Obama's "Long Knives" Out For Bibi
Add Israel's security to the list of things to worry about after the election. Signs are increasing that the Obama Administration will use its last two years to do everything it can to hurt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu and to force Israel into making more ill-conceived concessions to those who would implement another Holocaust.
A sucker punch was just thrown by the administration in an article by The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg. The article cites a "senior Obama Administration official" as saying, "The thing about Bibi is, he's a chickensh-t." Not surprisingly, this official insisted on anonymity.
This was no renegade attack by a rogue appointee. Obama and Kerry are described as furious that Netanyahu insists on building homes for Israelis in Jerusalem. Think about that. The official view of our "progressive," "liberal" leaders is that some Jerusalem neighborhoods should be "Jew free." By the way, the leftists at J Street, a progressive group that claims to be pro-Israel, agree.
The neighborhoods in question are part of the land that Obama/Kerry/J Street want to force Israel to give to Palestinian extremists for their new, "peaceful" state. It isn't clear whether the entire new state will be "Jew free," but it is clear no Jew will be safe living in it. Nor will Israel be safer if the new state is created by giving up half of Jerusalem, putting Hamas missiles at Israel's heart.
Feds On Alert
Administration officials announced yesterday that security was being increased at federal buildings nationwide. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said that the additional measures were taken in reaction to "acts of violence targeted at government personnel and installations in Canada and elsewhere recently."
This seems to be another example of the administration being slow to act. We have known about the jihadi threats to soldiers and law enforcement personnel for some time. That's what happened in Canada and New York City last week.
Days later, DHS decides to step it up a bit. Better late than never, I suppose.
Quarantine Update
Barack Obama ran to the microphone yesterday to attack state efforts to protect people from Ebola, offering up his usual straw man argument. Obama said we should honor healthcare workers returning from West Africa, not quarantine them.
This is not an either/or issue. We should honor them and we should quarantine them out of an abundance of caution in order to protect our citizens.
The New York Post reports that Dr. Craig Spencer "initially lied to authorities about his travels around the city." It was only after police checked his credit card and MetroCard records that he confessed to riding the subway and bowling.
And then there is the ongoing saga of Nurse Kaci Hickox, who returned from Sierra Leone last week. Under orders from Governor Chris Christie, Hickox was quarantined after authorities at Newark Airport determined she had a fever.
She's now in Maine, where Governor Paul LePage ordered her to complete the 21-day quarantine in the comfort of her home. Once again, she's threatening to sue. "I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines," Hickox said this morning. "If the restrictions . . . are not lifted by Thursday morning, I will go to court."
Obama and the CDC's Dr. Frieden contend that being pro-quarantine is anti-science. The truth is the exact opposite. Quarantine is the default position when dealing with deadly diseases, particularly when we don't fully understand the level of the threat.
That's why the Apollo 11 astronauts were quarantined after they returned from the moon. Even after Obama's statement yesterday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel this morning signed an ordersubjecting our soldiers deployed to West Africa to a 21-day quarantine.
By the way, a new CBS News poll finds that 80% of Americans support quarantining healthcare workers returning from West Africa. Only 17% support Obama's view.
Understanding The Left-wing Brain
As I was driving into D.C. this morning, a thought came to mind which we ought to ponder. The American left trust a 13 year-old girl to get an abortion without her parents being told. They trust individuals coming back from West Africa after treating Ebola patients to make all the responsible decisions to protect their fellow citizens, even though we have seen a number of those individuals make really stupid decisions and lie about it.
On the other hand, the left tried to make it illegal for you to have a Big Gulp (too much sugar) in New York City. It supports suspending seven year-olds for saying "Bang" to another student. It thinks it can tax you for not buying a particular product.
How bizarre it must be to live inside the brain that wants to regulate the benign while giving free rein to Ebola!