Pope Francis doesn't understand how to alleviate poverty

George Will in NRO
"Pope Francis embodies sanctity but comes trailing clouds of sanctimony. With a convert’s indiscriminate zeal, he embraces ideas impeccably fashionable, demonstrably false, and deeply reactionary. They would devastate the poor on whose behalf he purports to speak — if his policy prescriptions were not as implausible as his social diagnoses are shrill.

"Supporters of Francis have bought newspaper and broadcast advertisements to disseminate some of his woolly sentiments that have the intellectual tone of fortune cookies. One example: “People occasionally forgive, but nature never does.” The Vatican’s majesty does not disguise the vacuity of this. Is Francis intimating that environmental damage is irreversible? He neglects what technology has accomplished regarding London’s air (see Page 1 of Dickens’s Bleak House) and other matters.

"And the Earth is becoming “an immense pile of filth”? Hyperbole is a predictable precursor of yet another U.N. climate-change conference — the 21st since 1995. Fortunately, rhetorical exhibitionism increases as its effectiveness diminishes. In his June encyclical and elsewhere, Francis lectures about our responsibilities, but neglects the duty to be as intelligent as one can be. This man who says “the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions” proceeds as though everything about which he declaims is settled, from imperiled plankton to air conditioning being among humanity’s “harmful habits.” The church that thought it was settled science that Galileo was heretical should be attentive to all evidence." . . .

The Pope, Obama, and the oppressive left

As Cuban dissidents arrested, Pope Francis enjoys 'friendly and informal conversation' with Fidel Castro

Obama just can’t help taking victory laps, this time around Pope Francis

. . . "Obama should be grateful to the pontiff, who helped the President achieve a very rare foreign policy “success”. If he is, the Obama sure has a strange way of showing it.

In a stunning show of political indecorum, Obama has invited a series of individuals who publicly flout Catholic teaching, including a pro-abortion religious sister, a transgender woman and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, along with at least two Catholic gay activists.

"Truly, this is the sort of SmartPower^TM move we have come to expect from the White House." . . .

As Cuban dissidents arrested, Pope Francis enjoys 'friendly and informal conversation' with Fidel Castro
. . . "Meeting under the gaze of Che Guevara,* a bloodthirsty man who enjoyed executing his political opponents – personally machine gunning them for sport – is abominable.  But I suppose the pope had no choice in the venue if he was committed to seeing Castro.  The photo of the meeting is certainly will do nothing to harm Castro’s image with believing Catholic Cubans:"

* Guevara can't be all bad; his picture hung in some Obama election offices in 2008.

Scott Walker drops out

The fall of Scott Walker
. . . "Scott Walker had three different positions (count them: three) on  birthright citizenship alone in a week's time.  He quickly became known as being squishy on immigration.
. . . "I've always felt that he was a governor who did a conservative thing with the unions rather than a conservative governor who did a conservative thing with the unions.  He's probably the best liberal Wisconsin can do with, but American can do better." . . .

Caffeinated Thoughts  

""Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced Monday afternoon that he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination for President. He follows former Texas Governor Rick Perry as the second candidate to drop out of the still large field of 15 major candidates.

"Walker said he was disappointed by the debate taking place in the Republican party that is not focused on Ronald Reagan’s optimism, but instead has devolved into personal attacks.

“ 'In the end, I believe that voters want to be for something and not against someone. Instead of talking about how bad things are, we want to hear about how we can make them better for everyone,” Walker stated.

“ 'Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately,” Walker announced." . . .

“The short answer is money,” said a supporter of Mr. Walker’s who was briefed on the announcement. “He’s made a decision not to limp into Iowa.”
“ 'I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same, so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner,” Mr. Walker said in the short appearance, at which he took no questions. “This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and, more importantly, to the future of our country.' ” . . .

Walker’s Collapse Isn’t Trump’s Fault

Debbie Wasserman Schultz would say what about Bill's women?

Bookworm Room

Once upon a time, the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault had to listen to hateful, misogynist garbage like this: “Drag a $100 bill through a trailer park, you never know what you’ll find.” But as of right now, those days are over.

Hillary Clinton

✔ @HillaryClinton

Hillary to every survivor of sexual assault: You have the right to be heard and believed. We're with you.

"I believe Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, and all the other women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. And as we just heard, so does Hillary Clinton.

"So, what’s she going to do about it? This is what she’s going to do about it:

 

"See? Hillary Clinton believes victims of sexual assault. Their attacker’s punishment: not serving as Vice President of the United States. Harsh but fair.

"There. The discussion is now closed. You will not bring up any of the women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. Ever.
"P.S. From all the way back in July 2014: Hillary Clinton Refuses To Apologize For Laughing About 12-Year-Old Rape Victim She Maligned In Court.

Debbie the Democrat says transgenders should play contact sports

Wasserman-Schultz: transgender women should play contact sports

Following the CNN Republican Debate, Wasserman-Schultz told The Daily Caller:

“’I think that transgendered women — I think women should be able to participate in contact sports if they can compete effectively,’ she told The Daily Caller in the ‘spin room’ after the CNN Republican presidential debate Wednesday night.
‘I think that if they are living as a woman and identifying as a woman that they should be able to play on a women’s team’” she added. ‘But also I think that there are women who should be able to play on a men’s teams if they can effectively compete and vice versa.’
Asked specifically whether men who become women should be able to compete in female boxing or female mixed martial arts, the DNC chair punted.
‘You’re going a little deep on the type of sport,’ she said. ‘I think we are a little afield of what we are here to talk about.’”

"Can we just call this the “Hillary Clinton Rule?” That’s right, “She’s a man, Ba-By!' ”. . .

Read more at the Black Sphere

Why CNN omitted race from the GOP debate

The Black Sphere

"You don’t need a poll to tell you that the subject of race is one of the top issues on the minds of America. But for those who need polls, according to a July Gallup poll, race relations ranked third, behind only the economy and dissatisfaction with the government.

"So with that in mind, CNN brought us political WrestleMania. The moderators at CNN did moderate. Instead of covering the substantive issue of race relations, which have undoubtedly worsened during the Era of the Black President, CNN moderators were content to incite the candidates into attacking one another. Like a schoolyard provocateur, Jake Tapper prodded the candidates to respond to what each other had said about the other.

“So what about your face, Carly? You gonna let Trump get away with that?”

Let’s recap: #1 issues with Americans is the economy, and #2 dissatisfaction with the government, and CNN decides to discuss if Trump should have his hand on the button? Would that be the same button that Hillary Clinton gave to the Russians? Or would that be the button Obama has pushed on America’s debt and deficit? That button should be labeled “Armageddon!”

"CNN had no interest in hearing the real policies of the candidates. For them it was about entertainment, ratings and money. Those who were able to outline their positions on key issues did so by brute force. God forbid CNN actually address the issue that would showcase just how reckless the Democrats have been, fiscally or otherwise. Why do that, when the real goal was to make the Republicans look childish and petty." . . .

All emphases in the original

Obama a Muslim? What Trump should have said

Is Obama a Muslim? What Trump Should Have Said
.. . . "Good point, but it raises the question: Is Obama a Muslim?  The answer is no.  But what is he then?  Is Obama a Christian, as Jeb Bush asserted in an attempt to make Trump look bad after Thursday’s dustup? Not a chance.  Obama is about as pure a post-modern agnostic as you can find.  He’s about as Christian as your average gender studies professor at Swarthmore.

"Religion is for the president a convenience, an instrument of power.  As evidence of his Christianity he presents twenty-year attendance at Jeremiah Wright’s church, which was and is no more than a front for extreme, self-destructive black nationalism amplified by screechy anti-American propaganda, about as Christian an institution as the White Citizens’ Councils.  (Oprah Winfrey didn’t quit by accident).  After acceding to the presidency, Obama has hardly ever gone to church.  It interferes with his golf game or just about anything else.  The family didn’t even make it on Easter."
. . .
"Although not a Muslim (or anything else) religiously, he tilts Islamic culturally.  Why? First, he identifies with it from his Indonesian childhood and as the religion of his father who deserted him.  But at least as importantly he does so because he is a “progressive.” It’s no accident that he became one in the absence of Islam or Christianity. “Progressives” are the real true believers. They are convinced (to an extent religious people could only dream and at a level of almost absolute blind faith) that everything bad that happens or happened internationally is or was the fault of the imperialistic West. "
. . .
 . . . "Is Obama a Muslim?  No, but he’s something even worse — a transnational progressive."

Maybe those calling for climate change deniers to be locked up ahould be locked up themselves!

Exclusive: Lord Monckton sounds off on calls to jail 'climate-change' skeptics

"As the world-government conference in Paris this November comes ever closer, and the “global warming” scam comes ever closer to outright collapse, the climate communists are becoming desperate. To get the global dictatorship they have long planned for, they need to go on pretending that “global warming” is getting worse when in fact the satellites show there has been none for 18 years and eight months." . . .

. . .

"The central answer to the question how it was that a civilized country such as Germany – arguably one of the most cultured in the world – fell to Hitler and his jackbooted thugs is that in the decade running up to their seizure of absolute power they bullied and threatened every opponent in the most vicious style, until everyone who just wanted a quiet life learned not to speak up or his reputation would be systematically, ruthlessly trashed.

"The Communists after World War II copied the Fascists before the war, setting up an entire directorate of the KGB dedicated to dismantling the reputations of the opponents of the Soviet genocidal state. The technique worked by frightening almost everyone into not speaking out publicly against Communism.

"Now the eco-fasmunists are using precisely the same techniques. Billionaires such as the poisonous Tom Steyer and the gnome-like Richard Branson are paying organizations who work full-time to trash the reputations of all who dare to research the climate question and come up with answers – however scientifically accurate – that are inconsistent with the party line."  Read more

The Deniers: The World-Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud...and Those Who Are Too Fearful to Do So

When a flat earth was "settled science"
. . . "Christy’s op-ed picks up that flat earth theme in the opening paragraphs, and even the title and deck: “Kerry Is Flat Wrong on Climate Change: It was the scientific skeptics who bucked the ‘consensus’ and said the Earth was round.”

In a Feb. 16 speech in Indonesia, Secretary of State John Kerry assailed climate-change skeptics as members of the “Flat Earth Society” for doubting the reality of catastrophic climate change. He said, “We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists” and “extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts.”

But who are the Flat Earthers, and who is ignoring the scientific facts? In ancient times, the notion of a flat Earth was the scientific consensus, and it was only a minority who dared question this belief. We are among today’s scientists who are skeptical about the so-called consensus on climate change. Does that make us modern-day Flat Earthers, as Mr. Kerry suggests, or are we among those who defy the prevailing wisdom to declare that the world is round?

Carly Fiorina's HP record

This Chart Clears Up Carly Fiorina’s HP Record
Is Fiorina responsible for the demise of HP?

. . . "Bloomberg compared stock performance of HP with Sun, IBM, and Dell. The results are telling:

“So, no, Carly Fiorina was not the greatest CEO in corporate history. But she certainly wasn’t the worst, either,” wrote Fox.

The fairy tale of Ahmed's clock

Pulling Our Strings and Poking Us in the Eyes: The Ahmed Mohamed Fairy Tale
"There can be no doubt that Americans are fortunate enough to be governed by a brilliantly conceived Constitution drafted by remarkable, intelligent men. Unfortunately, too many Americans are utterly ignorant of what it contains and how it impacts on their lives. Voter ignorance on this and so much else contributes to the ease with which the media manipulates public opinion into believing things which are not so. In this they play into the hands of a childishly narcissistic president who despises the values upon which our country was based, a man who repeatedly pokes our allies and us in the eyes to show that he can deeply offend without penalty.

"1) The appalling ignorance of American voters." . . .  

"2) This Ill-Educated Public Is Remarkably Susceptible to Media Manipulation and the Ahmed Mohamed Case This Week is a Prime Example . . .

3) The Invitation to The White House is More than Merely Moral Preening: It’s a Sign of the President’s Continued Contempt for Americans . . .

. . .

"The list of offenses to public sentiment could go on: Here are just a few: Announcing Bowe Bergdahl’s release with a Rose Garden ceremony accompanied by Bergdahl’s hippie parents and ignoring the family of the soldier permanently disabled searching for Bowe; insulting our allies Great Britain and Israel.

"And upcoming this week, offending Pope Francis by inviting to his welcome ceremony “transgender activists, the first openly gay episcopal bishop and an activist nun who leads a group criticized by the Vatican for its silence on abortion and euthanasia.”  

"The Vatican has objected. So should we all for Obama’s consistently churlish and offensive behavior."  Read more

"He asks why the president never commented on or called Miss Steinle’s parents whose daughter was murdered by a criminal immigrant; never phoned the families of the policemen being murdered in cold blood by thugs encouraged to hate police by the Black Lives Matters crowd and its poisonous rhetoric, and whose leaders were also just invited to the White House. Wise beyond his years, he observes, “You don’t get invited to the White House for building a clock.”

Republicans, please stop the silliness in your campaigns!

David Limbaugh: Our Side Must Decide to Put the Sideshows Aside

"I wish the presidential debates could focus on what's wrong with the status quo and solutions rather than on what one candidate thinks about another's silly remarks.

"I don't want to hear Jeb Bush cajoling Donald Trump to apologize to his wife in front of millions of people. I don't want moderators to force a food fight between Trump and other candidates about whether he should have his finger on the nuclear button. I don't want them provoking a conflict between Chris Christie and Ben Carson over politicians' expediency. And I sure don't want to hear a candidate commenting on his rivals' physical appearance. This stuff is embarrassing, is unproductive and trivializes vital issues facing the nation.

"Such distractions may drive ratings or serve to diminish the conservative brand -- to the delight of those stirring the pot -- but they don't advance the vital national discussion about the problems we're facing. People serious enough to watch these debates want to hear the candidates' positions on the issues.

"There were many valuable moments Wednesday night -- candidate after candidate eloquently expounded conservative principles -- but there would have been many more had the goal been a substantive debate." . . .

Our work is cut out for us. Just winning the election won't be enough. That's why we have to pay close attention and choose the person most capable and willing to fight for America's salvation. From now on, a serious discussion of the issues is nonnegotiable

 

Why have elections?

Thomas Sowell

"In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one -- Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after six years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential voters are turning to another glib egomaniac to be his successor.

"No doubt much of the stampede of Republican voters toward Mr. Trump is based on their disgust with the Republican establishment. The fact that the next two biggest vote-getters in the polls are also complete outsiders -- Dr. Ben Carson and Ms. Carly Fiorina -- reinforces the idea that this is a protest.

"It is easy to understand why there would be pent-up resentments among Republican voters. But are elections held for the purpose of venting emotions?" . . .

This should tick some campus activists off:

. . . "Donald Trump is not the only obstacle to finding leaders of such character. The ultimate danger lies in the voting public themselves. All too many signs point to an electorate including many people who are grossly uninformed or, worse yet, misinformed.

"The very fact that the voting age was lowered to 18 shows the triumph of the vision of elections as participatory rituals, rather than times for fateful choices. If anything, the age might have been raised to 30, since today millions of people in their 20s have never even had the responsibility of being self-supporting, to give them some sense of reality." Ouch.