Pentagon Orders US Military Families to Evacuate Southern Turkey Due to ISIS Threat

JV squad. Contained. Not an existential threat.

The U.S. military has ordered military family members to evacuate southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik Air Base, due to security concerns, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Family members will also be evacuated from facilities in Izmir and Mugla, according to a Pentagon statement....
Protection Condition Delta for weeks, the highest level of force protection for U.S. military bases. Delta level means that either a terrorist attack has just taken place in the immediate vicinity or "intelligence has been received that terrorist action against a specific location or person is imminent," according to military guidelines.

The upside news is that we seem to have some intelligence about ISIS, though that almost certainly comes from the Turks, rather than our own services. (The Pentagon statement, which I haven't quoted, notes that this decision was made in consultation with, inter alia, the Turkish government.)

Posted by: Ace at 04:13 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Get out now!

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:15 PM (fizMZ)

2 I'm glad someone is taking this seriously.

Posted by: *Mikey NTH - You make Me Want to SHOUT! at the Outrage Outlet! at March 29, 2016 04:15 PM (hLRSq)

3
I'm shocked SCOAMF has not countermanded that order as it makes him look like an incompetent sitzpinkler.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:15 PM (p4UlV)

4 "...not an existential threat."

Gotta love Obama's timing.
Any time he claims we're safe - run for cover!!!!!

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:16 PM (NOIQH)

5 It's a very sad state of affairs this has been allowed to get this far. Blame leftists and Barak in particular

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (fizMZ)

6
An existential threat. What is that, the Jean-Paul Sartre doomsday device?

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (p4UlV)

7

Good, now that the old ball and chain is gone I can pick up some hotties, in the freezer section...

Posted by: Turkey Fucker at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (KId5h)

8 JJ doing any better yet?

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (fizMZ)

9 5 It's a very sad state of affairs this has been allowed to get this far. Blame leftists and Barak in particular
Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (fizMZ)

I blame the conditions that allowed he and his ilk to thrive. The root cause is academia over the past 40 odd years.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:18 PM (p4UlV)

10 They should've gone shopping instead. This is what ISIS wants.

Posted by: brak at March 29, 2016 04:18 PM (MJuTN)

11 8 JJ doing any better yet?
Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (fizMZ)

First day I feel 100%. Thanks, dude.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:18 PM (p4UlV)

12 There is no credible threat that ISIS will do That Thing in Turkey. Nor your mouth, even.

Posted by: Sporkatus at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (HtLSE)

13 ...are there any...ummmmm, golf courses, uh in Turkey?

Posted by: TEH WON at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (INxoa)

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (fizMZ)

15 "security concerns" Must me those Kurdish militants, the PKK. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Posted by: Hepcat at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (5b+Sr)

16 Not an existential threat.
--------------

"...the empire on which the sun never sets."

Posted by: Something they used to say about England at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (9mTYi)

17 So ISIS is planning attacks inside Turkey? That does not seem wise for either side. Might it be Turkey has decided to open up on ISIS cells in the area?

Posted by: IP at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (aQQbl)

18 So...is this move considered "just muscular enough not to be mocked?"

Or leading from behind?

Or not doing stupid sh#t?
(OK, it is not stupid to get our military families out of harm's way, so not that one)

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (NOIQH)

19
1945 - Atomic bombs.

2016 - shopping, hashtags and public service.

Miste we could use a man like the 8th Air Force again . . .

(and the 20th)

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (p4UlV)

20 Reminds me of that scene from "The Kingdom" where the security guard was the suicide bomber.

Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:20 PM (9iR5/)

21 How many U.S. families are in southern Turkey? Why just there?

Posted by: Beth M at March 29, 2016 04:20 PM (kiy9d)

22 10 They should've gone shopping instead. This is what ISIS wants.
Posted by: brak at March 29, 2016 04:18 PM (MJuTN)

I'm doing the tango as I type this!

Posted by: Hepcat at March 29, 2016 04:20 PM (5b+Sr)

23 If I stop playing golf, then ISIL will have succeeded.

Posted by: Barky McBlamer at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (9mTYi)

24

They havent done this since Desert Storm. Incirlik is a NATO base. Izmir is quite far from there and yet it too is being evacuated. There was a story earlier this week about planned attacks on Jewish schools in Turkey. Thye were blaming the plans for these attacks on an ISIS branch out of Gaziantep. Gaziantep is right on the border with Syria.

And not very far from Incirlik

either NATO is planning to get heavily involved or they think ISIS is going to attack a NATO base

ponder that

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (zOTsN)

25 Don't think this is from any specific intelligence source. Just common sense considering the geographical location and Erdogen's questionable actions (and inactions).

Throw Turkey's quibble with Russia into the mix.....it's time to get the wife and kids out.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (Fmupd)

26 I'm done with Obama--he never gets anything done. Is there anyone who can get all my jerseys back from ISIS? I'm tired of those guys wearing them.

Posted by: Kobe Bryant at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (3GAnN)

27 18 So...is this move considered "just muscular enough not to be mocked?"

Or leading from behind?

Or not doing stupid sh#t?
(OK, it is not stupid to get our military families out of harm's way, so not that one)

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:19 PM (NOIQH)

The administration that allowed Chris Stevens to be butchered. But that was because he knew too much about Fast and Furious, the Levant edition.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (p4UlV)

28 20 Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:20 PM (9iR5/)

The guys who helped the opfor in Benghazi dial in the compound Stevens was killed at....

yeah State Department Locally Hired Security Contractors....

"Smaht Powah...not like people say"

//The Fredo Doctrine

Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (g8Hfr)

29 Also there is a large Jewish community in Izmir, which may be why they are evacuating families out of there

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:22 PM (zOTsN)

30 27 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (p4UlV)

Wonder if Stevens ever grasped ValJar decided he was worth more dead than alive?

Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:22 PM (g8Hfr)

31 We are afraid of Turkeys??? But they are so delicious.....

Posted by: MrKnowItAll at March 29, 2016 04:22 PM (egzLR)

32 >>They should've gone shopping instead. This is what ISIS wants.

Funny you should mention that - this is a brutal takedown of that nonsense:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/z4fato9

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:22 PM (NOIQH)

33
Let's not forget about high horses and Crusades.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (45oDG)

34

they havent done this in over 20 years. I think they have specific intelligence

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (zOTsN)

35
Interesting. Turkey going to cooperate with something that they anticipate will generate push back and need for force protection in their own country?
Possibilities would be intriguing but hard to imagine Obama doing anything.
More likely is that the assessment after Pakistani bombingthat jihadi are now going to bomb kiddie parks/schools etc.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (JTwsP)

36 It would be a propaganda coup for ISIS to attack a NATO base, even if it failed miserably. They would be online in an instant crowing about how they took the fight to the Great Satan.

Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (9iR5/)

37 Upside is Hillary isn't in charge of anyone's security this time.

Posted by: Eric at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (C29yI)

38 They've been trying to get military families out of there for several months.

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (RIOu8)

39 The only thing that will stop ISIS? Stop the calls from "Cardholder Services", their main fund raising arm.

Posted by: Blanco Basura at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (YJmuy)

40 THAT'S UNPOSSIBLE!!! I read last week that Ash Carter said that after the Special Forces raid that blew up their "Number 2" that ISIS domain was shrinking due to Obama and Ash Carter's awesome terror fighting skills.

But someone once said, always be a little skeptical when the reports of "glorious victories" always seem to move closer and closer to your own capitol.

Posted by: kbdabear at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (n8iZZ)

41 30 27 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:21 PM (p4UlV)

Wonder if Stevens ever grasped ValJar decided he was worth more dead than alive?
Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:22 PM (g8Hfr)

Not to speak ill of the dead, but most if not all appointees are political allies of one stripe or another. At some point before his murder, he must have realized that he was in bed with raging incompetent assholes, and it got him killed before he could do anything about it.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (p4UlV)

42 Looks to me like they got specific intelligence that ISIS is going to try and attack a NATO base

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (zOTsN)

43 After having received and carefully evaluated intelligence, we have developed a new strategy which may be described as Operation Run Away!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:25 PM (Nwg0u)

44 37 Upside is Hillary isn't in charge of anyone's security this time.
Posted by: Eric at March 29, 2016 04:23 PM (C29yI)

Wait until next January. Yeah, I'm getting a very bad feeling.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:25 PM (p4UlV)

45 42. Concur. Seems unlikely Obama would become proactive now.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (JTwsP)

46 Why are military families permitted to live on a base 100 miles from the front of a hot war?

"Incirlik is strategically vital to the counter-ISIS campaign, as it's located about 100 miles from the Syrian border."

U.S. Air Force's 39th Air Base Wing. Where are EU-NATO's warplanes based at? Hah, just kidding!

Posted by: 13times at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (WHVu+)

47 44 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:25 PM (p4UlV)

One upside to 8 years of Hillary is there'll be plenty of ISIS here to raise hell....

Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (g8Hfr)

48 I have not yet begun to fight!

- Admiral John Paul Obozo

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (Nwg0u)

49 Is it ISIS are really an impending Russian attack on Turkey and a huge furball? ISIS has been around for a while and we have not evacuated.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (vvmPQ)

50 47 44 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:25 PM (p4UlV)

One upside to 8 years of Hillary is there'll be plenty of ISIS here to raise hell....
Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (g8Hfr)

This is not the example of "keep your enemies closer" that I would ascribe to.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:27 PM (p4UlV)

51 49 Is it ISIS are really an impending Russian attack on Turkey and a huge furball? ISIS has been around for a while and we have not evacuated.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2016 04:26 PM (vvmPQ)

We have not yet begun to evacuate! Oh, wait a second. . .

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (p4UlV)

52 This morning on "Outnumbered" even Julie Roginsky was claiming that the fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational. That from a died in the wool demo.

Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (9iR5/)

53 Upside is Hillary isn't in charge of anyone's security this time.
Posted by: Eric
-----------

So right!

James Taylor and I are now in charge.

Posted by: John Kerry at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (9mTYi)

54 This isnt about the Russians

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (zOTsN)

55 53 So right!

James Taylor and I are now in charge.
Posted by: John Kerry at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (9mTYi)

You've got a FIEND.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (p4UlV)

56 41 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:24 PM (p4UlV)

I'm certain he figured out they were idiots.

I am not certain he grasped the Persian Kitty Licker would decide.... "yeah Barky listen we can't have you having to go SEAL Team Six to save this guy when Joey Plugz was just bragging GM is alive and OBL is dead...besides he knows too much and will have to debrief Congress on return."

so yeah you're right Stevens "knew" hence Hillary! saying his asking to buy the British's abandoned barricades was "just Chris' wacky humor" but I don't think he understood how cheap his life really was.

Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:29 PM (g8Hfr)

57 I spent a great year in the army in Turkey. Wonderful assignment.
A pity.

And this really is serious. We're doing a NEO evacuation from a NATO country???!!! Wtf???

Posted by: Diogenes at March 29, 2016 04:29 PM (5phSm)

58 We have not yet begun to evacuate! Oh, wait a second. . .

First they evacuate, then they order an evacuation.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, Restorationist at March 29, 2016 04:29 PM (9krrF)

59 Just throwing this out there as a possibility...Turkish military coup coming and everyone knows it.

Erdogan has gotten increasingly screwy...

Posted by: H Badger at March 29, 2016 04:30 PM (n/0Nw)

60 Not to speak ill of the dead, but most if not all appointees are political allies of one stripe or another.

Particularly in diplomatic services. And that outpost was up to... questionable black ops stuff for State. Not that they deserved being served up and murdered while the White House ignored them and denied rescue.

Posted by: Lilly VonSchtupp at March 29, 2016 04:30 PM (39g3+)

61 Yes, Barry, what is it?

* listens *

Yes, it's spelled the same way as the Thanksgiving bird.

* listens *

No, it kind of looks like a turkey bird when you trace around your hand. The country is shaped different. Have you checked to see what's on TV?

Posted by: Valerie Jarrett at March 29, 2016 04:30 PM (3GAnN)

62 There's a reason why its called Istanbul, not Constantinople.

Posted by: They Might Be Giants at March 29, 2016 04:31 PM (OD2ni)

63 Just throwing this out there as a possibility...Turkish military coup coming and everyone knows it.

First thing Erdogan did was purge the general staff. I'm not thinking a coup is in the cards here.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, Restorationist at March 29, 2016 04:31 PM (9krrF)

64 Not to speak ill of the dead, but most if not all appointees are political allies of one stripe or another.
--------------

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Caroline Kennedy at March 29, 2016 04:31 PM (9mTYi)

65 In preparation for a possible terrorist on U.S. military families, the president has contacted Arthur Murray to learn a few new dance steps.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:31 PM (Nwg0u)

66 Just south of Izmir is Kusadasi - that's the port for Ephesus - a major tourist destination. If ISIS can threaten Izmir then they can also strike Kusadasi.

This is not good.

Posted by: ThomasD at March 29, 2016 04:31 PM (lUPo4)

67
And this really is serious. We're doing a NEO evacuation from a NATO country???!!! Wtf???<<<<

So, grab a seat. *nervous throat clearing*
We are at war.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (JTwsP)

68

I JUST EVACUATED IN YOUR BED HAHAHA! OH, SHIT, THATS MY BED...

Posted by: MIRROR UNIVERSE METAMUCIL REACTION at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (KId5h)

69 Carly Fiorina was shooting fire for Ted about Barak and Donald today about the Muzzies threat.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (fizMZ)

70 Erdogun purged the military of everyone not loyal to him. The real political power shifted from the Army to him, and he uses the Politzei to spy on his own people and the military

this isnt a coupe. And I dont think we ever evacuated families from Turkey in previous coupes

they only did that during a declared war

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (zOTsN)

71
so yeah you're right Stevens "knew" hence Hillary! saying his asking to buy the British's abandoned barricades was "just Chris' wacky humor" but I don't think he understood how cheap his life really was.
Posted by: sven10077 at March 29, 2016 04:29 PM (g8Hfr)

He was in Benghazi on 9/11. I'm thinking his wattage was generally low all around.

Posted by: First-Rate Political Hack at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (ZKlDy)

72 Instant Bull is Josh Earnest's secret service code name.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:33 PM (Nwg0u)

73 In preparation for a possible terrorist on U.S. military families, the president has contacted Arthur Murray to learn a few new dance steps.
Posted by: Anonosaurus
----------------

Balling the Jack?

Hokey Pokey?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 29, 2016 04:33 PM (9mTYi)

74 We're doing a NEO evacuation from a NATO country?

Says a lot about the state of Turkey, really. NATO should have died in the 90s anyway. Waste of our money and it lets the Euros continue to spend our money for their defense.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 04:33 PM (39g3+)

75 Wait a minute. I thought Michael Moore said more Americans get killed by slipping on banana peels every day than ISIS has killed since it started.

Posted by: RM at March 29, 2016 04:33 PM (U3LtS)

76 And this really is serious. We're doing a NEO evacuation from a NATO country???!!! Wtf???
Posted by: Diogenes at March 29, 2016 04:29 PM (5phSm)

--------------------

Turkey is no longer an ally. Hasn't been for awhile. Erdogen wants to be a playa in the caliphate.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 04:34 PM (Fmupd)

77 52 This morning on "Outnumbered" even Julie Roginsky was claiming that the fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational. That from a died in the wool demo.
Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:28 PM (9iR5/)

We're 15 years into the first generation. No wait. 1983 til now. Two EBT generations.

Make the rubble bounce.

Posted by: Golfman at March 29, 2016 04:34 PM (48QDY)

78 Erdogen is just a little nervous. Having to recently shut down a newspaper, shot down a Russian jet, got the ruskies playing games in the lake beside him. Best to get a potential occupying force out of the country.

Posted by: mega machines at March 29, 2016 04:34 PM (fbovC)

79 to heck with the antiquities

Izmir is a major port city

Adana is the fifth largest city in Turkey

Incirlik is a NATO base

this is a big deal

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:34 PM (zOTsN)

80 "Um, ah, This um, is um ah about um me, um um isn't um um it?

Posted by: Caroline Kennedy"

Fixed it for you.

Posted by: Benji Carver at March 29, 2016 04:35 PM (OD2ni)

81 Whenever he says "not an existential threat to us," he means not a threat to favored Muslims. So he's telling the truth...his version of it.

Posted by: doomed, reading between lines as you are at March 29, 2016 04:35 PM (bGLSw)

82
So, grab a seat. *nervous throat clearing*
We are at war.
Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:32 PM (JTwsP)

Just as the blog clock gets fixed, someone sets the calendar to 9/12/2001.

Posted by: First-Rate Political Hack at March 29, 2016 04:35 PM (ZKlDy)

83 Does sitzpinkler mean what I guess it to mean (Someone who has to sit to pee)?

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 04:36 PM (1ijHg)

84 pretty soon it'll be safe only in a secluded fastness in the mountains of the Idaho panhandle (as long as you shave your head)

Posted by: Ben H at March 29, 2016 04:36 PM (gJEsZ)

85 Izmir? That's nowhere near ISIS territory.
Wow.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at March 29, 2016 04:36 PM (T/5A0)

86

JV team fixin to hit a NATO base. Pretty ballsy

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:36 PM (zOTsN)

87 I just hope that this Order does not make innocent Muslims feel bad, because that's the worst thing in the world outside of a boarded up glory hole.

Posted by: Shep Smith at March 29, 2016 04:37 PM (OD2ni)

88 Izmir does have a a Jewish community and a big port

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 04:37 PM (zOTsN)

89 This morning on "Outnumbered" even Julie Roginsky was claiming that the fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational. That from a died in the wool demo.
Posted by: Old Blue

Not surprising. They've gone from "the JV squad" to this. What is she going to say? "We ignored it as long as we could, it festered and its a shit show that were just now starting to deal with? AND the Russians are way ahead of us?"

Also notice that they've stopped all pretense about ousting Assad. or making any progress in Israel.

lame duck diplomacy.

Posted by: Blue Hen at March 29, 2016 04:37 PM (326rv)

90 President Obama isn't 100% off base when he says terrorism or IS isn't "an existential threat to us." Almost nobody is going to be targeted by terrorists. Even if a major city is obliterated by a nuke, most of us will be physically untouched by that attack. In the sense that we're not all under constant threat of terrorism, he's right.

The problem is, most Germans were under no threat from Nazism either. Most Russians were in no danger from the Soviets. Most Cambodians were under no threat from Pol Pot. The idea that a majority of people have to be under direct realistic physical threat before you have to take action or consider it a problem is an absurdity.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 04:38 PM (39g3+)

91 yes, that's what it means

Posted by: ladies and gentlemen, the Kansas City Chiefs !! at March 29, 2016 04:39 PM (/542q)

92 What me worry?

Posted by: Alfred E Neuman at March 29, 2016 04:40 PM (cgxNI)

93
Grab a seat. *clears throat nervously*
President Obama is an absurdity.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:40 PM (JTwsP)

94 "Delta level means that either a terrorist attack has just taken place
in the immediate vicinity or 'intelligence has been received that
terrorist action against a specific location or person is imminent,'
according to military guidelines."

Executive summary: the tits are not calm.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2016 04:40 PM (noWW6)

95 With news like this, why would any sane American vote for some limp wristed twit or twitette?

I'm not even sure Trump/Cruz are going to be strong armed enough.

Posted by: jazzuscounty at March 29, 2016 04:40 PM (QYKC+)

96 59 Just throwing this out there as a possibility...Turkish military coup coming and everyone knows it.

Erdogan has gotten increasingly screwy...
Posted by: H Badger at March 29, 2016 04:30 PM (n/0Nw)

That would be sweet, for Israel's and our sakes. But Erdogan decapitated his generalship and installed Islamist puppets, like Morsi was attempting to do in Egypt but was prevented by al-Sisi, thank goodness.

Things are on fire as it is, but if Egypt suddenly became Iran on the Nile, that would be something else entirely. Miracle that that was prevented.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:40 PM (p4UlV)

97 Fixed it for you.
Posted by: Benji Carver
---------
*passes a jelly doughnut through the USB port*

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 29, 2016 04:41 PM (9mTYi)

98 83 Does sitzpinkler mean what I guess it to mean (Someone who has to sit to pee)?

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 04:36 PM (1ijHg)

Ding Ding Ding! Give than man a kewpie puppchen!

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:41 PM (p4UlV)

99 Powerline article how Harry Reid talked a Muslim guy Jesse Sbaih from running for a US house seat because of his religion saying he can't win.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:41 PM (fizMZ)

100 President Obama is an absurdity.

Posted by: simplemind
----------------

Overstatement, or understatement?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (9mTYi)

101 Just throwing this out there as a possibility...Turkish military coup coming and everyone knows it.

Erdogan has gotten increasingly screwy...
Posted by: H Badger

Holy crap; I hadn't thought of that.

Posted by: Blue Hen at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (326rv)

102 >> the fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational.

Conveniently let's Obama off the hook, eh?

How could he have stopped ISIS, a generation battle, in less that 8 years in office? The light-bringer can only do so much! He killed Bin Laden and put AQ on the run, you know!

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (NOIQH)

103 President Obama is an absurdity.
--------
The deuce you say!

Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (9iR5/)

104 "to heck with the antiquities

Izmir is a major port city

Adana is the fifth largest city in Turkey

Incirlik is a NATO base

this is a big deal"

It has been quietly muttered for a while now that the Pentagon have a couple of nukes forward-deployed at Incirlik. Not too well thought through.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (noWW6)

105 Also notice that they've stopped all pretense about ousting Assad. or making any progress in Israel.

lame duck diplomacy.

Posted by: Blue Hen

That or she didn't get the Talking Point memo.

I think Oblammo and Co are still stuck on it. He's supposed to start another mid-east apology tour with a visit to the House of Saud.

I think they think this "We got us some Number 2!" will suffice when the saudis are looking for Assad to be on a flight to Moscow.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (A/3fN)

106 ""Um, ah, ya know, This um, is um ah, you know, about um me, um um isn't um um it, you know?

Posted by: Caroline Kennedy"

Fixed it for you.

Posted by: Benji Carver at March 29, 2016 04:35 PM (OD2ni)"
FIFY

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 04:43 PM (1ijHg)

107 100 President Obama is an absurdity.

Posted by: simplemind
----------------

Overstatement, or understatement?
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 29, 2016 04:42 PM (9mTYi)

What's absurd? He's the greatest national disaster this country has seen. Cruz/Trump or no, we may never recover from his reign of terror.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:43 PM (p4UlV)

108 Christopher Taylor is right - saying something is "not an existential threat" can be - and in this case, clearly is - both accurate and idiotic.

Existential threats, depending on definition, come along very rarely for a huge continental nation like the US. Past the very earliest years, the only such threat really was the internal one that worked out so amicably in the 1860s.

It's the same version of illogical, stupid reasoning I recall in various little "conclusions" of the 9/11 Commission and staff. Like when they somberly announced that, in fact, Iraq had no proven connection to 9/11. At the time many mocked the idiocy by asking why they didn't offer any conclusions on whether Iraq was involved in the Reichstag fire, or the Lincoln assassination, or the Pearl Harbor disaster.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:43 PM (QDnY+)

109 Huh. Another judge believes that Team Hillary has been less than honest about FOIA requests. I'm beginning to think this woman might not be on the up and up.

http://tinyurl.com/hg2mk4s

Posted by: JackStraw at March 29, 2016 04:44 PM (/tuJf)

110 didn't Kewpie Puppchen play second base for the Royals in the early '80s?

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 29, 2016 04:44 PM (ZQfW9)

111 One other group of people not mentioned yet that might be wanting to take a piece of Turkey -- the Kurds.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 04:44 PM (Fmupd)

112 110 didn't Kewpie Puppchen play second base for the Royals in the early '80s?
Posted by: AltonJackson at March 29, 2016 04:44 PM (ZQfW9)

He was traded for Vida Herring.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:45 PM (p4UlV)

113 JJ, as the familiar formulation goes, it's not about recovering from one uninteresting, unintelligent, unaccomplished, affirmative action freak (the current president). It's about recovering from an electorate, a polity, that is so unserious and lost it would ever consider such an individual for any position of any importance.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:45 PM (QDnY+)

114
Executive summary: the tits are not calm.

Erdogan has a long mustache.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at March 29, 2016 04:45 PM (FkBIv)

115
What's absurd? He's the greatest national disaster this country has seen. Cruz/Trump or no, we may never recover from his reign of terror.

Grab a seat. *clears throat nervously*
We did it to ourselves.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (JTwsP)

116 Erdogan has a long mustache.

The bear is against the wall.

Posted by: Old Blue at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (9iR5/)

117 The problem is, most Germans were under no threat from Nazism either. Most Russians were in no danger from the Soviets. Most Cambodians were under no threat from Pol Pot. The idea that a majority of people have to be under direct realistic physical threat before you have to take action or consider it a problem is an absurdity.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 04:38 PM (39g3+)

Sorry, Christopher but you have that a little backwards. It's not that Nazism threatened Germans or that Communism threatened Russians that matters. It's that Nazism and Soviet Communism threatened everyone else. No one cared if Germans were under threat from Nazism or Russians might have gotten boo-boos from their own Communism.

As to Pol Pot and Cambodia ... yeah, most Cambodians were under direct threat from Pol Pot.

of course, none of this has anything to do with islam's threat to us. Barky is just a muslim shilling fool. And he's totally incorrect, too. islam holds an essentially existential threat over the entire civilized world through its control of the gulf oil fields. Oil is the lifeblood of the modern world and islam has the power to strangle us with the (lack of) flow of it. Of course, the muslim world doesn't really care much about oil because they don't make anything or do much of anything productive, at all.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (zc3Db)

118 113 JJ, as the familiar formulation goes, it's not about recovering from one uninteresting, unintelligent, unaccomplished, affirmative action freak (the current president). It's about recovering from an electorate, a polity, that is so unserious and lost it would ever consider such an individual for any position of any importance.
Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:45 PM (QDnY+)

I think I tried saying it earlier, but what we're both driving at is Obama is merely the symptom of the underlying disease that has infected the vitals of the nation.

Shithouse up in flames status: confirmed.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (p4UlV)

119

We could solve all this with appropriate Muslim outreach.

25-30 MIRV's ought to do it.

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (KId5h)

120 Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:43 PM (QDnY+)

Yes.

By definition, terrorism theatens our existence.

Posted by: Golfman at March 29, 2016 04:47 PM (48QDY)

121 One other group of people not mentioned yet that might be wanting to take a piece of Turkey -- the Kurds.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 04:44 PM (Fmupd)

They deserve a piece.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:47 PM (zc3Db)

122
How many more hours until the campaign manager's mugshot is "leaked?"

Posted by: Kellogg's at March 29, 2016 04:47 PM (7CyjY)

123 119

We could solve all this with appropriate Muslim outreach.

25-30 MIRV's ought to do it.
Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (KId5h)

What makes you think we even have that many missiles or that they are even in a state of readiness? Thanks to, you-know-who.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:48 PM (p4UlV)

124 As God as my witness, I thought turkey's could fly.

Posted by: Mr Carlson at March 29, 2016 04:48 PM (kTF2Z)

125 What makes you think we even have that many missiles or that they are even in a state of readiness? Thanks to, you-know-who.

I know a guy who knows a guy...

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (KId5h)

126 They should have done that in Malta.

Posted by: Speller at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (hHs1b)

127 What makes you think we even have that many missiles or that they are even in a state of readiness? Thanks to, you-know-who.
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:48 PM (p4UlV)

Well depending on what he means by 25-30 MIRV's, we have those on one Boomer

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (mw8Dm)

128 "... Oblammo and Co are still stuck on it. He's supposed to start
another mid-east apology tour with a visit to the House of Saud."

By the way, the Saudis are further expanding their lobbying reach inside the D.C. Beltway. They just hired Haley Barbour's firm a few weeks ago.

That's the same infamous "Barbour Shop" that brought us the debacle of the Thad Cochran re-election down in Mississippi. With black Democratic voters being rounded up and handed cash "walkin'-round money" to come illegally vote against Cochran's Republican challenger in the runoff, and flyers accusing said challenger of being backed by the Klan.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (noWW6)

129 120 Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:43 PM (QDnY+)

Yes.

By definition, terrorism theatens our existence.
Posted by: Golfman at March 29, 2016 04:47 PM (48QDY)

Terrorism is a tactic. It's the subhuman scum that deal in it that's the threat.

And that "war on terror" slogan makes me retch.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (p4UlV)

130 >>The idea that a majority of people have to be under direct realistic
physical threat before you have to take action or consider it a problem
is an absurdity.

I know, right!

Now why won't the media just let Obama get back to other non-existential threats, like the campus rape epidemic, global warming, abuse of pain-killers, nuns not wanting to fund abortions, trans schoolchildren having to use a unisex bathroom, schoolkids eating too much salt, whether or not Jon Snow is really dead, Obama's short game....

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (NOIQH)

131 I think I tried saying it earlier, but what we're both driving at is Obama is merely the symptom of the underlying disease that has infected the vitals of the nation.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:46 PM (p4UlV)

it's not all on the populace, though. Barky should have never been allowed to run for the office, to begin with, because he's not even eligible. It was the courts and the governments (feral and state) that totally failed.

A vote for Barky never should have even been in the public's hand.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (zc3Db)

132 127
Well depending on what he means by 25-30 MIRV's, we have those on one Boomer
Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 04:49 PM (mw8Dm)

I'm thinking about the news items pertaining to the lack of readiness of our armed forces, spare parts shortages, morale in toilet, under 200 ship Navy, Air Force with only a handful of bombers and fighters, etc, etc.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (p4UlV)

133 JV squad. Contained. Not an existential threat.

Yeah, an existential threat would be the Sisters of Charity.

Posted by: Iblis at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (9221z)

134 From the sidebar:

If you force productive people to give away their labors, the productive person inevitably realizes there are easier ways to go bankrupt.

True that.

From renewable energy resources to truly affordable and compassionate health care delivery systems, we are totally there for you.

Posted by: The Patent Bar at March 29, 2016 04:51 PM (8/DeP)

135 One other group of people not mentioned yet that might be wanting to take a piece of Turkey -- the Kurds.

Posted by: Soona

Ya know, if there was somebody with a grudge, a willingness to act upon it and access to a shit ton of weaponry *cough* Putin *cough*, they might just consider arming up and launching a Kurd missile at Turkey

Posted by: Blue Hen at March 29, 2016 04:51 PM (326rv)

136 >>rather than our own services

Huh. Not sure about this.

Posted by: General Zod at March 29, 2016 04:51 PM (Bdeb0)

137 Existential threats, depending on definition, come along very rarely for
a huge continental nation like the US. Past the very earliest years,
the only such threat really was the internal one that worked out so
amicably in the 1860s.

Hmmmmm.

Posted by: 30,000 Soviet nuclear warheads at March 29, 2016 04:52 PM (LAe3v)

138 131 A vote for Barky never should have even been in the public's hand.
Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (zc3Db)

He was born here. The only reason they covered up the birth certificate was that he forged it to show he was born in Kenya so he could be a more attractive Ivy League candidate, and not a Hawaiian stoner D student.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:52 PM (p4UlV)

139 A Turkish acquaintance of mine has made the observation that Erdogan's purges are less an obstacle to a military coup than one would think. Unlike Stalin, when Erdogan went after officers, he did not line 'em up against the wall and shoot them. They were mostly 'retired' or dismissed.
They could .....return.
And there are still a lot of NCOs loyal to the old Ataturk idea of the military as a guarantor of the secular state.

But that could be the wishful thinking of a secular Turk.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at March 29, 2016 04:52 PM (T/5A0)

140 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:17 PM (p4UlV)

LOL.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (w4NZ8)

141 fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational.

It's a fight that's been going on over 1000 years, we just took a long nap from it. Just wait until Europe is majority Muslim, which should be in a few decades...

Posted by: brak at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (MJuTN)

142 I think I tried saying it earlier, but what we're both driving at is Obama is merely the symptom of the underlying disease that has infected the vitals of the nation.

-
Yep.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (Nwg0u)

143 The Turks have a whole lot of things that they would like to get from EU membership to more investment to making the Kurds go the way of the Armenians. Right now the JEF wants to stop being an international laughing stock and to look like the forceful leader of a powerful country.

I bet that Fidel Castro' s letter mocking Obama really hurt his feelings. It was one of his childhood idols noticing him only to hold him up for ridicule. That has got to burn.

Any way, massive bombing of Raqqa and other cities held by ISIS without regard for civilian casualties would get Obama some Putin type respect and help him get past the Castro butthurt. It would also be likely to trigger some ISIS attacks against US military bases in Turkey. Video of dead and wounded US dependents would be bad PR so it is probably a good idea to get them out of Turkey.

Posted by: obnoxious ahole at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (MpvuV)

144 Existential threats, depending on definition, come along very rarely for

a huge continental nation like the US. Past the very earliest years,

the only such threat really was the internal one that worked out so

amicably in the 1860s

It's early yet.

Posted by: Ebola at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (LAe3v)

145 Golfman, without working the terminology more for each case, no, "existential threat" is not some vague concept.

Israel could well be existentially threatened by a heavily nuclear armed and truly crazy Iranian leadership, and was very much existentially threatened not just at the outset but until after the '73 war, at which point a US connection was developing (and Arab disunity was developing) that really changed that particular issue for some time.

If terrorism is an "existential threat" to us the same way the Soviet Union was an "existential threat" to, say, West Germany, then the words don't mean much. That's all.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (QDnY+)

146 FaceBook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Says The World Should Use Love To Combat ISIS

Weasel Zippers

This asshole should take his head out of his money and computers soemtimes

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (mw8Dm)

147 That's the same infamous "Barbour Shop" that brought us the debacle of the Thad Cochran re-election down in Mississippi. With black Democratic voters being rounded up and handed cash "walkin'-round money" to come illegally vote against Cochran's Republican challenger in the runoff, and flyers accusing said challenger of being backed by the Klan.
Posted by: torquewrench

In this, the GOP and Obama are similar; they are willing to do things to their own people that they don't contemplate doing to their real enemies.

Posted by: Blue Hen at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (326rv)

148 He was born here.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:52 PM (p4UlV)

His father was not an American. Barky had dual citizenship (and maybe triple, even). Not a natural born citizen. End of story.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:53 PM (zc3Db)

149 It has been quietly muttered for a while now that the Pentagon have a couple of nukes forward-deployed at Incirlik. Not too well thought through.

====

Possible. That where the missile crisis had its origins.

Posted by: Bigby's Punch Bug Blue at March 29, 2016 04:54 PM (3ZtZW)

150 'm thinking about the news items pertaining to the lack of readiness of our armed forces, spare parts shortages, morale in toilet, under 200 ship Navy, Air Force with only a handful of bombers and fighters, etc, etc.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 29, 2016 04:50 PM (p4UlV)

Yup that's all true but we still have a mighty threat from the deep

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 04:54 PM (mw8Dm)

151 Am I on yet?

Posted by: Freedom Fries at March 29, 2016 04:55 PM (bGLSw)

152 A vote for Barky never should have even been in the public's hand.

We still think he's magical. We have no clue as to what he's done in the last seven years but he remains our Chocolate Jesus.

Posted by: LIVs at March 29, 2016 04:55 PM (Dwehj)

153 Sorry, Christopher but you have that a little backwards. It's not that Nazism threatened Germans or that Communism threatened Russians that matters. It's that Nazism and Soviet Communism threatened everyone else.

I think you misunderstand my point. The worst regimes on earth never were an "existential threat" to each and every human being on earth. They were not a realistic physical threat to even a majority of people even in their own countries. His use of the term is very specific and worded carefully to sound impressive but mean nothing (like most of his speeches).

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 04:55 PM (39g3+)

154 146
FaceBook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Says The World Should Use Love To Combat ISIS

Weasel Zippers

This asshole should take his head out of his money and computers soemtimes

Posted by: Nevergiveup

Please, Mark, go to Syria and show us how it's done.

Posted by: pep at March 29, 2016 04:55 PM (LAe3v)

155 148 "His father was not an American."

Frank Marshall Davis was a commie, but he was an American.

Posted by: doomed at March 29, 2016 04:56 PM (bGLSw)

156 Any way, massive bombing of Raqqa and other cities held by ISIS without regard for civilian casualties

**********

Really? You think that happened?

Posted by: Danube River Guide at March 29, 2016 04:56 PM (mcm0N)

157 >>Please, Mark, go to Syria and show us how it's done.

Was thinking the very same thing.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 29, 2016 04:56 PM (/tuJf)

158 FaceBook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Says The World Should Use Love To Combat ISIS

Even we thinks that's the douchiest thing ever uttered.

Posted by: LIVs at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (Dwehj)

159 >>If terrorism is an "existential threat" to us the same way the Soviet
Union was an "existential threat" to, say, West Germany, then the words
don't mean much. That's all.

Obama said ISIS wasn't an existential threat. However, I would think the creep of Islam, slowly conquering the West via immigration (+higher birth rates) and destroying it from within, *is* and existential threat. Just look at what's happened to free speech in most of Europe: merely criticizing Islam - even if it's a statement of fact - can get you arrested and prosecuted. Just look at all the places, including in the US, that now accept sharia law to settle disputes, and sharia-compliant banking, etc.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (NOIQH)

160 Obama's father was Frank Marshall Davis. He's a natural-born citizen and a red-diaper baby.

And a bastard.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (1ijHg)

161 Garry Kasparov has a great bit today about tracing the problems in Iraq back to post WW2 Soviet meddling in the nation and their reluctance to pull out after saying they would. They're the ones that really started up the serious problems recently with the Kurds and worse.

In fact, most of the evils we face today are because of covert Soviet destabilization operations during the cold war (and some CIA ones).

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (39g3+)

162 "30,000 Soviet nuclear warheads" - actually you just confirm my point. Soviet nukes *were* an existential threat (I said they were rare, and didn't mention each one, but you definitely reminded me of another).

It's ultimately a pointless semantic taffy yank, but the point is that Obama saying something isn't an "existential threat" is both technically correct and outrageously stupid and besides the point. One doesn't just suffer from, or defend against, or best of all pre-emptively prevent, existential threats. Others qualify, terrorism obviously the best example of something that's not existential, but is intolerable.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:58 PM (QDnY+)

163 FaceBook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Says The World Should Use Love To Combat ISIS

O.k. Markie; Invite 'em all over to your mansion.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 29, 2016 04:58 PM (w4NZ8)

164 fight against ISIS is going to be generational, not just a decade, but generational.

-
The sons of fathers yet unborn will be fighting this war. I guesstimated it would take 50 years to win this war but the clock has not yet started to run.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 04:58 PM (Nwg0u)

165 Existential threats, depending on definition, come along very rarely for
a huge continental nation like the US. Past the very earliest years,
the only such threat really was the internal one that worked out so
amicably in the 1860s.

Hmmmmm.

Posted by: 30,000 Soviet nuclear warheads four high yieldnukes. Strategically detonated.we would never be the same. maybe three.Emp the grid. Irradiate the food belt. Boil the DC swamp. Vaporize NYC. If you left DC alone, it might actually make any recovery impossible.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:58 PM (JTwsP)

166 I could be inclined Frank is Barak's father.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2016 04:59 PM (fizMZ)

167 Just look at what's happened to free speech in most of Europe:

To be fair, they've never had free speech in Europe.

merely criticizing Islam - even if it's a statement of fact - can get you arrested and prosecuted.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (NOIQH)

But that's not even the muzzies doing that but the idiot eurotrash, themselves. Just as in Canada.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 04:59 PM (zc3Db)

168 Sometime on the afternoon of 9/11/01 I remember thinking that this was the beginning of WW III and it would last at least 100 years.

Posted by: i'm not shitting you at March 29, 2016 05:00 PM (cgxNI)

169

What's absurd? He's the greatest national disaster this country has
seen. Cruz/Trump or no, we may never recover from his reign of terror.

*spoilers*

Remember the Battlestar Galactica final episode when they flew all of their civilization-stabilizing advanced military and medical technology into the sun because it was better to eat bark, and die of exposure or smallpox than have to fight the bad guys again?

Yeah.

Like that.

Posted by: Mortimer at March 29, 2016 05:00 PM (+70b8)

170 30,000 Soviet nuclear warheads four high yieldnukes. Strategically detonated.we would never be the same. maybe three.Emp the grid. Irradiate the food belt. Boil the DC swamp. Vaporize NYC. If you left DC alone, it might actually make any recovery impossible.
Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 04:58 PM (JTwsP)

The Russians don't have anywhere near that many anymore

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 05:01 PM (mw8Dm)

171 "124 As God as my witness, I thought turkey's could fly.
Posted by: Mr Carlson"

I could never look at that actor the same again after he played the pedophile bike shop owner that molested Dudley on Diff'rent Strokes. Haunted my childhood.

Posted by: Benji Carver at March 29, 2016 05:01 PM (OD2ni)

172 >>His use of the term is very specific and worded carefully to sound impressive but mean nothing (like most of his speeches).

Exactly. He loves to do this.

Also an example of how he'll create a straw man out of an extreme version of what an opponent claims (not wanting open borders = "some say we should deport ALL illegals!") and then claim he's the more reasonable one.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 05:01 PM (NOIQH)

173 Barry, I am your father.

Posted by: FMD at March 29, 2016 05:03 PM (Dwehj)

174 "Also notice that they've stopped all pretense about ousting Assad."

I HEREBY DECREE A RED LINE THAT CAN NOT BE CROSSED.

Posted by: His Excellency The Emperor Barackhenaton I at March 29, 2016 05:03 PM (noWW6)

175 Why are US military families in Southern Turkey? Trump makes more sense every day. It's fascinating that the #neverTrumpers will not talk about his thoughtful and sensible "bring them home" and "no foreign entanglements" and "shrink Nato" policies because they don't want to debate on merits. WaPo editorial board of keyboard warriors were totally outclassed by Trump's senible foreign policy views. Meanwhile all they could talk about was schlock like "promoting US values overseas." Meanwhile, promoting US values in US is a hate crime. Military has vastly expanded with no debate as to why we have military families in southern Turkey. Biggest threat to establishment is Trump's sensible foreign policy, the only issue where he really diverges from elite consensus.

Posted by: bjk at March 29, 2016 05:04 PM (x2rNW)

176 So like our "Nero" golfs instead?

Posted by: Jacob's Step Stool at March 29, 2016 05:04 PM (sqs5K)

177
Wait the Russians don't have 3 nukes?
The 30,000 was part of somebody 'else's hash. . .

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 05:04 PM (JTwsP)

178 Obama's father was Frank Marshall Davis. He's a natural-born citizen and a red-diaper baby.

And a bastard.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 04:57 PM (1ijHg)

Even if that were true, if he was a British subject (which he admits to, himself) or got Indonesian citizenship then he would still not be a natural born citizen even if Frank Marshall Davis were his father.

I know you're kind of being cute but based on Barky's own claims, and the timy amount of paperwork that we kind of have, he isn't a natural born citizen. Claims of Davis being his father are funny and all but that's about it.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 05:05 PM (zc3Db)

179 existential threat

Maybe it's just because I'm not one of the cool kids, but I don't recall hearing that phrase a lot, as recently as five years ago. Did Reagan ever call something an "existential threat"?

There's something in me that just assumes that a politician who talks about existential threats is really just trying to communicate that he's smarter than the hoi polloi, and uses big words that mean something only to people in the know - as if "realistic threat" is too mundane for our elite genius leaders to use.

I'm pretty sure Islamic terrorism doesn't have anything to do with Sarte, Camus, or Kierkegaard, but what the hell do I know? I'm just an ordinary guy.

Posted by: Qoheleth at March 29, 2016 05:06 PM (iIzG7)

180 176 So like our "Nero" golfs instead?

He dances the tango.

Posted by: wooga at March 29, 2016 05:07 PM (c8qt1)

181 We have nothing to fear with Barack Obama in the White House

Posted by: John McCain at March 29, 2016 05:07 PM (12kBq)

182 "lame duck diplomacy."

Now this is one that I got wrong.

I predicted that Obama's final year in office was going to be classic ineffectual lame duckery. Noisy quacking with no actual results.

And that's just what has happened in _foreign_ policy.

On _domestic_ policy, I thought Obama would also be a classic lame duck and not be able to move his agenda forward. But that was wrong. He's still riding roughshod over obstacles, and still accomplishing a ton of key Democratic goals like importing and naturalizing millions of new voters for them.

The reason for this? The absolutely historically unprecedented spinelessness and collaborationism of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Who have passively rolled over and given Obama everything he wanted even though the guy *is* a textbook lame duck.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2016 05:07 PM (noWW6)

183 Posted by: bjk at March 29, 2016 05:04 PM (x2rNW)

Forward operating bases are a huge asset and often an actual cost savings in many respects.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 29, 2016 05:07 PM (mw8Dm)

184 If you left DC alone, it might actually make any recovery impossible.

Yeah, in some countries, leaving the government intact does more damage than defeating it.

The Russians don't have anywhere near that many anymore

They never did, really, if you only count the ones that would have flown.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (39g3+)

185 He'll say they're not an "epistemological threat" next. Bigger words impress the media.

Posted by: brak at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (MJuTN)

186
I could never look at that actor the same again after he played the pedophile bike shop owner that molested Dudley on Diff'rent Strokes. Haunted my childhood.

He was my hero

Posted by: Harry "Searchlight Strangler" Reid at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (39g3+)

187 He dances the tango as he bites the pillow

Posted by: Reggie Love at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (12kBq)

188 >>But that's not even the muzzies doing that but the idiot eurotrash, themselves. Just as in Canada.

Really, you think no Muslims involved in this - not even, say, connected people like Justin Trudeau's right-hand man, and people here like Valerie Jarrett and Huma Abedin? They are fundamentally changing Western culture, our future, to accommodate Muslims. Just because the clueless Lefties are participating in their own demise does not mean it's not an existential threat to our way of life.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (NOIQH)

189 "Claims of Davis being his father are funny and all but that's about it."

Google side by side pics of Aboma and FMD. Then google pics of the guy who is supposed to be his dad. Then decide how funny it is.

Posted by: doomed at March 29, 2016 05:08 PM (bGLSw)

190 Yeah...Ace, I don't trust this.

Cui Bono?

The Turks may be jerking us around. I wouldn't put that past Erdogan.

I don't doubt ISIS' desire to kill Americans in Turkey, but Erdogan is playing both sides here.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 29, 2016 05:09 PM (Zu3d9)

191 When do we evac our people from Belgium?

Posted by: March Against Fear--oh wait at March 29, 2016 05:09 PM (mcm0N)

192 FaceBook Chief Mark Zuckerberg Says The World Should Use Love To Combat ISIS

If by "love" he means "goat-borne incurable terminal syphillis" --- then he might be on to something.

Posted by: wooga at March 29, 2016 05:10 PM (c8qt1)

193 CBD

Possibly because Erdogan wants carte blanche to bomb the Kurds.

Posted by: March Against Fear--oh wait at March 29, 2016 05:10 PM (mcm0N)

194 The reason for this? The absolutely historically unprecedented spinelessness and collaborationism of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill. Who have passively rolled over and given Obama everything he wanted even though the guy *is* a textbook lame duck.

The only reason a lame duck is ever considered a lame duck is because they're not going to be reelected and are essentially a dead force in politics. Congress can just ignore them and outwait them, since they're about to be replaced.

But instead, congress in 2014 became lame ducks and just gave up all power and momentum, ceasing to oppose Obama in any way.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (39g3+)

195
Why are US military families in Southern Turkey?

Brecause its beautiful and use to be considered friendly and a great duty station

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (lKyWE)

196 Ok, so you don't like the one about the JV squad, let me tell you the one about the shovel ready jobs

Posted by: Shecky Soetoro at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (12kBq)

197 The sons of fathers yet unborn will be fighting this war. I guesstimated it would take 50

or TFG is going to blow the shit out of Raqqa. The Iraqi's will retake Mosul. Most of the Syrian parts will be Assad's again.

and viola

TFG + HRC declare victory in late October.

Posted by: DaveA at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (DL2i+)

198 Obama abandoning Iraq is on the top of my list of Obama's many failures. It has lead to so many other failures like a match to gasoline. It could be the starting move in a game theory scenario where the United States as we know it is destroyed.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 29, 2016 05:12 PM (Bc1aB)

199 Simplemind

How did we do it to ourselves?

By not going all Andrew Breivik and killing off a substantial number of the next generation of politically active leftists? By obeying the law, paying our taxes and concentrating on work and families instead of singlemindedly concentrating on achieving power and demonizing our political opponents, subverting the law and dominating the media?

We did not do it to ourselves. They did it to us.

Posted by: obnoxious ahole at March 29, 2016 05:12 PM (MpvuV)

200
But instead, congress in 2014 became lame ducks and just gave up all power and momentum, ceasing to oppose Obama in any way.<<<<<

Yep. Interesting isn't it. What do you suppose that means . . .

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 05:12 PM (JTwsP)

201 Well, like I said years ago. The caliphate will happen no matter what. All muslims in muslim-controlled countries want the caliphate. Of those muslims in civilized countries (America, Europe, etc) even the so-called moderates would be just fine with a caliphate. The jihadis are savages and will need those semi-civilized muslims already in civilized countries to make things work. The non-educated non-civilized muslims (boko harum, paleostinians, etc) would be just fine with a 14th century way of life a caliphate will become. I won't be here to see it.

Posted by: Eromero at March 29, 2016 05:13 PM (zLDYs)

202 165 Existential threats, depending on definition, come along very rarely for
a huge continental nation like the US. Past the very earliest years,
the only such threat really was the internal one that worked out so
amicably

------------

Russia hates muzzies too. Get some help from them and a modicum of mobilization here and the war against islam could be won in a year. All it takes is the courage to do what needs to be done.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 05:13 PM (Fmupd)

203 Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!

Posted by: Flaming Clown Boner at March 29, 2016 05:13 PM (12kBq)

204 "He'll say they're not an "epistemological threat" next. Bigger words impress the media."

Like 'ISIL' instead of 'ISIS'.

Posted by: RM at March 29, 2016 05:14 PM (U3LtS)

205 Posted by: March Against Fear--oh wait at March 29, 2016 05:10 PM (mcm0N)

Erdogan bombs the Kurds anyway....we are not protecting them.

I have nothing specific in mind; just a basic distrust of Erdogan and, for that matter, everyone else in the region.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 29, 2016 05:14 PM (Zu3d9)

206 Nood

Posted by: Tim in GA at March 29, 2016 05:14 PM (a/h6D)

207

"Daisy Cutter, thats the name, flush your Muslims down the drain!

Posted by: BLU-82 at March 29, 2016 05:15 PM (KId5h)

208
Germany nor Japan were exsistential threats to the U.S. during WWII either

Posted by: Flawless Male Logic at March 29, 2016 05:16 PM (lKyWE)

209 But instead, congress in 2014 became lame ducks and just gave up all power and momentum, ceasing to oppose Obama in any way.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (39g3+)

That's an understatement. Remember what the GOP Senators did in the criminal lame duck session of 2010, right after the GOP won the biggest turnover in House power in almost 100 years.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 05:16 PM (zc3Db)

210

Simplemind

How did we do it to ourselves?

By not going all Andrew Breivik and killing off a substantial number of the next generation of politically active leftists? By obeying the law, paying our taxes and concentrating on work and families instead of singlemindedly concentrating on achieving power and demonizing our political opponents, subverting the law and dominating the media?

We did not do it to ourselves. They did it to us.<<<<

I did the short form. These guys explained it better. The longer version is Bill Whittle, explaining Plato on the "undefended city". We is the country as a whole. Denial, Anger, etc etc.

118 113 JJ, as the familiar formulation goes, it's not about recovering from one uninteresting, unintelligent, unaccomplished, affirmative action freak (the current president). It's about recovering from an electorate, a polity, that is so unserious and lost it would ever consider such an individual for any position of any importance.
Posted by: rhomboid at March 29, 2016 04:45 PM (QDnY+)

I think I tried saying it earlier, but what we're both driving at is Obama is merely the symptom of the underlying disease that has infected the vitals of the nation.

Shithouse up in flames status: confirmed.

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 05:17 PM (JTwsP)

211 "Claims of Davis being his father are funny and all but that's about it."

There has been a fad among African-Americans in recent years to have their genomes analyzed to trace familial and tribal connections. A bunch of black celebs have done this and released the results. Mooch has done it. (No surprises in her case: her DNA lines up accurately with her reported family lines.)

Prince Chooming has conspicuously declined to participate in this.

Note that his purported father, Obama Sr., of East African bloodlines, would show up very differently in a genomic assay than would Frank Marshall Davis, of West African stock. There are a bunch of markers which differ between those blocs.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2016 05:17 PM (noWW6)

212 205 Posted by: March Against Fear--oh wait at March 29, 2016 05:10 PM (mcm0N)

Erdogan bombs the Kurds anyway....we are not protecting them.

I have nothing specific in mind; just a basic distrust of Erdogan and, for that matter, everyone else in the region.

********

It's probably more about what Erdogan doesn't want us to see--so in a way we've put a lid on what he has been able to do.

Posted by: March Against Fear--oh wait at March 29, 2016 05:17 PM (mcm0N)

213 Ok, so you don't like the one about the JV squad, let me tell you the one about the shovel ready jobs

Posted by: Shecky Soetoro at March 29, 2016 05:11 PM (12kBq)

Hit 'em with the "jobs created or saved" one. That's a classic.

Posted by: ThePrimoridalOrderedPair at March 29, 2016 05:17 PM (zc3Db)

214 May I suggest Operation Glass Factory

Posted by: General Buck Turgidson at March 29, 2016 05:17 PM (12kBq)

215 Another cut and paste fail on this phone. I'll try it again.

---------------------

7 The sons of fathers yet unborn will be fighting this war. I guesstimated it would take 50

----------------

Russia hates muzzies too. Get some help from them and a modicum of mobilization here and the war against islam could be won in a year. All it takes is the courage to do what needs to be done.
Posted by Soona

---------------------

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2016 05:18 PM (Fmupd)

216
Hit 'em with the "jobs created or saved" one. That's a classic.

Wait! Wait! I've got a chart we can use!

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 05:19 PM (JTwsP)

217 As our citizens board the evac planes, they should form a conga line to show we are not afraid.

For musical accompaniment, I'm thinking either The Macarena or The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down.

The tango is too tough to do in a line.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2016 05:19 PM (gyKtp)

218
The tango is too tough to do in a line.<<<<

Would the chicken dance be too "on the nose"?

Posted by: simplemind at March 29, 2016 05:21 PM (JTwsP)

219 Google side by side pics of Aboma and FMD. Then google pics of the guy who is supposed to be his dad.

There's definitely a resemblance, but its less compelling to me than the Chelsea-Webb connection.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 05:23 PM (39g3+)

220 Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
A little high, little low
Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me

I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fuckin' tango
Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro - magnifico

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 05:26 PM (Nwg0u)

221 Posted by: Christopher Taylor at March 29, 2016 05:23 PM (39g3+)

Look at the ears.....

They tell me that FMD is not Obama's father.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 29, 2016 05:33 PM (Zu3d9)

222

The nood thread id dead!

Posted by: ZED at March 29, 2016 05:34 PM (KId5h)

223 Once tourism from us "ugly Americans" collapses in both Europe and Turkey, the fools there might actually do something.

Posted by: PJ at March 29, 2016 05:37 PM (cHuNI)

224 If the JEF had not run, the Scankles would be POTUS.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 29, 2016 05:37 PM (1ijHg)

225 OT except for the pilot is Turkish Airforce.

Bad Landing of CL-215 amphibious firefighting plane. (from Ice Pilots show on prime)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gTBe0FWQ18

Posted by: Buzzsaw at March 29, 2016 05:42 PM (P/aDH)

226 What a mess the world is in! You have isis holding large swaths of land sawing off heads. You have the despicable palis stabbing people. You have al queda/taliban blowing up kids in Lahore. You have bombings everywhere in Turkey. You have Isis blowing up countries in europe and europe shitting on the joos.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 29, 2016 05:42 PM (iQIUe)

227 Are we doing our favorite Obama lies?

I always liked "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan"

Posted by: obnoxious ahole at March 29, 2016 05:57 PM (MpvuV)

228 I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fuckin' tango
Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro - magnifico
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 29, 2016 05:26 PM (Nwg0u)

Fandango.

Posted by: filbert at March 29, 2016 06:02 PM (s5o+q)

229 USAF at Incirlik will have to rely on the Turkish Army for force protection. Yippee

Posted by: ThunderB at March 29, 2016 06:06 PM (zOTsN)

230 I think that I read somewhere that they try to keep the President's DNA from being too widely available because of the possibility of a designer disease tailored for a particular individual which gives everybody else minor symptoms or no symptoms but which could incapacitate or kill the person it is designed for.

I don't know if that is just paranoid thinking that security people are paid to do or if that capability is already out there.

Posted by: obnoxious ahole at March 29, 2016 06:08 PM (MpvuV)

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