Video: Rep. Allen West on Obama: 'I Can't Stand the Guy'

Donald Trump gave Republicans the template. The Tea Party and conservative voters want them to stop hiding behind mealy-mouth rhetoric when it comes to Obama. They want candidates to go on offense. It was reflected in Trump's fleeting - albeit mildly shocking - flirtation with being at the top of the polls. Some candidates ignored the template - see Tim Pawlenty - while others just didn't have the star power to get noticed. Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is a freshman but he certainly knows how to go on offense with Barack Obama.



h/t Weasel Zippers

Nakba Day: Israel's Birthday is Cause for Muslim Anger

Israel was granted statehood 63 years ago today. It's a time of celebration, right? Well, if you're Israel it is. If you're part of the hate Israel crowd, it's a time for bitter anger. As part of the inaptly named 'Arab Spring,' Egypt's Hamas-loving populace is celebrating by demonstrating its hatred for Israel through angry protests. 'Nakba Day' is translated to mean the 'Great catastrophe' that is Israel. Angry mobs have been forming on Israel's northern and southern borders. So far, there have been four deaths along the Syrian border:

Via Ynet:

Four people were killed and dozens were hurt on Israel's northern border Sunday after Syrian infiltrators marking 'Nakba Day' trampled the border fence and were shot by IDF forces.

Magen David Adom emergency services said 13 people were lightly wounded on Israel's side of the border near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, including 10 IDF soldiers.

The wounded Israeli troops, who were hurt by stones hurled at them, include the Golan Brigade Commander, Colonel Eshkol Shukrun, who continued to supervise his forces despite his injury.

Haaretz is reporting that Iran is behind the Syrian border protests:

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday accused Iran of orchestrating two waves of fighting along its northern borders, as Palestinian protesters tried to infiltrate from Syria and Lebanon during demonstrations to mark Nakba Day, which commemorates the "catastrophe" of the creation of the State of Israel.

At least eight people were reportedly killed on the two frontiers, when IDF troops opened fire on masses of protesters attempting to infiltrate into Israel. The protests, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said, bore Iran's "fingerprints."

"We are seeing here an Iranian provocation, on both the Syrian and the Lebanese frontiers, to try to exploit the Nakba day commemorations," he said.

I seem to remember it being not to long ago when Israel had been entertaining the notion of giving back the Golan Heights to Syria. In retrospect - and by using common sense then and now - that would have been a disaster.

h/t Hot Air

BOMBSHELL: Did MSNBC Unwittingly Reveal Gunwalker Smoking Gun?

Mike Vanderboegh is definitely one of the top five people causing the ATF, the DOJ, and the Obama administration severe headaches by what he's been uncovering relative to the Project Gunrunner scandal. However, his most recent find comes courtesy of none other than MSNBC's Michael Isakoff, who wrote an article in September of 2010 about the ATF's response to a report in the works by the DOJ's Office of Inspector General, which had been mildly critical of the ATF's tactics with respect to Project Gunrunner.

In the body of Isakoff's article, he linked to a pdf leaked to him ostensibly by the ATF. Vanderboegh refers to the pdf as the 'official ATF field manual of the Gunwalker scandal.'

HERE is a link to the PDF, said to be authored by Mark Chait, ATF’s assistant director in charge of field operations. If true, it means Chait may be left with no more than two options: either take the fall for being the author of this program or start singing. The document is a lot of reading but definitely worth it.

Via Sipsey Street Irregulars:

I covered this story at the time but missed the vital connection. I rightly ridiculed the idea that Chait had come up with this idea in September 2010 when the project had been going on for at least a year prior to that. But we can conclude from Chait's mea culpa statement that he was the author of this report, or, at least, it was produced by his office at ATF. Still, as we will see, this report does not mark the beginning of the policy change that led to the Project Gunwalker scandal, but rather is a policy document, something on the order of a U.S. Army field manual, of lessons learned in the previous year and a half.)

I can't do justice to Vanderboegh's findings in this post so please READ THE WHOLE THING. Here is what he says this find means:

It is ironic in the extreme that a report released for the short-term goal of deflecting what in the final analysis was minor criticism from the DOJ's Office of Inspector General will, I believe, prove to be the Gunwalker coverup artists' ultimate downfall. For this report is THE "outline for Gunwalker hearing questions."

Project Gunrunner existed before the Obama administration took power. But the executive summary of this internal report makes plain why and when Gunrunner became Gunwalker.

This scandal is on the cusp of exploding.

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