I'm Not...

U.S.-backed fighters liberated a strategic Syrian city from the Islamic State after weeks of intense fighting and coalition bombing.  Joyous residents of Manbij poured into the streets.  Men shaved their beards, and women could walk outside without face coverings for the first time in years.

Manbij was the main processing center for foreign fighters coming to join the Islamic State and also a place where terrorists were sent to carry out operations outside the region.
U.S. intelligence officials are analyzing thousands of items captured as  militants were fleeing the city in recent weeks.

The battle was a test for the newly formed Syrian Democratic Forces, a collection of Kurdish and Arab forces organized to battle the Islamic State. The force is being advised by U.S. Special Operations Forces and supported by coalition airstrikes.

Opposition forces in Syria have captured about 20% of the territory controlled by the Islamic State at its peak last year. Progress has been faster in neighboring Iraq, where Iraqi forces have retaken at least 45% of the territory held by the Islamic State.

Earlier this year, the White House authorized the Pentagon to send several hundred additional U.S. personnel to help organize and advise the opposition forces in Syria.

So one fraction of terrorists is being defeated, are we supporting their New Replacement?

Who will rebuild Syria?  And who will pay for it?       Just a thought.

Pay to Play?

USA Today.

The Kiss..

USA Today.

Race to..

[USA Today]

The Naked Truth.

Gary Earl Johnson is an American businessman, politician and the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Libertarian Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election.

Johnson announced his candidacy for president on April 21, 2011, as a Republican, on a libertarian platform emphasizing the United States public debt and a balanced budget in the federal government, protection of civil liberties, military non-interventionism, his advocacy of the FairTax and opposition to the War on Drugs.

 On January 6, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for the Libertarian nomination in 2016,^[5] and in May he selected former Republican Governor of Massachusetts William Weld as his running mate. On May 29, 2016, Johnson won the Libertarian nomination on the second ballot with 55.8% of the delegates.

Johnson outlined his non-interventionist foreign policy thinking as well, arguing against military campaigns with "unintended consequences" that make the world "less safe." He also voiced concern about the dozens of treaties "where we are obligated to defend [other countries'] borders, and none of those treaties have been authorized by Congress."

This is only the beginning.  Just a thought.

I'm With Jill

Power to the People Plan:

 Jobs as a Right:

End Poverty:

Health Care as a Right:

Education as a Right:

A Just Economy:

Protect Mother Earth:

Racial Justice Now:

Freedom and Equality:

Justice for All:

Peace and Human Rights:

Some like it...

With about 100 million Americans under heat alerts, the steamy weather is giving the much-maligned pests a reason to spread their wings and fly.

Entomologists and bug experts say conditions are ripe for the domesticated versions of the brown-colored bugs to get active, including taking to the air.

Because of the extreme heat, they may be trying to find a more comfortable place in which to live, like every body else.. That is, they are on the move to find a better, cooler place. High temperature cause insects to use up a lot of energy.

Their development also depends on ambient temperature. So it is conceivable that they are more active in this current, very hot summer. 

If you see some flying, you know the reason.

Spiral...Reverse part 2

Spiral..

You’d think things would have gone swimmingly for the all-time Olympic gold medal holder, Michael Phelps. But they didn’t.

Phelps carried the American flag during the opening ceremonies on August 5, 2016. Then he added more gold medals to his impressive lifetime total.

As Phelps told ESPN, following his announced retirement in 2012, he struggled to “figure out who he was outside the pool.” In his words, “I was a train wreck. I was like a time bomb, waiting to go off. I had no self-esteem, no self-worth. There were times where I didn’t want to be here. It was not good. I felt lost.”    He self-medicated or kept it to himself.

In the immediate aftermath of that DUI arrest, he cut himself off from family and other loved ones and “thought the world would just be better off without me . . . I figured that was the best thing to do, just end my life.”

A former All Pro linebacker Ray Lewis, whom Phelps considers a kind of “older brother.” Seeing the hopelessness and despair in his young friend, Lewis, an outspoken Christian, told him, “This is when we fight . . . This is when real character shows up. Don’t shut down.

Lewis convinced Phelps to enter rehab and gave him a book to read while he was there: “The Purpose-Driven Life” by Rick Warren.

The book changed Phelps’ life. Within a few days, Phelps called Lewis an told him, man. "You saved my life.’”  The book convinced Phelps to reconcile with his father from whom he had been estranged for more than two decades. Upon seeing each other, they embraced.

Michael Phelps’ story is a reminder that no matter how big a mess your life may be, and no matter how dim the last embers of hope may glow, God is still there.  Just a thought. 

Gone wrong??

WikiLeaks, the controversial transparency organization that publishes classified government documents and other confidential materials, is fueling Internet conspiracy theories by offering a $20,000 reward for information on a Democratic National Committee staffer who was killed last month.

Seth Rich, a 27-year-old data analyst at the DNC, was shot and killed early one Sunday morning in what police say was robbery gone wrong. He was killed while walking home in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood that has seen a recent uptick in crime.

Rich's murder quickly became a fascination of right-wing conspiracy theorists, including longtime informal Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, who told NBC News that he has been in contact with WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange.

Asked about the reward, WikiLeaks said in a statement, "We treat threats toward any suspected source of WikiLeaks with extreme gravity. This should not be taken to imply that Seth Rich was a source to WikiLeaks or to imply that his murder is connected to our publication.

Looking for more information.  Just a thought.