As previously stated, there is no ideological distance between President Obama and Recep Erdogan.  Absent of plummeting polling numbers, which handcuff his ability to continue domestic agenda items, President Obama would NOT be fighting ISIS.
For seven years we have watched the relationship between Erdogan and Obama as it flourished into a bromance of Sunni favoritism.  As expected Turkey will not participate in attacks against it’s ideological compatriots, ISIS.
Makes you wonder why Secretary John Kerry is even bothering with the trip.

TURKEY – Turkey will refuse to allow a U.S.-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants, a government official told AFP Thursday.
“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The decision echoes the country’s refusal to allow the U.S. to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies. (more…)

Turkey wants to see Syrian Head Bashir Assad removed from power. Turkey made the decision in 2012 to put it’s full support behind the Syrian Rebels who evolved into what is now ISIS. These facts will not easily disappear just because they are uncomfortable admissions for the current U.S. administration.
Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not a free western secular nation, nor do they draw distinct seperation from ISIS objectives in that regard. The same Turkey who would not participate in the rescue of the Yazidi people in the Northern Iraq mountains, is the same Turkey who will not commit to the elimination of ISIS.
Western media attempt to obfuscate the NATO country of responsibility under the auspices of their reluctance being attached to Turkish prisoners being held captive by ISIS fighters. But honest reviews of the behavior of Turkey in relationship to Syria would evidence a greater alignment with ISIS than any moderate Islamic entity. It was Turkey who coordinated the arming of the ISIS jihadists in 2012/2013 and coordinated the flow of U.S. weapons in that regard.
This ideological alignment is why Turkey refused to join a communique with Arab nations to distance themselves from ISIS and the Sunni extremists, and it is not without notice that Erdogan and President Obama hold similar views and internal dispositions.
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — Arab nations vowed on Thursday to “do their share” to confront and ultimately destroy the Sunni extremist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The promise came after the nations’ foreign ministers met here behind closed doors with Secretary of State John Kerry.
A joint communiqué issued by the United States and 10 Arab states endorsed a broad strategy to stop the flow of volunteers to ISIS, curtail its financing and provide aid to communities that had been “brutalized” by the militants. (more…)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Desperately Seeking Dee Dee- “A Paramout Significants” 

In 2012 the same CNN network now trying to gin up racial animus around the Mike Brown shooting was proclaiming George Zimmerman to have announced “f**king coons” via phone with a 911 dispatcher as he watched Trayvon Martin disappear behind a building.
Did George Zimmerman say “f**king coons“, of course not.
Two weeks later CNN changed their mind, but not before they spent hundreds of on-air hours debating the racial mindset of Zimmerman.
Fast forward to 2014, the Mike Brown shooting, and you find a similar approach by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and their various panel guests including Sonni Hostin and Marc Lamont. (more…)

An Open Letter To Visitors, any Visitors

Perhaps it is time to revisit the modern word “objective”, where it is phrased around a request by readers to soften the discussion pages within our research and discussion blog.
Lately several newer visitors have stated via twitter, email, or direct comments something to the extent they are disconcerted by the tone of our delivery as we present the factual research behind the headlines.
This website is aptly named “The Last Refuge” (aka the conservative treehouse) for a very specific reason. A long explanation would be something akin to: Eventually everyone is going to have to reconcile the obvious which confronts them; and when they do the paradigms of their life experience will leave them no-place of traditional intellectual comfort – we shall provide the venue to recover.
A shorter version would be: we, as a brave and proud constitutional republic, are surrounded by stupid – and everyone needs an Alamo where everything is reconciled for what it is, not what we wish it to be.
Here, at The Last Refuge, stupid is identified as, well, stupid – Moonbat stupid.
We, our association, are openly willing to be challenged on ideas, concepts, beliefs and opinions derived therein, as we each seek to understand the events of the day.
However, there comes a point where “objectivity”, for the sake of polite conversation, is futile.
Was Harry Reid and his like-minded Democrats being “objective”, and analyzing various opinions of consequence, when they constructed Obamacare? At 1:30am, on Christmas eve 2009, to force a vote before allowing the opposition to go home?
Was Harry Reid/Nancy Pelosi being objective when they refused to allow a single opposition amendment to their disastrous plan?  Which, as you are aware, will now financially cripple working families with additional taxes.
Was President Obama being “objective” when he said: …”if you like your plan, you can keep your plan, period”?
Is Al Gore “objective” when it comes to various opinions and considerations for “man made global warming”?
In order for a person to state yes to the above questions, they would have to be of the same cognition that proclaim: “half of something you just tripled is less” as they discuss the deficit.
Pragmatism is only possible absent of blind ideologues.   2014’s democrats are all blind ideologues. (more…)

Strange how we did not see this mass murder spree on the NATIONAL news….  Man beats eighty year old couple to death, then shoots another 88-year-old woman, and kills two more men in their 60’s. 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An elderly couple have both died after being beaten in their Kansas City home during an attack in which three other people were fatally shot.
Kansas City police say Ann and George Taylor, both in their 80s, died Tuesday after spending a week in the hospital on life support.
Prosecutors allege that 34-year-old Brandon Howell attacked the couple in the basement of their home on Sept. 2, then fatally shot three neighbors before fleeing in the Taylors’ SUV.
He’s charged with several felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 88-year-old Alice Hurst, her son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst, and 69-year-old Susan Choucroun.
It was Ann Taylor’s desperate 911 call that alerted authorities to the crime spree, reports CBS affiliate KCTV. (more…)

Another repeat from previous years ……

The following video incorporates an audio recording that was made by a Detroit radio station, WOMC FM, in October 2001. It contains excerpts from two speeches – President Bush’s oval office speech the evening of September 11, 2001, and the one he gave before the joint session of Congress on September 20. The music is taken from a composition by James Horner for the 1989 movie, Glory. I believe the selections used are A Call To Arms, and An Epitaph To War.
I have always loved the audio, as it touched my heart and uplifted at a time when we all needed it very much. The photos are ones that I collected after Sept 11, 2001.

On December 7, 2001, Peggy Noonan wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal with the title used for this post.  Here it is.
(more…)

As the charges, evidence and judge’s verdict are painstakingly reviewed Oscar Pistorius looks on solemnly.

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — In a lengthy verdict phase climaxing Oscar Pistorius’ trial, the judge said Thursday he can’t be found guilty of murder but that he was negligent in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, raising the possibility he’ll be convicted of culpable homicide.
Judge Thokozile Masipa said she felt the double-amputee Olympian acted negligently when he fatally shot Steenkamp through a toilet door in his home in the predawn hours of Valentine’s Day last year. In a moment of high-drama, she then stopped reading out her judgment in the six-month-long trial and adjourned until Friday. A formal judgment in the case that has riveted much of South Africa and the world is expected on Friday. (more…)