“Headless Chookism” ……… and “rightie stupidity!”

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Los Angeles Times....

GOP candidates respond to terror attacks with frantic machismo

By DAVID HORSEY | 5:00AM PST - Friday, December 18, 2015



NATIONAL SECURITY was the focus of this week's Republican presidential debate, but anyone who paid close attention would not feel especially secure. The thought that one of these faux macho blowhards might be in charge of American foreign policy is far from reassuring.

President Obama gets criticized for his cool demeanor and his distaste for bellicose language, but give me a taciturn Gary Cooper or Clint Eastwood type any day over a man who tries to prove how tough he is by loudly bragging about it. The Republicans should remember the advice of one of their greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

Too many of the Republican candidates are simply shrill and frantic. Donald Trump jumps from one lazy idea to another — let the Russians do the fighting, stop all Muslims from entering the country, shut down the Internet. Ted Cruz gets turned on by the idea of carpet-bombing Syrian towns and making the sand glow. Chris Christie puffs himself up and threatens to risk war by shooting down Russian jets flying over Syria should they violate a theoretical no-fly zone. Lindsey Graham shrieks about how Islamic State terrorists will kill every American if we fail to kill them all first.

During the debate, Carly Fiorina tried to prove she can be as tough as the bully boys. She said that, as president, she would “bring back the warrior class” — specifically, five generals who she said were fired by Obama when they told him things he did not want to hear. The only thing she actually proved was that she has an inclination to exaggerate the facts. One of the generals she named, David Petraeus, was not fired by Obama; he was appointed director of the CIA, a job he had to give up in disgrace when it was revealed he had been sharing classified information with his mistress. A second one, General John Keane, retired six years before Obama took office. A third, General Stanley McChrystal, ran into trouble when he and his staff openly criticized the administration in a Rolling Stone interview.

Christie flubbed, as well, when he declared that, unlike Obama, he would stand resolute alongside Jordan's King Hussein. Apparently, no one told him Hussein has been dead for 16 years. Besides their trouble getting facts straight, Fiorina and Christie also gave themselves too much credit for being leaders in the war on terror. Who knew Fiorina in her job as Hewlett-Packard CEO and Christie as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey were standing on the front lines of that fight? Frankly, they looked desperate to exhibit some muscularity. But so did most of their competitors for the nomination. With the singular exception of Rand Paul, a man with a sober sense of proportion, the Republican candidates were eager to pump up the fear factor and portray the Islamic State brutes as an existential threat to the United States.

As heinous and despicable as Islamic State may be, it is not an enemy on par with Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union. The terror group controls a few shattered cities, a few oil wells and a lot of sand in Syria and Iraq. According to U.S. intelligence estimates, its army numbers only about 20,000 to 30,000. Their soldiers drive around in pickups, not tanks. They are opposed by every government in the Middle East and by Russia and the Europeans. They are never going to conquer the world or even much more territory than they already have taken.

The most effective tool of Islamic State is the alluring myth it smartly markets on social media to misguided young Muslims looking for adventure and meaning in their lives. That, indeed, is a significant problem, as evidenced by the radicalized couple who committed the recent atrocity in San Bernardino. Nevertheless, Americans still are more likely to die from being hit by lightning than by being murdered by Muslim terrorists, whether foreign or homegrown.

No matter how much a Republican candidate may wish to pretend he or she is the second coming of Rambo, defeating Islamic State and other extremists is a task that does not lend itself to a quick military solution. This is a fight that requires intelligent action on multiple levels: financial, technological, ideological, diplomatic as well as a prudent and steady use of military power.

One important move was taken at the United Nations on Thursday when the Security Council voted to take vigorous steps toward cutting off sources of funding for Islamic State. The resolution was co-sponsored by the U.S. and Russia. Those are the same Russians Christie is eager to blow out of the sky.

Primary campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Republican candidates. The current show of cartoonish strength is clearly aimed at unsophisticated voters who think every repair job requires nothing more precise than a sledgehammer. The question is, if one of these people gets to the Oval Office will he or she be able to explain to voters that being a president is not the same as being a gunslinger? And will that new president be able to convince the rest of the world that America has not just elected a reckless amateur?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-frantic-machismo-20151218-story.html

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

And who controls Congress?

STUPID RIGHTIES....that's who!


from The Washington Post....

Wildfires are more expensive to fight than ever.
But once again, Congress refused to pay the bill.

By DARRYL FEARS | 3:15PM EST - Friday, December 18, 2015


Flames from the Jerusalem Fire consume a sign containing addresses to homes along Morgan Valley Road in Lake County, California
on August 12th, 2015. — Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters.

AS Congress headed home for the Christmas break after passing a budget deal, Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack presented lawmakers with an angry ultimatum: Put up more cash if you want the U.S. Forest Service to keep putting out huge wildfires.

Vilsack is fuming because Congress set aside $1.6 billion to pay for wildfire suppression in 2016 despite the service, which he controls, spending $100 million more than that to fight blazes this year. Year after year, Congress has underfunded the firefighting effort, forcing the Forest Service to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from other departments in the agency to pay for equipment and firefighters.

Congress allocated $1 billion for fire suppression in 2015 — a year fast approaching another record for most acres burned. As fires continued, Vilsack pleaded for more money to avoid the frantic inter-agency borrowing of fire seasons, such as $999 million in 2002; $695 million in 2003; $200 million in 2006, along with four other years when the budget came up short.


Round fire burning at Wheeler Crest near Bishop, California in February. — Jim Stimson/CalFire/Associated Press.

In a smoldering letter to lawmakers on Thursday, Vilsack put his foot down. The 2016 budget “fails to provide a long-term solution to address the critical and growing problem of paying for catastrophic wildfire and instead leaves the Forest Service hobbled by the current untenable budget situation,” he wrote. He issued what amounts to a threat, saying he will no longer rob from other departments to pay for firefighting efforts that Congress doesn't fund.

“If the amount Congress appropriated in 2016 is not sufficient to cover fire suppression costs, Congress will need to appropriate additional funding on an emergency basis,” Vilsack wrote.

Ironically, money was diverted this year from the department devoted to prevent wildfires by removing debris that helps them burn. The Forest Service pays loggers to remove trees left dead and dying from insect infestation, as well as foliage that grew in previous years but dried and turned to kindling during long periods without snow or rain.

“We will continue to protect lives, property and our natural resources, but it is the responsibility of Congress to ensure those resources are sufficient each year so that the Forest Service is able to accomplish the full complement of its work,” said Matt Herrick, a USDA spokesman. In the future, the agency “will notify Congress well in advance” if emergency funding is needed when the budget is short.


Novice firefighters Nathan Wilson, left, Ryan Christensen and Jesse Squibb, of Spokane Valley (Washington) Tech work to put out a hot spot
remaining from a wildfire Friday, August 21st, 2015, in Tonasket, Washington. Out-of-control blazes in north-central Washington have
destroyed buildings, but the situation is so chaotic that authorities have “no idea” how many homes may have been lost.
 — Photograph: Elaine Thompson/Associated Press.

The nation's worst fire season in recorded history was 2006, when 9.87 million acres were scorched. This year's season is only a few thousand acres below that mark with nearly two weeks remaining and two large fires still going in Kentucky. Herrick said the Forest Service has estimated that the record will be surpassed. Another record was broken in August when the agency paid $243 million to suppress fires in only one week.

In an era of climate change, fire seasons that once started in May now start in March. They end in December, not October. Alaska, dry from a lack of snow, saw its second-worst fire season when a freakish series of lightning strikes ignited blazes that burned more than 5 million acres.

“The future trend will be hotter, longer, more severe, and ultimately more costly fire seasons,” Vilsack wrote, with little money to pay firefighters to suppress them and for support such as fire engines, airplanes and logistics personnel. By 2025, the Forest Service estimates, fighting fires will eat 67 percent of its budget, “a dramatic increase from 16 percent in 1995,” according to his letter.

“This directly impacts the Forest Service's ability to fund other critical work such as restoration that can reduce wildfire threat, drinking water area protection, and recreation investments, not just in the West, but across the country,” Vilsack wrote.

• Darryl Fears has worked at The Washington Post for more than a decade, mostly as a reporter on the National staff. He currently covers the environment, focusing on the Chesapeake Bay and issues affecting wildlife.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • We may be witnessing the worst wildfire season in recorded history

 • In the dry West, housing growth puts firefighters in the path of wildfires

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/18/wildfires-are-more-expensive-to-fight-than-ever-but-once-again-congress-refused-to-pay-the-bill

[Im2Sexy4MyPants]

Horsey is a jackass he always pushes the lefty agenda,

If the left wins
it means all people need to be told what to do,what to think because everyone is retarded except for the leftists which would mean no one gets to have free speech or any rights whatsoever and we will learn to love our slavery and worship commie leaders 

ktj must be excited at the prospect of China taking over the world and putting him to work in the Iphone factory for life

[donquixotenz]

Horsey is a jackass he always pushes the lefty agenda,

If the left wins
it means all people need to be told what to do,what to think because everyone is retarded except for the leftists which would mean no one gets to have free speech or any rights whatsoever and we will learn to love our slavery and worship commie leaders 

ktj must be excited at the prospect of China taking over the world and putting him to work in the Iphone factory for life

[donquixotenz]

Fires need fodder, heat and a spark. Moral don't build your house in a haystack in the bush on a hot summers day without a bloody good fire break.

[guest49]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Los Angeles Times....

ISIS takes on the world and is bound to lose

By DAVID HORSEY | 3:00PM EST - Wednesday, December 30, 2015



ABU BAKR BAGHDADI, the elusive leader of Islamic State's nascent caliphate, has issued a new threat, saying that Israel has come into the sights of his terrorist horde. Although this news should be alarming to Israelis, it is more evidence that the outsize ambitions of ISIS far exceed the group's capabilities.

Baghdadi wants to take on the world and there is no way he can win.

In a long speech on Saturday, Baghdadi appeared to be responding to critics among his fellow extreme Islamists who say ISIS has purposely picked on easy targets and avoided a fight with Israel. “Soon, soon you will hear the crawl of the mujahedin, and their vanguards will surround you on a day you believe is far but that we see as close,” he warned Israelis.

Baghdadi also renewed threats against the United States, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, the Kurds and Shiite Muslims whose most potent and populace center of power is Iran. That is an impressive list of enemies. It is akin to a hyena taking on an elephant herd. The hyena will get some nasty bites in, but, ultimately, will be crushed.

Since the deadly ISIS-inspired attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, certain presidential candidates have revved up fear of terrorists to advance their political interests. Major segments of the news media have pumped up the hype that Americans are scared. I actually do not think most of us are all that rattled, though. We are not unconcerned about the likelihood of more attacks from Islamic extremists, but we know ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States — or Russia or China or Iran or Europe. And even though the Israelis are more vulnerable because of their country's proximity to the terrorists' bases of operation, they are not alone in this fight. Americans have got their back.

To those Americans who are, nevertheless, fearful and who are being seduced by cranks and blowhards who propose crazy ideas, such as banning Muslims from the country, I suggest getting a sense of proportion. According to a Washington Post report, the odds of an American being killed by terrorists of any kind anywhere are 1 in 20 million. Statistics prove you are far more likely to die choking on food, falling off a bike, getting bit by a dog, being hit by lightning or getting shot by a relative with a gun. If the likelihood of premature death really concerns you, ISIS should be far less terrifying than driving on a freeway.

None of this means the phenomenon of terrorist acts perpetrated by merciless jihadists is not a daunting, complex challenge to the civilized, sane world. It most certainly is. But, if we are considering the odds, then the odds are overwhelmingly on our side. Baghdadi's apocalyptic ideology may be attractive to gullible young Muslims looking for purpose in their lives, but his fantastical delusions are disconnected from reality. He and his fools' army will never conquer the world; the world will conquer him.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-isis-takes-on-the-world-20151230-story.html

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Now watch a couple of clowns indulge in wanton “Headless Chookism!”

[reality]

"Now watch a couple of clowns indulge in wanton “Headless Chookism!”"

..nah...NZ is a free and democratic country....even to losers who continually post leftist propaganda

....aint life so wonderful 

[Alicat]

"Now watch a couple of clowns indulge in wanton “Headless Chookism!”"

..nah...NZ is a free and democratic country....even to losers who continually post leftist propaganda

....aint life so wonderful 

Even to those who continually post rightest propaganda?

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

FACT: More Americans die from lightning strikes each year than from terrorist acts.

So banning Americans from going outside during adverse weather will save more lives than running around indulging in headless chookism over terrorism ever will.

[reality]

...really.....so that same logic applies to global warming as well..so...we should not worry about what may happen in the future due to global warming....ahhhhhhhhaha

...ahhh.....denial...it's makes life so easy

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

...really.....so that same logic applies to global warming as well..so...we should not worry about what may happen in the future due to global warming....ahhhhhhhhaha

...ahhh.....denial...it's makes life so easy

Have you been watching the news the past few days?

The worst floods in recorded history since the beginning of the industrial revolution when the amount of greenhouse gases being poured into the atmosphere increased by a massive amount. The worst wildfires ever recorded since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The worst droughts in many parts of the world since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The worst tidal surges recorded since the beginning of the industrial revolution. And so on, and so on, and so on…

It's happening right now....open your eyes and open your mind (forget about all that bullshit from Cameron Slater and other wankers/tossers/shit-for-brains).

[reality]

....and don't forget...

The worst ever propaganda drivel in its recorded history from xnc members.... 

[Alicat]

....and don't forget...

The worst ever propaganda drivel in its recorded history from xnc members.... 

Thank goodness you have finally looked in the mirror Reality. Phew - I thought you'd never see the propaganda you had been posting for what it really is.

[reality]

Your interest is noted and it's all part of the service, will do my best to keep you posted

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Hahaha....plenty of “headless chookism” in this thread as well....and this thread is all about the topic of headless chookism....

[Im2Sexy4MyPants]

ISIS cuts off tons of heads when they are not burning people alive i wonder what their headcount is so far?

74 children executed by ISIS for 'crimes' that include refusal to fast, report says



The blood-soaked executioners of ISIS have spared neither women nor children since the jihadist army established its caliphate a year ago, putting an estimated 74 kids and even more women to death for such offenses as practicing “magic” and refusing to fast during Ramadan.

A total of 3,027 people have been executed by ISIS since it declared itself a state under strict Islamic law in Syria and Iraq last June, according to a new report by the UK-based group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Many of the charges against those executed are recorded as blasphemy and spying, but others include sorcery, sodomy, practicing as a Shia Muslim," the report states.

"Many of the charges against those executed are recorded as blasphemy and spying, but others include sorcery, sodomy, practicing as a Shia Muslim."

- New report on ISIS brutality
Just this week, two children whose ages were not known were crucified in the Mayadin, Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria after ISIS accused them of not properly fasting during Ramadan. The children’s bodies, put on public display on crossbars, each bore a sign explaining their violation during the holy month for Muslims that runs June 17 to July 17. With each execution justified by ISIS' medieval interpretation of the Koran, the group is attempting to portray itself as the true practitioners of Islam, say experts.

“Underlying all these executions is the apocalypse ideology of the final battle between the believers and the unbelievers,” said Jasmine Opperman, the director of Southern Africa Operations at the Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium. “ISIS is using executions to show its followers -- and would-be followers -- that the group is the only true representative of believers, not only in word, but action, which is why executions are featured so prominently.”

Other children died fighting for their lives.

“The violent Islamist group appears to demonstrate a particular interest in children, releasing videos of children fighting in cages and undertaking military training,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said. “The report also details moves undertaken by the group to entice children to join, which include setting up offices called "cubs of the caliphate" that recruit children to fight for ISIS.”

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report in February, documenting the many horrors ISIS has imposed on children who are Kurdish, Yazidi, Christian and even Muslim. Children – even those who are mentally challenged – are being tortured, crucified, buried alive, used as suicide bombers and sold as sex slaves, the report said.

“ISIS is hoping to spur current supporters around the world who are dormant, of which there are millions, into joining their caliphate by advertising acts like these, of which there are millions,” said Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the Clarion Project, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the threat of Islamic extremism. “They know that they can greatly increase their numbers by appealing to current radicals rather than the broader masses.”

Women are not spared the cruel brutality of ISIS, either.

The Syrian Observatory found that the terror group carried out more executions this week, murdering two married couples by beheading them publicly with a sword for “sorcery.”

“The Islamic State group executed two women by beheading them in Deir Ezzor province, and this is the first time the Observatory has documented women being killed by the group in this manner,” Rami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the Daily Mail.

Other citizens suspected of practicing black magic or sorcery also have been killed, the organization reports, including a magician beheaded in recent weeks in the Iraqi province of Salahuddin.

“The practicing of anything that is not approved by Islamic State under their very strict interpretation of Islam is ‘Haram’ or forbidden,” said Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Florida-based Terrorism, Research & Analysis Consortium. “If the Islamic State thinks that sorcery is real, then black magic would be a threat to them and seen as a danger.”

ISIS stepped up its killing spree this week as it celebrated both Ramadan and its one-year anniversary as a caliphate in Iraq and Syria with three straight days of ruthless public punishments and executions. On June 30, 11 workers from al-Miadin endured live crucifixion and were forced to wear signs saying "70 lashes and to be crucified for 1 day for breaking the fast in Ramadan."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the most recent killing spree is less than a week, after ISIS released a video of 15 men executed in three terrible ways: Drowned in cages, having their head blown off with explosives and burning them alive in a car hit with a rocket launcher.

Last Friday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the death of 38 people in Tunisia who were gunned down, and another 27 people who died after a bomb rocked a Shia mosque in Kuwait.

“Islamic State executions are not merely retribution by the state for behavior seen as illegal,” said Khan, noting executions by the Islamic State include everything from burning alive victims, firing squads, beatings and beheadings, to drowning, explosions, and throwing people off of buildings. “The Islamic State uses executions to intimidate and dominate the local population, for diplomatic communiqués to world leaders, for recruitment purposes and to demonstrate the organization is in complete control.”

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/02/isis-executioners-spare-no-one-killing-74-children-for-crimes-including-not.html

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

ISIS cuts off tons of heads when they are not burning people alive i wonder what their headcount is so far?

Nowhere near as many as Saudi Arabia.

Remember when John Key declared in the NZ Parliament, “I will not stand by while people are beheaded?”

He then promptly headed off to the country which makes ISIS look like rank amateurs when it comes to cutting off people's heads and sucked up to them.

Talk about being full-of-shit and a hypocrite, eh?

And as for burning people alive....I wonder how many Vietnamese got burned to death by the Americans indiscriminately dropping napalm on villages during their warmongering escapades in Southeast Asia? Some of that even got shown on the nightly American warmongering show (the evening television news bulletin), including views of kids on fire fleeing from the numerous napalm conflagrations started by the Americans. Imagine that....publicly burning kids....how barbaric can one get?