Washington Post: Trump’s Saddam Comments “Disqualifying” Or Something

By William Teach July 10, 2016 – 8:11 am

The Washington Post editorial board is rather vexed over Donald Trump’s Saddam Hussein comments

Donald Trump is wrong about Saddam Hussein

SADDAM HUSSEIN was not “so good” at killing terrorists, as Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed. On the contrary, he was one of the contemporary world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism. He harbored or funded some of history’s most infamous killers and jihadists, including the current chief of al-Qaeda, and plotted numerous terrorist attacks of his own, including an attempt to assassinate former president George H.W. Bush with a suicide bomb. Long before the U.S. invasion of 2003, his regime was formally identified by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism. That Mr. Trump would insistently assert the opposite serves to underline not only his profound and disqualifying ignorance of foreign affairs, but also his creepy and dangerous affinity for dictators.

Now, the WPEB delves into Saddam’s working with terrorists from the time he took power in the 1970’s, noting that perhaps the only terrorist Saddam killed was Abu Nidal. They did fail to mention that Saddam paid families to send their sons off to blow themselves up while killing Jews in Israel. And lots of terrorist training camps were discovered in Iraq during the opening weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

So, Trump was very wrong. Very wrong. I’ve noted this previously. But, hey

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/752107071215140864

Let’s see. CNN offers FBI Director James Comey’s 7 most damning lines

  1. “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
  2. “There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about those matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.”
  3. “None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these emails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at agencies and departments of the United States government — or even with a commercial email service like Gmail.”
  4. “Only a very small number of the emails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked ‘classified’ in an email, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.”
  5. “We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account. We also assess that Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal email domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent.”
  6. “She also used her personal email extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related emails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account.”

The 7th was more about the reprehensible conduct of the State Department. Then there’s this, from Comey’s appearance before Congress

“Certainly, she should have known not to send classified information,” Comey said. “As I said, that’s the definition of ‘negligent.’ I think she was extremely careless, I think she was negligent. That I could establish.”

So, let’s consider: Trump was an idiot and just plain wrong with his Saddam comments. Hillary was “negligent” and “extremely careless”. Comey further went on to note that she didn’t seem to understand what the “C” as a classified marking meant. You know, after decades of signing security clearance documents and having this explained to her.

Which was is more disqualifying? Which one showed more ignorance?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Post-Dallas, We Need To Ban Evil Assault Rifles

By William Teach July 9, 2016 – 3:22 pm

Yeah, about the meme…

As the nation begins to wrap its head around what happened in Dallas, Texas last night during a protest against police shootings, certain factions are already shifting blame from the suspect in the case to the firearms used. (Snip)

However, the rifle used by the suspect in the Dallas murders wasn’t an AR-15 variant rifle as many people originally thought. No, in fact the gun used was a 70+ year old relic that would not meet the definition of an “assault weapon” under most state laws. CBS News is reporting that the firearm used was an SKS rifle.

Unlike the Sig Sauer MCX rifle used in the Orlando terror attacks, which had similar features, controls and magazine to AR-15 style rifles, the SKS rifle used in Dallas couldn’t be more different.

Oops. Meme implodes

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 9, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil big carbon footprint burger, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Virtual Mirage, with a post on what would it take to provoke a TEXIT.

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Thank Goodness, We Now Have A ‘Climate Change’ Ballet

By William Teach July 9, 2016 – 11:40 am

We’re saved!

GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet (review)

Accessible and timely are not necessarily the first words that come to mind when someone mentions the word “ballet,” but GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet is both these things. Glacier is the perfect introduction to modern ballet for the uninitiated and even the disinterested. With a running time of 45 minutes, a tightly scored soundtrack and live video projections, this briskly paced series of vignettes is a crowd-pleaser for all types of theatergoers.

GLACIER is a meditation on the world’s rapidly changing Arctic ecosystem. Wearing pointe shoes and simple white costumes, dancers emulate the rippling, dripping and cracking of polar ice. The ballet is broken up into 10 distinct parts, each inspired by a different type of Arctic ice or climate change phenomenon. The dancers expertly execute Diana Movius’s choreography and each vignette flows smoothly from one part to the next. The pacing of each part is well-timed and seems to end at just the right moment before it flows into the next. (snip)

The penultimate scene features the dancers handling giant bowls of water, the only props to enter the performance. This part verges on being heavy handed, but puts the onus back on the audience. The dancers gesture to us from their thawing habitat, startling us from our place of removed observation: we are responsible for this melting world.

Say, I wonder what the carbon footprint is for this production, which is rather short for a ballet (so we’re told in the review). All the electricity used. The amount of energy and fossil fuels needed for people to get to this short ballet. On the bright side, it most likely will not last long, because most people, even liberals, don’t particularly care to pay money to be told they suck and are Bad People. In this case, because they’re killing Gaia and stuff.

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Good News: Defense Lawyers Plan To Use The “Clinton Defense”

By William Teach July 9, 2016 – 7:41 am

Perhaps it would be better to call it the “Comey Defense”, since it was FBI Director James Comey who decided, after spending lots of time laying out a criminal case against Hillary, that he wouldn’t bother recommending an indictment

FBI Director James Comey’s Hillary Clinton email recommendation gives lawyers a new line of defense

The FBI recommendation not to prosecute Hillary Clinton and her staff on charges of mishandling classified information will give those accused of flouting national security rules a new line of defense even as it highlights a dual standard in how senior government officials are treated, several experts said Wednesday. (snip)

Lawyers who specialize in representing government and military officials who’ve had security clearances revoked said Comey’s recommendation offered them a new tactic in seeking to rehabilitate their clients, especially if Clinton is elected president in November.

“I intend to use the Hillary defense,” said Sean M. Bigley, a lawyer whose firm handles dozens of cases a year involving national security clearances. “I really question how any agency can say someone is a security risk if the president of the United States did something similar.”

He added, “We’ve had people lose 20-year careers for doing less than what she did.”

Another lawyer, Mark F. Riley, stated

We have the Petraeus ceiling and the Clinton floor. We have a new standard as to what comprises intent with respect to criminal cases.

“I’m going to use it every chance I get, particularly in oral arguments. I’m going to bring it up over and over and over,” Riley said, adding that he thinks Clinton and her team engaged in “an egregious, egregious security violation.”

The article continues on in this vein for quite some time, and these lawyers are entirely correct: how do you prosecute someone who’s violations were less than Hillary’s when Hillary was let off the hook? We cannot forget that people in positions of power, and especially the people in overall charge, should be held to a higher standard. With that power comes more responsibility for doing the right thing. Heck, they sign documents, including security handling ones, to that effect.

The lawyers have been given a golden opportunity to get their clients off the hook, when they shouldn’t be. Will their defense work? Time will tell. There are consequences when the Elites are given passes because they are elites.

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Unsurprisingly, Obama, Democrats Use Dallas To Push “Gun Control”

By William Teach July 9, 2016 – 7:20 am

They just can’t help themselves, and want the same type of gun control Democrats have enabled in peaceful places like Chicago, D.C., Baltimore, and California

(Fox News) President Obama renewed his push for gun control measures Friday as he condemned the “senseless murders” of five Dallas police officers in a coordinated sniper attack overnight. (snip)

But before wrapping his remarks, the president once again returned to the issue of gun laws.

“We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic, and in the days ahead we’re going to have to consider those realities as well,” Obama said.

Never let a good crisis go to waste, especially from a guy surrounded by armed security, including weapons that are illegal to sell and illegal to own.

House Democrats are likely to ramp up their calls for gun restrictions following the Dallas murders as well. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, at a previously scheduled press conference Friday morning, continued to urge legislation on the issue.

“We need legislative action now,” CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said, while mourning the victims of both the Dallas tragedy and two recent deadly shootings by police.

Other Democrats were quick to call for gun control, taking advantage of the crisis. Consider that this CNN article was published at 221pm Friday, not that long after the shootings, and as other Black people were murdering police officers around the country

Black lawmakers delivered an emotional and sometimes searing plea for gun control Friday in response to the Dallas killings, calling the suspected gunman a “terrorist” and openly weeping at times as they railed against gun violence.

Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who led a sit-in for gun control measures on the House floor just two weeks ago, as well as Rep. Robyn Kelley, wept during the news conference called by the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday. Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana Democrat, accused Republicans of “the devaluation” of minorities by not taking up gun control legislation.

It’s not white people killing white people in huge numbers in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Newark, D.C., and so many other Democratic Party run cities. Once again, let’s note that 50% of the murders in this country are committed by Blacks, a sector of the population that accounts for less than 14% overall. Gun control hasn’t worked among their population.

Members of the caucus — including many involved in the House sit-in seeking gun control — said Friday the answer to the Dallas shootings must be new limits on gun sales, increased money for police training, and meetings between local leaders and Justice Department officials.

“We are continuing our fight to remove guns from the hands of would-be terrorists and criminals and require background checks for those seeking to purchase firearms. We need legislative action now!” said CBC chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield. The morning news conference was delayed after the Capitol was briefly placed on lockdown.

Except, Democrats are pushing measures that would mostly negatively affect law abiding citizens and their ability to be armed, not criminals. Their plans would violate our 2nd Amendment Rights, as well as our Due Process rights.

Furthermore, by disarming regular citizens, they leave them to be prey for the criminals who, surprise, do not follow the law. Double the furthermore, Democrats have supported the groups who smear and defame police offers, who accuse all law enforcement of being “racist” and evil. People who seem to hate white people and cops and use inflammatory and violent discourse towards them. Democrat support for these groups enable the violence. Don’t blame the gun. blame the people who use the gun.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Surprise: Warmists Retroactively Blame 2003 Heat Wave Deaths On ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach July 8, 2016 – 4:32 pm

Hey, they blame everything that happens today and 100 years in the future on Other People refusing to give up their fossil fueled vehicles and go climate neutral, so, why not stuff in the past? Well, they kinda do that now, regarding hundreds, thousands, and millions of years ago, typically forgetting to mention that all the bad problems were from cool

Climate Change to Blame for Deaths in 2003 Heat Wave, New Study Says

The first attempt by scientists to assess the role of climate change in the deadly European heat waves of 2003 has attributed about half of the 1,050 deaths in Paris and London that summer to the effects of global warming.

Tens of thousands of people, many of them elderly, died in France and other European nations in one of the most notable extreme weather events since the turn of the century. The implication of the study, published Thursday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, is that manmade climate change was largely responsible for the disaster.

“Other studies have looked at how humans have changed the frequencies of heat waves, or they’ve looked at how heat affects mortality,” said Daniel Mitchell, a researcher with the Environmental Change Institute and lead author on the study. “But no studies looked directly at how human-induced climate change has impacted mortality in these extreme heat waves. Our study was the first to directly model that and put a number on how many deaths there were in these two cities for the 2003 heat wave, or in fact for any heat wave. “

Heat waves never happened prior to the Industrial Revolution, ya know. Of course, they did a lot of research on this, took readings, gathered facts….oh, wait

The researchers began by running climate models. The first, “the natural scenario,” allowed them to estimate what the climate of 2003 would have been like without any climate change due to human factors, like deforestation and industrial emissions of greenhouse gases.

The second, “the observed scenario,” included all known climatic forces under which the 2003 heat wave occurred.

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If All You See…

By William Teach July 8, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a drastically rising see that will be dangerous in 2010, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Victory Girls Blog, with a post on a pox on both your parties.

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Are Green Anti-Brexit’s Worried About The Opinion Of Interstellar Leaders?

By William Teach July 8, 2016 – 11:15 am

Members of the Cult of Climastrology have been very concerned over what Brexit will do to the Paris climate agreement. What will Britain do? Will this cause problems from other nations? How about leaders of other planets (via Watts Up With That?)

(UK Express)  ALIEN conspiracy theorists were sent into overdrive after European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker appeared to say he had “heard from the leaders of other planets”.

Clips of the EU big wig speaking in a Brexit debate are going viral online, after he was heard to say aliens were worried about the looming Brexit by the UK from the union.

He said, translated from French: “You need to know that those who observe us from afar are worried.

“I have have seen, listened and heard many leaders of other planets and they are very worried because they wonder about the course the EU will follow.

Jean-claude Juncker is the head of the President of the European Commission, a body which is uber-Green, and he himself is a big believer in anthropogenic climate change. It’s one of his big priorities.

Most likely, it was a slip of the tongue. Funny as heck, though.

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Trump Gets Snappy With Several Republican Senators, Blows Golden Opportunities

By William Teach July 8, 2016 – 7:13 am

What should have been an easy meet and greet for Donald Trump, attempting to woo Republican Senators, turned into a typical Trump kerfuffle, allowing the media to move from the Hillary email scandal to other shiny objects

(Washington Post) When Flake stood up and introduced himself, Trump told him, “You’ve been very critical of me.”

“Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona — the one who didn’t get captured — and I want to talk to you about statements like that,” Flake responded, according to two Republican officials…

Trump said at the meeting that he has yet to attack Flake hard but threatened to begin doing so. Flake stood up to Trump by urging him to stop attacking Mexicans. Trump predicted that Flake would lose his reelection, at which point Flake informed Trump that he was not on the ballot this year, the sources said…

Characterizing Kirk as a loser, Trump vowed that he would carry Illinois in the general election even though the state traditionally has been solidly Democratic in presidential contests. Kirk did not attend the meeting with Trump.

Trump seems to prefer fighting with Republicans, the Party he is supposed to represent, more than Democrats. During his meeting with House members, he had another unforced error

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) left the meeting worried about Trump’s grasp on the basics of the Constitution. At a lunch with reporters afterward, he recalled that the candidate did not seem to know what he was promising to defend.

“I wasn’t particularly impressed,” said Sanford. “It was the normal stream of consciousness that’s long on hyperbole and short on facts. At one point, somebody asked about Article I powers: What will you do to protect them? I think his response was, ‘I want to protect Article I, Article II, Article XII,’ going down the list. There is no Article XII.”

And Trumpites wonder why the #NeverTrump folks and us fence sitters are concerned with this guy. Instead of focusing on Hillary and her email scandal, and all the things James Comey said about her lying, doing wrong, etc and so on, and he’s doing this, talking about how great Saddam Hussein was at killing terrorists, a star on Frozen dvds. Then there’s this

Presented in a recent interview with a scenario, floating around the political ether, in which the presumptive Republican nominee proves all the naysayers wrong, beats Hillary Clinton and wins the presidency, only to forgo the office as the ultimate walk-off winner, Mr. Trump flashed a mischievous smile.

“I’ll let you know how I feel about it after it happens,” he said, minutes before leaving his Trump Tower office to fly to a campaign rally in New Hampshire…

Joking or not? It doesn’t matter, because that’s not the kind of thing you tweak people’s noses with. Being POTUS is not a joke. As Allahpundit notes “Prominent Trump crony Roger Stone assured the Times he’s “fairly certain” that Trump would actually serve as president if elected. Fairly certain?” He also notes that there is serious discussion over Ivanka Trump being a VP or cabinet official pick.

It all adds up to

We go back to the Lonely Conservative constantly asking if Trump really wants to be president. Let’s end with this, an article by Jim Geraghty entitled “Trump’s Insane Response to Week of Golden Opportunities”

This is not merely a swing and a miss at slow-pitch softball; this is swinging mightily at tee ball and hitting yourself with the bat.

And forgetting to put a helmet on

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/751199356057968640

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