President Petulant Possibly Considering Rolling Back Protection Of Israel

By William Teach March 19, 2015 – 7:03 am

There’s an old saying: it’s not personal, it’s politics. Another one is politicians need to have thick skins. There’s another from Groucho Marx that says Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. That last one doesn’t necessarily apply, but it does highlight one of the ways Obama “governs”.

Anyhow, Obama is the kind of politician who takes everything very personally, well beyond what is healthy for the country. And unhealthy for our allies, as well

(Politico) In the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisive re-election, the Obama administration is revisiting longtime assumptions about America’s role as a shield for Israel against international pressure.

Angered by Netanyahu’s hard-line platform towards the Palestinians, top Obama officials would not rule out the possibility of a change in American posture at the United Nations, where the U.S. has historically fended off resolutions hostile to Israel.

They can say “top officials” all they want; this policy would not be considered without the guidance of Obama and Valerie Jarrett.

While saying it was “premature” to discuss Washington’s policy response, the official wouldn’t rule out a modified American posture at the United Nations, where the U.S. has long fended off resolutions critical of Israeli settlement activity and demanding its withdrawal from Palestinian territories.

“We are signaling that if the Israeli government’s position is no longer to pursue a Palestinian state, we’re going to have to broaden the spectrum of options we pursue going forward,” the official said.

There will supposedly be no change regarding the U.S. support for Israel financially nor militarily (yet). That said, relations between the White House and Israel have not been particularly cordial during the entire time Obama has been president. And, regarding Obama

https://twitter.com/RickMoore/status/578234042870460416

Pretty much. After 6 years of Obama in the White House, we shouldn’t expect anything else. With the Clinton’s in office the phrase was the politics of personal destruction. With Obama it is all politics are personal, in a manner one would see amongst teenage girls. And Obama seems hellbent on forcing Israel to cede land they won in multiple wars in which Israel was attacked, and to cede land to a group of made up people who continuously attack Israel and its citizens in terrorist attacks. Of course, Leftist doctrine proclaims Israel as the bad guy. For daring to defend itself. As Scott Hinderaker notes

The administration’s critique goes on and on, as you will see if you follow the link. The bottom line is that we now have, in the United States, an administration that is friendly to the Islamic extremists in Iran who consider us to be the “Great Satan,” who hang homosexuals from cranes, who torture and kill those who want democracy, who have ICBMs and eagerly seek nuclear weapons with which to attack us and our allies. All of that is fine with the Obama administration, apparently. But the administration is bitterly hostile to the only actual democracy in the Middle East–the one place in the region where women in burkas can vote.

The Obama administration has been less than cordial with most of the U.S.’s allies, but none less than Israel.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Republicans Look To “Push Climate Change Off Of National Security Agenda”

By William Teach March 18, 2015 – 3:34 pm

I say “good for them”. The Cult of Climastrology (CoC) isn’t quite as enthused

(Mashable) House Republicans are seeking to cut funds from the Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) budgets that are directed at researching the national security implications of climate change.

In a sweeping budget proposal rolled out on Tuesday, which presents the yin to the Obama administration’s yang when it comes to spending priorities, lawmakers identified national security-related climate change research as a key area to eliminate “wasteful” spending.

“The Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency, two of the most important agencies in our national security apparatus, currently spend part of their budget studying climate change,” a House Budget Committee document states.

Of course, CoC member Andrew Freedman immediately trots out the bogus link between Hotcoldwetdry and the Syrian conflict

The Republican proposal, put forward by Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia, comes soon after a study found that global warming likely amplified a drought in Syria that preceded the devastating civil war in that country. The study, published in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that climate change was likely one of the many factors that contributed to the deadly conflict, which has displaced millions and killed at least 200,000.

Here’s what that looks like

Apparently, climate change creates bombs and artillery shells and stuff. But, hey, this is the CoC, which will link anything and everything to their cultish beliefs. From the comments

Quick! Give the government more money and power to save us from the imminent ice-age!!!

Oops. That was a couple of decades ago. Now it’s:

Quick! Give the government more money and power to save us from global warming!!!

Different lie. Same liars.

Bingo. Meanwhile, despite the CoC trotting out all these scary stories of doom from “climate change”, they pretty much refuse to change their own lives to match their rhetoric. Strange, right? Warmist deflections in 3..2…1….

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 18, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible fossil fuels created desert, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Other McCain, with a post on riot ideology in Ferguson.

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“Climate change demands immense changes to the economic system”

By William Teach March 18, 2015 – 10:01 am

The headline is what we see at the UK Guardian, which has gone all in as The Guardian Of The Cult of Climastrology, and tells us exactly what the CoC is really all about via letters to the Guardian from other Warmists

Mark Lynas says: “Solving climate change does not mean rolling back capitalism, suspending the free market or stopping economic growth” (Save us from the miserabilists in the battle over climate change, 12 March).

This statement would have made much sense 35 years ago. The urgency for rapid action had not been established. But all this has changed. Whether or not the new “crisis” reinforces an ideological position on the left (despite splits over nuclear power and GM crops) leading to “an outright denialist position” on the right is now so much water under the bridge.

Immense changes to the economic system must be made over the next few years, and the blame game gets us nowhere. If Klein’s belief that “corporate capitalism must be dismantled’” is wrong, it is up to the right to show how the new measures required can work under the present system. Governments should play a powerful role in facilitating compromises, where these can be made, and encouraging national debates on the basis of evidence rather than belief.
David Anderson
Bingley, West Yorkshire

There are many, many, many more letters that are essentially saying the same thing. This is what the CoC is about, massive Progressive changes to economies, along with investing much, much, much more power in Government.

All while refusing to change their own lives.

I also love the part at the end stating “If Klein’s belief that “corporate capitalism must be dismantled’” is wrong, it is up to the right to show how the new measures required can work under the present system.” So, Skeptics are supposed to prove that the insane Progressive/CoC policies, which we do not want in the first place, can work in the existing governmental/economic framework?

photo 62971d4a_zps18828beb.gif

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After Lots Of Dithering, State Confirms No Record Of Hillary Signing Exit Form

By William Teach March 18, 2015 – 7:16 am

The State Department, most particularly spokesweasel Jen Psaki, have dithered for a week or so to answer the question “did Hillary Clinton sign her exit form or not?” Rather than providing a concrete answer, this latest admission either highlights just how incompetent the Department of State is, or is another attempt to row the dithering down the stream

(Politico) The State Department has no record that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed a standard form declaring that she surrendered all official records before leaving her post in 2013, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Critics of Clinton, including the Republican National Committee, said she might have committed a crime by signing the form despite having tens of thousands of work-related emails in a personal account. She provided copies of those emails to her former agency in December.

Someone should let Politico writer Josh Gerstein that she provided less than half of the emails.

“We have reviewed Secretary Clinton’s official personnel file and administrative files and do not have any record of her signing the” form, State spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a regular briefing.

Psaki said there also is no record of the form being completed by Clinton’s two most recent predecessors, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell.

With that offbeat addition, I’m more inclined to believe that this is a “let’s move this down the road” form of dithering, though we certainly have seen incompetence from State (Benghazi, for one). Psaki is not saying “she signed it, but we can’t find it” nor “she never signed it”, just that they cannot find the record to determine whether she signed it or not. Though, she does think that Clinton did not sign it

Psaki stopped short of declaring flatly that Clinton never completed the form but said that is the conclusion of state officials.

“I think we’re fairly certain she did not. We do not have record of it,” the spokeswoman said.

Here’s a question: who did the exit interview? Who made sure that Hillary surrendered all her government documents and property on the way out the door? Was there someone who did that, like in pretty much all large companies. The State Department has tens of thousands of employees, possibly as many as 69,000. Do they not have people, perhaps in HR, who do exit interviews? Perhaps people in other Executive Branch departments? What other separation forms did she sign? Do we have them on record?

We also get, via Twitchy

Allahpundit writes

So there you go. The mystery is solved. Hillary avoids a perjury charge for failing to turn over her work e-mails in a timely way because she never formally agreed to make herself accountable in the first place. What a perfectly Clintonian ending to “National Treasure 3: The Search for Hillary’s OF-109.” In fact, I’ll cop here to grudgingly respecting her political acumen in knowing from the start that she could take a steamy dump on every good-government norm of basic recordkeeping without the public batting an eye. That’s the ultimate privilege of being a Clinton: Corruption is assumed, so every discrete act of further corruption carries only the most marginal sting.

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Federal Denial For Specialized Work Visas Continues To Rise

By William Teach March 18, 2015 – 6:50 am

Work visa denial has continued to rise, and, apparently, those in the Obama administration hate Indians, French, Chinese, and Mexicans who attempt to do it the right way

(USA Today) Foreign employees of U.S. companies are having a harder time getting into the country under a specialized visa category, according to a report being released Wednesday.

About 35% of petitions by American companies to bring to the U.S. employees working overseas who have a “specialized knowledge” in their fields were denied in 2014 by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the fourth straight year that figure has risen. The denial rate for those visas, known as L-1B visas, was as low as 6% in 2006, according to the report from the National Foundation for American Policy, an immigration advocacy group.

The biggest increase in denials affected Indian nationals trying to get into the USA. Applications for Indians were denied 56% of the time, compared with 22% for Chinese, 21% for Mexicans and 19% for French, according to data obtained by the foundation through a Freedom of Information Act request.

This is supposedly due to the start of the Great Recession. Here’s the kicker

Stuart Anderson, executive director of the foundation, said the steady rise in denials started in 2008, when the United States plunged into a deep recession. He said that has led to a “protectionist” culture at the immigration enforcement agency in favor of American technology workers.

On one hand, we have 35% of specialized workers being denied work visas. On the other hand, we have Mr. Obama attempting to provide a pseud-amnesty to millions and millions of illegal aliens, which will lead to more and more of their family members being given long term visas. A goodly chunk of these illegals are low skill, un-educated, and malcontents, who will demand that the United States provide them with all sorts of taxpayer funded benefits. Oh, and they demand that we cater to them, and change the country for them.

Hell of a thing, eh?

Of course, a reduction in visas is not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not blaming the Obama administration for reducing those, just noting how they treat one group, which does it legally, over another group, which doesn’t, and the latter group harms wages, especially for those in the lower wage segment

“The program (H1-B) was intended to serve employers who could not find the skilled workers they needed in the United States,” committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said. “Over the years the program has become a government-assisted way for employers to bring in cheaper foreign labor, and now it appears these foreign workers take over — rather than complement — the U.S. workforce.”

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said similar abuses extend to the L-1B visa, which is designed for U.S. companies to bring their workers with “specialized knowledge” to the United States from branches overseas. Instead, she said American companies, such as Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Indian companies, such as Infosys, have abused the system to import everyday technology workers to push out higher-priced American workers.

Let’s also not forget that, depending on the study, 30-40% of illegals are people who have overstayed their visas, be they work, school, or visitor visas.

At the end of the day we need to protect American workers first, and that includes against those who the Obama admin would give pseudo-amnesty.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Study Recommends Redistribution To Poor Nations For Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach March 17, 2015 – 5:40 pm

Any surprised that one of the goals of “climate change” exactly matches what Progressives are pushing?

Poor nations need $400 billion a year in climate aid, study says

Richer nations need to plow at least $400 billion a year into the developing world by 2050 to help cut greenhouse gases and fight climate change, according to a study that would require a quadrupling of aid pledged.

The annual sum required may even be as high as $2 trillion, according to the study by academics at two divisions of the London School of Economics. By comparison, wealthier countries including the US, Japan and European Union members have promised to deliver an annual $100 billion by 2020. (Snip)

Developing countries argue they need the cash to take expensive measures needed to both cut emissions and fight the effects of rising temperatures that are already being seen. Those include higher sea levels, more frequent droughts and heat waves.

So, developed nations are supposed to transfer vast gobs of taxpayer money to 3rd world shitholes developing nations to ….. make sure that they stay in the 7th  century, forgoing all modern energy and development? Hell, they’ve been “developing” for centuries, and never get beyond. Why should that cost anything?

But, this is the Cult of Climastrology in action, a subset of the overall Progressive movement. Which is also interesting, due the fact that Warmists want to control population in these same developing nations, comprised mostly of minorities, especially Blacks.

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If All You See…

By William Teach March 17, 2015 – 1:00 pm

…is a horrible sea that will rise up and swamp the land, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on another strategy to fight Obama’s amnesty.

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Lilly White Starbucks Serving Up Discussion On Raaaaacism With Coffee

By William Teach March 17, 2015 – 10:11 am

When I think of Starbucks, I think of stores that are about as diverse as the NY Times Editorial Board, Organizing For America, and all manners of typical liberal groups. In other words, not much

(Washington Post) In partnership with USA Today, Starbucks has launched a week-long campaign under the banner “Race Together” to get staff and customers talking about race. In a video message, Schultz urges “partners” to write the phrase on their paper cups “to facilitate a conversation between you and our customers.” A USA Today supplement, set to be published March 20, includes a number of “conversation starters,” including the fill-in-the-blank question: “In the past year, I have been to the home of someone of a different race ___ times.”

The idea for “Race Together” apparently came from employee forums Schultz launched last December. The first was impromptu, inspired by the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the conversations about racial inequality that surrounded them. It went so well, Schultz said, that the company organized similar events in five other cities.

“At the end of every open forum partners have come up to me and said ‘We must do more,’” Schultz said in his video. “… The fact that you have asked me, encouraged me, is why I have so much faith that this is the right decision for our company.”

I know Glenn Beck was talking about this on the radio (I saw the story earlier in the AM), telling people to go in to the stores. I’d suggest you ask why there are so few Starbucks in Black urban areas. But, hey, nothing like a discussion of race inside a lilly white coffee shop, eh? And getting nagged. No biggee for me, I stopped going to Starbucks and other premium coffee shops years ago, realizing how much money I was pissing away.

The Washington Post provides a few tweets for context

https://twitter.com/NewaHailu/status/577718920448086016

https://twitter.com/vidalwuu/status/577731504501055488

But, let’s remember that Starbucks is a private company, and can do what they want. They’ve already alienated legal gun owners and those who support traditional marriage. Of course, if Starbucks really wanted to talk about race they’d move their corporate headquarters from one of the Whitest cities in America to someplace like Detroit, Birmingham, or Baltimore. Or, hey, how about Ferguson!

Kemberlee Kaye at Legal Insurrection: Schultz’s efforts seem noble, but might be viewed as more legitimate were his reasons for entering the contentious race arena not predicated on blatant falsehoods and astroturfed race hustling.

Stephen Kruiser: They’re ruining sports for me. Now they’re ruining coffee. If Archer does a “very special episode” about global warming, I’m outta here.

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NC Fracking Rules Take Effect Today, State Doesn’t Explode

By William Teach March 17, 2015 – 9:41 am

People who want to push their narrow and rigid cultish dogma and force Other People to pay more for energy protect the environment are Very Concerned

(Fayetteville Observer)  Rules governing the hydraulic fracturing method for drilling natural gas are expected to take effect today, creating the potential for drilling to start later in the year.

The set of 120 rules that govern issues including well construction, water testing and buffer zones was developed by the state Mining and Energy Commission over nearly two years and approved in December by a separate state panel.

With the fracking rules in place, companies interested in finding natural gas can begin applying for fracking permits. A member of the Mining and Energy Commission, James Womack, said a company interested in fracking would first have to acquire the mineral rights for several hundred acres to create what’s known as a drilling unit. (snip)

Opponents include the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed a lawsuit arguing that the formation of the Mining and Energy Commission violated the state constitution. A panel of judges hasn’t been selected yet to hear the case, said Mary Maclean Asbill, one of the center’s lawyers.

“We hope that permits will not issue any time soon, as many of the rules are not protective of the environment or human health in North Carolina,” she said.

Well, as a Raleigh, NC resident, I can positively state that the land has not exploded, the rivers are not on fire, and everything is fine.

Funny that the SELC hasn’t filed suit against Obama and the EPA for their unconstitutional over-reaches, eh? It’s also funny that the nations with the most energy tend to have the best lives.

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