Report Obama warned Tehran in 2015 of an Israeli plan to kill Soleimani

From the fertile imaginations of Babylon Bee: Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani  "WASHINGTON, D.C.—At a press conference held on Capitol Hill Friday, mourning Democrat leaders called for flags to be flown half-mast to honor the death of Qasem Soleimani.
"Flags were spotted flying at half-mast around the country, notably at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and in front of several celebrities' homes. The celebrities went out and bought an American flag for the first time just to fly it at half-mast for this important time of grief.
" 'The grieving process is painful but necessary," said Rep. Ilhan Omar. "As a nation, we need to stop and grieve this great, austere, revered religious scholar. He was one of the good ones."
"In a rare moment of unity with The Squad, Pelosi gave each of the girls a hug, telling them to just "let it all out" in their time of sadness.
"Ocasio-Cortez didn't seem to know what was happening but adjusted her glasses to look smart.
"A teary-eyed Barack Obama was also seen solemnly lowering the flag in front of his seaside mansion. "To think, this all could have been prevented with a few pallets of cash." "He sighed and stared off into the distance, a look of pain and regret on his face. "If only Trump had targeted a U.S. citizen with a drone strike instead.' " . . .

Independent Sentinel  "The Obama-Biden administration is accused of helping Soleimani achieve untold power in Iraq. Joe Biden allegedly forced out Soleimani’s competition and Barack Obama reportedly warned Iran of a plan to kill Soleimani.
"Joe Biden’s Role in Iraq
"Free Beacon reports that former vice president Joe Biden enabled recently assassinated Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani to push the United States out of Iraq and deliver the country into the hands of Iran.
"In 2010, as Iraq faced pivotal elections that decided the country’s direction, Soleimani went to great lengths to ensure Iranian-backed politicians won control of the government.
"During that time, then-vice president Biden called pro-America Iraqi politician Ayad Allawi to demand that he stop trying to form a government. That paved the way for Soleimani to orchestrate an Iranian takeover of the Iraqi political system, according to Free Beacon."
. . . 
"Barack Obama Is Accused of Warning Tehran
"In 2015, Barack Obama took a pass on killing Soleimani. Israel had a plan to kill him, allegedly.
"According to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida in January 2018, three years before, the Obama administration warned the Iranian government about the Israeli operation. It allegedly caused issues between Israeli and U.S. intelligence.
"“The report says Israel was ‘on the verge’ of assassinating Soleimani…[in 2015], near Damascus, but the United States warned the Iranian leadership of the plan, revealing that Israel was closely tracking the Iranian general,” Haaretz reported.
"It wouldn’t surprise us if it’s true.
"If true, it means Barack Obama aided and abetted the enemy and stood in the way of our ally.
"Soleimani and his Quds Force were designated terrorists by the State Department in 2007." . . .

Ian Macfarlane

Liberal Law Professor Noted Something Odd About Schumer's Trump Impeachment Speech

Matt Vespa  “ 'Schumer's statement today is curious since he not only opposed any witnesses in the Clinton trial but also supported a summary vote without a trial,” tweeted Turley.  “He is insisting on ‘following precedent’ that he opposed creating. He also ran on the pledge to vote to acquit before any trial.”
"From the beginning, Turley wasn’t supportive of this impeachment nonsense the Democratic Party was peddling, noting that it was all bereft of anything concrete that would even be remotely impeachable. 
“Passion over proof” is how he summed up this whole circus act. He testified before Congress before the House Intelligence Committee when chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) got the ball rolling on this (via The Hill):

In my testimony …I stated repeatedly, as I did 21 years ago, that a president can be impeached for noncriminal acts, including abuse of power. I made that point no fewer that a dozen times in analyzing the case against Trump and, from the first day of the Ukraine scandal, I have made that argument both on air and in print. Yet various news publications still excitedly reported that, in an opinion piece I wrote for the Washington Post five years ago, I said, “While there is a high bar for what constitutes grounds for impeachment, an offense does not have to be indictable,” and it could include “serious misconduct or a violation of public trust.” . . .

CNN, Ilhan Omar Pretty Upset We Just Killed the World's Leading Islamic Terrorist

Katie Pavlich  "Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is incensed the United States has killed the world's leading Islamic terrorist, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. "

Ilhan Omar

✔@IlhanMN

We are outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences.

But of course you know that. https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1212958723074867201 …

Ted Cruz

✔@tedcruz

According the the Obama Department of Defense, Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist directly responsible for the murder of over 500 US service men & women. Why are congressional Dems outraged that he’s finally dead? See more: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2015/07/29/ted-cruz-release-names-of-u-s-deaths-linked-to-iran/ … https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1212942887048101888 …

 

Rashida Tlaib

✔@RashidaTlaib

We cannot stay silent as this lawless President recklessly moves us closer to yet another unnecessary war that puts innocent lives at risk at home & across the globe. Congress alone has the authority to declare war, & we must reclaim our responsibility & say no to war with Iran.

CNN: Oh No, Trump Murdered Iran's Master Terrorist Leader Qassim Soleimani
. . . "The man was a harbinger of death, destruction, and terror to millions. Yet, the news media seems to think this was a guy like Norman Schwarzkopf. Some “inspirational” leader. We talk about Trump Derangement Syndrome a lot here; these are prime examples. The Media Research Center’s Newsbusters division had a field day with MSNBC and CNN's coverage today."

CNN's John Berman calls killing of Soleimani "murder."

He was not a legitimate public servant.  Over at The New York Times, they published a lengthy obituary that while informative could’ve been a little more declarative that this horrible man was a terrorist. Iran is the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror. There is never a day where the Left ceases to amaze us, huh?

Beclownings: Top 25 Ridiculous Democrat Moments of 2019

Monica Showalter  "Democrats are a lot of annoying and awful things, and God forbid they should roll back into power in the next election. But they're also ridiculous, obnoxious, sanctimonious, constantly getting caught unawares of how preposterous their positions have placed them. It takes a whole lot of piety, hypocrisy, and phoniness to achieve some of the heights they've reached in the past year. Here's my bottom-up selection of the top 25 beclownings for 2019:

25. Edelweiss: The New York Times's Maggie Haberman, ever quick to find a reason to call President Trump a 'Nazi' ignorantly tweeted that the president's playing of anti-Nazi anthem 'Edelweiss' from the 'Sound of Music' was Nazi stuff. 

...

14. Hillary Clinton puts on her best black accent at Elijah Cummings' funeral. Blackface bad, black accent good?

11. Joaquin Castro tried to doxx voters who donated to Republicans and ended up doxxing his own donors.

10. Kirsten Gillibrand campaigns in a gay bar, serving beer.

Hollywood Leftists respond to Soleimani's death by attacking America

Andrea Widburg "Hollywood has distinguished itself during the Trump era by flinging itself headlong into high altitude Trump Derangement Syndrome. With news that President ordered the targeted assassination of one of the world’s most prolific terrorists when the latter landed on Iraqi soil, Leftist Hollywood celebrities have reacted predictably.

"The award for most over-the-top reaction has to go to Rose McGowan, who gave Iran a groveling apology. In true Hollywood fashion, she called America under President Trump “a terrorist regime,” an interesting point from a woman who’s been unfazed by Iran’s deadly contempt for its own citizens and its brutal repression of women and homosexuals:" . . .

. . . 

"Alyssa Milano, showing her fealty to the Democrat primary candidates, retweeted their pronouncements on the targeted strike, all of which echoed Rep. Chris Murphy to the effect that America should never kill bad guys because other bad guys might get mad:

"Several celebrities were very excited that President Trump, in 2011, predicted that Obama would start a war with Iran to get reelected. Alyssa Milano, who can always be counted on to come out against Trump, was one of those:

. . . 

"The Hollywood left never disappoints. Because it's still early in California as this post goes up, we can expect that Hollywood celebrities will provide us with more amusement today as they make other over-the-top pronouncements about President Trump's decisive response to Iran's targeted attack against America." . . .

Death Star Trump slays constellation of terrorists, leaving Democrats stamping their feet and wagging their fingers "Following that sleazy little Benghazi redux act, President Trump came down down like a slaying angel on terrorists across the Middle East, fat comfortable ones who'd always gotten away with what they've always gotten away with, counting on U.S. fear and appeasement to Iran. Ace of Spades has a magnificent list of how many turned into grease spots on the desert floor. In the ruins of the airstrikes, the terrorists now know that when Trump said 'this is not a warning, it is a threat,' it meant their best course of action was to run screaming for the hills, not thumb their noses, posture for the press about being unafraid, and plot another one. The other message they took from the glowing rubble is that the era of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama is over." . . .

Biden Scolds Trump for Recklessly Escalating Tensions with Iran by Killing Soleimani

2019: The Left Goes Over the Edge

Dark Angel Politics

J.R. Dunn  "The left has always been a movement in danger of going straight over the edge. You can see it in the rhetoric, the agenda, the public behavior, and the quality of people it attracts. Many of us have been waiting for years for it to blow up like a Soviet-era nuclear reactor. But although individual leftists have redlined (Hillary, Anthony Weiner, your name here), the movement as a whole has repeatedly pulled out before going into the abyss. There always seems to be a rescuing hand extended from somewhere or other. (More on that later.)

"That’s why 2019 was such a satisfactory year – much more satisfactory than most. Because 2019 was the year that the left plunged toward oblivion, howling madly, engines exploding, and fuel tanks ablaze.

"You voice doubts, comrades? Well then, come along with me for a short stroll through some of the highlights of the past twelve months.

"• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – The Future of the Progressive Movement is an ex-waitress who is frightened of a garbage disposal. Almost her first act in office was to cost New York City tens of thousands of jobs by running Amazon out of town. It was followed by a series of solecisms, idiocies, and contradictions unequalled in the American political record. If this marks the new progressive politician –  human black holes destroying rationality and coherence by their very existence – then bring ‘em on.

"• Tlaib and Omar – This pair has proven inadequate to their mission, which was to make Jihadi terror look normal and all-American, preparatory to a flood of their type entering government on all levels. Instead, somebody forgot to whitewash their connections to some of the vilest Jihadi outfits on the planet, including Hamas and the Moslem Brotherhood. Quite apart from that, we have the fact that they’re dirty in every other sense as well, with Tlaib awarding herself spare campaign funds and Omar… Well, she turns out to be that kind of girl that can’t touch anything at all without turning it inside out in eight separate dimensions. At this point, it’s not even clear what her name is, or what Somalian murder squad she’s actually related to. The two of them have managed to duck consequences so far, but it’s still early days.

"• Greta Thunberg – The climate exploitation movement finally found its world representative in an emotionally unbalanced sixteen-year-old. This pretty much speaks for itself. All we need add is that it’s a clear sign of desperation from a collapsing movement: “We’ve tried the scientists, we’ve tried the pols, we’ve tried the UN… let’s throw in the twitch and see how she does.”

"• Eric Swallwell – Apart from IBS symptoms, Swallwell has carved for himself a historical niche as the first politician to threaten to use nuclear weapons against fellow Americans. That was bad enough, but you have to add in the number of condemnations he received from the Dems, which hover around ‘zero.’ The party thinks they’ve successfully buried this. They are mistaken." . . .Much more here...

Journalism Dies In Political Bias

"We will NOT be owned by YOU!

From the fertile mind of Rich Terrell

Overnight Open Thread: Iranians And Others Across Region Celebrating Tonight, With Hashtag Thanking Trump, #TnxPOTUS4Soleimani

Weasel ZippersAsra Q. Nomani, PI

✔@AsraNomani

Who is breathing a sigh of relief that Gen Soleimani is dead? Dissidents, feminists & secularists from Iran, Iraq, Syria & Lebanon.
He was a Shia Osama bin Laden with a national treasury & flag.
Who is crying foul? Obama alum Ben Rhodes, CodePink & Squad cocreator Cenk Uyger

Amin@amin13626

#TnxPOTUS4Soleimani #realDonaldTrump ...
Behalf of the people of Iran who fighting against the #IslamicRegim

 آیدیناتور@Da_Aidinator

As an Iranian, I wanted to thank you with all my heart @realDonaldTrump, for putting an end to #Soleimani. You just made the world a better place to live

The Nine Most Absurdly PC Moments of 2019

Katherine Timpf, NRO

. . . "Obsession with political correctness has been causing some pretty ridiculous outcomes for years now, and 2019 was no exception.
"Here, in no particular order, are the nine most absurdly PC moments of 2019:
"A liberal author said that “normal” people must stop wearing any kind of red hat — because all red hats are too scary. 
"A prominent liberal author demanded that “normal” people (that is, people who don’t support Trump) avoid wearing any kind of red hat. Because red hats can, at first glance, look like MAGA hats — which she also, by the way, compares to swastikas — all red hats are apparently “making people scared.”
"A scholar said we have to let some people choose their own ages in order to “reduce ageism.” 
"In an article in The Journal of Medical Ethics, a Finnish bioethicist argued that people should be allowed to legally change their age if they feel like they’re actually another one.
"Experts recommended that we stop using the word “cyclist,” on the grounds that it “dehumanizes” people who ride bikes.
"Apparently, we’re supposed to refer to them as “people on bikes” instead.
"A Women’s March in a mostly white city was canceled for being too white.
"The county where the march was scheduled to take place is approximately 74 percent non-Hispanic white.
"(After the cancellation, a new march was planned for the same day by a different organizer — and the original organizers reportedly boycotted it. Jeesh.)
"A self-described “Fat Sex Therapist” compared fitness instructors to Nazis during a speech at St. Olaf College.
"She also called any science suggesting that obesity is bad for you “fatphobic science,” and compared putting children on diets to rape.
"The word “but” was declared a “trigger” at a Michigan State University training.
"Apparently, the word “but” should be replaced with “and” — even though, you know, that’s a different word with a different meaning
"Harvard protesters insisted that practicing objective journalism was “endangering undocumented students.”
"The campus newspaper had dared to ask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement representatives for comment on a story about an “Abolish ICE” protest." 
"Colorado State University instructed students “to avoid” using the words “America” and “American.”
"Apparently, doing so “erases other cultures”
"Apparently, Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten are a “vision of heterosexuality without straight people.” (As if that makes even the slightest amount of sense.)A Yale professor claimed that gay white men are actually symbols of heterosexuality."

The Most Absurd PC Moments of the 2010s

Katherine Timpf:  Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online. 
  

8. Some feminists decided that “pussyhats” were both racist and transphobic. Why? Well, because not all women have vaginas, and not all vaginas are pink, of course.

"A lot has happened in the last decade — including a lot of things being called racist, sexist, offensive, or insensitive.
"Here, in no particular order, are 24 of the most absurdly politically correct moments of the decade:"

"1. A college diversity-training course taught that it was culturally insensitive to expect people to be on time.
 "A Clemson University training course taught its attendees that it is offensive to expect people to be on time, because “time may be considered fluid” in other cultures.-

"2. The phrase “trigger warning” was deemed a trigger.
"According to a piece in Everyday Feminism, “trigger warning” is actually in itself a trigger — because it could “be re-traumatizing for folks who have suffered military, police, and other forms of violence.” (The piece recommended using “content warning” instead.)"

3. A professor was accused of sexual harassment for saying that effort is 10 percent of the grade. 

"A Brooklyn College of City University of New York professor says he was forced to change his syllabus after he was accused of “sexual harrassment” for stating that effort was 10 percent of the grade.

"4. A campus survey included a trigger warning to caution college students that it may contain “anatomical names of body parts.” 

"The survey was distributed at several major universities — because, apparently, college students just might not be able to handle the kinds of words that most kids hear in their middle-school biology classes.

5. University researchers demanded that we accept people who “identify as real vampires.”

"Apparently, it’s the least we can do to prevent anti-vampire discrimination.

"6. A Seattle-area councilman was concerned about the city hosing poop off of its sidewalks because he thought that it might seem too racially insensitive.

"The area in question reportedly stank like “urine and excrement” — but one councilman was worried that hosing it down could be a microaggression.

"7. A bathing-suit advertisement was criticized for being “sexist” because it depicted a woman in a bathing suit.

"I thought it was normal for product advertisements to depict the product that they’re selling — but apparently, I was wrong." . . .

One of my top five was this:

 "11. A school in Seattle reportedly insisted that Easter eggs be called “spring spheres.  Maybe calling them, simply, “eggs” would still have been too religious? Hard to say." See for yourself

The Dangers of Elite Groupthink

Victor Davis Hanson

Knowledge can be found at all ages, and in all places. And ethics has nothing to do with degrees or pedigrees.

"The Washington Post recently published a surprising indictment of MSNBC host, Stanford graduate, and Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow.
"Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote that Maddow deliberately misled her audience by claiming the now-discredited Steele dossier was largely verifiable — even at a time when there was plenty of evidence that it was mostly bogus.
"At the very time Maddow was reassuring viewers that Christopher Steele was believable, populist talk radio and the much-criticized Fox News Channel were insisting that most of Steele’s allegations simply could not be true. Maddow was wrong. Her less-degreed critics proved to be right.
"In 2018, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), and the committee’s then-ranking minority member, Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), each issued contrasting reports of the committee’s investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign team and the misbehavior of federal agencies.
"Schiff’s memo was widely praised by the media. Nunes’s report was condemned as rank and partisan.
"Many in the media went further. They contrasted Harvard Law graduate Schiff with rural central Californian Nunes to help explain why the clever Schiff got to the bottom of collusion and the “former dairy farmer” Nunes was “way over his head” and had “no idea what’s going on.”
"Recently, the nonpartisan inspector general of the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz, found widespread wrongdoing at the DOJ and FBI. He confirmed the key findings in the Nunes memo about the Steele dossier and its pernicious role in the FISA application seeking a warrant against former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page.
"In contrast, much of what the once-praised Schiff had claimed to be true was proven wrong by Horowitz — from Schiff’s insistence that the FBI verified the Steele dossier to his assertion that the Department of Justice did not rely chiefly on the dossier for its warrant application." . . .

Integrity and the American press

Stilton's Place