The VA’s shame continues as probes confirm treatment delays weren’t a Mickey Mouse problem

Video at the link. But this is a video of Obama from eight years ago addressing the problems of the VA:

Circa  "With Memorial Day coming up, we take time to honor the members of our military, but a new report shows that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is still failing our service men and women. 

"When allegations first surfaced about long wait times for U.S. military veterans seeking treatment at Veterans Affairs medical facilities, the Obama administration sought to put the best spin on things. 

"President Obama himself suggested that, while embarrassing, the problems weren’t a matter of life and death. “The wait times were for folks who may have had chronic conditions, were seeking their next appointment but may have already received service. It was not necessarily a situation where they were calling for emergency services,” he said.
. . . 

"The problems included:

+18 of 25 sterile satellite storage areas for supplies were dirty;
+The facility lacked an effective inventory system for managing the availability of medical equipment and supplies;
+There was no system to ensure that supplies and equipment that were subject to patient safety recalls were not deployed on patients;
+The facility failed to fill numerous and critical open senior staff positions

Tim Kaine’s Son Charged For Being Part Of Anarchist Attack On Trump Rally In March

Weasel Zippers

Resistance…

"Via Minn:

The son of a Democratic U.S. senator and seven others have been charged after smoke bombs and pepper spray were used at a pro-Donald Trump rally inside the Minnesota Capitol in March.

Linwood Michael Kaine, 24, of Minneapolis, is charged with a gross misdemeanor and two misdemeanors, according to the St. Paul city attorney. He is a son of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Francis Thomas Sagermerek, of St. Paul, 29, and Anton William Bueckert, 26, of Ontario, Canada, with using tear gas to immobilize, a felony, and third-degree riot, a gross misdemeanor. Bueckert is also charged with felony-level obstructing legal process by interfering with a peace officer.

Keep reading…

What sort of things have been discussed around the Kaine family dinner table?

Exclusive: Manchester suicide bomber used student loan and benefits to fund terror plot

UK Telegraph  "The Manchester suicide bomber used taxpayer-funded student loans and benefits to bankroll the terror plot, police believe.

"Salman Abedi is understood to have received thousands of pounds in state 

funding in the run up to Monday’s atrocity even while he was overseas receiving bomb-making training. 

"Police are investigating Abedi’s finances, including how he paid for frequent trips to Libya where he is thought to have been taught to make bombs at a jihadist training camp.  
"It comes as Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said detectives had made “immense progress” in dismantling Abedi’s terror network."  . . . 

“All you have got to do is get yourself into university and then off you go. Often they have go no intention of turning up.”

Professor Anthony Glees, director of Buckingham University’s Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said: “The British system makes funds readily available to jihadist students without checks on them. There needs to be an inquiry into this.”

"The Government has previously admitted it has no idea how many terrorists could be using taxpayer funded benefits and student loans to finance their activities.

Two men were convicted at the end of 2016 of channelling thousands of pounds of fraudulent housing benefits to the Islamist fanatics behind the Paris and Brussels terrorist outrages.Mohamed Abrini, the Brussels terror suspect dubbed the ‘Man in the Hat’ received £3,000 in fraudulent housing benefit.

We must all show ourselves to be gentle and harmless so the terrorists will love us

The sweet, very nice Perry will hopefully win the hearts of these people:

"ISIS has released a sickening new video calling for 'all-out war' on Western 'infidels' at the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

"The terror group urges its 'brothers in Europe who can't reach the Islamic State lands' to attack people in 'their homes, their markets, their roads and their forums.'

"Its sickening video also defends the actions of suicide bomber Salman Abedi who slaughtered 22 people in an attack on Manchester Arena on Monday night. 

They just need to be hugged and loved: ISIS Warns: 'What Is Coming Is Tougher and Worse' for Christians

Katy Perry on Manchester Bombing: ‘No Barriers, No Borders, We All Just Need to Co-Exist’  . . . “ 'If this gets out to anyone, I just want to say that I love all of you out there and I just know that some of our fan bases kind of go both ways. Ari’s fans are my fans, and my fans are Ari’s fans.” Perry added. “Tell everyone, ‘I love you’ today.”

"Perry’s preference for no “borders” or “barriers” may come from her staunch opposition to President Donald Trump,  who promised during the 2016 campaign to build a security wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The singer was a vocal supporter of former Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, and previously marched in the anti-Trump Women’s March on Washington shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

"The 32-year-old star has subsequently entered a new era of “purposeful” pop music and established herself as a vocal member of the anti-Trump “Resistance” movement."  Anime Nazi Troll 3000 commented:

I look forward to Katy Perry's impassioned plea to co-exist with "Deplorables". ... oh, I forgot, leftists only preach tolerance when it helps bring down traditional Western and Judeo-Christian cultures and people.

Navy SEAL has three words for Katy Perry

From The Comical Conservative:

Why We Can’t Coexist With Radical Islam

"For years, the far-left has failed to see radical Islam as the threat that it really it is. Rather than support fully destroying this radical ideology, many leftists say that we need to better understand why those who support radical Islam have such hostility towards the rest of the world.
Well, cartoonist A. F. Branco has just blown up that mindset and has brilliantly pointed out that as long as radical Islam exists and continues to threaten the other religions of the world, we cannot coexist with this murderous ideology, especially after the numerous attack in Europe.
The only way to survive is for the rest of the world and the world religions to unite and weed out radical Islam and the danger it poses for our survival.

The Devil in One Generation

"Never in my life before have I actually been afraid for myself and my family simply for giving a political opinion.

American Thinker  . . . "Churchill said Fascism would take root in the West under the guise of anti-Fascism, but I digress.

"My real concern here is the rise of the radical left – those people who believe that their cause is so good that it justifies any means.  It's a rapidly growing idea and movement with a campaign to harass, intimidate, and threaten anyone who dares disagree with it.  This is the type of reactionary stuff that portends a shift toward tyranny.

"Never in my life before have I actually been afraid for myself and my family simply for giving a political opinion.

"This isn't the way it's supposed to work in the United States.  Elections bring new forces in, but there are things those victors can't do.  It's this system that maintains the peace and insures a free flow of ideas.  This is the system that has prevented tyranny since our founding.

"But in 2017, liberals at every level have decided that those rules (be they constitutional or local) just don't apply to them.  This has terrifying implications.  Calls for violence against those who disagree with the liberal narrative are becoming all too common, and not just in backwater channels of the internet." . . .

Jeremy Meister is a writer somewhere in the Midwest.

The Berkeley Antifa

. . . "The ‘Antifa’ dress in black, wear masks and resort to physical violence. They use force to silence those with whom they disagree. They consider anyone to the right of Lenin to be ‘Nazis,’ while they engage in brown shirted, Hitler-like tactics themselves. They are most likely funded by the globalist George Soros. His job is to stir up strife and conflict. He enjoys keeping populaces distracted by means of hate and violence while he and his ilk advance their plans for a one-world government.

"Once a haven for free speech, Berkeley has now become a giant safe space where uniform thinking is encouraged. After all, free speech is extremely dangerous. Why? Because it might hurt someone’s feelings!" . . .

When politicians assault interviewers

Gianforte should indeed be charged with assault if he did body slam anybody at all. Let the left alone be the violent ones. But now when we protest violence from the left against conservatives any of our protests will be met with this report.
Even if not, this act by Gianforte must be condemned on it's face for what it was.

What the heck happened with Greg Gianforte and that 'body slam'?

. . . "Look at the headlines: "Greg Gianforte wins Montana special election a day after being charged with assault" (ABC), "Republican Gianforte Wins Montana House Race Amid Assault Charge" (NPR), "Gianforte wins: Montana House candidate facing assault charge wins special election" (Fox). 

"So there's your narrative." . . .

. . . "But the Body Slam That Might Have Been says less about Greg Gianforte than it does about the media's creation and analysis of information, and about their self-worship.  What we should have is analysis we can debate based on a solid reporting foundation.  What we do have is analysis we're commanded to accept based on what some lady wearing a plastic badge kind of maybe saw from "behind a half closed door."  It's completely backward, and it speaks to why media credibility continues to decline – and why Greg Gianforte can shove? punch? grab? body-slam? who knows? a reporter and then win his seat.

(PS: For the latest round of "what if a Democrat had done it," Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit dug up a Dem House candidate (pictured, right) who assaulted a police officer and wonders where all the screaming headlines are.  But I suspect that in this case, the anti-Republican agenda is taking a backseat to media self-worship.  Cops don't buy ink by the barrel, but the JournoListers sure do, and those guys have to protect each other's glasses if there's to be peace in media land.)

Montana Voters Are Supportive Of Congressional Candidate Body Slamming A Reporter  "Several Montana voters like that Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body slammed a Guardian reporter, according to local reports. 

"Gianforte threw down reporter Ben Jacobs to the ground at a campaign event Wednesday night. This came the day before a special election in Montana where Gianforte has held a solid lead in the polls over Democrat Rob Quist.

"The Montana Republican was charged with misdemeanor assault by local police, but has denied Jacob’s version of the incident, saying that the reporter was aggressive and grabbed him by the wrist.

"MSNBC political correspondent Garrett Haake tweeted Thursday that a Gianforte voter told him, “I think reporters have it coming.” Haake tweeted yesterday that he told a gas station clerk about the incident and she replied, “My kind of politician.' ”

"The Billings Gazette editorial board wrote. “Everything he said was obliterated by his surprising actions that were recorded and witnessed Wednesday.”. . .

Peter Alexander 

✔@PeterAlexander

NEW: Source close to Gianforte campaign says it's raised $100K+ online in last 24 hours -- most of it coming after reporter "body slam."

Mona Charen: Stop Making Excuses for Greg Gianforte’s Assaulting a Reporter Charen is disturbed at the responses from Conservative commentators.

. . . "Greg Gianforte appears to be guilty not just of the attack, but of attempting to smear his victim. Note that he apologized to the people he had not wronged, but not to the one he had.

CNN Tries to Blame Trump for Incident Between Montana Candidate and Reporter The Don Lemon channel.

. . . Take a close look at what Washington Post reporter Karoun Demirjirian did. She began by saying that it is Democrats who are pointing the finger at President Trump for creating an anti-media culture. But by the end of her statement, she seems to adopt the Dem view as her own, saying that Trump “certainly creates an environment in which this is somehow okay to hate reporters and sometimes fists fly.” . . .

 Gianforte will be thrown in our faces when we protest leftist assaults like these:

Middlebury College Students Receive No Real Punishment for March Mob 
Attack
Berkeley Police arrest ‘professor’ as alleged antifa bike lock attacker
It was ever so:   Never Forget! Maxine Waters Embraced the Thug Who Slammed Concrete on Reginald Denny’s Head

"It all happened on video tape, a helicopter caught it, and it happened in Maxine Waters’ city. But she did not denounce the attack. On the contrary, she all but endorsed the attack."

Branco Cartoon – Focused Like Hawks

Legal Insurrection

Work requirements drop thousands in Georgia from food stamps

WISTV  . . . " More than half of food stamp recipients in 21 Georgia counties have been dropped from the program after the state instituted work requirements.

"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://bit.ly/2qYFi8Q ) state figures released this week reveal that 11,779 people considered able-bodied without children were required to find work by April 1 to continue receiving food stamps. Sixty-two percent were dropped after the deadline, whittling the number of recipients to 4,528.

"State officials began enforcing the work mandate in 2016, and plan to expand work requirements to all 159 counties by 2019. Around 1.6 million Georgia residents use food stamps, which are funded with federal dollars managed by the state Department of Family and Child Services.

"A DCFS spokeswoman says the department has offered help with job search and training to affected recipients.

"Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com"

Thousands Of Able-Bodied Adults In Georgia Drop From Food Stamp Rolls After Work Requirements Instituted…

Declassified memos show FBI illegally shared spy data on Americans with private parties

Video at this link:

Circa  "The FBI has illegally shared raw intelligence about Americans with unauthorized third parties and violated other constitutional privacy protections, according to newly declassified government documents that undercut the bureau’s public assurances about how carefully it handles warrantless spy data to avoid abuses or leaks."
. . . 
"Once-top secret U.S. intelligence community memos reviewed by Circa tell a different story, citing instances of “disregard” for rules, inadequate training and “deficient” oversight and even one case of deliberately sharing spy data with a forbidden party.

"For instance, a ruling declassified this month by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) chronicles nearly 10 pages listing hundreds of violations of the FBI’s privacy-protecting minimization rules that occurred on Comey’s watch.

"The behavior the FBI admitted to a FISA judge just last month ranged from illegally sharing raw intelligence with unauthorized third parties to accessing intercepted attorney-client privileged communications without proper oversight the bureau promised was in place years ago." . . .

Krauthammer: Why Middle East peace starts in Saudi Arabia

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first tempt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict."  -- Irving Kristol

 Charles Krauthammer  . . . "That progress began with Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, the first of his presidency -- an unmistakable declaration of a radical reorientation of U.S. policy in the region. Message: The appeasement of Iran is over.

"Barack Obama's tilt toward Iran in the great Muslim civil war between Shiite Iran and Sunni Arabs led by Saudi Arabia was his reach for Nixon-to-China glory. It ended ignominiously.

"The idea that the nuclear deal would make Iran more moderate has proved spectacularly wrong, as demonstrated by its defiant ballistic missile launches, its indispensable support for the genocidal Assad regime in Syria, its backing of the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, its worldwide support for terrorism, its relentless anti-Americanism and commitment to the annihilation of Israel." . . . 

. . . "After eight years of U.S. policy hovering between neglect and betrayal, the Sunni Arabs are relieved to have America back. A salutary side effect is the possibility of a detente with Israel." . . .

"Ironically, the Iranian threat that grew under Obama offers a unique opportunity for U.S.-Arab and even Israeli-Arab cooperation. Over time, such cooperation could gradually acclimate Arab peoples to a nonbelligerent stance toward Israel. Which might in turn help persuade the Palestinians to make some concessions before their fellow Arabs finally tire of the Palestinians' century of rejectionism.

"Perhaps that will require a peace process of sorts. No great harm, as long as we remember that any such Israeli-Palestinian talks are for show -- until conditions are one day ripe for peace." . . .

Liberal Bullies such as Christine Fair Threaten Free Speech

"A Georgetown professor provides the latest example."

National Review  . . . "The “Fair” referred to in this instance is Georgetown professor Christine Fair, who this week is being hailed in many quarters for confronting notorious “alt-right” leader Richard Spencer in a D.C.-area gym last weekend where he was working out alone. 

"According to Fair’s account in the Washington Post, she walked up to Spencer and accosted him, saying, inter alia, “I find your presence in this gym to be unacceptable, your presence in this town to be unacceptable.” When a woman who witnessed Fair’s challenge attempted to step in and stop her from verbally abusing Spencer, she told her, “You’re actually enabling a real-life Nazi.” (For the record, Spencer denies that he is a Nazi and refers to himself as an “identitarian.”) The general manager approached Fair and asked her to leave in response to her tirade. Afterward, when Spencer’s identity was revealed, his gym membership was revoked — while Fair, who even by her own account was harassing Spencer, went unpunished. (One should note that Christian bakers are not allowed to be so choosy about the clientele of their establishments.)

"Let’s stipulate that Richard Spencer is a man who has embraced values that are anathema to America’s, and that his vision is quite obviously not one that conservatives or Republicans share. But Fair publicly claims that Spencer’s very presence in the gym, because of his political views, creates an oppressive environment, which is a much more dramatic and potentially dangerous claim." . . . More

"If we won’t fight for the free speech of those who anger the Left, no matter how distasteful we find their views, because we are afraid that the Left will wrongly ascribe their views to us, then conservatives are little more than feeding red meat to the ravenous left-wing lion in vain hopes that they will be the last ones eaten. And the lion is getting stronger and hungrier.

Commentary: I confronted Richard Spencer at my gym. Racists don't get to lift in peace.  Christine Fair brags about her confrontation with Spencer.
It turns out Fair has also assaulted Dr. Robert Spencer (No relation to Richard Spencer), the jihad resistance leader and founder of Jihad Watch.

Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. His work has aroused the ire of the foes of freedom and their dupes: in October 2011, Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups wrote to Homeland Security Advisor (and current CIA director) John Brennan, demanding that Spencer be removed as a trainer for the FBI and military groups, which he taught about the belief system of Islamic jihadists; Brennan immediately complied as counter-terror training materials were scrubbed of all mention of Islam and jihad. 

‘F**K YOU. GO TO HELL’: Georgetown Prof Loses It On Muslim Trump Voter

"Asra Q. Nomani, a former Georgetown journalism professor and Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post Nov. 10 explaining why she, as a Muslim woman and “long-time liberal,” voted for Trump. “I support the Democratic Party’s position on abortion, same-sex marriage and climate change,” Nomani wrote. “But I am a single mother who can’t afford health insurance under Obamacare.' ” . . . 

"Fair’s personal website says “she can cause trouble in multiple languages,” and her YouTube features videos like “Introducing the Pussy Avenger” and “Tales of My Pussy.”  

"Other notable commentary on Fair’s public Facebook includes calling future first lady Melania Trump a “soft porn star,” lamenting that “gun nuts don’t shoot each other,” and supporting Black Lives Matter." . . .

Fair even has bile enough to spend on the First Lady:

What feelings she may have about Bill Clinton's life story remains to be seen.

Enabling Murder

Jewish World Review  "Damn these jihadist murderers of children. And damn the politicians who have, in many cases, helped make these murders possible but who are quick, this time and every time, to serve up empty declarations of "solidarity"even as the bodies of innocents are still being counted.

"London mayor Sadiq Khan (who recently dismissed terrorist attacks as "part and parcel of living in a big city"): "London stands with Manchester." Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer (who, in the wake of the Pulse nightclub massacre, proclaimed a CAIR-backed "Muslim Women's Day"­you know, the kind of event that proclaims hijabs "empowering"): Orlando "stands in solidarity with the people of the UK." L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti (who went berserk when Trump tried to impose that temporary travel ban from a half­ dozen Muslim countries): "Los Angeles stands with the people of Manchester." 

"Meaningless words, all of them. But Angela Merkel takes the cake: "People in the UK can rest assured that Germany stands shoulder to shoulder with them." Well, isn't that . . . reassuring. In what way do such words help anybody to "rest assured" of anything? 

"In any case, how dare she? This, after all, is the woman who opened the floodgates­ the woman who, out of some twisted sense of German historical guilt, put European children in danger by inviting into the continent masses of unvetted people from the very part of the world where this monstrous evil has its roots." . . .

I find it ironic that Germany, purportedly out of guilt over what they did to European Jewry and in penance open their doors for the very people who vow the destruction of those very people. Hitler even has a Muslim SS during the war. TD