Obama: ISIS No Threat, Merry Christmas America!

Assertion
Russia Rearms for a New Era: Russia has asserted itself on the world stage with a forcefulness not seen since the Cold War, increasing tensions with the West. (New York Times, 12/24/2015)

Can someone please check. Is Hillary still citing the "Russian Reset" as one of her accomplishments?


Dissension
In a sign of deep political tension within the Taliban, a collection of religious leaders in the group’s headquarters in Pakistan issued a letter of rebuke this month to the new insurgent leader over his bloody crackdown on dissenting commanders....Instead, the letter was a sign that little was forgiven between Mullah Mansour and his biggest rival within the Taliban, Mullah Qayum Zakir, a former detainee at Guantánamo Bay and an aggressive senior military commander. (New York Times, 12/25/2015)

In a Christmas day news dump and hoping no one was paying attention, the Times slips this one in. Apparently former Gitmo prisoner Mullah Qayum Zakir is back in the game. Thanks Barack!


Patches
... Mr. Putin is playing chess, working to bring about NATO’s demise and restore a buffer of subservient European puppet states, while Mr. Obama is playing checkers, apparently content to keep things patched together until he leaves office. (Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal, 12/23/2015)

Obama has apparently been obsessed since he first took office with his legacy. So far we have Russian aggression, the Obamacare quagmire, capitulation to the Iranian mullahs, ISIS, and massive additions to the government debt, to name a few. And that climate change accord which will save the planet, don't forget that!


Marrying Game
These days, an investment banker may marry another investment banker rather than a high school sweetheart, or a lawyer will marry another lawyer, or a prestigious client, rather than a secretary. Whether measured in terms of income or education, there are more so-called power couples today than in the past, one manifestation of a phenomenon known as assortative mating, or more generally the pairing of like with like.

These matches are great for those individuals who can build prosperous and happy family alliances, but they also propagate inequality across the generations. Of all the causes behind growing income inequality, in the longer run this development may prove one of the most significant and also one of the hardest to counter. (Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, New York Times, 12/26/2015)

Using the scholarship of Professor Cowen, Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will soon issue a new policy proposal which would ban marriage between two wealthy individuals. Sanders is expected to say: "We now have vigorous academic scholarship which points to a leading cause of income inequality in this country. Under a Sanders administration the wealthy will not be permitted to marry, pool their wealth and propagate this inequity."

Can Sanders Campaign Recover From Corruption Charges?

Systemic Change Needed After Faulty Times Article -- The Public Editor's Journal - Margaret Sullivan, New York Times, 12/18/2015 
For a brief moment after seeing this headline we thought - naively it turns out - that the New York Times was finally going to come clean. Like, you know, restore its editorial integrity, cease slanting the news to Liberal positions, stop pushing micro - marginal issues like transgender rights, things like that. Alas, the change that Public Editor Sullivan calls for is in response to an article written that said Jihadi Judy, one of the San Bernadino killers, had made public postings on social media about her terrorist sympathies that authorities should have picked up on. Apparently this was not the case. 

See, we thought Sullivan was referencing the following:

An article in the New York Times had originally written, “Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and made clear that he plans to step up his public arguments.” (Breitbart.com, 12/19/2015)

The Times excised this minor bombshell from later reporting. Oh, and there was no pressure from the White House. Yes, systemic change is needed. 


Framed
Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state, sought to frame next year’s election as a choice between her cleareyed approach to national security and the recklessness of Republicans who have demonized Muslims since the recent attacks on Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. (New York Times, 12/20/2015)

Readers with long memories will remember that it was Hillary's "cleareyed approach to national security" which gave us the Russian Reset (Putin takes Crimea) and Benghazi (dead Americans). 


Inside the Liberal Mind
Voted by RedStateVT as best New York Times reader comment about last night's Democrat debate: 

'The lack of climate change discussion troubles me beyond words.' 


High
Mayor Bill de Blasio was facing one pointed question after another from those who work with homeless people. Why, more than a year into the new administration, was homelessness still so high? (New York Times, 12/19/2015)

Uh, Liberal policies?

Hall Pass

All Talk
Muslim Parents on How They Talk to Their Children About Hatred and Extremism: A wave of recent attacks by extremists acting in the name of Islam — including in San Bernardino, Calif., this month — has contributed to a rise in anti-Muslim speech in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. We asked our readers who are Muslim how they talk to their children about these difficult times. (New York Times, 12/15/2015)

The New York Times wastes space on a virtually non-existent problem: anti-Muslim speech. The rationale is two-fold. First, the Times is never going to let an opportunity slip by to identify a potential group of victims. After all, finding new victims is its raison d'etre. Second, it conveniently ties back to its narrative that anti-Muslim sentiment is stirred up by Republicans. That's a Times two-fer!

The Times would never write the article headlined: American Parents on How They Talk to Their Children About Muslim Extremism. It would also never write the article: Muslim Parents of ISIS Terrorists on Where They Went Wrong.


Dreamers
Foreign policy is not in the business of making dreams come true—Arab-Israeli peace, Islamic liberalism, climate nirvana, a Russian reset, et cetera. It’s about keeping our nightmares at bay. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 12/15/2015)

Most of Stephens' column is harsh critically of Ted Cruz, giving us pause as we like both. Putting that aside, we liked this very insightful and thought-provoking quote.


Blame Game
Blaming mental health problems for gun violence in America gives the public the false impression that most people with mental illness are dangerous, when in fact a vast majority will never commit violence. Still, some legal changes should be made to reduce access to firearms among the small percentage of people with mental illness who are dangerous to themselves or others. (New York Times editorial, 12/16/2015)

No, most mentally ill people do not commit violence. But the ones who commit mass murder (James Holmes, Adam Lanza, et. al.) are mentally ill. The Times bravely wants to take away their guns when the real solution is to commit them to mental hospitals.  Of course, another category of gun violence is that committed by urban minorities. No word from the Times on that subject. 


Bound Up
With a unanimous City Council vote, San Diego, the country’s eighth-largest city, became the largest American municipality to transition to using 100 percent renewable energy, including wind and solar power. In the wake of the Paris accord, environmental groups hailed the move as both substantive and symbolic.

Other big cities, including New York and San Francisco, have said they intend to use more renewable energy, but San Diego is the first of them to make the pledge legally binding. Under the ordinance, it has committed to completing its transition and cutting its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. (New York Times, 12/17/2015)

It's a feelgood moment in San Diego. But what they just made legally binding will never happen. Liberals - including San Diego's Republican mayor - think that simply by enacting a law, good things will happen. It doesn't work that way. See Obamacare. 

To Calm Fears, Obama to Urge Americans to Talk About Their Feelings

Strained
Young Muslim Americans Are Feeling the Strain of Suspicion: ... in the past year, especially in the past several months, as her emergence from childhood into young womanhood has coincided with the violent spread of the Islamic State and a surge in Islamophobia, she has had to confront some harsh challenges of being a young Muslim in America. (New York Times, 12/14/2015)

The New York Times identifies the most urgent problem in America, Islamophobia. Second place, transgender rights. A distant third, fear of being killed by Islamic terrorists.

All Americans Are Feeling the Strain of Islamic Terror (RedStateVT headline, 12/14/2015)
Islamophobia, really? Documented cases of actual violence against Muslims are rare. You can look it up. Do you know which group has more to fear? Jews, of course.


Intolerant
Mr. Obama, who barely tolerates the schmoozing that is presidential tradition, does far fewer receiving lines than his predecessors. George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, worked a photo line at each of the 25 holiday parties he hosted in 2008, his last year in office, but the Obama White House has eliminated all but a handful. (New York Times, 12/14/2015)

So it turns out President Pippi Longstockings is not - would you say - a people person.


Anxiety Attacks
The public seems increasingly anxious about Mr. Obama’s handling of terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks and the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that was carried out by extremists who claimed allegiance with the Islamic State. His Oval Office address on Dec. 6 appeared to do little to allay those worries, including among members of his own party.

In an effort to respond, the president is working to demonstrate that he has a plan for defeating the Islamic State abroad and for protecting Americans at home. Mr. Obama will also visit the National Counterterrorism Center on Thursday for his annual preholiday security briefing on the country’s threat level. “There’s heightened awareness about that in advance of this holiday season,” Mr. Earnest said.

This week is Mr. Obama’s last chance before Christmas to show Americans he is engaged on the issue; on Friday, he is scheduled to fly to Hawaii for his annual two-week getaway with his family.(New York Times, 12/14/2015)

So Obama is going to squeeze in some national security before his vacay and in between Christmas parties. The nation - "including members of his own party" - breathe a sigh of relief. 

What to do after the next Islamic terror attack: a RedStateVT Primer

Inevitably there will be another jihadist-inspired attack on American soil. Our mailbox here at the RedStateVT command post has been flooded with questions from worried readers wondering how they should respond in the aftermath. One reader summarizes the concerns as follows: "I am worried that I will come to fear Muslims and be labeled a hater." Our editors have prepared the following guide to aid in just these circumstances.

After the incident:

1) Loudly proclaim that it was probably a case of work-place violence and demand tougher gun control laws. If this is subsequently disproved, blame right-wing militias and demand tougher gun control laws. If it is neither work-place violence nor a right-wing militia, demand tougher gun control laws.

2) Immediately call for increased immigration from Muslim countries.

3) Remind everyone that Islam is "the religion of peace."

4) Publicly state your concerns that this will lead to a backlash against Muslims.

5) Visit a mosque (recommended). 

Readers who follow these simple steps are likely to survive the aftermath of the next attack and, importantly, avoid being labeled anti-Muslim.


Your Tax Dollars at Work
How Kricket Nimmons Seized the Transgender Moment: Kricket Nimmons became one of the first New Yorkers to undergo gender reassignment surgery paid for by Medicaid. (New York Times headline, 12/12/2015)

A moment of silence, please, as we contemplate this historic moment. There is now NOTHING that Liberals can conjure up that society will not be forced to pay for. Abortion, endless intergenerational welfare and food stamps, free meals and day care for kids, birth control, weight loss surgery, you name it. And no opt out for you haters!

Here is one minor concern, though. Suppose that Kricket realizes at some point down the road that he/she made a mistake. Are we on the hook for paying for the reversal surgery as well? Just wondering....


Devil in the Details
But as details of the plan emerged, some developing nations expressed consternation. Poorer countries had pushed for a legally binding provision requiring that rich countries appropriate a minimum of $100 billion a year to help them mitigate and adapt to the ravages of climate change. (New York Times, 12/12/2015)

And therein we have the essence of what the climate warming/cooling/chaos argument is all about. Wealth transfer to poor countries. That and nothing more.


Notional
Echoes of that notion reverberated on the campaign trail and at the events of candidates who condemned Mr. Trump’s harsh language. (New York Times, 12/12/2015)

The New York Times and Liberal media do not even wait anymore to rewrite history. They rewrite events as they happen. "Mr. Trump's harsh language?" Trump called for 'a temporary halt to Muslim immigration until we can figure out what is going on.' This is harsh language according to thin-skinned Liberals. Perhaps Trump should have said instead: 'We should still allow Muslims to flood America, but temporarily reduce the publicly funded benefits that we give them.'

Long Division

Hate Speech
There is one major political party in the U.S. that is consumed with hate. And it is not who you think. For Democrats, any position contrary to the one they espouse is hateful. Question whether after 3,000 years of civilization in which heterosexual marriage has been the norm, homosexual marriage should now be embraced? You hate gays. Believe that government funding of abortion should be reconsidered? You hate women. Concerned that trillions of dollars spent on anti-poverty programs may have created a permanent underclass dependent on government hand-outs? You hate the poor. Suggest that a temporary ban on Muslim immigration might make sense in order to ensure the security of Americans? You hate Muslims. Express a conservative view on a college campus? That is hate speech.

Why are Democrats so consumed with hate?

Truth be told, it is the childish way in which they defend their beliefs. No one wants to be thought of, never mind accused, of hating. So instead of making the case for their agenda, Democrats taunt Republicans as haters. 


Faithless
The public has little faith in President Obama’s handling of terrorism and the threat from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Fifty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of terrorism, and seven in 10 say the fight against the Islamic State is going badly. There have been few foreign-directed terrorist attacks in the United States in the past decade, and American officials have repeatedly said that there is no credible evidence of planning for a large-scale attack in the United States by the Islamic State or its supporters. (New York Times, 12/11/2015)

Faced with a majority of the country disapproving of his anti-terror program, RedStateVT has learned that President Bilbo Baggins has decided on the following course of action:

- He will give another speech reproaching Americans for fearing Muslims.

We note also the new lexicon that the New York Times has adopted, no doubt after being directed to do so by the Baggins administration: there is no credible evidence for a LARGE-SCALE attack in the U.S. 

Lots of small ones, but no LARGE-SCALE attacks. 

America rests a little easier knowing that President Baggins has got this one.


Endless
Putting an end to more than a decade of strict federal control of public education, President Obama on Thursday signed a sweeping rewrite of the No Child Left Behind act that returns power to states and local districts to determine how to improve troubled schools. (New York Times, 12/11/2015)

What the New York Times does not tell you, notwithstanding a twenty-three paragraph article, is that No Child Left Behind was a bipartisan bill championed on the Democrat side by none other than Teddy (the Lion of the Senate) Kennedy. Inconvenient Democrat facts are whitewashed from history by the Liberal media. Did you know that NAFTA was signed by Bill Clinton. Or that it was Bill Clinton who did not sign on to the Kyoto Protocol? If the Times does not write it, it did not happen.


All Talk
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has been talking tough on Wall Street, but that’s yet to stop finance industry bigwigs from opening up their checkbooks for her....The price of entry was $33,400, with the proceeds of around $400,000 going to  the Hillary Victory Fund, which is split between the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. (Wall Street Journal, 12/11/2015)

We'll leave it to Bernie Sanders to trumpet this one. Frankly, we give not a whit where politicians get their contributions from...as long as there is FULL DISCLOSURE. That way we know who is supporting whom (or attempting to buy influence).

Instead, we will note again that Democrats are very willing to both take money from Wall Street AND castigate them at the same time. Perhaps we were wrong yesterday when we opined that Liberals were the dumbest people on the planet. Maybe Wall Streeters are.

Contents Under Pressure

Inside the Mind of Our Dear Leader
Obama doesn't care what Republicans in America think of him or his policies. He cares a lot, however, about what Muslims in the Middle East think. 


Uninspiring
The new timeline suggests that the couple were considering violent action before the Islamic State rose to prominence in 2014 and began trying to inspire sympathizers to carry out attacks in the West.

And the disclosures raise questions about how thoroughly American law enforcement and immigration officials vetted the wife before giving her a visa to enter the United States from Pakistan a year before the shooting, which left 14 dead and 21 wounded. (New York Times, 12/10/2015)

President Obama asked why Republicans who oppose letting 100,000 Syrian refugees into the country were so afraid of "women and children." 

Now you know. 

Another presidential ooops! And so we can add "women and children" to "JV team" and "contained" for inclusion in the foreign policy pronouncement blunders of President Foot-in-Mouth.


Right On
The rest of the world does not have a civil right to move here. We're under no moral imperative to allow any immigration at all. We don't owe citizens of other countries anything. 

But as long as you brought it up: They owe us. America runs around saving other countries from tsunamis, earthquakes, pirates, disease, starvation, warlords, dictators, Nazis, communists -- then their citizens show up full of grievances, as if we owe them. (anncoulter.com, 12/10/2015)

Liberals may just be the dumbest people on the planet. In the face of terrorism committed on American soil by Muslims, their solution is to demand that more Muslims be allowed to come here. It would be fine if insane Liberal ideas only affected Liberals, but they don't. They are putting the whole country at risk. 

Two By Four

Pushy
Rachid Tlemcani, a professor of political science at the University of Algiers, warned that Mr. Trump could push young people toward the Islamic State.

“A lot of people in the Middle East think of the United States as the last place we can go if things turn really bad, as it is the place of freedom and liberty,” Mr. Tlemcani said. “I think that sort of comment could even invite some act of violence against America. I think he is not responsible.” (New York Times, 12/9/2015)

Time out here. Who is less connected to reality? 

a) Donald Trump - who in the aftermath of a mass shooting (a.k.a. violence) in America committed by Islamic terrorists, one of whom was an immigrant - says we should put a "temporary ban" on Muslim immigration until we "figure out what is going on."

b) Rachid Tlemcani who says that Trump's comment could result in violence against America.


Preferences
Instead of debating the antiterror policy of the past seven years—the wisdom of ending the National Security Agency’s metadata program, whether ISIS can be knocked out without any ground troops, how the lack of nerve on Syria fed this mess, or whether Islamist terror can be defeated so long as our leaders refuse to call it by its rightful name—we’re all arguing over gun control.

Then again, if you were Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton, isn’t this the debate you’d prefer? (William McGurn, Wall Street Journal, 12/7/2015)

And if you were a corrupt media that had long ago abandoned any pretense of objectivity, wouldn't you rather talk about what a single Republican presidential candidate (one of a dozen or more) said than to examine the failed policies of the current Democrat president and the leading Democrat presidential contender?

We're Perfectly Safe Now

Bad Behavior 
After talking about his plus ça change strategy to tackling the Islamic State, he (Obama) began telling Americans what they “should not do”. Because everyone loves that estranged father who comes back into your life just in time to tell you how to behave. (Raheem Kassam, Breitbart.com, 12/6/2015)

President Above-It-All. When Bush's Iraq strategy failed, he came up with a winning strategy: the surge. Obama's strategy: tell Americans that 'This-Too-Shall-Pass.'  Raised in Indonesia, Obama proves again that he is simply not in touch with the average American.


Absent Without Leave
President Barack Obama tried to reassure the American people from the Oval Office on Sunday evening that he takes the threat of terrorism seriously: “For seven years, I’ve confronted this evolving threat each morning in my intelligence briefing.” However, as the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) has shown, Obama skips more than half of his daily intelligence briefings. (Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart.com, 12/7/2015)

Obama has, however, attended ALL meetings in which climate change is discussed. 


Debatable
As the debate on how best to contain the Islamic State continues to rage in Western capitals, the militants themselves have made one point patently clear: They want the United States and its allies to be dragged into a ground war. (New York Times, 12/8/2015)

So the strategy of President Clueless is NOT to send troops in to defeat ISIS because that is exactly what ISIS wants, i.e. it plays right in to their prophetic visions of the end of times. Hence ISIS can run amok in the Middle East knowing full well that the only power strong enough to defeat them will not intervene. Sounds like someone just got outwitted.


Pen Name
(Marine Le Pen) talks about the French “nation” and its “sovereignty” and making France once again proud of its “founding values” and “authentic Frenchness.” Such language takes aim at anyone who does not embrace assimilation into the French way of life. (New York Times, 12/8/2015)

The implication of the New York Times is that French political figure Marine Le Pen is somehow a bigot because she insists on promoting French values and insists that immigrants assimilate. Because what could possibly go wrong if they don't?  


Preacher Man
He does not make a case; he preaches a moral. He mistakes repetition for persuasion. He does not struggle with the direction, details or trade-offs of policy because he’s figured them all out. His policies never fail; it’s our patience that he finds wanting. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, 12/8/2015)

No one has done a better job of dissecting the essence of Obama's personal and political philosophy than the Wall Street Journal op-ed writers.


Offering
GOP hopefuls weren’t “preaching about prayer.” They were offering their prayers (just like President Obama did the next day). If this had been an earthquake, would you reject prayers while survivors were still being plucked from the rubble? Would you denounce anyone who refrained from touting their preferred building code legislation? (Jonah Goldberg, Bostonherald.com, 12/5/2015)

Liberals opine that Republicans aren't allowed to express condolences to victims when a shooting takes place (e.g. at a Planned Parenthood center) because they support the Second Amendment. Meanwhile, Liberals never express condolences to babies exterminated by Planned Parenthood. 

RedStateVT Previews Obama's Speech Tonight

In his speech to the American people tonight, RedStateVT can report that President Obama is expected make the following points:

• Radical Islam may be at war with us, but we are not at war with them.

• If you see something, say something. Except if a Muslim kid named Mohammed has a box with wires coming out of it. Because that would be racial profiling.

• The National Guard is being deployed at sensitive locations to protect Americans. Like at Planned Parenthood offices. 

• Armed civilians cannot take the place of "common sense" gun laws.

• The biggest danger that Americans continue to face is climate change.

• Previously I described ISIS as "the JV team." Then I said they were "contained." Tonight I am announcing that we have them "on the run."

Clocked Out

Arrest Granny
Mr. Chesley said Mr. Farook’s mother, who lived with the couple, “stayed to herself” upstairs and was “not aware of what was taking place in the rest of the house.” Law enforcement officials said the couple turned part of the house into a bomb-making factory. (New York Times, 12/5/2015)

Attorney Chesley had a fourteen hour news conference yesterday urging everyone not to jump to conclusions. That is time we will never get back. And what of Granny? Maybe she thought her son and daughter-in-law were making clocks. 


Minimal
Every instinct of this Administration, starting with the President, has been to minimize the terror risk on U.S. soil—perhaps because it contradicts Mr. Obama’s political belief that all we have to fear is fear of terrorism itself. (Wall Street Journal, 12/5/2015)

Obama would rather focus what he sees as the real threat: attacks on Planned Parenthood.

Travel Plans

Rahm Emanuel laid into POLITICO’s Mike Allen on Wednesday when Allen revealed the Chicago mayor’s plans to vacation in Cuba with his family over the holidays, angrily saying, "I really don't appreciate that." (POLITICO, 12/2/2015)


Ino Gómez, who fled Cuba in 1970, caught (New York City Mayor Bill) de Blasio off guard during their interview on WADO 1280 AM when he shifted the conversation from housing and education to the Dem’s visit to Cuba in 1991 for his honeymoon.(nypost.com, 9/27/2013)


After Vermont senator Bernie Sanders announced his run for president, Britain’s Guardian newspaper pawed through old archives in his home town of Burlington, Vermont where he served as mayor in the 1980s. They discovered that Sanders really did practice the socialist solidarity he preached about rhetorically. During Bernie’s mayoral tenure, Burlington formed an alliance with the Soviet city of Yaroslavl, 160 miles northeast of Moscow. When in 1988 he married his wife, Jane, the mayor decided it would be a perfect place for his honeymoon. (nationalreview.com, 6/24/2015)

Why is it that rabid right-wingers are always accusing Liberals of being pinko Commies?

Oh, maybe because it's true....

Dearly

In court documents and interviews with people who knew Robert Dear, the suspect in an attack on a Planned Parenthood on Friday that killed three people, a picture emerges: He was a man of religious conviction who sinned openly, and a man who successfully wooed women but, some of them say, also abused them. (New York Times, 12/1/2015) The New York Times breaks its silence and finally acquiesces to write an article about Planned Parenthood! Better still, they get to expose an abusive male, bash religion and call for gun control. Why it's a Liberal trifecta! Now if only they described Robert Dear as the "purported" gunman and said that the video was heavily edited....

Bring Back the Complaint Department

Conceptual
(Secretary of State John Kerry) added that President Obama had charged his aides with “coming up with any concepts that will, in fact, work, and which could help change the situation on the ground.” (New York Times, 11/24/2015)

Kerry and Obama nail exactly what is required in the fight against ISIS: concepts that will in fact work.

How these geniuses ever got to the pinnacle of power is something that future historians will study.


Shady
“One of the things I insisted on the day I walked into the Oval Office was that I don’t want intelligence shaded by politics. I don’t want it shaded by a desire to tell a feel-good story,” he said. (New York Times, 11/23/2015)

So is this why Obama told the American public that Al Queda was neutralized and ISIS contained? It would be just like him to throw the military under the bus. It may be difficult to find out the truth because it would also be just like him to lie for political reasons.

“It’s not as if I’ve been receiving wonderfully rosy, glowing portraits of what’s been going on in Iraq and Syria over the last year and a half,” Mr. Obama said, adding: “At my level, at least, we’ve had a pretty cleareyed, sober assessment of where we’ve made real progress and where we have not. (New York Times, 11/23/2015)

So upon further review, Obama seems to be saying that he did NOT get "feel-good" assessments about Iraq and Syria. He got the truth. That his policies have created chaos and put American lives at risk. And he did what?


It's Working! (Part 47)
UnitedHealth is the largest U.S. insurer by enrollment, and the company is warning it may withdraw from ObamaCare in 2017. The insurer has already suspended advertising for its ObamaCare coverage and stopped paying commissions to insurance brokers for signing people up. It literally doesn’t want consumers to buy its products. (Wall Street Journal, 11/23/2015)

Don't forget to sign up for Obamacare. While there are still insurance companies.


Deceivers
Texas and a handful of other states — including Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana — have moved to eliminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood amid the controversy. Secretly recorded videos that were released starting in July purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue and discussing the issue with abortion opponents who posed as representatives of a biomedical firm.

Planned Parenthood said that the videos were deceptively edited and that the group did not do anything illegal or unethical. (New York Times, 11/24/2015)

Whenever Liberals are caught red-handed on tape they resort to their standard defense: who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? Of course, the full, unedited videos are available and prove that Planned Parenthood officials were doing exactly what it is they were alleged to be doing.

Lying does not matter to Liberals because Planned Parenthood is serving a higher purpose: ensuring that the government continues funding abortion.

Obama Unveils Post Paris Strategy: Attack Republicans

Unsettling Science
A panel of prominent scientists debunked one of the most popular global warming arguments ahead of a major United Nations climate summit to take place in Paris later this month.

The scientists slammed policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as “nonsense,” and they criticized politicians and activists for claiming the world was on the path for catastrophic global warming.

“The most important thing to keep in mind is — when you ask ‘is it warming, is it cooling’, etc.  — is that we are talking about something tiny (temperature changes) and that is the crucial point,” Dr. Richard Lindzen, a veteran climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Dailycaller.com, 11/20/2015)

So is climate change settled science or not? Someone better get to Dr. Lindzen and warn him that funding will dry up if he does not toe the Liberal line. Meanwhile, the Liberal media will ignore this.


Zero
Mr. Sanders zeros in on Wall Street donations to Mrs. Clinton in an aggressive new television commercial that started running in Iowa and New Hampshire on Saturday: “The truth is, you can’t change a corrupt system by taking its money,” he warns. (New York Times, 11/22/2015)

That's fine if Bernie wants to knock Hillary around on Wall Street donations. Nothing could make us happier. But if Bernie were truly honest (hint: he is not) he would remind everyone that Obama was also a major benefactor of Wall Street money. Guess that is an inconvenient truth. Liberal amnesia.


Fighting Evictions, a Single Mother Draws Strength From Her Children (New York Times headline, 11/21/2015)

Today's New York Times Victim of the Week: Gardenia Valerio. Here is what we learn about Gardenia: She has three kids, but apparently never married. Her "partner" walked out, possibly when she was pregnant. The kids play on tablets. She has a smartphone. The Times then goes on to list the various public and private benefits she collects. 

Nothing is going to change for the better until society begins to hold people accountable for their own poor decisions. 


That Thing They Do
What progressives love is to be the mediators who decide which companies to reward (e.g., alternative energy providers) and which to punish via the tax and regulatory code. (Wall Street Journal, 11/21/2015)

And they usually get it wrong. (See Solyndra).

Obama: All Straw Men, All the Time

The Best of Coulter (This Week)
Successful countries must allow themselves to be overrun by backward cultures so that no country thinks it's better than another....While liberals' idea of retaliation is to post the French flag on their Twitter profiles, Republicans think the way to get tough is to go to war in Syria. ...The West's importation of Stone Age people is a completely self-inflicted wound. (Ann Coulter.com, 11/18/2015)


Plowed Under
Asked whether Mr. Obama had underestimated the Islamic State when he referred to the group as the “J.V. team,” Mrs. Clinton said, “I don’t think it’s useful to go back and replow old ground.” (New York Times, 11/20/2015)

She then said "Mission Accomplished" fourteen times.


Not Good with Numbers
University of Vermont economist Art Woolf has suggested that Vermont could accept as many as 5,000 Syrian refugees. When asked if he thinks the state can support that number, Shumlin said, “I’m not an expert on the numbers, I know that Vermont can take more than seven.” (VTDigger.org, 11/17/2015)

Shumlin - self-proclaimed non-expert on number (see his budget) - waves in Syrian refugees including embedded ISIS terrorists. We're guessing they are not going to be housed next door to him in Montpelier.


Checkmate
...the president repeated his promise to “provide refuge to at least 10,000 refugees fleeing violence in Syria” after passing “the highest” security checks. (New York Times, 11/20/2015)

Of course, Obama didn't give a d**n about the Syrians when Assad was gassing them. Now he is Mr. Compassion and Republicans concerned about terrorists leaking in are the evil ones. There has NEVER been a president as duplicitous as Obama. 

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The Next Time

Before the next attack, President Obama will have previously said that the threat is contained, that we have them on the run, that we have degraded their capabilities. He will say that Americans are safe. 

After the next attack, the sites of the massacre will be covered in mountains of flower bouquets.

After the next attack, President Obama will say: "We are all (fill in the name of the American city) now."

After the next attack, there will be a concert to honor the victims. U2 will headline.

After the next attack, President Obama will say: "We are not at war with Islam."

After the next attack, there will be wonderful artistic representations of (fill in the name of the American city) with rainbows, peace signs, doves, etc.

After the next attack, someone will Tweet: "I hope this does not lead to knee-jerk Islamophobia."  

After the next attack, the White House, U.S. monuments  and iconic buildings will be bathed in colored lights.

After the next attack, President Obama will describe the attack as a "setback."

After the next attack, fans at a (football. baseball. soccer, basketball or hockey) game will be asked to observe a moment of silence to honor the deceased.

After the next attack, reasonable people will wonder why their political leaders lack the will to use the full moral authority and full military might of the greatest country the world has ever seen to defeat the greatest threat the world has ever seen. 

The Grinding Wheel

Warning
Obama administration officials said on Sunday that the president had warned for more than a year of the danger that Islamic State fighters pose to Europe, the United States and beyond. (New York Times, 11/15/2015)

So what say Liberals who have blamed Bush for 9/11 saying that he should have heeded the warning that Al Qaeda was determined to strike the U.S? Obama apparently was warned in the same way. Is Obama to blame for Paris? You decide. 


It's Working
Many Say High Deductibles Make Their Health Law Insurance All but Useless (New York Times headline, 11/15/2015)


Lowly
By all means, read Bill McKibben’s victory proclamation on Keystone XL posted by the New Yorker, first for its infantile analysis. He sees Keystone as a harbinger, which it surely is: President Obama waited seven years to kill the pipeline, then did so when he no longer had to face voters and when gasoline prices are near an all-time low in real terms. If abundant fossil fuels is what it takes to afford Mr. McKibben such victories, well, you can see the paradox. (Holman Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 11/15/2015)

We'll admit that we enjoy it when Middlebury College's Bill McKibben gets batted about by his intellectual superiors. It happens quite often. 


Dazed and Confused
Abedin: Have you been going over her calls with her? So she knows singh is at 8? [India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh]

Hanley: She was in bed for a nap by the time I heard that she had an 8am call. Will go over with her

Abedin: Very imp to do that. She’s often confused. (Judicialwatch.org, 11/16/2015)

Prediction: The Washington Post, New York Times and MSNBC will ignore this admission by Hillary Clinton's closest aide that she is mentally impaired. The business of electing the first woman president is too important. 

A Three Step Plan

1) No more of this Diversity crap. 

Diversity is not a strength it is a weakness. We want stronger American values, not Third World values. If you say "Diversity is a Strength" you get a warning. If you say it a second time, you get fined. Third time: jail time. 


2) Assimilation.

You must learn and speak English. No more "Press 2 for Spanish." You must take a course in U.S. History and the Constitution. Passing grade is 75.


3) U.S. Borders are closed. 

For 5 years. As Ann Coulter says: "America needs a little me time." We'll spend that time enforcing Steps 1 and 2 above and deporting those who should be deported. (Which may include people who have appeared on MSNBC.) Those who self-deport will be given a present: a copy of the U.S. Constitution to take back to their country of origin. This is how America will sow the seeds of democracy. 


You're welcome. 

Liberals: Romney, too rich; Rubio, not rich enough; Hillary, just right!

Fully
With the release of the 2005-06 statements, there is now a full public accounting of Mr. Rubio’s expenses for the four years he had a Republican Party credit card in his capacity as head of campaign operations for Florida House Republicans. His opponents and news outlets had long asked that they be disclosed. (New York Times, 11/8/2015)

Still not disclosed? Where exactly was President Obama the night that Ambassador Stevens was murdered in Benghazi? Sadly, the media has not asked.


Killer
President Obama personally killed the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, dismissing the project as a mere “symbol” that “has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse.” The irony is that the pipeline’s benefits would be tangible, while the symbolism and overinflation are entirely political. (Wall Street Journal, 11/8/2015)

When is a job, not a job? When it is an XL pipeline job. Will union toadies continue to support Hillary and Democrats? Probably.


Star
During the many months she spent in immigration detention centers and a county jail, Estrella Sánchez, who is seeking asylum, became used to mockery from guards, taunts from fellow inmates and a deep sense of isolation.
...
In some cases, though, the best solution is to keep transgender people out of correctional facilities. Wherever possible, authorities should seek alternatives to detention, like community-based monitoring.
...
The Justice Department ruled in April that policies barring transgender inmates from beginning new hormone treatment are unconstitutional, and most states allow the treatment for prisoners in principle. However, 44 percent of transgender prison inmates in a 2014 survey reported being denied hormones.
...
Last month, California announced it would begin covering sex reassignment surgery for some inmates. So far, it is the only state to do so. (New York Times editorial, 11/9/2015)

Meet the New York Times Victim of the Day: Estrella Sanchez. An illegal immigrant. 

The Times believes that 1) She should not be in prison, 2) She should receive hormone therapy while she is in prison (even though she really should not be in prison) and, 3) America should pay for his/her sex reassignment surgery.

Not kidding!

Devotion

Lean To
Asked to call a transgender boy by a male name he has chosen for himself, teachers and administrators around the country have leaned toward a simple response: Sure. Allow a high school student who was born male but identifies as female to join the volleyball team? Fine.

But as transgender students assert themselves more, schools have hesitated at the locker room and the bathroom. Many have developed policies that require transgender students to use private changing and showering facilities, drawing opposition from these students, their parents and advocates who say the rules are discriminatory. (New York Times, 11/4/2015)

If you were looking for final proof that society has gone completely off the rails, here it is.

The end of days is near.


Strange Days
How strange it must be for people who comfort themselves with the slander that the GOP is a cult of organized racial hatred that the most popular politician among conservatives is a black man. Better to ignore the elephant in the room than account for such an inconvenient fact. (Jonah Goldberg, Bostonherald.com, 11/3/2015) 

And so the Liberal take-down of another black conservative begins. 


Twilight Time
At 91 and in the twilight of a long and storied public life, the first President Bush evidently felt free to express views he had long suppressed in the interest of family harmony. Mr. Cheney, he said, was “very hard-line” and too eager to “use force to get our way”; Mr. Rumsfeld was an “arrogant fellow” full of “swagger.” He used the same phrase, “iron-ass,” to describe both men. (New York Times, 11/6/2015)

After being vilified for years by the New York Times, the first President Bush now is described in glowing terms....a long and storied public life. Reason? He has criticized Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. If Bush One were to embrace transgender bathroom rights, the Times would rewrite the history of his presidency. 

Thank God (and ExxonMobil) for Oil and Gas

To fund this money-saving program, Vermont would finally hold polluters accountable by putting an end to the fossil fuel companies’ practice of using our atmosphere as their dumping ground for free. Instead, oil and gas companies would pay a tax based on the global warming impact of their pollution. (Paul Burns, Vermont Public Interest Research Group)

The money-savings program that VPIRG's Paul Burns is referring to is .... a tax on carbon to be paid by consumers. The logic of that is mind-boggling but Burns and fellow tax lovers will go on to explain how the taxes collected will actually be used for all sorts of government programs (solar panels, weather stripping, etc.) that will actually end up saving tax payers money. 

You believe him, don't you?

Let's address another issue though, namely the big bad fossil fuel companies. The intent in demonizing oil and gas companies is obviously to put them on a par with cigarette companies, for example, who sell a dangerous, though also entirely legal product. But while everyone alive can survive without cigarettes, no one (in the modern world anyway) can live without oil and gas. The car you drive, the house you live in, your phone, your computer, your food, everything that has helped usher in the modern age and bring the human race out of our primordial existence is a result of fossil fuels. Demonize oil and gas companies? We should be thanking them!

If you disagree, then unbundle yourself from everything made or sustained by oil and gas and live your life without. Otherwise you are a hypocrite. 

Liberals Complain: Mitt Romney was too successful in business; Carly Fiorina not successful enough

Tweaks
But the truth is, people like Mr. McKibben can’t afford practical, meaningful progress—because it would be unnoticeable and undramatic. Modest tweaks to incentives, then seeing how energy technology and the energy economy adapted over time, would not fulfill their need for a pressing global crisis that casts them as moral warriors (well-funded ones) whose victory over deniers and climate criminals is always just around the corner—and must remain so in order to keep the money, media attention and political fealty flowing. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 10/27/2015)

Jenkins skewers Middlebury College's Bill McKibben who - you may have heard - in desperate need of attention just got himself arrested by blocking access to a Burlington, Vermont gas station. McKibben was processed at police headquarters and then walked back to Middlebury.

CORRECTION: We have just received word that McKibben drove back to Middlebury in a car that contained an internal combustion engine. We apologize for the error. 


An Open Letter to Ashley Parker
Of course, attacking the media, especially the so-called liberal media, is a popular and time-tested Republican trope. (Ashley Parker, New York Times, 10/31/2015)

Dear Ash:
The Liberal Media is real! Read RedStateVT regularly for the proof. 

(Hint: Your paper is part of the Liberal Media.)

Regards

RedStateVT


It's Working! Obamacare is Working!
In Tennessee, the state insurance commissioner approved a 36 percent rate increase for the largest health insurer in the state’s individual marketplace. In Iowa, the commissioner approved rate increases averaging 29 percent for the state’s dominant insurer. Health insurance consumers logging into HealthCare.gov on Sunday for the first day of the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment season may be in for sticker shock, unless they are willing to shop around. Federal officials acknowledged on Friday that many people would need to pick new plans to avoid substantial increases in premiums.
...

“Shopping can save you money,” said Richard G. Frank, an assistant secretary of health and human services, who unveiled a huge collection of data on health plans that will go on sale on Sunday in the 38 states served by HealthCare.gov.
...

The Obama administration said nearly nine out of 10 consumers with marketplace coverage would be able to choose from three or more insurers in 2016. That is important, Mr. Frank said, because in insurance and other industries, “competition intensifies when there are three or more firms in a market.” (New York Times, 10/31/2015)

The big news is not that Obamacare premiums are going up. That was inevitable and entirely predictable. No the big news is that Obama administration officials admit that competition results in market efficiencies. 

Capitalism works!

Of course this will all be forgotten the next time that Liberals push for single-payer. Then we will only hear about the great inefficiencies of the private sector insurers. 

Leaked! The Questions That Will Be Asked In The Next Democrat Debate

RedStateVT has been given exclusive access to a list of questions said to have been readied for moderators to ask Democrat candidates in the next debate. 

Hillary Clinton:

Madame Secretary, that is a lovely dress you are wearing tonight. We have not heard much from you about granddaughter Charlotte during the campaign so far. Is she your secret weapon?

Madame Secretary, all of America took notice of how well you endured eleven hours of relentless, partisan questioning during yet the latest Benghazi committee hearing. Can Republicans continue to deny that they are engaging in an ongoing "War on Women?"

Madame Secretary, you first took on the national health care crisis in America back in the 80s and were roundly criticized. Describe your feelings then and now as history has vindicated your efforts.

Madame Secretary, if you become president, how will you resist the urges that your husband Bill may feel? (Crowd laughs) Not those urges, the urges to get back behind the desk in the Oval Office and try to be the boss again.


Bernie Sanders:

Senator Sanders, tell us how it feels for a lower middle class Polish-American Jew from Brooklyn to be up here on the stage running for president of the United States.

Senator Sanders, your plan to provide free college tuition to all who want to attend has been criticized by Republicans as too costly. Can the country afford NOT to offer free college tuition?

Senator Sanders, you said during the last debate that America should be more like Denmark. Can you name one country each in Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East that America should also emulate. Take as much time as you need. 

Senator Sanders, you seem to naturally cultivate the look and demeanor of a really smart college professor in an age where many politicians are slick and packaged. Is this because you favor substance over style?


Martin O'Malley:

Marty, if you were to drop out of this race it would make things a lot easier for the party.

The Coin in the Coffers

Pushy
Lawmakers say they will push for a statewide tax on carbon dioxide pollution. The Legislature’s Joint Energy Committee last week reviewed two draft bills that would raise the tax on gasoline by up to 88 cents per gallon. (VTDigger.org, 10/28/2015)

Another brilliant idea from Liberals who - make no mistake - are intent on undoing the Industrial Age. They say that the added cost to taxpayers will be offset because they will lower other taxes. 

You believe them, don't you?


House Speaker Job Requires Hats Ryan Has Never Worn (actual New York Times headline, 10/28/2015)

Hillary Clinton's Presidential Hat Ready (proposed New York Times headline, 10/28/2015)


Sober
U.S. student performance slumps on national exams: Fourth-graders and eighth-graders across the United States lost ground on the national mathematics tests, the first declines in scores since the federal government began administering the exams in 1990. Reading performance also was sobering: Eighth-grade scores dropped, while fourth-grade performance was stagnant compared with 2013, according to results released Wednesday. (Washington Post, 10/28/2015)

And the Liberal response will be: "We are not spending enough on education in this country."

The correct response should be: "Given the enormous amount of money we are spending on education in this country, teachers must be held accountable for these poor results."

The only result will be that teachers unions will increase their political contributions to Democrats who provide the shield that protect them from accountability. 

Source: Liberals Looking to Ban Hot Dogs

The Media is Fair, the Media is Even-Handed
As a Boss, Fiorina Could Be Warm One Day, Cold the Next (actual New York Times headline, 10/26/2015)

As a Boss, Hillary Was Wonderful, Each and Every Day (proposed New York Times headline, 10/26/2015)


Vitality
Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict. (New York Times, 10/26/2015)

Not to worry, as president, Hillary will just declare another Russian reset. Vlad cannot wait.

...and then there is this (NYT):
Adm. James Stavridis, formerly NATO’s top military commander and now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, said in an email last week that “this is yet another example of a highly assertive and aggressive regime seemingly reaching backwards for the tools of the Cold War, albeit with a high degree of technical improvement.”

Recall Obama smugly saying to Mitt Romney that 'the 70s wants it foreign policy back.' Yet another example of our boy-wonder president getting it wrong.


Traffic Accident
Last Thursday, the union and Fiat Chrysler sealed a four-year deal that, over time, brings wages of entry-level workers into line with those of veteran employees. The two-tier wage system was not expected to be as big an issue at General Motors. More than 45 percent of Fiat Chrysler workers are entry-level, compared with about 20 percent at G.M. (New York Times, 10/26/2015)

Prediction: Fiat Chrysler will declare bankruptcy within three years; GM within five years. 


Bad Bern
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has denounced candidates who are overly poll-tested, a line of attack that has been used against Hillary Rodham Clinton in the past and one he had in his prepared text as a veiled reference to her at the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday night.

But Mr. Sanders’s campaign, flush with cash from low-dollar donors, has hired a pollster of its own, his senior adviser Tad Devine confirmed. Mr. Sanders has brought on Ben Tulchin, who polled for Howard Dean, the insurgent Democratic presidential candidate of the 2004 cycle. (New York Times, 10/26/2015)

Because that whole Howard Dean thing worked out so well....