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

Thursday, August 21, 2014

STILL HAS A GOOD FIRST STEP: Total Time it Took Obama to Tee Off After Making Foley Statement: 480 Seconds

Relayed by the invaluable Weasel Zippers:



Even CNN noticed the less than solemn attention Mr. Obama paid to the beheading of an American journalist. And @BiffSpackle offered his usual caustic 'toon pillorying our beleaguered POTUS.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

As Obama Disarms America, China Unveils Another New, Hypersonic "Carrier Killer" Weapon System

By Investor's Business Daily

National Security: Beijing is moving fast on a maneuverable, hypersonic glide vehicle designed to evade America's defenses, including the Aegis ballistic missile system guarding our carrier battle groups.

On Aug. 7, China conducted a second test of its hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), known as the WU-14, yet another example of its relentless pursuit of high-tech weaponry as the United States abandons what the administration dismisses as Cold War weaponry.

The first test, conducted in January, saw China's HGV reach speeds in the vicinity of Mach 10, about 10 times the speed of sound. In the latest test, according to Internet reports, the WU-14 was the upper stage of a missile launched from the Jiuquan satellite launch facility in China's western Gobi desert.

Strategic experts say that the importance of this weapons program cannot be understated. The Washington Free Beacon quotes Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, as saying:

"Accelerated HGV testing could potentially allow China to develop a second-generation antiship ballistic missile (ASBM) warhead that is more maneuverable and more difficult to counter."

As we noted after the January test, development of the WU-14 comes on the heels of China's deployment of a "carrier-killer," the DF-21D, a road-mobile ASBM. This land-based missile is designed to track and target our carrier battle groups in the western Pacific with the help of satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles similar to our drones, as well as over-the-horizon radar.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

UKRAINE'S NEXT CRISIS: Economic, Not Military

By Robert Bensh

Ukraine’s next crisis will be a devastatingly economic one, as violent conflict destroys critical infrastructure in the east and brings key industry to a halt, furthering weakening the energy sector by crippling coal-based electricity production.

The Ukrainian military’s showdown with separatists in the industrial east has forced coal mines to severely cut production or close down entirely. This has led to an electricity crisis that can only be staunched by cutting domestic production along with exports to Europe, Crimea, and Belarus -- or worse, getting more imports from Russia.

In the coal centers of Ukraine’s industrial east—Luhansk and Donetsk—fighting has forced the full closure of an estimated 50 percent of coal mines, while overall coal production has fallen 22 percent over the same period last year.

Key industry sources say they will potentially run out of coal in less than three weeks.

For Ukraine, the second largest producer of coal in Europe, this will have a devastating impact on the energy sector, which is in a state of emergency, unable to get coal to thermal power plants that provide some 40 percent of the entire country’s electricity.

Monday, August 18, 2014

WELL DONE, RICK PERRY: Mexico freaks out over Texas National Guard troops patrolling US border!

By Mac Slavo

The Mexican foreign ministry has launched a formal protest in response to Governor Rick Perry’s decision to send Texas National Guard Troops to the southern border.

According to a head-scratching statement released by Mexico, there is apparently no border security problem and the State of Texas has grossly overreacted.

Mexico “reiterates, in a firm and categorical way, its rejection of this measure,” read a statement from the foreign ministry.

“No circumstance at all or change in border security exists that justifies this measure taken by the state.”

The troop deployment “does not contribute in any way to solving the immigration problem,” and is inconsistent with US-Mexico talks aimed at “building a modern, prosperous and safe border,” the statement read.

Governor Rick Perry called up 1,000 Texas National Guard Troops in an effort to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the state. Several dozen troops began arriving in the Rio Grande Valley last week as part of the state’s Joint Counterdrug Task Force.

While Mexican officials may protest and propagandize the situation, the evidence is clear. There has been a significant change in the circumstances on our southern border in recent months and tens of thousands of migrants, including criminal drug cartel and gang members, have made their way into the United States. Moreover, the Mexican government itself is facilitating the mass migrations.

(Pictured: The Beast train transports thousands of immigrants to crossing points on the southern border)

The foreign ministry says that they want to create a safe and prosperous border, yet some 70,000 people have been violently killed in Mexican border cities in the last 6 years as part of the ongoing drug war.

Is this what the ministry means when they say they want to build a modern and prosperous border region?

Sunday, August 17, 2014

AROUND THE WORLD IN PHOTOS: Misunderstanderers of Islam March in Support of Genocidal ISIS Maniacs

That "pull out of Iraq in a hurry" strategy ain't lookin' so good.



10 Things You'd Have to Offer Hillary Clinton In Order to Have Her Speak at Your Event

Using Nevada's state public records law. Laura Myers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reveals the contractual requirements for hosting a Hillary Clinton speech. Here are 10 things you'd have to offer Hillary in order to prepay for White House influence have her speak.

10 A speaking fee of between $225,000 and $300,000, depending upon the situation.

9 Round-trip transportation on a chartered private jet “e.g., a Gulfstream 450 or larger jet,” plus round-trip business class travel for two advance staffers who will arrive up to three days in advance.

8 Hotel accommodations selected by Clinton’s staff and including “a presidential suite for Secretary Clinton and up to three (3) adjoining or contiguous single rooms for her travel aides and up to two (2) additional single rooms for the advance staff.”

7 A TelePrompter.

6 A stenographer.

5 Meals and incidentals for Clinton, her travel aides and advance staff, as well as all phone charges.

4 A $500 travel stipend to cover out-of-pocket costs for Clinton’s lead travel aide.

3 Final approval of all moderators or introducers.

2 Agreement that Hillary will be "the only person on the stage during her remarks"... and "Clinton will remain at the event no longer than 90 minutes; will pose for no more than 50 photos with no more than 100 people; and won’t allow any press coverage or video- or audio-taping of her speech."

1 A bowl of M&M's with all of the red candy removed.

Okay, I made that last one up.

Why would any organization pay a Clinton $250,000 or $300,000 for a speech?

The answer should be obvious.


Saturday, August 16, 2014

Climate Kook Michael Mann vs. Mark Steyn: "If This Trial Ever Goes Ahead, Global Warming Is Toast"

A while back, the flabby propagandist and "climate scientist" Michael Mann sued columnist Mark Steyn for "defamation". Mann was a no-name scientist who shot to stardom in 1998 with his publication of the "global warming hockey stick" that showed dramatic, catastrophic global warming in the out-years of the 20th century.

Because his work validated the claims of the eco-Marxists, Mann gained instant stardom in the halls of government and academia. He received tenure at Penn State -- perhaps along with Jerry Sandusky (heh) -- received millions in federal funding for "research", and was cited as an "expert" by The New York Times and other left-wing propaganda outlets. Al Gore used the hockey stick in his hysterical film on the impending climate catastrophe. The UN's climate scam panel leveraged it no fewer than five (5) times in its reports and elevated Mann to lead author status.

James Delingpole of London's Spectator introduces the gist of the Mann vs. Steyn lawsuit.

But the hockey stick, on which Mann’s reputation largely rests, was and is a nonsense...


Friday, August 15, 2014

5 Quotes That Capture the Spirit of the Day

Selected by our summer intern, Biff Spackle (@BiffSpackle):

Timothy H. Lee:

After inheriting a stabilizing Iraq in the aftermath of a Bush Administration troop surge (which Obama claimed in 2007 couldn't succeed), Obama's decisions have resulted in today's ghoulish genocide and deepening chaos. Per habit, therefore, he now reverts to scapegoating others and pleading that he's little more than a helpless bystander to inconvenient world events. This from a man who in 2011 practically claimed to have fired the shot that felled Osama bin Laden.

David A. Lieb:

The unarmed teenager whose fatal shooting by police ignited days of heated protests in suburban St. Louis was suspected of stealing cigars and pushing a clerk at a nearby convenience store earlier that day, police said Friday... [Michael] Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were suspected of taking a box of cigars from a store in Ferguson that morning. Jackson said Wilson, along with other officers, was called to the area after a 911 call reporting a "strong-arm" robbery just before noon.

Lachlan Markay:

The top Democrat in the House of Representatives [Nancy Pelosi] steered more than a billion dollars in subsidies to a light rail project that benefitted a company run by a high-dollar Democratic donor and in which her husband is a major investor... Pelosi’s tireless advocacy for federal support for San Francisco’s light rail system has come under scrutiny for potentially enriching another liberal billionaire, hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.

Jeffrey Lord:

What are Americans seeing here? What do the rise of ISIS in Iraq, the return of the squeegee men in New York, the murder numbers out of Chicago, the endless stories on health care losses, IRS bureaucrat Lois Lerner — what do all of these events have in common?

This is the fulfillment of the liberal worldview crashing in on itself. A view of utopia — all of it. Every last bit of it. It was never real — it could never be real.

Jim Treacher:

You think you’ve got problems? Put yourself in President Barack Obama’s shoes for a minute: Everybody’s mean to you, bad stuff keeps happening even though none of it is your fault, and you never get to do anything you want to do. It seriously sucks, dude! ... Has any other president in American history ever endured such suffering? That’s a rhetorical question. Of course not.

Hat tip: BadBlue News

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Gang Violence May Destroy Mexico's Shale Oil Bonanza

By Nick Cunningham

Violence in Mexico could thwart hopes of a budding shale boom, as oil and gas companies operating in Texas may think twice about moving south of the border.

Mexico holds an estimated 545 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas and 13 billion barrels of shale oil, but progress in developing those resources has been slow.

The obstacles to kick-starting Mexico’s shale industry have dampened the once lively enthusiasm surrounding Mexico’s historic energy reform. Mexico passed legislation last year that opened up the country’s oil and gas sector to private investment, ending a 75-year monopoly by state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

But the secondary laws that the government must pass to actually implement the legal framework for oil and gas development are proving much more contentious.

Political disputes over what could be 21 separate laws have thus far delayed passage, threatening to push back Mexican President Enirque Pena Nieto’s goal of producing 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2018. That would be roughly a 25 percent increase from the current output level of 2.4 million barrels per day, but it is looking increasingly difficult to achieve.

“We can increase, of course, but not enough to arrive at 3 million [b/d],” Fluvio Ruiz Alarcon, an independent board member at Pemex, told Platts on June 24 at a Wilson Center event in Washington, D.C. “I'm sure we're going to produce over 3 million [b/d] but not by 2018. Maybe 2020, but not before,” he added.

Even if the country’s congress can reach an agreement and move forward with the energy reform, there are other obstacles.

In order to access the potentially abundant oil and gas from Mexican shale, the government will need to rely upon the private sector. Under the energy reform, Pemex is given first refusal over any projects – meaning that it can keep the assets it really wants, but allows the rest to go to bidding for private companies. Pemex will likely stick with its wells that are already producing, and leave drilling new shale wells to incoming private companies.

However, many areas in the Burgos Basin – which lies just south of the rich Eagle Ford formation in Texas – are suffering from intense gang violence. Bloomberg News reported on the conditions in Tamaulipas, a state in eastern Mexico, which at times resembles a “war zone.” A power vacuum left over by the arrest of the leaders of the Zetas and Gulf Cartels last year has the eastern coast dealing with heightened violence – shootings along highways and burned down buildings are commonplace as rival drug gangs jockey for territory.

Further north, shootings and kidnappings plague Highway 2, which runs parallel to the border with the United States.

The violence poses an immediate threat to the oil companies working there. The Mexican Army is now escorting workers of Weatherford International, an oilfield services firm, to and from their drill sites after a drug gang shot up a hotel where the workers were staying.

Aside from violence, theft of oil and gas by drug cartels poses another threat to companies. In 2013, Mexican gangs stole around $790 million worth of fuel, which is siphoned off from pipelines and smuggled.

OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS: Endangering the Lives of Millions to Achieve a Permanent Majority

By James Simpson

With reports that illegal immigrants bring the risk of Ebola and other viral illnesses, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons representative, Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, has noted that, “Border Patrol sources repeatedly warn that we do not know who is coming across our southern borders, all the countries of origin, what diseases they may carry, or where they go after being released with a summons to appear months later in court.”

An investigation by the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism shows that American religious groups, using federal money, are facilitating this growing crisis and trying to keep the media in the dark about the nature of the threat.

Importing Dangerous Diseases

As Dr. Vliet indicated, many illegals are bringing in diseases and parasites. They have been shipped around the country under a veil of secrecy. But word is getting out:

  • A Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) facility in Artesia, New Mexico used to house illegals has been locked down following an outbreak of chicken pox.
  • A week earlier the same facility found that 89 of its 603 detainees tested positive for tuberculosis, though none had contracted the disease.
  • Reported infections among illegals include chicken pox, TB, swine flu, pneumonia, other respiratory illnesses and epidemics of scabies and lice.
  • The deadly Chagas disease, formerly limited to Central and South America, is now spreading to the U.S. with an estimated 300,000 cases nationwide. Northern Virginia has been described as “ground zero” for the disease. Its vector, the kissing bug, has been found in Texas, Arizona and California.
  • A DHS Office of Inspector General report states that border agents and their families are contracting the diseases and parasites brought in by illegals. A border agent and others in Texas have contracted TB.

On July 31, President Obama revised a Bush-era executive order allowing for apprehension, detention or conditional release of people with severe respiratory diseases. Was this a coincidence?

A leaked copy of an official Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confidential report was published on August 4th by Brandon Darby of Breitbart Texas. It reveals that, in addition to the flood of illegals from Central America, the border is being penetrated by tens of thousands of illegals from almost every country on the planet. The table below provides a sampling of apprehended Third Country Nationals (TCN) that should be of concern to security officials as well as all Americans.

Monday, August 11, 2014

PLEASE, PRESIDENT JARRETT: Obliterate the barbarians who would "raise the flag of Allah in the White House"

By Investor's Business Daily

War On Terror: Having ignored Iraqi pleas for air strikes in ISIL's infancy, when the terrorists could have been decimated, the administration ignores the Kurdish peshmerga plea for the same American weapons that ISIL has.

Watching the modest airstrikes on ISIL forces, we are reminded of Secretary of State John Kerry's promise that any military action in Syria would be "unbelievably small." As it turned out, it was also nonexistent, and the carnage continues in the country where ISIL formed and trained under our watchful and indifferent eyes.

The targeted airstrikes ordered by President Obama last week near the Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq, where we have a consulate, as ISIL forces lay siege to thousands of hungry Yazidi and Christian refugees in the mountains of northern Iraq, are welcome.

But they fall far short of what can be or could have been done if we really wanted to stop ISIL, considered by many a greater long-term threat than al-Qaida.

"The situation near Erbil was becoming more dire than anyone expected. We didn't want another Benghazi," an administration official told the New York Times. The reference was to the deaths of four Americans in the 2012 terrorist attack on our mission in Libya, where another gathering terrorist storm was ignored and a rescue or relief attempt was never made in time.

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that ISIL threatens not just Iraqis, but also Americans here. Obama's strikes are insufficient to turn back ISIL and are meant just "to avoid a bad news story on his watch."

Graham envisions "an American city in flames" someday if the ISIL caliphate established in parts of Syria and northern Iraq becomes a new haven for global terrorism. Certainly there's already a price being paid for our past indifference to the growing ISIL threat.

Playing Through

Headlines, I've got headlines...

• Shot: Obama To Take Time Off From Vacation To Attend His 401st Fundraiser

• Shot: Genocide In Iraq… Obama Goes To The Beach


• Chaser: Obama On The "Sacrifice" Of "No Vacations" In His Own Words


Hat tip: BB.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

CNN: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Obama "Powerless" to Deal With the World Chaos His Policies Have Sown

CNN -- yep, it's still in business -- says that Obama's multiple policy failures on every front are not his fault.

As we head closer to the November elections it’s clear that Obama’s continued massive foreign policy implosion is already having a deleterious effect on Democrat’s hopes, and unless there’s a sudden blossoming of Middle East peace, it will probably increase going forward...
This morning on CNN's Inside Politics, Politico's Manu Raju said that the president seems "powerless" to deal with the chaos in the world, which is "putting the Senate at risk" for the Democrats.

Gee, who could have predicted that a back-bencher state senator -- weaned on the philosophies of Marx and Alinsky and with literally zero executive experience -- would be an utter and complete disaster?

Oh, wait: several of us did, back in the summer of 2008.


NYT: Fear of "Another Benghazi" Political Debacle, Not Genocide, Drove Obama to Call For ISIS Airstrikes

The New York Times reports that it was not genocide in Iraq, it was not a humanitarian catastrophe, it was not to protect human lives that forced Obama's hand in ordering airstrikes against ISIS; it was all about politics.

On Wednesday evening, moments after finishing a summit meeting with African leaders at the State Department, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff delivered a stark message to President Obama as they rode back to the White House in Mr. Obama’s limousine.

The Kurdish capital, Erbil, once an island of pro-American tranquillity, was in the path of rampaging Sunni militants, the chairman, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, told the president. And to the west, the militants had trapped thousands of members of Iraqi minority groups on a barren mountaintop, with dwindling supplies, raising concerns about a potential genocide.

With American diplomats and business people in Erbil suddenly at risk, at the American Consulate and elsewhere, Mr. Obama began a series of intensive deliberations that resulted, only a day later, in his authorizing airstrikes on the militants, as well as humanitarian airdrops of food and water to the besieged Iraqis.

Looming over that discussion, and the decision to return the United States to a war Mr. Obama had built his political career disparaging, was the specter of an earlier tragedy: the September 2012 attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and has become a potent symbol of weakness for critics of the president...

...As the tension mounted in Washington, a parallel drama was playing out in Erbil. Kurdish forces who had been fighting the militants in three nearby Christian villages abruptly fell back toward the gates of the city, fanning fears that the city might soon fall. By Thursday morning, people were thronging the airport, desperate for flights out of town.

“The situation near Erbil was becoming more dire than anyone expected,” said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the White House’s internal deliberations. “We didn’t want another Benghazi.”

I'd encourage you read the entire article to get a sense of how feckless, incompetent and ideologically twisted this administration is.

As usual, it would appear that Michelle and co-President Valerie Jarrett helped make the decision to act.

Laced throughout the story is the party line among Democrats, which is the following sandwich of sheer, unvarnished idiocy:

Saturday, August 09, 2014

ISIS Threatens To Kill Creator of Muslim Superhero Comic Series...

Relayed by Weasel Zippers, an important story from Digital Spy:

Muslim comic creator of The 99 threatened by ISIS


Which is ironic because the creator of The 99 wanted to show the “message of tolerance and peace” in Islam...


The Muslim creator of The 99 comic series has been threatened with death by ISIS.

The jihadist group known by the full name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have called for the murder of Nayef Al-Mutawa, who they accuse of mocking Allah.

“Who can kill Nayef Al-Mutawa who makes fun of Allah’s names?” wrote ISIS on Twitter, according to Kuwait Times.

“Whoever finds him, kill him, and he will be rewarded.” […]

The 99 centres around a group of superheroes, each of whom embodies one of the 99 attributes of Allah.

Al-Mutawa created the series with the explicit purpose of celebrating the “messages of tolerance and peace” in Islam.

Which reminds me: I keep checking CAIR's Twitter feed to see if they've denounced the genocide of non-Muslims by the barbaric throwbacks called ISIL. Here's what I've found.


Those are crickets.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Friday, August 08, 2014

15 Photos of the Barbaric Treatment of Iraqi Christians You'll Never See in Legacy Media

Caution: Extremely graphic photos follow, which were provided by Catholic.org. Please use discretion in viewing the photos that follow the warning box.


The Islamic State has warned Christians, possibly for the last time, saying "there is nothing to give them but the sword." Across Northern Iraq, Christians are huddled in refugee camps, trapped in the desert, or trapped in their homes, waiting for death.


A week ago, Christians were warned to either leave the city of Mosul and other areas under Islamic State control, or they would have to pay a tax or be put to death. Today, nobody has heard from those Christians and nobody knows what is happening to them.


Are they being quietly "put to the sword" as this militant strain of Islam asks they be?


The Human Rights Watch reported on July 14 that homes in Mosul were painted with red letters to indicate Christian homes. Other homes of Shiite Muslims were also adorned...

THE UGLY TRUTH: The United Nations Promotes War Crimes

by Anne Bayefsky

As the terrorist organization Hamas breaks yet another ceasefire, it operates with the firm belief that it will be protected on the international stage. That’s because the modern United Nations has become an instrument of war, just seven decades after it was founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

It is time to face an ugly truth: The U.N. encourages terrorism. U.N. enablers on the ground in Gaza and U.N. broadcasters in the diplomatic comfort zones of Geneva and New York are partners in incitement to genocide against Israel, the Jewish state.

Think back to Rwanda, where a radio station broadcast that Tutsis were “cockroaches.” The message received was that killing was justified, that Tutsis deserved what they got. Such broadcasts were criminal.

It is time to face an ugly truth: The U.N. encourages terrorism. U.N. enablers on the ground in Gaza and U.N. broadcasters in the diplomatic comfort zones of Geneva and New York are partners in incitement to genocide against Israel, the Jewish state.

The demonization of Israelis by the United Nations is similarly venomous, regardless of the diplomatic facade.

On July 30, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Israel of “attacking sleeping children.” On July 23, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the U.N. Human Rights Council that Israel exhibited “disregard for…the right to life.” She alleged that it "was shockingly evident for all to see in the apparent targeting of…children playing.” On July 14, U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl told the press that Israeli crimes included “attacks against...civilians.”

Alleging that Israelis are baby-killers is not some throwaway line. It’s incitement.

Thursday, August 07, 2014

OLD MEDIA: Ignorant or Racist?

By Richard Larsen

There are only two possible explanations for the anti-Semitic statements, tweets, demonstrations, and promulgations of the past few weeks after Israel began defending herself from the onslaught of missiles from the Hamas-held Gaza Strip; sheer ignorance or blatant racism. In some cases it could perhaps be a combination of both. Much of the culpability for the biased representation of the conflict in Gaza rests directly on the shoulders of the mainstream media who should know better.

The rationalized justification for the latest attacks on Israel traces back to an incident in June when three Israeli teenaged seminary students (one of whom was an American) were kidnapped, and subsequently killed, while hitchhiking in the West Bank. They disappeared on June 12 and their bodies were discovered eighteen days later in a field near Hebron. Hamas was blamed for the abductions and murders, and the night the bodies were discovered, the terrorist group began launching missiles into the heart of Israel. Nearly 1,000 missiles have been launched by Hamas against Israel since that fateful night, and Israel has responded by destroying the tunnels used by Hamas to infiltrate Israel, and by targeting the group’s missile and munitions storage sites, which are often strategically placed in schools, hospitals, mosques, and residential areas.

Clearly, Israel is fighting for her very existence, and fighting back against those who attack her. Self-defense is a natural human right, and the first responsibility of a nation to protect its citizenry. Yet in spite of these verities, Israelis are vilified for fighting back and refusing to turn the other cheek.

Mia Farrow has been posting pro-Palestinian comments over the past several days on Twitter, including, “What is Israel’s long-term plan for Gaza? They can’t kill everyone.” Madonna posted a photo with the comment, “These flowers are like the innocent children of GAZA! Who has a right to destroy them? No One!!!! CEASE FIRE!” Dozens of celebrities have been vocal in their anti-Israeli denunciations. There have been a few notable exceptions.

Across the pond it has been even more strident, as typified by a letter from Spanish actor Javier Bardem that was published in a Barcelona paper last week. Bardem wrote, “This is a war of occupation and extermination against a whole people without means, confined to a miniscule territory without water and where hospitals, ambulances, and children are targeted and presumed to be terrorists.” A hundred Spanish celebrities, including Academy Award winners Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodovar, endorsed the letter.

"Not since the Civil War has the United States been so politically divided."

By Lawrence Sellin

From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide. --Abraham Lincoln

In a manner reminiscent of a pubescent potentate, President Barack Obama appears to be both disengaged and autocratic as he recklessly attempts to implement his catastrophic domestic programs and a feckless foreign policy.

The maniacal pursuit of goals so at odds with the country's values and traditions, or even its survival, can only be attributed to a flawed character and an uncompromising devotion to a demonstrably unworkable leftist ideology.

Obama, who often mistakes himself for a messiah, displays many of the characteristics of a narcissist: expecting constant praise and admiration; has a grandiose sense of self-importance; expecting others to go along with his ideas and plans; lacking empathy and taking advantage of others to achieve his own ends; regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes; exaggerating his achievements or talents; thin-skinned, being easily hurt and rejected.

Narcissists are frequently detached from reality, emotionally distant from others and have a deficit of self-awareness.