Update
I had my second cataract surgery, this time on the right
eye, Friday. All seems to have gone well. When they took the covering off
Saturday morning, my vision was 20-40 in that eye, but it got better through
the day. I now see as well without glasses as with, except for reading. The
surgical resident who did this one is a young female doctor from Thailand .
Unlike the first one, the attending surgeon monitored her closely, giving
instructions and quizzing her on each step, which was a little nerve
wracking--but all's well that ends well. Now another five weeks of eye drops
several times a day.
Temp here Saturday was about 45 degrees, supposed to get to
56 by Wednesday. Hopefully we have turned the corner. ~Bob
General News and Comment
Interesting: First on CNN: Feds prepare criminal
corruption charges against Senator Bob Menendez
Excerpt: The Justice Department is preparing to bring
criminal corruption charges against New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, a
Democrat, alleging he used his Senate office to push the business interests of
a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts. People briefed on the case
say Attorney
General Eric Holder has signed off on prosecutors' request to proceed
with charges, CNN has learned exclusively. An announcement could come within
weeks. Prosecutors are under pressure in part because of the statute of
limitation on some of the allegations. (Maybe deserved, but if he was black,
like tax evader Al Sharpton, or hadn't spoken against Obama's Iran policy, I
wonder if the Holder Injustice Department would have brought charges. ~Bob)
Democrats recoil from
Hillary in wake of email controversy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981623/Democrats-recoil-Hillary-wake-email-controversy.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981623/Democrats-recoil-Hillary-wake-email-controversy.html
Excerpt: The White House, the State Department and Democrats
on Capitol Hill are side-stepping questions about Hillary Clinton as the
controversy over her cyber hygiene escalates. While some of the presumed
presidential candidate's party members have come to her defense, many lawmakers
headed for the exits this week as reporters asked them for their opinion on the
way Clinton
handled her email while at the State Department. Democratic strategists were
more willing discuss the scandal - but what they had to say, Clinton probably won't like. Democrats
are running for cover this week as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
takes fire from the press for over her cyber hygiene. Officials at 1600 Pennsylvania now claim they didn't know that Clinton was solely using her personal email address to
conduct government business Officials at 1600 Pennsylvania
now claim they didn't know that Clinton was
solely using her personal email address to conduct government business until
Congress reopened an investigation into the Benghazi attack. (Sure, how do you tell an
email from a statedept.gov address from one from clintoninc.com? ~Bob)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2981270/Chelsea-called-Diane-Reynolds-Hillary-planned-wedding-account-used-Secretary-State-Secrets-Clinton-emails-revealed.html
The E-mail Scandal Won’t Doom Hillary. But it should make
liberals feel uneasy about continuing to support her. By Jonah Goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414963/e-mail-scandal-wont-doom-hillary-jonah-goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414963/e-mail-scandal-wont-doom-hillary-jonah-goldberg
Excerpt: Historically, the Clintons have proved to be politically
indestructible. To paraphrase the movie Aliens, to truly destroy the
Clinton-Industrial Complex, you’d have to nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way
to be sure. Given that alone, I doubt that the unfolding controversy over
Hillary’s e-mail schemes spells her doom.
The Clinton
Excerpt: But Morris or not, the polls back in January were
absolutely clear: if Clinton
lied under oath, 63% of Americans thought he should resign. So Clinton went with the polls. It was win-win.
Either he would be able to stonewall forever or, if truth was finally forced
out, the more time that passed, the more opinion might change. And change it
did. Seven months and dozens of corroborating leaks later, Americans had grown
accustomed to the idea of not just a dallying President but of a lying,
perjuring one. We’re seeing the same pattern again. A Clinton hand has been caught in the cookie
jar. She broke rules and laws. The behavior is shady, slimy, secretive,
self-interested. The hypocrisy is epic, as then–Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton directed employees not to use personal e-mail accounts for official business
due to security concerns. There’s no innocuous explanation. So what are we
seeing in response? Circle the wagons. Bully the press. Call in every favor.
Cry “havoc” and let slip the dogs of partisan media narrative war.
Counterattack. Draw moral equivalence. Flood the zone, fire off chaff, throw
everything up against the wall and see what sticks. Delay, and delay, and
delay. And then, when she finally emerges from her hermetically-sealed
sarcophagus that protects her from questions about these e-mails, or foreign
donations to the Clinton Foundation, or Bibi Netanyahu’s speech, or Obama’s
deal with Iran
. . . insist that it’s all old news. No, really, that’s exactly what the plan
is, and her team is bragging about it:
Excerpt: A brief note to my Republican friends; go dark.
Seriously. Stop talking. The Clinton machine, in
all its arrogance and inertia, is careening toward political disaster as the
story of her illegal private email servers collides with a Washington
and New York
press corps that can’t, for once, easily look away. The story has a lot more
stink in it than even what’s come to light so far. Only the GOP and
conservatives can save her. The press is possessed of a boundless desire to
Change the Subject right now, and some intemperate remark would fit the bill
perfectly. Don’t give them a shiny object. Don’t give them an excuse turn this
into “Krazee Republicans Sure Hate Hillary Because She’s A Woman.” For
God’s sake, take a deep breath and skip talking about your favorite social
issue. (No way to get all Republicans to Go Dark. Presidential aspirants
training in the polls will see a chance to use the issue to bolt ahead, so the
leaders will use it to end them off. A speech blunder is very likely, giving
the media the excuse they desperately want to maker this about Republicans.
~Bob)
Report: Hillary
Clinton Had Multiple Private Email Accounts on Server Used For State Department
Business. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt As Hillary Clinton continues to dodge questions
about why she conducted all of her State Department correspondence
through a private email account, a new
report from Fox News' James Rosen shows the former Secretary had many
private email accounts on a server run from her Chappaqua, New York home.
Liberals are up in arms over this (forgetting their efforts
to install Mugabe under their belief that "black rule" would be so
much better for the local black people, whose life expectance fell from 63 to
37 years, before rising slowly to the 40s). But for societies that endorse
child marriage, FGM, stoning women, hanging gays and keeping sex slaves, it's
"all cultures are equal--we don't want to be Islamophobic." ~Bob)
The Future of Religion: Why Judeo-Christian Values Are More Important
Than Science. By Frank J. Fleming
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2015/03/05/the-future-of-religion-why-judeo-christian-values-are-more-important-than-science/
Excerpt: Science is a good thing. It’s given us things like vaccines, cars and incubators. I live inSouthern California and
was born a premie, with Apgar tests so low that the doctors advised my parents
to institutionalize me. That means all of these innovations are near and dear
to my heart. I have a more than healthy respect for science. The thing is, though,
science isn’t enough to keep a society going, at least not one we’d want to
live in. What’s gotten humanity to this point is religion, specifically, the
Judeo-Christian religion and its moral precepts that allow the freedom of
Western civilization. (Jefferson , among
others, believed that Christianity was the right base for a society that would
be democratic and protect individual rights and stay strong. I think that other
religions can also serve as a good basis for our society, as long as they share
in large part the most basic principles of Judao-Christian values. Even a
secularist could share those values, so could a Buddhist. For some other
religions, and for devoted secularists, there doesn't have to be a connection
with those values, and in some cases, even a conflict. I have read the inputs
of an atheist who believes that moral principles just like those of
Christianity can be derived simply from observing the world, but I don't find
his arguments to be compelling at all. I am sure there are agnostics and
atheists who share my values, but that's really all individual philosophies,
and finding atheists who have no attachment at all to these values is not
difficult. The devoted Marxists who morphed into communists who had no problem
at all slaughtering people in huge numbers for the long term end of the perfect
state are as solid an example as one might ever need. Where Western societies
will go in the next 20+ years is a very good question. I see lots of negative
trends, rampant materialism, narcissism, amorality, on the rise. But there are
still people of great faith, and we even see young people raised in
nonreligious homes seeking out religion as they mature. So there is always
hope. --Del )
Excerpt: Science is a good thing. It’s given us things like vaccines, cars and incubators. I live in
Fox News Poll: Views
of Obama’s honesty hit new low, fewer say he’s patriotic. By Dana Blanton
Excerpt: The new poll also finds the numbers saying Obama is
patriotic, honest or a strong leader have all declined in the past few years
Army secretary defends
stripping Special Forces officer of awards. By Dan Lamothe
http://www.stripes.com/news/army/army-secretary-defends-stripping-special-forces-officer-of-awards-1.332857
Excerpt: Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn received the Silver Star in
2011 for valor in Afghanistan
on Feb. 20, 2010, and was later approved for an upgrade to the even more
prestigious Distinguished Service Cross. That award is considered second only
to the Medal of Honor in recognizing heroism in combat. Golsteyn was later
investigated for an undisclosed violation of the military's rules of engagement
in combat — a violation related to the killing of a known enemy bombmaker,
according to officials familiar with the case. The investigation closed in 2014
without Golsteyn's being charged with a crime, but Army Secretary John McHugh
made the rare decision to strip him of both awards anyway. Thanks again to the
SOS guys for bringing up this very sad situation with the bureaucrats coming
down really hard on a soldier who has been out there in the midst of
flying bits of metal, has TBI and PTSD, and who did do the deeds that got him
slated for the awards in the first place. Maybe it's just me, but to come after
him now for some undisclosed action that they think was improper, not related
to the battle where he earned the awards, is just overkill by a large margin. They've
blighted his career as it is, and that should be more than enough punishment
for whatever it was that they believe was bad behavior. --Del )
Excerpt: In a story that, if we're being honest, could not have
happened outside of Boston Harrison 's other authority figure position as the dean of
students at Boston English high school might have provided the introduction.
(What the fack does he means "could not have happened outside Boston " --PM)
CIA director announces sweeping
reorganization of spy agency
Excerpt: Under the new plan, each
center would be run by an assistant director who would be responsible for the
entire intelligence mission within that jurisdiction, including covert
operations, spying, analysis, liaison with foreign partners and logistics. The
system of CIA stations, headed by a CIA station chief, will remain in place,
Brennan said. Most stations are in U.S. embassies, and various CIA
case officers in embassies may be working on different missions for different
centers. The changes do not require congressional approval and will be
undertaken within the CIA's current budget, CIA officials said.
Students at UC Irvine vote to ban American
flag. By Todd Starnes
Excerpt: Students at the University
of California , Irvine have voted to make their school a more
“culturally inclusive” place by banning the American flag. The Associated
Students of University of California (ASUCI) passed a resolution March 3 that
would remove the Stars & Stripes along with every other flag from the lobby
of a complex housing the offices of the student government. “Designing a
culturally inclusive space aims to remove barriers that create undue effort and
separation by planning and designing spaces that enable everyone to participate
equally and confidentially,” read the resolution authored by Matthew Guevara. (Yes,
these kids have voted to remove all flags, including this country's flag, from
the lobby of the building where the student government has its offices. Because
that will contribute to everyone getting along better, or some such idea.
Wow... Let's be calm, these are just six college kids whose brains are still
closer to cottage cheese than working intellects. I expect the rest of the
university will run away from this idea ASAP and it won't go anywhere. But it
is just one more sign of the reason why I and a lot of other people worry a lot
about what kind of indoctrination is going on at US campuses. --Del )
Gold Mine: Hillary
Clinton’s Brother Granted Super-Rare Mining Permit from Haiti After State Dept.
Sent Country Billions
Excerpt: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, sat
on the board of a self-described mining company that in 2012 received one of
only two “gold exploitation permits” from the Haitian government—the first
issued in over 50 years. The tiny North
Carolina company, VCS Mining, also included on its
board Bill Clinton’s co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC),
former Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
Hillary Clinton's
Record Begs the Question - Can We Trust Her?
Excerpt: Hillary Clinton is the current frontrunner for
the Democrat nomination for the 2016 Presidential Election powered by rich
donors, top advisers, an adoring media, and a powerful name in politics. Will
these gifts from the dynasty that Bill Clinton built, along with his coat
tails, be enough, or will the corruption finally catch up with Team Hillary? No
one has had more opportunities given to them, perhaps no one has squandered as
many opportunities as Hillary. Ray Charles famous song "Born to
Lose" may have been written just for Hillary.
Improper payments
jumped $125 billion for federal government last year. By Josh Hicks
Excerpt: The federal government lost ground last year
in reducing improper payments from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and
tax credits for the working poor, experiencing a nearly 18 percent increase in
the costs. A
report this week from the Government Accountability Office said
the U.S.
government forked over an estimated $124.7 billion to ineligible
recipients in 2014, representing the first jump in four years.
Gun News
Ex-boyfriend fatally
shot in apartment intrusion identified
Excerpt: Investigators say a mother feared for her life when
she shot and killed her ex-boyfriend early Wednesday morning. Police identified
the ex-boyfriend Thursday as 34-year-old Anthony Santura Smith of Indianapolis .
Investigators said Smith had not lived in Indiana
very long and is originally from Virginia .
(Indiana where
you don’t need a restraining order if you have a gun. --Jonn Lilyea)
Race Card News
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/officer-in-shooting-of-tony-robinson-identified-as-matt-kenny/article_b44cbbf5-21f2-54be-93fe-85ea5819e75c.html
Excerpt: Tony Robinson, 19, was shot to death Friday when
police say he assaulted Kenny after police forced their way into an apartment
in the 1100 block of Williamson
Street on Madison 's
East Side in response to a report of a
battery. The shooting has prompted a series of protests, beginning within hours
of the incident and continuing Saturday, by the Young, Gifted and Black
Coalition and others. (My predictions regarding tonight’s
officer-involved shooting on Willy
St . This will suddenly become a national
whoop-de-doo. The blame will be mounting minute by minute. The best police department
in the country will by vilified for all sorts of reasons. It will
somehow become a racial deal. It will become a hobbyhorse for people of all
kinds of causes, however unrelated their causes are to this
tragedy. Drums will be drummed. Songs will be sung. Strangers will show up
to incite trouble. Arson and looting may ensue. Did I miss anything? Batten
down the hatches. --RS. Yes, I'm sure that Al Sharpton will be here by Monday.
They like to get the narrative going before any facts that might be contrary to
it emerge. Willy Street
where it happened is a very left wing hippy neighborhood--wonder if they will
burn it? ~Bob)
Trigger Happy Madison Police? (Black) Man unleashes
'hail of bullets' at officers; nobody hurt
Excerpt: Madison
police arrested a man they said fired a “hail of bullets” at officers on the
city’s Southwest Side early Friday morning. None of the officers were hurt and
the man, 31-year-old Tommie Evans, was later arrested outside the home on the
1000 block of Gammon Lane ,
authorities said. ... None of the officers returned fire, police said. (If the
police in Madison
wanted to shoot black guys, this was their chance. ~Bob)
"You're Greener than Gore" News
The Political Assault on Climate Skeptics. Members of Congress
send inquisitorial letters to universities, energy companies, even think tanks.
By Richard S. Lindzen
Excerpt: Research in recent years has encouraged those of us
who question the popular alarm over allegedly man-made global warming.
Actually, the move from “global warming” to “climate change” indicated the
silliness of this issue. The climate has been changing since the Earth was
formed. This normal course is now taken to be evidence of doom. Individuals and
organizations highly vested in disaster scenarios have relentlessly attacked
scientists and others who do not share their beliefs. The attacks have taken a
threatening turn. (OK, so if those pesky skeptics just won't die or go away or
shut the hell up, then the next answer is intimidation. Go after the schools
where they work, any place they've worked or consulted, demand all kinds of
information based on no rationale other than they aren't in lockstep with those
who have become disciples of the Al Gore Church of Climate Doom. This is
sinking pretty low, but it's only too typical of the Climate Change fanatics;
if you aren't with them, you are not just against them, you are scum, betrayers
of Truth, deniers of manifest reality, and subject to all the scorn imaginable.
Ahh.... but here's the thing- real Science doesn't work that way. Honesty in
activism doesn't act that way either. By the records of the satellite data,
which is generally recognized as the simplest and most reliable way to track
planetary temperature, we are now in our 18th year of no significant change in
temperature, overall. Yes, we can find glaciers melting in Greenland, which is
not that unusual, they were not there when the Vikings discovered the island
1000 years ago, that's why Erik the Red named it Greenland .
Changes in local weather for any short term (that means centuries) can't be
considered as dramatic proof of global change. (Or the severe winter we've just
had would really blow away any thoughts about warming.) Had the computer models
all the Change enthusiasts like so much be remotely valid, in the last 18 years
we'd have seen unmistakable changes in the weather, including very measureable
changes in high tide markers. Since that has not happened, it means the models
are no good, and that is exactly how real science works. But meanwhile, all
kinds of people are pushing for all kinds of things that will damage industry
and raise prices all over, with the only "good" being accomplished
being the huge windfall profits the "right people" will make. Somehow
I can't really get behind this. --Del. Wait, you mean that the Arctic hasn't
been ice free since 2913, as Al gore predicted, and that kids in Virginia can go
sledding, despite RFK Jr's prediction of no more snow? Who knew? ~Bob)
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Over the past couple of months, U.S. President
Barack Obama has made it abundantly clear that he is not a fan of the Keystone
XL pipeline. It’s probably not personal. If he has to disappoint somebody, he
would apparently prefer that it be Canadians, rather than any of the Democratic
Party’s most generous campaign donors, such as billionaire environmental
activist Tom Steyer. ... TransCanada may soon decide that it has no choice but
to serve notice of its intent to launch a multibillion-dollar NAFTA claim
against the United States
for seeing its project frustrated without a fair hearing. The Alberta-based
company has already invested more than $2.3-billion in the project. Costs have
also skyrocketed since it first made what should have been treated as a routine
application to build the portion of its pipeline slated to cross the
Canada-U.S. border.
Religion of Peace News
Netanyahu’s Churchillian Warning. By Charles Krauthammer
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414961/netanyahus-churchillian-warning-charles-krauthammer
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414961/netanyahus-churchillian-warning-charles-krauthammer
Excerpt: Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress was
notable in two respects. Queen Esther got her first standing O in 2,500 years.
And President Obama came up empty in his campaign to pre-emptively undermine
Netanyahu before the Israeli prime minister could present his case on the Iran
negotiations. On the contrary. The steady stream of slights and insults turned
an irritant into an international event and vastly increased the speech’s audience
and reach. Instead of dramatically unveiling an Iranian nuclear deal as a fait
accompli, Obama must now first defend his Iranian diplomacy.
Palestinian Slams Car
into Israelis on Purim Holiday , PLO Encourages
More Attacks
Excerpt: A Palestinian man rammed a car into a group of
Israeli pedestrians injuring five people including four female border police
officers during the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Jerusalem Post reports. Police consider the incident to be a terrorist
attack, reporting that the driver swerved onto the sidewalk near a light rail
station before emerging from the vehicle with a butcher knife trying to stab
other people. (Alert Obama that there has been another random traffic incident.
Just coincidence the attacker was Muslim and the victims Jews--nothing to do
with Islam. ~Bob)
How America
Excerpt: In the early-morning hours of May 2, 2011, a small
team of American military and intelligence professionals landed inside the high
white walls of a mysterious compound in Abbottabad ,
Pakistan Del )
Report: Women at Risk
of FGM in the U.S.
Excerpt: Most Americans probably consider female genital
mutilation (FGM) to be a problem relegated to Third World countries,
particularly in Africa and the Middle East .
Yet a new report released by the nonprofit Population
Reference Bureau (PRB) indicates that the number of women and girls in the
United States who had undergone or who were in risk of being subjected to FGM has more than
doubled since 2000 to almost half a million. According to the PRB's report,
most of the women in the U.S.
who were at risk of FGM were born in Egypt ,
Somalia or Ethiopia or
were born to parents from those countries.
JV Team Advancing: Boko Haram swears formal allegiance to
Excerpt: A message allegedly from the head of Nigeria ’s Boko
Haram terror group Saturday pledged his group’s allegiance to Islamic State. The
message was posted on Twitter, hours after Boko Haram claimed responsibility
for four suicide bomb attacks in northeastern Nigeria that killed at least 54
people and wounded more than 140 people.
Unfortunately for Netanyahu, a mere 10 percent
of respondents rated the Iranian threat as the most important issue in Israel
3 in 4 Israelis don’t
trust Obama to keep Iran
http://www.timesofisrael.com/3-in-4-israelis-dont-trust-obama-to-keep-iran-from-nukes/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/3-in-4-israelis-dont-trust-obama-to-keep-iran-from-nukes/
Excerpt: Asked whether they trust the US president to ensure Iran not get
the bomb, an overwhelming 72% do not, compared to 64% in our January 2014
survey.
Israeli voters give Obama a 33% favorable and 59%
unfavorable rating, The Times of Israel’s survey also shows.
Christopher Lee Cornell,
Excerpt: A man accused of plotting to attack the U.S.
Capitol called a television station from jail and said if he hadn't been
arrested he would have gone to Washington
and shot President Barack Obama in the head. WXIX-TV in Cincinnati
said Christopher Lee Cornell called it from the Kentucky
jail where he's being held, confessed to being a supporter of the Islamic State
group and said he planned to kill government officials in retaliation for U.S. strikes on
the militant organization. (The SPLC will claim this makes him a Republican.
~Bob)
‘Sharia isn’t practiced correctly’: CAGE director refuses to condemn death by stoning
Excerpt: The director of human rights charity CAGE
repeatedly refused to condemn the stoning to death of women for adulterous
behavior during a television interview. Asim Qureshi appeared on the BBC’s This
Week program, where he was asked a series of questions about treatment of women
advocated by a Muslim scholar, including female genital mutilation (FGM) and
stoning for adultery.
Islamic State
militants bulldoze ancient Nimrud
Excerpt: Islamic State fighters have looted and bulldozed
the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud ,
the Iraqi government said, in their latest assault on some of the world's
greatest archaeological and cultural treasures. A tribal source from the nearby
city of Mosul told Reuters the radical Sunni
Islamists, who dismiss Iraq 's
pre-Islamic heritage as idolatrous, had pillaged the 3,000-year-old site on the
banks of the Tigris
River
What Obama Can Learn
about Radical Islam from New Saudi King. By Irfan Al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz
Excerpt: Radical Islamist terrorism reflects a feature of
Islam that has erupted and then subsided repeatedly over the centuries of
Muslim history. It has its own specific content and dynamics. But the merest
recognition of this reality was absent from a fact sheet on the "White House Summit on
Countering Violent Extremism" issued by the presidential press office. In
nearly 1,700 words of bureaucratic boilerplate, references to
"Muslims," "Islam," "Wahhabism,"
"Taliban," or "Iran ,"
did not appear even once. Instead, the fact sheet was replete with the
suffocating esoterism of the Beltway vocabulary, referring to "drivers and
indicators of radicalization," "stakeholders and practitioners,"
and "extremist messaging and narratives." Nothing that transpired at
the "summit" indicated any better reasoning in the current
administration. Indeed, according to a February 13 report entitled,
grotesquely, "Obama Summit Targets American Extremism," on Voice of
America News, the meeting was concentrated as much on social pathologies like
urban gangs in our country as on Islamist fanaticism.
*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five
terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s
eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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