PrairiePundit

NY Times: In Wake of Nuclear Pact, U.S. Sees Rise in Hacking by Iran American officials say cyberespionage is becoming a tool to obtain the influence that many in Iran hoped the nuclear program would give the country. Iran continues to embarrass Obama even after he gave away the store in his deal with that country run by genocidal Islamic religious bigots.  The leadership abounds in bad faith.

Quinnipiac: Donald Trump gets 25 percent of Iowa likely Republican Caucus participants in a too-close-to- call race with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas who is at 23 percent, double his support from four weeks ago, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Dr. Ben Carson has 18 percent, with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 13 percent. This compares to the results of an October 22 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University showing Carson at 28 percent, with 20 percent for Trump, Rubio at 13 percent and Cruz at 10 percent. One thing that hasn't changed is the poor showing for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who goes from 5 percent October 22 to 4 percent today. Today, Sen. Rand Paul is at 5 percent, with Carly Fiorina at 3 percent. No other candidate tops 2 percent, with 2 percent undecided. Among Iowa Republican Caucus-goers, 26 percent say they "would definitely not support" Bush, with 23 percent saying "no way" to Trump. ...

Washington Post: NOAA chief tells lawmaker: No one will ‘coerce the scientists who work for me’ The Obama administration is continuing to resist efforts by a House Republican to gain access to the deliberations of federal scientists who authored a global warming study. Why is revealing their work product 'coercive'?   The statement makes no sense.  Whether NOAA or liberal globo warmers want to admit it, global warming studies are still hotly contested, pun intended.   One of the reasons it is still so contested is that proponents of theory keep trying to shut down debate and inquiry rather than present the supporting documents for their theory. Then there is the fact that their models have been consistently wrong in predicting the results of CO2 increases in the atmosphere. There are also allegations that supporters of theory are constantly cooking the books adjusting the data to support their theory rather than adjusting their theory to conform to the facts. NOA...

NY Times: Poll Watch: Low Marks for Obama on Fighting Terrorism Less than two weeks after Islamic State terrorists killed scores of people in Paris and Beirut, fewer than one in four Americans say they think President Obama has a clear plan for combating the extremist Muslim group, according to a new CBS News poll. He is just not very good at it for several reasons.  He appears to be ignorant of warfare and how wars are fought and won and not even interested in doing so.   If he has ever cracked a book on military strategy and tactics it would be a surprise.  He has also shown a very weak comprehension of history in general.  This is compounded by a narcissism that make shim reluctant to even accept advice on things he dose snot know or understand.  He appears to underestimate the enemy regularly.

NY Times: Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syria Border Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane after Turkey said it violated its airspace, a long-feared escalation that could further strain relations between Russia and the West. Other reports indicate that the jet went down in an area controlled by the Syrian rebels.  I do not think the crew survived.  The Turks have complained about Russian incursions in the past.  The Russians deny they were in Turkish air space.

Erick Erickson: Poster Boy For Opposing the “No Fly List” Arrested for ISIS Ties MSNBC once portrayed this guy as a victim.  But it is typical of how the left attempted to undermine the war on Islamic terrorists.

Washington Examiner: More than six in 10 Americans believe that the news media, followed closely by Hollywood, has a negative effect on the country, according to a new survey. An extensive new Pew Research Center survey finds that 65 percent believe that the news media "has a negative effect on the way things are going in the country." Some 56 percent said the entertainment industry has a negative effect. For comparison, 51 percent believe that the Obama administration has a negative effect and 40 percent say labor unions do too. But as bad as it is for the media, there are two groups that have an even worse rating in the Pew survey out Monday. • 67 percent said the federal government has a negative effect on the U.S. • 75 percent said Congress has a negative effect. On the media, conservatives were the harshest with 82 percent grading the media poorly. ... The frustration with Congress appears to be bipartisan and probably reflects the anger of both sides tha...

Wall Street Journal: ... A decade ago, Republicans touted conservative talk radio as a foolproof medium to communicate directly with their most ardent supporters. Democrats and liberal groups tried to replicate that success by building their own left-leaning television and radio stations, with far less success. Now, the tables have turned. Republican leaders in Washington are under siege from their own activists, in part, because conservative radio hosts are almost as likely to rail against the party brass in Congress as they are to lament Mr. Obama’s failings in the Oval Office. Those views are informing the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The most avid conservative talk-radio listeners ranked retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as their top pick, followed by celebrity businessman Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Just 3% gave the nod to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the heir to the party’s longest-standing political dynasty, and only a third of these voters ...

Byron York: American forces made one of their most effective hits against the Islamic State on Nov. 15, when U.S. planes destroyed 116 tanker trucks used by the terrorist organization to transport the stolen oil that is its financial lifeblood. American A-10 and C-130 warplanes targeted a group of about 300 trucks near Abu Kamal, in Syria. Given that the Islamic State is thought to have just over 1,000 trucks in its entire fleet, the group of 300 represented a huge target for U.S. planes. At a Pentagon news conference last Wednesday, reporters wanted to know why American forces did not take out more than 116 trucks. Why not all 300, or something close to that? A U.S. official said the American attackers simply ran out of ammunition. "There were 300, I think, to begin with, and then you hit 116. Why didn't you go back?" a reporter asked Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren. "Frankly, the aircraft expended 24 500-pound bombs, and all of thei...

Caleb Howe: Where Is Liberal Rage Over Mass Shooting In New Orleans? Black on black crime does not fit the liberal narrative.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Glenn Reynolds: Obama's Syrian refugee debacle Characterizing Republicans as xenophobes won't hide fact that president's foreign policy failures created refugee crisis. His policies helped to create the refugee crisis in Syria and Libya and Europe has become a secondary victim of that crisis.   His screw ups have reverberated from the Middle East to Africa and now plague Europe.

Fuel Fix: Oil and gas producers, including those with drilling operations in the Eagle Ford Shale, face increasingly tight margins as the price of a barrel of crude has hovered in the low $40s. Drilling can require large on-site power generators. And FlexGen, a Houston-based company that created a hybrid system that plug into existing generators and convert and store energy from multiple sources, says it can save companies significant amounts in fuel costs and maintenance spending. The technology, introduced in September, is being used on seven wells for three different operators, says FlexGen CEO Josh Prueher. The company also has contracts for 60 more rigs for nine major independent shale players. A recent infusion of capital helped the company fill the demand for renting its turn-key hybrid power generators. In August, FlexGen completed a $25.5 million round of financing led by Denver-based Altira Group and the venture arms of Caterpillar and General Electric. The money will let t...

Telegraph: Mali gunmen were hunting for Air France staff at Radisson Hotel The radical Islamist appear to be focusing more on Franc than the US in recent weeks.  It could be they see them as a weaker target.  Based on Obama's recent policies they are probably mistaken.

Daily Caller: A new Pew Research Center poll shows that 40 percent of American Millennials (ages 18-34) are likely to support government prevention of public statements offensive to minorities. It should be noted that vastly different numbers resulted for older generations in the Pew poll on the issue of offensive speech and the government’s role. Around 27 percent of Generation X’ers (ages 35-50) support such an idea, while 24 percent of Baby Boomers (ages 51-69) agree that censoring offensive speech about minorities should be a government issue. Only 12 percent of the Silent Generation (ages 70-87) thinks that government should prevent offensive speech toward minorities. The poll comes at a time when college activists, such as the group “Black Lives Matter,” are making demands in the name of racial and ethnic equality at over 20 universities across the nation. ... These are the new liberal values they are learning in college?   These are the are wimps that want a "safe...

CBS News: Just over a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, only 23 percent of Americans think President Barack Obama has a clear plan for dealing with the militant group ISIS, the lowest number yet recorded in the CBS News Poll. Sixty-six percent do not think he has a clear plan - a new high. Large majorities of Republicans and independents say the President doesn't have a clear plan, and almost half of Democrats (40 percent) agree. More Democrats (45 percent) say he doesn't have a plan than say he does. In considering military options, 50 percent of Americans now favor sending in U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria, up four points from August. Support for sending ground troops rose to 57 percent in February in the immediate aftermath of the death of aid worker Kayla Mueller, but then dropped below 50 percent until now. Two-thirds of Republicans favor using U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS, while about half of Democrats oppose that. Still...

Fox News: INTENT TO MISLEAD ON ISIS RISE?  Top analysts told to 'cut it out' and stop sending negative intel reports ANALYSTS AT US CENTRAL COMMAND WERE PRESSURED to ease off negative assessments about the Islamic State threat — and were even told in an email to 'cut it out,' Fox News has learned — as an investigation expands into whether intelligence reports were altered to present a more positive picture. Whoever was responsible for telling analysts to "cut it out" needs to explain himself before Congress and the media.  We need to find out the source of this intelligence fraud that has allowed ISIL to prosper at the expense of thousands of victims.

It is a good ad.  It puts the left that opposes doing something about it in the corner with the sexist Islamist.

Washington Post: American voters more fearful after Paris attacks Many in key primary states say they’re more afraid of the Islamic State and discomforted by President Obama’s leadership as suspicion of Muslims and intolerance of refugees have grown. What they probably fear more than ISIL is Obama's laconic response to the mass murders.  He gets more excited about a whack job shooting up a school than he does about mass murdering Muslims using weapons that are already illegal to sell.  Obama gets more animated about his political opponents in this country than he does by Islamic terrorist who want to kill everyone who disagrees with their weird beliefs.

NY Times: Donald Trump Steals From His Attacks on Jeb Bush to Hit Hillary Clinton’s ‘Stamina’ After using that line of argument to great effect throughout the year against Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, Donald J. Trump has begun to question whether Hillary Rodham Clinton has the “stamina” to be president. Trump has a knack for hitting an opponents weakness in unpredictable ways.  What is brilliant about this line of attack on Hillary is that he has already used it on Jeb Bush so Clinton has a harder time calling the attack sexist as much as she might like to.

NY Times: Paris Attacks and Other Assaults Seen as Evidence of a Shift by ISIS Attacks carried out far from the Islamic State’s base in Iraq and Syria upend the view held by the United States and its allies that the group was a regional threat. This Rubin Center report challenges that analysis: The Paris Attacks Reflect Intelligence Failure — Not a Change in ISIS Strategy That is consistent with my own observations.  ISIL propagandist have been threaten just such an attack for months if not longer.  They have tried to do similar attacks in the US and have been generally thwarted by either the FBI or local police.  The tactics used are a knock off of the Mumbai attacks by radical Islamist affiliated with al Qaeda and Pakistani terrorists.