† The Magic Is Gone: Barack Hussein Obama redrew the electoral map in 2008 and just two years later the American people redrew it again, reports The Washington Times:

"West of Maryland and east of California, there's no good place for Obama," said Republican strategist and former Virginia official Michael McKenna. "I don't know where you start your re-election campaign. I guess you go back to Illinois, but the rest of the world looks like a pretty lonely place for him. And it ain't going to get any better."

† Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?: Here’s what real estate mogul and U.S. News & World Report editor-in-chief Mort Zuckerman – one of President Barack Hussein Obama’s (erstwhile?) supporters thinks of him now:

He came across as a young man in a grown-up's game—impressive but not presidential. A politician but not a leader, managing American policy at home and American power abroad with disturbing amateurishness. Indeed, there was a growing perception of the inability to run the machinery of government and to find the right people to manage it. A man who was once seen as a talented and even charismatic rhetorician is now seen as lacking real experience or even the ability to stop America's decline. "Yes we can," he once said, but now America asks, "Can he?"

The last two years have exposed to the public the risk that came with voting an inexperienced politician into office at a time when there was a crisis in America's economy, as the nation contended with a financial freeze, a painful recession, and two wars. The Democrats were simply not aggressive enough or focused enough in confronting the profound economic crisis represented by millions of ordinary Americans whose main concern was the lack of jobs. …

The love affair with Obama is over. The jobless will be the new swing voters. Unemployment, underemployment, and collapsing home equity will be the leading factors in 2012. The administration hopes the economy will have improved significantly by then, but it is running out of time and out of the confidence of the American public.

Editorial Note: With the consequences of Obama’s inexperience in mind, The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan makes the case that while “[t]he tea party provided the fire and passion of the election, and helped produce major wins” voters shunned “candidates who were conservative but seemed strange, or unprofessional, or not fully qualified, or like empty bags skittering along the street.” Irrespective of political ideology, voters seemed to say “We won’t get fooled again.”

† The Three Biggest Election Day Losers: Two more Election Day losers: uber-establishment candidate Mitt Romney, may not fare well in a decidedly antiestablishment political climate – especially as many Tea Partiers distrust him - and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who will have to battle Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) to become Minority Whip in the 112^th Congress now that outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicated that she will make a play to become Minority Leader.

† All The News That’s Fart To Print: The Daily Herald (Columbia, TN) reports that “[r]iding a late wave of momentum, Republican and political neophyte Sheila Butt upset incumbent state Rep. Ty Cobb, ending a hotly contested race for the 64^th district, a seat that until recently seemed destined for the Democratic win column”:

Butt, a motivational speaker and author who has never held elected office, tallied 10,790 votes or 55 percent, while Cobb, a freshman legislator and Columbia firefighter, garnered 8,649 votes or 44 percent, according to complete but unofficial results Tuesday night. …

Cobb said he didn’t see the loss as a referendum on his job performance, but instead a sign of the anti-Democratic, anti-incumbent sentiment that seemed to permeate the state and filtered down from Washington.

“I think we were in the path of an F5 tornado that swept through Tennessee from the top of the ticket on down,” Cobb said. 

Um, did Cobb just call Butt an ill wind?

[Hat Tip: OpinionJournal]

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Why We Need Gitmo): The Obama administration successfully appealed a lower court ruling to release Gitmo detainee Mohammedou Ould Salahi, reports The BLT: Blog of Legal Times:

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously agreed with DOJ, reversing a trial judge’s ruling and remanding the case for further proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The court refused to outright direct the trial judge to deny Salahi’s habeas petition. …

[T]he court said one problem with the trial court ruling is that “it treats the absence of evidence that Salahi received and executed orders [from al-Qaida] as dispositive.” [Explanatory link added by The Stiletto.]

In today’s ruling, the circuit judges pose a series of question that could become central to additional hearings in the case. Among them: Even if Salahi did not receive express orders from al-Qaida, was there a tacit understanding that he would refer prospective fighters to the organization? Can the trial judge infer, based on Salahi’s ties to al-Qaida, that he remained a trusted member of the group?

† Updates To Previous Posts (eighth item, Multiculturalism: Jihad By Other Means): Seven out of 10 OK voters approved State Question 755, which amends the state constitution to prohibit state courts from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases. And now, Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction to block the election results from being certified by the state Election Board next week, reports The Associated Press:

Among other things, the lawsuit alleges the ballot measure transforms Oklahoma's Constitution into "an enduring condemnation" of Islam by singling it out for special restrictions by barring Islamic law, also known as Sharia law. …

Joseph Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma's College of Law, said the ballot measure is "an answer in search of a problem." He said he knows of no other state that has approved similar measures.

"There is no plausible danger of international law or Sharia law overtaking the legal system," Thai said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He said courts only consider international law when deciding issues involving a federal treaty, a business contract or a will that incorporates international law.

Thai said the ballot measure "raises thorny church-state problems as well" and could even affect a state judge's ability to consider the Ten Commandments.

"The Ten Commandments, of course, is international law. It did not originate in Oklahoma or the United States," Thai said.

The measure is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. It's [sic] author, Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, said it was not intended to attack Muslims but to prevent activist judges from relying on international law or Islamic law when ruling on legal cases.

Someone should clue Thai in that TN and LA enacted a similar measure.

Commenting on The Wall Street Journal’s “Law Blog,” reader NYC Maritime Attorney wrote:
 

For what it’s worth, this “complaint” is a poorly drafted document for initiating a law suit in US district court. In fact, any litigator will tell you that it’s not drafted as a complaint but more like a motion. Hence, it stands a good chance of being dismissed for failure to properly state a claim, amongst other defects. Even with the broad and permissive standards of pleading today, this complaint should be dismissed. I know some will find that is technical but if the suit is thrown out for just that reason, then you will hear about how unfair the district court is being to the plaintiffs, which will be an undisguised hint that the judge was biased against Muslims.

.

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, Is Hillary Clinton Campaigning For President?):  Her lips say “no” but her eyes  say “yes.”

† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, Average Americans To Liberals: Existential Angst Over Torture? It’s All You.): Former president George Bush has not shied away from admitting that his administration waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in speeches, but his memoir makes it clear that he approved using the enhanced interrogation technique for the September 11 terror attack mastermind without hesitation, reports The Washington Post:

Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.

In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was "Damn right" and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to a someone close to Bush who has read the book.

The WaPo quotes Georgetown University law professor David Cole, “a long-standing critic of Bush's interrogation and detention policies” who warns that, “The fact that he did admit it suggests he believes he is politically immune from being held accountable. … But politics can change." Um, on Tuesday they did, and not in a direction that favors President Barack Hussein Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder’s policies on terrorists and terrorism.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Guns Don’t Kill People; Illegal Immigrants With Guns Kill People): Melvin Jovel, 21, an illegal Honduran immigrant who pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder and weapons charges in September just before he was scheduled to go on trial for the execution-style murders of three college students in a Newark schoolyard, was sentenced Thursday to three consecutive life terms plus 20 years, reports The Associated Press:

Prosecutors said Jovel and five other young men lined up Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel, against a schoolyard wall in Newark and shot each of them in the back of the head on a summer night in 2007.

A fourth victim survived and testified at the first trial in the case that she was sexually assaulted, slashed with a machete and shot in the head.

She also spoke in court Thursday, thanking Jovel for "allowing me to get closer to Christ" before chastising him for refusing to look at her as she spoke.

"You and your homies had a plan for me, you wanted me dead — but I'm still here," said the woman, who is not being identified by The Associated Press because of the sexual assault charges. "Have fun living your fancy life in jail," she added.

Jovel’s co-defendant, Rodolfo Godinez, was sentenced in July to three consecutive life sentences for the killings. Four other defendants are in jail awaiting trial.