Tom Cotton on Susan Rice

Josh-ing Earnestly (sic): "We're in a War of Narratives"

White House spokesman Josh Earnest appeared on MSNBC's "The Morning Joe" to mollify public concerns over the weekend after an IED bomb exploded in Manhattan on a marathon route, attempted bombs in New Jersey and eight people being stabbed by a Somali shouting "Allahu Akbar" in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Earnest insisted that the Obama Administration is engaged in a "War of Narratives", touting the inroads he believes it has made on social media. 





The two salient questions are against whom are Obama allies are engaged in a War of Narratives?  In addition, will this go any better than LBJ's War on Poverty?

Ex DIA Chief Michael Flynn on Foreign Affairs

Rand Paul: ISIS Exists Because of GOP (!)(?)

Republican Presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on MSNBC to hawk his book "Taking a Stand: Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America" (2015) and expand his political base in 2016.   Senator Paul is renowned for his libertarian politics policy but seemed to have mollified his non-interventionist foreign policy tendencies since he announced his candidacy.  Senator Paul appeared to honor his father without embracing the isolationist extremism which characterized the career of his father, former Representative (and quixotic 1988 Libertarian Party and 2012 GOP Presidential candidate)  Ron Paul (R-TX 14th and 22nd).

…

However when Joe Scarborough interviewed Senator Paul on the Morning Joe, Senator Paul posited that the GOP which was the reason that ISIS exists. 

This is a curious conclusion, as the precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan occurred during the six years of the Obama Administration.  This was on top of Mr. Obama's ever fungible red line on Syrian chemical weapons. 

Senator Paul's inflammatory utterance has several unfortunate implications for winning the GOP nomination.  Firstly, it violates Reagan's 11th Commandment not to criticize your own party when campaigning.  Secondly, Senator Paul embraced the isolationist extremism, which puts him at odds with most party loyalists who will be participating in the nomination process. Thirdly, Paul's foreign policy pronouncement echoes his father, which was on the fringe of the Republican party.  Fourth, Paul's extended Morning Joe interview was an exercise to "get" Republican neocon hawks like Senator John McCain (R-AZ) as well as McCain's minion (and quasi GOP Presidential candidate) Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Furthermore, the cantankerous close contributes to the perception that Senator Rand Paul is thin skinned. 

h/t: KAL 

Trey Gowdy on Hillary Clinton's E-Mails

    Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC 4th), the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, responded to the Hillary E-Mail controversy on CBS's Face The Nation.



 Some cynics wonder why Chairman Gowdy is now in the forefront about Hillary's sui generis e-mails while heading the State Department, as the Select Committee had knowledge of this practice going back to last summer.  Gowdy is a former federal prosecutor so he is patiently building a case and did not want Ms. Clinton to testify before he had all of the information vetted.

While a litigator in an Article III court wants all relevant information, such a broad request could be framed as a witch hunt or a fishing expedition in the political realm.  So now that there is sufficient public pressure, the former Secretary of State may feel compelled (for continued electoral viability) to "step up" and completely surrender the cyber records and not just feign compliance.

 Chairman Gowdy, who first came to office as part of the 2010 Tea Party wave elections, may distinguish himself between the bluster and the brashness of the District of Calamity by building a compelling case to discern what happened in the Benghazi bungle of September 11, 2012.

But if Gowdy fails to impressively interrogate the former chief of Foggy Bottom, conservative cynics may echo Hillary's last Congressional testimony--"What difference, at this point, does it make?"  Combined with Speaker Boehner's capitulation on DHS funding with a rider excluding Executive Amnesty (which lost 167 Republican votes on final passage), conservatives might wonder if having friends like that in high office whether they need enemies.

Former Secretary of State Clinton claimed that we should strive to figure out why the Benghazi bungle happened.  Could it be due to insecure communications from hdr22@clintonemail.com (or mau-suit@clintonemail.com)?  Or a pattern in the Obama Administration to use backdoor, off official communications, to convey inconvenient truths? It does not seem that it was just Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, as we should not forget the pseudonym Richard Windsor (a.k.a. EPA chief Lisa Jackson ).  So much for the Obama Administration being the most transparent regime ever, as they took their anti-secrecy award in 2011 in a closed door presentation. 

Which Bugs You More?

G.K. Chesterton on Rubbish

It is amazing how prescient that Chesterton sounds in the District of Calamity (sic) during the Twenty First Century.

Bob Woodward's Muckraking on Obama's Lack of Leadership

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Bob Woodward, one of the reporters who broke the Watergate crisis which brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon,  has not been bashful in offering unflattering analyses of Presidents.  Woodward's latest opinions critique the lack of leadership that President Barack Obama is exhibiting regarding raising the national debt limit.  

But the Obama Administration's intransigence on Obamacare seems equally applicable. 

At the District of Calamity (sic), there is no illusion that Woodward favors liberal politics.  In fact, Woodward's comments endorsed President Obama standing firm on raising the debt ceiling.  However, Woodward's comments on MSNBC notes the lack of leadership coming from the White House and facilitating talks with Congress to get the process moving along.

It is refreshing is that Woodward has not succumb to just acting like one of All the President's Men (sic) in the lapdog Lamestream Media and advocates for honesty in governing, not hypocrisy. 

 In June, Woodward urged Mr. Obama to admit to "screw ups" regarding Benghazi, spying on journalists and the IRS playing politics.  Woodward observed that such a honest approach would mirror his transparency in admitting to the Daschle "screw up" in 2009. 

But instead, most of the the elite liberal media will continue to act as stenographers for a liberal White House with whom they generally agree. 

America is currently facing an alluvia of challenges.  There is a $17 trillion debt which continues to burgeon.  There is both resistance as well as significant difficulties implementing Obamacare, which assumes 1/6th of the American economy.  The Boston Bombing, Benghazi and the Kenyan Mall shooting shows a heightened terrorist threat.   It would be refreshing to not have an empty chair in the Oval Office, especially a seat which is vacant due to constant campaigning by the elected incumbent. 

Second Amendment Conundrum

It is ironic that American military bases can be considered effective "Gun Free Zones", based upon a Department of Army directive 190-14  in March, 1993.  

Progressive sources are quick to deny that this was an Executive Order by President Clinton.  Surely a Commander-in-Chief whose Presidency was partially premised on moderate gun control would have no sway over their troops./sarc

Delving deeper into the weeds, there is a Department of Defense Memo from February 1992 (during the President George H.W. Bush Administration)  on the issue.  And this general ban on sidearms for non security essential personnel has survived the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama Administrations. 

Unclassified Department of Defense Regulations do not incorporate legislative history to reveal the rationale for the rule.  But considering that the rule did not apply to personnel under combat or whom would be expected to have security duties, it does hint that extra arms were considered unnecessary.

While the motives for the Navy Yard killing of twelve innocent NAVSEA personnel is up in the air two days after the fact, there are other counterexamples to this DOD "Gun Free Zone" policy. 

Makeshift Ft. Hood massacre memorial, Nov. 2009

Even though the Obama Administration persisted in classifying the Fort Dix shooting in November, 2009 to be an instance of workplace violence, anyone with an ounce of common sense knows better.  When the former Army psychologist gunned down thirteen military members while shouting "Allahu Akbar", he is not just "going postal" but engaged in a jihad.  The euphemistically entitled "War on Terror" is an asymmetric example of warfare with non-state irregulars with a world-wide battlefield. 

Consider the Fort Dix Six in 2007 when radical jihadists wanted to kill as many soldiers as possible in New Jersey.   But their convictions were on conspiracy to commit murder, not terrorism.

Then there was attack on the Little Rock Arkansas military recruiter office in 2009 when Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad (ne Carlos Leon Bledsoe) shot two privates killing one in his attempt to kill as many Army personnel as possible.  Oh, but he was convicted on state murder charges, not terrorism, so perhaps that doesn't count. 

The Obama Administration has been determined to deny the War on Terrorism.  Aside from the spurious classification of the Fort Hood massacre, they have bungled the Benghazi attack of September 11, 2012, maintaining that it was prompted by a spontaneous protest over an obscure anti-Mohammad You-Tube video, instead of a coordinated attack on a US compound by an Al Qaeda affiliate.  Then consider former Department of Home Security Head Janet Napolitano's linguistic jihad against using the term "War on Terror" in 2009, when the government was cajoled to refer to terrorist acts as "Man Made Disasters".   

Since military personnel who are certified to carry firearms and are well trained, it would be worth reconsidering why the ban on general military personnel carrying weapons on American military bases continues.  There may be some good reasons which a civilian might not readily consider. But in the cases of the Navy Yard shooting, the Fort Hood shooting and the Little Rock shooting would likely have been mitigated by military members long before security forces quelled the shooter. 

Perhaps the military base "gun free zones" are part of a liberal understanding of the Second Amendment clause "a well regulated militia".

Syria Change?

President Obama's fleeting, feckless, pussillanimous, and incoherent policy "pivots" has garnered lots of comedic critiques.  Consider the mocking opinion piece by  Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin published by the New York Times on September 11th 2013.  

Then there is the jesting lucubrations of the late night comedians

Is it any wonder that the Obama Syrian foreign policy is considered a joke?

h/t: Bob Gorrell

Invade Chicago?

As Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert tried to make sense of the news after a two week long Roman Holiday, he acutely analyzed the conundrum of the Syrian Crisis.  Colbert commented:

The United States has no choice but to attack Syria because dictator Bashar Assad is killing his own people with chemical weapons.  Before he was just killing them with bullets.  But if America cared about shooting people, we would invade Chicago.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

Indeed.

Calling McCain's Bluff

As the Senate Armed Services Committee was conducting hearings about prospective military action in Syria, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was not paying full attention to the testimony by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Jack Dempsey.

Washington Post Photographer Melina Mara caught McCain passing time playing poker on his iPhone.  In case one is skeptical about the photographic proof, Senator McCain responded to the charge by tweeting about the Syrian Strike scandal.

It is dubious why anyone would follow such an inattentive leader. Not that the testimony would have mattered to McCain, as President Obama had enlisted his former rival and his bosom buddy Senator Lindsey Graham with special treatment at the White House to ensure passage of a Congressional military approval of action in Syria. 

 The Maverick Senator used to rely upon a lapdog press corp whom he could charm.  But in the age of the internet, the public need not rely upon a compliant press to tell them "That's the way it is."   Moreover, social media spreads information like wildfire and without the supercillious elite liberal media filter.

In case conducting Senate business is too taxing after several weeks vacation (Summer In District Work Period), Arizona is a really nice place to retire.  In the mean time, lawmakers should call McCain's bluff and really have a detailed debate on the costs and benefits of embroiling America in another military entanglement in the Middle East. 

Servicemens' Selfies Skeptical of Syrian Strike

After news of a chemical weapons  in Syria on August 21st , American President and 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Barack Hussein Obama and his Administration rattled the sabre about striking Syria, claiming that Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad had crossed "the red line."  But after the British House of Commons rejected supporting military action  in Syria and the American people were reminded of Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's hypocrisy about imperial presidencies,  Mr. Obama has shilly shallied and will let Congress vote. 

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While President Obama has claimed that he has decided to respond to the chemical weapons attack, he deferred to Congress.  Multiple leaks from the Obama Administration indicated that it was going to be a short (two to three day) aerial assault to degrade deployment capabilities and not aim for regime change.  

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Even if the limited strike does what was intended, degrading the Assad regime's capabilities throws US into a Syrian Civil War supporting rebels that includes actual cannibals and Al Qaeda elements who remain at war with US. 

These social media postings show that some servicemen have gotten the picture in Syria.  Will Congress and the American people, or will we continue to be seduced by the bluster and balderdash from this Administration?

The answer may be a deft use of propaganda by the Syrian Electronic Army. 

 SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Supporting the Beleaguered Copts

Burnt Coptic Church in Minyan, Upper Egypt  (Photo: David Degner)

Since ex-Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi was deposed from power in July, 2013, there has been increasing violence targeted against Egypt's eight million Coptic minority. In the past fortnight, 58 Christian Churches (14 of them Catholic) throughout Egypt.




Aside from torching these churches, agitated Islamists also paraded three Franciscan nuns through the streets like prisoners of war before a Muslim woman gave them refuge.  Alas, two other women working at the school were sexually harassed as they fought to get through the mob.

When an Obama Administration spokesman was asked about whether the violence in Egypt crossed a red line on the Obama Doctrine's "Duty to Protect", the White House flack  chose to make a snarky comeback.






Fortunately, not everyone  took the Muslim Brotherhood inspired attacks against the Copts and other Egyptian Christians as a laughing matter.  The Catholic Bishops in Egypt released a statement:  "This is not a civil war between Christians and Muslims. It is not a civil war but a war against terrorism. And the majority of the population is against terrorism and religious extremism."

Due to the threats of violence, the Coptic Virgin Mary and Priest Ibram Monasteryi in Degla, Upper Egypt, did not celebrate Divine Liturgy  for the first time in 1600 years. But Fr. James Martin, S.J. posted an inspiring photo on his Facebook account which showed the faithful celebrating Mass in a burnt out church. 

While people may hold different religious tenants and express their faithfulness in different ways, this site celebrates religious freedom and the freedom of conscience.  These attacks seem to be targeted against Christian faithful in Egypt, which predates the introduction of Islam.  The Muslim Brotherhood may be using the unrest as a means to impose shariah upon Egypt, which is contrary to Egypt's history. 

Although it is not my creed, count me as a Copt to standing up for their faith and supporting the freedom in conscience throughout the world. There is a campaign to show support for beleaguered Christian believers in Egypt with the #iamcoptic campaign.  This is not like the trend in the Nineties to show how much you care by wearing ribbons.  This is to recognize that the Islamist persecutions of Copts in Egypt may represent a Christian Krystallnact in 1938 when Nazi Germany ramped up persecution of their Jewish scapegoat minority before embarking on their diabolic final solution of the Holocaust. 

Bo Knows Vacations

It's surprising that the First Dog had to rely upon Ospreys.  Sure it would have been better if the airlift used Airedales (sic). 

Contemplating Civic Cognitive Dissonance

Although Frantz Fanon was an Algerian anti-colonial Marxist, his analysis of cognitive dissonance also devastatingly depicts the mindset of Obamatons and the acquiescent Lamestream Media. 

A Partial S.O.S. From Legislative Leviathans

Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ( Pub. L-11-203).  When it was passed, it was a long  2,319  page piece of legislation.  Although financial legislation can be tricky, Sarbanes-Oxley (2002) was only 66 pages and Gramm-Leach–Bliley (1999) was 145 pages.    This contemporary financial legislation was legislatively loquacious compared to the Federal Reserve Act (1913) that took 31 pages or Glass-Steagall (1933) that was 33 pages.  

But much like Obamacare (the misnamed Affordable Care Act), the bloated Dodd Frank bill delegated bureaucratic the authority to write implementing regulations. Currently, Dodd-Frank is comprised of 13,789 pages of rule-making from ten different regulatory agencies. 
  

To put this into terms which most people can wrap their minds around, Dodd-Frank is now the equivalent of 28 copies of War and Peace.  And Mel Brooks quipped that no-one makes it through War and Peace.   What can be done to avoid such governing monstrosities again?      


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1. Either abolish or reorganize the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection to have an Executive Board rather than a Consumer “Czar” and be financially responsible to the legislative branch rather than being an “independent” branch of government. 
2. While it might seem kind of quaint, but  to follow the Constitution.  
3. Congress need to stop rushing legislation.   When he first ran for President in the 2008 cycle, Mr. Obama promised that: “As president, Obama will not sign any nonemergency bill without giving the American public to review and comment on the White House Web site for five days.”  So much for that promise.  Speaker John Boehner repeatedly promised that all bills would be put on line for 72 hours before being voted upon.  This pledge has been repeatedly broken.  These Federal politicians need to live up to their political pledges or be held accountable at the ballot box rather than accepted as the standard practice of the Cocktail Party in the District of Calamity (sic).
4. Congress should pass legislation that is no longer than 50 pages long.  This is longer than some Tea Party type legislators advocate, but it is readable by the Member and can accommodate for the complexities of contemporary government.
5.  Congress must Enact legislation to  take control over expensive Executive Branch regulations.  It is understandable that members of Congress are not going to have expertise in complex areas of governmance, like the financial industry and the environement.  But they must not cede authority to smug technocratic bureaucrats who are given wide deference by the judiciary and are not beholden to the ballot box.

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Compliance costs with the legislative leviathan is strangling growth in the American economy and is chipping away at household budgets.   The REINS legislation could be enhanced by adding a 5 year sunset provisions to any costly regulation which could be reapproved by Congress.  This would rein in an overzealous Executive Branch in issuing regulations as well as tempering the bureaucratic beast.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Obama's Spirit of Detroit

Using a similar rhetorical formulation as when the President first spoke about Trayvon Martin--If Barack Obama had a city, it would look like Detroit.




To echo 2012 campaign slogans with the clarity of reality-- Government Motors is alive and Detroit is dead because of unions and progressive government.

h/t:  Steven Crowder

Amusing Obama Eschatology

When Obama died, 

George Washington met him at the Pearly Gates. 
He slapped him across the face and yelled, 

"How dare you try to destroy the Nation I helped conceive?"

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, 

"You wanted to end our liberties but you failed."

James Madison followed, kicked him hard and said, 

"This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!"

Thomas Jefferson was next, beat Obama with a long cane and snarled, 

"It was evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of Independence."

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the radical, socialist, leader.

As Obama lay bleeding and in pain, an Angel appeared. Obama wept and said, 

"This is not what you promised me."

The Angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 VIRGINIANS waiting for you in Heaven. 

What did you think I said? You really need to listen when someone is trying to tell you something!"

Some Fanfare for the Fortnight for Freedom 2013

NY Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Today is the start of the second Fortnight for Freedom as urged by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops.  It is a period of  prayer, fasting, education and action to preserve the fundamental natural right that is enshrined in the Bill of Rights–the Freedom of Religion.  This effort was started last year by USCCB President New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan






Appreciating the First Amendment is particularly poignant as there are so many challenges to religious liberty and the freedom of conscience, such as the HHS Qualified Health Plan Mandate (a.k.a. the Contraception, Sterilization and Abortifacient rider), the exclusion of non-compliant adoption organizations who will not service same-sex couples, states which have approved , states co-ercing traditional marriage believers to conform to same-sex so called marriage, the military labeling Catholics and Evangelicals as extremist groups for upholding their moral beliefs, military chaplains being forced out of service if they did not tow the new Politically Correct line on homosexuality.

When President Obama marked Religious Freedom Day in 2013, he framed religious liberty as the “freedom to worship as we choose.”  That might have been acceptable public policy shorthand, but such a charitable assessment is not borne out by the actions of the Obama Administration.   This is especially exemplified in the HHS contraception mandate.

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Secular society has been championing a concept that America was founded on a separation of church and state and that religion was ancillary to education of the times.  While it is true that there is not a state religion, history shows the profound motivation of our founders to pursue religious liberty.   The Fortnight for Freedom should remind us of our proud history of religious liberty and point out how state incursions are strangling this fundamental freedom.  Part of this education about religious liberty should include how sweeping state regulation of secular values will end vital social services in adoption, immigration, adoption, feeding the destitute and health care by religious groups which are serious about their core beliefs.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com