The week's trip to Seattle delayed this posting. I normally post the Watcher's Council reading list on Friday. Apologies.

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Council Submissions

• Simply Jews – Vladimir Vladimirovich, please liberate us!
• Liberty’s Spirit – The Importance of the Words “Jewish State”
• The Noisy Room – Internet Control — Keys To The Kingdom
• The Glittering Eye -Ten Years
• Ask Marion – Missing Plane… But What Is Behind the Curtain?
• Joshuapundit-‘Nice Little Jewish State Ya Got There..Shame If Anything Were to Happen To It’
• The Razor – Putin’s Man In The White House
• Bookworm Room – The anti-bossy campaign is just the latest example of the Left’s obsession with gender, sex, and sexuality as a way of remaking society
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Once again, the local MSM cannot find a better example for pulling at the heartstrings
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Air/Sea Battle II
• The Right Planet – The World’s Slide Towards the ‘Second October Revolution’
• Nice Deb – Ron Fournier: POTUS May Be In The Middle Of “Full Blown Constitutional Crisis” (Video)
• VA Right! - I Still Love My Country, But Thanks to Obama, I Am Embarrassed for America
• The Independent Sentinel – Boeing Believes Flight MH370 Is In Taliban Territory in Pakistan – Updates
• Rhymes With Right – Concerned About The Wrapper But Not What’s Inside?

Honorable Mentions

• David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Obama, Harper and Cameron in Israel: Three Speeches, Two Friends
• Maggie’s Notebook – ATF Tells Ares Armor to Hand Over Customer List or Lose Everything: Owner Dimitrios Karras Fights Back
• The Pirate’s Cove – Romney: “Able leaders anticipate events…”
• Boker Tov Boulder – Sandra Korn, This Is For You.
• The Political Commentator – Obama Breakfast Cereal

Non-Council Submissions

• The Passing Parade – Leisure time on someone else’s nickel, or so I’m toldsubmitted by Simply Jews
• Avi Issacharoff/Times of Israel – Assad is Starving Palestinians to death in a Syrian Camp, And Nobody Cares submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Daniel Greenfield(Sultan Knish)/ FrontPage Mag –The End of International Law submitted by The Noisy Room
• Lilia Shevtsova/The American Interest – Falling into Putin’s Trapsubmitted by The Glittering Eye
• Josh Rogin/Daily Beast - Exclusive: Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senatorssubmitted by Ask Marion
• Arthur Herman/Commentary – Will Israel Be the Next Energy Superpower? submitted by Joshuapundit
• Skeptoid –What I’d Say to the Latest Anti-Vaccine Celebrity submitted byThe Razor
• Victor Davis Hanson/NRO-A New Obama Doctrine? submitted byBookworm Room
• Douglas Ernst – Obama sells generational theft on ‘Funny or Die’ while Putin dies laughing — Russia has stolen Crimea submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Alexandria – 44 Imposes Sanctions On Russia submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Dr. Stuart Schwartz/American Thinker – My Wife’s Last Days — And the Coming ObamaCare Death Panel submitted by The Right Planet
• David Limbaugh -Obama, In His Sole Discretion submitted by Nice Deb
• Reaganite Republican – Why Israeli Gals Will NEVER Have to Wear Burkas… submitted by VA Right!
• Boudica Weblog –Rabbi in Crimea urges Jews to leave Ukraine, fears neo-Nazi attacks submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Volokh Conspiracy/WAPO – Dateline: Shushan, Persian Empire, 600 BCEsubmitted by The Watcher
• Blazing Cat Fur – Uighur leader: “We have plans for many attacks in China,” plus police officer killed in Xinjiang’s capital submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Did you know that Ferguson blacks are NOT involved in the "demonstrations" of the past two weeks? That is a fact. We need to support those who wish for a fair and peaceful solution.

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Some facts about Ferguson that are not being reported:

In 1970,  Ferguson had a population of 28,759.  Since 1970,  Ferguson has lost more than 7,000 people and is on a downward trend as relates to the size of the city.  The 2013 estimate is for 21,111 folks. 

According Wikipedia,  67% of the population is black compared to 29% for the white population.  Only 2%  of those involved in the robbing of businesses and the destruction of some 40 businesses are black citizens of Ferguson.  The last night of “demonstrations” saw 78 arrests,  only one of this group of thugs,  was from Ferguson.  All the others are from outside the community.  Understand that less than 100 blacks have been involved in the “demonstrations” over the past two weeks. 

The Mayor of Ferguson is white.  He was elected to a three year term by a black majority population.  If blacks want their city run exclusively by a black population,  they have the voting power to do so.  I would argue that the citizenry of Ferguson is much more responsible than the white hating,  Sharpton types who have come to this community. 

Back to that last night of arrests:

67% of 21,111 is 14,144.  That is the number of black citizens living in Ferguson,  in 2013. 

When I write that only one of those arrested was a citizen of the community,  that means that 14,143 black citizens of Ferguson were NOT a part of the violent demonstrations,  and 14,000 of the black citizens of Ferguson actually stayed at home,  while all this nonsense was tearing the city’s infrastructure apart.  

Sadly,  Ferguson is more about hustling race and building a violent, anti-cop, following than it is about truth and fairness.  

There is a process that includes the Grand Jury,  a county autopsy and the pursuit of law and order.  Burning down a business or robbing a store has nothing to do with a protest of the death of Mike Brown.   These folks are only using Brown's death as an excuse to profit,  personally,  which pretending to be concerned about fairness and order   . . . . . .   and the larger population is not being fooled.  

It is more than a drum beat: It appears that we are at war with ISIS and here is the surprising news of the day confirming this fact.

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From the Editor:  This is one of the best news stories of the past two months.  Obama,  not wanting to be “dragged back into Iraq,”  is joining with special British forces,  in an effort to defeat ISIS.  Of course, air-power will be increased as these special forces use the better elements of the Iraqi fighting force  (I have in mind the Kurdish nationals in the north).  

Understand that if any of these special ops are captured,  they will die the most outrageous deaths,  ISIS can devise.  This is very dangerous for our men,  but,  as the article makes the case,  very necessary  . . . . .   in fact,  two months over-due (we were asked to help and Obama refused) , if not a year too late (we were asked to help a year ago,  this month and Obama refused,   declaring ISIS to be "J.V.").  

Make note of one thing,  the Mirror, an UK newssource,  states as a matter of fact,  that al Qaeda,  in Iraq,  was defeated.  Exactly.  And when the Left tells the story differently,  for their own self-serving, political interests,  they are acting as if they were allied with the enemy.   

My question is this:  is the Pentagon publicly at odds with this Administration?  Thursday,  Friday and Saturday, Pentagon leaders went to the press,  and spoke out about the seriousness of the situation,  all,  while Obama seems to play down the crisis down,  while he continues to golf.  Will he undermine the news of this day and the advice of the Pentagon?  We will have to wait for that answer.  Obama knows,  full well, that if soldiers are captured and murdered in public display, we will be in Iraq for a long time.  He wants to contain the enemy,  the Pentagon clearly wants to defeat these killers.  

From the Mirror:    Elite British and US special forces troops are forming a hunter killer unit called Task Force Black – its orders: “Smash the Islamic State.”

The undercover warriors will aim to “cut the head off the snake” by hitting the command structure of the Islamist terror group responsible for a trail of atrocities across Iraq and Syria, reports the Sunday People.

PM David Cameron has told the SAS and UK spy agencies to direct all their ­resources at defeating IS after a video of US journalist James Foley being beheaded shocked the world.

British special forces will work with America’s Delta Force and Seal Team 6. The move sees a rebirth of top secret Task Force Black, which helped defeat al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq .

This time the counter-terrorist ­experts will be targeting Abu Bakr ­al-Baghdadi, leader of IS and now the world’s most wanted terrorist.

A source said: “We need to go into Syria and Iraq and kill as many IS members as we can. You can’t ­negotiate with these people.

“This is not a war of choice. They are cash rich and have a plentiful ­supply of arms. If we don’t go after them, they will soon come after us.

Both the Brits and our "Department of Justice" are looking for one person, as if the he who killed James Foley is our enemy.

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<<<  James Foley,  just seconds before ISIS takes as much time as possible in his beheading with a knife than many of us would call a "paring knife."  Understand that a second journalist is just out of view,  in this picture,  watching what will be his fate in the coming days scared out of his mind,   and NO ONE IN THIS ADMINISTRATION GIVES a crap. 

Out of the Utopian news source, ABC News, we have this: 

U.S. and British intelligence are closing in on the identity of the man who killed American journalist Jim Foley in a horrifying video that was released online, ABC News has learned.

“We are confident he will be identified,” a senior U.S. official tells ABC News, adding he expected the positive identification to happen “soon.”

Editor’s notes:  Excuse me !!!  We already know who killed James Foley.  It was ISIS.  That is all we need to know. 

Understand this:  The Obama Administration is doing nothing,  as a stated policy,  to deter terrorism.  When you criminalize a single act of terror and treat it as if it was not an event of war,  you get to pretend that the world is at peace except for “this criminal fool” or “that criminal fool.”  When Obama,  through his parrot,  Eric Holder,  tells the listening world,  “We will not forget  . . . . . .   we will bring Foley’s killer to justice  . . . . .   we have a long memory and a far reach,”  he is only entertaining murderers like ISIS.   No one can argue that Holder’s comments and the actions that he, Obama,  and,  the Brits are taking,  strike fear into ISIS or Hamas,  or Boko Haram, or al Qaeda, or the Taliban,  or the PLO.  Since these clowns have been in charge,  all of these entities have grown and prospered.  Turns out,  the real “Dreamers,”  are in charge of your liberty and safety. 

If law enforcement is not a deterring force,  it is useless as a front against lawlessness.  And to to think that we have two more years of do-nothing prosecution against terror.  Personally,  I do not care how many have been “successfully prosecuted” under the law.  None of it has made me safer;  none of it has slowed the growth of terror and its allies;  none of it has accomplished any of the stated goals of the Utopian crowd and the Occupy DC clowns who have infected our governance and are making a mockery of our military.  

Mobile President or Party Dog? THAT is the question . . . . and Lefties like Maureen Dowd are most critical of this Administration.

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<<<  He is such a kid.  Fist bumps with explosions,  parties, 200 rounds of golf,  no international friends, no Congressional friends within his own party and no allies at the NY Times.  To think,   we have two years of this clown,  remaining.  

From NY Times and the pen of Maureen Dowd:  

FORE! Score? And seven trillion rounds ago, our forecaddies brought forth on this continent a new playground, conceived by Robert Trent Jones, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal when it comes to spending as much time on the links as possible — even when it seems totally inappropriate, like moments after making a solemn statement condemning the grisly murder of a 40-year-old American journalist beheaded by ISIL.   

I know reporters didn’t get a chance to ask questions, but I had to bounce. I had a 1 p.m. tee time at Vineyard Golf Club with Alonzo Mourning and a part-owner of the Boston Celtics. Hillary and I agreed when we partied with Vernon Jordan up here, hanging out with celebrities and rich folks is fun.

Now we are engaged in a great civil divide in Ferguson, which does not even have a golf course, and that’s why I had a “logistical” issue with going there. We are testing whether that community, or any community so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure when the nation’s leader wants nothing more than to sink a birdie putt.

I have been on the road, traveling back from Seattle. Expect to begin posting Sunday afternoon.

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I had computer issues and could not blog during my two day,  return trip.  Frustrating.

Visited my lawyer son and his five year old,  "E.J."  Great visit.

Taking a motorcycle trip with my doctor son in mid-September,  back up into the Rogue River Valley of Oregon,  down into Eureka and along the California north coast.

Talk to you all,  tomorrow.  I will be collecting headlines and news info,  tonight,  but will not post until tomorrow.  ~~  J Smithson

At least someone in this Administration is willing to tell us the truth: ISIS is as much a threat to the US as al Qaeda ever was - so says our Secretary of Defense

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(Reuters) - The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday.

"They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it's in Iraq or anywhere else," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hagel's assessment of Islamic State, which gained strength during Syria's civil war and swept into northern Iraq earlier this summer, sounded a note of alarm several days after the group posted a video on social media showing one of its fighters beheading an American hostage kidnapped in Syria.

Asked if the hardline Sunni Muslim organization posed a threat to the United States comparable to that of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hagel said it was "as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen."

"They are beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of ... military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. This is beyond anything we've seen."

Finally, warming scientist agree: warming has stopped beginning in 1999.

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<<<  In the past 40 years,  warming has increased by two-tenths of a degree (C) with a slight downward trend,  in the first 14 years of this century.  The US Weather Bureau on Thursday,  is predicting a colder than normal winter for much of the nation.  This,  in spite of the marked increases in so-called greenhouse gases.   

Following rapid warming in the late 20th century, this century has so far seen surprisingly little increase in the average temperature at the Earth’s surface. At first this was a blip, then a trend, then a puzzle for the climate science community.

More than a dozen theories have now been proposed for the so-called global warming hiatus, ranging from air pollution to volcanoes to sunspots. New research from the University of Washington shows that the heat absent from the surface is plunging deep in the north and south Atlantic Ocean, and is part of a naturally occurring cycle. The study is published Aug. 22 in Science.

Subsurface ocean warming explains why global average air temperatures have flatlined since 1999, despite greenhouse gases trapping more solar heat at the Earth’s surface . . . .   The data show an increase in heat sinking around 1999, when the rapid warming of the 20th century stopped.

You will want to read the full account,  published by the U of Washington,  here.  

Darren Wilson deserves a fair trial. Here is how you can help. We are not taking sides except to insist on a fair indictment (if any) and a fair trial (if any).

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Keep in mind that Mike Brown had robbed a service store and assaulted a police officer in the minutes before he was shot.  

Operation Fast and Furious update . . . . . maybe we will learn the truth.

From National Review Online  (NRO)

A federal judge ordered President Obama’s team to hand over some documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious and to provide a list of withheld documents.

Once House Republicans see the list of withheld documents, they will have a chance to challenge the withholding of particular documents.

“This Administration has been so intent on hiding the contents of these documents that it allowed Attorney General Holder to be held in contempt instead of just turning them over to Congress,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said of the ruling. “The privilege log will bring us closer to finding out why the Justice Department hid behind false denials in the wake of reckless conduct that contributed to the violent deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.”