Why is the U.S. Government in the Mortgage Loan Business?

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It is often truly astonishing to me the harm done by the way the federal government was expanded well beyond its constitutional limits during the 1930’s New Deal era. One dramatic example is the government’s role in the housing mortgage loan marketplace.

I recently read a commentary by Steve Stanck, a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, a free market think tank, whose title was “Don’t Replace Fannie and Freddie; End Them.” He began by pointing out that “For every 100 mortgages being sold in the United States these days, at least 94% of them have government backing.”

Fannie is shorthand for the Federal National Mortgage Association and Freddie is short for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Both are referred to as “government sponsored enterprises” and Stanck points out that “The housing market was nearly ruined several years ago, and the government’s involvement is a big reason” because, before the 2008 financial crisis, both “were bundling mortgages into mortgage-backed securities and selling them to investors”, primarily banks.

ForeclosureStill largely unknown to the public, the financial crisis was triggered on September 15, 2008 when the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw-down of money market accounts in the U.S. amounting to $550 billion dollars in the matter of an hour or two. This was revealed in a 2008 congressional closed door session and later reported by Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania. Had the Federal Reserve not closed down the accounts by 2 PM that day, the entire economy would have collapsed, followed by the world economy a day later.

To this day, the identity of those who initiated the withdrawal has not been revealed, but the banks that were heavily invested in Fannie and Freddie’s bundled mortgage-backed securities were most at risk. Those securities were regarded as a safe investment precisely because both are, as noted, “government-sponsored enterprises”, implying that they were backed by the government—taxpayers.

When the housing bubble burst in 2008, the federal government put Fannie and Freddie into conservator ship “and handed them $188 billion to stay afloat. The actions of both entities had artificially lowered mortgage interest rates in order to increase home buying and required lenders—banks—to loan money to riskier borrowers.

As Brian M. Carney noted in a July 26, 2010 Wall Street Journal editorial opinion, “The official version of the housing boom and bust, and subsequent panic and recession, tells us that greedy bankers took unacceptable risks, assumed too much leverage, made irresponsible loans, and left the government to clean up the mess. The causes of the crisis, in this version, include banker bonuses, deregulation ideology and predatory lending. Most of this is nonsense.”

Carney noted that “There’s simply no room in this story for two giant government-sponsored enterprises that distorted the housing and credit markets…” Those would be Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Stanck notes that there is a bill in Congress to “wind down Fannie and Freddie. This is good. But they want to replace those organizations with private mortgage bond issuers who would each have government guarantees back by a new entity called the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation. This is bad.”

It is bad for the same reason that Fannie and Freddie are bad. The government needs to get out of the mortgage loan business. The bill barely squeaked through the Senate Banking Committee on May 15 with minimal support.

The new entity that the bill would create would charge fees to the private mortgage bond issuers—“fees that would be based on how many people in ‘underserved’ demographic groups receive mortgages” leading to “more of the subprime lending that played such a big role in the most recent housing mortgage collapse.” It is nothing more than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a new name.

Stanck sensibly says “Let borrowers and lenders strike their own deals without government meddling. In that way, mortgage interest rates would better reflect true risk, there’d be almost no way for legislators to inject corruption and cronyism into the system, and taxpayers would not be at risk of shelling out more hundreds of billions of dollars.”

You may read or hear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are returning to solvency, able to turn a profit in the first quarter of 2014 and this is true. Those profits are going straight into the U.S. Treasury to resolve their debt incurred when they were bailed out. When they pay it back, they should, as Stanck says, be ended, not replaced.

So long as they exist, another housing boom and bust, and another financial collapse will repeat what occurred in 2008.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

President Chris Christie?

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A fatal crash on the George Washington Bridge this morning caused major backups, trapping commuters for up to three hours and stalling traffic back to the Garden State Parkway and other highways leading to the bridge. After Gov. Chris Christie spent two hours answering every question reporters asked following the revelation that an aide—whom he fired immediately—had engineered a comparable problem I had no problem believing he had nothing to do with it.

I am New Jersey born and raised, and I have lived here most of my life with time out to attend the University of Miami in Florida and Army service in Georgia. I have traveled all over the U.S., but I always was happy to come home to a little town, a suburb of Newark where I was born. These days I live one town over, having sold my home of more than 60 years because the property taxes here are for many of my generation a burden,

I tell you this because Gov, Chris Christie’s life has a number of connections to my own. He too was born in Newark and his father, like mine, was a certified public accountant. A 1984 graduate of Delaware, he earned his law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in the community where I have lived for a decade.

Like many in the Garden State I became aware of Christopher James “Chris” Christie when he served as a United States Attorney, appointed to the position by George W. Bush in 2002 and serving until 2008. During that time, he amassed an impressive record of convictions with an emphasis on corrupt politicians along with sexual slavery, arms trafficking, racketeering by gangs, and other federal crimes.

In January 2009 he declared his candidacy for Governor and, in November, he defeated incumbent Jon Corzine who, like his predecessors, had driven up taxes while never really solving the state’s budget problems. In his first term, Gov. Christie drove a number of hard bargains with the state’s civil service unions, primarily the teachers union. When he won reelection to a second term in November 2013, he became the first Republican to earn more than fifty percent of the vote in a quarter-century.

New Jersey is a blue state, heavily Democratic politically, and his reelection quite naturally made Republicans nationwide take notice. He is also a very savvy politician and not one to make every decision along strict ideological grounds.

In his first term he achieved a remarkably good working relationship with the state’s Democratic legislature. After Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey n 2012, wreaking heavy damage to shore communities, he was quite visible in the company of President Obama when he paid a visit when he was also campaigning for reelection. That paid off in significant federal funds to help rebuild. Christie agreed to expand the state’s Medicaid problem under Obama’s health law. He vetoed a bill that would sanction gay marriage, but declined to appeal a court ruling that legalized it.

Like other Governors in states with Democratic legislatures, Christie inherited massive budget deficits. In his first term he bargained with the New Jersey Education Association and the Communications Workers of America, two of a dozen civil service unions, to increase their members’ payments toward pensions and medical benefits, but in turn they won bigger payments by the state into their troubled retirement fund.

Faced with yet another budget gap, Gov. Christie proposed taking $2.4 billion meant for the pension system in order to achieve a balanced budget because, as he said, there is nowhere else to find the money other than to raise taxes or reduce spending for schools or hospitals. He bluntly said that the state cannot afford the level of benefits it provides public workers. As this is written, fourteen unions for teachers, police officers, firefighters and state workers have filed lawsuits to stop Christie’s transfer of funds to the budget.

In January “bridgegate” erupted when it became known that one of his aides had apparently urged highway lane closures to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution against a Democratic mayor who did not endorse him for re-elections. In response he devoted two hours to a press conference in which he answered every question, denying any knowledge of the aide’s action and, to date, hearings by the state legislature have been unable to connect him personally to it. The Democratic Party and liberal media saw it as an opportunity to eliminate him as a potential presidential candidate in 2016.

“Bridgegate” is losing traction and is not likely to play a role in any decision he makes to run for President. The cost of defending himself and members of his administration has cost New Jersey taxpayers $3 million in legal fees at this point. In a hearing, Christie’s chief of staff deemed it “a major distraction.”

Conversely, he has remained very popular within the Republican Party, despite ideological divisions. He is currently chairman of the Republican Governors Association, giving him regular access to some of the Party’s leading national donors. He is a welcome speaker at many GOP conferences.

To the question, will he announce his candidacy for the presidency, he remains uncommitted to the decision and, at this point, that’s a wise course of action. Christie has, in his usual blunt fashion, said of any suggestion that being from a northeastern state, “I hear people all the time saying, ‘You wouldn’t play well in the South’ or ‘You wouldn’t play well in Iowa’—It’s all garbage.”

“In the end,” says Christie, “people like people who are genuine and who are real. I think they’re willing to cut you slack even if they don’t agree with you on certain things if they think you’re being genuine and authentic”, adding “I would rather lose than try to pretend to be somebody else.”

Virtually alone among Republicans who might contend for the GOP nomination and the presidency, Gov. Christie is what you see and what you hear. If he does secure the nomination that will be a major factor in 2016 and will guarantee a tough fight for the Democratic candidate.

Would I vote for him? Sure. And I would also be happy to vote for Ted Cruz and Allen West it they were the GOP candidate.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Viguerie: Virginia Voters Sent GOP Leaders a Message – Fight for Our Principles

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MANASSAS, Va., June 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Richard A. Viguerie, author of TAKEOVER, The 100-Year War for the Soul of the GOP and How Conservatives Can Finally Win It, and conservative political marketing pioneer, issued the following analysis in the wake of David Brat’s historic defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Tuesday’s Virginia Republican primary election.

“Tens of thousands of Republican voters in Virginia 7 received the letters I sent in the closing days of the campaign in support of Dave Brat and to drive his message of change in Washington. Eric Cantor’s defeat will have positive results for conservatives far beyond the immediate effect of killing Cantor’s amnesty for illegal aliens plan.” (View a sample of my two letters through this link.)

“While the House Republican leadership has been thrown into disarray by Eric Cantor’s defeat, rank and file Republicans got the message loud and clear. Eric Cantor’s defeat will have the salutary effect of stiffening the spines of House Republicans.”

“Eric Cantor’s defeat also guarantees more gridlock in Washington and no progress on Obama’s agenda during the final two years of his presidency. Conservatives in the House are now emboldened to fight and the grassroots are energized like never before; there will be no amnesty bill, no job killing climate change legislation and no chance that House conservatives can be browbeaten into going along with other so-called compromises with Obama that grow spending and government.”

“As I pointed out in my new book TAKEOVER, Eric Cantor had become fully invested in House Speaker John Boehner’s lobbyist-driven legislative agenda. From breaking the spending caps in the sequester to voting for the Wall Street bailout through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Cantor always sided with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Capitol Hill establishment when faced with a choice between growing government and fighting for limited-government constitutional conservative principles. Amnesty for illegal aliens was just the latest in a long list of betrayals conservatives suffered at the hands of Eric Cantor.”

“The real reason Cantor lost is not amnesty; it is that grassroots limited government constitutional conservative voters wanted to send a message that they are fed-up with having their views and values arrogantly ignored and disrespected by Washington’s Republican professional political class.”

ABOUT RICHARD A. VIGUERIE

Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called “one of the creators of the modern conservative movement” (The Nation) and one of the “conservatives of the century” (Washington Times).  He is the author of the new book, Takeover: The 100-Year War for the Soul of the GOP and How Conservatives Can Finally Win It.

Grover Norquist’s Islamic Republic of America

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Is it TRUE? In an effort to have you personally analyze the data, we provide a powerful commentary by Frank Gaffney, President and Founder of the Center for Security Policy, presenting the case against Grover Norquist.

I take a few minutes at the beginning of this presentation to set the stage and then Frank Gaffney will systematically lay out the evidence piece-by-piece building a comprehensive, indisputable, prima facie case of Norquist’s consistent collaboration, participation and partnership with convicted Muslim terrorists!

Folks, this is HUGE and impacts the November 2014 elections!

I guarantee that after absorbing this in-depth investigative material you will be asking yourself, “How come Norquist is not in jail like all his terrorist friends?

In subsequent episodes of “The Wizard of “K” Street,” we will answer that question…and the answer ain’t pretty.

Grover is NOT the super-conservative that his Public Relations machine presents, but indeed an ideological, enemy-of-the-state. Therefore one of our investigative objectives is to de-legitimize his impact on the critical November 4, 2014 election, particularly in the significant, “battle ground” states.

Please take the time now to review this intelligence briefing. You will NOT regret it!

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What does Rep. Eric Cantor’s Primary Loss in Virginia Really Signify?

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Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s hopes to replace House Speaker John Boehner were crushed with his defeat by Randolph Macon Economics Professor David Brat by 11 points, 56% to 45% in Virginia’s Tuesday primary. After the stunning upset victory in suburban Richmond, Virginia’s 7th Congressional District by Republican challenger David Brat, a self-styled Tea Party libertarian, Republican Party leaders are confounded about future prospects. They are concerned about House contests and national mid-term and Presidential elections in both 2014 and 2016. Long term Virginia 7th C.D. incumbent Republican and US House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor has no choice but to resign forcing the House GOP majority to elect a new leader. Because of the immigration issue raised in this defeat of Cantor by Tea Party upstart Brat this could be a further warning to House Speaker John Boehner that he might face similar prospects in his home district in Ohio this November. The Wall Street Journal in its report on Cantor’s upset loss to ‘underfunded’ Brat commented:

Mr. Cantor’s defeat marked an unexpected and staggering turn in this year’s primary-election season, overturning the building narrative that Republican Party leaders and allied business groups had trampled the GOP’s tea-party wing, which has fought to push the party to the political right.

Mr. Cantor’s defeat could reshape many areas of policy in Congress, foremost the prospects for immigration legislation. Many Republican leaders say the GOP won’t make gains with the fast-growing Hispanic population unless it helps to liberalize immigration laws and grant legal status to some illegal immigrants. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has said he wants to take up the issue, but opposition from conservatives in his ranks has stalled the effort.

In his largely under-the-radar campaign, Mr. Brat, 49 years old, primarily sought to cast himself as more conservative than Mr. Cantor on immigration policy. He also criticized the GOP leader’s alliance with business groups and his record on fiscal issues, particularly his votes to raise the federal borrowing limit, casting Mr. Cantor as part of a leadership team that he argued had grown disconnected from its constituents.

While many are shocked about the Brat primary victory that dethroned House Majority leader Eric Cantor, we do not believe it was because he is Jewish. Rather, it is reflective of the extreme polarization of both parties. Democrats who recently were polled to determine if they were moderate versus liberal, skewed towards liberals. In January 2014 the Gallup organization released findings of self-identification in more than 13 polls taken in 2013 of 18,000 Americans. Their report confirmed this trend:

Americans continue to be more likely to identify as conservatives (38%) than as liberals (23%). But the conservative advantage is down to 15 percentage points as liberal identification edged up to its highest level since Gallup began regularly measuring ideology in the current format in 1992.

On the GOP side, the traditional country club business moderates that we were occasioned to see in prominence as party leaders over the period from the 1940’s through the Reagan, Bush I and II eras have been diminished by the rise of the Tea Party and libertarian grass roots movements.  That is reflected in the ironic confrontation in the November Henrico Virginia Congressional District race which is now between two professors at Randolph Macon University., Brat, a self styled tea Party libertarian, versus Democrat candidate, Jack Trammell, who styles himself as “liberal progressive”. Given the 7th CD voting preferences heavily skewed to conservative Brat might represent the district in the next Congress. As to why Cantor lost, look no further than the comments of David Wasserman of the Cooke Report quoted in this USA Today article on Cantor’s defeat:

Cantor’s leadership position, unwillingness to prolong last October’s government shutdown, far-fetched attacks on Brat, and stylistic clash with Virginia’s gun-owning, very conservative 7th (district) all played a role in the ‘perfect storm’ of base anger that engulfed him.

In a warning sign of Tea Party discontent in Cantor’s Richmond-based district, activists booed and heckled Cantor during a party convention in May. Cantor had invested nearly $1 million into the primary, running television ads and sending mailers attacking the underfunded and little known Brat.

Former Connecticut US Senator Joe Lieberman was upended in a highly partisan primary in August 2006 in the Nutmeg state.  As a Connecticut resident then, many of us were appalled to find that a minority of registered Democrat voters nominated Ned Lamont, scion of a wealthy Greenwich family; many were progressives, virulently anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. That energized involvement of a number of us in the Lieberman Independent campaign and resulting victory in November 2006.  A majority of those who elected him were Republicans and a distinct minority were union members, what pollsters called conservative lunch bucket Democrats.  That was an indication that the progressives had taken over local Democratic politics.  See my Israpundit post, August 10, 2006.

Unlike the Lieberman example, Cantor can’t run as a ‘sore loser’ Independent candidate in Virginia. And even if he could, he would lose because of the polarized Conservative electorate who didn’t appreciate his moderate views on immigration and other issues.  The defeat of Cantor may possibly lead in the next Congress to overturning current House Speaker John Boehner.  Polarization at the extremes of both parties has vaporized bi-partisan resolution of major public policy issues perhaps reflected in the low approval ratings of Congress. More ominously it may presage the emergence of an autocratic executive branch of our government relying on executive orders.   That could translate to a majority of Independents and moderates in the country being turned off, not voting and both Congressional and Presidential race outcomes determined by activist minorities.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The New English Review. The featured photo is courtesy of the Associated Press.

Police state? Impeach Obama activist targeted by Wisconsin police chief

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What type of country are we becoming when freedom of expression becomes a target of those legally granted with governmental power? Such is the question I ponder having just finished a visit with the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) in Ann Arbor Michigan, reviewing some of their current cases. I found this one particularly interesting.

You may be aware of the “Impeach Obama” overpass movement — quite certain they may be getting lots more “honks” these days.

It seems that one Chief of Police, Timothy Keleman of Campbell, Wisconsin not only doesn’t appreciate this exercise of the First Amendment, he’s making it personal.

Enter Mr. Greg Luce, a devout Catholic and member of the Tea Party. He opposes President Obama on several issues, including the president’s stance on abortion. Luce was targeted for retaliation after he spoke out against a city ordinance which prohibits citizens from displaying the American flag, banners and wearing t-shirts that call for the impeachment of President Obama on a pedestrian highway overpass managed by the town.

Silly me, I thought overpasses were part of the public square and since the taxpayer funds the overpass — I am assuming in this case, their freedom to assemble and express themselves in petitioning their government for redress of grievances was their right.

Perhaps in the “fundamentally transformed” America of Barack Hussein Obama I may be wrong? And I just have to ask, if there were individuals gathered on the overpass burning the American flag — even without an open burn permit — would there be any such hoopla? Oh yeah, for many that’s acceptable freedom of expression – not for me of course.

Well, apparently ol’ Chief Keleman didn’t appreciate Mr. Luce, an American citizen, standing up for his rights. Chief Keleman decided to use Gregory Luce’s personal information, including his home address, telephone number and e-mail address to create profiles and accounts on numerous pornographic and dating websites featuring homosexual men, insurance companies, and the “Obamacare” website healthcare.gov. The accounts created by Kelemen resulted in Luce receiving approximately 15 phone calls in a single day regarding the profiles made using his information.

Additionally, Chief Kelemen, under the username “Bill O’Reilly,” posted a number of inflammatory and harassing comments on the website of local newspaper, the La Crosse Tribune, including 7 comments on the article regarding the filing of the initial lawsuit. Within the comments, Chief Kelemen posted that Luce had “disrespected the wrong mo fo,” as well as posting false comments about Mr. Luce wetting himself and posting Luce’s home address.

Seems that the wrong mo fo, Chief Keleman, graduated from the Barney Fife school of law enforcement. After initially denying any involvement in the harassment of Luce, the Chief ultimately admitted the harassment as an attempt to “get back at” Luce after detectives told him they had traced the unwanted solicitations to his IP addresses at the police department and his home. Detectives have referred their investigation to the Monroe County District Attorney for criminal prosecution under Wisconsin law.

Chief Keleman appears to be well-versed in Saul Alinsky’s tactic of personal destruction of the opposition, something perfected by current liberal progressive socialists who have carefully studied his Rules for Radicals.

Persecution by government officials via coercion and intimidation has no place in our Constitutional Republic. Hat tip to TMLC for taking up this case, and I certainly hope Chief Timothy Kelemen is sent away for a nice taxpayer-funded incarceration for violating the public trust and for dishonoring his oath to serve and protect the people.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.

National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee Video Contest Winners Announced

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MERRIFIELD, Va., June 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee, a political action committee formed to draft Dr. Ben Carson into the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, today announced the three winners of its video contest to spread the word about why Dr. Carson should run for the 2016 Republican nomination. The winning videos were chosen based on the number of Facebook “likes” each received, and the video creators will receive their choice of a Silver iPad Air™ or a Microsoft Surface™.

“The American people want Dr. Carson to run for president, and the results of this video contest show definitively that they are clamoring for his leadership,” said Vernon Robinson, the Committee’s campaign director. “There is no other candidate who has what it takes to win the election and heal our nation. Ben Carsonis the best hope for America.”

Participants’ videos were uploaded to the Campaign’s Facebook page, where contestants gathered as many “likes” as they could by spreading the word to family, friends and other concerned citizens. All entries were submitted by midnight on Saturday, May 31.

Chris Adkins of Wayne, West Virginia came in first. Notified that his video won, Chris stated, “I don’t feel like I deserve an iPad, I was just speaking from the heart.”

Nicholas Zientarski of Grand Haven, Michigan placed second. Stephen Carson of San Diego, California, was a close third. He said, “It has been difficult to watch the decline of my country, and to see that someone is there who can stand for the values that make me proud to be an American is very meaningful to me. I have never stepped out for a campaign, but for this man I will do whatever I need to do.”

More than a quarter of a million people have signed petitions encouraging Dr. Carson to enter the race for the presidential nomination. The Committee delivers roughly 6,000 of these petitions to Dr. Carson each week.

Dr. Carson continues to prove he is a strong contender for the GOP nomination, consistently placing in the top three in poll after poll. Most recently, Ben Carson finished second in the Texas GOP State Convention’s straw poll, successfully defeating Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), considered a presidential frontrunner, and Gov. Rick Perry,Texas’ longest serving governor. Dr. Carson also took a close second to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at the National Republican Leadership Conference, missing the top spot by less than 1 percentage point.

Since its inception in August 2013, the committee has raised more than $6 million from more than 85,000 individual contributors. The average contribution amount was $45, with many donors contributing more than once.

About the National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee

The National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee is a political action committee formed to draft Dr. Ben Carson into the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. It was founded in August 2013 by John Philip Sousa IV and Vernon Robinson, and works to raise awareness of Dr. Carson’s qualifications and to engage grassroots conservative activists in clamoring for Dr. Carson to run for president. To learn more visitwww.runbenrun.org or follow them on Facebook and Twitter at @DraftRunBenRun.

America becoming largest Banana Republic due to Illegal Alien Invasion

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Four Central American Banana Republics Join to Protect Migrants.

One catalyst causing the current invasion was a meeting in February 2011 of four banana republic leaders conspiring to offload their poverty on to the United States.

(Tegucigalpa, Honduras) Representatives from Central American countries and the Dominican Republic agreed late Friday to create a “Network of Protection of Migrants” in their journey through Mexico toward the U.S., official sources reported on Saturday. “The network is composed of the countries working together in protecting human rights of migrants; Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua,” noted one Honduran Foreign Ministry statement, issued after the meeting.

A second catalyst was the passing of a bill in the U.S. Senate (S 744) to give amnesty, dramatically increase worker visas and double legal immigration as a form of throwing citizens under the bus in order to satisfy the criminal illegal alien employers in the country.

We can thank Senators Rubio, Leahy, McCain, Graham, Flake, Bennet, Menendez, Bennet and Schumer for ignoring citizens in their quest to overwhelm the country with evermore poverty. Perhaps those senators should go back to the first amnesty granted which was to be the only one ever and check E-Verify was to be mandated as well to secure the border as we do in Korea. McCain and Leahy were there in 1986 but undoubtedly don’t think promises to the citizens are meant to be kept.

A third catalyst has been lax border security ordered by President Obama allowing dramatic increase in the chaos and anarchy with illegal alien kids as young as three years old flooding the country.

Fox News reports, “The flood of illegal immigrants — particularly children — crossing into the U.S. along the southern border is at a ‘crisis’ level, creating a humanitarian emergency that both immigration officials and lawmakers are putting at the feet of the Obama administration. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called the overload a ‘crisis of the federal government’s creation.'”

Giving these kids food, shelter and an opportunity to hook up with others in the country will only encourage more to come until we empty out all of Central America’s population. Don’t forget, behind the kids will be the parents wanting to reunite with them.

Here is how to solve the problem:

  1. The kids came across or from Mexico to get here. Process the kids and put them back across the border into Mexico. They allowed the problem to happen so let them solve it in Mexico.
  2. End all aid to Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua until they end this stupidity.
  3. Seal the border the way we do in Korea as promised in 1986 by Congress.
  4. Mandate E-Verify as promised by Congress in 1986 as promised by Congress
  5. Make it a felony to overstay a visa or to enter the country illegally.

The illegal aliens will stop coming immediately if you really smart people in Washington grow some backbone and start defending the citizens of this country. America can’t be a nanny to the world.

Try to remember who elected you and who you represent! Is there anyone left in our government that gives a hoot about the legal citizens?

Eric Cantor Loses Virginia Republican Party Primary

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US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has lost a Virginia Republican Party primary election to a challenger from the hard-right Tea Party movement. Little-known economics professor David Brat defeated the second-ranking House of Representatives member 56%-44%. Mr Brat’s shock victory exposed conservative dissatisfaction with Mr Cantor, who was first elected in 2000. Mr Cantor had been widely favored to win, having raising significantly more money than Mr Brat.

The following video report is courtesy of World Breaking News:

RELATED ARTICLES:

The Top 8 Consequences of Cantor’s Defeat
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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Loses to Primary Challenger
Why Eric Cantor Lost

EDITORS NOTE: The featured graphic is courtesy of MSNBC.

Are Most Mass Murderers Really White?

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Aside from attacks on the Second Amendment, there is a certain theme that’s now repeated after every massacre committed by an unhinged individual: that most all mass killers are white. After the recent Elliot Rodger murders, for instance, Michael Moore said that he no longer had “anything to say” before immediately saying, “Nearly all of our mass shootings are by angry or disturbed white males.” Not to be one-upped in the inanity department by a mass of male whiteness, one Brittney Cooper at Salon wrote, “How many times must troubled young white men engage in these terroristic acts that make public space unsafe for everyone before we admit that white male privilege kills?” Ironically, Cooper had mentioned, parenthetically, that “as many commenters have pointed out, [Rodger] had a white father and mother of Asian descent,” but, hey, you can’t let a minor detail get in the way of a good racial screed. And perhaps mass killing is such a Caucasian domain that perpetrating one bestows a person with honorary whiteness. Yet about this we should ask a question:

Before rushing to play pin the tale on the honkey, did anyone bother to check the history of mass killings?

Because I have — a comprehensive list dating from 1982 through 9/16/2013 is found at Mother Jones here — and guess what?

Of the last 20 mass killings of that period, 9 were perpetrated by non-whites.

That would be 45 percent, which exceeds non-whites’ 37 percent share of the population.

Of the last 30 mass killings, 11 were committed by non-whites — right at the 37 percent mark.

And what if we go all the way back to 1982? We then have 66 mass killings in which the races of the perpetrators were known, and 22 of them, or one-third, were at the hands of non-whites. Note here that America’s demographics have been changing, with non-whites comprising only about 20 percent of the population in 1982; thus, if we consider an approximate average non-white population of 28.5 percent during the 31-year period in question, it appears that, again, mass murderers are disproportionately non-white.

In other words, there is no evidence whatsoever that mass killings are a characteristically white phenomenon.

And there never was.

In fact, the group most disproportionately represented on the Mother Jones chart is Americans of Asian descent. While only 6 percent of the population, they have been 15 percent of the 31-year period’s last 20 mass killers, 13 percent of the last 30, and 9 percent of the last 66. This is quite interesting, too, since Americans of Asian descent have a very low crime rate in general.

So in light of this, why are whites implicated in mass killings? The answer is one word: Prejudice.

Note that prejudice is defined as:

“1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.”

Claiming that a group commits a disproportionate amount of crime when, if anything, the truth is the opposite, is the epitome of forming beliefs without knowledge, thought, or reason. It’s seizing upon a fashionable falsehood for the purposes of maligning an unfashionable group and advancing a fallacious agenda.

The truth is that if we don’t want to be “cowards” on race, as Eric “the Red” Holder said Americans were, we do need to speak frankly about criminality in the US. But does this involve talking about “troubled young white men” who “make public space unsafe for everyone,” as Brittney Cooper suggested? Perhaps she might want to consult with Jesse Jackson, who once said that when he walked down the street, heard footsteps and thought robbery, he’d “feel relieved” if he turned around and saw a white person behind him. So, really, if we were cynical, we could think that the Coopers of the world were trying to deflect attention from black criminality by trumpeting the white-mass-killer myth.

Then again, this all could just be the result of the new Common Core math. Take Elliot Rodger, for instance. He killed half his victims with a knife, but the whole focus was on guns. (And he’s widely referred to as a “shooter.” I think he was a slasher.) He was half Asian, but the whole focus was on whites. You could also call it situational attribution: a mixed race person is defined by his minority half when he achieves, as with our first “black” president. But when such an individual is recognized as having committed a crime, he’s suddenly white. This can only make us wonder how long it will be before Barack Obama becomes white.

Anyway, the left may be upset that another one of their themes, the white-mass-killer myth, has bitten the dust. But all is not lost. In the area of massacres as in so many other things, they can always celebrate diversity.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com

RELATED GRAPHIC:

guns and property crime

Why Would WaPo Wait Three Months to Release a Bill Gates Interview?

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On Saturday, June 7, 2014, Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post published this article based on a 28-minute interview she had with billionaire Common Core State Standards (CCSS) funder, Bill Gates. In the interview, Gates spills quite a bit of “insider information,” not the least of which is that in the summer of 2008, then-Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) President Gene Wilhoit and national-standards-writing-company-gone-nonprofit Student Achievement Partners (SAP) founder and CEO– and CCSS “architect”– David Coleman approached him about bankrolling CCSS.

The Gates purse would fund not only organizations positioned on the inside of the CCSS effort, including CCSSO, SAP, the National Governors Association (NGA), the Hunt Institute, Fordham Institute, and Education Trust, but also scores of auxiliary organizations useful in “implementing” CCSS, including both national teachers unions.

As Layton notes, support for CCSS was intentionally strategized:

With the Gates money, the Hunt Institute coordinated more than a dozen organizations — many of them also Gates grantees — including the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, National Council of La Raza, the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors Association, Achieve and the two national teachers unions.

The Hunt Institute held weekly conference calls between the players that were directed by Stefanie Sanford, who was in charge of policy and advocacy at the Gates Foundation. They talked about which states needed shoring up, the best person to respond to questions or criticisms and who needed to travel to which state capital to testify, according to those familiar with the conversations. [Emphasis added.]

In the interview, Gates notes that he decided to financially support CCSS because he “believes in” the standards.  However, in March 2014, Gates is quite clear in an interview with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) that his support of CCSS was because “scale is good for free market competition.”

Gates is all but “free market.” In bankrolling CCSS, he purchased American public education. Incredibly, the federal government is fine with that. After all, USDOE already had an incestuous relationship with the Gates Foundation. As Layton notes:

Several top players in Obama’s Education Department who shaped the administration’s policies came either straight from the Gates Foundation in 2009 or from organizations that received heavy funding from the foundation. [Emphasis added.]

Indeed, as Layton points out, Gates’ influence upon the White House manifests via multiple, interrelated connections– connections that swiftly advanced CCSS before America knew what had hit it:

While the Gates Foundation created the burst of momentum behind the Common Core, the Obama administration picked up the cause and helped push states to act quickly.

There was so much cross-pollination between the foundation and the administration, it is difficult to determine the degree to which one may have influenced the other. [Emphasis added.]

Undoubtedly, this Gates interview was chock full of sensational news.

So, here’s a looming question:

Why did Layton wait three months until releasing the Gates interview video and her article?

The 28-minute video that is part of Layton’s June 7, 2014, article includes the following descriptor:

Bill Gates sat down with The Post’s Lyndsey Layton in March to defend the Gates Foundation’s pervasive presence in education and its support of the Common Core. Here is the full, sometimes tense, interview. [Emphasis added.]

The video specifies the interview date as March 14, 2014.

Maybe Gates was tense because in March 2014, he was clearly trying to “protect his investment,” so to speak, and save the standards, which Gates told the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards needed protecting– otherwise America would be “back to what we had before.”

What, to state standards not bankrolled by one billionaire?

Why wait three months?

I do believe I know exactly why.

As of March 14, 2014, 39 states and DC were in legislative session– a session that was particularly stormy for “state led” CCSS.

By Saturday, June 7, that number dropped to 11 and DC, with 6 and DC having no session end to anticipate.

2014 legis map

For a larger view click on the map.

State legislative session graphic for Friday, June 6, 2014  Note: Map has two errors: South Carolina and Vermont sessions had ended (June 5 and May 10, respectively). Also, Virginia’s special session was on budget and Medicaid.

Hold the story until the first Saturday in June, when most legislatures are no longer in session.

Quite the standards-rescuing coincidence, n’est-ce pas?

Like my writing? Read my newly-released ed “reform” whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education

Florida Governor Rick Scott Signs Bill to give Illegals Instate Tuition

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There is growing outrage with the Republican controlled legislature and Governor Rick Scott for giving illegals instate tuition at Florida’s colleges and universities. Here is a comment about Governor Scott signing  HB 851 on the Miami Herald blog:

The only bill that the citizens want regarding illegal aliens and university is that the universities must turn them in to the authorities for deportation when they become aware that they are involved in the universities. The voters have been won over by this scott after they initially doubted him as a political novice thanks to his exemplary fiscal stewardship but actions such as this threaten to damage the great amount of goodwill that this scott has generated. As this oddly named commentor has pointed out democrat primary voters are worried because their party leaders continue to ignore them and give party leader preferred status to the scumbag crist, a Trojan horse sent by republicans to ensure their easy victory as the much predicted crist campaign meltdown has in fact occurred. The most horrible crist has already offended many in this area who were born in or have ties to cuba with his support for communist dictators and many other offensive behaviors and activities.

Posted by: ed jenkins | June 09, 2014 at 09:39 AM

Some have rephrased the Karl Marx ideal of wealth redistribution and re-branded it for Governor Rick Scott:

“From each legal Florida citizen according to his ability, to each illegal in Florida according to his need”

Is this political posturing, crony capitalism, a violation of federal laws or all of the above? The Miami Herald reports:

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday signed legislation that allows students who are undocumented immigrants to qualify for less expensive in-state tuition at Florida colleges and universities. The bill (HB 851), sponsored by Rep. Jeannette Nunez, R-Miami, was one of the most intensely debated during the 2014 legislative session in Tallahassee. Scott signed the bill as he embarked on a week-long campaign swing focusing on his support for keeping higher education affordable in Florida, whille [sic] criticizing Democratic opponent Charlie Crist for having supported tuition hikes when he was a Republican governor. Scott plans stops in Fort Myers, Boca Raton, Miami, Orlando and Pensacola. The immigrant tuition bill passed the House 84-32 but was stalled in the Senate until Scott enlisted the public support of two former Republican governors, Jeb Bush and Bob Martinez, both of whom called on the Senate to take action. “Dreamer” students, dressed in orange mortar boards, were a freqent presence in the Capitol Rotunda this past spring as they rallied support for the measure. Read more.

According to  Hans A. von Spakovsky and Charles D. Stimson giving in-state college tuition to illegal aliens violates federal law. The following from their November 2011 column titled “Providing In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens: A Violation of Federal Law“:

Federal law prohibits state colleges and universities from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens “on the basis of residence within the State”—unless the same in-state rates are offered to all citizens of the United States. Today, 12 states are circumventing this federal law, and the legal arguments offered to justify such actions are untenable, no matter what other policy arguments are offered in their defense. Because at least one federal court of appeals has held that there is no private right of action under the specific statute in question—§ 1623 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996—the U.S. Department of Justice must enforce this statutory provision against states that have violated federal law. Yet even as it sues states like Arizona and Alabama for trying to assist the enforcement of federal immigration law, the U.S. government refuses to sue states that are incontrovertibly and brazenly violating an unambiguous federal immigration law. Such inaction is unacceptable: The President and the Attorney General have an obligation to enforce every provision of the United State’s comprehensive federal immigration regulations—including the federal law prohibiting state colleges and universities from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens “on the basis of residence within the State.”

Read the full Spakovsky and Stimson column by clicking here. Every Florida Legislative session has examples of bad public policy. Policy that turns into law, which clearly illustrate a disconnect between Florida elected officials and their citizen constituents. This is a prime example. RELATED POLICY: Florida’s Agenda 21 – Governor Rick Scott’s Executive Order 13-319, October 2013.

Lamenting the First Black President

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I’m happy that the American electorate showed the world that we are not racists; that we can elect a black person to be president of the United States. Too bad the first black president had to be Barack Obama.

I am one American who is utterly embarrassed having a president who is either a bumbling incompetent fool or is deftly working against the best interests of America, whether on the international front or the domestic side. The issues are infinite. I have written endlessly from the beginning of his presidency to the present time, pointing out the array of broken campaign promises and actions taken (or not taken) which harm our country, and our credibility abroad.

We can belabor each “scandal” to death, but when we form the aggregate of all the failures and bunglings, like assembling the tiles of a mosaic, they form an undeniable picture. We either have a president who is way out of his league, or he is working for the destruction of America as we know it…which might very well be a kept promise from the first night he won the 2008 election, saying, “We are going to fundamentally transform America.”   Now, we know what he meant…and it’s not good.

Assuming Mr. Obama might be innocently incompetent, we have only our voters to blame. They fell for a line of crap from a man who never even held a job, though his history was marinated in socialism. Voters were buffaloed into believing “hope” and “change” had some kind of substantial definition, when it had none. It was merely a slogan to lure the fish to the boat.

Though we don’t hear much about it any more, his entire history is still unresolved, how he traveled to Pakistan in 1981 when American passports were not being accepted; why and how he made so many friends in the Islamic world; how his college educated was financed; why he never releases his college admission records for review by Americans; why he withheld releasing a birth certificate for three years spending millions for lawyers fighting subpoenas before coming up with a document which has been deemed a forgery by numerous graphics experts; how he was raised Muslim until the age of ten and what impact that had on his perspectives of America; what influences did Frank Marshall Davis, his long-time childhood mentor and devout communist, had on his psyche; why he had backing from Saudi Arabia before entering Harvard law school; why and how he never held a regular job nor ever tried a case as an lawyer…a community organizer being nothing more than a fund raising machine to usher himself into power. Nothingqualified him to be a president other than a college degree.

The first few months gave us signals; the dismissal of federal charges against the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation activities which indicated that Mr. Obama might be a racist in his own right. Then the reach-out speech in Cairo to the Muslim world which has accomplished the reverse results…which signaled his partiality toward Islam and employing people connected to the Muslim Brotherhood in the highest levels of government.

Later, all the scandals, which…if it were any other president…would have signaled violations of his oath of office. But Mr. Obama, with his protective coats of arms in Harry Reid and Eric Holder, and wishful president, Hillary Clinton, — not to mention a lap-dog media – has gotten away with transgressions for which no other president would have been excused. The best known, of course, are Fast and Furious, selling arms to terrorists in Mexico for which no one has been held accountable; supporting Arab Spring which was nothing other than a power move by the Muslim Brotherhood to take control of the middle-east.; deploying military forces – without congressional approval – over Libya to help depose Moamar Ghadaffi when, in fact, he was posing no threat to the U.S; calling for the removal of Egypt’s Mubarak – our ally who also supported Israel – in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood; calling for Israel to return to their 1967 borders, an act that would be suicide to our dearest ally in the Middle East. Does anyone still wonder where Obama’s heart lies? Has he once decried the systemic annihilation of Christians and churches in the middle-east?

The list is seemingly endless. The IRS scandal targeting political opposition, the VA broken promises paying no attention to the avoidable deaths of veterans, the NSA’s intrusions, Benghazi’s crimes and cover-ups, and then negotiating with terrorists to secure the release from Gitmo’s five detainees who are the Taliban’s equivalent to Hitler’s Martin Bormann, Herman Goerring, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and Rudolf Hess.

The United Sates has had black leaders, past and present, who would be a credit to the office of president should they ever be elected. Sure, they have all had their flaws, but they could have brought bring dignity to the office with resumes that highlight their life’s accomplishments, solving problems, working and holding jobs.  Here are a few:

 Deval Patrick, Democrat.

Current governor of Massachusetts since 2006.  Graduated Harvard Law School Cum Laude, serving as a law clerk for a federal judge, then linked up with the NAACP to work on civil rights issues. Trial lawyer for a Boston firm for nearly eight years before being appointed as a U.S. Ass’t Attorney General by Bill Clinton in 1994. After three years in the public arena, he returned to private practice until 2005 when he ran for governor. People may dispute his political views, but Governor Patrick is respected and admired by folks on both sides of the aisle.

Douglas Wilder, Democrat.

Wilder served as governor of Virginia from 1990 – 1994 and later as mayor of Richmond from 2005 – 2009.  Considered a “moderate” democrat, Wilder was known for his fiscal conservatism while extolling liberal ideas on the social/civil rights side of politics. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War earning a Bronze Star. After earning a law degree from HowardUniversity, established a law practice in Richmond for ten years, then entered politics as a state senator in 1969.  In 1985, be became Lieutenant Governor, then governor in 1989 for one term.

Edward W. Brooke III, Republican

Served as the senator from Massachusetts from 1967 – 1979 after serving four years as the state’s Attorney General. After serving honorably as an Army captain in WWII, Brooke went to BostonLawSchool in 1948. In 1950, he won a seat in the state’s House of Representatives and went on to become appointed as the Chair of the Financial Commission of Boston. From there, he was elected Attorney General of Massachusetts where he worked five years until his election as governor in 1967.

 Tim Scott, Republican

Tim Scott is the current U.S. Senator from South Carolina, filling a vacancy by appointment the state governor. Previously, Scott served as a member of the state’s House of Representatives. From 1995 – 2009, Scott served on the Charleston County Council. Generally considered a staunch conservative, he is often criticized by black democrats. He holds a degree in political science from Charleston Southern University. His early personal life is replete with years of poverty and struggle.

Thurgood Marshall, Democrat

Marshall, whose grandfather had been a slave, graduated Howard University Law school, first in his class of 1933.  Eventually, he served as the first black Supreme Court justice from 1967 -1991. Before that, he was a U. S. Solicitor General. As an attorney affiliated with the NAACP, he worked on numerous cases for the advancement of civil rights.

Colin Powell, Republican

Born in Harlem, raised in the Bronx, Powell is best known for his military service to the U.S., as the first black four-star general and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A Vietnam veteran and full of decorations throughout his career, Powell was also the first black Secretary of State under President G.W. Bush. He was considered by many as a viable candidate for a presidential run, but chose not to. He also mysteriously supported Barack Obama’s campaign, despite remaining a republican

Condoleeza Rice, Republican

The first female National Security Adviser and then first female Secretary of State, appointed by President G.W. Bush, Ms. Rice grew up in Birmingham and later earned masters and doctorate degrees in political science at Notre Dame and University of Denver. In 1993, she was appointed provost of StanfordUniversity. Known for her intellectual skills, she also speaks Russian and French, plays concert piano and was one of the first women to be accepted into the August National Golf Club.

Let’s keep our eye on Doctor Ben Carson, pediatric neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins, a rising star politician whose career is laden with real accomplishments, including the saving of many lives, bringing joy and honor to his service.  Something we cannot say for Barack Obama who cannot correctly pronounce the word “Corpsman.”

Dr. Carson is one of many black dignitaries who I would happily vote for president. Better yet, maybe he’d nominate Allen West to be his vice president. That would suit me fine, I trust them both. The loathing that millions of Americans have for Barack Obama has nothing to do with his color. It’s about his character, which has been exposed over and over again. The sooner he is gone, the better for America.

RELATED VIDEO: Dr. Benjamin Carson’s Speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast

RELATED ARTICLE: The Obama Scandal List: Two Dozen and Counting | The Blog on Obama: White House Dossier

FBI investigating death threats to Bergdahl’s father

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RS-Lynched-300x271

For a larger view click on the image.

Some death threats are newsworthy. Some aren’t. When Daisy Khan, the wife of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, claimed to have been threatened a few years ago (not coincidentally at the height of the Ground Zero Mosque controversy), it was international news. So are these alleged threats to Robert Bergdahl. But the many death threats that counter-jihadists receive are never news.

This is because the purpose of the mainstream media’s publicizing of these death threats to Khan and Bergdahl is not, as one might think, to inform the public about the threats themselves. The point of publicizing them is to demonize the opposition to a cause the media loves but the public hates. 70% of the American people opposed the Ground Zero Mosque, but the media loved it; so Daily Khan’s supposed death threats were publicized. And now, amid the growing dismay over the Bergdahl trade, suddenly we hear that Robert Bergdahl has received death threats. This is a signal that media is going to run interference for Barack Obama yet again, and try to force the American people to swallow the Bergdahl trade.

A few of the death threats I have received over the years:

“Robert Spencer must be shot head…”

And via email:

“Robert Spencer has his right to speech. But someday he will slip up, he will visit a place that doesn’t honor such infidel ‘rights.’ And what a day they will have with him. You’ve heard of head cheese and blood pudding? See, modern hip Muslims like me like to be look different than everybody else in Western society. And we don’t like to believe Islam has any real enemies left. But Robert Spencer, well, he will see the sacred text come to life…’fuel the fires of hell…’ only when they are done with him. Peace and Love.”

“Robert Spencer the Second, born on February 27, 1962, is a hairy man who…currently lives on [specific street] in [specific city] with [specific relatives]…” (Pro-jihad hatchet man Nathan Lean, late of Reza Aslan’s Aslan Media and apparently also connected with John Esposito’s Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, has trafficked in this kind of veiled threat many times, publishing on Twitter what he thinks is my home address and the addresses of places he thinks I frequent — thereby knowingly endangering innocent people even if I am a thousand miles away from where he thinks I am. That Aslan and Esposito would work with this bottom-feeding thug and stalker reveals a great deal about their actual agenda.)

“Killing of this man is a model… SPENCER-Model..Spencer himself deserves the same? he should be sloughtered like that man. Silencing the EVIL.”

“THIS IS AN OPEN THREAT TO YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION TO STAY AWAY FROM MUSLIMS AND ISLAM IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU. YOU SON OF A BITCH . YOUR MOTHER WAS A C**K-SUCKING WHORE . IF YOU GOT THE GUTS AND BALLS PRINT THIS ON YOUR WEB SITE AND TELL PEOPLE THAT YOU ARE BEING THREATENED. U FILTHY C**K-SUCKER HAVE A NICE DAY”

“Yes. Yes..We finally reached out him. Ka’ab Binu Ashraf has been traced. He will be soon found. Will this be like VAN-Goooordhd. I am not sure. Allah Knows.. But Spencer you will pay the price…Just wait to pay the price.”

“Robert….It was really good I found you in a local supermarket. and I followed you.. so i know your address now..tell you fool followers you are going to be deceased very soon… any one taking your seat and getting killed? I am sure most of your followers are cheeky cowards.”

“Do me a favor Spencer and put this as a blog post like you do to all those threatening mails. Be careful, I am very near to you. I located you and I know you have little security around you. I am coming to slit your throat with a bland knife.. and it will pain a lot.. since you misled a lot of people and became a fitnah on earth.. it is a duty of a good muslim to kill you! go report this to FBI or CIA..And don’t worry, I won’t attack you unguarded.. but i will surely kill you in the most easy manner possible because I don’t like to slaughter human beings.. Die and go to hell.. for sure..and yea I have a new name for you…Robert ‘hawknoseinhell’ spencer.”

“Bowe Bergdahl’s Father Has Been Getting Death Threats,” by Laura Zuckerman, Reuters, June 8, 2014 (thanks to Kenneth):

SALMON Idaho (Reuters) – The father of Bowe Bergdahl, the Idaho soldier released from captivity in a controversial prisoner swap with the Taliban, has received emailed death threats that authorities are investigating, an Idaho police chief said on Saturday.

The first of the death threats sent to Bob Bergdahl at his home near Hailey, Idaho, was received on Wednesday, the same day the city canceled a planned rally celebrating the release of his son, Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said.

“There were four specific emails with death threats given to the FBI and they are looking into it,” Gunter told Reuters in an interview.

Authorities are providing security to Bob Bergdahl and his wife, Jani, but Gunter declined to elaborate on those measures.

Bergdahl’s release after being held for nearly five years in Afghanistan provoked an angry backlash in Congress among lawmakers over the Obama administration’s failure to notify them in advance. Some of Bergdahl’s former comrades have charged that he was captured in 2009 after deserting his post.

U.S. military leaders have said the circumstances of Bergdahl’s capture are unclear, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging critics to wait for all the facts to be known before rushing to judgment on Bergdahl.

The threats came as Hailey, a tourist community of some 8,000 people in the mountains of central Idaho, was buffeted by hundreds of vitriolic phone calls and emails.

The celebratory spirit that infused Hailey a week ago with news of Bergdahl’s release turned to apprehension as an onslaught of angry messages were directed at city officials, businesses and friends of the Bergdahls over a hometown rally to mark his freedom planned for June 28.

As many as 15,000 supporters and protesters were expected to descend on Hailey for an event that would have overwhelmed the resources and infrastructure of the remote mountain town and potentially risked public safety and property, city officials have said.

Residents of the close-knit community have been surprised and dismayed by an angry backlash that seemed to fault them for seeking to aid the Bergdahls in a time of need, Gunter said.

“We’ve always come together in tragedy or crisis, whether it be fire or one of our own being a prisoner of war. Whatever the problem is, the community will be there to help the people experiencing it,” he said.

RELATED VIDEO: Comments on news reports that Bowe Bergdahl joined the Taliban to wage jihad against American soldiers:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/s7Rx12vjTe0[/youtube]

 

RELATED ARTICLES:

Karachi airport attack: Taliban ‘trying to hijack plane’ in assault that left dozens dead
Not the First Time Obama Risked American Lives after Bypassing Congress
Seven Hours at the Border: Marine Held in Mexico’s New Legal Team Hones Case
Obama to Free Gitmo Terrorist ‘Because He Took Up Yoga’
Bergdahl ‘healthier than expected’: No intelligence supported bad health, says senator

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is courtesy of the Associated Press.

Will the 2014 Midterm Elections Repeat History?

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As Americans go to the polls in primary elections to select the candidates that will run in November, the question is how many Tea Party candidates will be among the winners. If there are a significant number among them, my feeling is that the November midterm elections are going to be a bloodbath for the Democratic Party.

There is a point at which even Democrats realize that their President, their party and their policies are harming the economy in general and themselves in particular. Very few families in America do not have someone who is out of work because of what Obama has done at this point. What he has not done is put the economy on the road to recovery.

Ultimately all elections are about jobs and the economy. With 92 million Americans out of work or who have just stopped looking for work, that’s a lot of unhappy voters. Elections tend to work in cycles. When times are good, politicians take credit for it and get reelected. When times are bad they blame the other party and are often rejected.

As we approach the November midterm elections the Obama administration’s political strategy has been to offer an increase in the minimum wage, to talk about equal pay and infrastructure, and to claim that the Affordable Care Act is working.

Raising the minimum wage will reduce new jobs because, at some point, a business needs to make a profit, but If they don’t pay enough, no one will work for them. For all the complaints about Wal-Mark and McDonald’s, these and other corporations employ thousands. Workers at a Toyota manufacturing facility were given the choice of joining the auto workers union and they rejected it.

A nation that has $17 trillion debt Is in no position to talk about spending billions on infrastructure. And the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for millions who were insured, lost their insurance, and then required to purchase plans they did not like and which cost more.

So, yes, voters, Democratic and Republican, are ready to reject incumbents in Congress seeking reelection if they voted for Obamacare and are giving evidence of liking candidates who express Tea Party movement ideals. And let’s not ignore the growing role of independent voters who are deciding the outcome of elections.

There is, moreover, a vast, often unspoken, dissatisfaction with President Obama for a variety of reasons. Chief among them is the realization that he lies about everything. Second term Presidents have received so much public exposure that it is human nature to grow tired of them. This aversion, in Obama’s case, is heightened by a long succession of scandals, the latest of which is the failure of the Veterans Administration to provide the services and care expected.

When you add the gun-running fiasco of “Fast and Furious”, the first scandal to erupt and those that followed, voters are less inclined to be forgiving. The 2010 midterm elections increased the Republican control of the House of Representatives. The 2014 elections are likely to cede control of the Senate to the GOP. The Republican Party will have a relatively short window of time to take dramatic action such as the repeal of Obamacare to make its mark before 2016.

Rarely mentioned by political pundits is the rot which the Obama administration has engendered throughout the whole of the federal government. The spending by various elements of it has demonstrated an indifference to the massive debt run up by failed programs such as the stimulus, the crony capitalism billions wasted on green energy companies—wind, solar, biofuels, and batteries—that taxpayers ended up losing.

Another unspoken element of the Obama message to voters is its obscene emphasis on “climate change” as the all-purpose cause of weather-related events that have always existed. This is exacerbated by the Secretary of State’s claim that climate change is an even greater threat to the nation than Islamic terrorism or actions being taken by Russia, China and Iran, among others. The climate change message is intended to distract voters from the economy and issues based in reality. Climate change barely registers as a concern among voters.

The President’s lavish lifestyle that has included hugely expensive family vacations, lots of golf, and his non-stop fundraising, particularly among the “one percent” wealthy, has not gone unnoticed by voters. The role of the First Lady plays into this as she promotes nutritional programs that have not found favor, particularly in the nation’s schools.

Nor have voters found the issue of race which seems to dominate the Attorney General’s views and actions to correlate with reality. Fifty years past the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has demonstrated considerable improvement in the lives of black Americans. Talking about school segregation as the Attorney General recently did seems oddly out of place to many voters who are far more concerned about the general deterioration of the nation’s education system that has led to a call for more and more charter schools.

We have a President who has endorsed both same-sex marriage and the legalization of marijuana, neither of which appeals to the vast majority of Americans. His open rejection of the Defense of Marriage Act is contrary to the oath he took to enforce all laws. His use of executive orders to alter Obamacare’s implementation for purely political reasons raises more questions about his indifference to the oath he took.

The swap of five high-ranked Taliban detainees for a U.S. soldier who reportedly deserted his post in Afghanistan is just the icing on the cake this primary day.

The voters have many reasons in November to express their dissatisfaction with Obama and the Democratic Party. They did so in 2010 and despite Obama’s reelection in 2012 they appear ready to do so again in November of 2014.

© Alan Caruba, 2014