Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

December 2016

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 28, 2016 67 Comments
John Kerry's speech today setting forth his and Obama's vision of a final status for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was expected to be a first step towards another UN Security Council resolution. (UPDATE) My quick take on the speech: It was an angry speech, and all of that anger was directed at Israel. In that sense, it fit the Obama paradigm precisely -- the Palestinians may not be helpful, but the Israelis are to blame. There were so many contradictions in the speech, it was a model of Kerry's lack of seriousness -- being serious takes more than a serious tone of voice.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 28, 2016 30 Comments
The complete debacle of the Obama administration's connivance in the anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution continues to reverberate. How convenient that Obama pulled this stunt right before Christmas and Hanukkah. The outrage is not calming down, and likely is to escalate after Congress returns from break, at the Free Beacon reports. Trump's initial reaction to the Resolution was to promise that things would change at the UN starting January 20.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 28, 2016 30 Comments
Then why did Barack Obama get so many things so wrong? That's the question that inescapably arises in response to the claim by NBC correspondent Chris Jansing on today's Morning Joe that Obama's decision-making style is "very professorial, thoughtful, in-depth." Jansing said that Obama and Trump "could not be more different in the way they approach problem solving," describing Obama admin concerns about Trump's supposed "shoot-from-the-hip" style. Mike Barnicle weighed in to wonder whether Trump would be up to the task of comforting the nation after tragedies such as the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 28, 2016 26 Comments
Add CNBC's John Harwood to the long and growing list of liberal media types who still have no idea why Trump won and the Democrats lost. You may recall John Harwood as a member of the worst team of debate moderators ever. You may also know that Harwood was exposed by Wikileaks for sucking up the Democrats during the election. Now he's floating a new theory about why his party lost. Mediaite reports:
CNBC’s John Harwood: ‘White Fear’ Partly Responsible for Democratic Losses Under Obama CNBC host John Harwood argued on Twitter Tuesday that the Democratic Party suffered electoral losses under Barack Obama‘s leadership in part because of “white fear” in the age of the first black president.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2016 31 Comments
On Christmas Day I posted how It ain’t over yet – Israelis worried about more Obama UN moves. In that post I detailed Israeli distrust of Obama administration motives and plans after the anti-Israel Resolution 2334 passed in the Security Council on December 23, 2016. There is substantial accumulating evidence to back up Israeli accusations it has "ironclad" information that the U.S. was behind the Resolution. Denials by the Obama administration have been curiously worded, such as denying the U.S. "drafted" the Resolution; but that's not an answer to claims the U.S. was behind and encouraged the Resolution.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 27, 2016 7 Comments
I have a sad update to the post on Rogue One that published yesterday. Carrie Fisher, our American Princess of Science Fiction, passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack on Friday.
Carrie Fisher, who rose to fame as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films and later endured drug addiction before going on to tell her story as a best-selling author, died on Tuesday aged 60, her family said. ...The daughter of actor Debbie Reynolds and the late singer Eddie Fisher had been returning from England where she was shooting the third season of the British sitcom "Catastrophe."

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 27, 2016 5 Comments
We ned some good news, don't you think? Cancer patient Josh Katrick won free pizza for a year from Mario's Pizza in Northampton, PA. However, he told manager Frank Grigoli he wanted to donate the prize elsewhere:
"I've been getting so much from family, friends, people I don't even know well, the last few months," Josh says. "Getting so much love and support, I just wanted to give back to people that could use it more than I could." Josh wrote Mario's back and asked if he could give his free pizza to someone else.

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 27, 2016 16 Comments
Liberal attorney and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz criticized President Barack Obama's foreign policy after the U.S. did use its veto power at the UN to end a resolution on Israeli settlements. He said:
“He will go down in history, President Obama, as one of the worst foreign policy presidents ever,” Dershowitz said during a Monday interview on Fox & Friends. “What he did to Syria, and what he was partly responsible for happening in Aleppo, creating a vacuum for Russia. …

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 27, 2016 14 Comments
While progressives decry fossil fuel use as the source of our climate change woes, Mother Nature may be presenting us a more serious, immediate and real threat. Most Americans are familiar with our supervolcano in Yellowstone. However, there is one in Italy that shows signs of potential activity.
A massive supervolcano under the city of Naples, Italy, is showing signs of life again, prompting concern among some scientists. The Campi Flegrei, Italian for "burning fields," that make up the vocano's crater, or caldera, have been full of boiling mud, steam, and even smaller volcanoes for centuries. The people of ancient Rome believed the area to be the home of the Roman god of fire and volcanoes, Vulcan. Today, the fields are a popular tourist destination. But the caldera has been showing signs of an explosive awakening since 2012, and a new study indicates that a destructive eruption of the volcano could be coming soon.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 27, 2016 6 Comments
We reported the other day how Pakistan's Defense Minister tweeted a nuclear threat at Israel based on a "Fake News" report that Israel had threatened to go nuclear on Pakistan, Pakistan Defense Minister tweets nuclear threat against Israel based on Fake News report: https://twitter.com/KhawajaMAsif/status/812370140507545600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Israel had made no such threat, as the Israeli Defense Ministry responded on Twitter:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 27, 2016 13 Comments
California's notorious progressive pixie, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, is exiting Congress with the dignity we have come to expect from this Golden State representative. Apparently oblivious to the constant press attention, fake and otherwise, that President Donald Trump has been accorded since taking his ride down the escalator at Trump Tower in the summer of 2015, Boxer demands that the mainstream media hold him accountable once he enters the Oval Office.
Going forward, I intend to remain very involved in the issues we face, and like all your readers, I will rely on the work you do every single day. As we march into uncharted territory with a new president-elect who has never held elected office — and who at times has threatened the media — the role of the free press is more important than ever.
MORE POSTS
Accessibility by WAH