It is gratifying to see President Barack Obama condemn the disgraceful storming of the British Embassy in Tehran by thugs acting at the behest of the Iranian regime. After all, Obama has been notoriously slow in the past to criticise the brutal actions of the Iranian government after initially extending the hand of friendship to it. But did he really need to make another embarrassing foreign policy gaffe while doing so?
In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the “English Embassy” in Iran instead of the British Embassy. One can only imagine the kind of howls of derision that would greet any presidential contender if that kind of basic error were made before, say, the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In case the president is unaware, England forms part of Great Britain, which also includes Scotland and Wales, though not Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. There is no such thing as an “English” embassy anywhere in the world, and there hasn’t been one for several centuries.
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.
Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In TerryÂ’s case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.
that lying feckless crapweasel Holder has gotta go down. Prosecute the SOB
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the "most transparent" administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona's Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Gorb posted the same story a few minutes after Frank did, and had the following comment: Has anyone figured out just how the Feds planned on tracking these weapons once they were out of country? I can't even imagine how they would track them in the United States, let alone the chaos that is Mexico. The only thing I could imagine is that they were hoping that if the gun were used in a murder that it would be dropped and then they could figure out where the gun came from. Great. Lot of good that would do anybody, especially the deceased. Were they hoping that authorities would manage to follow the straw buyers day and night and figure out where the bad guys lived? Hard to do without involving the Mexican authorities. Even then, given the corruption, it would never work. GPS chips? There's probably a regulation against it somewhere. Maybe they were hoping authorities would waltz in and arrest someone and they would have the tagged guns and somehow it would lead them to higher-ups? Word would get out too quickly.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/30/2011 13:28 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Will the information be available to Issa's committee or is it totally sealed to protect the guilty?
#2
Right away, I think "What are they hiding" and who are they covering for?" If the murder of Agent Terry is brought to an Arizona State criminal or civil court, I would think that one could not deliberately withhold evidence crucial to the case. Look for the DOJ to be sued for release of records.
#3
Well, if the crime doesn't get Holder & Co, perhaps the cover-up will. Meanwhile, can someone explain why the representatives of the stupid party haven't demanded a special prosecutor yet?
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/30/2011 16:41 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Cincinnatus Chili -- Issa is having another hearing this month -- I think on the 8th. He has stated he want all his facts before turning over to special prosecutor so he knows that the prosecutor leaves out nothing, or puts in something.
#6
The very weak cover story of trying to track illegal gun sales has pretty much fallen apart. Obama and company intended from the beginning that this would be a fine excuse for a US-Mexico treaty forcing considerable gun control on the US.
Some of their anti-gun types have even recently tried to run with the scheme, by utterly ignoring what F&F was, and saying it legitimizes gun control. Which is just Alice in Wonderland thinking.
h/t Instapundit
...Gingrich has been seen as an ultimate Washington insider, as exemplified in that $1.6 million he was paid to represent Fannie and Freddie, and his work with Nancy Pelosi on behalf of cap-and-trade. Such facts make it difficult not to view Gingrich as an exemplar of Washington's professional Republican politicians who talk the talk to get elected, but often don't walk it once in office. He has an answer for such worries no doubt, but will it persuade Republican voters, many of whom watched in frustration as the Contract with America faded into political oblivion?
He's enough of an insider to have barnacles, but also enough of an insider to know how to get stuff done. Obama, in contrast, seems to glory in his outsider, lecturing, 'law professor' persona who won't get his hands dirty making the deals needed to move forward. Perhaps that's fortunate for the rest of us -- imagine Obama with the deal-making skills of a Reagan or Clinton [shudder].
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/30/2011 10:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Obama, in contrast, seems to glory in his outsider, lecturing, 'law professor' persona
He does lay it on thick. But really, he's the kind of insider somebody that somebody sent, and everything he has was gotten because he's connected...except for his wife and children, who apparently he achieved all by his own efforts. His wife's career, in the other hand...
#4
If it gets down to Newt vs Bummer it'll be a no brainer. Hell, I even voted for McCain because Bummer scares me so badly. As for the primaries, they're usually all over by the time it gets to California anyway. So what am I supposed to do?
#6
For me, it still boils down to what people each candidate will bring into office with them.
The MSM completely covered for Obama, and he brought in a pathetic group of neosocialists and madmen.
Who will Newt bring with him? Will they be strong enough to restrain him? Will he be strong enough to drive them?
If 'Mittens' has A-List people around him, I'll take a second look. But somehow I don't think that's the case.
#8
I can't help but wonder if Newt is the candidate the MSM wants to win the nomination because they think Obama (along with a couple thousand investigative reporters digging up dirt) can beat him.
#10
The media wants Romney to win because they think Obama is beatable and they can live with Romney.
It would be nice if the candidates could suggest their cabinet appointments ahead of time to give us a glimpse of the whole team we'd be putting into office. I've always liked the way the Shadow cabinet system works in the UK. Seems a bit better farm system to season potential candidates on how things work.
#11
Newt has warts and he will have to explain each any every one of them to the Dems, Pubs, voters and the media. I'm still trying to find the differences between Newt and Romney without much success. Both look a little like McCain except both seem more serious about winning. McCain never seemed serious about winning. Newt might suffer death by a thousand cuts from the media.
#13
Newt is not my first choice (he's a strong second), but at this point I'd vote for a road apple over Obama.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
11/30/2011 16:43 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Not an R, but watching closely.
As a theory, could Obama be running a kamikaze campaign, that is get so unpopular now while shoring up hard-core so that when the general gets going there is nowhere to go but up, and ride that momentum. Meanwhile, as Obama becomes less popular, Republicans become more bold with the nomination...as Obama's popularity has dropped so has Romneys (as an observation)...hoping the Rs overstretch?
That said, I can look at each R candidate and find a fault, Obama seems to have each and every fault I find with the individual Rs.
#15
There is one way that Gingrich could secure the conservative vote. Select Rand Paul as his VP running mate. This would do it halfway, but the other half could be nailed down with Sarah Palin as the Chairman of the RNC.
While Gingrich would still be somewhat dubious, the conservatives would back him, as this would in effect "offer them the future" of the party.
#16
It would be nice if the candidates could suggest their cabinet appointments ahead of time to give us a glimpse of the whole team we'd be putting into office.
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder today demanded The Daily Caller stop publishing articles about the growing calls in Congress for his resignation because of the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program.
As Holder's aide was escorting the attorney general offstage following his remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House, a Daily Caller reporter introduced himself and shook Holder's hand. The reporter asked him for a response to the growing chorus of federal legislators demanding his resignation.
Holder stepped towards the exit, then turned around, stepped back toward the reporter, and sternly said, "You guys need to -- you need to stop this. It's not an organic thing that's just happening. You guys are behind it."
Holder then walked offstage without answering TheDC's request for comment about calls for his resignation.
[U.S. News] President B.O.'s slow ride down Gallup's daily presidential job approval index has finally passed below Jimmy Carter, ... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... Well, Professor Reynolds keeps saying that a repeat of the Carter administration is a best case scenario.
earning Obama the worst job approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history.
Since March, Obama's job approval rating has hovered above Carter's, considered among the 20th century's worst presidents, but today Obama's punctured Carter's dismal job approval line. On their comparison chart, Gallup put Obama's job approval rating at 43 percent compared to Carter's 51 percent. To be fair, Carter hit 51 only because Americans will rally around a president in times of crisis, and at this point in his presidency Jimmuah was dealing with the Mad Mullahs™. Without that our last vision of the man would have been him and a killer rabbit, and an approval rating of 4.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Bammo's approval rating should level off somewhere between "barium enema" and "Hitler with nuclear weapons."
#9
Yes, but with the storming of the English Embassy we shall get a re-make of the hostage crises, perhaps even subtitled in Austrian for all the world to see.
The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico. Fine. I'll be perfectly happy to just assume the worst then. All the usual lefties who excoriated George Bush on his administration's transparency are now strangely silent...
This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the "most transparent" administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona's Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Has anyone figured out just how the Feds planned on tracking these weapons once they were out of country? I can't even imagine how they would track them in the United States, let alone the chaos that is Mexico. The only thing I could imagine is that they were hoping that if the gun were used in a murder that it would be dropped and then they could figure out where the gun came from. Great. Lot of good that would do anybody, especially the deceased. Were they hoping that authorities would manage to follow the straw buyers day and night and figure out where the bad guys lived? Hard to do without involving the Mexican authorities. Even then, given the corruption, it would never work. GPS chips? There's probably a regulation against it somewhere. Maybe they were hoping authorities would waltz in and arrest someone and they would have the tagged guns and somehow it would lead them to higher-ups? Word would get out too quickly.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
