Listen and Understand

Deliver Us From Evil
One by one, they looked to the screen in a corner of the courtroom on Friday, into the expressionless face of the young man charged with making them motherless, snuffing out the life of a promising son, taking away a loving wife for good, bringing a grandmother’s life to a horrific end. And they answered him with forgiveness. (New York Times, 6/20/2015)

The sight of Christians forgiving the man who murdered their relatives and friends amazes us, but it should not. That is what true Christians do and it is extraordinarily humbling. In an age where progressive secularism has become ascendant in some places and radical Islam in others, the world needs more Christians.

Other thoughts:
Because the Charleston killer apparently used a handgun, Liberals cannot go off on their usual rants about assault weapons. So instead they have decided to exploit the tragedy by pointing to the Confederate flag. Sorry, we don't see the connection.

Atheist Bill Maher has reportedly found the (real) guilty party. According to Maher it is Fox News. He got us wondering though, if Fox News is responsible for white on black crime, does that mean MSNBC is responsible for black on white crime? Liberal logic.


In a Name
Mr. Obama’s power as his party’s most important figure was on display after the speech to the mayors’ conference. A fund-raiser at the home of Tom Steyer, a hedge fund manager and environmentalist, drew about 50 guests, who paid $10,000 to $33,400 to hear Mr. Obama speak. (New York Times, 6/20/2015)

So Tom Steyer has now been reborn as a "hedge fund manager and environmentalist." We are guessing that means that the Koch brothers are henceforth going to be described by the New York Times as "billionaire philanthropists." 

But we would be wrong...


Down and Out
As secretary of state, she helped Obama push the Trans-Pacific Partnership that is at the center of the current trade fight. In Australia in 2012, she was effusive, saying that the trade pact “sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field. And when negotiated, this agreement will cover 40 percent of the world’s total trade and build in strong protections for workers and the environment.”

Now Hillary says she is unsure about the pact and would likely oppose giving President Obama the special authority to negotiate trade deals for an up-or-down vote in Congress. (Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 6/20/2015)

Thanks to Maureen Dowd for reminding us who Hillary Clinton is. 

To Bind the Free

G.O.P. Race Starts in Lavish Haunts of Rich Donors (New York Times headline, 3/1/2015)

Hillary Clinton Rakes in Foreign Money for 2016 Campaign (RedStateVT headline, 3/2/2015)


How the New York Times Describes Wealthy Donors to Each Political Party (3/1/2015)

Republican donors:
Bruce Rastetter, a businessman and prominent “super PAC” donor
Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson
TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts 
Robert Mercer, a publicity-shy hedge fund executive
John Childs, a Florida-based investor 

Summary: greedy, rich, secretive Wall Streeters

Democrat donor:
Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist*

Summary: wealthy philanthropist

* actually, isn't Steyer a fossil fuels hedge fund manager?

Disregard The Cost

RedStateVT's Thought for the Day
Liberals shout at Conservatives to get out of private bedrooms on issues like homosexuality and birth control. Making it somewhat ironic - actually making it enormously ironic - that Liberals in California (and now elsewhere) have come up with the bizarre rules for consensual sex on college campuses. 


Historical
Before his 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama had little history of managing anything larger than a Senate office. To his critics, the breakdowns in various agencies are the natural result of that inexperience, a conclusion that really began taking hold with the botched rollout of his own health care program last year. (New York Times, 10/22/2014)

Six years in, the New York Times finally admits what many of us have said all along: Obama was not qualified to be president.


The Best Thing You Will Read Today on the Minimum Wage
Entry-level fast-food jobs have never been intended to support an entire family. So-called quick-service restaurants provide opportunities to lots of young people with few skills and limited experience. (Wall Street Journal, 10/21/2014)

Second best is this from Chris Christie (quoted in the New York Times): “I don’t think there is a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know, honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, all our dreams would be realized.’ ”


Remains of the Day
There are 149 prisoners remaining at Guantánamo. As a result of Mr. Zahrani’s change in status, 80 are now recommended for transfer if security conditions can be met, the majority of whom are from Yemen; 59 are recommended for continued indefinite detention without trial as wartime prisoners; and 10 have either been charged or convicted before the military commissions system.

Ten low-level prisoners were transferred in late 2013. But the process appears to be faltering again; it has transferred just one low-level prisoner in 2014. (New York Times, 10/21/2014)

There is something the New York Times is neglecting to mention in this article on prisoner transfers from Gitmo. What could it be? Oh, now we remember... Obama's release of five high risk Taliban prisoners! Probably an honest omission.


Excess
Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund founder who has pledged to spend $50 million of his own money to defeat Republican candidates in Senate and governor’s races this campaign cycle, exceeded that mark in September.

Mr. Steyer’s “super PAC,” NextGen Climate Action Committee, reported on Monday night that it received $15 million from him last month, putting his total contributions to the committee since June 2013 at $55 million.

That makes Mr. Steyer the largest super PAC donor, putting him ahead of the casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson, who gave $49.8 million to super PACs during the 2012 campaign. (New York Times, 10/20/2014)

Liberal hedge fund fossil fuel 1%er gives millions to Dems. Elizabeth Warren silent. Speaking of Liz:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she isn’t running for president. At this rate, however, she may have to. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 10/20/2014)

Run Liz, Run! As we have said many times, it is only on a national stage where the moonbat ideas and multiple hypocrisies of Warren and Vermont's Colonel Bernie Sanders can really get the attention they deserve.


Unseen
Obama is President Pariah in these final weeks of the 2014 midterms. Vulnerable Democratic candidates don’t want to be seen with him. Three Democratic senators have run ads distancing themselves from him, and Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate candidate in Kentucky, has refused — absurdly — to say whether she voted for Obama. Obama’s support is 40 percent nationally and lower in the Republican states where many of this year’s competitive races are taking place. (Washington Post, 10/20/2014)

Tough column by Charles Krauthammer on Obama. Oh wait. It's not Krauthammer, it's Liberal Dana Milbank!


At Least
Democrats accuse the opposition of mindless obstructionism, deliberately sabotaging government, or at least tearing down belief in it, out of ideological fervor and political ambition. (New York Times, 10/22/2014)

Mindless obstructionism, ignoring, of course, Harry Reid's refusal to bring ANYTHING up for a Senate vote. Now that is some kind of obstructionism!


Instinctual
Although we believe that the president has many progressive instincts, he has shown an inclination to seek consensus rather than to fight. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 10/21/2014)

Kat is disturbed that Obama sometimes seeks consensus. Funny, when Republicans are in charge all Liberals can talk about is the need for consensus. 

Lest We Forget

Under Pressure
A billionaire retired investor is forging plans to spend as much as $100 million during the 2014 election, seeking to pressure federal and state officials to enact climate change measures through a hard-edge campaign of attack ads against governors and lawmakers.

The donor, Tom Steyer, a Democrat who founded one of the world’s most successful hedge funds.... (New York Times, 2/18/2014)

Steyer has vowed to give up his private jet and his fleet of cars and travel the country in his Prius to spread his message. Just kidding!

(Will the climate change crowd embrace a rapacious 1%er hedge fund manager who plundered the country? Stay tuned.)


Born That Way
Americans who had not even been born when Bill Clinton first took the oath of office in 1993 will be eligible to vote two years from now. They need to know that Hillary Clinton has been more than Secretary of State.

Those voters need to know, for starters, that Mrs. Clinton once displayed incredible investment skills. In 1978 and 1979, when her husband was attorney general and then governor of Arkansas, she enlisted the help of a well-connected crony to invest $1,000 in the highly volatile and risky cattle futures market. Several months later, she walked away with $100,000 -- a 10,000-percent profit. (Byron York, Washingtonexaminer.com, 2/17/2014)

Great column by York which reminds us about Hillary scandals from the past. How could we have forgotten them?

If something Mitt Romney did in prep school when he was seventeen years old is fair game, then certain Hillary's actions as First Lady of Arkansas, FLOTUS, and SOS are in play.