Category Archives: Citizens Duty

This is What War Planning and Victory Looked Like

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The nobility of another time where the United States had a strategy and led.

World War II ended 70 years ago — here’s the planned US invasion of Japan that never happened

Business Insider: On August 14, 1945, US President Harry Truman announced the unconditional surrender of Japanese Emperor Hirohito, thereby ending World War II.

vj day kiss

The surrender came after months of bombing raids across the Japanese countryside, two atomic bombs, and the Soviet Union’s declaration of war on the island nation.

The iron resolve of the Japanese was a major factor the US anticipated while planning the invasion of mainland Japan. The culture known for literally putting death before dishonor with practices such as hara-kiri would not, by any stretch of the imagination, go softly into surrender.

By the time the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, 500,000 Japanese had already died during bombing raids, not just in Tokyo, but in smaller towns too.

This badly hurt Japanese morale as Yutaka Akabane, a senior-level civil servant, observed: “It was the raids on the medium and smaller cities which had the worst effect and really brought home to the people the experience of bombing and a demoralization of faith in the outcome of the war.”

But despite several bombing raids a week in the beginning of 1945, and the resulting displacement of 5 million people, the Japanese remained resolute.

And as US forces prepared a ground invasion, they were acutely aware of the challenges they faced against an iron-willed Japanese population.

tokyo bombing ww2 wwii world war 2 japan

The planning committee for the US invasion expected that “operations in this area will be opposed not only by the available organized military forces of the Empire, but also by a fanatically hostile population.”

Nevertheless, the Allied forces prepared to send 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyer ships and escorts to Japan’s coast. The Allies expected 456,000 deaths in the invasion of Japan’s military stronghold at the island of Kyushu alone.

In preparation for what everyone expected to be a bloody, prolonged clash, the US government manufactured 500,000 Purple Hearts to be awarded to troops wounded in the invasion.

At the same time, 32 million Japanese braced for war. That figure includes all men ages 15 to 60, and all women ages 17 to 45. The US anticipated them to bear whatever weapons they could muster, from bamboo spears, to antique cannons, to machine guns.

Children had even been trained to act as suicide bombers, strapping explosives to themselves and rolling under Allied tank treads.

But on July 16, 1945, the US secretly and successfully carried out the world’s first atomic-bomb detonation, giving the US another option in the war against Japan.

atomic bomb

After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, where 140,000 lost their lives, on August 8, the USSR then declared war on Japan as well, and on the next day they attacked Japanese-occupied Manchuria, China. On that same day, an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000 instantly.

hirohito japan

Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

Japan had previously been presented the Potsdam Declaration, or terms for an unconditional surrender, but the country had refused it.

Even after the two atomic bombs, Japan would not surrender for fear of how Emperor Hirohito would be treated after the war.

Emperor Hirohito was not merely a constitutional monarch, but a living god in the eyes of the Japanese. They would not see him treated as a war criminal by Allied forces — and after Pearl Harbor and 20 million or so Asian lives lost to Japanese imperialism, the Allies would accept nothing less than an unconditional surrender.

Japan and the Allies spent mid-August arguing over the exact language of the surrender, but on August 15, Emperor Hirohito addressed his nation via radio for the first time ever to announce the country’s surrender. Because of a difference in time zones, this anniversary is remembered on August 14 in the US.

Just last month, Japan officially released the master audio recording of Hirohito’s surrender. A version of this recording can be heard below:

 

 

There are More Non-Official Email Accounts, Server-Gate

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Every day brings new information and keeping a timeline is difficult given the number of people and the countless moving parts. The previous list and timeline is here for reference an context.

Strip their security clearance NOW due to dereliction of duty, oath and reckless control of classified material.

Further a subpoena should be issued to Brian Pagliano, who actually built the infrastructure of the Hillary server and managed it during her presidential run in 2008 until the time the platform was turned over to Platte River. Pagliano also worked a dual job at the State Department once Hillary was confirmed as Secretary. He is now in a private IT practice.

It should also be noted that any external communications device that has any protective classifications on the material by default becomes the official property of the Federal government, which is policy.

State Dept. confirms Clinton aides had other unreported email accounts

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Friday, August 14, 2015

Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s top aides, used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to a State Department email and an account on the controversial server Mrs. Clinton kept at her New York home, the State Department confirmed to a federal court Friday.

The State Department admitted to the judge that it doesn’t have control over those documents, and can’t be sure it has all of the records from their time in the administration.

John F. Hackett, the top open-records official at the department, said they have officially concluded that Ms. Abedin and Ms. Mills “used personal email accounts located on commercial servers at times for government business.” Ms. Abedin, meanwhile, had an account at clintonemail.com, the domain tied to the Clinton home server.

Mr. Hackett also said he has no way of knowing what else might be out there, and has to trust the two women and their lawyers to turn over what they have.

“The department is not in a position to attest to non-department servers, accounts, hard drives or other devices that may contain responsive information,” Mr. Hackett said in a declaration filed with Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in a case brought by Judicial Watch, which is seeking records from Mrs. Clinton’s aides.

Judicial Watch has argued that Mrs. Clinton’s unique email arrangement, in which she used an email account tied to a server she kept at her home in New York, rather than using the regular State Department system, does not absolve her or her aides, who also used that server, of responsibility to make sure they are all stored by the administration as official records.

Tim Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the Hackett declaration didn’t provide the answers his group and the court were seeking, and said it taints the Obama administration.

“The State Department refused to answer questions about what is even in its possession. Now we know that the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton have joined hands in this email scandal,” he said. “It is now clear that Mrs. Clinton is withholding servers and emails from the FBI and Justice Department, and Judge Sullivan is being misled to conclude otherwise. We will seek appropriate relief from the court.”

Mr. Hackett said the State Department “is not currently aware” of any other devices, such as computers or phones “issued by the department to former Secretary Clinton, Ms. Abedin or Ms. Mills that may contain responsive records.”

Mrs. Clinton has asserted, through her lawyer, that she has turned over all of her relevant documents to the State Department.

For her part, Ms. Mills said through her lawyer that she has already returned all documents she believes are official business.

Ms. Abedin’s lawyer said she’ll return her official government documents that she kept by Aug. 28.

The State Department for years had been performing records-searches without access to Mrs. Clinton’s emails — though it never publicly admitted the searches were likely incomplete. The situation became public earlier last year after the Benghazi panel learned of Mrs. Clinton’s use of a clintonemail.com account for official business, and demanded to see some of those messages.

The State Department then went back to Mrs. Clinton and asked her to return the records that were supposed to have been in the government’s possession, and she belatedly complied in December, or nearly two years after she left office.

She returned the messages — a total of about 30,000 — by printing them out on 55,000 pages. The State Department then spent months and manpower going back and re-digitizing those messages.

The story continues here.

Enter Mark Levin on Hillary vs. the Espionage Act.

Section 793 of the Penal Code, subsection (f) is a problem for Hillary Clinton. It is very specific in defining the offenses which meet the criteria for a violation and it appears that Ms Clinton has potentially thousands of counts, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands, against her.

Levin: ‘Sect. 793 of Penal Code … Is What Hillary Clinton Has to Worry About’

 

al Qaeda and Taliban New Allegiance in Afghanistan

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The Taliban has raised their flag after they take control of the Helmand district in Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers bailed out and the Taliban has seized military gear supplied to the Afghanistan forces after killing 40 Afghan soldiers and police.

Sharia will be imposed and wield deeper power in the region.

After the official declaration of the deal of Mullah Omar was announced, the Taliban leadership was fractured due to a sense of betrayal. During many tribal meetings, it was soon announced that Mullah Akhtar Mansour would be the new leader.

 Omar

 Mansour

Ayman al Zawahiri, who took control of al Qaeda after the death of Usama bin Ladin made a declaration of pledge and cooperation with Akhtar Mansour where new threats against America have been officially broadcasted.


al Zawahiri has been thought to be hiding in the Pakistan border region and recently produced an audio raising news fears in the region. Additionally, while there have been several attempts at peace talks with the Afghanistan government, the Taliban is now formally opposed.

In part from Reuters: The swift announcement that Mansour, Omar’s longtime deputy, would be the new leader has riled many senior Taliban figures, and Omar’s family said this month that it did not endorse the move.

Mansour’s position could be shored up by the vote of confidence by al Qaeda, the global militant group that has maintained ties with the Taliban for almost two decades since the tenure of its founder and late leader Osama bin Laden.

“As leader of the al Qaeda organization for jihad, I offer our pledge of allegiance, renewing the path of Sheikh Osama and the devoted martyrs in their pledge to the commander of the faithful, the holy warrior Mullah Omar,” Zawahiri added.

Reiterating support for the Taliban is also a tacit rejection of Islamic State, the new ultra-radical Sunni Muslim movement that is ensconced in Iraq and Syria and has gained the support of a few Afghan insurgent commanders.

Al Qaeda is being challenged by Islamic State for leadership of the global jihadist movement, as determined backers of IS have cropped up in Libya and Yemen this year.

Al Qaeda was set up by Arab guerrillas who flocked to Afghanistan to fight Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s. It thrived under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan before the U.S. invasion that followed Al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington drove both groups underground.

StemExpress Cuts Ties with Planned Parenthood

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LifeNews: StemExpress Cuts Ties With Planned Parenthood After Expose’ Videos Show Sales of Aborted Babies

A breaking news report this afternoon indicates the biotech firm StemExpress is officially cutting ties with the Planned Parenthood abortion business after a series of expose’ videos show the abortion company selling it aborted babies and body parts from aborted babies

The sixth and most recent video features Holly O’Donnell, a licensed phlebotomist who unsuspectingly took a job as a “procurement technician” at the fetal tissue company and biotech start-up StemExpress in late 2012. That’s the company that acts as a middleman and purchases the body parts of aborted babies from Planned Parenthood to sell to research universities and other places.

The new video includes O’Donnell’s eyewitness narrative of the daily practice of fetal body parts harvesting in Planned Parenthood abortion clinics, describing tissue procurement workers’ coordination with abortion providers, the pressure placed on patients, and disregard for patient consent.

StemExpress is one of a handful of biotech firms that works with Planned parenthood by purchasing aborted babies and their body parts and selling them to scientists at research universities for medical experiments. But Politico is reporting that the biologics company is breaking its ties with the abortion corporation.

Politico reports that notice of the decision to cut ties came in the form of a letter from StemExpress to a Congressional committee that is investigating the abortion business and its sales of aborted babies. More details here.

Meanwhile the White House is making threats if Planned Parenthood is defunded.

WH warns states: Defunding Planned Parenthood might break law

The Obama administration has warned Louisiana and Alabama that they could be violating federal law by cutting off Planned Parenthood from their states’ Medicaid programs.
The Republican governors in both states this month terminated their state Medicaid contracts with the organization in the wake of controversial undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the price of fetal tissue for medical research.
But the White House points out that federal law says Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services from any qualified provider and that cutting Planned Parenthood out of the program restricts that choice.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) has contacted Louisiana and Alabama about the issue.

“CMS has notified states who have taken action to terminate their Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood that they may be in conflict with federal law,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Ben Wakana said in a statement.
“Longstanding Medicaid laws prohibit states from restricting individuals who have coverage through Medicaid from receiving care from a qualified provider,” he said. “By restricting which provider a woman could choose to receive care from, women could lose access to critical preventive care, such as cancer screenings.”
The warning was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Federal courts have in the past blocked state attempts by states including Indiana and Arizona to cut Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, citing the law that gives consumers a choice in providers.
Mike Reed, a spokesman for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), indicated the state and its Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) are standing by its decision.
He cited a provision in the state Medicaid contract allowing either party to cancel it at will, with 30 days notice.
“CMS reached out to DHH after we canceled the Medicaid provider contract with Planned Parenthood,” Reed said. “DHH explained to CMS why the state chose to exercise our right to cancel the contract without cause.”
Jindal is one of 17 big-name Republicans running for president in 2016.
Planned Parenthood praised the Obama administration’s move.
“It’s good to hear that HHS has clarified what we already know — blocking women’s access to care at Planned Parenthood is against the law,” Dawn Laguens, the group’s executive vice president, said in a statement.
She added that the group will “do everything in our power to protect women’s access to health care in all fifty states.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest has defended Planned Parenthood and said it follows the “highest ethical standards.” The White House has also threatened to veto any government spending bill that defunds the organization, which some Republicans are calling for.

Lives and Crimes DONT Matter in Baltimore

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Violent Racketeering Conspiracy: A Maryland gang member was sentenced to 188 months in prison today for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland; Special Agent in Charge Andre Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI); Chief Mark A. Magaw of the Prince George’s County, Maryland Police Department; Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department; Chief Alan Goldberg of the Takoma Park, Maryland, Police Department; and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

Wilmer Argueta, aka Chengo, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty on April 20, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus of the District of Maryland to one count of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) conspiracy.

According to the stipulated facts agreed to in connection with Argueta’s guilty plea, MS-13 is an international criminal organization and one of the largest street gangs in the United States with branches or “cliques” operating throughout Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland. Both to maintain membership in the gang and to enforce internal discipline, members are required to engage in acts of intimidation and violence, including against members of rival gangs.

In connection with his plea, Argueta admitted that from 2009 until at least 2012, he was a member and leader of the Peajes Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13, and that he and members of the Peajes and other MS-13 cliques committed crimes to further the interests of the gang, including murder, assault, robbery, extortion by threat of violence, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and witness retaliation.

Argueta admitted that on Jan. 3, 2010, he and other MS-13 members attempted to kidnap and assault two individuals with various weapons because Argueta and his co-conspirators believed one of the individuals was associating with a rival gang. After the individuals fled in different directions, several MS-13 members caught one of the victims and sexually assaulted her as retribution for associating with a rival gang.

In addition, according to the plea agreement, on Jan. 13, 2011, Argueta attended a Peajes clique meeting during which another MS-13 member criticized members of the clique for not committing enough violent crimes and encouraging clique members to target rival gang members with acts of violence. After the meeting, Argueta and other MS-13 members strangled and stabbed an individual whom the clique members believed to be a member of a rival gang. Although the MS-13 members left the victim for dead, he survived.

Argueta also admitted that between March and November 2011, he and other members of the Peajes clique extorted a former MS-13 associate under the threat of a “greenlight” (an order to kill). Argueta admitted that he ordered other MS-13 associates to relay the death threats to the victim, and he contacted the victim himself on multiple occasions to arrange extortion payments.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea, between September and November 2011, Argueta conspired to kill an individual who had been assaulted by Argueta and other MS-13 members and who had agreed to testify as a witness against Argueta in state court. Specifically, Argueta admitted that, while incarcerated in the Prince George’s County Corrections Facility, he ordered the “greenlight” by contacting a co-conspirator who then relayed the instruction to other MS-13 members. On Nov. 15, 2011, three MS-13 members drove to the victim/witness’ home, and one of the co-conspirators shot at the victim from a moving vehicle, striking the victim in the chest. The victim survived.

To date, five of the 14 defendants charged in this case have pleaded guilty to participating in the racketeering conspiracy.

The case is being investigated by HSI Baltimore, the Prince George’s County and Montgomery County Police Departments, the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Takoma Park Police Department and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. The Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, HSI Baltimore’s Operation Community Shield Task Force and the Maryland Department of Corrections Intelligence Unit also provided assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William D. Moomau and Lindsay Eyler Kaplan of the District of Maryland. ***

Yes, there is more.

Former Baltimore prosecutor: Marilyn Mosby has a role in city’s violence increase 
It is only August, and Baltimore is staring at 200 dead men, women and children. Having been a prosecutor in this city for 12 years, four in the Homicide Division, I can no longer stand idly by and watch State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby avoid taking responsibility for her role in the increase in violence.

The most recent example of her questionable leadership is her decision to restrict the Homicide Review Commission to closed cases that occurred before she became state’s attorney. She claims the program is a waste of money, places witnesses in jeopardy and is pointless because she knows the reason for the increase in violence is drugs.

When I was involved in the commission in its early stages, organizers asked us to send one prosecutor, for one afternoon, once a month. It did not cost the state’s attorney’s office anything except time. Coming off the deadliest month in decades –— deadliest in our history per capita — is now really the time to be turning down free help? More to the story here.