My saved-up bitching from yesterday:

Isn't it nice that they'll allow a mens group as long as they say and do the right things, and have the right feminist focus.
Hatred and disdain for one sex, but it's all right; they hate men, so it's all good.


Assuming the whole place doesn't blow up before Friday, this mess will continue and probably get worse.  Now let me put on my "I pretend to be a serious analyst" hat on something:
We have long been recording the movement of a large amount of oil and petroleum products to Turkey from ISIS-occupied territories. This explains the significant funding the terrorists are receiving. Now they are stabbing us in the back by hitting our planes that are fighting terrorism. This is happening despite the agreement we have signed with our American partners to prevent air incidents, and, as you know, Turkey is among those who are supposed to be fighting terrorism within the American coalition.

If ISIS is making so much money – we are talking about tens or maybe even hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars – in oil trade and they are supported by the armed forces of an entire state, it is clear why they are being so daring and impudent, why they are killing people in such gruesome ways, why they are committing terrorist attacks all over the world, including in the heart of Europe.
Ok, the Turk PM is a big Muslim Brotherhood guy.  So is Obama.  Mix all this together: Turkey is being run by the Brotherhood and they're working hard to turn it into a complete theocracy, which Obama seems to approve of.  They're making a lot of money for the project by dealing oil for ISIS, which helps the project forward.

This could help explain why the ROE on the air strikes against ISIS have been such a damned joke: if the Air Force and Navy were turned loose with actual "Destroy all their oil trucks and artillery and other gear" rules, they'd hardly have a pot left to piss in, which would mean little or no oil going through Turkey.  What if the "You cannot bomb unless there will be zero non-combatant casualties" rule is sincere, but largely a smokescreen to hide why he REALLY doesn't want the infrastructure wiped?

Yeah, may may be way off the spot; considering how this mess has been run so far, it may be right on.  Could also explain some of Obamas' attitude: the terrorist attacks are forcing him to actually DO something, but he wants to keep it as minimal as he can get by with, so he speaks of 'a few killers with good social media'(makes you wonder how he'll explain it when they finally do an attack here, doesn't it?) instead of what they are.  And he really really wants lots of muslims brought to the US(multiple reasons), and this is interfering with that project, which explains why he goes from slightly annoyed at having to talk about ISIS to really pissed at Republicans and anyone else who gets in the way of his population project.



With news that even yoga classes are being cancelled due to fears of Westerners appropriating from other cultures, I am led to wonder -- why don't these prohibitions go both ways? If as a white western male, I can't do yoga or host a Cinco de Mayo party or play the blues on the guitar, why does everyone else get to feed greedily from the trough of western culture? If I can't wear a sombrero, why do other cultures get to wear Lakers jerseys, use calculus, or even have polio vaccines? Heck, all this angst tends to occur at Universities, which are a quintessentially western cultural invention. Isn't the very act of attending Harvard a cultural appropriation for non-Westerners?
...
Or here is an even better example:  the movie"A fistful of Dollars".  That was an American western with what has become a quintessentially American actor, Clint Eastwood.  However, it was originally an Italian movie by Italian director Sergio Leone (it was not released in the US until 3 years after its Italian release).   But Sergio Leone borrowed wholesale for this movie from famed Japanese director Akiro Kurosawa's Yojimbo.  But Kurosawa himself often borrowed from American sources, fusing it with Japanese culture and history to produce many of his famous movies.  While there is some debate on this, Yojimbo appears to be based on Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, a classic of American noir fiction.


Because apparently crime is so under control that the cops can screw with old ladies playing games.


Anybody who gives a damn about the 2nd Amendment, and thinks Christie would be a good President, is a fool.


Part the 873 or so of "The hell nobody wants to take your guns"
We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest. . . . [W]e’ll have to start working again to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. . . . The first problem is to slow down the number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. The final problem is to make possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition-except for the military, police, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors-totally illegal.
Note down there: have a rifle or carbine that happens to be chambered for the same cartridge as some handgun?  You're screwed.