A New Report Declares that the U.S. Army and Marines are "Weak"

The National Interest

"The military posture of the United States is rated as marginal in a new report from The Heritage Foundation, and that worries the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

"The nation has “not been resourcing our military commensurate with what we ask our military to do,” Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said at an event Thursday marking release of the report from the leading conservative think tank.

“ 'And maybe more disturbingly, we have not been resourcing our military commensurate with our moral obligation to support the men and women who are risking their lives for us,” Thornberry said.

Recommended: America Can't Shoot Down a North Korean Nuke 

"Dakota Wood, a senior defense fellow at Heritage who edited the 2018 Index of U.S. Military Strength, said the state of the military inherited by President Donald Trump is “too old.' ” . . .

Thornberry said the Armed Services Committee is working “to help explain these consequences to my colleagues and to others, because I think we have all gotten so used to nine years of a continuing resolution that we have grown numb to the consequences of what it means to us.”

A Truly Great Phony

It seems appropriate to revisit Mr. Sowell's words in this present time as these policies of Obama's are being held up for closer examination. as to their worth.  

Thomas Sowell in 2013

. . . Like other truly talented phonies, Barack Obama concentrates his skills on the effect of his words on other people -- most of whom do not have the time to become knowledgeable about the things he is talking about. Whether what he says bears any relationship to the facts is politically irrelevant. 

"A talented con man, or a slick politician, does not waste his time trying to convince knowledgeable skeptics. His job is to keep the true believers believing. He is not going to convince the others anyway.

" Back during Barack Obama's first year in office, he kept repeating, with great apparent earnestness, that there were "shovel-ready" projects that would quickly provide many much-needed jobs, if only his spending plans were approved by Congress. 

"He seemed very convincing -- if you didn't know how long it can take for any construction project to get started, after going through a bureaucratic maze of environmental impact studies, zoning commission rulings and other procedures that can delay even the smallest and simplest project for years. 

"Only about a year or so after his big spending programs were approved by Congress, Barack Obama himself laughed at how slowly everything was going on his supposedly "shovel-ready" projects. 

"One wonders how he will laugh when all his golden promises about ObamaCare turn out to be false and a medical disaster. Or when his foreign policy fiascoes in the Middle East are climaxed by a nuclear Iran."

Hillary Compared Weinstein to Trump – But Not to Her Husband

Independent Sentinel

"Hillary’s fake moral outrage against Weinstein’s sexual harassment of women would have been better placed against her own husband, not President Trump."

. . . "President Clinton was impeached, although not removed from office, for having lied by saying that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” when he actually did.So where is Hillary Clinton’s moral outrage at the serial sexual harassment of women by her own husband? During the years when Bill Clinton was governor, and then president, Hillary time and time again vilified the women who accused her husband of rape and sexual harassment.Hillary stood by her man, however, calling her husband’s accusers – Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers, and Juanita Broaddrick – “bimbos.”Kathleen Willey said the Clintons tried to intimidate her into not telling the truth in court. She found her cat dead on her porch, had her car vandalized, and said people were inquiring about her children in her neighborhood.Hillary said that Gennifer Flowers was “some failed cabaret singer who doesn’t have much of a resume to fall back on.”Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill of raping her, said Hillary intimidated her at a campaign function two weeks after the attack. Broaddrick recalled that Hillary told her things that made it clear that she was to keep her mouth shut … or else.Paula Jones won an $850,000 settlement to drop her case against Bill Clinton, with Hillary’s blessing. Jones was more direct with her indictment of Hillary. She said that Hillary Clinton “tried to discredit all of these women that her husband abused and sexually harassed”.MSNBC host Joe Scarborough asked during Hillary’s 2016 campaign for president, “Can she move forward in this campaign, talking about the war on women, as she did in Northern Iowa, that women who claim to be sexually abused have the right to be heard and the right to be believed?” The Hillary Clinton campaign soon removed the “right to be believed” statement from her website. The voters answered Scarborough’s question last November.In her recent NBC interview, Hillary said of Weinstein, “This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated anywhere.” (Except, apparently, in the Oval Office by her husband). " . . .

Boy Scouts; the left pollutes America, one institution at a time.

Wrecking the NFL and now the Boy Scouts  . . .  "Earning the rank of Eagle Scout in 2002 was the greatest achievement of my life at the time.  Another honor was when my beloved Scout troop invited me back to town to participate in its centennial celebration earlier this year. My scouting experiences have guided me throughout my adulthood and will continue to do so... 

This is what the Left does best: target and destroy everything good in America. They cannot compete with us on ideas, so they have to eliminate everything that makes us who we are. If they were truly motivated to provide girls, homosexuals, and “transgenders,” with the same experiences Boy Scouts provides, then they would form their own youth organization. But it isn’t really about that, is it?

Rest in Peace Boy Scouts. You will be dearly missed.

"Yes, we will miss the days when a father and his son could attend a retreat without pushing political messages.   

"Furthermore, I really miss those days when we instinctively understood that boys and girls were different. And that boys and girls needed different messages in their formative years." . . .  Silvio Canto, Jr.

The Boy Scouts Take Oath to Political Correctness   "Another one of our great national institutions, the Boy Scouts of America, has officially lost its way. An organization with an impressive history of over one century has buckled to the insidious forces of political correctness. The latest sign occurred this week as the Boy Scouts formally opened their doors to girls. In 2018, girls will be able to join the Cub Scout program and the following year will become eligible to attain the highest rank, Eagle Scout.

"This act of inclusion was wisely not followed by the Girl Scouts, which will remain an exclusively female organization." . . .

Bing Images; Norman Rockwell

North Korea Says It Will Attack U.S. Territory of Guam If Trump Keeps Tweeting Threats

Yahoo News  "North Korea has renewed its threat to attack the U.S. island territory of Guam with missiles, warning that President Donald Trump's social media antics and military moves are pushing Pyongyang over the edge.

"North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published Friday a new article attributed to Kim Kwang Hak, a researcher at the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for American Studies, in which he blasted the Trump administration's pursuit of joint drills with Japan and South Korea, as well as the president's militant "letters" on Twitter. In tweets, the Republican leader has suggested the U.S. may seek to disarm North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons arsenal by force, and Kim wrote that such threats have led North Korea to revive an earlier plan to attack the Pacific island.

"A target island off the coast of the Kalma International Airport in Wonsan, North Korea, is hit during a live-fire artillery drill August 26, 2017. North Korea's army revealed a plan to attack the U.S. island territory of Guam in August in response to U.S. military moves in the Pacific."

Al Sharpton goes there: calls NFL players ‘slaves’

"America’s premier malevolent demagogue" Thomas Lifson 

Thomas Lifson  "For sheer entertainment value, Al Sharpton’s invocation of slavery in discussing NFL players who average $1.9 Million a year is worth while noting. But it also confirms his stature as America’s premier malevolent demagogue. (You can savor the buffoonery in a video over at Weaselzippers(sp), as I am unable to embed it here.)" . . .

Video from second article added by TD

"Sharpton is unlikely ever to top Crown Heights, where he instigated a pogrom, or Freddy’s Fashion Mart, where his target of opprobrium was firebombed, killing 8 in bloodiness. But the older and wealthier and more established (MSNBC host) Sharpton works on a different angle now.

"Underneath this cynical exploitation of white guilt, Sharpton is hoping to inflame conflict.

"Fans already angry at the kneeling can only derisively laugh at the millionaires, and not a few of them will decide they are done with accepting any responsibility at all for something they have nothing to do with.

"The NFL owners already are in retreat on the standing policy, alienating their fans even more. They are going to continue to underplay the damage they are doing to their business.

"Face it: Sharpton is trolling us. Fans and owners alike. Driving conflict. There are a lot of people who want to see Americans angry at each other. That's something on which Vladimir Putin and Alinskyites agree."

So I'm to pay these guys and Sharpton reparations? 

Yo, Whiny Football Players: Follow This NHL Bros Lead v. Al Sharpton’s – Truly AWESOME!

. . . "While the NFL players are engaged in their Kaepernick-style slacktivism, one NHL superstar is actually addressing the problem.
"Anyone who has followed PK Subban’s career will not be surprised by this.
"PK is the guy who pledged $10Million to a children’s hospital in the city he was playing in. And even though he’s since been traded to another city — country, actually — he’s honored his word.
"This guy puts his money where his mouth is. And that’s why, when he got traded to an American Franchise (traded from Montreal), it came as no surprise that he would keep looking for ways to make his city better.
"It’s why he was given Canada’s highest civilian honor — the Order Of Canada." . .

Bossier, LA Sheriff To Boycott NFL Sponsor Ford Due To Anthem Protests

Shreveporttimes.com. via Weasel Zippers:  "Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Whittington said his office will no longer purchase Ford products after the automaker expressed support for National Football League players’ right to kneel in protest during the national anthem.

"In a letter to Hixson Ford of Alexandria on Wednesday, Whittington said “recent events surrounding the NFL, its players and their audacity to thumb their collective noses at the American flag, the American military, as well as their obvious disdain for the profession of law enforcement in general, forces me to take a stand.”

"Some NFL players began kneeling or sitting during the national anthem during the 2016 season, following the lead of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. 

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said when asked to explain his protest, according to NFL.com.

"The protests have continued through the start of the 2017 season.

"In late September, Ford Motor Company, a sponsor of the NFL, released a statement in response to controversy over numerous NFL players kneeling in protest during the national anthem prior to games.

“We respect individuals’ rights to express their views, even if they are not ones we share. That’s part of what makes America great,” read Ford’s statement, according to CNN.[…]

"According to information provided by BPSO, in 2016 and 2017 the sheriff’s office purchased 29 vehicles from Hixson Autoplex, spending $747,132.

"Those vehicles included 21 Ford Police Interceptors, four Ford Tauruses, a Ford F-150, two Ford F-250s and a Ford Explorer.

"Whittington also told Hixson Ford that he would send copies of his letter to Louisiana’s 63 other sheriffs." . . .Keep reading…

How Trump and America Made the NFL Bend the Knee  . . . "The minute the Left decides on a pet issue, they pounce with terrible ferocity and anyone who gets in their way gets slaughtered.

"With the "drive-by" media on their side, there was no way for any conservative to fight back against the narrative of the Left. As defined by Rush Limbaugh, the "drive-by" media comes to the scene of some event, blows it up, angers everyone, then moves on -- leaving destruction and ruined lives in its wake.

"But President Trump flipped that playbook on its head -- with 140 characters or less. The Left has lost its ability to control the narrative, and they are reeling. Limbaugh expertly described the chaos plaguing the media in a recent monologue:" . . .

Hillary: Trump's sins are NOW; Bill's are long gone, in the past, over with.

When reading her words, keep in mind that "The late New York Times columnist William Safire once called Hillary Rodham Clinton “a congenital liar.' ".   Congenital, meaning from birth; it is what she is. TD

Daily Caller

. . . "Clinton’s comment about Trump prompted Marr to ask the former secretary of state about her own dismissive response to women who have accused her husband of sexual misconduct. Marr pointed to the Oct. 10, 2016, presidential debate to which Trump invited three of Bill Clinton’s accusers, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and Paula Jones.

“ 'The three women brought onto stage by Trump attacking your husband, and you kind of dismissed them. Was that the right thing to do? Are you sure about that?” Marr asked Clinton.

“ 'Well, yes because that had all been litigated,” the former secretary of state responded.

“ 'That was subject of a huge investigation, as you might recall, in the late 90s and there were conclusions drawn. That was clearly in the past,” she added.

"Broaddrick has accused Clinton of raping her in a Little Rock hotel room in 1978, when he was Arkansas’ attorney general. Willey, a former White House volunteer aide, has claimed that Clinton sexually assaulted her in 1993, during his first term in office. Jones claimed in a lawsuit that Clinton exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel room in 1991, when he was governor." . . .

Hillary Clinton Gives Clinton Answer, Claims Weinstein Didn’t Give Her A Lot Of Money  "Hillary Clinton says she “did not hear” the rumours about Harvey Weinstein, who donated thousands of dollars to her campaign."

That’s why everyone in Hollywood feels it is their obligation to lecture their countrymen on every issue of the day.  . . . "If anything, it shows middle Americans are right to despise the elites who keep haranguing them for voting for Trump." . . .

It’s 1968 All Over Again

The United States and the world appear to be reliving the language, politics, and global instability of 1968.

 

Victor Davis Hanson  "Almost a half-century ago, in 1968, the United States seemed to be falling apart. 

"The Vietnam War, a bitter and close presidential election, antiwar protests, racial riots, political assassinations, terrorism, and a recession looming on the horizon left the country divided between a loud radical minority and a silent conservative majority. 

"The United States avoided a civil war. But America suffered a collective psychological depression, civil unrest, defeat in Vietnam, and assorted disasters for the next decade — until the election of a once-polarizing Ronald Reagan ushered in five consecutive presidential terms of relative bipartisan calm and prosperity from 1981 to 2001. 

"It appears as if 2017 might be another 1968. Recent traumatic hurricanes seem to reflect the country’s human turmoil. 

" After the polarizing Obama presidency and the contested election of Donald Trump, the country is once again split in two. But this time the divide is far deeper, both ideologically and geographically — and more 50/50, with the two liberal coasts pitted against red-state America in between. 

"Century-old mute stone statues are torn down in the dead of night, apparently on the theory that by attacking the Confederate dead, the lives of the living might improve.  " . . . Read more

Ex-New York Times editor dismisses claim the paper spiked Harvey Weinstein allegations

"Former Times reporter Sharon Waxman suggested the Hollywood mogul pressured the paper in 2004. "

TerrellAfterMath cartoon added

Politico  "Jonathan Landman, a former high-ranking New York Times editor, pushed back Monday against The Wrap founder and CEO Sharon Waxman’s claim that the Times spiked her reporting 13 years ago on allegations of sexual misconduct involving Harvey Weinstein following pressure from the Hollywood mogul. 

“ 'Sharon has now had more than a decade to pursue this story unencumbered by me or any New York Times editor,” Landman told POLITICO. “Why, if she had the goods on Weinstein in 2004, has she been unable or unwilling to publish something in the Wrap, where she was in charge? Could it be because she didn’t actually have the goods then, now or in between?” 

"Waxman, who left The Times in 2007 and founded The Wrap two years later, wrote Sunday that her former paper “gutted” an article she wrote in 2004 about Weinstein after he applied pressure on the paper. She recalled traveling to Rome and London while reporting a story on Fabrizio Lombardo, the head of Weinstein’s Miramax Italy, whom she heard had no film experience and whose primary role was “to take care of Weinstein’s women needs.”   . . .

Is Hillary REALLY giving away Harvey's tainted donations? Confusion mounts over Clinton's pledge . . .

Tony Branco cartoon

". . .  while her usual charity is her OWN foundation and she could get a handy tax break too"

UK Daily Mail

. . . "Before this was announced it was known that Weinstein gave $33,590 to the Hillary Victory Fund and $5,400 to Hillary for America during the 2016 election.

Clinton indicated she will donate the Weinstein's money out of her own income rather than from the campaign organization.

" 'I give 10 percent of my income to charity every year. This will be part of that,' Clinton said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

"Tax experts said under this scenario she would be able to deduct this money from her income taxes.

"Julian Block, a former special agent at the IRS and a tax attorney in New York, said her pledge raised significant questions. 

"'Is this a situation where her campaign organization is turning over money to her, that goes into her checking account, and then she's writing a check on that account to make the donation?' said Block. 'That would raise some questions as to who's actually making the donation.'

"Chicago tax attorney Robert McKenzie said it could raise problems if Clinton classified the political donations as personal income.

"'I don't see how she could justify that as being part of her income. I don't see how she can take that out of her personal return,' said McKenzie." . . .

Senator Hillary's words to General Petraeus, the man who gave us victory in Iraq (Until Obama threw it all away, that is).
Hillary supporters would do well to take her advice.

Video update with Corey Feldman on The View! The Predatory Politics of the Democrats (Updated)

UPDATED: The link and video of Corey Feldman on The View at the bottom is a must-view. TD

Patricia McCarthy   "The manipulation and sexual abuse of women in both the politics and entertainment industries is hardly news.  The connection between DC and the film industry is symbiotic.  It is an essential fact of both of those worlds; since JFK and, much earlier, Fatty Arbuckle.  It is pretty normal in the NFL as well.  Far too many men in each of these insulated bubbles of American life seem to think that their power and fame entitles them to grope, assault, rape and/or beat women on a whim of lust or anger.  

"When JFK was in the White House, the media that revered him never reported his liaisons.  By the time JFK's brother Ted was in the Senate, however, things had changed.  Ted's shenanigans became public knowledge. When it was clear that he had been responsible for the death of a young aide in order to save himself, it was hardly a surprise.  It was well-known by then that he was a very sleazy character.  But that knowledge did nothing to dampen the support of the American left, not for a minute.  They still adored the man, so much so that he still thought he could become President!  His ideology was more important, more valuable to the left, than his wholesale lack of moral character.

"When the predatory character of Bill Clinton came to national attention with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and numerous other women came forward with their personal tales of his molestations, the left zealously defended him." . . . 

Oliver Stone Defends Harvey Weinstein, Is Immediately Accused of Sexual Assault   " . . .Actor Ben Affleck recently admonished Weinstein after the liberal Hollywood icon and Democrat donor was outed as a pervert who spent decades sexually harassing and assaulting women. Affleck himself was outed shortly thereafter for having groped actress Hilarie Burton.

"Award-winning director Oliver Stone took a different path to the same result. He actually defended Weinstein and was immediately outed by a former Playboy model for assault as well.

"Despite dozens of alleged female victims having been subjected to Weinstein’s assaults, the “Platoon” director decided to empathize with the aggressor instead.

“ 'I believe a man shouldn’t be condemned by a vigilante system,” Stone opined. “It’s not easy what he’s going through, either.”

Tony Branco cartoon. Hat tip to Moretti Underground

UPDATE: FLASHBACK: Actor Corey Feldman Tried to Warn About Hollywood's Pedophile Problem and Was Mocked  . . . "In a video unearthed by the Daily Wire, back in 2013 Feldman appeared on an episode of "The View," where he once again claimed to have been the victim of sexual abuse for years. For saying this, then-host Barbara Walters accused Feldman of "damaging an entire industry" with his claims. Walters appeared to dismiss Feldman outright.

"Watch the absurd exchange below:  . . .