Khatallah’s Acquittals on Benghazi Murders Show, Again, Need for New System

Rush Limbaugh

Andrew C. McCarthy  "There was never going to be justice for the American war dead of the Benghazi attack. The jihadist strike on the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 atrocities was too bound up in the politics of the 2012 presidential election. Moreover, the prosecution of the lone defendant charged in the attack was a product of the progressive ideological insistence that acts of war can seamlessly be downgraded into mere penal offenses, adjudicated with all the due-process strictures that implies. 

"This bull-headed conceit is a fiction, and thus the experiment is a failure. 

"It is not my purpose to make a competing “I told you so” claim that Ahmed Abu Khatallah should have been designated an enemy combatant and consigned to military detention and trial. Yesterday, after an eight-week trial in civilian federal court in Washington, Khatallah was acquitted on the most important charges against him — the charges that arose out of the murders of U.S. ambassador J. Christopher Stephens, State Department employee Sean Smith, and CIA security contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Despite these 14 acquittals, he was convicted on four charges involving material support for terrorism, destruction of property, and carrying a firearm during a violent crime. There is no reason to believe that the outcome would have been more just — or even that we would have an outcome yet — had the case been assigned to the existing, deeply flawed military-commission system.

"Instead, in positing two points, I want to restate a plea that we stop playing with fire and move beyond the deadening “military v. civilian” debate — Is it a war or is it a crime? — that has undermined American counterterrorism for 16 years." . . .
 Full article

So what has it been like at Club Gitmo?

The Matt Lauer discussions

Katie Pavlich: The Details of Matt Lauer's Alleged Predatory Sexual Behavior Are Horrifying   . . . "Late last night Variety Magazine, whose journalists have been working on the Lauer story for months, released stunning and horrifying details of his alleged behavior." 

"   As the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.

   On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything, visibly shaken, he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
   He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with. . . .

Katie Couric: Matt Lauer 'Pinches Me on the A*s a Lot'  . . . "As far back as 2012 there were signs that all was not right with "Today" show co-host Matt Lauer. Appearing on Andy Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live" that year, Katie Couric, who began hosting the show with Lauer in 1997, was asked about his most annoying habit. " . . .

Jonah Goldberg: Matt Lauer, Fox News, and How Tribalism Affects the Press
. . . "But back to the sexual-harassment thing. One of my longstanding gripes is how when conservatives do something bad, it’s proof of the inherent badness of conservatives and conservatism. But when liberals do something bad, it is immediately turned into an indictment of America itself. Joe McCarthy’s excesses were a window into the nature of conservatism, according to historians, intellectuals, and journalists. But when liberals — Attorney General Palmer, Woodrow Wilson, et al. — did far worse, the villain was America itself. When conservatives are racist, it is because they are conservatives. When liberals are racist it is because racism is an “American sin.” In other words, liberalism is never wrong. I could go on at length about this." . . .

Washington's Redskin

. . . Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when men would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their great-great-great-grandmother's wedding-license application. And now it's here! . . .

A copy of Pow Wow Chow signed by the authentic fake Cherokee
herself, Elizabeth Warren

Mark Steyn  "The other day President Trump referred jokingly, yet again, to Senator Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas", and as a result is even more totally racey-racey-racist than he was the week before. If you're finding this all a bit hard to follow, relax:

If a white grade-school teacher pretends to be black, that's totally racist and you should denounce him as such immediately;

But if a white professor pretends to be Harvard Law School's "first woman of color" and you point it out, then you're the racist.

"Got that? It's easy when you know how:

If a Victoria's Secret model wears lingerie "inspired by indigenous African cultures", that's cultural appropriation;

But if a white Harvard professor takes up valuable space in an authentic tribal cookbook, that's not cultural appropriation ...er, because the authentic tribal recipes she submitted turned out to come from the Duke of Windsor's favorite restaurant.

. . .

. . .  "But she could be 1/32nd Cherokee, and maybe get invited to a luncheon with others of her kind—"people who are like I am," 31/32nds white, and they can all sit around celebrating their diversity together." . . . 

From Comedian Argus Hamilton:

President Trump razzed Elizabeth Warren Monday, calling her Pocahantas because she once lied she was Cherokee to get on the Harvard faculty. She’s thin-skinned. If Elizabeth Warren is ever elected president, how angry will she be at the Marine Band every time they play Hail to the Chief? 

 Cherokee Woman Slams Warren For Using ‘Racist Stereotypes’ To Claim She’s Native American

Amber Randall

. . . “She was not a hero to me when she failed to foster a haven of support for Native students within Harvard University’s alienating Ivy League culture. She is not a hero for spending years awkwardly avoiding Native leaders. She is not a hero because, despite claiming to be the only Native woman in the U.S. Senate, she has done nothing to advance our rights,” Nagle said. “She is not from us. She does not represent us. She is not Cherokee.” 

Hey, Colin: Do Your Knees Hurt Yet?

NFL Surrenders

Eileen F. Toplansky  . . . "This means ISIS is involved in the slavery industry in a European country."  Moreover, does Kaepernick know that black Africans owning other black Africans has existed in Mauritania for generations and continues to this day?

"Has he ever read the searing accounts by North Koreans describing the misery of life in that totalitarian regime?  Do his football buddies shed tears for the murderof North Koreans who defect and are shot by their own government, as happened the other day?  When these helmeted athletes speak of injustice, do the namesFarzana Iqbal and Samia Imran come to mind?  These Pakistani women were "honor-killed" by members of their own family because they dared to marry men of their own choosing." . . .

Weasel Zippers sees the mob coming with pitchforks and torches

Morning Clown Joe Scarborough Accuses Trump Of Being Mentally Ill, Calls On Cabinet To Remove Him From Office…

• • −
• 
  

  The War Planner • 

  
  

  I check the document below and cannot seem to find anywhere a provision for THE CABINET to remove the President. Am I missing something? (Comment in the above post)

Lib Rag Newsweek: Trump Could Be Impeached For “Slurring” Elizabeth Warren As “Pocahontas”…

. . . "Trump’s comment does not rise to the level of the accusations against Johnson, a Democrat thrust into battle with a Republican-controlled Congress following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While it would not be enough on its own to qualify as a case for impeachment, said Allan Lichtman, a political historian at American University, it could bolster the case against Trump.
“ 'That could be a part of an article of impeachment,” Lichtman, the author of a book on Trump titled The Case for Impeachment, told Newsweek Tuesday. “After all, you could couple that with his very intemperate attacks on the judiciary. Combine that with his attacks on the free press. You could couple all of that together and create a fairly powerful article of impeachment.' ”

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to pay $22.3 million to lease building owned by Obama bundler

Washington Examiner for full article.

The attempted CFPB coup

. . . Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., writing in the Wall Street Journal, November 29, called attention to one artful method employed by the agency: fabricating "evidence of racial disparity in auto lending to shake money out of lenders."  Jenkins noted that the agency had no authority to go after auto dealers and so put pressure on banks instead.  Jenkins referred to the appointment of English as acting director as a "power grab of the [Elizabeth] Warren junta."  Thus far, Judge Kelly has stymied this "power grab."

This May Explain Why Democrats Are So Desperate To Hang Onto Control Of CFPB

"A President has the power of appointment over agencies like the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau. That’s why when Democrats tried to perform a coup and hold onto power there, it seemed rather odd. 
"But perhaps it’s not so strange if they’re trying to cover up things or keep their pay-for-play in motion.
"Check out this article from 2014. They were paying $22.3. million for two years for ‘temporary space’ for the bureau at a building owned by a big Democratic donor/Obama bundler. And we also paid millions extra, triple the amount estimated for ‘renovations’ to the building.
"What else might a new director discover?

"Via Washington Examiner:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials will pay $22.3 million to lease temporary offices in addition to the record-breaking $145 million being spent to renovate the agency’s headquarters, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.

The temporary offices to be occupied by CFPB for the next two years are being leased in a building owned by Neil G. Bluhm, a longtime friend and campaign bundler for President Obama.

Bluhm made headlines in 2010 when he hosted Obama’s 49th birthday party at his Chicago home. Admission was $30,000 per person, with the proceeds going to the Democratic National Committee.

Controversy has dogged the CFPB for more than a year for nearly tripling the initial $55 million cost estimate for renovations to the building that will serve as the bureau’s permanent headquarters. The building is across the street from the White House, at 1700 G St. NW in Washington.

Keep reading...

The Whiteness Protection Program

Mike Adams

(. . . There is no question about sexual orientation on the college application. However, it goes without saying that if Eric is still attracted to women when he becomes Erica, he can claim lesbian status and check off a third victim category)."

"As a criminology professor, I spend a lot of time counseling students who are getting abused in the classroom. In fact, any white male that decides to become a police officer can expect to be attacked viciously by Marxists trying to “transform” the criminal justice system indirectly through classroom indoctrination. These people aren’t criminal justice professionals. They aren’t even teachers. They are tenured bigots invading an institution they wish to destroy. They are sort of like the atheists who enter seminary just to undermine religion. 

"To make matters worse, the typical criminal justice department also requires students to take several sociology classes. In these classes, tenured white feminists routinely preach about white privilege while directing virtually all of their vitriol towards white males. Ironically, the lectures of many of these unhappy women are fueled by five-dollar white mochas. I like to call them Starbuck Stalinists. 

"Fortunately, because I spend a lot of time thinking about these matters, I have come up with a solution to protect white male students from the academic lynch mob that earns a living marginalizing them in the name of diversity and inclusion. I call it the whiteness protection program. Its potential for success depends upon the long-term viability of two recent trends in higher education." . . .

One Ivy League College is Allowing Students to Self-Identify as People of Color  . . . "This policy is said to help the university reach its goal of doubling historically underrepresented groups by 2022, the Brown Daily Herald reported.

"Out of all of the stupid liberal college policies I've heard of, this has got to be one of the stupidest.

"I'm so tired of colleges constantly trying to be diverse. They go out of their way to reward students with scholarships because of their heritage and their skin color. 

Marine's Father Lauds 'Much Better' VA Facility Since Son's Opioid Overdose

PJ Media

"After more than three years since Marine veteran Jason Simcakoski’s death, his father on Wednesday said that the pill-mill atmosphere that led to his son’s opioid overdose at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center has dissipated.

“ 'It was more like a dictatorship run when my son was there,” Marvin Simcakoski told Congress. “That atmosphere is gone by the wayside now. Now you can bring things up. … It’s definitely a much better and positive atmosphere there now.”

. . . 

. . . "Chief Officer for Specialty Care for the Veterans Health Administration Laurence Meyer said that every individual situation has to be tailored differently. Back pain differs significantly from chronic headaches, for instance, he said, while explaining that the agency is trying to find ways to expand options for yoga, tai chi, acupuncture and conventional physical therapy. There is also the issue that many veterans suffer from chronic pain, as well as mental health issues, which makes each patient’s needs more specific.

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) discussed her own “recreational” injury, for which she went through physical therapy. She warned Meyer against capping the amount of visits a patient might get for physical therapy, which is an issue she said she witnessed firsthand while in treatment.

"Meyer said that the VA is trying to find the proper balance between avoiding the bureaucratic nightmare of approving every single physical therapy visit and writing blank checks for treatment."

Democrats Rushing To Register Thousands Of Felons To Vote Before Alabama Deadline…

Weasel Zippers

"Rushing to try to beat Roy Moore.

"Via Al.com:

Thousands of felons across Alabama have registered to vote in recent weeks, according to Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, who is heading up a statewide effort to get felons to the voting booth.

Glasgow’s goal is to get as many felons as possible signed up to vote before the end of the day Monday, the deadline to be able to cast a ballot in Alabama’s Dec. 12 U.S. Senate special election.

“In the last month, I think we registered at least five- to ten-thousand people all over the state,” Glasgow, president of Dothan’s The Ordinary People Society (TOPS) advocacy group, said Monday. “I’ve got people all over the state registering people with my TOPS branches in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Montgomery, Enterprise, Dothan, Abbeville, Geneva, Gordon, Bessemer, we have a lot.”

Keep reading…

Sex in America, Part 2

A.F. Branco Cartoon

Ann Coulter   "At least liberals are finally telling the truth about Bill Clinton -- and just 20 years after it mattered! Of course, considering it took the Democratic Party a century to discover that slavery was wrong, two decades is lightning speed for these moral paragons. 

"While edging up to admitting that Bill Clinton maybe shouldn't have raped Juanita Broaddrick and flashed Paula Jones, liberals still can't own up to their utterly hypocritical defense of a president credibly accused of repeated sexual assaults and associated felonies.

"Recently, The New York Times' Maureen Dowd tried to cover up the left's shameful response to Clinton's sleazy behavior with the "both sides" argument. According to Dowd, liberals "tried to kill off" Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas "over sex when the real reason they wanted to get rid of him was politics." And then conservatives "tried to kill off a Democratic president over sex when the real reason they wanted to get rid of him was politics."

"Here are three important differences off the top of my head:

   1) Anita Hill's accusations against Thomas involved words -- just words -- whereas Clinton was accused by multiple women of being a sexual predator on a scale to rival Harvey Weinstein. 
   2) The evidence against Thomas consisted of a single accuser, with no corroborating witnesses. The evidence against Clinton included, among other things, multiple witnesses; contemporaneous corroborating witnesses; secretly recorded confessions of the assaults and liaisons from Clinton himself (the Gennifer Flowers tape), Monica Lewinsky (Linda Tripp tapes) and Juanita Broaddrick (two separate tapes by people who wanted her to tell the truth about the rape); a DNA-stained dress; and, eventually, when he had absolutely no other choice, Clinton's own admission under oath.
   3) As Dowd says, the left was using Hill's made-up charges against Thomas to save Roe v. Wade. By contrast, it's absurd to imagine that Republicans were enraged by the policies of President Clinton -- a neoliberal, Third-Way, welfare-reform-signing, Ricky Ray Rector-executing Democrat. Clinton was the last of a vanishing breed, the moderate Democrat. That just wasn't a good enough reason to overlook his repeated sexual assaults, felonies and bald-faced lies. 

"It was liberals, and only liberals, who did an about-face on everything they supposedly believed about sexual harassment for political gain. The exact same people who had pretended to need smelling salts when told Thomas had joked about "Long Dong Silver" in the offices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (never happened) were suddenly A-OK with a governor summoning a lowly state employee to his hotel room, dropping his pants and saying, "Kiss it.' "  . . .  Full article.

NBC Gets New Complaints About Matt Lauer As Video Surfaces Of His Lewd Comments About Meredith Vieira

Hot Air   . . . "On that note, earlier today Ed mentioned a video in which Katie Couric suggested Matt Lauer’s most annoying habit was constantly pinching her butt. This afternoon, TMZ has uncovered another Lauer video, this one apparently involving Meredith Vieira. This clip strongly suggests Lauer’s treatment of women was not much of a secret and NBC. Lauer is finishing up some work as Vieira is pulling paperwork off the table in front of him. As she leans down he says, “Pretty sweater.” Then he adds, “Keep bending over like that. It’s a nice view.” The video is more revealing than the text. Lauer isn’t smiling as he says this, he’s leering. Vieira’s voice can be heard in the clip, but if she responded to his remark, it wasn’t caught on the microphone." . . .

University demands people be warned about seeing a cross

Bob Unruh

"Soldiers in World War II were burying their fellow combatants under crosses when they were college age. So were the ground troops in Vietnam. And Korea.

"But now, one American university says that just seeing crosses can cause “emotional trauma.”

"That’s the subject of a new lawsuit by the Alliance Defending Freedom over a demand from Miami University of Ohio that pro-life students post warnings about their pro-life display of small crosses stuck in the ground.

“ 'No university official has the authority to censor student speech simply because of how someone might respond to it,” said ADF Legal Counsel Travis Barham. “Like all government officials, public university administrators have an obligation to respect students’ free speech rights.

“ 'The First Amendment secures the freedom of all students to participate in the marketplace of ideas, and it prohibits university officials from imposing trigger warnings that restrict what some students can say to spare the feelings of others.”

"The fight erupted over the Students for Life there, who since 2015 have periodically displayed a “Cemetery of the Innocents” on campus.

"It features small crosses placed in the ground to remember the lives lost to abortion.

"But when, a few weeks back, Students for Life President Ellen Wittman emailed the school to set up permission for the display, the school responded with a demand that the student group could put up the display “only if it placed signs around campus warning people about its content.' ” . . .

Does encountering a viewpoint you disagree with warrant a warning sign?

. . . "But this year, university officials told them they were not permitted to put up their display without also posting warning signs around campus, basically discouraging people from viewing the exhibit. They feared the display might cause “emotional trauma” for other students. A university official also characterized the display as “harmful for some of [the university’s] community members.' ” . . .