Update
I checked my weekly page views yesterday. I was surprised
they were only down a little, considering I was off line for five days. But the
real surprise was I had over 1,500 views from Germany . What's up with that? Not
bad for a kid who flunked second year German in the hochschula. ~Bob
I bought the grandson, Dale, 3,this knight's outfit for
Christmas, but the powers-that-be ruled he was to young. Gave it to him today. He spent the afternoon slaying dragons hiding in the bushes outside our condo. Raising no pacifists here--there be dragons in the world. ~Bob
Finally spring in Wisconsin .
General News and Comment
King Cheated: ‘Hillary Clinton Sold Her Soul When
They Accepted That Money.’ The king of Morocco ,
the Clintons
Excerpt: A day after Bill Clinton feted donors and
dignitaries at an extravagant Moroccan feast under a warm Marrakech
night sky, a group of local Sahrawi Arabs gathered for tea in a far more humble
setting here to share their outrage that Clinton’s family foundation had
accepted millions of dollars from a company owned by a government accused of
repressing their people.
The four men used to work as miners for a subsidiary of OCP,
the state-owned phosphate company that paid more than $1 million to sponsor the lavish outdoor
gala and the concurrent two-day meeting of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea
Clinton Foundation headlined by the former U.S. president.
Hillary Clinton
personally took money from companies that sought to influence her
Excerpt: Almost a decade ago, as Hillary Clinton ran for
reelection to the Senate on her way to seeking the presidency for the first
time, the New York Times reported
on her unusually close relationship with Corning, Inc., an upstate
glass titan. Clinton advanced the company's
interests, racking up a big assist by getting China to ease a trade barrier. And
the firm's mostly Republican executives opened up their wallets for her
campaign. During Clinton 's tenure as secretary
of state, Corning
lobbied the department on a variety of trade issues, including the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. The company has donated between $100,000 and
$250,000 to her family's foundation. And last July, when it was clear that Clinton would again seek the presidency in 2016, Corning coughed up a $225,500 honorarium for Clinton to speak.
Interesting: Ex-HUD secretary: Hillary will likely
pick Julian Castro as running mate. By David McCabe
Excerpt: Hillary Clinton’s campaign is likely to choose
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Julián Castro or another
Hispanic politician to be her running mate, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros
said in an interview that will air Sunday. “What I am hearing in Washington , including
from people in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, is that the first person on their
lists is Julián Castro, the ... Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who
use[d] to be the Mayor of San Antonio,” he said in an interview with
Univision’s “Al Punto.” (If you were a clear-thinking Democrat, this
is the sort of news that would make you burst into tears of despair: ....
A one-option veep list? That Democratic bench isn’t just thin, it’s
anorexic. And do Democrats really want to put the 40-year-old Castro a
heartbeat away from the presidency? If this pans out, we’ll get to watch
Democrats and the media insisting that Castro’s time as mayor of San Antonio and two years
at HUD represented some sort of American policy renaissance and an era of bold
leadership. Back in 2012, when Castro was giving the keynote address at the
Democratic National Convention, I pointed out that San Antonio hadn’t gotten much better on his
watch, particularly in the areas he claimed to emphasize, education
and crime. By 2014, as he was joining HUD, his record as mayor included a
few more local political scandals and a barely-budging poverty rate, even as the area economy soared
from the shale boom. Castro left San
Antonio in roughly the same shape as it was before he
became mayor – and yet somehow became one of the Democratic party’s biggest
stars and, if Cisneros is right, the only serious option to be Hillary’s
running mate. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt. http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters.
Has Castro learned Spanish yet? Be fun to have Rubio as the GOP VP debate him
in Spanish. ~Bob
Stephanopoulos Has Got to Go. By Kevin D. Williamson
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418480/stephanopoulos-has-got-go-kevin-d-williamson?utm_source=jolt&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Jolt&utm_campaign=Jolt05182015
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/418480/stephanopoulos-has-got-go-kevin-d-williamson?utm_source=jolt&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Jolt&utm_campaign=Jolt05182015
Excerpt: It is impossible to see
how Stephanopoulos could do his job with any integrity in an environment in
which the Clintons
and their foundation will be central to the political news for the foreseeable
future. Certainly not after concealing his relationship with the foundation.
ABC News owes it to itself to live up to at least the standards of a small-town
weekly newspaper. It owes them a lot more than that, in fact, but it cannot
deliver the goods with Stephanopoulos at the desk.
David Ignatius:
Hillary Clinton is ‘Running Scared,’ Silence on Trade is ‘Genuinely Troubling’
Excerpt: “I found it genuinely troubling that on an issue
where she was involved in the take off — of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade
deal — she has been so silent as if she’s really running scared from the
liberal wing of her own party. Not putting her views out there. I thought the
president by contrast was really a strong voice for what he believes in.
Hillary’s
agribusiness ties give rise to nickname in Iowa
Excerpt: ‘Bride of Frankenfood’ losing crucial liberal
activist support to Bernie Sanders. (Personally, I think many GMO foods like
Golden rice offer hope to prevent starvation. But the left is, of course,
anti-science. Check their kids' vaccination rates. ~Bob)
Buying Absolution: Prominent
Clinton
Excerpt: The Qatari government, a prominent donor to the
Clinton Foundation and a suspected enabler of
terrorist groups, recently arrested and
briefly imprisoned a group of BBC journalists reporting on worker exploitation
in the oil-rich nation.
The Qataris had invited BBC correspondent Mark Lobel and his
colleagues to tour new housing facilities for low-paid migrant workers who have
flocked to the country seeking construction jobs as Qatar prepares to host the World
Cup in 2022. Working conditions and worker accommodations in Qatar have been
widely criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty
International, which says migrant workers are often “treated like cattle.”
Hundreds of World Cup workers are estimated to
have died on the job. (Giving to the Clinton Foundation is like buying
indulgences in the middle ages, or sacrificing a goat or a virgin in pagan
religions--it absolves you of all sin. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Hillary Rodham Clinton is running as the most
liberal Democratic presidential front-runner in decades, with positions on
issues from gay marriage to immigration that would, in past elections, have put
her at her party’s precarious left edge.
The moves are part of a strategic conclusion by Clinton ’s emerging
campaign: that it can harness the same kind of young and diverse coalition as
Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012, bolstered by even stronger appeal among
women.
Whistleblower
Says VA Spent More Than $6 Billion Unlawfully. By Eric Katz
Excerpt: Secretary McDonald, who apparently sat on a memo
about the problem, says the whistleblower should fix it himself. The Veterans
Affairs Department unlawfully spent billions of dollars on procuring medical
devices and supplies in recent years, according to a high-ranking whistleblower,
leaving the department vulnerable to waste and putting veterans in
harm’s way
Maersk Tigris: A
Warning Bell
Excerpt: In the 21st century, competition between
established and emerging powers will be increasingly felt and expressed at sea.
The U.S. decision to escort
U.S.-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian patrol
boats fired warning shots towards the merchant vessel Maersk Tigris and forced
it into an Iranian port says much about the changing global maritime domain,
and how it is increasingly competitive and contested by emerging and
revanchist powers. This is hardly just an American headache.
Quote
Any Government, like any family, can for a year spend a
little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit
means the poorhouse. --Franklin D. Roosevelt
#BlueLivesMatter: There Was a Huge Jump in the Number
of Law Enforcement Officers Killed in the Line of Duty in 2014
Excerpt: “51 law enforcement officers were feloniously
killed in the line of duty in 2014. This is an increase of almost 89 percent
when compared to the 27 officers killed in 2013.
Excerpt: The Waco Police Department announced the arrest of
192 people in connection with the shooting at the Twin
Peaks restaurant that occurred around noon on Sunday. In a
separate action, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) announced they
have issued a 7-day summary suspension closing the diner for community safety
reasons. The 192 individuals arrested are being charged with Engaging in
Organized Crime, according to a Waco PD statement obtained by Breitbart Texas . The McLennan
County District Attorney’s Office is assisting with processing the suspects
through the County
Jail
In win for Google, court lifts
ban on 'Innocence of Muslims' video
“The appeal teaches a simple
lesson—a weak copyright claim cannot justify censorship in the guise of
authorship,” wrote the court in a 10-1 ruling that struck down the ban. The
case turned on a 14-minute film titled “Innocence of Muslims,” which was
produced in 2013 by an amateur film-maker, and contained offensive dialogue
that led to riots, and a call by some clerics for the death of those involved. In
response, actress Cindy Lee Garcia, who appeared briefly in the film, asked for
an order requiring Google to suppress the video on YouTube, claiming that she
had a copyright in her performance. (Aside from the obvious 1st Amendment
implications, this is a very important ruling. Calling this a win for Google is
a vast understatement; it’s a major win for EVERY copyright holder/owner in the USA . The original ban was
based on the self-evidently false notion that an actor, performing a work for hire,
could somehow usurp the copyright from the author and/or the entity holding the
right to film/perform that ALREADY copyrighted work. (A basic principle of
copyrights is that it includes any derivative work; for example, I can't write
a Star Trek episode without permission from the copyright holder.) That is like
saying your computer printer owns--and therefore controls access to--your
original thoughts because it “contributed to” the work. Just as an example, TV
journalists generally do not own the copyrights to news stories they have
written and read aloud on the air; because they are workers-for-hire, the
copyright belongs to the company they work for. Even small community
performance groups honor this basic principle. No other system could be
workable. Ms Garcia might be able to sue her employer for using her image with
someone else's voice-over, but that's very different from asserting copyright
for something she didn't create (characters are derivative). Blog reader
and contributor Tom K might also have some enlightening thoughts on this as he
is both an author and a lawyer. Every writer or performer should be pleased
with this 10-1 result. Ron P.)
Report: Ohio Governor 'Virtually Certain' to Launch
Presidential Bid. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: It's a busy Monday in presidential politics. Gov.
Bobby Jindal took another
formal step toward announcing his long-expected candidacy, Sen.
Lindsey Graham announced his
intention to seek the Republican nomination, and Jon Karl of ABC News is
reporting that Ohio Gov. John Kasich is "virtually certain"
to throw his hat into the ring: (I'm thinking of running myself, under the
slogan, "Not The Worst Choice on the Ballot!" ~Bob)
Let’s Celebrate the
Death of the Mainstream Media! By Kurt Schlichter
Excerpt: All decent, patriotic Americans yearn for the day
when the effects of emerging technologies combine with the mainstream media’s
insufferable progressive cheerleading to finally destroy it. Its death throes
are underway, but it won’t buy the farm overnight. The body of the mainstream
media is still shambling along, wreaking havoc, long after it its brain has
died. So we need to put down the mainstream media like we would any other
mindless zombie.
Federal Spending
Undermines People's Freedom
Excerpt: Federal spending is rising, deficits are chronic,
and government debt is piling up. Deficits are expected to begin soaring after
2017, and official projections show endless rivers of red ink over the long
term unless policymakers enact major budget reforms. Policymakers should
downsize every federal department by eliminating the most harmful programs. Spending
cuts would make sense whether or not the government was running deficits. Cuts
would spur economic growth by shifting resources from lower-valued government
activities to higher-valued private activities. Cuts would also expand freedom
by giving people more control over their lives and reducing the regulations
that come with federal programs.
Excerpt: In the case of Iraq , there were many “dots” the
connection of which pointed to just such a much greater disaster. Saddam
Hussein had a long record of attacking his neighbors and slaughtering his own
people, and he had used chemical weapons during the war with Iran and on
Iraqi Kurds. He had serially violated 16 U.N. resolutions and the terms of the
first Gulf War cease-fire agreement. For most of the 1990s he had evaded his
responsibility under those resolutions and agreements to disclose his WMD
facilities and stockpiles, until in 1998 he simply kicked the weapons
inspectors out of the country. The sanctions regime, which was supposed to
change his behavior, had become a farce. Hussein claimed the sanctions had
killed a million children, creating a public relations nightmare for the U.S. , all the
while the corrupt U.N. food-for-oil program was putting billions into Hussein’s
pockets.
Rising Dragon News
Excerpt: After decades of maintaining a minimal nuclear force,
China has re-engineered
many of its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple warheads, a step
that federal officials and policy analysts say appears designed to give pause
to the United States
as it prepares to deploy more robust missile defenses in the Pacific. ... After
decades of maintaining a minimal nuclear force, China has re-engineered
many of its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple warheads, a step
that federal officials and policy analysts say appears designed to give pause
to the United States
as it prepares to deploy more robust missile defenses in the Pacific.
Growing pains, great
gains
Excerpt: Christianity continues to surge throughout China .
Professors, lawyers, even police officers are professing Christ in the
Communist nation. As long as unregistered house churches stay small and keep
away from foreigners and making loud statements, the government leaves them
unmolested.
Gun News
JPD searches for man
in connection with Saturday kidnapping. Police say shooting was justifiable
homicide
Excerpt: Police said the men took the victim’s wallet and
drove him to a nearby ATM to withdraw more money. Authorities said the men
mentioned returning to the house to do something to the man’s wife. When they
made him get out of the truck, police said the man grabbed a gun and began
shooting at the two men.
Race Card News
http://patriotupdate.com/articles/condoning-black-racism-at-boston-college-americas-double-standard/
Excerpt: Boston
College Boston College
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Excerpt: Medicare fraud is a serious problem. The Medicare
bureaucracy has the power to impose moratoria on new providers in geographic or
program areas it deems susceptible to fraud. However, preventing new
competitors from providing Medicare benefits reduces competition and cannot
reduce fraud by incumbent providers. A better way would be to give Medicare
beneficiaries a financial interest in combating fraud. Last February, the
Government Accountability Office issued its annual report on
federal programs that it identifies as high risk due to their greater
vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. Medicare is a
longstanding member of the list: “We designated Medicare as a high-risk program
in 1990 due to its size, complexity, and susceptibility to mismanagement and
improper payments”. A quarter of a century has gone by and Medicare is still on
the list. (Weren't they going to pay for part of Obamacare by reducing fraud?
Ha. ~Bob)
Skyrocketing Medicaid
signups stir Obamacare fights. Some GOP governors are saying: "I told you
so." By Rachana
Pradhan
Excerpt: Medicaid enrollment under Obamacare is skyrocketing
past expectations, giving some GOP governors who oppose the program’s expansion
under the health law an “I told you so” moment. More than 12
million people have signed up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care
Act since January 2014, and in some states that embraced that piece of the law,
enrollment is hundreds of thousands beyond initial projections. Seven states
have seen particularly big surges, with their overruns totaling nearly 1.4
million low-income adults.
Undocumented Democrat News
Dozens of Cuban
migrants stuck for weeks on US
Excerpt: The US coast
guard said on Sunday 38 migrants from Cuba
who had been stuck in a legal limbo aboard a coast guard ship have been sent
home to Cuba. Coast
guard petty officer Mark Barney said the group was repatriated on Sunday
morning, ending weeks of waiting. (Have to send the Cubans back; they are
fleeing a communist paradise--and they are more likely than Mexicans to vote
Republican. ~Bob)
"You're Greener than Gore" News
New Study Threatens
To Unravel Obama’s Global Warming Agenda. By Michael Bastasch
Excerpt: A new study by University of Houston Texas
researchers published findings
that global warming is actually reducing high-ozone days in the Houston area. The finding
contradicts claims made by the Environmental Protection Agency that global
warming will increase the number of days with high levels of ground-level
ozone.
Religion of Peace News
Obama's Legacy: Report: Saudis to Buy Nuke from Pakistan in Response to Iran
Excerpt: Saudi Arabia
had made the “strategic decision” to purchase a nuclear weapon from Pakistan amid the ongoing negotiations over Iran ’s nuclear
program, a former American defense official said in a report published today in The Sunday Times.
Important: Docs: Benghazi
Excerpt: Fox News has obtained documents which reveal what U.S. intelligence agencies knew about the Benghazi attack and weapons traveling from Libya to Syria back in 2012.
Catherine Herridge reported this morning on “America’s
Newsroom” that a Defense Intelligence Agency memo from Sept. 16, 2012,
concluded that the Benghazi terror attack was planned at least 10 days in
advance to coincide with 9/11 and was in retaliation for a drone strike that
killed an al Qaeda strategist. The memo was copied to the National Security
Council, the State Department and the CIA. (I think even those who deny it know
that Obama and Clinton lied about Benghazi .
I personally think they allowed four Americans to die rather than intervene
which might have resulted in many civilian deaths and riots throughout the
Muslim lands, hurting Obama's reelection chances. ~Bob)
In religious and
political gesture, Pope confers sainthood on two Palestinians
Excerpt: The Vatican
wants to be seen as part of the peace process in the Middle
East , and Pope Francis has made that a priority. And Francis can
be expected at some point to take similar action on the Israeli side. As
political as the canonizations may have been, they carried deep spiritual
meaning, as well. (I think its ironic that the press says the pope's canonizing
two Palestinian women is a political opening to the A-rabs. One of them was a
Christian who had her throat slit for refusing to convert to Islam. --PM)
Hamas Using Truce to
Prepare for Next Clash with Israel
Excerpt: In the nine months since Hamas fought a 50-day war
with Israel ,
the terrorist group has exploited the months of recent quiet to prepare itself
for the next clash, which it assumes will inevitably come. Hamas is in the
midst of a full-scale rocket rearmament and tunnel reconstruction drive. The
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is also preparing its responses for the next time
the Gazan regime attacks.
Excerpt: Saudi Arabia is
advertising for eight new executioners, recruiting extra staff to carry out an
increasing number of death sentences, usually done by public beheading. No
special qualifications are needed for the jobs whose main role is “executing a
judgment of death” but also involve performing amputations on those convicted
of lesser offences, the advert, posted on the civil service jobs portal, said.
(Understandable. Witchcraft and apostasy rates are soaring. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Abu Hafs explained in the interview that he served
al Qaeda for 17 years and had lived with the organization’s most senior
leaders. “We have lived with the leader of al Qaeda, Sheikh Osama and his
brothers,” Abu Hafs said. “Allah also witnesses that I was 17 years in al
Qaeda.”
Worth Reading : Obama:
that chlorine gas Syria
Excerpt: On April 22, 1915, the German army launched an
attack to reduce the Allied salient at Ypres ,
Belgium Syria have not been prevented – or acted upon –
because chlorine is not “historically” considered a chemical weapon, US President
Barack Obama stated Thursday.
*****
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:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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