Like the child he is:

As IÂ’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we wonÂ’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we wonÂ’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of 9/11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we wonÂ’t be at war.

He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core al Qaeda trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency – social transformation—the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war.

Cheney is objecting to lawfare. The features that the Left wants so badly do not actually make the United States any safer. They do not help us defeat our enemies. At the most fundamental level Lefitsts take this approach because they want to pretend that we have no enemies.

Vintage Slublog.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:51 AM | Comments (242)
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And yet I still get emails from people telling me how smart Dr. Paul is:

Second, as usual, his facts are wrong. He uncritically accepts AbdulmutallabÂ’s assertion that the bomb plot was retaliation for the U.S. airstrike on jihadi camps in Yemen. Not so: As Jake Tapper explained yesterday, this turd had already been mobilized and had even bought his Northwest ticket before we struck. Purely and simply, AmericaÂ’s Greatest Patriot is parroting propaganda cooked up by jihadist pieces of sh*t because it happens to fit his insane foreign policy agenda. Support him and his disciples at your peril.

With so many obvious warning signs—domestic policy incoherence, a foreign policy deathwish, his credulity when it comes to conspiracy theories about "international bankers" (*wink*), and his associations with racists—why would anyone want anything to do with him? There are better candidates out there. Stop propping up the Republican's LaRouche.

Click over and read the whole thing. He's got video of Ben Stein smacking Herr Doktor down while Larry King chortles in the background about "two Republicans going at it." Wouldn't it be nice if Stein didn't have to correct Paul on national television?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:38 AM | Comments (181)
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Sort of an update to Maet's ONT.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Netherlands will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States to prevent future terrorist attacks like the foiled Christmas Day attempt.

Amsterdam's Schiphol has 15 body scanners, but their use has been limited because of privacy objections that they display the contours of the passenger's body. Neither the European Union nor the U.S. have approved the routine use of the scanners.

I'm guessing the EU and the U.S. won't object. Bad news for Derek Smalls.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:55 AM | Comments (67)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:47 AM | Comments (49)
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Good evening morons. And welcome to the boringest night of the week.

Leaked: Dept of Homeland Security's Post Underwear Bomb Airplane Rules
Here's a leaked copy of the actual TSA new security procedures after the underwear bomber's failed attempt on Christmas. Basically flying is going to suck a lot more for a while: no internet, phones, live programming, GPSs, and no items at all in your lap or getting out of your seats during the last hour of flight. Of course these were all supposed to be kept secret so the terrorists couldn't adjust, but I guess that bird has flown.

Of course this will do nothing to keep another underwear bomb off the plane. Only air sniffers or body scanners have a chance of detecting these kind of bombs. So get used to virtual stripping to board planes in the future.

Update: According to this article all Canada to US flights now ban carry-on bags. On the plus side flight crews now have discretion on the 'last-hour' rules.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:20 PM | Comments (566)
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Yoo totally owns NYT interviewer Deborah Solomon.

NYT: Were you close to George Bush?

Yoo: No, IÂ’ve never met him. I donÂ’t know Cheney either. I have not gone hunting with him, which is probably a good thing for me...

NYT: So youÂ’re saying you were just one notch above an intern, you and Monica Lewinsky?

Yoo: She was much closer to the president than I ever was...

NYT: I see various groups are protesting a decision by a California government lawyer to teach a course with you that starts on Jan. 12, claiming he is legitimizing your unethical behavior.

Yoo: At Berkeley, protesting is an everyday activity. I am used to it. I remind myself of West Berlin — West Berlin surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War.

NYT: Are you saying the citizens of Berkeley are Communists, reminiscent of those on the dark side of the Iron Curtain?

Yoo: There are probably more Communists in Berkeley than any other town in America, but I think of them more as lovers of Birkenstocks than Marx...

NYT: Is there anything you regret?

Yoo: I regret agreeing to this interview. Its like shooting fish in a barrel. How could you ever think some biased classless hack scrunt interviewer from the NYT could ever think on their feet fast enough to keep up with me? Are you on drugs?

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 03:13 PM | Comments (243)
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Just on Special Report. No link yet.

Here's the CBS story*.

CBS News has learned that as early as August of 2009 the Central Intelligence Agency was picking up information on a person of interest dubbed "The Nigerian," suspected of meeting with "terrorist elements" in Yemen.

Sources tell CBS News "The Nigerian" has now turned out to be Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. But that connection was not made when Abudulmutallab's father went to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria three months later, on November 19, 2009. It was then he expressed deep concerns to a CIA officer about his son's ties to extremists in Yemen, a hotbed of al Qaeda activity.

In fact, CBS News has learned this information was not connected until after the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

via Keep America Safe

Awesome job guys, awesome job.

I give The System a B+.

By the way, we're talking about August of '09, so obviously this is Bush's fault.

*I changed the link from CNN to CBS because the latter had a more complete story.

Related: This "lone extremist" was recruited and groomed in London.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a former president of the Islamic Society at University College London, advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers and former Guantánamo detainees.

One lecture, Jihad v Terrorism, was billed as “a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad”.

Security sources are concerned that the picture emerging of Mr Abdulmutallab’s undergraduate years suggests that he was recruited by al-Qaeda in London. Security sources said that Islamist radicalisation was rife on university campuses, especially in London, and that college authorities had “a patchy record in facing up to the problem”.

How's this pretending that terrorism and Islam have nothing to do with each other working out for us?

Posted by: DrewM at 02:48 PM | Comments (153)
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Smart Diplomacy(TM), is there anything it can't do?

Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday. Diplomats said the assessment was heightening international concern about Tehran's nuclear activities.

Such a deal would be significant because Tehran appears to be running out of the material, which it needs to feed its uranium enrichment program.

The report was drawn up by a member nation of the International Atomic Energy Agency and provided to the AP on condition of that the country not be identified because of the confidential nature of the information.

...A Western diplomat from a member of the IAEA's 35-nation board said the report was causing concern among countries that have seen it and was generating intelligence chatter. The diplomat also requested anonymity for discussing intelligence information.

"Causing concern"? Boy, I can't wait til Iran fires off a nuke, we might even hear expressions of 'alarm'.

Obama's 'deadline' for progress with Iran is the New Year but he'll be on the golf course when that happens so don't think they'll be immediate action. Naturally they'll be a period of calm reflection and study which will lead to a process of consideration that can't be rushed and will take as long as it needs to in order to reach the right conclusions.

But just when you think all hope is lost there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Actually it's an onrushing train in the form of...John "Global Test" Kerry. He thinks he knows who the right man to work this all out is...him. Once he jets off to Tehran to chat up the Mullahs everything will fine.

We are so screwed.

h/t to Chris van Avery for the Iran uranium story.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:31 PM | Comments (165)
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Above The Post Update:

MSNBC is running the audio. He's laying out the preliminary results of the investigations.

Says the report from the father about the bomber was not widely enough distributed. Well, thanks for clearing that up.

Says the 'system that has been in place for years' failed. See...it's Bush's fault the system failed.

Now saying nice things about security forces.

Doubles down on 'the system worked' after the attack meme. Bold and stupid. Says the system did fail before that.

Even if everything goes right, there's no guarantee things will work 100% of the time.

And...that's it.

That was not worth interrupting his golfing for. He basically said, yeah we fucked up. Thing is, we knew that yesterday. His statement yesterday was just so out of touch and wishy-washy he had to come out and sound like an actual President a day later.

You know, at some point something is going to happen that doesn't allow for a second shot at it.

Lefties will love it (Hi Sully and CJ) because he's taking blame and responsibility (well putting it on the government). Thing is, why not yesterday when all of this was known? He thought he could just skate by playing defense lawyer yesterday. He could have and should have given this statement yesterday.

Pathetic.

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 11:58 AM | Comments (291)
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When you see as many movies as I do, you learn to avoid entire categories, either because you don't like them or because you're just flat out tired of 'em. For example, I skipped last year's "The Class" and "The History Boys", just because I'm tired of the whole Blackboard Jungle thing.

Even when I like a movie, if I'm acutely aware of the formula, it can be hard to really get into it. (I liked "The Last Samurai" but I couldn't keep from thinking "Oh, look, a white guy's gonna show the Japanese how to be better Japanese.")

Rarely, however, you end up missing something that approaches a well-worn storyline in a refreshing way, as I almost did with the new Great Expectations-ish The Blind Side.

In this movie, Michael Oher, a ginormous black orphan who has lucked into a place in a fancy Christian private school, ends up being adopted by Leigh Ann Tuohy (a MILFed-up Sandra Bullock). Over the next two hours, they change each others' lives.

You can understand my dread. "Based on a true story!" even.

In what constitutes a Thanksgiving miracle—yeah, it's been out for a while—this actually works. Why?
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 11:47 AM | Comments (52)
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