Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts

Sunday, September 22, 2013

PHONY SCANDALS DON'T PRODUCE BODY-BAGS: Democrats Walk Out on Benghazi Victims' Families

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Benghazi-gate: Democrats couldn't share the grief of a mom who was lied to in front of her son's casket or a grieving father who wonders why the general who could have mounted a rescue was relieved of his post.

It was a shameful spectacle all around, starting with bizarre testimony by the authors of the State Department's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report and including real tears in a scandal branded as "phony" by the Obama administration and the repetition of lies agreed upon.

The scene was Thursday's hearing on the Benghazi terrorist attack before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee. ARB co-chair Thomas Pickering shamelessly repeated the excuse that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not interviewed by the board because members knew where the responsibility rested — as if an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission and the murder of an ambassador, the first in three decades, was outside the scope of her interest or authority.

Yet Pickering and Mike Mullen, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, authors of this "independent" investigation, admitted they regularly briefed Clinton and her advisers on their probe, an admission made more telling when the parents of two of the Benghazi dead said they never received the information they were promised on how and why their sons died.

Incredibly, they also explained why they didn't swear in witnesses for the ARB: "We had no reason to believe we would not get truthful testimony." Really? They had no reason to doubt the truthfulness of people who for weeks claimed a terrorist attack was really a spontaneous demonstration triggered by an old Internet video?

But the grim reality of this "phony" scandal really hit home with the testimony of Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, which apparently threatened more revealed truth than most Democrats on the Oversight panel could handle. With the exception of ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Jackie Speier, D-Calif., 12 other Democrats on the Committee shamefully left the room and refused to listen to the testimony of Smith, mother of Sean Smith, an information management officer killed in the 9/11 Benghazi attack, or Woods, father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who was also killed.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Democrat Apparatchik Dana Milbank Doing His Level Best to Continue the Benghazi Cover-Up

Guest post by Roger Aronoff


The Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi (CCB) started off with a powerful message: “We are here and planning on staying until we get the answers we’re seeking.” But, some in the media just don’t get it. Dana Milbank of The Washington Post delivered one of his Dennis the Menace, snarky rants about the view of “Benghazi, as seen from the grassy knoll.” Yes, Dana Milbank is calling this group of patriotic Americans who have given so much for this country a bunch of lunatic conspiracy theorists.

To Milbank, Benghazi is, to quote the administration talking point, a phony scandal: “It’s a pity that those seeking answers on Benghazi can’t focus on what really matters: Could anything have been done to prevent the deaths of the four men lost in Benghazi that night? And what can be done to make sure such a thing never happens again?”

While those are certainly important questions, and need to be addressed, that’s not enough. That sounds like it would make for a nice conference hosted by the Center for American Progress, Media Matters, and the primetime line-up of MSNBC. But how about holding people accountable for their actions and inactions that could have saved four lives, and for lying to the American people in an attempt to sweep it under the rug?

Sure, who cares that Hillary Clinton’s State Department ignored the requests to beef up security, and refused to withdraw our personnel, as the Brits and the Red Cross had done? Wouldn’t that send the wrong message?

Wouldn’t it have said that Libya was a mess, run by jihadists and al-Qaeda affiliates after the great liberation of 2011? After all, al-Qaeda flags were flying in Benghazi just days after the “liberation” of Libya. We wouldn’t want to mess up the President’s narrative in the middle of a presidential election by asking the tough questions, now would we?

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Democrats: Military never told to "stand down" during Benghazi attacks, they were just ordered to "hold in place"

Bradley Klapper of ABC News (if that is his real name) is busy doing what reporters for ABC News do best: protect guilty Democrats:

House Democrats concluded Thursday the U.S. military wasn't ordered to "stand down" during last year's attack on a diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, rejecting Republican claims the Obama administration held back military assets while Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed... Democrats called accusations of a stand-down order during the attack "unfounded."

Let me reiterate: Democrats insist the U.S. military wasn't ordered to "stand down" as a U.S. consulate was attacked by terrorists and America's best and bravest were bleeding, fighting and dying.

Back in Realityville, the actual testimony went like this:

Testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Admiral Mike Mullen said that the direction given to Special Operations Command Africa commander Lt. Col Gibson was to "hold in place" on the night of the attacks.

Gibson is the boss of Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission in Libya who had testified that a "stand down" order was given to Special Forces who wanted to help Americans who were under assault in Libya.

So if you're Bradley Klapper of ABC News, ordering Special Ops to "hold in place" isn't the same as ordering them to "stand down."

Right.

These people are the lowest of the low.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

ATROCIOUS: Democrats Walk Out on Families of Benghazi Victims

The words "appalling" and outrageous" don't begin to describe this kind of behavior.

Darryl Issa has tweeted out one of the most appalling photographs I’ve ever seen emerge from the United States House of Representatives.

Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing about events in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. You remember what happened on that day, don’t you? If you don’t, I’m happy to give you the official Obama administration version:

That was the day that a Libyan movie review got a little bit out of control. Apparently, Libyan fighters, coincidentally affiliated with Al Qaeda, took umbrage at a poorly made seven minute YouTube trailer promoting a movie that was never actually made about Muhammad’s life. Since Libya has no popcorn to throw at the screen, these same outraged movie critics inadvertently managed to overwhelm our under-guarded diplomatic mission in Benghazi, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens (and perhaps torturing him before doing so), as well as U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer, Sean Smith.

The same crazed movie reviewers then shifted their attack to the nearby CIA Annex where they engaged in a several-hour-long firefight with former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Both men died at their stations.

Meanwhile, back at home, some unknown person, but definitely not Barack Obama (even though he had sole authority to do so), told nearby troops to stand down. Also, after a single phone call early in the attack, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was sufficiently well informed about everything to vanish from the scene entirely (and really, what difference at that point, did it make?),.. As for Barack Obama, well, he really did need his beauty sleep before an upcoming Las Vegas campaign stop.

...In sum, the incompetence of a Democrat administration left a U.S. outpost vulnerable to a terrorist attack; that same Democrat administration could not be bothered to rouse itself to protect Americans fighting for their lives in a tiny outpost of America on foreign soil; and the Democrat administration then tried to cover-up its gross dereliction of duty by lying consistently in the days and weeks following the attack. Other than that, of course, the Democrats have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to events in Benghazi.

The Democrats’ sordid Benghazi history may explain a shocking tweet that Rep. Darryl Issa sent out two hours ago right before Patricia Smith, who is Sean Smith’s mother, and Charles Woods, who is Tyrone Woods’ father, were to have testified about their sons’ lives and deaths:
Townhall explains what you’re looking at:
The far side of the room, shown empty in the photo, belongs to the Democrats. The only Democrats who stayed were Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and Rep. Jackie Speier.
Absent further information about this mass retreat, it appears that the Democrats, having presided over these men’s deaths, do not have the decency to look their survivors in the face, if only to apologize.

It's a cover-up.

That's why we can't find out what Obama was doing for nine hours after he found out the Ambassador and the consulate were under attack. Why is it so hard for the press to ask that question?

It's always been a cover-up.


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Pressure Builds on Boehner Over Benghazi

Guest post by Cliff Kincaid

Informed speculation mounted at Monday’s Accuracy in Media conference, which officially launched the Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi, that House Speaker John Boehner’s opposition to a Watergate-style congressional committee to investigate Benghazi stems from his knowledge of arms shipments to al-Qaeda terrorists in Libya and Syria.

The al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, in Libya, on September 11, 2012, resulted in the deaths of four Americans, who were left to die, rather than be rescued, and has been called by some the “Benghazi Betrayal.”

The dead were U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, American diplomat Sean Smith, and State Department security officers Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods.

Coming just eight weeks before the 2012 presidential election, the Obama administration falsely blamed the attack on a spontaneous reaction to a video critical of Islam, rather than blaming it on al Qaeda.

Charles Woods spoke with emotion at the AIM conference about the loss of his son and asked for people not only to press for answers as to what really happened at Benghazi, but to pray for the country.

Christopher Farrell, Director of Investigations and Research for Judicial Watch, said at the conference that Obama’s lies and distortions about the attack are designed to obscure the central truth that the administration was arming al Qaeda.

“That’s what they don’t want broadcast or printed anywhere,” he said.

As incredible as it sounds, former CIA officer Clare Lopez said support for al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Islamists groups has become the official foreign policy of the United States under Obama. She said the policy has been on display in Libya, Egypt, Syria, and the United Nations, through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A single county in the U.S. spends more than $2 billion a year on benefits for illegal aliens

But I'm sure the taxpayers of Los Angeles County don't mind. After all, they most certainly don't need the money themselves.

A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced the latest figures from the Department of Public Social Services, which showed more than $376 million in CalWORKs benefits and food stamps combined have been distributed through July to illegal alien parents for their native-born children.

Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month, consisting of nearly $20 million in CalWORKs and $34 million in food stamp issuances, according to the data.

An estimated 100,000 children of 60,000 undocumented parents receive aid in Los Angeles County, according to Antonovich, who said this year’s projections — up about $1 million from the nearly $53 million in total benefits issued in July 2012 — underscore the economic impact of the nation’s immigration debate.

“When you add the $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year,” Antonovich said in a statement. “These costs do not even include the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually for education.”

With education added in, it's safe to say that the county is spending upwards of $2 billion a year supporting illegal aliens.

So each taxpaying household in the county is spending $1,200 a year -- $100 each and every month -- supporting illegal aliens. But I'm sure there's nothing else they'd rather spend that money on.


Hat tip: Lee.

Monday, September 16, 2013

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Obama waives ban on arming known terrorist groups

It just keeps getting better and better, don't it?

Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition


President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.


Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad's regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah.

The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction."

Really? This is the same fella who thinks Americans aren't responsible enough to own firearms?

This is going a ways back, but y'all remember the incessant shrieks of the anti-Reagan kooks regarding Iran-Contra?

Yeah, good times.

Cue the explosion of the Hypocrisy-meter in the background.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Boston Cabbie's Rant

Captured to the best of my ability, verbatim, as I was driven to the airport


You see this? [Taps device on windshield]

This is a Fast-Pass. People can get one for free here, and they still don't. Instead they fumble with cash, tie up traffic.

You know even if I have a one-way fare, drop you off at the airport and come back empty, I still pay five backs. There's an airport fee, a tunnel fee, whatever.

It's like $8.50 if I have a fare. They always get you coming and going in this state.

You shoulda seen a few years ago, the scandal they uncovered with the toll collectors. A lot of the tolls were still paid in cash then.

So they arrested maybe 20 toll collectors. Check this out: they were pocketing hundreds of dollars every hour.

Do the math: everyone of 'em was pocketing hundreds of dollars an hour, $10 thousand or more a day, upwards of $300 thousand a month... $3 million a year. $3 million a year! Each one of 'em.

Guess what, the fix musta been in, 'cause they got charged with misdeameanors. They said, oh, he only stole $30 or 40 bucks. No one ever heard what happened to most of 'em. Probably retired now with a full pension.

Speaking of pensions: you should see what the state troopers are doing here. Let's say you're a state trooper, you pull down $88 grand a year. Your pension is based on your top three earning years, so they'll make sure to get plenty of overtime.

Cops got an easy way to make overtime here. We're the only state in the union that requires every road construction site, no matter how small, got a cop present. Now I see lotsa sites have two cops. Guess what, with two cops, union rules say you gotta have a "site manager", so there's three cops. All that for a piece of road that just got dug up last year and they dig it up again.

I see it over and over again in downtown Boston. They dig up a road, fix something, pave it all up nice and pretty... and six months later they got the same piece of road all dug up again. They say something else broke or they forgot something. Guaranteed there's some kinda scam going on with these guys, there always is here.

Anyhow, back to the state trooper pensions. These guys cram as much OT as they can in before they retire. And they can retire at 52 years old! 52! Can you believe it?

So we have state troopers retiring at age 52 with $180,000-a-year lifetime pensions!

And then they get government jobs and continue working. They got a word for that in the papers here, double-dipping, but no one ever does anything about it. So they're getting $180 grand pensions, maybe an $80 grand salary from another government job, and they get another pension! The things I seen here, you wouldn't believe.

Everything is so corrupt. Something's gotta give.

Right over there [points to overpass]... not too long ago, some lady was drunk driving, drove right off that overpass, stops up traffic for a whole day. Well, they search her purse since she's driving drunk.

She's got, I don't know, four-five EBT cards? You know, the welfare cards.

She's got one card that says "Teresa Gomez", another says "Teresa L. Gomez", another with "T.L. Gomez", and so on. That's not her name, I forgot the real name.

Well, it turns out the state admits there's 24,000 EBT cards with people they can't locate. 24,000! It's costing taxpayers millions in dollars for these welfare scams that people are abusing.

They have stories in the paper about people bringing plastic containers into grocery stores, using 10 or 11 EBT cards, filling up as many containers as they can, shipping the containers of food to their home countries. Maybe Dominican Republic, where they can't get these kinds of cereal or what-not.

Well, the people in the foreign countries sell the stuff and split the money with the person who shipped it here.

All paid for with EBT fraud, WIC fraud, you name it.

I don't see things changing for a while. 9 out of 10 people ain't payin' attention.

Take Mitt Romney, he was a heckuva governor. Every good idea he had to get government working better, the Democrats blocked. Every single one, and he still had a great record. For four years, he never even drew a salary. Not a single dollar.

If a Democrat had served as governor and never taken a salary, the media woulda been blaring that day in and day out.

But with Romney, he's a Mormon. He's this or that. Greedy. Whatever. Mormon or not, I got news for you about the guy in the White House.

He's a Moslem. Look it up, he puts these Moslem Brotherhood guys in all these key positions. Moslem Brotherhood! These are the worst of the worst terrorist types.

I don't believe there's anything like a moderate Moslem. I was here for the Boston Marathon bombing, was right nearby.

There was blood everywhere. Everywhere. Blood on the street with arms and legs blowed off.

I'm a cab driver, believe me, I know Moslems. Most cab drivers around here are Moslems. We gotta wait to use the bathroom so they can wash their feet. They bend backwards to make sure the Moslems got everything they need and the rest of us get treated like dirt.

Never seen a moderate Moslem.

Tell you what, during the Iraq War, if an American chopper got shot down, I'd see these guys high-fiving. They'd be laughing it up, celebrating if Americans got killed. They work here but they hate America, they really do.

Look at that car what got booted.

They torture the working people in this city, they really do.

8am I'm driving around, the working people are all up and going to work.

9am, 9:30am - the freeloaders are sitting on their stoops, drinking and smoking cigarettes, yucking it up, living off the working people.

If you have a car in this city, oh boy, do they torture you. They'll ticket you for no reason, even if you have a parking pass.

They got a meter maid on every corner, it's even worse now with the police contract coming up for negotiation. The last mayor [Menino] left that timebomb waiting. They didn't ever get a contract with the police done over the last three years or so. There's a mayor election in a few weeks and whoever wins has one hell of a problem with that police contract.

Any way, now that the contract is around the corner, they have meter maids everywhere. Everywhere. You park anywhere, it seems like, even legally, and "bam" you got a ticket. The worst thing is, someone else with a car will take the ticket off your windshield, put in on their windshield to protect themselves from getting a ticket!

So now you don't know you got a ticket! Guess what: that happens three times and "bam", you got a boot on your car. Now you're really screwed.

You know what getting a boot off costs? $600 bucks. There's a boot installation fee and a boot removal fee.

And if you got a piece o' crap car: don't even think about abandoning your vehicle. After it's there a while, you get his with a $500 "Abandonment Fee".

There's no way to win around here.

The whole city's corrupt, it's infested with corruption, it's everywhere.

Someday the working people of the city are gonna wake up, because 90 percent of them are asleep right now. But someday they're gonna wake up, they'll have had enough, and then there might be some change.

But right now, this city's headed into the crapper. They say it's a bustling busy city. Well, I've been here for 60 years, and the fraud and corruption keeps getting worse. And at some point, it's gotta end, because there just ain't enough money to keep paying for all of these scams they're running.


Thanks to Cabbie X for the conversation.

Friday, September 13, 2013

TIME MAGAZINE: Sanitized For Your Protection

You learn something every day.

Hey, you know Time puts out four covers for four different areas of the word?

I didn't know that.

But they do. They have a US cover, a Europe/Middle East/Africa cover, an Asia cover, and a South Pacific cover.

Yeah I don't get how they divided the world up myself.

But anyway.

So they have four covers.

Based on the covers, one person is dominating the world's interest... but not in the whole world.

Here's a suggestion for Time: how about different covers for red states and blue states? You could have Obama or Michelle's guns on every cover in the blues and the latest diversion (e.g., Miley Cyrus) in the reds.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

"A great country finds itself held hostage to the ego of a small man"

Guest post by Daniel Pipes


The Obama administration's diplomatic acrobatics over Syria of the past three weeks prove that the president and his team are in way over their heads, amateurs in the deadly game of war and peace. (One wonders if Valerie Jarrett is making the key decisions in this instance, as in so many others.)

Lurching from self-imposed trap (the "red line" statement) to self-inflicted crisis (the need for congressional approval), the administration erodes the credibility of the U.S. government and increases the dangers facing Americans. Enemies of the United States, its allies, and modern civilization itself will take succor in this ignominious performance and grow in strength.

That Obama seems driven to defend his own honor and credibility, regardless of cost, makes this episode particularly troublesome. A great country finds itself held hostage to the ego of a small man.

In short, Americans are finally starting to see the consequences of electing and re-electing arguably the worst politician in modern times to inhabit the White House, consequences that will only become more apparent in the years ahead.


For more information, visit DanielPipes.org.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

You Risk Touching Off World War III, Mr. President -- And For What?

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Syria: As a Chinese warship joins Russian ships in the Mediterranean, we should remember a cruise missile attack on an Israeli warship. President Obama should understand that Syria and Hezbollah have missiles, too.

As the Obama administration continues to deploy its comical weapons, with Secretary of State John Kerry promising America any attack on Syria will be "unbelievably small," a Chinese warship deploys off the Syrian coast, joining its Russian counterparts in what used to be an "American lake," the Mediterranean Sea.

The People's Liberation Army has dispatched the amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan, a move that follows the announcement that Russia is sending three more ships — two destroyers and the missile cruiser Moskva — to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster forces that already include three other warships dispatched over the last two weeks.

All are a pointed reminder that we are not the only player that has pieces on the board.

Launched in 2011, the 19,000-metric-ton Jinggangshan is a 689-foot-long warship that can carry 1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft, according to a report in the China Daily.

China is reportedly worried that a Syrian strike and its aftermath could send oil prices skyrocketing, which would be bad news for the Chinese economy.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? One Year Later, the Families of the Benghazi Dead and Wounded Want Answers

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


Scandal: As cruise missiles are readied to aid Syria's al-Qaida-linked rebels, the president has yet to keep a promise to avenge the Benghazi dead and bring the killers to justice.

A year has passed since Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Ty Woods were murdered in a Sept. 11 terrorist attack on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

A month later, Obama said of the attack that "my biggest priority now is bringing those folks to justice, and I think the American people have seen that's a commitment I'll always keep."

That depends on what he means by "bringing them to justice." It's not like we don't know who they are or we have failed to finger the suspects. As an Associated Press report detailed in May:

"The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers."

So we essentially do nothing while the FBI "continues to investigate." The status of that investigation came up over the weekend as "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace invoked the approaching first anniversary of the attack and asked White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough why the perpetrators hadn't been brought to justice.

Wallace was especially interested in why the U.S. had not brought in Ahmed abu Khattala, who has been charged with the crime but not arrested, despite having given interviews to several news outlets.

"Why is it that reporters seem to be able to find this guy, who the government is charging with involvement in Benghazi, but law enforcement can't find him?" Wallace asked. "It's been a year, sir."

Monday, September 09, 2013

No Wonder the EPA is Illegally Hiding Its Temperature Data

If the radical Leftists controlling the Democrat Party had even an iota of evidence suggesting the validity of global warming, they would be clamoring to make public its data. Instead, they are unlawfully concealing the data, violating Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests and other demands.

It would seem to be common sense for the data used in a study that guides public policy and the writing of federal regulations to be publicly available. That’s not the case when it comes to EPA and air pollution data.

As J.R. Reed explained on Free Enterprise in July:

During their pursuit of regulations that would cost businesses billions of dollars, EPA officials have refused to reveal the data used to support these proposals – not to White House officials, not to Congress, not to leading environmental experts, and not to the American people. The data sets have not been analyzed by independent scientists or gone through a peer-review process, and, yet, these findings are being used to justify onerous regulations.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Science Committee, sent six letters to EPA asking for the data. In 2011, current EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy promised to do so, but never delivered it. Rep. Smith subpoenaed the agency on August 1.

ScienceInsider reports that EPA continues refusing to turn over the requested data so, Rep. Smith found EPA in default:

“You did not provide the Committee with anything new,” Smith wrote in a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. Instead, Smith wrote, the agency responded to his 1 August subpoena by providing “a file of already public information along with a letter outlining excuses for why EPA did not comply.”

In a statement, Rep. Smith explained,

EPA is using the subpoenaed data to support regulations that could cost the American people trillions of dollars. Yet the agency has refused to make the data available to Congress or the American people. Regulations based on secret data have no place in a democracy.

Ah, there's your mistake, Rep. Smith. We no longer live in a Constitutional republic, the kind in which a virtuous government does its best to hew to the letter of the law. Instead we have an out-of-control administration, with officials laced throughout the bureaucracy defying the courts and Congress.

As for "global warming"? Even the United Nations has been forced to confess the Earth is cooling.

Well, this is awkward. A leaked report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that the world is not warming but actually cooling, and will continue to get colder until the middle of the century.

You remember the IPCC, right? It’s the group whose 2007 report on global warming said that snow would disappear from everywhere but the highest mountains, icebergs would melt, sea levels would rise, deserts would spread, people would die in heat waves and pretty much the earth was going to end if we didn’t immediately destroy our carbon-fueled economy with job-killing government regulations.

Well, that’s not happening. In fact, the Arctic ice cap has grown by 60 percent since 2012.

Thanks to the IPCC’s original predictions, billions of dollars were spent on supposed green measures to curb global warming ... Now, either those measures really, really paid off, or the skeptics were right all along.

There are only three reasonable ways to explain a "belief" in global warming. In order of increasing malevolence, they are hubris, greed, and Marxism. And they are not mutually exclusive; see exhibit A: Al Gore.


Related: Global Warming Comics -- The Fraudulent And The Immoral. Hat tip: Weasel Zippers.

Sunday, September 08, 2013

'This Week' Transcript: Benghazi Whistleblower Gregory Hicks

On ABC's This Week earlier today, former Clinton apparatchik-turned-journalist George Stephanopoulos interviewed Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks -- the Deputy Chief of Mission in Libya -- as the anniversary of the deadly attack nears.

And we still can't find out what the President what was doing for nine hours as Americans fought, bled and died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're talking about people being killed by gas and you want to go talk about Benghazi.

REPRESENTATIVE JEFF DAVIS: Absolutely want to talk about Benghazi. Four Americans lost their lives.

SECRETARY KERRY: We don't deserve to drag this into yet another Benghazi discussion when the real issue here is whether or not the Congress is going to stand up for international norms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: One year later as you can see, the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is still a political football. But for the Americans there on the ground it was a story of heartbreak and the struggle to survive. Greg Hicks was the Diplomat in Charge that night. The only officer who has spoken out about that harrowing night. This dramatic account is an ABC News exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY HICKS, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION IN LIBYA: I've been perplexed and frustrated with the way this has all played out. Because to me this is a simple story. Ambassador Stevens went to Benghazi to do his job. To what he knew Secretary Clinton wanted him to do. And he was attacked while he was there.

And the American staff in Benghazi and in Tripoli responded as we've been trained to do, in an amazing way, to save the lives of our people who were in Benghazi. Unfortunately we lost four people in the line of duty.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's take a look back at the events of that night. You're home in Tripoli--

HICKS: Right.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That evening at around what, 9:45?

HICKS: It's at 9:45 Tripoli time, right, 3:45 Washington time. Our regional security officer comes running into the house where I was and yells, Greg! Greg! The consulate's under attack! And I immediately look at my telephone and I see a missed call. I call back on that number, I get the Ambassador.

And the Ambassador says Greg we're under attack.

WAPO: Obama Lied to American People, Had Bush-Era Restrictions on NSA Surveillance of Americans Lifted in 2011

Only a few short weeks ago, President Barack Obama spoke to the American people and said, essentially, that the government's surveillance of Americans' phone records and emails were targeted and had been "ongoing for years".

On the heels of a series of reports detailing the U.S. government's practice of tracking private citizens' phone and internet use, President Obama on Friday sought to downplay the invasiveness of the procedure, assuring a California audience that "nobody is listening to your phone calls," and that any data tracking is governed by comprehensive oversight spanning all three branches of U.S. government...

...But he reminded Americans that these programs have been ongoing for years, and that Congress regularly reauthorizes the programs and receives updates on how they are conducted.

The Washington Post reports today, however, that both assertions appear to be bald-faced lies.

The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases...

...the court in 2008 imposed an explicit ban — at the [Bush administration]’s request — on ... searches [of U.S. communications], that officials in 2011 got the court to lift the bar and that the search authority has been used.

Together the permission to search and to keep data longer expanded the NSA’s authority in significant ways without public debate or any specific authority from Congress...

...Officials would not say how many searches have been conducted.

...The court’s expansion of authority went largely unnoticed when the opinion was released, but it formed the basis for cryptic warnings last year by a pair of Democratic senators, Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Mark Udall (Colo.), that the administration had a “back-door search loophole” that enabled the NSA to scour intercepted communications for those of Americans.

The Constitution's Bill of Rights has a Fourth Amendment for a reason.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Americans of all party affiliations should reject this administration's lawless behavior, its unconstitutional maneuvers and all of its many, attendant lies.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

PATIENTLY AWAITING THE APOLOGY FROM THE MEDIA: Syria's WMDs Came From Saddam Hussein's Iraq

Guest post by Investors Business Daily


War On Terror: As the regime of Bashar Assad disintegrates, the security of his chemical arsenal is in jeopardy. The No. 2 general in Saddam Hussein's air force says they were the WMDs we didn't find in Iraq.

King Abdullah of neighboring Jordan warned that a disintegrating Syria on the verge of civil war puts Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons at risk of falling into the hands of al-Qaida.

"One of the worst-case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands," he said.

The irony here is that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syrian thug Assad may in large part be the legacy of weapons moved from Hussein's Iraq into Syria before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

If so, this may be the reason not much was found in the way of WMD by victorious U.S. forces in 2003.

In 2006, former Iraqi general Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi Air Force who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a comprehensive book, "Saddam's Secrets."

It details how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria in advance of the U.S.-led action to eliminate Hussein's WMD threat.

Lindsey Graham: Either we kill some camels in Syria or Charleston could get nuked by Iran!

The adjectives for this level of idiocy escape me.

South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s convinced that Syrian President Assad used chemical weapons on his own people...

He says if there is no U.S. response, Iran will not believe America’s resolve to block Iran from developing nuclear weapons [and] those nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists could result in a bomb coming to Charleston Harbor.

He says he’s working to convince South Carolinians weary of war that the situations in Syria and Iran are linked. Graham says Syria could destabilize the entire Middle East...

So, Lindsey, firing a "shot across the bow" -- in Obama's words -- will somehow deter a nuclear Iran?

So, Lindsey, launching an attack "just muscular enough not to get mocked" will subdue Iran?

You're a joke, Senator Graham. You're a joke and a disgrace. And you need to go. My hope for 2014 is that a primary challenger will emerge and defeat you.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Saturday, September 07, 2013

A Letter from a Republican to Hispanics

Guest post by Dennis Prager


I am writing to you as a concerned and sympathetic American who is a Republican. My sentiments do not represent every American -- that would be impossible. But I believe the following represent most Americans.

First, a message to those of you here illegally:

You may be very surprised to hear this, but in your position, millions of Americans, including me, would have done what you did.

If I lived in a poor country with a largely corrupt government, a country in which I had little or no prospect of hope for an improved life for me or my children, and I could not legally get into the world's freest, most affluent country, the country with the most opportunities for people of any and every background, I would do whatever I could do to get into that country illegally.
Mexico and many other Central and South American countries are largely hopeless places for most of their people. America offers hope to everyone willing to work hard. Who could not understand why any individual, let alone a father or mother of a family, would try to get into the United States -- legally preferably, illegally if necessary?

Now that I have made it clear that millions of us understand what motivates you and do not morally condemn you for entering America illegally, I have to ask you to try to understand what motivates us.

No country in the world can allow unlimited immigration. If America opened its borders to all those who wish to live here, hundreds of millions of people would come here. That would, of course, mean the end of the United States economically and culturally.

Friday, September 06, 2013

Anti-War Leftist Michael Tomasky Makes Startling and Courageous Transformation to Pro-War Chickenhawk

Ed Driscoll calls this "speaking truth to Journolist", referring to a single comment that fillets the ludicrous excuse for a journalist named "Michael Tomasky" (if that is his real name):

Do you think the vast majority of American’s that do not want to get involved with Syria. Do you think it can be a lack of confidence in this Administration?

It is not like this administration has not lied before. Look at the job report today. We have been lied to and spind around on the economy for 5 years. (yes I know Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about Fast & furious (I know Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about Benghazi (I know Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about the IRS (I know it was Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about Obamacare (I know it is Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about the NSA (I know Bush’s fault). We have been lied to about Immigration (I know Bush’s fault). We have seen the level of incompetence on the Gulf Oil Spill, Boston (terror)…Bush’s fault. We have seen the level of incompetence when it comes to Egypt ( Muslim Brotherhood) Lybia (Extremists / Anarchy), hell the whole middle east….not to mention Iran is that much closer to being nuclear.

I know it is all Bush’s fault.

But with this track record, why should we trust them this time? Obviously Bush will screw this one up also, no?


Fail-clown Ezra Klein hardest hit.


John Ekdahl sounds the alarm: highly principled, anti-war Hollywood celebrities are missing and we fear the worst

Writing at BuzzFeed, John Ekdhal is worried about our anti-war celebrities, but fortunately has not yet begun to panic. Won't you please help us locate the missing?

Our government is yet again marching us towards a war of choice in the Middle East and our non-partisan, peace-loving celebrities have gone missing since late 2008. We fear the worst.


The only explanation for their continued silence must be a large, organized kidnapping. To whoever is responsible for their disappearance, please post pictures of them holding a recent newspaper so we know they’re okay.

Hackneyed, but true: read the whole thing.

Prepare to have your Hypocrisy-Meter shattered.