Monday, March 30, 2015

Today's Political News and Conservative Opinion

Update

The pup is better today and the weather is lovely, mid-50s. I'm doing well, did usual at rehab, but a lot of mucus in the lung. Guess it's the season's change. ~Bob

General News and Comment


Worth Reading: Hillary: The Democrats’ Nixon. By John Fund
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/416151/hillary-democrats-nixon-john-fund
Excerpt: Ever since Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal broke earlier this month, comparisons between her secretive style and that of Richard Nixon, whom she ironically pursued as a young lawyer on the House impeachment committee, have been frequent. But with Friday’s revelation that she wiped her private e-mail server clean after her records were requested by the State Department last year, the comparisons are becoming more concrete. Washington wags note that even Nixon never destroyed the tapes, but Hillary has permanently erased her e-mails. Exactly what would a Hillary presidency look like, and could it plunge the nation into another round of debilitating Clinton scandals? That’s a question Democrats should ask themselves before they hand the nomination over to her with barely a fight. Indeed, while a new CBS poll finds more than eight out of ten Democrats want her to run, a surprising 66 percent want to see her run with strong competition in the primaries.

The Most Transparent Administration in History: Administration sets record for withholding government files. By Ted Bridis, AP 
Excerpt: The Obama administration set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press. The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn't find documents and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. It also acknowledged in nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law — but only when it was challenged.

Worth Reading: When The Laws Of War Kill. By James S. Robbins
Excerpt: The laws of war are intended to limit conflict and minimize casualties. But what happens when terrorists use these same laws to expand conflict and kill more people? This paradox is at the center of a new report, "2014 Gaza War Assessment: The New Face of Conflict," commissioned by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. It is the product of a study by senior retired U.S. military officers and academics, using primary source documents and interviews with senior Israeli, Palestinian and United Nations officials. ... The most important lesson for the United States facing similar conflicts is to spend as much time and energy as the adversary in shaping the images and messages flowing from the battlefield, both in traditional and social media. Also, it is important for reporters to understand the true limitations and implications of international law, even before they arrive in the theater of war. Unconventional foes focus on the information fight because it is the only one they can win. It will take careful planning and foresight to make sure that they don't.

8 Things Vietnam War Movies Leave Out (By an Enemy Soldier). By Evan V. Symon, Nguyen Hoa Giai 
Excerpt: Even if your knowledge of the Vietnam War comes exclusively from Hollywood films and Texan textbooks that only refer to it as "that one the good guys lost," you've probably heard about the Viet Cong. They were a bunch of jungle-fighting guerrilla warriors who killed American boys via night-time ambushes and terrifying traps. Well, that's one side of the story. Here's another: They were a bunch of scared (mostly) young kids fighting in a massive conflict for very personal reasons. We sent a writer out to Vietnam to speak with Nguyen Hoa Giai. He fought as a Viet Cong from the late 1950s to the end of the war in the mid-'70s. Here's what he told us. (There's a bunch of stuff in here that definitely sounds real to me, but a lot of the phrasing is not exactly the way a Vietnamese would speak, so I assume the American reporter did a bunch of editing on style. Interesting that the Vietnamese specifically mentions the atrocities committed by the communist forces in or near battles, but doesn't mention any of the atrocities committed by VC in villages to terrify the inhabitants into submission. Overall, a contribution to some understanding of how the committed communist VC thought. But they were always a minority, sometimes a small minority, of those fighting, and he even alludes to that. --Del)

1 dead after driver tries to ram gate at NSA headquarters
Excerpt: Two men dressed as women tried to ram the gate of the National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade with an SUV Monday morning, resulting in a shooting that left one person dead, according to authorities and sources familiar with the investigation.
After the gate was rammed around 9:30 local time, a guard reportedly got into an argument with the men and gunfire erupted. It is believed that the guard shot one or both of the men, sources told Fox News. The NSA later said in a statement that one of the two people in the car is dead.

Americans see Putin as only slightly more imminent threat than Obama, poll says. By Peter Van Buren 
Excerpt: People in the United States feel under threat, both from beyond our borders and within them. In fact, when asked about both U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, it was a pretty darn close call — 20 percent saw Putin as an imminent threat compared to 18 percent who said the same about Obama. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll asked more than 3,000 Americans what they see as some of the biggest threats to themselves and the country. You can slice and dice the information in literally hundreds of different ways here. People were shown a range of potential threats and then asked to rate how dangerous they were with one being no threat and five meaning the threat is imminent. (A well done article, displaying a lot of ways to look at what people said when asked about what they were afraid of. Personally, I agree with being afraid of our political parties. Both of them. One may be more harmful to the Republic than the other, but neither one seems capable of acting like real statesmen in office to fulfill responsibilities to give the people the best government possible. And without good government and good leadership, all the other things that worry us won't get dealt with very well. --Del)

The True Facts About Religious Freedom Laws. By Sarah Torre
Excerpt: The mainstream media has launched an all-out blitz over a new law that protects the fundamental freedom of Indiana citizens from unnecessary and unreasonable government coercion. The media’s gross mischaracterizations of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act ignore the truth: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts prevent government discrimination against religious free exercise and simply provide a way to balance religious liberty with compelling government interests.

Conn. Governor To Ban Travel To Indiana Over Religious Freedom Law His State Has Too. By Chuck Ross
Excerpt: Connecticut Gov. Dannell Malloy will issue an executive order on Monday calling for a ban on state-funded travel to Indiana because of its new law, which he believes is intended to discriminate against gays. Only problem: Connecticut has a similar law on the books.

4th Grader Gets Standing Ovation After Shaming School Board Over Standardized Testing
Excerpt: This girl is definitely going places. Sydney Smoot, a fourth grader at Brooksville Elementary in Florida, had some harsh words for the Hernando County School Board earlier this month on the state’s restrictive standardized testing program. She told the board: “This testing looks at me as a number. One test defines me as either a failure or a success through a numbered rubric. One test at the end of the year that the teacher or myself will not even see the grade until after the school year is already over. I do not feel that all this FSA testing is accurate to tell how successful I am. It doesn’t take in account all of my knowledge and abilities, just a small percentage.” Smoot even provided the board with suggestions for how to make the testing process – known as The Florida Standards Assessment Test – more productive, such as breaking the larger test up into smaller, more frequent tests throughout the year.

Report: Chicago schools teaching ‘safe’ anal sex to 5th graders. By Renee Nal
Excerpt: A graphic sexual education curriculum meant for Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) fifth and sixth graders shocked parents during a presentation given during “report card pickup” at the Andrew Jackson Language Academy. The presentation included slides that are clearly not age appropriate, and include “demonstrations” of applying male and female condoms (FC), DNAinfo reports. While CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement that the “objectionable material presented at Andrew Jackson Language Academy this week is not and never was part of the student sexual education curriculum” as reported at the local NBC affiliate, the slides shown to parents are also posted at Waters Elementary School as part of the “Sexual Health Education” curriculum for “Grade 6.”

Gun News

Shots that killed robber at Miller Auto Sales 'justifiable'
Excerpt: Police say the fatal shots that 27-year-old Alan Miller fired on Thursday afternoon were justifiable. Miller shot a man twice in the chest as he attempted to rob Miller Auto Sales, located at 4314 Rossville Blvd. Police say the shots Miller fired were in self-defense, and charges will not be filed against him.

Armed Marshall County homeowner repels would-be home invaders
Excerpt: "Three people ran in and grabbed my wife," Eddie Gilmore said. "She stood up." Eddie Gilmore says as his screaming wife was taken to a back room by a masked intruder who was holding a gun to her head, another intruder told him to get on the floor in the living room. "And I got over between the couch and the coffee table and when I did I went down and put my arm on the coffee table to kind of hide myself and I pulled the drawer open because I had a gun in there," Gilmore said. That's when, Gilmore says, he started shooting in every direction he could, hitting two of the subjects. The suspects fired back, but neither Eddie or Cindy were hurt.

2 Dead After West Philly Triple Shooting
Excerpt: Police say two men in their twenties got off the trolley at 56th and Lansdowne Avenue and headed toward Media and Conestoga when two other men approached and announced a robbery. One of the victims then reportedly pulled out a gun and shot those two robbers. ... All three people who were shot were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. One of the robbers and the friend of the armed victim were later pronounced dead.

Chicago--Have not verified but sounds right from news reports.

Race Card News

“Empire” actress says her son was “racially profiled” – Police release footage telling VERY different story
Excerpt: Taraji P. Henson is a star on the popular TV show Empire, an Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated actress, and also a liar. She told Uptown Magazine that her son was racially profiled by the Glendale Police. She also claimed that police searched his car illegally, another egregious lie. Fortunately, we have video evidence. A dashcam video was released by the L.A. Times and not only did it not show the cop behaving as described, but it clearly shows the officer go out of his way to be polite and kind to a 20-year old Marcel Johnson, who had committed multiple infractions.

Obamacare/Government Healthcare News

Obamacare At Five Years Old: A Disappointment. By Sally Pipes
Excerpt: In September 2009, President Obama addressed Congress, vowing that his healthcare plan would “slow the growth of healthcare costs for our families, our businesses, and our government.” But costs for all three have actually grown. During the campaign in 2008, Obama repeatedly said that his health reform plan would save the average family $2,500 a year in premiums. But this year, almost half of those surveyed by CBS and the New York Times characterized “the affordability of basic medical care as a hardship.” That’s a quarter more people than said so last year.

Undocumented Democrat News

Democrat Leader Releases “Toolkit” to Help Illegal Criminals Not get Deported
Excerpt: Rep. Gutierrez has become the leader of the amnesty faction in Congress. In fact, Gutierrez has become so pro-illegal that he is now publishing books to teach people how to break our laws! This is an example of where a liberal who wants to do “good” has lost sight of what is “good” and has settled in on success by “any means necessary.” Sadly, the truth of the matter is that the “ends” don’t always “justify the means.” Rep. Gutierrez has gone too far in his support of illegal immigrants and has begun to openly tutor them on the best means of flouting our laws and escaping prosecution

"You're Greener than Gore" News


Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: Obama’s race to chaos. By Michael Goodwin
Excerpt: If you’re confused about the Saudi Arabia-led air attacks against Islamist rebels in Yemen and can’t tell one group of head-choppers in Iraq and Syria from another, don’t despair. All you need is imagination. Close your eyes and imagine that those countries and terrorists have nuclear weapons. Imagine their barbarism going nuclear as they blow up cities, wipe out ethnic and religious groups and turn the region into cinders. Now open your eyes and realize you’ve seen the future, thanks to President Obama’s policies. It is a future that will be defined by Obama’s Wars. Yes, plural. (This writer is a well known Conservative, and has always been very critical of Mr. Obama. However, even considering that, is his vision of a possible horrible future just something to be dismissed? I don't think so. There IS craziness in that part of the world, with people who believe in various levels of myth about how the world can be conquered and they can bring into being the perfect new world. In those myths it doesn't matter that the use of nuclear weapons could bring on total, horrendous disaster for the entire region, because they "know" that in the end, they will prevail. Up to now, everyone possessing nukes has been at least sane, and understand that in a nuclear war there can be no real winners. But imagine Bin Laden or his successors with nukes- would they hesitate to use them? Not at all. And the Iranian ayatollahs are just as insane about nukes, which they would aim first at Israel, a nation that cannot afford to absorb even 2 or 3 small nuclear blasts. The Shia-Sunni conflict goes back many centuries, and remains bitter enough in some quarters that it too is a place where nukes would go into use. The bottom line is that it was US power and domination of nuclear weaponry that stopped a race to nukes in the Middle East. Even when Israel got nukes so long ago, no one worried, because the Israelis are sane, and don't want to ever start a nuclear exchange. But with insane zealots having nukes, all bets are off. No matter what the Iranians say or promise about nuclear weapon development, they have been total liars and deceivers since the takeover from the Shah. Accepting them as good faith negotiators now is just as smart as believing Hitler was in 1937. All the evidence says that Mr. Obama does believe he can deal with the Iranians and ignore all the past deceit and the daily calls for Death to America. His naïveté is far, far too dangerous for everyone. The future is very scary now. --Del)

Graduation Picture of Saudi Female Doctors (according to the Internet.)

Can Saudi Arabia Feed Its People? Gulf Economies. By Yossi Mann
Excerpt: In 2007, almost thirty years after setting out on an ambitious agricultural project, Saudi Arabia announced it would be phasing out government handouts to the agricultural sector, which would end in their entirety in 2016. Outsiders criticized the project from its beginnings, emphasizing the burden it would place on the economy and the damage it would inflict on the country's water assets. Critics were particularly scathing of the decision to subsidize the project and its detrimental effects on the Saudi economy as a whole. (Let them eat ethanol. ~Bob)

No Let-Up in Attacks On Europe's Jews. By Abigail R. Esman
Excerpt: Seventy years ago this month, Anne Frank died in the concentration camps of Bergen-Belsen, leaving behind, stashed in the rooms where she and her family hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam, one of the most valuable historic documents of our time: her diary. But try telling this story in a Dutch classroom today. "Holocaust Classes? Bulls**t! Say the Students" declared a headline of Dutch newspaper AD. Indeed, large numbers of Dutch students, all of them Muslim, refuse to listen to lessons about the Shoah [the Holocaust], denouncing them as exaggerations and lies, and threatening their teachers. It is a capital example of the kind of exploitation one finds increasingly among radicalized and even non-radicalized Muslim youth in Europe: for even as many question the existence of the concentration camps, the efforts at genocide, they demonstrate in pro-ISIS and anti-Israel rallies chanting "All Jews to the gas" and "Hitler was right."

Kerry on Iran Deal: ‘If Allah Wills It’
Excerpt: Secretary of State John Kerry allegedly responded in a most unusual way to a reporter’s question Friday whether a nuclear arms deal could be reached with Iran before the March 31 deadline. “Allah willing,” Kerry replied — in Arabic, according to Laura Rozen, a reporter covering the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Washington, D.C.-based online publication, Al-Monitor. As news reached the public Friday that a deal may be forthcoming, Rozen tweeted: ("Insha'Allah" means 'If Allah wills." But usually used by Arabs like "Insha'Allah, I will be at your office Wednesday" meaning, might be there, might not, who knows? ~Bob)


Interesting: Understanding the Islamic State. By Philip Jenkins
Excerpt: ISIS is not just an Islamic movement, and not just a Sunni Muslim movement. To understand that, look at the religious statistics for the nation of Iraq (insofar as that “nation” still exists). Our best estimate is that the whole nation has around 36 million people. Of these, Shi’ites compose around 60-66 percent, say 20-24 million people. Christians, Yezidis and other minorities represent less than two percent, or at least that was the figure before the current catastrophe – around one million. That leaves Sunni Muslims as the remainder, some twelve to fourteen million Iraqis. (Let’s not quibble about a million here or there).

Worth Reading: Criticizing Hamas: the Newest Campus Hate Crime. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: It was the summer of 2014. Hamas rockets had pounded Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The rockets were stored in schools. They were launched from mosques and churches. The dead included Daniel Tregerman, a 4-year-old Israeli boy killed by shrapnel. Another Hamas massacre of Jewish children was narrowly averted when a father managed to get kindergarteners inside before a rocket hit. At the beginning of August, even the White House spokesman had called Hamas’ actions “barbaric”. ... A Jewish professor was being forced to deny that he had dehumanized a violently racist terrorist group that calls Jews “Brothers of apes and pigs”. (Once again I defer to Maslow. It's ok to threaten and kill, and support those who do...but threaten their self esteem??? Go figure. --George)

*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s eleven books are listed here:

No comments:

Post a Comment