US Strikes Kill 100 Russian Fighters In Syria

Zero Hedge

Here is the proper place for the bump stock.

"Following up to last night's bombshell report  that at least two Russian mercenary fighters in Syria had been killed by US-led coalition forces, this morning Bloomberg is out with an exclusive, according to which the body count is far greater than had been disclosed: U.S. forces reportedly killed "scores" of Russian contract soldiers in Syria last week "in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War", Bloomberg reported.

"According to the unnamed US and Russian sources, "more than 200 mercenaries, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base and refinery held by U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region" In terms of total body count, the U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.

"A few caveats: the Russian operation was not officially mandated, and the assault "may have been a rogue operation, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that started as a domestic crackdown only to morph into a proxy war involving Islamic extremists, stateless Kurds and regional powers Iran, Turkey and now Israel."

"In a bizarre deflection of responsibility, Russia’s military not only did not demand an explanation from the US for the deaths, but said it had nothing to do with the attack and the U.S. military accepted the claim. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has called the whole thing “perplexing,” but provided no further details.

“Coalition officials were in regular communication with Russian counterparts before, during and after the thwarted, unprovoked attack,” U.S. Colonel Thomas F. Veale, a military spokesman, said in a statement. “Russian officials assured coalition officials they would not engage coalition forces in the vicinity.”

. . .  

Rippon: ‘I don't want my Olympic experience being about Mike Pence

The Hill  . . . "Last month, Rippon said he disagreed with the Trump administration's values. He added that Pence — who has long been seen as a top adversary to LGBTQ rights — "doesn't really stand for anything I believe in," asserting that the vice president supporter "gay conversion therapy."

 

"Pence's office has denied the vice president believes in "gay conversion therapy."

 

"USA Today reported earlier this month that Rippon refused a meeting with Pence after the vice president's staff reached out to the figure skater following his criticism.

 

"Rippon's mother earlier this month defended her son's interactions with Pence amid the controversy. She said her son didn't "refuse" to meet with Pence, but that he preferred not to do so before the competition.

 

"Rippon also said earlier this week he would boycott a visit to the White House. He added that he would hope to do "something positive and not just stay at home" instead." . . .

At Least 17 Democratic Socialists Of America Are Running For Office In Texas In 2018

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

"Texas is in real trouble politically. The giant red state has been targeted by the left and they are dumping millions into the state to turn it blue forever. There are at least 17 Democratic Socialists of America candidates running for office in the state now. They look like just ordinary people… but these are socialists. They are communist-lite. They are Marxists and they are a stone cold threat to our way of life and our freedoms in this nation.

"As the Texas Observer put it, the revolution will be down-ballot. First up is Franklin Bynum’s campaign for Harris County misdemeanor court judge. He’s a 35 year-old former public defender and says he’s seen Houston’s criminal courts routinely railroad the poor into convictions that drive them further into poverty. Now, after nearly 10 years subject to the whims of conservative judges, he’s aiming to take the gavel for himself. I guarantee you that he will do what all liberal activist judges do… he’ll set criminals free to go back to what they were doing before. This has nothing to do with the poor. One of the primary goals of communists such as Van Jones is to empty our prisons regardless of the consequences." . . .

Why is this not obvious to liberals and their media sycophants?

Hat tip to Donna Rogers Boody at Mark Levin's Fan Club of Intelligent, Thinking Women (and Men)

In remembrance of the Obama Administration

A Year of Achievement; The case for the Trump presidency

"In 2018, it may be enough for congressional candidates to run on anti-Trump invective without expressing strong views on the issues or identifying with any particular national leader. But it won’t be so in 2020, especially if the Trump agenda grows more popular and Trump allows it rather than himself to become his signature message."

 

Victor Davis Hanson  "As President Trump finished his first full year in office, he could look back at an impressive record of achievement of a kind rarely attained by an incoming president — much less by one who arrived in office as a private-sector billionaire without either prior political office or military service. As unintended proof of his accomplishments, Trump’s many liberal opponents have gone from initially declaring him an incompetent to warning that he has become effective — insanely so — in overturning the Obama progressive agenda.
. . .
"Trump almost immediately voiced support for mass demonstrations in Iran, in a manner Obama failed to do in 2009. An ironic fallout of the disastrous 2015 Iran deal may be that the theocracy so hyped its cash windfalls from American relaxation of embargoes and sanctions that it inadvertently raised Iranians’ expectations of a rise in the standard of living. Then it dashed just those hopes by squandering hundreds of millions of newfound dollars in subsidizing Hezbollah, conducting a costly expeditionary war to save the genocidal Bashar al-Assad regime, and likely continuing an exorbitantly costly nuclear-weapons program.
. . .
"If the Republicans lose the Congress, these investigations will shut down entirely. Democratic majorities will give Mueller a free hand to do as he pleases without worries about past complaints over the ethical shortcomings of his investigation. Select Intelligence and Judiciary Committee hearings will likely give way in the House to impeachment proceedings." . . . Emphasis added by TD.   Read the full article

The left's love affair with brutal dictators...and their sisters

"Hatred for Trump and fondness for leftist dictators is a toxic combination."  Ben Shapiro

The little sister from hell   "Over the last 72 hours, we've witnessed a media rush over a young woman from North Korea named Kim Yo-jong.  She is not a defector or someone who risked her life to leave the country.  She is the dictator's sister – someone who probably never had a day without her favorite cereal or croissant, fashion pleasantries, or whatever else the elite in North Korea get to do, beyond not starving." . . .

Concern has only grown for the three Korean-Americans – Kim Hak Song, Kim Dong Chul[,] and Tony Kim – since the death of American college student Otto Warmbier last June after the he spent 17 months locked away in North Korea.  And though advocates said they were given some hope during President Trump's State of the Union address, when the image of a North Korean defector defiantly holding his crutches in the air was met with rapturous applause, there's also a desire to see continued action and pressure applied against the rogue regime.

Why the Media Is Fawning over North Korea . . . "The most obvious explanation is hatred for the Trump administration. North Korea is being celebrated as a charter member of the international #Resistance — a regime unwilling to sit down for Trump’s militaristic bluster. And so Pence was ripped up and down for his decision to invite Warmbier’s parents to the Olympics, and he received a heavy dose of scorn for his refusal to stand for the United Korean flag — a flag that represents mockery of the notion of peaceful reunification, given that the North Korean regime continues to aim its weaponry at the heart of Seoul. The same folks who praised Colin Kaepernick for kneeling for the American national anthem fulminated against Pence for staying seated to avoid honoring the North Korean regime." . . .

Stop pretending the Olympics are about world peace . . . "But the heart of the problem isn’t the obsession with Trump or even the North Koreans’ clever use of the Olympics to soften the image of what is arguably the worst tyranny on the planet. The real problem is that the Olympics always lend themselves to bad actors and foolish notions about the majesty of sports and international cooperation. The Olympics are the United Nations of sports — high-minded principles and feel-good sentiments exploited by hypocrites to the detriment of the cause of freedom." . . .

Democrats loved this photo

Triumph of the Shills  . . . "There could be many reasons for this embarrassing spectacle—ranging from outright complicity, to political malice, to plain old laziness. Most likely it’s that pre-existing biases and journalistic laziness are creating a witch’s brew that threatens to glamorize evil." . . .

What's a shill?  A person engaged in covert advertising. The shill attempts to spread buzz by personally endorsing the product in public forums with the pretense of sincerity, when in fact he is being paid for his services. Who are you shilling for? "Ignore him,"he's just here to shill."  Kind of like Marie Harf, Fox TV.

Before you praise Kim Yo Jong, remember how brutal the North Korean regime is

While media outlets fawn over Kim Yo Jong with headlines and news articles disturbingly similar to North Korean state-run propaganda, here are some facts to remember about the communist state. . . .

Everyone should read this

Those presidential portraits

I can just hear an Obama, especially Michelle, speaking on college campuses about the racism they encountered in the commentary on their portraits (along with racialist whites such as Chris Matthews), and perhaps some respectful consideration is due on the black approach in the art.  
My problem is that the subjects are two people who dislike this nation and are shamed by it, showing their contempt for all the world to see in their apologies, their treatment of America's allies and placing deference for bullies of the world who hate our nation at the expense of those they oppress.
We became less of a nation under that self-absorbed "I, me, my" administration.
The Tunnel Dweller

A green thought in a green shade . . . "I can also say that it put me in mind of Andrew Marvell’s great metaphysical poem “The Garden,” which I have not thought about for nearly 50 years. The unveiling event seemed to me a return to the ubiquitous world of identity politics, which I would like to be able to forget for 50 years. That world, I am afraid, is too much with us — permanently."

What's wrong with Obama's hand in that official portrait?  "I'm gonna go out on a limb here: I generally like the Obama official portrait.  It's an odd style, but it expresses him, and what's more, it reflects the art of his era. " . . . "But the front hand itself has problems in construction, at least if the aim is to create a realistic hand placed against a surreal background." . . . "In the past, artists were rewarded by their skills and merit.  Today, it's all razzle-dazzle plus the right political correctness.

"It represents the Obama era perfectly."

Some Presidential portraits: Which of these men met regularly and shook hands with racist demagogues such as Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan, haters of the Jewish people and the tiny nation of Israel? 
Which president's supporters chanted for the death of police officers, murdering them as often as opportunity presented in the name of "Black Lives Matter"?

The presidential portrait: Weird, but fitting for a narcissist-in-chief

Outcry greets newly unveiled Michelle Obama portrait that looks nothing like her - while Barack's is likened to Beyonce's birth announcement

"Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle were in attendance on Monday as their portraits were unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. While President Obama´s striking portrait by Kehinde Wiley garnered audible gasps of awe from the audience, Michelle´s portrait was not as warmly welcomed. Many online said that Amy Sherald´s portrait didn´t even look like Michelle. ´Amy Sherald should have met Michelle Obama before making that portrait,´ one user wrote." . . .

The Weak in Portraits: Obama Edition  Well, Jerry Brown's portrait (right) in Sacramento is nothing to brag about either.
. . . "The good news is that the Obama portraits are already coming in for heavy mockery from all sides, and hence providing Power Line with a surfeit of material for a modified, special Tuesday edition of “the Weak in Pictures.” We begin with the real articles, and then descend from there." . . .There's quite a gallery here.

Obama Portrait Artist Also Painted Black Women Holding Severed White Heads

. . . "For his part, Obama claimed that "what I was always struck by when I saw [Wiley's] portraits was the degree to which they challenged our ideas of power and privilege."

"Yeah, that must be it. A black woman holding a dead white person's head is...challenging.

"Wiley’s become pretty famous for his reimagining of traditional European portraits using black people, instead -- hardly a terrible thing, in and of itself. But while the majority of Wiley’s paintings focus on black subjects who aren’t holding the decapitated heads of white folks, that doesn’t really provide much comfort for the fact that our latest presidential portrait was done by a guy who’s apparently O.K. with glorifying racial violence." . . .

American Military Tech Is Being Cloned by Our Foes

Todd Johnson

The Iranian drone shot down in Israeli airspace was based on ours. And that's not the only example.

 

 America simply can’t afford to allow our adversaries access to our military’s weapons of war. Anything less than a full commitment from the U.S. government not only puts our uniformed members at risk but also our country’s standing in the world.

"In a very troubling development over the weekend, a purported Iranian drone was found to have entered sovereign Israeli airspace for approximately a minute and a half before being shot down by an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) helicopter.

"In addition to destroying the drone, Israeli jets later struck Iranian control system targets located in Syria, as well as air defense assets operating under the control of Bashar al-Assad. Following the military actions, rumors began to circulate about what type of UAV was being utilized by the Iranian-backed forces in Syria. Upon further investigation, various news sources confirmed that the Iranian drone was in fact a copy of a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel,” which Iran intercepted in December 2011. Unfortunately, such warnings were prescient.

"The fact that the Iranian government was able to reverse engineer a drone is not half as troubling as the fact that it represents the latest incident of a foreign government using American technology to enhance their own capabilities. The facts speak for themselves. Since the American government made the decision to purchase commercial off-the-shelf equipment (both software and hardware), our adversaries have had an easier time in gaining access to a myriad of secrets." . . .

CNN is the anti-Trump channel, so I'm surprised they ran this video

Robert Rich at Mad World News  "CNN recently went to Iowa in hopes of finding someone who would bash President Donald Trump. Too bad for them, things went horribly wrong — and viewers were left shocked by what a guest let slip on national television." . . .

. . . "In short, the sentiments expressed in this interview are generally how the majority of Donald Trump supporters feel about what is happening in the country right now. Basically, the left is doing everything in their power to disrupt Trump and make him stumble — and it doesn’t matter what it takes to achieve that.

"So far, the ends have yet to justify the means, but that isn’t stopping liberals from their mission to convert Trump supporters to the left. Even in this instance, Savidge couldn’t see the truth right in front of him as proven while ending the segment and the liberal host reported his findings.

“ 'It’s pretty clear from that conversation and from others that I’ve had with Trump voters that many of them believe the Russia investigation is nothing more than a political scheme, that was fabricated and now is being perpetuated by Democrats and others who simply can’t accept the fact that Donald Trump is president,” he said. Shockingly, he didn’t report that as fact but acted as if they were the musings of a deluded voter base." . . .

The Law of the Land in La La Land

Craig Andresen  with a Hat tip to Guardian Eagles

This is the time of the year when states…all of them…introduce new legislative proposals, hoping, often times beyond hope, that such proposals will, indeed, become the laws of their respective states.Some of the new proposals make sense, but, a vast majority are just plain stupid.When it comes to stupid…You can’t fix it, but you can sure find it in California. Yes…that bastion of left coast liberalism, California, is perhaps the nation’s leader in butt-stupid laws every year, and this year is certainly no exception. Before we get into what may well be this year’s bone-crushingly stupid law proposals from the land of fruits, nuts and flakes…perhaps we should first have a look at what they’re trying to top. 

"Liberals in California took on one of the most flagrant abuses of…something…known to man, and a situation that absolutely screamed out for government intervention. Bovine flatulence.It seems that dairy farmers in California were letting their happy cows get away with…farting…and it had to stop.Lacking the incentive, dairy farmers did nothing on their own to plug the problem…so…the government stepped in and laid down the law.Never mind that 53 California dairy farmers went hooves up, going bankrupt, shutting down or MOOving to more fart-friendly states…California’s anti-fart laws are still on the books." . . .

Drinking straws -this terrorism must stop!

"Under the proposal, any waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw in it would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. That’s not an “either or” thing…that’s BOTH…a $1000 fine AND 6 months behind bars."According to Calderon…”We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans.”"One might think that Calderon might be alone on his island of straws, but this is California we’re talking about…and he’s not. It seems that there are several cities in the state of fart-free cows that have already enacted “straws by request” laws, and not to be left out of this leftist plot to fine and jail waiters and waitresses, the L.A. Times has penned an Op-Ed in its favor…stating that aside from landfill issues…and I’m NOT making this up…”repetitive sucking may cause or exacerbate wrinkles on the lips or around the mouth.”Isn’t that exactly why God invented Botox?

 . . . one has to suspect that, should this become law, thousands of undercover California Bureau of Investigation agents will be employed to order drinks all over California, every day, for the expressed purpose of sending hapless waiters and waitresses to prison, to sit there on the “Group W Bench” with all the mother rapers. father stabbers, and father rapers!

TD: They won't need to; California has an abundance of SJW's who love doing all this on their own:
Funnier than Letterman: California’s Vexatious Litigants List (2014)
Actually I find them to be as funny as Letterman.

Vexatious Litigants: The Legal Bully

Changes in the Vexatious Litigant Statute
Straight from the The California law firm of Rossi, Hamerslough, Reischl & Chuck

The Sweetheart of CNN

Bookworm Room "I no longer watch the Olympics. It was fun back in the days of Cold War tension and carefully curated, and quite entertaining, three-hour stories every evening (before we knew we were the victims of curated stories). Remember when the media used to root against the Soviets (and, before that, against the Nazis)? Nowadays, with a media engaged in a slobbering love affair with a high official from one of the worst countries in world history; with endless, banal, stupid talking heads; and with a parade of generic, high-performing athletes on 24 hours a day . . . well, it’s just not my thing.

More posts at The Tunnel Wall blog