Europe in Decline: Obama's Trip

President Barack Obama has returned from Europe empty handed. If he had gone there to persuade friendly heads of state in Europe to lend a fighting hand in his new military venture in Afghanistan, the trip must be counted a failure, according to the New York Times, one of the president’s innumerable media cheerleaders:

“With protesters raging outside, NATO leaders on Saturday gave a tepid troop commitment to President Obama’s escalating campaign in Afghanistan, mostly committing soldiers only to a temporary security duty…

“Despite a glowing reception and widespread praise for Mr. Obama’s style and aims, his calls for a more lasting European troop increase for Afghanistan were politely brushed aside, as they had been in negotiations leading up to the meeting.

“As expected, European allies agreed to provide up to 5,000 new troops for Afghanistan, the White House said Saturday. But 3,000 of them are to be deployed only temporarily to provide security for the August elections in Afghanistan.”

Surly anarchist prevented a visit to a cancer hospital in Strasbourg by Carla Bruni, French President’s Nicholas Sarkozy’s model wife and First Lady Michelle Obama, according to the Telegraph.

"’We've had to cancel a planned visit to the hospice because of the danger to all involved,’ said a spokesman for the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

“Michelle Obama meets Carla Bruni-Sarkozy for the first time. His glamorous wife, former model Miss Bruni, had been due to visit the sick and the dying in the centre of the ancient city, on France's border with Germany.

“But determined thugs, many wearing balaclavas and ski masks to hide their faces from police were doing everything they could to disrupts the carefully arranged programme.

“Some 1,000 protesters chanted and waved banners outside the hospice, accusing the leaders' wives of being ‘spoiled tools of capitalism’, according to one banner.”

The ravishingly beautiful Bruni for some reason gave a chilly greeting to the new American president, perhaps a show of Gallic offishness. It is a little unusual to find the plaything of so many drooling men to be less affectionate than, say, the Queen of England, who suffered a back rub from the First Lady and appeared to be warm and affectionate towards the new president.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez appears to be warming towards President Obama. The mercurial fascist often has issued warnings concerning the evils of capitalism:

“’It's impossible that capitalism can regulate the monster that is the world financial system, it's impossible,’ Chavez told Venezuela's state TV late Thursday. ‘Capitalism needs to go down. It has to end. And we must take a transitional road to a new model that we call socialism.’

Very likely, Mr. Chavez has heard of President Obama’s rebuke to a gaggle of bankers who shuffled to the White House in search of bailout funds:

“My administration,” the president warned the beggars, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Donna

I am writing this for members of my family, and for others who may be interested. My twin sister Donna died a few hours ago of stage three lung cancer. The end came quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. She was preceded in death by Lisa Pesci, my brother’s daughter, a woman of great courage who died still full of years, and my sister’s husband Craig Tobey Senior, who left her at a young age with a great gift: her accomplished son, Craig Tobey Jr. My sister was a woman of great strength, persistence and humor. To the end, she loved life and those who loved her. Her son Craig, a mere sapling when his father died, has grown up strong and straight. There is no crookedness in him. Thanks to Donna’s persistence and his own native talents, he graduated from Yale, taught school in Japan, there married Miyuki, a blessing from God. They moved to California – when that state, I may add, was yet full of opportunity – and both began to carve a living for them...

Lamont Surprised at Suit Brought Against PURA

Marissa P. Gillett, the state's chief utility regulator, watches Gov. Ned Lamont field questions about a new approach to regulation in April 2023. Credit: MARK PAZNIOKAS / CTMIRROR.ORG Concerning a suit brought by Eversource and Avangrid, Connecticut’s energy delivery agents, against Connecticut’s Public Utility Regulatory Agency (PURA), Governor Ned Lamont surprised most of the state’s political watchers by affecting surprise. “Look,” Lamont told a Hartford Courant reporter shortly after the suit was filed, “I think it is incredibly unhelpful,” Lamont said. “Everyone is getting mad at the umpires. Eversource is not getting everything they want and they are bringing suit. It was a surprise to me. Nobody notified me. I think we have to do a better job of working together.” Lamont’s claim is far less plausible than the legal claim made by Eversource and Avangrid. The contretemps between Connecticut’s energy distributors and Marissa Gillett , Gov. Ned Lamont’s ...

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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