Posts Tagged ‘Syria’
Monday, May 6th, 2013
Time for another LinkSwarm!
Silly Joanne Chesimard. If she had just served her time, she’d have tenure by now.
Europe is “bleeding out”. Youth unemployment? “59.1% of those under 25 are unemployed in Greece, 55.9% in Spain, 38.4% in Italy, 38.3% in Portugal, 26.5% in France.” More: “Hope and Change economies are crony capitalist systems which pick winners and losers. They maintain the status quo at all costs — and reward those who have captured government over those who innovate.”
So which is funnier, violence against women, or intimidating crime witnesses? Mountain Dew puts both in the same ad! Hilarity ensues! (Oh, and some people think it’s racist. It is, but not any more than a random gangsta rap video.)
People don’t like being bossed around by the political class. But that’s the Democratic Party’s entire model!
Will the welfare state dstroy democracy?
Did the Boston Bombers kill illegal alien amnesty?
“We found 15 Trial Court cases, and 12 Appellate Court cases, where Shariah was found to be applicable in these particular cases. The facts are the facts: some judges are making decisions deferring to Shariah law even when those decisions conflict with Constitutional protections.”
Another day, another green car bankruptcy filing.
According to the IRS, the sins of the mothers are, in fact, the sins of the sons.
War on terror? What war on terror?
Israel hits Syrian weapons bound for Hezbollah. World yawns.
And just in case it wasn’t clear before, Syria’s army sucks at fighting Israel. Though they seem quote adequate for killing their own people…
Gun businesses continue to leave Colorado.
Former New Mexico Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson says that Ted Cruz isn’t allowed to be a Hispanic because he opposes illegal alien amnesty. Maybe they should just declare that you can’t be Hispanic unless you’re a Democrat and be done with it.
Speaking of Cruz, here’s a piece in The New Republic that, when stripped of standard TNR talking points, boils down to “Yes, Ted Cruz could be elected President.”
Another day, another another 20 dead in an Islamist attack on a Christian church.
Obama vows to stick hands into the open flame even longer this time.
Three year old black girl is the NRA’s youngest lifetime member.
China’s new Communist Party headquarters looks like a wang.
There are some Williamson County elections coming up May 11. None I’m voting in, but lots of city and ISD elections.
Nothing says “confidence” quite like insulting the genitalia of a stranger’s 11-year old child on the Internet.
Tags: Bill Richardson, Border Controls, China, Colorado, Communism, Europe, gun control, Guns, Israel, Jihad, Joanne Chesimard, Media Watch, NRA, Syria, Ted Cruz, Williamson County
Posted in Border Control, Communism, Democrats, Guns, Welfare State | 3 Comments »
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
This week we’ll do it Thursday rather than Friday:
Obama is trying to work the same magic on America’s economy that a half century of Democratic rule has worked in Detroit. More details here.
And Detroit’s former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is going to prison.
Since 2002, total federal spending has increased 89% while median household income has dropped 5%.
In Iran, 5 of top 10 porn search terms are for gay porn (no nudity, but NSFW-ish terms, and the usual warning that it’s (ick) Gawker).
Thanks to ObamaCare, your veterinarian bills are going up as well as your medical bills.
Thomas Friedman hates the Keystone pipeline because the oil is dirty, but love China, where industry is a thousand time dirtier than here in the U.S. And where will that oil go if the pipeline isn’t built? China. Maybe Friedman just wants all the jobs to be in China. That, or actual checks from the Chinese government or their business subsidiaries, would explain an awful lot of Friedman’s writing over the last few years…
“Most developed nations are fundamentally broke.”
The degrees of broke-ness varies: from completely and utterly broke, like Greece or Italy; to wobbly, like the U.K., France, the U.S., or Japan; to getting poorer like Germany. But all of them are going to have to raise the percentage of gross domestic product they collect in tax — and many of them very significantly.
The U.S. deficit is more than 7% of GDP. The U.K.’s deficit is just as high. There is very little sign that spending cuts to close gaps of that magnitude are on the cards, nor is there any sign that growth will be sufficiently strong to make up the difference — certainly not in countries like the U.K. or Japan.
Huge sums of additional revenue will have to be raised.
Willie Sutton once famously remarked that he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.”
In the same way, governments will look to raise more tax from companies because that’s where the money is.
Or they could, you know, actually cut spending…
I’ve not been following the Prenda Law case closely. Fortunately, Ken over at Popehat has. Exceptionally brief background: Scumbag copyright troll lawyers operate shakedown operation, filing dubious (at best) copyright infringement lawsuits. Then they compounded the problem by suing bloggers and lawyers in an attempt to silence them. As you might expect, that strategy isn’t working out very well for them… (Hat tip: Dwight)
Florida Democrats want mandatory anger management classes for people buying ammo.
From Popcap Games, the makers of Plants vs. Zombies, comes Trees vs. Rockets. Wait, did I say Popcap Games? I meant the Israeli Defense Forces.
White House journalists as Ring-Wraiths.
Third round of Climategate documents released?
Michael Totten says that Lebanon is ready to explode from the spillover effect of the Syrian Civil War.
News of the horrific 5-year old terrorist who brandished her fearsome Hello Kitty assault bubble gun (link fixed).
Tags: China, Democrats, Detroit, Energy Policy, Greece, Guns, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Italy, Keystone Pipeline, Kwame Kilpatrick, Lebanon, ObamaCare, Prenda Law, Syria
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Economics, Foreign Policy, Global Warming, Guns, ObamaCare | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Had a busy weekend, so here’s a late LinkSwarm:
Liberals are casting their greedy gaze on your 401K,
Charles Krauthammer: Hail Armageddon!
As Mark Steyn put it: “those Mayan guys only hold an apocalypse every few thousand years. Washington now has a Mayan apocalypse every six weeks, whether it’s the fiscal cliff or the debt ceiling, or now the sequestration…it’s talking about $44 billion dollars, or about what the United States government borrows every nine days.”
Americans speak English, but Washington speaks a strange dialect where increasing spending by $1 trillion dollars is “holding the line on spending”.
Obama’s weak hand on the sequester (though I disagree than gun control is a long-term winning issue).
News flash: ObamaCare is still unpopular.
The idea that there are more black men in prison than college? Bunk. (via Instapundit)
Student suspended for brandishing gun, threatening to shoot someone. Oh wait, no, the student was suspended for tackling the gunman. What the hell, Florida?
Syrian rebels take city of Raqqa.
The MSM idea of objectivity: quoting a Paul Sadler employee as a neutral observer on Ted Cruz.
Speaking of Cruz, he continues to garner a superb list of enemies.
Cruz will also be the keynote speaker at CPAC.
Groupon’s gun-hating, money-losing CEO got fired.
Tags: Budget, Charles Krauthammer, CPAC, Crime, deficits, gun control, Mark Steyn, ObamaCare, Sequester, Syria, Ted Cruz, Texas
Posted in Budget, Crime, Democrats, Guns | No Comments »
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
OK. Thanksgiving break over.
I’ve come across a couple of blogs from the world of international conflict you may want to take a look at:
Brown Moses tracks developments in the Syrian civil War, with a special focus on the ordinance expended and captured there.
The Gun follows the more general word of international military arms, including transfer and use in combat.
Both are worth checking out.
Tags: Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, links, Military, Syria
Posted in Foreign Policy, Guns, Jihad, Military | No Comments »
Thursday, June 14th, 2012
“Egypt’s highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country’s interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority.”
Well, things are about to get very interesting indeed. Does the Muslim Brotherhood think it can take on the army in a full-blown civil war? I tend to doubt it, if only because potential sources of money and arms outside the country are somewhat preoccupied with the Syrian civil war right now (on both sides). On the other hand, this is as close to real power as the Muslim brotherhood has ever tasted; they may not want to give up without a fight.
The Guardian is providing live updates.
Tags: Egypt, Jihad, Muslim, Muslim Brotherhood, Syria
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
A bunch of news popping up, including some from the Middle East:
Here’s the actual Dewhurst denial of the Tony Podesta/Democratic fundraising story.
A left-wing Irish documentary maker sets out to make a documentary about the plight of the Palestinians, but gets waylayed by those annoying facts, and instead decides to tell both sides of the story. Guess what? His friends aren’t interested. “The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable.”
Israel and Hamas declare a ceasefire after four days of fighting. Honestly, maybe because I was traveling, or because I no longer feel the need to consult MSM news sources on a daily basis, I was actually unaware that there was slightly more violence than usual in the Middle East. The fact that Hamas cried uncle after a mere four days, despite the fact that Israel set it off by giving Hamas leader Zuhair al-Qaissi an express ticket to paradise, tells you that they must really have been getting their asses kicked by the IDF. Maybe Zuhair al-Qaissi really was important, or possibly Iran and Syria have had their hands too full to dole out the Qassam rockets with their customary generosity.
Speaking of Syria, Michael Totten talks to Andrew Tabler about what it’s like under the Assad regime in Syria, as covered in Tabler’s new book In the Lion’s Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle with Syria.
That whole “force Catholics to pay for contraception” deal? Turns out it’s not working out so well for Obama.
Eric Holder seems desperate to let illegal aliens vote.
Good evening, I’m Chevy Chase for Weekend Update. California is still screwed. So is New York. Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
Forget TVs and car radios: The hot item for thieves these days is bottles of Tide.
Tags: abortion, Border Controls, California, Crime, David Dewhurst, Eric Holder, Hamas, IDF, Israel, LinkSwarm, Michael Totten, New York, Syria, Texas, Tide, Tony Podesta
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Elections, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
Monday, January 30th, 2012
What the headlines says, although they were repulsed.
If President Hamlet was thinking about helping topple Assad, now would be a Real Good Time to jump off the fence.
Plus, unlike Libya and Egypt, not only would it be very hard for the next government to be worse than the current one. Plus it would be a blow to Iran and Hezbollah, and thus would dramatically improve the possibility of real peace and a stable government in Lebanon.
(Hat tip: Michael Totten)
Tags: Bashar Assad, Damascus, Foreign Policy, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Michael Totten, Middle East, Syria
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Still getting back up to speed after Christmas, so here are a few links that I’ve been squirreling away like nuts for winter:
Is Obama preparing for war with Iran? This interview with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta sure makes it sound that way…
If I’m reading these tea leaves correctly, Gary Johnson is about to give up running as a Republican and run as a Libertarian. Which is a shame, because the Republican Party needs more libertarians. But his campaign never caught fire. Alternately, he’s going to pull out and endorse Ron Paul, which his front page sort of hints at.
To clear the air on Ron Paul: He’s not an Anti-Semite, he just wishes Israel didn’t exist, and he’s not a homophobe, he just refuses to shake gay’s hands or use their bathrooms.
Amy Alkon gets a TSA agent patdown. And by “patdown” I mean “repeatedly stick their fingers in her vulva.”
Jill Stanek on Christopher Hitchens and abortion. And Hitchens’ own, fairly conflicted thoughts here.
The Zeta Drug cartel has built their own national radio system. Let’s hope that Eric Holder didn’t give them that as well. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
Rebel Syrians holding a sign slamming Obama and praising Bush. Real, or Photoshop? I try to have a healthy suspicion of things that fit too neatly into my worldview.
Additional hat tips to Insta and Ace.
Tags: abortion, Amy Alkon, Gary Johnson, Iran, Leon Panetta, Libertarians, LinkSwarm, Mexico, Ron Paul, Syria, TSA, Zeta Drug Cartel
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad, Regulation, Republicans | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 24th, 2011
“In a direct echo of previous events in Libya, France has formally recoginsed the opposition Syrian National Council and proposed that international troops should protect civilians.”
Meanwhile, those rebels are calling for international air strikes against the Assad regime.
It’s quite possible that the Assad regime could unravel much faster than Moammar Gadhafi’s regime in Libya did, since whole army units have already defected, and Assad is much more isolated from his country’s Sunni majority that Gadhafi was (at least ethnically) from his.
Tags: Bashar Assad, Foreign Policy, France, Libya, Middle East, Military, Moammar Gadhafi, Syria
Posted in Foreign Policy, Military | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
So it seems:
Alain Juppe, France’s foreign minister, has raised the possibility that western powers could intervene directly intervene [sic - LP] to protect civilians in Syria from the Assad regime.
He suggested that “humanitarian corridors or humanitarian zones” could be established to protect those under attack.
As the Assad regime presses ahead with its attacks on Syrian rebels, Mr Juppé has become the first senior western figure to raise the possibility of such an intervention. He said the issue would be discussed by European Union foreign ministers at a meeting next month.
Of course he goes on to say that “full scale military intervention by the west in Syria was not being considered.” But I remember hearing much the same thing about the intervention in Libya, and we all know how that turned out.
France’s sudden belligerence may seem out-of-character, but they’ve been pissed at Assad ever since he had Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri assassinated in 2005. France has a long history of ties with Lebanon, and the Hariri assassination was just the most overt act in Syria’s semi-successful attempt to turn Lebanon into a puppet state. I have no doubt that France would be happy to knock off Assad if they were sure they had NATO (or at least American and UK) backing and could be sure the job was done right.
In other news, UNSECO’s executive board unanimously elected Syria to a committee dealing with human rights—even though the U.S. has a representative on the committee. Must be more of that Obama Administration “smart diplomacy” we keep hearing about…
Tags: Bashar Assad, France, Lebanon, Military, Rafik Hariri, Syria, UN, UNESCO
Posted in Foreign Policy, Military | No Comments »
