Splitting From Trump, Defense Pick Mattis Slams Russia, Supports Iran Deal

Foreign Policy

"Like other cabinet nominees, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis differs from his soon-to-be boss on some of the biggest issues that will face the Pentagon."

 

"Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next secretary of defense, staked out sharply divergent views from those of his potential boss on Thursday, strongly backing NATO, lambasting Russia, and accepting the Iran nuclear deal. "He also showed little appetite for rolling back a slate of Defense Department social reforms hated by the Republican Party. 

"Most pointedly, Mattis offered lawmakers in Congress a full-throated endorsement of the NATO alliance, countering months of campaign-trail rhetoric from Trump, who suggested the United States gains little from the alliance and carries too much of the burden. 

“ 'If we did not have NATO today, we would need to create it. It is vital to the United States,” Mattis told a Senate panel, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin — long an object of Trump’s praise and his hopeful dance partner on the global stage — is “trying to break the North Atlantic alliance.” . . .

Mattis does support living up to our word on the Iran deal, I would hardly call his so-called "support" for it an endorsement:

Although Trump has long said he would renegotiate or pull out of the Iran deal completely, Mattis said it’s important for the United States to live up to its agreement. “When America gives [its] word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies,” he told the panel, admitting that the current deal isn’t one he would have signed off on. 

Mattis is much less naive than Obama on this and was once fired by that president because the General was such a war hawk regarding Iran:

Obama Fires Top General Without Even a Phone Call

President Barack Obama fired General James Mattis, the head of Central Command, without even calling the general to let him know he was being replaced.

On replacing the ACA: Obamacare

I fear this is going too quickly; The Republicans must be sure to get this right. My doctor strongly dislikes Obamacare, but has settled into it now. Any further upheaval has to be a genuine improvement. TD







NRO: The GOP Must Be Practical When Replacing the ACA

The GOP must have a bipartisan plan for a market-based system ready before they repeal Obamacare.

. . . "To succeed in this effort, however, House and Senate Republicans, as well as the incoming Trump administration, must dispense with wishful thinking. There is no plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that is without political controversy. Whatever they do will involve trade-offs, and in some cases they will be attacked by their political opponents for doing what is necessary but perhaps unpopular.

"Further, there is no silver bullet for reforming health care that will solve all the existing problems. Health-care policy is complicated and does not lend itself to simple solutions. What’s needed most of all is the discipline of a well-functioning marketplace. Getting there will require many changes, in public insurance, employer plans, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and the individual insurance market. While Medicare changes can be addressed separately from other reforms, it will not be possible to replace the main provisions of the ACA in incremental, piecemeal bills, as has been suggested by some in Congress." . . .  Emphasis mine, TD 

James C. Capretta is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.  He is a long-time analyst of health care and economic issues for National Review.

Mr. Capretta fears the option of repeal without replacing  . . . "Regardless of Trump’s inclinations, however, it would be a terrible idea — for substantive and political reasons — for Republicans in Congress to pursue repeal without replace(sp) in 2017." . . .

GOP-Led Senate Takes First Step Toward Repealing Obamacare…

Via NBC News:

The U.S. Senate took the first major step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act after a marathon voting session that started Wednesday evening and extended into early Thursday.

The vote does not repeal President Obama’s signature achievement, but it does set the stage for Republicans to clear the first procedural hurdle for repeal of the massive health care law. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for a vote expected to take place on Friday.

“The Senate just took an important step toward repealing and replacing Obamacare by passing the resolution that provides the legislative tools necessary to actually repeal this failed law while we move ahead with smarter health care policies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

Keep reading…

California Senator Kamala Harris Has No Idea What A CIA Director Does…

Weasel Zippers  What on earth does the CIA have to do with "climate change"?

Good grief, look at the silliness that comes out of California. Now they have elected a new US Senator who supports Black Lives Matter and speaks nonsense to power.

If this were about twenty centuries ago, Ms. Harris would be demanding the CIA director accepted "the overwhelming evidence" that it was settled science that the earth was flat.

We have indeed become a silly people electing silly people who require us to hold their silly dogmas as "settled science".  The Tunnel Dweller

Dem plans to file criminal complaint against fellow lawmaker over painting

That is to say, this police-hating Democrat has called on the police to help him keep his constituent's cop-hate painting hanging on the wall of the Capitol Complex.

The Hill

"Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) on Monday said he plans to file a complaint with the Capitol Police against a Republican colleague for removing from the Capitol complex a constituent painting showing black protesters in confrontation with police officers depicted as animals. 

"The painting had been displayed since June in a tunnel connecting the Capitol and two House office buildings. But after the painting attracted attention from right-wing news outlets in recent weeks, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) personally took it down on Friday and returned it to Clay's office.

"Clay, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was incensed while speaking about the incident with reporters outside the House chamber on Monday night. He plans to hold an event to put the painting back on the wall on Tuesday morning with fellow Black Caucus members." . . .

"Any black parent will tell you that they have to have this conversation with their children about police and how to act around them. And so that’s the conversation we need to be having here. Not about taking some kid’s picture off the wall. It should be about, how do we change this attitude and improve the relationship between police and the black community?" Clay said.

There’s a new sketch called “The Real Housewives of ISIS” in a BBC comedy show:

Buzzfeed (Yeah, I know. But what are you gonna do?)

"The sketch, which satirises the well-known American series about wealthy housewives in New York and Beverly Hills, aired for the first time this week on the BBC Two comedy show Revolting. It depicts four British ISIS jihadi brides in Syria." . . .

Via The Freedom Fighter's Journal

ISIS parody video: Offensive or a blast of hilarity?  Meanwhile, Khuram Zaman, CEO of the digital agency Fifth Tribe in Washington, DC, sees the bigger picture and the message the edgy Real Housewives of ISIS sketch was trying to send. 

“ 'It’s a hilarious video, and very well done,” Zaman told Red Alert. “Most are corny, but this was well done. Other videos that tried to use a satire were in poor taste. The State Department produced the video ‘Think Again, Turn Away.’ It was horrible.”

"Through his company, Zaman hosted a hack-a-thon in which they created a tool to scrape pro-ISIS tweets on Twitter. Speaking to Red Alert, Zaman noted that while he understands how activists find Real Housewives of ISIS offensive, it’s a necessary video. “These guys [ISIS] are using propaganda, and this is a good countermeasure against ISIS. I don’t know if people are watching and changing their mind, but it forces the conversation to the Muslim community that young women are joining ISIS. There’s something we have to do about that.' ”

Killing CNN

"Yesterday, Trump made it crystal-clear to CNN that they have crossed the red line – you know, the one Obama dared the Russians to cross in Syria.  They crossed it, and Obama whimpered."  

American Thinker "Someday, Bill O'Reilly may add to his list of historical books, which includeKilling Kennedy and Killing the Rising Sun, the title Killing CNN. 
"It portends to be the chronicle of a vital turning point in American history, the death of the propaganda machine in our politics, and the resurgence of genuine journalism.

"I have for some time now eschewed referring to most American news institutions as "mainstream media" and instead termed them what they are: the Ministry of Propaganda (MoP).

"I know, I know – there comes a time when we are supposed to stop complaining about bias in the news.  It is akin to complaining about the weather, about which we can do nothing.  Donald Trump is proving otherwise.  If liberals can claim that they can stop global warming, then we may justly claim that Trump can stop the global pollution the MoP spews out so continually that many of us have gotten used to it." . . .

Remember the days when Mr. Obama had only one news source to lash out against? 

2008 Flashback: When Candidate Obama Booted 3 Papers From His Campaign Plane, Nobody Cared  . . . "Uh-huh. And you’ll never guess which publications somehow still made the seat cut: 

"Glamour, Jet and Ebony."

The Four Horsemen of the Media Apocalypse  . . . "But who had the last laugh?  Trump, of course.  Will the media never learn?  He does not play by their rules of incivility; he plays by his own rules of incivility: when attacked, fight back harder.  Thanks to CNN and BuzzFeed, Trump won the day, and the media have egg on their faces.  Someone or more than one someone tried to use classic Soviet-style disinformation to destroy Trump.  They will no doubt try again and again, but each attempt is costing them the last of any remaining credibility they may have." . . .

How Can We Miss a President Who Won’t Go Away?

WSJ  "Obama plans to stay in Washington. The capital city’s namesake took a different approach."

Video added by the Tunnel Dweller

. . . "Most former presidents return to where they came from and fade into the background, re-emerging in the capital mostly for ceremonial occasions. If they’ve served two full terms, the norm is to express relief, at least publicly, at the lifting of the office’s great burdens after eight long years.

"George Washington put it this way in his 1796 Farewell Address: “Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications . . . every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome.”

"Mr. Obama is different. If the Constitution allowed it, he most certainly would have sought a third term. In a year-end interview with his former aide David Axelrod, the president said he thought he would have beaten Donald Trump. At the top of his Tuesday farewell speech, the audience chanted “Four more years! Four more years!” His response: “I can’t do that”—not eight is enough. Almost an hour later, near the end of his soliloquy, Mr. Obama declared: “I won’t stop. In fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days.' ”. . .

The one act that defined President Barack Obama . . . "I will simply recount the one lasting legacy of Barack Obama that will always be emblazoned in my memory.  When I think of him, I will think of this.  When I reflect on his promised era of hope and change, I will be drawn to this image." . . .
Charles Krauthammer once remarked, "They're not even the big sisters of the poor."

But in my mind, it will be Obama's barricading open air memorials during the "shutdown" and -of course - his actions against Israel. Both vengeful, vindictive acts of a spoiled, juvenile-ish petulant man. TD

Trump’s CNN tirade may affect Time Warner-AT&T merger

NY Post  "Is this any way to start off a relationship?

"Nine days before CNN parent Time Warner will have to negotiate with Donald Trump’s antitrust cops, the cable news network got a dressing down by the President-elect.

“ 'Your organization is terrible,” Trump told CNN reporter Jim Acosta when he tried to ask a question during Wednesday’s news conference.

“ 'Quiet, quiet,” Trump admonished when it was clear the journalist would not be chosen for a question.

"As Acosta persisted, Trump said, “Don’t be rude.” When that didn’t work, Trump barked: “You are fake news.' ” . . .

Ingraham: Meryl Streep rant reflected intolerant Hollywood

Fox News  "Radio host and Fox News contributor sounds off on the Hollywood liberal pile-on in attacking President-elect Trump during the Golden Globe awards."

"The Golden Globe Awards had Meryl Streep giving a public lecture to Donald Trump about his plan to halt illegal immigration with a wall. She neglected to mention that to rent an apartment in Hollywood costs two thousand dollars per month. No illegal immigrant can climb over that and get in." Comedian Argus Hamilton

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