What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Is Obama misleading the public? Well that depends on what the definition of “is” is.
From TheGuardian “Want to decipher what the US military is really doing in Iraq and Syria, or figure out whether its regional war against the Islamic State (Isis) is legal? Good luck. The Obama administration’s secret efforts to redefine the ordinary meaning of key legal terms and phrases has made that near impossible.
For instance, in his Tuesday statement that US airstrikes that have expanded into Syria, Obama studiously avoided any discussion about his domestic legal authority to conduct these strikes. That dirty work was apparently left up to anonymous White House officials, who told the New York Times’s Charlie Savage that both the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) from 2001 (meant for al-Qaida) and the 2002 war resolution (meant for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq) gave the government the authority to strike Isis in Syria.
In other words: the legal authority provided to the White House to strike al-Qaida and invade Iraq more than a dozen years ago now means that the US can wage war against a terrorist organization that’s decidedly not al-Qaida, in a country that is definitely not Iraq.”
“As the New York Times’s Mark Landler detailed over the weekend, White House has “an extremely narrow definition of combat … a definition rejected by virtually every military expert.” According to the Obama administration, the 1600 “military advisers” that have steadily been flowing in Iraq fall outside this definition, despite the fact that “military advisers” can be: embedded with Iraqi troops; carry weapons; fire their weapons if fired upon; and call in airstrikes. In the bizarro dictionary of war employed by this White House, none of that qualifies as “combat”.
So when you hear the words “imminent attack”, “civilians”, militants” or “ground troops” from now on, be careful: if the government says they’re not misleading you, it might only be because they’ve secretly changed the definition of “misleading”.”
_______________________________________________
2. Sure, what could possibly go wrong?
From Breitbart “The FBI has been handcuffed in terms of investigating religious extremists in mosques, as a result of guidelines put out by the attorney general earlier this year. And so therefore, there is… a definite problem now in investigating those militants in the United States who are either recruiting for ISIS or have returned from Syria or Iraq having fought for ISIS, and are ready to carry out freelance or directed terrorist attacks on behalf of ISIS against the United States…
The Department of Justice [which] put out guidelines that restricted the FBI and other law enforcement agencies from using religious factors in identifying threats, national security threats to the United States in the homeland.
…we’re seeing ISIS recruiting biophysicists, engineers, social media types, people who have expertise in really carrying out sophisticated terrorist attacks coming back to the United States.
There’s one recruiter that [had been]… picked up [in the past], well identified, in Bloomington, Minnesota at the Al Farooq Mosque. There are recruiters going around the country in other mosques, where they identify potential volunteers. They test them out to see if they’re willing to die on behalf of martyrdom of the cause for Allah. Then they give them cash, they provide money for their families in case they die. They give them tickets to go to Turkey. Turkey has allowed them, hundreds, to go through to Syria, then to Iraq. And we [the U.S.] count Turkey as one of our top allies. We haven’t put [many of] them on the terrorism watch list, which we should. So there’s a major disconnect, Judge, here between what we should be doing to protect the homeland and protect American citizens.”
_______________________________________________
3. While I understand and support the idea of the church helping the downtrodden, the poor, and others, I still don’t think they should be helping people break and flaunt this country’s laws.
From TheWashingtonTimes “A network of two dozen churches has promised to offer “physical sanctuary” to illegal immigrants facing deportation, saying they want to create a safe haven that federal officials won’t invade as a way of preventing the migrants from being kicked out of the country.
The movement is the latest effort by activists trying to stop as many deportations as possible after failing to win relief from President Obama, who earlier this month temporarily shelved his plans to expand his nondeportation policies, angering Hispanics and immigrant advocates.”
“Dubbed Sanctuary 2014, the movement consists of 24 churches in 12 cities scattered across the country that have vowed to open their doors to holding illegal immigrants facing deportation. They said they have four active sanctuary cases.”
_______________________________________________
4. Not shocking. In fact, completely expected and predicted..
From TheAP “Tens of thousands of young families caught crossing the border illegally earlier this year subsequently failed to meet with federal immigration agents, as they were instructed, the Homeland Security Department has acknowledged privately.
An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that about 70 percent of immigrant families the Obama administration had released into the U.S. never showed up weeks later for follow up appointments.
The ICE official made the disclosure in a confidential meeting at its Washington headquarters with immigration advocates participating in a federal working group on detention and enforcement policies. The Associated Press obtained an audio recording of Wednesday’s meeting and separately interviewed participants.
On the recording obtained by the AP, the government did not specify the total number of families released into the U.S. since October. Since only a few hundred families have already been returned to their home countries and limited U.S. detention facilities can house only about 1,200 family members, the 70 percent figure suggests the government released roughly 41,000 members of immigrant families who subsequently failed to appear at federal immigration offices.
The official, who was not identified by name on the recording obtained by the AP, also said final deportation had been ordered for at least 860 people traveling in families caught at the border since May but only 14 people had reported as ordered.”
_______________________________________________
5. Last night was the final home game in Yankee Stadium for the Captain, Derek Jeter. I’ve been watching him for his entire career and there has been no one who played the game better. And he ends it as he’s done many times before, in dramatic fashion. I’m gonna miss him.
_______________________________________________
Wandering Views 
“no one who played the game better” – come on, AJ, aren’t you a little prejudiced? How about Cal Ripken, Jr.?
LikeLike
Yes, and nope, not even Cal. 🙂
LikeLike
He was great. I saw Hank Aaron and Willie Mays play. They were very consistent, solid in all areas and both had power that Jeter lacked. However, I don’t think I have seen a better shortstop. I certainly have never seen one who played well at shortstop for as long as Jeter did. He took very good care of himself and never lost his drive.
LikeLike
Sorry to buck the trend here, but although Jeter was a nice player, he wasn’t more than above average at shortstop. At the time the Yankees traded for A-Rod, it was A-Rod who was the better SS by a wide margin. Jeter should have moved to 3rd. His defensive numbers are actually average, at best. He was a consistently ‘good’ hitter, but never great. His longevity was his greatest value in that he probably wasn’t keeping someone better from his roster spot.
LikeLike
It’s OK Solar, everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it’ wrong. 🙂
Average? His 5 Gold Gloves say otherwise, as well as his 14 All-Star appearances.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/awards.php?p=jeterde01
“1992 All-USA Today High School Baseball Player of the Year
1994 Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award
1996 Baseball America Rookie of the Year
1996 Players Choice Outstanding Rookie of the Year Award
1996 Rookie of the Year Award
1996 Sporting News Rookie Player of the Year Award
1998 Player of the Month Award
2000 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award
2000 The Babe Ruth Award (World Series MVP)
2000 World Series Most Valuable Player Award
2004 Gold Glove Award, Shortstops
2004 Player of the Week Award
2005 Gold Glove Award, Shortstops
2006 Baseball Digest Player of the Year Award
2006 Gold Glove Award, Shortstops
2006 Hank Aaron Award
2006 Hitter of the Year Award
2006 Silver Slugger Award, American League
2007 Silver Slugger Award, American League
2008 Silver Slugger Award, American League
2009 Gold Glove Award, Shortstops
2009 Hank Aaron Award
2009 Roberto Clemente Award
2009 Silver Slugger Award, American League
2009 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award
2010 Gold Glove Award, Shortstops
2010 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
2010 Willie, Mickey and the Duke Award
2012 Silver Slugger Award, American League”
LikeLike
Whoa whoa there, AJ! So many of those awards support my point (if you cross-reference the numbers). Those awards are based on opinions. All-Star games? Like, that exhibition game where the fans vote in the players? And hey! Jeter’s from New York! David Eckstein also won a World Series MVP award. And *totally* didn’t deserve it. I’ll grant some nice offensive numbers (and certainly Hall of Fame worthy), but defensively, he’s a liability. Correction: Defensively, he’s *terrible.* Virtually all defensive metrics bear this out.
Also, :). I like “arguing” sports. All in good fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person