Update
General News and Comment
NYT Busts Hillary….Proved She Didn’t Hand Over All of Her Emails. By Steven Ahle
Excerpt: The New York Times produced some devastating emails from Hillary Clinton. Clinton claimed that she used only one email during her time at the State Department. That email is HDR22@clintonemail.com. Trey Gowdy and his Benghazi commission had asked Hillary’s lawyer, David Kendall about another email account, “hrod17@clintonemail.com”. Kendall, who by the way is used to damage control after representing the Clintons during 8 years of scandals during the White House years, is now shilling for Hillary in 2016. He denied the account was even active during her time at the State Department: “As explained in my March 4, 2015 e-mail to your Staff Director and certain others, “hrod17@clintonemail.com” is not an address that existed during Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State.” The New York Times has now blown that lie out of the water by producing emails from Hillary: (Wow, it was, of all people, the NEW YORK TIMES that blew the shrill whistle on Hillary. This is BIG, now even the well known biased media have run out of patience for her lies. I can't envy the poor bastard who is supposed to represent her and pass on the excuses for her now. How do you do any of it with a straight face? I said to a friend today that I wonder if the day will come when the bosses of the Democrat Party finally decide she really has too much baggage to run for the Oval Office. Maybe that will yet happen. Or not, and then what the GOP needs is a candidate who will hammer the crap out of her on all her lies, and make it difficult for any of the middle block voters to really believe anything she says. --Del )
By the Way, Bill and Hillary Have Banked More than $30 Million Since Last January. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband made at least $30 million over the last 16 months, mainly from giving paid speeches to corporations, banks and other organizations, according to financial disclosure forms filed with federal elections officials on Friday. The sum, which makes Mrs. Clinton among the wealthiest of the 2016 presidential candidates, could create challenges for the former secretary of state as she tries to cast herself as a champion of everyday Americans in an era of income inequality.
Fundraiser puts spotlight on Clinton
Excerpt: The Chicago media executive hosting Hillary Clinton at his home for an afternoon fundraiser Wednesday ranks in the elite category of those who have given at least $25 million to the Clinton Foundation. But the Clinton Foundation’s own public records on Fred Eychaner’s contributions illustrate the problems the organization has had with disclosing its donations, bringing it under harsh scrutiny and causing Clinton political trouble as she ramps up her presidential campaign.
Excerpt: None of the panelist were able to think of a single thing that impressed them about Clinton , looking dumbfounded and at a loss for words. One Iowa Democrat said, “Uhm — no,” while another offered a justification for not being able to name an accomplishment: “She’s been at a high level in numerous offices for about 25 years now… I mean it’s either gonna be that or it’s gonna be Scott Walker — [Hillary] is not perfect, but she’s been in the eye for a long time.” (Part-time sex partner of Bill? ~Bob)
Hillary Clinton’s Hypocritical and Totalitarian War on Free Speech. By Benjamin Weingarten
Excerpt: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has suggested that a key litmus test in evaluating prospective Supreme Court appointees would be their willingness to challenge “the right of billionaires to buy elections.” Presumably, a suitable judge would indicate a desire to overturn the Citizens United decision that struck down a ban on political expenditures by corporations and unions ruled to violate the First Amendment protection of free speech – a case coincidentally centered on Citizen United’s attempt to advertise for and air a film critical of none other than Clinton .
Hillary Still Isn't Ready, Delays Formal Launch
Excerpt: According to Politico, after Clinton officially announced her candidacy on April 12 with a YouTube video, campaign officials said that a “traditional big-picture speech and rally outlining Clinton ’s vision for the country’s future and her reason for running” would follow in May. Clinton is apparently still figuring out what her vision is, why she wants to be president, and the rationale for her candidacy since that formal rollout has now been “delayed indefinitely” and pushed back until at least June, according to the report. (She is hoping all the Clinton Foundation revelations will fade from the news. ~Bob)
Voters’ views of the 2016 candidates shift. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: The most recent Pew poll has more bad news for Hillary Clinton: “Clinton ’s favorable ratings have declined – among the public, as well as Democrats – since last summer. Currently, 49% of the public has a favorable opinion of Clinton , while 47% view her unfavorably. Clinton ’s overall favorability rating has fallen nine points from 58% last August. This is Clinton ’s lowest favorability mark since the spring of 2008, during her run for the Democratic nomination.”
WaPo Fact Checker: Hillary Clinton’s claim that hedge fund managers ‘pay a lower tax rate’ than nurses and truck drivers. By Glenn Kessler
Excerpt: But the effective tax rate paid is a more logical way to compare the differing tax rates, given that capital gains rates are not progressive; every capital-gains dollar is taxed at the same rate. (After all, Clinton spoke about the rate that people paid.) Under that method, Clinton ’s claim becomes a stretch, even when adding in payroll taxes. Her broad-brush assertion does not hold up to scrutiny, even when the talking point is uttered correctly. Overall, even hedge fund managers pay higher taxes — and tax rates — than middle-class Americans. Two Pinocchios.
Top Clinton
Excerpt: Cheryl Mills, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, and other top Clinton aides were personally involved in certain Freedom Of Information Act requests during Clinton ’s tenure at the State Department, the Wall Street Journal reports. In one instance, her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, told State Department records specialists she wanted to see all documents requested on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and later demanded that some be held back.
Steyn: Hillary Playing New Game Show With Voters — ‘Are You Dumber Than A Bunch Of Rocks?’ [VIDEO]. By Al Weaver
Excerpt: Appearing on “Hannity,” Steyn told host Sean Hannity that Hillary is “playing a brand new game show” entitled “Are You Dumber Than A Bunch Of Rocks.” The guest host of “The Rush Limbaugh Show” also likened Clinton ’s campaign to “Beyonce lip synching the national anthem at [President Barack] Obama’s inaugural:”
Worth Reading
Excerpt: What Powers and others are confronting is far more subtle and sinister — the suppression of ideas. Colleges and universities often boast of their diversity in terms of race, sex, gender or sexual orientation, but too often they fail to encourage diversity of thought. ... This can be correctly seen as cowardice, manifested in the disinvitation of that relatively rare species, the conservative commencement speaker, who this year is outnumbered by liberals 6 to 1 at the top 100 universities, according to one study. ... Praising Chicago 's example, Purdue President Mitch Daniels laid out the stakes in a telephone interview: "If universities want to embarrass themselves with their behavior, allowing people to be shouted down or disinvited, that's their problem. But if they're spawning a bunch of little authoritarians with an inverted view of our basic freedoms, that's everybody's problem." (Trigger Warning: Reading the Old Jarhead Blog may cause you to think, which for many people can be an uncomfortable, unwelcome and threatening experience. ~Bob)
Democrats' #WaronthePoor: Labor union admits union ‘Fight for $15′ campaign will kill jobs. By Jason Hart
Excerpt: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 570 in Phoenix admitted “some people” will “lose their jobs” if the mandatory minimum wage is hiked to $15 an hour as union bosses demand.
Excerpt: Earlier this week, Governor Markell and the General Assembly caved to complaints from state employees who were upset about being asked to pay more for their health care premiums while they have not received much in the way of salary increases. ... The state is expecting to grapple with a budget deficit of about $70 million for this upcoming fiscal year, as expected tax revenues have declined for the second straight year. ... The claims have jumped 20 percent over the past three fiscal years and the latest Pew Trusts analysis estimates that the State of Delaware has unfunded long-term health care liabilities of $5.6 billion.
Fans told there would be no National Anthem at game
They sang it anyway. ~Bob
Important: One in seven U.S.
Excerpt: First, get your vehicle's identification number, or VIN. It's a 17-digit code you can find on the driver's side of your dashboard, by looking in from the outside of the windshield.
Type that unique code into www.safercar.gov/vin. That's the Department of Transportation's database for cars that have been recalled but not repaired over the last 15 years. (Many automakers run their own, too: www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners/vin-lookup-sites.)
Excerpt: Our class warrior in chief was at it again last week complaining about our “ideological divides that have prevented us from making progress” in solving problems like poverty. Just when you thought you’d heard it all. Our most ideological president perhaps ever is arguing that there is too much ideology in Washington . Wow. Apparently an ideology is a firmly held belief that is held by other people — especially those on the right. In a discussion on poverty at Georgetown University , the president managed to blame the slow-growth economy and stagnant wages on everything from Ayn Rand (who promoted “cold hearted policies” and classified everyone as a “moocher”) to California ’s Proposition 13 (which is responsible for the Golden State
Democrats Have a Todd Akin Problem. Alan Grayson is getting closer to a Senate campaign in Florida
Excerpt: Rep. Alan Grayson is the Todd Akin of the Democrats—except that he's louder, more outrageous, and has millions of his own fortune to spend however he sees fit. And Democrats are nervously expecting the former trial lawyer to enter the pivotal Senate race, challenge the candidate party leaders view as more electable, and raise holy hell in the process.
For Democrats, what makes his candidacy more threatening than amusing is the sheer number of ways his candidacy could directly cost them control of the Senate.
Alan Grayson called cops on wife for allegedly using his credit card. By Marc Caputo
Excerpt: Florida Rep. Alan Grayson recently called his estranged wife a “gold digger,” but a review of the potential Senate candidate’s soap-opera divorce case shows he unsuccessfully tried to have her criminally charged for far less: ringing up grocery, gasoline and car-repair expenses on his credit card. Grayson’s previously unreported effort to have Lolita Grayson arrested on credit-card fraud charges was revealed in one of her court filings that complained about the wealthy Democrat’s tactics to withhold money from her.
One Image Shows Just How Many Thugs Were Involved in the Waco
Excerpt: CNN reports that police, expecting trouble after hearing that at least three rival gangs were meeting at the restaurant, were waiting outside when the fistfight devolved into a knife fight, then a gunfight. Then, the thugs shot it out with police. By the end of it, nine people were dead, 18 more were hospitalized, and a rather astonishing amount of people were arrested.
Was Kansas
Excerpt: Three years ago, Kansas enacted the biggest tax cut of any state, relative to the size of its economy, in recent history. Lawmakers reduced the top rate on the personal income tax to 4.9 percent from 6.45 percent. They also eliminated the income tax for small business owners who file as individuals, a broad group that includes sole proprietors, limited liability partnerships and S-corporations. In March 2013, unemployment in Kansas stood at 5.5 percent. It has since dropped to 4.2 percent, tied for 14th lowest in the country. From 1998-2012, Kansas ranked 38th in private-sector job growth. In 2013 - the first year after the tax reform - the state climbed to 27th place, and in 2014 it moved to 21st, placing it in the top half of states. In the second half of 2014, hourly wages in Kansas grew 3.5 percent, far faster than the national average of 1.9 percent. Then there is the Kansas City metropolitan area, a living laboratory that straddles the border with Missouri . In Kansas City , the top personal income-tax rate is now 4.9 percent, beginning at $15,000 for single filers; in Missouri the top 6 percent rate starts at $9,000.
Over the past two calendar years, private-sector jobs increased by 5.6 percent on the Kansas side and only 2.2 percent on the Missouri . In the same period, hourly wages grew $1.22 on the Kansas side, compared with $0.61 on the Missouri side.
Russ Feingold Refuses to Decline Super PAC Money for 2016
Excerpt: Russ Feingold is throwing his hat into Wisconsin ’s 2016 Senate race against the man who beat him in 2010, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) 60%. Feingold is, if you will recall, a champion of so-called campaign finance reform (McCain-Feingold, anyone?) and a vocal critic of money in politics (or at least the kinds of money Democrats don’t like). So, it should go without saying that such a vocal critic of Super PACs won’t take any money from any of them, right?
Rising Dragon News
As Chinese Stocks Rise, Beijing
Excerpt: China ’s stock market has risen by nearly a third this year, one of the best performances in the world. But the largest beneficiaries of this spectacular rally aren’t the investors who wagered on the country’s corporations or the companies on the Shanghai exchange. The biggest winner has been the Chinese government, which has made billions in paper profits on its stakes in hundreds of listed state-owned corporations. Now Beijing hopes the stock gains will ripple through the economy, helping the authorities to improve the financial health of debt-laden state companies.
China illegally fishing off coast of west Africa, Greenpeace study reveals
Excerpt: Chinese companies have been illegally fishing off the coast of west Africa, environmental campaign group Greenpeace said in a study Wednesday, at times sending incorrect location data suggesting they are as far away as Mexico or even on land.
The number of Chinese-flagged or Chinese-owned fishing boats operating in Africa has soared in recent decades, from just 13 in 1985 to 462 in 2013, the international advocacy group said.
Obama's showdown with China
Excerpt: America 's next major shooting war may not start in the Middle East, as many have predicted, or over Ukraine , as others fear. It could break out in the remote series of Pacific islands known as the Spratlys. And America 's strategic retreat under President Obama may have already increased the risk of conflict. The Spratlys are some 750 separate, uninhabited islands in the middle of the South China Sea . Most are more like rocks than islands, but their ownership has been fiercely contested over the last decade by China , Vietnam , the Philippines , Brunei , Taiwan and Malaysia . All for good reason — the Spratlys sit off sizable reserves of oil and natural gas.
Gun News
Woman Held Hostage By Naked Madman For 20 Hours Saved By Armed Neighbor [VIDEO]. By Chuck Ross
Excerpt: A Pennsylvania man is being hailed as a hero for rescuing a neighbor who had been beaten by her ex-boyfriend and held hostage for 20 hours. Henry Oppenheim told WTAJ that he grabbed his gun after seeing the woman being beaten on the street in Altoona Friday morning.
Race Card News
Excerpt: Hustlers and people with little understanding want us to believe that today’s black problems are the continuing result of a legacy of slavery, poverty and racial discrimination. The fact is that most of the social pathology seen in poor black neighborhoods is entirely new in black history. Let’s look at some of it. Today the overwhelming majority of black children are raised in single female-headed families. As early as the 1880s, three-quarters of black families were two-parent. In 1925 New York City , 85 percent of black families were two-parent. One study of 19th-century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children had the same mother and father. Today’s black illegitimacy rate of nearly 75 percent is also entirely new. (Dr. Williams is a nationally respected black economist and former department chair at George Mason University
In Victory for Free Speech, NAACP Loses Court Battle to Silence Black Pro-Life Activist. By Leah Barkoukis
Excerpt: Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of The Radiance Foundation, has a penchant for speaking the truth—on abortion, civil rights, and a host of other social and cultural issues. If there’s one thing the Left hates, however, it’s the truth. So when Bomberger, an Emmy-award winning creative director, wrote a snarky column in January of 2013 about the NAACP’s position on abortion that parodied the civil rights group’s name, referring to it as the National Association for the Abortion of Colored People, they weren’t too pleased, and thus, the legal battle began.
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Excerpt: Victory for the plaintiffs this summer would cause significant disruption in health insurance in the 34 to 37 states without their own exchanges because premiums for up to nine million people would increase significantly. Many would choose to drop coverage if and when they have to face paying full premium for their policies. Congress must have an alternative to Obamacare ready because President Obama will immediately propose an amendment to change the law to accord with how he is executing it. That is: Let tax credits continue to flow through healthcare.gov and just forget the money paid since January 2014 was illegal. It would be a very simple amendment – just a few sentences. The risk of Congress panicking and simply voting for that amendment, and finally surrendering to Obamacare, is unacceptable.
Obamacare Failed to Provide Individuals with Access to Affordable Care
Excerpt: Growth in spending on physician and clinical services declined by roughly 1 percentage point from 2013 to 2014, despite growth in physician prices increasing during this period. This suggests a decrease in utilization of physician services. Conversely, spending on hospital services increased by less than one percentage point from 2013 to 2014 even though growth in hospital prices actually decreased by nearly 1 percentage point. New research regarding Medicaid expansion in California shows a direct correlation in increased visits to the ER from 2013 to 2014. Also, research done by athenahealth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows new-patient visits to primary care providers accounted for 22.9 percent of all visits to primary care physician offices in 2014, an increase of only 0.3 percentage points from 2013.
Undocumented Democrat News
"You're Greener than Gore" News
Quote
We must proceed with our own energy development. Exploitation of domestic petroleum and natural gas potentialities, along with nuclear, solar, geothermal, and non-fossil fuels is vital. We will never again permit any foreign nation to have Uncle Sam over a barrel of oil. --Gerald R. Ford
As ISIS Marches, Obama To Cite Global Warming As National Security Threat During Coast Guard Commencement. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Meanwhile, President Obama is focused on the national security threat of...global warming. What's worse? He'll be warning about global warming during a speech for the Coast Guard Academy's commencement ceremony today.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: EDF has assembled what it believes to be the 10 most powerful global warming assertions in the alarmists’ playbook, yet each assertion either backfires on alarmists or has been proven false. While reading how flawed EDF’s assertions are, remember these are the very best arguments global warming alarmists can make. Open-minded readers should have very little difficulty dismissing the mythical global warming crisis after examining the top 10 assertions in the alarmist playbook.
Natural gas pipeline battle hammers New England ratepayers. By Rob Nikolewski
Excerpt: Why are energy costs so high in New England ? To use a phrase from a best-selling book, it’s due to a perfect storm of energy moves that have caused economic ripple effects.
“The capacity for the lines that have been in New England haven’t changed, really since the mid-1960s,” Hirs told Watchdog.org. “The pipelines are generally packed full year round. Demand, of course, has increased since then, the population has increased since then.” What’s more, the region has retired or shut down many of its coal-fired power plants and phased out nuclear facilities such as the Vermont Yankee plant that generated 620 megawatts of electricity when operating at full power.
Religion of Peace News
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085486/ISIS-claim-taken-control-Iraqi-city-Ramadi-security-forces-flee-following-series-suicide-car-bombings.html
Excerpt: Shi'ite fighters have already launched a counter-offensive to recapture the city, but these kinds of tactics play straight into Islamic State's grand plan to spark all-out war in the region, according to the Middle East director of counter-terrorism think-tank RUSI. Islamic State militants are already marching east towards the Habbaniya army base - around 20 miles east of Ramadi - where a column of 3,000 Shi'ite paramilitaries are amassing, witnesses and a military officer has said. And if ISIS manage to reach Baghdad , it would be 'utter carnage', Professor Gareth Stansfield told MailOnline. (Iraq
ALERT: ISIS Posts Photos THANKING Obama for What They Just Got From Him [PHOTOS]
Excerpt: The “Ghanima,” otherwise known as “spoils of war,” included multimillion-dollar minesweeper vehicles that the group used to mock the Whitehouse through social media with a #BringBackOurMinesweeper hashtag campaign, showing off their new vehicles. Additional military prizes, courtesy of Obama, included numerous stacks of weapons crates that were full of the latest and greatest small arms and explosives that will undoubtedly be used against America and our allies in the future. (Isn't this sickening? WHEN WILL OBAMA&CO LEARN? --Del )
Give them everything they want, claim a win: Good News: Iran
Excerpt: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today weapons inspectors will not be allowed to monitor or visit nuclear facilities to verify nuclear energy is being pursued for peaceful purposes. Further, Iranian nuclear scientists will not be available for interviews, or what he calls "foreign interrogation."
ISIS group seizes part of ancient town of Palmyra in Syria
Excerpt: Islamic State militants seized parts of the ancient town of Palmyra in central Syria on Wednesday after fierce clashes with government troops, renewing fears the extremist group would destroy the priceless archaeological site if it reaches the ruins. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants gained control of as much as a third of the town in heavy clashes during the day. Palmyra is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its 2,000-year-old majestic Roman colonnades. (But as writer Ann Voskamp points out in a blog post this week, the human toll of the ISIS march is the one that’s being overlooked. In Palmyra , for example, ISIS twitter accounts claim the group “has liberated” about a third of the city, and residents report being trapped in the city, while headline reports focus on the ruins. As to protecting a World Heritage site, where have U.S. and allied airstrikes and reinforcements been? The area has been under attack for nearly a week. --Mindy Belz, Globe Trot)
Important: U.S. aided arms flow from Benghazi to Syria
Excerpt: Previous reports, including one by WORLD in 2013, have linked U.S. involvement in Libya to arms flowing into Syria , but the new documents provide the first verification that contradicts administration officials and congressional Democrats who maintained there was no evidence to support it. The documents provide further confirmation that the CIA and the State Department—under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—received immediate intelligence that the attack was committed by al-Qaeda- and Muslim Brotherhood-linked brigades, even as Clinton and other officials claimed it was the result of rioting against a Muslim-bashing video.
White Widow has 'masterminded 400 murders': British jihadi allegedly planned Kenyan university attack that left 148 dead after rising fast through Al Shabaab's ranks
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085770/White-Widow-Samantha-Lewthwaite-masterminded-400-murders.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085770/White-Widow-Samantha-Lewthwaite-masterminded-400-murders.html
Excerpt: The British jihadi is thought to have orchestrated a number of attacks including last month’s slaughter of 148 people at a university in northern Kenya . Lewthwaite, the widow of London 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, is believed to have risen rapidly through the ranks and is now very close to its leader Ahmad Umar. The London University graduate is now coordinating car bombs and suicide attacks in Somalia and Kenya as well as trying to recruit children as jihadis, according to an officer in the Somali security forces.
Fall of Ramadi reflects failure of Iraq ’s strategy against ISIS , analysts say
Excerpt: “We begged and begged for more support from the government, but nothing,” said Col. Eissa al-Alwani, a senior police officer in the city. The fall of Ramadi amounts to more than the loss of a major city in Iraq ’s largest province, analysts say. It could undermine Sunni support for Iraq ’s broader effort to drive back the Islamic State, vastly complicating the war effort.
*****
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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