The never-ending goodbye

Has he brought those Greek columns back yet?

No, You Didn’t

Historians will have a great deal to say about Obama’s presidency, and we expect their judgment to be severe.

"The president is leaving the same way he came in: with a great deal of vague and fruity talk about “hope and change,” very little of genuine interest, and an undercurrent of bitterness communicating his unshakeable belief that the American people just simply are not up to the task of fully appreciating History’s unique gift to them in the person of Barack Obama." . . .

Obama's Farewell: 'Post-Racial America' Was 'Never Realistic'

. . . "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) swiftly issued a statement declaring Obama "belongs among the greatest presidents in American history."

“ 'President Obama and Vice President Biden have earned their place in the pantheon of American democracy," Pelosi said. "Every American can be proud of the leadership and dignity the Obamas and the Bidens brought to the White House.' " . . .

Goodbye, Obama. "The outgoing president leaves a loaded gun in the Oval Office."  . . . "As Obama's tenure comes to a close, it's clear his has been a presidency of enormous consequence. But his most lasting legacy will be one few—perhaps least of all Obama himself—expected. He will leave to his successor a presidency even more powerful and dangerous than the one he inherited from Bush." . . . 

Obama Refers To Himself 75 Times In Farewell Address
"Obama heavily promoted the speech, penning a blog post about it and appearing in a promotional video in the days leading up to the address. (RELATED: Obama Mentions Himself 45 Times During Memorial Speech For Dallas Officers) 
"Obama said “I” 33 times during the speech, “my” 20 times, “me” 10 times, and “I’m” or “I’ve” 12 times.
"The president made a habit of focusing large chunks of his speeches on himself during his eight years in office." . . . Read more.

Obama's 'farewell' speech proves he is out of touch with reality
. . . "Exit question:

"1) It is customary to name something important after a departing two-term president.  What do you think would best bear the Obama name, a prison, a nuclear waste repository, a mosque, a disease, a violent crime, or something else?"

Obama's decency? I do not see decency; I see vindictiveness as when he spent millions blocking off open-air memorials such as the Mall in Washington DC and even roadside viewing spots for sights for Mt. Rushmore, and in his orders to the National Park Service to "make it hurt".

I see cowardice in foreign relations, especially when words of his support for the Iranian Green Revolution could have helped a peaceful takeover from the murderous ayatollahs, who rejoiced when Obama stabbed our ally Israel in the back. How sad that Obama's contempt for Western history kept him from seeing the similarity between His treatment for Israel is so like the Democracy's treatment of 1938 Czechoslovakia.

How can you not see all that? The Tunnel Dweller

Army Leaker Chelsea Manning on Obama's 'Short List' for Commutation

NBC News

. . . "Prosecutors branded Manning a "traitor" seeking notoriety in the world of hackers and anarchists. Manning's lawyers painted their client as a naive whistle-blower who caused little more than mortification.

"Manning pleaded guilty and before the sentencing delivered an apology to the court — and the nation. A recording of that statement is being broadcast for the first time by NBC News.

" 'I'm sorry," Manning said. "I'm sorry that my actions hurt people. I'm sorry that they hurt the United States."

" 'I understand that I must pay the price for my decisions and actions," Manning added." . . .

How to Kill Everyone on Welfare (In the Name of Liberalism)

Mike Adams

"My pro­choice friends kill me sometimes with their kindness and compassion. In return, I try to kill them with sarcasm. However, a recent comment made to me by a self­proclaimed liberal was so calloused it deserves a serious response. I will paraphrase the remark, which is one most pro­lifers have heard at some point in their lives: 

“I would rather have hundreds of my tax dollars used to abort an unwanted child now than have hundreds of thousands used for public assistance later.” 

In case you did not grasp the obvious, that comment is not an example of liberalism. It is an example of eugenics, plain and simple. Furthermore, it is unbecoming of an educated person to even consider such a justification for the taking of innocent life. If you are not completely appalled by that remark then you probably did not grasp its ramifications. Hence, it may be time to dissect it with a little thought experiment. So try to imagine the following: " . . .

8 Things Your Waiter Would Like You To Stop Doing Immediately

Oh, and son Jeff added this as #9:

"#9 Don't tell your waitress you want whatever that is you smelled walking up to the restaurant, therby making them feel they need to go out into the 20-degree night air to identify the menu item filling the cold air with its aroma." 

Fashion Beans  "You like to assist your server out when you're dining away from home, but are you really helping? Real waiters and waitresses are giving you their answers."

"Dear everyone please stop doing this at restaurants"

Israel, Arabs and the Ugly American Obama

"Finally, sometime between January 17 and 19, Obama intends for the Security Council to reconvene . . . That follow-on resolution may also recognize “Palestine” and grant it full membership in the UN."

Benjamin Netanyahu: “We Have Unequivocal Evidence Obama Admin Led Effort To Pass Anti-Israel Resolution”
"Others have said it, but now it’s the PM himself accusing Obama."

“Is the two-state solution dead?”  . . . "The two-state solution, a perverse euphemism for carving an Islamic terror state out of the land of Israel and the living flesh of her people, is in trouble. The solution, which has solved nothing except the shortage of graves in Israel and Muslim terrorists in the Middle East, is the object of grave concern by the professionally concerned from Foggy Bottom to Fifth Avenue.

"Obama set up his betrayal of Israel at the UN to “save” the two-state solution from Trump. The media warns that David Friedman, Trump’s pick for ambassador, is so pro-Israel that he’ll kill the “solution.” 

"But you can’t kill something that was never alive. " . . .

Sandcrawler PSA: No Jews = Ethnic Cleansing   "You never hear anyone bemoaning the expulsion of Jews from Arab nations nor the Palestinians' objective to do the same as the Arabs." . . .

Huffington Post: as with Obama, no friend of Israel

Caroline Glick: Obama and Israel, strike and counterstrike  "UN Security Council Resolution 2334 was the first prong of outgoing US President Barack Obama’s lame duck campaign against Israel. 

 "Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech on Wednesday was the second. 

. . . "At France’s lame duck President Francois Hollande’s international conference, the foreign ministers of some fifty states are expected to adopt as their own the anti-Israel principles Kerry set forth in his speech. 

"The next day it will be Obama’s turn. Obama can be expected to use the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to present the Palestinian war to annihilate Israel as a natural progression from the American civil rights movement that King led fifty years ago. 

"Finally, sometime between January 17 and 19, Obama intends for the Security Council to reconvene and follow the gang at the Paris conference by adopting Kerry’s positions as a new Security Council resolution. That follow-on resolution may also recognize “Palestine” and grant it full membership in the UN." . . .

If Americans are fine with Obama's foreign policy, they have been poorly taught by academia and the media.

Kerry Berates Israel While Ignoring Primary Peace Barrier

michaelpramirez.com

"John Kerry stepped up to the podium on Wednesday [in December] to deliver what was said to be the “vision” of the Obama administration for a Israeli/Palestinian peace. Instead he presented a one-sided seventy-five minute, fact-starved, rant, that was little more than a bitter, sad ending to the most anti-Israel administration in the history of the modern State of Israel. The actual purpose of the Kerry speech was to give one last public thrashing to Israel subordinating the biggest roadblock to peace, the Palestinians refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish State." . . .

Don’t flatter yourself, Meryl Streep. You people are the biggest bullies of all.

 

If Hollywood were really all that Meryl Streep cracks it up to be, it would produce shows and films that explore the lives of people who are actually different from themselves. But every time it does, the conclusion it draws is always the same: “These people are freaks and we should laugh at them.' ”  (Here's an example for you)

Matt Walsh

. . . "Now, two brief notes on all of this:

"1. Whatever you think about the content of the speech, it certainly was not courageous.

"You’ll notice that it’s never enough for liberals to simply agree with what someone says or does. It always has to be “brave.” Streep’s speech has been described in those terms by countless liberals on social media, along with many similarly glowing adjectives. It’s absurd, obviously. Whether you agree or disagree with what she said, she still said it in front of the friendliest possible audience. She told a group of people who worship her exactly what they want to hear and already believe. She risked absolutely nothing. She was threatened only with exposure to loud clapping and friendly handshakes at the after party (which is somewhat brave, perhaps, given that it’s flu season)." . . .

"2. Hollywood is a disgusting cesspool of nihilism, narcissism, and hatred.

. . . "With a few exceptions, Hollywood consistently churns out cynical, degrading filth. It openly mocks people of faith and looks with unabashed hatred upon those of us with so-called “traditional values.” It makes no attempt to disguise its contempt for the way many of us live and the beliefs that many of us hold." . . .  Hat tip to Jeff Hayden; Plano, TX

Meryl Streep’s Speech Is Why the Left Wins

The Democrats are the weakest they’ve been in generations. But in that same period, whose cultural values have most advanced?

. . . "Streep firmly and fully believes that she and her colleagues are on the side of the angels, standing bravely against the “bullies” who would degrade our culture and denigrate our citizens. Yet it is the cultural Left that has raised bullying to an art form, commandeering immensely powerful institutions to exact vengeance on those who dissent from leftist orthodoxy.

The Left Means to Break This President  "Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign against Donald Trump largely amounted to a reprise of the left's attacks on Judges Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas in the 1980s. "Borking" -- nice slang for Hillary’s "politics of personal destruction" (which she decried when it was employed against her husband in 1998) -- succeeded against Judge Bork. It did not work against Justice Clarence Thomas. And it demonstrably didn't work against president-elect Trump.

"So what is the left going to try next, now that Borking Mr. Trump has failed?

" 'Massive resistance." that's what." . . .

Oops! How Meryl Streep was unintentionally correct ". . .  Streep and so many others in her position are outrageously disconnected from the real world.  They isolate themselves in esoteric culture and class, completely ignoring the common citizen, who is more likely to be a fan of sports than “the arts.”  This year those citizens reacted by ignoring Hollywood’s pompous warnings and electing Trump. 

"If Meryl Streep is worried about being disrespected, she should heed the converse of her own statement: respect invites respect."

Meryl Streep's words incite C-SPAN caller to threaten President-Elect Trump  . . . "And do not forget the nearly 63 million Americans who voted for Trump; Streep is ratcheting up the hatred for them, too."

Barbra Streisand blasts Donald Trump: 'I completely agree with Meryl'

White House: Streep's Speech a 'Fairly Straightforward Exercise of Her First Amendment Rights'


WHY AMERICA HATES HOLLYWOOD, OR SHOULD

. . . "But David French points out that during the same event in which Streep condemned Trump, she applauded a man who did something far worse. She, and most of the other assembled Hollywood worthies, applauded Roman Polanski who received a Golden Globe award.

"As French reminds us:

Roman Polanski pled guilty to statutory rape and admitted in open court to having sex with his victim when he knew she was only 13 years old. Polanski was 43. In so doing, he avoided trial on a number of more serious charges.

"Polanski didn’t just have sex with the 13 year old. There is strong reason to believe that he raped her, and not just in the statutory sense." . . .

"Here is the video of the reaction to Polanski’s award. Streep can be seen standing and clapping at about the 1:10 mark."

Media lies about the 4 evil black torturers

Agitprop: 1. (often capital) (formerly) a bureau of the Central Committee of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union, in charge of agitation and propaganda on behalf of Communism2.

1. any promotion, as in the arts, of political propaganda, esp of a Communist nature

Mychal Massie  "As unbelievable and unconscionable as it may seem to common-sense reasoning, the Associated Press reported: “Chicago police say they don’t believe a man beaten in an assault broadcast live on Facebook was targeted because he was white. … Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that charges are expected soon against four black suspects. Gugliemlmi says the suspects made ‘terrible racist statements’ during the attack, but that investigators believe the victim was targeted because he has special needs, not because of his race.” (“Chicago Police Describe Chronology of Alleged Hate Crime,” Associated Press Chicago, Jan. 5, 2017)

["Black Hole"] "Don Lemon, CNN’s star news anchor who was recently seen slobbering drunk in tequila-fueled alternate reality while having his ear pierced during the network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast, awoke from his drunken stupor in time to render an equally absurd opinion. Lemon asserted: “I don’t think [the beating was] evil. I think these are young people and I think they have bad home training.”

From The “Is The News Media Trying To Destroy Any Credibility It Has Left, Or Is It Just Too Biased And Stupid To Help Itself?” Files: The New York Times’ “Fact Check”

Ethics Alarms

. . . "Notice how the Times uses “claimed” to imply that Trump was making stuff up.  But he wasn’t making stuff up. The Times was making stuff up by “claiming” in this fact-check that Trump was misstated the facts, when he did not.  He wouldn’t have even been wrong, as Eugene Volokh points out, if he had been comparing 2016 to 2014, the year he was comparing 2015 to in July. The homicide rate in D.C. rose by  28 percent from 2014 to 2016.

‘Trump falsely stated that crime rose in Washington D.C.’ is a lie. It is fake news.

"Writes the law professor, using far more restraint than I would (or will):

. . . 

"But setting out to be an unprincipled partisan adversary that will mislead the public to protect Democratic narratives and malign the President is not the news media’s job in a functioning democracy, though our journalists  see it that way."

Undoing Obama's Latest Legacy as UN Abstainer-in-Chief

THE ROSETT REPORT

"To President Obama's legacy of foreign policy debacles, we can now add his landmark betrayal of Israel, carried out Dec. 23rd at the United Nations. By declining to wield the U.S. veto at the Security Council, by choosing instead to abstain -- by Vanishing-from-Behind -- Obama allowed the passage, by a vote of 14 in favor, 1 abstaining, of Resolution 2334. In the guise of condemning Israeli settlements, this resolution is configured to delegitimize and imperil Israel itself, America's longtime ally and the only democracy in the Middle East.

"With that signal abstention, Obama abandoned decades of U.S. practice of defending Israel against the bigots and thug governments that routinely sit on the Security Council, including permanent members Russia and China, and their rotating sidekicks, such as Venezuela. As a Wall Street Journal editorial accurately put it, referring to the U.S. abstention: "What it reveals clearly is the Obama administration's animus against the state of Israel itself. No longer needing Jewish votes, Mr. Obama was free, finally, to punish the Jewish state in a way no previous president has done.' " .  . .

Reich and Moore promoting the 100 days of obstruction:

Althouse

"Hey, Reich is a pretty good cartoonist. He's especially good at making all his characters look p------d off. Did he really draw what it looks like he's drawing? I'm not trying to generate skepticism about possibly feigned, marginal drawing talent. I'm really just commenting on how dispiritingly ugly those people he wants us to be are. Maybe he does do his own drawings. This makes it look as though he does. Good for him. 

"Here's Michael Moore promoting the 100 days of obstruction:"

People of the Hollywood Bubble vs. the Deplorables

Thomas Lifson: Trump Derangement Syndrome derails the Golden Globes

Self-pity is not an audience-builder, Ms. Streep.  Coming in the midst of an event full of people wearing clothing costing thousands of dollars, drinking fancy wine, and eating fancy food, it is downright repulsive.Ms. Streep is intelligent enough to know that Donald Trump does not vilify foreigners.  Quite the contrary – he has married two of them.  He does not want people to come here illegally, but the left dishonestly conflates illegals with the honorable people who follow our laws and come here with the blessing of the law. 

. . . "Empathy does not extend to the Carrier workers who were laid off, only to be kept in their jobs thanks to Donald Trump.  Empathy does not extend to the family of Kate Steinle, murdered by a sanctuary city policy." . . . 

Meryl Streep’s Speech Was An Unfunny Joke But Her Fawning Over The Press Is Hilarious  . . . "Streep called on the press to be hard on Trump and people are cheering but have they all been asleep the last eight years?

"Think about the IRS scandal for a moment. The media did all they could to forget that story. Imagine if the IRS under President Trump was targeting liberal groups and making it almost impossible to get their tax-exempt status? If people found out veterans died waiting for care in a Trump administration, the press would go out of their freaking minds. For Barack Obama, it was barely a blip on the radar. Nobody was fired. Nobody was held to account. Nothing.

"The media yawned." . . .

But the White House loved it.

It didn't take long for President-Elect Trump to hit back With this amen from Terresa Monroe-Hamilton:  . . . "Americans are exceedingly fed up with Hollywood and these actors. You don’t speak for us and we do not admire, look up to or follow you. Trump will be inaugurated in a few days and they will really start screaming then. Good. You people don’t live in the real world and you don’t put food on our tables. You are nothing more than entertainment. " . . .

De Niro on Trump last October

Robert De Niro appears to soften tone on Trump  "The “Raging Bull” actor’s comments appear to be a complete turnaround from the disparaging remarks he made about the real estate mogul in October.

"Of Trump, De Niro said "he's a punk, he's a dog, he's a pig, he's a con, a bulls--- artist, a mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about.' "

Did you watch the Golden Globes last night and hear what the entertainment industry people had to say about Trump?
" . . .last Saturday, the most elite and celebrated people celebrated the last of The Presidency called Obama with waffles in the White House.
"And then they jetted back to L.A. to dress in even prettier clothes to celebrate themselves with awards — golden globular awards — and to take shots from their La La Land* at the new celebrity President, the one whose opponent they all backed, and somehow they think we could care what nastiness they lobbed at Trump."

Cable News Viewers Still Turn To Fox First

Rasmussen Reports  "Most voters turn to cable news for political coverage, and Fox News remains the top channel for these viewers. But voters still remain dubious of much of the political news they are getting.
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, in a typical week, 75% of Likely U.S. Voters say they watch cable news networks for their political news at least occasionally. That includes 21% who say they do so several times a week and 25% who watch every day. Twenty four percent (24%) say they rarely or never watch cable news networks for politics. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

"These findings are similar to those measured last July.

"Among those who tune in to cable news networks at least occasionally, 42% say Fox News is the channel they generally watch, compared to 35% who turn to CNN and 19% who prefer MSNBC. These findings, too, are little changed from last year.

"Among cable news network viewers who watch Fox News most often, 50% say they trust the political news they are getting. That compares to 43% of MSNBC viewers and just 33% who tune in mostly to CNN. " . . .
Via Laura Ingraham