Author Topic: #BringBackOurBalls  (Read 834 times)

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Offline DCPatriot

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#BringBackOurBalls
« on: May 10, 2014, 08:23:52 am »
#BringBackOurBalls
Mark Steyn




It is hard not to have total contempt for a political culture that thinks the picture [above] is a useful contribution to rescuing 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by jihadist savages in Nigeria. Yet some pajama boy at the White House evidently felt getting the First Lady to pose with this week's Hashtag of Western Impotence would reflect well upon the Administration. The horrible thing is they may be right: Michelle showed she cared - on social media! - and that's all that matters, isn't it?

Just as the last floppo hashtag, #WeStandWithUkraine, didn't actually involve standing with Ukraine, so #BringBackOurGirls doesn't require bringing back our girls. There are only a half-dozen special forces around the planet capable of doing that without getting most or all of the hostages killed: the British, the French, the Americans, Israelis, Germans, Aussies, maybe a couple of others. So, unless something of that nature is being lined up, those schoolgirls are headed into slavery, and the wretched pleading passivity of Mrs Obama's hashtag is just a form of moral preening.

But then what isn't? The blogger Daniel Payne wrote this week that "modern liberalism, at its core, is an ideology of talking, not doing". He was musing on a press release for some or other "Day of Action" that is, as usual, a day of inaction:

Quote

Diverse grassroots groups are organizing and participating in events such as walks, rallies and concerts and calling on government to reduce climate pollution, transition off fossil fuels and commit to a clean energy future.


It's that easy! You go to a concert and someone "calls on government" to do something, and the world gets fixed.

There's something slightly weird about taking a hashtag - which on the Internet at least has a functional purpose - and getting a big black felt marker and writing it on a piece of cardboard and holding it up, as if somehow the comforting props of social media can be extended beyond the computer and out into the real world. Maybe the talismanic hashtag never required a computer in the first place. Maybe way back during the Don Pacifico showdown all Lord Palmerston had to do was tell the Greeks #BringBackOurJew.

As Mr Payne notes, these days progressive "action" just requires "calling on government" to act. But it's sobering to reflect that the urge to call on someone else to do something is now so reflexive and ingrained that even "the government" - or in this case the wife of "the government" - is now calling on someone else to do something.

Boko Haram, the girls' kidnappers, don't strike me as social media types. As I wrote last year:

Quote

The other day, members of Boko Haram, a group of (surprise!) Muslim "extremists," broke into an agricultural college in Nigeria and killed some four dozen students. The dead were themselves mainly Muslim, but had made the fatal mistake of attending a non-Islamic school. "Boko Haram" means more or less "Learning is sinful," this particular wing of the jihad reveling more than most in the moronic myopia of Islamic imperialism.


more at:   http://www.steynonline.com/6326/bringbackourballs


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« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 08:26:01 am by DCPatriot »
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

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Offline EC

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2014, 08:30:22 am »
Ah .... slacktivism. The millennial's equivalent of getting out and getting doing.
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Offline DCPatriot

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2014, 08:34:50 am »
Ah .... slacktivism. The millennial's equivalent of getting out and getting doing.

Yes...Steyn nails it perfectly.

#BringBackOurBalls

Going out today and having 500 made.   Gonna get $5 apiece.

Isn''t Capitalism great?
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 08:36:34 am by DCPatriot »
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline massadvj

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2014, 10:56:35 am »
That picture of Moochelle just fries me.  I never thought I'd live to see the day when an American administration would posture itself as weak and vulnerable in the hopes that our enemies would pity us and therefore leave us alone.  And yet, here we are.

Offline Lando Lincoln

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2014, 11:16:58 am »
That picture of Moochelle just fries me.  I never thought I'd live to see the day when an American administration would posture itself as weak and vulnerable in the hopes that our enemies would pity us and therefore leave us alone.  And yet, here we are.

But Victor, it is us not them.  Don't you see?  Can't you see the serious look on Michelle's face?

This is what we have been reduced to.

« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 11:17:39 am by Lando Lincoln »
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Offline EC

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2014, 11:21:32 am »
Problem is - you only have 7 countries with a decent chance of getting the girls out in more or less one piece (assuming they are all in one place, which is way doubtful after nearly 4 weeks).

The Canadians - don't know what they are doing at the moment, but they are nasty sods.
The US - no idea what your SOF are doing, though I expect the 60 "advisors" sent to Nigeria includes at least one squad, if only to stop the rest falling over their own feet.
Israel - they are kind of busy with the mess in Syria and Gaza right now.
The Aussies - it's way off their beat.
The French - they are the closest, but Mali has chewed them up pretty bad.
The Russians - not a chance. Too busy in the Ukraine.
The UK - busy elsewhere at the moment.

It makes for a knotty problem.
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Offline DCPatriot

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2014, 11:49:58 am »
Problem is - you only have 7 countries with a decent chance of getting the girls out in more or less one piece (assuming they are all in one place, which is way doubtful after nearly 4 weeks).

The Canadians - don't know what they are doing at the moment, but they are nasty sods.
The US - no idea what your SOF are doing, though I expect the 60 "advisors" sent to Nigeria includes at least one squad, if only to stop the rest falling over their own feet.
Israel - they are kind of busy with the mess in Syria and Gaza right now.
The Aussies - it's way off their beat.
The French - they are the closest, but Mali has chewed them up pretty bad.
The Russians - not a chance. Too busy in the Ukraine.
The UK - busy elsewhere at the moment.

It makes for a knotty problem.


It makes for an October Surprise, that's what it makes.  [/s]
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 11:51:13 am by DCPatriot »
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline DCPatriot

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2014, 12:05:36 pm »
Seriously though...it could be perfect opportunity for Israel to do another rescue as they did in Entebbe.

The goodwill would be enormous for them, wouldn't it?
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline aligncare

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2014, 12:15:37 pm »
The warm and fuzzy wing of the administration. Shows at least they're not heartless dictators.

Offline wolfcreek

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« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 12:24:34 pm by wolfcreek »

Offline mystery-ak

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2014, 12:46:45 pm »
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 12:47:06 pm by mystery-ak »
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Offline EC

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2014, 12:47:34 pm »
Seriously though...it could be perfect opportunity for Israel to do another rescue as they did in Entebbe.

The goodwill would be enormous for them, wouldn't it?

I'd prefer the French. Not only are a hell of a lot of their specials of Algerian descent - so they blend in better, but this sniffs badly. Got AQ affiliates kidnapping girls yet at the same time, according to what I pick up from relatives and friends, others are hiding out on both the Gaza and Lebanon borders and they watch troop movements like bloody hawks.
Like I say though - the French have been there in Mali for - what - 3 months now? They are going to be rapidly approaching burn-out, if not already there.

I think it's the best compromise under the circumstances, which means Obama had bugger all to do with it. US teams are perfectly capable of tracing and finding them - that is one thing your guys do absolutely superbly - both SOF and intelligence services.

Once they are found - nearest team goes in and gets them. Assuming they are all still there (highly doubtful, though there will certainly be some corpses to be found) getting them out physically will be a frigging nightmare.

Edit - just saw Wolfcreek's comment: If they are not there - you take the bastards alive. For a time. Names, dates, records. Any possible clue.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2014, 12:52:22 pm by EC »
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Offline DCPatriot

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Re: #BringBackOurBalls
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2014, 12:56:23 pm »
From what I've read, most,  if not all the girls were sold into forced marriages with men in other countries. Where does one begin this 'rescue'?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFsQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Farticle%2Findex%2F261117%2Feverything-you-need-to-know-about-the-kidnapped-nigerian-girls&ei=SxpuU4ypFJLQsQTomICgAg&usg=AFQjCNHEFq_VBMfEQWA-V9EuGrsYPTiH6A&bvm=bv.66111022,d.cWc

Thanks, Wolfcreek....hadn't seen that.

And thanks for dropping in....been a long time.   :beer:
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald