Obama Refused To Meet With Family Of American Woman Killed While Being Held Hostage By ISIS…

Weasel Zippers

"If she were being held by Iran…

..The Muellers say President Obama twice refused to meet with them after their daughter was taken by ISIS and only agreed to see them after American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff had been brutally murdered by ISIS.

Why the Obama and the NAACP rejection of charter schools

Education Next: Why Does the NAACP Oppose Charter Schools?

"This summer, at its national convention, the NAACP voted to support a moratorium on the growth of charter schools. Why?

"As Paul E. Peterson notes in US News, this decision is puzzling for a number of reasons.  Read here.

"First of all:  Forty-eight percent of African Americans say they favor the formation of charters, while only 29 percent stand in opposition, with the remainder taking the neutral position. In fact the opinions of African-Americans resemble those of the American public as a whole – 51 percent support, 28 percent oppose, 21 percent neutral.

The NAACP is about teachers' unions, not black children  . . . "So what's going on?  Why would the nation's oldest civil rights group deny African-American children a real opportunity to succeed?

"My guess is that most of these NAACP leaders send their kids to private schools anyway.  In other words, what do they care?

"More importantly, the Democratic Party is owned by the public-sector unions.  It's good for the party on election day, but it does not do minority parents any good when they try to educate their kids.

Everything You Need to Know About the NAACP’s Stance on Charter Schools  

. . . "There’s not much survey data specifically on how Black parents feel about charter schools nationally, but it’s pretty clear that they resoundingly support a parent’s right to choose the best school for their child.

• 72 percent of Black parents believe that charter schools offer options to low-income communities rather than take resources from traditional public schools. (Education Post, August 2015).
• 82 percent of Black parents say families should be allowed to choose their child’s public school, regardless of where they live (NAPCS, April 2016).
• 70 percent of Black voters support more school options for parents, including traditional public schools, charters and even voucher and scholarship programs (BAEO survey of four states in August 2015).
• 

Message from a non-oppressed black man to Colin Kaepernick…

Allen West

. . . "If you want to know about oppression of blacks in America, past and present, how about you ask Rep. Nancy Pelosi of the San Fran Bay Area about the policies that decimated the black family? Maybe you can cross the Bay over to Oakland and ask Rep. Barbara Lee about the 13 to 15 million black babies killed since 1973, and ask her who is Margaret Sanger?

"Or perhaps you can ask the two California senators, Boxer and Feinstein, about who doesn’t support better education opportunities for black children in the inner cities — school choice, vouchers, charter schools, home schooling.

"Perhaps you didn’t know Barack Obama was the one who cancelled the DC school voucher program for deserving young black children — talk about oppression. Is that something you’re willing to do, or is it just too difficult?" . . .

Hat tip to Jeff Hayden; Plano, TX

The Burkini vs. Bikini War

Fay Voshell  . . . "It almost hurts to repeat the obvious: the belief that infidels should die and that one should act on that belief by murdering infidels – that is the real issue.

"Has not France experienced enough carnage wrought by Islamists to know what the real problem is?  Are the Charlie Hebdo incident, the slaughter of innocents during Bastille Day celebrations, and the beheading of Father Jacques Hamel not indicators that France's core problems concerning Muslims will not be solved by the Battle of the Burkini vs. the Bikini?

"Symbolism, especially humiliating symbolism, is a hallmark of secularist progressivism.  Banning certain items of clothing and forcing the donning of Western apparel is nothing new.  It was Kemal Ataturk who banned the fez, which itself had been introduced a hundred or so years earlier as a modernizing reform to replace the turban.  Ataturk banned the hat because it represented nationalists who wished a return to the Ottoman Empire.  Ataturk himself wished to ally Turkey with the West, not attach policies to restoration of the Ottoman Empire." . . .

Fay Voshell is a frequent contributor to American Thinker.  Her thoughts have appeared in multiple online venues, including RealClearReligion, National Review, CNS, and Fox News.

When Church and Politics Collide, How Will We Respond?

Alliance Defending Freedom

A church—and a pastor—that doesn’t form consciences for such a calling will only ensure that those consciences are shaped by something other than the Gospel.

"The formative role of the Church is one reason the pro-life movement continues to resonate, with growing numbers, among young Christians. Abortion and human dignity are clearly not singularly “political” issues, but issues that demand political, ecclesial, and cultural reform and persuasion. Most importantly, this resonates because younger Christians recognize the Gospel as of first importance, and the pro-life movement has demonstrated why the life issue is a Gospel issue.

"As Christians, we can engage politics and culture without becoming either outraged or indifferent. If we believe we are on the losing side of history, we slide into the rage of those who know their time is short. We have no reason to be fearful or sullen or mean. We’re not the losers of history. We are not slouching toward Gomorrah; we are marching to Zion. The worst thing that can possibly happen to us has already happened: we’re dead. We were crucified at Skull Place, under the wrath of God. And the best thing that could happen to us has already happened: We’re alive, in Christ, and our future is seated at the right hand of God, and He’s feeling just fine.

Get Your Free Political Guide for Pastors and Churches

"When it comes to politics, every church and ministry must decide for itself how specific to be when it comes to biblical guidance and engagement. Our new legal guide Pastors Churches & Politics will help ministries navigate the laws surrounding tax-exempt status for religious organizations. It will equip ministries to identify what activities are permitted and prohibited by the IRS and its regulations so that you can both shepherd your people and protect your ministry." 

We'll explain the law as you discern how God wants you to lead
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Hillary Gets (More Than) a Little Help from Her Media Friends

Image by The Slammer 

Clarice Feldman  "Before the Internet when I wanted to keep track of a story, I had to clip articles and file them, often establishing over the years how much in error the press accounts had been. Now, a few clicks and there we have what we had remembered but not saved. It will come as no surprise to regular readers of the Washington Post to learn that one of their oped writers Ruth Marcus is easily exposed as a partisan spinner in a quick check of  a comparison of her treatment of Hillary Clinton and former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

"This week, Marcus wrote an editorial critical of Donald Trump’s “unhinged calls” for a special prosecutor to look into the Clinton Foundation. She dismissed the claims that the Foundation was a “pay to play” operation." . . .

The most critical remark she can manage is to suggest that since Hillary is beset by “enemies” who apply a stricter standard to her, she should have been more careful.

An overview of Ms. Feldman's column shows the subjects she covers: 

1.) The Skolkovo Innovation Center

2.) U.S. Arms Exports to Bahrain

3.) Arms Sales to Other Clinton Foundation contributors

4.) Sale of U.S. uranium assets to Russia and helping Abu Dhabi

A tale of two movies

Dan Joppich  "One of the silliest movies ever to hit the theatres is coming out this weekend.  It’s a movie based on Obama’s and Michelle’s first date.  My only interest in this movie is to see if it exceeds the box office success of Dinesh D’Souza’s recent movie, Hillary’s America.

"I mention it here in contrast to an interview this week on NPR with another black pioneer and the release of a movie based on his life and career that had to be somewhat uncomfortable for the liberal interviewer.  The movie, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, is about the first black animator at Disney Studios.  Everything about this gentleman’s life is counter to the liberal progressive meme.  No matter how the interviewer tried to spin some kind of black triumph moment from Mr. Norman, he just couldn’t.  The 81-year-old said flat out that he has never in his entire life experienced any form of racism.

"How can that be?  It was the fifties, and this was a Disney studio, churning out one racist movie after another.

"Maybe it’s not as unusual as the liberal black racial divide industrialists like Sharpton and J. Jackson would have us believe." . . .

49ers Colin Kaepernick must have watched too many of Michelle Obama's commencement addresses. UPDATED

NFL   Also covered at Breitbart California

Kaepernick

Perhaps he has watched too many of Michelle Obama's commencement speeches.

"San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has willingly immersed himself into controversy by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem in protest of what he deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States.

"His latest refusal to stand for the anthem -- he has done this in at least one other preseason game -- came before the 49ers' preseason loss to Green Bay at Levi's Stadium on Friday night.

" 'I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.' "...

"By taking a stand for civil rights, Kaepernick, 28, joins other athletes, like the NBA's Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony and several WNBA players in using their platform and status to raise awareness to issues affecting minorities in the U.S.". . . 

Right: NOT Kaepernick

Update:

49ers Fan Has A Flaming Message For Colin Kaepernick  . . . "He added: ‘People die every single day defending that flag you refuse to stand for and I won’t stand for that.’

" ‘This jersey was the worst $50 investment I have ever had … you should never play in the NFL again, move to Canada.’ "

You're right . . .

. . .  I do obsess over Hillary, Obama and today's Democrats.

Because I fear them and their effect on our nation along with America's history and culture. 

The Tunnel Dweller (Right, in 1958)

Hillary’s a terrible liar — and it could doom her presidency

John Podhoretz  "The singular Nebraska politician (and later New School president) Bob Kerrey once observed of a fellow moderate Democrat: “Bill Clinton is an unusually good liar. Unusually good.”

"I don’t think this is something people would say about his wife.

"That Hillary Clinton is a liar is now inarguable. Indeed, it’s gotten so inarguable that people who dare argue she isn’t a liar are almost certainly lying, too — though, perhaps, only to themselves, to keep their spirits up.

"The problem for Hillary’s apologists is that she’s so incredibly bad at it.

"Bill’s brilliant lies provided cover for his defenders. Hillary’s lousy lies make her defenders look like fools. The pair of revelations in the past week demonstrates this." . . .

A very, very bad sign for Hillary

Thomas Lifson:  "The run-out-the-clock strategy for dealing with the Clinton Foundation and email problems that the Hillary camp leaked to Politico absolutely depends on an uninformed electorate dismissing the charges without any investigation. They must, in other words, accept that this entire imbroglio is nothing but right wing extremism, and brush it aside as unworthy of further attention. That is what Hillary has consistently done, lying at each step.

"A supportive media is essential to the success of this strategy, of course. Serious consideration must be ghettoized in media that can be dismissed as conservative, and therefore stupid, paranoid, racist, and…well…conservative." . . .

Obama’s Iran Strategy Creates Support for the Islamic State. His refusal to support Iran's Green Revolution was contemptable

Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker  "Despite the obvious fallacy in Donald Trump’s recent statement that President Obama and his former Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton were the “founders of ISIS”, Hudson Institute scholar Michael Doran’s February 2, 2015 essay “Obama’s Secret Iran Strategy” demonstrates that a very flawed U.S. policy towards Iran actually helped create Sunni support for the radical Sunni Islamic State. Due to what former Senior Director at the National Security Council Elliott Abrams terms Obama’s “ideology”, the administration not only failed to comprehend Iranian culture and the absolutist theological nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran -- a blunder already begun in the Carter White House and perpetuated through all subsequent administrations -- but also compounded the error by believing that the mullah regime could be enticed to moderate its behavior." . . .

Why Obama Let Iran's Green Revolution Fail 

Iran though is a very different story. Obama from the beginning of his presidency tried to turn the country's ruling clerics from foes to friends. It was an obsession.

And how has that worked out for the world?

. . . "But Obama wasn't just reluctant to show solidarity in 2009, he feared the demonstrations would sabotage his secret outreach to Iran. In his new book, "The Iran Wars," Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon uncovers new details on how far Obama went to avoid helping Iran's green movement. Behind the scenes, Obama overruled advisers who wanted to do what America had done at similar transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and signal America's support." . . .

" . . .Obama ended U.S. programs to document Iranian human rights abuses. He wrote personal letters to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assuring him the U.S. was not trying to overthrow him. Obama repeatedly stressed his respect for the regime in his statements marking Iran's annual Nowruz celebration."

. . . ""Instead, Obama spent his presidency misunderstanding Iran's dictator, assuring the supreme leader America wouldn't aid his citizens when they tried to change the regime that oppresses them to this day."

Why do not more people realize the shame Obama has brought on America because of his failure to support this Revolution? One man-one man alone- has shaped the Middle East and made Iran the major power there. This man is feckless and a disaster in his foreign policy.