This Is Conservative Social Activism...Now With Added Flavor Enhancing Ingredients!
Driving the Left forward in confusion and disarray to their own destruction with a song in my heart.
This time, the federal government lost $42 million on a loan to a Michigan-based manufacturer of natural-gas-powered vans for the disabled, called Vehicle Production Group (at least we can be pretty sure they didn’t use any federal funds on branding). VPG stopped operations in February, and last week, the federal government sold its note, which had an original balance of $50 million, to AM General, the company that builds Hummers and Humvees, for $3 million — after the company had managed to pay back $5 million worth of the loan, the federal fisc’s loss adds up to $42 million. AM General says it will continue building the vans at its Indiana factory.
According to latest reports from Russia, the large Landing Ship – Tanks (LST) Nikolai Filchenkov from the Russian Black Sea Fleet is on its way to the East Mediterranean, probably set for the docks at the Russian naval base Tartus, Syria.
Having taken on board an unspecified “special cargo” at the Black Sea naval port of Novorossiysk, its mission is still a mystery. The arrival of the Nikolai Filchenkov in Tartus is not the first that Russian landing ships made to this port. Only recently the Russian Interfax news agency reported the LST Novocherkassk, (carrying 150 marine special forces) and Minsk (with 300 troops), were sent to the Syrian port, although their mission was not specified. According to the website of the Russian Black Sea Fleet the Filchenkov can carry 300 troops + 1,700 tons of cargo, including about 20 tanks and trucks or 40 AFV’s. The recent mission coincided with an unplanned US-Russian summit at St. Petersburg. Although no such meeting was priori arranged between President Barak Obama and Vladimir Putin at the G20 conference in St Petersburg, the meeting between the two leaders (just them, no staff) lasted 30 minutes.
Following the meeting no announcements were given to the media, which seems strange under the present Syrian crisis, that has already dominated the Summit. Read More from Gary Oldman
The woman whose opinion lawmakers are relying on to go to war in Syria is also a paid advocate for the war-torn country’s rebels.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry encouraged members of the House of Representatives to read a Wall Street Journal op-ed by 26-year-old Elizabeth O’Bagy — an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War — who asserted that concerns about extremists dominating among the Syrian rebels are unfounded.
“Contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al-Qaida die-hards,” O’Bagy wrote for the Journal on Aug. 30. “Moderate opposition groups make up the majority of actual fighting forces,” she wrote.
But in addition to her work for the Institute for the Study of War, O’Bagy is also the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group that advocates within the United States for Syria’s rebels — a fact that the Journal did not disclose in O’Bagy’s piece. In an interview with The Daily Caller, O’Bagy said that despite her title as the group’s political director, she is paid as a contractor.
She insisted that she is not involved in the political lobbying that SETF does. “They kind of have two departments within the Task Force — one focused on working with the government on the Hill on advocacy and then the other working inside Syria and directly implementing government contracts,” she said.
O’Bagy’s relationship with SETF is a serious conflict of interest, according to David Reaboi, vice president for strategic communications at the Center for Security Policy.
“While there’s been a lot of worthwhile effort to expose activists considered pro-Assad or pro-Hezbollah — or, at least, to consider their analysis as coming from an interested party — O’Bagy seems to pass herself off as an impartial observer of the situation. Her access to Congress, intelligence services and to think tanks should be regarded as what it really is, which is a reflection of the Syrian rebels’ cause and aspirations,” Reaboi said.
In speaking with TheDC, O’Bagy regularly insisted that she was not a salaried employee of SETF, but a paid contractor acting in an advisory role.
“I’m the political director and aid coordinator, and that’s my official title at the organization, but that’s mostly because it provides me an opportunity to engage on humanitarian issues and to be a part of some of these larger government contracts going to humanitarian aid,” O’Bagy said.
The Foreign Policy news site reported in June that SETF “boasts extensive contacts with rebel commanders” and “spent months lobbying Congress, the State Department and the White House for everything from small arms to anti-tank and and anti-aircraft weapons to body armor to advanced communications equipment for the rebels.”
O’Bagy is quoted in the Foreign Policy piece saying that the Obama administration’s June decision to openly arm Syrian rebels didn’t go far enough. ”Small arms and ammunition really only get you so far against airplanes,” she said then.
Kerry and other lawmakers — including Sen. John McCain — have relied on O’Bagy’s assessments while calling for an American military intervention in Syria. McCain even traveled with O’Bagy to Syria in May. “A woman by the name of Elizabeth Bagly, B-A-G-L-Y, just wrote an article,” Kerry said in congressional testimony Wednesday — spelling O’Bagy’s name wrong — “she works with the Institute of War.
She’s fluent in Arabic and spent an enormous amount of time studying the opposition and studying Syria. She just published this the other day. Very interesting [Wall Street Journal] article, which I commend to you.”
“I just don’t agree that a majority are al-Qaida and the bad guys,” Kerry concluded. In April 2013, al-Nusra pledged loyalty to al-Qaida.
O’Bagy told TheDC that she had opposed the terrorist designation because she feared it would damage the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship.
“The point that I was trying to make in terms of al-Nusra being designated a terrorist organization was that at the time they had been embraced to a large degree by certain aspects of the population and they were very much seen as fighting for the cause,” she said. “I knew that designating them as a terrorist organization would have a very radicalizing impact on the ground. I wasn’t sure if that trend could be reversed. I was terrified that this could be an irreversible process of radicalization.”
O’Bagy told TheDC that she was wrong to consider al-Nusra anything but a terror group.
“I can admit when I’m wrong. In many ways al-Nusra has revealed its true face and many see it as a foreign influence and an outside group… Designating them a terrorist group has helped empower more moderate groups,” she said.
But O’Bagy blames the United States’ lack of support for the increased role of such al-Qaida affiliated groups.
The “failure of America to help the Syrian people” is what is “pushing” Syrian rebels “into the arms” of extremists, she said.
“If the moderate forces are going to be successful, if they are going to maintain their ability to leverage any sort of influence, then they need to be supported and they need to be empowered. If they are not able to respond to these attacks, the rebels [will join the extremists who] are better resourced, better equipped, actually willing to respond directly to these chemical weapons attacks,” O’Bagy said.
Woman: Is there a problem, Officer Officer: Ma’am, you were speeding.
Woman: Oh, I see. Officer: Can I see your license please?
Woman: I’d give it to you but I don’t have one.
Officer: Don’t have one? Woman: Lost it 4 times for drunk driving. Officer: I see…Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.
Woman: I can’t do that.
Officer: Why not?
Woman: I stole this car.
Officer: Stole it?
Woman: Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner. Officer: You what?
Woman: His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see.
The Officer looks at the woman, slowly backs away to his car, and calls for back up. Within minutes 5 police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.
Officer 2: Ma’am, could you step out of your vehicle please!
The woman steps out of her vehicle.
Woman: Is there a problem sir? Officer 2: One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner.
Woman: Murdered the owner? Officer 2: Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car, please. The woman opens the trunk, revealing nothing but an empty trunk. Officer 2: Is this your car, ma’am? Woman: Yes, here are the registration papers. The first officer is stunned.
Officer 2: One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.
The woman digs into her handbag and pulls out a clutch purse and hands it to the officer. The officer snaps open the clutch purse and examines the license. He looks quite puzzled.
Officer 2: Thank you ma’am, one of my officers told me you didn’t have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner. Woman: Betcha the lying bastard told you I was speeding too. H/T topitsnipesgripes
In the town of Tucumcari, New Mexico stands an outhouse and above the commode sits a sigh that says “Obama’s Presidential Library.” Some support it, some think it is disrespectful and in “bad taste,” but it hasn’t stopped people from stopping to photograph it like a tourist destination.
“It’s like watching TV. If you don’t like what the hell you’re watching, turn the channel,” said the man who put up the sign. “I’m not even certain he even deserves that level of respect, but that’s my opinion.”
Lauren Zakalik, a reporter for KOAT-TV, the local ABC affiliate, phoned city manager Doug Powers “to see if the city was doing anything about the sign.” Powers said he had not seen the placard yet, but would visit the location to check if it’s compliant with city codes. Concerning the message, Powers thinks the city doesn’t have control over what people say. Meanwhile, online commenters are having little problem dooing their business, posting comments on KOAT’s website such as:
“That’s an insult to the outhouse.”
“I think for Obama it should be a two-story outhouse.”
“It’s no wonder Obama’s library is so small, it only consists of one book … the Communist Manifesto!”
“I think two books. The other is the Koran.”
“If the sign read: ‘G.W. Bush Presidential Library,’ it wouldn’t even be in the news!”
“One things liberals have NEVER had is a sense of humor. Unless it’s about trashing Republicans or hate-speech against Sarah Palin. Other than that, they are cold, sour, nasty people who desperately need to lighten up.”
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a Muslim Brotherhood group in America. It shares the same ideals as the Muslim Brotherhood that birthed Al-Qaeda and the same Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt that wants strict enforcement of sharia law. The only difference is its stealth as it has to adapt to western culture in order to make greater gains. Its members want you to believe that they represent a different kind of Islam; they do not.
This reality is what should outrage Americans over this video message from Barack Obama, in which he congratulates ISNA on its 50th Annual Convention. In this video message, Obama also mentions ISNA President Mohammed Magid. Incidentally, and as we reported here, Magid’s ISNA convened a ‘broad-based working group‘ to determine how best to handle the situation in Syria. Present were leaders of various other Muslim Brotherhood groups in America, to include CAIR, MPAC, and ICNA, along with Magid of the ISNA. Here is a description of the purpose of the meeting, taken from the ISNA website:
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) co-convenes a broad-based working group to discuss the crisis in Syria and how to support the Syrian people through efforts to advance human rights and democracy in Syria. At least 50 people were in attendance from approximately 40 American organizations including Muslim, interfaith, and Syrian American groups. A planning committee of national Muslim organizations, including ISNA, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Islamic Circle of North America, convened the meeting. ISNA has long been greatly concerned about the condition of the Syrian people, the crimes against humanity being committed there, and the need for greater relief efforts. The working group discussed ways to expand into a wider network of organizations in order to increase public awareness about the Syrian situation. The discussion included an informative presentation by a renowned polling firm regarding American public perception on the conflict.
EL to R: Haris Tarin (Executive Director of MPAC in Washington, DC), unknown, Salam al-Marayati (MPAC Executive DIrector), Mohammed Magid (ISNA President), Nihad Awad (CAIR executive Director), Naeem Baig (ICNA President), unknown
As you might guess, all of these groups support the Muslim Brotherhood rebels in Syria.
If you are a public school student in America, apparently Uncle Sam literally believes he’s your uncle.
Yesterday The Blaze reported on an homework sheet it received from the concerned parent of an Illinois fourth grader. The school is teaching children that the U.S. government is “like a nation’s family”.
Obama's Kenyan Family
Titled “What is Government?,” the worksheet goes on to teach the children: “Government is all of the agencies, departments, organizations, groups, individuals in a nation who make, carry out, enforce, and manage conflicts about rules and laws. Government is like a nation’s family. Families take care of children and make sure they are safe, healthy and educated, and free to enjoy life.”
The sheet comes complete with a little cartoon drawing that depicts Uncle Sam holding a little baby wearing the same hallmark stars-and-stripes themed top hat. The ten questions that follow go on to use a repetitive back-and-forth technique to thoroughly draw up similarities between a child’s family and the U.S. government. Examples include, “How does your family keep you safe?” followed by “How does the government keep its citizens safe?” and “How does your family keep you healthy?” followed by “How does the government keep its citizens healthy?” Is this homework indoctrination and government propaganda at its finest being served up to brainwash young malleable minds in our nation’s public schools?
