The Education of Obama And America (Ongoing)

We learn something new every day. Today we learned that Facebook and Twitter are for ISIS recruiting and boasting, not actual national security work.

One week ago, Obama delivered an Oval Office address meant to reassure an American public shocked by the ISIS-inspired husband and wife terror killings in San Bernardino. His gist: He developed a plan fourteen months ago, the results are visible on the blood-stained streets of Paris and San Bernardino, so we are staying the course. Oh, and since ISIS is here and we can't stop them, law-abiding citizens should turn in their guns.

He phrased it differently, and included this detail:

"And we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. That’s why I’ve ordered the Departments of State and Homeland Security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country."

Seems like a good idea. Oh, but wait - a correction came out an hour after the speech. The President mentioned the wrong visa program, but otherwise he and his team are on top of it.

The visa waiver program relates to 38 sensible countries such as the UK and Australia for whom no visa is required for visits of up to 90 days.

Bride of Jihad entered under the K-1 program, described by the LA Times as follows:

The K1 visa is a previously obscure program reserved for foreign men and women intending to marry a U.S. citizen. Authorities now probing Wednesday’s massacre as a terrorist attack have said K1 applicants, like other visa applicants, undergo an extensive counterterrorism screening that includes checks based on fingerprints and facial recognition software.

High tech! Extensive!

And now, a week having gone by, the NY Times reports this:

U.S. Visa Process Missed San Bernardino Wife’s Zealotry on Social Media

By MATT APUZZO, MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and JULIA PRESTON  DEC. 12, 2015

WASHINGTON — Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband carried out the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., passed three background checks by American immigration officials as she moved to the United States from Pakistan. None uncovered what Ms. Malik had made little effort to hide — that she talked openly on social media about her views on violent jihad.

She said she supported it. And she said she wanted to be a part of it.

American law enforcement officials said they recently discovered those old — and previously unreported — postings as they pieced together the lives of Ms. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, trying to understand how they pulled off the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

Had the authorities found the posts years ago, they might have kept her out of the country. But immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks, and there is a debate inside the Department of Homeland Security over whether it is even appropriate to do so.

"Appropriate"? Those jihadist wanna-bes have privacy rights too, you know! Not under US law, since they are aliens, but under some Universal Law of Political Correctness, or something. More importantly, who has time to read?

The discovery of the old social media posts has exposed a significant — and perhaps inevitable — shortcoming in how foreigners are screened when they enter the United States, particularly as people everywhere disclose more about themselves online. Tens of millions of people are cleared each year to come to this country to work, visit or live. It is impossible to conduct an exhaustive investigation and scour the social media accounts of each of them, law enforcement officials say.

Wait, "tens of millions" come here each year? How many come on the K-1 program for spouses-to-be? Per Wikipedia, about 40,000 per year, two orders of magnitude less than "tens of millions". Whatever - presumably the Times sources were hardworking intelligence officials trying to avoid a complete collapse of public confidence.

And the implications for the K-1 program?

The Obama administration is trying to determine whether those background checks can be expanded without causing major delays in the popular program. In an attempt to ensure they did not miss threats from men and women who entered the country the same way Ms. Malik did, immigration officials are also reviewing all of about 90,000 K-1 visas issued in the past two years and are considering a moratorium on new ones while they determine whether changes should be made.

“Somebody entered the United States through the K-1 visa program and proceeded to carry out an act of terrorism on American soil,” the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said on Thursday. “That program is at a minimum worth a very close look.”

A closer look and a possible moratorium. Obviously that moratorium would apply to everyone, not just Muslims, but still - Trump's hate-filled kookiness on Monday, when he said these visa programs need to be put on pause for Muslims while Congress sorts them out, is headed in the direction of becoming Administration policy a few days later.

For folks still puzzling over Trump's appeal: If you take him literally, he is nuts. Just for example, Mexico will not be building a wall and paying for it, nor are they deliberately sending their rapist to the US.

But taken metaphorically, Trump's message is "We need greater border security and I will knock heads to provide it". That resonates, and arguing about the height of the wall, whether it should be concrete or barbed wire and whether it will be paid for by the US or Mexico misses the point.

 

Comments

[mockmook]

I hope the scare quotes around "hate-filled" are just missing.

[henry]

Our luck Obama will curtail the "sensible nations" visa waiver program and ramp up th K-1 jihadi highway.

[narciso]

that's a fair bet, I would take, of course, signor
apuzzo, is best known for crippling the NYPD's demographics unit, the best method they had for tracking said elements,

yes, Trump's modest proposals, are in part based on actual plans, like CSP's plan back in September, except without particular details,

[NK]

I hope TK's comment in an earlier thread guessing that Cruz win's Iowa and Rubio wins NH comes to pass. Those 2 taking the lead allows GOPe, Rand P and Carly to influence the future primary votes with their endorsements. For now, Trump has been a big help; he brazenly speaks the truth about issues working class voters, Repub/Indie/White and Hispanic want to hear and resonates with. trump pushes the other candidates RIGHT albeit more politely than Trump's messsage. What happens when primary voters slap down Trump? does he try to be a king maker, or does he ally himself with Hilligula. I have no idea.

[daddy]

immigration officials do not routinely review social media as part of their background checks, and there is a debate inside the Department of Homeland Security over whether it is even appropriate to do so.

Wonder if it would be possible to get some names attached to this, so that we could know who exactly in the Dept of Homeland Security is pro and con the "appropriateness" of reviewing the Social Media of potential Terrorists.

A roster like that might come in handy in the future.

[MarkO, brimming with the spirit of E. Scrooge]

Apparently, when Jihadi Jane posts that she hates America and posts a picture of planes hitting buildings on 9/11, the State Department is not certain if that means she's in the Jihadi army or merely anti-American.

If she hates America, but has not come out as a solider, she's free to come to Obama's America.

And some wonder why Trump leads the polls.

[Manuel Transmission]

OT #1, for Jim M and Glasater, especially:

We had an interesting meeting yesterday. There’s a guy down sound that has been a successful guerrilla in regional politics for our side. As you may recall, we had some notoriety in the little berg of Seatac, where they jumped to the front of the line in imposing a $15 minimum wage a couple years ago. Well, the commie town council that did that was deposed in the last election by staging a covert ad campaign that might have looked like a Koch Bro effort, but was done on a shoestring. The place is about 70% leftard and, I think Somali is the first language and English is several steps down on the list. The lead guy to get elected, who brought the others in, managed to get an ordinance requiring all town expenditures to be posted online for everyone to scrutinize.

Anyway, they are staging a new effort in Thurston Co., which is home of the state capitol, Olympia. About 52% of the workers (using the term loosely) are gummint employees at one level or another. So the plan is to launch a whistleblower campaign after the first of the year when the State Legislature goes into session and ad buys are way cheap. The game is to get legitimate complaints and start broadcasting them without attribution and simultaneously doing FOIA requests. This guy has successfully brought down dipshit Inslee’s top aide with this tactic. The whole basis is to get the thugs and thieves to start suspecting their coworkers as snitches and bring things to a halt.

More to our local concerns, our county apparently has a $50M budget and they estimate that 20% is disappearing down ratholes. The local team players have already squelched some county thug hiring his wife at $115/hr to teach kids about beaches! A big part of the cash flow are grants, which gets them to do things that would never otherwise get done. (And never to our benefit!)

Stay tuned…

[James D.]

Off topic, I'm guessing JiB is happy this afternoon with his Redskins.

Not a good afternoon for the Giants. No help at all from the football gods today. The usually reliable Bears kicker chokes like a choking dog instead of tying the game with a minute to go, and Rex Ryan's boys commit 3,000 penalties vs the loathsome Eagles (while the refs somehow miss both blatant pass interference and an obvious facemask by an Eagles receiver on their go-ahead drive).

Ugh.

[NK]

just infuriating what the Obamaniacs have done. we have thousands of jiadis in the USA today on lawful or expired visas. Just 12 years ago the Dems were campaigning against GWB for failing to 'connect the dots'; now they defend Obama for giving the Jihdis carte blanche visas to getionto the country.

[daddy]

MarkO,

We are both describing State Department insanity, but I think I'm describing their insanity on a more basic and fundamental layer than what you're describing.

You're pointing out that there are State Department people who, after reviewing her Social Media postings, wind up incapable of determining if those postings mean "she's in the Jihadi army or merely anti-American."

That's definitely insane of course, but I'm pointing out that there are State Department people who are apparently incapable of even making the decision to review her Social Media postings in the first place.

Both groups are totally nuts, but one of the groups is merely nuts whereas the second group is "stark raving" nuts.

Can anybody Venn Diagram that?

[Manuel Transmission]

OT #2 Given TM’s lack of health posts, may I suggest the following for anonamom, Clarice and Iggy:

Our lady wrestler pal, who is the local dog lady these days, found a product that helps pets with lumps/growths and she gave it to her own pooch. The discomfort and visible bumps went down pretty quickly, so she found out that the outfit had a similar product for us peeps. The outfit is LifeVantage (borderline ponzi, I suspect) and the people product is Protandim. She’s been on it for several months and now Mrs MT has been on it for a few months. The most obvious benefit, so far, is moist skin that eliminates slathering moisturizing cream on daily. Not sure how much/if it helps with arthritis (or which types).

On a similar note, our taking the krill pills and Clarice’s Wobenzym since about last February continues apace. Rare headaches and generally feeling about 20 yrs younger seem to be the main benefit. Mrs MT doesn’t get carded for drinking, but they look suspicious when she claims the senior discount! Heh.

[maryrose]

Happy Belated Birthday Iggy
Clarice
Amazing article today
MM
Agree Every now and then I have to get away from politics
Good comments and topics on these multiple threads
Jack and Frederick
What an exciting game yesterday
Thought of you both during all the lead changes!

[NK]

Belated Happy Birthday Ignatz!!

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Nobody who's ever been in the belly of the beast will be surprised by the ineptitude in monitoring jihadis even in the best situations, which this is decidedly not.

[daddy]

Manny T,

That SeaTac city council maneuvering sounds reminiscent of when the Baghwan drove into Antelope Oregon with his 6 limos and his herd of Tye-died redshirted followers, poisoned the locals with Salmonella in order to take over the Town Council, and then renamed the joint Rajneesh Puram.

[narciso]

so it seems the ENARques, conspired to keep 'phoebe' and her FN pals out of govt

[Manuel Transmission]

daddy, Heh! I vaguely recall that.

Additional health note: The last BP check while getting a referral was down to what I have normally had for 20+ yrs. Might have been luck, but several previous tests were sneaking up to the dreaded AME limits.

Additional note to anomamom: my AME mentioned to me last spring that the Doc World used to have a rule of thumb that 100 plus your age was an expected BP number. Apparently that didn't sell enough useless drugs.

[narciso]

so effectively they do not permit opposition to their prorogatives,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12048512/Front-National-collapses-in-French-regional-elections-exit-polls-show.html

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

Go Packers. What a stop.

Back from Philly.

CH,

Listening to the Skins game on Sirius/XM in the car and the have Sonny Jurgensen doing some color and giving out stats. He doesn't sound good. Very hoarse, raspy but still pretty football lucid. Almost as if he can't say more than 5 words without taking a breath. No one I have ever seen could put the perfect spiral on a pass like Sonny.

Frederick and I did the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall before coming back. It was 72F in Philly this morning. Hit 74F on the turnpike around Burlington. So, while there, Frederick took his National Park Service exam for Junior Ranger and passed with flying colors. They swore him in right away and gave him his badge:)

We met a guy and his wife who was Navy '68. They live in GUS and henry land. Without bringing anything up he was obviously PO'd about all the PC crap going around at the academy and in the country. Not amused that the CINC didn't show up or the VPOTUS. Don't know the history but did W go to every game or at least Cheney? How about Reagan and Bush 41?

Interesting that we have had a number of Presidents from West Point but only one from Annapolis and he turned out to be a dud.

All in all, if you have never been to an Army-Navy game please consider doing it. Next one is Baltimore and then its New York (Meadowlands).

[daddy]

daddy, Heh! I vaguely recall that.

MT,

I was living in the U District at the time, and I recall seeing a few of the Rajneeshies in their faded pink garb, hanging out regularly on the Ave just off campus, looking for converts.

I also recall a funny cartoon in the paper around the time the Samonella thing broke, which was a cute little drawing of a guy named "Sam" and his wife named "Ella", standing out if front of their restaurant "Sam and Ella's," wondering how come business was down:)

[anonamom]

JiB--that WSJ macaroni and cheese you made that took forever--was it good??

It looks yummy, and my youngest will be home for the holidays. I don't mind the time if the end product is worth it.

TASTEwise--9/10???

[narciso]

this seems true, in every language:

http://www.france24.com/en/20151213-polish-ex-pm-kaczynski-slams-top-court-pro-government-rally

[Cecil Turner]

Tens of millions of people are cleared each year to come to this country to work, visit or live. It is impossible to conduct an exhaustive investigation and scour the social media accounts of each of them, law enforcement officials say.

How hard is that? Reduce the numbers until adequate investigations are feasible.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

anonamom,

It was terrific and the taste exceptional but it took like 3 pots and many bowls. But worth it. Do you have the recipe? I don't know if I kept it or printed it out.

[daddy]

Nice to see TM getting another Instalance from Instapundit!

THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS ONCE AGAIN DISPLAY THEIR IGNORANCE ON FIREARMS, and Tom Maguire is there to mock them cruelly.

Cruelly mocking since 2001(?)

Also glad to see Insty has this headline up:

Novel nanoconjugate delivers synergistic combination of microRNAs to treat cancer.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Jeff, any chance you can dig up and post TM's very first Posting?

[narciso]

they said it was epistemic closure,

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/donald-trump-dealbreaker-facebook-helps-you-find-friends-who-support-him-and-delete-497135

[NK]

I am a proud papa today. Daughter child did very well on GREs she took yesterday (they grade them on the spot these days) 98+ percentile verbal, 60+ Math (she is not my PHD in econometrics wife and my Stuy High diploma child.) She can't apply to 'top 10' USA engineering grad schools(AS IF) but her 93rd percentile overall GRE score makes the world her oyster for architectural preservation which is what she has settled on for a career path. She has a meet/greet call with the University of Edinburgh department chairman tomorrow. That's her first choice, a leading Euro department. So a good day to be a parent.

[henry]

Wonderful NK.

[Janet]

She wasn't even a damn fiance!
She came in on a fiance visa but they were already married.

Makes you wonder how good all the family reunification info is checked out too.
**She's my wife. She's my fiance. She's my sister. She's my new fiance....the other one didn't marry me, she just disappeared into the shadows. He's my brother. He's my brother too. etc**

[NK]

Speaking of TM; our little town HS football team won the Class LL (highest level) State football championship yesterday. One of their kids set a Ct State 'sack' record, breaking Dwight Freeney's record. The kid is going to play college LAX not football. I was treating my son to dinner last night when the caravan of parent cars, Fire Trucks and cop cars escorted the team bus back into town. It was a modern coach, no yellow school bus for them.

[daddy]

Howie Kurtz on his FOX Show just asked this question:

"When we come back, are straight Journalists like Tom Brokaw crossing the line in ripping Donald Trump?"

[NK]

nice of you to say so Henry, Yale apparently has a very good Department... WAIT!

[henry]

Why not NK... The free laundry access would be worth it...

[NK]

BTW Henry, did you notice my comment about turning down the Yale Moot Trial court competition to participate this year as a judge? Told the competition I was not comfortable participating due to the oppressive anti-free expression culture on campus. true story.

[NK]

henry-- there you go, always the practical man!!

[henry]

Yes, NK. I saw that. They will learn nothing though.

[daddy]

How hard is that? Reduce the numbers until adequate investigations are feasible.

That's not who we are. how Big Government works.

[NK]

henry-- Mais Bien Sur. But sometimes a truly useless gesture has to be made, and am I am just the guy to make one!!!

[Janet]

More on the fiance visa - http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/06/isis-jihadis-can-enter-u-s-90-day-fiance-visas-without-face-face-check/

"Referred to as the “mail order brides and grooms” category, there are at least 10 online companies that arrange 90 day fiancé visas at very low cost."....

"The 90-day fiancé visa supposedly requires a passport, police certificates from the country of residence, medical examination records, evidence of financial support, and evidence of meeting and having a relationship with an American fiancé. But the Obama administration streamlined the process so that it can all be accomplished completely online.

That change ended the requirement that an applicant must visit a U.S. embassy where he or she would be photographed and had their fingerprints taken in person"...

[Manuel Transmission]

JiB,

You mentioned something about female Middies at the game. The first female Brigade Commander at Annapolis was there for the 50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The only reason I remember is that she was also the Matron of Honor at MT Jr's wedding. She married one of MTJ's classmates after he introduced them, so it's all in the family.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

NK,

Congrats. What kind of Architectural Preservation? Old Georgian and Edwardian or early period restoration that Edingburgh specializes in or American period including Victorian?

One special place is SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) who have done most of the restoration there. My alma mater and school is pretty recognized also, Univeristy of Cincinnati Design Art Architecture and Design.

Just for thoughts.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

According to something online GWB attended the Army Navy games in 2001, 2004 & 2008. Not sure about Cheney's attendance.

[NK]

JiB-- thanks; I will inquire with my daughter, I am only on a 'need to know' basis. And since she knows her parents don't pay for MA degrees, I need to know very little as far as she is concerned.

[Miss Marple 2]

narciso posted this at the end of the last thread. This is the gal who couldn't answer questions at the oversight hearing for DHS:

http://www.bupipedream.com/news/52744/from-binghamton-to-the-department-of-homeland-security-bu-alumna-shares-her-story/

Be SURE you read the comments! This link is to the Binghamton student newspper.

[anonamom]

JiB, thanks, I have the recipe (along with about 100 others, piled in a basket on my counter).
I'll make it next week. No carbs this week, so I can fit in the skirt I'm planning on wearing to a wedding next weekend.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

LBJ never attended an Army Navy game, nor did Carter, Poppy Bush or Ike, although he played in at least one.

[Threadkiller]

I hope TK's comment in an earlier thread guessing that Cruz win's Iowa and Rubio wins NH comes to pass.

I almost had a heart attack.

You mean my good friend TC, NK.

[glasater]

Man Tran, thanks for the updates on what is going on West of the Cascades. Last time we were in the SeaTac area for a flight the whole area was downright scary.

I haven't paid too much attention to state politics since that idiot gov Inslee got into office. And the only person I kinda knew who was of importance - Jennifer Dunn who passed from this earth much too soon.

I did photograph the previous governor when she came to town covering her for our local paper and altho she wasn't terrific at least she had somewhat of a brain.

[Jane]

Henry, Did you ever hear from MM. I know he was going to wait to get back to MA to call.

[henry]

Jane, not yet. But I took Friday afternoon off.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

MT,

This year's Navy commander is a young lady. Pretty striking one at that since I am a dirty old misogynist. Today in our walk around the Independence area we encountered numerous female middies. Lots of Filipina and other asians. I am suspecting Navy is bulking up on math and science majors for the forthcoming cyber wars.

[anonamom]

Jane, Happy Birthday to your mother!
Imagine being only ten years short of 100.

[NK]

OK-- hope TC's Cruz/Rubio predictions come to pass

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--That SeaTac city council maneuvering sounds reminiscent of when the Baghwan drove into Antelope Oregon with his 6 limos and his herd of Tye-died redshirted followers, poisoned the locals with Salmonella in order to take over the Town Council, and then renamed the joint Rajneesh Puram.--

I think I still have my Automobile Quarterly which featured a pictorial of the Bhagwan's custom painted Rolls Royce's. He had 80 something altogether but one of his followers was an extraordinarily talented painter who customized ~20 of them with some amazing themes.

[Thomas Collins]

NK, the Cruz in Iowa and Rubio in NH prediction was TC's, not TK's. I wouldn't want to get TK in trouble with my predictions.

Of course, the Iowa/NH prediction attributed to TK wouldn't get TK into as much trouble as TC's prediction that Kasich will be the Veep pick would! :-))

[Thomas Collins]

This may double post. I see that TK already made the correction re the Iowa/NH prediction. I was also worried that my earlier Kasich as Veep prediction might be misattributed to TK. But now that I think of it, Kasich, I believe, is natural born under the strictest definition,so at least such attribution, albeit incorrect, wouldn't be inconsistent with TK's natural born framework! :-))

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The education of Obama is not ongoing. It's not even ongoiing.
It stopped when young master Barry learned to blame his worthless father's absence on white colonial oppression best resisted by that most beautiful of sounds; the call to prayer to the counterfeit god of Christendom's ancient enemy.
Inshallah.

[Thomas Collins]

NK, re what Trump would do if it looks as if the GOP nomination is not in sight: I wonder whether Trump might conclude that his coalition might garner 270 some odd electoral college votes in a three way race, or at least throw the POTUS race into the House and the VPOTUS race into the Senate.

[Manuel Transmission]

JiB,

Juliane was a 102 lb waif at the time and nearly 25 yrs and three kids later, she hasn't changed much.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

Frederick gets his National Park Service Jr. Ranger pin. He promises to not shut any park or monument down.

[NK]

ManT-- the the first female Brigade Commander was Julianne Gallina from Pelham NY. When she was a Plebe, my then B-I-L was on the Canoe U staff as a leadership and navigation instructor. He was a Lieut SWO at the time back from a WestPac deployment on an FFG. He was class '84. I met the young lady when my wife and I were visiting Annapolis she was doing some 'down time' at his Cemetary Hill apartment-- he had a great 3 Bdr LCDR quarters for his family. The young female plebe was having adjustment problems so he was mentoring, and she sometimes did homework and meals at his apartment to decompress from the slog at B-Hall. The young lady was fascinated that my wife had earned a PhD in econometrics, a rare thing at the time for a women. The plebe didn't know if she would stick it out at CanoeU, obviously she did.

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Gus must be very pleased with McCarthy's play calling; not to mention the decision to have McCarthy call the plays.

[James D.]

NK, if your daughter wants to know anything about Savannah College of Art & Design, my cousin just started there for his M.A. In Septrmber, and I can pass questions along.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

I am a big Packers fan. To me they are the only true America's team. But they are remarkably underperforming and may not even make it out of the first round even if they get in. Something wrong about the team that is hard to put your finger on but it is not a wiining formlula.

Aaron Rodgers is a man without a team.

[henry]

JiB. Offensive line is hurt (one starter left), no deep receiving threat. Porous defense is normal.

[NK]

JamesD-- amazing, thank you very much, I may very well impose. My vague understanding is that institutions like Pratt, Yale and based on what you and JiB say UCinn and Savannah are candidates for her. Many thanks, you guys are the best.

[Manuel Transmission]

NK,

MT Jr was 89. so that would have been the same year he graduated. He'd done a NAPS year and still had doubts during his plebe year. Tough game.

[daddy]

Apparently Elections don't always turn out as predicted:

France's far right are crushed in elections: Marine AND Marion Le Pen both lose their bids for power as their National Front party is routed in regional vote

Dogs.

[NK]

Yes I believe I met her October '88 when we were down there for a christening.... a child christening, not a ship, or possible February 89. She took a lot of stuff about being 'mafia from the Bronx' her Plebe year. Tough crowd. My the B-I-L was '84 29th Company. his 2d Class year was the intranet video scandal in 29th Company. they all had to March up and down a lot, so they were named "Stand in line 29" which was a pretty bawdy double entendre given the nature of the video.

[Manuel Transmission]

NK,

I never realized until now googling her that her dad was taken out by the mob when she was seven!

[Jane]

That's awful about France. I wonder what happened.

[narciso]

the left and right, closed ranks against there outsider, who are the real enemy:

http://www.france24.com/en/20151209-charles-de-gaulle-would-be-turning-grave-national-front-prospers-former-president-hometown

[narciso]

so it's basically schrodinger' cat,

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/12/13/both-nominating-and-not-nominating-truomp-will-now-doom-the-gop/

I went to some christmas carols, sponsored by the
local church, to clear the head for a bit,

[Jane]

Yeah I saw that Narc.

[nova lurker]

lol ...

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/obama-chessmaster-or-pawn/420195/

But today, after the climate agreement in Paris, it would be wrong not to note three big things that have happened during his presidency that in all probability would not have happened without him:
•The climate deal itself, as explained in a NYT piece just now, and in unbelievable contrast to the utter collapse of the Copenhagen negotiations early in Obama’s term;
•The rapprochement with Cuba, marking the beginning of the end of the single stupidest (but hardest to change) aberration in modern U.S. foreign policy; and
•The international agreement with Iran, which in the short term offers (as I have argued at length) the best prospects for keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and in the long run has the potential of beginning to end Iran’s destructive estrangement from the international order.

...what is there to say?

a belated happy birthday Iggy and a welcome back hug for JM Hanes!

[nova lurker]

weird, my last comment was all malformed ... most of it was a cut-and-paste.

[JMHanes]

Catching up from the last thread here.

Ignatz:

"Few things are sadder than a man who once slayed dragons doddering about with his flaccid lance, feebly poking at the windmills he used to recognize as virtuous."

You have a real way with words yourself, Ignatz. Seriously. You're good.

"Fallows is largely correct in the premise that Barry has demonstrated considerable aptitude in getting his way."

I'd have to disagree with that, and even with Fallows assertion' that "Agree or disagree with these objectives, this is not the work of a pawn." I notice that Obamacare has fallen off his previous list of achievements. Being celebrated as the President who renewed relations with Cuba is slim pickings, indeed. The climate deal with no coercive effect and no Congressional blessing is as worthless as the paper that the unsigned "executive agreement" with Iran is written on -- which was so bad that the Senate Dems were afraid of even casting a vote on it. Obama was willing to give up almost everything he once called essential in order to get the latter, and the Chinese knew that if they dangled the mere possibility of an accord on climate change in front of him, he would mount only token resistance in the South China Sea.

I had to laugh at Fallows' awestruck, "Two hundred countries agreeing on anything!" It's really not that hard when your agreement is all hope 'n change and no penalties. That's pretty much true of the Iran agreement for that matter.

Obamacare, of course, was the Pelosi-Reid love child and I don't think the Prez knew much more about what was in it than we did. They made sure his cronies were taken care of; his assignment was the corporate schmoozing. Ironically, Obamacare has garnered the most help from the courts, while I predict that big chunks of his climate agenda will be going down in flames.

[NK]

I had to check to see if that POS was by James Fallows. But we knew that without checking, didn t we. He may have exceeded brooks, kristoff and even flathead in his absurdity. Has he been correct about anything for over 25 years?

[Stephanie]

So similar to our congress taking out conservatives for the sake of their place at the trough, narciso?

We investigated SCAD when K was looking at colleges. She had an impressive resume of art stuff including 3 years full scholarship at the Children's Museum for art and design and lots of awards for digital designs and drawings sold to Jap anese gaming companies for her anime characters. She got very attractive $$ offers from SCAD to attend and play golf there.

She was all sold until several discussions with folks either there or just graduated revealed that a top 5 finish in your class didn't garner any job offers and most were at Starbucks or something totally not related to their majors in ANY of the degrees there whether Modern Design, Computer Graphics (and their CG department has EA games as a copartner for one quarter of studies on their unreleased video games) or fashion design and they were in debt for over $100-150K per kid.

The tuition at SCAD is north of $45-50K a year and their credits, should you not find their school to your liking, don't transfer. They have NO classical liberal classes and the education is not very well rounded.

K declined for those reasons even with the EA guys pushing her about how 'great' the experience was. If they won't hire you, how great is their input?

[BB Key]

Can you make pipe bomz out of plumbing supplies ?

Four NY Men Arrested in NC

[NK]

ManT -- my train just passed through Pehlam home town of the family Gallina

[narciso]

it's statistically possible, but unlikely, he was sent to Tokyo in the 80s to cover the economic beat. he failed to note the property bubble,that
has buried the island nation, for twenty some years, as agregious as Flathead's first story

[NK]

BB was that the group bying Sim phones?

[BB Key]

No but one guy was names Ali

[JMHanes]

ThirdMan:

"The differences in gun homicide rates between states is almost entirely explained by the differences in percentage of the population that is black. The correlation is 0.84"

Does anyone have a link for this stat? I've been looking, not just for the stat itself, but for a source which lays that whole picture out in a digestible, hopefully non-inflammatory, way. I.e. something I can pass along to liberal friends….

fixbadstats:

"One statistical sleight of hand is combining homicides and suicides, even those two things are not the same thing, and are not logically addable"

Et voilà: Global warming becomes climate change. Homicide becomes "gun violence."

[lyle]

Gullibility is in no shortage it appears. Anyone thinking Iran has slowed down anything is seriously gullible and dangerously deluded. On the other hand, it appears JOM has a State Dept. muckety muck posting comments under the nic, "nova lurker." Zat you, Jawn Fucking Kerry?

[Rick Ballard]

It's odd that Obama's most notable achievement isn't mentioned. No President has, by his actions, diminished the power of his party to the extent achieved by Obama. It's true the GOP was greatly diminished by the '29 crash and subsequent depression but pinning that on actions taken by Hoover is very difficult.

[NK]

Now Nat Journal is pissing inits Journolist pants oover Cruz. They fear him; I like Cruz more and more.

[BB Key]

named Ali another Yudesh

see WRAL or WTVD

[JMHanes]

Thanks, nova lurker! I see we appear to be on the same page, literally (at least almost literally).

[NK]

Fiance visas for Ali and Yudesh?

[NK]

lyle @8:14. Is that for realz?

[narciso]

well you find that impressive do you Rick, I would say the CRA revisions, had much more impact, welfare reform dissapeared in a blur, as did the inviolability of traditional marriage, they practice the Brezhnev doctrine, we have the Maginot doctrine,

[JMHanes]

lyle:

nova lurker was quoting from the Fallows article, but apparently TypePad had a formatting gltich.

[lyle]

Has NBC gone ahead and become National Barack Channel? Barry and Bear Grylls? Seriously?

[peter quill]

if they are anything like the nova corp, I pass,

[NK]

There was a Prog orgy in 09. Since then, not so much. And pray god never again in my lifetime.

[lyle]

My mistake. Apologies to nova lurker. Wasn't Fallows the crank who wished destruction on humans, "nature's fist of fury" was the formulation, IIRC, because man had not been solicitous enough of Sky Dragon?

Again, apologies to nova lurker.

[narciso]

no that was a whole other cup of crazy, James Wolcott who wished hurricanes upon florida, because Bush, or something,

[BB Key]

Fallows was a speechwriter for Jimmah Catrer and is a regular on NPR . Need I say more ?