Trigger Alert! "Ragged Old Flag"

Ah, how lovely. God bless you, Mr. Cash. Artists like you don't come around too often. 



One wonders, however, if he could even get away with performing this song today (not to mention his comment about shooting someone who tried to burn his flag) without "triggering" cries of "micro-aggression." 

Remember the controversy at University of California, Irvine, where members of UCI's Associated Students tried to get the American flag banned from their building's lobby because it "triggered" people? 

Such idiocy can only emanate from the far left. 

For Further Reading

"The Microagression Farce" (Heather MacDonald, Autumn 2014, City Journal).

"A New Hampshire University's Language Guide Says Students Should Avoid Using the Word 'American'" (Ted Siefer, July 20, 2015, Business Insider).

"Don't Sweat the Microagressions" (Amitai Etzioni, April 8, 2014, The Atlantic).

"Microaggression: Desperately Seeking Discrimination" (Viv Regan, December 29, 2014, spiked).

"UC Irvine Student: US Flag Banned to Avoid Triggering Hurt Feelings Among Illegals" (Adelle Nazarian, March 8, 2015, Breitbart)

For Further Viewing

Here's The Factual Feminist (AKA Christina Hoff Sommers of the American Enterprise Institute) commenting on this issue.

"Iran's Bitch," or, How We Got Our Butts Kicked in Vienna

Ten . . . No Eleven . . . Make That Thirteen Reasons to Hate this Deal 

1. Any time, anywhere inspections? Not.

2. The deal obligates us to defend Iran against...Israel? 

3. Left and right-wing Jews in Israel are united against the deal, as are Israel's neighbors in the Middle East.

4. This deal makes the region more, not less, dangerous, and will very likely jump-start a nuclear arms race. Way to go, Mr. "Nobel Laureate" Obama!

6. Contrary to the phony indignation of Obama, Clinton, et al, in response to Mike Huckabee's bluntly-worded critique of the deal, a nuclear-armed Iran does, indeed, portend another Holocaust.

7. By lifting sanctions off Iran, the leading sponsor or terror in the Middle East, we are essentially co-sponsoring terrorism. 

8. Iran will be able to inspect itself! What the heck?

9. Four Americans remain jailed in Iran, including journalists and a pastor, but these hostages were never included in the so-called negotiations, even though we let their terrorists off the hook for no apparent reason other than the fact that we're their bitch.  

10. Cliché alert: We not only gave away the farm, we sold the store. 

11. Trust Iran? You've got to be kidding. And even if we could trust them to stick to the terms of the agreement, those terms suggest that the deal will delay Iran from developing nuclear weapons for ten years. Ten years may as well be ten minutes. 

12. The deal also permits the selling of ICBM's to Iran. The "I" and the "C" are pretty significant, don't you think? 

13. "Snap back sanctions?" Already this feature of the deal is being dismissed by the experts. Once Iran has its billions, and once other countries resume trade relations with Iran, there will be no snapping of anything, except maybe our bra strap.

What am I missing? 

The phrase "Iran's Bitch" comes from the podcast I've linked below (listen to it!) and is not my own (anyone who knows me knows I don't use vulgarity very often. In fact, I admit I was a little shocked when the speaker used the phrase). But when he described the way the Iranian negotiators treated John Kerry in the negotiating room (at one point, members of the Secret Service rushed in the room, thinking Kerry was in danger), berating, belittling, shouting, I got the picture. Even after being kicked, Kerry kept crawling back, like a dog to its master. What was his motivation for taking the abuse? Was there pressure from Obama? A deal at any cost? Play your last card? Give them anything, just get me a deal? Was that what was going on? 

One expert I listened to (maybe it was Mr. Rubin in this podcast, or maybe it was another podcast, I can't remember) admitted he was baffled by Obama's motivation. He could only think of two metaphors that might explain the president's behavior: Obama the battered wife, or, Obama the besotted teenager. Ouch. Neither one speaks well of America. 

What's apparent is this president was hell-bent on getting something, anything, in writing. Why? Is this about Valerie Jarrett, our "shadow president," who by the way is Iranian-born? Is she the puppet master here? Or is this about the president's celebrated ego? Is Obama searching for something previous administrations were unable to achieve? If it's really all about his legacy, what if he's wrong and the naysayers are right? His legacy would be destroyed beyond all repair. 

It is this point, above all others, that makes this whole situation so disturbing. That the leader of the world's most powerful nation could be so blinded by his own ambitions that he is literally unable to see the catastrophe looming, like a giant tsunami wave building behind him, while he sits on a sun-drenched beach, blithely basking in a fantasy of his own making. Equally disturbing, to me, are the foolish people who defend, excuse, justify, idolize him. 

KickAss Politics Podcast with Michael Rubin

"The Iran Nuke Deal with Guest Michael Rubin" (KickAss Politics with Ben Mathis, podcast). 

According to the synopsis, Michael Rubin is "a former Pentagon official specializing in Iran and a Middle East scholar with the American Enterprise Institute [who] has written extensively on the subject of rogue regimes and Iran's nuclear ambitions." Here's a link to Rubin's bio, which also includes links to articles he's written.

For Further Reading

"Sixteen Reasons the Iranian Nuke Deal is an Iranian Victory and a Western Catastrophe," by David Horovitz, The Times of Israel (July 14, 2015). 

"The Second Holocaust," by Benny Morris, The New York Sun (January 22, 2007).  Note date of publication.

"Obama Agrees to be Bodyguard for Iran's Nuclear Program," IranTruth Staff, IranTruth (July 15, 2015). 

"Iran Bombshell: It Will Inspect Itself," by Fred Fleitz, IranTruth (July 24, 2015).

"The Obama Whisperer," by Noam Scheiber, The New Republic (November 9, 2014). 

"FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie Jarrett's Family," Judicial Watch (June 22, 2015).

What Left-Leaning People on Facebook Say About Iran Deal

Eavesdropping on the Lefties...they really are foolish. I'd venture to say they have no idea what they're talking about.

Addendum (July 31, 2015)

I happened to catch a Michael Medved segment today in which he interviews Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School about Dershowitz's brand new book called, The Case Against the Iran Deal: How Can We Stop Iran From Getting Nukes? Professor Dershowitz's opening remarks were telling: he clearly self-identifies as a man of the left, a Democrat, an Obama supporter, etc., and in doing so, indignantly repudiates any suggestion by the the president that those who oppose the deal are conservative or Republicans. 

Dershowitz had some pretty damning things to say. Pay attention, left-leaning people! I hope his book (currently available as an e-book) makes the rounds on Capitol Hill, especially among Democrats, some of whom seem more loyal to party than to country. 

History's Chumps?

History repeating itself?

“We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again" (Neville Chamberlain, September 30, 1938).

"Today, after two years of negotiations, the United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change -- change that makes our country and the world safer and more secure” (Barack Obama, July 14, 2015).

Addendum

In the days after this deal was announced, much has been written regarding whether this deal could be fairly compared to 1938 Munich. While I believe the historical comparison is valid in the broader sense (the importance of learning from history's mistakes, of not appeasing tyrannical governments, of not attributing good will to nations that have a proven record of lying, etc.), there are differences between the circumstances leading up to the Munich agreement and those of the Iran deal. 

These distinctions are noted in Bruce Carlson's My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast (linked below), in which he provides background and context for Neville Chamberlain's actions. The podcast is about 40 minutes and is actually Part I (of two, I believe). Very interesting. 

Neville Chamberlain, Really (link opens up to an mp3 file). 

And the Ineptitude Continues Apace . . .

Doyle McManus, in his op-ed column in today's Los Angeles Times, discusses how the $500 million that Obama requested (and received) from Congress a year ago to train 15,000 opposition fighters in Syria has resulted in only 60 trained fighters to date. 

"Sixty?" he asks, incredulous. "UCLA has more men on its football roster." 

McManus says that skeptics figure this amounts to about $9 million per fighter. "Not an impressive number," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter apparently conceded during his report to Congress on the training program's progress. 

Writes McManus: "[T]he story of the Pentagon's amazing shrunken training program — an idea that almost looked bold when Obama first proposed it — could serve as a metaphor for the whole of U.S. strategy in Syria: ambitious in its goals, but so risk-averse in design and so hamstrung in execution that it remains painfully ineffective" (italics my own). Yes, italics are often necessary when discussing this administration's gross incompetence. 

McManus's column is linked at the end of this post, if you like. Meanwhile, there's this: 

At least 4,000 Assyrian Christian families are believed to be among the 120,000 people who in recent days have fled the Syrian city of Hassakeh. ISIS forces are entering the city and looking to carry out a mass ethno-religious slaughter, humanitarian groups said, warning that the world still has not provided an adequate response" (italics mine).

 . . . Meanwhile over 200 Assyrian Christians remain captured by terror group ISIS, taken from a raid on Assyrian villages back in February. Though the Khabur river villages have since been liberated, the jihadists are believed to be asking close to $23,000,000 for the release of all 227 captive Assyrians, an amount which is impossible for families to pay.

Ethnic cleansing continues, the world's greatest superpower is flaccid and impotent, and this administration's ineptitude (or is it disinterest?) continues apace.

**** 
For Further Reading

"In Syria, $36 Million to Train 60 Opposition Fighters?" (Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, July 12, 2015)

"ISIS Commits Mass Ethno-Religious Slaughter of Assyrian Christians as the World Ignores Genocide, Humanitarian Groups Say," (Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post, July 2, 2015)