Saturday, January 31, 2015

Charles Krauthammer | The emerging Iranian empire is a mortal threat to our regional allies - Conservatives4Palin

Charles Krauthammer | The emerging Iranian empire is a mortal threat to our regional allies - Conservatives4Palin: "While Iran’s march toward a nuclear bomb has provoked a major clash between the White House and Congress, Iran’s march toward conventional domination of the Arab world has been largely overlooked. In Washington, that is. The Arabs have noticed. And the pro-American ones, the Gulf Arabs in particular, are deeply worried.
"



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Friday, January 30, 2015

Sharyl Attkisson: If You Cross Obama Admin They Will Treat You Like "Enemies Of The State" | Video | RealClearPolitics

Sharyl Attkisson: If You Cross Obama Admin They Will Treat You Like "Enemies Of The State" | Video | RealClearPolitics: "If you cross this administration with perfectly accurate reporting they don't like, you will be attacked and punished. You and your sources may be subjected to the kind of surveillance devised for enemies of the state.
"



'via Blog this'

Freedom is best way to help low-income students

Freedom is best way to help low-income students: "Let low-income parents send their children to school wherever they want and provide tuition assistance with the Title 1 funds allocated for that child. Freedom is the best help government can provide to low-income parents.
"



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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bobby Jindal on Muslim Americans: ‘That’s Not Immigration,’ It’s ‘Invasion’ | Blazing Cat Fur

Bobby Jindal on Muslim Americans: ‘That’s Not Immigration,’ It’s ‘Invasion’ | Blazing Cat Fur: "Jindal repeated his comments about “no-go zones” in which Muslims are trying to impose Sharia law during the Monday interview, telling those who would do the same here, “If you don’t want to be an American, don’t come to America… If we’re not careful the same no-go zones you’re seeing now in Europe will come to America.”

“They want to use our freedoms to undermine that freedom in the first place,” Jindal said later of Muslim immigrants. “This is a place where you have freedom of self-determination, freedom of religious liberty, freedom of speech. This is an amazing place and we’re a majority Christian country. We’re a Judeo-Christian heritage, but we don’t discriminate against those that have no beliefs and or have different beliefs”…

"



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The First Amendment is Dead | Truth Revolt

Ben Shapiro: The First Amendment is Dead | Truth Revolt: "Freedom from government-established religion was designed to stop government from encroaching on free exercise – the idea was that if you had an established church, that would end in discrimination against other churches. But we do have an established church: the church of secularism. And it is discriminating.

About the only part of the First Amendment left standing is our freedom to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. But fortunately, thanks to our surrender of all our other First Amendment rights, the government always has an easy answer: no.

But at least we’re sensitive. If we all say just the things the government allows us to say, and practice religion in just the way the government wants us to practice, and report just what the government wants us to report, we’ll be fine. "



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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

But century-long climate modeling is still perfect

Sense of Events: But century-long climate modeling is still perfect: "The National Weather Service says it must evaluate its computer modeling after its blown forecast for the big storm in the Northeast.

But don't worry, the computer models used to forecast the climate over the entire Earth for periods of a century or more are flawless and without error.

"



'via Blog this'

Snowstorm Snowjob Is a Teachable Moment - The Rush Limbaugh Show

Snowstorm Snowjob Is a Teachable Moment - The Rush Limbaugh Show: "Now, the weather guy is apologizing and blaming his models.  The same people that tell us their models 50 to a hundred years out on climate change can be trusted. "



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San Fran. Archbishop: Nancy Pelosi 'Not a Catholic in Good Conscience' | Truth Revolt

San Fran. Archbishop: Nancy Pelosi 'Not a Catholic in Good Conscience' | Truth Revolt: ""It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception," he said. "This has been established in medical science for over 100 years. Catholic moral teaching acknowledges this scientific fact, and has always affirmed the grave moral evil of taking an innocent human life.”

“This has been the consistent teaching of the Church from the very beginning, a teaching already discernible in the natural moral law, and so a teaching from which no Catholic can dissent in good conscience,” he added

“It is the obligation of pastors of souls to reach out to their people who have difficulty understanding and accepting such important teachings of the Church in order to extend to them true pastoral care and, where appropriate, to establish a regular dialogue,” he concluded. “This is something I have always striven to do in the various ministries I have exercised as a priest and bishop, including now as the Archbishop of San Francisco. I ask for people’s prayers for success as I continue to strive to do this."

"



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No, Solar Isn’t Competitive Yet - The American Interest

No, Solar Isn’t Competitive Yet - The American Interest: "The fact is, solar is a viable option only after it’s received generous government support. That’s true for photovoltaic panels, and it’s also true for a different kind of solar technology."



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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Liberals Exploit Race & Gender | RealClearPolitics

Liberals Exploit Race & Gender | RealClearPolitics: "The growth and impoverishment of the black underclass in cities governed for decades by Democrats is our greatest domestic tragedy. Blaming it on mostly mythical white racism obscures the real causes, prevents solutions.

But if liberals acknowledged the progress that’s been made, more blacks might wonder why all the “help” they’ve gotten from Democrats has done them so little good. So they pretend every year is 1963.

"



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HHS Failed to Screen Obamacare Contract Recipients

HHS Failed to Screen Obamacare Contract Recipients: "The investigation showed that The Department of Health and Human Services failed to conduct background checks on prior work by companies awarded many of the Obamacare contracts and failed to require those same companies to be accountable for cost overruns, leaving taxpayers on the hook instead.

"



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Newt Gingrich gave an amazing speech on Islam and the West at the Iowa Freedom Summit » The Right Scoop -

Newt Gingrich gave an amazing speech on Islam and the West at the Iowa Freedom Summit » The Right Scoop -: "I completely understand why people object to Newt Gingrich, as he’s had a lot of personal setbacks, and even some questionable political positions. But, he really is one of the few politicians that understands with respect to the entirety of Western Civilization, and can put the threats to our achievements in a really profound cultural and historical context.

He might not be as flashy as some of the other speakers, but he had a lot more substance and historical grounding.

"



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Will's Take: 'Ignoring Reality Is Part of the Job Description of Being a Progressive' | National Review Online

Will's Take: 'Ignoring Reality Is Part of the Job Description of Being a Progressive' | National Review Online: "“Ignoring reality is part of the job description of being a progressive, so you ignore the majorities that are out there,” he said on Fox News Sunday. “The fact is, I think, Mr. Obama believes that anything he has to do collaboratively is beneath his dignity.”"



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Don Surber: Why not tax non-profits? GOOD

Don Surber: Why not tax non-profits? GOOD: "Governor LePage is onto something. Conservatives should listen. It is not about money. It is about power. The way liberal billionaires hang on to power and pass it along to their progeny is through tax-exempt foundations. George Soros and the unions also set up foundations which in many cases call for raising taxes on others.

The argument for the tax exemptions is that hospitals and the like provide services. Well, so do McDonald's, gas stations, and grocery stores.

The power to tax is puny compared to the power to exempt from taxes. Good luck, Governor LePage, in getting legislators in Maine to voluntarily cede that power.
"



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‘You can’t just MAKE it so by SAYING IT’ – Even Dana Milbank can’t ignore Obama’s foreign policy denialism » The Right Scoop -

‘You can’t just MAKE it so by SAYING IT’ – Even Dana Milbank can’t ignore Obama’s foreign policy denialism » The Right Scoop -: "And they aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed this. Right after the “State of the Union” speech this week, both Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell marveled at how Obama was making up his own reality on foreign policy."



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Saturday, January 24, 2015

Gingrich: Elite In Both Parties 'Unwilling to Tell the Truth' | The Weekly Standard

Gingrich: Elite In Both Parties 'Unwilling to Tell the Truth' | The Weekly Standard: ""The United States is losing the war with radical Islamists," Newt Gingrich told a group of conservatives at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines. 

And while Gingrich skewered President Obama and his foreign policy, he said part of the problem resides with Republicans as well. "We have an elite, frankly in both parties, unwilling to tell the truth.""



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Here Are 13 Ideas Americans Need to Understand Why Marxism Is So Terrible | PJ Lifestyle

Here Are 13 Ideas Americans Need to Understand Why Marxism Is So Terrible | PJ Lifestyle: "Here's your introductory guide for understanding and overcoming one of the most destructive belief systems of all time.
"



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Behold, the warped mind of Brent Staples, who is convinced cops can gun down blacks for no reason and white people will cheer them on.NY Times Editorial Writer: “Healthy Majority” Of Whites Support Police Killing Blacks “No Matter What”… | Weasel Zippers

NY Times Editorial Writer: “Healthy Majority” Of Whites Support Police Killing Blacks “No Matter What”… | Weasel Zippers: "Behold, the warped mind of Brent Staples, who is convinced cops can gun down blacks for no reason and white people will cheer them on.

"



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Moonbattery » MIT Meteorologist Richard Lindzen Calls Global Warming a Cult

Moonbattery » MIT Meteorologist Richard Lindzen Calls Global Warming a Cult: "Not all scientists have sold their integrity for government grants. On Howie Carr’s radio show on Monday, MIT meteorology professor emeritus Richard Lindzen let loose on the central tenet of government science by characterizing the global warming movement as a cult:

“As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical. I think that’s what’s happening here. Think about it,” he said. “You’ve led an unpleasant life, you haven’t led a very virtuous life, but now you’re told, you get absolution if you watch your carbon footprint. It’s salvation!”

"



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Top Communist Admits: Communist Party ‘Utilizes’ the Democratic Party – a Lesson for Constitutionalists | NoisyRoom.net

Top Communist Admits: Communist Party ‘Utilizes’ the Democratic Party – a Lesson for Constitutionalists | NoisyRoom.net: "New national chair of the Communist Party USA, Chicago man John Bachtell, has admitted that his Party “utilizes” the Democratic Party “to advance its agenda.”"



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What Bobby Jindal Gets about Islam — and Most People Still Don't | National Review Online

What Bobby Jindal Gets about Islam — and Most People Still Don't | National Review Online: "In the birthplace of the Magna Carta, it has nonetheless become legally risky to speak with candor (even when quoting Churchill). Yet Louisiana’s Republican governor became that rarest of modern Anglo or American statesmen. Bobby Jindal told the truth about Islam, specifically about its large radical subset that attacks the West by violent jihad from without and sharia-supremacist subversion from within.

With Western Europe still reeling from the jihadist mass-murders in Paris at Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Hyper Kacher Jewish market, Governor Jindal outlined a bold, Reaganesque vision of American foreign policy guided by three imperatives — freedom, security, and truth. It is on the last one, truth, that our capacity to ensure freedom and security hinges. “You cannot remedy a problem,” Jindal explained, “if you will not name it and define it.”
"



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Thursday, January 22, 2015

Egyptian Leader El-Sisi at Davos: Islam Is in Need of “Religious Revolution” | The Gateway Pundit

Egyptian Leader El-Sisi at Davos: Islam Is in Need of “Religious Revolution” | The Gateway Pundit: "Speaking to a group of Muslim clerics at al-Azhar University in Cairo earlier this month, Sisi struck a similar tone, saying Islam needed a “religious revolution” and calling on clerics to take the lead.

“We are in need of a religious revolution. You imams are responsible before Allah,” he said. “The entire world is waiting for your word … because the Islamic world is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost … by our own hands.”

"



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Obama's 'Not American, not African-American, not any-American, he embodies nothing that places him in the historic stream of people who have defined this country...'

American Power: Obama's 'Not American, not African-American, not any-American, he embodies nothing that places him in the historic stream of people who have defined this country...': "There is no American impulse of any kind in this person. Not American, not African-American, not any-American, he embodies nothing that places him in the historic stream of people who have defined this country. An utter alien, he has wasted opportunities at home and abroad, confused our friends, encouraged our potential adversaries, and squandered the investment that many had made in his vacuous slogans and promises.
"



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Obama's disconnected, out of touch, in denial State of the Union | WashingtonExaminer.com

Obama's disconnected, out of touch, in denial State of the Union | WashingtonExaminer.com: "Perhaps Richard Engel found the key to the president's nearly 7,000-word speech: Obama described the world as he wishes it were, not as it actually is. Indeed, in Obama's State of the Union, things are going so well that it's hard to imagine why voters would decisively turn control of Congress over to the opposition party — not that Obama would acknowledge that, either. Doing so would be a concession that something is still terribly wrong.

"



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Barack Hussein Alinsky is no 'man of the people'

Barack Hussein Alinsky is no 'man of the people': "President Barack Obama, the “constitutional law professor,” doesn’t seem to grasp the uniquely American concept of “consent of the governed.” After suffering through his sixth State of the Union Address and then reading subsequent analyses of his speech by other pundits – some supportive, others not so much – I have come to the conclusion that any Republican who still says, “Hey, I wanna work with this guy,” does not deserve the lofty congressional position to which he or she has been entrusted, for that lawmaker still does not grasp the fact that Saul Alinsky’s protege is not interested in working with them. Ever.
What’s more, he’s not interested in the will of a majority of Americans,  most of whom, I genuinely suspect, he thinks are racist, homophobic, intellectual neophytes not worthy of the existence they have been given.
Think about the crux of his speech Tuesday night. There was the obligatory “tax the rich” class warfare – obligatory, I say, because that has become Barack Hussein Alinsky’s default public policy position: Punish the successful (because they don’t deserve what they have anyway) by taking what they’ve earned and doling it out to those who have not earned and are not really worthy. Gotta keep that permanent Democratic voter underclass fat and sassy, don’t you know.
Most Americans don’t think like this and don’t support it, but Obama doesn’t care what they think.
"



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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Churchill: The Last Lion Who Saved Our Western Civilization - Investors.com

Churchill: The Last Lion Who Saved Our Western Civilization - Investors.com: "Churchill's defiant wartime rhetoric anchored the entire moral case against the Third Reich.

"



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Even for-Profit Universities Are Better than America's Terrible Community Colleges | Cato Institute

Even for-Profit Universities Are Better than America's Terrible Community Colleges | Cato Institute: "As long as taxpayers pick up much of the college tab instead of the students consuming the education, waste will be rife."



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Our Mushrooming Welfare State | National Review Online

Our Mushrooming Welfare State | National Review Online: "Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a lifelong New Deal liberal and accomplished social scientist, warned that “the issue of welfare is not what it costs those who provide it, but what it costs those who receive it.” As a growing portion of the population succumbs to the entitlement state’s ever-expanding menu of temptations, the costs, Eberstadt concludes, include a transformation of the nation’s “political culture, sensibilities, and tradition,” the weakening of America’s distinctive “conceptions of self-reliance, personal responsibility, and self-advancement,” and perhaps a “rending of the national fabric.” As a result, “America today does not look exceptional at all.”

"



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Garry Kasparov: The Global War on Modernity - WSJ

Garry Kasparov: The Global War on Modernity - WSJ: "What unites the time travelers is their rejection of modernity—or what we should instead call modern values, to replace the obsolete and condescending term “Western values.” With violence and with violent rhetoric, the time travelers’ natural target is often the traditional champion of the rights that threaten them: the United States. The guaranteed freedoms represented by the First Amendment frighten the radical mullahs and dictators more than any drone strike or economic sanction.

"



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John Bolton: Obama on a Different Planet than Rest of Us, Wishing Away Threats to US | Washington Free Beacon

John Bolton: Obama on a Different Planet than Rest of Us, Wishing Away Threats to US | Washington Free Beacon: "In the State of the Union address President Obama failed to mention Al Qaeda at least once. The lack of mention of any radical Islamic group in the speech had Bolton questioning if the President wants to “wish away the threats made against the United States.”

“I think he is the most radical president we have ever seen,” said Bolton. “His mentality would fit in in British political circles in the 1930s.”

"



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‘Liberal,’ ‘Tolerant’ Vanderbilt Muslims Seek to Bully Black Professor into Silence | American Renaissance

‘Liberal,’ ‘Tolerant’ Vanderbilt Muslims Seek to Bully Black Professor into Silence | American Renaissance: "A black Vanderbilt University professor’s op-ed critical of Islamic terrorism has touched off a wave of protest by Muslim students and other critics.

The op-ed author is Carol Swain, a longtime professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt and a self-proclaimed political conservative. Her op-ed, entitled “Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam,” appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville’s main newspaper) on Jan. 15.

Swain, who opposes burqas and advocates stronger efforts at assimilation for American Muslims, argued that radical Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.”

In response, Muslim students, led by Vanderbilt undergraduate Farishtay Yamin, took great offense.

Yamin told The Vanderbilt Hustler, the campus newspaper, that she “could not believe her eyes” when she read Swain’s column. The student also quickly labeled Swain’s opinion as “hate speech.”

"



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Obama Abandons the Real World | Gingrich Productions

Obama Abandons the Real World | Gingrich Productions: "The state of the union, on national security matters at least, is a disaster. A president who tries to hide from the threats we face–or worse, to construct his own world in which they don’t exist–is making the planet a much more dangerous place. One with “confidence” disconnected from reality isn’t showing leadership. He’s showing pure foolishness.
"



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The Real Obama Economy: President's Subpar Recovery Drags On - Investors.com

The Real Obama Economy: President's Subpar Recovery Drags On - Investors.com: "Obama's only economic idea is to redistribute wealth via ever-rising taxes from the productive class and the job creators to everyone else. He bashes success and believes government activism is the engine of growth.

The enduring lesson of Obama's slow-motion recovery is you can't redistribute wealth until someone steps up and creates it in the first place.

"



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Who Killed the Enlightenment? - Taki's Magazine

Who Killed the Enlightenment? - Taki's Magazine: "Who killed the Enlightenment? We did. Universities did. Relativists did. Multiculturalists did. Environmentalists did. Schools did. Politicians did. No external cancer was needed to pollute the Western body; it was already sick.

"



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How to Ruin Community Colleges | National Review Online

How to Ruin Community Colleges | National Review Online: "I don’t suppose it has occurred to very many of those “free” community college enthusiasts that much of what community colleges do would be beside the point if we had properly functioning high schools and a proper system of higher learning that distinguished between education as such and job training. And now the same people who brought you the Cleveland and Washington public schools are going to apply their wisdom to the community colleges.

"



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Obama - Detached from Reality

Steve Hayes: Obama Lecturing Against Divisive Politics 'Preposterous on its Face' | National Review Online: "“The idea that this president can lecture the Congress, lecture the country about a better politics I find preposterous on its face,” he said. “It might have worked before he practiced, in my view, some of the most divisive politics this country has seen in recent memory.”

"



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The Gap Between Obama's SOTU Rhetoric and Reality - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine

The Gap Between Obama's SOTU Rhetoric and Reality - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine: "But perhaps the worst aspect of the speech was its conclusion in which the president disingenuously called for a new politics in which partisan passions would be put aside as both sides worked for the betterment of the country. These lines came only minutes after the president threatened to veto any bill he didn’t like and derided his opponents as straw men with questionable motives.

This is the administration that likened Tea Party supporters in Congress to terrorists. This is also the president that used his State of the Union to concentrate on partisan talking points rather than suggestions that had a chance of passage in a Congress that is now controlled by the other party.

For the same man to then pose as the avatar of compromise is more than disingenuous. It speaks to a credibility gap that is as wide as the Grand Canyon. In that context Obama’s mention of his 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention in which he sought to portray himself as post-partisan was equal parts nostalgia and satire.

In this day and age what matters about the State of the Union address is not so much its specifics but whether it helps the president gain a point or two in the polls. Since Obama’s numbers have gone up recently due to the economy, he may judge his speech a success. But if anyone really wants to know why Washington is so dysfunctional, a look at a speech that was equal parts partisan demagoguery and fiction speaks volumes about everything that is wrong with contemporary American politics.

"



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Obama is not a Well Person - He is detached from reality

Will's Take: Obama's State of the Union 'Curiously Dissonant' | National Review Online: "“I think the president gave a curiously dissonant speech in saying, ‘I’m going to be congenial, we’re all going to get along. . . and I’m going to veto any important thing that you send to me,’” Will said on Fox News shortly after the president’s address.

"



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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Quotation of the day on the gross disparities in achievement and the ability to create wealth » AEI

Quotation of the day on the gross disparities in achievement and the ability to create wealth » AEI: "But, no matter how the human race is broken down into its components — whether by race, sex, geographic region or whatever — glaring disparities in achievements have been the rule, not the exception.
"



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AU CONTRAIRE, MES AMIS: NO GO ZONES ARE REAL!

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: AU CONTRAIRE, MES AMIS: NO GO ZONES ARE REAL!: "A 120-page research paper entitled "No-Go Zones in the French Republic: Myth or Reality?" documented dozens of French neighborhoods "where police and gendarmerie cannot enforce the Republican order or even enter without risking confrontation, projectiles, or even fatal shootings." 
In October 2011, a 2,200-page report, "Banlieue de la République" (Suburbs of the Republic) found that Seine-Saint-Denis and other Parisian suburbs are becoming "separate Islamic societies" cut off from the French state and where Islamic Sharia law is rapidly displacing French civil law. "



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Anti-Semitism watchdog: Belgian public schools becoming ‘Jew-free’ zones - Diaspora - Jerusalem Post

Anti-Semitism watchdog: Belgian public schools becoming ‘Jew-free’ zones - Diaspora - Jerusalem Post: "Rubinfeld also said that a growing number of parents are being forced to pull their children from public schools all over Belgium.
"



Not an official no-go zone but harassed until they are forced too leave.



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Private Sector, Not Obama, Created Lower Gas Prices

Private Sector, Not Obama, Created Lower Gas Prices: "The private sector delivered the domestic energy boom and lower gas prices—despite attempts by anti-carbon ideologues and misguided bureaucrats.

"



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The Gentry Caste and Their Human Trash Nominees

The Gentry Caste and Their Human Trash Nominees: "Ahhh… another grind up to yet another pointless American election. Those farcical stage productions held every four or so years to convince the mewling masses that we actually have a representative government. Oh how soothing the illusions and delusions must be for those who sup on blue pills. (May they suffocate in their self-erected sandpit).

"



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Yes, there ARE ‘no-go’ zones in Europe

Yes, there ARE ‘no-go’ zones in Europe: "But amid some admitted exaggerations – Fox did not say “no-go zones” don’t exist – the fact remains that the governments of France and other European nations have identified specific enclaves where Muslim immigrants who have chosen not to assimilate as areas in which law enforcement has lost some degree of control.

"



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‘No-go zones’ and multiculturalism’s failure

‘No-go zones’ and multiculturalism’s failure: "No-go zones have also emerged in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. The basic question is: Does the Western world have the power to control its countries? In terms of capacity, as opposed to will, the answer is a clear yes. Western lack of will is a result of our having been paralyzed by the doctrine of multiculturalism. Diversity worship and multiculturalism have currency and are cause for celebration among our elite. Multiculturalists teach that cultural values are morally equivalent, such as those of Islam and the West. To suggest that Western values are superior to others would win one opprobrium by the know-it-all elite. Western values are indeed superior to all others because they hold the individual as supreme. Though Western values are superior to all others, one need not be a Westerner to hold Western values.

"



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Obamacare's Slow Death? | Hoover Institution

Obamacare's Slow Death? | Hoover Institution: "The results are now clear. The Affordable Care Act has done nothing to unravel the past mistakes that in large measure were (and still are) attributable to excessive regulation and transfer payments. To give but one example, the voluntary coverage supplied by employer plans has dipped sharply from about 60 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 2010, which on an employment base of 150 million workers translates into a 15 million increase in the number of uninsured persons in the United States.

It would be very difficult indeed to attribute this decline in health care coverage to some hidden form of market failure. What reason is there to think that employers have become more stingy, or employees more indifferent to their health care needs over the last 35 years?

In market settings the usual response to changes in technology and cost is to alter the coverage provisions, the price provisions, or both. Generally, so long as there are gains from trade, these incremental adjustments minimize the loss from adverse developments, and increase the gains from favorable ones. Given the massively improved technologies over the past two generations and an aging population, the proper prediction 30 years ago was that employers should have increased the level of health care coverage, not reduced it.

So we have to look elsewhere for the culprit, and that place is the regulatory state. One key feature of the Affordable Care Act was its ambition. The sign of a good health care plan, we were told, was one that covered all persons from the full range of adverse health events. The new deal was that the state mandates, of which there were hundreds, put to the employer this unhappy choice: either increase the benefit coverage of your plans or exit the markets. The implicit subtext is that employers would choose the former so that reformers could promise an ideal world in which coverage increased while costs remained about constant.

"



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News You Can Use: Whiskey Really Is the Water of Life | PJ Tatler

News You Can Use: Whiskey Really Is the Water of Life | PJ Tatler:



'via Blog this'

Obama administration cost the economy a few hundred billion more last year

Obama administration cost the economy a few hundred billion more last year: "But one of the biggest impediments to U.S. economic growth is the federal government. It’s massive, sprawling (and growing) bureaucracy imposes an incredible amount of regulatory burden on every industry – some worse than others – and it is a problem that compounds itself annually, as thousands more pages of rules and requirements are published in the Federal Register – rules that carry a huge price tag.
This past year was no different. As 2015 arrived, so, too, did hundreds more rules – and tens of billions more dollars in compliance costs, money that now cannot be utilized to expand businesses, hire new workers and, well, grow the economy.
"



'via Blog this'

The biggest losers in the automobile industry bailout were taxpayers

The biggest losers in the automobile industry bailout were taxpayers: "The federal government’s bailout of the automobile industry launched during the waning months of the Bush administration and dutifully carried forth by the new Obama regime has finally ended and, as you probably expected, it ended much better for some automakers and their union leadership than it did for taxpayers.
According to an analysis of the whole mess by the Heartland Institute’s Jesse Hathaway, the Treasury Department announced in late December that the bailout ended “officially” as loans provided to two of the Big Three automakers having been repaid to the government’s satisfaction.
But a look at the final accounting figures published last year reveal the corporations received almost $10 billion more than they repaid.
"



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Monday, January 19, 2015

Sisi: Fight Against Terror Needs New Discourse - Middle East - News - Arutz Sheva

Sisi: Fight Against Terror Needs New Discourse - Middle East - News - Arutz Sheva: "Egyptian President says the fight against terror needs "a reformed religious discourse" which removes "false ideologies".
"



'via Blog this'

Islam, and the Tail of a Scorpion

Islam, and the Tail of a Scorpion: "Islam does not apologize, does not assimilate, and does not accept any other law than Muslim law.  Their goal is absolute domination.  Anything or anyone that says otherwise is either lying, or have been fooled into believing lies.

Freedom of Speech, according to Muslims, according to the socialists, and according to the liberal left appeasers, must be curbed.  You are allowed to say whatever you want, as long as it fits into the little bubble of allowed speech the rulers and terrorists tell you that you can say.  Everything else is unacceptable, because it might make the aggressors angry.

"



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Jindal's Brilliant Take on Radical Islam | Human Events

Jindal's Brilliant Take on Radical Islam | Human Events: "“Let’s be honest here. Islam has a problem.”

Those are key sentences in an incredibly hard-hitting speech that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will give in London on Monday. It is the toughest speech I have read on the whole issue of Islamic radicalism and its destructive, murdering, barbarous ways that are upsetting the entire world."



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The silencing of the soul

ROBERT KNIGHT: Political correctness censors America - Washington Times: "The massacre in Paris by Muslim militants at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office was about much more than freedom of speech. After all, militants also killed four hostages at a Jewish market, and that was not about freedom to buy kosher food.

Both incidents are about using violence to intimidate people into surrendering to Muslim domination in the form of Shariah law. It is a war that is being waged on all continents by several radicalized Muslim groups whose dictionaries omit the word “mercy.”

"



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Modern Parenting is Impoverishing the Childhood Experience | Yet, Freedom!

Modern Parenting is Impoverishing the Childhood Experience | Yet, Freedom!: "Exit question, and a chilling one: Will people who grow up accustomed to constantly being watched feel comfortable with, or complacent about, being watched by a Big Brother surveillance state? Can human freedom survive overprotective modern parenting?

"



'via Blog this'

"A New Study of the Conservative Alternatives to Obamacare, and What's Missing From It"

Newmark's Door: "A New Study of the Conservative Alternatives to Obamacare, and What's Missing From It": "I agree wholeheartedly with Veronique de Rugy:

This demands, as he puts it, that health-care policymakers discard their “Fortress” mentality and adopt a “Frontier” attitude that tolerates calculated risks and welcomes competition from diverse practitioners and disciplines. . . .

The bottom line: To fix American health care, we need a new way of thinking about it, a new focus away from the demand side – away from the provision of health insurance toward the supply side of health care.

By the way, don't be suckered by those claims that Obamacare is "working". See Michael Tanner's piece.

"



'via Blog this'

Denial Precedes Dissolution

Watching the World Fall Apart | PJ Media: "Denial of the palpable is the concessive stage that precedes and heralds the dissolution of a culture, a nation, a people. I suspect we are on the verge of such a collapse. Europe is well on the road to cultural euthanasia. The rest of the west is treading in its footsteps, eventually to become Sweden or France or the UK. Indeed, it is hard to watch a world falling apart, whether in two days or two decades. To insist that our world is whole and healthy, that our enemies mean us no harm if we would only redress their “legitimate” grievances, that we can save the world by turning to alternative forms of energy despite the exorbitant costs and their obvious inadequacy, that unrestricted immigration from Muslim countries enriches out lives, that gender is merely a social construct and that human nature is infinitely malleable, that big government is the solution and not the problem, and that tolerance is a higher virtue than justice — all these beliefs, all these scenarios constructed by governments, corporate interests, the mass media and the liberal intelligentsia that have come to dominate the cultural sensibility of the west are forms of denial of what is actually the case, and indicators of an approaching cataclysm.

"



'via Blog this'

Watching the World Fall Apart | PJ Media

Watching the World Fall Apart | PJ Media: "The name of the game today is denial of the undeniable all across the spectrum of the major issues that afflict us. Denial that temperatures have been stable for the last eighteen years and that the diminution of sunspot activity heralds an age of global cooling rather than warming, as John Casey, president of the Space and Science Research Corporation, has decisively established in his recently published Dark Winter. Denial that Israel is the only democratic, morally legitimate state in the Middle East and that the Palestinian narrative of historical and cadastral residence is demonstrably false. Denial that Islam is a totalitarian entity and a religion of war that has set its sights on the ruination of western societies; and denial of the fact that Judeo-Hellenic-Christian civilization, for all its flaws, marks the high point of human political, social, cultural and scientific development.

Those who hold to such canting and spurious convictions and attitudes are the real “deniers” among us. And a people that lives in a collective state of denial of the obvious, or of what with a little study and dispassionate research would soon become obvious, is a people without a sustainable future. As SF writer Philip K. Dick said, in a speech aptly titled “How to Build a Universe that Doesn’t Fall Apart in Two Days,” later published in his masterful I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”

"



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Sisi and the Reform of Islam | National Review Online

Sisi and the Reform of Islam | National Review Online: "True reform requires scholars of Islam, not strongmen, and a repudiation of implementing sharia in the public sphere. For both these reasons, Sisi is not likely to be that reformer.

"



'via Blog this'

Obama’s New Tax Plan: Destructive Social Engineering | National Review Online

Obama’s New Tax Plan: Destructive Social Engineering | National Review Online: "The tax proposals in President Obama’s new economic plan are significantly worse than we expected, combining several tax increases on investment with an especially destructive form of social engineering.

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'via Blog this'

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Supreme Court: ‘We are a religious people’

Supreme Court: ‘We are a religious people’: "Justice Douglas continued: “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. … When the state encourages religious instruction … it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.”

Justice William Douglas concluded: “We find no constitutional requirement which makes it necessary for government to be hostile to religion and to throw its weight against efforts to widen the effective scope of religious influence. … We cannot read into the Bill of Rights such a philosophy of hostility to religion.”

"



'via Blog this'

Ignore Common Core, the NEA, and Bill Gates. Here are some good ideas

Ignore Common Core, the NEA, and Bill Gates. Here are some good ideas: "You build a brick wall one brick at a time. Do you think there is some way you can throw up a dozen bricks at once, or put up no bricks at all? That’s silly to the Nth degree but this is the voodoo our public schools claim to believe in. They will do a little hocus-pocus here, and a little mumbo-jumbo there,  and your offspring will be valedictorian-ready. They have become so infantilized, or they think we have become so infantilized, that we will believe anything. I often have the sense that President Obama believes this. Whatever he says, we will believe. For sure, our Education Establishment operates on that principle.

That’s why the field of education seems to be somebody’s bad drug dream. The dominant sensibility is surrealism with a happy face. We continually hear that our children are learning to be college-ready and career-ready. But many millions of them cannot even read (in any real sense of that word) or do basic arithmetic.

You can’t send children out into the world knowing nothing, all the while claiming they have received a 21st century education.

"



'via Blog this'

Here's What Happened When Norway Started Deporting Radical Muslims

Here's What Happened When Norway Started Deporting Radical Muslims: "Violent crime in the country is down more than 30%."



'via Blog this'

What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Education Spending - Bloomberg View

What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Education Spending - Bloomberg View: "Should we fix the issues with those schools? Absolutely -- and doing so might mean spending more money. But that doesn't mean that we need to increase the overall level of educational funding. It means that we need to identify ways to improve those underperforming schools, then find out how much more it would cost to implement those programs. It is just as likely that improvements will come from changing methods and reallocating resources as that they will require us to pour more money into failing institutions.

And, of course, middle-class parents will say that all that spending on tertiary education is breaking them. And perhaps we should spend less on college. But that's not a problem you attack with more subsidies, because paying for college out of tax dollars doesn't make the cost go away; it just means you have to send a check to the IRS instead of the bursar's office. In general, providing government subsidies does not lower the price of goods; if anything, it increases them, by insulating consumers from the cost of their educational decisions.

I'm certainly not arguing that the U.S. educational system is perfect. It has many problems. But they are specific problems which will require specific solutions -- and "spend more" or "hand out mass subsidies" are anything but specific.

"



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The Cure for Propaganda – And Western Civilization |

The Cure for Propaganda – And Western Civilization |: "Truth is enough. Lying has become too artful, too comfortable and too pervasive. It OBSCURES both the need for and incentive for truthful conduct of economics, politics and law.

"



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Chesterton and the Power of Paradox - The Imaginative Conservative

Chesterton and the Power of Paradox - The Imaginative Conservative: "Chesterton shows us that life is full of paradoxes. It is full of those apparent contradictions, those incongruous juxtapositions, that point to deeper truths. Take, for instance, the fact that it takes a big man to know how small he is, or the fact that pride is the sin of a small man who thinks he is big. Or take the words of Christ, the ultimate Master of Paradox, who tells us solemnly that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The Gospels are full of such paradoxes, illustrating that Chesterton was not by any means the originator of the power of paradox. No indeed. One thinks also of the conceits of the Metaphysical Poets, such as St. Robert Southwell, John Donne, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, or of the foolishness of wisdom and the wisdom of foolishness to be found in the plays of Shakespeare. Yet few have used the power of paradox more effectively than Chesterton, whose works and whose very life encapsulated the paradox, embodied in the character of his delightful priest detective Father Brown, that wisdom can only be found in innocence. This is nothing less than the truth that Christ teaches. We will not be with Him in heaven unless we become as little children.

"



'via Blog this'

You Are Welcome To Your Privilege

You Are Welcome To Your Privilege |: "—“Privilege is earned by a people enforcing high costs on its members. Abandoning mysticism, deceit, cheating, free riding, rent seeking, corruption, dual ethics, tribalism, familialism, magic, ignorance, certainty, justification, unearned status, hierarchy and despotism, and admit to yourself the truth of the failure of your culture to achieve the same – is a very high cost. You can have the privilege of white people too, if you abandon your mysticism, deceit, cheating, free riding, rent seeking, corruption, dual ethics, tribalism, familialism, magic, ignorance, certainty, justification, unearned status, hierarchy and despotism. “—Curt Doolittle"



'via Blog this'

Pope Francis: Redefinition of Marriage Is Threat to Family

Pope Francis: Redefinition of Marriage Is Threat to Family: "“The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” Francis said. “These realities are increasingly under attack from powerful forces, which threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation.”"



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Progressives and Islamists — rooting out blasphemy of utmost importance for both [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom

Progressives and Islamists — rooting out blasphemy of utmost importance for both [Darleen Click] | protein wisdom: "Totalitarians who know better how to run your life than you do — and they want the power of The State to enforce their will.
If you’ve ever wondered at why the Left embraces or apologizes for such groups as CAIR, Hamas, the BDS movement, and agitates for legislation like “hate crimes” statutes, this is it.
Leftism is a religious ideology with more in common with Islamism than Judaism or Christianity"



'via Blog this'

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Islam and the destruction of our culture: Obama and collective insanity | danmillerinpanama

Islam and the destruction of our culture: Obama and collective insanity | danmillerinpanama: "If “the collective we” were sane, we would exclude those who want to kill us and destroy our culture of freedom.

"



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Allen West: If Sharpton Says Oscars Too White, Then I Say the NBA is Too Black | John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Allen West: If Sharpton Says Oscars Too White, Then I Say the NBA is Too Black | John Hawkins' Right Wing News: "West’s site asked why it is a big deal to have one year of movie nominations that lack diversity when every year in the NBA lacks diversity?

It is a perfectly logical question.

"



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Democrat Culture of Corruption Update | Blogs For Victory

Democrat Culture of Corruption Update | Blogs For Victory: "The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions…
"



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The Collectivist Disease of Progressivism | Daily Pundit

The Collectivist Disease of Progressivism | Daily Pundit: "Here’s the thing:  Progressivism is essentially collectivist in nature.  It is entirely unconcerned with, and in fact antipathetic to, the individual and his needs and desires.

Hence we get the notion that support for abortion is in “the people’s best interest.”  It’s never clearly explained why this is so, just that it is.  Nor is the question about whether abortion is in the best interest of individual mothers – not to mention individual aborted babies – even vaguely approached.  For progressives, the individual barely exists, and even so, matters not at all.

Being essentially stupid and ignorant (when they aren’t venal, corrupt, and power-crazed), most progressives are unaware that the whole “people voting against their own best interests” trope is right out of the Marxist-Leninist “false consciousness” playbook.  It is almost word-for-word communist scripture.

And since those ignorant masses (always the masses, remember) have been duped by false consciousness, it is incumbent upon, nay, required, that those not so duped – that is, progressives – take charge of ordering their lives.  For their own collectivist good, of course.

Progressives hate individualism because it is unpredictable, difficult to control, and is not very amenable to the various theories of the masses they propound.  This is the reason all progressive projects of governance eventually fail, and they dimly sense this.  Progressivism offers mass solutions, and such solutions are invariably torn apart and cast down by the stubborn individualism of individual people.

So they view individual liberty as dangerous, and attempt to paint the notion of it as false.  Unfortunately for them and their goals, we are born, live, and die essentially alone, whether man is an island or not.  We are all different.  We are all individuals.  We are all the enemy of progressive collectivism, whether we wish to be or not.

Which, of course, makes America, the true home of individual liberty in the modern world, enemy number one, and its destruction job number one for the progressive warriors.

"



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NYT Suggests No Place for Christians in Positions of Authority. The left is as intolerant as the Islamists.

Commonsense & Wonder: Tony Perkins: NYT Suggests No Place for Christians in Positions of Authority. The left is as intolerant as the Islamists.: "Apparently, The New York Times is in favor of faith in the public square – if the purpose is to mock it. Editors at the Times poured gasoline on the fire of Atlanta's latest controversy with an editorial that should shock even their most liberal readers. Just when you thought the media couldn't sink any lower, the Times takes on the same First Amendment that gives it the freedom to print these vicious attacks on Christians.
In a stunning column yesterday, the newspaper argues that men and women of faith have no place in public management of any kind. The piece, which shows a remarkable disinterest in the facts, claims that Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran didn't have permission to publish his book on biblical morality. Not only did Cochran have permission from the city's ethics office to publish his book, but he only distributed it in his personal capacity at church – where a handful of his coworkers attend.
But the shoddy journalism didn't end there. Editors insisted that Cochran's book was full of "virulent anti-gay views" – when in fact, the 162 page book only mentioned homosexuality twice. And both times, the conversation merely echoed the Bible's teachings on the subject. For that – privately espousing a faith that a majority of Americans share – Kelvin was fired.
"



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History Repeats - We Cave Again | The Rio Norte Line

History Repeats | The Rio Norte Line: "So, there were the murders of Charlie Hebdo people by Islamofascist terrorists last week and Obama did nothing except send John Kerry and James Taylor to sing a song to France…and once again, the media cries for a few days and then rapidly starts to roll it up to stifle any discussion and to flush the event down the memory hole.

Just to show that this is nothing new, I wrote what follows in September of 2012…

Welcome to the new state sponsored religion.

There is perhaps no better example of the fecklessness and mendacity of the Democrats, the “progressives” and their other fellow travelers than the handling of the current situation in the Middle East and the assaults on our embassies, consulates and diplomatic corps stationed there.

Their position is clear. There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger…and it is the job of the Obama administration to protect the new state sponsored religion.

Christians in America have been called “bitter clingers” by our president, we are assailed on our position on abortion, the Catholic church suffers a full frontal assault from the Obama administration for its teachings on contraception, references to the God of Christians (and all mankind) is voted against by at least half of the delegates (perhaps more) at the recent Democratic National Convention and leftists on this very site have called God a myth and Christian beliefs ridiculous…and yet these very people have the temerity to support statements like these that were issued by official representatives of the American people:"



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THE CO2PHOBIC GOVERNMENT-ACADEMIA-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS: THE CO2PHOBIC GOVERNMENT-ACADEMIA-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: "A similar complex is at work in another realm in which the federal governmen has gained a huge amount of power and influence and control: the environment.

In this case, the third leg is Academia; academics seeking and getting huge grants, write papers which feed the megamaws of the CO2phobic Government-Industrial complex.

As a result of the fear generated by the CO2phobic academics, billions of dollars of government aid can flow to friends of the government - and, just as importantly, billions in additional costs and tax burdens can be heaped upon foes of the government.

The fear-mongering Academics, their sponsors in government, and the captains of "New Age" industry have reaped billions of dollars in grants, rewards, subsidies - you name it.

And it's all based on total effing bullshit.
"



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American Power Now Wears Skinny Jeans | The Rio Norte Line

American Power Now Wears Skinny Jeans | The Rio Norte Line: "We are now all Howard Wolowitz.

This Kerryoke (thanks to FaceBook friend Lela Klajman) episode represents the complete and total emasculation of American power, it’s a new age, crystal talisman, feminized response to incredible violence that our leadership simply will not or cannot mentally or emotionally process.

It is perhaps the single most embarrassing American moment of my lifetime. I’ve been quiet because I couldn’t top the Obama administration’s beclowning of itself this week. Watching the news this week was almost like an out of body experience – almost like being trapped in a Maurice Sendak children’s book.

The week began with yet another “I read about it in the papers just like you” moment from President Barack Oblivious when he and his team missed the 4 million people rallying on the streets against the terrorism he has convinced himself doesn’t exist. One of the characters in the movie they made from Sendak’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” says, “There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen.” This is the world our President inhabits. I guess this is the book Valerie Jarrett reads to little Barack after she tucks him in."



'via Blog this'

To Face Islamist Terror, We Must Face the Facts About Islam's History

American Power: To Face Islamist Terror, We Must Face the Facts About Islam's History: "Yet today our political class fuels both cause and nascent effect. Because the truth is there for all to see. To claim that people who punish people by killing them for blaspheming Islam while shouting ‘Allah is greatest’ has ‘nothing to do with Islam’ is madness. Because the violence of the Islamists is, truthfully, only to do with Islam: the worst version of Islam, certainly, but Islam nonetheless...
"



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Friday, January 16, 2015

Great wailing and gnashing of teeth heard from Berkeley to Boston! Harvard study destroys anti-gun BS, supports Second Amendment! - Powdered Wig Society

Powdered Wig Society Great wailing and gnashing of teeth heard from Berkeley to Boston! Harvard study destroys anti-gun BS, supports Second Amendment! - Powdered Wig Society: "HARVARD UNIVERSITY STUDY: “WHERE FIREARMS ARE MOST DENSE, VIOLENT CRIME IS LOWER, AND WHERE FIREARMS ARE LEAST DENSE, THE VIOLENT CRIME RATE IS THE HIGHEST.”
"



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Fear The Power Wielded By The State — Even In America - Investors.com

Fear The Power Wielded By The State — Even In America - Investors.com: ""First, given the existence of a powerful government, the people who are most likely to wind up in control of that government are those who (a) have the greatest drive for power, (b) have the skills needed for seizing it (for example, the ability to intimidate or manipulate others), and (c) are unperturbed by moral compunctions about doing what is required to seize power. These individuals are not in the game for the money. They are in it for the pleasure of exercising power.""



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Citizens’ Mandate: Stop the Fundamental Transformation of America

Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog » Citizens’ Mandate: Stop the Fundamental Transformation of America: "The pundits puzzle and debate reasons for the sweeping nationwide GOP victories in November, while Democrats en masse engage in an epidemic of unhinged denial. But for the rest of us, the reason is crystal clear: this president and the Democratic Party are ruining our country. November was not a victory for Republicans, but rather an historic, nationwide, sweeping repudiation of Obama’s leadership and policies. Nonetheless, the GOP did get a mandate:

Stop Obama in his tracks! NOW!

To make this unerringly clear, a veritable who’s who of the conservative movement have issued a Citizen’s Mandate to the GOP. It demands that Republicans:

Stop the President’s “Fundamental Transformation” of the country;
End Executive branch overreach;
Restore Constitutional balance of power among the three branches of government;
Bring an end to the perennially unpopular Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare;
Stop the President’s Executive Amnesty;
Hold the Executive branch accountable for its myriad abuses of power and its national security failures both foreign and domestic;
Insist Obama put the interests of the United States of America first among nations.
"



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Signs of Collapse at The Z Blog

Signs of Collapse at The Z Blog: "The evidence is all pointing in one direction. The people in charge have no answer for the current threats. To take on the Islam problem means a) admitting prior error and b) abandoning the keystone of their ideology. To do either undermines their legitimacy as a ruling class. Even if they could plausibly claim we have reached peak diversity and therefore are shutting off immigration, the implications are obvious.

In the palace system of the Bronze Age, the rulers existed to control the palace economy. All goods flowed through the palace, which was pretty much a distribution center with ceremonial buildings. Even though a centralized system could not work beyond a certain scale, what else was there? A distributed system would not need a king so it was unthinkable. Instead they kept trying to make the palace system work until they failed utterly.

That’s what we seem to be seeing in the West. Cultural Marxism may be a dead end street, but what else is there? If the alternatives cannot prop up the pseudo-meritocracy and the attendant exam system, what’s in it for the people in charge? The answer is nothing so alternatives are unthinkable. Instead they keep racing around, trying to keep an increasing number of plates spinning.

At some point, it simply stops working.

"



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Allies Know They Haven’t “Got a Friend” in Obama's America - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine

Allies Know They Haven’t “Got a Friend” in Obama's America - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine: "One of the basic rules of satire is that it is virtually impossible to satirize something that is already inherently ridiculous. That axiom is brought to mind as America belatedly sought to reaffirm its friendship with France in the wake of the administration’s decision to snub the Paris unity rally that commemorated the terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo office and a kosher market. Neither the president nor the vice president or even Secretary of State John Kerry bothered to come to a gathering attended by over 40 world leaders. But to make up for this, Kerry brought folk rock singer James Taylor to Paris to serenade French officials with a version of Carol King’s classic ballad, “You’ve Got a Friend.” This is something so absurd that it isn’t clear even the cleverest minds at Saturday Night Live or even Charlie Hebdo could adequately convey the sophomoric nature of a lame attempt to make up for a gaffe. While the real problem is the administration’s lack of comfort in standing up for the rights of cartoonists to offend Islamists as evidenced by the decision to stay away from the rally, it also tells us something significant about the inadequate man who is serving as the nation’s chief diplomat.


"



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Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Birth of Three Nations | American Renaissance

The Birth of Three Nations | American Renaissance: "Fred Reed, Fred on Everything, January 13, 2015

Regarding the unsurprising slaughter in Paris:

Diversity is a disaster. Why people cannot see this is a mystery. A country can ignore an unfortunate reality, but it cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring it. Why governments allow and even encourage immigration of incompatible populations is a greater mystery. Few things cause more misery, hatred, death, and destruction than does diversity. One may wish it were not so, but it is so.

"



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Ted Cruz's Best Idea Yet: Reform Taxes And Abolish IRS - Investors.com

Ted Cruz's Best Idea Yet: Reform Taxes And Abolish IRS - Investors.com: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, might have hit on the most important fiscal issue facing the U.S.: the need for major tax reform. But he takes it a step further.

Speaking Monday, the senator from Texas threw another thunderbolt: Republicans should use their control of Congress to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service.

"We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer," he told a crowd at a Heritage Foundation event. "And I'll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS."

It's not as radical as it sounds.

"



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Children Of Gay Parents Testify Against Same-Sex 'Marriage' | Truth Revolt

Children Of Gay Parents Testify Against Same-Sex 'Marriage' | Truth Revolt: ""While I do not believe all gays would be de facto bad parents, I know that the gay community has never in my lifetime put children first as anything other than a piece of property, a past mistake or a political tool to be dressed up and taken out as part of a dog-and-pony show to impress the well-meaning," Klein wrote. "



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Nelson: The Future Belongs To ... Whomever Is Willing To Fight For It | Truth Revolt

Nelson: The Future Belongs To ... Whomever Is Willing To Fight For It | Truth Revolt: "This is war, even if the French and the rest of Europe don't want to recognize it, nor come to grips with the reality of the situation. Islamists will kill again in greater and greater numbers because they see no deterrent and no determined response. They hear apologists and apologies and laugh, growing ever more confident in the weakness and ineptitude of Western leaders.

"



'via Blog this'

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Boehner Prepares to Pay Obama's Amnesty Extortion

Conservative Review - Boehner Prepares to Pay Obama's Amnesty Extortion: "Just as the ink dried on our column praising Republican House leadership for proposing a solid bill defunding Obama’s amnesty, John Boehner has, once again, reminded us why we are all so leery of offering positive feedback on GOP leadership.  Although he is giving conservatives what they want in the first round of legislation, with six weeks to go until the funding deadline for DHS, Boehner appears to have other tricks up his sleeve.

"



'via Blog this'

America Following France's Demographic Path To Imported Terrorism - Investors.com

America Following France's Demographic Path To Imported Terrorism - Investors.com: "We are repeating the mistakes of France and other European countries by expanding our Muslim immigration. The Boston Marathon bombings were just a foretaste of the likely consequences of this error.

Dearborn, Mich., is about 40% Muslim. That is just one of the eye-opening statistics National Review's Ian Tuttle cites in an article this week on the growth of the U.S. Islamic population, a report as sober as it is chilling.

Would only a bigoted Islamophobe be disturbed upon hearing that stat?  Maybe, but a secret 2013 National Counterterrorism Center document, revealed by the online publication The Intercept, found Dearborn second only to New York in known or suspected terrorists and their associates.

"



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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Marxism - deconstructed

Marxism - deconstructed: "In its essence Marxism, the core ideology of modern Socialism, is an irrational, utopian and coercive perversion of human equality. Marxism seeks equality where equality does not exist, demanding legal enforcement of equal social outcomes, including those related to economics, higher education, athletics, religion and human sexuality. This ideology even extends to international relationships whereby no nation is allowed to excessively prosper or achieve greatness, i.e.: all nations must be "equal." Never mind that when people are free their human nature leads to inequality of outcomes – some are hard-working and some are lazy – some are more intelligent and some are less intelligent – some are stronger and some are weaker – some are tall and some are short. Unequal results occur naturally without force when people possess rightful liberty. Based on their degree of truly Free Enterprise nations similarly divide themselves unequally into various degrees of prosperity or depravity.
"



'via Blog this'

Men, made of sterner stuff

Men, made of sterner stuff: "But do we not elect people who are supposed to be more principled than the common citizenry? Apparently we do not.

If we think back to the Founding Fathers, they risked much more than losing a choice committee membership. They risked their lives. They risked their families. They risked their personal fortunes, and even though the Revolution was successful, many of them still died broke.

These Founders, these men, were made of sterner stuff. Now, we have men and women who can be cowed by the threat of the loss of minor privileges.

I sometimes observe that soft times – times of abundance and plenty – breed soft men. We have bred a crop of weak, unprincipled representatives. Their elections and their actions guarantee that we shall enter much tougher times. The bright spot of this situation is that, as things go south – and they will – in about a generation perhaps we'll have a more moral, hardworking, principled citizenry.

Perhaps we will be made of sterner stuff.

Perhaps we will deserve the freedom that we will have to fight for, again. We have squandered the Founders' sacrifices. Someday, we shall need to make our own.
"



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Carly Fiorina: Obama's Ignorance on Paris Rally 'Quite Stunning'

Carly Fiorina: Obama's Ignorance on Paris Rally 'Quite Stunning': ""I just find his apparent ignorance of what's going on around him quite stunning," she said. "And obviously he is failing as a chief executive.
"



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Radical Islam and Multicultural Suicide

American Power: Radical Islam and Multicultural Suicide: "What is the ultimate political purpose of multiculturalism? It certainly has contemporary utility, in bolstering the spirits of minority groups at home and the aggrieved abroad by stating that their own unhappiness, or failure to achieve what they think they deservedly should have, was due to some deep-seated Western racism, class bias, homophobia, or sexism otherwise not found in their own particular superior cultural pedigree that was unduly smothered by the West.

For the useful idiot, multiculturalism is supposedly aimed at ecumenicalism and hopes to diminish difference by inclusiveness and non-judgmentalism. But mostly it is a narcissistic fit, in which the multiculturalist offers a cheap rationalization of non-Western pathologies, and thereby anoints himself both the moral superior to his own less critical Western peers and, in condescending fashion, the self-appointed advocate of the mostly incapable non-Westerner.

Multiculturalism is contrary to human nature. Supposedly if Muslims understand that Westerners do not associate an epidemic of global terrorism and suicide bombing with Islam, then perhaps Muslims — seeing concession as magnanimity to be reciprocated —  will appreciate such outreach and help to mitigate the violence, all the more so if they also sense that they share with the more radical among them at least some legitimate gripes against the West.

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Al Gore, wrong again – Polar ice continues to thrive | Watts Up With That?

Al Gore, wrong again – Polar ice continues to thrive | Watts Up With That?: "All this frigid data parallels the 17 year pause in global land and sea surface temperatures as reported by NASA, NOAA, the UK Climate Research Unit, and the University of Alabama Huntsville Remote Sensing Systems program. That pause is occurring despite our annual release of more than 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide(CO2) from burning fossil fuels, especially coal. Half of that CO2 release stays in the atmosphere. But CO2 remains a trace gas, as the atmosphere weighs several quadrillion tons, and a quadrillion is a million times a billion.

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Magna Carta - 800th Birthday

ARRA News Service: Magna Carta - 800th Birthday: "The Magna Carta also established the right of free men to justice and a fair trial. “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”

Many of the principles of the Magna Carta can be found in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. We can see that in the quote I just provided from the Magna Carta. Those rights are enumerated in the Sixth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment. The Magna Carta says that “no official shall place a man on trial . . . without producing credible witnesses.” This guarantee is found in our Fifth Amendment.

The Magna Carta protected free man from being deprived “of lands, castles, liberties or rights without the lawful judgments of his equals.” The Sixth Amendment guarantees us the right to a trial by an impartial jury. The Magna Carta says that “For a trivial offense, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offense.” The Eighth Amendment protects the accused from being fined an excessive amount for bail.

As you can see, the Magna Carta was an important foundational document for our freedoms. That is why we should wish it a Happy 800th birthday.
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Sen. Tom Cotton: U.S. Has ‘Surrendered Repeatedly to Iran’s Demands’

Sen. Tom Cotton: U.S. Has ‘Surrendered Repeatedly to Iran’s Demands’: "Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is concerned about what he calls the Obama administration’s “all carrot and no stick” approach to Iranian nuclear power.

During his remarks at Heritage Action’s 2015 Conservative Policy Summit, Cotton said that what began as an “unwise policy” of appeasement has morphed into a “dangerous farce.” Nuclear proliferation in Iran could result in the “rogue state” carrying out strikes on nations it views as the “Little Satan” [Israel] and the “Great Satan” [the United States].

According to Cotton, Iran obtaining nuclear capabilities would be “quite literally apocalyptic.”

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Irony, thy name is Obama

neo-neocon » Blog Archive » Irony, thy name is Obama: "I didn’t listen to Obama’s 2004 speech, or much of either convention that year; I’m not a big fan of speeches in general. But reading it now I could almost weep, because it is so deceptive, so unlike the Barack Obama we’ve come to know so well. If the guy portrayed in that speech had won an election, the result probably wouldn’t have been half bad. But that guy never existed; he was an actor reading his lines. 2004 was his first performance on the national stage, and he ought to have won an Oscar for it.

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I Have a Very Easy Wish List for Congress: Do Nothing an Let These Programs Expire | National Review Online

I Have a Very Easy Wish List for Congress: Do Nothing an Let These Programs Expire | National Review Online: "For those of you who complain I ask too much of Congress — reforming entitlements, fixing the tax code, abolishing all corporate subsidies, etc. – I have a wish list over at the Daily Beast that should please you.

You might not like my specific plans, but you can’t tell me that these ideas are too hard to implement: All they require is for Congress to do nothing and leave laws as written. 



Let the Export Import Bank’s charter expire

Let the sequester caps return as scheduled.

Let expiring sections of the Patriot Act go away. "



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Australian Prime Minister Angers ISIS By Calling Them New Name

Australian Prime Minister Angers ISIS By Calling Them New Name: "“Daesh hates being referred to by this term,” he said during recent remarks, “and what they don’t like has an instinctive appeal to me.”

The name is a reference to the proper title ‘al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham,’ though the resulting acronym and its homophone are obviously unpopular among the group’s rank."



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‘Wellness or Else’: ObamaCare’s Fine Print - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine

‘Wellness or Else’: ObamaCare’s Fine Print - Commentary Magazine Commentary Magazine: "Whether it’s the politicization of holidays, infringements on religious liberty, programs seeking to get Americans to inform on one another, or the weaponization of the bureaucracy such as the IRS targeting program, a steady feature of the Obama years has been the attempts to erode civil society. The latest example has to do with ObamaCare.

The unpopular health-care reform law contained in it rules that increased businesses’ ability to incentivize better health among their employees. Since ObamaCare contained an insurance mandate, it also included allowances for companies to try to recoup some of the health-care costs they were now shouldering. Those rules went into effect in 2014, and their effects–while predictable–are starting to show.

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The program, as currently set up, is not saving on overall health spending. It’s merely shifting that cost even more onto patients. It should be obvious at this point why businesses lobbied for these obnoxious Orwellian scams.
Health spending was supposed to be a major target of ObamaCare’s reforms. And maybe it will, somehow, still get there. But right now, what’s clear is that the law as written is designed to reward big business by fleecing the taxpayer. That was always the plan, but incentivizing company executives to decide their employees are overweight and then penalize them for it is a particularly cruel way to go about it.


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The Great Global Lie | Cato Institute

The Great Global Lie | Cato Institute: "Cayman is prosperous, in part, because of a great global lie, which causes many big rich nations to pursue bad economic policies. The global lie is that the developed countries have too little government, rather than too much.

That lie causes countries to tax themselves far above the level that would maximize the general welfare and job creation. That lie causes governments to spend money on many nonproductive activities and to spend money far less efficiently than the private sector for the same activity. Finally, that lie causes governments to regulate excessively and often in a destructive manner. The simple and obvious empirical fact that most developing and developed countries with smaller government sectors have grown faster in recent decades than those countries with big government sectors is ignored both by the politicians and many in the media.

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Ronald Reagan Quote of the Day | Jen Kuznicki

Ronald Reagan Quote of the Day | Jen Kuznicki: "The explicit promise in the Declaration that we’re endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights was meant for all of us. It wasn’t meant to be limited or perverted by special privilege or by double standards that favor one group over another. It is a principle for eternity, America’s deepest treasure.

Ronald Reagan 8/1/83

Hat tip – The Reagan Foundation

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Police Work: Not the Cake Walk Many Think It Is

Police Work: Not the Cake Walk Many Think It Is: "When someone demonstrates a pretty clear disregard for the authority of the law, and they are behaving in an aggressive fashion, police have to consider public safety as well as their own safety…and sometimes, depending on a variety of factors in a given circumstance, they may not be in a position to employ less than deadly force. A policeman may not know whether someone is unarmed, or whether they have weapons within easy reach, or they might be able to do you serious harm with an object at hand, or with their bare hands, or even get control of your weapon and use it against you.

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The Troubling Math of Muslim Migration | National Review Online

The Troubling Math of Muslim Migration | National Review Online: "A major Islamist terror attack in France was only a matter of time. For several decades, the country has invited immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa en masse – first to bolster the labor force in the rebuilding years that followed World War II, then out of multicultural impulses that prevailed over prudential considerations. That radical Islam was transplanted to France, grew in strength and extent, and bore this week’s hideous fruit was not difficult to predict. The same is not unlikely in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, and elsewhere.

Demographics may not be the whole of destiny, but they are certainly a good part, and across the Atlantic, the United States seems increasingly to be turning toward Western Europe’s most undesirable demographic trends."



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