Ahmed and the art of the psychodrama

"Ahmed the clockmaker and Columbia’s Mattress Girl are reminders that there are careerist advantages to becoming a victim of religious, racial, or sexual prejudice."

Victor Davis Hanson
"During Pope Francis’s parade in Washington, 5-year-old Sophie Cruz suddenly dashed up to the popemobile and handed His Holiness a note about the wretched plight of her illegal-alien parents from Los Angeles, who are apparently terrified of all the recent talk about deportations. The media loved the spontaneity and courage of 5-year-old Sophie.

"But that was not quite the whole story. The entire event reportedly had been scripted for about a year by a group called “Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition,” which, in actuality, is not about immigration per se, but rather full rights for illegal immigrants. According to spokesman Juan Jose Gutierrez, the group had carefully planned Sophie’s dash: “We planned to do this from the moment we learned he was coming to the States….We have been working for a while now trying to sensitize the American public that dealing with immigration is not just dealing with the people who came in without proper documents but that we also have … countless children whose parents are undocumented.”

"Using a 5-year-old girl under the false pretenses of a spontaneous outburst of emotion seems about as authentic as deliberately conflating legal immigration — the United States accepts more immigrants than does any other nation — with illegal immigrants who deliberately and knowingly break federal law to enter the U.S."
. . .
"Recently, social media created a victim-hero out of 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed, whose plight with local school authorities earned him global commiseration — and invitations to visit almost everyone from Barack Obama in the White House and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook to the United Nations.  How did teenager Ahmed become an international celebrity?"  Full article here.

What Ben Carson got right about a Muslim president

What Ben Carson Got Right about whether a Muslim Should Be President

. . . "Because it represented the wholesale rejection of an entire group of people, the first of these two positions deserved the criticism that it received. I will not add to it here. Instead, I want to take a closer look at Carson’s second position, which seems to me to be infinitely more defensible, and perhaps even worthy of esteem. As I suggested last week, I am much more interested in individuals than I am in groups, and in consequence have little time for any supposition that rests upon presumptuous collectivization. But — and this is important — to recognize that each candidate is ultimately an individual is by no means to conclude that voters should refrain from asking questions about his religion or his background. " . . .

Ben Carson and Islam

. . . "Islam’s sharia is a code premised on the principles that Allah has prescribed the ideal way for human life to be lived; that people are required to submit to that prescription; and that Islamic governments exist to enforce that requirement. Our Constitution, to the contrary, is premised on the principles that we are free to choose how we will live; the laws we make are not required to comply with the principles of any religion; and that government is our servant, not our master." . . .

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/424379/ben-carson-and-islam-andrew-c-mccarthy

What a Grownup Foreign Policy Would Look Like

Jennifer Rubin

In the introduction to the John Hay Initiative’s e-book “Choosing to Lead,” Peter Wehner writes:

Those running for high public office are likely to find the American people somewhat disoriented, feeling vulnerable, anxious, and unusually powerless in the face of global affairs. There can be little wonder why. The United States has waged war for nearly fifteen years and undertaken “nation-building” operations that turned out to be more difficult and costly than we imagined. If previous administrations overestimated America’s capacity to shape events, the current Administration has made the United States a reluctant and often passive world power, and the world is more turbulent and dangerous because of it.

. . . "Second, JHI seeks to address the vacuums Obama left around the globe that were filled by bad actors, including Russia, China, Iran, Syria and Islamic jihadists. Implicit in that is a recognition that the United States cannot leave to “history” or to other powers the job of ensuring international stability and peace. That does not necessarily or even frequently necessitate military action. With regard to Russia, for example, Paula Dobriansky and David Kramer suggest:" . . .More at this link

Weasel of the Week Nominees

Nice Deb   "It’s time once again for the Watcher’s Council’s ‘Weasel Of The Week’ nominations, where we pick our choices to compete for the award of the famed Golden Weasel to a public figure who particularly deserves to be slimed and mocked for his or her dastardly deeds during the week. Every Tuesday morning, tune in for the Weasel of the Week nominations!

"Here are this weeks’ nominees….

Baby Parts Merchants Planned Parenthood !

. . . "Planned Parenthood and Code Pink descended on Carly Fiorina in Iowa and screamed insults and profanities at her. Then they hurled condoms at Carly. Classy." . . .

WGN TV’s Production Department!

. . . "According to the first news report I saw, once an editor pointed the offense of using the illustration, WGN-TV immediate issued an apology on social media. However, according to the Telegraph.co.uk, WGN, stated that “the image came from its image bank, and they ‘failed to recognise that the image was an offensive Nazi symbol. ' ’”. . .

. . . "Finally, who will be held accountable? Oh my bad, NO ONE. Yet if it were a Black person, Muslim or a member of the Gay Gestapo, head(s) would have rolled and a lawsuit pending by now."   Full article

Obama's Hope-and-Change Foreign Policy

http://comicallyincorrect.com/2015/02/05/obama-radical-islam/

Victor Davis Hanson

. . . "Ditto Israel. The Obama administration does not seem to care much that Israel is democratic and pro-Western and that it created a successful economy ex nihilo. Instead, it represents Westernism at the expense of revolutionary entities like the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, and perhaps now even Hezbollah. Thus, from the beginning of the Obama administration, its Middle East invective was aimed not at Iran, Hamas, or the Muslim Brotherhood, but at Israel in general and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in particular. Like the Kurds, whom Obama has largely neglected, Israel is simply too successful, too unlike the failures elsewhere in the Middle East, and too patently pro-American.
 Read more

Obama and Putin's meeting; who do you think dominated?

I do not trust this man's desire to give us good advice. But I have no respect for Obama's world view or priorities. TD

Putin to those who supported “Arab Spring” in Middle East: “Do you realize what you have done?”
“Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster — and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life. I cannot help asking those who have forced that situation: Do you realize what you have done?”

. . . He proposed a “generally broad international coalition against terrorism,” likening the suggestion to the anti-Hitler coalition that brought together disparate interests to battle fascism in Europe.

Obama will be forced to play Putin's game in Syria   "Russian president Vladimir Putin met with Barack Obama yesterday at the U.N. for 90 minutes, and in that hour and a half, Russia became the dominant power in the Middle East.

. . .

"Halfway measure" is an excellent description of our efforts in Syria to battle the Islamic State.  We have committed the U.S. military to a conflict we have no desire to do what's necessary to win.  And it appears that this immoral policy will continue.

Obama Must Join Putin On ISIS  . . . "In the absence of Western resolve, Putin has taken the initiative. Russian pragmatic actions, tactical in nature, include planes and pilots entering Syria, and setting up an advanced anti-aircraft battery in Syria. In a remarkable few days the number of Russian fighter aircraft in Syria increased from four to twenty-eight, combat aircraft, ground attack aircraft, and bombers. These have been added to the Russian six attack helicopters and tanks in Latakia. Calculations suggest that about 2000 Russian troops are being stationed in the country, to be added to the 1,700 Russian specialists there." . . .

U.N.'s Obama-Putin Show Displays Russian Ambition, U.S. Decline

. . . "The Russian strongman is simply using the most effective anti-U.S. verbal ammunition available; his real goal is Russian ascent and American descent — in other words, a new Cold War.

"But Obama either doesn't know it or doesn't care."