Video: Shep Smith rants on flag-draped coffin policy

" And it would be even nicer if people weren't out there ready to pounce on every war casualty and make them political footballs. … Smith compared the showing of this pilot's flag draped coffin to the flag draped coffins troops are laid to rest in. … Covering the burial of a Blue Angels pilot who crashed his plane last weekend, Fox News anchor Shepard commented on the flag draped coffin shown on screen…

Dems fret that ISIS will force America to return to Iraq

Even The Washington Post's editorial board, an influential group though slightly more hawkish than the average major urban newspaper, has noticed that America lacks a strategic approach to the ISIS threat and it needs to craft one immediately. … The California congressman recently said that what is occurring in Iraq "certainly looks like a war" and the president would be on "more constitutionally sound" ground to execute the mission in Iraq if he sought congressional approval for it. … The announcement by American officials that a raid into Syria aimed at liberating Americans in ISIS custody, including one who was later beheaded on camera by Islamic State terrorists, failed to achieve its objectives is dispiriting…

Video: Not very classy focus group dumps on Trump after debate

Trump fans aren't going to dump him out of some supposed loyalty to Fox; the only way to break the hero-worship of Trump would be if he ended up squabbling with a bigger populist hero, like Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin. … Right. At some point the supply of Republicans who think annoying the elites is the most important criterion in a president (at least at this verrry early stage of the campaign) will be exhausted and Trump will hit his ceiling, but there's no real reason to think it's exhausted yet. … As for Megyn Kelly, who committed the mortal sin of mentioning things he's said about women that the media will mention 50,000 times in the general election if he's the nominee, he passed along this comment from one of his Twitter fans…

Syria attack aftermath: Russia pledges to boost Syrian defenses

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to be the "world's policeman" with airstrikes on Syria and is suggesting that it could backfire. … The Russians got that heads-up through the "deconfliction line," the communications system meant to inform both Russian and US military of air operations in Syria to prevent accidental attacks on each other. … Russia has vowed to help bulk up Syria's air defenses, as the Kremlin accused the U.S. of breaking "international law" by launching a deadly missile attack against an airfield Thursday night…

First DHS, now DoJ: Trump administration opens new front in legal war against sanctuary cities

Last but not least, we are meticulously reviewing the actions of certain district attorneys who have adopted policies of charging foreign nationals with lesser offenses for the express purpose of avoiding the federal immigration consequences of those nationals' criminal conduct. … ' " He said he also was reviewing the practice of some state and local prosecutors who charge criminals with lesser offenses to avoid deportation, and giving non-sanctuary jurisdictions priority when it comes to awarding certain grant money. … Attorney General William P. Barr announced Monday that the Justice Department would sue two so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions — including the state of New Jersey — over policies he considers overly friendly to those in the country unlawfully, as part of a renewed effort to get cities and states on board with the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration…

Redacted features a recycled plot?

Pushed to their very limits, the film portrays the tragic events surrounding a US army squad that targets and persecutes an innocent Iraqi girl and her family, culminating in a brutal rape and murder. … Inspired by real events and the ever-emerging realities of an on-going war, "Redacted" explores the consequences of placing a group of young American soldiers into a morally ambiguous universe. … That film starred Michael J. Fox as a sergeant in Vietnam who stood up to his evil superior, played by Hugo Chavez's biggest fan, Sean Penn, after the latter led a group of rogue US troops on a rape and pillage quest reminiscent of the armies of Jenjis Khan…

Another attack on Ft. Hood thwarted?

Fox reports that "jihadist materials" were found in his backpack along with explosives, which (if true) would tend to explain why the Army review board eventually decided that sending him to Afghanistan might be a bad idea. … It's not easy to qualify as a conscientious objector in the all-volunteer military, as that status is usually reserved for those philosophically or religiously opposed to all war, not just one in particular. … Like Nidal Hasan, Nasser Jason Abdo wanted out of his deployment to Afghanistan, and had been granted conscientious-objector status -- before the Army discovered child pornography on his computer, which is when he went AWOL…

306-232: News outlets finally call Georgia for Biden, North Carolina for Trump

Maybe this is a little burst of mortar fire in the developing war between Trump and Fox News, with Steve Doocy signaling to the president on behalf of management that if he keeps trying to tear down the network he's going to find that even the most loyal hosts won't show as much credulity about the things he says as they have in the past. … Ordering a recount when he's not within one half of one percent would also amount to creating special rules for Trump just because he was willing to whine disingenuously about cheating louder than most defeated candidates are, which would incentivize others to do so. … In reality, he's probably going to end up ranting about how the "medical deep state" delayed the news about Pfizer's vaccine to hurt his election chances and then claim that Biden's 306 electoral votes isn't impressive at all due to the massive, unprecedented fraud that happened ... but which he somehow can't prove in court…

Trump promises 94 year old WWII veteran a White House visit

As it turns out, the Trump protester is lucky her boss is supportive of her right to protest on her own time (though she was using a paid day off so she wasn't losing any pay) and to use her personal social media. … "Someone took time out of their day to research me and where I work and took the time to contact my employer and tell them that I needed to be fired because they didn't like the message I was promoting as a private citizen," the woman said. … He told President Trump that the VFW audience knows better than to give him the microphone, as he's a talker, and ended by asking Trump for an autograph on a photo he had of the two men during the presidential campaign…

New York mag source on Trump/Fox feud: “Roger [Ailes] says Trump is unelectable. His goal here is to save the country.”

It makes him look petty to still be whining about the debate three weeks later, especially at the expense of the most widely respected member of the Fox primetime (and arguably the most influential woman news anchor on TV right now). … And say -- wasn't that Donald Trump himself on Laura Ingraham's show this morning not only reassuring Ingraham that there'd be no more "bimbo" retweets about Megyn Kelly but that he'd just gotten off the phone with Roger Ailes and still thinks of him as "a special guy and a good friend of mine"? … But since virtually all Trump fans are already convinced that Fox is part of a RINO establishment plot to take down Trump, with Megyn Kelly leading the effort at the debate, I think you'll find this tidbit very much to your liking…

China to Trump: We’ll call your $200B in tariffs with, um …

It might make US companies less enthusiastic about doing business in China in the long run, which would present Beijing with fewer opportunities to earn money and access technology for their own purposes. … The market is not large by value compared with the around $12 billion per year of U.S. crude that arrives in the country, but those levels could shoot up as Beijing forges ahead with its plan to switch millions of households to the fuel away from coal as part of its battle against smog. … If it's rational and restrained, it's because China has just about reached the functional limits for a trade war against the US. Two weeks ago, Trump threatened to go far beyond the added $200 billion in potential penalized imports, saying he might slap tariffs on the entire $500 billion in imports from China…

Quotes of the Day

Some of the other issues the Times raised, such as the use of the state party credit card for personal travel and home improvement and campaign finance violations, are a bit more concerning because they deal with matters outside the senator's personal financial situation. … Due to the cost of running for the highest office in the land, presidential candidates tend to be wealthy, and we often end up with nominees like Mitt Romney or John Kerry, both of whom come from a background far more prosperous than that of the average American. … After reading a Tuesday report in The New York Times about Rubio's insane spending habits, given his debt and income, fiscal conservatives shouldn't be the only ones calling for the candidate to extricate himself from the overpopulated clown car that is the looming Republican primary lineup and out of the 2016 election for president…

House Armed Services chair: Obama admin hiding truth on Libya until after election; Update: “Full explanation”?

The letter also criticizes the administration's handling of the aftermath of the attack, particularly its characterization of the attack as an out-of control protest rather than an act of terror against the U.S. … McKeon specifically calls out UN Ambassador Susan Rice for pushing the "spontaneous" protest that "spun out of control" story days after the attacks, when intel showed within hours that the assassination of Ambassador Stevens was the result of a planned terrorist attack -- on the anniversary of 9/11. … Howard "Buck" McKeon told Fox News that the Obama administration seems to be deliberately hiding the "truth" about the Benghazi attack, and that the only reason he sees for the subterfuge is the date in November that's fast approaching…

Breitbart staffer: We’re prepared to help Paul Ryan rally votes for impeachment if Trump moves left

The shrewd thing for Murdoch to have done, it seems to me, would have been to side with Bannon against Kushner and try to coopt Bannon, which would have neutralized the threat to Fox from the populist right and maybe given Murdoch an important ally inside the White House in blocking the Sinclair takeover after all. … Either they're going to grudgingly stick with nationalism among their A-list broadcasters knowing that that's where the money is among grassroots righties or they're anticipating this challenge from Bannon and looking to outflank him by lining up populist hosts themselves. … "The [Murdoch] sons tell anyone who will listen that they fancy themselves globalists who one day would like to steer Fox away from its hard-right roots and sexist, white-men's-club reputation and reality," according to Axios, imagining the coming war between a more centrist Fox and a populist Bannon-Sinclair collaboration…

Advisor to Rouhani warns Trump: We’ve ended U.S. presidencies before — so listen to Tucker Carlson

The bad news: Whether we end up starting a major Middle East war with Iran may depend on whoever Fox News happens to have on during a given day and whether Trump happens to be watching at a particular moment. … The president made repeated comments about the tragedy on the evening of the 20th, leading aides to believe that Keane's brief history lesson exacerbated Trump's pre-existing doubts about carrying out the strike. … Keane's reference to the United States' accidental downing of an Iranian commercial airliner in 1988 made a profound impact on the president, who was "spooked" when he learned of the incident, according to two sources briefed on his reaction…

EPA: Hey, sorry about that whole “crucify” thing, we’re all about being ethical

" They ruled that the land that the Sacketts bought were wetlands after the Sacketts starting building a house on residential-zoned land even though it had not been classified as such beforehand, and then refused to allow them to access the court system without paying tens of thousands of dollars each day that they delayed the EPA's mandated abatement. … "Strong, fair and effective enforcement of the environmental laws passed by Congress is critical to protecting public health and ensuring that all companies, regardless of industry, are playing by the same rules," she said in comments provided to TheDC. … The EPA has scrambled to contain the damage from the clip highlighted by Morgen Richmond this morning, which went viral yesterday, showing an EPA administrator bragging about crucifixion as a means to impose the EPA's will on American subjects, er, citizens…

Quotes of the day

"Woodward represents the Washington establishment that never bought into Obama, and has no real connections to the inner circle — a circle that disdains the press corps and the gray beards in it, and probably didn't play much ball with him on his books," said a former Administration official... … You've been yelled at by people in the White House, I've been yelled at by people in the White House -- I'm sure this has happened to a thousand people in Washington," Atlantic columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, who deals with the White House frequently, told POLITICO. … But we are enormously respectful of the work that you do, that I used to do, and we also believe it's important for us to make clear when we think, as we have in the past, somebody is out there getting the facts wrong…

Just who are the Whitmer kidnap-plot conspirators?

The attendees discussed attacking a Michigan State Police facility, and in a separate conversation after the meeting, GARBIN suggested shooting up the Governor's vacation home, which is located in the Western District of Michigan ("the vacation home. … It is alleged he was among the militia members working to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation home up north, storm the Capitol and overthrow the government, partnering with another militia group known as the Wolverine Watchmen. … One video of Brandon Caserta found by the Detroit News shows him briefly wearing a Hawaiian shirt, an alleged trademark of the Boogaloos, fringe right-wing provocateurs accused of participating in urban riots to start a race war…

Donald Trump runs to government for help after Rich Lowry’s “balls” comment

Critics said the government's suggestion that James Rosen, Fox News's chief Washington correspondent, was a "co-conspirator" for soliciting classified information threatened to criminalize press freedoms protected by the First Amendment..."It is downright chilling," Fox News executive Michael Clemente said in a statement. … Journalists, First Amendment watchdogs and government transparency advocates reacted with outrage Monday to the revelation that the Justice Department had investigated the newsgathering activities of a Fox News reporter as a potential crime in a probe of classified leaks. … Donald Trump is doing his best imitation of the peasants from Monty Python and the Holy Grail after National Review's Rich Lowry claimed Carly Fiorina "cut [ Trump's ] balls off with the precision of a surgeon" during last week's GOP debate…

Good news: U.S. using Mahdi Army to guard Shiite shrine in Baghdad

What is more interesting in Az-Zaman's lead story is the fact that the Iraqi Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashimi, is attempting to construct a new coalition, similar to [Iyad] 'Allawi's in several ways and carrying a comparable "anti-sectarian" agenda. … The Americans believe that tolerating a discreet role for the Mahdi Army, which U.S. officers refer to by its Arabic acronym JAM, is better than either picking a fight with the militia or taking the blame if Sunni extremists manage a repeat of the February 2006 bombing of another Shiite shrine in Samarra... … Consider this the flip side of the startlingly successful Patriquin plan in Anbar province, where, according to an LA Times report published this morning, U.S. recruiters now have to turn away men eager to enlist in the Iraqi police because the ranks are full…

Rush to Mike Pence: If you’re willing to shut down the government in September to block a bad spending bill, why not now?

(With the GOP paralyzed on health care, he doesn't need to work hard.) If top priority for Team Trump is making sure not to give him any evidence to support that claim then they're going to have to cave in September too, when Trump vowed the GOP would make its stand. … The only way to defend the bill is to focus on defense spending, particularly the fact that Republicans didn't have to match that $21 billion for the Pentagon dollar-for-dollar with funding for non-military domestic programs, as was the case during the Obama era. … It's not visible in this budget, and some people are getting concerned that there's more concern for bipartisanship and crossing the aisle, working with Democrats, than there is in draining the swamp and actually peeling away all of the roughage that is preventing actually moving forward here on so many of these issues that affect people domestically…

Too good to check: “Anxious” Obama reportedly considering a public statement about Bernie’s rise in the polls

Exit quotation from Obama crony Jim Messina, who once cheered Donald Trump's nomination in the expectation that Clinton couldn't lose to him: "I think it is clear to me, with these swing voters I care about, the Trump — Obama voters in midwestern states, Bernie Sanders is not the candidate we need to beat Donald Trump in November." … Even if it is received, some Sanders supporters will simply reply that Bernie is the most electable candidate in the field, the guy whose strength with younger adults will mobilize new voters to turn out and whose strength with working-class whites will reclaim some of the swing voters whose support for Trump was decisive in 2016. … ObamaCare was supposed to be a momentous accomplishment but some progressives treat it as a momentous betrayal, a giveaway to corporate America when a bolder left-wing president might have pushed for a bigger government role in health care…

Tulsi Gabbard: Yes, abortion should be regulated in the third trimester

Gabbard's in roughly the same position here as a Republican candidate who supports abortion rights in the first trimester: Most pro-lifers wouldn't dare vote for that person even though his or her position on the issue is "moderate" since they wouldn't be able to trust the candidate not to "evolve" further once in office. … Theories I've heard from top Democrats include that Gabbard is trying to get a TV show—"I already know which network: Fox," one senior Democrat not affiliated with any campaign said, speaking anonymously to remain publicly neutral—and that she's gearing up for a Trump-benefiting third-party run. … To this group, Gabbard looks like Jill Stein, who also talked about progressive politics and peace, but whose 2016 Green Party run was, to them, a self-centered campaign that blew a crucial hole in Hillary Clinton's chances, eating up money and getting Russian support along the way…

Quotes of the day

(Or if Carson doesn't, when another candidate like Ted Cruz inevitably does some weeks or months from now.) If Trump is more like the Gingriches and Cains of the world, his support may erode pretty quickly once there's another GOP "flavor of the month" who appeals to voters seeking an outsider to mainstream politics. … Christian conservatives, especially, see a federal government that has demanded to evaluate prayers and Facebook posts, an administration that makes theological excuses for Islamic terrorism, a secular left-wing culture that would crush an Indiana pizza shop on the basis of a hypothetical question, and media keen to exploit (or manufacture) racial divisions. … Government has become alarmingly invasive, the bureaucracy notoriously partisan, a whole bevy of agencies hideously corrupt; America's reputation and influence abroad have diminished, allowing for the rise of a host of malevolent forces; cultural progressivism, with the full backing of the Democratic party, has abandoned compromise for raw force, and proved that it will cheerfully extirpate First Amendment rights to secure the concocted rights of sexual liberation; race relations have degraded…

Quotes of the day

In the last month alone, Trump has threatened to sue a small-time T-shirt maker whose products bear critical slogans ("Donald Is Dumb," "Stop Trump," and "America Is Already Great"); he has attempted to begin legal proceedings against the Club for Growth on the grounds that it has had the temerity to oppose him and his policies (this, Trump says, is "defamation" — a stunted and preposterous piece of legal analysis that lends some credibility to the messages on the aforementioned t-shirts); and he has expressed a desire to use the federal government to censor unpliable journalists for the high crime of being amusing on television. … He used a news conference before the forum to continue a recently renewed feud with Fox News, mock a conservative group that is airing attack ads against him and complain to an NBC reporter that the network is citing a CNN poll that shows Ms. Fiorina gaining support rather than NBC's own survey, which shows Mr. Trump holding a larger lead... … Appearing here on Wednesday afternoon at what was billed as an African-American small business meeting, Mr. Trump used his remarks before a largely white audience to argue that his lead in the polls was not being sufficiently covered, repeatedly complained about the high temperature inside the Ronald Reagan Library at last week's debate, and lamented that any attacks on Carly Fiorina would be depicted as sexist…