WASHINGTON—At a closed-door gathering of Gulf states in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Arab counterparts all signaled agreement on one thing for the first time: Islamist forces seizing territory in Syria and Iraq had become a regionwide menace that can't be ignored.Still more.
What they didn't agree on was what to do about it, U.S. officials said.The fall this week of the Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikrit to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham rebel group shows how the insurgent threat is outpacing the response and posing a challenge to President Barack Obama's approach of limiting U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.
The quickly unfolding drama prompted a White House meeting Wednesday of top policy makers and military leaders who were caught off guard by the swift collapse of Iraqi security forces, officials acknowledged. State Department and Pentagon officials have long warned about ISIS's desire to create an Islamic state based in the Sunni-dominated parts of Iraq and Syria.
Now, current and former officials say Washington's options for helping the Iraqi army fight back are limited—both because the threat in Iraq is so entrenched and because the U.S. hasn't invested in building up moderate allies on the Syrian side of the border.
U.S. military leaders said they had thought that Iraqi security forces' efforts would be enough to slow ISIS's advance. But those assumptions were proven wrong when Iraqi troops largely abandoned their posts. The loss of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, was a strategic blow and the U.S. doubts the Iraqi military will be able to take it back soon, the officials said.
Top State Department officials long argued that the civil war in Syria was the root cause of ISIS's rise because it gave them a haven in which to operate and recruit. They said the U.S. won't make headway unless ISIS is contained on both sides of the porous Iraqi-Syrian border.
Pentagon officials believe that Baghdad is unlikely to fall under the current onslaught because it is a heavily-guarded stronghold of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. But they noted that other Sunni extremist groups, like the remnants of the vanquished Sunni Baathist movement, have allied themselves with ISIS, adding to their power and building on its momentum.
Recent events in Iraq show the potential risks of the administration's foreign policy approach. In a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last month, Mr. Obama outlined a policy that favors a lighter U.S. military footprint and, where possible, calls for regional allies to take the lead in fighting terrorist threats in their backyards, so American troops don't have to.
But allies have grown to expect the U.S. to take the lead in counterterrorism efforts around the world, officials say, particularly in the Gulf. "Are they willing to step up?" a senior U.S. official said. "It is possible we are victims of our own leadership."
Thursday, June 12, 2014
#Iraq Drama Catches U.S. Off Guard
At WSJ, "The Quickly Unfolding Drama Prompted a White House Meeting Wednesday of Top Policy Makers and Military Leaders":
Civil Rights Groups Allege Mistreatment of Illegal Aliens Warehoused in Arizona
Yeah, well, I'm just all torn up about this.
At Fox News, "Civil Rights Groups File Complaint Alleging Over 100 Cases of Child Abuse On the Border."
It's the ACLU, among others, so you can see what this is all about.
And at Poor Richard's, "Obama is Using a Cloward-Piven Scheme to Collapse Immigration System with Thousands of Children."
At Fox News, "Civil Rights Groups File Complaint Alleging Over 100 Cases of Child Abuse On the Border."
It's the ACLU, among others, so you can see what this is all about.
And at Poor Richard's, "Obama is Using a Cloward-Piven Scheme to Collapse Immigration System with Thousands of Children."
'We Could Be Witnessing the Start of a Long Civil War...'
An outstanding report, from NBC's Richard Engel:
And at Telegraph UK, "Iraq at risk of civil war as al-Qaeda-led uprising pushes to within striking distance of Baghdad."
And at Telegraph UK, "Iraq at risk of civil war as al-Qaeda-led uprising pushes to within striking distance of Baghdad."
Helicopters on the Roof — #Iraq
From Mark Steyn.
And see Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "As militants advance in Iraq, U.S. Embassy in Baghdad readies evacuation."
US Embassy in Baghdad readies for its Saigon moment - for the helicopters on the roof, and the executions of the "friends" they left behind.
— Mark Steyn (@MarkSteynOnline) June 12, 2014And see Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "As militants advance in Iraq, U.S. Embassy in Baghdad readies evacuation."
#Democrat Congresswoman Jackie Speier: Taliban Not Terrorists, 'Part of the Fabric of Afghanistan...'
I saw parts of this clip on O'Reilly yesterday, and "facepalm" just doesn't quite capture the astonishment.
This woman is a United States Representative?
From Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Dem Rep.: Taliban aren’t ‘terrorists,’ they’re ‘part of the fabric of Afghanistan’."
This woman is a United States Representative?
From Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Dem Rep.: Taliban aren’t ‘terrorists,’ they’re ‘part of the fabric of Afghanistan’."
Doe-Eyed Jen Psaki: ISIS in #Iraq and Syria 'Entirely Different Situations'
Well, folks thought she was on the way out there for a bit, but bless her heart she still has jaws dropping all over Foggy Bottom.
Jennifer Garner Cancels Family Summer Vacation After Latest Ben Affleck Gambling Meltdown
The dude got kicked out of Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino in Windsor, Ontario.
No casino wants him, apparently. He's a card-counter.
At London's Daily Mail, "Ben Affleck hit by claims he was kicked out of ANOTHER casino... as 'Jennifer Garner is fed up with his gambling'."
She's a smokin' babe.
No casino wants him, apparently. He's a card-counter.
At London's Daily Mail, "Ben Affleck hit by claims he was kicked out of ANOTHER casino... as 'Jennifer Garner is fed up with his gambling'."
She's a smokin' babe.
Lupe Fiasco Doubles-Down, No Regrets for Slamming Obama as the 'Biggest Terrorist'
Well, there remain a few courageous folks out there in entertainment la-la land. The dude was basically blacklisted.
At Politico, "Lupe Fiasco: No regret for ‘terrorist’ line."
At Politico, "Lupe Fiasco: No regret for ‘terrorist’ line."
Eric Cantor's Home Style — #VA07
An outstanding piece, from Sean Trende, at RealClearPolitics, "What Cantor's Loss and Graham's Win Mean":
In his political science classic, “Home Style: House Members in Their Districts,” Richard Fenno hypothesized that members of Congress have three goals: re-election, power in Washington, and enacting policy preferences. To pursue the second two goals, a member must achieve the first, and to do that, he or she must adopt a style that suits the district. If these images are not consistently reinforced, the incumbent will have trouble. Crucially, Fenno notes that the adoption of an effective home style involves a two-way communication process: Telling the constituents about oneself, but also listening to constituents. With the benefit of hindsight, we can probably apply this model to explain most of the Tea Party wins and losses over the past few years.
I have yet to read anything suggesting that Cantor had a good home style. His staff is consistently described as aloof, and his constituent service is lacking. This is consistent with my experience. Anecdotes are not data, but after passage of the Affordable Care Act, I called his office with a question about what autism therapies for my son would now be covered (I lived in Cantor’s district for six years). I never heard back. This surprised me, as constituent questions rarely go unanswered. I never once saw Cantor, not at county fairs, not at school board meetings, and not in the parades that would sometimes march past our house (we lived on a major thoroughfare). This isn’t to say that Cantor never did these things, only that they weren’t frequent enough to register; he wasn’t the stereotypical Southern politician whose face showed up at every event.
In short, Cantor seemed more focused on the second and third goals of a politician -- power and policy -- to the detriment of the first. I am guessing he didn’t realize he might have a problem until he was booed at a district meeting a month ago. If he’d run scared, the result might well have been different. But he didn’t, and he lost. This is really the big-picture message for GOP incumbents. You don’t have to remake yourself into a Tea Partier. But you do have to care.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Rallies Shiite Militias to Defend Iraqi Government
Well, he's gonna have to rally something.
At Bloomberg, "Maliki Turns to Militias to Halt al-Qaeda Onslaught."
At Bloomberg, "Maliki Turns to Militias to Halt al-Qaeda Onslaught."
Pragmatism, Obama and the #Bergdahl Swap
From Caroline Glick, at the Jerusalem Post:
Keep reading.
For nearly six years, Obama and his supporters have managed to fend off allegations that his foreign policy is even more ideological – and far more radical – than Bush’s by channeling the public’s aversion to pie-in-the-sky rhetoric and obfuscating facts.
US President Barack Obama is an artist of political propaganda. Both his greatest admirers and his most vociferous opponents agree that his ability to manipulate public opinion has no peer in American politics today.
So how can we explain the fiasco that is his decision not only to swap five senior Taliban terror masters for US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but to take ownership over the decision by presenting it to the American people in a ceremony with Bergdahl’s parents at the White House Rose Garden? Clearly Obama overreached. He misread the public’s disposition.
This much is made clear by the immediate criticism his actions received from the liberal media. It wasn’t just Fox News and National Review that said Obama broke the law when he failed to notify Congress of the swap 30 days prior to its implementation.
It was CNN and NBC News.
MSNBC commentators criticized the swap. And CNN interviewed Bergdahl’s platoon mates who to a man accused him of desertion, with many alleging as well that he collaborated with the enemy. It was CNN that gave the names of the six American soldiers who died trying to rescue Bergdahl from the Taliban.
What was it about the Bergdahl trade tipped the scales? Why is this decision different from Obama’s other foreign policy decisions? For instance, why is the public outraged now when it wasn’t outraged in the aftermath of the jihadist assault on US installations in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, in which US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered? Politically, Obama emerged unscathed from failures in every area he has engaged. From Iraq to Iran to Syria to Libya to Russia and beyond, he has never experienced the sort of across the board condemnation he is now suffering. His political allies and media supporters always rallied to his side. They always explained away his failures.
So what explains the outcry? Why are people like Senator Dianne Feinstein, who have been supportive of Obama’s nuclear appeasement of Iran, up in arms over the Bergdahl swap? There are three aspects of the Bergdahl deal that distinguish it from the rest of Obama’s foreign policy blunders....
Obama’s success in getting away with serial foreign policy failures, and his success in hiding the radical ideological basis of his decisions has always owed to his supporters’ ability to plausibly deny both the failures and the ideological motivation for his actions.
His Rose Garden announcement made such spin all but impossible. Americans are not particularly interested in foreign policy. But there are a few things that they won’t buy.
They won’t buy that a man who comes to the White House sporting a Taliban beard and praising Allah in Arabic is a normal American father.
They won’t buy spin that describes a deserter as an exemplary soldier.
They don’t want to free five senior terrorists and mass murderers in order to buy Bergdahl’s release.
In believing that the public would side with him and Bergdahl and Bergdahl’s dad against critics of the deal, Obama showed that for all his propaganda prowess, he doesn’t understand the public...
Keep reading.
Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: 'In the Middle East, the United States Is Now In its Weakest Position Since 1945...'
Lt. Col. Peters on the O'Reilly Factor earlier, via the Right Scoop, "Ralph Peters: The US is weakest in the Middle East since 1945, Al Qaeda is stronger than ever."
"The jihadis are winning..."
"The jihadis are winning..."
30,000 Iraqi soldiers in #Mosul could not stop 800 fighters from the Islamic State. This is truly Allahs Rahmah #ISIS pic.twitter.com/E9KXeoABM4
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 12, 2014Obama Turned Down Requests for Airstrikes in #Iraq
Following up from earlier, "Iraq Signals Openness to U.S. Airstrikes Against al Qaeda, U.S. Officials Say."
Now at the New York Times, "Iraq Said to Seek U.S. Strikes on Militants":
Now at the New York Times, "Iraq Said to Seek U.S. Strikes on Militants":
WASHINGTON — As the threat from Sunni militants in western Iraq escalated last month, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas, according to Iraqi and American officials.
But Iraq’s appeals for military assistance have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was over when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.
The swift capture of Mosul by militants aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has underscored how the conflicts in Syria and Iraq have converged into one widening regional insurgency with fighters coursing back and forth through the porous border between the two countries. But it has also called attention to the limits the White House has imposed on the use of American power in an increasingly violent and volatile region.
Iraq Signals Openness to U.S. Airstrikes Against al Qaeda, U.S. Officials Say
At the Wall Street Journal:
Right, that was the lie Obama used to justify regime change in Libya, the lie by which Democrats sought to differentiate themselves from the reviled Bush regime. Total hypocrites.
The Democrats have tied themselves up in knots on national security policy. Bad things are happening, and they're happening one right after another.
It's literally a nightmare.
The Islamic State in #Iraq and #Levant capture Black Hawk choppers from the Iraqi #army in Mosul (RT @ghazishami): pic.twitter.com/vvdkuNqf17
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 10, 2014WASHINGTON—Iraq has privately signaled to the Obama administration that it would allow the U.S. to conduct airstrikes with drones or manned aircraft against al Qaeda militant targets on Iraqi territory, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.Remember that, "kinetic" military action?
The Obama administration is considering a number of options, including the possibility of providing "kinetic support" for the Iraqi military fighting al Qaeda rebels who seized two major cities north of Baghdad this week, according to a senior U.S. official who added that no decisions have been made.
Officials declined to say whether the U.S. would consider conducting airstrikes with drones or manned aircraft.
Iraq has long asked the U.S. to provide it with drones that could be used in such strikes, but Washington has balked at supplying them, officials said.
Right, that was the lie Obama used to justify regime change in Libya, the lie by which Democrats sought to differentiate themselves from the reviled Bush regime. Total hypocrites.
The Democrats have tied themselves up in knots on national security policy. Bad things are happening, and they're happening one right after another.
It's literally a nightmare.
Patterson School Professor Robert Farley Blames George W. Bush for Fall of #Iraq
Readers may remember far-left commie-loving Professor Robert Farley from a few years back, "Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, Screens Steven Soderbergh's Che to Commemorate Fiftieth Anniversary of Bay of Pigs."
It should be no surprise then that this anti-American hack is posting tripe like this:
(Click through at the link.)
Turns out the Idiot Farley's taking a pathetic swing at the WSJ editorial I posted this morning, "Fall of Mosul: Strategic Disaster Assisted by Obama's Withdrawal From Iraq." And he writes:
And it was President Obama who pulled U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, treasonously failing to secure a residual agreement for a U.S. status-of-forces deployment.
The current Democrat-caused deterioration in Iraq was only a matter of time, as reported at this update, "Tikrit Falls as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Sweeps Toward Baghdad!"
More at Pajamas Media, "Terrorists Take Tikrit. Will Baghdad Fall?", and the Guardian UK, "Iraq army capitulates to Isis militants in four cities."
ISIS partisans on Twitter have no doubt of Iraq's coming fall:
More, from Michael Knights, at Foreign Policy, "Iraq War III Has Now Begun":
Sad. President Obama threw away the the gains of the Bush-Petraeus surge, pissed on the sacrifices of America's fallen, and tossed the Iraqi people under the bus.
I suspect the folks at the Patterson School will be cheering the ISIS victory, most of all Professor Robert "Che" Farley.
It should be no surprise then that this anti-American hack is posting tripe like this:
Let's not pretend that a few thousand American troops could reverse events in Iraq. http://t.co/kORABtXxJ0
— Robert Farley (@drfarls) June 11, 2014
(Click through at the link.)
Turns out the Idiot Farley's taking a pathetic swing at the WSJ editorial I posted this morning, "Fall of Mosul: Strategic Disaster Assisted by Obama's Withdrawal From Iraq." And he writes:
Long story short, the central takeaway of the WSJ piece is the effort to pass off the continued disaster of Iraq to Barack Obama, one of the only people in US politics who bears virtually no responsibility for the disaster in Iraq.Actually, as Iraq crumbles to ISIS before our very eyes, it's Obama --- as our so-called commander-in-chief --- who bears more responsibility for this "disaster" than anyone else in the U.S. How could it be otherwise? It's been almost six years since Bush left office. Democrats in Congress, including Hillary Clinton, voted for the 2002 Resolution on the Use of Military Force in Iraq. A bipartisan war at the start, Democrats stabbed American troops in the back even before election 2004 (and the nomination of medal-throwing, unfit-for-command Hanoi John Kerry).
And it was President Obama who pulled U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, treasonously failing to secure a residual agreement for a U.S. status-of-forces deployment.
The current Democrat-caused deterioration in Iraq was only a matter of time, as reported at this update, "Tikrit Falls as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Sweeps Toward Baghdad!"
More at Pajamas Media, "Terrorists Take Tikrit. Will Baghdad Fall?", and the Guardian UK, "Iraq army capitulates to Isis militants in four cities."
ISIS partisans on Twitter have no doubt of Iraq's coming fall:
Raqqah: ✔
Ramadi: ✔
Samarra: ✔
Fallujah: ✔
Mosul: ✔
Baiji ✔
Tikrit ✔
Al-Bab ✔
Manbej ✔
Taiji ✔
Baghdad... Loading
— Ghazi (@ghazishami) June 11, 2014
I'm off to sleep. Hold your mentions and don't conquer Baghdad while I'm snoozing. Salam alaikum.
— Ghazi (@ghazishami) June 11, 2014
Raising the banner of #Khilafah (caliphate) over the entrance of the military barracks in Salah ad-Din, #Iraq: pic.twitter.com/mkApuSz8tu
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 11, 2014
Having killed off the enemy and then performed their prayers, they then burn down the barracks (#ISIS, #Iraqwar): pic.twitter.com/tH4UZhtGKG
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 11, 2014
Everyone is jubilant after hearing of the victories of our brothers in #Iraq (#ISIS, #Iraqwar, #Syriancivilwar): pic.twitter.com/Tgk4Dp79no
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 11, 2014
"The Province of Ninawah welcomes you" - The people of Ninawah in #Iraq welcome the Islamic State liberators (#ISIS) pic.twitter.com/hTn1714LHc
— Abu Umar (@AbuUmar8246) June 11, 2014
Inshalah #ISIS will liberate the whole Ummah and unite them under this banner
#ISIS pic.twitter.com/tjwB82nLlp
— Al-Janabi #باقية (@AbuBakrAl_Janab) June 12, 2014More, from Michael Knights, at Foreign Policy, "Iraq War III Has Now Begun":
The Obama administration is determined to honor its campaign pledge to end the wars. To that end, the White House withdrew U.S. combat troops in 2011. However there is an increasingly strong case that Iraq needs new and boosted security assistance, including air strikes and a massively boosted security cooperation initiative to rebuild the shattered army and mentor it in combat. The Middle East could see the collapse of state stability in a cross-sectarian, multiethnic country of 35 million people that borders many of the region's most important states and is the world's fastest-growing oil exporter. Any other country with the same importance and the same grievous challenges would get more U.S. support, but the withdrawal pledge has put Iraq in a special category all on its own. Washington doesn't have the luxury of treating Iraq as a special case anymore. ISIS has moved on since the days of the U.S. occupation and they have a plan. Washington should too.Well, you would think.
Sad. President Obama threw away the the gains of the Bush-Petraeus surge, pissed on the sacrifices of America's fallen, and tossed the Iraqi people under the bus.
I suspect the folks at the Patterson School will be cheering the ISIS victory, most of all Professor Robert "Che" Farley.
Leftist Garance Franke-Ruta Smears Dave Brat Campaign Manager Zachary Werrell
"The Garance" is "sensationalizing" Zachary Werrell's Facebook postings, "David Brat campaign manager scrubs Facebook page after election":
Sometime back Ann Althouse just destroyed "The Garance" in a Bloggingheads episode.
The left circled the wagons around "The Garance," who was clearly unable defend herself in a simple diavlog.
A total skanky progressive loser now tryna dog the victorious Dave Brat campaign. Pathetic.
Via Memeorandum.
The campaign manager for the tea party-backed Republican who ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in one of the biggest upsets in congressional history is a 23-year-old class of 2013 Haverford College graduate who posted a slew of provocative opinions on a public Facebook page that was removed from view overnight following David Brat's victory."The Garance" looks like a skeezy bimbo.
From comparing George Zimmerman’s shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin to abortion to calling for the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration and encouraging the adoption of the silver monetary standard, Zachary Werrell – one of just two paid staffers for the upstart campaign of Randolph-Macon College economics professor David Brat – sought in 2012 and 2013 to build a public profile as a socially conservative libertarian voice. The Facebook postings were either taken down or made private overnight Tuesday in the wake of Brat's win, but Yahoo News took screenshots of some of the remarks before they were removed from view. A cached version of Werrell's page remained available on Google as of midday Wednesday.
Sometime back Ann Althouse just destroyed "The Garance" in a Bloggingheads episode.
The left circled the wagons around "The Garance," who was clearly unable defend herself in a simple diavlog.
A total skanky progressive loser now tryna dog the victorious Dave Brat campaign. Pathetic.
Via Memeorandum.
Reid Epstein's Appalling Meme Suggesting Dave Brat Would Exterminate the Jews — #VA07
At Twitchy, "‘Just nasty’: What exactly is WSJ trying to suggest with this piece on Dave Brat?"
And from John Podhoretz, at Commentary, "An Appalling Cantor Meme":
Also at the Other McCain, "Libertarians Are Hitler or Something."
PREVIOUSLY: "Leftists Spew Anti-Semitism in Response to Eric Cantor Loss in #VA07."
And from John Podhoretz, at Commentary, "An Appalling Cantor Meme":
That's some remarkable bullshit. RT @Tyler_McNally pic.twitter.com/JHGQmY3jN7
— Neal (@Neal_Dewing) June 11, 2014
That Dave Brat Would Exterminate the Jews As the commentariat rushes to find meta-meaning in the defeat of Eric Cantor last night—a difficult task, because his primary loss was clearly the result of several smaller factors that added up into one serious shellacking—there’s one that’s especially cheap and especially disgraceful. So disgraceful, in fact, that it’s only hinted at in either an easily denied or giggly sort of way. And that is the idea that Cantor lost in his district because he is a Jew.No, not a good way at all. More like a leftist exterminationist way.
Among the reasons adduced by the regrettable Norman Ornstein in the New York Daily News: “He was highly visible as the only Jewish Republican in the House, in a district with a strong evangelical presence.” The fact that Cantor has served the district as a Jew for 23 and a half years is not noted, nor is the fact that evangelicals are more likely to be philo- than anti-Semitic.
Reid Epstein of the Wall Street Journal proffered his own version in this cute set of sentences: “David Brat, the Virginia Republican who shocked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Tuesday, wrote in 2011 that Hitler’s rise ‘could all happen again, quite easily.’ Mr. Brat’s remarks, in a 2011 issue of Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, came three years before he defeated the only Jewish Republican in Congress.” How Brat’s invocation of Hitler relates to Cantor’s Judaism is not clear, but Epstein decided to link them, and the link is suggestive, and not in a good way.
Also at the Other McCain, "Libertarians Are Hitler or Something."
PREVIOUSLY: "Leftists Spew Anti-Semitism in Response to Eric Cantor Loss in #VA07."
Tikrit Falls as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Sweeps Toward Baghdad!
The lamestream media report at the New York Times (FWIW), "Militants Sweeping Toward Baghdad: Tikrit Falls; Reports of Battle in Samarra, 70 Miles From the Capital."
And Zero Hedge, "Mapping Al Qaeda's Grand Ambitions In Iraq and Syria."
Also at CNN, "Victorious in Mosul, militants in Iraq wrest control of Tikrit."
Expect updates.
And Zero Hedge, "Mapping Al Qaeda's Grand Ambitions In Iraq and Syria."
Also at CNN, "Victorious in Mosul, militants in Iraq wrest control of Tikrit."
Tikrit falls to Islamist terrorists: Hundreds of thousands flee! ISIS warlord more violent than OBL- http://t.co/QWXJGvSHFf #Iraq
— Color Me Red (@ColorMeRed) June 11, 2014
Turkey calls for emergency NATO meeting on Iraq: Turkish official - #Iraq http://t.co/FX0C7wSv9T
— Color Me Red (@ColorMeRed) June 11, 2014
.@ConcldCourier Baghad's next...they are less than an hour away right now. @alimhaider
— Color Me Red (@ColorMeRed) June 11, 2014
.@dindinosi They cleaned up yesterday when the took Mosul. There was a huge arsenal including Black Hawks.
— Color Me Red (@ColorMeRed) June 11, 2014
OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY AT WORK! Iraq crisis: al-Qaeda forces seize Mosul and Tikrit - *LIVE* - http://t.co/zLR87IBEB8 #IRAQ AQ on the run?
— Color Me Red (@ColorMeRed) June 11, 2014
Expect updates.
The New York Times Defends Al-Qaeda
From Raymond Ibrahim, at the Gatestone Institute:
Yeah, it's been pretty bad lately at the Old Gray Lady.
More at Gateway Pundit, "OUTRAGE!! NY Times Smears Bowe Bergdahl’s Platoon Mates for His Desertion."
The New York Times is never the first to report on atrocities committed by jihadis against Christians and other minorities, but it is always the first to whitewash and apologize for the jihadis' role whenever news of jihadi atrocities appears from other media outlets.Continue reading.
Yeah, it's been pretty bad lately at the Old Gray Lady.
More at Gateway Pundit, "OUTRAGE!! NY Times Smears Bowe Bergdahl’s Platoon Mates for His Desertion."
'I love the policy questions, I'm happy to do more, but I just wanted to talk about the victory here...'
Heck, I'd be in a celebratory mood as well.
But see Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Bad sign: Cantor’s vanquisher surprised MSNBC host isn’t just celebrating his victory":
But see Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Bad sign: Cantor’s vanquisher surprised MSNBC host isn’t just celebrating his victory":
In the wake of his victory, Brat joined MSNBC host Chuck Todd on Wednesday where he received a gentle grilling and was asked for his position on a variety of policy matters. Brat seemed entirely unprepared to have to speak on issues of substance. In fact, he suggested – perhaps (hopefully) jokingly – that he thought Todd invited him on the program merely to celebrate his victory.Yeah, well, cut him some slack. Even Baracky need a couple of minutes to finish his waffles.
“Where are you on the minimum wage?” Todd began, starting off with a question right in this economics expert’s wheelhouse.
Brat railed against unspecific distorting effects on the market before he was prompted to say whether or not he thought a minimum wage should even exist? “I don’t have a well-crafted response on that one,” Brat replied. …
Okay. So, how about foreign policy?
“Would you be in favor of arming the Syrian rebels?” Todd asked.
“Hey, Chuck, I thought we were just going to chat today about the celebratory aspect,” Brat replied. “I’d love to go through all this, but my mind is just, uh, I didn’t get much sleep.”
“I love the policy questions, I’m happy to do more, but I just wanted to talk about the victory here,” he continued.
Las Vegas Police Release New Video of Jerad Miller Shooting
At the Las Vegas Sun, "Metro confirms police gunfire took out cop-killer: Assistant sheriff also confirms officer was wounded at Wal-Mart shootout":
Also at KLAS-TV Las Vegas, "Metro Police interacted with Millers 3 times before shooting."
And at NBC News, "Police Fatally Shot Las Vegas Gunman Jerad Miller During Gunfight."
In the video, it appears that Amanda Miller fires into her husband, then took her own life with a handgun.More.
But McMahill said further investigation – and corroboration from the Clark County Coroner’s Office – showed the fatal shot came from a Metro firearm.
“The male was shot, in fact, by police fire just prior to this incident,” McMahill said after the video was shown.
Three officers fired their weapons, and all are on leave pending Metro’s standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting.
The video shows Jerad and Amanda Miller on the floor in an aisle that appears to be an automotive section at the back of the store.
At one point, Jared Miller looks at his wife and puts his face down. Amanda Miller then takes her handgun, twists it around in her hand and begins to point it at her head. Metro cut the video at that point.
Asked if Jerad Miller was wearing a bulletproof vest — he is wearing a dark vest of some kind in the video — McMahill would not say.
Additionally, McMahill confirmed a Sun report that an officer involved in the firefight inside the Wal-Mart suffered a wound to the upper right thigh. The officer didn’t discover the wound until later in the day after he had gone home, and he sought hospital treatment on his own.
McMahill didn’t say whether the officer suffered a gunshot wound, was hit by shrapnel or other details about the officer’s wound.
“I simply don’t know … it’s part of our investigation,” he said.
Also at KLAS-TV Las Vegas, "Metro Police interacted with Millers 3 times before shooting."
And at NBC News, "Police Fatally Shot Las Vegas Gunman Jerad Miller During Gunfight."
Eric Cantor Spent $168,000 at Steak Houses
Now this is telling.
From Katie Pavlich, Town Hall, "Cantor Spent $168,637 on Steak Houses, Brat Spent $122,793 on Entire Campaign."
From Katie Pavlich, Town Hall, "Cantor Spent $168,637 on Steak Houses, Brat Spent $122,793 on Entire Campaign."
Gives a whole new meaning to the term red meat conservative... pic.twitter.com/RkAzO5zlSN
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 11, 2014Stunned Unions Cry Foul After Court Strikes Down Tenure Rules
I'm not reading too much into this decision, out of Los Angeles Superior Court, striking down teacher tenure in California.
The case could be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, given that unions are regulated under national laws like the NLRA. So there's a long way to go before we'll have a true sense on the future of tenure. And I'll tell you, if it wasn't for tenure I could very well have been canned by now. Honestly, leftist ghouls have contacted my college probably a dozen times. No matter that it's mostly been lies, my college administration is oozing with literally demonic leftist ideologues who care nothing about student learning and all about raw power. And allegations of racism and sexism, like the left's boatload of lies I've dealt with, are the raw fuel that powers contemporary college administrators across the country. If you're a conservative professor, academic tenure probably isn't the first on your list of education reforms.
In any case, at Hot Air, "Wow: California judge strikes down tenure for public-school teachers as violating students’ right to quality education."
And at LAT, "Unions cry foul after California teacher tenure rules struck down":
I think the decision represents a larger attack on the unions, and that's a good think. Tenure protections don't have to be tied to union membership. It'll be a good thing if this case moves the needle toward weakening entrenched union power, especially in California where unions are the largest, most powerful organized interest in the state.
The case could be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, given that unions are regulated under national laws like the NLRA. So there's a long way to go before we'll have a true sense on the future of tenure. And I'll tell you, if it wasn't for tenure I could very well have been canned by now. Honestly, leftist ghouls have contacted my college probably a dozen times. No matter that it's mostly been lies, my college administration is oozing with literally demonic leftist ideologues who care nothing about student learning and all about raw power. And allegations of racism and sexism, like the left's boatload of lies I've dealt with, are the raw fuel that powers contemporary college administrators across the country. If you're a conservative professor, academic tenure probably isn't the first on your list of education reforms.
In any case, at Hot Air, "Wow: California judge strikes down tenure for public-school teachers as violating students’ right to quality education."
And at LAT, "Unions cry foul after California teacher tenure rules struck down":
Teacher unions are criticizing a judge's decision to overturn a California law that has long protected the state's public educators -- even ineffective ones -- through tenure and seniority.More.
In his ruling Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu said the laws governing job security were unconstitutional because they harmed predominantly low-income, minority students by allowing incompetent instructors to remain in the classroom.
The protections "impose a real and appreciable impact on students' fundamental right to equality of education," he wrote. "The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience."
State and local teachers’ unions reacted swiftly, saying the ruling was misguided and that poor management was to blame for districts that fail to root out incompetent instructors.
"This is a sad day for public education," said Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers. No student should endure an ineffective teacher, she said, "but in focusing on these teachers who make up a fraction of the workforce, [Treu] strips the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are doing a good job of any right to a voice."
Students would benefit more, for example, if advocates focused on smaller classes and increasing the number of counselors, said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president-elect of United Teachers Los Angeles.
The verdict represents a major loss for teacher unions and an undiluted victory for the attorneys and families that brought the landmark case on behalf of a well-funded Silicon Valley group.
I think the decision represents a larger attack on the unions, and that's a good think. Tenure protections don't have to be tied to union membership. It'll be a good thing if this case moves the needle toward weakening entrenched union power, especially in California where unions are the largest, most powerful organized interest in the state.
Cantormageddon: Political Earthquake Roundup the Morning After
At the clip, CBS News political director John Dickerson comments, and his piece at Slate, "Haunted House: Eric Cantor’s surprise defeat is a warning to all Republicans: Be very afraid."
And Media Matters takes CBS to task for not disclosing Frank Luntz's ties to Eric Cantor, "CBS News Doesn't Tell Viewers Its Pro-Eric Cantor Analyst Was Paid By His Campaign."
At the clip, Luntz admits, "We Republican pollster suck."
More:
* At WaPo, "Cantor internal poll claims 34-point lead over primary opponent Brat."
* Erick Erickson, at Fox News, "Why Cantor Lost."
* National Journal, "Eric Cantor's Pollster Tries to Explain Why His Survey Showed Cantor Up 34 Points."
* WaPo, "Chaos erupts at Cantor’s election night headquarters after his departure."
* Mickey Kaus, at the Daily Caller, "Notes on Cantormageddon."
* Politico, "For Barack Obama, Eric Cantor loss comes with a price."
* Big Government, "Lamar Alexander, Thad Cochran Brace for Falls After Cantor Crumbles?"
* Hot Air, "Did Cantor really lose because of immigration?"
* Los Angeles Times, "Eric Cantor upset: How Dave Brat pulled off a historic political coup."
* Wall Street Journal, "GOP Leadership Scramble: Five Lawmakers to Watch."
* Chris Cillizza, "The seismic political consequences of Eric Cantor’s stunning loss."
* John Judis, at TNR, "Dave Brat and the Triumph of Rightwing Populism."
* Wall Street Journal, "David Brat’s Writings: Hitler’s Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’."
* USA Today, "House GOP grapples with Cantor's loss."
And Media Matters takes CBS to task for not disclosing Frank Luntz's ties to Eric Cantor, "CBS News Doesn't Tell Viewers Its Pro-Eric Cantor Analyst Was Paid By His Campaign."
At the clip, Luntz admits, "We Republican pollster suck."
More:
* At WaPo, "Cantor internal poll claims 34-point lead over primary opponent Brat."
* Erick Erickson, at Fox News, "Why Cantor Lost."
* National Journal, "Eric Cantor's Pollster Tries to Explain Why His Survey Showed Cantor Up 34 Points."
* WaPo, "Chaos erupts at Cantor’s election night headquarters after his departure."
* Mickey Kaus, at the Daily Caller, "Notes on Cantormageddon."
* Politico, "For Barack Obama, Eric Cantor loss comes with a price."
* Big Government, "Lamar Alexander, Thad Cochran Brace for Falls After Cantor Crumbles?"
* Hot Air, "Did Cantor really lose because of immigration?"
* Los Angeles Times, "Eric Cantor upset: How Dave Brat pulled off a historic political coup."
* Wall Street Journal, "GOP Leadership Scramble: Five Lawmakers to Watch."
* Chris Cillizza, "The seismic political consequences of Eric Cantor’s stunning loss."
* John Judis, at TNR, "Dave Brat and the Triumph of Rightwing Populism."
* Wall Street Journal, "David Brat’s Writings: Hitler’s Rise ‘Could All Happen Again’."
* USA Today, "House GOP grapples with Cantor's loss."
Officials Predicted Detainees in Bowe #Bergdahl Swap Would Rejoin Taliban
As Krauthammer noted earlier, it's lie after lie with this administration.
And now at WSJ, "Classified Assessment Says Two of the Men Would Return to Senior Positions":
And now at WSJ, "Classified Assessment Says Two of the Men Would Return to Senior Positions":
WASHINGTON—Before the U.S. transferred five Afghan Taliban detainees to secure the freedom of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, American intelligence officials predicted that two of the men would return to senior positions with the militant group, according to U.S. officials.Keep reading.
The classified assessment, a consensus of spy agencies compiled during the prisoner-swap deliberations, said two others of the five were likely to assume active roles within the Taliban, while only one of the five released detainees was considered likely to end active participation in the group's effort to undermine the elected government of Afghanistan.
The existence of the assessment adds to the debate over the release of the five Taliban officials. It gives lawmakers who oppose the transfer ammunition that the move was ill-advised. Obama administration officials said there were larger strategic and political goals in play, most crucially clinching the freedom of the sole American prisoner of war, who was believed to be in danger.
Some administration officials also saw in the swap a chance to establish a precedent for reconciliation talks with the Taliban as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan winds down, and some argue the same five Taliban could have been released someday even without a prisoner-exchange agreement.
Some officials also thought the transfer could speed up the stalled effort to eventually close the Guantanamo prison, although angry lawmakers now are proposing even steeper restrictions on the administration's transfer authority.
The Pentagon and other government officials defended the decision to go forward with the exchange despite the intelligence community assessment, citing an agreement with the emirate of Qatar, which took in the detainees, that will allow the U.S. to monitor and track them.
Qatar also agreed to provide a "re-education program" designed to draw the detainees away from militancy, which some officials hope will help in the next year to ease some of the risk that the detainees will return to the battlefield.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the assurances the U.S. has received will substantially mitigate the threat posed by the release of the detainees. Adm. Kirby said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wouldn't have signed off on the deal if it weren't in the best interest of the U.S. "They re-enter the fight at their own peril," Adm. Kirby said...
Pete Hoekstra, Former Chairman of House Intelligence Committee: 'Eric Cantor Probably Lost Touch With the People Back Home...'
Some awesome commentary from former GOP Representative Pete Hoekstra, at CNN.
Compare Hoekstra's commentary to former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's comments, where he says Cantor's defeat means that the Democrats will likely keep their Senate majority in November. Seriously, the dude's in another reality or something, and by the end of his comments Hoekstra's just shaking his head in disbelief.
Click that link above for the video.
And ICYMI, "Dana Bash on #VA07: 'You Can See I'm Speechless. It's Not Often That I'm Speechless. And I'm Not Alone In This Town...'"
Compare Hoekstra's commentary to former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's comments, where he says Cantor's defeat means that the Democrats will likely keep their Senate majority in November. Seriously, the dude's in another reality or something, and by the end of his comments Hoekstra's just shaking his head in disbelief.
Click that link above for the video.
And ICYMI, "Dana Bash on #VA07: 'You Can See I'm Speechless. It's Not Often That I'm Speechless. And I'm Not Alone In This Town...'"
Fall of Mosul: Strategic Disaster Assisted by Obama's Withdrawal From Iraq
At the Wall Street Journal, "The Fall of Mosul":
And previously, "ISIS Takes Mosul as Iraq Security Forces Flee."
So much for al Qaeda being on a path to defeat, as President Obama used to be fond of boasting. On Tuesday fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an al Qaeda affiliate known as ISIS, seized total control of the northern city of Mosul—with nearly two million people—after four days of fighting. Thousands of civilians have fled for their lives, including the governor of Nineveh province, who spoke of the "massive collapse" of the Iraqi army. This could also describe the state of U.S. policy in Iraq.Still more.
Since President Obama likes to describe everything he inherited from his predecessor as a "mess," it's worth remembering that when President Bush left office Iraq was largely at peace. Civilian casualties fell from an estimated 31,400 in 2006 to 4,700 in 2009. U.S. military casualties were negligible. Then CIA Director Michael Hayden said, with good reason, that "al Qaeda is on the verge of a strategic defeat in Iraq."
Fast forward through five years of the Administration's indifference, and Iraq is close to exceeding the kind of chaos that engulfed it before the U.S. surge. The city of Fallujah, taken from insurgents by the Marines at a cost of 95 dead and nearly 600 wounded in November 2004, fell again to al Qaeda in January. The Iraqi government has not been able to reclaim the entire city—just 40 miles from Baghdad. More than 1,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in May alone, according to the Iraq Body Count web site.
The collapse of the Iraqi army in Mosul and its inability to retake Fallujah reflect poorly on the competence of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose Shiite "State of Law" coalition won a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections in April and will likely win a third term later this year.
Mr. Maliki has an autocratic streak and has done little to reassure Iraq's Sunnis, which makes it easy for the Obama Administration to blame him for Iraq's troubles. His dalliance with the regime in Tehran—including a reported $195 million arms deal in February—doesn't add to his stature.
Yet groups such as ISIS are beyond the reach of political palliation. It is an illusion that a more pro-Sunni coloration to any democratically elected Iraqi government would have made much of a difference to the debacle in Mosul. Mr. Maliki may also be forgiven for being unable to control the terrorist spillover from the chaos in neighboring Syria, where ISIS first took hold. Whatever its failures, the Iraqi government doesn't have the luxury of pivoting away from its own neighborhood.
That can't be said for the Obama Administration. Its promise of a "diplomatic surge" in Iraq to follow the military surge of the preceding years never materialized as the U.S. washed its hands of the country. Mr. Obama's offer of a couple thousand troops beyond 2011 was so low that Mr. Maliki didn't think it was worth the domestic criticism it would engender. An American President more mindful of U.S. interests would have made Mr. Maliki an offer he couldn't refuse....
The Administration's policy of strategic neglect toward Iraq has created a situation where al Qaeda effectively controls territories stretching for hundreds of miles through Anbar Province and into Syria. It will likely become worse for Iraq as the Assad regime consolidates its gains in Syria and gives ISIS an incentive to seek its gains further east. It will also have consequences for the territorial integrity of Iraq, as the Kurds consider independence for their already autonomous and relatively prosperous region.
And previously, "ISIS Takes Mosul as Iraq Security Forces Flee."
Leftists Spew Anti-Semitism in Response to Eric Cantor Loss in #VA07
At Twitchy, "Left pivots from ‘Tea Party is dead’ to ‘Tea Party hates Jews’ after Cantor loses."
Also at Expose Liberals, "Progressive bigots claim Eric Cantor lost because he’s Jewish," and Yid With Lid, "A Word to the Idiots Who Are Blaming Eric Cantor's Loss on Tea Party Jew Hatred":
Also at Expose Liberals, "Progressive bigots claim Eric Cantor lost because he’s Jewish," and Yid With Lid, "A Word to the Idiots Who Are Blaming Eric Cantor's Loss on Tea Party Jew Hatred":
.@BTiBeauty You know YOU'RE racist for raising the anti-Semitism card, right?
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 11, 2014
.@Redistrict Raising the anti-Semitism card? Stay classy dude.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 11, 2014
I once read that when God created the world, sparks of his holiness were spread across the earth. Every time that a person makes the choice of performing a righteous act, one of those sparks is purified and sent back to heaven, through that process we become closer to God.
Liberal/Progressive government takes away that choice. It assumes that left to our own devices, we will do the wrong thing (or at least what they say is the wrong thing), government takes over the role of God, and steps in to control our decisions. Liberalism takes away our personal choice and gives it to the government, retarding our spiritual development and most importantly, the opportunity to get closer to our maker....
The Jewish picture of God is of a creator who instilled in us a personal responsibility to do the right thing, but he also provided us with the choice to accept that responsibility or not. Just like the tea party. There is no room in Jewish law for a government that forces us to do (their interpretation) of the right thing. There is also little room for a Government that does not include religion and morality in their consideration set before they make decisions.
It is Tea Party conservatism that best matches Jewish tradition. When it comes right down to it, tradition tells us those principals such as limited government, individual responsibility, and traditional morals are all Jewish principles.
New Leftist Power Elite Won't Tolerate Dissent
This is the way of the leftist world right now.
From Joel Kotkin, at the Daily Beast, "Watch What You Say, The New Liberal Power Elite Won’t Tolerate Dissent."
From Joel Kotkin, at the Daily Beast, "Watch What You Say, The New Liberal Power Elite Won’t Tolerate Dissent."
Noncompetes
I've never heard of this before, although they're banned in California except for limited circumstances. Interesting too. I can see the merits on both sides of the arguments.
At the New York Times, "Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs."
At the New York Times, "Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs."
Hillary Clinton Walks Back 'Dead Broke' Comments in Diane Sawyer Interview
At the New York Post, "Hillary Clinton backpedals on ‘dead broke’ comments."
And at Legal Insurrection, "2001 was Hillary’s Year of Great Fortune, not of being “dead broke”."
The "first campaign gaffe of 2016"? Not sure, but she's sure walking it back, at the clip:
PREVIOUSLY: "Hillary Clinton Takes to the Road."
And at Legal Insurrection, "2001 was Hillary’s Year of Great Fortune, not of being “dead broke”."
The "first campaign gaffe of 2016"? Not sure, but she's sure walking it back, at the clip:
PREVIOUSLY: "Hillary Clinton Takes to the Road."
'Chaos in the Marble Halls...' — #VA07
At Twitchy, "‘Chaos in the marble halls’: In wake of Eric Cantor loss, Congress goes into full freak-out mode."
LIGHTS ARE ON ALL OVER CAP, leadership aides/members in the building, chaos in the marble halls....
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 11, 2014
READ: Cantor loss throws Congress into disarray http://t.co/oJVqPlbyUz
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 11, 2014The Endless Invasion of America
From Patrick Buchanan, at VDare:
For 10 days, Americans have argued over the wisdom of trading five Taliban senior commanders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.More.
President Obama handed the Taliban a victory, critics contend, and imperiled U.S. troops in Afghanistan when the five return to the battlefield. Moreover, he has inspired the Haqqani network and other Islamists to capture more Americans to trade.
But which represents the greater long-term threat to the safety and security of our people and nation: sending those five Taliban leaders to Doha, and perhaps back to Afghanistan, or releasing into the U.S. population last year 36,000 criminal illegal aliens with 88,000 convictions among them?
According to a May report of the Center for Immigration Studies, of the 36,000 criminal aliens who, while awaiting deportation, were set free by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 193 had been convicted of homicide, 426 of sexual assault, 303 of kidnaping, 1,075 of aggravated assault, 1,160 for stolen vehicles, 9,187 for possession or use of dangerous drugs, and 16,070 for driving drunk or drugged.
Those 36,000 criminal aliens are roughly equivalent to three-and-a-half divisions of felons and social misfits released into our midst. [ICE Document Details 36,000 Criminal Alien Releases in 2013, by Jessica Vaughan, CIS, May 2014.]
And this does not include the 68,000 illegal aliens against whom ICE declined to press criminal charges last year, but turned loose. How goes the Third World invasion of the United States?
Eric Cantor Defeat by Tea Party Shakes Republican Politics to Its Core
Heh, perhaps the major dailies should have a contest for most dramatic headline.
I nominate this piece at the Los Angeles Times.
I nominate this piece at the Los Angeles Times.
Rachel Stevens Crowned FHM's Sexiest Woman of All Time
Well, sexiest of all time's a pretty high bar, so I'll let readers judge for themselves.
See, "Rachel Stevens is officially the sexiest woman of all time."
Also at London's Daily Mail, "Rachel Stevens strips off for sizzling photoshoot to celebrate being crowned FHM's Sexiest Woman of All Time (PHOTOS)."
See, "Rachel Stevens is officially the sexiest woman of all time."
Also at London's Daily Mail, "Rachel Stevens strips off for sizzling photoshoot to celebrate being crowned FHM's Sexiest Woman of All Time (PHOTOS)."
Dana Bash on #VA07: 'You Can See I'm Speechless. It's Not Often That I'm Speechless. And I'm Not Alone In This Town...'
Dana Bash is CNN's chief congressional correspondent. She earned a lot of creds with conservatives for her honest and dogged reporting on the Anthony Weiner scandal a few years back. She's definitely a journalistic insider on Capitol Hill, and she's genuine here in admitting she was completely flabbergasted yesterday at Majority Leader Eric Cantor's epic defeat.
What Happened to Muslim Immigrant Marine Deserter Wassef Ali Hassoun?
What a piece, from Michelle Malkin:
Islamist sympathizers inside our military walk away, and the Obama White House turns a blind eye. The Fort Hood jihad attack by Nidal Hasan, who invoked Hassoun in PowerPoint presentations to his military supervisors, is “workplace violence.” Gitmo recidivist Abu Sufian bin Qumu, lead suspect in the Benghazi attack, roams free despite the president’s promise to make “justice” his “biggest priority.”
Our commander in chief empties Gitmo of the worst of the worst jihadists and shrugs at the recidivists targeting American soldiers and civilians. And in a desperate attempt to deflect from the rising death toll of the Veterans Affairs book-cooking scandal, Obama gave Bob Bergdahl a Rose Garden stage to invoke Allah in Arabic.
If you're not “whipped up” into Category 5 disgust, you're not paying attention.
***
Previous coverage of Wassef Ali Hassoun.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
VIDEO: Dave Brat Victory Speech — #VA07
Previous Eric Cantor earthquake blogging here and here.
More at WTVR CBS 6, "WATCH: David Brat victory speech."
More at WTVR CBS 6, "WATCH: David Brat victory speech."
"Brat has accused the House majority leader of being a top cheerleader for 'amnesty' for immigrants in the U.S. illegally..."
Heh, that's the juicy quote from a WaPo piece last Friday, "Tea partier takes aim at Cantor in Va. primary."
And see Michael Patrick Leahy, at Big Government, "Cantor Primary Challenger David Brat: Anti-Amnesty Mailer 'Act of a Desperate Campaign'":
BONUS: You gotta love it, at the leftist New Republic, "Immigration Reform Died With Eric Cantor's Shocking Loss to a Tea Party Challenger."
And at BuzzFeed, "Only President Obama Can Help Undocumented Immigrants Now, Advocates Say."
And see Michael Patrick Leahy, at Big Government, "Cantor Primary Challenger David Brat: Anti-Amnesty Mailer 'Act of a Desperate Campaign'":
Eric Cantor's primary challenger David Brat ripped the Majority Leader as “the number one Republican supporter of amnesty” in a dramatic press conference steps away from a rival event by a liberal Democrat intended to paint Cantor as the face of GOP intransigence on immigration.More.
The day after Cantor portrayed himself as an anti-amnesty warrior in campaign literature, Brat accused Cantor of coordinating with Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), the Democrat holding the rival press conference, to provide him political cover in his moment of greatest need.
Cantor, Brat noted, had previously visited sites with Gutierrez in a pro-immigration reform tour. "You would have to be pretty gullible not to see a link there," Brat said.
The long-shot challenge from Brat has improbably gained national attention after Cantor was booed and heckled by a crowd of Tea Party activists at a recent Republican party event. Cantor has had to go on air with attack ads fact-checkers have criticized as misleading and adopt the language of anti-amnesty hawks in his mailers, clashing with his “making life work” rebranding effort.
Typically, party leaders are able to win reelection easily, especially in primaries, so the concerted efforts by Cantor are seen as deeply embarrassing for the Virginia Republican considered Speaker John Boehner's heir apparent.
"This is the act of a desperate campaign," Brat said about the mailer.
BONUS: You gotta love it, at the leftist New Republic, "Immigration Reform Died With Eric Cantor's Shocking Loss to a Tea Party Challenger."
And at BuzzFeed, "Only President Obama Can Help Undocumented Immigrants Now, Advocates Say."
Eric Cantor's Concession Speech
Oh boy, Brat crushed Cantor nearly 56 to 44 percent.
Megyn Kelly is on right now with an early repeat Kelly File, where we'd normally be watching O'Reilly reruns.
I'll have more.
Here's Cantor at the clip, "Obviously, we came up short."
And at Politico, "CANTOR LOSES":
Megyn Kelly is on right now with an early repeat Kelly File, where we'd normally be watching O'Reilly reruns.
I'll have more.
Here's Cantor at the clip, "Obviously, we came up short."
And at Politico, "CANTOR LOSES":
LIVE FROM CANTOR HQ: The Cantor team appears to have shut off the projector screen showing the primary tally.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 10, 2014
RICHMOND, Va. — It wasn’t enough that Eric Cantor spent $1 million in the weeks leading up to the election, when his primary opponent hardly had $100,000 in his campaign coffers.More.
It didn’t matter that the House majority leader, 51, branded Dave Brat a liberal hack, and himself as the guardian of the Republican creed. On Tuesday night, Cantor, who was swept into the majority leader’s suite in a tea party wave, was swept out by the same movement.
Cantor conceded the race around 8:25 p.m. — shortly after the Associated Press pronounced Cantor’s 13-year political career at least temporarily over. With nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting, Brat had 55 percent of the vote, while Cantor had 44 percent. People close to Cantor said internal polls showed him hovering near 60 percent in the runup to the race.
It’s one of the most stunning losses in modern House politics, and completely upends the GOP hierarchy in both Virginia and Washington. Cantor enjoyed a meteoric rise that took him from chief deputy whip, to minority whip to majority leader in the span of 13 years. Cantor was seen by many as the next speaker of the House, biding his time until Ohio Rep. John Boehner wanted to retire.
But now, Cantor has just six months left in Congress. He is the second incumbent to lose this primary season: 91-year-old Texas Rep. Ralph Hall was the first. The loss will ripple across Washington, too: from political consultants who worked for Cantor to his aides who decamped for K Street, there will be reverberations...
Tea Party Challenger Takes Out House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Wow.
I had no clue Cantor's seat was in jeopardy.
From Guy Benson, at Town Hall, "EARTHQUAKE: Eric Cantor Loses Primary to Unheralded, Under-funded Tea Party Challenger."
And at WaPo, "Eric Cantor succumbs to tea party challenger Tuesday":
ADDED: At Twitchy, "‘Truly stunned’: Eric Cantor getting clobbered in Virginia; Dave Brat shows early lead; Update: Brat takes it."
I had no clue Cantor's seat was in jeopardy.
From Guy Benson, at Town Hall, "EARTHQUAKE: Eric Cantor Loses Primary to Unheralded, Under-funded Tea Party Challenger."
And at WaPo, "Eric Cantor succumbs to tea party challenger Tuesday":
In a stunning upset propelled by tea party activists, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was defeated in Tuesday’s congressional primary, with insurgent David Brat delivering an unpredicted and devastating loss to the second most powerful Republican in the House who has widely been touted as a future speaker.Expect updates.
The race called shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern by the Associated Press.
Brat’s victory gives the GOP a volatile outlook for the rest of the campaign season, with the party establishment struggling late Tuesday to grapple with the news and tea party conservatives relishing a surprising win.
“This is an earthquake,” said former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, a friend of Cantor’s. “No one thought he’d lose.” But Brat, tapping into conservative anger over Cantor’s role in supporting efforts to reform federal immigration laws, found a way to combat Cantor’s significant financial edge.
Brat, an economics professor, simply failed to show up to D.C. meetings with powerful conservative agitators last month, citing upcoming finals. He only had $40,000 in the bank at the end of March, according to first quarter filings. Cantor had $2 million.
Despite those shortcomings, Brat has exposed discontent with Cantor in the solidly Republican, suburban Richmond 7th Congressional District by attacking the lawmaker on his votes to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown, as well as his support for some immigration reforms. At a May meeting of Republican activists in the district, Cantor was booed, and an ally he campaigned for was ousted as the local party chairman in favor of a tea party favorite.
ADDED: At Twitchy, "‘Truly stunned’: Eric Cantor getting clobbered in Virginia; Dave Brat shows early lead; Update: Brat takes it."
Valerija Kelava for Lui Magazine June 2014
Oh là là !
At Egotastic!, "Valerija Kelava Shoot for Lui Magazine Looks and Smells Ever So Sextastic."
More at Fashion Copious, "'Essences' Valerija Kelava by Liz Collins for Lui June 2014."
And Lui Magazine makes you want to bone up on your French, heh.
At Egotastic!, "Valerija Kelava Shoot for Lui Magazine Looks and Smells Ever So Sextastic."
More at Fashion Copious, "'Essences' Valerija Kelava by Liz Collins for Lui June 2014."
And Lui Magazine makes you want to bone up on your French, heh.
Obama Paid Too High a Price for #Bergdahl Release, Poll Finds
Yesterday, the ghoulish idiot Steve M. at No More Mister scoffed at polling data finding a plurality of 43 percent saying the Bergdahl trade was the "wrong thing to do." As with any survey, the real juice is in the questions and question wording. And when Americans have been asked to rank the prisoner swap in terms of threats to American forces in the field, the results have been devastating for the White House. Recall the Fox News poll from last week, for example, "Poll: 84 Percent Say #Bergdahl Deal Will Encourage Terrorist Groups to Seize More Soldiers."
And notice how No More Mister conveniently ignores the Pew poll findings he's blogging, on the responses from military families, which I wrote about last night, "Poll: Veteran Households Slam #Bergdahl Swap as 'Wrong Thing to Do...'" Veteran households, to say nothing of active duty military personnel, are increasingly unhappy with this commander-in-chief; and recent polls have shown that most Americans have family members who once served or are currently serving in the military, and the gap among young and old in this demographic is more likely to hurt the Democrat Party in upcoming elections, not least of which in November, where some analysts expect the Bergdahl debacle to disadvantage leftist candidates at the margins.
In any case, No More Mister just happens to be one more loony manifestations of the far-left regressive disconnect from the American mainstream on the disastrous Bergdahl treason-terror exchange.
And now we have more evidence of this out today, at CBS News, "How do Americans view the Bergdahl swap?":
And the Obama White House sure isn't dismissing the numbers as if the controversy is a faux scandal a la Fox News. Indeed, Obama's thrown Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel under the bus. See Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "New WH spin on Taliban 5 swap: Hey, it was Hagel’s call":
And notice how No More Mister conveniently ignores the Pew poll findings he's blogging, on the responses from military families, which I wrote about last night, "Poll: Veteran Households Slam #Bergdahl Swap as 'Wrong Thing to Do...'" Veteran households, to say nothing of active duty military personnel, are increasingly unhappy with this commander-in-chief; and recent polls have shown that most Americans have family members who once served or are currently serving in the military, and the gap among young and old in this demographic is more likely to hurt the Democrat Party in upcoming elections, not least of which in November, where some analysts expect the Bergdahl debacle to disadvantage leftist candidates at the margins.
In any case, No More Mister just happens to be one more loony manifestations of the far-left regressive disconnect from the American mainstream on the disastrous Bergdahl treason-terror exchange.
And now we have more evidence of this out today, at CBS News, "How do Americans view the Bergdahl swap?":
Views differ by political party: most Republicans disapprove of the deal, while just over half of Democrats approve. Among those who have served in the military, 55 percent disapprove of the prisoner swap.At the video clip Major Garrett stresses the 56 percent finding of too high a price paid by the president.
Most Americans -- 56 percent -- say the U.S. paid too high a price to secure Bergdahl's release. Among veterans, that figure rises to 65 percent.
And the Obama White House sure isn't dismissing the numbers as if the controversy is a faux scandal a la Fox News. Indeed, Obama's thrown Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel under the bus. See Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "New WH spin on Taliban 5 swap: Hey, it was Hagel’s call":
Old and busted: The Taliban 5 swap was a demonstration of authority by a Commander in Chief who isn't afraid to act and make the final decision. New hotness: Hey, Chuck Hagel had the final call on the swap! As criticism mounts on Barack Obama over the decision to release five high-ranking and dangerous Taliban commanders in exchange for an American soldier, the White House shifted gears last night in its first briefing to the House — and attempted to shift blame as well...Also at Legal Insurrection, "Taliban-Bergdahl swap unpopular, so … blame Hagel." (Via Memeorandum.)
Poll Shows Support for Illegal Alien Amnesty
At NYT, "Poll Shows Path to Citizenship Is Favored."
It's 62 percent in favor of a "path to citizenship," with 51 percent of Republicans as well. The poll was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, supposedly "nonpartisan" research organizations, but in the case Brookings for sure, reliably leftist.
Here's the survey, "What Americans Want From Immigration Reform in 2014."
The poll completely ignores border security.
So, whatever happens in Congress, they'll keep coming, like an invasion force:
It's 62 percent in favor of a "path to citizenship," with 51 percent of Republicans as well. The poll was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, supposedly "nonpartisan" research organizations, but in the case Brookings for sure, reliably leftist.
Here's the survey, "What Americans Want From Immigration Reform in 2014."
The poll completely ignores border security.
So, whatever happens in Congress, they'll keep coming, like an invasion force:
Back From the Colonoscopy
I mentioned my procedure this morning.
The test itself is a cakewalk. It's the bowel-cleansing preparations that were a pain. But I'm clean, no polyps, and I won't have to have it done again for ten years.
I'm reading Instapundit, who's blogged about his colonoscopies quite a bit. Here's the search link, but see especially, "I'M HOME FROM HAVING A COLONOSCOPY":
As noted, the preparation is unpleasant, and from reading around yesterday, avoiding the prep is one of the reasons people have skipped this screening. Perhaps the newer procedures will be coming available soon, like the miniature camera pill that takes images while traveling through your bowel. Until then, I'd do this again tomorrow if I needed to screen against colon cancer.
The test itself is a cakewalk. It's the bowel-cleansing preparations that were a pain. But I'm clean, no polyps, and I won't have to have it done again for ten years.
I'm reading Instapundit, who's blogged about his colonoscopies quite a bit. Here's the search link, but see especially, "I'M HOME FROM HAVING A COLONOSCOPY":
A colonoscopy isn't just a diagnostic test — if they find polyps, they can remove them, making it virtually certain that you won't get colon cancer. If you skip that because of squeamishness, well, you're just an idiot. Luckily, I was clean and don't have to go back for five years. By then, they may have replaced them with swallowable cameras, with actual scoping only when there’s something that needs fixing. At any rate, though, there aren't many simple safe procedures that can absolutely prevent cancer, and this is one. Don't forego it because you're squeamish.I'm not sure why folks would be squeamish with the procedure; it was easy. After I was taken into the pre-op area, the nurses had me sign the final forms, hooked up my blood pressure monitor and chest nodes, and inserted the IV. The test itself took 10 minutes at most. The nurses gave me mild drug which was like a relaxant. I had no side effects and went out for a nice breakfast with my wife immediately after.
As noted, the preparation is unpleasant, and from reading around yesterday, avoiding the prep is one of the reasons people have skipped this screening. Perhaps the newer procedures will be coming available soon, like the miniature camera pill that takes images while traveling through your bowel. Until then, I'd do this again tomorrow if I needed to screen against colon cancer.
ISIS Takes Mosul as Iraq Security Forces Flee
At the Other McCain, "Al-Qaeda on the Offensive in Iraq."
And at WSJ, "Militants Overrun Iraq's Second-Largest City as Government Forces Flee: Mosul Strike Is Serious Blow to Baghdad's Efforts to Control Widening Insurgency":
RELATED: From Bruce Thornton, at FrontPage Magazine, "The Fruit of Obama’s Abandonment of Iraq," and David Webb, at Breitbart, "Precipitous Withdrawal Without a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Has Consequences."
And at WSJ, "Militants Overrun Iraq's Second-Largest City as Government Forces Flee: Mosul Strike Is Serious Blow to Baghdad's Efforts to Control Widening Insurgency":
BAGHDAD—Al Qaeda-inspired militants seized control of Iraq's second-largest city on Tuesday in a brazen military operation that underscored the weakness of the Baghdad government across vast swaths of the country.More.
Hours after government forces fled Mosul in disarray following four days of fighting, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a nationwide "state of maximum preparedness" but didn't indicate whether government forces were mobilizing to retake the Iraqi city, 220 miles north of the capital Baghdad.
The capture of Mosul by rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, is the latest evidence of the weakness and disorganization that have beset Iraq's security forces since the U.S. forces withdrew from the country in December 2011. It also underlines the group's determination to establish an Islamic emirate encompassing the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, weaken the already fragile Iraqi state and expand the theater of the three-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria.
Residents of Mosul said they were shocked at the ease of the rebel takeover of government buildings, television stations and military installations where U.S.-supplied fighter airplanes, helicopters and other heavy weaponry are based.
"The whole of Mosul collapsed today. We've fled our homes and neighborhoods, and we're looking for God's mercy," said Mahmoud Al Taie, a dentist. "We are waiting to die."
Videos showed victorious insurgents waving black flags emblazoned with an Islamic script—the standard brandished by al Qaeda militants world-wide.
The Obama administration, responding to the fall of Mosul, said ISIS "is not only a threat to the stability of Iraq but a threat to the entire region."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the group has drawn strength from the Syrian civil war, where it can acquire recruits, weapons and other resources for its fight in Iraq.
Jessica Lewis, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, said ISIS fighters won a notable victory in Mosul.
"ISIS is designing its campaign around the state that it believes it has already created," said Ms. Lewis, currently research director for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C.
"I think that means that Iraq is going to start to look more like Syria. It's a gauge of the severity of the conflict and the trajectory that it's on. That's a very bad sign."
RELATED: From Bruce Thornton, at FrontPage Magazine, "The Fruit of Obama’s Abandonment of Iraq," and David Webb, at Breitbart, "Precipitous Withdrawal Without a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Has Consequences."
Activists Hijacking Feminism to Attack Israel at Women's Studies Association Meeting
Well, what else is new?
Still, astonishing leftist hatred. It continues to shock time after time.
From Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace.
Still, astonishing leftist hatred. It continues to shock time after time.
From Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace.
No More Colonoscopies?
Here's this, just as I go today for my first colonoscopy.
At WSJ, "New Ways to Screen for Colon Cancer No More Colonoscopies? Less-Invasive Methods Are Coming."
RELATED: At NYT, "Colon Cancer Screening Saves Lives." (Via Instapundit.)
At WSJ, "New Ways to Screen for Colon Cancer No More Colonoscopies? Less-Invasive Methods Are Coming."
RELATED: At NYT, "Colon Cancer Screening Saves Lives." (Via Instapundit.)
Hillary Clinton Takes to the Road
If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times: There's no doubt Hillary Clinton is running for president. Her every move is political. Her every statement is measured against the political winds. Right now she's distancing herself from the White House on just about every single decision Obama has made, from Syria to Bergdahl, and that's not even getting into the domestic policy weeds.
My sense (and a bit of a hope) is that she'll be damaged goods in 2016, no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from the imploding Democrat Party brand. She could win the nomination, of course, and still be elected president, mostly as a result of GOP incompetence. But it's going to be extremely difficult for the Dems to extend their hold on the presidency for a third consecutive term, despite all the progressive "analyses" about "inevitable" demographic trends, or what have you. I expect the public to be tired of the Democrats after two terms of Obama. Hillary will be running against Democrat fatigue as much as she will the GOP nominee.
In any case, here's this from yesterday's front-page at the Los Angeles Times, "Hillary Clinton book tour could serve as dry run for a campaign":
But continue reading.
My sense (and a bit of a hope) is that she'll be damaged goods in 2016, no matter how hard she tries to distance herself from the imploding Democrat Party brand. She could win the nomination, of course, and still be elected president, mostly as a result of GOP incompetence. But it's going to be extremely difficult for the Dems to extend their hold on the presidency for a third consecutive term, despite all the progressive "analyses" about "inevitable" demographic trends, or what have you. I expect the public to be tired of the Democrats after two terms of Obama. Hillary will be running against Democrat fatigue as much as she will the GOP nominee.
In any case, here's this from yesterday's front-page at the Los Angeles Times, "Hillary Clinton book tour could serve as dry run for a campaign":
She's traveled the country mixing weighty policy pronouncements with joking references to her hair. She's reflected on gender bias and offered career advice to young women, gushed about becoming a grandma and raked in a fortune in speaking fees on the lecture circuit.Yeah, well. It's battlespace preparation.
After all that — and even having a shoe flung at her at a trash collectors' convention in Las Vegas — Hillary Rodham Clinton takes her flirtation with the 2016 presidential race to a new level this week, beginning a minutely orchestrated book tour that will whisk her coast to coast for a mix of book signings and carefully calibrated television interviews.
Since stepping down as secretary of State 16 months ago, Clinton has managed to effectively freeze out any Democratic competition for the presidential nomination, no small feat in a party with a history of upstarts and upsets — especially for someone who has yet to say whether she even plans to run.
Throughout, she's weathered a relentless degree of scrutiny, her daily travels exhaustively chronicled, her every utterance parsed for meaning. Even matters like her daughter Chelsea's pregnancy are put to the will-or-won't-she test.
"She's got the toughest job in American politics" being the prohibitive front-runner, said Stuart Spencer, a longtime Republican strategist who helped shepherd former California Gov. Ronald Reagan in a years-long trek from Sacramento to the White House. "And she's managed it just about as well as you can."
Clinton's months-long book tour, combined with other stops, appears unprecedented in the annals of both publishing and politics, bearing many of the trappings of a full-fledged presidential campaign. A strike team, to push back Clinton critics, has been stocked with family loyalists and others practiced in aggressive political communication. (Conservatives have set up a counter-operation to offer their interpretation of events recounted in Clinton's 600-plus-page memoir, "Hard Choices." An e-book, "Failed Choices," is being released to coincide with her travels.)
A busload of Clinton supporters, chartered by a friendly political action committee, will follow the non-candidate to events and seek to sign up new acolytes; one of her first book signings is scheduled for a Costco in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, the battleground portion of a battleground state. A Los Angeles stop is scheduled for June 19 at the Grove shopping center.
Her TV appearances, including a visit with the cheery crew on "Good Morning America" and a grilling on the less-amiable Fox News Channel, will allow Clinton a chance to spotlight two sides of her persona, warmth and toughness, in the same manner as the sneak previews doled out by her publisher: a gauzy Mother's Day tribute for Vogue magazine and her telling of the 2012 attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, for Politico.
"It seems to me that the rollout of Hillary's book has been letter-perfect," Paul Begala, a campaign strategist who served in the White House under President Clinton and remains close to the family, said in an email. "Rather than wait for the inevitable leaks, Team Hillary has released select excerpts, both to satisfy the press and to build anticipation for the book's release."
Some suggest that it seems a bit too perfect...
But continue reading.
VA Halted Visits to Troubled Hospitals
At the Wall Street Journal, "Change Came as Growing Number of Facilities Had High Death Rates."
PREVIOUSLY: "Depraved Leftists Run Interference for Obama on #VeteransAdministration."
PREVIOUSLY: "Depraved Leftists Run Interference for Obama on #VeteransAdministration."
Monday, June 9, 2014
The International Crisis of Unaccompanied Migrant Children at U.S. Border
From the editors, at the Sacramento Bee.
RELATED: At KNXV-TV ABC15 Phoenix, "Transfer of undocumented kids sparks threat."
RELATED: At KNXV-TV ABC15 Phoenix, "Transfer of undocumented kids sparks threat."
Is Obama Considering Surrendering to the Taliban?
I think the real question is "Has Obama already surrendered to the Taliban"?
But see Marc Thiessen, at the Washington Post:
But see Marc Thiessen, at the Washington Post:
Obama administration officials are arguing that the Taliban release was inevitable, because the war in Afghanistan is ending. But the coming withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan does not end the state of war between the United States and the Taliban. There are only three ways that state of war can end: 1) we reach a peace accord with the Taliban; 2) the Taliban surrenders; or 3) the United States surrenders.
The first two are not happening anytime soon. Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar declared the release of his five commanders a “great victory.” Enemy forces don’t tend to capitulate after a great victory. And a Taliban spokesman declared last week that the prisoner exchange “won’t help the peace process in any way, because we don’t believe in the peace process.”
So unless Obama capitulates, there is no reason under the laws of war why the president must release Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These detainees have been approved by the Obama administration for indefinite detention. The president’s authority to hold Taliban detainees indefinitely is not extinguished when U.S. forces withdraw. The only thing that would require the United States to hand over Taliban prisoners would be if Obama issues a declaration that we have no further conflict with the Taliban. That would end his authority under the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to continue holding Taliban prisoners...
Supreme Court Rules Against 'Aged Out' Illegal Immigrants
Heh, no "special consideration" for illegals whose parents failed to get a permanent visa before they turned 21.
Back of the line, sucka!
At USA Today, "Justices deny visa priority to children who turn 21."
Also at Scotus Blog, "Quick take: Court defers to agency on “aged-out” immigrants."
Back of the line, sucka!
At USA Today, "Justices deny visa priority to children who turn 21."
Also at Scotus Blog, "Quick take: Court defers to agency on “aged-out” immigrants."
Krauthammer Destroys Endless White House Lies on Bowe #Bergdahl
It's just "lie after lie," and the "pretense" that this deal was something to celebrate is just "appalling."
And just compare Krauthammer's comments here to the meme Politico was spinning last week. The MSM propaganda is just terrible: "Charles Krauthammer backs Bowe Bergdahl deal."
And just compare Krauthammer's comments here to the meme Politico was spinning last week. The MSM propaganda is just terrible: "Charles Krauthammer backs Bowe Bergdahl deal."
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