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....