What Rex Tillerson's Nomination Means for Russia Policy

"Putin, we’re told, is bent on reviving a Russian empire that dissolved 25 years ago this month."

The National Interest

"In nominating Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, Donald Trump is attaining one of his major political goals: he is putting a distinctive personal stamp on U.S. foreign policy at a time when Washington’s relations with Russia are fraught with the possibility of a hot war from Ukraine to Syria. Not that Tillerson’s confirmation is guaranteed: Democrats and Republicans are suspicious of his ties to Vladimir Putin, and they will subject the ExxonMobil chief executive to intense scrutiny during next month’s Senate hearings.

"But Trump has an idea of where he wants to go in dealing with the Kremlin and he is going there. The skeptics attribute his ambition to some sort of bromance with the Russian autocrat. Few recognize the substance of what he is trying to do; and those who do run the risk of being denounced as Putin apologists." . . .

A new victim in the war on small-biz bakeries

Michelle Malkin  "It is not enough for family-owned pastry shops to bow to the gay marriage mob. Now, they’re being targeted by the social justice mafia.

"At my alma mater, radical Oberlin College in Ohio (which boasts hapless Baltimore mayor and rioters’ champion Stephanie Rawlings Blake and bizarro feminist actress and fake rape accuser Lena Dunham as graduates), the operators of a small-business bakery are under siege by vengeful students and administrators trying to crush them under the wheels of the race-baiters’ bandwagon. The true victim in this latest tale of political correctness run amok is Gibson’s Bakery — a quaint shop founded in 1885 that still bakes all its goods using original recipes.

"On Nov. 9, according to the city police report I obtained, shop employee Allyn Gibson caught a 19-year-old Oberlin College student allegedly stealing two bottles of wine and hiding them under his shirt. As officers approached the area, Oberlin Police Sgt. (Victor) Ortiz, and Officer (Raymond) Feuerstein both stated they observed Gibson lying on his back with several individuals kneeling over him punching and kicking him with several other individuals in the immediate area. Officers attempted to gain control of the situation and were met several times with resistance from several different individuals.' ” . . .

Obama's legacy as not recognized by his supporters

Faith Based Universities See Trump’s Win as a Reprieve  

“when it came to faith-based convictions he [Obama] didn’t share, he showed no mercy.”

. . . "President Obama threatened crippling fines if a college refused as a matter of conscience to make contraceptive services, including sterilization and abortifacient drugs, available in the health plans offered to its employees and students. The government’s foreign-assistance apparatus required a pledge of allegiance to the LGBT and “reproduction freedom” agendas as a condition for grants. Indeed, early on the administration sent a message to faith-based groups by yanking a grant to the U.S. Catholic bishops, a proven provider of quality refugee services, because they would not forsake their views on abortion and contraception. "

'He’ll look back in deep sorrow and some shame': Retired admiral says Obama will regret ignoring his own 'red line' in Syria
. . . "Obama likely will be judged by history as much for what he did not do as for what he did, as Stavridis demonstrated today.

"He first called on Assad to leave power in 2011. But the two-term president never supplied moderate rebels with enough firepower to topple him or force him to the negotiating table. 

"His failure to carry out threatened air strikes to enforce the 2012 'red line' over dealt a heavy blow to U.S. standing, including by some of his staunchest regional allies." . . .

Could the Education Department’s Title IX overreach be nearing an end?  . . . "Attendees praised the 66,000 investigations conducted during the Obama administration and the 34 “policy guidance documents” issued in the past eight years. The documents mandated rules for sexual interactions, gender segregation as it relates to bathrooms and transgender students and racial equity in disciplinary cases." . . .

Obama Tries to Get Arms Trade Treaty Ratified as a Parting Shot  "Barack Obama is still working on his soon-disappearing legacy and is hoping to add prohibitive gun control to it by getting the Arms Trade Treaty ratified. It’s too late for one of his fiats. He tried to get this approved for Christmas 2014 and now, here we are again in time for Christmas 2016."

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reverses course

"More Fracking Lies from the EPA"= Fake News

Watts Up With That?

. . . "A government report on the safety of fracking released Tuesday deleted a draft assessment’s conclusion that the process has no national “widespread, systemic impact” on drinking water.

"Instead, the EPA determined that fracking can have an impact on drinking water under certain circumstances, a change in position that drew backlash from the drilling industry." . . .

"Anti-Voter-ID Agitators Are Racists — Or Ignorant."

I put quotation marks on the title because of distaste over calling statements and people we dislike "racist".

Always On Watch  "In the video below, the filmmaker first interviewed liberals, then blacks in Harlem. Please watch the video to the end (hat tip to DC Statesman):"

"Excerpt from one of the comments at YouTube:

..."The things that come out of the liberal snowflake's [sic] mouths are just like Wow...seriously???? Freaking idiots! They want so badly to paint everyone that doesn't agree w/them a racist they just pop ---- off at the mouth without even knowing what they're talking about."

Why Do Liberals Keep Calling Trump a Racist?  "On November 29, while speaking about flag-burning on MSNBC's Hardball, former U.S. representative Barney Frank said the late Justice Antonin Scalia was "the leading advocate of fag-burning."  The interviewer, Chris Matthews, reacted to the hideous expression with amusement." . . .