Sure Didn’t See THIS Covered Anywhere

Guess what you won't see on mainstream news: thousands march in OH in support of police: http://t.co/Nv40gkbijw #tcot pic.twitter.com/EshtnvL4z1

— YCACR (@youngamer4con) December 28, 2014

A whole gallery of pictures here, but it never made any broadcast I was watching or newspaper.

Wonder why?

Hey! Let’s Move ALL Those Loser Military Retirees ~ Maybe Even Active Troop Families ~ TO OBAMACARE!!

You knew it was coming.

Budget experts: Move Tricare beneficiaries to Obamacare

The Defense Department could slash its enormous health care budget by requiring Tricare beneficiaries not on active duty to get health care coverage through Affordable Care Act exchanges, according to several current and former congressional budget experts.

AND the money quote from DoucheBag central ~ which is going to be a HUGE SURPRISE to all us military types who completed THEIR “OBLIGATION” with the understanding that the United States of America would fufill what they promised was the country’s “OBLIGATION” to us:

“…And, John Mayer, a military health and energy analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton, added the Pentagon should be under no obligation to continue providing “free health” care to those who have retired from military service and have access to health care either through their employers or the Affordable Care Act.

“Having a program where they can go in and get free health care, and do it as often as they want seems to be a burden that the American public shouldn’t have to bear,” Mayer said, speaking of the military retiree population who uses Tricare.

There is so much WRONG with those two sentences, it’s all I can do not to sit sputtering in a fury.

“As OFTEN as they WANT to”? RATIONED CARE is what that says. Or implying we’re all hypochondriacs. ExCUSE us for going to the doctor. Frankly, you can KMA for this household’s sake, because we rarely use our privilege for other than yearly check-ups (‘Cause you know, beancounting asshat, WELLNESS actually SAVES money!) and emergency things, like my gall bladder, or the skin cancer they’re carving off my gourd in January. Forgive us for seeing a doctor. The NERVE of YOU.

And the idea that somehow we all magically have a person in the household EMPLOYED is LAUGHABLE considering WHO is President and WHAT he’s done (or NOT done, as the case may be) to the economy to foster getting those LOST jobs back. (And they’ve been LOST in this household, as well as many of the other military retirees we know.) Especially EMPLOYED FULL TIME ones WITH employer provided insurance? Surely you jest. I feel like he’s playing Circle Jerk, because everyone knows ObamaCare has pretty much boned employer provided insurance for the majority of Americans, so we’re back to the beginning.

And before you scream about “Democrats”, blahblahblah, please know some Republicans like the sainted Paul Ryan are also BIG proponents of a move very much like this.

Merry Christmas.

In Other Presbyterian News

132 children peacefully slaughtered in Pakistan.

Taliban militants killed dozens of children in an attack on an army-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar that left 132 people dead so far, the country’s deadliest terrorist attack since at least 2007.

Two attackers are still holding 40 teachers and 20 students hostage, Mushtaq Ghani, information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said by phone. Four attackers blew themselves up and another was shot dead by soldiers, he said.

…Terrorism has killed more than 50,000 people in Pakistan since 2001 and complicated efforts to revive South Asia’s second-biggest economy.

“complicated”

Yeah, that’s one word for it.

Quote Of The Day

The comments angered cops, with one saying, “Did he tell his son to be wary of his police bodyguards, that he should be afraid of them as they pick him up at school and drive him where he needs to go?”

Reaction to Mayor de Blasio’s remarks from the other night.

I wonder if he “warned his son about the dangers” of the 47 member police security detail that went with him and his family on their vacation to Italy this Summer?

Meanwhile, Back In Chicago

via ZeroHedge, here’s some interesting data on something that the media and activists keep ignoring in their Ferguson Focus

While the events down in Ferguson play out, back in Chicagoland the same old bullshit continues day in and day out with nary a peep. In the 107 days since officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18 year old Michael Brown – 12:03pm, Saturday, August 9th – the following stupidity has taken place in Chicago:

155 homicides (74% black males)
725 shot & wounded
Six (6) 18 year olds killed: Kawantis Montgomery, Kamaal Burton, Tony McIntos, Alexandra Burgos, Rayvon Little, Johnathan Cartwright
59 18 year olds shot & wounded
29 teenagers (13-19) killed
244 teenagers (13-19) shot and wounded
10 shot (5 killed) by the CPD
2 teens – 17yo Laquan McDonald & 19yo Roshad McIntosh – shot & killed by the CPD
9yo Antonio Smith was executed by 4 jagoffs
3yo Donnell Coakley killed by his mother
Brutal, yet incredibly asinine and absurd to say the least.

So what is it about these stats that hasn’t caused people to lose their collective shit?

After all, there have been plenty of opportunities to march, chant, throw shit, break stuff, come up with a hashtag, etc… in the past few months, not only in Chicago, but all over the nation. So where is the national media? The cable news talking heads? The race pimpin’ super duo of Jesse and Al? The professional agitators and social justice warriors? The exploiting politicians? Almost 900 shootings and homicides in the past three months and not one is worthy of their attention.

It’s all about the Narrative, kids, and how that can be turned to their advantage.

No one gives a shit about the bodies.

Even SNL Is Starting To Wake Up

It’s pretty accurate, brutal…and about 6 years too late.

Update: meh, I see NBC has blocked the video. Oh well, it’s also here.

No, Sorry CNN

You didn’t get pasted in the mid-terms because of Freemasons sharing information on Twitter for god’s sake

Washington (CNN) — Republicans and outside groups used anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data ahead of the midterm elections, CNN has learned, a practice that raises questions about whether they violated campaign finance laws that prohibit coordination.
The Twitter accounts were hidden in plain sight. The profiles were publicly available but meaningless without knowledge of how to find them and decode the information, according to a source with knowledge of the activities.
The practice is the latest effort in the quest by political operatives to exploit the murky world of campaign finance laws at a time when limits on spending in politics are eroding and regulators are being defanged.

I find it so pathetic that the Dems are so up in arms that the polls they commissioned and took ahead of the election were wrong…the polls, mind you, not, say, their awful policies.

But yes, of course, so now the rallying cry will be “Government control of da Interwebz is needed to keep us Free!”

“Off the Cuff” and “Inappropriate”

So ignore that shit I said about y’all being dumbasses, ’cause I never meant it.

‘Til I said it again…

Armistice Day

That whole “War-To-End-All-Wars” stuff sadly never really seems to work out, does it?

This Is A Huge Scandal

It deserves a lot more attention than it’s getting

Massive, systemic academic fraud at UNC-Chapel Hill revolving around its athletics department (particularly the high-power basketball team) has been detailed in an explosive investigation that if anything does not go far enough. Forbes reports:

An eight-month investigation by former federal prosecutor Kenneth L. Wainstein has found that more than 3100 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students – almost half of them athletes — were given credit for “irregular” (read: nonexistent) classes over an 18-year period from 1993-2011 as part of a organized scheme that allowed many to remain sports-eligible.

The Wainstein report — which the University of North Carolina (UNC) authorized and paid for — does not directly implicate any coach. […] we didn’t receive a full-throated answer from Mr. Wainstein, perhaps because he was hired by the party that stands to lose the most from a comprehensive presentment.

College big money athletics have, in large part, turned into a cancer that is destroying our universities.

Sweet Dreams, Precious Boy

Vale, Warrior.

Funeral underway for #CplNathanCirillo killed in #Ottawa: body carried on gun carriage through home of Hamilton, ONT. pic.twitter.com/ntZVcfoIDe

— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) October 28, 2014

Bush League Lies and WMD Thoughts to Chew On

…from Ebola:

Imagine that you are witnessing a trial for public endangerment and a parole violation; the suspect is a prior convicted murderer and is a capable gunsmith, who killed his prior victims with a very specific and unique type of firearm. As part of his plea deal during the last set of murders he committed, the suspect agreed to give up his weapons not already seized or destroyed, all ammo and any facilities or utilities used in the production of weapons. Under this agreement, scheduled followups are made to check that he had indeed removed his arms and capability of creating more.

Through a grueling process over the course of a decade, the authorities have been witness to the suspects attempting to hide information and materials related to the violation his plea agreement. Recently, a family member has come forward and confirmed that not only is the suspect hiding ordnance he was supposed to have gotten rid of, but is reacquiring the items necessary to create more.

Under the premise that the man is a possible threat to the public safety, the authorities secure a search warrant and force entry into the house, leading to conflict with the suspect. Inside the house the authorities find weapons, ammunition and gunsmithing utilities the individual was supposed to have removed and actively hid from inspection; they find limited evidence to indicate that he has actively created or attempted to create additional ordnance in the meanwhile. Fearing the weapons might pose danger to their agents and the public, the authorities use controlled detonations to destroy the evidence. It sounds like a straight forward case, but the argument put forward by the defense has a very strange twist, they argue that the suspect is innocent. They base this on the fact that there were no new firearms or munitions, even though the evidence itself, outside of pictures, is destroyed. The logical disjunction from the charges and basis for the original warrant is staggering: welcome to Von Clausewitz post-2003 Iraq politics.

The popular argument, flying in the face of empirical evidence from over a decade of conflict, has been that no WMDs, general term, were found or used in Iraq, by either Iraqi forces or insurgents. The oft quoted pretext for war or the search warrant, in the earlier analogy, is put before the UN by President Bush on Sept 12, 2002. Let’s take a recent example of this type of defense citing the Bush speech, in a response to the New York Times article covering the massive amounts of chemical weapons, a WMD, found in Iraq over the last decade:

But on Septmeber 12, 2002, President Bush described a different threat while making the case for the 2003 Iraq invasion: “Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.” The Times’ investigation doesn’t mention any findings of biological weapons.

He went on, “The regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.”

According to the investigation, the chemical weapons discovered by U.S. soldiers after the 2003 invasion were all manufactured before 1991.

Directly addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Bush continued, “We have been more than patient. We have tried sanctions. We have tried the carrot of ‘oil for food’ and the stick of coalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction.”

–No, Chemical Weapons in Iraq Do Not Prove That Bush Was Right to Invade, Jessica Schulberg, New Republic.

It doesn’t take a logician to recognize the obvious red herring: the expansion and improvement of a facility does not equate to the actual production of arms, any more than our fictitious suspect having ownership of an ammo press means that ammo had been and continued to be produced. Another common usage of red herring is purposeful contextual misrepresentation. Miss Schulberg is purposely leaving out the next reason for invasion, specifically stripping it of context to continue the ”production” red herring.

Miss Schulberg’s version in No, Chemical Weapons in Iraq Do Not Prove That Bush Was Right to Invade :

“…He went on, “The regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.”…”

Direct from the speech:

“United Nations inspections also reveal that Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard, and other chemical agents, and that the regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.”

I’ve italicized the portion of the sentence that Miss Schulberg has misrepresented to make a point: this is feckless, purposely misleading politics posing as pseudo-journalism. Miss Schulberg is in no way unique, articles from Salon and other outlets have spoken in the affirmative that there were no WMDs, sometimes while actually including bits about WMD encounters, for virtually the entirety of the occupation and afterward. There has been regular media-Alzheimers, on all sides, for the past decade concerning the fact that there was plenty of documentation that Iraq had continued its development, while under sanction and inspections, into these weapons or that even before the New York Times piece, estimates on destroyed weapons caches put the numbers from five hundred weapons to well into the thousands.

The repeated assertion that the weapons were of pre-1991 manufacture is also entirely conjecture, especially given the documentation supporting the continued study of these weapons, due in large part that the evidence was purposely destroyed because of the threat it posed to allied troops. More importantly, it’s an inane case to forward due to the fact that the mere possession of these purposely hidden items vindicated the reasoning for invasion. It also raises the specter of what would have occurred as Saddam’s grip over the region continued to wane if we had not invaded.

President Bush’s rational for invasion was typically simple: Hussein had agreed to disarm and prove that he had disarmed, while removing his capability to rearm in the future. Hussein had proven with the invasion of Kuwait that he was willing to make unprovoked attacks in blitzkrieg fashion on his neighbors when the opportunity was presented. Hussein had made multiple agreements concerning human rights inside Iraq, then broke them. Iraq agreed not to sponsor terror, yet continued to hunt down and assassinate it’s dissenters and attempted to assassinate President Bush Sr, to which President Clinton made Tomahawk strikes against Iraq in response. After the defection of General Kamel al-Majid to Jordon, the Iraqi government admitted that they had retained a large bioweapons package from anthrax to botulin in violation of the agreed terms; these weapons were never accounted for. Iraq retained a large stockpile of chemical weapons, beyond their declared and then destroyed stockpile, which the New York Times account continues to show recent evidence of and examples of insurgents now using the weapons. President Bush pointed out that it had been four years since UN inspectors had been ejected from the country, “The history, the logic and the facts lead to one conclusion. Saddam Hussein’s regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime’s good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take.”

The questions these journalists should be asking is why the administrations involved ignored almost three thousand years of military maxim to create a quagmire, with further bungling down the line, after a successful surge strategy mopped up the majority of the original strategic error. They should be asking why the Bush administration failed to defend themselves, outside the 2006 Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report, that WMDs had indeed been found along with materials and research for making any number of CBRN (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) weapons in the future. Of course, given articles like Miss Schulberg there is more empirical evidence that the media simply wouldn’t allow that message to go forward leading to the populace believing largely that there was no vindication for the invasion.

To conclude, the vast majority pretense presented in the case for invasion has been vindicated. However, the populace has been spun to believe that these are not the things we went to find after years of “journalism” by those like Miss Schulberg, regardless of political stripe. The press, instead of asking pertinent questions on policy and execution thereof, attempted to force creation of non-legislated mob based policy: to the dishonor of this nation, they succeeded. I’ll leave you with a little more of President Bush’s speech.

“If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles and all related material.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support for terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population, including Shi’a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans and others — again as required by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues as required by the Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of funds from that program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis — a government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty and internationally supervised elections.”

I Was The Next Man!

Oregon’s Governor unfortunately learns some more about his fiancee

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber got one hell of an October surprise, as his fiancée tearfully admitted Thursday to having a green-card marriage to an 18-year-old Ethiopian immigrant.

The stunning admission comes after an alternative newspaper first reported that Cylvia Hayes – who despite being engaged goes by the title “first lady” in the state – had been married, and divorced, three times before.

Two of those were known. But the Democratic governor to whom she’s engaged, and the public, apparently didn’t know about the third.

…Wiping away tears at a Thursday news conference, Hayes said she accepted around $5,000 to marry the immigrant, Abraham Abraham, in 1997 so that he could remain in the United States.

“It was a marriage of convenience,” Hayes said. “He needed help and I needed financial support.”

…Hayes said she was “associating with the wrong people” while struggling to put herself through college when she agreed to the sham marriage. Hayes was twice divorced and just shy of her 30th birthday when she married the Ethiopian man.

Hayes said she and the Ethiopian man never lived together, met only a handful of times and have not had any contact since the divorce was finalized in 2002.

She was 30, he was 18.

What The Hell Is Going On In Sayreville?

If these allegations are true heads should roll and people should go to jail

It came without warning.

It would start with a howling noise from a senior football player at Sayreville War Memorial High School, and then the locker room lights were abruptly shut off.

In the darkness, a freshman football player would be pinned to the locker room floor, his arms and feet held down by multiple upperclassmen. Then, the victim would be lifted to his feet while a finger was forced into his rectum. Sometimes, the same finger was then shoved into the freshman player’s mouth.

This disturbing hazing within the storied Sayreville football program, as told to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday by the parent of a player in the program, happened almost every day in the locker room this fall, he said.

The allegations — revealed for the first time — provide details to the events that sparked a criminal investigation by local and county police, and prompted the cancellation of the remainder of the Sayreville football season this week by Superintendent of Schools Richard Labbe.

High School athletics, much like college, get away with far too much and wield far too much power.

“Don’t Worry, We Got This” Update

The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has died.

The two health care workers who were brought back from Africa and survived were brought back under extraordinary circumstances, with the best medical care and an experimental vaccine ~ one we are currently out of of. What you haven’t heard much about is the two Spanish priests who received that vaccine and still perished.

…It is unclear why the rare drug is being given to the Norwegian woman rather than critically ill Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man diagnosed in the US, and the decision could prove controversial.

Two Spanish missionaries treated with ZMapp died and it is impossible to tell whether it helped cure the other patients or their recovery was down to other factors.

This Ebola patient and the NBC cameraman were/are receiving another experimental vaccine, whose development had nothing to DO with Ebola, but WHAT THE HELL. Give it a shot when it’s ALL YOU’VE GOT, right?

UN: OK to use untested Ebola drugs in outbreak

You know what I hate? I hate the thought that’s whapping ’round in my head right now.

We have FOUR thousand American troops headed over there ~ NOT medical professionals, but TROOPS. Do you know what they are? Guinea pigs. Lab rats. Because WHAT can a soldier, sailor or Marine NOT do? Refuse experimental treatment, nor can they sue for malpractice damages, regardless of DOD language saying a member “must give informed consent.” I vividly remember the explosion about the experimental anthrax vaccines (Section G) they started pumping into our guys when the first Gulf War started ~ both me and major dad, who WAS on his way to Saudi Arabia, were active duty United States Marines. (I believe there was a Supreme Court decision as well ~ or a refusal to hear ~ basically reasserting the govt’s rights to do as they saw fit.)

Just yesterday, General Rodriguez of AfriCom had to walk back statements he made (I heard them live and about pooped ma drawers) that (Get this):

General: U.S. military could be in Liberia for one year to help contain Ebola outbreak
Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said nearly 4,000 U.S. service members will have direct contact with victims. Military personnel will provide logistical support to Liberia.

He scuttled backwards faster than a crab from boiling water about 40 minutes later.

But WHO you gonna believe?

ths update: Re: checking sniffly noses and puke bags at a couple airports. Let me add one more cheerful thought for your day, from someone whom I respect immensely:

SOUTHCOM Commander: Ebola Outbreak in Central America Could Cause Mass Migration to U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The head of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) warned an Ebola outbreak in Central America or the Caribbean could trigger a mass migration to the U.S. of people fleeing the disease and implied established Central American illegal trafficking networks could introduce the infected into the U.S., during remarks at a Tuesday panel on security issues in the Western Hemisphere at the National Defense University.

“If it comes to the Western Hemisphere, the countries that we’re talking about have almost no ability to deal with it — particularly in Haiti and Central America,” SOUTHCOM Commander, Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, said in response to a question of his near term concerns in the region.

“It will make the 68,000 unaccompanied minors look like a small problem.”

“Almost NO ability to deal with it” and that’s saying we DO… 🙁

The Kindest Thing I’ve Seen Them Calling Her After This Statement

…is “confused” in a totally patronizing way. In this day and age of Obama, Holder, Al and MSNBC hate, I’d call her heroic.

#WarOnWomen

OMG, it is so outrageous and criminal that the female head of the Secret Service was forced to resign

Islamic State extremists have herded hundreds of women to be given to its fighters in Syria as a reward or sold as sex slaves and have summarily executed women in professions, according to the United Nations.

About 500 women and girls of the Yezidi and Christian minority communities were given to Islamic State fighters or trafficked for sale in markets in Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, according to a report published today by the UN mission in Iraq and the world body’s human-rights office in Geneva.

“Women and girls are brought with price tags for the buyers to choose and negotiate the sale. The buyers were said to be mostly youth from the local communities,” according to the 29-page report, which cites testimony from witnesses and surviving victims. “Apparently ISIL was ‘selling’ these Yezidi women to the youth as a means of inducing them to join their ranks.”

This is what the Unicorn Whisperer considers the JV Team.

Because, if one goes by the wisdom so passionately imparted by his speeches, the real enemy is of course Fox News.

Besides the Fact That the CDC, On Their Public Pages

…removed from their website the minor statement that they HAVE NO FRICKIN’ IDEA HOW EBOLA IS TRANSMITTED, they’ve left UP an interim guidance for hospitals which says the little wrigglers can survive (“remain viable”) on surfaces or in pools of goo, for SIX DAYS.

How long does Ebola virus persist in indoor environments?

Only one laboratory study, which was done under environmental conditions that favor virus persistence, has been reported. This study found that under these ideal conditions Ebola virus could remain active for up to six days.1 In a follow up study, Ebola virus was found, relative to other enveloped viruses, to be quite sensitive to inactivation by ultraviolet light and drying; yet sub-populations did persist in organic debris.

2. In the only study to assess contamination of the patient care environment during an outbreak, conducted in an African hospital under “real world conditions”, virus was not detected by either nucleic acid amplification or culture in any of 33 samples collected from sites that were not visibly bloody. Virus was detected on a blood-stained glove and bloody intravenous insertion site by nucleic acid amplification, which may detect non-viable virus, but not by culture for live, infectious virus.3 Based upon these data and what is known regarding the environmental infection control of other enveloped RNA viruses, the expectation is with consistent daily cleaning and disinfection practices in U.S. hospitals that the persistence of Ebola virus in the patient care environment would be short – with 24 hours considered a cautious upper limit.

They also recommend “sanitary sewers” for Ebola patients if they, like, have to use a bathroom. Should be easy enough to come by, eh?

“It Was Regrettable That The Incident Occurred”

Those poor souls involved in the incident were unavailable for comment

(Reuters) – Eight bodies, including those of three journalists, were found after an attack on a team trying to educate locals on the risks of the Ebola virus in a remote area of southeastern Guinea, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

“The eight bodies were found in the village latrine. Three of them had their throats slit,” Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters by telephone in Conakry.

…Fofana said the team that included local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher and three accompanying journalists, was attacked by a hostile stone-throwing crowd from the village when they tried to inform people about Ebola.

He said it was regrettable that the incident occurred as the international community was mobilizing to help countries struggling to contain the disease.

I just can’t wait for 3,000 of our men and women to get there. What could possibly go wrong?

Presbyterians Denied Peaceful Venting Opportunity To Express Grievances

As always the Evil Oppressors over-react

Massive anti-terrorism operations in NSW and Queensland:

7News reporter Robert Ovadia has received information about an alleged plot to kidnap a random person from the streets of Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD, execute them by beheading …

AFP swooped in pre-dawn raids to disrupt plans to commit a violent attack on Australian soil.

They executed 25 search warrants in Sydney, arresting 15 people, one of which has been charged with serious terror offences.

Click for video. Around 500 officers were involved in the raids:

Hundreds of ASIO and heavily armed police officers swooped in anti-terrorism raids to prevent a mass casualty shooting in Sydney and possible beheadings.

Police backed up by armoured cars arrested dozens of people in a dozen separate pre-dawn operations across NSW and Brisbane.

The combined effort amounted to the largest anti-terrorism operation in Australian history – and senior officers revealed the attack by a suspected terrorist cell was imminent.
Further to come following court appearances later today.

UPDATE:

One of the men arrested in Thursday morning’s anti-terrorism raids in Sydney has appeared in court on a charge of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act …

Prosecutors allege he was part of a plan to commit an act to “shock, horrify and terrify” the community.

UPDATE II:

Mr Abbott was briefed on the police raid on Wednesday night, which included intelligence that public beheadings were planned. “The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country,” he told reporters.

“So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.”

The raids follow investigation of a Lakemba-based company over $9 million in possible Islamic State funding.

Naturally, some folks are upset that they weren’t given advance warning of the raids

UPDATE III. A press release from Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesidiot Uthman Badar:

As late as last week both the Prime Minister and outgoing ASIO boss David Irvine confirmed that there was no intelligence of any plans to carry out attacks in Australia. A few days later and we wake up to heavy-handed raids and talk of a “terrorist network” planning attacks.

The timing of these raids is suspect indeed. With the ‘anti-terror’ laws, which hit a wall in the community, to be tabled to Parliament next week and with ‘military intervention’ imminent in Iraq, these raids are very timely for the Government and its propaganda campaign for the same.

Shockingly, even CNN is covering this.

Questions That Cry for Answers

So I’m moving there IMMEDIATELY – with no job, mind you – to get to the bottom of this.

Dude.

City mandates free medical marijuana for low-income residents

That’s what the Berkeley City Council in California has unanimously approved, ordering medical marijuana dispensaries to donate 2 percent of their stash to patients making less than $32,000 a year.

The new welfare program in the liberal-leaning city is set to launch in August 2015.

But Berkeley’s decision to effectively order weed redistribution is prompting a vocal backlash.

Bishop Ron Allen, a former addict and head of the International Faith Based Coalition, told Fox News he doesn’t understand why the California city would want to dump pot on the impoverished.

“It’s ludicrous, over-the-top madness,” Allen said.

“Why would Berkeley City Council want to keep their poverty-stricken under-served high, in poverty and lethargic?”

John Lovell, a lobbyist for the California Narcotic Officers’ Association, agrees.

“Instead of taking steps to help the most economically vulnerable residents get out of that state, the city has said, ‘Let’s just get everybody high,‘” Lovell told The New York Times.

Now THAT’S California Dreamin’!

And…

…sniffle.

Bengals Re-Sign Devon Still To Help Him Pay For Daughter’s Cancer Treatments

…The Bengals re-signed defensive tackle Devon Still to their practice squad to help him pay for his 4-year-old daughter’s cancer treatments. He was waived by the team on Saturday, Aug. 30.

…But when Still received the call this morning that he had been signed to the practice squad, and in turn would receive health insurance as well as a weekly salary of $6,300, he was incredibly grateful. The signing also means that Still will continue playing the game he loves — for the team that drafted him — without all of the traveling, meaning he can be closer to his daughter as she undergoes treatments.

TigerHeart. Bravo, Bengals. BRA-VO.

Get well SOON, Leah.

From “The Sod Off Swampy” Files

Via Tim we learn that sensible, rural Indian villagers are shockingly not amused by condescending liberal Westerners

Denied energy for 33 years, the Indian village of Dharnai nevertheless rightfully rejects sub-standard electricity:

Greenpeace decided to use the village as an example to the world to showcase how communities can do just fine on renewable energy. Greenpeace India set up a “solar-powered micro-grid” to power the village and it was paraded before the media as a success.

But the villagers hate it, because their new power source is rubbish. India Today reports:

They now want asli bijli (real electricity) from the government.

Slogan such as “Hamen nakli nahin, asli bijli chahiye (We do not want artificial energy, give us the real one,)” greeted former Chief minister Nitish Kumar, as he went to the village to see how the long forgotten region, devoid of electricity since 1981, looked after dusk.

Nitish … was met by village youngsters carrying placards demanding “real source of energy”, and “not the fake solar powered” one.

How dare they not worship at the feet of Greenpeace for their solar set-up…which is useless at night. Hell, they should be sleeping and not worry about such corrupting icons of Western Decadence like refrigerators. And lights. And hospitals.

Sing it with me now: “Hamen nakli nahin, asli bijli chahiye (We do not want artificial energy, give us the real one!)”

Ah, good times, good times!

There Are Worthy Government Studies

…and then there aren’t.

You can title this one The ONGOING Study to Figure Out WHY Lesbians Are Disproportionately Fat.

I shit you not.

OR you could call it what the clever fellows who filed the research grants did:

SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND OBESITY: TEST OF A GENDERED BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL

…Women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with nearly three-quarters of lesbians overweight or obese, compared to half of heterosexual women…

WHILE they were SWEATING losing their ‘stipend’ due to sequestration, this year’s 2014 pay-out has survived to the tune of costing you $670+K, ON TOP of the $2,202,913 in funding they’ve received since it got cranking in 2011 (2011-$778,662/2012-$741,378/2013-$682,873).

Think back to some of the illustrious moments in this administration’s reign so far. They LOCKED WWII Vets OUT of their Memorial, wouldn’t allow Boy Scouts and OLD LADIES through the White House, THREATENED military retiree pay, BARRICADED the National Parks, wanted WOUNDED VETS to get their OWN insurance, gave EVERYBODY a WHOPPIN’ heart attack of EPIC PROPORTIONS…but kept the bucks flowing to the “how on EARTH did these wymmins get so ROTUND?” research committee.

Yeah. THE ‘no stra-tee-gery’ guys.

They Have The Power

So of course they abuse it

FAIRFIELD (CBS13) – Court documents show that Fairfield Police Officers Stephen Ruiz and Jacob Glashoff used company time and equipment to search for women on internet dating sites.
The documents also show that two used the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System – a statewide police database – to screen the women they liked.
…The court documents allege another Fairfield officer reported the incidents to his superior back in June.
The reporting officer alleged that both Ruiz and Glashoff found women’s profiles had been browsing women on dating websites like Tinder, eHarmony, and Match.com while working at the investigations bureau office of the Fairfield Police Department.
…Court documents allege the officers then used a police-issued computer to look up the women they found appealing in a confidential law enforcement database that connects to the DMV and state and federal records.
Court documents go on to say Sgt. Ruiz and Detective Glashoff would perform the searches and have conversations about the dating sites in front of other officers.
The Fairfield Police Department says it cannot comment on the ongoing investigation because of government code. Another law enforcement agency is in charge of the investigation, police say.
If the allegations are found true, the officers could face felony criminal charges.

Let’s see if this actually happens.

I ain’t holding my breath.