Friday, May 30, 2014
The true villains behind the Gibson Guitar raid are revealed
Human Events
"Time to revisit an old abuse-of-power scandal from President Obama’s first term: the utterly bizarre raid on Gibson Guitars by a paramilitary unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nothing about this caper ever smelled right: a raid coming from out of nowhere, without warning, to kick Gibson’s doors down, ostensibly because they violated some vaporous provision of import laws when bringing hardwood into the country. It wasn’t even American law they were supposedly violating, but an American law that said they were in hot water for violating the laws of India and Madagascar, which came as something of a surprise to authorities in India and Madagascar. In a delightful inversion of American legal principle, the folks at Gibson were never allowed to see the sealed warrant that supposedly authorized the raid. Guilty until proven innocent! We’ll get back to you later on what you’re allegedly guilty of." ...
...
"Gibson Guitars is hardly the only company on union target lists to find itself in trouble with the Obama Administration." Emphasis mine, TD
..." Up until that point Gibson had not received so much as a postcard telling the company it might be doing something wrong. Thus began a five-year saga, extensively covered by the press, with reputation-destroying leaks and shady allegations that Gibson was illegally importing wood from endangered tree species. In the end, formal charges were never filed, but the disruption to Gibson’s business and the mounting legal fees and threat of imprisonment induced Juszkiewicz to settle for $250,000—with an additional $50,000 “donation” piled on to pay off an environmental activist group." ...
Jay Carney resigns
Meet your new White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest - he's the one smiling broadly.
Thomas Lifson ... "Two thoughts occur to me in evaluating the move. One is that Carney has looked increasingly stressed as he pressed daily to defend the indefensible, evade questions, and otherwise cover the president’s derriere. He holds a high-pressure job that has gotten more and more difficult as the taboos against criticizing or even looking closely at the failures of Obama have dissipated with [time]. I could easily picture acid eating away at his stomach as the stress mounted.
"But the other thought is that Carney sees the Obama ship sinking, and is getting out when he can, before more damage is done to his already tattered reputation.
"It’s been a tough week for Obama administration spokesmen and women, as the derisive laughter and mockery that greeted his State Department counterpart Jen Psaki yesterday indicates."
...
... "We know that it is long past time for he and his wife, ABC’s Claire Shipman, to redecorate their home and get rid of the student dormitory Soviet propaganda posters."
2011: The Netherlands to Abandon Multiculturalism
OK, this was 2011 and it is now 2014; what, if anything, has the US learned from this?
Gatestone Institute "The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands.
"A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: "The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.' "
Hat tip to John Paul Curnutt; Madras, Oregon
January 13, 2014 The Islamization of Belgium and the Netherlands in 2013 ... "From now on, school calendars within Belgium's French speaking community will permanently use the following terminology: the Christian holiday previously known as All Saints Day will now be referred to as Autumn Leave; Christmas Vacation is now Winter Vacation; Lenten Vacation is now Rest and Relaxation Leave; and Easter is now Spring Vacation." ...
"A new integration bill (covering letter and 15-page action plan), which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: "The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society.' "
Hat tip to John Paul Curnutt; Madras, Oregon
Steve Hayes: Excuses Excuses
Weekly Standard "Since 2009, the world has been trying to make sense of America’s foreign and national security policies under Barack Obama. Allies and enemies, historians and scholars, the president’s critics and his supporters—all have struggled to define, or even discern, an Obama Doctrine. So last week, the man optimally positioned to elucidate the president’s vision sought to provide some clarity.
...
"That’s a tough sell. Our allies are confused and dispirited, our enemies are unquestionably emboldened. The Russian reset failed. The Asia pivot never happened. The Middle East peace process collapsed. The Syrian leader once embraced as a “reformer” has slaughtered more than 150,000 of his own people. Libya is a mess. Iraq is regressing. Obama’s own top intelligence officials acknowledge that al Qaeda is amassing territory and gaining strength.
...
"That’s a tough sell. Our allies are confused and dispirited, our enemies are unquestionably emboldened. The Russian reset failed. The Asia pivot never happened. The Middle East peace process collapsed. The Syrian leader once embraced as a “reformer” has slaughtered more than 150,000 of his own people. Libya is a mess. Iraq is regressing. Obama’s own top intelligence officials acknowledge that al Qaeda is amassing territory and gaining strength.
"Rather than defend or explain these policy failures, the president chose instead to attack critics, real and imaginary. He challenged “critics who think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak,” though no one actually thinks this. He rejected as “naïve and unsustainable” any “strategy that involves invading every country that harbors terrorist networks” despite the fact that there are no advocates for such a strategy."
Emphasis added.
Shinseki resigns after VA scandal
WaPo "President Obama said Friday he accepted the resignation of embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
"He made the announcement shortly after Shinseki apologized publicly Friday for what he called an “indefensible” lack of integrity among some senior leaders of the VA health-care system and announced several remedial steps, including a process to remove top officials at the troubled VA medical center in Phoenix."
"He made the announcement shortly after Shinseki apologized publicly Friday for what he called an “indefensible” lack of integrity among some senior leaders of the VA health-care system and announced several remedial steps, including a process to remove top officials at the troubled VA medical center in Phoenix."
From the AP via CNS ... "Those attending Shinseki's speech in a downtown Washington hotel were overwhelmingly friendly, supportive because of his work in sharply decreasing homelessness among veterans. Shinseki at one point noted that the number of homeless veterans has fallen by nearly 25 percent since 2013. The audience gave him a long, standing ovation, whistling and hooting, when he entered the room and again before and after he spoke."
Don't get too excited until we find out what type of person Obama picks for a replacement.
Don't get too excited until we find out what type of person Obama picks for a replacement.
Left pushes 'trigger warnings' in college classrooms
David Limbaugh "Have you heard about “trigger warnings,” the latest thought-control lunacy that has found its way onto college campuses? I weep for our children as they try to navigate the insanity in our society fronting as being protective of their interests.
"Trigger warnings are disclaimers that are attached to literature or other content to alert students to potentially traumatic subject matter the literature may contain. The most common types of warnings to date have reportedly involved rape, sexual abuse and mental illness.
"Until recently, the warnings were mostly on feminist-oriented Internet message boards and blogs, but now they’ve gravitated to some of our universities, many of which never found a kooky idea they didn’t embrace." ...
"In addition to expanding their jurisdictional scope, they have also increased in their range of forbidden topics. In many venues, trigger warnings now apply to all kinds of isms – “racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism and other issues of privilege and oppression,” as exemplified by an Oberlin College document concerning triggers."
Political correctness has taken on frightening proportions.
Video: Dartmouth Student Runs Over Free Speech "FIRE’s newest video features Dartmouth College student Robert Smith, who talks about the afternoon a fellow Dartmouth student ran over his organization’s pro-life display with his car. The ironic twist? The car was sporting a “Coexist” bumper sticker on the back."
UCI students demand punishment for ‘racist’ fundraiser because students wore grass skirts and coconut bras
‘Hump Day’ event cancelled after students claim bringing a camel to campus was racist
Silencing U: Five Outrageous Cases of Campus Censorship
"Trigger warnings are disclaimers that are attached to literature or other content to alert students to potentially traumatic subject matter the literature may contain. The most common types of warnings to date have reportedly involved rape, sexual abuse and mental illness.
"Until recently, the warnings were mostly on feminist-oriented Internet message boards and blogs, but now they’ve gravitated to some of our universities, many of which never found a kooky idea they didn’t embrace." ...
"In addition to expanding their jurisdictional scope, they have also increased in their range of forbidden topics. In many venues, trigger warnings now apply to all kinds of isms – “racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism and other issues of privilege and oppression,” as exemplified by an Oberlin College document concerning triggers."
Political correctness has taken on frightening proportions.
Video: Dartmouth Student Runs Over Free Speech "FIRE’s newest video features Dartmouth College student Robert Smith, who talks about the afternoon a fellow Dartmouth student ran over his organization’s pro-life display with his car. The ironic twist? The car was sporting a “Coexist” bumper sticker on the back."
UCI students demand punishment for ‘racist’ fundraiser because students wore grass skirts and coconut bras
‘Hump Day’ event cancelled after students claim bringing a camel to campus was racist
Silencing U: Five Outrageous Cases of Campus Censorship
Alan Caruba: The Slow, Sure Death of "Climate Change" Lies
Warning Signs ... "Obama is on record saying that climate change “once considered an issue for the distant future, has moved firmly into the present” and is “affecting Americans right now.” Climate change as studied by climatologists is measured in terms of centuries whereas the weather is what is happening today. It has been happening before and since the rise of civilization. Obama’s claim that “climate-related changes are outside of recent experience” and “have become more frequent and/or intense” is a lie from start to finish."
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