Credit where credit is due. The messaging from the White House about why they haven’t called the terrorist attacks “Islamic Terrorism” must have been a top priority in the past 48 hours. As noted in this shift expressed by Josh Earnest. The question was posed:

“The leader of France, your ally in this effort, has put a name on this ideology, which he calls radical Islam,” noted NPR’s Mara Liasson. “You have bent over backwards to not ever say that. There must be a reason.”

Josh Earnest Responds: “The first is accuracy. We want to describe exactly what happened. These are individuals who carried out an act of terrorism and they later tried to justify that act of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam and their own deviant view of it. (more…)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama’s administration admitted it erred by failing to send a higher-ranking representative of the United States to the Paris unity march on Sunday.
He said Obama himself would have liked to attend the march “had the circumstances been a little different.” But planning began Friday night, 36 hours before the event began, and there wasn’t enough time for the “onerous and significant” security work that needed to take place ahead of a presidential visit, Earnest said. He said Obama’s presence also would have meant extra restrictions on the people who were there. (read more)

But, but, no-one from the secret service was ever queried:

After initially doing a spit take at the ridiculousness of the question -contrast against the reality of Obama’s massive ego which would never contemplate taking advice, let alone directions- I decided to read the article. Once you get beyond the rhetorical question, that is not actually rhetorical in presentation, the end of the opinion was quite good.
However, it’s important to remember this is the same administration who tried to hide Mount Rushmore so visitors could not see it; and who put barricades around open air Washington DC monuments to punish Americans for not supporting them financially.
“Will Obama learn from Fatah al-Sisi”?….  LOLOL, how cute; apparently the author thinks that Obama’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood policy is an accident.

Washington Times […] At the core of continuing conflict is an irreconcilable difference between those who see net benefit in freedom under secular law and those who require others to surrender free will and submit to a rigid set of religious precepts.
For years, informed analysts have warned of dangers posed to freedom-loving secular nations by rigid and intolerant humans who claim they are only following instructions set from on high. (more…)

Dear Leader relishes how much you depend on him.
Dear Leader wants keep reminding you how much you depend on him.
He’s the guy who brings you things; like Christmas presents.

I agree with everything this guy says about the Republican party and his sentiment, except the date. The date the principled conservative movement actually lost any hope of reforming the Republican party was May 20th 2014.  This is the same exact date that Jeb Bush became the absolute guaranteed GOP candidate for 2016.

Everything between May 20th 2014 and November 8th 2016 is baked into the cake. 

(Bell News) The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.
Over the past 40 plus years of life I have been fed the line that if a person doesn’t vote for the Republicans then the Democrats will win. Or if we start a third party it will split the vote and the Democrats will win. (more…)

Syria using chemical weapons, meh. Russia invading Crimea, eh, oh well. Iran developing nuclear weapons, meh2.0. But a faux controversy about a possible cyber attack in Hollywood, which has controversial footprints looing more like an inside job at Sony, and watch out, here comes the xo pen – now things are serious…
WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration on Friday imposed a wave of sanctions against members of the North Korean government, amounting to the U.S. government’s first official response to the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Despite lingering questions from private security analysts over whether North Korea was responsible for the hack — as the FBI has alleged — the White House described the new sanctions as retaliation against Pyongyang.
“We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. “As the president has said, our response to North Korea’s attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today’s actions are the first aspect of our response.” (more…)

This next step continues the previously outlined Nine Stages Of Outrage – Obamacare 

(Via CNN )The next Obamacare controversy is right around the corner.
Obamacare enrollees who received subsidies to help pay for coverage will soon have to reconcile how much they actually earned in 2014 with how much they estimated when they applied many, many months ago.
This will likely lead to some very unhappy Americans. Those who underestimated their income either will receive smaller tax refunds or will owe the IRS money.
That’s because subsidies are actually tax credits and are based on annual income, but folks got their 2014 subsidy before knowing exactly what they’d make in 2014. So you’ll have to reconcile the two with the IRS during the upcoming tax filing season.
It won’t be surprising if many enrollees guessed wrong. The sign up period began in October 2013 and many people did not know what they’d earn in 2014. Some went off what they earned in 2012.  (read more)

As with prior years, each new year the official White House photographers upload a series of previously unreleased photographs to the white house Flickr photo album.

The year end pictures are available HERE in no apparent order