The slow death of hope for America’s loyal friends in Iraq - FT.com:
The phone calls in the past week were tearful.
I spoke to two Iraqis, former colleagues who had risked their lives for Americans, to tell them I doubted they would ever be welcomed in my country.
As France mourned murders by Islamist terrorists, and US politicians thousands of miles away spewed anti-refugee rhetoric, I realised my friends probably had no friends in Washington.
For years after the 2003 invasion,
Americans relied on Iraqis to navigate a country whose terrain we barely knew and whose sectarian loyalties it was vital to understand.
Journalists could not have survived without them.
Neither could the troops, aid workers or diplomats.
The goodwill of those caught in the middle of these war zones — whether in Iraq or now perhaps in Syria — allowed us to stay safe and do our jobs.
...In the weeks that followed, though,
I found few people in my government willing to help.
No single bureaucrat wanted to accept responsibility.
... “To be honest, I lost hope,” Nadeem said. “After this week — and what I saw in Washington — I can’t have hope.”
Sinan, so often the peacemaker during turbulent times in Iraq, told me
he does not feel especially alone in his despair; many people in Iraq feel abandoned.
Before I called, he had been working on a security brief for the UN and he shared what he knew: 10 bodies, riddled with bullets, had been found dumped in various places around Baghdad.
Yes, he said, he wished for a better life. “But it is not your fault, my dear. Don’t be angry.
I think the whole world has gone crazy.”
China may be the world’s top emitter of carbon dioxide and struggling with major pollution problems of their own, but the country is “doing it right” when it comes to fighting global warming says Figueres.
“It’s been reported that President Obama signed an Executive Order on Syria in early 2012 [just as he had done for Libya in early 2011], that legally covered the CIA and other U.S. agencies that otherwise would have been in violation of aiding and abetting the enemy in time of war and providing material support to terrorism,” notes Lopez. “Still, such blatant disregard for U.S. national security can only be described as deeply corrosive of core American principles.”
Earlier this year, I warned about “the South American financial crisis of 2015“, and now it is in full swing. 
Obama Exceeds 3-Minute Speaking Limit at Climate Change Gathering — Watch What Happens When He Gets Signal to Wrap It Up | Video | TheBlaze.com:
Russia bans George Soros charities as ‘security threat’:
But, as I say, put all that aside and take the "Belgian scheme" at face value:
Global warming gets twice as much money as border security | The Daily Caller:
After 33 years, ‘Christmas in Washington’ has been canceled - The Washington Post:
Fox News-watching, climate-change denying crowd can’t understand complex satire.”
"Seemingly arguing against simply a reauthorization of military force by Congress, many, like Long, are making it clear they are calling for a constitutional declaration of war – an action not invoked by Congress for 75 years.
The Heritage Foundation released a study last fall that found the EPA regulations the Obama administration has announced in order to achieve its climate change goals would reduce the United States’ Gross Domestic Product by $2.5 trillion by 2030. Further, employment levels would “track nearly 300,000 jobs below the no-carbon-regulation baseline in an average year, with some years seeing an employment deficit of more than 1 million jobs.”
