Hillary Clinton + The Sisterhood Of The Slipping Pant Suits

Hillary's book excerpt: We were so broke I stopped paying the red phone bill around the time of Benghazi...Jay Carnie Tweet

• It appears Hillary Clinton is having as hard a few weeks as Pres. Obama. Her book tour is turning out to be a disaster. She's even unraveled in her interviews with a complicit media.
• In an interview on the Today Show, she actually said the five Taliban commanders that were freed two weeks ago are no threat to the United States. Now consider this. She was the Secretary of State. Her husband dealt with terrorism---not well---but he experienced the threat (first attack on WTC in 1993 is one example). Her husband's successor had to face the threat head-on. The 9/11 hijackers were trained in al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan during the period these terrorists were in the country. So excuse me if I tell Hillary Clinton personally: she's delusional and full of shit.
• Of course, many Americans are now familiar with her major gaff on ABC News when interviewed by Diane Sawyer last week. Clinton actually said she and Bubba were "dead broke" after leaving the White House. There is no doubt legal fees in defending Bill Clinton and keeping him out of jail took a chunk of their personal fortune. But dead broke? In fact, it's estimated that she and Bubba have accumulated about $150M in the last 10-12 years alone. She's earned $5 million since she left the Obama administration in speaking fees.  The Daily News reported that Bubba gets a cool $500 grand for 45-minute speeches. Occupy Wall Street where are you?
• And yesterday she became a tad testy with Terry Gross on NPR when the issue of gay marriage was raised (by the way, NPR and PBS bring up gay marriage almost every 15 minutes. I periodically listen to the local PBS station for its foreign news and I can attest to that fact). Like Obama, Clinton said she "evolved" regarding gay marriage. Recall, it was in the Bill Clinton administration when the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) became law.
• In March of last year (March 25, 2013) I wrote a piece entitled, "The Fairy Tale That Is Hillary Clinton." The progressive political class and their enablers in the media created this fairy tale even though her accomplishments---as a Senator and Secretary of State---are utterly unimpressive as well as conspicuous by their absence. So it will be interesting to see if the media will continue trying to cloak Clinton in bubble wrap. Right now, it appears some of the women in the media have popped some of that bubble wrap.

Postscript: Hillary Clinton announced she will be running for president. This follows shady issues regarding her finances, her foundation and her email account. And most recently, after initially denying there were no classified emails on her private server, it's now being reported there were.  Will the media continue to cloak her in bubble wrap?

Obama Appears To Be Channeling Pontius Pilate

Oh, well, let's hope Al-Qaeda doesn't hold too much of a grudge against the Iraqis who helped us...David Burge Tweet

Most people know the Gospel accounts of Pontius Pilate. In short, after advocating for Jesus to be spared, he eventually relented to the crowd. He washed his hands to avoid any personal responsibility for the Crucifixion of Christ. One can argue that Pontius Pilate had more guts than Obama and his administration.

• "Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we're leaving behind a sovereign and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people."  Pres. Obama's address to the soldiers at Ft. Bragg in 2011.
• "Seven years after US forces under Gen. David Petraeus drove them out of Iraq's Anbar province, a coalition of desperados led by Sunni Muslim jihadists have scored their biggest victory by seizing Mosul, Iraq's third most populous city." NY Post today
• After we pulled out of Vietnam, many people remarked that we didn't lose Vietnam; we quit Vietnam. There's some truth in that statement. The Democrats at the time cut funding and additional aid to the South Vietnamese government. In essence, the South Vietnamese were unable to defend themselves from the approaching Communist hordes descending on them from the North. It shortly led to the fall of Saigon in 1975. And Americans have been forever haunted by those images of South Vietnamese families trying to hitch a ride on our Huey's, as they also watched the last slick taking off from the roof-top of our embassy in Saigon. Historian Lewis Fleming said at the time "it was not the Hanoi Communist who won the war, but rather the American Congress that lost it." And may I add, after the Communists took over, they killed thousands and sent thousands to re-education camps---many of those were good people who helped us in that war. In neighboring Cambodia, millions were murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
• In some ways, we're watching as history repeats itself in Iraq. And like Vietnam, the debate on whether we should have even entered both countries will continue for decades. Nevertheless, in his 2012 keynote speech to the DNC, Obama boasted about having the Taliban and al-Qaeda on the run. "We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan...al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead."
• And today what are we watching developing? The administration just released 5 Taliban commanders. Last week, the Taliban attacked Pakistan's main airport in Karachi leaving at least two dozen people dead. And al-Qaeda, under the reconstituted group name now known as ISIS or "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria"  seized two of Iraq's major cities and are currently threatening Baghdad. Along the way, they are killing innocents and cutting off quite a few heads.
• Obama knows most Americans are sick of wars (an emotional not strategic response). He knows most of those same Americans could care less about what happens in Afghanistan and Iraq in the future. Like Vietnam, Obama quit both wars for purely political reasons. After all, he took credit for how well the wars were going in 2011 as referenced above. Unfortunately, he's not considering what the consequences will be for our troops (and their families) who fought and died in both wars. We know the consequences. We see them in the faces of 60-75 year old Vietnam veterans. But like Pontius Pilate, it's much easier for Obama and others to just wash their hands and acquiesce to the base and thuse avoiding all responsibility to what happens to innocent victims of terror---even if those victims happen to be Americans.

Cantor Gets Hammered And The Elite Political Class Freaks Out

No matter how low your opinion of Washington, it's nothing compared to Washington's low opinion of you. David Burge Tweet

• David hit the nail on the head regarding Eric Cantor's historic loss last night. It's not that complicated even though many of the post mortems today will try to make you believe otherwise.  Cantor became Washington. He got caught up in the "Great Divide"---us against the elite political class.
• But let's take a few steps back into the previous weeks. Michelle Malkin wrote a great piece entitled, "Dumping Illegals On Military Bases." It's a must read for every American concerned about the influx of illegal immigrants into America. In short, she points out how thousands of illegal immigrant children---most without their parents---are being sent to many of our military bases throughout the country from bases in Texas to bases in Massachusetts. This comes after the government's two-year extension of the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program. Almost 600,000 illegal immigrants have been granted amnesty under this program. Considering many of these are children (under 18), it's not hard to come to the conclusion that the Obama administration and illegal immigrant activist will then proclaim the children need their parents here too. Get it now? And as Malkin points out correctly. Amnesties guarantee two things: more illegal immigration and more Democratic voters.
• Almost simultaneously,  reports of veterans dying due to long waits for medial appointments also hit the news. In addition to that news, the Obama administration released five Taliban commanders---the worst of the worst previously held at Gitmo. And just this week alone, al-Qaeda took over several towns in Iraq---towns where we lost several hundred troops during the Iraq War (didn't Obama tell us al-Qaeda was on the run during his campaign?). And the Taliban attacked Pakistan's major airport (keep in mind---the five terrorist we released were from the Taliban).

The Answer In Fighting Boko Haram: Time To Arm Those Hashtags

I'm Pretty Sure I'm Carrying Out God's Will...The Onion on Boko Haram leadership

• Last month, I wrote a piece entitled, "F*ck Hastag Diplomacy: A .50 Cal Round Between The Eyes Is Much More Effective." If you recall, this was shortly after Boko Haram kidnapped about 200 young Nigerian girls, First Lady Michelle Obama posted a photo of herself with the hashtag  #Bring Back Our Girls. That was followed with thousands of postings on social media.  I also stated that whatever works to bring the girls back, I'm all in-anything to bring more attention to these Islamist killers. On the other hand, I'm not naive either. I knew it was a waste of time. That motivated me to my writing the post referenced above.
• This is what the hashtag diplomacy has led to in just the last month. In early June, Boko Haram murdered approximately 200 people in three separate NE Nigerian villages. This past weekend, these same terrorist thugs kidnapped 20 young mothers only about 4 miles from the same village where they kidnapped those young school girls last month. In fact, Persecution.org reports that Boko Haram killed almost 300 innocent people in just a 10 day period in late May and early June of this year.
• It's becoming increasingly obvious that the Nigerian government can't do a damn thing about these attacks. They've been going on for almost a decade leading to the death and kidnapping of over 1000 people mostly targeting Christians. Their purpose is to turn Nigeria into an Islamist state.  And, until recently, Boko Haram was not even designated a terror group by the United States or the UN. If you recall, when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State her department blocked designating them as such.
• So it's clear that hashtags are not effective unless they are armed. But there are more effective measure that can be utilized. For example,  Nigerian security forces should be deployed to those areas where Boko Haram operates, largely in the NE part of the country (In 2009, the Nigerian government did destroy a Boko Haram stronghold including killing some of its leadership). The Nigerian military and police should stand guard at schools, churches and security agencies. These have been the main targets of Boko Haram. Identify and assassinate the leadership. 
• There is some good news. Several weeks ago, villagers themselves fought off some Boko Haram attackers. Deputize villagers and arm them. When armed at least the people stand a fighting chance.
• But then again, this is Africa and corruption is rampant. But we've learned one important lesson: hashtag diplomacy is a waste of time. Hunting them down and killing them would be much more effective.

Postscript: 

Since this was posted, Boko Haram has murdered and kidnapped yet more innocents and taken more villages.

Obama Administration's Leadership: Nothing Inspirational; Nothing Hopeful

A big shout out to the investigative news program 60 Minutes for looking the other way on all Obama scandals for the 286th week in a row...Jay Carnie Tweet

• It's now undeniable---even if Obama supporters are still in denial---that the Obama Administration's leadership is short on inspiration and hope. Perhaps nothing was more of an example of this than the tedious, dull, depressing and widely panned speech the president gave to the West Point cadets last week. You can refer to my May 29th post entitled, "Obama's West Point Speech: Cadets Were Left Asking Themselves---WTF?"
• The evidence of this lack of inspiration and hope is not only specific to the previous 6 years of this president's tenure, but developments in just the last two to three weeks alone reinforces this claim.
• We now see a VA scandal that's even worse than first reported. In addition to the multiple deaths of veterans awaiting medical care (18 more reported in the Phoenix VA), CBS is reporting today that almost 60,000 vets waited more than 3 months for medical appointments. AP reported that almost 9000 vets were awaiting appointments at Florida VA medical centers. Similar stories are being reported throughout the country. Even more disturbing, there are now reports that supervisors at the VA centers encouraged schedulers to falsify appointment dates to make them look shorter. It's becoming increasingly clear that a conspiracy existed where many VA employees colluded to falsify information. We know this because the bonuses and promotions were given out to those implicated in this conspiracy.
• Just two weeks ago, the administration decided to free some of the worst Taliban commanders at Gitmo in exchange for Bergdahl. Take a moment to read my June 4th post entitled, "The Taliban Prisoner Exchange Is The Mother Of All Blunders For The Obama Administration."
• We are also learning that tens of thousands of illegal immigrants---many of them children---have been crossing our southern borders. Federal officials have taken these children from Texas and dumping them into Arizona. According to Gov. Brewer of AZ, the Feds told her they have no plans of stopping this practice. It's so bad down there that FEMA has been called in to assist. It's estimated 60,000 "unaccompanied minors"---children under 18---will enter the U.S. illegally this year. In other words, the illegal immigration activists are now using children of illegal immigrants to "overwhelm" our immigration system. Can you spell "anarchy?" The administration has now called this a "humanitarian situation," a situation they created.
• And the economy is still in the toilet as almost 93M Americans have dropped out of the workforce. While there has been job growth, it's been in the direction of minimum wage jobs. As John Byrne pointed out so well in the NY Post this past weekend: You can make $30K a year or $130K a year but, in the new economy, there is nothing in-between. In other words, the middle class is being screwed big time---what's left of it. He points out that today there are almost 2M fewer middle-class and higher wage jobs than there were before the recession as the population has grown by 7%. 
• The Obama administration's foreign policy has been conspicuous by its absence with the exception of appeasing every geo-political thug on the planet.
• Michael Barone in his aptly entitled piece this weekend, "Team O Giving Big Government A Bad Name," summarized all of this well: "Barack Obama came to office determined to expand government and confident that Americans would like it. Instead, ObamaCare, the sluggish economy and now the VA scandal have tended to discredit big government more than any abstract argument could."
• Folks, hope left town 6 years ago and hopelessness moved in.