That Salute back in 2009

Stormbringer   Friday’s post regarding the episode at Dover AFB – where Barack Obama conveniently had himself conspicuously photographed saluting a flag-draped casket – has generated controversy within my family. This is an EXTREMELY touchy subject of course. The honorable war dead cannot speak, and so we speak for them; to me this is the essence of the controversy, and why I cannot let this story rest.

"And yet this week we see Barack Obama - a man who's never served a day in uniform - performing a flawless salute right out of Army Field Manual 3-21.5 Drill and Ceremony:

. . . 

"NO civilian knows how to do that – Obama has DEFINITELY been given a class on how to stand at attention and render a military salute: . . .

"Friday afternoon I became aware of some facts: Barack Obama showed up at Dover AFB at 1230 and hung around until 0445; he asked all the families if he could be photographed beside their family members remains as they were being unloaded. 17 of the 18 families refused; so he hung around until he finally got permission; then he got the photo and he was out of there.

"So what's going on here? 

. . . 

"To me there is no speculation; this was an orchestrated event. Obama stalks bodies like some sort of ghoul until he strikes paydirt and gets the photo, but anybody who calls him on it is a sicko for daring to suggest those bodies were used as props." . . .

Plus this from 2016: Obama Mentions Himself 119 Times In Speech About Hillary

And here is a poem about the camera-shy (more or less)Obama:

A look at how things work in this government

WND

Earl of Taint

So Nikki Haley, Sarah Sanders, and Sarah Palin didn't attend the Women's March?

These three, and others like them, are the real role models for the lady-marchers.  But they're too formidable, so the marchers will march again, repeating and repeating while wondering why they aren't getting anywhere.

Ethel C. Fenig  . . . "But many women were able to register to vote and actively involve themselves in politics independently, without prodding by a mass female self-victimization.  They didn't attend the pity parties.  They were too busy and too productive elsewhere.  Here are just a few prominent ones; and there are so many more: 

"Two years ago, Nikki Haley (R), the daughter of immigrants from India and a woman of a little color, was governor of South Carolina.  Last year, President Donald J. Trump (R) appointed her as U.S. ambassador to the U.N.  On the eve of the first anniversary of her new job, she was in Afghanistan, meeting the women of that country who have real problems of health, education, and safety, hoping and helping to improve their condition.  However, the terrible plight of the women of Afghanistan, of Iran was just not on the minds of the pink pussy-hatted self-centered silly sign-carrying women Saturday." . . .

Senator Chelsea Manning? Democrats Should Be Proud (Updated)

Susan Stamper Brown

"Democrats have outdone themselves this time. Chelsea Manning, (D-Fort Leavenworth), the former U.S. Army soldier-turned-traitor, who was a male named Bradley until he betrayed America and swiped on some lipstick, is running for the United States Senate in Maryland on the Democratic Party ticket.

 "Manning is the perfect Democratic Party candidate: Anti everything that’s quintessentially America in stilettos and a skirt. 

"Manning’s campaign video features a defiant Chelsea proclaiming, “We don’t need them anymore,” with clips of police clashing with protesters. It is about as ludicrous as Democrat Dana Nessel’s campaign ad for Michigan attorney general where she says: “When you’re choosing Michigan’s next attorney general, ask yourself this: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis?” 

"Maybe Nessel should ask Chelsea. 

"Manning is a darling of the radical left, whose super-duper ginormous tent includes everyone except those who don’t live in New York and California, love America, the Rule of Law, the U.S. Military, law enforcement, guns, freedom of speech, conservatism, Judeo-Christian values, the unborn, and God -- to name a few. 

"Manning wants U.S. borders open, prisons closed, inmates freed and all hospital services free." . . .

UPDATE: Former Military Lawyers: Chelsea Manning Subject To Prosecution For Running For Office   

If the Pentagon declines to prosecute, it’s possible that other active-duty members of the military will assume that running for office or engaging in political campaigns or advocacy in ways that overstep the bounds of regulations won’t be met with much resistance.

. . . "As part of the coverage of Manning’s filing with the FEC and state board, virtually every media organization has declared that Manning is a former Army private. In fact, as the Army confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation in September 2017, Manning remains an active-duty soldier, albeit on excess leave and in a non-pay status while his appeal of a general court-martial for violating the Espionage Act and other orders is underway. And as ABC News noted in May 2017, Manning must remain in an active-duty status while the appeal process continues.
"Manning was originally sentenced to 35 years in prison, but then-President Barack Obama commuted the sentence as one of his last acts in office, freeing Manning from a military prison in Kansas.
"The Army further stated that Manning holds an active-duty identification card and acknowledged his status and access to government health care prior to his release." . . .

Code Pink is still around, in case you cared

Remember this lady? Here she is again.

Benjamin

Code Pink

In addition to its focus on anti-war issues, it has taken action on issues such as drones (including protests, trips to meet with drone victims in Pakistan and Yemen, bringing them to the US), Guantanamo Bay prison (including a delegation that included former prisoners and yearly protests at the White House), Palestinian statehood (including its involvement in the BDS movement to protest Ahava, SodaStream, ReMax, and AirBnB), the Iran nuclear deal, Saudi Arabia(including protests to end U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia, its airstrikes on Yemen, and its executions of its political dissidents), and Women Cross DMZ. The organization characterizes itself as women-initiated.

. . . " Code Pink was founded on November 17, 2002 by Americans Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin* and other activists.The group's name is a play on the United States Department of Homeland Security's color-coded alert system in which, for example, Code Orange and Code Red signify the highest levels of danger." . . .

*Benjamin met her intellectual match in a street debate that showed the depth of her ignorance and shallowness.

Here was a Pinkster harrassing then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

More at the Tunnel Wall

Democrats and illegal immigration: they support the Mexican colonization of America.

Rich Terrell

The Left’s Constitutional Crises: ‘Once Is Not Enough’

" . . . Becerra declaimed:   It’s important, given these rumors that are out there, to let people know—more specifically today, employers—that if they voluntarily start giving up information about their employees or access to their employees in ways that contradict our new California laws, they subject themselves to actions by my office. We will prosecute those who violate the law.

"Note how he and the other California Democrats who led the ignoble charge to make California a “sanctuary state” are being cute in their use of the word “voluntary.” They argue their plan does not violate federal immigration laws because it doesn’t prevent anyone from following federal law. No, they claim, the new California law simply requires an American citizen wishing to obey said federal laws to do so only upon federal compulsion.

"Doing so to shield illegal immigrants, Becerra and California Democrats have made it a state crime for Americans to voluntarily obey federal law. And, an obeisant press bows before the “fairness” and “justice” of this injurious insanity, all the while these Leftist political hacks violate citizens’ rights to voluntarily comply with federal law." . . .

Sacramento Democrats Fire on Fort Sumter . . .

The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says politicians who run sanctuary cities should be charged with crimes. Thomas Homan said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto that the Department of Justice needs to file charges against municipalities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration authorities and deny them funding. He also says politicians should be held “personally accountable” for crimes committed by people living in the U.S. illegally. Homan says, “We’ve got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes.”

. . . "Now California Democrats—as radical a group of anti-Americans as you will find in this country, whether legal or “undocumented”—have again fired on Fort Sumter. " . . .

How illegal immigrant Dreamers amassed power to force government shutdown  "Democrats called it the Trump shutdown. Republicans labeled it the Schumer shutdown. But in reality, it was the Dreamer shutdown.

"The recipe for the current congressional gridlock is complex, but at the top of the list of ingredients are the illegal immigrant Dreamers who pushed Democrats to launch the filibuster that sent the government careening into a partial shutdown.

"It’s a stunning display of political leverage for a group that, at most, numbers several million, can’t vote now, and even under the most generous proposals wouldn’t be able to cast ballots for another decade.

"Yet they have amassed an extraordinary amount of power, comparable to the much larger tea party movement that helped precipitate the last shutdown in 2013.

"In the wake of Friday’s shutdown vote in the Senate, which dozens of Dreamers watched from the public viewing galleries, they claimed victory." . . .

Democrats Fear Debate about Dreamers Will Pivot to One on ‘Chain Migration'    

The more Americans focus on immigration policy, the worse the Democrats will look.

"No one knows when the government shutdown will be ended, but it’s increasingly likely that Democrats will rue the day they launched it. “I’m concerned that we don’t have an exit strategy,” one Democratic aide for a liberal senator told NBC News on Sunday. He went on to say: “This is a question of who’s going to flinch first.” 
"One reason Democrats are nervous is that the longer the shutdown goes on, the longer voters will start to realize the Democrats are fighting not so much for the Dreamers — people brought to this country as children by adults who entered illegally — but for the concepts of “chain migration” and the “diversity lottery,” which have done so much to warp our immigration policy and make it a shambles." . . .

Compare and contrast: A tale of two government shutdowns

Monica Showalter  "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has been spotted quietly picking up trash at the National Mall and helping busloads of schoolchildren tour and understand the World War II monument in its vicinity, all in the wake of Friday's government shutdown led by Democrats in Congress.
"He's doing so without pay and as other employees are placed on furlough. The Daily Caller has the scoop:

“We’re not putting up barricades,” Zinke told The Daily Caller in an interview. “Absolutely not. We’re passing out brochures until we run out of brochures. I’ll be out here everyday.”

"That's an admirable response of a dedicated public servant and among Republicans, he's not the only one. Several Republicans in Congress, (along with one Democrat), are insisting on going without paychecks until this government shutdown, which deprives military troops in the field of pay, is resolved.

"How different this government shutdown is compared to the 2013 shutdown during the Obama years, when Obama officials, who were then in power, rammed it right into the public's face to make sure voters bore the brunt of the pain. They wanted the public to suffer. They shut national parks, placed barriers on the World War II monument, (the same one Zinke is leading tours on), refusing to allow old veterans who traveled a continent their chance to see the monument that their great heroism merited. 

"They did other disgusting things, such as forcibly (and at high cost) shut down private businesses on national park land, effectively expropriating their earnings, once again to drive the point home that the shutdown was bad and Republicans were to blame. They politicized the shutdown, too, keeping hot towels for themselves at their gym while fining joggers who ran through national parks. The Mall of course was shut down - except for an illegal alien rally. As I wrote here when I was an editorial writer at Investor's Business Daily:

This is not the first time the federal government has shut down because of conflict between a president and a Congress. But it is the first time its armed agents have been told from on high to make things as painful as possible for ordinary people, while their rulers and their pet causes are exempted.

"They held the public hostage in a bid to get them to blame the Republicans and advance their own political ends, lolling in their comforts.

"Republicans, by contrast, are now working together to alleviate the inconvenience to the public and minimize the pain to the most vulnerable. Democrats sought to step up the pain, commissar-style. Republicans are now seeking to soften it.

"As midterm elections approach, it calls attention to who really is fit to rule in the U.S. legislature. We see the shutdowns side by side and can legitimately ask, who really cares about the public?"

The Obama Administration’s ‘Brazen Plot To Exonerate Hillary Clinton’ Starting To Leak Out, According To Former Fed Prosecutor

Daily Caller

"A former federal prosecutor says the truth is starting to seep out about the Obama Administration’s “brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton” and “frame an incoming president with a false Russian conspiracy,” according to an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

"Joe diGenova, a former federal prosecutor, connects the dots on former Obama administration Justice Department and FBI officials who may have “violated the law, perhaps committed crimes” to politicize law enforcement and surveillance against political opponents.

" 'He says former FBI Director James Comey conducted a fake criminal investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as they “followed none of the regular rules, gave her every break in the book, immunized all kinds of people, allowed the destruction of evidence, with no grand jury, no subpoenas, no search warrants. That’s not an investigation. That’s a Potemkin village. It’s a farce.” 

"DiGenova condemned the FBI for working so closely with the controversial Fusion GPS, a political hit squad paid by the DNC and Clinton campaign to create and spread the discredited Steele dossier about President Donald Trump. Without a justifiable law enforcement or national security reason, he says, the FBI “created false facts so that they could get surveillance warrants. Those are all crimes.” He adds, using official FISA-702 “queries” and surveillance was done “to create a false case against a candidate, and then a president.' ” . . .

Chuck Schumer In 2013: If Dems Shut Down The Government Over Immigration That Would Be ‘A Politics Of Idiocy’

Hot Air

"This quote so perfectly sums up Democratic hypocrisy on the shutdown that when I first heard it being quoted by House Speaker Paul Ryan I wondered if it was real. But as you’ll see in a moment, it is real. Back in 2013, Sen. Chuck Schumer was giving an interview to Jake Tapper about the government shutdown which lasted for 16 days in October of that year. Tapper asked whether Democrats in the Senate had taken too hard a line with Republicans.

“ 'It was not a hard line on the substantive issues,” Schumer replied. He continued, “It was a hard line saying, unless I get my way I’m going to shut the government down, I’m going to risk default for the nation. Now anyone can do that." . . .

American Silliness: Jan 21, 2018

California City Leaders Wasted $10 Million Buying ‘Green’ Police Cars They Don’t Use. Democrats

Mallard Fillmore

Pelosi to Appear on ‘Drag Race’ Reality Show as Guest Judge "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is set to appear as a guest judge on the VH1 drag queen reality show "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars."

"Pelosi is a long-time fan of  the reality show competition, which is hosted and produced by drag queen RuPaul Andre Charles, the Washington Post reported.  

"Pelosi’s district includes San Francisco, which has been a long time "safe place" for members of the LGBT community. " . . .

Founder Of A Silicon Valley Startup Called Middle America “A S- -t-Hole With Stupid People” . SalenaZito ‏tweeted:

1 yr ago Melinda Byerley, founder of a Silicon Valley startup called Middle America "a s- -t-hole w/ stupid people"

Women’s March: Are We Watching A Movement Or Just Group Therapy For Trump Haters? . . . However, the Tea Party movement didn’t stop at the rallies. They quickly rolled up their sleeves and got to work, putting aside their differences with their own party and often volunteering at local GOP headquarters, signing up for campaigns, knocking on doors and mobilizing “Get Out the Vote” efforts.
"Unlike the Women’s March, the Tea Party movement’s swift action yielded instantaneous results that were impressive; record-breaking, in fact." . . .

Business Owner? Get Out of California NOW!  "If you’re a business owner you are doomed in California. The state is going to fail because of the lunatic leadership, and you are going to be who they rob in order to try and save their sinking ship."
"Get out NOW!"

Cory Booker completely loses it at DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
Or made an energetic performance for the liberal press.

. . . "The senator then proclaimed that "tens of millions" of Americans are "hurting" over the word.  Booker said he himself experienced "tears of rage" when Durbin called him to report the president's alleged vulgarity.

"Booker's feigned emotional breakdown over a word he has heard many times as mayor of Newark was laughable.

"Booker then rolled out the "white supremacy" charge, with examples of white criminals and their crimes, as if Nielsen, by the fact of her skin color, had committed them.

"The senator's fake outrage and predictable race-baiting do not lessen the seriousness of threatening and harassing a female Cabinet member.

"Booker's lunatic bellowing requires a mental health examination."

By M. Catharine Evans

Obama Mocked Trump’s Political Ambitions. Trump Spent His First Year Dismantling Obama’s Legacy

Obama Mocked Trump’s Political Ambitions. Trump Spent His First Year Dismantling Obama’s Legacy  "As president, Barack Obama repeatedly mocked Donald Trump’s political ambitions, laughing at the idea of Trump ever winning the presidency.

"Obama mocked Trump in 2011 for calling into question whether he was born in America. The state of Hawaii later released Obama’s longform birth certificate to put the matter to rest. Obama viciously mocked Trump for the controversy, before mocking the idea of Trump ever serving in the White House.
. . .

"A year into the Trump presidency, Obama’s legacy is taking a beating.

"Trump has overseen the dismantling of several of Obamacare’s most controversial aspects. The tax cuts package Trump signed last month included a provision repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate. Trump also rolled back the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, which forced religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide birth control for all employees, regardless of conscientious objections.

"Trump’s Department of Education rolled back several measures that conservatives had decried as federal overreach. The Trump administration repealed the Obama-era mandate that required all public schools to implement transgender bathroom policies and speech codes. The Trump administration also revoked a legally dubious Title IX guidance that regulated sexual assault proceedings on college campuses.

"In July, Trump announced the United States would be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, which Trump blasted as a threat to American sovereignty. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled back the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule, which drastically increased federal regulations of streams, and repealed the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which increased environmental regulations on coal-fired plants. Trump approved both the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines that Obama had rejected.

"Last month, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled back the Obama-era Net Neutrality policy that increased federal regulation of the Internet.

"Trump’s foreign policy has made for a similar contrast with Obama’s. (RELATED: Five Ways Trump’s New National Security Strategy Is A Rejection Of Obama’s)

No Barrycades! Sec. Zinke Will Spend The Government Shutdown Ensuring The WWII Memorial, National Parks, Stay Open

Weasel Zippers

"No Barrycades this time. Just one more demonstration of how Obama had no problem hurting people for his political agenda."

"Via Daily Caller:

The government might be shut down Saturday morning, but that did not stop Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke from doing his job.

Early in the morning, Zinke could be found cleaning up trash on the National Mall and welcoming tours of schoolchildren to the World War II memorial with a smile.

“We’re not putting up barricades,” Zinke told The Daily Caller in an interview. “Absolutely not. We’re passing out brochures until we run out of brochures. I’ll be out here everyday.”[…]

n the first hours of the government shutdown Secretary Zinke was making plans for how to keep America’s public parks open. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Zinke met with public affairs and maintenance staff to run through a plan to keep memorials on the National Mall open. He then spoke with garbagemen who will be picking up trash on the Mall one last time before the city of D.C. takes over for them.

Zinke then got into his car and drove to the WWII memorial to greet visitors and hand out maps and helped with directions. “I spent the morning walking around, giving brochures out,” Zinke said. “I got a lot of thanks from both sides of the aisle. We will not weaponize our public lands.”

“The visitor experience will be diminished,” Zinke admitted, noting that some museums and public service will take a hit during the shutdown. “But to the degree possible, we will keep our public lands open. They should not be used as a political weapon.”

Zinke said public parks, monuments and the battlefields “belong to the people and not the government,” and noted that people will see a “significant difference” between the Trump administration and Obama’s in the way public lands are managed during a shutdown.

Keep reading…

From 2013: Obama barricades Lincoln Memorial unlike during 1995 “shutdown”  "Morgen Richmond, of the former Verum Serum blog, has been doing great research on the closure of parks and monuments in Washington, D.C. by Obama and the Democrats, revealing rank hypocrisy and mean-spiritedness.

"For example, The White House now claims that it needed to erect barricades at the WWII Memorial to keep out vistors, including a group of visiting WWII veterans, because parks service personnel know how to perform CPR.  (Seriously, that’s the claim.) " . . .

. . . The Barry-cades should be the symbol of this “shutdown” — political opportunism by Obama and the Democrats in Congress who create unnecessary photo-ops, even if it means ambushing visiting WWII veterans and ordinary citizens in order to protect special Obamacare privileges enjoyed by members of Congress.  . . .

Called by some a "veangeful narcissist".   "A top-secret memo that has been released to members of Congress, but still is being withheld from the American public, characterizes Barack Obama as “the vengeful narcissist” and alleges surveillance abuses by his administration" . . .

The Trump shutdown compared with the Obama shutdown

Here’s what happens now that the federal government shut down

Post officeThe US Postal Service is an independent agency of the federal government. Post offices will not be affected. Mail will continue to be delivered.
Social SecurityChecks will still be in the mail. But new applications will not be processed until the shutdown ends.
National parksUnlike the last shutdown, some plan to remain open. Those with safety or staffing issues will close.
Museums and monumentsYou will have to cancel that visit to the Statue of Liberty, Lincoln Memorial and other well-known sites. The Smithsonian and the National Zoo plan to stay open for the weekend, but shut starting Monday.
TravelAirports will stay open. During the last shutdown, more than 14,000 air traffic controllers were ordered to keep working without pay. In a worst-case scenario, delays might be encountered depending on which employees are deemed “non-essential.”
PassportsIf you need one, hurry up. Passport services will end within a short time depending on when funding runs out.
Immigration servicesMost employees of the Department of Homeland Security are considered essential and will remain on the job. Immigration services are mostly self-funded, so those offices will continue operating.