Obama cites weak messaging, media saturation for Americans' ISIS fears

CNN More video at this link.

"In the past few weeks, the White House has sought to step up its messaging efforts on counterterrorism, scheduling a prime-time television address and visits to the Pentagon and National Counterterrorism Center in an attempt to better explain progress made against the Islamic State group.

"But Obama conceded those efforts, prompted by an ISIS-inspired attack that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, came after inadequate efforts to relay the work of a U.S.-led coalition in combating ISIS.

" 'We haven't on a regular basis, I think, described all the work that we've been doing for more than a year now to defeat ISIL," Obama told NPR in an interview taped before he departed for his holiday vacation in Hawaii. He called the communications blunder a "legitimate criticism of what I've been doing and our administration has been doing."

"But he also pinned Americans' renewed unease about terror attacks on U.S. soil to blanket media coverage of ISIS attacks. The November ISIS terrorist massacre in Paris, which left 130 people dead, led to "a saturation of news about the horrible attack there," Obama said in the interview." . . .

School Reverses Ban On Prayer, After Being Reminded Of Constitution

Weasel Zippers

"While school cannot endorse any religion, they also cannot forbid students from praying. And the fact that they would forbid it because others might see it, is a ridiculous violation.

"Via Daily Caller:

A Wyoming school that told students they couldn’t pray in the cafeteria has lifted the ban after a Christian legal group threatened legal action on constitutional grounds.

A small group of students at Platte County School District #1 created a prayer circle in the cafeteria of Glendo High School to pray for their meal on October 15. The students prayed audibly, and it was not part of a regularly scheduled group. Afterward, the students say Principal Stanetta Twiford accosted one of the students and accused the student of forcing their religion on other students.

The principal allegedly said students needed permission to pray and then must go in the hallway or gymnasium if they wanted to talk to God. That way, other students wouldn’t see the prayer. The school argued the students were a captive audience being forced to witness the prayer. The father of two of the students appealed to the principal, who stood firm on the rule.

The parents of two of the students then reached out to the Alliance Defending Freedom, A Christian legal group, which now represents the students. ADF sent a letter to the district Dec. 4, threatening to take legal action if the district continued to ban the students from praying.

Keep reading…

The Dem Debate: "Hillary is still, alas, massively unlikable. . . "

To repeat: Hillary is "massively unlikable". Um, in a nice way, of course. TD

http://www.americanthinker.com/cartoons/

Hillary's debate claim can't be verified  . . . "It's at least equally logical to state that Paris and San Bernardino will inspire more terrorist attacks and recruit more jihadists than anything Donald Trump has said."

Dem Debate: Saturday Night Lites . . . "No one brought up her criminal activities, no one addressed her foundation's slush funds, her husband . . . "
. . . She is still, alas, massively unlikable, but one can forgive that, if one has not sat, stupefied, by her endless lies and cover-ups, her dissembling and self-aggrandizing."

Hillary Clinton criticized over ISIS comments, Trump recruitment video claim

Hillary Clinton caught in another video lie  " . . . “‘He is becoming ISIS‘s best recruiter,’ she claimed. ‘They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists.’” (DailyMail Dec. 20, 2015)

"ISIS has only been recruiting jihadists since Trump came onto the presidential election scene?" . . .

The Daily Mail said, "The Clinton campaign did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for evidence of the former secretary of state's claim about Mr Trump and ISIS recruitment."  Is this the video?
. . .Politifact when looking for the purported videos after her claim Saturday night but found nothing.
Legal Insurrection dumped on Hillary as well

FACT CHECK: Glossed-over realities in Democratic debate

Bernie Sanders, left, speaks as Hillary Clinton listens during a Democratic presidential primary debate shown on TV screens in the media filing room, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H

The Democratic Candidates Do Their Best to Preserve ISIS

. . . "For Hillary it's an embarrassment -- or should be.  She's the woman who refused as head of the State Department to name Boko Haram (now pledged to ISIS) a terrorist organization at the very time they were raping and kidnapping girls in the name of Allah.  Now she's telling us we have ISIS where we want it -- or something like that.  Her remarks to that effect during the debate are being explained away or placed "in context"by Democrats, but that she could even claim something close to that is reprehensible.  She and Obama are, if not the mother and father of ISIS, at least their aunt and uncle." . . .

Ted Cruz Parodies Himself And Mocks Democrats In Clever New Campaign Ad

Watch the Campy Christmas Infomercial Ted Cruz Is About To Play During SNL . . . "Cruz is no stranger to non-traditional campaigning, he has cooked baconon the end of a machine gun and performed full-throated “Princess Bride” impressions on the trail in 2016. The above video features Cruz reading to his two daughters, along with his wife, in a traditional Christmas setting. However, the Christmas tales he tells are political satire."

"The greatest American recruiting tool ISIS has is our feckless leader, Obama "

Sharp-eyed people will notice the mug on the nightstand.

Obama -- Disengaged, Delusional, or Diabolical?  . . . "In a recent TV discussion of Obama’s effort to change the subject in this manner, Charles Krauthammer suggested that Obama was either disengaged or delusional. But in fact, "diabolical" may be the better term. But Obama may have foreseen just such happenings when he informed us that it was his desire to “fundamentally transform” America. No one thought at the time that he might have in mind the weakening of America to the point of our being so vulnerable as to possibly being taken over by an Islamic caliphate that his neglect had made possible. And while this may seem far-fetched, let’s take a closer look at what Barack Obama and his feckless former secretary of state have accomplished in just seven short years." . . . By Ken Eliasberg

"Shortly after taking office (and not long after his “fundamental transformation” speech) Obama flew to Cairo to deliver an apology and a loving outreach to Islam -- going so far as to suggest that Islam has deep roots in the USA. As recent events have made clear, there is no question that they are buried deep in the soil of the Obama administration. One very stark example is the Muslim Brotherhood, mother of all Islamic terrorist organizations; it is banned in Egypt, its birthplace, but welcome in the White House."

VIDEO: Uncovered Trump Interview From Over 25 Years Ago Will Shock A Lot of People

Oprah Winfrey interviews Donald Trump 25 years ago

"Part of an Oprah Interview with Donald Trump that took place about 25 years ago. NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 

Hat tip to Robert J. Hope; Sacramento, CA. Semper Fi, Bob

You may not know what "Vocal Fry" is, but you hear it every day

We hear it often on "House Hunters" for one.
Vocal Fry  "You sound like a Kardashian? Speech therapists "vocal fry" the call is low, throaty-up of young women are gaining importance. "Sunday Morning" Faith Salie contribute girls should be encouraged to find their voices, however, say that there should be creaky uncomfortable.

More on this here.

"Vocal fry: An attack on women?"

Then there is the ubiquitous "like"

If You Use This Word, People Will, like, Think You're, like,, Stupid   . . . "When the first "like" pops out of my mouth, I can already tell that someone is immediately taking me less seriously, something I already have a problem with, as a 24-year-old woman working in media.

It goes something like (appropriate use of word as conjunction) this:

Me: "Hi, I'm Zoë, the Associate Books Editor for Huffington Post Books."

Serious publishing person: "Nice to meet you, Zoë."

Me: "We're, like, doing a TON of interesting things right now on our Books page. It's, like, really cool."

How to talk like a Valley Girl

Hillary Clinton’s video problem; William Safire called Hillary a "congenital liar" in "Essay; Blizzard of Lies"

Hot Air  . . . "Bernie Sanders once again seemed to only make headlines for apologizing to Hillary Clinton and making her look good. For her part, the former Secretary of State trotted out some of her usual misleading talking points against a pair of flailing wannabes who aren’t ever going to get within smelling distance of the Democrat nomination.
"There were some golden oldies, such as Clinton’s long debunked claim of “30,000 deaths due to gun violence every year.” (We covered that one exhaustively when she first trotted it out at the President’s request.) And of course she had to explain away her cozy ties with Wall Street. But the one thing which seems to get Clinton in more trouble than anything else is whenever the subject of videos comes up. And I’m not talking about this disturbing image:

DNC failed to allow proper time, apparently

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/221904/

"The actual event I’m referring to had to do with Donald Trump. (Of course.) In one of the more jaw dropping moments of the night, Clinton stared down the audience and proclaimed as fact that ISIS was showing videos of Donald Trump to aspiring radicals in an effort to recruit them.

"Say what, now?

"Politico was running their “Wrongometer” again and they lit into that one.

. . . "To their credit, the media actually covered this outrageous claim at length." 

As William Safire wrote in Essay; Blizzard of Lies: 

Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady -- a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation -- is a congenital liar.
Drip by drip, like Whitewater torture, the case is being made that she is compelled to mislead, and to ensnare her subordinates and friends in a web of deceit.

 Hillary's debate claim can't be verified . . . "It's at least equally logical to state that Paris and San Bernardino will inspire more terrorist attacks and recruit more jihadists than anything Donald Trump has said.
"Neither narrative is provable. But it just goes to show that Clinton has upped the ante and will now blame Trump and Republicans directly for "playing into the hands" of terrorists."

 

Ted Cruz calls out ‘pampered teenagers’ on college campuses – and their parents

‘We shouldn’t be raising a generation of young people that are so pampered that they never have heard anything that offends them’

The College Fix  "Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz didn’t hold back when asked recently about the special snowflakes demanding speech they disagree with be squashed.

"In an interview with Adam Carolla, he called whiny students “pampered teenagers,” and said they do not have a right not to be offended.

. . . 

“ 'Listen, was Woodrow Wilson an unabashed racist? Yes. Should we talk about that? Should we condemn it? Yes,” Cruz said. “But we shouldn’t be engaged in this bizarre process of erasing our history because it offends our ears. And I think this is something that the media pushes but I do think that the American people are fed up with. There is a reservoir of common sense that realizes this is dumb.' ”

Politically correct universities 'are killing free speech'

"British universities have become too politically correct and are stifling free speech by banning anything that causes the least offence to anyone, academics argue."

GOP LEADERSHIP CAVES ON GOSAR AMENDMENT

"Ted Cruz likes to talk about the “Washington Cartel” — the leaders from both parties who, he says, make sure business continues as usual, to the people’s detriment. Cruz’s rhetoric seemed extravagant to me, but now I wonder whether it is apt."

Power Line  "More bad news about the Omnibus spending bill: the Gosar Amendment language has been stripped out. This language would have prevented the Obama administration from implementing its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule (AFFH), a radical plan to use the power of the national government to create communities of a certain kind, each having what the federal government deems an appropriate mix of economic, racial, and ethnic diversity.

"Apparently, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan weren’t up to defending the freedom of Americans to decide, through their local governments, how they will live — just as they weren’t up to slapping down the Department of Education’s assault on freedom of speech and due process.

"Stanley Kurtz has written:

[The fight to block] AFFH just may give the Republican leadership a way of beginning to re-earn the confidence of the base. The fate of one of President Obama’s most radical transformations is on the line.

"With the results in, and not just on AFFH, the Republican leadership has probably forfeited the confidence of the base. Is it any wonder that in the latest ABC News/Washington Post pollthe two candidates (Trump and Cruz) running most loudly against the GOP establishment lead the field? Throw in another outsider (Dr. Carson), and they lead the field by more than a 2:1 ratio." . . .

MASS. COURT RULES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DOESN’T APPLY TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL

The Lid

"In the latest offense to the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge ruled on Wednesday that a Catholic school committed sex and sexual orientation discrimination against a gay man when it rescinded a job offer made to him because he is married to another man.

"Matthew Barrett was offered a job as Fontbonne Academy‘s food services director, but the offer was withdrawn after he listed his husband as his emergency contact. Barrett sued.

"Judge Douglas H. Wilkins rejected each of the three defenses the Academy’s attorney argued before the court:

Interested in the Sherman Tank of WW2?

The M4 Sherman, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
. . . "When the M4 tank went into combat in North Africa with the British Army at El Alamein in the autumn of 1942, it increased the advantage of Allied armour over German armor and was superior to the lighter German long-barrel 50 mm-gunnedPanzer III and the howitzer-like, short-barrel 75 mm-gunned earliest examples of the Panzer IV. For this reason, the US Army believed the M4 would be adequate to win the war, and no pressure was exerted for further tank development. " . . . Leading to death for thousands of tank crewmen.

Photos of the Sherman interior

The Crew and their Stations: The Human Part of the Tank

The tanks were death traps going against German antitank guns, Panthers and Tigers

. . . "Because of their insufficient armor, the insides of Sherman tanks were prone to catching fire during combat. This problem was compounded when fires ignited shells and other munitions inside a tank. Sherman M4’s were jokingly referred to by British soldiers as “Ronsons”, a brand of lighter whose slogan was “Lights up the first time, every time!”[iv] Polish soldiers referred to them simply as “The Burning Grave”."

The song of German panzer troops  From the movie, "Battle of the Bulge. Not a very historically accurate movie, certainly not of the caliber of "Saving Private Ryan". 

Jentz, Panzer Truppen Vol 2, pp 150-151 discusses the Sherman from the point of view of one German source:  "The preferences of the crews for lighter, more manoeuvrable Panzers was recorded in a report written on November 1944 by Albert Speer on his trip to Italy during 19 to 25 October 1944:"

"On the Southwest Front, opinions are in favour of the Sherman tank and its cross-country ability. The Sherman tank climbs mountains that our Panzer crews consider impassable. This is accomplished by the especially powerful engine in the Sherman in comparison to its weight. Also, according to reports from the 26.Panzer-Division, the terrain-crossing ability on level ground (in the Po valley) is completely superior to our Panzers. The Sherman tanks drive freely cross-country, while our Panzers must remain on trails and narrow roads and therefore are very restricted in their ability to fight.

All Panzer crews want to receive lighter Panzers, which are more manoeuvrable, possess increased ability to cross terrain, and guarantee the necessary combat power just with a superior gun. This desire by the troops corresponds with conditions that will develop in the future as a result of the drop in production capacity and of the fact that, because of a shortage of chrome, sufficient armour plate can't be produced to meet the increased production plans. Therefore, either the number of Panzers produced must be reduced or it will be necessary to reduce the thickness of the armour plate. In that case, the troops will unequivocally ask for a reduction of the armour thickness in order to increase the total number of Panzers produced."

But the Sherman was hated by many tankers: