Saturday, December 20, 2014

NYPD Officers TURN THEIR BACK TO Mayor De Blasio As He Enters Police Press Conference "The mayors hands are literally dripping with our blood"

◼ Community Organizing Produces Results in NYC: Cops Executed - Moonbattery
Congratulations to Barack Hussein Obama, Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, Bill De Blasio, and most of all the media that put and keeps them in positions of power. Hats off to every glassy-eyed liberal foot soldier who has dutifully chanted, “Hands up don’t shoot,” “I can’t breathe,” or “What do we want? Dead Cops!” Their agitating has produced the results they were after:










‘Al Sharpton Got What He Wanted’ Dead cops.



◼ Two police officers killed in Brooklyn in ‘execution-style’ slaying; Shooter reportedly takes own life; Update: ‘Quite simply, they were assassinated’ - Twitchy







◼ Disgraced DeBlasio dares to show his face at NYPD ambush press conference, speaks in crappy Spanish... After cowardly backing the race narrative against cops, De Blasio actually had the gall to show his pathetic face at the press conference... - THERIGHTSCOOP.COM

◼ After weeks of incitement against police - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

◼ CNN Guest on Brooklyn Cop Shooting: ‘Al Sharpton Got What He Wanted’ - Josh Feldman/Mediate
On Saturday night's broadcast of Justice with Judge Jeanine, former New York Police Department commissioner Bernard Kerik reacted to the news that two NYPD officers were ambushed and killed while on patrol in Brooklyn. Kerik said Mayor Bill de Blasio and Al Sharpton both "have blood on their hands."

Kerik accused de Blasio of "inciting" protesters who chanted "kill the cops" during a protest on the Brooklyn Bridge last Saturday.

"I personally feel, that Mayor de Blasio, [Al] Sharpton and others like them, they actually have blood on their hands," Kerik said on FOX News. "They encouraged this behavior. They encouraged protests. These so-called peaceful protests that, where people are standing out there saying 'kill the cops,' well, I hope they're happy, because they got what they wanted."
◼ Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik: de Blasio, Sharpton "Have Blood On Their Hands" - Real Clear Politics

◼ AL SHARPTON LEADS MARCH IN DC AS NYC PROTESTERS CHANT: ‘WHAT DO WE WANT? DEAD COPS!’ - Warner Todd Huston/Breitbart

◼ ‘I guess Al Sharpton GOT WHAT HE WANTED…’ – Former NYPD cop on CNN - THERIGHTSCOOP.COM



◼ #PoliceLivesMatter: Michelle Malkin warned in columns of growing anti-police vigilantism - Twitchy

In light of today’s execution-style killing of two New York City police officers, recent warnings of growing anti-police vigilantism by Twitchy founder and syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin prove especially prescient.
I've been warning about rising anti-police vigilantism in the wake of Ferguson for the past month, including attacks against cops in NYC, D.C., Oakland, Denver & Canon City, CO. What has President Aloha said as cops have been targeted & murdered for "social justice?"


12/13/2014 - "Million Marchers" in Murray Hill neighborhood of NYC chant: "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!"

◼ 12/13/2014 - NYPD Cops BAN New York Mayor de Blasio From Police Funerals - TPNN















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Why Even Common Core Supporters Are Changing Their Minds

◼ We don’t need questionable universal standards handed down to us from Mount Olympus. Choice in education should be our standard. Common Core restricts choice and simply doesn’t make the grade. - DAILYSIGNAL.COM

It’s one thing to experience “buyer’s remorse” when the product is something you can return easily, from new clothes to a set of high-end speakers. It’s another when you’re talking about your state’s educational standards.

Yet more and more states are finding that there’s simply no living with Common Core. Parents, teachers, students and lawmakers have become increasingly vocal in their criticism of the federally backed standards — and more and more of them are taking action.
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Mrs. Obama's tall tales of racialized victimhood

◼ From overjoyed Regular Mom to Oppressed Martyr, can Mrs. Obama's shopping fable get any more absurd? - Michelle Malkin

Oh, woe is she. In an "exclusive" interview with People magazine this week, first lady Michelle Obama lamented the "sting" of "racist experiences" that she and her husband allegedly still suffer. My message for America's Marie Antoinette? Cry me a river.

To show how she's down with "The Struggle" of post-Ferguson agitators, Mrs. Obama cited a supposedly horrifying incident at a Target store where she was treated, in her paranoid mind, as a subservient. "Even as the first lady," she bemoaned, "not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf."

A lowly peon asked her for an innocent favor? It's Jim Crow all over again! ABC News reports that Mrs. Obama said such "incidents are 'the regular course of life' for African-Americans and a 'challenge' for the country to overcome."

Newsflash: Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe that it is part of the "regular course of life" of tall people of all colors (Mrs. Obama is 5-foot-11) to be prevailed upon to reach high on behalf of those of us who are vertically challenged. These are not odious "incidents" of racism between slaves and masters. They're matters of common courtesy between equals....

There is, of course, a truly insidious "-ism" at work here: Cynicism. Mrs. Obama's dissemination of her false racial narrative in a popular celebrity rag is cunningly calculated to pander to America's aggrieved leftists. We know Mrs. Obama's victim sob story is a steaming pile of rotten turnips because the last time she talked about "The Incident," it was a feel-good late-night talk show anecdote devoid of discrimination.

On David Letterman's show in 2012, the haute-couture-clad first lady recounted the same "incognito" Target visit to demonstrate her just-like-you bona fides. She chuckled as she shared how the shopper asked: "Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?" As the audience laughed with delight and Mrs. Obama grinned from ear to ear, she told Letterman: "I reached up, 'cause she was short, and I reached up, pulled it down — she said, 'Well, you didn't have to make it look so easy.' That was my interaction. I felt so good."
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Peggy Noonan: Normalizing relations with Cuba will not, as Sen. Marco Rubio passionately put it in these pages, grant the Castro regime “legitimacy.”

◼ The Cuban Regime Is a Defeated Foe - Peggy Noonan/Wall St. Journal

Nothing can grant it legitimacy.

Fidel Castro ruined his country for a dead ideology and the whole world knows it. It may be closer to the truth to see the Castro brothers’ eagerness for normalization as an admission that they’ve run out their string. They’ve lost everything that kept them alive, from the Soviet Union to once-oil-rich Venezuela. The Castro government is stuck. Their economy is nothing. They have no strength. They enjoy vestigial respect from certain quarters, but only vestigial. They’ve lost and they know it.

So why not move now?

Nothing magical will immediately follow normalization. The Castro brothers will not say, “I can’t believe it, free markets and democracy really are better, I had no idea!” Nothing will make Cuba democratic overnight. But American involvement and presence—American tourists and businessmen, American diplomats, American money, American ways and technology—will likely in time have a freeing effect. With increased contact a certain amount of good feeling will build. And that could make Cuba, within a generation or even less, a friend.

And that would be good for the American national interest, because it’s better to have a friend 90 miles away than an active and avowed enemy.

The opening to Cuba may also spark a re-Christianizing effect among a people who’ve been denied freedom of religious worship for generations. That would be good too, for them and us.

◼ Peggy Noonan’s Wishful Thinking on Cuba - Joel B. Pollak/Breitbart National Security
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A California Assault on Free Speech That Would Shock the Founders

◼ The state’s attorney general is attempting to silence a foundation that educates Americans on free markets. - TIM PHILLIPS AND DAVID SPADY/Wall St. Journal (Mr. Phillips is the president and Mr. Spady is the California state director of Americans for Prosperity.)

Our organizations, Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit advocacy group that mobilizes grass-roots activists to support or oppose specific legislation and hold lawmakers accountable, and Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which educates citizens about the benefits of free-market policies, have been among the left’s primary targets.

President Obama has personally leveled attacks on our nonprofits on numerous occasions, as has Majority Leader Harry Reid in speeches from the Senate floor. Their allies, whether in Congress, in the federal bureaucracy or affiliated groups, have gone to great lengths to discredit and destroy us.

On Dec. 9 the AFP Foundation filed suit in federal court to stop the latest such attack—California Attorney General Kamala Harris ’s demand that we disclose our donors, including their names, addresses and contribution levels. Ms. Harris has indicated that the penalty for noncompliance will be financial penalties for our individual officers and directors as well as a denial of nonprofit status, essentially ending our work in the state of California.

Ms. Harris claims she will not disclose this information to the public. But this is a hollow promise. There is no provision of California law that ensures confidentiality. Indeed, California law appears to be to the contrary, requiring her to disclose information in her possession upon request from the public. The likely outcome is that her allies on the left will use the information to target and ultimately suppress our organization and those who support it.

Ms. Harris’s demand derives no support from existing statutes or regulations. Neither state nor federal law requires nonprofits like the AFP Foundation to disclose the information she has requested. The organization has operated in California for more than 13 years, a period in which our donor and member information was never required or otherwise requested by state officials. We have fully complied with the laws and regulations that govern nonprofits. Nothing has changed, except perhaps the politicization of the office which Ms. Harris now holds.

Without any law to back up her demand, our conclusion is that the attorney general is attempting to silence our organization and its supporters.... KEEP READING
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Man died after Berkeley "Ferguson" protests delayed help

◼ Due to protests in Berkeley, a city staffer noted "no one could go in safely." - SF Chronicle

Several city staffers — who asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media — said paramedics were delayed in their response to help the man who collapsed, and that he later died at the hospital.
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GLOAT: SONY Hackers Mock FBI in Latest Message...

◼ An email claiming to be from Guardians of Peace, the group that took credit for last month's attack on Sony's systems, was sent to journalists early Saturday. The email, titled "The data you are interested in," included a link to a Pastebin page with a so-called "Christmas gift" message taunting the law enforcement agency that on Friday officially named North Korea as the source of the hack. - Hollywood Reporter

"The result of investigation by FBI is so excellent that you might have seen what we were doing with your own eyes," reads the message, which then links to a YouTube video. "We congratulate you success. FBI is the BEST in the world."

The YouTube video, which appears to be aimed at the FBI, calls investigators idiots and features writing in a foreign language.
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CASTRO: CUBA STAYS COMMUNIST!

◼ President Raúl Castro declared victory for the Cuban Revolution on Saturday in a wide-ranging speech, thanking President Obama for “a new chapter” while also reaffirming that restored relations with the United States did not mean the end of Communist rule in Cuba. - New York Times

In a televised speech before Parliament and a group of favored guests — including Elián González, the center of a tug of war in 2000 between Cuban exiles and Havana, and the three men convicted of spying in the United States who were released as part of the historic agreement announced on Wednesday — Mr. Castro alternated between conciliatory and combative statements directed at the United States.

He stoked the flames of Cuban nationalism, declaring near the end of his statement, “We won the war.” But he also praised Mr. Obama for starting the biggest change in United States-Cuba policy in more than 50 years.

Cárdenas, Cuba, home to Elián González, is a growing city of contrasts and contradictions, where some still celebrate Che Guevara.Crucible of Cuban Zeal Redefines RevolutionaryDEC. 19, 2014
“The Cuban people are grateful,” he said, for Mr. Obama’s decision “to remove the obstacles to our relations.”
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Over A Thousand People Came Together To Break a Record And Bring This Moving Christmas Hymn To Life



◼ Over a thousand people and ten thousand hours went into this beautiful rendition of the 1862 Christmas hymn, “Angels We Have Heard On High.” - IJ Review
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Let’s Talk About Obama’s Imaginary ‘Winning Streak’



◼ There’s a big story emerging in D.C.: Barack Obama is making a comeback. - David Harsanyi/The Federalist
Politico’s newest contribution to this flourishing genre is titled “Obama libre.” The piece oscillates between the president’s success with executive power – “He’s spent a year nudging Americans to judge him less on legislative accomplishments and more on his executive actions” – and the long-peddled fiction that he’s merely a centrist in search of unanimity. “Obama’s always ready to make a deal, often at the expense of brushing off his base …” says Politico. It comforts me to believe that the person who typed that sentence may have winced just a little....

Would the media describe a string of Republican victories won exclusively through executive action a “winning streak”? Today, somehow, even after a historic repudiation of his policies, Obama is not only reinvigorated and freed from the constraints of annoying process, but according to some in the media, he has been “politically triumphant.” There are two ways to explain this phenomena: Some folks are engaged in a lot of wishful thinking or we’ve severely downgraded the meaning of winning. Then again, maybe it’s a little of both.
◼ Obama libre - Politico
It’s been a bad year. But the president is closing strong.
◼ Obama's on a Winning Streak - Albert R. Hunt/Bloomberg Review
Never before has a president experienced as severe an election drubbing as Barack Obama did in November and followed it with such a politically triumphant six weeks.

Obama scored his latest coup today by announcing that the U.S. and Cuba would restore full diplomatic relations and exchange prisoners. The right is enraged, but the politics favor the president.
◼ Obama sheds Clark Kent demeanor, tries on Superman costume - CNN
In case you haven't noticed, President Obama has been flexing his executive muscles lately. On paper, it's a head-scratcher. After all, he lost control of the Senate in the last election. His popularity is hovering near an all-time low. And, of course, he's a lame duck.
◼ White House: Exec Amnesty Made 2014 ‘Year of Great Progress’ for ‘Progressive Agenda’ - Tony Lee/Breitbart Big Government

◼ The Real Barack Obama is Standing Up - Bloomberg News

◼ MSNBC Gushes Over Obama’s Press Conference ‘Swagger’ - Brendan Bordelon/National Review Online

◼ CNN's Don Lemon: Obamas Are 'Closest Thing We Have to Royalty' - Newscasters

◼ Podesta Detailed Obama’s Power Grab in September - Dan Riehl/Breitbart
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Friday, December 19, 2014

Beautiful "Ave Maria"(Michal Lorenc, 1995) with lyrics / english subtitles

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Sony Hack may have been a practice run for something far worse

◼ North Korean defectors are saying that the hack of Sony may have been a practice run for the NoKo's real target; telecoms and energy grids. - Rick Moran/American Thinker

◼ For North Korea's cyber army, long-term target may be telecoms, utility grids - Reuters

Non-conventional capabilities like cyber-warfare and nuclear technology are the weapons of choice for the impoverished North to match its main enemies, they said.

Obsessed by fears that it will be over-run by South Korea and the United States, North Korea has been working for years on the ability to disrupt or destroy computer systems that control vital public services such as telecoms and energy utilities, according to one defector.


"North Korea's ultimate goal in cyber strategy is to be able to attack national infrastructure of South Korea and the United States," said Kim Heung-kwang, a defector from the North who was a computer science professor and says he maintains links with the community in his home country.

"The hacking of Sony Pictures is similar to previous attacks that were blamed on North Korea and is a result of training and efforts made with the goal of destroying infrastructure," said Kim, who came to the South in 2004.



◼ Feinstein: In Past 6 Years, ‘No Real Policy’ to Handle Sony-Style Attacks - PJ Media

The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the hacking attack against Sony is part of a longer-running plot — and the administration has had “no real policy” to face such attacks....

“Now, right now, you can look at North Korea, taken off the terrorist list, you can see this attack is in a sense a terrorist attack. You could put them back on. You can levy financial sanctions against them,” Feinstein continued.



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China Tests Ballistic Missile Using Guidance Technology Traded by Bill Clinton for Campaign Donations

◼ China has just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver up to 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads, using technology given to them on President Clinton's watch to launch communications satellites. - Doug Ross

The Dec. 13 test of the DF-41 was the third for the new weapon. But it marked the first test of a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, or MIRV, technology and raises by an order of magnitude the nuclear threat to the U.S. as China continues its massive arms buildup. And disturbingly, the threat is in large part of our own making.

"The DF-4, which could be deployed as early as 2015, may carry up to 10 MIRVs, and have a range as far as 7,456 miles, allowing it to target the entire continental United States," according to the latest report produced for Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

"China could use MIRVs to deliver nuclear warheads on major U.S. cities and military facilities as a means of overwhelming (existing) U.S. ballistic missile defenses," the report added....

◼ China Tests DF-41 Missile Using U.S. Technology - IBD
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OBAMA: SONY ‘MADE A MISTAKE,’ SHOULD HAVE CALLED ME FIRST…SONY: UM, WE DID



◼ “I wish they had spoken to me first,” he said, when asked his opinion on the matter. “I would have told them, ‘Do not get into a pattern in which you’re intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks.’” - Charlie Spiering/Breitbart
◼ SONY RESPONDS TO OBAMA: ACTUALLY, WE DID CALL THE WHITE HOUSE - John Nolte/Breitbart
◼ Sony: We called White House - The Hill [Washington, DC]
◼ Sony exec fires back at President Obama - CNN
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, denying that the studio had "caved" by scrapping next week's opening of "The Interview," fired back Friday after President Obama said the studio had "made a mistake."

"The president, the press, and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened," Lynton said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "We do not own movie theaters. We cannot determine whether or not a movie will be played in movie theaters."

Lynton said he would be "fibbing" to say he "wasn't disappointed" in Obama's remarks.

"I don't know exactly whether he understands the sequence of events that led up to the movie not being shown in the movie theaters," Lynton said. "Therefore I would disagree with the notion that it was a mistake."

Lynton's response came just hours after a White House press conference where Obama criticized Sony's decision.
◼ “We have not caved. We have not given in. We have persevered, and we have not backed down. We have always had every desire to have the American public see this movie.” - Deadline
◼ CLOONEY: ‘WE CANNOT BE TOLD WE CAN’T SEE SOMETHING BY KIM JONG-UN, OF ALL F***ING PEOPLE’ - Daniel Nussbaum/Breitbart

◼ Hackers send Sony a new message: Cyber attacks will end ‘unless you make additional trouble’ - HotAir











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White House Mocks Republicans for Failing to Repeal Obamacare

◼ Ahead of President Obama’s press conference on Friday, Dan Pfeiffer, his senior political adviser, mocked Republicans for failing to repeal Obamacare. - Charlie Spiering/Breitbart
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“This is blatant intolerance, and the university should take action on the behalf of intellectual diversity and all of the students who are intimidated into silence”

◼ College Professor Writes Column Confessing Her ‘Hate’ for Republicans — Here’s the University’s Response - The Blaze

...Students have also reacted, slamming the professor for intolerance toward those with differing political beliefs.

“This is blatant intolerance, and the university should take action on the behalf of intellectual diversity and all of the students who are intimidated into silence,” Grant Strobl, chairman of U-M’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, told M-Live.

On Thursday, university released a statement saying that the “views expressed are those of the individual faculty member and not those of the University of Michigan.”

“Faculty freedom of expression, including in the public sphere, is one of the core values of our institution,” university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said, according to M-Live. ”At the same time, the university must and will work vigilantly to ensure students can express diverse ideas and perspectives in a respectful environment and without fear of reprisal. The university values viewpoint diversity and encourages a wide range of opinions.”
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Krauthammer: Obama ‘Oversteps Everywhere,’ Is ‘Destroying’ Balance Of Power



◼ In a discussion on the large number of President Barack Obama executive actions, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer told Fox News’ Bret Baier that the president “oversteps everywhere” because he’s been forced to enact his agenda on his own, rather than going through Congress. - Daily Caller

KRAUTHAMMER: “Look, this is quite clear. The president came in as an extremely ideologically ambitious man. He said he was going to change America. He was very open about it. First State of the Union address, he talked about changing education, energy, healthcare. He succeeded in congress with healthcare. He did not succeed with anything else. Cap and Trade did not succeed. He loses the House, which means he loses control. He has no chance of enacting anything sweeping again after healthcare. And he decides to spend the next six years trying to get his agenda enacted by executive order, which is why he oversteps everywhere. And when you say it’s not — the federal government isn’t working, what’s the definition of working? Sweeping change of our immigration laws in a country that has not decided how it wants to actually do that. It’s working exactly as designed with the power of the president is checked and what Obama is doing is destroying that balance.”
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CASTRO TO POCKET 92% OF WORKER SALARIES FROM FOREIGN COMPANIES

◼ Just one day before President Obama announced sweeping changes that would allow potential American investment in Cuba, the Cuban government apparently had begun preparing itself by announcing new measures that would allow Cubans who work for foreign companies to keep only 8% of their salaries. - Breitbart

In an official announcement in state newspaper Granma, government officials announced a system in which employees who work for corporations with foreign capital will be paid two Cuban Pesos for every Convertible Cuban Peso (CUC) the corporation actually pays them. The Convertible Peso (CUP) is almost exclusively for the use of tourists and is of significantly greater value; one CUC is the equivalent of an American dollar and the equivalent of 26.5 CUPs. The other 24 CUPs Cuban workers will not receive amount to 92% of their salaries....

The new measures, though enacted hours before the release of USAID worker Alan Gross and President Obama’s announcement of new trade measures, should inspire caution in American companies that would like to do work on the island. American companies would be keeping very little of the money they invest and earn in business on the island, while lining the pockets of the communist government. As Raúl Castro noted in his speech, the Cuban government made no concessions in this recent negotiation with the United States, save the freedom of Gross and one other American agent whom President Obama did not name, which leaves it open to sanctioning American companies who dare attempt to do business on the island as they see fit.

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Who Is Organizing The Racial Protests Across America? Must See Video



Via Barracuda Brigade
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The GOP's Obama-era rebirth.


◼ It’s official: GOP will have biggest House majority since before the New Deal - NOAH ROTHMAN/HOTAIR

On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the outstanding race for congress in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional district. Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), a former aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her successor in office, was narrowly defeated by Republican Martha McSally.

With McSally’s victory, the 2014 midterm elections have officially concluded. At the start of the 114th Congress, Republicans will enjoy their largest majority in the House of Representatives since prior to the Great Depression and the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt with 247 members. The last time the GOP enjoyed that large of a majority was the 71st Congress in 1929 and 1930.

In the Senate, the GOP will be in an almost equally unparalleled position of power.

“Republicans will control 54 out of 100 seats,” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake noted. “That’s tied for their fourth-highest number of seats since that same 1929-30 Congress, but the larger three were majorities of 55 seats — i.e. only one more seat.”

Combined with the GOP’s dominance at the state legislative level (Republicans control 56 percent of seats in the legislatures, the highest number since 1920), and the party’s control of 31 of 50 gubernatorial mansions, the Republican Party will be in the strongest position it has seen since prior to the popularization of Democratic progressivism.

“The last time the GOP clearly had more power than today was in the early 1920s, when it controlled more than 70 percent of governorships, 69 percent of the House and more than 60 percent of Senate seats,” Blake observed.

That’s nothing to sneeze at, and it is all due to the ideological realignment of the Democratic Party.

The press and the political analyst class are near myopically focused on the Republican Party’s ideological realignment. And it is true that the GOP has become a more conservative party since the end of the last century. They rarely, however, devote much of their attentions to the realignment of the Democratic Party, which has become markedly more liberal in the early part of this century.

The Democratic Party suffered two disastrous midterm elections not because the GOP made no mistakes or overreached. They did both, and they did so often. The Democrats suffered these debacles because the traditionally older and whiter midterm electorate has turned on the Democratic Party. As recently as 1998, it was possible for a midterm electorate in a Democratic president’s sixth year in office to overlook their frustrations with the incumbent in the White House. That kind of dispensation toward Democrats from a midterm electorate seems nearly unthinkable today.

In many ways, the Obama presidency has set his party back generations.

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Movie world fears for freedom of speech as parody pulled...

◼ Sony Pictures' decision to cancel the release of its madcap comedy about North Korea after threats from hackers has caused consternation in the movie world and triggered concerns about freedom of expression. - AFP

"The Interview", starring James Franco and Seth Rogen and depicting a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, had been due to hit US cinemas on December 25.
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The truth about the UVA rape scandal keeps trickling out.

◼ UVA Student on CNN: Rolling Stone Writer Had An 'Agenda' - Newsbusters

On CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday, University of Virginia student Alex Pinkleton revealed how Rolling Stone's Sabrina Rubin Erdely, who wrote the disputed Rolling Stone story on alleged rape at the college, acted more like an "advocate" than a reporter as she interviewed people for the article. Pinkleton, a friend of the woman who made the rape accusation, asserted that Erdely "did have an agenda, and part of that agenda was showing how monstrous fraternities themselves as an institution are, and blaming the administration for a lot of the sexual assaults."

The student later stated that she "didn't like that it seems like she was looking for a story that had to be in a fraternity." When Stelter replied, "It does sound like you don't trust the reporter anymore," Pinkleton criticized Erdely's handling of the issue: [video below]

ALEX PINKLETON, FRIEND OF ALLEGED UVA ASSAULT VICTIM: I think that she should have fact checked, and I'm really upset and angry, like a lot of people are, that that didn't happen. And now, we're in a very difficult situation....

...Again, I think her intentions were good. I just think that the job was done poorly, and I am upset with that aspect of it. But I also know that she was trying to come from a point of advocacy. But as a reporter, you can't be like an advocate and support a story and listen to it and think everything is true; and then, report on it without trying to figure out if it's true.

My job as an advocate was never to question Jackie's story or question the details, because I didn't need to. But the role that she's in, as a reporter....she needed to do that.
◼ How Many White House Visits for Emily Renda? - 28 Sherman
How many times has Emily Renda gone to the White House? With this many visits, did anyone in Washington put her in touch with Sabrina Erdely? Did Erdely even consider any other colleges when she had this wonderful source just waiting in the wings to hook her up? Probably not. Wait for the pay off picture at the bottom. This sounds like an orchestrated media narrative to become policy not just in Virginia, but around America.
◼ Rape Culture Update - The Other McCain

◼ As UVA Rape Story Falls Apart, Feminists Try to Save ‘Rape Culture’ Narrative - The Other McCain

◼ The Rape of Credibility: Feminism’s Agenda and the Jackie Coakley Scandal - The Other McCain

◼ UVA rape story writer Sabrina Erdely admits she ‘shops’ for victims [video] - Twitchy









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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Why Are You A Republican?

◼ Tell the GOP Which Principles Are Most Important To You - HERE.
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Thanks to recent rainy weather, the California drought outlook has improved.

◼ Drought recedes a bit as another storm moves in - SF Chronicle

The improved outlook was the result of the recent storms, including last Thursday’s whopper that prompted flooding around the Bay Area.

This rainy season, San Francisco has received 13.6 inches of rain. That’s almost 7 inches above average for this period of time, according to (Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey).

◼ California drought: Feds forecast good chance of wet conditions for next three months - Mercury News

There is a 75 percent probability of average or above-average precipitation between January and the end of March for California, according to a new report by federal scientists -- the first time in five years such a wet outlook has been predicted in the state during the first three months of a year.

"This is good news," said Steve Baxter, a seasonal forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which issued the report on Thursday predicting that the harsh reality of California's historic drought may finally be giving way to wetter days ahead.
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Food for thought...

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Obama gives the Castro regime in Cuba an undeserved bailout

◼ On Wednesday, the Castros suddenly obtained a comprehensive bailout — from the Obama administration. President Obama granted the regime everything on its wish list that was within his power to grant; a full lifting of the trade embargo requires congressional action. - Washington Post

Full diplomatic relations will be established, Cuba’s place on the list of terrorism sponsors reviewed and restrictions lifted on U.S. investment and most travel to Cuba. That liberalization will provide Havana with a fresh source of desperately needed hard currency and eliminate U.S. leverage for political reforms.

As part of the bargain, Havana released Alan Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development contractor who was unjustly imprisoned five years ago for trying to help Cuban Jews. Also freed was an unidentified U.S. intelligence agent in Cuba — as were three Cuban spies who had been convicted of operations in Florida that led to Cuba’s 1996 shootdown of a plane carrying anti-Castro activists. While Mr. Obama sought to portray Mr. Gross’s release as unrelated to the spy swap, there can be no question that Cuba’s hard-line intelligence apparatus obtained exactly what it sought when it made Mr. Gross a de facto hostage.

No wonder Yoani Sánchez, Cuba’s leading dissident blogger, concluded Wednesday that “Castroism has won” and predicted that for weeks Cubans will have to endure proclamations by the government that it is the “winner of its ultimate battle.”...

The Vietnam outcome is what the Castros are counting on: a flood of U.S. tourists and business investment that will allow the regime to maintain its totalitarian system indefinitely. Mr. Obama may claim that he has dismantled a 50-year-old failed policy; what he has really done is give a 50-year-old failed regime a new lease on life.











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Left-Leaning Michigan Professor Says It’s OK To Hate Republicans

◼ Susan J. Douglas hates Republicans and wants you to know about it. - Daily Caller

“I hate Republicans,” Douglas writes in an article entitled “It’s Okay to Hate Republicans.”

◼ We Can’t All Just Get Along - Susan J. Douglas
Editor's note: This article was originally titled “We Can't All Just Get Along” in the print version of the magazine. The title was then changed, without the author's knowledge or approval, to “It's Okay to Hate Republicans.” The author rejects the online title as not representative of the piece or its main points. Her preferred title has been restored. We have also removed from the “Comments” section all threats to the author's life and personal safety.
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A Glimpse Into Evil of the Taliban: ’We Have Killed All the Children… What Do We Do Now?’

Depraved: The Taliban gunmen who slaughtered 148 innocent people, including 132 children, are pictured just hours before the massacre. The white banner they pose in front of is the flag of the Pakistani Taliban and reads: 'There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah's Messenger'

◼ After terrorists invaded a Pakistan high school and slaughtered more than 130 students, one of the Taliban militants reportedly had one of his last conversations with his handler. The chilling transcripts of the conversation were apparently provided to local newspapers by law enforcement officials. - The Blaze

“We have killed all the children in the auditorium. What do we do now?” one of the terrorists reportedly told his handler.

“Wait for the army people, kill them before blowing yourself,” the handler responded.

◼ 'We have killed all the children, now what do we do?': Taliban death squad's frantic request for instructions after slaughtering 132 innocents... as military airstrikes kill 57 in hunt for 'Radio Mullah' who ordered massacre - JOHN HALL FOR MAILONLINE

◼ No distinction between good Taliban and bad Taliban: Sharif - Times Of India

PESHAWAR: Rattled by the Peshawar attack, Pakistan's squabbling political parties showed rare unity on Wednesday, pledging to fight the killers of the Army Public School's children by making no distinction between good Taliban and bad Taliban. The Pakistan government also announced the end of moratorium on the death sentence, in effect since 2010 to facilitate talks with Pakistan Taliban.

"We announce that there will be no differentiation between 'good' and 'bad' Taliban, and resolve to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated," said Sharif, marking the end of any hope of talks with the terrorist organization.
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ISIS SLAUGHTERS 150 FEMALES IN IRAQ FOR REFUSING TO MARRY, HAVE SEX WITH THEM

◼ 150 women captured in Fallujah have been executed by these Islamo-cockroaches all because they wouldn't marry. - THERIGHTSCOOP.COM

They were then dumped in mass graves. According to the report, some were pregnant and some were young.

◼ Iraq: 150 women killed after refusing to marry Islamic State fighters - See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-150-women-killed-after-refusing-marry-islamic-state-fighters-1143454965#sthash.oGfesVmS.dpuf - Middle East Eye

◼ Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights claims the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) murdered 150 women simply because they refused to marry or perform sexual acts with the terrorists. - Mary Chasten/Breitbart

Militants claim they adhere to a very conservative interpretation of Islam, yet they run brothels and keep sex slaves. They even allow women from the West to perform “sexual jihad” for the terrorists. A 2013 edict allows this behavior “to boost the morale of fighters.” Islamic State issued its own edict in June after conquering towns in Iraq. Jihadists set up brothels filled with kidnapped females and placed British women in charge. One Yazidi sex slave begged the West to bomb the brothel at which she was held to end her suffering. A video in November showed militants laughing and joking about buying female Yazidi slaves.
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Romney's Idea For Sony’s ‘The Interview’ That Could Save Thousands of Lives



◼ Sony Pictures cancelled their plans to show The Interview after an open threat from online hackers to execute 9/11-like attacks on our country - IJ Review

Releasing the film online immediately eliminates the danger of gathering several people together in one place (a movie theater) while simultaneously showing support for the film.

Even better, showing The Interview for free would be a much-needed bold statement from Sony Pictures. They already cancelled the film, so they would have a hard time making an argument about losing money.









DRUDGE:
CLOONEY TRIES TO RALLY H'WOOD AROUND SONY... DEVELOPING...
Movie world fears for freedom of speech as parody pulled...
LEAK: Jolie branded 'seriously out of her mind'...
Studio Warned Not to Cast Denzel Washington Due to His Race...
'INTERVIEW' Orgy Scene with Kim Jong Un Might Have Caused Concern...
Cancellation sets worrying new precedent for cyber terror...
NKOREA PLANNED ATTACKS ON NUKE PLANTS
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NOW THE DEMOCRATS ARE THE DIVIDED PARTY

◼ The liberal news media have gleefully been reporting the GOP’s political quarrels for many years. But that exaggerated story line all but vanished last week in the aftermath of the Democrats’ humiliating defeat in the midterm elections. - Donald Lambro/Human Events

Democratic leaders and their rank and file were deeply divided over the budget that was worked out in a deal with House Republicans — not only among themselves, but with President Obama, too, whom they bitterly blame for their deep losses in Congress.

Democratic Party discipline has been eroding fast as a result of Obama’s growing unpopularity, but last week the Democrats were deserting him in droves. And word ran like wildfire through their ranks that from now on, it’s everyone for themselves....
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“Is there no tyrant or anti-American center in the world that Obama will not appease for nothing in return?”



◼ Charles Krauthammer Asks a Burning Question About Obama That Millions of Americans Want Answered - IJ Review
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This liberal governor has made a horrifying discovery about single-payer health care.

◼ What? It would cost money? - Dan Calabrese/CAINTV.COM

Vermont's liberal governor abandons single-payer plan because state couldn't handle the taxes

◼ Vermont’s Giving Up On Single-Payer Health Care Over Ballooning Costs - Daily Caller

“I am not going to undermine the hope of achieving critically important health care reforms for this state by pushing prematurely for single payer when it is not the right time for Vermont,” Shumlin said in a statement Wednesday. “In my judgment, now is not the right time to ask our legislature to take the step of passing a financing plan for Green Mountain Care.”

The problem is, of course, how to pay for it. Even while plans were moving forward for a 2017 launch of the single-payer system, to be called Green Mountain Care, Shumlin had held off on releasing a plan for how to pay for the system, waiting until his announcement Wednesday.

Tax hikes required to pay for the system would include a 11.5 percent payroll tax as well as an additional income tax ranging all the way up to 9.5 percent. Shumlin admitted that in the current climate, such a precipitous hike would be disastrous for Vermont’s economy.
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TENSIONS RISE: One woman erupted in anger at the sight of a man wearing an Obama t-shirt, “this is the last place you should be.”



◼ Cuban-Americans Apoplectic over Obama’s ‘Slap in the Face’ to Community 0 Washington Free Beacon

As Democrats and President Obama celebrate the thaw in Cuban-American relations, the residents of Miami’s Little Havana are outraged, reported ABC’s Ross Polumbo....

◼ The Castros Finally Hit the Jackpot - Politico

Candidate Barack Obama said that, as president, he would talk to anti-American dictators without precondition. He didn’t mention that he would also give them historic policy concessions without precondition. His surprise unilateral change in the U.S. posture toward the Castro dictatorship came without even the pretense of serious promises by the Cubans to reform their kleptocratic, totalitarian rule....

Even if you oppose the isolation of Cuba, this is not a good trade...

◼ Why did President Obama engineer a prisoner swap with Communist Cuba involving Alan Gross, an American citizen who badmouthed his own country mere hours after he arrived back on U.S. soil? - Matthew Vadum/American Thinker
...Just look at the first thing newly freed Gross did upon arriving back in America. He pulled a cowardly pox-on-both-your-houses stunt, drawing a vile moral equivalency between the U.S. and the brutal, fascistic island hellhole he just escaped.... What an odd statement for a man released as part of an international James Bond-style spy swap to make. Just hours after coming back to America, he's praising President Obama's newly announced plan to normalize relations with Cuba. It seems staged.

And I may be going out on a limb here, but condemning your own countrymen as imperialist warmongers after they cut a deal to get you repatriated from the clutches of a nasty dictatorship is more than bad form. It reeks of sedition....

It is also strange that as Gross prepared for his press conference, there was a portrait of Communist mass murderer Che Guevara clearly visible in the Washington, D.C. office of Gross's lawyer, high-profile ambulance-chaser Scott D. Gilbert of Gilbert LLP. The bloodthirsty Guevara was minister of industry and president of the Cuban National Bank. He also administered kangaroo courts that condemned enemies of Fidel Castro's regime to death.

In other words, as Gross prepared his statement about being freed from a Cuban jail, an iconic photograph honoring Cuba's most infamous jailer stared down at him.

Gross thanked a laundry list of leftists for helping to free him....
◼ President
Obama Didn’t Tell The Whole Story About Cuba - The Federalist
Why did President Obama go for broke on Cuba, announcing the United States would normalize relations with that repressive regime? The answer appears in his statement to the nation. There, the president not only made clear that this change has been on his bucket list for some time, but also that his knowledge of Cuba comes straight out of the international Left’s playbook.
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REVEALED: Transportation for Obama to Los Angeles and Paltrow fundraiser cost taxpayers $1,011,051.30...

◼ Judicial Watch Obtains Records Revealing Obama’s $1,176,120.90 in Transportation Expenses to Attend Political Fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco - Judicial Watch

Lavish fundraiser hosted by Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow marked Obama’s 30th fundraising visit to Los Angeles County, CA.

On October 9, Obama attended a fundraiser party hosted by Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Los Angeles. He also attended a closed-door “roundtable” fundraiser at the home of restaurateur Michael Chow. A second event shielded from the public was scheduled for October 11 in San Francisco.

The documents came from the Department of the Air Force in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed on October 20, 2014. According to the newly released records obtained by Judicial Watch:

Transportation for Obama to Los Angeles, California on October 9, 2014, for the Paltrow fundraiser cost taxpayers $1,011,051.30
Transportation for Obama to San Francisco, California on October 10, 2014, for the secret fundraiser cost taxpayers an additional $165,069.60
Obama’s fundraiser at the home of Paltrow marked his thirtieth Los Angeles fundraiser since he took office, though his July fundraiser at the home of Michael Rapino had been billed as “the last trip to Los Angeles the president will be making this year,” according to KCAL TV. With the threat of a Republican sweep of Senate seats, however, Hollywood again opened its coffers in another attempt to raise money for the Democratic National Committee a month out from mid-term elections. The fundraiser at the home of A-list actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who also held a fundraising event for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, came with a price tag of up to $32,400 per attendee.

Residents of Los Angeles complained heavily of traffic delays and street closures during Obama’s time in Los Angeles. Neighbors of Paltrow were restrained from returning to their homes, even despite having proof of address. On October 10, Obama attended, according to Newsmax, “a $15,000-per person ‘roundtable’ discussion fundraiser for the DNC on Friday morning at the home of restaurateur Michael Chow and his wife Eva, a fashion designer.”

“Taxpayers are being gouged by President Obama for unnecessary travel for political fundraising and vacations,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “There needs to be a reconsideration of the longstanding taxpayer subsidy that forces our nation’s military and Secret Service into the service of political parties and candidates.”
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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Marco Rubio: "Barack Obama is the worst negotiator that we’ve had as president since at least Jimmy Carter and maybe the modern history of this country.”



◼ Rubio said Obama’s notion that opening trade relations with Cuba would lead to democratic reform was “absurd.” - Washington Free Beacon

“They’re creating no economic openings; there’s no concessions on freedom of speech, no concessions on elections, no concessions on the freedom to have alternative political parties, no concessions on ever having elections or anything of that matter. What democratic concessions?” Rubio said.

“This notion somehow being able to travel more to Cuba, and send more money to Cuba, and sell more consumer products in Cuba: The idea that leads to democratic opening is absurd, but it is par for the course and administration possibly giving away unilateral concessions–whether it’s Iran or, in this case, Cuba–in exchange for nothing.”

Rubio said Obama’s move shows that global tyrants can hold U.S. prisoners hostage, negotiate an exchange and give no concessions in return, making him a candidate for “the worst negotiator” in modern American history.

“Now all of these tyrants around the world know the U.S. can be had, that’s it’s a pretty easy deal,” Rubio said....

◼ Rubio lays it out all on Cuba.: Obama's New Cuba Policy 'Puts a Price on Every American Abroad' - CNS

◼ Obama Strikes Back: White House hammers Rubio as a hypocrite on Cuba - Ben Wolfgang/Washington Times (DC)
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In case you were curious about that big decision by a federal court yesterday, here's the background.

◼ The Reasons a Federal Court Gave for Declaring Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration Unconstitutional - Daily Signal

This is the first time a court has ruled on the constitutional status of the president’s executive action. It demonstrates that at least some federal courts will not shy away from considering constitutional issues raised by the president’s immigration policies.
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We just had an American corporation hacked & harassed by a foreign gov't so much they pulled The Interview -- What's Obama doing about it?





◼ We've decided not to move forward: Sony CANCELS the release of The Interview after the majority of theaters chose not to show it - David Mccormack for MailOnline and Associated Press Reporter

  • Sony has pulled the cinema release of The Interview after hackers threatened 9/11-like terror attacks on theaters showing the movie
  • Decision came hours after the five largest theater chains in North America announced that they were pulling out of showing it
  • Studio said it was 'deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company'
  • Unconfirmed reports the company may release the movie via premium video-on-demand instead
  • The Interview stars Rogen and Franco as television journalists involved in a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un











◼ Exclusive: Sony Emails Say State Department Blessed Kim Jong-Un Assassination in ‘The Interview’ - The Daily Beast

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FROM OBAMA WITH LOVE


◼ Obama tries 'new approach' on Cuba with normalized trade relations and diplomacy between Washington and Havana for the first time in a half-century - Associated Press and David Martosko, US Political Editor for MailOnline

President Barack Obama declared the end of America's 'outdated approach' to Cuba Wednesday, announcing the re-establishment of diplomatic relations as well as economic and travel ties with the communist island – a historic shift in U.S. policy that aims to bring an end to a half-century of Cold War enmity.

'Isolation has not worked,' Obama said in remarks from the White House. 'It's time for a new approach.'

'We will begin to normalize relations' between the U.S. and Cuba, he added.

'We will end an outdated approach that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests.'

◼ USA to release three Cuban spies - NYT ◼ Via Drudge
◼ 'Normalize' relationship with Castro - Washington Post
◼ Shockwaves through Miami exile community - Miami-Herald
◼ Protest In Little Havana - CBS Miami
◼ 'Traitor, traitor' Miami Cubans: Deal is 'the ultimate bailout' - USA Today
◼ Travel Industry Eyeing Cuba Tourism - FOX DC
◼ RUBIO: 'Terrible setback for the oppressed' - Reuters
◼ Dem: Rewards 'brutal behavior' - The Hill
◼ Pope Heavily Involved - National Journal
◼ Secret talks in Canada, Vatican City - Reuters











◼ Obama Does Not Have the Authority to Lift Embargo on Cuba - Daily Signal

Cubans will not gain freedom of expression, of association, of thought or of anything else as a result. That's just a start.



















◼ ‘Disturbing to say the least': Something’s VERY wrong with this photo of Alan Gross  - Twitchy, Who Said What on Twitter



◼ Why Does Freed Cuban Prisoner’s Lawyer Have A Picture Of Che On His Wall? - Daily Caller

Twitter users quickly picked up on the bizarre fact that the attorney for a man jailed by the oppressive Castro regime apparently has a picture of Fidel’s executioner-in-chief.

◼ Raul Castro Wants More - CNS

While Castro thanked the Vatican and the Canadian government for playing major roles in “facilitating” the talks, he reserved special thanks for President Obama declaring, “President Obama’s decision deserves the respect and acknowledgement of our people.”

To close his speech, Castro called on Obama to use executive authority to curtail the remaining vestiges of the embargo on Cuba...
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