Rand Paul Critical of Arming Rebels in Syria

Posted by Jack

In a speech yesterday Rand Paul said, “If there is a theme that connects the dots in the middle east it is that chaos breeds terrorism. What much of the foreign policy elite fail to grasp though, is that intervention to topple secular details … from Hussein to Gaddafi … it’s the same history … the pattern has been repeated, time and time again. And yet what we have here is a failure to understand, a failure to reflect on the outcome of our involvement in Arab civil wars. …

“Secular dictators, who frankly do terrorize their own people, are replaced by radical jihadists who seek terror not only at home, but abroad. …

“Yet here we are again, wading into a civil war. I warned a year ago that [intervention] in Syria’s civil war is a mistake. … I warned that [arms] will be used against the US and Israel. … We’re fighting against our own weapons … This body wants to throw more weapons into the mix!

“Then maybe they will fulfill what they have boasted. So yes we must now defend ourselves from these barbarous jihadists … But let’s not compound the problem by arming these feckless rebels!”

“Assad was our enemy last year – this year he’s our friend. Had all those air strikes occurred last year in Syria, today Isis might be in Damascus. Remember that the unintended consequences of intervening in these thousands of long civil wars.

“Had the hawks been successful last year we would befacing a stronger Isis, likely in charge of all Syira, and most of Iraq. Intervention is not always the answer. ”

“Some will argue … we didn’t have enough intervention … We have not been sitting around doing nothing. Six hundred tons of weapons have already been given to the rebels.”

“It’s a mistake to send more arms to the Syrians. … They sent 29 tons in one month, but there are rumors that the Turks are not quite that discriminating, that many of these weapons went directly or indirectly to [Isis].”

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39 Responses to Rand Paul Critical of Arming Rebels in Syria

  1. Post Scripts says:

    UPDATE – WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House voted grudgingly to give the administration authority to train and arm Syrian rebels on Wednesday as President Barack Obama emphasized anew that American forces “do not and will not have a combat mission” in the struggle against Islamic State militants in either Iraq or Syria.

    The 273-156 vote crossed party lines to an unusual degree in a Congress marked by near ceaseless partisanship. Top Republican and Democratic leaders backed Obama’s plan seven weeks before midterm elections, while dozens of rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties opposed it.

    U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Biloxi, was one of those in opposition.

    “As a Marine who has served in this very region of the world, I believe our men and women in uniform deserve a strong, comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIL,” Palazzo said. “Today’s vote to provide equipment and training to Syrian rebels is an arbitrary half-measure, and one that won’t work. I cannot support handing weapons to a force unless I am 100% confident that our American soldiers won’t have to face fire from those same weapons in the future.

    “ISIL is a threat to Americans here at home and to our allies abroad. They are well-organized, well-trained, and well-financed. I support a U.S. led coalition of international partners to defeat this terrorist group. We need to give our men and women in uniform and military commanders every tool they need to get the job done. But arming an unknown, un-vetted, and unreliable group of rebels is simply not the right strategy.”

    The provision was added to spending legislation that will ensure the federal government operates normally after the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. Final approval is expected in the Senate as early as Thursday.

    Even supporters of the military plan found little to trumpet. “This is the best of a long list of bad options,” said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.

    One Republican supporter noted the measure includes strict limits on Obama’s authority. “Members on both sides of the aisle are very concerned that too much of Congress’ war-making power has gone to the president,” said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.

  2. Tina says:

    It bothers me that the administration is not listening to the generals and doesn’t seem to be talking to Kerry or anyone in Congress.

    What is driving our President’s decisions? Strange sympathies, indecision, dodging a legacy bullet to pass the problem on, ego?

  3. Tina says:

    Krauthammer looks inside the heads of Jihadists and lends important insight:

    They count on Barack Obama quitting the Iraq/Syria campaign just as he quit Iraq and Libya in 2011 and is in the process of leaving Afghanistan now. And this goes beyond Obama. They see a post-9/11 pattern: America experiences shock and outrage and demands action. Then, seeing no quick resolution, it tires and seeks out leaders who will order the retreat. In Obama, they found the quintessential such leader.

    As for the short run, the Islamic State knows it will be pounded from the air. But it deems that price worth paying, given its gains in propaganda and prestige — translated into renown and recruiting — from these public executions.

    Understanding this requires an adjustment to our thinking. A common mantra is that American cruelty — Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, “torture,” the Iraq war itself — is the great jihadist recruiting tool. But leaving Iraq, closing Abu Ghraib and prohibiting “enhanced interrogation” had zero effect on recruiting. In fact, jihadi cadres from Mali to Mosul have only swelled during Obama’s outstretched-hand presidency.

    Turns out the Islamic State’s best recruiting tool is indeed savagery — its own. Deliberate, defiant, triumphant. The beheadings are not just a magnet for psychopaths around the world. They are choreographed demonstrations of its unbounded determination and of American helplessness.

  4. Dewey says:

    I agree we are being used again

    Tina what generals? The retired ones on Fox fearmongering for the arms industry? Look at how they are connected to the arms industry. On their Boards ect. Media is all crap. It is no more than Propaganda owned by 6 dudes. Every Station!

    This history goes way back. We created terrorism! escalated it after WW2!

    We are being suckered. AGAIN!

    Obama is acting on the intel being presented. Ya ever going to acknowledge we get bogus intel? Look at Iraq!

    I would have voted No on the bill. But the big picture is Congress is avoiding their responsibility. They passed it and ran home to campaign after 5 weeks off!. They worked 8 days. Congress is not doing their Job! Congress is a bigger governing body and they get a pass?

    Listen to the politicians and you will see what foreign country they are lobbying for. And yet you support unlimited money in politics? Then do not complain!

    It is very obvious McCain and Graham are Lobbying for the King of Saudi. I want an explanation of McCain Pic hanging out with the enemy!

    Did you already forget the bribes we have caught?

    The 4th largest military in the world is Saudi Arabia? Now they want to lend us money to pay them? We are such a sham of a country!

    Eisenhower warned us on the military complex he created…They can not be controlled…

    Kennedy warned us on the media being Propaganda…Now they are 6 companies controlling the message?

    And yet the human people are lazy freeloaders as they send good jobs overseas!

    watch they will try to put Bush/Clinton ticket that will be a sham!

    Saudi Arabia needs to step up and we need the 28 pages of the Iraq docs released. It will give clues to the corruption in Congress, Follow the money!

    As long as people say they are a Republican or Democrat we will fall.

    Corporations are doing very well record profits, people are starving, working 2 or 3 jobs, there are not enough jobs for citizens and if one follows media they are a fool.

    The never ending war on terror where the banks fund both sides?

    ISIL is getting lots of money, has very elite media, creates elaborate video game style films to recruit foreign young people who are distraught by the forced Austerity around the world?

    This is a Bad deal if we allow it to escalate!

    The middle east must fight their own war. We will fall if we do not focus on our human people and rebuild our manufacturing and job base.

    I call foul! We heard nothing from The candidates but war in Syria who were pandering for their campaign donors does this surprise anyone?

    They want war and they will create the situation for it! CIA is controlled by no one.

  5. Dewey says:

    P.S. do not forget Saudi Arabia was involved in 911!

  6. Post Scripts says:

    Dewey, I’m not sure what retired generals you were talking about because the one’s that have been on CNN and FOX were not in favor of sending weapons to rebels.

    Dewey I have not forgot who hit us on 9/11, they were fanatics..Sunni fanatics, many were from Wahhabi schools. The government of Saudi Arabia had no part in 9/11. Just low level kind of people, except for bin Laden and his lts.

  7. Post Scripts says:

    Krauthammer is brilliant. He summed up Obama’s foreign policy so well. Obama blunders every time he comes up with a new policy. He’s so consistently wrong he should go with the George Kastanza method, which is when you are sure you’re right – do the opposite.

  8. Post Scripts says:

    We have almost 2 more years of Obama…gag. He has already fundamentally transformed America, from a World Class power, to a confused, weak and debt-laden country unsure about the future, struggling with new layers of socialism, failing schools and crushing regulations on business.

  9. Peggy says:

    There’s a saying about, “Not knowing what you don’t know,” and this administration, with the help of the left-wing biased media, has earned a gold star on keeping voter uninformed.

    It’s too bad presidents of both parties aren’t treated the same instead of making it obvious which president they’re in bed with.

    Study: Nightly network news covered Bush’s crumbling job approval 124 times to this point in year six — versus nine times for Obama:

    “Just passing along a stat that blew the conservasphere’s collective mind when it started circulating last night on Twitter. Mmmmmm, that’s good bias.

    Just last Thursday, for example, Gallup found Obama’s approval rating at a record low of 38 percent, yet none of the three broadcast networks bothered to mention this on their evening or morning newscasts.

    Such coverage is in stunning contrast to how those same newscasts relentlessly emphasized polls showing bad news for George W. Bush during the same phase of his presidency. Media Research Center analysts reviewed every reference on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts to public opinion polls from January 1 through August 31, 2014, and from the same time period in 2006. Eight years ago, the networks aired 124 evening news reports which cited public opinion polls about either President Bush’s overall approval rating or his handling of specific policies. In 2014, those same broadcasts produced only nine reports which mentioned public opinion surveys related to President Obama.

    In Bush’s case, the networks routinely highlighted his falling approval ratings to illustrate his political weakness, and regularly cited polling data showing public disapproval of policies such as the Iraq war. This year, even as President Obama has suffered his own political meltdown, the networks have spared him from such coverage.”

    Continued.. with video.
    http://hotair.com/archives/2014/09/16/study-nighty-network-news-covered-bushs-crumbling-job-approval-124-times-to-this-point-in-year-six-versus-nine-times-for-obama/

  10. Jim says:

    “The government of Saudi Arabia had no part in 9/11.”

    “… former Senator Bob Graham is a man with a mission. Having chaired the Joint Congressional 9/11 inquiry, he is convinced, to this day, that two successive Presidents—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—have willfully covered up the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including prominent members of the Saudi Royal Family and the Saudi General Intelligence Directorate (GID), in the 9/11 attacks. … For a long time, Sen. Graham’s greatest fury was directed at the Bush-Cheney White House, for blocking the publication of a 28-page chapter in his Joint Commission’s draft report, that exposed the role of Saudi Arabia’s then-Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, in the financing of the 9/11 attacks.
    Some of that anger is now directed at the current occupant of the Oval Office, Barack Obama.”

    http://larouchepac.com/node/23955
    http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Matters-Arabia-Failure-Americas/dp/B0006IU6NW

  11. Dewey says:

    POST
    Dewey I have not forgot who hit us on 9/11, they were fanatics..Sunni fanatics, many were from Wahhabi schools. The government of Saudi Arabia had no part in 9/11. Just low level kind of people, except for bin Laden and his lts. –

    Sorry but yes they did. That is why we want the 28 pages Bush hid declassified. Sorry the Saudi’s played a part. Where do you get your news? Most people I know are aware our gov hid some very important facts from us.

    It’s available if you venture off the propaganda blogs once in awhile!

    Just exactly how big their role was is classified.
    You ever see the list of Saudi’s that flew out of the USA after 911? And who is at the top of the list?

    ————————————-
    Date: 9/15/01 Time: 12:28:22 PM

    PAX Manifest for the B727 trip: LEX to London, England Toda

    Name (year of birth, nationality, passport number)

    HRH Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz (1958, Saudi, 50A)

    Ahmad O.H. Albiebi (1961, Saudi, c163782)

    Hashim Abdelmagid Bashir (1952, Sudani, 322632)

    Ali ben Mohamed Aouni (1970, Tunisian, m422989)

    Jesus Calda (1946, Philipino, 22044436)

    Jack Rusbridge (1932, British, 740063374)

    Salah al-Hammadi (1959, Saudi, c466366)

    Ehab Abduahlah Mohammed (1968, Saudi, A322606)

    Ahmad A.M. Alhamzi (1981, Saudi, B805019)

    Talal M.M. Almejrad (1983, Saudi, B513500)

    Anthony Jhon Stafford (1946, British, 008220165)

    Mohammed Osman Ahmed Elmarazki (1939, Egyptian, 71296)

    Aboulsalam A.M. Alhaddad (1964, Saudi, C364366)

    Fahad A.A. Alzeid (1980, Saudi, C549295)

    HRH Prince Sultan bin Fahad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz (1982, Saudi, 406A)

    The passenger list drawn up by the Saudi embassy for the flight out of Lexington, Kentucky, en route to London showed Prince Ahmed bin Salman at the top of the list, which included other high-ranking Saudis.
    – ——————————————-

    That is why we want the investigation reopened. If you think the CIA and Gov is honest you are being played.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/graham-and-kerrey-see-possible-saudi-9-11-link.html?_r=0

    Come on guys get the news! It is all coming to light…The middle east and the US involvement is a tangled web of corruption. Ya think the mid east world hates us cause we are angels?

    Also Wikileaks released classified docs that show it was Saudi Arabia who wanted us to strike Iran.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/29/us-wikileaks-usa-idUSTRE6AP06Z20101129

    You did not see the Big Red Flag during the GOP debates? Especially BabaBachman…they work for the foreign campaign money as well ya know!

    Also You better get on exactly how corrupt the Bush admin was. It was beyond any corruption we have ever uncovered yet..Criminal.. matters of National Security lie in jeopardy as they all sell us out.

    WE are being played by media

    http://www.gregpalast.com/taliban-911-afghanistan-by-hypnosis/

    ya ought to keep up on things like world corruption

    https://wikileaks.org/

    The GOP has transformed America into a 3rd world country with their sedition, lies and failed policies. We need to reverse Reaganomics.

    http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/01/16/bush-admits-majority-of-911-hijackers-were-saudis/

  12. Tina says:

    Dewey: “The retired ones on Fox fearmongering for the arms industry?’

    Don’t know what industry you expect our military to call upon…perhaps the solar industry? You’d be happy if that were the case.

    The fact that the men are retired does not mean they do not speak from vast experience. I’d say their experience is far superior to any our fearless leader possesses and I also imagine they continue to speak with friends who are not retired.

    Fox News is a viable news outlet…get over it…quit judging…why all the HATE?

    “We created terrorism”

    Utter, America hating CRAP!

    “And yet you support unlimited money in politics? ”

    WHO are you talking about?

    “Eisenhower warned…Kennedy warned…”

    Hey Dewey now I will warn of the fascist world wide environmental activist lobby. You seem to be all in on that one.

    Try to focus man, you are all over the map and not very coherent!

  13. Tina says:

    Excerpt from GHW Bush remarks to the nation prior to invasion in defense of Kuwait:

    At my direction, elements of the 82d Airborne Division as well as key units of the United States Air Force are arriving today to take up defensive positions in Saudi Arabia. I took this action to assist the Saudi Arabian Government in the defense of its homeland. No one commits America’s Armed Forces to a dangerous mission lightly, but after perhaps unparalleled international consultation and exhausting every alternative, it became necessary to take this action. Let me tell you why.

    Less than a week ago, in the early morning hours of August 2d, Iraqi Armed Forces, without provocation or warning, invaded a peaceful Kuwait. Facing negligible resistance from its much smaller neighbor, Iraq’s tanks stormed in blitzkrieg fashion through Kuwait in a few short hours. With more than 100,000 troops, along with tanks, artillery, and surface-to-surface missiles, Iraq now occupies Kuwait. This aggression came just hours after Saddam Hussein specifically assured numerous countries in the area that there would be no invasion. There is no justification whatsoever for this outrageous and brutal act of aggression.

    The Guardian

    The Saudi government has agreed to allow American planes to use its bases in a war with Iraq, US military commanders have claimed – providing a crucial strategic boost for the Bush administration as it ordered the deployment of thousands more troops, two more aircraft carriers, and one of the navy’s two hospital ships to the Gulf region.

    CNS News

    (CNSNews.com) – Attempts to link the 9/11 terror attacks to Islam had the effect of winning terrorist groups more supporters and sympathizers, a Saudi newspaper has quoted an adviser to King Abdullah as saying.

    Arab News reported that Faisal Bin Muaammar, speaking to a group of visiting congressional aides, “said that linking Islam to the events of Sept. 11, 2001 by some Western politicians and media was unfair and obviously aimed at projecting Muslims as terrorists and extremists.”

    “The goal of these critics was to fight Islam, not terrorism and this made them [terrorists] gain more supporters and sympathizers globally instead,” it quoted him as saying.

    The reported remarks come just days before the 13th anniversary of the attacks, which cost the lives of almost 3,000 people in the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and rural Pennsylvania.

    Fifteen of the 19 perpetrators were Saudis, as was al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who throughout his terrorist career portrayed himself as a devout Muslim and said after the 2001 attacks that the hijackers had been “blessed by Allah to destroy America’s economic and military landmarks.”

    Muaammar was speaking in his capacity as secretary-general of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND) in Riyadh, an institution set up by the monarchy in 2003 as part of the Saudi response to 9/11.

    Huffington Post

    RIYADH, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s top clerical council, the only body in the country authorized to issue fatwas or Islamic legal opinions, declared on Wednesday that “terrorism is a heinous crime” under Sharia, and perpetrators should be made an example of.

    The statement, days after Saudi Arabia and other Arab states pledged in Jeddah to combat militant ideology, was the most comprehensive attack the kingdom’s conservative clergy have made so far on Islamist radicalism and the Islamic State group.

    In a statement carried on state media, they did not specify particular punishments, but said they should act as a deterrent. Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty, usually by public beheading, for many serious crimes.

    Signed by all 21 members of the council and quoting extensively from the Koran and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, the statement also prohibits militant financing or encouraging young people towards militant acts.

    It said people who issued fatwas or other opinions that “justify terrorism” were not permissable in any way and were “the order of Satan.”

    Saudi Arabia has joined international efforts headed by the United States to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and has also worked with Washington in its battle against al Qaeda.

    Frontpage Magazine:

    Saudi Arabia is a big fan of air strikes on Iran and Syria. But it’s vehemently opposed to air strikes on Al Qaeda in Iraq. It’s not hard to figure out why… especially with its GCC weapons turning up in ISIS hands.

    2005 Saudi Embassy

    As someone said, “…it’s complicated.”

  14. Tina says:

    Dewey: “Most people I know are aware our gov hid some very important facts from us.”

    Hid them, rather than kept them secure.

    Must be a conspiracy…isn’t everything a conspiracy?

  15. Dewey says:

    Don’t know what industry you expect our military to call upon…perhaps the solar industry? You’d be happy if that were the case. –

    I do not expect the military to call on retired generals now working for the Arms Industry. Heck NO

    How about the actual generals ect who are currently in the Military actually getting the intel good or bad…

    “To portray Keane as simply a think tank leader and a former military official, as the media have done, obscures a fairly lucrative career in the contracting world. For the General Dynamics role alone, Keane has been paid a six-figure salary in cash and stock options since he joined the firm in 2004; last year, General Dynamics paid him $258,006.”

    “Retired General Anthony Zinni, perhaps the loudest advocate of a large deployment of American soliders into the region to fight IS, is a board member to BAE Systems’ US subsidiary, and also works for several military-focused private equity firms.”

    http://www.thenation.com/article/181601/whos-paying-pro-war-pundits

    It does not take rocket science to see what is going on. It is their job by law to sell war. Capitalist Military.

    You want a pure capitalist society where the big money rules the population then ignore the results. They sell war it is their job

    Come on now.

    So the information is out there confirmed by members of congress and you want to play games?

    Since you are so into the Paul Family who often lie but also in their flip flops do tell some truth here is Ron Paul’s site acknowledging we have been lied to and the 28 pages reverse much of propaganda history

    http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/congress-alert/2014/july/01/rep-thomas-massie-declassify-911-report-to-prevent-the-next-911.aspx

    There is a reason Both Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders did not vote for the recent bill.

    Conspiracies are Teavangelicas trying to facilitate the end of the world as they have done through various religions for century’s.

    Tina Bush Hid the info. Members of Congress put up a bill to get it to us. You are wrong

    Until you get over this Republicans are gold and everyone else is the enemy America is not safe.

    Every time there are facts you do not like you make a snippy remark. Reality trumps snippy sorry but I can see you have not a clue. Whatever.

    There was Saudi Involvement and we have the right to know. Bush Admin is gone. It has been years.

    The truth is necessary to evaluate the future. We can not even have an educated opinion until we know if they provided fake passports as they often do, or many say they funded it.

    I usually do not trust the Post but it seems experts do say there is some truth in the article.

    Bottom line we have a war problem the Republicans try to cut vets benefits after the come home.

    Truth is there my friend now go ahead call me names cause it does not fit into the little bubble of Tea party utopia. You just protected a war criminal

  16. Peggy says:

    Supporting political correctness out of fear of being called a “racist” or “Islamophobc” allowed the rapes, gang rapes and prostituting of thousands of “white girls” and put 20,000 more at risk in England.

    Britain: “Rape Jihad” Against Children:

    “As one police officer said to me, ‘There isn’t a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.’ We should start from the assumption that children are being sexually exploited right the way across the country.” — Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England

    A court in London has sentenced seven members of a Muslim child grooming gang based in Oxford to at least 95 years in prison for raping, torturing and trafficking British girls as young as 11.

    The high-profile trial was the latest in a rapidly growing list of grooming cases that are forcing politically correct Britons to confront the previously taboo subject of endemic sexual abuse of children by predatory Muslim paedophile gangs.

    According to government estimates that are believed to be “just the tip of the iceberg,” at least 2,500 British children have so far been confirmed to be victims of grooming gangs, and another 20,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation. At least 27 police forces are currently investigating 54 alleged child grooming gangs across England and Wales.

    In graphic testimony, one of the victims told the court that Mohammed Karrar would charge men £500 ($750) to have sex with her. They would take her to homes in High Wycombe where she would be subjected to gang rapes, incidents that she described as “torture sex.” The men would tie her up and gag her mouth with a ball to stop her cries from being heard. The men would play out abuse fantasies; sometimes she was left bleeding for days afterwards.

    In one of her few acts of defiance, she threatened Mohammed Karrar with his own lock knife as he was preparing to rape her; he knocked her out with a metal baseball bat.

    The six victims who gave evidence were aged between 11 and 15 when the abuse took place. They were plied with drugs and alcohol, repeatedly raped, sold and trafficked as prostitutes, all at a time during which when they were supposedly in the safekeeping of local authorities.

    The trial — details of which were so disturbing that jury members were excused from ever having to sit on a jury again — exposed years of failings by Thames Valley police and Oxford social services. The court heard that the girls were abused between 2004 and 2012 and that police were told about the crimes as early as 2006, that they were contacted at least six times by victims, but failed to act.

    The mother of Girl “A” said the police and social services had failed to protect the girls and made her and other family members feel as if they were overreacting. She said: “I can recall countless incidents when I have been upset and frustrated by various professional bodies.”

    The mother of Girl “C” told the British newspaper The Guardian that she had begged social services staff to rescue her daughter from the rape gang. She said that her daughter’s abusers had threatened to cut the girl’s face off and promised to slit the throats of her family members. She said that they had been forced to leave their home after the men had threatened to decapitate family members.

    Despite irrefutable evidence that the girls were being sexually abused, no one — according to a report published by the House of Commons on June 5 — acted to draw all the facts together, apparently due to fears by police and social workers that they would be accused of racism against Muslims.

    The report, “Child Sexual Exploitation and the Response to Localized Grooming,” states: “Evidence presented to us suggests that there is a model of localized grooming of Pakistani-heritage men targeting young White girls. This must be acknowledged by official agencies, who we were concerned to hear in some areas of particular community tension, had reportedly been slow to draw attention to the issue for fear of affecting community cohesion. The condemnation from those communities of this vile crime should demonstrate that there is no excuse for tip-toeing around this issue. It is important that police, social workers and others be able to raise their concerns freely, without fear of being labelled racist.”

    These allegations have been confirmed by the imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, Taj Hargey, who says race and religion are inextricably linked to the spate of grooming rings in which Muslim men are targeting under-age white girls.

    Writing in the Daily Mail on May 15, Hargey states: “Apart from its sheer depravity, what also depresses me about this case is the widespread refusal to face up to its hard realities. The fact is that the vicious activities of the Oxford ring are bound up with religion and race: religion, because all the perpetrators, though they had different nationalities, were Muslim; and race, because they deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as ‘easy meat’, to use one of their revealing, racist phrases.”

    “But as so often in fearful, politically correct modern Britain,” Hargey continues, “there is a craven unwillingness to face up to this reality. Commentators and politicians tip-toe around it, hiding behind weasel words. … Part of the reason this scandal happened at all is precisely because of such politically correct thinking. All the agencies of the state, including the police, the social services and the care system, seemed eager to ignore the sickening exploitation that was happening before their eyes. Terrified of accusations of racism, desperate not to undermine the official creed of cultural diversity, they took no action against obvious abuse.”

    According to Hargey, “Another sign of the cowardly approach to these horrors is the constant reference to the criminals as ‘Asians’ rather than as ‘Muslims.’ In this context, Asian is a completely meaningless term. The men were not from China, or India or Sri Lanka or even Bangladesh. They were all from either Pakistan or Eritrea, which is, in fact, in East Africa rather than Asia.”

    According to the British Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton, “We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg now. For too long it was something of a taboo issue in this country, little spoken about, little appreciated, little acknowledged or dealt with.” He also said the grooming cases raise “very troubling questions about the attitude of the perpetrators, all but one of whom were from Pakistani backgrounds, towards white girls. Nothing is gained by shying away from that.”

    During a recent House of Commons hearing on “Child Sexual Exploitation and the Response to Localized Grooming” the Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, Sue Berelowitz, said: “What I am uncovering is that sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country. As one police officer who was the lead in a very big investigation in a very lovely, leafy, rural part of the country said to me: ‘There isn’t a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.’ The evidence that has come to the fore during the course of my inquiry is that that, unfortunately, appears to be the case.”

    Berelowitz continued: “We should start from the assumption that children are being sexually exploited right the way across the country. In urban, rural and metropolitan areas, I have hard evidence of children being sexually exploited. That is part of what is going on in some parts of our country. It is very sadistic. It is very violent. It is very ugly.”

    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3846/britain-child-grooming

    Is this happening here and we don’t know about it, because it’s being covered up too be politicaly correct?

    This is terrorism, as the above article stated, but it targets little girls, their families then whole communities all across the country.

  17. Peggy says:

    Beck offers his view on ISIS and the middle east.

    For you Beck-phobics remember he was the only one years ago in 2011 who said a “caliphate” was coming.

    The 100-Year-Old Agreement You Need to Know About to Understand What’s Driving the Islamic State:

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/09/18/the-100-year-old-agreement-you-need-to-know-about-if-you-want-to-understand-whats-driving-the-islamic-state/

    Beck Predicts New Muslim Caliphate Will “Control The …
    2/1/2011

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=glenn+beck+caliphate+prediction+fox&FORM=VIRE7#view=detail&mid=2ABEC2FCFF9FD26A8D592ABEC2FCFF9FD26A8D59

    Glenn Beck’s “Caliphate” Prediction Comes True – Who’s “Delusional” Now?:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Du185IMcg

  18. Tina says:

    Dewey: ” For the General Dynamics role alone, Keane has been paid a six-figure salary in cash and stock options since he joined the firm in 2004; last year, General Dynamics paid him $258,006.”

    And this is a problem because?

    “It does not take rocket science to see what is going on. It is their job by law to sell war. Capitalist Military.”

    I suppose if you are paranoid, yeah. On the other hand, if you realize that every nation requires some level of military readiness and if you realize that aircraft and spacecraft have many crossover similarities then it might just be that your job is to keep America on the leading edge of new defensive technologies and exploration into space…it does take a rocket scientist for some of that.

    Beware the environmental activist complex…it even had found a loophole to exploit (see video).

    See also here:

    Despite his hypocrisy and poor record of environmental fortunetelling, Gore continues to push for a carbon tax, a sinister scheme that would cost tens of thousands of American jobs and squeeze the poorest Americans most as a result of price hikes to most every good and service imaginable.

    Not that Gore is worried about the little people. He managed to cash in on the wave of global warming hysteria that he created, amassing a fortune of more than $200 million.

    Gore isn’t alone in attempting to exploit environmental concerns for selfish reasons.

    Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager who made much of his fortune by investing in fossil fuels, now spends his days attacking the Keystone XL pipeline in hopes of blocking its construction.

    While Steyer claims that his opposition to Keystone is environmentally related — he has funded a series of dubious ads claiming as much — the reality is that the environmental charlatan is heavily invested in a competing pipeline and stands to make a mint if his pipeline doesn’t face competition from Keystone XL.

    There is one big difference between Keystone XL and the TransMountain oil sands pipeline in which Steyer is invested: Most of the petroleum produced as a result of Keystone would be utilized by the U.S. and Canada, while much of the oil sands carried by the Transmountain scheme would be shipped to China.

    Allowing the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline would produce lower gas and energy prices for Americans, create tens of thousands of new jobs, generate millions in new tax dollars, and reduce American petroleum imports from unstable and unfriendly nations by 40 percent — not that Tom Steyer cares about any of that.

    Another leading player in the environmental movement is Google. The search engine giant heavily lobbies government to encourage risky and irresponsible environmental ploys like cap and trade policies, and believes the federal government should take money from America’s taxpayers to fund unproven gambles on green energy.

    The company has even authored an initiative hoping to shutter coal-powered electricity production facilities and dictate what types of cars Americans can drive.

    Google is proud of its perceived environmental friendliness. After all, it translates into dollars from customers who share the company’s supposed concern for the environment.

    Beneath Google’s green facade, however, the company’s executives are hiding a dirty secret. Google maintains a fleet of fuel-devouring planes that company officials use to fly to far-flung vacation hotspots such as Hawaii, Belize, Tahiti, Key West, Milan, and Paris. Since the beginning of 2010, the planes owned by Google’s executives have burned through an average of 100,000 gallons of jet fuel every month.

    To make matters worse, the planes have been housed at a taxpayer-funded NASA hangar and filled up with government-purchased jet fuel, saving the company millions of dollars in the process.

    Al Gore, Tom Steyer, and Google have all figured out how to exploit environmentalism for power and money, and they’re not alone. Plenty of companies and individuals have figured out ways to manipulate the public’s legitimate concern for the environment to make a quick buck, improve public perception, increase market share and lure lawmakers into passing legislation that benefits them.

    And also here, “The Unholy Trinity of Public Sector Unions, Environmentalists, and Wall Street”:

    Taken at surface value, there ought to be minimal identity of interests between these three special interests. But if you follow the money and power instead of the rhetoric and stereotypes, you will find this unhealthy alliance is alive and thriving. For example, unions use “greenmail,” the threat of a lawsuit on environmentalist grounds, to block developments until the businesses involved concede to union demands. Once they back down, the environmental problem magically disappears.

    California’s much vaunted high-speed rail and delta tunnel proposals are also examples of the unhealthy rapprochement between unions (public and private) and environmentalists. Because the construction unions, God bless ‘em, want thousands of good new construction jobs, and the only big projects that are environmentally correct are these monstrosities. The unions have a choice – fight the environmentalists in order to lobby for public works that actually yield economic benefits to society, or enjoy their considerable support for a couple of misguided mega-projects.

    Beyond obvious examples, how unions, environmentalists, and America’s overbuilt financial sector collude – often unwittingly, does not lend itself to emotionally resonant, simple narrative. It can’t be expressed in a few declarative sentences. But because this web of collusion is stunting the economic growth of America and systematically destroying its middle class, it is a story that must be told… (continues)

    And if you want to talk big fat salaries try looking at the so-called non-profit Greenpeace. It increased executive compensation that was already high by over 100%.

    No Fracking Consensus reports compensation for top CEO’s and concludes that four of seven are in the top 1% of income earners.

    Bottom line my friend is you have your priorities all mixed up and your understanding of fascism and who actually poses that threat is a$$ backwards.

  19. Dewey says:

    Tina you are not impressing me. Keane’s job is to sell war. Furthermore he has been not telling the truth.

    The world knows Fox is a sham. The world knows US Media is all corrupt.

    Sell those arms! Give school districts Grenade launchers cause we are no better than the middle east.

    When thousands of people die in Phony wars on lies that is called war crime.

    Funny you have no problem for innocent lives dying in a war that we created for no legal reason.

    The Global Revolution has barely started.

    Liberty and Justice for all? Should we strike that line?

    Truth has no place in your world I guess.

    • Post Scripts says:

      Dewey, there are 7 lines that follow and you said each of them in your last comment. Every one of them is a gross exaggeration – you are spouting slogans, nothing more.

      When you get into sloganism it makes your comments frustrating to read and rather boring. Worse, it brings discredit to you because you are assuming HUGE things that are clearly not in evidence.

      We know the news commentary is often tainted by personal bias and a hidden agendas, because it’s commentary, not hard news. We see that in the opposing positions taken between ABC, CNN and FOX. We get it, and I like to hear their opinions, right or left, doesn’t matter. But you are lumping the two separate issues together (news and comments) to form one big negative: “The world knows Fox is a sham.” NO I DON’T and nobody I know feels that way! I have found them to be honest and they try to be very accurate in all news stories. This is really way over the top Dewey, don’t you get it?

      I would love it if you would take the time to review 30 minutes of Fox news and tell me how many corrupt stories they told? I bet you could do this for hours and never find a single one. Now here’s some BS you wrote…and you need to stop doing this.

      Seven Empty Slogans:

      The world knows Fox is a sham. The world knows US Media is all corrupt.

      Sell those arms! Give school districts Grenade launchers cause we are no better than the middle east.

      When thousands of people die in Phony wars on lies that is called war crime.

      Funny you have no problem for innocent lives dying in a war that we created for no legal reason.

      The Global Revolution has barely started.

      Liberty and Justice for all? Should we strike that line?

      Truth has no place in your world I guess.

  20. Dewey says:

    Post I guess truth and the actual problems are boring

    You like our school districts being given Grenade launchers?

    Well Let me say this I find the RW Propaganda boring so we are even.

    The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.

    In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a “policy,” not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation.

    Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was “totally vindicated” by the verdict.

    You print the stuff then never retract

    Judy Boonstra for instance…. She was busted point blank… But you print the story…..

    Sorry but I do not want to be around Anti Democratic talk see ya

    I see you do not want truth just to play the game whatever………….

    • Post Scripts says:

      Dewey, I’m not surprised you don’t want to invest your time in seeking out the truth. You made 7 HUGE claims and I still see no proof that anything you said was factual, just partisan bluster and mud tossing. Are you really content to make wild unsupported accusations and then run away from them? Mmmm…typical liberal.

      I DARE YOU TO CITE ME ONE THING THAT WAS SAID ON FOX NEWS THAT WAS A LIE, NAME JUST ONE. I’ll need the exact statement and name of the news person, then I will check your findings and post the results on page one here.

  21. Chris says:

    Jack: “I DARE YOU TO CITE ME ONE THING THAT WAS SAID ON FOX NEWS THAT WAS A LIE, NAME JUST ONE”

    Jack, I don’t agree with a lot of what Dewey posts–half the time I don’t understand it–but this is a ridiculously easy challenge, and I’d be loathe to miss the opportunity to help him out.

    LIE: Bill O’Reilly claimed poverty rate “hasn’t budged” since 1965:

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jul/29/bill-oreilly/bill-oreilly-says-poverty-hasnt-budged-1965-despit/

    LIE: Brian Kilmede said welfare recipients can withdraw cash from SNAP cards to buy marijuana

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/24/brian-kilmeade/foxs-kilmeade-colo-food-stamp-recipients-can-turn-/

    LIE: Hannity misrepresented a government report to claim that it said 60% of small businesses would lose healthcare coverage under Obamacare

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/13/sean-hannity/hannity-says-government-predicted-massive-loss-hea/

    LIE: Tucker Carlson claimed that far more children die from drowning in a bathtub than gun accidents

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/aug/15/tucker-carlson/carlson-guns-dont-kill-people-bathtubs-do/

    LIE: Todd Starnes claimed that “all the people getting banned from Facebook are conservatives”

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/22/todd-starnes/radio-host-only-conservatives-get-banned-facebook/

    LIE: Laura Ingraham claimed that the Massachusetts health law passed by Romney is “wildly unpopular” in the state

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/16/laura-ingraham/laura-ingraham-says-massachusetts-health-plan-wild/

    LIE: Karl Rove claimed that the Chris Christie bridge scandal got more press coverage than Benghazi

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/12/karl-rove/karl-rove-says-media-coverage-benghazi-pales-signi/

    LIE: Glenn Beck claimed that less than 10% of Obama cabinet members have private sector experience

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/dec/02/glenn-beck/beck-says-less-10-percent-obama-cabinet-members-ha/

    LIE: Dierde Imus claimed that more illegal immigrants are coming in under Obama than Reagan

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jul/24/deirdre-imus/deirdre-imus-more-illegal-immigrants-pouring-now-u/

    LIE: Glenn Beck misrepresented a poll, claiming it said that 45% of doctors said they would quit if Obamacare passed

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/oct/15/glenn-beck/beck-says-45-percent-physicians-would-quit-if-heal/

    LIE: Lou Dobbs baselessly accused Obama of manipulating deportation data

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jul/15/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-obama-administration-manipulated-deporta/

    LIE: Steve Doocy baselessly accused NASA of manipulating warming data

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jun/25/steve-doocy/foxs-doocy-nasa-fudged-data-make-case-global-warmi/

    LIE: Dick Morris said over a million people voted twice in the 2012 election

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/10/dick-morris/dick-morris-theres-proof-over-1-million-people-vot/

    LIE: Judge Jeanine Pirro said Obama set ISIS leader free in 2009

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jun/19/jeanine-pirro/foxs-pirro-obama-set-isis-leader-free-2009/

    LIE: Andrew Napolitano claimed the Constitution doesn’t give the federal government the right to own land

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/apr/28/andrew-napolitano/napolitano-washington-lacks-constitutional-right-o/

    LIE: Ann Coulter claimed a friend’s sister “died from Obamacare” because Blue Shield pulled out of California

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/feb/05/ann-coulter/ann-coulter-says-friends-sister-died/

    LIE: Glenn Beck claimed science czar proposed forced abortions and putting sterilants in drinking water

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/29/glenn-beck/glenn-beck-claims-science-czar-john-holdren-propos/

    LIE: O’Reilly claimed that no one on FOX ever promoted lie that people could be subject to jail time for not paying health coverage penalties

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/apr/27/bill-oreilly/oreilly-says-no-one-fox-raised-issue-jail-time-not/

    LIE: Andrea Tantaros wrongly claimed that “Some guy in Boston got his head blown off because he tried to secretly raise the tax on tea,” moments after lamenting Americans’ ignorance of history

    http://www.politifact.com/personalities/andrea-tantaros/statements/byruling/pants-fire/

    And this is just a small sample. I didn’t link to every Politifact ruling against FOX News, nor did I go into all the lies about death panels, Benghazi, fake Obamacare victims, climate change, welfare, or any other subject that FOX routinely lies about.

    But given that many of these same lies have been aired here on this very blog, even after I have worked to disprove them, I wouldn’t be surprised if you find this list unconvincing.

  22. Chris says:

    Note the stats on FOX’s relationship with the truth; they’re devastating. Out of the statements Politifact has checked, only 22% were rated “True” or “Mostly True;” 19% were rated “Half True;” and a whopping 58% were rated either “Mostly False,” “False,” or “Pants on Fire.”

    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/

    The stats on the rest of the big news networks aren’t that great either–MSNBC is a close second in the dishonesty department–but FOX’s claims have been found false more often than any other news network, according to Politifact.

  23. Tina says:

    Put a sock in it and suck it up you cry babies.

    None of the media you read or listen to is any different. They all get their “news” from the same basic sources…the AP, NFP, AFP, DPA and others.

    O’Reilly has an opinion show. You know what an opinion is don’t you Chris? (You certainly have enough of them yourself!)

    “US Poverty Rate to Hit Highest Level Since 1965, Economists Say” ~ CNBC, July 2012

    “U.S. Poverty On Track To Rise To Highest Since 1960s” ~ Huffington Post

    I think Americans have the right to know the facts about poverty, whether the programs actually lifts people out of poverty or more often provide subsitance to a permanent non-working class that feeds off those who work and provide for themselves. It’s especially important to discuss these matters since we spend billions of dollars on multiple programs year after year after year and real damage has resulted in some areas and groups. Black men have definitely been harmed according to many studying the problem. There are differing opinions about whether these programs have worked or been worth it.

    If we look at FOX reporting and discussion from that perspective they are doing America a favor just bringing the topic up for consideration.

    Here’s another example of false accusation. Brian Kilmead is part of “Fox and Friends,” which is also an opinion journal show. The supposedly false story attributed to him was in the news elsewhere and was taken up by state and national lawmakers.

    “EBT Cards Can Be Used to Buy Marijuana In Some States’ ~ HNGN

    “Colorado lawmaker wants to close food stamps for marijuana loophole” ~ My Northwest

    “Fox and Friends” reflects the influence of news opinion shows dating back to 1952 when the “Today Show” was created as a combination news, current events, and opinion journal format by NBC…all of the networks have and have had them!

    The attacks on Fox are politically driven drivel orchestrated by the radicals at Media Matters and elsewhere.

    The reason, of course, is that FOX is taking market share away from left controlled content shows at NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN.

    Right wing radio has no competition because the left won’t support left wing radio. This means there is another area the left cannot control. So they also demonize talk radio hosts, regularly.

    Enter the internet and a plethora of FREE SPEECH content…also uncontrollable. What cannot be controlled we must demonized! Regulations will catch up to the internet one day.

    The radical left was able to control the narrative for decades because the mainstream media were limited to a few and were all apologetics and supporters of the left…they can’t control content anymore….that’s why FOX is demonized with lies about false stories!

    Who is checking Politifact for accuracy?

    Human Events looks into it and concludes:

    PolitiFact finds that all political discourse fits neatly into one of six categories on what it calls its “Truth-O-Meter,” a colorful graphic that depicts PolitiFact’s conclusions about the political statements it examines — from True to False to Pants on Fire (from the well-known schoolyard chant about liars). The Pants-on-Fire tag is for claims the fact-checkers find not just false but ridiculous, and they slap conservatives with it nine times as often as liberals.

    You could argue — as Mooney, Krider, Paul Krugman and others do — that PolitiFact is right: conservatives are simply stupid or prodigious liars. Or you could do what we have done: dig into PolitiFact’s strained analyses one at a time. That doesn’t illuminate the origins of the bias, but it sure reveals the mechanism by which the left-leaning organization transforms true into false and false into true.

    Even Mediaite found reson to fault find with Politifact:

    Since announcing “Republicans voted to end Medicare” as its “Lie Of The Year” yesterday, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-check outfit Politifact.com has faced more blowback than a chronic spitter on a Ducati. While they apparently think this is just griping by the left, even the conservative National Review says they got it wrong. What Politifact doesn’t seem to realize is that this wasn’t just a wrong decision, it was an irresponsible one that undercuts their own, and journalism’s, duty to serve the public.

    After their announcement, Politifact editor Bill Adair went on CBS’ The Early Show to propagandize, and even lie, about the Paul Ryan budget plan, while the site’s Twitter feed blithely retweeted cherry-picked criticism of their decision (notably not that National Review post, nor Mediaite’s calling out of their editor), and retweeting people who cast the blowback as a left/right issue. They also made sure to buttress their decision with support from WaPo fact-checker Glenn Kessler (himself prone to bad judgment), and by pointing out that FactCheck.org made a similarly bad ruling.

    There are many other examples.

    How many other news agencies are subject to the anal exam and constant attacks that FOX is? The broader truth is that the left radicals can’t handle competition. Speech that is prone to conservative opinion or that allows a balance of opinion, as FOX does gets market share because there is variety of opinion. Fox’s new opinion show, “The Independents,” for instance, features opinion from an independent or libertarian perspective.

    The left demands conformity and agreement! They prefer one party/ideological rule. They can’t handle differences of opinion. They pretend they are the unbiased, upstanding and represent only truth. Nothing could be further from the truth!

  24. Peggy says:

    Right on Tina!!

    I do find it interesting and deplorable that this administration has decided they get to determined not only what a “real” news agency is, but which ones they will exclude from certain briefings. I believe Fox was excluded from at least two briefings dealing with Benghazi.

    State Dept Holds Conference Call on Benghazi Terror Attack – Excludes FOX News (Video):

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/10/state-dept-holds-conference-call-on-benghazi-terror-attack-excludes-fox-news/

    White House Meets Privately with Press to Discuss Benghazi:

    “In the White House’s latest efforts at transparency, the administration announced to reporters that it would brief reporters on the latest shocking developments about the Benghazi situation … behind closed doors. Politico reports that the meeting started at approximately 12:45 PM ET, and that it moved the normal press briefing to 1:45 PM ET. Jay Carney, White House press secretary, did not comment on whether the meeting took place.

    Politico reports:

    The off-the-record session was announced to reporters in the wake of an ABC News report showing that White House and State Dept. officials were involved in revising the now-discredited CIA talking points about the attack on Benghazi.

    The administration routinely exerts pressure on reporters it feels are not kind enough in their coverage. Reporters like Cheryl Attkisson of CBS News have felt the hand of their bosses for “wading dangerously close to advocacy” with regard to Benghazi. No doubt this “off-the-record” meeting was designed to get all the president’s horses and all the president’s men to put the Benghazi humpty dumpty together again.

    UPDATE: Reporters not invited to the off-the-record briefing are reportedly incredibly unhappy about it:”

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/05/10/White-House-Benghazi-off-the-record

    Van Susteren Claims WH Source Told Her to Warn Fox Reporter to Back Off Benghazi:

    “In her post on Gretawire, Van Susteren points out that in the early days following the assault on the facility, Fox was not invited to participate in a conference call hosted by the State Department press shop regarding the attack that other media outlets were invited to.

    “Our friends in other media outlets were scandalized that Fox was not included and told us all about it. They were suspicious of State Department forgetting us/Fox and courageous to tip us off. The State Department claimed it was [an] accident and not intentional,” Van Susteren writes.

    However, it did not stop there. The network was later shut out of a CIA briefing that other outlets were invited to:

    Then we had to listen to all the silliness about a video…what was with that? Did anyone ever really think that was legitimate?

    And there were many times in the months and years since September 2012 when Obama Administration officials would make comments to suggest that Fox was just doing the Benghazi reporting for political reasons. The Administration was doing what it could to deter and demean the Fox News Channel investigation. They did not want to give us the facts — so their strategy was to attempt to belittle and demean our reporting.

    It should be noted that CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson frustrated the administration and her employer with her Benghazi attack investigation. The Washington Post reported in May of 2013 that her own network was growing discouraged with her reporting of the issue, and she was having problems getting her Benghazi stories aired. The administration’s constant stonewalling of the CBS reporter never deterred her, but it did annoy the veteran journalist.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/01/18/Admin-Source-Told-Van-Susteren-To-Tell-Colleague-To-Halt-Benghazi-Coverage

    In other words if a reporter does their job and asks tough probing questions their branded trouble makers and no longer invited to the media socials where specific information is dished out to those who will only right what this administrations wants the public to know. The real reporters are left on the outside of the locked doors and having to justify to their bosses why they didn’t get invited in. That’s what happened to Sharyl Attkisson.

  25. Chris says:

    Tina: “O’Reilly has an opinion show. You know what an opinion is don’t you Chris?”

    Yes, I do. You do not.

    “Chocolate Ice Cream is the best” is an opinion. “Obama is the worst president ever” is an opinion. These are statements that cannot be verified objectively, nor are they meant to be.

    Claiming that the poverty rate hasn’t budged since 1965 is not an opinion. It is an assertion that can be objectively verified as true or false.

    And it is false.

    The headlines you cited to back up O’Reilly’s claim do not, in fact, back up his claim. Look up the word “since.”

    “I think Americans have the right to know the facts about poverty,”

    No, you don’t. If you did, you would not conflate fact with opinion in such an ignorant and deceptive way.

    “Black men have definitely been harmed according to many studying the problem.”

    The black poverty rate is now less than half of what it was in 1959. Out of the many things harming black men (like police brutality, a subject you ignore completely), I don’t see how welfare is one of them. Your feigned concern is unconvincing; you use this as a tool to bash liberals.

    “Here’s another example of false accusation. Brian Kilmead is part of “Fox and Friends,” which is also an opinion journal show. The supposedly false story attributed to him was in the news elsewhere and was taken up by state and national lawmakers.”

    …And that shows that this was a “false accusation” HOW? The fact that he wasn’t the only one to tell a lie means that it’s not really a lie?

    Ridiculous. The articles you cite are equally evidence-free; one even admits that there have been no documented cases of anyone withdrawing cash from the SNAP portion of their EBT cards at a pot shop ATM, because it is impossible to withdraw cash from the SNAP portion of an EBT card, you bloody moron.

    Brian Kilmede’s claim that this was possible was not an opinion. It was a lie.

    I have never claimed that Politifact is perfect–I have had issues with some of their rulings before–but you have absolutely failed at your attempts to disprove these two rulings, and that leaves about 17 more you didn’t even try to disprove.

    Your need to conflate facts and falsehoods with mere “opinions” just to make yourself feel better shows why such fact-checking websites, even if they get it wrong sometimes, are so necessary to the intellectual health of our society. You are a part of the dumbing down of America where people are taught that their uninformed opinions are just as good as scientific expertise (that’s why the climate change debate exists on political blogs rather than among actual scientists).

    Facts are facts.

  26. Tina says:

    Chris: “Yes, I do. You do not.”

    There you go…incredibly opinionated! Also true to form: unwilling to acknowledge an opinion as valid, if different, from yours…dehumanize and belittle the “enemy”…attack attack attack!

    “Claiming that the poverty rate hasn’t budged since 1965 is not an opinion. It is an assertion that can be objectively verified as true or false.”

    Particularly if the intent is to demonize rather than communicate. This would fall under rule #4, Rules for Radicals: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules,” and possibly #5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” O’Reilly is expected to be 100% precise in order for his remarks to be true even though the poverty policies have not significantly changed the lives of those living in poverty in terms of them meeting adult responsibilities to care for themselves or experience the dignity that comes from providing for yourself and your family and becoming a contributing member of the community.

    O’Reilly becomes a liar if the only thing that matters is nit picking and demonizing to drive people away.

    You can be so proud, Chris; you embrace the team whose purpose is to destroy!

    “The black poverty rate is now less than half of what it was in 1959.”

    Oh, that’s a good one. Using a fact to deceive and distort the truth about poverty, about people becoming stuck in poverty, and about the negative affect programs have had on poverty.

    Walter Williams, George Mason University 2009:

    In 1940, when blacks were politically impotent, their poverty rate was 87 percent. By 1960, before blacks achieved much political power, it fell to 47 percent. During that interval, in various skilled trades, the incomes of blacks relative to whites more than doubled. Before 1960, there were no anti-poverty programs or affirmative action programs that can explain an economic advance that exceeded any other 20-year interval, though there were Truman and Eisenhower administration attacks on some of the gross forms of racial discrimination. A significant chunk of black progress occurred simply through migration from rural areas in the South to big Northern cities. Between 1960 and 1980, black poverty fell roughly 17 percent and continued falling to today’s 24 percent. The decline in black poverty between 1960 and 1980 might have simply been a continuation of a trend starting much earlier and cannot be attributed solely to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, President Johnson’s War on Poverty, or Richard Nixon’s affirmative action.

    Most of the major problems that many black people face are not amendable to political solutions and government anti-poverty programs. Let’s look at some. In 1940, 86 percent of black children were born inside marriage, and the illegitimacy rate among blacks was about 15 percent. Today, only 35 percent of black children are born inside marriage, and the illegitimacy rate hovers around 70 percent. Today’s breakdown of the black family is unprecedented. It began in the 1960s with the War on Poverty and the harebrained ideas of the welfare state. In the mid-1960s, Daniel Moynihan sounded the alarm about the breakdown in the black family in his book “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” At that time black illegitimacy was 26 percent. Moynihan said, “(A)t the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of the Negro society is the deterioration of the Negro family.” He added, “The steady expansion of welfare programs can be taken as a measure of the steady disintegration of the Negro family structure over the past generation in the United States.” Moynihan’s observations were greeted with charges of racism and blaming the victim. By the way, the welfare state is an equal opportunity family destroyer. Today’s illegitimacy rate among whites, at nearly 30 percent, is higher than it was among blacks in the 1960s when Moynihan sounded the alarm. In Sweden, the mother of the welfare state, illegitimacy is 54 percent.

    BlackDemographics.com

    According to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey The poverty rate for all African Americans in 2012 was 28.1% which is an increase from 25.5% in 2005. … Black families with children under 18 headed by a single mother have the highest rate of poverty at 47.5 compared to only 8.4% percent of married-couple Black families.

    That number is significant. That number shows that the damage to, in one form or another, has a huge impact on poverty!

    That IS a conversation that deserves MORE than the adolescent demonizing of O’Reilly with an argument of “fact” that is itself misleading.

    The cherry picking of the 1959 date purposely ignores several facts about poverty rates…all for the purpose of winning politically using games.

    “Brian Kilmede’s claim that this was possible was not an opinion. It was a lie.”

    If you assume that all poor people are different from others and never, ever would do anything conniving, crooked or illegal. Lawmakers did find the law had a loop hole that could open the sale of marijuana with a EBT card. It was in the news. Kilmead’s discussing it was not a lie…the long record of fraud and corruption in these programs help to fuel the discussion.

    Democrat Official Caught With Drugs and 5 Food Stamp Cards, Frontpage Magazine

    Miami New Times

    EBT cards, modern-day food stamps, are being traded for cash and drugs on the street these days. Recently, more than 100 suspects from seven Florida cities, including Miami, were arrested for street transactions with a undercover agent posing as a homeless person, the Bradenton Herald reports. The agent offered an EBT card with a $300 balance in exchange for cash or drugs. Grocers and convenience store owners offered him $150 in cash. Other suspects offered the agent marijuana, cocaine, and oxycodone.
    …Technology makes it easier to track down food stamp fraud, but it seems to also be making food stamp fraud easier to execute.

    Modern day defrauders have taken to Craigslist and eBay to sell their food stamp cards, or EBT cards, for cash. Food stamp recipients are selling their benefit cards and then requesting replacement cards from the government.

    Chris your gotcha games are juvenile and lend very little to adult conversation. Calling me a moron is even more juvenile. Being in denial of the leftists Alinsky purpose behind all of the gotcha is pretty lame at this point. We’re done.

  27. Chris says:

    Tina: “There you go…incredibly opinionated! Also true to form: unwilling to acknowledge an opinion as valid, if different, from yours…dehumanize and belittle the “enemy”…attack attack attack!”

    I did not dehumanize or belittle anybody. I will belittle you now, since even after explaining to you the difference between a fact and an opinion like you are a seventh grader, you are still using the term “opinion” wrong. But I am still not dehumanizing you. Now, calling you an “illegal” as if that term defined your very existence, or comparing your love for your husband with pedophilia? THAT would be dehumanizing. It’s also something you have no problem with others doing when it targets your own political enemies. So get off the high horse.

    The fact remains that the poverty rate has gone down significantly since the War on Poverty began. O’Reilly’s statement was in error. It was perhaps unfair to label that statement a “lie,” but it is a statement that is repeated on FOX News quite often–and here, as well–despite the fact that it is not true.

    Now, we can debate whether or not these anti-poverty programs have been as successful as advertised, and what reforms are needed to ensure a better outcome. And the Politifact link acknowledges this! But O’Reilly’s statement was still a false assertion, not an opinion.

    Same with Kilmede’s false assertion that you can withdraw cash from the SNAP portion of an ATM. That loophole does not exist, and it doesn’t matter how many lawmakers or news outlets reported that it did exist; they were factually incorrect.

    People can of course trade food stamp cards for cash. The only way to close that loophole would be to require ID for all food stamp transactions. But that does not support Kilmede’s false statement.

    There are 18 other false statements I listed. Wanna take a crack at ’em?

  28. Chris says:

    Apparently, the claim that pot shops were accepting EBT originated on a (not particularly funny) satire website.

    http://nationalreport.net/colorado-pot-shop-accept-food-stamps-taxpayer-funded-marijuana/

  29. Chris says:

    Jack, what did you think of the list? Did I satisfy the challenge you posted to Dewey?

  30. Tina says:

    Still…the larger point is valid and I’m sure it was discussed on the program you cherry picked for your own titillation.

    EBT fraud is growing:

    Food stamp fraud is so widespread that Government Accounting Office investigators found dozens of examples merely by searching online e-commerce sites like Craigslist.

    One online posting in Raleigh, N.C., offered 10 days of cooking and cleaning services in exchange for food stamps. Someone in Charlotte offered to exchange beer for food stamps, according to GAO.

    In Boston, $400 worth of electronic benefit-transfer cards were offered in exchange for $240 in cash. Another website offered to trade personalized artwork allegedly worth as much as $3,000 for food stamps.

    The loop hole in the law that came about with the new pot laws in Colorado did need to be addressed…because fraudsters will, and do, find ways to buy whatever they want with these cards.

    And poverty has been defined in ways that make it appear the poor are doing better when in fact we have spent trillions of dollars and poverty continues to enslave and hold captive too many of those who are born to poverty and whose families rely on programs rather than themselves. They do this even though they are quite capable and able and many fall into lives of desperation or crime as well.

    Human beings thrive when they are productive and should not be deprived of the dignity that comes from self reliance and contribution. Our government has erred in building over 60 programs that in most cases require nothing from those to whom it gives hand-outs.

    Poverty programs should include a path of escape, work, education or training.

    One things for sure, when an administration does such a lousy job on the economy the numbers in poverty, the numbers needing government help, the numbers desperate for an opportunity to work will just keep growing and growing! The last five years have been a dismal failure and the left LIES to themselves daily…they just do not want to admit they have been wrong or that their policies do as much or more harm than good.

    Study: Status of Black Men Worse Than in 1965 – The Crime Report:

    The Washington Post Wonkblog reports that the position of most black men, relative to white men, is no better than how things stood after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965. That’s the sobering conclusion of a new paper by University of Chicago economists Derek Neal and Armin Rick, who find that the considerable economic progress among black men between 1940 and 1980 has halted, and in many cases reversed.

    And by the way…there are plenty of people reporting projected losses of healthcare from employers:

    Huge Number of Businesses to Drop Health Insurance Thanks to Obamacare – Daily Signal

    Why Your Employer May Drop Your Health Care Plan – Businessweek

    71 Percent of Top Companies Could Drop Insurance Under Obamacare – CNS news

    Rate of Employer Based Health Insurance Dropping – USA Today

    McKinsey: One Third of Employers will Drop Health Coverage – Benefitspro.com

    (Subscription only) Why CBO Figures More Employers Will Drop health Coverage – WSJ blogs

    One example is quite sufficient to meet your adolescent challenge.

    It’s easy to find examples where you can argue statistics and claim people at Fox or on talk radio have “lied”. The same could be done for anyone who speaks for the left or from a left perspective. What is the point? From my perspective it does very little to advance understanding or possible solutions.

    It is a convenient way to avoid talking about the sad record that plagues the Democrat Party since Obama was elected to the Presidency and as a legacy for Democrat dominance and control of Congress…Harry Reed is quite the blocker of “progress” in the Senate.

  31. Dewey says:

    The Republican-controlled House voted grudgingly to give the administration authority to train and arm Syrian rebels –

    Come on now! They came back from a 5 week vacation worked 8 days and could not wait to get out of there!

    Post why do you stick up for these traitors? They were not scheduled off! They do not want to do their job.

    All they want is to take the senate, come back and threaten to shut down gov if PBO does not do as they DICTATE to him. McConnell came out of the Koch summit and declared that!

    You do not like the military decisions? Then call congress and tell them to do their Constitutional Duty or do not complain!

    Rand Paul….. Hypocrite campaigning ….. Rand Say that in a Congressional debate while taxpayers are paying you and you should be in session! We are not in a Presidential election we are in the midterms Mr Ayn Rand Paul.

    Democracy does not exist for the Tea party just lies and Bullying.

    I really have come to the conclusion Democracy is the enemy here. All this food stamp talk which is nothing compared to the cost of war, and our corporate subsidies to record profit international corporations.

    Send good paying jobs overseas and complain about people eating! Food Stamps are not much money. Try to live off them. California also has a 5 year cap on food stamps.

    Walmart ok you are hired, here’s your food stamp application, you have to wear clothes you should buy here at 10% off, and now join our bank so we can make interest off the min wage we pay you…sounds like China to me!

    Why do we subsidize the multimillion dollar NFL? Not everybody watches football and they make millions?

    Close the corporate loopholes and subsidies first.

    Also facts are facts not opinion Tina.

    This section is alarming.

    Is it Liberty and Justice for all or just people you like?

    How is it that a conservative way is the only way? Time to rename the nazi Party to a modern name cause I sure hear allot of that playbook. To force a will of a few on all is not America.

    Also we are not the Homeland, that is a Nazi word used by Hitler. Even Obama is using that word first introduced by GH Bush and put into law by GW Bush.

    We are the United States of America and we will take our Democracy Back with or without the Tea Party.

    I have Bookmarked this for when Rand Paul flip flops and the comments here flip with them.

    There were about 400,000 marching in NY Sunday, Tea Party American spring? 50 – 75 people.

    Last comment skipping the mean spirited comments here-

    The GOP has been very public about blocking in Congress…it is on record many many times.

    Media Lying – Fox outright lies the so called Liberal stations are blocked from certain subjects and are spreading the war propaganda but …. many use facts….Tina they are not opinions – FACTS

    Come on you can get a list of Fox lies everywhere

    The Caucus room meeting is no secret.

    McConnell tape from the Koch brothers Summit to block Obama is out, a little muffled but out. I call Epic Fail!

    Just say it you support the Koch brothers buying out politicians and want corporations to own everything and make law as they do today.

    ALEC the real lawmakers.

    The Human People are more important than the Koch Brothers and others Greed they are doing just fine.

    Pro Life? feed the poor as Jesus said.

  32. Chris says:

    Tina: “Still…the larger point is valid”

    OK, but…you realize that it’s still wrong to lie even if you really believe that lying will help you make a valid point? You get that…right?

    “And by the way…there are plenty of people reporting projected losses of healthcare from employers”

    Perhaps, but that has nothing to do with Sean Hannity’s claim, in which he lied about the findings of a specific government report.

    “One example is quite sufficient to meet your adolescent challenge.”

    What are you talking about? It was not my “adolescent challenge,” it was Jack’s. Why are you insulting your co-blogger this way?

  33. Dewey says:

    We have almost 2 more years of Obama…gag. He has already fundamentally transformed America, from a World Class power, to a confused, weak and debt-laden country unsure about the future, struggling with new layers of socialism, failing schools and crushing regulations on business. –

    That statement shows “How Government functions” needs to be studied around here But I realize this is just a game.

    SEDITIOUS CONGRESS that is the problem and I suspect you know it and love it!

    http://simplystatistics.org/2012/11/26/the-statisticians-at-fox-news-use-classic-and-novel-graphical-techniques-to-lead-with-data/

    http://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-charts-tricks-data-2012-11

    http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/10/13/fox-news-war-on-the-epa/183444

    Rodger Ailes started Fox as a GOP propaganda Mouthpiece

    http://gawker.com/5814150/roger-ailes-secret-nixon-era-blueprint-for-fox-news

    try visiting the Presidential Libraries and read the docs

    Carl Rove also worked on Nixon’s Campaign they same guys on a mission to kill the middle class

    Be Proud of your heritage! Stop hiding it!

    Why suppress The vote when you should win cause your ideas have worked so well in the past?

    You should be making sure every single citizen votes cause you have all the answers and surely they will vote for Conservatives!

    Why do we need any regulations companies will never lie, cheat, poison us, or do anything wrong! Sell off public assets to China that is an awesome idea surely Americans want to be just like China! More Profits for shareholders.

  34. Tina says:

    Chris I never have thought it was okay to lie. Nobody I support has ever thought it was okay to lie. I don’t agree with you about any of the charges you have made. Sean Hannity did not lie. The report CNS News cited claimed 71% of companies would drop healthcare coverage.

    In short you are full of it and being a bore.

    There is a long record on the left of altering content or cherry picking and sensationalizing to push a negative narrative. they do it a lot when they are looking very bad (NOW) and when they think they are losing an election. A pissing contest would be a waste of time.

    I don’t think it’s possible to make a clear judgement about character based on what someone says someone else said anyway. My support of those on the right you have attempted to harm will continue because they have shown me over time that they are good people.

    “t was not my “adolescent challenge,” it was Jack’s. Why are you insulting your co-blogger this way?

    “There are 18 other false statements I listed. Wanna take a crack at ‘em?”

    You didn’t say this? Could have fooled me.

  35. Chris says:

    Tina: “I don’t agree with you about any of the charges you have made. Sean Hannity did not lie. The report CNS News cited claimed 71% of companies would drop healthcare coverage.”

    Tina, the report CNS News cited is not the same report Sean Hannity cited. Hannity was citing a report from 2010 from the Treasury, Labor, and HHS departments. CNS was citing a 2012 report from the House Ways and Means Committee. So the CNS article does not prove Hannity was telling the truth, because they were talking about two entirely different reports.

    “There is a long record on the left of altering content or cherry picking and sensationalizing to push a negative narrative.”

    OK, but do you see that that’s exactly what Hannity did here?

    “A pissing contest would be a waste of time.”

    It wasn’t a pissing contest. Jack asked for one time that FOX News lied, so I provided many examples to show how easy this was. You still haven’t disproven any of them, because none of the evidence you’ve provided actually supports the original claims Politifact evaluated.

    “You didn’t say this? Could have fooled me.”

    Sorry, I thought you meant the original challenge, which was posed by Jack to Dewey. I don’t really see what makes my question “adolescent” unless his is as well.

  36. Dewey says:

    In short you are full of it and being a bore.

    No he is not and that was uncalled for. Politics is not a rah rah one sided subject.

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