From CRASHR (formerly known as The Looking Spoon).

Yesterday we noted that CNN had buried their poll reflecting vast unfavorable public opinion of President Obama.
Indeed, even though the poll was taken by CNN/ORC they didn’t even provide the raw poll data that’s customarily available. Instead they couched their perspective on the information inside an article discussing Syria and ISIS:

[…] Obama’s upcoming speech comes as two Americans were murdered and grisly images and stories of the terrorist group needlessly killing enemies have emerged from Iraq and Syria. So far, Americans are not happy with how Obama has addressed the ISIS situation. The CNN/ORC poll shows that only 30% of Americans think that he has a clear plan for dealing with ISIS.

Overall, the President’s approval rating is 43%, while 55% disapprove how he is handling his role as commander in chief. (link)

Setting aside the fact that oddly 30% of Americans think President Obama has a clear plan for dealing with ISIS – after he said last week he did not have a strategy for ISIS – we can only assume 30% of those polled don’t watch or read the news.  I digress…
Occasionally serendipity steps into the room and provides an opportunity to expand on the discussion. This time serendipity is an MRC Study released yesterday which takes an empirical and historical look at media reported polling for President Obama (2014) vs. President Bush (2006). The results are as eye-opening as they are staggering.
(MRC) It’s no secret that television news has long been addicted to public opinion polls; decades ago, all three broadcast networks decided to partner with an influential newspaper (ABC News with the Washington Post; CBS News with the New York Times; and NBC News with the Wall Street Journal) to sponsor their own regular surveys for use in their political coverage. (more…)

AFRICA – The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is distinctly different from any over the last 40 years, several public health officials said Monday, making it far more challenging to control.

As of Friday, 3,944 people had been confirmed infected with Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal since December, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has admitted that it is likely under-counting cases. More than half of the victims have died.
The epidemic is growing exponentially in both Liberia and Sierra Leone, and a WHO doctor was evacuated from Sierra Leone Monday after coming down with the virus, the organization said Monday. The WHO declined to release any details about the sick doctor. (more…)

UPDATE 9/9/14 @4:20pm : Eleven Arrests – MEMPHIS — Eleven teenagers have been arrested and charged in connection with an attack on several people in a grocery store parking lot in Memphis, police said Monday.
The teens, ranging in age from 14 to 19, face charges including aggravated assault and aggravated riot, police said.  Police did not release the names of the boys and girls who were charged after the fight Saturday night outside a Kroger grocery store.
The fight was caught on cellphone video.
They identified the 19-year-old as Raheem Richardson. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer late Monday.  Police said a group of teenagers first attacked a 25-year-old customer as he left his car to enter the store. (read more)
(more…)

Yesterday a picture surfaced showing Dorian Johnson at the scene of the shooting at 1:22pm.  (source)

Is there a way to identify where this photograph was taken?  And who is the guy in the red ?  Is he in any other video(s) ?  (Image Source)
(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 †

Do you remember when President Obama was debating Mitt Romney and he said this:

Well check out the list of advisors attending tonights’ Think Tank dinner:
We are doomed. RT @Bridget_PJM: The let’s-strategize-on-ISIS dinner list tonight, via the White House pic.twitter.com/kJI02cdBhI
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 9, 2014
(more…)

If you wanted to find a copy of the CNN/ORC Poll that Jake Tapper referenced during his Monday evening “The Lead” TV show, good luck.
Young Tapper stated the results of a CNN poll released today were “devastating to [president] Obama“. Apparently Tapper is correct because you won’t find the poll data on any CNN website.
And you won’t find any high visibility mention of it either.
If you dig far enough you’ll find an article on Syria / ISIS that references it, but that’s as far as it goes.  And if you read all the way down the article you find:

[…] Obama’s upcoming speech comes as two Americans were murdered and grisly images and stories of the terrorist group needlessly killing enemies have emerged from Iraq and Syria. So far, Americans are not happy with how Obama has addressed the ISIS situation. The CNN/ORC poll shows that only 30% of Americans think that he has a clear plan for dealing with ISIS.
Overall, the President’s approval rating is 43%, while 55% disapprove how he is handling his role as commander in chief. (link)

BINGO – Now we know why the actual poll data is missing. Candy Crowley must have it under her office cushion.
Nothing to see here folks, move along… move along.

Anyone else find it odd the victim, Janay Palmer (now Mrs. Rice ) has less issue with the offense than the employer? 

Apparently Ray Rice lied to his team ownership about the incident in question where he punched his fiancé.   It appears ‘technically’ his firing is not for his conduct in the incident per se’ but the false statements to his employer about the incident.  Then again, the “morals clause” in his contract would also encompass this action/behavior once the publicity.   Something is just odd with the way this played out.  

Unfortunately, domestic violence -or violence against spouses and partners- is quietly well known within the NFL.  Maybe this incident will have the positive effect of getting some needed attention to the issue.   It just seems odd that Ms. Palmer would marry the guy *after* the incident.

  

(CNSNews.com) – The Baltimore Ravens on Monday fired running back Ray Rice, and he was suspended from the NFL indefinitely after video surfaced Monday showing him punching his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the face in an Atlantic City hotel elevator in February.
At first, security video surfaced only showing Rice dragging Palmer out of the elevator. Rice was arrested and allowed to enter a diversionary program, to avoid jail time. The NFL suspended him for only two games, which touched off a firestorm of controversy.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell changed the league’s personal conduct policy regarding domestic violence or sexual assault in August, saying the first offense would lead to a six-game suspension, followed by an indefinite ban for a second offense. (more…)

The key issue is not that ISIS is using U.S. made weapons.  Given ISIS geographic conquests it would be expected, vis-à-vis Iraq, they were able to capture weapons and armament.     No, it’s the *type* of weapons, specifically boxed M16’s, which identifies the covert shipments to Syria we outlined within the Benghazi Brief.   

In 2012 those small arms were shipped to Syria as a result of President Obama’s authorization.  Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing the financing, Turkey provided an initial storage base near Adana where the nerve center for supporting what became ISIS was set up.   The UN peacekeeper Kofi Annan was pulled out of Syria, and U.S. weapons were poured in.

On September 5th 2012 a Libyan flag ship called Al Entisar docked in the Turkish port of Iskenderun, it carried small arms and rockets from the U.S. originally destined for the Free Syrian Army.  However, by that point the FSA had collapsed and most of the leaders defected to join what is now ISIS.

(Via Raw Story) Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria by Saudi Arabia, according to a report published on Monday.

The study by the London-based small-arms research organisation Conflict Armament Research documented weapons seized by Kurdish forces from militants in Iraq and Syria over a 10-day period in July.

The report said the jihadists disposed of “significant quantities” of US-made small arms including M16 assault rifles and included photos showing the markings “Property of US Govt”. (more…)