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ISIS/ISIL released a video showing Jordanian Lt. pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned alive. The video shows him being doused and surrounded by lines drawn in the sand with flammable liquid, which are then ignited, causing him to burst into flames.

Now, Jordan has executed two convicts, including a female jihadist, following the killing of the pilot. The woman, failed suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, and al Qaeda operative Ziyad Karboli — both Iraqi nationals — were hanged at dawn.

This is the wrong approach and will lead to greater violence. Instead of going after the terror organization itself, they took the ‘easy route’ by executing the prisoners, which will simply be seen as a ‘revenge killing,’ by all radical Islamists.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Senator leader Harry Reid is back on the Senate floor, a week after surgery to remove a blood clot in his right eye and repair bones in his face.  Reid walked without help to the podium, accepted a handshake from the Majority Leader and thanked his colleagues for their well-wishes.

Meanwhile, back in his home state of Nevada, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is looking into possible corruption after an extortion attempt at the state level. Assemblyman Chris Edwards of Las Vegas claims he was asked to change his vote for Assembly speaker in November.

Detectives served a search warrant at the home of Rob Lauer looking for recordings between Edwards and Lauer, and affidavits and other documents that allege unlawful or unethical actions committed by Edwards. Lauer says police confiscated both his cell phone and computer.

Lauer, a veteran’s advocate, applied for an Assembly seat vacated after Assemblyman Wes Duncan took a position in the state attorney general’s office. Lauer wasn’t selected for the post.

Multiple individuals continue to be questioned including Assemblyman Brent Jones, also of Las Vegas, though it isn’t clear if the visit was related to the probe. So far, no one has been arrested or charged with any crimes.

A decorated veteran with 25-years in the U.S. Navy, Edwards was elected to District 19 after the incumbent Cresent Hardy decided to run for Congress, unseating Congressman Stephen Horsford. Edwards is a part of the moderate wing of the state’s GOP.

After ISIS/ISIL released a video showing terrorists lighting a Jordanian pilot on fire, our president contrasted his death and the destruction of group with the ‘benefits’ of Obamacare, which he claimed makes ‘people healthier’ and ‘their lives better.’

“We’re here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better, and this organization appears only interested in death and destruction,” he said.

Obama’s an out-of-touch nut job!

Patrick Creek Campground is where Patrick Creek and the middle fork of Smith River meet about seven miles east of Gasquet in Del Norte County, California. It is one of the places we used to go on family outings when I was a kid.

The campground has steps, rock walls, restrooms and sunken campfire circles built-in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. There is no electricity, water or sewer hookups making it a rustic place to spend the night.

Dad wasn’t known to wade into cold water above his knees because of injuries sustained in the Korean War; they would begin to ache and swell making walking hard. Also in the water is Deirdre, who appears to be dunking Adam under water.

When Adam turned nine-years-old, he asked to have a party at Patrick Creek. This is him opening one of his presents — a Big Jim Camping Set. I was jealous, because I wanted one too, but at 12, I was too old for such a toy.

This me with an inner-tube in hand on the bank opposite from our campsite. We always camped in the same spot, year-to-year.

Adam was our family’s ‘class clown,’ doing whatever he could to stir-the-pot from imitating John Wayne to threatening to splash whom ever was taking the picture. Nearby is Deirdre, possibly chasing a fish, while Marcy is wondering along the far bank.

Ever the ‘momma-bear,’ Mom is again shouting instructions to one of us kids. (Not me this time as I’m taking the picture.) Maybe it was to Marcy — who may have wondered to far from the campsite.

Eventually, Dad would zone out, fall asleep and snore, sounding like a freight train in a canyon, letting nothing bother him.  No wonder Mom was always hollering at us kids.

How I miss those days.

The idea of net neutrality is that all Internet traffic is equal — whether it’s a movie streaming from Netflix or a Tweet and is to be treated the same by Internet Service Providers (IPS’s.) But a current proposal could allow the federal government to become the gatekeepers of cyberspace.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to recommend regulating Internet service like a public utility. This would reclassify high-speed Internet service as a telecommunications service, instead of an information service, under Title II of the Communications Act .

The change, pushed by President Obama, would give the federal government the authority to make sure that content is not blocked and no so-called pay-to-play fast lanes exist. However Texas Senator Ted Cruz calls the president’s plan, “Obamacare for the Internet.”

That’s because Title II was meant for the bygone era of telephone service monopoly. It wasn’t intended to be applied to services not characterized by monopoly, like Internet access.

Wheeler insists that “a light-touch approach” would be used, instead of directly regulating pricing decisions. He also suggests putting wireless data services under Title II and adding regulations for companies that manage the backbone of the Internet.

One study released in December 2014 shows consumers could pay an extra $84 per year if IPS’s are regulated like public utilities. This is because they would be forced to give to state and federal programs that seek to make sure access to telecommunication services.

A vote on the proposal by the full commission is scheduled for February 26.

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” — George Orwell

The White House insists the Taliban isn’t a terrorist organization, but the Treasury Department designates it as such and it’s well known that Taliban engages in acts of terror. It’s a question White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest tried to explain after his deputy spokesman, Eric Schultz claimed the Taliban is an “armed insurgency” while the Islamic State is a “terrorist group.”

“They have a classification that does allow us to pursue financial sanctions against them,” he added. “And that is different than an organization like Al Qaida that has a much broader global aspiration to carry out acts of violence and acts of terror against Americans and American interests all around the globe.”

The issue came up after the White House insisted a prisoner exchange between Jordan and ISIS/ISIL is different from the one it made last year with the Taliban to gain the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

But the White House isn’t the only one on a ‘word-ban’ kick as Al Jazeera English executive Carlos van Meek is prohibiting journalists from using words like “terrorist,” “Islamist,” “extremists,” and “jihad.”

Van Meek suggests reporter use words like “fighters and “militants,” but only in certain conditions.

“For example,” he writes in a memo, “we can use the term (militant) to describe Norwegian mass-killer Andres Behring Breivik or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.”

Furthermore, The Oxford University Press is warning its writers not to mention “pigs,” “sausages” or “pork-related words,” in children’s books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Muslims.  The existence of the publisher’s guidelines emerged after a radio discussion on free speech in the wake of the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

And finally, City University of New York’s graduate school is banning the titles “Mr.” and “Ms.” from official written communication.  The decision came as part of an “ongoing effort to ensure a respectful, welcoming and gender-inclusive learning environment … and to accommodate properly the diverse population of current and prospective students.”

Orwell is spinning in his grave and we’re locking the door to ‘Room 101,’ behind us.

This can be eaten as a dessert by topping with honey or powdered sugar, etc., or for a main dish by topping with taco ingredients.

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tbs. powdered milk
1½ cups warm water
1 cup shortening
Extra flour to flour your hands

Directions:

Put flour in bowl, add baking powder, salt and powdered milk. Mix.
Mix in warm water to form dough.
Cover hands in flour.
Knead dough by hand until soft but not sticky. Cover with a cloth and let stand for 15 minutes.
Shape dough into balls about two inches across then flatten by patting and stretching the dough.
Melt shortening about an inch deep in frying pan. When hot put dough in pan. Fry one side till golden brown, then turn and fry the other side.

The S.S. Donbass III began its life as a lend-lease tanker, launched at Kaiser Ship Building, in Portland, Oregon. The ‘T-2’ was nearly identical to all the other tankers that served as oilers in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Tankers of this type were constructed similar to the Liberty Ship and both were considered weak in the keel. They were known to break in half under the right conditions and were even referred to as ‘Kaiser Coffins’ for this reason.

Originally named S.S. Beacon Rock when launched in 1944, she was given to the Russian Navy that same year and renamed. Her main role was transporting fuel from the U.S.’s west coast, through the Bering and Okhotsk Seas and the Sea of Japan to Vladivostok, Russia.

Several U.S. Nay ships were ordered to proceed to the Aleutian Islands, near Adak, Alaska in February 1944. When they got there, they found the bow section of the vessel still afloat with six survivors aboard after encountering a gale and breaking in two.

The Navy tried to get the stranded crew of the dying ship, but they refused aid until the Soviet ship, Belgorod, arrived and took them aboard and towed the section of remaining vessel away. The bow was later scrapped.

The aft section was located and assisted by the American tanker S.S. Puente Hills, which removed another 23 crew members including a woman, before towing it to Port Angeles, Washington with another 20 crew members aboard.

Eventually the U.S. Maritime Commission sold it to Pacific Power & Electric for $125,000, after the company learned the engineering section with its GE turbine-generator, was still working. PG&E towed the section to Eureka, California and beached so it could serve as a power plant, providing Eureka with five-megawatts of power following World War II.

It was dismantled about ten-years later after a new power-plant was built to serve the city and surrounding area.

The Soviets named the vessel after the Donbass region of eastern and southern Ukraine. A coal mining area since the late 19th century, it has become a heavily industrialized territory.

In March 2014, large swaths of the Donbass region became gripped by unrest. This grew into a war between pro-Russian separatists affiliated with the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the post-revolutionary Ukrainian government.

The planned roundup of 332 wild horses in Nevada’s Pine Nut Mountains is on hold until late February. ‘Protect Mustangs’ and ‘Friends of Animals’ filed a lawsuit alleging the Bureau of Land Management failed to prepare an environmental assessment as required and didn’t provide adequate public notice of its plans.

The lawsuit also alleges the government has ignored studies showing the fertility control drug PZP alters horse behavior as well as the birthing cycle. The BLM planned to gather all but 132 horses from ranges south of Dayton and east of Carson City and Gardnerville.

Of the 132 to be captured and released — all 66 mares would have received a 22-month treatment of the vaccine to prevent future reproduction.

The BLM contends an overpopulation of horses in the area has damaged the range, including valuable sage grouse habitat, and reduced availability of native forage grasses needed to support a healthy horse population. The agency will likely proceed with other wild horse gathers planned near Tonopah and Battle Mountain in the meantime.

Apple reported a huge net profit in its fiscal first quarter, topping the nearly $16 billion made by ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012. Record sales of iPhones were behind the surge in profits.

NBC’s Brian Williams put it this way: “The richest company in the world is Apple to the tune of the most profitable quarter of any company ever — a new record — $18 billion in profits in one quarter. Cash on hand, including investments, $178 billion. No other company even comes close.”

But then he added, “It’s enough money to give every American $556, though they have no plans to do so. Their business model, you see, only works the other way around.”

Evidently, Williams believes a company which makes a profit should give that money away to people who did nothing to earn it. This isn’t the first time he’s tried to ‘take-down’ the tech giant or the U.S. Constitution.

In December 2012, he sat down with Apple CEO Tim Cook, where Williams wondered why the company couldn’t be a “made-in-America company.” He went so far as outlining a political scenario where President Obama was all-powerful.

“Let’s say our Constitution was a little different and Barack Obama called you in tomorrow and said, ‘Get everybody out of China and do whatever you have to do, make these, make everything you make in the United States.’ What would that do to the price of this device?” Williams asked.

Cook changed the argument.

“Honestly, it’s not so much about price it’s about the skills, et cetera,” Cook responded. “Over time, there are skills that are associated with manufacturing that have left the U.S. Not necessarily people, but the education system stopped producing them.”

Two years of free college ought to fix this. Not!