FYI: I'm Taking a Break For the Next Little While

Later, 'gators.

Pretty Lame Excuse, President Trump

Trump's Holocaust Day statement didn't specifically mention Jews because they weren't the only ones who were killed. As White House spokesthingy Hope Hicks "explained," that was the administration's way of being "incredibly inclusive" and taking "into account all of those who suffered."

Anyone really buying that bullcrap?

Yes, others "suffered." But the reason why there's a Holocaust Day is because six million Jews perished for the "crime" of being Jewish.

Trump's unwillingness to acknowledge that fact and his use of an "inclusiveness" smokescreen here is very disturbing.

Yes, very disturbing indeed.

ISIS Chicks In Syria: Living in Wedded Bliss Or Dying In Horrible Ways?

One anthropologist would have you believe it's the former. Of course, you'll likely greet her analysis with a healthy degree of skepticism once you factor in the genuine possibility that she both supports and recruits for ISIS.

The latter possibility comes courtesy the Clarion Project, and torpedoes any "bliss" scenario:

The leader of ISIS’ al-Hansa women’s battalion escaped with four of her assistants and millions of dollars, according to the Arabic-language al-Sumaria News. 

ISIS members were reportedly chasing the quintet across Ninveh Province in Iraq. 

Al-Hansa administers female suicide bombers and female prisons in areas controlled by Islamic State. Among the punishments meted out by al-Hansa is the biting of ‘offenders’. 

“Four are Arabs and one is from Tajikistan,” an eyewitness told the news outlet. “The leader of the battalion is also considered ISIS’ minister of women’s affairs.” 

The report suggests the women were headed for Syria. 

Al-Sumaria also reports (Arabic) ISIS forcing women to wear Afghani men’s clothes and carry weapons to fight against the oncoming Iraqi military. 

ISIS reportedly executed three women by gunfire because they refused to so do.

As Ontarians' Electricity Bills Soar, Our Inept, Corrupt Provincial Gov't Pays Power Generators To Not Produce the Juice

What gives? The Toronto Sun's Lorrie Goldstein thinks it stinks, and calls it a "Money for Nothing" system.

Well, after a decade and a half of the Liberals' malfeasance and mismanagement, the province is definitely in "dire straits".

Carnage at Quebec City Mosque: Was It Muslim on Muslim Violence?

Domestic media along with our ninny of a PM are having a field day wallowing in the "shame on us" (or "shame on Trump") narrative, so you'll have to go elsewhere--the Daily Mail, for instance--to learn at the outset that the two gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar!" as they opened fire and that one of them is said to be "of Moroccan origin." (The CBC report includes the same info, but buried way, way down, so it's easy to miss.)

Update: At least the Ceeb mentions the jihadi war cry and the shooter's provenance. The New York Times, on the other hand, excludes both but, in keeping with the "shame on Trump" narratives, sees fit to mention this:

Last June, a pig’s head was left at the door of the mosque in the middle of Ramadan. Practicing Muslims regard pork as unclean and do not eat it.

That's the NYT for you. Just doing its part to educate us infidels about the niceties of Islam that everyone already knows.

Update: Gates of Vienna says it could well be a matter of Salafist Muslims taking revenge on Muslim "apostates" (the mosque in question being insufficiently hardline, as far as the gunmen were concerned).

Update: The shooters' names:

The terror suspects were identified as Mohamed Khadir and Alexandre Bissonnette, the Canadian TV network TVA Nouvelles reported.

Must be one of those white, right-wing supremacist/Trump-adoring Mohameds, eh? (That's me tapping into the mainstreamers' preferred narrative).

Update: Last night on CBC TV's Wendy Mesley show, "reformed" right-winger Jonathan Kay slammed conservatives who express fears re "stealth jihad/sharia" (because that's just not done in the rarefied, ultra-refined quarters frequented by Kay and his "superior" ilk).

If the Quebec gunmen do turn out to be Salafists exacting revenge on their more "moderate" brethren, that wouldn't be "stealth" sharia. That would be right-out-in-the-open sharia, and an importation of Islamic/ist pathologies into Justin's "progressive" Trudeaupia. And Kay's egregiously condescending dismissal of "conservatives" and their "fears" will be shown to be the claptrap that, obviously, it is.

Ceeb Radio One: All Victimhood, All the Time

If CBC radio is largely unlistenable these days, it's due to its "social justice" slant and what that gives rise to, i.e. seemingly endless discussions of "victimhood" in all its manifold and varied permutations (Black, Trans, Aboriginal. etc.)

This one--Michael Eric Dyson excoriating white people because of "America's original sin" (the subject of his new book, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America)--is typical of the sort of thing that's featured (endlessly; droningly; it's enough, already!).

Obama's "Anti-Israel Vision of Justice for the Palestinians" Included a Peres-Like Send Off for Netanyahu

Now that the Obami have left the building (so to speak), Dore Gore recounts a telling anecdote--and Caroline Glick repeats it:

Gold related that after Obama and his entourage left Israel following former president Shimon Peres’s funeral last September, Obama phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Air Force One. He told Netanyahu that if he wants to have a funeral like Peres’s, he needs to get moving with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu responded that he has no interest in having a funeral like Peres’s, “because I have no intention of participating in my country’s funeral.”

In other words, Netanyahu told Obama that the US leader’s understanding of what Israel needs to do to bring justice to the Palestinians involves Israel ceasing to exist.

Obama imagining Netanyahu's funeral: sounds like malevolent wishful thinking to me.

A Stunning Omission in Trump's Holocaust Day Statement

He seems to have left out the Jews, a feat that's no more acceptable when Trump does it than when Justin Trudeau does.

Misuse of The Holocaust Du Jour

Anne Frank Was a Refugee, Too

Well, yes, but when Anne and her family were hiding out in that Amsterdam attack it was because there was no Jewish state to take them in.

Not counting the seven countries included in Donald Trump's temporary refugee freeze (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen ), there are scores of other Muslim nations in the world which could possibly offer them a haven; there are also many Western nations--Canada included--whose doors remain open.

So not only is the Anne Frank analogy wildly inaccurate, it tries to leverage Jewish suffering during the Holocaust for the sake of Muslim "refugees" who come from places where Jews are reviled every bit as much as they were in Hitler's Germany.

How sickening is that?

Update: There's a certain inconsistency, however, in Trump's thinking because Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt--which, trust me, have jihadis galore--aren't included in the freeze.

Song Parody Du Jour

It's from Oklahoma!, and was inspired by this article:

The Muslims and the Jews they could be friends.
Oh, the Muslims and the Jews they could be friends.
Muslims follow "perfect" Mo; Jews feel guilty, don't you know,
But that's no reason why they can't be friends.
Abrahamic folks should stick together.
Abrahamic folks are "victims," all.
Donald Trump's brought us together.
Who's using whom? Won't make that call.

I'd like to say a word for the Muslims.
They've suffered so much hate since 9/11.
(Don't mention what the Koran says re jihad
And ix-nay on those virgins up in Heaven.)
The Muslim is a good and caring citizen,
No matter what "Islamophobes" say about 'em.
And when imams insist that's Islam's "peaceful"
Then who the heck are we to even doubt 'em?

Abrahamic folks should stick together.
Abrahamic folks are "victims," all.
Donald Trump's brought us together.
Who's using whom? Won't make that call....

No Need to Apologize for Calling Norwegians 'the Anti-Semites'

Norwegian newspaper apologizes for calling Trump's son-in-law 'the Jew'

Update: Norway's Problem With Anti-Semitism

PC Funny Business No Laughing Matter

It never ceases to amaze me what gets the "progressive" crowd hot and bothered these days.

Things like, say, Jerry Seinfeld tweeting an innocuous play on words:

The tweet was a promotional one that had Seinfeld hyping an upcoming Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee episode that features Lewis Black.  

It seems that once the pun struck Seinfeld, he could not turn away, writing, "New! Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee ... Lewis Black. Black’s life matters."  

Beyond the general groan it elicited, the tweet struck the wrong nerve in critics, particularly given Seinfeld's lack of vocal support for the Black Lives Matter movement itself.

Why must Jerry Seinfeld be vocally supportive of Black Lives Matter? 

It that a requirement for tweeting comedians right now?

Vetting Questions--and the Religious Loophole That Can Nullify Them

Under the current system, foreigners applying for a nonimmigrant U.S. visa must answer this question: “Are you a member or representative of a terrorist organization?”

Daniel Greenfield quips: "An actual terrorist is as likely to check the box as he is to finger a rosary while eating a ham sandwich and singing Hava Nagila."

Greenfield has come up with "three simple questions" which he thinks are likely to be far more effective:

1. Have you ever had any associations with the Muslim Brotherhood or any of its front groups?
2. Will you commit to avoiding associations with Brotherhood mosques and other entities in this country? Are you aware that you may be deported if you do not?
3. Do you disavow the following verses of the Koran calling for violence against non-Muslims? 

I, too, think that these are much better questions. However, there's the little matter of taqiyyah--religiously-sanctioned permission to prevaricate if it advances the cause of Islam/jihad/sharia.

How does the person doing the vetting know if someone who has answered "no" to all three questions is in fact a big, fat taqiyyah-practising liar?

Update: By coincidence, a jihadi chick from Ontario--yes, Ontario!--shows how easily officials are bamboozled by taqiyyah (my bolds; h/t: MW):

LOS ANGELES –  The wife of a man accused of aiding the shooters in the San Bernardino terror attack pleaded guilty Thursday in an immigration fraud case and admitted that her marriage was a sham, federal prosecutors said. 

Mariyah Chernykh admitted that her marriage to Enrique Marquez Jr., the only person charged in connection with the 2015 terror attack, was a sham designed to enable her to obtain legal status in the U.S. after overstaying a visitor visa in 2009, prosecutors said. Marquez is accused of plotting with Syed Rizwan Farook to carry out attacks and with supplying guns used in the attack that left 14 people dead and 22 injured. 

The 26-year-old woman from Ontario was one of three people charged in the marriage fraud case that was unrelated to the December 2015 shootings but came to light in the investigation that followed it. Earlier this month, Farook's brother, Syed Raheel Farook, pleaded guilty in the immigration fraud case. His wife, Tatiana, was also charged but has denied any wrongdoing and is scheduled for trial in March. 

Chernykh pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy, perjury and other charges. She admitted in court that she paid Marquez for his participation in the scheme and that she lied on immigration documents and to federal agents, prosecutors said. Marquez confessed to the scheme when authorities questioned him about the shootings, and he acknowledged getting $200 a month to marry Chernykh, according to court documents...

Update: It is apparent from this article that the duplicitous chick and her sister, Tatiana, were Russian immigrants who lived in Ontario, California (not the province in Canada).

And here's where the story gets even crazier. It sounds like the two women were Jewish--or, at least, had parents who claimed Jewish ancestry:

Since the sisters' parents lived in Israel, the prospect of living and working together gave the sisters a support system that life in Russia didn't offer, he said.

Pretty freaking bizarre, no? 

How do two sisters whose parents are Russian Jews living in Israel end up becoming embroiled in a plot to wage jihad in America?

Sounds like something that would make a great Netflix mini-series--if Netflix had the cojones to make such a politically incorrect drama.

Blustering Obama Fan Peter Beinart Accuses Israel of Playing the Saucy Vixen, Enticing Aggrieved and Lustful Palestinians Into "Raping" Her

Sounding not unlike a male version of Whoopi Goldberg commenting on Roman Polanski, "progressive" pundit Peter Beinart says that if Israel gets "raped" by Palestinian terrorists, it isn't rape-rape because the Jews under Netanyahu's leadership had it coming.

Take it from there, Ruthie Blum:

To give greater weight to his argument, Beinart first presented the positions of those who ‎favor Israeli settlement construction and the relocation of the US Embassy, and then ‎refuted their logic.  ‎

One such position was that “Israel should never be cowed by the prospect of Palestinian ‎violence.” ‎

‎”To do so,” he said, “would be to imply that Israel deserves some of the blame for that ‎violence, which is like blaming a woman who is raped for wearing a short skirt.” 

‎Indeed.  

‎But here is where Beinart returned his own volley with a mighty whack. Unlike rape, he ‎wrote, which “is purely a product of male pathology, Palestinian violence … is a ‎pathological response to a genuine grievance.” Aha. 

In other words, Israel really is at fault for getting raped — whether it wears dresses or ‎pants; curtsies or bows; begs or pleads; or fights back. It is to blame for the plight of the ‎Palestinians. In fact, if not for the “violence” of Jewish oppression, they would be ‎teaching their children to sing “Kumbaya” and plant flowers, instead of raising them to ‎become martyrs for Allah. ‎

Yes, according to Beinart, “Snuffing out their hopes of ever tasting the basic freedoms ‎that David Friedman and Jared Kushner take for granted is violence.” Kudos for so ‎deftly killing two Jews — the incoming US ambassador to Israel, and Trump’s son-in-‎law/adviser — with one stone. 

‎Beinart wrapped up his piece with a proverbial sigh and characteristic self-justification for ‎attacking the state he always professes to love. “We must say so now, before the sight of ‎dead Jews drives us all mad,” he wrote. ‎

That Beinart has this view of the situation is not the least bit surprising. He is known for ‎his affiliation with the leftist organization J Street, whose “hold Israel responsible” stance ‎jibes perfectly with his own.

Once again, Beinart gets it wrong. We know what leads to e'er more dead Jews. It's when peacemongers, like those who finagled the intifada-fomenting Oslo Accords, are allowed to prevail.

Update: But wait--it seems that Beinart's not the only one who's panting about Israel and rape. This one, which includes a variation on that theme, just turned up in my email inbox:

Rogers TV, which runs community programming throughout Canada, has pulled the plug on an Arabic-language show called AskMirna after B’nai Brith Canada drew its attention to antisemitic messages promoted in the program. 

AskMirna, which describes itself as “presenting an accurate, positive, inspiring and entertaining image of the Arab-Canadian community,” dedicated an entire episode to “Nakba Day,” in which Palestinians annually mourn the establishment of the State of Israel and call for its destruction. This included an interview with Nazih Khatatba, who described Jewish suffering as “fairy tales” and engaged in Holocaust denial. 

Khatatba, a leader of Palestine House in Mississauga, Ont. has a history of inciting violence against Jews. In December, 2014, he lauded the terrorists behind the Har Nof synagogue massacre in Jerusalem that left six dead in his al-Meshwar newspaper. The incident was later investigated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). 

In other episodes of AskMirna, Palestinian-Canadian children are shown dancing to songs that praise terrorism against Israel, which is labelled “the rapist entity.”

How adorbs! Maybe Pete could get the kiddie dance troupe to perform at the next J Street convention. (BTW, the TV show's Mirna is dressed kind of slutty. Just saying.)

When Hell Freezes Over? When Justin Trudeau Gets a Clue? When Apes and Pigs Learn to Fly?

Farzana Hassan wants to know: When will the women's marchers protest sharia law?

We know the answer to that one: they will never protest it because they wouldn't want to be accused of being bigoted, racist "Islamophobes."

Big Donald Is Watching You?

Mere days after Trump took office, George Orwell's novel 1984 has sold out on Amazon.

Obviously, people are buying it because they see eerie parallels with Trump. They have no idea that that the novel is actually a cautionary tale about the dangers of socialism.

Yes, socialism.

In fact, the tyrannical political party in the book, the one fronted by "Big Brother" (a character who may or may not exist), "seeks power entirely for its own sake. It is not interested in the good of others; it is interested solely in power."

Hmmm. That sounds a lot like the Democrats to me.

Ontario's Incompetent Premier, Kathleen Wynne, the "Victim" of Mean Tweets

Some dumbass called her "a wrinkly dyke." Let's all hang our heads in shame.

Then again, let's not. Let's instead focus on how this ghastly premier continues to squander our money and kite our electricity bills because she thinks that'll stop us from, say, heating our homes and doing our laundry.

HR Report From a UN-Designated "Illegal Settlement"

Did an Islamist Imam Pull a Fast One During Trump's Innauguation Day Prayer Service?

I'd say so. Here's the passage from the Koran that Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, chose to recite to mark the auspicious occasion:

"O humankind, We have created you a single male and female (Adam and Eve) and made you into nations and tribes and communities, that you may know one another. Really, the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you, and God has all knowledge..."

Sounds fairly innocuous--if you know nothing about Islamic supremacism and if you don't factor in the imam's membership in AMJA.

What's that?

According to this FrontPage Magzine article, it's an organization of American Muslim "jurists" which has come up with a "multi-generational strategy to promote Islam, and relentlessly integrate (not assimilate) the core principles of Shariah law into mainstream American society."

Oh.

Knowing that Magid belongs to AMJA, it is easy to glean the true meaning of this passage--that Muslims and only Muslims are "the most righteous" of peoples, the ones who are "the most honored" in the sight of an omniscient God.

Funny that no one in the Trump camp was sharp enough to figure that out.

Update: Magid was also the president of ISNA, an organization created by American-based members of the Muslim Brotherhood (a racket with its own long term strategy).

Update: How did a Muslim Brotherhood-tied Imam end up at Trump’s inaugural prayer service? Good question. So glad at least someone (albeit not someone in the mainstream media) is asking it. 

Update: Magid is one of those "interfaith" twinning bamboozlers, but according to this from The Gates of Vienna, his Islamism may have--you should forgive the expression--superseded his "interfaithiness" last fall:

On October 18, 2016, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) Mohamed Magid was scheduled to participate in the “Exhibit & Lecture series: Moving From Indifference to Action,” a two-week program focused on the Holocaust. The program was sponsored by The Tennessee Holocaust Commission, Temple Ohabai Shalom, The Jewish Federation, Vanderbilt University, Family of Abraham and The Faith & Culture Center. 

Magid was supposed to deliver a lecture at 11:00 a.m. at The Temple entitled “Standing Up Against Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial.” And that evening, he was supposed to participate in an interfaith Jewish holiday service with the Temple’s rabbi, Mark Schiftan. 

Magid was billed as the “former President of ISNA,” a named Muslim Brotherhood front group. Magid first served as a regional representative, as Vice-President, and then as President of ISNA from 2010 to 2014. He currently remains on the organization’s Executive Council. 

But Magid never showed up for the lecture or the interfaith service. Was he kept away by ISNA’s support for the new anti-Semitism called the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel?

I definitely wouldn't rule it out.

Update: A few years back, NRO's Andrew C. McCarthy wrote this:

Magid’s organization, ISNA, is the most important Muslim Brotherhood organization in the United States. I have profiled it in these pages a number of times. As detailed in The Grand Jihad, it is the Islamist umbrella organization that traces its origins to the Muslim Students Association, the foundation of the Brotherhood’s American infrastructure.

Update: Magid tells CNN's Don Lemon that the Koranic passage, which was approved by the Trumpers, was all about "diversity." And Lemon, being Lemon, buys it!

Niqab-Wearing German-Moroccan Girl, 16, Convicted of Attempted Murder and Aiding ISIS

Thankfully, she was thrown in the slammer before he could do any harm, but it's unlikely she's the only teenaged "lone wolfette" out there.

That's the "lone wolfette" is in the middle--I think.

Sad News: Mary Tyler Moore Has Died

Moore, who was 80, had a long and varied career--from Happy Hotpoint, to a pair of comely legs on a TV detective show, to a nun in an eminently forgettable Elvis flick, to her eponymous 70s sitcom, to her Oscar-nominated turn as the iceberg of a mom in Ordinary People. But this is the role which made her famous, and it's the one that remains my favorite:

Not a Good Look

WATCH: Palestinians Wear Mock Suicide Vests at Fatah Anniversary Parade

"Worse Than Al Jazeera"

That's what this bloke calls the New York Times's coverage of Israel.

John Kerry: What a Blockhead!

The former Secretary of State thought he was being clever and crafty when, in the closing hours of the Obama administration, he bypassed Congress and sent the Palestinians $220 million. Turns out his efforts will likely end up helping Israel and hurting Obama's pets:

...Former Secretary of State John Kerry endangered future funding to the PA by orchestrating the $221 million release in the final hours of the Obama administration, according to a report published Monday by the Associated Press and additional details provided to TWS. The release was made in spite of holds that had been placed on the funds by a number of lawmakers.

“I don't know if we can recoup that money, but I intend to suspend future funding to the Palestinian Authority until they change their laws that reward young Palestinians for killing Israelis and Americans," South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told TWS.

Graham said he will reintroduce the Taylor Force Act, named after an Army veteran who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist last March, which cuts funding until the PA stops directly or indirectly financing terrorism. The PA set aside roughly $140 million to support imprisoned terrorists and their families in 2016, including those of "martyrs," according to experts who spoke to Congress in July.

"I find that cruel and unacceptable," Graham said. "I will be pushing to stop those payments."

Good. 

And nuts to you, Mr. Kerry.

Update: Looks like the Palestinians just got Trumped.

Tarek Fatah's "J'accuse" Re "Media Elite" Who Downplay the Real and Present Threat of Jihadi Terrorism

Here he is channeling his inner Zola:

In my view, there is a cowardice and complicity among the media elite, which became endemic during the Obama years, to downplay the threat of Islamic terrorism, carefully camouflaged as wisdom.  

These media elites tell us that anyone who dares to vote or support Brexit, or elect or support Trump, are racists and fascists.  

Well, your time is up, you millionaire Marxists. 

Time for you to brush up on Rosa Luxembourg and Madame Mao in your libraries. 

Meanwhile, we will fight on your behalf when the jihadi Islamic terrorists appear. 

Don’t worry. You are just the extra baggage, along for the ride.

A "Misspoken" (and MIsbegotten) Justin Trudeau Tries--and Fails--To Do Damage Control

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is still traveling the land in a bid to "reconnect" with ordinary Canadians, claims he "misspoke" when he said, re the Alberta oilsands, "We need to phase them out."

In fact, that isn't "misspeaking."  That's saying exactly what he thinks, what he hopes, what he wants--an end to fossil fuels and their replacement by non-carbon-emitting fuel sources (which are nowhere near ready to take over, and likely won't be for quite some time).

But since that speaking his mind got him in trouble, he had to try to walk it back.

The only--the real--"misspokenness" that's going on is the obviously bogus claim that he "misspoke" when, clearly, he did no such thing.

Austrian "Lone Wolf" Cubs Get Up to Some Jihadi Hijinks

Seems to me they're getting younger and younger (my bolds):

An Austrian teenager arrested on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack in Vienna has told investigators he built a "test bomb" in Germany, where another suspect has been arrested, Austria's interior minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday. 

The Austrian suspect, a 17-year-old with Albanian roots, was arrested on Friday after tip-offs from unspecified foreign countries. Austria alerted Germany to a related suspect, a 21-year-old who was arrested in the western city of Neuss on Saturday. A boy thought to be 12 has also been held in Austria. 

Whether the German and Austrian suspects are believed to have planned separate attacks or a joint one, and of what nature, is not clear. Austria has said public places in Vienna including its underground transit system might have been a target.  

"A test bomb seems to have been put together," Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told broadcaster ORF, even though no explosives were found in the apartment in question. "That is all we can announce today from the questioning."

This Is Awesome!

It's this:

Additionally, the bill withholds funding from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) until the secretary of state certifies that the UNHRC does not include a permanent item related to the State of Israel or the Palestinian territories.

I say let's mothball the whole enchilada since it makes a mockery of the concept of human rights by putting it in the hands of the world's worst human rights abusers (China, Cuba, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc.).

Anti-Trump P-Party Chicks Rail Against Israel

Quel surprise, eh?

Cloudy With a Chance of Snowballs

Authorities in Dresden, Germany ban an anti-Islam protest over fears that a snowball fight could break out.

To recap: snowballs--scary; jihad/sharia/dhimmitude--not so much.

A Clarification From Madonna

When the singer said she's been thinking of "blowing up the White House," she had no intention of following through on her dark and fevered i"madge"inings.

SNL's Tribute to a Departing Obama Is a Real Lulu

SNL bade farewell to its hero a la gushing schoolgirl Judy Geeson saying ta-ta to the teacher she's been crushing on.

Here's my less-than-worshipful version of the original song:

Those foolish days
Of being blind and leading from behind are done.
But in their minds they think that Mrs. C. has really won.
But how do you get a grip when your idol is no longer on the scene?
It isn't easy, so they'll cry.
If he promised to heal and instead he made things so much worse
They still won't see it and will thirst for him: 'To BHO, Come Back'.
The time has come for moving on; he's gone; his time has passed.
And if today it's "America First" it's 'cause he put it very last.
There won't be apology tours and jours of crazy lefty fits of shame.
No Cairo speeches, no more games.
If he did lasting harm by capitulating to some Shias
His fans'll still holler, "Please,
"Please, BHO, Come Back!"

Is Trump's "America First" Shtick Really "Anti-Semitic"?

Yes, I know, I know--harkening back to the Lindberghian is apt to give one pause. But if Trump is such a big anti-Semite, how do you account for this?:

The first orthodox Rabbi to give benediction at a US presidential inauguration cited a psalm highlighting Jerusalem at Friday’s ceremony. 

Rabbi Marvin Hier —  the 77-year-old founder and dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center — said in his prayer for President Donald Trump: “Bless all of our allies around the world who share our beliefs, ‘By the rivers of Babylon, we wept as we remember Zion…If I forget you O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill’ (Psalm 137).” 

Hier was the first religious leader to recite an invocation following Trump’s swearing-in and inaugural address. He prayed that the “Eternal God bless President Donald J. Trump and America, our great nation,” and “guide us to remember the words of the Psalmist, ‘Who may dwell on Your holy mountain? One who does what is right and speaks the truth’ (Psalm 15).” 

The rabbi also reminded the crowd, “The freedoms we enjoy are not granted in perpetuity, but must be reclaimed in each generation. As our ancestors have planted for us so we must plant for others.” 

As Hier took the podium — one of 6 religious figures to recite a blessing Friday — one could hear cheers and chants in support of the rabbi...

Donald Trump Says If His Son-In-Law Can't Negotiate a Peace Deal Between Israel and the Palestinians, Nobody Can

I can understand thinking your son-in-law is a great guy. What I can't understand is this sort of thinking:

If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can,” Trump told Kushner, who has been tapped as a senior advisor to the new president. “All my life I’ve been hearing that’s the toughest deal to make, but I have a feeling Jared is going to do a great job.”

To be clear: Jared cannot produce peace in the Middle East. As of now and for the foreseeable future, nobody can.

How I wish that that was how President Trump saw it, too.

Hyperventilating California Politician Fears "Raping and Pillaging" Under Trump

"Raping and pillaging," eh?

I think you're confusing Trump with the jihadis, pal.

Self-Described "Delusional Egomaniac" Stephen Colbert Sums Up Obama Years in a Few Minutes

No surprise that the hero-worshiper is as delusional as his hero.

Same Old Judenhass, But With an Au Courant Anti-Zionist Vibe

Adam Kirsch reveals what it is about Bernard-Henri Levy that drives the French left wild--and not in a good way (my bolds):

The left, in particular, has long despised Lévy, in something like the way it came to despise Christopher Hitchens. That is because, even as he claims to be a socialist himself, he stands for three things that are anathema to the contemporary left. First, he is fundamentally opposed to the idea of revolution; he came to prominence in the 1970s as a spokesman for the “New Philosophers,” a group of young thinkers who rejected the violent revolutionary fantasies of French Marxists and Maoists. Second, he advocates an interventionist foreign policy in defense of humanitarianism and human rights—most recently, he supported the NATO action in Libya. Since at least the Iraq War, if not earlier, this idea has been scorned by the left as a mere fig leaf for Western imperialism, and a recipe for international chaos (with Libya as a case in point). And third, Lévy is a committed Jew, who places Jewishness and the state of Israel at the heart of his political and intellectual identity.

This is particularly significant in a French context, because in recent years Alain Badiou, often considered France’s greatest living philosopher, has helped to turn anti-Judaism into an intellectual point of pride. To Badiou, and his epigone Slavoj Žižek, Judaism is the enemy of utopianism; just as Jews denied Christ, so Jewish liberals today deny the transcendent dimension of the revolutionary Event. The only good Jews, according to this school, are the ones who reject solidarity with other Jews and turn themselves into revolutionaries and pariahs, like Spinoza and Marx. In particular, this form of left-wing anti-Judaism demands hostility to Israel as a token of liberation from Jewish particularism.

I wouldn't say that that sort of thinking is exclusive to France. It pretty much describes leftist thinking vis-à-vis Israel in North America and the rest of Western Europe, including the U.K., too, does it not?

(As an aside, doesn't the piquant phrase "Badiou and his epigone Slavoj Žižek" sound like the name of a French art house movie?)

The "Progressive" Two Step: Introduce Fear of the "Other" to Smother Jews' and Gays' Legitimate Concerns About Muslims

Bruce Bawer unpacks a typical mainstream media article--this one from the Christian Science Monitor--which can't bring itself to criticize any aspect of Islam or those who practice it (for to do so would be "Islamophobic"), preferring instead to chide Muslims' victims:

Now, any honest reporter faced with all of the above data would be obliged to acknowledge that, yes, Islam preaches the murder of gays and Jews and that members of those groups in Europe are aware of this fact and are acting out of sheer self-preservation. Period. 

But the mainstream media can't allow itself to admit these facts and leave it at that. So it muddies the waters. [CSM scribblers] Llana and Micner did so in a familiar way. The “far-right” parties, they charged, don't really believe in freedom and human rights, and don't really care about gays' or Jews' well-being, but are, on the contrary, nests of bigotry – including homophobia and anti-Semitism. Why, then, are these parties welcoming Jews and gays into their ranks? According to Llana and Micner, it all came down to two words: window dressing. They're taking in Jewish and gay members, you see, only because those groups' support for them allows the parties to pose as non-bigoted “[e]ven as they feed on” – wait for it – “the fear of the 'other.'”  

Ah yes, that useful concept: “fear of the 'other.'” Llana and Micner, as we've seen, had already made it perfectly clear that Jews and gays have a very good reason for fearing Islam. But by bringing in the postmodern concept of “fear of the 'other,'” they deftly swept all sense away and turned the whole thing around. For the entire concept of “the other” is tied up, in contemporary academic discourse, with what is meant to be regarded by all and sundry as the thoroughly ugly history of Western imperialism – the colonization of various non-Western corners of the earth, and the cruel subordination of the almost invariably dark-skinned natives of those places to their white European conquerors. Let it be understood, moreover, that for one of today's academics to reduce a social or political situation to a distrustful encounter between “self” and “other” is to suggest that the former view themselves as civilized and view the “other” as a bunch of savages.  

By introducing the notion of “fear of the 'other'” into their article, then, Llana and Micner were pulling a swift one, implying that these “far-right” parties' counter-jihadist positions are based not on a legitimate concern about Islamic prejudices but – presto change-o! – on Western prejudices against Muslims that are rooted in nothing other than Islam's alienness and unfamiliarity. Never mind that Llana and Micner had already established that Islam has long since ceased to be an alien or unfamiliar phenomenon in most of western Europe; that native Europeans have, in point of fact, been exposed to it for more than a generation now; that the overwhelming majority of them have had close encounters with a great number of Muslims; and that they have witnessed, with growing alarm, the dire impact of Islamization on almost every aspect of their lives, their communities, their cities, and their countries. Never mind, in sum, that their concerns are rooted in cold, harsh reality. 

Harsh reality? I have yet to meet a "progressive" who is willing to take that on. More often, those who purvey the "fear of the 'other'" bollocks prefer to dwell in the land of delusion, a place where there's no jihad, and Muslims and Jews can luxuriate in their collective sense of "otherness".

Update: This bit from the article linked above is a prime example of delusional--and suicidal--Jewish "progressive" thinking (my bolds):

The conference was “a gesture toward the possibility of a Jewish-Muslim relationship in this country better than the one we have,” Dr. Kurtzer said. 

“We’re trying to be at the frontlines of reimagining Jewish-Muslim relations in this country, and we’re doing so as an avowedly Zionist organization,” he continued. “That makes it hard for some in the Muslim community to participate; that’s no secret. In the paranoid culture we’re in, it makes some people think that we’re not serious about our Zionism. From our perspective, one can love the State of Israel and feel that we’re more effective in building the strength of the Jewish people, by building relationships with others who don’t share that commitment. 

“We are an anti-litmus-test institution,” he said. 

Mr. Kurtzer lamented the “tragedy” of bringing the conflict in Israel to America. “I believe it’s possible to have a serious relationship to Israel without becoming proxy warriors for a conflict seven thousand miles away,” he said. There’s no reason, he said, that arguments about Israel should blow up friendships between Muslim and Jewish high school students.

Not me. I'm a pro-litmus-test sort of person. And if you can't pass the litmus test of accepting Israel's right to exist, I have no interest in being your "friend."

And, yes, there are some Muslims who do pass the test--Professor Salim Mansur, for example.

He "gets" it. Mr. Kurtzer, alas, not so much.

And BTW, Mr. K., it wasn't "Zionists" who brought "the conflict in Israel" i.e. the war between the Jews and jihadis, to America. It was the jihadis. In NYC (site of your schmooze-a-thon) on 9/11/11. At Fort Hood. In Boston. In San Bernardino. In Orlando. You see, much as you and the other schmoozers would love to live in your American bubble, a place where you think you're safe, you can't: the jihad, which is global in scope, won't allow it.

And, no, that isn't me just being--now, what was that word you used again? oh, yeah--"paranoid."

"Holocaust Selfies"

It's a thing, apparently, and there are those who--no fooling--like to haul out the old selfie stick and pose all pouty-lipped during a visit to what was once a Nazi death camp.

An Israeli takes issue--big time--with their narcissism and levity.

On Second Thought, Calling It "Obamacare" May Not Have Been Such a Great Idea

Gee, ya think?

"Morons Spouting Platitutdes"

That's Davos for you.

"We Bought Out All the Hot Pink at Two Goodwill Stores...and We're Going Back For More"

Pace the idiotic Ceeb (which has a political stance that's in line with Bernie Sanders's), anyone who thinks that wearing a "pink pussy hat" is a way to make "an important political statement" needs a good shrink. Also, anyone who has a hoohah that's such an angry shade of pink ought to consult a good gynecologist, stat.

Obama Pal Rashid Khalidi Uses Word Associated With Insects and Vermin to Describe What's About to Unfold Re Israel Under Trump

Sounds like Khalidi is implying that the U.S. is going to need some heavy duty pest control to deal with this impending Jewish "problem" :

Pro-Israel figures will “infest” President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, a Palestinian-American Columbia University professor and notorious critic of the Jewish state declared on Tuesday. 

“There are a group of people, a lot of them in Israel and some of them in the United States, who live in a world of their own,” Rashid Khalidi — the Edward Said professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia — stated during an interview aired by Chicago’s WBEZ 91.5 public radio station. “That is to say, they think that whatever they want and whatever cockamamie schemes they can cook up can be substituted for reality.” 

“So they have a vision whereby the occupied territories aren’t occupied,” Rashidi continued. “They have a vision whereby there is no such thing as the Palestinians. They have a vision whereby international law doesn’t exist. They have a vision whereby the United States can unilaterally cancel a decision of the United Nations. And unfortunately these people infest the Trump transition team, these people are going to infest our government as of January 20th. And they are hand in glove with a similar group of people in the Israeli government and in Israeli political life who think that whatever they think can be imposed on reality.”...

It's pretty rich for a guy who lives in a Columbia U./Edward Said bubble to whinge about the cockamamie and the unreal (adjectives which could be used to describe both the bubble and the collected works of Said and Khalidi).

You can see where he's coming from, however. From his perspective, the worst sort of "infestation" of all is the Zionist kind.

Update: Re Edward Said's most famous and influential book, Martin Kramer employs the perfect descriptor:

Orientalism by Edward Said (1978). Sigh… I suppose “baneful” is the best adjective. No book has done more to obscure the Middle East, and impart a sense of guilt to anyone who has had the audacity to represent it. The French scholar Jacques Berque (praised by Said) put it succinctly: Said had done “a disservice to his countrymen in allowing them to believe in a Western intelligence coalition against them.” But the book gave rise to a cottage industry in Western academe, and helped tilt the scales in academic appointments. Its influence may be waning, but it’s still on syllabi everywhere.

Update: Now that the Obama presidency is no more, do you think the L.A. Times will agree to release that Obama-Khalidi tape, the one it's been sitting on for the past eight years? 

Toronto Pride Organizers Capitulate to Black Lives Matter, Throws the Cops Under the Bus

Sickening, but given how the victimhood game is played in our day, not much of a surprise.

Why the "Two-State Solution" Wasn't--and Isn't--A Go

Here, in a nutshell, is why it has always been a non-starter (my bolds):

An honest appraisal of the historical record indicates it was never possible for one principal reason, the Palestinians have never been prepared to share any part of the land they claim as their own. This irredentism is based in large measure on the view that Jews have no place in the Islamic world – except as second-class citizens (dhimmis) under Muslim rule. No UN resolution or State Department formula will change this reality and therefore it is time acknowledge the two-state idea as presently conceived is dead.

Given that reality, what he have here is an either-or situation. There can either be an Israel or a "Palestine." Until and unless the Islamic world can renounce core Islamic teachings/texts, there cannot be both.

Marriage Made in Hades

Hamas and Abbas hook up--yet again.

Mother From Hell

Pakistani mom promised her daughter a wedding reception. Instead, she burned her alive

A Photo Op That's Worth 1,000 Words (All of 'Em Expletives)

Abbas Poses With Photo of Palestinian Terrorist Who Massacred 38 Israelis, Including 13 Kids

How, Um, "Inclusive"

Brandeis Hires Terror-Linked Islamist With Al Qaeda Ties

Obama Does Dirt to Jewry One Last Time

Of all of Obama's abominable actions, this may well be the worst--rewarding the court Jew who helped smooth the way for that heinous deal with Iran's Grandiose Ayatollah (the guy who has vowed to wipe "Zionist entity" and its six million Jews off the map) with a place on--wait for it--the Holocaust Memorial Council.

Update: Obama is "a spite machine."

He's Ba-ack!

The Return of Bernard Lewis

Re Israel, Obama's OCD is Worse Than Ever

In his final interview as POTUS with "60 Minutes," Barack Obama, who is obsessed--yes, obsessed--with the Israel "problem," couldn't resist taking a parting shot at the stiff-necked Jewish state:

WASHINGTON — The increase of Israeli settlements has “gotten so substantial” that it is inhibiting the possibility for an “effective, contiguous Palestinian state,” President Barack Obama said Sunday, in his final interview as president.

Speaking to CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Obama dismissed the idea that there is a “major rupture” in the relationship between the United States and Israel after last month’s decision by the U.S. to abstain from a United Nations vote condemning Israeli settlements.

“Because of our investment in the region, and because we care so deeply about Israel, I think [the U.S.] has a legitimate interest in saying to a friend, ‘This is a problem,’ ” Obama said. “It would have long-term consequences for peace and security in the region, and the United States.”

Actually...no. It's Obama's "solution" that would have dire long-term consequences--for a viable Israel.