Of interest…
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/two-development-projects-threaten-the-grand-canyon.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=1

Navajos need to focus on water issues and less Smog and the way of the Dine. And listen to Hopi wise men.
But in a short time the following will come to Arizona also.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/our-drought-is-real_n_5659546.html

GOP primaries.
Will the Ice Cream man and the Go Daddy babe cancel each other out and let Scott Smith slide into home plate. In my opinion, moderate LDS Smith is the most likely GOP candidate to successfully compete against the Democrats nominee, Fred Duval.
Bennett will also spread out the vote in Smiths favor and who in their right mind would vote for Thomas. Riggs came too late and will have little impact.
Maybe just maybe the democrats will be able to user in a real AG in the form of Felicia Roteillini.
Smith has done well in Mesa and has the states best Police Chief, Frank Milstead. In my opinion the person that should be Sheriff of Maricopa County.

Ruben, just for U.
https://twitter.com/motherboard/status/499267096749305856/photo/1

Excellent article in the Republic on the Navajos and uranium mining. Judy Pasternack’s book “Yellow Dirt” tells the story very well. It’s just another instance of the NA’s being screwed over.

Rest in peace Robin Williams.
The world just got way less funny.

Williams was a flawed genuis
that understood “The World according to Garp.”
more of the funniest.
Charlie Chaplin (voice not needed body language said it all)
Lenny Bruce (Drugs also a problem)
Richard Pryor (ON FIRE)
George Carlin (“it’s all bull shit and it’s bad for You”).
I see no one coming to replace them.

Marc Maron’s interview in 2010 with Robin Williams is a goldmine of comedy history. It’s back at Episode 67, so it requires a subscription to access:
WTF with Marc Maron
I’ve uploaded it to OneDrive, and here’s the link for those who are interested. Maron is one of the best interviewers working today:
WTF 067 – Robin Williams – Sun, 25 Apr 2010

Petro can’t get there without giving up my cookies.

Carpe diem, cal – carpe diem.

August in Seattle. Enjoy.

“O captain, my captain”

I have been waiting for an “outbreak of common sense” since 1966.Wars are ahead at least 5-0

Enjoy your time off!

Does Hunter Thompson live on within the soul of Vice news.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/vice-islamic-state_n_5656202.html
Did Rupert Murdock show up in a Jeep and buy 5 percent to feel Gonzo??
Vice CEO Shane Smith was asked about the magazine’s political allegiances and he stated, “We’re not trying to say anything politically in a paradigmatic left/right way … We don’t do that because we don’t believe in either side. Are my politics Democrat or Republican? I think both are horrific. And it doesn’t matter anyway. Money runs America; money runs everywhere.”

And Petro at his blog reminds us of the continued absurdity. A world of Butchers and the torture of children.
https://deconstructingthemanifest.blogspot.com/2014/07/sartre-on-collective-responsibilty-and.html#comment-form

Jon, R U taking time off? Or are you on the cutting edge of polishing off a MapStone mystery?

cal, that’s enough.
After your “cookies” comment, you are banned for the rest of August.
Go hug a saguaro or go sit on a jumping cholla.

Maybe I will come and hug one of your Pines.

They would love that. Since the Rodeo fire, they are very lonely.

Re Ferguson, Mo., I have put up Cal’s cautionary 2008 guest Rogue piece on Facebook and Twitter:
https://www..com/rogue_columnist/2008/10/gunslingers-sheriffs-and-the-militarization-of-law-enforcement.html

I’m heartened to see white folk at the protests in St. Louie, but I suspect they are Democrats as the Libertarians are standing by the gob’ment, er I mean authority.

Petro’s blog post is very timely.

Another reason “Honest” Republicans must vote for Smith. He was smart enough not to be in the picture.
https://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/08/erik_ketelaar_wannabe_gop_bigwig_under_fire_from_clients_of_his_company_tio_sam_taxes.php

Will the political fight between Mary Rose Wilcox and Ruben Galllego turn Arizona Blue?
“They say the rabid competition will draw out more Democratic voters and inch Arizona ever closer to politically bluer skies.
“It’s not going to magically turn the state blue overnight,” says D.J. Quinlan, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party. “But I think it’s a piece of the puzzle that’s going to lead Arizona to be more and more politically competitive.”
https://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/08/battle_royale_controversial_mary_rose_wilcox_is_in_the_political_fight_of_her_life.php

RE:Ferguson MO:
White Hero VS Black Thug.
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/13/1321404/-Remember-if-some-White-Right-Wing-a-hole-aims-a-high-powered-rifle-at-a-cop?detail=email

RE Ferguson MO. Police Chief. He has a Confederate Flag posted at his house?
What do Ferguson and Baghdad have in common?
And why is Clyde Bundy not in prison?
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/14/1321504/-Ferguson-Police-Tear-Gas-Reporters-then-Disassemble-Their-TV-Equipment?detail=email
Ruben that enough to keep U busy today?

Libertarian Rand says it well.
https://time.com/3111474/rand-paul-ferguson-police/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Cal’s Gunslinger’s post is getting great nationwide traffic today.

Jon I don’t twitter or face book so I have no clue.

Myth or true? John Wayne in 1972 in Newport,CA. turned in a number of guns and said “I am behind Gun Control one hundred percent.”

True

What, Ferguson, MO?
https://www.collectmad.com/collectibles/nlamp.htm

For gun control? Against the death penalty? A native Arizonan going native in Seattle.
Looks like the NRA is backing down from Washington state billionaires’ push for modest gun control legislation. No surprise, the bullies of the NRA only pick on the weak and ignorant.

Interesting Frank Rich:
From on high, (Obama) is taking out ISIS warriors, a vicious cadre that makes Saddam Hussein’s old Republican Guard look like the Peace Corps.
Obama is also arming the endangered Kurds, as always the one sane and functioning enclave in Iraq. And he is trying to rescue the Yazidis before more die from violence or starvation.
Why undertake this humanitarian mission as opposed to others in the same neighborhood? That goes back to the “Pottery Barn Rule,” invoked by Colin Powell a dozen years ago when his president, George W. Bush, was inexorably moving to invade Iraq: “You break it, you own it.”
We can’t allow genocide to proceed unchallenged in a country we broke and never fixed. Not that this rescue, if successful, will wipe clean the moral slate. By the most conservative estimate, more than 125,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and, as Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post has pointed out, it’s doubtful that even the vicious Saddam would have slaughtered that many Iraqis over this period if we had left him in power.
https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/frank-rich-iraq-air-strikes-american-apathy.html

^Well, there are also Big Oil and CIA personnel in that area of Iraq.
On another note, NYC is getting froggy. September is nigh – is this the match to the tinder?
NYPD threatens mass arrests at Ferguson solidarity rally

Is it true that the Iraqis thought they owned 140 US helicopters and when they went to evacuate the Kurds, they could only locate one?
Someone is walking around with cash for 139 helicopters and I bet they aren’t stranded anywhere in Iraq.
Sometimes arms dealers can do stuff that is so funny it could kill you.

Ruben, they got the money for 140 Helicopters but after splitting up the money there was only enough to buy one.
and
Time to do away with HLS!
Good story Richard
I was against HLS the day the words rolled off the lips of Politicians as an Idea.
HLS, ICE, TSA, are an embarrassment to me, and I am a retired Law Enforcement supervisor, and a 74 year old Arizona White Republican.
And the Border Patrol and Customs due to terrible vetting are quagmire’s of corruption.
Sixteen years of bad government and I see no end.
From Richard Wright
Here’s a story you might be interested in forwarding to the group. It concerns Sikhs detained in El Paso, and the violation of international laws in DHS’s efforts to get them to repatriate.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/11/how-the-u-s-sold-out-indian-asylum-seekers-on-the-border.html

Cal, how come you get older every comment? When this thread started you were 39 years old???

ISIS or ISIL or IS is just another example of blowback. The USA is always trying to smother the Frankensteins we have created around the globe.

The Pottery Barn Rule. We broke so we own it?
“We” being people like Rich and other NY Times pundits who were complicit with the Bush’s misrepresentations to the US public to invade Iraq? The east coast establishment will keep the US militarily engaged in the no-win Middle East political situation and continue to invite terrorist attacks against the US.
China loves it.

cal,
In your guest column that Rogue links, you said,in part, This nation’s law enforcement has moved to a militarized look and posture.
Recently I was visiting Jasper CA. One of the things I thought most interesting about Jasper was that written on their patrol vehicles was ‘Peace Officer’. Wow, I thought “Now there is something really different!” It says a lot about that community’s relationship with law enforcement.
I think there may be times when we need mad dogs enforcing the law. But I rather like the idea of Peace Officers on the street.

From my day job:
https://blogs.seattletimes.com/jontalton/2014/08/15/the-economics-of-ferguson/

Ruben,
Actually I was born OLD, probably 39.
I was eight before I was seven.
It is this blog that keeps me alive.
As I can just rant on and feel really good after I hit the send button. My kinda war.
Suzzane, I have seen Mad Dog law enforcement people. they are part of the problem not the solution. They create more enemies just as we have done with are misplaced efforts to conquer the planet.
I prefer the old standard. “Rough men ride through the night to keep you safe.”
“Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.”
Negotiate negotiate (Kissinger)
Madame Binh to Henry Kissinger, “Stop your aggressive actions and we can come to a conclusion that is mutually satisfactory to both parties.”

Here U go!
“The Border Patrol has a self-identity of a paramilitary border security force and not that of a law enforcement organization.”
https://beta.cironline.org/reports/ousted-chief-accuses-border-agency-of-shooting-cover-ups-corruption/

The goal of a cop is to “go home safe at the end of the shift.” Sean Connery as Malone in The Untouchables.
U will note in the border patrol issue above this is still a law enforcement goal.

Drug War:
Currently coffee prices have increased 9 percent on the legal retail market and seem to likely continue to increase in price.
“I am responding to the will of the people.”
Al Capone 1930. RJ Reynolds 1994, CHAPO 2003.
Currently the Russians OWN organized crime, world wide.
Want Ivory, Diamonds, Slaves, Guns or Drugs, Call Ivan.

this is Alaska, I got people…
https://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/15/watch-woman-goes-bonkers-on-fcking-muslim-apologizing-for-traffic-mishap/

Jon, Nice column in the Seattle Times.
As the world turns into killing fields, global warming advances and the drought continues, Californians play golf on 1000 grass covered golf courses.
https://www.vice.com/read/save-water-ban-golf-815

I think the Aztecs had it right. Eat the excess population.
Conquistadors and religion shows up, screws up the whole system.

I challenge any of you to turn away from a plate of Arizona politician smothered in Kansas City barbecue sauce.
He’ll, it seems Kansas runs our politicians , why not have them serve up the mindless idiots on a platter with corn and beans.
I’ll have a second helping, please.

Ruben U must be smoking some good mesquite?

I’m walking the Mall for my hour daily walk. I always stop and talk to the young Israeli people manning the perfume booths. I said to a tattered looking young thin man, U look like you just got in from Israel. He got here 4 days ago. He had been a Israeli Air Force medic. Over the last few years I have had an interesting time talking to these male and female perfume clerks from Israel manning the Kiosk’ s after they completed their tour of required Military duty in Israel.
From my cell phone at the only American Mall that allegedly appeared on a terroist list around 911.

cal, I remember reading something about Israeli kiosks in malls (e.g., Mall of America) having to do with spying here, sometime post-9/11. Don’t have the motivation to do the research at the moment, but a quick Google of “israeli kiosk spying” churned up a bunch of stuff.
Part of my fuzzy memory includes a fact(?) about our NSA data-gathering being stored and processed by an Israeli-based company that overtly implied that they are looking at all (most?) of the USA domestic data that the NSA gathers. Certainly perhaps not exclusively through Israel, but enough to wonder about it. Is this the secret sauce behind the grip of AIPAC on our politicians?
I know, it’s a little tinfoil-hatty, but there are Big Games afoot.

Petro, When I first encountered this I gently suggested to a former Israeli Pilot that “ah come on they send a pilot to America to sell perfume.” He smiled. I usually conduct a history test for them and so far out of about 30 or so only two knew who Moshe Dayan was and who is Abraham Foxman.
Regardless they are interesting folks to chat with.
I once got to Bring Dayan his dinner to his room at the Biltmore Estates and I was the body guard for Foxman and his wife for about 10 days when they were in Phoenix hanging out with the ADL community including local celebrity Marty Schultz.
(another story another time about Marty and I in an elevator.)

Politically elected County Sheriffs are an archaic system the US probably would be better off not having.
https://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/15/report-florida-cops-regularly-entrapped-men-in-sex-predator-stings/

For those of you that find it to be a slow August Month might I suggest reading
“No Place to Hide” by Glenn Greenwald.
Chapter four on “The Harm of Surveillance” is superb.

A follow up:
An email note I sent out to a number of my acquaintances,from hard right to Marxist left
Regardless of your thoughts about Eric Snowden or Glenn Greenwald I suggest the book by Greenwald “No Place to Hide” is a worthwhile read. Not to change your politics but as always to increase your knowledge and give rise to critical thinking and discussion
4th amendment (Keeping the state out of our private realm) “our “persons, papers and effects”
Olmstead v.US: “The right to be left alone is the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by a free people”
“The Obama administration which has brought more prosecutions against leakers than all prior presidencies combined has sought to create a climate of fear that would stifle any attempts at whistle blowing. But Snowden destroyed that template.”
PS and deported more folks also
A comment from a friend:
I suspect repression will win and Obama will not get his proper credit for his efforts in american repression.

Pretty lame open thread.
Might as well go to azcentral. The leading edge in journalism in this century.

Spoken like a true Arizona John Birch Republican, Ruben!!

Great article on azcent about Linda Ronstadt. She and the Dixie Chicks spoke out against bush and his band of idiots. She and the Chicks paid a price for doing so.
History has proven her to be correct.
I’m a big fan and she’s my hero.

Bernie Kerik was on State of the Union on CNN and proves he’s a dog-whistle racist and a terrble cop and human. Why does the media continually turn to these corrupt, discredited publicity whores for commentary?

Cal, pass this on.
I have a pair of binocs and a spotting scope within reach on my deck.
With the binocs I can watch a bird eat seed.
With a spotting scope I can make out the worm tattoo on the bird’s ankle.
Love my spotting scope.

Arizona was once the king of land fraud.
In the Front Pages of this blog above is a story on the Law School Scam. One of which is located in AZ.
A retired cop friend sent me the following statement.
“Instead of Phoenix and Arizona being the home to land fraud we’re now the home to massive federal student loans scams. These scams would make Ned Warren green with envy.”
I agree with him and would add that Charter schools should be included. (Regardless of legislation stating Charter schools are public schools, I disagree. I believe they are class driven, religious oriented, racist and set up to make money in a variety of instances.

Cops and Heroes:
Petro, Linda Ronstadt was a good person from a good Arizona family, and her brother was a good cop, he was the police Chief in Tucson for many years.
Jerry, Bernie Kerik and the Ferguson Police Chief are criminals with badges.
Kerik was the terrible choice of the unqualified inept smiling George Bush choose to head the new Home Land Security. A corrupt and useless organization and one I was opposed to the day I heard of its possible formation.
Ruben, I passed! And some of your recent comments on eating barbecued politicians and the feasting Aztec solution to population control reminds me of:the Cannibal that passed his brother in the forest.

I agree with Risen. Freedom of the Press is about to be terminated by a Darth Vader Administration!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/17/james-risen-obama_n_5685705.html

cal, I thought you and others might enjoy this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/big-in-mexico/375060/
“She has a reputation for being an incredibly speedy and efficacious miracle worker,” says Chesnut, describing her as a healer and a whiz at solving legal problems. “And unlike most canonized saints, at the end of the day, she isn’t Catholic, so you can ask her for anything—to bless a shipment of crystal meth, for example.”

Suzanne, thanks for that piece. These folks have been around a long time.
https://www.houstonpress.com/2012-09-13/news/narco-saints/
My favorites are San Ramón Nonato
and San Judas Tadeo .
Also the Catholic Saint Jude is the police officers saint, The saint of lost causes,
as is San Judas Tadeo.

Hard Choices. I cant decide whether tonite I want to watch the Movie Cocaine Cowboys or The Untouchables. Sean Connery is hard to put down as Malone, a lost cause to be sure.
But then maybe a third choice, Blow with Johnny Depp. Or Scarface with Al Pachino or Paul Muni.
Ruben can U look in your scope and see a recommendation. And not Hitchcock’s, The Birds.

A Clockwork Orange

Mall of America? Sounds like a good name for Maricopa County. Try walking on Central near the main Mosque in NE Minneapolis. Better neighborhood for walking and eating. Ask the Israelis for directions.

Koreyel, left U a couple of things on Ferguson blog.
Thanks Jerry I slept with my eyes wide shut.

Apaches (?) thru German fiction:
https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003056479/native-fantasy-germanys-indian-heroes.html?src=vidm
The discussion on holding human remains needs to be passed on to Yale’s Skull and Bones Society.

Ferguson:Regardless of your opinions the following is an interesting read passed on to me by a retired Major City Police Chief.
https://www.lawofficer.com/article/lifeline-training/open-letter-captain-ronald-s-j

The comments on your link are interesting cal.

TNC is back at the Atlantic and has hit the web running…
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/08/black-people-are-not-ignoring-black-on-black-crime/378629/
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/08/Reparations-For-Ferguson/376098/

Think Ferguson looked bad so far
Wait until we hear the grand jury decision!

They have as much chance of charging the Ferguson cop as charging Flake’s son on killing all those dogs.

I’m prepared to offer a bit of background on ISIS different from the mainstream media narrative. I was going to offer this as a Guest Column but wasn’t sure that Mr. Talton wanted to lend his imprimatur to such a controversial topic.
The most interesting aspect of this is the question of how this comparatively small group managed to take over large amounts of Iraq in such a short period of time, so I’ll cut to that first to (hopefully) hook readers’ interest. Then the background, and my unusual take on some of the more high profile events in the group’s recent activities in Iraq.
How did a group numbering in the thousands in Iraq manage to take over vast swathes of the country, including Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city with 1.5 million residents and a large army garrison?
The first clue to the mystery is the fact that the section ISIS has taken either operational control of or else are currently uncontested in (not at all the same thing, by the way, and ISIS’ control is commonly exaggerated) is dominated by Sunni Muslims. The Kurdish area and the Shia area including Baghdad and the south remain outside ISIS’ grasp.
Much has been made of the feckless Iraqi army, removing its uniforms and leaving its equipment, supposedly in sheer terror. But most members of army garrisons in the Sunni part of Iraq were locals drawn from the area when they were recruited into the army.
It’s well known that the Sunnis are politically disaffected from years of Shia dominance under the Maliki government. Memories of Shia death squads during the civil war probably don’t help either.
So, much like the rank and file of the Tsar’s army at the time of the Russian revolution, these Sunni army regulars had no motive to die for the hated Shia-controlled government, whether they actively supported ISIS, merely sympathized, were neutral, or didn’t like them much (but more than they liked the central government). It was easier to desert, especially since the “enemy” was a Sunni group promising political independence and control to Sunnis; in effect, a new Sunni state and control of the oil wealth of Mosul. Active and coordinated support disguised as desertions (to discourage Maliki and friends from prosecuting them for high treason if things didn’t work out) is also possible.
Don’t forget also that the Sunni tribes themselves supported this group, or its predecessors, during the Iraq war. Even at a late date, when most of the tribes had been bought off by the Americans, six tribes having 300,000 members pledged formal support to the Sunni fundamentalist insurgents. And the Americans are no longer there to pay-off, cajole, target recalcitrant leaders and support cooperative ones. The tribes were in opposition to Shia rule as well as to American occupation.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2006/10/alqaedas_grand_coali.php#
Furthermore, it is known from Al Qaeda in Iraq files captured during the war that former Baath Party (Saddam Hussein era) military and secret police came to dominate the local leadership of the group, particularly in the Sunni dominated Anbar Province, which (surprise, surprise) ISIS now claims.
https://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/11/al.qaeda.iraq/index.html?iref=topnews
So, let’s add up the clues: the passive or active support of most Sunni army rank and file in the north; the local tribal support for Sunnis versus Shia political domination; the general disdain among Sunnis for the Shia form of Islam; the involvement of ambitious former elements of the Baathist regime who have a soft spot for top-down authoritarian government and see potential new career opportunities with ISIS; the money motive for local Sunni leaders (sharing the wealth from Mosul’s regional oil distribution and hydroelectric energy sales and from other assets formerly controlled by the Shia central government); and the tactical advice and support not only of current and former Iraqi military but also of very capable Chechen urban guerrilla fighters, who have been so useful to ISIS in Syria that one Chechen commander (Abu Omar al-Shishani) was made commander of the northern sector of ISIS in Syria in 2013.
Is it beginning to look less mysterious?
Three points about major recent events before I give some general background on ISIS.
First, don’t believe claims that the retaking of Mosul’s hydroelectric dam (supported by U.S. airstrikes and probably by U.S. special forces disguised as Kurdish fighters and leading them) was motivated by fears for the safety of U.S. personnel in Baghdad, if ISIS blew the dam. If ISIS really intended or even seriously considered doing that, an attack to retake the dam would be the surest way to get them to go ahead and blow it. They had plenty of time, as evinced by the fact that they left behind IEDs and other boobytraps, targeting not the dam, but the Kurdish opposition ground forces. The U.S. knows very well that ISIS doesn’t want to flood the areas it controls (a necessary consequence of a river in flood on its way south), and that ISIS does want to control power generation by the dam (rumor has it that ISIS sells part of the electricity generated in areas of Syria it controls back to the Assad government). By the way, retaking the dam is
one thing: keeping it is another. The Independent reported just a day ago that ISIS had already begun attempts to retake the dam.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-crisis-fighting-resumes-at-mosul-dam-a-day-after-barack-obama-claims-victory-over-isis-9678538.html
Second, those Yazidis. ISIS claims they are devil worshippers, which certainly isn’t the case in the Anton LaVey sense; though part of their queer quiltwork religion involves veneration of an angel named Iblis who refused to obey God’s command to bow before his creation (Man). In traditional Islam (mainstream as well as fundamentalist) Iblis is, um, the name for Satan. The Yazidis claim that Iblis was right to refuse, was redeemed from hell by subsequent “tears of regret”, and as a consequence isn’t actually a fallen angel but an angel in good standing.
As for claims of persecution, some of them are undoubtedly real. No evidence of genocide, though, or anything remotely approaching it. I found myself put off by some of their appearances on CNN. One involved an interview with a Yazidi man who told the western media (with a fatuous smirk, as though he thought they were gullible fools) how ISIS was beheading more and more children every day. Another peculiar set of videos showed groups of adults with children on the mountain (where they lived, by the way); and a number of children (and usually only children) had large swaths of white medical gauze loosely wrapped around the tops of their heads like crowns for no apparent medical reason, while their faces were smeared on the middle of each cheek with something vaguely blood colored, that nevertheless sometimes varied in hue, as if different substances had been applied.
I confess to an uncharitable suspicion that, like the gypsies in some parts of Europe, the Yazidis have a culture where storytelling and petty criminality figure prominently. Whatever the truth of that, at least they don’t take journalists prisoner, hold them for ransom, then cut their head off with a knife in revenge for military airstrikes.
Third, the split between Al Qaeda and ISIS. It seems to be largely a control issue. It’s become a media meme to talk about ISIS as a group so vicious that even Al Qaeda has kicked them out of the club; but details about ethical disputes per se are hard to find. Even if Al Qaeda has undergone a minor revision of tactics in recent years, it’s a public relations ploy, not a reflection of ethical qualms. I mean, we’re talking about Al Qaeda. Anybody remember the stuff they did?
Next comment: Background on ISIS/ISIL/IS.

Part II: Background on ISIS
ISIS stands for Islamic State in Iraq & Syria. The acronyns have evolved along with the ambitions. A less catchy but more recent acronym is ISIL, where L stands for the Levant, which consists of half a dozen countries in whole or in part. Recently the group changed its name to IS (Islamic State) and announced the intent to erase all Middle Eastern boundaries established during the First World War (which is most of them).
Their goal is to establish a caliphate. A caliph is what the successor to Mohammed was called. Caliphs ruled the Islamic Empire for hundreds of years after the death of Mohammed. Theirs was a government based on Islamic religious law, ruled from the top down.
That empire covered a vast territory and included Christians in Egypt and Syria, Zoroastrians in Persia (Iran), Jews, Hindus, and pagans. The wars fought to create and expand that empire were motivated by religious militarism but were not waged to convert other nations to Islam by the sword. It took two centuries for the majority of Egyptians to convert to Islam. It is important to remember that although the Koran exhorts Muslims to fight unbelievers until they pay tribute, it also forbids forced conversion.
Conquered peoples were generally given two basic choices: (a) convert to Islam; (b) pay a tax to the Islamic government. Those who opted for the latter were exempted from military service. Refusing to pay the tributory tax if one did not convert was treated as a criminal act and punished accordingly. The general social hierarchy was: Arabic Muslims at the top, followed by non-Arabic Muslim converts, then “People of the Book” (Christians and Jews), other major religions recognized at some level by the Islamic administrators, and finally pagans, who might be sold into slavery.
For the most part, I see little actual evidence (as opposed to hysterical propaganda) that ISIS, who are Islamic fundamentalists modeling themselves on the early Empire caliphates (before they became mired in bureaucracy, corruption, and effete living) have any difference in policy. There is no systematized policy of forced conversion, which occurs rarely if at all under ISIS direction.
“”We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword,” said an ISIS announcement reported by Reuters.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/uk-iraq-security-christians-idUKKBN0FN29N20140718
“ISIS presented the non-Muslim population with three choices: either convert, pay a special tax (the Islamic per capita tax “jizya“) applied to non-Muslims, or leave the area. A first signs of this development are the 500,000 residents of Mosul fleeing the area, mostly Assyrians of Christian faith, who historically were the majority of the population in the Ninawa (Nineveh) Governorate surrounding Mosul,” reported the Jeruselem Center for Public Affairs.
https://jcpa.org/fall-mosul-iraq-jihadists-game-changer/
The destruction by ISIS of Shia holy sites is barbaric but follows a simple logic. Sunni Muslims’ attitudes toward Shias are in some ways similar to those of evangelical Christians toward Catholics: the Koran forbids the veneration of icons and saints; Shia Muslims are a schismatic offshoot of Islam who venerate saints (and make religious pilgramages to their tombs — hence the infamous sledgehammer attacks on Shia tombs, etc.).
ISIS has also threatened to destroy the sacred black stone venerated by millions of Muslim pilgrims to the Kaaba in the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that neither the Saudi administrators nor most of the pilgrims are Shia. The motive is the same.
I don’t want to stretch the analogy too far, but ISIS is a little reminiscent of the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell and eleven major-generals ruled by military force; he had a hatred of Catholics, fearing they would attack England, used terror to ‘tame’ the Irish, and ordered that all Irish children should be sent to the West Indies to work as slave labourers in the sugar plantations. Make-up was banned. Puritan leaders and soldiers would roam the streets of towns and scrub off any make-up found on unsuspecting women. A Puritan lady wore a long black dress that covered her almost from neck to toes. Cromwell shut many inns and the theatres were all closed down. Most sports were banned. Boys caught playing football on a Sunday could be whipped as a punishment. Swearing was punished by a fine, though those who kept swearing could be sent to prison. Fraternization between the sexes was highly restricted outside of marriage.
https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cromwell_england.htm
Even today, the Saudi interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law) is about as strict and repressive as ISIS’ version. The Saudis have even gone so far as to purge all non Muslim religious practices. “The Saudi Arabian Mutaween or Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (i.e., the religious police) prohibits the practice of any religion other than Islam. Conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant.” The Saudis also use beheading and amputation as criminal punishments; and the public crucifixion of beheaded bodies is also used to discourage further crimes. Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel and accused Egypt of “betraying” Arabs when it signed a peace agreement with Israel. Yet, Saudi Arabia is considered an ally by the United States. It seems that American foreign policy is not determined by social progressivism.
None of this constitutes any approval of ISIS; but it is important to understand that these are not the inventions of a modern terrorist group.
The ruthlessness and brutality of ISIS seems to be well documented, thanks in no small part to its own videos. Their war crimes and abuses, however, need to be viewed through the skeptical lens of wartime propaganda. This includes not only claims of genocidal aspirations against Yazidi and claims of the beheading of Yazidi children, but also reports of the mass murder of Iraqi army prisoners.
“”One Iraqi security official claimed that no more than 11 bodies of executed soldiers were recovered from the Tigris River downstream from the execution site, a group of six and a group of five, although he confirmed that 800 soldiers had been taken prisoner in the area. He also reported finding 17 bodies washed up against a dam near Samarra, another city the militants are fighting for. But he said, ‘There is no such superstitious number as 1,700 people executed.’ An official statement posted on the Ministry of Defense’s website denied the executions had taken place at all.”
It may even be that ISIS is a victim of its own propaganda campaigns meant to intimidate the Iraqi army:
” ‘We’re trying to verify the pics, and I am not convinced they are authentic,’ said Erin Evers, the Human Rights Watch researcher in Iraq.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/world/middleeast/iraq.html?_r=1
As for the threat to America from ISIS, I don’t want to downplay the potential threat from militant Islamists who, like the historical counterparts they emulate, make no distinction between the religious and the political, and regard the fight to subjugate unbelievers and extract tribute as an essential aspect of Islam.
That said, here is what one Iranian Islamic scholar wrote about the arch enemy, ISIS:
“… For Salafists, if non-Muslims control Islamic countries and apostates exist in the Islamic world, the Islamic world must be cleansed of them before all else. In short, the purification of Islamic society takes priority over combat against non-Islamic societies. On this basis, Salafists see conflict with an allegedly illegitimate Hamas government as a first step toward confrontation with Israel. Should the opportunity for military action present itself in the Palestinian territories, Salafists would fight Hamas and other factions deemed in need of “cleansing” from the land and engage Israel afterward. This approach has its roots in Islamic history, which Salafists believe confirms the validity of their position. Relevant points of historical reference include the first caliphate of Abu Bakr, which gave priority to fighting apostates over expanding Islamic conquests, which occurred later, during the second caliphate, under Umar bin al-Khattab.
“Likewise, Saladin fought the Shiites and suppressed them before he engaged the crusaders in the Holy Land. Salafists today see that their priority as fighting Shiites, “munafiqin” (dissemblers, or false Muslims) and apostates, whom they call the “close enemy.” During the current war in Gaza, a number of IS fighters have burned the Palestinian flag because they consider it a symbol of the decline of the Islamic world, which succumbed to national divisions through the creation of independent political states. In Salafist doctrine, the entire Islamic world must be united under a single state, an Islamic caliphate, which IS declared in late June.”
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/islamic-state-fighting-hamas-priority-before-israel.html#
Of course, the more the United States actively supports the “close enemy” in Iraq, the more likely ISIS is to view Americans and American interests as targets of retribution.

Great work, Emil. Maybe you’d care to offer your analysis of Ferguson, too.

Thanks, Emil.

Great post Emil.
I have been Terrorized by religious folks since I was born. There is end to their insanity.

Profound thought number one: it is high time the various factions in the Middle East redraw the artificial borders that were imposed on them in the last century. They should redraw the borders with their own blood. Note to rest of the world, stay out, it’s none of your business.
Profound thought number two: (ferguson) every US city police force should exactly match the profile of the city in which it operates. If the city is 60 percent black and 40 percent white, the police force and police management should have the same percentages.
I’ve known too many white police officers who purposely worked minority areas because that’s where the “hunting” was good.

Ruben, does that go for religious affiliation too? A lot of Mormons would be sent packing in AZ.

Jerry, that would be too complex. Hell, we have twelve different favors of Islam and they all want to kill each other.

Should have read NO END
not “I have been Terrorized by religious folks since I was born. There is end to their insanity.”
But maybe there is hope if that much bandied around belief of a “faithful lift off” were to happen, soon.
Jerry LDS ism is the sticky glue of pure “white” folks. But it looks like Scott Smith has not fully glued himself to the Jihadist part of the faith.
Vote for Elizabeth Warren?

Petro…
https://www.salon.com/2014/08/22/why_burning_man_is_not_an_example_of_a_loosely_regulated_tech_utopia/
The hype is better than the reality. Off my bucket list.

good article Jerry
looks like the rowdy party without a beach is over.

Yea, e-dog – as an ex-carny I saw the writing on the wall at its first incarnation, but I waited a couple of years (and a couple of hip-media articles) before I passed judgment. It has exceeded my cynicism.
On another note, I ran across this rant from an extremely “Americanized” vet (redundant?) who simultaneously overestimates the threat of the caliphate (he cautions against invading the U.S., for dog’s sake,) and overestimates the strength of the U.S. in these strange days of decline.
‘A Subtle Message to ISIS’ From a Ticked Off Military Veteran Should Send a Chill Down the Spine of Every Terrorist
“Subtle.” I do not think that word means what he thinks it does.
(If there were one piece of advice I would humbly offer my country, it would be to stop strutting around like you’re the owners of the planet just as you are becoming irrelevant. The Chinese and Russians are working furiously to make the U.S. dollar finally non-essential to their trading needs, and they will succeed. And it will hurt. We should be making friends right now, not exacerbating resentments.)

The reported ISIS threat of calamitous terrorist attacks against the US sounds a lot like the claims of “weapons of mass destruction” used as a pretext for the US warmongers to invade Iraq in 2003. No doubt the more the US bombs ISIS the more attractive the US becomes as a target for ISIS.
All politics, and war by extension, are local. Let Iran handle the matter. The US would be better off encouraging its allies, the caliphates of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to stop funding ISIS.

George W. Bush declared victory within weeks of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The shock and awe battle was an impressive victory for US military forces. The initial battle was won, but the war was ultimately lost as the neoconservative dream of a stable, democratic Middle East turned, as predicted, into an unstable killing fields of 2014. Good job team USA.
The same warmongers, with different superficial pretexts, now urge the US taxpayer to send more valuable
resources after the trillions of dollars already flushed down the rat hole.
Americans will eventually get it. The question is how many more trillions will the warmongers loot from the US Treasury before they do.

jmav good post.
I am not sure Americans or the masses will ever really get it and if they do what will they do? I find your comments interweave with Emils fact post.
But for me
Nothing new here, same old Ghengis Khan stuff, his “campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations.”
However he did practice meritocracy and encouraged religious tolerance.

I am beginning to have a different opinion of the Bush invasion of Iraq. I still resent the lies and crude handling of, especially, the historic sites. I think the act to rid the ministries of Sadam’s appointees was a mistake. However, Rumsfeld’s idea to get in and out as quickly as possible may have been good. It seems that we are back to the same kind of policy that was in place during the Clinton administration – strategic strikes against,(?) Sunni’s (first Sadam now ISIS). The U.S. supports Haider al-Abadi, which could bode well for future peace if Malaki could stop being a control freak.

Back in the US. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. The Hermit
https://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

Suzanne we can what if the Iraq Bush invasion to death. My point is its cost thousands of lives since the invasion and no end is in site.
Regarding the Bush administration I agree with Vincent Bugliosi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prosecution_of_George_W._Bush_for_Murder

FYI, I have updated the Star Johnson column after receiving new information from Joe Davis’s family. Makes a riveting story even more compelling.
https://www..com/rogue_columnist/2014/06/phoenix-101-star-johnson.html

Jon thanks for the update
i sent it on to Hunsaker

Cal Lash wrote:
“…same old Ghengis Khan stuff, his ‘campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations.’ However he did practice meritocracy and encouraged religious tolerance.”
There were some wholesale massacres.
In Thomas W. Lippman’s “Understanding Islam” he recounts the Mongol sacking of Baghdad as part of the history of Islam. I include the following excerpts which I took from an online summary. Apparently the Christians (and maybe the Jews) were spared because because Hulegu Khan’s favorite wife and his closest friend and general were both Christians.
* * *
Throughout the thirteenth century, first under the famous Genghis Khan, then under his grandson Hulegu, brother of Kublai Khan, the pagan hordes of the Mongols ravaged Asia Minor, burning cities, flooding fields by opening dams, murdering captives, and torturing religious leaders. They were particularly hostile to the institutions of civilization, such as libraries and schools.
• The siege of Baghdad took place in 1258 and it was a massacre. They pillaged the city, burned the schools and libraries, destroyed the mosques and palaces, murdered possibly a million Muslims, and finally executed the entire Abassid family by wrapping them in carpets and trampling them beneath their horses’ hooves.
• The destruction of Baghdad had a lasting significance in that it put an end to the primacy of the Arabs in Islam. This is significant in that clearly Islam could and would survive without its Arab connection.
• Eventually the Mongols themselves adopted Islam. Islam moved into China, Indonesia, Central Asia, and Africa.
* * *
Not nice folks.

P.S. A low estimate of the number of residents killed in the seige of Baghdad by the Mongols is 90,000. A million would be at the top of the range of estimates.

Mr. Talton wrote:
“Great work, Emil. Maybe you’d care to offer your analysis of Ferguson, too.”
Thank you kindly. As for Ferguson, I haven’t felt especially insightful. Obviously, the police department is badly in need of affirmative action.
I strongly suspect that race bias does play a role in day to day policing there, whether recognized as such or not, and that this has conditioned the local population to be particularly sensitive to circumstances which might otherwise be regarded by them as ambiguous. It’s easy to see racism behind a shooting like this, whether it’s there or not, if you see racism from enough of the police on a regular basis in minor matters.
The problem is that too much is conditional on facts that have yet to established. Was the officer’s face literally broken? Was Brown trying to get his gun? Was Brown trying a second time to get the gun when he was shot again? Could an ambiguous movement from Brown, under such circumstances, result in a snap judgment that in hindsight may or may not have been correct? How reliable are the witnesses, all of whom have different versions, and one of whom was with Brown when he committed a strong-arm robbery just minutes before?

Can you fish a missing comment on Brown from the filter?

I can’t find any comments in the spam bin

1,
900,000
a million
????????
ain’t man great!

1
90,000
a million?????
ain’t we great!

Jon,
Phoenix PD shooting
: https://youtu.be/01zzjE0iNsA
and another
https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2014/08/23/what-if-michael-brown-ferguson-phoenix/14444025/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/19/im-a-cop-if-you-dont-want-to-get-hurt-dont-challenge-me/?hpid=z10

Would U believe arizona ‘ s Ruben Gallego is in the latest issue of Adbusters bad mouthing neocons

Ferguson and like police departments.
The Ferguson police officer in question came from another police force (Jennings) that was completely disbanded and re established due to similar problems as in Ferguson and other small police departments.
No info on how this is working out.
Question does ones race make you a more vicious and violent cop? Probably not?(A film to see Training Day). Big and little police departments with more racial diversity still have serious issues with unwarranted violence by police.
If tomorrow the number of Black police officers in Ferguson increased in proportion to the black population would that solve the excessive force issues. Maybe?? Somewhat! Maybe not.
The problems are not just local police departments. Curently Homeland security and the agencies under its auspices have serious problems due to bad hiring, lack of vetting and insufficient training.
It’s documented that Federal Hispanic law enforcement have acted prejudicial against Hispanic migrants.
As I have witnessed Hispanic and Black local police officers treat Hispanic and black citizens unfairly because “they were making my race look bad.”
In my opinion, hiring and training is where many problems can be reduced.
Call it profiling if you like but there are psychological patterns that can be tested for in hiring. Training can also bring out bad traits with realistic scenarios that challenge the trainees thought and action patterns. And if the trainee cop makes it to the street, they should be assigned training officers that will not say “forget everything they taught you in the academy”

Police shootings and more.
Black cop kills unarmed white teen.
https://www.wnd.com/2014/08/black-cop-kills-white-man-media-hide-race/
Part of the problem
https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/most-police-dont-live-in-the-cities-they-serve/
Part of the answer
https://www.gwu.edu/~soc/docs/Weitzer/White_Black.pdf

History
Lima, Ohio, 2008 Swat team kills unarmed mother and nearly kills infant while searching for someone else for drug violations. Other person not found.
Just really bad police work
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/30lima.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0
A read:
https://books.google.com/books?id=VJrwllzsCmwC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=cities+with+racial+balance+in+police+force&source=bl&ots=4HMNvBOdGV&sig=-bBPvmf9EidO4v6kYdwHRR0e1H4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=b0v6U7jyD8H7igLwqIG4AQ&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=cities%20with%20racial%20balance%20in%20police%20force&f=false

I am taken by the macho attitude of police officers. The bigger the muscles the better police ossifer I am.
I am taken by the blatant “attitude” minorities present to the macho police officers.
Lack of respect by both parties results in many, many unfortunate situations.

Before fire fighters and smoke jumpers and planes loaded with fire retarded
fire was a forest allie.
with the sixth extinction the earth shall return to normalcy. .

Also at Salon:
https://www.salon.com/2014/08/23/white_privilege_an_insidious_virus_thats_eating_america_from_within/

Ferguson Absurdity:
https://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/25/outstanding-warrants-in-ferguson-outnumber-residents-nearly-2-to/20952288/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D520469

Why the latest US military adventure in the Levant and greater Middle East will end in failure or worse.
“Iraq and Syria Follow Lebanon's Precedent is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

I like the word Levant.
Don’t know what it means, but it would make a great car name.
What do you drive?
A Chevy Levant.
Coooooool !

Superpredators!
https://www.upworthy.com/could-this-be-one-of-the-reasons-cops-think-shooting-black-kids-is-the-only-answer?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+upworthy+%28Upworthy%29

Hmmmmm? No comments about the primary election. I guess that speaks volumes about the trip to crazy town Arizona is about to take.

Gallego beat Wilcox, yeah!
I was there last nite along with some Republicans for Felicia in the Press Room for the Democrat primary election party.
Democrats got the GOP candidate for Governor they wanted. They believed Smith was a pragmatic challenger as opposed to the melting Ice Cream man.
Horne got de-horned but Democrats would have preferred him to the guy that de-horned him.
Sent Jon a photo of Felicia, hopefully AZ next AG, giving a pep talk.
Another positive was the defeat of Randy Pullen, a big Russell Pearce supporter.
And the guy lacking a good education that liked to hide out under false names and talk bigot crap, Huppenthal got banished to an all white private religious school, hopefully in John Birch Idaho High Country

Being black in America can get U killed.
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/26/1324793/-Video-Shows-John-Crawford-Was-Shot-on-Sight-By-Cops-With-No-Warning-Family-Attorneys-Say?detail=email

A front Page type story:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-biggest-tax-scam-ever-20140827

And how republicans are push more scams like the one I just posted.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/27/house-republicans-money-laundering_n_5717877.html

For those of you who have “hope” for Arizona, and I know there about five of you: that idiot Kwansman, the one who “saw the fear in their eyes” when he spotted a busload of kids going to camp, he received 30% of the vote in District One. That puts the IQ of 30% of district one at near the level of a mulberry tree. Apologies to mulberry trees everywhere.

My mistake: there was no missing comment: it simply started a new page. (I was down to the last few seconds of online time so was too harried to notice.)

Ruben I’m about out if hope for the planet let alone sand brained az.

Interesting point by Cal Lash about police, race, and training. There are plenty of Black policemen in New Orleans but the city has one of the most brutal and corrupt police forces in the country.
That said, affirmative action in Ferguson is necessary and important.
First, there is the appearance of a nearly all-White police force in a city where the majority of residents are Black.
When you’re a member of a historically (and sometimes currently) oppressed racial minority, and those given the authority (and the weaponry) to police the community exclude you and empower your historical oppressor, the appearance feeds suspicion, rumor, conspiracy theories, and resentment.
Given the need for community cooperation for successful policing, the cultivation of cooperative attitudes is important. Improved attitudes and confidence can also help prevent situations from escalating when police interact with members of the community, whether criminal suspects or not.
Second, while there is nothing compelling a nearly all-White police force in a majority Black community to behave in a racially biased fashion, there is nothing in the composition of the police force to restrict such tendencies either.
Police already have an insular, us and them, we stick together attitude, deriving not only from the paramilitary structure of police organizations and from fraternal traditions, but also from the fact that they are employed in a dangerous profession; and solidarity encourages the reliability of one’s fellow officers, upon whom they depend for safety and support in difficult and dangerous circumstances.
When racial differences are added to this, the result can easily be even greater insularity, disconnect, and even polarization from the community at large.
Police tend to listen to the concerns of fellow police officers over those of outsiders who are not involved with or knowledgeable about their day to day activities. When the fraternal order does not contain Black voices expressing the concerns of the Black community (as members of that community), then the only attitudes that prevail are those of persons with no cultural or personal stake in that community.
Three black officers are in no position to change the attitudes of the bulk of the police organization, even if they felt secure enough to do so; and there is an unspoken social pressure within police organizations to accept the majority consensus or be viewed with distrust and disdain.
Third, the presence of a nearly all-White police force is a powerful lure to those whose personal attitudes are already biased and who see an opportunity to use the power of the police to restore and maintain their concept of the correct order of things.
Once in, they can influence hiring practices and attitudes. Given the enduring racial make-up of the Ferguson police force, it appears that such elements are already dominant.
The data support this conclusion: according to the New York Times: “In Ferguson last year, 86 percent of stops, 92 percent of searches and 93 percent of arrests were of black people — despite the fact that police officers were far less likely to find contraband on black drivers (22 percent versus 34 percent of whites).”
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/opinion/in-ferguson-black-town-white-power.html?_r=0
(Note that as of 2010 Ferguson’s population was 67 percent Black.)
Dealing with a majority Black community also means that a majority of criminals and criminal suspects are Black. The effect this has on the psychology of a nearly all-White police force, even if well intentioned, should not be underestimated. This makes racial diversity in the police force even more important, so that counterexamples to stereotypes who are “of us” are present on a daily basis, to remind White officers that criminal justice isn’t as “black and white” as suburban conditioning suggests to them.

I’m a bit puzzled by the Obama administration’s change of focus from Iraq to Syria regarding ISIS.
The official line from the administration is that the group’s headquarters, supply lines, and command & control centers originate in Syria.
OK, but how to explain the bizarre assertion that the Assad government is to blame for ISIS because it “gave them a safe haven”?
Nearly 200,000 deaths have resulted in Syria from the civil war that has raged for three years; in no small measure from the broad and unprincipled use of force by the Assad regime against civilian areas in which rebel elements (whether ISIS or other groups) are active. This includes the use of chemical weapons. It’s hard to imagine a government which has been less discriminating and more willing to ruthlessly crush its opponents, than the Assad government.
Nevertheless, the Syrian government was on the ropes until the arrival of Iranian trained advisers and fighters.
So, exactly how has the Assad regime “provided” safe haven for ISIS?
Now the U.S. is contemplating airstrikes on ISIS positions in Syria. The Assad administration has indicated it is willing to agree to this, provided the Americans coordinate or at least seek permission for their activities.
Instead, the Obama administration has essentially given Assad and Company the finger, saying that they will conduct unilateral airstrikes, without permission or coordination; a blatant violation of national sovereignty and international law. Not, mind you, that I’m sympathising with the Assad regime; but it’s difficult to respect U.S. rhetoric when they routinely flout their own standards.
I suppose the U.S. no longer worries about Syria’s formidable air defense system because, among other things, ISIS has captured the last airbase in government control in the Aleppo province of northern Syria (northern Syria being the portion of the country where ISIS now has effective operational control).
Presumably, the airstrikes will take place in northern Syria, especially in Raqqa province where ISIS has its “headquarters”, and assumes that ISIS lacks the technical expertise to mobilize Syria’s air defense systems captured along with the airbases and other targets.
That may be a mistaken assumption. ISIS fighters needn’t themselves possess such skills or recruit from abroad those who do possess them; there are plenty of Syrian government technicians in captured areas who can be induced, through threats of violence against themselves or their families (or actual violence), or through large amounts of money, or both, to serve ISIS in a technical capacity.
It seems to me that the Obama administration’s shift is tantamount to an admission that ISIS control in a large portion of Iraq relies not only on its own members, but upon the more conditional (but nonetheless real) cooperation or acquiescence of the broader Sunni population in those areas.
In other words, neither the Shia Iraqi army members still loyal to the government, nor the Shia militias, are strong enough to retake control of the country on behalf of the central government, without risking all-out civil war which they might well lose without the presence of American ground troops. (Just imagine how the Iraqi civil war would have turned out had coalition ground forces not been present.) At the very least, the chaos and destruction resulting from civil war is something the central government wants to avoid.
So, the U.S. turns its sights to Syria, where some largely symbolic airstrikes can be conducted without unacceptable geopolitical complications. If the airstrikes stir up problems for the Assad government, that doesn’t matter, since Assad is a Russian client. Also, independent media coverage in ISIS controlled northern Syria is basically nonexistent, so the U.S. can spin the results any way they like without contradiction.
I say “symbolic” because it is unclear to me how much of a dent the U.S. can put into ISIS’ presence in Syria without ground forces coordinating with the air support. We already know from an eight year war with Iraq that bombing alone can’t eliminate urban guerrilla and terrorist groups; and the extent of bombing in Syria is likely to be far more restrained than the “shock and awe” approach taken with Saddam Hussein and with the Sunni rebels who attempted to seize power in his absence.
The brutal execution of an American journalist has certainly stirred up popular and media pressure for retribution. If that was the acknowledged goal and limited military strikes were conducted with the explicit intent of accomplishing that goal, that would be one thing.
Instead, the administration seems to be hellbent on stirring up a hornet’s nest without real strategic military goals, and by slow and insensible steps expanding U.S. military involvement in two countries where it cannot unilaterally alter the course of events without committing its own ground troops to a long and lethal intervention.
Meanwhile, what happens if ISIS manages to use Syrian air defenses and technicians to shoot down a U.S. plane, whose crew ejects, lands by parachute, and is subsequently captured by ISIS? I can’t imagine a more likely scenario for the escalation of U.S. involvement in a ground war.

Speaking of which, it’s natural to avoid watching a gruesome video of a beheading by knife of an American journalist. So, viewers of CNN just take the still-excerpt at face value.
Now, according to UK technical video experts, it appears that the video is a fake, and Foley wasn’t executed on camera at all:
https://gawker.com/experts-james-foley-execution-video-may-have-been-stag-1626436055?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
The experts cited say they have “no doubt” that he was executed OFF CAMERA but offer no evidence of this. Foley’s body has not, so far as I know, been recovered.
One wonders exactly how many atrocity videos attributed to ISIS are fake, for propaganda purposes by ISIS or even by other parties. (Apparently, however, ISIS has its own official website, so the genesis of this particular video seems established.)

Emil says “I can’t imagine a more likely scenario for the escalation of U.S. involvement in a ground war.”
I imagine McCain, Graham and every member of the military industrial complex is having that wet dream every night.
We are a one trick country now. We only make things to kill people. If there ain’t no killing going on, we ain’t making no money.
We sold (gave) all that military equipment to Iraq that ISIL is now using and now we get to build more equipment to go and destroy all that pre-owned equipment. Hell, what business wouldn’t love a business plan like that??

We even have jokes ready to go for the coming war:
An enterprising American invented a new bomb shaped like a prayer rug. They are being distributed all across the middle east.
I hear prophets are going through the roof.

Did my ancestors father Genghis Kahn.
Persian historian Rashid-al-Din had never met Genghis Khan but had recorded in his Jami’ al-tawarikh (written in the 14th century) that the legendary “glittering” ancestor of Genghis Khan was tall, long-bearded, red-haired, and green-eyed. According to al-Din Genghis’ Borjigid clan legend involving their origins.
Obama and Putin combined dont hold a candle to Ghengis Khan ( my favorite Animist) and his son that followed.
In the Middle East and Iran, he is almost universally looked on as a destructive and genocidal warlord who caused enormous damage and destruction to the population of these areas.[60] Steven R. Ward wrote that “Overall, the Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran’s population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century.”[61]
U can read the very interesting history yourself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan
or
https://www.history.com/topics/genghis-khan
Excluding the Jerusalem question, I see the middle east problem as more of an issue for those countries that make up that problem and more of China and Russia’s business than ours. That said how can you exclude the religious Jews that in 1946 came back to what their god promised them. Will the Iron Dome stop Iran’s nuclear missile attack.
Per the Koran there is no end in site until all are Muslims and then the end does not come until the Shia’s or the Sunnis come together and accept Wahhabism.

Emil the Ferguson issue is just another day and another chapter in the “Keeping dem folks down” Not a lot has changed in the last 400 years.
But given your skills how about addressing a more serious threat. The Russians have us watching their actions in Europe as they play mind games with a US president that never developed sufficient skills to shoot a three pointer let alone understand the soviet mind. And unfortunately as brilliant as his election team was he had no one he could count onto explain the rules of global Kombat. (the exception being the Neo-Cons) I am surprised he didn’t bring in Dick Cheney as an adviser.
But that’s not what I am talking about, the real threat is internal. The Russia “mafia” now is the most feared organized crime operation in the world. From owning barbershops where you can buy ruby’s and get laid in the back room to hacking the worlds financial market, the Russian mob is king. I first encountered the Russians in the early 90’s when I was in charge of Investigations for a Arizona agency. The Russians were moving bad diesel fuel. Couldn’t get anyone interested in prosecution. Not grabbing headlines like arresting the guy that just washed your car.
While Putin is sending little green men into the Ukraine, behind the scenes he is stealing america riches by the billions.
Good hunting, Emil.

Affirmative action: I guess JFK coined the term and LBJ advanced thew issues.
But in my opinion this cause has developed into melodrama and become lost in a quagmire of non-sensible babble.
When I was president of a police union I recall a police Chief, in the seventies that was a pretty good fair and a non prejudicial person, I went into his office and found him depressed and upon asking him why, he said “I have to hire women and small people.” He was honestly, very concerned. I will not bore U with the rest of that story.
Recommendation, The person in charge of police departments has to make things work fairly and honestly and rid the departments of those unwilling to adapt.
Side note: Years ago I walked out of a threatre after watching the movie Internal Affairs, I listened to people say that’s not true what was portrayed about cops. I can tell you as an Internal Affairs investigator I investigated cops for everything that movie depicted.

The Russians just hacked your bank account
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/technology/hackers-target-banks-including-jpmorgan.html?_r=0

Ruben, have you been binge reading the comic strip Pearls Before Swine?

The Koreans claim Genghis Khan too as a descendent of Goguryeo (also the Korean historical drama about the founding of Goguryeo, Jumong, has an 80% viewership in Iran).
Russian barbershops sound a lot more fun than Great Clips!
George Orwell’s 1984 has finally come true. Behave or have a rat eat your face.

New post on Preservation Police.

Here is what I was talking about previously in this blog (above)in pre psychological screenings of police applicants:
From the Stephen Lemmons of the New Times:
“I reviewed several Facebook posts by (officer)Brookins in which the Iraq War vet spoke of his time as a sniper in the military, joked about killing people, and described horrific flashbacks.”
https://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2014/08/lemons_fear_of_ferguson.php
And I believe Chief Garcia was pressured by his city managers into this decision to have the Arizona Department of Public Safety be tasked with the “criminal” investigation of the shooting death of Michelle Cusseaux. Chief Garcia has no civil service protection as have some former Chiefs. The decision was made to remove the Phoenix Police Chiefs civil service protection after Phoenix Police Chiefs Larry Wetzel and Ruben Ortega conducted investigations of political corruption city and state wide and investigated the Suns basketball team without the permission of City managers.
I watched the video twice of Chief Garcia and Mayor Stanton’s presentations. Garcia’s body language did not match his words. Even the mayor seemed uncomfortable in his short presentation. Meanwhile the City Manager and assistant city manager directly in charge of the police department stood rigidly stoic in the background.
Footnote: Its been 24 years since I retired but I do believe that Phoenix PD will still do a non “criminal” internal affairs and use of force review of this matter.

I didn’t post the above piece over on Lemmons blog or make any other comments as many of the commenters there are pretty silly and certainly have little grasp of the facts.
Maybe Ray Stern will read here and he can mention it to Stephen.

Good stuff on the Front Pages Jon.
Here is a short piece about SWAT gone wrong primarily because of the War On Drugs. What a joke!
https://reason.com/archives/2014/08/27/the-literal-war-on-drugs?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular&utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article
And one more reason to legalize Mary Jane.
https://news.vice.com/article/ending-medical-marijuana-prohibition-could-prevent-thousands-of-prescription-drug-overdoses

You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

https://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-thick-facade-of-civilization.html#more

The latest ISIS atrocity video that CNN is showing is of the supposed massacre of 250 prisoners captured during the takeover of a Syrian airbase, marched through the desert in their underwear.
CNN announcers repeatedly describe a long line of “bodies covered with blood” but the video excerpts shown on CNN of this line of bodies do not show a single drop of blood that I can discern, and they’re fairly clear and close up. (There is one point where something red shows up, but turns out to be someone’s briefs.)
I took a look at the full video online, and though it was small screen and somewhat blurred at points certain things were clear. First, nobody is shown being shot. The prisoners march, there is a fade to black, then a long line of prone figures is shown. That’s it. There is no shooting on camera, and no blood on the “bodies” I can see.
In some of the previous massacre video excerpts shown on CNN (involving an incident near Mosul, I think), actual shooting took place. However, there was no movement by the figures on the ground. Imagine being shot or even hearing a rifle being shot at someone else right next to your head, and nobody so much as twitches, much less attempts to get up and flee in terrified desparation.
The Foley video is another case in point. No blood, no wounds, then fade to black. Apparently (I can’t find the video itself) the video next shows a head resting on a body. Plenty of bodies in the region, and I have no reason to assume the one shown is Foley’s.
My understanding (as a non-Muslim and non-expert) is that the Koran does not require taking of prisoners in battle but forbids the execution of unarmed prisoners once taken. I have to wonder whether these videos are propaganda created by ISIS to intimidate its enemies.