Tuesday, July 29, 2014

More Important Political News and Comment

Copy in picture reads" "Americans: We'll cross an icy river. In the middle of winter. In the dark. To kill you in your beds. On Christmas."

General News and Comment

"I'm Tired" STILL going around!
Short note to thank you for a terrific (and oh so true!) e-mail (which I have passed on) and have subscribed to your posts. Will spend time looking at your site which looks great. Thanks for all of your work putting it together. My prayers are with you for a recovery ... Best regards, --E. F.

Important: Social Security Report: Massive Deficits Increase Unfunded Obligation by $1.1 Trillion. By Romina Boccia 
Excerpt: Today’s release of the 2014 Social Security Trustees Report shows its programs’ finances are in dire need of reform if the programs are to provide to seniors and the disabled protection from poverty and do so in an affordable and sustainable manner. Social Security paid out nearly $71 billion more to retirees and other beneficiaries than it collected in tax revenue in 2013. This is the fourth straight year the retirement and disability programs are running cash-flow deficits, as highlighted in today’s trustee report.

Entitlement Reforms. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: Neither Social Security nor Medicare has ever had enough assets to cover its liabilities. Very simply, there has never been enough money put aside to do what the government promised to do. These systems operate on what their advocates like to call a "pay as you go" basis. That is, the younger generation pays in money that is used to cover the cost of benefits for the older generation. This is the kind of financial pyramid scheme that got Charles Ponzi put in prison in the 1920s and got Bernie Madoff put in prison in our times. (I was looking for "Social Security Pyramid Scheme" from Barbarians Inside the Gates, a 2001 collection of Dr. Sowell's columns from the 1990s. I couldn't find it on line, but found this instead. ~Bob)

Thomas Sowell - The Future Of Social Security
Video of the brilliant Dr. Thomas Sowell, still the brightest guy in the country though in his 80s. ~Bob

Worth Reading: Blood Guzzlers: Are We Trading Blood For Oil? By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: There is no mystery about how to get better gas millage: Build smaller and lighter cars. And there is no mystery as to what happens when people have automobile accidents in lighter cars: They are more likely to be killed or severely injured. Millage mania means trading blood for oil. (From Barbarians Inside the Gates, an excellent 2001 collection of Dr. Sowell's columns from the 1990s, all still relevant. ~Bob)

U.S. and Europe Set to Toughen Russia Sanctions
Excerpt: The United States and Europe put aside their differences and agreed Monday to sharply escalate economic sanctions against Russia amid worries that Moscow is stepping up its intervention in Ukraine and may be setting the stage for an outright invasion.

U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile, Violating Treaty
Excerpt: The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed by President Obama to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in a letter on Monday. (remember when Obama mocked Romney for saying that Russia was our greatest enemy? How's that "Reset" with Russia that Barack and Hillary were pushing working out for us? ~Bob)

Venezuelan Officers Linked to Colombian Cocaine Traffickers
Excerpt: The head of Venezuelan military intelligence was on the payroll of a Colombian drug lord, invested his own money in drug shipments and personally coordinated the shipment of thousands of kilograms of cocaine, according to prosecutors in Miami and New York. And Venezuela’s liaison with Interpol took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from another trafficker, the Miami prosecutors said. (Corrupt Marxist state--what did you expect? ~Bob)

'Yahoo Ending' will send your last emails from beyond the grave
Excerpt: With a quarter of Japan's population already 65 and older, a new service from Yahoo Japan called Yahoo Ending aims to help people plan for their own afterlives, including the digital details. For $1.80 a month, subscribers can plan their funerals, manage their posthumous online content, and create a "memorial space" where loved ones leave messages for the dearly departed. The subscribers can also compose their own farewell thoughts, to be emailed to loved ones from beyond the grave. (That's assuming there is still electricity and world order of some sort. --Barb)

Those Asians Are 'Very Tight,' And Other Memos From The Nunn Campaign. By Matt Vespa 
Excerpt: Asians are also identified as key fundraisers. The community is described as “very tight,” one in which people work to “become citizens quickly.” Nunn’s strategists also say there is a “huge opportunity” to raise money from gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals, who are described as having “substantial resources.”

Interesting: The Michelle Nunn memos: 10 key passages
Excerpt: National Review published a trove of internal memos Monday prepared for Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn late last year. They list her biggest weaknesses, codify a fundraising plan and outline staff responsibilities.The 144 pages were prepared for the firsttime candidate and her family, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, last December ahead of an all-day strategy session. National Review said the documents were briefly posted online later that month. (I had a campaign plan for the stat senate, but it was only in my head--and made up as iI went along. Never leaked; but it worked five times! ~Bob)

5 Obvious Principles of Human Nature That Baffle Liberals. By John Hawkins 
Excerpt: Liberals are forever struggling to understand the basic tenets of human nature that most other people just take for granted. You’d think they would have picked something up from the death throes of the Soviet Union, Greece, or Detroit, but as Talleyrand might say, “They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing.”

New Obama EPA Rules Will Devastate Seniors. By Jim Martin 
Excerpt: In January of 2008, candidate Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that "under my plan... electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket." No sanguine language here about savings, just a flat out mission to make Americans pay through the nose for energy. It's no coincidence that under Obama gasoline prices have doubled, and have remained above $3 per gallon throughout his two terms. Now to make good on his promise to make electricity cost more, Obama's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have issued brutal new rules on emissions for electricity generating power plants, just what the doctor ordered for skyrocketing electricity prices. 

It's Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better. By Donald Lambro
Excerpt: Barack Obama's approval polls slipped precariously closer to the 30 percent range this week, as many more Americans expressed deep dissatisfaction with his failed presidency. As Obama frantically runs around the country trying to find a motivating message that resonates with the base of his party, it's obvious that he's in over his head, without a serious, substantive agenda, or any workable idea of how to get America moving again.

Please Stop Helping Us. By Walter Williams
Excerpt: ' border=0 v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">  While reading the first chapter of Jason Riley’s new book, “Please Stop Helping Us,” I thought about Will Rogers’ Prohibition-era observation that “Oklahomans vote dry as long as they can stagger to the polls.” Demonstrative of similar dedication, one member of Congress told Vanderbilt University political scientist Carol Swain that “one of the advantages and disadvantages of representing blacks is their shameless loyalty. … You can almost get away with raping babies and be forgiven. You don’t have any vigilance about your performance.” In my opinion, there appear to be no standards of performance low enough for blacks to lose their loyalty to their black political representatives.

Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed by Jason L. Riley

Obamacare News

Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Reveal Decline in Employer-Based Coverage. By Margaret Bowling
Excerpt: New details about Obamacare insurance enrollment show that employer-based coverage is eroding, offsetting gains made in individual insurance enrollment, according to a report released today by The Heritage Foundation. While individual coverage grew by 2.2 million Americans during Obamacare’s first open enrollment period, employer group coverage—health plans offered through the workplace—fell by 1.7 million, said the report, which is based on private coverage data from Mark Farrah Associates. (I think the plan is that when Obamacare fails, they push for single payer--Medicare for everyone. That, too, will collapse into insolvency in a few years. They will blame Bsh. Or Global Warming. ~Bob)

Undocumented Democrat News

Worth Reading: Meet the people Obama doesn’t want to come to America. By Todd Starnes
Excerpt: “We shouldn’t be making it harder for the best and the brightest to come here, create jobs here, grow our economy here,” the president told new U.S. citizens at a White House ceremony. “We should make it easier.”In the shadow of the illegal immigrant crisis at America’s southern border, the Obama administration continues to hold highly skilled and educated workers wishing to come to the U.S. and work for American companies to the strict regulations of its H-1B visa program, while moving toward a policy that grants work visas to the American-born children of immigrants who come here illegally. (Not hard to figure out. Productive people are far less likely to vote Democrat than welfare dependent people. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Barack Obama’s disdain for the slow, grinding mechanisms of government has become unmistakable of late. So it is little surprise that, frustrated by congressional inaction on his proposal for “comprehensive immigration reform,” the president last month declared that he would “fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own.” The result, intimated by White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer last week, is a “very significant” executive action to be unveiled by the end of the summer. If reports of the contents of the order are credible, not only will the action fail to “fix” America’s immigration system, it will further undo the constitutionally prescribed separation of powers that this administration has already done so much to weaken.

Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: Cease the Cease-Fires. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: "Cease-fire" and "negotiations" are magic words to "the international community." But just what do cease-fires actually accomplish? In the short run, they save some lives. But in the long run they cost far more lives, by lowering the cost of aggression. At one time, launching a military attack on another nation risked not only retaliation but annihilation. When Carthage attacked Rome, that was the end of Carthage. (Hamas delenda est. ~Bob)

Israeli Airstrikes Slam Gaza
Excerpt: Israel slammed Gaza with a barrage of airstrikes overnight in what was the heaviest bombardment in the three-week conflict. At least 60 died in the strikes in Gaza overnight. Symbols of Hamas control came under fire, including TV headquarters, government offices and the home of a top leader. Israel said it targeted more than 70 sites and hit 10 “terror operatives.” (It's funny that killing people firing rockets and building tunnels for terrorists into your country is bad, but killing people with drones because they might threaten your country is good. I support both, BTW. ~Bob)

Excerpt: One of the oddest tropes of the past week has been too-clever-by-half theorizing that Israel is losing its war against Hamas even if, from all accounts, it is winning the war against Hamas—by knocking out Hamas’s missiles from the air, destroying its tunnels on land, killing its terrorists, and going after its weapons depots. The only way it can be deemed to be losing is if you think the war is primarily a public-relations battle for the hearts and minds of people who already have a fixed opinion of who the good guys and bad guys are in this struggle. It’s not.

Imagining the Path of Christian Exile: On Leaving Mosul. By Elizabeth Scalia
Excerpt: Elizabeth Scalia puts herself in the place of an Iraqi Christian writing a letter to her former neighbors –Ed. My Dear Friends, To be ripped from our neighborhood, the ancient land we have shared, so companionably for so long, is a tragedy that must transform each of us. I have been forever changed by the experience of being marched away at gunpoint, empty-handed, my past wrested from me. They gave me two choices, leave or die. And you, too, are changed for having to quietly watch me go, or die yourselves. It is not how old neighbors should part. (ISIS and their allies are clear-cutting Christians in the Middle East. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt)

France offers Iraq Christians asylum after Mosul threat
Excerpt: The French government says it is ready to offer asylum to Iraqi Christians forced to flee by Islamist militants in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Many fled Mosul after the Islamic State (IS) group which seized much of northern Iraq told them to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death. Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities. (Should read, "was home..." Notice the US didn't offer asylum--the administration doesn't wan more Christians here. ~bob)

Obama: Muslims Built 'The Very Fabric of Our Nation.' By Robert Wilde
Excerpt: On Sunday, President Obama and First Lady Michelle released a statement thanking Muslim Americans for their many “achievements and contributions… to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” 9So Americans who own businesses "didn't build that," but Muslims did so much building. I suppose you can credit them with a great urban renewal opportunity in New York. ~Bob. Read it and weep or keep your heads in the sand. NOW you know who runs the country. --Barb)

In Fight For Independence, Iraqi Kurds Look To America For Support. By Frances Martel
Excerpt: The Kurdish Peshmerga forces-- a co-ed militaryconsidered the most organized military force in Iraq-- have been largely responsible for limiting the advance of the Islamic State in the nation. As the Kurds seek independence from a flimsy Iraqi government, they look toward the West, and America especially, for support. (Good luck to them. Our record of abandoning friends is pretty shameful. ~Bob)

Can We Reach the Point of 'No More Hamas'? By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
The number one export of the Gaza Strip is textiles. Number two is rockets. Number three is headaches. They have a particularly enthusiastic immigration policy, consisting of kidnappings. The whole region's full of other people digging for archeological relics, antiquities, minerals and oil . . . and somehow Hamas digs massive tunnels just so they can kidnap people. Everybody else on the Mediterranean makes a killing on tourism; the Palestinians and their allies kill tourists. The Palestinians have Bethlehem -- the birthplace of Christ! One of the biggest potential tourism attractions in the history of the world! -- and beachfront property, and yet somehow they continue to have a struggling economy. Maybe if their children's programming featured less encouragement of mass murder and more basic economics and entrepreneurship, things would be different. ... What if this one doesn't end after a few weeks? What if this one goes on longer, until there's effectively no more Hamas? At least there would be some sense of resolution to this mess, wouldn't it?

Worth Reading: Winning a Lose/Lose War: How to lose battles and gain sympathizers. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Hamas sees the death of its civilians as an advantage; Israel sees the death of its civilians as a disaster. Defensive missiles explode to save civilians in Israel; in Gaza, civilians are placed at risk of death to protect offensive missiles.
Hamas wins by losing lots of its people; Israel loses by losing a few of its own. 

UN: ISIS Orders Women and Girls in Mosul to Undergo Genital Mutilation
Excerpt: Islamic extremists who control parts of northern Iraq have ordered girls and women in and around the city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, a United Nations official said Thursday. Nearly 4 million girls could be affected by the “fatwa” issued by the militant group that refers to itself as the Islamic State (formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Jacqueline Badcock told reporters in Geneva via videolink from Iraq. (Liberals say that FMG has nothing to do with Islam. I suggest they fly to Iraq and inform the IS Islamic fanatics of that "fact." ~Bob)

Excerpt: Over on the homepage, I have a piece about what appears to be Michelle Nunn’s campaign plan, which was posted online — I assume unintentionally — several months ago. The document assesses Nunn’s vulnerabilities, among them grants that the Points of Light Foundation, for which she has served as CEO since 2007, has made to “terrorists.” (Nunn is the Democrat candidate for the US Senate in Georgia. ~Bob)

Suicide Bomber Kills Afghan President's Cousin
Excerpt: A powerful cousin of outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai was assassinated by a suicide bomber hiding explosives in his cap on Tuesday, a provincial official said. It was the latest attack targeting Afghan power brokers and government officials as insurgents and political factions struggle for power ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat forces by the end of this year.

EU urges 'war crimes' trial of Kosovo ex-commanders
Excerpt: An EU war crimes prosecutor says that some former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) should face charges of crimes against humanity. Clint Williamson has spent three years investigating allegations of atrocities in the late 1990s, when Kosovo Albanian guerrillas were fighting Serb forces. He said elements in the KLA murdered ethnic Serbs and other minorities. There was also evidence of human organ harvesting and trafficking on a very limited scale, he said. (From Bob: Bill Clinton made the US the KLA's Air force, though previously it had been labeled a terrorist organization. It was also reportedly heavily involved in drug trafficking. See: Why Is The Terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army Training The Syrian Opposition On Our Dime?--http://my.firedoglake.com/ctuttle/2012/05/04/why-is-the-terrorist-kosovo-liberation-army-training-the-syrian-opposition-on-our-dime/
Excerpt: There were numerous reports of the KLA having contacts with Al-Qaeda, getting arms from that terrorist organization, getting its militants trained in Al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and even having members of Al-Qaeda in its ranks fighting against Serbs.)

With Israel, the world is blaming the victims. by Richard Cohen
Excerpt: Erdogan’s Hitler fetish is both revolting and inaccurate. Hitler murdered an estimated 6 million Jews, not to mention millions of Poles, Russians, Gypsies and, as a group, homosexuals; the Israelis have killed in the current Gaza operation more than 1,000 Palestinians. The difference between murdered and killed — the former on purpose, the latter mostly what’s called “collateral damage” — ought to be clear to anyone whose mind is not addled by anti-Semitism. Israel has gone out of its way to try to avoid civilian deaths. 

Obama failed to stop the Islamic State when he had the chance. By By Marc A. Thiessen
Excerpt: From Europe to the Middle East, we have seen how disaster follows U.S. retreat and disengagement from the world. But the one area where President Obama seemed to be leaning forward was drone strikes. He personally approved terrorist “kill lists” and has taken out many hundreds of terrorists with drones in Pakistan, Yemen and East Africa. So why, when Iraqi officials began pleading with him one year ago to strike Islamic State terrorists with drones, did Obama repeatedly refuse — standing by while terrorists overran the country?

Hamasbara and Media Terrorism. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The media war between Israel and Hamas is a disproportionately unequal one. It’s unequal because Israel must maintain its credibility, while Hamas and its media allies never worry about their credibility. In an instant messaging news cycle, Israel responds to accusations of atrocities with an investigation while Hamas and its Hamasbara allies in the media package together bloody photos from local stringers along with a narrative and turn it into an instant story.

Worth Reading: Promoting ‘Proportionality’ in the Service of Genocide. By Kenneth Levin
Excerpt: Consider the nature of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is explicit in its genocidal intent, stating in its charter and in myriad declarations by its representatives that its goal is not only the annihilation of Israel but the slaughter of all Jews. It makes clear that it has zero interest in the establishment of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel. ... Kenneth Levin is a psychiatrist and historian and author of "The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People under Siege."

Worth Reading: Iran’s Proxy War Against Israel. By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Excerpt: While the mainstream media has focused solely on Hamas and Israel in the current ongoing war, there has been less attention given to the major role that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been playing in ratcheting up the conflict with its military assistance to Hamas fighters, including Iranian-built Fajr 5 and M-75 with ranges of approximately 75 kilometers. These are missiles and rockets that can target cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It is worth noting that the export of arms as well as military and weaponry assistance by the Islamic Republic to Hamas is legally prohibited by the United Nations Security Council, written in UN Resolution 1747. ... Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist and scholar, is president of the International American Council and serves on the board of the Harvard International Review at Harvard University

Excerpt: Signaling an escalation of Israel's Gaza operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis Monday to be ready for a "prolonged" war, and the military warned Palestinians in three large neighborhoods to leave their homes and head immediately for Gaza City.

Synagogue Vandalized In NE Miami-Dade

Excerpt: For the second time in just a few days messages of hate targeted members of South Florida’s Jewish community. Early Monday morning, spray painted swastikas and the word “Hamas” were discovered on the pillars of the Congregation Torah Ve’emunah, at 1000 NE 175th Street, in northeast Miami-Dade. (Despite all the left-wing hand wringing over "Islamphobia," hate crimes against Jews [and gays, blacks and I think Hispanics] in America far exceed those against Muslims. ~Bob)

Facebook says page calling for death to Jews doesn't violate 'community standards. By Philip Klein
Put "death to Muslim" on your Facebook page and see what happens. ~Bob

“Pelosi: Qataris Have Told Me ‘Hamas Is a Humanitarian Organization,’” by Susan Jones
Excerpt: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says the United States must look to Qatar, an ally of the terrorist group Hamas, for advice in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. “And we have to confer with the Qataris, who have told me over and over again that Hamas is a humanitarian organization,” she told CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley.

New ISIL Mag Touts Ethics of Execution, Targets Sen. McCain

Excerpt: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) promotes the stoning of women, targets “the enemy” Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), and vows to bring its violent campaign to Israel in the latest issue of its propaganda magazine, Dabiq. ... “Until we return to the correct state of Islamic affairs, it’s upon us all to work together to eradicate the principle of ‘free choice’ and to not deceive the people in an attempt to seek their pleasure, neither by calling to ‘free choice’ directly, nor by alluding to it indirectly,” the article states. 

1 comment:

  1. I vote Nancy Pelosi be the next American launched into space (one way). Her physical being may as well marry up with her mental state, as soon as possible.

    ReplyDelete