Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Some "must-read" political news and opinion today

Update

Still having trouble keeping up--too much going on. But a lot here today. ~Bob

General News and Comment

Reset Button: Russia to Pursue More Nukes. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: As Secretary of State John Kerry desperately tries to cobble together a deal over Iran's nuclear program, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ramping up his country's nuclear arsenal in response to NATO "aggression." More from the BBC: President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will put more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles into service this year. It is part of a wide-reaching programme to modernise the country's military. ... FLASHBACK: Hillary Clinton says the Russian "reset button" was a brilliant stroke.

Important: Stratfor has 11 chilling predictions for what the world will look like a decade from now. By Armin Rosen
Excerpt: The private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, recently published its Decade Forecast in which it projects the next ten years of global political and economic developments. In many ways, Stratfor thinks the world of ten years from now will be more dangerous place, with US power waning and other prominent countries experiencing a period of chaos and decline. "There will not be an uprising against Moscow, but Moscow's withering ability to support and control the Russian Federation will leave a vacuum," Stratfor warns. "What will exist in this vacuum will be the individual fragments of the Russian Federation."


Boehner Trolls Hillary After Newly Discovered Benghazi Emails. By Rachel Stoltzfoos
Excerpt: After a House Benghazi Select Committee discovered either Hillary Clinton or the State Department withheld Benghazi emails, House Speaker John Boehner used the occasion to throw Bill Clinton’s infidelity in her face. What do you think? “When it comes to Hillary Clinton’s #Benghazi-related emails, it depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘all’ is,” Boehner tweeted Wednesday, linking to a post on his blog titled “It Depends Upon What the Meaning of the Word ‘All’ Is.”

Hillary Clinton fights post-Obama apathy in bid to energize South Carolina blacks. By S.A. Miller
Excerpt: She has mastered the art of affecting a folksy twang when speaking to Southern crowds and her husband once boasted that he was the first black president' class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" v:shapes="itxthook0icon"> , but Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton has a long way to go to win over black voters crucial to victory in South Carolina’s early primary. Mrs. Clinton, who on Wednesday will make her second visit to the Palmetto State, moved early and forcefully to shore up support of black voters, but that Democratic bloc has yet to coalesce behind her. That includes young blacks who say they have lost faith in politics after their experience with President Obama.

Carly Fiorina's Newish Anti-Hillary Ad: "Flying is Not An Accomplishment; It Is An Activity." By Daniel Doherty
Excerpt: Her latest campaign spot, which is roughly three minutes long, is worth watching to the end, in part because it showcases her eloquence as a Clinton critic and her courage in going after her in the first place (via TRS):

More voters say Hillary not trustworthy, uncaring; Paul, Rubio emerge as threats. By Paul Bedard
Excerpt: The Democrat's history of being the party that cares about voter needs, summed up famously when Bill Clinton said "I feel your pain," is being squandered by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a shocking new poll of three key battleground states.
The Quinnipiac University Swing State Polls of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida found that Clinton is more known for being less than honest and trustworthy than a woman of the people. It also showed her sliding in the states when put in head-to-head matchups, especially against Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.

5 Cartoons and Memes that Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Hates!
Excerpt: The Clintons are a uniquely American Media creation. The same media who gave us the Kardashians also give us Bill and Hillary Clinton. Two politicians completely propped up by the media despite every scandal in the world:

Poll: Hillary Slips Behind GOP In Crucial Swing States
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/17/poll-hillary-slips-behind-gop-in-crucial-swing-states/
Excerpt: In Ohio and Pennsylvania, Clinton sits in the low 40s and is losing to a Republican. In Florida, she is just 3 points ahead of her closest challenger, and sits at just 47%. A Quinnipiac poll, released Wednesday morning, shows that Clinton’s ratings for honest and trustworthy are in the negative by some very large margins. Florida: 51-43%; Ohio: 53-40%; Pennsylvania: 54-40%. The poll looked at a potential match-up between Clinton and a number of GOP contenders in the three states.

Hillary Clinton has the Edge in Florida Even as Voters Think She Can't Be Trusted. By Kevin Derby
Excerpt: A new poll shows former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a slight lead over Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush in Florida, the largest swing state on the map in presidential elections, even as a majority of voters say she can’t be trusted. Clinton leads other Republicans by far wider margins. 

Another Democrat has BIG Email Problems. By Onan Coca
Excerpt: Democratic presidential hopeful and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley deleted virtually all of the messages from his primary, private email address, leaving constituent complaints and spam in an archive. O’Malley’s official Maryland state government email address was likely linked primarily to an online form for constituent comments, while his private account was used to conduct government business, a Maryland official said.

Judge Issues New Order to IRS: Your Excuse For "Lost" Emails is Invalid. By Katie Pavlich 
Excerpt: After listening to excuses from IRS officials about why they cannot produce "lost" emails requested through a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered the IRS to come up with a better explanation as to why the agency cannot produce valid documentation. He's also asking for details about IRS hard drive destruction policy and wants verification from an outside source that IRS hard drives in question were in fact destroyed as officials have claimed.

Worth Reading: The Anti-Science Left. By John Stossel 
Excerpt: Many on the left -- including a few of my fellow libertarians -- are paranoid about genetically modified organisms. These are crops that have DNA altered to make them grow faster or be more pest-resistant. The left calls that "playing with nature" and worries that eating GMO food will cause infertility, premature aging and a host of other problems. The fear makes little scientific sense. There is no reason to think that precise changes in a plant's genes are more dangerous than, say, the cross-breeding of corn done by American Indians centuries ago or a new type of tomato arising in someone's organic garden. Nature makes wilder and more unpredictable changes in plant DNA all the time.

Important: Government debt threatens to send U.S. economy into death spiral, CBO warns. By Stephen Dinan 
Excerpt: Rising federal debt threatens to choke economic growth within a decade, beginning a death spiral that will sap revenue from government programs even as demands grow, forcing the government to borrow even more, Congress‘ budget watchdog said in a frightening report Tuesday. Budget cuts or tax increases now would help avert that scary scenario, leaving the economy far stronger than it otherwise would be, the Congressional Budget Office said in the starkest warning yet by the independent agency that putting off tough decisions will only make things worse. (See: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic: And what you can do to prevent it. By Robert A. Hall http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5 All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans. For a free PDF of this 80-page book you can read on your computer, write me at: tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. ~Bob)

Worth Reading: Culture and Social Pathology. By Walter Williams
Excerpt: A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police and courts but customs, traditions, rules of etiquette and moral values. These behavioral norms — mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings — represent a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through experience and trial and error. They include important thou-shalt-nots, such as thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not cheat. They also include all those courtesies that have traditionally been associated with ladylike and gentlemanly conduct. The failure to fully transmit these values and traditions to subsequent generations represents one of the failings of what journalist Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.” People in this so-called great generation, who lived during the trauma of the Great Depression and fought World War II, not only failed to transmit the moral values of their parents but also are responsible for government programs that will deliver economic chaos. . . . If it were only the economic decline threatening our future, there might be hope. It’s the moral decline that spells our doom.

Shock European Court decision: Websites are liable for users' comments
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/shock-european-court-decision-websites-are-liable-for-users-comments-2/
Excerpt: In a surprise decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has ruled that the Estonian news site Delfi may be held responsible for anonymous and allegedly defamatory comments from its readers. As the digital rights organization Access notes, this goes against the European Union’s e-commerce directive, which "guarantees liability protection for intermediaries that implement notice-and-takedown mechanisms on third-party comments." As such, Peter Micek, Senior Policy Counsel at Access, says the ECHR judgment has "dramatically shifted the internet away from the free expression and privacy protections that created the internet as we know it." (Comment sections will vanish. ~Bob)

Five reasons why a Trump 2016 run could be good news for the GOP (2013)
http://www.redstate.com/diary/6755mm/2013/09/03/five-reasons-why-a-trump-2016-run-could-be-good-news-for-the-gop/
Excerpt: From now on, I will refer to The Donald’s ability to attract political media attention as the “Trump Effect” bringing us to the first of five reasons why a Donald Trump candidacy could actually be a positive development for the Republican Party in 2016. Trump brings celebrity pop culture to the GOP Like it or not, Republicans must face the indisputable fact that we are living in an age where “celebrity” and politics have become permanently intertwined. This unfortunate development places the GOP at an extreme disadvantage since the party suffers from a severe shortage of pop culture star-power.

Donald Trump’s ‘Mexican rapists’ rhetoric will keep the Republican Party out of the White House. By Jonathan Capehart 
Excerpt: In the 45-minute “festival of narcissism” that was Donald Trump’s rambling presidential, one particularly nasty passage proved him to be a menace to the Republican Party. It was the one about Mexican immigrants. (Notice how for the left, if one Republican says something, all Republicans are guilty? But try hanging the statements of one liberal on all liberals, or one black on all blacks, or...~Bob)

Why Trump Should Run (2014)
http://townhall.com/columnists/matttowery/2014/12/17/why-trump-should-run-n1933322/page/full
Excerpt: But I was around, working with Newt Gingrich and working in a U.S. Senate race in 1980, when Ronald Reagan was portrayed as a reckless nuclear cowboy. He was disdained by the national GOP establishment. But he whipped them all, and without ever changing his "cowboy" style or his conservative message. Suddenly, they all loved him. Trump probably comes the closest these days to having Reagan's star quality, mixed with conservative beliefs. He has the ability and the willingness, as did Reagan in his breakthrough moment during New Hampshire's 1980 primary campaign, to remind folks that he "paid for this microphone" and will darn well be heard. (I voted for Ragan twice--I can't imagine voting for Trump. We don't need another Narcissistic Personality Disorder President in the White House. ~Bob)

We Take Donald Trump Lightly At Our Peril
http://datechguyblog.com/2015/06/16/we-take-donald-trump-lightly-at-our-peril/
2.9 MILLION. He has more people following him on twitter than all the candidates above combined except Rubio & Paul and easily has more than double of the two of them combined. In fact there is only one person in the race that has more followers than him….And she is considered the person to beat.

WaPo Fact Checker: Fact checking Donald Trump’s presidential announcement speech. By Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Excerpt: Businessman Donald Trump is a fact checker’s dream … and nightmare. He spouts off so many “facts,” often twisted or wrong, that it takes a lot of time to hack through the weeds. So here are some of the highlights — and lowlights — of Trump’s announcement on June 16 that he will seek the Republican nomination for president.

7 Terrifying Quotes From The NYT’s Story On Teen Sex Changes. By Blake Neff
Excerpt: The New York Times published an article Tuesday about the brave new world of people undergoing gender transitions at 18 years old or even younger. Given the topic matter, the article is full of lines that are a little uncomfortable, to say the least. Here are the top seven most cringe-worthy. 1. “Kat was anxious about having enough privacy in college, since her new vagina needs constant care or it will close off like a wound.” ... 7. “A large-scale Swedish study at the Karolinska Institute found that starting about a decade after gender reassignment surgery, the transgender suicide rate was still 19 times higher than for the general population.” (The left doesn't like GMOs--Genetically Modified Organisms. But they think SMP are the wave of the future. That's Surgically Modified People. ~Bob)

Funny: Weird Trick - "Trans" Saturating America. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Today's commentary sparked from a couple of short emails - one last night the other this morning - from Marine friends. The creator of a political blog wrote...

Trans Woman is Getting $70,000 Sex Reassignment Surgery—And Guess Who She Says is Paying for It. By Conor Swanberg
Excerpt: Lisa Larson has been struggling with her identity since she was just three years old, she told WTOC in an exclusive interview. Much like Caitlyn Jenner, Lisa seeks to have a gender reassignment surgery, but it is how she’s paying for it that is getting people riled up. A majority of the $70,000 bill, which includes things like a vaginoplasty, breast implants, and facial reconstruction, will be covered under Obamacare. Larson will only have to pay $5,000 out of pocket. (I've always felt I was a rich playboy trapped in a poor guy's body. I think the government should give me a facelift and say $50M ~Bob)

Gay Now vs Gay Then: Gay Rights Have Made Us Dumber, It's Time to Get Back in the Closet
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/17/gay-rights-have-made-us-dumber-its-time-to-get-back-in-the-closet/#
Excerpt: I am a gay exceptionalist, because that is what science and history tell me to be. That’s why I find it depressing that my fellow fags have stopped breeding. James I, generally regarded as a good king, had gay relationships. It’s said that one of his lovers was Francis Bacon, the father of British empiricism. Bacon married twice but had no children. What might his descendants have accomplished, had old Francis bitten the bullet and shagged his missus a bit more often? Analogical reasoning is more strongly influenced by health, upbringing and education than genes. But overall processing speed and reaction time are almost certainly largely heritable. That’s why gay sperm is precious. The medical establishment tacitly admits this by encouraging gays to be sperm donors but blocking them from donating blood. (James the ! (of England) and VI (of Scotland) definitely liked boys, had kids, also tortured witches and was a misogynist. ~Bob)

Gay Brownshirts Against Civility by V the K at Gaypatriot.net
http://www.gaypatriot.net/2015/06/16/gay-brownshirts-against-civility/
Excerpt: Apparently, the Gay Left wants to make sure no one ever has a civil conversation with a Conservative. No amount of groveling will make up for talking to one of those filthy people. And if they have to enforce these rules by behaving like middle schools… that’s just how they roll. A few months ago, the oh-so-tolerant LGBT activists completely lost their minds after two prominent gay hoteliers, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, hosted a foreign policy discussion event for presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Because GOD FORBID they find some common ground with Cruz. Gay marriage should dictate all of your political views. Every. Single. One of them.

Excerpt: U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold and his progressive political action committee may have skimped on giving to liberal candidates, but the PAC didn’t mind spreading the wealth via travel expenditures for its founder and his staff, according to Federal Election Commission documents obtained by Wisconsin Watchdog. At least while Feingold was with the group. The documents show Progressives United spent more than $40,000 on travel costs between February 2011 and June 2013, while Feingold served as an adviser to the liberal organization.

Why Roger Goodell might be in tough spot on Tom Brady suspension. By Sally Jenkins
Excerpt: Tom Brady is said to be seeking total exoneration, and it appears he’s entitled to it. The idea that Brady and the New England Patriots intentionally deflated footballs for a competitive advantage has been discredited by everyone from sidewalk chemists to Web physicists to unlicensed ceramicists, not to mention your own common sense. But most importantly, it is utterly shredded in a new scientific analysis by the American Enterprise Institute, which shows the only inflation problem is in NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s head. The NFL paid millions for a fundamentally flawed report by lawyer Ted Wells that made Brady and the Patriots out to be slam-dunk guilty, based on more than 100 pages of mathematical analysis of ball pressurization . . . that turns out to be erroneous.

Florida Sheriff Attacked by Freedom From Religion Foundation for “Preaching” in Uniform
http://lastresistance.com/12234/florida-sheriff-attacked-by-freedom-from-religion-foundation-for-preaching-in-uniform/
Excerpt: The Freedom from Religion Foundation certainly doesn’t mince any words concerning what they’re about. Recently they went on the offensive against a Florida sheriff who was invited to speak at a local Baptist church. Apparently, they wanted him to change out of his uniform first: Polk County Sheriff Grady] Judd spoke from the pulpit of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland two months ago. (In Wisconsin, I complained about the Dane County Sheriff appearing in uniform, with county badge with a sheriff's vehicle. On hold due to resignation of the chair of the ethics board. ~Bob)

Vets find humor in civilians' barracks layover
Excerpt: Instead, they were treated to a 20-hour stay at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay in Newfoundland, where temperatures dropped to 39 degrees — and blankets were MIA. ... Passengers received the full military experience, dining in the mess hall the next morning before being flown to Newark, New Jersey, en route to their connecting flight at London Heathrow, according to reports. While a nightmare for some, members of the military community found the incident amusing.

Cartoon Explains the Ironic Hypocrisy of Liberal "Tolerance" PERFECTLY
Excerpt: Tolerance is a word the left loves to use, but unfortunately for them they, they don’t cart to live by it nearly as much they claim to. Go figure.

Against Judicial Activism. Defending the Constitution from those who would rewrite it. By Adam Freedman
Excerpt: The meaning of the United States Constitution is “fixed by the original meaning of its words,” according to the authors of a highly engaging new book titled, simply, The Constitution: An Introduction. That proposition—music to the ears of originalists like Justice Antonin Scalia—underlies the book’s central theme: defending the Constitution’s text against those politicians and judges who “seek to rewrite [its] terms in the service of what are thought to be desirable policies.”

There Are Two Americans and Only One Is Truly Free. By David French
Excerpt: While enjoying the undeniable organizational (and psychic) benefits of near-unanimity, urban liberals consistently think debates are “over” when they’ve scarcely begun, fail to understand (much less consider) opposing points of view, and consistently overestimate their cultural strength. An urban liberal can go his entire life without exposure to serious conservative ideas. 

Amtrak Collected $1.3 Billion From Stimulus. $850 million directly to infrastructure on top of $1.4 billion budget. By Elizabeth Harrington
Excerpt: Democrats did not hesitate to call for additional infrastructure spending for Amtrak immediately after the deadly derailment Tuesday evening, despite a $1.3 billion investment in the company from the 2009 stimulus law. According to Recovery.gov, Amtrak received $1,295,804,688 from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law through a grant from the Department of Transportation (DOT) filed under “Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction.” The grant noted that roughly 50 percent of the money went to “infrastructure improvements” in the Northeast Corridor.

Profs say US history guidelines would shortchange college-bound seniors
Excerpt: “Lost in the new guidelines is the central role of the American Founders in inspiring our country,” Harvard University history professor Harvey Mansfield, who signed the letter, told FoxNews.com. “Students are not led to the idea that America is an experiment in self-government, that all its struggles and troubles, its drama and heroes, come back to its great ambition to make freedom and equality a reality.... The curriculum also says that markets widened inequality, yet fails to mention that economic freedom caused America’s prosperity. (Wonder if the curriculum teaches that command economic systems inevitably fail and that reforms of capitalism have to be introduced to save "the system" as in Russia and China? Are they obliterating the peaceful approach of Dr. M. L. King to replace it with violent Black Liberation goals from the Panthers, with former Attorney General Holder saying he idolizes Malcolm X and all should be made to watch his biopic? Does it teach that those in The Party use the community as pawns for manipulation? Note how the Misery Index has increased in the last six years under POTUS, while he laughs and plays golf at exclusive clubs as his wife, mother-in-law, children and her large entourage have vacation after vacation on the community nickel. --Barb)

Please pray for Michelle Malkin's Daughter: "Every Breath She Takes"
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/17/every-breath-she-takes-boss-emeritus-heartbreaking-struggle/
Excerpt: Today, Michelle shares with the world the nightmare scenario playing out with her daughter’s health. Veronica, a brilliant and talented teen, has suddenly taken ill and fights for every breath while the medical world struggles to find a diagnosis. Please read this in its entirety, but here’s a particularly heartbreaking excerpt:

Who’s afraid of America? The military playing field is more even than it has been for many years. That is a big problem for the West
Excerpt: SINCE the end of the cold war one simple geopolitical rule has endured: do not take on America. The country’s armed forces have been so well resourced and so technologically superior that it would be utterly foolish for any state to mount a direct challenge to the superpower or its allies. This rule still holds—but it is no longer quite as compelling as it once was. Although America still possesses by far the most capable armed forces in the world, the technological advantage that guarantees it can defeat any conceivable adversary is eroding rapidly. “We are entering an era where American dominance on the seas, in the skies, and in space—not to mention cyberspace—can no longer be taken for granted,” admitted Chuck Hagel, the outgoing secretary of defense, last year. He argued that America urgently needed to develop a new generation of military technologies, lest another country come to feel capable of challenging it. His warning was timely. (Extremely thought-provoking. --Del)

Excerpt: The situation in Greece has escalated meaningfully since last week. After the IMF effectively threw in the towel and sent its negotiating team back to Washington on Thursday, EU and Greek officials agreed to meet in Brussels over the weekend in what was billed as a last ditch effort to end a long-running impasse and salvage some manner of deal in time to allow for the disbursement of at least part of the final tranche of aid ‘due’ to Greece under its second bailout program. Talks collapsed on Sunday however as Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, under pressure from the Left Platform, refused (again) to compromise on pension reform and the VAT, which are “red lines” for both the IMF and for Syriza party hardliners. 
By Monday evening it was clear that both EU officials and Syriza’s radical left were drawing up plans for capital controls and a possible euro exit with Brussels looking to Thursday’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg for a possible breakthrough. 

The Democrats Are Gollum. And the press is their ring of invisibility. Or maybe I should call it the presshussss.
Excerpt: A shepherd Gyges found a magic ring that made him invisible. Because he could no longer be seen, he discovered he could commit any crime without consequence and so ultimately murdered his way to becoming king of Lydia. Glaucon concludes: No man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take what he liked out of the market, or go into houses and lie with any one at his pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be like a God among men.

Recovering from War in the Age of Obama
Excerpt: The world is on fire. In every sphere of the world where America cares, the hopes for peace and prosperity are in peril. Most of this mayhem has erupted over the course of the Obama presidency. 

As the World Collapses into Chaos, Obamas Party Like It’s 1999 (Video)
Excerpt: After a particularly rough week filled with bad news and blunders, pundits expected to see the president out on the golf course this weekend, as is his habit when the going gets tough. Instead, amidst the continuing chaos in the Middle East, his trade bill going down, the economy taking a nose dive and the disturbing revelation that millions of current and former government workers — including those in the military — are victims of a massive cyberattack, the president decided to party like it’s 1999.... I gather the government can keep some secrets when it involves something important.... “I think the fact that we’re talking about a private event paid for by the president and first lady, that occurred in their own home on a Saturday night — I think most people would recognize that understandably as a private event,” he said, forgetting to mention that the “private event” included 500 guests and celebs. ("In their home." Since when is the White House OWNED by the residing President and wife? Used to belong to the "folks" of the US, with POTUS allowed to reside there during his term, and used to be open for tours....Remember? --Barb)

House Leadership Removes Rule Dissenters From Whip Team
Excerpt: After a group of Republicans nearly scuttled the Obama trade effort last week by voting against a procedural rule dictating the debate terms for the trade bill, House leadership is pushing back. Reps. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM), and Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) have been removed from the whip team after they sided with GOP rebels to vote against a rule governing debate on a trade bill, according to sources close to the team. The repercussions come as House Republicans prepare for another procedural vote to bring back Trade Adjustment Assistance — a key portion of the Obama trade effort to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would grant the president fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals — as late as July 30.

White House claims Obamas picked up tab for private party featuring Prince
Excerpt: Adam Goodman, of the communication strategy firm the Victory Group, told "Strategy Room" that the president “simply cannot chose when to go on and off the grid.” “I think this is an example of that,” he continued. “And it raises, unnecessarily, a lot of questions about who paid for [the event] and why so secret. (Indeed, why so secret? And the Secret Service had to pass 500 guests in and reporters seem to think they can access this info. Listen to video on Goodman. He notes Prince's fee typically is $2 million and Obamas have an expense allowance of $19,000 each. He says the math doesn't add up. --Barb)

Rising Dragon News

Why Are We Ignoring a Cyber Pearl Harbor? By Jonah Goldberg
Excerpt: What if a team of Chinese agents had broken into the Pentagon or — less box office but just as bad — the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and carted out classified documents? The next day, the newspapers and morning TV shows would show pictures of the broken locks and rummaged filing cabinets. And if we caught the Chinese spies in the act, perp-walking them for the world to see? Boy howdy. My hunch is that the airwaves would be full of people talking about how “this was an act of war.” And I have no doubt that if the situation were reversed and we had sent our team to Beijing, the Chinese would definitely see it as an act of war.

Will anyone at OPM be fired for not preventing this catastrophic mega-hack by China?
Excerpt: Good point by Tom Nichols. Imagine the situation was reversed and the NSA had been caught lifting the personnel files of virtually every human being who works for the Chinese government. How tense would relations be with China right now? I’m thinking somewhere on the order of you-just-bombed-our-embassy tense. As it is, if there are plans afoot to retaliate, the White House is doing an uncharacteristically good job of keeping them secret so far. True confession: I’ve grown so used to seeing U.S. officials go unpunished for gigantic mistakes that not until I read this piece by Michael Dougherty did it occur to me that no one at OPM’s been disciplined yet. It’s hard not to be complacent about unaccountability when there’s so much of it.

Gun News

Excerpt: 18-year-old armed robber Tamon J. Stapleton stormed into the Breadbox and forced the female employee behind the counter and towards the register at 2:30 AM with a gun to her head. One of the employee’s male friends happened to be in his car in front of the Breadbox. He retrieved his legally-owned pistol from his car and ran into the store, firing a single shot that struck Stapleton in the head, killing him. Believe it or not, Stapleton’s mother Joy is now demanding homicide charges be filed against the man who defended the clerk from her violent thug of a son:

Race Card News

#BlackLivesMatter? Violence spikes in major cities as cops walk tenuous line between fighting crime and civil rights. By Maggie Ybarra
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/16/murder-and-shooting-rates-spike-as-police-try-to-b/#ixzz3dMOSAoFQ
Excerpt: Shooting and homicide rates are spiking in major U.S. cities including Baltimore and New York in the wake of nationwide protests against policing tactics such as stop-and-frisk and the questionable use of force against unarmed black men by law enforcement officers. The number of shootings in Baltimore nearly doubled through May 31 compared with the same period last year, and homicides jumped from 86 to 131. The New York City Police Department said it had about a 9 percent increase in shootings and almost a 20 percent spike in homicides in that same period. Chicago also is reporting a rise in its homicide rate. (Most of the victims are black--thanks, protesters. ~Bob)

Investigation of Rachel Dolezal's roots reveals she has no black relatives dating back to 1671 - her ancestors came to the US from Europe and have no bloodlines linking them to slaves or Africa
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3126774/Investigation-Rachel-Dolezal-s-roots-reveals-no-black-relatives-dating-1671-ancestors-came-Europe-no-bloodlines-linking-slaves-Africa.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus
Excerpt: Rachel Dolezal has no genealogical claim whatsoever that she is black, going back through the last four centuries, an investigation by Daily Mail Online has revealed.
The woman who sparked a national debate on race has no black relatives dating back to 1671; in fact her family were entirely white including some who were Mormons. Archives show that Rachel’s ancestors came to the US from Europe and have no bloodlines linking them to slaves or Africa.

Video Emerges of Rachel Dolezal Speaking to Baltimore Protesters Before She Was Outed as White. By Jason Howerton
Excerpt: Video footage reportedly captured in Baltimore last month seemingly shows Rachel Dolezal, the former president of the NAACP’s Spokane, Washington, chapter, speaking to Freddie Gray protesters and even leading them in a chant. (How many black folks have died in the increased violence since this "trans-racial" person egged on the protesters? ~Bob)

US race-faker Rachel Dolezal was in a SEX TAPE - her ex-husband forced her to perform 'sex acts' in front of the camera against her will, she claimed in court papers
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3127173/Rachel-Dolezal-SEX-TAPE-ex-husband-forced-perform-sex-acts-camera-against-claimed-court-papers.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus
Excerpt: Rachel Dolezal once accused her ex-husband of forcing her to take part in a homemade sex tape, Daily Mail Online can reveal. Dolezal, 37, admitted participating in 'sexual acts' on camera with Kevin Moore, who has been pictured in public for the first time since their wedding photo appeared. However, Dolezal - a serial litigant who resigned her post as leader of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP Monday - insisted she took part in the video against her will. ... Montana-born Dolezal married the African American physical therapist in March 2000 but their marriage ended five years later in a bitter court battle. (If she can self-identify as black, I can self-identify as young and good looking! ~Bob)

The Internalized Racism of White Leftists. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: After Rachel Dolezal graduated from Howard University, a historically black college that is 95% black making it one of the least diverse schools in the country, she sued for racial discrimination alleging that she had been denied a teaching assistant position and financial aid because of her race. She told her black adopted brother that the college had assumed she was black when she had applied. According to her brother, “She used to tell us that teachers treated her differently than other people and a lot of them acted like they didn’t want her there.”
That experience might have made someone else racist, but Rachel Dolezal internalized the racism she experienced at Howard. And her brother states that it was what led her to become “self-hating”.

Obama and the Black Intellectualoids by L. E. Ikenga
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/06/obama_and_the_black_intellectualoids_.html
Excerpt: The black intellectualoid is not interested in logic. He is not interested in the well-being of this country. He is not interested the consequences that those falsely accused will have to face -- vandalized property, probable job loss, or death threats. He’s interested in money. In the end, it’s all theater and sport. This is just about people, the black intellectualoids and the people who support them, making a profit. Both groups are deeply morally deformed.

Man punches 80-year-old in store, knocking her to ground, deputies say. Curtis Styles arrested, charged
Excerpt: She said before she had time to realize what was happening, the man punched her in the back, knocking her to the ground.... The deputy said Styles denied anything having happened, so the deputy showed him the video. The deputy said Styles said it was not him in the video because his face was visible. (Attacker black. Bet the victim white, because white lives don't matter. Punched an 80-year-old woman in the spine.....and walked away without saying anything. Sharpton and his ilk are proud. MLK may be turning in his grave. This dude has a mother who can be really proud of what she bred. --Barb)

Excerpt: The “Coaching for Educational Equity” conference is grounded firmly in “white privilege,” which is the bizarre, radically leftist political theory that every white person is deeply racist, even if the racism is subconscious. ... “They are segregating students,” Chriestenson added. “They are spreading anger among students of color and guilt among white students.” (Per article, blacks are naturally socialistic and a characteristic of white society is individualism. Guess this justifies the constant referrals to "The Community" and its needs and desires and demands on the local/national news nightly. "Black Lives Matter." White lives don't. White folks need not apply to be considered for "community" health or education or social benefits. BLP. --Barb)

Obamacare/Government Healthcare News

Broke but Undaunted: California budget deal to make state first in nation to offer health care to undocumented kids
Excerpt: A budget deal between Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders would make California the first in the nation to offer state-subsidized health care to children who are in the country illegally. The $115.4 billion agreement announced Tuesday is expected to win easy approval from the Senate and Assembly before the fiscal year begins July 1, and its immigrant health care provisions were touted by its backers as a necessity in the face of federal inaction. "While Washington dithers because they can't get things done, we need immigration reform," Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. "The reality is many of these children, and they are children, require some kind of health care and they receive it in the emergency room. The cost to taxpayers would be $40 million in the new fiscal year and grow to $132 million a year once fully implemented, numbers that had Republicans objecting and warning that it won't help immigrants get access to doctors because of the shortage of providers who accept Medi-Cal, the state's health program for the poor. (I have thought that the fiscal collapse would begin in Illinois, but you can't rule out California. ~Bob)

Keep Working America: The Government Not Exactly Sure Where $3 Billion in Obamacare Subsidies Went. Excerpt: Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Good news, America. Three billion dollars of hard earned tax money you've been sending to subsidize other people's healthcare plans 1) went to the wrong people 2) was paid out in the wrong amounts. An Inspector General audit of the Department of Health and Human Services revealed today that Obamacare subsidies handled by the agency have been completely unorganized, disfunctional and misplaced. Why? Because HHS never implemented a system to ensure the subsides would be secure, distributed in the right amounts and sent to those who are eligible to receive them. 

End Game: Majority of Americans Want Their Healthcare Paid For By Taxpayers. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Before Obamacare was shoved through and passed in 2010, conservatives and small government proponents warned that once the entitlement program was implemented, it would be impossible to take away. They were right. Fast forward five years and a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows a majority of Americans want Obamacare subsidies mandated in all 50 states if current federal subsidies are struck down in King v. Burwell. In other words, the majority of country wants healthcare plans paid for (aka subsidized) by someone else.

Undocumented Democrat News

Seeking a better life--yours! DHS Released Dozens of Convicted Rapists, Child Molesters. By Katie Pavlich 
Excerpt: In 2013 the Department of Homeland Security released 36,000 violent illegal alien criminals onto American streets after claiming officials were practicing prosecutorial discretion. In 2015, they did the same and released 30,000 more violent aliens onto the streets who had been convicted of heinous crimes like murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, rape and more. We also learned just this week that more than 100 violent illegal aliens who avoided deportation by DHS have been charged with murder after being let go from the system. 
Now, a new report in the Boston Globe details how Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released dozens of "the worst of the worst" convicted illegal alien sex offenders into American cities. 

Under Obama, Businesses Now Face "Very Little Risk" in Hiring Illegal Immigrants. By Leah Barkoukis
Excerpt: If there are jobs to be had, and employers who will hire them, illegal immigrants will keep coming to the U.S. It’s no surprise, then, that one of the ways the influx could be curbed is through the “serious enforcement of current laws prohibiting the employment of illegals,” which Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Robert Rector has explained in detail. What would make matters worse, however, is to do just the opposite. And since we’re still in the Age of Obama, that is exactly what’s happening.

Excerpt: Boston joined five other cities Tuesday to partner with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to market citizenship to legal and illegal immigrants in their cities....Los Angeles, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta and New York City have also partnered with USCIS to promote citizenship. (RELATED: Activists Unite To Turn Illegal Immigrants Into Democratic Voters) “There could be no better time for this kind of effort,” Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement announcing the partnership.

"You're Greener than Gore" News

Barack, Francis, Hot Air and Social Justice. By Mark Alexander
Excerpt: The United Nations is apparently now writing “climate change” encyclicals for the Vatican. On Monday, an Italian magazine leaked a draft copy of Pope Francis' 191-page address on the topic. Taking a page from the Left’s playbook, the pope insists that curbing global warming is a moral imperative. (When the left adopts the Pope's position on abortion, I'll pay attention to him on global warming. ~Bob)

Meteorologists Dismantle Bill Nye’s Alarmist Global Warming Claims. By Michael Bastasch
Bill Nye the “Science Guy” is once again trying to blame global warming for a series of weather events happening around the U.S., but this time meteorologists aren’t having it.
What do you think? Meteorologists criticized Nye’s claim that warm temperatures in Alaska and flooding in Texas are a product of man-made global warming. What do you think? As Tropical Storm Bill (no relation to Nye) was projected to make landfall in Texas, Nye tweeted:

Excerpt: President Barack Obama is preparing to unleash a series of “executive actions” aimed at boosting the green energy industry as part of the president’s global warming agenda. Obama is launching a “Clean Energy Impact Investment Center” at the Energy Department to “make information about energy and climate programs … accessible and more understandable to the public, including to mission-driven investors.” The White House is also ordering the IRS to come out with guidance and rules to get nonprofits to invest in green energy technologies, along with creating more government financing options for small businesses looking to go green.

Religion of Peace News


Excerpt: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an official branch of al Qaeda’s international organization, has publicly executed at least two men who were accused of serving as spies for Saudi Arabia and the US. Some accounts say as many as four men have been executed. AQAP’s online jihadist supporters have alleged that the men played a key role in helping US officials locate and then kill the group’s senior leaders in drone strikes. (In groups like this, if the leader likes your favorite goat, you get accused of being a spy. ~Bob)

Excerpt: The Islamic State’s Khorasan province brutally executed one of its former shura members, purportedly for defecting back to the Taliban last month. The execution, as well as the assassination of the Taliban’s shadow governor for Nangarhar province, likely by the Islamic State, preceded a warning by the Taliban’s deputy emir to the leader of the Islamic State to end discord between the jihadist groups in Afghanistan. The Islamic State released a video showing the execution of Sa’ad Emarati, a senior commander as well as a member of the “Khorasan Shura,” the province’s executive council. Emarati’s head was placed on his back after it was removed.

Would-Be Islamic State Terrorist Charged in New York
Excerpt: A 20-year-old Queens, N.Y. man is charged with planning an attack in the name of the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS). Munther Omar Saleh was arrested on Saturday with two others after charging a police cruiser. One of his co-conspirators had a knife in the waistband of his pants. Investigators believe Saleh was trying to make a bomb to blow up somewhere in New York in ISIS' name. When the FBI had a confidential source pose as a radical Islamist and reach out to him, Saleh wrote that he was "in NY and trying to do an Op." He quickly cut off contact with the FBI source, saying he was ordered by ISIS to do so.

Worth Reading: Welfare Colonists Swarm Vehicles Headed for Ferry to Britain
http://moonbattery.com/?p=59636
Excerpt: The opportunities this invading army seeks consist largely of the chance to live like kings by Third World standards without having to work thanks to the welfare state. Their home countries are unsafe because they are populated by people like them. Increasingly, Europe isn’t safe either, for the same reason.

Does Islam Have a Role in Suicide Bombings? By A.J. Caschetta, Middle East Quarterly
Excerpt: When journalists, historians, psychologists, and experts in group dynamics, organizational structures, and criminal justice write about the unique set of circumstances that lead to suicide terrorism, they share the view that Islam has little to do with it. Most analysts either downplay or ignore altogether the role of Islam in suicide terrorism while some attempt to refute the connection and condemn others for not doing so. This reluctance to countenance the role of Islam and Islamism in suicide terrorism has led to some fantastical and far-fetched theories that blur the nature of the deed with euphemisms and neologisms ("tactical martyrdom,"[1] "sordid pleasure,"[2] "altruistic murder") and blame the victims, especially Israelis, for their unhappy fate. And far too often, the causes of suicide terrorism are said to be the policies of the West.

Western Vets Crowdfund Their Journeys to Fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/06/17/hold-western-vets-crowdfund-their-journeys-to-fight-isis-in-iraq-and-syria/
Excerpt: Just as thousands of citizens of Western countries have abandoned their homelands to join the Islamic State, so too are Americans, Canadians, British, and other Western fighters who believe ISIS presents an existential threat to Judeo-Christian values sacrificing all to join Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria and take the fight to the Sunni terrorist group. Many of those with the requisite military expertise to serve Kurdish military groups as valuable soldiers simply do not have the money to set off on the journey they have vowed to make, and have found an innovative new way to generate the income necessary to fight ISIS: online crowdfunding. Sites like Go Fund Me and IndieGoGo have become hubs for soldiers seeking a one-way ticket to Iraq or Syria, who use their pages to explain why they are prepared for such a fight and how a donor’s money would help combat Islamist terrorism.

Islamic Beliefs: In Search of Logic
Excerpt: A search to understand the teachings that guide Muslims on how to live an Islam-compliant life becomes a search for logic. Just like the 16th century Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon discovered from his endless search for a "Fountain of Youth," it simply does not exist.

Clinton-Favored Muslim Brotherhood Leader Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi Sentenced to Death by Hanging
Excerpt: An Egyptian court sentenced influential senior Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi to death in absentia on Tuesday, in a case relating to a mass jail break in 2011. Former Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was also sentenced to death in that case, along with more than 80 others sentenced in absentia. If anything, Qaradawi is the one to be remembered for establishing Stealth Islam with its infiltration ideology called Muruna. Twenty-five years ago, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradwai traveled to America and unpacked his plan for a Muslim takeover that would begin one year later and take 30 years to complete. It included a key component and tactic known as Muruna. 

Mrs. Obama In Britain: Visits Bangladeshi-Dominated School Which Hosts Hard-Left Conferences in Islamist-Friendly Borough
Excerpt: And while the school has been rated as “very good” for a number of years, it has also played host to hard-left conferences sponsored by groups such as ‘War on Want’, which is closely tied to anti-Israel activities in the United Kingdom, the ‘Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’ which has its roots in communist sympathising, and indeed the European Parliament. The Mulberry Youth Conference boasts amongst its speakers Shami Chakrabarti from left-wing campaign group Liberty, now-deceased Labour MP Tony Benn, ex Labour MP Clare Short, editor of the Guardian newspaper Alan Rusbridger, anti-white racist columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, hard-left activist Owen Jones, and feminist campaigner Lucy-Anne Holmes. 

Kurdish Forces Seize Key Border Town From the Islamic State. As Arabs flee northern Syria, claiming ethnic cleansing by Kurds, reports from the Islamic State stronghold in Raqaa say the caliphate is bracing for a siege. By David Kenner
Excerpt: Syrian Kurdish fighters seized the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad from the Islamic State on Monday, handing the jihadi group a major defeat and cutting off a key supply line to its de facto capital in Raqqa. The battle, however, has also forced thousands of civilians to flee into Turkey and has exposed old fault lines between Kurds and Arab citizens of northern Syria. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia in the area, confirmed that the town had been captured. Battles still continued in the southern countryside, he said, where an alliance between the YPG and Free Syrian Army-affiliated groups was trying to clear Islamic State fighters from the towns on the road to Raqqa, which lies roughly 60 miles to the south. (Wow, all kinds of things going on over there. It's great the Kurds are beating up ISIS, but to start even rumors of ethnic cleansing is not good. Everything in the Middle East is always one horrific mess. --Del)

Why this has been the worst year for American Muslims since 9/11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/17/why-this-has-been-the-worst-year-for-american-muslims-since-911/
Excerpt: Ramadan has always been a time of reflection, a chance to stop and recharge my batteries, an opportunity to take a break from the regular pace. Islam prescribes this month of fasting, and as with many, my favorite place to be during Ramadan is the mosque in the evenings. I attend iftars — “breaking of fast” — across the city in various Muslim communities. (Recharge batteries? Interesting thought. I always thought they got lost in the bombing. Observant comments, though. --G)

Kerry: Accounting of past Iran nuclear work not key for deal
Excerpt: Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that a full accounting of Iran's possible past atomic weapons research is not necessarily critical to reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran. His comments came amid concerns the Obama administration is backing down on demands that Iran resolve concerns about previous work as part of an agreement that would curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Kerry said the U.S. and its negotiating partners are "not fixated" on the issue of so-called "possible military dimensions" because they already have a complete picture of Iran's past activities. (Iranians scream "Death to Israel! Death to America!" and they mean it. But no one in the Regime cares. Transformation! Onward at all costs. --Barb)

Face Reality: Many Muslims Support ISIS. By Tarek Fatah
Excerpt: In the last week of May, the Qatar-based Arabic news network Al-Jazeera polled its Arabic-language audience on the question: "Do you support the victories of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in your region?" The results were shocking. Of the 56,881 Arabic-speaking respondents, a whopping 81% voted yes. The results of this online survey may not be scientific. But they do provide anecdotal evidence of what many see as a rise in the support of Islamism in the Arab Middle East, among Muslims in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, and in the diaspora in Britain and France.

*****
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:

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