Monday, November 10, 2014

Today's interesting political news and conservative comment

Update

239. By Andy Weddington, Col., USMC (Ret.)

General News and Comment

Walker for President?
I ordered a bumper sticker. I'm not locked into Walker, but I do like to piss off the Madison Progressives. ~Bob

Excerpt: As I stand back from this whole surprising election and try to ignore all of the bloviating about it, I would like to add a few observations and thoughts of my own.

Excerpt: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker turned back an onslaught of opposition from national labor unions, John Doe investigators, Big Ed Shultz of MSNBC and his left-of-center media and entertainment comrades from New York to Hollywood. Democrats were selling government solutions to problems when voters have lost faith in government. In Wisconsin, independents and enough working-class Democrats saw low property taxes as a result of Act 10, where a school board can save big money by changing insurance companies for teachers — money that financially strapped taxpayers didn’t have to pay. (We heard Henck speak at a recent "Pints & Politics." Interesting guy with good insights. ~Bob)

2016 Contender Watch: Rob Portman. By Kevin Glass
Excerpt: With the 2014 elections a distant memory (er...), the potential 2016 presidential contenders are beginning to get their ducks in a row. We heard about Ben Carson this week, we all know what Hillary Clinton is doing, Martin O'Malley is damaged - and now Ohio Sen. Rob Portman is weighing his options for a presidential bid.

Mormon bishop critical of Democrat Harry Reid's stances on abortion, gay marriage
Excerpt: A Mormon bishop in Los Angeles is under fire for his assertion that Sen. Harry Reid is unworthy to enter the faith's temples because of his support of Democratic Party positions. Mark Paredes, in a Wednesday blog titled "Good Riddance to Harry Reid, the Mormon Senate Leader," expressed his belief that Democrats' support of same-sex marriage, abortion rights and gambling runs contrary to church stances.

The Will to Fell. By Mark Steyn
http://www.steynonline.com/6654/the-will-to-fell
Excerpt: Today marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It did not fall, of course. It was felled. It was felled by ordinary East German men and women who decided they were not willing to spend the rest of their lives in a large prison pretending to be a nation. On the other side of the wall - the free side - far too many westerners were indifferent to the suffering of the east (Steyn does a super job here, bringing back an important history, and blasting off the fog of sentimentalism about what really didn't happen, putting the spotlight on what really did happen, and who made it happen. Really an important thing to remember, that sometimes it takes a few good men (& women) to stand up from the complacent crowd and fearlessly unfurl a banner that screams for the truth to be seen and the evil to be fought. Seems we need more of that right now. --Del)

Interesting: GOP presidential hopefuls jockey for position in a crowded 2016 field
Excerpt: More than a dozen Republican governors and senators are rushing to line up supporters, pore over policies and map out strategies for the 2016 presidential campaign, concluding that last week’s midterm rout of Democrats shows that the GOP has a strong chance of taking back the White House.

Climate Model Predicts Very Cold Winter in Northern Hemisphere; Another Record Breaker? By Mike Shedlock
Excerpt: There is a huge buildup up snow in Siberia this year like last. Meteorologists believe that portends another brutal winter. Bloomberg reports Climate Model Predicts Very Cold Winter in Northern Hemisphere. (Oh, shut up. ~Bob)

Why Democrats Lost – A Retrospective
Excerpt: There are so many reasons why Democrats lost. The economy, jobs, foreign policy, the IRS scandal, ObamaCare, the response to Ebola, the NSA scandal, obviously I could go on and on. However, David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon has put together a reel of campaign blunders by Democrats which provides a host of other reasons…

Transcript: President Obama’s Nov. 5 news conference on midterm election results
Excerpt: "What stands out to me, though, is that the American people sent a message, one that they’ve sent for several elections now. They expect the people they elect to work as hard as they do. .... They want us to get the job done." (Over 200 rounds of golf and over $40 millions taxpayer dollars spent on holidays for himself and family (not including 2014). Right. "Get to work." This have onerous meaning in a totalitarian state. --Barb)

Easy to get an Obamaphone. Corruption is Rampant with Waste, Fraud and Abuse.
Excerpt: “Want to sign up for a free phone?” an agent representing Total Call mobile asked a CBS4 producer. The representative then asked if the undercover producer had a food stamp card, a Medicaid card or any other evidence that he qualified for a phone. “No,” replied the CBS4 employee. But one of the cellphone agents then ordered his colleague to “push it through,” by using someone else's food stamp card to provide eligibility for the CBS4 employee. “Did you just use that guy’s food stamp card for me?” questioned the CBS4 employee. “Yeah,” responded the Total Call representative. “It's verification that you are on some kind of assistance program. It's to get you through.”

Barack Obama strips down an entire hotel floor to search for bugs and listening devices to prepare for his stay for the G20
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827792/Barack-Obama-strips-entire-hotel-floor-search-bugs-listening-devices-prepare-stay-G20.html#ixzz3IeNqWUdE 
Excerpt: U.S. security officials have stripped down an entire floor of a Brisbane hotel and removed furniture to prevent President Barack Obama being spied on during his stay for the G20 summit this weekend. Mr. Obama's security agents ordered beds, mirrors and bedding be removed from rooms surrounding the suite where the President will stay at the five-star Marriott Hotel in Queensland's capital city, the Courier-Mail reported. The floor will be checked for bugs before Mr Obama arrives on Saturday, to ensure he can make secure phone calls and conduct meetings. (O staying in a Marriott? --Barb. Not unreasonable in today's world. ~Bob)

Salon: 'Forced Troop Worship and Compulsory Patriotism Must End.' By William Bigelow
Excerpt: Radical leftist writer David Masciotra waxes somewhat less than eloquently that Americans who think all soldiers and police are heroes are childish, and betray “a frightening cultural streak of nationalism, chauvinism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism” in a piece published Sunday on Salon.com. But what is childish is Masciotra’s rant; it begins, “Put a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him.” You just know that Michael Brown’s death will be found somewhere in the polemic. Sure enough, Masciotra later writes, “Michael Brown’s murder represents the tip of a body pile.” Forget the information pointing to Brown’s possible assault on the police officer who shot him. (Patriotism is awful, and military service despicable? Absolutely, according to the real Leftist. But probably those "people's armies" of China and the old Russia are OK, in fact, much better than OK, since they will only fight where the enlightened elite of the Party tells them to. I wonder if he's considered the seriously compulsory patriotism indoctrinated into small children in Viet Nam and China. Nahh, that's different. Just read this article and it'll take care of your lowered BP for the rest of the day. My main curiosity is the same as for all the rest of his comrades.... why are you still here? There are so many places you can go to where there is almost no patriotism at all being taught, and the military get little respect. Or the places where the Left rules completely, wouldn't you be so much more comfortable there? Please? I'll drive you to the airport and even pay any extra charges on your overweight bags, as long as it's a one-way ticket you're buying. --Del. "And gentlemen now abed...will think themselves accursed they were not here. And hold their manhoods cheap, whist any speaks, who fought with us." Just trying to get over their self-loathing for their cowardice. ~Bob)

A Message Sent to a Grudging President. After a thumpin’, Obama doubles down on hostility, antagonism and distance. By Peggy Noonan 
Excerpt: Republicans won not only because of a favorable map. In solid Democratic states, they won big or came close. Nor were the results due only to low midterm turnout. Nate Cohn, in the New York Times , noted that turnout in Colorado was up over 2010, yet Republican Cory Gardner beat incumbent Sen. Mark Udall with room to spare. The sheer number of blowouts was mind-boggling. Sen. Mitch McConnell was supposed to win in Kentucky, but not by 15 points. In Arkansas the Republican challenger, Tom Cotton, beat Democratic incumbent, Sen. Mark Pryor, by 17 points. In Georgia, where the Senate race was assumed to be close, the Republican won by eight. Republican Pat Roberts, left for dead in Kansas months ago, won by 10.

VA chief to announce restructuring, firings. By Jeremy Diamond
Excerpt: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs will announce Monday a massive restructuring of the department in the wake of a scandal that left more than a hundred thousand veterans waiting for health care. VA Secretary Robert McDonald, who took over the agency three months ago after his predecessor Eric Shinseki resigned, said at least 35 people will be initially fired -- and more than 1,000 could soon follow. "We're simplistically talking about people who violated our values," McDonald said in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday. "It's integrity, it's advocacy, it's respect, it's excellence. These are the things that we try to do for our veterans." (Finally, the new guy seems to have found a way to actually fire unionized civil servants, although it'll take a judge signing off on every one of them because of those union rules. Hopefully they will have enough on all these fatcat corrupt managers to kiss them all goodbye, and they won't just be transferring to high level jobs somewhere else in the government. This is what has been needed, the real overhaul of the system. Obviously we don't know the details of what that will entail and how the new system will avoid the problems of the old, but I keep thinking that after all this, what they put in now just has to be better than what's been in there so far. Maybe our brothers who died on the waiting lists will at least have their deaths bring on consequences, so they will still have contributed to all the rest of us even as they passed on. RIP. --Del)

Russia's path to globalization now faces a critical choice. By Michael Slobodchikoff 
Excerpt: The current crisis in Ukraine has highlighted one of the problems of globalization: It is no longer possible to punish key trading partners as an instrument of foreign policy without calling into question the fundamental principles that created the current global economic system. As Western nations began to impose sanctions against Russia, they not only punished Russia for its actions in relation to Ukraine, but also punished themselves. As a result of globalization, economies are too tightly linked to make economic sanctions viable - a fact that Western leaders are just now beginning to realize.

G.O.P. Is Making Progress Toward Presidency but Is Still Playing Catch-U. Bt Nate Cohn, New York Times
Excerpt: After five of six presidential elections in which the Republicans have lost the popular vote, this year’s midterm elections point toward a plausible Republican path to winning the White House. The Democratic losses were not simply because of low turnout. Republicans often made significant gains among rural, white voters. Some candidates made inroads among young and Hispanic voters, as well, according to exit polls and county and precinct-level results.
But the Republican path is also narrow, one the Democrats could block if they reassemble their support among the young, nonwhite and suburban voters whom President Obama won in 2008 and 2012.

Call a Marine By Toby Keith-W/ Lyrics

Straight Talk on the South China Sea. By Vikram Singh and Ely Ratner
Excerpt: President Obama’s second daylong summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be the best chance this year to clarify some fuzzy lines on Asia’s biggest potential flash point: the South China Sea. This is the time to further clarify U.S. interests, including whether the United States cares about possible outcomes to the region’s many territorial disputes.
China is extremely clear about its interests in this region: It seeks to administer most of the South China Sea within an expansive “nine-dash line” that snakes along the coasts of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines

The Dems Lost and It’s Not Their Fault. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The Democrats lost and no one is resigning. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi intend to stay on even after overseeing the largest political catastrophe for their party in decades. In six years, Pelosi went from a House majority of 257 seats to a current running total in the 180s. Harry Reid took a Senate majority and turned it into a minority and all he has to show for it are a lot of donations from out-of-state law firms. Not only aren’t Harry and Nancy resigning, but they aren’t even taking any responsibility. Irresponsibility is the Democratic word of the day and the decade. ( “Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Attributed to Napoleon. ~Bob)

Sharyl Attkisson: America Is ‘Being Manipulated’ By The Media [VIDEO]
Excerpt: Sharyl Attkisson, who rejects having any political allegiance while focusing on the truth, discusses here how powerful, hidden special interests in the media increasingly hide the truth and homogenize American news. The media, to her, seem nonplussed by government privacy invasions, even when it happens to themselves.....She even identified that someone planted classified documents in her computer, seemingly to frame her or her sources.

Too Funny: Man Spends Ten Hours Walking Around Austin, What Happens Will Horrify You
Excerpt: Never judge a person until you’ve walked ten hours in their shoes. Austin is known for many great things but when you scratch the surface, you’ll find a seedy underbelly of social injustice. This brave man set up an experiment in which he walked the city wearing only casual hipster clothing. What happens along the way, might shock you and cause your genitals to leak. 

Ebola and Enterovirus News

Obama Accused Of Allowing American Children To Be Killed By
Illegal Alien “Dreamers”
Excerpt: Judicial Watch claims that prior to the virtual tsunami of illegal aliens who were supposed to be youngsters, Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was practically nonexistent within this nation's borders, at least until the recent tidal wave of illegal alien minors entering the U.S. while the Border Patrol agents helplessly watched. "Thanks to the Obama administration, the agents had their hands tied by their Obama-appointed superiors at the Department of Homeland Security and were used as baby sitters and makeshift hotel bellboys for the illegal alien children, some of whom were 19-years-old," said Kenneth Lorenzo, a former inner-city police detective.

Excerpt: The “humanitarian crisis” concocted by President Obama to let tens of thousands of illegal immigrant minors stay in the U.S. has fueled a deadly respiratory virus epidemic that’s struck American kids across the country and killed at least nine....According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from mid-August to the end of October state public health laboratories have confirmed a total of 1,105 people in 47 states and the District of Columbia with respiratory illness caused by EV-D68. What the agency conveniently omits is that the deadly virus was first discovered in cities with large numbers of relocated illegal immigrant minors, officially identified by the government as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC). (Per article, by October 2014 x300 infection rate for past 30 years. --Barb)

US ARMY Says EBOLA = FLU in Airborne Stability, Needs Winter Weather To Go Airborne
According to the Center for Aerobiological Sciences, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland: (1) Ebola has an aerosol stability that is comparable to Influenza-A (2) Much like Flu, Airborne Ebola transmissions need Winter type conditions to maximize Aerosol infection (Published 09/16/14. --Barb)

CDC Increasing Supply of Ebola-specific Personal Protective Equipment for U.S. Hospitals
Excerpt: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ordered $2.7 million in personal protective equipment (PPE) to increase Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) supplies to assist U.S. hospitals caring for Ebola patients. ...Purchases are based on PPE guidance for caring for Ebola patients that was issued by CDC on October 20. ... Purchases include impermeable gowns, coveralls, and aprons; boot covers; gloves; face shields and hoods; N95 respirators; powered-air purifying respirator systems and ancillaries; and disinfecting wipes. (Listed on "Outbreak" tab on CDC site. N95 respirators are airborne precautions. --Barb)

Race Card News

Judge Strikes Down Obama's 'Disparate Impact' Rule
Excerpt: The courts have finally stepped in to stop Obama regulators from using the fraudulent anti-bias cudgel known as "disparate impact" to mug businesses for racial quotas and payola for favored groups. A federal judge last week struck down the administration's "disparate impact" rule, just as Obama's race bullies were trying to use it to shake down insurers in addition to bankers. They've already extorted more than $1.1 billion from car and home lenders to settle bogus claims that disparate outcomes for minority borrowers are proof of racism. (The whole idea of "you have different stats for different groups means you MUST be discriminating illegally" has been totally wrong from Day One, but it's given some groups great ways to extort money from organizations. That some minorities are distributed lower in economics than the general public is a social problem, not one of deliberate racist action. And taking money from organizations and businesses because of theoretical discrimination is just extortion no different from the kind practiced by the Mafia. But they've gotten away with it for years now, and thank heavens for a brave judge who'll call this out for the illicit practice that it is. There is still hope for correcting, one by one, the excesses and stupidities of the monster bureaucratic government created in the last decade. We have to hope the Supremes will come down on the side of reason and justice when this gets to them. --Del. Damn. I was hoping to collect big bucks from the NBA and the NFL whose merit-based hiring practices have a disparate impact on us white folks. ~Bob)

Here we go again: AG nominee Loretta Lynch wants to free blacks from the 'Prison of Racism'
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/11/here_we_go_again_ag_nominee_loretta_lynch_wants_to_free_blacks_from_the_prison_of_racism.html#ixzz3Idhg7A7W
Excerpt: If confirmed, it looks as if Barack Obama's nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, will be carrying out Eric Holder's politics of racial vengeance. Based on her family history, social justice statements and close ties to black activists, Lynch will deploy law enforcement resources based on race and political ideology, not on the rule of law From 1994 to 1998, Lynch was a partner in Connecticut-based Ujamaa Investment Group. According to David Horowitz's Discover the Networks site, “Ujamaa” is a Swahili term signifying a commitment to the practice of “shared wealth” and a repudiation of economic inequality." (Seems to be cut from the same cloth with the same chip on the shoulder as Holder, damning everyone in the south....but that's not racist. Spreading hate and fear, not love. What is the source of hate and fear? Think about it....Barb)

Scholar-Athlete Charade. By Dr. Walter Williams
Excerpt: Over two decades, more than 3,100 students enrolled in and received credit for taking nonexistent phantom classes in the university’s department of African and African-American studies. Nearly 50 percent of the students taking the phantom classes were athletes on the university’s football and basketball teams. Students officially enrolled in African and African-American studies lecture courses that never met. According to a university-commissioned report, Deborah Crowder, the department’s administrative assistant, required students to turn in a single paper. The papers were often largely plagiarized or padded with fluff. The students were given A’s or B’s after a cursory read.

Obamacare/Government Healthcare News

Caught on Camera: Obamacare Architect Admits Deceiving Americans to Pass Law
Excerpt: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” says the MIT economist who helped write Obamacare. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.” (Well, we knew that and they knew that, but the media will never inform the voters about that. ~Bob. Use the link to go to a PJTV article about how ObamaCare was passed, and listen to the words right from the horse's mouth about how complicated language and lack of transparency and manipulating the "stupidity of the American voter" were used to get the Bill passed. It's beautiful, just beautiful, and it'll be so much fun asking your Liberal friends to explain how all that is honest, decent, proper politics to serve the people. Sure it is. --Del)

Congressional Budget Office Lowers Obamacare Expectations Once Again. By Christine Rousselle
Excerpt: If at first you don't succeed, lower your expectations...or something like that.
The Congressional Budget Office is apparently taking that train of thought, as it has once again lowered the 2015 expectations for Obamacare enrollment from 13 million to just 9.9 million, in what is being called by CNN Money as a "significant" drop.

Industry Succeeds Where Obamacare Fails. By Sally Pipes
Excerpt: Walmart is about to get into the health insurance business. The retail giant’s Sam’s Club division just announced that it would launch a private health insurance exchange for its small-business customers. Business owners shopping at the wholesaler will effectively be able to pick up health insurance for their employees along with their industrial-size tubs of mayonnaise. Sam’s Club’s chief competitor, Costco, unveiled a similar private exchange for its members earlier this year.

Obama officials work on health site contingency plans as enrollment nears. By Amy Goldstein
Excerpt: Behind the scenes, however, federal health officials and government contractors are scrambling, according to confidential documents and federal and outside experts familiar with this work. They have been making contingency plans in case the information technology or other aspects prove less sturdy than the administration predicts. And some preparations are coming down to the wire.

Excerpt: The California Employees Retirement System (CALPERS), in collaboration with WellPoint, Inc., introduced reference pricing for knee and hip replacement surgery. This meant that the employer would pay a fixed fee — and no more — to have the operations done at high-quality, low-priced facilities. Employees who wanted to go to higher-priced facilities paid the difference. As a result, high-priced facilities cut their rates by one third. This started back in 2008. So, you would think that, by now, WellPoint would have introduced reference pricing for hip and knee replacements to all its corporate clients across the United States. No such luck. As a result of Obamacare, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is threatening to regulate this practice:

Undocumented Democrat News

Tech cranks up pressure on Obama for immigration order
Excerpt: The tech industry is dialing up the pressure on President Obama over immigration, arguing moves to free up more work visas should be among his executive actions. TechNet, which counts many Silicon Valley companies as members, said it respected Obama’s decision to delay the immigration moves until after the election, but said the time for action has come.... FWD.us — the lobby group cofounded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg — called on supporters this week to share their stories and contact members of Congress to urge reform.

"You're Greener than Gore" News

Must Read from 2009: Is Nature Warning Us of a New Ice Age? By Laurence Hecht, Editor-in-chief, 21st Century Science & Technology
Excerpt: By the calculations of astronomers, the present interglacial, which has lasted about 11,000 years, is due to end any time. Indeed we have been in a period of long-term cooling for more than 6,000 years. The maximum summer temperature experienced in Europe over the last 10,000 years occurred about 6000 B.C. Over North America, where the process of glacial retreat lagged somewhat, the maximum was reached by about 4000 B.C. These estimates based on a vast array of evidence from geology, botany, and many other fields are consistent with the orbital theory of climate, for the northern hemisphere Summer would have been occurring at a point in Earth’s orbit much nearer to the Sun than presently.

Important: World's largest solar plant applying for federal grant to pay off federal loan. By William La Jeunesse
Excerpt: After already receiving a controversial $1.6 billion construction loan from U.S. taxpayers, the wealthy investors of a California solar power plant now want a $539 million federal grant to pay off their federal loan. "This is an attempt by very large cash generating companies that have billions on their balance sheet to get a federal bailout, i.e. a bailout from us - the taxpayer for their pet project," said Reason Foundation VP of Research Julian Morris. "It's actually rather obscene." The Ivanpah solar electric generating plant is owned by Google and renewable energy giant NRG, which are responsible for paying off their federal loan. (Google execs and employees have been among the most generous Obama supporters in the corporate world, so the odds of this application being fast-tracked to approval are looking good: --Doug Powers. The green they want is in your wallet. Bet it gets approved. ~Bob)

Consumers Saved $248 Billion in 2013 Thanks to Fracking
Excerpt: Much has been said about the many jobs and economic boost created by new drilling technologies, but the benefits extend far beyond areas rich in oil and gas. According to a new study from ICF International, American consumers saved somewhere between $63 and $248 billion thanks to horizontal drilling and fracking technologies. The Institute for Energy Research says these new numbers call into question the president's claim that the country can't "drill our way to lower gas prices." According to the study, without fracking and horizontal drilling, gasoline would have cost between 29 cents and 94 cents more per gallon. Almost half (48 percent) of oil and gas production in 2013 came from shale formations that required fracking and horizontal drilling. The impact on these technologies becomes evident when you look at oil and gas production just five years earlier, in 2008 -- then, just 11 percent of American oil and gas production came from shale. That's a 537 percent increase. The study is more proof of fracking's positive impact on consumers. Last year, a report from HIS Global Insight demonstrated that the typical American household saved $1,200 in 2012, just from using techniques like fracking and horizontal drilling. (I think it was higher. you have to add in the energy cost of growing crops and making goods, and the cost of shipping them to market. ~Bob)

Feds Upend Landowner's Plans For Own Property: Challenge claims government imposing 'punitive sanctions'
Excerpt: The danger of leaving the decision unchallenged is evident, the attorneys explain, because under the language of the Clean Water Act, a bureaucrat could claim authority over just about any piece of land in the nation. That point was made by Justice Samuel Alito in the Sackett decision, who said the law’s language is unclear and it could cover “any piece of land that is wet at least part of the year.”...Hopper said: “Because of the Clean Water Act’s potentially limitless scope, it is imperative that the courts safeguard a landowner’s right to challenge the erroneous application of the law to his property. The Fifth Circuit’s failure to provide such a safeguard established a dangerous precedent, making this case highly appropriate for Supreme Court review.”

Religion of Peace News

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State leader, wounded in airstrike, reports say. Iraqi officials confirm injuries; Pentagon quiet on his condition.
Excerpt: U.S. and Iraqi officials were scrambling Sunday night to determine the extent of injuries suffered by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi amid conflicting reports that the terrorist leader had been wounded over the weekend by an airstrike in western Iraq.

important: The war over President Obama’s new war in Iraq. The key question: Who's in charge? By Michael Crowley, Politico
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/president-obama-war-iraq-112730.html
Excerpt: But two months later, Obama is once again seeking strategic clarity amid mixed results on the ground and a rising call of complaints that he launched the war without fully committing to doing what was necessary to win it. Even as Obama dispatched another 1,500 troops to Iraq Friday, nearly doubling the existing force — and with a new senior general headed to the country soon, according to a Defense Department source — coalition allies and his own secretary of defense are warning that his war plan needs a rethink. That problem has been compounded — according to interviews in recent days with more than a dozen current and former administration officials, experts and diplomats — by a lack of senior officials with deep expertise in Iraq and Syria and by a policymaking process hounded by rivalries and unclear leadership.

Australia: Jihadists not the only problem. by Andrew Bolt.
Excerpt: THE ABC’s plan: confront Attorney-General George Brandis with an audience stacked with “moderate” Muslims and make him hop. It took precautions. It did not select extremists to ask questions — no jihadists who’d illustrate the danger the Abbott Government is battling. Despite that, last Monday’s Q&A backfired spectacularly. It simply confirmed concerns that too many Muslims have a group loyalty and inflamed sense of victimhood that made them the sea in which jihadists swim. One reason it backfired was that Brandis was brilliant in defending the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy. But what really undid the exercise was the audience which grabbed the ABC’s microphone.

Excerpt: If they’re angry about the coverage they’re getting, perhaps we should send some of our large coterie of pro-jihad journalists over to the Islamic State. Christiane Amanpour, Spencer Ackerman, Niraj Warikoo, Jennifer Fermino, Corinne Lestch, Bob Smietana — what a wonderful time they would have, and we would be treated to a series of puff pieces showing the good side of those poor, misunderstand jihadis. Then they would put down their scimitars and show us Islam’s peaceful and tolerant side.

Excerpt: According to Haaretz, Gen. Martin Dempsey, U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made some helpful and conciliatory comments toward Israel. The nation’s top military officer lauded Israel for going to “extraordinary lengths” to avoid civilian casualties during the latest round of fighting with the Palestinians.

Top U.S. General Just Defied the White House… Obama Is NOT Happy
Excerpt: The chasm between liberal political expediency and cold, hard reality is wide enough to reduce all of the canyons west of the Mississippi to mere potholes. However, even by the reduced expectations cultivated by the left, the administration’s reaction to Israel’s recent campaign against Hamas-led forces in Gaza was a new low, putting a Stygian abyss between themselves and the facts. Now, one of America’s top generals has come out with an unequivocal statement which puts the lie to the Obama administration’s anti-Israel propaganda. According to Western Journalism, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said that “Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties” in their campaign against Hamas. (General Dempsey has actually not been fighting Mr. Obama on much of anything, which of course makes sense in general, given who is the superior here. But coming out with this frank statement about Israel's care in trying to avoid collateral damage when the tone of all the other WH inputs has been far more critical, is still a bold step for him. Good to see that he can still stand up for the truth, at least on occasion. --Del)

Retired Marine gets threats after guarding Canadian war memorial
Excerpt: Retired Marine Maj. "Fox" Sinke says he has received threatening phone calls from Arabic speakers since he stood guard at Canada's National War Memorial last week. But as he told police: "If they're looking for a fight, they came to the right guy."

'Her Majesty will not shirk her duty': Queen to attend Remembrance ceremony at Cenotaph tomorrow despite police arresting four Islamic extremists over 'plot to kill her'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2825277/Four-Islamic-terror-plot-suspects-arrested-west-London-Home-Counties.html
Excerpt: The Queen has vowed to attend the Remembrance Day centenary ceremony at The Cenotaph despite police arresting four Islamist terror suspects plotting to kill her on the day. 
The 88-year-old monarch insisted she will carry on with tradition - laying the first wreath following the two-minute silence at 11am on November 11.

Don't Tell Erdogan Jihadists Kill People. Burak Bekdil
Excerpt: Slightly more than a year ago, the world was shocked at the dramatic death tolls in Kenya and Pakistan when jihadists, in separate attacks over one weekend, killed more than 150 innocent people -- with the Kenya attack claiming victims aged between two and 78. In a public speech after the "black weekend," Turkey's then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (now President) looked very sad. Indeed, he was sad. But not for the victims of terror attacks the previous weekend. He was mourning Asmaa al-Beltagi, a poor, 17-year-old Egyptian girl who had been shot dead by security forces in Cairo as she was protesting the ouster of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Morsi, in a July coup d'état. Asmaa's father was a senior Brotherhood figure and after her death, Erdogan once even shed tears during a televised speech. He then commemorated the girl at almost every election rally.

Iran-Backed Shia Rebels Push Forward in Yemen. By Jonathan Spyer
Excerpt: The Iranians are the central pillar of the united and cohesive Shia-dominated bloc which includes the Assad regime in Syria, Hizballah in Lebanon and its allies, the government of Iraq and the Shia militias in that country. he Saudis are now the main force seeking to stem the Iranian advance. The anti-western Turkey-Qatar-Muslim Brotherhood alliance is also an important element on the Sunni side.

Islam Is Britain’s Biggest Cultural Problem.
Excerpt: “We’re paralysed by Islam.” -Pat Condell

THE CRUSADES: A Direct Response To Islam’s Bloodlust. By Audrey Russo
Excerpt: Most of us infidels in the West have been lied to. Trusting the education system, foolishly, we believed all the bunk bundled into our textbooks concerning the period in history (1096 AD -1272 AD) when the Crusades took place…they left out an itty bitty piece of info…This will be great for all your “enlightened” friends…

Netanyahu: Iran Crisis at Critical Moment
Excerpt: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted Sunday to threatening statements made on Saturday by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's 'supreme leader,' and said that the crisis over Iranian nuclear ambitions was at a critical moment.... In the last year alone, there has been a deterioration in human rights, in elimination of citizens. And now Iran expects that the powers will present it with a surrender agreement in which Iran continues its aggression, and it will receive nuclear weapons.

Op-Ed: 'Night of Broken Glass' in Jerusalem. Kristallnacht began on November 9, 1938 in Berlin. Are we on the same track again?
Excerpt: Seventy six years ago, within just one day, the entire citizenry of Germany turned against the Jews. The pogrom, known as 'The Night of Broken Glass', or Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, saw Nazi thugs plunder Jewish businesses throughout Germany, torch 300 synagogues and round up about 30,000 Jewish men for deportation to concentration camps.... The glasses are not those of Berlin’s commercial shops, like 76 years ago, but those of the Israeli cars smashed by Arab stones and Israeli train stations smashed by Arab cars. (In the US, we have POTUS and DOJ, Holder, Sharpton et al repeatedly race baiting to turn black against white. White will be the "new Jew." Shops repeatedly looted, people beaten on streets by gangs....and police threatened with prosecution. --Barb)

Take A Wild Guess Why This Basketball Player Won’t Stand for National Anthem
Excerpt: On Wednesday, before the Cavaliers’ game in Utah, those following Cleveland noticed Dion Waiters did not join the team during the pre-game presentation, including the singing of the national anthem. When asked by the Plain Dealer’s Chris Haynes, Waiters attributed his absence to his religious beliefs: Waiters informed Northeast Ohio Media Group that he is a Muslim and that he plans to excuse himself prior to the national anthem from here on out. (Maybe he should be knocked out in an elevator preferably by a nude woman. ~JB. He has a right not to stand. And we have a right to be offended and to loath him. By offending Muslims is wrong. Offending the rest of us is fine. ~Bob).

Qaradawi Calls Muslims to Arms Against Israel and the Jews. By John Rossomando
Excerpt: The Muslim Brotherhood's leading global voice, Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, called on Muslims Thursday to fight "the greatest battle of liberation" against Israel and the Jews. In an Arabic message posted on his website and translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Qaradawi called on Muslims to rise up and defend Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque – Islam's third holiest shrine – against Israel. His comments come amid heightened tension between Israel and the Palestinians.

A Sunni Hezbollah? By Jonathan Spyer, The Jerusalem Post
Excerpt: Jabhat al-Nusra, like the Lebanse Shi'ite organization, is emerging as a movement that combines uncompromising jihadi ideology with tactical flexibility. Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamist group which constitutes al-Qaida's "official franchise" in Syria, this week carried out a successful offensive against Western-backed rebel militias in northern Syria. Key areas were captured.

Send In The Marines. by JG
Excerpt: As America and the world watch the Global Islamic Movement rolling across Africa, and nations like Syria, Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere, the greater threat is here at home. As UTT has detailed continuously, the Muslim Brotherhood’s jihadi network in America consists of the most prominent Islamic organizations whose leaders continue to advise the White House, the National Security Staffs, FBI, CIA, DHS, the Pentagon, media organizations, university leaders, local school boards, and religious organizations of every flavor. On this day, as Marines stationed across the globe celebrate the founding of the Corps by an act of the Continental Congress in 1775, this call goes out to all who wear the title of “U.S. Marine” that you are needed today – you are needed in this fight. Our nation is not only under assault from those who seek to erode our founding principles, but also from the Islamic Movement which seeks to destroy us from within – “Civilization Jihad” is what the enemy calls it. (I think most Marines are in the fight. And most, following the core values of honor and courage, sign their names to their opinions. ~Bob)

Kerry's "Real Islam:" Nigeria school blast kills dozens. Many dead and injured after explosion before morning assembly at secondary school in Yobe, north-east Nigeria
Excerpt: A suicide bomb attack killed 47 people and injured 79 others as students gathered for Monday morning assembly at their school in north-east Nigeria, police have said.

Christians ‘Losing Everything’ to Islam. By Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: In Christian-majority Uganda, matters have gone from bad to worse to murderous. The plight of Hassan Muwanguzi, for instance, a Muslim convert to Christianity-whose initial sacrifices are recorded in Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (page 131)-far from abating, has only gotten worse.

http://madworldnews.com/halal-butcher-pork-muslims/
Excerpt: According to Morocco World News, the Swiss butcher reportedly sold 3.1 tons of pork to his Islamic customers, telling them it was halal and trying to pass it off as calf meat. Upon inspection of his facility, it was discovered that what he was selling as calf meat looked nothing like it should.

Excerpt: “You’d be shocked to hear that there are students on campus who have very extreme views. So much so, that they question whether what ISIS is doing is right or wrong, and don’t completely condemn their actions.” I wouldn’t be shocked at all, but I am sure York University officials would be. In any case, the irony here is very thick. In the U.S., Ahmadi spokesmen such as Qasim Rashid and Harris Zafar are eager waterboys for the Islamic supremacist agenda, smearing foes of jihad terror and partnering with individuals and groups who are linked to those who hate and persecute the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan and Indonesia. But that doesn’t win the Ahmadis any support from those Muslims who consider them heretics. And of course, the idea of an event on how peaceful Islam is being threatened by Muslims who disagree is a rich example of deception of the Infidels meeting reality.

The Real Islam: Firebomb on Kosher Eatery in Paris. Several Muslims called the diners at the restaurant 'dirty Jews' before the firebomb was thrown. By Haim Lev, Gil Ronen
Excerpt: A firebomb was thrown at a kosher Jewish restaurant in the 17th district of Paris at week's end. Several minutes earlier, some young Muslims who walked by the restaurant threatened the diners inside and called them “dirty Jews.” Thediners did not react.

The Real Islam: Shocking hotel footage captures moment girl aged 13 is lured into room to be raped by paedophile
Excerpt: The bewildered runaway has already been picked up off the street by three other cunning perverts who passed her from one to the other. Now the youngster is in the hands of an evil abuser who kisses and hugs her at a hotel reception desk before leading her willingly away to a room. But minutes after this CCTV footage was filmed, she was held down on the bed and raped by Shakeal Rehman, 26. He then made way for Mohahammed Shapal, 22, who also had sex with her in the same room.

Obama’s Libyan adventure continues to bear fruit
Excerpt: The mantra that we need to train the forces of friendly governments and, for that matter, rebel groups, may have become a staple of every 21st century Western intervention in the Middle East, but sometimes things just go wrong. Really wrong. A new generation of the Libyan army was supposed to be trained in the West as part of international efforts to rebuild the country after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Hand-picked recruits were invited to rural England for basic infantry and junior command training. On Tuesday, however, the British Ministry of Defense announced that all 300 trainees would be sent home early after a string of sexual assaults were perpetrated against the residents of Cambridgeshire, culminating in the alleged gang rape of a young man.

Excerpt: Ayatollah Khamenei is a man who has been leading the massive chants of “Death to Israel” (and the Jews) literally every day since 1979. Only a true anti-Semite could attempt to make a secret deal with such a person. Indeed, someone who would want to make a deal with Khamenei has about as much respect for human rights in general as Torquemada. That person would have to be an unmitigated liar and sociopath.

*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tinyurl.com/o4nu65u. His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.


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