The buck stops with Admiral McRaven.

A recently disclosed memorandum from then-CIA Director Leon Panetta shows that the president's celebrated derring-do in authorizing the operation included a responsibility-escape clause: "The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven's hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out."

Which is to say, if the mission went wrong, the fault would be Adm. McRaven's, not the president's.

The writer, Michael B. Mukasey, notes how previous presidents have announced military victories -- the "I" was strongly disfavored, with presidents preferring to give credit and honor to the men who'd actually risked something more than political fallout.

But not for King Obama I.

"I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority . . . even as I continued our broader effort. . . . Then, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community I was briefed . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . And finally last week I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . ."

While Obama claims sole credit for the Osama raid, apparently everyone and everything is to blame for the economy-- Bush, obstructionism, automation, tsunamis, cold weather, warm weather, sweater weather-- except Obama.

Posted by: Ace at 10:27 AM | Comments (178)
Post contains 288 words, total size 2 kb.

He does allow that Governor Romney "may be able to convince me, he's a convincing guy," but doesn't think he would look good clapping behind the President at the State of the Union.

I don't know-- everyone says the non-NJ parts of the country would find him "abrasive." And yet I'm also told it's imperative we be just that -- abrasive, in your face, demanding.

He's funny in that video. Likable, I think. Few have his credibility on reducing spending and holding the line on taxes.

Posted by: Ace at 10:11 AM | Comments (161)
Post contains 108 words, total size 1 kb.

Enemies, both foreign and domestic.

A mohawk-wearing anarchist nicknamed "Cyco" was among five men arrested after allegedly conspiring to blow up a bridge about 15 miles south of Cleveland[:] the Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge, which spans the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and carries a four-lane highway.

The men were arrested Monday evening in an FBI sting, but posed no real danger to the public because the explosives were inert and were controlled by an undercover FBI agent, the bureau said in a statement.

CNN refuses to mention the Occupy movement that Obama and Nancy Pelosi embraced -- but surely these men were involved in that movement...?

Morgan Richmond notes the an anarchist website (not associated with the terrorist would-be bridge bombers) has made its ambitions clear enough.

If we donÂ’t fight back, the crisis may drive a permanent decline in our standard of living, deepen the domination over the oppressed, and widen the gaps in American society.

And how to "fight back"? Through community organizing, of course.

Until people take to the streets and assert their power, we have to help lay the groundwork. We need to be immersed in working class communities, helping to build struggles against exploitation and oppression in workplaces, housing, education, neighborhoods, and our homes. We are not in a permanent state of agitation though; fights will pick up and cool down. We need to build intermediate organizations that live through the ups and downs of these struggles. Intermediate level organizations can group together organizers who become conscious and committed to a more equal and just vision of society in organizing, and stay committed to helping others fight back around concrete issues in their daily lives.

For some reason they run a picture of an anarchist poised to club "Friday" singer Rebecca Black over the head.

30 years later, and Obama is still pallin' around with terrorists.

by @slublog

Two Bombers Are Occupy Organizers: Via ace researchers Dan Riehl and Liberty Chick.

One of the leaders of the Occupy Cleveland movement, Brandon Baxter, is one of those arrested for today's terrorist plot to bomb a bridge in Cleveland. Occupier Brandon Baxter appears to have gotten the guidance he sought.

OCCUPIED — Occupy Cleveland organizer Brandon Baxter gets some shade in the Occupy Cleveland tent in downtown Cleveland on March 21, 2012. Baxter, one of the few remaining members of Occupy Cleveland’s physical presence downtown, said the group has seen a sharp decline in numbers since last October because of increasing disorganization. “We need guidance,” he said.

Another of today's suspects is Anthony Hayne, named previously in a report on Occupy Cleveland.

“I just want to be very clear: we are not occupying Lakewood,” said Anthony Hayne, who is organizing the information session. Hayne, a Lakewood resident since 2001, said there will be about six or seven members of Occupy Cleveland, which stems from the Occupy Wall Street movement, at the table Saturday.

They had more planned targets, too.

The Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland
The Justice Center in Cleveland
A Cuyahoga County Homeland Security operation called the Northeast Ohio Regional Fusion Center.
An unidentified Ku Klux Klan location in Ohio
An Interstate 480 bridge known as the Valley View bridge.

Posted by: Ace at 09:05 AM | Comments (294)
Post contains 576 words, total size 5 kb.

Batman will have his say later, but right now no one cares. It's all about The Avengers.

- "The Avengers" flexed its muscles overseas, opening at No. 1 in all 39 markets and rolling up $178 million a week ahead of its U.S. debut.

Interesting new strategy in Hollywood -- they're releasing big blockbuster pictures overseas first. They released The Avengers in 32 markets last week, and they have Battleship out there too. The theory is that they can generate some cash-money momentum for the important American release. In the case of a movie like Battleship, that can help offset what in all likelihood will be poor reviews.

Disney (which owns Marvel studios) isn't going to let another John Carter flop happen -- that's central to their thinking.

But The Avengers has glowing reviews-- currently 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. So this tactic seems unnecessary.

I'm seeing the film on Friday morning. I'll be gone until 1 pm, then I'll post a review. (See, I have to do this -- it's "news" and I must "cover" it. I certainly don't want to play hooky until midafternoon or anything...)

Anyway, on to Batman. Batman's awesome and everything but we've seen Batman. We've never seen an All-Star Superhero Mash-Up.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:53 AM | Comments (63)
Post contains 219 words, total size 2 kb.

Via Hot Air, is Elizabeth Warren's "family lore" accurate?

Desperately scrambling to validate Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s Native American heritage amid questions about whether she used her minority status to further her career, the Harvard Law professor’s campaign last night finally came up with what they claim is a Cherokee connection — her great-great-great-grandmother.

“She would be 1⁄32nd of Elizabeth WarrenÂ’s total ancestry,” noted genealogist Christopher Child said, referring to the candidateÂ’s great-great-great-grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, who is listed on an Oklahoma marriage certificate as Cherokee. Smith is an ancestor on WarrenÂ’s motherÂ’s side, Child said.

1/32nd? She's as white as I am.

The premise behind "diversity hiring" -- I'm not agreeing with it; I'm stating the premise behind it -- is that those with different experiences and backgrounds can contribute intellectually to a group in ways that whites can't.

But Elizabeth Warren is white. She has not been mistaken for anything except Anglo-Saxon all her life. She has lived in white culture. She has never once had anyone look shiftily at her due to a suspicion that she was a minority.

For her to claim she's "minority" is an insult -- or ought to be -- to anyone who believes in the "diversity"/minority voices theory.

Because universities (especially universities!) make a special fetish of hiring minorities -- Elizabeth Warren's claim to be a minority, and her self-claimed status as such, and her listing of herself as a minority in directories, displaced an actual minority who would have had her position.

Some think this whole racial quota system is ridiculous. I tend to agree. But at least a black guy who gets a position partly due to his minority position is doing so honestly (even if I disagree with the theory behind the special racial advantage).

Elizabeth Warren gamed herself the best of both worlds -- she's actually white, and so has never faced any degree of Outsider Status in her life.

But she claims minority status in order to benefit from institutional preferences for minorities.

1 out of 32 parts.

And yet someone with 32 out of 32 parts of minority heritage was displaced so that Elizabeth Warren could get her promotion.

Posted by: Ace at 08:04 AM | Comments (352)
Post contains 376 words, total size 3 kb.

They're not happy that Obama is trying to star in their finest moment.

Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: ‘The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.

‘I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice - it was a broader team effort.’
Mr Zinke, who is now a Republican state senator in Montana, added that MR Obama was exploiting bin Laden’s death for his re-election bid. ‘The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.’

...

A serving SEAL Team member said: ‘Obama wasn’t in the field, at risk, carrying a gun. As president, at every turn he should be thanking the guys who put their lives on the line to do this. He does so in his official speeches because he speechwriters are smart.

‘But the more he tries to take the credit for it, the more the ground operators are saying, “Come on, man!” It really didn’t matter who was president. At the end of the day, they were going to go.’

Chris Kyle, a former SEAL sniper with 160 confirmed and another 95 unconfirmed kills to his credit, said: ‘The operation itself was great and the nation felt immense pride. It was great that we did it.

...

‘In years to come there is going to be information that will come out that Obama was not the man who made the call. He can say he did and the people who really know what happened are inside the Pentagon, are in the military and the military isn’t allowed to speak out against the commander- in-chief so his secret is safe.’

Posted by: Ace at 07:27 AM | Comments (176)
Post contains 359 words, total size 2 kb.

Just a reminder that President Gutsy Call wasn't always such a fan of the US military.

Also it's May Day, so let's celebrate some of our left win President's greatest Marxist hits. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:58 AM | Comments (99)
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

Happy Tuesday.

The Obama campaign is continuing its streak of focusing on what really matters to voters. Today it's Romney's bank account. No, really, all the political journalists in Washington, D.C. just went "Oooooooooooh." Chumps.

*Poster courtesy of the indispensable Slublog.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:50 AM | Comments (329)
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.