PrairiePundit

NY Times: Solid Conservative; Not Seen as Divisive President Trump summoned two front-runners to the capital and then revealed his choice of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch during a live television broadcast. Judge Gorsuch is a reliably conservative figure in the mold of Antonin Scalia, the former justice who died in February, but is not someone known to be divisive. He may not be divisive, but the Democrats are desperate and divisive as I have ever seen them.  I predict they will lack restraint in their attempt to kill the nomination and it would not surprise me if they did not show up for the nominating committee meeting.  They are just a party with nothing to offer but calling people racist, sexist, bigots and homophobes. It would not surprise me if they are angry that he would not force nuns to pay for birth control.  You can't reason with people like that.

Arthur Herman: Trump's travel ban and the Democrats' big con ... Who are the marks? They’re gullible Republicans whom the Democrat grifters and the media con into believing the American public wants them to stand behind a Democratic initiative in a show of bipartisanship, or to oppose a Republican one on the grounds that’s it’s too extreme. The promised score is popularity among moderates and independents, as well as mention in the New York Times as a principled conservative or maverick for breaking with their party—when in fact it’s the Democrats who actually win and the Republican mark who loses with his own base thanks to the sting. That’s what happening with the media hysteria over Trump’s “Muslim ban”(in fact it’s a temporary ban that effects exactly seven countries, ones on which the Obama administration already placed travel limits as “countries of concern”) and it’s what going to erupt when Trump announces his Supreme Court pick on Tuesday night. It’s a well-...

NY Post: Why Israel has the most technologically advanced military on Earth ... First, despite Israel’s small size, about 4.5 percent of its GDP is spent on research and development, almost twice the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average. Of that amount, about 30 percent goes to products of a military nature. By comparison, only 2 percent of German R&D and 17 percent of the US R&D is for the military. Another major contribution is the culture of innovation and creativity in Israel. Israelis are more willing to take risks than other nations. They get this from their compulsory military service during which they are tasked, at a young age, to carry out missions often with deadly consequences. While Israeli 19-year-olds embark on operations behind enemy lines, their Western counterparts can be found in the safety of their college dormitories. Lastly, Israel has been in a perpetual state of conflict since its inception, fighting a war almost ...

Newsweek: Recent intelligence reports show that Russia is interested in influencing more than just America's elections. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his cronies have taken aim at undermining the U.S. energy industry, as well. Buried within the U.S. intelligence community's report on Russian activities in the presidential election is clear evidence that the Kremlin is financing and choreographing anti-fracking propaganda in the United States. By targeting fracking, Putin hopes to increase oil and gas prices, destabilize the U.S. economy and threaten America's energy independence. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a decades-old drilling technique in which water and sand is pumped through rock at a high pressure to release previously unreachable deposits of oil and natural gas. Thanks to new technologies which are making the process more efficient and environmentally friendly, fracking now supports 4.3 million jobs and generates about half a trillion dollar...

Washington Times: After spending more than $22 million on the Dakota Access pipeline protest, North Dakota wants to make sure any paid activists remember to submit their state income taxes. Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger said his office is keeping an eye out for tax forms from environmental groups that may have hired protesters to agitate against the 1,172-mile, four-state pipeline project. ... I find this interesting.  It could give the state a handle on dealing with some of the paid protesters and possible leverage against their paymasters.

Washington Post: The tale of a Trump falsehood: How his voter fraud claim spread like a virus A comment rooted in baseless conspiracy theories could become the basis for official government policy. Voter fraud is real.  Rather than focus on a few people, the media is trying to discredit they should pay attention to the state attorney generals who have prosecuted the cases.  They should also focus on the good work of True the Vote that the Democrats conspired with the IRS in an attempt to shut down their organization.  Instead, they focus on people I never heard of and attempt to discredit them. It is not a falsehood to say there is voter fraud.  In fact, it is an obvious one to say there is none.  What I see the media doing is attempting to distract from the serious charges of informed people.

Washington Post: ‘Trump is right, in a way’: These Christian Syrians in Pa. support the refugee ban Allentown and surrounding Lehigh County have one of the country’s largest and most established communities of Syrian Americans, many of them emigres who moved from Syria decades ago. The newcomers, refugees fleeing the war, tend to be Muslim. Living under Muslim oppression tends to clarify the issues.  Lebanon was once a Christian nation before Iran proxies began driving out the Christians.   In Syria, ISIL actually crucified Christians and waged genocidal attacks against them yet the Obama administration did little to help the survivors.  These people know first hand the dangers of living with Islamic religious bigots.

NY Times: Papers Offer a Peek at ISIS’ Drones, Lethal and Largely Off-the-Shelf Documents found in Iraq and a recent surge in attacks show how the group has adapted readily accessible technology into a potentially effective new weapon. This is just another example of how foolish Obama's retreat from Iraq was.  It also suggests that his attempts to use ISIL as a counterweight to the Assad regime was another huge blunder.  Obama was just a poor strategic thinker whose understanding of warfare never grew past the faculty lounge. The ISIL drones are close to the tactical ones used by the troops that have been modified to drop small lethan weapons.  They appear to be something of a throwback to early attempts in World War I when pilots and crews would sometimes throw grenades out of the cockpit.

NY Times: Iran Sets Off Missile, Testing Trump’s Vow to Enforce Strictly The missile test could reveal whether the administration will make good on its promises with regard to the Iranian nuclear deal. It is just another act by Iran that proves they are at war with the US.  The missile test suggests they are going forward with building potential ICMs in order to put nuclear missiles on them when the terms of their bad deal with Obama expire.   At best Obama's deal just put forward the evil day for a few short years. In the process, they are giving Trump more reasons to cancel Obama's bad deal and put more pressure on them. BTW, Iran's initial response to Trump's travel ban was to impose one on the US.  Then it occurred to them that such a ban would deprive them of the opportunities to collect hostages and possible to get business deals done with American companies that they desperately need.  I think Trump understands the hand he is playing much bette...

Washington Examiner: How a Jordanian prince helped convince Republican Study Committee to back Trump's refugee ban ... Two meetings informed the decision. The first was with officials from the U.S. State Department, who the North Carolina congressman says "pretty much guaranteed us that this vetting process had come a long way and was working much better." The second with Prince Faisal bin Hussein, the King of Jordan's brother, wasn't as encouraging. "Literally after meeting with a state department official earlier in the day," Walker explains, "Hussein offers, unsolicited, that the biggest issue 'we have is that we can't vet these people.'" ... The Prince is not the only Arab leader who understands the problem many of the leaders of other Muslim countries have similar restrictions or even stronger ones when it comes to accepting these refugees. Those who loudly proclaim that the restrictions will harm our relationships w...

Washington Free Beacon: A senior adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) who played a critical role in crafting his national security agenda—including efforts to stop the Iran nuclear deal and designate the Muslim Brotherhood organization as a terrorist entity—has been tapped by the Trump National Security Council to serve as senior director for strategic assessments, a role that encompasses the fight against terrorist forces, the Washington Free Beacon can exclusively reveal. Victoria Coates, a top Cruz aide and his longtime confidante, has departed the senator's office to serve as senior director for strategic assessments in the new White House NSC, a role that will see Coates managing long-term threats to the United States. Coates worked for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry before joining the Cruz office in 2013. She also is an art historian who recently published a book on the history of democracy. Coates' experience with Cru...

Sohrab Ahmari: Donald Trump’s proposed border fence and his order to suspend all immigration from terror-producing countries are dramatic and consequential. But they’re also palliative symbols. The message: Your days of anxiety are behind you. We will be a coherent nation once more. Politicians across the West are saying the same thing in what is shaping up to be the widest rollback of the freedom of movement in decades. ... The irony is that freedom of movement is unraveling because liberals won central debates—about Islamism, social cohesion and nationalism. Rather than give any ground, they accused opponents of being phobic and reactionary. Now liberals are reaping the rewards of those underhanded victories. Liberals refused to acknowledge the link between Islamist ideology and terrorism. For eight years under President Obama, the U.S. government refused even to say “Islamism,” claiming ludicrously that U.S. service members were going to war against “violent extremism.” Vote...

National Review Editorial: ... Like most Democrats, Yates objects to the president’s executive order. Fair enough. But she is not a political operative, she was a Justice Department official — the highest such official. If her opposition to the president’s policy was as deeply held as she says, her choice was clear: enforce the president’s policy or quit. Instead, she chose insubordination: Knowing she would be out the moment Senator Sessions is confirmed, she announced on Monday night that the Justice Department would not enforce the president’s order. She did not issue this statement on the grounds that the order is illegal. She declined to take a definitive position on that question. She rested her decision, rather, on her disagreement with the justice of the order. Now, she’ll be a left-wing hero, influential beyond her heretofore status as a nameless bureaucrat. But she had to go. ... Apparently, she was grandstanding in hopes of enhancing her rep with liberal Democrats. ...

Newsbusters: 57 Times More Coverage of Trump’s Temporary Ban Than Obama Ending Cuban Refugee Program It is a good example of how the media distorts issues and has a warped sense of fairness to refugees.  It would rather see people from countries in the throes of terrorism than those oppressed by a brutal communist regime.

Fuel Fix: Texas used the most electricity of any state in 2015, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Energy on Friday. The state used nearly 400 million kilowatt hours of electricity that year, and led the nation for most electricity use in homes, commercial buildings and industrial properties. California and Florida came in second and third in terms of electricity use, but each use more than 100 million kilowatt less than Texas. ... Texas's electric rates were also well below the national average.  Those rates also reflect a competitive market for delivering electricity.   Texas is more of an industrial superpower than other states.

Washington Post: White House says ousted official had ‘betrayed’ the Justice Dept. In ordering the Justice Department to not defend the travel order, Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, said she was not convinced that the travel order is lawful. President Trump named Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general. Boente said he will agree to enforce the order. Earlier Monday, the president sought to play down the effects of his immigration order in a series of tweets, blaming “big problems at airports” on other factors, including demonstrators. She should have resigned if she was unwilling to enforce the order.  It is not surprising that she was fired and she should have been.  What she did can be described as a betrayal of the Justice Department and the administration. Trump is better off getting her out of there now rather than allowing her to poison the well from within with her bad attitude and her...

Daily Mail: Poll shows support for Trump's travel order 'even if it means turning away refugees' as a majority back 'requiring immigrants from Muslim countries to register with the federal government' Polling taken early this month showed majority support for a general expression of President Trump's controversial plan to halt immigration from 'terror-prone' countries. Democrats and their demonstrators are on the wrong side of the voters on this issue as are most of the media.

AFP: US special forces who led a rare ground assault against Al-Qaeda in Yemen over the weekend killed women fighting alongside male troops, the Defense Department said Monday. "There were a lot of female combatants" in Sunday's battle, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis. "Female fighters ran to pre-established positions as though they had trained to be ready" to fight the US forces, he said. The US special forces mounted the raid in the Yakla region of Baida province against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington views as the global terror network's most dangerous branch. A US service member was killed during a firefight and three others were injured in a hard landing of a V-22 Osprey military aircraft nearby, Davis said. On the AQAP side, 14 fighters, including women, were killed, according to the Pentagon. The jihadist militant group said nearly 30 people were killed, including women and children. The Pentagon declined to...

Washington Times: President Trump ’s vow to investigate illegal voting in America has placed the spotlight on a handful of conservative groups that have fought voter fraud in the shadows of more prominent issues such as Obamacare and terrorism. The groups — including True the Vote and Judicial Watch — have pressed states for years to clean up what they see as antiquated and corrupted voter lists and crack down on fraudulent registration. As America is divided politically, so is the debate over voter fraud: The left says it’s nonexistent; the right says it’s widespread enough to shift close elections to Democrats. “Our litigation and expert investigations show the voting rolls are a mess,” said Tom Fitton , director of the government watchdog Judicial Watch. “Many states have no basic checks, such as voter ID, in place to stop fraud. If a government doesn’t know who is voting and has voting rolls rife with dead people and aliens, you can presume fraud.” Mr. Trump has estimated fraud ...

Phyllis Chesler: ... As a feminist, scholar, and activist, I think this Order is long overdue. As the author of four studies about honor killing at Middle East Quarterly, I especially welcome this Section: “The United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes towards it and its founding principles….or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including “honor” killings, or other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own), or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.” Not all honor killers are Muslims. This is a tribal custom which neither Hindu, Sikh, nor Muslim clerics have chosen to abolish. Hindus, also perpetrate honor killings—but they confine this barbaric practice to India. Those who emigrate to the West do not bri...

Independent: US Muslim preacher 'who advocated beheading of gay men allowed to lecture in the UK' Group hosting Mr Sodagar has defended the lecture series, saying his comments on gay men have been deliberately misinterpreted by right-wing media Pamela Geller was barred from coming to the UK because she is an outspoken critic of radical Islam.  But they allow a proponent of violence in?  That makes no sense.  They are wrong on both.

Fox News: Iran conducted its first ballistic missile test under Donald Trump's presidency, in yet another apparent violation of a United Nations resolution, U.S. officials told Fox News on Monday. The launch occurred Sunday at a well-known test site outside Semnan, about 140 miles east of Tehran, Fox News was first to learn. The Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile flew 600 miles before exploding, in a failed test of a reentry vehicle, officials said. Iran defense minister Brigadier Gen. Hossein Dehqan said in September that Iran would start production of the missile. U.N. resolution 2231 -- put in place days after the Iran nuclear deal was signed -- calls on the Islamic Republic not to conduct such tests. However, this is at least Iran's second such test since July. The resolution bars Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests for eight years and went into effect July 20, 2015. ... Iran is an outlaw regime that cannot be trusted.  They apparently want to ha...

Seth Barron: ... From illegal aliens who have committed crimes, to all immigrants, to “people of color” generally: the circle of Trump’s victims widens by orders of magnitude in de Blasio’s fantasy of total persecution. Even to ask a question about whether illegal aliens should be regarded in the same way as legal immigrants betrays an “ideological bent”; on the other hand, it is perfectly straightforward to read a legal challenge to sanctuary cities as all-out race war. The mayor’s expansive definition of victimhood was echoed this weekend by Governor Cuomo, who repeated the Left’s favorite cliché: “I am a Muslim. I am a Jew. I am Black. I am gay. I am a woman seeking to control her body.” This quasi-heroic affirmation of identity with the oppressed fringes of society, powered by anaphora, collapses into intersectional absurdity, and ultimately becomes the lowest form of political pandering, underscored by the repetition of the word “I.” ... There is more. What is missing fro...

NY Times: Open Dissent Erupts at State Department; Over 100 Sign Memo Officials are circulating a memorandum that warns that barring more than 200 million people might deepen the threat of terrorism. They appear to have a low opinion of the mental stability of Muslims.  It is the same attitude that has allowed radical Islam to thrive during the last eight years.  But if they are right about the mental instability of some Muslims it is better that it happen in their own country than the US. The Trump White House has told the memo signers they are welcome to find other work outside of government.  The bureaucracy may be making it easier for Trump to move his agenda forward by their unwillingness to work for him.  He can replace them with people who support his plans. Meanwhile, Arab leaders are lining up to meet with Trump and hope he can help suppress the radicals.

Daily Mail: Police arrest two students – one 'of Moroccan origin' - over the murder of six people shot dead in a Quebec City mosque carnage a day after Canadian PM condemned Trump immigration ban Six people are dead after shots were fired at a Quebec City mosque where around 50 people were praying Eight people injured in the mass shooting which happened inside the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center Witnesses have claimed they heard shouts of 'Allahu akbar' in a Quebecois accent from the masked shooters Two people arrested over shooting, described by Canadian Prime Minister as a 'terrorist attack on Muslims'  One suspect reportedly called police to 'confess to his crime' and was found 'with handgun and two AK-47s' The mosque's president, Mohamed Yangui said of the atrocity: 'Why is this happening here? This is barbaric' Attack happened amid protests over Donald Trump's divisive and controversial 'Muslim immigration ...

NY Times: Rulings on Trump’s Immigration Order Are First Step on a Long Legal Path The court orders, provisional and limited, gave preliminary hints about whether judges would strike down part or all of Mr. Trump’s executive order. She never should have issued the order .  Neither of the alleged plaintiffs were being detained at the time she issued the order.  One of the men even praised President Trump.  That meant there was no legal basis for a restraining order.  But the judged gloomed onto their initial delay as an excuse to issue and even broader order. Her order appears to be based more on her politics than on the law.  She was appointed by Obama and recommended by Chuck Schumer who immediately touted her order.

Byron York: ... The reception Democrats will give Trump's choice is also easy to predict. Pick a name, any name, from the list and the odds are good that Senate Democrats and the groups that support them will portray the GOP nominee as an out-of-the-mainstream right-wing extremist who will move the country backward on civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, transgender rights, environmental protections, and all sorts of other areas. ... Their playbook is getting stale, but they do not seem to be able to construct better arguments so they go with things that appeal to the prejudices of their base.  It is predictable, though.  Any Republican choice will be hit with charges that they are racist, sexist, bigots and homophobes.  It really does not much matter who it is or what their real positions are. If they force the Republicans to drop the filibuster, they risk losing what little leverage they have and will give Trump the ability to put in people they wi...

Red States: Hillary Clinton Tweets Support For Protesters, Forgets She And Obama Had Similar Policy ... I know that there have been rumors about Mrs. Clinton’s memory. But has Hillary Clinton really forgotten that President Obama ordered a similar ban on travel from Iraq, in 2011 , when She was Secretary of State? Her hypocrisy knows no bounds. It is more evidence that the reaction has more to do with who issues the orders than their content.

streiff: BREAKING. After Eight Years Military Casualties Are Front Page News Again The real curiosity is why it was not news when it happened on Obama's watch.

Daily Mail: Migrants in Germany have committed 142,500 crimes in just six months, police figures have revealed. This was the equivalent of 780 crimes a day - an increase of nearly 40 percent over 2015, according to data from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. It comes as German chancellor Angela Merkel remains under pressure over her open-door policy on immigration amid concerns over how to integrate 900,000 newcomers who arrived last year. A separate report from late last year by the Federal Criminal Office found that migrants registered as living in Germany committed more than 200,000 crimes over the whole of 2015 with two-thirds involving theft counterfeiting and financial crimes. ... The story does not even mention the rash of sexual assaults by Muslim refugees, who apparently never learned impulse control in the culture from which they came.   You won't hear much from those protesting the pause in immigration order from Trump about the crime pro...

Noah Rothmann: 99 shares A As John Podhoretz wrote , these are days of promise and opportunity for America’s political media professionals. So far, they’re squandering their shot. By indulging in ill-considered hysteria and posturing before like-minded colleagues, they sacrifice the credibility they’ll need to expose President Donald Trump’s mendacities. To repair some of the strained bonds between audience and journalist, media professionals must display some restraint when reacting to the latest alleged assault on freedom and decency. That is most easily achieved by recognizing that many of the unprecedented developments of the Trump era aren’t unprecedented at all. On Tuesday evening, the President of the United States applauded the Fox News Channel “for being number one in inauguration ratings.” In issuing this congratulatory note, he also attacked CNN for being “fake news.” A predictable series of horrified and disappointed reactions from media professio...

Fuel Fix: Congressional Republicans are not wasting any time going after former president Barack Obama’s climate change legacy. House Republicans are putting the final touches on legislation to overturn an Obama executive order limiting the amount of methane that can be vented and flared from oil and gas drilling sites on federal lands. The bill, along with another piece of legislation overturning an order protecting streams and wildlife around coal mines, is set to be introduced Monday, “These are abusive, last minute regulations that are grossly inconsistent with congressional intent,” Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a conference call Friday. “They will impose a real an unnecessary cost on American people and communities.” A day after a Republican retreat in Philadelphia headlined by President Donald Trump, party leaders are gearing up to roll back federal regulation at-large. At a meeting in the White House earlier this wee...

AP: Philippine airstrikes have killed 15 Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group, including a suspected Indonesian militant, while one of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was seriously wounded in the country's south, the military chief said Sunday. Military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected Indonesian militant, known by his nom de guerre Mohisen, was recovered by troops along with three dead Filipino followers of militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was seriously wounded in the hilly outskirts of Butig town in Lanao del Sur province. Eleven other militants were reportedly killed, Ano said, citing intelligence, but added their bodies have not been found. Hapilon was wounded in the arm and was losing blood after air force aircraft, including FA50 supersonic fighter jets, dropped six 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs Wednesday night and Thursday on a militant encampment in an ongoing offensive, Ano and another air force official sai...

Fox News: A member of U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six was killed and three others were wounded in a raid against a group of senior Al Qaeda leaders in central Yemen, officials said. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Sunday that another service member was injured in a "hard landing" in a nearby location. An MV-22 Osprey aircraft used in the raid was unable to fly afterward and "was then intentionally destroyed in place." ... A total of 14 fighters from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the assault, and U.S. service members captured "information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots," according to the military. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our elite servicemembers,” Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel said in a statement. “The sacrifices are very profound in our fight against terrorists who threaten innocent peoples across the globe.” ... While it is regrettable ...

Atlantic: Trump's Immigration Ban Is Already Harming American Science What exactly is the contribution to American science by Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen?  Or has the Atlantic become a full-time parody site? This looks like just another example of liberal anti-Trump hysteria.

Thomas Lifson: Stunning media malpractice on Trump suspension of entry They are as bad as their cohorts in the Democrat Party in their response to common sense measures to protect the country.

NY Times: But Trump Vows ‘Strong Borders and Extreme Vetting’ A top White House official appeared to announce a significant change in President Trump’s executive order on immigration. The shift came after chaos at airports and rulings by federal judges blocking part of the president’s actions. On Twitter, Mr. Trump deplored the killings of Christians in the Middle East without noting the killings of Muslims. The change clarifies the issue of green cards, but holders will still be subject to scrutiny upon return from the seven countries by border officials.  That is a prudent move since the Obama DHS mishandled thousands of green cards and lost control of the situation. As for the Christians, even the Obama-Kerry State Department acknowledged the genocide being perpetrated against the Christians in the Middle East.  They were specifically targeted because they were Christians and many were crucified or decapitated.  It should also be note...

LA Times: Trump's refugee policy raises a question: How do you tell a Christian from a Muslim? All the countries falling under Trump’s ban have Christian minorities, often integrated within larger urban centers. And often they are physically indistinguishable from their non-Christian compatriots. You can do it the same way that Islamic terrorist spot the Christians by asking them questions that test their knowledge of Islam.  Do the reverse to find out whether those seeking to get a preference for entry into the US are Christians.

Roger L. Simon: You can be a virtue-signaling moral narcissist and get all exercised about Donald Trump's executive order suspending visas from seven primarily Muslim countries for the next ninety days, but I have a question for you: what do we do about Islam? ... How dangerous is that ideology? Ask yourself this: Why is it that since 9/11/2001 there he have been 30,209 terror attacks in the name of Allah? There have been 38 in the last six days alone, resulting in 425 killed and 419 injured. There were also nine suicide bombings during that time frame. So I repeat, why is that? DNA? That would be racist. Poverty? But most of the terror masters are rich. How about an ideology that urges you to do these things, just as it always has since the seventh century? Could that be the reason -- just possibly? If so, do you have some idea of what to do about that ideology or do you prefer to blame Donald Trump because he is trying to do something about it, at least trying to ma...

Washington Post: One U.S. service member died of wounds suffered during a weekend raid against al-Qaeda militants in Yemen, the military said on Sunday. Three more American troops were wounded in the operation on Saturday against members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant organization that has remained a potent threat amid an extended civil conflict in Yemen. The incident marks the first time a member of the U.S. military has died in a combat situation since President Trump took office a little over a week ago. Trump has promised a more aggressive campaign against militant groups worldwide. In a statement, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees operations in the Middle East, said that a U.S. aircraft went down in a “hard landing” near the area where the operation took place, and was intentionally destroyed. CENTCOM said that 14 militants were killed in the operation. ... It is not clear whether the wounds were caused by the fighting or the hard l...

NY Times: Ban Is Unlikely to Reduce Threat The unintended consequence of Mr. Trump’s directive, many experts believe, is that it will make the risk worse. And, how will it make it worse?  Will a ban on entry to the US change someone from being a peaceful Muslim into someone who wants to commit mass murder for Allah attacks?  That argument does not make a lot of sense to me.  It suggests that Muslims are irrational people whose fuse can be lit by any type of rejection.  If that were really the case, wouldn't it be better to catch them at the border before they put innocent people at risk?

NY Times: Partial Suspension Allows Scores Stuck at Airports to Stay A federal judge in Brooklyn issued an emergency stay of part of President Trump’s executive order on immigration, ruling that sending refugees and others back would cause “irreparable harm.” Lawyers for the A.C.L.U., which filed the lawsuit, said the decision affects an estimated 100 to 200 people. It is not clear why it would cause irreparable harm since they can always come back if the situation changes.  I have not found the judges reasoning for the TRO.  There will apparently be several lawsuits filed on behalf of those covered by Trump's executive order.  It unfortunate that the Trump legal team is not now in place to supervise the response to these cases because the Democrats have delayed the approval of Sen. Sessions appointment as Attorney General. DHS says the President's executive order remains in place and the judge's order has a very limited effect for...

This did not go the way the media and the Democrats expected.

ABC News: Thousands of green cards have been mishandled over the past three years, according to a new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report. Electronic system errors have caused at least 19,000 cards to be issued as duplicates or with incorrect information — such as name, date of birth, photo and gender — the report says. But the head of U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), which manages immigration benefits, said that several of the report’s conclusions were overstated. The USCIS director said that the agency did not issue green cards to any individuals who were not eligible to receive them and that the number of cards containing errors were only a “tiny percentage” of the total issued each year. He added that for the cards to be misused, they would have to fall into the hands of someone with “malicious intent” and a physical resemblance to the card’s intended recipient. In some cases, green card applicants who should have received a card good ...

Daily Mail: ISIS leader with a $5-million bounty on his head for kidnapping of Americans is wounded in military airstrikes in the Philippines Isnilon Hapilon has been recognised by the Islamic State as its leader in Southeast Asia and belongs to Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-for-ransom gang based in the southern Philippines.  I would think he would be a more important target than the dope dealers the President of the Philippines has been focusing on.

Sunday Telegraph: An ex-KGB chief suspected of helping the former MI6 spy Christopher Steele to compile his dossier on Donald Trump may have been murdered by the Kremlin and his death covered up. it has been claimed. Oleg Erovinkin, a former general in the KGB and its successor the FSB, was found dead in the back of his car in Moscow on Boxing Day in mysterious circumstances. Erovinkin was a key aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and now head of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company, who is repeatedly named in the dossier. Erovinkin has been described as a key liaison between Sechin and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Mr Steele writes in an intelligence report dated July 19, 2016, he has a source close to Sechin, who had disclosed alleged links between Mr Trump’s supporters and Moscow. The death of Erovinkin has prompted speculation it is linked to Mr Steele’s explosive dossier, which was made public earlier this month. Mr Trump has dismissed the dossier as ...

Washington Post: Pence, who had called a Muslim ban ‘unconstitutional,’ now lauds restrictions on refugees The vice president and Defense Secretary James Mattis — two people who once criticized such a ban — stood behind the president as he established “new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States.” For starters, if he said it was unconstitutional, he was wrong.  But the larger point is that the ban only effects a few countries with dysfunctional governments and a lack of ability to provide vetting material.  Most Muslim countries are not impacted at all.  What the countries have in common is a high number of terrorist and in the case of Iran a country that has held the title of the chief state sponsor of terrorism for decades. The Post also makes a rather absurd point in another story that Trump does not have any business ties to these countries as if that were somehow relevant.  Who in their right mind would...

NY Times: Taliban Tap New Income Stream: Bills for Afghan Utilities As militants have taken over increasingly large areas in the past two years, they have found ways beyond the illicit drug trade to make money. I suspect that much of this infrastructure was put in place by US tax dollars.  Obama's temporary surge in Afghanistan does not have much to show for its expenditure of blood and treasure.

Deroy Murdock: Three days into President Donald J. Trump’s action-packed first week in office, he promised “a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD,” as he explained Wednesday morning, via Twitter. This will include “those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” This impending probe follows Trump’s private remarks to congressional leaders Monday night that some 3 to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote last November 8. Democrats, in response, are foaming at their mouths, although one wonders if they have any foam left. How odd. They should welcome this examination. If voter fraud really is a fevered, baseless, Right-wing fantasy, as they reliably insist, this investigation will vindicate them and make Trump look like a cranky, paranoid conspiracist. Liberals should smile and egg Trump on. Instead, Rep. Adam S...

CNBC: Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim said a united country could help the government negotiate with President Donald Trump. Mexico needs to negotiate from a position of strength, Slim said in a Friday news conference. Slim, who gained a $50 billion fortune owning mobile network America Movil, argued the clash between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has brought Mexico together. Slim urged political parties in the country to unite behind Nieto. While he called Trump a great negotiator, Slim said Friday that Mexico should not be scared of him or assume things will go badly. ... While some of Trump's policies push toward modernization and development, Slim said it seems other policies hope for a "return to the past" to America's "successful industrial society." If Trump is not more selective about what is manufactured in the U.S., Slim said it would be American importers and consumers that pay the price. ... This is one of the few ratio...

F.H. Buckley and Ron Rotunda: The ‘emoluments’ suit v. Trump is just another political hit job The people bringing this case had zero problem with Obama selling his books to people associated with foreign governments or for Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.  For that matter they had no trouble with Hillary Clinton accepting millions from foreign governments.  But they are all upset about renting a hotel room at the growing rate?

Colbert King: Rubio wants to let guns onto D.C. streets. Why not let them into the Capitol? I like Colbert.  I think he is a good writer and thinker, but his question seems to miss the obvious difference. For a gun free zone to be effective you have to have limited access and the ability to stop and search people.  You have that in the Capitol complex and in most federal buildings.  To have that in the city of Washington DC would require stopping everyone who entered and sending them through a scanner and also stop people on the streets and check them for guns. That is why the current policy of banning guns in DC is not working and only helps the lawless.

NY Times: In Iran, Shock and Bewilderment Over Trump Visa Crackdown The new administration’s freeze on visas for a targeted group of countries could provide an early test of its relationship with Tehran. The leadership of Iran is at war with the US and has been since 1979.  In fact, Jimmy Carter as President also banned Iranian from coming to the US.  Their attitude has not much changed much since then other than taking Obama to the cleaners with a terrible nuke deal. They are still using their proxies to attack the US and its allies and they are harassing the freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf.  They are still sending people into the streets to shout "Death to America."  It is a country that is still under the control of genocidal Islamic religious bigots.  They are still working to develop ICBM's to put their nukes on when the terrible Obama agreement runs its course. The Iranians who escaped from this Islamist hell ho...

Fox News: Ex-ICE Agent: I 'Routinely' Arrested Illegal Immigrants with Voter Registrations ... "I worked in six locations across the United States. I probably arrested more than 1,000 illegal aliens in my career and I routinely encountered people who were in possession of voter registration cards. And as a part of my interview of them when they were arrested, I would ask them, "Do you or have you voted?' and often, I would get the answer 'yes,'" he explained. ... Democrats seem OK with this, as does the media.  They are either not telling the truth about voter fraud are they are willfully blind to the problem.

Susan Wright: If he carries through with this, it will go a long way towards improving my outlook for a Trump presidency. This needs to happen, and should have been the policy, all along. President Trump sat down to speak with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody on Friday, when the topic of the Syrian refugee program was brought up. According to Trump’s word, Christians will be given priority status when seeking asylum. “We are going to help them. They’ve been horribly treated,” Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview set to air Sunday. Upon being asked if he sees persecuted Christians “as kind of a priority” when it comes to granting non-citizens refugee status, Trump told Brady: “Yes.” Was Trump simply pandering to the CBN crowd? As it is with most politicians, that’s always a possibility. Still, there’s merit to the concerns Trump raised. Christians in the Muslim-dominated territories that have been overrun with ISIS and other Is...

Fuel Fix: People who work for solar panel companies account for nearly half of all Americans employed by electricity companies, according to a U.S. Department of Energy’s report released this month. Solar energy technologies employ 374,000 workers, or 43 percent of the work force, double the number of people who work fossil fuel-based energy companies that use coal, oil and natural gas for electric companies. For purposes of the report, which counted jobs in 2016, the department expanded its definition of solar employees to include anyone who was involved in any aspect of the industry, including manufacturing, installation and distribution. ... Alternative energy contributes only roughly four percent of the nation's electricity.  In contrast, half as many workers produce the other 96 percent of electricity needs.  To suggest that alternative energy is a jobs producers is like suggesting that canals and ditches would produce more jobs if the workers used shovels and spoon...