Then entire world learned a harsh lesson from that awful ISIS video burning a Jordanian pilot to death.  We all know what happened; the real question is what happens next.  The King of Jordan has responded by executing two al Qaeda prisoners.  He has angrily vowed to continue the campaign against ISIS:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/04/obama-jordanian-king-vow-to-continue-campaign-against-isis/

According to Rep Duncan Hunter, Jr., the King is ready to take on ISIS

“They’re starting more sorties tomorrow than they’ve ever had. They’re starting tomorrow. And he said, ‘The only problem we’re going to have is running out of fuel and bullets.’”

That sounds great, until you realize that the White House is already failling to provide Jordan with critical supplies.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/04/us-officials-key-arab-ally-no-longer-flying-airstrikes-over-syria/

All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Jordan’s situation and the unanimity of the coalition battling the extremists “demands that we move with speed to ensure they receive the military materiel they require.” 

Unfortunately, running out of fuel and ammunition could happen sooner rather than later. I am not sure, at this point, that the United States is that valuable as a partner in the fight against ISIS or anyone else.  Obama’s stated goal is to let other people do all the fighting and dying. The results are painfully obvious.  At least one of our “Allies “has figured this out:

A key Arab partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State stopped flying airstrike missions over Syria after a Jordanian pilot — who was later killed — was shot down in December, 

This was acknowledged by Josh Ernest:

“I don’t think people should take away from that announcement that the commitment from the Emiratis and other Arab countries in the region to this broader coalition has waned in any way. There’s a very important role for the Emiratis to play in terms of the range of other aspects of our counter-ISIL strategy that requires broad international support,” he said, pointing to humanitarian assistance for those who’ve been displaced and other ways. 

This brutal video is a real wake up call.  Just when you think ISIS has sunk to lowest possible level, they managed to do something even more evil. Several things are now clear to the entire world. Muslim Extremists will never consider good faith negotiations with anyone.  They will continue destroying anyone and anything in their path until someone stops them.  A U.S. President who cannot bring himself to admit the truth about Muslim extremist is not part of the solution, he is part of the problem.

TDM

Secret tapes and e-mails were released about build up to the war in Libya.  They are devastating for Hillary Clinton.  These documents prove that Hillary was the major force behind the decision to attack Libya and overthrow Gadhaffi.  There were smarter, wiser heads in both the military and the intelligence community desperately trying to save her and the country from herself.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/28/hillary-clinton-undercut-on-libya-war-by-pentagon-/

Trey Gowdy has requested his staff on the Select Committee on Benghazi to review the tapes.  That is extremely dangerous for Hillary. Gowdy is a skilled prosecutor and he will do his homework. We could be seeing high drama in Washington in the very near future.

Obama took the position that he did not need authorization from congress. The only authorization he mentioned was from the UN. The following letter written on March 21, 2011 was not well received by either Democrats or Republicans:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/21/letter-president-regarding-commencement-operations-libya

This means that a lot of Democrats have a vested interest in this issue. It is not necessarily going to be easy to shove this under a rug.

No sane person would argue that Libya is better off today, because of our intervention.  Neither Hillary nor Obama pretended that Gadhaffi was a threat to our national security.  Obama himself described what was really at stake in Libya:

“Left unaddressed, the growing instability in Libya could ignite wider instability in the Middle East, with dangerous consequences to the national security interests of the United States.

Obama was right, he just missed the part where our intervention took a bad situation and made it worse.

TDM

During the 2012 Presidential campaign every week there was the latest and greatest “not Mitt” and Mitt Romney.  Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and even Michele Bachman all were the “not Mitt at some point.  In retrospect it was hard to consider any of them, other than Rick Perry, as a real candidate.  Rick Perry, of course, self-destructed with his brain freeze during a debate.  In the end we ran out of “not Mitts” so we got Mitt.  Ron Paul was a fringe candidate only capable of sucking enough votes out of the mix to guarantee Barack Obama’s re-election.  Election results demonstrated why there was such a desperate search for a better “not Mitt.”

Now that Mitt Romney has taken himself out of the race.  I believe he is about to be replaced by “not Jeb.” The Washington establishment wants a Jeb Bush candidacy.  He is perfect.  He is not nearly as threatening to liberals and he is guaranteed to lose in a general election.

It will be very different in 2016.  Republicans are going to field some very serious candidates.  Ben Carson, Rick Perry, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Scot Walker, Chris Christie, and Mike Huckabee are already running.  It is not official yet, but they’re running.  There will be more. The worst of this group is better than the best “not-Mitt” in 2012. Jeb Bush will raise an incredible amount of money, but he will still make an early exit.  His only real chance is to run out of “non-Jeb”s and that won’t happen this time.

At this point it is hard to predict but my money is on “not-Jeb” running against “not-Hillary” and there are more good “not Jeb”s than there are “not Hillary”s.  I guess you could describe this as” to be or “not” to be.

Mayor de Blasio is in deep trouble because of his anti-cop attitude. The NYC police are basically on strike.  Governor Cuomo is in even worse trouble because of rampant corruption in the New York State government.  Cuomo set up a special unit to investigate corruption. When they actually found some, he shut the unit down.  However a Federal Prosecutor kept right on going and the most powerful man in New York Politics, Sheldon Silver, has been arrested.  The connection with Andrew Cuomo is so obvious that even the Huffington Post noticed:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/sheldon-silver-andrew-cuomo_n_6528058.html?flv=1

Beyond the political turbulence, Cuomo must consider the possibility, uncertain at this point, that Bharara has the governor in his sights. Nothing in the complaint against Silver implicates the governor in any wrongdoing. But one of the political donors it mentions was also Cuomo’s largest contributor in the most recent election cycle, and the governor and the speaker had a tight working relationship.

This explains why de Blasio and Cuomo were desperate for an opportunity to show leadership.  Then, God sent them a huge blizzard.  They both leaped into action.  But there was a problem. God apparently changed his mind. Now, if possible, de Blasio and Cuomo are in even more trouble for over-reacting. It’s a beautiful thing.

Anyone remotely familiar with New York politics was not surprised to learn that Sheldon Silver was corrupt.  The shock was that someone is holding him accountable.  Governor Cuomo has been cautious in his comments on the case.  When you combine that with his decision to shut down the unit investigating corruption, it gives one pause.  Perhaps Cuomo is more than a little afraid of Silver turning state’s evidence.  If media reports are accurate, Sheldon Silver is looking at some serious jail time.  He will be 71 years old in February.  If things go wrong he could easily spend the rest of his life in jail.

In the meantime, all those people who panicked and bought large quantities of food, for the storm that never came, have a problem.  That is why the New York Post is providing advice on creative recipes for “snowmageddon food stockpiles.” 

http://nypost.com/2015/01/27/6-recipes-for-all-the-snowmageddon-food-you-stockpiled/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

This is what happens when people foolishly put Democrats in positions of responsibility.

TDM

The storm of the Century, possibly the worst storm in the history of New York City, ended up with the Weather Service apologizing for a botched forecast.  This is an important reminder that experts are not all that good at forecasting things.  Just think about it.  In this case they had all those satellite pictures, computer models, and colored Doppler radar and they still missed it by a mile.  In the end, God decides were storms go and he moved this one slightly off shore. At times I got the distinct feeling that everyone wanted this to be a really bad storm. Perhaps it was because both Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio desperately needed a heroic photo shop opportunity.  Instead they are busy this morning wiping egg off their faces.  Perhaps it was because people like Bill Nye desperately wanted another chance to finally prove global warming. Sorry Bill, but that was destined for failure because most sane people don’t buy the global warming nonsense when they are freezing their butts.

This is why it is easy for me to predict that Hillary Clinton will NOT be the next President of the United States.  Too many people, who are always wrong about everything, are predicting this. They want us to believe that Hillary’s election is inevitable. They want us to believe that she is the most qualified person to ever run for President. However deep down liberals know that being married to a President does not make one qualified to be President.  The only accomplishment liberals can come up with for Hillary is staying married to Bill Clinton.  She also was a Senator, because she had been married to Bill, and a Secretary of State, because she had been married to Bill, and accomplishing nothing in either position.  The reality is that the liberal left has had their black President and now they want their female and they view Hillary as the holy grail of feminism. That of course is utter nonsense, since Hillary is opposite of the feminist ideal.  She is the classic example of a woman who married for power and willingly put up with flagrant philandering as the price of power.  If anything, Hillary enabled Bill in his personal quest.

So as you watch the news this morning looking for all the snow that never came, keep this in mind.  The experts are wrong.  They have always been wrong.  They always will be wrong. Hillary’s Presidential run will be a lot like this storm. A lot of hype and blustery wind, but it will end up seriously off shore.

TDM

In 1967, Bill Bradley was in the Air Force Reserve for six months.  During that time he showed up at one of the base gyms to shoot some hoops.  He took about three shots and then announced that the basketball rim was ¼ inch too low.  The maintenance crew got out a ladder and a tape measure and sure enough the rim was ¼ inch too low.  They adjusted the hoop to the right height and Bradley resumed shooting baskets.  That was when I learned that professional athletes are nothing like the rest of us. I am pretty sure hundreds, if not thousands, of people used that gym and no one noticed that ¼ inch. But to Bill Bradley, this was really obvious.

This is why I do not believe Tom Brady.  I don’t believe him when he says he didn’t notice any difference in the footballs during the second half. Brady described picking out footballs five hours before the game.  He explained that because footballs are made out of leather, each one is unique.  He carefully picked out the ones that felt just right to him. I think that Brady knew that the balls were underinflated and that it was exactly what he wanted.

This was a really important game and the Patriots equipment staff was focused on Tom Brady and how he was throwing the football.  Brady wouldn’t even have to say anything. All that was necessary was to have one ball slip out of his hand during a throw and the equipment staff would know what to do.

None of the footballs used by the Baltimore Colts were underinflated, so you can’t blame this on the weather.  Someone deliberately deflated those footballs. Regardless of whether or not it affects the final outcome, it is against the rules and it is cheating. The NFL is caught between a rock and a hard place.  They don’t have enough evidence to suspend anyone before the Superbowl. I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have enough evidence between now and the Superbowl. They will assign this to some committee that will investigate later.  There will be outrage and someone will be fined.  Next year, there will be a change in the rules designed to prevent this from happening again.

The Patriots are playing well and they just may win the Superbowl, but they will still be losers in my book.  What a shame. There is a clear pattern here.  This is not exactly the first time the Patriots got caught cheating. They didn’t need to cheat, but they did. Character counts! Go Seahawks.

TDM

There are reports that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots last Sunday were underinflated.   Normally this would be a non-story, but we are talking about the New England Patriots and they are, well, famous for cheating in the past.  Tom Brady tried to laugh this away.  But there is a serious problem here.  Now we learn that Baltimore complained to the NFL, in November, about the Patriots using under-inflated footballs.  That puts this into a whole new stratosphere.  The NFL was already in big trouble because of the mixed signals regarding Ray Rice.  Now they look pathetically inept.  The big issue here may not be whether or not the Patriots were taking the air out of the ball.  The question is how could the NFL let this happen?  If the Colts had complained in November, shouldn’t the NFL have assigned someone to watch over the Patriot footballs during the game?  That seems really obvious.  This is unbelievable.

There is no good answer here.  Eleven out of twelve footballs is not a coincidence.  It seems obvious that someone let the air out of the ball and it seems equally obvious that this was not the first time. I don’t know if it is easier for Tom Brady to throw an underinflated football or not.  The point is that why have a rule if you don’t enforce it.  Regardless of the outcome, this year’s Superbowl has already been tainted.  If the Patriots win, the NFL has a huge problem.

Today, to make this worse, Coach Belichick tossed the ball to Tom Brady and walked away.  He said that he had no knowledge of the under inflated balls until Monday morning and that he was shocked to hear the news.

“I would say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or have talked about it in the last 40 years that I’ve coached in this league,” Belichick said. “I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and process that went through.”

I interpreted this press conference as an admission by Belichick that there is solid evidence that someone deliberately under inflated those footballs.  He probably knows that if they pin this on him, he could literally be banned from the game for life.  Last time he was fined $500,000.  If that size fine wasn’t enough, then what’s next?  This is as strong of a denial as one can get.  Either Belichick is telling the truth, or he is history.  Only Bill Clinton could get away with this type of bald faced lie. Belichick’s statement looks and smells of desperation.

The fickle finger of fate is pointing directly at Tom Brady.  To make it worse, former quarterbacks have been bragging about how they paid equipment managers to mess with their footballs.  This is a reminder of how much things can change in the blink of an eye.  Last Sunday, Tom Brady was being discussed as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.  Today he is holding a press conference in a desperate attempt to salvage his reputation.  He is in serious risk of being suspended from playing in the Superbowl.  He is also at risk of going from a unanimous first round Hall of Fame candidate to the football version of Barry Bonds.  I sincerely hope Brady had nothing to do with this, but fear that is increasingly unlikely. One thing is sure; this Superbowl will be less about the football game and more about the football itself. It is also time to start speculating on who will be the next commissioner of the NFL.

TDM

The Obama administration’s foreign policy has gone from hopeless inept to a pathetic joke.  After botching the opportunity to show solidarity with France regarding Islamic Terrorism, Obama sent in Secretary of State John Kerry to do damage control.  That is like sending in Al Sharpton to quiet down things after a racial incident.  Oops, the administration has tried that too.  Our hero, Kerry, shows up with James Taylor in tow to sing “You’ve Got a Friend.”  Unbelievable:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kerry-brings-james-taylor-serenade-french-youve-got-friend_823854.html

James Taylor looks old, disoriented and slightly out of tune, just like this administration. I guess we should have expected this as some point.  The primary face of the Democratic Party, and unfortunately our country, in the world is John Kerry, arguably the world’s biggest ass.

TDM

Hillary Clinton’s sole argument for being elected President is that she is a woman.  Her campaign strategy is to argue that it is time to break the glass ceiling.  The theory is that since we have elected a black man it is time to elect a woman. Like Obama she has no real qualifications for the job.  Hillary is the classic example of someone running primarily on name recognition.  In her case, her last name.

Unfortunately for Hillary the man who gave her all of the power in her life is the man who is about to destroy her presidential ambitions. Hillary is the classic example of a woman who married power. If she was not married to Bill Clinton no one would even know her name. It is well documented that Bill Clinton is a serial philanderer.  It appears as though Hillary’s primary function in the Clinton White House was to suppress bimbo eruptions.  She raised stand by your man to a whole new level.

But things are different today.  Perhaps it was the exposure of Tiger Woods.  It may have been the Ray Rice video.  It could even have been the disgusting revelations about Bill Cosby.  It probably is a combination of things including the internet.  But it is no longer cool to cover up the sexual misconduct of star athletes and rich celebrities.  Public opinion has changed.  They now want these people exposed and they want them punished. That is very bad news for Bill Clinton.  It was never a question of whether or not he had behaved badly; it was merely a question of whether anyone cared.  Now, for the first time, they care.  The following article in the Daily Mail is devastating for Clinton:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584309/Bill-Clinton-identified-lawsuit-against-former-friend-pedophile-Jeffrey-Epstein-regular-orgies-Caribbean-compound-former-president-visited-multiple-times.html

The problem is that this is all too believable.  Nothing about this is inconsistent with what we already know about Bill Clinton.  Women have come forward with accusations about him before, but they were ignored.  The real glass ceiling was the one defending liberal Democrats like Bill Clinton from accusations of sexual misconduct.  That ceiling has been shattered and it will never be the same.

Expect the Clintons to fight back.  Bill may even make another “I never had sex with that woman” speech.  No one will believe him.  They will attempt to find some convenient Republican to throw under the bus.  The good news, so far, is that Epstein appears to have been pretty much devoted to providing good times to liberal Democrats. So far, no Republican names have surfaced. That may leave the Clinton’s with no convenient Republican to blame.  Ouch!

This almost seems too good to be true.  It is hard to imagine a better way to start the New Year than to see Bill Clinton get credit for all he has done. That is particularly true when one realizes that Hillary will go along for the ride.  It is still hard to imagine, but the glass ceiling has been shattered and anything is possible.

TDM

New Year’s Eve never seems complete until someone plays and/or sings Auld Lang Syne.  I am not sure how that happened.  This is actually a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788.  I am relative sure that few people know much more than the first chorus.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

Frankly, I am not sure many people understand the first verse and the chorus.  What does it mean to forget old acquaintance?  How is that helpful.  I sometimes thing we sing Auld Lang Syne only because we sing Auld Lang Syne and some how it feels right. It doesn’t have to make sense.

In addition, Robert Burns may have “borrowed” the most familiar lyrics from a poen written by James Watson in 1711.

In some ways, Watson’s poem “Old Long Syne” is easier to understand:

Old Long Syne

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect

On Old long syne. 

Chorus

On Old long syne my Jo,
On Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
On Old long syne.

 The comparison between the two poems is pretty obvious.  I at least understand the James Watson version.  New Year’s Day is a good time to remember times gone by and particularly old friends.  It is a time to focus more on the future than on the past, but also to appreciate the pure joy of living. It is only by pausing to remember that we can truly appreciate all the blessings we have.

It is also a time to let bygones be bygones and to focus on what really matters. There is probably no better example of this than the life long relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  They were close friends who worked together on the Declaration of Independence.  They both were representatives of the Colonies in France.  John Adams was the second President of the United States.  Thomas Jefferson was the third.  Political divisions drove them apart. The closest of friends became the bitterest of enemies. They went many years without contacting each other at all.  But then, later in life, they were able to put aside the bitter disputes and were able to once again reflect on the things that united them.  Both of them died within hours of each other on July 4, 1826.  I am sure that when James Watson wrote Old Long Syne in 1711 he didn’t have Adams and Jefferson in mind.  But they lived out what Old Long Syne/Auld Lang Syne is all about.

Happy New Year.

TDM