No conflict...

Excerpt from article on CNN Online: NFL legend Jim Brown stopped by Trump Tower Tuesday for a meeting pegged as a discussion about issues facing the African-American community, and he came away from the gathering with the President-elect having his admiration. "When he goes through what he went through to become the president, he got my admiration," Brown said. "No one gave him a chance."

A 1971 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and eight-time NFL rushing leader, Brown is well known for his work in the African-American community. However, as the subject turned to race on Tuesday, he revealed some lesser-known details. "The three greatest people in my life were white, OK. My high school coach, my high school superintendent, and my mentor in Manhasset, Long Island," he said.

So, in vocally supporting Trump, Brown sees no conflict of ideology. He maintains that his work focuses on the human race above all. "When I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial," he said. "I look for good people and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings."

Though Brown voted for Hillary Clinton in November, he told CNN's Brooke Baldwin later Tuesday he left the meeting which also included Pastor Darrell Scott with a heart-warming sense of positivity.

A real anomaly

"Conservative but intelligent." This was Wolf Blitzer's description yesterday of Mike Pompeo, soon-to-be-head of the CIA.

Beware the code language

After meeting with President-elect Trump last Thursday morning, President Obama told reporters, "I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face." 

This is code language for: "We lost the election, so now we have to convince Republicans that they should give us an equal say in all decisions over the next four years. Those idiots have fallen for this ploy in the past, so we may as well try it again." 

Saved by the Electoral College

It seems as though Hillary Clinton may win the popular vote, even though Donald Trump will end up with a substantial majority of electoral votes. The founders created the Electoral College to prevent the large states from dominating the small ones, and this is exactly what has happened. As of 7:30 am on November 9, Clinton is ahead of Trump by about 134,000. But if we subtract New York and California from each candidates' totals, Trump is ahead by about 4 million votes. The Electoral College has prevented NY and CA from dominating the election and forcing a president on us that the rest of the country didn't want. Thank you, James Madison, et al.  

The Obama-Hillary Legacy

Elect Hillary: Ho More Hurricanes!

According to the Democrat candidate for president, "When it comes to protecting our country against natural disasters and the threat of climate change, once again, Donald Trump is totally unfit and unqualified to be our President." Implied in Hillary's statement is that she is fit and qualified to protect the USA from natural disasters and the threat of climate change. But how?

The answer was delineated by reporter Ron Allen, who said, “It’s very interesting that this is happening a day when there’s a hurricane bearing down on the United States and in the Caribbean, because these severe storms, beach erosions, intense weather episodes that we’ve had is perhaps the most practical sample of what the president was talking about as the threat that the planet faces... [This] is what this whole climate agreement signed by 190 nations and now ratified by 60 or so is designed to stop.”

Will this agreement also stop tornadoes, snowstorms, and earthquakes?

Why liberals are mixed up!

Uh-oh!

Why blue lives matter.

“Most of us imagine if the moment called for [it] that we would risk our lives to protect a spouse or a child. Those wearing the uniform assume that risk for the safety of strangers.” George W. Bush

Allons enfants de la patria...

Netanyahu on Orlando attack

An honest, dignified, level-headed commentary from the Prime Minister of Israel.
Netanyahu speaks out on Orlando attack

"I don't think...."

President Obama has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton for president saying, "I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office." Hmmm. There was one man who had served for years in the Virginia House of Burgesses, led the drafting of the Fairfax Resolves, served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, and presided over the Constitutional Convention, but I guess he still wasn't as qualified as Hillary. There was another man who had written the Declaration of Independence, served as Governor of Virginia, served as ambassador to France, served as Secretary of State, and served as Vice President of the United States, but I guess he still wasn't as qualified as Hillary. Hmmm.

$21,667,000.00

In a two year period from 2013 to 2015, Hillary banked over $21 million making speeches for the titans of Wall Street. Does she really think most of Bernie Sanders' supporters are going to vote for her?

http://nypost.com/2016/05/22/how-corporate-america-bought-hillary-clinton-for-21m/

"The unborn, uh, person 

doesn't have constitutional rights." 

Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press, April 3, 2016 

8 weeks

Giving it away is the only way

Three years ago, on the eve of Obamacare’s implementation, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that President Obama's centerpiece legislation would result in an average of 201 million people having private health insurance in any given month of 2016. Now that 2016 is here, the CBO says that just 177 million people, on average, will have private health insurance in any given month of this year—a shortfall of 24 million people.

Indeed, based on the CBO's own numbers, it seems possible that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of people with private health insurance. In 2013, the CBO projected that, without Obamacare, 186 million people would be covered by private health insurance in 2016—160 million on employer-based plans, 26 million on individually purchased plans. The CBO now says that, with Obamacare, 177 million people will be covered by private health insurance in 2016—155 million on employer-based plans, 12 million on plans bought through Obamacare's government-run exchanges, and 9 million on other individually purchased plans (plus a rounding error of 1 million).

In other words, it would appear that a net 9 million people have lost their private health plans, thanks to Obamacare—with a net 5 million people having lost employer-based plans and a net 4 million people having lost individually purchased plans.

None of this is to say that fewer people have "coverage" under Obamacare—it's just not private coverage. In 2013, the CBO projected that 34 million people would be on Medicaid or CHIP (the Children's Health Insurance Program) in 2016. The CBO now says that 68 million people will be on Medicaid or CHIP in 2016—double its earlier estimate. It turns out that Obamacare is pretty much a giant Medicaid expansion.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/2001732

14th Amendment protection

The Obergefell decision last June recognized for the first time a 14th Amendment protection for the exercise of religion, said Michigan lawyer David A. Kallman of the Great Lakes Justice Center. In an interview with WND, Kallman pointed out that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in the marriage decision concluded the 14th Amendment protects self-identity. “He specifically links to our rights as enunciated in the Bill of Rights,” Kallman said. “So if you find your identity in Christ … we would argue, Justice Kennedy has created another layer of protection.”

Two experts with the Great Lakes Justice Center, William Wagner and John S. Kane, wrote a letter to the ABA regarding a rule change that would make it ethical “misconduct” for a lawyer to consider “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the attorney-client relationship. “To be sure, the Obergefell decision stated that for some individuals ‘personal identity’ may come from a person’s intimate sexual orientation and the court then ruled accordingly,” they wrote. “The court’s ruling clearly comprehends that an individual’s ‘personal identity’ could come from the person’s intimate religious faith orientation, i.e., his or her ‘beliefs.’” That means, they explained, that the Supreme Court “determined that this new fundamental constitutional liberty right of personal identity is found in, and protected by, the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/experts-marriage-ruling-protects-religious-expression/#OO7LR8ysyRAz8hRh.99

I wonder if Justice Kennedy knew this is what his ruling would do?

My first 100 days

I heard John Kasich talking about what he would do in his first 100 days in office, so I started thinking about what I would do in my first 100 days if I were elected president (which won't happen):

1. I would propose six amendments to the Constitution. The first would establish under law that the right to life begins at conception and cannot be taken away except through due process (just like everyone else). The second would establish that in the United States, marriage is a lawful union between a man and a women. The third would establish that nothing in the Constitution prohibits Congress from passing laws to criminalize desecration of the American flag. The fourth would establish that Representatives would be limited to five terms in office and Senators would be nominated by state legislatures, ratified by the citizens of the state, and limited to two terms. The fifth would establish that Supreme Court Justices would serve 18 year terms with one justice being replaced every two years (this amendment would also deal with other federal judges who are appointed to life terms). The sixth would clarify what constitutes natural born citizenship and would eliminate the concept of "anchor babies."

2. I would ask the Joint Chiefs to give me a 3-month plan for obliterating ISIS.

3. I would appoint Ben Carson to construct a detailed plan to replace Obamacare based on his proposal for individual health accounts.

4. I would appoint Chris Christie as Attorney General and have him conduct an immediate investigation into (among other things) the killing of Miriam Carey by Capitol police and the Secret Service in October 2013.

5. I would propose legislation that would give every undocumented person within the borders of the US six months to come forward (maybe three months). If a person has overstayed a visa, that person will be subject to a fine or deportation (a judge can evaluate the circumstances). I would also make clear that any person who has overstayed their visa but does not come forward and is caught will be immediately deported and will forfeit any opportunity to re-enter the US at any time in the future. Anyone who crossed the border illegally and comes forward may, after police and FBI clearances, be granted a temporary work visa. This visa will be good for 3 to 5 years and may be renewed if the person pays their taxes and does not commit any crimes. Anyone who does not come forward and is caught shall be immediately deported and will forfeit any opportunity to re-enter the US at any time in the future. Of course, this proposal will include effectively sealing the border, establishing an effective system for keeping track of those here on visas, and bringing severe penalties on employers who hire undocumented aliens. I would also make very clear that no person who has entered our country without going through proper channels will ever be granted the privilege of becoming a US citizen.

6. I would invite Vlad Putin to Camp David and try to discern if there is any hope for the US and Russia getting on the same page.

7. I would suspend the Iranian deal and demand that it be re-negotiated. Of course, this would probably result in no deal at all. I would tell the Iranians they have 3 months to agree to a better deal or we will begin re-instituting sanctions. I would also let the Israelis know that they are free to do whatever they believe to be in the best interests of their survival as a nation. They will be no push back from the US.

8. I would privatize all VA hospitals.

9. I would propose legislation to break up the "too big to fail" financial institutions so that none of them are too big to fail.

10. I would propose legislation that would eliminate all federal income tax and replace it with a flat tax on goods at the wholesale level. Whenever an item is purchased at the retail level, the receipt would be required to show the amount of the purchase price that was tax. This legislation would also require each state to make an annual federal payment based on population (and perhaps other factors). The state would be free to raise this payment any way it chooses. It would also authorize the federal government to assess either states or individuals with a temporary "war tax" as needed to pay for the cost of going to war. This way we all have a stake in it.

11. I would begin a process for eliminating the Federal Reserve.

There might be more I would do, but that would be the start.

Cleanse the capital city

I have written before that one way of viewing American society is to see it in three classes: 1) the working class, 2) the dependency class, and 3) the ruling class. When we see society through this lens, we realize that the ruling class stays in power primarily by taking from the working class and giving to the dependency class.

Pat Buchanon recently explained why Trump and Sanders are riding so high: “America’s establishment has failed America. The single clearest message in the presidential campaign of 2015-2016 is that the American people would like to cleanse our capital city of its ruling class.”

Of course, the reason for Trump's success is different from Sanders'. With Trump, people believe the ruling class has been taking too much whereas with Sanders, they believe it hasn't been taking enough.

Misguided priorities

Obama can't go to Antonin Scalia's funeral, but he can go to Cuba. What a reprobate!

No WMDs in Iraq, Donald?

In the Republican debate on February 13, Donald Trump declared that Bush lied about there being WMDs in Iraq. Well, Donald, you are just plain wrong. In fact, I recall hearing a report on NPR a month or so into the war that our guys had found canisters of Sarin gas in a warehouse. The story never got much play, but if that wasn't WMDs, at least in potential, then what was it, Donald?

The fact that the non-existent WMDs existed in the first place was established by years of UN reports during the Clinton Administration. No one ever questioned this until after Bush took office.

On October 14, 2014, the New York Times admitted that WMDs existed in Iraq. In a story titled “The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons,” the NYT detailed how we found thousands of chemical warheads and shells during the occupation. About a year ago the NYT published a story describing Operation Avarice, a joint CIA/military intelligence mission that purchased and destroyed more than 400 Iraqi Borak rockets equipped with chemical warheads.

Another criticism of the Bush war effort was the subject of “yellowcake” uranium.  Former Ambassador Joe Wilson wrote an article in the New York Times saying that no yellowcake uranium had been sold to Iraq. Yet on July 5, 2008, the Associated Press ran a story detailinmg the removal of 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium from Iraq.

There is also an unanswered question concerning three container ships that sailed out of Iraq under radio silence on the eve of the war. Originally reported by the London Independent, the story at the time was that the Navy was not going to intercept for fear that they might dump their cargo, which was presumed to be WMDs. This story seems to have vanished from the Internet, but the original page and the beginning of the article are still recorded in Internet archives.

The bottom line is this: Iraqi weapons of mass destruction existed. Their story has always been traceable in public military and United Nations reports. Even so, much of the activity involving finding and dismantling WMDs has been kept classified, and much of it probably still is. We may not know the full story for many years.

Donald Trump is welcome to hold the opinion that the Iraq War was a mistake. In retrospect, I agree that there were many aspects of it that should have been handled differently. But he should realize that when it comes to WMDs, it wasn’t Bush who lied. In addition, around 300,000 mass grave have been found in Iraq since the invasion. Since Saddam was in power for 24 years, that equals about 12,500 people a year (mostly Shia and Kurds) that he executed and threw into Nazi-style pits.

Regardless what any of us may think about the war, there's no doubt that world is better off with Saddam in hell.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html?_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/world/cia-is-said-to-have-bought-and-destroyed-iraqi-chemical-weapons.html

Departed brilliance

Justice Antonin Scalia (March 11, 1936 - February 13, 2016)

Huh?

Just heard Bernie Sanders complaining about how our election system is totally controlled by big money and must be reformed, yet he (of the 3 million $27.00 donations and no super PAC) was just the big winner over the most powerful political organization in the country. And not only that, on the other side, the big winner was the only self-funded candidate (I don't think Donald has received a dime from the Koch brothers). So it seems to me the current system is working pretty well.

To me, Bernie sounds a lot like the people who claim that MLB is unfair because the wealthy teams can basically buy a World Series victory. But this has not been shown to be true. Winning ballgames and elections involves a lot more than who has the most money. Sure, it takes money. But that doesn't mean the one with the most money wins. Bernie has just proven that beyond all doubt.

  

Top priority

I heard Hillary tell Jake Tapper this morning that "the health of our children should be our top priority." My immediate thought was, I wish she was that concerned about the health of children who happen to still be in the womb. What hypocrisy!

RobertsCare

First there was the case against ObamaCare because it unconstitutionally assessed "penalities" against those who declined to buy health insurance. But Chief Justice Roberts stepped in and said, "No, they're not penalties, they're taxes" (a position even Obama hadn't claimed). ObamaCare survived. Then there was the case against ObamaCare because it stated explicitly that only the people within states that had state-run insurance pools could receive federal subsidies. But again, Justice Roberts stepped in and said, "Well, we all know that's not what Congress meant" (he should have said that's not what the Democrats in Congress meant). ObamaCare survived. Finally there was the case against ObamaCare because the Constitution says that all tax legislation must originate in the House of Representatives (the branch closest to the people), but ObamaCare began in the Senate where Harry Reid attached a number to it of an unpassed, unrelated House bill. Of course, Harry never imagined this could be an issue because he thought the taxes were penalties. He had no idea John Roberts would magically transform them into taxes, which meant the bill had to originate in the House. So last week the Supreme Court declined to hear the case challenging the fact that ObamaCare unconstitutionally originated in the Senate, effectively tossing the suit in the trash. So I say that John Roberts now owns the ACA and from now on we should call it RobertsCare. It's now more his legislation than Obama's.    

de Blasio on record snowfall

Mayor Bill de Blasio on CNN (January 25, 2016): "We are clearly living in an era of extreme weather. We're seeing storms like we've never seen before. If this one had been just a tenth of an inch deeper, it would have been the worst in New York City's history."

This is a classic example of how a political agenda can corrupt reason. Think about the contradiction within the mayor's statement: "storms like we've NEVER SEEN BEFORE" vs "would have been the worst." It took only one sentence for de Blasio to contradict himself. Turns out we have seen plenty of storms like this before. As a matter of fact, I've seen snow storms of varying depths every winter for my entire life. Snow is what the northeast gets in winter.

Here are the top ten record snowfalls in NYC:

1. 26.9” on February 11-12, 2006
2. 26.8" on January 22-23, 2016
3. 25.8” on December 26-27, 1947
4. 21.0" on March 12-14th, 1888
5. 20.9” on February 25-26, 2010
6. 20.2” on January 7-8, 1996
7. 20.0” on December 26-27, 2010
8. 19.8” on February 16-17, 2003
9. 19.0” on January 26-27, 2011
10. 18.1” on March 7-8, 1941 & January 22-24, 1935

Yet in the midst of all this "extreme weather," in 2013 NYC got only 26.1 inches for the entire winter season, In 2012 it was only 7.4 inches; in 2008 only 11.9; in 2007 only 12.4; and in 2002 only 3.5 inches. Clearly the case could be made that we are actually in an era of mild weather.

The "White Oscar" problem

The solution to the current "crisis" in Hollywood is quite simple: Quotas.

First, expand the number of nominees to 10 in each category. That keeps the math simple and ensures that the number of nominees from each privileged demographic is represented precisely according to their representation in the general population.

Here’s what the Academy must do:

Each year, ensure that there is one - and only one - black actor/actress/producer/composer/cinematographer/art director/sound editor and so on nominated in each category, regardless of whether 10 black persons gave the 10 most extraordinary performances of the year. Ditto with Hispanic actors/actresses/etc. Once every three years - and only every three years - an Asian gets nominated in every category and once every 10 years a Native American gets a nod. And again, once every 4 years - and only once every 4 years - a member of the LGBT community gets a nomination.

All of these numbers represent reasonable approximations of the privileged group's representation in the general population. If the Academy follows this formula, it will demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion. It will demonstrate, indeed, that it is more committed to these high principles than it is to the survival of the movie industry.

Are you happy now, Jada?

Watch Jimmy Kimmel's take on this.