Bradley Manning should get the Congressional Medal of Honor

A meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The U.S. is run by Idiots and Morons

The Generals store supposedly "top secret" data on
computers for anyone to download. 

By Gary;

Bradley Manning should get the Congressional Medal of Honor for proving that the U.S. is ruled by a bunch of fucking idiots.

Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old Army private who gave thousands of classified U.S. military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks has done America a public service.  He has proven that the generals and civilians haven't a clue what they are doing.

I have to ask. What stupid bastard would store "top secret" military information on computers where the info can be downloaded at will and even sent on the Internet? Hello???

Has any general seen the movies "Wargames", "Swordfish" and "Live Free or Die Hard"? Has anyone in government bothered to read the news about computer hacking during the last 30 years?

I have seen some dumb bastards in my day, but the generals in the Pentagon and their civilian leaders have to rank as some of the most stupid people ever born.

or . . . . . are the data "thefts" simply setups by the government so the Elites can demand even more Police Power and control over the Internet to "protect" us?

In any case, I say give a Congressional Medal to Manning for showing us that the Emperor has no clothes and a Purple Heart to Ed Snowden for being forced to eat airport food for weeks in Moscow.

The Locked Filing Cabinet
The locked file cabinet in a locked and guarded room. The old fashioned, low-tech way to protect documents from cyber theft by either foreign governments or hackers. But I am just a "crazy" Blogger.  What do I know?
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It's not like computer theft and hacking is something new.  Way back in the 1983 movie "Wargames" Matthew Broderick hacked into NORAD and nearly started a nuclear war. But after all these years the idiots in our military and in government still store vital data in computers where any 16 year old in the world or government employee can hack
in and steal it.

Swordfish
(2001)
A movie that was a computer hacker's wet dream.  But somehow the Government claims they don't understand this cyber threat . . . or do they? 
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Any fool who really wanted to keep secret information secret would simply remove top secret data from computers and lock it up.  So one must conclude that either we are ruled by total idiots or the government wants "secrets" stolen so they have an excuse to increase Police State powers and their control over the Internet.
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But conspiracy type thinking like that would be "crazy".

 

Federal Appeals court rejects indefinite detention challenge

Court defends Obama's right to jail you

Military prison without a lawyer or trial based

on allegations of ‘substantially supporting’ or

‘directly supporting’ unspecified ‘associated

forces’ of our nation’s enemies.

The Growing American Police State  -  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected a challenge to the sections of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that could allow for indefinite military detention of those who are suspected of "substantially" supporting terrorism. 

Whatever the Hell "substantially" means.

As we have previously covered (here, here, here and elsewhere), the suit was brought by journalists and activists concerned about being subjected to indefinite military detention if they interviewed or interacted with groups deemed hostile to the US. At the trial stage, a federal district court recognized the statute’s constitutional faults.


In her 2012 rulings, Judge Katherine Forrest prohibited military detention based on allegations of ‘substantially supporting’ or ‘directly supporting’ unspecified ‘associated forces’ of our nation’s enemies, finding that the plaintiffs could likely show that the NDAA violated the First Amendment, that it was overly vague, and that it violated the Fifth Amendment reports the Tenth Amendment Center.

The government appealed the ruling, prompting BORDC and other groups to file briefs with the appeals court highlighting the grave historical and present concerns with unchecked indefinite detention.

Earlier this month, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the lower court’s ruling. The appeals court held that Section 1021 of the NDAA does not control the government’s ability to detain American citizens and thus the citizen plaintiffs had no standing to have their challenge heard. Further the court ruled that the non-citizen plaintiffs could not demonstrate a “sufficient basis to fear detention under the statute” and as such, they also had no standing.

Essentially, the court held that under their interpretation the government could not use the particular law challenged by the plaintiffs to militarily detain them, so they had no basis for the court to hear their case.

Importantly, the court acknowledged that this doesn’t mean that the government could not rely on other laws, including the now over a decade old law authorizing military force in response to the events of September 11th, to justify indefinite military detention of citizens.

The court held:

Section 1021 says nothing at all about the authority of the government to detain citizens. There simply is no threat whatsoever that they could be detained pursuant to that section. While it is true that Section 1021(e) does not foreclose the possibility that previously “existing law” may permit the detention of American citizens in some circumstances—a possibility that Hamdi clearly envisioned in any event—Section 1021 cannot itself be challenged as unconstitutional by citizens on the grounds advanced by plaintiffs because as to them it neither adds to nor subtracts from whatever authority would have existed in its absence.

Indefinite Detention of Americans under NDAA Bill 

.
A Democrat Senate and President join with the "Conservative"
small government Republican House to jail Americans
without a trial.  God help us.

Chris Christie vs. James Madison

"The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been

forged out of the weapons provided for defence against

real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad."

James Madison

1799

Editorial, New Hampshire Union Leader  -  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has no patience for people who are concerned that the government might be violating their civil liberties in pursuit of increased national security. That is going to make a run through the New Hampshire primary really annoying for him.
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"This strain of libertarianism that's going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought," The New York Times quoted Christie as saying on Thursday. "These esoteric, intellectual debates - I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won't, because that's a much tougher conversation to have."
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And there you have the entirety of Christie's argument on surveillance: "9/11!"

'Christie is the extremist.'
New Hampshire Union Leader

The debate about how to strike the right balance between protecting Americans and protecting their civil liberties is one the Republican Party needs to have. But it is no debate when one side's argument consists of mindlessly invoking 9/11.
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If Christie is saying, as he seems to be, that the state should be empowered to take any measures it deems necessary to protect against terror attacks - without any concern for the "esoteric, intellectual debates" over civil liberties - then he is the radical extremist, not Rand Paul or other Republicans (including many New Hampshire primary voters) who want to stop terrorists, but without trampling on the constitutional rights of citizens.
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He also would be far outside the mainstream of American political thought.
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"The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad," James Madison wrote in 1799.
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But what did Madison know? If only he hadn't been so concerned about "esoteric, intellectual" concepts, we might have a Constitution that would allow brash governors to monitor our every move and thought to make sure the terrorists didn't succeed in taking away our freedom.

(Union Leader.com)

Statist RINO is Afraid of Dangerous Liberty

Leftists try to drive Rush and Hannity off the air

Leftist Thug Brownshirts Want Censorship

The neo-Fascist trash of America drove Glenn Beck off

Fox and now has targeted Limbaugh and Hannity.

The Bill of Rights - Our Founding Fathers were true radicals to institutionalize into law the freedom to criticize the State and its hack liar politicians.  But freedom of speech has no meaning to the scum of the Fascist Left.  They found a back door to abolish freedom of speech:  attack the advertisers.

The Left are out to target and take off the airwaves anyone who effectively presents the case for freedom.  They first targeted the advertisers for Glenn Beck's Fox News program.  Beck's "crime" was daring to vigorously rip the guts out of the Left on live TV.  Fox put dollars ahead of freedom, lost their nerve and dropped Beck.

Now Politico reports that America's No. 2 radio network is dropping Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity because of a combination of attacks on advertisers and "public" pressure.

Rush Limbaugh and Cumulus Media, the company that distributes the influential conservative's talk-radio show in some 40 major markets, are headed for divorce, says Dylan Byers at Politico.

Citing "an industry source," Byers says that Cumulus — the No. 2 radio network in the U.S., behind Clear Channel — won't renew either the contract of Limbaugh or fellow conservative talker Sean Hannity at the end of the year. This is "a major shakeup for the radio industry," Byers adds, and it's hard to argue with that. Limbaugh and Hannity have the biggest and second-biggest talk radio shows, respectively, in the country. By a lot.

That also makes Limbaugh and Hannity very expensive, and this reported move by Cumulus to dump the two stars is about money. The two radio talkers are represented by Premiere Networks, a Clear Channel division, and Premiere reportedly wants more money than Cumulus thinks Limbaugh and Hannity are worth. Cumulus declined to comment on the rumors reports Yahoo News.

Freedom Fighters vs Fascism.
.
First the Fascist Left targeted the advertisers of Glenn Beck forcing him and his forceful point of view off Fox News.  Then they went after the advertisers of Rush Limbaugh causing major damage.  The Fascists of America know they cannot win an honest argument so they sneak behind the scenes like the snakes they are.
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Fox News chief Roger Ailes was reportedly tiring of Beck's increasingly strident diatribes (and lower ad income). Beck, for his part, said he felt constricted at Fox, and declared that he didn't need TV networks, moved to Dallas, and launched a subscription internet-only channel, GBTV. A year later, the channel — rebranded TheBlazeTV — has 300,000 paying members, brings in millions in revenue, and, in 2012, debuted on the TV sets of 14 million Dish Network customers.

_________________________________

Limbaugh and Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey have been effectively negotiating in public since May, when Limbaugh threatened to leave Cumulus because Dickey had blamed Limbaugh's 2012 on-air insults of Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke for driving advertisers away and costing Cumulus millions of dollars. Now, Limbaugh critics are calling this apparent breakdown in negotiations a win for the post-Fluke boycott.

"The boycotters did it," agrees Jason Easley at Politicus USA.

They got Cumulus to dump not only Limbaugh, but also Hannity. "Without the public pressure, bad publicity, and shame that the boycott brought on to his advertisers, Rush Limbaugh and Cumulus would probably still have a happy marriage," said Eastly.

If Politico's report is true, "Limbaugh's contentious and seemingly inevitable divorce from Cumulus Media and WABC has moved another step closer to reality," says David Hinckley at the New York Daily News. But that doesn't mean that Cumulus is dumping Limbaugh. "New York radio observers have been expecting for the past year that Limbaugh and probably Hannity would leave WABC, which is owned by Cumulus, for rival WOR," recently purchased by Clear Channel.

That's an important distinction, says Hinckley. And if Limbaugh goes to Clear Channel, it's not like he'll be off the airwaves. His legions of fans would just have to change the presets on their radios.  And Cumulus wouldn't drop conservative talk radio altogether — it would just switch personalities, says Byers.

In recent weeks, "Cumulus has been quietly reaching out to radio talent agents and political insiders about new local and regional station hosts to fill some of the airtime that will be left vacant by Limbaugh and Hannity," he says. "Cumulus is also expected to move some of its existing talent — which includes Mike Huckabee, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage — into one of the slots."

 

"Cumulus has already tried to position Huckabee as a 'safe' alternative (and boring alternative) to Limbaugh," says Adam Martin at New York: "A conservative commentator who wouldn't call people 'sluts' on air." Huckabee doesn't have a huge following, according to Talkers magazine's most recent analysis, but Savage and Levin do.

Readers should take Politico's entire report with a healthy grain of salt, says Radio Ink. "A story like this always seems to pop up around the quarterly earnings call," and it's most likely a negotiating tactic as Cumulus and Premier haggle over a price. For what it's worth, "a source tells Radio Ink nothing has been decided and a deal could even be worked out in the next month or so."

Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. But my guess is that Limbaugh and Hannity have the upper hand. If Premiere asks too high a price from Cumulus, Clear Channel can't really then pay Limbaugh and Hannity less than its subsidiary was demanding. But even if neither Clear Channel nor Cumulus are willing to pay up, Limbaugh has a large fan base that would follow him to satellite radio or the Internet. Glenn Beck seems to be making a tidy sum on his own.

 

 

California to tax workers for a new state retirement account

Opening ceremony for the People's Republic Legislature.

Taxes, taxes and more taxes.

Now the Socialists want to get government control over 

billions of new tax dollars to "invest". 

The People's Republic of California -     Leftist California lawmakers are pushing a controversial, first-in-the-nation plan that would FORCE private-sector employers to remove 3 percent from every worker's paycheck and send it to the People's Treasury where it will be "invested" for their retirement years.

The money would go into a new state fund with a Government guarantee that all withheld funds plus investment gains will be available for distribution at retirement age.

Even Wall Street investment funds do not guarantee results.  To finance that "guarantee" means tapping into the bottomless pit of State Treasury tax dollars.

The idea behind the Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, which got preliminary approval, is for it to be a state-run supplement to Social Security, but only for people who don't have traditional workplace retirement plans (which means most people these days).

Naturally unionized government workers are exempt because they have government retirement plans.


For an estimated 6 million working Californians, the benefit of a pension or 401(k) is out of reach -- so state lawmakers are trying to implement the new mandatory retirement fund for private sector workers reports Fox News.



But critics wonder how the state with a turbulent record of budget keeping and a much-ridiculed public worker pension system can be counted on to protect people's money.

"I think you'll find out that what is promised in the (Secure Choice plan) is not possible to deliver," lobbyist Marc Burgat contends. "If you could deliver guaranteed returns with less than one percent costs, no employer liability, no government liability -- that's a fantasy."

There is also concern that this is another example of government do-gooders trying to force better behavior by its citizens.

But for years, financial experts have warned that people shouldn't solely depend on their Social Security benefits for retirement income. The average California retiree only collects $14,000 per year in Social Security. Advocates of this new effort say the supplemental savings plan will provide a needed boost to retirement needs.

"There are pros and cons to the various approaches," behavioral finance expert Shlomo Benartzi explained to Fox News. "But I think the critical ingredient is to make it easier for people to save for retirement."

Fox News talked to several California workers whose employers don't offer them retirement benefits -- the exact people the Secure Choice program is designed to help. Each liked the idea.

"Most people can't save money and then to save it for when you're retired is very hard. It would be like saving it for 50 years," said Coty, a waitress.

Employers who don't conscript workers into the program are subject to fines, though they will not have to provide any matching funds . . . yet.

Burgat wonders if that requirement will soon follow.

"So for the employer in California, it becomes another huge burden in a state that CEO magazine is already calling the state that is the hardest to do business in America. It just becomes another opportunity for liability. Another opportunity for a lawsuit and yet another burden we're placing on the employer," Burgat said.

The California plan is the first in the nation, though other states have expressed interest as well as lawmakers in Washington. Before Secure Choice can go into effect, it must get approval from the IRS and U.S. Labor Department. Lawmakers must also vote on it again once a feasibility study is complete. That is expected to happen next year.

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Hate California taxes?  Nevada is waiting for you.

The Power and Credibility of Citizen Bloggers

Guest Blogger

Some random thoughts about the Media and

the power of Bloggers.

 

By Brian;
Frankenstein Government

Years ago, as a Police Chief who dealt with local media, I have to tell you that I never disclosed all the details of any given case. In fact, I spoon fed reporters the softball answers to the softball questions that they asked.

Rarely, if ever, did a reporter probe any deeper than the fluff I turned over. Could they have? Sure- so why didn't they?

First off, reporters and journalists in general, make next to nothing. In communities all over this nation, they attend mundane meetings and try to cull out enough information to publish a decent account of what happened. It's really a pretty boring job.

Reporters make their living from their sources. They don't want to piss those sources off by sending in a few hardball questions. Because the sources, like police agencies and local government, have clout. They will simply call the owners and editors of local newspaper and television outlets and tell them that any given reporter is off limits. Or they find "spokes people" who filter information and deflect questions while often misleading reporters or outright lying.

Jay Carney is a professional liar. He does this on behalf of the President. I can't stand to watch Carney deflect and lie anymore than I can stand to watch Obama do the same thing.

I used to have a friend, a fellow Police Chief, who kicked a number of reporters out of his office.

So the problem is that media at it's very best, has a garbage in- garbage out mentality that only delivers the superficial parts of a story.

In the worst case, the media simply ignores and obstructs facts and creates it's own agenda. This is the narrative going on in this country. That's why we have this golfing buffoon as a President. I don't care what President Obama does, what crooked things he does or how many innocent drone victims there are, this media will find a way to hide and obstruct those facts. They have crawled into bed with him, I suspect, for no other reason than he is a black liberal.

Thus they can claim, that they are truly above the chains that bind the rest of us "racists." Judged strictly on performance, Obama is a worthless, banker shill, installed to prevent the prosecution of the banker cartel. This despite the leftist agenda that would have you believe that Obama is the second coming of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, and Martin Luther King all wrapped into one.

The rise of citizen journalism, or blogging has been a wonderful thing. We stole the printing press from those bastards who had been abusing it. Bloggers are like amplifiers. We find stories, we pick away at them, prove or disprove the facts, and we write. Because we can. Nobody can fire us. We are the pent-ultimate carriers of the first amendment.

As a blogger, I am not beholden to anyone for what I write. Nobody is going to can me. I am not co-opted or paid. In fact, I have every incentive to tell the truth and I can usually find sources to verify what I write. And usually, I cite those sources. Occasionally, I catch a ridiculous story on someone else's blog and more than once, had it removed it with a quick thank you.

The people telling the truth right now- are mostly bloggers. Quite simply, we have no incentive or motive to lie. That doesn't mean that all bloggers are credible but the ones on my blogroll certainly are.

(thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com)

New Zealand Conservatives Push 1984 Spying

Marching against Big Brother

Protesters at a rally against the proposed new legislation that will give the New Zealand Government

greater power to collect private information about it's citizens.

Photo / Chris Loufte

1984 Arrives in New Zealand

New Zealand "conservatives" try to ram through a

Big Brother spy bill.

Governments are the same the world over.  Governments FEAR their own people and set up Police State spy systems to protect the Ruling Elites.. 

It does not matter if it is the "Conservative" GOP in America, the absolute monarchy in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese Communist Party, the UK Conservative Party or now the ruling conservatives in New Zealand.  Everyone is spying on their own people.

Now we see thousands of people marching in protest of a new bill that would grant the New Zealand’s government sweeping spy powers.  The "conservative" Prime Minister John Key has been playing down the nationwide protests claiming these simple common people are "misinformed" and Big Brother spying is good for them..

The surveillance bill, which is expected to be passed in parliament, would allow New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) free rein to listen in on citizens’ phone conversations.
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Kiwis took to the streets on Saturday in 11 cities and towns in what has been dubbed as an “uphill battle” to stop the bill from going through reports the New Zealand Herald.

Comparisons with George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 were rife, with many people holding placards saying "1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual” and "This is 2013, not 1984."

Big Brother is Always Watching You.

Civil liberties campaigner and Tech Liberty co-founder Thomas Beagle said the GCSB bill was about ``mass surveillance''.

"It's about spying on everyone, no matter what they've done, no matter what they're gong to do,'' he said.

"This sort of mass surveillance changes the balance of power in our society away from the people and towards the state.''

Mr Beagle said it was wrong to suggest people who had done no wrong had nothing to fear from surveillance.

"I believe in the right to privacy, I believe in the right to sit in my house and call my friends on the phone without the Government listening.

"I believe in freedom of expression and freedom of association, for people not being scared into silence because they are being watched by Government spies.''

David Fraser, who came from Waipara to take part in the protest, chose to use "nein", the German word for "no" on his placard to express his sentiment towards the bill.

"I wanted a short punchy message to make people realize this proposal by John Key is so similar to the East German Stasi [the secret police in communist East Germany during the Cold War] and before them the Nazi Gestapo where there was excessive state involvement in everybody’s privacy.

"Myself, my son, my wife, my father and grandfather all served the military to stand up for the New Zealand way of life; to stand against the likes of the Stasi and repressive regimes."

(RT News)          (stuff.co.nz/national)

New Zealanders protested in 11 cities against spying.

 

"Myself, my son, my wife, my father and grandfather
all served the military to stand up for the New Zealand
way of life; to stand against the likes of the
Stasi and repressive regimes."
David Fraser

Comparisons with George Orwell’s dystopian
novel 1984 were rife, with many people holding
placards saying "1984 was not supposed to be an
instruction manual” and "This is 2013, not 1984."

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“Nothing was your own except the few
cubic centimetres inside your skull. ”
― George Orwell, 1984

Peter King rips Rand Paul as "mad"

“I thought it was absolutely disgraceful that

so many Republicans voted to defund

the NSA program."

Congressman Peter King

Police State Republicans on the Attack  -  The Big Government-Big Brother Police State Republicans are scared shitless that they are losing their grip on the public.  First Governor Chris Christie attacked pro-Constitution libertarians and Rand Paul for having "dangerous thought."

Now Peter King, the former Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, viciously attacked Rand Paul and other pro-Constitution Republicans for "madness."

Big Brother loving GOP Rep. Peter King on Sunday continued his criticism of fellow Republican Rand Paul, blasting the Kentucky senator’s praise of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden as “madness.”

“When you have Rand Paul actually comparing Snowden to Martin Luther King or Henry David Thoreau, this is madness, this is the anti-war left-wing Democrats of the 1960s that nominated George McGovern and destroyed their party for almost 20 years,” the New York congressman said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I don’t want that happening to our party.”

 

King said it was “disgraceful” that 94 GOP representatives voted unsuccessfully to defund the NSA’s data collection program last week reports The Blaze.

 

“I thought it was absolutely disgraceful that so many Republicans voted to defund the NSA program, which has done so much to protect our country,” he said. “This is an isolation streak that’s in our party. It goes totally against the party of Eisenhower and Reagan, Bush. I mean we are a party of national defense. We’re a party who did so much to protect the country over the last 12 years.”

 

Bullshit alert - How is doing unconstitutional Orwellian spying on every American citizen helping to defend the nation and liberty?

 

King said earlier this month he was considering a 2016 presidential bid to try to block GOP “isolationists” Rand Paul and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Maybe Peter King should try reading the Constitution.

“Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution.
That must be maintained, for it is the only
safeguard of our liberties.”
― Abraham Lincoln

 

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment
of the freedom of the people by gradual and
silent encroachments of those in power than by
violent and sudden usurpations.”
― James Madison

"But a Constitution of Government once changed
from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once
lost, is lost forever."
John Adams 

 

Sryian Rebels selling arms to al-Qaeda

"We bought 200 anti-aircraft missiles and Koncourse anti tank weapons."

Buried at the end of this Al Jazeera story on tensions between the Free Syrian Army and an al Qaeda affiliate, a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed that the FSA is selling weapons to the terror group:

And we asked its vali [wali] – or governor of Allepo province, Abu Atheer – why some accuse them of trying to weaken Syrian opposition groups by taking control over border villages.

He didn’t want to be filmed. But he told us: if we wanted to cut the supply lines it is easier for us to take the warehouses of the FSA. Anyhow we are buying weapons from the FSA. We bought 200 anti-aircraft missiles and Koncourse anti tank weapons. We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA. For us, the infidels are those who cooperate with the West to fight Islam.

If confirmed, purchasing weapons from the Free Syria Army won’t be good news for the West.

It is men like these the West doesn’t want to arm and it has urged the FSA to retake areas under their control. It could be a recipe for yet another war within a war that will decide the new face of Syria.


Syria - Rebel Concourse Missiles Finish Off Assad Remnants at Minnigh Military Airbase 6-22-13 

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Comrade Obama, John McCain and the rest of the Warmongers just can't wait to get America into the middle of this pile of shit.

 

Sunday Comics

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Border Patrol Increases Staff By Hiring Cheap Immigrant Labor 

AA Destroying The Social Lives Of Thousands Of Once-Fun Americans