All Discussions Tagged 'of' - The 4 Freedoms Library2024-03-29T09:50:52Zhttp://4freedoms.com/group/us/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=of&feed=yes&xn_auth=noSabotage and failure of US military assetstag:4freedoms.com,2022-08-23:3766518:Topic:2758242022-08-23T23:00:27.696ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>There are more and more cases of deliberate sabotage of US military assets by serving members. There is also serious destruction by carelessness. This forum is for capturing those cases (it's not directly related to the mission of 4freedoms.com, but it is a notable symptom of the decline of the US).</p>
<p>There is also failure of assets and massive financial loss, due to poor decision making at the highest levels. One wonders if these poor decisions are a result of culling all military that…</p>
<p>There are more and more cases of deliberate sabotage of US military assets by serving members. There is also serious destruction by carelessness. This forum is for capturing those cases (it's not directly related to the mission of 4freedoms.com, but it is a notable symptom of the decline of the US).</p>
<p>There is also failure of assets and massive financial loss, due to poor decision making at the highest levels. One wonders if these poor decisions are a result of culling all military that aren't 'woke' enough:</p>
<p><a href="http://4freedoms.com/group/us/forum/topics/us-military-officers-fired-by-the-obama-administration">http://4freedoms.com/group/us/forum/topics/us-military-officers-fired-by-the-obama-administration</a></p> The Breakdown of Law, and Equality Before the Law, in the UStag:4freedoms.com,2022-02-22:3766518:Topic:2751502022-02-22T18:06:46.252ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>There are way too many examples of breakdown of law to post, so I'm just creating this forum as a general purpose holder for examples which highlight this trend.</p>
<p>There are way too many examples of breakdown of law to post, so I'm just creating this forum as a general purpose holder for examples which highlight this trend.</p> The DC riot and the execution of Ashli Babbitttag:4freedoms.com,2021-01-15:3766518:Topic:2506222021-01-15T22:56:51.731ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<div><div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0"><h1 class="css-rsa88z e1h9rw200" id="link-3658a626">Woman Killed in Capitol Embraced Trump and QAnon</h1>
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<p class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0" id="article-summary">After 14 years in the military, Ashli Babbitt bought a pool supply company and delved into far-right politics.</p>
<div class="css-18e8msd"><div class="css-vp77d3 epjyd6m0"><div class="css-1baulvz"><p class="css-4z5zii e1jsehar1"><span class="byline-prefix">By<span> …</span></span></p>
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<div><div class="css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0"><h1 id="link-3658a626" class="css-rsa88z e1h9rw200">Woman Killed in Capitol Embraced Trump and QAnon</h1>
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<p id="article-summary" class="css-w6ymp8 e1wiw3jv0">After 14 years in the military, Ashli Babbitt bought a pool supply company and delved into far-right politics.</p>
<div class="css-18e8msd"><div class="css-vp77d3 epjyd6m0"><div class="css-1baulvz"><p class="css-4z5zii e1jsehar1"><span class="byline-prefix">By<span> </span></span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/ellen-barry" class="css-brehiz e1jsehar0"><span class="css-1baulvz">Ellen Barry</span></a>,<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/nicholas-bogel-burroughs" class="css-brehiz e1jsehar0"><span class="css-1baulvz">Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs</span></a><span> </span>and<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/dave-philipps" class="css-brehiz e1jsehar0"><span class="css-1baulvz last-byline">Dave Philipps</span></a></p>
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<li class="css-ccw2r3 epjyd6m1"><span class="css-1sbuyqj e16638kd3">Published<span> </span>Jan. 7, 2021</span><span class="css-233int e16638kd4">Updated<span> </span>Jan. 11, 2021</span></li>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ashli Babbitt had been preparing for this day, the day when world events would turn her way. When a discouraged friend on Twitter asked last week, “When do we start winning?” Ms. Babbitt had an answer: “Jan 6, 2021.”</p>
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<div class="css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15"><div class="css-zgakxe erfvjey0">Her name will now be connected to that date, and to shaky footage showing a crowd of rioters smashing glass on the door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby of the <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/capitol-police-howard-liebengood-dies.html" title="">Capitol</a>.</div>
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<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">At the front of that crowd is the small figure of Ms. Babbitt, wearing snow boots, jeans, and a Trump flag wrapped around her neck like a cape.</p>
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<div id="story-ad-1-wrapper" class="css-1r07izm"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/who-was-ashli-babbitt.html#after-story-ad-1"></a><div class="ad story-ad-1-wrapper" id="story-ad-1"></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“Go! Go!” she shouts, and then two men hoist her up to the rim of a broken window. As she sticks her head through the frame, a<span> </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/capitol-police-howard-liebengood-dies.html" title="">Capitol Police</a><span> </span>officer in plain clothes fires a shot, and she falls back into the crowd. Blood starts pouring from her mouth.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">A day after Ms. Babbitt’s death, as<span> </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/01/07/ashli-babbitt-final-video-marching-us-capitol-before-fatally-shot/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">part of a mob storming the Capitol</a><span> </span>amid counting of Electoral College votes, a portrait of her is taking shape.</p>
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<div class="related-links-block css-ywcsxu epkadsg3"><div class="css-13ft82o epkadsg0">THE RIOTERS</div>
<div class="css-1ejo39z epkadsg1"><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/names-of-rioters-capitol.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage&action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article" title="">The mob that rampaged the halls of Congress</a><span> </span>included infamous white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.</div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Babbitt had left the Air Force after two wars and 14 years, settling near the working-class San Diego suburb where she was raised. Life after the military was not easy. After briefly working security at a nuclear power plant, she was struggling to keep a pool-supply company afloat.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">As a civilian, she found herself newly free to express her political views. Her social media feed was a torrent of messages celebrating President Trump; QAnon conspiracy theories; and tirades against immigration, drugs and Democratic leaders in California.</p>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“You guys refuse, refuse to choose America over your stupid political party, I am so tired of it,” she said in<span> </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://nypost.com/2021/01/07/ashli-babbitt-shot-dead-in-us-capitol-posted-tirades-against-politicians/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a video message posted on Twitter,</a><span> </span>addressing California politicians. “You can consider yourself put on notice. Me and the American people. I am so tired of it, I am woke, man, this is absolutely unbelievable.”</p>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">A mob stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday. Ms. Babbitt died after being shot by a Capitol Police officer while inside, officials said.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Win Mcnamee/Getty Images</span></span></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The people close to Ms. Babbitt have all responded with shock. Her husband, Aaron Babbitt, 39,<span> </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/san-diego-man-says-woman-killed-in-capitol-siege-was-his-wife/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told a Fox affiliate in San Diego</a><span> </span>that he had sent his wife a message about 30 minutes before the shooting, and she never responded.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Her brother, Roger Witthoeft, 32, said Ms. Babbitt had not told her family that she was planning to go to Washington. But he was not surprised that she would protest.</p>
<div class="css-1q1hscp"><div class="css-1xk4eoy"><div id="LL">“My sister was 35 and served 14 years — to me that’s the majority of your conscious adult life,” said Mr. Witthoeft, of Lakeside, Calif. “If you feel like you gave the majority of your life to your country and you’re not being listened to, that is a hard pill to swallow. That’s why she was upset.”</div>
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<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Babbitt, who had four younger brothers, was raised in a mostly apolitical household, Mr. Witthoeft said. Their father worked in commercial flooring and their mother in a school program. Ms. Babbitt enlisted in the Air Force after finishing high school.</p>
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<div class="related-links-block css-pmf53q epkadsg3"><div class="css-1pwaef6 epkadsg2"><div class="css-144xwsw e16ij5yr7"><div class="css-1l19kgc e16ij5yr5"><div class="css-1j8dw05 e16ij5yr3">Capitol Police Officer Dies From Injuries in Pro-Trump Rampage</div>
<div class="css-x7rtpa e16638kd1">Jan. 8, 2021</div>
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<div class="css-oc28eq e16ij5yr0"><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/08/world/08capitol-police-1/merlin_182105067_f5454ea6-ecb2-4a15-a532-5907a787e339-threeByTwoSmallAt2X.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/08/world/08capitol-police-1/merlin_182105067_f5454ea6-ecb2-4a15-a532-5907a787e339-threeByTwoSmallAt2X.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-left"/></a></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">While on active duty from 2004 to 2008, she met and married her first husband, Timothy McEntee. She worked as an enlisted security forces controller, a job whose duties include guarding gates at Air Force bases, and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">She then served in the Air Force Reserves and the Air National Guard. In the Guard, she was assigned to a unit based near Washington that is known as the “Capital Guardians,” because one of their primary missions is defending the city. Security forces in the squadron regularly train with riot shields and clubs for what the Air Force calls “civil disturbance missions.” She was deployed twice more, to the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and 2014, according to an Air Force spokeswoman.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Babbitt left the military as a relatively low-ranking senior airman in 2016, several years before she would have become eligible for a pension and other benefits.</p>
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<div class="css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><div class="css-8h527k"><span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">Ms. Babbitt, in the second row, fourth from left, with other airmen of the 113th Wing, D.C. Air National Guard, after returning from a deployment in 2014.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span>113th Wing, D.C. Air National Guard, via Facebook</span></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">By then, she had found another source of income, working in security at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant in Maryland. She was employed there from 2015 to 2017, according to a representative for Exelon, the energy company that runs the plant.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">It was there that she met Mr. Babbitt, who had been employed at the facility since 2007 and left in 2017, the representative said. The two moved back to her native California. She filed for divorce from Mr. McEntee in 2018.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">The transition was not entirely smooth. In 2016, Mr. Babbitt’s former girlfriend applied to a court for a protection order, telling the court that Ms. Babbitt, then known as Ashli McEntee, had approached her on a roadway and had rear-ended her car three times.</p>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“She was screaming at me and verbally threatening,” the complaint says. The court granted a protection order. The following year, the former girlfriend again applied for a protection order, which the court granted.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Shortly after that, Ms. Babbitt relocated to California, where she helped purchase Fowlers Pool Service and Supply, a company where her brother, Mr. Witthoeft, said he had worked.</p>
<div id="NYT_MAIN_CONTENT_3_REGION" class="css-9tf9ac"><div><div class="css-17ih8de interactive-body"><div id="prism-freeform-block-18273" class="css-1cs27wo"><div class="css-k9atqk"><h3 class="css-c7gg1r">Capitol Riot Fallout</h3>
<h4 class="css-yoay6m">From Riot to Impeachment</h4>
<p class="css-rqynmc">The<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/capitol-rioters.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6,</a> followed a rally at which President Trump made<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/trump-speech-riot.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">an inflammatory speech</a> to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here’s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:</p>
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<li class="css-rqynmc">As<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/capitol-siege-security.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">this video shows</a>, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President Trump set the stage for the riot.</li>
<li class="css-rqynmc">A<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/12/us/capitol-mob-timeline.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">two hour period</a> was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.</li>
<li class="css-rqynmc">Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao,<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-resignations.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">announced that they were stepping down</a> as a result of the riot.</li>
<li class="css-rqynmc">Federal prosecutors<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/12/us/capitol-riot-trump/as-they-weigh-sedition-and-conspiracy-charges-prosecutors-expect-to-arrest-hundreds-tied-to-capitol-riot?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">have charged more than 70 people</a>, including some who<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/capitol-arrests.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform">appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot</a>. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.</li>
<li class="css-rqynmc">The House<span> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-second-impeachment-vote.html?action=click&action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-capitol-mob-inline&region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&context=styln-freeform&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage">voted to impeach the president</a> on charges of “inciting an insurrection” that led to the rampage by his supporters.</li>
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<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“We all worked together as a family — my other little brother, me, her husband, me, my uncle,” Mr. Witthoeft said. “It was kind of nice, a family affair.”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Babbitt appeared to struggle in business. In 2017 she took out a costly short-term business loan. In effect, it meant her pool business would have to pay an interest rate that she later calculated in court filings to be 169 percent.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Within days of signing the loan agreement, she stopped making payments, only repaying about $3,400 of the $65,000 borrowed from the lender, EBF Partners, records show. The lender soon sued her.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Ms. Babbitt’s politics were emphatically pro-Trump. On the door of the pool-supply company, a poster declares it to be a “mask free autonomous zone, better known as America,” where “we shake hands like men, fist bump like homies.”</p>
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<div class="css-79elbk"><div class="css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><div class="css-8h527k"><div><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/07/us/07capitol-victim5/merlin_182095326_63c163bd-a578-409f-a0ce-1b5e2158e308-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/07/us/07capitol-victim5/merlin_182095326_63c163bd-a578-409f-a0ce-1b5e2158e308-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&profile=RESIZE_710x" width="400" class="align-left"/></a></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">The door to Ms. Babbitt’s pool supply company.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Gregory Bull/Associated Press</span></span></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Leaving the military had freed her to participate in politics, something she savored, her brother said.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“That was one of her things — for the first time in her life, she could actually say what she wanted to say, and didn’t have to bottle it up,” he said. She was frustrated, he said, with the number of homeless people in San Diego, and the difficulty of running a small business.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“My sister was a normal Californian,” he said. “The issues she was mad about were the things all of us are mad about.”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Her social media accounts suggest that she also, increasingly, embraced the conspiratorial thinking of QAnon, which has asserted that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by an elite Satan-worshiping cabal, and that it was up to ordinary people to reinstate Mr. Trump.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">She retweeted a post that promised a violent uprising that would lead to Mr. Trump’s second inauguration.</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“Nothing will stop us,” she wrote on Twitter the day before her death. “They can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours …. dark to light!”</p>
<p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">Her brother said she was passionate about Mr. Trump’s cause, and believed she was standing up for the American people.</p>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0">“I know it mattered to her a lot at the end of her life,” he said. “It mattered so much that she died for it.”</p>
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<div class="css-79elbk"><div class="css-1a48zt4 ehw59r15"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0"><div class="css-8h527k"><div><img alt="A mourner at a memorial for Ms. Babbitt near the Capitol on Thursday." class="css-1m50asq" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/07/us/07capitol-victim6-sub/07capitol-victim6-sub-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale"/></div>
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<span class="css-16f3y1r e13ogyst0">A mourner at a memorial for Ms. Babbitt near the Capitol on Thursday.</span><span class="css-cnj6d5 e1z0qqy90"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0">Credit...</span><span>Todd Heisler/The New York Times</span></span></div>
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<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-pncxxs etfikam0">Candice Reed contributed reporting.<span> </span>Susan C. Beachy<span> </span>and<span> </span>Jack Begg<span> </span>contributed research.</p>
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</div> Hollywood: Propaganda, Conceit and Declinetag:4freedoms.com,2019-03-05:3766518:Topic:2010842019-03-05T19:59:29.268ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>I wonder how long it is before Hollywood is no longer at the apex of the film industry, generating wealthy film stars and producers who are gifted with luxurious mansions in Bel Aire.</p>
<p>Of course there is Netflix and Bollywood and other businesses eating away at their core business model, but I'm not focussing on that here.</p>
<p>What I am thinking about is the disconnect between their moral preening and virtue signalling, and the people they are preaching to and supposedly…</p>
<p>I wonder how long it is before Hollywood is no longer at the apex of the film industry, generating wealthy film stars and producers who are gifted with luxurious mansions in Bel Aire.</p>
<p>Of course there is Netflix and Bollywood and other businesses eating away at their core business model, but I'm not focussing on that here.</p>
<p>What I am thinking about is the disconnect between their moral preening and virtue signalling, and the people they are preaching to and supposedly representing. </p>
<p>For a start, there are a lot of people like me now who can't stand most Hollywood movies because I don't want to have some self-elected moral emperor telling me what is good and what is evil. </p>
<p>But also I recently watched (because it was a special offer) and because I'm a bit obsessed with submarines, Hunter Killer:<br/> <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1846589">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1846589</a></p>
<p>It has all the standard tropes in it. The woman who is smarter than all the guys who just don't get it. The black guy who knows how to be cool while the white guy wets his pants. </p>
<p>But its also surprisingly out of kilter with submarine life, naval life and military life. Like, they built a new set for this, so why did they make the ceiling ridiculously high? They try load a massive torpedo into a tube by hand, and fail, almost crushing someone. Really? This isn't 1945 and Das Boot for heaven's sake. At one point the US captain is trying to convince the Russian captain so he appeals to things they have in common like a love of freedom and basic human rights (LOL), and the loneliness and boredom they suffer under the seas for 3 months at a time. But for the latter point, thats not how I understand the life of a submarine captain.</p>
<p>Finally, to cap all this off, we have the Hollywood obsession with Special Forces, but I don't think the Special Forces are particularly enamoured with Hollywood anymore. For a start, I don't see how those tasked with the dangerous job of defending our borders, can get on well with a whole raft of people that want to dismantle our borders. </p>
<p>The latest contradiction concerns Don Shipley. He's a former leader of Seal Team 6, a real legend now, who now spends time exposing Stolen Valour by guys in the US boasting of a military record which is fake. He exposed the lying fake 'tribal elder' Nathan Philips, so in turn the Leftist media descended on him. I don't see how serving Special Forces members can see this and not instantly hate Facebook and the whole Leftist cabale that goes with it.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F5nB2d6MASY?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p> "Homeland", Islam and the Chasm of Madnesstag:4freedoms.com,2013-10-20:3766518:Topic:1402932013-10-20T10:07:19.649ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>I'm putting this in the US Room because its a line of thought that first came to me from the American 'Homeland' series - but its a topic that cuts across all categories.</p>
<p>In Homeland, three people are going mad. Obviously, Brody is mad, with his schizophrenic behaviour and strange relationships with his wife and Carrie. This is only natural after being held for years, tortured, and forced to kill his buddies by Abu Nazir. Carrie seemed to be forced to go mad due to the machinations…</p>
<p>I'm putting this in the US Room because its a line of thought that first came to me from the American 'Homeland' series - but its a topic that cuts across all categories.</p>
<p>In Homeland, three people are going mad. Obviously, Brody is mad, with his schizophrenic behaviour and strange relationships with his wife and Carrie. This is only natural after being held for years, tortured, and forced to kill his buddies by Abu Nazir. Carrie seemed to be forced to go mad due to the machinations and web of deceit woven by Brody. However in the latest series, her behaviour is so inexcusably erratic that I'm not inclined to excuse it any more. Brody's daughter went mad and tried to kill herself. After many sessions of psychotherapy she is now semi-normal, but in the last episode was perhaps toying with the idea of becoming a Muslim like her father.</p>
<p>The point is that, behind all this madness is Islam. Some people will say that Islam is mad, and that infects those that contact with it. That's a bigger topic and not one I'm going to consider right now. My thesis is a smaller one, that:</p>
<ul>
<li>The strain of trying to maintain non-judgement and non-discrimination of all ideologies (of which Islam is one), in a secular democracy, is sufficient to drive people mad</li>
</ul>
<p>It is extremely difficult to maintain the tolerance of the intolerant Islam, while it is going about its racist and supremacist business. The contradictions are palpable. And when you try constantly to maintain two contradictory ideas, you go mad. Of course, as the Greeks said, <em>"<span class="st">Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad</span>".</em></p>
<p>Once you think about this madness, you can recognise it in many places. An obvious example is the Dutch PVV leader who became a Muslim. Then there are Western secular women of the Left, who are staunch supporters of the ideology that says they are "deficient in intelligence" and worth half a man, and who support the Burqa while castigating Western husbands who don't help with the housework. this is not just mere irrationality, surely? Its obvious that their fear of Islam, combined with their cowardice, has lead them to seek the only way out: deny Western misogyny but accept Islamic misogyny. Then, in an attempt to cover up their deceit, they scream even louder at anyone who dares question this contradiction. Of course, there are shades here of the classic witch burning model of the middle ages, where the only way to escape was to denounce someone else as a witch. Here, the Leftist woman tries to escape her cowardice by denouncing all on the right as witches. But this surely is the beginnings of madness.</p>
<p>Some of our readers will also be familiar with the concept of the Chasm. The Chasm is the gap that opens up between Islam and the Kafir, as the dumb Kafir realise that their beloved 'moderate' Islam is but a chimaera, which, even if it does exist, will be destroyed, with its supporters, by the fundamentalists. This has happened for 1400 years, and is happening around the world now. </p>
<p>So, as the chasm opens up you have strict Muslims on the left cliff, and non-Muslims + Muslim appostates to the right of that. On the right cliff you have all those secularists who have accepted that this attempt to neutralise the violence of Islam by working with 'moderate' Muslims, will not work, and have accepted that the communities are divided and against each other, and always will be. But what do you have in the gap in the middle, between the two cliffs?</p>
<p>I believe that what you have in the middle are the mad people. They are, for example, the tolerant manic-liberal Swedes and Norwegians, letting their women and children get mass raped by a single and clearly identifiable section of the community, while they stand by and politely watch, as the civilians and police did as Lee Rigby was having his face mutilated with carving knives. Then they have long debates on TV about what they have done to make those Muslims so angry, and how can they appease them. They also boast to the world how they, the purest of the pure, are now going to accept even more Muslim refugees from the poor war-torn regions of the world. But they don't boast about how well the are protecting their own people, I notice.</p>
<p>If you try stand in the plain between the two cliffs ,preaching moderation and reconciliation while the divide gets deeper and the contradictions plainer, you can only go mad. As the chasm stretches wider and deeper, over the next 10 and 20 years, I believe we shall see a lot of madness.</p>
<p>Finally, for the Goebbels of the media morons, who will take this article to be an incitement to putative Breveiks to go on a killing spree, I would say, please look up and try understand the meaning of these three words: Explanation of action (in past), Prediction of action (in future), and Prescription of action.</p> The end of America - in a Dairy Queentag:4freedoms.com,2013-09-21:3766518:Topic:1392262013-09-21T16:42:10.503ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>Inspiring: Glenn talks to the 19-year-old Dairy Queen employee who stood up for a blind customer<br></br> <br></br> Thursday, Sep 19, 2013 at 8:24 PM +0100<br></br> <br></br> There is an inspiring story out of Minnesota today involving a 19-year-old Dairy Queen manager who proved there is goodness in this world.<br></br> <br></br> TheBlaze reports:<br></br> <br></br> A Minnesota Dairy Queen has been swarmed with dozens of phone calls, hundreds of comments and an influx of business after a story about their 19-year-old…</p>
<p>Inspiring: Glenn talks to the 19-year-old Dairy Queen employee who stood up for a blind customer<br/> <br/> Thursday, Sep 19, 2013 at 8:24 PM +0100<br/> <br/> There is an inspiring story out of Minnesota today involving a 19-year-old Dairy Queen manager who proved there is goodness in this world.<br/> <br/> TheBlaze reports:<br/> <br/> A Minnesota Dairy Queen has been swarmed with dozens of phone calls, hundreds of comments and an influx of business after a story about their 19-year-old manager’s courageous defense of a blind man went viral on Reddit.<br/> Joey Prusak, who has been working at the popular fast-food restaurant for nearly five years, told TheBlaze Wednesday he was “shocked” and “sickened” by what he saw happen to a blind man at the hands of an elderly lady.<br/> <br/> Prusak said that last Tuesday, one of his frequent guests, a man who is blind, walked into the local Dairy Queen. When the blind man took out his wallet to pay, a $20 bill slipped out of his pocket. An elderly woman behind the blind man then quickly snatched the bill off the floor and put it into her purse.<br/> <br/> Prusak took matters into his own hands.<br/> <br/> After confronting the woman, asking her to return the stolen money to the man, and having her refuse, Joey asked the woman to leave the establishment.<br/> <br/> “But now here comes the part of the story that’s quite amazing,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “The 19-year-old manager, according to one of the customers who was just sitting there watching all of this, did something that no one expected. This came from a letter from one of the customers who was standing in line: ‘To Dairy Queen. What your employee did I never expected. Your employee approached the blind man, and took out his wallet. And said, sir, on behalf of Dairy Queen, I’d like to give you the 20 dollars, that you happened to drop on the ground as you walked away from the counter. I was in shock by the generosity that your employee had. Taking his own money out of his own wallet to give the customer because some other lady decided to steal something that wasn’t hers.’ Joey said, ‘I felt it wasn’t right that he got ripped off by somebody like that lady. It wasn’t the right situation you know? I instantly got sick. And I felt sick to my stomach.’ This Dairy Queen is in a small town in Minnesota.”<br/> <br/> “People are starving for people just to be good,” Glenn continued. “Dozens of people now have gone to the Dairy Queen, in fact, the Dairy Queen in this location, has doubled its business in the last week.”<br/> <br/> Advertisement<br/> <br/> After sharing the story and going to a commercial break, Glenn came back on air and said Joey was on the line, ready to share his experience.<br/> <br/> <br/> <br/> “I’m just so glad to talk to you and we were just talking about you here just a few minutes ago about how you are remarkable on,” Glenn said to Joey. “And it’s sad that you’re remarkable. But true.”<br/> <br/> “I agree with you on that,” Joey responded. “I didn’t expect any of this to come from something that was so little in reality.”<br/> <br/> Joey went on to explain how exactly the incident transpired, and Glenn, so impressed with the way Joey handled the situation, made a bold prediction.<br/> <br/> “Well, I will tell you, you know, in time, you could be running all of Dairy Queen or whatever else it is that you would want to do,” Glenn said. “Right now, one of our problems in our country… is the lack of honesty. What do you want to? What is your plan for life?”<br/> <br/> “I want to own my own business, of some kind. I’ve always been interested in the business aspect of the Dairy Queen that I work at,” Joey explained. “And the owner really worked with me on teaching me the things of the business. He’s owned the store over 20 years. So he kind of knows what he’s doing. And I just thought, ‘I’d like to eventually own my own Dairy Queen or just a business of some kind.’”<br/> <br/> “I’m really impressed with you, Joey, and I would, I’d like to stay in touch with you. And find out what you’re dreams are and see if there’s anyway that we can help you with that because I think you are a remarkable young man,” Glenn said. “Do me a favor, don’t go to college.”<br/> <br/> “Good advice, Glenn,” Pat said sarcastically.<br/> <br/> Glenn clarified that he simply wants Joey to consider, given his business experience, the benefits of a self-education.<br/> <br/> “No, no, no, get a self-education. Do exactly what you’re doing now,” Glenn said. “You get a self education and you read everything you can, and you study everything you can, and you surround yourself with really smart people, and you go to work for smart people. But don’t rack up a lot of debt and listen to a bunch of pinheads trying to tell you exactly how life works because they haven’t been in real life for a long time.”<br/> <br/> “I can do that,” Joey said. “Thank you very much.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/09/19/inspiring-glenn-talks-to-the-19-year-old-dairy-queen-employee-who-stood-up-for-a-blind-customer/?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013-09-19_258768&utm_content=5466822&utm_term=_258768_258775">http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/09/19/inspiring-glenn-talks-to-the-19-year-old-dairy-queen-employee-who-stood-up-for-a-blind-customer/?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013-09-19_258768&utm_content=5466822&utm_term=_258768_258775</a></p> The Death of Detroit - Collected Articlestag:4freedoms.com,2013-07-31:3766518:Topic:1319602013-07-31T02:37:54.287ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>In line with the 4th of our 4 Freedoms - freedom of democracy from extinction due to debt - I am collecting here all the articles on the death of Detroit. To be sure there are worse cases, like the US $16T debt heading upto $20T in Obama's term probably, but the collapse of the US is some way off yet, and still debatable. The collapse of Detroit due to the failed policies of the socialists and neo-racist pressure groups is there for all to see. This example should always remain uppermost…</p>
<p>In line with the 4th of our 4 Freedoms - freedom of democracy from extinction due to debt - I am collecting here all the articles on the death of Detroit. To be sure there are worse cases, like the US $16T debt heading upto $20T in Obama's term probably, but the collapse of the US is some way off yet, and still debatable. The collapse of Detroit due to the failed policies of the socialists and neo-racist pressure groups is there for all to see. This example should always remain uppermost in our minds - tho I'm sure the media will do their best to make us forget it.</p>
<p> <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/y9sTiB6JAiQ?rel=0&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p> The evolution of Politics: How can the Republicans compete?tag:4freedoms.com,2013-02-27:3766518:Topic:1193382013-02-27T19:08:49.407ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<p>Not only do we have the Pork Barrelling gone wild with the US well on its way to a $20 trillion debt as the democrats continue to buy off voters with 'entitlements', but you also have a deadly charm offensive on the Hollywood and Social Media side.</p>
<p>Much though I like Victor Davis Hanson, I really don't think he can compete with shows like this, for getting the attention of the 'masses'. And note, this is not a purely 'fun' event - its purpose is to promote the fitness message 'lets…</p>
<p>Not only do we have the Pork Barrelling gone wild with the US well on its way to a $20 trillion debt as the democrats continue to buy off voters with 'entitlements', but you also have a deadly charm offensive on the Hollywood and Social Media side.</p>
<p>Much though I like Victor Davis Hanson, I really don't think he can compete with shows like this, for getting the attention of the 'masses'. And note, this is not a purely 'fun' event - its purpose is to promote the fitness message 'lets move' - but that surely resonates strongly with the political message of moveon.org.</p>
<p>[If the videos don't show, try pressing F5]</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hq-URl9F17Y?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p>Then how about this clever use of the media - who wouldn't warm to the Kid President? Isn't he cute? And who now wants to talk about the lawlessness that exists just 1 mile from the Whitehouse? If the Republican party is to make any headway at all, it has to accept the dumbing down of the political debate, level the playing field and start to fight the Democrats on their own terms.</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f1OHJUc2QTU?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p>Note that the video above is on the Whitehouse website, where its got 54,000 views. But the copy below on Kid President's website has got 1,834,000 views. That says it all.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWXAEutqoAQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWXAEutqoAQ</a></p> Benghazi: Destruction of US Embassy - collected articlestag:4freedoms.com,2012-10-26:3766518:Topic:1142532012-10-26T14:38:38.469ZDanny Jeffreyhttp://4freedoms.com/profile/DannyJeffrey
<p><span>Glenn Beck asked "Why" about so many things regarding Benghazi and the death of Ambassador Stevens. Here is why!</span><br></br> <a href="http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/10/benghazi-two-conflicting-agendasone.html" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/10/benghazi-two-conflicting-agendasone.html</a></p>
<p>Note from Admin:<br></br> Danny later made a compilation of all the latest info:…</p>
<p></p>
<p><span>Glenn Beck asked "Why" about so many things regarding Benghazi and the death of Ambassador Stevens. Here is why!</span><br/> <a href="http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/10/benghazi-two-conflicting-agendasone.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow">http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/10/benghazi-two-conflicting-agendasone.html</a></p>
<p>Note from Admin:<br/> Danny later made a compilation of all the latest info:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/11/the-benghazi-conspiracy-compilation.html#more">http://www.freedomrings1776.com/2012/11/the-benghazi-conspiracy-compilation.html#more</a></p>
<p></p> Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AJMA) tells Muslims not to work in law enforcement (2008)tag:4freedoms.com,2012-04-13:3766518:Topic:993272012-04-13T22:02:37.723ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<h1 class="asset-name entry-title" id="page-title"><font size="2">I suggest that all US counter jihadists now work to ensure that every member of the AJMA is barred from any position in the US local, state or national government. Clearly, if they do not support US law, they must not have any position in the US government.<br></br></font> <span style="font-size: small;">___________________________________________________________________________________…</span></h1>
<h1 id="page-title" class="asset-name entry-title"><font size="2">I suggest that all US counter jihadists now work to ensure that every member of the AJMA is barred from any position in the US local, state or national government. Clearly, if they do not support US law, they must not have any position in the US government.<br/></font> <span style="font-size: small;">___________________________________________________________________________________</span></h1>
<h1 class="asset-name entry-title"><span class="font-size-3">Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America tells Muslims not to work in law enforcement, warns against becoming "pleased with a legal system that does not come from Allah"</span></h1>
<div class="asset-content entry-content"><div class="asset-body"><p><a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/assembly-of-muslim-jurists-of-america-tells-muslims-not-to-work-in-law-enforcement-warns-against-bec.html">http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/04/assembly-of-muslim-jurists-of-america-tells-muslims-not-to-work-in-law-enforcement-warns-against-bec.html</a></p>
<p>This dates from 2008, but is nonetheless important, as it directly contradicts the government, law enforcement, and mainstream media dogma that all Muslims in America are completely loyal citizens with no intention to bring Sharia here by any means, and who fully and wholeheartedly cooperate with anti-terror efforts. And this is not a production of a Tiny Minority of Extremists. It's from the august and mainstream Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America.</p>
<p>Will the high-profile Muslim spokesmen in America explain, or make any comment at all? No, they will not, and our clueless and/or complicit mainstream media will not ask them to.</p>
<p>"Mainstream American Muslim Group Warns Muslims Against Working in Law Enforcement, Becoming 'Pleased with a Legal System That Does Not Come from Allah,'" from <a href="http://www.translatingjihad.com/2012/04/mainstream-american-muslim-group-warns.html" target="_blank">Translating Jihad</a>, April 12:</p>
<blockquote>The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) cautioned American Muslims in a 22-page Arabic-language paper in 2008 against working in law enforcement in countries which do not rule by Allah's dictates. One of their main concerns was that such work might cause Muslims to gain love and respect for secular laws:<blockquote>...there are many evils which result from working in law enforcement, the greatest of which is compelling people to obey rulings which do not come from Allah. It could also cause reverence and love for these rulings to enter the heart of the police officer, and perhaps spread to the hearts of his family members and other Muslims who see him at the mosque or even Muslims in general. They could lose conviction of governance by Allah, and become pleased with a legal system that does not come from Allah. (italics added)</blockquote>
<p>AMJA provided some allowances for Muslims to work in certain law enforcement professions, fearing that a lack of Muslim representation in this sector could bring negative effects for the Muslim community. They also reasoned that Muslims working as police officers might be able to use their positions to help the Muslim community, such as helping out with traffic near their mosques and protecting their mosques. <strong>Still, there was concern that some of these might be required to enforce laws contrary to the shari'a, such as "arrest[ing] a Muslim man whose wife said he 'raped' her."</strong></p>
<p>The AMJA paper specifically forbade Muslims from working for the FBI or in national security positions, due to their alleged arbitrary targeting of certain Muslims for "their political beliefs, charity work, or some of their convictions under the shari'a"--an apparent reference to counterterrorism investigations against Muslim suspects.</p>
<p>The paper also made clear that Muslims are to seek justice not in secular courts, but in Islamic courts which are compliant with their shari'a: "It is not permissible to pursue justice in the man-made (i.e. non-Islamic) judiciary, except where there is an absence of a shari'a-compliant substitute capable of restoring one's rights and working out one's grievances" (see my translation of another AMJA paper on working in the judiciary here).</p>
<p>Throughout the paper it is made clear that the duty of Muslims is not to uphold and respect the laws of the land in which they reside, but rather to do everything in their power to make the laws of Allah--the shari'a--supreme:</p>
<blockquote>[Muslims are] to seek through legal means which exist in the countries in which they reside to make it possible for themselves to seek legal recourse in their shar'ia, and (not only) for personal affairs.</blockquote>
<p>The duty to make Islam supreme comes above all, even preserving one's life:</p>
<blockquote>We must remember that preserving the religion comes before preserving one’s self, mind, wealth, honor, or offspring. [...] But if saving [the individual's] life destroys Islam, then saving Islam comes first, even if it means the individual is destroyed. This is the case with jihad against the infidels, and the killing of apostates, and so forth.</blockquote>
<p id="aeaoofnhgocdbnbeljkmbjdmhbcokfdb-mousedown">It is worth stressing once again that AMJA--whose stated purpose is to "clarify the rulings of the sharia which are relevant for those who live in America"--is a mainstream American Muslim organization. Their membership list contains a large number of highly-influential American imams and Muslim leaders, including Muhammad al-Majid of the Adam Center in Virginia; Hussein Hamed Hassan, director of the financial consultancy firm which advises Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and other large American banking institutions; Zulfiqar Ali Shah, former president of Islamic Circle of North America and current executive director of the Fiqh Council of North America; and the author of this paper, Dr. Hatem al-Haj, MD, PhD, a fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics, and founder and president of "Building Blocks of Islam."...</p>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<p>Full list of signatories and complete text <a href="http://www.translatingjihad.com/2012/04/mainstream-american-muslim-group-warns.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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