Turning Things Around: Patton Takes Over II Corps after the disaster at Kasserine Pass

Defense Media Network

Maj. Gen. George S. Patton says goodbye to his staff officers just prior to his departure for the Tunisian battlefield and command of the U.S. Army's II Corps. General George Patton Museum photo

 "The American debacle at the Battle of Kasserine Pass had brought the simmering command crisis of II Corps to a head. But Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in North Africa, still had yet to decide on whether or not to relieve II Corps commander Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall. In early March following a command conference at Tébessa in northeast Algeria, Eisenhower pulled aside Maj. Gen. Omar Bradley, newly arrived from the States, who at Ike’s request had recently completed an inspection of II Corps. Eisenhower asked, “What do you think of the command here?” Bradley replied, “It’s pretty bad. I’ve talked to all the division commanders. To a man they’ve lost confidence in Fredendall as the corps commander.'” . . .

FIRST MARY JO KOPECHNE, THEN AMERICA

"At the risk of striking a discordant note: We don't have an obligation to bring in people who need government assistance intended for our own people. You only have to do something you don't want to do if you're obliged morally, legally or with a gun to your head. You have to invite your relatives to Thanksgiving dinner because you'd be a jerk not to -- but you don't have to invite your neighbor's relatives to dinner.
What is the point of bringing in immigrants whom we have to help? Oh, I remember now! The rich need cheap labor and the Democrats need welfare-dependent voters."

 

Ann Coulter
 "Sen. Ted Kennedy's 1965 immigration act allowed the Democrats to start winning elections the same way they win recounts: by enlarging the pool of voters.

"Liberals couldn't convince Americans to agree with them, but they happened to notice that the people of most other countries in the world already agreed with them. So Sen. Ted Kennedy's immigration act brought in millions of poverty-stricken foreigners to live off the American taxpayer and bloc-vote for the Democrats.

"The American people aren't changing their minds. Americans are becoming a minority to other, new people.

"Deft politicians used to know how to convince the 15 percent on the fence. But even Reagan would look at today's electorate and say: Who are you guys? We live in a different country, and I don't remember moving.

"At the precise moment in history when the United States abandoned any attempt to transmit American values to its own citizens, never mind immigrants, the 1965 immigration act began dumping the poorest of the poor from around the world on our country." . . Full article

MICHAEL OREN'S NEW ACCOUNT OF OBAMA'S IRE ON ISRAEL

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
" John Podhoretz wrote in the New York Post about former ambassador Michael Oren's new book, which gives some telling insight to Obama's negative relationships with Israel:

It’s not that there’s lots of breaking news in “Ally” that will startle people. Rather, it makes news on almost every page with its incredibly detailed account of the root hostility of the Obama administration toward the Jewish state.

What makes the details especially credible is that Oren is no flame-breathing Israeli right-winger but very much (and at times distressingly) an Establishment creature and one, moreover, who makes it clear he drank the Obama hope-and-change Kool-Aid in 2008. (Indeed, he now serves in Israel’s Knesset not as a member of Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud but of the new centrist Kulanu party.)

On major matters, the administration seemed to hold Israel accountable for problems it had nothing to do with.

Example: The Palestinian Authority made moves toward seeking a declaration of statehood at the United Nations in 2011, which would’ve triggered a law shutting down their US mission and suspending all aid to the PA and to UN agencies that recognized Palestine.

In response, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides called Oren into his fancy Foggy Bottom office and screamed at him: “You don’t want the f - - - ing UN to collapse because of your f - - - ing conflict with the Palestinians, and you don’t want the f - - - ing Palestinian Authority to fall apart either.”

To which Oren replied that Israel didn’t want the United Nations to collapse, “but there are plenty of Tea Party types who would, and no shortage of Congress members who are wondering why they have to keep paying Palestinians who spit in the president’s eye.” He reports that Nides “slumped into his Louis XVth chair.”"I wonder if the deputy secretary's profane tirade is the most jaw-dropping example given in the book? It goes to show we have thin-skinned politicians running around today who're out-of-control and flying off the handle. It's not great Oren appears to be a product of establishment, but his book still does seem to give some interesting insight all the same, and should be read."

We must heed this cautionary tale: " Building the New Dark-Age Mind"

 America’s descent into the Dark Ages will not end well. It never has in the past.

Victor Davis Hanson

 

. . . "A final symptom of an un-Enlightened age is the assumption that lies are truth because untruth offers collective benefits, while veracity disrupts social justice. Take Obamacare. Almost every promoted tenet of the Affordable Care Act proved false: premiums went up; so did deductibles and co-payments. Millions lost not just their doctors but their existing health care plans [4] as well. The much ballyhooed health care website proved dysfunctional. Newly passed mandates were unlawfully suspended to enhance the Obama reelection effort.

"Nationalized health care did not per se reduce the deficit, nor will its protocols contain escalating costs without radical curtailments in service. Mandatory electronic record keeping did not free physicians up to spend quality time with their patients, but often resulted in the very opposite with doctors typing into computer screens while distracted from patients’ inquiries. Again, no matter. Obamacare is now hailed as the president’s “signature achievement” and is becoming institutionalized in the manner of Social Security.

"The country is terrified about having a rational and logical discussion about almost every great issue of our times: unsustainable national debts and deficits, the new nexus between leftwing plutocracy and populism, the viability of Social Security and Medicare, deteriorating race relations, the Soviet-style American campus, global warming, and the deterioration of medical care. Instead, to preclude honest talk, we offer perfunctory charges of sexism and racism, and seek cover in “fairness” and “equality.”

"The redistributionist, equality-of-result state — fueled by a national progressive ideology — is the new deity that determines what is free expression. Blasphemy is now defined as daring to use logic and evidence to expose the state’s failed, deductive tenets." . . .

Obama, the hero of Gitmo

  Out in time for Ramadan.

 Holiday List

 

"As if one couldn't tell by the throngs of shoppers at the malls, the beloved songs on the radio, and the twinkle in every child's eye, today marks the beginning of Ramadan - a sacred, month-long Islamic holiday marked by fasting, prayer, and (as the president just impishly proved) "some surprises."

"In this case, the surprise was Obama's barely reported release of six more Al Qaeda detainees from Guantanamo Bay, including three of Osama Bin Laden's bodyguards.

"The prisoners, all of whom were classified as "high risk" by US intelligence in 2008, were reclassified as harmless (if not downright cuddly!) by Obama's "Periodic Review Board," which is charged with "finding a way to empty Gitmo - period."

"To accomplish this, the Review Board takes into account things like whether the jihadists have been good about attending taxpayer-funded yoga classes designed to curb their violent impulses, and the detainees' expressed desires to return to the war torn Middle East only for the purpose of starting "milk and honey farms." No, really.

"Oh sure, skeptics are going to point to the fact that nearly 30% of detainees released from Gitmo go back to killing on the battlefield. But shouldn't the holidays be a time to set aside skepticism and simply believe wholeheartedly in peace on Earth and good will to enemy combatants?

"Apparently Barack Hussein Obama thinks so."

 

Obama leads his military through shot and shell

The left has Al Sharpton and Cher, et al. and it looks like we get Donald Trump.

 "Witless Ape Rides Escalator " says Kevin D. Williamson at NRO. . . "Donald Trump, being Donald Trump, announced his candidacy at Trump Plaza, making a weird grand entrance via escalator — going down, of course, the symbolism of which is lost on that witless ape. But who could witness that scene — the self-made man who started with nothing but a modest portfolio of 27,000 New York City properties acquired by his millionaire slumlord father, barely out of his latest bankruptcy and possibly headed for another one as the casino/jiggle-joint bearing his name sinks into the filthy mire of the one U.S. city that makes Las Vegas look respectable, a reality-television grotesque with his plastic-surgery-disaster wife, grunting like a baboon about our country’s “brand” and his own vast wealth — and not see the peerless sign of our times? . . .

I'm sure the author means this all in a nice way.

Rush said many out there will love Trump's ideas. . . "But you can see this setting up.  If Trump decides to go third-party, if anybody goes third party, then you could say, "Hello, Hillary," and Hillary's an absolute disaster.  Could we just...? I mean, this is something that I don't get. This is what bamboozles.  If that's the best the Democrats can come up with, they don't deserve to win anything.  That's the best they've got, Mrs. Clinton is an absolute disaster. " . . .

The GOP Joins the Circus With Donald Trump  . . . "A clownish, albeit opinionated celebrity, Trump doesn’t deserve serious consideration from the voters. But his presence will disrupt the race in ways that we can’t predict. Like it or not, if he meant what he said today, the Republican Party has just joined the Donald Trump circus." . . .

Legal Insurrection's Amy Miller:  . . . "We already know Trump the Billionaire Mogul and Trump the Reality TV star; as a wonk, I’m interested to see how his campaign plans on introducing Trump the Man to the American people."

Playing Devil’s Advocate For Donald Trump. . . "Americans love authenticity and people being themselves. Donald Trump is about as true to himself as a person can be. He doesn’t act like he’s humble or that’s he’s just like you. He’s Donald f***ing Trump and he just a built the greatest hotel in the world that you should totally visit. Right now. And check out the new Trump golf course while you’re enjoying the beauty of his immaculate resort.

"He may go bankrupt again. So what? He’s still Donald f***ing Trump. And you’re not." . . .

BONUS: HAIR APPARENT

 

"Donald Trump announced yesterday that he, like everyone else, is now officially running for president. Frankly, Hope n' Change finds it hard to take him seriously - but then again, maybe it's best not to judge a potential president based only on a hairstyle.

"A lesson the Spokane NAACP just learned the hard way."

McKinney bank employee fired for actions during pool party speaks out for first time

Wayne Dupree  

 

"Tracy says she noticed about an hour after she arrived at the pool, a BBQ with a DJ was being set up outside the pool gates.  Within a half an hour, several of the party goers had made their way into the pool area.

“By the time our security officer arrived for his scheduled shift, the pool had been overtaken by unruly teenagers and young adults,” said Tracy.

"She says many of them became upset when they were asked for key cards to prove their residency and complained it was because of the color of their skin.  However, she said everyone at the pool, including herself, was asked to prove they lived in the community." . . .

American silliness; the well doesn't run dry

Michael Eric Dyson: Black People More Likely To Support Rachel Dolezal Than Clarence Thomas   "MSNBC political hack, Georgetown University professor and notorious racial grievance monger Michael Eric Dyson said something absolutely stunning on Monday’s broadcast of “The Ed Show.' ” . . .

The Obama administration is making good on its pledge to all but ban trans fat nationwide.

Progressive Academics Shocked That Their Creatures Turn on Them When the cult of sensitivity begins to eat its children.
. . . " These incidents follow the complaints of other progressives like Kirsten Powers and Jonathan Chait that the intolerant ideology at the heart of progressivism is now getting out of hand. ' . . .

Emperor Obama Preparing To Unleash Wave Of Climate Change Executive Actions… 

 Completely Over The Slide Yet? #RachelDolezal Says No One Can Prove Her Parents Are Actually Her Parents  "Someone wants to give this character a reality show? Watch when she sues them for the imagined discrimination…"

A year from now, will we remember these two candidates?

http://www.realclearpolitics.

..

Mark Levin: 'No to Jeb' ..."Conservatives are not waiting to hear Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's presidential announcement speech to question his electability.

" 'Jeb Bush will be a loser," added Brent Bozell, who runs both the Media Research Center and the conservative group ForAmerica. The group has been opposing Bush and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on their website." . . .

But he can bank on mt support if Bush does become our candidate.

Hillary, the orator,...speaker,....um, reader.

http://comicallyincorrect.com/2015/06/15/hillary-is-so-yesterday/

In Hillary's sincere, passionate addresses, what is the longest you have seen her go without looking down at what she is supposed to say?  And with those teleprompters, what's with having to look at the printed text on the stand?

Hillary campaign outrages press pool  "Hillary Clinton reinforced her well-deserved reputation for arrogance and seriously aggravated the media covering her campaign with an unprecedented attempt to choose who will be permitted to act as pool reporter. Annie Linskey of the Boston Globe reports:" . . .

This is yet another bone-headed move by the Hillary campaign. Not only does it look bad and make rational people shudder at how she would behave if elected president, it also encourages the lapdog media to turn against her.

Hillary Clinton’s somnolent* speech. . . "The Atlantic’s Molly Ball mused, “Clinton’s advisers worry about the lack of passion the candidate elicits, but Saturday’s speech was so non-rousing as to make one wonder whether that wasn’t intentional—was it an attempt to bring Clinton down to earth, to make her ordinary? To deflate the aura of fame that clings to her and turn her into just another candidate, one who is solid and sensible and not too flashy, with lots of concrete plans?” It might be simpler than that: She is a remarkably unoriginal and uninspiring pol." Jennifer Rubin 
*Somnolent: 1. Drowsy; sleepy.; 2. Inducing or tending to induce sleep; soporific  (The asterisk tells you I had to look the word up)

She seemed to mostly read the speech

 Mitt Romney:  "When you see her on a stage or when she comes into a room full of people, she's smiling with her mouth but her eyes say, 'Where's my latte?'"

45 times Secretary Clinton pushed the trade bill she now opposes

 Rick Moran addresses this subject at American Thinker: Hillary pushed fast track trade authority 45 times while secretary of state    . . . "The last thing Hillary Clinton wants or needs is an angry base. Better that they resign themselves to her inevitabilty rather than get up on their hind legs and openly oppose her.
"A profile in courage she is not."

CNN   Read them all here.
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, seems reluctant to take a firm position on an issue dividing her party: whether President Obama should have fast-track trading authority for the immense trade deal he has been negotiating, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With some progressive voters eyeing her with some skepticism, and facing a challenge (such as it is) from candidates on her left, she is being advised to tack in that direction.

"President Obama has been pushing hard for the deal, while Democrats in the House of Representatives on Friday revolted and voted against a key part of the legislation. One told me, "there was a very strong concern about the lost jobs and growing income inequality," adding, pointedly: "Ms. Clinton should take notice." 

. . . 

 "Clinton said, "there are some specifics in there that could and should be changed. So I am hoping that's what happens now -- let's take the lemons and turn it into lemonade."

"But as members of the Obama administration can attest, Clinton was one of the leading drivers of the TPP when Secretary of State. Here are 45 instances when she approvingly invoked the trade bill about which she is now expressing concerns:" . . .

Very instructional video here
 The Trans-Pacific Partnership, explained