Why do situations like this develop?

Observe what is going on around the world... just to name a few:

1.  Putin is on a land grab operating with impunity.

2.  ISIS is chopping heads off a dime a dozen.

3.  Iran is supplying arms to terrorists in Yemen, while condemning Israel, as they attemp to sucker us into a deal lifting the sanctions.

4. We gave up 5 Taliban commanders who are no longer under "house arrest" and free to kill again. And what did we get in return?  A worthless deserter Bergdahl who will be court-martialed shortly  and thrown in jail!

5.  And then we have this story. The Chinese are expanding their territory building man-made islands in international waters. 

Why do these things happen?

Because we have a gutless, waste of skin, sitting in the oval office.

(Just add a bottle of Jim Beam and a shot glass and the picture is complete)

Our enemies are thinking... get what you can now while Barry's still in office. You never know what's going to happen down the road.

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Defense secretary’s warning to China: U.S. military won’t change operations

(Good to know someone's taking action)

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter addressed China’s recent operations in the Pacific — and warnings to the United States — during a ceremony in Hawaii on Thursday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter bluntly warned China Wednesday to stop its buildup of man-made islands in the South China Sea and vowed that the U.S. military would continue to patrol international waters and airspace in the region.

Carter’s comments, made at a ceremony in Hawaii to recognize Adm. Harry B. Harris, the new commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific, further escalated a simmering rhetorical conflict between Washington and Beijing over access to the South China Sea and other Asian waters.

“There should be no mistake: the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world,” Carter said at the U.S. military’s joint base at Pearl Harbor.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter urged for an end to island-building in disputed parts of the South China Sea. (Reuters)

China asserts sovereignty over 80 percent of the resource-rich sea, which includes some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and has been aggressively staking its claims by building large artificial islands. The United States and its Asian allies have vigorously opposed China’s territorial moves. With no one backing down, the impasse has raised the specter of a localized military conflict.

Last week, China tried to order a U.S. Navy Poseidon P-8A surveillance aircraft to leave an area near the disputed Spratly Islands where China has been turning a reef into an artificial island. The Navy spy plane, which was carrying a CNN news crew on board, ignored multiple Chinese warnings to change its course.

China’s Foreign Ministry later blasted the U.S. military for “very irresponsible and also dangerous” actions. The Pentagon insisted the plane was flying in international airspace.

The U.S. Navy released this video showing flight operations aboard a P-8A Poseidon over the South China Sea on May 20, 2015. During the flight, the crew documented several warnings issued by China’s navy to leave the area. (U.S. Navy)

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In his remarks Wednesday, Carter made clear that U.S. warships and planes would continue to patrol the region and ignore China’s attempts to extend its maritime territorial limits. He accused China of raising tensions in an area where the U.S. Navy and Air Force have operated largely unfettered since the end of World War II.

“China is out of step with both international norms that underscore the Asia-Pacific’s security architecture, and the regional consensus in favor of non-coercive approaches to this and other long-standing disputes,” he said.

Carter’s message was equally aimed at U.S. allies and partners in Asia who have wondered how Washington would react to China’s military buildup and its attempts to exercise more influence on the region.

“China’s actions are bringing countries in the region together in new ways,” Carter said. “And they’re increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific. We’re going to meet it. We will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”

Carter’s visit to Hawaii marked the start of a 10-day trip to the Pacific region. He will speak at a regional security conference in Singapore, where the U.S.-China rivalry is expected to take center stage.

The Pentagon chief is also scheduled to visit Vietnam – whose territorial claims in the South China Sea are at odds with Beijing – and India.

Why do situations like this develop?

This one is over the top!!!

Ferguson Protesters Promised 5K/Month For Protesting

At least some of the protesters who looted, rioted, burned buildings and overturned police cars in Ferguson, Missouri, last year were promised payment of up to $5,000 per month to join the protests.

However, when the Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE), the successor group to the now-bankrupt St. Louis branch of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), stiffed the protesters, they launched a sit-in protest at the headquarters of MORE and created a Twitter page to demand their money, the Washington Times reports.

Former U.S. Rep. Allen B. West noted on his website, "Instead of being thankful for getting off the unemployment line for a few weeks and having a little fun protesting, the paid rioters who tore up Ferguson, MO, are protesting again.

"First of all, can you even imagine getting paid $5,000.00 a month for running around holding a sign and burning down an occasional building? That's around $1,250.00 per week. Try making that at McDonald's or Starbucks."

The Kansas City Star estimates that the Ferguson riots, characterized as a spontaneous eruption of anger over the shooting of unarmed black criminal Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, cost the county $4.2 million.

Millennial Activists United (MAU) posted a letter on their website stating, "On May 14, 2015 many individuals and organizations of the protest movement that began in Ferguson, Missouri, organized a sit-in in the office of Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE). The demand was simple: Cut the checks. The protesters say they are unable to pay their bills after taking time to travel to Ferguson.

"Questions have been raised as to how the movement is to sustain when white non-profits are hoarding monies collected of off (sic) black bodies? When we will (sic) hold the industry of black suffering accountable? The people of the community are fed up and the accountability begins here and now," the letter continues.

"There is an insidious strand of racism and white supremacy that exists in this movement. This money is typically in the hands of white people who oversee the types of services that the non-profit provides, while having select token black people to spearhead the conversations within and to the community."

MORE is funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, the Times notes, through his Open Society Foundations (OSF). 

The OSF, the Times states, paid for activists from various protest groups to travel to Ferguson and take part in the demonstrations.

Akiba Solomon of Colorlines stated, "More than 500 of us have traveled from Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Nashville, Portland, Tucson, Washington, D.C., Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and other cities to support the people of Ferguson and help turn a local moment into a national movement," the Times noted.

"There's absolutely no doubt that part of the reason that Ferguson flared up was because protesters were being paid to be there. That makes you wonder how many are being paid in Baltimore? How many more will be paid in the future?" The Right Scoop asked.

Protesters directed much of their anger against MORE director Jeff Ordower, former Missouri head of ACORN and ACORN's Midwest operations, FrontPage Mag reports.

"The unpaid rent-a-mob operatives complain that MORE stiffed them the same way ACORN did to hired protesters throughout its 40 years of radical left-wing rabble-rousing," FrontPage Mag reports.

This one is over the top!!!

What happened to the First Amendment?

What kind of world do we live in? 

Here's a Marine who joined the military to fight and defend the Constitution and in so doing deprived of her own first amendment rights.

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Outrage after US Marine is convicted by a court martial for refusing to remove a Bible quote from her work station

Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was convicted in February 2014 at a court martial after not following orders to take down verse from her work station

The passage from the Old Testament was taped to the computer on her desk and read: 'No weapons formed against me shall prosper'

Sterling was given a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private, and she was also given a bad conduct discharge

Religious liberty law firm, Liberty Institute, and former US Solicitor General Paul Clement have taken up her case and filed an appeal 

They plan to argue that a law protecting free exercise of religion should have been applied to her case

Sterling is now unemployed and searching for a job 

A religious liberty law firm has taken up a US Marine's appeal case after she was prosecuted for refusing to remove a Bible verse taped to her computer.

Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was convicted last year at a court martial when she did not follow orders to take down the small trips of paper with the Old Testament scripture displayed on her desk.

At the time of the incident in May 2013, she was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina when she taped the slightly altered Bible verse in three different places that read: 'No weapons formed against me shall prosper,' according to Fox News.

Sterling, who is now unemployed and searching for a job, was given a reduction in rank from lance corporal to private, as well as a bad conduct discharge.

Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling (pictured above) was convicted last year at a court martial after not following orders to take down the passage from the Old Testament (pictured right) displayed on her desk while stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina

'If the government can order a Marine not to display a Bible verse, they could try and order her not to get a religious tattoo, or go to church on Sunday,' said Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry. 

'Restricting a Marine's free exercise of religion is blatantly unconstitutional.'

The Liberty Institute and former US Solicitor General Paul Clement have filed an appeal regarding Sterling's case to the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

They plan to argue that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should have been applied to her case, which protects free exercise of religion.

However, both the trial and appellate court said the law did not apply to her case because displaying a Bible verse does not constitute religious exercise, according to Liberty Institute.

The court found the verbiage of the displayed verse 'could easily be seen as contrary to good order and discipline,' according to a court document.

'The military judge found that the signs verbiage was biblical in nature, that the desk was shared with another Marine, and the signs were visible to other Marines who came to the appellant's desk for assistance,' the court said.

'The implication is clear—the junior Marine sharing the desk and the other Marines coming to the desk for assistance would be exposed to biblical quotations in the military workplace. 

Yikes…God forbid!!!

'It is not hard to imagine the divisive impact to good order and discipline that may result when a service member is compelled to work at a government desk festooned with religious quotations, especially if that service member does not share that religion.'

Really…They didn’t seem to have a problem with Nidal Hassan sharing his religious beliefs when emailing Anwar al-Awlaki

http://hemingwayreport.blogspot.com/2009/11/preventive-psychiatrist.html

The Liberty Institute and former US Solicitor General Paul Clement have filed an appeal regarding Sterling's case to the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. They plan to argue that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should have been applied to her case, which protects free exercise of religion

Sterling was found guilty on February 1, 2014 of failing to go to her appointed place of duty, disrespect towards a superior commissioned officer and four specifications of disobeying the lawful order of a non-commissioned officer, the court document said.

This was after the Christian Marine displayed the Bible verse and was ordered by Staff Sergeant Alexander to remove it because the servicemember did not like the tone.

Sterling defended her actions saying it was her First Amendment right to display it and refused to take them down.

The following day, she found that the supervisor had removed the displayed passages, the court document said.

Berry pointed out that other Marines were given the freedom to decorate their desks but the lower courts did not allow that evidence to be admitted, according to Fox News.

He also said Sterling was not sharing a desk at the time of the incident.

'This is a very scary time when you are not allowed to have a very small printed Bible verse in your own personal workspace because it might offend other Marines,' Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser told Fox News.

'Our Marines are trained to deal with some of the most hostile people on the planet. I don't think they are afraid of tiny words on a tiny piece of paper.'

What happened to the First Amendment?

29 shot, 9 dead in bloody Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore

Baltimore more violent than ever since Freddie Gray charges.

Further proof the death of thousands of Blacks shot by other Blacks across the nation means very little. It only becomes an issue when they're not shot by one of their own.

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The city of Baltimore saw a bloody Memorial Day weekend, with a total of 29 people being shot, including nine who died, as the city scrambles to deal with its deadliest month since 1999.

The Baltimore Sun reported that one of those injured was a 9-year-old in West Baltimore who was shot in the leg Monday night. Another man nearby suffered a bullet graze to his head, police told the paper. Two victims in separate shootings suffered fatal gunshot wounds that pushed the number of homicides to 35 for May. A total of 108 have been killed in the city this year, The Sun reported.

WBAL-TV reports a man and woman were shot in a car around 12:30 a.m. Monday. Both were taken to the hospital where the man died. Officers responded to another report of a shooting around 1:43 a.m. Monday. A man died at the hospital. Another man was shot and killed Sunday afternoon. None of those shooting victims have been identified.

"The shootings and killings are all over the city. I don't think any part of the city is immune to this," William "Pete" Welch, a city councilman, told The Sun. "I’ve never seen anything like this."

The city, which has seen its population fall about 35 percent since the 1950s, has found itself in the forefront of the national debate on policing in minority communities after the case of Freddie Gray, whose death has led to the arrests of several Baltimore police officers.

Gray suffered a critical spinal injury April 12 after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, prosecutors said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored, it is alleged.

"It was an earthquake kind of time and I think we're still dealing with the aftershock," Mary Pat Clarke, a councilwoman, told CBS Baltimore.

Some suggest police in the city, discouraged with the Gray indictments of six officers, may be staging a slowdown in protest, while others say the cops find themselves in a precarious position and may be hesitant to intervene in violent crimes.

"Of course it makes me scared," one resident in West Baltimore, who heard gunshots, told The Sun. "I started praying. I didn't move. ... The drugs have escalated in this block in the last six months. With this new drug element in the block — oh, Lord."

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Sunday met with the police commissioner to discuss the crime issue, The Sun reported. Her spokesman said, "She is confident that the steps being taken by the Police Department will quell this latest uptick in violence."

29 shot, 9 dead in bloody Memorial Day weekend in Baltimore

Remember that 3am phone call?

Video 115

Then reality sets in...

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At 10:30am Hillary's email... “'I just woke up,' wrote the woman who campaigned on answering that 3 a.m. phone call.

Posted at 9:38 pm on May 23, 2015 by Twitchy Staff

As Twitchy reported yesterday, the Washington Examiner’s Byron York noted something fundamental missing from the first batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails that were dumped on the public, and that something was any expression of concern over the situation in Libya. “Nothing — zero — about those security concerns in that critical last month in Clinton emails released today,” York wrote.

It’s worth remembering what President Obama was up to around that time. He quite famously flew to Las Vegas on Sept. 12, the day after the fatal terrorist attack in Benghazi, for a campaign fundraiser, choosing to skip the day’s intelligence briefing rather than reschedule the trip. In fact, the Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen soon after reported that the president had missed 62 percent of his daily in-person intel briefings in 2011 and 2012.

Certainly Secretary Clinton was picking up the slack, right? Well, another detail gleaned from her emails is that when the president finally was ready to talk Benghazi four days after the attack, Clinton slept through the president’s daily brief.

Give the poor old woman a break. She had probably cried herself to sleep the past three nights over the tragic loss of what’s-his-name.

Now, don’t forget about all of Clinton’s accomplishments as Secretary of State (like these Hillary supporters did).

Remember that 3am phone call?