I'll never forget the contrast, and it felt like a knife to the gut.
There were photographs of American sailors kneeling on the open deck of a boat with their hands behind their heads in supplication to their Iranian captors along with a photograph of the one female U.S. sailor being forced to wear a hijab.
And the same day, there were photographs and video of the man who is president of this country, glad-handing and kissing his way into the House chamber, where he gave what is ludicrously called the "State of the Union" address.
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But Barack Obama omitted something very critical to the current State of the Union, and it was an intentional.
He made no mention whatsoever that, mere hours before his public spectacle before TV cameras, it was revealed and videos showed our country and our military were made fools of by Iran – again!
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The fact that the president of the United States would be so smiley and glad-handy at a time when 10 U.S. sailors were held captive and being humiliated incensed me.
It brought back memories of World War II Allied prisoners, as well as Korean War and Vietnam prisoners and their humiliation. Think the Bataan Death March, Korean brainwashing and John McCain.
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It infuriates me that the man who is supposed to be the commander in chief allowed it to happen, ignored that it happened and has said nothing about it!
He left it to his henchmen to lie for him, as Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden did.
The Iranians videotaped one of our sailors confessing on camera, apologizing and thanking the Iranians for their treatment.
Despite that, Joe Biden said boldly there was no apology and nothing to apologize for.
Not only did the Iranians capture the sailors, they also took their two boats – having claimed that there was mechanical trouble on both and the crafts drifted into Iranian waters.
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As the hours passed, so did the details of that story. Quite frankly, there's been no final resolution of just how and why those boats were taken. Certainly, there has been no justifiable anger from the United States over the treatment of our military, which violated the Geneva Convention.
Did you see they forced the woman sailor to wear a hijab? Let's see, which religion is that again?
Did you see the sailors' on-camera confession and apology?
But hey, we're dealing with Iran and with Barack Obama. They write their own rules, as we see more clearly every day.
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For example: In his speech, Barack Obama presented the position of the United States concerning the economy, the military, our diplomatic standing, national security, energy, social issues, diplomacy, education, health, care of the military, immigration, defense of the usual "unnamed" religion, plans for the prisoners at Guantanamo and whatever else he could think of piled on the mound of nonsense that Alice could have dragged through the looking glass.
If we take him at his word, everything is just fine. And, as always, the dreaded terrorism doesn't exist, and there is certainly nothing like militant Islam.
He even touted our space program, which got us to the moon before the Soviets. But he neglected to mention that no sooner was he first elected than he essentially defunded NASA, canceled space projects and ordered scientists to assist Muslims in space.
He claimed we were responsible for wiping Ebola out (Oops! Another case diagnosed this week), and he gave Joe Biden the job of finding a cure for cancer – as if we haven't been trying to do that for decades.
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Am I the only one to remember that Republican President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in December 1971? It was called a "war on cancer" and declared an all-out effort to find a cause and a cure.
Successful or not isn't the issue. What is the issue is that Barack Obama talks as though he is the first person to ever have such a goal.
One wonders whether Biden will have enough time to get it done before his term is over!
And one more shocking thing Obama touted in his speech – that we have used force to defeat ISIS.
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He bragged, saying, "If you doubt me, ask Osama bin Laden, or the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen who was taken out, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attack, who sits in a jail cell."
What?! Am I the only one who caught that? The perpetrator?
First of all, it's been proven the video didn't cause the Benghazi attack, and the filmmaker, Nakoula Nakoula, was released in September 2013.
Barack Obama is either a consummate liar, or he truly believes the American people are stupid.
Or both.
Considering that he got elected not once, but twice, the latter has more than a modicum of truth.
In 1959, Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, addressed the United Nations in New York and laid out the communist plan for this country – and, as he did, he banged his shoe on the podium.
Americans were shocked and didn't believe him, judging it to be the rant of an addled foreign leader.
Looking back on it, 57 years later, it's hard to dispute his projections in light of where we are politically and economically while under the thumb of a man who's made it his goal to "fundamentally transform" this country, who has succeeded beyond anyone's expectations and who isn't done yet.
Here are the prophetic words of Nikita Khrushchev from 1959:
"Your children's children will live under communism. You Americans are so gullible. No, you won't accept communism outright; but we'll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you will finally wake up and find that you already have communism. We won't have to fight you; we'll so weaken your economy until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands."
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