Free Republic

Sunday's Der Spiegel had a massive expose on the continuing efforts of Bashar al-Assad to build a nuclear weapons plant, which included evidence that Iran is constructing such a plant for Syria in Qusayr, less than two kilometers from Syria's border with Lebanon. The issue came up in the State Department's Monday daily briefing. Disturbingly, spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the United States did not plan to raise the issue in the Iranian nuclear talks, claiming that those talks only deal with Iran's nuclear capabilities and not with Syria's. According to findings of Western intelligence agencies, however, the situation...

At the tender age of 33, Marie Harf has attained a special kind of immortality, joining a list of luminaries (for instance, Thomas Crapper) whose names have become verbs. The Urban Dictionary has now listed “Harfing” as a verb: Harfing To say or assert something so patently stupid and preposterous as to generate widespread mockery. Named in honor of State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf. The State Department Spokesperson was harfing on about how Islamic State jihadists only needed job opportunities in order to give up their evil ways. And yesterday, Marie gave us another example:

Poor Marie Harf! Shortly after attaining immortality by having her name become a verb, she suffered the ultimate indignity: her boss left, and a white male has been hired to fill the vacancy instead of promoting her. Jamie Crawford and Elise Labott of CNN report: Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, will shift over to the State Department, according to a senior administration official. In replacing Jen Psaki, who recently returned to the White House to serve as communications director, Kirby would be the first spokesman to have represented both the Defense and State departments. Kirby, who is...