A Look at the Stakes If US Moves Israel Embassy to Jerusalem

"The U.N. Security Council last month affirmed east Jerusalem’s status as occupied territory, part of a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement activity as illegal. Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that an embassy move could trigger “an absolute explosion in the region.' ” 

Yeshiva World News

. . . DO THE PALESTINIANS HAVE A PLAN?
"For now, they hope to generate international pressure on Trump. Abbas asked Trump in a letter to reconsider and urged world leaders to intervene. On Saturday, Abbas is meeting Pope Francis in hopes of a supportive statement. The Vatican has said it seeks an internationally guaranteed status for Jerusalem that safeguards its sacred character. An Abbas aide heads to Moscow for talks Friday with Russia’s foreign minister. The Palestinian foreign minister is to raise the issue at a Jan. 19 conference of OIC, the alliance of Islamic countries. This weekend, the Palestinians have called for regional mosque and church prayers in a show of protest.

"AND IF THE EMBASSY IS MOVED?
"Palestinian officials say they would seriously consider voiding a 1993 mutual recognition agreement that created the basis for negotiations with Israel. The deal included a pledge to resolve all issues, including Jerusalem, through negotiations. It paved the way for the establishment of the Palestinian autonomy government in parts of the West Bank, and ending it would put the financial burden of providing services of some 2.3 million Palestinians on Israel."

Lie That New Administration’s Tied to Russia Blew Up Today

Independent Sentinel  "President-elect Donald Trump hardly sounded like a Putin lapdog when he spoke of Russia Wednesday during his first presser since winning election.
"As Trump Said, Anyone Really Believe Hillary Would Be Tougher?

"Listen to a few of his comments in this next clip.

. . . "Rex Tillerson equated himself very well during his first confirmation hearing. The media will be hard-put to say he is tight with Russia after this testimony. Being too tough will be the next accusation." . . .

Big Media Whinges After “Fake News” Narrative Backfires  "The leftist media, having invented the term ‘fake news’ are now whinging and whining about the fact that their false narrative has been rapidly turned around and used against them by their independent media enemies." . . .

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:"