Democrats have their wish

Democrats wanted an alternative to mean tweets and the art of making deals. And they got their desire. They hated Trump's style and could never give a reason why strong border security and energy freedom were bad for Democracy. So, they elected an elderly "moderate" with Big Tech manipulation of the vote, mainstream media lies and a worldwide pandemic stoking fear.

So now we have ISIS resurgence in Syria after Trump practically wiped them out and new ground troops from U.S. stepping up to "advise." How'd that work out the last 3 decades? Then there's the pesky border civil war between Ukraine and Russia and 8500 U.S. troops on alert. Our friends and enemies around the world know how weakened by his advisors Biden is--they saw it in the Afghanistan withdrawal disaster. They see his inability to negotiate with Mexico or follow Trump's plan to stop the millions pouring over our own border. They know he's Obama 2.0 and they remember the red lines and lines in the shifting sand for 8 years. Add to this miserable record, the military leaders Biden has chosen for guidance are more concerned about woke soldiers than skilled and trained troops. How helpful is a Marxist social theory when the Russians and Ukrainians, two former Communist states, are the same race, culture and religion, and the Syrian fighters are all some version of Islam?

The attack on al-Sina Prison points to a broader ISIS resurgence | Middle East Institute (mei.edu)

US orders 8,500 troops on heightened alert amid Russia worry (msn.com)

Turkey, the Kurds and President Trump

I haven’t done much research on this and may change my mind.  I did pull up articles from December 2018 when Trump announced we were going to pull out, and remember all the campaign promises he made, similar to those Obama made but he only expanded the war.  It is a fact that Turkey has been an ally for years, and is part of NATO. THE KURDS ARE NOT A NATION STATE.

Previous presidents have also pussy footed around Turkey and refused to do anything about its killing of the Armenian Christians 100 years ago (there’s a huge lobby in the U.S.) the first of the 20^th century holocausts. Not even Trump has touched that. I’ve never seen such hypocrisy on the part of Democrats or such lily livered, spineless behavior on the part of Republicans as this so-called withdrawal. It’s truly disgusting. 50 Americans are going to be home for Thanksgiving who might not have been there otherwise, and the wars in the Middle East, now 1000 years old, will go on and on and on.

Support grows for the wall

“Support for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border jumped to its highest level on record, Quinnipiac University announced Tuesday, reporting results of its latest poll:

“This is the highest level of support for the wall since the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University National Poll first asked the question in November 2016.”

Forty-three percent of voters support building the border wall, while 54% oppose it, according to the national survey of 1,147 voters, conducted Dec. 12-17, 2018.”

https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/quinnipiac-poll-voter-support-border-wall-hits-record-high

This will probably be even more important now if troops are withdrawn from middle east civil wars, internecine conflicts, border wars, etc. and the U.S. stops being policeman for the world. The hawks have been saying for 15 years it’s better to fight over there than at home. We have a border sieve/open back door for illegals who want to harm us to come in with those looking for economic opportunity and the run of the mill drug dealer. They also come in on visitor visas, HB1’s for working high tech jobs, and in chain migration.

I have no idea why Trump decided to announce this on a day of victory and bi-partisanship for prison reform, but he does seem to love keeping everyone guessing, including some of his strongest supporters. Hugh Hewett who started as a never Trumper then went to big supporter, is today scratching his head.

There’s a go-fund me page for building the wall that raised about 4 million in the first few hours. I doubt that it is legal, and that’s a long way from 5 Billion. It really makes no difference that much of what Trump has accomplished was supported by Democrats, they hate, hate, hate him, and nothing can satisfy their thirst for his death. I believe the intention is not just to remove Trump, by death, courts, or sabotage from the media with fake news and constant harassment, but to also get rid of Pence; then they can install Pelosi. She’s not Clinton, but still has the body parts plus some that have been added over the years. Compared to what’s coming down the pike with Democrats, she’s going to look like a moderate.

Monday Memories--September 2003

Winds of war.  I think I know how this current situation in Syria will play out.  Big stories about WMD. Photographs of the horror.  A Republican president responds initially with support of both parties.  After action is taken, Democrats will decide to back off and stab the president in the back demoralizing the troops and giving comfort to the enemy.

I came across a letter from September 2003 while cleaning out my paper files.  I noticed this comment--not mine--about the media, especially the Washington Post, which I think has really become a useless source of information since Bezos (Amazon) bought it and even some thoughts on North Korea.  It seems things weren't much different almost 14 years ago.

"The Post bashes Bush every chance they can, though they were behind him on the war.  Their feature political cartoon is hilarious, and never flattering to the President.  He is always pictured with huge ears.  I have never noticed his ears--they must be somewhat large?  All these hearings, and everything else connected with the war makes me feel like "haven't we been there, done this before?" . . . Wonder if any of the boys on the Hill are thinking creatively about finances, or will we, as taxpayers, continue to pay the tab.  WWII has been over a long time, and all we need is one hit from N. Korea and it would take out a lot of our guys with little warning.  We just don't have the manpower to have troops stationed all over the world trying to keep a lid on things."

Not remembering that the Post had ever supported Bush, I attempted to track down what the Washington Post editorial board had said about the war in February 2003, and found another source that quoted it asking how anyone could doubt the seriousness of the WMD charges. The actual link didn't connect because later WaPo became very critical of Bush so I think the link was disabled at their end. These days, WaPo might as well be a mouth piece from a foreign, hostile government.

The news is on in the background as I draft this.  It really does sound like nothing has changed.

After a few minutes, I hit the mute button

 

"SHEPARD SMITH currently serves as the chief news anchor and managing editor for the network's breaking news division. Additionally, he is the anchor of Shepard Smith Reporting (weekdays 3-4PM/ET)."


I'm listening to Shep on Fox (leftist with his own "news" show--heavily opinion, however). He's blaming Putin for the crisis in Aleppo and Syria. Short memory. The U.S. supported the rebels after the much glorified Arab Spring; our leaderless presidency stood by helplessly and did nothing after our interference backfired. Putin stepped into a vacuum created by Obama. ISIS, which Obama helped create with his sloppy pull out from Iraq, is also involved.

I do think we should take in some Syrian refugees--at least the Christians--because we helped break the country. Readjusting to a new home and culture is extremely difficult. 83% of Americans identify as Christian, and 1% as Muslims. Muslims are killing Muslims of different sects in Syria, but they are all killing Christians.

https://www.barnabasfund.org/news/Christians-in-Aleppo-face-death-on-all-sides

Clinton, ISIS and Syria

Clinton's legacy. . . a failed policy in Syria. Hundreds of thousands killed, mass graves and chemical warfare with products possibly from supplies buried in Iraq--the U.S. hasn't even tested them, although they've been begged to, and I think you can guess why. U.S. has made over 6,000 airstrikes on ISIS (10 months ago figure).

Obama's war has now lasted 2 years longer than Bush's. Where's the outrage? Congress has supported both (although Democrats went all soft and squishy on Bush after they signed on endangering our troops). Clearly there are chemical weapons being used by ISIS--they didn't make them.


http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2016/march/city-of-shattered-dreams-what-happened-to-the-people-of-sinjar

The parallel universe of Obama and Clinton

Campaigning for Hillary Clinton on our dime while she is recovering from an unknown illness, the President said the Republicans have a dark view of America. "This is a dark, pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against one another, where we turn against the world. They aren't offering serious solutions, they are fanning resentment, and hate. That is not the America I know." 

SIXHIRB--their method to make everyone a victim, call everyone a hater. No one has been more hateful or pessimistic than Obama's administration--he's got college kids rioting, protesting and closing down free-ways, he's got millionaire football players dissing their country, he's got an attorney general who has a tarmac meeting with Hillary's husband another who sold guns to drug dealers in Mexico, he ignores violent crime in his home town where blacks have 8x the crime rate of whites, and says we need more conversations about race, he's misjudged every move by ISIS and Putin and Assad, he says nothing about the crimes of his former Secretary of State, in fact stumps for her. . . and on and on.

He also mentioned Hillary's "experience and qualifications" linking to her travel as Secretary of State.  She mid-wifed the current crisis in Syria with gun running from Libya to support the anti-Assad rebels and created the Benghazi mess. That's not a good thing to bring up during the campaign--I'd call it passive aggressive--do they even like each other?

 She says "that's not America," (referring to half of Trump supporters who she put in a basket of deplorables speaking to rich donors Friday) and he says "not the America I know" about all Trump supporters. 

Now who's the hater?

  

Help for Syrian refugees, pt. 1

 Syria’s civil war has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population — more than 11 million people — have been forced to flee their homes. I came across a Multi-faith alliance for Syria, an organization set up specifically to help them (don't know if it also receives federal money--many of these religious organizations do.

 http://www.hearttoheart.org/multifaith-alliance-kit-event/…/

Looking quickly through the website of MFA the support seems primarily from Jews, with some Christian denominations and para-church non-profits, a few Muslim, and I saw one Hindu group. I'll need to look more closely at the individual websites. The format of this list is rather shaky since it's too complicated to rewrite the HTML code, but here is the first half of the list. I'm going to spot check the website.  Some I know like Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service, ELCA, UCC.  Others not at all.

Ameinu (Our People)

American Jewish Committee 

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 

American Relief Coalition for Syria

Anti-Defamation League

Auburn Theological Seminary

B'nai Jeshurun, New York, NY 

Bronx Christian Fellowship Church, Bronx, NY

The Brotherhood Synagogue, New York, NY

Catholic Relief Services

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)

Church World Service

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations 

Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, New York, NY

Congregation Beth El, South Orange, NJ

Congregation Kehillath Israel, Brookline, MA

CURE International 

The Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU

Episcopal Relief & Development 

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Foa & Son 

Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and

United Church of Christ

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Heart to Heart International

HIAS 

Interfaith Center of NY 

International Refugee Assistance Project

Jamaica Muslim Center, Jamaica, NY

Jewish Coalition for Syrian Refugees 

Jewish Council for Public Affairs 

Jewish Federations of North America

Jewish Funders Network
The Jewish Theological Seminary

Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Syrian relief groups, pt. 2

Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees, pt. 2 (couldn't get the HTML to work) See part 1 here.

London School of Economics and Political Science: Faith Centre
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue
National Council of Jewish Women
New York Board of Rabbis
New York Legal Assistance Group
North Carolina Hillel: UNC Chapel Hill
Orient for Human Relief
Rabbinical Assembly
Rahma Relief Foundation
Reform Judaism (UK)
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
The Riverside Church, New York, NY
Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus
Saint Peter's Lutheran Church, New York, NY
School for Creative Judaism
Syrian American Medical Society
Syrian American Rescue Network
Syrian Community Network
Syrian Emergency Task Force
Temple Beth El, Boca Raton, FL
Temple Beth Shalom, Palm Coast, FL
Temple Emanu-El, Closter, NJ
UJA-Federation of New York
Union for Reform Judaism
Union Theological Seminary
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office
United Sikhs
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Vassar College Refugee Solidarity
Ve'ahavta
World Jewish Congress
World Jewish Relief
World ORT

Hillary's pay to play Foundation and her gun running

I'm pretty sure Glenn Beck was claiming this in explaining 4 years ago what happened in Benghazi, but was probably ignored or called crazy by the other media. I recall his drawing on his chalk board a map of how the armaments moved, but ended up in the wrong hands.

"In Obama’s second term, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton authorized the shipment of American-made arms to Qatar, a country beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood, and friendly to the Libyan rebels, in an effort to topple the Libyan/Gaddafi government, and then ship those arms to Syria in order to fund Al Qaeda, and topple Assad in Syria". http://www.daily-sun.com/post/157634/Wikileaks-confirms-Hillary-sold-weapons-to-ISIS

96% of Hillary and Bill's charitable deductions went to the infamous Clinton Foundation.
Somehow, I don't think this is the way a 501c3 is supposed to work, if it were, we'd all set one up and pay ourselves and claim it on our taxes. But I'm guessing it's legal because Congress sets up these laws and rich politicians campaign against rich businessmen saying they are the crooks.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/12/96-percent-of-hillarys-charitable-donations-in-2015-went-to-clinton-foundation/

Why didn't she release her tax information during the primaries when running against socialist Bernie Sanders? I don't care if Trump ever releases his tax returns--they couldn't be as damning as Hillary's. He may not even be as wealthy as she is.  Over $10 million in speaking fees--ranging from $225,000 to $400,000. We've all heard this gravel voiced granny Gertie speak. Hopefully, her foreign audience had to listen through headphones to a translater.   That's just pay for play. And Washington Post is so biased in this article it doesn't even mention the "charity" she donated to--her own foundation. I also watched the ABC coverage of this, and it also didn't mention where her charitable deduction went, and immediately pounced on Trump!   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-releases-2015-tax-return-calls-on-trump-to-release-his/2016/08/12/759bf95a-60a7-11e6-8e45-477372e89d78_story.html

Resettlement of Syrian refugees

I'm about to offend liberals and conservatives and Christians  alike.  I think the U.S. needs to resettle Syrian Christians. Now before you get your panties in a knot thinking I'm being a bigot, take a look at the population of the U.S.--almost 80% check the Christian box and our founders were European Christians regardless of the lies they are teaching your kids in school. It's in all our basic documents. We're fractured among many religions, but most are Christian whether Pentecostal, Baptist, Mormon, Catholic or Orthodox, but on refugee resettlement we tend to work together. We also have Syrian Christians already here.  Despite that, many Christians don’t want any more middle easterners brought into the country.

U.S. Syrian Christians have not returned to the middle east to join ISIS and bomb us. They aren't beheading Egyptians, or Yazidis or other Christians. Yes, they will need to be vetted because ISIS has already told us they will be sending terrorist cells with the refugees.

It is also churches that will be called on to resettle them. Unfortunately, some take government money to do it--which is not a good idea. There's nothing Biblical about that. There's enough of a problem with language and culture--let's not top that with fear of religion. That's how it's been done since my ancestors got here in the 1730s and the Mennonites and Lutherans met them at the boat.

Also, Islam is the second largest religion in the world--let those Islamic countries step up and take in some Muslim refugees. They certainly don't want Christians whom they been kicking out or oppressing for the last 2 decades.

One dead toddler on the beach is terrible, but there have been thousands and thousands of children who have died, thousands of families uprooted, hundreds of villages and churches destroyed, and all we have done is draw a red line.

Read between the lines—Obama is no military leader

“Washington spent $25 billion to re-create and arm Iraq’s security forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion [under Bush and a large coalition], only to see the Iraqi army easily defeated last year by a ragtag collection of Islamic State fighters who took control of large parts of the country [after Obama pulled out the troops and left them defenseless]. Just last year, President Obama touted Yemen as a successful example of his approach to combating terrorism.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-loses-sight-of-500-million-in-counterterrorism-aid-given-to-yemen/2015/03/17/

WaPo is an Obama apologist—so you won’t find outright condemnation. Obama pulled out and left Iraqis defenseless.  Our losses in Afghanistan are triple what they were under Bush, and that war—the one Obama said was “good,”--was virtually won before he took office. Gave armaments to a country not strong enough to handle them.

Even with the Benghazi scandal, there were rumors of American arms being part of the story and then it appeared in a report not released to the public at the time. ‘The consulate’s only mission was to provide cover for the moving of arms,’ the former intelligence official, who has read the annex, said. ‘It had no real political role.’ Many of those arms probably ended up in the hands of ISIS who are now killing our allies and Christians. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/04/real-benghazi-story.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/covert-cia-mission-to-arm-syrian-rebels-goes-awry-1422329582

Crickets and crow

Bush/Cheney haters should be eating some crow right now. Bush took a few moments to gather his thoughts during a visit to a school classroom after the 9/11 disaster and they ridiculed him.  Obama dawdled and hesitated for months not only in Iraq in 2009, but more recently for 9 months about ISIS, and it's crickets from the Bush haters. Kerry calls bombing ISIS counter terrorism and WH Chief of Staff calls it war, and Obama calls it time out and goes to the golf course.

Bush went to Congress to get support and enlisted many international allies; Obama will apparently move forward on the force of his charisma and personality. In the late 1990s most Democrats in Congress including Kerry, Edwards, Kennedy, Lieberman,  Feinstein, Milulski, and Daschle all warned the country and President Clinton about WMD citing good sources of intelligence. But it was Bush's fault when they weren't found.  Yet Obama was using the excuse of chemical weapons (aka WMD) by Assad for supporting Syrian rebels and drawing lines and tough talk, even though it hasn't been proven and we've been fooled before.

http://www.cfr.org/iraq/iraq-justifying-war/p7689

http://www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/if-the-bush-administration-lied-about-wmd-so-did-these-people-version-3-0/

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/343870/why-did-we-invade-iraq-victor-davis-hanson/page/0/1?splash=

The BBC guide to rebel groups in Syria

The BBC said that there are believed to be as many as 1,000 armed opposition groups in Syria, commanding an estimated 100,000 fighters. I wonder how any western leader could have decided who to back in the fight against Assad?  They certainly did have good intelligence or good guessing about this group.

Ten months ago among the numerous descriptions in the guide was ISIS or ISIL.

The creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in April 2013 was rejected by the al-Nusra Front. ISI's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, known as Abu Dua, nevertheless pressed ahead with expanding its operations into Syria. In August 2013, US intelligence assessed that he was based in Syria and commanded as many 5,000 fighters, many of them foreign jihadists. The group is active mostly in northern and eastern provinces of Syria. It has assumed joint control of municipalities in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqqa provinces. Isis has taken part in a number of major rebel operations, including by carrying out suicide bombings that helped capture two military bases. But it has also had tense relationships with other rebel groups, including those considered Islamist. Its fighters reportedly recently killed a prominent member Ahrar al-Sham, and have clashed with those from Ahfad al-Rasoul in Raqqa and the Northern Storm Brigade in Azaz. They have also targeted Shia and Alawite civilians.

“That’s my boy.”

Those are said to be the proud words of a convicted terrorist, an Australian Muslim Khaled Sharrouf in Syria, who tweeted out a photo of his young son holding up the severed head of a slain Syrian soldier. No, I won't give you the link because there are photos (Australian newspaper). Too gruesome.

And now some fighters have dropped bombs on ISIS and Yazidis are “free” to flee to Syria.  Syria?  How safe is that?  Maybe if the president had done something two months ago when asked?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/10/world/meast/iraq-crisis/

Déjà vu, but now it’s Syria

"But without U.S. involvement, the worst-case predictions are coming true: More than 160,000 people have been killed, more than 9 million have been displaced from their homes, and terrorists allied with al-Qaeda are establishing safe zones from which they can attack Europe and the United States."

Sorry, Washington Post, isn't this what we were told in 2003 about Hussein? Washington Post editorializes on how Obama has failed miserably in Syria. If Bush was so wrong about Iraq (had bi-partisan support and Clinton era intelligence) according to WaPo and other MSM, what makes them so sure about Syria?

Editorial

Are you listening, Syrians?

I hope that if President Assad, the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian rebels were monitoring yesterday's press conference with President Obama, they realize he can't be trusted, will promise anything about things he knows nothing about and was out of the room when it came up, and will do anything he can to politically advance his cause, but not theirs.

"He knows everything. And yet he seems to know nothing. He’s passionate about the details of domestic policy but wasn’t privy to the details of his own legacy law. He’s an academic with a command of every issue at once but seemingly only finds out what his administration is doing in news reports. He’s so brilliant every normal endeavor he’s tried has bored him, but he couldn’t bother to entertain himself with more than one monthly meeting on the make-or-break program of his presidency. He’s the captain of the Culture of Competency who has overseen the most incompetent rollout of an entitlement program in history." Mary Katherine Ham, at Hot Air, Nov. 14.

I’m longing for Jimmy Carter!

No President in my memory has so reflexively blamed SOMEONE ELSE for his failings: The economy. The Middle East mess threatening more wars.  Arming al-qaeda in Syria. 73% of the losses in Afghanistan have been under Obama.  Gun violence on military bases. Benghazi. Using the IRS to attack political enemies. NSA snooping. Operating without a budget (even when he had both houses). Obamacare train wreck and exempting cronies and campaign donors. Bailouts for unions and banks. Misspent AARA funding. The redline fiasco. On and on. I lose track. He is succeeding in destroying our country, perhaps it was in the plans all along. Nixon or Carter would be a breath of sanity and fresh air.

Syria Time Line for White House

Nancy, John and Bashar

Obama, Kerry, Pelosi and H. Clinton all tried to undercut President Bush when he was president by getting cozy with Assad. Bush made no secret about not liking him. He had the Iran/Assad connection figured out and had imposed sanctions. It's nice that they've figured it out, but why make us pay for their mistakes, which included defying and lying about a sitting president. Obama took office on 22 January 2009. Less than a month later, on 21 February 2009, U.S. Senator John Kerry was meeting with the Syrian President in Damascus. Senator Kerry would become Obama’s key envoy in dealing with Assad. You’ve probably all seen the sweet photo of the Assads and Kerrys dining together. Obama had sent a hush-hush delegation in 2008 to meet with Assad even before he was president.

Photos are from her trip when Nancy Pelosi defied the State Department and visited Assad, declaring that “the road to peace is through Damascus.”  John Kerry, acting in concert with the Obama administration, served as Assad’s errand boy in trying to bring Israel to the table for the purpose of returning the Golan Heights to the butcher of Damascus.  The Bush administration had been largely successful in isolating Syria (as Obama sought to do in 2012) until Pelosi and Kerry willfully undermined it.

"President Al-Assad and I had a very positive discussion on the formidable challenges facing this region and we found agreement on a number of ways in which both of us and other countries can contribute significantly to changing the dynamics that exist today," said Sen. John Kerry in March 2010. Then came the Arab Spring, and Obama began supporting the Islamists in various middle eastern countries.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303395904575157713877756160.html