the winter at the northern limits of their range. However, those hanging out near farms can often get enough spilt grain and corn to see them through.
And with a helping hand from climate change, wild turkeys are likely to spread further north, says Niedzielski. So, in a warmer world we can expect to see more of these canny birds… and fewer frozen ones.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830490-500-how-wily-wild-turkeys-struck-it-lucky-in-america/
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
(The writer, whoever it was, just had to get "climate change" in the story.)
Something is wrong here
Driving east through Alabama on Monday, we passed a flatbed loaded with 50-pound sacks of onions from California, headed in the direction of Georgia, home of the Vidalia onion.
As a patriotic American (Go, Continentals!), I want to know from where comes my food. At a local (Parrish, Florida) store were packages of grape tomatoes marked “Product of Canada.”
As a patriotic American (Go, Continentals!), I want to know from where comes my food. At a local (Parrish, Florida) store were packages of grape tomatoes marked “Product of Canada.”
A couple more internet … somethings
“Behind my smile
“Is something you will
“Never understand”
(Well, then, I guess you’ll have to eat your lunch all by yourself.)
The quoted material is from something called “Hurting on the inside Facebook Pro…” Good grief! How about “Things to say while slitting your wrists.” Like a Rod McKuen vinyl record, “Poems to Hear While Putting the Muzzle Against Your Temple.”
Here’s another from a different web site:
“Acceptance
“will heal
“everything”
What?
Has to be from a liberal Progressive.
If I accept you are a murderer or a racist or an anti-Semite, are you healed, or am I?
“Is something you will
“Never understand”
(Well, then, I guess you’ll have to eat your lunch all by yourself.)
The quoted material is from something called “Hurting on the inside Facebook Pro…” Good grief! How about “Things to say while slitting your wrists.” Like a Rod McKuen vinyl record, “Poems to Hear While Putting the Muzzle Against Your Temple.”
Here’s another from a different web site:
“Acceptance
“will heal
“everything”
What?
Has to be from a liberal Progressive.
If I accept you are a murderer or a racist or an anti-Semite, are you healed, or am I?
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Let’s see – What is it happens in war?
“Human rights activists have accused the Russian government of stepping up its campaign of killing insurgents since the leaders of the scattered bands of fighters first began announcing their loyalty to the Islamic State a year ago.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/world/europe/russia-says-it-killed-14-isis-recruiters-in-north-caucasus.html?_r=0
Oh, yeah. People get killed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/world/europe/russia-says-it-killed-14-isis-recruiters-in-north-caucasus.html?_r=0
Oh, yeah. People get killed.
Armenian vote could limit evangelism from West
Like other former Soviet republics, Armenia finds democracy limits incumbent power.
“Constitutional amendments proposed by a commission working under President Serzh Sargsyan’s office would provide for freedom of religion and ban religious discrimination, yet article 41 stipulates that such freedom could be restricted ‘with the aim of protecting state security, the public order, health and morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.’”
The established Armenian Apostolic Church has a “privileged place” in Armenian society, and “has an ‘exclusive mission’ as ‘the national church in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of its national culture, and in the preservation of its national identity.’”
Any attempt at converting Armenians from the national church to a “perverse” Western “sect” could be detrimental to state security.
Armenians running the government need to remember their political and diplomatic efforts last year at gaining international recognition for genocide by the Turkish government 100 years ago.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/76271
r
“Constitutional amendments proposed by a commission working under President Serzh Sargsyan’s office would provide for freedom of religion and ban religious discrimination, yet article 41 stipulates that such freedom could be restricted ‘with the aim of protecting state security, the public order, health and morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.’”
The established Armenian Apostolic Church has a “privileged place” in Armenian society, and “has an ‘exclusive mission’ as ‘the national church in the spiritual life of the Armenian people, in the development of its national culture, and in the preservation of its national identity.’”
Any attempt at converting Armenians from the national church to a “perverse” Western “sect” could be detrimental to state security.
Armenians running the government need to remember their political and diplomatic efforts last year at gaining international recognition for genocide by the Turkish government 100 years ago.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/76271
r
Woodrow Wlson, Black Justice League and A. Hitler
My wife’s and my trip to Texas last week took us through Jackson, Miss. That state’s capital is not the only city in the U.S. named for President and Gen. Andrew Jackson. Most are in the South, but there also are Jacksons in New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire and other states.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_for_Andrew_Jackson
Given Princeton University’s decision to eliminate references to former university and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, alleged racist, would it not be more logical to change names of all cities named after an actual owner of slaves?
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7016
And from the Fuehrer Bunker:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/11/hitler-learns-about-the-new-campus-unrest.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_for_Andrew_Jackson
Given Princeton University’s decision to eliminate references to former university and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, alleged racist, would it not be more logical to change names of all cities named after an actual owner of slaves?
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7016
And from the Fuehrer Bunker:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/11/hitler-learns-about-the-new-campus-unrest.php
Moving John to John's town
My wife and I brought her brother John from Texas. Priscilla and I were on the road 4.5 days of the six-day trip. One-way to Texarkana is 1,022 miles.
I have written about John before. He had his 59th birthday a couple of weeks ago. His mental cognitive age is 5 or 6. For more than 35 years, John worked at Resources Texarkana, with 40 other disabled men and women. (I know -- The proper term is “people with disabilities,” not “disabled people,” so the advocates of disabled people say. “People are not disabled; they have disabilities.” I’m not supposed to say John is mentally retarded or physically handicapped, but he is. His mental and physical abilities were retarded at birth and never developed beyond what is normal for a 5- or 6-year-old. Years ago, “mentally retarded” changed to “mentally challenged” by decision makers who decided “retarded” is a bad word. No one would remember when “challenged” was “retarded.” But, people deemed “mentally challenged” are not challenged at all; they produce to the best of their abilities. If I were in an office with Albert Einstein 60 years ago, I would be, in modern description, mentally challenged because some things he could do, I could not. To go further back, “afflicted” was the term once applied to people who were mentally and/or physically retarded.)
Resources Texarkana had a retirement party for John. Everybody was happy. People celebrated John’s retirement. There were tacos, refried beans and Spanish rice and cake and extended lunch time.
John says Resources will move to Florida. Priscilla and I tell him it will not, but what John truly believes is locked in place and will not change.
John calls this part of Florida “Kathleen’s town” because our daughter Kathleen lives nearby. Priscilla told John this is now John’s town. I don’t know if that will take. Resources is not in John’s town.
I have written about John before. He had his 59th birthday a couple of weeks ago. His mental cognitive age is 5 or 6. For more than 35 years, John worked at Resources Texarkana, with 40 other disabled men and women. (I know -- The proper term is “people with disabilities,” not “disabled people,” so the advocates of disabled people say. “People are not disabled; they have disabilities.” I’m not supposed to say John is mentally retarded or physically handicapped, but he is. His mental and physical abilities were retarded at birth and never developed beyond what is normal for a 5- or 6-year-old. Years ago, “mentally retarded” changed to “mentally challenged” by decision makers who decided “retarded” is a bad word. No one would remember when “challenged” was “retarded.” But, people deemed “mentally challenged” are not challenged at all; they produce to the best of their abilities. If I were in an office with Albert Einstein 60 years ago, I would be, in modern description, mentally challenged because some things he could do, I could not. To go further back, “afflicted” was the term once applied to people who were mentally and/or physically retarded.)
Resources Texarkana had a retirement party for John. Everybody was happy. People celebrated John’s retirement. There were tacos, refried beans and Spanish rice and cake and extended lunch time.
John says Resources will move to Florida. Priscilla and I tell him it will not, but what John truly believes is locked in place and will not change.
John calls this part of Florida “Kathleen’s town” because our daughter Kathleen lives nearby. Priscilla told John this is now John’s town. I don’t know if that will take. Resources is not in John’s town.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Fourth European ancestor added to mix
“Research shows Europeans are a mixture of three major ancestral populations - indigenous hunters, Middle Eastern farmers and a population that arrived from the east in the Bronze Age.
“DNA from ancient remains in the Caucasus has now revealed a fourth population that fed into the mix.
“The first layer of European ancestry, the indigenous hunter-gatherers, entered Europe before the Ice Age 40,000 years ago. But 7,000 years ago, they were swept up in a migration of people from the Middle East, who introduced farming to Europe.
“About 5,000 years ago, herders called the Yamnaya entered Europe from the eastern Steppe region - in present day Ukraine and Russia.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34832781
“DNA from ancient remains in the Caucasus has now revealed a fourth population that fed into the mix.
“The first layer of European ancestry, the indigenous hunter-gatherers, entered Europe before the Ice Age 40,000 years ago. But 7,000 years ago, they were swept up in a migration of people from the Middle East, who introduced farming to Europe.
“About 5,000 years ago, herders called the Yamnaya entered Europe from the eastern Steppe region - in present day Ukraine and Russia.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34832781
Army unit commander caves, removes image of Crusader warrior
“A sign outside an Army training center at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, that featured a knight with crosses on his breastplate and shield was taken down Monday afternoon, hours after the head of a religious-freedom advocacy group called for the image’s removal.
“The image represented the ‘Fighting Knights’ of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Special Troops Battalion. Members of the unit recently transformed an unused motor pool area into a warrior training center, 8th Theater Sustainment Command spokeswoman Sgt. 1st Class Mary Ferguson told Army Times.”
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/11/16/crusader-like-image-army-sign-angers-advocacy-group/75897096/
Link at http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=62839
(The unit, or Fort Shafter, caved, naturally, to charges by Military Religious Freedom Foundation that the sign “enrages our Islamic allies” and “emboldens our Islamic enemies.”)
“The image represented the ‘Fighting Knights’ of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Special Troops Battalion. Members of the unit recently transformed an unused motor pool area into a warrior training center, 8th Theater Sustainment Command spokeswoman Sgt. 1st Class Mary Ferguson told Army Times.”
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/11/16/crusader-like-image-army-sign-angers-advocacy-group/75897096/
Link at http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=62839
(The unit, or Fort Shafter, caved, naturally, to charges by Military Religious Freedom Foundation that the sign “enrages our Islamic allies” and “emboldens our Islamic enemies.”)
Monday, November 16, 2015
Climate change causes terrorism, or something
So says a man who would be president.
“In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you’re going to see counties all over the world…they’re going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops, and you’re going to see all kinds of international conflict.” Bernie Sanders, Independent/Socialist/Progressive/DumbAss.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=62824
Story here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bernie-sanders-climate-change-democratic-debate
(Assume, for a moment, there is a cause-effect between climate change and terrorism. Assume. Would it not be the other way around, that the growth of terrorism is related to climate change? How can terrorism cause climate change?)
“In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you’re going to see counties all over the world…they’re going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops, and you’re going to see all kinds of international conflict.” Bernie Sanders, Independent/Socialist/Progressive/DumbAss.
http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=62824
Story here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bernie-sanders-climate-change-democratic-debate
(Assume, for a moment, there is a cause-effect between climate change and terrorism. Assume. Would it not be the other way around, that the growth of terrorism is related to climate change? How can terrorism cause climate change?)
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Kvetch
A Jewish lady's grandson is playing in the water, she is standing on the beach not wanting to get her feet wet, when all of a sudden, a huge wave appears from nowhere and crashes directly over the spot where the boy is wading.
The water recedes and the boy is no longer there. He simply vanished.
The grandmother holds her hands to the sky, screams and cries, "Lord, how could you? Have I not been a wonderful mother and grandmother? Have I not given to Bnai Brith and Haddasah? Have I not tried my very best to live a life that you would be proud of?"
A few minutes later another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the boy is standing there, smiling, splashing around as if nothing had ever happened.
A loud voice booms from the sky, "Okay, okay, I have returned your grandson. Are you satisfied?"
She responds, "He had a hat."
The water recedes and the boy is no longer there. He simply vanished.
The grandmother holds her hands to the sky, screams and cries, "Lord, how could you? Have I not been a wonderful mother and grandmother? Have I not given to Bnai Brith and Haddasah? Have I not tried my very best to live a life that you would be proud of?"
A few minutes later another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the boy is standing there, smiling, splashing around as if nothing had ever happened.
A loud voice booms from the sky, "Okay, okay, I have returned your grandson. Are you satisfied?"
She responds, "He had a hat."
You can put away your guns -- White House says we're safe
Last year the president termed ISIS “al Qaeda JV.” Two days ago, he said we had “contained” ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Today, the White House decided ISIS “lacks capability” of attacking the U.S.
“Antalya, Turkey (CNN) President Barack Obama's national security team is sending a message Sunday that might lend at least a glimmer of reassurance to Americans traumatized by the terror attacks in Paris.
“Saying that while the ISIS ambition is certainly there to launch similar attacks on U.S. shores, the capability is not great.
“Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that one big difference between the situation in Europe and that in the U.S. is that ‘thousands’ of fighters have traveled to Syria and then returned to Europe. That number being tracked in America is far smaller-- around 40, according to the Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper earlier this year.”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/15/politics/isis-us-threat-paris-attacks/index.html
Also, Rhodes told Jake Tapper we are safe because the US will do deep background vetting on all Syrian/other refugees fleeing ISIS. Rest assured, no one who is not really, really, really a war refugee will get past our security.
In the feelings department, the White House might consider hiring a couple of counselors to care for “Americans traumatized by the terror attacks in Paris.” Or make hot chocolate available for everyone.
“Antalya, Turkey (CNN) President Barack Obama's national security team is sending a message Sunday that might lend at least a glimmer of reassurance to Americans traumatized by the terror attacks in Paris.
“Saying that while the ISIS ambition is certainly there to launch similar attacks on U.S. shores, the capability is not great.
“Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters that one big difference between the situation in Europe and that in the U.S. is that ‘thousands’ of fighters have traveled to Syria and then returned to Europe. That number being tracked in America is far smaller-- around 40, according to the Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper earlier this year.”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/15/politics/isis-us-threat-paris-attacks/index.html
Also, Rhodes told Jake Tapper we are safe because the US will do deep background vetting on all Syrian/other refugees fleeing ISIS. Rest assured, no one who is not really, really, really a war refugee will get past our security.
In the feelings department, the White House might consider hiring a couple of counselors to care for “Americans traumatized by the terror attacks in Paris.” Or make hot chocolate available for everyone.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Saudi smuggler had 48,000 cans of Pepsiken
(Heineken wrapped in Pepsi labels,)
“A smuggler tried to bring about 48,000 beer cans into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates, al-Arabiya News reported.
“The man was caught at the Al Batha border crossing in Saudi Arabia. What makes the situation amusing, but certainly not for the smuggler, is the fact that the cans of beers were disguised as Pepsi cans.
‘A truck carrying what first seemed to be normal cans of the soft drink Pepsi was stopped and after the standard process of searching the products, it became clear the alcoholic beer was covered with Pepsi stickers,’ border General Manager Abdulrahman al-Mahna said, according to al-Arabiya News.’
“It remains to be seen what punishment the driver of the truck will face, as often the degree of punishment depends on who commits the offense. The man might be lucky and get away with the smuggling attempt if the beer was intended for one of the rowdy Saudi princes. If not though, well the best of luck to the smuggler, as alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
“Nevertheless, it certainly looks like despite being criminalized in Saudi Arabia, beer is in high demand in the Wahhabi kingdom. With the beer now having been confiscated, someone's bound to get real thirsty, real soon.”
http://sputniknews.com/art_living/20151113/1030062397/beer-disguised-as-pepsi-saudi-arabia.html#ixzz3rVQE2Rlc
Link at www.gatesofvienna.net
(Grain of salt note -- Sputnik News is run by an agency owned by the Russian government.)
“A smuggler tried to bring about 48,000 beer cans into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates, al-Arabiya News reported.
“The man was caught at the Al Batha border crossing in Saudi Arabia. What makes the situation amusing, but certainly not for the smuggler, is the fact that the cans of beers were disguised as Pepsi cans.
‘A truck carrying what first seemed to be normal cans of the soft drink Pepsi was stopped and after the standard process of searching the products, it became clear the alcoholic beer was covered with Pepsi stickers,’ border General Manager Abdulrahman al-Mahna said, according to al-Arabiya News.’
“It remains to be seen what punishment the driver of the truck will face, as often the degree of punishment depends on who commits the offense. The man might be lucky and get away with the smuggling attempt if the beer was intended for one of the rowdy Saudi princes. If not though, well the best of luck to the smuggler, as alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia.
“Nevertheless, it certainly looks like despite being criminalized in Saudi Arabia, beer is in high demand in the Wahhabi kingdom. With the beer now having been confiscated, someone's bound to get real thirsty, real soon.”
http://sputniknews.com/art_living/20151113/1030062397/beer-disguised-as-pepsi-saudi-arabia.html#ixzz3rVQE2Rlc
Link at www.gatesofvienna.net
(Grain of salt note -- Sputnik News is run by an agency owned by the Russian government.)
Eradicating ISIS ‘in a matter of weeks’
“’The terrorists don’t know what a real war is, because they have only been subjected to airstrikes. They don’t have experience of real military action,’ said Kadyrov in an interview to a Russian news agency earlier this month. ‘If our request is granted, it will be a celebration for us,’ he said. ‘But it’s a decision for the commander-in-chief to take.’ According to Kadyrov, if Moscow would allow Chechen elite units, spetsnaz, to participate in the Syrian Civil War, the terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS) would be eradicated in a matter of weeks. Kadyrov himself would be happy to enter the battlefield in the first ranks of Chechen units if Putin orders him to do so.”
…
“Several military commentators have expressed doubts over the Russian air force’s capacity to deal a decisive blow to the Syrian insurgents, whether secular or jihadists. To acquire control over the territory, especially key infrastructure and transport hubs, Russia will at some point also need to deploy ground forces. Over the years, Syrian President Al-Assad’s army has proved incapable of eradicating the insurgents and has for some time been on the defense. It has been largely dependent on support from Moscow and Teheran and pro-Iranian armed groups such as Hezbollah. Having deployed its military to Syria, Moscow will find it increasingly difficult to withdraw from the war. If or when necessary, it will have to increase its support for the al-Assad regime to ensure its survival. A failure to do so would be regarded by many Russians as a matter of national humiliation – and as Putin’s personal fiasco.”
http://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13299-will-russia-deploy-chechen-units-to-syria?.html
…
“Several military commentators have expressed doubts over the Russian air force’s capacity to deal a decisive blow to the Syrian insurgents, whether secular or jihadists. To acquire control over the territory, especially key infrastructure and transport hubs, Russia will at some point also need to deploy ground forces. Over the years, Syrian President Al-Assad’s army has proved incapable of eradicating the insurgents and has for some time been on the defense. It has been largely dependent on support from Moscow and Teheran and pro-Iranian armed groups such as Hezbollah. Having deployed its military to Syria, Moscow will find it increasingly difficult to withdraw from the war. If or when necessary, it will have to increase its support for the al-Assad regime to ensure its survival. A failure to do so would be regarded by many Russians as a matter of national humiliation – and as Putin’s personal fiasco.”
http://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13299-will-russia-deploy-chechen-units-to-syria?.html
Difficult to imagine what life would have been like had she not been white
The girl is not all here. But, given her upper-middle-class, liberal Democrat, progressive background, her mental state is understandable. I feel sad for her. And just a little pissed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aygOY2nVRWw
(It is difficult for me to imagine what life would have been like had I been born a dolphin.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aygOY2nVRWw
(It is difficult for me to imagine what life would have been like had I been born a dolphin.)
This is one of those ‘It gets even better’ stories
“Working class” activist a one-percenter.
“By Evan Lips
“BOSTON – Northeastern University undergraduate Keely Mullen, the social-justice activist who spearheaded a series of marches Wednesday as part of a movement demanding free public college education, cancellation of student debt and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers, told Fox News in an interview that “America’s 1 percent” should fund the students’ demands.
…
“Mullen’s online profile at Shiftgig says she graduated from Francis W. Parker High School in Chicago. According to the Francis W. Parker School website, it offers kindergarten through 12th grade classes for which tuition tops out at $34,560.
“Assessor records show that Mullen’s family has a home on West Wabansia Avenue in Chicago’s north side that carries a value of $989,990. According to BlockShopper, the student’s father, Steven Mullen, paid a little more than $1 million for the home in 2005.”
http://newbostonpost.com/2015/11/12/boston-activist-says-tax-the-rich-no-apologies-to-dad/
Although she told Cavuto her family was working class, “Mullen previously described her family as ‘a white, upper middle class family’ for the ‘Privilege Project.’" – Renee Nal.
http://www.examiner.com/article/keely-mullen-million-student-march-spokeswoman-is-the-one-percent
(Most early links said Cavuto “embarrassed” Mullen or “educated” the young woman, but those words are not accurate. She does not show the slightest embarrassment in the video, and tells Cavuto “You’re wrong” and “I don’t believe you” when he backs a statement with facts.)
“By Evan Lips
“BOSTON – Northeastern University undergraduate Keely Mullen, the social-justice activist who spearheaded a series of marches Wednesday as part of a movement demanding free public college education, cancellation of student debt and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers, told Fox News in an interview that “America’s 1 percent” should fund the students’ demands.
…
“Mullen’s online profile at Shiftgig says she graduated from Francis W. Parker High School in Chicago. According to the Francis W. Parker School website, it offers kindergarten through 12th grade classes for which tuition tops out at $34,560.
“Assessor records show that Mullen’s family has a home on West Wabansia Avenue in Chicago’s north side that carries a value of $989,990. According to BlockShopper, the student’s father, Steven Mullen, paid a little more than $1 million for the home in 2005.”
http://newbostonpost.com/2015/11/12/boston-activist-says-tax-the-rich-no-apologies-to-dad/
Although she told Cavuto her family was working class, “Mullen previously described her family as ‘a white, upper middle class family’ for the ‘Privilege Project.’" – Renee Nal.
http://www.examiner.com/article/keely-mullen-million-student-march-spokeswoman-is-the-one-percent
(Most early links said Cavuto “embarrassed” Mullen or “educated” the young woman, but those words are not accurate. She does not show the slightest embarrassment in the video, and tells Cavuto “You’re wrong” and “I don’t believe you” when he backs a statement with facts.)
Friday, November 13, 2015
Who’s going to pay for your free educayshun?
The 1 percent “hoarding all the wealth.”
Count the replies that begin, “Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, …”
“Keely Mullen is a national organizer for #MillionStudentMarch, a movement that demands ‘tuition-free public college, cancellation of all student debt, and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers’ in response to the crisis caused by rapacious corporate education.
“’#MillionStudentMarch is a movement for a more equitable and fair system of education as opposed to the really corporate model we have right now,’ Mullen said.
“Mullen is a graduate of the prestigious Francis W. Parker School and political science student at Northeastern University, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Cavuto asked how this agenda would be financed.
“’Great question, I mean, you know, so—I’m not sure if you’re talking about a national level or per school?’ Mullen said.
“When pressed, Mullen said that the top one percent of earners needed to pay tax rates upwards of 90 percent, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that proposed by socialist Thomas Piketty. Mullen said it was worth it.
“’I live in a world and I see a system around me where there is a population that is doing nothing to contribute to the progression of society,’ Mullen said …”
http://collegeinsurrection.com/2015/11/student-cant-explain-how-to-pay-for-entitlements-college-protesters-are-demanding//#more
The video is hilarious and sad.
Count the replies that begin, “Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, …”
“Keely Mullen is a national organizer for #MillionStudentMarch, a movement that demands ‘tuition-free public college, cancellation of all student debt, and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers’ in response to the crisis caused by rapacious corporate education.
“’#MillionStudentMarch is a movement for a more equitable and fair system of education as opposed to the really corporate model we have right now,’ Mullen said.
“Mullen is a graduate of the prestigious Francis W. Parker School and political science student at Northeastern University, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Cavuto asked how this agenda would be financed.
“’Great question, I mean, you know, so—I’m not sure if you’re talking about a national level or per school?’ Mullen said.
“When pressed, Mullen said that the top one percent of earners needed to pay tax rates upwards of 90 percent, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that proposed by socialist Thomas Piketty. Mullen said it was worth it.
“’I live in a world and I see a system around me where there is a population that is doing nothing to contribute to the progression of society,’ Mullen said …”
http://collegeinsurrection.com/2015/11/student-cant-explain-how-to-pay-for-entitlements-college-protesters-are-demanding//#more
The video is hilarious and sad.
We don’t need no educayshun*
Leave those kids alone.*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcWu0tsiZM
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
*Pink Floyd, 1979.
It’s a generational thing, the end of education as we know it. This time around, though, the end seems much nearer.
Sixty-plus years ago, modern education was ruined with ending Latin and Greek studies in the schools. Funny thing, my parents’ and grandparents’ schools did not offer any dead language studies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKcWu0tsiZM
Link at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
*Pink Floyd, 1979.
It’s a generational thing, the end of education as we know it. This time around, though, the end seems much nearer.
Sixty-plus years ago, modern education was ruined with ending Latin and Greek studies in the schools. Funny thing, my parents’ and grandparents’ schools did not offer any dead language studies.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Thieves and bigger thieves
“The reason conservatives hate evolution so much is they have seen too many of their guys evolve into liberals as soon as they hit Washington.
“One of the things I find baffling about so many Republican voters is that they can’t seem to learn this lesson. They pour their heart into the party only to have the party crap all over them.”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(I don’t “hate evolution,” it’s just that its cardinals, bishops and lay persons are so close-minded.)
“One of the things I find baffling about so many Republican voters is that they can’t seem to learn this lesson. They pour their heart into the party only to have the party crap all over them.”
http://thezman.com/wordpress/
(I don’t “hate evolution,” it’s just that its cardinals, bishops and lay persons are so close-minded.)
ZSU-23-4
On range, firing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaYCjfvHIsQ
Syrian army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZrtIYgTuGE
The ZSU shows up around 3:10.
Syrian rebels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrHzn7500f4
Back into field, fire four rounds, pull forward and clear stoppage, fire four rounds, repeat.
The dude with his “Allah Akbar.” Every time I hear that, I want to put a bullet in the speaker’s head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaYCjfvHIsQ
Syrian army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZrtIYgTuGE
The ZSU shows up around 3:10.
Syrian rebels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrHzn7500f4
Back into field, fire four rounds, pull forward and clear stoppage, fire four rounds, repeat.
The dude with his “Allah Akbar.” Every time I hear that, I want to put a bullet in the speaker’s head.
Dream failure
Woke up this morning after being thrown out of an Army NCO school for failure to meet standards. It was the third time in about two months. As with the other times, the HMFIC would not hear my explanation why I failed to meet standards. Also as with the other two times, I do not know which standards I failed to meet.
When it really happened 26 years ago (Advanced NCO Course, Fort Benning, Ga.), I knew the reason – I failed to complete the night land navigation course in the prescribed time, third attempt. I was 10 minutes over standard.
Army NCO schools are pass/fail. There is no box to check for “Failed to meet standards in only one area, so we’re going to give the NCO a completion certificate.”
I had a 92 academic score, and somewhere among the 120 other students someone with a 70 academic rating got a certificate. I understand. The Army sets standards, and it cannot bend or waive standards because of mental and/or physical disabilities. Not yet, anyway.
When it really happened 26 years ago (Advanced NCO Course, Fort Benning, Ga.), I knew the reason – I failed to complete the night land navigation course in the prescribed time, third attempt. I was 10 minutes over standard.
Army NCO schools are pass/fail. There is no box to check for “Failed to meet standards in only one area, so we’re going to give the NCO a completion certificate.”
I had a 92 academic score, and somewhere among the 120 other students someone with a 70 academic rating got a certificate. I understand. The Army sets standards, and it cannot bend or waive standards because of mental and/or physical disabilities. Not yet, anyway.
I haven't figured out how to edit the About Me stuff ...
... so here it is as a post.
I'm supposed to say something here. It's all on my first post, but here goes: Retired Army sergeant (including Active Guard/Reserve), infantry mostly; some military intelligence, armored cavalry and flight operations. 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam. Married to Priscilla on Aug. 2, 1972. She is a retired Girl Scout. Three children -- Michael, retired Army aviation platoon sergeant, two Iraq tours with 4th Infantry Division, two Afghanistan, one with 4th ID, second with 1st Armored Division; Kathleen, retired Air Force officer, RC-135 navigator, five deployments to a desert location we're not supposed to identify; and Casey, two Iraq tours with 3d Stryker Brigade, 2d Infantry Division, drill sergeant for three years at Fort Benning, now with an infantry battalion at Benning. More me: BS journalism. Worked for five daily newspapers in Texas, fired by three, so I must have done something right. Fifth generation Texan, living in Florida until the final trip home.
I'm supposed to say something here. It's all on my first post, but here goes: Retired Army sergeant (including Active Guard/Reserve), infantry mostly; some military intelligence, armored cavalry and flight operations. 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam. Married to Priscilla on Aug. 2, 1972. She is a retired Girl Scout. Three children -- Michael, retired Army aviation platoon sergeant, two Iraq tours with 4th Infantry Division, two Afghanistan, one with 4th ID, second with 1st Armored Division; Kathleen, retired Air Force officer, RC-135 navigator, five deployments to a desert location we're not supposed to identify; and Casey, two Iraq tours with 3d Stryker Brigade, 2d Infantry Division, drill sergeant for three years at Fort Benning, now with an infantry battalion at Benning. More me: BS journalism. Worked for five daily newspapers in Texas, fired by three, so I must have done something right. Fifth generation Texan, living in Florida until the final trip home.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Wear this sign around your neck …
… printed in block letters, your choice of colors:
I DON’T CARE
More of those me/me/me things:
I’m afraid all of the
‘I’m on my period’
Whispers will cause
Everyones cycle to
Sync and we will live
In a world where all
Women are on their
Period at the same
Time.
And you are worried
About zombies?
***
I just wish I could release
Myself from this
Relationship. It’s not love if
He hits you it just isn’t. It
Happens every day and I
Can’t take it I want out
But every time I try to
Leave it gets worse. I am
Such an idiot.
(Note to above woman: Shoot
The SOB.)
***
I’m so done.. I’m really not a
People person … But I
Honestly try to be nice to
Everyone… Even when they
Talk bad about me. So yeah
I’m done. I’m done trying to
Make everyone happy.
I DON’T CARE
More of those me/me/me things:
I’m afraid all of the
‘I’m on my period’
Whispers will cause
Everyones cycle to
Sync and we will live
In a world where all
Women are on their
Period at the same
Time.
And you are worried
About zombies?
***
I just wish I could release
Myself from this
Relationship. It’s not love if
He hits you it just isn’t. It
Happens every day and I
Can’t take it I want out
But every time I try to
Leave it gets worse. I am
Such an idiot.
(Note to above woman: Shoot
The SOB.)
***
I’m so done.. I’m really not a
People person … But I
Honestly try to be nice to
Everyone… Even when they
Talk bad about me. So yeah
I’m done. I’m done trying to
Make everyone happy.
Palestinian terror not major issue of Union for Reform Judaism
“The Union for Reform Judaism, this nation’s largest Jewish group comprising 1.5 million members, issued a major statement at its annual conference this week. Was it a renewed dedication to helping Jewish students combat the stigma and fear of being pro-Israel on campus? Was it a resolve to join with other anti-discrimination groups to combat the anti-Semitism that results in physical violence as well as intimidation by harassment? Was it a resolution to organize its congregants to send moral support to its brothers and sisters who are being murdered in Israel? Not exacty. Instead, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the URJ, jumped trendily onto the LGBT bandwagon, pledging to reach out to transgenders, refer to them by their pronouns of choice and alter the wording of prayers to make them gender neutral. How’s this for improving the Psalm of David: ‘ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Ne maketh me lie down in green pastures; Ve leadeth me beside still waters. Ze restoreth my soul.”
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2015/11/06/jews-for-transgenders/
(Eighty years ago: That guy, Hitler? Don’t worry your mind about him.)
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2015/11/06/jews-for-transgenders/
(Eighty years ago: That guy, Hitler? Don’t worry your mind about him.)
It’s a good thing she is wise, ‘cause she ain’t too smart.
“I mean most of the common law rights, like property rights are given to you by statute. They are not given to you by the common law.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
(It’s called H-I-S-T-O-R-Y.)
https://ricochet.com/the-common-law-in-the-supreme-court/
(It’s called H-I-S-T-O-R-Y.)
https://ricochet.com/the-common-law-in-the-supreme-court/
Monday, November 9, 2015
‘ICC Prosecutors Allege U.S.-Trained Georgian Units Committed War Crimes’
In August 2008, an International Criminal Court prosecutor says, small units of the Georgian army attacked Russian army units in South Ossetia after the Russo-Georgia war was officially over. Between 2012 and 2015, soldiers from those Georgian units “took part in 35 American training classes.” Therefore, says http://www.eurasianet.org/node/75971, the US is complicit, and the complaint “is forcing the U.S. to answer some awkward questions about their training of the Georgian military..”
So … By some grand logic, the U.S. is guilty for actions taken by the Georgian army four years before the training.
So … By some grand logic, the U.S. is guilty for actions taken by the Georgian army four years before the training.
Two male ‘parents’ to daycare workers: Call her John; she is a boy
Two workers fired for refusing to accede to homosexual agenda.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/11/06/christian-daycare-worker-fired-refusing-call-little-girl-boy/
Link from http://moonbattery.com/?p=64988
and http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/11/06/christian-daycare-worker-fired-refusing-call-little-girl-boy/
Link from http://moonbattery.com/?p=64988
and http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
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