Saturday, May 30, 2015

The Americans

May 30, 2015
by Generals Paul E. Vallely and Charles Jones
Published by Stand Up America

The AMERICANS strongly believe that life, liberty, citizenship and the pursuit of happiness are the unalienable RIGHTS of every American Citizen that cannot be taken or transferred. However, not until We the People become brutally frank with ourselves and with each other will the Constitution be taken off the shelf and once again become operational. Only then can the Republic can be restored and preserved in its original ordained Constitutional Power and form.
We The People have suffered enormously since 1913 under the combined rule of two domineering political parties of 536 elected politicians along with those they have appointed. Tax and Spend, along with whatever it takes to rule, is the quest of one of the domineering parties. In the opposing party, weak backbones, failing to stand up and lead for what a majority of citizen voters want, coupled with the elite of the party stealthfully blending in with the tax and spend party, have destructively allowed the confiscation of far too much of the wages and retirement incomes from the citizens who pay income taxes.
These facts are now becoming more recognized with the most recent dastardly additions of: countless political deceptions, lies, national economic destruction, purposeful job-killing, the stealthful demise of America’s middle class, no Administration help for the massive unemployment of Black Americans plus the politically purposeful illegal alien invasion of the United States. Along with forty percent of the people within the fifty state borders who are receiving food stamps. This all is treason to each separate state and to the citizens within the several states and it is perpetuated by the elected and appointed inside the Washington DC beltway.
The Constitution requires that all laws must be faithfully executed, but far too many are not and have not been – – – specifically by the Executive Branch. Nor has the Oversight Power of Congress been exercised to ensure Executive Leadership enforcement of United States laws. These self-serving political failures have become destructive to the well-being, liberty and happiness of most American citizens. It must be recognized that “New Guards” for future personal safety and National Security must peacefully be put into place by citizens beginning with votes at the ballot box. Failed leadership can no longer stand if the Constitution and the Republic are to be preserved for our children and all future generations.
A deep look has been taken into the several national crises by “The Americans” leadership who care greatly about the Republic, the People and the Constitution. Necessary and workable solutions have been developed to help solve and fix what has without question stunted our Nation’s ability to clearly, legally and peacefully function as a Constitutional Republic.
KEY NATIONAL ISSUES that must be solved if the separate and collective States of The United States of America are to become economically solvent, remain peaceful and nationally secure are:
The Constitution of the United States as originally established and amended will remain in absolute and total effect. The original XIII Amendment as written and ratified is an operational Amendment and will be adhered to immediately. (The original XIII Amendment was falsely hidden by less than honorable men of the times). Congress shall make all laws necessary for carrying into execution the Powers authorized in the Constitution and that all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives. Constant Congressional leadership oversight will be maintained at all times. All Laws requiring Executive action will be faithfully executed upon receipt from Congress by the President and appropriate departments and selected agencies of Government under the President’s sworn responsibility and authority.
A strong National Defense of well-trained Active Duty, Guard and Reserve Forces maintained with proper equipment that can deter any enemy activism, or fight and win if deterrence fails will be assured by both the House and Senate of the US Congress for the protection of “We the People” and the preservation of the Constitution and the Republic. Readiness at all times will include a nuclear capability to win if Congress declares war against an enemy aggressor. The United States Military will in no way be used against United States Citizens. To do so will trigger expeditious Congressional actions to immediately and permanently remove anyone exercising such orders from elected or appointed office.
The United States Government cannot rebound from the man-made economic crises without satisfactory employment for a majority of American citizens. In turn, satisfactory and sustainable employment for American citizens simply cannot be achieved with the excessive tax rates that now exist for US businesses and the American people. All political plundering of the people’s wealth via taxation will be stopped. Our banking system and wealth management has been corrupted with the 1913 establishment of the Federal Reserve System, placing monetary and economic control in the hands of a few (now partisan) individuals. The Federal Reserve System will be abolished and all US Government financial and economic functions will be turned over to the US Treasury including the coining and printing of currency and the issuing of currency. US green-back bills will be printed and a one –for- one exchange to replace Federal Reserve notes will take place.
The IRS will immediately be abolished and that form of US government taxation will cease and desist. A zero-interest National Debt will be established at the US Treasury and a GDP annual growth limit not to exceed 3% will be tied to the previous year GDP growth. A transition to a “fair or flat” tax must be accomplished as a priority.
The Illegal Alien Invasion of the United States will be stopped with a Secured Borders Double Fence on The US Southern Border and more Border Guards stationed on the Northern Border. All US borders will be further controlled and severe penalties (financial and incarceration) for employers who hire illegal aliens. Foreign countries will have named financial and trade restriction obligations to the United States for all of their citizens who come over US Borders illegally. There will be absolutely no jobs, no social services, no welfare nor medical services allowed to be provided to illegal alien invaders. (Emergency medical care only will be provided until they deported to home from which departed). American jobs are for US citizens, returning military veterans, part time high school students and the elderly. When US employers cannot find workers and can fully justify seeking foreign workers, Government permission will be granted for hiring temporary foreign workers.
The DHS with functions for national security and FEMA for emergencies have both grown far beyond the intentions of reasonable and responsible leadership control, budgeting, manpower, equipment and facilities. Deceptive political intentions for the potential use of facilities, weapons, massive purchases of ammunition plus military-type vehicles and railroad cars are greatly objectionable to American citizens and an insult to the economic deficit of the Nation. America’s leadership needs to be well-versed with the Active Military, County Sheriffs, Local Law Enforcement and National Guard overall capabilities within the continental limits of the United States that can handle any and all emergency situations, foreign or domestic, that might be faced. The DHS will be disbanded and certain functions will be merged into the Department Of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Interior (DOI). The FEMA name will be changed to “The National Emergency Agency” (TNEA) and manpower will be greatly reduced and merged into the DOI to be used for national emergency situations only. Their budget and emergency dispatch activities in the east, central and western parts of the country will be managed through the three numbered Air Forces of the Air Force Reserve Command. All weapons, munitions and military-type vehicles will be transferred to the DOD immediately. All holding and or compound-type facilities will be closed and transferred permanently to local governments for non-detention uses only.
The Department of Energy will be abolished and certain specified oversight functions would be moved to the Department of Commerce.
The Department of Education will be abolished and its functions and all funding responsibility will be returned to each individual state, territory and the District of Columbia.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be abolished with responsibilities and functions removed to each individual state. Conflicts will be resolved at the Department of Commerce while working with the states.
In addition, selected Agencies will be moved from the National Capitol area and disbursed into the interior for cost-effective and long-term security reasons as well as seeking more diversified hiring of high quality civilian personnel throughout a larger portion of the Nation. (Rust-belt areas of high unemployment in the mid-west and other locations of far greater physical expansion capability will be given priority consideration for these moves and jobs.
The partisan and destructive Democrat Affordable Health Care Plan will be repealed and pre-2009 Medicare Programs will be fully reconstituted. Necessary changes and revisions to the existing Social Security System to ensure self-funding.
The Executive order that allows unions to exist in government and do collective bargaining in any and all tax-payer funded government jobs will be rescinded.
It will be the policy and understanding within the entire Republic to recognize each County Sheriff as the Elected Senior Law Enforcement Officer in each respective County and that a well-regulated militia, if formed, will be responsive to his Constitutional Sworn Oath as necessary requirements for security of a free state.
The United Nations will be defunded from the excessive monetary proportions US taxpayers have been forced to fund and a strong effort will be made to move this overbearing activity out of the United States. Politicians must come to realize that no United Nations deliberations can override the US Constitution.
Education, kindergarten through grade twelve, is a fundamental right for American school-age children and is a responsibility of county or city taxpayers to insure funding for that right. Citizen school children in far too many public schools have been denied that fundamental right to an education due to handicaps in classroom and interferences caused by countless non-English speaking children plus overcrowding and scarce tax dollars used to accommodate illegal alien school children. In addition to US Borders becoming secure, the 5 to 4 decision by the Burger Supreme Court that allowed all who choose to attend American taxpayer-funded schools regardless of citizenship will be revisited using Chief Justice Burger’s dissenting opinion as grounds for new litigation.
Defund the United Nations and have moved from New York to a location such as Athens, Greece, where the original nation-state was established.
Begin a systematic process to reorganize the Department of Defense into an organization of National Security that can prepare us for today and tomorrow with “forward strategies” that secure America.
It is the general consensus of The Americans Project that If the Republican Party does not hold the line in the US House of Representatives to secure the Southern US Border, plus demand existing immigration laws be faithfully executed by the Executive Branch, then stop all Senate Immigration Reform and also stand firm for defunding Obama-care, the results will be the demise of the Republican Party in the 2014 and 2016 elections. The 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections were lost because many Republican and Independent voters stayed home. There must be Honest National Leadership in place for the America First voters who care about the Constitution, the Republic and a secure future for their children.
Independent Constitutional Leadership selected by The Americans Project will be that Leadership. It will also become more evident to the voters that the course the Democrats have planned for America is destructive far beyond the imagination. This nation is being torn apart daily as the crises facts become known. Also most disturbing to Americans who care is the fact many are not confident We the People have a Constitutional Government in place because to this date absolutely no one has seen one document verifying Constitutional qualification of the person occupying the White House. Congress ignores all petitions for a redress of grievances and the Judiciaries at all levels of government have dismissed every attempt at addressing a legal option. The Democrat Party leadership signed two separate and different documents certifying eligibility to run for office as well as re-election eligibility. This is pure and simple elected and appointed sworn politicians run amuck. Enough is enough. If the United States of America and the separate states are to survive these greedy self-serving destructive political onslaughts, new leadership in existing elective offices is a must for every citizen.
Our government (all branches) of, by and for the people has lost control and has led us down a very destructive path of tyranny, corruption, cover-ups and deceit. We have to a degree lost the necessary checks and balances designed to provide an essential balance of power. That has led to a far-reaching federal government and an infringement on states’ rights. We must save the Republic and the country before we get to the point of no return. A National Call to Action is required by all of us to get our country on track! God save the Republic!
THE AMERICANS PROJECT
Paul Vallely Major General, US Army (Ret)
Charles Jones Brigadier General US Air Force (Ret)

Bill Clinton pens letter to foundation donors

Politico ^ | May 29, 2015 | By ANNIE KARNI and KENNETH P. VOGEL 

Former President Bill Clinton is pushing back against the controversies swirling around his family’s foundation and vexing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
“It’s the political season in America, so the purpose and impact of the efforts your support makes possible has largely been ignored in recent coverage of the Foundation,” Clinton wrote Friday morning in a 1,178-word letter to donors and supporters of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Clinton’s only concession to the spate of bad news was that the foundation will “continue to look for ways to improve our reporting systems so that we can operate as accurately, efficiently, and transparently as possible – a goal to which we have been committed since day one.”
At Clinton campaign headquarters, meanwhile, senior campaign officials told reporters Thursday at a background briefing that Hillary Clinton has not been damaged or distracted by the revelations about her family’s foundation.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...

 

Obama’s Economic “Expansion” Keeps Shrinking

FrontPage Magazine ^ | May 29, 2015 | by Daniel Greenfield 

The economic recovery is really coming along great. For the third time since the expansion began in June 2009, the U.S. economy suffered a setback. Don’t call it a setback. It’s a strategic retreat.
Those ‘optimistic’ estimates keep being revised.
Such declines in GDP are rare in economic expansions, pointing to the fragile nature of the current rebound. The economy hasn’t contracted in three different quarters during good times since the 1950s.
It’s the fault of the GOP. Also the weather. That’s the weakest reading since frigid winter temperatures derailed growth at the start of 2014.
We can’t have an economy with all this weather. But if we had only listened to Obama, the oceans would have stopped rising and the economy would be great.
Obama; less of a failure than previously estimated.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...

Cruz captures conservative Jewish hearts at NY gala, including Adelson’s

Haaretz ^ | 5/29/2015 | Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt | 

“He sounds like a Jew,” someone muttered at a nearby table as Ted Cruz gave his address.

Last night, presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Chris Christie addressed over a thousand Jewish New Yorkers of Jewish Values International Awards Gala... Despite the long cast of characters present (Senator Bob Menendez, Christie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, magnate Sheldon Adelson.... it was Cruz who stole the show, by far.....
When Cruz got on stage, for a moment the room shifted into a political rally more than a charity dinner: Cruz walked around the podium, without notes, and gave an impassioned address which listed his successes in office and proven commitment to Israel.
“Let us think about tomorrow. In nineteen months, there will be a new president of the United States.”
Applause, screams and cheers. Thank Gods were heard throughout the front tables.
“Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Netanyahu, imagine America standing unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”
Cruz promised that, as president, he would move the embassy to Jerusalem: “We need a leader who will act, and who will respect eternal capital of Israel.”
At the next table, a woman wiped away a tear. Cruz knows his audience: He speaks their language. He addresses the fears of American Jewry, and has clearly read American Jewish newspapers closely to understand the burning debates of Jews on this side of the Atlantic.
In his address, Cruz singled out Sheldon and Miriam Adelson as “fearless warriors standing for the United States and for the nation of Israel” - who many suspect will be his backers this election season. Reporter Jacob Kornbluh noted, and wondered aloud on Twitter, that Adelson gave Cruz a standing ovation but sat still when Christie finished speaking: an indication perhaps fitting with Miriam’s professed fondness for Cruz...
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...

All 8 women fail Ranger School: Some Rangers say standards should change!

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | May 29, 2015 | Anne Mulrine 

On Friday, the Army is expected to announce that all the women who attempted to graduate from Ranger School had officially failed to meet the standards, according to a military source.
Ranger School, which grooms the Army’s most elite special operations fighting force, opened its doors to women for the first time this year. Eight of the 20 women who originally entered the school's first co-ed class were allowed to recycle through the program after they fell out in their first go-round. The Friday announcement will confirm that this happened again.
To many, this means the system is working as it should.
The Rangers are the best of the best, and being a Ranger means passing a physical test that pushes body and mind to the breaking point. If women can’t do it, the argument goes, then they shouldn’t be Rangers.
But there is another opinion quietly being voiced as well: that Ranger School is more akin to a rite of passage – an opportunity for men to “thump their chest,” as one Ranger puts it – than a realistic preparation for leading in war. That women can actually make Ranger units more effective. And that the standards that keep them out are outdated.
It is an opinion, perhaps surprisingly, that comes from two current Rangers.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...

Judge sets trial for RICO claims against Clintons!

WND ^ | 5/29/15 

A federal judge in Florida has scheduled a trial for January for a case charging Bill and Hillary Clinton with RICO violations.

**SNIP**

According to Klayman, the Clintons, through mail and wire fraud and false statements, misappropriated documents which he was entitled to receive and possess under the Freedom of Information Act regarding Hillary Clinton’s involvement in releasing Israeli war and cyber-warfare plans and practices.

Hillary Clinton orchestrated this release to harm and thwart Israeli plans to preemptively attack Iranian nuclear sites to stop the Islamic nation’s march to producing atomic weapons, according to Klayman.

The claim also explains Klayman used the nation’s FOIA to try to get details from the State Department regarding waivers to do business with Iran – “acts [that are] alleged to be the result of the defendants selling government influence in exchange for bribes from interests which have donated to The Clinton Foundation, paid huge speaking fees to the Clintons and other means.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...

Arizona State has doubled tuition, finds $500K to give to Clintons!

Campus Reform ^ | 5/28/15 | Kaitlyn Schallhorn 

While Arizona State University has almost doubled its tuition over the past 10 years amid claims that it needs more state money, the school somehow had the funds to give half a million dollars to the Clinton Foundation.

According to The Arizona Republic, the public university paid $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation to host the former president-Bill Clinton; former-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and their daughter, Chelsea, during a Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) event in 2014. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bill’s wife, is the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential race.

Mark Johnson, an ASU spokesman, told The Republic that the university was a payment for the event—not a contribution to the Clintons.
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreform.org ...

First the Obamaphones, now the Obama ‘net

Personal Liberty ^ | 5/28/2015 | Ben Bullard 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to present a new proposal that would extend subsidies to low-income Americans who want to get online.
The five-member commission, which is directed by three Democrats and two Republicans, intends to expand the current “Lifeline” program, which subsidizes income-eligible residents’ cellphone bills, to also encompass billing for Internet service.
The plan dovetails philosophically with the FCC’s recent net neutrality proposal, which regards the Internet not as a luxury but as a necessity. By elevating it to a utility, the commission can argue that low-income Americans who can’t afford to pay for Internet access are being denied access to an indispensable service.
The FCC’s Democratic majority backs the plan, while its two Republican members generally oppose it.
“[T]here is a legitimate debate whether the Lifeline program should be abolished or significantly scaled back rather than expanding its mission,” Republican commissioner Michael O’Rielly wrote recently. “I would be open to having a thoughtful debate on the best way to address a perceived need in this communications area rather than bootstrapping the old program with new responsibilities.”
While O’Rielly wrote those words before the current plan to expand Lifeline was made public, it’s clear that the two ideologies within the FCC are at odds over the proposal.
“Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a strong advocate of expanding Lifeline subsidies to Internet service, said it simply recognizes the reality of how people communicate today,” Politico reported Thursday.
“In a nod to criticism of the program’s history of abuses, however, Clyburn wants to make some changes. Phone providers have long had the role of determining who qualifies for the subsidies — an arrangement that’s been at the root of many of the problems. Clyburn wants to set up a different system, in which a person eligible for food stamps or free school lunches automatically qualifies for Lifeline.”
That, though, sounds like the opposite of reform.
Lifeline, begun as a landline subsidy in 1985 but greatly expanded to encompass cellphones in 2005, is funded by a fee added to consumers’ phone bills.
The current plan could come up for a vote at the FCC’s June 18 meeting.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Introducing the Zero Labor Factory: Robots at Chili's, Applebees, Panera

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis ^ | 05/29/2015 | Mike Shedlock 

Dongguan-based private company Everwin Precision Technology Ltd is pushing toward putting 1,000 robots in use in its first phase of the zero-labor project, China National Radio reported. It said the company has already put first 100 robots on the assembly line.
"The 'zero-labor factory' does not mean we will not employ any humans, but what it means is that we will scale down the size of workers by up to 90 percent," said Chen Qixing, the company's board chairman.
After the work on smart factory started, Chen predicted that instead of 2,000 workers, the current strength of the workforce, the company will require only 200 to operate software system and backstage management.
"It is necessary to replace human workers with robots, given the severe labor shortage and mounting labor costs," said Di Suoling, head of Dongguan-based Taiwan Business Association.
Shortage of Labor?
There is no shortage of labor. There is no shortage of skills either. Rather, there is a shortage of people willing to work for what factory owners are willing to pay.
And with cheap money everywhere you look, there is plenty of money at low rates to buy robots.
Meanwhile, back in the US, McDonald's employees think they are worth $15 an hour for taking orders and handing people a sack of crap.
High wages means fewer jobs. CNN accurately reports Robots will Replace Fast-Food Workers.
Panera Bread is the latest chain to introduce automated service, announcing in April that it plans to bring self-service ordering kiosks as well as a mobile ordering option to all its locations within the next three years. The news follows moves from Chili's and Applebee's to place tablets on their tables, allowing diners to order and pay without interacting with human wait staff at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com ...

Does the Media Hold Anyone to a Lower Ethical Standard than the Clintons?

National Review ^ | 5/29/2015 | Jonah Goldberg 

Let’s say, just for kicks, you murdered your husband (or wife). Your neighbors have been suspicious ever since your nightly arguments suddenly stopped, right around the time you put something large in your trunk and drove off in the middle of the night. Now they see you driving his car and putting his suits and golf clubs up for sale on eBay. The police find your explanations implausible and contradictory, and then you tell the cops to direct all future questions to your lawyer.

The good news is that you have fans. Some neighbors think you’re the cat’s pajamas. They come to you and say they want to defend you against this terrible accusation. What should you tell them to say on your behalf?

Frankly, I don’t know what you should say, but I do have a good sense of what you shouldn’t say: “Tell them there’s no smoking gun.”

You see, when people suspect you’ve committed a crime, insisting that there’s “no smoking gun” is almost, but not quite, an admission of guilt. It is certainly very, very far from a declaration of innocence.
“I didn’t do it!” — that’s a declaration of innocence.
“There’s no smoking gun!” — that’s closer to, “You’ll never prove it, nyah, nyah.”

The origin of the phrase “smoking gun” comes from a Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott.” In Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale, an imposter posing as a ship’s chaplain commits murder. “We rushed on into the captain’s cabin . . . there he lay with his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic . . . while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow.”

Figuratively, when you have a smoking gun, there’s no need for an investigation; you know for sure the culprit is guilty. But if the chaplain had thrown the gun out the porthole just in time, Holmes would not say, “Well, there’s no smoking gun. This shall have to remain a mystery for all time. Oh, and let’s give the chaplain here the benefit of the doubt.”
I bring this up because every time there’s a new revelation about the unseemly practices of the Clintons, every time a new trough of documents or fresh disclosures come to light, scads of news outlets and Clinton spinners insist that “there’s no smoking gun” proving beyond all doubt that Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation did anything wrong.

The guy who set the bar so low that it’s basically stuck in the mud was ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. In a now-infamous interview with Peter Schweizer, author of the investigatory exposé Clinton Cash, Stephanopoulos grilled Schweizer about his partisan conflicts of interest.
Despite Stephanopoulos’s hostile tone, it was perfectly proper to note that Schweizer worked for George W. Bush as a speechwriter for a few months. The irony, of course, was that Stephanopoulos worked in a far higher position, for far longer, for the Clintons — which Stephanopoulos did not mention. Nor did he disclose the fact that he was a donor to the very Clinton Foundation that was the focus of Schweizer’s book.
Since that story broke, thanks to the Washington Free Beacon, Stephanopoulos has apologized at least three times for his actions.
What he hasn’t apologized for is his yeoman’s work making a smoking gun the new burden of proof.
When the State Department released a sliver of a fraction of the e-mails Hillary Clinton hadn’t already deleted from her private stealth server, the Daily Beast ran a story with the headline “Sorry, GOP, There’s No Smoking Gun In Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails.” Ah yes, because the relevant news is whatever’s bad for Republicans.

This week, the International Business Times reported that then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved a huge spike in arms sales to repressive countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, and that weapons contractors paid Bill Clinton huge sums for speeches at around the same time the State Department was approving their arms deals. Slate noted that “the IBT piece doesn’t reveal any smoking-gun evidence of a corrupt quid-pro-quo transaction.”

Now, obviously, if there is no smoking-gun proof of wrongdoing, the press should report that. But it might also note that many politicians and public figures have been prosecuted — and convicted — without the benefit of a smoking gun. Just ask former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell or, for that matter, Martha Stewart. The lack of a smoking gun in Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” scandal hardly deterred the media mob.
Only in the Clintonverse could the lack of a smoking gun be touted as proof of innocence.

Cruz Vows 'Reagan Revolution' to Obama's Carter!

Israel National News ^ | 5/29/2015 | Yoni Kempinski, Ari Yashar 

Pro-Israeli Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke to Arutz Sheva at the third annual Champions of Jewish Values event, held in New York, in which he spoke about what his planned presidency would look like.

Cruz was highly critical of the administration of US President Barack Obama, remarking, "this administration has expressed an unprecedented antagonism to the nation of Israel - that's unacceptable. I'm grateful that the American people stand with the nation of Israel."

Concerning the Iranian nuclear threat, Cruz said, "we need a president who...says we wil not negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran that allows Iran to keep centrifuges, to keep enriched uranium, to keep developing their ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) programs, to keep remaining the world's leading sponsor of terrorism."

"Either Iran will stop or America will stop it," emphasized Cruz, urging a tougher stance in tackling the nuclear aspirations of the Islamic regime.

If elected, the senator said he intends to stand "unapologetically and unshakeably" alongside the Jewish state, and plans to fight firmly to defeat Islamic terrorism.

Citing scripture, he noted, "the book of Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the sun; I think there are stark similarities between Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter," drawing a parallel between their similarly weak foreign policy records.

Cruz recalled that after Carter's presidency, "in 1981 Iran released American hostages the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in," showing how a turn-around in toughening America's foreign policy is indeed possible as was seen in the "Reagan revolution."

"Weakness and appeasement does not work, we need to return to American leadership in the world and it is my intention to do everything I can to make that happen," he vowed.
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...

Baltimore Has Descended Into A State Of Lawlessness – And More Cities Will Soon Follow!

World View Weekend ^ | 5/29/2015 | Michael Snyder 

Did you really think that Baltimore would return to normal after everything that has happened? On Thursday, a mother and her 7-year-old son were both shot in the head in a double murder that has shocked the entire nation. Police believe that the son may have been shot in order to prevent him from identifying the individual that shot his mother. So is this what America is turning into? A place where 7-year-old kids are executed in cold blood? That mother and son were the 37th and 38th murder victims in the city of Baltimore so far this month. That makes this the deadliest month in Baltimore in 15 years, but because of all the controversy surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, police in Baltimore are afraid to do their jobs at this point. In some areas of the city, young men boldly smoke weed in public and wave guns around at innocent bystanders without any worry that police will intervene. Baltimore has descended into a state of lawlessness, and this is just the beginning. As I discussed just the other day, the same kind of lawlessness will soon sweep all across this country.
Have you ever been afraid to step outside of your own home? That is what day to day life is like for many residents of Baltimore right now. In fact, one woman is even barricading her door and setting up metal slabs behind her windows to deflect gunfire. Just check out the following excerpt from a recent news report about what is going on in the city…
“I’m afraid to go outside,” said Antoinette Perrine, whose brother was shot down three weeks ago on a basketball court near her home in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. Ever since, she has barricaded her door and added metal slabs inside her windows to deflect gunfire.
“It’s so bad, people are afraid to let their kids outside,” Perrine said. “People wake up with shots through their windows. Police used to sit on every corner, on the top of the block. These days? They’re nowhere.”
I think that this is an indication of what we can expect from the police when chaos erupts in cities all over America. In some places there will be troops in the streets to maintain order, but in other areas it will be like the wild west.
Right now, police officers in Baltimore are running scared. They know that they are targets, and they know that one mistake can land them in prison or on the front page of newspapers all over the nation. According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, there have been times when officers have gone into an area only to be immediately surrounded by “30 to 50 people”…
“Our officers tell me that when officers pull up, they have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time,” Batts said.
Batts provided more details at a City Council meeting Wednesday night, saying officers now fear getting arrested for making mistakes.
“What is happening, there is a lot of levels of confusion in the police organization. There are people who have pain, there are people who are hurt, there are people who are frustrated, there are people who are angry,” Batts said. “There are people, and they’ve said this to me, `If I get out of my car and make a stop for a reasonable suspicion that leads to probable cause but I make a mistake on it, will I be arrested?’ They pull up to a scene and another officer has done something that they don’t know, it may be illegal, will they be arrested for it? Those are things they are asking.”
The criminals have the upper hand in Baltimore now, and they know it.
Just consider the words of the head of the police union. He says that the police in the city “are under siege”…
“The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest,” said Gene Ryan, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. “Criminals feel empowered now. There is no respect. Police are under siege in every quarter. They are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty.”
Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis made even stronger remarks during a recent appearance on Fox News. He told Sean Hannity that police in Baltimore have been “eviscerated”, “disemboweled”, and have had their “guts removed”…
Wicomico County, MD Sheriff Mike Lewis (R) declared that police officers are “fearful” of doing their jobs on Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.
“Sean, the Baltimore City Police Department, the officers particularly on the street, have been eviscerated, they’ve been disemboweled, their guts removed to have the courage to go out there and do this job. They’re very fearful that if they go out there and be proactive, which we all should be doing in law enforcement today, we can’t afford to be reactive, especially in urban areas. Those officers are no longer being proactive, and as you see, the violence has surged. … And I hope this is a shot fired across the bow of mayors and urban leaders across this country. Once you disembowel your law enforcement officers, then you cannot no longer expect them to go out there and protect you, or protect your communities. This is very troubling the worst I’ve ever seen in 31 years of law enforcement.”
Can you imagine what must be going through the heads of Baltimore police officers at this point?
One wrong move and you could start a riot.
One wrong move and you could go to prison.
One wrong move and you could be on the front page of every newspaper in the country and be labeled the biggest villain in America.
In early April, I publicly stated that civil unrest was coming to Baltimore, and what we are seeing happen there is eventually going to start happening all over the nation. Police are going to start pulling back from the most violent areas and will allow chaos to reign in the streets.
It is only human nature. Police officers are going to be extremely hesitant to risk their lives in communities where they are deeply hated and where they risk ruining their entire lives with a single wrong move.
It is going to take a lot of courage to be a cop in America’s inner cities in the years ahead. Last year, the number of officers “feloniously killed” in the line of duty increased by 89 percent, and things are only going to get worse.
America is changing, and not for the better. As economic conditions deteriorate, many of our major cities are going to turn into war zones. If you are expecting the government to step in and fix things when that happens, you will be deeply disappointed.
This nation is filled with anger and hate, and it is getting worse with each passing day.
I truly wish that things had not turned out this way, but they did. I truly wish that we could just all learn to love one another and live in peace, but it isn’t happening.
The hatred and frustration that are boiling just under the surface in this country are about to explode, and when that happens we will all pay a very great price.

...at the core

A woman

Employed

12 out of 13

No big deal?

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What difference?

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Liberal Logic

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Screw 'em!

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Deaths

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I told 'ya!

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FNC?

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Asleep

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Hold her!

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Too late?

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Donations

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The Original

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Intent of law?

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TED

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Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Hillary Enigma

Canada Free Press ^ | 05/28/15 | Al Caruba 

I suggest that Hillary ceases to be an enigma if you just think of the Wellesley student who thought the best topic for her senior thesis was the book by a dedicated Communist, Saul Alinsky!

Does it strike anyone as strange that the only candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination to be the next President of the United States is the wife of a former President? There is no historic precedent for this, no way to measure this against how Americans have selected Presidents in the past.
Like most Americans, I first took notice of her when Bill began his campaign to become President. I recall being struck by the fact that in 1969 as a student at Wellesley College, her 92-page senior thesis was devoted to the community organizer, Saul Alinsky’s book. The title of the thesis was “There is Only the Fight…”: An Analysis of the Alinski Model.” She would request Wellesley to deny access to it.
Alinksy was a Communist. His twelve rules for radicals, unlike the Ten Commandments, are devoid of a moral message. Instead, the message is “this is how you can win.” Hillary would do well to review Rule 7, “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” She was already old news when she announced her candidacy and it is becoming older with every passing day as she fails to take questions from the media, participating in totally staged events to look like “one of the people.”
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...

MSM: Why, This Hillary Character Seems Evasive and Flawed!

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2015/05/28/msm-this-hillary-character-seems-evasive-and-flawed-n2004596 ^ | 5/28/2015 | Guy Benson 

The keepers of the Beltway flame don't seem terribly impressed by Hillary Clinton's aloof, unavailable presidential campaign thus far. Meet the Press' Chuck Todd thinks she's engaged in awkward ideological "gymnastics" and failing to connect (via the Free Beacon):
videos at link ...

The 'Game Change' boys see the relentless drip, drip, drip of the Clintons' financial irregulaties and serial opacity as "quite threatening" to her viability (via Grabien):

And what is Mrs. Clinton's favorite refuge when her family's multimillion-dollar slush fund is attracting unwanted attention, new details are emerging about her failures and dishonesty as Secretary of State, and her self-created email headaches just won't go away? First! Woman! President! demagoguery:

ABC Planted Story from Liz (via Twitter) ... Per campaign, in speech @HillaryClinton will lay out 1st part of women's agenda/"call out Republicans for standing in the way of equal pay."

Sigh. Economists have found that Democrats' go-to "pay gap" issue is largely a fiction, borne not of discrimination, but of women's choices. But since people like Hillary Clinton insist on flogging this talking point as means of scoring cheap points with under-informed voters, conservatives have no choice but to raise obvious hypocrisy questions -- applying the Left's own anti-intellectual, nuance-free standards:




Treasury Rule Allows Taxpayer Subsidized Health Insurance For Illegal Immigrants!

Forbes ^ | May 28, 2015 | by Grace-Marie Turner 

New research about implementation of the Affordable Care Act finds that Obama administration regulations are allowing taxpayer subsidized health insurance for some people earning less than the statutory income floor and also for unlawful immigrants.
A new study by Andy S. Grewal, an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, explains that the ACA provides tax credits to U.S. citizens with incomes between 100 and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). However, IRS regulations were written to extend credits to citizens below 100% FPL in some cases.
Also, Section 36B of the ACA grants credits to some non-citizens with low-incomes only if they are themselves lawfully present in the U.S. and cannot obtain Medicaid coverage. IRS regulations, however, contradict the statute and allow subsidies if “the taxpayer or a member of the taxpayer’s family is lawfully present in the United States,” and “the lawfully present taxpayer or family member is not eligible for the Medicaid program.”
And taxpayers who get a larger subsidy than they were due because they mis-estimated their income do not have to repay the money. “The regulation allows a taxpayer to fully keep her tax credits even if, at the close of the taxable year, the taxpayer’s household income did not meet the statutory floor and the taxpayer was not entitled to any credits.”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...

A $15.00 minimum wage is the greedy taking advantage of the unskilled with the help of the Democrats

Coach is Right ^ | 5/28/15 | Kevin "Coach" Collins 

Raising the wages of low to unskilled workers to $15.00 an hour will only help the Democrats and the extortionist unions who “represent” these workers. If low level salaries are doubled to $15.00 an hour, causing half of a shop’s workforce to be fired, the unions are way ahead. They will just double the dues for the remaining workers and not lose a cent in income. Better still, when employers fire half their workers just to survive, there will be half the number of members to bother union thugs with demands for services. The unions will still be able to grease the Democrats.
Anticipating this huge increase in labor costs, some employers are beginning to replace pricey employees with machines. This will enhance their bottom line and make no mistake, the unions will be very pleased. Unions are run for the benefit of union officials and Democrats not their membership. Given that all three benefit at the expense of the low skilled workers, the drive for a $15.00 an hour minimum wage may be pushed by a coalition of unions, employers and Democrats. It will be workers be damned. Their only job, as always, is paying union extortion and voting Democrat.
The only danger for unions is if employers should fire every worker and go fully automated.
A handy example of this is the way drinks are sold at the United Center in Chicago where the Bulls play. The arena has gone “service employee free.” Alcoholic drinks are sold from vending machines...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...

Commander in Chief's Job is National Defense, Not Climate Change

Townhall.com ^ | May 28, 2015 | Star Parker 


A front-page headline in the Wall Street Journal screams out: "Islamic State's Gains Reveal New Prowess on the Battlefield."
The article discusses how the Islamic State recently captured Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in Iraq. The Islamic State victory, according to the report, involved the execution of a complex battle plan "that outwitted a greater force of Iraqi troops as well as the much lauded U.S.-trained special-operations force known as the Golden Division."
Flipping to the editorial page, an opinion piece discusses the increasing dominance of Russia, Iran and China in their parts of the world "as the U.S. retreats."
But what is keeping America's commander in chief up at night?
President Obama spent most of his recent address to the graduating class of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy talking about climate change.
According to our president, climate change "constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security."
The president continued to say that the science regarding climate change is "indisputable."
In 2013, the president tweeted, "Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: climate change is real, manmade and dangerous."
But this is false.
Ross McKitrick, an economist at the University of Guelph and a senior fellow at Canada's Fraser Institute, and others have pointed out the dubious methodology used to arrive at the claim that 97 percent of scientists agree on climate change science. It's not even close to being accurate.
More representative is a 2012 survey done of the American Meteorological Society. McKitrick reported that less than 30 percent of AMS members participated, and of them, 52 percent said that "they think global warming over the 20th century has happened and is mostly manmade." In the same survey, 53 percent agreed that "there is conflict among AMS members on the question."
So why is our president misrepresenting the facts? And why is the president not focusing exclusively on the job the Constitution assigns to him: assuming the responsibilities of prudently deploying American military power to keep America safe, secure and strong around the world? And why is the president usurping the job of private citizens: assessing scientific data regarding market risks and deciding how private capital should be invested?
We have plenty of experience with what happens when politicians decide it's their business to invest our money.
Several years ago, the Obama administration, under the rationale of developing alternative energy sources, provided a $536 million loan, guaranteed by U.S.taxpayers, to a solar energy technology company called Solyndra.
The president himself went to the plant in California and praised the "incredible cutting-edge solar panels." In his remarks, he went on about the impossibility of fossil fuels continuing to provide our energy needs.
One year later, Solyndra declared bankruptcy, leaving U.S. taxpayers on the hook.
Meanwhile, since 2009, when the U.S. government provided the loan guarantee to Solyndra, U.S. petroleum production has increased by almost 170 percent as a result of new drilling technologies our president never dreamed of. The U.S. is now the largest petroleum producer in the world.
The bottom line: Science in the hands of private individuals who put their own capital at risk and whose survival depends on making good judgments and risk assessments produces the new and unforeseen and drives our economy upward.
Science in the hands of politicians who invest other people's money is a formula for failure and waste.
Why in the world would anyone think it is a good idea for a politician to determine what is good science and impose hundreds of billions of dollars in new burdens on American consumers based on speculation about what is going on with the climate?
Let private citizens make the call on this. And let the president do his job and build our military and properly use it to protect us around the world.

Conservatism 101: Who is Really a Conservative?

Townhall.com ^ | May 28, 2015 | Bethany Blankley 

Most Americans, including most Republicans, do not understand what “conservative” philosophy, principles, and policies are.

Merriam-Webster defines conservative as “believing in the philosophy of conservatism,” which it defines as “belief in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society; dislike of change or new ideas in a particular area.”

However, this definition is wrong. The root of conservatism lies in the concept of “ordered liberty” and the fundamental truth that human rights are God-given, not man-made and that individual liberty and freedom are birthrights.

Calvin Coolidge, America’s 30th president—perhaps the most conservative president of the last century—emphasized the underpinning conservative principle of the rule of law rests solely on “the divine origin of mankind.”

In his speech, The Price of Freedom, Coolidge emphasized that in America’s founding documents “there resulted the recognition that freedom was a birthright. It was the natural and inalienable condition of beings who were created ‘a little lower than the angels.’ With it went the principle of equality, not an equality of possessions, not an equality of degree, but an equality in the attributes of humanity, an equality of kind. Each is possessed of the divine power to know the truth.”

Likewise, conservative commentator Dennis Prager defines conservatism by what he calls “The American Trinity,” which preserves three fundamental truths. First, “In God We Trust” is the foundation for the rule of law. Manmade laws are designed to protect God-given human rights. From that, “E Pluribus Unum,” a unified and diverse people are encouraged to live peaceably, with “liberty” in their pursuit of happiness.

Within the American Trinity and republican form of government, the electorate determines the moral and ethical decisions and laws through representatives acting on their behalf. In theory, the electorate governs through limited local, state, and federal governments that restrain and punish the malfeasant and enable ingenuity, personal responsibility, entrepreneurship, creativity, and a range of its citizens’ pursuits.

The electorate may redefine and change moral and legal constraints but conservatism does not.

Because conservatism fundamentally values life, conservative policies will seek to protect it. Pro-life policies include economic, racial, and societal freedoms regardless of circumstances or socio-economic and political climates. Conservative policies are dictated by conservative principles, not the reverse.

Dividing conservatism between social/fiscal policies is a false dichotomy. The root of conservatism is not laissez-faire economic policies that create personal financial profit and power, but principles that value life-giving activities that improve societal welfare.

Conservatism guided Coolidge to relieve a country crippled by debt and severe economic depression, institutionalized segregation, and class warfare to eliminate the progressive policies Woodrow Wilson and Congress created. Progressives devalued life by institutionalizing oligarchy in America through the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, segregating federal employees, and making illegal interracial marriage.

Coolidge evidenced fiscal responsibility by significantly reducing tax rates and the national debt by nearly one third. Debt, he argued, stifled freedom, limited entrepreneurship and economic growth. He advocated for personal responsibility and accountability through the rule of law, attempting to make illegal lynching and racial segregation, and hate crimes. He also sought to create national commissions to help bridge racial divides—yet progressives fought him at every step.

Contrary to Merriam-Webster’s definition of conservatism, that it “dislike(s) change or new ideas in a particular area,” conservatives have consistently opposed the status quo. Instead, seeking to change the law in order to protect human rights, especially when the law seeks to eliminate equality of natural rights and regulate equality of outcomes.

In this way progressivism replace ordered liberty, the American Trinity, and the principles “No God, No Liberty” and “the divine origin of mankind” with “No God/Morality,” and “No Unity,” and “No Liberty.”

“In God We Trust” is replaced by a Godless society that teaches children the state, not God, creates rights and defines morality. “E Pluribus Unum” (of the many, one) is replaced with divisive policies (of the many, many) and “Liberty,” with regulated inequality. In response to this approach Prager reasons, “I can’t think of anything more demeaning than to tell a group we will change the rules and lower the standards just for you.”

In the name of “progress” individual exceptionalism, ingenuity, creativity, successes and failures and the lessons learned from them are restricted and penalized. Yet, as history has shown “equating” economic or social outcomes results in repeatedly failed consequences that devalue life and eliminate human rights.

Conservatives support policies designed to safeguard the principles of the American Trinity and ordered liberty and thwart attempts to weaken and ultimately destroy them.

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Wear Uniforms

Townhall.com ^ | May 28, 2015 | Matt Towery 


That's the real message, isn't it? Whether it's the young man or woman who chooses to join one of our military branches or anyone who decides to protect us from harm locally as police or sheriffs or deputies, it's becoming increasingly clear that wearing a uniform makes you a target in today's America.
This isn't about the relatively few police officers who knowingly do wrong. Nor is it about past military incursions. The issue at hand is a growing sentiment among an increasing number of Americans that anyone in a uniform is not to be trusted or given a break or to receive the thanks that they deserve.
Consider the Marine woman who was convicted recently in a court-martial for displaying some Bible verses at her desk. Admittedly, it was a desk she shared with others, but the evidence that they too had their own objects and trinkets at the desk was ruled inadmissible at trial.
She's out. She has a black eye on her record, and as of last reports, she has no job. Thank you, ma'am, for your service. A grateful nation casts you aside because, after all, you're not some kid who chose to steal from a store, run down the middle of a street and ignite a national controversy. You're just a woman who wanted to serve her country and express her personal inspirational faith in a small and unobtrusive way.
Of course, her plight is much worse than that of another service member who was dressed in uniform and dared in recent days to enter the posh bar at New York's upscale hotel The Standard. She was from the Navy, and she was told by the bouncer at the establishment that she could not enter because, "Hey, man, there's a dress code."
Oh, I'm sure there is. I can only imagine the "dress code" one might see there on a Friday or Saturday night. Of course, the "top brass" at the hotel reversed engines in a hurry once stories of this insult reached the news.
And then there are those times when following a legitimate dress code leads to much more -- like the cold-blooded murder of a New Orleans police officer.
Officer James Bennett Jr., who was working the area controlled by the Housing Authority of New Orleans, was shot to death this past week while he was sitting in his patrol car. No chance for him to put his "hands up," as they say. Instead, he caught a cold-blooded coward's bullet that took his life.
So let's just say what is really going on here. We have a new culture that has made it uncool to be in the military or to display patriotism, much less to suggest that there is something exceptional about America.
And it really isn't in fad to be a Christian (of any denomination) because we're standing by and watching Christians get slaughtered by terrorists with virtually no show of outrage by our leaders.
Who wants to be in the military knowing that our current leadership has an understated but oh-so-clear belief that removing American troops from unstable areas of the world is far better than having them keep control of areas we finally liberated, such as in Iraq? No, no military uniforms needed.
And who wants to be a police officer when that uniform can mean sudden death at any moment, and reaction to any situation could lead to criminal charges against you? No, no uniforms needed for that thankless job anymore.
We all know there are problems in our criminal justice system, and we also get the fact that most Americans grew war-weary after the George W. Bush years. But it hasn't been since the late 1960s that we've seen outright disdain, or at least lack of proper respect, for the men and women who wear any type of uniform to keep us safe.
But rest easy. At least the government respects the Taliban. Five of their top leaders will have their travel rights restored next week. And they won't need a uniform.

Obama’s Middle Eastern treachery and treason

Coach is Right ^ | 5/28/15 | John C. Velisek USN (Ret.) 

In 2008 we elected a President that promised to transform the world. Well he has. And the results are dangerous at best. The Middle East is now a cauldron of flame and death for Christians and Muslims alike. It was Colin Powell who said “if you break it, you fix it.” Obama has broken it, but there is little chance he’ll fix it because he sees nothing wrong. Of course he blames others, Bush most of all. Has anyone ever heard Obama blame Carter, who with Zbigniew Brzezinski let the Iranian Revolution play out with the same indifference to results that Obama displays now?
Obama showed his true colors during the Iranian Revolution of 2009. When the people of Iran wanted change and the opportunity to prevent the existence of today’s nuclear Iran presented itself to the United States, Obama did nothing. There are no estimates of how many Iranians died as a result of Obama’s refusal to help build a free nation. Perhaps it was because he thought that is what Bush would have done, perhaps it didn’t poll well among disciples of the left, but the inaction of our President led to another generation of Iranians being forced to live under a brutal a regime that they did not want.
Of course there is one nation for which the Obama Regime has already been an active participant in the attempted forging of regime change. Obama seems willing to try anything which might take down the government of Israel. For decades the United States and Israel have formed a bulwark against the aggression of Middle Eastern nations. Working together and with partners such as Egypt they have succeeded in bringing some semblance of peace to the Middle East.
Today, Obama never mentions Israel unless it is to demand...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...

The Costs of a $15 Minimum Wage

Townhall.com ^ | May 28, 2015 | Steve Chapman 


In the 1970s, when oil prices jumped, most liberals embraced a simple solution: price controls. It should be illegal, they thought, to sell oil or gasoline for more than a certain amount. Americans should be able to drive without being fleeced by oil companies and foreign governments.
The impulse was understandable. Gasoline is an essential commodity for most people. When the cost rises, it imposes a heavy burden on consumers, most of whom have few transportation options.
In 1971, in an attempt to tame inflation, Republican President Richard Nixon imposed controls on almost all prices. By 1974, he had lifted most of them. But those on gas remained. Under Democratic President Jimmy Carter, they led to widespread shortages and long lines at service stations -- and didn't keep prices from rising. But the controls lasted until his successor, Ronald Reagan, lifted them in 1981.
Liberals learned an unforgettable lesson: Price controls on gasoline don't work. In recent decades, when gas prices have soared, Democrats have shown no desire to repeat the lesson.
But they embrace a similar approach for another problem: low pay for many workers. Chicago decided last year to boost the minimum wage to $13 an hour by the middle of 2019. Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have gone even higher, raising the floor to $15 an hour in the next few years, and other cities may follow suit. It's a price control on labor.
Their intentions are good. Full-time employment at the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour provides an income of just $14,500 a year. For an adult supporting one child, that's well below the poverty line of $15,930.
The problem is that a higher legal minimum wage is at odds with the prevailing supply of and demand for labor. If you set the minimum too high, you will get a shortage of jobs. Forbidding employers from paying $9 or $12 an hour means that many of their workers won't get $13 or $15 an hour. They will get zero per hour, because those jobs will disappear.
Some businesses will reduce staffing or hours. Some will scrub expansions they had planned. Some will install machines to handle tasks previously assigned to humans. Some will shut down.
Not all employers will take steps that will curb employment, but many will. Raising the minimum wage collides with one of the basic laws of economics: the higher the cost of something the lower the demand. In the employment realm, the effects may not be immediate, but they are inexorable.
An editorial in The New York Times wished away unwanted responses. It promised that the change will yield "savings from lower labor turnover and higher labor productivity." Higher pay can "be offset by modestly higher prices" and by "paying executives and shareholders less."
But if giving raises paid for itself, companies wouldn't need to be forced to do it. Raising prices means fewer customers will buy what these companies are selling, which reduces the number of employees they need. Executives and shareholders who get paid less can turn to companies that can pay more because they don't rely on low-wage labor.
Some of these consequences have already occurred in Seattle. One pizzeria owner, employing 12 people, told NPR her choice was to go back to working 60 to 80 hours a week or close. She's closing.
"Even Seattle's best-known chef, Tom Douglas, says he may have to close some of his 15 restaurants," it reported. If a famous restaurateur can't make it work, how will obscure ones fare?
Restaurants have other options besides shutting down. They can automate orders with modern technology. They can require diners to pick up their food at a counter instead of having it brought to them. They can use disposable plates and utensils. And if you worry about robots taking your job...
All of these changes reduce the need for employees. Maybe the higher pay to the workers who have jobs will make up, by some calculus, for the unemployment visited on the others. Maybe not. Either way, there's no escaping the tradeoff.
Back in the 1970s, people imagined that stations would supply plenty of gas even if we restrict what they could charge. Today, they imagine businesses will supply plenty of jobs even if we dictate what they must pay. But the laws of economics are not so easy to repeal.

More!

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Firsts

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Remember me?

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Weird

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Housing Tips

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The Clintons

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My Hero?

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Legacy

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Twin Peaks!

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Crime Family

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FLAWS?

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If he had a son...

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Obama Policy

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200X

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See what you get!

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Off our backs!

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Racism

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Too Stupid!

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Came Back!

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Shut Up!

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WHo is Who?

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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

THE NUCLEAR OPTION: THE ‘OLD AND RELENTLESS’ — THE CLINTON SOAP OPERA CONTINUES

Breitbart ^ | May 27,2015 | by CHARLES HURT 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the longest-running Southern Gothic soap opera in American history! It is a mix of “Days of Our Lives,” “Dr. Phil,” “The Sopranos,” “Oprah,” and “Judge Judy” all rolled into one, long, endless saga called “The Clintons — a Tale of Naked Ambition, Unquenchable Libido, Towering Greed, and Their Desperation to Be a Part of Every American’s Life as Long as We Live.”
It is about 20 years on from being “The Young and the Restless.” It has become “The Old and Relentless.” Washed Up. Won’t stop talking. Won’t stop spinning. Won’t stop lying. Won’t stop taking money.
The characters, well, William Shakespeare could not have thunk them up. Machiavelli would have blushed before he created such shameless creatures. And William Faulkner would have found all of their incestuous webs of shenanigans confounding. “Too confusing,” he would have written in the margins of the screenplay.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

JORGE RAMOS ADMITS TO ANN COULTER: BRING ALL OF MEXICO TO LIVE HERE!

Breitbart ^ | 5/26/2015 | Matthew Boyle 

MIAMI, Florida — Conservative columnist and 10-time New York Times bestselling author Ann Coulter steamrolled Fusion host Jorge Ramos in an appearance Tuesday filled with dramatic moments, none more interesting than where Coulter got Ramos to admit he doesn’t believe there should be a limit to how many Mexicans the United States will allow into this country—either legally or illegally.
[snip]

Ramos followed up by asking Coulter if he thinks America is a “stronger nation” because it’s “more diverse, more tolerant.”
“It’s not more diverse, it’s more Mexican,” Coulter shot back.
“I think it’s more diverse—much more diverse,” Ramos replied.
After Ramos said he thinks “diversity” is “fantastic” and “beautiful,” Coulter wrapped the full segment with a question of her own for him.
“We have taken in one quarter of the entire Mexican population,” Coulter asked him. “At what point will we have taken in enough, in your view?”
That’s where Ramos made his stunning admission.
“I think that with the legal system—“ he started to answer.
“Half the Mexican population? The entire Mexican population?” Coulter kept pressing.
“No, I think with the legal system we wouldn’t need and we wouldn’t be having hundreds of people dying crossing the border,” Ramos replied.
“That isn’t an answer to the question,” Coulter corrected him. “One quarter of the Mexican population. How much more do we have to take?”
Ramos dodged again, essentially admitting he supports no limit whatsoever.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

Charlie Daniels: 'Lock and Load America, Trouble is on the Way'!

Newsmax ^ | 05/25/15 | John Blosser 

Grammy-winning country music legend Charlie Daniels is fed up with President Obama's refusal to blame Muslims for terrorism and America's political correctness when it comes to Islamic murderers, and says, "Lock and load America, trouble is on the way."
In a lengthy statement on his website, triggered by the terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, on May 3, Daniels blasted both Muslims and Obama.
Daniels, whose hits, "The Devil Came Down To Georgia" and "The South's Gonna Do It Again" have earned him a place forever in country music history, wrote about the Garland shooting, "The ramifications of this incident should, and hopefully will, open the eyes of the people in America who can't accept the fact that there are radical Muslims in this country who are willing to die in the Islamic cause, taking as many Americans with them as they can. "Is America to walk on egg shells in practicing our constitutional rights from now on, observing strict rules of political correctness in a fruitless effort to placate the sensibilities of people who hack the heads off Christians and kidnap children for sex slaves?"
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Charlie-Daniels-ISIS-terrorism-Muslim/2015/05/25/id/646547/#ixzz3bLmLoKrg Urgent: Rate Obama on His Job Performance. Vote Here Now!
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...

Two birds, one stone: Ted Cruz punches press and Rainbow Jihad in mouth at same time!

Steve Deace.com ^ | May 21, 2015 | Jeff Dunetz 

Finally!
The economy sucks, the Islamic State now controls half of Syria and is poised to do the same in Iraq, our allies are losing faith in this country, and the media are acting as if gay marriage and a 14-year-old decision made by the previous president are the two most important issues facing the country.
Senator Ted Cruz says he’s had enough, at least when it comes to questions about gay unions. Coming out of a meeting with Beaumont Texas officials, the candidate for the GOP presidential nomination stopped to take some questions from the press.
After getting questions about his views on same-sex marriage for the umpteenth time, Cruz fired back:
“Is there something about the left — and I am going to put the media in this category — that is obsessed with sex?” Cruz asked after fielding multiple questions on gay rights. “ISIS is executing homosexuals — you want to talk about gay rights? This week was a very bad week for gay rights because the expansion of ISIS, the expansion of radical, theocratic, Islamic zealots that crucify Christians, that behead children and that murder homosexuals — that ought to be concerning you far more than asking six questions all on the same topic.”
Cruz also said he did not think his opposition to gay marriage will hurt his chances with moderate voters.
“With respect, I would suggest not drawing your questions from MSNBC. They have very few viewers and they are a radical and extreme partisan outlet,” Cruz told a reporter. He cited the expansion of “mandatory same-sex marriage” as an assault on religious liberty in the United States.
I say the senator is 100% correct. These are questions reporters do not ask of Democrats (remember the 2012 questions about birth control asked by George Stephanopoulos during 2012 debates?). The point is there are many important issues facing this country today. Gay marriage is not at the top of the priority list and there is very little a president can do to make changes either way on that issue.
This should be a lesson for people like Jeb Bush when they waffle on hypothetical questions about Iraq and similar flash points. Push back if you get a question that has noting to do with your policy proposals.

L.A. labor leaders seek minimum wage exemption for firms with union workers!

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 27, 2015 | PETER JAMISON, DAVID ZAHNISER AND EMILY ALPERT REYES 

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces.

The push to include an exception to the mandated wage increase for companies that let their employees collectively bargain was the latest unexpected detour as the city nears approval of its landmark legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.
For much of the past eight months, labor activists have argued against special considerations for business owners, such as restaurateurs, who said they would have trouble complying with the mandated pay increase.
But Rusty Hicks, who heads the county Federation of Labor and helps lead the Raise the Wage coalition, said Tuesday night that companies with workers represented by unions should have leeway to negotiate a wage below that mandated by the law.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...

The Differences Between Left and Right

Frontpagemag.com ^ | 5-27-2015 | Dennis Prager 

Most Americans hold either liberal or conservative positions on most matters. In many instances, however, they would be hard pressed to explain their position or the position they oppose.
But if you can’t explain both sides, how do you know you’re right?
At the very least, you need to understand both the liberal and conservative positions in order to effectively understand your own.
I grew up in a liberal world — New York, Jewish and Ivy League graduate school. I was an 8-year-old when President Dwight Eisenhower ran for re-election against the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson. I knew nothing about politics and had little interest in the subject. But I well recall knowing — knowing, not merely believing — that Democrats were “for the little guy” and Republicans were “for the rich guys.”
I voted Democrat through Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976. He was the last Democrat for which I voted.
Obviously, I underwent an intellectual change. And it wasn’t easy. Becoming a Republican was emotionally and psychologically like converting to another religion.
In fact, when I first voted Republican I felt as if I had abandoned the Jewish people. To be a Jew meant being a Democrat. It was that simple. It was — and remains — that fundamental to many American Jews’ identity.
Therefore, it took a lot of thought to undergo this conversion. I had to understand both liberalism and conservatism. Indeed, I have spent a lifetime in a quest to do so.
The fruit of that quest will appear in a series of columns explaining the differences between left and right.
I hope it will benefit conservatives in better understanding why they are conservative, and enable liberals to understand why someone who deeply cares about the “little guy” holds conservative — or what today are labeled as conservative — views.
Difference No. 1: Is Man Basically Good?
Left-of-center doctrines hold that people are basically good. On the other side, conservative doctrines hold that man is born morally flawed — not necessarily born evil, but surely not born good. Yes, we are born innocent — babies don’t commit crimes, after all — but we are not born good. Whether it is the Christian belief in Original Sin or the Jewish belief that we are all born with a yetzer tov (good inclination) and a yetzer ra (bad inclination) that are in constant conflict, the root value systems of the West never held that we are naturally good.
To those who argue that we all have goodness within us, two responses:
First, no religion or ideology denies that we have goodness within us; the problem is with denying that we have badness within us.
Second, it is often very challenging to express that goodness. Human goodness is like gold. It needs to be mined — and like gold mining, mining for our goodness can be very difficult.
This so important to understanding the left-right divide because so many fundamental left-right differences emanate from this divide.
Perhaps the most obvious one is that conservatives blame those who engage in violent criminal activity for their behavior more than liberals do. Liberals argue that poverty, despair, and hopelessness cause poor people, especially poor blacks — in which case racism is added to the list — to riot and commit violent crimes.
Here is President Barack Obama on May 18, 2015:
“In some communities, that sense of unfairness and powerlessness has contributed to dysfunction in those communities. … Where people don’t feel a sense of hope and opportunity, then a lot of times that can fuel crime and that can fuel unrest. We’ve seen it in places like Baltimore and Ferguson and New York. And it has many causes — from a basic lack of opportunity to some groups feeling unfairly targeted by their police forces.”
So, poor blacks who riot and commit other acts of violence do so largely because they feel neglected and suffer from deprivations.
Since people are basically good, their acts of evil must be explained by factors beyond their control. Their behavior is not really their fault; and when conservatives blame blacks for rioting and other criminal behavior, liberals accuse them of “blaming the victim.”
In the conservative view, people who do evil are to be blamed because they made bad choices — and they did so because they either have little self-control or a dysfunctional conscience. In either case, they are to blame. That’s why the vast majority of equally poor people — black or white — do not riot or commit violent crimes.
Likewise, many liberals believe that most of the Muslims who engage in terror do so because of the poverty and especially because of the high unemployment rate for young men in the Arab world. Yet, it turns out that most terrorists come from middle class homes. All the 9/11 terrorists came from middle- and upper-class homes. And of course Osama bin Laden was a billionaire.
Material poverty doesn’t cause murder, rape or terror. Moral poverty does. That’s one of the great divides between left and right. And it largely emanates from their differing views about whether human nature is innately good.

Clinton Foundation hit with racketeering lawsuit!

Wash Examiner ^ | 5/27/15 | SARAH WESTWOOD 

Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation have been hit with a racketeering lawsuit in Florida court.
The lawsuit, filed by Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch, includes a legal request to have the Florida judge seize the private server on which Hillary Clinton and her aides hosted their emails while she served as secretary of state.
Klayman has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Clintons and other prominent politicians.
The racketeering, influenced and corrupt organizations, or RICO, case alleges the former first couple and their family philanthropy traded political favors for donations or generous speaking fees for Bill Clinton while his wife was the nation's chief diplomat.
"Negotiations by email about influencing U.S. foreign policy or U.S. Government actions to benefit donors to ... The Clinton Foundation or sponsors of speaking engagements would not be captured on a U.S. Government email account because her emails would not be with a U.S. Government official," Klayman said in court documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.
"Hillary Clinton deleted 32,000 email messages from her email server that included her communications arranging, negotiating, and agreeing upon speaking engagements by Bill Clinton in return for large speaking fees and donations to The Clinton Foundation," the documents, dated May 20, said

What a catch! Suitor offers Obama 50 cows, 70 sheep, 30 goats to marry his daughter Malia!

BizPac Review ^ | 5/27/15 | Steve Berman 

President Obama’s daughter Malia has won her first marriage offer, and boy is he a keeper!
Malia, who will be 17 on July 4, received a serious matrimony proposal from a Kenyan lawyer who’s willing to put all his wealth on the table to win her hand.
Felix Kiprono reportedly told the scandal-loving Kenyan tabloid The Nairobian he’s willing to pay the president 50 cows, 70 sheep and 30 goats as a dowry for Malia.
”I got interested in her in 2008,” when Malia was 10 years old, Kipromo told the newspaper. “As a matter of fact, I haven’t dated anyone since and promise to be faithful to her.”
“I have shared this with my family and they are willing to help me raise the bride price,” he said. “People might say I am after the family’s money, which is not the case. My love is real.”
Such a find!
The Obamas had better act quickly before this one gets away.
“I am currently drafting a letter to Obama asking him to please have Malia accompany him for this trip,” Kiprono said.
The odds of Malia going to Kenya with the president are surely the longest of long shots. But, as they say, there’s still a chance.
If she does go, her anxious suitor will be there waiting for her, along with his barnyard dowry. Young Malia has surely always imagined her wedding day to be just like that.
It seems Kiprono may have ignited a bidding war of sorts.

First Baltimore Riot Bill Comes Due: $20,000,000 – Baltimore City Leadership Send Bill To FEMA!

Conservative Treehouse ^ | May 26, 2015 

Complete Headline: First Baltimore Riot Bill Comes Due: $20,000,000 – Baltimore City Leadership Send Bill To FEMA, Forces All Americans To Pay….
It takes some kind of nerve to intentionally “provide space for people to destroy” a city, and then ask everyone who doesn’t live in the city to pay for it.

…”The $20 million estimate released by city officials does not include the cost to businesses of the unrest. The figure also does not include state or federal costs. It’s unclear when those figures will be tallied”…
[Snip]
The expenses — which go before the city’s spending board for approval Wednesday — include overtime for police and firefighters, damage to city-owned property and repaying other jurisdictions for police and other assistance.
(Excerpt) Read more at theconservativetreehouse.com ...

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