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Buzz Cut:
• The Full Ackbar: Right warns Obama war plan is a trap
• More votes set on amnesty plan
• GOP confidence grows while Dems get jitters
• Biden: ‘Run on what we have done’
• When you care enough to steal $10,000 worth of underpants
THE FULL ACKBAR: RIGHT WARNS OBAMA WAR PLAN IS A TRAP
In a blistering column, influential conservative columnist Matthew Continetti calls President Obama’s request for congressional authorization for the ongoing war in Iraq and Syria a “trap” and says he would “happily” vote it down. “If the threat of ISIS is as dire as the president says it is in the preamble of his resolution,” Continetti writes, “then not only does the president already have the authority to strike granted to him by Article II of the Constitution and the 2001 and 2002 war resolutions, he also should not cavil or hesitate in unleashing every means at his disposal to confront and defeat the enemy.” Continetti goes on to say, “I also cannot help thinking that the presidential request is little more than a trap, a bone thrown in the direction of the cloakroom to distract from the collapse of America’s position in the Middle East and the approaching deadline for nuclear talks with Iran. How better to provoke infighting among both Republicans and Democrats, to switch the debate from sanctions against Iran to ‘Rand Paul versus Marco Rubio for the soul of the GOP,’ than to start a debate over presidential war powers as the war is going on.”
ISIS grabs ground – Fox News: “Islamic State fighters reportedly seized most of a western Iraqi town on Thursday, in fighting taking place mere miles from an air base where hundreds of U.S. Marines are training Iraqis. Reuters, quoting local officials, reported Thursday that ISIS militants had overrun much of the town of al-Baghdadi. One local Iraqi official told Reuters that, “Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents.”
Not even a little ‘hasty’? – “Well first it wasn’t hasty. Just because I didn’t know what the plans were, didn’t mean the plans weren’t in place for weeks. We have been planning for weeks a range of contingency options…We always have a range of options we can take when we’re talking about a high threat post.”.”– State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki on “The Kelly File” discussing the weapons and equipment abandoned in Yemen by U.S. forces. Watch here.
A question of selfie control – Buzzfeed released a video Thursday showing the commander in chief using a selfie stick and smiling at himself in the mirror to help promote ObamaCare. It delighted many in the media. The Washington Post called it, “cute” and “catchy,” while People Magazine gets in on the action suggesting, “judging by the president’s expert selfie stick form, it seems like his meeting with Kim Kardashian last year really paid off.” Not mentioned in the stories: the video was reportedly shot on the same day the world learned ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller was dead.