Daily Commentary – Wednesday, August 27, 2014 – Whitehouse Sends 3 Officials to Michael Brown’s Funeral

• More officials than they sent to Margaret Thatcher’s funeral

Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 Crashes, 298 Passengers & Crew Dead, Including 23 Americans (Update: Missile Shoots Down Plane)

Malaysia Airline Fight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was traveling at an altitude of 33,000 feet when contact was lost. As reported at Sky News, the plane was said to be  brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile.  The plane crash killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, including children. It is reported that there were 23 Americans listed on the flight manifest; however, there is yet to be confirmation. The victims abord Malaysia Flight MH 17 include nine Britons, the victims included 154 Dutch, 45 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one Canadian.

As pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government traded charges about who was behind the surface-to-air missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines jet with 298 aboard Thursday, Ukraine’s separatist rebels on Friday said they have found “most” of the plane’s recording devices.

The Boeing 777 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down Thursday afternoon at cruising altitude about 35 miles from the border, according to Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister.

Malaysia Airlines originally said there were 280 passengers and a crew of 15 aboard the flight, though it later upped the number of passengers to 283 to account for three infants.

The flight path of Malaysia Arline Flight MH17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down and crashed in Ukraine can be seen at the Business Insider. Read the continual updates from The Guardian of the terrible events.

CNN – VIDEO

CNN – VIDEO

UPDATE I: U.S. official: Missile shot down Malaysia Airlines plane.

A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in a rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, spurring swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that “terrorists” shot down the aircraft.

The United States has concluded a missile shot down the plane, but hasn’t pinpointed who was responsible, a senior U.S. official told CNN’s Barbara Starr.

The Boeing 777 with 298 people aboard fell from the sky near the town of Torez in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, officials said. A top Ukrainian official said the plane, which was on the way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was flying at about 10,000 meters (nearly 33,000 feet) when the missile hit.

D-DAY … 70th Anniversary of Our Greatest Generation Who Sacrificed All for Freedom & Liberty

D-DAY, 70th ANNIVERSARY OF HONORING HEROES …

On June 6, 1944, the D-Day invasion began as Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France that would serve to turn forever World War II. Allied forces landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. So many soldiers lost their lives on that “Longest Day”. The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, was the largest seaborne invasion in history as Allied forces invaded Normandy in Operation Overlord in a counter-offensive against German-occupied western Europe. The Greatest Generation gave their lives for freedom on D-DAY. We honor those that fell and those that lived and took the beaches. These are true heroes, do not ever forget the sacrifices these men made on the beaches of Normandy. God Bless The Greatest Generation and Thank you!

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops.

Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer – June 6, 1944:

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas — whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them–help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

ALLIED FORCED LAND IN FRANCE … ORIGINAL FOOTAGE

D-Day anniversary events around US and abroad.

D-Day anniversary: ‘World-changing’ day remembered

Thousands gather on Normandy shores to recall ‘The Longest Day’

Ronald Reagan- 40th Anniversary of D-Day … “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc”

And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. And these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender’s poem. You are men who in your “lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor.”

Ronald Reagan – Normandy Speech: Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, D-Day 6/6/84

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

We’re bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We’re bound by reality. The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe’s democracies. We were with you then; we’re with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.

Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: “I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.”

Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.

Thank you very much, and God bless you all.

Score One, Make that Six For the Good Guys … British Sniper in Afghanistan Kills Six Taliban Islamists with One Bullet!

NICE!!!

Afghan Taliban Islamist Jeopardy: I will take ‘killing Taliban radical Islamist Muslims’ for $500 Alex. The answer, 6. Alex, that would be how many Taliban Islamists were killed with one British sniper’s bullet Alex. CORRECT!!!  As reported at the Telegraph, a British sniper hit trigger switch of suicide bomber whose device then exploded killing the bomber and 5 others around him.

A British sniper in Afghanistan killed six insurgents with a single bullet after hitting the trigger switch of a suicide bomber whose device then exploded, The Telegraph has learnt.

The 20-year-old marksman, a Lance Corporal in the Coldstream Guards, hit his target from 930 yards (850 metres) away, killing the suicide bomber and five others around him caught in the blast.

The incident in Kakaran in southern Afghanistan happened in December but has only now been disclosed as Britain moves towards the withdrawal of all combat soldiers by the end of the year.

Lt Col Richard Slack, commanding officer of 9/12 Royal Lancers, said the unnamed sharpshooter prevented a major attack by the Taliban, as a second suicide vest packed with 20kg (44lbs) of explosives was found nearby.

The same sniper, with his first shot on the tour of duty, killed a Taliban machine-gunner from 1,465 yards (1,340m).

Madeleine McCann Missing Since May 3, 2007 in Praia da Luz, Portugal … Police Investigating New Suspect Who Assaulted Other Young Girls & Linked to 12 Crimes at Resorts in Portugal

New lead reported by police in the investigation in the disappearance of missing Madeleine McCann …

Could a serial sexual predator been responsible for the disappearance of Maddy McCann? Authorities are saying that they are looking for a man who assaulted five other young British girls on vacation in Portugal.  Police are investigating 12 potentially linked crimes at resorts near where the toddler vanished between 2004 and 2006 by a man describe as being tanned with short, dark, unkempt hair. Three year old Madeleine McCann went missing on May 3, 2007 while on vacation with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

VIDEO – CNN

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are looking for a man who assaulted five other young British girls on vacation in Portugal, London’s Metropolitan Police said Wednesday.

Officers are investigating 12 potentially linked crimes at resorts near where the toddler vanished.

The man, whom witnesses describe as being tanned with short, dark, unkempt hair, is suspected of breaking in to 12 vacation homes where British families were staying in the Algarve between 2004 and 2010.

In four of the incidents, girls between 7 and 10 years of age were sexually assaulted in their beds. On one of these occasions, he assaulted two girls in the same villa, police said. These attacks happened between 2004 and 2006.

Timeline of Madeleine McCann case.

On two occasions the suspect was wearing a burgundy long sleeve top. On one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back.

Similarities and proximity of sexual assaults:

Of the 12 offenses, there were four in Carvoeiro, six in the Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district, and two in Praia da Luz. On two occasions, the noise of a bin collection lorry could be heard nearby.

The man is said to have spoken in English with a foreign accent, and his voice was described as slow, or possibly slurred.

On two occasions the suspect was wearing a burgundy long sleeve top. On one of those occasions it was described as having a white circle on the back.