The Roots of Obama’s Appeasement

"The president’s disastrous foreign policy is as much a product of his own vanity as anything else."

Victor Davis Hanson

"Members of the Obama administration have insisted that the Taliban are not terrorists. Those responsible for the recent Paris killings are not radical Islamists. The Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular. Jihad is a “legitimate tenet of Islam.” And “violent extremism,” “workplace violence,” or “man-caused disaster” better describe radical Islamic terrorism. Domestic terrorism is just as likely caused by returning U.S. combat veterans, according to one report by a federal agency.

"What is the point of such linguistic appeasement?

"The word “appeasement” long ago became pejorative for giving in to bullies. One side was aggressive and undemocratic; the other consensual and eager to avoid trouble through supposedly reasonable concessions.

"But appeasement usually weakened the democratic side and empowered the extremist one." . . .

We've seen all this before:

British Jews: ‘What if?’ – yet no exit strategies

"Anti-Semitism impacts Jewish communal life, but for now Britain is not France." 

Jerusalem Post  . . . "For them, Europe will forever be defined by the Holocaust, the culmination of nearly 2,000 years of anti-Semitism but by no means its end point, as shown by rising anti-Semitism, borne upon feverish hatred of Israel that can only be rationalized by Europe’s own anti-Semitic past.

"Others will vehemently disagree.

"They, too, have a prewritten narrative. For them, Israel is to blame, because each significant surge of anti-Semitism comes at each of Israel’s wars. Israel is to blame for the wars, its conduct and the ensuing anti-Semitism. It is Israel that always ties itself with Jews, and then Europe’s Jewish leaders always back that message." . . .


'If possible, not Jewish' - French job site sets off scandal with anti-Semitic post
"A French graphic design company came under heavy criticism after it posted a notice for an available position on its website which included "If possible, not Jewish" as a criterion, French media reported on Tuesday." . . .
They claimed they were hacked

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/493214596664951406/

astuteblogger.blogspot.com

Campus Incitement Proves Anti-Zionism Still Equals Anti-Semitism
. . . "On January 29, the UC-Davis student government voted to recommend the school’s Board of Regents divest from companies that “aid in the illegal occupation of Palestine,” which is to say, by the Palestinians’ own definition, all of Israel. This prejudicial measure, aimed at seeking the destruction of the one Jewish state on the planet, passed by an 8-2 vote." . . .

Hey, what's the worst that can happen?

What Would Environmentalists Do If They Owned ANWR?

"Consider the costs and benefits to things like drilling for oil, for one."

http://www.cdfe.org/center-projects/energy/the-truth-about-anwr

Reason.com  "The debate over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reemerged last week as the Obama administration announced new protections for the vast, oil-rich Alaskan landscape. The Department of Interior is placing the 30,000 square mile ANWR off-limits to drilling, and the president wants Congress to further designate the refuge as wilderness—the highest form of federal protection.
. . .
"But talk is cheap, so here's a thought experiment: What would happen if we left the fate of ANWR up to environmentalists? What would they do if they owned ANWR?"
. . .

"That kind of balanced approach is lost in the ANWR debate today. Under public ownership, ANWR takes on excessive political symbolism: Should we save the Arctic or destroy it for short-term profit? Protect America's last great wilderness or drill, baby, drill? The Rainey Sanctuary demonstrates that it doesn't have to be one or the other. Private ownership gives environmental groups a strong incentive to balance conservation with resource development and resolve competing demands in a cooperative, mutually beneficial way.

"Property rights matter. When environmental groups bear the costs of managing their own lands, their behavior is often very different than what they advocate on publicly owned lands. The experience of the Audubon Society suggests that there is a more sensible approach to environmental problems than the political environmentalism we know today. But, unfortunately, you're not likely to find it in the political debates over ANWR"

Obama: You know, Christians were just as bad as ISIS a few centuries ago

'In our home country, slavery, Jim Crow, all too often was justified in the name of Christ.'

Hot Air  "Having erected a dubious moral equivalency, your interlocutor is likely to then insist that it is hypocritical for Westerners to scold the Muslim world for incubating a violent strain of Islam that has become one of the predominant threats to international security.

"This was essentially the familiar argument President Barack Obama made at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. After conceding that there will likely always be those who will seek to “hijack religion for their own murderous ends,” he reminded his audience that Islam is merely following a dark path forged centuries ago by Christians."

Narcissist-In-Chief Tells People To Have “Humility”…

Obama Defends Islam, Attacks Christianity at Prayer Breakfast

Nice Deb: Our Weasel Of The Week!!

Nice Deb  "Fanfare, everyone!It’s time to present this week’s statuette of shame, The Golden Weasel!!

"Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel. This week’s nominees were all slime-worthy,but in the end the winner by a nose was….the envelope please…"  Ta Daaa:

"Obama Consigliere And Puppet master Valerie Jarrett!

"Virginia Right! : Valerie Jarrett for being the driver of hate behind Obama’s animosity towards Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Western Journalism wrote:

The real questions are: Who is pushing this agenda? Who is pushing for Iran to go nuclear? And, who is so scared of Netanyahu briefing Congress and the American people on what Iran is up to?

"The answer is Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s Rasputin. This is where the anger from the White House is coming from.

"Most people know she was born in Iran. This in itself does not disqualify her from advising the president, but it does open her agenda to scrutiny. There have been reports that she has been secretly negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue, but the White House has vehemently denied it.

" I, for one, don’t trust a thing this administration says." . . .

How Badly Will American Foreign Policy Fail Under an Unaccountable Cabal* Led by Valerie Jarrett?  "Tough decisions are seen to be made by President Obama who was scrutinized in the process of winning two national elections–yet, it would seem our undoubtedly distracted Commander-in-Chief and cabinet secretaries are only  junior partners to Valerie Jarrett who, to this day, never has been remotely vetted and sees issues primarily in terms of their domestic political relevance." 

*Cabal:  a group of people who work together in secret.

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From the Hoover Institution: Are We Smart Enough for Democracy?

Bruce Thornton

. . . "By the time of the Constitutional convention in 1787, this distrust of the masses had long been a staple of political philosophy. Roger Sherman, a lawyer and future Senator from Massachusetts, who opposed letting the people directly elect members of the House of Representatives, typified the antidemocratic sentiment of many delegates. He argued that the people “should have as little to do as may be about the government,” for “they want information and are constantly liable to be misled.”

"Most of the delegates in Philadelphia were not quite as wary as Sherman of giving the people too much direct power, but in the end they allowed them to elect directly only the House of Representatives. Such sentiments were also frequently heard in the state conventions that ratified the Constitution, where the antifederalists’ charge of a “democracy deficit” in the Constitution were met with protestations that the document was designed to protect, as John Dickinson of Delaware put it, “the worthy against the licentious,” the men of position, education, and property against the volatile, ignorant masses." . . .

OYVAYBLOG: The Ignorance of the Obama Voter

George Costanza was a better negotiator than Barack Obama

Ethel C. Fenig  "In a classic Seinfeld episode (well, okay, each episode of the show is a classic), Jerry Seinfeld's friend George Costanza turns down an offer from NBC for the proposed pilot of their show about nothing.  As George explains to the incredulous Jerry, this is all part of negotiating for a better deal." . . .


. . . "Well, we all know how that turned out; in his crazy way, George's stubbornness and willingness to say no, and his understanding of the culture of NBC, led to one of the greatest and most innovative shows on television.  
Now compare him to junior varsity negotiator President Barack Obama (D) and his vision for dealing with Iran, a country and culture he truly doesn't understand.  Obama seems to believe that by making nice to Iran, drawing them in to a web of alliances, and reducing what he thinks is their isolation, they'll be happy and sign and uphold agreements to behave.  According to Victor Davis Hanson, Obama believes:
. . .
Full article here.
. . .
However Obama's distorted vision and negotiating strategy have resulted in a diminished America while hundreds of thousands have died; on a, granted, smaller scale, the Seinfeld gang's realistic assessment of getting a deal with NBC revolutionized the traditional sitcom and brought happiness to millions while making them very, very wealthy.  If they negotiated with Iran, they would certainly do better than the present team now in place.

Obama's Defense of Islam Burned Along with the Jordanian Pilot

The scary realization is that American voters twice elected this feckless coward, showing the world that our nation is not to be a force that will stand up to evil in this world. We can't be the world's policeman? What if there are world criminals?  The oppressed in this world are on their own. TD

http://terrellaftermath.com/

American Thinker  "It is hardly a surprise that immediately after news came out that ISIS had burned a captured Jordanian pilot to death that Barack Hussein Obama absolved Islam of the crime.

"ISIS released a video on Tuesday of its execution-by-incineration of the pilot, who was captured in December after his plane crashed in ISIS controlled territory.  ISIS had been threatening to execute him if their zealots jailed in Jordan were not released.

"CNN immediately reported Obama’s reaction to the news of the horrific slaying: “Should, in fact, that video be authentic,” Obama stated, “it’s just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization, and I think it will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated.  And it also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they are operating off of, it’s bankrupt.' 

"Obama’s phraseology is an exercise in denial that Islam had anything to do with it.  By referring to ISIS as “this organization” and using a clunky circumlocution like “whatever ideology they are operating off of,” he has made it clear he believes that Islam has nothing to do with terror.  The cruel burning of the man was the action of a bankrupt “whatever.' ” . . .  . . .

If you still have eyes that can open, then open them Obama.  Take a good look into the mirror that ISIS is holding up.  It is holding it up to you and to the entire world.

Read more. .

Can NBC News now have any credibility with Brian Williams as its face?

Well after all, this is NBC, home of Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton. How much integrity do you expect from NBC?

Baltimore Sun  Quoting the Daily Caller:  

"Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook in a formation that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to crew member interviews."

That Chinook took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.

“ 'No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft,” he said Wednesday.

"The helicopters, along with the NBC crew, remained on the ground at a forward operating base west of Baghdad for two or three days, where they were surrounded by an Army unit with Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams M-1 tanks." . . .

Big Journalism: NBC SHOCK: Brian Williams Forced to Recant Iraq War Lie Repeated for 12 Years

NBC’s Brian Williams Lied to Tim Russert About Helicopter Incident

WaPo: The Brian Williams scandal is an NBC News-wide scandal  . . . "Why did it take pushback from “some brave men and women in the air crews,” however? Do these folks have to fight our wars and fact-check NBC News?" . . .

When will Hollywood take on ISIS?

WND  "Marisa Martin argues Islamists have far better propaganda"

"Seventy years ago (most) Hollywood moguls were concerned with the country and their own survival. Almost every film through the war years was preceded by short “news reel” bits. Hundreds of full-length movies were produced in the 1940s with a good percentage war-related or supporting the efforts of the U.S. against Hitler and Hirohito. There was no escaping it, and America’s writers, actors and artists understood that. .

"A challenge to Steven Spielberg and other producers, writers and artists: Will you dare take on ISIS? If you don’t there may be a day you wish you had."

Frank Capra's WW2 series, "Why We Fight"
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They Raid by Night (1942) World War Two Film British Commandos raid Nazi Occupied Norway movie

Some blow-back on the ISIS horror

Arab World Unites in Anger After Burning of Jordanian Pilot
"There was one feeling that many of the Middle East’s fractious clerics, competing ethnic groups and warring sects could agree on Wednesday: a shared sense of revulsion at the Islamic State’s latest excess, its video showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive inside a cage."
. . . Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb (right), the head of Cairo’s thousand-year-old Al Azhar institute and a leading Sunni scholar, was so angered that he called for the Islamic State’s extremists to be “killed, or crucified, or their hands and legs cut off.” . . .

Obama: "Whatever ideology they are operating under is “bankrupt.”

"He didn’t want to talk about the pilot being set afire. He wanted to “talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better.” 

In contrast to our president: Jordan Chooses Sides  . . . "From a political perspective, the executions were necessary. The video of the execution was as brutal as it was scarring. It has circulated widely in Arabic chat forums and elsewhere online. Jordanians, who are already critical of their king, want action. To do anything but execute Sajida would be to hand the Islamic State (ISIS) a victory by effectively cowing to their demands that Jordan stand down. Frankly, she should have died years ago in order to bring justice for the families of her victims. The king demurred, however, effectively commuting her sentence in order to appease her supporters and, alas, in Jordan there are many. Her execution, however, underscores that King Abdullah II has recognized that in the battle against Islamist extremism, Jordan can no longer be neutral." . . . Michael Rubin in Commentary Magazine

Islam and Appeasement  . . . "Premature absolution of Islam is now the knee jerk response to all atrocity. Never mind that most terror groups are Muslim and proudly array themselves with all the predictable kit: incantations, black surah flags, the Koran, the Hadith, beards, and burkas -- all in the name of Mohammed. Somehow we are supposed to believe that none of this has anything to do with true Islam." . . .

Does ISIS risk blowback, or is there a plan?  . . . "Another possibility is that ISIS wants to appear as the biggest, baddest strong horse, and thereby appeal to the widespread desire among Arabs, and Muslims more generally, for revenge."

To desecrate the victim while alive is part and parcel of Islam in hope that people would convert through sheer fear or to repulse the enemy.

Another ISIS Atrocity . . . "Be under no illusions: At the strategic level, our current efforts are failing. Moreover, the fanatics are advancing westward. Shrouded in self-assumed holiness, the Islamic State believes it will achieve global dominion."
"The path we must take is hard but clear. Paying heed to the good life of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, we must finish his fight and rid the world of those who murdered him."   

It will not be led by the feckless Obama. He will dither and appease for the next two years and when out of office he will demagogue Conservatives for any struggles in the war. And he will do this in his shirtsleeves before the usual smiling, adoring sycophants

Biden's strong point: he's never boring

By Gary Varvel

"Joe Biden is a decent guy, but man, that guy can just talk and talk... It's an incredible thing to see." Barack Obama

Biden Considers Snubbing Netanyahu By Skipping His Address To Congress…

"Considering Biden’s very public seat during Netanyahu’s address this would drag our special relationship with Israel to yet another new low, which is exactly what Obama wants."

And the crowning glory of Bidenisms, discussed in the UK Telegraph:

For Joe Biden, his plagiarisation of a speech delivered by Neil Kinnock, then Labour leader, helped put pay to his own campaign to win the Democrats' presidential nomination more than 20 years ago.

"NEIL KINNOCK at Welsh Labour Party conference May 1987:

"Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because our predecessors were thick? Does anybody really think that they didn't get what we had because they didn't have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand"

JOE BIDEN IN Sept 1987 during his first presidential campaign:

"Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go a university? Why is it that my wife... is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? ...Is it because they didn't work hard? My ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania and would come after 12 hours and play football for four hours? It's because they didn't have a platform on which to stand."