The Middle-East`s Latest Curve Ball

CNN reports the following (via Drudge Report):

The United States gave the go-ahead Friday to deploy Patriot anti-ballistic missiles to Turkey along with enough troops to operate them as the heavily embattled government in neighboring Syria again vehemently denied firing ballistic missiles at rebels.

The United States has accused Damascus of launching Scud-type artillery from the capital at rebels in the country’s north. One Washington official said missiles came close to the border of Turkey, a NATO member and staunch U.S. ally.

Syria’s government called the accusations “untrue rumors” Friday, according to state news agency SANA. Damascus accused Turkey and its partners of instigating rumors to make the government look bad internationally.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed the order while en route to Turkey to send two Patriot missile batteries and 400 U.S. troops to operate them. The surface-to-air interceptors will help in “dealing with threats that come out of Syria,” Panetta said after landing at Incirlik Air Base, a U.S. Air Force installation about 80 miles from Syria’s border…

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This may sound cut-n’-dry, but as we see via DebkaFiles, the Middle-East has an “Ace” up its sleeve to make one cringe:

By the blacklisting Tuesday, Dec. 11, of the Jabhat al-Nusra group fighting in Syrian rebel ranks as “a foreign terrorist organization” and affiliate of al Qaeda in Iraq, Washington faces four quandaries:

1. The 10,000 fighters of this al Qaeda affiliate are the best-trained and most professional component of the Syrian rebel front;.

2. Jabhat al-Nusra fields 3,000 fighters out of the mostly Free Syrian Army’s 14,000 rebels fighting in and around Aleppo. They also constitute the assault force’s spearhead.

3. The Islamists are at the sharp front edge of the rebel force battling for control of the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons store at Al Safira, near Aleppo. Thursday morning, Dec. 12, they were just a kilometer from the base’s northwestern perimeter fence and advancing fast. By week’s end, Jabhat al-Nusra jihadis may have smashed into the base and seized control of the chemical stocks and Scud D planes standing there armed with chemical warheads.
The imminence of this peril forced Bashar Assad’s hand into sending Scud jets against rebel-held areas in an effort to stop their advance on the base.

4.  This al Qaeda affiliate is also better armed and equipped than any other Syrian rebel force, thanks to the generous financial and logistical aid laid on by Persian Gulf sources, especially in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

The difficulty here is that those three Gulf Arab states are also American allies in the war against Assad and the most important contributors to the US-sponsored Friends of Syria, a forum which met in Marrakesh Wednesday and formally recognized the umbrella Syrian opposition coalition of exiled groups as the legitimate government of Syria.

Reporters inside Syria reported that when the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters heard this news, they declared 700 of their number had died… laughing.

But as the vicious civil war of nearly two years and more than 40,000 dead approached another dangerous peak, no one was laughing in Damascus or Washington.

debkafile’s military sources point to the next crisis looming ahead: If Assad fails to stop the al Qaeda fighters from reaching Al-Safira and its poison gas stores – and an al Qaeda affiliate succeeds for the first time in arming itself with chemical weapons – the United States will have to mount an air assault – not on Assad’s army but on the Syrian rebel forces fighting him, because if they do manage to seize control of the base, rebel fighters may decide to send the chemicals-tipped missiles against Assad regime centers in Damascus.

The fall of al Safira would then transform the Syrian civil conflict into a chemical missile war.

Union Member Calls Conservative/Libertarians `Fascists,` But Fails to See Who is Acting Like One (Strong Language)

One can see from this presentation of well-thought out meme, that the left — as usual — has an upside down view of what “fascism” is.

In fact, the “fascists” of Germany, would regularly shut down — by violence and intimidation — speech that countered there own. So, for example, when Steven Crowder is assaulted, and the tent is torn down and people hurt and terrified by these thugs… by definition this is “fascism.” AND, fascism is a leftist (historically) movement, something that fits these unions and union thugs fascist actions as well.

So when these thugs intimidate people and call for blood, THEY are the FASCISTS! Michelle Malkin collects many thoughts from the left on this violence as part of their platform:

“There Will Be Blood”
Union Violence in the Age of Obama
by Michelle Malkin

Not so many moons ago, President Obama urged us all to “make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.” He Who Heals advocated “a more civil and honest public discourse” in the wake of the January 2011 Tucson massacre. As usual, though, the White House has granted Big Labor bullies a permanent waiver from the lofty edicts it issues to everyone else.

This week, menacing union goons unleashed threats, profanity and punches in Michigan, which is now poised to become a “right-to-work” state. Obama met the initial outbreak of violence with the same response he’s given to every other union outbreak of violence under his reign: dead silence.

On the floor of the Michigan legislature on Tuesday, Democratic state Rep. Douglas Geiss thundered: “We’re going to pass something that will undo 100 years of labor relations, and there will be blood. There will be repercussions!” Geiss referenced the Battle of the Overpass, a violent 1937 incident between the United Auto Workers and corporate security officers for the Ford Motor Company. Dozens of union activists were beaten.

But Geiss wasn’t crying victim. This was clearly a signal to the brass-knuckled Big Labor bosses, whom Obama egged on during his Monday visit to the state. Obama inveighed against right to work with his usual class warfare dog-whistle. The thugs heard it loud and clear.

As the Michigan House voted inside to approve right-to-work legislation allowing workers to choose whether or not to join/fund unions as a condition of employment, protesters outside the state Capitol ambushed a tented information booth sponsored by the pro-right-to-work state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Angry union mobsters were filmed cursing and screaming just before the attack.

One hurled an unidentified object at police officers. Another screamed at a citizen journalist filming the chaos: “Freedom of speech this, you f’n fascist a**hole!” Several peaceful AFP members and supporters were stomped on and punched while trapped under the tent as the labor operatives chanted: “This is what democracy looks like.” Young Michigan conservative activist and YouTube entrepreneur Steven Crowder was beaten by at least two union assailants while trying to protect the tent and those inside.

Of course, this is just more of the same twisted “civil and honest public discourse” of the administration’s union protection squad:

–May 2010: The Service Employees International Union buses in 700 workers from 20 states to storm Bank of America deputy general counsel Gregory Baer’s neighborhood and terrorize his youngest son while at home alone in Chevy Chase, Md. The tactic is straight from an SEIU intimidation manual on using community groups to “damage an employer’s public image and ties with community leaders and organizations.”

–September 2010: AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka praises Nancy Pelosi for taking Obamacare and driving “it down the Republicans’ throats and out their backsides.”

–August 2011: Striking Communications Workers of America declare “open season” on Verizon. Dozens of cases of sabotaged cable lines are reported.

–September 2011: ILWU bosses lead a “Days of Rage” protest at Port of Longview, Wash., taking a half-dozen guards hostage, sabotaging railroad cars, dumping grain, smashing windows, cutting brake lines, threatening a local TV station and blocking trains in violation of a judicial restraining order.

–February 2011: A Communications Workers of America union thug is caught on tape striking a young female FreedomWorks activist in Washington, D.C.

–February 2011: A Providence, R.I., union supporter says to a cameraman: “I’ll f**k you in the ass, you faggot.”

–February 2011: Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano of Massachusetts revs up Big Labor goons by urging them to “get a little bloody.”

–March 2011: Racist SEIU supporters in Denver, Colo., taunt gay black tea party activist and entrepreneur Leland Robinson, who criticized teachers unions at a Capitol rally, by calling him “son,” telling him to “get behind that fence where you belong,” and jeering, “Do you have any children? That you claim?”

–March 2011: In Madison, Wis., an unhinged crowd of AFSCME, UFCW and SEIU union protesters corner a Wisconsin GOP senator shouting, “F**k you!” and “Shame!”

–August 2011: In Boston, local IBEW 827 storms Verizon Senior Vice President Bill Foshay’s neighborhood. Union members scream, “We’re here to fight” in front of his private residence on a weekend afternoon.

–September 2011: Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa screams: “President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out…”

–December 2011: Union-endorsed port protests in Oakland, Calif., Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego and Houston cause massive commerce disruptions, lost wages, property destruction and untold injuries. A year later, ports are shut down on the West Coast during the busy holiday season, and another set of union port strikes — spearheaded by the violence-prone ILWU and ILA — threaten the East and Gulf coasts at the end of the month.

We should “do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations,” Obama lectured just over a year ago from his politeness pulpit. In the age of Obama, it’s Opposite Day 365 days a year.

Women-We Want You ~ Not A Dream

Men look at women. That’s their nature. But is this fascination with the female body a threat to their spouse or the woman they are with? That’s the question that best-selling author and nationally syndicated talk show host, Dennis Prager, deals with here. His answer will be a revelation to most women… and a relief to most men.

4-Short But Impactful Responses to Criticisms of Capitalism

A great 4-point memorization in order to respond to water-cooler discussions about our economic system, 4 Criticisms & 10 Virtues of Capitalism:

4 Common Criticisms of Capitalism include:

(1)  “It’s all about Greed.” (Capitalism is not about greed.  Greed is fundamentally a matter of the human heart, not of any economic system.  There are greedy socialists and communists too.)

 (2)  “The Rich Get Richer at the Expense of the Poor” (Capitalism is not a zero-sum game.  In market economies, wealth is not static, but is constantly being created.  Though 3 billion worldwide remain in poverty, capitalism has lifted 4 billion out.)

 (3)  “Capitalism leads to overconsumption & materialism” (Materialism is hardly unique to capitalist cultures.  No one is more materialistic than a socialist.)

 (4)   “It makes people unequal.” Said another way, “It creates winners and losers” or “Some have a lot, some have a little.”  In other words, “Capitalism leads to inequalities in wealth” (Having a lot is not wrong.  The possession of wealth is not wrong, but the means of accumulating it may be.  These objections assume there is something fundamentally wrong with inequality.  I’m no Kobe Bryant or Michael Phelps, but I’m okay with our unequalness.  People have different gifts and abilities.  People invest different effort and diligence.  God does not hate inequality, but rather injustice and oppression.)

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Fox & Friends Interviews Richard Kirkland, WWII Vet and Author of, `Wide Place in the Road`

About Video:

Fox & Friends interviews WWII veteran Richard Kirkland, who authored the book, Wide Place in the Road. (Posted by: Religio-Political Talk) In the interview Mr. Kirkland comments on how our current fighter is hand-cuffed to a politically-correct tactic, “War is hell… you can’t shoot him, but you can shoot him.” This reminds me of the great insight from Ken Jowitt on what it would take to win the war[s] in the Middle-East. Something half of the electorate is not willing to do.

The Nortax and California ~ 52% Tax

From HotAir:

Whether it’s because we end up going over the fiscal cliff or because Republicans agree to President Obama’s plan of not extending the Bush tax cuts on America’s wealthiest earners, the possibility of an effective tax hike means that higher-income Californians may be in for a whopping aggregate marginal tax rate. The super-liberal state already succeeded in approving their own rate hike with Proposition 30 in the November election, and combined with the potential federal raises, they could be looking at a top bracket with a marginal income tax rate of just under 52 percent:

Gerald Prante, an economics professor at Lynchburg College in Virginia, and Austin John, a Lynchburg economics student, calculated marginal tax rates — the highest rates on the highest levels of income — for all 50 states. They combined state, federal and, where applicable, local income taxes, plus payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare and included the deductibility of some taxes.

Proposition 30 added three percentage points to the marginal state income tax rate for California’s highest-income taxpayers, bringing it to 13.3 percent. That action raised California over other high-tax jurisdictions to a marginal rate of 51.9 percent, slightly higher than New York City’s level. Hawaii was the only other place with a calculated rate above 50 percent.

…Ouch.