Constitutional process used to count. (See 1 and1a below.)
If Obama is so concerned about children and their families why has he failed to do anything to help Syrian victims of Assad's butchery, etc.?
Kim gets it! (See 1b below.)
===
Jerusalem Palestinians caught red handed as they prepare to commit more tragedies. (See 2 and 2a below.)
Israel will prevail because of these courageous and heroic young people who love their country!
===
A little tongue in cheek from Manitoba. (See 3 below.)
===
Obama allowing terrorists to go nuclear? (See 4 below.)
===
My favorite holiday - Thanksgiving - is coming up and we are going to Orlando to be with family that are able to make the trip.
===
Michelle Obama may now be proud of America because of how her husband has transformed our country but I, for one, am disgusted! (See 5, 5a and 5b below.)
===
I wish everyone a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. We still have so much to be thankful for notwithstanding the fact that we have a turkey for president.
===
Dick
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)
 | ||||
| Boehner: We Will Listen to the People ; Protect the Constitution
WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today responded to President Obama’s unilateral action on immigration, saying that the president has not only refused to listen to the American people, but in doing so has sabotaged efforts to enact immigration legislation, punished those who have obeyed the law, and encouraged others to come here illegally, putting their lives at risk. Boehner pledged that the House would take action to protect the rule of law and the Constitution in the face of what the president himself has described as the actions of an “emperor.” Following are Boehner’s remarks:
“Our nation’s immigration system is broken, and I think we need to work together to fix it. But fixing it starts with a commitment to working through the democratic process and enforcing the laws that the president is sworn faithfully to execute.
“All year long, I warned the president that by taking unilateral action on matters such as his health care law -- or by threatening action repeatedly on immigration -- he was making it impossible to build the trust necessary to work together. As I warned the president: you can’t ask the elected representatives of the people to trust you to enforce the law if you’re constantly demonstrating that you can’t be trusted to enforce the law. The president never listened. And with this action, he has refused to listen to the American people.
“The president has taken actions that he himself has said are those of a ‘king’ or an ‘emperor’ – not an American president. And he’s doing this at a time when Americans want nothing more than both parties to focus on solving the biggest problems in our country, starting with our still-struggling economy.
“And the action by the president yesterday will only encourage more people to come here illegally, and putting their lives at risk. We saw the humanitarian crisis at our border last summer, how horrific it was. Well, next summer it could be worse. And this action also punishes those who have obeyed the law and waited their turn.
“With this action, the president has chosen to deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reforms that he claims to seek. And, as I told the president yesterday, he’s damaging the presidency itself.
“President Obama has turned a deaf ear to the people that he was elected, and we were elected, to serve. But we will not do that. In the days ahead, the People's House will rise to this challenge. We will not stand idle as the president undermines the rule of law in our country and places lives at risk. We’ll listen to the American people, we’ll work with our members, and we will work to protect the Constitution of the United States.”
1a) I, Barack
The immigration order is an abuse of power that fails as a policy reforts.
President Obama ’s decision to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants by his own decres a sorry day for America’s republic. We say that even though we agree with the cause of immigration reform. But process matters to self-government—sometimes it is the only barrier to tyranny—and Mr. Obama’s policy by executive order is tearing at the fabric of national consent.
The first question to address is Mr. Obama’s legal rationale. At least he finally rolled out a memo from the experts on presidential power in the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, but it’s fair to wonder how much time he gave them. The OLC made its justification public about an hour before the speech. The President’s rationale is “prosecutorial discretion,” but he is stretching that legal concept beyond normal understanding. The executive branch does have discretion about whom to prosecute. But this typically extends to individual cases, or to setting priorities due to limited resources such as prosecuting cocaine but not marijuana use.
Mr. Obama claims he is using his discretion to focus on such high deportation priorities as criminals, but he is going much further and is issuing an order exempting from deportation entire classes of people—as many as five million. Justice’s OLC memo claims there is no such categorical exemption, and that immigration officials can still deport someone if they want to, but the memo offers no measures by which to make that “complex judgment.” In practice it will almost never happen.
Opinion Journal Video
Wonder Land Columnist Dan Henninger explains the politics underpinning the president’s pending executive order. Photo: Facebook/The White House
The Reagan and Bush precedents cited by the
Obama lawyers are different in kind and degree. They involved far fewer people and they were intended to fulfill the policy set by Congress—not, as Mr. Obama intends, to defy Congress. That is why their actions were done with little controversy. Mr. Obama is issuing his order amid furious political opposition and after his own multiple previous declarations that he lacks legal authority. “If we start broadening that [his 2012 order for undocumented children], then essentially I’ll be ignoring the law in a way that I think would be very difficult to defend legally,” Mr. Obama said on Telemundo in September 2013. Until now. While we favor generous immigration, Mr. Obama’s order also fails as policy because it won’t reduce the economic incentive that drives illegal immigration. The only way to reduce the flow of illegal migrants is to offer enough legal ways to work in the U.S. and then return home. His unilateral order will encourage more migrants to come in hope of a future amnesty, without matching the ebb and flow of migration to America’s changing labor market demands. His order also offers no prospect of future citizenship, creating a laboring class with less of a stake in American institutions—and less incentive to assimilate.
The politics of immigration is already fraught, and Mr. Obama’s order will make it worse. He is empowering the most extreme anti-immigrant voices on the Republican right, which may be part of his political calculation.
Mr. Obama wants Democrats to get political credit with Hispanics for legalization, while goading the GOP into again becoming the deportation party in 2016. Hillary Clintonwould love that, which explains why Bill Clinton is already backing Mr. Obama’s order. Mark this down as one more way in which this President has become the Great Polarizer.
How should Republicans respond? They can use their own constitutional powers without falling into Mr. Obama’s political trap. Impeachment is a fool’s errand that would change the political subject and fail. The power of the purse is an obvious tool now that the GOP will soon control the Senate, but that will require patience and unity to prevail over Mr. Obama’s vetoes. The best GOP revenge would be to trump him on immigration. Before Mr. Obama’s decree, smart Republicans were discussing a legislative strategy focusing on piecemeal immigration reforms. Separate bills addressing individual problems (border security, agriculture and tech visas) could pass with rotating majorities that show the GOP has immigration solutions of its own. Some bills might get to Mr. Obama’s desk, forcing him to reveal his cynical political hand if he uses his veto to block durable reform. We realize this won’t be easy, especially as many on the anti-immigrant right will want an immediate strategy to defund the President’s order. But another Pickett’s charge up Shutdown Hill is exactly what Mr. Obama wants. Republicans need to keep the focus on Mr. Obama’s abuse of power while showing voters they have better immigration solutions. ***
The polls show the American people are uneasy about Mr. Obama’s unilateral law-making, and liberals should be too. Mr. Obama is setting a precedent that Republican Presidents could also use to overcome a Democratic majority. How about an order to the IRS not to collect capital-gains taxes on inflated gains from property held for more than a decade? That policy would be broadly popular and also address a basic lack of fairness.
Mr. Obama’s rule-by-regulation has already been rebuked more than once by the Supreme Court. His “I, Barack” immigration decree is another abuse that will roil American politics and erode public confidence in the basic precepts of self-government.
1b) The Next Prez and the Obama Way
Prosecutorial discretion? OK, how about not enforcing the 73,954 pages of tax code?
By Kim Strassel
To: POTUS
From: Your loyal and determined GOP advisers
Re: Your First 100 Days.
Hey Boss!
Congrats again (and fab party last night). Eight long years, and a Republican is finally back behind the Resolute desk. Pity about the Senate; Harry Reid is already vowing to shut the place down again. We put your chances of getting your agenda through that chamber in the range of slim to snowball.
But we’ve been thinking. Yes, the Constitution matters—Article I, Article II, blah, blah—though let’s be honest: What really counts in this town is precedent. And the ace news is that your predecessor blew up about 230 years of it. We’ve attached an 87-page list (check your spam box) of President Obama ’s unilateral actions: altering the ObamaCare statute; refusing to enforce federal drug laws; granting waivers to education reforms; using Justice Department suits to impose new industry rules; drafting agency regulations to go around Congress. Don’t forget 2014, when he rewrote federal immigration law. Like, all of it. By himself.
And here’s where it gets sweet. We’ve been analyzing the Obama team’s justifications. Some are p-r-e-t-t-y creative, but they boil down to this: Whenever a law is “unworkable,” or inadequately “funded”—and Congress won’t do anything—the president gets to act! How is that for new precedent? Think about it. This city has yet to produce a single statute or reg that is “workable” or that has, according to Democrats, enough money. Not a one. Remember that old Imagine Dragons tune, “I’m On Top of the World”? That’s you, boss. That’s you.
So here’s our plan for getting your entire agenda done—all of it!—by May:
Prosecutorial discretion: Love this. Your top item? Cutting taxes. We have two words and one number for you: Tax Code, 73,954 pages. Is there a more unworkable law? ROFL! We’ve got an executive order ready instructing IRS agents not to enforce the code on any person or company who refuses to pay more than our new rates. Goodbye Alternative Minimum Tax, death tax, capital gains, restrictions on nonprofits. Hello, flat tax on a postcard.
Speaking of taxes, do remember to thank Chief Justice John Roberts for declaring the ObamaCare individual mandate a tax. Not enforcing that one, either! That’s O-Care repealed. Check. You ran on reducing the regulatory burden. We’re sending a list of rules under major laws that you can instruct agencies and the Justice Department to no longer uphold. You know, the damaging stuff buried in the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Labor Relations Act, Dodd-Frank, McCain-Feingold. All unworkable!
We’re also readying a memo for the Justice Department, listing areas in which it should forgo suits for federal violations: Title IX, voting rights, affirmative action, wages and overtime. It’s not like anyone can “make” us do anything. Ask all those marijuana smokers in Alaska.
Waivers: You ran on fixing the debt, by fixing entitlements. Done. You know all those states getting waivers to experiment with Medicaid or welfare? Smart, but small. We’re thinking that with an elastic enough reading of laws, we can waive our way out of an entitlement system altogether. Medicaid vouchers? Child’s play. Did you know the Social Security Act allows sweeping waivers to its programs in the case of a national emergency? We so feel a national emergency coming on. A big one. Long—four years, maybe eight. Don’t laugh. Mr. Obama made anything conceivable.
Agencies: Justice now has time on its hands, so we’re setting up a task force to bring criminal charges against slippery characters (folks who, bonus, Americans love to hate): trial firms, union shops. Obama showed with his banking and BP BP.LN +1.55% suits that if we go big and ugly, we won’t even have to test legal theories; the targets will roll, and agree to new restrictions. That’s tort and labor reform done. And we’re already directing your agencies to start authorizing moves that Congress won’t: drilling off the East Coast and in ANWR; health insurance across state lines; school vouchers. Sky’s the limit! What the last guy showed is that the federal architecture is now so complex that you can always find a loophole. Look at his climate program. (BTW, we are shutting that down. Today.)
Is any of this constitutional? Meh. (Shred this memo.) We suppose you could ask legal advice, but Obama was certainly never that dumb. Here was his epiphany: Nobody can really stop a president. Congress can only complain. The judiciary moves too slowly to make a difference (look at Obama’s illegal recess appointments). Turns out the only thing that ever really restrained the chief executive was that oath he took. Our side has always taken that seriously. Hmmm.
We know you ran on restoring the Constitution, and the other side is counting on your base holding you to that. What they don’t understand is plenty of our people would be equally happy to see you stick it to them. We could do the right thing; arguably should.
Then again, who will they be to complain if we don’t?
Respectfully, Your Team.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)-
| |||
Israeli police intercepted a large shipment of weapons intended for Arab rioters in the east Jerusalem, theJerusalem Post reports. Israeli authorities seized two shipping containers from China, which arrived in Ashdod, consisting of fireworks, knives, and Tasers. The fireworks were hidden within Christmas decorations bound for the mostly Arab Christian neighborhood of Beit Hanina in east Jerusalem.
The containers included 18,000 prohibited fireworks, 5,200 commando knives, 5,500 Tasers, 4,300 flashlights capable of being converted into Tasers, and 1,000 swords.
Click here to watch Israeli authorities uncover the weapons shipment.
Jerusalem detectives collaborated with Israeli tax and customs officials in the undercover investigation. Police arrested three of the suspects after they claimed the containers at the Ashdod port and dropped them off in an Afula storehouse.
In recent weeks, Palestinian rioters increasingly used fireworks as a weapon against Israeli police and soldiers, especially in East Jerusalem. Potentially deadly firecrackers and large roman candles have been fired at Israeli security personnel. Some are capable of penetrating protective police gear, including shields.
2a)
IN THIS STRUGGLE, ISRAEL CAN PREVAIL
Author. Mordechai Kedar
The problem:
During these difficult days of increasing terror, the most urgent question is: What can we do in order to cope optimally with the growing terrorist violence in Israel, knowing that behind the scenes there are several players who are expending intense efforts to bring about an explosion.
Leading the pack is Hamas, whose goal is to become the undisputed leader of the Palestinian Arabs at the expense of the Palestinian Authority – and, for good measure, giving Sisi something to remember.
Supporting Hamas is a coalition composed of Qatar and Turkey, with unlimited sources of funds.
The PLO, at the same time, is trying to hold on to first place and cannot allow itself to appear less extreme than Hamas, for fear it will be accused of cooperating with Israel. This is the origin of the two-faced behavior of the PA: on the one hand, it presents a cooperative face to Israel and on the other hand, it stabs Israel in the back, through incitement and education, on the street and in international forums.
Qatar bases its standing in the Arab world and the West by pouring oil on the fire, exactly as it does with the Islamic State. Hypocritically, in the usual Qatari fashion, it funds the Islamic state while, as part of the Western coalition, it expresses support for those who fight it.
Behind the scenes of the growing terror Israel faces stands the Islamic State, the model for successful battles against the enemies of Islam: massacre the enemy, act with extreme violence and use fast vehicles that give the impression of Jihad's sweeping, advancing victory. The murderers who entered the Jerusalem Synagogue did not bring long butcher's cleavers for nothing.
The answer:
First of all, Israel must say emphatically: the Palestinian Authority established on the basis of the Oslo Accords is an enemy entity, an enemy whose goal is establishing an Arab state in place of Israel, not alongside Israel, but on its ruins. That is the reason the Oslo Accords were violated so blatantly and thoroughly by the other side, resulting in them being declared null and void.
In addition, Israel must cease funding the PA on the basis of economic agreements derived from the Oslo Accords. There is no other country that funds an enemy entity, and there is no reason for Israel to be the only country that acts in such a delusional manner.
The government of Israel must condemn those among us who were instrumental in giving us the “New Middle East”, even those who once held posts of high honor.
Israel must announce as clearly as possible that Jerusalem is not a subject in any negotiations with anyone. It was never the capital of any entity connected to the Arab or Islamic world and was never ruled by a king, sultan, emir or caliph, so that there is no historical or legal basis for demanding that it be the capital of any state other than Israel.
Israel has to remind the entire world that Judea, Samaria and Eastern Jerusalem were areas occupied by Jordan for 19 years, from May 1948 until June 1967. Had the Arab world felt it was just and necessary, it could have established a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital then, without anyone in the world disputing it. The Arabs refrained from doing that for the 7000 days in which Jordan had control of the area and therefore have no right to demand from Israel what they did not demand from themselves.
Israel must immediately shut down all the PA institutions in Jerusalem and any governmental entity that is not of the state of Israel. Sovereignty cannot be shared or compromised on, because he who compromises with regard to his sovereignty loses it.
The police must issue a restraining order against all Islamic Movement activists, first and foremost to Sheikh Raad Salah and his deputy Sheikh Kamal el Khatib. After that, the possibility of issuing an order forbidding them to leave Um El Fahem and Kafr Kana should be considered.
Israel must immediately shut down all the Hamas TV stations broadcasting in Judea and Samaria.
Israel must keep the bodies of all dead terrorists who committed terror attacks. To all events, Israel must forbid their burial in Jerusalem, especially not in the vicinity of the Temple Mount, because burial in that spot is an expression of pride in the shahid and encourages more terror.
Israel must announce that it is building a new neighborhood, a new settlement or at least a new building in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria in memory of every terror victim. Let the terrorists discover that terror makes the Jewish People's connection to its land stronger.
Israel must change the way it views Europe. This continent is gradually turning into an Islamist area, and European politicians are becoming more and more dependent on the Muslim voter.They have to take stands dictated to them by the voters in their electoral district, and these brought their visceral hatred of Jews and Israel with them from their countries of origin. I do not see this pattern changing, so that for Israel, relying on Europe is a waste of effort at best and under normal circumstances, like entering hostile territory.
Israelis have to internalize the fact that their neighbors do not want them in the Middle East, and that Tel Aviv and Ramat Hasharon as seen as “settlements” just as Eli, Shilo and Neve Daniel are. The entire Peace industry is just froth topping the waves of the stormy waters of the Middle East. It succeeded in blinding us to the point where we did not accept the reality of the situation and it managed to neutralize the will of some of us to fight for our land and freedom, but it had absolutely no effect on our neighbors.
Israel must develop a psychological mindset that prepares it for a multi-pronged struggle, because many of the countries in the world are against the existence of the state of Israel and will do anything to weaken its security, economic stability and legitimacy.
Israel must publicly condemn people, such as Martyn Indyk, who accept funding from countries like Qatar which uses its money to influence political stands vis a vis Israel.
Israel's justice system must internalize the fact that we are struggling for our survival. We cannot relate to enemies of the state as if they are deserving of mercy at the hands of our country's legal system. The legal system was not intended to make the state vulnerable but to base it on law and order so that it can continue to function during difficult times.
The people of Israel must trust in G-d and in themselves, they must be prepared to fight for their existence. This struggle is infinitely more important than what the Knesset and the media have been stressing – VAT on purchasing an apartment or any internal political struggle. Ministers and MK's must rise above narrow party considerations and begin to lead the Jewish people in its struggle to keep its land, state and liberty.
3) From the Manitoba Herald:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration. The Republicans winning the Senate is prompting an exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, and live according to the Constitution.Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, global warming activists, and "green" energy proponents crossing their fields at night."I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Southern Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. ?The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry. He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left before I even got a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. He then installed loudspeakers that blared Rush Limbaugh across the fields, but they just keep coming.Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into electric cars and drive them across the border where they are simply left to fend for themselves after the battery dies."A lot of these people are not prepared for our rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a single bottle of Perrier drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet, though, and some kale chips."When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about plans being made to build re-education camps where liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and study the Constitution.In recent days, liberals have turned to ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have been disguised as senior citizens taking a bus trip to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans in blue-hair wig disguises, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior citizens about Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney to prove that they were alive in the '50s. "If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we become very suspicious about their age," an official said.Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage, buying up all the Barbara Streisand CDs, and renting all the Michael Moore movies. "I really feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history majors does one country need?"Trying to reassure his liberal base and get them to return to the U.S., President Obama reiterated what he said in his press conference following the beating the democrats took in the last election: "I heard from the 1/3 of the electorate that voted, but I also heard from the 2/3 that did not vote." Who knew the president was clairvoyant?He also said the reason the democrats got their asses whipped wasn't because of HIS policies, but rather because the Dems did not get his message out to the people. Ya gotta love a guy that takes responsibility when something goes wrong.
4)
Obama: Helping Terror Go Nuclear
By Noah Beck
Last Tuesday’s terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue killed five people: four rabbis (including three born in the USA) and a Druze police officer. Two Palestinians entered during morning prayers and attacked worshipers with knives, meat cleavers, and a handgun. Congress showed moral clarity when blaming the horrors on Hamas and Palestinian Authority incitement, but Obama’s statements were perfunctorily “balanced.”
Obama warned of a “spiral” of violence – an obtuse refrain of those suggesting moral equivalency between terrorism and the fight against it. Obama also misleadingly claimed that “President Abbas…strongly condemned the attacks” omitting that Abbas did so only after pressure from the administration and with equivocation (Abbas suggested a link between recent terrorism and visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, as if to justify the attacks). It’s also worth noting that Palestinians celebrated the massacre(as they did after the 2013 Boston bombing and the 9/11 attacks).
Obama’s weak reaction is consistent with his mostly impotent response to ISIS terrorists who behead Americans and Mideast Christians, and grow their Islamist empire by the day. Frighteningly, his approach to Iranian nukes follows the same meek pattern, but the stakes are exponentially higher, because when Iran goes nuclear, so does terrorism.
Iran is already the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, without nuclear weapons. Iran-supported Hamas has already tried to commit nuclear terror: last summer, Hamas launched rockets at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor. How much more dangerous will Iran become when it has nukes? Even if Iran doesn’t directly commit nuclear terrorism, an Iranian nuclear umbrella will embolden the regime and the terrorist organizations it sponsors.
Obama has a long record of weakness towards Iran. In 2009, when Iran’s Basij paramilitary force brutalized demonstrators protesting Iran’s fraudulent presidential election, Obama kept his response irrelevantly mild for the sake of “engaging” Iran. That surely helped Iranian voters understand the risks of protesting the “free” election of 2012 (involving eight regime-picked candidates). It was indeed a very orderly rubberstamp.
In 2011, when a U.S. drone went down on Iranian soil, Obama cordially requested it back. The regime recently scoffed at such impotence by showcasing its knock-off based on that drone and some U.S.-made helicopters that it purchased, highlighting just how useless sanctions have become.
President Hassan Rouhani’s election vastly improved the public face of Iran’s nuclear program, and Obama was charmed too. Obama has been unilaterally weakening the sanctions against Iran by not enforcing them. He has threatened to thwart any Congressional attempt to limit his nuclear generosity by simply lifting sanctions without Congressional approval. Yet despite these concessions and Rouhani’s smiles, human rights abuses in Iran have actually worsened.
Obama declared in 2012 (while running for reelection) that he doesn’t bluff when it comes to stopping Iranian nukes, and that containment was not an option, unlike military force. But the credibility of that statement collapsed after Obama shrunk away from his “red line” against Syrian chemical weapons use. In 2013, Basher Assad gassed his own people and Obama took no military action. So if Obama cowers against a disintegrating state, what are the chances that he’ll militarily prevent Iranian nukes?
And Obama has dangerously undermined the only military threat to Iranian nukes that anyone still takes seriously: Israel. On the Iranian nuclear issue, Obama has isolated Israel on how close Iran is to a nuclear capability with estimates that are far laxer. And as long as Obama continues negotiating (even if Iran is clearly playing for time as the U.S. offers ever more desperate proposals) or reaches a deal allowing Iran to become a threshold nuclear weapons state, an Israeli military option to defang Iranian nukes appears less legitimate.
The media’s anti-Israel bias is well known (they can’t even get a simple story about vehicular terrorism against Israelis correct (compare how The Guardian writes accurate headlines when Canada suffers an Islamist car attack but not when Israel does). So if Obama accepts Iran’s nuclear program and Israel then attacks it, the media will be even harsher on Israel (even though the world will be silently relieved, if Israeli courage succeeds at neutralizing what scared everyone else).
Downgrading U.S.-Israel relations seems to be part of Obama’s détente with Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei recently tweeted his plan for destroying Israel, but Obama grows even more determined to reach an accord that legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program. And the Obama administration’s diplomatic abuse of America’s closest Mideast ally is unprecedented – from his humiliation of Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2010, to Secretary of State John Kerry’s betrayal of Israel during Operation Protective Edge, to calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit” a few weeks ago, without even apologizing later (note the irony of calling Netanyahu a coward anonymously). Obama seems far more concerned by Israeli construction of apartments in Jerusalem than a nuclear Iran. And he has been pressuring Israel to retreat from more disputed territory, effectively rewarding Palestinians for launching the third missile war against Israel from Gaza in five years last summer and now the third Intifidah inside Israel in 17 years. That puts Obama just behind the European appeasers who think Palestinian bellicosity merits statehood. They all naively think — at Israel’s peril — that peace is possible with raw hatred.
Obama indeed appears desperate to get a nuclear accord with Iran at any price. He has written letters asking for Iran’s help against ISIS after they hinted at an ISIS-for-nukes exchange, and has pursued an agreement at all costs. Obama’s top aide, Ben Rhodes, was caught saying how a nuclear accord is as important to Obama as “healthcare”; at least there’s a fitting slogan to sell the deal to Americans: “If you like your nukes, you can keep them.”
Russia, the serial spoiler, suggested extending nuclear talks past the November 24th deadline. Iran will undoubtedly agree to more enrichment time (while it keeps stonewalling the IAEA’s investigations into it nukes), as it did last July. For Obama, a bad agreement or an extension looks far better than concluding that talks have failed and issuing more empty threats to stop Iran militarily. And so U.S. foreign policy will continue its freefall, as the world’s bad actors will want to see what they can extort from a leader even weaker than President Carter. While Carter permitted Iran to hold 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days, Obama may allow Iran to hold the world hostage with nuclear terrorism. It’s now dreadfully obvious: without massive public pressure, Obama will help Iran get nukes. Anyone concerned about nuclear terrorism should sign this petition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) Michelle Obama and the Why of Ferguson, Missouri
It’s difficult to imagine a sadder state of affairs than political figures suggesting that any constituent group must adhere to a predetermined ideology without question, preaching that the flock should unquestionably follow a political party’s whims in lockstep. We all know such a thing be an anathema among free-thinking people, don’t we?
This is a trait of past civilizations that we often ridicule and lament, having the benefit of hindsight and the blessings of Western concepts of morality. How, indeed, did Germans fall under the Nazi spell? When, exactly, did the Khmer Rouge accept their roles as enforcers of party-line groupthink to the extent that they would murder their own countrymen for a lack of faith in the Communist regime? At what moment did Mao’s subjects sacrifice their own right to human choice such that millions perished under the yoke of communalist agricultural revolution called the “Great Leap Forward?”
These are all enduring questions in our effort to dissect political dysfunction and the nature of humankind. But I would offer this: we need not look at history. Look at our current First Lady to see such methods of indoctrination at work.
Before this month’s election, Michelle Obama beseeched an audience to vote along party lines, “no matter who’s on the ballot.” “It’s not about that person on the ballot,” she said. “It’s about you, and for most of the people we are talking to, a Democratic ticket is the clear ticket that we should be voting on regardless of who said what or did this, that shouldn’t even come into the equation.”
As the television audience to whom she directed these comments is primarily composed of blacks, we can safely infer that she meant blacks should think and act of one mind, and march to the polls and vote Democrat at her behest. Or at the very least, the color of their skin alone should compel them to do so. That is a suggestion that should be pretty ridiculous if you consider in most other contexts.
Imagine that I were to suggest that all other Anglo-Hispanic Americans, be they from California, Maine, or anywhere in that broad space between, are singularly tied to my personal experience in such a way that despite having shared little or no common experience with me beyond our ethnic and racial background, we are bound by a singular expression of thought and action. Then imagine that I tell you that you should vote Republican, because anyone in that racial category should always vote for Republicans at all costs, regardless of which politician is on the ballot, irrespective of the party’s track record, and oblivious to what Republican politicians have expressed to be the intended consequence of their having a future mandate.
If you listened to me and unthinkingly voted Republican on the weight of my plea, you wouldn’t be acting on your own volition. You would be acting in accordance to my will, because you have surrendered your right to think for yourself and have put your faith in a political machine.
In a nutshell, that is how individualism dies, and collectivist ambition prevails -- through the invention and exploitation of identity groups which elites insist must define one’s thoughts and expression. One’s supposed inclusion with this preset identity group must necessarily forbid any individual expression to the contrary -- a message usually delivered by charismatic mediums.
Such are the sly seductions which have infected our culture in recent decades, and these leftist seductions -- not institutional white racism -- are the culprit that keeps Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of a world where men are judged “by the content of their character” and not by the “color of their skin” just out of reach. Democrats outwardly claim to desire Dr. King’s post-racial world, yet they deny it an existence and smother his dream by relentlessly clinging to racial identities and fomenting racial animus. They disseminate theories about a society which is motivated by strangling black ambition and success, even as a black man and a black woman hold the two highest-of-high profile positions within that very society. Some among Michelle’s target audience have the good sense torecognize the hypocrisy in Democrats sermonizing about the curse of poverty among black demographics from their lavish pulpit. But tragically, most just take Michelle Obama’s plea to heart, and focus on the supposed microcosms of institutional racism against blacks -- like black people are supposed to do, as I’m sure Michelle would argue.
And like marionettes on strings, the rabid flock, influenced by the attack-politics of Democrats and media race-hustlers, has descended upon Ferguson, Missouri, undoubtedly driven at some level by delusions of grandeur about it being this generation’s Selma, Alabama. Some are there to profit and/or grow the brand (Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the deceased Michael Brown’s family, et al), while some are there to simply break things, steal stuff, and hurt people, disguisingtheir selfish aggression and desire for attention as festering anger about racism, or something like that. And undeterred by the onslaught of released evidence which suggests that Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Darren Wilson was not a simple matter of a teen with his hands up gunned down by a murderous officer as the popular narrative suggests, and despite the results of a grand jury investigation which angry black mobs will likely find disagreeable in any event, Democrats and the media will report the profiteering, arson, thievery, and violence that will ensue in Ferguson as if it has anything to do at all with Darren Wilson and Michael Brown, and nothing to do with the incendiary and dangerous rhetoric that Democrats have delivered leading up to and surrounding the incident which brought all of it about.
Yes, Ferguson is indeed a microcosm of a deeply rooted societal disease. But it’s certainly not white racism.
5a) Executive Amnesty: Will We Allow One Man to Fundamentally Transform America?
After six years of putting up with his eldest son actively working with those crazy racist white folks in the Tea Party against the first black president, my 86-year-old black dad has finally begun to understand why.
A lifelong Democrat, Dad contributed to the GOP shocking victory in Maryland by voting Republican in the 2014 midterm. It has taken me six years to convince Dad that conservatism is much better for everyone than liberalism. Dad is old-school, with basic beliefs. Democrats are for the working-class little guy. Republicans are for the rich. Oh, and Republicans are also racists.
So you can imagine the challenges I faced trying to re-educate him. Dad believed that the Tea Party was racist because he heard it on CNN. I said, “Dad, I travel the country on the Tea Party Express tour bus. And they allow me to sit up front. However, I prefer riding in the back, because there is a large TV back there, and I can watch all the football games.” Dad chuckled.
I know what you are thinking: Lloyd, why haven't you turned your dad on to Fox News? I have tried. I do not know why he rejects Fox and conservative talk radio. Still, I am working on it, folks. I am working on it.
With the biased MSM as his main news source, Dad is a low-info voter. I have been working on Dad, educating him one issue at a time. Dad is a good guy, warm and compassionate. I am trying to get him to use his common sense and instincts for right and wrong rather than getting caught up in the Democrats' and MSM's emotional, manipulative spin on issues.
We chatted about illegal immigration. Dad has been a Christian pastor for over 50 years. He is still the pastor of four churches; driving several miles to visit the sick and shut-ins.
“Dad, remember when Mom used to get annoyed at people who used you and your church?” Dad chuckled. I do not recall Dad ever turning away anyone in need.
Mom was frustrated with people who did not want to contribute in any way to Dad's ministry – never attending a single service or listening to a sermon. All they were interested in was the freebies available at the church: food, clothing, and so on. They wanted Rev. “My-cus-sin” (Marcus) – never did get his name right – to perform their weddings and funerals for free. They expected Dad to show up at their homes or hospitals in the middle of the night in times of crisis, despite never once setting foot in Dad's church. Still, Dad faithfully did it all. He was functioning on a higher level – the level of God's love.
While liberals claim that poor humble illegals are quaking in their boots “hiding in the shadows,” illegals are boldly and arrogantly protesting in our streets, demanding entitlements and that they not be deported. Illegals claim a moral right to be in our country, while blatantly breaking and ignoring our laws.
The spin promoted from the bully pulpits of the MSM and White House is that anyone who does not turn a blind eye to illegals breaking our laws, making demands, and abusing our system is a hard-hearted racist.
Meanwhile, a mysterious polio-like illness has paralyzed 75 kids across America. The rare Enterovirus D68 is causing an outbreak across 45 states, sickening nearly 700 – mostly children. Illegal alien minors are also spreading dengue fever, swine flu, tuberculosis, and possibly Ebola. Obama's open border policy has delivered over 300,000 illegals; 75,000 of them are children who directly entered schools across America without proper examinations and so on.
It has been exposed that many of the illegals are gang members and drug dealers.
As inconceivable as this is to imagine, it does appear that one man, exploiting the historical aspect of his presidency to break the law at will, may be allowed to fundamentally transform America. Obama via executive order will grant amnesty to 5 million illegals, plus the 75,000 children who invaded our country and their parents.
If Republicans do not stop Obama's insanity, one characterless, out-of-control, arrogant, evil liar will fundamentally transform America. That is totally unacceptable.
Years ago, I wrote a satirical article to illustrate illegal immigration and how we are expected to deal with it. I was shocked that many people thought my fictional scenario was true. Their reaction spoke to how crazy, brain-dead, and emotion-driven the topic of illegal immigration has become, and what people think of our government.
In my parable, I came home to discover that a family had taken up residency in my backyard storage shed. Displaying remarkable arrogance and a sense of entitlement, the squatters refused to leave, arguing that they were simply seeking a better life. Their TV, computers, etc. were powered with an electrical cord plugged into the exterior outlet of my home.
Infuriated, I asked the police and City Hall to remove the trespassers from my property. Upon local government discovering the race of my invaders, I was accused of being selfish and cruel, and of using the law to hide my hateful racism. Suddenly, I began witnessing a migration of my trespassers' relatives and friends into my backyard, littering my property with tents, makeshift shelters, and old vehicles.
The city cited me for numerous code violations, which included all the dangerous electric cords and bizarre hook-ups into my electrical power source. I was ordered to immediately upgrade my electrical power to meet the needs of my current and potential new residents.
From that point in my imaginary tale, the pandering to my trespassers by my local government got even more outrageous. You get the idea. Folks, this is exactly what is happening in our national home, America. Illegals are showing up and making outrageous demands. The Obama administration is siding with them. The reality of the situation is just that simple.
Imagine Jeopardy game show host Alex Trebek saying, “The lawless man who fundamentally transformed America.” If we do not politically stop him, the correct Final Jeopardy question will be, “Who is Barack Hussein Obama?”
5b) The Baleful Effects of the Obama Presidency
In his fine post on last night’s speech, Jonathan wrote, “But President Obama has made that impossible by firing the first shot in a political war intended to further polarize the nation. Nothing could be more cynical or less high-minded.”
There is such a thing as a nation’s political and civic culture. Ours is in some disrepair right now. This isn’t the only time that’s been the case, for sure. Politics in a free society–any free society–guarantees some amount of division and polarization. But beyond a certain point it’s not normative or healthy; and if there are large, difficult problems that need to be addressed, as is now the case, the political system has to work. Right now it’s not.
Why it’s not is a complicated matter. But there’s no question that President Obama bears a great deal of the responsibility for our political distemper. His announcement last night that he’s going to employ means that he himself deemed to be lawless and unconstitutional, in order to get his way on immigration, is guaranteed to further roil our politics. Indeed, it may well have been done in part to do just that. Whatever his motivations, Mr. Obama has taken an unprecedented step that will further split apart not just our two parties but our nation.
It’s worth reminding ourselves, then, that when he first ran for president, Mr. Obama not only promised to place greater limits on executive power; he also promised to “turn the page” on the “old politics” of division and anger. He would end a politics that “breeds division and conflict and cynicism.” He would help us to “rediscover our bonds to each other and … get out of this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.” His election, he informed us, was a sign we had “chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
“I will listen to you,” Obama said on a stage in Grant Park on the night of his election, “especially when we disagree.” And on the day of his inauguration he came to proclaim “an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
Yet here we are, six years later, with a president who has caused greater division and conflict, who has deepened public cynicism, and who has chosen–eagerly and gleefully chosen–conflict and discord over unity of purpose. This may not be the worst sin of the Obama era, but it ranks quite high on the list.
Other presidents have made mistakes, and some have committed impeachable offenses. But I would be hard-pressed to name a president who has so selfishly and narcissistically injured our constitutional order and political culture. The baleful effects of the Obama presidency are now nearly incalculable.
So you can imagine the challenges I faced trying to re-educate him. Dad believed that the Tea Party was racist because he heard it on CNN. I said, “Dad, I travel the country on the Tea Party Express tour bus. And they allow me to sit up front. However, I prefer riding in the back, because there is a large TV back there, and I can watch all the football games.” Dad chuckled.
I know what you are thinking: Lloyd, why haven't you turned your dad on to Fox News? I have tried. I do not know why he rejects Fox and conservative talk radio. Still, I am working on it, folks. I am working on it.
With the biased MSM as his main news source, Dad is a low-info voter. I have been working on Dad, educating him one issue at a time. Dad is a good guy, warm and compassionate. I am trying to get him to use his common sense and instincts for right and wrong rather than getting caught up in the Democrats' and MSM's emotional, manipulative spin on issues.
We chatted about illegal immigration. Dad has been a Christian pastor for over 50 years. He is still the pastor of four churches; driving several miles to visit the sick and shut-ins.
“Dad, remember when Mom used to get annoyed at people who used you and your church?” Dad chuckled. I do not recall Dad ever turning away anyone in need.
Mom was frustrated with people who did not want to contribute in any way to Dad's ministry – never attending a single service or listening to a sermon. All they were interested in was the freebies available at the church: food, clothing, and so on. They wanted Rev. “My-cus-sin” (Marcus) – never did get his name right – to perform their weddings and funerals for free. They expected Dad to show up at their homes or hospitals in the middle of the night in times of crisis, despite never once setting foot in Dad's church. Still, Dad faithfully did it all. He was functioning on a higher level – the level of God's love.
While liberals claim that poor humble illegals are quaking in their boots “hiding in the shadows,” illegals are boldly and arrogantly protesting in our streets, demanding entitlements and that they not be deported. Illegals claim a moral right to be in our country, while blatantly breaking and ignoring our laws.
The spin promoted from the bully pulpits of the MSM and White House is that anyone who does not turn a blind eye to illegals breaking our laws, making demands, and abusing our system is a hard-hearted racist.
Meanwhile, a mysterious polio-like illness has paralyzed 75 kids across America. The rare Enterovirus D68 is causing an outbreak across 45 states, sickening nearly 700 – mostly children. Illegal alien minors are also spreading dengue fever, swine flu, tuberculosis, and possibly Ebola. Obama's open border policy has delivered over 300,000 illegals; 75,000 of them are children who directly entered schools across America without proper examinations and so on.
It has been exposed that many of the illegals are gang members and drug dealers.
As inconceivable as this is to imagine, it does appear that one man, exploiting the historical aspect of his presidency to break the law at will, may be allowed to fundamentally transform America. Obama via executive order will grant amnesty to 5 million illegals, plus the 75,000 children who invaded our country and their parents.
If Republicans do not stop Obama's insanity, one characterless, out-of-control, arrogant, evil liar will fundamentally transform America. That is totally unacceptable.
Years ago, I wrote a satirical article to illustrate illegal immigration and how we are expected to deal with it. I was shocked that many people thought my fictional scenario was true. Their reaction spoke to how crazy, brain-dead, and emotion-driven the topic of illegal immigration has become, and what people think of our government.
In my parable, I came home to discover that a family had taken up residency in my backyard storage shed. Displaying remarkable arrogance and a sense of entitlement, the squatters refused to leave, arguing that they were simply seeking a better life. Their TV, computers, etc. were powered with an electrical cord plugged into the exterior outlet of my home.
Infuriated, I asked the police and City Hall to remove the trespassers from my property. Upon local government discovering the race of my invaders, I was accused of being selfish and cruel, and of using the law to hide my hateful racism. Suddenly, I began witnessing a migration of my trespassers' relatives and friends into my backyard, littering my property with tents, makeshift shelters, and old vehicles.
The city cited me for numerous code violations, which included all the dangerous electric cords and bizarre hook-ups into my electrical power source. I was ordered to immediately upgrade my electrical power to meet the needs of my current and potential new residents.
From that point in my imaginary tale, the pandering to my trespassers by my local government got even more outrageous. You get the idea. Folks, this is exactly what is happening in our national home, America. Illegals are showing up and making outrageous demands. The Obama administration is siding with them. The reality of the situation is just that simple.
Imagine Jeopardy game show host Alex Trebek saying, “The lawless man who fundamentally transformed America.” If we do not politically stop him, the correct Final Jeopardy question will be, “Who is Barack Hussein Obama?”
5b) The Baleful Effects of the Obama Presidency
In his fine post on last night’s speech, Jonathan wrote, “But President Obama has made that impossible by firing the first shot in a political war intended to further polarize the nation. Nothing could be more cynical or less high-minded.”
This is not incidental damage to our republic.
There is such a thing as a nation’s political and civic culture. Ours is in some disrepair right now. This isn’t the only time that’s been the case, for sure. Politics in a free society–any free society–guarantees some amount of division and polarization. But beyond a certain point it’s not normative or healthy; and if there are large, difficult problems that need to be addressed, as is now the case, the political system has to work. Right now it’s not.
Why it’s not is a complicated matter. But there’s no question that President Obama bears a great deal of the responsibility for our political distemper. His announcement last night that he’s going to employ means that he himself deemed to be lawless and unconstitutional, in order to get his way on immigration, is guaranteed to further roil our politics. Indeed, it may well have been done in part to do just that. Whatever his motivations, Mr. Obama has taken an unprecedented step that will further split apart not just our two parties but our nation.
It’s worth reminding ourselves, then, that when he first ran for president, Mr. Obama not only promised to place greater limits on executive power; he also promised to “turn the page” on the “old politics” of division and anger. He would end a politics that “breeds division and conflict and cynicism.” He would help us to “rediscover our bonds to each other and … get out of this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.” His election, he informed us, was a sign we had “chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”
“I will listen to you,” Obama said on a stage in Grant Park on the night of his election, “especially when we disagree.” And on the day of his inauguration he came to proclaim “an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
Yet here we are, six years later, with a president who has caused greater division and conflict, who has deepened public cynicism, and who has chosen–eagerly and gleefully chosen–conflict and discord over unity of purpose. This may not be the worst sin of the Obama era, but it ranks quite high on the list.
Other presidents have made mistakes, and some have committed impeachable offenses. But I would be hard-pressed to name a president who has so selfishly and narcissistically injured our constitutional order and political culture. The baleful effects of the Obama presidency are now nearly incalculable.
No comments:
Post a Comment