ON THE night of June 3rd–4th 1989 the Chinese army unleashed its tanks in the centre of Beijing to crush a protest that had begun seven weeks earlier against the Communist Party’s autocratic rule.

Ever since, Chinese officials grow nervous in the run-up to the anniversary of the crackdown. This year they are especially jittery, fearful that the symbolic passage of a quarter of a century might encourage some dissidents to be more daring than usual in their public remembrance of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were killed.

Security forces around the country are on heightened alert, particularly in Tiananmen Square, the plaza that has become synonymous with the unrest. (more…)

Army Sgt. Evan Buetow, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s former team leader, tells Jake Tapper that following Bergdahl’s capture by the Taliban, attacks on US forces were “far more directed”.   Proof that Bergdahl was actively seeking out the Taliban were earlier radio interceptions telling them that Bergdahl was looking for someone who spoke English so he could talk to the Taliban.

Watch the clip below via CNN:  (You may have to turn the volume up.)

(Mediate)…In an appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper on Tuesday, former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s team leader on the night he disappeared from his base in Afghanistan, asserted that he had access to radio intercepts which indicated that Bergdahl actively sought out the Taliban. Following Bergdahl’s capture, Buetow alleged, the Taliban’s attacks on Americans became “far more directed.”

Buetow told CNN that, within days of Bergdahl’s disappearance, military teams monitoring radio communications intercepted radio chatter and telephonic communication which indicated that an American was searching for Taliban members who spoke English.

“When we heard that, it told us, okay, he’s actively seeking out the Taliban,” Buetow said. “And, yes, over the next couple of months, all the attacks were far more directed.”

(more…)

Progressives love to drag you down in the muck and begin a slugfest of obfuscation.   They are working diligently to attach the (Defense Authorization Act) ie “Congressional Notification Law”, to the right of the President to take action.

Don’t fall for it.    These are two entirely separate and distinct issues.

The law is specifically clear.   The President must notify congress.  Period.

There is nothing within the notification law which impedes his ability to act on a release itself.   They are two separate aspects.

The President has the authority to release GITMO detainees based on his own considerations.   However, he has the legal responsibility to notify congress 30 days prior to doing so. He did not.

(more…)

(Via CBS) Questions persisted, too, about the circumstances of Bergdahl’s 2009 capture. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to comment on earlier reports that the sergeant had walked away from his unit, disillusioned with the war. Such matters “will be dealt with later,” Hagel said.

Hagel, visiting troops in Afghanistan, was met with silence when he told a group of them in a Bagram Air Field hangar:

“This is a happy day. We got one of our own back.”

It was unclear whether the absence of cheers and applause came from a reluctance to display emotion in front of the Pentagon chief or from any doubts among the troops about Bergdahl.  (link)

Apparently the left-wing Seattle Moonbats did not pause in their march for social justice to ask or evaluate SeaTac, a suburb of Seattle, where their $15 wage began earlier this year.    Here’s a brief snippet of some conversation with a SeaTac employee:

SURPRISE !  15 minutes south of Seattle, near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, employees are already seeing the negative effects of such a hike. A February report from the Seattle Times revealed:

At the Clarion Hotel off International Boulevard, a sit-down restaurant has been shuttered, though it might soon be replaced by a less-labor-intensive cafe…

Other businesses have adjusted in ways that run the gamut from putting more work in the hands of managers, to instituting a small “living-wage surcharge” for a daily parking space near the airport.

That’s not all. According to Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, some employees are feeling the pinch as employers cut benefits. She recalls a conversation she had with two hotel employees who have been affected by the wage hike: (more…)

…. to teach the MSM what it means to ask direct questions.

Watch 16-year-old wolverine ask Pelosi why she supports NSA mass surveillance of American citizen’s communication:

*Update Below Fold* – Many are noting the inherent issues of the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap, and there are indeed many issues:  The non-consultation with congress; The ideology behind Robert Bergdahl;  The desertion from duty of then PFC Bowe Bergdahl;  The probability of the terrorists returning to attack Americans;   The various contradictions stemming from the White House, State Dept and Military; and perhaps more concerning the precedent now established for the U.S. actually negotiating with terrorists etc.

However, not withstanding -nor diminishing- all of those issues, another hits a deeper resonance.   If you give the benefit of all considerations and doubt to the administration, there’s one question they are neither being asked, nor have they reasonably stated.

Why make everything about the release, swap, exchange, so public ?

What was gained by such publicity in a weekend Rose Garden speech?  What policy was improved?  What military or foreign policy benefitted from telling the entire world what was happening, when it was happening, and how we did it?

It is entirely possible for the release to have assured and delivered without all of the publicity surrounding it.   Bowe Bergdahl’s release could have been done quietly, with press release and WH communication after the event.   Why was it considered a better course to put on such a public display?   What exactly was the benefit?

Some brave journalist should put those simple questions to the administration, and keep asking why ?   Then find out who made the decision. (more…)

(Via Right Scoop) The first and most obvious comment from Bowe Bergdahl’s father, Bob Bergdahl, was at the White House presser on Saturday. Walid Shoebat and company put this video together that shows us a couple of things.

First, what’s been said to be an Islamic greeting is in fact the most famous war cry of Islam called the “Bismillah” or the “Basmallah”. It sounds like this: “bismillah al-rahman al-rahim” which means in Arabic “in the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful.”

Walid Shoebat says this about it:

The “Basmallah” is the Islamic expression for victory and only indicates that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s father is a Muslim. …When one gives the basmallah, trims his mustache and elongates his beard, its the first sign of a convert to Islam.

Now watch the video they put together and notice Obama grins ear to ear when he hears the “Basmallah”:

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