Wednesday September 21st, 2016

"It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
--Geoff Metctalf

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By Geoffrey M. Metcalf
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Values for a New Millennium: Activating the Natural Law to Reduce Violence, Revitalize Our Schools, and Promote Cross-Cultural Harmony | [Robert Humphrey]
Values for a New Millennium:
Activating the Natural Law to Reduce Violence,
Revitalize Our Schools, and Promote Cross-Cultural Harmony

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World & National

Mass immigration costs govt. $296 Billion a year

Immigration is a massive drain on the government, with immigrants taking as much as $296 billion more in benefits than they pay in taxes, according to a new authoritative study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which found the record level of newcomers is straining the country.

The report suggests that migrants depress wages for Americans, at least in the beginning, and particularly hit workers who have to compete for jobs.

And the new arrivals aren’t assimilating as well as past waves of immigrants, struggling to learn English and to raise their wages as quickly as previous migrants, the academy said in a final draft of the report, which The Washington Times obtained.

The reasons for the slowdown in assimilation aren’t clear, but one possibility — particularly when it comes to difficulties learning English — is the heavy presence of Mexican immigrants during the previous two decades, the academy said.

Charlotte faces aftermath of protests ignited by fatal police shooting
         

Charlotte officials say they are preparing for more protests today following a night of violence over a police officer’s fatal shooting of an African-American man Tuesday in the University City area. The dead man was identified as Keith Lamont Scott, 43.

Sixteen police officers were injured Tuesday night in a series of clashes, and there were reports early Wednesday of motorists on Interstate 85 being hurt and their vehicles damaged when protesters threw rocks, bottles and traffic cones off interstate overpasses onto traffic below.
12 cops injured in protests...
WALMART Looted... VIDEO...
'We Out Like Taliban!'
Motorists hit by rocks...

Money Laundering Exposed: 14 Pro-Clinton Super PACs & Non-Profits Implicated
           

This is serious.

    David Brock operates over a dozen pro-Clinton organizations from his office in Washington DC.
    Uncovered records expose a constant flow of money between his organizations.
    Brock’s unregistered Professional Solicitor, the Bonner Group, receives a 12.5% cut every time money is moved.

There’s a reason why David Brock chooses to house an unregistered Professional Solicitor in his office to raise money for his conglomerate of Super PACs and non-profits.

Professional Solicitors are required to disclose their active solicitation con

NY Bomb Suspect Vowed 'Death to Your Oppresion'
           Image: NY Bomb Suspect Vowed 'Death to Your Oppression'

He bought bomb ingredients on eBay and recorded a mirthful video of himself igniting a blast in a backyard. In a handwritten journal, he warned that bombs would resound in the streets and prayed he'd be martyred rather than caught, authorities say.

Ahmad Khan Rahami's jihad journal ended with a stark message, according to court papers:

"Death to your oppression."

IRS chief says he was misled, doesn't deserve impeachment?

While acknowledging that the IRS bungled tea party applications, and that he himself gave wrong information to Congress, agency Commissioner John Koskinen told lawmakers Wednesday he needs to remain at the IRS in order to clean it up.

At a hearing designed to lay the ground for his possible impeachment, Mr. Koskinen implied he was let down by his subordinates, who allowed hundreds of backup tapes to be destroyed, losing tens of thousands of emails from former senior executive Lois G. Lerner.

It is the loss of those emails, even as they were under a subpoena issued by Congress, that has landed Mr. Koskinen in the hot seat, with conservative Republicans demanding he be ousted from office for his behavior.

House investigating Reddit post tied to IT expert who deleted Hillary emails

The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether one of Hillary Clinton’s tech experts appealed to Reddit for help with altering a cache of “VERY VIP” emails in 2014, one of the panel’s members said Monday.

Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, confirmed lawmakers are attempting to determine if Paul Combetta, a computer specialist with Platte River Networks, authored a series of recently unearthed Reddit posts that may concern the private email server used by Mrs. Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state.

The posts were penned in 2014 by Reddit user “stonetear” and involve efforts to remove the email address of a unnamed person from a collection of archived messages. Independent investigators have linked the “stonetear” handle to Mr. Combetta in recent days and have prompted panel members to launch a probe of their own, according to chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations.

Federal appeals court panel questions D.C.'s concealed carry laws

A panel of federal judges on Tuesday seemed skeptical of Washington, D.C.’s strict concealed carry laws, questioning the scenarios under which gun owners would be approved for carry permits and why they must justify a need for self-defense.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the constitutionality of the concealed carry permit laws. The D.C. Council enacted the regulations after a federal court in 2014 overturned the city’s ban on the carrying of firearms in public.

D.C. law requires gun owners to prove they have a “good reason to fear injury” or another “proper reason,” such as a job that requires carrying large amounts of cash or valuables, in order to get a concealed carry permit.

U.S., Russia try to save cease-fire in Syria

U.S. diplomats were scrambling Tuesday to try to salvage a tenuous cease-fire deal in Syria after an accord with Russia collapsed in the face of mutual recriminations and renewed violence.

Russian and Syrian officials angrily rejected U.S. charges that they were behind a deadly attack Monday evening on a United Nations aid convoy heading for the besieged city of Aleppo.

The incident underscored the deep level of distrust among the principals in the brutal 5-year-old civil war.

State admits: Islamic State terrorists trying to pose as refugees

State Department spokesman John Kirby acknowledged Wednesday that Islamic State terrorists are trying to mingle with refugee populations overseas in the hopes of making it to the U.S. posing as a refugee.

"I wouldn't debate the fact that there's the potential for ISIS terrorists to try to insert themselves, and we see that in some of the refugee camps in Jordan and in Turkey, where they try to insert themselves into the population," Kirby said on "Fox and Friends."

Still, he argued that the vetting process for these refugees is tough, and should be enough to keep terrorists out, although he admitted it's not a perfect process.

Public option only way to save Obamacare

The “public option” is the health care policy idea that won’t die.

Rejected during the 2009 Obamacare debate as too controversial and unnecessary, the public option — in which the government offers insurance that competes directly with private and nonprofit plans — has been resurrected this year by Democrats who say it’s the only way to rescue President Obama’s struggling health care law.

Pressured by Sen. Bernard Sanders, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Democrats down the ballot have embraced the idea. Even Mr. Obama has embraced it again, saying it should serve as a fallback plan in regions where company and nonprofit plans have failed.

Partisan politics in the Cabinet
Obama allows senior officials to meddle unlawfully and without accountability

The Obama administration repeatedly allows senior officials to unlawfully meddle in politics without being held accountable. In just the latest incident, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro in July was found to have violated a law designed to ensure that federal officials work on behalf of all Americans, not their political party. The Hatch Act, enacted in 1939, prohibits employees in the executive branch from engaging in electoral politics when acting in their official capacity. In other words, public officials paid by taxpayers cannot use their position to influence elections.

Apparently this law is a dead letter. During a recent media interview with Yahoo News, Mr. Castro violated this law when he expressed his enthusiastic support for the election of his close friend Hillary Clinton. He touted Mrs. Clinton’s accomplishments while criticizing the Republican Party and its candidate for president, Donald Trump. At the time, Mr. Castro was reported to be on Mrs. Clinton’s short list for vice president.

Why millennials are skeptical of gun-control

For the mediaocracy and pundit class, determining the opinions of millennials on all sorts of topics is the great 21st-century parlor game. And it seems that nothing confuses them more — or upsets them, for that matter — than when forced to confront millennial attitudes about guns.

A prime example was this recent piece in The Washington Post: “‘Millennials’ Mysterious Support for Permissive Gun Laws.”

Written by opinion columnist Catherine Ramped (herself a millennial), the piece expresses puzzlement and disdain over the strong support among young people for gun rights found in recent public opinion polling. Part of her explanation is that her generation simply is “somewhat inured to violence — at least violence involving firearms.” She also blames what she sees as apathy and ambivalence.


"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit."
-- Noel Coward
     (1899-1973) British playwright
Medal of Honor
Army Medal of Honor

 The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States.
GeneTrerally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress.
 The first award of the Medal of Honor was made March 25, 1863 to Private JACOB PARROTT.The last award of the Medal of Honor was made September 15, 2011 to Sergeant DAKOTA MEYER.

 Since then there have been:  • 3458 recipients of the Medal of Honor.
     • Today there are 85 Living Recipients of the Medal of Honor.

VERSACE, HUMBERT R.
'Rocky'
Rank: Captain
Organization: U.S. Army
Date of Issue: 07/08/2002
VERSACE, HUMBERT R. Photo
Citation
Captain Humbert R. Versace distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism during the period of 29 October 1963 to 26 September 1965, while serving as S-2 Advisor, Military Assistance Advisory Group, Detachment 52, Ca Mau, Republic of Vietnam. While accompanying a Civilian Irregular Defense Group patrol engaged in combat operations in Thoi Binh District, An Xuyen Province, Captain Versace and the patrol came under sudden and intense mortar, automatic weapons, and small arms fire from elements of a heavily armed enemy battalion. As the battle raged, Captain Versace, although severely wounded in the knee and back by hostile fire, fought valiantly and continued to engage enemy targets. Weakened by his wounds and fatigued by the fierce firefight, Captain Versace stubbornly resisted capture by the over-powering Viet Cong force with the last full measure of his strength and ammunition. Taken prisoner by the Viet Cong, he exemplified the tenets of the Code of Conduct from the time he entered into Prisoner of War status. Captain Versace assumed command of his fellow American soldiers, scorned the enemy's exhaustive interrogation and indoctrination efforts, and made three unsuccessful attempts to escape, despite his weakened condition which was brought about by his wounds and the extreme privation and hardships he was forced to endure. During his captivity, Captain Versace was segregated in an isolated prisoner of war cage, manacled in irons for prolonged periods of time, and placed on extremely reduced ration. The enemy was unable to break his indomitable will, his faith in God, and his trust in the United States of America. Captain Versace, an American fighting man who epitomized the principles of his country and the Code of Conduct, was executed by the Viet Cong on 26 September 1965. Captain Versace's gallant actions in close contact with an enemy force and unyielding courage and bravery while a prisoner of war are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect the utmost credit upon himself and the United States Army.
Archives: Geoff Metcalf/NewsMax January 14, 2010

Plunging Approval Shouldn't Surprise Democratic Bullies  
 By Geoff Metcalf  
 
Reasonable people can disagree (or should be able to) reasonably when they honestly consider facts that may contradict their preconceived opinions and prejudices.

 However, unfortunately, especially in the partisan environment of politics, reason, honest analysis, and fairness too quickly become victims of the “us-vs.-them” thing. Politics has become a blood sport in which the only golden rule is “the team with the gold makes the rules.”

 Politicians who were elected to represent the best interests, wants, and desires of their constituents morph into petty, agenda-driven competitors quick to eschew reason for partisanship. Sadly, this axiomatic reality is universal and not exclusive to any one party.

 Politics is supposed to be the art of compromise. However, it increasingly has become a blood sport personifying the absolute worse elements of abuse of power under the color of authority.

President Barack Obama, a year after promising "change" and a kumbaya tsunami of bipartisan cooperation, now reluctantly admits that he has not succeeded in bringing the country together. In a recent People magazine interview, the president begrudgingly acknowledged an atmosphere of divisiveness that has washed away the lofty national feeling surrounding his inauguration a year ago.http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/28/philadelphia-denies-sanctuary-city-status-but-just/

 "That's what's been lost this year. . . that whole sense of changing how Washington works," Obama said.

 "What I haven't been able to do in the midst of this crisis is bring the country together in a way that we had done in the inauguration," he said, referring to last Jan. 20, when hundreds of thousands flooded into Washington to see him sworn in as America's first black president. . . before reality and buyer's remorse.

 The simple reality is that Obama has failed because he and his party's leadership (or, critics will argue, LACK of leadership) have failed — failed to do what they said they would do, and failed to do anything the "way" they promised.

 Notwithstanding lofty eloquence, consensus, and "unity" cannot be mandated by imperial decree. Partisan acrimony is not and cannot be bridled by harangue, bullying, or bludgeon. Politics is the art of compromise, and the facts in evidence demonstrate that this administration and this Democrat-led Congress have not been disposed to engage in compromise.

 Rather, the Democrats have embraced a ham-fisted, "our-way-or-the-highway" forced imposition of their will.

Now, in the wake of spelunking poll numbers, rampant buyer's remorse, and a previously unimagined nostalgia for the Carter administration, Democrats seem shocked, amazed, and confused that more than half the country not only does not approve of what they are trying to do but also dislikes how they are doing it.

 Blaming the dark sky and coming ice age on Bush (or Reagan or Nixon or Eisenhower or Lincoln) is a worn-out dog that flat-out ain't gonna hunt.

 When Mr. Cool was promising "change," little did anyone assume that change might result in a Republican's winning Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat. (But that could happen, and soon.)

 It is a sad reality that, at the same time our military significantly has improved the quality of the U.S. troops who serve, the civilian leadership and politicians have regressed to a level reminiscent of uneducated feudal bullies.

 The military is smarter, more fit, better equipped, and as committed as any generation from Valley Forge to Iwo Jima or Pleiku to Bosnia. We have an all-volunteer military that is dedicated to protecting you. Conversely, the political arena is littered with disingenuous, duplicitous partisans who long since have abandoned their constituents for the next political victory (and/or pork-laden earmark).

 I recently re-read Robert Humphrey's "Living Values for a New Millennium" in preparation for a seminar entitled "Clarifying American Core Values" in February.

 In a 1997 speech before professor Humphrey passed away, he said that top leadership, in both our civilian or military government, is afraid even to discuss this apparent decisive need for new thinking both at home and overseas. Thirteen years ago, he observed that the news media and public opinion polls advise, "The people sense a moral bankruptcy in Washington" with a bickering inability in government to face these deeper problems.

Wherever you go, you are little bit safer because of the military and yet more at risk because of the coat-room shenanigans of Congress. Wherever the military sets a boot, everyone has a friend, a defender, and a champion. However, politicians seem more concerned about the next PAC contribution than the wants, needs, or well-being of the very people they were elected to represent.

 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard once wrote, “Moral relativism has set in so deeply that the gilded classes have become incapable of discerning right from wrong. Everything can be explained away, especially by journalists. Life is one great moral mush — sophistry washed down with Chardonnay.”