Image 01 Image 03

August 2015

We know from recent polling that Hillary Clinton is in trouble in New Hamspshire. Now she has problems in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night:
Liberal revolutionary Bernie Sanders, riding an updraft of insurgent passion in Iowa, has closed to within 7 points of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race. She's the first choice of 37 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers; he's the pick for 30 percent, according to a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll. But Clinton has lost a third of her supporters since May, a trajectory that if sustained puts her at risk of losing again in Iowa, the initial crucible in the presidential nominating contest.... "This feels like 2008 all over again," said J. Ann Selzer, pollster for the Iowa Poll.
The trendline is horrible for Hillary:

This week was a terrible week in news: We dove even deeper into the depravity of the pro-choice movement. We watched the factions of the conservative movement turn on each other. We were forced to contemplate "President Biden." We found out that Hillary Clinton's minions might be violating election laws...all in the name of making sure their opponents don't vote. Hillary Clinton...she keeps showing up...spit in the faces of those seeking the truth about her emails. We watched two young news pros die on live TV... ...and then we learned that their murders were motivated by hatred. As bloggers and activists, we aren't isolated. We choose to expose ourselves to the best and worst that the world has to offer; but...good grief...this week. It's time for a palette cleanser in the form of a comedian taking PC culture to the cleaners. It's a laugh-or-cry subject, but why let that get us down? Just do it:

A video of an Israeli soldier near the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh being confronted by women and children is making the rounds. It has over a million views on Facebook alone. (Embedded towards end of this post.) As you view the history below, don't blame the children. They are victims of their family's abuse which puts them in harms way for photo-ops. Were these children treated such a way in the U.S., there is no doubt that local family services agencies would be involved in preventing their dangerous exploitation by their parents. In the current incident, the soldier, according to Israeli authorities, was in the process of detaining a member of the Tamimi clan of Nabi Saleh for stone throwing. Haaretz reports:
An Israeli soldier tried to detain a minor during clashes in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, but a number of Palestinian women and children managed to stop him. According to the army, the youth was throwing stones at the troops, who did not realize he was a minor. Photographs taken by Reuters and AFP show the soldier surrounded by women and children. In one of the images, a young girl is seen biting his hand. The soldier was lightly wounded as a result of the altercation. The commander in the area decided to release the minor. The army said that one other Palestinian was detained in Friday's clashes, along with one foreign activist.
Haaretz quotes left-wing Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who denies Israel even has a right to exist, as denying that there was stone throwing. The fact Pollak was present makes the whole incident suspect, in addition to the background of the Tamimi family. Now, questions are being raised by The Daily Mail of Britain and others as to whether the current incident was deliberately provoked because Tamimi members were involved. The most famous photo shows a girl biting the hand of the Israeli soldier. That girl is Ahed Tamimi.

Apparently unaware of or unconcerned by the effect that establishment attacks have had on Trump's surging popularity, John Boehner decided it would be a great idea to attack Ted Cruz at a Colorado fundraiser. The Daily Caller reports:
Speaker of the House John Boehner stunned audience members Wednesday evening at a Colorado fundraiser by referring to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as a “jackass,” two people in attendance tell The Daily Caller. At a Steamboat Springs event for GOP Rep. Scott Tipton, the Ohio Republican quipped that he likes how Cruz’s presidential campaign keeps “that jackass” out of Washington, and from telling Boehner how to do his job.
According to the DC, this statement did not sit well with some who were in attendance:
That remark rubbed some attendees the wrong way. “I don’t think it’s terribly speaker-like, and I think it kind of goes against everything that Reagan ever said about disparaging Republicans,” said Ed MacArthur, the president of Native Excavating, who attended the fundraiser. “It’s becoming very disturbing to me that we can’t have good, polite conversation,” MacArthur said. “It all has to be at the throat.”

Martin O'Malley's complaints about the lack of Democratic debates are getting louder and it's beginning to put a strain on his party. DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was not happy about his speech at a recent event. Bradford Richardson of The Hill:
O’Malley challenges DNC over 'rigged' debate schedule Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley thinks the Democratic Party’s decision to limit the number of primary debates is tantamount to rigging the nomination process. “Four debates and only four debates — we are told, not asked — before voters in our earliest states make their decision,” the presidential candidate said at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Summer Meeting on Friday. “This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before,” he added. “One debate in Iowa. That’s it. One debate in New Hampshire. That’s all we can afford.” After O'Malley's speech wrapped up, observers noted palpable tension as he greeted DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Watch for the icy look she gives O'Malley in this video:

Megyn Kelly returned to the Kelly File last Monday after an eleven day break from her show, and she's made some headlines over the decision to interview, and purportedly "bond" with, Jorge Ramos after he was escorted from a Trump presser after demanding that his question be answered out of turn. In an interview with Ted Cruz, Kelly asked:  “If you have a husband and wife who are illegal immigrants, and they have two children here who are American citizens – would you deport all of them? Would you deport the American citizen children?". Cruz was not willing to address the question as framed, and instead, he accused her of asking a question that "every mainstream media liberal journalist wants to ask" and one that "Barack Obama wants to focus on." Watch:

While speaking at a campaign event in the Boston area Friday night, Donald Trump was jabbing Hillary Clinton and slipped into a seemingly improvised monologue about embattled Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner. Josh Feldman of Mediaite:
‘Bing Bing Bing': Trump Lets Loose on ‘Perv,’ ‘Sleazebag’ Anthony Weiner Trump was talking about Hillary Clinton‘s emails and then roped her aide Huma Abedin into it due to her involvement. But then Trump also brought in her husband, “one of the great sleazebags of our time.” Yes, Trump went on a whole riff about Weiner, who infamously engaged in sexting multiple times, calling him a “perv” and saying Abedin must be “desperately in love with him” if she’s staying with him. He riled up the crowd as he talked about Weiner and Abedin, and said that it’s pretty clear she’s telling her husband about some of the email stuff.

As things stand now, the only woman in the densely populated Republican presidential primary field might not get a spot on the main stage at the next GOP debate. Carly Fiorina is contesting the decision by CNN, who's hosting the debate scheduled for September 16. Fiorina claims CNN as well as the RNC were intentional working to keep her off the debate stage. CNN claims FEC regulations require adherence to debate selection guidelines as they were originally published in May saying, "we believe our approach is a fair and effective way to deal with the highest number of candidates we have ever encountered." According to Fox News, RNC Spokesman Sean Spicer* explained they are legally prohibited from interfering with the media's rules. The debate stage accommodates the ten highest polling candidates. Based on national polls conducted since the Fox News debate held August 6, Fiorina is polling around 8th place. According to CNN's qualification guidelines, national polling averages taken between mid-July and mid-September determine which candidates make the top ten.

Today Wisconsin Governor and presidential hopeful Scott Walker offered his comprehensive vision for what foreign policy, military policy, and diplomacy would look like under the Walker Administration. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
In his first foreign policy speech, presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday called for increasing military spending, securing the Mexican border, boosting surveillance programs and establishing a no-fly zone in Syria to help overthrow Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime. "As president, I will send the following message: The retreat is over," Walker told cadets at the Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C. "American leadership is back. American leadership is back and, together with our allies, we will not surrender another inch of ground to terrorists or any other power that threatens our safety. "America will not be intimidated. And neither will I." The GOP governor sought in his speech to put new substance and momentum behind his stalled campaign. Once soaring in Iowa and elsewhere, he has suffered in the polls in recent weeks as reality television star and real estate mogul Donald Trump's campaign has shot skyward.
His campaign may be stalled, but his apparent commitment to putting out a cohesive vision on foreign policy hasn't suffered. “We can no longer afford to be passive spectators while the world descends into chaos," stated Walker, in a speech that reflected on the troubled policies of the Obama administration, and labeled Islamic terrorists as "agents of pure evil."

Is Hillary Clinton nervous, irritated, or both? If I'm placing my bets, I'm going with nervous. Things aren't going well for her---recent polling shows that voters like Vice President Joe Biden (some like him even more than they like Clinton,) the media is closing in on her inconsistencies regarding her server and personal email accounts, and from a legal perspective, the federal judge tasked with handling Judicial Watch's official inquiry into her time as Secretary of State is less than impressed with the answers her generals have provided in court. When it comes to the media, I'm sure Clinton expected to skate through at least the primary without any major hits to her reputation or record. It was a reasonable mindset; after all, it's Hillary. It's her time. It was not to be. Several journalists have caught the scent of blood in the air, and aren't letting go of the email story. Today during the summer meeting of the DNC, Fox News' Ed Henry asked Clinton a series of questions about the propriety of Bill Clinton's paid speeches in North Korea, Hillary's trusted advisor Huma Abedin, and whether or not any other cabinet secretary has ever used their own server. Her response? Well, let me answer one of your questions because I think that’s what you are entitled to. It really happened. Listen:

We live in an age beyond parody. Deez Nuts and a boot-for-hat clad gentleman are (kind of) running for the highest office in the land. Gender is fluid, supposedly. That the Democratic presidential front-runner is under FBI investigation seems moot to progressive partisans. Green Day was a recent inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and millennials are under the impression that dressing like a lumber jack increases the potential for social acceptance. But the icing on the cake? A grassroots effort to draft Michael Dukakis is under way. You might remember Dukakis from his 1988 run for the White House:

One of the frustrating aspects of the nuclear deal with Iran is the degree to which the Obama administration, especially the President has adopted the premises of the Iranian regime. It isn't just off-putting to hear  Obama using the language of a regime that hates the United States, but it raises the question of how successful the administration could be at negotiating the nuclear agreement if it accepted the other side's arguments as valid. Two examples come to mind. First, in his American University speech three weeks ago, Obama said:
Those making this argument are either ignorant of Iranian society, or they’re just not being straight with the American people. Sanctions alone are not going to force Iran to completely dismantle all vestiges of its nuclear infrastructure -- even those aspects that are consistent with peaceful programs. That oftentimes is what the critics are calling “a better deal.” Neither the Iranian government, or the Iranian opposition, or the Iranian people would agree to what they would view as a total surrender of their sovereignty.
So here is Obama saying we didn't ask for a better deal, meaning an end to enrichment because Iran would never consent to it. This was certainly Iran's stated position but why is this even relevant?

The effort by liberal media to delegitimize Clarence Thomas as a powerful legal scholar is not new. From his confirmation hearings through to the present, Thomas has endured relentless denigration of his intellect in places like The NY Times. Yesterday brought a stark example. NYT Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak has an article focusing on the frequency of Thomas using language in his writing similar to briefs submitted by parties, amicus briefs, and lower court opinions, Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court Justice of Few Words, Some Not His Own. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/28/us/justice-clarence-thomas-rulings-studies.html?_r=0 Someone casually reading the headline would suspect Thomas of plagiarism (in spirit, if not technically) and being unique among the Justices. The Headline matters -- Thomas alone is singled out. The opening paragraphs of the article seem damning:

The Wisconsin "John Doe" investigations of conservatives has ended in fiasco ... for prosecutors. John Doe No. 1, clearly aimed at Scott Walker, focused on Walker's time as Milwaukee County Executive. Despite enourmous efforts led by Democratic prosecutor John Chisholm, no evidence of wrongdoing by Walker was found. John Doe No. 2, focused on alleged illegal coordination between conservative activists and the Walker campaign during the 2011 Recall Election, was far more notorious. Prosecutors, again led by Chislhom, used SWAT-like raids on homes, seized electronics and electronic records, and pretty much terrorized almost the entire conservative activist community in Wisconsin. Prosecutors denied that Walker was the target, something belied by the intimidation of all those who surrounded him. John Doe No. 2 ended with a stinging rebuke to prosecutors by the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

Louisiana Governor and presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal isn't doing well in the polls (in some cases, he's at less than 1%,) but that hasn't stopped him from maintaining a presence both at home, and in key states like Iowa. Jindal put on his governor hat this week for the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This spot from Fox News reveals why so many people like Bobby Jindal, even if he's not their first choice for president; he focuses on rebuilding, and community, and segues to politics only in an effort to ask the politicians flying in for the various commemorations to focus on the people, and not on policy. He zeroes in on President Obama, saying that now is not the time to flog climate change. Watch:

Whenever Hillary Clinton is in trouble James Carville isn't far behind, snarling and sneering at her critics, labeling their claims as ridiculous and unfounded. Parts one and two of this horror series came out in March of this year, as soon as Hillary's email problems began. Now, he's back for the third but certainly not final chapter. Blake Seitz of the Washington Free Beacon reports:
Ragin’ Cajun James Carville is Back to Cover Hillary’s Tracks James Carville, the wily Democratic consultant who has been a close Clinton ally for more than two decades, is back on the trail to cover Hillary’s tracks. Since Clinton announced her campaign earlier this year, Carville has made the rounds on talk shows to downplay her burgeoning email scandal.