Filed under: Free Speech, Freedom, Heartwarming, Humor, Media Bias, Politics, Progressives, Syria | Tags: Abu Bakr Baghdadi, U.S. Special Forces, Vicious Leader of ISIS
After President Trump announced the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, the Washington Post quickly came up with an unfortunate obituary. The Post’s headline for its obituary, apparently the second attempt was: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48. The Post is pretty political, but who would have believed they could come up with this gem? It has produced mockery across the internet. (They apparently had it better in the first place with “Islamic State’s terrorist-in-‘Chief”) Everybody that writes is out there re-writing obituaries for all the great villains of history.
David Burge: (Iowa Hawk) “Adolph Hitler, Austrian vegan activist and landscape painter dies at 56.
John Noonan: “Osama Bin Laden, spiritual leader and architect of lower Manhattan urban revitalization projects, dead at 54.”
Levi Gilbian: “Jeffrey Dahmer, amateur chef with a flair for exotic cuisine, dies at 34. #WaPoObits”
From his teens, he was fascinated with Islamic history and the intricacies of Islamic law. Acquaintances would remember him as a shy, nearsighted youth who liked soccer but preferred to spend his free time at the local mosque.
“He always had religious or other books attached on the back of his bike,” Tariq Hameed, an acquaintance from the same lower-middle-class neighborhood, told a Newsweek interviewer in 2014. The young Ibrahim disdained the Western clothes popular with Sammara young men, preferring the traditional prayer cap, beard and white dishdasha robe of the religiously devout, neighbors said.
He graduated from the University of Baghdad in 1996 and received a master’s degree in Koranic recitation from the Saddam University for Islamic Studies in 1999. Immersing himself in the arcane world of 7th-century religious codes, he grew increasingly conservative. Acquaintances remembered how the college-age Mr. Baghdadi took offense at the sight of men and women dancing in the same room during wedding celebrations.
Power Line noted that at approximately the same time when special forces were killing al-Baghdadi, Saturday Night Live was airing a sketch claiming that President Trump has been a boon to ISIS.
Sounds like most everybody got the mocking they deserved.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Election 2020, Free Markets, Free Speech, Freedom, Liberalism, Media Bias, Middle East, Politics, Progressives, Syria, The United States | Tags: Microsoft Updates!, The Democrat Debate
Sorry about that! Microsoft decided to add a formal update, and it did not go well. Needed things disappeared, unneeded things were added, nothing worked, and it took a full day to just become functional again. Beyond my level of expertise. Didn’t miss much.
Democrats remain certifiably crazy in their search for something with which to impeach the bad orange man. They were quite sure that anything and everything he did would be extremely bad, but the economy seems to be booming, wages are up significantly. Unemployment is at record lows. They were sure they really had him when when he took the troops out of Syria, and left the Kurds unprotected, but the President reminded Turkey’s dictator Erdogan that Turkey was being left alone without a single ally in the Middle East, and the Middle East is not a calm settled area of peace and tranquility, and Turkey may have gotten the message. We’ll see.
I remain deeply unimpressed with the lineup of Democrat candidates yearning to be president. Bernie Sanders had the burden of advanced age right off the bat, wondering when advanced age becomes too advanced, but adding a heart attack probably eliminates him. Elizabeth Warren has moved into the lead, but she misses a central fact about Americans. The freedom we celebrate makes it possible for anyone with a great idea to become rich. And Americans are doing so all the time. Elizabeth Warren seems to believe that no one should be allowed to become rich, and she will promptly take away their money to give to those who need it more. Can’t come up with a more un-American idea than that. Democrats want to buy your vote. Conservatives want to preserve the ability to become rich – because you have a good idea.
Democrats aren’t impressed with their own array of candidates. They keep pushing some other choice — Michelle Obama, Hillary again. Even Chelsea. Hillary may yet jump in. She remains obsessed with being the first woman president.
Filed under: Afghanistan, Asia, China, Democrat Corruption, Economics, Election 2016, Europe, European Union, Foreign Policy, Free Markets, Freedom, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Latin America, Media Bias, Mexico, Politics, Russia, Socialism, Syria, The Constitution, Venezuela, Vietnam | Tags: President Donld Trump, Pretty Darn Good, The State of the Union
Oh excellent, excellent and most excellent. President Trump gave his best speech yet. Democrats were all prepared to go on and on about his lying and bragging. Not going to work. He explained his accomplishments for the country, why they needed to be done, and how they are working. He explained his hopes for the country and for the world, and asked for their help in getting it done.
I saw Nancy Pelosi all in white, but it took a while to realize that all the Democrat women were in white, symbolizing something or other. I apparently missed the explanation. I thought they were imitating Cuba’s Women in White, with their usual lack of comprehension of Communism, but I understand that they were thinking of themselves as “suffragettes” who nobody remembers and have nothing to do with white clothes as far as I can remember. I’m female, but definitely not a feminist, and find them embarrassing. They seemed to have lot of trouble figuring out when to stand and when to sit, when to smile and when to scowl. Speaker Pelosi seemed to have big chunk of lemon in her cheek which she bit down on in the more stressful moments. (The cheering, the shouts of USA, USA!)
Chuck Schumer said that Stacey Abrams was a wonderful speaker, so I was interested but completely unfamiliar with her. I guess nobody checked on what she was going to say. Yea Unions! Boo depriving the people of their votes? Huh? Nice family stories, but utterly ill-informed about what is happening in the United States, except for Democrat propaganda. Little children in cages and all that. Seems like a nice lady. She tried to make a big deal out of the government shutdown, which was an inconvenience, but ruined no one’s life. I’m afraid that she was chosen as the first African-American woman to give the response to a State of the Union speech. Democrats think like that. The actuality of what is said isn’t that important.
Really funny to listen to the media’s comments pre-speech. Senator Schumer’s anticipatory comments were an absolute disgrace. He should be ashamed. There is really no place for that. Schumer has been in Congress since 1981. The venom of the Left knows no bounds.
Filed under: Democrat Corruption, Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Law, Middle East, National Security, Politics, Syria, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Leftists Scadalized, Trump's Travel Ban, Usual Outcry "Racist" Etc.
On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13769 which banned travel from seven countries, largely Muslim in population, that supported terrorism. Well! Huge Liberal outcry. He Can’t Do That! Lawsuits,! Liberal judges said no. Trump accused of racism, cruelty, etc., etc. Ninth Circuit judges said there is no evidence showing a risk to the United States in allowing aliens from these seven terror-associated countries to come in. Case went to Supreme Court. June 26, Supreme Court upholds ban. You probably remember all of this. It was very noisy. But eventually we find out what it was all about.
Jessica Vaughn from the Center for Immigration Studies (cis.org) reported on a review of information compiled by a Senate committee in 2016 reveals that 72 individuals from the seven countries covered in President Trump’s vetting order have been convicted in terror cases since the 9/11 attacks. These facts stand is stark contrast to the assertions by the Ninth circuit judges who blocked the president’s order on the basis that there was no evidence.
In June 2016 the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, then chaired by now Attorney General Jeff Sessions, released a report on individuals convicted in terror cases since 9/11. The Obama administration refused to provide government records, so this came from open sources. The report found that 380 our of 500 people convicted in terror cases were foreign born.
The CIS center has obtained a copy of the information compiled by the Senate subcommittee. The report contains names of offenders, dates of conviction, terror group affiliation, federal criminal charges, sentence imposed, state of residence and immigration history. 72 of the individuals named in the Senate report, country of origin was one of the seven countries included in the vetting order.
• Somalia: 20 • Yemen: 18 • Iraq: 19 • Syria: 7 • Iran: 4 • Libya: 2 • Sudan 1
•Total 72
These immigrant terrorists lived in at least 16 different states, with the largest number from the terror-associated countries living in New York (10), Minnesota (8), California (8), and Michigan (6). Ironically, Minnesota was one of the states suing to block Trump’s order to pause entries from the terror-associated countries, claiming it harmed the state. At least two of the terrorists were living in Washington, which joined with Minnesota in the lawsuit to block the order.
Thirty-three of the 72 individuals from the seven terror-associated countries were convicted of very serious terror-related crimes, and were sentenced to at least three years imprisonment. The crimes included use of a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit a terror act, material support of a terrorist or terror group, international money laundering conspiracy, possession of explosives or missiles, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
It’s the usual story. Big outcry from the Left. Liberals don’t know what they are talking about, they just object. When they are proven wrong, or make big mistakes, it just all vanishes down the memory hole.
Filed under: Canada, Politics, Regulation, Syria, Terrorism | Tags: Canada, ISIS Fighters, Welcome Home
The question was asked by a Canadian, who suggested that Prime Minister Trudeau was trying to be the most politically correct leader ever.
Canada is accepting back those Canadians who have gone to the Middle East to fight with ISIS. One might want to ask Mr. Trudeau about that one too. Having them just across the Northern Border is somewhat disturbing. I cannot fathom what would make anyone want to go “fight with ISIS.” Strange.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Foreign Policy, Iran, Islam, Israel, National Security, Syria, The United States, United Nations | Tags: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Secret Files From Iran, They Lied Extensively
Not a Monday like most Mondays. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced to the world that Iran and Iran’s Mullahs and Presidents and spokesmen have all been lying about nuclear weapons, and their supposed rejection of any interest in nuclear weapons or a nuclear weapons program, lying through their teeth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled to the international community a cache of 100,000 secret files he said were obtained from inside a hidden Iranian site that clearly demonstrate that Tehran maintained a secret nuclear weapons program despite continuing declarations to the contrary.
Netanyahu explained that Iran was, from the beginning, deceptive in their descriptions of their previous nuclear work. After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran’s leaders repeatedly denied ever pursuing nuclear weapons, Netanyahu said. “Tonight I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.”
After they signed the nuclear deal, they intensified the effort to hide their secret files. In 2017 Iran moved its nuclear weapons files to a highly secret location in Tehran. Netanyahu said the secret files prove the following:
Iran lied about never having a secret nuclear program. Second, even after the deal it continued to expand its nuclear program for future use. Third, Iran lied by not coming clean to the IAEA. Finally, the nuclear deal is based on lies based on Iranian deception.
The prime minister’s speech was based on 55,000 pages of documents and 183 CDs that were smuggled out of an “atomic archive” painstakingly preserving Iran’s secretive nuclear program so that the country would have the option of restarting the program after the nuclear deal ends or in the case of Tehran dumping the agreement. Israel’s ability to acquire the archive marks a massive coup for the Jewish state.
It contains “incriminating documents, incriminating charts, incriminating presentations, incriminating blueprints, incriminating photos, incriminating videos and more.” Israel has shared the material with the U.S. and “the United States can vouch for its authenticity.”
The Plan, called Project Amad, aimed to design, produce and test five warheads, each with a 10 kiloton TNT yield, for integration on a missile. “That is like five Hiroshima bombs to be put on ballistic missiles.”
Netanyahu called on President Donald Trump to do the right thing for the United States, the right thing for Israel, and the right thing for the peace of the world. The May 12 deadline to recertify the nuclear agreement approaches.
Deafening silence from the usual suspects: John Kerry, Ben Rhodes, Samantha Powers, and former president Barack Obama. Here’s a collection of Ben Rhodes’ Tweets on Iran that got absolutely everything wrong. But there’s no pleasure in proving that they were way too gullible. We tried to tell them so, but they wanted to believe.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Democrat Corruption, Intelligence, Iraq, Military, National Security, News, Regulation, Syria, The United States | Tags: Change In Rules of Engagement, Ending Micromanagement, ISIS Dramatically Reduced
ISIS has lost 98 percent of the territory is once held. The so-called Caliphate has been dramatically reduced. The big gains come after years of micromanaging of the war, and the rejection of a more aggressive strategy that could have shortened the conflict. Obama was very concerned that he might be blamed for civilian deaths, and his rules of engagement were onerous. Individual target determination was being done in the White House, which added weeks and weeks of time. The limitations actually resulted in greater civilian casualties according to retired Air Force Lt. General David Deptula, the former head of U.S. Air Force Intelligence.
The latest American intelligence assessment says there are fewer than 1,000 ISIS fighters remaining in Iraq and Syria—down from a peak of nearly 45,000 just two years ago.
U.S. officials credit nearly 30,000 U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and regional partners on the ground for killing more than 70,000 jihadists. Meanwhile, only a few thousand have returned home.
The remaining ISIS strongholds are concentrated in a small area along the border of Syria and Iraq. ISIS, at one point, controlled an area the size of Ohio.
While ISIS has been largely defeated, it continues to call on followers around the world to conduct terror attacks during the holidays with a new message sprouting up on Tuesday, and a suicide attack in Kabul on Christmas with ISIS claiming responsibility. It’s part of the terror group’s effort to expand influence into Africa and Afghanistan. The U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition warned late last week not to expect a complete defeat anytime soon.
The remaining ISIS strongholds are concentrated on the border between Iraq and Syria. ISIS once controlled an area the size of Ohio. They are continuing to call on followers around the world to conduct terror attacks during the holidays. Deptula said the fight with ISIS could have ended much sooner if President Obama had given his commanders in the field more authority. “He micromanaged the war.” Deptula said. “We could have accomplished our objectives through overwhelming air poser in three months, not in three years.”
Al- Qaeda has apparently reappeared in Syria according to Joshua Geltzer , a visiting professor at Georgetown Law School, and author of “U.S. Counter-Terrorism Strategy and al-Qaeda: Signalling and the Terrorist World-View.” The center for al-Qaeda now seems to be in Syria, not Afghanistan. There is progress, but the threat of terrorism is still intact.
ADDENDUM: John Hinderaker reports at Powerline that Radio Farda is reporting that demonstrations have broken out across Iran, “against high unemployment, a stagnant economy with inflationary prices and expensive overseas military interventions are spreading unpredictably fast in several cities.”
On Friday, protests spread to Kermanshah in the west, Tehran, Esfahan in central Iran, Rasht in the north, Ahvaz in the southwest and even Qom, the religious capital of Shiite clergy in Iran.
Some of the protesters, at least, chanted for a return of “Reza Shah,” the dynasty that was overthrown by the mullahs in 1979.
Filed under: Immigration, Iran, Iraq, Law, National Security, News, north Korea, Syria, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Stay on Travel Ban, Supreme Court, Trump administration
The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration a major victory today. They stayed the orders of two lower courts that blocked enforcement of the president’s revised travel ban. This means that travel from the affected countries can be banned or limited, while the courts continue to process appeals in the two cases.
When a court requests preliminary relief like those at issue here, a key part is the court’s assessment of which party is likely to ultimately prevail. The Court’s two orders today suggest that a solid majority of the Court thinks the travel ban will be valid and enforceable.
Remember that the ban was only on those nations that have produced a significant number of jihadists or terrorists. It was not a ban, as has been claimed by the left a blanket ban on all Muslim nations and an attack on a religion.
Filed under: Bureaucracy, Crime, Iraq, Middle East, National Security, Syria, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: ISIS Surrenders, Northern Iraq, Raqqa
Yesterday, off in corners of the internet which was all a-flame with the latest accusers of Harvey Weinstein, there was brief mention of the defeat of of ISIS in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija — one of its last strongholds in Iraq. Around 1,000 militants surrendered among signs that the terrorist group is falling apart and unable to defend its territory.
“They’re giving up,” said Lt. Gen. Paul Funk, who commands the coalition task force fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. “Their leaders are abandoning them.”
The fall of Hawija in northern Iraq, after two weeks of fighting, is the latest in a string of defeats for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and suggests the rank-and-file fighters are demoralized as the group struggles to defend what remains of the territory it seized in 2014.
Hawija had been held by about 1,000 militants. As long as they held Hawija they could threaten Kirkuk, a major city east of the town. Coalition airstrikes have been ramping up attacks on the strongholds left in Iraq. Iraqi forces have been built up with help of U.S. arms and equipment, but the decision on when to launch ground operations is made by the Iraqi government.
In July, Iraq announced that Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, was retaken from ISIS after about nine months of intense fighting. Since that decisive battle, the pace of the Islamic State’s decline seems to have quickened.
U.S.-backed forces in Syria have recaptured about three-quarters of Raqqa, the ISIS headquarters, after about four months of fighting in the city.
ISIS reputation for the willingness to fight to the last man and never surrender seems to be gone. Surrendering forces came out with their hands up, saying their leaders have abandoned them. They haven’t been fed and haven’t been paid. Last week the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released an audio demanding his fighters to continue the battle, but they don’t seem to be paying attention.
The fall of Harvey Weinstein may be just as important as the fall of Hawija, but was anyone surprised? Hollywood has long been known as a cesspool. His disgusting trail of victims may be long, but ISIS has been trying to terrorize the world into submission. Beheadings and placing victims in iron cages to drown or burn to death didn’t seem to be a way to entice people to accept Islam. But that is in the far away Middle East, and Weinstein and kneeling football millionaires are here and local.
I don’t know that anyone, at this point, expects the media to act responsibly.
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Foreign Policy, History, National Security, Russia, Syria, The United States | Tags: Stephen Cohen PhD, Trump and Putin, Tucker Carlson
This is turning out to be a very interesting day, as we digest the news from Poland and the Hamburg G20 meeting.
Stephen F. Cohen PhD is an American scholar and emeritus professor of Russian studies at Princeton and New York University. He is 78, an unabashed liberal, a contributing editor to the far left The Nation where his wife Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor. Dr Cohen appeared on the Tucker Carlson show:
Tucker Carlson: Professor, the first thing you notice is just how much the press is rooting for this meeting between our president and the Russian president to fail. Why would they want it to fail?
Stephen Cohen: It’s a kind of pornography. Just as there is no love in pornography, there is no national interest in this bashing of Trump and Putin. As a historian, let me tell you the headline I would write instead, about what we witnessed today in Hamburg. “Potentially New Historic Detente Anti-Cold War Partnership Begun by Trump and Putin but Meanwhile Attempts to Sabotage It Escalate.”
You said I was an expert. I actually do have one expertise. I’ve seen a lot of summits, as we call meetings between American and Russian presidents. I was present at some, and even participated in the first George Bush’s summit preparation. When he met with Gorbachev, he invited me to Camp David to debate before his team.
In that context, I think what we saw today was potentially the most fateful meeting between an American and Russian president since the war time [WW II]. The reason is, is that the relationship with Russia is so dangerous and yet we have a president who might have been crippled or cowed by these Russiagate attacks on him, and yet he was not. He was, I think, politically courageous. It went well. They did important things. And this will be astonishing to be said, I know, but I think maybe today we witnessed President Trump emerging as an American statesman. I think it was a very good day for everybody.
Do read the whole thing. Just as most of the left is demonstrating just how far gone they are in political insanity, an informed voice of reason emerges. How welcome an actual conversation is, and how troubling the excess of the left that has left Steve Scalise back in intensive care.
Filed under: Foreign Policy, Iraq, Islam, National Security, Syria, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Defeating ISIS, Mosul and Raqqa, The War in Iraq
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al Abadi said that ISIS is close to defeat in Mosul and close to being driven out of Iraq, after Iraq’s military seized a mosque in the city were the extremist group’s leader first proclaimed a caliphate. Col. Ryan Dillon, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S. led coalition said that the fighting should be over in a matter of days, and then it would take time to clear the area of Islamic State holdouts. Progress has been steady, but there is still tough fighting ahead.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters that the flow of foreign fighters to the Islamic State that had peaked at about 1,500 volunteers per month has declined to fewer than 100.
More than 60 countries have been contributing to an INTERPOL database information about citizens known to have fought for ISIS. McGurk said the list is up to 14,000 names “and continues to grow.”
Defense Secretary James Mattis said the U.S. is going to focus on killing remaining foreign fighters in the Islamic State. “Because the foreign fighters are the strategic threat should they return home to Tunis, to Kuala Lumpur, to Paris, to Detroit, wherever. Those foreign fighters are a threat,” he said. “So by taking the time to deconflict, to surround and then attack, we carry out the annihilation campaign so we don’t simply transplant this problem from one location to another.”
More can be found here.
As we turn our attention to the Fourth of July and fireworks, picnics and barbecues, we do need to remember that some Americans under arms are still fighting to free us from ISIS and it’s terrorism.
Filed under: Foreign Policy, Humor, Immigration, Media Bias, Middle East, News, Syria, Terrorism | Tags: Chris Matthews, Democrat Hypocrisy, MSNBC
More jottings from my notebook:
No date, but the conversation makes the time element fairly clear. This is Chris Matthews at MSNBC explaining partisanship to the uninitiated.
Before I get started today I want to express how grateful I am for the awe-inspiring leadership of my president. Syria is a bloodbath, Iraq is in the hands of terrorists, Israel is on the verge of war with the Palestinians, and Russian troops are in Ukraine. On top of that we’ve got the Benghazi, IRS, NSA, and VA scandals and our Southern border is rife with diseased children, gang members and Middle Eastern terrorists donning sombreros. All these problems that were created by the Bush administration would have crippled the most stoic of leaders. Yet, last night I saw a news video of President Obama laughing and enjoying himself in Denver as he ate Pizza, drank beer and played billiards. Our president is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but you’d never know it by looking at him. Today he’s headed to the golf course before attending three different fundraisers. Tomorrow he’s shooting a game of hoops with LeBron James and Barbara Streisand before hosting a $45,000 a seat fundraiser at Steven Spielberg’s East Hampton. Calm, cool and self-assured folks. Those are the characteristics of a leader.
You can probably guess why I copied this down. It was hard writing because I couldn’t stop giggling. It’s all so innocent.
American Elephants 