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2016

Obama’s Failings Are the Reasons for Trump’s Rise By Victor Davis Hanson — January 14, 2016

Three truths fuel Donald Trump.

One, Barack Obama is the Dr. Frankenstein of the supposed Trump monster.

If a charismatic, Ivy League-educated, landmark president who entered office with unprecedented goodwill and both houses of Congress on his side could manage to wreck the Democratic party while turning off 52 percent of the country, then many voters feel that a billionaire New York dealmaker could hardly do worse.

If Obama had ruled from the center, dealt with the debt, addressed radical Islamic terrorism, dropped the politically correct euphemisms, and pushed tax and entitlement reform rather than Obamacare, Trump might have little traction. A boring Hillary Clinton and a staid Jeb Bush would likely be replaying the 1992 election between Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush — with Trump as a watered-down version of third-party outsider Ross Perot.

But America is in much worse shape than in 1992. And Obama has proved a far more divisive and incompetent president than George H. W. Bush.

Little is more loathed by a majority of Americans than sanctimonious PC gobbledygook and its disciples in the media. And Trump claims to be PC’s symbolic antithesis.

Making Machiavellian Mexico pay for a border fence or ejecting rude and interrupting Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from a press conference is no more absurd than allowing more than 300 sanctuary cities to ignore federal law by sheltering undocumented immigrants. Is it sober and judicious of the Obama administration to ignore immigration laws and effectively open the southern border wide to all comers?

Putting a hold on the immigration of Middle Eastern refugees is no more illiberal than welcoming into American communities tens of thousands of unvetted foreign nationals from terrorist-ridden Syria. Would the Obama administration allow a mass entrance of persecuted Middle East Christians or displaced Ukrainians?

Michael Galak North Korea and the Saddam Delusion

The Iraqi dictator wanted the world to believe he was much tougher and far better armed than was actually the case — a bluff that eventually put his head in a noose. With their crowing and preening about a purported H-bomb, Pyongyang’s elite may have made the exact same mistake.
There are troubles and concerns, certainly, but on the whole Australians have reason to regard the year just begun with a measure of guarded optimism and confidence. Mostly that is because our blessed country is far removed, at least for the moment, from the terrible triumvirate of insanity, turmoil and idiocy that reigns over the rest of the planet.

Even so, the year started with a bang, literally, when North Korea exploded what it claims was a hydrogen bomb. While Pyongyang’s psychopaths strut and posture, the rest of us might want to turn our attention from beach and barbecues, at least for a moment or two, to wonder where it all might lead. North Koreans can deliver their latest bombs whenever the whim strikes them, thanks to the Soviet rocket technology that is ready to be placed underneath fresh batches of warheads. The fact that North Korea’s missiles are old fashioned, primitive by contemporary standards, is small consolation. Sure, they lack the range and accuracy to hit Sydney or New York, but they can make Tokyo or Seoul without too much of a problem.

Now cast your mind back to how it all started, how five nations — America, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea — set out to entice the North Koreans into behaving themselves, the bribe being food in return for a pledge to stop developing nukes. This farce dragged on for more than a decade, with North Korea telling shameless lies while continuing its infernal programme while insisting that its interest in matters nuclear had nothing whatsoever to do with weaponry. No, those reactors and research facilities were strictly for peaceful purposes! Everyone knew there wasn’t a grain truth in the charade, but our leaders chose to go along with it. That way they could wave pieces of paper and declare peace in our time, leaving it the next generation of leaders to cope with Pyongyang’s bluster. And isn’t that what politics — as opposed to security — is all about? Kicking the can down the road, making it the next bloke’s problem.

Obama Welcomes Rapper Kendrick Lamar to the Oval Office By Nicholas Ballasy…see note please

http://bigpeace.com/hfontova/2011/05/12/rapper-who-hails-stalinist-mass-murderer-invited-to-white-house/
For inviting the rapper-“poet” named “Common,” to the White House, our First Lady is currently taking some heat. Common’s lyric, it appears, are a trifle “racy,” plus in his “poetry,” he hails Black-Panther/Cop-killer Joanne “Assata Shakur” Chesimard.

Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, whose latest album boasts a controversial cover and explicit lyrics, met with President Obama in the Oval Office on Monday.

The two reportedly discussed a variety of issues. The White House has not commented on the content of the meeting but Lamar said in a “Pay It Forward” PSA that they talked about topics related to the inner cities and the importance of youth -mentoring programs.

The PSA was created in support of the National Mentoring Partnership, which supports affiliate mentorship programs, and featured photos of Grammy-winner Lamar with Obama. The president declared January National Mentoring Month.

Obama has said the rapper’s “How Much a Dollar Cost” was his favorite song of 2015.

That was off Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” album, which shows a group of African-American men in front of the White House holding champagne bottles and hundred-dollar bills on top of the dead body of a white judge.

During an interview last year, Lamar commented on the meaning of the cover.

“You look at these individuals and you look at them as bad people or a menace to society, but they’re actually good people, just a product of their environment,” he said. “Only God can judge these individuals right here. Not no one with a gavel handing out football numbers of years and not giving these kids a chance at life. Every n**** is a star.”

7 Questions to Challenge the Kerry-Khameini Talking Points About Pirates of the Persian Gulf By Scott Ott

If you buy the State Department line that two American Naval vessels strayed into Iranian territorial waters when one boat suffered mechanical problems, and that the rapid return of our sailors is a triumph of diplomacy…well then I have an island in the Persian Gulf I’d like to sell you.

We have seen photos and video of our sailors kneeling on the deck of their vessel, with hands behind their heads — a posture that can only indicate surrender at gunpoint. Keep in mind, they were surrendering to the forces of a nation into which we’re about to pump billions of dollars in cash in exchange for a 10-year hiatus in its nuclear weapons program.

The following are just a few of the questions we need to ask based on the information we already have:

What are the odds that two lightly armed American vessels would attempt an incursion into Iranian, or even disputed, territorial waters, hours before President Obama would deliver a State of the Union salute to his own foreign policy prowess?
What is the likelihood that all GPS devices on board both U.S. vessels were inoperable?
Why do you suppose the Navy sent two boats on this mission?
Why do you think the second craft didn’t tow the “broken” one?
What admirable “diplomatic” purpose was served by forcing our sailors to their knees at gunpoint, and then publicly releasing the video thereof?
Why were our sailors not immediately returned, but held overnight?

’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’: The Security Contractors Have Their Say By Debra Heine

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is not just an entertaining movie, it’s a 144-minute rebuttal to everything the Obama administration has been saying about the attack since it took place on September 11, 2012.

The “true story” of Benghazi, as told by the secret soldiers, is a powerful rebuke to the “tall tales” that were told by the White House, the State Department and their defenders. There was no “fog of war” that prevented the Department of Defense from sending military assets to Benghazi — just a foggy narrative that was created by the commander in chief and secretary of state to explain the debacle without looking weak and feckless two months before an election.

The movie is based on the book of the same name, written by Boston University journalism professor Mitchell Zuckoff with the five CIA contractors who were on the ground in Benghazi that night: Jack Silva, Mark “Oz” Geist, John “Tig” Tiegen, Kris “Tanto” Paronto, and Dave “Boon” Benton.

Israeli Arab Shooter—Lone Wolf or Hero of His Community? By P. David Hornik

Last January 1, on a Friday afternoon when Tel Aviv and the rest of Israel were transitioning into the restful Sabbath mode, a gunman on Dizengoff Street—Tel Aviv’s main thoroughfare—fired from a sidewalk into a bar and killed two young men, wounding seven other people.

The shooter, Nashat Milhem, was a 29-year-old Israeli Arab from the village of Arara in northern Israel. Just before the shooting he left his backpack in a grocery store; the backpack had a Koran in it. Just after the shooting he hailed a taxi and—under circumstances that remain unclear—killed the taxi driver, also an Israeli Arab, then abandoned the taxi, and managed to escape back to Arara on that same day.

It took Israeli security forces a week to locate and close in on Milhem in Arara on Friday, January 8. Although the hope was to take him alive and get information from him, in trying to escape from the house where he was hiding he opened fire on the security men and was shot dead.

The January 1 shooting came just two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a major, unprecedented plan to channel up to 15 billion shekels ($3.8 billion) into improving the living conditions of the Israeli Arab sector, which makes up about one-fifth of the Israeli population. The sequence of events has sparked an intense national debate in Israel about the Israeli Arabs and their future.

A survey of this sector taken in 2013 came up with some encouraging results. It found that 53 percent of the Israeli Arabs “accepted Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish-majority state,” compared to 47 percent a year earlier, and that 63.5 percent—up from 58.5 percent—considered Israel “a good place to live.”

It also found 42.5 identifying as Israeli Arabs rather than as Palestinians—up from 32.5 percent two years earlier.

A survey reported in November 2015, however, had less cheerful tidings. It found 17 percent of the Israeli Arabs saying they support ISIS, and 57 percent saying the Israeli Islamic Movement—whose extreme northern branch was outlawed that same month—represents them.

Unlike the Palestinians in the territories, whose political status is not yet decided, the Israeli Arabs are citizens with full rights. They are not required to serve in the Israeli army, and most—apart from the small Druze Arab sector and small numbers of Christian and Bedouin Arabs—do not.

Although Israeli Arabs serve in the parliament, cabinet, and Supreme Court, and many have found professional success, their sector overall is poorer and considerably more crime-ridden than the Jewish sector.

The government’s new plan is aimed at improving their lot. It is not conditioned on matching rights with obligations—that is, on Israeli Arabs agreeing to serve in the military or even in a nonmilitary framework (known as “national service”).

But as Netanyahu put it when visiting the scene of the shooting in Tel Aviv: “Israel will enforce its laws and its sovereignty over all parts of the state [including Arab-populated ones]. We will build new police stations, recruit more police officers; we will enter every community and demand adherence to the laws of the state.”

Taiwan Vote Sparks Concerns From Beijing to Washington Candidate who favors distancing island from China leads in polls for Saturday election By Jeremy Page See note please

Taiwan was betrayed by Nixon/Kissinger and then Carter who all bowed to Beijing’s demands for the “one China policy.” Carter infamously implemented the betrayal by removing the embassy in Taipei, and transferring it to mainland China….Taiwan is an economic success and was a staunch ally during the Cold War. This is another instance of appeasement of tyrants at the expense of allies which has become a sad part of our foreign policy….rsk
TAIPEI—The widely expected election victory this week of an independence-leaning candidate as Taiwan’s president is injecting new uncertainty to the island’s fraught ties with China and adding a potential headache for Washington.

Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party, holds a substantial lead in most polls ahead of Saturday’s election on the island of 23 million people that Beijing regards as its territory. The vote follows nearly eight years of tightening relations between Taiwan and China under Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, whom critics say has been too accommodating of Beijing’s interests at the expense of the island’s deteriorating economy.

Ms. Tsai’s party, known as the DPP, supports Taiwan’s formal independence from China, while Mr. Ma’s Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, doesn’t. Though Ms. Tsai has pledged not to provoke Beijing, her elevation poses a challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has promoted a vision of a strong, politically unified China.

A change in Taiwan’s government also would further complicate the region’s strained security picture. After years of building up its military, Beijing is increasingly asserting control over disputed territories in the East China Sea and South China Sea, alarming Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, which have turned to Washington for support.

Chronic Indifference at Veterans Affairs A year and a half after vowing to ‘transform’ the agency, the VA’s leadership has shown little progress. By Jerry Moran And Jeff Miller see note please

There are currently 80 veterans serving in Congress. It is appalling that the VA continues with chicanery and there has been no serious challenge from the US Representatives. Go to the site http://www.openthebooks.com/openthebooks_oversight_report_-_us_department_of_veterans_affairs/ to see how this rogue bureaucracy spends its money and abandons the needs of veterans….rsk

During his Senate confirmation hearing in July 2014 to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald pledged to “transform” the vast agency. After horrific reports of wait-time manipulation, coverups and even deaths at VA medical facilities across the country, veterans and the American people were calling for honest leadership to restore their trust in the department created to serve them.

Transformation wouldn’t be easy, Mr. McDonald said, but it was “essential.” And “those employees that have violated the trust of the nation and of veterans must be, and will be, held accountable.”

Sixteen months have passed but the VA’s culture of indifference persists, and the climate of accountability Mr. McDonald promised is nowhere in sight.

“Veterans still facing major medical delays at VA hospitals,” read an Oct. 20 CNN article; “VA execs demoted, but get to keep their jobs and fraud money,” reported a Nov. 23 Daily Caller piece. “VA’s own internal probe finds impunity of agency leaders at scandal-ridden hospital,” said a Dec. 16 Washington Post report.

The EPA’s Politics in the Raw The agency, in a dispute over its ‘covert propaganda,’ shows itself to be a political actor. By A.J. Kritikos

It’s official: The Environmental Protection Agency has violated federal law by engaging in “covert propaganda” and “grassroots lobbying.” That is the finding of a Dec. 14 report by the Government Accountability Office—though EPA bureaucrats are unrepentant.

The investigation began in June, after Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.) requested that the GAO review the EPA’s online activities, including its aggressive promotion of the new “waters of the United States” regulatory rule.

Investigators concluded that the EPA illegally used Thunderclap, a social media site, “to correct what it viewed as misinformation.” Government use of social media is not unlawful in itself. But the agency crossed the line by asking supporters to share an EPA-written message on Facebook or Twitter without attributing it to the government. This failure to attribute caused the violation for “covert propaganda.” Simply put, citizens deserve to know when messages presented to them were created by their government.

The violation for “grassroots lobbying” stemmed from an EPA blog post that linked to websites encouraging readers to, for example, “urge your senators to defend Clean Water Act safeguards for critical streams and wetlands.” Federal law prohibits administrative agencies from lobbying the public to support or oppose pending legislation. As the GAO report notes, at least a dozen bills in Congress sought to prevent the EPA’s new waters rule from being implemented.

Deport Nikki Haley She fails the new right litmus test against any immigration.

When Nikki Haley offered the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union, the American people heard an articulate conservative who has twice been elected Governor in South Carolina. It’s a sign of the GOP’s distemper that some conservatives denounced her because she didn’t denounce legal immigration.

Gov. Haley’s parents came to America from India. Her father taught botany at Voorhees College. Her mother started what would become a multimillion-dollar clothing company out of the living room of the family home. As she put it Tuesday, “I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country.”

Her conservative critics unloaded. “Trump should deport Nikki Haley” went one tweet. The next morning on “Fox & Friends,” Donald Trump declared that Gov. Haley is “very weak on immigration.”
Are we talking about the same Nikki Haley? The woman who says “illegal immigration is not welcome in South Carolina”? Who signed a law toughening the state’s illegal immigration reform act, which requires employers to verify the immigration status of new hires? Who has fought President Obama’s bid to resettle unvetted Syrian refugees? And whose state has joined 16 others in a lawsuit against Mr. Obama for what they say is his unconstitutional executive order on illegal immigration?