The MEC hasn't made our safety a very high priority

You don't expect to get unvarnished clarity from a Washington Post unsigned editorial.  Maybe it's because of the announcement that Amazon go-getter Jeff Bezos is buying that paper (speculating here; I have no way of knowing), but in any event, there is a truly important editorial in it today about how the MEC, by not regarding the war on jihad as a long-term undertaking, but rather something we can wind down soon and go back to normal life, whatever that is, has brought about the spate of jailbreaks (Iraq, Libya, Pakistan), the need to close 19 embassies, and the worldwide terror alert.

I often think his real view on national-security issues is along the lines of, "Can't we just sort of make that stuff go away?"

Because they smell weakness

There is nothing decimated about al-Qaeda.  It has everything in place that it needs to launch a major attack.

Perfect occasion for the MEC to get in some golf.

So the MEC and Jack Lew think this is phony?

Turns out there were dozens of CIA operatives on the ground in Benghazi on Sept 11 last year, and those who have been aware of that have been intimidated to keep their mouths shut.

So much for the idea that Iran will be any different under Rouhani

The Iranian government is trying to backpedal regarding the new president's remark that Israel is "a wound that must be removed," but Bibi Netanyahu gets it.

Why Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome is such a poisonous force

Here's a story that brings together Florida, Indiana, the education sector of society, the great leveling enterprise of the Left, and the deterioration of integrity.

Tony Bennett - no, not the singer - had to resign as Florida Education Commissioner in a grade-fixing scandal.  He'd already developed a track record for shenanigans.  In Indianapolis, he helped get some shoddy charter schools better ratings than they deserved.

In both states, he had the support of some of the Pubs most badly afflicted with Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome, such as Jeb Bush in Florida and Christel DeHaan in Indiana.

As Michelle Malkin points out in the linked piece, this kind of malfeasance endangers the one education policy approach that works.  The charter-school concept gets discredited and teachers' unions are all the more empowered to howl for more largesse and influence.

Perhaps the last legislator to refuse the beltway Kool-Aid

Byron York has pretty much eked out a niche for himself as a "hey-I'm-just-sayin'-these-are-my-observations-about-what's-going-on-politically"-type observer.  Oh, you can tell from certain flourishes in his writing that he's right of center, but he generally winds up any given piece on a "you-have-to-be-realisitc-about-the-way-Washington-works" note.

Such is the case with his piece about what he thinks is likely to happen with FHer-care in the next few months.

Even though the whole damn thing is built on naked redistribution - seizing Citizen A's assets at gunpoint to address some particular need of Citizen B (as York points out, "A family of four with income as high as $88,000 will be eligible for subsidies.") - the Freedom-Haters, true to form, are going to play the pity card:

When people begin receiving that entitlement, the dynamics of the Obamacare debate will change.

At that point, the Republican mantra of total repeal will become obsolete. The administration will mount a huge public relations campaign to highlight individuals who have received government assistance to help them afford, say, chemotherapy, or dialysis, or some other life-saving treatment. Will Republicans advocate cutting off the funds that help pay for such care?

That's going to kick in January 1.   And that's why Ted Cruz, far and away the coolest guy in the U.S. Senate, is shouting about the small window of opportunity available to us from the rooftops:

“On Jan. 1, the exchanges kick in and the subsidies kick in,” said the Texas Republican in a speech Saturday at the Western Conservative Summit. “Once those kick in, it’s going to prove almost impossible to undo Obamacare. The administration’s plan is very simple: Get everyone addicted to the sugar so that Obamacare remains a permanent feature of our society.”

And also why he feels an urgency to call out those in his own party afflicted with Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome:

“I think there is a powerful, defeatist approach among Republicans in Washington. I think they’re beaten down and they’re convinced that we can’t give a fight, and they’re terrified.”

Now, which view of FHer-care imbues you with more hope and more fighting spirit?

Oh, sheesh, now it's Pakistan

This mass jaibreak thing seems to be a burgeoning trend in Muslim countries.  Now the Taliban has freed 250 of its fighters from a jail in Dera Ismail Khan.

Well, you slimy bastard, you can always move to North Korea or Cuba

Michael Shulan, the creative director for the 9/11 memorial museum, wanted to nix the photo of firemen raising an American  flag at Ground Zero.  He opposed it for being too "kitschy" and "rah-rah American."

Anyone at this late date who claims doubt that he is orchestrating America's decline is a declinist as well

The Most Equal Comrade makes it plain that he is opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline.

What kind of pervert derives glee from kneecapping the greatest nation in history?

The MEC's lawlessness exquisitely exposed

Great Pete DuPont column in the WSJ about delaying FHer-care's employer mandate.

Of course, we know hat House Pubs wanted to force his hand by passing legislation legalizing such a delay.  This brings us to a strange juncture indeed:

Leaving aside for a moment whether it is legal for an administration simply to decree that a law won't be enforced until next year, such action keeps ObamaCare in the news. Earlier this month the House passed legislation that would make it legal to delay the employer mandate. The House passed another bill to delay the individual mandate by a year, with the logic that individuals and families deserve the same break busineses are getting. Both bills will languish in the Senate, but they have led to the rather odd situation of the president actually vowing to veto legislation that would put his extralegal action on solid footing.

He'd rather do it under current circumstances.  What a guy.

Huma may be sticking around . . .

. . . but Mrs. Spitzer has had it.

They're going to be instrumental in foisting it on us, but they want no part of being subjected to it

IRS employees and FHer-care, that is.  The Treasury workers's union is urging members to write their Congressional representatives saying they don't want to get their little "plans" from the little "exchanges."  You see, gummint folks have a different arrangement from the masses.

Because foreign policy bores him, he regards ambassadorships as bones to throw to cronies

The MEC has sure put some, um, under-qualified people in ambassadorial positions: Nicole Avant for the Bahamas, Howard Gutman for Belgium, and now Caroline Kennedy for Japan.

Hey, MEC, I attend parties well. Got one of those appointments for me?

We're definitely rooting for one side in this one

When it's Perry / Cruz / Cornyn / Abbott vs. Eric Holder on the matter of whether Texas has the right to determine its own election laws (geez, didn't we just have a Supreme Court decision about this sort of thing?), there's no question who's wearing the white hats and who's wearing the jackboots.

Why Huma sticks around

She's taken the wronged-wife-working-things-out-with-the-kinky-husband role to an unprecedentedly proactive levee, offering somewhat lengthy remarks apparently full of difficult soul-searching and searing candor, at the presser the other day about the new revelations.

Why does she do it?

Is it just because she is hungry for the coattail power that comes from connection to a once-and-hopefully-still-powerful politician?  For some, the humiliation that is the price for securing a hoist up to the next level of maneuvering is worth it.

Or is it a case of marching orders from some folks who see an opportunity to burrow into the heart of American political power like never before?

What can you say? That's the MEC

He hosts Vietnamese president Truong Tan Sang at the White House and, in a joint-remarks situation for public consumption, gets into some kind of a shared-values thing, talking about a letter Ho Chi Minh wrote to Harry Truman in the 40s.

At this point, there's a strong temptation to shrug and say, "True to form."  When that impulse strikes, though, hold on until the "damn it, this is not okay with me" impulse comes along.