A Mother's Mercy

[Naga_Fireball]

The darkened waves provide contrast
To the tiny bone white boats they cast
To and fro upon the seas
Bearing frightened refugees

A once bright hope is growing dim
Around it, swelling shadows swim
The compass that was once so sure
Has been by nightfall's hands obscured
It points a certain way no more.

Out, out, goes the world's great light!
Away, away, the brief delight
Of a winsome dream so many shared
The beacon toward which so many dared
Brave the night that falls so swiftly
And falling with it, scales a tilting

Justice, Justice, queen no more
The mercy that once lit our shores
Has knelt at last to unknown mores
Her wisdom doused by an evil chorus
Poisoning the hearts of men
And darkness blinds them to the sin.

And finally, the tired bark
Seeking vainly Freedom's spark
To the waves her souls commit
Without once having tasted it

And in spite of the flaming tongues of hate,
Upon her shores the waves abate
And bearing witness, crying softly
Mother earth receives their bodies

Where human tongues refuse to sing
Mother earth's silent record rings.

[Naga_Fireball]

Apparently there was an operation in Yemen, cnn saying it was planned during Obama admin but executed during Trump’s,

The President has gone to Dover AFB to honor Chief Petty Officer William Ryan Owens, a Navy SEAL who died from battle injuries sustained during said raid, as personnel formally receive the bodies.

Typically a president does not attend these, according to CNN, but President Trump demonstrates a profound acknowledgement of responsibility by doing so.

The readers here may recall that Dover has suffered its share of negative press regarding the honor with which remains are handled.

Personally I am grateful he & family attended.

Trump, in an unannounced visit, will mark the somber occasion by partaking in the dignified transfer ceremony to honor Owens.

Trump approved the operation, which had been in the planning stages for months under President Barack Obama.

Presidents don't often attend dignified transfer ceremonies. Obama attended several of these ceremonies, including in 2011 after a US-Afghan joint raid resulted in the deaths of 38 US and Afghani troops.

Unfortunately however a child also died in the raid.

Owens was the only US service member to die in the operation, which killed an estimated 14 al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula members. The raid also resulted in the death of the 8-year-old daughter of former al Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US citizen who was killed in a drone strike in 2011.

Those familiar with the comic series Preacher may recall the character Herr Starr, a special forces operative for a para Christian cult. His most formative moment occurs during a raid on a parked passenger aircraft being held by terrorists.

A small girl is killed during the raid, half of her face shot away. One of the other operatives sees Starr holding the body after the firefight is over, mistaking the emotion on Starr's face for pity.

"I see here the face of chaos," Starr retorts, approximately. "We fight against chaos, and to win that battle I'd kill a million little girls."

He ends up assassinating his way to the top of the order and narrowly misses causing world war 3.

[Naga_Fireball]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/us/statut ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Statue of Liberty goes dark, lights up -- and the symbolism is not lost
By Mirtha Donastorg, CNN

Updated 8:27 AM ET, Wed March 8, 2017


It turned out that the nation's most famous giant green lady went dark due to repair work from damage caused by, perhaps fittingly, a female tempest -- Hurricane Sandy. According to a statement from the National Park Service, it was a "temporary, unplanned outage."