PrairiePundit

Bill Gertz: The Pentagon’s Joint Staff warned in a recent intelligence briefing that Islamic State terrorists are entering Europe “mostly unimpeded,” according to defense officials. The briefing last week by the J-2, as the joint staff’s intelligence directorate is known, outlined both legal and illegal methods being used by terrorists to gain access to the continent. The briefing included a title slide that read “ISIL traveling to Europe mostly unimpeded,” and warned that European security measures have minimally impeded the flow of terrorists. ISIL is an alternative name for the terrorist organization, which is also known as ISIS. Additionally, the refugee flow from Syria to Europe is overwhelming counterterrorism efforts there, raising new fears that refugees from Syria being settled in the United States pose a security threat in this country. “That ties directly to security efforts here,” said one official familiar with the briefing who spoke on condition of anonymity. .

Charles Moore: The end is nigh for climate-change activists Many formerly backward countries will not sacrifice their new-found prosperity on the altar of eco-virtue ... The reason that there will not be a legally binding agreement (or at least not a genuinely enforceable one) is the growth of something which the Left has always called for, but doesn’t quite like when it gets it – the power of the developing world. India, for example, sees it as “carbon imperialism” for the West to deny it the fossil-fuelled industrialisation which gave us a more than 100 years’ start on the rest of the world. A great many formerly backward countries are at last getting rich and they will not sacrifice their new prosperity on the altar of eco-virtue. Nearly seven years ago, at COP 15 in Copenhagen, Barack Obama, bearing his Nobel Prize and at the height of his moral prestige, pleaded with them, to no avail. What will make them listen to him now, in the twilight of his presidency? ... Only a mi

Washington Post: This might be the most controversial theory for what’s behind the rise of Islamic State Economist Thomas Piketty argues that inequality is a major driver of Middle Eastern terrorism, and that Western nations have themselves largely to blame for that inequality. If he were really adept at finding the cause of inequality he would focus on liberalism.  The US would be a good source for research since its laboratories of democracy have demonstrated that inequality is greatest in blue states run by liberal Democrats and it is least in red states run by Republicans. Just as globo warmers project their beliefs on radical Islam being caused by "climate change" Piketty is projecting his own prejudice on them too.  The real cause of radical Islam is Islamic religious bigotry.  That is the underlying cause of their mass murder for Allah operations.  Their anger is directed toward all who reject the weird religious views of radical Islam.  You just have to be a li

NY Times: Predatory Islamic State Wrings Money From Those It Rules The earnings from the militants’ violent collection practices total tens of millions of dollars a month, approaching $1 billion a year, according to some This is why it is going to take more than bombing raids to shut down their operations.  It will take troops to take away their control of real estate and the people within it to stop their funding.   The Washington Times reports : ... “In the last eight months ISIS has managed to sell … $800 million dollars worth of oil on the black market of Turkey. This is Iraqi oil and Syrian oil, carried by trucks from Iraq, from Syria through the borders to Turkey and sold … [at] less than 50 percent of the international oil price,” Mowaffak al Rubaie said in an interview with RT. ... The turks have been profiting from their double game.

Politico: As Cruz gains, GOP senators rally for Rubio The idea of Cruz as the nominee makes fellow GOP senators shudder. What the article leaves out is that a Cruz Presidency would leave them without excuses for not passing the agenda they run on at election time.   That is what they find really scary.  Marco Rubio looks like a safer choice for them because he is more amenable to the kind of deals they like. What the Cruz, Carson and Trump candidacy represents to them is a rejection of the politics of usual they are most comfortable with.  While they are making noise about elect ability, the polls show that Cruz is beating Hillary like every other major GOP candidate.  The big difference between Cruz and Rubio their inability to force him to compromise his principles. I will support the nominee and I suspect that when the voters make their choice the members of Congress will too.

Washington Times: ... On Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei spewed more anti-American broadsides in a special message to “world youth” reported by Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency. The Shiite leader accused the U.S. of creating and supporting al Qaeda and the Taliban, the two Sunni militant groups that American troops are fighting in Afghanistan. “Today, there are very few people who are uninformed about the role of the United States of America in creating, nurturing and arming al Qaeda, the Taliban and their inauspicious successors,” he said. “Besides this direct support, the overt and well-known supporters of takfiri terrorism — despite having the most backward political systems — are standing arrayed as allies of the West while the most pioneering, brightest and most dynamic democrats in the region are suppressed mercilessly.” Takfiri are Sunni Muslims, such as leaders of the Islamic State terrorist group, who accuse other Muslims of being nonbelievers. ... This guy is not oper

Washington Post: The Republican field has a diversity quandary The party has three minorities among its top four presidential hopefuls and wants to get more votes from people of color, but the candidates aren’t using ethnic identity to appeal to voters. What is happening is these Republicans are treating all voters as equal.  The Democrats should try that rather than their tired grievance rhetoric.   At this point the Democrats seem more concerned about not being able to argue that the GOP is too white or too old/

NY Times: Ted Cruz Defends Conservative Criticisms of Planned Parenthood After Shooting at Clinic Mr. Cruz lashed out at the “vicious rhetoric on the left, blaming those who are pro-life.” There is something about the left that is always seeking to silent critics of its policies and is willing to seize on any ghoulish action as an excuse to do so.

Red States: No, Terror Sympathizers, Restricting Refugees Does Not Help ISIS ... Of course, the underlying fallacy is that ISIS and its supporters are motivated by actions of the West. Not a single scholarly examination of radical Islamic terrorism, particularly of ISIS has shown this to be the case. The grievances against the West used by al Qaeda are historical and have nothing to do with assimilation of the Muslim diaspora in Europe, but their motivation is the establishment of a space where a pure Islam can be practiced. This entire argument is dishonest. If accommodating Muslims in Europe had any impact whatsoever on ISIS, there wouldn’t be an ISIS. This is simply an ad hominem that seeks to equate caution about accepting tens of thousands of people from an area infested with terrorism with bigotry. It should be dismissed as such and anyone making the argument labels themselves as egregious douche. I would add the left's argument against Gitmo to this narrative.  The

Israeli Cool: The Accountant’s Guide To Winning The War On Palestinian Terror ... The belligerence that is bought, paid for, encouraged and perpetuated by the Palestinian Authority. The same Palestinian Authority the Israeli government transfers approximately $120 million in tax payments collected on their behalf every month. In any business, payment transfers of this nature would withhold funds for incidentals and expenses and detail each item in a statement so that there’s full transparency on where the money went. Lawyers do it. eBay does it. Accountants do it. Israel is full of accountants and lawyers. Why aren’t we doing this to the Palestinian Authority? ... The Palestinians usually whine about "collective punishment" when Israel responds to attacks by Palestinians on non combatants.  The reason that should not apply is because the Palestinians have the capacity and responsibility to stop the attacks and this gives them another incentive to do so.

Reuters: North Korea appeared to conduct a submarine-launched ballistic missile test on Saturday but it ended in failure with no indication that the missile successfully ejected from the vessel and took off, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The test, if confirmed, follows a test-launch in May of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), which Pyongyang boasted as a success but has not been independently verified. "There is no identification of a missile taking flight and only fragments of a safety cover was observed so it's highly likely that the launch was a misfire," a South Korean government source was quoted as saying by Yonhap. South Korea's Defence Ministry declined to confirm the report citing its policy of not commenting on intelligence matters. The North's May test launch of an SLBM fueled alarm in South Korea and the United States about the possibility of advances in the military capabilities of a state that is pursuing a nuc

As interesting as that number is are the number of Democrats who will vote for anyway.  It tells you something about where that party is at.

Debra Saunders: Ethanol: bad for climate and pocketbook A federal program, once launched, is impossible to kill. It doesn’t matter if the scheme wastes money. It doesn’t matter if the program doesn’t work. It doesn’t even matter if the program does the very opposite of what it is supposed to do. Every government program enters the world with an army of fairy godmothers prepared to fend off any effort to cut the cord. Hence, the staying power of ethanol. ... The law mandating ethanol was the product of perceived scarcity of oil  and gas in the US.  That is clearly not the case anymore, yet the US keeps on subsidizing something that is not needed.

Carol Brown: Muslim men rape non-Muslim women (and girls) in disproportionately high numbers in countries with growing Muslim minority populations. Rape of infidel women is part of Islamic law and Islamic tradition. As such, it’s been going on for centuries. This article is about the current threat Muslim rapists pose to non-Muslim women. In order to keep this article to a reasonable length, the focus is on the rape epidemic in Europe, but suffice it to say rape jihad is a gruesome reality the world over. Perhaps there is no European country where rape has reached epidemic proportions as it has in Sweden, a country now known as the “rape capital” of Europe. Sweden ranks Number 2 on the global list of rape countries. From 1975 to present, rape in Sweden has increased 1472%. Based on this model, it is now projected that one in four Swedish women (and sometimes little girls) will be raped. Rape of men and boys is also on the rise. Making this nightmarish situation worse, the autho

Daily Mail: U.S. border guards got a surprise when they searched a Mexican BMW and found a hardline Muslim cleric - banned from France and Canada - curled up in the boot. Said Jaziri, who called for the death of a Danish cartoonist that drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed, was being smuggled into California when he was arrested, along with his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler. The 43-year-old was deported from Canada to his homeland Tunisia in 2007 after it emerged he had lied on his refugee application about having served jail time in France. ... Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling cartel $5,000 to take him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a 'safe place anywhere in the U.S.' According to the court documents, a Mexican guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate. They then trekked across the rugged terrain under cover of darkness to a spot popular for drivers who pick up immigrants for smuggl

NY Times: Clinic Rampage Was a ‘Form of Terrorism,’ Governor Says The governor of Colorado and other national leaders condemned Friday’s attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic as a form of terrorism in discussions on the factors behind such frequent shootings. I condemn the violence but it does not look like terrorism to me.  It looks like a murder case that the police have solved and the person responsible will be tried for his alleged crimes.  If this guy were a Muslim, they would be the first to tell you that his actions have nothing to do with Islam.  Will they do the same about the anti abortion movement?  Probably not.

Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration is pressing Turkey to deploy thousands of additional troops along its border with Syria to cordon off a 60-mile stretch of frontier that U.S. officials say is used by Islamic State to move foreign fighters in and out of the war zone. The U.S. hasn’t officially requested a specific number of soldiers. Pentagon officials estimated that it could take as many as 30,000 to seal the border on the Turkish side for a broader humanitarian mission. Cordoning off just one section alone could take 10,000 or more, one official estimated. It’s unclear how Turkey will respond. Turkish officials said they agree that tighter border control is necessary, and have begun implementing some measures. They suggested that the Pentagon troop estimates are inflated, but declined to give a number of their own. In return for doing more to fight Islamic State, Turkey is seeking more financial help from Europe to deal with its 2.2 million Syrian refugees, as well as

Washington Post: Failure to stop Paris attacks reveals fatal flaws of European security A threadbare system for tracking suspects across open borders, poor intelligence sharing and an unmanageable list of homegrown extremists to monitor make for a deadly mix. The fact is they were too passive while Obama and Clinton were messing up in Syria and Libya and they are reaping the whirl wind from those screw ups.  By refusing to be engaged or by helping to destabalize places like Libya they have allowed the enemy to create chaos that is driving refugees out of the areas and creating even more chaos in Europe.

NY Times: Ted Cruz Attacks Marco Rubio on Privacy and Immigration In perhaps his most sustained attack to date against Marco Rubio, whom he has tried to portray as overly cozy with establishment Republicans, Ted Cruz spent several minutes assailing the congressional colleague he has called a friend. This is the counter punch to Rubio's attack on Cruz on the vote restraining NSA warrant-less snooping.  That is the "privacy" aspect of the headline.  I frankly think the NSA vote was a mistake, but it pales beside Rubio's support for amnesty.  As much as liberals and the establishment would liek to see amnesty a large majority of votes oppose it and that is Rubio's biggest problem.

NY Times: ISIS Tightens Grip on a Swath of Libya, Giving It a Fallback The Mediterranean port city of Surt has become an actively managed colony of the Islamic State, which has come under growing military and economic pressure in Syria and Iraq. The left has been largely silent about this screw up because their guys were responsible for it.   But voters in general are concerned about ISIL's viral spread from the Middle East to North Africa.  The fallout from the Syrian and Libyan screw ups is hitting Europe hardest at this point.  If Clinton thinks what happened in Libya is "smart diplomacy" she is delusional or hopes that enough votes are that they will ignore it.  They are not going to be able to blame George W. Bush for this one.

Burka Blog: ... Trump is a candidate whose entire pitch, such as it is, rests on the illusion that he is a winner. He claims to be a successful businessman; in reality, he would have been better off investing the money he inherited in an index fund forty years ago. He claims to know more about ISIS “ than the generals do” ; in reality, the little he knows about the armed services is drawn from his experience at a military-themed boarding school. He thinks that he has “better” hair than Marco Rubio ; I mean, can a sentient adult offer a straight-faced response to that? We already know how Trump responds when his braggadocio is exposed for the posturing it is: he lashes out. He’s still brooding about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly , who committed the cardinal sin of asking him questions during a debate. When Ben Carson challenged his status as frontrunner in the polls, Trump responded by flapping his belt around and comparing Carson to a child molester . Cruz, meanwhile, is a student o

Erick Erickson: Karl Rove Helping Ben Carson Has Everything to do With Ted Cruz If that is there plan it is not working in Iowa. The thinking is that the establishment is trying to keep Carson viable long enough for one of their candidates to capture his vote.  Rubio id probably their most likely savior since Christie and Bush are fading.  One of the things about Cruz that many find attractive is that he is willing to take on the establishment Republicans so this move has a high potential for backfiring.

CBS News: Two Kenyans in police custody have admitted assisting Iranian state intelligence to plot attacks on western targets in Kenya, Kenya's police chief said Saturday. Abubakar Sadiq Louw, 69, and Yassin Sambai Juma, 25, confessed to being spies for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, an elite and secretive unit, Joseph Boinnet said. "We have irrefutable evidence that they have been recruiting into an Iranian spying ring. The mission of that ring was to mount terror attacks in this city not only targeting western interest but our interests as well," Boinnet said. He said that the two had made several trips to Iran and had been given money by their handlers to case their targets for future terror attacks and to recruit others, including children. He declined to say which western targets were being surveyed. Boinnet says Louw recruited Juma and arranged for him to travel to Iran for training. Juma was arrested on Nov. 19 on his return to Kenya.

Washington Post: Paris summit is already a win for Obama, but Earth remains in danger More than 160 countries have pledged to address their greenhouse-gas production, but environmentalists say still more needs to be done. I do not view the Paris meeting as a win for Obama or even an important event.  The majority of Americans also think ISIL and Iran's nukes are a bigger threat .  Obama's warped priorities are one reason why he and his party are so out of step with the concerns of voters.  Stories like this one may another reason why people have such a low opinion of the media.

Washington Post: Donald Trump’s controversial remarks haven’t hurt him A Quinnipiac survey found that the GOP candidate had only slightly more people saying they would never vote for him than people who said the same about Jeb Bush. The attacks on Trump seem to only confirm the voter distrust of the media.  One of the reasons for this is when Trump uses an overstatement to make a point, the media tends to counter it with an overstatement of its own which leads to a further erosion in media credibility.

Washington Post: Iranian media revealing that scores of the country’s fighters are dying in Syria Some believe that by allowing greater media coverage of the deaths, Iranian leaders might partly be trying to prevent Russia’s headline-grabbing intervention from overshadowing their own. Iran has lost several top military leaders not to mention the losses incurred by its proxy forces such as Hezballah.  The leadership losses may reflect a problem with getting troops to fight in the conflict with to commanders being pushyed to the front to encourage the troops.

NY Times: Cubans Protest Stricter Rules for Traveling to Ecuador Cubans crowded outside an Ecuadorean embassy, worried about a new visa requirement to enter Ecuador, a vital step to reach the United States. The despots who run Ecuador probably are trying to help the Castro's avoid further embarrassment after their deal with Obama.  It is too bad the US can't work a swap with Cuba sending all those who want a communist or socialist government to Cuba in return for those seeking freedom.

Reuters: Ringleader of Paris attacks planned more strikes, mocked open borders The ringleader behind the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris had plans to strike Jewish targets and to disrupt schools and the transport system in France, according to sources close to the investigation. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan origin, also boasted of the ease with which he had re-entered Europe from Syria via Greece two months earlier, exploiting the confusion of the migrant crisis and the continent's passport-free Schengen system, the sources said on Friday. ... What do the Jews have to do with ISIL's caliphate?  Radical Islam just does not handle rejection of Islam very well and they find language in the text of Islamic teaching to support the mass murder of Jews.The targeting of the transport system was inteded to not only find victims to murder, but also act as a mans of shutting down the French economy.

Watts Up With That: ... 1. Climate doomsayers believe they possess truths about the past, present and future and their truths cannot be disputed by anyone. 2. Doomsayers refuse to debate their belief. They call their dogma “settled science” and attack any critics that dare to whisper in the dark. 3. Just like a cult, doomsayers has a formal doctrine-setting body — not unlike the Jones’ circle of advisors. The reports by the “ruling” body are thought to be the main source of authority and the texts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are quoted as unholy scripture. 4. Staying with the Jonestown analogy, the climate change alarmists have created mythologies intentionally built on lies and half-truths. The fallacy can be ascribed as an appeal to everyday experiences, giving the listener some sense of truth-based teaching to mix with the soup of confusion. Just as Jones and his small leadership group built lies on a foundation of lies and misinformation, the “sky-is

Daily Mail: Despotic presidents tend to have many admirers who will hail them as saviours of their nations. But they also have a tendency to lock horns with other despots. The clash between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian fighter, is one which has set the entire world on edge as diplomats desperately work overtime to reduce the tension. Putin is not blameless in this affair. His air force has been probing Western air spaces provocatively in a number of different locations in recent months. But was the Russian president right, after the downing of the jet, to accuse ‘back-stabbing’ Turkey of being the accomplices of ISIS terrorists? And was there any truth in Putin’s accusation yesterday — made just as Moscow was expelling 39 Turkish businessmen attending a conference in Russia — that Turkey is propping up ISIS by buying oil from them? This latest claim inevitably prompted a furious response from Erd

Fuel Fix: Energy revenue from federal lands dips $3.5 billion Obama's energy policy not only reduces revenue from oil and gas drilling, his expenditures on failed alternative energy projects have also cost taxpayers billion.

Fox News: With as many as 1,000 active cases, Fox News has learned at least 48 ISIS suspects are considered so high risk that the FBI is using its elite tracking squads known as the mobile surveillance teams or MST to track them domestically. “There is a very significant number of people that are on suspicious watch lists, under surveillance," Republican Sen. Dan Coats said. Coats, who sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, would not comment on specifics, but said the around-the-clock surveillance is a major commitment for the bureau. "The FBI together with law enforcement agencies across the country are engaged in this. It takes enormous amount of manpower to do this on a 24-7 basis. It takes enormous amount of money to do this," Coats explained. These elite FBI teams are reserved for espionage, mob violence and high-priority terrorism cases, like a joint terrorism task force case last June, where a 26 year old suspect Usaama Rahim, was killed outside

NY Post: This week began as the last one ended — with more Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews, and more dead. And yet, this information might surprise readers of The New York Times. On Sunday, a 20-year-old Israeli woman was stabbed to death, another Israeli was rammed by a car and attacked with a knife and a third was assaulted by a knife-wielding teen affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group. All three assailants were killed in the course of their attacks. But the headline to the Times’ story about Sunday’s attacks did away with cause and effect, muddled victim and aggressor: “1 Israeli, 3 Palestinians Killed in Attacks in West Bank.” The online headline was later changed, but the print headline Monday morning was equally obtuse: “West Bank Faces Spate of Assaults That Kill 4.” The “West Bank” faced nothing. It was Israelis who faced assaults. This was par for the course — and in some ways, even mild — for how the Times has covered the so-called “stabbing intif

Washington Times: Republicans accused President Obama this week of “hypocrisy” after his administration sent threatening letters to states warning they could lose federal funding if they don’t cooperate with his plan to resettle 10,000 refugees this fiscal year. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that was stunning because the president has repeatedly refused to pull federal funding from locales that refuse to cooperate with federal deportation agents — so-called sanctuary cities. ... His main consistency is in self serving policy positions in support of his agenda.  Congress should defund the refugee program in its current posture.

Washington Examiner: A top Iranian official warned Thursday that Iran would stop its efforts to comply with the Iran nuclear agreement unless international inspectors stop their investigation into Iran's past work on its nuclear program. Under the deal, inspectors were instructed to examine the "possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program, or PMDs. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano is expected to release a new report on Iran's nuclear program on Dec. 1. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, warned that if the Dec. 1 report doesn't close the file on PMDs, Iran will walk away. "In case Yukiya Amano or the Board of Governors presents their report in such a way that it does not meet the stipulated commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran will also stop [the implementation of] the JCPOA," he said, according to PressTV, Iran's state-owned news service. ... I do not think they ever planned o

Express: Fears of MAJOR terror attack as fully equipped BOMB LABORATORY discovered ANTI-TERROR police have discovered a terrifying fully-equipped bomb laboratory capable of causing huge devastation. The discovery was made by special ops troops only days after the Paris attacks by Islamic terrorists.  The story does not indicate whether the bombers were refugees or home grown, only that they had "extreme religious beliefs."  It is unlikely they were Methodists or Mormons.

Washington Post: Trump: I didn’t mock disabled reporter, so I deserve an apology Unchastened by a flood of critics, the GOP front-runner said the New York Times should apologize to him and accused journalist Serge Kovaleski of “using his disability to grandstand.” Every time the media thinks Trump has gone too far he responds with a counter attack that his supporters probably love.   The media's problem is that it is so unpopular with a majority of voters the old game of putting a candidate on the defensive is just not working with Trump.  There is just a minimum of respect for the media, even if a journalist has some disability. As for politicians and disabilities, who can forget Joe Biden telling a paraplegic to "stand up."  Well, apparently the media could quickly forget that embarrassing episode.

War is Boring: There are few instances where artillery can be considered a quiet addition to the battlefield. But as it turns out, the U.S. Army has hurled hundreds of rockets at Islamic State militants for months without much public attention. On Nov. 22, the American-led coalition hit nearly 20 targets across Iraq. An official press release pointed out that Washington and her allies had hit staging areas, fighting positions, car bombs and more with both warplanes and rocket launchers. “We have fired over 400 HIMARS rounds at ISIL targets, since the middle of summer,” a public affairs officer with the main American task force in Baghdad told War Is Boring in an email. HIMARS stands for the six-wheeled High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher. ... The 227-millimeter rockets have enough range to keep the launchers far from the front lines. Carrying a 200-pound high explosive warhead and guided by GPS, the M-31 rocket can hit precise targets up to 43 miles away. Each HIMARS

BBC: Two prominent Turkish journalists have been charged with espionage after alleging that Turkey's secret services sent arms to Islamist rebels in Syria. Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet daily, and Erdem Gul, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, face life imprisonment if found guilty. Their report and video footage attracted a political storm in Turkey and a lawsuit filed by the president. Turkey faces severe criticism over its press freedom record. The journalists, who deny the allegations against them, reported that trucks belonging to the Turkish intelligence agency MIT were used to carry weapons to Islamist opposition groups in Syria. Video footage published alongside their report purported to show Turkish police officers intercepting the trucks and discovering crates containing weapons and ammunition. The government claimed that the intelligence trucks were carrying aid to the Turkmen minority in Syria - a Turkic speaking ethnic group. President

Reuters: Iraqi forces have cut Islamic State's last supply line into the western city of Ramadi by seizing a key bridge, Iraqi officials and a military officer said on Thursday. The capture of Palestine Bridge, straddling the Euphrates river in northwestern Ramadi, means Iraqi forces have the city surrounded. They will now move to clear the city of the Sunni militants one neighborhood at a time. "The bridge is now entirely under our control," said Sabah al-Numani, spokesman for the Iraqi counter-terrorism forces, which are deployed on the western side of the bridge along with federal police. "We are tightening our grip on them (Islamic State).” Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, fell to Islamic State in May, dealing the biggest blow in nearly a year to government forces and dampening hopes of routing the militants from the country's north and west. ... Increased US air support led to the taking of the bridge as well as combat engineers who removed

Washington Post: Foreigners fear for their safety in Bangladesh after Islamic State claims killings The U.S. Embassy is no longer permitting its personnel to be in most public places after a string of attacks left two foreigners dead and a third, an Italian missionary, seriously wounded. They have also been killing domestic bloggers who write things they disagree with.  They are clearly intolerant bigots and Islamist.   They are turning Bangladesh into a dangerous hell hole.

NY Times: Presidents of Russia and Turkey Hurl Insults Over Plane Russia was looking at ways to punish Turkey economically for downing a Russian warplane, and the nations’ leaders stoked the confrontation with insults. This sounds like the way Obama tries to resolve disputes with Republicans.  Insults and snark are his approach to dispute resolution,  Perhaps that is why he is such a bad negotiator with political adversaries while giving away the store in negotiating with hostile powers like Iran or Cuba.

Washington Post: Russia targets Turkey's economy in retaliation for downing of warplane Putin is taking a play from the Obama playbook, but with fewer resources.  Russia is also vulnerable geographically since Turkey controls the strategic access point for the Russian fleet coming from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. This is one of those fights where there are no good guys.  Russia is trying to prop up a despotic regime in Syria and Turkey has been a terrible ally in the fight with ISIL. As Trump might say, "They are both losers."

NY Times: Muslim Challenge to ISIS in Indonesia A campaign against the Islamic State comes at a time when Islam is at war with itself over central theological questions. While I am glad to see one faction of Islam trying to reclaim its religion from the genocidal bigots of ISIL, it does make clear how ridiculous Hillary Clinton's position and that of Obama is that this group's attacks "have nothing to do with Islam."  In fact it is based on a reading of the Islamic text and early history of Islam where the same things were done to those who rejected Islam.  Perhaps this is why they have both been so ineffective at fighting it.

Red States: Ted Cruz Super PAC Responds To Rubio Attack Rubio attacks Cruz for his vote to limit NSA operations seeking to find terrorist and Cruz responds with an ad attacking Rubio's support of amnesty. I think Cruz was wrong to support limits on the NSA, but I think Rubio was even more wrong to support amnesty for illegal immigrants.  At this point I trust Cruz more on the immigration program and expect that he will find a way to fight the terrorist and may modify his position on the NSA.  If Rubio gets the nomination he will have to explicitly reject amnesty. These are both Super PAC ads which the candidates have no direct control over.  I think they are destructive and counterproductive.  They will wind up in Democrat ads at some point in some convoluted attacks.

USA Today: Palestinian teen girls play bigger role in terror attacks on Israelis These kids have been taught since they were born to hate and kill.  It is why it is a mistake to import them into a free society.

Daily Signal: Some taxpayers consider it a sweet idea: Trim the purchase of soda and candy from the benefits provided to food stamp users. The state of Maine wants to do just that. To ban food stamp recipients under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from purchasing specific unhealthy items, state officials have to get approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state requested a waiver Monday from the federal agency, Maine’s top human services official, Mary Mayhew, told The Daily Signal. “We believe that this is a commonsense reform to actually focus on nutrition and healthier choices within the food stamp program,” Mayhew, commissioner of the Health and Human Services Department, said in a phone interview. The proposal aims to improve health and cut the costs of medical care for low-income, obese Mainers. ... Why not limit the same foods the Obama administration has limited school lunch programs to.  If properly implemented it would h

Daily Mail: Iranian Supreme Leader claims US is using 'money and sex' to try and infiltrate Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Revolutionary Guard commanders that authorities should take concerns about 'infiltration' seriously and political factions should not use the issue against each other. While prostitution is apparently illegal in Iran the country does have 30 minute marriages with quickie divorces for those willing to pay for the services.  It is hard to imagine anyone would infiltrate into Iran for purposes of sex.  In fact it is hard to imagine why anyone would want to spend anymore time than necessary in a country ruled by genocidal religious bigots.

American Spectator: OBAMACARE ENDURES THE DEATH OF A THOUSAND FACTS The remorseless laws of economics are cutting it to pieces. It was thrown together by Democrats who would not listen to those critical of their scheme and was embedded with flaws. Until the 19th century, the Chinese practiced a method of torture called lingchi. Better known as “death by a thousand cuts” it involved slicing small pieces of flesh from a victim’s body, one by one, so that death was both protracted and utterly excruciating. This is what the realities of economics are doing to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The authors of health care “reform” believed they could ignore the dismal science. The laws of economics have rewarded this hubris by ruthlessly inflicting fact after agonizing fact on Obamacare. And, like all lingchi victims, it will eventually succumb. ... It will be lucky to survive Obama's term and the chances are remote that it will survive the next administration or be

USA Today: Oops! Carson's not actually wrong about Jefferson: David Mastio It turns out that Jefferson was communicating with those at the convention through letters when the constitution was being drafted.  Among those he exchanged correspondence with were Madison who is credited with drafting the document as well as George Washington. The media is in such a rush to make Ben Carson look ignorant that they are exposing their own ignorance of history.

Breitbart: Independent investigative reporter and host of “Full Measure,” Sharyl Attkisson is giving a blistering account of what one source called Barack Obama’s potential “personality flaw,” leading him to only see and believe what he wants to see and believe when it comes to the global threat from terrorism – that, as opposed to what ground operators are actually trying to report to him. This goes hand-in-hand with recent reports that up to 50 intelligence types claim the administration has been systematically altering intelligence reports for political reasons. ... According to Attkisson, her sources say President Obama is “selective about what he wants to hear and wants to believe when it comes to intelligence.” “I’ve spoken with people who have dealt with the White House and feel it’s a serious issue,” added Attkisson: For example, one concrete thing we’ve seen as a result of that is the President calling ISIS a ‘JV’ team when his ground people say they never told him

Obama's war on the weather.... Obama's refusal to hit the oil infrastructure was because he was worried by environmental damage according to the former CIA director.

Washington Post: Standoff over government climate study provokes national uproar by scientists Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has accused NOAA scientists of altering data and rushing publication of a groundbreaking study, a confrontation that researchers say threatens scientific freedom. The argument against disclosure is nonsense on stilts.  It only adds to the distrust of government and the feeling that those pushing the global warming agenda are cooking the books and then trying to cover it up.  It is not their data anyway.  It belongs to the government that employees them and Congress has a right and an obligation to look at it. If this is the best argument they can come up with for suppressing their work product, it raises even more questions about the integrity of their work.  If this is "science" what are they trying to hide?  Have they been colluding with the Obama administration to push his radical global warming agenda?

NY Times: Libre, Backed by Koch Brothers, Aims to Raise G.O.P. Standing With Hispanics Tapping some Democratic strategies, the Libre Initiative seeks to win over Hispanics by promoting economic freedom and smaller-government principles. I know many Hispanic who own businesses  who share the frustration of others in dealing with Democrat control freak government that stifles productivity and creativity.  There are also others trying to get into the job market that find it hard to get a start because of minimum wage laws.  These people are already citizens and illegal immigration effects their jobs prospects too as well as pushing down their wages.

Andrew Romano: Ted Cruz has always had a master plan. Now it could win him the White House. This is an interesting attempt at explaining Ted Cruz and the success he has achieved despite the animosity of some.   I think it also gives you an idea of why his campaign for President has been far more successful than most predicted.

Daily Mail: US Air Force bombs 238 ISIS oil trucks in Syria but is forced to defend tactic of dropping leaflets beforehand to warn civilians after claims that it tipped off jihadists The leaflets urged citizens to get out of their trucks and 'run away' US attack jets performed 'a show of force' buzzing the trucks at low level Later, four A-10s and two AC-130 gun ships destroyed 238 ISIS trucks The Pentagon said the warnings were issued as the drivers were not ISIS One of the ways you deter the enemy and the people working for him is to kill those engaged in helping. m This looks like the liberal way of war where they see the trucks as the enemy and not the people driving them.   Does this explain why they do not take out ISIL fighters in their Toyota trucks as they drive into town?

Leif Babin and Jocko Willink: A U.S. Navy SEAL teammate and friend once described the worst type of leader as a “tortured genius.” By this, he did not mean the artist or musician suffering from inspired hysteria, but someone who, no matter how obvious the failing or how fair and valid the criticism, accepts no blame and denies all responsibility. In the mind of such a leader, the rest of the world simply can’t see the “genius” in what they do. In truth, this type of leader lives in denial of the facts as they are, rationalizing actions and refusing to alter or adapt strategies to win. To such a person, maintaining the illusion that he is right is somehow more important than mission success. We have all known a tortured genius or, perhaps at times, have been one ourselves. Such a leader can be a serious detriment the performance of any team and the chief obstacle to victory. Over the past week, the world witnessed President Obama rationalize his failure to lead in the fight agains

Daily Caller: A CNN reporter who was recently suspended for two weeks violating the network’s editorial guidelines showed up in a new trove of State Department emails released on Tuesday in which she appears to have coordinated social media posts with a top Hillary Clinton State Department aide during the former secretary of state’s Jan. 23, 2013 Senate testimony about the Benghazi attacks. The emails, which were released to the website Gawker, show that Elise Labott, a foreign affairs reporter at CNN, took guidance from Clinton aide Philippe Reines by posting a tweet criticizing Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul for asking Clinton tough questions during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks. Labott also coordinated with Reines to post a favorable quote from Clinton’s testimony, which she gave just a week before she left office. ... There is much more. Liberals in the media are having a harder time pretending to be objective these days.   I

Erick Erickson: I do have to hand it to the left. We have all these attacks by Islamic radicals and the left decides it cannot abide this. So it redefines terrorism to mean any sort of mass shooting. Now they can blame shift to white people. But wait! It’s not just to white people. According to the left, if you are white, male, and kill people, you are a Christian. Therefore, white male Christians are far more of a security threat than Islamic radicals. Concurrent to this, the left wants anyone on the terrorist watch list to be denied guns. So, if you are following along, they’ve revised what terrorism means to include a lot of white men, who are also to be defined as being Christian. Now they can deny a bunch of Americans the right to keep and bear arms based on a computer algorithm. If you are white, male, and Christian, you are presumed to be a terrorist to the left. ... This is one of the reasons the left is losing the white vote.  It would rather blame them for the fai

Washington Examiner: Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, R-Tex., criticized President Obama for being "out of touch" for comments he made Tuesday suggesting that stopping climate change would send a strong message to the Islamic State that Western values cannot be deterred by terrorism. Cruz, speaking to Fox News' Megyn Kelly, condemned Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry for telling Americans "that they think essentially your SUV in the driveway is a greater threat to our security than is ISIS, than is a nuclear Iran and it makes no sense whatsoever." "You know what would be a real rebuke to ISIS? When we kill the terrorists before they carry out another terror attack here at home murdering innocent Americans," Cruz answered. The Texas senator said "it's gotten to the point where I don't think 'Saturday Night Live' can even parody this president anymore." ... No wonder this administration is not winning the war wit

Daily Caller: Dallas Mayor Who Fears White People Lives In 92 Percent White Neighborhood It would be interesting to track the crime demographic for Big D. I suspect it is like most large urban areas where the crime rate is highest in poor black neighborhoods where the victims and the perps are both black.

Breitbart: Sen. Sessions Reveals 12 Refugee-Jihadis Charged this Year, Hopes to Shrink Obama’s 2016 Refugee Budget All 12 had apparently been vetted.  Sessions is trying to get the Senate to reduce funding for bringing these refugees into the country.

AP: President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered state-of-the art air defense missile systems to be deployed at a Russian air base in Syria following the downing of one of its warplanes by Turkey, a move that raised the threat of a military confrontation between the NATO member and Moscow. The S-400 missile systems will be sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Turkey. The systems are capable of targeting Turkish jets with deadly precision. If Russia shot down a Turkish plane, NATO would be required to intervene. Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on Tuesday, saying it crossed into its airspace from Syria despite repeated warnings. One of its two pilots was killed by militants after bailing out, while his crewmate was rescued by Syrian army commandos and delivered in good condition to the Russian base early Wednesday. Putin said the Russian plane remained in Syria’s skies when

BBC: A Pakistani man extradited from the UK to the US has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for plotting attacks in several countries. Abid Naseer, 29, was sentenced by a federal judge in New York. US authorities said he had been part of a plot to attack Manchester, New York City and Copenhagen. In March, a jury found him guilty of providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiracy to use a destructive device. FBI assistant director-in-charge Diego Rodriguez said that Naseer, who moved to the UK to study, failed to use the British education visa system to make the best of his life. Instead, he exploited it "to take away the lives of many others in large numbers", said Mr Rodriguez. Naseer was first arrested in the UK in 2009, along with 11 other men, suspected of planning a bomb attack on the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester over the Easter weekend . No explosives were found but the men were ordered to leave the country. Mr Naseer avoided deportation after a judge

Fox News: COPS, COMMUNITIES IN DANGER?  Outrage as military equipment taken from officers in wake of Obama order VALUABLE VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT are being yanked from law enforcement agencies across the country by the Obama administration in the wake of the president’s post-Ferguson order – as sheriffs and lawmakers say losing the equipment could put officers and communities they serve in danger. The move is happening as the ISIL terrorist threat increases.  I think it was an over reaction to events in Ferguson that is just one of many including the silliness on campuses.