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Turkey Moves on Syria Islamic State is a bigger threat to Ankara than is a Kurdish autonomous zone.

Posted By on August 25th, 2016

As military operations go, Turkey’s pre-dawn incursion Wednesday into Syria is neither large nor particularly complex. A combined force of some 20 Turkish tanks, along with 500 troops of the Free Syrian Army and U.S air assets and special forces, entered western Syria to evict Islamic State from Jarabulus on the banks of the Euphrates River. By evening they had taken the town, depriving Islamic State of its last stronghold along the Turkish border and one of its key supply lines.

Yet the Jarabulus raid has wider strategic implications. How they play out depends on whether the aim of the operation is to fight Islamic terror or serve as another opportunity to thwart the Kurdish forces that have been America’s best ally in that fight.

So far it looks like the latter. Though the incursion comes days after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 54 people at a wedding in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, Ankara’s timing seems to have been dictated by its fears that the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG forces would cross the Euphrates and capture Jarabulus before it could. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the YPG to be a terrorist group based on its purported links to the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK. Mr. Erdogan is fighting an underreported war of “liquidation” in southeastern Turkey and routinely uses artillery to attack the YPG.

But the YPG is not a terrorist group, and it has been Washington’s most effective proxy in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Its fighters—ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Yazidis—are doing the bulk of the fighting. Without them, Islamic State would long ago have seized northern Syria, posing an even larger risk to Turkey.

That’s an argument we hope Joe Biden, who arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, makes to Mr. Erdogan. The Vice President is trying to smooth relations with Ankara following last month’s attempted coup, which Mr. Erdogan blames on Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. But the evidence of Mr. Gulen’s involvement is slender, and the Administration has been right to resist Turkey’s extradition demands. There’s no upside for the U.S. in contributing to Mr. Erdogan’s purge of alleged conspirators.

Mr. Biden should also explain that Turkey has nothing to gain by treating the YPG as an enemy, or by opposing a Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria akin—and perhaps joined—to Iraqi Kurdistan. The autonomous region, established with the help of a U.S. no-fly zone after the 1991 Gulf War, is a rare Middle East success, thanks to political moderation, military prowess and U.S. assistance. Turkey could use more such neighbors.

The principal threat to Turkish security comes from Islamic jihadists, not alienated Kurds or the liberal-minded social activists Mr. Erdogan is arresting in droves. An autonomous Kurdish region outside of Turkey could mitigate separatist Kurdish tendencies and serve as a buffer against Arab upheavals. That should be attractive considering the alternatives of Islamic State or Bashar Assad. CONTINUE AT SITE

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North Korea’s Submarine Success Pyongyang appears to have a new way to launch nuclear missiles.

Posted By on August 25th, 2016

North Korea often stages military provocations to distract from its political setbacks, so many predicted that it would try something after last week’s high-profile defection of senior diplomat Thae Yong-ho. But Wednesday’s launch of a ballistic missile from a submarine was more than a diversion—it was also an operational success, representing a clear advance in Kim Jong Un’s weapons arsenal.

The KN-11 missile flew some 300 miles off North Korea’s east coast, toward Japan, before falling into the sea, say U.S. and South Korean officials. That’s the longest flight by far since Pyongyang started testing its submarine launch systems in 2014. Two sub-launched missiles failed earlier this year when they blew up in midair after about 18 miles.

Pyongyang has devoted considerable resources to its nuclear and missile programs and is progressing on both fronts. Analysts in South Korea who, like their U.S. counterparts, have often underestimated North Korean capabilities, believe Pyongyang could deploy operational sub-launched missiles by 2020.

The North’s Gorae submarine, based on old Yugoslavian designs, may be relatively unsophisticated and noisy. But it could threaten South Korea, Japan and tens of thousands of U.S. troops simply by deploying around North Korea’s coast with the KN-11. The missile has an estimated top range of 550 miles.

Wednesday’s achievement follows another recent milestone for Pyongyang’s missile program. In June it successfully launched for the first time a medium-range Musudan missile from a road-mobile carrier.

The missile also reached the highest altitude the North has achieved. This is especially worrisome because the intercontinental ballistic missile Pyongyang is developing—with an estimated 10,000-mile range that could reach half the continental U.S.—uses Musudan-type engines in its initial boost phase. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Anaphylactic Political Shock Sorry, Hillary. The feds are to blame for Mylan’s EpiPen monopoly.

Posted By on August 25th, 2016

The latest political pile-on over alleged pharmaceutical price gouging is officially underway now that Hillary Clinton joined the scrum on Wednesday. Usually these exercises are inspired by cures or important clinical innovations that happen to be expensive. The irony this time is that the target is a monopolist created by the same government that Mrs. Clinton wants to hand far more power over drugs.

In a statement, the Democrat assailed the “outrageous” cost of EpiPen, an emergency treatment for allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, and she demanded that drug maker Mylan “immediately reduce the price.” Federal and Senate investigations are pending into these spring-loaded syringes filled with epinephrine (adrenaline) used primarily by children with life-threatening sensitivities to food or insect stings.

Mylan has raised the price of EpiPen in semiannual 10% to 15% tranches so that a two-pack that cost about $100 in 2008 now runs $500 or more after insurance discounts and coupons. Outrage seems to be peaking now because more families are exposed to drug prices directly though insurance deductibles and co-pays, plus the political class has discovered another easy corporate villain.

Still, the steady Mylan rise is hard to read as anything other than inevitable when a billion-dollar market is cornered by one supplier. Epinephrine is a basic and super-cheap medicine, and the EpiPen auto-injector device has been around since the 1970s.

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An Israeli Arab Speaks Out: “I’m Loyal to the Country That Gave Me Everything”

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2016/08/im-loyal-to-country-that-gave-me.html

Many people will already have seen this heart-warming video by a brave Israeli Arab lady.

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Sex Slaves & Other Infidels: A Posse of Passionate Preachers (videos)

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

More lovable expositors of that Olde Tyme Religion.

First, the Hezbollah preacher informing of Israel’s imminent demise. (Come to think of it, he doesn’t look too convinced!)

‘In a TV interview, Lebanese cleric Hashem Safieddine, head of the Executive Council of Hizbullah, said that “Israel is closer than ever before to its demise” and warned that “the time for operations will come.” When the interviewer asked whether Hizbullah was capable of entering the Galilee or “even further than the Galilee” with ground forces, Safieddine responded: “We have that capability. Of course.” The interview aired on Mayadeen TV on August 8.’

Second, an Iraqi Shiite salivating about sex slaves:

‘Iraqi Ayatollah Abdul Karim Al-Haeri, Director of the Karbala Hawza Shiite seminary, said in a video that after the arrival of the Mahdi, it would be permissible to take five or ten slave girls from among those who oppose the imam, and to offer them to friends for sex, when they come over.

Al-Haeri recommended this as a means to prevent marital problems: “If his wife asks him where he was, he has no problem [telling her he was with his friend],” he said.

Excerpts from the lecture were posted on April 7 on the Facebook page of Beith Al-Wujdan Al-Thaqafi, a group focused on enlightenment and extremism in the Arab and Islamic world.’

(Hey, Pope Francis, what in Christianity is analogous to this? …. Nu? Nah, I don’t think His Naive Holiness could provide a convincing answer, even if he tried to, do you?)

Third, a Kuwaiti alleging a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy:

‘In a 2011 episode of his religious TV show, Kuwaiti preacher Nabil Al-Awadi claimed that there was a Jewish-Freemason conspiracy aimed at instilling un-Islamic messages in the mind of children through popular animated films. “The whole world has turned SpongeBob,” he complained. “They are instilling the message that boys are wimps, sissies, and girlish, whereas girls are butch, strong, and masculine… Brothers, there is homosexuality in cartoons.” Al-Awadi further said that “Jews are behind most of the American companies today.” The show aired on Al-Watan TV on September 24, 2011.’

(All videos by Memri.org )

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UCI’s SJP Fascists Campus hate group gets a wink and a nod to continue anti-Semitic activities. Ari Lieberman

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

On May 25, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) witnessed a shocking display of blatant anti-Semitism coupled with egregious suppression of free speech and open discourse. Campus Brown Shirts from the hate group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) violently disrupted a movie screening organized by pro-Israel groups. The screening featured the acclaimed documentary, Beneath the Helmet, which documents the personal experiences and challenges of Israeli soldiers while undergoing basic training in a paratroop battalion.

A large and vocal group of SJP hooligans initiated a campaign of violent intimidation aimed at disrupting the event and causing harm to the attendees. They blocked entrances and exits preventing ingress and egress to and from the building. Those already inside were literally trapped while others who tried to attend were physically blocked. One female student who tried to attend was threatened and chased by a number of SJP members. She was ultimately forced to call the police while taking refuge in a nearby building. Additional police were dispatched to escort the attendees out of the building where the screening was held.

As noted by Lea Speyer of the Algemeiner, the disruptive rabble shouted slogans like, “Long live the intifada,” “f*** the police,” “displacing people since ’48 / there’s nothing here to celebrate,” and “all white people need to die.”

Though the event was not canceled and the screening went on as scheduled, the upheaval and environment of fear caused by the SJP’s antics distracted from the event and dissuaded many from attending. A re-screening was subsequently held on June 8 and also featured the short film, “Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism on Campus,” which was shown before the screening of “Beneath the Helmet.”

Given the magnitude of the SJP disruption and the blatant display of racism and anti-Semitism, one would have thought that campus officials would have instituted stern action against the vile offenders. Shockingly, however, administration officials gave the SJP what amounted to a mere slap on the wrist. An email from the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Thomas A. Parham, noted in part:

“After a thorough review, the student conduct investigation is now complete. The investigators found that SJP, the group that organized and led the protest, violated Student Conduct Policies regarding disruption: ‘Obstruction or disruption of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary procedures, or other University activities.’ As a result, SJP was issued a written warning, effective immediately and continuing until March 29, 2017. As part of the sanction, SJP must host an educational program by November 18, 2016.”

University officials acknowledged that the SJP violated the student code of conduct and disrupted free speech and university activities. Nonetheless, officials decided to limit the sanction to a pathetic warning and requiring the SJP to host an “educational program.” No doubt the SJP will use the “educational” opportunity to advance their pernicious, anti-Semitic venom thus defeating the purpose of the sanction.

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The Child Soldiers of Jihad For jihadis, it’s not child abuse. It’s doing them a favor. August 24, 2016 Robert Spencer

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

CNN reported Tuesday that “dramatic video has emerged of Iraqi police stripping an explosive belt from a child suspected in a suicide bombing attempt for ISIS.” This followed the bombing in Turkey on Saturday, when a Muslim boy between twelve and fourteen years old murdered 51 people with a jihad suicide bomb at a wedding party. These were just the latest examples of the longstanding jihadi practice of using children in jihad attacks – a practice that the jihadis themselves regard as just the opposite of child abuse, and indeed, the greatest activity in which a child or anyone else can engage.

Najmaldin Karim, the governor of Kirkuk Governorate in Iraq, asserted that the Islamic State (ISIS) had “trained and brainwashed” the child suicide bomber. “They tell them if they do this, they will go to heaven and have a good time and get everything that they ever wanted.”

Is ISIS eccentric in this idea, or twisting and hijacking the peaceful religion of Islam? The Qur’an says: “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties, for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed” (9:111).

This is essentially a guarantee of Paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah. This verse has become in the modern age the rationale for suicide bombing. The mainstream and revered Qur’an commentator Ibn Kathir explains: “Allah states that He has compensated His believing servants for their lives and wealth — if they give them up in His cause — with Paradise.”

Another Qur’an commentator, Ibn Juzayy, adds: “It is said that it was sent down about the Homage of Aqaba [an early pledge of Muslims’ willingness to wage war for Islam], but its judgment is general to every believer doing jihad in the way of Allah until the Day of Rising.”

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The Supreme Court Must Restore Religious Liberty to Military Members A lower court prohibited a Marine from taping up a Bible verse in her own workspace. By Kelly J. Shackelford

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

Americans serving in the military lost some of their rights earlier this month when the military’s highest court ruled that a Marine has no rights under an important religious freedom law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Because this military court has exclusive jurisdiction over many military matters, only the U.S. Supreme Court can restore religious liberty to our service members by choosing to take up the case of United States v. Sterling.

Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was a young Marine struggling with military life and getting poor reviews from her superiors. She sought encouragement in her Christian faith, posting by her computer a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:17 from the Bible: “No weapons formed against me shall prosper.”

Her supervisor ordered her to remove the Bible verse, even though other Marines in the office had personal and inspirational items in their workspaces. Sterling refused and was court-martialed. She represented herself in court without an attorney, asserting religious liberty, but was convicted and dishonorably discharged from the military.

My law firm, First Liberty Institute, along with Paul Clement, the former U.S. solicitor general who has argued 83 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, took her case on appeal. Our team presented Sterling’s case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), arguing that RFRA protected her posting of the Bible verses. RFRA provides that whenever a federal agency or employee imposes a substantial burden on a person’s exercising or expressing faith, the government action is unlawful unless it’s the least restrictive means to achieve a truly compelling national interest.

Yet in a stunning decision, the military court ruled 4–1 that RFRA did not protect Sterling’s religious expression, splitting with other federal appeals courts on two critical points of law.

First, the court held that a religious burden is “substantial” only if it concerns something important to that person’s faith. That’s wrong; RFRA broadly states that it covers “any exercise of religion, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.” Courts have no business deciding what they think is important to your practice of faith.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Fifteen Questions Hillary Should Answer Under Oath The public needs to know the truth about Clinton’s private server. By Deroy Murdock

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

Hillary Clinton just can’t catch a break.

The Democrat nominee’s new long march to the White House gets longer by the day. The scandal over her misuse of state secrets via a lawless, do-it-yourself private server seemed to be behind her last month — thanks to the FBI’s and Justice Department’s whitewashing of what looked, to the naked eye, like high crimes.

But Clinton’s initial clean getaway has bogged down into a standoff.

For starters, Clinton’s go-to excuse — “Secretary Powell has admitted he did the same thing,” as she told CNN last March — has crashed and burned. She also has claimed that she installed her private server because her predecessor made her do it.

“Her people have been trying to pin it on me,” Colin Powell told People magazine last Saturday. “The truth is, she was using [the private e-mail server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did.”

Despite the assertions of Clinton and her allies, Powell never had a private server. He did have a private AOL account, for sending personal messages to friends and loved ones and also to transmit unclassified e-mails to State Department colleagues.

Alas, a grand total of two classified e-mails wound up on Powell’s AOL account, according to the State Department’s inspector general. This compares to zero, each, for secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

RELATED: If Hillary Is Corrupt, Congress Should Impeach Her

As for Clinton, her server held 2,113 classified e-mails — literally more than 1,000 times as many as Powell’s AOL account, thus rendering hilarious her assertion that, “We both did the same thing.”

Meanwhile, the absolution of FBI chief James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch did not spare Clinton from the federal government’s pesky judicial branch nor the even peskier watchdogs at the conservative law firm Judicial Watch.

The State Department last week agreed to expedite its delivery of all e-mails to and from Clinton that the FBI discovered in its probe of her private, unsecured server. This decision flows directly from Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit before U.S. District Court judge James E. Boasberg, an Obama appointee.

The request for these e-mails spans February 2, 2009 to January 31, 2013, i.e., all but the first twelve days of Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

VIDEO: The Clintons Are Corruption Defined

Judicial Watch hopes to view what Clinton laughed off as “a few more” new messages on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, namely 14,900 previously unrevealed documents that Clinton sent or received via e-mail. The existence of these records became public yesterday.

Judge Boasberg ordered the State Department to develop a plan to expedite delivery of these materials and present it to him on September 22 — just four days before the first presidential debate between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald J. Trump.

“The American people will now see more of the emails Hillary Clinton tried to hide from them,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton stated. “Simply put, our lawsuits have unraveled Hillary Clinton’s email cover-up.”

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House Oversight Chairman Has Questions for FBI Regarding Clinton Email Storage By Debra Heine

Posted By on August 24th, 2016

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is demanding answers from the FBI regarding the possibility that unauthorized people such as Hillary Clinton’s lawyers and IT staffers mishandled classified emails. This comes a week after Chairman Chaffetz and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia outlining the case for perjury against Hillary Clinton, citing several examples where her sworn testimony before Congress was incompatible with evidence collected by the FBI in their investigation into her private email server.

On Monday, the Utah Republican sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey asking if the possibility of “spillage” had been “fully investigated and remediated.”

“Just as classified information may not be provided to anyone without an appropriate clearance, classified information must also not be stored on a computer system that is not authorized to store it,” Chaffetz wrote. “The transfer of classified information from a computer system authorized to store it to one that is not is called spillage.”

According to the Hill, information about the storage of Clinton’s classified emails at her lawyers’ offices, was not included in the documents the FBI gave to Congress last week.

Documents requested in the letter:

Information as to whether the FBI investigated the possibility that Secretary Clinton’s classified emails were improperly stored or accessed by her personal representatives or by individuals at Williams & Connolly LLP, including on any unauthorized electronic devices or media, such as desktops or servers, and the Bureau’s conclusion if it did investigate that;

A description of the manner in which Clinton’s personal representatives and individuals at Williams & Connolly stored any electronic devices and media and physical documents containing Secretary Clinton’s classified emails when they were not in use, and a description of the physical location in which those devices, media, and documents were accessed when they were in use, including the Bureau’s assessment of whether those met applicable security requirements;

What steps were taken to remediate any possible spillage of classified information stored on electronic media or in any of the other various locations in which Secretary Clinton’s emails were stored and accessed;

Whether the FBI informed Secretary Clinton of the classified findings in its investigation and, if so, when;

Whether the FBI is conducting any other related investigations, or has attempted to do so, and the current status of each such investigation;

Whether the FBI referred any of its findings to any other agency for review for potential security violations or misconduct or disciplinary proceedings;

An unclassified copy of the documents provided to the Committee on August 16, 2016, with all classified information redacted.