It’s As If America’s Been Benched in the War Against ISIS
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Morning Jolt February 16, 2015
Happy President's Day, America, from President Charles Logan: It's As If America's Been Benched in the War Against ISISWe continue to lead from behind with strategic patience. The moment calls for Bill Laimbeer, and we're offering the world Carmelo Anthony. Egypt launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in neighboring Libya on Monday, hours after militants there released a video purporting to show the mass beheading of Egyptian Christian hostages. A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command announced the strikes on state radio, and said they were "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers," the Associated Press reported. The statement said the warplanes targeted weapons caches and training camps before returning safely. "Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them," it said. It marks the first time Cairo has publicly acknowledged taking military action in Libya, where extremist groups seen as a threat to both countries have taken root in recent years. A spokesman for Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni told the BBC that Egyptian jets had taken part in coordinated air strikes on the militant-held city of Derna. Libya's air force commander, Saqr al-Joroushi, told Egyptian state TV that about 50 militants were killed. Derna was taken over by an Islamic State affiliate last year. Don't worry, Americans, the president is on the case! I mean, not our president . . . French President Francois Hollande spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to discuss the situation in Libya on Monday, according to Hollande's office. It said the two spoke of the growth of ISIS in Libya and "underscored the importance of the security council meeting and for the international community to take new measures" against the threat. Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano expressed the growing alarm in an interview with La Republica and urged NATO to intervene "for the future of the Western world." "ISIS is at the door," he said. "There is no time to waste." At the door? They're already inside, no? There's something rotten in the state of Denmark . . . A wary, sucker-punched Denmark kept a high alert Sunday after a gunman attacked a free speech forum featuring a controversial cartoonist, then fired shots near a synagogue before police tracked him down and killed him when he opened fire again. Two civilians died in the attacks Saturday and early Sunday. Five police officers were wounded, according to Danish authorities. While the immediate threat seemed to have passed, and investigators stressed there was no evidence yet that the slain suspect had worked with anyone else, police maintained a heavy presence on Copenhagen's normally placid streets. It will stay that way for a while, Danish authorities said, to help residents and visitors feel secure. As of Sunday night, police still hadn't released the name of the gunman, who they said was wearing clothes similar to the synagogue shooter and had two guns when officers shot him to death early Sunday. Gee, Mr. President, what are the odds of another "random" attack targeting cartoonists and Jews in a major European city, huh? So where is our president this weekend? Where else? President Obama is spending most of Monday's Presidents Day in sunny California before returning to the White House. Obama, who spent a golfing weekend in the Palm Springs area, isn't scheduled to leave California until around 2:30 p.m., west coast time. If the Islamic State has any members who are caddies, our president will find them.
The Temptations of Power at the State Level Are Only Bigger at the Federal Level Effective Wednesday, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber is out of office . . . but he's not out of trouble: The Justice Department concluded in an order last week that [Kitzhaber's fiancée] Hayes, though unpaid, acted as a policy adviser to Kitzhaber with authority over state employees. Hayes has maintained she isn't a public official and that the Oregon Government Ethics Commission has no authority over her. The significance of the Justice Department's order is Hayes could face not only punishment for civil ethics violations but prosecution for official misconduct, the state's primary public corruption statute. The crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The legal risks for Hayes and Kitzhaber became even more stark with Friday's disclosure that the FBI has opened a sweeping investigation. Over at Hot Air, Noah Rothman speculates, It is a safe bet that Kitzhaber's implosion has sent the rest of the nation's Democratic governors, and even a few officeholders in Washington, scrambling to review their affairs. It is the very nature of green energy that its unprofitability ensures that it is only viable in the marketplace if it is subsidized at taxpayer expense. The political class' favorability toward clean energy and the media's deference to the project of green technology have created the perfect conditions where corruption can thrive. Is Kitzhaber the only politician in America with links to green projects that would not stand up to scrutiny? Don't bet the house on it. The Democratic Party's dream of a clean energy future is rapidly evolving into their nightmare. In a political landscape full of grifters, con men, narcissists, egomaniacs, power-mad micro-managers, and crooks, why does Kitzhaber stand out? How about his perfect example of a Democratic lawmaker reflexively attacking all critics and playing the gender card? He claimed, infamously, that Hayes' critics were unnerved "by strong, successful women in the public arena," redefining "success" in the process. His staff and Hayes' bodyguards blithely ignored rudimentary public-records requests. How about for his ludicrous whining that unfair media coverage somehow created his ethics problem, instead of merely shining a spotlight on it? (Oh, and ask any Oregon Republican how they feel about the press coverage of Kitzhaber.) If Kitzhaber's tale sounds familiar -- lawmakers making money hand over fist from special interests, a powerful couple offering two for the price of one, vicious attacks on anyone who dares criticize the official narrative -- Maureen Dowd reminded us who is probably still the likely favorite in the 2016 presidential race: Hillary hasn't announced a 2016 campaign yet. She's busy polling more than 200 policy experts on how to show that she really cares about the poor while courting the banks. Yet her shadow campaign is already in a déjà-vu-all-over-again shark fight over control of the candidate and her money. It's the same old story: The killer organization that, even with all its ruthless hired guns, can't quite shoot straight. Everyone wants to be at the trough for this one because Hillary is likely to raise, and more important, spend more than $1 billion on her campaign. Do We Want Every Donor to Every Cause and Organization Disclosed? Mandatory, widespread, rapid donor disclosure for political campaigns and organizations seemed like a good idea . . . until social media organized campaigns of de facto vigilantism, aimed to punish people for contributing to campaigns others found offensive, as in the example of Brendan Eich. The organization Frontier Lab dissects why some Americans want as much disclosure as possible, while others feel that being able to support a cause without public scrutiny is a fundamental right: "Watching You," a market-research study released Friday by the research nonprofit The Frontier Lab, examines the deep motivating values that drive Americans' opposing opinions on the level of privacy that should be afforded to political donors. Both attitudes—those anti- and pro-private giving -- or the preservation of donor anonymity -- were studied using the qualitative "Values Research" and "Behavioral Event Modeling" research techniques. In this way, The Frontier Lab cut "straight to the heart" of the issue and determined that supporters of private giving were motivated at the deepest level by a connection to Culture, desire to Control their public image, remove stress from intra-Community interactions, and a Responsibility to contribute to self-governance through political donations. On the other hand, supporters of disclosed giving revealed that a desire for Fairness across the playing field, Empowerment through better information and transparency, Patriotism by creating a more ethical system, and Hope by way of believing in the system were the motivating values behind their attitudes about this issue. "These findings should give us hope this Valentine's Day weekend that there is a way for Americans divided across this particular issue to find common ground. We should take heart that at the core, two themes emerged that mean we're thinking in the same way about private giving and our country." "Though the 'dark money' label may seem to divide us, we found quite the opposite: both sides of this issue treasure America's unique form of government and want to continue our connection to that history. And both sides remain deeply committed to an America where they have a voice, and are represented rather than ruled." ADDENDA: I'm scheduled to appear on the panel for On the Record with Greta Van Susteren this evening. . . . American Sniper has now made about $304 million in U.S. movie theaters. The top movie of 2014 was The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part One which made $336 million; Guardians of the Galaxy made $333 million. Gerry Daly predicts that American Sniper will be the most successful movie released in 2014 (it was released Christmas Day).
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A left-wing writer and racial-justice activist who has claimed that American society was "instituted by racist ideas and maintained by racist policies" published a black history book for kids earlier this year that appears to be filled with content plagiarized from other sources, according to a review of the book by National Review . Confronted with the apparent plagiarism, the book’s publisher said it would be pulled from circulation pending an investigation. Rann Miller, a New Jersey-based activist and educator, published Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids in March. According to the book, it is designed to be a "place of entry" into the history of the African people so readers will be "empowered to fight" injustices in the world. Miller, a former teacher who has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Rutgers University, also writes opinion pieces for the Philadelphia Inquirer , the Progressive Magazine, and education websites
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