Ann Coulter: Swamp People: 47; Trump: 0

"How would Trump, the businessman, react if an underling charged with developing a new golf course could never break ground? . . .'And I have caved, and caved, and caved -- so now our opponents know what good guys we are.' Trump would fire that employee so fast your head would spin. We want the ruthless businessman we were promised."

Ann Coulter  "If this is the budget deal we get when Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency, there's no point in ever voting for a Republican again. 
"Not only is there no funding for a wall, but -- thanks to the deft negotiating skills of House Speaker Paul Ryan -- the bill actually prohibits money from being spent on a wall. 
"At a CYA press conference on Tuesday, Trump's ridiculously chipper budget director, Mick Mulvaney, described the bill's prohibition on building a wall as a MAJOR win. (At least Mulvaney said it in English, unlike his all-Spanish 2014 townhall.) 
"True, there will be no wall. But the Democrats graciously agreed to allow the administration to fix broken parts of any existing fences on up to 40 miles of our 3,000 mile border. 
"The other big wins, according to Mulvaney, are: 

1) more defense spending, which is fantastic news, because I was worried Boeing and Lockheed Martin CEOs were falling behind Mark Zuckerberg with their gluttonous salaries; and 
2) school choice, an obsession of Washington wonks that is hated out in America, where parents move to high-tax towns for the express purpose of avoiding schools full of disaffected urban youth, and the disaffected urban youth don't want to spend two hours on a bus every day. 

"But Mulvaney assures us that this monstrosity of a spending bill has set things up beautifully for the next budget negotiation in October. 
"That has become the GOP's official motto: "Next time!' "  . . .

Los Angeles Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Vandalized

Vietnam Vets of America

" The monument, painted on the wall 24 years ago, was tagged with a giant swath of silver graffiti, covering many of the 2,273 names of missing veterans from the war. Sunday morning, dozens of volunteers were working to clean it up. 

“Vandalizing a monument to brave men and women who served our country in a time of war is a disgusting act,” City Councilman Mike Bonin said. He is asking the mural be restored as soon as possible.

"Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the act and other local officials are expressing their shock.

 “ 'Such ignorance and animosity,” said Venice Chamber of Commerce Vice President George Francisco, whose father was a Green Beret in Vietnam."

Iran Using U.S. Cash to Fund Unprecedented, Massive Military Buildup

"The Obama administration avoided any serious action for years, and so Iran kept growing its arsenal and using it against our allies, against Syrian civilians, and increasingly against our military," said the source. "Now they're rushing to accomplish as much as they can before Congress and the Trump administration get around to reversing Obama's policies."

Washington Free Beacon

"Iran is using the billions in cash resources provided under the landmark nuclear deal to engage in an unprecedented military buildup meant to transform the Islamic Republic's fighting force into an "offensive" juggernaut, according to a largely unreported announcement by Iranian military leaders that has sparked concern among U.S. national security insiders and sources on Capitol Hill.

"Iranian officials announced late last month that Iran's defense budget had increased by 145 percent under President Hassan Rouhani and that the military is moving forward with a massive restructuring effort aimed at making it "a forward moving force," according to regional reports.

"Iranian leaders have stated since the Iran deal was enacted that they are using the massive amounts of cash released under the agreement to fund the purchase of new military equipment and other armaments. Iran also has pursued multi-million dollar arms deals with Russia since economic sanctions were nixed as part of the deal.

"Leading members of Congress and U.S. officials working on the Iran portfolio suspect that at least a portion of the Obama administration's $1.7 billion cash payment to Iran  has been used to fund and support terrorists in the Middle East.

"The latest disclosure about Iran's military buildup is further fueling concerns that U.S. cash assets returned to the country—which were released with no strings attached by the Obama administration—are helping Iran pursue a more aggressive military stance against U.S. forces in the region.". . . .

On Hillary's interview with Christiane Amanpour (UPDATED)

Scarborough: Hillary’s Excuses “Pathetic,” Mika: “Arrogance”

. . . "That arrogance, that sort of we are in charge, we are going to be in charge again. We have so much power. We bring in the money. We bring in the people. That arrogance made it impossible for them literally to see what was in front of them, and that is that Bill Clinton was made a liability by Donald Trump’s presence. It as obvious to me when Donald Trump came on the scene, that Bill Clinton all of a sudden, the whole moral conversation can’t be had, or, you don’t want it to be had. And they could never see that. They always saw themselves as somehow off, off-limits for people to talk about."

Hillary Clinton still blames everyone but herself   " . . .Hillary Clinton has just shown again why she lost the election.  It's just amazing that she lacks any hint of introspection after her stunning loss to Republican Donald Trump seven months ago.  Speaking to CNN, she kept up the same drumbeat of blame she's always pushed dating her miserable, screaming, chair-throwing election night."

UPDATE:

Hillary: I Am Now ‘Part Of The Resistance’

"Hillary will be teaching her fellow “resistance” fighters how to dodge sniper fire."

“I’m back to being an activist citizen — and part of the resistance”

Noah Rothman‏:Verified account Democrats should be mortified by this behavior from Clinton. Truly striking commitment to projection.

Colbert, Trump, and the Roots of Liberal/Progressive Rage

In what sane universe does calling yourself "The Resistance" to Donald Trump make sense when the original "Résistance" was to counter Hitler and the Nazis taking over France, and prevent them from sending people to concentration camps and doing away with the underground in firing squads?  Is that what Trump is doing?

PJ Media

. . . "Oh, yes, Donald Trump got elected -- seemingly a calamity equal to, if not greater than, the Vietnam War.

"Since his inauguration, and to a great extent before, the whole country has gone more or less berserk. Just the other night, comedian Stephen Colbert, in what I presume we were supposed to take as an edgy witticism, accused our president of fellating Russia's Vladimir Putin. Although I recall many bad things being said about LBJ back in the day (Barbara Garson wrote a play comparing him to Macbeth, and who can forget "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"), nothing approached Colbert's angry joke in terms of pure unmitigated hostile vulgarity, not on late-night TV anyway.

But his was just the culmination (for now) of a modern Days of Rage which has metastasized into Months of Rage with no end in sight.

. . . "I am only going to ask the simple question: Why Trump?

"If you were a visitor from a distant solar system come to our nation or even a time traveler from our own nineteenth century, I submit you would be perplexed. This Trump person (being?) doesn't seem to be all that different from many leaders who have come before him. I mean, what has he done exactly? Enforced some immigration laws that were enacted by the Congress over several administrations? Tried to fix a mediocre healthcare plan with another plan that may or may not be as mediocre? Called for a tax reduction similar to those enacted by previous Republican and Democratic administrations? Cut back on some regulations that became overly burdensome? Called for a temporary halt to immigration from a half-dozen countries his predecessor had already cited as dangerous hotbeds of terrorism? Shot off a few dozen cruise missiles at the airfield of a dictator who was gassing his own people, but didn't harm a single person in the process?

"I could go on, but you get the point. Compared to the grand panoply of political theory and governmental actions in world history this is pretty puny stuff. In fact, it's even less than that. It's a piffle. And almost all of this, if it had been called for by his opponent, would have been perfectly acceptable anyway." . . .

Hillary Clinton joins ‘resistance,’ snuffing last semblance of dignity

“I’m now back to being an activist citizen and part of the resistance,” she said, during a particularly rocking-and-rolling ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ moment on CNN, with Christiane Amanpour.
Is this what a former secretary of state — former first lady of the United States — has to look forward to? Becoming a member of the “resistance?”  

 Rachael Maddow claims Trump wants "to kill us"

A Thinking Mom's Message for Jimmy Kimmel

Michelle Malkin

"I feel your pain. But please use your brain. 

"On Monday, late­night TV comedian Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional monologue about his newborn son. His baby was born with a congenital heart defect that required emergency open­heart surgery.

" Millions of American parents, myself included, have walked in Kimmel's shoes. We've experienced the terrifying roller coaster of emotions ­­ panic, helplessness, anger, anxiety, relief, grief and unconditional love ­­ that comes with raising chronically ill kids. 

"But Kimmel didn't use his high­profile platform to educate the public about coping with rare diseases. Or to champion the nation's best and brightest pediatric specialists and medical innovators. The Tinseltown celebrity turned his personal plight into a political weapon, which his liberal friends were all too happy to wield. Top Democrats tweeted their praise for Kimmel's advocacy of expanded government health care regulations: 

"Well said, Jimmy," Barack Obama gushed.
"Thanks @jimmykimmel for sharing your story & reminding us what's at stake w/health care," Hillary Clinton effused. 

"The Huffington Post piled on: "Jimmy Kimmel's Humanity Underscores Heartlessness Of GOP's Approach To The Poor."

"I don't need lectures from Huffington Post and Hollywood elites about having a heart. Neither do the rest of America's parents, whatever their political affiliations, who know what it's like to stay up night after endless night with suffering children, wondering whether they would ever be able to breathe normally again or see the light of the next day. 

"Kimmel doesn't need more maudlin Twitter suck­uppery. He needs a healthy fact­check." . . . 

Bret Baier of Fox News Special Report said he felt this same pain.More

.@jimmykimmel -We went thru the exact same thing w/ our son Paul-who's now the tallest kid in his class. Have faith

Good grief! Charles Hurt hits back at Kimmel in this.  . . . "I mean, really, Jimmy, does your newborn child not mean more to you than petty politics? How do you look at the miracle of your child and think — partisan politics!

"That is not to say he didn’t also lie and claim to be above partisan politics — even as he was pushing exactly that.

“ 'Let’s stop this nonsense,” he said. “This isn’t football; there are no teams. We are the team — it’s the United States. Don’t let their partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants.”

"Yes, that’s right. He just had a kid and the kid nearly died and he wants you to know that if you are not for bloated federal bureaucracy, socialized medicine, higher taxes and tons of more debt piled onto your grandchildren, then you are not a “decent person.' ” . . .

Victor Davis Hanson: "You Gotta Lie" "Oh, What a tangled progressive web we weave"

No one wishes to discuss candidly that universities are no longer free bastions of inquiry but are descending into would-be boot camps to train progressive shock troops.

National Review  "The entire menu of race, class, and gender identity politics, lead-from-behind foreign policy, political correctness, and radical environmentalism so far have not won over most Americans. 

"Proof of that fact are the serial reliance of their supporters on deception, and the erosion of language on campus and in politics and the media. The progressive movement requires both deceit and euphemism to mask its apparently unpopular agenda. 

"What the Benghazi scandal, the Bowe Bergdahl swap, and the Iran Deal all had in common was their reliance on ruse. If the White House and its allies had told the whole truth about all these incidents, Americans probably would have widely rejected the ideological premises that framed them." . . .  Read more.

Trump's Red Line

Victoria Taft

Cartoon: First 100 days

NetRightDaily

America’s ‘Smug-Liberal Problem’; It’s hard to win converts with mockery.

Yes, there is a smug-liberal problem in America, one that smart liberals recognize. Stephens is right. You don’t win converts with mockery. You can sometimes win grudging compliance, but you mainly make enemies — especially when your mockery reveals your own ignorance and inconsistency. But as we know, the smug liberal doesn’t care. They want to make enemies. After all, how do they measure their own virtue? When the Right rages, they rejoice. The unbelievers deserve their pain.

National Review  "The only people who can’t recognize that our nation has a “smug liberal” problem are smug liberals. Case in point, smug liberal (and television comedienne) Samantha Bee. On Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Bee to react to a pre-election Ross Douthat column that called out Bee and other late-night comics in part for creating a comedy world of “hectoring monologues,” full of comedians who are “less comics than propagandists — liberal ‘explanatory journalists’ with laugh lines.”

"We’re all familiar with the style. It features the generous use of selective clips from Fox News, copious amounts of mockery, and a quick Wikipedia- and Google-search level of factual understanding. The basic theme is always the same: Look at how corrupt, evil, and stupid our opponents are, look how obviously correct we are, and laugh at my marvelous and clever explanatory talent. It’s like sitting through an especially ignorant and heavy-handed Ivy League lecture, complete with the sycophantic crowd lapping up every word.

"Bee, the host of TBS’s Full Frontal, of course, couldn’t see the problem and not only told Tapper that she didn’t think there was a smug-liberal problem, she also howlingly added that in her own show, “We always err on the side of comedy.” . . .
Read more

Stephen Colbert under fire for outrageous Trump-Putin gay sex ‘joke’ — Video
Stephen Colbert to Trump: “The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s cock holster.” http://thebea.st/2oZYnD2 .    Read more.

"Sad, isn’t it? Still, it tells us everything we need to know about the left.  Imagine the outrage if someone said this about Barack Obama on broadcast television…"

China, the Norks, and THAAD

Rich Terrell

What Is THAAD, What Does It Do, and Why Is China Mad About It?
. . . "So, from the Chinese perspective, a THAAD deployment could shift the strategic stability needle ever so slightly away from its status quo equilibrium and advantage the United States, giving Washington better early warning and tracking of Chinese ICBMs. That, in itself, doesn’t seem like a serious impingement on China’s security or its nuclear deterrent. What’s interesting is reading China’s worries about a THAAD and AN/TPY-2 deployment on the Korean peninsula together with murmurs that Beijing is growing increasingly interested in a launch-on-warning nuclear posture. Does a THAAD deployment affect the credibility of China’s second-strike capabilities by giving the United States a greater early warning edge? Perhaps, but, as Lyon notes above, the difference would be marginal given the AN/TPY-2s already in Japan." . . .

North Korea 'deliberately detonated missile during failed weekend test because it was heading for RUSSIA'

The North is technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty, and regularly threatens to destroy the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Satellite images have revealed how North Korea is preparing to trial [launch] its arsenal of submarine rockets amid fears of an impending nuclear test

. . . "Pictures of the Nampo Naval shipyard on the country's west coast show dictator Kim Jong-un has 'imported' a new barge so his navy can carry out underwater test missile launches.

"The 68ft barge is identical to another seen at the Sinpo South shipyard on the east coast which has been involved in up to six test launches since 2014."

. . . 

"According to 38North, which monitors North Korea, there has been no sign that the barge was constructed on the west coast, suggesting it may have been acquired from abroad.

"The design is similar to a Russian submersible test stand barge, but it is not clear which country it was imported from.

"They are often used to test missile tubes and launch systems before they are installed in submarines." . . .

Remember the crowds protesting when Obama banned immigrants?

Ruthfully Yours  "Crowds, crowds, crowds!  Or, in some cases, are they a mob of useful idiots?  As Ed Lasky noted, the hysterical reaction of the anti-Trump crowd, erroneously called civil and human rights defenders, to President Trump (R)’s executive order temporarily banning visitors and immigrants from a few Muslim-majority terrorist countries (not a ban on Muslims) is hypocritical.  (The Women’s March and the airport mobbers all look alike – all sound and fury, signifying nothing but moral narcissism.)

"Below is a photo from the massive crowds in Chicago protesting former (thank goodness!) President Barack Hussein Obama (D)’s 2011 order banning Iraqi refugees for six months." . . .

. . . "Perhaps if a large crowd greeted Syed Rizwan Farook as he brought his mail-order bride, Tashfeen Malik, a Pakistani national raised in Saudi Arabia, into America breezing through Chicago’s O’Hare airport over two years ago, they could have convinced them to love the USA instead of plotting to slaughter innocent Americans.

"This twisted, evil Muslim (yes, a coincidence I know) couple bonded over their hatred of America, its people and their freedoms, and their religions, going on to gun down many in San Bernardino, California in December 2015.

"If Malik had already radicalized years ago, how did she get the go-ahead to immigrate to the United States in 2014?" . . .