President Obama's Statement on the Paris Attacks (VIDEO)

He's being criticized for his standard, cowardly political correctness.

At Gateway Pundit, "OBAMA Makes Statement on Bloody Paris Terrorist Attacks — WON’T MENTION ISLAM."

Here's the text of the White House statement, "Statement by the President on the Situation in Paris":

THE PRESIDENT:  Good evening, everybody.  I just want to make a few brief comments about the attacks across Paris tonight.  Once again, we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians.  This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.

We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of France need to respond.  France is our oldest ally.  The French people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States time and again.  And we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Paris itself represents the timeless values of human progress.  Those who think that they can terrorize the people of France or the values that they stand for are wrong.  The American people draw strength from the French people’s commitment to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.  We are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberté and égalité and fraternité are not only values that the French people care so deeply about, but they are values that we share.  And those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening.

We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice, and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.

We don’t yet know all the details of what has happened.  We have been in contact with French officials to communicate our deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, to offer our prayers and thoughts to those who have been wounded.  We have offered our full support to them.  The situation is still unfolding.  I’ve chosen not to call President Hollande at this time, because my expectation is that he’s very busy at the moment.  I actually, by coincidence, was talking to him earlier today in preparation for the G20 meeting.  But I am confident that I’ll be in direct communications with him in the next few days, and we’ll be coordinating in any ways that they think are helpful in the investigation of what’s happened.

This is a heartbreaking situation.  And obviously those of us here in the United States know what it’s like.  We’ve gone through these kinds of episodes ourselves.  And whenever these kinds of attacks happened, we’ve always been able to count on the French people to stand with us.  They have been an extraordinary counterterrorism partner, and we intend to be there with them in that same fashion.

I’m sure that in the days ahead we’ll learn more about exactly what happened, and my teams will make sure that we are in communication with the press to provide you accurate information.  I don’t want to speculate at this point in terms of who was responsible for this.  It appears that there may still be live activity and dangers that are taking place as we speak.  And so until we know from French officials that the situation is under control, and we have for more information about it, I don’t want to speculate.

Thank you very much.

The gunmen were wearing keffiyehs, and shouting "Allahu Akbar!", but we wouldn't want to "speculate" about this "heartbreaking situation."

Keep clutching those pearls, in other words.

PREVIOUSLY: "Footage of the #Bataclan Siege — #ParisAttacks (VIDEO)."

Footage of the #Bataclan Siege — #ParisAttacks (VIDEO)

Via Sky News:



PREVIOUSLY: "Paris Attacks Remind Us the Free Is World at War with Brutal Terrorist Groups."

Paris Attacks Remind Us the Free Is World at War with Brutal Terrorist Groups

From Nile Gardiner, at the Daily Signal:

Tonight’s horrific series of terrorist attacks throughout Paris have sent shockwaves across Europe and the world.

According to media reports, dozens of people have been killed so far in multiple attacks on several locations in the French capital, including a restaurant near the Place de la Republique, and the Stade de France, home of the French national soccer team. Some of the attacks are reported to have been suicide bombings.

In addition, up to a hundred people were taken hostage by terrorists at the Bataclan concert venue. The French government has declared a state of emergency, deployed troops to the streets of Paris, and has closed the country’s borders.

In terms of sheer scale, this could be the largest terror attack on Western soil since the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

While it is too early to determine the exact identity of the terror group responsible for these atrocities, the attacks are consistent with the kind of mass casualty attacks that have been carried out in the past by Islamist terrorists in London, Madrid, Istanbul, and most recently in Paris itself, with the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January this year.

It also comes in the wake of last week’s explosion on board a Russian airliner flying from Egypt to St. Petersburg, which US and British authorities believe was a terrorist attack. According to the London Daily Telegraph, gunmen shouted “Allahu Akbar” in one of tonight’s Paris attacks.

There is speculation that the terror attacks are a direct response by the Islamic State to the US drone strike against Jihadi John in Raqqa, Syria yesterday. While it is unlikely that ISIS would have the capability to launch such a well-coordinated attack within such a short time frame, it is possible that ISIS could have been planning such an attack on Paris for some time, and decided it launch it today for propaganda reasons to give the impression that this is immediate retaliation for the Jihadi John strike...

Actually, nearly 200 were murdered in the Madrid terror bombings in 2004, but today's Paris attacks may turn out to have been even bloodier. Things are still unfolding. Certainly a large-scale coordinated attack like this, in a major Western capital, marks a major turning point. Mumbai can happen anywhere at this point.

Previous blogging here and here.

Paris Terror Attacks — Updates

Following-up, "France Declares State of Emergency as Terror Attacks Leave Scores Dead (VIDEO)."

Sky News has a streaming video here, "Sky News Live."

More at Telegraph UK, "Paris shooting: Scores killed and injured after 'Kalashnikov and grenade attacks' across French capital with dozens of hostages taken..."

At least 100 dead at the concert hall.

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Paris Under Siege; Attackers Kill Dozens."

More at Legal Insurrection, "LIVE VIDEO AND UPDATES: Terror in Paris, Borders Closed, Curfew."

DEVELOPING.

France Declares State of Emergency as Terror Attacks Leave Scores Dead (VIDEO)

Oh boy.

Here we go again. And nothing will change. You'll see an initial outpouring of faux resolve, and then it will be right back to where it was before: kowtowing to Islamic jihad, afraid of being attacked as "racist" by the terror-loving left.

At Atlas Shrugs, "Jihad in Paris: Scores DEAD, Mass Murder across French Capital with Dozens taken HOSTAGE," and Jihad Watch, "France seals borders, declares emergency as Muslims murder at least 60."

And at the New York Times, "In Paris, Multiple Attacks in Deadly Night of Terror":

PARIS — France reeled Friday night from a shooting rampage, explosions and mass hostage-taking that convulsed the Paris area in what the president called an unprecedented terrorist attack on his country. His government closed the borders and mobilized the military in a national emergency.

French television and news services quoted the police as saying at least 60 people had been killed and many dozens wounded in at least four apparently coordinated attacks, far eclipsing the deaths and mayhem that roiled Paris in the Charlie Hebdo massacre and related assaults around the French capital less than a year ago.

One of the explosions struck near the country’s main sports stadium where Germany and France were playing a soccer match, forcing a hasty evacuation of President François Hollande. As the scope of the assaults quickly became clear, he convened an emergency cabinet meeting and announced France was closing its borders.

“As I speak, terrorist attacks of an unprecedented scale are taking place in the Paris region,” he said in a nationally televised address. “There are several dozen dead, lots more wounded, it’s horrific.”

Mr. Hollande said on his orders the government had “mobilized all the forces we can muster to neutralize the threats and secure all of the areas.”

President Obama in Washington came to the White House Briefing room to express solidarity and offer aid and condolences. “Once again, we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” he said. “This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”

More.

And see London's Daily Mail, "At least 60 dead in series of terror attacks as Kalashnikov-wielding gunman opens fire in restaurant, 100 hostages are taken at theater, two blasts are heard near stadium and gunfire is reported at mall."

Plus, at Sky News on Twitter, "Hostages appear to be leaving #Bataclan concert hall; attackers are reportedly killed in police siege #ParisAttacks..."

DEVELOPING. I'll have more.

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And ICYMI from last night, Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century.

Keely Mullen

R.S. McCain's mocking the hell out of this poor girl.

She was on Cavuto's the other day, and didn't acquit herself too well.

You have to really feel badly for America's youth if this lady's is anything near representative. Just wow.

Cary Grant Took LSD Over 100 Times

That's one of the amazing tidbits in this fascinating obituary of Cary Grant's late wife, Betsy Drake.

See, "Betsy Drake dies at 92; gave up acting career to marry Cary Grant":

Their 1949 marriage in Palm Springs was front-page news, with Howard Hughes, a close friend of Grant's, serving as best man. It would be the most durable of Grant's five marriages.

After they separated in 1958, Drake started seeing a Beverly Hills psychotherapist, who prescribed therapy with LSD, which was legal at the time.

In her first session, she experienced the pain of her own birth.

"Enthused by what she considered an incredible experience, Betsy went home and called her mother, with whom she hadn't spoken in a decade," Vanity Fair magazine reported in 2010.

"'I told her, 'I love you,' and after all that time, she just said, 'Of course you do, darling,' and hung up."

Drake talked Grant into similar sessions and he came away a true believer, using the drug more than 100 times...

Hysteria and Outrage at Claremont McKenna College (VIDEO)

The background's at LAT, "Amid racial bias protests, Claremont McKenna dean resigns."

And here's the editorial at the Claremont Independent, "We Dissent":

To our fellow Claremont students, we are disappointed in you as well. We are ashamed of you for trying to end someone’s career over a poorly worded email. This is not a political statement––this is a person’s livelihood that you so carelessly sought to destroy. We are disappointed that you chose to scream and swear at your administrators. That is not how adults solve problems, and your behavior reflects poorly on all of us here in Claremont. This is not who we are and this is not how we conduct ourselves, but this is the image of us that has now reached the national stage.

We are disappointed in your demands. If you want to take a class in “ethnic, racial, and sexuality theory,” feel free to take one, but don’t force such an ideologically driven course on all CMC students. If the dearth of such courses at CMC bothers you, maybe you should have chosen a different school. If students chose to attend Caltech and then complained about the lack of literature classes, that’s on them. And though it wouldn’t hurt to have a more diverse faculty, the demand that CMC increase the number of minority faculty members either rests on the assumption that CMC has a history of discriminating against qualified professors of color, or, more realistically, it advocates for the hiring of less qualified faculty based simply on the fact that they belong to marginalized groups. A hiring practice of this sort would not benefit any CMC students, yourselves included.

We are disappointed in the fact that your movement has successfully managed to convince its members that anyone who dissents does so not for intelligent reasons, but due to moral failure or maliciousness. We are disappointed that you’ve used phrases like “silence is violence” to not only demonize those who oppose you, but all who are not actively supporting you. We are most disappointed, however, in the rhetoric surrounding “safe spaces.” College is the last place that should be a safe space. We come here to learn about views that differ from our own, and if we aren’t made to feel uncomfortable by these ideas, then perhaps we aren’t venturing far enough outside of our comfort zone. We would be doing ourselves a disservice to ignore viewpoints solely on the grounds that they may make us uncomfortable, and we would not be preparing ourselves to cope well with adversity in the future. Dealing with ideas that make us uncomfortable is an important part of growing as students and as people, and your ideas will inhibit opportunities for that growth.

We are adults, and we need to be mature enough to take ownership of and responsibility for our feelings, rather than demanding that those around us cater to our individual needs...

Heh.

Well done. Finally someone's acting like adults.

Still more (via Memeorandum).

Plus, at FrontPage Magazine, "The Crybully Credo: 'It's Literally Your Jobs to Take Care of Us When We Don't Feel Safe'." (At Memeorandum.)

An American Fascism

From David Horowitz, at FrontPage Magazine, "Calling the campus protests what they are":

The racist, McCarthyite, totalitarian movement rearing its ugly head on college campuses as diverse as Missouri, Yale and Vanderbilt is being treated by conservatives as a case of kids too fragile to handle views with which they disagree. This may work as a debating tactic but it misunderstands both the malignancy of the politics behind the campaign and the ferocity of its radical leaders. Now they are calling for the heads of liberals (and getting them). But quaint American prejudices like the First Amendment still stand in their way. But for how long? If this movement, which includes large contingents of the Democratic Party – including the president, achieves critical mass and succeeds in its agendas and acquires the necessary power, who can doubt that they will be putting dissenters in prison and worse? These are people intoxicated with their own virtue, and determined to purge non-believers in their path. They are a perfect analogue to the Islamic fanatics who want to purify the planet. While the Islamic fanatics be-head, the American fanatics suppress and burn. At bottom, they see the world in parallel terms: Slay the infidels wherever you find them.

The current eruptions on college campuses, which will be escalating through this year, are the product of four decades of capitulations to leftwing racism and political correctness, which is a totalitarian party line whose inventor Mao Zedong murdered 70 million Chinese in its name. America still has strong traditions of intellectual pluralism and individual rights, which are obstacles in the way of the progressive storm troopers, but for how long? How many capitulations by so-called liberals, how many unconstitutional executive orders, how many coercions by Democrat-controlled government agencies before there are no obstacles left?

We saw these lynch mobs first hand in Ferguson, but only an inaudible few were willing to name them for what they were. In Ferguson, the president of the United States supported the lynchers, along with the Democratic Party and the leftwing chorus. And so it spread to New York and Baltimore and now Missouri and Yale. The time has come to call this for what it is, an American fascism.  But the time is also getting late to reverse the tide.

In the Mail: Alistair Horne, Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century

This is great.

The public relations folks at Harper Collins sent out a copy.

Here, Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century.

Note that Alistair Horne is major historian. His work on the Algerian war for independence is one of the all-time great classics in French history, counter-insurgency, and post-colonial studies. See, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962.

Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy Campaign (VIDEO)

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is less than a month away, on December 8th.

Tune in hear for all your Victoria's Secret blogging.

And watch, "Go behind the scenes with Lily Aldridge, Taylor Hill, Sara Sampaio, Behati Prinsloo and Candice Swanepoel as they shoot the Victoria’s Secret Holiday 2015 campaign."

Queer Vegan Witch Accuses Radical Feminists of 'Anti-Trans Violence'

I swear the entire world has lost its marbles.

At the Other McCain.

Mass Psychological Meltdown Across America's So-Called Institutions of Higher Learning (VIDEO)

We should call them America's institutions of lower learning, and lower psychological stability. Sheesh.

At the New York Times, "Racial Discrimination Protests Ignite at Colleges Across the U.S.":

The passion that ousted the heads of the University of Missouri after protests over racial discrimination on campus is spreading to other colleges across the country, turning traditional fall semesters into a period of intense focus on racial misunderstanding and whether activism stifles free speech.

Hundreds of students demonstrated at Ithaca College in upstate New York on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the college president, Tom Rochon, for what they said was his lackluster response to complaints of racial insensitivity on campus, including an episode in which two white male alumni on a panel called a black alumna a “savage,” after she said she had a “savage hunger” to succeed.

At Smith College, in Northampton, Mass., about 100 students demonstrated in solidarity with their counterparts in Ithaca and Missouri, while at the University of Kansas, the administration called a town hall meeting to give students and faculty a chance “to be heard” before any concerns about race on campus could grow.

At Claremont McKenna College in California, the junior class president resigned Tuesday after a furor over a Facebook photograph that showed her posing with two women who were wearing sombreros, ponchos and mustaches for Halloween. A campus demonstration followed on Wednesday.

And at Yale, the campus is still in turmoil about an overheard “white girls only” remark at an off-campus fraternity party, and debating over whether students had a right to wear transgressive Halloween costumes.

In interviews, students say they have been inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement that grew out of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by the police in Ferguson, Mo. They say the victory of protesting students and football players at the University of Missouri has spurred them to demand that their universities provide a safe space for students of color...

So, they were inspired by a lie, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot"? That figures.

Keep reading.

Bonfire of the Academy

At WSJ, "As liberal adults abdicate, the kids take charge on campus":

By bonfire of the academy we mean a conflict of values about the idea of a university that now threatens to undermine or destroy universities as a place of learning. Exhibit A is the ruin called the University of Missouri.

In the 1960s—at Cornell, Columbia, Berkeley and elsewhere—the self-described Student Left occupied buildings with what they often called “non-negotiable” demands. In the decades since, the academy—its leaders and faculties—by and large has accommodated many of those demands regarding appropriate academic subjects, admissions policies and what has become the aggressive and non-tolerant politics of identity and grievance.

This political trajectory arrived at its logical end this week at Missouri with the abrupt resignation of the school’s president, quickly followed by its number two official. The kids deposed them, as their liberal elders applauded either out of solidarity or cowardice.

The cause of President Tim Wolfe’s resignation is said to be his failure to address several racially charged incidents on campus and the threat by its Division One football team to boycott this weekend’s game unless he stepped down.

The university’s campus, in Columbia, is not far from Ferguson, Mo. Among the charges against President Wolfe was that his response to the shooting of Michael Brown was inadequate, which is to say, he did not sufficiently take the side of the protesters or rioters. Since Ferguson, the left-wing Black Lives Matter group has come to prominence and intimidated even presidential candidates. This has been accompanied by successive claims of racial grievance against public and private institutions.

In the United States, by now the instinct of the overwhelming majority of people is to address such complaints in good faith, investigate them and remediate where necessary. Only the tiniest minority would wish to see racial grievances bleed indefinitely. Yet the kids assert that America is irredeemably racist...

Keep reading.

Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Win Republican Debate, WSJ Poll Finds

Here, "Donald Trump, Marco Rubio Won GOP Debate, Poll Finds":

Donald Trump and Marco Rubio won Tuesday’s night primetime Republican debate, according to an overnight poll of Internet users who watched the contest, but Mr. Trump came out as the favorite among Republicans and left the best impression about his ability to serve as president.

Some 24% of debate-viewers named Mr. Trump and 23% picked Mr. Rubio as the winner of the eight-candidate event, which was sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and Fox Business News. Ted Cruz and Ben Carson followed, with 13% declaring each to have won.

Mr. Trump’s lead in the Internet survey was larger among debate-watchers who said they’d vote in a Republican primary...

Also at Memeorandum.

'The truth is, I don't like anyone who's running for President in either party...'

Not me. I like Cruz, Rubio, and Trump. I pretty much despise Jeb Bush, and I agree that Kasich looks like a drunk blowhard know-it-all.

But see Althouse, "'Biggest loser on merits: Kasich. He’s done. He came across angry, condescending, and unprincipled'..."

PREVIOUSLY: "Marco Rubio Wins Fourth Republican Debate (VIDEO)."

Marco Rubio Wins Fourth Republican Debate (VIDEO)

He did well. Even my wife was impressed, heh.

At Politico, "Insiders: Rubio wins, Kasich bombs":

Marco Rubio won the fourth Republican debate -- and John Kasich lost.

That’s the assessment of this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our bipartisan survey of the top activists, strategists and operatives in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Nearly 40 percent of Republican participants said Rubio won the debate in a survey taken immediately following Tuesday night’s contest -- no other candidate had more than 12 percent.

“Energy,” said an Iowa Republican of Rubio. “He wants the job.”

“By every measure Marco Rubio won the [night],” a New Hampshire Republican said. “Strong and informed on every issue, inspirational, presidential. He actually moved the ball down the field.”

Added a Nevada Republican, Rubio “gave a compelling vision for a hopeful future contrasting his youthful vision to a tired "older" take on the country epitomized by Hillary.”

For the second Republican debate in a row, the POLITICO Caucus named the Florida senator the biggest winner of the night, noting his vigorous defense of a muscular American foreign policy — one of the biggest applause lines of the evening — and forceful remarks concerning Wall Street as evidence of a strong and articulate candidate.

Forty-two percent of Democrats also agreed that Rubio won the night.

“He is engaging, articulate, comfortable in his own skin and has a hopeful positive message...he packages well for a party that is looking for change but still wants a foot in policy and politics,” a New Hampshire Democrat said...

Political Correctness, Leftist Intolerance, and the University of Missouri Campus Protests

I walked in at 6:00pm exactly tonight, just in time to flip the remote over to Fox Business Channel for the GOP presidential debate. My wife had dinner ready, bless her heart, and I poured a glass of wine and ate dinner with my family while the debate played out, with low volume, on the television.

At work today I saw all the incredible coverage at Memeorandum on the political correctness earthquake at Mizzou. There's no way I can catch up with all of the news tonight. Sure beats a slow news day, that's for sure.

In any case, I'll have more on the debate later.

Check Memeorandum for all the totalitarian campus action, "University of Missouri, please immediately fire employees who taunted media," and "As Missouri Activists Block Journalists, a Divide Over ‘Respect’ and Rights."

And at the Missourian, "UPDATE: MU faculty member resigns courtesy appointment, apologizes for photojournalist incident."

Now, at Instapundit, "Meanwhile, looking at the Mizzou YikYak feed, a lot of students are sorry the university caved, but worried about this potential threat," and "NEO-NEOCON: More on Missouri—and more and more and more..."

At the Other McCain, "Well, That Didn’t Take Long," and "‘Systemic Racism,’ Anarchy and Incipient Totalitarianism at University of Missouri."

Finally, here's James Rosen on Special Report, covering the Missouri protests:

Starter Home Gift Guide

At Amazon, Shop Holiday Home & Garden Gift Guide - Starter Home.

And ICYMI, from Alonzo Hamby, Man of Destiny: FDR and the Making of the American Century.

Plus, back by popular demand, Fredrik Logevall, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam.