. . . AND: I'm watching. And right at the beginning — at 1:38 — he says "Imagine a little girl, growing up in Wilmington, Delaware." Whoa! You had me at little girl, growing up in Wilmington, Delaware... I was a little girl, growing up in Wilmington, Delaware!ADDED: Let the record show, that at 4:58, I cried.AND: I'm sorry I led off with the joke on "Imagine." This is a truly powerful speech. Just brilliant.ALSO: Here's the full transcript. " . . ."I see that Think Progress has an article titled "Ted Cruz Just Laid Out The Most Anti-Woman Agenda Yet." I've listened to the whole speech and I can't imagine what it refers to. I've read the article at the link, and I really don't know. Seems to be that Cruz supports policies that, in the opinion of Think Progress, would not serve the interests of women."
Prior to his election to the Senate, Cruz's career was centered on practicing law at the highest level. A graduate of Harvard Law School and clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, Cruz led a Houston-based firm's Supreme Court practice, taught such litigation at the University of Texas and was charged with representing the state before the high court as its solicitor general. He also served in the George W. Bush administration, at both the Federal Trade Commission and as an associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department.
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No doubt Gwen Ifill, co-anchor of “PBS NewsHour,” voiced what is undoubtedly the most widespread emotional reason for the animosity. “Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before I’ve had my morning coffee, it will not end well,” she tweeted.
“Asked by an interviewer with the Israeli news site, NRG [Ma’ariv] if it was true that a Palestinian nation would never be formed while he's prime minister, Netanyahu replied, ‘Indeed.’" 'That's what the guy said folks. Not "no two-state solution", or that "he would block a Palestinian State" but as long as they presented themselves as sponsors of terrorism there would be no Palestinian State, and based on that it will not happen on his watch." . . .
His interview with NRG came as he courted conservative supporters a day before Israelis head to the polls for national elections.
‘Anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territories today, is simply giving a base for attacks to the radical Islam against Israel,’ he said. ‘This is the true reality that was created here in the last few years.’
I think Obama's track record on "diplomatic solutions" is a bit checkered:
The Russian "reset" presaged takeovers in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and raised tensions to dangerous levels (and spawned a series of military maneuvers, including the latest bizarre armored column touring Eastern Europe);
the Iraq pullout that spawned ISIS resurgence;
Syrian negotiations that strengthens Iran and leaves us picking between a dictator and terrorists;
"Kinetic military action" that replaced a relatively docile Libyan dictator with a hotbed of terrorist chaos;
The Yemeni government overthrown by Iranian-backed rebels; and,
Our strongest regional ally rejecting a State Department sponsored get-out-the-vote effort to depose its prime minister, with resultant dysfunction.
The negotiation track record on this issue is similarly unimpressive. Recognizing Iran's right to enrich (which was implicit in allowing them to continue during the current round of talks), and removing sanctions as a condition for talking (whilst missing deadline after deadline), and throwing away a strong hand engendered by a[n] oil market price collapse demonstrated our desire to negotiate from weakness. Not too surprisingly, I lack confidence in Obama's team to negotiate anything, but in any event I seriously doubt kissing Iran's a$$ on nuclear issues is the sensible way forward.
Obviously that makes me a racist.
Regardless of how you feel about the legality of abortion, there ought to be something within the soul of every marginally decent person that is horrified by the ghoulishness with which the Senate Democrats are pulling out every stop in the book for the sole and exclusive purpose of increasing the number of abortions that occur in this country. It’s almost unexplainable except in the context of the Old Testament death cults that required the sacrifice of children to an angry god Moloch.More at this link.
Next, loyalty in tribal societies counts only for those within the tribe. Alliances with other tribes or peoples are ad hoc and contingent on the immediate interests of the tribe. They can be abandoned or betrayed if circumstances or perceptions change. Moreover, respect for others beyond the tribe is based solely on their capacity to inflict violence on their enemies. The “strongest tribe,” a status based on its effectiveness and success in conflict, will attract allies, who will abandon the hegemon once it loses that perception of its strength. Thus during Caesar’s wars in Gaul various Gallic and Germanic tribes would ally with the Romans when they appeared dominant, and betray them in an instant if they thought them weak. Likewise during the U.S. Cavalry’s wars against the Plains Indians, many tribes victimized by the Sioux or Apache or Cheyenne would ally with the Americans if they seemed to be winning, then switch sides the moment they seemed weak.
