For a crypto-Muslim who wants to shove Sharia law down the throats of God-fearing Christian America, President Barack Obama seems to be doing it wrong.
Word came out that UK Daesh member, “Jihadi John”, star of many decapitation videos, was killed in a US drone strike. Not only killed, but, according to reports, “eviscerated”. And reports also state that he was the only person to have died in the attack; no collateral damage was incurred.
Of course, some are saying that it would have been better for him to have been captured and stand trial. While I sympathize with that sentiment, I somehow doubt the Caliph of ISIL would have honored an indictment delivered to Raqqa. And most people wouldn’t want to risk our soldiers to effectuate such a capture. Whether some people want to admit it or not, this is a war in which we’re engaged. You don’t have Miranda rights if you’re in a war zone beheading innocents. So I have no particular regrets that Jihadi John won’t be in the dock in London or New York.
But to the larger point. Pres. Obama was derided as “naive” when he said in the 2008 debates that he’d go into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden “with or without Pakistani cooperation.” If mighty warrior George W. Bush couldn’t get the chief terrorist, how could wussy community organizer Barry Obama do it? And yet, Pres. Obama’s tenure in the White House comes with a long list of dead terrorists, including the aforementioned bin Laden. For most of the history of the War on Terror, we’ve had people who speak loudly and do little. Or, as with Mr. Bush, speak loudly and then invade the wrong country. What Pres. Obama has done is say very little (too little, I sometimes feel, as his administration could do more PR trumpeting the fact that being a famous terrorist is not a secure job), and yet lethally dismantle terrorist networks. ISIL is about to meet the al Qaeda strategy. AQ is almost destroyed, a vacuum filled by ISIL, which is now in US cross-hairs.
The success against al Qaeda and ISIL has come about by fighting intelligently, not blundering about and sending in mechanized brigades. Every candidate running for the GOP presidential nomination would fight ISIL in exactly the wrong way. They would send in the Marines, they would occupy Damascus, they would shoot down Russian planes which violated a no-fly zone. They would, in effect, start World War III. That is another reason why none of the GOP clown car denizens can be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Our sojourn on Earth as a species would be in grave peril if they were.
I for one will hoist a cocktail and smile over Jihadi John becoming a fleshy jigsaw puzzle. I can understand how his death may not bring closure to the families of his victims. But one less evil person stalks the world. It’s sometimes the only victory we can claim.
White House.gov
^5….
sigh.
SIGH.
SIGH.
…………………
The Economy Is Better — Why Don’t Voters Believe It?
Exploring the Iowa paradox.
By BEN CASSELMAN
At 9:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, Cyndi Diercks stood poolside at the Paddling Pooch in Bettendorf, Iowa, watching Ollie, her 12-year-old Weimaraner, swim laps. Between tosses of a fluorescent-green floating chew toy, Diercks, the 54-year-old owner of a local landscaping business and a leader of a local tea party group, enumerated all that was wrong with the U.S. economy.
The Federal Reserve is devaluing the dollar, Diercks said. Too many Americans are on food stamps or other benefits. Government regulation is stifling small businesses (she bore particular animus toward the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal workplace safety regulator). Inflation is too high. Taxes are too high. Government spending is too high. Statistics showing improvement in the economy are misleading if not outright lies.
“We don’t know where they’re coming out with those numbers,” Diercks said. “The unemployment rate isn’t down. No one wants to talk about the truth, and I hate it.”
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-economy-is-better-why-dont-voters-believe-it/
Rikyrah, when people are subjected to 24/7 media bombardment telling them that the economy sucks, their president is incompetent and the government is out to get them, it sinks in and becomes a general feeling they can’t even define. When this bombardment goes on year after year for decades, you get a dissatisfied populace that distrusts everything and is never satisfied. Combine this with an educational system that no longer teachers critical thinking and a determined effort on the part of well-heeled billionaires to pit segments of the population against each other and you have the current situation in the US today.
^5…
add to that a media…and a DNC that never touts the accomplishments of this President…
hey Jackie if you get a chance…read smartypants…piece about politics and the media…
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-business-of-media-and-politics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FlpjFg+%28Smartypants%29
Good article. Thanks, Pf. It truly sickens my heart to see what this country has become. The media enables politics as entertainment as if nothing were at stake for the future of the country than tv ratings. Only comedians tell the truth.
“The Economy Is Better — Why Don’t Voters Believe It?”
I can think of three answers to the question:
1. The pervasiveness of right wing propaganda disseminated by FOX and other right wing media and blogs.
2. The utter failure of U.S. corporate media to inform the American people about the Truth, by focusing on sensationalism while pretending to be neutral.
3. The utter failure of the leaders of the Democratic party to support and defend the President and loudly proclaim his successes.
AMENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN a thousand times
AMEN
I absolutely love that our President has taken away their foreign policy football and beats them over the head with it.
I SECOND THE MOTION!
Me Too!!
LL: THANK YOU for this incredible post. The ISIL problem is of a different order and we’re so fortunate that PBO has been engaged in the Middle East. Let’s close G’itmo now. Now.
VERY WELL DONE LL………………….:)
Thank you for this essay, Lib. I agree completely, and couldn’t have said it better (nobody could).
PRAYERS UP FOR THE COMFORT OF RICK MCKAY’S FAMILY…………..:{
Great essay, LL. Every day in every way, our President’s enemies and critics underestimate him and every day and in every way, he triumphs over them. Because they are slow learners, they will never get it. Those who do get it, or who have learned the hard way, know that President Barack Obama is a formidable opponent and the strongest, most important leader on the planet.
LL this was a great essay. Read it earlier on TPV and couldn’t agree more. Thank you. I am going to post this on my FB page too.
Fabulous LL, I just love the way you write. Can you please take the place of that horrible Dowd woman in the NYT?
GA TODville.
Snippet from my twitter feed now.
For links to Paris events, see @nycjim.
Great job LL!
Excellent Post LL.
You have out done yourself ;)
Beautifully done. Thank you, LL.
3 INCIDENTS….ONE HAS A HOSTAGE SITUATION…………….
18 ALREADY DEAD………………
18 dead?
3 different locations.
One at a Stadium.
Restaurant.
A street.
THE HOSTAGES ARE AT A 4TH LOCATION…A THEATRE………..
Hostages at a 4th location.
It is a Terrorist Attack.
One or two could be explained away as perhaps a coincident. 4 attacks? It is Terrorism, full stop.
BBL….:(…THIS IS NOT A GOOD DAY………………………….
Thanks for the kind words, everyone.
And it looks like I know what I’ll be watching when I get home. Daesh is a very different monster from AQ.
Damn…..DAMN….
I’m sickened.
I’m watching Italian television. They report at least 40 dead at the paris soccer stadium. More dead from other shootings in Paris.
Cannot believe what is happening in Paris now.
Doubt gun safety measures will gain any traction here in the US now. :(
Look for gun sales to increase as a matter of fact.
This reminds me of the Russia hostage situation from years ago, many people did.
LIVE NOW: French Television Report On Paris Attacks - http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
LIVE NOW: Attacks In Paris - Police: Gunmen Have Hostages in a Theater. http://www.cbsnews.com/live/
thank you JER.
POTUS has been fully briefed at the White House.
100 hostages being held by terrorists in a Paris theatre.
Really nicely written LL :) thank you.
“Of course, some are saying that it would have been better for him to have been captured and stand trial. While I sympathize with that sentiment, I somehow doubt the Caliph of ISIL would have honored an indictment delivered to Raqqa”.
Indeed.
Nobody has a goddamn thing to say about Paris, shit as been real and has gotten real real. You think Trump or Carson or Romney or any of the other clowns has any idea what to do with the Paris situation?
Don, only people who are afflicted with amnesia would think that a President of the United States could have prevented today’s horrific terror attacks in Paris. Here are some examples down memory lane: Richard Nixon couldn’t have prevented the shocking terrorist murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972, Munich olympics; Ronald Reagan, the conservative saint, couldn’t prevent the terrorist murder of over 241 marines in Beirut Lebanon in 1983, or the bombing of the Berlin night club that killed hundreds including American service men stationed in Germany; Bill Clinton was not able to prevent the terrorist attacks, which killed hundreds of people, at U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; certainly, George W. Bush was not able to prevent the terror attacks in London and Madrid that killed hundreds of people.
This
President Obama will be making a statement soon.
President will be delivering a statement on the urgent situation in Paris.
Heads up
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/11/13/president-obama-makes-a-statement-on-paris-attack/
OMG! Family, I took a nap and woke up to the shocking news out of Paris!
Just horrific! Hoping the authorities can get things under control. My heart goes out to the families of those lost and to all who are in the midst of this nightmare.
French reporter on MSNBC says there have been a total of 7 attacks.