Thursday, December 31, 2015
President Obama's Happy New Year Message to the American People From a Hawaii Golf Course
“Happy New year America. We still have so much to accomplish this year, my last full year as President.
Don’t believe the naysayers who say I’m a lame duck. Not me. We have so much to accomplish this year as I fulfill my 2008 campaign promises.
Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were dead ducks once they lost their reelection bids.
Not me; I won big over the hapless Mitt Romney.
Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were lame ducks because their presidencies were exhausted.
Not me. I’ve spent the past 7 years golfing and vacationing at taxpayer expense to stay refreshed rather than reading daily briefings and position papers. Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and Oahu during winter are invigorating. My golf game is better than ever.
The most immediate goal is to close GITMO. I promised it, and I fulfill my campaign promises, unlike most candidates. GITMO will close, despite Congressional objections, even if I have to release some of the detainees onto the streets.
I’m not worried about Congress. They will not impeach me no matter what I do this year. Our Congressional policy remains simple – Stonewall.
I’m also not worried about the Supreme Court. Any decisions will be decided after my term in office is long over. Besides, we proved we could intimidate Chief Justice Roberts on the two critical ObamaCare opinions.
My legacy of fundamentally transforming America rests on the election of Hillary Clinton as my successor. My Administration, my guys, will not indict her, period.
Islamic terrorism, despite reports to the contrary, does not exist. I know from my wonderful, youthful years growing up in Islamic Indonesia that Muslims are peaceful. Therefore any terrorists cannot be true Muslims.
If there are any new attacks on our safe homeland I will first reaffirm that we should not blame Islam and Muslims for the attacks. Second, I will use the attacks as a call for further gun control.
I know that I did not expressly campaign for gun control in 2008, but you all really knew I supported gun control and gay marriage. I just wasn’t ready to come out then.
I will announce executive orders next week that will bypass Congress on gun control.
I will continue to unilaterally implement open borders as well as de facto amnesty for those already here.
My foreign policy is premised on the United States being an imperialistic power, which must change. We have pulled out of Iraq, as promised. We have one more year to leave Afghanistan, as promised. We have stayed out of the quicksand of the Mideast and will remain out of China and Russia’s way.
I recognize Iran as the true power in the Mideast, and will continue to practice appeasement with the Mullahs.
I despise Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. My disdain will reach new heights in 2016. Note carefully that our NSA is still spying on them. Israel will not be allowed to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities during the upcoming year. We once threatened to shot their attack planes out of the sky if they attacked Iran. That threat remains a lynchpin of our Mideast strategy.
It’s clear that the Syrian conflict is fueled by global warming, which remains the greatest threat to the security of America.
We will implement, through the EPA and other agencies, the recent Paris accords on climate change with or without Congressional support. The Paris Accords are cleverly drafted to be binding under international law even without Congressional approval. You should not think of investing in coal, or other fossil fuels. The Republicans in Congress renewed the solar and wind subsidies.
We will fight fracking and offshore oil. I will declare all federal lands a national monument if necessary.
I have substantially reduced our military. We can transfer those funds to social problems. The Navy is done to 280 ships. The Army and Air Force have similarly shrunk. More cuts are to come. We might finally get rid of the effective ground support A 10 Warthogs.
Our economic policy is based on two operating principles: redistributionism and increased government regulation since the government is the source of economic prosperity. We must continue to transfer resources to the disadvantaged communities.
Michelle will continue to fight for restrictions on unhealthy foods, especially for our children.
The criminal justice system is fundamentally unfair. It discriminates against minorities. I will continue to side with my black brothers against the racist police. I will speak out about police shootings while remaining silent on black on black crimes within the inner cities. Restraining the police remains one of the Department of Justice’s priorities.
Look for continued criminal prosecutions of corporations on any ground.
I will pardon scores of prisoners, and, if necessary, members of my administration.
Happy 2016 New Year from Oahu!. I will now return to the links”
Let Ethan Couch, the Affluenza Brat, Spend the Next Several Months in a Mexican Jail
Ethan Crouch, Texas' affluenza teenager/brat fled justice in America with Tonya, his mom, or was it mommy and the brat? They fled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – not a barrio.
Ethan ducked out of a routine probation meeting after a video recorded a raucous party with teenage friends, presumably affluenza soulbodies. The video does not show Ethan imbibing, which would have been a clear violation of the terms of his probation.
If he wasn’t drinking, it would have been his only smart act of the past three years.
In any event momma and momma’s boy fled to the consternation of Tarrant County. The District Attorney, Sheriff, and much of America were chagrined at the 10 years probation handed out by a hopelessly flawed Tarrant County judge in response to a novel, legally unrecognized claim of affluenza.
Dick Miller, the defense attorney’s shrink, argued Ethan could not be responsible for killing four people and injured nine while driving drunk. One of Couch’s teenage passengers was left paralyzed for life with brain damage. Eric’s blood alcohol level tested at .24 three hours after the tragic accident.
Miller testified that Ethan was so spoiled that he could not tell right from wrong. Miller now says he shouldn’t have used the word affluenza. “Spoiled brat” is a better description.
Ethan Crouch was drunk; it was his choice to drink, to drive, to steal cases of beer from WalMart.
The judge bought the crockpot argument hook, line and sinker. Justice should be blind – not stupid!
Tarrant County wanted Eric back to face justice, real justice. Federal marshals joined the pursuit. A nationwide bolo went out for mother and son.
The County has been accused by some of wasting too much money in seeking the affluenza brat.
Whatever they spent was a small price for the return of the errant Eric.
Mother and child had carefully prepared their escape from justice. He died his blond hair black, She cut her hair. They ditched their identifications. Who would find the gringos in Puerto Vallarta, popular with affluent Americans?
The Couch’s failed to take one critical precaution. They should have bought some burner phones. Instead, the idiots used their cell phone, even being stupid enough to use it to order a pizza from Domino’s in Puerto Vallarta.
Duane “Mad Dog” Chapman, the fabled bounty hunter, could have brought them back. He had tracked down in 2003 the fleeing date rape drug rapist Andrew Luster, the heir to the Max Factor fortune, in Puerto Vallarta. Chapman though is persona non-gratis in Mexico.
Mexican authorities arrested mother and child for violating Mexican law. They overstayed their lawful trip to Mexico by not registering under Mexican law.
Momma was deported yesterday to Los Angeles, and was escorted in handcuffs through LAX. She faces up to ten years in jail.
Ethan though is still in Mexico. Attorneys obtained an injunction entitling him to a hearing on his claim that it would be unfair to deport him to the United States.
He’s seeking justice and fairness in Mexico in an immigration jail in Mexico City. It may take days, weeks, or even months for a decision to be reached. There’s no requirement of a speedy resolution in Mexico. Mexico has no use for him. They’ll happily ship him back to the states, but let them take as much time as they want. Keep Ethan in a Mexican jail however long the system takes.
I say, let him stay in the Mexican jail without momma. Maybe he will start to rot in the Mexican jail.
Maybe he will think about his acts. Maybe he will reacquire a respect for American justice.
And maybe, even under the sentencing quirks of Texas law for juveniles, justice delayed may not be justice denied for Ethan Couch.
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
UCLA Professor Patrick Harran Received a Lump of Coal for Christmas
Professor Patrick Harran is a brilliant organic chemistry professor on the rise. He graduated from Skidmore in 1990, followed by a Ph.D. in 195 at Yale. He then served as a postdoc at Stanford and moved in 1997 to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for almost 11 years. He received many awards in this time.
He was extensively wooed by UCLA and joined the school in July 2008 as the first holder of the endowed Donald J. and Jane M. Cram Professor of Organic Chemistry. UCLA offered him a $3.2 million budget to build a state of the art organic chemistry laboratory as part of the deal. His current annual salary is stated to be $302,000.
Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji was a brilliant student from Pakistan. She graduated from Pomona College in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree. Professor Harran hired her as a graduate research assistant in his new UCLA lab. She began work in October 2008.
Tragedy followed.
Shari was transferring t-butyl lithium from one container to another on December 29, 2008 when it escaped. T-butyl lithium is a pyrophoric chemical. It ignites spontaneously when exposed to air, as it did when it escaped from Shari’s plastic syringe. Her clothes caught on fire. She sustained second and third degree burns on 40% of her body, succumbing to the injuries 18 days later on January 16, 2009.
Investigations quickly revealed lax lab safety procedures on the part of UCLA. A UCLA investigator on October 28, two months before the lab tragedy, found a number of deficiencies, including “eye protection, nitrile (synthetic rubber) gloves and lab coats were not worn by laboratory personnel.”
Cal/OSHA cited UCLA 16 times in 14 the moths after the Sangji accident for safety violations.
UCLA graduate students had earlier received severe, but non-fatal, burns in November 2007, and December 22, 2008 without changes in safety procedures. In neither case was the victim wearing a lab coat. Sheri Sangji’s accident was a tragedy waiting to happen.
These deficiencies persisted at the time of the tragedy. Indeed, Shari was wearing neither a standard lab coat nor a fire resistant lab coat. She was wearing instead a synthetic sweatshirt, which easily caught on fire.
Cal/OSHA fined UCLA $32,825 in May 2009 for 4 safety citations at the time of Shari’s accident. A separate blistering, criminal report was sent to the Los Angeles District Attorney, who proceeded in file in 2011 three criminal felony charges against UCLA and three (later raised to our) against Professor Harran for violations of California’s safety codes, including the failure to provide proper safety training.
Los Angeles is one of several communities that routinely investigate workplace deaths for possible criminal violations.
Professor Harran’s response to Ms. Sangji’s tragic death was that it was unfortunate, but that she was a “seasoned chemist who chose not to wear protective gear.” This line of argument was echoed by the defense attorneys and supporters of Professor Harran. The lawyers also argued that a prosecution of Professor Harran would impede the war on cancer.
The facts are vastly different. Ms. Sangji had never handled this type of chemical prior to her work at UCLA. She knew a lot, but received no “generalized safety training.” Professor Harran also admitted that no fire resistant clothing was available to lab employees at the time of the accident. Ms. Sangji. Not only was she not ever properly trained, but she also was never issued a lab coat.
To be fair to UCLA, lab safety was “loose” in the academic community as compared to private labs. The PI’s in charge of the university labs, such as professor Patrick Harran, were “captains” of their ships, judged by the grants they brought in.
As more and more details emerged, and as the science community internationally did not rally to the defense of UCLA or Professor Harran, the case became increasingly untenable. UCLA settled on July 27, 2012. It agreed to tighten safety standards and set up a $500,000 scholarship fund in her name. UCLA has also said that it has spent at least $20 million in improving lab safety on its campus. UCLA created a Center for Laboratory Safety. UCLA performed only 365 lab inspections in 2007 but almost 2,400 in 2010.
Professor Harran held out for two more years. He was concerned that if he received a felony conviction then he would effectively be cut off from future research grants.
A final agreement was reached with the DA’s office on June 20, 2014. He agreed to perform 800 hours of community service at the UCLA Medical Center, teach an organic chemistry course to inner city students for 5 summers, pay $10,000 to the Grossman Burn center, and commit no more safety violations. If he upholds his end of the agreement, then all charges will be dropped in five years by the DA’s office.
He said “I have always felt I failed Sheri, and I deeply mourn her loss.”
The legal defense was expensive. The UCLA Board of regents retained legal counsel to represent both the University and separately Professor Harran. The defense did not come cheap. Paul Hastings represented UCLA at a cost of $3.1 million. Mannett, Phelps and Phillips, representing UCLA received $1.3 million in fees. Munger, Tolles & Olson, a third large firm, also received legal fees in the case. UCLA spent about $4.5 million in legal fees and costs in the criminal liability for over 7,700 billable hours. One lawyers charge $$792,000 in fees while 4 others received over $500,000 in fees. Five dozen attorneys, paralegals, and clerks worked on the defense.
The international research community has paid great attention to the LA case, resulting in changes.
Professor Harran is free to carry on his promising research. Ms. Sangji’s family protested to no avail at the settlement hearing.
Professor Harran’s reputation is tarred by the tragedy.
He was on the path again to professional success.
Or not!
It was announced in November 2015 that the Chemistry Division of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) nominated Professor Harran to be a prestigious AALS Fellow.
An uproar resulted. Too many scientists did not, after all, want to be associated with Professor Harran. The AAAS announced on December 22 that the Chemistry Division withdrew its nomination of the Professor. It had become “apparent that an initial review of nomination materials had not included all relevant information. Members of the nomination reviewing committee recently became aware of a 2008 case involving the death of a technician in the laboratory of Dr. Harran.”
Professor Harran needs to make amends for Sheri’s death – not just the minimal conditions imposed by the legal settlement.
If not, more lumps of coal await him.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
A Tribute to M. Roland Nachman, Jr., R.I.P.
Merton Roland Nachman, Jr., a 91 year old Montgomery, Alabama attorney passed away on November 24. He led a good life as an attorney and public citizen. M. Roland Nachman was a pillar of the Alabama Bar and nationally recognized as a trial attorney.
I didn’t know him. I never met him. I didn’t even know who he was until two months ago, but was amazed by what I discovered. His nickname was “Rod,” as in “fishing rod.”
I’ve taught the famous defamation case of New York Times v. Sullivan for over four decades. The facts are pretty clear. Four Civil Rights leaders, including A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement decided to target Montgomery, Alabama Commissioner L.B. Sullivan as a racist and bigot, which he clearly was.
They ran an $8,000 full-page ad in the New York Times on March 29, 1960. It was entitled “Heed Their Rising Voices,” Seeking to raise money for the legal defense of Reverend King in a criminal perjury case. The ad further depicted the violent history of the struggle for civil rights in Alabama. The ad did not mention Sullivan by name or position, but he argued it defamed him. The New York Times, as publisher of the ad, was legally a publisher of the allegedly defamatory remarks.
Sullivan was a city commissioner in charge of the Montgomery Police, similar to the more infamous Bull Conner in Birmingham, Alabama.
Montgomery was both the Birthplace of the Confederacy and the Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, beginning most spectacularly with the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the arrival of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery.
A critical movement in the struggle was the violence against the Freedom Riders in Anniston, Birmingham and Montgomery. Governor John Patterson and Commissioner Sullivan promised John Seigenthaler, the Special Representative from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, that the riders would be protected when they arrived in Montgomery the next day.
No police were present when the Greyhound Bus arrived on May 20, 1961. Instead, the Freedom Riders were greeted by a mob of KKK thugs, who proceeded to viciously beat the Freedom Riders, often to the point of death. One of the battered Freedom Riders was a young college student, John Lewis, who is now a Congressman from Atlanta. John Lewis subsequently had his skull cracked in the police attack on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
Sullivan told the KKK representative that they had 10 minutes to do as they pleased with the bus riders. In addition, he sent all the “white” ambulances into the repair shop for the day, delaying critical medical care to a few of the victims.
Commissioner Sullivan had sent the police home. Fatalities were avoided when Colonel Floyd Mann, the Alabama Commissioner of Public Safety (1959-1963), came to the rescue of the victims with the Alabama State Patrol, which was under his control.
Colonel Mann was one of the unsung White heroes of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. He believed in segregation, but also believed in the rule of law, having served in law enforcement most of his adult life. He felt the police should not assist the rabid segregationists.
Yes, Lester Bruce Sullivan was an unabashed bigot. For example, he had recommended closing Alabama State during student boycotts. He said the university, one of the separate but unequal universities, provided only “graduates of hate and racial bitterness.”
M. Roland Nachman was the attorney for Commissioner Sullivan in his defamation suit against the New York Times. He had seen the ad in the New York Times and brought it to the attention of the three Montgomery Commissioners. He said he thought it was a perfect defamation suit.
Alabama recognized truth as an absolute defense to defamation, but Alabama followed the majority rule that the truth had to match the defamatory remark. The ad was off in several minor details, including the song the students boycotting Alabama State sang, and the number of times the Reverend King was arrested.
Thus the libel was actionable.
The jury took 2 hours and 20 minutes in finding for Sullivan, awarding $500,000 in damages.
For some reason a few months ago I researched the background of the case. Nachman was the attorney for plaintiff Sullivan. It was fascinating reading up on him.
The case was part of the larger Southern fight against integration. The purpose of the lawsuit and others was to muzzle the Northern press, especially the New York Times and CBS. $300 million in claims were pending against the media.
Nachman though was not a dyed in the wool Southern racist. He was moderate and a supporter of Civil Rights. He was born and raised in the caldron of Southern racism, but he attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1943, and then served in Naval Intelligence. He returned to Harvard after the War and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1948. He returned to Montgomery as an Assistant Attorney General for the state.
He always loved his years at Harvard, and often summered on Cape Cod. He knew a wider world than the segregationist South he grew up in.
He served as President of the Alabama Bar Association from 1973-74. He also served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association, and as a director of the American Judicature Society. He was eminently respected as a trial lawyer, having been a fellow of the American College of Trial lawyers. He was a member of the American Law Institute and listed in 1997-98 in the Best Lawyers in America.
M. Roland Nachman, Jr. was a very good lawyer. He won the case in the Alabama courts, but recognized before the United States Supreme Court that “Either I will win this case, or they will change the law of the land.”
The Supreme Court unanimously changed the law of the land, bringing defamation under purview the Freedom of Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Court promulgated the famous test of actual malice in cases of public officials against media defendants. Actual malice means that the paper published the statement knowing of its falsity or in reckless disregard of its falsity.
The Court then decided for itself that the facts did not meet the actual malice standard eventhough plaintiff had evidence that the newspaper ignored the warnings of its local stringers that there were inaccuracies in the ad.
Nachman was quoted later in life that he would have preferred to be on the winning side of the decision rather than the losing side.
He lost the case, but won the legal battle for later defendants. He subsequently represented a number of media defendants in defamation cases. He used New York Times v. Sullivan, to successfully argue the actual malice test.
His daughter once asked him why he became a lawyer. He chose the law “because it solves the problems of mankind and sets the standard of behavior.”
Well said!
Life well led!
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Merry Christmas from Congress: The Combined Omnibus Spending and Tax Bills Contain 2242 Pages of Ornaments
Congress just passed an Omnibus Spending Bill and a Tax Bill. The spending bill is 2009 pages with an additional 233 pages of tax benefits. Merry Christmas!
Senator Rand Paul voted against it he said because neither he nor any other member of Congress had an opportunity to read the bill before voting on it.
That hasn’t stopped Congress in the past!
Conservatives are decrying the Omnibus Spending Bill for profligate spending and busting open the sequester spending caps. Liberals decry the lifting the 4 decade ban on oil exports. Spending will increase $1.14 trillion through 2016 and $680 billion in tax cuts (expenditures). The deficit will rise by $680 billion over the next decade, not including interest on the debt.
It’s a perfect bipartisan Congressional Bill- increase spending, lower taxes, riders, earmarks and pork barrel – something for everyone who wanted something. Most members of Congress wanted the ornaments. There have been few opportunities in recent years to feed at the public through.
Merry Christmas to All!
Senator Schumer and House Minority Leader Pelosi are gloating because they stopped many of the Republican riders and gained some of their goals. Speaker Ryan is disappointed with the process, but happy with what was passed
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ted Cruz and others are haranguing it as a failure. They are wrong this time. A look at the ornaments shows many victories for the Republicans with tradeoffs with Democrats.
The problem the Republican Congress faced was that the Obama Administration agencies have spewed out so many rules and regulations the GOP objects to that they could not restrain all of them. They had to pick and choose the riders to attach. Thus, the President’s War on Coal survived, as does the spending for Planned Parenthood, and the admission of Syrian refugees.
One environmental rider which survived requires the national Park Service to justify park by park the bottled water ban in the parks as well as calculating the purported savings in recycling and landfill costs through a bottle ban.
The current bans on abortion-related spending continues as well as on closing GITMO or transferring the GITMO prisoners to the mainland. The government is barred from listing the Sage Grouse on the Endangered Species List and also from implementing the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
The tradeoff for lifting the oil export ban was extending the solar credits for five years to 2019 and a shorter extension for the wind credits.
The Republicans gave the Democrats permanent extensions of the $1,000 Enhanced Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Tax Credit for college. They increased Pell Grant spending and added $2 billion to the budget of the National Institutes of Health.
Yet they made permanent 20 tax cuts and extensions that have in the past been subject to annual renewals. They postponed for two years the reviled Cadillac Tax and 2.3% Medical Devices taxes part of ObamaCare. They also eliminated a significant bailout to insurance companies losing money on the exchanges. No taxpayer money can subsidize the insurers. In addition, the 2½% excise tax on health insurers was delayed.
Tax cuts and extensions are for such beneficiaries as Broadway, apple cider producers, throroughbred horse owners, teachers who provide supplies to the classes, stores that donate extra food to charities, rum makers in Puerto Rico, plug-in motorcycles, real estate investment trusts, timberland owners, workers on Indian reaservations, and NASCAR racetrack developers. In addition, multi-national banks are excused from paying United States income taxes on foreign taxes. Small businesses can deduct up to $500,000 in expenses for machinery, office equipment, and computer technology. The research and development tax credit for companies became permanent.
The military budget was substantially increased, but the allocation for the infamous runaway blimp was slashed by 75%, contra to the Administration’s request to increase funding.
$3.8 billion was transferred from the BNP bank settlement to restore funding to the compensation fund for 9/11 victims and responders and for those of other terrorist attacks.
The USDA and FDA were blocked from issuing new food guidelines until the agencies can show they are “based on significant scientific agreement; and … limited in scope to dietary and nutritional information.” Further limits are placed on reducing sodium levels for children “until the latest scientific research establishes the reduction is beneficial to children.”
Restrictions were placed on the IRS’ ability to investigate politically active non-profit organizations. The SEC was barred from forcing public companies to disclose campaign contributions.
Visitors from the 39 countries who otherwise do not need visas to visit the United States will be subject to additional requirements if they visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria in the past 5 years.
No funds were allocated to advocate or promote gun control.
Companies are allowed to share information with each other and federal agencies on cybersecurity.
Some of the provisions do not reach the stage of being eye-raising. They include a ban on the redesign of the $1 bill while permitting the Capitol Police to allow sledding on the capitol grounds.
Merry Christmas to the K Street lobbyists.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
How Many Do-Overs Does President Obama Get on Islamic Terrorism?
How Many Redos Does President Obama Get On ISIS Terrorism?
President Obama is on a Do-Over Tour of the Pentagon and CIA this week. He’s trying to convince the American public that he has a handle on Islamic Terrorism, a subject he dares not mention in public.
He said ISIS was contained the day before the Paris attacks. He gave a speech in Paris a few days after the Paris attacks in which he said nothing.
He and his Cabinet officials said America was safe, followed by the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino. He followed those attacks by a speech in which he laid out his plans for fighting terrorism. It was Stay the Course because we are winning. That’s in essence what he said because he added nothing new to the dialogue.
I’ve been out of the country for a week with intermittent internet access. I return and it’s still Stay the Course because ISIS is losing.
He spoke at the Pentagon, a place he rarely visits, on Monday to show his leadership in the terrorism crisis. He said Stay the Course because ISIS is losing ground.
He says the Air Force is dropping more bombs than ever on ISIS (I know he calls is ISIL), which is not saying much.
The Air Force says it is running out of bombs.
He will soon visit the CIA, another place frequented by his absence, to say Stay the Course.
He announced today that he will visit the survivors in San Bernardino to empathize with them, to share n their grief, and to Stay the Course.
Democratic politicians are getting scared. They are scared that they will not even be able to defeat Donald Trump next November. The President, their President, is hanging them out to dry.
He hates talking about terrorism or ISIS. It shows, because there is no passion in these appearances.
Passion? That’s for gun control.
Passion? That’s for immigration reform.
Passion? That’s for ObamaCare.
No passion for the fight on Islamic Terror. That is a distraction to him. It sidetracks him from the issues he’s passionate about.
It’s a nuisance because he does not, deep down, recognize Islamic Terror because Islam, at least the Islam he grew up with, is a religion of peace. Thus, these murderers are not terrorists, much less Islamic Terrorists.
It does not exists.
They may cry out Allahu Akbar as they blow themselves up and kill others, but they are not speaking for Islam.
Or, at least, the President does not hear them.
The world hears Allahu Akbar, but the President hears the sounds of silence. He is tone deaf.
They are not crying out “Jesus is Great!”
They are not crying out “For the Greater Glory of God.”
They are crying out Allahu Akbar.
But the President believes they are not true Muslims.
He says ISIS is losing ground in Iraq.
It continues to gain members.
He says our allies are beating ISIS back.
He says we are winning.
He says Stay the Course.
To be truthful, President Obama never said Stay the Course. He never said anything of substance.
He believes the problem is one of message. Therefore, he is out campaigning for Stay the Course. He still believes in the power of his voice,
The more he campaigned for ObamaCare 5 years ago, the more unpopular it became.
As President Lincoln said: “He can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
The American people are smart.
President Obama is barely fooling some of the American people some of the time.
He should apologize in San Bernardino to the families because his Department of Homeland Security’s express policy was not to check social media for statements of visa applicants, while turning around and having him and the Administration spokespersons say the Syrian immigrants are fully vetted before being allowed to enter the United States.
If the President were serious about fighting terrorism, he would can Susan Rice, a neophyte in security, as his National Security Advisor and Ben Rhodes, previously a political hack, as his Deputy National Security Advisor, as was Tom Donilon, his previous National Security Advisor.
If the President were serious about fighting terrorism and ISIS, he would stop micromanaging the war and take the lawyers out of the picture.
If the President were serious about the War on Islamic Terror, he would release the military on them.
If the President were serious about the War On Islamic Terror, he would stop appeasing Iran.
He won’t.
What are the odds that while President Obama is out in California meeting with the families that he will not also be in California raising campaign contributions and playing golf?
What are the odds that the Democrats will seek to duck and cover?
How many do-overs does President Obama get on Islamic Terrorism?
Not enough.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Radical Islamic Terrorism Strikes San Bernardino: Multiple Choice Questions
Islamic Terrorism Strikes San Bernardino
Multiple Choice Questions – more than one correct answer possible
1) What is the reason for yesterday’s attack in San Bernardino?
A) Radical Islam
B) Sudden Jihad Syndrome
C) Workplace Violence
C is the correct answer if you work for the Obama Administration, A & B for everyone else
2) Which of these did not kill Americans in the name of Islam
A) Tsarnaev Borthers
B) Major Nidal Malik Hasan
C) Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad
D) Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez
E) Yusef Ibrahim
F) The Underwear Bomber
G) The Times Square Bomber
F and G are the correct answers because they failed
All of them in the eyes of President Obama
3) Who said in the past month that no credible threat exists against the United States?
A) President Obama
B) FBI Director James Comey
C) Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson
All of the above
4) Which Democratic Presidential candidate has not used te words radical Islam or Islamist terrorist?
A) Hillary Clinton
B) Bernie Sanders
C) Martin O’Malley
All of the above
5) Who did not say 9 hours before the Paris attacks that ISIS was contained?
A) General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
B) Senator Dianne Feinstein
C) Secretary Hillary Clinton
D) President Obama
All but President Obama have clearly denied that ISIS was contained
6) Which is the largest security threat to the United States according to President Obama?
A) Climate Change
B) Russia
C) China
D) ISIS
E) Radical Islam
Climate change, of course
7) How likely is it that the refugees from ISIS, such as the Syrians, will pay a steep price for the Radical Islamist attacks on Paris and San Bernardino?
A) 0%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%
E) 100%
Most will find themselves unwelcomed in Western countries
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