The European response to Michael Wolff's book has been outright shock.

Tomorrow's front page: Trump’s mental health questioned by top aide #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/mE0d6NkM0S

— The Times of London (@thetimes) January 4, 2018

Courtesy of WaPo: 

European commentary on President Trump is rarely flattering, but the cascading revelations alleged in Michael Wolff’s tell-all book “Fire and Fury,” drew an especially fierce response from a horrified continent. 

“Is Trump still sane?” asked the Friday lead headline on the site of Germany’s most respected conservative paper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The piece was published under the topic “mental health.” 

Meanwhile, British readers woke up to the Times of London's main front page headline that also wondered about the president’s stability: “Trump’s mental health questioned by top aide.” 

“Donald Trump’s right-hand man openly questioned his fitness to serve and predicted that he would resign to avoid being removed by his own cabinet, according to a book that the US president tried to block yesterday,” wrote the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Times of London.

For its part, France’s paper of record, Le Monde, just described the book as “haunting.” 

Trump has never been too popular in Western Europe, with approval ratings in many countries hovering in the single or lower double digits. But even though disagreement with Trump has almost become the norm here, some of Friday’s public responses to Wolff’s book still appeared unprecedented.

Let's face it, Donald Trump was NEVER going to gain any real credibility in Europe.

Those people have first hand knowledge of dealing with thin skinned megalomaniacs.

But I think that this book by Michael Wolff is going to make even those who have seemed more open to negotiating with Trump, like Britain's Theresa May, think twice about dealing with a man deemed stupid or even mentally ill by his closest subordinates.

In other words the world likely no longer sees America as having a functional leader, and there is no way that is good for our country.

France leads the way.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday unveiled measures aimed at educating the public and schoolchildren about sexism and violence against women and improving police support for victims.  

During his campaign Macron, who won the presidential election in May, promised to rethink sexual politics and gender equality, which he made a national cause for his five-year mandate. 

The Harvey Weinstein scandal in the United States has accelerated a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance. 

“Let’s seal a pact of equality between men and women,” Macron said in a speech marking the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. 

About violence and sexual abuse, he said: “It is essential that shame changes camp.” During his speech, Macron observed a minute’s silence for the 123 women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016. 

That is the kind of national response that we need here in America.

And that is the kind of leadership we deserve.

In fact that is the kind of leadership we once enjoyed.....

 ...not so very long ago.

Donald Trump wants a huge military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to show up the French.

Pres. Trump says the U.S. may have military parade down Pennsylvania Ave. on July 4 to "show our military strength" https://t.co/QL9OUZ2UFf pic.twitter.com/yIO8kAxsSW

— ABC News (@ABC) September 18, 2017

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Who doesn’t love a parade? To a city that already offers many, President Donald Trump wants to add one that showcases U.S. military might. 

It would take place on July 4 in Washington with, as Trump envisions it, tanks and planes rolling down and streaking above Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Trump talked up the idea Monday as he sat down for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the president and first lady Melania Trump for France’s military parade in the center of Paris on Bastille Day in July. Trump said the two-hour procession was a “tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France” and suggested he wants the same for Americans. 

In typical Trump fashion, the president said he wants the parade to be bigger and better than the one he saw in France. 

“It was one of the greatest parades I have ever seen,” Trump said. “It was two hours on the button, and was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and the spirit of France.” 

“And to a large extent, because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July 4th in Washington, down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Trump said. “We’re going to have to try and top it.”

You may remember that Trump actually wanted a military style parade for his inauguration: 

“They were legit thinking Red Square/North Korea-style parade,” the source said, referring to massive military parades in Moscow and Pyongyang, typically seen as an aggressive display of muscle-flexing.

That plan was discouraged because Pennsylvania Avenue is not built to support tanks and huge military vehicles. I somehow doubt that the street has been reinforced since that date.

At this point I don't even think that Donald Trump has a tiny penis.

I think he has an inny where his manhood is supposed to be. 

By the way this was Chief of Staff John Kelly's reaction as Trump addressed the UN for the very first time today. 

John Kelly, left, reacts as he listens to President Trump's U.N. speech. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP) https://t.co/mPR68T7rJ4 pic.twitter.com/MGNQ2jVWVc

— Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) September 19, 2017

Yeah, I don't think Kelly is going to be able to hang in there much longer.

Now even Reebok is mocking Donald Trump over his inappropriate remarks to the French President's wife.

In case you were wondering when it IS appropriate to say, "You're in such good shape...beautiful,"... THIS: pic.twitter.com/Z1cnnRD8Ut

— Reebok (@Reebok) July 14, 2017

Courtesy of The Hill: 

The sports brand Reebok is mocking President Trump’s compliments of French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife that were made during Trump's visit to France last week. 

The sports apparel company posted a graphic to their Twitter account on Friday. 

In a chart, labeled “when is it appropriate to say, ‘You’re in such good shape…beautiful’” several scenarios are listed, including “Are you a world leader greeting the spouse of a head of state?” and “Are you in an elevator with a woman." In response, the company advises: “No.”

“Did you just find a forgotten action figure from your youth, unscathed after decades, in your parents’ basement?” is the only scenario on the chart that is labeled as appropriate for Trump’s quote.

Of course the ad is in response to this interaction between Trump and  First Lady Brigitte Macron.

Mocked on television, mocked in the news, and now even mocked in advertisements.

I guess this is what the Trumpsters call "winning?"

Donald Trump defends son, suggests that ANYBODY would have welcomed foreign interference in our elections.

WATCH: Trump's full answer on Don, Jr.: "From a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting." pic.twitter.com/FHa3q11uya

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 13, 2017

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Donald Trump has defended his son in public over his meeting with a Russian lawyer last year, telling a press conference in Paris “most people would have taken that meeting” and ignoring questions about whether offers of political assistance from potential agents of foreign governments should be reported to the FBI.

Actually that is NOT true and has not been true for campaigns in the past.

Trump also sort of fogged over the other two people in this meeting, who for the record were his son-in-law/campaign adviser Jared Kushner, and his campaign manager at the time Paul Manafort.

And for both of them this could be a much bigger problem than it might be for Junior.

To be clear what Trump said in this answer is that he finds it perfectly acceptable to allow a foreign agent, from an unfriendly nation, to give you potentially stolen classified information that can be used to harm your opponent's chances of winning the election.

This is a man with literally NO ethics and NO respect for the rule of law.

Nor will he accept that he might have done something wrong or even that the Russia story is legitimate, as he essentially spells out in a recent interview with Reuters: 

"The only frustration is that this Russia story is a hoax made up by the Democrats as an excuse for losing an election that they should have won because it’s almost impossible for a Republican to win the Electoral College.” 

"There was zero coordination. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. There’s no coordination, this was a hoax, this was made up by the Democrats." 

"This is the greatest con job in history, where a party sits down the day after they got their ass kicked, and they say, 'Huh, what’s our excuse?'” 

"It just continues and continues, and honestly it’s a disgrace, and it’s very bad for our country. And the Russians must be laughing, because this narrative is so bad for us as a country." 

If the Russians are laughing it because their hand picked president is obfuscating just as they expected him to do in response to the findings by American intelligence agencies. 

Which of course undermines people's faith in those agencies and allows Russia much more leeway in their next attacks on our democracy.

By the way Trump has also announced that he is "open" to inviting Putin to the White House.

Courtesy of NBC News :

President Donald Trump would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House "at the right time," according to White House-released excerpts of an off-the-record conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One Wednesday night that was later released. 

"I don't think this is the right time," the president said of the hypothetical White House invitation, "but the answer is yes, I would. Look it's very easy for me to say absolutely, I won't. That's the easy thing for me to do, but that's the stupid thing to do. Let's be the smart people not the stupid people."

Yes let's be "the smart people" and invite the guy who just hacked out election to walk right into the White House.

Hell why not?

After all it's not like his spies have no already been there.

Seriously, this guy is not even pretending that he is not working for the Kremlin anymore.

Donald Trump is currently busy embarrassing us in France.

The awkward handshakes continue. This time with the First Lady of France. pic.twitter.com/ac0kNbvyqM

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 13, 2017

Oh God, please stop manhandling the First Ladies of other countries.

Courtesy of NBC News:   

As Trump touched down in France Thursday to celebrate Bastille Day and to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Americans' entry into World War I, many Parisians said they recognized the importance of a U.S. president’s visit — but they wished that president wasn’t Donald Trump.

We know how you feel France, we know how you feel.

According to the Washington Post Trump really only wanted to come to France because they were going to have a military parade: 

President Trump was not expected to attend France’s Bastille Day, which this year will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I. 

But then he learned there would be a military parade. 

French President Emmanuel Macron told Trump in a June 27 phone call about the event, which this year will feature U.S. and French troops marching through the historic streets near the Arc de Triomphe, fighter jets cutting through the skies above, and flags, horses and military equipment on display — the sort of spectacle that Trump wanted to stage at his own inauguration in January. 

Trump told Macron he would be there, according to a White House official, and French and U.S. officials rushed to schedule a last-minute trip that will last about 27 hours and include dinner at an opulent restaurant in the Eiffel Tower and a visit to Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb.

He's like a child who get invited to ride on a fire engine. 

Seriously, is this presidency almost over yet?

France kindly corrects false White House video attacking Paris climate change accord.

We’ve seen the @WhiteHouse video about the #ParisAccord. We disagree – so we’ve changed it. #MakeThePlanetGreatAgain. pic.twitter.com/8A92MBwe6c

— France Diplomacy🇫🇷 (@francediplo_EN) June 2, 2017

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

On Friday, just one day after the White House posted its video on YouTube claiming staying in the pact would cost the U.S. economy and jobs, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs posted an “edited” version with what officials said are the actual facts of the matter.

The new video changes messages like “The Paris Accord is a bad deal for America” to “Leaving the Paris Accord is a bad deal for America — and the world.” 

And the ministry’s has the perfect response to the U.S. video’s claims that the pact would cost the U.S. economy 6.5 million industrial sector jobs. “Many major U.S. companies from all sectors, such as Exxon Mobile, Schneider Electric or Microsoft, disagree,” the French video says. 

While the White House video claims the pact was “badly negotiated” by the Obama administration, the French version says it was “comprehensively negotiated.” 

The modified video shows off a deft and clever command of the English language. The fact that it is in English is a clear attempt to communicate with Americans, and in a style very different from Trump’s.

"In a style very different from Trump's" That means coherent.

So to be clear we have, in the span of the span of less than six months, gone from a country admired around the world, to one whose leaders must be corrected by the leaders of other countries like an elementary school child who stayed up late playing video games instead of doing their homework.

If you need me I will be hiding my head in shame until somebody removes this orange shitgibbon from office.

French President Emmanuel Macron has a message for the United States.

To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the US: pic.twitter.com/qxjPX8MhKt

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 1, 2017

Courtesy of Share Blue:  

Tonight, I wish to tell the United States: France believes in you. The world believes in you. I know that you are a great nation. I know your history – our common history. 

To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the President of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland. I call on them: Come and work here with us, to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. 

I can assure you: France will not give up the fight.

First thing I notice is that the President of France has a much better command of the English language than does our current American president.

And secondly I once again find myself green with envy toward the people of France. 

I'm REALLY getting tired of that.

French President Emmanuel Macron attacks two Russian media outlets for spreading fake news while standing right next to Vladimir Putin.

🇫🇷 Avec #Poutine à ses côtés, #Macron qualifie d'organes de propagande @sputnik_fr et @RTenfrancais, médias financés par le Kremlin pic.twitter.com/6RiMDYjYU8

— B3infos (@B3infos) May 29, 2017

Check out Putin's body language.

Macron tears into Putin's sham propaganda machine, calling it what it is — while standing right next to Putin at a joint press conference https://t.co/X8FHASa9FN

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 29, 2017

Courtesy of the AP:

French President Emmanuel Macron has made an extraordinary attack on two Russian media outlets, saying they acted as “propaganda” organs during France’s election campaign. 

Speaking at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Macron accused the two outlets, Russia Today and Sputnik, of spreading fake news. 

He said that’s why he banned their reporters from his campaign headquarters during the race for the French presidency, which he went on to win May 7.

Damn! Look at the set of balls on Macron!

You know it is not often that I feel jealous of France, but damn do I feel jealous of France.

I would give almost anything to have a man with that kind of courage and integrity leading our country.

Oh wait, we just had that. 

(H/T to Democratic Underground.)

Donald Trump tries to handshake bully French President Emmanuel Macron, fails miserably.

The Trump/Macron handshake 👇 (h/t @NoahGrayCNN) pic.twitter.com/Ce3ZznfuxM

— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) May 25, 2017

As you can see in this tweet Trump attempts that whole Mafia dominating handshake thing that he is known for, but the mighty Macron totally holds firm and does not allow his tiny hands to win the day.

Later after Macron throws a little shade Trump's way by greeting Angela Merkel and several others before deigning to acknowledge Trump, he attempts the same maneuver, and once again Macron refuses to be pulled off balance or bullied by Cheeto Hitler.  By the way Trump also told Macron that "You were my guy," while meeting him as if the internet did not even exist to prove that claim wrong.

(H/T to Wonkette.)

It appears that Russian hackers are now trying to influence French presidential election. Deja vu anybody?

Courtesy of the New York Times:

On the eve of the most consequential French presidential election in decades, the staff of the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron said late Friday that the campaign had been targeted by a “massive and coordinated” hacking operation, one with the potential to destabilize the nation’s democracy before voters go to the polls on Sunday. 

The digital attack, which involved a dump of campaign documents including emails and accounting records, emerged hours before a legal prohibition on campaign communications went into effect. While the leak may be of little consequence, the timing makes it extremely difficult for Mr. Macron to mitigate any damaging fallout before the runoff election, in which he faces the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who has pledged to pull France out of the euro and hold a referendum to leave the European Union.

The hacking immediately evoked comparisons to last year’s presidential election in the United States, during which American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, ordered an “influence campaign” to benefit the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. 

Groups linked to Russia, that are also believed to have been involved in the hacking related to the 2016 United States presidential campaign, have previously been accused of trying to breach the Macron organization. Security experts tracking the activity of suspected Russian hackers say they believe those same groups were involved in this latest attack.

In a statement, the Macron campaign said the hackers had mixed fake documents along with authentic ones, “to sow doubt and misinformation.”

As stated in this article this is made worse by the fact that there is currently a news blackout, which is customary before an election in France, but which is keeping the Macron campaign from defending itself and keeping journalists from reporting on what is factual and what is false in the data dump. 

Rachel Maddow tried to do her part last night by reporting on this in the hopes that some in France will watch the segment and realize that they are being manipulated.

It should be noted that Macron's opponent Marine Le Pen recently visited Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin so there is no pretense here that this is not designed to help her win the election, just like Russia's interference helped Donald Trump emerge victorious here in America.

Keep in mind that Putin is looking to break up the European Union and to destabilize the power of the Western countries. He wants to move Russia up the food chain and is working to accomplish that by turning the other big fish into minnows.

In my mind that should have people in France flocking to vote for Emmanuel Macron, but then again I made the same argument for why people needed to vote for Hillary in 2016.

Here's hoping that the French are smarter than the Americans.

Barack Obama weighs in on France presidential election, backs Emmanuel Macron.

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Barack Obama has made a last-minute intervention in the French presidential election in support of Emmanuel Macron, saying “the success of France matters to the entire world”. 

Macron, a centrist, faces Marine Le Pen of the far-right Front National in a runoff vote on Sunday. Polls put him 20 points ahead. 

The former US president said he had chosen to declare his support, in a video tweeted by Macron on Thursday afternoon, because of the importance of the election.

“I’m not planning to get involved in many elections now that I don’t have to run for office but the French election is very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about,” he said. 

Obama said he supported Macron because he appealed to “people’s hopes and not their fears” and ended his message with the words “Vive la France.”

As you may know the former president is incredibly popular in Europe, and France is only second to Germany in their adoration for our former Commander-in-Chief.

So this could do much to help Macron, especially since Trump has all but endorsed his opponent Marine Le Pen.

Having successfully hijacked the election in America Russia set their sights on France.

Marie Le Pen and Vladimir Putin.

Courtesy of Salon: 

As the French prepare to vote Sunday in a presidential election marked by acrimonious debate about Russian influence in Europe, there’s little doubt about which candidate Moscow backs.

Last month, the combative populist Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Front flew to Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin. It was a display of longtime mutual admiration. The frontrunner in a field of 11 candidates, Le Pen shrugs off allegations of corruption and human rights abuses against Putin, calling him a tough and effective leader. Her hard-line views on immigration, Islam and the European Union win praise from Putin and enthusiastic coverage from Russian media outlets. Her campaign has been propelled by a loan of more than $9 million from a Russian bank in 2014, according to Western officials and media reports. 

Meanwhile, aides to Emmanuel Macron, the center-left former economy minister who is Le Pen’s top rival, have accused Russia of hitting his campaign with cyberattacks and fake news reports about his personal life. Although French officials say the computer disruptions were minor and there is no conclusive proof of links to the Russian state, President François Hollande and other leaders have warned about the risk of interference comparable to hacking operations that targeted the U.S. elections. The French government, aided by briefings from U.S. agencies about their experience last year, has beefed up its cyber defenses.

“The Russians have had an aggressive espionage presence here for a long time,” a senior French intelligence official said. “The Russians now have more spies, more clandestine operations, in France than they did in the Cold War.”

This is really the lesson that the world needs to take from the election of Donald Trump, and that is that the Russians wish to disrupt their democracy in such as way as to not only select an incompetent leader but to also show that their political process is deeply flawed.

In short Russia wishes to completely undermine western democracy.

(Let's not forget the UK officials are also accusing the Russians of interfering in the Brexit vote.)

One would think that at this point rational people would immediately reject ANY candidate that was complimentary toward Vladimir Putin, or who had actually traveled to meet him, but sadly there are literally millions of irrational people driven by deeper feelings of racism and nationalism.

These are people who use their fear and insecurities to choose a candidate, and not logic nor intelligence.

If Putin gets his way Trump may soon be joined by a number of deeply flawed, and easily manipulated, world leaders who will either refuse, or be unable, to stand in the Russian leader's way as he accumulates even more riches and positions himself as a key power in the world.

And that, in no way, bodes well for the future of America or Western Democracy.

The French want Obama to lead them. Seriously, who can blame them?

Courtesy of CNN: 

Could France elect Barack Obama president? Not really -- but that's not stopping the organizers of Obama17, a guerrilla campaign trying to entice the former U.S. president to head to Paris. 

"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama," one of the campaign organizers told CNN. 

They've launched a website and they put up 500 posters of Obama around Paris last weekend, said the organizer. He asked to be identified only as Antoine. 

They're hoping to get 1 million people to sign a petition urging Obama to run.

This can't happen of course, but some citizens in France are panicking because they are on the verge of electing their own version of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen.

Hopefully they will be luckier than we were, and THEIR voters will be a little smarter.

Probably the best tweet about Brexit that I have seen so far.

Amazing Guardian comment on the poisoned chalice of #Brexit. pic.twitter.com/WEQjs1SGkA

— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) June 25, 2016

Well if this is accurate then David Cameron is something of a political genius and Boris Johnson just stepped in a huge pile of poo.

By the way it appears that this Brexit vote has also had a rather alarming affect on Britain's economic status as well, as France has now replaced them as the fifth largest economy.

I say, good job old chaps.

Sarah Palin gushes over the new face of the far right French political party Front National.

Source

"I have a political crush."

That's how Palin's mash note in Breitbart to Marion Maréchal-Le Pen begins.

Palin (Okay well mostly her ghostwriter.) continues to get all girl crushy on this newest face of the French party whose founder, and her grandfather, once said that the Holocaust was "a point of detail of the history of the Second World War."

The Front National is decidedly pro-law and order and anti-immigration. And Marion Maréchal-Le Pen has been called the "French Donald Trump."

Palin offers this defense:  

What she’s saying should not be controversial. It’s common sense. The western values enjoyed by every French citizen regardless of their religion are necessarily rooted in those 16 Christian centuries. Our understanding of human rights and human dignity comes from the Judeo-Christian worldview that shaped modern Europe. If you transplant to your shores a foreign population that’s hostile to the very things your country stands for, you won’t have a country for very long. This is the hard truth. You can’t maintain a peaceful liberal democracy with people who want to impose Sharia law on you. 

But for some reason saying this out loud is considered “hate speech” or xenophobia in Europe. They can even press criminal charges against you for it!

Somewhere right now Donald Trump is imagining the xenophobic threesome to beat all xenophobic threesomes.

Palin even makes it easy for us to see the similarities between Maréchal-Le Pen and our own Right Wing nuts:  

We see the same thing happening here in America. Call it the rise of the populists. Pundits are already seeing the similarities between Marion and Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% . All are non-establishment candidates taking on corrupt, entrenched, and detached political elites who are more interested in preserving their own power than in defending their countries. 

It’s time to wake up, America. Nowhere in Europe or America is safe from this Great War against the Death Cult. San Bernardino wasn’t a one-off phenomenon. ISIS is already here. According to a House Homeland Security report, over 250 people in the U.S. have attempted to join ISIS (that we know about), and 82 have been caught in ISIS plots. Meanwhile, the FBI has nearly 1,000 open cases involving ISIS that we know of.

Nope, no Islamophobic hyperbole there.

As the Guardian points out, there are plenty of reasons for Palin to admire Maréchal-Le Pen

Maréchal-Le Pen has stood out for adopting socially conservative stances that are more extreme than her aunt, Marine. She was a key figure in France’s anti-gay marriage demonstrations of 2013.

She has opposed the French state providing free abortions, saying some women should pay for them. 

Oh yeah, anti-immigration, anti-gay, anti-abortion, you can almost hear Palin's panties getting damp.

 Well I think it's too early to blame this on the "Palin curse" but it seems that Maréchal-Le Pen's popularity was not enough to carry the day in France:

The party was beaten into third place, despite leading in six of 13 regions in the first round of voting a week ago. 

The centre-right Republicans finished ahead of President Francois Hollande's governing Socialist Party.

Of course the party's current leader Marine Le Pen, also Maréchal-Le Pen's aunt, blamed the loss on the fact that the other parties colluded to keep Front National out of power.

Somehow I doubt that this is the last we are going to hear from Maréchal-Le Pen, unless of course the Palin curse still has enough power to reach across the Atlantic Ocean.

Marco Rubio is not happy (But he's kind of happy.) about the Paris attacks.

Courtesy of Addicting Info: 

When Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio was asked by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he thinks his “foreign policy credentials” are giving him “a boost with voters” after the terror attacks, Rubio responded: 

“I obviously am not happy about the events that happened last week in Paris, but I think it’s a positive development that it suddenly has forced Americans to confront more carefully the issue of national security, because it is the most important thing a president will do, and it’s the most important function of the federal government.” 

He literally just said, “I’m not happy, BUT…” So, in other words, yes, he is quite pleased that an event took place that will boost his polls numbers as he’s able to display what a xenophobic war hawk he is.

Make no mistake, the attacks in Paris are a gift to the Republican candidates.

Their only real hope of defeating the Democratic candidate is for the American people to be frightened into voting for what they perceive as the party of defense.

Remember that during the Bush administration we were kept in a constant state of fear with those terror warnings which allowed the Republicans to torture in our name, spy on us in our homes, and attack Iraq without justification.

Unfortunately for the Republicans our most likely candidate will be Hillary Clinton, and it is hard to make the case that the former Secretary of State will not be aware and prepared for acts of terrorism.

In fact she is currently leading in the polls when Americans are asked who they trust more to protect us from terrorism. 

Yes I know they will attack her over Benghazi (Good luck with that!), and just about everything else they can come up with, but the fact still remains that her resume puts ALL of theirs to shame.

Precious moment between father and son in wake of terrorist attacks in Paris.

You know I like to consider myself pretty much a badass, but this did me in completely.

Some people are born to be parents.

And that guy is certainly doing it right.

"You will not have my hatred." Message from a Parisian man to the terrorists who murdered his wife.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATRED 

Friday night, you took an exceptional life -- the love of my life, the mother of my son -- but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart. 

So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You're asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost. 

I saw her this morning. Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access. 

We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.

You are a better man than I Antoine Leiris.

President Obama and Vladimir Putin pledge to wipe out Daesh in wake of terrorists attacks in Paris.

Courtesy of the Mirror:

America and Russia have pledged to wipe out ISIS . 

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin sat down at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, for crucial talks. 

The two world leaders were pictured huddled around a coffee table in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris .

And Obama and Putin are by no means alone in wanting to bring the fight to the terrorists.

Already France has launched a series of air attacks: 

France bombed the Syrian city of Raqqa on Sunday night, its most aggressive strike against the Islamic State group it blames for killing 129 people in a string of terrorist attacks across Paris only two days before. 

President François Hollande, who vowed to be “unforgiving with the barbarians” of the Islamic State after the carnage in Paris, decided on the airstrikes in a meeting with his national security team on Saturday, officials said.

I totally support the idea of going after the terrorists, but I very much want people to keep in mind the lessons of the Iraq War and  remember that killing people in predominantly Muslim countries in retaliation for attacks conducted by Muslim extremists only exacerbates the problem and does nothing to keep us safe, but rather puts all of us in greater danger.

Sometimes the idea of killing them over there, before they kill us over here, only makes more of them over there want to kill us over here.

P.S. By the way for those confused as to who I am referring to in the title, "Daesh" is the name that ISIS does NOT want you to call them. So of course that will be the only name that should be used to refer to them.