Monday Night News & Notes

Tom Brady is the best ever. End of argument. He's in the pantheon of greats along with Gretsky, Jordan, Howe, Griffey Jr. and Walter Payton.

Here's what's new in the world:

-Apparently the Hamas explosives guru wasn't that careful around explosives.

-Trump and Mattis need to address this immediately. When half of the strike fighters can't fly due to money, they are nothing but expensive paperweights.

-The world is moving to the right. Le Pen, Brexit, Trump and now Temer in Brazil.

-The Iraqi army is leaving ISIS fighters bodies in the street to rot as a warning and lesson. No matter how far into the future we go, the middle east will always be tribal and vicious.

-Example #298,742 why Trump was elected.

-Did you know the Patriots winning was due to White Supremacy? Me neither but apparently the SJW's believe that to be the case. I watched the game and I saw quite a few black men playing in the white jerseys. Is it possibly because the Patriots field a majority white receiving corps? I don;t know, I guess I'm just not smart enough to see race issues everywhere and in everything. I just enjoyed watching a good game.

-China believes they have reached the point they could surpass the US for sea supremacy in the South China Sea. I'm guessing once Mattis gets the Navy back to a sharp edge, China will learn that they are not yet at that point.

-I'm by no stretch a Lady Gaga fan but her performance was excellent. I thought I'd miss it coming home from the party I was at but I saw it all and she killed. It ranked up there with Prince and Michael Jackson in my humble opinion.

A Global Shift in International Politics

There are few things in this world that can have a long enough ripple effect to change politics on two continents. Especially if those two continents are North America and Europe. In the past it's generally been the trend that when Americans elected a conservative, the Europeans tended to go more socialist. When Americans ventured far left as they are apt to do every 25 years or so, the Europeans tended to go more to the right.

There have been some examples such as when Reagan and Lady Thatcher ruled. The event in that instance that brought both regions into alignment was the threat of the Soviet Union but even then, the Canadians went with the liberal Trudeau and continental Europe varied.

But now we are seeing this odd convergence once again and its happening because of another global scourge--global Islamic terror in general and ISIS in particular.

In the US we are seeing the rise of Donald Trump who has struck a cord with his nationalism, tough talk and common sense approach in talking to the American people. Trump will be the nominee and he will most-likely destroy Hillary in the general. Barring a last minute freak out by the Democratic party where Hillary becomes "sick" during the general and Joe Biden jumps in to save the day, i don;t see it going any other direction. It's not helping anyone that Obama is taking a backseat in the fight against ISIS except Trump. By Obama deflecting blame on the San Bernadino terror attack away from the actual perpetrators and on to the NRA, Republicans and everyone else but those who actually are responsible, he's given an opening to Trump to exploit. The American people are pissed and another attack will only increase that anger. The average low information voter who doesn't generally pay attention until the year of the election is watching and the dithering by the president is registering.

Note: I'm not saying Trump is a conservative but he is nationalistic and his foreign policy would be farther to the right than anyone since George W. Bush's first term post 9/11.

In Europe, there's been a power shift. Angela Merkel was arguably the most powerful leader and showed true leadership during the economic meltdown in Greece. However, any prestige she banked was quickly spent during the recent and continuing exodus of Syrians into Europe. She took the approach of many modern day Germans who wish to erase the 70 year stain of national socialism and bend over backwards showing how they are accepting of everyone--even those who will do harm. That approach has directly led to one attack and an uproar throughout the west.

In the UK, David Cameron has had a rough go of it lately. He wanted to be a domestic issues leader and also wanted to be buddies with Obama. Unfortunately, we live in a world where domestic issues have taken a back seat to global terror ones. ISIS' strategy of radicalization through social media means that the global has now become the domestic and the letter cannot be solved without addressing the former. Just this week, Cameron began a bombing campaign against ISIS and just yesterday an attack occurred against one of his citizens because of it.

The real change is is France. During the early 2000's after the 9/11 attacks, France played it cool. Often they did not wish to deal with external situations unless they were the situations they believed affected them. Sarkozy was what in France is considered center right and was then replaced by Hollande who is definitely left. But now we are seeing a rise of the right that is expanding. The LePen family has been ostracized for decades because of their supposed nationalistic and xenophobic platform. Yes, several pockets of support were there but the larger provinces did not play along...until now and the rise of a young, beautiful leader Marion Marechal-LePen:

On Sunday, buoyed by the shock of the Nov 13 Islamic shootings in Paris, the list she heads is widely expected to come in first in the Provence-Côte d’Azur region, with polls giving her some 40 per cent of the vote. Even if the third-ranking Socialists drop out of the race to favour her Gaullist opponent in next Sunday’s runoff, Marion, as she’s known, has the most chances to swing into office, giving the Front National a shot at ruling one of France’s most dynamic regions, and the second most populous after Paris.

In the wake of the recent attacks, France has taken a step back and assessed where they are as a nation. France is becoming much less French because of the policies currently in place. It was easy to blame the riots of Muslim "youths" on cultural and economic problems but those problems could be solved if the large immigrant populations would assimilate and become French they believed. This worked well with migrants from former French colonies like Morrocco. But the new waves are not French first or even identify as Syrian, Iraqi or Libyan first, they are Muslims first, second and always. Assimilation is not going to happen tomorrow or next year and that is dawning on the continent as a whole and the French in particular. This has already led to Denmark taking a hard line on immigrants from entering due to public backlash.

While America continues to accept immigrants and not take a short break to review policies and procedures, Europe is going the other direction. Perhaps we are on the cusp of seeing the rare confluence of events whereby America and Europe are led by right wing leaders who believe the safety of their citizens is more important than being liked by political elites. This is crunch time in a global war that will have far-reaching implications and the futures of both America and Europe depend on what happens next.

This Is What a Lack of American Leadership Looks Like

There's been a few times over the last half century that America has failed in her role of leadership. Every time it happened it was with a Democrat. Think of the leadership they once believed in; FDR defeating Naziism and imperial Japan, Truman dropping the bomb to save the lives of a million and JFK going eyeball to eyeball with Kruschev over Cuba. but then we were, unfortunately stuck with Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Carter meant well but was way out of his league. He was an old school Democrat but lacked the steely spine of Truman or FDR. He wasn't the liberals we see today but a paleo-liberal who fully believed in the cause. He was the first American president to not believe America was a force for good in the world and believed we should make amends for all the perceived wrongs we had perpetrated. The Russians sensed weakness and they made huge gains during his (thankfully) only term. The Mideast also sensed his weakness as was made extremely evident when they took Americans hostage in Tehran. His response was feckless in a part of the world where the only thing understood was power. We paid for it in his ineffective and damaging leadership of the military that resulted in death, destruction and embarrassment in the Iranian desert. then we got Reagan and the end of the Soviet Union...

Along came Bill Clinton who faced a different enemy but one in which Carter would understand; militant Islam. They attacked the USS Cole and the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and we did nothing. Osama bin-Laden said he was at war with America and we sent a couple missiles into an empty tent. We had him dead to rights and he and Sandy Burger wavered. They got bolder with every single attack and it resulted in 9-11.

And now we have Obama. He's a liberal of a completely different ilk. His upbringing was anti-American, anti-war propaganda and he wants nothing less than a complete obliteration of America as it was. He pulled the troops from Iraq without even a thought of the consequences--no soldiers remained to train, execute missions in the best interest of the fledgling democracy and more importantly no deterrent to what group rose out of the ashes. Worse than that, he became completely disinterested in what his actions led to. He ran around touting the fact that bin-Laden was dead and al-Qaeda was on the run. But he didn't listen when his intel folks said that something even worse than al-Qaeda split off from the mother organization. What he labeled the JV team was actually growing into the worst terror organization in the world in the void he left. He threatened Assad but had zero plans on acting if the lines were crossed and emboldened ISIS to not only move into Iraq but take territory numerous Americans died to win.

Obama tried to act tough by ordering an air war that took no risks. He used drones to take out leadership that were quickly replaced but allowed him to say he was "doing something". He left a leadership opening that was essentially an invitation to Russia to join the fight and prop up the guy we pledged to take out. Amazingly, while ISIS was beheading journalists, selling children into sexual slavery and murdering homosexuals and Christians Obama opted to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Putin knew as soon as Obama didn't act against Assad the first, second and eighth time he crossed the red line, he didn't have the heart to act at all. So he moved in and now is not only protecting the man we threatened but taking out his opposition.

Which leads us to today. Putin has been entering sovereign airspace throughout the world and testing our resolve. From Sweden and Norway to England and the US, he's probed and pricked at us and we did nothing. He started doing it into Turkey and was warned by the Turks but not by us. And now, we have a Russian jet shot down and the pilots shot while parachuting to land. The helo sent to rescue them was then shot down by insurgent groups. Putting myself in Mad Vlad's shoes, I'd be pissed. Not only would I be pissed but I'd be pissed at Turkey--a NATO ally of the US and one we are required by treaty to defend. And as an American, an ally who has been anything but. They would not allow us to attack Iraq from the north during the invasion of Iraq in 1993 and have been flying sorties that are aimed at their enemies not NATO's enemies. Their endgame is to take out the Kurds who are their enemy eternal and our ally.

So now they've attacked Russia in what may or not be a Russian provocation. The Russians can't not respond and we are in the middle. So now we have the Russians fighting the Free Syrian Army, al-Qaeda (Nusra), ISIS, the Chechens, and the myriad other enemies of Assad, whom they are protecting. We have the US fighting ISIS and the Syrian Army whom are loyal to Assad. The Turks are fighting the Russians and the Kurds while pledging they are helping against ISIS and finally we have ISIS fighting the US, Russia, Turks, Iraqi's, Assad and now al-Qaeda while establishing an enormous base of operations.

And all of this is because the US ceded our role as leaders. Did we have to continue fighting in Iraq? No, but we did have to continue to make those in Iraq believe that we would. When we allowed Assad to use chemical weapons and give us the finger while not responding, we opened up the door to what we have today.

The damage done by Obama will take decades to fix.

Obama Admin Skewed Intel to Make ISIS Seem Less Potent

This is the latest in the series If Republicans Did This They'd Be In Jail. 

I'm sure most of you recall that Democrats and the media (redundant, I know) were all over W. Bush after 9/11 for an ambiguous briefing about Osama bin-Laden and his plans to attack the US that was briefed to the former president just prior to the WTC attacks. HE KNEW! they screamed and were adamant that he was going to suffer for this catastrophic failure in intel gathering. They seemed extremely worked up that the president hadn't acted in time to stop the plot.

Fast forward to today and the administration of Obama. As of 2014, Obama missed half of his daily briefings, which are a rundown of events throughout the world and the potential effect on the US. They are easily the most important part of the presidents day...or were until now. Perhaps this is why he called ISIS the "jayvee team" not so long ago--but I digress. The PDB is critical in the decision making process for any president and Obama flat out ignored a large part of them.

Now we may know why; he was fudging the intel to make ISIS seem less aggressive and successful:

At issue is whether analysts at Central Command, which oversees U.S. Department of Defenseoperations in the Middle East, altered assessments of the campaign against ISIS to make it appear as though the United States and Western partners were making more progress than they really were, at least according to claims from a whistleblower assigned to Centcom.The inquiry, which started in September, has grown to include congressional investigations, including the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees. The chairmen of both committees are also forming a task force in the "near future" to investigate allegations of intelligence manipulation, aides with both panels confirmed.

As a vet and a guy with a bunch of ex-military and active duty friends, I find it extremely hard to believe that the military took it upon themselves to skew intel lowering the threat of ISIS. The military may sometimes indulge intel to make a threat seem greater so they can get more funding, training and weaponry. They never, ever would knowingly make the threat seem less than it is. That means they were forced to do so or are the scapegoats for Obama. I'm inclined to believe the latter but the former is possible because the senior leadership in the military is immensely more political than even 8 years ago. But no, I'm pretty sure it was Obama through Valerie Jarrett or his staff who tamped down the information that would make their boss look bad. If the intel showed massive gains by ISIS, Obama would have to act and he does not want to act. To act would mean he would have to make a decision and take action and the former "Senator Present" hates to make decisions that protect America.

This is not shocking nor is it surprising but it sure will be interesting to see just how this shakes out. Obama threw the military under the bus and other low level staffers but if there's any proof of it being someone higher up, the public will be out for a senior scalp. Unfortunately it will not be Obama since the bucks stops anywhere but on his desk.

The Latest on the Paris Attacks

President Hollande unleashed his air force yesterday but it appears he's not quite so eager to unleash the ground troops. Liberals are always reticent to go all out when they are attacked. His thinking is that they'd be going it alone and that the indigenous forces should fight the battle. I find this strange considering the entire world is behind France right now, they are a NATO member and by NATO rules, they were attacked and an attack on one is an attack on all. Perhaps he's afraid Obama wouldn't join in or more likely doesn't even want to ask him and put him in the position to have to make a decision--something he is loathe to do with regard to military matters.

Speaking of Obama, he's not backing down from taking in Syrian refugees and will have a battle on his hands. Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, Arkansas and others have said they will not take them in until the system is fixed. Chris Christie also declined but Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (Democrat) said he'd be more than happy to take them. Of course he sits in Harrisburg--a long ways from either Philly or Pittsburgh and even terrorists don't like going there. Once again, Obama is going against what Americans want because he's Obama and he's never wrong...just ask him.

Obama also lashed out at his critics as expected. Just like he did with Putin when he essentially called him a pussy, Obama always tries to sound tough and manly but ends up coming off sounding like one of the idiot protesters at Dartmouth, Columbia and Mizzou. And of course, he's not going to change the strategy because to do so would mean he was wrong and Obama is never wrong...ask him again. He has the opportunity to leave a real legacy; instead of the worst job market in two generations, a healthcare plan that will cripple us and a plan to unnaturally keep interest rates low that will result in crazy inflation, he could've been the guy who led the coalition that defeated the barbarous ISIS and freed Christians, slaves and Kurds.

Finally, the US attacked an oil convoy today with A-10 Warthogs--the plane the Air Force brass has been trying to get rid of for a decade but is eternally loved by the troops. I guess the low oil prices come with a benefit: ISIS would be making a hell of a lot more money and buying a hell of a lot more weapons if the price of oil was $80 instead of south of $40.

The Rest of the World: Islamic Terror is Coming to the West Obama: I Have No Plan & I Have a Fundraiser To Get To

Yesterday Great Britain took the rather important step of raising their terror alert status to just short of imminent. Also, Saudi Arabia warned that ISIS will attack Europe within a month and the US within two. Israel has been screaming about the terror threat for months. And we do nothing.

Let's start with the UK:

Britain faces the “greatest and deepest” terror threat in the country’s history, David Cameron warned as he pledged emergency measures to tackle extremists.

The UK threat level was raised to “severe” — its second highest — meaning that a terrorist attack is “highly likely” in light of the growing danger from British jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria.

The Prime Minister said that the risk posed by Isil (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) will last for “decades” and raised the prospect of an expanding terrorist nation “on the shores of the Mediterranean”.

 When you juxtapose Cameron's speech with Obama's you'll feel even worse. Cameron was direct, had a plan and confidence and instilled a sense of mission. Obama on the other hand looked irritated he even had to disuse the issue, seemed rambling and unsure and said that the US has no plan to deal with it. But hey, he wore a tan suit so that's news, right?




Cameron states very clearly that ISIS is not a result of the Iraq war or any other world events but directly is the result of radical Islam. Obama would never even consider doing that.

The US State Department contends that we are not at war with ISIS but the evidence clearly shows that they are at war with us. This line of thinking coupled with the administration's reluctance to deal with any issue that does not help them politically is a recipe for disaster. ISIS plans on attacking the US and Obama plans on issuing executive orders to allow up to 5-million illegal immigrants into the US. ISIS expands their weapons cache and territory, the US president goes to fundraisers. The borders are left wide open and the Obama administration wants to stick their collective heads in the sand and ignore the fact that those who wish us harm are coming across.

Our folks in the intelligence services and military are working hard to detect these threats and eliminate them but the Obama administration is loathe to act on what they discover. Sure, Obama will authorize a couple of sorties and check the box that he's "doing something" but anything of consequence is not forthcoming. This threat is not just in the Middle East but is in America. As we speak there's a plot being formed somewhere be it Chicago, Washington, DC, New York City or Los Angeles. It will not be airplanes attacking buildings but much more ambitious as we are seeing evidence of coming from ISIS strongholds.

This is the direct result of electing (twice) and ideologue with no experience. Obama cares only about expanding his power and his statist goals. everything else is secondary. Where we should have someone, anyone on the Democrat side speaking out we have nothing. Can anyone make the controlling party see that everything they supposedly abhor: rape, racism, misogyny, genocide are being perpetrated by an enemy that has a stated goal of attacking the US? No, they rail about a fictitious war on women by the Republicans. The war on women is happening in Syria and Iraq as we speak where 12-year old girls are being sold for $10 each to ruthless thugs to be used as sex slaves but there's one thing that the Democrats will never speak out against and that's Islam.

Maybe a terror attack in the heart of San Francisco will wake people up but i fear it will be way too late to do anything about it.

ISIS, Jordan, Israel and Saving One of the Few Allies We Have Left

One of the major failures that historians will write about the Obama years is the way we treated and lost many long-standing allies. Be it the shameless way he appeased Russia by pulling defensive missiles from Poland, the embarrassing way he treated Britain or the way he smacked Israel at every opportunity, this will be at the top of major foreign policy blunders. 

We now have the opportunity to help another ally when they need it most and my guess is that he will screw them over as well.

Israel and the US may be prepared to aid Jordan as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria eyes the Jewish state’s eastern neighbor, The Daily Beast on Saturday quoted US officials as saying. 

US officials speaking on condition of anonymity have speculated that if ISIS were to pursue a full-on assault on Jordan, Amman might not be able to repel the Islamists.

Correction; Jordan will not be able to repel the invading horde of ISIS terrorist's.  They've taken advantage of two teetering regimes in Iraq and Syria and have increased their numbers and effectiveness in both places. They've become a trained army and have sparked a revolution gaining adherents and momentum while the US sits back and allows them to expand unchecked. They've already managed to win and hold a huge swath of land from Aleppo to the northwest to the outskirts of Baghdad on the southeast:

The Jordanian's have been our most trusted ally in the region where we have few and King Hussein and then his son King Abdullah have expended serious political capital in recognizing Israel at the behest of the US while stoking enmity throughout the rest of the Arab world. As with most Arab governments, they seem a house of cards that can be easier undermined. Abdullah has bravely stood with the US and done our bidding when to do the opposite would have helped him much more at home.

ISIS sees the opportunity to expand their gains and the new caliphate by enlisting the aid of the disgruntled Jordanian youth while also provoking Israel into a regional war they would have a hard time winning. If even a small part of the kingdom falls, the Egyptians and Libyan Islamist's would quickly begin putting pressure on Israel and they will find themselves with pressure coming from the north, east and south. The fact that ISIS is Sunni means that they will gain quite a bit of help from many in Wahhabist Saudi Arabia whose leadership scared to death of the Shiite regime in Iraq but even more afraid of instability at home.

Meanwhile, President Obama has pledged that he will "aid" Jordan but doesn't quite spell out what that aid will mean. Is it weapons? Training? Boots on the ground? Perhaps we send over "advisors"?

And what of the Israeli's? How much assistance can they possibly give? The second they send any the Islamist's will score a major propaganda coup. Imagine the anger of disaffected Jordanian and Arab youth when they read communique after communique saying that the Abdullah monarchy needs to get assistance from the hated state of Israel. That will be the biggest recruiting assistance they could ever hope to have.

The only way to stop ISIS is to help Jordan seal their borders. Iraq is lost thanks to diplomatic bumbling by Obama and he is already working on arming those in Syria who wish us harm. If Jordan goes down, we will be facing not only death and destruction on a biblical scale but a middle east that is so transformed as to be unrecognizable from what it was a decade ago.

My guess is that we will offer them arms and training but not even consider shoring up their defenses with men. Obama does not have the stomach to engage in another war and will be content to leave this mess to his successor. Plus he can give a big "screw you" to Israeli PM Netanyahu who has dared on numerous occasions to call out Obama for his fecklessness. Meanwhile, millions of citizens of an ally we've needed throughout the years will suffer and the prestige and trustworthiness of the US will take another major hit.

Yes, many will blame Bush and Cheney but the US had a chance to stop this onslaught when it started in Syria but chose the wrong side. Obama believed that just by the sheer will of his personality that insurgents would overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad and then become friends of the US. The fact that the exact opposite happened in Egypt and Libya didn't teach him a lesson he would have been smart to recognize.