http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/103576/the-cold-wars-arab-spring?all=1 Stolen Kremlin records show how the Soviets, including Gorbachev, created many of today’s Middle East conflicts The dominant narrative of modern Middle East history emphasizes the depredations visited upon the region by European colonization and accepts as a truism that the former colonial powers prioritized the protection of their material interests—in oil, above all—above […]
Islamic Radicalization in America — on The Glazov Gang
by Frontpagemag.com
Dr. Nancy Bonus, Eric Allen Bell and Karla Moxley battle it out on the extent of the danger we face.
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/21/islamic-radicalization-in-america-on-the-glazov-gang/
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3122/women-rights-arab-spring In a propaganda trap doubtlessly intended to cripple one politically – like so many others of its kind, such as “racist” – if a woman speaks in ways expected of a woman she is considered an inadequate leader; if she speaks in ways expected of a leader she is considered an inadequate woman. If […]
G-20 Speed Dating in Los Cabos
The obstacles to global growth are clear and need to be addressed in national capitals, not a resort town.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303703004577474390989961840.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#top
With global growth precariously slow, the two-day G-20 summit this week—the diplomatic equivalent of speed dating—did little but drain more money from deeply indebted nations. Greece’s Sunday election strongly endorsing the euro did more to promote global economic growth than anything that happened in Los Cabos.
Despite the announcement of the “Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action Plan,” which mostly commits Europe’s struggling economies to still more government control, Group of 20 leaders have fundamental disagreements on practically every key economic topic—high taxes or low, larger or smaller central bank bond portfolios, more government or less.
The clearest decisions that came out of the summit promoted governments, not private sectors, pointing to even more deficit spending, an IMF expansion led by China and another expensive G-20 meeting next year in Russia. The outcome raises fundamental doubts about the G-20’s value in furthering free markets, strong private economies and global living standards.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/303523/executive-privilege-congress-andrew-c-mccarthy
As you would expect, my buddy Shannen provides an excellent outline of the law of executive privilege. I do not take issue with what he explains, because it very accurately conveys the privilege as it has evolved over time. My dispute is with the underlying assumptions about the privilege, particularly with respect to the “deliberative process” aspect of it, which, as Shannen observes, rests on less solid footing than the “presidential communications” aspect.
Just as there are two species of executive privilege, so there are two species of governance within the executive branch. The first involves the president’s constitutional duties. These are broadly laid out in Article II. They involve powers of the presidency that derive directly from the Constitution. Congress may not repeal, reduce, or subject them to regulation or “oversight” that thwarts the president’s ability to carry them out.
That is why I agree the “presidential communications” aspect of executive privilege is the stronger one — and why, for example, I argued that Congress had no power to compel Karl Rove to testify during the controversy over fired U.S. attorneys. Karl was a senior advisor to President Bush, a member of the White House staff whose position was not subject to Senate confirmation or otherwise dependent on Congress. He served at the pleasure of the president to facilitate the performance of the president’s constitutional duties. In this sense, he was an appendage of Pres. Bush, and Congress could no more compel him to testify than compel the president. The president is a peer, not a subordinate, of Congress; Congress does not have the power to demand testimony from the president or his confidants — at least not on matters that involve presidential communications in the execution of the president’s constitutional duties.
http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/06/20/the-plot-thickens-obama-asserts-executive-privilege-to-block-fast-furious-disclosures/
The Obama administration has a narrative about Fast & Furious. The Wall Street Journal obligingly reported it this morning, as follows:
The gun-walking tactics in Fast and Furious turned up in earlier ATF cases, during the Bush administration. When they were uncovered by Justice officials in the Obama administration, a top Justice official raised concerns with ATF officials, according to Justice documents released last year. But the officials never alerted Mr. Holder, didn’t do enough to prevent similar cases and weren’t aware the operation was under way until months later, according to Justice documents.
Mr. Holder, in a letter last week to Mr. Issa, said, “The record in this matter reflects that until allegations about the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious were made public, department leadership was unaware of those tactics.”
There are a variety of reasons to be skeptical of this version of events. To name only two:
(a) there were wiretaps in the F&F investigation, and when the government seeks a wiretap, federal law requires it to explain what investigative tactics have been used in the case, an explanation that is vetted by top DOJ officials because the government cannot apply for the wiretap without the approval of the attorney general or his designee (a high Justice Department official) — it seems highly unlikely, assuming DOJ complied with wiretap law, that top Justice Department officials did not know about the gun-walking tactic until late in the game; and
(b) the gun-walking tactic — which in F&F involved providing well over a thousand firearms to violent criminals — was shocking, and it is hard to believe that if “Justice officials” knew enough to raise their concerns with the ATF brass, they failed to alert Attorney General Holder or follow through to make sure ATF and the U.S. attorney’s office — both arms of the Justice Department — stopped the tactic.
Candidate, candidates, everywhere you look. They need to confront real issues not just bash Obama and the Dems. So much in our country needs repair.
Here is a terrific suggestion from a brilliant e-pal Harold Weinstein:
“And while you are at it, do away with the idea that every child has to have a college degree in order to succeed. Trade schools might prove to be a quicker way to prosperity without the burden of those student loans.”
Right Now 24|7
French TV: Al Qaeda suspect holding hostages in bank
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Breaking_news
A French police official says a man has taken hostages in a bank in the southern city of Toulouse and fired a shot. French television station BFM says the man claims to be linked to al Qaeda. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKiL0Jax
Green job numbers based on models, not data
CNSNews.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Green job numbers based on models, not data
An Obama administration green jobs grant program that spent $11 billion lacks a verifiable job-counting system and likely created only a fraction of the jobs it claims, according to a staff report by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Read more…
Palins go reality: Todd and Bristol on TV series
Newser
AM I THE ONLY ONE TIRED OF THE PALINS?….RSK
Blogs
Palins go reality: Todd and Bristol on TV series
The Palins are fast becoming America’s first family of reality TV. On the same day Bristol Palin’s new reality show made its debut, NBC announced that father Todd will be taking part in a military-themed competition series Stars Earn Stripes. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKi1PMFp
icans’ confidence in public schools hits new low
Gallup
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Americans’ confidence in public schools is down five percentage points from last year, with 29% expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in them. Read more…
‘Color Purple’ author refuses Hebrew edition’s release
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Writer Alice Walker says an Israeli publisher can’t release a new Hebrew edition of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple,” because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. Read more…
Florida lawmaker sees anti-U.N. bill gaining support
Sunshine State News
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Expect a bill that shelters private property in Florida from takeover by a United Nations-led world government effort, Senate President-designate Don Gaetz said Tuesday. And expect that bill to receive favorable support. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKia352i
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/20/north-carolina-democrats-mobilize-against-israel/print/
Apparently the North Carolina Democratic Party hasn’t gotten the endlessly repeated “memo” regarding the Obama administration’s “unwavering support” for the state of Israel. During last weekend’s party convention, a resolution that would criticize Israel for its “illegal occupation of Palestine” was seriously considered before being tabled. Not killed — tabled. It has been referred to the state’s executive committee for further consideration at a later date.
Resolution number 26, titled “Bring a Just Peace to the Middle East: Israel and Palestine,” is a screed of leftist-inspired grievances, attacking the United States for providing Israel with “$3 billion annually in military aid.” According to North Carolina Democrats, such funds pay for “the Israeli occupation, disenfranchisement and impoverishment of significant numbers of the Palestinian population,” and the facilitation of “Israel’s overwhelming military might and its role as the only nuclear power.” That military might ostensibly threatens the “stability in a region witnessing increased demands for democracy and an end to autocratic rule.” The funding is also used by Israel to “continue … demolition of Palestinian homes, expansion of existing illegal settlements built on expropriated Palestinian land, and a continued blockade of essential goods from Gaza, causing a U.N. documented humanitarian crisis.”
Furthermore, U.S. aid “has caused increased violence and insecurity to Israelis and Palestinians and helps subvert any prospect for peace,” while “Israel’s human rights violations and its illegal settlements violate International and U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export Control Act of 1976,” all of which contributes to the “escalating tension between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world in the Middle East.” Such Israeli-instigated tension “threatens the peace and stability of the region and the world.”
Thus, the NC Democratic Party expects to hold its elected officials accountable “for helping end our government’s role in continuing the Israeli Palestinian tragedy by making the human rights of both peoples central to U.S. foreign policy by ending Israel’s illegal occupation, by advocating for a viable Palestinian state, and membership of that state in the United Nations.”
North Carolina Democrats then urged their congressional representatives to support several initiatives (emphasis added): “Bring all parties, including Hamas, to the table to negotiate and end to the Israeli Occupation and a secure peace based on the 1967 borders; An immediate end to settlement expansion and removal of existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem; An end to Palestinian house demolitions; A halt to further construction of the wall; An end to the Gaza blockade; The establishment of the nuclear free zone in the Middle East; Redirecting U.S. Military aid to Israel to promote social and economic development for peace in both Israel and Palestine.”
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/20/death-of-a-muslim-honor-killer/print/ In 1992, Abdul Awkal, a Lebanese Muslim, met up with his wife and her brother at the Family Conciliation Office in the sprawling Lakeside Courthouse. Awkal’s wife had filed for divorce after years of physical abuse and a sexually transmitted disease that she contracted from him. In response, Awkal had bought a gun and […]
