Friday, April 20, 2018

Allied air strike on Syria socked the mullahs inside Iran, too

The U.S., U.K., and French air strikes also escalated the internal situation in Iran to further destabilize the Iranian regime, uniting the different factions of society in Iran.
This would not have happened under Obama, who bowed and apologized to dictators and who honored oppressive regimes over our own nation. The resistors here would have been thrown under the bus to face the tender mercies of Iran's mullahs. TD
See the source image

Hassan Mahmoudi  "U.S., U.K., and French forces launched air strikes targeting sites associated with Syria's chemical weapons capabilities, a reprisal for a chemical attack that killed at least 43 civilians and injured hundreds more.

"The decision to strike was aimed at cutting off the production and use of chemical weapons in the country.
"The assault was twice the size of a strike Mr. Trump ordered last year against a Syrian military airfield and hit two more targets.
"European Union countries, Canada, Australia, members of the Arab union, and Gulf countries have fully supported the air strike.  But among the few countries who condemned this attack, there was Iran, whose mullah dictators warned that there would be "consequences" for the region.
"Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said coordinated air strikes on Syria by the United States, France, and Britain on Saturday were a crime that would bring no benefit.
"The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also lashed out at the Western states that conducted the joint massive missile strike on targets in Syria and warned of "regional consequences."
"Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said the U.S.-led attack against Syria would lead to the destruction of the Middle Eastern countries.
"The bluster and heated rhetoric about "the region" were about par for the mullahs.  But the mullahs probably realize that it was really a strike against Iranian capacities in the region." . . .

. . . "According to the leading opposition group to the regime, the National Council of Resistance in Iran:
On April 17, 2018, thousands of people in the city of Kazerun demonstrated for the second day running in the city's main square. The merchants refused to open their shops. The protesters were chanting, "Our enemy is right here, but they keep saying it is America," "No fear, we are all together," "the movement will continue until we obtain our rights," "The protests, in which women played an active role, led to clashes with the security forces as the protesters tried to enter the Governor's Office.
. . .
Hassan Mahmoudi is a human rights advocate, specializing in political and economic issues relating to Iran and the Middle East.
 See the source image

Eric Holder for Prison, Not President

Run, Eric, run.  Go ahead; make our day.  Rumors of a Holder bid were not diminished by the news that he is headed for New Hampshire to attend an event considered a must for presidential contenders:
Daniel John Sobieski  "If President Trump could hand-select his 2020 Democratic opponent, he could do no better than former Obama attorney general Eric Holder, the only Cabinet official held in contempt of Congress for withholding documents in the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.  He is the poster child for the Deep State corruption that festered under Obama and the politicization of both the DOJ and FBI.
"The former A.G., who is arguably responsible for the homicide of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, murdered by guns Holder and Obama funneled to Mexican drug lords, is in fact considering such a bid:
Former Attorney General Eric Holder let the cat out of the bag Tuesday night during a visit to the very friendly confines of MSNBC, acknowledging he is "thinking" about a 2020 presidential run to challenge President Donald Trump.
MSNBC host Chris Hayes threw out the possibility of Holder running for the White House, hoping his guest would bite and he did just that – whether this was rehearsed beforehand or not is up to you to decide.
. . .
"Run, Eric, run.  Your campaign would be an opportunity to hold you and the president you served responsible for the lies about Fast and Furious, the withholding of documents under the guise of "executive privilege," something even extended to Holder's wife, and the entire cover-up of why Brian Terry had to die." . . .   Also here.

Fresno State University won’t — and cannot — punish professor for Barbara Bush tweets

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

BarbaraBushFEAT

. . . "Fresno State correctly acknowledges that Jarrar’s tweets were made as a private citizen. As such, and because they touched upon a matter of public concern, Jarrar’s tweets are unquestionably protected speech under the First Amendment and Fresno State has no power to censor, punish, or terminate Jarrar for them.
Photo added, TD
"It’s often said that the First Amendment doesn’t protect a speaker from the consequences of his words. That’s true to a certain extent. One who says something that offends others will often face consequences of some sort, whether it’s caustic criticism from people he offended, loss of private sector job opportunities, loss of membership in voluntary associations, and so on. But the First Amendment places limits on what consequences a government actor may impose in response to speech.
"As we’ve explained in response to another professor terminated for her public commentary, public universities are government actors bound by the First Amendment:
The law is well-established that employees of government institutions like [a public university] retain a First Amendment right to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern and may not be disciplined or retaliated against for their constitutionally protected expression unless the government employer demonstrates that the expression hindered “the effective and efficient fulfillment of its responsibilities to the public.” Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 150 (1983)Pickering v. Bd. of Ed., 391 U.S. 563 (1968).
. . .
Her pictured gesture has been endorsed by academics, late-night TV hosts and ex-presidents.


Americans Grapple With Evil Amid Decline in Religious Faith

Emilie Kao at Heritage 
The writer lists her key takeaways in this article:
  • "In modern-day America, few statements can raise eyebrows more swiftly than expressing faith in the transcendent.
  • "In a world where we can communicate globally and change the temperature of our homes, it is easy to believe that we have mastered our physical environment.
  • "As elites show increasing hostility to faith and regular Americans eschew traditional and moral frameworks, we may become increasingly blind to this dimension.

. . . "From Joy Behar mocking Vice President Mike Pence as mentally ill for believing that God guides him, to former President Barack Obama ridiculing “bitter” people who cling to guns or religion, the “enlightened” claim to have progressed past the simplistic explanations of those who still believe in the existence of good and evil.
"In a world where we can drive vehicles, communicate globally, and change the temperature of our homes with the touch of a finger, it is easy to believe that we have mastered our physical environment. Yet we are stumped when the age-old problem of evil rears its ugly head." . . .

How to ensure "never again" when so many are erasing Holocaust history?

Edwin Black


"The following is a transcript of Edwin Black’s April 11, 2018 keynote address in the Michigan Capitol Rotunda for that state’s official Holocaust Commemoration."
"Today, I come not just to mourn nor to scorn but rather to warn our world, that is, the world of today whose memories are still whistling and bristling with the torments and tribulations of a generation now passing before our eyes. But also, for the world of tomorrow — and the day after — pulsed by a generation whose torments and tribulations may yet be in store. The outrages are audible just over the horizon. But in many cases the horizon is speeding toward us like an unstoppable tsunami preparing to crash.

"Many of us dwell in the dark past hoping to immunize our future from the maniacal and ideological fires that immolated six million Jews and so many others— and left a world’s hands and souls smoke-singed in the process. The Holocaust was unique among history’s great cruelties, for it was a 12-year international persecution and murder machine perpetrated in the glare of broad daylight as well as the dim of night… emboldened by its own German Ministry of Propaganda advertising it and amid incessant media coverage that bled across the front pages of newspapers, crackled into regular radio reports, flickered in newsreels, and even saddened the whispers and diaries of children hiding in an Amsterdam attic. The world knew.
"With study, revelation, and investigation, many now understand how we got here. Make no mistake. The Germans did it. Their allies and accomplices did it. Hitler did it. 

"But Hitler had help. " . . .
. . . Lithuania has followed suit quickly with a pending amendment to its “Law on Consumer Protection” that would outlaw books critical of the country during the Holocaust—Lithuania where 90 percent of Jews perished, and many at the hands of their Lithuanian neighbors. These laws will be used by misguided programmers in Silicon Valley to avoid liability by simply quietly shutting out the history. 
 'What if a tree falls and no one hears the sound? What if six million people perish and no one is reminded?" . . .

DOJ turns over redacted Comey memos to congressional committees

See the source image
Legal Insurrection
Fox News  "The Justice Department on Thursday gave lawmakers redacted versions of five memos kept by former FBI Director James Comey to document meetings with President Trump, a congressional source told Fox News.

"The source told Fox News the memos were turned over to the House Judiciary, Oversight and Intelligence Committees following threats from Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to subpoena Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for failing to meet the deadline to submit the documents.

"In a statement to lawmakers, the Justice Department said it had redacted classified information in the memos, but would provide an unredacted version on Friday. 

"Goodlatte, House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had set a Monday deadline for the Justice Department to turn over the Comey memos.

"In a joint statement, the committee chairmen said the memos "are significant for both what is in them and what is not." . . .

Thomas LifsonApparently Comey didn't think through his book very carefully  "James Comey is in the process of destroying his credibility.  Perhaps the rush to cash in on his notoriety with a bestselling book led to a failure to consider the implications of what he wrote in light of his previous statements and positions.  But with the book now available and being carefully read by non-sycophants, certain self-contradictions are coming to light.  A Twitter account in the name of @RacySicilian has come up with doozy:

"When Comey tells ABC he knew Trump was doing something shady by arranging a private meeting, then describes Obama doing the EXACT SAME THING on page 148 of his book ðŸ™„#TotalBS#Racy4Trump#LiberalHypocrisy pic.twitter.com/jCL9iKVzMO
— Racyღ (@RacySicilian) April 17, 2018
"I don't think his previous career strategy – sucking up to superiors, stabbing rivals in the back, and manipulating public opinion – that served him well in the federal bureaucracy will be effective now that he is subject to intense public scrutiny and is being held to account for all the positions he has taken and people he has screwed over.  

"The chapter of his life currently underway will not end well for him."

Thursday, April 19, 2018

One Percent Chance Comey Not A Self-Dramatizing Fruitcake


Ann Coulter  "There have been a lot of questions about why Trump fired James Comey, ever since he announced to NBC's Lester Holt -- incomprehensibly -- that it was his decision, citing, by my count, at least a half-dozen different reasons. 

"On Sunday night, that question was answered. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Comey for showing the American people why he was so badly in need of firing.

"Interviewed on his new book, "Living in Truth," "The Dictates of My Conscience," "The Politics of Truth," "A Higher Loyalty," it quickly became apparent that one of Comey's favorite formulations is: I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether so-and-so sodomized a chicken. It's possible. I don't know.

"Here he is on ABC News, accusing Trump of hiring prostitutes to urinate on a hotel bed in Moscow (possibly -- I don't know):

" 'I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It's possible, but I don't know."

"And here he is on ABC accusing Trump of colluding with Russia:

" 'More words I never thought I'd utter about a president of the United States -- but it's possible [that he is compromised by Russia]. It is stunning, and I wish I wasn't saying it, but it's just -- it's the truth. ... It's possible."

"And here he is being interviewed by USA Today on Russian influence:

" 'I don't know [if President Trump has been compromised by the Russians]. And these are words I never thought would come out of my mouth about an American president, but it's possible. I'm not saying it's likely, I don't know, and the honest answer is it's possible.' "  . . .

In conclusion, Ms. Coulter considers:
I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the former director of the FBI carries 8-by-10 glossies of himself wherever he goes. It's possible. I don't know. 
Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Not a joke: Fortune names David Hogg and cohorts the world's greatest leaders of 2018

Are they making a case for teenagers to be allowed to vote?

Timothy Bishop


Monica Showalter  "It has a whiff of classic fake news: David Hogg and all his foul-mouthed little high school buddies who made headlines and raked cash from their calls for gun control in the wake of the Parkland shooting have been elevated to the number-one spot in Fortune magazine's annual list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders.

"Mike Allen at Axios got a sneak peek of the upcoming issue and reported it in his Vitals column this morning:
FORTUNE editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf: "If 2018 becomes the year that the United States finally begins to tackle its disease of gun violence ... it will be due not to the good sense of elected officials, but rather to the courage, tenacity, and sheer eloquence of students."
From the magazine's annual list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders:
  1. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools
  2. Bill and Melinda Gates, cofounders, The Gates Foundation
  3. The #MeToo Movement
  4. South Korea President Moon Jae-in
  5. Ken Frazier, Merck CEO
"Seriously?  Of all the world leaders on the global stage, they went for one famous for his petulance, immaturity, and string of losing causes?  Hogg and his buddies certainly knew how to make headlines for their gun control cause in the wake of the Parkland shooting, but cripes, this is a guy whose brand of "leadership" is to refuse to accept a  gracious apology from radio host Laura Ingraham and instead called for a nationwide boycott of her show over his...hurt feelings about not being able to get into a good college." . . .

Can you do this in the dark while hiding in a closet?

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Starbucks and the Race-Hustlers

M. Catharine Evans . . . "Khalif was one of the first agitators to rally protesters outside the Philadelphia Starbucks last week.  On April 15, he stood at the counter of the Starbucks with his bullhorn, demanding that the manager be fired.  The photo in the Yuma Sun is worth a look.  A white, male barista, actually working for a living, stands silent as Khalif proves why calls for "dialogue" and "conversation" with thugs are laughable.
"Khalif is Philadelphia's Al Sharpton.  A week after Krasner took office this past January, Khalif gathered up a dozen protesters to stand outside Krasner's office calling for the release of a prison inmate convicted for a 1991 murder.
"Khalif shouted:
We have a package for Larry Krasner, the district attorney that black and brown people got elected.  It's time to pay up.  We're here!  You ran on progressive change.  We're holding you to it.  We want Eric Riddick released immediately.
"Krasner, like Starbucks, thinks he can have a rational dialogue about his "unconscious bias" with a bunch of radical hoodlums like BLM.  When will these liberals ever learn?"

Starbucks’ Virtue Signaling Gets the Meme Treatment it Deserves
Black Lives Matter activist made famous, but probably not in the way he hoped


Black Lives Matter targeted the store where the two men were arrested and is calling for a boycott. A picture of Asa Khalif, a BLM activist, holding a bullhorn during a protest Sunday has made its way into internet meme lore in the best of ways.


Fake Starbucks coupons circulate online promising free coffee for black customers
. . . "The coupons, which feature images of Starbucks beverages, the brand's iconic color green and bar codes, appear to offer "people of color" or "African-American heritage" free drinks.
" 'This is completely false and in no way associated with Starbucks," a Starbucks spokeswoman told CNBC." . . .

Viral Video Of Black Man Demanding (And Getting) Free 'Reparations' Coffee From Starbucks Is Not What You Think "Political vlogger Bryan Sharpe, AKA "Hotep Jesus," filmed himself walking into a Starbucks and demanding free "reparations" coffee from a white barista in light of recent allegedly racist incidents involving black men at two of the company's stores. Sharpe did indeed receive the free coffee and the video quickly went viral online. In Twitter postings, Sharpe implored other black folks to tape themselves demanding free coffee, too, as part of the "#StarbucksChallenge."

"Sharpe's stunt, however, was not done to get free things by virtue of his skin tone and encourage others "entitled" to do the same, but to highlight how "white guilt" and "black privilege" got him free coffee, which, he says, is actually racist."

"Black privilege gets me free coffee. I love racism. Only in America," posted Sharpe, adding a #StarbucksChallenge hashtag to another tweet.

Situation Involving Fresno State Professor Gets Significantly Worse

Daily Wire


"The situation involving a professor at Fresno State University who rejoiced over the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush got a whole lot worse for the university after new tweets were discovered.
Added
"Professor Randa Jarrar ignited controversy with a series of offensive tweets celebrating the death of Bush and the pain that the family is experiencing as a result of her death. Jarrar even bragged about how much money she made as a tenured professor, saying, "I will never be fired."
"Jarrar has since locked her account after racist and anti-Semitic tweets were discovered.
" 'I can't wait for the old white guard of literary writers and 'critics' to die. Their time is f**king up, too," Jararr wrote." . . .
Added
"Jararr, who is Muslim and is a major supporter of the Palestinian state, also wrote, "we are sooooo much cooler than Israelis, don't at me b**ch.' "  . . .
Demented Professor Celebrates the Death of Barbara Bush
" . . .Her name is Randa Jarrar. Throw it up there. There it is. Throw it up… That is the professor flipping off the photographer with her middle finger. She’s not pregnant, by the way. That is a normal, everyday photo. This woman is a professor! This woman is teaching young skulls full of mush the drivel and the poison and the hatred that she harbors, and she went out and she said she is so happy.

"She is so happy. She says, “Either you are against these pieces of [excrement] and their genocidal ways or you’re part of the problem. That’s actually how simple this is. I’m happy the witch is dead. Can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way a million and a half Iraqis have. Bye,” and then she starts gloating about how she has tenure and nobody could do anything to her."
"They’re demented, they are deranged, and they’re getting worse. Twenty-five, 30 years ago when this program started, if anybody in public had wished somebody dead, it could get you fired. It could ruin your reputation. You would be shunned. You would become so stigmatized. Today, people on the left are applauded. They are supported, and they are effectively given medals for this kind of stuff. Her name again is Randa, R-a-n-d-a, Jarrar, J-a-r-r-a-r.
Will she be on "The View"?

/a>


TW posts scarce lately

I apologize for the few posts these past few days due to a shoulder injury.  Many thoughts run through my mind about items that need to be posted, but a 78-year-old shoulder seems to be slower healing and uncooperative. But don't forget us here.
The Tunnel Dweller.