Obama administration bungles Snowden, leaves great power diplomacy in shambles

 Thomas Lifson  "It would be comic if the national security of the United States were not in peril. The Obama crew, which smugly promised us "smart diplomacy," has totally bungled relations with China and Russia, America's two major potential global rivals, in its handling of the Edward Snowden affair. As Sarah Palin might ask: How's that "smart diplomacy" workin' out for ya'?"

Where's Edward Snowden?  "This may be an ominous development, or it may be a bit of misdirection from Snowden and his handlers. Ominous because you wouldn't put it past Putin to take Snowden into custody and try to exchange him for someone we have in our jails that the Russians may want. Or perhaps Putin might want to see if he could wring any intelligence out of the young man before he leaves the country."

Nobody respects Obama  "Second, no one is afraid of the US and that is very bad for the world's only superpower."

Kristol: GOP Senators Should Block Immigration Monday, Let Us and Them Read the Bill

The Weekly Standard "The boss this morning talked about the immigration bill on Fox News Sunday's "Panel Plus":"

An Embarrassing Truth  "Embarrassing. Nauseating. Truly and breath-takingly ignorant. That would be the current fawning capitulation of the Republican Party regarding immigration. What is it about these "professional" politicans in the GOP that forces them to be constantly in a reactionary-defensive mode regarding Progressives?"

The complete intellectual degradation of the abortion debate

Bookworm Room  "I’ve commented before on the factual dishonesty of the abortion debate.  Abortion proponents pretend that we’re living in the 1950s, when out-of-wedlock pregnancy was a stigma, not a commonplace.  I guess it’s unsurprising that the intellectual debate would be equally dishonest.  One could say that the good thing about mass murderer Kermit Gosnell is that his “post-birth” abortions have brought to light the intellectual paucity of the Democrat party when it comes to abortion.  The Supreme Court has insisted on a balancing act, and the Democrats have responded by putting their thumb firmly on the abortion side of the scale."
 

Obama’s stupid crack about parochial education

Bookworm Room   "Much is being made of Obama’s speech in Ireland, in which he managed to insult parochial education.  Catholics seem most disturbed, perhaps because (a) most parochial schools in America are Catholic and (b) Obama has been at war with the Catholic church by trying to make churches pay for abortifacients and birth control, which is a big First Amendment no-no.
"Reading what Obama said, there’s no doubt that, once you work your way through his sloppy formulation, it’s right up there with the best of Obama’s offensive statements:"...
....
Here the author twists the knife to make sure lower-information readers get his, um, point:

Obama is why I’m sour about the Ivy League schools.  They take in bright people (and I do think that Obama is innately bright) and turns out ignoramuses, who have no real knowledge, just a warped ideological framework to which they try to attach, however, poorly, what situation greets them at any given moment.  Obama’s not the only example of this problem; he’s just the most embarrassingly prominent.

Considering the above, this should not disturb the President: Christendom’s Greatest Cathedral to Become a Mosque
"Why does the fate of an old building matter?
"Because Hagia Sophia  — Greek for “Holy Wisdom” — was for some thousand years Christianity’s greatest cathedral. Built in 537 A.D. in Constantinople, the heart of the Christian empire, it was also a stalwart symbol of defiance against an ever encroaching Islam from the east."
....
Hanson's main point in this:
"Meanwhile, here are neighboring Turkey’s Muslims openly praising the same jihadi warlords who brutally conquered a portion of Europe centuries ago, converting thousands of churches into mosques, even as they openly prepare to finish the job — which may not even require force, as Europe actively sells its own soul."

Chelsea Clinton Laments: My Grandmother Did Not Have Access to Planned Parenthood

Bloviating Zeppelin   "This will be a short post. "Because evidently Chelsea Clinton laments her own birth."
Did she really think this statement through?

BZ comments in this post:

“What kind of a mind set does it take to lament your own existence?” It takes a mind set that worships Leftism and emotions.

Hoax: Johnny Depp is still alive and kicking

These people got taken in, it would appear.

At about 3 a.m. ET on Monday, our beloved actor Johnny Depp passed away due to a fatal car crash. Johnny was born on June 9, 1963. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.

 Today's News Gazette refutes this story.

Johnny Depp Dead? Another Celebrity Death Hoax? 

So much for that, now on to other stuff.

The top 9,486 ways Jay Carney won’t answer your questions (interactive)

Yahoo

"A Yahoo News analysis of the 444 briefings through June 18 that Carney has held since becoming White House press secretary has identified 13 distinct strains in the way he dodges reporters' question. Since Carney held his first daily briefing with reporters in the White House Brady Press Briefing Room on Feb. 16, 2011, for example, he’s used some variation of "I don’t have the answer" more than 1,900 times. In 1,383 cases he referred a question to someone else. But will he at least speculate on hypotheticals? No. In fact, he has refused to do so 525 times.

"In the following interactive, you can browse all 9,486 of Carney’s most-used responses and verbal crutches." 

British Girl Scouts: 'God' out, 'Me' in

British Girl Scouts: 'God' out, 'Me' in

The future Queen of England with her sister Princess Margaret.

"The 103-year-old Girl Guides oath always had the vow of fidelity to The Almighty until the new change just went into affect.
"The reference to God has been replaced with a promise to be true to "myself" and develop "my beliefs."
"Reportedly, the move was to attract more girls from secular households.
Earlier this week, The Times (of London) also reported that “my country” has been replaced by “my community.” "
Hat tip to T Kevin Whiteman at TEA Party Conservatives for America

But wait! There's more!

A 2007 survey of 1,000 Girl Guides determined that fourth on the list of life skills they would like to see incorporate into their official program would be courses on safe-sex.

George Will; Obama hits a wall in Berlin

German cartoonist's view of Obama and his speeches

George Will  "The question of whether Barack Obama’s second term will be a failure was answered in the affirmative before his Berlin debacle, which has recast the question, which now is: Will this term be silly, even scary in its detachment from reality?
"Before Berlin, Obama set his steep downward trajectory by squandering the most precious post-election months on gun-control futilities and by a subsequent storm of scandals that have made his unvarying project — ever bigger, more expansive, more intrusive and more coercive government — more repulsive. Then came Wednesday’s pratfall in Berlin."....

What was it Lincoln said about "better to remain silent and be thought a fool..."?

 

The world is not more stable and peaceful when US presidents have to have on-the-job training in foreign affairs.

 

The ordinary president  "Simply stated, the remarkable charisma of Barack Obama has fled. Fled, mainly because it was in large measure artificial from the beginning, embedded in external circumstances and fuelled in large measure by the media hyperdrive that attended his campaign."

 

Still More Evidence That ObamaCare Is Costing Jobs

Be sure to thank these people

IBD  "The most recent evidence comes from a Gallup survey of small businesses, commissioned by the Littler Mendelson consulting firm. Gallup found that more than four in 10 companies have frozen hiring because of Obama-Care, and almost one in five have cut workers to minimize the cost of the law.
Another 38% said they'd "pulled back on their plans to grow their business."

Meanwhile, just 9% thought ObamaCare would be good for their business.

Littler Mendelson's Steven Friedman called the findings "pretty startling."

Well, there is this to consider about healthcare as well: When May the Government Require Groups to Endorse Certain Views in Order to Get Government Benefits?
"What Congress has done here — requiring an ideological commitment relevant to the Government task at hand — is approved by the Constitution itself. Americans need not support the Constitution; they may be Communists or anarchists. But “[t]he Senators and Representatives ..., and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support [the] Constitution.” The Framers saw the wisdom of imposing affirmative ideological commitments prerequisite to assisting in the government’s work. And so should we."
We'll have to see how this translates into government control with healthcare. 

Paula Deen's apology...why didn't it work?

Althouse  "I had guessed — when we first talked about Paula Deen, here — that Paula Deen would be okay. In the comments: *Rumpletweezer said...* I just hope she turns out to be a Democrat. *Ann Althouse said...* Paula Deen is a Democrat, so she'll probably be okay. But Paula Deen was fired from the Food Network, even after making this apology: That had elements of a sincere apology. None of the typical "I apologize to anyone who was offended." Why didn't it work? 4 ideas: 1. She opted out of "Today" show Matt Lauer interview, supposedly because she was in so much *pain*, but she admits that...

"But Paula Deen was fired from the Food Network, even after making this apology:" 

Another perspective on Deen's firing: The Politically Correct Firing of Paula Dean(sp)    [Deen] "is being sued by a white woman who is claiming that she was exposed to a hostile work environment.  Now, I at one time worked at this non-profit who gave us training on hostile work environments often.  I think I had to sit through that seminar four times in the two years that I worked there.  Like most federal laws there are too broad and far too encompassing to my taste.  Virtually anything can be an offense under these laws..."

 

Couldn't she have said she is a fan of Rap music and just thought the N-word was part of normal conversation?

Questions Remain After 7 Arrested For Trespassing

Conservative Daily News   "Shortly after midnight on May 14, 2013, five men and two women, all of Middle Eastern decent, were arrested for trespassing within the boundaries of the Quabbin water reserve just outside Boston, Mass. The seven, who are from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Singapore, are recent chemical engineering grads and “cited their education and career interests” for being at the reserve, according to local news reports. The seven individuals currently live in various Massachusetts towns including Amherst, Cambridge, Sunderland, and Northampton, and one of those arrested lives in New York City."

Isn't this the sort of things that we want to track phone and email records for?

Mass State Police Unhappy With Clerk Decision "After being detained, interviewed and released by state police, the seven people were to await trespassing charges and a court summons. Local news reports in the days immediately following the incident listed the seven as “arrested,” though state spokesman David Procopio is now saying the group was “detained.”
"The clerk’s decision not to charge the group, despite the incident triggering terrorism alerts and the involvement of the FBI, has left state police confused."

State Police: Alleged trespassers at Quabbin Reservoir not connected to other criminal activity