The weekend's political news and conservative opinion

Update

Happy Patriots Day--April 19. ~Bob

The Old Jarhead Blog--thanks for following!

I try to make this blog your one-stop-shop for political news and conservative opinion. Founded in October, 2008, it gets 5k to 7k page views a week, most from the US, but hundreds from many countries worldwide. Feel free to post or forward to friends who need to be better informed. The news posts are created from several news feeds, from US and international websites, from twitter when I have spare time to follow it, and by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have often have missed or skipped. We owe them thanks and appreciation. I try to include foreign sources and info you won’t get in the MSM, but I often use links to pieces in the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Reuters and other left-of-center sources. No one is required to read the blog, or any of the links. Trust me, no one reads everything posted, but scanning the headlines will keep you informed, and you can click on stories you want to know more about. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, too far a stretch, or viciously inflammatory, regardless of the view point. I also try to avoid items that will turn off thoughtful centrists and leftists or low-information independents, including “red meat” pieces with intemperate language or wild speculation, conspiracy theories with no supporting facts and silly distractions like the so-called “birther” issue (which I correctly predicted years ago was going nowhere, and wasted time and energy), but I don’t always succeed. I use maybe 50% of the conservative pieces sent me, probably less than 5% of the liberal opinion sent, usually to illustrate their views. Readers who don’t like that are welcome to start their own blogs. Readers who send formatted pieces (title, link, and a fair-use excerpt of no more than three sentences unless the piece is very short, than fewer) to tartanmarine(at)gmail.com have a higher chance of my using them than people who just send a link. A piece without a link has a much lower chance of being used—it depends on how interesting it is and how much time I have right then to search for it, and my time is limited right now due to managing the lung transplant I received on December 23, 2013, which has developed complications. I understand if you don’t have the time to format or even to find a link—please understand I don't either. I often include thoughtful comments from contributors. (Tell me if you want your full name used.) There are no ads on my blog, no fees and I receive no income from it. Now that I've retired, that might need to change, though I hate the ads on most blogs. For now, that’s how it is. I do promote my books, with the royalties going to charity. As always on the Net, as in the legacy media, you must read these posts critically and with skepticism.

General News and Comment

Hillary Clinton’s Newest Endorsement Just Released a Brand New Video

http://www.ijreview.com/2015/04/300066-hillary-clintons-newest-endorsement-comes-energetic-group-bunnies/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningnewsletter

Excerpt: Hillary Clinton is actively courting women voters in her campaign for president, but her newest endorsement may still come as a surprise. The Bunnies at Dennis Hof’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, have publicly announced their support for the former First Lady.

Campaign staff DROVE 'ordinary' Iowans to Hillary's first campaign stop - including health care 'lobbyist in training' who was an Obama campaign intern and Biden chauffeur
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3040482/Campaign-staff-DROVE-ordinary-Iowans-Hillary-s-campaign-stop-including-health-care-lobbyist-training-Obama-campaign-intern-Biden-chauffeur.html

Excerpt: Hillary Clinton's astroturf candidacy is in full swing in Iowa. Her Tuesday morning visit to a coffee shop in LeClaire, Iowa was staged from beginning to end, according to Austin Bird, one of the men pictured sitting at the table with Mrs. Clinton.

Worth Reading: Frank Capra’s America and Ours. By John Marini

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/frank-capras-america-and-ours/?utm_source=housefile&utm_medium=email&utm_content=mar2015&utm_campaign=imprimis&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8g_1IMDmSk8oeqV1-dmjiTV1DntQCKerPgDhiFlIhL1i88_2SqAW7c6lQmhMXwGzLOe01opbO23Q7FT9nV1czRw2DHbg&_hsmi=17160685

Excerpt: Filmmaker Frank Capra was not an American by birth or blood. Consequently he did not understand America, as many Americans do today, in terms of personal categories of identity such as race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. He understood America in terms of its political principles—the moral principles of America that can be shared by all who understand them and are willing to live up to them. This was Abraham Lincoln’s understanding as well. 

Libertarians Outnumber Both Liberals and Conservatives. By John C. Goodman

http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2015/04/18/libertarians-outnumber-both-liberals-and-conservatives-n1986898?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Excerpt: Gallup, which has been polling on the issue for quite some time, finds that 38 percent of the public identifies as “conservative” and 24 percent as “liberal” in the latest

Gallup doesn’t ask people if they are libertarian, but fortunately other polls have asked that question in various ways. In 2006 the Cato Institute commissioned Zogby International to ask 596 voters this question: “Would you describe yourself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal?” Fully 59 percent of the respondents said “yes.”

Karma: Hunter Ian Gibson Trampled To Death By Elephant He Was Tracking To Kill For Ivory

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/17/hunter-ian-gibson-trampled-death-elephant-tracking-kill_n_7085374.html

Comments on an old blog post about phony vets

We have these guys here in UK too. On or near November 11th every year we have Remembrance Sunday. Lots of parades at war memorials up and down the country. The phonies turn up with a row of Ebay medals or a uniform that any former soldier can spot as wrong a mile away. And they've always been in the SAS, or the Parachute Regiment. It's called "Walting " here - short for Walter Mitty. Lots of them collect money allegedly for service charities, but they keep it themselves. They get prosecuted if found, but the punishment for wearing medals you're not entitled to is a laughably small fine. The embarrassment in the press and the abuse from real soldiers is the true punishment. --Anon. Former High School Principal in our town had his pic on the wall, in uniform. "Where'd you serve?" Viet Nam! "What part?" I don't remember.... John.

American Veteran Michelle Manhart Picks Up US Flag from Desecration at Georgia University – Gets Arrested
http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/04/michelle-manhart-american-woman-picks-up-us-flag-from-desecration-at-georgia-university-gets-arrested/

Excerpt: In a valiant display of patriotism, Michelle Manhart picked up an American flag that was being trampled on by a bunch of young university punks. Keep in mind that this had been going on for three days at Valdosta State University. When Michelle stood up and did what the campus and no one else was willing to do, she resisted turning the flag over to police and stood her ground, guarding the flag until she was overpowered by police and arrested.

Woman On Welfare Wants Taxpayers To Pay For $15,000 Wedding, Being A Bride Is A ‘Basic Human Right’

http://www.inquisitr.com/2015388/woman-on-welfare-wants-taxpayers-to-pay-for-15000-wedding-being-a-bride-is-a-basic-human-right/

Excerpt: Anna Broom has been on welfare since she was 19-years-old since she was deemed too overweight to work. In total, she has collected over $149,000 in benefits but says that simply isn’t enough as she now wants taxpayers to pay for a dream wedding costing $15,000. Broom claims that being a bride is a “basic human right” and that she is entitled to a “‘traditional English wedding and party in a castle.” The Daily Mail reports that Broom, from Kent in Southeast England, is requesting that her “dream wedding” be paid for as a “basic human right.”

Walker: Hillary Is 'Third Term Of Barack Obama'

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/04/18/walker-hillary-is-third-term-of-barack-obama/

Excerpt: Walker declared, “there are some sharp contrasts out there, not just between this president, but Hillary Clinton who…is really an extension of the third term of Barack Obama. Americans need to realize that. This isn’t the third term of Bill Clinton, this is the third term of Barack Obama.”

New VA scandals call into question agency's ability to clean house

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/18/new-va-scandals-call-into-question-agency-ability-to-clean-house/?intcmp=latestnews

Excerpt: Ignored claims, manipulated records, cost overruns and even one facility infested with insects and rodents are among the latest issues uncovered by a blistering VA Inspector General’s report. The auditor's probe found that more than 31,000 inquiries placed by veterans to the Philadelphia Regional VA office call center went ignored for more than 312 days, even though they were supposed to be answered in five. Perhaps even worse, claim dates were manipulated to hide delays, $2.2 million in improper payments were made because of duplicate records, 22,000 pieces of returned mail went ignored and some 16,600 documents involving patient records and dating back to 2011 were never scanned into the system.

Gun News

Grassley to Holder: Why Is The VA Putting So Many Veterans on Your Federal Gun Ban List?
http://patriotoutdoornews.com/13642/grassley-to-holder-why-is-the-va-putting-so-many-veterans-on-your-federal-gun-ban-list

Excerpt: Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder expressing deep concerns over Veterans Affairs evaluations classifying veterans as “mentally defective” and banning them in the federal background check system from purchasing or owning a firearm. According to Grassley’s office, the VA “reports individuals to the gun ban list if an individual merely needs financial assistance managing VA benefits,” keeping them from exercising their Second Amendment rights. (Bolding is mine)

Police identify alleged burglar shot by homeowner in Orlando apartment

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/police-man-shot-alleged-robber-orlando-apartment/nktzK/

Excerpt: A quiet neighborhood was rocked early Wednesday when a homeowner shot a man who broke into his home, police said.

"You're Greener than Gore" News

'Man-made disaster': Critics say California drought caused by misguided environment policies. By Malia Zimmerman

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/16/man-made-disaster-critics-say-california-drought-caused-by-misguided/

Excerpt: The blistering drought that has Californians timing their showers, driving dirty cars and staring at brown lawns and empty swimming pools is a “man-made disaster,” according to critics, who say the Golden State’s misguided environmental policies allow much-needed freshwater to flow straight into the Pacific. In an average year, California gets enough snow and rain to put 200 million acres under a foot of water, but environmental opposition to dams over the last several decades has allowed the majority of the freshwater to flow into the ocean, even as the state’s population exploded to nearly 40 million people. The current drought has left farms parched and residents under strict water consumption orders, but some say it didn't have to be that way. (I see more of this line of commentary coming out the last couple of weeks. This one quotes more numbers and details than others have. The writer seems to have done a better job in researching than most, and I like to see proper investigation and analysis of things. Regardless of how some will point to all kinds of other aspects of water use in CA, the deep wells that have dropped the water table so badly that the land itself has moved, etc, I think the point that enormous amounts of fresh water have been flowing into the Pacific day in and day out for all these years, and that there haven't been any serious moves to store more water, is what's important. The politicians sitting around up in the capital for all these decades have been utterly malfeasant in doing pretty much nothing for the future of the state. But now the chickens are all coming home to roost, and even if they start moving in the right direction in Sacramento, it will still take many years to get things changed and reservoirs built, not to mention all the millions of dollars the state doesn't have. So it's not going to go anywhere but downhill for some time to come. And the plants that produce the grapes, the lettuce, the strawberries, the almonds, etc, that feed people and provide jobs and tax revenue can't cut back on their showers. There are going to be some real debates about how to allocate water around the state. --Del)

Religion of Peace News

When did America forget that it’s America? By Natan Sharansky 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-did-america-forget-that-its-america/2015/04/17/2bf6642e-e467-11e4-905f-cc896d379a32_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1

Excerpt: Natan Sharansky, a human rights activist and former political prisoner in the Soviet Union, is chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. On a number of occasions during the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli government has appealed to the United States and its allies to demand a change in Tehran’s aggressive behavior. If Iran wishes to be treated as a normal state, Israel has said, then it should start acting like one. Unfortunately, these appeals have been summarily dismissed. The Obama apparently believes that only after a nuclear agreement is signed can the free world expect Iran to stop its attempts at regional domination, improve its human rights record and, in general, behave like the civilized state it hopes the world will recognize it to be.

US alienation leading to Israeli-Chinese renaissance

http://www.israpundit.org/archives/63606090?utm_source=emailcampaign2257&utm_medium=phpList&utm_content=HTMLemail&utm_campaign=ISRAPUNDIT+DAILY+DIGEST+APR+19%2F15

Excerpt: Relationship between Jerusalem and Beijing is blooming due to China’s growing self-confidence, its understanding that battle against Israel is no longer a uniting factor in the Muslim world, and its desire to maintain close ties with a regional power whose crisis with Washington is deepening. (this is really frightening, given the book I'm reading now: The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower by Michael Pillsbury, http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Year-Marathon-Strategy-Replace-Superpower/dp/1627790101/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2_har?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429019870&sr=1-1&keywords=hundred+year+marathon ~Bob)

Rubio: Nuclear Iran is 'Unacceptable'

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/rubio-nuclear-iran-unacceptable_923215.html#

Excerpt: Responding to a question from the audience, Rubio explained how the U.S. and international sanctions regime had been working on the Islamic republic, devastating Iran's economy to the point that Tehran seemed ready to negotiate. But, the senator said, there was a catch. "They knew as soon as they sat time for the first time that this president wanted this deal worse than they did," Rubio said.

UN: The genocide of 1.5 million Armenians was not genocide

http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.1177/un-the-genocide-of-1-5-million-armenians-was-not-genocide.html

Excerpt: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I was not genocide, but rather “atrocity crimes.” The categorization was in response to a statement made earlier by the Pope, who called it “the first genocide of the 20th century.” April 24, 2015, marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide. On that date, the Turkey lead Ottoman Empire rounded up 250 Armenian leaders and intellectuals whom they accused of supporting the Russian enemy in World War I. The Ottomans then executed Armenian men of military age and sent the elderly, women and children on death marches into the Syrian desert. Scholars estimate that 1-1.5 million Armenians died. (They were Christians, so can't offend the Muslims who killed them...~Bob)

Putin blasts treatment of Mideast Christians. 'Sad that the international community now cannot defend people who need protection'

http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/putin-blasts-treatment-of-mideast-christians/

Excerpt: Russian President Vladimir Putin said the situation in the Middle East for Christians is terrible and the international community is not taking enough steps to protect them. “As to the Middle East and Christians, the situation is terrible. We have spoken about it many times and we believe that the international community is not doing enough to protect the Christian population of the Middle East,” Putin told reporters. (2 thoughts come to mind reading this: 1--How can a world leader be so obviously right on so many issues and be considered an "enemy" of the West? (Christianity used to be considered part of Western culture)? 2--Note how WND, which used to side with the Neocons, is now willing to publish something like this. Let's hope WND and other outlets keep reminding us of the terrible plight of the Christians in the ME so that eventually, we stop supporting ISIS (by supporting the Saudis who support them) and eventually wake up and realize that boots on the ground are necessary in the fight against them. The MAIN boots on the ground now are Iranian ones. Iran's Shiite teaching rejects the killing of non-Muslims. The Wahhabi Sunni Saudis can't wait to rid the world of Christianity, one sliced throat at a time. We need to realize we are on the wrong side. Again. As usual. --Don Hank)

Hoax fools wannabe jihadis. By Grant Taylor

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/27172420/hoax-fools-wannabe-jihadis/

Excerpt: Security agencies are now reviewing material gathered by the anonymous impostor who set up a fake Twitter account pretending to be Thorne this month. Within days more than 160 people had followed the account and many discussed openly with the impostor the idea of bombing Jewish organisations based in Sydney, as well as threats to carry out Charlie Hebdo-style attacks on cartoonists Larry Pickering and Bill Leak.

Former jihadist escapes from the Islamic state: We had to kill everyone, without pity

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Former-jihadist-escapes-from-the-Islamic-state:-We-had-to-kill-everyone,-without-pity-33990.html

Excerpt: They said: ‘You must kill children without compassion, you must kill women, Jews, infidels and Shiites'. This is the testimony of a young Tajik, recruited in Moscow by the militia of the Islamic State (IS) to fight in Syria and who managed to escape.

Dragged from the dead and dying, bloodied boy emerges alive from hellish aftermath of suicide bombing - the first in Afghanistan by ISIS
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044582/At-30-killed-suicide-bomb-attack-bank-eastern-Afghan-city.html

Excerpt: He was near a bank in Jalalabad early Saturday morning when the attacker detonated an explosive-laden motorcycle, killing 35 people and injuring another 125. The group, which included military personnel as well as civilians, were waiting to receive their monthly salaries as crowds bustled around them when the bomb exploded in the busy commercial district.

Iranian opposition activist: “Obama is the son of a Shiite father… Some people call him the Iranian lobby in America.”

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/04/iranian-opposition-activist-obama-is-the-son-of-a-shiite-father-some-people-call-him-the-iranian-lobby-in-america?utm_source=Jihad+Watch+Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=e87adf886e-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffcbf57bbb-e87adf886e-97564174

Excerpt: This claim has been going around for years. One reason why it never dies is because Obama never does anything to disconfirm it. “Commentators on Arab TV: Obama Supports Iran Because His Father Was a Shiite,” MEMRI,...

*****

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.