The entertainment elite’s Inaugural boycott will backfire — again

The real issue is the bubble created by the left’s Stalinized airbrushing of non-liberals out of American popular culture.

NY Post

Few performers seem willing to step up and entertain the country when the new president is sworn in on Jan. 20. With the news last week that opera singer Andrea Bocelli had bowed to pressure and dropped out of the Inauguration Day concert, and with a member of the Rockettes leading a social-media rebellion against performing for the president, Kid Rock is currently the biggest name scheduled to appear.

And liberals are giddy. Because they still don’t get it.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s labor secretary who has transformed himself into the Michael Moore of Facebook, is promoting something called the Freedom United Concert to air at the same time as the inauguration. The concert would benefit all the usual liberal charities and Reich hopes to get big names like Jay-Z and Madonna to perform. “Presto,” he writes. “The Trump inauguration loses all the TV ratings. Basically, no one watches it.”

"The all-encompassing liberalism in popular culture might not be hurting the performers’ financial bottom lines (so far), but it’s certainly not doing anything to help their political causes, either. As we learned this election, we ignore whole segments of the population at our peril."

Washington’s top-tier hotels are selling out fast for Trump’s inauguration
 . . . "But as they do for every inauguration, the hotels quickly sold out. "

Gingrich to Congress: Condemn Obama over anti-Israel resolution

Arutz Sheva, Israel National News

"Former House speaker urges Congress to condemn Obama for allowing anti-Israel resolution to pass the UN Security Council."

 

"U.S. funding for the UN unless the UN Security Council repeals the resolution it passed condemning Israeli settlements.

" 'It's that important to me," Graham told CNN. "This is a road we haven't gone down before. If you can't show the American people that international organizations can be more responsible, there is going to be a break. And I am going to lead that break."

" 'I will do everything in my power, working with the new administration and Congress, to leave no doubt about where America stands when it comes to the peace process and where we stand with the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel," Graham added, noting that American funding accounts for 22% of the UN's budget." . . .

Leben in Jerusalem

Please explain to me Obama's high approval ratings.

"Obama is a small man with large dreams of destruction.  His malicious attack at the U.N. will rebound.  The permanent damage will be to Obama's own image.   The Wall St. Journal editorial called it "a defining act of Obama's Presidency.' " 

From American Thinker

Thomas Lifson: Obama’s ego and the future of the Dems  . . . "Obama cannot help himself.  He will keep picking at the racial scab, and that will not help the Democrats, nor will it help African-Americans.

"But it will gratify Obama’s ego as the First Black President.

"And that is what controls his future actions.  It will not end well for the Dems."

Obama's 'great' economy  "It is amazing how supporters of President Obama just rewrite history. In theWashington Post today, Catherine Rampell spouts the Obama party line that the economy is “great.' ”

Obama's hatred of Israel will rebound  . . . "Obama has chafed at the need to put on a mainstream front.  Now he is baring his leftist teeth.  The effect is more mean than frightening, and it will not have the outcome he wants. 

"Obama hates Israel, as he hates America.  He is the spiritual son of his Marxist father and of the openly anti-Semitic and anti-white Reverend Wright, as Obama told us from the first.  To the left, Israel and America are evil imperialists.  Obama has always wanted to cut Israel and America down to size. 

"Obama's last-ditch efforts to leave a legacy reveal his animus: flood our country with murderous jihadi "refugees" and make Israel a pariah nation in international courts.  It is a big "F you" from our perfidious president."

Watch: Obama one of worst foreign policy presidents ever  . . . "He said that the resolution "will make peace much more difficult to achieve, because the Palestinians will now say: 'We can get a state through the UN. We can get a state through the BDS movement...We can get a state through the International Criminal Court...We don't have to negotiate. We don't have to make painful compromises."

" 'He will go down in history, President Obama as one of the worst foreign policy presidents ever." he said of Obama's legacy."

Obama's Hatred for Israel  . . . "But what is to be expected from a president for whom everything is racist until he says otherwise?" . . .

WaPo’s Richard Cohen Rips Obama’s Failure of Leadership: ‘Waved a Droopy Flag’  (Emphases in the original) . . . “ 'Thanks to no-drama Obama, American leadership is gone,” which absolutely rips the bark off Barack Obama, all the more remarkable. Observing that Obama “has been all too happy to preside over the loss of American influence,” he describes the current president as having “waved a droopy flag. He did not want to make America great again. It was great enough for him already.” On Syria, Obama “threw in the towel. The banner he flew was one of American diminishment.”

"Concluded Cohen grimly: “Whether we liked it or not, we were the world’s policeman. There was no other cop on the beat. Now that leadership is gone. So, increasingly, will be peace.' ”

OBAMA’S VINDICTIVENESS AND ANTI-ISRAEL IDEOLOGY DROVE THE U.N. RESOLUTION  . . . "It’s clear, however, that the passage of the U.N. resolution won’t advance either objective. If anything, it may retard them. Obama could have no rational basis for thinking otherwise. Thus, we must conclude that he was, in fact, motivated by vindictiveness, raw ideological dislike of Israel, or both." . . .

The U.N. resolution isn’t even calculated to deter such building. It’s a blanket condemnation of all settlements. Israel is equally condemned whether it builds new housing for its citizens or not. No rational nation would stop building under that circumstance. Obama is too smart to believe otherwise.
If anything, now that it’s damned if it builds and damned if it doesn’t, Israel has all the more reason to build.

Obama flips Israel the bird

Obama’s UN Legacy: Whitewashing Iran’s Nuclear Cheating; Outlawing Jewish History  . . . "This is just a secularized version of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s September 2015 declaration that the PA “won’t allow Jew’s filthy feet” to defile the holy places in Jerusalem." . . .

Hillary Clinton wins something

Legal Insurrection

… on GQ list of “Least Influential People”

The Least Influential People Of 2016

"A comprehensive, anger-fueled list of everyone who ruined our year."

Lib angst on display.

. . . "Speaking of gifts, Democrats may want to ask Santa for a new slate of presidential candidates for 2020 (while there is still time). It will be challenging to actually nominate the current front-runner.

On the theory that it’s never too early to launch the next campaign, the new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll has identified an overwhelming front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

It’s someone entirely new.

Literally. Not an identifiable person. Just “someone entirely new.” When that description was included on a list of possible contenders, 66% of Democrats and independents said they would be “excited” to see such a person jump in the race; just 9% thought he or she shouldn’t run. That’s an overwhelming yes-please-run score of 57 percentage points for, you know, whomever.

"A whopping 62 percent of those polled don’t want Hillary Clinton to run again.

"Now, that is what I call an entirely believable and thoroughly reliable consensus!"

Israel: Obama orchestrated the UN resolution to condemn Israel

Article posted here in its entirety. Photos added; TD

J. Marsolo  "Israel has accused Obama of deliberately orchestrating the drafting and push for the U.N. resolution that condemned Israel for its settlement policy. 

David Keyes, spokesman for Netanyahu, said Arab sources, among others, informed Israel of Obama's involvement in the resolution:

 "We have rather ironclad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place…"

"The effect of the resolution is to label the settlement area "occupied territory," which means that the U.N. agrees with the Palestinian position that Israel is illegally occupying land because that belongs to the Palestinians.  This puts Israel at a severe disadvantage in negotiating with the Palestinians; it implies that the U.N. effectively recognizes the borders that existed before the 1967 war.  The resolution can also subject Israel to economic sanctions from members of the U.N.

"This is a deliberate betrayal of Israel, one of our strongest allies, and the only democracy in the Middle East.  This resolution does not advance, but weakens the national security of the United States and Israel.  It is consistent with Obama's deal with Iran that leaves Iran's nuclear program in place and gave Iran 150 billion dollars, rescinded sanctions, and gave Iran another billion in ransom money.  Iran thanked us by harassing our ships, seizing one of our ships and humiliating our sailors.

"When Obama promised to fundamentally transform our country, we did not know that also meant abandoning and betraying Israel, our ally, and rewarding Iran, the chief sponsor of radical Islamist terrorism since 1979.

"Obama has also deliberately betrayed one of the strongest and loyal groups supporting the Democratic Party:  American Jews.  Of course, he did this after the November election.  

"Congress should immediately declare via legislation that it rejects the resolution and supports Israel.  The initiative would pass overwhelmingly.  Obama needs to be publicly rebuked by Congress.

"Obama has created another problem for Trump because the Trump administration will have to work to rescind the U.N. resolution.  We should cut off funding for the U.N. if it does not rescind."

We must make clear to the world that Obama does not speak for the United States on this issue."

An Oklahoma Newspaper Endorsed Clinton. It Hasn’t Been Forgiven.

NewsOK  "One Sunday after church, Jeff Mullin and his wife were in line at the Western Sizzlin steakhouse here when a man, fists clenched, threatened to beat the hell out of him. 

"Mr. Mullin’s red newspaper in a red county in what is arguably the reddest of states went blue this campaign season and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. The editorial board, in a gray-shaded column on Page A4 on Oct. 9, wrote that Donald J. Trump lacked “the skills, experience or temperament to hold office.” The headline and subhead read: “For U.S. president: Hillary Clinton is our choice for commander in chief.”

"It was the first Democratic endorsement for president in the modern history of the newspaper, which was founded in 1893. As the man’s reaction at the steakhouse suggested, Enid was stunned, and this slow-paced agricultural town of 52,000 near the Kansas state line has not been the same since.

"The News & Eagle, with a circulation of 10,000, lost 162 subscribers who canceled the paper. Eleven advertisers pulled their ads, including a funeral home that had a sizable account. Someone stuck a “Crooked Hillary” bumper sticker on the glass doors of the paper’s downtown office. A man left a late-night message on the publisher’s voice mail, expressing his hope that readers would deliver, to put it delicately, a burning sack of steaming excrement to the paper.". . . 

How terrible. As much as I disliked Hillary, that verbal threat was terrible and I condemn it. I had hoped it was only the left that did such vicious acts. TD

More commentary on Obama and Israel

TOM COTTON ON OBAMA’S PARTING SHOT AT ISRAEL
"If the consequences include ending all financial assistance to the U.N., that would be a nice coda to the Obama presidency."

Report: Obama To Have Kerry Lay Out Plan For ‘Peace’, Get UN Approval To Impose On Israel…

Jonathan SchanzerVerified account‏@JSchanzerReport: Obama to have Kerry lay out parameters for permanent peace, then seek Security Council approval for his plan

Jonathan Schanzer ‏@JSchanzer  18h18 hours ago

Basically, after dousing the region in gasoline for 8 years, Obama is about to light a match & flick it over his shoulder as he walks away.

'Jaw-Droppingly Condescending & Arrogant': Rove Rips Obama

"On "Your World" today, Karl Rove ripped President Obama for his claim that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh created a "fictional" portrayal of him.

" 'You understand that if people are angry that somehow the government is failing, then they are going to look to the guy who represents government," Obama told The Atlantic. "And that applies, by the way, even to some of the folks who are now Trump supporters. They're responding to a fictional character named Barack Obama who they see on Fox News or who they hear about through Rush Limbaugh."

"Rove said that Obama's comments are revealing, not about Fox News or Limbaugh, but about the president's "jaw-droppingly condescending and arrogant" attitude toward the American people.

"Rove explained that Obama is essentially saying that supporters of President-elect Donald Trump weren't influenced by facts, but by their own racism and bigotry.

" 'At the heart of it is an assault, a condescending and arrogant assault upon the good sense of the American people," Rove said.

"He said this attitude has permeated the entire Democratic Party, which still refuses to acknowledge that they lost the election because they had a "lousy message" and a "lousy candidate.' "

IT’S OFFICIAL: OBAMA IS WAY WORSE THAN JIMMY CARTER  "I dimly recalled that Carter made a similar move in his last year in office, voting to abstain on a UN resolution that sounds identical to the one passed yesterday. Only that time Carter reversed course—sort of. To refresh your memory, here’s my account of it from volume 1 of The Age of Reagan:"

This time Vance persuaded Carter that the time had come for the U.S. to signal its displeasure with Israel by voting in favor of the resolution.  The resolution passed unanimously, and all hell broke loose.  An angry Robert Strauss, Carter’s campaign chairman, told Carter, “Either this vote is reversed or you can kiss New York goodbye.” Invoking a parliamentary technicality, the U.S. managed to get a revote on the resolution the next day, and changed its vote from “yes” to “abstain.”

UPDATED: In his farewell column, Thomas Sowell looks back at quarter century of writing syndicated commentary

WND  "Even the best things come to an end. After enjoying a quarter of a century of writing this column for Creators Syndicate, I have decided to stop. Age 86 is well past the usual retirement age, so the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long.

"It was very fulfilling to be able to share my thoughts on the events unfolding around us, and to receive feedback from readers across the country – even if it was impossible to answer them all.

"Being old-fashioned, I liked to know what the facts were before writing. That required not only a lot of research, it also required keeping up with what was being said in the media.

"During a stay in Yosemite National Park last May, taking photos with a couple of my buddies, there were four consecutive days without seeing a newspaper or a television news program – and it felt wonderful. With the political news being so awful this year, it felt especially wonderful.

"This made me decide to spend less time following politics and more time on my photography, adding more pictures to my my website.

"Looking back over the years, as old-timers are apt to do, I see huge changes, both for the better and for the worse." . . .

On Black Lives Matter and the Question No One Seems to be Asking (But Should Be)

Applying biblical truth to social, political, and theological issues in our world. . . . "Any conversation about the value of human life, whether it be with regard to social injustice, abortion, or child slavery, must start with God and with His objective construct of why human life matters.

""That the issue of the significance of human life is deemed by many to be worthy of protest in its various and sundry forms, is only because God, who is the Author of all life, has attributed significance to it.

“Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” – Psalm 100:3a (NASB)

 "It is the same today as it was thousands of years ago, when God declared holy the ground on which Moses stood as he encountered the glory of God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:5). 

"Only God could declare sacred and hallowed [קֹדֶשׁ] something as useless and expendable as the dirt that Moses’ worn out sandals had come in contact with in that one extraordinary moment. 

"Conclusion

"Human life matters because, in our humanity, we bear the image of the One who gives life to each of us (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

"That we, as human beings, are of a particular race, ethnicity, or nationality is of no significance given that even those aspects of our earthly existence are sovereignly ordained by God, so neither you nor I have anything to boast of in ourselves (Acts 17:26).

"Not our race. Not our ethnicity. Not our individual socio-cultural experiences.

"Nothing.

“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” – Galatians 6:14 (NASB)

Born and raised in the inner-city housing projects of southwest Atlanta, Georgia, Darrell B. Harrison currently resides in Covington, Georgia (about 45 miles east of Atlanta) and attends Rockdale Community Church, a Reformed Baptist congregation located in Conyers, Georgia (just outside of Covington).
Much more about Mr. Harrison here. and here.

How Trump’s Election Helped Sink Navy’s Push For Political Correctness

Weasel Zippers

"I always thought criticism of the use of the term ‘man’ has to be one of the stupidest things. ‘Man’ as in ‘fellow man’ has always included within it man and woman for centuries. Only in the ridiculous past decade have people attempted to claim it hasn’t. They are the ones really disenfranchising women from a history that they were in fact included in with such thought.

"Via NY Post:

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week dropped his drive to eliminate hundreds of “sexist” job titles — thanks to fury in the ranks. It’s a welcome defeat for the forces of political correctness.

Mabus’ target was a host of words that end in “-man.” He cloaked the move as simply an effort to modernize the pay-rate system, but no one ever bought it: Mabus is known for being obsessed with symbolic equality.

Indeed, at an October event at the National Press Club, he justified his policy by saying, “It’s time to quit segregating women.”

But countless former and current sailors weren’t having it. A White House petition opposing the move garnered more than 100,000 signatures — and the less formal outrage was far louder.

Keep reading…

Dear Michelle: There Most Certainly Is Hope

Eileen F. Toplansky  "In her usual crass, coarse, and graceless manner, Michelle Obama epitomized the very worst of the America she so disdains when she opined about "hopelessness" regarding the election.  She conveniently forgets about the debt her husband piled up, or the incredible unemployment numbers, or the decrease in Americans' buying power, or the diminution of America's standing in the world, or the worsening race relations – courtesy of her husband.

"The Obamas had the means to effect so much positive change.  But as dutiful leftists who hate the United States of America, they were intent upon sowing division and destruction.  They were never concerned about the people, despite all the hype about hope.

"It would shock Mrs. Obama to learn that many young people do not share her dismal view of victimization and do not engage in racism.  And despite the anti-Trump hysteria at many colleges, there are those instructors who really do insist upon critical thinking skills.  To that end, this semester, I distributed the following prompt: " . . .

"Michelle Obama, of the pouty smirk, will never understand the greatness of this country and its amazing strides.  My students, though products of a failed educational system, are still reachable.  With the sea change that has occurred in the White House, we will begin to regain the potential of this great land.  Let Michelle wallow in disgust for America.  Good riddance to her and her husband." 

Major ISIS Recruiter Arrested In Libya… Guess How He's Connected to Obama

Conservative Tribune  "A major Tunisian militant and Islamic State group recruiter who was arrested this week in Libya used to be confined at the Parwan Detention Facility in Afghanistan, but President Barack Hussein Obama decided to have him transferred to Italy.

"It was there that recruiter Abu Nassim was acquitted of all terror charges. He was later sentenced to six years in prison after an appeal, but by then, he had already fled and returned to the battlefield, according to The Foreign Desk, an international news website founded by Fox News commentator Lisa Daftari.

. . . 

"A year later, the militant took part in the Bardo National Museum attack in Tunis, Tunisia, where 22 innocent men, women and children were killed by gunmen. His role in that attack remains unclear, though the fact still remains that he would have had no role — and the attack may not have even occurred — had he not been released.

“ 'If the information on Fezzani proves to be true, it is very disturbing,” Dr. Sebastian Gorka told The Investigative Project on Terror has remarked. “Just like the head of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, this was a man we had in our detention facility and let go.”

"Yet despite reports like this popping up rather frequently, the president continues to release more detained terrorists every single month."