Russians To Ship Assad Mig Jet Fighters

The Russians are announcing that they plan to supply the Assad regime with 10 Mig 29 fighter planes.

If they're delivered, you can also assume some Russian pilots will go with them, since the Syrians are, shall we say, perhaps not a good match for this type of relatively sophisticated equipment:

On Friday, journalist Ali Branstien reported in Hebrew daily Ma'ariv that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted in his meeting earlier this month with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Israel will prevent the Assad regime of making the S-300 missiles operational.

The paper reported the Russians were "shocked" from the prime minister's "boldness." Sources that were briefed on the meeting told Ma'ariv that Putin had "understood exactly what Netanyahu meant," and that "it came as no surprise to Moscow" when National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror warned European diplomats Israel might take such an action

The idea here is obviously to prevent any implementation of a no fly zone by President Obama, and as a side benefit to try and prevent any further attacks by Israel on weapons transfers from Syria to Hezbollah.

I actually think the Russians might end up thinking twice about this. They've had their pilots come up against the IDF before, in 1973, in 1982 and in 2001 and the results were pretty bad for them each time.

The Latest LATMA - Cutting Edge Israeli Satire!!

This week, Europe responds to its random violence and Shimon's World of Fun!

Official US Embassy Warning: Stay Away From Egypt

 

The American Embassy in Egypt is cautioning Americans from visiting the country, even the famed Pyramids.

A academic teaching at the American University in Cairo received an email from the embassy warning of “aggressiveness [that] in some cases is closer to criminal conduct… with angry groups of individuals surrounding and pounding on [vehicles]… and in some cases attempting to open the vehicle’s doors.” The warning lined up with the professor’s observations:

So, it’s not like I’m easily scared by anything that happens at the Pyramids, that repository for all of Egypt’s most villainous swindlers (every nation has some). But in recent months it has become almost unbearable. It feels almost like an openly criminal environment now. The problem is not only “lack of visible security,” but in some cases the security are either working with the vendors on their scams, or are sexually harassing female foreigners quite openly, even those who are obviously accompanied by their husbands. In short, if you visit Egypt in the near future, don’t even think of going to the Pyramids unless you’re on a large organized bus tour. Anything else is a big risk, for now.

The Pyramids won't be an issue for too much longer anyway. There's a large consensus of opinion within the Islamist regime in power that wants them destroyed as idolatry and 'un-Islamic' structures.

On the same day the Embassy's warning was issued, a report came out documenting numerous attacks on journalists, mainly by thugs employed by the Muslim Brotherhood regime.

In the new Islamist Egypt, the economy is in the toilet, prices on food and other staples
are rising rapidly because of hoarding and inflation, black outs are common because of energy shortages and foreign investment is almost non-existent.The economy is on life support.

Well, with one exception. This Egyptian industry still brings in money.

It's anyone's guess where this ends up going.

IRS Ignores Senate Deadline to Answer Questions About Targeting Scandal

Ah well.

The Internal Revenue Service has cavalierly ignored a deadline from the Senate Finance Committee to answer detailed questions about the IRS scandal. The questions had been submitted jointly nearly two weeks ago by Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

Imagine what would happen to you if you didn't keep an appointment with the IRS for an audit!

Perhaps the IRS was busy burning files, deleting e-mails and making some phone call records and meeting minutes go away.

The original letter and those inconvenient questions can be found here.

Dutch School Drops Plan For Holocaust Memorial Because of Muslim Unrest

 

The Paul Kruger High School in The Hague, Netherlands, has an interesting history.

Before WWII, the building was the site of the Joodsch Lyceum, a Jewish high school.After the Nazis came, it became a Christian school and a refuge during the Holocaust for Jewish children forced to leave their other schools because of Nazi persecution.

The school had made plans to put up a memorial plaque for Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust, something that would have been a no brainer 15 years or so ago. But things have changed.

Last week, the Dutch De Telegraaf daily reported that the school was forced to drop the plan because of fears of the reaction a Holocaust plaque would cause from some members of Schilderswijk’s sizable Muslim population. A sign advertising a Holocaust commemoration event and a retrospect of the school’s Jewish history at the school also had to be placed inside the building for the same reason, according to what Anat Harel, a co-organizer of the event told De Telegraaf.

According to one of the teachers, Muslims living in the neighborhood argued that memorial would be unacceptable and threatened to deface it if it was erected.

The school, of course was anxious to defuse the tension. Gerard Brasjen, a spokesman for the Paul Kruger School, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Christian-affiliated school’s board decided not to go ahead with the memorial “not because of the Jewish-Muslim issue but because it may not be wise in the neighborhood, which is not a peaceful place.”

I'm hardly surprised at that assessment. Earlier this month, Schilderswijk became national news after Die Trouw Dutch newspaper reported that part of the neighborhood had become a “Sharia triangle”, a no go area that police only enter in large armed bands.

California's Jihad Against The 2nd Amendment Continues - On Steroids

 

California's Democrat dominated legislature is continuing its steady progress towards eventual confiscation with scads of new anti-Second Amendment legislation.

The state's laws are already the most anti-gun ownership in the country, but you ain't seen nothin' yet, as the saying goes.

Under a bill passed by the Senate, Californians who want to buy ammunition would have to submit personal information and a $50 fee for a background check by the state. Then the state Department of Justice would determine whether buyers have a criminal record, severe mental illness or a restraining order that would disqualify them from owning guns.

I wonder if being a registered Republican, voicing 'unpopular opinions' or an affiliation with certain conservative groups will be classified by Democrat appointees in the state Department of Justice as 'mental illness'?

The Senate also passed a bill that would outlaw the sale, purchase and manufacture in California of semiautomatic rifles that can accommodate detachable magazines.

For those of you whom actually know anything about firearms, all rifles are semi-auto unless we're talking about bolt action single shots or black powder rifles.And there are plenty of rifles used in ordinary hunting and target shooting that use box type detachable magazines of anywhere from 3 shots and up. This bill affects all of them.

The measure, SB 374 by Leftist loon Darrell Steinberg(D-Sacramento), also would require anyone who presently owns a weapon of this kind to register them with the state.For a hefty additional fee, of course. The idea is to pass a subsequent bill prohibiting the transfer of these weapons to friends and family, so that eventually they'll disappear through attrition except in the hands of criminals.

The Assembly joined the anti-gun action by passing AB 48, authored by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, Democrat from Berkeley, (of course) to require the state Department of Justice to notify local law enforcement agencies when someone buys more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition and to ban kits that convert magazines to carry more than 10 rounds. There 's a similar bill making the rounds in the state assembly would ban gun ownership for anyone who conveys a serious threat of violence to a licensed psychotherapist...and would require that therapist to make a subjective judgement on whether to violate Doctor patient confidentiality to report it, or be subject to liability.

The state senate and assembly bills will pretty much guarantee that a lot of people who might benefit from therapy, like vets with post traumatic stress aren't going to seek it for fear of having their rights taken away. The prohibitive fees on ammo and gun ownership will likewise affect the ability of working families to defend themselves and their proerty, and will also disproportionally affect blacks and Latinos. It will also impact single women living alone,unless they're rich enough to afford private protection.

There's absolutely no doubt that these measures will pass both houses of the legislature and be signed into law by Governor Brown.

This is unscientific, but a Los Angeles Times straw poll on whether these measure should become law has 12,655 no votes ( 94%) as opposed to 531 yes votes (6%) as of this morning.

There may very well be legal challenges, as there were in Chicago and Washington DC, but they take time and in the interim Californians will live with laws designed to disarm them and make them defenseless.

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week''s Watcher's Council Results

 

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

"What does it matter? " - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

 

This week's winner, Joshuapundit's Midnight In Benghazi - What Really Happened    deals with the who, what and most especially the why of what happened in Benghazi.And especially, why it matters more than many Americans perhaps realize. It was a piece I worked on for quite some time as information trickled in from various sources.  Here's a slice:

The recent Benghazi hearings before the House Oversight Committee were extremely valuable in that America (or at least that part of America that was paying attention) heard three courageous whistle blowers testify as to the events on the ground as they happened. Even if it merely confirmed what a lot of us knew beforehand,it had value that these unimpeachable witnesses confirmed it. And also let the nation know the kind of pressure they were subjected to by the State Department and the Obama Administration to keep their mouths shut.

It's been said that the problem with Benghazi is that the whole affair is now so convoluted that the average person has trouble following all the threads. There's some truth in that, and the lack of dinosaur media coverage that would have been wall to wall if this were a Republican administration involved has aided and abetted that confusion. The one most honorable exception has been Sharyl Attkisson at CBS, and her honesty and conviction is likely to cost Ms.Attkisson her job, because she's been a little too good at it.

Perhaps what's really needed is a short summary that tells exactly what happened in Benghazi, to make it easier to follow.

What happened is that an American ambassador, Chris Stevens was stationed in the Benghazi consulate for some unknown reason, even though the British and the International Red Cross had already pulled their people out because it was too dangerous. The consulate was left without adequate security, even though Ambassador Stevens begged for it. On September 11th, 2012, that consulate was attacked by al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood forces armed with heavy weapons from Libyan government arsenals that the attackers obtained thanks to American aid in overthrowing Libyan dictator Moamar Khaddaffi. Four Americans died in the attacks, which were spread over nine hours. Even though there were ample security resources on the ground who could possibly have saved those four dead Americans, someone gave them the order to stand down. Instead, carefully edited talking points were concocted by the Obama Administration and an entire narrative was fed to the nation via a cooperative media that the attacks were a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video, and that nothing could have been done to save the ambassador and the others whom were murdered.

The Obama Administration deliberately lied about what happened and has been trying to cover that up ever since.

That's essentially the basic summary of what happened. Or for those of you whom need a slogan to chant , here's an even simpler one:

"Obama Slept and Hillary Lied
About how four Americans died"

The media is still very much involved in trying to bury this. Here's the amazing testimony of Greg Hicks, a career diplomat and Ambassador Chris Steven's Deputy. This is probably the biggest national scandal since Watergate, yet wasn't carried on any major news outlet in full except FOX:



Among other things, Greg Hicks revealed that he called Hillary Clinton at 8PM EST that night to tell her that the consulate was under attack by al-Qaeda terrorists and that Ambassador Stevens was now missing.He called again at 9PM after he received a call from the then–Libyan prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, informing him that Ansar al-Sharia had brought Stevens' mutilated body into a hospital and that the ambassador was dead. was dead. Hicks immediately called Washington. 
Secretary Clinton wasn't available..just not taking calls. And not only didn't she call Hicks back that evening, but she didn't bother getting in touch with him the following day. And President Obama? He dropped out very early in the proceedings, after he was briefed 5 PM EST by Leon Panetta. He had a campaign fundraiser to attend and decided to go to bed early.

It's important to remember the time frame here. The attack was spread over nine hours, and no one in Washington knew how long it was going to last. We're not talking about a game of basketball here, where the clock runs for a certain period and the action stops.The Obama Administration made a conscious decision not to get involved, so the nonsense peddled  about  'not having security assets who could get there in time' is a despicable lie.

As Hicks testified and others have confirmed, Lieutenant Colonel Gibson had a special forces team in Tripoli that twice suited up to go to Benghazi to rescue the Americans under siege and twice got stand down orders. Meanwhile, back in Benghazi, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty held off the numerically superior jihadis for hours virtually alone before dying on a rooftop while waiting for back-up that never came.

Again, this is not some DC-based functionary. This is Ambassadors Stevens' deputy, his second in command, the man who took over the Libya station after Ambassador Stevens was murdered before he was demoted for not keeping his mouth suitably shut. And he says his jaw literally dropped when he heard Hillary and Susan Rice blaming this on a video.

No one should be under the assumption that this ends with Secretary Clinton either. One of President Obama's first acts as president was to remove the post of UN Ambassador from the authority of the Secretary of State and to make it a full cabinet post under his direct orders that reported to him.So if Ambassador Susan Rice was making the rounds of the Sunday shows lying about how the attack on our embassy was caused by an obscure video, she was not doing it without President Obama's full knowledge and consent.And someone gave the orders to our military not to go in. That ordinarily would be a presidential prerogative - unless President Obama was AWOL again.

 One of the most despicable scenes in American history was played out at the funerals of the murdered men, where the president and Mrs. Clinton acted as though 'Chris' was their best friend. This was the same woman who lied repeatedly about 'Chris's' death, who denied she'd received cables from him desperately asking for more security and even had the heartlessness to lie to the the Woods family about how Tyrone Woods died, telling them at the funeral that “we’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted that did the video.'

Okay, that's the what, at least so far. Some aspects of 'who' are still in the process of being discovered. So let's get to the far more important question, 'why'.

To find out the all important why, read the rest.It's the key to understanding the whole thing.

In our Non-Council  category, the prize was carried off  by Mark Steyn for To The Slaughter submitted by Joshuapundit. It is Steyn's essay on the murder and beheading  of a serving British soldier in Woolwich in broad daylight last week and what it says about what the UK and about the West. Do read it.

I would like to remind our readers that there is a vacancy currently available in the Watcher's Council. This is a very special group and a superb opportunity for a blogger to reach a wider audience and showcase their work. If you think you qualify and are interested in applying, leave a comment with a link to your site, your e-mail address (which will remain confidential) and any questions you might have as a comment on any article over at Joshuapundit.


OK,  here are this week’s full results. Only Gay Patriot was unable to vote this week and only he was affected by  the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 5 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit –Midnight In Benghazi - What Really Happened
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet - How the Liberal Media Would Report #Benghazi If George Bush Were President
• Second place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – VA Right!-Can We Just Let the Syrians and Allah Sort This Out Themselves?
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room- Iran Deploys Long-Range Missile Launchers -– The Hawk is Set to Take Flight
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room- Sweden fiddles while Stockholm burns
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- Conversations I Almost Had Today
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor-Electronic Health Records: The $6 Billion Cure For Bad Penmanship
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey –  Entitlement
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye –Memorial Day 2013
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Political Commentator –Divorce decree for the United States of America!  

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Mark Steyn -To The Slaughter   submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Sultan Knish –The Warrior's Tale   submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – James Taranto/WSJ –See You in the Funny Papers      submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes -The Weekly Standard-Progressives With Bombs submitted by The Right Planet
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes - Douglas Murray/WSJ -The London Terror Attack Was More Than 'Unforgivable' submitted by The Watcher
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - The Passing Parade –The tenacity of Democrats, or yogurting for fun and profit    submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -David Gerstman/ Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion -Thomas Friedman on Obamacare: It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day   
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -NRO/Andrew Stiles – IRS Scandal: E-mails Suggest Findings of IG Report Delayed Until After 2012 Election submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Weekly Standard – Beyond the Pale    submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ Media/Zombie –Karl Marx Was A Tea Partier    submitted by Bookworm Room
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -FrontPage Magazine –A Memorial Day for Islamic Terror   submitted by The Political Commentator
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ Tatler –PJ Tatler Report: 20% of Ohio’s Registered Voters are Bogus   submitted by VA Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ O'Rourke – Stupid   submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!

Tommy Robinson Of The EDL Interviewed On The BBC

EDL Leader Tommy Robinson is interviewed by a hostile and condescending reporter on Three Counties BBC Radio. And acquits himself rather well!

You have to love the way the callers were 'screened' by the host..someone who was waiting on hold who claims he used to belong to th eEDL but left because of 'racism' who didn't know the first thing about the group and was rendered speechless, and a violently angry Muslim... but again Tommy kept his cool and did quite well.

UK: Muslim Thug Sucker Punches Elderly Woman In The Face At EDL rally

Of course, it was Islamophobic for her to get in the way of his fist.

But then, he's probably more used to dealing with Muslim women in this sharia approved multi-cultural way.

Notice how the police quickly run to protect him rather than the injured woman or the other demonstrators?

Meanwhile, the British police are guarding hate preacher Anjem Choudary around the clock after a number of people expressed anger at  his remarks blaming the hacking and beheading of a serving British soldier in Woolwich on British PM Cameron's 'crusade' for 'turning young Muslims to terror'.

Meanwhile the EDL Tommy Robinson's police protection in spite of numerous threats by Muslims on his life consists  of - nothing.

McCain Says We Can Identify The 'Good Guys' In Syria, After He Unwittingly Meets With Jihadi Terrorists

This would be hysterically funny if it wasn't for the fact that Senator McCain is pushing for us to supply US funds, arms and even boots on the ground to support an al-Qaeda and Islamist takeover of Syria. Senator John McCain claim's that we can identify who the jihadis are, except...while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi’ite pilgrims…:

“A number of the Syrians who greeted Senator McCain upon his arrival in Syria asked to take pictures with him, and as always, the Senator complied,” Rogers said. “If the individual photographed with Senator McCain is in fact Mohamed Nour, that is regrettable. But it would be ludicrous to suggest that the Senator in any way condones the kidnapping of Lebanese Shia pilgrims or has any communication with those responsible. Senator McCain condemns such heinous actions in the strongest possible terms,” Rogers said.

Well, yes. But the point is that he wants us to spend American blood and treasure to support replacing a Shi'ite theocracy's client state with an Islamist, salafist dictatorship and even Senator McCain, who claims to be well informed is clueless when it comes to telling who's 'moderate' and who isn't.

The arguments he makes above for an American intervention are ludicrous.

At 2:40, he says that we can “handle this". In other words, we ought to get involved regardless of whether it makes sense or not, but just to show we can. If Russian missiles shoot down out planes, then what? And if we send in the 1,800 American Marines based on Jordan's border with Syria in to fight Hezbollah, Assad's troop and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, is Senator John McCain going to guarantee that they don't go in handcuffed by the same ridiculous Rules of Engagement they're saddled with if Afghanistan that's gotten so many of them killed and maimed?

With this particular Islamist friendly commander-in-chief in the White House?

McCain has been sitting in the Senate while Christians have been ethnically cleansed from Iraq and hasn't said word one about it to my knowledge, let alone trying to do anything about it. Ditto with what's going on with the Copts in Egypt. Does he have any bold plan to stop the ethnic cleansing and massacre of Alawites, Druse and Christians in Syria when his Jihadi friends take over? Is it really worth us fighting a war to add another piece to the emerging Islamist caliphate? As bad as the status quo is, how does it help our interests to spend blood and treasure to change it? It doesn't, not in the least.

McCain is even more farcical when he tries to talk knowledgeably about how we can 'weed out' jihadis from the rebels. He says there are only 7,000 fighters in the openly al-Qaeda faction al-Nousrah (more like 10,000 according to my sources) and that we can avoid the arms and money falling into their hands. How, exactly? If you give an anti-tank weapon to someone, what guarantee do you have he won't sell it or transfer it? None whatsoever in those conditions. Has he not been paying attention to what's going on in AfPak?

Also, he seems to forget that the vast majority of the fighters actively involved are jihadis and Islamists even if they’re not in al-Nusra. Even Libyan arms dealers selling off the arms they got from Khaddaffi's armories thanks to President Obama's intervention couldn't care less about the distinction:

[F]irst, the Libyans wanted to know who the Syrians were exactly and which rebel group each represented. There was a representative from Jund-Allah (Soldiers of God), which operates in and around the capital Damascus; a commander from Ansar al-din (Supporters of the Faith) in Lattakia province; and most significantly a man who is one of the seven members of the political office of Jabhat Syria il-Islamiya (the Syrian Islamic Front), one of the country’s largest, most cohesive and strongest Islamist militant coalitions, led by the Salafi Ahrar al-Sham Brigades. (The extremist al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra is not part of this alliance.) Coffee was ordered — Turkish coffee for the Syrians and cappuccinos for the Libyans. The Libyan from Zintan, wearing faded black jeans, a cream-colored shirt stretched taut across his waist and a gray sports jacket, did most of the talking. He fingered black worry beads, while his colleague from Benghazi listened. His first question was about whether the men around him recognized the FSA and its 14 provincial military councils. All said they did not. “Their commanders are failures, they are corrupt,” the Syrian from Ansar al-Din said. “There is not even one battalion, in all honesty, that they can control,” the Islamic Front representative said. “These people [senior defectors in the FSA like the one the Libyans had met the night before] were placed as facades, in the beginning, as media personalities, but as real commanders on the ground? Not at all.”

The Free Syrian Army, which is also dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood is commanded by General Idris, who McCain met with in Syria a few days ago and who he’s pushing as some kind of moderate 'freedom fighter'. In reality, the FSA is rapidly merging with jihadis like al-Nousrah and Idris is just a figurehead, a convenient mask.

McCain actually says, at 4:40 that the rebels “are trying to achieve the same thing that we have shed American blood and treasure for for well over 200 years.” I wasn't aware that America made a practice of fighting for sharia rule, the suppression of women,the murder and ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians or Islamist theocratic fascism. But then John McCain is a sitting Senator, and he undoubtedly knows better than me. Talk about calling someone else 'wacko birds'...!

 Senator McCain, it's past time for you to resign. Please, for your own sake and ours. Just go. (H/t Allah,via Ace's place)

MSNBC: "Eric Holder Is The Moses of Our Time"

MSNBC contributor Michael Eric Dyson called Attorney General Eric Holder “the Moses of our time” Wednesday on “Martin Bashir”:  


 MARTIN BASHIR: Professor, we heard Mr. Sensenbrenner say the attorney general should stop down. Congressman Bob Goodlatte is also calling for resignation. Of course, he did that two years ago over fast and furious. Is this actually going to lead to something, do you think, or more of the same, more continuous calls for the attorney general to step down?   

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: I think the attorney general should step down to off of that plateau where he resides on high principle and whip some head. But he shouldn’t give up his office. What he should understand is that he is the chief law giver of the United States so to speak. He’s the Moses of our time and at least for this administration. [...]

Now, if Jews were like Muslims, I'd be calling for a fatwa on both of them for insulting my religion and for blasphemy. As it is, I'll just note the despicable anti-semitism involved and move on. This coflating Moses with a corrupt ideologue who perjured himself and has done nothing but lie and engage in racism throughout his tenure shows you exactly how insane the Left has become. In fact, it appears he even lied to a judge when he was judge-shopping in order to get a warrant:



Right and wrong, legal and illegal, holy and unholy simply have no meaning for these people any more. It's all about the Agenda, and in Dyson's case, racist solidarity über alles.

Prosecution In Trayvon Martin Case Busted For Deleting Photos And Withholding Evidence

 

Heh! This entire affair is being revealed more and more as an attempted lynching  of George Zimmerman:

A court employee who retrieved photos and deleted text messages from Trayvon Martin's cellphone has been placed on administrative leave after an attorney testified that prosecutors didn't properly turn over the evidence to the defense, an attorney said Wednesday.

Former prosecutor Wesley White said he was ethically obligated to reveal that Fourth Judicial Circuit Information Technology Director Ben Kruidbos retrieved the data that weren't turned over.

Kruidbos was placed on leave shortly after White testified during a hearing in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder case on Tuesday. White said Kruidbos was interviewed by state attorney investigators twice before the action was taken.

White said he wasn't surprised of possible evidence violations by Zimmerman prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda.

"I was saddened by it, but I'm not surprised," he said.

White first learned about the evidence through Kruidbos more than a month ago, he said.

Phone and email messages left at the office of Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Angela Corey were not immediately returned.

I'll just bet they weren't.

Oh, and the deleted photosthat were recovered? They show Treyvon Martin handling guns and using drugs, as well as various text messages on these topics. Reportedly, there was also a video on the cell phone showing some of Trayvon's pals beating up a homeless man.

This all kind of destroys the prosecution's attempt to portray Martin as a harmless little bunny rabbit viciously gunned down by a foaming at the mouth ra-aa-cist.

Judge Nelson has set up a full hearing on the prosecution's failure to turn over t evidence for next week.

If you remember, Defense attorney Mark O'Mara previously filed numerous motions accusing the prosecution of not turning over evidence in discovery.

O'Mara said Tuesday that he felt compelled to bring this matter to the attention of the judge after a hearing earlier this month in which De la Rionda was emphatic that he'd turned over all evidence related to Martin's cellphone.

"(Kruidbos) knew information that nobody else would know about what (the state attorney's office) didn't give us," O'Mara said. "The picture of the gun in the hand, for example, had not been turned over to us. But that had been created back in late January within the state attorney's office.

"That inquiry, if in fact it continues and it certainly should, could lead to some very dire consequences for those who made presentations to the judge that were not accurate."

Along with all the other prosecutorial misconduct that's occurred, it could also lead to a motion for a mistrial and a slam duck verdict to toss the case out of court on appeal in the event Zimmerman is convicted.

Syria Announces It Has Received First Shipment Of Advanced S-300 Missiles From Russia

The Syrian regime announced today that  they have received the first shipment of advanced S-300 missiles from Russia:

Syrian dictator President Bashar Assad told Lebanese network Al Manar, the voice of U.S.-designated Islamic terror group Hezbollah, that he is in possession of the first shipment of the missiles and will receive the rest "soon." The interview was reported by Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar.

Assad also warned Israel to stay away from the missiles, which would make it more difficult for Israel to strike targets inside Syria. Israel Defense Forces have launched airstrikes against convoys of weapons headed for southern Lebanon, the base of arch enemy Hezbollah that is on Israel's northern border.

You might remember that the Israelis had carefully crafted an agreement with Russia's Putin not to ship the S-300s to Syria in exchange for Israel agreeing to not to target Assad's forces. That deal blew up when the EU unexpectedly announced they were removing sanctions on sending arms to the al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood rebels May 28th. Hours later, Putin abruptly announced the shipment.

Al-Manar and al-Akbar are Hezbollah mouth pieces, so I personally doubt that the S-300s are in Assad's hands yet, but they're almost certainly en route.

The Israelis regard this as a game changer and I guarantee that they will act accordingly. Among other things, the S-300s have the range to take out commercial airliners landing in Israel.

The peace conference, scheduled for June 15th is another point of contention. Assad agreed to attend provided the goal was a political solution that would allow him to remain in power.The Rebels refused to even attend unless Assad's ouster was guaranteed as a pre-condition.

The Russians had actually put significant work in trying to get the conference to work, and felt that President Obama was working with them to try and craft a diplomatic solution. Putin was outraged at what he saw as Obama's duplicity when he found out about the US deployment of 1,800 US Marines off the USS Kearsage two weeks ago to the Syria-Jordan border and the
president asking the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan out a no fly zone patrolled by US aircraft over Syria while he was supposedly working with Putin on a peaceful solution.

The war is not going at all well for the Islamist rebels, but President Obama is apparently determined to put yet another Islamist regime in power. In fact, that's pretty much what Benghazi was all about.

The IDF will probably take out the S-300s when they arrive, and I expect to see America and the EU shipping weapons to the Islamist and al-Qaeda rebels and even getting directly involved at some point.

US Muslim Leaders Lobbying To Get The FBI Role In Combating Islamist Terrorism Reduced

 

A number of very well connected and politically active Muslims are pushing for a vastly reduced FBI role when it comes to investigating and preventing Islamist terrorism in America. The plan they're lobbying heavily for is to get the imams involved in doing it themselves through Obama's Department of Homeland Security.

The White House’s “Countering Violent Extremism” program “did not produce the results a lot of us were hopeful … [and] kind of collapsed towards the end of last year,” complained Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based advocate who was appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.[...]

Elibiary’s new call for reduced policing of Islamic communities, such as Boston’s immigrant Muslims, was echoed by other speakers at the panel, which was hosted by the progressive New American Foundation in Washington D.C.

“Imams and counselors need to be given some leeway” by police, said Suhaib Webb, Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.

The activists have a problem with the FBI, who they claim have continued what they referred to as atraditional policy of investigating jihadis for obsolete things like arrests, trials and convictions.

You know, we just can't have that.

They like the DHS CVE program much better. Funny thing, the DHS program has attracted a lot of criticism because it relies on using Muslim Brotherhood front groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) as their exclusive intermediaries with American Muslims.

You might remember that the MPAC ran a major campaign telling Muslims not to cooperate with the FBI in terrorism investigations, just like CAIR and the other Muslim Brotherhood front groups:

 




And let's take a closer look at some of these 'activists'. I've already had something to say about the Islamic Society of Boston Mosque and cultural Center, an Islamist mosque with murkey funding and beginnings where Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon Bombers liked to go for his dose of Islamist rhetoric.Funny how 'imam involvement' didn't work so well there.

And then there's Mohamed Elibiary..I know I've heard his name somewhere...of course! Elibiary is a very influential  part of the Obama Administration, who was named to President Obama's Homeland Security Advisory Council in 2010.

While he's been there, he reportedly had a big role in successfully lobbying AG Eric Holder into not prosecuting the senior executives of CAIR, The Islamic Society of North America, the North American Islamic Trust and a number of other Muslim Brotherhood front groups who were caught red handed money laundering and providing material aid to terrorism in the Holy Land Foundation trial.Although I somehow doubt Elibiary had to work all that hard, given what we know about Eric Holder.

Among other things, Elibiary is a big fan of  Iran's Ayatollah Khomeni and his Islamist style villayat-e-fiqh style of theocratic government. When Dallas Morning News reporter Rod Dreher wrote about Elibiary's laudatory remarks on Khomeni and Islamist government at a December 2004 conference in Dallas, titled “A Tribute to the Great Islamic Visionary,” Elibiary threatened him with violence.

But wait, there's more.

 October 2011  Elibiary was given access to the highly  classified  DPS database (the Homeland Security State and Local Intelligence Community of Interest, or HS SLIC) containing hundreds of thousands of intelligence reports that were supposed to be used solely to aid law-enforcement agencies. In fact, Elibiary was the only Homeland Security Advisory Council member member (out of 26) who got access to the HS SLIC.

Elibiary used this  to put together a number of classified documents that he felt promoted “Islamophobia,” and tried to leak the classified files  to a far Left  media outlet, who refused to do the story because they felt the files failed to show any real  DHS bias against Muslims.

In early November 2011, Elibiary’s access to the HS SLIC database was revoked...but he's still on the DHS Advisory Council. Of course.

No wonder he and his Islamist friends want the FBI out of the picture so that  they'll be the main channel of information.

Ft. Hood Killer Nidal Hasan Will Be Allowed To Represent Himself At His trial

 

Nidal Hasan, the Palestinian former Army major who murdered his comrades at Fort Hood while screaming 'Allahu Akbar' continues to get away with murder.

He has announced that he is claiming his rights to fire his Army provided attorneys and represent himself,.  Given the provisions of the UCMJ the judge involved, Colonel Tara Osborn has no real choice but to comply, although she is likely to appoint lawyers to assist him.

What Hasan is going to do, of course, is to (a) claim 'Islamophobia' and (b) use the trial as a showcase for jihadist rhetoric.

Hasan already said that he was willing to plead guilty provided the prosecution agreed to waive the death penalty, but under the UCMJ Hasan cannot plead guilty to a capital crime, so the prosecution was unable to make that deal. Instead, we're in for a long, drawn out attention fix for a murderous jihadi.The trial is scheduled to start July 1.

And Hasan will go on trial sporting his full beard.The proceedings were drawn out for months because of the issue of Hasan failing to shave his jihad-compliant beard to conform with military standards, but after some pressure from the White House, Colonel Osborn agreed to waive that issue.

Workplace violence, you know..not a terrorist attack according to our president.

Pat Condell: "It's Time For Muslims To Take A Real Stand Against Violent Jihad'

Plain speaking, as always, from Pat Condell.

(h/t GoV)

Obama Plans To Send US Forces To Fight For Al-Qaeda and The Muslim Brotherhood In Syria

This is an absolute disgrace.

President Obama is preparing to commit US forces to put yet another radical Islamist regime in power in Syria.

He has ordered our Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare a plan for American aircraft to enter the Syrian civil war on behalf of the al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood rebels and enforce a no fly zone.

As for boots on the ground, as I revealed earlier we have 1,800 Marines off the USS Kearsage who landed at the Israeli port of Eilat ten days ago and are now deployed on the Syrian/Jordanian border. They'll undoubtedly be put into combat against Hezbollah, Assad's forces and Iran's Revolutionary Guard with the same sort of ridiculous rules of engagement that are getting our troops killed and maimed in Afghanistan.

Yes..we're now going to be going to go to war to aid al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

And ironically, you can rest assured the usual suspects will accuse Obama of 'going to war for Israel' when the last thing Israel wants on their borders is another genocidal jihadist regime armed with US weapons.

Aside from spending US blood and treasure in putting yet another Islamist regime in power, this wag the dog adventure also provides a needed distraction away from the swarm of scandals surrounding the White House.

And if its successful Syria will become yet another cog in the Islamist Caliphate Hassan al-Banna dreamed about when he formed the Muslim Brotherhood back in the 1920's.

President Barack Hussein Obama is handing it to them on a silver platter.

Michele Bachmann Announces She Will Not Run Again In 2014

Michele Bachmann has announced that she will not be running for re-election in 2014.

The usual jackasses will bray and cavort, since they've hated her for years. AFter all, it's what they do, and it certainly doesn't concern me and I doubt it concerns Rep. Bachmann.

But if you listen carefully to what she's saying and how she phrases things, I don't think we've heard the last of her at all. And that is a very good thing, seeing how we need honest and courageous public servants.

She could be planning a run for the Senate, and not necessarily as a Republican. Given the ongoing war by the RINO establishment against conservative Republicans and the mancrush between Chris Christie and President Obama, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 2016 match up featured Chris Christie as 'a new type of Democrat' after a party switch versus Jeb Bush for the Republicans.

If that happens, rest assured you'll see a credible third party emerge as the GOP fades away like the Whigs.
.

Watcher's Council Nominations - 'Scandal? What Scandal?' Edition

 

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence.

Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

This is your weekly magazine of the best in opinion and commentary from around the web..everything you need to know to stay on top of things.

This week's contest is dedicated to Ray Manzarek...a wonderful musician and a sweet soul who finally broke on through to the other side.So long, Ray..RIP:




Council News:

Council alumnus Trevor Loudon of New Zeal has a new book out entitled "The Enemies Within" that focuses on the real details of communists, socialists and radicals now in the US congress. If you've sampled Loudon's blog posts or his previous book, "Barack Obama And the Enemies Within" you know you're in for a great, meticulously sourced read.

 "The Enemies Within" is due out August 20th,and you can pre-order here.

Up For Grabs - There is a vacancy currently available in the Watcher's Council. This is a very special group and a superb opportunity for a blogger to reach a wider audience and showcase their work. If you think you qualify and are interested in applying, leave a comment with a link to your site, your e-mail address (which will remain confidential) and any questions you might have as a comment on any article over at Joshuapundit.

This week, The Pirate's Cove, Right Truth, Maggie's Notebook and SooperMexican took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members, while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – Iran Deploys Long-Range Missile Launchers -– The Hawk is Set to Take Flight


• Joshuapundit-Midnight In Benghazi - What Really Happened


• The Political Commentator – Divorce decree for the United States of America!


• The Right Planet – How the Liberal Media Would Report #Benghazi If George Bush Were President


• Simply Jews – Do you need your medicine urgently? Wait till Minister Yael German stops celebrating language accessibility.


• The Razor – Electronic Health Records: The $6 Billion Cure For Bad Penmanship


• Bookworm Room – Sweden fiddles while Stockholm burns


• The Colossus of Rhodey – Entitlement


• VA Right! - Can We Just Let the Syrians and Allah Sort This Out Themselves?


• The Glittering Eye -Memorial Day 2013


• The Mellow Jihadi – Conversations I Almost Had Today


• Rhymes With Right – IRS Official To Take Fifth Amendment Regarding Performance Of Her Job


• Gay Patriot – Thoughts on the Boy Scouts & gays


• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Sino Spookery Down Under

Honorable Mentions

• Right Truth - Grinding up fetus parts in garbage disposal gets you ... probation


• Maggie's Notebook - Pickering, Mullen Refuse to Testify on Benghazi? Issa: Hillary Not a Target!


• SooperMexican - Mexclusive!! IRS Releases New Simplified Tax Form 1040 TEA-EZ for Tea Party Taxpayers!!


• The Pirate's Cove - Did Holder Commit Perjury?

Non-Council Submissions

• Sultan Knish –The Warrior's Tale submitted by The Noisy Room


• Mark Steyn – To The Slaughter submitted by Joshuapundit


• FrontPage Magazine -A Memorial Day for Islamic Terror submitted by The Political Commentator


• The Weekly Standard – Progressives With Bombs submitted by The Right Planet


• The Passing Parade – The tenacity of Democrats, or yogurting for fun and profit submitted by Simply Jews


• Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion/David Gerstman –Thomas Friedman on Obamacare: It’s gonna be a bright bright bright bright sun shiny day submitted by The Razor


• PJ Media/Zombie-Karl Marx Was A Tea Partier submitted by Bookworm Room


• The Weekly Standard – Beyond the Pale submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey


• PJ Tatler – PJ Tatler Report: 20% of Ohio’s Registered Voters are Bogus submitted by VA Right!


• James Taranto/WSJ – See You in the Funny Papers submitted by The Glittering Eye


• CoffeyPot –My Memorial Day Feelings submitted by The Mellow Jihadi


• NRO/Andrew Stiles – IRS Scandal: E-mails Suggest Findings of IG Report Delayed Until After 2012 Election submitted by Rhymes with Right


• Commentary Contentions -Our Ambivalent Commander-in-Chief submitted by Gay Patriot


• Douglas Murray/WSJ – The London Terror Attack Was More Than 'Unforgivable' submitted by The Watcher


• PJ O'Rourke – Stupid submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Zimmerman judge excludes Trayvon Martin's history of drug use, fighting, and social media posts

The judge in the Zimmerman trial has ruled in favor of the prosecution's motion to exclude  all evidence of Treyvon Martin's history of drug use, fighting, school suspensions and any and all pictures and social media content relating to these issues from being raised by the defense at the trial.

Among other things, the social media posts refer to Martin videotaping his friends assaulting and beating up a homeless man, and there's lots more where that came from.

Considering the character assassination George Zimmerman underwent during his trial by media it's hardly fair, but legally I think the judge is correct, since prior actions have no actual bearing on what happened that particular night.

This is, however, a two edged sword. If the prosecution in any way attempts to paint Trayvon Martin's character in a positive light, than Martin's character becomes fair game and Zimmerman's attorneys can justifiably ask the court to admit this evidence of what Trayvon Martin's character was actually like. Ditto if the prosecution attempts more character assassination of Zimmerman.The door's wide open.

Since Zimmerman’s statements  match his  injuries and  some eyewitness accounts, there's a reasonable doubt and if character evidence is not admissible, it's hard to see how Zimmerman gets convicted unless there's a racially cherry picked jury. And if there is and Zimmerman is found guilty, it's a slam dunk for an appeal.

Voter Fraud A Myth? An Estimated 20% Of Ohio's 'Voters' Are Bogus

 

You all may remember Mellowese Richardson, a Democrat activist and poll worker in Ohio's Hamilton County who was recently convicted of voter fraud.

Two others including a nun have already been convicted of voter fraud in Hamilton County, Ohio this year. And a number of other Obama activists around the country are being tried as I write this.

It's a strange thing about Ohio. Mitt Romney lost to President Obama by 166,214 votes in Ohio in 2012 out of 5,489,028 votes cast, a 3% margin.Yet, according to this story in the Columbus Dispatch, as amny as one in five registered Ohio 'voters' is probably ineligible:

In two counties, the number of registered voters actually exceeds the voting-age population: Northwestern Ohio’s Wood County shows 109 registered voters for every 100 eligible, while in Lawrence County along the Ohio River it’s a mere 104 registered per 100 eligible.

Another 31 counties show registrations at more than 90 percent of those eligible, a rate regarded as unrealistic by most voting experts. The national average is a little more than 70 percent.

Now, Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Husted who presides over elections sent a number of requests to our Attorney General Eric Holder requesting permission to clean up the rolls.

In a Feb. 10 letter, he asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for a personal meeting to discuss how to balance seemingly conflicting federal laws so he could pare Ohio’s dirty voter list without removing truly eligible voters.

“Common sense says that the odds of voter fraud increase the longer these ineligible voters are allowed to populate our rolls,” Husted said. “I simply cannot accept that.”

Holder’s office has never replied.

Ohio's voter rolls contain, among other things, an estimated 1.8 million dead people and nearly 3 million who have registered to vote in multiple states. And that's not counting felons who have had their right to vote taken away.

In fact, there were a fair number of voter fraud cases after the election in Georgia, in Mississippi, in Indiana, in Colorado, in Missouri and other states as well as Ohio.Oddly enough, there were none in Democrat ruled states like California, Massachusetts and New York.

In view of this and a number of other questionable occurrences,  like numerous urban precincts in Philadelphia that recorded a 110% + turnout without a single Republican vote and same day registration in states like Wisconsin, perhaps Mitt Romney conceded just a little too early.

Oh, but voter fraud's a myth, right?

Right??

Syria: EU Ends Arms Embargo On Rebels, Russia To Ship S-300s To Assad In Response

 

The Syrian civil war is about to heat up some more  as the outside players get involved.

According to my sources, the Israelis had just about convinced Vladimir Putin to delay shipment of Russia's sophisticated S-300 anti-air missile systems to the Assad regime in Syria when the EU surprised the Russians this morning with an announcement that they were ending a previous arms embargo on the al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood rebels and extending economic sanctions on Syrian leader Basher Assad's government.

Within hours, the Russians announced they were shipping the S-300s to Basher Assad.

To show you how feckless and unthought out  this was, here's a sample of Brit rhetoric from al-Guardian:


Downing Street has refused to say whether MPs will be given the chance to vote on any decision to send arms to Syria following the EU's decision to lift its arms embargo, the Guardian's Andrew Sparrow reports:

The prime minister's spokesman stressed that the government had not taken a decision to arm the Syrian opposition in the light of the EU decision, and indicated that Downing Street hoped that the threat of arms being supplied would persuade the Syrian government to enter negotiations.

Asked whether Britain would arm the rebels, the spokesman said: "The prime minister's view is that it is right that we have the flexibility to respond if [Bashar al-Assad's] regime refused to negotiate. What we are doing is sending a signal, loud and clear, to the regime."
Syrian peace talks are planned for Geneva next month and the spokesman indicated that Britain wanted the Syrian government to participate.

"What we need is a transitional regime [for Syria] that is supported by both sides, including the [opposition] Syrian National Coalition," said the spokesman. As part of that process, Assad would have to go.

As for France, French foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said France could potentially send arms to the opposition before the embargo expires on Aug. 1, but said 'it had no immediate plans to do so.'

So...they're not actually shipping arms to the Syrian rebels, but they've announced they might..and that somehow is going to facilitate peace talks, which the rebels are against anyway! You simply couldn't be more clueless.

Meanwhile, Putin isn't waffling. He's responding to this lukewarm nonsense as a red line and is shipping the Syrian regime the tools they'll need to prevent America, the UK or anyone else from establishing a no fly zone like they did in Libya.

As for the Israelis, they're not at all happy at the likes of the EU wrecking what was some carefully worked out diplomacy on their part. Unlike the David Camerons,John McCains and other useful idiots, they understand that the rebels are dominated by al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood and are no friends to the West.

But on the other hand, they don;t want the Syrians (and by extension, Hezbollah) getting the S-300s. So they issued a clear warning to Putin that if the S-300s are shipped top Syria, they're going to take action. And they're definitely not kidding.

The last time Putin shipped S-300s into the Middle East, the Russian Ship Arctic Sea was mysteriously hijacked en route to Iran, the S-300s were removed and disappeared and it was Israel's Mossad who told the Russians where they could find their ship, which had been boarded by a mysterious group of men posing as narcotics agents off the coast of Sweden some days earlier.

I'd be very surprised if the Mossad wasn't likewise watching any current shipment of S-300s like hawks.

Turns Out AG Holder Judge Shopped To Get Warrant To Snoop On FOX Reporter

What a surprise, eh?

It took three judges before Attorney General Eric Holder could find one partisan enough to OK the Obama Department of Justice request for a secret warrant. Two judges separately ruled that the Justice department was required to notify senior FOX News Washington correspondent James Rosen of the warrant even if there was a delay..upon which they looked around and found Judge Royce C. Lamberth, the chief judge in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia who signed off on it.

Holder's story that there was nothing unusual or wrong in the request for a secret warrant in this case would seem to be just a wee bit....dishonest.

More here at the New Yorker.

(H/t Breitbart.com)

'Islam' Painted On Defaced British War Memorials

In the wake of the Woolwich murder, things are getting fairly tense in Britain. The sheer savagery of the killings seemed to have shocked people into recognizing how dysfunctional the current status quo is onthe one hand, and sparked a new Islamist triumphalism on the other.

There have been several incidents of attempted mosque burnings and vandalism, and the above, which struck a raw nerve after the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby in broad daylight.

War memorials in Britain's parks have been targeted for defacement in what appears to be an organized fashion:

Vandals have daubed the word Islam in spray paint on war memorials in Green Park and Hyde Park in London.

Police were called to the RAF Bomber Command War Memorial at 05:00 BST and found engravings on the monument covered with paint.

Vandals did the same thing at the Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park.

A police spokesman said Royal Parks officers were investigating and Westminster City Council had been informed.

Westminster City Council cabinet member for city management councillor Ed Argar said: "We deplore any act of vandalism or graffiti that desecrates memorials put in place to honour those who fought for our country's freedom.

"We will do everything we can to clean and restore the memorials as swiftly as possible."...

It has also brought a lot of new recruits and support for the English Defence League, who held an impressive rally in London where over 5,000 people showed up.



One of them who spoke was Ben Roberts, a former soldier waving a flag of St George and wearing service medals from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I am here to show that we stand together against the killers of Lee Rigby. It seems that there is one law today for Muslims and one for everyone else," he said, adding that other ex-service personnel were also present. "I've had it with parties like Labour and the Conservatives," said Roberts, who identified himself as a Ukip voter.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson lit into British PM David Cameron for leaving the UK  on vacation while this was going on, saying "he doesn't care" as the crowd repeatedly chanted 'coward'.

Robinson said that "The Arabs have had their spring, now it's time for an English Spring."

I have a feeling things are going to get interesting.

Trevor Loudon's New Book: "The Enemies Within"

Watcher's Council alumnus and friend Trevor Loudon has a new book out entitled "The Enemies Within" that focuses on the real details of communists.socialists and radicals now in the US congress.

Meticulously sourced like Loudon's last book, "Barack Obama And the Enemies Within" it does a great job of piecing together where the dots connect and in picking up the rock to to shed light on the vile creatures scurrying beneath who are working so diligently to undermine our republic and our freedoms.


Official release date is August 20th, but you can pre-order a copy here.

Lurch In Action - Kerry Offers Pals $4 Billion In Aid For Concessions On Peace Talks And Gets Slapped

Our clueless Secretary of State stepped in it again.

Kerry, speaking at the World Economic Forum Aqaba, Jordan announced his bold new plan to build the Palestinian economy at the U.S. taxpayer's expense to the tune of $4 billion. Of course, this came direct from President Obama, who has given the corrupt Palestinian Authority more American jizya than any other administration.

Kerry promised that this new plan would be “bigger, bolder and more ambitious” than anything since the Oslo accords, more than 20 years ago. Of course we know how that worked out, but apparently nobody told John Kerry.

The prompt reply from the Palestinians? You'll pay us our jizya, infidel. But political concessions? Go pound sand:

The Palestinian Authority on Monday rejected the idea of economic benefits in exchange for political concessions put forward by US Secretary of State John Kerry one day prior.

“The Palestinian leadership will not offer political concessions in exchange for economic benefits,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, said in a statement, according to the Palestinian Ma’an news agency. “We will not accept that the economy is the primary and sole component.”

The statement came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a $4 billion investment plan meant to jumpstart both the Palestinian economy and peace talks with Israel.

The Pals, of course, expect to get their money anyway out of President Obama, plus every single one of their demands...without giving up anything at all.

They're likely right. I think the Obama Administration's idea here is a plan for economic warfare against Israel...increased support for boycotting Israeli goods in the EU (and perhaps even in the US) while at the same time building up the Palestinian economy and handing them Israel's export market on a platter.

Never mind that it's $4 billion we don't have to spare at the moment.

The plan will likely fail because (A) a lot of countries want Israeli high tech, gas, oil and weaponry, and it will find markets regardless, even if it's CHina or India rather than the EU (B) The leadership of the Arabs whom refer to themselves as Palestinians is far too corrupt to avoid pillaging it to fatten their personal bank accounts and (C) Abbas and his corrupt crew aren't going to be arond all that much longer anyway as Hamas takes over.

In addition, no Israeli government is going to agree with the kind of territorial and strategic concessions the Arabs whom refer to themselves as Palestinians insist in.

Israel-Turkey Talks Break Down Over Amount of Mavi Mamara 'Compensation'

Surprise, surprise.

The talks President Obama muscled Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu into with Obama's BFF, Turkey's Islamist leader Tayyip Erdogan have broken down over the amount of jizya Israel was going to pay to the families of the IHH terrorists who were killed after they ambushed and attacked Israeli sailors on board the Turkish ship Mavi Mamara when it tried to illegally break through Israel's blockade of Gaza:

Reconciliation talks between Israel and Turkey have reached an impasse over the sum Israel is to pay in compensation to the families of the Turkish nationals killed and wounded in the May 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, a senior official in Jerusalem said Monday.

Despite three rounds of talks, the gaps remain very wide, he said.

After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 22 for the killing of nine Turkish nationals by Israel Defense Forces soldiers during the raid on the Mavi Marmara, the two countries began talks to come to a compensation arrangement and to normalize ties. The first round of talks took place in Ankara on April 22, while the second took place in Jerusalem on May 6.

At the end of the Jerusalem meeting, the parties issued a communiqué, saying that there was a draft agreement but that “several clarifications regarding a few issues,” were still needed. The clarifications, it emerged, related to the central issue of how much compensation Israel would pay.

...

The official refused to cite specific sums each party had discussed during the talks. Haaretz, however, has learned that while Israel is prepared to pay $100,000 to each family, the Turks are demanding $1,000,000 per family.


If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else. Tayyip Erdogan is a hardline Islamist and anti-semite, and he never had any intention of restoring relations with Israel, especially when you consider that it was Erdogan who broke them in the first place.
As I said at the time, Netanyahu was wrong to let himself get maneuvered into an apology by Obama, and even more naive if he thought anything was going ever to come of it.

Needless to say, this excerpt comes from the far Left Ha'aretz, the only English article in the Israeli press I could find.

Clueless Sen. John McCain Meets With Syrian Jihadis

 

I've never questioned Senator John McCain's personal coverage, but for quite some time I've questioned his common sense.

Senator McCain crossed over into Syria from the Turkish border today to meet with General Salem Idris, the leader of Syria's Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (SMC).

The meeting likely took place in the area around Azaz, Syria, which is just south of the Turkish border crossing at Kilis and the only area in the vicinity partially under the control of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

As I've revealed before,the Free Syrian Army and Al Nusrah, the two main armed factions of the Syrian resistance are jihadist groups run by the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda. Al-Nusrah in particular is nothing more than al-Qaeda's franchise in Syraia, and is actually an officially designated terrorist group by our State Department.The SMC has very little to do with the actual leadership of the Free Syrian Army and General Idris is just a figurehead  who has no real power, because almost all of the other members of the council are leaders of radical Islamist rebel groups whose only use for the SMC and General Idris to use them as a front to acquire weapons from the west and western intervention to take out Assad.

I wonder if Senator McCain has the least clue about that?

“What we want from the U.S. government is to take the decision to support the Syrian revolution with weapons and ammunition, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons,” Idris said. “Of course we want a no-fly zone and we ask for strategic strikes against Hezbollah both inside Lebanon and inside Syria.”

Of course they do. And General Idris and his friends will tell gullible ferenghis like McCain anything he wants to hear to get it.

Remember when Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were telling President Obama about how they were going to have a democratic regime that would respect religious freedoms for non-Muslims and human rights?

That pledge evaporated as soon as Mubarak was ousted with President Obama's assistance and the Brotherhood had control of the government.

Once we start sending the Syrian rebels arms, there is absolutely no way we can 'vet' who's getting them. General Idris and his front group have few if any boots on the ground and will have to send those arms to the jihadis in the Free Syrian Army and al-Nusrah. Rest assured that we will be arming jihadists who are the enemies of America and the West.

As for Senator McCain...I think it's time he retired.

Obama Threatens The UK If They Leave The EU

 

This is one of those stories that makes headlines overseas but will barely be reported here.

There is a significant political movement in Britain in favor of exiting the European Union. It's gotten to the point where a number of members of Britain's Conservative party have pledged themselves to make an election alliance with Britain's UK Independent Party(UKIP) and embrace real conservative principles (including exiting the increasingly dysfunctional EU) instead of the faux conservatism embodied by PM David Cameron and the conservative establishment, something that should be recognizable to conservatives on this side of the Pond watching the antics of RINOS here in America.

Cameron met earlier this month with President Barack Obama in Washington and as it now comes out, President Obama is threatening the UK with financial blackmail if they exit the EU.

There's a multi-billion dollar trade agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)in the works. It's not the best deal from a US standpoint - it removes the relatively low tariffs of about 3% to 5% between the US and Europe, would allow EU companies to bid for state contracts and undercut US firms and enforces uniform regulations on both sides of the Atlantic, which would include the EU's farcical carbon tax and cap and trade legislation. Think of it as NAFTA for Europe.

But TTIP is worth a great deal of money to the EU. And President Obama openly threatened Cameron that if Britain leaves the EU, Britain will not only be excluded from the agreement but that the US would be unwilling to negotiate a separate deal with the UK.

The link comes from the reliably Left wing Guardian, but even they can't conceal the fact that what we have here is a sitting American president attempting to blackmail an ally financially to influence maters that directly pertain to their sovereignty.

To underline this, the story reveals that President Obama's BFF, Islamist Prime Minister Tayipp Erdogan of Turkey flew to DC earlier this month to get President Obama to include Turkey in the TTIP...even though Turkey is not a member of the EU.

Britain has put up with numerous insults and snubs since President Obama took office, yet by and large they've swallowed them and remained one of his consistent cheerleaders,even to the point of smearing his opponent in the last election.

Perhaps it's time the British realized that he just doesn't like them all that much, and never has.

Forum: On this particular Memorial Day, what are your thoughts about the future of our country?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. This week's question: On this particular Memorial Day, what are your thoughts about the future of our country?

 The Razor: I used to believe that everyone had to believe in at least one great fiction in life, and for me that was the Idea of America, and it didn’t really matter to me whether it was real or not. I had faith in it. I studied its history, seen its good times and bad and somehow America always made it through, always coming out of the darkness better than it was before it went in.

Now I’m not so sure. For one thing I’ve lost my faith across the board. I’m not sure whether it’s a function of age as I continue the inexorable slide down the second half of my life, whether America has lost its mojo or perhaps never had it in the first place. It’s not easy for me to have faith in anything because everything I have had faith in before has been shown wanting. And America is no different.

I could easily respond bitterly and talk about how the future of America is this or that, but the truth as I see it is that America is just going to continue on being what it is completely oblivious and impervious to my petty thoughts about its future. Maybe I need to go back to being an expat to rekindle my love and faith in my country from abroad. Life abroad provides much needed clarity that is so much harder to find while embedded in American life and culture. I’ve never stopped dreaming about Japan and have never felt like I belonged anywhere, so maybe my future holds a return to expat life – although some place calmer and serene like Ireland rather than the hectic soul-destroying life as a gaijin in Japan.

So in short, it’s impossible for me to express the way I feel about America’s future because I am so broken and disappointed with it that anything that I say says more about me than my country. Such is the lot of the faithless and those who once believed in something bigger than themselves but no longer do.

JoshuaPundit: Readers of my stuff will know my feelings on this one. The key question we're dealing with now is whether we remain a democratic republic or whether we become Rome.  The present course is obviously unsustainable, but America is far too rich and powerful to simply crumble and become a minor part of the 'international community' ala' the various nations of the EU, as our current president  and his minions would obviously prefer.

Among other things, unlike the Europeans, there's no superpower out there offering to pick up the slack and defend us while we become a dysfunctional socialist backwater.

As it becomes more apparent ( and it's more obvious every day, even to the most low information voter unless they're totally on the dole) that there's a real danger to the country's basic liberties, economy and security, people will demand a solution, and it will either be for a true renewal of our Founding principles or for a secure autocracy with a lot less liberty. It took the Roman Republic 500 years to get to the point where they were ready for a man on a white horse with some solutions,  but things move faster nowadays.

The Founders in their wisdom foresaw this, by the way. They were highly educated men well versed in the history of republican government. Our republic  close to the tipping point where events and the will of the American people will decide  whether we keep it or not.

For those of you whom believe, many people have speculated that America has been under G-d's blessing since its inception. I agree, and I also think that events will play out according to the Divine plan and show whether we still merit that blessing.

Rhymes With Right : What are my thoughts about the future of the United States? Overall, very positive in the long run -- though less so in the short run.

In the short run, we are stuck with a president who is either so disengaged from the duties of his office and so engaged with seeking to fundamentally change us away from a constitutional republic that I worry what will happen over the next few years. The ongoing scandals involving the IRA, government surveillance and investigation of journalists, and the Benghazi affair make it clear that we have a serious problem before us until after the 2016 election.

That said, I believe in the fundamental resilience of America. When presented with a crisis, patriots arise and act to steer America back to a safe course. Given the grassroots opposition to Obama and ObamaCare, I fully expect to see that patter reassert itself in 2014 and 2016. This detour is bad, but we will ultimately resume a proper course.

The Glittering Eye: Honestly, I'm concerned about the future of the country. Our entire system, a system that has brought unprecendented freedom and prosperity, is based on certain values. Those values include things like individual initiative, responsibility, and independence. I'm concerned that those values are fading and I don't know what will replace them.

In addition, through decades of torpid complacency we have made public commitments I don't think we'll be able to fulfilll. Commitments like public and employer-provided pensions, a system of social insurance most of the elderly are completely dependent upon for support in their old age, and a system of providing healthcare for the elderly that has grown beyond the direst warning made when the plan was first implemented more than forty years ago.

The country I see around me is very different from the one I saw when I was twenty years old and dramatically different from what I thought things would be like all those years ago. It is not a better place. Not all of the changes are economic ones. The worst thing I see is the loss of optimism and confidence in the future. It's really dismaying.

Sara at The Independent Sentinel: I am grateful to live in a country where a person like me, who grew up in poverty, had the opportunity to work hard, go to college, save for a home, and provide my children with a good education.

I have only known an America where people who worked hard could attain their dreams. That is no longer a certainty.

I see the future of our children being frittered away with wasteful spending. Our national security is in the hands of people who refuse to recognize the reality of the dangerous world we are living in. If we continue on the path we are on, the future will be bleak.

We are in the hands of leaders who claim to know nothing and want to know nothing.

I do, however, believe in the American people and that gives me hope.

  Well, there you have it.

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