The ObamaCare Wolf, Scratching at Your Door

"It's awful," the stressed-sounding voice on the phone declared. "It's just awful."
The voice belonged to my primary care doctor's office manager. She had just told me that my doc would not accept my health insurance in 2016, and that the nearest physician who would accept it is in a town a thirty-minute drive away. She was describing the dilemma that many of the doctor's patients now face. For our health insurance -- which we are now required by law to purchase, of course -- to be of any value, we will have to make an hour-long round trip just to see a doctor.
"If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period."
The problem isn't that my insurance is from some fly-by-night insurance company; it's from one of the country's largest providers. Nor is the problem caused by a lack of doctors in our community. While relatively small -- its population is about 20,000 -- the town I'm in has a large medical community for its size. It's something of a retirement community and, with the various medical needs of a primarily older population, has accredited specialists in almost all fields. Further, it has both a regular hospital and a VA facility.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/the_obamacare_wolf_scratching_at_your_door.html#ixzz3vuhLf6Qk

Hillary Blames ObamaCare for Lost Jobs William A. Levinson ObamaCare's failure can be turned not only against Clinton but also against every single member of Congress who voted for the ACA or even supported it verbally.

Sean Hannity unleashes 'The Antidote'

This particular Hannity segment focused on Obama’s insistence that tens of thousands of Muslim “refugees” – most of them military-age men – from Syria be brought to the U.S. despite widespread public opposition.
Commented Peterson, “Barack Obama wants to create as much chaos as possible.”
But should America take in Syrian refugees on “humanitarian grounds”?
“America is the No. 1 country in the world for helping and giving,” answered Peterson. “We don’t mind helping; we’re always giving. But there’s a point you have to say, ‘No! Stop!’ And this is the time.
“Because these people, if they’re allowed to come in here, they’re going to kill us. Not all of them, but some of them are terrorists – they’re going to kill us.
“And the same thing with Barack Obama, Sean, the only reason Obama has been able to get away with doing all the things he’s done to us is that no one has said ‘no’ to him. The Republicans have been afraid to say it for fear of being called racists.” It’s the same reason, he surmises, that too few white people are standing up to the Black Lives Matter protesters.

http://mobile.wnd.com/2015/12/sean-hannity-unleashes-the-antidote/

We know we’re “equal,” more or less, but on whose terms? Big Government’s?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Or do we?
At the end of a long, bitter political year, with a still grimmer one facing us, shall we take a look?
The Founding Fathers’ abstract commitment to equality — reinforced by the Gettysburg Address — vexes and perplexes Americans across the political sphere.
 We know we’re “equal,” more or less. But equal on what terms: nature’s or the government’s?
“Equality” takes on the quality that 21st century politicians assign it according to vote tallies, with backing from the media’s noisier voices.
We hear about economic equality; we hear about educational equality; we hear about, let’s say, demographic equality. We learn (from those talking about it) that we’re apparently deficient as a nation in the ratification of Jefferson’s and Lincoln’s visions. We’re told all the things we still need to do.

http://spectator.org/articles/65046/equality-babble 

When the Takers Make More than the Makers

When I was a lad way back in the 60s my father gave me some career planning advice -- “If you want to make money go to work in the private sector, but if you want job security go to work in the public sector. The public sector doesn’t pay as well as the private sector but the benefits are good and you’ll never have to worry about getting laid off.” 
My father’s advice made sense. Government employees are ‘public servants’ and servants are not supposed to make more than their employers. But that was then and this is now. The times have changed.   
With 2.7 million-plus workers (excluding non-civilian military) the federal government is the largest employer in the U.S. But now it seems that federal employees are also the best paid workers in the U.S. And when benefits are added in, the total compensation for federal employees dwarfs private sector pay --

Federal workers’ pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector workers last year.
The study found that federal government workers earned an average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of $56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
But when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference becomes more dramatic. Federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, while private sector workers earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/when_the_takers_make_more_than_the_makers.html#ixzz3vqdUBk2m

It Has Come to This

The United States of America that we grew up in, and in some cases fought for, no longer exists. I would like to write something stirring in defense of our Constitution, but it isn’t under attack. It is simply ignored. Some have proposed that we have a Constitutional convention to add new amendments. What would that accomplish? Would our present Federal government respect a set of new amendments when they don’t respect the old ones? What good does it do to insist on one’s rights as a citizen, when in fact mere citizenship has lost its meaning? Americans have no rights officials in Washington feel bound to recognize. Both Republicans and Democrats overrule majority opinion as a matter of course. They do not doubt for a moment that they are the best and brightest, and that our voting franchise is merely an antiquated inconvenience. My elected representatives represent no one but themselves. They make war on my culture, my faith, and my security-- then they insult me in front of the elitist media on TV. The executive branch, the congress, and most of the judiciary have no more respect for me as a human being than colonial empires had for the most backward and primitive of their subjects. The elites that live inside the beltway and in the bubble of academia should try living in Ohio or Missouri for a few years. “White privilege” isn’t doing all that well in rural West Virginia. We are here, now, in this country at this time. We are real people with real lives. We are not statistics in a sociologist’s model, nor are we third and fourth generation perpetrators from some politically reconstituted version of history. It is all too obvious that our most unrepresentative of representative governments neither knows us nor respects us. They despise us. It is too much to ask us not to despise them in return.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/it_has_come_to_this.html#ixzz3vqcyA8qj

Hezbollah Fighters Are Fed Up With Fighting Syria’s War

They joined to fight Israel in Lebanon, but after multiple combat tours in the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, and around Damascus, Hezbollah reservists tell The Daily Beast that they are no longer willing to die in Syria’s unending, bloody civil war.
As a result of their refusal to continue volunteering to prop up the embattled government of Bashar al-Assad, they say that the Shia Party of God has cut off the money they were accustomed to receiving: reservist paychecks and permanent family benefits packages. What other consequences there may be remain to be seen.
Imad, as we’ll call him, crouched over a heating stove in a small Bekaa Valley farmhouse surrounded by the barren fields where his recently harvested crop of marijuana grew. He declined to give his real name because of his illegal trade and fear of reprisal for speaking out, but he said he decided to stop fighting after losing faith in the Syrian war six months ago.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/30/hezbollah-fighters-are-fed-up-with-fighting-syria-s-war.html 

ISIS 'fatwa' tells militants when it's OK to rape female sex slaves

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when "owners" of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females.
The ruling or fatwa has the force of law and appears to go beyond ISIS' previous known utterances on slavery, a leading Islamic State scholar said.
It sheds new light on how the group is trying to reinterpret centuries-old teachings to justify the rape of women in the swaths of Syria and Iraq it controls. For a US government translation of the fatwa click http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/doc/slaves-fatwa.pdf.

http://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/isis-fatwa-tells-militants-when-its-ok-to-rape-female-sex-slaves 

US spied on Netanyahu’s anti Iran deal lobbying — report

The White House instructed US spies to eavesdrop on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials earlier this year in an effort to counter campaigning against the Iran nuclear deal, despite promising to curtail listening in on foreign leaders, according to a Wall Street Journal report late Tuesday.
The National Security Agency’s spying dragnet was cast so wide it caught conversations Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders had with US officials and Jewish American leaders, leading to what one source called an “oh shit moment,” when the extent became clear according to the report, which cites several current and former US officials. 

The White House and other administration officials refused to comment on the report to the New York-based publication. There was no immediate comment in Jerusalem on the report, which was released just before midnight Israel time.

Contacted by AFP, the White House did not deny the report, but stressed the importance of its ongoing close ties with Israel.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-spied-on-netanyahu-for-info-on-anti-iran-deal-lobbying-report/ 

US Government Is Taking Credit For Bringing Peace to Syria — and They’re Not Joking

State Department spokesperson John Kirby is raising eyebrows after he released a recap of 2015 “success stories” in which he credits the United States for bringing “peace” and “security” to Syria and “stepping up” to help the country’s people at a difficult time.
“The United States and many members of the international community have stepped up to aid the Syrian people during their time of need,” wrote Kirby in his laudatory year-in-review released late last week. He went on to claim that “the United States has led the world in humanitarian aid contributions since the crisis began in 2011.”
“Led by Secretary Kerry, the United States also continues to push for a political transition in Syria, and under his stewardship, in December, the [United Nations] Security Council passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution that puts forward a roadmap that will facilitate a transition within Syria to a credible, inclusive, nonsectarian government that is responsive to the needs of the Syrian people,” the report continued.
Using the hashtag #2015in5words to highlight last year’s wins, Kirby boasted: “Bringing Peace, Security to Syria.”

http://theantimedia.org/us-government-is-taking-credit-for-bringing-peace-to-syria-and-theyre-not-joking/

Why Engineers Can’t Stop Los Angeles' Enormous Methane Leak

One of the biggest environmental disasters in US history is happening right now, and you’ve probably never heard of it.

An enormous amount of harmful methane gas is currently erupting from an energy facility in Aliso Canyon, California, at a startling rate of 110,000 pounds per hour. The gas, which carries with it the stench of rotting eggs due to the addition of a chemical called mercaptan, has led to the evacuation 1,700 homes so far. Many residents have already filed lawsuits against the company that owns the facility, the Southern California Gas Company.
Footage taken on December 17 shows a geyser of methane gas spewing from the Earth, visible by a specialized infrared camera operated by an Earthworks ITC-certified thermographer. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released the footage last week, calling it “one of the biggest leaks we’ve ever seen reported” and “absolutely uncontained”:

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-we-cant-stop-the-enormous-methane-leak-flooding-la 

How Bill Gates Is Causing the Collapse of Traditional Farming and Local Food Economies

Our farmer-managed seed systems in Africa are being criminalized and displaced by a very aggressive green revolution project of corporate occupation by big multinational companies. This violent agrarian transformation is facing profound objection. African farmer organizations are outraged because decisions have been made and imposed on us in a very patronizing, patriarchal way, as if the agrarian vision and solution has been designed for us.
The Gates Foundation is funding the green revolution, along with the many governments linked to the old hub of capitalism, including your government [the US], the UK and the Netherlands. It is working in very close partnership with around 80 African seed companies. The Gates Foundation is the kingpin in charge of coordinating the various green revolution initiatives taking place in Africa.
The green revolution projects are a very expensive technological package for farmers to buy into. Tens of millions of small-scale, resource-poor farmers cannot afford the high costs of inputs unless they’re subsidized by our governments or your taxpayer money. This money goes into the public purse and out to agribusiness such as Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred for hybrid or improved seed and agrochemicals.

http://www.alternet.org/food/how-bill-gates-causing-collapse-traditional-farming-and-local-food-economies 

EPA sends 185 Americans to jail while not disciplining anyone for toxic mine spill

The Environmental Protection Agency opened 213 criminal cases last year, resulting in the conviction of 185 Americans and jail terms averaging 8 months plus fines.  Violations ranged from fraud to illegally removing asbestos.
But the EPA has fired no one, nor even disciplined any of its employees for the massive toxic spill at a gold mine in Colorado last summer.
Daily Caller:

EPA enforcement data for 2015 shows the agency opened 213 environmental cases which resulted in 185 people convicted and sentenced to 129 years in prison. EPA has been opening fewer cases in recent years to focus more on “high impact” cases.
“The focus on high impact more complex cases results in fewer investigations overall,” EPA notes in its presentation showing agency enforcement activities for the year. EPA says its criminal enforcement focuses “on complex cases that involve a serious threat to human health and the environment or that undermine program integrity.”
Every year, EPA agents help put dozens of Americans in prison for breaking U.S. environmental laws. Environmental crimes range from spilling coal ash into public waterways, to pretending to produce biofuels, to illegally cleaning up asbestos in buildings.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/epa_sends_185_americans_to_jail_while_not_disciplining_anyone_for_toxic_mine_spill.html#ixzz3vjlof061

Candidate Hillary Clinton and the Problem of Statutory Qualifications

Hillary Clinton, a former Secretary of State and former Senator, is a prominent candidate in the upcoming Democratic Party primary elections. These primaries select delegates to a national convention which will choose the Democratic Party's candidate for the November 2016 popular presidential election. It has been alleged that, during her term of service as Secretary of State, Clinton violated a provision of the federal statute mandating government record keeping. Section 2071 of Title 18 of the United States Code provides:

Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.

Section 2071's language poses two interesting interpretive challenges. First, what is the scope of the statute? In other words, does Section 2071's generally worded "office under the United States" language extend to the presidency? Second, if Section 2071's general "office under the United States" language fairly encompasses the presidency, is the statute constitutional? In other words, does Congress have the power to create additional qualifications for the presidency beyond those already expressly stated in the Constitution's text?

http://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=883022123123084089031094005013100126050076068001039051073091000098008025097117088095110048059008102059004069090105065118103007012020000002083003093071075090125064081036047002127075125079126028113012119114003115015113117103068121108080110012081117120&EXT=pdf 

The president is planning to travel the globe to seal his foreign policy legacy.

President Barack Obama will be making good use of Air Force One while he still can.
Obama has asked aides to set a busy international travel schedule for him in his final year, with “half a dozen” trips already in the works and more potentially coming together. The travel will be aimed at cementing a foreign policy legacy he hopes will include the Trans-Pacific Partnership, increased attention to Asia, an opening of Latin America, progress against the Islamic State and significant global movement on climate change.

He’ll be fighting the same battle to keep the world from looking past him as he will be at home. But White House aides insist that what they’ve got ahead in 2016 is more than just a standard eighth-year world tour to try to assert themselves and stay clear of the presidential campaign.
The only continents the White House is ruling out as presidential destinations are Australia and Antarctica. And while another multi-stop trip to Africa is also off the table (after a visit to Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015), aides familiar with the matter say, a single stop there tacked onto another trip, perhaps one to Europe, is still possible.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obama-travel-world-217180#ixzz3vjjF7iiq

Omnibus Attack on American Jobs

When I heard that the Omnibus spending bill that President Obama signed a week before Christmas includes a provision allowing more foreign guest workers, my first reaction was disbelief. We were repeatedly told by Republican leaders that the must-pass spending bill contained only what was absolutely necessary to pay our troops, bondholders, and Social Security recipients, and we couldn’t risk shutting down the government with provisions to defund Planned Parenthood or prohibit Obama’s executive actions.
Guest-worker visas became a national scandal this year when the Walt Disney Company and Southern California Edison fired 250 and 400 employees respectively, and both companies required their laid-off workers to train replacements brought in from India to do the same job. The 2016 presidential campaign has been fired up by candidates who promise not only to crack down on illegal immigration, but also to reduce legal immigration which most Americans think is too high.
Speaker Paul Ryan gave written assurances to his conservative colleagues, such as Rep. Steve King and Rep. Mo Brooks, that he would not “bring up any immigration legislation so long as Barack Obama is president.” Yet there it was, on page 701 of the 2,009-page bill that members of Congress had only one full day to read and study before voting:

http://townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/2015/12/29/omnibus-attack-on-american-jobs-n2097739 

Why Can Americans No Longer Agree to Disagree?

In all my years, living through good times and bad, war, recession, periods of great advancement, social upheaval, the eradication of catastrophic diseases and the myriad of forward leaps and backward slides in this United States of America, I have never seen a time when our population was on such adversarial footing.
The problem is not just disagreement, that always has and always will exist, but it seems that in the past we were always able to find some common ground, with reasonable people on each side of an issue. Through civil discourse, and give and take, negotiations found a path both sides could live with.
I think our forefathers designed our government to make it possible for both sides of an issue to be heard, but look how far that concept has fallen, with congressional leaders not even allowing legislation they disagree with to even get to the floor for debate.
It seems, today, instead of engaging in two-sided conversations and attempts to understand each other, we tend to label and lump all those who disagree with us into categories we consider to be mentally inferior to us, considering anything they say to be out of step, off the wall or just plain stupid.

http://www.cnsnews.com/print/430648 

Establishment Republicans Cannot Be Trusted

Establishment Republicans gave Democrats a generous Christmas gift this year while at the same time stuffing conservatives' stockings with coal in the passage of the omnibus spending bill.
These Republicans obviously forgot that it was the hard work of grassroots conservatives that gave them the majority, winning the largest number of Congressional seats since the Civil War during the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections. Conservatives expected a little something in return. Nothing big, they just wanted them to keep their promises to stop (or at least stall) some of President Obama's highly unpopular policies, not continue or increase them. No wonder Donald Trump and Ted Cruz continue to lead the pack in the run for the White House.
At this point, it seems we'd be much better off with a Democrat-controlled Congress because at least we'd have someone besides ourselves to blame. The $1.1 trillion, 2000-plus page omnibus spending bill continues to fund programs like Planned Parenthood, despite videos showing people haggling over the price of aborted baby parts. It also continues to fund President Obama's unconstitutional program, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and grants illegal aliens tax credits, entitlements, and work permits. Sanctuary cities and refugee programs including those vulnerable to exploitation by terrorist groups were also funded.

http://townhall.com/columnists/susanstamperbrown/2015/12/29/establishment-republicans-cannot-be-trusted-n2097661 

Losing Influence: 6 Great DC Media Failures of 2015

We will never be fully rid of the DC Media. Like the garbage-in/manure-out maggots they are, the DC Media will always be a rancid part of the circle of political life. The political left is, if nothing else, relentless, and they will never fully give up the propaganda perch that is this corrupt institution.
That doesn’t mean that the righteous war to politically-exterminate them should be any less relentless, because it is already resulting in quantifiable benefits. The influence these serial-liars once enjoyed to sway public opinion and set the parameters of the national debate, is evaporating.
In no particular order, here are six battles the DC Media waged relentlessly and handily lost in 2015.
Feel free to point and laugh.

1. The Annihilation of Donald Trump 
2. http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/12/26/losing-influence-6-great-dc-media-failures-of-2015/

$2,957,000,000: U.S. Taxpayers Will Fund Lion’s Share of UN Budget Again in 2016

American taxpayers will once again be liable for more than one-fifth of the United Nations’ regular budget next year, as well as more than one-quarter of the much-larger peacekeeping budget – a total of approximately $2,957,000,000.
The U.N. General Assembly just before Christmas approved a regular operating budget of $5.4 billion for the 2016-17 period. (That budget is calculated biannually.) Of the $2.7 billion earmarked for 2016, the U.S. will account for 22 percent, or $594 million.
Of the separate peacekeeping budget – $8.27 billion for the year ending June 30 – the U.S. is liable for 28.5783 percent, or $2.363 billion. Combined, the two U.S. contributions amount to just under $3 billion.
In actual fact the full extent of U.S. funding for the U.N. system will be considerably more than that: The $2.957 billion figure comprises the U.S. “assessed contributions” to the two main budgets, but the U.S. in addition provides much more in “voluntary contributions” to a range of U.N. agencies.
(The last time the administration was obliged by law to provide Congress with a full breakdown, the total for fiscal year 2010 was $7.69 billion. The reporting requirement fell away in 2011.)

http://www.cnsnews.com/print/430488 

The Donald and the Damage Done

The left has long depicted the typical Republican as a white, racist, misogynist male with a big bank balance and a small brain. This is a caricature, of course, but the current election cycle has produced an ostensible GOP presidential candidate who personifies the parody so closely that he may as well have been constructed in a laboratory by the Democratic National Committee. Donald Trump is the cartoon Republican that Hillary Clinton and her media lackeys want to run against in 2016 and they are working hard to assure that his florid, frowning visage becomes the face of the GOP.
As Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight notes, “Trump has received 54 percent of the media coverage of the GOP primary.” He has been getting more free press than all the other Republican candidates combined. Trump’s supporters believe this is about his skillful manipulation of the media. In reality, it is they who are being played by a press corps that is giving him 24/7 coverage to bolster his illusory lead in the national polls. But these polls tell us nothing about the state of the race. Because there’s no such thing as a national primary, they measure little more than name recognition.
The people who run the major media outlets, such as CNN, are well aware of this reality. Yet they knowingly publish misleading national surveys, like this poll released last week, showing Trump with an implausible lead of 21 points over his nearest rival. Such “blockbuster” surveys provide a pretext for another tsunami of “news” stories about his alleged lead, additional interviews, and more coverage of the campaign rallies during which he almost always says something ignorant or offensive. These statements are then reported as generally representative of GOP positions.

http://spectator.org/articles/65033/donald-and-damage-done 

Why People Can't Face the Truth about Obama

The psychological processes which prevent people from facing facts when the unthinkable has become obvious can be explained by the models of social psychology called cognitive dissonance theory.
Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress and discomfort caused when important beliefs, attitudes or values, called cognitions, are inconsistent, conflicting or contradictory to each other. In the 1950s the psychologist Leon Festinger theorized that the mind spontaneously, continuously reduces cognitive dissonance to enable goal-directed functioning in a paradoxical, inconsistent, deceptive world. Festinger's discovery founded a rich tradition of research which has demonstrated how the mind resolves contradictions. It provides a powerful way to understand why people can't face what President Obama is doing to America.
Research has demonstrated countless times that cognitions do not have to be true to create dissonance, they just have to be believed. Barack Obama was elected to reduce the dissonance between the beliefs 'America is the land of the free', and the falsehoods 'America is still racist' and 'President Obama will go a long way to solving the problem of racism.' Because 'America is racist” is false, its corollaries are equally false. 'We must elect a black Democrat -- not black Republican -- because Republicans don't emphasize America is racist. Obama is fabulous, no need to know much about him, or whether he can lead the nation. He will make us feel better about ourselves'.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/why_people_cant_face_the_truth_about_obama_.html#ixzz3vdAhh59A

Political correctness may kill us -- literally

In the war on terrorism, we in the West may be our own worst enemies.
The political correctness of many of our leaders and opinion-makers could bury us.
Al-Qaida, ISIS, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and many other terror organizations want the death of as many of us as possible or our forcible conversion to their particularly brutal strain of Islam.
They dream of a worldwide caliphate in which all free people are subjugated to a Salafist dictatorship under sharia law.
But ISIS and the others are only a threat to the West so long as we permit them to exist.
The armies of the West could fairly easily destroy ISIS and drive it out of Syria and Iraq.
The military mission, at least, would be relatively easy
The problem is finding the institutional will to confront ISIS on the ground, not simply from the air.
Politically and diplomatically, expelling ISIS is more difficult.
It will be hard to convince western voters to send infantry and tanks into the Middle East – again.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/26/political-correctness-may-kill-us----literally?ref=yfp 

Post 9-11, America jumped from the Middle East frying pan into the fire

In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration struggled to define the enemy and to decide how to defeat it. Even though 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and the Saudis were involved in the planning and financing of the attack, President Bush allowed the Saudis to fly out of the country in the next 24 hours when all other air traffic had been shut down.
No doubt that Bush had decided to maintain good relations with the Arabs, and Saudi Arabia particularly, just as the US had done for half a century. This policy led Bush to say on Sept 17, 2011 to the Islamic world, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war,” in a speech as sycophantic as any President Obama has ever delivered.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/77747

On a different policy tack, Bush said on the evening of 9/11, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
On Sept 20/11 Bush spoke to the Joint Houses Congress emphasizing both tacks:

Is America Waking Up?

Thanks to our federal government, the American people remain in peril. Terrorists continue to take advantage of Barack Obama’s fraudulent refugee program by infiltrating an unknown number of Islamic extremists into our country. Coupled with unrestricted border entry, the rising tide of illegal immigrants represents a growing danger to the American public. And this is precisely what Obama wants. The ongoing invasion of the nation by America-hating,  inferior stock is an important part of the “fundamental transformation” of the United States that Obama has spoken of throughout his years in the White House.
Of course, White House press secretary Josh Earnest continues to extol the virtues of the intensive screening involved in the Regime’s imaginary two year vetting process. It doesn’t seem to matter that both the FBI and DHS have stated that the vetting of Muslim refugees is not possible because paperwork containing the individual histories needed to screen them doesn’t exist.

http://www.coachisright.com/is-america-waking-up/ 

Obama Preps for Final State of the Union

Barack Obama is preparing for his final State of the Union Address, which he'll deliver January 12. And the president is not looking to slow down as the end of his presidency nears.
"I've got 12 months left to squeeze every ounce of change I can while I'm still in office. And that's what I intend to do," Obama writes in an email to supporters.
We've done a lot of remarkable things together this year, and it's because of committed citizens like you that this country keeps moving forward. You keep proving the cynics wrong.

On January 12, I'll be giving my last State of the Union address. I want you to watch, and say you're ready to keep up the fight in 2016 -- because your voice matters just as much as mine does.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/2000344/

In General.

This is who she is.  She is a liar calling families of victims of her Benghazi disaster liars after she lied to both them and the nation.  The woman is a total disgrace.  http://eaglerising.com/27416/hillary-clinton-calls-family-of-the-benghazi-dead-liars/

This is another thing we have to thank Obama for, at least in part, since he has been working hard on it during his seven years in office.  Quote: "Middle-class families, pillar of the American dream, are no longer in the majority, and it’s now official according to the Pew Research Center… Things have been on a downward slide since the deindustrialization of the 1970s, but things have now reached a point of no return."     http://patriotpowerednews.com/american-dream-ends-abruptly-middle-class-families-no-longer-the-majority/

And the ACLU claims it is the political right that is dangerous, unhinged ???  Quote: "A board member for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has resigned after urging people to kill supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump." The offending board member, Loring Wirbel, had this to say: "The thing is, we have to really reach out to those who might consider voting for Trump and say, ‘This is Goebbels. This is the final solution. If you are voting for him I will have to shoot you before Election Day.’ They’re not going to listen to reason, so when justice is gone, there’s always force…”     http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/12/11/aclu-board-member-resigns-after-urging-people-to-kill-supporters-of-trump/?

Finally, common sense prevails at least on this matter on both the left and right.  The family unit is the bedrock of a good economy.  Like the author of this article, much to the chagrin of my leftist friends, it reinforces what I have been saying for years.  Two quotes: "Poverty became a major focus of attention in Washington in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson announced his program known as the "War on Poverty."  Like in this new report, Johnson's program emphasized the importance of education, the development of work skills and the availability of jobs and employment in hard-hit communities.  But unlike this new report, in Johnson's war on poverty there was zero focus on the importance of the traditional American family to fighting poverty and enhancing economic vitality."  And, "Johnson's war on poverty followed the civil rights movement and the social unrest of the 1960s. Rather than concluding that it was necessary to bring what was working in America -- traditional values, limited government, personal responsibility -- to those parts of the nation that were not working, we ushered in a new era of big-government solutions.  These big-government solutions undermined the traditionally successful values and institutions of the country. Little was done to eradicate poverty but much was done to break down the American family and add hundreds of billions in new spending to the federal budget."   http://townhall.com/columnists/starparker/2015/12/09/scholars-shine-new-light-on-old-truths-for-fighting-poverty-n2091004/page/full   Now, maybe, if the government has the guts to do so major changes in the way welfare programs work will begin in earnest.  My guess, though, is that the entrenched political left will drag their feet to keep all their precious vote getting taxpayer funded give away programs.  The consequence: government dependence and poverty will persist, neither rebuilding the basis for the two parent family unit nor individual enterprise habits will happen and our economy will continue to falter.  I hope I am wrong.

This illustrates the hypocrisy of Obama, the Attorney General and a huge swath of the liberal left.  Christians are routinely defamed, blamed for things they do not do, get fined/jailed for standing up for their beliefs (all the while selected progressive supported groups receive praise for doing the same thing), are killed in their churches/public places by haters (who are excused for various reasons by leftist apologists for dubious/reckless/unfounded reasons) and have their First Amendment rights violated over and over again, etc., etc.  But our biased, dishonest self-serving government has to make sure no one even says anything bad about Islam and its practices.  We might hurt their feelings. Or worse yet make them mad.  This is the most biased, unethical, bigoted, lawless, anti-Christian and anti-American administration in history.  http://www.dailywire.com/news/1593/loretta-lynch-vows-prosecute-those-who-use-anti-james-barrett

If you don't think our government is totally out of control, fiscally irresponsible and disrespectful of its citizens then you need to read this.  Quote: "Congress just passed a $1.1 trillion budget bill. Here, from The Hill (“Paul: Nobody read the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill”), is what Senator Rand Paul has to say about it:  “It was over a trillion dollars, it [the bill] was all lumped together, 2,242 pages, nobody read it, so frankly my biggest complaint is that I have no idea what kind of things they stuck in the bill…We were given it yesterday or the day before the bill came forward, and so this is not a way to run government. It’s a part of the reason why government is broke.”  Paul went to say that no Democrat or Republican in the House or Senate read the bill before voting on it.  But of course the US federal government is not out of control. Perish the thought. The elected representatives are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do: spend money. It doesn’t matter where the money goes or how much of it there it is. These are minor points.  Borrow the money, tax the population in order to get it, invent it out of nothing—whatever it takes."   https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/congressional-lunatics-on-the-march/   You should be mad as He##!!!  I am.

I think the people have it right.  What do you think?   http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/12/24/poll-big-government-is-the-biggest-threat-to-our-future-n2096896?

Well said. Quote: "In a pre-vacation interview with NPR, the president argued that (as the New York Times decodes the message) “some of the scorn directed at him personally stems from the fact that he is the first African American to hold the White House.” I.e, “It’s because I’m black, isn’t it?” RELATED: Obama’s Awful Year This is kind of clever, in a way. The president says that much of the unhappiness with his administration is “pretty specific to me, and who I am and my background,” which is slippery in that by saying it’s about him, he’s really saying it’s about his critics, and their bigotry and prejudice. “It’s not me, it’s you.”"   http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428873/barack-obama-black-identity   Poor Obama.  The predominantly white population voted him into office twice.  But his self image is so dysfunctional that he now believes the very people who supported him are racist.

The damage progressivism/political correctness has done to public schools continues apace.  Here is just one of many, many examples.   http://patriotupdate.com/school-crumbles-after-teachers-told-not-to-punish-minority-students-because-of-white-privilege/

It is unbelievable how Democrats insist people listen to and believe many of their rants that can be easily disproved. Consider these few examples. http://eaglerising.com/27222/democrats-demagogue-on-guns-but-facts-prove-gun-violence-in-long-decline/  And some people actually think these people are smart and their words true.  Here's one senator at her best.  Quote: "Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) stunned many Thursday when she expressed support for gun control legislation by pointing to the supposed success of such laws in California.  “Sensible gun laws work,” Boxer told reporters. “We’ve proven it in California.”  The two San Bernardino attackers, who killed 14 and wounded more than a dozen Wednesday, purchased all four of their guns legally, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Thursday."  It seems they really do believe their lies and expect their constituent to believe them too.  http://www.survivaljoe.net/she-said-what-liberal-california-senators-dumb-words-following-san-bernardino-shooting/  By the way, California has, according to this link, the toughest gun laws in the nation.    http://www.deseretnews.com/top/1428/10/California-10-states-with-the-strictest-gun-laws.html

This item provides us with a lesson that all thinking people should agree on.  If that were to happen we could begin to remove the damage done during the past 100 years by destructive progressive policies.   http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2015/12/23/immorality-and-contempt-for-liberty-n2095918/page/full

Finally, and thank goodness, some good news for a change.  The Senate is starting to grow a backbone!  The wasteful, expensive and unworkable Obamacare nightmare may now be slipping into a black hole.  Here's what the Senate has done. Quote: "Last week, with little fanfare, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to begin dismantling Obamacare. Some pundits have spun the move as little more than “political posturing” or a toothless act that simply fulfills the campaign promises of a newly elected GOP majority. The truth is that this Senate vote is much bigger than Obamacare supporters would like you to believe. In fact, the Senate vote has literally changed the Obamacare debate forever.  The Senate bill repealed the employer and individual mandates, repealed the Cadillac and medical device taxes, eliminated exchange subsidies, and removed the federal government’s authority to run the Obamacare exchanges. All good things.  But what may be the most significant—and least discussed—change is sure to send shockwaves through all 50 state capitals: the U.S. Senate voted to repeal Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion entirely."  http://townhall.com/columnists/nicholashorton/2015/12/10/how-the-senate-just-changed-the-obamacare-debate-forever-n2092170? 

And the federal government's tax and spend song beat keeps on playing.  Some wins for both sides.  But, the bottom line is that fiscal responsibility is a big loss overall.  Read the details of Paul Ryan's first big deal as Speaker.  We will have to wait and see whether it gets support and whether Ryan proves to be another Boehner.   http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/12/paul_ryan_s_first_deal_is_just_like_john_boehner_s_old_ones.html

To balance the discussion this item summarizes crooked deals cut by both Republicans and Democrats to satisfy crony capitalists and trading favors, etc., etc. using OUR taxes for THEIR political purposes.  Both parties are corrupt as can be.  A total housecleaning is absolutely necessary if we have any hope of saving our country.  Quote: "It seems Congress doesn’t dare imperil jobs and companies created via government favoritism and taxpayer largesse. They are the nearest thing to eternal life. It likewise doesn’t dare furlough federal workers for a few weeks, during another government shutdown over the budget. (Of course, the feds will get full back pay when they return to work, unlike private sector workers whose jobs get destroyed.)  But Congress seemingly has no problem destroying traditional jobs associated with fossil fuels – sacrificing them on the climate altar, or for campaign contributions from crony corporatist friends."   http://townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2015/12/17/shafting-taxpayers--promoting-crony-corporatism-n2094647/page/full

In previous notes information about Obama's (concocted in secret) Trans-Pacific Partnership deal was shared with you.  Although not yet official details are leaking out and points to the fact that the President has cooked up another really bad deal for our country.  This piece provides a brief update.  Read it and you will not like what he is trying to do to our country.  Our job is to hound elected 
This is a well grounded opinion piece that serves as a logical follow-on to the previous items.  While it may not find favor with some, it is the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. But if the truth results in necessary insights it is worth the temporary pain/discomfort.  Quote: "It's not that all liberals are stupid; it's just that liberalism makes them sound stupid.  For liberals, it’s not about being open-minded; it’s saying things they believe an open-minded person would say. It's not about being smart; it's saying things they believe a smart person would say. It's not about being virtuous; it's about saying things they believe a virtuous person would say."   For open, responsible, rational, honest, respectful, virtuous people abiding the truth is far more important than what other people think or being a member in good standing of the progressive/liberal PC cult.  http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2015/12/05/the-tribalist-liberal-losers-who-want-virtue-on-the-cheap-n2089324/page/full

Obama's lies do not change the facts.  As this item points out more people are in poverty than at any time in our history. http://patriotpowerednews.com/year-ends-in-economic-slump-more-americans-than-ever-living-in-poverty/

By now you know that I dislike the United Nations.  It is a bureaucratic cesspool filled with agencies, offices, etc., etc., that do little real good around the world but cost nations around the world a bundle, especially the United States.  A case in point is the UN's Human Rights Council.  As this item points out its newly appointed membership is filled with undeserving nations having serious human rights problems.  But, the UN obviously does not consider that as disqualifying criteria - they will allow them to serve on the council and know they will fairly consider violations around the glove except, of course, their own.  Quote: "The Human Rights Foundation expressed its outrage at the election to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council of what it considers to be “some of the worst dictatorships and authoritarian regimes” in the world. The Foundation, in particular, frowned upon the election of Burundi, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Togo, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela."    http://www.stupid.news/2015-12-22-un-human-rights-councils-newly-elected-members-include-dictatorships-authoritarian-regimes.html   And as you already know the progressive left elites are pushing hard to make the UN the world's top level governing body, sitting atop the socialist dream of a one world government with them in charge.  What a wonderful world that would be!!!  There is even a rumor (don't know if it is true) that Obama is angling to be its next UN "head honcho".  What a glorious thing that would be.  He has screwed up our country.  In that position he can screw up the whole world.


This is a sad commentary on the nature and purpose of climate alarmists.  So much time and money spent on a fruitless activity.   http://www.erickontheradio.com/2015/12/the-watermelon-in-the-room-the-paris-climate-accords-communist-like-approach-to-weather/?

Now let's have a little fun.  See if you can determine which of these ten quotes belong to Hillary and which to Trump.   http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-donald-trump/

George Burns

Protecting/Defending the Muslims.

It is to be expected given who is in charge but it is definitely not the right thing to do.  The president attempts to protect Muslims no matter what.  Quote: "The FBI has taken heat for failing to immediately classify the San Bernardino shootings as terrorism, but a new report shows that FBI reluctance could have been due to external pressure from the White House.  A source told Jack Murphy of SOFREP that the FBI instantly believed the shooting, which left 14 dead, to be a clear act of terrorism. The White House, however, didn’t feel the same way and quickly moved in to squash the terror classification. http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/10/report-obama-told-nsc-to-downplay-terrorist-angle-of-san-bernadino/  Did I say Obama will do anything to protect Muslims?  Well, this former DHS employee submitted a FOIA request to find out why the agency in California was shut down that had it stayed open may well have prevented the tragedy in San Bernardino.  Here is what he learned. "Haney, a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security, said he filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out why the plug had been pulled on his program.  The reason, he said, was because the administration said the case was based on targeting a specific Islamic group."   http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/former-dhs-employee-barack-obama/2015/12/10/id/705386/  No profiling allowed when dealing with the left's protected groups.  Common sense is not a part of their thinking process. 

Now read this item.  You will learn just how insane is Obama's decision to deny law enforcement access to refugee internet content.  Quote: "Erik Haugland, the head of Norway’s asylum program, told Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen last week that the presence of these videos and photos suggests that many of the refugees either support the Islamic State group or are directly affiliated with it.  It would certainly make sense, given that according to a poll conducted last month, 13 percent of Syrian refugees view the twisted terrorist group favorably."  And, "According to The Hill, Obama intends to continue with his Syrian “refugee” resettlement program, despite knowing full well that Islamic State group militants are exploring ways to use his “refugee program to enter the United States.” As president, Obama may do as he desires, apparently. But he would be wise to rethink his decision, because if photos of dead American children start showing up on the Internet courtesy of his refugees, he will have hell to pay."    http://conservativetribune.com/police-searching-refugees-find/?  It is becoming ever more clear that Obama is more interested in protecting the privacy and interests of potential terrorists than lives of American citizens.   Here's more.   http://hotair.com/archives/2015/12/16/no-confidence-disapproval-of-obamas-handling-of-terrorism-soars-to-57-the-worst-mark-of-his-presidency/?

And the president wants to let more into our country.  His obstinacy in pursuing his objectives is counter to the interests of the vast majority of citizens as it regards their safety and security.  He has his agenda and the interests of the people are of no concern to him.  As usual it is all about him.   http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/revoked-visas-terrorism-concerns/2015/12/17/id/706296/?   Remember, predominantly Muslim countries are not being forced to accept any of these Muslim refugees.  Some have even refused to.  Why?  Think about that.  You might consider as possibilities that this could be a UN tactic to destabilize western nations and spreading Islam around the globe.  If that is their objective it is surely succeeding.

To some facts are unimportant.  Others, like the President, encourage that behavior.  He thinks we should just trust him and ignore the facts.  He thinks we are foolish enough to believe the government can adequately vet Middle Eastern refugees and control the numbers allowed in and know where they are at all times. His acolytes in the mainstream media seem to agree with him no matter how foolish the proposition is.  I was watching Washington Week last night and had to shut it off.  They were covering the President on all points and calling Republicans stupid, insensitive, void of American values, etc., etc.  To them facts do not matter, only their leftist PC narrative which is dangerous to no end. Read this and tell me we all should sing Cum by Yah with the president and mainstream media.  Quote: "A senior Department of Homeland Security official was unable to tell Congress the number of Syrian refugees who have entered the United States in the last year and the number of Americans who have travelled to Syria and returned, in testimony on Capitol Hill that angered many lawmakers."   http://freebeacon.com/national-security/dhs-official-unable-to-give-number-of-syrians-in-u-s-or-number-of-expired-visas/

This is a short tutorial on the nature and scope of Islam.  It is not just a religion; it's a whole way of life, civil and spiritual.  Its ultimate goal is to establish a global theocracy.  Quote: "The critical question is, what fraction of Muslims who wish to come to America reject the idea that their first civil loyalty is to Islam?  It's hard to tell, since there seems to be a dearth of polling of American Muslims where they are asked about sharia law.  But according to a Pew survey, support for sharia law is fairly common among Muslims in a wide variety of countries.  For the first time in its history, America is facing the question of how to deal with people whose religion is often interpreted by many of its adherents, as opposed to its detractors, to reject the principles of democracy and religious liberty."   http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/islam_not_just_a_religion.html  Its tenants are incompatible with Democracy.  In fact, they are the direct opposite of the tenants laid out in our Constitution.

This item provides a short discussion of the differences between the Quran and the Bible.  http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2015/12/16/verses-of-violence-comparing-the-bible-and-the-quran-n2094327/page/full 

Now consider this.  Are we to believe the President's proclamations that Islam is a religion of peace when we have Muslims like this leading Imam/college professor in our country?   Quote: "Yasir Qadhi (aka Abu Ammaar Yasir Kazi) is an American imam and college professor who is described by a 2011 New York Times Magazine essay as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam.” In his sermon/lecture in the YouTube audio below, Qadhi begins by calling Christians “shirk” for being “polythesists” who believe in the Triune God (three persons in one God), instead of Islam’s “monotheist” god Allah.  Then Qadhi really steps up his verbal abuse. He says, since “there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah wuzza wuzza,” Christians are “by necessity and by definition … the most evil of all evils.” Like all “unbelievers” and “polytheists,” Christians are “filthy.” They are “najusa” (feces, urine) — “a filthy impure dirty substance.”  Qadhi declares that the prophet Mohammad — and by extension all Muslims — “has been commanded to do jihad.”  What is jihad?  Jihad “is a means to establish monotheism on the land.” The prophet had said, “I have been commanded to fight the people until they” convert to Islam. But “if they don’t [convert to Islam,] their life and property are halal [free for the taking] for the Muslims.”   http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/12/leading-us-imam-and-professor-muslims-can-take-property-of-filthy-christians-and-jews-video/?   It is long past time for the President, the mainstream media, academics, Democrats/liberal progressives to stop their lies and admit the truth.  A multitude of hard facts suggest that far too many Muslims are not peaceful and intend to force all humans to yield to them and their religion.  So called moderates like Qadhi belies any and all Islam apologist's propaganda.  Stop the lies!!!

Think about this.  Adjusting our culture to conform to theirs goes on quietly but persistently.  http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/u-s-judge-sworn-into-office-on-quran/

Add to that this piece about the progressive left granting followers of Islam the vaulted status of victimhood? Say What?  Quote: "Islam in the West has also clearly become one of the favored victim groups of the Left, thanks in large part to the efforts of Edward Said, the now-discredited former hero of the Palestinians and the friend and mentor of a young Barack Obama.  Radicalized and professional Muslim apologists such as the members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR, a creature of the Muslim Brotherhood) have learned the power of playing the victim and petitioning the powers of the Left, in the academy, the media, and the government, for protection in the face of what Muslims consider slights and microaggressions." http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/is_the_microaggression_movement_stoking_the_jihad.html 

Speaking of Islamic victimhood this is the story of the "clock kid" whose family is suing the city of Dallas and its school district for $15 million in damages because they arrested their 14 year old son who took a project to school that looked suspiciously like a bomb.  Obama lamented the behavior of the city and school and embraced the lad as an innovative kid and even invited him to the White House.  Do you think he would have done that if the kid was a Christian???  Quote: "Now even if you thought that there wasn’t anything shady about the clock kid’s story, and there is, just what kind of “damages” did he suffer? The media loved him, he got invites from enormous corporations like Twitter and Facebook, and he even got to meet Barack Obama at the White House!!! What DAMAGES did he suffer?!?"    http://fromtheright.com/latest/the-muslim-clock-kid-is-now-suing-for-millions-from-the-dallas-school-district/

And get this.  There are at least 22 Muslim terror camps arrayed around our country.  Do you think Obama does not know this?  Of course he does.  Have you heard him speak to the American people about it?  Of course not.  Has he pledged to take them out to protect innocents from subsequent acts their graduates will surely inflict?  Of course not.  He apparently believes they mean no harm.   Quote: "While the Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate 1,000 ISIS-tied individuals in the united States, there are at least 22 paramilitary Islamic communities in the US that they know of, but are not doing anything about. Now, the stage has been set for more Islamic jihad attacks on US soil under the watchful eye of the FBI.  The groups are operated by Jamaat al-Fuqra, a Pakistan-based group, who main front group is Muslims of the Americas.  Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, a Pakistani cleric, heads up the group in Islamberg, New York. The communes operated by the organization are in mostly remote areas of California, Georgia, South Carolina, New York, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Tennessee and other states."   http://eaglerising.com/27209/whoa-more-than-22-muslim-terror-training-camps-on-american-soil/

And what about the number of Muslims across the globe supporting Sharia Law which, said politely, is cruel, biased against women and requires honor killings of family members who "disgrace" their family, cutting off one's hand if caught stealing, stoning of rape victims if four men attest to the rape (the one committing the rapes goes free), female genital mutilation and much, much more.  See the statistics here.   http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/massive_worldwide_support_for_sharia_law_among_global_muslim_community.html

Truth about Muslim violence.

Here are some facts that the President and liberal left refuse to acknowledge.  Quote: "Approximately 100 million Christians are persecuted worldwide, making them one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world,” said an Open Doors statement announcing the report. “Islamic extremism is the main source of persecution in 40 of the 50 countries on the 2015 World Watch List.”

Nine of the 10 countries with the worst records for persecution of Christians have populations that are at least 50 percent Muslim, according to the assessment of persecution in the Open Doors USA's World Watch List (WWL) 2015 and population information published by the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. When you begin to put the pieces together, a pattern emerges. It’s a pattern that liberals and other Islam defenders won’t like, but it’s a true and recognizable pattern, nonetheless. Islam is a force for evil on our planet today and it’s not just the terrorist extremists who are doing the damage… it’s regular ol’ Muslims too."    http://eaglerising.com/27943/muslim-violence-against-women-and-christians-shocks-the-world-again/

Continuing that theme the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, is now openly saying "Europe cannot afford to continue ignoring the fate of Christians, who are clearly the most persecuted group in the world.'' These remarks were made at a conference on religious persecution in Brussels earlier this month.  Continuing, he said "It should shake us up that on our continent, Christians are not safe," Schulz, who represents Germany.  The EP Vice President added, “No religious community is as subject to hatred, violence and systematic aggression as the Christians.”  The American left is following that same line with similar consequences ultimately possible when it supports Obama by treating the Muslims as a favored/protected religion.   http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/mairead-mcardle/president-european-parliament-our-continent-christians-are-not-safe

More Things To Think About

This note mostly deals with different aspects of the ongoing debate regarding Muslims and whether we should or not admit them into our country and under what conditions.  The first item deals with hypocritical behavior by those on the left.  History is the guidepost.  The rest deal with various aspects of the matter and several others deal with ongoing items that should interest.  Read the headers to find those that may interest you.  As always, nothing here is made up.  Most get limited if any coverage because the mainstream media chooses either to not report or downplay what they do not want you to know or at least fully understand.  If you don't believe or agree with anything herein please check the facts. 

The left is all in a kerfuffle over Donald Trump's comments regarding shutting down Muslim entry into this country until we can figure out how to properly vet them. He has been called nearly everything in the book by Democrat/leftist politicians and media and even some Republicans because of his proposal.  He has been called "un-American", He "violates our American values", and he is "racist", and more. This piece shows how disingenuous these people are.  It totally rebuffs their dishonest lunacy.  It is history.  It is facts.  And the facts should embarrass them.  But that will not happen because it is highly probable they know this already and do not care because they think you will believe their contemporary lies and ignore their own past trips down this road.  Here are a few quotes to make the point but reading the entire piece is what everyone should do. 

Quote #1:  "Let’s look at the provenance of another supposedly outrageous Trumpian proposal: the idea of establishing a database tracking Muslims in the United States. This is supposed to illustrate The Donald’s unique evil, but in fact mosques in this country have been under heavy surveillance for years. New York City had a Muslim surveillance program, and the FBI has been entrapping Muslims in phony “terrorist” plots as a form of security theater." 

Quote #2: "Both liberal and conservative Trump-haters deplore The Donald’s proposal to discriminate against Muslim immigrants and travelers to the US, yet immigration laws have routinely singled out certain religious groups for favorable treatment, i.e. the Lautenberg Amendment, passed in 1989, which gave religious groups in the Soviet Union, including Jews, some Christians, etc., presumptive refugee status unavailable to nonbelievers or state-sanctioned religious groups that weren’t persecuted. Here the principle of singling out certain religious groups was first established, and if we apply the principle consistently then Trump’s proposal to single out Muslims for unfavorable treatment is entirely in line with this precedent."  Lautenberg was a Democrat, by the way.   

Quote #3: "And of course the biggest single example of singling out a particular ethnic or religious group for persecution in the modern era is Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order sending tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps for the duration of World War II. The religious aspect of this singling out should not be overlooked: Americans believed that Japanese Shintoism, in which the Emperor was worshipped as divine, was inherently subversive. Roosevelt’s massive violation of rights was not only upheld by the Supreme Court but was also cheered by leading “liberal” lights of the day, such as the country’s most influential liberal columnist, Walter Lippmann, Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. “Dr. Seuss,” and then California Attorney General Earl Warren. The American Civil Liberties Union refused to challenge the internment order, an act of cowardice that motivated the California chapter to break with the national organization."  Best I can remember FDR was a Democrat. 

Quote #4: "Liberals like George Stephanopoulos, confronted with this example [FDR's internment camps], are reduced to spluttering incoherence, as in this Stephanopoulos-Trump confrontation on “Good Morning America”:  “Trump: What I’m doing is no different than FDR’s solution for German, Italian, Japanese, you know –“   Stephanopoulos: So you’re for internment camps?”   Trump: This was a president highly respected by all, he did the same thing. If you look at what he was doing, it was far worse.”   Stephanopoulos: I’ve got to press you on that, sir. You’re praising FDR there. I take it you’re praising the setting up of internment camps for Japanese in World War II?   Trump: No, I’m not. Take a look at Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527, having to do with alien German, alien Italian, alien Japanese. They stripped them of their naturalization proceedings. They went through a whole list of things; they couldn’t go five miles from their homes. They weren’t allowed to use radios, flashlights. I mean, you know, take a look at what FDR did many years ago and he’s one of the most highly respected presidents.”   Poor George: he had no effective answer to Trump’s argument, except to raise his eyebrows until they practically took flight. And the reason he had no answer is because Trump’s proposals, far from being “un-American,” as our hysterical liberals aver, are all-too-American, as even a cursory glance at the history of this country confirms. Indeed, one needn’t go all the way back to World War II to underscore this undeniable fact. As Jesse Walker points out in Reason magazine, simply recalling what Hillary Clinton said on the campaign trail last week will do:"  You can read Hillary's comments in the link followed by what Trump says.  Trump gets excoriated, Hillary gets a pass for saying essentially the same thing.  Honesty, decency, ethical?  Not hardly.   http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2015/12/08/trump-americas-funhouse-mirror/  

The left's false outrage at Trump's comments is nothing more than a hypocritical and deceitful ruse, an effort to inflict as much damage as they can any way they can to make sure he is not elected. They want lying, dishonest, unethical, cold and calculating Hillary for president and are willing to prostitute any ethics they have left to get her in. Truth, honesty and decency are not in their DNA.  By the way, Stephanopoulos is an unethical Democratic hack who worked for Bill and contributed funds to the Clinton Foundation, a journalistic no, no.  But does the left care?  Of course not, he is one of them. He just masquerades as a journalist. I think he got what he deserved in that exchange with Trump.  So tell me is Trump deserving of their dishonest, unethical, hateful attempt to assassinate his character???  This is a truly despicable display of the left's true colors but it is not unusual behavior since they have used character assassination tactics against their opponents many times over.  They are experts at it.   

Now, watch this video from a Muslim which unintentionally makes Trump's point for him.   http://conservativetribune.com/trump-plan-islamic-response/?

Through the Corporate Tax Looking Glass

The combined federal and state corporate income tax in the U.S. is nearly 40 percent. And, the U.S. imposes this nearly 40 percent tax levy on the global earnings of U.S. based companies. Most Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries only tax the profits earned in the home country — a Canadian based company only pays taxes on income earned in Canada, the Canadian government does not tax income earned elsewhere in the world.
The exceptionally high tax rate on global profits creates a burdensome competitive disadvantage for U.S. companies. Instead of facing a tax burden that can be three times as high as some of their competitors (companies located in Ireland), some companies are restructuring their operations via a corporate inversion.
A corporate inversion is a type of acquisition. Recent examples include the Burger King and Tim Horton’s deal, or the Pfizer and Allergan deal that is pending.
In the Burger King-Tim Horton deal, Burger King purchased Tim Horton’s and located the combined company in Canada where the corporate tax rate is 26.5 percent.
Burger King used to pay U.S. corporate income taxes on profits earned in Canada, Ireland, Japan, or anywhere else in the world. Now, post-merger, Burger King still pays a marginal tax rate of nearly 40 percent on its profits earned in the U.S. However, profits that are earned outside of the U.S. are not subject to U.S. taxes — a much more equitable and sensible tax basis.

http://spectator.org/articles/65026/through-corporate-tax-looking-glass 

Donald Trump Isn’t the Biggest Narcissist in the GOP Field. Ted Cruz Is.

To hear the pundits and experts in Washington tell it, the problem with Ted Cruz is that he doesn’t play well with others in the Senate, he’s too hardheaded and he doesn’t compromise. In other words, he’s exactly what the Republican primary voters want.
On this score, I side with the Republican primary voters. If Cruz’s problem is that he is a conservative who has no regard for senatorial decorum and fights too hard for the right things, I’m all in.

But there is a far bigger problem with Cruz: Donald Trump is not the most self-absorbed Republican running for president—Cruz is. Whether you like Trump or not (and I don’t), at least Trump makes no effort to hide his narcissism. In that sense, Trump is oddly genuine.
Cruz, on the other hand, takes great pains to be whatever he thinks you want him to be. And the troubling thing is he’s really good at it.
Occasionally, he offers a glimpse of his vanity and his need to be loved—such as the hilariously painful 15 hours of B-roll footage his campaign put on the Web for use by his super PACs. My favorite part of that footage is the multiple times he and his family practiced the prayer scene before a meal … once more, with feeling. There is nothing quite as genuine and humble as a rehearsed, made-for-TV prayer.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/12/ted-cruz-2016-ego-213460#ixzz3vFx4vYJT