Monthly Archives: February 2015

CPAC Reviews

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John Bolten

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton speaking before CPAC, February 27, 2015.

Mrs Crucis and I watched several speakers via CSPAN3 at the annual CPAC meeting yesterday. We watched Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson. Sean Hannity lead the Q&A sessions. This morning, John Bolton speaking with Reince Priebus, Donald Trump and Jeb Bush coming up.

Rumor has it that there will be a ‘small’ protest when Jeb Bush speaks. It won’t be disruptive as it would if libs and dems were protesting. No, just a number of people will all make rest-room visits at the same time. I have to admit, if I were attending CPAC today, I’d have to get up and go as well when Jeb has his 20 minutes and attempts to explain his liberal dogma on Common Core and allowing illegal aliens to remain.

Laura Ingraham took Jeb Bush, his family and the Washington elites to task earlier this morning. Of course, the liberal MSM via their HuffPo and Media Matters propaganda outlets claimed she was attacking Jeb Bush’s wife. The MSM must have been listening to some one else speak because when i watched the video of Ingraham speech, she did not attack Mrs Bush. The MSM is lying once again.

Sean Hannity is up now to help loosen the crowd. You can tell he’s not running for any office. He’s loose and relaxed and is speaking off-the-cuff. He’d be a formidable speaker if he ever decided to run for office.

CPAC will continue today. More speakers will mount the podium. More speakers will rouse the crowd and receive ovations. The libs will hate every second of it and that, folks, makes me smile.

Marco Rubio, one of the possible candidates for Prez in 2016 made a Mea Culpa admission when he spoke before CPAC. He apologized for his earlier views on illegal immigration. He said, in essence, that he had a “come-to-Jesus” revelation.

Rubio: I’ve learned lesson on immigration

By Cameron Joseph, February 27, 2015, 09:28 am

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told the Conservative Political Action Conference that he’s learned he was wrong on his approach to immigration reform.

Rubio, a onetime Tea Party favorite whose support for a comprehensive immigration reform package hurt him with the base, told the conservative crowd that he now understands U.S. borders must be secured before anything else can be done.

“It wasn’t very popular, I don’t know if you know that from some of the folks here,” Rubio said with a smile, earning laughs from the crowd, when asked about his earlier support for the bill by Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“You have 10 or 12 million people in this country, many of whom have lived here for longer than a decade, have not otherwise violated our law other than immigration laws, I get all that,” Rubio said. “But what I’ve learned is you can’t even have a conversation about that until people believe and know, not just believe but it’s proven to them that future illegal immigration will be controlled.”

That tone is a big change from his support for the 2013 bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that badly wounded him with the GOP base, though it’s a return to the views he held before he joined the bipartisan group.

Rubio said recent border issues had proven his earlier approach was wrong, calling a border security first approach “the only way forward.”

“You can’t just tell people you’re going to secure the border, we’re going to do E-Verify, you have to do that, they have to see it, they have to see it working, and then they’re going to have a reasonable conversation with you about the other parts, but they’re not going to even want to talk about that until that’s done first. And what’s happened over the last two years, the migratory crisis this summer, the two executive orders, that’s even more true than it’s been

Rubio’s shift on the issue is the latest sign he’s leaning towards a presidential run, as he looks to repair relations with conservatives. It’s also a marked split from his former mentor and likely opponent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who has doubled down on his support for immigration reform. 

Rubio isn’t my first choice for 2016. He’s not even my second nor third choice. He still has a lot of work to do to rebuild his credibility among conservatives. This admission, slight though it is, is a first step. I note he still thinks massive immigration is a good thing. Maybe, but only if it is through legal means, WITH QUOTAS, and strictly managed. Plus, anyone found in the US illegally must be sent back to wherever then came from…after a year or two at hard labor to repay the benefits they received without payment while in this country. Contrary to liberal myths, illegals don’t pay taxes. They’re parasites.

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Thursday’s Thoughts

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The FCC is about to vote on their seizure of the internet. There are five Commissioners, three dems and two ‘pubs. The new ruling was authored in the White House and handed to the democrat FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to ram it through. The vote is expected to be along party lines. I first wrote about the nationalization of the internet earlier this month.

The title of the Rule-Making is a lie. It’s not about internet neutrality. It’s about government control of the means, infrastructure and content of the internet. If it is passed, nothing good will come of it and internet access costs WILL go up.

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Did you hear that the DoJ had decided not to charge George Zimmerman in the Travon Martin case? The DoJ said there was insufficient evidence for any civil rights violation. What it meant was that the federal persecution of Zimmerman was finally over. Oh, the media did their part accusing Zimmerman of wife beating, girlfriend beating and of being a drunk. What they failed to tell you was that the two women admitted Zimmerman had done nothing. Their claims were lies.

An article appeared in the American Thinker with some thoughts on the actions of the DoJ, none of them complimentary.

Finally Cleared, Zimmerman Should Sue the DOJ

By Jack Cashill,  February 26, 2015

“In all criminal prosecutions,” reads the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial.”  In its dangling of George Zimmerman over the pit of judicial hell for the last three years, the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) violated the spirit of that amendment for no better reason than to pacify the Democrats’ increasingly bloodthirsty base.

Finally, on Tuesday of this week, the DOJ announced that it had found insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman.  A White House so seemingly appalled by torture had no qualms about torturing Zimmerman needlessly for nearly three years.  Indeed, within months of the February 26, 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, the DOJ knew it had no criminal case against Zimmerman, but it kept dangling him nonetheless.

The article continues with an in-depth examination at the American Thinker website.

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CPAC is meeting with a long list of potential GOP candidates queued to speak. Dr. Ben Carson was one of the first and he seized ‘the third rail’ of democrat politics. The UK Daily Mail reported on his speech. (Why does this story not appear in the US media?)

Ben Carson charges Democrats with taking advantage of blacks, ‘trying to keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes’

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com, Published: 10:11 EST, 26 February 2015 | Updated: 11:25 EST, 26 February 2015
  • Prominent black GOP presidential hopeful got aggressive at the Conservative Political Action Conference
  • ‘If you’re black and you oppose the progressive agenda, and you’re pro-life, and you’re pro-family, then they don’t know what to call you’
  • ‘It really is not compassionate to pat people on the head and say, “There, there, you poor little thing, I’m going to take care of all your needs”‘
  • Carson, a world-renowned retired pediatric neurosurgeon, hopes to follow Barack Obama with a right-wing black presidency

Dr. Ben Carson grabbed the Democratic Party’s third rail with both hands Thursday morning, launching a political attack based on his complaint that liberals are ‘making people dependent’ in majority-black American inner-cities.

Race politics have been the near-exclusive domain of the Democrats since the civil-rights era of the 1960s, and Barack Obama’s successful White House bid in 2008 solidified their position.

But Carson – the most prominent black Republican in the 2016 presidential picture – told the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C. on Thursday that the Democrats now see African-Americans’ support as an entitlement – choosing to ‘keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes.’

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/26/261E843200000578-2970478-image-a-1_1424963237700.jpg

‘SUPPRESSED!’: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson told conservatives near the nation’s capitol on Thursday that Democrats are keeping black Americans dependent on government, and he’s the man to fix it. – UK Daily Mail

Scores of supporters chanting ‘Run, Ben Run!’ – almost exclusively white Americans – arrived with him.

Matthew Brown, a New York college student attending the conference, told Daily Mail Online that Carson is just hitting his stride.

‘He’s shaking people up and freaking people out,’ Brown said. ‘The days of a lily-white GOP are starting to fade, and the only people who seem to oppose this energetic and thoughtful black guy are teh Democrats. That should tell you something.’

Carson, who led off the conference, couched his talk of a presidential run and committed to little, outlining his positions ‘if I were to run – you have to say those things.’

Dr. Carson is a likable, charismatic speaker. He’s not afraid to attack the left’s sacred cows. I like much of his views…except for those of his concerning the 2nd Amendment and RKBA. He’s spoken about those views and they are soft…very soft. Still, he would be a better president than any democrat or RINO, i.e, Jeb Bush or Chris Christie.

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Are there no ‘Pubs in the Senate?

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Once again, Mitch McConnell has shown he’s nothing more than a tool for the liberals and democrats. The DHS funding bill is being filibustered in the Senate by democrats. Even the MSM is blaming the dems for the delay. The ‘Pubs are WINNING!

What does McConnell do? He wants to compromise by stripping out the prohibition against funding Obama’s dictatorial amnesty and have the Senate vote on it separately. We all know what will happen. It will either not pass, or if passed, Obama will veto it. All the while, the DHS funding bill will pass WITH NO PROHIBITION ON FUNDING AMNESTY!! Obama gets what he wants.

We thought with the big GOP win last November that we had seen the last of Harry Reid. We were wrong. Even after Harry’s little ‘meeting’ with his financiers who gave him a black eye, Harry Reid still controls the Senate. When he barks, Mitch McConnell jumps.

It makes me wonder how big a bribe it took for McConnell to betray his constituents and the country? The biggest obstacle to restrain government in the Senate is Mitch McConnell.

After this example of political treason, it’s time to uncover the Rules for RINOs. I originally wrote about them last October. It’s time to renew our collective memories.

1) There is nothing ever worth fighting for except Democrat policies: If you’re going to fight for something, make sure you’re fighting your own base to help the Democrats achieve some policy goal that makes Tea Partiers want to stab themselves in their eyes. This makes you appear reasonable to the mainstream media and the howls of outrage from your base make it more likely that the New York Times will say nice things about you.

2) You must systematically destroy any person, place, or thing that excites conservatives: Nothing good ever comes from conservatives getting excited; so make sure to target anything and anyone that gets them fired up. If it’s a person like Ted Cruz or Sarah Palin, trash him or her publicly or have your aides leak stories to the press if you’re not brave enough to go that far. If it’s a strategy, put it down and undercut it at every opportunity. If it’s a group like the Senate Conservatives Fund or Freedomworks, scorn it and complain that it’s bad for the Republican Party.

3) You’re a winner just by virtue of being an establishment Republican: When Tea Partiers rally behind a candidate who loses, it’s because those guys don’t know what they’re doing. When establishment Republicans rally behind a candidate who loses, then they obviously selected the best candidate and no other candidate could have won. Establishment Republicans have a great formula: Win races, do nothing with that power that will make the media mad at you, which leads to more victories, which leads to doing nothing with that power that will make the media mad at you and so on and so on until the GOP totally dominates. Sure, that strategy may have lost the GOP the last two presidential elections and has produced only 45 senators so far, but it should start working any time now.

4) Trash conservatives, but hold your fire against Democrats: There’s a reason that both John McCain and Mitt Romney fought harder against their Republican primary opponents than they did against Barack Obama. The liberal media applauds you for saying mean things about conservative Republicans, but they hate it when you go after Democrats. If it comes right down to it, it’s better to go down to an honorable defeat than to win and have the media angry at you because you won a bruising race against a Democrat.

5) Communication skills are completely irrelevant: Think of yourself as a placeholder. Your job is to do just enough to keep conservatives from hating your guts so badly that you end up like poor Arlen Specter, while not making the media angry at you. Keep in mind that nothing makes the media angrier than a Republican who’s effective at anything. If you seem too charismatic or clever, liberals will perceive you as a threat who needs to be destroyed. That’s why you’re much better off mumbling boilerplate that people will forget 5 minutes after they’ve heard it.

6 Don’t freak people out by discussing how bad things are really getting: You don’t want to start freaking people out by suggesting the country could be so bankrupt we can’t even afford to borrow the money for our entitlement programs in a decade, do you? What do you think Paul Krugman would say to that? If you start telling the public that the Obama Administration got people killed with Fast and Furious and Benghazi, how do you think the Washington Post will react? Besides, if things really go south, important people like you will be living on an island somewhere; so who cares what happens to the rest of the country?

7) Accept that conservatism can’t win: Your job is not to win battles for conservatism, since that can’t happen. Instead, your job is to stave off inevitable defeat long enough to enjoy the perks of being a career politician before you start making the real money as a lobbyist. The last thing you want to do is go out and actually start trying to move the country to the right. That’s how you get MSNBC talking about you every day and Jesse Jackson calling you a racist.

8) Moderate is always better than conservative: Come on, how could any intelligent person back Pat Toomey over Arlen Specter, Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist, Rand Paul over Trey Grayson, and Ted Cruz over David Dewhurst? Granted, Rubio is coming around, but the rest of those guys have been rocking the boat since they got in the Senate. Why can’t they be more like Charlie Crist, Lincoln Chaffee, and Arlen Specter? Sure, all of those guys left the GOP, but anyone who can make it in either party obviously appeals to a lot of voters.

9) It’s fine to lie to your base: Just tell your supporters what they want to hear to get them to vote you into office and then keep your promises if it’s convenient. Tell them you’ll NEVER support amnesty and then lead the charge on it or say, “Read my lips: no new taxes,” and then push through a massive tax increase. The media loves it when Republicans screw over their own supporters and besides, what are they going to do? Vote for the Democrat?

10) Don’t make the mistake of talking about conservative principles when it matters: When you talk about conservative principles, mention them occasionally, quietly, as if they’re something your base is forcing you to do. Don’t ever make a big deal over it, even if your opponent is taking wildly unpopular liberal positions. Sure, the American public may ferociously oppose partial birth abortion and refusing to deport illegal aliens who’ve committed serious crimes, but if you make an issue of it, the media will think you’re one of THOSE Republicans. You know, the ones that actually believe in things. Better to just mumble some platitudes about your commitment to life and the rule of law as you get back to your talking points about the corporate tax rate.

These rules also apply to our state legislature. There aren’t as many RINOs in Jeff City as there are in the US Senate. Still, there are enough in Jeff City to block conservative issues and bills, i.e., RTW.

It becomes increasing difficult to support ‘Pubs at the national level when they continue to betray us at every opportunity.

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An alternate choice?

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The primary battle between two GOP candidates for Governor has commenced. Catherine Hanaway has been broadcasting some particularly vile radio ads against Tom Schweich. Yes, those ads are supposedly from a third party but they have the consent and approval of the Hanaway campaign. In some campaigns in past years, my candidate of choice, often took a turn on who used smear tactics. Those were the ones I voted against.

I’ve met both candidates in their previous campaigns for office. Neither, in my view, are choice candidates.

Yes, Schweich has had some questionable campaign donations and has given some questionable donations to other candidates. Am I convinced of the validity of those charges? No, I’m not.

Catherine Hanaway has issues as well. Her voting record in the state legislature has a number of questionable votes. One in particular was her vote against Missouri’s Concealed Carry law. She said, in an interview last year in Joplin that she voted according to the wishes of her district. Hanaway isn’t the White Knight of Missouri politics. Her consistency record is poor.

So who do we support? There may be an alternate choice. The GOP’s state Lincoln Day celebration occurred in Kansas City this last weekend. The state Lincoln Day gathering shifts each year between the St. Louis area, the Kansas City area, and Springfield. This year, it met in the downtown KC Marriott.

Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens

Eric Greitens, from the St. Louis area, had a hospitality suite in the Marriott and met with a number of state GOP activists and politicos. If you look at his bio, he has an impressive record. A friend who spoke with Greitens told me he believes Greitens will run for Governor.

Eli Yokley’s PoliticMO newsletter had this to say about Greitens.

FOR YOUR RADAR — ‘Who is Eric Greitens?,’ asks Missouri Scout: “Bill McMorris writes a piece about Eric Greitens’ impressive resume in the Washington Free Beacon. You’ll get a sense of the dude, but I won’t bury the lede… it’s in the final paragraph: Greitens will begin travelling the state on book tour in two weeks, evangelizing his doctrine of renewal and self-reliance and meeting the constituents he hopes will put him in the governor’s mansion. The primary is August 2016.”

— Greitens, a former U.S. Navy Seal, had a suite tucked away on the 19th floor of the Marriott Downtown in Kansas City over the weekend, where Republicans had gathered for their annual Lincoln Days gathering. Greitens met with activists and Republican consultants in his suite. The word is he is in, but he is staying quiet, letting Tom Schweich and Catherine Hanaway “shoot cruise missiles” while he flies under the radar. — PoliticMO Newsletter, February 24, 2015.

Greitens said he will travel around the state, “evangelizing his doctrine of renewal and self-reliance.” That would certainly be different from the current doctrine of crony-capitalism and voter dependency.

Catherine Hanaway won the straw poll for Governor over Tom Schweich this last weekend. There was a big controversy over the poll when the ballot box disappeared for a time and suddenly reappeared…stuffed with votes for Hanaway. Hmmm.

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National Public Radio took a look at union membership across the country and its decline. They created a map that shows the transition in membership. Missouri union members were 23% of the workforce at one time, now their membership has declined to 8%. That’s a good thing.

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This from today’s FOX Newsletter…

DEM REVOLT BEGINS ON OBAMA AMNESTY
After maintaining a weeks-long filibuster of a Republican bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security but roll back president Obama’s executive actions granting amnesty and work permits for millions of illegal immigrants, Senate Democrats are starting to splinter. Unable to break the Democratic logjam, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would instead offer a standalone bill to block Obama’s amnesty gambit before resuming the funding fight. Appearing on “Fox & Friends,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he would vote to “prevent the president from his executive action” and suggested that there might be the five other Democrats necessary to advance the legislation.

“Well, this bill removes those excuses. It sets up a simple political equation: Either stand in defense of extreme overreach, or stand with constituents in support of shared democratic values.” –Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell in a floor speech today. — FOX Newsletter, February 24, 2015.

The danger here is the McConnell is about to sell us out again. He has already asked the House to revise the DHS funding bill to include funding for Obama’s amnesty program. Initially, Speaker John Boehner has refused, saying the House has done their job, it’s now up to the Senate. I don’t trust Boehner to continue to stand on his statement.

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Is he, or isn’t he?

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That is the question. What question? Whether Obama is a Muslim or not.

I’ve not written nor spoke about this issue before, although many others have and claimed Obama is a Muslim. Yes, he attended Jeremiah Wright’s church for twenty years. Many Christians also claim that Wright’s brand of theology is far removed from Christianity.

This week the issue came to the forefront initially by an interview of Rudy Giuliani when Giuliani said Obama did not love America. You can guess how that went over with the MSM. After the liberals and MSM drew their bloody knives, Giuliani, amid death threats, went one step further.

Rudy Giuliani Doubles Down – ‘No, Obama Doesn’t LOVE America’

By /

The former Mayor of New York City knows how to make some waves. Rudy Giuliani cut his teeth putting mobsters behind bars in crime-infested New York City, then he became Mayor of New York and cleaned the city up – helping it to reclaim her status as the greatest city in the world.

Now he’s stirring things up again with a recent frontal assault on president Obama’s love of country. Just a few days ago he shocked the liberal media when he questioned President Obama’s love of our nation.

First of all, I’m not questioning his patriotism. He’s a patriot, I’m sure. What I’m saying is that in his rhetoric I very rarely hear him say the things that I used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things I used to hear Bill Clinton say about how much he loves America. I do hear him criticize America much more often than other American presidents. And when it’s not in the context of overwhelming number of statements about the exceptionalism of America, it sounds like he’s more of a critic than he is a supporter. You can be a patriotic American and be a critic, but then you’re not expressing that kind of love that we’re used to from a president…

What I question about the president, maybe it’s even broader than that he doesn’t express love of America enough, which I don’t think he does. I think he talks more about criticism rather than about what an exceptional country we are. At least I don’t feel that form him. Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t feel that.I also don’t believe he expresses a love of Western civilization that he should or understanding of Western civilization or what Western civilization has brought to the world. It’s had its grave, grave faults, terrible sins, but it’s also gone through things like the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Counter-Reformation. We have three different forms of Judaism; reformed, conservative, orthodox. They all live together, they don’t kill each other, they don’t stone each other. At one time they did, a long time ago.But now how about we talk about how we get Islam into the modern age where there is a recognition that you have to have this kind of debate within your religion and it’s got to come out in the open. It’s got to be discussed. If you refuse to say that there are extremist members of the Islamic religion, then it sounds like you’re living on Mars.

But Rudy Giuliani wasn’t finished. He’s no ‘shrinking violet.’ He has a reputation of pushing back when pushed. He continued on the offensive not only defending his earlier remarks but taking another step forward.

I’m right about this. I have no doubt about it. I do not withdraw my words. If the president goes and makes a speech and talks about what a great country this is, if the president could complete the following sentence, during the Crusades the Christians were barbarians and so were the Muslims, if the president could say Islamic fundamentalist terrorism is our enemy, I will applaud the president. But until he does that, I will have doubts about his emotions, his feelings, his attitudes and the way in which he developed. We haven’t even mentioned some of the other communists and leftists who educated him as a young man. But all we need is Reverend Wright. 17 years in that church and that man condemned America over and over and over again. And he remained a member of that church?

…

I am saying, and I may be wrong, it’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it, I do not detect in this man the same rhetoric and the same language, the same love of America that I detected in other American presidents, including Democrats. And I think it guides a lot of the things that he says and a lot of the things that he does.

The MSM isn’t satisfied with trashing Giuliani. They attempted to ambush Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker when he attended the winter session of the National Governors Association. A reporter asked Walker if he thought Obama was a Christian.

Gov. Scott Walker: ‘I don’t know’ whether Obama is a Christian

By Dan Balz and Robert Costa February 21, 2015
http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/02/20/Production/Daily/Editorial-Opinion/Images/208041222.jpg?uuid=JQj-qLlAEeSqBRzoErP90g

Scott K. Walker, governor of Wisconsin, dismissed questions about President Obama’s faith Saturday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a prospective Republican presidential contender, said Saturday he does not know whether President Obama is a Christian.

“I don’t know,” Walker said in an interview at the JW Marriott hotel in Washington, where he was attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

…

“I’ve actually never talked about it or I haven’t read about that,” Walker said, his voice calm and firm. “I’ve never asked him that,” he added. “You’ve asked me to make statements about people that I haven’t had a conversation with about that. How [could] I say if I know either of you are a Christian?”

Walker said such questions from reporters are reflective of a broader problem in the nation’s political-media culture, which he described as fixated on issues that are not relevant to most Americans.“

To me, this is a classic example of why people hate Washington and, increasingly, they dislike the press,” he said. “The things they care about don’t even remotely come close to what you’re asking about.”

The MSM tried to ambush Scott Walker but failed. Walker neatly stepped out of the trap the reporter had laid for him. It was the MSM who changed the topic from Obama’s love or hatred of America to Obama’s religious views.

I had an opportunity to briefly meet Rudy Giuliani a few years ago. He and several others gave speeches about leadership. It was a seminar series that toured the country and my employer bought a block of tickets for their employees. I was one of those who attended. After all the speeches were over, we were conducted to a hospitality suite where Giuliani and others were present. I shook Rudy’s hand and we spoke a few sentences. I doubt if Giuliani remembers. I remember his openness and honesty. I don’t agree with all of Giuliani’s politics. He’s more ‘moderate’ than me, but I never doubted his sincerity nor his courage

The conversation since Giuliani’s first statement has shifted from Obama’s love of America to Obama’s religion. Many believe Obama is a Muslim. I’ve not gotten into those discussions before. I believe a person’s acts speak louder than words.

But the question is now being asked at the national level. It’s no longer a topic for the Tin-Foil Hat crowd. The MSM has, unintentionally perhaps, raised the question, “Is Obama a Muslim?” If I must, as I said above, judge a person by his actions, then the answer must be, “Yes, he is.”

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Friday Follies for February 20, 2015

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The Church of Man-made Global Warming claims all the snow falling this winter is a result of greenhouse gases. Some NASA pseudo-scientist said this in an interview. We have proof these pseudo-scientists have falsified data to support their fraud. They arbitrarily raised the temperature reported by sensors around the world. They were caught when someone else checked the raw data for those sites and the results didn’t match the claims of the pseudo-scientists.

But this isn’t a rant against those charlatans. I just wanted a lead-in to this:

Ice-Geyser

Frozen geyser in Letchworth State Park, NY

CASTILE, N.Y. (AP) – The arctic conditions have turned a fountain at a state park in western New York into a five-story-tall “ice volcano.”

The pressure-fed fountain is in a pond near the Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth State Park, which straddles the Wyoming-Livingston county line 40 miles south of Rochester. Days of subzero temperatures have formed a solid cone of ice several feet thick with water still spouting out of the top.

Park officials tell local media that the formation dubbed an ice volcano is at least 50 feet high. — MyFoxNY.

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NATO, or perhaps, just the EU, appears to be on a collision course with Putin’s Russia. After a shaky ceasefire between the Ukrainian government and Russian surrogates masquerading a rebels, the war of words has shifted further west.

Ukraine crisis: House of Lords criticises EU and Britain for ‘sleepwalking into crisis’ as Moscow and Nato remain on diplomatic collision course

Kim Sengupta, Thursday 19 February 2015

The fraught relationship between Russia and the West, which was supposed to improve following an agreement over Ukraine, has descended instead into renewed acrimony after a series of tense military and diplomatic confrontations.

France and Germany, which had brokered the Minsk accord last week, were yesterday trying to hold together the increasingly fragile ceasefire in Ukraine amid reports that fighting was spreading once again. Kremlin-backed separatists and Cossack fighters triumphantly paraded through the shattered town of Debaltseve, a strategic point they had captured in the past 48 hours.

Britain, which along with the EU will be strongly criticised by a House of Lords committee today for “sleep-walking into this crisis”, was drawn towards centre-stage after two Russian Bear bombers off the coast of Cornwall – but just outside UK airspace – were met by RAF jets scrambled from their base in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, speaking before Parliament, “accused President Vladimir Putin of trying to extend his campaign of destabilisation to the Baltic countries. The Russian leader, he said, presented as much of a threat to Europe as Isis.” — The UK Independent.

Amid this discussion, there is one glaring omission: any comment from the United States. “The US administration has put on hold a decision on whether or not to supply the Ukrainian government with heavy weaponry; White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.” — The UK Independent.

After decades of dependence on the US military to safeguard their countries, the EU and other European nations have suddenly realized they are defenceless against Putin’s aggression. Europe has allowed their Cold War militaries to wither, failing to maintain their contributions to NATO and now, when that NATO strength may be required, it no longer exists. Europe depended on the United States for protection but now, suddenly, that dependence has proven to be fool-hardy amid Obama’s incompetence displayed around the world.

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Words, actions, have consequences. Marie Harf has been presented with this lesson. After her farcical response to a question about opposing ISIS with a Jobs program, her self-generated controversy has cost her a promotion.

Report: Harf Won’t Get Top State Job; She ‘Failed Spectacularly’ In Test Run, Official Says

5:00 PM 02/19/2015

Jen Psaki might be getting the call to the big leagues, but that doesn’t mean Marie Harf is taking her old spot.

After a multitude of ineffective television appearances, headlined by her remark that helping ISIS fighters find jobs instead of killing our way out of war against the terror group should be the U.S.’s priority in the Middle East, Harf is not in line to become Psaki’s replacement as the top spokesperson at the State Department, according to a Daily Mail report.

A source told The Mail that Harf “failed spectacularly” during her “test run” for the top spokesperson job, as Psaki’s move to the White House had been in the works for some time.

“Jen’s move to the White House isn’t something that happened overnight,” a State Department official said, “and Marie’s TV appearances were an audition of sorts, a test run, and she failed spectacularly.”

Will Marie Harf learn from this lesson of life? I doubt it. She is still the poster-girl for every blond joke ever told.

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Bits ‘n Pieces

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https://jasonkander.com/files/2015/02/Jason-Kander-for-US-Senate-100x100.jpg

Missouri Secretary of State, Jason Kander

Jason Kander, our democrat Missouri Secretary of State and scion of the Kansas City democrat political machine, has announced he will run against Senator Roy Blunt in 2016. Kander received the endorsement of the entire Missouri democrat team as well as from the KC ‘Red’ Star. Surprise, surprise!

Attorney General Chris Koster, who is readying to join Kander on the statewide slate in his own run for governor: “Every day, Jason Kander uses the lessons he learned serving in the Army in Afghanistan to do what’s right for Missouri. He doesn’t care who gets credit for an idea, he just wants to get the job done for our state. We need that approach in Washington, which is why I am supporting Jason Kander for United States Senate.” — PoliticMO Newsletter, February 19, 2015.

So it will be Turncoat Koster running for Governor teaming with Kander running for Senator. All in all, Kander has a better rep than Koster. Still you have to wonder, in this ‘race of the Double-Ks’ who is helping whom?

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An idea whose time has come? Missouri already has a Voter-ID law on the books. There are a number of acceptable forms of ID listed on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website.

ACCEPTABLE FORMS OF VOTER ID:
  • Identification issued by the state of Missouri, an agency of the state, or a local election authority of the state
  • Identification issued by the United States government or agency thereof
  • Identification issued by an institution of higher education, including a university, college, vocational and technical school, located within the state of Missouri
  • A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government document that contains the name and address of the voter
  • Driver’s license or state identification card issued by another state

If you do not possess any of these forms of identification, you may still cast a ballot if two supervising election judges, one from each major political party, attest they know you. – http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/govotemissouri/howtovote.aspx

This new effort will add a Constitutional Amendment to give more teeth to the existing law which has a number of exceptions that still allow people to vote without proper ID. The existing law is a good first step, but, reviewing the documented acts of vote fraud in St. Louis and Kansas City, it isn’t enough.

Missouri House endorses voter photo ID requirements

By MARIE FRENCH, Associated Press, Feb 18, 6:21 PM EST

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House is once again pushing forward with a Republican priority to require photo identification at the polls, after similar measures were stymied by the Senate or courts in recent years.

The House gave initial approval Wednesday to a proposed constitutional amendment that would go before voters in 2016 and also endorsed a bill that would institute the voter photo ID requirements if the constitutional amendment is approved.

Both measures need a second House vote and also would also have to pass the Senate, where Democrats have previously blocked the proposed photo ID requirements.

Supporters say the requirement is needed to ensure the integrity of the election process. Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, said the measure would protect individuals’ voting rights by making sure someone does not try to vote for another person.

“It ensures that someone did not take their vote and steal what is rightfully their vote,” Brattin said.

If you read the full article at the website, you will see, as usual, democrats, abetted by MO Secretary of State Jason Kander, protesting the measure because it would make their continuing vote fraud schemes more difficult.

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Have you heard the term, Social Justice Warrior? It’s all the vogue on university campus across the country and in other segments of society (see my post concerning the SFWA and the Hugo Awards.) Social Justice Warriors have become the progressives’ front-line troops in their battle against free speech and expression.

Social Justice Warriors Come to Campus

By Robert Weissberg, February 19, 2015

Since the late 1960s, radical students have periodically taken over the university president’s offices to propose a laundry list of “non-negotiable” demands. Early takeovers tended to be about their school’s cooperation with the military during war in Vietnam; today, however, “social justice” is the aim so let’s call these office occupiers Social Justice Warriors or SJW’s.

Back in February 2014 a group of 30 Dartmouth students commandeered the president’s office to  announce a “Freedom Budget”:70 specific calls for greater diversity, eliminating sexism and heterosexism, an improved campus climate for minorities and gays, banning the term “illegal immigrant,” offering a class on undocumented workers in America, creating a professor of color lecture series, and harsher penalties for sexual assault, among many, many others.

More recently, Clemson University SJW’s demanded that the school provide a “safe” multicultural center for students from “under-represented” groups, employing more administrators and faculty of color, a more diverse student body, mandatory sensitivity training for faculty and administrators, and increased funding for students organization catering to under-represented groups.

Then there are the University of Minnesota students who seized the President’s office to demand a bigger budget for the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies Department, removing all racial descriptions from university police reports, offering gender-neutral bathrooms at all college facilities and, of course, recruiting more faculty and students of color.

Fortunately, this is the U.S., where such political histrionics are greeted with mild amusement. Ironically, school officials typically welcome “meaningful political dialogue and change,” the need for “hard work” to achieve progress and then conclude by thanking the Social Justice Warriors for their assistance in moving forward. Though police may remove protestors, criminal charges, let alone violations of campus rules, are rarely pursued and the moral buzz for these SJW’s may last weeks. In fact, I suspect some warriors honestly believe that their achievement will burnish their resume when applying to a second-tier MBA program. Imagine if these SJW’s tried this in Russia or China?

Such incidents are easy to pooh-pooh as the politically-correct version of Animal House. But that said, they nevertheless offer important insights into today’s college activist’s thinking and why university administrators tolerate the foolishness.    

Most evidently, the Social Justice Warriors totally disregard the costs associated with their self-righteous crusades. Everything is single-ledger accounting. Will the tooth fairy fund Dartmouth’s proposed $3.6 million dollar Triangle House, the “safe haven” for LGBT? Yes, high-school dropouts may believe that government benefits are “free,” but youngsters admitted to top colleges? No wonder the U.S. sinks deeper and deeper into indebtedness — even among the smart, costs are invisible. Picture a Warrior taking Econ 101 and hearing for the first time that there is no such thing as a free lunch. What a shock!

The shallowness of these demands is breathtaking and suggests that these activists are just winging it. The Dartmouth students are surely among America’s brainiest but why do they denounce “ableism”? Are they suggesting that acknowledging variations in ability is morally wrong and if differences are to be abolished (hopeless anyhow), how would society function? Why must the campus offer gender-neutral bathrooms? Keep in mind that in a few decades such folk may be among our national leaders.

Particularly troublesome is how these presumptuous, self-centered warriors think that if they think something is good, it must be good, so case settled. For example, they glibly assume that academically challenged black and Chicano youngsters really benefit by attending schools that would never admit them in a merit-based admission process.  Have these young do-gooders considered the downside of this generosity — schools will fake the numbers by creating easy-to-pass courses in dubious ethnic-studies departments, steering them to easy grading instructors or just tolerating rampant grade inflation. Or, more important, that these in-over-their-head youngsters may be better off in community college acquiring well-paying skills like welding?

Closer to home, have these SJW’s calculated the link between achieving their vision of “social justice” and tuition? Attracting minority students, addressing their academic deficiencies, creating a nurturing environment and all the rest costs money, and this will inevitably push soaring tuition even higher and, since there is no Santa Claus, a college education will be yet further beyond the reach of many poorer students while saddling graduates with yet more debt. In effect, these idealistic protestors are demanding a tax on those who are not members of their version of “under-represented.” Imagine if these SJW’s had to hold jobs to pay their own tuition?

Do these Social Justice Warriors realize that their demands will require administrators to break the law to achieve this multicultural Utopia? That is, under today’s judicial guidelines it is almost impossible to admit students solely on the basis of race or ethnicity. California, Michigan, and Washington (among others) have state laws explicitly banning racial preferences.

Why do schools tolerate such idiocy, including ignoring violations of campus policy? The answer is that no matter how imprudent the demands, they help drive the university’s bureaucratic expansion, and in today’s campus life, size matters. A symbiotic relationship exists between the children’s crusades and yet more bureaucratic bloat. Universities are not the profit-driven private sector. Absolutely everything, everything in every one of these SJW catalogues entails spending more university money, hiring more personnel, and creating yet more rules and regulations and the apparatchiki to monitor and enforce them.

It is a long article and I urge you to follow this link to the website and read the entire piece. It may be an education for you; make you aware of another insidious attacks against our liberty by ‘progressives.’ Joe Stalin and Adolf would be proud of them.

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