Saturday Totty...............

Bodacious Brunette Goodness: Lucy Pinder

A fabulous roundup.

See, "Sexy Lucy Pinder Slideshow at Nuts."

Very sexy, indeed.

Bodacious!

Tech Entrepreneur John McAfee Releases Spoof Video Mocking Firm That Made Him Rich and Famous

I'm not embedding due to some off color language.

Otherwise, this is something else.

See, "John McAfee's Tips for Un-Installing McAfee Software."

Video at the link.

Bedtime Totty...............

Late News..................

Jewish civil rights and privatization

BLACKFIVE: The Guns At Longues, A Real Life Guns of Navarone

Bloombergi​an gun madness

Lummis Bill Gets State Department Out of the Gun Control Business

Agribusine​ss lobbyists pretty upset about that farm bill's failure right about now

RON HART: Economic lessons from the Emerald Isle

Taliban 'Embassy' Is a Surrender by Obama

NRA Ties WV Sen. Manchin to Obama, Bloomberg on Gun Control

Question: What happens when "settled science," isn't?

Reuters: Obama Approval Tumbles to 44%

Refusing Military Use of It, Obama Violates First Amendment

From Karen Silkwood to Michael Hastings, something is wrong

Iran’s “Carrier Killer” Missile Improves Accuracy

Falkland Islands and Britain rejects Argentina's Pope Francis hopes

Israel's Left-wing Provocateu​rs....................from Dan Friedman

[I have alluded to this before. Israel's own internal security apparatus targets settlers and religious Jews and tries to set them up in order to turn them into a pariah class. Remember, Israel was founded by a hard-left secular leadership who had no patience for such things as Judaism - never mind a spiritual bond with the Land. These were all burdens that were to be cast off in building a modern state of Israel and a modern Jew. Of course, it didn't work out that way. Over the years, defying the Left, Israelis have become more traditional and nationalistic. The trend is growing, and in a miraculous turnabout, it’s the Left’s deadly Oslo delusions that are being cast off and replaced by Jewish values and love of the Land. That makes the Left even more deceitful and vicious, necessitating desperate measures. Today, many of the founding Socialists' ideological descendants still carry on the work, having found sinecures in the hierarchy of the IDF and the clandestine services. So if you ever read about a "price tag" suspect going to trial, let alone being convicted, feel free to drop me a line. I love surprises. df]

 

 

israelnationalnews.com, 6/19/13

 

“Price Tag” Vandalism; Who is Responsible?

 

There is a political agenda here.

 

By  Dr. Moshe Dann

 

A Finance Lesson........................from Rico

Here is a "finance lesson" for government...stop spending when you run out of money.

- It may stem from the original rule of holes...stop digging wen you find yourself at the bottom of one.

But I digress, back to government...if they were only drunk they could sober up, but stupid is forever.

H/T Jeff

Obamacare Blooper Reel........................

The Cranberry Apple Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad at Carl's Jr. ft. Jenny McCarthy

Bullet Pens

I'm posting this on Theo's today because of the overwhelming response from the UK on these items, when I Tweeted the other day - S.L.

Junior's Bullet Pens are a good quality product - proceeds go to families of fallen military & wounded disabled veterans.

Junior’s Bullet Pen Company is dedicated to one of our fallen heroes, Staff Sergeant Chris Falkel, KIA, of the 3d Special Forces Group. I met Chris's Dad this week at Fort Bragg, and he told me the story of his son, and the Bullet Pens.

Read the whole story HERE

Junior’s Bullet Pen Company is Veteran-Owned. Foundations supported by Junior's Bullet Pens include:

Special Operations Warrior Foundation
Task Force Dagger Foundation
Fallen Heroes Project
Operation Shower
Green Beret Foundation
AmericanSnipers.org
Remembering The Brave
Worldwide Rangers Inc.

When you buy a Bullet Pen, you help support a U.S. veteran and/or his or her family. If you are a veteran, you have just supported yourself - STORMBRINGER SENDS

A 'reminder' for you.................from Rico

The first attachment is a small 'reminder' for those who may need it today of just why Gold and Silver are not worthless, or even worth less.

- It is also a BIG financial billboard of why the FED is no longer very relevant.

Speaking of irrelevant...how about the COMEX?

- This paper scam is almost out of bullion, yet it continues to print claim certificates against assets it no longer has.

Hey, wait a minute! That's exactly what the FED has been doing!

So Gold may yet hit an artificial paper 'price' of $1200 and Silver an equally false paper 'price' of $18 but this looks like a setup where NO AMOUNT of paper money will be enough to buy physical bullion......

- I still give great credence to Marc Faber's remark that: 'You keep your dollars, and I'll keep my Gold, and we'll see which one goes to zero first.'

Stand behind Ed Mangano For Nassau County Executive!...from TPC

Join Ed Mangano on July 11 as he kicks off his reelection campaign for Nassau County Executive at a fundraiser being hosted by The Arizona Beverage Company! 

More at The Political Commentator here.  

Bonus Totty.................

'Real' returns....................from Rico

For our purposes it is assumed the difference between 'real' and 'nominal' is understood.

With equities and commodities being monkey-hammered by some bilious gas emanating from the FED (the same words having been used for the last 4.5 years, actually), with the usual suspects chattering that bullion's bull run is dead fully anticipated, let's look at the 'real' rolling returns of the S&P and of Gold.

What no one is saying, but what is supremely evident is that the 'system' is failing.

- There is a huge disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.

- There is NO solution, NO exit plan, and NO avoiding the consequences of the epic failure we will see.

Note that 'equities' are a third-party contingent liability [read: they are promises to pay, but with exceptions...like they may NOT ever pay] and bullion (if you hold it) has no third-party liabilities, promises, or anything else [read: if YOU have it, the system can crash and burn without you.]

In the madness of FED-induced market distortions, what price can you assign to immunity from hollow promises?

- Commodities will see offers with NO acceptance eventually since no price will induce owners to sell (and the shnooks who 'think' they own equities that are actually titled to CEDE and their brokers via 'Street registration' will suddenly be bailed-in and left not even holding the bag, but holding their.....er, holding nothing).

Hot Off The Presses! The Watcher's Council Voting Results Are In!...from TPC

These are the results for the week of June 17 edition of the Watcher's Council, the world's #1 rated conservative blog aggregator! 

First place was awarded to an article from The Noisy Room titled 'The Sandbagging of America' with the link to that article, along with links to 25 others, at The Political Commentator. 

At The Political Commentator here.   

Pic Dump................

The Originals - Big Wave Surfing

The Originals from Dave otto on Vimeo.

News..................

Sealed with SEAL

Iran President: a Terrorist, Not a Moderate

BLACKFIVE: Arromanche​s, And A Key To Campaign Victory

Military judge calls out the politician​s...

U.S. House rejects $500 billion farm bill

Marine Ospreys make first Pacific deployment on Bonhomme Richard

US scraps tons of gear as it leaves Afghanista​n

SEVENTY TWO KILLED RESISTING GUN CONFISCATION IN BOSTON

Paul Ryan: IRS employees are getting bonuses while the Pentagon is dishing out furloughs, really?

FBI Won't Disclose Cost of Latest Hoffa Dig

Whistleblo​wer: Financial Aid Given To Obama As Foreign Student With Indonesian Citizenshi​p

General McChrystal Gives Police Airtight Alibi In Rolling Stone Reporter's Mysterious Death

Developer: Kan. caverns could preserve human race

Firearm Stopping Power - Fact, Fiction and Anecdotes

Say goodbye to the coal industry

The Boehner Supremacy

The Other Court-Pack​ing Scandal

Report: Court lets NSA use data snagged 'inadverte​ntly'

Accountabi​lity: FBI deems agents faultless in 100 percent of shootings over 18 years

The way things are going...

Will Ethiopia’s Proposed Dam Crush Egypt’s Economy?

GOP leader steps down after rant on ex-Miss America

Army Special Forces seeks to save historic barrack

Ospreys 'aren't bothered by traffic or lawyers'

Pants on the ground? More towns are saying 'no' to fashion statement

All-female Zimmerman jury chosen

Baroness Ashton under fire for €1bn in 'wasted' aid to Egypt Check out the comments (H/T Roger)

Obama’s Nuclear Meltdown

White House Rabbit Food Contest Winners Announced

The devil went to the G8 and nobody slammed the door in his face

More DHS insider from DC

Lavrov: Russia will honor its S-300 missile contract with Damascus. Two Russian warships head for Syria

Kim Jong-Un’s $7 Million Yacht: Living It Up Under UN Sanctions

In Case You Haven't Heard: Obama Bombs in Berlin................from Dan Friedman

H/T: Jared Silverman Esq.

 

 

[For obvious reasons - OK, the fawning Obama media - this was not widely reported in the USA. df]

 

 

The Telegraph (UK)

 

Barack Obama bombs in Berlin: a weak, underwhelming address from a floundering president

 

By Nile Gardiner

Almost as if they knew!..............................from Rico

It is almost as if they "knew" in advance that bullion would be whacked severely!

- CME has hiked its Gold bullion margin by 25%.

Gee, what a 'lucky' break, huh? Now JPM can refill its empty vaults to meet its massive delivery demands at 3-year-low prices.

- I guess a $100 knee-capping of Gold wasn't enough for the Cartel, but the CME can next announce that Gold and Silver are fully cash markets.

Worth remembering: Tuesday 6/25 is Gold & Silver options expiry on the CME's COMEX.

- I'm just saying...

Red Friday Totty...............

Sofia Vergara Cleavetastic on the Red Carpet — Plus Some Unbelievable Kate Upton Thrown In

Man, this is not to be missed.

See, "Some Quick Afternoon Rule 5."

That's totally breast-busting Sofia Vergara, by the way, and Kate Upton on horseback?

Just let that sink into the depths of your imagination for a moment.

The "It Girl" with the best breasts on earth on horseback?

Yes, just imagine that!  It's huge and breast-tacular!

Deaf 3-Year-Old Boy Hears for the First Time

I can't get enough of this story.

See, "Deaf Three-Year-Old Grayson Clamp Hears for First Time."

Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash

There's been a lot of conspiracies surrounding his death, by people prone to conspiracies, I guess.

But it's not hard to figure out what happened: 4:25am in Hollywood, driving at a high rate of speed. And I suspect Hastings was under the influence.

But see, "Remembering Journalist Michael Hastings." And especially, "Dash Cam Captures Journalist Michael Hastings' Final Ride."

James Gandolfini

Rest in peace.

See, "Remembering James Gandolfini." (Big roundup there.)

Also, "James Gandolfini Has Died."

Navy Ends Official Communications Using All Capital Letters

See, "No Shouting: Navy to End Official Communications Using All Capital Letters."

You gotta love this.

The Navy's getting hip to the era of social media and will end (although not 100 percent) official communications that use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS exclusively.

At the Wall Street Journal, "NOW HEAR THIS: NAVY ABANDONS ALL CAPS: Official Communications, Long Written Large, Can Use Mixed Case; No Shouting":

MESSAGES SENT WITHIN THE U.S. NAVY NO LONGER HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OUT IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Since the 19th century, all official Navy communications have been written that way, a legacy of primitive technology combined with the service's love of tradition.

But in the modern age, young sailors more accustomed to texting on their phones consider TYPING IN ALL CAPS akin to shouting. Typographers, meanwhile, have long maintained that all-caps text is hard on the eyes.

So the Navy, amid a modernization of its communications system, decided it would make its official messages more readable—and potentially less rude.

In an April order delivered in all capital letters, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command announced sailors were "AUTHORIZED TO USE STANDARD, MIXED-CASE CHARACTERS IN THE BODY OF NAVY ORGANIZATIONAL MESSAGES."

It noted, however, that sailors shouldn't go crazy. Standard mixed-case sentences were only appropriate for the body of the text.

"RECOMMEND CONTINUE TO USE UPPER CASE IN LINES BEFORE REMARKS," the order said.

Because of legacy systems that use the old all-caps Teletype language, the Navy could only make the shift after adopting a new messaging system it is moving to this year. The system has the added benefit of using fewer computer servers and costing $15 million less a year to operate.

The Navy was not unconcerned about the tender feelings of young sailors...

More at the link.

Bedtime Totty.................

FED prevents wasting money...................from Rico

There was a stonking epic flailex in global markets overnight post the latest FOMC statement.

Addicted to QEasy money, the mere HINT that they might someday, maybe, slow down the 'juice' while (a) clearly NOT slowing down, (b) cannot really slow down, and (c) did NOT SAY they would slow down anytime soon...the world's markets went absolutely batshit crazy and there was a 5% overnight boodbath. WTF?

Get this, it is simple. Obvious.

1. There will be NO tapering.

2. There is NO exit strategy.

3. There is more QE ahead.

On the bright side of things, it looks like the FED has effectively moved from punishing savers and investors to proactively preventing everyone from 'wasting' half of their money by 'vaporizing' it.

This morning is a classic example of why we should immediately END THE FED.

Israeli MK Finds The Cost of "Peace".....................from Dan Friedman

Feiglin: I Found the Money – We Spent It on Oslo

 

We’ve heard how much ‘settlements’ cost, let’s see how much the political left costs.

 

By Maayana Miskin

 

PJTV: No, You Do Not Have to Be a Christian to Be Conservative

Zo answers critics who think that he is advocating for conservatives to be Christian. You don't have to be. Hear why on this ZoNation.

H/T DJ Elliott

Bonus Totty..................

"America's Falling Star" - Wild Bill

Marco Rubio is a perfect example of how Washington DC co-opts elected officials.

Pic Dump..............

Thought for the Day..............

H/T Doverthere

Obama in Ireland: Catholic school education is divisive!...from TPC

In a speech that he gave in Northern Ireland Barack Obama made a call for the end of Catholic education due to what he termed its divisiveness.

At the same time can anyone remember any similar call made by the President to end the education of Muslim children in madrasas for this exact reason as well? 

At The Political Commentator here.  

News...............

Navy Aquaflage in a Siberian Jail?

Shiner in 3,2,1...

Sigh: Indiana man faces possible jail time for nursing bald eagle back to health

Niall Ferguson: The Regulated States of America

Question for pro-choice Dems: If gun control is worth doing if it saves just one life, how about limiting late-term abortions?

Shabaab suicide assault team storms UN compound in Mogadishu

Obama Looking for Love in Wrong Places

The Amnesty Mob vs. America

Syria and Egypt Can’t Be Fixed

Merkel’s Eloquent Toast to Obama and the United States

Obama to Launch Major Global Warming Effort

Extremism Overpowering Indonesia

U.S. Mulls Bombing Syrian Chem Sites: Report

PM to Ashton: If Hezbollah is not a terrorist group, who is?

Syrian rebels get first new heavy weapons after Obama announces U.S. to send military support

Crowd of 30,000 overruns police cordon ahead of Brazil football match

Obama's Nuclear Push: Moscow Fears Loss of World Power Status

How Chinese Strategists Think

The Economics of Nuclear Arms Reductions

Barack Obama has given the Taliban the upper hand in Afghanistan

Despite the commodity boom, Brazil is close to boiling point

FBI director says surveillance drones used in US

Memo to President Obama: My Short List of Qualified Candidates To Replace Ben Bernanke

Coming home: Enterprise returns to shipyard in final trip

Senators seek cost cuts for F-35 fighter jet

Russia Moves Mistral Stern Constructi​on to France

H/T Paul B

Mystery of Obama Solved......................from Dan Friedman

[A lot of people say the secret of Obama is just that he's tone deaf, egomaniacal and incompetent. News like this makes you wonder if they don’t have a good point. df]

 

Catholic News Live

Pres. Obama sticks his nose into Catholic education in IRELAND

Another example of what this man wants: total isolation of any religious values in the private sphere alone. Pres. Obama is working either to intimidate or legislate or even TAX religious freedom out of the public square.

From the Scottish Catholic Observer

US president undermines Catholic schools after Vatican Prefect praised them

Thursday Totty................

Brides-to-Be Stripping Off to Pose Nude With Their Girlfriends in Risqué 'Boudoir Bachelorette Party' Shoots?

Why, yes, these babes are really doing it!

See, "Latest Trend? Women Stripping Down for Group Photo Shots."

Photos at the link.

Those are some smokin' brides-to-be. Dang!

Our Suicidal Middle East Policies

By Alan Caruba

Take a look at the map of Afghanistan. It borders Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and a tiny eastern tip borders China. It exists in the worst neighborhood of nations on planet Earth.

A Reuters news story on June 18 reported that “Afghanistan will send a team for peace talks with the Taliban, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday, as the U.S. and NATO coalition launched the final phase of the 12-year war with the last round of security transfers to Afghan forces.”  The next day, the Associated Press reported that “Afghanistan’s president says he will not pursue peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations and the militant group stops its violent attacks on the ground.”

He made the initial announcement at an international coalition marked the beginning of the end of the handover of security to Afghan forces, attended by some 2,000, including the NATO Secretary-General, dozens of Western ambassadors, and senior Afghan and international officials.

Peace talks with the Taliban are about as useful as talking to the Iranians about their nuclear weapons program in an effort to get them to abandon it. In that region of the world, both Pakistan which shares a long border with Afghanistan and India have nuclear weapons, as does China and Israel. Both Syria and Iraq would have had them if the Israelis had not destroyed their nuclear reactors.

I have been writing about Afghanistan and the U.S. military engagement there since 2009. In November of that year I wrote that “The President is going to address the nation about his plans for Afghanistan and if ever there was an exercise in futility, this is it.”

At the time, Obama had been referring to Afghanistan as a war of necessity, He already had plans to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq and, after they left, that nation turned into a battlefield again with endless bombings reflecting the Sunni-Shiite animosities that have existed from the earliest days of Islam. In 2011, while announcing a “surge” of U.S. forces into Afghanistan, he also announced that the U.S. was leaving. The Taliban were given notice that all they had to do was to wait.

In theory, the U.S. was going to train and equip the Afghani forces to defeat the Taliban, but I suggest now, as in 2009, this was an effort in futility. It is doubtful at best that the Karzai government ever had the support of the population and, indeed, the Taliban made sure it was aware of their presence by continually bombing various government buildings. The latest was on Tuesday in Kabul that targeted a senior member of the peace council.

The Taliban are a barbaric group who in early June beheaded a boy of ten and one aged 16 for “spying.” They had been scavenging among the rubbish bins near the police headquarters in Kandahar and then accused of accepting food from the police in exchange for information. They have outraged even the Pakistanis for attempting to kill Malala Yousulfzar, a 14-year-old girl who publicly advocated education for girls, but she was just one victim among thousands of girls there and in Afghanistan whose schools have been shut down amidst efforts to poison some of them who were attending them.

The latest count of Afghan forces was a 352,000 who, in theory, will carry on the fight with the Taliban, but their allegiance to Kabul is questionable. They could conclude it isn’t worth dying for and that a deal with the Taliban was preferable. That deal, as noted, will begin with the peace talks, presumably held while the bombings continue. Whether the members of the peace council will even escape such talks with their lives depends on holding the talks somewhere neutral.

Afghanistan, if you will recall, is where al Qaeda set up headquarters after participating in the war that drove out the Soviet troops that, in turn, led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The U.S. had played an active, though covert, role in equipping al Qaeda forces and was rewarded for that with 9/11.

The same day of Karzai’s initial announcement, Raymond Ibrahim, a Middle East expert, was published on Frontpagemag.com with an article titled “The Calm Before the Jihadi Storm”, saying that “The same U.S. policies that helped create al Qaeda in the 1980s are today creating many al Qaedas in many Muslim countries, promising to deliver future terror strikes that will make 9/11 seem like child’s play.”

The problem with U.S. Middle East policies that Ibrahim identifies with clarity is that it has been based on “the short-sightedness of American policymakers whose policies are based on their brief tenure, not America’s long term wellbeing.” Presidents serve for four to eight years, members of Congress must stand for reelection every two to six years, in the House and the Senate.

Our wars in the Middle East have come to bad ends as Americans quite understandably grew weary of casualties and the wounded. Even the Roman Empire was brought to an end as the result of similar long and costly wars. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, it was bad news for Alexander the Great and later the British Empire.

The problem now, as Ibrahim points out, is that President Obama’s policies have turned over much of the Middle East to al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Under the cover of the “Arab spring” and the illusion of democracy, as various populations overthrew their dictators, Obama threw our long-time Egyptian ally, Mubarak under the bus, then Libya’s Gaddafi, and has dithered while Syria’s dictator, Bashar Assad, has slaughtered an estimated 90,000 of his own people, supported by Iran and Russia. The poison gas arsenal was no doubt Iraq’s former dictator, Saddam Hussein’s, moved there to protect it when the U.S. invaded to depose him.

All of these former dictators had successful suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda, the same forces seeking to overthrow Assad. They are now in the ascendency throughout the Middle East and across the northern tier of Africa known as the Maghreb. Ibrahim asks, “What price will America later pay now that it’s betraying several major nations to the jihadis who are turning them into bases?”

“In short,” says Ibrahim, “just as it was before 9/11, when the jihadi storm eventually does break out—and it will, it’s a matter of time—those American politicians who helped empower it, chief among them Obama, will be long gone, and the talking heads will again be stupidly asking “what happened?’ ‘Who knew?’ Why do they hate us?’ Except then it will be too late.”

They hate us because they are Muslims. The Middle East and the Maghreb was kept in check by a few dictators who knew who the enemy was. The ones taking power, especially in Egypt, hate us, but the U.S. continues to send Egypt billions and weapons. How idiotic and treacherous is that?

Meanwhile, Barack Hussein Obama is doing his best to reduce our nuclear arsenal and the size of our military. Could there be a connection here?

© Alan Caruba, 2013

 

A Note to Our British Cousins: I am well aware that Brits have fought bravely and well in Afghanistan, but this was written for US readers.

Bedtime Totty...............

Late News.................

CDR Salamander​: Boy, You're Just Whistling Dixie!

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave out copies of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' to officials

Cardinal George Refuses Gay Activist Communion, Lesbian Cantor Brings Host to Him Anyway

TWA Flight 800 investigat​ors break silence in new documentar​y, claim original conclusion about cause of crash is wrong

Wounded Warrior Project In Not So Many Words Admits It Is Anti Gun

Living in Fear: Welcome to Fascist America

Columbia's Cons: Ivy League social work program run by team of former prisoners

Special Ops General Concerned with 'Culture, Social Behavior' Aspects of Women in Combat

White House Blows the Berlin Speech

Taxpayer interests cropped out of the farm bill

Nobody home at the White House but the Tea Party

Russian marine and air power head for Syria versus Western intervention – “to defend Russian citizens,” says Moscow

Ya'alon: Iran should be forced to choose between nuclear weapons or survival

Brazil to deploy National Security troops against protesters

Scientism, Despotism, Blackmail and The New Carbon Dioxide Regulations

U.K. Girl Guides remove God reference from pledge

Rhyming History: Russia Repeats USSR’s Errors

Soft Power: A U.S.-China Battleground?

Sometimes, like on Syria, if you can't agree on what to do, it's best just to shut up and do your own thing

Sunbathers out in baking Alaska

Pipe waits on the prairie as Keystone XL debate rages almost 5 years

Allan Wall -- Amnesty Must be Defeated - How You Can Help

Finally.................

H/T Old Dude