Friday, July 11, 2014

Obama Talks to Netanyahu—Did Bibi Tell Barry to Stuff It?

Roger L. Simon   From the JPost:
The United States is prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US President Barack Obama told Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu by phone today.
In the call, Obama “reiterated the United States’ strong condemnation of continuing rocket fire into Israel by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself against these attacks,” the White House said in a readout of the conversation.
But Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire with Hamas in the short-term. On the contrary, the Israeli leader has vowed a series of additional stages to Operation Protective Edge—his government’s response to continued rocket fire on Israeli towns and cities, after Hamas, a terrorist organization, stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets in the coastal territory over the last several years.
A ceasefire is “not even on the agenda,” Netanyahu told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, just hours before his call with the US leader.
...
"I’m confused. Weren’t “progressives” supposed to be for religious freedom and opposed to misogyny,  homophobia and theocracy? Oh, well.  Maybe I was misinformed.
Enough already.  Bibi, it’s up to you.  Western civilization’s last stand.

"We should all be encouraging Netanyahu now, lining up behind him, no matter what our smaller biases. He needs friends at home and abroad.  So do the Israeli soldiers. Even though I am not religious, I will be praying for them."

Rocket Strikes Sderot Day Care Center, No One Hurt
 
 
Meanwhile, at Obama's base of voters:    ... "In the United States, so-called “peace groups” continue to advocated boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel and blame Israel for the current conflict. No BDS effort is directed toward Gaza; to the contrary, they demand that the obviously insufficient blockade intended to keep weapons out of Gaza be lifted." ...Jennifer Rubin

UPDATED: Netanyahu Not Interested In Obama’s Offer To Negotiate Cease-Fire, Says Deal With Hamas “Not Even On The Agenda”…

Weasel Zippers  ... "But Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire with Hamas in the short-term. On the contrary, the Israeli leader has vowed a series of additional stages to Operation Protective Edge— his government’s response to continued rocket fire on Israeli towns and cities, after Hamas, a terrorist organization, stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets in the coastal territory over the last several years.

"A ceasefire is “not even on the agenda,” Netanyahu told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, just hours before his call with the US leader."

UPDATE: Bibi says 'no thanks' to Obama offer to broker cease fire with Hamas
[Caroline Glick] believes that Hamas is encouraged to keep up the attacks because of rhetoric like this and it's hard to argue with her. The president and State Department offer soothing words of support to shore up their Jewish base while savaging Israel in international forums in order to placate Muslims. This is why Bibi hates Obama and considers him a feckless ally.

History Repeating Itself: Obama has Sold out Israel Just Like Chamberlain Sold out Czechoslovakia    "A Decisive Chamberlain-Obama “Appeasement” Moment 

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”   Winston Churchill

"Just as Chamberlain fed Czechoslovakia to the hungry Nazi alligator to appease it, isn’t that what Obama has done–fed Israel to the hungry Islamist alligator, Iran?" 

Q: When is Obama going to take responsibility for something? A: When ….

Where Is Obama’s Border Policy? A serious president would push to eliminate the Central American loophole in our immigration laws.

 Charles Krauthammer   ... "There is no logic. Just a quirk of the law — a 2008 law intended to deter sex trafficking. It mandates that Central American kids receive temporary relocation, extensive assistance and elaborate immigration/deportation proceedings, which many simply evade.

"This leniency was designed for a small number of sex-trafficked youth. It was never intended for today’s mass migration aimed at establishing a family foothold in America.
"Stopping this wave is not complicated. A serious president would go to Congress tomorrow proposing a change in the law, simply mandating that Central American kids get the same treatment as Mexican kids, i.e., be subject to immediate repatriation.

"Then do so under the most humane conditions. Buses with every amenity. Kids accompanied by nurses and social workers and interpreters and everything they need on board. But going home.

"One thing is certain. When the first convoys begin rolling from town to town across Central America, the influx will stop." ...   More at NRO
 
... "He did, however, reluctantly agree to a hastily-arranged meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry to talk about the growing emergency. Well, not actually talk, but listen. Okay, he didn't listen either - but at least he was in the room - giggling - long enough to get a picture taken..." obama, obama jokes, political, cartoon, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, immigration, crisis, texas, illegal, aliens

"Things you can do at #hobbylobby #keepyourrosariesoffmyovaries #prochoice."

Althouse    More at "Crafty activists are trolling Hobby Lobby by rearranging in-store craft displays to spell ‘pro-choice’" in The Washington Post.
Shea’s fans — actress Wendi McLendon-Covey and columnist Dan Savage among them — have lauded the stunt as a clever, light-hearted way to draw attention to women’s health and the Hobby Lobby case. Her critics, meanwhile, have dismissed it as childish and misguided, less sticking it to “the man” and more inconveniencing a bunch of frazzled, innocent store employees....

pro-choice hobby lobby
 
In either case, what Shea terms a “protest” or a “prank” is almost indistinguishable from trolling — provoking annoyance and fury, merely to infuriate and annoy. That’s not a criticism, but it’s certainly an intriguing commentary on the state of political discourse these days. We have reached a point where the end-game, perhaps necessarily, isn’t to convert hearts and minds — it’s just to make some noise.

 "1.  "Pro-choice" is the wrong word in the context where the business owners resisted being denied the choice about covering birth control and where that resistance is premised on their religion which they have the right to choose. Those who don't like the choices the business owners have made have the choice to shop elsewhere.

"2. The pranksters are taunting those who have taken a strong stand based on religion. Are we really going to taunt people about religion? If you're inclined to say yes, do you really mean it, across the board for all religions, or is this a special willingness to taunt Christians? If it's special for Christians, why is that? Is it because you think it's okay to taunt what you think is the dominant group? If Christians like the ones your protesting against really were dominant, we shouldn't, in a democracy, end up with laws forcing them to do things against their conscience, so I'd say, the existence of the birth control mandate is evidence that they are not the dominant group, in which case, you're harassing a minority. Why would you do that? Is it that you feel safe picking on Christians?"
Some comments to this story:
  "Uh... because Christians don't tend to kill you when you prank them? 

..."Such HL protests by the post-Marxist Left are not about presenting a rational discourse for the public to mull over & hopefully, support. They seek not to refute, but to make opposing viewpoints "un-thinkable' " ...

..."Everyone feels safe picking on Christians because there are no consequences for doing so. You won't find a similar relish for picking on Muslims, because there is a distinct tendency to riots and slit throats when the "prophet" is maligned (or even depicted). That is certainly an interesting set of incentives to be pushing, isn't it? "

...Michael said (I hasten to add) :
 "There are an uncommon number of fat, tattooed women with a cause. As they degrade their bodies there seems to be a collateral degradation of brain cells. They are very unattractive. Their ideas are sophomoric. Stunts like this are asinine. She is not a customer of the store and making fun, as she is, of both the company and its customers is not a smart or winning strategy.

"She should save her "creativity" for new tattoo ideas. "  
I did a search of "pictures pro choice protests at muslim stores". What do you think came up?  Bupkis

Same for this search: "pictures pro choice protests at islamic centers". One link was to the protest against the Muslim victory mosque at Ground Zero, but not a pro-choice activist anywhere. I'm sure the pro-choice crowd thought that Ground Zero issue was due to intolerance.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

VD Hanson: Are Obama’s Advisers Unhinged?

President Barack Obama illegal immigrants illegal aliens Mexicans Mexico Hispanics Texas immigration fund raising
 
Full article by Victor Davis Hanson   "Surely reports that President Obama is going down to Texas at the height of the Katrina-like border debacle to raise money at the home of the popular but often polarizing filmmaker and Quentin Tarantino–collaborator Robert Rodriguez are the stuff of right-wing mythology?
 
"No one could be so politically dense as to head south in the direction of this catastrophe only to pull up short to huckster campaign funds — while under a lingering cloud that such special-interest money solicitation in the past typically has taken precedence over national security (cf. the need to retire early on the night of Benghazi in order to prep for an important fundraiser the next day in Las Vegas, where the selfish go to blow their kids’ tuition money).

"That the Obama money-raiser is purportedly being hosted by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez also cannot be true. The latter is famous for ultra-violent exploitation films of just the sort that gun-control liberals have insisted glorify (true) assault-weapon violence for profit and influence the deranged to translate such violent fiction into murderous fact.
Political Cartoons by Dana Summers
"More disturbing at this volatile time of national tensions on the border is the fact that Rodriguez directed the Machete andMachete Kills movies, which offered cheap exploitation about the immigration debate, caricaturing any who disagreed with the present policy of non-enforcement as more or less evil, Neanderthal-like racists and demented militiamen worthy of death (cf. the pseudo/spoof racist trailer for one of the films that envisioned killing border-enforcement politicians).
 
"What would the media have thought if George W. Bush went to Louisiana during Katrina only to avoid New Orleans and the devastation, instead raising campaign cash (at $32,000 a head) at the home of a right-wing filmmaker of violent films that tended to glorify gunplay and to reduce controversies over disaster relief into caricatures of culpable dependents?
 
"In short, it would be impossible to dream up a worse mercenary presidential trip — in terms of morally indifferent omission and self-interested commission — at this critical time than what Obama supposedly now intends.
 
"Surely, the junket will be canceled out of embarrassment or quietly recalibrated — or perhaps the entire story about the trip is simply an urban legend."
Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

Alan Caruba asks: How Intelligent are Americans?

Warning Signs

 
"The segments when Jay Leno would take to the street to ask Americans questions about things that one would expect them to know and those when Jesse Watters of the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News does the same thing invariably suggest that those interviewed are appallingly stupid. But how representative are they of the population?
"The voters who reelected President Obama despite a first term that included all his policies that put the nation at jeopardy apparently made no connection between those facts and his competence. Voters who stayed home demonstrated indifference.
....
After much insightful commentary, Mr. Caruba concludes with this:
 
"To that extent, I wait impatiently for the results of the forthcoming November midterm elections. Stupid Americans will vote for more of the same. Intelligent ones will vote for change."

 
 

Obama’s ‘Man-Caused’ Disaster

Politico

Rick Perry and Barack Obama are shown. | AP Photo
... "The first rule in a crisis for any executive is put on your windbreaker and your boots and get out on the ground. President George W. Bush didn’t do it soon enough after Hurricane Katrina and, politically, could never make up for it, no matter how many times he visited New Orleans subsequently. Obama’s bizarre resistance to visiting the border on his fundraising swing out West fueled talk of the influx as Obama’s “Katrina moment.”

"The Katrina analogy is both over the top and too generous. It is over the top because the border influx isn’t a deadly catastrophe swallowing an American city. It is too generous because Bush didn’t do anything to bring on Hurricane Katrina, whereas Obama’s policies are responsible for the influx of immigrants from the border. It is, in the argot of his administration, a “man-caused disaster.' ”... Read more:
Rich Lowry.
 

Tea Party: Learn From Al Gore

Ann Coulter   "Chris McDaniel, candidate for the U.S. Senate from Mississippi, lost the Republican runoff to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran last month, and now he is being led down a primrose path to political oblivion. McDaniel's passionate supporters think that a moment of crisis for the country is a good time to treat control of the Senate as if it's a prom queen election.
"Hoping for yet a third primary vote, McDaniel's crew is going to prevent him from having any political career, ever again."Observe that no one is asking Al Gore to run again, except maybe his cardiologist. Even in cases of actual vote fraud, history shows that the contesting politicians get branded as sore losers and destroy their political careers. Better to be magnanimous and live to fight another day.Here are a few examples:"   Full article...

OBAMA’S GOONS:SILENCING/THREATENING INTELLIGENCE WHISTLEBLOWERS-SHUT UP, OR ELSE.FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN CROSSHAIRS!

Anita Kutniki
Which makes me wonder; Whose brilliant idea was
it to make the Democrats blue instead of giving them
the red? Red has been the color of socialism  for 
 a century.
 
... "YET, the handwriting has been on the wall, for heavens sake, too many times to count. Never mind…
RECOUNT ONE:

"DO readers recall the recent plight of a concerned parent, a former prosecutor no less, who was arrested at a school board meeting in New Hampshire, all for the “crime” of questioning the (mis)educators of his 14 yr old daughter? Well, when the fish stinks from the head up, those in positions of authority, whether local school boards or what not, feel freer to bring down the hammer, to silence, if disagreed with! Can you imagine? Is this America, or a third world tyranny?
RECOUNT TWO:"   ..... Keep reading...
 
 
 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

 
 NBC News' Chuck Todd: Obama administration looks like it's 'struggling to run the government'     "An MSNBC  (wait!....what??) panel suggested Wednesday that the myriad of scandals surrounding the White House have finally overwhelmed top Obama officials, giving off the sense that the administration is “struggling to run the government.' ”  Video.

Dem. Rep. Henry Cuellar Rips Obama: 'Aloof,' 'Bizarre,' and 'Detached'   

 
... "He's so close to the border. And let me say this: when I saw, and I hate to use the word bizarre, but under the circumstances, when he is shown playing pool in Colorado, drinking a beer, and he can't even go 242 miles to the Texas border, and plus, if he doesn't want to go down to the border, there's the Air Force Base where HHS is holding some of the young kids from the border. He could at least make that trip to San Antonio, but again, border community leaders wants to see him down there on the border, and I think the optics and the substance of it is that he should show up at the border," said Cuellar.

"And he had some advice for the White House."If they are worried about putting a face, the president's face, to this human crisis, humanitarian crisis, I think it's worse if he doesn't even show up. Either way, he's going to be tied into this humanitarian crisis. he either can roll up his sleeves and go down to the border, or he can just look aloof and detached and not go to the border, send surrogates down there, and say that he's got everything under control."
Political Cartoons by Jerry Holbert

"He adds, "It Just floored me, because if he's saying he's too busy to go to the border but you have time to drink beer, play pool."
The president was in Colorado last night -- drinking beer and playing pool.

Democrats; the party of demagogues, Occupiers. Larry Flynt, Harry Reid, and Mike Dickinson; doing what they do best.

This is not our father's Democrat Party. Conservatives, do not do things like this; we have to be better than liberals.

Mike Dickinson, the Virginia liberal Democrat, offers reward for nude photos of hunter-cheerleader Kendall Jones
Virginia Democrat Mike Dickinson offers $100,000 reward for nude photos of hunter Kendall Jones.
Kendall Jones/Facebook via CBS News
 
"Mike Dickinson, the Virginia liberal Democrat seeking the House seat currently held by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., despite not being on the ballot, offered a $100,000 reward for nude photos and videos of Kendall Jones, the 19-year-old Texas Tech cheerleader who recently made news with a series of hunting photos on her Facebook page.
 
" 'I have 100k to anyone who has nude photos or videos of #kendalljones at Texas tech (sic)," Dickinson tweeted. "She deserves to be a target."
...
Dickinson's campaign, if one can even call it that, has consisted primarily of unhinged, inappropriate rants on Twitter, attacking critics and declaring war on those with whom he disagrees, which is pretty much anyone to the right of Josef Stalin. He routinely refers to members of the Tea Party as terrorists, saying in a recent tweet that a "dead teabagger is a good teabagger."
 
More on Dickinson here: Va. Dem. says he wants to 'decimate' Christians, 'eradicate' Tea Party    " 'Said it proudly! Want to decimate the tea party, the NRA, bible thumpers, and Fox News zombies? Vote for me," he tweeted."

More on this subject as pertaining to Democrats: