Monday, August 25, 2014

Today's Politial News and Comment

Update

Pulmonary Fibrosis Article: The article below was in the Wisconsin State Journal on 8/24/14. It was published in many other papers. As regular blog readers know, I was diagnosed with PF in 6/06, on oxygen from 6/10 until my lung transplant on 12/23/13. Had to go back on O2 in March of 14, but off--at least for now--on Friday, 8/22/14. Good article. ~Bob

Raising awareness of covert killer: pulmonary fibrosis. By Campbell North - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Excerpt: Despite claiming an estimated 40,000 lives annually - roughly the same number as breast cancer or prostate cancer - pulmonary fibrosis remains one of the least known covert killers in the country. "Survivors of breast cancer come together in droves to raise awareness," said Teresa Barnes, vice president of patient outreach and program support for the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, based in Culver City, Calif. "Pulmonary fibrosis leaves no survivors," except a relative handful who receive lung transplants. Pulmonary fibrosis causes progressive lung scarring and eventually suffocation.

General News and Comment

Updated: A Reading List for the Educated Voter (And those who wish to be). By Robert A. Hall
Pleaes feel free to share. ~Bob

Satire Must Read from a liberal pundit! The Golf Address. By Maureen Dowd
Excerpt: I know reporters didn’t get a chance to ask questions, but I had to bounce. I had a 1 p.m. tee time at Vineyard Golf Club with Alonzo Mourning and a part-owner of the Boston Celtics. Hillary and I agreed when we partied with Vernon Jordan up here, hanging out with celebrities and rich folks is fun. Now we are engaged in a great civil divide in Ferguson, which does not even have a golf course, and that’s why I had a “logistical” issue with going there. We are testing whether that community, or any community so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure when the nation’s leader wants nothing more than to sink a birdie putt.

A Murderess's Tale. By Theodore Dalrymple
Excerpt: The accused was a girl aged 18, who had stabbed her 16-year-old lesbian lover to death. There could be no doubt as to who had inflicted the fatal wounds: a tape from a closed-circuit camera in the entrance hall of the accused’s apartment building showed her following her lover out of the building with a long knife in each hand, raised ready to stab, as in a too-melodramatic rendition of Lady Macbeth. Under English law, then, only two defenses were left to her: insanity or diminished responsibility. There was no question of insanity, however. She was not, nor did she claim to be, mad. (Published in his book Not with a Bang, but a Whimper: The Politics and Culture of Decline.)

The Obama Bank Shakedown
Excerpt: The $16.65 billion settlement by Bank of America over financial-crisis-era mortgage securities “highlights a pattern of the government extorting the banks,” Dick Kovacevich said on CNBC this week. (Italics mine.) … These huge bank settlements are election-year ATMs for the Obama administration. … All this sounds suspiciously like the housing version of the ACORN electioneering operations. 

Another Dumb Idea From Los Angeles
Excerpt: The city of Los Angeles is considering paying voters to encourage turnout. Needless to say, it's a ridiculous idea that will reward low-information voting, foster political demagogues and breed corruption. Sure, some in the political class will say what's not to like? Higher voter turnout sounds good and, more to the point, the political left likely will benefit from paying people to vote. (Come up with a REALLY stupid idea! Being damn near bankruptcy, they want to start paying people to vote? If you want to encourage voter fraud on a serious scale, this is one way to go at it. Idiots. --Del. not at all dumb. Smart politics from those who benefit from increasing the turn out of low-information, biddable voters. Besides, it's not there money, so no downside to the politicians. ~Bob)

Harry Reid Cracks Asian Joke: Can't "Keep my Wongs Straight"
Excerpt: Why are the language police never around when a Democrat makes some silly joke using racial stereotypes? If some conservative makes a comment about “Chicago politics,” that’s all it takes for the media to go crazy and act shocked that anyone would make such a racist remark.

Chicago crime rate drops as concealed carry applications surge: City sees fewer homicides, robberies, burglaries, car thefts as Illinois residents take arms
Excerpt: An 86-year-old Illinois man with a concealed carry permit fired his weapon at an armed robbery suspect fleeing police last month, stopping the man in his tracks and allowing the police to make an arrest. Law enforcement authorities described the man as “a model citizen” who “helped others avoid being victims” at an AT&T store outside Chicago where he witnessed the holdup.

‘Disconnected Obama’ needs to change conversation to help party in midterms. By Chris Cillizza
Excerpt: That series of events left the impression of a disconnected president, frustrated with both the expectations and the limitations inherent in being the nation’s leader at this moment in history. It also led to worries — expressed privately — among Democratic party strategists that Obama’s seemingly long-view approach to international and domestic conflicts could spell doom for the party’s chances in the midterm elections, which are only about 10 weeks away.

Video: Andrew Klavan: Democrats at War
Excerpt: In this special episode, our host Andrew Klavan discusses the lies, double-speak, failures and foibles of Democrats at War. See the video and transcript below:

Ferguson News

Worth Reading: Did Officer Darren Wilson Fire Only Six Rounds? By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Friday morning rolling along I-10 East I happened upon the Rush Limbaugh radio program. Not a regular listener but the program caught my attention because Rush said it was open line Friday for callers. Public opinion is always interesting. A 32-year veteran of law enforcement (police officer), now retired, called to comment on the Michael Brown shooting (by police officer Darren Wilson) in Ferguson, Missouri. He started by saying that during his time in uniform eight (of his) fellow officers had been killed in the line of duty - by unarmed assailants. He stressed unarmed. Eight police officer murders.

Quotes
“Good news! Our impartial chief law enforcement officer is here to help indict a white cop w/o evidence because black race-baiters demand it.” --Ben Schapiro. “Can you imagine a Attorney General saying, “I’m the AG, but I’m also a WHITE man” and KEEP HIS JOB!?” --Kevin Jackson. "If Michael Brown had been Jewish, Holder and Sharpton would have a whole lot of time on their hands, and you would never have heard of Ferguson. If Darren Wilson had been Jewish, well, I dare not think of what might have happened." -George

Ben Carson Clashes With Jesse Jackson Over Ferguson: ‘Has Nothing To Do With Race’ [VIDEO]
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/24/ben-carson-clashes-with-jesse-jackson-over-ferguson-has-nothing-to-do-with-race-video/#ixzz3BKo94qhD
Excerpt: Carson pushed back against Jackson’s portrayal. “If you take race out of the issue altogether,” he explained, “and you take a group of young men and you raise them with no respect for authority, not learning to take on personal responsibility, having easy access to drugs and alcohol, they’re very likely to end up as victims of violence and incarceration. Has nothing to do with race.”
Excerpt: Jackson replied: "Well, first of all, I wish Dr. Carson and I were on that white panel you just had because it does have a race dimension. We come by it from experience differently than your previous guests, number one. Number two, it seems to me that when blacks kill whites, which is rare, it's swift justice. (According to FBI statistics, Black make up 13% of the population, commit over 50% of the murders--and a black kills a white twice as often as a white kills a black. But black killers have black victims about 85% of the time. No money to be made or stores to be looted when that happens. ~Bob)

Eric Holder’s Soros-Sponsored Police Sensitivity ‘Training’: Your money went to the radical Institute on Race and Justice.
Excerpt: The vice president’s Boeing 757 delivered Eric Holder to St. Louis yesterday. In Ferguson, Holder announced that he was “a black man” and therefore had the power to heal Ferguson in ways that no other law enforcement official could. …What is shocking is who is fueling the Justice Department’s “training” of police departments around the country: radicals, communist-affiliated organizations, and George Soros.

Excerpt: An outrage plume is now settling over the New York Times over two words in a retrospective on the life of Michael Brown Jr., the victim of the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting whose funeral takes place today. Here’s the objection-producing passage, written by John Eligon:

More White House officials at Michael Brown’s funeral than Thatcher’s
Excerpt: For Monday's funeral, the White House sent two officials with the White House Office of Public Engagement as well as Broderick Johnson, chairman of the My Brother's Keeper Task Force. ... The White House also came under criticism recently when Obama did not attend the funeral for Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer killed in combat since the Vietnam War. ... Obama was in Martha's Vineyard during the funeral, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno attended. (More than at the MajGen who was KIA in Iraq I think. ~Bob)

Ferguson Gang Leader Admits “Eric Holder Paid Us To Start Riots”
Excerpt: Evidence has been uncovered showing Eric Holder contributed funds to Ferguson’s gang population as incentive to loot and spread civil unrest in the area. These angry, government-sponsored terrorists have systematically infiltrated peaceful protests with the intention of escalating the situation and inciting riots. (Needs confirmation. But I didn't believe the first reports of Fast and Furious either...~Bob)

Police Chief Tears Into Obama For His Comments About Ferguson Shooting
Excerpt: Jim Pasco, the executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, had some helpful advice for the vacationing Obama on Thursday. During an interview with The Hill, Pasco said: “I would contend that discussing police tactics from Martha’s Vineyard is not helpful to ultimately calming the situation.” Ouch. But Pasco wasn’t done.

Obamacare News

Another Bogus Attack on Wisconsin Medicaid
Excerpt: Opponents continue to heap criticism on the state of Wisconsin for its refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, insisting that the state is losing millions of dollars as a result. But over at the NCPA's Health Policy Blog, Senior Fellow Devon Herrick explains why Wisconsin took the right route in restructuring its Medicaid program. The Affordable Care Act encourages states to expand Medicaid eligibility to include adults up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL); in return, the federal government promises to pay 100 percent of the costs through 2016, dropping to 90 percent by 2019. Wisconsin already had a generous Medicaid system -- most residents up to 200 percent of the FPL were eligible for the state's Medicaid coverage known as BadgerCare, and pregnant women and children had access to the program at even higher income thresholds. But as the low-income uninsured flooded the program, the state had to cap enrollment.

"You're Greener Than Gore" News

Saving the Planet
Good graphic. ~Bob

Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: There's ISIS and There's Ice Us. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: ISIS: Enemy of the United States of America, and freedom lovers and seekers the world over, who have vowed to raise their colors atop our White House. They are a ruthless outfit of Muslim (Religion of Peace) extremists who have wrecked, burned, raped, and murdered innocents in Syria and Iraq. ICE US: The bucket of ice water atop one's head craze going around the country where folks are challenged, in the name of a fund-raiser for ALS, to douse themselves and/or donate $100.00. YouTube is the medium of choice for recording the act and extending challenges.

Peter Theo Curtis, U.S. Journalist Missing Since 2012, Freed By Kidnappers In Syria
Excerpt: Kidnappers in Syria have freed an American writer missing since 2012, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday, following what Qatari-owned TV station Al Jazeera said were efforts by the Gulf Arab state to win his release.

Quote
“ If after murder of one American you want ISIS exterminated but demand proportional strikes against Hamas from Israel…You might be a bigot. ” --John Nolte

Important: US, UK eye rapper as British-born militant who beheaded journalist James Foley
Excerpt: A senior Western intelligence official told Fox News that 23-year-old London rapper Abdel Majed Abdel Bary is the suspect believed to be Foley's executioner. U.S. intelligence officials are not commenting publicly on the reports, but a well-placed source told Fox News that Bary's Egyptian-born father was extradited from London to the United States in 2012 for his alleged connection to Usama bin Laden and the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa. (Yeah, another young man raised in a civilized society whose mind has been taken over by radical, bloodthirsty fanaticism. Again, it must be understood that this kind of murderous insanity is like a mental virus that can infect people who have no real reason to become sadistic killers, but who, once infected, are beyond our understanding just as much as a mad dog is. I think the UK and the USA should declare anyone who leaves the country to go fight for ISIS to be disenfranchised as citizens, their passports declared null and void, and they have no right ever to return to our shores. Radical? No, reasonable. --Del. Very reasonable. I personally would let them come back, arrest them at the airport, give them a fair trial for the next hour of so, then shoot them. I volunteer for the firing squad, will bring my own M1 rifle and ammo to keep costs down. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Our barbaric jihadist enemies – the ones President Obama repeatedly assured us he had “decimated” and put on “the path to defeat” – are now stronger than ever. Not stronger than they have been in years, or decades – stronger than ever. They have seized a country-size swath of territory (and growing). They have just beheaded an American journalist – which is the sort of thing they do as a matter of routine but has obviously, and finally, gotten our attention. Not to worry, though: The Obama Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation. I’m sure ISIS is quaking. (So why has the Holder DOJ not opened a criminal investigation into the murder by Hamas of 16-year-old Naftali Fraenkel, who had dual Israeli-American citizenship and family in New York state? He was American? Oh, I forgot, he was Jewish. Thus to most progressives, he had it coming. See next article: ~Bob)

Islamic State goes from 'junior varsity' to all pro in 8 months, Admiral Kirby says
Excerpt: In an Aug. 22 press briefing, Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's Press Secretary, attempted to defend President Barack Obama's poorly timed statement in January where he referred to the Islamic State as a "jayvee team." This is what Obama had said in an interview with The New Yorker while answering a question on the resurgence of jihadist groups in Iraq:

What Obama doesn’t get about the Islamic State. By Marc A. Thiessen
Excerpt: A day before the Islamic State released a video of the brutal execution of American journalist James Foley, President Obama declared at a White House news conference that defeating the Islamic State was not his responsibility. “We’re not the Iraqi military, we’re not even the Iraqi air force,” Obama said, adding “I am the commander in chief of the United States armed forces, and Iraq is gonna have to ultimately provide for its own security.” That attitude — that refusal to lead — is precisely why the Islamic State has been able to take control of a swath of the Middle East the size of Belgium and carry out the crimes against humanity we are witnessing today, from burying women and children alive to crucifixions to the beheading of a U.S. citizen.

Excerpt: A bloody assault by Islamic State forces captured the Syrian government air base in Tabqa, today, acquiring “several warplane squadrons, helicopters, tanks, artillery, and ammunition bunkers.” An aviation “squadron,” according to Wkipedia, is “a unit of aircraft that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, depending on the type of aircraft and the air force, naval or army air service.” (OK, this IS bad news. Let's hope there are no trained pilot members of ISIS. --Del)
Excerpt: Meshaal acknowledged for the first time that Hamas members — but not the group’s political leadership — were behind the slaying of three Israeli settlers on the West Bank in June. But he defended the murders as a legitimate action against Israeli “illegal” occupation.

Important: Al-Qaida in Yemen Joining Forces With ISIS
Excerpt: In a reversal of its previous stance, al-Qaida's Yemen-based branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has expressed "solidarity" with the ISIS militants who have been terrorizing Christians and others in Iraq and Syria. "We announce solidarity with our Muslim brothers in Iraq against the crusade," AQAP declared in a statement reported by the Yemini Times. "Their blood and injuries are ours and we will surely support them. We stand by the side of our Muslim brothers in Iraq against the American and Iranian conspiracy and their agents of the apostate Gulf states." (As Bin Laden used to say, when looking at two horses, a man will always choose to go with the strong horse. Originally the Al Qaida bosses said ISIS was just too nasty (they certainly weren't paying attention to many parts of the Quran and Sunnah) and condemned them. But now they have had a lot of victories, taken over an enormous amount of territory, got their hands on millions of dollars, and are attracting fanatic young men from all over. So... now maybe they aren't so bad after all! Nothing succeeds like success, and success attracts a crowd. Which is why they need to be clobbered mercilessly and beaten so badly that it cannot be denied, and all their gained territories rolled back under Baghdad's control, all their equipment lost or destroyed, and a lot of them, preferably most of them, dead. What is sad is that it's only the USA so far that is coming in with any aid to the Kurds, why in hell can't Germany, England, France, and others jump in and send in aid as well? Are they OK with the horrendous behavior of these vicious bastards? Where are all the super moral experts of Europe, Scandinavia, and elsewhere, the ones so ready to condemn the USA or Israel for things they don't like, when people are being beheaded, shot, crucified, driven into the wilderness from their homes, given the choice of conversion or death? But when it really hits the fan, everyone still waits for that rotten old imperialist monster to actually do something. Of course, they'll forget this in no time at all when things finally blow over. --Del)

Israel Says Missile Strike Killed Hamas Official Handling ‘Terror Funds’
Excerpt: An Israeli missile strike that killed a man riding in a car in Gaza City on Sunday afternoon ripped open the vehicle, revealing bags of American dollars inside and scattering currency on the street, some burned by the blast, according to a witness. The Gaza authorities did not immediately identify the victim, but the Israeli military identified him as Muhammad al-Ghoul and said he had been responsible for Hamas’s financial transactions and handled its “terror funds.

Hamas: Israel's Destruction Remains Ultimate Goal
Excerpt: To hear some Palestinian advocates, if Israel simply lifted its blockade on Gaza – aimed at curbing weapons smuggling into the Hamas-controlled territory – then peace could be enjoyed by all. One of the main Hamas spokesman made it clear in an Aug. 17 speech that those advocates are misguided. "The time has come for us to say that our true war is not aimed at opening the border crossings. Out true war is aimed at the liberation of Jerusalem, Allah willing," Sami Abu Zuhri said in a speech aired on Hamas' Al Aqsa television

The Arab Empire: There already is one, of course: Arabs are not indigenous to most of the land they control. By Josh Gelernter
Excerpt: A map has circulated showing the Islamic State’s five-year plan: a caliphate that stretches from the Iberian peninsula to western China, including all of India, north Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor, and southeastern Europe. It’s an ambitious agenda. (Especially ambitious for what Obama called the JV team. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Two days ago, more than 70 Sunnis were slaughtered at a mosque 160 kilomenters north of Baghdad. The attack at the Musab bin Omair Mosque in the village of Imam Wais in Diyala province has been blamed by some on Shia militiamen exacting revenge for a roadside bombing and combat losses, while other sources attribute the massacre to the Sunni Islamic State, noting that the attack began with a suicide bombing, a tactic typically employed by Sunni extremists in Iraq:

Excerpt: The Islamic State is close to cementing its control in the eastern Syrian province of Raqqah today after it overran the Tabqa military airport. The airbase is the last Syrian military stronghold in Raqqah.

Miami HAMAS ATTACKS Jewish Reporter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxQpzA8EqSo
News video of Hamas demonstration in Miami. A bunch of men chanting "We are HAMAS, We are JIHAD" across the street from the Israeli consulate. And they get violent with the cameraman, who is doing perfectly legal filming of a public demonstration. And they are sponsored by CAIR, the supposedly moderate representative of Muslims in the USA. These guys are a very long way from moderate! --Del

Jewish Man Arrested After Chasing Off 'Anti-Semitic' Pro-Palestinian Protesters In London
Excerpt: A Jewish man has been arrested for common assault after he drove away socialist, pro-Palestinian protestors who were menacing a kosher delicatessen in Bushey, just north of London.
Jewish News is reporting that witnesses described how a group of around 15 men, who had been taking part in a socialist ‘March for jobs’ unfurled Palestinian flags outside Flax’s Kosher Deli, at about 5.20pm last Tuesday. Some of the customers went out to confront the men, chasing them down the street where the scene escalated into violence.

Dearborn cleric popular with ISIS fighters owes $250K for fraud
Excerpt: A cleric in Dearborn popular with supporters of the militant group ISISowes a quarter of a million dollars in restitution and other costs stemming from his fraud convictions, according to newly filed court records. Ahmad Jebril, 43, who has gained an international following among ISIS fighters and sympathizers, is on probation after serving 6½ years in prison. After being released in 2012, he has used social media to become what experts say is the most popular religious leader for Islamists from the West fighting for ISIS, also known as ISIL or the Islamic State.


Excerpt: White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz was asked at today’s press briefing why the administration was unwilling to negotiate with terrorists in James Foley’s case, yet traded five Taliban for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. ... “As we’ve made previously clear, the administration determined that it was lawful to proceed with a transfer in order to protect the life of a U.S. service member held captive and in danger for almost five years, notwithstanding that Congress did not receive the 30 days’ notice.

1 comment:

  1. National Report is a satire site and probably can be ignored wholesale when it comes in...awesome reading and insight other than that.

    ReplyDelete