General News and Comment
Worth Sharing: Hillary Clinton was paid millions by tech industry for speeches. By Matea Gold, Rosalind S. Helderman and Anu Narayanswamy, Washington Post
Excerpt: In one of her last gigs on the paid lecture circuit, Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed an eBay summit aimed at promoting women in the workplace, delivering a 20-minute talk that garnered her a $315,000 payday from the company. Less than two months later, Clinton was feted at the San Francisco Bay-area home of eBay chief executive John Donahoe and his wife, Eileen, for one of the first fundraisers supporting Clinton’s newly announced presidential campaign. The two events spotlight the unusually close financial ties between Clinton and a broad array of industries that have issues before the government and paid millions of dollars to her and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, in the months preceding the launch of her presidential campaign.
Excerpt: Here we go: Two major Hillary stories, each quite significant -- much like we saw late last month. This time, rather than revelations about a wildly suspicious uranium deal and tens of millions in unreported foreign government donations to the Clinton Foundation, we're looking at astonishing evidence of rogue, conflict-of-interest-riddled, off-the-books diplomacy...and yet another lie related to Hillary's secret email scheme.
Smoking Gun In Hillary’s Email Meltdown? By Adam Campbell
Excerpt: The excuse Hillary Clinton made for keeping a personal email on a private server as Secretary of State was convenience–that she didn’t want more than one email address on her phone. Of course, hardly anyone believed that story–but now, it’s turning out that was an outright lie. The New York Times released a number of emails from Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State–and it turns out, she used another private email address, hrod17@clintonemail.com.
Hillary’s attorney had previously told Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who’s leading the congressional investigation on Benghazi , that particular email had not been used.
Excerpt: Democrat Hillary Clinton is assembling bundlers known as “Hillstarters,” who will try to raise $27,000 each for the primary campaign. Although she has not announced her intentions, we hope and expect that she will volunteer to identify them with her filings to the Federal Election Commission as in the past. Republicans should do the same. We put the question to Jeb Bush, the Republican who has been on a fundraising blitz, and got no reply.
Hillary's revolving door
Excerpt: So what does Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee for president in 2016, think about the issue? Funny you should ask. While serving as secretary of state, Clinton was an enthusiastic supporter of free trade, and especially of the deal Obama is still negotiating with 11 other countries around the Pacific Rim . Lately, she has avoided taking a clear position on this issue, but the latest smoke signals out of her camp, from last month, came in the form of a statement from an aide that suggested a "wait-and-see" attitude. Meanwhile, journalists have made a curious discovery in Secretary Clinton's financial disclosure forms. Since January 2014, Clinton
State Department plans January 2016 deadline for release of Hillary Clinton emails
Excerpt: The State Department is planning to release 55,000 pages of emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server by January of next year, according to a court filing. The department has asked a federal judge to approve a plan requiring the release of all of Clinton 's emails by January 15, 2016. The request is related to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed this past January by Vice News and was first reported by POLITICO. (All the sanitized emails she didn't erase./ ~Bob. You’re familiar with the traditional Clinton strategy to drag out an investigation for as long as possible and then insist the investigators are obsessed with old news, right? Here we go again: -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt
Today in Politics: Hillary Clinton’s Busy Week Presents More Opportunities for No Questions. By Carl Hulse, New York Times
Excerpt: Mrs. Clinton will head to Iowa and New Hampshire this week to focus on small businesses, her busiest stretch since she declared her candidacy last month. Whether she begins engaging with the news media again remains to be seen. She has gone more than three weeks without taking questions from reporters, a fact highlighted by the multiple media availabilities and interviews many of her Democratic and Republican rivals gave in the last week alone. She still hasn’t faced questions about her family’s foundation, or the $25 million she and her husband have made on paid speeches since January 2014.
Excerpt: Chelsea Clinton is so unpleasant to colleagues, she’s causing high turnover at the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, sources say. Several top staffers have left the foundation since Chelsea came on board as vice chairman in 2011. “A lot of people left because she was there. A lot of people left because she didn’t want them there,” an insider told me. “She is very difficult.”
Here They Are: Hillary's 22 Biggest Scandals Ever. Does America really want '2 Clintons
Excerpt: During his 1992 campaign for the presidency, Bill Clinton was fond of promising America , “You get two for the price of one,” indicating Hillary Clinton would act as his co-president. But the nation got much more than it bargained for, as the top power couple brought a load of baggage with them into the White House from their days in Arkansas . After the Clintons moved into the presidential mansion, the political scandals multiplied – from use of the IRS and FBI to target political opponents to stalking and harassing subjects of Bill Clinton’s sexual advances and even attempts to loot taxpayer-funded items from the White House. (Take a blood pressure pill before reading; remember when they tried to steal the White House china? --Barb)
Dr. Ben Carson: Hillary Avoiding Press Because 'She Realized The Less She Talks, The Better Off She Is'
Excerpt: On Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125, GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said that Hillary Clinton is avoiding the press because “she realizes the less she talks, the better off she is.” Carson said that he was asked in New Hampshire recently about the best strategy for defeating Clinton, who has not conducted a formal interview with the press since announcing her candidacy a month ago. He said he replied, “let her talk.”
Stephanopoulos was also involved with offshoot of Clinton
Excerpt: ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, already under fire for his contributions to Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s charitable foundation, served as a moderator and awards judge for an arm of the organization for years without disclosing those roles to viewers. Stephanopoulos was among a number of well-known TV news figures and columnists who have volunteered to help the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an offshoot of the Clinton Foundation that convenes meetings to discuss domestic and international issues.
What if Limbaugh or Rove Anchored Fox’s Presidential Coverage. By Bernard Goldberg
Excerpt: Now let’s imagine that Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News, decides that since Rush is immensely popular with viewers he ought to move on to bigger things beyond simply giving his opinions. So Ailes makes Limbaugh the anchor of Fox’s lucrative morning news show, and has him do political interviews, and moderate debates, and anchor the channel’s Sunday news program. Anything big and political goes to Limbaugh. And a presidential election is looming, so Rush is going to be pretty busy deciding all sorts of things, like what gets covered and what doesn’t and how stories are played on TV.
Geraldo Rivera wonders why ABC fired him for $200 donation while Stephanopoulos gets a pass
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/geraldo_rivera_wonders_why_abc_fired_him_for_200_donation_while_stephanopoulos_gets_a_pass.html#ixzz3aY259WjT
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/geraldo_rivera_wonders_why_abc_fired_him_for_200_donation_while_stephanopoulos_gets_a_pass.html#ixzz3aY259WjT
Excerpt: Thirty years ago, Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera was fired from ABC News, ostensibly for contributing $200 to a friend who was running for mayor in New Bedford , MA
Secretary of the Navy Remarks and a Naval Academy Photograph. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Over the weekend akin material was sent to me - Secretary Ray Mabus's recent remarks about sweeping changes (some from his pen and others from Congress) coming to the United States Navy and Marine Corps and a photograph of Marine Options at the Naval Academy. The remarks came first. Hours later the photograph. Email aplenty from distraught Marines followed.
Excerpt: The Mississippi city of Richland has a new $4.1 million police station, a top-level training center and a fleet of black-and-white Dodge Charger police cars. All of it was paid for through civil forfeitures of property and cash seized during traffic stops of what police say were suspected drug runners on Interstate 20. Civil libertarians question the constitutionality of civil forfeiture, which has become a key part of revenue for state and local law enforcement agencies nationwide. Under the laws of many states, citizens can be deprived of their property or even cash if police merely suspect the owners to be involved in criminal activity.
'Just Asking.' By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: ne of the ways of fighting poverty, he proposed, was to "ask from society's lottery winners" that they make a "modest investment" in government programs to help the poor.
Since free speech is guaranteed to everyone by the First Amendment to the Constitution, there is nothing to prevent anybody from asking anything from anybody else. But the federal government does not just "ask" for money. It takes the money it wants in taxes, usually before the people who have earned it see their paychecks.
All New Legislation to be Dynamically Scored
Excerpt: As Vox.com explains, "When policy proposals are put forward in Congress, their impact on the budget is often estimated — or 'scored'— by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation." Since its creation in the 1970s, the Congressional Budget Office has always scored legislation statically, without regard to economic changes within a particular industry or sector. The CBO defends static scoring, stating that dynamic scoring is unnecessary as 1) most legislation has a negligible effect on the entire economy, 2) macroeconomic changes are difficult to predict, and 3) the research and work burden would be unfeasible. What are the differences between dynamic and static scoring?
"Dynamic scoring is the idea that when estimating the budgetary impact of changes in tax policy, you ought to take into account changes to the economy induced by the policy change," according to Vox. Static scoring assumes the size of the economy remains unchanged.
Dynamic scoring, for example, assumes reduced taxation encourages more work and investment, and, therefore, the cost of the policy will not be so steep.
Worth Reading : Stop It, Liberals: Bush Didn’t Lie About Iraq
Excerpt: There is plenty of criticism that can be leveled against George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, but he didn’t deliberately mislead the country about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
President Barack Obama Bans Some Military-Style Equipment Provided To Police
Excerpt: Other items like explosives and riot equipment will be transferred to police only if they provide additional certification and assurances that the gear will be used responsibly. The changes stem from recommendations made to the president in a new report produced by a White House working group. Obama created the task force earlier this year via executive order. ("By a White House working group"? Who is on this executive-ordered group to make recommendations for "the community" versus civilization and the majority of the citizenry? ---Barb)
Flashback: 7 Ways The Obama Administration Has Accelerated Police Militarization
Excerpt: There were signs that President Barack Obama might rein in the mass militarization of America 's police forces after he won the White House. Policing is primarily a local issue, overseen by local authorities. But beginning in the late 1960s with President Richard Nixon, the federal government began instituting policies that gave federal authorities more power to fight the drug trade, and to lure state and local policymakers into the anti-crime agenda of the administration in charge. (Article from 07/10/2013. --Barb)
Ann Coulter: Michelle Obama "Letting Out Her Inner Reverend Wright"
Excerpt: I think she's just letting out her Reverend Wright now. You know, a week before this, I'm really glad you played the segment of her saying it was the first time in her life she's proud of her country, and then she's indignant that people might think she doesn't love her country....We had finally got rid of a lot of this racial demagoguery in response to the O.J. verdict, and Obama and his enablers and the left-wing media have brought it back in order to gin up and keep a certain segment of the black community angry and voting against Republicans.
Rising Dragon News
Excerpt: A federal grand jury has indicted six Chinese citizens for what authorities say was a long-running conspiracy to steal valuable technology from two U.S. firms for the benefit of the Chinese government. The indictment, unsealed Monday, highlights the threat posed by insiders who use their position to steal sensitive information on behalf of a foreign government or for financial gain and is part of a larger trend by the U.S. government to step up efforts to deter Chinese theft of trade secrets.
Gun News
Poll: 84 Percent of Americans Believe Violence Committed With Guns a Criminal Issue, Not Public Health Issue. By Katie Pavlich http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/10/09/poll-americans-believe-violence-committed-with-guns-a-crime-not-health-issue-n1903037?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=
Excerpt: For years gun control advocates have tried to turn incidents of 'gun violence' into a public health issue in order to justify wide reaching government regulations, but a new scientific poll from the National Shooting Sports Foundation shows the vast majority of Americans view violence committed with guns as a criminal issue, not one of public health. The poll also shows an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the Centers for Disease Control should be focused on combating illness and disease, not 'gun violence.'
Federal Judge to DC Government: The 2nd Amendment is a Right, No Extra Reason Needed
Excerpt: Ten months ago, U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. ruled Washington , D.C.
1 dead, 1 wounded in Reston home invasion shooting
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/05/1-dead-1-wounded-in-reston-home-invasion-shooting-114040.html
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/05/1-dead-1-wounded-in-reston-home-invasion-shooting-114040.html
Excerpt: One man is dead and another injured after a fatal home invasion in Reston Sunday afternoon. Police have not yet arrested anyone, but charges could come soon. The deceased has been identified as a 24-year-old man from the Herndon/Reston area. It happened in the 11600 block of Stoneview Square .
Suspect identified in home invasion shooting
Excerpt: Three men were shot and one of them was killed Monday morning at a Southside apartment complex that's popular among college students, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. JSO said that the shootings resulted from a home invasion robbery and according to reports, police found 27-year-old Bryant Jerald Collier dead at The District apartments on Kernan Boulevard South .
Race Card News
Excerpt: People in Cleveland , Ohio Ferguson , Mo. , and Baltimore led to violence. Protests after a shooting in Madison , Wis. Cleveland could go either way or its own distinctive way. Here's the flashpoint. Officer Michael Brelo is on trial for voluntary manslaughter. He is accused in the shooting deaths of two black suspects, both unarmed, who were sitting in a car boxed in by the police.
Texas biker clash leaves 9 dead: ‘Police shoot at white thugs and no one gets mad, sets town on fire’
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/05/18/texas-biker-clash-leaves-9-dead-police-shoot-at-white-thugs-and-no-one-gets-mad-sets-town-on-fire-205538#ixzz3aUwjX82h
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/05/18/texas-biker-clash-leaves-9-dead-police-shoot-at-white-thugs-and-no-one-gets-mad-sets-town-on-fire-205538#ixzz3aUwjX82h
Excerpt: A biker brawl in Waco , Texas
A Bloody Weekend in Chicago and Baltimore. By Jordan Candler
Excerpt: In what has become an all-too familiar story, more blood was spilled on the streets of Chicago over the weekend after a barrage of shootings claimed nearly 50 victims, two of whom succumbed to their injuries, according to the latest available data. The Chicago Tribune reports that felonious shootings were already up 22% compared to 2014 before this latest episode:
VIDEO: 15-Year-Old Beaten and Robbed by Black Gang on Subway… Where’s Al Sharpton?
Excerpt: A 15-year-old boy was attacked and robbed of his phone, shoes and even his pants while riding a train through Brooklyn in what authorities are calling a gang-related attack. As the victim stepped onto the train at approximately 3:30 p.m., a group of five black teens launched a vicious attack on the victim, who’s also black.
Jay Z, Beyonce Bail Out Baltimore
Excerpt: Rap star Jay Z has quietly sent thousands of dollars to help bail out protesters from Baltimore ’s jail system, a writer who worked with him on his 2010 memoir said. Dream Hampton, who helped Jay Z author “Decoded,” revealed the rapper’s cash infusions via Twitter. ...Among the tweets: “When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protesters, I … hit Jay up, as I had for Ferguson [and he] wired tens of thousands [of dollars].
NY1 Exclusive: Number of Black Men on NYPD Force Shrinking. By Dean Meminger Monday, February 9, 2015
Excerpt: There are proud moments at NYPD ceremonies, but there is a growing concern: the number of black men on the force is shrinking. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, is a retired NYPD captain. "It has been comfortable to say we are a diverse department, and when people drill down on the term diverse, they find out that they are not diverse when it comes to black men," Adams said. About 26 percent of the city is black, but less than 16 percent of the city's police officers are black. The lack of diversity is even greater among male police officers. I found this interesting, but the reporter neglected to come up with anything really relevant, such as the level of applications to take the Police Academy exam made by Blacks, and if any other factors, such as prior criminal records or lack of a high school diploma, affected who were accepted into the program, and after that, whether there is any pattern to the men who either drop out or flunk out of the program. At this point I would really doubt that anyone in the Department would do anything but welcome minority applicants to the program. Maybe the NYPD can try harder to recruit minorities, but lately I'm not sure anyone would look on a career in the police as positively as in the past. In any big city you will be tasked with a very difficult job at times, while having to work under a microscope of people just eager to find fault with whatever you do or don't do. --Del. When black "leaders" vilify the police, it is hardly surprising that fewer black men want to join the vilified. ~Bob)
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
GOP Lawmakers Call For A Special Inspector General To Oversee Obamacare. By Chuck Ross
Excerpt: Republican lawmakers re-introduced legislation on Monday calling for the creation of a special inspector general to oversee Obamacare.
Illinois U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, the chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee, introduced the House version of the bill. Kansas U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts introduced a companion bill in the Senate. If the bill passes Congress and somehow escapes President Obama’s veto pen, it would establish an Office of the Special Inspector General for Monitoring the Affordable Care Act (SIGMA).
Just wrong: Congress quietly takes ObamaCare waiver. By Ken Hoagland
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/242140-just-wrong-congress-quietly-takes-obamacare-waiver
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/242140-just-wrong-congress-quietly-takes-obamacare-waiver
Excerpt: Campaign ads critical of ObamaCare dominated the mid-term elections. With millions dropped from the insurance they liked and millions more paying far higher prices for coverage they would not voluntarily purchase there remains a deep base of unhappiness with the law. The result was a huge electoral shift toward Republicans. Voters now fairly expect the new majority to answer their concerns. Most in Congress now agree, however, that big changes to ObamaCare will come either by order of the Supreme Court, which is deliberating the legality of IRS rules that go beyond the scope of the Affordable Care Act or, later, with the help of a more sympathetic president. But smaller changes are currently being sought by businesses affected by ObamaCare taxes and some Democrats are signaling their willingness to provide relief. (I have been staying off the whole ObamaCare discussion for a while, since I thought it was better to not keep inflicting the comments and criticisms on everyone. Most people have their minds made up about it, pro or con, anyhow. But when our elected representatives pull this little play, both Parties, that makes them the true privileged class while everyone else is stuck down in the trenches dealing with the system like it or not, I feel it's time to pass on the news. Check the paragraph below where I put it in bold. Talk about the sweetheart deal! This is outrageous, and everyone should be screaming mad about it. We should be voting out every congressperson and demanding that from now on, everyone serving there must live with the laws they impose on us. --Del )
Undocumented Democrat News
Candidates Win Evangelicals With Pro-American Worker Immigration Policy. By Ken Blackwell
Excerpt: Gov. Walker, like former U.S. Senator, Rick Santorum, has taken things further than just a discussion of illegal immigration. They have dared to discuss the impact of legal immigration on American workers. Like most Republicans, I'm still undecided about the Presidential field. But I have an enormous amount of respect for these guys and what they have done as they campaign. I applaud their statements on immigration and their willingness to go against the status quo on immigration.
Illegal Immigrants Push Families of U.S.
Excerpt: As President Obama's executive action on immigration works its way through the courts, the number of foreign nationals trying to legally enter the United States has grown to 4.4 million, according to the State Department. William La Jeunesse reported on "Happening Now" that ever since Obama's executive action gave lawful status to millions of illegal immigrants, people trying to enter the U.S. legally have been pushed to the back of the line.
Excerpt: Ann Coulter is back, more fearless than ever. In Adios, America she touches the third rail in American politics, attacking the immigration issue head-on and flying in the face of La Raza, the Democrats, a media determined to cover up immigrants' crimes, churches that get paid by the government for their "charity," and greedy Republican businessmen and campaign consultants—all of whom are profiting handsomely from mass immigration that's tearing the country apart. Applying her trademark biting humor to the disaster that is U.S. immigration policy, Coulter proves that immigration is the most important issue facing America today.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
More Countries Caught Manipulating Their Climate Data. By Michael Bastasch
Excerpt: Weather agencies in Australia , Paraguay and Switzerland may be manipulating temperature data to create a sharper warming trend than is present in the raw data — a practice that has come under scrutiny in recent months. Most recently, Dr. H. Sterling Burnett with the Heartland Institute detailed how the Swiss Meteorological Service adjusted its climate data “to show greater warming than actually measured by its temperature instruments.”
Religion of Peace News
Excerpt: IT HAS been apparent for some time that the United States lacks a strategy to fulfill President Obama’s pledge to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State since it has no plan to root out the terrorists’ base in Syria. There was hope, though, that Mr. Obama’s half-measures might be enough to blunt the Islamic State’s advances in Iraq , leaving the Syria problem for the next U.S. president. With the stunning fall of Ramadi on Sunday, even that modest optimism is questionable. (Headline should be: JV Team Beating Team Obama. ~Bob)
How Obama Lost Ramadi. By Jonathan Spyer, PJ Media
http://www.meforum.org/5247/how-obama-lost-ramadi
http://www.meforum.org/5247/how-obama-lost-ramadi
Excerpt: The fall of Ramadi to the fighters of the Islamic State is a disaster for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The taking of the city brings IS to just over 60 miles from Baghdad . In addition to showcasing the low caliber of the Iraqi security forces, the events surrounding the fall of the city lay bare the contradictions at the heart of Western policy in Iraq .
Ramadi battle: IS prepares to defend seized Iraqi city
Excerpt: Islamic State militants are preparing to defend the Iraqi city of Ramadi , witnesses say, as Iranian-backed militiamen gather east of the city. Residents said IS fighters had set up defensive positions and laid landmines after capturing the city on Sunday. Militants were also going door-to-door looking for government sympathisers and throwing bodies in the Euphrates river, residents were quoted as saying.
Did U.S.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/did-u-s-policy-allow-ramadi-to-fall/#ixzz3acLeXtJY
Excerpt: The fall of Ramadi to the fighters of the Islamic State is a disaster for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The taking of the city brings IS to just over 60 miles fromBaghdad . In addition to showcasing the low caliber of the Iraqi security forces, the events surrounding the fall of the city lay bare the contradictions at the heart of Western policy in Iraq . (Continuing to pretend that the corrupt Shia government in Iraq and its hapless military can ever amount to anything serious in the battle against ISIS when all the evidence is clearly to the contrary is one more mark of the stubborn stupidity of our "leaders". Not giving the Kurds everything short of nukes is part of that total stupidity. We need to find and support the most effective fighters who don't also happen to be Islamists who hate all the West and the US in particular. We need to get smart and tough about fighting ISIS , or we may as well bring all our guys home and just watch it all go to hell. --Del )
Excerpt: The fall of Ramadi to the fighters of the Islamic State is a disaster for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The taking of the city brings IS to just over 60 miles from
Nothing Another 42,000 Airstrikes Can't Fix. By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: The Pentagon has an unrivaled comic genius when it comes to naming its operations. General Weidley is Chief of Staff, Joint Task Force for "Operation Inherent Resolve". If one had to name the single quality most obviously lacking in local ground forces, in the "60-nation coalition" and in US strategists, that would be it. Iraqi troops fled their US-supplied government buildings and then, at the edge of town, abandoned their US-supplied Humvees to melt into the local population, hopefully with nothing US-supplied about their person to give them away.
Excerpt: Obama can’t defeat ISIS with soft power, though ISIS could beat him with soft power assuming its Caliph ever decided to agree to sit down at a table with John Kerry without beheading him. Iran has picked up billions in sanctions relief and the right to take over Yemen and raid ships in international waters in the Persian Gulf just for agreeing to listen to Kerry talk for an hour. And that might be a fair exchange. As bad as having your capital or ship seized by Iran is, listening to John Kerry talk is even worse. If ISIS were to agree to a deal, it could pick up Baghdad and Damascus just in exchange for showing up.
As Ramadi Falls to ISIS , POTUS Goes Golfing, Gets New Twitter Account
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/18/as-ramadi-falls-to-isis-potus-goes-golfing-gets-new-twitter-account/#ixzz3aY5p4fPu
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/18/as-ramadi-falls-to-isis-potus-goes-golfing-gets-new-twitter-account/#ixzz3aY5p4fPu
Excerpt: As ISIS fighters were storming Ramadi, seizing U.S. military equipment, including missile launchers and tanks – enough to “take 3 more Mosuls and about 10 Ramadis,” according to one ISIS supporter – the president of the United States was enjoying some “me-time” on the Andrews Air Force Base golf course. During the Iraq War, the United States paid a terrible price to secure Anbar province from terrorists. Between April of 2004 and September of 2007, 1,335 Americans and nearly 9,000 Iraqis died in the battle for Fallujah and Ramadi.
Military intel predicted rise of ISIS in 2012, detailed arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria
Excerpt: Seventeen months before President Obama dismissed the Islamic State as a "JV team," a Defense Intelligence Agency report predicted the rise of the terror group and likely establishment of a caliphate if its momentum was not reversed. While the report was circulated to the CIA, State Department and senior military leaders, among others, it's not known whether Obama was ever briefed on the document. ... "This creates the ideal atmosphere for AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) to return to its old pockets in Mosul and Ramadi," the document states, adding "ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) could also declare an Islamic state through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards to unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory."
Liberalism and Jewish Values. By Sally Zelikovksy
Excerpt: This is the mindset of many American Jews who, although politically liberal and committed to Judaism, identify with conservatives when it comes to Israel . Republican candidates would be more palatable to them only if they capitulated on a host of policies which, it so happens, are antithetical to core conservative principles and even large swaths of the GOP platform.
Critics of Islam Continue to Face Threats
Excerpt: French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo suspended a journalist who received death threats for writing articles critical of Islamist radicalism, according to Le Monde and reported by Daily Mail. In a move that many view as hypocritical, the magazine called columnist Zineb El Rhazoui to a preliminary dismissal hearing. According to the French-Moroccan writer, Charlie Hebdo's management is seeking to punish her for being outspoken about the direction the magazine has taken since the Islamist terrorist attack at the magazine's office which killed 12 people. "I am shocked and appalled that a management that has received so much support after the January attacks could show so little support for one of its employees, who is under pressure like everyone in the team and has faced threats," Rhazoui told Le Monde.
Muslims win prayer case against Webber Academy
Muslims can pray, Christians not so much. ~Bob
Victory for Free Speech: YouTube can't be told to pull anti-Muslim film http://americanactionnews.com/articles/win-for-free-speech-court-youtube-can-t-be-told-to-pull-anti-muslim-film
Excerpt: YouTube should not have been forced to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in the Middle East and death threats to actors, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a victory for free speech advocates.
Smoking Gun! Obama Administration was Secretly Running Guns to Syria through Benghazi
Excerpt: Well the truth about Benghazi is finally starting to see the light. As we have theorized in several articles, the Obama administration was involved in an international Fast and Furious by trafficking arms through Benghazi into Syria
Australian PM Abbott closes door on foreign fighters coming home
Excerpt: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday ruled out an amnesty for Australian citizens seeking to quit foreign militant groups and return home in the wake of media reports that his government was negotiating with potential defectors. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Australian authorities in the Middle East were negotiating with three Australian fighters with the Islamic State radical group who wanted to leave but feared imprisonment at home.
Excerpt: The European Union on Monday approved the use of military force to take on migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean, significantly escalating Europe ’s response to a crisis that has left at least 1,800 people dead this year. The decision allows European governments to move ahead with plans for a naval operation that has been taking shape for weeks and that officials say is crucial to any attempt to confront the burgeoning tide of smuggler vessels ferrying migrants from North Africa to Europe . (So why can't we use military force against coyotes who smuggle illegals into the US ? Any why doesn't the media ask Hillary--if they get a chance--"Knowing what you know now, would you have supported the war against Libya ?" ~Bob)
Important Flashback: Hillary’s war: How conviction replaced skepticism in Libya
Excerpt: Seven months later, with longtime U.S. nemesis Moammar Gaddafi dead and Libya’s onetime rebels now in charge, the coalition air campaign has emerged as a foreign policy success for the Obama administration and its most famous Cabinet member, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. ... Clinton , ignoring the advice of the State Department’s lawyers, convinced Obama to grant full diplomatic recognition to the rebels, a move that allowed the Libyans access to billions of dollars from Gaddafi’s frozen accounts. At a meeting in Istanbul on July 15, she pressed 30 other Western and Arab governments to make the same declaration. (If Hillary Ever Answered a Question, It Would Be Good to Ask About Libya . Say, why are so many people fleeing Libya ? Libya itself is divided, anarchic and at war, with rival governments in the eastern and western parts of the country. Much of the smuggler traffic originates in the west, where Islamist militias have shown deep hostility toward proposals for European operations in the areas they control. The Tunisian government estimates that 2 million Libyans have fled into their country, and another half a million to a million may try to cross the sea. There were an estimated 5.6 million Libyans in the country in the 2006 census. So perhaps half the country has fled, or is seeking a way to flee. It’s a humanitarian and national-security disaster. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)
Clinton Friend’s Memos on Libya Draw Scrutiny to Politics and Business
Excerpt: But an examination by The Times suggests that Mr. Blumenthal’s involvement was more wide-ranging and more complicated than previously known, embodying the blurry lines between business, politics and philanthropy that have enriched and vexed the Clintons and their inner circle for years. ... Much of the Libya intelligence that Mr. Blumenthal passed on to Mrs. Clinton appears to have come from a group of business associates he was advising as they sought to win contracts from the Libyan transitional government. The venture, which was ultimately unsuccessful, involved other Clinton friends, a private military contractor and one former C.I.A. spy seeking to get in on the ground floor of the new Libyan economy.
For Al-Baghdadi, Islam is a religion of war, a shrewd message according to Father Samir. By Samir Khalil Samir
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=34253
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=34253
Excerpt: The 'caliph' urges all Muslims to carry out their ‘hijrah’, emigration, to move from an Islam of peace to one of war, imitating Muhammad and his Hegira (in 622). The message rekindles something deeply embedded in the Islamic world and among traditionalists and Salafists. Islam is both peace and war and it is time for Muslims to reform their view of history. Islamic holy war and the Crusades are not comparable. The Islamic State (IS) group yesterday released an audio message from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in which he calls on all Muslims to "emigrate" to the caliphate and carry out jihad, holy war, because "Islam was never a religion of peace” but “is the religion of fighting."
Since converting to Islam , UK
Excerpt: How many did she murder before converting to Islam? Zero, right? And she ascribes her activities now to Islam. Yet no one thinks the phenomenon of converts to Islam becoming jihadis is worthy of study. The mainstream analysts just wave it away with a mumble or two about being “radicalized on the Internet.”
Media will say she provoked them: Turkish talent-show singer 'shot in head.' Mutlu Kaya, 19, who reportedly received death threats after appearing on Sesi Çok Güzel, remains in critical condition
Excerpt: A Turkish woman who has been competing in a national televised song contest is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot in the head, according to reports. Mutlu Kaya, 19, from the conservative region of Diyarbakir in the Kurdish-majority south-east of the country, had reportedly received death threats after appearing on the show.
AP Misquotes Pope On 'Angel Of Peace.' Reference to Palestinian leader spreads like wildfire around globe
Excerpt: But the account from the Vatican reporter for Italy ’s La Stampa had the pope telling Abbas something quite different. “May the angel of peace destroy the evil spirit of war. I thought of you: May you be an angel of peace.”
Excerpt: The Israeli army, which is distinguished by its strong integration of women in combat units, has decided not to let them serve in tanks, media reports said on Monday. News website Ynet and other outlets reported that after an inquiry, military chiefs had concluded the requirements for tank crew exceeded the physiological capabilities of most women.
Did the U.S. Israel
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/17/did-the-us-just-agree-to-support-arab-forces-in-a-war-against-israel/#ixzz3aY7g7obX
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/05/17/did-the-us-just-agree-to-support-arab-forces-in-a-war-against-israel/#ixzz3aY7g7obX
Excerpt: The United States and GCC member states strongly affirmed the necessity of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a just, lasting, comprehensive peace agreement that results in an independent and contiguous Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel . Lerner then says what American and Arab media sources dare not: So the US doesn’t exactly commit to using force - just discussing the possibility. There is a CALL FOR ISRAEL TO BE SPLIT IN TWO so that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are “contiguous Palestinian state”
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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.
Posts
One of the things that has been lost in the Monday morning quarterbacking of the reasons for invading Iraq is the discovery of trailers loaded with the equipment required to manufacture various poison gases. These trailers contained all of the components of a system capable of manufacturing poisonous gases. Based on the limited information released at the time and my own chemistry degree, it would have taken any reasonably competent crew less than a week to bring a manufacturing facility on-line. WMD may not have been found intact, but the manufacturing capability was definitely there. As was the proven use (cf. the Kurds). So, to say that the lack of intact WMD precluded any attack on Iraq, is disengenious. If an enemy can manufactue WMD at will and has a proven proviclivity for using them, it doesn't matter if the actual weapons are in stock.
ReplyDeleteEvil does exist in the world today. America is willfully choosing to ignore its existence. That willful ignorance is deadly for the world. Since WWII, America has been the stabilizing force in a world that has increasingly drifted toward this evil.
After WWII, America sought to prevent the expansion of ideologies that chose to subjugate people. We, as a country, chose this path beginning with the Civil War. This was the reason behind every confilct since, especially Korea and Viet Nam.
My family paid the price in blood to resist those ideologies. My great, great uncle served with the PA cavalry in the Civil War, fighting at Gettysburg among other places. A great uncle served in WWI. An uncle served with the Seabees at Guadal Canal. A cousin died in Viet Nam. My dad served with the army in Korea in '51-'52. His best friend served from '52 to the end of the conflict. My paternal uncle served in the Air Force during Viet Nam. My maternal uncle served with the Marines during Korea and Viet Nam. My generation was the first of the Fry's that didn't need to serve. We have served the United States since the Revolutionary war. We skipped the Gulf wars and Afganistan. We currently have a Marine and an Army soldier proudly serving.
Ultimately, second guessing decisions, made after new information becomes available, is not helpful. The past decisions were made with the best intelligence avalable. We need to examine the ideology behind the current political hopefuls. This examination will inform our choices. Who recognizes that evil exists and has a coherent plan to oppose it?
It is not my job to tell you how to react. My job is to encourage you to do your homework and decide for yourself what to do. However, the facts seem to me to indicate that opposing evil is still the best course of action.
I am frustrated by the rabbit trails that we chase, things that have nothing to do with the real dangers/evil in the world. As so many before my father said, "Follow the money". Or the power. There in lies the information that should guide our choices.