Now that he is president Donald Trump goes all in for endless war in Afghanistan.

And in closing I would just like to point out that it's more of the same.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

President Trump put forward on Monday a long-awaited strategy for resolving the nearly 16-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, but he declined to specify either the number of troops that would be committed, or the conditions by which he would judge the success of their mission there. 

In a nationally televised prime-time speech to troops at Fort Myer, Va., Mr. Trump said there would be no “blank check” for the American engagement in Afghanistan. But in announcing his plan, Mr. Trump deepened American involvement in a military mission that has bedeviled his predecessors and that he once called futile. 

“My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts,” Mr. Trump said. “But all my life, I’ve heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.”

Gee, no shit Sherlock.

By saying that there will be no troop numbers provided to the media, and no timelines made public, Trump is essentially working to remove any tools that can be used to hold him accountable for failure.

Of course that is a little late since continuing the war itself is already a measurable failure.

We should leave Afghanistan immediately. No more wasted lives. If we have to go back in, we go in hard & quick. Rebuild the US first.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2013

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

To the wall that Mexico is not going to pay for and the Iran nuclear deal that hasn’t been torn up, to China still not being labeled a currency manipulator and an embassy in Israel still not being moved to Jerusalem, President Donald Trump can now add the Afghanistan war still not ending. 

Seven months into his presidency, not only is he not withdrawing from what he had called a “terrible mistake” during his campaign, he is reportedly approving thousands of more troops, along with an open-ended commitment to remain.

It can be argued that opposition to the wars is what separated Trump from his fellow Republican candidates in the primaries, in fact he even used it to portray Hillary as a war hawk in the general. 

With this speech about staying in Afghanistan, and removing any metrics to gauge success or failure, Trump is essentially committing to sending an unknown number of American soldiers into combat, to achieve an unspecified goal, for an undetermined number of years. 

THAT is exactly what the American people DON'T want.

Donald Trump lied to virtually everybody about what he was going to do as president, and now that he is failing to keep ANY of his promises one has to wonder if that small but rabid group of Trump supporters will finally start to turn on him. 

POS!

I like to say that I received the MOH from @georgewbush #hestheman #repect #honor #ownit #ownthedash #throwbackfriday #hesmyhero

A post shared by Dakota Meyer (@dakotameyer0317) on May 5, 2017 at 11:33am PDT

Ungrateful POS is actually more descriptive.

President  Obama is the man who put the Medal of Honor around Dakota Meyer's unworthy neck, and this is how he thanks him.

George W. Bush was the man who started these unnecessary wars and sent thousands of American soldiers to their deaths based on a lie and an overreaction.

President Obama on the other hand worked tirelessly to bring these wars to an end and bring American fighting men and women back home to their families. The only reason he was not more successful is because the Republicans, who Meyer seems to identify with, sabotaged his efforts.

Fuck this guy!

US general accuses Russia of providing weapons to the Taliban which were used against American backed forces.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The United States must confront Russia for providing weapons to the Taliban for use against American-backed forces in Afghanistan, top U.S. military officials said Monday. 

At a news conference with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at his side, Gen. John Nicholson, the American commander in Afghanistan, wouldn't provide specifics about Russia's role in Afghanistan. But said he would "not refute" that Moscow's involvement includes giving weapons to the Taliban. 

Earlier Monday, a senior U.S. military official told reporters in Kabul that Russia was giving machine guns and other medium-weight weapons. The Taliban are using the weapons in the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan, according to the official, who briefed journalists on intelligence information on condition of anonymity.

Well this is certainly going to put a strain on the Putin/Trump bromance.

Now not only are there various investigations into the Russian hacking of our election, but there are also these allegations that the Russians are providing weapons to our enemies.

Yep, Trump is never going to get his thirty pieces of silver from Putin if this keeps up.

Dakota Meyer appears on Fox to breathlessly celebrate the dropping of MOAB in Afghanistan.

.@Dakota_Meyer: 'Mother of All Bombs' Drop a Win for 'America's Team'https://t.co/97g3CqfzBk

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 15, 2017

Courtesy of Fox News Insider: 

Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer reacted to criticism of the United States military dropping the "mother of all bombs" [MOAB] this week. 

Meyer called the action, approved by President Trump, a direct reflection of White House leadership. 

He said that after eight years, we have president who allows the military operators on-the-ground to make their own decisions, instead of through political gamesmanship in Washington.

Yes who needs all of that "political gamesmanship" like careful planning and diplomacy, when you can just drop giant bombs on the problem?

If you click the link you can enjoy for yourself the raping of the English language by Meyers and be reminded yet again that there is no IQ test to marry into the Palin family.

For example here is just one of Dakota's attempts to answer a simple question:

"Well I mean look the mindset of these terrorists, I mean look there's only one solution to them as a problem, and that is exactly more of this happening. But..uh..you know for the US military I mean I think that if you take a year ago we had a Commander-in-Chief that would let you get captured by Iran and not do any repercussions. I mean what do you think the mindset is there? Versus now we've got a commander-in-chief who saying 'Hey, run your military like you need to and do whatever it takes to get rid of the enemy.'"

Yes damn that President Obama for not getting us into a war with Iran. Just what was he thinking?

Of course the problem with allowing the military to run amuck without civilian oversight is that a hammer sees every problem as a nail.

Left to their own devices the military will create far more enemies than they will kill, and soon Afghanistan will reignite into a full blown war devouring the lives of thousands of additional American soldiers.

President Obama was working to end our conflicts in the Middle East, whereas Trump, despite his campaign rhetoric, appears to see dropping bombs in the area as a means to improve his poll numbers.

I have a really bad feeling about all of this.

Twitter reactions to Trump dropping the biggest bomb since World War 2.

The bomb Trump just dropped on Afghanistan cost $314 million.

Enough money to fix the water crisis in Flint almost three times over. #MOAB

— Jack Slater (@Jack_Slater) April 13, 2017

The story is NOT how shiny, big, powerful the MOAB. It is that USA unleashed a weapon of mass destruction on a primarily civilian population

— Citizen of Nowhere (@sunnysingh_n6) April 13, 2017

#TheResistance #Afghanistan #MOAB

- Tomahawks to Syria
- Navy Armada to North Korea
- MOAB to Aghanistan

But Clinton was the war-hawk?

— The Anti-Trump (@IMPL0RABLE) April 13, 2017

I don't care how many #MOAB's Trump drops. The only way he's gonna distract me from #TrumpRussia is if one of those MOAB's is on my house.

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) April 13, 2017

On the other hand Trump supporters have had their hands down their pants polishing their little flagpoles ever since they first heard about this attack.

Tall buildings with his name on them, a constant need to argue that everything about him is bigger, and now dropping the largest bomb dropped in the last 70 years.

I have no idea why people keep saying Donald Trump is compensating for something.

Do you?

Before leaving office President Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's sentence. Update!

Chelsea Manning formerly Bradley Manning.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

President Obama on Tuesday commuted all but four months of the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst convicted of a 2010 leak that revealed American military and diplomatic activities across the world, disrupted his administration and brought global prominence to WikiLeaks, the recipient of those disclosures. 

The decision by Mr. Obama rescued Ms. Manning, who twice tried to kill herself last year, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the men’s military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction.

There has been quite a lot of pressure for President Obama to do this and clearly he wants to make some things right before he hands power over to the giant tangerine toddler.

Manning has been punished far more extensively than many that came before him, and quite a lot of what he leaked to the public helped to open the eyes of the American people to the atrocities being carried out in their name in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He has suffered enough and it is time to end that suffering.

Besides anything that gets Paul Ryan this upset can hardly be called a bad thing:

Speaker Paul D. Ryan called it “outrageous.” “President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes,” he said in a statement.

Interesting, so I guess when the Russians hack our election to help hand power to their puppet that does NOT compromise our national security.

So now we wait to see if a certain Julian Assange is a man of his word.

If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017

Already starting to hedge his bets.

Assange is still happy to come to the US provided all his rights are guarenteed despite White House now saying Manning was not quid-quo-pro.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 18, 2017

Personally I would imagine that if Assange WERE to surrender to the American authorities that he would wait to do so until the man who he helped undermine our democracy had taken power.

Hell, I imagine that in a Trump America that Julian Assange would be a contender for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Update: As expected Assange weaseled out. 

Gary Johnson believes that presidential candidates being well informed is a bad thing because knowing "a foreign leader or geographical location" means putting our military in "harm's way." Wait, what?

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

“Talking about a foreign leader I respect, I have a hard time with that one,” Johnson told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. “That’s just who I am. And now I’m going to have to pick out a world leader and there’s going to be something wrong with them. And now I’m going to have to defend them! Well, maybe I think too much.” 

“You are running to be commander-in-chief,” Mitchell reminded the candidate. 

“Yeah, and you know what?” Johnson trumpeted back. “The fact that somebody can dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a foreign leader or a geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm’s way!”

You ever get a headache so bad that it hurts to blink your eyes?

Yeah well this gave me one.

First off the President of the United States does not have the luxury of not knowing things about the world around him. After all he is kind of forced to make some incredibly important decisions which can often affect not just America but every other country as well.

Second, knowing about where these countries are, and who is leading them, does NOT mean that we are then somehow obligated to drop bombs on them and send our troops to die on their soil.

In fact knowing more about them, and understanding their culture and history, can often help to avoid conflict or intervention.

You know in some ways I am in total agreement with Gary Johnson when it comes to keeping our soldiers from fighting in unnecessary wars.

You bet, high fives all around on that one.

However then I also am reminded that the reason that we got into these last two unnecessary wars in the first place was because we had a President in office who was woefully ill informed about the countries that he arrogantly thought he could invade and conquer with few negative repercussions for our military.

He was wrong.

So sorry Mr. Johnson, I would rather have a President who knows a lot, and would recognize the appropriate time for military intervention, than to have a President who knows little, and could very well leave us vulnerable to attack.

I am not a hawk, but I am also not an idiot.

Sadly the same cannot be said for Gary Johnson.

MSNBC to give Brian Williams his own show.

Courtesy of TV Newser:  

Brian Williams has his own show again. 

The former NBC Nightly News anchor will debut “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” Tuesday night at 11 p.m. ET., MSNBC announced today. Williams’ likely move to the 11 p.m. hour was first reported last month. 

“This new assignment is a natural extension of the hundreds of hours of political coverage Brian has anchored through this campaign cycle so far,” said MSNBC president Phil Griffin in a statement. “He and Rachel Maddow and the team have been great on the big nights, and now he’ll build on MSNBC’s prime-time momentum by taking us live into the 11 p.m. hour every night.”

I have to admit that I was never the biggest Brian Williams fan when he was anchoring the NBC Nightly News. No real definitive reason, I just wasn't.

However I felt a little badly for him when he was asked to step down from his post for exxagerating about his experiences covering the war zones, and then this crazy person starting going after his jugular like it was a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme.

When one of their own repeats a lie for 12 years but is excused with the help of the media's herd mentality, tragic distrust and despondency blankets our land. The veil is torn, however, with the revelation of exaggerated, self-centered falsehoods like NBC's perpetual lie that belittled our soldiers and their truly courageous missions. The face of that network’s news lied about combat experiences in Iraq and then with false humility accepted the title of "war hero" while the press ignores, disrespects, and often destroys the good name of our true war heroes. To me, that's like soiling sacred ground.

Leftist media and their minions in politics tried for too long to fundamentally transform America with their shared assumption we would fall in line and bend our backs as they rode us with reins to control our individual sovereignty. America said enough is enough and we strengthened our spine so we could fight for freedom, sometimes requiring battles against our own leaders. 

Damn, has she EVER made any sense?

So ultimately Williams was fired, and for quite some time laid low.

And when he showed back up earlier this year to start covering the election cycle and debates, I was actually surprised at how good he was with his dry humor and ability to keep things lively and interesting during hours and hours of coverage.

So I am looking forward to watching Brian Williams in his new show, and even though there is no promise that it will last beyond November I think we will soon see a permanent place for him in the MSNBC lineup.

Trump spokesperson claims that it was President Obama who took the country to war in Afghanistan. WTF?

(Starting at the 1:53 mark)

"Remember we were not even in Afghanistan at this time and Barack Obama went into Afghanistan creating another problem."

On Mediaite you can see video of this Katrina Pierson walking the comment back later and claiming that she was referring to Obama being responsible for the rise of ISIS, which of course is also patently false as the host Victor Blackwell attempts to explain to her.

For the record President Bush took us into Afghanistan in  2001 as a response to 9-11.

It should also be noted that Al-Qaeda was NOT "reduced to ashes" by the surge. That is Neocon propaganda.

However I will predict that in the years to come many Christian school and homeschooling textbooks will blame the Afghanistan and Iraq wars on President Obama, while painting George W. Bush as a Christian patriot who donned his mighty flight jacket to defend this nation from "Islamic terrorists."

You mark my words.

Lt. General reminds us who created Daesh. And no it was NOT President Obama.

Courtesy of Occupy Democrats:  

While the Republican presidential candidates use every bit of ideological gymnastics to somehow pin the rise of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) on President Obama, the former commander of U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lt. General Michael Flynn dropped an incredible bombshell in an interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel: that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, was in a United States military prison in 2004 – and released because he was deemed “harmless.” 

Nothing more perfectly illustrates what a colossal failure the George W. Bush Administration was. While Bush was busy torturing Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards in a desperate and barbaric attempt to rectify his intelligence failures, the mastermind who would found the Islamic State was in their clutches the entire time. Flynn went on to describe how the Bush Administration’s knee-jerk reaction to 9/11 and their catastrophic invasion of Iraq went on to create the colossal quagmire that is the Islamic State. 

“We were too dumb. We didn’t understand who we had there at that moment. When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, ‘Where did those bastards come from? Let’s go kill them. Let’s go get them.’ Instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from. Then we strategically marched in the wrong direction.” 

He then ripped the Republican war hawks for their relentless calls to invade Syria and provoke war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, rightly recognizing that this kind of foolish arrogance only serves to breed more terrorism and more violence, and got us here in the first place: 

“First we went to Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda was based, then we went to Iraq. Instead of asking ourselves why the phenomenon of terror occurred, we were looking for locations. This is a major lesson we must learn in order not to make the same mistakes again. It was huge error. As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him. The same is true for Moammar Gadhafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.”

It should also be mentioned that our policies around the world before 9-11 also contributed to the hatred toward the west, that evolved into acts of terrorism. 

Before we created Daesh, we created Al-Qaeda, and if we do not heed Lt. General Flynn's warnings we will continue to create our own demons far into the future.

Memo found on Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server reveals that British Prime Minister Tony Blair committed to George Bush's war in Iraq before his country even voted on it.

"Where's my flight jacket? I was told there would be a flight jacket."

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

The damning memo, from Secretary of State Colin Powell to President George Bush, was written on March 28, 2002, a week before Bush’s famous summit with Blair at his Crawford ranch in Texas. In it, Powell tells Bush that Blair ‘will be with us’ on military action. Powell assures the President: ‘The UK will follow our lead’. The disclosure is certain to lead for calls for Sir John Chilcot to reopen his inquiry into the Iraq War if, as is believed, he has not seen the Powell memo. 

A second explosive memo from the same cache also reveals how Bush used ‘spies’ in the Labour Party to help him to manipulate British public opinion in favour of the war. 

The documents, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, are part of a batch of secret emails held on the private server of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton which U.S. courts have forced her to reveal. 

Former Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: ‘The memos prove in explicit terms what many of us have believed all along: Tony Blair effectively agreed to act as a frontman for American foreign policy in advance of any decision by the House of Commons or the British Cabinet. 

‘He was happy to launder George Bush’s policy on Iraq and sub-contract British foreign policy to another country without having the remotest ability to have any real influence over it. And in return for what? 

'For George Bush pretending Blair was a player on the world stage to impress voters in the UK when the Americans didn’t even believe it themselves’. 

Davis was backed by a senior diplomat with close knowledge of Blair-Bush relations who said: ‘This memo shows beyond doubt for the first time Blair was committed to the Iraq War before he even set foot in Crawford. 

'And it shows how the Americans planned to make Blair look an equal partner in the special relationship to bolster his position in the UK.’

Gee I wonder if THIS was the smoking gun that the Republicans hoped to discover by accessing Hillary's private e-mail server?

What's next, the original Killian documents proving that George W. Bush disobeyed orders while in the National Guard and that pressure was exerted to falsify his record?

The great thing about all of this is that the British are actually investigating their role in the lead up to the two wars and seem willing to hold Tony Blair accountable.

That is a hell of a lot better than we have been able to do over here.

But hey, maybe the fact that this was found in Hillary's private server means she has even more evidence which will force an actual investigation by the next administration?

Oh, now I am getting even more excited about a Hillary Clinton presidency.

P.S. By the way none of this should come as any surprise to those of us who remember the Downing Street Memo.

President Obama abandons plan to remove all troops from Afghanistan, will leave 5,500 in place at end of term.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

The United States will halt its military withdrawal from Afghanistan and instead keep thousands of troops in the country through the end of President Obama’s term in 2017, Mr. Obama announced on Thursday, prolonging the American role in a war that has now stretched on for 14 years. 

The current American force in Afghanistan of 9,800 troops will remain in place through most of 2016 under the Obama administration’s revised plans, before dropping to about 5,500 at the end of next year or in early 2017, Mr. Obama said. 

Some of the troops will continue to train and advise Afghan forces, while others will carry on the search for Qaeda fighters and militants from the Islamic State and other groups who have found a haven in Afghanistan, he said. 

In abandoning his ambition to bring home almost all American troops before leaving office, Mr. Obama appears to be acknowledging that Afghan security forces are still not near ready to hold off the Taliban on their own.

So we remain the occupying force that Donald Rumsfeld swore we would never be. 

As much as this upsets me it is pretty clear that considering what happened in Iraq after the withdrawal of American forces that the President does not feel he has much of a choice.

Of course it seems obvious that expecting the situation to improve enough someday to justify complete troop withdrawal now seems like a pipe dream. At some point whoever is in charge (Hi Hillary!) is simply going to have to say "fuck it" and bring the troops home knowing that everything is going to go to hell when they leave. 

But until that happens America continues to be trapped in an endless war, with no end in sight.

Lucky us.

George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a fundraiser to benefit veterans maimed in the wars that he started.

Courtesy of ABC News:  

Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier, officials of the Texas-based Helping a Hero charity confirmed to ABC News. 

The former President was also provided with a private jet to travel to Houston at a cost of $20,000, the officials said. 

The charity, which helps to provide specially-adapted homes for veterans who lost limbs and suffered other severe injuries in “the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said the total $170,000 expenditure was justified because the former President and First Lady offered discounted fees and helped raise record amounts in contributions at galas held in 2011 and 2012. 

“It was great because he reduced his normal fee of $250,000 down to $100,000,” said Meredith Iler, the former chairman of the charity. However, a recent report by Politico said the former President’s fees typically ranged between $100,000 and $175,000 during those years.

So Bush not only charged them for the "honor" of having him raise money to help with the wounds that his lies and arrogance caused, but he also lied about giving them a discount.

You know it is at special moments like this that I really wish there were a Hell, so that I could take comfort in the idea of this POS suffering for all eternity.

But you know what, I am a reasonable man, I will settle for him being charged with war crimes and caged like an animal for the remainder of his days.

Anything less would be a travesty of justice.

Dakota Meyer's grandparents will not talk about Bristol Palin but seem to confirm that their grandson is the father of her baby.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:  

Family members have stayed silent over Bristol's pregnancy but Meyer's grandparents invited Daily Mail Online into their 150-year-old farmhouse to talk about their adored grandson. 

'We helped bring up Dakota and he has always been a very good boy,' said 84-year-old Jean who accompanied her grandson to the White House for the Medal of Honor ceremony. 

'We try not to talk about Dakota but we are so, so proud of him. We helped raise him with his father Michael.' 

A quick glance around the couple's living room adorned with numerous photos of Dakota in his Marine uniform is testament to their pride. 

Outside in the front garden a red Marine flag flies alongside the Stars and Stripes. 

However, when the subject of Bristol Palin and her pregnancy is brought up the couple are less forthcoming. 

..... 

'We don't ever talk about Bristol Palin,' said Meyer's grandfather Dwight when asked about the pregnancy announcement. 

'We don't ever discuss her in this family.' 

......

Dwight, 85, who uses a walking frame to aid his mobility, makes it clear he has no desire to talk about her. 

But when Jean is asked if she is looking forward to welcoming a great-grandson she seems to confirm Dakota is the father of Bristol's baby. 

She said 'It will not be the first. I have other great-grandchildren.' 

Holy crap! Is Dakota actually going to let himself get entrapped like this?

I'm telling you there is no damn way this baby is his, and if he does not get a paternity test and defend himself he will suffer at the hands of the Palins in ways that will make his time in Iraq and Afghanistan seem like a cake walk by comparison. 

Obama administration ordered to release video of Gitmo prisoner's force feeding.

Courtesy of Reprieve:  

An appeal court has today ordered the Obama Administration to redact 12 hours of secret Guantánamo force-feeding footage in preparation for its public release, rejecting the Administration's argument that not one single frame should be seen by the public. 

The classified videos, which show Guantánamo prisoner Abu Wa-'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell and force-fed by the US military, were ordered to be released to the public by federal Judge Gladys Kessler in October 2014, following a First Amendment intervention from 16 US press organizations in the abuse case Dhiab v Obama. 

The Obama Administration defied Judge Kessler's order to prepare the videos for release, complaining that the process was too much work and insisting that revealing even one frame from the videos posed a national security risk. Leaving the videos unredacted, the Administration took the case straight to D.C.'s federal Court of Appeals in an attempt to get the order overturned. 

In a judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Administration's refusal to comply with the lower court's order was wrong, and rejected its attempt to use the 'burdensome' task of redacting videos as a reason to circumvent the First Amendment. 

The Obama Administration must now comply with Judge Kessler’s original order to redact the videotapes to address national security concerns, and submit the redacted tapes to her court for reconsideration ahead of their release.

I think the Obama administrations reluctance to release this video is understandable as one lawyer who saw the footage claimed that it was so "grim" that he had trouble sleeping afterward, and of course it will surely be used by ISIS as a recruitment tool. 

However we all have the right to know what was done in our name to these prisoners, many of whom were never charged with a crime and who have been locked away for over ten years.

Yes this might give ISIS a boost with their recruitment efforts, but that cannot be the final consideration at this point.

And besides I would very much like to see some of these Republican presidential candidates forced to watch the footage and then asked for their reaction, and whether they still support the wars of George W. Bush.

By the way Abu Wa-'el Dhiabby, a Syrian national, is now confined to a wheelchair due to the abuses he has suffered since his capture in 2002.

Jeb Bush says that his brother's response to 9/11 was "admirable."

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) suggested in an interview Sunday that the crux of responsibility for out-of-control spending in Washington during the 2000’s was in the hands of the Republican-controlled Congress, rather than his brother’s initiatives as president. 

Appearing on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” host Bob Schieffer asked the all-but certain 2016 GOP presidential candidate what he had learned from George W. Bush’s successes and mistakes in the Oval Office. 

Bush pointed to his brother’s inability to keep “the reins on spending” but suggested that it had largely been the legislative body in Washington that had failed to control costs. 

“I mean, because of the war and because of the focus on protecting the homeland, I think he let the Republican Congress get a little out of control, in terms of the spending,” Bush said.

Does he mean the wars that his brother lied us into, and the agencies he unnecessarily created that duplicated the efforts of the CIA and FBI? THAT out of control spending?

 When asked about George W's successes Jeb points out his response to the 9/11 attacks:

“We were under attack and he brought, he unified the country,” he said. “And he showed dogged determination and he kept us safe. And you know, you can talk about a lot of stuff, but when you're president of the United States and you're confronted with that kind of event, to respond the way he did is admirable.”

You know I wonder if the families who lost loved ones fighting in George W. Bush's war of choice would find his response "admirable?"

I don't know about anybody else but I find myself really enjoying the spectacle of Jeb Bush trying desperately not to crap all over his brother's legacy while also attempting to convince the American people that he would not be a similarly disastrous choice for President.

George W. Bush bashes President Obama over his handling of the Middle East. Wait, what?

So as it turns out George W. Bush, you know the guy that started two unnecessary wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people, and almost bankrupted America, attended some closed door meeting with Jewish donors and decided to throw a little shade Obama's way.

Apparently there was a fly in the Jewish lamp oil during this meeting and somebody managed to transcribe large portions and bring them out for all to see.

Here is what was reported:

According to the attendee's transcription, Bush noted that Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani. “He's smooth," Bush said. "And you’ve got to ask yourself, is there a new policy or did they just change the spokesman?” 

Bush said that Obama’s plan to lift sanctions on Iran with a promise that they could snap back in place at any time was not plausible. He also said the deal would be bad for American national security in the long term: “You think the Middle East is chaotic now? Imagine what it looks like for our grandchildren. That’s how Americans should view the deal.” 

Bush then went into a detailed criticism of Obama’s policies in fighting the Islamic State and dealing with the chaos in Iraq. On Obama’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of 2011, he quoted Senator Lindsey Graham calling it a “strategic blunder.” Bush signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to withdraw those troops, but the idea had been to negotiate a new status of forces agreement to keep U.S. forces there past 2011. The Obama administration tried and failed to negotiate such an agreement. 

Bush said he views the rise of the Islamic State as al-Qaeda’s "second act” and that they may have changed the name but that murdering innocents is still the favored tactic. He defended his own administration’s handling of terrorism, noting that the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was captured on his watch: “Just remember the guy who slit Danny Pearl’s throat is in Gitmo, and now they're doing it on TV.” 

Yeah well remember how that guy that supposedly master minded the attacks on 9-11 was shot to shit? Yeah THAT happened on Obama's watch.

Bitch!

Bush went on to add this arrogant statement:

“In order to be an effective president ... when you say something you have to mean it,” he said. “You gotta kill em.”

Yeah well Bush sure was effective at that wasn't he?

Terrorist, terrorist's neighbor, terrorist's innocent family member, Iraqi citizen simply trying to cross the street, Afghan who kinda looks like a terrorist, journalist who was standing to close an Afghan who kinds looks like a terrorist, oh yeah Georgie boy was quite effective at having people killed.

Every fucking problem that President Obama is facing right now in the Middle East is the fault of George W. Bush and his criminal administration. And we all know it.

Even though there are attempts to soften his image such as in Dana Perino's new book, where she relates a story of Bush crying on the face of a badly wounded soldier while awarding him the Purple Heart.

Yeah he could be crying his eyes out for the next fifty years and it would never match the number of tears shed by the families of the people killed and injured in his two wars of choice.

Sarah Palin spends time with families whose loved ones were sent to their death by the Bush administration, while also celebrating the fact that another state has signed on to the Convention of the States.

Courtesy of the wannabe Constitutional Cougar's Facebook page: 

It was an honor to visit with Gold Star wives yesterday at our home. These beautiful, strong and courageous women traveled with TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) to grace Alaska during our Iditarod events. TAPS is an amazing group focusing on military wives who lost their husbands in war. 

Talk about inspiring graciousness – it exudes from every single one of these 43 beautiful wives from all over the U.S. Hearing their stories and seeing their heroes’ pictures worn on lapel buttons shamed me for sweating the small stuff. I was apologizing for muddy paw prints throughout the house when a wiser woman with right priorities whispered that they’d all been through much worse than gritty wood floors. It was impossible to articulate for them America's appreciation for their sacrifices and now their inspiring strength. Their husbands – their life partners, best friends, fathers of their children – gave all for America. So did they. 

Our grateful nation made a commitment to our military families. Thank God wonderful private sector groups like TAPS help make good on it. 

.....

Meeting these military wives and supporting them will change your life. They remind us not to sweat the small stuff and to cherish every moment we have with loved ones. The face they put on those virtues is glorious. 

Thank you, heroines! God bless you every day. 

 - Sarah Palin('s ghostwriter.)


Though I think that it is kind to play hostess to these women who have lost so much, I wonder if it ever occurred to Palin to feel at all guilty to have supported an administration who started the illegal and unnecessary wars that led to their loss? Never mind, I already know the answer. 

Of course yesterday was a big day for Palin because Arkansas, who she and her daughter's ghostwriter kept pushing to sign on to the Convention of the States, did just that.

Not only that but the Teabagger who runs the Convention of States website gave the Palin gals a shout out: 

Many thought our resolution in the state House had been defeated, but with the help of patriots like Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, Mark Levin, and Sen. Tom Coburn, the citizens and legislators of Arkansas took a stand for liberty.

So now that Arkansas joins the doomed plot to propose an amendment to the Constitution, there are four states in total tilting at legislative windmills. Still so far from the two thirds needed to actually propose the amendment, and even farther from the three fourths required to pass the amendment.  

Does anybody else find it odd that on the one hand Palin is espousing the courage of the women whose loved ones went off, without question, to die in a war that we now know the Bush administration was able to start by lying to the American people, while also pushing for state governments to defy the Obama administration's desire to help more people get healthcare and live longer?

I mean where was the push for a Convention of the States when Bush implemented Homeland Security, or had the NSA start collecting all of our data, or kept sending our people to die in the sand of a foreign country?

No, none of that was deemed worthy of such a drastic move.

But pass a law to provide affordable health care, create over 4.5 million jobs, and attempt to end two wars that are draining our country dry and creating new terrorists around the world, THAT is considered over the line.

Apparently Jeb Bush believes that he can deal with his brother's deadly legacy by refusing to answer questions about his presidency.

Courtesy of Bloomberg: 

Florida Governor Jeb Bush said Friday that he has little interest in discussing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which started while his brother was president, as he aims to run a joyful campaign focused on outing a positive vision of the future. 

"I won't talk about the past," Bush said in response to a reporter's question about his foreign policy speech planned for next week in Chicago. "I'll talk about the future. If I'm in the process of considering the possibility of running, it's not about re-litigating anything in the past. It's about trying to create a set of ideas and principles that will help us move forward." 

Bush also declined to answer a question about how he would combat the Islamic State militant group, saying he'd talk more about foreign policy next week. The answers will help increase anticipation around his talk on Wednesday at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A governor from 1999 to 2007, Bush is better known for views on domestic issues, such as his advocacy for charter schools and support for easing immigration laws.

Okay if the Jeb Bush, and the Republican party, think they can destroy Hillary by peppering her with  questions about Bill's infidelities while having their candidate dodge questions about the last Republican President's record then they have really not thought this whole thing through.

I think it is pretty clear that George W's record for destroying economies and starting unnecessary wars is far and away more pertinent to the conversation than who Bill Clinton did, or did not boink, while HE was in the White House.

And I have every confidence that the Democrats are absolutely NOT going to let Jebbie get away with avoiding these type of questions for long.

On the other hand I am sure they are more than willing to have Hillary answer questions about her husband's policy decisions while serving as President of these United States.

I don't think that the Rolling Stone review of American Sniper is going to make the conservatives very happy.

Courtesy of Rolling Stone: 

The really dangerous part of this film is that it turns into a referendum on the character of a single soldier. It's an unwinnable argument in either direction. We end up talking about Chris Kyle and his dilemmas, and not about the Rumsfelds and Cheneys and other officials up the chain who put Kyle and his high-powered rifle on rooftops in Iraq and asked him to shoot women and children. 

They're the real villains in this movie, but the controversy has mostly been over just how much of a "hero" Chris Kyle really was. One Academy member wondered to a reporter if Kyle (who in real life was killed by a fellow troubled vet in an eerie commentary on the violence in our society that might have made a more interesting movie) was a "psychopath." Michael Moore absorbed a ton of criticism when he tweeted that "My uncle [was] killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards …" 

And plenty of other commentators, comparing Kyle's book (where he remorselessly brags about killing "savages") to the film (where he is portrayed as a more rounded figure who struggled, if not verbally then at least visually, with the nature of his work), have pointed out that real-life Kyle was kind of a dick compared to movie-Kyle. 

(The most disturbing passage in the book to me was the one where Kyle talked about being competitive with other snipers, and how when one in particular began to threaten his "legendary" number, Kyle "all of the sudden" seemed to have "every stinkin' bad guy in the city running across my scope." As in, wink wink, my luck suddenly changed when the sniper-race got close, get it? It's super-ugly stuff). 

The thing is, it always looks bad when you criticize a soldier for doing what he's told. It's equally dangerous to be seduced by the pathos and drama of the individual solider's experience, because most wars are about something much larger than that, too. 

Deifying a man who made sure to kill more people in order to protect his reputation as the most lethal sniper in the military. Just things conservatives do.

However to be serious if you actively engage in a contest where each point on the scoreboard signifies the end of a human life, you, in no way, deserve to wear the mantle of hero.

From all I can tell Kyle was a psychopath who found a legally supported, and celebrated, outlet for his murderous instincts.

Is anybody else having Jeremy Morlock flashbacks?

Cause I am.