Sunday, September 30, 2018
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Vs Alabama Crimson Tide
We are in Week 5 of
college football and today the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns
travel to T-Town to play my beloved Crimson Tide.
ULL last played Bama on
October 6, 1990 on their home turf and lost.
Neither Billy Napier nor Nick Saban were the head coaches. These two schools have played each other 8
times beginning in 1941. The Tide has
won each time.
I’d be a fool if I said
ULL can’t beat Bama, after all, in 1996 the Cajuns knocked off the Texas A&M
Aggies 29-22. That was then, and this is
now.
Louisiana-Lafayette brings its No. 126
rushing defense in the nation to Tuscaloosa to play Saban Murderball. Coach Napier, who
worked at Alabama under Saban on two different occasions, will see his former
mentor dial it down rather than first downing the Cajuns to death.
Against the Bulldogs of Mississippi
State, the Cajuns were pummeled 56-10 with QB Nick Fitzgerald tossing the
pigskin for 243 yards. That tells me Tua
leaves the game early on and Jalen Hurts takes over the offense at the half.
ULL is being paid a guaranteed $1.25
million for this beatdown.
The Cajuns’ mascot “Cayenne” better keep
his head on a swivel lest he find his way into the pot of chili Bama will be
cookin’ up today.
Friday, September 28, 2018
To Spite President Trump
The Senate Judiciary
Committee was scheduled to vote at 1:30 PM to send Kavanaugh’s confirmation to
the floor for a Senate vote. The vote seemed all but inevitable after Senator Jeff
Flake announced his support this morning.
Flake’s office released a
statement announcing the Arizona lawmaker’s support for Kavanaugh. “After
hearing more than 30 hours of testimony from Judge Kavanaugh earlier this
month, I was prepared to support his nomination based on his view of the law
and his record as a judge. In fact, I commented at the time that had he been
nominated in another era, he would have likely received 90+ votes.”
It was widely reported Flake’s
“good friend” Sen. Christopher Coons (D-CT) was near tears upon learning Flake would
vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
.@JeffFlake is a YES on Kavanaugh.@SunlenSerfaty broke that news to Sen. Coons in the hallway as he walked into the hearing.— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) September 28, 2018
Coons said, “Oh f—k,” then choked up, “We each make choices for our own reason. I’m struggling, sorry.”
Moments before the
gavel was set to fall, Flake decided to make his support conditional. He would
vote to advance Kavanaugh out of Committee but would not vote for him on the
Senate floor unless the vote was delayed for not more than one week to allow
for further investigation by the FBI of the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
“I’ve been speaking to
a number of people on the other side,” Flake told the Committee. “I think it
would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to, but not more than, one week
in order to let the FBI do an investigation limited in time and scope to the
current allegations that are there. I
will vote to advance the bill to the floor with that understanding.”
He bent the knee ala
Game of Thrones. Nay, more like he
grabbed his ankles.
Now that Kavanaugh’s
nomination has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, it falls to Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to hammer out whether
or not to request an FBI background check be reopened.
McConnell would likely
only agree to such a maneuver if he thought the nomination likely to fail
without Flake’s vote. That would require securing “yes” votes from two of the
Senate’s three other undecided members: Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins
(R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
This charade will never
end. The FBI will investigate the subjects mentioned by Dr. Christine Blasey
Ford and when nothing is discovered, the Democrats will have recruited more “victims”
and demand more FBI investigations and on and on it will go. The FBI will
become the Left’s Gestapo. Count on it.
Dealing with the Left
is like dealing with the Devil—it gains you nothing and costs you everything.
That awkward moment when you realize the fate of the nation is suddenly resting on your shoulders, but then you remember you’re Jeff Flake. pic.twitter.com/jf3VJv2obj— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) September 28, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
A Psycho Bird In The Hand...
THE GRINNING LOON: A species that is thriving in today's lush liberal political environment, the Grinning Loon most likely will be found in colleges, universities, the media and in particular. they may flock/migrate to the Halls of Congress.
The Grinning Loon is well known by it's peculiar cries, "He raped me!" and "I don't remember!" and "I was drunk!" that are frequently heard late in the Senate Confirmation mating season.
The Grinning Loon finds nurture and support from other species such as:
The Sagging Soros Vulture
Female Parody Genitalia Parrots
Nesting Aborted Dodos
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Evidence: Kavanaugh Calendars Revealed
USA
Today published five pages of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s calendar from 1982
which were submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee by his lawyers.
It is filled with doodles, math equations, a list of chores,
sleepover dates, movie dates and a father-son dinner.
It is intended to prove Kavanaugh was not at a house where
his accuser claims he allegedly groped her.
There appears to be at
least one reference to Kavanaugh’s life-long friend Mark Judge in the calendar:
a July 1 calendar note that reads, "Go to Timmy's for Skis w/ Judge, Tom,
PJ, Bernie, Squi."
It's unclear what the
word "skis" refers to, though some have suggested it may be an
abbreviation of "brewskis," a slang term for beer.
You can be certain the
Democrats will seize on the amount and frequency of Kavanaugh’s hops
consumption. Bear in mind this was
before the advent of craft beers.
If someone asks me if I’ve
had too many I answer, “In dog beers, I’ve had only one.”
“Go to Grease II” is all I needed to see. Not qualified. https://t.co/mw3DvNq6TX— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) September 26, 2018
He saw Grease II in theaters. This shows terrible judgment on his part.— Andrew Rothstein (@ASRothstein) September 26, 2018
Kavanaugh doesn't write "sleep," which proves he's an insomniac vampire. pic.twitter.com/GH4VfdQjc4— Razor (@hale_razor) September 26, 2018
The Transformation Of Jimmy Kimmel Is Complete
Before he was hosting his late-night show on a channel owned
by Disney, he hosted a show where he humped women on camera, made fun of their
weight, drooled over “Girls Jumping On Trampolines” and declared Oprah Winfrey had
to do “a little more sock washing.”
One running gag on his Comedy Central “The Man Show” involved
Kimmel wearing blackface
to portray basketball great Karl Malone and used Ebonics to irreverently mock
him.
He’s unrecognizable in his
current form and that’s the way he wants it.
The hard-left puppet with
little empathy for those who lean to the right, suggested Monday night that
Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be publicly
castrated. That’s rich coming from a
guy who had young women groping his genitals on the street for his “show”.
The audience did not react the
way Kimmel had hoped. His dick joke went
limp. It was a step too far.
Threatening government officials
of the United States (federal judges included) is a felony under federal
law according to 18 U.S.C. § 871 and is punishable by up to 5 years of
imprisonment. Such threats are
investigated by the United States Secret Service.
I hope there’s a knock
on his door real soon.
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored
News. Doug Ross was kind enough to
link to this post and we are grateful to him.
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
The Right To Be Heard
Judge Brett Kavanaugh
was on a glidepath to confirmation to the United States Supreme Court unless a
bombshell revelation derailed the vote on the Senate Floor.
Democrats, moving ever further
to the left with each passing day, have found it impossible to change the
direction of the country through legislation. The Supreme Court was their stronghold,
their refuge, their last gasp and losing control of it has them in a breathless, hysterical
panic.
Six weeks ago, Senator
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) received a letter alleging sexual battery by Kavanaugh
from an accuser who wanted to remain anonymous.
DiFi sat on it. Her hope was to force
a delay in his confirmation.
Delay would mean the
confirmation vote could be put off until after the midterm election and a few
jeopardized Democratic senators in states Trump won handily would not have to
go on record as voting “no” on Kavanaugh.
The long-time Democrat
will now be remembered for one of the lowest, dirtiest tricks in modern
political history. Her actions now have
half the country believing Kavanaugh is guilty of a crime committed 36 years
ago at the tender age of 17.
We are no longer living
in America.
Dr. Christine Blasey
Ford is a clinical psychology
professor at Palo Alto University who has given donations to political causes
such as ActBlue, a non-profit that helps Democrat and Progressive candidates. She also signed on to a Physicians for Human
Rights letter in June “decrying the practice of separating children from their
parents at the border” and urging the Trump Administration to halt the
practice.
She scrubbed all her
social media accounts and public profiles before
she decided to go public.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, has donated money to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and Friends Of Bernie Sanders. pic.twitter.com/VDvolMqQrj— Ryan Saavedra đŸ‡ºđŸ‡¸ (@RealSaavedra) September 16, 2018
Are we supposed to ignore the fact that Judge Kavanaugh's accuser, Registered Democrat and Democrat activist, Christine Blasey Ford, scrubbed her Facebook and Twitter pages of her activism prior to accusing Judge Kavanaugh? I know @CNN will ignore it but are we supposed to?— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) September 17, 2018
The second accuser,
Deborah Ramirez, studied sociology and
psychology at Yale. She is a board
member and volunteer at Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence and a registered
Democrat.
The NY Times article on Ramirez has been almost completely re-written after being published originally. No editors notes. Nothing. https://t.co/Xe0kJ4lrQ6— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 25, 2018
One of the nation’s
leading experts on memory, Professor Elizabeth Loftus, has been an expert
witness or consultant in hundreds of cases including the McMartin
preschool molestation case, the trial of Oliver
North, the trial of the officers accused in the Rodney
King beating and litigation involving Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart,
Scooter Libby and the Duke
University Lacrosse team.
Loftus doesn't study
when people forget. She studies the opposite: when they remember things that didn't
happen or remember things that were different from the way they
really were. She studies false memories.
From her TedTalk in 2013, Loftus
said, “Most people cherish their memories, know that they represent their
identity, who they are, where they came from. And I appreciate that.
I feel that way too. But I know from my work how much fiction is
already in there. If I've learned anything from these decades of
working on these problems, it's this: just because somebody tells you
something and they say it with confidence, just because they say it
with lots of detail, just because they express emotion when they say
it, it doesn't mean that it really happened. We can't reliably
distinguish true memories from false memories.
We need independent corroboration.
Such a discovery has made me more tolerant of the everyday memory
mistakes that my friends and family members make.”
Disclosure of Dr. Ford’s
mental health history and release of her psychiatric and other mental health
records is an essential component of the evaluation of her claims.
In her letter to
Feinstein, Ford wrote, “I have received medical treatment regarding
the assault.” The circumstances under which she initially remembered the
incident and how she became aware of its alleged impact on her are unclear. The
accuser appears not to have discussed the claimed incident until she revealed
it in a “couples therapy” session approximately 30 years after it purportedly occurred.
Was Ford’s recollection
a “repressed memory” uncovered during therapy? There is a sordid history
in America of false accusations and criminal convictions in sexual abuse cases
based on “implanted” memories in vulnerable individuals.
Dr. Ford provided
“portions” of her therapist’s notes and “notes from an individual therapy
session.” She described failing to recognize the impact of the supposed event
on her until long after it supposedly occurred. “Years later, after going
through psychotherapy, she came to understand the incident as a trauma with
lasting impact on her life. I think it derailed me substantially for four or
five years,” Ford said.
In addition, she
described struggling academically and socially and spoke of an inability to
have healthy relationships with men.
If Thursday’s testimony
were a civil lawsuit with Ford as the plaintiff, her mental health records
would be discoverable. The defendant would obtain access to them because they
would be necessary to mount an effective defense. To safeguard Judge
Kavanaugh’s rights, the Senate Judiciary Committee is obligated to explore
Ford’s psychiatric history. Given Ford’s assault on Judge Kavanaugh’s reputation
and the potential damage she has inflicted on his career, the Judiciary must
examine her mental health history and gain a full understanding of its
relationship to and implications for her accusation.
False accusations have
victims too.
UPDATE: This post was
updated to include the tweet referencing the actions of the New York Times’
completely re-written original story about Kavanaugh’s latest accuser without providing
any editor’s note about the edits and changes that were made.
Monday, September 24, 2018
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Texas A&M Vs Alabama Crimson Tide
Picture it.
Bryant-Denny Stadium in temperatures that will be Africa hot and 101,821 seats
filled with impassioned Bama fans and you’re the Aggies of Texas A&M going
against two All-American quarterbacks, seven All-American wide receivers and
sixteen future NFL defensive draft picks.
This is the Aggies
first road game this season.
Imagine the foolishness
of a 240-pound Otaro Alaka attempting to cover WR Jaylen Waddle in
the slot. If Coach Fisher and Defensive Coordinator Mike Elko do that who’s
going to cover wide receivers Henry Ruggs, Devonta Smith and Jerry
Jeudy?
A&M has the best
defensive athletes of any team Alabama has played to date, but if the “Hawaiian
Superman” is on his game, it just won’t matter.
Gary Danielson,
commentator for CBS Sports told Saturday
Down South, “One of the things they’ve got going for them heading
into this game is a belief they can play with the best. After facing Clemson
and doing what they did, they get on that airplane believing they have played
against the best and can compete against the best. They also bring a
quarterback who can throw the ball and a coach who believes in him and moves
the ball around.”
Is Kellon Mond a better
QB than Ole Miss’s Jordan Ta’amu?
Against Bama Ta’amu completed 7 of 22 passes for 133 yards. More than half his passing yards came in a
75-yard TD on the opening play before going 6 of 21 for the rest of the game
with two interceptions. The remainder of the game he scrambled for his life
against the “Alabama Wall”.
To Mond’s credit, he lit
up Clemson for 430 yards and three TDs with no interceptions last week, but the
knock against him is he isn’t the best at reading defenses. Bama’s rebuilt secondary with cornerbacks
Shyheim Carter and Saivion Smith can reach the end zone turning interceptions
into points.
"We practice
getting the ball out," Carter said. "During the game, our goal is to
get three or more turnovers a game."
"We’re just trying
to get turnovers, man," safety Xavier McKinney said. "That's kind of
our goal. One of our goals is to get turnovers. We try to make that a big
emphasis on trying to get the ball out of the ball carrier or trying to get an
interception. Anything that we can do to get points up on the board and get the
ball back for our offense, that's what we try to do."
It was McKinney who
snagged the ball and raced 30 yards to the end zone for the Tide’s final
touchdown against Ole Miss in their 62-7 ridiculously easy romp a week ago.
As far as Bama’s
special teams, it appears Coach Saban has finally found himself a reliable
place kicker in Joseph Bulovas. And,
yes, I’ll “quit askin’” about the Tide’s kicking game now.
If my beloved boys from
Tuscaloosa can rattle Mond’s cage early by forcing him to make unwise decisions
that generate a turnover or two, they’ll all but have the game in the bag.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
You Can't Make This Up
Back in 2016 when Trump first said that his campaign was being wiretapped by the government the media ridiculed him.
Now that EVERYONE knows this actually happened, they attack him for exposing the tactics, documents and public officials who did it. You can’t make this up.
The Washington Post remains true to form, breathlessly warning us about false claims that the President is about to make exposing high levels of government treason.
Right from the get go Trump's claim is labeled as "specious."President Trump repeated a specious claim Tuesday that the FBI spied on his campaign, and suggested that his decision to declassify documents from the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election would reveal misconduct by federal law enforcement.
Specious, an adjective: Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious: a specious argument. Deceptively attractive.How about true?
H/T Translation Goat
Monday, September 17, 2018
Flowing Curves Of Beauty: Better Late Than Never Edition
Due to circumstances waaaay beyond our control, our regular
feature is late due to high winds, heavy rainfall and felled trees from Hurricane
Tropical Storm Bitch Florence causing widespread power outages.
Casa de Curmudgeon lost power at 10:15 PM Saturday night
and was restored Monday at 2:08 PM. We’ve
taken a moment to close the windows, crank up the A/C, reset all the clocks and
breathe a big sigh of relief that the worst is over.
Thank you for your patience.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Friday, September 14, 2018
Alabama Crimson Tide VS Ole Miss Rebels
As I write this post I
am praying Florence, now downgraded to a tropical storm with wind gusts
expected to reach 54 mph and torrential rainfall up to 15 inches over the next
24 to 36 hours where I live, doesn’t knock out the power.
Duke Energy has warned
that anywhere from 1 million to 3 million of its customers could lose power
over the next few days, out of a total customer base of 4 million.
I’m Jonesing for a
football game where the Rebs of Ole Miss hope
to hit Bama with their pet shark. Not to
be too corny here, but they’re gonna need a bigger fin to pull off a win
against my beloved boys from Tuscaloosa.
Bob Lynch over at SB
Nation/Red Cup Rebellion notes, Sports Illustrated claimed Ole Miss could
be “one of the agents of chaos in college football” and could cause a
championship team like Alabama to “slip up.”
Lynch continued, “It’s
an interesting idea to entertain. But we all know what’s actually going to
happen. We know how this ends.”
In previous years the
Tide’s primary offensive weapon has been the running game. This season features
the best thing in Tuscaloosa since Dreamland Barbecue. Of course, I’m referring to the “Hawaiian
Superman” Tua Tagovailoa.
Reb Head Coach Matt
Luke said of Tua, “They ask him to do some RPO stuff where he has to make some
decisions. He’s got a really quick release. He has very good receivers to throw
it to. Then, his ability to extend plays. You watch their first touchdown
against Louisville. He extended the play and made a play with his feet. He
keeps drives going on third down by scrambling out of the pocket. His ability
to extend plays and obviously his decision-making has been good.”
Tua scored six
touchdowns while completing over 70 percent of his passes and posting the
second best QB rating in the country.
With the game well under control against Arkansas State last Saturday,
Coach Saban put in QB Jalen Hurts who went 7 for 9 for 93 yards and 2 TDs. With the score 57-7, third-string QB Mac
Jones entered the game to finish things up.
The Rebs rank 125th in
total defense after two games and have given up 557.5 yards of offense per game
and the pass defense is at No. 126 having given up 355 yards a game.
Ole Miss fans can lock up the Vaught for all
the good that’s going to do. They’ll be
crying in their beer. I can’t wait for
the ESPN cameras to pan the crowd for all those “surrender cobras” in the
stands.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
The Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™ and His Contribution to Our Booming Economy
On Monday, at the White House press briefing, there was a report on the nation's economy. (Video below) When questioned about the timing of the report, after the blustering bit of boasting last Friday by The Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™, claiming responsibility for our growing economy.
"Coincidence", they said. Well, if there is one thing Leroy Jethro Gibbs has taught us is that there are no coincidences! The report torpedoed, sent to the bottom and scattered the wreckage of any such claims. May I draw your attention to Exhibit A: Small business optimism.
Note the dotted blue line. Those are the trends of small business optimism under (forgive me for uttering the name) Barack Obama. See how dramatically they all jumped after the election. Technically, the Temp Agency President can claim the recovery started "during his administration", but it was primarily the last two months of his administration, after it was clear that the economic stranglehold B.O. represented was going away.
Next, note the trend in business investment. The dotted blue line is plummeting downward in each case, like a SCUD missile over Tel Aviv.
In each case it is a nearly 90 degree pivot upward. Like Michelle on a beeline to a taco. Note, too, that the projection was going to "zero" or negative numbers.
Next chart is "Capital goods orders", with the dotted blue line trending down like Colin Kaepernick jersey sales at the NYC policeman's ball.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Life Is Short And There Is No Time For Hate
Chris Stirewalt wrote
in his Haltime
Report, “Every first responder, air traveler and officer worker moves
through a world remade by 9/11. And every American old enough to remember─which
is now only about two thirds of us─responds to potential dangers differently
because of what the members of al-Qaeda managed to do that day."
“What we have rushed to forget, though, is the lesson we so badly wanted to learn in those raw, wrenching days after the attack as the spider web of grief spread across the country from New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.”
“What we have rushed to forget, though, is the lesson we so badly wanted to learn in those raw, wrenching days after the attack as the spider web of grief spread across the country from New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.”
“One of the most
treasured and often repeated sayings about 9/11 is the line from the widow of Jason
Dahl, the pilot of Flight 93, the doomed airliner that, perhaps thanks to the
courage of passengers and crew, crashed in a former Pennsylvania coal mine
rather than its intended target of the U.S. Capitol.”
“A year later, Sandy
Dahl returned to the scene as part of her mission to build a fitting
memorial for her husband and the 39 other Americans who died there. She
said, ‘If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is
short and there is no time for hate.’”
“Her comments resonated because Dahl expressed what was so much on the hearts of Americans. The attacks came during an era of viscous political infighting. We had a failed impeachment two years before. And just 10 months before the attack, a presidential election had remained unresolved for 41 agonizing days. Cynicism abounded.”
“We had been narrowly, bitterly divided. We had been hateful to each other. We had put party over country. But no longer, we said. Our new motto would be simple: United we stand.”
“And for a time, it seemed like it was working. But in truth, the most rotten practitioners of the dark arts of division were only waiting a decorous period of time before they resumed their incantations. It didn’t really matter who broke the truce, because once it was broken all sides swiftly resumed their work of scraping down what remained of our civic virtue for their own advantage.”
“Her comments resonated because Dahl expressed what was so much on the hearts of Americans. The attacks came during an era of viscous political infighting. We had a failed impeachment two years before. And just 10 months before the attack, a presidential election had remained unresolved for 41 agonizing days. Cynicism abounded.”
“We had been narrowly, bitterly divided. We had been hateful to each other. We had put party over country. But no longer, we said. Our new motto would be simple: United we stand.”
“And for a time, it seemed like it was working. But in truth, the most rotten practitioners of the dark arts of division were only waiting a decorous period of time before they resumed their incantations. It didn’t really matter who broke the truce, because once it was broken all sides swiftly resumed their work of scraping down what remained of our civic virtue for their own advantage.”
“We only wished we had
learned not to be cynical and hateful. Like Dahl, we wanted something of real
meaning for the country to come from something so painful. But we were only
wishing.”
The 9/11 commemorations
are by now familiar rituals, centered on reading the names of the dead. But
each year at Ground Zero, victims' relatives infuse the ceremony with personal
messages of remembrance, inspiration and concern.
Other relatives laid
bare the toll their losses had taken on their families. Thomas Langer said his
brother Timmy, “drank himself to death” over the grief of losing his wife
Vanessa and their unborn child on that horrific day.
“I witnessed my brother
endure the pain that no human being was ever meant to bear.”
Nicholas Haros Jr.,
whose mother died in the ill-fated World Trade Center 17 years ago, slammed
Democrats for politicizing the terrorist attack after he read off the names of victims
during a memorial service in Manhattan.
“This
year, a representative of the House referred to our loss as just another
incident,” Haros began, referring to House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, who called the tragedy the “9/11 incident” in June. “This year, a
network commentator said the president’s performance in Helsinki was a
traitorous act as was 9/11,” he said, recalling comments made by former
Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks on MSNBC. “And last week, a senator
attacked a Supreme Court nominee and called him a racist for alleged comments
after 9/11,” Haros concluded, referencing Senator Cory Booker’s false
accusation that Judge Brett Kavanaugh supported racial profiling after the
attacks.
“Stop. Stop,” Haros
pleaded. ”Please, stop using the bones and ashes of our loved ones as props in
your political theater.”
“Their lives,
sacrifices, and death are worth so much more. Let’s not trivialize them or us.
It hurts,” he said. “To my mom and to all of you and your loved ones: Never
forget.”
"Stop using the bones and ashes of our loved ones as props in your political theater. Their lives, sacrifices and death are worth so much more. Let's not trivialize them of us. It hurts." #September11th #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/sJqN8HyEhH— CSPAN (@cspan) September 11, 2018
This Is Why We Thank God Every Day Hillary Isn’t President
In June of 2018, the “State
of Palestine” submitted to the International Criminal Court a “so-called” state
referral to investigate “past, ongoing and future crimes with the court’s
jurisdiction, committed in all parts of the territory” defined as the West
Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.”
Three International Criminal
Court judges, PĂ©ter KovĂ¡cs, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Reine AdĂ©laĂ¯de
Sophie Alapini-Gansou have been going out of their way to cater to Palestine in
preparation of a trial, despite the fact Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has
not yet decided to open an investigation.
Alan Baker, Director of
the International Law Program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, adamantly
believes the court is openly turning itself into Israel-bashing engine similar
to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The attempts by Palestinian leadership
to subvert the ICC and turn it into its own backyard court for hounding
Israelis will, almost certainly, backfire.
Yesterday, speaking on
behalf of President Trump at the Federalist Society, National Security Advisor
John Bolton proclaimed, “The United States will always stand with our
friend and ally, Israel. And, today, reflecting Congressional concerns with
Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel, the State
Department will announce the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization
office here in Washington, DC.”
“The Trump
Administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to
take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel. The United
States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the
ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense,”
Bolton added.
In November of 2017, Bensouda
said she would seek permission to launch a formal investigation into the
situation in Afghanistan following a series of annual reports making clear
that the investigation would cover not just the Taliban and Afghan security
forces, but also U.S. military and intelligence officers.
Under federal statute,
cooperation with the ICC in prosecuting U.S. personnel is prohibited. On
the policy level, the current and past administrations have strenuously
objected to foreign courts or international tribunals exercising jurisdiction
over U.S. personnel, citing concerns about unfair treatment.
No U.S. administration
has supported becoming party to the ICC Rome Statute and the Bush
Administration was so concerned that the court would try to assert power over
U.S. personnel that it went to extraordinary lengths to guard against that
possibility. It sought immunity agreements from member States using
foreign assistance as leverage. It blocked U.N. peacekeeping resolutions
at the Security Council because they did not include ICC immunity clauses. It
even worked with Congress to enact a law–still on the books–authorizing the
United States to use military force to rescue U.S. persons from The Hague
should one ever be detained by the court.
Three successive US administrations
of both political parties have rejected the full jurisdiction of the
international court over American citizens, although U.S. cooperation with the court expanded
significantly under the Obama administration.
Bolton threatened to
sanction and prosecute ICC judges if the tribunal attempts to charge
US service members and intelligence agents with war crimes saying, “Today, on
the eve of September 11th, I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on
behalf of the President of the United States. The United States will use any
means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust
prosecution by this illegitimate court.”
“We will not cooperate
with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the
ICC.”
“We will let the ICC
die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already
dead to us.”
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored
News. We are honored that Doug Ross
has linked to this post.
Monday, September 10, 2018
After Hurricane Hugo, Florence Has Me Concerned
On September 22, 1989
Hurricane Hugo’s track took it through the central Appalachian Mountains and
into southeastern Canada. Where I live
the wind gusts reportedly reached 99 mph.
Nearly 700,000 residents
were without power, and it would be three weeks before the last repairs were
made. I was without power for eleven desolate days.
At 11:00 AM this
morning, the National Weather Service upgraded Florence to a Category 3
hurricane. Florence is expected to
strengthen as it moves toward North and South Carolina where it could unleash
its destructive fury as the most powerful storm to hit the area in 30 years.
The exact track of the
hurricane is not as important to focus on this early in the forecast. I know only too well that dangerous hazards
will extend well beyond the eye of the storm.
My best friend who lives in Myrtle Beach, SC phoned me last
night asking if she and her two doggos could come to my house to ride out the storm. She has headed out this morning to buy
sandbags and inexpensive shower curtains to tape around the window and door
frames to protect against the coming surge of floodwaters.
So,
blogging may be light to non-existent over the next few days as I prepare to hunker
down. I need to do all I can to make my guests feel comfortable. That means doing some housecleaning, buying
groceries and prepping the outside of my home for what looks to be the coming
deluge of water and forceful winds.
My thoughts and prayers
go out to all who are in the path of Hurricane Florence.
NEW: Florence is now a category 4 hurricane. Data from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter indicate that Florence has continued to rapidly strengthen and has maximum sustained winds near 130 mph (195 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 946 mb (27.93 inches) https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/wfLt6fJPl2— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 10, 2018
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