Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted Speaker John Boehner’s invitation. President Stompy Feet says he will not host a visit; John Kerry follow’s Stompy’s lead.

(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he would address the U.S. Congress in March, saying in a statement the invitation tendered by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner was bipartisan.
Blindsiding the Obama administration, Boehner announced the invitation to Netanyahu on Wednesday, drawing White House complaints that protocol had been breached.
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The White House cries “breach of protocol“, or something:

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that usually leaders inform the White House before planning a trip to the U.S. He said the administration will decide a course of action after speaking with the Israelis about what Netanyahu will say in his address, the Associated Press reported.  (link)

WASHINGTON DC – Speaker John Boehner has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress about Iran next month, a move sure to inflame the Obama administration, which is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic.
Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to the emerging deal, and has been very vocal that the United States is making a mistake in negotiating with the nation. In many ways, he’s served as President Barack Obama’s foil as negotiations have progressed. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, is setting up a major confrontation with the Obama administration one day after the State of the Union – a move that is sure to put him in good graces with his House Republican Conference. Boehner has invited Netanyahu to address Congress for a third time Feb. 11. (more…)

Democrat Senator Menendez is not having anything to do with the White House position on acquiescence to Iran’s nuclear intentions.

WASHINGTON DC – A powerful Democratic senator is accusing the White House of using talking points “straight out of Tehran.”
During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iran nuclear negotiations Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez blasted the Obama administration for their recent talk on Iran. (more…)

(Via Stars and Stripes) For the wife of the gunman accused of killing four people at a kosher supermarket in Paris 10 days ago, the escape from questioning about complicity in the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks was relatively easy.
Once Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, got to Turkey, she followed the path of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other European jihadi volunteers before her — into the self-declared Islamic State.
Aided by smugglers in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, and several companions, she walked through a disused border crossing on Jan. 8 and into the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, which has been an Islamic State stronghold for months. (more…)

This is not a Saturday Night Live sketch, this is real [I cannot stop laughing]. This has to be the ultimate representative optic of all things liberal and ridiculous.
In an effort to repair the optics stemming from the White House skipping the French “unity rally”, someone, somewhere, probably Secretary Kerry himself, thought it would be a great idea to take James Taylor to France to sing “you’ve got a friend” publicly, on stage, with Secretary Kerry – as the liberal audience/media look on swooningly….
I just cannot stop laughing. This is too funny to even be embarrassed. Watch:

Asia Times Online,  Jan 16/2015:
Saudi reset with Iran unavoidable, as Saudi Prince Turki renames IS “Fahesh” (obscene)….

The terrorist strike last week on the Saudi border post facing the Iraqi province of Anbar — known to be the Islamic State’s first assault on the kingdom — could be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back, forcing Riyadh into a profound rethink of its regional strategies imbued with the rivalries involving Iran…
Tehran has effectively countered the Saudi plots in Syria and Iraq and at the moment would seem to have the upper hand. The last-ditch Saudi attempt to hurt the Iranian economy by forcing a steep decline in oil prices is not only not having the desired effect but, as President Hassan Rouhani explicitly warned yesterday, Riyadh may end up shooting at its own feet (as well as the Kuwaiti brother’s).

However, it is the attack on the Saudi post by the IS (killing two border guards and their commanding officer) that becomes a defining moment. The fact that the IS attackers included three Saudi nationals must be a rude awakening. To be sure, the blowback has begun. The Saudis hope to erect a ‘great wall’ and insulate themselves from the IS barbarians next door but that is sheer bravado.
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~ Actions Speak Louder Than Words ~

In recent days some western media have begun to take note of Egypt’s President Fatah al-Sisi who challenged the larger Muslim religion to confront violent religious extremism.

However, with this recent attention few are paying attention beyond the words to the concrete actions al-Sisi has quietly taken in the past eighteen months to put action where his mouth is. So allow us to highlight some of the actionable items that showcase a man of action behind his words. Since reluctantly taking power in 2013 Fatah al-Sisi has:

◾Disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood as a political terror entity. (link)  (link)
◾Arrested those who burned churches and attacked Coptic Christians. (link) (link)
◾Jailed or banished the extremist forces.  (link)
◾Supported Israel’s right to exist and defend it’s borders.  (link)  (link)
◾Defeated Hamas in the border region. (link)  (link)
◾Destroyed the border terror tunnels used by Hamas  (link) (link)
◾Pressured Hamas and the PA to negotiate the ceasefire, and forced the PA and Hamas to assemble ONE negotiating group for their interests. (link)  (link)
◾Fought extremism in the Sinai region, and fought against ISIS infiltration.
◾Fought the Libyan new al-Qaeda network “Libyan Dawn”.  (link)
◾Charged and prosecuted the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, who fled to Qatar.  (link)

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Let it not be said that no Muslim Leaders have been trying to fight openly against the extremist Islamists. On New Year’s Day, a week before the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Egyptian President Fattah El Sisi called for all muslim nations to displace violent jihad and bring Islam into the 21st century.
El Sisi has been fighting against the extremists, and confronting their financiers in Qatar, for two years… Meanwhile the Obama White House and the liberal MSM have undermined him at almost every turn.
JERUSALEM—In a speech on New Year’s day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a “religious revolution” in Islam that would displace violent jihad from the center of Muslim discourse.
“Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims worldwide) should want to kill the rest of the world’s population—that is, 7 billion people—so that they themselves may live?” he asked. “Impossible.”
Speaking to an audience of religious scholars celebrating the birth of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, he called on the religious establishment to lead the fight for moderation in the Muslim world. “You imams (prayer leaders) are responsible before Allah. The entire world—I say it again, the entire world—is waiting for your next move because this umma (a word that can refer either to the Egyptian nation or the entire Muslim world) is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost—and it is being lost by our own hands.” (more…)

For more than two years, Pastor Saeed Abedini has been held unjustly in an Iranian jail, simply for meeting with Christians in a private home.
Despite his ordeal, Abedini has maintained his strong Christian faith. Never has that faith been more evident than in an inspiring Christmas letter that he sent his family:
Rajai Shahr Prison 2014

Merry Christmas!

These days are very cold here. My small space beside the window is without glass making most nights unbearable to sleep. The treatment by fellow prisoners is also quite cold and at times hostile. Some of my fellow prisoners don’t like me because I am a convert and a pastor. They look at me with shame as someone who has betrayed his former religion. The guards can’t even stand the paper cross that I have made and hung next to me as a sign of my faith and in anticipation of celebrating my Savior’s birth. They have threatened me and forced me to remove it. This is the first Christmas that I am completely without my family; all of my family is presently outside of the country. These conditions have made this upcoming Christmas season very hard, cold and shattering for me. It appears that I am alone with no one left beside me. (more…)

Yeah, apparently Congress is well, not too terribly concerned about the missing AUMF.   Either that, or, well, they were quite comfortable relying on Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson to ask all of the insightful questions….

If you were to review the participation at today’s House Armed Services Committee for the testimony and Q&A of Defense Secretary Hagel or Joint Chief’s Martin Dempsey, you might walk away thinking our military were not in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and dealing with Ebola in West Africa.  Russia invading Ukraine, Iran getting nuclear weapons, Libya in a state of civil war, U.S. Embassy evacuated in Yemen, terrorists on the border…..
…Yeah, three effen’ hours of their time is just too much to ask for.  Oh, but they’ll parade around the military like some kind of optical pawn of patriotism.  And, yet people wonder why events like Benghazi and operation zero footprint are possible.  Seriously.