Fox News’ Eric Shawn interviewed Dan Gillerman, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, on national security advisor Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s contact with the Russians during the transition period. Because this effort occurred during the transition it was not illegal. However, his lying to the FBI is illegal, which is a separate issue.
It appears that General Flynn was trying to delay the December, 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334 vote on Israeli settlements. The Obama administration abstained during the vote. This abstention lead to UN Resolution 2334 passing on December 23, 2016.
The Obama administration stood by as the U.N. Security Council voted Friday to adopt a resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem illegal and demanding a halt to their expansion. It was a blunt rejection by the Obama administration of appeals (via Twitter) by President-elect Donald Trump to veto the measure.
The vote, with 14 in favor and only the United States abstaining, followed an extraordinary day of diplomacy that saw a U.S. president-elect insert himself directly into a diplomatic spat in an effort to sway the sitting president to change course. Trump continued blasting the U.N. and the administration after the vote. Trump tweeted, “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th,” after Friday’s vote.
It was clear that then President-elect Trump wanted Resolution 2334 delayed until he could appoint Nikki Haley as his UN Ambassador to the United Nations. Given President Trump and Ambassador Haley’s positions on Israel it is clear that the United States would have vetoed UN Resolution 2334. This effort by Obama as he was leaving office put both the position of the United States and Israel to negotiate a peaceful agreement with the Palestinians at risk. It gave the Palestinians ownership of something they have never owned, territory in Israel.
RELATED VIDEO: Top 10 Facts About Flynn’s Plea:
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/un-and-israel.jpg363631Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-12-04 06:18:122017-12-12 04:54:25VIDEO: Michael Flynn was ‘right’ to try to delay the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 vote
The annual ‘Independence March’ held on Polish Independence Day – November 11 – is the embodiment of the Polish spirit – independent, strong-minded, individualistic, unpredictable. The spirit that drove the Poles to wage a hopeless fight against the Nazis and Soviets in 1939. The same spirit that will not politely yield to whatever EU decision is made in Brussels or Berlin. For which – as usual – they may finally be severely punished. Unfair labeling, distortion, and disinformation in the international media do not bode well for Poland.
By Maria Juczewska
According to the international media, 60 thousand fascists appeared in the streets of Warsaw on Polish Independence Day in the ‘Independence March’ on November 11th. This date, marking the armistice ending the First World War, is commemorated in the UK as Remembrance Day, with the iconic poppy; in the USA as Veterans Day, (previously Armistice Day); and concurrently celebrated as the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s national sovereignty.
It is impossible to understand Poland if one tries to apply the clichés from his own country formed by his own historical experience. The Polish experience is not the one of the Anglo-Saxon world. No ideology that expects people to become uniform, manageable, disciplined, and obedient could appeal to the feisty Polish spirit. Poland had no Oswald Mosley, no Mitford sisters, no fascist union. Thus, the characterization of the annual ‘Independence March’ in Warsaw as ‘fascist’ is as gross a distortion of reality as calling America’s Veterans Day parades ‘fascist’ marches.
In celebrating national sovereignty, Polish Independence Day marks the end of 123 years of partitions. The partitions ended the existence of a multi-ethnic polity that lasted between 1385 and 1795. Known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the majority of that time period, the polity was a unique political entity widely known for its system of noble democracy, inclusiveness and religious tolerance for all denominations. It achieved the zenith of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries. Finally, the Commonwealth was undermined by internal weaknesses and subversion of the surrounding powers and partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia at the end of the 18th century.
With Poland no longer appearing on the map of Europe, nationalism became a tool that allowed the Poles to preserve their national identity and eventually regain independence in the 20th century.
Long centuries of coexistence in a multi-ethnic federal state shaped the identity of people inhabiting the areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland has always been inclusive and directed towards co-existence and multiculturalism. The main criterion for being Polish thus became the willingness to serve Poland, understood as a community of people accepting the spiritual heritage of the Polish nation (literature, art, customs, politics) as their own. Anybody could become Polish, if they chose to serve the honorable cause.
As a result, nationalism in Poland of the 1920s and the 1930s was never based on the criterion of bloodline put forward by Nazism or social class proposed by communism. The majority of nationalist Polish organizations had a strong Christian element, which prevented them from becoming totalitarian. Although anti-Semitism was present in the political life of Poland in the interwar period, it was related not to race, as such, but to socio-economic factors and the dominance of Jews in certain professions. The fact that many leftist Jews supported Communism did not improve internal relations in Poland either. After all, the Soviet Union was a lethal threat to the existence of the reborn Poland.
However, all those concerns did not matter anymore when the Second World War broke out. Seeing that Jews were facing planned biological extinction under the Nazi German occupation, Poles of all political views, also the nationalists, came to their rescue.
Members of the Polish nationalist organizations were not only providing false identity documents, food stamps or hide outs to their Jewish acquaintances but also organizing larger rescue operations.
For instance, one that allowed for placement of children smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto into orphanages managed by Catholic nuns. It was supervised by Jan Dobraczynski, a writer and a supporter of the Christian nationalist movement in the interwar period.
Another example is Jan Mosdorf, one of the founders of the radically Polish nationalist ONR and a confirmed anti-Semite before the Second World War. Yet, in 1940 he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. While in the camp, he became involved in the creation of an underground support organization, providing additional food rations and other kinds of help to Jewish prisoners. Denounced by a “kapo,” he was executed at the camp for helping Jews in 1943. During the war, in occupied Poland, many “former anti-Semites” sacrificed their lives to help the Jews.
Today in Poland, the youth harken back to the ideals of Polish interwar organizations.
However, it needs to be made absolutely clear that the Polish nationalism of the interwar period had nothing to do with fascism, as the National Socialism of Nazi Germany is presently known.
Poland was the first country that fell prey to the joint aggression of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia in 1939, precisely because it rejected the acceptance of Nazism or Communism. Occupied by two totalitarian powers propelled by socialist ideologies, one national and one international, Poles paid a high price for their refusal to yield to one or the other.
Half of the territory lost, one third of the population killed, and the remaining two thirds trapped behind the Iron Curtain for fifty years. Concentration camps used to exterminate Jews and other minorities, as well as the Poles during the war, were used after the war by the Communists to murder the remaining Polish independence fighters.
For 50 years, every decade, Poles would stand up against the Communist regime in Poland calling for basic civil rights and liberties. The Solidarity movement that greatly contributed to the fall of USSR was partly based on the ideas of the nation and civil duties formed by the Polish nationalists of the interwar period. This is the tradition to which the ‘Independence March’ held on Independence Day refers.
As a result, there is no fascist tradition in Poland that could inspire the young Poles of today.
Nazi German occupation of Poland was such a societal trauma that no ordinary Pole would willingly associate with the ideals of national socialism or venture into the Polish streets in a brown uniform. What Poles celebrate by marching in the streets of Warsaw on Independence Day is their political freedom. Their right to live in liberty in their own country. They commemorate the independence fighters who lost their lives in the first years of Soviet rule involving the planned extermination of the Polish underground. They also contest the political situation in the present-day European Union. A considerable majority of them are regular Polish patriots. Some may have more nationalist leanings. A fraction of them may be radical – but they would comprise a drop in the proverbial bucket among the vast sea of people.
The annual ‘Independence March’ held on Polish Independence Day – November 11 – is the embodiment of the Polish spirit – independent, strong-minded, individualistic, unpredictable. The spirit that drove the Poles to wage a hopeless fight against the Nazis and Soviets in 1939. The same spirit that will not politely yield to whatever EU decision is made in Brussels or Berlin. For which – as usual – they may finally be severely punished. Unfair labeling, distortion, and disinformation in the international media do not bode well for Poland.
ABOUT MARIA JUCZEWSKA
Maria Juczewska is an MA candidate in International Affairs at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC where she works for the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies. Ms. Juczewska is a contributor to SFPPR News & Analysis of the conservative-online-journalism center at the Washington-based Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/polish-marchers-e1512383819409.png376640Selous Foundation For Public Policy Researchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngSelous Foundation For Public Policy Research2017-12-04 05:37:092017-12-04 05:40:5460 Thousand Imaginary Fascists in Warsaw
In October 2015, the Republic of Turkey retained the London-based, international law firm, Amsterdam and Partners, “to conduct a global investigation into the activities of the organization led by the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen.”
Another component of Amsterdam and Partners’ work related to Gülen concerns public awareness:
“We have been retained by the Republic to expose allegedly unlawful conduct by the Gülen network worldwide,” said Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, during a press conference held today at the National Press Club in Washington DC. “The activities of the Gülen network, including its penetration of the Turkish judiciary and police, as well as its political lobbying abroad, should concern everyone who cares about the future of democracy in Turkey.”
In my book, School Choice: The End of Public Education, I have a chapter examining Fethullah Gülen, the powerful Turkish imam who commands leadership of scores of charter schools on American soil. Indeed, Gülen himself has been residing in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) since 1999.
One can get a sense of concerns related to Gülen from this November 10, 2017, California NAACP resolution for Gülen school investigation:
RESOLUTION #16 CONCERNING THE IMPACT OF GÜLEN CHARTER SCHOOLS
WHEREAS, there exists over 200 schools in the United States operated by the Gülen Organization, teaching over 80,000 American students. This organization operates under the names Magnolia Science Academy (CA), Horizon Science Academy (OH , IL), Harmony Science Academy (TX), Sonoran Science Academy (AR), Coral Academy of Science (NV), Dove Science Academy (OK), as well as others.
WHEREAS, audits having been conducted in LAUSD, the State of Oklahoma, the State of Georgia (resulting in their closure), the State of New York, have resulted in a pattern of massive accounting irregularities involving without limitation the use of Gülen related landlords such as Terra (NY, NJ), the Sky Foundation (OK), Harmony Public Schools (TX), Concept Schools (IL, OH), the use of Gülen Related Management Companies such as Accord (CA), Concept Education Services (OH), Apple Education (NJ), Terra Science and Education (NY), as well as others.
WHEREAS, Gülen schools; such as Magnolia (CA) have targeted the African American and Hispanic communities as shown in the documentary film Killing Ed.
WHEREAS, all 200 Gülen schools recruit teachers from Turkey under the H – 1B Visa program thereby replacing fully qualified American teachers.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the California NAACP urges federal, state and local authorities to conduct forensic audits of both the schools, and the management organizations operating them.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the California NAACP further urges that these investigations be conducted by state and federal auditors as opposed to state boards of education, as well as other relevant investigations necessary to evaluate fully the apparent, suspect financial dealings, visa misuse, and highly suspicious conduct.
Regarding the California NAACP resolution, PR Newswire adds this statement from Amsterdam:
The organizations running these schools have not only been found to be pillaging taxpayers through real estate schemes and self-dealing to their own contractors, but they are also abusing the H-1B visa program to bring over foreign teachers often lacking in basic English skills and training. This has a devastating impact on the communities in which they operate.
Amsterdam’s book reveals surprising facts regarding the Gülen Organization’s vast US network:
Misuse of taxpayer funds totaling at least $243 million.
More than 6,504 H-1B visas to import unqualified Turkish teachers at a public cost of as much as $26 million and lost jobs for American teachers.
Nearly 81,000 students enrolled at Gülen schools across 27 states and District of Columbia.
Widespread manipulation of state mandated testing, grades and attendance figures.
Lobbying and publicly funded trips to Turkey to influence politicians and local officials.
Amsterdam and Partners also sponsors an Empire of Deceit website, which promotes Killing Ed, “an independently produced documentary feature film that exposes a vast range of questionable academic, labor, and H1-B visa violations by schools tied to Gülen movement.” The site includes the following 11-minute director’s cut “to accompany the launch of Empire of Deceit“:
(Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is connected to a documentary on Gülen through his lobbying form, Flynn Intel Group; I’m not sure if it is Killing Ed.)
The Empire of Deceit website also includes an interactive US map, with the heading, “Gülen’s Footprint Inside of the United States.” One can search by state– or “by issue”:
States with Active Networks
HB-1 Hiring by State
States with Suspect Property Deals
Charter Bonds Procured by the Gülen Organization
Regional Hub and Member States Identified
Time for those state- and federal-level forensic audits of Gülen-run charter schools.
EDITORS NOTE: According to Discover the Networks the under the section titled “Center for American Progress’ Relationship with Turkey’s Islamist, Jihad-Supporting Regime” states:
On May 14, 2013, CAP issued a report titled “Freedom of the Press and Expression in Turkey,” which downplayed the increasingly authoritarian crackdown on the media by Turkey’s jihad-supporting prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, whose Islamist party was already moving inexorably to transform the secular Turkish republic into an Islamic state. At that time, Turkish prisons held 49 of the 232 journalists who were incarcerated worldwide—more than any other country on Earth. In addition, as former Middle East Pentagon advisor Michael Rubin noted, Erdogan was in the habit of personally suing “even political cartoonists who lampoon him and his government.” Notwithstanding the foregoing facts, the CAP report whitewashed Erdogan’s crackdown as a “necessary, if sometimes unpleasant, correction” that would ultimately result in democratic reforms. Asserting that “the blame [for the crackdown] must not be placed solely on the government,” but also on anti-government ethnic groups such as the Kurds who had fomented unrest and provoked government suppression. “Turkey today is more democratic than in the past, if perhaps less socially liberal,” said the report.
The CAP report was partially funded by the Turkish branch of George Soros’s Open Society Institute. Even more significantly, the report failed to disclose that a Turkish business group named TUSKON, which had close ties to the Erdogan government, had donated large sums of money to CAP in order to gain entrance into the latter’s exclusive Business Alliance. Known for lobbying government officials and forming business relationships with Western organizations (such as CAP), TUSKON serves as the business arm of the so-called Gulen movement—named after Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic spiritual leader devoted to spreading Islamist theology across the globe. Moreover, TUSKON and CAP had jointly hosted annual “fact finding” trips to Turkey, where participants enjoyed access to senior Turkish government officials. Reporter Ken Silverstein wrote, “A former CAP staffer told me that TUSKON … ‘could call anyone in the government and get us a meeting or interview.’ As a result of the Turkish group’s support, CAP was ‘totally in the tank for them.’”
It should also be noted that the CAP report obscured not only Ergodan’s press crackdown but also the nature of the Armenian genocide, in which Turkey had systematically slaughtered more than a million Armenians beginning in 1915. The report only refers to the genocide in non-judgmental terms, as “the death of more than 1 million Armenians during and after the First World War.” [Emphasis added]
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/gulen-charter-schools.jpg374640Mercedes Schneiderhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMercedes Schneider2017-12-04 05:23:592017-12-04 05:28:12Islamist Gülen Schools in America: Interactive Map, Video and More
RAVENNA, Italy (ChurchMilitant.com) – For the second time this year, Cdl. Raymond Burke is warning the “end times” may be here.
On Thursday, the Catholic Herald published an exclusive interview in which Burke, the former head of the Vatican supreme court, again diagnosed the state of the world and the Church as “apocalyptic.”
“In the present moment, there is confusion and error about the most fundamental teachings of the Church, for example with regard to marriage and the family,” Burke explained.
To illustrate, he pointed to “the idea that people who are living in an irregular union could receive the sacraments,” which he reaffirmed “is a violation of the truth with regard both to the indissolubility of marriage and to the sanctity of the Eucharist.”
“Now, the confusion in the Church is going even further than that, because there is today confusion as to whether there are acts which are intrinsically evil and this, of course, is the foundation of the moral law,” he said.
“When this foundation begins to be questioned within the Church, then the whole order of human life and the order of the Church itself are endangered.”
The Church, Burke said, “seems to be confused.”
Clearly, the present situation of the world cannot continue without leading to total annihilation. Tweet
“In that sense, one may have the feeling that the Church gives the appearance of being unwilling to obey the mandates of Our Lord,” he said, adding, “Then perhaps we have arrived at the end times.”
Burke was expanding on comments he made at a Fatima conference in July.
There, he recounted a young priest asking him, “Cardinal, do you think that we are in the end times?”
“I did not hesitate to respond: ‘It may be so.'” he said.
The American cardinal spelled out his reasons for his thinking. Describing the current age as “most troubled,” Burke said:
Secularization has ravaged the culture of many nations, especially in the West, alienating culture from its only true source in God and His plan for us and our world. There is the daily and widespread attack on innocent and defenseless human life with the resulting unprecedented violence in family life and in society, in general. There is the ever more virulent gender ideology, which propagates total confusion about our identity as male and female and leads to the profound unhappiness and even self-destruction of many in society. There is also the denial of the freedom of religion which attempts to hinder, if not snuff out completely, any public discourse about God and our necessary relationship with Him. With the denial of the freedom of religion comes the attempt to force God-fearing individuals to act against their well-formed conscience, that is, against God’s law written upon the human heart. In supposedly free countries, the government forces upon society practices of abortion, sterilization, contraception, euthanasia and lack of respect for human sexuality, even to the point of indoctrinating small children in the iniquitous ‘gender theory.’
At the same time, atheistic materialism and relativism leads to the unscrupulous pursuit of wealth, pleasure and power, while the rule of law, dictated by justice, is trampled underfoot. In such a pervasively disordered cultural condition, there is legitimate fear of a global confrontation which can only mean destruction and death for many. Clearly, the present situation of the world cannot continue without leading to total annihilation.
At the same moment that turmoil is enveloping the world more and more, Burke noted, the Church is beset by profound crisis. “[In] a diabolical way, the confusion and error which has led human culture in the way of death and destruction has also entered into the Church,” he lamented, such that “she draws near to the culture without seeming to know her own identity and mission, without seeming to have the clarity and the courage to announce the Gospel of Life and Divine Love to the radically secularized culture.”
“For whatever reason,” the cardinal observed, “many shepherds are silent about the situation in which the Church finds herself or have abandoned the clarity of the Church’s teaching for the confusion and error which is wrongly thought to address more effectively the total collapse of Christian culture.”
Pope St. John Paul II after his 1978 election.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church paints a dire picture of the Church at the end of the age — a time of unprecedented deception, persecution and suffering: “Before Christ’s Second Coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the Faith of many believers.” (paragraph 675)
It describes the nature of this trial as a “supreme religious deception”: “The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the Truth.”
By this “pseudo-messianism,” man will glorify himself “in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.”
As far back as 1976, Cdl. Karol Wojtyla (prior to his papacy as Pope John Paul II) seemed to be of a similar mindset, declaring at the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia:
We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American society or the whole wide circle of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.
But in his 1978 inaugural homily as pontiff, Pope St. John Paul II urged the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square, “Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. … Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. … Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man.’ He alone knows it.”
Likewise, Cdl. Burke reminds Catholics to push forward in faith.
“What then must be our response to the exceedingly difficult times in which we are living, times which realistically seem to be apocalyptic?” he asked. “It must be the response of faith, of faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christ, Burke reminded his audience, “is alive for us in the Church.” Christ “never fails to teach, sanctify and guide us in the Church, even as He professed to remain with us always until His return on the Last Day to inaugurate ‘new Heavens and a new earth’ to welcome the faithful to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.”
“We know what Christ teaches us in the Church. It is contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the official teaching of the Church. His teaching does not change,” he emphasized.
“In the midst of the present confusion and division, we must study more attentively the teachings of the Faith contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and be prepared to defend those teachings against any falsehood which would erode the Faith and thus the unity of the Church,” added Burke.
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https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/The-End-Times-e1512333591260.png360640Church Militanthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngChurch Militant2017-12-03 15:39:592017-12-03 15:44:34Cardinal Burke: ‘Perhaps We Have Arrived at The End Times’
I didn’t want to have to wait until the next issue of our Newsletter to share with you two pieces of VERY good news…
1 – The developer for the large proposed offshore Cape Wind project officially threw in the towel. This story has yet to be picked up by major media outlets, but this excellent news is the direct result of some fifteen (15±) years of hard work, dedication and financial donations by a lot of good people.
Kudos to our friends at Save Our Sound who led this fight. Hopefully by the time the Newsletter comes out there will be a detailed, accurate account about this interesting saga — which I’ll then pass on. We believe that much of what was learned here can be applied to other wind projects, onshore and offshore.
2 – Since it didn’t get a lot of press, not many people know that there was a very high-level Climate Change debate. This was sponsored by APS (a physics society). The professionally moderated meeting consisted of three top experts on each side of the global warming issue. It was a lively discussion.
Just last week Rupert Darwall put together a simply outstanding summary of that event. I thought he did an excellent job of delineating the main issues of a complex topic in an understandable manner — and then reasonably representing each side’s arguments on all of those primary issues. The bottom line is that if you’d like to get a superior understanding of the different positions on climate change, carefully go through his fascinating and very readable summary.
PS: Our intention is to put some balance into what most people see from the mainstream media about energy and environmental issues… As always, please pass this on to open-minded citizens, and on your social media sites. If there are others who you think would benefit from being on our energy & environmental email list, please let me know. If at any time you’d like to be taken off this list, simply send me an email saying that.
PPS: I am not an attorney, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or our WiseEnergy.org website) should be construed as giving legal advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent attorney when you are involved with legal issues.
The Washington Post is outraged. The New York Times even more so.
Commentators are going nuts.
“Using a tax bill to abolish the individual mandate amounts to a backdoor way of sabotaging Obamacare,” writes John Cassidy.
“Republicans, and Donald Trump, have counted on that (as well as your limited outrage bandwidth) in slipping an Affordable Care Act mandate repeal inside their insidious tax bill,” writes Bridget Read.
All this howling is due to how the GOP-controlled Senate used a tax bill to repeal a health bill. The implication is that this is something shady and duplicitous, like an exercise in false pretense.Actually, there is absolutely nothing shady about the repeal of the Obamacare mandate. There is no back door here. No bait and switch. Obamacare’s much-despised individual mandate is, in fact, a tax. It is properly dealt with in a tax bill.
Don’t take my word for it. This is precisely what the Supreme Court itself ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012). It was widely seen as the ruling that codified Obamacare, giving it the constitutional gloss it needed to stay a law.
The law has been challenged on many grounds but one of which was that it is unconstitutional for Congress to force the people to purchase a service. The court said that this might not pass muster if that were what Congress was doing. Instead, ruled a 5 to 4 majority, the individual mandate should be considered a tax like any other. Taxes are permissible. Therefore Obamacare is completely fine.
Said the Court:
The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax. Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.
Further:
It is abundantly clear the Constitution does not guarantee that individuals may avoid taxation through inactivity. A capitation, after all, is a tax that everyone must pay simply for existing, and capitations are expressly contemplated by the Constitution. The Court today holds that our Constitution protects us from federal regulation under the Commerce Clause so long as we abstain from the regulated activity. But from its creation, the Constitution has made no such promise with respect to taxes.
To be sure, the ruling was a bit of an embarrassment for Obamacare proponents because they never liked to talk about the mandate as a tax. It was a payment for wonderful services. The Court said it is true that forcing people to buy something would contradict precedent. So in order to beat back the challenge, the majority found a clever way of redefining the nature of the mandate itself.
At this, Obamacare proponents, while a bit red faced, expressed relief. At least the legislation gets to stay, thanks to an ideologically driven court majority.
The Senate is merely deferring to what the court said and nothing more. The highest court in the land said that the mandate – which is the heart of the legislation – should be regarded as a tax. Fine. The Senate couldn’t repeal the bill in healthcare legislation. So they listened to the court and did exactly what they were supposed to do all along: treat the monstrosity as a tax in a tax bill.The people who are outraged today are only tasting their own medicine, nothing more.
Thus should the repeal be seen as another way in which this legislation is a tax cut for the American people. Will it destabilize health insurance markets? Yes and no. Without the mandate, Obamacare might not survive. But Obamacare is not a real market. It is a fake market. You know this because the many mandates effectively abolish market signaling.
What this tax repeal does is begin to let the market function again. True, there are many more reforms that are necessary to make health insurance work properly again. But this is a good beginning. And it was done entirely properly, precisely as the Supreme Court itself said it should be done.
Jeffrey Tucker is Director of Content for the Foundation for Economic Education. He is founder of Liberty.me, Distinguished Honorary Member of Mises Brazil, economics adviser to FreeSociety.com, research fellow at the Acton Institute, policy adviser of the Heartland Institute, founder of the CryptoCurrency Conference, member of the editorial board of the Molinari Review, an advisor to the blockchain application builder Factom, and author of five books, most recently Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty, with a preface by Deirdre McCloskey (FEE 2017). He has written 150 introductions to books and many thousands of articles appearing in the scholarly and popular press. He is available for press interviews via his email.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/tax-cut.jpg360640Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2017-12-03 11:37:242017-12-03 11:37:24The Obamacare Mandate Is a Tax, So the Senate Bill Is Correct
“We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country.” – U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley
The Human Rights Industrial Complex (HRIC) must be going nuts!
Thanks for the tip from reader ‘heymister24’ who sent this overnight.
Here is Deutsch Welle‘s version of the news (reported in many publications):
The United States has announced it is withdrawing from the Global Compact on Migration. The non-binding UN migration pact was meant to boost international cooperation on migration issues.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has withdrawn the United States from a United Nations pact to coordinate and improve international migration and refugee issues, the US mission to the global body said.
“Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration,” the US mission to the UN said. The global approach … not compatible with US sovereignty.”
In September 2016, all 193 UN member states of the General Assembly adopted the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. [You may remember that was Obama’s big show at the UN.—ed]
The non-binding declaration includes a set of pledges to protect migrants, foster migrant integration, develop guidelines on the treatment of vulnerable migrants and strengthen global governance of migration, among other issues.
[….]
“The New York Declaration contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with US immigration and refugee policies and the Trump Administration’s immigration principles.As a result, President Trump determined that the United States would end its participation in the Compact process that aims to reach international consensus at the UN in 2018,” the US statement said.
[….]
US Ambassador Nikki Haley said, “America is proud of our immigrant heritage and long-standing leadership” on supporting migrants and refugees.
“No country has done more than the United States, and our generosity will continue. But our decisions on immigration policies must always be made by Americans and Americans alone,” she added. “We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country. The global approach in the New York Declaration is simply not compatible with US sovereignty.”
I hope this means we are going to choose our own refugees (if any) without dancing to the UNHCR’s tune going forward.
Mostly I tell readers to complain to the President about something. This time send him your thanks by clicking here.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-hand-over-heart-e1510877791308.jpg365640Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2017-12-03 07:19:332017-12-03 11:46:29Wow! Trump withdraws U.S. from UN Compact on migration/refugees
Much has been said about the acquittal of felonious invader Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the killer of young Kate Steinle, who died in her father’s arms. Yet while most of the focus has been on “sanctuary cities” — a euphemism for treasonous, lawless cities — there perhaps has been no scrutiny of the people whose minds are too often a sanctuary from knowledge and reality: modern jurors.
The problem stems from “The Error of Impartiality,” which is the title of an essay on this very subject. For what is often perceived in jurors as fairness is just fecklessness, of the moral variety.
When choosing jurors, pains are taken to dismiss people with preconceived notions about the case. But consider: If in question is a high-profile matter such as the O.J. Simpson or Steinle case, what kind of person would know nothing about it and/or have formed no opinions? Does this reflect impartiality or just indifference?
Assuming such a person makes the ideal juror is like supposing that someone still undecided the day before a high-profile election is surely a better voter than someone who reads the news and formed an opinion early on. An undecided individual may be a better voter in the particular (relative to a given wrongly decided voter), but in principle this supposition simply is untrue. G.K. Chesterton explained the matter brilliantly in the aforementioned essay, writing:
What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity. It is sometimes made an objection, for instance, to a juror that he has formed some primâ-facie opinion upon a case: if he can be forced under sharp questioning to admit that he has formed such an opinion, he is regarded as manifestly unfit to conduct the inquiry. Surely this is unsound. If his bias is one of interest, of class, or creed, or notorious propaganda, then that fact certainly proves that he is not an impartial arbiter. But the mere fact that he did form some temporary impression from the first facts as far as he knew them — this does not prove that he is not an impartial arbiter — it only proves that he is not a cold-blooded fool.
If we walk down the street, taking all the jurymen who have not formed opinions and leaving all the jurymen who have formed opinions, it seems highly probable that we shall only succeed in taking all the stupid jurymen and leaving all the thoughtful ones. Provided that the opinion formed is really of this airy and abstract kind, provided that it has no suggestion of settled motive or prejudice, we might well regard it not merely as a promise of capacity, but literally as a promise of justice. The man who took the trouble to deduce from the police reports would probably be the man who would take the trouble to deduce further and different things from the evidence. The man who had the sense to form an opinion would be the man who would have the sense to alter it.
Chesterton also noted that the logical outcome of our “impartiality” standard is that a “case ought to be tried by Esquimaux, or Hottentots, or savages from the Cannibal Islands — by some class of people who could have no conceivable interest in the parties, and moreover, no conceivable interest in the case. The pure and starry perfection of impartiality would be reached by people who not only had no opinion before they had heard the case, but who also had no opinion after they had heard it.”
The essay is pure gold, and I strongly recommend you read the whole thing.
I once wrote a piece titled “Why Most Voters Shouldn’t Vote,” and a corresponding principle may be that most jurors shouldn’t sit on juries. People so apathetic that they couldn’t be bothered to try and determine reality on high profile candidates or cases probably won’t transform, magically, into sagacious sleuths of reality upon entering a ballot or jury box. Apathy is not an asset, and ignorance is not a virtue.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Kate-Steinle.jpg360640Selwyn Dukehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngSelwyn Duke2017-12-03 07:08:272017-12-04 12:42:41We Can Thank a Flawed Jury System for the Steinle Verdict
The President now has completed the first two months of what will be his first full year in admitting refugees to the US and we see numbers are dramatically lower.
In fact they are so low that if the present pace continues until the end of the fiscal year, September 30th, less than 20,000 could be the final tally.
As readers know the Trump Administration set the CEILING for this fiscal year at 45,000, but that is a ceiling, not a target!
Doing okay, but I continue to argue that simply dropping numbers isn’t enough because the next Prez could raise the numbers higher to make up for lost time. The entire program should be abolished and if the President and Congress want a program they need to work on it. Removing the middlemen contractors should be the first order of business when (if!) they put America First!
I caution readers to not get too excited by the dramatic downward (so far) trend because if past years are any indication there is usually a lull in the first few months followed by a summer uptick then a huge flood comes in in September because everyone is pushing to reach the ceiling (with the exception being the year Obama and Trump shared the fiscal year).
In FY 17 Obama was pouring them in in the first months while in the closing months Trump was slowing the flow.
(See chart below through October 31 to see monthly admissions. Note the ceiling numbers and the ultimate admissions numbers.) And, do you see that dip in the middle of FY11, that is when those Iraqi refugee terrorists were arrested in Bowling Green, KY and caused the whole huge Iraqi flow to America to grind to a halt as they needed to be rescreened.
Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbarthad a look at the numbershere yesterday, however he concentrated on the November numbers which were available yesterday at Wrapsnet.
I’ll focus my attention on the numbers in this fiscal year which includes the months of October and November combined.
For the first two months of FY18 we admitted 3,108 refugees. If that pace continued for the year the total would be less than 20,000 (again 45,000 is the ceiling).
The resettlement contractors*** must be having hissy-fits as they ‘bid for bodies’ (aka paying refugee clients) as each must fight to keep its taxpayer-funded budget from imploding.
***Update*** The wailing began yesterday as Jewish and Lutheran refugee contractors saw the numbers, see here. The Lutherans esp. need the cold hard cash refugees represent because they have some funny-money problems going on there, here.
So what do the Muslim numbers look like?
There is no question that the Muslim percentage of refugees has dropped precipitously this fiscal year, again see Leahy for November.
Muslim refugees account for 16% of the flow this fiscal year which is way down from nearly 50% during some of Obama’s years in office.
My calculations indicate that of the 3,108 total refugee admissions for those two months, 487 are Muslim. That works out to about 16% for the two months. Wrapsnet has the various Muslim sects designated like this:
Amadiyya: 7 total, all from Pakistan
Moslem: total 362
Tops in that category: Burma 111, DR Congo 35, Eritrea 50, Ethiopia 23, and Somalia 107 plus smaller numbers from other countries (Those from Burma are Rohingya)
Moslem Shiite: total 45
Tops in that category: Afghanistan 13, Iraq 29
Moslem Suni: total 73
Tops in that category: Iraq 27, Somalia 19, Syria 22
It makes me laugh to see those Iraqi numbers. We have the Sunnis and Shiites fighting each other in Iraq and then we bring in the two opposing sides! Will they continue their centuries of quarreling in your city?
By the way, if you run your own numbers at WrapsnetI encourage you to use the fiscal year numbers instead of annual year because this whole program is run on a fiscal year basis.
Have a look at the entry numbers for each month since FY2008 (a Bush year) below:
Notice what the tricksters at the DOS have done here. Obama set the FY17 ceiling as he was walking out the door at 110,000. Note that he had 7 previous years where he could have done the same. Why didn’t he? Trump legally reset it at 50,000, but the DOS left the 110,000 there because they want to make Trump look as mean as they possibly can compared to their dear leader Obama, and so that their media lackeys can continue to write about Obama’s 110,000 level that was really pie in the sky. 110,000 could never have been accomplished.
***And here for new readers are the nine federal resettlement contractors paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities. These middlemen get paid by the head for their ‘charitable good works,’ so they have no incentive to ever see a reduction in numbers.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-extreme-vetting-1.jpg360640Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2017-12-03 06:49:242017-12-03 15:23:47Dramatic drop in number of refugees entering the U.S. in first 2 months of fiscal year
There are few things as big as Donald Trump’s personality — but the National Christmas Tree comes close! At 50 feet, it loomed large over the crowd at last night’s lighting ceremony, almost as large as the debate about the holiday itself. For the Trumps, Thursday’s event wasn’t so much about flipping the switch on a giant evergreen, but about turning the page on eight years of sanitized celebrating.
“We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” he said with gusto. And they aren’t just saying it, they’re embracing it. From the official White House Christmas card to red and green press conference signs, this is the December Donald Trump has been waiting for. “Today is a day that I’ve been looking very much forward to all year long. It’s one that we have heard and we speak about and we dream about. And now, as the President of the United States, it’s my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world, a very merry Christmas,” he told the crowd at the ellipse. With a bit of irony, Trump pointed back to the 1870 legislation signed by President Ulysses Grant making Christmas a federal holiday. “And I sort of feel we’re doing that again. That’s what’s happening,” he said.
But Christmas isn’t the only thing making a comeback under President Trump — so is the story behind it. In a speech that no one would ever mistake for Barack Obama’s, the 45th president made it clear that this “is a holy season, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… [That],” he went on, is “the most extraordinary gift of all — the gift of God’s love for all of humanity… Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of Jesus Christ and the story of this incredible life forever changed the course of human history. There’s hardly an aspect of our lives today that His life has not touched — art, music, culture, law and our respect for the sacred dignity of every person, everywhere in the world.”
“Each one of us is a child of God,” the president reminded Americans. “That is the true source of joy this time of the year… And so, this Christmas, we ask for God’s blessings for our family and for our nation. We pray that our country will be a place where every child knows a home filled with love, a community rich with hope, and a nation blessed with faitords were a breathtaking departure from recent Christmases past, they were completely lost on a media whose only headline appeared to be the empty chairs in the back of the viewing area. (A problem common to every president, Fox 5 points out — with pictures to prove it.) For most of America, though, it was a refreshing break from the Left’s pageants of political correctness. To millions of them, Donald Trump isn’t just tapping into the frustration they feel about Christmas – but the mockery of every value they hold dear: marriage, family, faith, and patriotism.
As far as some liberals are concerned, believing in Jesus is as childish as believing in Santa. They’re embarrassed by the “unsophistication” of Christianity. And, for years, they’ve done a bang-up job persuading others to feel likewise.
“The opponents of ‘Merry Christmas’ and other uses of the word ‘Christmas’ know exactly what they are doing…” writes Dennis Prager. “They are disingenuous when they dismiss defenders of ‘Merry Christmas’ as fabricating some sort of ‘war.’ The Left in America, like the Left in Europe, wants to create a thoroughly secular society… That’s why ‘Merry Christmas’ so bothers the anti-religious Left. It is perhaps the single most blatant reminder of just how religious America is.”
“The ‘Happy Holidays’ advocates want it both ways,” Prager argues. “They dismiss opponents as hysterical, while at the same time, relentlessly pushing to rid America of ‘Merry Christmas.'”
Why? Because in the end, this isn’t a war on Christmas. It’s a war on Christ. Every time the nine letters of Christmas are used, people come face to face with the six that secularists are trying to drive out. So this is hardly a silly little controversy invented by hypersensitive Christians. It’s the epitome of the fight for faith in America. And don’t believe any liberal who says otherwise.
** If you want to reward retailers who aren’t shying away from the reason for the season, check out American Family Association’s Naughty and Nice list. To see who’s Christmas-friendly, check out this list. Or, as our friends at 2nd Vote point out, you can simplify with their December hashtag: #AnywhereButTARGET.
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-christmas-tree-lighting.jpg360640Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2017-12-02 09:30:182017-12-05 07:42:29VIDEO: Happy Holy Days from the Trumps
It has been a wondrous benefit to the United States of America to have you as President and Commander in Chief.
Your principled stand against the Leftwing onslaught, which is in a full court mode to fulfill the destructive and anti-American words of your predecessor, Barack Hussein Obama, to “transform America,” is applauded and deeply appreciated by millions of Americans.
You are the bulwark against the baleful attempt to eviscerate the magnificent and divinely inspired U.S. Constitution and our very way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With millions of other Americans, I salute you and stand with you in your holy task of saving – perhaps for the last opportunity we have – our beloved land as we know it.
I believe you will therefore elevate and enhance America’s moral core by taking a monumental step in righting a wicked policy that has besmirched natural justice. That moral core is the epic step of America, and its President – you President Trump – in finally honoring the beleaguered State of Israel by recognizing that its capital city is united Jerusalem. By doing so, you will have taken the historic step of righting a terrible wrong in finally announcing to the world that the eternal 3,000 year old Jewish capital of Israel is Jerusalem – the only capital of a sovereign and reconstituted nation whose capital city has been denied recognition.
I urge you with all the passion I possess to please, please take the golden opportunity of your upcoming speech regarding the status of Jerusalem to announce not just that America recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, but also that the US Embassy will now be located in Israel’s capital as a matter of legal, historic and moral right.
At the same time, please, Mr. President, do not fall for yet another discredited so-called Two-State-Solution, whereby tiny Israel is forced to abandon its very biblical and ancestral Jewish heartland – known for over 3,000 years as Judea and Samaria – but whose illegitimate preferred name by a hostile world is the West Bank.
As you know, sir, this fraudulent name was given to the biblical Jewish territory by the Jordanians who had invaded and illegally occupied Judea and Samaria, including the eastern half of Jerusalem, in 1948 until it was liberated by the IDF during the Arab imposed 1967 Six Day War. In acceding to Arab demands, by tearing out Israel’s biblical heartland in order to create yet another Arab terror state, will bring calamitous war and prove a tragic legacy,
In conclusion, dear Mr. President, I and so many others pray and hope that you will put an end to the State Department’s endemic hostility towards Israel and its shameful record of coercion towards the brave Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights who suffer relentlessly from Palestinian Authority and Hamas terror and genocidal violence.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-israel-6-western-wall-e1495541562737.jpeg370640Victor Sharpehttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngVictor Sharpe2017-12-02 08:56:082017-12-02 08:56:08Open Letter to President Donald J. Trump
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. /PRNewswire/ — The eyes of the nation are upon you. December 12th vote will be a crucial test of honor, morality, justice and wisdom. As is often the case in politics, nothing will be black or white. There will be no “right” answer, no unequivocal fact, and no pundit, politician or personality who holds the moral high ground. Myself included.
However, our MAGA Coalition made the call on this race months ago when we endorsed Judge Roy Moore for US Senate. It would be a shameful abdication of our duties to shy away from clarifying that endorsement in a time of trial and tribulation. In fact, there is no greater test of one’s mettle than to weigh in on matters such as the election facing Alabama voters.
This is the new and obscene American political landscape — a place where the lowest common denominator reigns, and charges of depravity rule the day. Are we so desensitized that we don’t flinch at 40-year-old charges, lobbed like a hand grenade, 30 days before an election? The methods deployed by the Washington Post in printing their latest bit of “organic” journalism, is almost as repugnant as the charges alleged within. As we watch the establishment powers that be in Washington D.C., trying to wrestle away the autonomy and integrity of elections for all Alabamians, we can only offer our contempt for the manner in which their charges against Judge Roy Moore have been staged.
To be clear: the campaign of Doug Jones, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the mainstream media, have turned a US Senate election into a binary choice on individual morality. The implication being, if you don’t vote a certain way, we will paint your entire state as moral degenerates. Not too dissimilar from the efforts of those who sought to define Donald Trump by surreptitious recordings from an Access Hollywood show. This playbook is well-worn and dog-eared by now, yet the masters of political war in Washington plow forward. They see themselves as the sole moral arbiters and purveyors of truth, and voters as simple tools to advance their agenda. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Alabama is now the tip of the spear. Each man and woman of voting age will be transformed into an agent of justice on December 12th. Every voting booth will be transformed into a jury box; not for the guilt or innocence of Judge Roy Moore, per se, but for the whole political system. A vote for Roy Moore is not a vote on what may or may not have happened in 1979. The moral equivalency game is not a winnable one. If the biblical parable of Solomon’s wisdom is to hold true: who in this scenario is prepared to split the child? One side is willing to sacrifice this election rather than allow the grassroots another win. That much is clear.
It feels to us like there are unseen forces at work, seeking to replace our hope with hostility, our faith with fear, and our judgment with theirs. On November 8th, 2016, the world watched as we made our choice. Now, on December 12th, the nation looks to you, Alabama. There, in the solitude of the voting booth, you will have your say. Nothing, and no one, can take that moment from you. May you all be blessed, even if only in that moment, with the Wisdom of Solomon.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/roy-moore.jpg368639Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-12-02 08:43:112017-12-03 07:46:04Make America Great Again Coalition stands with Alabama and Judge Roy Moore
The National Football League has earmarked nearly $100 million to “social justice” causes in what appears to be a massive concession to the National Anthem protestors.
According to ESPN, the concession “earmarks at least $89 million over a seven-year period for both national and local projects, according to the documents” with the leagues owners contributing up to $12 million a year through 2023. The funds would then be allocated to United Negro College Fund (25%), Dream Corps (25%), and the Players Coalition (%50), which has filed for 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 non-profit status.
Breitbart News points out the dollars allocated to the Players Coalition are especially concerning given the NFL Players Association’s record of spending in the past. For example, 2ndVote’s research uncovered documentation of the NFLPA’s direct contributions to the George Soros-funded Center for Community Change and to an AFL-CIO affiliate that engaged in anti-Trump protests.
Furthermore, 501(c)4 status will enable to the Players Coalition to use the allocated funds to influence elections and lobby for or against legislation. With the NFLPA’s history of aligning with liberal, Soros-funded organizations, we can only assume the Players Coalition’s 501(c)4 activities will have a leftist bent.
Since NFL owners will now be footing the bill for the players’ left-wing activism, it seems the NFLPA should no longer need funding from corporate sponsors. Certainly, the fans who decided to #StandwithVets over Veterans Day weekend would rather not have their entertainment dollars funneled through the owners into these activities. It stands to reason these same fans would rather not have their shopping dollars support the same thing.
Here are the corporate sponsors of the NFLPA. Follow the links to tell these companies the NFLPA no longer needs their donations.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/shutterstock_726108919-990x556-e1512219770120.jpg3596402ndvote .comhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png2ndvote .com2017-12-02 08:03:012017-12-02 08:03:01Did the National Anthem Protesters Shakedown the NFL? You Be the Judge
The main stream media is cheering that retired Lieutenant General and interim National Security Advisor to the Trump administration has plead guilty to lying to an FBI agent. This has nothing to do with Russian collusion during the election. According to the Los Angeles Times this involves “‘very senior member’ of Trump’s transition team who directed Flynn to contact Russia’s envoy last year [2016], according to the filings.”
Contacting the Russian envoy during the transition, even if ordered by President Trump himself, is a nothing burger.
Leon Panetta, President Obama’s former Secretary of Defense has his own opinion on today’s Michael Flynn revelations. According to the former SECDEF, what was revealed today could be considered a violation of norms but not a violation of the law. In the video[below], you will hear what he has to say.
There is nothing wrong with an administration making contact with foreign governments as they begin building a transition team. In this case, it was probably even more excusable because the Obama administration set a course to create obstacles to international diplomacy for the Trump administration. Never before had an outgoing President done so much to undermine an incoming President on the world stage.
As long as the incoming President did not start negotiating international deals or tried to undermine the sitting president, it should be viewed as no harm and no foul.
General Flynn stated at the court hearing, “But I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and through my faith in God, I am working to set things right. My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel’s office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.”
President Trump’s lawyer, Ty Cobb, dismissed what happened saying, “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/flynn.jpg361640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-12-02 07:42:212017-12-03 07:47:42VIDEO: Leon Panetta, Trump Team Broke Norms not the Law by talking with Russians
I just got back to California last night after a packed week in our nation’s capital. Happily, it was by far the most impactful week I’ve ever spent in DC.
The most exciting development during the trip is something I can’t talk about yet, unfortunately–and its outcome is uncertain–but there is a real chance I will help shape a new project that will give tens of millions of people access to energy for the first time. I should know within six months.
Now, what I can talk about.
Yesterday I spoke at the “Crossroads IV: Energy and Climate Policy Summit” hosted by the Heritage Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). I gave the latest version of my “Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” talk. (Starts about 2:14:00 in.) If you haven’t heard me speak in a while make sure to check it out as I’ve added some new content, particularly about how to properly frame the discussion.
Also, make sure to watch the appearance by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. I was very impressed by him; he clearly cares and thinks carefully about both industrial progress and environmental quality. (One interesting point he made is that previous EPAs didn’t care about environmental quality because they were on their anti-carbon crusades.) I didn’t get to meet him this time around because he left immediately for a flight, but I will make sure to in the future. I would certainly like to help his efforts in any way that I can.
Thanks to the TPPF, especially Brooke Rollins and Chip Roy, for inviting me. Also thanks to the Heritage Foundation, who sponsored one of the first Moral Case for Fossil Fuels launch events back in 2014.
On Wednesday morning I spoke to the Congressional Coal Caucus. Congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky invited me and he was joined by about seven other Congressmen, including Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. I discussed how coal supporters have failed by “arguing to 0” (including defending coal primarily based on jobs) and outlined how they could “argue to 100” that coal is good because it is so often the best form of energy for human flourishing.
I also had some meetings with major thought leaders and political officials. It’s very gratifying that The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels has given me the opportunity to have a real influence on energy policy.
You can also check out two of my recent recent interviews. In my appearance on the Wealth Formula Podcast, we delved deep into how to have constructive conversations about fossil fuels (and controversial issues in general). You can listen to that here.
I also had a fun interview with the Renegade Report about my debate at Africa Oil Week, where I got to discuss some of the things I learned during my trip to Africa. You can listen to that here.
ALSO: Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help your organization turn non-supporters into supporters and turn supporters into champions.
1. Hire me to speak at your next event.
If you have an upcoming board meeting, employee town hall, or association meeting, I have some new and updated speeches about the moral case for fossil fuels, winning hearts and minds, and communications strategy in the new political climate. If you’d like to consider me for your event, just reply to this message and put “Event” in the subject line.
2. Fill out the free Constructive Conversation Scorecard to assess where you are and where you want to be in your one-on-one communications.
Email it back to me and I’ll send you my step-by-step Constructive Conversation System that will enable you to talk to anyone about energy.
3. Hold a Constructive Conversation workshop.
For the last two years I have been testing and refining an approach to one-on-one conversations that anybody can use. I call it the Constructive Conversation Formula. If you have between 5-20 people who interact frequently with stakeholders and want custom guidance on how to win hearts and minds, just reply to this email and put “Workshop” in the subject line.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/energy-large-e1387405520513.jpg401640Alex Epsteinhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAlex Epstein2017-12-01 18:40:312017-12-01 18:40:31VIDEO: At the Crossroads IV — Energy & Climate Policy Summit
VIDEO: Michael Flynn was ‘right’ to try to delay the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 vote
/in National Security, Policy, Politics, Video/by Dr. Rich SwierFox News’ Eric Shawn interviewed Dan Gillerman, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, on national security advisor Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s contact with the Russians during the transition period. Because this effort occurred during the transition it was not illegal. However, his lying to the FBI is illegal, which is a separate issue.
It appears that General Flynn was trying to delay the December, 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334 vote on Israeli settlements. The Obama administration abstained during the vote. This abstention lead to UN Resolution 2334 passing on December 23, 2016.
According to Foreign Policy magazine:
It was clear that then President-elect Trump wanted Resolution 2334 delayed until he could appoint Nikki Haley as his UN Ambassador to the United Nations. Given President Trump and Ambassador Haley’s positions on Israel it is clear that the United States would have vetoed UN Resolution 2334. This effort by Obama as he was leaving office put both the position of the United States and Israel to negotiate a peaceful agreement with the Palestinians at risk. It gave the Palestinians ownership of something they have never owned, territory in Israel.
RELATED VIDEO: Top 10 Facts About Flynn’s Plea:
60 Thousand Imaginary Fascists in Warsaw
/in Culture War, Immigration, Must Read, Policy, Politics/by Selous Foundation For Public Policy ResearchThe annual ‘Independence March’ held on Polish Independence Day – November 11 – is the embodiment of the Polish spirit – independent, strong-minded, individualistic, unpredictable. The spirit that drove the Poles to wage a hopeless fight against the Nazis and Soviets in 1939. The same spirit that will not politely yield to whatever EU decision is made in Brussels or Berlin. For which – as usual – they may finally be severely punished. Unfair labeling, distortion, and disinformation in the international media do not bode well for Poland.
By Maria Juczewska
According to the international media, 60 thousand fascists appeared in the streets of Warsaw on Polish Independence Day in the ‘Independence March’ on November 11th. This date, marking the armistice ending the First World War, is commemorated in the UK as Remembrance Day, with the iconic poppy; in the USA as Veterans Day, (previously Armistice Day); and concurrently celebrated as the anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s national sovereignty.
It is impossible to understand Poland if one tries to apply the clichés from his own country formed by his own historical experience. The Polish experience is not the one of the Anglo-Saxon world. No ideology that expects people to become uniform, manageable, disciplined, and obedient could appeal to the feisty Polish spirit. Poland had no Oswald Mosley, no Mitford sisters, no fascist union. Thus, the characterization of the annual ‘Independence March’ in Warsaw as ‘fascist’ is as gross a distortion of reality as calling America’s Veterans Day parades ‘fascist’ marches.
In celebrating national sovereignty, Polish Independence Day marks the end of 123 years of partitions. The partitions ended the existence of a multi-ethnic polity that lasted between 1385 and 1795. Known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the majority of that time period, the polity was a unique political entity widely known for its system of noble democracy, inclusiveness and religious tolerance for all denominations. It achieved the zenith of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries. Finally, the Commonwealth was undermined by internal weaknesses and subversion of the surrounding powers and partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia at the end of the 18th century.
With Poland no longer appearing on the map of Europe, nationalism became a tool that allowed the Poles to preserve their national identity and eventually regain independence in the 20th century.
Long centuries of coexistence in a multi-ethnic federal state shaped the identity of people inhabiting the areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland has always been inclusive and directed towards co-existence and multiculturalism. The main criterion for being Polish thus became the willingness to serve Poland, understood as a community of people accepting the spiritual heritage of the Polish nation (literature, art, customs, politics) as their own. Anybody could become Polish, if they chose to serve the honorable cause.
As a result, nationalism in Poland of the 1920s and the 1930s was never based on the criterion of bloodline put forward by Nazism or social class proposed by communism. The majority of nationalist Polish organizations had a strong Christian element, which prevented them from becoming totalitarian. Although anti-Semitism was present in the political life of Poland in the interwar period, it was related not to race, as such, but to socio-economic factors and the dominance of Jews in certain professions. The fact that many leftist Jews supported Communism did not improve internal relations in Poland either. After all, the Soviet Union was a lethal threat to the existence of the reborn Poland.
However, all those concerns did not matter anymore when the Second World War broke out. Seeing that Jews were facing planned biological extinction under the Nazi German occupation, Poles of all political views, also the nationalists, came to their rescue.
Members of the Polish nationalist organizations were not only providing false identity documents, food stamps or hide outs to their Jewish acquaintances but also organizing larger rescue operations.
For instance, one that allowed for placement of children smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto into orphanages managed by Catholic nuns. It was supervised by Jan Dobraczynski, a writer and a supporter of the Christian nationalist movement in the interwar period.
Another example is Jan Mosdorf, one of the founders of the radically Polish nationalist ONR and a confirmed anti-Semite before the Second World War. Yet, in 1940 he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. While in the camp, he became involved in the creation of an underground support organization, providing additional food rations and other kinds of help to Jewish prisoners. Denounced by a “kapo,” he was executed at the camp for helping Jews in 1943. During the war, in occupied Poland, many “former anti-Semites” sacrificed their lives to help the Jews.
Today in Poland, the youth harken back to the ideals of Polish interwar organizations.
However, it needs to be made absolutely clear that the Polish nationalism of the interwar period had nothing to do with fascism, as the National Socialism of Nazi Germany is presently known.
Poland was the first country that fell prey to the joint aggression of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia in 1939, precisely because it rejected the acceptance of Nazism or Communism. Occupied by two totalitarian powers propelled by socialist ideologies, one national and one international, Poles paid a high price for their refusal to yield to one or the other.
Half of the territory lost, one third of the population killed, and the remaining two thirds trapped behind the Iron Curtain for fifty years. Concentration camps used to exterminate Jews and other minorities, as well as the Poles during the war, were used after the war by the Communists to murder the remaining Polish independence fighters.
For 50 years, every decade, Poles would stand up against the Communist regime in Poland calling for basic civil rights and liberties. The Solidarity movement that greatly contributed to the fall of USSR was partly based on the ideas of the nation and civil duties formed by the Polish nationalists of the interwar period. This is the tradition to which the ‘Independence March’ held on Independence Day refers.
As a result, there is no fascist tradition in Poland that could inspire the young Poles of today.
Nazi German occupation of Poland was such a societal trauma that no ordinary Pole would willingly associate with the ideals of national socialism or venture into the Polish streets in a brown uniform. What Poles celebrate by marching in the streets of Warsaw on Independence Day is their political freedom. Their right to live in liberty in their own country. They commemorate the independence fighters who lost their lives in the first years of Soviet rule involving the planned extermination of the Polish underground. They also contest the political situation in the present-day European Union. A considerable majority of them are regular Polish patriots. Some may have more nationalist leanings. A fraction of them may be radical – but they would comprise a drop in the proverbial bucket among the vast sea of people.
The annual ‘Independence March’ held on Polish Independence Day – November 11 – is the embodiment of the Polish spirit – independent, strong-minded, individualistic, unpredictable. The spirit that drove the Poles to wage a hopeless fight against the Nazis and Soviets in 1939. The same spirit that will not politely yield to whatever EU decision is made in Brussels or Berlin. For which – as usual – they may finally be severely punished. Unfair labeling, distortion, and disinformation in the international media do not bode well for Poland.
ABOUT MARIA JUCZEWSKA
Maria Juczewska is an MA candidate in International Affairs at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC where she works for the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies. Ms. Juczewska is a contributor to SFPPR News & Analysis of the conservative-online-journalism center at the Washington-based Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research.
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Islamist Gülen Schools in America: Interactive Map, Video and More
/in Education, Policy, Politics/by Mercedes SchneiderIn October 2015, the Republic of Turkey retained the London-based, international law firm, Amsterdam and Partners, “to conduct a global investigation into the activities of the organization led by the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen.”
Another component of Amsterdam and Partners’ work related to Gülen concerns public awareness:
In my book, School Choice: The End of Public Education, I have a chapter examining Fethullah Gülen, the powerful Turkish imam who commands leadership of scores of charter schools on American soil. Indeed, Gülen himself has been residing in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) since 1999.
One can get a sense of concerns related to Gülen from this November 10, 2017, California NAACP resolution for Gülen school investigation:
Regarding the California NAACP resolution, PR Newswire adds this statement from Amsterdam:
In September 2017, Amsterdam published a 650-page book, Empire of Deceit: An Investigation of the Gülen Charter School Network, that “details how the nationwide charter school network controlled by the Gülen Organization enriches itself at the expense of American school children.”
Regarding Empire of Deceit, PR Newswire notes:
Amsterdam and Partners also sponsors an Empire of Deceit website, which promotes Killing Ed, “an independently produced documentary feature film that exposes a vast range of questionable academic, labor, and H1-B visa violations by schools tied to Gülen movement.” The site includes the following 11-minute director’s cut “to accompany the launch of Empire of Deceit“:
(Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is connected to a documentary on Gülen through his lobbying form, Flynn Intel Group; I’m not sure if it is Killing Ed.)
The Empire of Deceit website also includes an interactive US map, with the heading, “Gülen’s Footprint Inside of the United States.” One can search by state– or “by issue”:
Time for those state- and federal-level forensic audits of Gülen-run charter schools.
EDITORS NOTE: According to Discover the Networks the under the section titled “Center for American Progress’ Relationship with Turkey’s Islamist, Jihad-Supporting Regime” states:
On May 14, 2013, CAP issued a report titled “Freedom of the Press and Expression in Turkey,” which downplayed the increasingly authoritarian crackdown on the media by Turkey’s jihad-supporting prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, whose Islamist party was already moving inexorably to transform the secular Turkish republic into an Islamic state. At that time, Turkish prisons held 49 of the 232 journalists who were incarcerated worldwide—more than any other country on Earth. In addition, as former Middle East Pentagon advisor Michael Rubin noted, Erdogan was in the habit of personally suing “even political cartoonists who lampoon him and his government.” Notwithstanding the foregoing facts, the CAP report whitewashed Erdogan’s crackdown as a “necessary, if sometimes unpleasant, correction” that would ultimately result in democratic reforms. Asserting that “the blame [for the crackdown] must not be placed solely on the government,” but also on anti-government ethnic groups such as the Kurds who had fomented unrest and provoked government suppression. “Turkey today is more democratic than in the past, if perhaps less socially liberal,” said the report.
The CAP report was partially funded by the Turkish branch of George Soros’s Open Society Institute. Even more significantly, the report failed to disclose that a Turkish business group named TUSKON, which had close ties to the Erdogan government, had donated large sums of money to CAP in order to gain entrance into the latter’s exclusive Business Alliance. Known for lobbying government officials and forming business relationships with Western organizations (such as CAP), TUSKON serves as the business arm of the so-called Gulen movement—named after Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic spiritual leader devoted to spreading Islamist theology across the globe. Moreover, TUSKON and CAP had jointly hosted annual “fact finding” trips to Turkey, where participants enjoyed access to senior Turkish government officials. Reporter Ken Silverstein wrote, “A former CAP staffer told me that TUSKON … ‘could call anyone in the government and get us a meeting or interview.’ As a result of the Turkish group’s support, CAP was ‘totally in the tank for them.’”
It should also be noted that the CAP report obscured not only Ergodan’s press crackdown but also the nature of the Armenian genocide, in which Turkey had systematically slaughtered more than a million Armenians beginning in 1915. The report only refers to the genocide in non-judgmental terms, as “the death of more than 1 million Armenians during and after the First World War.” [Emphasis added]
Cardinal Burke: ‘Perhaps We Have Arrived at The End Times’
/in Culture War, Religion, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Church MilitantRAVENNA, Italy (ChurchMilitant.com) – For the second time this year, Cdl. Raymond Burke is warning the “end times” may be here.
On Thursday, the Catholic Herald published an exclusive interview in which Burke, the former head of the Vatican supreme court, again diagnosed the state of the world and the Church as “apocalyptic.”
“In the present moment, there is confusion and error about the most fundamental teachings of the Church, for example with regard to marriage and the family,” Burke explained.
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To illustrate, he pointed to “the idea that people who are living in an irregular union could receive the sacraments,” which he reaffirmed “is a violation of the truth with regard both to the indissolubility of marriage and to the sanctity of the Eucharist.”
“Now, the confusion in the Church is going even further than that, because there is today confusion as to whether there are acts which are intrinsically evil and this, of course, is the foundation of the moral law,” he said.
“When this foundation begins to be questioned within the Church, then the whole order of human life and the order of the Church itself are endangered.”
The Church, Burke said, “seems to be confused.”
Clearly, the present situation of the world cannot continue without leading to total annihilation. Tweet
“In that sense, one may have the feeling that the Church gives the appearance of being unwilling to obey the mandates of Our Lord,” he said, adding, “Then perhaps we have arrived at the end times.”
Burke was expanding on comments he made at a Fatima conference in July.
There, he recounted a young priest asking him, “Cardinal, do you think that we are in the end times?”
“I did not hesitate to respond: ‘It may be so.'” he said.
The American cardinal spelled out his reasons for his thinking. Describing the current age as “most troubled,” Burke said:
“For whatever reason,” the cardinal observed, “many shepherds are silent about the situation in which the Church finds herself or have abandoned the clarity of the Church’s teaching for the confusion and error which is wrongly thought to address more effectively the total collapse of Christian culture.”
Pope St. John Paul II after his 1978 election.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church paints a dire picture of the Church at the end of the age — a time of unprecedented deception, persecution and suffering: “Before Christ’s Second Coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the Faith of many believers.” (paragraph 675)
It describes the nature of this trial as a “supreme religious deception”: “The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the Truth.”
By this “pseudo-messianism,” man will glorify himself “in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.”
As far back as 1976, Cdl. Karol Wojtyla (prior to his papacy as Pope John Paul II) seemed to be of a similar mindset, declaring at the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia:
But in his 1978 inaugural homily as pontiff, Pope St. John Paul II urged the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square, “Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. … Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. … Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man.’ He alone knows it.”
Likewise, Cdl. Burke reminds Catholics to push forward in faith.
“What then must be our response to the exceedingly difficult times in which we are living, times which realistically seem to be apocalyptic?” he asked. “It must be the response of faith, of faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Christ, Burke reminded his audience, “is alive for us in the Church.” Christ “never fails to teach, sanctify and guide us in the Church, even as He professed to remain with us always until His return on the Last Day to inaugurate ‘new Heavens and a new earth’ to welcome the faithful to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.”
“We know what Christ teaches us in the Church. It is contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the official teaching of the Church. His teaching does not change,” he emphasized.
“In the midst of the present confusion and division, we must study more attentively the teachings of the Faith contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and be prepared to defend those teachings against any falsehood which would erode the Faith and thus the unity of the Church,” added Burke.
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Offshore Cape Wind Project Dead
/in Energy, Environment/by John Droz, Jr.I didn’t want to have to wait until the next issue of our Newsletter to share with you two pieces of VERY good news…
1 – The developer for the large proposed offshore Cape Wind project officially threw in the towel. This story has yet to be picked up by major media outlets, but this excellent news is the direct result of some fifteen (15±) years of hard work, dedication and financial donations by a lot of good people.
Kudos to our friends at Save Our Sound who led this fight. Hopefully by the time the Newsletter comes out there will be a detailed, accurate account about this interesting saga — which I’ll then pass on. We believe that much of what was learned here can be applied to other wind projects, onshore and offshore.
2 – Since it didn’t get a lot of press, not many people know that there was a very high-level Climate Change debate. This was sponsored by APS (a physics society). The professionally moderated meeting consisted of three top experts on each side of the global warming issue. It was a lively discussion.
Just last week Rupert Darwall put together a simply outstanding summary of that event. I thought he did an excellent job of delineating the main issues of a complex topic in an understandable manner — and then reasonably representing each side’s arguments on all of those primary issues. The bottom line is that if you’d like to get a superior understanding of the different positions on climate change, carefully go through his fascinating and very readable summary.
PS: Our intention is to put some balance into what most people see from the mainstream media about energy and environmental issues… As always, please pass this on to open-minded citizens, and on your social media sites. If there are others who you think would benefit from being on our energy & environmental email list, please let me know. If at any time you’d like to be taken off this list, simply send me an email saying that.
PPS: I am not an attorney, so no material appearing in any of the Newsletters (or our WiseEnergy.org website) should be construed as giving legal advice. My recommendation has always been: consult a competent attorney when you are involved with legal issues.
The Obamacare Mandate Is a Tax, So the Senate Bill Is Correct
/in Culture War, Economy, Healthcare, Policy, Politics, Taxes, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)The Supreme Court saved the program by calling it a tax. It should be repealed like a tax.
by Jeffrey A. Tucker
The Washington Post is outraged. The New York Times even more so.
Commentators are going nuts.
“Using a tax bill to abolish the individual mandate amounts to a backdoor way of sabotaging Obamacare,” writes John Cassidy.
“Republicans, and Donald Trump, have counted on that (as well as your limited outrage bandwidth) in slipping an Affordable Care Act mandate repeal inside their insidious tax bill,” writes Bridget Read.
All this howling is due to how the GOP-controlled Senate used a tax bill to repeal a health bill. The implication is that this is something shady and duplicitous, like an exercise in false pretense.Actually, there is absolutely nothing shady about the repeal of the Obamacare mandate. There is no back door here. No bait and switch. Obamacare’s much-despised individual mandate is, in fact, a tax. It is properly dealt with in a tax bill.
Don’t take my word for it. This is precisely what the Supreme Court itself ruled in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012). It was widely seen as the ruling that codified Obamacare, giving it the constitutional gloss it needed to stay a law.
The law has been challenged on many grounds but one of which was that it is unconstitutional for Congress to force the people to purchase a service. The court said that this might not pass muster if that were what Congress was doing. Instead, ruled a 5 to 4 majority, the individual mandate should be considered a tax like any other. Taxes are permissible. Therefore Obamacare is completely fine.
Said the Court:
Further:
To be sure, the ruling was a bit of an embarrassment for Obamacare proponents because they never liked to talk about the mandate as a tax. It was a payment for wonderful services. The Court said it is true that forcing people to buy something would contradict precedent. So in order to beat back the challenge, the majority found a clever way of redefining the nature of the mandate itself.
At this, Obamacare proponents, while a bit red faced, expressed relief. At least the legislation gets to stay, thanks to an ideologically driven court majority.
The Senate is merely deferring to what the court said and nothing more. The highest court in the land said that the mandate – which is the heart of the legislation – should be regarded as a tax. Fine. The Senate couldn’t repeal the bill in healthcare legislation. So they listened to the court and did exactly what they were supposed to do all along: treat the monstrosity as a tax in a tax bill.The people who are outraged today are only tasting their own medicine, nothing more.
Thus should the repeal be seen as another way in which this legislation is a tax cut for the American people. Will it destabilize health insurance markets? Yes and no. Without the mandate, Obamacare might not survive. But Obamacare is not a real market. It is a fake market. You know this because the many mandates effectively abolish market signaling.
What this tax repeal does is begin to let the market function again. True, there are many more reforms that are necessary to make health insurance work properly again. But this is a good beginning. And it was done entirely properly, precisely as the Supreme Court itself said it should be done.
Jeffrey A. Tucker
Jeffrey Tucker is Director of Content for the Foundation for Economic Education. He is founder of Liberty.me, Distinguished Honorary Member of Mises Brazil, economics adviser to FreeSociety.com, research fellow at the Acton Institute, policy adviser of the Heartland Institute, founder of the CryptoCurrency Conference, member of the editorial board of the Molinari Review, an advisor to the blockchain application builder Factom, and author of five books, most recently Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty, with a preface by Deirdre McCloskey (FEE 2017). He has written 150 introductions to books and many thousands of articles appearing in the scholarly and popular press. He is available for press interviews via his email.
Wow! Trump withdraws U.S. from UN Compact on migration/refugees
/in Culture War, Immigration, National Security, Policy, Politics/by Ann Corcoran“We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country.” – U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley
The Human Rights Industrial Complex (HRIC) must be going nuts!
Thanks for the tip from reader ‘heymister24’ who sent this overnight.
Here is Deutsch Welle‘s version of the news (reported in many publications):
I hope this means we are going to choose our own refugees (if any) without dancing to the UNHCR’s tune going forward.
Mostly I tell readers to complain to the President about something. This time send him your thanks by clicking here.
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We Can Thank a Flawed Jury System for the Steinle Verdict
/in Commentary, Courts & Law, Culture War, Immigration, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Selwyn DukeMuch has been said about the acquittal of felonious invader Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, the killer of young Kate Steinle, who died in her father’s arms. Yet while most of the focus has been on “sanctuary cities” — a euphemism for treasonous, lawless cities — there perhaps has been no scrutiny of the people whose minds are too often a sanctuary from knowledge and reality: modern jurors.
The problem stems from “The Error of Impartiality,” which is the title of an essay on this very subject. For what is often perceived in jurors as fairness is just fecklessness, of the moral variety.
When choosing jurors, pains are taken to dismiss people with preconceived notions about the case. But consider: If in question is a high-profile matter such as the O.J. Simpson or Steinle case, what kind of person would know nothing about it and/or have formed no opinions? Does this reflect impartiality or just indifference?
Assuming such a person makes the ideal juror is like supposing that someone still undecided the day before a high-profile election is surely a better voter than someone who reads the news and formed an opinion early on. An undecided individual may be a better voter in the particular (relative to a given wrongly decided voter), but in principle this supposition simply is untrue. G.K. Chesterton explained the matter brilliantly in the aforementioned essay, writing:
Chesterton also noted that the logical outcome of our “impartiality” standard is that a “case ought to be tried by Esquimaux, or Hottentots, or savages from the Cannibal Islands — by some class of people who could have no conceivable interest in the parties, and moreover, no conceivable interest in the case. The pure and starry perfection of impartiality would be reached by people who not only had no opinion before they had heard the case, but who also had no opinion after they had heard it.”
The essay is pure gold, and I strongly recommend you read the whole thing.
I once wrote a piece titled “Why Most Voters Shouldn’t Vote,” and a corresponding principle may be that most jurors shouldn’t sit on juries. People so apathetic that they couldn’t be bothered to try and determine reality on high profile candidates or cases probably won’t transform, magically, into sagacious sleuths of reality upon entering a ballot or jury box. Apathy is not an asset, and ignorance is not a virtue.
Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com
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Dramatic drop in number of refugees entering the U.S. in first 2 months of fiscal year
/in Culture War, Immigration, Must Read, National Security, Policy, Regulation/by Ann CorcoranThe President now has completed the first two months of what will be his first full year in admitting refugees to the US and we see numbers are dramatically lower.
In fact they are so low that if the present pace continues until the end of the fiscal year, September 30th, less than 20,000 could be the final tally.
As readers know the Trump Administration set the CEILING for this fiscal year at 45,000, but that is a ceiling, not a target!
Doing okay, but I continue to argue that simply dropping numbers isn’t enough because the next Prez could raise the numbers higher to make up for lost time. The entire program should be abolished and if the President and Congress want a program they need to work on it. Removing the middlemen contractors should be the first order of business when (if!) they put America First!
I caution readers to not get too excited by the dramatic downward (so far) trend because if past years are any indication there is usually a lull in the first few months followed by a summer uptick then a huge flood comes in in September because everyone is pushing to reach the ceiling (with the exception being the year Obama and Trump shared the fiscal year).
In FY 17 Obama was pouring them in in the first months while in the closing months Trump was slowing the flow.
(See chart below through October 31 to see monthly admissions. Note the ceiling numbers and the ultimate admissions numbers.) And, do you see that dip in the middle of FY11, that is when those Iraqi refugee terrorists were arrested in Bowling Green, KY and caused the whole huge Iraqi flow to America to grind to a halt as they needed to be rescreened.
Michael Patrick Leahy at Breitbart had a look at the numbers here yesterday, however he concentrated on the November numbers which were available yesterday at Wrapsnet.
I’ll focus my attention on the numbers in this fiscal year which includes the months of October and November combined.
For the first two months of FY18 we admitted 3,108 refugees. If that pace continued for the year the total would be less than 20,000 (again 45,000 is the ceiling).
The resettlement contractors*** must be having hissy-fits as they ‘bid for bodies’ (aka paying refugee clients) as each must fight to keep its taxpayer-funded budget from imploding.
***Update*** The wailing began yesterday as Jewish and Lutheran refugee contractors saw the numbers, see here. The Lutherans esp. need the cold hard cash refugees represent because they have some funny-money problems going on there, here.
So what do the Muslim numbers look like?
There is no question that the Muslim percentage of refugees has dropped precipitously this fiscal year, again see Leahy for November.
Muslim refugees account for 16% of the flow this fiscal year which is way down from nearly 50% during some of Obama’s years in office.
My calculations indicate that of the 3,108 total refugee admissions for those two months, 487 are Muslim. That works out to about 16% for the two months. Wrapsnet has the various Muslim sects designated like this:
It makes me laugh to see those Iraqi numbers. We have the Sunnis and Shiites fighting each other in Iraq and then we bring in the two opposing sides! Will they continue their centuries of quarreling in your city?
By the way, if you run your own numbers at Wrapsnet I encourage you to use the fiscal year numbers instead of annual year because this whole program is run on a fiscal year basis.
Have a look at the entry numbers for each month since FY2008 (a Bush year) below:
Notice what the tricksters at the DOS have done here. Obama set the FY17 ceiling as he was walking out the door at 110,000. Note that he had 7 previous years where he could have done the same. Why didn’t he? Trump legally reset it at 50,000, but the DOS left the 110,000 there because they want to make Trump look as mean as they possibly can compared to their dear leader Obama, and so that their media lackeys can continue to write about Obama’s 110,000 level that was really pie in the sky. 110,000 could never have been accomplished.
***And here for new readers are the nine federal resettlement contractors paid by you to place refugees in your towns and cities. These middlemen get paid by the head for their ‘charitable good works,’ so they have no incentive to ever see a reduction in numbers.
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VIDEO: Happy Holy Days from the Trumps
/in Culture War, Religion, Video/by Family Research CouncilThere are few things as big as Donald Trump’s personality — but the National Christmas Tree comes close! At 50 feet, it loomed large over the crowd at last night’s lighting ceremony, almost as large as the debate about the holiday itself. For the Trumps, Thursday’s event wasn’t so much about flipping the switch on a giant evergreen, but about turning the page on eight years of sanitized celebrating.
“We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” he said with gusto. And they aren’t just saying it, they’re embracing it. From the official White House Christmas card to red and green press conference signs, this is the December Donald Trump has been waiting for. “Today is a day that I’ve been looking very much forward to all year long. It’s one that we have heard and we speak about and we dream about. And now, as the President of the United States, it’s my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world, a very merry Christmas,” he told the crowd at the ellipse. With a bit of irony, Trump pointed back to the 1870 legislation signed by President Ulysses Grant making Christmas a federal holiday. “And I sort of feel we’re doing that again. That’s what’s happening,” he said.
But Christmas isn’t the only thing making a comeback under President Trump — so is the story behind it. In a speech that no one would ever mistake for Barack Obama’s, the 45th president made it clear that this “is a holy season, the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… [That],” he went on, is “the most extraordinary gift of all — the gift of God’s love for all of humanity… Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of Jesus Christ and the story of this incredible life forever changed the course of human history. There’s hardly an aspect of our lives today that His life has not touched — art, music, culture, law and our respect for the sacred dignity of every person, everywhere in the world.”
“Each one of us is a child of God,” the president reminded Americans. “That is the true source of joy this time of the year… And so, this Christmas, we ask for God’s blessings for our family and for our nation. We pray that our country will be a place where every child knows a home filled with love, a community rich with hope, and a nation blessed with faitords were a breathtaking departure from recent Christmases past, they were completely lost on a media whose only headline appeared to be the empty chairs in the back of the viewing area. (A problem common to every president, Fox 5 points out — with pictures to prove it.) For most of America, though, it was a refreshing break from the Left’s pageants of political correctness. To millions of them, Donald Trump isn’t just tapping into the frustration they feel about Christmas – but the mockery of every value they hold dear: marriage, family, faith, and patriotism.
As far as some liberals are concerned, believing in Jesus is as childish as believing in Santa. They’re embarrassed by the “unsophistication” of Christianity. And, for years, they’ve done a bang-up job persuading others to feel likewise.
Why? Because in the end, this isn’t a war on Christmas. It’s a war on Christ. Every time the nine letters of Christmas are used, people come face to face with the six that secularists are trying to drive out. So this is hardly a silly little controversy invented by hypersensitive Christians. It’s the epitome of the fight for faith in America. And don’t believe any liberal who says otherwise.
** If you want to reward retailers who aren’t shying away from the reason for the season, check out American Family Association’s Naughty and Nice list. To see who’s Christmas-friendly, check out this list. Or, as our friends at 2nd Vote point out, you can simplify with their December hashtag: #AnywhereButTARGET.
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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Open Letter to President Donald J. Trump
/in Commentary, National Security, Policy, Politics/by Victor SharpeDear President Trump,
It has been a wondrous benefit to the United States of America to have you as President and Commander in Chief.
Your principled stand against the Leftwing onslaught, which is in a full court mode to fulfill the destructive and anti-American words of your predecessor, Barack Hussein Obama, to “transform America,” is applauded and deeply appreciated by millions of Americans.
You are the bulwark against the baleful attempt to eviscerate the magnificent and divinely inspired U.S. Constitution and our very way of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With millions of other Americans, I salute you and stand with you in your holy task of saving – perhaps for the last opportunity we have – our beloved land as we know it.
I believe you will therefore elevate and enhance America’s moral core by taking a monumental step in righting a wicked policy that has besmirched natural justice. That moral core is the epic step of America, and its President – you President Trump – in finally honoring the beleaguered State of Israel by recognizing that its capital city is united Jerusalem. By doing so, you will have taken the historic step of righting a terrible wrong in finally announcing to the world that the eternal 3,000 year old Jewish capital of Israel is Jerusalem – the only capital of a sovereign and reconstituted nation whose capital city has been denied recognition.
I urge you with all the passion I possess to please, please take the golden opportunity of your upcoming speech regarding the status of Jerusalem to announce not just that America recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, but also that the US Embassy will now be located in Israel’s capital as a matter of legal, historic and moral right.
At the same time, please, Mr. President, do not fall for yet another discredited so-called Two-State-Solution, whereby tiny Israel is forced to abandon its very biblical and ancestral Jewish heartland – known for over 3,000 years as Judea and Samaria – but whose illegitimate preferred name by a hostile world is the West Bank.
As you know, sir, this fraudulent name was given to the biblical Jewish territory by the Jordanians who had invaded and illegally occupied Judea and Samaria, including the eastern half of Jerusalem, in 1948 until it was liberated by the IDF during the Arab imposed 1967 Six Day War. In acceding to Arab demands, by tearing out Israel’s biblical heartland in order to create yet another Arab terror state, will bring calamitous war and prove a tragic legacy,
In conclusion, dear Mr. President, I and so many others pray and hope that you will put an end to the State Department’s endemic hostility towards Israel and its shameful record of coercion towards the brave Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights who suffer relentlessly from Palestinian Authority and Hamas terror and genocidal violence.
Thank you, President Trump.
May I wish you these words in Hebrew.
Yasher Koach, (All honors to you).
Victor Sharpe
Published author of the four volume work, Politicide: The attempted murder of the Jewish state.
Make America Great Again Coalition stands with Alabama and Judge Roy Moore
/in Culture War, Elections, Featured, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Dr. Rich SwierBIRMINGHAM, Ala. /PRNewswire/ — The eyes of the nation are upon you. December 12th vote will be a crucial test of honor, morality, justice and wisdom. As is often the case in politics, nothing will be black or white. There will be no “right” answer, no unequivocal fact, and no pundit, politician or personality who holds the moral high ground. Myself included.
However, our MAGA Coalition made the call on this race months ago when we endorsed Judge Roy Moore for US Senate. It would be a shameful abdication of our duties to shy away from clarifying that endorsement in a time of trial and tribulation. In fact, there is no greater test of one’s mettle than to weigh in on matters such as the election facing Alabama voters.
This is the new and obscene American political landscape — a place where the lowest common denominator reigns, and charges of depravity rule the day. Are we so desensitized that we don’t flinch at 40-year-old charges, lobbed like a hand grenade, 30 days before an election? The methods deployed by the Washington Post in printing their latest bit of “organic” journalism, is almost as repugnant as the charges alleged within. As we watch the establishment powers that be in Washington D.C., trying to wrestle away the autonomy and integrity of elections for all Alabamians, we can only offer our contempt for the manner in which their charges against Judge Roy Moore have been staged.
To be clear: the campaign of Doug Jones, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the mainstream media, have turned a US Senate election into a binary choice on individual morality. The implication being, if you don’t vote a certain way, we will paint your entire state as moral degenerates. Not too dissimilar from the efforts of those who sought to define Donald Trump by surreptitious recordings from an Access Hollywood show. This playbook is well-worn and dog-eared by now, yet the masters of political war in Washington plow forward. They see themselves as the sole moral arbiters and purveyors of truth, and voters as simple tools to advance their agenda. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Alabama is now the tip of the spear. Each man and woman of voting age will be transformed into an agent of justice on December 12th. Every voting booth will be transformed into a jury box; not for the guilt or innocence of Judge Roy Moore, per se, but for the whole political system. A vote for Roy Moore is not a vote on what may or may not have happened in 1979. The moral equivalency game is not a winnable one. If the biblical parable of Solomon’s wisdom is to hold true: who in this scenario is prepared to split the child? One side is willing to sacrifice this election rather than allow the grassroots another win. That much is clear.
It feels to us like there are unseen forces at work, seeking to replace our hope with hostility, our faith with fear, and our judgment with theirs. On November 8th, 2016, the world watched as we made our choice. Now, on December 12th, the nation looks to you, Alabama. There, in the solitude of the voting booth, you will have your say. Nothing, and no one, can take that moment from you. May you all be blessed, even if only in that moment, with the Wisdom of Solomon.
God bless Alabama and God bless America.
Adam Gingrich
President – MAGA Coalition, Inc.
RELATED ARTICLE: Don’t Be Fooled: The Left Doesn’t Care About Morals; It Cares About Power.
Did the National Anthem Protesters Shakedown the NFL? You Be the Judge
/in Commentary, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by 2ndvote .comThe National Football League has earmarked nearly $100 million to “social justice” causes in what appears to be a massive concession to the National Anthem protestors.
The protests, which began in 2016, have taken a toll on the NFL’s television ratings as fans have expressed their disgust by simply tuning out. A boycott movement to #StandwithVets and avoid watching NFL games over the Veterans Day weekend resulted in some of the worst ratings the league has earned since 2003.
According to ESPN, the concession “earmarks at least $89 million over a seven-year period for both national and local projects, according to the documents” with the leagues owners contributing up to $12 million a year through 2023. The funds would then be allocated to United Negro College Fund (25%), Dream Corps (25%), and the Players Coalition (%50), which has filed for 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 non-profit status.
The Dream Corps is co-founded and run by the once-avowed communist and CNN commentator Van Jones.
Breitbart News points out the dollars allocated to the Players Coalition are especially concerning given the NFL Players Association’s record of spending in the past. For example, 2ndVote’s research uncovered documentation of the NFLPA’s direct contributions to the George Soros-funded Center for Community Change and to an AFL-CIO affiliate that engaged in anti-Trump protests.
Furthermore, 501(c)4 status will enable to the Players Coalition to use the allocated funds to influence elections and lobby for or against legislation. With the NFLPA’s history of aligning with liberal, Soros-funded organizations, we can only assume the Players Coalition’s 501(c)4 activities will have a leftist bent.
Since NFL owners will now be footing the bill for the players’ left-wing activism, it seems the NFLPA should no longer need funding from corporate sponsors. Certainly, the fans who decided to #StandwithVets over Veterans Day weekend would rather not have their entertainment dollars funneled through the owners into these activities. It stands to reason these same fans would rather not have their shopping dollars support the same thing.
Here are the corporate sponsors of the NFLPA. Follow the links to tell these companies the NFLPA no longer needs their donations.
Anheuser-Busch
Barclaycard US
Bose
Bridgestone
Campbell’s Soup Company
Castrol (BP)
Courtyard Marriott
Dairy Management, Inc.
Dannon
Extreme Networks
FedEx
Frito-Lay
Gatorade
Hyundai Motor America
Mars Snackfood
Microsoft
Nationwide
News America (News Corp/Fox Entertainment Group)
Papa John’s
Pepsi
Procter & Gamble
Quaker Oats
Verizon
Visa
USAA
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VIDEO: Leon Panetta, Trump Team Broke Norms not the Law by talking with Russians
/in Must Read, National Security, Policy, Politics/by Dr. Rich SwierThe main stream media is cheering that retired Lieutenant General and interim National Security Advisor to the Trump administration has plead guilty to lying to an FBI agent. This has nothing to do with Russian collusion during the election. According to the Los Angeles Times this involves “‘very senior member’ of Trump’s transition team who directed Flynn to contact Russia’s envoy last year [2016], according to the filings.”
Contacting the Russian envoy during the transition, even if ordered by President Trump himself, is a nothing burger.
Former Congressman Alan West writes:
General Flynn stated at the court hearing, “But I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and through my faith in God, I am working to set things right. My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel’s office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.”
President Trump’s lawyer, Ty Cobb, dismissed what happened saying, “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
RELATED ARTICLE: Lying to FBI Is Illegal; How About the FBI Lying to Us?
VIDEO: At the Crossroads IV — Energy & Climate Policy Summit
/in Energy, Environment, Policy, Politics, Regulation/by Alex EpsteinI just got back to California last night after a packed week in our nation’s capital. Happily, it was by far the most impactful week I’ve ever spent in DC.
The most exciting development during the trip is something I can’t talk about yet, unfortunately–and its outcome is uncertain–but there is a real chance I will help shape a new project that will give tens of millions of people access to energy for the first time. I should know within six months.
Now, what I can talk about.
Yesterday I spoke at the “Crossroads IV: Energy and Climate Policy Summit” hosted by the Heritage Foundation and the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). I gave the latest version of my “Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” talk. (Starts about 2:14:00 in.) If you haven’t heard me speak in a while make sure to check it out as I’ve added some new content, particularly about how to properly frame the discussion.
Also, make sure to watch the appearance by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. I was very impressed by him; he clearly cares and thinks carefully about both industrial progress and environmental quality. (One interesting point he made is that previous EPAs didn’t care about environmental quality because they were on their anti-carbon crusades.) I didn’t get to meet him this time around because he left immediately for a flight, but I will make sure to in the future. I would certainly like to help his efforts in any way that I can.
Thanks to the TPPF, especially Brooke Rollins and Chip Roy, for inviting me. Also thanks to the Heritage Foundation, who sponsored one of the first Moral Case for Fossil Fuels launch events back in 2014.
On Wednesday morning I spoke to the Congressional Coal Caucus. Congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky invited me and he was joined by about seven other Congressmen, including Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. I discussed how coal supporters have failed by “arguing to 0” (including defending coal primarily based on jobs) and outlined how they could “argue to 100” that coal is good because it is so often the best form of energy for human flourishing.
I also had some meetings with major thought leaders and political officials. It’s very gratifying that The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels has given me the opportunity to have a real influence on energy policy.
You can also check out two of my recent recent interviews. In my appearance on the Wealth Formula Podcast, we delved deep into how to have constructive conversations about fossil fuels (and controversial issues in general). You can listen to that here.
I also had a fun interview with the Renegade Report about my debate at Africa Oil Week, where I got to discuss some of the things I learned during my trip to Africa. You can listen to that here.
ALSO: Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help your organization turn non-supporters into supporters and turn supporters into champions.
1. Hire me to speak at your next event.
If you have an upcoming board meeting, employee town hall, or association meeting, I have some new and updated speeches about the moral case for fossil fuels, winning hearts and minds, and communications strategy in the new political climate. If you’d like to consider me for your event, just reply to this message and put “Event” in the subject line.
2. Fill out the free Constructive Conversation Scorecard to assess where you are and where you want to be in your one-on-one communications.
Email it back to me and I’ll send you my step-by-step Constructive Conversation System that will enable you to talk to anyone about energy.
3. Hold a Constructive Conversation workshop.
For the last two years I have been testing and refining an approach to one-on-one conversations that anybody can use. I call it the Constructive Conversation Formula. If you have between 5-20 people who interact frequently with stakeholders and want custom guidance on how to win hearts and minds, just reply to this email and put “Workshop” in the subject line.