Someone should tell Steve Poizner that Red County would have covered his Gubernatorial campaign for free.
You see, I’ve recently learned something which, in retrospect, might not come as a complete shock to all our readers given the nature of his content: I have it in writing that the Poizner camp has [...]
Plenty of ink is being spilled this week over President Obama's trip to Asia. Looming is another key head of state visit. Iran's Ahmadinejad is set to visit Brazil next Monday. The stakes are high.
Sure, the Iranian president has played in the Western Hemisphere with the likes of Venezuela's Chavez [...]
Nobody denies that Chuck DeVore is a hard-working candidate. His bid to replace Barbara Boxer as senator is centered on tirelessly driving up and down the state building grassroots support. But he’s also working hard—maybe too hard—at painting his primary opponent, former Hewlett Packard chief Carly Fiorina, as a [...]
Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:
Race to replace disgraced Assemblyman comes to a head (OCR)
Five candidates appear on Tuesday's ballot for the 72nd Assembly District, but just two are responsible for the biting attacks that have filled voters' mailboxes for the past few weeks.
Generally speaking, three votes isn't the margin by which a massive transformation of the economy and society should be imposed by the central government.
But that's exactly what the House Democrats did tonight when they voted 220-215 to pass a bill they ill-comprehend, that would impose an authoritarian, $1.5 trillion [...]
Thirty years ago, the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was stormed by radical Islamists. Fifty-two Americans were held for 444 days. The regime marks this date each year with rallies, "death to America" chants and the burning of the Stars and Stripes. This year is different. The opposition "Green Movement" is rebutting those slogans [...]
On Wednesday morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee I sit on finally passed the "Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act." It sailed through, but faces a long and winding road to becoming law.
From day one I backed this legislation, which shoots at Iran's Achilles' heel - its reliance on gas imports. Despite' [...]
The following is a RedCounty.com EXCLUSIVE:
In my time in Congress, I have made safeguarding our nation’s borders a top priority. An unsecured border puts our nation at unacceptable risk.
Legal immigration is part of the fabric of California’s rich history. But illegal immigration threatens to undermine our security. We must restore [...]
Back in August, I warned of the big changes coming in the Obama Administration's Sudan policy ("A 180 on Sudan"). Contrary to previous positions taken by senior U.S. officials, signs pointed to an all "incentives" policy with the genocidal government in Khartoum, Sudan.
Concerns were only heightened by public comments [...]
Last week I posted on the Taliban threat sweeping across Pakistan in what was a two-week long attack on its nuclear-armed government ("Who is Afraid of the Taliban?"). In a long telegraphed move, the Pakistani army responded, with 30,000 troops entering the "militant mini-state" of South Waziristan in recent days.
Sherry [...]
It's my experience that every government bureaucracy can learn from the private sector. That's certainly the case with our very large, and yes, bureaucratic, intelligence community. This impressed me again reading this week's New Yorker profile ("The Secret Keeper") of private intelligence and security guru Jules Kroll, penned by William Finnegan.
Kroll, [...]
The Western CPAC Conference kicks off tomorrow in Orange County, California. The conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel, Newport Beach. There is a great lineup of speakers slated for the event, including Red County Editor-in-Chief, Matt Cunningham. Matt will be participating in the Online Conservatism: Tweeting the Message segment [...]
Two items involving advanced and nuclear scientists that deserve greater attention:
France. This week, a French scientist of Algerian descent appeared before an anti-terrorism investigative judge for "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise" after it was found that he had been in touch with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - [...]
It has been a frightening few days of headlines coming out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Making matters worse, if press leaks are true, discussions in President Obama's war room are pie-in-the sky.
Friday's Washington Post - "Emerging Goal for Afghanistan: Weaken, Not Vanquish, Taliban" - reports in part, "[Obama] and his [...]
President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"For what?" was my first thought.
I then told my wife.
"Oh my gosh -- for what?" was her stunned response.
Next, I went to the DrudgeReport. The headline: "For What?"
I have to imagine that is the almost universal reaction to this inexplicable action. President [...]
CNN will air a joint interview today with Secretary Gates and Clinton, discussing topics ranging from Afghanistan to Iran. This morning, the Associated Press described a portion of the interview this way: "Clinton says the session in Geneva yielded three agreements that buy time for the U.S. to assess Iran's seriousness [...]
This evening, President Obama flies to Copenhagen to pitch the International Olympic Committee on Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 summer games. He’ll join the first lady, Oprah (Chicago’s first lady) and other Chicago notables making the rounds. The competition comes from Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. One IOC [...]
Is the Russian ruling duo's love affair over? That's the question Kremlin watchers are asking after observing the jockeying between President Medvedev and ex-President Putin in recent weeks.
In May 2008, Vladimir Putin stepped down as President, made sure his protégé Dmitry Medvedev took his place, and then became Prime Minister [...]
If you're among the 80 percent of Americans with no opinion/have never heard of the U.N. Secretary General, you're forgiven. As all eyes are on the U.N. rogues gallery this week, many may indeed be wondering who is the man standing off to the side? He is Ban Ki-moon, United [...]
There's a lot of economic news to follow. Here's some you may have missed. These issues are especially interesting to me because I've been very involved in our policy toward South Korea, India and Africa. They might interest you.
Trade rolls on. The world is moving forward with trade measures, while the U.S.' [...]
Over the past few months, the Iranian regime has stolen an election, cracked the skulls of dissidents, and made a former Revolutionary Guards leader defense minister. Oh, and in February it successfully launched a satellite into orbit using the same technology needed for an ICBM. But, the threat from the [...]
When most people hear "book burning," they think back to Nazi "action against the un-German spirit" campaign of 1933. But there it was just last year: "I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt." Words of Farouk Hosny, Egypt's culture minister, said during an exchange' [...]
Space just opened up on the FBI's most wanted list. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a top al-Qaeda go between in Africa, was killed yesterday by U.S. forces operating in Somalia. Nabhan was wanted in connection with terrorist attacks on the African continent.
This is much more intriguing than the usual "terrorist killed" headline [...]
Carly Fiorina, who is exploring a senate run to supplant Barbara Boxer, might not be committed enough to risk her personal fortune in a campaign, according to a Red State post, undermining a major reason why the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) might give her support.
The San Francisco Chronicle [...]
I have become pretty accustomed to reading rather bizarre stuff from Steve Greenhut. His tiresome attacks on the U.S. military, his cartoonish suggestions that the founding fathers share his vision for America, and the joy he gets in seeing people like Barack Obama elected President – it is all [...]
A new report from an organization called the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) calls for the dollar to be ditched and replaced with a new global reserve currency. Why is it that the U.N. always concludes that central is better? This discussion, of course, has been prodded by [...]
Well, there goes another one.
I just read an e-mail alert from the FlashReport.org: Dave Lopez from KCAL and R. Scott Moxley at OC Weekly have broken a sex scandal involving married Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who they report has been having simultaneous affairs with two married women lobbyists.
Duvall [...]
He is wanted by Argentina for a terrorist attack. He is listed by the E.U. as a person linked to Iran's proliferation activities. He appears on an Interpol "Red Notice." He is...Iran's new Defense Minister.
Yesterday, the Iranian "parliament" approved the appointment of 18 cabinet posts. Three were not approved. When the roster [...]
"The interrogators are about to be interrogated." That's how Richard Cohen puts it in his Washington Post op-ed today ("Torture's Unanswerable Questions") about last week's appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate claims of CIA prisoner abuse detailed in a released Inspector General report. The liberal writer, struggling with [...]
In a not-so-stunning (but very welcome to those of us who have been screaming this for at least a year) poll out today from Rasmussen, GOP voters stated what most of us already understand:
Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Still Out of Touch
Amen.
From the article about this poll:
Seventy-four [...]
That California has had budget difficulties for years is well known. The growth of government spending in California has rapidly outstripped taxes, now among the highest in the nation.
One rapidly growing part of our budget has been the state prison system, now accounting for about 11 percent of [...]
With its recent release of two American journalists and a South Korean worker, North Korea is again looking for a new start with the U.S. and others. That's what the cottage industry that follows North Korean maneuverings says. Perhaps, but why do I feel like I have seen this movie before...
Experience tells [...]
The annual September gathering at the U.N. in New York has been hard to take seriously. Remember Ahmadinejad at Columbia University, a lamentable sideshow, or Chavez addressing this "august" gathering by ranting about the U.S. devil? Looks like another bad show is shaping-up.
Newsweek reports ("A Wet Kiss for Qadhafi") [...]
A few thoughts from afar on Secretary of State Clinton's concluding seven-nation, eleven-day Africa trip:
The agenda was certainly grueling. Even with official support, I don't envy a country every 1.57 days over a week and a half. You have to wonder whether much of substance can be achieved in such a' [...]
I woke up this morning to the lousy news that a Thai court has rejected a U.S. request to extradite notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout to face terrorism charges. There was Bout, flashing a "V" sign on his way out of the courtroom. Forgive the Shakespeare reference, but something is rotten [...]
If those sporting “Save Darfur” t-shirts are a bit agitated these days, it's probably because the Obama Administration looks to be letting them down -- big time. Little noticed, Administration officials are headed towards making a big about-face: "changing" Sudan policy.
You see, when the Obama Administration came to [...]
I admire it when people admit being wrong. Having the guts to reassess the facts in a public forum makes one a more credible voice in policy debates. Such an admission came today from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in his op-ed, "Rethinking North Korea, With Sticks."
In a 2005 column, [...]
Africa's most populous, and perhaps most important, country risks being torn apart. Last week, Nigeria suffered a string of violence between an Islamist group named Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces that left over 800 dead.
The group , which translates into "education is prohibited" seeks to impose a strict form of [...]
"He speaks English." That was a recent response from the White House press secretary when challenged on the qualifications of President Obama's campaign contributor and nominee for Ambassador to The Court of St. James's, that's the U.K.
I picked-up this tongue-in-cheek exchange in a blog attack (Daily Beast: "Obama's Embassies for' [...]
Viktor Bout inspired the 2005 action movie Lord of War. He is a gun-running former Soviet pilot who fueled death and destruction worldwide, plaguing Africa in particular. Fortunately, Bout has been jailed in Thailand since March of 2008, when a U.S. DEA-led sting operation got him. He is charged in New York with [...]
A few years ago, the U.S. interests section in Havana, Cuba - operating out of the fifth floor of the Swiss Embassy - got creative. They installed a Times Square-style news ticker in the windows to send messages to the Cuban people. Not exactly normal procedure when it comes to [...]
If you're a White House or State Department official and see that Vice President Biden has an interview scheduled, you get nervous.
Coming on the heels of his trip to former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia, the Veep in a Wall Street Journal interview ("Biden Says Weakened Russia Will Bend' [...]
I admit it. I'm a bit fanatical when it comes to "surrogate broadcasts." Today, a Foreign Affairs Subcommittee held a hearing featuring Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US government-backed media operation based in Prague. My interest in these broadcasts stems from a trip to East Berlin long ago, where a man told' [...]
"This is what anarchy looks like, at least the type of anarchy where the family of [Hugo] Chavez accumulates wealth and power as the rest of us fear for our lives." Words of a cattleman living in Hugo Chavez's home state of Barinas, Venezuela. The governor of Barinas is Hugo Chavez's' [...]
Secretary Clinton has taken a bit of deserved heat for her comment this week that North Korea is acting out like a child, seeking attention. Her unfortunate quote hopefully doesn't reflect her true views of North Korea. Obama Administration policies will tell.
We struggle with characterizing North Korea, needless to say. In May, I' [...]
Battle lines have been drawn once again in Washington's on-again, never quite off-again war against the CIA. Congressional controversy has erupted over revelations that the CIA was developing a secret plan to kill al-Qaeda terrorists.
According to press reports, "the goal of the program was to assemble teams of CIA and [...]
Today's Washington Post has a good investigative piece ("Who Will Succeed Kim Jong Il") on Kim Jong Un, the Dear Leader's third and youngest son and favorite to succeed the ill North Korean dictator and of which little is known. The reporting comes from Switzerland, where the boy spent about [...]
I am going to keep this as short as possible. Steve Greenhut and I agree that “guilt by association” is a logical fallacy. It is no replacement for sound thinking, and it has no place in the world of intelligent discourse. But as a reply to Greenhut’s abominable post [...]
Four months ago, I posted ("Somali immigrants disappear - destination jihad?") on alarming accounts of Somali-American youths disappearing from Minneapolis to join the jihad in Somalia. News now comes that the FBI unsealed indictments yesterday in Minnesota charging two young Somali-Americans with providing material support to terrorists. According to court documents, [...]
Eric Ingemunson, Ed Royce, Chip Hanlon, Matthew Cunningham, jconstantine
