Unimposing
President Obama had set March 31 as a deadline for reaching a political accord to define the main terms of a final, comprehensive agreement due by the end of June. The Obama administration has extended that self-imposed deadline. (New York Times, 4/2/2015)
When is a deadline not a deadline? When it is an Obama deadline.
Here is all you need to know about a nuclear deal with Iran:
--Obama will give away more than he will get.
--The Iranians will cheat on whatever deal is reached.
Foreigner
“Right now, he has no foreign policy legacy,” said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran specialist who has been tracking the talks as chairman of the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm. “He’s got a list of foreign policy failures. A deal with Iran and the ensuing transformation of politics in the Middle East would provide one of the more robust foreign policy legacies of any recent presidencies. It’s kind of all in for Obama. He has nothing else. So for him, it’s all or nothing.”
...
An agreement with Iran remains the most promising goal left in a foreign policy agenda that has unraveled since Mr. Obama took office. Rather than building a new partnership with Russia, he faces a new cold war. Rather than ending the war in Iraq, he has sent American forces back to fight the Islamic State, though primarily from the air. Rather than defeating Al Qaeda, he finds himself chasing its offshoots. Rather than forging peace in the Middle East, he said recently that is beyond his reach. (New York Times, 4/3/2015)
Somewhat amazingly the Times reports the foreign policy failures that comprise the real Obama legacy. Which explain why he is so desperate for any deal with Iran, even one that disadvantages the U.S. and Israel.
Cornered
Senator Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader who announced his retirement last week, settled into a corner booth at the Triple George Grill here, his faced masked by dark sunglasses, evidence of lingering injuries from a workout accident that left him blind in one eye. For the next hour, in a conversation that veered from Washington to Nevada and back again, Mr. Reid made clear that he would deploy all of his resources to make sure Democrats hold on to his seat — critical to any hopes his party has of winning back the Senate in 2016. (New York Times, 4/2/2015)
The New York Times writes a love letter to Harry Reid. No mention - none - of his lies about Mitt Romney. No mention of his nuclear waste deal with Obama. No mention of how he became a millionaire while in office. No mention of his scurrilous attacks on the Koch brothers.
What Difference, at this Point, Does it Make?
At a news conference this month, Mrs. Clinton appeared to provide two answers about whether she still had copies of her emails. First, she said that she “chose not to keep” her private personal emails after her lawyers had examined the account and determined on their own which ones were personal and which were State Department records. But later, she said that the server, which contained personal communication by her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, “will remain private.” The server was kept at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y., which is protected around the clock by the Secret Service. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)
Our next president.
America weeps.
Dirty Harry
Mr. Reid’s admirers seem to think Mr. Reid is their champion, but the reason he has carried so much water for Mr. Obama isn’t liberal ideals. It’s the result of a crude political bargain in which Mr. Reid agreed to do the President’s dirty work on Capitol Hill if Mr. Obama blocked the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. (Wall Street Journal, 3/30/2015)
Reid will be feted at his retirement by Democrats and the media who will use words like "tireless" and "unflinching." We are glad to be reminded of his crass political deals. And, of course, we will always cherish his description of Barack Obama as "a light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." If John Boehner used such language he would be in a nursing home now. No such banishment for Reid, however, because Obama 'knows what is in Reid's heart.'
Measured
Measures similar to that signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence this week are already in place at the federal level and in some 30 states. The law covers a relatively complex issue—setting a legal framework for those who claim a government rule or requirement is hampering their exercise of religion. (Wall Street Journal, 3/29/2015)
The Gay Mafia along with its Liberal enablers are apoplectic about a new Indiana law.
Which is exceedingly complex to understand, never mind explain.
Which mirrors federal law.
And state law in thirty states.
It does not matter, however, because any opportunity to cry "homophobe!" is an opportunity not to be missed.
Adventurous
One of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capital firms prevailed on Friday over a former partner in a closely watched suit claiming gender discrimination, but hardly got away unscathed. The plaintiff, Ellen Pao, had accused the firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of discriminating against her in the course of her employment and eventual dismissal.
...
After the jurors rejected each of her four claims, they were found to be one vote short on a claim about her termination. For two hours, doubt reigned, the media unspooled possible outcomes and the jury went back to work. In the end, the problem seemed more juror confusion than anything else, and the claim went down with the others. (New York Times, 3/28/2015)
We have absolutely no idea whether Ellen Pao's lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers had any merit. We don't know if either party is good or bad. What amazes us, however, is the way in which the New York Times and feminists can claim that the case 'prompts a debate' and 'sends a powerful signal.'
How exactly? She lost.
On every single count.
What does failure look like?
Meet E.J. Dionne Jr. - The Washington Post's Most Dishonest Op-Ed Writer
Is there any accountability in American politics for being completely wrong? Is there any cost to those who say things that turn out not to be true and then, when their fabrications or false predictions are exposed, calmly move on to concocting new claims as if they had never made the old ones? (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 4/2/2014)
Dionne attacks Republicans for "being wrong" in insisting that Obamacare would not reach its (dubious) enrollment targets. Any four year old would recognize that his point can easily be turned around to indict Obama. Only it is worse in Obama's case because he was not just wrong about his "You can keep your insurance plan/doctor/hospital" assurances. He actually lied...willfully. So, E.J., where is the accountability that you so desperately crave?
And as to the White House grandstanding on the enrollment numbers, let's turn to Hollywood (not generally known for giving Obama much pushback) for an explanation:
That’s right, the White House said that it surpassed its goal for people enrolled in ObamaCare. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you make something mandatory and fine people if they don't do it. And then keep extending the deadline for months. It’s like a Cinderella story. It’s just a beautiful thing. You make everyone do it. Isn’t it great how many people do it? But if you still haven't enrolled, you might have to pay a penalty called the individual shared responsibility payment, which is 1% of your salary. Then Americans said, ‘Man, good thing I don't have a job. (Jimmy Fallon, from Townhall.com, 4/3/2014)
This Just In...From a While Ago
One state senator was charged with conspiring to traffic in arms from the Philippines, and taking bribes from undercover F.B.I. agents including one who posed as a marijuana dealer. Another was accused of taking bribes from federal agents impersonating Hollywood film executives. And a third was convicted of perjury and voter fraud after lying about where he lived when he ran for office.
All three are Democratic state senators from California, and their recent legal problems have brought rare bad news to a party that has come to thoroughly dominate politics in this state but now looks besieged by high-profile corruption cases. (New York Times, 4/3/2014)
News Flash: Times Breaks its Silence on (Some) Democrat Scandals!
Now what was it again that caused Harry Reid to have to return money to his campaign....?
The Uneducated
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to explain the Obama administration's latest decision to extend a key ObamaCare deadline by saying people just "are not educated on how to use the Internet." (Foxnews.com, 3/26/2014)
Liberals are now forbidden from ever - that's ever ever ever ever ever ever - saying anything derisive about Sarah Palin.
Ever.
Dirty Harry
Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reimbursed his campaign for nearly $17,000 in payments made in late 2013 to his granddaughter for “holiday gifts.” But new payments are surfacing bringing the total to $31,000. (Breitbart.com, 3/24/2014)
MSNBC has just interrupted their 24 hour coverage of the New Jersey Bridgegate scandal involving Gov. Chris Christie to report on Harry Reid's illegal gifts to family members. Just kidding!
In fact, kid wunderkin journalist Ronan Farrow opened his show on MSNBC talking not about Obama's visit with Pope Francis, not the mudslide out west, not the missing jet. No, instead he talked about the findings of Christie's lawyer on Bridgegate. For the first ten minutes of the show. No kidding!
Absolute
Even if Russia moves into eastern Ukraine, senior administration officials said, there should be absolutely no expectation that American troops would head to Kiev.
“The American people are not going to war with Russia over Ukraine, full stop,” a senior administration official said, echoing public comments by Mr. Obama. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)
There was a time not long ago (well, the Bush administration really) when America did not tell its potential enemies its military strategy in advance. All that has been changed now that General Obama is in charge.
Aspirations
“If you aspire to be a gangsta rapper, by definition your lyrics need to be violent,” said Charis E. Kubrin, an associate professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine.
...
“What’s getting really unnerving,” said Erik Nielson, an assistant professor of liberal arts at the University of Richmond, “is the amount of time it appears both police and prosecutors are spending over rap lyrics and videos on social media rather than using that time to go and gather more convincing, more conventional forms of evidence.”
...
Critics like Andrea L. Dennis, an associate professor of law at the University of Georgia, say law enforcement ignores the fact that rappers do not necessarily live the lives they sing about. (New York Times, 3/27/2014)
The New York Times writes an article about rappers in jail, perhaps in the view of the Times unfairly, because of their violent lyrics. America's elite academics weigh in. Naturally they support the thugs.
Here is an example of those lyrics - quoted in the very same article - that Liberal professors (yes, that is redundant) suggest that we not take so literally:
"But nobody saw when I [expletive] smoked him. Roped him, sharpened up the shank, then I poked him, 357 Smith & Wesson beam scoped him."
Weep for the state of higher education in America.
