Administration Upgrades And Refocuses Its Spin On Syria

In yet another new low, Team Obama resorts to a "They made me do it" defense of its latest failed Syrian scheme:

Finger-Pointing, but Few Answers, After a Syria Solution Fails

WASHINGTON — By any measure, President Obama’s effort to train a Syrian opposition army to fight the Islamic State on the ground has been an abysmal failure. The military acknowledged this week that just four or five American-trained fighters are actually fighting.

But the White House says it is not to blame. The finger, it says, should be pointed not at Mr. Obama but at those who pressed him to attempt training Syrian rebels in the first place — a group that, in addition to congressional Republicans, happened to include former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At briefings this week after the disclosure of the paltry results, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, repeatedly noted that Mr. Obama always had been a skeptic of training Syrian rebels. The military was correct in concluding that “this was a more difficult endeavor than we assumed and that we need to make some changes to that program,” Mr. Earnest said. “But I think it’s also time for our critics to ‘fess up in this regard as well. They were wrong.”

Not even the Times is pretending that this appears even a little bit Presidential:

In effect, Mr. Obama is arguing that he reluctantly went along with those who said it was the way to combat the Islamic State, but that he never wanted to do it and has now has been vindicated in his original judgment. The I-told-you-so argument, of course, assumes that the idea of training rebels itself was flawed and not that it was started too late and executed ineffectively, as critics maintain.

They close with a brutal summation from Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Iraq under both Bush and Obama:

Ryan C. Crocker, a retired career diplomat who was an ambassador to Afghanistan under Mr. Obama, said the president was right to think a train-and-arm program would not work. But the president, Mr. Crocker added, should have either continued to resist it or at least taken ownership of it rather than blame others for its failure.

“How un-presidential that sounds — ‘We didn’t want to do it, we thought it was unsound but you made us do it,’ ” said Mr. Crocker, now dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. “It’s just indicative of their whole approach to Syria, which is not to have a policy. This is the worst thing they could say.”

Well, its the worst thing they could say this week, but Team Obama still has more than a year left in office to set a new low with their weaselly buckpassing.

By way of comparison, let's remember that when Obama first drew his erasable red line in Syria, back in August 2012, it was an Obama ad-lib that took his aides by surprise. Later, we all discovered his mouth was running ahead of his support, the red line became a punchline, and here we are. But the point is, admin insiders were at least willing to point the finger at the boss and pretend he was in charge. Today, we are being told that Obama is not in charge, his critics are.

I for one will use my great power responsibly.

Comments

[Carol Herman]

I dunno. We didn't get dragged into it, so that's a plus.

As to obama's legacy, it's going to be hilarious. And, much worse than carter's.

[Ann]

Does everyone go to bed early now? First?

[Ann]

Look who I woke Up? Carp!

Good Night Old People!! :)

[narciso]

Does everybody forget what he said about said rebels, just two year ago, bueller, bueller.

[Ann]

In the morning, read this:

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-blocks-navy-from-sailing-near-disputed-chinese-islands/

[Jeff Dobbs]

TM:
Later, we all discovered his mouth was running ahead of his support, the red line became a punchline, and here we are.

Obama's mouth and punch in the same sentence is nice, but I would rearrange the words (and Obama's mouth) if I was in charge.

Greetings from L.A.

Sadly, Frau was not waiting at my gate.

[Frozen.]

Don't worry, Ann, all those islands will sink into the sea as it rises.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Announcer in the concourse is pronouncing Guadalajara as Hwadalajara.

Holy Hwacamole.

[Jane on Ipad]

I'm up! Don't ask me why...

[Jeff Dobbs]

Why are you up, Jane?

[Jeff Dobbs]

I don't take instruction well. It's a fault I have.

[daddy (Vote for Pedro!)]

Frau,

Googling says that Mark twain never visited Texas, but for a short while he did wind up owning, by default, a 320 acre ranch outside of Beaumont Texas. Odd.

Twain imagined what Texas was like tho', and as a result he came up with this comment:

"If I owned both Hell and Texas, I'd live in Hell and rent out Texas."

[Jeff Dobbs]

"Twain can go to Hell, and I will go to Texas"
--stuff Davy Crockett (almost) said

[Cecil Turner]

Is he to blame for not having a plan, or is that someone else's fault too? Is it too late to blame it all on Bush?

I suspect their plan to use the Army as a platform to celebrate gayness is going to work a lot better than any warfighting effort.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If Barry ever met Harry Truman they would instantly annihilate each other in a blinding flash of light.

[danoso]

Oh Lord that's funny Ig. I'm such a geek.

[Miss Marple]

Good morning!

Woke to a thunderstorm.

Hannity was talking to Rubio on radio yesterday afternoon and Rubio said it's going to end up with Russia being the power broker in the region, since Russia is the only one who will DO something and the US has proven to be an unreliable ally.

And Dana Periono said yesterday evening that she thought Samantha Power and SUSan Rice should have been put on the refugee mess earlier since that is supposed to be their area of expertise.

And Miss Marple says that once again, every decision Obama makes is bad for the US. Every single one. It is deliberate destruction of our influence, prestige, and national security.

[Miss Marple]

It occurs to me that Reagan's policy "We win, they lose," is rather similar to Trump's "Don't be losers" theme.

[James D.]

Saw this story in the WaPo today (linked from Drudge)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/16/virginia-school-suspends-an-11-year-old-for-one-year-over-a-leaf-that-wasnt-marijuana/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na

11 year old kid suspended for a year and charged with a crime for having a leaf that wasn't marijuana in his backpack (and possibly joking about it to friends).

I note that this didn't become a national story, and the President didn't invite him to the White House. I also note that the kid's race goes unmentioned in the article, which makes me suspect he's white. Which explains the lack of a Tweet and an invitation from the President, doesn't it?

[Miss Marple]

James D.,

If Obama were a Muslim, how would he behave differently?

Seriously, every parent at that school should thank their teachers for being vigilant. I was sort of sympathetic to the kid until I saw what the clock looked like.

If that same device was found lying unattended near a stadium, the bomb squad would be called in a nanosecond.

[anonamom]

Beasts, thought of you in the best way when I heard this. (Remember, I don't really know you at all.) Could be the new theme song of JOM too.

New band my son learned of recently.

http://www.nbc.com/fallon-tonight/video/nathaniel-rateliff-the-night-sweats-sob/2888764

[Janet S.]

Here is Trump taking THE question that the MFM are fainting over.
Trump didn't do anything wrong.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/politics/donald-trump-obama-muslim-new-hampshire/

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Susan Rice has an area of expertise? Creating bad fiction?

[Marlene]

Morning! We're at the cabin,it is another beautiful day!
How long will the media stay with the Trump story and the Obama is a Muslim questioner? The guy supposedly walked from White Plains,NY to attend the event in NH,so he's a nutjob on that basis alone.
Hillary had 400 people at an event at a middle school gym in Portland.One of the things she said besides the usual blah,blah is that she plans half a billion more solar panels by the end of her first term.By the end of her second term,every home will be powered by clean energy.
Solar power?! Second term?!

[Janet S.]

The other day I brought up Dave Weigel & asked, Who are these people?

Anyway here is a short clip of him - http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2015/09/18/chris-hayes-wonders-whether-guy-who-told-trump-obama-muslim-was

He was runnin' with the "popular crowd" on JournoList for awhile.
Looks like he's back "in", getting invited on MSNBC.

[Miss Marple]

Captain Hare,

Note I said "supposed" area of expertise.

I think both are actually dim bulbs who spout the left-wing faculty BS and when confronted with how actual nations behave in the real world just stand around with their mouths slightly agape and glazed eyes.

The bad thing is that despite how much human suffering they have caused, they won't be penalized in any way and will probably get plum faculty positions or think tank offers.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

It would be nice if the rest of the GOP candidates would tell the MFM that Trump doesn't owe them a damn thing and to STFU about Hussein Pantload. It would be nice to end human suffering too, which is probably more likely.

[James D.]

Janet, I agree the school was right to be vigilant. But that doesn't mean the police needed to be called and the kid taken away in handcuffs.

That still really bothers me.

[Janet S.]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/260169/its-not-job-republicans-correct-people-who-hate-daniel-greenfield#.Vfw8vXmL9h0.facebook

"That's not Trump's job. It's Obama's job to defend himself against accusations. Maybe if he showed some civility in his political conflicts, he would be entitled to expect some civility from Republicans. But this is the guy whose proxies constantly accuse critics of being racists or traitors or warmongers.

Republicans should make it clear that it's not their job to defend a nasty campaigner like Obama against the hostile atmosphere his political tactics have created. They are here to campaign for themselves and their party.

Obama already has numerous political organizations formed to promote his agenda, not to mention a vast network of leftist non-profits and the entire media. If they can't protect him against the anger of the American people, maybe he should just recognize that he is part of the problem."

[James D.]

Exactly, Janet!

It'd be nice if the R's actually said those kind of things.

Or if, as you mentioned last night, if they called Obama and the Dems out for the lunatic, slanderous things THEY and their supporters regularly say.

Like Tennis Coatrack, or whatever that jackass's name is who's "the most important writer in the country" today or whatever they're calling him. Obama loves him, invited him to the WH, and in his book he talks about his contempt for the firefighters (not just police) who died in the Twin towers on 9/11.

Why doesn't Obama have to repudiate that, if Trump is expected to grovel on his knees and beg forgiveness for what a random attendee at one og his rallies said?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Good morning! Just touched down in Charlotte. Still have to make the jump to Raleigh and then drive home....but it's good to be back in NC.

[anonamom]

Heck---i would have come out and we could have had a Starbucks.
But only if you were willing to go through TSA.
No booze available in the common area, but there is a Starbuck's pushcart type stand.

Hit, you gotta listen to the song I posted above. It's great!
Jimmy Buffet, watch out.

[Miss Marple]

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/#.Vf1H7JaKAm0.twitter

This is interesting, as are the comments.

[Gentlejim]

Frozen.
Don't worry, Ann, all those islands will sink into the sea as it rises.

Posted by: Frozen. | September 19, 2015 at 02:00 AM

Those islands could also be in danger of capsizing if they become overpopulated.

[pagar]

Cecil @ 03:52
My guess is it won't long before that is the 1st question the recruiters ask!.

[Gentlejim]

JamesD,
The police are who handles suspected explosive devices. Whether or not handcuffs were "needed" we don't know that. Could they have simply walked the kid out of the school before cuffing for transport? Sure. Many departments have rules regarding transporting prisoners stating that they shall be handcuffed. Was arrest necessary? I don't know that either. I'm not making any judgments because I wasn't there. I'm just offering a couple explanations.

On the latest Trump kerfuffle, the Left constantly operates on a double standard or should I say no standards.

[Janet S.]

Susan Rice has an area of expertise? Creating bad fiction?

I said this before but my neighbor - a retired ambassador & loyal Democrat - said that Rice was disliked at State. She was bossy, loud, mean, entitled.
She had risen because of her attachment to Albright.

"She quickly advanced ahead of her peers and veteran officials when her friend and mentor, Madeleine Albright, recommended Rice for the post of assistant secretary for African affairs in 1997."
http://www.biography.com/people/susan-rice-391616#interest-in-diplomacy

Career people at State didn't like her AT ALL...& not because of her politics.

[rse]

So September 25 schools all over the world are supposed to be holding the World's Largest Lesson on the UN's new Sustainable Development agenda.

This is the video https://vimeo.com/138852758 and it is introduced by a girl from Pakistan. Thorough propaganda but this is what the tykes will be bombarded with until they BELIEVE!

[Jeff Dobbs]

I'm standing next to Miss North Carolina.

Tried to get her number for Beasts, but apparently that name raises some issues.

[sbw]

Jeff, how far away from Raleigh do you live? How far from Greenville?

[Miss Marple]

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 3m3 minutes ago Manhattan, NY

If someone made a nasty or controversial statement about me to the president, do you really think he would come to my rescue? No chance!
208 retweets 406 favorites

[Miss Marple]

Ted Nugent ‏@TedNugent 6m6 minutes ago

obama is a Christian & Im a gay vegetarian pirate
34 retweets 44 favorites

[James D.]

gentlejim,

Granted I wasn't there either. But my
problem with it is much more broad.

It's that arrest seems like a huge overreaction - but really more that arrest now seems to be the standard reaction for all kinds of things that used to be handled much more calmly (like the not-marijuana story I posted about above, or the endless parade of stories you can read about police being called to schools to arrest pre-teens for the most absurd things)

[Jeff Dobbs]

We're about an hour and a half from Raleigh, sbw.

[Janet S.]

at CNN (my 7:13 link) - "Donald Trump Doesn't Challenge Anti-Muslim Questioner"

Perhaps the best answer would be Breitbart's
"So?"

hah!

[jojo]

an interesting thing about Rice is her wealth, she's about the richest person in the government

[Threadkiller]

If that kid had a real pot leaf, MM, Odummy would have invited him to the Whitehouse.

[Miss Marple]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/09/18/clinton-foundation-sponsor-dow-exxon-hp-samsung-hsbc-hp-mastio-column/72336094/

Six large corporations bail on sponsorship of Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

(James Woods tweeted this with the comment that "now that the slush fund can't deliver..")

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Trump doesn't back down!!

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/18/pro-christian-vow-trump-escalates-medias-muslim-obama-smear/

[Buckeye]

James D.

Teachers also used to be able to administer discipline and keep the kids in line.

Now kids in the inner city beat the crap out of teachers. And when the teachers touch the kids, lawsuit time.

Calling the police has become standard practice, school systems don't want the legal headaches.

[Miss Marple]

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/254208-whos-afraid-of-carly-fiorina

This is an interesting analysis. Not sure I agree, but it's worth reading.

[Buckeye]

The media is handing Trump another Yuuuuge windfall.

Trump will maximize the benefit of the Muzzie flap, the people are with him and he is getting nearly continuous free media coverage.

All good for the Donald.

[Threadkiller]

I was waiting for someone to realize it was a more than one question or statement:

http://cowgernation.com/2015/09/18/no-donald-trump-did-not-say-he-wants-to-get-rid-of-all-muslims-he-said-he-wants-to-dismantle-isis/

[Miss Marple]

Why doesn't Obama come out and say he's not a Muslim?

Nearly half the country thinks he is, according to CNN. Why would that be?

Because he goes out of his way to knock Christians or provoke them (see guest list for Pope Francis)and goes out of his way to cater to Muslims and praise them (see Clock Kid getting praised in public and a White House invite).

What are people supposed to think? The kindest thing I can say is that he's a Muslim wannabee.

[Texas Liberty Gal]

I think you're too kind Miss Marple!

[Rick Ballard]

Putin is being rather kind with the intellectually challenged occupant of the White House as he brings in air support for his armor in Syria. Putin is allowing his defense minister to explain to Secretary of Defense Carter that Russia and Persia would prefer the President to focus on golf while they play a brisk round of Grozny Rules with the JV in Syria and Iraq.

If the President wants to toy with "military" issues, perhaps he can be induced to focus on the design of the battled standard for the Army's new Flaming Faggots Division.

[Carly 4ever]

Well this seems uncalled for...

"It's easy to see why many Republican voters are newly taken with Carly Fiorina. She is a superb debater, with a steely gaze, a flawless delivery and a mastery of talking points. She knows what she wants to say and how to command attention. She exudes a bulletproof aura that inspires confidence.

There are only two problems with Fiorina: what she has done in the past, and what she promises for the future. An inspection of those is a reminder of where she got started: in sales. She may offer an irresistible pitch. But creating a good product? That demands a skill set she isn't known to possess.

During her time as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, its stock plunged 52 percent -- double the drop in the Nasdaq average, and worse than her competition, including Dell, IBM, Oracle and Microsoft. The company repeatedly whiffed on her financial targets. In the end, Fiorina got cashiered. More telling, perhaps, is that in the decade since, no corporation has hired her.
--
That's not the only sign that she talks a much better game than she plays. She got an ovation for rejecting Donald Trump's attempt to explain away his disparagement of her looks: "I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said."

You might forget that when she ran for the U.S. Senate in California in 2010 against incumbent Barbara Boxer, she was caught on video belittling her opponent in Trump-like fashion: "God, what is that hair? So yesterday!"
--
She wowed the crowd by daring Obama and Hillary Clinton to watch the video from a Planned Parenthood abortion of "a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."

The nonpartisan FactCheck.org noted an inconvenient fact: "The scene she described, though, does not exist in any of the videos" released by the Center for Medical Progress. Other fact checkers agreed, and her campaign offered no footage to rebut them.

That's Fiorina in a nutshell. What was obvious to anyone who watched the debate is what Businessweek noted when she took over HP: "Carly Fiorina has a silver tongue and an iron will." The rest, however, is fool's gold."

http://townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/2015/09/19/fiorinas-false-pitch-n2053928

[Threadkiller]

More from the brilliant Steve Chapman:

The Syrian exodus sparks fears of Islamic terrorists making their way here. But people who trek hundreds of miles on foot or cram into rubber rafts for ocean voyages typically have more pressing objectives than militancy. They do it to escape violence and extremism, not to spread it.

http://m.townhall.com/columnists/stevechapman/2015/09/13/why-we-should-take-more-syrian-refugees-n2051011

People who are willing to blow themselves to bits typically don't care about their painful feet after a long trek.

[anonamom]

The "arms up, don't shoot" crowd calls out Carly for describing a piece of video that they cant find?

Please!
We're just trying to use their rules.

Go for it Carly!

[gentlejim]

James D,
I agree with what you say about police overinvolvement (is that a word?)in such seemingly minor matters. It infuriates me when I read or hear about law enforcement's time being wasted on stupidity when a modicum of common sense on the part of the school, parent and/or student would not only solve or prevent whatever the perceived issue is. When you take into account what buckeye had to say about schools and liability, it sheds light on the problem. What I see are parents that don't want to be parents. They want to be friends. The parents pass the buck to the schools, who are then forced to be baby sitters, educators, counselors and parents. The schools back off and put the responsibility on the police. Seems to me that if parents would be parents and schools would pass out a swat when needed we wouldn't be hearing these stories about police in schools. I also cringe when I hear about "zero tolerance" in most situations.

[Threadkiller]

Anytime Factcheck is referred to as non-partisan, anonamom, you know it is a scam.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.theobamafile.com/_eligibility/FactCheckLies.htm

[Michael (fpa Patriot4Freedom)]

I would *love* to hear teh Donald just come straight out and tell the MFM:

"I'll start defending Pres. Obama when *he* starts defending Christians."

or, alternatively, as anonamom said above re Carly, he can tell the MFM:

"I'll denounce what a stranger says to me *after* Pres. Obama denounces the lies of the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" movement."

Then the Trumpster, and the rest of the Repub candidates, can just tell the MFM to refer all their questions to oBOzo and the Dems.

[Jane]

Today the left is seizing on Carly. First day they have even noticed her.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Again, ABC is welcome to show their dwindling audience the unedited PP videos rather than have some diminutive Greek Nancy boy talk about what other know nothings of indeterminate sexuality have told him is on them.

First rate journalism imo.

[Jane]

I think it is very funny that the left suddenly wants competence after voting for Obama twice. It must be sexism.

[Stephanie]

https://www.facebook.com/170861866267146/photos/a.194390283914304.48137.170861866267146/1035465679806756/?type=1&theater

For beasts...

[rich@gmu]

in re: Susan Rice she was uncooperative with the investigations into the Rwandan genocide (when it was in her portfolio at the UN) and the Congo Wars (she was Assistant for Africa Affairs when the whole continent blew up into war). her and her husband inherited most of their assets. Can still remember her doing the Full Ginsburg and still to this day we don't know the full story of Libya but know the administration are a bunch of liars and crooks.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Rice was a fave of not-at-Albright? Makes sense to me.

[Miss Marple]

rich,

Maybe Perino was being sarcastic and since she isn't usually, I missed it.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Clown Hall letting itself be used as a forum for the likes of Chapman makes one wonder what type of marching orders they inflict on AllahEeyore and Poppin'.

[Extraneus]

US Secretary of State Kerry expresses concern over presence of Russian fighter jets in Syria

That's the actual headline. As if such loaded words from a bygone era are supposed to make Putin stop laughing.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Man, rich, I should have thought of you when approaching Miss North Carolina at the Charlotte airport for her number, for a friend. My bad.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

I don't think deliberate sarcasm is in PeRINO's toolbox.

[Janet S.]

US Secretary of State Kerry expresses concern to Victoria Beckham over presence of Russian fighter jets in Syria

[DebinNC]

Momentarily skipping a bunch of comments to thank anonamom for her Nathaniel Rateliff video link above. Great stuff. I love seeing an older musician finally "make it".

[Man Tran]

Re pResident Rspect, I don't think he is a Mohamatan, just an ass kissing sycophant. Otherwise how could he both bow to the Saudis and give nukes to the Persians? Don't you have to pick sides?

[rich@gmu]

Miss Marple-

she probably wasn't. not many in Washington would dare criticize Rice and it has nothing to with the competence.

[Threadkiller]

He is giving the Saudis a reason to nuke the Persians

[Janet S.]

Kerry and Former Spice Girl Mull Plans For Thwarting Russia

[rich@gmu]

thanks jeff for looking out.

[Threadkiller]

US Secretary of State Kerry expresses concern over presence of Russian fighter jets in Syria

It looked more like he was trying to express Posh.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I seriously doubt there is a single person who is a true leftist who actually believes in God.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

[DebinNC]

Wouldn't any church, school, business call the police is they suspect something they're looking at might explode? Isn't the nearest "bomb squad" at the local police department? Faulting the school for "calling the police" is ridiculous. As is hand-cuffing a non-resistant middle-schooler, if that's what happened. And BOzo acted stupidly as usual.

[rich@gmu]

a backgrounder from a few years back

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/the-controversial-africa-policy-of-susan-rice/265752/

failing upward

[anonamom]

deb, I think it's the perfect JOM theme song, don't you??
Gotta love a bnd named The Nightsweats too.

Perfect for gameday! It's five o clock somewhere, right?
I finished all the driving I need to do today.

http://www.nbc.com/fallon-tonight/video/nathaniel-rateliff-the-night-sweats-sob/2888764

[rich@gmu]

would think that most departments have a policy that anyone taken into custody for a ride down to the station would be cuffed.

it is of a piece of "if i had a son ..." and "... acted stupidly". someone had linked a piece here last night which had words to the effect that now that the stage is set who is going to be at fault when a student brings in an actual bomb and the teachers and students are too cowed to speak up.

[rich@gmu]

anonamom-

fantastic.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Bringing a hoax bomb to a school is apparently a crime in and of itself and I think a pretty good case can be made that a kid who just takes the case off an old alarm clock and sticks it in a metal briefcase and when asked about it is evasive and/or passive-aggressive did exactly that. It's pretty hard to envision a perfectly innocent explanation for his actions.

I entirely agree with JamesD's reticence in trusting the police but I trust muslims with a family history of being pains in the ass even less.

[Threadkiller]

 ‏@realDonaldTrump Christians need support in our country (and around the world), their religious liberty is at stake! Obama has been horrible, I will be great!

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/645230169997881344

Take a look at the responses to Trump. How soon before Obama tells his rude supporters to apologize?

[Threadkiller]

http://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2015/09/18/video-driver-hospitalized-after-thunderboat-flips-in-mission-bay/

[narciso]

Qigley who idiosyncratic was part right, Perry was the vessel for antiestablishment in Texas that's why the huntress endorsed him, look how he repaid the favor.

[narciso]

Jay winik has another offering that upsets the cult of fdr, re acolyte Geoff ward in the journal.

[DebinNC]

Re Trump's faux responsibility to apologize to BOzo for non-pc remarks uttered by passing strangers ... BOzo had his dear Uncle Jeremiah's racist, anti-American sermon tapes mailed to him during law school. On his return to Chicago, he told the Chicago Tribune he was a regular attender at TUUC and received The Trumpet, its monthly magazine. But when Wright became a huge issue in 2008, BOzo was forced to respond and used an open letter in which, incredibly, he claimed to be shocked, as he'd never heard Jeremiah Wright say such things, privately or publicly, in the 20 yrs. he'd known him.

[narciso]

Ferguson is coming our with a bio of kissinger, which assumes to strike a balance. I'm less in impressed with the Bavarian doc who really had a few credit in his ledger, not our Palmerston by any means.

[Old Lurker]

Jeff, I have a funny true story regarding the airports at Charlotte and Raleigh. Perhaps I told it here years ago but I forgot. But I enjoy telling it…

Daughter YL#2 wanted to be a ballet dancer at the ballet company in Charlotte straight out of high school and we agreed (but only when she showed us her acceptance letter from Columbia as a Math Major but I digress).

We took her to Charlotte and rented and furnished an apartment for her just as her peers were heading off to college. We gave her a car to use and poof, there she was living on her own and earning her own money.

She found that flights back to DC were much cheaper from Raleigh than from Charlotte and she had wheels so what the heck, that became her routine for coming home to visit.

Coming home for Christmas, she called me at work to report the Battery Light was on in the car and she was halfway between the two cities and what was going to happen to her??? I explained the role the battery plays in daytime use in an otherwise well running car and that she would probably make it to the airport just fine, but worst case the car might stop running and that would be OK but in that unlikely event she should travel in the right hand lane and she should expect to not have power steering or power brakes, but she could safely pull to the side of the interstate to a park a safe distance from traffic then we could figure something out.

Shortly she called back to report she made it to the Raleigh Airport and all was good. I advised her to select a good parking space and to back into it because the battery might require a jump when she returned in two weeks so make it easy for the parking lot guys to do that.

When she left DC two weeks later, I had prepared her for a) having a dead battery in Raleigh, or, if it started, then b) the car might stop running on the interstate to Charlotte. But not to worry, I had googled every auto repair place between the two cities and equipped her with aerial photographs of where each was and from which exit number, and I gave her the phone numbers and tow truck numbers that could get her to each if required.

So off she goes to Raleigh and the car started just fine.

But halfway there, sure enough the car started acting up so she called me and while talking, the car died. Having planned for that, she was already in the right hand lane and was approaching Exit #X at 60 mph. I told her that Ralph’s Car Service was located at that exit just on the far side of the intersection and she should head directly there, coasting through the Yield Sign she would find at the bottom of then exit ramp. She coasted right up to Ralph’s service bay, explained what had happened and could he help. (pretty girls can get away with that stuff.) Ralph opened the hood and concluded she needed a new alternator, but he had one in stock and would put it in for her right then. She paid with my Visa Card and was back on the highway 38 minutes after coasting off the road.

She called me as she drove down the highway to Charlotte to exclaim

“Dad! This is the worst day of my life!”

[Frau Nebenan]

"I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

Froma Harrop, whose name was computer generated, wrote in 2006

He (BHO) notifies readers that "my treatment of the issues is often partial and incomplete." It takes some doing for a politician to write a 364-page book, his second volume, and skate past all controversy.

Obama does seem to have an impressive resume and polish. And it's not his fault that a mania for some new political face intrudes on every presidential election season. But one does wish, for the sake of democracy, that we could skip the crush and give less glamorous contenders who actually say something more of a hearing.

I bet Froma got with the program soon thereafter.

What is he? He's a big nothin' burger who pulled the gold ring on the merry-go-round.

[rse]

Robert Spencer wrote that the student was not the least forthcoming with school officials over his intentions and that the entire incident appears to have been staged so that asking questions of any Muslim student will no longer be possible.

Frank Gaffney also believes it was staged because CAIR appears to have been involved before the fact and the mayor of Irving is being targeted.

I linked to the UN Sustainable Devt video above. I do not think it is accidental the only human character is Muslim. I used to think talk about "the Other" was something pretentious college profs talked about in lit or sociology classes. It is coming up though in a number of forums I have been at. Like people do not want low income residents in same building or zoning lot size changes because "of fear of the other."

The instinct is to give in without complaining. If we cannot point out some Muslims do in fact want to kill us and that they believe it is consistent with or compelled by their faith, then the only time that reality gets addressed is after our lives are in danger.

Totally OT but did anyone else see Scott Walker's talk at Heritage yesterday in SC? He pulled out a dollar bill to show it is not the feds who create jobs. His presentation though left the clear perception that he believes that state and local govts ARE job creators.

I got the impression he has no idea where dollars come from apart from the US Mint and that made me sad.

[Frau Uber über alles]

hit - sorry to miss you in LA. When I found out your flight was not direct, I took off, and a wheel come off my skateboard somewhere in East LA. The good news is I didn't have to hitchhike home.
btw LAX stinks...

[clarice]

Do you find Gen.Dahl's testimony as inconceivable as I do?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/us/bowe-bergdahl-should-not-be-imprisoned-army-investigator-says.html?_r=0