Winning Hearts & Minds

Michael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane

"We should have went to Afghanistan and won the war. We went to Afghanistan, spent 13 years and got chased out by guys with weapons from the Korean War. The Islamists started this war, they explained to us as clearly as General Giap and Ho Chi Minh explained to us why they were fighting us and we have ignored it. Mrs. Clinton has ignored it, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama. The idea that they're attacking us because of our culture is insane. We are now waging a war against them culturally. We're trying to impose democracy, women's rights, parliamentary systems on a people who don't want it. They're going to fight that." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Scheuer: The Idea That They’re Attacking Us Because Of Our Freedom Is Insane

Bloomberg News Writes About Americans ‘Paying Up’ Wherever They Reside…

"Why not renounce you say? Because, I never had a clue until now (at age 50) that USA even considered me a taxpayer. Why would I? It makes no sense to tax people who DO NOT LIVE in USA, never worked there, never earned income there, and never plan to live there. No other country does this. Since all the publicity surrounding FATCA, I discover I am in big trouble for not filing all these years, even though I have always paid taxes to the Canadian government. USA will not let me renounce unless I can prove 5 years of US tax compliance which requires paying 10′s of thousands in lawyers and accounting fees and risking PENALTIES for previous non-filing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBloomberg News Writes About Americans ‘Paying Up’ Wherever They Reside…

Privatization Is the Best Response to FAA Deliberately Inconveniencing Air Passengers

"The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won’t arrive on time. ... To run smoothly and efficiently, our ATC system should be given independence from the government. We should privatize the system, as Canada has done very successfully. Unlike the U.S. system, Nav Canada is self-supporting and not subsidized." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivatization Is the Best Response to FAA Deliberately Inconveniencing Air Passengers

Egypt holds Swiss teacher over ‘terrorist name’

"A Swiss primary school teacher from the canton of Bern who went to Egypt for a holiday is being held there on suspicion of being a terrorist because of his name. Rolf Künti, 29, went to the North African country with a colleague for a one-week holiday. But on the day of his planned return to Switzerland he was detained on Monday at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport where he was told by customs he was banned from leaving, according to Swiss media. 'They told me that my name was that of a terrorist if you translate it into Arabic,' Künti is quoted as saying by 20 Minuten, the online news site." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt holds Swiss teacher over ‘terrorist name’

Sen. Rubio ‘open’ to cutting off all Muslim student visas

"Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday said that he was 'open' to considering the idea of halting all student visas from Muslim countries as a reaction to this month’s Boston Marathon bombings, even though the two men suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings emigrated from Russia as refugees. 'We need to be open to changes that provide more security,' Rubio replied. 'I don’t like profiling anybody or singling or generally leading, on the other hand student visas are something this country does because it’s in our national interest but you don’t have a right to a student visa.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSen. Rubio ‘open’ to cutting off all Muslim student visas

After U.S. Troops Leave, Armed Drones Will Patrol Afghanistan’s Skies

"One of the major elements of Afghanistan’s air war will remain after most U.S. troops have headed home, the U.S. military command confirmed today. Armed drones, operated by the U.S., will remain over Afghanistan after 2014. Western Pakistan, the epicenter of the U.S. drone war from 2009 to 2011, experienced a surge in U.S. drone strikes at the beginning of this year. Those drones are under the control of the CIA, and U.S. military officials believe that’s likely to remain the case even if the Obama administration takes away many of the CIA’s drone operations, since there is no declared U.S. war in Pakistan. Those drones are flown from Afghanistan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfter U.S. Troops Leave, Armed Drones Will Patrol Afghanistan’s Skies

The Trusting Soul Who Tipped Off the Boston Invaders

"A man in Watertown, Massachusetts noticed something odd. It seemed as though his backyard boat had been disturbed. He tipped off the government. The various governments, which had locked down Boston in a vain attempt to find a missing teenager, sent troops into his back yard. They shot up his boat. Let’s understand causation. The authorities locked down the city. They put the locals in Watertown under house arrest. They invaded their homes. They found nothing. It took a tip from a citizen for the armed troops to locate the kid. What did the informant get for his trouble? A destroyed boat." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Trusting Soul Who Tipped Off the Boston Invaders

‘I Am a Watertown Resident…’

"I am saddened that no one realizes that what happened on Marathon Monday happens every day in the countries that the US currently occupies and that what descended upon Watertown on Friday is experienced by families abroad at the hands of US forces every single day. I am disgusted by the willingness of those around me to be spoon fed fear and then to truly believe that the only people that can protect and save them is the military force that came out in droves and forced people under house arrest. It is happening before my eyes. Liberty was born here, and this week, Liberty has officially died." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘I Am a Watertown Resident…’

Yemeni activist condemns ‘terror’ of drone strikes in emotional speech to senators

"'In the past, what Wessab villagers knew of the U.S. was based on my stories about my wonderful experiences here. The friendships and values I experienced and described to the villagers helped them understand the America that I know and that I love. Now, however, when they think of America they think of the terror they feel from the drones that hover over their heads ready to fire missiles at any time.' Al-Muslimi described drone strikes as the 'face of America' in Yemen and warned they were creating anti-American sentiment. He gruesomely described how civilians were often killed by drone strikes on small villages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYemeni activist condemns ‘terror’ of drone strikes in emotional speech to senators

Chechnya: “We Will Make You Feel What We Feel”

"When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechen demanded independence like the Soviet republics. Instead, Boris Yeltsin’s government invaded Chechnya, killing some 100,000 Chechen civilians through massive carpet bombing and shelling. FSB chief Vladimir Putin was catapulted into power by anti-Chechen hysteria caused by mysterious bombings in 1999. Powerful Russian forces invaded and crushed the life out of Chechen resistance. All moderate Chechen leaders were assassinated, the last in Qatar in 2004, leaving mostly militant Islamists." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChechnya: “We Will Make You Feel What We Feel”