Monthly Archives: May 2015

How Naive Do You Have To Be To Believe This?

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Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article today about the latest twists and turns on Hillary Clinton’s private server and private emails. A few months ago, Mrs. Clinton explained to America that she never used her private email server for classified emails. Some of us were skeptical about that statement because, as Secretary of State, a lot of her emails would be at least confidential, but that was her story. Now that many of her emails have been made public (how did that happen when she erased the server? Did only the emails that would not be seriously damaging survive?)

The article reminds us:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton received information on her private email server that has now been classified about the deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi.

The email in question, forwarded to Clinton by her deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan, relates to reports of arrests in Libya of possible suspects in the attack.

…The information was not classified at the time the email was sent but was upgraded from “unclassified” to “secret” on Friday at the request of the FBI, according to State Department officials. They said 23 words of the Nov. 18, 2012, message were redacted from the day’s release of 296 emails totaling 896 pages to protect information that could damage foreign relations.

Because the information was not classified at the time the email was sent, no laws were violated, but Friday’s redaction shows that Clinton received sensitive information on her unsecured personal server.

…QUESTION: Were you ever — were you ever specifically briefed on the security implications of using — using your own email server and using your personal address to email with the president?

CLINTON: I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. So I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.

Note the statement that says the information was not classified at the time. The author of an email determines its classification. Why did the author of the emails that are now classified change their status?

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. The article includes a very interesting email exchange between Hillary Clinton and Jacob Sullivan. One email includes a second email address (after the existence of a second email address was denied).

The article concludes:

Note the e-mail address on this message — not the hdr22 address that the Clintons have insisted was the only one used by Hillary, but the hrod17 address that got exposed a few days ago. In this e-mail, it looks like Hillary used this address for her more political issues, although without looking at the whole record, it would be difficult to establish that kind of a pattern. This does show, though, that Hillary understood the significance of the collapse of that false narrative, and got her State Department staff to do pre-emptive oppo research on her behalf.

Don’t forget that this is just the first release of material. We will likely see more problems along the same lines, and that may or may not include issues of classification.

Is There A Realist In The House?

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While I sit here in North Carolina enjoying the beautiful weather, the Middle East is falling apart. There are three articles in today’s Wall Street Journal that cause me to wonder about the future of the Middle East and the future of America.

The first article, entitled, “Sunni Tribes in Iraq Divided Over Battle Against Islamic State” deals with the problem of tribalism in Iraq. Many Iraqis oppose ISIS. They understand that ISIS is not who they want running their country. They are willing to fight ISIS–right up to the point where as Sunnis they are asked to fight with Shiites. Some Sunnis support the Islamic State being created by ISIS. Many do not. It is very difficult to fight an ISIS takeover of Iraq when all Iraqis do not oppose such a takeover.

The second article, entitled, “Islamic State Gains New Leverage in Syria” deals with the ISIS capture of Palmyra in Syria. Palmyra, home to many archaeological treasures, is now in the hands of a group that has destroyed many archaeological treasures in the past.

The article reports:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that monitors the conflict via a network of activists inside the country, said that following Palmyra’s fall on Thursday that Islamic State now controls half of the country, including most of its oil fields. The crude provides a steady stream of revenue.

The third article (actually an editorial), entitled “I Don’t Think We’re Losing” deals with President Obama’s recent statement after the fall of Ramadi in Iraq. What does losing look like according to the President?

The article reports:

It’s also worth mulling over Mr. Obama’s claim that he always “anticipated” this would be “a multiyear campaign.” This is the same President who criticized George W. Bush for conducting endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan and vowing to end it in both places. The Iraqi city of Mosul fell last June, Mr. Obama laid out his anti-ISIS strategy in September, and eight months later he promises years of more American commitment to Iraq.

At least Mr. Bush, for all his mistakes after the fall of Saddam Hussein, ordered a change of strategy that left Iraq stable by the time Mr. Obama took office. On present trend Mr. Obama’s Cool Hand Luke generalship will leave his successor an Iraq in turmoil and a mini-caliphate entrenched across hundreds of miles. If this isn’t “losing,” how does the President define victory?

I don’t have the answer to the problems in the Middle East (and the rise of ISIS). However, I do know that there are some very good leaders in our military who do have answers. I question whether or not they are currently being listened to. I do not support ground troops, but also do not support standing idly by as innocent civilians are being killed or forced to flee with only the clothes on their backs. We said ‘never again’ after the holocaust killed millions of Jews. This is our ‘never again.’ ISIS is killing both Jews (if there are any remaining in the Middle East outside of Israel) and Christians. I believe God will hold us accountable for our inaction.

And The Next Step Is?????

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There is such a thing as a slippery slope. In terms of upending the concept of traditional marriage–a union between one man and one woman– that slope began with Lawrence v. Texas in 2003. This was the case that struck down sodomy laws in Texas and thirteen other states. While I question the idea of the government having any jurisdiction in what goes on between consenting adults in their own homes, this case opened a true Pandora’s Box. Those who support homosexual marriage say that there will be no further definition of marriage other than to allow homosexual couples to marry. However, that does not seem to be the case. Yesterday World Net Daily posted a story showing a situation that should give pause to all of us.

The story reports:

Norman MacArthur and Bill Novak, father and son, though not biologically, will soon be husband and … whatever, reports the Patch of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The pair, both in their 70s, have been together for 50 years and registered in New York City as domestic partners in 1994. But when they moved to Pennsylvania, they discovered their domestic partnership wasn’t recognized, and legalized same-sex marriage was nowhere on the horizon.

…When the United States District Court declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania’s marriage laws prohibiting same-sex marriage unconstitutional in 2014, Novak and MacArthur wanted to tie the knot in marriage, but their earlier legal gambit now became an obstacle. Pennsylvania law doesn’t permit marriage between parents and children.

…So, a week ago, the father and son’s Petition to Vacate Adoption Decree was approved, and the pair simply became two single men now allowed to marry.

So let’s look at this. They were not actually father and son, so they were able to dissolve that relationship in the courts. However, what would happen if a parent and child wanted to marry? Could the parent disown the child and proceed? Homosexual marriage redefines the traditional definition of marriage. To people who hold a Biblical view of homosexuality and of marriage, it is not acceptable. To people who simply believe in tradition, homosexual marriage in not acceptable. There are two possible answers here that might make things a little more palatable for both sides–one is to simply make marriage a civil matter and let the churches perform whatever marriages they choose (no penalty to churches who do not want to perform homosexual marriages) or to give civil unions the same legal rights and benefits as marriage. Neither is a perfect solution, but I believe both are fair to each side of the argument.

The gay community needs to understand that there are people in our society that simply do not condone what they are doing–just as they often do not condone the practice of Biblical Christianity. Equal under the law is not a concept that allows people to randomly sue other people who do not share their views. Unfortunately our society has forgotten that. We have had thousands of years where marriage was between a man and a woman. This has been an important building block of our civilization, and I believe we tamper with that building block at our own risk.

 

 

Fiddling While Rome Burns

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I am sure you have noticed–the Middle East is on fire–Christians, Jews, and people of other religions are being slaughtered indiscriminately. America has stepped down from its role as a defender of freedom and gotten involved in some very odd alliances. Our nation, once a beacon of liberty, is now on the side of the highest bidder or the strongest dictator.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

The Washington Examiner is reporting today that in his speech today at the Coast Guard Academy, President Obama cites climate change as one of the causes of the unrest in the Middle East.

The article reports:

“I understand climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world, yet what we also know is that severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram,” Obama said in his speech.

“It’s now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East,” he added.

We have had crop failures in various areas of the world since we have had people in various parts of the world. We have also had climate cycles in the world since we have had a world. We have also had nasty leaders of various groups since we have had a world. Is it possible that evil people might be the root of the problem? I can’t believe any of the graduates at the Coast Guard Academy bought into any of the garbage our President was spewing.

The article further reports:

“The science is indisputable. The fossil fuels we burn release carbon dioxide, which traps heat, and the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are now higher than they have been in 800,000 years.”

“The planet is getting warmer,” he added. “Fourteen of the 15 hottest years on record have been in the last 15 years.”

Obama stressed that climate change is an issue that will affect the jobs that Coast Guard graduates were trained to do. “Cadets, the threat of a changing climate cuts to the very core of your service,” he said.

“I’m here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” he said. “So we need to act, we need to act now.”

If President Obama believes that the biggest threat to global security is climate change, he needs to be removed from office as soon as possible for incompetence.

For those of you who still believe in man-caused global warming, I suggest you follow the link to wattsupwiththat.com to get the scientific facts.

The Truth In A Chart

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Received in my email from a friend:

Below is a brief summary chart of what the Obama regime has really done to our great nation.

1.    Our national debt rose 80% to over $18 trillion.

2.    Our population rose 17 million, but the number of taxpayers only went up 9 million, the workforce rose only 4 million,  13 million desperate people stopped looking for work and dropped OUT of the workforce because jobs don’t exist (millions applying for and getting designated as ”disabled” so they don’t starve) and actual unemployment rose 4 million.

3.    The “food stamp” president, Obama,  has seen recipients rise 16 million (almost as much as the 17 million population increase!) to 46 million. Those living in poverty rose 16% to 44 million and US manufacturing jobs dropped from 19 to 12 million since 2000.  Why?  Because our highest-in-the-developed-world corporate tax rate of 35% is driving jobs out of our country as fast as corporations can legally incorporate off shore to maximize profits and survive.

graphofWorkforceThis, my friends, is where we are.

T

Rewriting History To Help An Election Campaign

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Yesterday the Daily Caller posted an article entitled, “Stop It Liberals: Bush Didn’t Lie About Iraq Having WMDs.” Please follow the link to read the article, I am simply going to focus on the reason this is important.

The seemingly only candidate the Democrats have right now is Hillary Clinton. She has some basic scandal problems. If the media can get the focus off of Hillary Clinton’s scandals and back to Bush Derangement Syndrome, they can tell people that a Republican President is not a good idea–without talking about Hillary or her scandals (or qualifications).

There was much more to the Iraq War than WMDs. Andrew McCarthy posted an article at National Review yesterday talking about the reasons for invading Iraq. Please follow the link and read it–it is extremely insightful.

Like it or not, the 2016 Presidential Campaign is upon us. The press has been given its marching orders and is dutifully following them. Unless Americans begin to look past what the mainstream media is telling us, we will have another President who does not believe in the basic tenets that America was founded on. It is our choice. That is the reason the articles at the Daily Caller and National Review about the invasion of Iraq are important.

 

Unfortunately, Stonewalling Works

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Yesterday John Hinderaker at Power Line posted a story about new information about the Benghazi attack in 2012. The new information is the result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch asking for documents related to Benghazi. The Judicial Watch FOIA request was submitted years ago, but the Obama Administration had not produced the requested documents. In September of last year, a federal court ordered the State Department and the Defense Department to produce certain documents. The documents are slowly being produced. They are heavily redacted, but Judicial Watch has received them.

Why are we still talking about Benghazi almost three years later–because the Obama Administration has consistently blocked any investigation into the events surrounding the attack.

The article includes some of the documents Judicial Watch has received, and I would strongly suggest following the above link to the article and reading those documents.

Some highlights from the article:

The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

…The attack on the American consulate in Benghazi was planned and executed by the Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BOAR). [Ed.: Rahman is the Blind Sheikh.] BCOAR is also responsible for past attacks on the Red Cross in Benghazi and the attack on the British ambassador, they have approximately 120 members.

…Weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the Port of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The weapons shipped during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG’s, and 125 mm and 155mm howitzers missiles.

During the immediate aftermath of, and following the uncertainty caused by, the downfall of the (Qaddafi) regime in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012, weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria. The Syrian ports were chosen due to the small amount of cargo traffic transiting these two ports. The ships used to transport the weapons were medium-sized and able to hold 10 or less shipping containers of cargo.

I think there are still some questions that need to be answered.

 

The Canary In The Coal Mine

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Tonight I attended an event at Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts, entitled, “From Austria to Israel: The Worldwide Assault on Christians and Jews.” The speakers were Elizabeth Sabatisch Wolf, Renya Matti, and Moshe and Leah Goldsmith. All of these people are on the front lines of the battle for Western Civilization, and each one had a story to tell.

Ms. Sabatisch Wolf was charged with hate speech in Austria when a journalist recorded a seminar on Islam she was conducting. The European Union does not have a First Amendment that guarantees the right of free speech, and the growing Muslim population of the EU is using the lack of free speech as a weapon to prohibit any criticism of Islam. Mrs. Sabatisch spoke about the growing problem of anti-Semitism in Europe as a result of Europe’s exploding Muslim population.

Ms. Matti is an Assyrian Christian who explained what is happening to Christians and Jews in the Middle East. She reminded us that radical Muslims want to eliminate anyone who does not practice Islam. Her family fled Syria and is now living in Austria. She mentioned that the groups that were attempting to overthrow the government of Syria had been killing Christians and Jews from the beginning of the Syrian civil war. There are no supporters of freedom in that war.

Moshe and Leah Goldsmith are a Jewish couple from Brooklyn who now live in Itamar, Israel. Itamar is in the center of Israel, in the region of Judea and Samaria. They have lived there for more than thirty years, and have witnessed terrorism first hand. Moshe was one of the first responders the night the Fogel family was murdered. They explained the way the media has misrepresented the fact that Judea and Samaria are in the heart of Israel and are an integral part of the country.

The event was a reminder that all of us have a choice to make. What are we going to do about radical Islam? It is not only a European problem; it is not only an Israel problem. After recent events in Garland, Texas, many of us have realized that it is also an American problem. As much as we may want to ignore it, radical Islam will not ignore us. It is time to educate ourselves to this major threat to our freedom and our lives.

Videos of tonight’s event will be posted at the Gates of Vienna website in the near future. It is time for all Americans to wake up and defend their freedom.

 

 

The Anti-Common Core Rally In Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 16th

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This article is composed of information taken from a slightly longer article written by the Common Core Diva. Please follow the link to the article to read the Twitter posts. Here are the highlights of the article:

For the anti CCSS warriors out there, this “Riddle Me This” article’s query will be super easy to solve!! What do you get when you take a room full of concerned citizens, add a dash of sassiness, throw in lots of facts, AND create a spark of inspiration??? The answer is: the North Carolina Academic Freedom Alliance’s “Rally in Raleigh”!

I was honored to be among the featured speakers there for the event. In attendance were citizens from all over the state of NC. Thanks to social media, anti CCSS warriors across the globe were able to keep updated, as well. Some pretty big news was shared that can be vital to our movement.

I’m providing a recap of the information shared via Twitter yesterday  in the event you haven’t been able to access the social media outlet. It’s also helpful to have all your information in one article.

The Morning was Off to a Great Start:

The Rally opened with a great thinking question for those in attendance that went something like this..“Why bother fighting CCSS? We know those behind it are bigger than us.” Several vocal responses were given, but by far and away the best one was “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

Presentations:

Up first for the day was Andrea Dillon (aka ‘LadyLiberty1885′) as she gave us the NC CCSS Facts NOT from the media, but from her own research and digging through NC’s legislation and hearings. We learned things the big media sources missed! She also shared with us just how and when she got involved in the CCSS fight.

Tireless Teachers:

Also presenting to us during the Rally were 2 retired-from-full -time-teaching-but-active-in- either-substituting-in-classrooms-or-tutoring NC teachers. Their devotion to fighting CCSS is epic, their work invaluable, and their faith in the positive prospect the NC Plan (the completed set of standards that blows the doors off CCSS) is truly exciting.

The Good Doctor:

While there was a tremendous amount of great information, the MOST inspiring bit of news we all received was that Dr. Rosemary Stein officially announced her plans to run for NC State Superintendent of NC Public Schools!! Dr. Stein presented a brilliant presentation on the horrid developmental damage given to our young students, thanks to CCSS. Her expertise (along with her husband’s; he’s also in the medical profession) in not only children, but their learning gave us much insight. Her passion against Common Core was refreshing. When she said she could handle the awesome job of head of DPI, we certainly were thrilled! (During Andrea’s presentation, it was shared that the huge conflict of interest with the current head, Dr. Atkinson {she’s both head of NC DPI AND the President of CCSSO} is certainly investigation worthy.)

The Final Author of the NC Plan:

Jerry Egolf, the last of the 3 NC Plan authors also presented much information during the Rally. Like everyone who presented, his entire portion will be available on You Tube in about 1 week.

Closing:

While there is SO much more I could go on and on about, I am anxious to get this news to you! If you can’t wait for the Rally’s You Tube video debut in about 1 week (has to be edited), you can always email the North Carolina Academic Freedom Alliance main contact person, Don Watson and request them via email. They will be returned to you as files you can download, I believe. To email Don, dwatson83@att.net

One other HUGE bit of anti CCSS Warrior news is that there are currently 3 states which are also wanting to use the NC Plan!! TN, WI, and FL. Wouldn’t that be wonderful: 4 states so embedded with CCSS that they actually face an alternative superior to CCSS?!

Oh, as far as what I shared..I think you can guess some of it! There will be some surprises on the video for you from others, as well as myself.

Expanding The Bounds Of Ridiculousness

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I don’t know if ridiculousness is a word, but in this case it surely applies. Last Monday, Breitbart.com reported that George Washington University Law School Professor John Banzhaf has filed a complaint with the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights against Catholic University. The Professor is charging the University with  creating an “offensive” environment in which Muslims are intimidated out of proper reverence for their own religion because of the large amount of Catholic imagery draping the halls. Dude, it’s Catholic University. What did you expect–statues of Buddha?

The article reports:

It’s hard to keep a straight face while reading all that, but rest assured the rusty gears and chains of the bureaucracy began clanking as soon as Banzhaf’s thick complaint was dumped into the hopper of the anti-discrimination machine. “A spokesperson for the human rights office said they are investigating Banzhaf’s complaint — and the inquiry could take as long as six months,” writes BeliefNet.

“I don’t know what the attorney wants them to do – if he wants them to actually move the Basilica or if the Muslim students can find someplace where they don’t have to look at it,” an incredulous Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society told Fox News. “One wouldn’t expect a Jewish institution to be responsible for providing liturgical opportunities for other faiths and I wouldn’t expect a Catholic institution to do that.”

“This attorney is really turning civil rights on its head,” Reilly continued. “He’s using the law for his own discrimination against the Catholic institution and essentially saying Catholic University cannot operate according to Catholic principles.”

…This is all part of the effort to create a legal and super-legal regulatory environment in which maintaining faith-based institutions is nearly impossible… or, at least, so difficult that these institutions will be forever subdued beneath the heel of the almighty State. Just wait until churches lose their tax-exempt status for refusing to comply with Big Government decrees about same-sex marriage, and you’ll see how that works.

Religious freedom is under attack in America. It won’t be long before the tax-exempt status of churches will be under fire. If Americans value the right to freedom of religion, they need to begin to stand up now. One of the things to note is a subtle changing of the First Amendment. We are hearing people speak about ‘freedom of worship‘ rather than ‘freedom of religion.’ It’s a subtle difference, but the word change is an effort to keep religious people out of the public forum. Freedom of worship keeps God in the church. Freedom of religion allows God in the public square.

I Guess That Under President Obama There Will Be Atheists In Foxholes

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Fox News posted a story today about Air Force Maj. Gen. Craig Olson. General Olson spoke at a National Day of Prayer Task Force event on May 7. In his speech, he talked about how God has guided his career.

The article reports:

The Air Force Times reports that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has taken issue with Olson’s remarks, is calling for the two-star general to be court-martialed and “aggressively and very visibly brought to justice for his unforgivable crimes and transgressions.”

The group authored a letter to Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Walsh, arguing that Olson’s speech violates rules within the Air Force, which prohibits airmen from endorsing a particular faith or belief.

Since when is speaking about your personal faith an ‘unforgivable crime and transgression?” If this sort of foolishness persists, we will lose a lot of our best military men.

Why Nuclear Disarmament Is A Really Bad Idea

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The Washington Free Beacon reported yesterday that Russia’s envoy to NATO has stated that Russia will bolster forces in Ukraine and has not ruled out bringing nuclear weapons into Ukraine.

The article reports:

“Everything that we do in Crimea fully complies with all obligations of the Russian Federation under international treaties. We do not violate anything, there are no prohibitions on us deploying certain weapons systems,” said Alexander Grushko, the envoy, when asked if nuclear arms would be placed in Crimea.

Grushko also declined to say whether nuclear arms currently are deployed inside the Ukrainian territory forcibly annexed by Russia in March 2014. He made the remarks in a video press conference from Moscow with reporters in Brussels, where NATO headquarters is located.

European Command spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks said Grushko’s comments were “rhetoric” and a “diatribe” that would not alter the NATO position on the issue.

Russia stopped worrying about NATO when President Obama changed his mind and did not sent the missile shield to Poland.

The United States Congress has asked that the secretary of defense notify them within seven days if Russia brings nuclear weapons into Ukraine and explain the U.S. strategy and response.

The article concludes:

There have also been U.S. intelligence reports indicating Russia plans to deploy nuclear arms in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, where Iskander short-range missiles are said to be deployed.

Grushko, meanwhile, also called on the United States to withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, specifically from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Turkey.

“I am talking about the practice of the so-called nuclear missions of the NATO states,” he said. “It’s not a new issue, it emerged before the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was signed in 1968.”

“It is strictly forbidden under the NPT. The first article of the treaty prohibits nuclear countries to convey any nuclear arms or other nuclear explosive devices to anyone directly or indirectly,” he added.

“The U.S. must pull out these nuclear bombs to its territory,” Grushko said. “It would be a serious contribution to strategic stability and security in Europe.”

The United States is believed to have around 200 nuclear weapons in Europe. Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal is at least 2,000 weapons.

If we do not stand up to the Russians at some point, there is a good possibility that they will seize control of more European territory that belongs to countries we are supposed to be allied with.

In November of last year, I posted a story about Ukraine that included the following:

A deal was signed on February 5, 1994, by Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, John Major and Leonid Kuchma—the then-leaders of the United States, Russia, United Kingdom and Ukraine—guaranteeing the security of Ukraine in exchange for the return of its ICBMs to Moscow’s control. The last SS-24 missiles moved from Ukrainian territory in June 1996, leaving Kiev defenseless against its nuclear-armed neighbor.

That deal, known as the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, was not a formal treaty but a diplomatic memorandum of understanding. Still, the terms couldn’t be clearer: Russia, the U.S. and U.K. agreed “to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine…reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine.”

I don’t think we have lived up to our part of the bargain. Ukraine is one more country that we are supposed to be allied with that the Obama Administration has treated very badly.

I Guess The Technology Had Already Been Funded

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US News & World Report reported yesterday that the section of the railway track where the Amtrak train crashed did have a computer system that allows speeding trains to be slowed remotely. Unfortunately, the system was not turned on at the time.

The article reports:

“The PTC was installed in the section of track where the Philadelphia accident occurred, but for whatever reason had not been turned on, the PTC in that section,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., tells U.S. News, referring to “positive train control.” 

His account was corroborated by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.

“The tracks had PTC, the train had PTC,” Harris says.

 Both congressmen are members of the House Appropriations Committee, which contacted Amtrak for more information about the crash.

“According to Amtrak, PTC was installed in the section of track where the Philly accident occurred,” a committee source writes in an email to U.S. News. “There have been delays in ‘turning it on’ associated with FCC dealings and getting the bandwidth to upgrade the radios from 900 MHz to something higher (for more reliability).”

Amtrak’s application for the bandwidth needed to use the positive train control system was approved in “early March,” an FCC official says.

Because speed has been cited as a major cause of this tragic crash, this is critical information. Somehow, this has not been widely mentioned in the discussion.

Congressional Testimony We All Need To Hear

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On May 11, Life News reported on the Dr. Anthony Levatino’s testimony before the Congressional Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. Dr. Anthony Levatino is a pro-life physician from New Mexico but, before having a change of heart on the issue of abortion he was an OBGYN who also performed abortions. According to the article Levatino has performed as many as 1,200 abortions — some of them after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

This is his testimony:

Chairman Franks and distinguished members of the subcommittee, my name is Anthony Levatino. I am a board-certified obstetrician gynecologist. I received my medical degree from Albany Medical College in Albany, NY in 1976 and completed my OB-GYN residency training at Albany Medical Center in 1980.

In my 33-year career, I have been privileged to practice obstetrics and gynecology in both private and university settings. From June 1993 until September 2000, I was associate professor of OB-GYN at the Albany Medical College serving at different times as both medical student director and residency program director. I have also dedicated many years to private practice and currently operate a solo gynecology practice in Las Cruces, NM. I appreciate your kind invitation to address issues related to the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

During my residency training and during my first five years of private practice, I performed both first and second trimester abortions. Duringmy residency in the late 1970s,second trimester abortions were typically performed using saline infusion or, occasionally, prostaglandin instillation techniques. These procedures were difficult, expensive and necessitated that patients go through labor to abort their pre-born children. By 1980, at the time I entered private practice first in Florida and then in upstate New York, those of us in the abortion industry were looking for a more efficient method of second trimester abortion.

The Suction D&E procedure offered clear advantages over older installation methods. The procedure was much quicker and never ran the risk of a live birth. Understand that my partner and I were not running an abortion clinic. We practiced general obstetrics and gynecology but abortion was definitely part of that practice. Relatively few gynecologists in upstate NY would perform such a procedure and we saw an opportunity to expand our abortion practice.

I performed first trimester suction D&C abortions in my office up to 10 weeks from last menstrual period and later procedures in an outpatient hospital setting. From 1981 through February 1985, I performed approximately 1200 abortions. Over 100 of them were second trimester Suction D&E procedures up to 24 weeks gestation.

Imagine if you can that you are a pro-choice obstetrician/gynecologist like I once was. Your patient today is 24 weeks pregnant. At twenty-four weeks from last menstrual period, her uterus is two finger-breadths above the umbilicus.

If you could see her baby, which is quite easy on an ultrasound, she would be as long as your hand plus a half from the top of her head to the bottom of her rump not counting the legs. Your patient has been feeling her baby kick for the last 2 months or more but now she is asleep on an operating room table and you are there to help her with her problem pregnancy.

The first task is remove the laminaria that had earlier been placed in the cervix to dilate it sufficiently to allow the procedure you are about to perform. With that accomplished, direct your attention to the surgical instruments arranged on a small table to your right. The first instrument you reach for is a 14-French suction catheter. It is clear plastic and about nine inches long. It has a bore through the center approximately ¾ of an inch in diameter. Picture yourself introducing this catheter through the cervix and instructing the circulating nurse to turn on the suction machine which is connected through clear plastic tubing to the catheter. What you will see is a pale yellow fluid that looks a lot like urine coming through the catheter into a glass bottle on the suction machine. This is the amniotic fluid that surrounded the baby to protect her.

With suction complete, look for your Sopher clamp. This instrument is about thirteen inches long and made of stainless steel. At the end are located jaws about 2 ½ inches long and about ¾ of an inch wide with rows of sharp ridges or teeth. This instrument is for grasping and crushing tissue. When it gets hold of something, it does not let go. A second trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure. The baby can be in any orientation or position inside the uterus. Picture yourself reaching in with the Sopher clamp and grasping anything you can.

At twenty-four weeks gestation, the uterus is thin and soft so be careful not to perforate or puncture the walls. Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard–really hard. You feel something let go and out pops  a fully formed leg about six inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart and lungs.

The toughest part of a D&E abortion is extracting the baby’s head. The head of a baby that age is about the size of a large plum and is now free floating inside the uterine cavity. You can be pretty sure you have hold of it if the Sopher clamp is spread about as far as your fingers will allow. You will know you have it right when you crush d own on the clamp and see white gelatinous material coming through the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. You can then extract the skull pieces. Many times a little face will come out and stare back at you.

Congratulations! You have just successfully performed a second trimester Suction D&E abortion. You just affirmed her right to choose.

If you refuse to believe that this procedure inflicts severe pain on that unborn child, please think again.

Before I close, I want to make a comment on the necessity and usefulness of utilizing second and third trimester abortion to save women’s lives. I often hear the argument that we must keep abortion legal in order to save women’s lives in cases of life threatening conditions that can and do arise in pregnancy.

Albany Medical Center where I worked for over seven years is a tertiary referral center that accepts patients with life threatening conditions related to or caused by pregnancy. I personally treated hundreds of women with such conditions in my tenure there. There are several conditions that can arise or worsen typically during the late second or third trimester of pregnancy that require immediate care. In many of those cases, ending or “terminating” the pregnancy, if you prefer, can be life saving. But is abortion a viable treatment option in this setting? I maintain that it usually, if not always, is not.

Before a Suction D&E procedure can be performed, the cervix must first be sufficiently dilated. In my practice, this was accomplished with serial placement of laminaria. Laminaria is a type of sterilized seaweed that absorbs water over several hours and swells to several times its original diameter. Multiple placements of several laminaria at a time are absolutely required prior to attempting a suction D&E.

In the mid second trimester, this requires approximately 36 hours to accomplish. When utilizing the D&X abortion procedure, popularly known as Partial-Birth Abortion, this process requires three days as explained by Dr. Martin Haskell in his 1992 paper that first described this type of abortion.

In cases where a mother’s life is seriously threatened by her pregnancy, a doctor more often than not doesn’t have 36 hours, much less 72 hours, to resolve the problem. Let me illustrate with a real -life case that I managed while at the Albany Medical Center. A patient arrived one night at 28 weeks gestation with severe pre-eclampsia or toxemia.

Her blood pressure on admission was 220/160. As you are probably aware, a normal blood pressure is approximately 120/80. This patient’s pregnancy was a threat to her life and the life of her unborn child. She could very well be minutes or hours away from a major stroke. This case was managed successfully by rapidly stabilizing the patient’s blood pressure and “terminating” her pregnancy by Cesarean section. She and her baby did well. This is a typical case in the world of high-risk obstetrics. In most such cases, any attempt to perform an abortion “to save the mother’s life” would entail undue and dangerous delay in providing appropriate, truly life-saving care.

During my time at Albany Medical Center I managed hundreds of such cases by “terminating”pregnancies to save mother’s lives. In all those hundreds of cases, the number of unborn children that I had to deliberately kill was zero.

Abortion is a lucrative industry dedicated to killing babies. There are situations where abortions are medically necessary, but they are few and far between. What abortion has become is a vehicle for killing minority babies. Notice that the majority of abortion clinics are in poor minority neighborhoods. Notice that despite the fact that only thirteen percent of American women are minorities, almost one-third of the abortions performed are to minority women. If you support abortion, keep in mind that when a woman enters an abortion clinic, she is carrying a baby–a life. When she leaves the clinic, that baby is dead.

 

When You Turn On The Light, The Cockroaches Scatter

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On May 8th I posted an article about Lyndon McLellan, who owns and operates a local convenience store in Fairmont, North Carolina. Mr. McLellan was the victim of an IRS tactic called civil asset forfeiture, a tactic that allows the IRS to take the assets of a small business owner without charging them with anything. The procedure is unconstitutional, but that hasn’t stopped the IRS. I have posted a few articles on this practice. If you use the search engine on this site, you can find them. Basically, if a business consistently is making bank deposits of less than $10,000, the IRS accuses them of ‘structuring’ to avoid scrutiny (and paperwork) and seizes their assets.

The IRS seized slightly over $100,000 from Mr. McLellan. Mr. McLellan was told that if he went public, the IRS would make things worse for him (how much worse can it get after they have taken all of your money for no reason?). The IRS offered to give him half of his money back. Mr. McLellan went to the press.

The Daily Caller posted a follow-up on this story yesterday.

The Daily Caller reports:

McLellan went to the press anyway. The IRS quickly changed its tune and gave Lyndon McLellan back all $107,702 of his money.

“The government cannot turn Lyndon’s life upside down and then walk away as if nothing happened,” Robert Everett Johnson, a lawyer at the Institute for Justice who represents Lyndon, said in a statement. “Lyndon should not have to pay for the government’s lapse in judgment. And the government certainly should not profit from its misbehavior by keeping the interest that it earned while holding Lyndon’s money. We’ll continue to litigate this case until the government makes Lyndon whole.”

When you turn on the light, the cockroaches scatter.

This Will Not Help The Peace Process

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CBN News is reporting today that the Vatican has officially recognized a Palestinian state. The leaders of Palestine have assumed that this means Israel will go back to the 1967 borders and that Jerusalem will be the capital of the new state. This is not a recipe for peace. Nations of the world have poured billions of dollars into the West Bank, one area the Palestinians are claiming for their new state. The current government of Palestine has used that money to buy weapons and build tunnels to attack Israel. The current government of Palestine has also refused to acknowledge that Israel has the right to exist. This is not a recipe for peace.

The article reports:

“Formal Vatican recognition of Palestine, a state that, in reality, does not yet exist, is a regrettable move and is counterproductive to all who seek true peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” AJC (American Jewish Committee) Executive Director David Harris said.

“There is a reason why the U.S., the European Union and others have long agreed that statehood can only be achieved through direct, bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” he continued.

“Meanwhile, the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, just marked the tenth anniversary of what was meant to be a four-year term, and Gaza is governed by Hamas, a terror organization. What and where exactly is the ‘State of Palestine’ today?” Harris queried.

“We are fully cognizant of the Pope’s good will and desire to be a voice for peaceful coexistence, which is best served, we believe, by encouraging a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rather than unilateral gestures outside the framework of the negotiating table,” Harris concluded.

This is not a recipe for peace. It is encouraging a non-democratic government that supports terrorism in its quest to wipe out Israel.

Ghouls On Parade

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The crash of an Amtrak train on Tuesday night was a tragedy. It was also an accident. Sometimes accidents can be avoided; sometimes they cannot. However, it is truly disgusting to see the death of American citizens innocently riding a train used for political purposes. While authorities were still rescuing the injured from the crash scene, Democrats in Washington went to work blaming the accident on Republican spending cuts. First of all, I would like to point out that President Obama has been in office since January 2009. If Amtrak spending were a priority for him, would the President have asked for more spending while the Democrat party had full control of the House and Senate? Would he have asked while the Democrat party had majorities in both the House and the Senate? To blame anyone before investigators have had a chance to begin their search for a cause is simply ghoulish political opportunism. Also, just for the record, where has spending been cut?

The Heritage Foundation posted the following graph of federal spending:

Federal Government Has a Spending, Not Revenue, Problem

There have been no serious budget cuts.

It also posted the chart below:

Where Does All the Money Go?

I don’t believe our problem is that we are not spending enough–our problem is that the politicians in Washington have used taxpayer money to buy so many votes that they don’t have very much left over. I would also like to know where in the U.S. Constitution it states that the taxpayers should be funding Amtrak.

It is a tragedy that people died in a train accident on Tuesday night. It is also really sad that some politicians sought to gain political points through the death of their fellow citizens.

Poverty Is Not The Result Of Lack Of Spending On Education

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Yesterday John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article about a speech President Obama gave at the Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on poverty at Georgetown. Evidently his speechwriters had a very casual relationship with the truth about poverty.

The article reports some of the President’s statements:

“Those who are doing better and better, more skilled, more educated, – luckier – having greater advantages are withdrawing from the commons,” he said. “Kids start going to private schools….

…kids start working out at private clubs instead of the public parks, an anti-government ideology then disinvests from those common goods and those things that draw us together.”

That led fewer people to care about public institutions, Obama explained, leading to government cuts to important public functions – making the nation less equal.

Obama insisted that there needed to be more investments in public schools, public universities, public early child education and public infrastructure, insisting that funding these organizations both “grows our economy and spreads it around.”

Yes, there have been government cuts–but not to education.

The article includes a few charts:

Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 4.20.06 PM

Screen Shot 2015-05-12 at 4.21.07 PM

Note that enrollment is basically flat, but expenses are increasing. Also note that enrollment numbers are given in millions, expenditure numbers are given in billions.

The article concludes:

So where is the “disinvestment?” Where is the “anti-government ideology?” Obama’s comments represent rank ignorance; either that or cynical demagoguery. In truth, the cure for poverty is well known: graduate from high school, get a job–any job–and get married. But the real solution doesn’t fit the left’s agenda.

Government dependency leads to poverty–it doesn’t lead to either wealth of success. The best thing a parent can do for their child is let their child see them get up and go to work every morning. That sets a great example.

 

At Some Point We Are Going To Have To Admit That We Are Guilty Of Murder

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On May 1, Red State posted an article about a vote in the United States House of Representatives that took place on April 30. The Republican party has a reputation for being pro life–their platform in the past has affirmed that–I am not sure what it says at this point–but some Republicans decided to go off the reservation.

The article reports:

Last night, the U.S. House passed a Resolution (H. J. Res 43) to disapprove of a law passed by the District of Columbia that seeks to do two things:

 •    Force pro-life and religious organizations to pay for abortion coverage for their employees

•    Force these same organizations to employ individuals directly opposed to their beliefs

The D.C. law – the so-called “Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA)” – is in fact, discriminatory. It’s pro-abortion tyranny, it’s anti-conscience, and it’s anti-free speech.

While 225 Republicans and 3 Democrats voted to disapprove of this absurd law, 179 Democrats were joined by 13 Republicans in granting their explicit approval of the District of Columbia to bully organizations like the one I work for, the Susan B. Anthony List.

At some point the minority community that makes up the voters in Washington, D.C. and other places needs to come to grips with the following (from a website called Black Genocide.org):

Minority women constitute only about 13% of the female population (age 15-44) in the United States, but they underwent approximately 36% of the abortions.

Minority women are not being empowered by abortion–they are being eliminated. America is committing genocide against the children of its minorities.

More Laws Not Written By Congress

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Yesterday’s Washington Times reported that the Health and Human Services Administration has rewritten the rules in ObamaCare regarding birth control.

The article reports:

The Obama administration on Monday ordered all insurers to provide IUDs, the contraceptive patch and other birth control free of out-of-pocket charge to all women, thereby rewriting the rules after reports that some insurance carriers were refusing to cover all types of contraceptives.

Insurers must now cover at least one brand of contraception in each of 18 different methods outlined by the Food and Drug Administration, such as one type of oral contraceptive pill, one version of the emergency contraceptive morning-after pill and, notably, the vaginal ring, which some women could not get before without paying out of pocket.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article, but I am only going to focus on two aspects of the law. First of all–the Obama administration ordered all insurers. Insurers are asked to comply with a law that was never even considered in Congress. How does the implementation of this law represent anything the voters had any say in? Secondly, in what way is anyone in charge of implementing this law accountable to the voters? Has the government completely taken over the health insurance industry–telling them what they can cover and what they can’t cover?

The article further reports:

The Supreme Court last year ruled closely held corporations do not have to insure types of birth control that violate their moral beliefs, and the Obama administration is expected to update its rules soon.

Religious nonprofits, meanwhile, are still pursuing their cases through the courts, arguing that the “accommodation” the administration designed for them still leaves them complicit in contraceptive coverage.

America was established as a representative republic–our public officials are supposed to represent us and be accountable to us. ObamaCare is an example of what happens when a political class that is deaf to the wishes of Americans ignores the law. Meanwhile, members of Congress committed fraud to make sure that they and their staff were exempt from ObamaCare (rightwinggranny.com). It is time to reign in Washington and get back to government by the people.

 

Why America Is Not Currently Prospering

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Townhall.com posted an article today about the cost of federal regulation.

The article reports on a study released today:

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) put out a study today titled “Ten Thousand Commandments – An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.”

…The author Wayne Crews, Vice President for Policy at CEI, found that federal regulation cost $1.88 trillion in 2014 in lost economic productivity and high prices. This breaks down to about $14,976 per household and 29% of an average family budget.

Think about it this way. The U.S. economy is expected to produce about $17 trillion this year in output, yet it would be more if the government didn’t hammer the private sector with the hidden tax of regulations. Regulations are exporting jobs from America to countries with fewer regulations.

…The Heritage Foundation released a top 10 worst regulations of 2014 and one example shows local government being the bad guy. Number seven on the Heritage list are regulations governing the ride sharing company Uber. “Uber faces significant hurdles as local regulators try to stop its expansion, claiming that the service is ‘unfair’ to the excessively regulated cab drivers.” Uber is an emerging company that has proven wildly successful, so local governments have used government power to protect cab drivers and to deny consumers cheaper transportation options.

For a number of years, our government has been picking winners and losers. When the government overrides the free market, the consumer loses. That is one reason why your family budget is simply not doing as well as it was a few years ago. Over regulation puts higher prices on both goods and services, as well as an added burden to businesses. If we are fortunate enough to elect a President in 2016 who is not part of the Washington establishment (either Republican or Democrat), many of these regulations will be abolished. If we elect a member of either the Republican or Democrat establishment, we can expect things to get worse.

What Does This Say About Our Values?

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Boston.com is reporting today that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be suspended for four games as punishment for whatever role he may have played in the deflated footballs in the AFC playoff game. Just to provide some food for thought, Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games for assault on his fiancee. Does the punishment fit the crime?

It Just Gets Worse

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The presidency of the United States used to have an air of dignity about it. Unfortunately, in recent years that seems to have disappeared. I understand that we are not responsible for the actions of our family members, but sometimes you just have to shake your head.

The Weekly Standard posted a story today about Hillary Clinton’s brother. The New York Times has posted a story in which Tony Rodham (Hillary Clinton’s brother) states, used the Clinton family foundation to make deals. I suppose that is not a surprise, but still…

The article reports:

“I deal through the Clinton Foundation. That gets me in touch with the Haitian officials,” Mr. Rodham said, according to a transcript of his testimony. “I hound my brother-in-law, because it’s his fund that we’re going to get our money from. And he can’t do it until the Haitian government does it.

“And he keeps telling me, ‘Oh, it’s going to happen tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.’ Well, tomorrow hasn’t come yet.”

…“I was complaining to my brother-in-law I didn’t have any money. And he asked McAuliffe to give me a job,” Mr. Rodham said during the court proceedings, which were the result of a lawsuit over unpaid legal bills filed by his lawyer in a child support case.

Do we really want this family back in the White House?

 

Something To Consider

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I am posting this article simply because I doubt that the media in general will cover it. I have drawn no conclusion other than to say that if the KGB hadn’t done it, someone else would have.

On Friday, The New American posted an article reporting that a communist defector is claiming that the Soviet KGB invented “liberation theology” and was responsible for its spread through Catholic countries in Latin America in the 1970’s.

The article reports:

Liberation theology “was born in the KGB, and it had a KGB-invented name,” the former general said. During those years, the KGB had a penchant for “liberation” movements, he noted, citing as examples the “National Liberation Army of Columbia created by the KGB with help from Fidel Castro; the National Liberation Army of Bolivia, created by the KGB with help from ‘Che’ Guevara; and the Palestine Liberation Organization created by the KGB with help from Yasser Arafat.”

The theological movement, Pacepa said, was born in 1960 as a “disinformation” program approved by KGB Chairman Aleksandr Shelepin, the coordinator of the Communist Party’s international policies. The program was designed to give the KGB “secret control of the World Council of Churches (WCC), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and use it as cover for converting liberation theology into a South American revolutionary tool,” Pacepa said. The WCC was a large and tempting target as an international ecumenical organization representing more than half a billion Christians of various denominations in 120 countries.

Whether or not the above is true, the World Council of Churches has taken some very odd stands on various quasi political issues over the years–some of which simply do not line up with the Bible.

The Catholic Church was not the only denomination taken in by liberation theology–many Protestant churches in America still preach it. The basic tenant of the theology is that salvation is achieved through correcting social and economic injustices. This is in total contradiction to what the Bible says. Jesus commands us to help the poor and do what we can to undo social injustice, but states that the poor will always be with us.

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul stated,” For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” – King James Version (Cambridge Edition) 

Again, I don’t think that applies to people unable to work, but it does apply to those who are unwilling to work. Our welfare programs could accomplish a lot with that philosophy.

At any rate, the idea that the KGB started liberation theology is put forth for your consideration. Please follow the link above to read the entire article at The New American. There is a lot of interesting information there. Your are welcome to sign in and comment.

My Hero Has Been Arrested

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Vit Jedlicka has been arrested by Croatian authorities and charged with trespassing. On April 17th, I posted a story about Mr. Jedlicka and his founding of Liberland, an unclaimed terra nullius territory wedged between Serbia and Croatia. Well, someone in the Croatian government did not approve of Liberland.

Fox News is reporting today:

“The president of the self-proclaimed micro-nation of the Free Republic of Liberland, Vít Jedlička, has been arrested by Croatian police for illegally trespassing an international border,” read the statement. “The arrest may have taken place on no man’s land territory. This would raise issues on the Croatian-Serbian border and could start a new crisis in the Balkans.”

That is too bad. I would have joined him had he chosen a nice desert island.