Robert Fulford: As the world burns, America shrugs

From Canada: National Post

 

"The slow American withdrawal from world affairs has been apparent for a long time, but has never been so glaringly evident as this week in the Middle East.

"Hamas is at war with Israel, the brutal struggle in Syria frustrates the world, the terrorists of ISIS are making serious progress in Iraq — and now another attempt to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons has, so far, been thwarted.

"The United States has a position of sorts in each of these arenas, but it’s not powerful in any of them. American influence has faded.

"The world’s governments no longer worry as much as they once did about what Washington wants, partly because Washington doesn’t know what it wants. U.S. policy has become erratic and half-hearted, subject to arbitrary change without notice." ...

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Related links:

Do a search of the phrase "kgb vs. community organizer" and this is what comes up.

President Obama looks like the guy in the office who gave his '2 weeks notice'

Obama asleep at the switch as the world spins out of control

Is the White House Lying or Just Bad at Crisis Communications?    "Ordering a cheeseburger with fries while a downed airline smolders may not have been a great decision."

 

 

Benjamin Netanyahu's government ordered the Israeli invasion of Gaza after two weeks of air raid missile attacks on Tel Aviv from Gaza by Hamas. The prime minister has been sleeping on the floor of his office with his closest aides. No leader's done that since Bill Clinton.   Argus Hamilton

President Reagan speaks clearly on the downing of the Soviet shoot-down of the Korean Airlines flight 007



MH 17 vs. KAL 007—Obama vs. Reagan   "Leadership then, leadership now."

 

... "Obama’s initial reaction was terribly un-presidential, even sophomoric. He briefly acknowledged the tragedy in a statement in Delaware before moving ahead with a speech in which he cracked jokes and zinged Republicans for not funding an airport project. He offended diehard liberals like CNN’s Piers Morgan. “President Obama massively dropped the ball just now,” Morgan tweeted. “23 Americans killed and he says ‘it looks like a terrible tragedy’ then back to jokes?' ”

There's nothing funny about the cartoon below, "because there's nothing funny about Barack Obama's public reaction to the missile attack and downing of a Malaysian Air jet carrying 295 people, 23 of whom were Americans. All were killed."

Christian Holocaust Underway in Iraq, USA and World Look On

Big Peace

"When U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003, there were at least 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Over the last ten years, significantly in the last few months with the emergence of ISIS, that figure has dropped to about 400,000.

"In a region where Christians predate Muslims by centuries, over one million Christians have been killed or have had to flee because of jihadi persecution, while America is basically standing by and watching." ...

Last Christians Forced to Flee Mosul by Islamic Group

 

"The wonders of Muslim outreach and inter-faith dialogue. Another Muslim country ethnically cleansed in accordance with Islamic law. What is so galling is the absolute denial by these foppish elites who insist that it has nothing to do with Islam, when everybody knows that it has everything to do with Islam.

 

" Muslims have long purged the Jews from Iraq. Back in 2007, TIME Magazine wrote, “Baghdad was once one of the great cradles of Jewish culture and wisdom, but now, according to the Christian priest who has been looking after them, there are only eight Jews left in the Iraqi capital, and their situation is ‘more than desperate.’”

 

" And Islamic groups in Gaza, Judea and Samaria mean to do the same thing with the Jews of Israel. They purged them from everywhere else in their area of dominant influence.

 

"Photo above: Iraqis attending Mass in June at a church in Al Qosh, where many Christians have fled after being forced into leaving their homes in Mosul by the devout Muslim group, Islamic State." ...

 

French Muslims go on rampage in Paris suburb, attacking two synagogues, setting fire to cars, pillaging stores in Jewish suburb . But...but Islam means "peace".

Our concerns over Elizabeth Warren

The definitive Elizabeth Warren Storify   

"With Elizabeth Warren reaching cult status, and momentum growing to convince her to run for President, it’s worth keeping in mind that Elizabeth Warren’s career is nothing like portrayed.
No, I’m not just referring to the Cherokee deal. From her legal representation for large pay of the biggest corporate interests to questions raised by other professors about her academics, there is a story behind Elizabeth Warren which is at risk of going down the memory hole.

"That’s the main reason we created ElizabethWarrenWiki.org — to preserve the record and the research.

"It’s also why Twitter user @Coondawg68 has created a Storify, Liz Warren #RunLizRun on the occasion of Warrens star appearance at Netroots Nation (the left-wing blogger gathering). It is an accumulation of much of Warren’s story via tweets, some of which are pugnacious, but most informative as to the historical record:"   Full article...

Video: Any thoughts on this Israel/Hamas war in Gaza, Elizabeth Warren?  "Comic relief amid an unusually grim news cycle from Capitol City Project. This morning she outlined 11 commandments of progressivism at Netroots Nation; the clip below was her chance to outline number 12, “Blame Israel.” She passed, which is too bad. I’m curious to see how she handles the deep, thinly concealed split on the Middle East between her two constituencies. " ...
 

OUT: Cult of Obama // IN: Cult of Warren     "In many ways, Elizabeth Warren is the perfect Democratic Party candidate to follow Obama. First term senator? Check. No major accomplishments to speak of? Check. No executive experience? Check. A questionable life story that the media refuses to investigate? Check. She really has it all.

"The progressive base of the Democratic Party recognizes her potential and just like they did with Obama, they’re already creating a cult of personality around her"
.
"If you can stomach it, listen to this new song created by the folks at Ready For Warren."
Language advisory.

  

 

... "For her part in the transformation of politics into religion, Warren has created a list of progressive commandments.

"Emily Roller of National Journal reported:" ...

Under other circumstances, this writer would be one of the Warren supporters mentioned above: "Ten Reasons Why I Am No Longer a Leftist"

thepeoplescube

Danusha V. Goska   "How far left was I? So far left my beloved uncle was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in a Communist country. When I returned to his Slovak village to buy him a mass card, the priest refused to sell me one. So far left that a self-identified terrorist proposed marriage to me. So far left I was a two-time Peace Corps volunteer and I have a degree from UC Berkeley. So far left that my Teamster mother used to tell anyone who would listen that she voted for Gus Hall, Communist Party chairman, for president. I wore a button saying "Eat the Rich." To me it wasn't a metaphor.

"I voted Republican in the last presidential election.

"Below are the top ten reasons I am no longer a leftist. This is not a rigorous comparison of theories. This list is idiosyncratic, impressionistic, and intuitive. It's an accounting of the milestones on my herky-jerky journey." ... 
Full article..

thepeoplescube.com

 

Alan Caruba; Obama Encounters an Apex of Anger

Warning Signs

 

"Barack Obama has managed to do something one would hardly imagine a President could achieve by the midpoint of his second term. He has managed to anger most segments of the American populace, including those to the far Left who constitute a significant part of his base.  It has taken time for most people to reach this point.

"Americans are amazingly patient with their presidents, but Obama has pushed them beyond scandal fatigue. The “final straw” appears to be the illegal alien invasion masterminded by Obama.

 "What they are seeing and hearing is not what they were sold; a charming man of allegedly extraordinary intelligence. Friday’s press conference regarding the shoot down of the Malaysian commercial aircraft showed us a man utterly lacking any moral outrage and, as always, “leading from behind” by insisting this was Europe’s problem, not one that would be addressed by an America doing anything more than applying a few economic sanctions.
 

 
 

 "He looked and sounded bored, annoyed that he had to utter a bunch of empty platitudes about Russia; the same Russia with which he and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had declared a “reset” from previous administrations’ relations. Putin took his measure and saw weakness.

 "Obama’s response to the Middle East was to pull out all our troops from Iraq and a muddled series of actions in Afghanistan topped by the announcement of when troops there would leave, always a very bad idea when the enemy is still in the field. The “Arab Spring” became another Obama nightmare of bad decisions."... More...

 

CNN's Sally Kohn implies conservatives racist over border with Canada

Examiner.com

CNN contributor Sally Kohn implies conservatives racist over Canadian border.Screengrab/Huffington Post

"It seems these days that liberals look for any excuse to accuse conservatives of racism, even when there's no reason. If they can't directly make the accusation, then they're certain to imply it. Such was the case Saturday when CNN contributor and Daily Beast columnist Sally Kohn implied racism with a tweet wondering why conservatives aren't worried about the border with Canada, Twitchy reported.

" 'Along US/Canada border for few days, not single border patrol agent. Why aren't conservatives complaining about border security here? Hmm," she tweeted, in what was clearly an effort to foment hate against conservatives.

"Although not directly stated, the implication is quite clear. Conservatives aren't complaining about the northern border because of racism, despite the fact that thousands of illegal immigrants are not pouring over it to get into the country. Kohn's implication was noted by a number of people who took her to task for the offensive message." ...  Read more...

Another incident of the silliness that CNN produces to go with this, and this, to name just two.
Hat tip to Joe Newby at Rush Limbaugh

Happy 30th Birthday, Central American Humanitarian Crisis

Ann Coulter

 

"It's been fun to watch the media discuss the border crisis in real time, improvising their arguments on the fly. Let's try A, and if that doesn't work, we'll try B.

   

"First, they said there was no surge at the border -- it was a phony crisis manufactured by the Drudge Report. The facts on the ground quickly made that argument inoperable.

   

"Next, liberals told us these "undocumented migrants" (the PC phrase for "illegal aliens" -- because we'll never figure out what that means) were mere children fleeing violence and drug cartels.

   

"Then we found out that more than 80 percent of the "children" were teenage males, some being recruited for the homicidal Central American gang MS-13, right there in the detention facilities." ... 

 

Coulter's query: "Living in the Shadows"; really?

 

... "Instead of "living in the shadows" -- the shadows of mass protests, New York Times magazine covers, TV shows, government housing, free schools, free medical care, free food stamps, the Catholic Church, state colleges at in-state tuition rates in 17 states -- "undocumented migrants" seem poised to become full legal residents. " Full article here.

 

Is This The Ultimate in Hillary Clinton Media/Feminist Sycophancy?

Ace of Spades HQ    "The Stylist" is a UK publication".  It bills itself as a "consumer magazine." I do not know what this means. Looking on the web for guidance, it seems to only mean "not a professional or trade magazine; a magazine directed towards the general public's general interests." 
Or something like that.
I think maybe it means "a silly magazine for dumb people."

Stylist photo

"I can only excerpt a little of Andrew Stiles' excerpts. It's all worth reading though.
His excerpts, I mean, not the "consumer magazine" story.

As I crammed years of Hillary's utterly mind-blowing life into just a week, something else dawned on me. I had never--would never--experience busyness like Hillary. Hard Choices details the life of someone special: a woman with a huge capacity for understanding, a woman with an exceptional EQ and IQ (as Secretary of State she needed to remember hundreds of people, understand the intricacies of cultural and societal differences, handle delicate international business negotiations and, more pertinently, fight for people’s lives through peace deals). She was responsible for the most difficult of decisions: those that deal with life and death. It was around that moment of clarity when I stopped telling people how busy I was.
...
Throughout my interview with Hillary, she is fiercely engaged; her eyes--sparkly, wide, alert--remain firmly focused on me. She is warm, considered, talks slowly and thoughtfully and uses--consciously or not--tactics that put me at ease. She frequently answers my queries with the response: "Now, that’s a great question"...

"This reporterette is blown away that a politician flatters her interviewer by saying "Now that's a great question."
She's never seen this tactic before. It's a novelty, a breakthrough. At least for her.
"The Stylist" magazine is not exactly The National Review, I guess.

she litters her answers with colloquialisms that put us on a level and, listening back, I am struck by the amount of times she says, "You know".

"The woman is incredible. She uses "You know" as an opening hesitation instead of patriarchal hesitations like "Well" or "You see."

"And of course there's that charming laugh.

" 'I was going to say the same thing!" emails Pennywise the Clown.

I can see that these natural skills make her the perfect diplomat, the ultimate

leader. These are the skills she believes women bring to business. But it would be naive to think that gender differences still don't present challenges. There's also the matter of the complex, mechanized walker she needs to simulate normal human locomotion.

"I may have added that last part.
"By the way, I did not confirm that this reporter is female. I didn't look at her byline.
"I say that in defense of calling her a "reporterette." I do not know, for a fact, that she's a she.
"But if her girlish squee-ing suggested that to me-- that is rather more on her than on me." 

New York Times Op-Ed Blames Israel for Hamas Violence

Honest Reporting

 

... " These obstacles include preventing the payment of salaries to Hamas appointed civil servants and not easing Gaza’s border restrictions. Hamas itself is conveniently whitewashed as the Palestinian unity government “pledged to comply with the three conditions for Western aid long demanded by America and its European allies: nonviolence, adherence to past agreements and recognition of Israel.”

Thrall cannot begin to contemplate that Hamas itself, still entrenched in the Gaza Strip, has not changed its violent and rejectionist policies towards Israel. And what of the thousands of rockets that have been launched from Gaza aimed at Israeli civilians even before this recent escalation? For Thrall, they are not even worthy of a mention.

Ditto for the kidnapping of three Israeli teens by Hamas-affiliated terrorists. Instead, according to Thrall:

Hamas is now seeking through violence what it couldn’t obtain through a peaceful handover of responsibilities.

... "Ultimately, Thrall cannot tell the difference between cause and effect. It was Hamas violence that prompted Israel to blockade the Gaza Strip, not Israel’s actions that caused Hamas to initiate what has now escalated into a full-on Israeli ground incursion."

CNN Press Room just this morning was doing a story on the angry father of an Arab boy covered in splints and bandages, condemning Israel's actions.

"The Bear" fundraises while Putin runs amok

The "Bear" is Loose   "The president is a bear in his own mind. When he takes a scripted trip outside the White House to mingle with the people he likes to say “the bear is loose”. "

 

Obama fundraises while Putin runs amok  “ 'The bear is loose!” President Obama has been saying, whenever he leaves the White House to visit Starbucks, or sandwich shops, or burger joints, or BBQ shacks, or neighborhood diners, in his increasingly rote and pathetic attempts to “connect” with “real people.” Obama, we have been told, is frustrated, “restless,” bored with the responsibilities and chores of office. He thinks of himself as the bear—intimidating, wild, untamed, roving—escaping his den. But he is flattering himself. Obama is not the bear. He is the cub: aimless, naïve, self-interested, self-indulgent, irresponsible, irresolute. The bear is in Moscow."

 

 

Obama, crises, and the three-am phone calls

Victor Davis Hanson; War Was Interested in Obama

... "One of Obama’s talking points in the 2012 campaign included a boast that he had “ended” the war in Iraq by bringing home every U.S. soldier that had been left to ensure the relative quiet and stability after the successful Petraeus surge. In the world of Obama, a war can be declared ended because he said so, given that no Americans were any longer directly involved. (Remind the ghosts of the recently beheaded in now al Qaeda-held Mosul that the war ended there in 2011.)

 

"Iraq is in flames, as is “lead from behind” Libya, as is “red line” Syria, and as are those places where an al Qaeda “on the run” has migrated. Had Obama been commander in chief in 1940, he would have assured us that the wars in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and France were “over” — as they were in a sense for those who lost them, but as they were not for those next in line."  http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/war-was-interested-in-obama/?singlepage=true

Our Callow Commander-in-Chief;  "Why is insouciance Obama’s first response to international crises?"   "It is at times like these, when he is pushed kicking and screaming into the crucible, that Obama’s callowness shows. For his supporters, that jejune, jocular air has been a plus for almost six years. For the rest of us, it has served as a liability and an irritation. Yesterday, it became a wholesale embarrassment."

...Instead, the president spent a grand total of 38 seconds on the downing of the plane, describing what he knew to have been an atrocity as a “tragedy” that “might” have happened, and then going back to slamming Republicans for refusing to agree with him on infrastructure spending, to joking with his adoring fans, and to suggesting that America needed to stop indulging in what the more traditional among us like to refer to as “politics.” It would, as David Freddoso observed, have been as if George W. Bush had continued to read “Why Daddy Is a Republican” after he had learned of the attacks on the Twin Towers."

... "For the next two years, this is to be our fate. Indifference, drift, diversion, and fatigue. Hello Cleveland! Hello Brooklyn! Goodbye, yellow brick road."

Obama's bizarre and frightening response to the shoot down of MH17



"Some of the reaction to the president's bizarre remarks came from reporters on the scene:"

• Traveling in Denver, this reporter heard gasps from guests watching a hotel lobby television as Obama spoke.
• One remarked: 'A tragedy is when you lose control and fly into a mountainside. This is mass-murder. What a disappointment.'
• 'His distance from reality is just bizarre,' said another.
• Daniel Hannan, the British member of Europe's parliament who has rankled liberals in a series of American speaking tours, tweeted his own disgust.
• 'Listening to Obama's statement [on] the airline tragedy, my mind went back to Reagan 31 years ago,' he wrote.
• 'How America's leaders have shrunk.'
• Obama finished his speech by saying 'Let’s build some bridges. Let’s build some roads. God bless America.'
• Matt Viser, a Boston Globe reporter on the scene, tweeted a devastating reaction.
• 'Obama, in sum: A plane crashed. It may be tragic. We're trying to see if US citizens were on board. Hey, great to be in Delaware!' he wrote.
• The president's next stop after Wilmington was New York City, where he headlines a Democratic Party fundraiser Thursday evening. Tickets for the cozy event go for as much as $32,400...

... "The White House will attribute excessive caution to the president's shocking remarks. But reporters were getting background from administration officials that the plane was shot down with a missile for several hours prior to the president's remarks. And, of course, the fact that he then went merrily on his way to a fundraiser while what amounts to an act of war was committed against US citizens is just one more indication how out of touch this president is." ...