The main stream media did a rush to judgment regarding the Michael Brown shooting.  If one only listened to the media reports one would assume that Michael Brown was just some teenage kid who got shot for walking while black.  Almost immediately it was assumed that this was a racist incident.  CNN interviewed witnesses who claim the victim was shot while turning around and facing the officer with his hands in the air.  The reality is that no one knows for sure what happened.  But we sure should have suspected that there was more to the story.  It turns out that the main stream media missed a couple of really important things.

Michael Brown was a suspect in a strong-arm robbery that happened about 10 minutes before the shooting.  That robbery is on video and if this is the same guy, he looks like one scary dude.  In addition, the key witness who claimed that Michael was just minding his own business is also a suspect in that robbery.

Instead of Michael Brown being an innocent young man minding his own business, he just may have been a huge bully prone to violence.   After watching this video, it is pretty easy to imagine this huge guy trying to beat up a police officer.

We may even have evidence of exactly that.  Things have changed from the time when activists could charge into a scene and cover-up reality.  The problem is that too many people have cell phones that can record videos.  When Michael Zimmerman was arrested the police tried to intimidate him by saying the entire event was on video.  Zimmerman responded by saying:  “thank God.”   That was not what the police officer interviewing him was expecting.  In the case of Michael Brown, there appears to be another video.  This one recording an eye witness statement.  A spontaneous interview given before an activist attorney got involved.  In the back ground of this video there is another conversation going on.  Thanks to modern technology, someone has produced a transcript of both conversations:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2014/08/15/exceptional-catch-the-jj-witness-video-eye-witness-audio-of-mike-brown-shooting-sharing-brown-doubled-back-toward-police/

If this video is accurate, then the narrative in the main stream media has been utter nonsense.  The statement by Barack Obama is beyond ridiculous.  Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been irredeemably stupid and irresponsible.  If they know this video exists, they are probably experiencing pure panic and will do anything and everything to suppress this.  I suspect this video is all too real and I do not think it is possible to suppress it.

Now imagine that black state police captain who the governor put in charge playing this video and reading the transcript.  It would be a beautiful thing.  And, it might just actually start a process to improve race relations in this country.  What is obviously true is obviously true and the truth will set us all free.

TDM

They have a saying in grad school.   “If you don’t know where you’re going, any path will do.”  Unfortunately President Obama never took that course.  I have no idea what Obama plans to achieve in Iraq and neither does anyone else, including our friends and enemies.  That is a serious problem.

This is frighteningly similar to how the mess in Vietnam started.  President Johnson responded to an alleged attack on two U.S. destroyers.  That resulted in air strikes over North Vietnam.  At each point there was no strategy for success, just escalation after escalation in response to uncontrollable events.  Then Johnson decided it wasn’t worth it after all, so he tried to just quit.

One has to be glad that Obama did something to save those unfortunate souls trapped on the mountain in Iraq.  Regardless of what else happens, that is a good thing.  However, it is hard to even imagine where we go from here.  This is unlikely to end well.

Ironically Obama himself described the problem.  The following story explains:

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/09/obama-admits-error-in-libya-denies-same-error-in-iraq/

 “I think we [and] our European partners underestimated the need to come in full force if you’re going to do this,” Obama said about his 2011 campaign to remove Libya’s dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

Without U.S. forces on the ground to help a new government establish itself, the country is being wrecked by a slow-motion civil war between competing jihadi and tribal groups. 

I don’t know what is more shocking.  That Obama could accurately describe the problem in Libya or that he would be so oblivious regarding the implications for his strategy in Iraq.
TDM

A straw dog is a false image that is made for the sole purpose of being destroyed.  The most recent version of this is the straw dog of the racist Tea Party.  That is patently absurd, but it still appeals to Democrats who want to believe this kind of stuff.

Democrats are approaching pure panic with regard to the midterm elections.  This administration has managed the impossible achievement of appearing ruthlessly corrupt and irredeemable incompetent at the same time.  When you combine this with mind numbing arrogance it is developing into the perfect political storm.

Democrats will resort to attack ads accusing Republicans of almost everything.  Republicans only need to run one ad saying that Obama sucks and that if you elect them they will stop him. That is one issue where voters will believe them.

There are always surprises in any election.  In 2012 Obama probably would have lost if it wasn’t for Hurricane Sandy and the “bromance” with Chris Christie that helped him look Presidential.  Democrats can’t count on another convenient hurricane.  In addition people now know that Obama didn’t do any better with regard to Hurricane Sandy than Bush did with regard to Hurricane Katrina.

If anything most of the potential surprises are all bad for Obama.  I wonder if Democrats have considered what will happen if there is one case of Ebola in the U.S. and it even looks like this may have come across our Southern Border.  If that happens the outrage will be instant and obvious and “throw the bums out” will become a national movement.

In the meantime watch for Democrats in desperate search of a straw dog they can blame.  Just this week liberals tried desperately to blame all our current problems on Richard Nixon.  Richard Nixon!  Like I said, Democrats are starting to show signs of pure panic.

TDM

President Obama appears to plan on using golf to coast through the rest of his Presidency.  That is actually good news.  In the case of Obama, less is definitely more.  He is far less likely to make a mistake that jeopardizes our economy, national security or our own security while golfing.

Removing Obama from office is less effective, because then we would get Joe Biden.  Biden is possibly the only living person, other than Hillary Clinton, almost guaranteed to be a worse president than Obama.

Perhaps we should start a golf ball fund for Obama.  Based on the few reports about his game, it would appear that he is pretty awful and probably loses a lot of balls.  We know from watching his foreign policy that he didn’t start out with any balls and doesn’t appear to be gaining any.  The only one Obama even tries to intimidate is the Republicans in congress and that is the ultimate soft target.  But even the Republicans in congress are starting to show residual signs of a spine, so Obama needs help there too.

So the solution:  give Obama some balls…golf balls.

TDM

It would be very wise to pay close attention to the IRS e-mails case.  A federal judge has ordered the IRS to explain how the IRS lost Lois Lerner’s e-mails.  That is very dangerous for this administration.  The judge can find people in contempt and put them in jail.  The following article by Bruce Walker is an important reminder of how similar this is to the Nixon case:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/07/how_litigating_lost_emails_works.html

Most people never dreamed in May of 1974 that Richard Nixon would ever be removed from office.  He has only two years left in his second term.  But a case was argued in the United States District court on May 31, 1974 and the Supreme Court ruled on the case July 24, 1974.  It hit like a thunderbolt.  Richard Nixon only had fifteen days left in office.  Sometimes lightning strikes actually hit people.

This case is impossible to predict.  No one should expect this Republican congress to grow a spine over the summer recess.  However, there are cases that are making their way through the federal courts and so far the Supreme Court has consistently ruled against the Obama administration.  While things currently  seem to be moving at a snail’s pace, they are definitely moving.  Richard Nixon taught us that sometimes, just when you least expect it,  change can move at the speed of light.

TDM

One of the problems for liberals is that in the age of the cell phone and the internet, they are continuously caught lying.  There are all those inconvenient videos that keep showing up and are increasingly difficult to ignore.  We anxiously await the unveiling of Lois Lerner’s e-mails because they are almost certain to include some really great stuff.  That is why the Obama administration is doing everything possible to prevent their disclosure.  The same is true with regard to Benghazi.  But perhaps the most damaging video for this administration is the following clip on reason.com:

http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/24/watch-obamacare-architect-jonathan-grube

This could not come at a more inconvenient time.  Jonathan Gruber was on MSNBC explaining why the key provision in the law was just a typo:

“It is unambiguous this is a typo. Literally every single person involved in the crafting of this law has said that it’s a typo, that they had no intention of excluding the federal states.”

One will note that even Gruber has to agree that the law says what it says.  Now we learn that Gruber was traveling all over the country explaining why it was so important for states to set up their own exchanges.  Here is what he said:

What’s important to remember politically about this is if you’re a state and you don’t set up an exchange, that means your citizens don’t get their tax credits—but your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you’re essentially saying [to] your citizens you’re going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that that’s a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these exchanges. But, you know, once again the politics can get ugly around this.

Jonathan Gruber signed an amicus brief contracting his own verbal statements.  That is not a minor problem.  The only question a lawyer need ask Mr. Gruber is:  “were you lying then or are you lying now?”

A few months ago skeptics laughed at the prospect of this provision stopping ObamaCare in its tracks.  No one is laughing now.  Even if the law is upheld this is further evidence that Democrats botched this big time.  Never in the history of this country has one political party shoved such comprehensive legislation down the throats of the American people with zero support from the other party.  Never in the history of this country has one political party made such an enormous mistake.  At best, Democrats look incredibly inept and stupid.  My guess is that voters this fall will take the opportunity express their opinion about this.  Unless something changes, Democrats are about to absorb a historic landslide loss..

When you combine this with the rapidly aging Democratic leadership the only thing certain is fundamental change in the Democratic Party itself.  This will not necessarily be good change, because Democrats are likely to replace the current class of clowns with even worse, but change is inevitable.  In case you doubt this, Democrats in their desperate search for someone to be a credible alternative to Hillary Clinton seriously floated the prospect of another run by California Governor Jerry Brown.  Ignoring the horrible job he is doing in California, Brown is already 76 years old.  He will be 78 years old in 2016.  Fossil fuel does a good job of running your car, but doesn’t usually win elections.

TDM

John Kerry launched his political career by rushing to the sound of the guns with the white flag of surrender.  He did this during the Vietnam War, but first he paused just long enough to defame his fellow Vietnam Veterans.  Then he was off to negotiate with the Viet Cong, graciously offering to give them everything they wanted in exchange for nothing.  Kerry, while more than willing to lie about alleged war crimes by the U.S. completely ignored the far more serious war crimes by the Viet Cong.  His inability to even recognize the difference between the good guys and the bad guys continues today.

He is thrusting himself into the Middle East, apparently with the plan of jamming another peace settlement down Israel’s throat.  The process is all too familiar.  As long as the terrorists are attacking Israel neither the U.S. nor the UN pays much attention.  Even when Israel strikes back, they don’t pay much attention.  But, at the first hint that Israel is actually winning the UN leaps into action.  At best the U.S. buys Israel a little time before joining the demand for another meaningless cease fire. Peace in the Middle East according to the UN means stopping Israel from defending itself.

This pattern has continued for decades with few interruptions.  One was in 1972.  Even during the middle of his own political nightmare, Richard Nixon saved Israel.  He ordered the U.S. Military to supply the arms and ammunition Israel needed to survive and demanded that this be done immediately.  The following article tells that story in great detail:

http://www.jewish-american-society-for-historic-preservation.org/images/Richard_Nixon-2.pdf

The next President to save Israel may have been George W. Bush.  It was George W. Bush who insisted on development of the missile defense system.  Democrats ridiculed the missile defense system as unnecessary, too expensive and unlikely to work.  It was George W. Bush who first authorized the Iron Dome system for Israel.  While Obama cut funds for our own missile defense system, he did approve increased funding for Israel.  He deserves credit for that.  But Iron Dome would never have happened without George W. Bush.

The Palestinians launched thousands of rockets at Israel.  As someone who lived through a lot of rocket attacks at Pleiku and Da Nang I am all too familiar with the danger from these kinds of weapons.  I am watching the pictures of the Iron Dome shooting down those missiles and it is nothing short of miraculous.  Amazing performance for a system Democrats  thought was unnecessary, too expensive and impossible.   If it was not for the Iron Dome, Israel would have suffered a devastating loss and as a result the Israeli military would probably be leveling Gaza.   I wonder if anyone on the liberal left even realizes that.

In the meantime, Obama and Kerry are desperately trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, before Israel can sniff victory.  However this time it won’t work because no one trusts this President and this Secretary of State.  Obama has achieved the near impossible of having Egypt, Palestine and Israel all agreeing on one thing.  They don’t trust the U.S and they don’t want any help from the U.S.

TDM

The DC Circuit Court just put a dagger into the heart of ObamaCare.  While some people thought this lawsuit had zero chance of succeeding, it is now one step away from the Supreme Court.  What makes this decision very troubling, for Democrats, is the wording.  The court recognized that this decision will hurt a lot of people currently getting health care subsidies.

“At least until states that wish to can set up exchanges, our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for the millions of individuals receiving tax credits through federal exchanges and for health-insurance markets more broadly.  But, high as those stakes are, the principle of legislative supremacy that guides us is higher still.”

The White House response by John Earnest was as follows:

“It’s important for people all across the country to understand that this ruling does not have any practical impact on their ability to continue to receive tax credits right now,”

Obama appointed three judges to the DC Circuit court.  He obviously had this day in mind.  We may soon learn if a liberal Democratic judge is even capable of actually upholding the rule of law.

My concern is not so much with regard to this case.  It is far more serious than that.  I wonder if liberal Democrats are even considering what could happen if people lose faith in the rule of law.  If people lose faith in the system, almost anything is possible and most options would be very bad.

TDM

I used to handle the tort litigation nationwide for a major corporation.  I remember one particular claim where the local representatives worked with senior management to investigate a claim before they turned it over to my department.  I was presented with a book, about 5 inches think.  It was very entertaining, with a cast of characters right out of the “Godfather.”  But the problem was that in spite of the volume of speculation there were very few documented facts.  I had to start over and re-investigate the claim from day one.  Even where they basically got the story right, they have fallen far short of the standard of documentation necessary to prove up the file.

I believe this is very similar to the Benghazi file inherited by Trey Gowdy.  He has a lot of e-mails, and colorful testimony before congressional committees.  But he is a long way from having a properly documented investigation.  That is why you haven’t heard from him for a while.  His people are going back to square one.  They are reading the source documents and probably interviewing people.  He will save the public testimony for things that really matter.  When someone is called before this committee they better be prepared, because Trey Gowdy will be prepared.  There will be no repeat of the silly season where Democrats don’t ask any questions at all and Republicans ask “have you stopped beating your wife yet” gottcha questions.  Neither is the least bit effective at getting to the facts.

One of the things I quickly learned was to pay attention to the details.  Sometimes an investigator will ask a question that seems to be irrelevant to the subject at hand, but it is extremely relevant to the credibility of the witness.  I can give an example.  We had a plaintiff that was a well-known highly-decorated Vietnam Veteran.  However, when I read his deposition it was obvious to me that he had never actually served in Vietnam.  He was using terminology that no real Vietnam Veteran would ever use.  So I contacted my attorneys and told them of my suspicions.  They were shocked, because this guy was a local celebrity and was on TV all the time.  Reluctantly, they did investigate and quickly discovered that this guy was a fraud.  He had not only never served in a combat position; he had never even been to Vietnam.

A trained investigator is a very dangerous person.   It is nothing like what you see on TV where some tough good guy intimidates criminals into confessing all.   In real life that rarely works.  The good investigator focuses on the details.  It is quite simple.  People who are lying almost always get some of the seemingly minor details wrong.  Those who are just telling the truth don’t have that problem.  Trey Gowdy is starting the process by double checking the details.  That makes him and his committee very dangerous.  I believe he will expose the truth on Benghazi.  If the truth is as bad as some of us suspect, then we are experiencing the calm before the storm.

TDM

The Republican establishment does not want to impeach President Obama.  For one thing, impeachment should always be the last resource in dealing with a conflict between a President of the United States and congress.  That is why only two Presidents have ever been impeached; Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.  (Nixon was never impeached; he resigned prior to any impeachment vote.)  Both were acquitted primarily because impeachment was considered to be too radical of a solution for the problem.  In addition, Republicans know that Democrats, with wild cheering from the main stream media, will leap to the defense of Obama, resulting in the ultimate political circus.  In the meantime, the impact on the country would be devastating.  It is bad enough dealing with the rest of the world with Obama in charge.  It would be impossible with no one in charge.

There is little doubt that the House would, if pressed, vote to impeach Obama.  There’s even less doubt that the Senate would disregard this and vote to acquit, regardless of the facts.  That is why Boehner is suing Obama rather than calling for impeachment.  Perhaps he is hoping that somehow the Supreme Court will find a way to intervene.  I doubt seriously that there is any chance that this will happen.  The Supreme Court is not about to bail congress out for being incapable of dealing with this mess.

I believe there is only one person in this country capable of making impeachment happen.  That person is President Barack Hussein Obama.  Incredibly, he just may be capable of achieving the impossible.  His open taunting of Republicans in congress comes very close to twisting the tiger’s tail.  At some point, if you twist the tiger’s tail once too often, you get bit even if that is not what tiger had in mind.

I have never seen anything like this.  I cannot find any example in our nation’s history where a President of the United States acted this way.  Obama is acting like a spoiled brat.  This is insane.  How, exactly, can the country tolerate a juvenile delinquent masquerading as President.  Rick Perry met with Obama to discuss the mess on our border and Obama had trouble controlling the giggles.

Democrats should be just as concerned about Obama as Republicans.  This is not even close to funny.  This is way beyond embarrassing.  This is now a clear and present danger.  This is literally like handing your car keys over to an eight year old child because he is throwing a hissy fit.  Instead in this case, we have given him the keys to a nuclear arsenal.

TDM