Mischief Maker

President Obama is taking a page out of the Clinton playbook. He is on an around the world tour ...  in particular, China, India and France where he is going to meet with the leaders of these countries and also give paid speeches. I strongly suspect he will also be soliciting contributions to the Obama Foundation like the Clinton crime family had taught him. I have been unable to find out what his speech fees are, but I am certain he is not cheap ... see: Chicago Trib Article. (It has been predicted that he and Michelle could pull in a billion dollars once out of office.)

However, the thing that most disturbs me is what will go down in Barack's meetings with these world leaders.  Being a bit of a Obamaphobe, could it be that he is going to suggest that he is still running an American shadow government that will step in to run things once Trump is impeached? (Clue: watch to see if Valarie Jarrett accompanies him on this trip.) Will such Obama duplicity diminish Trump's foreign policy effectiveness? Will these foreign leaders pull back and await such a palace coup?

I will be watching for any change in the relationships between these countries and the U.S. once Obama comes home.I suggest you keep an ear to the ground too.

Style vs. Substance

OK folks, here goes another Obama versus Trump compare and contrast. We have seen enough of both men to begin to understand the effects that they cause on us, their humble subjects. My conclusion is that Obama was a victory of style over substance and Trump is exactly the opposite.

Barack Obama was Mr. Smooth. His TelePrompTer presentations were mellow and folksy. He always had that David Brooks razor-like crease in his trousers. Every time he descended a flight of stairs he did it with a graceful aplomb ... paws cocked in front (no handrails for this cool dude) and almost a Fred Astaire light touch on his feet. His presence commanded the present.

However, Obama's policies seemed secondary. Somehow, it wasn't so important what he said ... but that he said it with grace. Yes, his politics were ultra-liberal. But somehow it felt that his policies were not paramount. He was dancing with the Saul Alinsky partner that brought him. And as long as it was consistent and appealing, he was ready to push it ... independent of the ultimate result. Yes, he and Valarie Jarrett do have a sympathetic ear for Shiite Muslims and Socialism ... but those seemed their only burning issues.

On the other hand, Trump has the style of a pinkie-ring casino floor manager. His hair looks like a dead orange animal. I know that Trump thinks that he is smooth. But last year's campaign revealed that he has lots of rough edges ... even though his pants are always pressed. His insults were often and raw. His compliments are usually overdone and sound insincere. He often contradicts himself without realizing it. He is an archetypal blowhard. His style is the exact obverse of Obama.

However, what Trump lacks in style, he clearly makes up in substance. He leads not from behind but from in front. One by one he is trying to remedy all of Obama's failings ... and they are many ... see: Fixin' Things. Despite the ugly often violent "resistance" on the left, Trump is making things right. He seems to know just what needs to be done and then sets about doing it. As, one by one, Obama's screw-ups are remedied, the right is cheering and the left is melting down.

Many more Americans are now realizing how a smooth style didn't and doesn't compensate for a lack of substance. So, although we don't have, like Reagan, a comic-book hero as a fixer, at least we have a fixer.

Headlines

The following headlines have all been found on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Valerie Jarrett: USA no longer 'beacon of hope' ...

Trump says Comey said things that 'just weren't true' in Senate testimony

12 staffers at Dem-linked organization charged with voter fraud

Trump says money is pouring into NATO after he calls out leaders

Sharpton: Pence 'true enemy' of civil rights

Trump publicly commits to NATO mutual-defense provision

Get ready for gender-inclusive locker rooms at UC-Berkeley

Trump happy to testify 'under oath' to refute Comey

Trump targets illegals given a reprieve by Obama

Gore says God told him to fight global warming

Trump calls on Qatar to stop funding terror organizations

Pelosi confused after questioning Trump's mental health

Cloak and Dagger

Only during the Watergate probe of President Nixon do I remember such a cloak-and-dagger atmosphere in Washington. With scant evidence, the Democrats are pushing the Trump-Russia connection. And the Republicans are pointing to the Deep State antics of Obama holdovers, the tainted intelligence agencies and possibly B.O. himself ... together with his henchperson, Valarie Jarrett ... with their implied intent of invalidating the Trump presidency.

The headlines are full of charges and counter charges that have Americans on edge. We are losing confidence in the process of government ... which could be the real purpose of this intrigue. Congress, like it often does, has hearings on these back-and-forths which are composed of more back-and-forths. Nothing is clarified ... and illuminating questions are lost in Congress' attempts to emulate William Jennings Bryant.

Most of the media has taken the Deep State side in this dogfight when Trump-friendly revelations occur, the media attack the messenger in order to bury the message. Watching cable channels is a depressing experience since the "news," as they relate it, is so full of pejoratives that the truth is fully obscured. Over and over again the squishy message of the Russian-Trump "collaboration" is forefront while the more sinister possibility of Obama administration's "surveillance" of the Trump campaign is dismissed out of hand.

It would be nice to know the truth in these matters, but there is so much at stake here that obfuscates this quest. My instinct is to inspect the motivations of the players on both sides. It seems to me that the potential loses on the Deep State side so overwhelm the potential gains for Trump and company, that I tend to believe the current administration over the last one and its fellow travelers.

But my bottom-line hope here is that this current contretemps can be settled with just the cloak and not the dagger.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. 

Guess which ones came from Huffington Post?

Valarie Jarrett moves in with Obama to set up anti-Trump 'Nerve Center'

Schumer: 'I can't work with Trump on anything'

Meet the Democrats who refused to stand and applaud wife of a fallen Navy SEAL [Keith Ellison, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

Trump's EPA target budget cuts target climate, clean air, clean water programs

Sessions recuses himself from Russian probe

'Hillary for Mayor' signs appearing around NYC ...

In one month, three black transgender women were killed in New Orleans

McCaskill defends meeting with Russian envoy among Twitter flap

Warren reverses stance, votes against Carson

GOP Sen: 30 Dems. met with Russian Ambassador over Iran deal

Tom Hanks gifts espresso machine to WH reporters, 'Keep up the good fight'

Western snow pack too deep for scientists' measuring devices ...

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Mariah Carrey's New Year's Eve nightmare on Times Square ... lip sync catastrophe

Report: 90,000 Christians killed for their faith in 2016

2016 closes with 140 cops being killed in the line of duty

2016: Remains of 61 dead migrants recovered in one Texas county

Mohammed tops list of most popular baby's name in Israel

Kerry to Israel: We support you but can't defend 'tight-wing' agenda

Update: 250 earthquakes strike California-Mexico border ...

Joe Scarborough battles with reporter who claims he 'parted' with Trump

Former Chicago Police Chief blames BLM for rise in violent crime

Valerie Jarrett: Obama presidency scandal-free' ...

Transgender reassignment surgery under Obamacare banned nationwide

20 states ring in the New Year with minimum wage increase

Headlines

A

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

It begins: NYT to vacate 8 floors of its HQ ...

Montana: Record breaking snowfall ...

Syracuse shatters 99 year [cold] record ...

Michelle Obama: We're feeling like what not having hope feels like

Chinese warship seizes U.S. Navy underwater drone

Newsweek: NYC hate hoax 'highlights pressure' on Muslims

Valerie Jarrett: My grandfather died because he had a gun for self defense

Obama: Trump's victory threatens America's core

Obama suggests Electora College is outdated

George W. Bush called [Senator] Corker to lobby for Tillerson

[Hillary Campaign manager] Podesta blames loss on 'broken' FBI

Report: Obama ignored Russian hacking because he thought Hillary was going to win

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Chicago breaks 1940 snowfall record ...

Fewer than 200 survivors of the [Pearl Harbor] attack are still alive ...

Paris chokes under worst air pollution in decades ...

US Steel could rehire 10,000 ...

Pope Francis compares 'fake news' to excrement

Two juveniles charged with arson in deadly Tennessee wildfire

U.S. life expectancy in decline for first time in decades ...

Tina Fey: Trump 'can't muster the dignity of a 7th grader'

Valarie Jarrett: Trump's win was 'soul-crushing'

Boehner: 'Trump reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt'

The guy Trump just picked to run the EPA is suing the EPA

Barbara Boxer defends politics as 'noble' profession ...

Not So Fast

Recent headlines suggest that the moderates in Iran have achieved a great victory in the elections there . This then supposedly justifies Obummer's bending over backwards in the recently concluded nuclear negotiations there ... not so fast. This is really not the case ... see: Daily Caller Article. According to those in the know, over 50% of those running for the parliament and 80% of those running for the Assembly of Experts were excluded from running ... not a real sign that the moderates were given a shot and did indeed prevail. And also note that the Assembly of Experts is the group which will choose the next Ayatollah once Khameni expires.

Read the above article for the details of this new Iranian ruse before you get your hopes too elevated by the news coming out of Tehran.

When dealing with Iran, nothing really is what it is made to appear to be ... a lesson that we, like Charlie Brown, somehow keep forgetting. I find it difficult to believe that Obummer's Svengali, Valarie Jarrett, spending her early years in Iran, does not understand such things

.

From God's Lips

Rush Limbaugh has had a very apt observation ...  and that is that President Obama has been "governing against the will of the American people." The latest example of which is that His Nibs is going to increase the numbers and accelerate the entry of Syrian immigrants into the United States ... see: CBC News Story. If the main-stream media were so inclined ... which I doubt ... they might commission some polling agency to inquire what percentage of the American populous would be in favor of such a boneheaded move ... particularly in the light of what just occurred in Paris. If the favorable percentage broke 10%, I would be greatly surprised.

Does this sway Obama? Has he given a horse's patootie for what popular opinion has been in the United States during his seven year dynasty? Of course not. Our president's motivations are totally without self inspection or sensitivity to the popular will. It is as though, to paraphrase that old Jewish chestnut, from God's lips directly into his ear. And, since most of Obama's major decisions have been minor disasters, either this Divine communication has been garbled ... or it has been overridden by Valarie Jarrett.

 If the vetting process for Syrian immigrants is anything like it was for the Tsarnaev family (from which emerged the Boston Marathon bombers), we are in for a very dangerous future.

Blood on their Hands

President Obama's Svengali, Valarie Jarrett, recently met with the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement in the White House ... see: Breitbart Story. Apparently, the Obama administration, being in their waning days, feel that the slimy optics of such get-togethers can no longer hurt them ... or that the media will not cover such outrageous indiscretions. For the White House to lend prestige to this ragtag bunch of anti-police chowder heads does nothing but encourage more violence against our thin blue lines.

Yes, I believe that President Obama and his quislings have blood on their hands every time an officer of the law is gunned down by a radical racist who has been encouraged or abetted by this sick antisocial movement. The Black Lives Matter mob is based upon a lie and supported by slope-headed anarchists ... and to welcome them into the White House does nothing but display this administration's blatant disregard for the President's oath of office. He did twice swear to protect the American people from all enemies foreign and domestic ... wrong on both counts. Ms. Jarrett, such seditious actions really do matter ... shame on you!

Enigma

Just when I thought I could tell the opposing Muslim teams without a scorecard, I am thrown a curve ball. Saudi Arabia has just captured 400 ISIS militants who had already attacked and were planning further targets inside Saudi Arabia ... see: AP News Story? Now, as I understand it, Saudi Arabia is predominantly composed of Sunni Arabs ... as is ISIS ... so why would they be at each others' throats?

Sunni ISIS has generally been attacking the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government and Bashar al-Assad's Shi'ite government in Syria ... both Iran funded. Even though Iran is not an Arab state, it, as Persian, has been the prominent Shi'ite force and has, for over a thousand years, been a deadly foe of Sunni Arabs ... yet ISIS is now strangely acting as its proxy against Saudi Arabia ... while at the same time attacking the Syrian government. Weird!.

I guess I will never fully decipher the Middle East enigma (or, for that matter, our Shi'ite-tropic president and his Svengali adviser, Valarie Jarrett.)

March Madness

President Obama will likely not be listening to all of Netanyahu's speech to Congress tomorrow as he has much more important things to do according to his spokesman, Josh Earnest ... see: Politico Article. My best guess is that he will be doing his March Madness brackets ... the event he clearly prioritizes ... next to golfing and surfing in Hawaii.

I suppose that we have gotten used to such administration media-relations lunacy out of those who wiggle under Valarie Jarrett's thumb ... particularly during these vital basketball championships. After all ... what is the relative import of an Israeli incineration by Iranian atomic weapons?

Job One

President Obama at his news conference this afternoon confessed that his administration has not yet evolved a strategy to deal with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (aka, ISIS or ISIL) … see: Washington Times Story.

Perhaps, Mr. President, a little less golf?

Afterthought: And also perhaps, on the nineteenth hole, you might chew over with all your high-powered advisers (e.gs., Susan Rice, John Brennan, Valarie Jarrett?) how to deal with Putin and his invasion of the Ukraine? (See: Krauthammer Comments)

Headline Misprint

The Brietbart Internet news site recently posted a story about how powerful Varerie Jarrett is within the Obama White House ... see: Brietbart Story.  The only thing is ... I think that there is a major misprint in the headline of this Brietbart story ...  What do you think?