Thursday, March 31, 2016

Random Thoughts for April, 2016

Random Thoughts for April 2016. By Robert A. Hall
Feel free to post or forward.

Leftists clearly believe the polls showing either Hillary or Bernie crushing Trump and want him to win the GOP nomination. Bill Clinton called him to urge him to run on the GOP side. Barack Obama said Trump would never be president, a move calculated to strengthen Trump with the Republican base. Don't forget the effort to get liberal Dems to cross over and vote for Trump. And Leftist Sanders supporters attacked Trump rallies to shut them down, a clear gift to Trump with the base. But they should consider that if Trump is nominated, some unanticipated "black Swan" event could tip the electorate and make him president. What then? Given his many and wide swings in speech and policy positions, no one knows what President Trump would do. Least of all Trump.

The philosophical outlook, theological guidance and world view of the vast majority of Christians has changed drastically since the Middle Ages. That of many, if not a majority, of Muslims has not. After the fall and sack of Constantinople in 1453, the victorious Muslim sultan Mehmet said, "There must be ... only one empire, one faith and one sovereignty in the world." ... I pray he will let me live long enough to capture and subjugate Old Rome as I have New Rome." There is nothing here that would conflict with the views of ISIS, al Qaeda other Jihadist groups, or a great many of the "refugees" currently flooding into Europe.

The Donaldcrats are saying that Trump has received the most votes, so he should be nominated. At 37.1% of the GOP primary vote, he would have the lowest votes of a nominee for either party since George McGovern in 1972. (McGovern carried one state, Massachusetts, the year I won a 4-1 Dem district for the Senate.) Romney had 52.1% of the GOP vote when he was nominated.

You don't have to be alone in life. You can always find some crazy, manipulative person with Borderline Personality Disorder to marry you.

Bill Clinton has done a great deal during his career to damage the country and the GOP, but by far his cleverest and most destructive move was urging Donald Trump to run, counting on Trumps ego and Trumps mouth to do the rest for Hillary.

I received a fund-raising letter from Russ Feingold. My Social Security check doesn't stretch to helping candidates who want to raise my taxes. But to be polite, I sent the empty pre-paid business envelope back to his committee. In Washington DC, not Wisconsin.

Liberal strategy: If you can't refute the facts, launch a personal attack on the person who said the facts. Name calling--racist, sexist, bimbo, wacko--is the first of the seven recognized techniques of propaganda, but it is a left-wing staple.

A plurality--though not so far a majority--of Republican voters has given a face, Donald Trump, to the liberals' age-old claim that the GOP is a party of Yahoos and know-nothings. It will damage the GOP brand and the conservative movement for decades. The irony is that it will come at the hands of a nominee who is a life-long liberal with an aversion to transparency, a contempt for the truth and a past record of shady dealings. Much like Hillary in broad overview.

From a friend: The Chaos Theory and unexpected catastrophic consequences....In Chaos Theory, the butterfly effect is the name given to the sensitive connection between initial conditions in which an insignificant event in one state in non-linear systems, can result in sometimes catastrophic events in the universal state. In other words, although unlikely, it is possible for a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas to cause a typhoon in the Japanese Sea. Case in point, in mid-20th Century America, an 18 year old hippie freshman in a Honolulu college had sex with an older alcoholic Kenyan on a student visa, who had a wife and child back in Africa. And this less than significant event started the collapse and dissolution of the United States of America.

The Republican Party this year seems permanently split between those of conservative principles and integrity who will never support a lifelong liberal with a history of failed businesses and shady dealings, Donald Trump, and the angry folks who don't care about his history or character because they like what he has started saying since he became a candidate, think he can beat Hillary, and don't care what he said or did or stood for in the past

I have no idea what the difference (if any) is between the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. And no interest in finding out.

The GOP will not have a "brokered convention." The day of party bosses being able to trade blocks of delegates for favors or support probably ended in 1896, when McKinley beat the bosses. It may be a contested convention, going more than one ballot, with delegates free to vote their consciences on subsequent ballots.

Is it more likely that a person expresses his true feelings when not running for office, or when running? But the Donaldcrats won't look at Trump saying the GOP was too mean spirited to immigrants in 2012, his long political support for liberal Democrats or any of his other leftist positions over the decades, believing only what he has said since announcing. They are as willfully blind as the Obama supporters, seeing in Trump only what the want to see.

Liberals: Making your great-grand kids pay their fair share.

The Donaldcrats will be bitterly disappointed when the campaign reveals to the voting public his meretricious character. Should some "black swan" event, such as Hillary being indicted or struck by a meteor, elect him, they will be even more disappointed when in a year of two his manifest flaws of character and lack of guiding principles are fully revealed by high office.

What novels should say: "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely tough shit."

People who tried to flee the USSR or Nazi Germany were often executed. People who spoke out against the regimes were often executed. So it is with Muslims who try to leave Islam or speak out against it. Thus tyranny enforces its oppression of the human spirit.

Hillary is Donald Trump in drag.

Some people think if an opinion pops into their heads, however ill-conceived--that makes it fact. They are especially dangerous in politics.

Had a call from the Dane County Sheriff's Association asking for money. Ha.

Trump will replace Obamacare...with Bernie-Care. Like Sanders, he said he favors a single-payer health system, covering all Americans from cradle to grave, paid for by a government that is already teetering on the verge of fiscal collapse. Wonderful.

When liberals describe the Constitution as a "living document," they mean they think they should be able to abrogate any of your rights they find inconvenient to their agenda.

Trump says the reason he changes positions so often is that every successful person is flexible. Look for him to be, like Obama, even more flexible after the election.

Trump says if elected, he will surround himself with the best people. Like those who he "hand-picked" at Trump University? Like those who were with him at Trump Airlines? At Trump Mortgage? At Trump Taj Mahal Casino? At Trump Steaks? At Trump Network?

Anyone who says "bigger is better" isn't on a diet. And hasn't studied the history of totalitarian governments.

Since it seems to be fairly routine for hackers to get into the federal government's computers, I'm surprised some very rich guy hasn't paid hackers to delete any IRS records. Of course, maybe it has happened, and we don't know about it.

It now appears that both parties will nominate a life-long liberal with a history of shady dealings. Trump will have the baggage of NPD as bad as Obama's and no political experience. Voting for Trump is like going to the airport and demanding a plane with a new pilot who has never flown before. The Trump campaign will end like Trump University, Trump Mortgage Company, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, and the Trump Taj Mahal, but maybe not until November. I think he will carry about 15 states, Hillary 35. His nomination hands the presidency to Hillary, unless some "black swan" events lets him win, which would be as bad for the country, but in a much different way. I have felt the Republic was in dire straights since I published my book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic over five years ago. I now think only an act of God can save it. I won't be here, but I ache for my grandkids.

In Colonial times, it was common for doctors to bleed patients to try to heal them. The patient is sick, they bleed him, he gets weaker, they bleed him some more, and so on. That may have been what killed George Washington. Today it works for the economy. If it's weaker, the government piles on regulations. It gets weaker, and they pile on more regulations. And so on.

Will we see Mount McKinley, renamed Mount Denali by Obama to pander to his base, again renamed, this time to "Mount Trump"? Or maybe, "Mouth Trump"?

If you are ever in a situation where you need to kill an enemy, try to shoot him in the back. Facing him may get you killed instead. Chivalry was pretty much a non-starter even back in the day.

When Hillary Clinton is sworn in as President next January, I hope all the Donaldcrats will remember that before he dropped out, Rubio was leading her by 5 points, while Trump was trailing her by 13 points. They will try to put the blame anywhere but where it belongs--on their blindness.

So many Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, have criticized Obama, that now when Republicans do it, the Dems hardly bother to scream racism anymore.

Defeatism is when a recipe ends with, "Then order pizza."

Bloomberg got out of the Pre4sidential race, without ever getting in. Gee the race need another life-long liberal like Trump, Clinton and Sanders.

The Cult of Personality gave us Obama, and may give us Trump. Not Hillary, though. No one is blinded by love of her--not even Bill--but are seeking their self-interested agenda through her.

In my lifetime, we have gone from an era when the revelation that a candidate had affairs with married women would have disqualified him to an era when the leading GOP candidate brags about it, about cheating on his first two wives and says sex was his personal Vietnam, that he's like a brave soldier. So much for "values voters."

In her Detroit Debate, Hillary said that greedy gun manufacturers were just selling guns to make money. News Flash, Hillary. Every company is in business to "make money." Every company has a legal responsibility to its stockholders, including millions of retired Americans with IRAs,  to maximize profits. At least they are selling a product, not influence like the Clinton Foundation. Or Clinton Slush Fund might be more accurate.

When speaking of Lord Charles Beresford, a popular British Admiral and member of Parliament, Churchill said: “He is one of those orators of whom it was well said: Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said." Might be said of Trump as well.

Morning Jolt reader Mike writes in, “When I do my NCAA basketball tournament brackets next week, I’m going to write in Trump University.” 

Trump says he contributed heavily to liberal Democrats like Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel not because he supported him, but so he could get favors. That is called bribery and is a corrupt practice. But for Trump, corrupt practices are "just business."

More people pretend to reform than actually reform. True in other areas as well.

Remember when voting, especially for a personality-cult candidate, "Put not your trust in princes...." --Psalm 146:3

Politicians have long hated the right of free speech, from John Adams "Alien and Sedition acts, to Woodrow Wilson's "Sedition Act" to Obama and Trump today.

From Joshua Klug on Facebook: Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.

"Power worship blurs political judgment. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible." --George Orwell

I read in The Week magazine that General Motors, the company that we taxpayers bailed out with billions of dollars never recovered to please the unions, made $7.7B in 2015 and paid zero in taxes. And you think the game isn't rigged?

We are all familiar with the low-information voter, who supports candidates like Obama and Trump because they say what they want to hear, and who change positions with the breeze. But Trump is the first successful low-information candidate, almost completely ignorant of the military, foreign affairs, economic realities or how government works. Look at his pledge to cut $300 Billion from the $85 Billion Medicare drug programs, later changed to cutting $300 billion from the whole Medicare program, which costs $580 Billion a year, through "better negotiation."

You can understand why pro-abortion groups are angry at the Doritos ad which they say "humanized" human fetuses. Imagine how angry the Nazis would have been in the 1930s if someone had run an ad in Germany "humanizing" Jews and other non-human untermensch.

My Floor Leader, the late Sen. John Parker, used to say, "It is always an advantage to a public man to be the victim of an outrage." "Anonymous" has now gone after Donald Trump, like the leftist and BLM protesters in Chicago. I'd think they were helping Trump win the nomination on purpose, because they know like Hillary and Obama that Trump will be the easiest Republican to beat. But actually I think they are just stupid. Or just want the fun of raising self-righteous hell and couldn't care less about the results.

From my friend George: If the government forces Apple to implement anti-encryption, with the stipulation that distribution be limited to very few people, should they tell Hillary how?

Few advertising words are as meaningless as "official" or "homemade." But, "Guaranteed" is close.

"I misspoke" is politician talk for, "You caught me in another one."

Social Justice Warriors can make anything racist. Example: You, "Have a nice day." SJW: "That's racist!" You, "How so?" SJW, "It's clearly a code you say to other white people to emphasize that you have good days because of White Privilege." You, "But I say it to black people as well." SJW, "Only to rub their noses in the fact that, because of white privilege, they never have a nice day!"

The most inhumane aspects of war are the small "humanities" that prolong the conflict, thus prolonging the suffering, destruction and death. Example: Dropping leaflets to warn drivers of ISIS oil tankers that a bombing raid in coming, preserving their lives to deliver oil and buy more weapons in the future.

Trump will Make America Grate Again.

If you don't understand basic economics, you are not a serious thinker.

In my life, I've visited a lot of places where I'd like to live. Only one, Edinburgh, is a large city. Many small cities, but mostly small towns.

As long as you remember that the media is just another business, with a desire, in fact a legal responsibility, to make a profit, you can understand it. That doesn't mean the on-air personalities realize that profit is more important than their agendas, but in the long run they pay for it. And like many businesses, they are often able to adjust their principles when it means a major impact on the bottom line.

Socialism always has its own one percent in government elites. And the 99% are much poorer then in economically free countries. See the Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.

Who are the "They" who always seem to have said, "It couldn't be done"?

Looking at the political scene, I think it is about time for the fairies to pay the teind to the deil.

The modern welfare state controls it's citizens through the courts, police, bureaucrats, law, regulations and the awarding or withholding of government largess exponentially more tightly than the most arbitrary of medieval monarchs.

In the reign of James the VI and I of Scotland and England, the king often thwarted the will of the House of Commons by issuing "Royal Proclamations." The more things change...

In America, Presidents are elected to head one of the three co-equal branches of government. They are not the "Lord's Anointed."

"Global warming will flood all the big cities on the east and west coast!" You say that like it's a bad thing--can we get Chicago on the list?

Fox News reported that a media outlet had a hard-hitting interview with Hillary Clinton. They asked her the tough question, "If you're relaxing at home, burger or pizza?" (Pizza). Then they got tougher: "When you're babysitting your granddaughter, do you follow mom's rules or take grandmother liberties? (Liberties, but don't tell my daughter.) Talk about hard-hitting! Nice to see the media is doing their job, asking the hard questions the public needs answers to in selecting the next Commander in Chief.

I wasn't surprised at the resignations under fire at the Wounded Warrior Project. After 31 years as a non-profit exec, I can read a 990 non-profit tax return. I read WWP's several years ago, and decided I would contribute to the Semper Fi Injured Marine Fund. Wherever there is big money, like the WWP or the Clinton Foundation, there are people who think they are entitled to live well on it, piling on expensive perks, because their hearts are pure.

During the Scottish Enlightenment, professors received a small stipend from the university, but fees from the students who attended their classes. Good professors thus attracted students and made more money. Might be a system we should consider.

Socialists used to call themselves, "The Workers' Party." For example, The "National Socialist German Workers Party" of Hitler. Now, however, they draw too much support from non-workers, who are free riders on taxes paid for by workers, so it has fallen into disuse.

In The Wealth of Nations, circa 1776, Adam smith, considered the founder of economics, said that a nation needs three things to advance economically: A Division of Labor, people free to pursue their own self-interest, and free trade, both internal and external. It remains true today, but politicians like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump can harvest votes by appealing to the economically-ignorant, which constitute a majority, with support for high tariffs and protectionism. Most people don't have a clue that it was Hoover signing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill, against the advice of 1,000 economists, which started a world-wide trade war and turned a recession into the Great Depression. Those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it.

As with Obama, to Trump supporters he's a blank canvas on which they write what they want to see.

I have learned that if you are persistent, you can get a college degree, maybe even a PhD--without being that smart. And now days grade inflation helps. I read that when I went to college, 25% of the grades professors gave out were As and that now 60% are. Professors know they are graded by the students, and that if they don't like the prof, it can be career ending. Especially if they can find some small thing to hang a grievance charge of racism or sexism on.

My brother Mark pointed out that bacon wrapped around the door handle of a Mosque is considered a hate crime, bringing out the Feds to investigate, and prosecute if they catch the bacon-wielder. But a Crucifix in a jar of urine is considered great art and brings out the Feds to reward the "artist" with tax dollars in a NEA grant.

Liberal multiculturalists should have to take in a couple of 20-year-old male Syrian immigrants. Give them a whole new world view. If they survived. If not, small loss.

Watching a Trump-Clinton electoral battle, with two life-long corrupt liberals tearing each other up, would be entertaining. Except that for conservatives with principles, it would be like watching a heavyweight prize fight, knowing the winner was going to beat the hell out of you.

Efforts to stop terror are very inconvenient. But so is being dead. Or under Shari'a Law.

"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." So the saying goes. Looking around it is easy to be king, given that so many people are willfully blinded by worldviews that are not connected to reality, by wishful thinking, by ignorance of history or basic economics, or by bias based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, or divergent views.

I've been saying all along that the Hillary Wall Street Money Machine will crush Sanders. Not as bad as it will crush Trump if he's the nominee, because the Sanders' people will vote for Hillary, while principled conservatives will not vote for Trump.

There is no situation so bad that some idiot can't make it worse by opening his--or her--mouth.

Looking at kids today makes me wonder what we did as kids when there were no smart phones to stare at for hours on end. I seem to remember in High School doing a lot of walking and talking with friends. Seems to me Smart Phones make lots of people dumb.

Isn't it time for BLM protesters to demand special parking spaces for their members? After all, blacks under slavery were never given space to park their cars on the plantation. Parking Reparations Now!

Frankly, I'm a lot more worried about being murdered by fanatics from the Religion of Peace who follow the injunction in the Holy Qur'an to "Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme." (Sura 8:36-) than I am about the FBI intercepting a call from me to my wife asking if we need milk.

The illiberal left has long hated the Second Amendment, but in recent years they have grown to hate the First with equal vehemence. It points up the dangers of judges seeing a "living constitution" If judges don't like what was said, they rule it hate speech not protected by the constitution. If they don't like guns, they rule the constitution doesn't protect guns. If they don't like your politics or views, they can find that the "living constitution" doesn't protect you from being jailed indefinitely. And so on.

You have to admire the ingenuity with which pharmaceutical companies use blister packs to keep the elderly from over-medicating themselves.

Most campuses now have speech codes to define what speech is unacceptable and will be punished. So has every authoritarian dictatorship throughout history.

You cannot use logic, past policy positions or past statements by Trump to convince a Donaldcrat he is wrong, because he didn't become a Donaldcrat by using any of those things.

Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2008 through July, 2013 are collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty, and Leadership by Robert A. Hall
The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to favorite liberals and watch their heads explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

*****


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=booksandie=UTF8andqid=1304815980andsr=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.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Ted Cruz in Madison and more political news and opinion

Ted Cruz in Madison

I skipped Physical Therapy Wednesday morning, and Bonnie and I attended a "Women for Ted Cruz" Rally here in Madison, though there were as man men as women. It was unusual in that Ted's Mom, his wife Heidi, and Carly Fiorina did more talking than Sen. Cruz. Heidi is very impressive. as a child, she was the daughter of missionaries in Africa, and went into finance because she saw that so many people in the Third World were destitute as no one could obtain capital to start factories or small business. She stressed how corruption, and the lack of enforcement of contract and property rights in those countries' courts made it especially risky to start a business that gave people jobs, and is worried the same thing is happening to us. Bonnie was impressed with Ted saying that "All issues are women's issues. Women are a majority in America, and security and constitutional freedoms mean as much to them as men." We had third row seats, so heard everything okay. I was interviewed by a reporter for the New York Times and Bonnie and I were both interviewed by Wisconsin Public Radio. There were a lot of college-age kids. We wish we'd thought to take Britnye out of school to go. ~Bob

Book Recommendation: Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. By A. J. Pollard
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-III-Princes-Tower-Pollard/dp/0312067151/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1459282760&sr=1-1
I read this well balanced, well written biography on my Kindle, but a used copy is at least as inexpensive. Pollard does a fine job of laying out the known facts and possible interpretations, separating them from both the speculation and the propaganda of supporters of both Richard and Henry. I think both Ricardians and anti-Ricardians will develop a fully understanding of the case for and against Richard. Pollard has written many histories of the War of the Roses era, and I look forward to reading others. ~Bob

Cruz

Worth Reading: Ted Cruz leapfrogs Donald Trump, Sanders leads Clinton in latest Marquette Poll
Excerpt: Less than a week before Wisconsin's presidential primary, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has leaped ahead of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has an edge over Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll. Cruz received support from 40 percent of likely Republican voters, Trump got 30 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed with 21 percent support.

Important: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorses Ted Cruz
Excerpt: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker formally endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday, saying he is "a strong new leader" and "constitutional conservative." "After all these years of the Obama-Clinton failures, it's time we elect a strong new leader and I've chosen to endorse Ted Cruz," Walker told conservative radio host Charlie Sykes on Newsradio 620 WTMJ Tuesday.

Worth Reading: Ted Cruz surprises town hall audience. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) did not get a chance to debate Donald Trump one-on-one during CNN’s town hall programming Tuesday night, but he may have gotten something more valuable, namely a chance to show a more earnest, conversational and emotional side of himself that too often is hidden under a stagy rhetorical cadence.
Most newsworthy, Cruz refused to say that he would endorse Trump if he got the Republican presidential nomination. He explained that he is not in the “habit” of backing people who attack his wife and family. That, he said, is “beyond the pale.” Pressed to answer definitively, he said he would solve the problem by making certain that Trump was not the nominee. (In his own segment, Trump walked away from his pledge, making clear just how foolish Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has been in soliciting Trump and refusing to criticize his outrageous rhetoric.)

Trump insulting Heidi Cruz was UTTERLY STUPID, Ted Cruz ‘as good as I’ve ever seen’ – Newt Gingrich
http://therightscoop.com/trump-insulting-heidi-cruz-was-utterly-stupid-ted-cruz-as-good-as-ive-ever-seen-newt-gingrich/#ixzz44KPXIudn

'God has me in the palm of his hands': Pastor shot eight times outside church after appearing at Ted Cruz rally records Easter video from his hospital bed
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3511799/Wounded-pastor-says-hes-OK-suspect-caught-White-House.html
Doesn't appear to be political, but a nut job. ~Bob

Wisconsin Pro-Life Group Backs Ted Cruz Over Donald Trump: He’s “Always Been Pro-Life”

Trump

Donald Trump Is a Pathological Liar. It's Time to Stop Tiptoeing Around This.

Donald Trump Fabricated A Near-Death Experience, Three Biographies Say. “I can get some publicity out of this,” Trump is alleged to have said after three of his executives died in a helicopter accident.

Colorado firm tied to super PAC operative was a top Trump vendor last month
Excerpt: Donald Trump's campaign has paid more than $1.2 million to a small Colorado printing firm connected to a Republican operative who ran a short-lived super PAC in support of Trump — shelling out $624,000 to the company just last month, new filings show. That made WizBang Solutions, where GOP operative Mike Ciletti works as a director, the campaign's third-highest paid vendor in February. The Commerce City-based company — which was paid for printing and design services — collected more from the Trump campaign last month than it had in all previous months combined.

Trump Is ‘Completely Uneducated About Any Part of the World’: Andrea Mitchell Blasts Trump During Segment on ‘Meet the Press’

Chuck Todd: There’s more evidence that Trump planted the Nat. Enquirer story…
http://therightscoop.com/chuck-todd-theres-more-evidence-that-trump-planted-the-nat-enquirer-story/#ixzz44FBapX3N

Former Aide, Worried About Trump's Knowledge Gaps, Now Backs Cruz. Sam Nunberg's defection reflects GOP elites' concerns with the lack of depth in Trumps policies.

Worth Reading: An Open Letter to Trump Voters from His Top Strategist-Turned-Defector. I respect Trump's fans. That's why I can no longer support the man himself. By STEPHANIE CEGIELSKI

Trump cites Daily Beast to prove Cruz wrong – Daily Beast editor says NOPE!!!
http://therightscoop.com/trump-cites-daily-beast-to-prove-cruz-wrong-daily-beast-editor-says-nope/#ixzz44FDXt0K3

Donald Trump erroneously takes credit for Ford shifting truck production from Mexico to Ohio

THE CULTURE THAT CREATED DONALD TRUMP WAS LIBERAL, NOT CONSERVATIVE. By Jim Lewis
Excerpt: The predictable bewilderment and outrage are professed. But absent from all these ashen-faced accounts is any examination of the people who put Trump in a position to run for president in the first place. The man didn’t emerge, all at once and fully formed, from some hidden and benighted hollow in the American psyche. He’s been kicking around for 30 years or more, and he was promoted and schooled, made famous and made wealthy, by the same culture and economy that now reviles him, and finds his success so vexing. After all, it wasn’t some Klan newsletter that first brought Trump to our attention: It was Time and Esquire and Spy. The Westboro Baptist Church didn’t give him his own TV show: NBC did. And his boasts and lies weren’t posted on Breitbart, they were published by Random House. He was created by people who learned from Andy Warhol, not Jerry Falwell, who knew him from galas at the Met, not fundraisers at Karl Rove’s house, and his original audience was presented to him by Condé Nast, not Guns & Ammo. (My only quibble with his list would be Spy, which clearly and repeatedly argued that Donald Trump was the living embodiment of everything that was wrong with Manhattan’s high society/super-wealthy class in the 1980s. From the perspective of a lot of folks on the right at the time, Spy offered a group of smug New York elites snickering and mocking other smug New York elites (and anyone not sophisticated enough to know who they were talking about). But from the perspective of today, the magazine’s ridicule represented the white blood cells of a functioning societal body, pointing out the extraordinary sense of entitlement, hypocrisy, shamelessness, egomania, greed, and Bacchanalian excess going on among the city’s elites. At its best, the magazine represented a bit of cultural vigilantism, exposing bad behavior and holding it up for ridicule and scorn that it was unlikely to get from other fawning media outlets. --Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt)


Excerpt: Donald Trump has a simple formula for smearing his opponents and pushing his desired outcomes. Step one: Find or create a baseless rumor and/or make a vague, thinly veiled threat. Step two: Tweet the rumor, attributing it to a nameless source (e.g., “People are saying . . . ”), or tweet the threat, sometimes — in mob-boss fashion — framing it as a consequence beyond his control. Step three: Assume — correctly — that the media will weave it into their election-season narrative. We’ve seen Trump use this technique effectively, most recently to retaliate against an anti-Trump super-PAC ad featuring a risqué modeling shot of his wife, Melania, by threatening to “spill the beans” about Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi.

Trump campaign manager charged with battery over alleged reporter grab

Is Trump delusional or lying about the alleged battery of a female reporter? By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: It is reflective of the dishonesty, arrogance and misogyny that infects Donald Trump’s campaign that his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has now been charged with battery against reporter Michelle Fields. The Post reports: “The campaign manager for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was charged with battery by police in Florida on Tuesday for allegedly grabbing and yanking the arm of a Breitbart News reporter who was trying to ask Trump a question.” Rather than apologize, recognizing the audio and video evidence against him, plus the eyewitness account of Post reporter Ben Terris, Lewandowski and his boss denied the incident occurred and smeared Fields. Now another video of the incident has surfaced, yet Trump and his right-hand man still deny the incident occurred. 

'He didn't hire the right people.' Trump University's top instructor reveals 'truth' behind its collapse which he says boils down to Donald Trump's bad judgment
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3512481/He-didn-t-hire-right-people-Trump-University-s-instructor-reveals-truth-collapse-says-boils-Donald-Trump-s-bad-judgment.html


Trump FLIP FLOPS on his solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the same DAY
http://therightscoop.com/trump-flip-flops-on-his-solution-to-israeli-palestinian-conflict-within-the-same-day/#ixzz44KUfl3yr

‘I alone can solve’ problem of radical Islam, Donald Trump says
He can barely complete a sentence, has three or four bankruptcies under his belt, but he can fix the world, all alone I might add. The military will just be background scenery for the magnificent Donald J Trump: ‘I alone can solve’ problem of radical Islam, Donald Trump says ..One twitter responder — among the more printable and substantive ones — suggested that he fly to Pakistan right away and do so, while another noted on Easter Sunday, in all-caps, that “you are not Christ.”…  --Nanette

Feminists: Slow Motion Is 'Sexist' Jonah Goldberg - I've Moved Michelle Malkin - Up in Flames The Trump Plan: Big Tax Hikes or Big Deficits
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433249/donald-trump-budget-tax-hikes-or-deficits


‘Mental.’ ‘Utterly Stupid.’ ‘Trump Only Cares About Trump.’ A Few Trump Fans Suddenly See the Man They’ve Been Defending. By Jim Geraghty
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/433432/mental-utterly-stupid-trump-only-cares-about-trump

Excerpt: The Louisiana delegate picture isn’t evidence of anything untoward. Trump and Cruz both won 18 delegates on election night. Marco Rubio, since dropped out, won five, and another five are uncommitted. The Cruz campaign has done the nitty-gritty work to see that those delegates are likely Cruz supporters. The only scandal here is that the Cruz campaign, built on grass-roots organizing muscle, knows the process and is working hard for every advantage. Trump’s plaint is a little like showing up at a cricket match and crying foul because the opposing team knows the rules and all you know is that you swing a bat.

Hillary

Excerpt: Mrs. Clinton did not set out to damage national security and compromise defense secrets, although she obviously had no compunction about doing so as necessary to serve her higher personal interests. For a generation, she has been a public person whose most intimate companion has been scandal. She knew her State Department stewardship would be no different. Her motive in designing a communication system that circumvented government recordkeeping and disclosure laws was to avoid a day of reckoning as she campaigned in 2016 for the power of the presidency she craves. And that is where Loretta Lynch comes in. That would be the same Loretta Lynch who came to prominence in 1999 by being appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York by none other than Mrs. Clinton’s husband.

Worth reading: Why the Justice Department Won’t Work with the FBI on Clinton’s E-mail Case. By Andrew C. McCarthy
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430211/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-department-justice-obama?target=topic&tid=4571
Excerpt: Alas, regular criminal-justice procedures have been suspended by the explosive politics of the Clinton investigation. The FBI is doing its professional, apolitical best to investigate the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States. The high stakes rattle not only the Clinton campaign but also the Democratic administration in which Mrs. Clinton worked when she engaged in the work-related conduct being investigated. On the one hand, the Obama administration does not want to be seen by the public as obstructing the FBI; on the other hand, President Obama does not want to be seen by his base as tanking the Democrats’ best shot at retaining the White House — the likely fallout if the Obama Justice Department signals that a formal, very serious criminal investigation is underway. So Obama is hedging his bets. He is letting the FBI investigate, but on its own, without Justice Department prosecutors and the grand jury. This frees the administration and the Clinton campaign to be, by turns, ambiguous and disingenuous about whether there really is a formal investigation going on.

LORETTA LYNCH'S LAW FIRM TIED TO HILLARY CLINTON. Attorney general holds authority to prosecute if FBI refers case
Excerpt: In 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Lynch for the first of her two terms as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, a position she held until she joined Hogan & Hartson in March 2002. While there is no evidence that Lynch played a direct role either in the tax work done by the firm for the Clintons or in linking Hillary’s private email server to MX Logic, the ethics of the legal profession hold all partners jointly liable for the actions of other partners in a business. “If Hogan and Hartson previously represented the Clintons on tax matters, it is incumbent upon U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to [disclose] what, if any, role she had in such tax matters,” said Tom Fitton, president of Washington-based Judicial Watch.

Clinton aide: Sanders needs to change 'tone' if he wants NY debate
History's most entitled presidential candidate feels entitled to censor what the public can hear about her from her opponent. Hey Hill, maybe we could just, you know, listen to the debate and decide for ourselves whether his criticisms cross the line. Or can't we be trusted with that responsibility? --Joe

Video: Hillary Clinton--A Career Criminal

Sanders

Millennials like socialism — until they get jobs
Excerpt: Indeed, national polls and exit polls reveal about 70 to 80 percent of young Democrats are casting their ballots for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who calls himself a “democratic socialist.” Yet millennials tend to reject the actual definition of socialism — government ownership of the means of production, or government running businesses. Only 32 percent of millennials favor “an economy managed by the government,” while, similar to older generations, 64 percent prefer a free-market economy. And as millennials age and begin to earn more, their socialistic ideals seem to slip away.

Other Political News

Interesting: Pennsylvania’s directly elected, unbound delegates could tip scales in contested convention

Worth Reading: Today in sad open records news. By Radley Balko 
Excerpt: I’m a bit late to this, but during Sunshine Week earlier this month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation presented the 2016 Follies, the awards for the worst government abusers of open records laws. Among the winners: Hillary Clinton, Kim Davis, the state of Georgia, the city of Inglewood, the TSA, and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. The U.S. Department of Defense has the dishonor of winning twice. Meanwhile, open records ninja Jason Leopold details how the Obama administration destroyed FOIA reform — a story he could only tell by way of FOIA requests, naturally.

How PC culture is killing higher education. Universities like Emory trivialize education by rewarding politically correct student dictators. By Glenn Harlan Reynolds

Here’s what an advanced Russian tank looks like after getting hit with a U.S.-made missile

ICE operation nets more than 1,100 arrests in five weeks
Excerpt: Federal agents announced Monday they swept up nearly 1,000 suspected drug traffickers, human smugglers, sex traffickers and murderers during a widespread five-week operation aimed at landing a punishing blow against transnational criminal gangs. The operation, dubbed Project Shadowfire, drew on cooperation between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as well as other state, local and federal law enforcement officers. The resulting 1,133 arrests included: 1,001 criminal arrests; 915 gang members and associates; 239 foreign nationals from 13 countries in Central America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean; 132 immigration violations. (Perhaps regime will deem them "persecuted" and release them on US civilians again.  Gangs prosecuted?  Open borders let them all in nonstop; report one gang has selected DC for area HQ. --Barb)

President Obama Challenges Kids To Staring Contest [VIDEO]
Excerpt: As ISIS wreaks havoc in Europe, President Obama spent Monday staring down smaller adversaries: children.  During the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Obama asked the kids, “Who can look at me without blinking?” First Lady Michelle Obama added, “No blinking… It’s like you’re hypnotized.” (Who can stare at him without regurgitating? ~Bob)

Solar Power Caused Blackouts Across the Philippines — And It’s Going To Get Worse
http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/28/solar-power-caused-blackouts-across-the-philippines-and-its-going-to-get-worse/#ixzz44FbRRkCg
Excerpt: Solar power is wrecking the electrical grid in the Philippines, and the blackouts are only going to get worse according to reports by power grid operators published Monday. Data from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) showed that solar power has caused ‘stress’ on the power grid, leading to brownouts and blackouts. The data show that solar power is frying the grid by producing either too much, or too little electricity, triggering failures and blackouts in the Visayas island group of the Philippines. (Feds keep running National Ad Council ad to "be prepared for an emergency."  Testing national emergency system today x2.  But if there is no power......Barb)

Worth Reading: The rise of the ‘gentleman’s A’ and the GPA arms race. By Catherine Rampell
Excerpt: The waters of Lake Wobegon have flooded U.S. college campuses. A’s — once reserved for recognizing excellence and distinction — are today the most commonly awarded grades in America. That’s true at both Ivy League institutions and community colleges, at huge flagship publics and tiny liberal arts schools, and in English, ethnic studies and engineering departments alike. Across the country, wherever and whatever they study, mediocre students are increasingly likely to receive supposedly superlative grades.

Nine Lessons of Russian Propaganda. By Roman Skaskiw

Worth Reading: Supreme Hypocrisy. By Dr. Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: If there is one thing that is bipartisan in Washington, it is brazen hypocrisy.
Currently there is much indignation being expressed by Democrats because the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to hold confirmation hearings on President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The Democrats complain, and the media echo their complaint, that it is the Senate's duty to provide "advice and consent" on the President's appointment of various federal officials. Therefore, according to this claim, the Senate is neglecting its Constitutional duty by refusing even to hold hearings to determine whether the nominee is qualified, and then vote accordingly. First of all, the "advice and consent" provision of the Constitution is a restriction on the President's power, not an imposition of a duty on the Senate. It says nothing about the Senate's having a duty to hold hearings, or vote, on any Presidential nominee, whether for the Supreme Court or for any other federal institution. The power to consent is the power to refuse to consent, and for many years no hearings were held, whether the Senate consented or did not consent. Nor have Democrats hesitated, when they controlled the Senate, to refuse to hold hearings or to vote when a lame-duck President nominated someone for some position requiring Senate confirmation during a Presidential election year.

How Liberal Policies Destroyed Black Families. By Crystal Wright 
Excerpt: It’s well known how in 1965 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, assistant secretary of labor to Democrat President Johnson, warned that the black family was on the verge of a “complete breakdown” because of growing illegitimacy rates: in 1963 the out-of-wedlock birth rate for whites was 3 percent, and for blacks it was 23.6 percent. Moynihan was part of a generation of Democrats who cared about lifting blacks up into the ranks of equal opportunity with whites, back in the days before the Democrat Party became completely morally corrupt. In his 1965 “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,” Moynihan observed that because more blacks were being born into unmarried homes, more blacks were becoming dependent on welfare to survive. (Every time I see a Black American, a gay American, a Muslim American, any other American belonging somehow to what is supposed to be a discriminated minority group speak up for facts and reason, I thank heaven for the gift of such people to all the rest of us.  Here a Black woman dares to bring up the 51 year old but totally accurate predictions of Moynihan about what was about to happen to Black families.  I suppose the only "good" news is that since we now have higher rates of single young White mothers who also go into the system, with a parallel set of problems for them and their children, we can say that yes, this kind of system is actually not just bad for Blacks, it's just been bad, period. There has to be a better answer, after all, we've have 50 years of proving this doesn't work well at all. --Del)

Missing Scalia: Supreme Court split leaves intact unions' power to charge fees to non-members
Excerpt: Public employee unions dodge a bullet as Supreme Court deadlocks, 4-4, over a challenge to the fees unions can collect from non-members.

LORETTA LYNCH PRESSES COURTS TO BACK OFF CRIMINALS
Excerpt: Attorney General Loretta Lynch issued a nine-page letter through her civil-rights division to municipal and state judges around the United States, warning them to ease off prosecution of criminals, particularly those of minority status, or else face loss of federal funding. Specifically, she wants the 6,500 municipal level courts in the country to offer community service in lieu of jail time, or provide more “amnesty days” to those with outstanding warrants so they can pay a fee instead of serving behind bars, the New York Post reported. And the recommendation comes with a caveat: Those who fail to comply could face the same type of federal scrutiny that FergusonMissouri, local police and courts saw after the police shooting of a black teen.

Feds Propose to Fine Schools for Not Following Michelle's Lunch Directives
excerpt: The federal government is taking steps to fine schools that do not comply with first lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch rules. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service issued a proposed rule Monday to codify parts of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by Mrs. Obama. The regulation would punish schools and state departments with fines for “egregious or persistent disregard” for the lunch rules that imposed sodium and calorie limits and banned white grains. (Article says a teacher who gave out candy for rewards ended up not being fined but school had to develop a "corrective action plan."  Get this--"You've done well on your report, Johnny.  Have some broccoli."  Blacgh~!  Such is life under a command/socialist/communist government; using the money handed out by the regime to squeeze the schools and states.  Doing the same to control hospitals, MDs, healthcare.  Can the First Family eat this stuff, too, or just tell the peons to live on it?  Think of the $$ US taxpayers would save on Kobe beef, champagne, lobsters....Barb)

Monsters: They're Not Under the Bed, They're Hacking Your Baby Monitor

Excerpt: Imagine your horror when, after you've assured your toddler night after night that there are no monsters in his room, you walk through his door and hear a stranger's voice stroking your child's innocence. That's exactly what happened to Sarah, when she walked into her toddler's bedroom and heard a predator's voice say, "Wake up little boy, daddy's looking for you."... What's worse is that without realizing it, parents are creating cyber holes for predators to slip into their children's bedrooms. (Made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  All the "voice recognition" TVs, games and remotes are holes as well--someone has to listen to decipher commands.  Oh, and those "smart" appliances, security systems.....just invite big bro in. --Barb)

Worth Hearing: Police Chief Explodes on Protesters

Important court days coming soon to John Doe Land. By M.D. Kittle  
Excerpt:  As the presidential campaign stampedes through the Badger State, lost in the din are some key court dates in John Doe Land. Things have been mostly quiet on multiple fronts in litigation and challenges regarding Wisconsin’s infamous and unconstitutional John Doe investigation into dozens of conservative groups and the campaign of Gov. Scott Walker. But the coming days will open up a new round of revelations, including new documents released in a state lawsuit, oral arguments in the federal Cindy Archer civil rights case, and deadlines before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Sanders entitled-to-free-stuff generation: Marauding parents in Easter Egg hunt rampage: Out-of-control adults push children to the ground, steal their buckets and leave one four-year-old 'bloody' at chaotic free event
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3511343/Marauding-parents-Easter-Egg-hunt-rampage-control-adults-push-children-ground-steal-buckets-leave-one-four-year-old-bloody-chaotic-free-event.html
Excerpt: An Easter egg hunt descended into chaos on Saturday after parents in Orange, Connecticut, stormed the field.  Children as young as four were trampled by adults in a rampage to steal buckets and grab as many of the 9,000 hidden eggs as possible from the third annual free event at the PEZ headquarters. One four-year-old son was left 'bloody' on the sports field and a two-year-old girl was shoved into the mud, witnesses claimed. A horrified parent described the scene as 'an angry mob of chaos' with 'not one toddler hunting for eggs' among the crowds of adults.

Vietnam jails 3 women for waving flags of former South
Excerpt:  A Vietnamese court has sentenced three women who held up the flags of the defeated U.S.-backed South Vietnam to up to four years in prison on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda, media reported Wednesday.
The women were convicted of holding anti-state banners, the flags and chanting anti-state slogans outside the United State diplomatic mission in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2014, Thanh Nien newspaper reported. (I am shocked and amazed that they would dare to make such a demonstration, knowing a prison sentence was sure to come for it.  The communists still fear and hate the RVN flag, they always will. -Del)

Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg is as ‘nonpartisan’ as her liberal donors. By M.D. Kittle 

Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: Europe at the Edge of the Abyss. America can still avoid sharing Europe’s fate. But only if we take action. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Because of what Europe has become, it now has few viable choices in dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. Its dilemma is a warning to Americans that we should turn away from a similar path of national suicide.  After suffering serial terrorist attacks from foreign nationals and immigrants, a normal nation-state would be expected to make extraordinary efforts to close its borders and redefine its foreign policy in order to protect its national interests. But a France or a Belgium is not quite a sovereign nation any more, and thus does not have complete control over its national destiny or foreign relations. As part of the European Union, France and Belgium have, for all practical purposes, placed their own security in the hands of an obdurate Angela Merkel’s Germany, which is hellbent on allowing without audit millions of disenchanted young Middle Eastern males into its territory, with subsequent rights of passage into any other member of the European Union that they wish. The 21st-century “German problem” is apparently not that of an economic powerhouse and military brute warring on its neighbors, but that of an economic powerhouse that uses its wealth and arrogant sense of social superiority to bully its neighbors into accepting its bankrupt immigration policies and green ideology. The immigration policies of France and Belgium are unfortunately also de facto those of Greece

Surprise! OFFICIALS SAY GUANTANAMO TRANSFERS HAVE KILLED AMERICANS
Excerpt: Americans have been killed by prisoners released from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior Defense Department official told lawmakers Wednesday, triggering sharp criticism from Republicans opposed to shuttering the facility in the wake of deadly attacks by the Islamic State group in Brussels and Paris.

Bloody tide: Terror deaths increased 8-fold since 2010, says study
The deadly toll of terrorism around the globe has jumped nearly 800 percent in the past five years, according to an exhaustive new report that blames the alarming expansion of Islamist groups across the Middle East and Africa.  The nonprofit Investigative Project on Terrorism found that an average of nearly 30,000 people per year have been killed by terrorists since 2010, when terrorism's death toll was 3,284. The authors of the study, which tabulated the numbers through the end of 2015, say that the exponential increase shows two troubling trends: More attacks are happening, and they tend to be deadlier than ever. (This is Obama's legacy and Hillary's as Sec of State, both pro-Muslim Brotherhood et al.  Such a religion of peace. --Barb)

European Authorities Overwhelmed As Hundreds Of ISIS Fighters Return Home

ISIS 'crucifies Catholic priest on Good Friday' after kidnapping him from old people's home where four nuns were shot dead
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3512288/ISIS-carries-Good-Friday-crucifixion-Indian-Catholic-priest-Yemen-kidnapped-three-weeks-ago.html

Justice Department says it has successfully accessed data on San Bernardino shooter's iPhone
Excerpt: The U.S. Justice Department announced it has successfully accessed data stored on the iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino gunman without Apple's help, ending court case.

Islamic Terror: What Muslim Americans Can Do
A Muslim-American man has a great message for other Muslims and the rest of us besides.  He and people like him are the hope we have for this nation to do much, much better than they have in Europe.  And we need everyone to appreciate that we have a lot of people like him here, far more, I believe, than the radicalized nutcases scattered around.  With the help of the sane and good people of the Islamic faith, we can all do so much better for the whole nation. --Del

BOLD: Female Arab journalist asks, 'What if Christians were suicide bombers?'

Like Most People, President Obama Gets The Crusades Wrong

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Took Selfie With Brussels Terrorist

SWEDEN 'BUCKLING UNDER MUSLIM IMMIGRATION.' 'No-go zones' multiplying as critics charge multiculturalism fails
Excerpt: All in all, it’s just another day in Sweden, where multiculturalism is pushing the once famously liberal Nordic society to the breaking point. Mass immigration, mostly from Muslim nations, has utterly transformed many Swedish cities, leading to the development of “no-go zones” where law enforcement fears to tread. The hostility of immigrant communities toward native Europeans is so great a news crew visiting Rinkeby, Sweden, was attacked by hostile residents when they investigated the neighborhood known as “Little Mogadishu.” (The goal is to destroy Western civilization, Jews, Christians and other minorities and establish a global caliphate.  Been at it for centuries, coming to a head in WWIII. --Barb)

ISIS fighter blows himself up? Jihadi fires RPG at window, doesn't go so well - TomoNews

The Jihadist Next Door

Of Interest

This Is A MUST Read: Take A Gander At This Amazing, But Little Known, 9-11 Story