RUTHFULLY YOURS

A lot of people care about climate change, but not nearly as much as they do about other issues, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Just 7% of respondents said they think climate change is the top issue the federal government should address, with other issues, namely terrorism and the economy, at the top of the list. When asked specifically about climate change, closer to half — 41% — of respondents said they support taking immediate steps to address the problem.

The poll underscores a challenge facing President Barack Obama and other politicians who are pushing sweeping government actions to address climate change: How to make the case for a continued, concerted focus on an issue when most voters prefer a government focus on other things?
The chance timing of the United Nations global climate change conference in Paris coming two weeks after terrorists killed 130 people in that same city has fueled a political debate about which threat is greater and which the Obama administration should focus on more, an either/or dynamic White House officials reject.

“They’re both critically important,” said Ben Rhodes, Mr. Obama’s deputy national security adviser, at a press briefing during the U.N. climate talks, which concluded this past weekend. “And we have to do both at the same time. And they pose different threats.”

“At least three of the five Taliban leaders traded last year for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have tried to plug back into their old terror networks, a government official familiar with the intelligence told Fox News, describing it as an attempt to “re-engage.” March, 2015….rsk
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will face a military trial on charges that he deserted his unit in Afghanistan in 2009 and endangered the lives of soldiers who searched for him, the Army said Monday, a move that means he could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty.

Sgt. Bergdahl, who was subsequently captured by the Taliban before being returned to the U.S. in a controversial prisoner exchange in 2014, is accused of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

The decision to pursue a court-martial was reached by Gen. Robert Abrams, who heads Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. It comes two months after an Army officer recommended that Sgt. Bergdahl, 29, not face jail time or a punitive discharge from the military.

Following an Article 32 preliminary hearing in the case, Lt. Colonel Mark Visger recommended in October that Sgt. Bergdahl face a special court-martial—essentially a military version of a misdemeanor court—according to Sgt. Bergdahl’s civilian defense lawyer, Eugene Fidell.

The juxtaposition of two headlines on the front page of a recent New York Times suggested ideology supersedes facts. The first: “Arms Stockpile is Found in Home of Two Suspects.” The second: “A Couple Who Lived Quietly, Motives Unknown.” Both headlines, it need hardly be said, dealt with the recent Islamist terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. It has been a failure to connect the dots that characterizes not only the liberal press, but more importantly the Administration. Most egregious was the failure of both the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to detect the couple who had been radicalized since at least 2013 – before they met – and who left overt traces of their jihad-extremist sympathies on social media.

While Donald Trump’s remarks about temporarily banning Muslims immigrants from entering the country were reprehensible, they were understandable given the willfulness of the Administration as to the enemy we face. A week ago, Mr. Obama spoke to the nation from the Oval Office. While he mentioned terrorism, he did not use the modifier, Islamist. Mr. Trump’s reaction is a negation of Mr. Obama’s thesis – that his policies are working. When the pendulum swings to the left, it is propelled back an equal distance to the right. It has been the failure of the Obama Administration’s policies regarding immigration and Islamic terrorism that has given rise to the demagoguery of Mr. Trump.