Why The Average American Hates Politics

There was a gross miscarriage of justice today in Raleigh, North Carolina. I don’t know how much of the media will carry it or how they will spin it, but it was a gross miscarriage of justice. This miscarriage of justice occurred in the upper echelons of the North Carolina Republican party. Yesterday I posted an article explaining what the meeting in Raleigh today was about and the forces behind it. The meeting occurred and unfortunately the establishment again beat up the grass roots. The meeting was an illegal meeting to begin with for a number of reasons, but the establishment managed to gather enough votes to oust Hasan Harnett as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party. They should be ashamed of themselves.

The Daily Haymaker posted the story this afternoon. Here are a few quotes from their article:

He’s out. That’s the word I am getting from inside that meeting room in Raleigh — by a margin of 200 to 79. (If it’s any consolation, my sources are telling me Jim Womack has done a bang-up job as Harnett’s chief advocate.) 

The next step is to find a replacement.  Prior to the meeting, my sources told me there were 120 votes FOR keeping Hasan.  There MUST have been some kind of deal struck on the replacement in order to get this kind of sea change. 

So, a bunch of people — representing congressional districts that no longer exist — overthrew a man while THEY themselves could likely not survive a vote of confidence by their own local parties.  

I can’t explain how disappointed I am at the results of this meeting. This was a witch hunt. Unfortunately it was successful–they didn’t find a witch, but they found a good person to hang just the same. I am a registered Republican at the moment. I am not sure how long that will last. I have heard for a long time that the problem with our elections system is the money in politics. This was not about money–it was a pure power grab. I believe that the problem with our political system is not the money–it’s the dishonest people who will do anything to gain or keep power. This whole sage was totally unnecessary and does not reflect well on the Republican Party.

The quote that says it all comes from yesterday’s article on this site:

“[Dallas] (Woodhouse) has said that even if Harnett survives the vote on Saturday, they are still not going to let him back in the office or give him his email back or any of that stuff. The pettiness is going to continue.”

It’s time to put grown-ups in charge of the North Carolina Republican Party. This whole escapade was childish and will cost the party in November.

 

Remember When Hong Kong Was Free?

The agreement to turn Hong Kong over to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was signed in 1984. The agreement was actually carried out in 1997.

According to Wikipedia:

The background of the Sino-British Joint Declaration was the pending expiration of the lease of the New Territories on 1 July 1997. The lease was negotiated between the UK and the Guangxu Emperor of China, and was for a period of 99 years starting from 1 July 1898 under the Second Convention of Peking. At the time of the lease signing, Hong Kong Island had already been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 after the First Opium War, and the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula as well as the Stonecutters Island had also been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860 after the Second Opium War.

In the early 1980s the territory and its business community grew concerned about the future of Hong Kong. These concerns, regarding the status of property rights and contracts, were spurred by political uncertainty surrounding the scheduled reversion of the New Territories to the PRC. In March 1979, the Governor of Hong Kong, Murray MacLehose, visited Peking. During this visit, informal talks about the future of Hong Kong began. Upon his return, MacLehose attempted to allay investors’ worries about the scheduled reversion, but reiterated that the PRC asserted its intention to regain sovereignty over Hong Kong. The first formal negotiations began with chairman Deng Xiaoping of the PRC during the visit of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, to China in September 1982.

During the following discussions, where the Governor of Hong Kong took part in every round of formal talks as a member of the British delegation, it became clear that the continuation of British administration after 1997 would not be acceptable to China in any form. The Chinese Government has consistently taken the view that the whole of Hong Kong should be Chinese territory, due to what they perceived as the inequality of historical treaties. As a result, the two sides discussed possible measures besides continued British administration, and came up with the concept of Hong Kong as a Special Administration Region of the PRC. In April 1984, the two sides concluded the initial discussion of these matters, and arranged that Hong Kong would retain a high degree of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty with the preservation of the maintained lifestyle in Hong Kong. By 18 September 1984, both sides had approved the English and Chinese texts of the documents and the associated Exchange of Memoranda.

Part of the agreement stated:

“The [HKSAR] will retain the status of a free port and a separate customs territory. It can continue the free trade policy, including free movement of goods and capital.”

Fox News reported yesterday:

China blocked a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier from arriving at a port in Hong Kong as tensions ratcheted up over disputed islands in the South China Sea, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Friday.

The USS John C. Stennis and escort ships had planned to visit the port next week, Stars & Stripes reports. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not explain why it denied the request.

“We have a long track record of successful port visits to Hong Kong, including with the current visit of the USS Blue Ridge, and we expect that will continue,” Cmdr. Bill Urban told Fox News. The USS Blue Ridge is a Navy command ship.

President Obama has approximately eight months left in office. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea know that. They will do everything they can to take advantage of a weak President during this time, particularly if they see the possibility that the next President might not be so patient with them. Until we have a strong President, we can expect to be pushed around by the bullies of the world.

American Educators Have Totally Lost Their Minds

On Tuesday, The Washington Post posted an article about a school in New York that cancelled its annual year-end kindergarten show.

This is a screenshot of the letter sent to parents followed by the text of the letter:

KindergartenShowApril 25, 2014

Dear Kindergarten Parents and Guardians,

We hope this letter serves to help you better understand how the demands of the 21st century are changing schools, and, more specifically, to clarify, misperceptions about the Kindergarten show. It is most important to keep in mind is [sic] that this issue is not unique to Elwood. Although the movement toward more rigorous learning standards has been in the national news for more than a decade, the changing face of education is beginning to feel unsettling for some people. What and how we teach is changing to meet the demands of a changing world.

The reason for eliminating the Kindergarten show is simple. We are responsible for preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills and know that we can best do that by having them become strong readers, writers, coworkers and problem solvers. Please do not fault us for making professional decisions that we know will never be able to please everyone. But know that we are making these decisions with the interests of all children in mind.

Sincerely,

Ellen Best-Laimit

Angela Casano

Keri Colmone

Stefanie Gallagher

Martha DeMartini

The elementary school my children attended did a lot of plays. The plays were a chance for children to work on their memorization skills, their singing skills (if they had them) and to learn about different things. There were plays about outer space, Mary Poppins, and Alice in Wonderland. Those plays were part of their learning experience. It is a shame these teachers have decided that participating in the arts is not valuable for children–it is.

Letting Your True Colors Show

The Republican establishment is having a hard time nationally. They have decided on numerous candidates for President, and none of them have gotten much traction. John Kasich is the latest incarnation of that effort and does not seem to be resonating, so they may actually be warming to Donald Trump. As I have said, I am not a Trump supporter, but would vote for him before I would vote for Hillary.

North Carolina is also having a fight between the establishment and the grass roots. However, in this case, a group calling itself the grass roots actually represents the establishment. Last year at the GOP Convention, the attendees elected Hasan Harnett as the party chairman. He was not the choice of the NCGOP establishment, and they have attempted to make his life miserable at every opportunity since–to the point of locking him out of his email and office and then complaining that he is not doing his job. Well, tomorrow it comes to a head. There is a meeting in Raleigh to determine the fate of Hasan Harnett. The meeting was called by the North Carolina GOP Central Committee, a group that according to the Plan of Operation is supposed to be subservient to the GOP Executive Committee (evidently the Central Committee never read that part of the plan). Incidentally, the meeting was called on a day that it was known that Hasan Harnett would be out of the country and not able to defend himself. His schedule was made known to the Central Committee in January.

The Senate and House Republicans met recently in Raleigh to discuss the issue. The Daily Haymaker posted the story yesterday.

The article reports:

Sources tell me Woodhouse encouraged all members to show up and vote on Saturday.  Said one source:

“He reminded us to do it this weekend while we still had a vote.  He said we won’t have one under the new plan of organization.”

The reaction from the audience?  Said another source:

”Not a whole lot was said in response to what Woodhouse spoke about.  When this meeting was winding down, Woodhouse offered to stay a little longer to give people additional information and answer questions.  Out of the whole group — House and Senate — I’d say twenty to twenty-five hung around to hear more from him. Most people I’ve talked to said they are going nowhere near that meeting on Saturday. ”

I am told that Woodhouse has made a certain pledge to people about the aftermath of Saturday’s vote.  Said one source who has conversed directly with Woodhouse:

“[Dallas] has said that even if Harnett survives the vote on Saturday, they are still not going to let him back in the office or give him his email back or any of that stuff. The pettiness is going to continue.”

I hate to be difficult, but it doesn’t sound as if Hasan Harnett is the problem or is the one that needs to be removed. If the Republicans at Saturday’s meeting have any sense of decency at all, they will remove Dallas Woodhouse and anyone else who has been working with him in this effort. This is a kangaroo court that needs to be shut down immediately so the party can get on with the business of electing Republicans!

Sometimes Justice Takes A While

Last September I posted an article about Sergeant First Class (SFC) Charles Martland, a Green Beret who was selected for an involuntary discharge through an Army force reduction program. SFC Martland has served honorably, having been awarded two Bronze Stars during his time in the Army. He was chosen for release because he was charged with assaulting an Afghan leader.

This is the story:

In 2011, Martland was nearing the end of his yearlong deployment in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz province when he and an officer became outraged with the behavior of some local leaders they were responsible for developing as police commanders.

Martland and his detachment commander, Capt. Daniel Quinn, lost their tempers when one leader near their base kidnapped a boy for more than a week, chained him to a bed, raped the child and then assaulted the boy’s mother, Quinn said.

The mother appealed to the Green Berets to help her son. Quinn said the soldiers brought the Afghan commander to their base and confronted him.

Quinn told The News Tribune that the Afghan admitted he had raped the boy. He angered the American soldiers by showing disregard for their concerns.

“He started laughing when we talked about what a big deal this was,” Quinn said.

Martland and Quinn proceeded to assault the Afghan. Accounts vary on how badly they hurt him.

Yesterday the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) posted an update on the story.

They reported:

The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ),  which has been advocating for Sergeant First Class (SFC) Charles Martland – a decorated war hero facing expulsion from the army for defending a child, calls today’s decision by the U.S. Army to retain the Green Beret war hero a “significant victory” and that “justice has been served.”

SFC Martland faced expulsion from the Army for defending a child from sexual abuse and confronting an admitted sexual predator in Afghanistan. The ACLJ argued that his actions – stopping the perpetrator who was violating Afghan law and forcibly removing him from a U.S. military base – were heroic.

“The decision by the Army to retain this hero is long overdue and represents a significant victory for SFC Martland,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  “Justice has been served. The U.S. military has a moral obligation to stop child sexual abuse and exonerate SFC Martland for defending a child from rape. The Army finally took the corrective action needed and this is not only a victory for SFC Martland, but for the American people as well.”

Pedophilia is not an American value. We should strongly discourage its practice in any country that we do business with.

 

Betraying Those Who Have Helped Us In The Past

The Washington Free Beacon is reporting today that the 2017 defense appropriation bill would have a devastating impact on the interpreters and other civilians in Afghanistan that worked with our troops while we were there.

The article reports:

Under the Special Immigrant Visa program, Afghans who worked as translators for the U.S. military and support operations are eligible to apply for American visas if their lives are at risk in Afghanistan.

But according to advocates for the SIV program, the latest version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act in the House of Representatives would limit eligibility to translators who worked directly for the U.S. military or intelligence agencies. Interpreters in other support roles, such as working with the American embassy in Kabul or for base security, would no longer be qualified for the visa program.

As U.S. troops pull out of the region and the security situation deteriorates for American allies, thousands of Afghans currently under threat from the Taliban could be impacted.

“If this becomes the law of the land, in all intents and purposes there will not be an SIV program anymore,” said Matt Zeller, a former Army captain who runs the interpreter advocacy group No One Left Behind. “And we will be outright turning our backs on a group of people we have made a fundamental promise to.”

Under the Obama Administration, America has been a horrible ally to its friends. In the future, no one will step forward to help our troops because they will not trust us to protect them in the future. Hopefully, our next President will be able to correct some of the misdeeds done by the current administration.

About That Tolerance Thing

One charge the political left is consistently making against the political right is that the political right is intolerant. However, the facts don’t always bear that out.

Yesterday The Blaze reported that Blake University in Des Moines, Iowa, turned down the request of the group Turning Point for official status as a student organization. Students had hoped to establish a Turning Point group on campus. Turning point is an apolitical organization that educates students in free markets, fiscal responsibility and limited government. Evidently these ideas were not welcome at Blake University.

The students who requested that Turning Point be given official status believe that the organization was turned down because of its conservative views. This is another example of a university that is not interested in exposing its students to a range of political thought–our universities have become centers of indoctrination rather than centers of learning.

The article reports:

Jerry Parker, associate dean of students at Drake, said that the Turning Point USA members will be required to go through the approval process again if they appeal the senate’s decision, KCCI reported.

Rachel Paine Caufield, a professor of political science who has taught at Drake for 15 years and is an advisor to the Turning Point USA group, said that she can only remember one other student organization’s application being rejected.

“I’m a firm believer that the university should provide the same opportunities to all organizations,” Caufield said, according to the Register. “I’m hopeful we will be able to meet with the students and talk about what course of action they want to take next.”

North Carolina’s Voter Identification Law Stands

Fox News 29 reported yesterday that U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder has ruled that the North Carolina voter identification law is constitutional. The law requires voters who appear in person to cast ballots to show an accepted form of photo identification like a driver’s license, a passport or a military ID The argument against the law is that it discriminates against minorities.

The law was in effect in the March 2016 Primary Election in North Carolina. In that election, 31.6 percent of North Carolina residents who were eligible to vote, voted. In the 2012 Primary Election in North Carolina, 31.5 percent of North Carolina residents who were eligible to vote, voted. (These figures are from the United States Election Project website.) I don’t think the identification requirement had a negative impact on voter turnout. It will be interesting to see if the new law impacts the general election.

Here are some excerpts from the Judge’s decision:

While North Carolina had a sordid history of freezing black voters out of the political process, the plaintiffs didn’t show that the law hampered the ability of minority voters to exercise electoral politics, Schroeder said.

The plaintiffs “failed to show that such disparities will have materially adverse effects on the ability of minority voters to cast a ballot and effectively exercise the electoral franchise” as a result of the 2013 state law, Schroeder wrote. That argument was made more difficult after black voter turnout increased in 2014, he wrote.

“There is significant, shameful past discrimination. In North Carolina’s recent history, however, certainly for the last quarter century, there is little official discrimination to consider,” Schroeder wrote.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory released the following statement:

“Common practices like boarding an airplane and purchasing Sudafed require photo ID and thankfully a federal court has ensured our citizens will have the same protection for their basic right to vote,” McCrory said in a prepared statement.

If voter turnout goes down in the general election, I wonder if it will be because only alive, registered people vote. How do minorities board planes, buy alcohol or cigarettes, or buy cough medicine?

 

The Current Administrative Branch Of Our Government Is Ignoring The Constitution

President Obama has played fast and loose with the U.S. Constitution since he took office. All of the executive orders issued altering ObamaCare after it was passed were not constitutional, and many of his other actions were not. The lack of respect for the U.S. Constitution runs rampant through the Obama Administration. The latest example can be found in the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Daily Caller is reporting today that despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay on actions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February, the EPA is going ahead with a key part of the Clean Power Plan (CPP).

The article reports:

The EPA submitted a proposal to the White House for green energy subsidies for states that meet the federally mandated carbon dioxide reduction goals early. The Clean Energy Incentive Program would give “credit for power generated by new wind and solar projects in 2020 and 2021” and a “double credit for energy efficiency measures in low-income communities,” according to Politico’s Morning Energy.

Generally speaking, ‘clean energy’ is more expensive than traditional electricity-generating sources. Companies involved in green energy are generally heavily subsidized by the government and could not exist without those subsidies. If green energy is ever going to be a reality, we have to let the free market come in and play a role in the industry. That way, inexpensive technology may develop that will give us reasonable green energy.

The article further reports:

EPA has been moving forward with aspects of the CPP despite the Supreme Court’s decision. After the court’s February decision, EPA began signalling it would continue to work with states that want to “voluntarily” move forward.

“Are we going to respect the decision of the Supreme Court? You bet, of course we are,” McCarthy told utility executives in February. “But it doesn’t mean it’s the only thing we’re working on and it doesn’t mean we won’t continue to support any state that voluntarily wants to move forward.”

Likewise, the head of EPA’s air and radiation office, Janet McCabe, has also suggested the rule will eventually be upheld.

“EPA utility rules have been stayed twice before, and ultimately upheld,” McCabe said while participating in a panel discussion in Bloomington, Ind., last week. “It’s only smart for states to keep working on this.”

“We stand ready at EPA to help any state that wants to move forward with their planning activities,” McCabe said, noting that some states pledged to cut CO2 after the Supreme Court stayed CPP.

Whether or not the EPA’s plan is valid is not the point–the Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional. Does anyone in the Obama Administration listen to the Supreme Court?

Sometimes The Media Just Lies

The HB2 bill in North Carolina has stirred up a lot of controversy. I have been called a bigot because I don’t want men in women’s bathrooms or locker rooms. I have repeatedly stated that I am not concerned about the transgender population, I am concerned with the people who will use transgender as a cloak for nefarious activities. It is instructive that the original spokesperson for allowing men in women’s bathrooms is a registered sex offender.

There was a rally in Raleigh yesterday. There were people there who support HB2 and there were people there who oppose HB2. The people who oppose HB2 made a great show of delivering boxes of petitions supporting their stand. But wait—exactly what was in those boxes?

Governor McCrory’s website posted some interesting pictures of the contents of the boxes:

The anonymously-funded, national smear campaign led by the Human Rights Campaign is grossly misrepresenting information about the petitions delivered to State Capitol today. Contrary to the media reports, the activists only delivered enough petitions to fill two boxes and the overwhelming majority of signatures were from out-of-state. The stacks on the right in each photo consists of out-of-state signatures.

HB2

HB2aIn comparison, here’s a photo of the boxes posted online by a reporter at the HRC press conference:

HB2bIf all you watch is the mainstream media, the above picture is what you saw. The truth is in the previous two pictures. There is some serious manipulation going on here. Most parents do not want boys or men in their daughter’s bathrooms or locker rooms. The aim of this picture is to make those parents feel as though they are a minority. Don’t be fooled.

Something Parents Of School Children Need To Know

The information below is from a friend who has done a lot of research on what is happening in our schools.

A bill called Strengthening Research Through Education Act, (SETRA for short, Senate bill 227) has passed the U.S. Senate through a “voice” vote, but has not cleared the House.

Section 132 of SETRA allows expansion of federal education research into the area of “social and emotional learning”. I find this alarming that instead of focusing on academics, the children will have their thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, grit, perseverance and behaviors up for interpretation in a highly subjective environment. This is data collection at it’s worst, and in my opinion, a violation of the rights to privacy our constitution allows.

Section 157 of SETRA would allow the input of social emotional learning to be input into a longitudinal data system that could potentially follow the children for their entire lives.

Social Emotional Learning has no clear definition in federal law. It is subjective. It is intrusive, and does not belong in the school house.

It is also concerning that NAEP will also be assessing mindsets, another description for the social emotional learning.

The federal government has no constitutional authority (under the 10th amendment) to be involved in education, much less doing research and collecting data on our innocent children.

Note that it passed with a voice vote. That means we do not know who voted for it or who voted against it. How can we hold our elected officials accountable if we don’t know how they vote?

American courts have already ruled against this practice:

The NAEP categories examining “mindsets” directly impact the fundamental liberty interest which parents possess in overseeing the upbringing and education of their children. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly held (as recently as 2000 in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), parents, not the state and its functionaries, are the ones possessed with the ultimate authority over the parents’ own children: “The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction…The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) (Emphasis added). “It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder. . .” Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944). “The history and culture of Western civilization reflect a strong tradition of parental concern for the nurture and upbringing of their children. This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).

In February, Townhall.com reported:

ESSA also calls for an extensive “family engagement policy,” which, according to a recent policy draft by the U.S. Departments of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, will begin prenatally and continue “throughout a child’s developmental and educational experiences.”

Along the way, say the bureaucratic behemoths, the government must “prioritize engagement around children’s social-emotional and behavioral health.”

In plain language, this means the government will assess children every single step (or crawl) of the way, from cradle to career, to be certain they acquire all the attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions the omniscient, omnipotent government deems they must have. SEL, baby, SEL.

Uncle Shrink approves, but what about U.S. parents? Are they ready to let the government assume their child-rearing responsibilities?

For further information, see the following articles:

http://edlibertywatch.org/2016/04/constitutional-statutory-privacy-concerns-with-assessing-mindsets-in-the-naep/

http://thepulse2016.com/karen-r-effrem/2016/01/04/13210/

http://edlibertywatch.org/2016/02/new-details-on-the-dangerous-social-emotional-research-in-setra/

http://townhall.com/columnists/emmettmcgroarty/2016/04/15/why-does-your-congressman-want-to-psychologically-profile-your-children-n2148674

http://townhall.com/columnists/robertholland/2016/02/29/do-parents-want-their-children-on-uncle-shrinks-couch-n2126567

Preparing To Steal An Election

Terry McAuliffe has long been associated with the Clinton family and their political aspirations. Now, as governor of Virginia, he is attempting to make sure that Hillary Clinton carries that state in November.

National Review posted an article today about Governor McAuliffe’s efforts.

The article reports:

In what is likely an unconstitutional state action seemingly calculated to ensure that the purple state of Virginia goes blue in the November election, Governor Terry McAuliffe (D.) signed an order on Friday restoring the voting rights of 206,000 ex-felons in Virginia, including those convicted of murder, armed robbery, rape, sexual assault, and other violent crimes. The order also restores their right to sit on a jury, become a notary, and even serve in elected office.

McAuliffe believes that ex-felons can be trusted to make decisions in the ballot booth and the jury box but apparently not to own a gun. He draws the line at restoring their Second Amendment rights; that would be a bridge too far.

So what is the problem with this? First of all, the Governor does not make the laws–the legislature does.

The article further explains:

Having a waiting period, examining each ex-felon’s application for restoration of rights carefully and individually, and differentiating between violent and nonviolent crimes is exactly the system that Virginia had — at least until Friday’s order. In a three-page summary released by the governor’s office, McAuliffe asserts that any claim that he doesn’t have the authority to grant a blanket restoration of rights is “far-outside the weight of constitutional authority across the nation and would read into the text of the Virginia Constitution words that simply are not there.” This is just legal gibberish — the weight of constitutional authority “across the nation” has no bearing on interpreting the Virginia constitution. McAuliffe is reading into that constitution authority he does not have.
The article goes on to explain that this action does not conform to the Virginia Constitution. It overturns a provision that has been in the Virginia Constitution since the Civil War-era. It will be interesting if the Virginia Legislature overturns his action.

How Many Americans Are Actually Working?

We don’t hear a lot about the Labor Force Participation Rate, but it is an important part of the American economy. It is an indication of how many Americans are actually working. The current unemployment rate is somewhere around 5 percent, but without looking at the Labor Force Participation Rate, that number really does not mean much. The 5 percent does not include those people who have given up looking for a job, that is why the Labor Participation Rate is important.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics website includes these two charts that give a clearer picture of the American economy:

LaborForceParticipationLaborForceParticipation2As you can see, we have been losing ground since 2007. It is time to shrink government, limit government regulations, and allow Americans to prosper. Consider this as you decide how to vote in the upcoming election in November. Hillary Clinton would be the third term of President Obama. If we want the above numbers to change, we need to vote for someone who will change our economic direction.

Israel Is Still Under Attack

On Friday, CBN News posted an article about a recent Israel Defense Force action in southern Israel.

The article reports:

The Israel Defense Forces, in tandem with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), discovered and neutralized an infiltration tunnel dug under the border with the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.

IDF Col. (res.) Atai Shelach, former commander of Yahalom, an elite combat engineering unit that destroys the attack tunnels, told journalists in a phone interview that Hamas has acquired “more ability and capabilities than in past years.”

“They’ve proven their ability [and are] using more technologies,” he said. “This is one of the main tools the terror organizations have in their hands.”

Shelach said the terrorists “could do almost anything with this technology, from kidnapping citizens and soldiers to penetrating Israel with ammunition, booby traps and so on.”

A IDF statement said it was the first tunnel discovered since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.

The article comments on where the terrorists obtained the money to build the tunnel:

IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the discovery points to Hamas’ cynical use of funds and material donated to refurbish homes damaged in the IDF’s military response to Hamas rocket fire in the summer of 2014.

“The ugly truth is that Hamas continues to invest millions of dollars to build tunnels of terror and death,” Lerner said in a statement. “The tunnel uncovered in Israel demonstrates once more Hamas’ warped priorities and continued commitment and investment in tools of violence. This tunnel exposes Hamas’ abhorrent intentions to attack men, women and children in southern Israel.”

This is a glaring example of why America and other western countries need to rethink their policies of aid to the Gaza Strip. The money given to the Gaza Strip does not go where America and other countries want it to go–it goes to fund terrorism and build tunnels for terrorists. If we continue funding these activities (knowingly or unknowingly), then we are partially responsible for funding the attacks on Israel. That is not something we want to encourage.

 

The Attack On Christianity In Turkey

The U.K. Express posted an article on Friday about the attack on Christian churches in Turkey.

The article reports:

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken control of six churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir in his latest move to squash freedom of speech and religious movement. 

The state-sanctioned seizure is just the latest in a number of worrying developments to come out of increasingly hardline Turkey, which is in advanced talks with the EU over visa-free travel for its 80 million citizens.

Included in the seizures are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, one of which is over 1,700 years old.

The churches are now considered state property.

The article reports the ‘justification’ for seizing the churches:

The order to seize the churches was made on March 25 by Erdogan’s council of ministers, according to the website World Watch Monitor. 

They claim it was made on the grounds that authorities intend to rebuild and restore the historical centre of the city, which has been partially destroyed by 10 months of urban conflict between government forces and militants from the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). 

President Erdogan has been moving Turkey toward a caliphate since he took office. He has replaced many of the top military leaders in the country with Islamists who support Sharia Law. He has moved away from his alliance with Israel and closer to alliances with Muslim Countries. He has also used the Syrian Civil War as a shield to hide his actions against the Kurds. He does not want the Kurds to have their own country, and has been using the cover of the Syrian Civil War to attack them as they have been fighting ISIS.

Christians in the Middle East are under attack. The only country where they are safe is Israel. Israel is also the country in the Middle East where the Arabs who live there have the most freedom and there is a Middle Class. Israel is truly the only free country in the Middle East.

Would This Man Just Please Go Away?

Like a lot of Republicans right now, I am not necessarily thrilled with the way the primary elections are going. I support Ted Cruz, but would vote for Donald Trump before I would vote for Hillary Clinton. Staying home would only elect Hillary Clinton, so I am not interested in doing that. But then, we have the problem (and I do mean problem) of John Kasich.

John Kasich is still in this race because the establishment Republicans are funding him. They hope that he will beat either Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. They support John Kasich because he will do their bidding–Ted Cruz or Donald Trump will not. John Kasich would be a disaster for America. His nomination would probably destroy the Republican party. However, the people supporting him want to hold on to their power, and they see nominating him as the way to do that. Even if he loses, they won’t have to deal with an outsider in the White House who claims to be a Republican. So what are the chances of John Kasich winning the Republican nomination for President? Unfortunately, the chances are better than they deserve to be.

Real Clear Politics posted an article with some interesting quotes:

“And guess what, I’ve got friends who are going to be on the Rules Committee,” the Ohio governor said. “We don’t know who is going on the rules committee yet. And thirdly, people can be nominated from the floor.”

…”They’re not going to be the nominee,” Kasich replied. “Do you you think delegates are going to go to a convention and pick somebody who can’t even win?”

Cavuto presses Kasich on the fact that right now under the current RNC rules, he is inelligible to even be considered for nomination at the convention. Under the rules adopted in 2012 a candidate must have won eight states. Kasich has won one state.

Kasich says no, “that is false information. I don’t know where you guys get this stuff,” he said about the 2012 Republican convention rules.

“There are no rules at this convention,” before it starts Kasich said. “The Rules Committee hasn’t even met. They haven’t even been selected.”

“They’re not going to change any rules. You don’t change rules that haven’t been set,” he argued. The Rules Committee sets whatever rules it wants to before each convention, based subjectively on how the Rules Committee members feel about the candidates, Kasich explains.

Cavuto argues, “you know this governor as well as I,” about the 2012 rules. “There is a rule from the last time around,” Cavuto explains about the eight state requirment. “That would have to be changed to accomodate you.”

“Every convention sets its own rules,” Kasich said.

If the Republican convention nominates John Kasich for President, they will be following their tradition of forming a circular firing squad in an effort for a few people to hold onto power. If they are that stupid, they deserve to lose, and the party needs to disband. The work (and energy) in the Republican party in recent years has been in the Conservative movement, and the party has fought it from the beginning. If the party goes through with a plan to nominate John Kasich for President, I believe a conservative party will form and replace the Republicans.

Using Our Criminal Justice System Against Us

In August 2004, a car was pulled over by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police officer on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A woman in the car was filming the bridge, and the officer observed that she was not filming the scenery, but the support structures of the bridge. The man driving the car was Ismail Elbarasse. There was sufficient evidence to get a warrant to search his home. The FBI found a sub-basement in the home that contained the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in North America. The Muslim Brotherhood planned ‘civilization jihad’ in America–essentially they planned to infiltrate our government and use our freedoms and legal system against us. The eventual goal was to turn America into a Muslim nation with Sharia Law. That goal has not changed. (You can find a synopsis of the Holy Land Foundation Trial–the result of this investigation–at the Center for Security Policy website.) With that in mind, I bring you the following story.

On Friday, Fox News reported that a man in Minnesota charged with trying to join ISIS stated that he wanted to set up an infiltration route for ISIS members from Mexico to America’s southern border. (It’s not like coming across the southern U.S. border actually presents that much of a problem).

The article reports:

Guled Ali Omar told the ISIS members about the route so that it could be used to send members to America to carry out terrorist attacks, prosecutors alleged in a document filed this week.

The document, filed Wednesday, is one of many filed in recent weeks as prosecutors and defense attorneys argue about which evidence should be allowed at the men’s trial, which starts May 9.

The men — Omar, 21; Hamza Naj Ahmed, 21; Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 22; and Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 22 — have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit murder outside the U.S. Prosecutors have said they were part of a group of friends in Minnesota’s Somali community who held secret meetings and plotted to join the Islamic State group.

Five other men have pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization. A tenth man charged in the case is at-large, believed to be in Syria.

As I said in the opening paragraph of this article, one strategy  of the Islamists is to use our legal system against us. This is very obvious in the way this case is being handled.

The article reports:

Last week, Daud’s attorney wrote that, absent any specific evidence that his client threatened the United States, any references to discussions about attacks would be prejudicial. To permit such references, as well as references to the Sept. 11 attacks or exhibits that show violent images of war crimes, “would cause the jurors to decide out of fear and contempt alone,” defense attorney Bruce Nestor wrote.

But prosecutors said audio recordings obtained during the investigation show the defendants spoke multiple times about the possibility of attacks in the U.S. Among them, Omar spoke of establishing a route for fighters, Farah spoke of killing an FBI agent and another man who pleaded guilty talked about shooting a homemade rocket at an airplane.

Prosecutors wrote that they should be allowed to “play for the jury the defendants’ own words, in which they discuss the possibility of returning to attack the United States.” They also said the defendants watched videos and gruesome images, which they also want to play for the jury, and that a blanket ban on mentioning the 2001 attacks is inappropriate, noting that Omar had pictures of the burning World Trade Center towers and Osama bin Laden on his cellphone.

As I said, they are using our legal system against us. I need to mention here that there is not a direct link between ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, I suspect the Muslim Brotherhood is not happy with ISIS–ISIS is exposing what the Quran says about how infidels should be treated. However, both ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood have the same goal–establishing a worldwide caliphate. The differences are in how to do it and who will run it. The Muslim Brotherhood believes in civilization jihad–infiltrating the government and taking away peoples’ rights quietly without the population realizing what is being done. That is what the term ‘hate speech’ is about. Eventually ‘hate speech’ will become a term used to describe anything negative said about Muslims or Islam. That is also what the term ‘Islamophobia’ is about. There is no such thing. It is a made-up word to make people hesitate before criticizing Islam. Both words are a means of subtle intimidation aimed at undermining American’s First Amendment rights.

We are in danger of losing our country. There are a few things we need to do. First of all, we need to secure our borders so that we know who is coming in and going out of our country. Second of all, we need to put FBI informers in areas where there is a concentration of people who have historically supported terrorism (there have been a number of young men from the Somali community who have left America and joined ISIS). Third, we need to encourage (strongly) people who come to America to assimilate. Previous groups that immigrated here learned the language and became Americans. They kept aspects of their culture–that’s why we have great Italian, Chinese, Greek, etc. restaurants here–but became Americans. If you choose to live here, you need to live as an American–you may continue to follow your customs–not eating pork, not drinking, etc.–but you cannot expect to impose those customs on Americans. You have come here by choice. If you do not like our customs, please go somewhere else.

Finally, we need a President who will control our borders and take seriously his responsibility to protect Americans.

Speaking The Truth By Accident

Investor’s Business Daily posted an article yesterday about statements made by Lena Moffitt, who runs the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign. The Sierra Club has been very active in ‘the war on coal,’ causing thousands of middle-class Americans to lose their jobs.

The article reports:

Here is what Lena Moffitt, who runs the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, says: “‎We have moved to a very clear and firm and vehement position of opposing gas. Our board recently passed a policy that we oppose any new gas-fired power plants. We also have a policy opposing fracking on our books.”

The article points out:

natural gas is a clean-burning fuel that is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and real pollutants, too. There have been no reported cases of water contamination from fracking technology, as even the Obama administration has admitted. But facts don’t matter much in this debate.

…In the same interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence, she admitted: “We are doing everything we can to bring the same expertise that we brought to taking down the coal industry and coal-fired power in this country to taking on gas in the same way.”

‎”I look forward to seeing the same success brought to taking down gas plants to ensure that we’re actually moving to a 100% clean energy future,” she continued. “That is the one Sierra Club policy that we are all working toward: getting us to 100% clean energy, which, of course, would include no new gas.”

It would be interesting to know exactly who funds the Sierra Club. Their war on American energy is not helpful either to the American economy or the American national security. Although the idea of sustainable green energy is attractive, it is not yet commercially (or governmentally) feasible. When we discover a perpetual motion machine, we may find the green energy solution for power right next to it. I’m not holding my breath.

Spain attempted a number of years ago to switch from carbon fuel to green energy. The policy nearly bankrupted the country, and Spain was forced to go back to fossil fuels. As of right now, green energy is not reliable twenty-four hours a day–it has to be supplemented. Therefore, you still have to have fossil-fueled energy plants. The war on American energy is a really destructive idea–it hurts the middle-class Americans that politicians keep saying they want to help.

I Guess Reality Is Optional

Breitbart.com posted an article today about some recent statements President Obama made while visiting Britain.

The article reports:

“Saving the world economy from a Great Depression — that was pretty good,” Obama bragged when asked by a student in London what he wanted his legacy to be.

He recalled that when he visited London in 2009, the world economy was in a “freefall” because of irresponsible behavior of financial institutions around the world.

“For us to be able to mobilize the world’s community, to take rapid action, to stabilize the financial markets, and then in the United States to pass Wall Streets reforms that make it much less likely that a crisis like that can happen again, I’m proud of that,” he said.

Obama also touted his Iran nuclear deal as “something I’m very proud of” asserting that he successfully stopped their nuclear weapons program without going to war.

He griped that everybody forgot about his efforts in stopping the Ebola crisis, saving “hundreds of thousands of lives.”

“I think that I have been true to myself during this process,” Obama said, insisting that the things he said while running for office “matched up” with his presidency.

“I’ll look at a scorecard in the end,” he concluded. “Change takes time. Oftentimes what you start has then to be picked up by your successors or the next generation.”

He added that the fight for change was like a relay race and that he was prepared to pass the baton to his successor.

“Hopefully they’re running in the right direction,” he joked.

I don’t know what to say, but I will attempt to deal with one comment at a time.

President Obama did not save the world from a Great Depression, and the financial crisis was not caused by the behavior of the financial institutions. The financial crisis was caused by Congressional action that encouraged bad lending policies. Reforming Wall Street does nothing that is related to the financial meltdown–the reforms only make it more complicated for the people who work on Wall Street to do their jobs.

This is an old video, but it needs to be shared everywhere:

The Iran nuclear deal is a disaster. Use the search engine at the top of the blog to see what I have written about it in the past. It represents a shift in American policy from fighting terrorism to funding it.

The Ebola crisis was stopped–by the Center for Disease Control working closely with doctors. The President had very little to do with it.

I guess in the final year of the Obama Administration, reality will be optional.