Foreign Affairs Dem: 'America Paid a Big Price' with Iran Swap

PJ Media   "A top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned that not only will the prisoner swap embolden Iran, but most of those released by Tehran's request will remain in the United States to potentially commit additional crimes on behalf of the Islamic Republic.

" 'We share the joy of these five American families. But America paid a big price today," Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who voted against the Iran nuclear deal, told CNN on Saturday.

" 'Iran got something very important. They are now able to inspire their network of terrorists and their network of illegal military procurement folks. They are able to tell their people, look, even if you get caught, we will get out. We are still holding two American hostages after this deal, and if those aren't enough, we'll seize more," he said." . . .

Why is George Stephanopoulos even allowed to cover Clinton campaign?

Legal Insurrection

"Last year, George Stephanopoulos had a particularly antagonistic interview with the author ofClinton Cash, and shortly thereafter, it was revealed that he had donated a substantial sum of money to the Clinton Foundation.  ABC stood by their man, though he did have to apologize on-air.

The Washington Free Beacon is now reporting that Stephanopoulos has simply stopped disclosing his donations to the Clinton Foundation.

ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos has stopped disclosing his donations to the Clinton Foundation prior to his interviews with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Stephanopoulos interviewed Clinton twice over the past week, once Thursday morning on Good Morning America and again on Sunday’s This Week.

During both interviews he failed to disclose to viewers that he was a donor to the foundation.

"This is potentially problematic because ABC has stated that its policy requires disclosure:  “An ABC News spokeswoman told New York Times that any employee that makes a donation to a charity must disclose it to the network before covering a story related to that organization.' ” . . .

Obama Goes After Petraeus To Send A Chicago-Style Message

IBD

"Defense: Books by former Obama insiders have convincingly documented this president's distrust of the U.S. military. He's been goaded by Vice President Joe Biden's warnings not to be played by the guys in uniform.

"That's a distrust shared by precious few Americans, who've elected commanders-in-chief with military experience every single time for 68 years but for two Democrat exceptions — Bill Clinton and the Suspicious One himself.

"But going after retired Gen. David Petraeus a second time for national security indiscretions is a bridge too far. The Daily Beast reports Defense Secretary Ash Carter has reopened the Petraeus case to consider stripping the hero of one or two of his four stars in retirement.

As CIA director, Petraeus shared classified notebooks with his biographer/mistress, who also had security clearance. No classified intel appeared in the book, "All In." . . .

"The FBI is said to be investigating Hillary Clinton's sharing of more than 1,300 classified documents with God-knows-who all on her unsecured private email server, despite repeated warnings and subsequent obfuscations.

"But, hey, she's a Democrat, the best one to preserve Obama's legacy. Don't hold your breath for an indictment from an Obama Justice Department." . . .  Read More At Investor's Business Daily

Bernie Sanders: Unfit to Be President

Bernie's got a good point there, I'd say.

E. Jeffrey Ludwig   "During the last Democratic presidential debate, Bernie Sanders described himself as “revolutionary.” He railed against Wall Street, and how he was going to raise taxes on the billionaires who are, he states with righteous [sic] indignation, the exploiters of our society. He promises to use this money to provide free tuition to students in public institutions and to rebuild our deteriorating infrastructure. Further, he hopes to institute a single-payer healthcare system and thereby do an end run around the rapacious medical professions, as well as the insurers and pharmaceutical industries.

 You see, the medical-industrial complex is regularly ripping off the public. (The left always like to use terms like “military-industrial complex” and “prison-industrial complex” so why not add this term?) Therefore, Sanders concludes that if the always benign U.S. government insures the people, insurance companies will no longer control the prices or the health issues that are covered by policies. He admitted to one of the debate moderators, Andrea Mitchell, that everyone would pay a little more in taxes, but the savings from not paying insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket medical costs would amount to about $5,000 per year. "  . . .  Read more

comicallyincorrect

Snopes' Field Guide to Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors

Snopes

"The sharp increase in popularity of social media networks (primarily Facebook) has created a predatory secondary market among online publishers seeking to profitably exploit the large reach of those networks and their huge customer bases by spreading fake news and outlandish rumors. Competition for social media’s large supply of willing eyeballs is fierce, and a number of frequent offenders regularly fabricate salacious and attention-grabbing tales simply to drive traffic (and revenue) to their sites.

"Facebook has worked at limiting the reach of hoax-purveying sites in their customers’ news feeds, inhibiting (but not eradicating) the spread of fake news stories. Hoaxes and fake news are often little more than annoyances to unsuspecting readers; but sometimes circulating stories negatively affectbusinesses or localities by spreading false, disruptive claims that are widely believed.

"So long as social media allows for the rapid spread of information, manipulative entities will seek to cash in on the rapid spread of misinformation. Perhaps the most egregious of the many nonsense peddlers on social media are fake news sites, so here we offer a guide to several of the most frequent (and unapologetic) hoax purveyors cluttering up newsfeeds everywhere." . . .

Hat tip to Jeff Hayden; Plano, TX, who expressed concern that this article itself was fake.

By way of illustration, here is a bonus feature: 25 Hottest Urban Legends

More on Hillary

Clinton’s Campaign Comes Down to Iowa  "First Read: “If she wins Iowa, Clinton will be set up to separate herself from Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and the March 1 primaries — after which her campaign can start to focus on the general election. But if she loses Iowa, then, yes, a highly competitive Democratic race will extend into April and May. And that’s not all — panicky Democrats will become even more nervous, Joe Biden’s phone will ring, Michael Bloomberg’s phone will ring, too.' ” . . .

How the Debate Schedule is Hurting Hillary   . . . "Hillary performs better on the debate stage where her scripted responses and well rehearsed one-liners mask her lack of personality. On small-stage voter forums, Clinton appears clunky, awkward, and very much like a stereotypical politician — an image she’s struggled to shake (See also: the disaster that was the Fusion forum)." . . .

The story of Hillary Clinton's national security failures deserves to be told

"With the 2016 election season upon us, I can no longer sit by and watch Hillary Clinton re-write her tenure as America’s top diplomat. 

"Clinton’s performance and record as Secretary of State was abysmal. 

"Since she is asking the American people for a promotion, we should judge her record honestly and decide whether or not she deserves to lead our nation at this critical point in history. 

"I have concluded that her record clearly shows she has already failed us. 

Author’s note: Fox News Contributor Richard Grenell is working with Restoration PAC.  Doug Truax is Executive Director of Restoration PAC and Restoration Action. He is a former Senate candidate in Illinois.

How's this for irony?  Pentagon looking at demoting Petraeus over handling of classified material  "Are people of Hillary Clinton’s “fame and esteemed reputation” immune to punishment?"

WHERE ARE GERMANY’S ‘RIGHT-WING HOOLIGANS’?

Barbwire

"When thousands of Muslim “refugees” descended on New Year’s Eve celebrations across Europe and set off explosives and sexually attacked hundreds of girls, the police were scarce and unresponsive. The media ignored it for days.

"Juxtapose that with the overwhelming police force/army, armed with water cannons, at an anti-jihad demo the following day. And the media mob followed up with smear reports about those rational anti-rape jihad protests.

"That was not happenstance. That was not accidental. Reports of violent right-wing riots appear to be manufactured by the Angela Merkel-media to induce the left to spring into action.

"The media reported that in Germany, “hundreds of masked hooligans” rioted – but where are these alleged right-wing hooligans? I’ve been looking for actual footage of “right-wing hooligans” vandalizing and rioting in Leipzig and elsewhere, as they were reported as having done, but to no avail. There doesn’t appear to be any such footage.

"It gets much more sinister than that." . . .

American Silliness; Jan 19, 2016

Pelosi unconcerned Iran will do bad things with the $150 billion  "There are so many members of the Loathsome Lunatic Leaders Club that it’s hard to decide who is the worst.  But if I had to choose one, Nancy Pelosi would be right up there.  Here’s a tidbit of insanity that fell from her lips on Wednesday when discussing the Iran deal with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, her mouth and lips in constant motion even when she wasn’t speaking, her thick mane of fake hair thicker than ever, and her attitude rich with her usual stupidity and smugness."

"There is no further comment needed on what she had to say.  It speaks for itself. "

In order to comply with a federal mandate . . . schools are forcing students to disclose incredibly personal details in order to register for classes.  . . . "The thing is, the well-connected makers of this software are overstepping the law -which only requires students be educated, not that they disclose any personal details- in order to scoop up valuable data that can be sold to third party affiliates."

Lawrence Tribe Says Cruz is Not a Natural Born Citizen but Chimpanzees Could Be    "Can a Planet of the Apes be far behind?"

. . . "Here’s a curious thing about Lawrence Tribe. I did not find this on my own, but I did recollect something about chimpanzee rights being pushed a few years ago. I wrote “Get Ready for Chimpanzee Voter Rights for Democrats” in 2014. Daniel Greenfield at Front Page Magazine found Lawrence Tribe’s involvement in extending legal rights to chimpanzees in a Wall Street Journal article from 2002:" . . .

Chelsea Handler BLASTS Humorless PC Killjoys In The Most Funny and Insensitive Way  . . . "It’s sad to think that college students — at the very flower of life — are wound up so tight they’re afraid to laugh at anything. Steven Crowder described how the PC police showed up at a gig and were literally taking notes and fact-checking his comedy routine. Comedy routine, people, how empty does your life need to be before you want to freaking fact-check comedy?" . . .

Feminists Blame “Berniebros” And Sexism For Hillary’s Tanking Poll Numbers…  The fact that she is corrupt and vindictive toward Americans, but supine and cowardly before America's enemies has nothing to do with it. TD

#BlackLivesMatter Tries To Shut Down Bay Bridge In San Francisco During Rush Hour

Two murdered police officers teach a harsh lesson about criminal rehabilitation

Hot Air  Why does the United States lock up more people than anyone else in the world?

Officer Doug Barney 

"That’s a question that gets asked a lot in Democrat circles and it’s a high priority subject in their primary debates. In some areas there is clearly room for a reexamination of sentencing guidelines and it’s not a subject conservatives should shy away from entirely. But at the same time, a rush to release as many prisoners as possible or to shuttle people off to “treatment centers” rather than jail or federal prison presents significant issues as well. We saw a couple of cases of this in recent days which ended in tragedy, taking the lives of two police officers." . . .

. . . "They had Henderson (pictured, right) in custody for the umpteenth time and he was known to be dangerous and frequently armed. Yet somehow a judge decided to send him to a treatment center where he simply walked away just before Christmas. The next time we caught up with him he’d murdered a cop." . . .

Let's see, how'd that Black Lives Matter chant go? "Pigs in a blanket . . ."

Police Officer Thomas Cottrell  From the Officer Down Memorial Page   “We are very sad to report the line of duty death of Danville Police Officer Thomas Cottrell,” Knox County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. “Our officers and BCI are conducting the investigation.”

"Herschel Jones, 34, was arrested shortly after after being chased on foot. No charges have been pressed yet." . . .Hot Air

What Jeb's Donors Could Have Bought for $103M

Sad, because I consider the Bush family to be good people.

Roll Call

. . . "Right to Rise raised $103 million in 2015 and has spent more than $65 million so far. But nine months after he got into the race, Bush has collapsed from first to a tie for worst and is now polling at less than 5 percent nationally.   

"There’s no nice way to say this, and I’ll take it back if he wins, but Bush's super PAC donors just wasted $103 million. It’s only made more mind-boggling by what all of that money could have paid for instead, including the sorts of things his family has always worked for. For $103 million, the donors could have:

• Bought 20 million children’s books for the Barbara Bush Foundation.

• Sent 22,421 4-year-olds to preschool for a year.

• Covered a year's tuition for 10,624 students to go to college.

• Paid for a year of anti-retroviral drug treatment for 719,424 children in Africa.  Read it again — 719,424 children.

 . . . Hat tip to Infowars

PRAGER U: Is America Racist?

The Hayride  "Is America racist? Is it — as President Barack Obama said — “part of our DNA”? Author and talk-show host Larry Elder examines America’s legacy of racism, whether it’s one we can ever escape, and in the process offers a different way of looking at things like Ferguson, crime, police and racial profiling."

Forum: Has The Relationship Between Men And Women Changed For The Worse?

Joshuapundit   "Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: Has The Relationship Between Men And Women Changed For The Worse?" . . .

. . . "The left today includes both men and women putting men down. Women are seen beating up the bad guys while men are too often portrayed as weak or looking like Pajama Boy or walking around with orange hair and crashing into cars in Foster Child commercials. Aggressive sports are on the ropes and football players are portrayed as more violent than the other men though research proves it's not true." . . .

How many TV commercials and shows depict clueless men being put in their place by a wiser, condescending woman? How many companies and police units on TV are led by "no-nonsense" women who are more forceful and aware? 

Have you watched the portrayal of boys and girls on children's TV shows? The boys are nincompoops!  TD