Student Activist Emma Gonzalez's "Modest Proposals" on Sensible Gun Reform Now

Emma Gonzalez, one of the prominent progressive student activists who emerged from the Parkland Florida High School shooting, participated in a panel on "Guns, Violence and Student Activism: A Push for Change" before the  Education Writers Association conference at the University of Southern California.

Ms. Gonzalez  has progressed from perseverating on her fifteen school mates and two teachers who were slain by troubled expelled former student during her emotional "Six Minute and Twenty Second" speech at the March for Our Lives in Washington DC.

Responding to instances of gun violence, Gonzalez shot her mouth off opining that it was cheaper just to have a gun grab.  What was more memorable than the pat answer to take away AR-15s was her profane exhortation that people who wanted to shoot such firearms should join the Army and defend their fucking country (sic).


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Aside from the crudity of the comment, it is ironic that Gonzalez urges gun enthusiasts to defend America.  Gonzalez chose to attire herself at the big gun march in military gear wearing a Cuban flag patch.  Hmm.   Now she is advocating gun grabs by the government. Wonder where else this has happened? How about: Nazi Germany; Cuba; Venezuela

It is sad to see how the left continues to exploit Parkland High student activists like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez to push for Gun Control.  These traumatized teens certainly had compelling stories when they could relate the travesty in which they had to endure.  But now that they opine on the political stage and advocate for broad public policy, it is no longer out of the mouths of babes and they are not bullet proof from criticism or skeptically challenging their suggestions.

Since the election of President Donald Trump, much of the radicalized Left in the Democrat party has sought to enflame their electorate through identity politics and mass movements.  The Women Who Hate Trump March the day after the 45th President's inauguration and the March for Our Lives in March 2018 were supposed to bring down the ramparts and inspire the masses to bring down this Presidency and his presumably backwards policies. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL 23rd) recently highlighted her alignment with the gun grabbing movement as an obvious wedge issue pitch for the 2018 Midterm Elections

Alas, both the Womens' March and the supposed students' March for Our Lives have not inspired sustained fulmination. If one looks to polling, the Blue Wave seems dubious and Trump Presidential approval ratings are increasing, despite a barrage of negative press from the mainstream media.

Using these students as tools to push for political change may well backfire.  David Hogg's profane pontifications to hurt those associated with gun rights (particularly the NRA)  has unwittingly spurred a multitude of new NRA memberships.  Emma Gonzalez's obscene observations about the AR-15 and seeming disparagement of serving one's country will reverberate in the minds of many newfound Great Revolt Trump voters  as did Senator John Kerry's (D-MA)  2004 "Get good grades or get stuck in Iraq" flak

The Din of Disdain for Obama's Chief "Diplomatch" John Kerry

In the waning days of the Obama Administration, international affairs are sullying the lame duck President's legacy.  In a United Nations Security Council vote held before Christmas, the United States failed to block a resolution condemning Israel for settlements in disputed territories. 

This was a shift in American policy, which had previously threatened to veto such condemnations of our democratic ally in the Middle East.  It is widely speculated that American diplomats orchestrated the UN Security Council Vote vote, which the US subsequently abstained to not have diplomatic fingerprints on the rebuke of the Jewish State.

After Christmas, President Obama's Secretary of State doubled down on critics of America's ally in Israel with a 73 minute repetitive harangue of a speech which chided Israel about settlements 42 times and occupation 14 times, while the haughty foreign minister only mentioned Iran and Hezbollah one time, and Hamas (which is part of the Palestinian governing leadership) four times. Perhaps Kerry thinks that America's foreign policy will now pass "the global test". 





Reaction to the Obama Administration's outgoing admonitions of Israel have been swift and bipartisan. The Washington Times characterized incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)  as tearing into John Kerry's Israeli speech as it emboldened extremists. House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY 16th) vowed to work with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Congress withholding UN funds until the anti- Israel vote is reversed   Senator Cruz had some bitter analysis over the Obama Administration's anti-Israel tact.

Even President Elect Donald Trump entered the fray, opining on social media that things would   change come January 20th.

Recently, a progressive interlocutor opined that President Obama has been Israel's best friend ever.  I thought that was a dubious assertion.  But Secretary of State Kerry's penchant for acting like a Diplomatch (sic) really impeaches that opinion. 

Even after all of the tumult after the 2016 election, it is surprising that what is bringing Democrats and Republicans together is the foreign policy pyrotechnics of the outgoing Obama Administration. 

John Kerry on the Iran Nuke Deal

John Kerry on the Iran Nuke Deal

Governor Mike Huckabee on Iran Nuke Deal

John Kerry:<< ISIS is no more a state than I am a helicopter>>

An Obama White House Easter Bunny?

h/t: Michael Ramirez

Sec. State John Kerry's Open Mike Admonition of Israel

President Obama's current Secretary of State John F. Kerry was making the rounds on the Sunday morning talking heads shows.  With the crises concerning the shootdown of a commercial airliner in Ukraine by Russian paramilitaries, the quiet but questionable extension of Iranian nuclear talks and Israel's military incursion into Gaza to stop a fortnight of wild bombardments by Hamas forces, Kerry even felt obliged to venture to the challenging confines of Fox News.  

During the contentious conversation between FNC Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace and Mr. Kerry, the Secretary of State was challenged to explain an on-mike "moment of truth" uttered about Israel''s Operation Protective Edge.  While Kerry was in front of a television camera in Foggy Bottom and wired via microphone to FNC, the Secretary of State had a conversation with an aide named John. 

 Kerry sarcastically characterized the IDF's actions as  "a helluva pinpoint operation" to root out terror tunnels on the Israel/Gaza border.   Kerry indicated that he felt compelled to rush over to the region.  

It is worth nothing that these terror tunnels are on Israeli territory and the IDF has destroyed dozens of them in the first few days of Operation Protective Edge 

Secretary of State Kerry's tone and tenor seems to demonstrate the Obama Administration's veiled disdain for America's strongest and most reliable ally in the region, namely Israel.

The episode also underlines the imprudence of the Obama Administration's repeated conduct of sensitive foreign policy subjects within range of a "hot mike".  In March 2012, when President Obama told then  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev:   “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev's infamous answer sounded like codewords from KAOS but indicated more friendly relations with the Russian Federation.

John Kerry on the "Cross Currents of Modernity"

While  speaking at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Secretary of State John F. Kerry remarked about the "cross-currents of modernity" in Africa.  Kerry made these "cross-current" comments in tandem with remarks calling for respecting the rights and liberties of individuals. 

It could be a veiled reference to the persecution of Ethiopian Christians as the Islamist group Kewarjah, repeatedly attacks Christians in Southwest Ethiopia.  Moreover, the government has sought to ban all religious messages and talks in public. 

However, the Secretary of State's summary of his talks neither seem to approve  of religious pluralism or respecting religious observance. This hardly reflect President Obama's recent robust public comments endorsing religious freedom.   Kerry's  even-handed approach to addressing religious liberty in Ethiopia dismisses religious creed as being relevant in the "cross-currents of modernity" and declines to address what religious fanatics are enforcing their interpretations of faith. 

John Kerry Lurches Forward on the Levant

When speaking in a closed door meeting of the Trilateral Commission, Obama Administration Secretary of State John F. Kerry opined that a two state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian affair was the only alternative to apartheid or annihilation of Israel.  This comes after talks with the Palestinian Authority were broken off by Israel as P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas reconciled with Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the Jewish State.

There are a few remarkable things about Secretary of State Kerry's admission.  It envisages that a one state solution could only be conducted under Palestinian auspices.  Currently, Arabs who live in Israel are first class citizens with full rights.  Muslim lead governments in the Mid-East have dhimmi second class citizens who do not ascribe to Islam but are countenanced by paying a jizha tax.

Secondly, Kerry's choice of words is alarming.   Notwithstanding the validity of Kerry's contention, applying the word apartheid is alarming as it introduces a pejorative phrase to the diplomatic toolbox for Israeli/Palestinian relations.  While apartheid is much more likely on the Palestinian plane, anti-semitic elements are much more likely to cast Israelis as the authors of apartheid.

Thirdly, the Obama Administration's Minister to the world has revealed the meaninglessness of President Obama's promise to Israel "I have Israel's back" when he was out of the campaign hustings in 2012.  To paraphrase another flimsy Obama promise: "If you like your state, then you can keep it."  It's a pity that too many people relied up these sweet sounding cozenings in exchange for their support.

Bolton: "That's like sending a cupcake to negotiate with a steak knife"

John Bolton is a trained foreign ambassador but he does not spew diplomatic niceties when analyzing the Obama foreign policy failures, as evidenced in Ukraine.

Kerry On My Wayward Son

McCain Spares the Rod and Spoils the Staff With O’Bagy Hire

[L] Elizabeth O'Bagy [R] Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Ordinarily in political circles the  hiring a Legislative Assistant in the Senate does not make headlines.  But Senator McCain’s (R-AZ) retention of Elizabeth O’Bagy’s services as a L.A. in his Washington office manages to achieve that dubious distinction.  Foreign Policy "The Cable" website reports through its website that the Senior Senator has hired the 26 year old foreign policy researcher three weeks after she was released from the Institute for the Study of War, a neoconservative think tank.

O’Bagy wrote an op/ed titled “On the Front Lines of Syria’s Civil War” for the Wall Street Journal, which downplayed the reach of Jabhut al Nursa (an Al Qaeda affiliate) fighters  in the Syrian Free Army, and suggested that such  jihadists were concentrating in a couple of northern, rebel held areas of Syria.  Esssentially, O'Bagy was allaying fears that U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict would, in the words of former Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH 10th), be acting as Al Qaeda's air force.

In the rush to get Congressional blessing for President Obama’s aborted red line attack threat against  Bashar Assad’s government forces in Syria for chemical weapons use, O’Bagy’s analysis was spotlighted.  Both Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Senator John McCain referenced and relied upon O’Bagy’s opinion.

Yet within a week of having her research promoted by Obama’s Secretary of State and the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, O’Bagy was unceremoniously severed from her stint as the ‘Syria Analyst” at the Institute for the Study of War.  Officially, O’Bagy was fired because she falsely had purported to have a combined masters/Ph.D. from Georgetown University, when she had not even defended her thesis.  But O’Bagy’s prominence on the political stage also revealed that O’Bagy served as the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force, which was neither  disclosed in the WSJ op/ed nor mentioned by Kerry or McCain when confirming their bent for war in the Levant.

The mission of the Syrian Emergency Task Force has been characterized by critics as pushing weapons and other military support to the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamist brigades in Syria.  The Syria Emergency task force derives its funding from a State Deparment funded Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.

O’Bagy for her part claims that she was a contractor for the Syrian Emergency Task Force and not an employee.  Of course, that is a distinction without a difference when it comes to conflicts of interest in setting American foreign policy.  When asked about a conflict of interest, O’Bagy told the Daily Caller “I work for the Syrian people.”

 O’Bagy claims that she did not help the Syrian Emergency Task Force lobby. Yet O’Bagy admits to facilitating a meeting between Syrian rebel commanders  and Senator McCain in May. McCain maintains that he met with patriotic rebels and no terrorists.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) meeting with Syrian rebel commanders, May 2013

When questioned about hiring O'Bagy, Senator McCain endorsed the new L.A. by saying: "Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year. "I look forward to her joining my office."  So the conflict of interest by O'Bagy working for the Syrian people was no problem for the maverick Senator.

This is a serious lapse of judgment by Senator McCain.  As the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, McCain's viewpoints are influential in facilitating American Foreign Policy.  The senior Senator from Arizona should be receiving clear guidance, not having his opinions skewed by an aide who has declared herself allied with Syria, and has ties to groups that are aligned against broader United States interests.  By sparing the rod, McCain has spoiled his staff.

h/t: The Cable

A Bit of the Hub of Strange Activity With the Boston Bombing

One of the nicknames for the city of Boston is “The Hub” as Bostonians consider themselves living in “The Hub of the Universe”.   Alas, after the Boston Marathon Bombing, it has become the hub of strange activity.   The race of government investigators to find those responsible for exploding two IED bombs that currently have killed three people and severely injured at least 150 has been conducted over a strange path indeed.

On the one hand, it is wise to remember in breaking news stories that initial reports are often wrong and the fog of war can obscure the truth.  Yet on the other hand, the Fort Hood shootings and the Benghazi bungle has shown how the Obama Administration will consciously publicize false stories, obstruct the truth and deny responsibility when it comes to linking the White House to foreign inspired terrorism during President Obama’s watch. 

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Yesterday was a strange day in the Lamestream Media.  Major news organizations like CNN and Fox News were reporting at 1:30 EDT from tips from high placed police sources that a suspect in the Boston Bombings was going to be arrested.  CNN’s John King reportage revealed that it was a “dark skinned man, but he did lingustical gymnastics so as not to report that he was foreign or a Muslim.  



The media expected a 1 PM FBI briefing on the impending arrest that was delayed five times then cancelled.  It is strange that two prominent media sources were burned with this explosive information. 

But putting these strange events in the Hub can best be understood by breaking the Bostonian conceit that it is the Hub of the Universe.  Events our nation's Capital, the  District of Calamity (sic) may have severely impacted the Boston Bombing investigations.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State John Kerry had a photo op scheduled with a Saudi counterpart.  At the last minute, the meeting became a closed door meeting and the photo op was explained away as a scheduling mistake.  It is strange that Foggy Bottom would have set up a photo op for a scheduling mistake. 

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama had an unscheduled meeting with the Saudi Ambassador.  It was a “walk by” meeting, so as not to have it on the White House schedule.  The procedure is for a lower level Executive Branch official to have a meeting with an open office door and the Chief Executive walks by and notices someone and then has a closed door meeting.

What makes these instances of Executive Branch minutia relevant is how the story changed in Boston.  Sudden, there was no suspect that was going to be arrested.  In fact, the Saudi who had been a person of interest was suddenly slated to be deported.  





This repatriation to the Saudi Arabia for  20-year-old Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi was being framed as being close to his family.  But  Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi comes from a prominent Saudi family which may be supporters of Wahabbism (the sect of Sunni Islam that inspires Al Qaeda).  So the young Saudi with powder mark burns on his hands would be an embarrassment to the Saudi Kingdom and might cause a diplomatic fissure with the United States. 

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A hospitalized Abdul Rhaman Ali Albabi [photo: Okaz]

When Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi was considered a person of interest, an event file was created.  According to ICE, the reason is under section 212 3B — “Security and related grounds” — “Terrorist activities”.   Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi ‘s visa had been revoked and he had submitted to voluntary departure.  But before these public papers were classified and he was quietly shuffled off to Saudi, The Blaze exposed the situation and officials are reconsidering their strategy.   But the Saudi newspaper Okaz reports that the Saudi consulate has been assured that all Saudis have been cleared, including Alharabi and Nura Kahlid Saleh al-Ajaji

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So if the reports  about the linkage with the Saudis and dark skinned males are accurate, it does not fit the narrative which the Obama Administration would approve.  

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Before jumping to conclusions, it would be wise for the facts to shake out.  Unfortunately, experience has taught that the Obama Administration and the compliant Lamestream Media are happy to shun inconvenient truths.  And the hub of strange activity around the Boston Bombing has done nothing to dispel this perspective. 

Strange days indeed. 

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Congressional Kabuki Show Returns with a Fluke-y Farce

Karl Marx argued that “History repeats itself, first as a tragedy then as a farce.”  This axiom came to mind when examining the recent Congressional testimony of Georgetown University Law Student and “reproductive rights activist” Sandra  Fluke.  It is remarkable how strikingly similar Fluke’s mien is to then Lieutenant John F. Kerry (he served in the Vietnam War, you know) when he testified before the Senate in April 1971.

 

 Aside from the aesthetics, both Kerry and Fluke allowed themselves to be used to advance their ideological causes. Kerry allowed himself to be used as the poster boy for the Winter Soldier hearings.  Fluke chose to be the cause célèbre for the Sebilius contraceptive mandate.  Kerry made explosive accusations about the Vietnam War to further his anti-war aim.



 While the Winter Soldier testimony jaundiced the nation on America's efforts in Indochina, his colleagues later successfully discredited his testimony through the Swift Boats for Truth campaign in 1984. Sandra Fluke made headlines when the Georgetown Law student and "Reproductive Justice" lobbyist was barred from testifying on a panel about religious liberty in regards to the HHS contraceptive mandate.

When Fluke finally testified before the House Democrat Steering Committee, she made some incredible accusations.



It did not take a generation to debunk Fluke's fantastic policy claims.

  READ MORE at the DCBarroco website