Combs Spouts Off

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Posts Tagged ‘obama’

Brussels bombings and liberal insanity

Posted by Richard on March 23, 2016

In the wake of the terrible terrorist bombings in Brussels, elements of the mainstream media and left (but I repeat myself) are doubling down on their commitment to the postmodernist belief that there are no objective facts, only their socially-constructed subjective narrative. Case in point (emphasis in original):

The knowledge that the attacks were bombings didn’t stop Atlantic Washington editor Steve Clemons, who phoned into MSNBC and was inside the country, from criticizing Belgium for their “ease of getting guns here.

See there? If, according to your subjective narrative, guns are evil and cause violence, mayhem, and murder, then you can blame guns for jihadist bombings.

Never mind that Belgium has extremely tough gun control laws (which, surprisingly, jihadists and criminals don’t always comply with).

And if, according to your subjective narrative, the real problem facing the West isn’t supremacist radical Islam’s desire to impose its 7th-century religio-political system globally, the real problem is Islamophobia, then you’ll fret not about the possibility of more terrorist attacks, but about how less enlightened people react to such things (emphasis in original):

Appearing on a special extended edition of NBC’s Today on Tuesday, Daily Beast world news editor Christopher Dickey fretted that “rampant Islamophobia” in Europe would intensify following the terrorist attacks in Belgium.

Talking to co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer early in the 11 a.m. ET hour, Dickey warned: “It’s a huge political issue because there already was rampant Islamophobia in this part of the world. And now, you have a situation where people who were not inclined to look suspiciously at Arabs and Muslims, now they’re terrified.”

Meanwhile, our postmodernist, socialist, anti-colonial President schmoozed with totalitarian racist murderers, “welcomed” Castro’s criticisms of the U.S., and praised Cuba’s “human rights advances” in health care and education. But he did devote 51 seconds to the Brussels bombings, mouthing the usual platitudes about “thoughts and prayers,” “solidarity,” etc. And he stuck to “the Obama doctrine” on Islamofascist terrorism:

Obama explained why he attended the game as planned: “It’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world, particularly in this age of 24/7 news coverage, you wanna be respectful and understand the gravity of the situation but the whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives.”

Heaven forbid that anything should disrupt President Barack Hussein Obama’s “ordinary” life.

One of the illuminating passages in Jeffrey Goldberg’s compilation of the wit and wisdom of Barack Obama addresses the subject of terrorism. When it comes to terrorism, this is “the Obama doctrine.” Cool out and learn to live with it. His attitude is complacent. His take on ISIS to Valerie Jarrett represents it: “They’re not coming here to chop our heads off.”

Well, one of them did exactly that in Oklahoma.

Today, we got more of the Obama doctrine (emphasis added):

Speaking to reporters in Argentina Wednesday, President Obama downplayed the gravity of Tuesday’s terror attacks in Brussels by saying ISIS does not pose “an existential threat” to national security.

Earlier in the press conference, Obama showed displeasure when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the Brussels attacks “changed anything.”

I’ve got a lot of things on my plate,” he responded before assuring reporters his top priority is “to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that’s been taking place around the world.”
Given utterances such as these from our “thought leaders” — pundits, journalists, and politicians — it’s understandable (but extremely unfortunate) that many non-postmodern Americans (i.e., the real reality-based community) find the broad-brush, over-the-top, no-nonsense rhetoric of Donald Trump increasingly attractive.

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“Black lives matter” –> “ONLY black lives matter”

Posted by Richard on February 17, 2016

After seven years of rabble-rousing by the president whom we were told would “heal the racial divide,” this sort of thing has become commonplace:

A decorated former Marine was attacked and robbed by at least four people at a Washington D.C. McDonald’s last week, according to local police.

Christopher Marquez, 30, an Iraq War vet, told the Washington Post he was eating in a back corner of the restaurant when a group of teens and young men approached his table.

“They saw me and crowded around … and they started asking me if I believed black lives matter,” Marquez told the paper. “I was ignoring them, then they started calling me racist.”

At that point, Marquez said he left the McDonald’s, but was knocked unconscious by a blow to his head. When he came to, his pants were ripped and his wallet, which contained $400 in cash, three credit cards and VA medical card among other items, was missing.

“I believe this was a hate crime and I was targeted because of my skin color,” Marquez, who is Hispanic, told the Daily Caller. “Too many of these types of attacks have been happening against white people by members of the black community and the majority of the main stream media refuses to report on it.”

 

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Snowmageddon

Posted by Richard on January 23, 2016

I understand that Washington, D.C., is completely shut down. I bet Obama is blaming the Republicans. And Mitch McConnell is calling on members of his party to compromise.

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“By the way, Raoul, do you think you could give us back our missile?”

Posted by Richard on January 8, 2016

Fox News:

An inert U.S. Hellfire missile sent to Europe for a NATO training exercise in 2014 was mistakenly shipped to Cuba and has been there ever since.

Though the missile does not contain any explosives, The Wall Street Journal reports U.S. officials are concerned that Cuban authorites may share the missile’s sensors and targeting technology with countries like Russia, China and North Korea.

May? It’s been there a year and a half. The targeting technology is probably already in the hands of every unsavory regime from the DPRK to Iran and may well be for sale on the darknet.

Several people familiar with the case told the Journal that the incident is the worst example of sensitive military technology falling into the hands of a nation under U.S. sanctions that they can recall.

According to the Journal report, the missile was properly shipped to Spain, where it was used in the exercise. It was then supposed to be taken on a roundabout journey back to the U.S. via Germany. Instead, the Journal reported the missile was loaded onto an Air France truck that took the cargo to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where it was put on a flight to Havana.

The Journal reported that federal investigators were working to determine whether the shipment was the result of a major error, or the work of international criminals or spies.

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that manufacturer Lockheed Martin was authorized to export the dummy missile for the training exercise. The official attributed the shipping error to Lockheed’s freight forwarders, and said the U.S. was working with Lockheed to get the device back.

I try always to remember Hanlon’s Razor. But in this case, William of Ockham has assured me that “major error” is nowhere near the simplest explanation. A much simpler explanation is that someone(s) perpetrated something similar to the FedEx shipping theft scheme unearthed last year.

And “working with Lockheed to get the device back”? Does Lockheed have some in with the Castro regime that I’m not aware of?

U.S. officials have been urging the Cuban government to return the missile, the Journal said, adding that officials don’t suspect that Cuba will try to develop similar weapons technology on its own. The U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations in July 2015 after more than 50 years of hostility.

Obama is willing to do whatever it takes (constitutional or not) to deprive Social Security recipients and veterans who need help with their finances of their Second Amendment rights. But he wouldn’t make restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba contingent on the return of that Hellfire? Has there ever been another instance of the leader of a country so clearly being an enemy of that country?

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The President beclowns himself

Posted by Richard on December 6, 2015

I didn’t watch the President’s prime-time speech tonight. But I took a quick look around the interwebs later, and I thought The Onion came up with a hilarious parody headline:

Obama: Increasing Gun Control, Rejecting Islamophobia Are Key to Combating Terrorism

Oh, wait. That’s not The Onion. That’s Slate. And they’re serious. He’s serious.

I guess I’m not all that surprised.

Obama did finally acknowledge that San Bernardino was a terrorist act. Prior to tonight, he, his lackeys, and their sycophants in the MSM had clung to the “workplace violence” theory to the point where it was laughable.

No surprise: Obama wants to trash the Second Amendment. He’s passionately opposed to discriminating against Muslims in any way, but he’s demanding that everyone on the government’s outrageous no-fly list be denied a fundamental human and Constitutional right without due process of law. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy was on the no-fly list, and it took him forever to get off. IIRC, at least 40% of the people on the no-fly list are there for no good reason.

Big surprise: Obama didn’t claim that limiting carbon dioxide emissions was the third key to combating terrorism. Maybe after the joke that was the Paris climate summit, he’s decided to cool it with the climate change rhetoric for a while.

You see what I did there?

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Bibi wins, Obama election meddling fails

Posted by Richard on March 18, 2015

So, Obama’s efforts to influence an election with tax dollars funneled through non-profits didn’t work as well in Israel as it did in the United States.

I guess they didn’t have the Acorn-style infrastructure or the SEIU-style goons.

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Obama administration to regulate gas fireplaces

Posted by Richard on January 31, 2015

The Daily Caller headline reads “Feds To Regulate Fake Fireplaces To Stop Global Warming.”

Better go out and buy a gas fireplace and stove soon before federal regulations make them more expensive. Federal officials are looking to regulate the energy usage of fake fireplaces as part of the Obama administration’s effort to fight global warming.

I think they missed an opportunity there. The headline should have read “Feds To Regulate Fake Fireplaces To Pretend to Stop Fake Global Warming.”

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Obama plan to tax college savings reveals his Marxist core

Posted by Richard on January 20, 2015

A couple of weeks ago, President Obama proposed to make community college “free” for everyone. Of course, just like lunch, there is no free community college. The cost, which the administration says will be $60 billion over 10 years (but will probably be several times that), must be borne by someone. His plan to pay for it (leaked in advance of the state of the union address) reveals how thoroughly Marxist Obama is in his core beliefs.

For years, parents (and grandparents) have been urged to save for their kids’ college educations by regularly contributing to a 529 college savings plan. You’ve probably seen the public service announcements countless times on TV. Like a 401k, the contributions grow tax-free in the plan. Like a health savings account, the money isn’t taxed if withdrawn for the intended purpose, in this case college expenses. This is what people have been promised for the past 15 years in order to encourage them to be thrifty and plan for their children’s future.

Obama wants to break that promise. He wants to tax the savings of the thrifty and responsible parents and grandparents in order to give a “free” college education to everyone. It illustrates perfectly that the core belief driving him is the Marxist dictum, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

This is but one of several wealth redistribution schemes being unveiled, supposedly to help “the middle class” at the expense of “the wealthiest.” Like most such schemes, it won’t just take from “the wealthiest” — not that it would be any less evil if it did. My guess is that the typical contributor to a 529 college savings plan is firmly in the middle class, not in the much-maligned 1%.

This contemptible proposal would punish personal responsibility, foresight, and thrift, while rewarding lack of personal responsibility, failure to plan, and dependency. In practical terms, you get less of what you punish and more of what you reward. In moral terms, this is punishing good people precisely for their goodness, and that is vile.

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Millions rally against terror in Paris; Obama admin skipped it

Posted by Richard on January 11, 2015

Today was an incredible day in Paris:

The French Interior Ministry said the rally for unity against terrorism is the largest demonstration in France’s history.

Calling the rally “unprecedented,” the ministry said the demonstrators are so numerous they spread beyond the official march route, making them impossible to count.

French media estimate up to 3.7 million are taking part, more than the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.

More than 40 world leaders joined French President Francois Hollande in the march, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Jordan’s King Abdullah.

So what about President Obama? Meh, too far to travel for something other than a vacation or a round of golf. No Biden either, which is probably just as well; too much risk of embarrassing the US. A prominent member of the cabinet, perhaps? Well, that could easily have happened, but …

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is in Paris this week to attend a meeting on fighting terrorism, but did not participate in the march.

Apparently, the only representative of the United States government was Ambassador to France Jane Hartley. She probably didn’t have far to go; the US embassy is near Place de la Concorde, which I’m guessing was on the march route.

Hartley is the perfect person to represent the Obama administration at such an event. Like most of Obama’s ambassadorial appointments, she has zero foreign policy experience, but was a major “bundler” of campaign contributions in both 2008 and 2012. Besides, having a higher-ranking administration official represent the US might give people the mistaken impression that this administration considers opposition to terrorism important. Or, Allah forbid, that it sees jihad as a threat.

SMDH.

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Our delusional narcissist-in-chief

Posted by Richard on November 6, 2014

Judging from yesterday’s press conference, it’s pretty clear what President Obama, our delusional narcissist-in-chief, believes caused the Democrats’ cataclysmic collapse on Tuesday: tens of millions of Americans are dispirited, disheartened, and disillusioned because he hasn’t been able to fundamentally transform America faster, so they stayed home.

Go with that, Democrats.

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The award for best Bergdahl commentary goes to…

Posted by Richard on June 5, 2014

MAD Magazine for “Barack Obama’s Unfortunate New Movie”! Priceless:

What, Me Worry?

HT: Reason Hit & Run Blog

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How unique is Obama’s cabinet?

Posted by Richard on May 4, 2014

This bar graph tells you everything you need to know about the Obama cabinet.

cabinet-comparison

 

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That “smoking gun” Benghazi email

Posted by Richard on May 1, 2014

By now, you may have heard about the email that’s been labeled a “smoking gun” regarding the administration’s Benghazi coverup. It’s one of 41 documents finally obtained by Judicial Watch as the result of an FOIA lawsuit filed last summer. The email in question, written by Ben Rhodes on 9/14/12, sets out the talking points for Ambassador Susan Rice to use in her multiple Sunday news show appearances two days later. Rhodes’ title is “Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting.”

Is this email a smoking gun? If you rely on the Associated Press story (as it appears in the Denver Post), you have no way of knowing. AP simply presents it as “Carney said, Graham said” — as if there’s no definitive way of determining the truth. But there is.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl tweeted a picture of the relevant section of the email, which Carney insisted was not about Benghazi. It contains the heading “Benghazi.” The first talking point under that heading tells Rice to say “the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by protests at the US Embassy in Cairo” (see below). We know from other information (including earlier messages in the same email thread) that everyone involved at the White House was already aware that this was a planned terrorist attack and that there was no preceding “demonstration.”

If you rely on CBS for your news (really?!), you don’t know anything at all about this email because CBS News hasn’t reported the story. I wonder if that is in any way related to the fact that presidential advisor Ben Rhodes is the brother of CBS News President David Rhodes.

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SNL lampoons Obama and Obamacare push

Posted by Richard on March 29, 2014

Saturday Night Live’s opening monologue lampooned Obama and the desperate attempts to sell Obamacare in the way that they used to lampoon Bush. It’s not uproariously funny, but it’s well worth watching. I’d embed it here, but instead I’m going to direct you to SNL Cold Open: How Far Will Obama Go To Sell Obamacare? Bieber Tongue Bath Far? Or Just Pope Pimpin’? by Caleb Howe. You can watch it there.

The alternative is to quote Howe’s comments in their entirety, because they’re really much more entertaining than the skit. Especially if you’re a “Once Upon a Time” fan.

Be sure to scroll on down and read Caleb Howe’s short biography. It’s pretty funny too.

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More Obama administration lawlessness to come?

Posted by Richard on March 18, 2014

The Obama administration has ignored laws, unilaterally changed laws, and administratively enacted laws, demonstrating complete indifference to the separation of powers and contempt for the legislative branch. Now it seems poised to also demonstrate its contempt for the judicial branch. Michael Cannon at Forbes (bold emphasis added):

As readers of this blog know, the plaintiffs in Halbig v. Sebelius and three similar cases are challenging the IRS’s attempt to issue certain subsidies and impose certain taxes where it has no authority to do so: in the 34 states that have chosen not to establish a health insurance “exchange” under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Oral arguments in Halbig are scheduled for March 25 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Read all about the these cases here.

On Wednesday, March 12, government lawyers filed with the court a brief but strange “notice of supplemental authority” that seems to suggest the IRS will keep issuing those subsidies and imposing those taxes even if the court declares the agency has no authority to do so.

Instead of jailing “climate change deniers,” we should jail “Constitution deniers.”

The Cato Institute has lots more about Halbig and related cases.

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