Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Today's news


Today’s news. Syria at the end, but I think I’ll stop having to group them there, as the Media aids Obama’s efforts to have you forget all about Syria, and there is less coverage. ~Bob

The Washington Shooter
I was not surprised to learn that, contrary to early reports, there was only one shooter, as I thought that later in the day, when the cleared one suspect. As usual, the early media reports were wrong, thanks to the highly competitive 24/7 news cycle. That’s the pattern of these things. I was surprised to learn that the shooter was black, as I said, because the usual mass murderer is white, even though blacks, who make up 13% of the population commit 53% of the murders, according to the FBI. (Most of the victims are black as well.) And apparently he was a Buddhist—I think that’s a first. I will not be surprised if they find a manifesto, as many of these head cases, though not all, want you to know their grievances. Naturally, both sides of the political divide were trying to make political hay before the bodies cooled, on Twitter and in blogs, with liberals calling for more gun control laws and conservatives decrying gun-free zones. I don’t think a change in either area would have stopped this guy. 9note that few were talking about addressing mental health issues.) I’m sure that once his name was released, conservative pundits were scouring Muslim websites and liberal pundits were scouring Tea Party sites for it (and probably white surpreamacist sites before they saw his picture), hoping to score political points. And, of course, Marines and Vietnam Vets are breathing a sigh of relief that he was not one of ours, or that would have dominated the headlines for weeks. It does not appear that, unlike Fort Hood, there was a political motive, and probably not a racial one. That’s often the case. Horrific as this is, we must remember that far, far more Americans are killed every year by cars, smoking and French Fries (obesity) than guns.

Worth Remembering: 11,101 Fatal And 467,300 Nonfatal Firearm Victimizations Occurred In 2011
Excerpt: Firearm-related homicides declined 39 percent and nonfatal firearm crimes declined 69 percent from 1993 to 2011, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Firearm-related homicides dropped from 18,253 homicides in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011, and nonfatal firearm crimes dropped from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011. For both fatal and nonfatal firearm victimizations, the majority of the decline occurred during the 10-year period from 1993 to 2002. The number of firearm homicides declined from 1993 to 1999, rose through 2006 and then declined through 2011. Nonfatal firearm violence declined from 1993 through 2004 before fluctuating in the mid- to late 2000s.

D.C. Gun Laws Some of the Strictest in the U.S.
Excerpt: By just being in the city with a loaded firearm, regardless of whether he was the legally registered owner, the suspect Aaron Alexis would be in violation of D.C. law. Carrying a concealed firearm or carrying a firearm openly in D.C. are both against the law. Bringing a firearm from out of state without registering it in D.C. is illegal. Assault-style rifles are banned. And even traveling through D.C. with a firearm is illegal. (By golly, we need to make them doubly illegal—that will fix things! ~Bob)

Navy Yard shooter had record of misconduct as Navy reservist, officials say
Excerpt: The former reservist identified by authorities as the gunman in Monday’s rampage at the Washington Navy Yard was cited for insubordination and disorderly conduct during his Navy career, authorities said Tuesday. (And gets hired as a civilian contractor for the Navy, passing background checks? ~Bob)

Self-Praiser in Chief keeps campaigning as Americans are killed: President Obama gives campaign speech in wake of murdered Navy soldiers
Excerpt: The real news of September 16th, 2013 was that there was a tragic Navy Yard shooting in WashingtonDC.

Excerpt: According to anonymous law enforcement officials, Alexis, 34, sought treatment from the Veterans Administration for paranoia, insomnia and possible schizophrenia just one month before his shooting rampage which claimed the lives of 12 people on Monday.

Tweet from Pamela Brown @Pamela BrownCNN
FBI Washington field office just confirmed gunman was NOT armed with AR15. Spokesperson says 1 shotgun and 2 pistols recovered.

Navy Yard Shooter: What about that alleged AR-15?
Excerpt: CNN correspondent Pamela Brown just reported on air that Aaron Alexis, the deceased suspect in the Navy Yard shootings, entered the facility yesterday armed with a shotgun. Citing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as well as law enforcement sources, Brown reported that the gunman had tried to purchase an AR-15 at a gun shop in Northern Virginia but was turned down. Two pistols were also recovered.

Hands and fists kill more than twice as many people in the US as ALL rifles. Yes, ALL rifles, not just ones cosmetically made to look scary.

7 Gun Control Facts That Are Actually Myths
Excerpt: I am sure those on PolicyMic have heard the arguments before, but here we will lay out some of the most popular talking points in favor of more gun control and debunk those myths.

Bill Daley drops bid for (Illinois) governor
Excerpt: “To be honest with you, losing it wasn't the worst of my fears. In many ways, winning it and having the commitment of five years to nine years was something I struggled with,” he said. “You know, the dog catches the tire and, boom.” (Some will speculate about a scandal, but remember Daley's a Chicago Democrat in Illinois. Scandals almost never impede those guys. My guess? He got a really good look at Illinois's finances -- and realized the state is unsalvageable. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt)

Keystone pipeline mysteries. By Merrill Matthews, USA Today
Excerpt: The biggest mystery about the Keystone XL pipeline is why its final stage hasn't already been approved by the Obama administration. There are six things most people don't know that make the mystery deeper: From following the contentious Keystone pipeline debate, you can be forgiven if you think that the fight is over whether to build it. That's not quite right. The Keystone system has already been transporting oil sands from Canada to U.S. refineries in the Midwest for three years — with no major leaks. The Keystone XL project that has received so much attention is the last phase of a larger project. (No mystery. Obama is always willing to kill jobs and grind the poor through high energy costs to please his left-wing base. ~Bob.)

Important: When It Pays Not to Work. By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Excerpt: Despite a decline in the jobless rate to 7.3 percent in August from 7.4 percent in July, the labor force data released Friday were disturbing. The reduction in the unemployment rate was caused by a decline of 312,000 in the number of people in the labor force, a substantial deterioration for one month and an extension of a troubling trend. … But, since the employment rebound from the 2007-2009 recession began in May 2010, the labor-force participation rate has fallen for both men and women. After declining from a peak of 67.3 in 2000, the rate hovered around 66 percent until 2008. Since then, it has gradually fallen to 63.2 percent.

Another Green Money Pit: U.S. sells $50 million green-tech loan at sharp discount
Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy recovered only about one-sixth of its $50 million green-technology loan to Vehicle Production Group LLC, a maker of wheelchair-accessible vans now under new ownership.

The News in Zingers. By Argus Hamilton
Excerpt: President Obama said any attack on Syria would be just a shot across the bow with no boots on the ground. John Kerry said an attack would be unbelievably limited in scope and duration. We now wage war like we're afraid the enemy is going to call Child Services.

Good Columns: Minimum Wage Madness. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Political crusades for raising the minimum wage are back again. Advocates of minimum wage laws often give themselves credit for being more "compassionate" towards "the poor." But they seldom bother to check what are the actual consequences of such laws. (Of course Progressives support minimum wage laws. They reduce employment at the low end, killing the chance of upward mobility and the opportunity to learn job skills, especially for minorities, thus keeping them dependent on government and voting for the providers of grain to the head count. Until the collapse. ~Bob.)

Minimum Wage Madness: Part II. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: A survey of American economists found that 90 percent of them regarded minimum wage laws as increasing the rate of unemployment among low-skilled workers. Inexperience is often the problem. Only about two percent of Americans over the age of 24 earned the minimum wage. … When I asked what could the black members of Congress possibly get in return for supporting minimum wage laws that would be worth sacrificing whole generations of young blacks to huge rates of unemployment, the discussion quickly ended.

Excerpt: Well, the Wacko liberals in Sacramento has made it official.  Having failed to educate their young in their failing school system, they are now asking consumers to kick in even more by susbsidizing an increase in the minimum wage to $10 dollars per hour so that societal losers can actually achieve a living wage by squirting special sauce on a hamburger bun.  

MEMRI Documents Vast Egyptian Anger Toward Obama

Excerpt: Perceived American support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is driving a deep wedge between Egypt's military leaders and its people against the United States, a report from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) finds.

Excerpt: Sometimes it is worth stepping back from the fray to gain a little perspective. A shipped tossed about in a mighty gale looks one way to the passengers aboard, quite another way (as Lucretius pointed out in his great poem) to the lucky person watching from the comfortable safety of the hilltop overlooking the bay. I suspect that, for many observers, a material change has lately stolen over the metabolism of political life in America.

Excerpt: Liberal opinion writers who feel duty-bound to defend President Obama’s signature health-care reform law have been quite creative in trying to blame the GOP for the flaws in what was a law passed by Democrats against bipartisan and public opposition.

According to Forbes, Pickens’ fortune dropped below the $ 1 billion mark for the first time since 2005. His net worth once amounted to an estimated $2 billion, but now it sits at around $950 million. He told the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he had “lost [his] ass in the [wind] business.” (So have we taxpayers. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: A parent in East Stroudsburg, Pa. has complained after his third-grade son at Resica Elementary was assigned a play called “Goldilocks and the Cops” in which Goldilocks gets busted for vandalism and breaking and entering.  Furious father Miguel Velez told the Pocono Record that he finds the modern spin on “The Three Bears” insulting to police. Velez also called the language inappropriate for third-graders.

Michael Douglas Splits From Catherine Zeta-Jones And Decides To Hide Out With An 83-Year-Old Billionaire
Excerpt: Michael Douglas recently split with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and apparently his version of a comforting shoulder to cry on is insanely wealthy "political puppeteer" George Soros, reports the New York Post's Page Six. There's still hope for Douglas' marriage -- no divorce papers have been filed and Jones is still wearing her ring.  In the meantime, we can only imagine what the 68-year-old actor and 83-year-old billionaire are doing together ... (Article notes Soros is “getting married soon.” –Barb)

How America Morphed Into 'Bizarro World.' By David Kupelian
Excerpt: As part of my well-rounded childhood, growing up during the 1950s in suburban WashingtonD.C., I read Superman comic books…. Also Superboy, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern and others – but my favorite was Superman. And one of the most memorable characters in those adventures was a guy named … Bizarro.

New York City To Get ACORN Mayor? Critics warn plan will 'sneak socialism' into U.S.
Excerpt: New York mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio has a long history with the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, once even steering public funds to an ACORN front group. The relationship may be instructive. De Blasio is currently pushing a “living wage” plan that was originally ACORN’s pet project.

Over 100 Emory Healthcare Workers Laid Off Over Obamacare
Excerpt: Over 100 Emory Healthcare workers have been laid off because of Obamacare. Layoff letters went out last week; the firings go into effect November 15th. "The saddest part...is when, during the announcement, we were told that our job losses are due to the new Affordable Healthcare plan."

New Benghazi Report Finds ‘Troubling’ Gaps in State Dept. Review: Prelude to Thursday's hearing where Pickering and Mullen will answer questions about "time pressured" report.
Excerpt: A critical report issued by the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee has dismissed the findings of a blue-ribbon panel investigating the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, asserting that the State Department-appointed commission didn’t properly examine key witnesses and generally failed to perform a comprehensive job.  In a 98-page report released Monday, committee staff concluded that “troubling” gaps exist in the work of the Accountability Review Board (ARB) appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and that the “limitations inherent in the ARB’s mandate and the weaknesses in the ARB’s methodology show that a more thorough investigation is necessary. (So the Accountability Review Board decided not to review…shades of the 9/11 Commission Report stonewall….nothing new, nothing changed.  They got away with it before, with thousands of corpses.  It’s just a bump in the road, nothing more.  What’s it matter?   The top dogs will pardon one another, have a schmooze opportunity on a news or talk show, and in 2-3 news cycles, John Q. Public will forget, right, as long as the media know their place and doesn’t bring up the subject.  They’ll give one another awards and honors and smile and take pictures and you’d have to have a special light to see the blood on their hands…. Just bumps on the road to power.  Phony.  Just keep putting that out…phony, phony. –Barb)

Judge: Iran-backed company behind NYC office tower
Excerpt: An office tower is subject to forfeiture because revenue from it was secretly funneled to a state-owned Iranian bank in violation of a U.S. trade embargo, a judge ruled Monday.

Excerpt: Maulana Ghulam Hussain Kiani, one of the speakers, said they would force Ahmadis to leave the city. “Their presence has polluted the city… their so-called places of worship are in fact centres of conspiracies against Muslims,” he said.

Suicide bomber kills three police in Russia's Chechnya
Excerpt: Three police were killed by a suicide bomber who detonated a bomb in a car outside a police station in Russia's Chechnya region on Monday, an national anti-terrorism body said. Five police were also wounded in the bombing, which highlights the instability in the North Caucasus as Russia  prepares to hold the Winter Olympics in nearby Sochi in February. (More "dialogue" from the home of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. –Robert Spencer. JihadWatch.Org.)

Three women shot dead in Pakistan 'honour' killing
Excerpt: The local tribal council or jirga intervened in the matter and decided on Sunday that the women should be killed. Relatives shot the three dead at their house late Sunday and buried them on Monday morning, he added.

Excerpt: President Obama yesterday criticized congressional Republicans for insisting on spending cuts in any budget deal that continues government operations past October 1, saying they risk "economic chaos." Most voters agree a federal government shutdown would be bad for the economy, but they're willing to risk one until Democrats and Republicans in Congress agree on ways to cut the budget, including cuts in funding for the new national health care law.

It’s Constitution day?  How much do you know about this important document? --Geoff
Happy Constitution Day! The constitution is the document that was once used to govern the United States. Almost universally ignored now, by both Democrats and Republicans. - LLW

Excerpt: Author John J. Newman has some explaining to do. His textbook, United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination, literally rewrites the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.…Newman leaves the second half of the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms without infringement by the  government, completely out.

Obama: False Hope, False Messiah
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dde_1374573750
Excerpt: All White guilt Liberals.. stay on your knees and..Hail..your Chicago Messiah..Barry Soetoro (You may have seen this short video before but it's time for a second look and some serious thought. Please share with a few others as we attempt to gear up for the 2014 election cycle. Conservatives must gain a majority in the Senate and increase numbers in the House if there is to be a chance to save America. --MM)

Tweet from Alex P Keaton ‏@AlexPKeaton3
I don't always talk to Obama voters. But when I do, I ask for large fries.

Richard Petty Gives House to Marine's Family
Excerpt:   Richard Petty normally hands over the keys to a race car to driver Aric Almirola.  Last week, he handed over the keys to a mortgage free home to an unsuspecting military family. The NASCAR Hall of Famer partnered with Eckrich to give United States Marine Corps veteran James Wallace and his family the keys to a house located in Bolingbrook. (Great feel good story. --MasterGuns)

Moving Testimony to the British Army's Loss of Life In Afghanistan
Excerpt:  Wriggling into the £4.99 Primark dress, Barry Delaney never paused to consider what others might think. He and his best pal Kevin Elliott had made a pact and that was all that mattered.  Three years ago, they had agreed that Delaney would wear a dress – the brighter, the better – if Elliott was killed in a action. Their unusual covenant would be realised sooner than either could have expected; private Elliott died last month the victim of a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan. (Great testimony of how pacts are formed and honored by those who serve. --MasterGuns)

Chicago Residents Dragged Down by Pension Burden. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: A Moody’s report using more accurate estimations of the rate of return found that the city’s true burden is closer to $86.9 billion. As the Illinois Policy Institute notes, this amounts to $84,000 per household; the median household income is only$47,371. (I retire 11/30. On 12/1, I will no longer be a resident of Illinois or of Cook County especially. ~Bob.)

African Americans Make Pro-NRA Video In Response To Hollywood Liberals

The new way to buy car insurance in 2013

Rep. Wolf: CIA employee who refused to sign non-disclosure on Benghazi suspended. By Adam Kredo
Excerpt: CIA employee who refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring him from discussing the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in BenghaziLibya, has been suspended as a result and forced to hire legal counsel, according to a top House lawmaker. (Nice mention in the article about the SOS Citizens' Commission on Benghazi that has been fanning the flames of inquiry so well.  That's what it takes, an organization of smart citizens carefully focused on bringing out the truth.  If they were a liberal group investigating something that happened under George Bush, they'd have been on the top of headlines for the last 8 months. --Del)

Jesse Jackson Jr. To Grab $8,700 Per Month In Disability, Plus Pension In Prison
Excerpt: Convicted Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is scheduled to receive $8,700 per month in government disability pay, as well as a partial federal pension of $45,000. 

UK: Thousands of popular British plant varieties could be banned from our garden centres under new European proposals. Horticulturalist Michael Leapman despairs.
Excerpt: Let me set out my stall from the start. I am not a dyed-in-the-wool Eurosceptic: but I am highly sceptical of busybodies trying to frame complex rules to solve problems that, in real life, barely exist. Keen gardeners will guess what I am referring to – the report in yesterday’s Telegraph that the European Commission is planning to insist that no plant can go on sale unless it is on an official register, where its characteristics will have to be described in detailed botanical terms.

Germans and Brits agree: the European Union needs to be slimmed down. By Mats Persson.
Excerpt: When asked what they thought of 13 domestic and European institutions, German voters had the least faith in the European Parliament and the European Commission, which are only trusted by 33 per cent and 30 per cent of voters respectively, massively down compared to a decade ago.

Syria

Forensic Details in U.N. Report Point to Assad’s Use of Gas
Excerpt: A United Nations report released on Monday confirmed that a deadly chemical arms attack caused a mass killing in Syria last month and for the first time provided extensive forensic details of the weapons used, which strongly implicated the Syrian government. (What I still don’t understand is why Assad would risk bringing in US bombers for the very small tactical advantage, if any, this might have given his forces. ~Bob)

Good Column: Obama’s Box Canyon: Our Hamlet-in-chief wanted simultaneously to act and not act. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: The Syrian fiasco arose from two mutually contradictory desires. Barack Obama sincerely wanted Bashar Assad to stop killing his own people. Barack Obama also really was not willing to use force to ensure that Assad would stop killing his own people. At Harvard, those desires would not be antithetical. Elsewhere they are.

The Arab D-Day. By Nawaf Obaid and Jamal Khashoggi
Excerpt: Most Arab states are intricately engaged with, deeply repulsed by, or historically linked to the events in Syria; as a bloc, they possess the military, diplomatic and financial might necessary to carry out and complete the task; and no group of nations can lend more legitimacy to an armed intervention. Many Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa believe that their governments must now assume the solemn mantle of collective leadership for the sake of the Syrian people.

Excellent Column: Here comes the long stall. By Paul Greenberg
Excerpt: And so it begins. Call it The Long Stall -- and, no, that's not the name of a Raymond Chandler detective novel. It's the name of the oldest trick in any world-class aggressor's book. And its secret is simple: Keep promising the suckers peace and they'll follow you anywhere, even, soon enough, into a disastrous war. (Assad wins. Putin wins. And because the public will forget Syria, Obama wins. ~Bob.)

Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition
Excerpt: President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New YorkWashington, D.C., and ShanksvillePa., in 2001. …The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction." (POTUS aiding and abetting the enemy?  Oh, no, you misguided, misinformed minions, a la Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” Now do you understand the rumors of the camps, the ammo buys, the open borders for the cartels and “others” to filter in?  Capiche? –Barb)

Excerpt: For the first time ever, it might be beneficial for the U.S. to adopt a parliamentary system. After this disastrous summer, which included a pivot to jobs followed by a pivot to bombs, during which Putin used Edward Snowden to jerk Obama around while Obama managed to impose some gun control on Americans with the stroke of a pen, we could hold a vote of no confidence and elect ourselves a new leader. Just end this madness now. 

Syria jihadists claim they killed Homs Alawites
Excerpt: The statement said Al-Nusra fighters were urged by an Islamic jurist “to kill the Nusairis, enemies of God”, using a pejorative term for Alawites. (Our moderate allies. ~Bob.)

New report says only one-third of Syrian rebels are "moderates" -- and those "moderates" burn churches
Excerpt: The article below refers to the "the more moderate rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)," but in this article, we learn about "a YouTube video showed an FSA gunman blowing up a church in Aarbin in the Damascus countryside and burning it completely. The clip shows the church destroyed and some of the icons burned." So even the "moderates" in Syria burn churches to the ground.

Syrian Opposition Fails To Reassure Christians. By Tareq al Abed 
Excerpt: In addition to all that, the political opposition has failed miserably to reassure the Christians and has neglected to address many worrisome events. Father Fadi Haddad was killed in Katana, in the Damascus countryside. Bishops Boulos al-Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim were kidnapped in Aleppo. Father Paolo Dall’Oglio disappeared in Raqqa. Clashes recently reached Maaloula in the Qalamun. And there was news about attacks on churches and monasteries in Ras al-Ain.

Op-Ed: The Syrian Free Army is Signing Its Own Death Warrant
ExcerptL: Remarkably - the rebel forces fighting the Assad regime for the last 30 months seem to have set the stage for their demise - by indicating they will not accept the terms of the agreement reached between America and Russia - that should be translated into a binding Security Council Resolution within the next seven days calling for the collection and destruction of all chemical weapons in Syria. The Kuwaiti News Agency has reported: The flagship accord was also applauded by several nations including Arab states namely Egypt and Algeria, but in Istanbul, the Syrian Free Army commander Major-General Saleem Idrees rejected the US-Russian agreement, saying it "will not solve the crisis" in Syria." He added that the opposition Syrian Free Army would not implement any part of the accord. (Don’t agree with POV but interesting to note that the rebels will not give up any chemical weapons they have—as Obama supplies lethal weapons after signing executive order (WaExaminer) that it is okay to aid and abet terrorists.  Possibly the rebels know something mass media not saying…Barb)

'I can see Russia from my knees' - Barack Obama

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