NATIONAL

“But the speech was weakened by its substance. The president was indeed right to rule out cooperation with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad: Joining forces with Assad, in the face of his slaughter of over 100,000 Sunnis, would have destroyed the U.S.’s credibility with moderate rebel factions and Sunnis more generally. But at a basic level, the speech lacked clarity of intent. President Obama began by listing his assumed counterterrorism successes. This had a raw domestic political motivation that was unbefitting of the moment. It distracted rather than reinforced his message. President Obama’s assertion that he had removed ‘Syria’s declared [note: declared] chemical weapons so they cannot pose a threat to the Syrian people — or the world — again’ was especially problematic. That WMD deal is a disgrace that shames America. The president’s referencing of economic issues was also absurd. A speech on ISIS shouldn’t have included ‘our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history.’ The inclusion of such a statement illustrates President Obama’s obsession with his own domestic popularity. This speech should have had a single focus: destroying ISIS.” – Tom Rogan/National Review

“As President Obama laid out his “strategy” last night for dealing with ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and as bipartisan leadership in Congress push to approve as much as $4 billion to arm the Syrian ‘rebels,’ it should be noted that the keystone to his anti-Assad policy — the ‘vetted moderate’ Free Syrian Army (FSA) — is now admitting that they, too, are working with the Islamic State.” – PJ Media

“A Pew Research Forum report, ‘The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society,’ released April 30, 2013, confirmed the broad appeal of the Sharia, Islam’s religio-political ‘law,’ across Islamdom. The data were combined from surveys conducted between 2008 and 2012, representing, as touted by Pew, ‘a total of 39 countries and territories on three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe.’ Collectively, the surveys included ‘more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in 80-plus languages and dialects, covering every country that has more than 10 million Muslims.’” – Andrew Bostom

“The banal media coverage of September 11 grapples with a story too big to tell that can only be broken down into human fragments of personal stories.” – Sultan Knish

“What is so troubling is the ongoing insistence that there is no connection between the attacks of September 11, 2001 and Islam. It isn’t to say that every single Muslim in the world bears responsibility for 9/11. But if we insist on pretending their isn’t a critical mass of Muslims prepared to murder innocent civilians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, in the name of Islam, then we only succeed in insulting our intelligence, thus ensuring that this will continue to happen. There is a problem within Islam and the consequences of this problem is the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda and the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by ISIS and numerous incidents in between. According to the website, the Religion of Peace, there have been 23,795 acts of Islamic terrorism since September 11, 2001.” – American Spectator

“Jay Carney may have been hoping for a smooth debut as CNN’s ‘senior political commentator.’ Instead, he was violently mugged on live TV by Senator John McCain.” – Daily Beast

“If politicians want to reach a generation that sees Republicans and Democrats as similar appendages of a corrupt system (only 31% see a major difference between the two parties), they need to start with first principles. If freedom is the cause of Millennials – as it seems to be in many facets – it must be said at every turn that true social freedom is impossible to achieve without economic liberty.” – Forbes

“Rand Paul’s made it a staple of his comments on the Middle East over the past few years to note how many of our ‘allies’ persecute Christians. He’s right, and that’s shrewdly calculated to appeal to evangelicals who might otherwise be jittery about Paul’s motives in wanting to scale back foreign aid. Watching this, though, and knowing how it’s destined to go viral among grassroots righties, I feel like Cruz probably did himself as much good in 40 seconds with those voters as Rand has in two years. Smart guy, but then we already knew that.” – Hot Air

“President Obama now says he will wait until after the November elections to implement an ‘executive amnesty’ for 11 million illegal aliens, so as not to hurt Democrats’ chances this year. Instead of waiting to be enraged in December, voters, could you please be enraged now? Once the holiday season kicks off, you’ll be too busy going to parties and Christmas shopping to notice that you’re suddenly living in Mexico.” – Ann Coulter

“Before welcoming the emerging state of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, I confess to having opposed its independence in the past.” – Daniel Pipes/National Review

LOUISIANA

“Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, expressed doubts about arming Syrian insurgents against Islamic militants, saying not enough was known about their intentions, and suggested ground troops might be needed to knock out the Islamic State militants. But Fleming conceded many Americans would oppose such a move and are more comfortable with the president’s decision to rely primarily on expanded air strikes and counter-terrorism efforts.” – NOLA.com

“Retired General Russel Honore believes President Barack Obama’s address to the nation was a declaration of war.” – WBRZ

“Voters trying to sift through the details of 14 constitutional amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot have a guide they can consult. The nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, known as PAR, has released its online informational guide on the proposals to rewrite the state constitution.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stumped this week for Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, another sign he’s strongly considering a run for the White House.” – Washington Examiner

“After nine years in America, Murilo Scherr may be sent back to his native Brazil because he forgot to use his turn signal, he told New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu Wednesday (Sept. 10) at a meeting of the Congress of Day Laborers, an immigrants’ rights group.” – NOLA.com

“Parish Attorney Mary Roper was fired by the Metro Council on Wednesday, bringing to an end a 21-year career in city-parish government that saw her advance to a position as the city’s top lawyer that she called her ‘dream job.'” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday granted Sempra Energy final approval to export liquefied natural gas to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the United States.” – Lake Charles American Press

“The House is set Thursday to pass Rep. Bill Cassidy’s bill that would allow small businesses and their employees to choose health plans that don’t provide the minimum coverage established under the Affordable Care Act.” – NOLA.com

“Texas Brine Co.’s push for a five-year state permit to discharge salty groundwater with traces of benzene and toluene into the Bayou Corne-area sinkhole has drawn concerns from environmentalists and landowners near the swampland hole in Assumption Parish.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“The NFL requires players to avoid ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.’ The same standard should apply to Commissioner Roger Goodell. And based on that standard, Mr. Goodell should be removed.” – NOLA.com