The post Obamabots On President’s Scandals: Cluesless But Hey, No Problem! appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Later in the week, he talked with Kyle Becker about New Media and how IJReview’s approach to discussing politics is like watching kickboxing and drinking whiskey with strangers.

The post The Black Sphere with Kevin Jackson Chats with IJReview’s Kira Davis and Kyle Becker appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Roger Ailes, the recent Bradley Award winner for being a “visionary of American journalism,” issued a statement on the Department of Justice’s surveillance of Fox reporter James Rosen and four others at the network, as well as the department’s tracking of AP phone records. Katie Pavlich of Townhall noted the statement:

Dear colleagues,

The recent news about the FBI’s seizure of the phone and email records of Fox News employees, including James Rosen, calls into question whether the federal government is meeting its constitutional obligation to preserve and protect a free press in the United States.  We reject the government’s efforts to criminalize the pursuit of investigative journalism and falsely characterize a Fox News reporter to a Federal judge as a “co-conspirator” in a crime. I know how concerned you are because so many of you have asked me: why should the government make me afraid to use a work phone or email account to gather news or even call a friend or family member? Well, they shouldn’t have done it. The administration’s attempt to intimidate Fox News and its employees will not succeed and their excuses will stand neither the test of law, the test of decency, nor the test of time. We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth.

I am proud of your tireless effort to report the news over the last 17 years. I stand with you, I support you and I thank you for your reporting with courageous optimism. Too many Americans fought and died to protect our unique American right of press freedom. We can’t and we won’t forget that. To be an American journalist is not only a great responsibility, but also a great honor.  To be a Fox journalist is a high honor, not a high crime.  Even this memo of support will cause some to demonize us and try to find irrelevant things to cause us to waver.  We will not waver.

As Fox News employees, we sometimes are forced to stand alone, but even then when we know we are reporting what is true and what is right, we stand proud and fearless.  Thank you for your hard work and all your efforts.

Sincerely,

Roger Ailes

There is more at stake in the Washington scandals than cheap partisan points ahead of the next election cycle. The nation and its legacy of freedom is at stake, and all Americans would do well to pay heed to that.

The post Fox News’ Roger Ailes: No Excuse for Obama Admin, Americans Died for Press Freedom appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Rand Paul of Kentucky agreed with Eric Bolling of Fox News that the president wants to shift the conversation away from the scandals occupying Washington, but Rand said that it won’t work.

“It’s like Old MacDonald had a farm,” he said, “here a scandal, there a scandal, everywhere a scandal-scandal.” Man, Paul is really trying to reach the low-information voters.

The post Rand Paul: Obama’s Drone Speech a ‘Distraction’ appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

“The senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans,” Cruz said, referring to Senator John McCain. “Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans. I don’t trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess.”

Senator Cruz continued and did what should always be done when it comes to policy: put the issue in moral terms. This had to make the “pragmatists” in the Republican Party squirm.

“What we are doing to our kids and grandkids, I think is immoral. Now, I commend the Democrats in this body for their candor. The Democrats and President Obama have been very explicit that it is their intention to raise the debt ceiling and to do so with no conditions whatsoever, just to keep borrowing and borrowing and borrowing money without any structural reforms to fix the problems. That is an intellectually consistent position. I think it is a dangerous position, but it is at least candid and that is the reason why everyday for sixty days the Democrats have opposed taking the debt ceiling off the table in this discussion.”

Ted Cruz then proceeded to blast the leadership in both parties. You could visualize the cringe on politicians’ faces. “But unfortunately, one of the reasons we got into this mess is because a lot of Republicans were complicit in the spending spree, and that’s why so many Americans are disgusted with both sides of this House.”

SHARE if you believe ideals come before party!

The post GOP Sen. Ted Cruz: I Don’t Trust the Republicans appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

“America is at a crossroads,” he said. “We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us.” The president provided his reasoning for a foreign policy shift.

“As our fight enters a new phase, America’s legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion,” Obama said. “To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance.”

“Now, make no mistake,” the president continued, “our nation is still threatened by terrorists. From Benghazi to Boston, we have been tragically reminded of that truth.” But rather than “the threat that came to our shores on 9/11,” he said, al-Qaeda is “on a path to defeat.”

The president named three future terrorist threat: al-Qaeda and its allies; threats to U.S. installations and businesses overseas; and “homegrown” extremists.

“This is the future of terrorism,” Obama said. “As we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11.”

The announcement came one day after it was found that four Americans had been killed by U.S. drone strikes under the Obama administration. As Reason magazine noted:

In a letter to Congressional leaders obtained by The New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen.

The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it.

Three of those killed were terrorists who had effectively declared war against the United States and thus were no longer criminals. One was the son of a terrorist who appears to be “collateral damage” in the de facto global war on Islamist terrorists.

This may come as a shock to some readers, but I agree with President Obama’s premise that the U.S. is at a “crossroads” in the war on terrorism. But this acknowledgment has a different application than the statists have in mind. The war on terror is leading to a huge domestic police state apparatus in the United States based on the notion that Islamist extremism is an existential threat.

But the very marginal threat to American lives in terms of casualty numbers and actual damage to the nation that can even possibly be inflicted by jihadists does not justify open-ended campaigns overseas that get thousands of soldiers killed and cost hundreds of billions to sustain. It also does not justify constant surveillance at home and the shift to an assumption that citizens are guilty until proven innocent.

Many Americans take the Islamist nature of terrorism as an aspect of some grand spiritual battle that should be carried out by Christian saints against Muslim martyrs. This kind of conceptualization has no place in sober national security assessment. This is not a false equivalence between the two religions or a dismissal of the unique motivations behind Islamist terrorism.

Instead of adopting a grand narrative of a war against flesh-and-blood terrorists, the United States should pass a version of immigration reform that makes sure that those who enter the country do not have criminal backgrounds or terrorist ties. Furthermore, those who seek permanent residence should be forced to demonstrate understanding and compliance with the nation’s laws and competence in its political tradition of Constitutional government and democratic elections.

The recourse in the war on terrorism is sophisticated foreign intelligence and swift, merciless retaliation against states that aid and abet terrorists. No open-ended occupation of foreign nations or sacrifice of individual liberties is permissible. If the United States cannot preserve liberty at home and fight a war against its enemies, then it has already lost the main thing worth fighting for.

There is obviously much room for disagreement on such a controversial and personal matter. But in terms of objective analysis, the psychological terror that radical jihadists inflict on the nation does not justify undermining the political-legal system that allowed the country to become the world’s pre-eminent power. Counter-intuitively, carrying out the war on terror the way the U.S. has been for over a decade can weaken the nation long-term and remove the reasons for its greatness.

The post President Obama: America at ‘Crossroads’ Fighting Terrorism appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

In case you missed it in the media’s “Gosnelling” of the grisly news — that would be when a big story that would otherwise run doesn’t because it doesn’t fit the left-wing narrative — the following are a few pictures of one of the savages who cut the poor man down:

It appears that there was a bit of the bystander effect, but it’s hard to say since civilians are disarmed of firearms in England (for their own good, of course):

What is it that you Democrats were saying about gun control and concealed carry? Sorry, I can’t hear you… speak up, would you?

The post London Captures Two Suspects in Jihadi Slaughter: Were Known to British Police appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

The post Weiner in the Pits: NYC Mayor Hopeful Runs Ad with Pittsburgh Skyline appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Chris Matthews on the other hand? He’s just right. He’s right all the time. In fact, he’s so right, that he thinks it’s stupid to consider anything else but his point of view. I mean, why even bother hearing someone else’s opinion, and even further, their justification?

Trivia question: Do you know who said, “It is not truth that matters, but victory.”?

UNRELATED: Anyone noticing how orange Chris Matthews is?

Chris Matthews: “Boehner, get out of the spray tan booth, it’s my turn.”

Speaker Boehner: “Hang on Chris, gahhh!”

The post Chris Matthews: Being Open to Other Points of View is Stupid appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

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