Month: June 2014

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Our Daily Thread 6-7-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1776 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence. 

In 1892 J.F. Palmer patented the cord bicycle tire. 

In 1942 the Battle of Midway ended.  

In 1955 “The $64,000 Question” premiered. 

And in 1966 Sony Corporation unveiled its brand new consumer home videotape recorder. The black and white only unit sold for $995. 

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Quote of the Day

“One disadvantage of being a hog is that at any moment some blundering fool may try to make a silk purse out of your wife’s ear.”

J. B. Morton

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Today is Tom Jones’ birthday.

And it’s Wynn Stewart’s too. From GatorRock788

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 6-7-14

Anyone have a request or praise to share?

Psalm 134

¹Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.

2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.

3 The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.

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Our Daily Thread 6-6-14

Good Morning!

It’s Friday!!! 🙂

And it’s also the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion.

Sadly, there aren’t many of these brave men left. So it’s important to remember their sacrifices and stories, as well as those of their fallen comrades.

From WYFF News 4

From ARIRANG NEWS

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On this day in 1813 the U.S. invasion of Canada was halted at Stony Creek, Ontario. 

In 1924 the German Reichtag accepted the Dawes Plan. It was an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts. 

In 1933, in Camden, NJ, the first drive-in movie theater opened. 

In 1944 the D-Day invasion of Europe took place on the beaches of Normandy, France. 400,000 Allied American, British and Canadian troops were involved. 

And in 1968 U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at 1:44am in Los Angeles after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy was shot the evening before while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. 

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Quotes of the Day

“Better to fight for something than live for nothing.”

George S. Patton

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“I greatly fear some of America’s greatest and most dangerous enemies are such that thinks themselves her best friends.”

Nathan Hale

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Today is Fletch Wiley’s birthday, so that means Gospel Jazz. From GospelJazzHawaii

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 6-6-14

Who would like to share a praise or request?

And it’s Friday, so don’t forget to pray for the folks at The Nest.

Psalm 133

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

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News/Politics 6-6-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Not shocking, but still troubling.

From Time  “A Taliban commander close to the negotiations over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told TIME Thursday that the deal made to secure Bergdahl’s release has made it more appealing for fighters to capture American soldiers and other high-value targets.

“It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people,” the commander said, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”

The commander has been known to TIME for several years and has consistently supplied reliable information about Bergdahl’s captivity.”

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2. Meanwhile, the more that comes out, the worse the story gets. I’d like to think it’s a case of Stockholm Syndrome, but his statements prior to leaving his unit make me doubt it.

From FoxNews  “U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a “mujahid,” or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News.

The reports indicate that Bergdahl’s relations with his Haqqani captors morphed over time, from periods of hostility, where he was treated very much like a hostage, to periods where, as one source told Fox News, “he became much more of an accepted fellow” than is popularly understood. He even reportedly was allowed to carry a gun at times.

The documents show that Bergdahl at one point escaped his captors for five days and was kept, upon his re-capture, in a metal cage, like an animal. In addition, the reports detail discussions of prisoner swaps and other attempts at a negotiated resolution to the case that appear to have commenced as early as the fall of 2009.

The reports are rich in on-the-ground detail — including the names and locations of the Haqqani commanders who ran the 200-man rotation used to guard the Idaho native — and present the most detailed view yet of what Bergdahl’s life over the past five years has been like. These real-time dispatches were generated by the Eclipse Group, a shadowy private firm of former intelligence officers and operatives that has subcontracted with the Defense Department and prominent corporations to deliver granular intelligence on terrorist activities and other security-related topics, often from challenging environments in far-flung corners of the globe.”

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3. Like I said, worse.

From TheDailyMail  “The Obama administration passed up multiple opportunities to rescue Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl because the president was dead-set on finding a reason to begin emptying Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a Pentagon official.

‘JSOC went to the White House with several specific rescue-op scenarios,’ the official with knowledge of interagency negotiations underway since at least November 2013 told MailOnline, referring to the Joint Special Operations Command. ‘But no one ever got traction.’

‘What we learned along the way was that the president wanted a diplomatic scenario that would establish a precedent for repatriating detainees from Gitmo,’ he said. The official said a State Department liaison described the lay of the land to him in February, shortly after the Taliban sent the U.S. government a month-old video of Bergdahl in January, looking sickly and haggard, in an effort to create a sense of urgency about his health and effect a quick prisoner trade.

‘He basically told me that no matter what JSOC put on the table, it was never going to fly because the president isn’t going to leave office with Gitmo intact, and this was the best opportunity to see that through.’

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4. Lawmakers have announced a bi-partisan deal to reform VA medical care.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Senate lawmakers announced a bipartisan agreement on reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs, but the bill could face opposition from Republican lawmakers who want to amend it.

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced the deal on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon.

The bill would provide veterans “choice cards” to allow them to obtain private medical care if they face long wait times at VA hospitals. It would also give the VA secretary expanded power to quickly fire or transfer poorly performing senior executives.

The bill appears to be a hybrid of a GOP bill announced earlier this week and legislation unveiled Sunday by Sanders.”

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5. Meanwhile there appears to be retaliation against whistleblowers who broke the VA scandal.

From TheDailyCaller  “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is currently investigating allegations of whistleblower reprisal from 37 different Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees in 19 states, The Daily Caller has learned.

OSC is investigating allegations that VA retaliated against whistleblowers on cases involving “improper” health-care scheduling. VA is currently under fire after it was revealed that a secret waiting list kept at a Phoenix, Arizona VA medical facility led to preventable veteran deaths.

A VA employee in one of the cases alleged that he/she was slapped with a proposed seven-day suspension, a lowered performance evaluation and reassignment after reporting scheduling impropriety to the VA Inspector General.”

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6. Boko Haram has struck again.

From TheNYPost  “When men wearing military fatigues and carrying weapons showed up in pickup trucks, villagers thought Nigerian soldiers had finally come to protect them from Boko Haram.

But it was a disguise. The gunmen rounded up everyone in the village center and then started shooting.

Altogether, Boko Haram militants slaughtered hundreds of people in three villages in the far northeast corner of Nigeria, witnesses said Thursday, describing the latest attack by the Islamic extremist group that drew international attention for the kidnapping of more than 300 schoolgirls.

A community leader who witnessed the killings on Monday said residents had pleaded for the military to send soldiers to protect the area after they heard that militants were about to attack.”

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7. This is what happens when you refuse to enforce the borders. Obama’s policies are now encouraging even more to come. 

From KRGV.com  “Central Americans say news reports in their countries are encouraging them to make the journey north to the United States.

A mother and child told CHANNEL 5 NEWS that the message being disseminated in their country is, “go to America with your child, you won’t be turned away.”

The woman, Nora Griselda Bercian Diaz, from Guatemala, said she endured threats from the Zetas and extortion from corrupt Mexican police. She eventually crossed the Rio Grande with her 6-year-old Delmi Griselda Paul Bercian by her side.”

“Agents eventually arrived and ushered the mother and daughter into a van. The agents didn’t have time to turn around before another group came walking up the same road.”

They’re turning them loose in the US and creating even more problems.

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Our Daily Thread 6-5-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1827 Athens fell to the Ottomans. 

In 1865 the first safe deposit vault was opened in New York. The charge was $1.50 a year for every $1,000 that was stored.

In  1917 American men began registering for the World War I draft.

In 1927 Johnny Weissmuller set two world records in swimming events. 

And in 1975 Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel. 

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Quote of the Day

“What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110 percent all the time.”

Don Zimmer

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Today is Don Reid’s birthday.

And this song debuted today in 1865.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 6-5-14

Anyone have a request or praise to share?

Today is Thursday. So don’t forget to pray for Jo and the folks in PNG.

Psalm 131

¹Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.

2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.

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News/Politics 6-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

I went a little crazy this morning.

1. The next prisoner swap?

From TheAP/MSN  “The family of a pregnant American woman who went missing in Afghanistan in late 2012 with her Canadian husband received two videos last year in which the couple asked the U.S. government to help free them from Taliban captors, The Associated Press has learned.”

“I would ask that my family and my government do everything that they can to bring my husband, child and I to safety and freedom,” the 28-year-old says in the other recording, talking into a wobbly camera while seated beside her husband, whose beard is long and untrimmed.

The families decided to make the videos public now, in light of the publicity surrounding the weekend rescue of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed from Taliban custody in exchange for the release of five high-level Taliban suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The families say they are disappointed that their children and grandchild were not freed as part of the same deal but are still holding out hope for the U.S. and Canadian governments to secure their release on humanitarian grounds.

“It would be no more appropriate to have our government turn their backs on their citizens than to turn their backs on those who serve,” Patrick Boyle, a Canadian judge and the father of Joshua Boyle, said in a telephone interview.”

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2. The other swap continues to draw fire.

From Mediaite  “In an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday, retired Army Spc. Josh Fuller, a soldier who served with Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl since 2008, said that the military informed him and other soldiers that the “narrative” they should maintain is that Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban rather than that he intentionally left his base. When asked if he believed he was told not to “tell the truth” about Bergdahl by military authorities, Fuller said that he did.

“The sentiment that everybody knew was that he walked off the base in the middle of the night, left all his gear there, and went – just walked off the post,” Fuller said. “So, we had all known that it was — that he had deserted his post, and there was never anything about him getting captured or POW until a little while later whenever it came down from the chain of command that we needed to keep quiet and not say anything.”

“We’re going with the narrative that he was captured,” Fuller said of the military’s position on Bergdahl’s alleged desertion.

“So, they basically told you not to tell the truth,” Fox host Brian Kilmeade said. “Yes, sir,” Fuller replied.”

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3. Senate Democrats have gone AWOL too.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “On Sunday, Senator Claire McCaskill gave a full-throated defense of the president’s decision to release five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo prison in exchange for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. “We saved this man’s life. The commander-in-chief acted within his constitutional authority, which he should have done,” McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, told Fox News host Chris Wallace. “I’m very proud that we have no POWs left in Afghanistan and the president should be proud of it also.”

But following multiple reports that Bergdahl deserted his post and soldiers died searching for him, McCaskill will no longer say she still supports the deal she was “very proud” of just 48 hours ago. “I’m not going to comment until I look at the brief,” an annoyed McCaskill told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “I’m not going to comment until I look at the brief,” she repeated, referring to a classified briefing senators will receive tomorrow.

McCaskill was not alone in her reluctance to support the deal. More than a dozen Democratic senators questioned by TWS Tuesday afternoon declined to defend it. “I just don’t know enough about it. I really don’t,” said Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. “

Ah yes……. the Sgt. Schultz defense….. 🙄

There’s a whole lot of Dems that were for it before they were against it.

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4. Military and intelligence sources are saying that he may have conspired with the enemy, and that further allegations will surface.

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5. Meanwhile the threat grows, and now they have 5 more seasoned leaders back in the fight. Not good.

From TheWallStJournal  “The threat to the U.S. from global jihadist groups has escalated in the past three years, with the number of groups increasing by more than 50% and the estimated number of militants doubling, according to a report to be released on Thursday.

The report by the Rand Corp. think tank, which used public data to take a kind of global census of al Qaeda and related groups, will say the civil war in Syria has been the largest driver of the growth of jihadist activity. Syria is the location that has seen the greatest growth in number of groups and numbers of militants, which now make up more than half of the number of al Qaeda-sympathizing jihadists world-wide. “It’s become a breeding ground for jihadist activity,” said the report’s author, Seth Jones, associate director of Rand’s International Security and Defense Policy Center.

In the past few months, militants there have shown growing interest in tapping Western resources and mounting attacks outside Syria, he said, noting last week’s suicide attack by an American in Syria, in addition to recent arrests of alleged Syrian-trained fighters in France and Spain, as well as one allegedly involved in a deadly shooting last month in Belgium.

The Rand findings also cast doubt on the Obama administration’s efforts to end the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan by 2016 and keep Syria at arm’s length. A complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, the report said, “could seriously jeopardize U.S. security interests,” because of the continuing terrorist presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It also calls for a “more aggressive strategy” in Syria, either clandestinely or working with locals.”

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6. Looks like Dirty Harry has some company. Good. Everyone knows this came from high up in Congress and the White House. This will help show that.

From TheHill  “A conservative group is calling on the Senate ethics committee to examine nine top Democrats, accusing them of pushing the IRS to investigate specific groups.

The Center for Competitive Politics announced their complaint Tuesday, in which they charge that lawmakers tried to get the tax agency to probe outside conservative groups.

These senators improperly attempted to use the IRS to suppress the free speech of American citizens for their party’s electoral gain,” said Brad Smith, chairman of the Center and a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “We will fight this type of abuse of power and work to ensure that those who have violated Senate Ethics rules are held to account.”

The group wants the ethics panel to look at Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Carl Levin (Mich.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Al Franken (Minn.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), and Tom Udall (N.M.).”

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7. I guess all those folks who showed up to support Cliven Bundy will now be added to the new watch list.

From NBCNews  “Attorney General Eric Holder, citing an “escalating danger from self-radicalized individuals within our own borders,” said Tuesday that the Justice Department will revive a domestic terrorism task force.

The task force was established after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 to share information about domestic threats. It was set to meet the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, after which the country turned its focus to terror overseas.

“But now, as the nature of the threat we face evolves to including the possibility of individual radicalization via the Internet, it is critical that we return our focus to potential extremists here at home,” Holder said in a weekly video.

The attorney general cited no specific domestic threat. But he said that the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and the Boston Marathon bombings demonstrate the danger of homegrown terror.”

That’s strange. Why mention Ft. Hood? Both he and his boss have insisted that it was workplace violence and not terrorism. They denied benefits to the survivors and families saying it wasn’t, but now when it suits their purposes, it suddenly is?

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8. See, stuff like this is why we make fun of you California.

From Twitchy  “Let this sink in: 287,000+ Californians voted for indicted Democrat Leland Yee. Yes, that Leeland Yee. Charges related to arms trafficking? No biggie, apparently.

Yee dropped his bid for secretary of state, but his name remained on the ballot.

Nearly 10 percent of the vote? Bless your low-information hearts.”

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9. Baseball has lost one of the best.

From FoxSports  “Don Zimmer wasn’t a fixture in baseball forever. It just seemed that way.

He played alongside Jackie Robinson on the only Brooklyn Dodgers team to win the World Series. He coached Derek Jeter on the New York Yankees‘ latest dynasty. And his manager once was the illustrious Casey Stengel.

For 66 years, Zimmer was a most popular presence at ballparks all over, a huge chaw often filling his cheek. Everyone in the game seemed to know him, and love him.

Zimmer was still working for the Tampa Bay Rays as a senior adviser when he died Wednesday at 83 in a hospital in nearby Dunedin. He had been in a rehabilitation center since having seven hours of heart surgery in mid-April.”

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