After H&R Block released its latest sales forecast, its stock price plunged by 18 percent on Wednesday.Read more here.
Normally, such a decline in stock price based on projected earnings would be viewed as a bad sign for the economy. But in this case, the tax preparers' loss is definitely America's gain.
Not to say that H&R Block isn’t a fine business or that we don’t want it to succeed by serving its customers well. We hope it keeps finding new ways to be valuable to more people.
But if you could do without a tax preparer next year and instead spend the money on, say, a vacation, or season tickets to see your local minor league baseball team, or even invest it in your small business, you would surely do it in a heartbeat.
The only reason paid tax preparation is necessary at all is that the tax code is too complicated for individual earners to file for themselves.
This is a problem that President Trump and Republicans set out to fix late last year. And the plunge in H&R Block’s forecasts demonstrates that the tax experts think they at least partly succeeded.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act wasn't a tax reform in the purest sense. It didn't really simplify the code. But it did simplify filing for a huge portion of taxpayers.
One of the most important things the tax reform bill does is to double the standard deduction beginning next spring. This means that unless you have more than $24,000 in write-offs (or $12,000 if you’re single), you don’t need to bother with the complicated and arduous process of itemizing deductions.
This is why H&R Block projects that fewer Americans will need their services. To be specific, an estimated 29 million additional households will be able to file their taxes next year the easy way and come out ahead.
...The most obvious and immediate effect of tax reform will be that people and businesses stop making financial decisions based on considerations that would be irrelevant but for tax considerations. For corporations, this means that instead of investing their money in accountants who can milk the tax code for extra dollars and cents, businesses will do what they’re supposed to be doing: invest in providing better goods and services to their customers.
For individuals, it means that the dead-weight cost to them of tax season has suddenly been dramatically reduced.
Nothing against the good people of H&R Block, but this is a victory for taxpayers. They are being liberated from an expensive hassle. It’s also a victory for the economy as a whole, whose tax code-induced inefficiencies are being ironed out at last.
Friday, June 15, 2018
A victory for taxpayers
The Washington Examiner brings us this news:
Curiosity, creativity, joy, and darkness
At The Federalist, Caroline D'Agati writes about the suicides of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.
...We loved these people because they helped us see something in the world that brightened the monotony or sadness of our lives. Their curiosity, creativity, and joy gave us a reason to have some, too.Read more here.
To take their own lives was a repudiation of the beauty and joy that they brought to us. They gave us something marvelous then took it back in the most devastating way.
...As Kate, Anthony, Robin, and so many other entertainers show, even giving joy to others, in the end, is not enough. So in the end, why bother? How can we not be defeated when we set our eyes on the brokenness of this world? The answer: to fix our eyes on another world. The writer C.S. Lewis famously said that, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” If we believe this life is all there is, the darkness will blind us to the majesty and beauty of life.
Suicide is the tragic, but reasonable response to being confronted by life’s reality with no salve of deeper meaning to bandage the wound. This is why a life without God, no matter how grand, will always leave our hearts unfulfilled.
So please, take medication. Talk to your family. Go get treatment. Your life is precious to God and the people around you. It is worth fighting for. But no matter what help those things bring, our hearts only find true peace when they live for the one who created them. I wish my friends Kate and Anthony had felt that peace.
Missing from this document are the indictments.
Don Surber writes,
...The FBI is run by people who think they are above the law.Read more here.
They may be right.
Missing from this document are the indictments.
...Jimmy the Weasel Comey should be arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and sundry other crimes like the common criminal he is.
Arrogant Andrew McCabe, Peter the Politician Strzok, Lisa Page, and a whole slew of other agents need to be arrested, jailed, and charged with every crime possible.
This calls for a Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization prosecution because these boys and girls turned a federal agency into their private protection racket.
Devin Nunes: "This is a classic case of obstruction!" DeSouza: Criminals with badges!
Comey's game with Congress: "This is all classified. We can't talk about it!" "It is still true today with the people in charge at DOJ and FBI: they are trying to run this clock out so we can't finish our investigations."
Laura: Comey should change his middle name to Hubris!
Unlike the other talking heads, Laura Ingraham has actually read the IG report. The FBI and DOJ intended to impact the election, but they failed. Do not underestimate Laura Ingraham, who is very smart, and is getting better and better at her new gig as a t.v. commentator.
How about Obama's lie that he found out about Hillary's private server "at the same time as everybody else," through the media. In fact, Obama was one of thirteen people who communicated with Hillary on that private server, using a fake name. What did he know and when did he know it? Congress should subpoena Obama.
Laura: Comey should change his middle name to Hubris!
Unlike the other talking heads, Laura Ingraham has actually read the IG report. The FBI and DOJ intended to impact the election, but they failed. Do not underestimate Laura Ingraham, who is very smart, and is getting better and better at her new gig as a t.v. commentator.
How about Obama's lie that he found out about Hillary's private server "at the same time as everybody else," through the media. In fact, Obama was one of thirteen people who communicated with Hillary on that private server, using a fake name. What did he know and when did he know it? Congress should subpoena Obama.
Just a small boy flying a kite?
Anna Ahronheim reports in the Jerusalem Post,
...Gazans have been protesting along the border with Israel since March 30 as part of what organizers have called the “Great March of Return.” Demonstrators have been throwing stones, Molotov cocktails and rocks toward Israeli troops and flying incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory, destroying more than 900 hectares (2,200 acres) of forest, nature reserves and agricultural fields.Read more here.
...Last week for the first time, Palestinian demonstrators launched kites – and helium balloons, which can fly further – with explosive devices such as pipe bombs attached that are set off by cellphones once they approach troops. Last Friday, one of dozens of these devices exploded in the air above troops, causing no injuries.
“It looks romantic – a small boy is flying a kite, something that seems to be from a movie like Mary Poppins – but the truth is different. These are terror attacks, with IEDs, which are trying to harm Israel,” said IDF Intelligence Directorate head Maj.-Gen. Tamir Heyman on Wednesday at a closed-door forum at the International Homeland Security Forum in Jerusalem.
FIB
At the Ace of Spades blog, JJ Sefton writes,
Good morning kids. The big story as we close out the week is the long-awaited IG Report on the FBI Clinton E-Mail Investigation. Well, Horowitz came, he saw and he conked out. No real surprise since Michael Horowitz has extensive ties to Obama, Clinton and the Deep State as well as Nazi collaborator George Soros. As Ace and the Horde have stated, this is not surprising at all. But, whitewashed and sanitized as it is, the revelations are no less infuriating, given what we know of Hillary and Obama. And even more rage-inducing is the complete tone-deaf, clueless and arrogant response of current FBI director Christopher Wray, who thinks that sensitivity training is what's needed and then all will be Efrem Zimbalist-like sweetness and light. In fact, what is needed is mass firings, trials and incarcerations with long sentences and stiff penalties for the likes of Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Rosenfraud and more than likely Robert Mueller himself for covering up the crimes of Hillary Clinton and by extension Barack Obama. Which also means the same thing if not worse for them.
But this is the real world. Nothing will come of this except for a slap on the wrist for Jimmy Drama et al, and maybe a short stretch in Club Fed for McCabe, Strzok and Page followed by a high six-figure book deal and a slot on CNN or MSNBC. And as you digest or puke over all of that on top of your salmonella-tainted Sugar Smacks (see the link), the Robert Mueller kangaroo court persecution of PDT and his allies and associates grinds on and on and on and on. And in order to give the Democrat-Media Complex air cover, New York's new AG is going after the Trump Foundation, accusing the President and several of his children of using the funds for personal enrichment. This after the Clinton Foundation has been in existence since 2000 selling out America by the pound, and Erik "here-we-whip-the-women-just-around-midnight" Schneiderman ran cover for them when he was the shyster-in-chief of the NY AG office. Can you see the blood shooting out of my eyes yet?
At this stage, given the cancer and rot that is the Washington DC establishment and Deep State, beyond mass firings and imprisonment, I think the dismantling of the FBI is long overdue. It's bad enough that these people detest regular, honest, decent hardworking Americans. What's worse is that they have a contempt for the very institutions and laws that they took an oath to uphold. That cannot stand and that cannot be allowed to continue. That is the cancer that is, as Abe Lincoln said, is eating at the vitals of our nation. It's us or them. War.
The other big story continues to be the other group of frauds, criminals, traitors and "paskudnyaks" as represented by Paul Ryno and the RINOs who are attempting to push through a shameless Amnesty bill that has been described as the worst ever. Paul Mirengoff at Powerline has a good analysis of the politics involved and thinks even if it does pass in the House, it would get shot down in the Senate. He hopes (as we all do). Meanwhile Nancy Palsi is demagoguing through her dentures about "the children!" vis a vis the new zero tolerance policy about border detentions, and sadly, some in the GOP are going wobbly on it. Sheesh. Also, when pressed about illegals depressing the wages of real American citizens, Palsi blurts out a laugher, which is actually a mini truth bomb.
On the foreign policy front, a big under-the-radar summit is taking place between PDT and Xi, but the Chi-Coms are not on board with full denuclearization of the NorKs before the lifting of sanctions, and the Trump administration is pressing Cuba about the unknown sonic attacks on our diplomats. Domestically, some good news from the courts about Obamacare, free expression at polling stations and Sarah Huckabee-Sanders is a national treasure.
Lastly, a great piece from American Thinker about the right to discriminate and yesterday marked one year since the Democrat-inspired terrorist Hodgkinson - whose links and communications with Dick "turd-bin" Durbin are still being hushed up - shot up a Republican baseball practice and critically wounded several GOP politicians, almost killing Steve Scalise. As if we needed a reminder, that's what happens when Trump is literally Hitler, when Nancy Palsi calls for confrontation and when Obama wants his followers to get in our faces.
Which is better, forced unanimity or freedom?
Oregon Muse writes at the Ace of Spades blog,
...if it were "about the cake", homosexuals can easily find other bakers to design wedding cakes for them. It's not like Christians have a lock on the bakery business. It's not about baking a cake, it's about forcing your political enemies to submit to your terms and then rubbing their faces in it. Normal people can easily imagine a country that is big enough to serve both groups, where the owners of bakery 'A' do not want to do gay weddings, but bakery 'B' down the street is happy to do gay weddings, and there needn't be any quarreling about it. Everybody can live happily side by side. But progressives don't want this. The very existence of people who think differently than they do fills them with mindless fury. Even if the country were divided between 99% progressives and 1% normal people, the progressives would be constantly whining and crying about that 1%. Because in their view, forced unanimity is better than freedom."
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Learning about North Korea
At Washington Institute, Kongdan Oh writes,
Anthony Ruggiero adds,
Today, North Korea is changing internally. Its citizens have around 3.7 million cell phones and can directly contact people in parts of South Korea, China, and Russia
Anthony Ruggiero adds,
Iran’s missile relationship with North Korea is robust—so much so that the Obama administration took the diplomatic risk of sanctioning Tehran for receiving materials from Pyongyang just one day after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was implemented.Read more here.
FBI agents accepted bribes from multiple media outlets
Sundance reports at The Conservative Treehouse,
On Page Xii of the IG report the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) highlights numerous FBI officials who accepted bribes from multiple media outlets including: “tickets to sporting events”, “golf outings”, “drinks and meals” as well as exclusive invitations and admission to “nonpublic social events”.Read more here.
The OIG investigative finding was disturbing enough to launch a separate set of investigations that will be included in follow-up reports.
The narcissism of negotiation, Dad is a lot like me! Fatherless kids is the nation's number one social problem, Pick up the cards and play them to the best of your ability!
You will laugh at Andrew's opening segment...or else!
Happy Birthday to President Trump today!
Andrew explains that Trump is a negotiator. "Kim knew I was not playing around. He's not playing around!" As he answers Bret Baier's questions, he is talking to Kim! "He's a very smart guy and a great negotiator, but I think we understand each other!"
In honor of Fathers Day Larry Elder is Andrew's guest. Larry has written a book entitled A Lot Like Me, about his reconciliation with his father. This interview is very moving!
40% of kids in America are raised without fathers. 73% of black kids, 50% of Hispanic kids, 25% of white kids. It is the number one social problem in this country!
Nevertheless, you still have an obligation to pick up the cards and play them to the best of your ability!
Happy Birthday to President Trump today!
Andrew explains that Trump is a negotiator. "Kim knew I was not playing around. He's not playing around!" As he answers Bret Baier's questions, he is talking to Kim! "He's a very smart guy and a great negotiator, but I think we understand each other!"
In honor of Fathers Day Larry Elder is Andrew's guest. Larry has written a book entitled A Lot Like Me, about his reconciliation with his father. This interview is very moving!
40% of kids in America are raised without fathers. 73% of black kids, 50% of Hispanic kids, 25% of white kids. It is the number one social problem in this country!
Nevertheless, you still have an obligation to pick up the cards and play them to the best of your ability!
Elites vs. Normals
At Town Hall, Kurt Schlichter writes,
...And I thought collusion with foreign leaders to influence American policy was wrong. Yet all I see are liberals, their Fredocon travelers, and their media minions commiserating with outsiders, with foreigners, against the guy who Normal Americans elected as the president. Collusion, if you will, to change American policy to what foreigners want. Gosh, it's almost as if all this talk about collusion was a bunch of baloney from the word go.Read more here.
...They are seeking to ensure their own gravy train doesn't get derailed. This is why they tell you, in between informing you how stupid you are, that there are only a few tariffs out there and they don't matter. Well, they sure as heck don't matter to these think tank jockeys and media scribblers. They are not the guys getting up at 4 a.m. to milk the cows or to harvest the soybeans the tariffs target. They've never worked on a vehicle assembly line in their lives, so what’s it matter to them if Germany’s tariff on US cars is four times ours to theirs? Of course, the tariffs on US products don't matter to the elite. They aren’t the guys who lose their jobs when their company picks up and moves to Vietnam.
I don’t like tariffs. I’d tear them all down, everywhere, just like Trump proposed. But the elite isn’t for that. It’s only against tariffs we impose to retaliate for the tariffs the foreigners impose.
And the elite are now apparently against peace talks, but they aren’t the ones who would fight the war Donald Trump is trying to prevent in North Korea. Turns out peace talks have been terrible since January 2017. Who knew?
Free riders of Europe
Seth Barrett Tillman writes,
Perhaps, one reason that some of our allies’ governments are “alienated” is that Trump appeared quite serious in telling our allies to meet their 2%-of-GDP defense commitment—a NATO policy. It is a policy which is only being met by about 5 of NATO’s 28 members. See http://time.com/4680885/nato-defense-spending-budget-trump/. It might surprise some on this listserv that some Americans are alienated by our forever footing the defense bill (including the all too real human costs) on behalf of the free riders of Europe.
"We'll stop it!"
Representative Mark Meadows tweeted today,
Lisa Page text to Peter Strzok: “(Trump’s) not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”
Strzok reply: “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it.”
This Peter Strzok text about "stopping" Donald Trump was hidden from Congressional investigators. We never had it. Absolutely unreal.
Gowdy is alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed.
For what it is worth, here is House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy's statement on the IG's findings. It begins,
“I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General’s finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Read the whole thing here.
Do you believe Comey when he says he didn't know Huma Abedin was married to Weiner?
From the IG report released today: Ace brings us this statement from Lyin' Jim Comey.
Comey claims that he was not alert to the importance of the emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop because he "doesn't know that he knew" that Anthony Weiner was married to Hillary Clinton's Gal Friday Through Thursday Huma Abedin.347,000 Clinton emails on Weiner's laptop! More on the whitewash here.
What good are inspectors general if a president ignores any illegality and impropriety that they have uncovered?
Victor Davis Hanson writes at Real Clear Politics about the
nearly nonstop scandals during Obama's eight years in office involving the IRS; General Services Administration; Peace Corps; Secret Service; Veterans Administration; and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, not to mention the Clinton email server scandal, the Benghazi scandal and the 2016 Democratic National Committee email scandal.Read more here.
For nearly eight years, the Obama administration sought to cover up serial wrongdoing by waging a veritable war against the watchdog inspectors general of various federal agencies.
In 2014, 47 of the nation's 73 inspectors general signed a letter alleging that Obama had stonewalled their "ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently, and in a timely manner."
The frustrated nonpartisan auditors cited systematic Obama administration refusals to turn over incriminating documents that were central to their investigations.
The administration had purportedly tried to sidetrack an IG investigation into possible misconduct by then-Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. In addition, the Obama administration reportedly thwarted IG investigations of Amtrak, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Office of Management and Budget.
Despite the campaign against these independent federal auditors, a number of inspectors general still managed to issue damning indictments of unethical behavior.
In 2012, Horowitz recommended that 14 Justice Department and ATF officials be disciplined for their conduct in the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal.
A 2013 IG audit found that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny prior to the 2012 Obama re-election effort.
In 2014, an internal audit revealed that CIA officials had hacked the Senate Intelligence Committee's computers while compiling a report on enhanced interrogation techniques. CIA Director John Brennan had claimed that his agents were not improperly monitoring Senate staff computer files. He was forced to retract his denials and apologize for his prevarication.
In 2016, the State Department's inspector general found that Hillary Clinton had never sought approval for her reckless and illegal use of an unsecured private email server. The IG also found that staffers who were worried about national security being compromised by the unsecured server were silenced by other Clinton aides.
Still, Obama was right in a way: A scandal does not become a scandal if no one acts on findings of improper behavior.
Under former attorneys general Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, the findings of dozens of IGs were snubbed. That raises the question: What good are inspectors general if a president ignores any illegality and impropriety that they have uncovered?
Threat to the Constitution
In the Washington Times, Charles Hurt does not mince words when he describes the behavior of Rod Rosenstein at the Department of Justice.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
President Trump has once again done something astounding and unpredictable.
Fox News, Newt Gingrich writes about the Singapore Summit.
...I do believe, however, that – through a combination of toughness and boldness, aggressiveness and flexibility, and resolution and an amazingly fast grasping of tactical opportunities – President Trump may have begun the process of opening up North Korea and changing history.Read more here.
President Trump has already accomplished more with North Korea than Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama combined. And this is just the beginning.
The Iran deal was born in deceit, sold through deception, and kept alive by willful blindness. The looming “Korean deal” should be approached by employing the very opposite methodology used in Obama’s Iran deal
In National Review, Victor Davis Hanson thinks he knows what Iran's plans have been from day one of the nuclear deal they got from Obama.
Ostensibly postpone a bomb now, at a time when the regime was facing growing unrest and near bankruptcy from sanctions — and thus was in no position anyway to build an arsenal of bombs and missiles.VDH makes many other crucially important points here.
Keep occasionally cheating to ensure the apparatus for bomb-making was successfully hibernated — and therefore easily restarted at a future date.
Enjoy hundreds of billions of dollars in new commercial income over the next ten to 15 years to quiet domestic unrest, and to bank enough cash to go fully nuclear in the future.
Forge the so-called Shiite Crescent to the Mediterranean, by dominating Bashir al-Assad’s weak Syria, exploring anti-Sunni possibilities in Yemen, and bulking up Hezbollah’s Lebanon, while stocking a huge arsenal of preemptive missiles based near Israel. Hope that Iran’s regional strategic stature would only improve over the next decade.
Expect natural breakthroughs in technology to make future bomb-making easier and cheaper when the accord expired.
... On the eve of Trump’s decision to withdraw from the deal, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dramatic televised disclosures of captured Iranian documents more or less confirmed the obvious: Iran never had any intention of forgoing its nuclear-bomb-making efforts, as implied by prior politicized national-intelligence estimates. The only mystery was why Iran had carefully recorded evidence of its own deception. In eerie fashion, it was almost as if at some future date Iran had planned to add insult to injury by reminding its mugged partners just how gullible they had been. Or perhaps some Iranian diplomatic grandees feared that in revolutionary Tehran, any purported appeasers would have been tried for treason, so they needed documentary evidence that they had been patriotic cheaters all along.
...The Iran deal was born in deceit, sold through deception, and kept alive by willful blindness. The more we were told it could not be nullified, the more malodorous it became. Nothing since its death has proven it wise; everything has confirmed it really was, in the words of Trump, “a “disaster.”
A final note. The looming “Korean deal” should be approached by employing the very opposite methodology used in Obama’s Iran deal: Be prepared to walk away; assume North Korea will cheat; do not separate its terrorist behavior or ballistic missiles from its promises to denuclearize; and focus on its nuclear patrons, without which there could be no North Korean bomb; expect even a denuclearized North Korea to remain an enemy of the U.S; do not invest presidential stature in the mercurial whims of a thug.
Who is the bigger man, the clucking reporter or Donald Trump?
At Spectator, Roger Kimball remninds us
the North Koreans have been double-crossing U.S. Presidents at least since Bill was sharing his cigars with Monica Lewinsky.Read more here.
At yesterday’s press conference, these thoughts were in the background and the questions revolved around two concerns: human rights abuses in North Korea and verifiability.
Let me stipulate that to describe what Kim has done to the people of North Korea as “human rights abuses” is a gross understatement. Guess what: Donald Trump knows this. Remember Ji Seong-ho, the North Korean defector who sat in the First Lady’s box at Trump’s State of the Union address and wowed the audience by waving his crutches in the air? Donald Trump knows what a nasty piece of work Kim Jong-un is just as Ronald Reagan knew that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire.”
...Donald Trump clearly understands the tentative exploratory nature of his diplomatic initiative. He understands that the diplomacy might not work. But the possibility of effecting the denuclearisation of North Korea is too great an opportunity to pass up. It is a possibility, which means that it might fail. That’s one reason Trump is maintaining the tough sanctions that are imposed against North Korea. His strategy of maximum pressure brought Kim to the bargaining table. Let’s see what else it can do.
Notwithstanding the cavils of the ATMC, Trump won major concessions from Kim. The agreement they signed calls for the rapid, complete, and verifiable denuclearisation of the country. In a late addition to the agreement, it also calls for the destruction of a major missile test site. Kim also agreed to return the remains of some 6000 American dead to their families.
Will all of this happen? Stay tuned. Two final thoughts. One, this is what bold diplomacy looks like. It is two parts theatre, one part substantive agreement. You don’t get the result you want instantly. It is, to use a word Trump deployed a week or two before the summit, a “process.” You don’t get a reformation of human rights and McDonald’s and the beach-front condos all at once. You don’t even get all the military concessions all at once. But you start the ball rolling. You say nice things about Kim. You tell the world that he is “talented,” that only “one in ten-thousand” young men would have been able to step into the role and maintain power as he has. You flatter him. “Do you see Kim Jong-un as an equal?” one reporter asked. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make the world a safer place,” Trump responded, even share a stage with him. Who is the bigger man, the clucking reporter or Donald Trump?
Finally, it’s difficult to appreciate the fact that one is living through an historic moment as it unfolds. You get up, boil the egg and butter the toast. You’re absorbed in the daily round of your life. But sometimes big things are happening around you. I believe that what Donald Trump inaugurated yesterday in North Korea may be one such event. There are no guarantees. There never are on the field of international relations. But you’d think that the Left, which is always going on about the importance of dialogue, would champion Donald Trump’s efforts. They don’t, partly because they despise the messenger, partly because his success only underscores their own irrelevance. That in itself has its comic aspects, also its pathetic ones. I think that this is what Hegel called a world-historical moment. If so, I will also note that the dialectic, as the anti-Trump Chihuahuas are about to discover, is a remorseless engine of change. Yesterday people listened to you. Tomorrow, you have a million Twitter followers but no one cares what you say.
The Summit in Singapore, Alec Baldwin for president? Four more California Senators?
President Trump tweeted, "Our country's biggest enemy is the fake news promulgated by fools!" He singled out CNN and NBC.
Jesse starts talking about how Obama botched pretty much everything he touched, and right away Juan starts laughing rudely while Jesse talked.
Alec Baldwin is 100% sure he could be elected president in 2020. Greg encourages him to run.
Will voters in California choose to break it up into three states? Do we really want to give California four more senators?
Jesse starts talking about how Obama botched pretty much everything he touched, and right away Juan starts laughing rudely while Jesse talked.
Alec Baldwin is 100% sure he could be elected president in 2020. Greg encourages him to run.
Will voters in California choose to break it up into three states? Do we really want to give California four more senators?
Haters, Dads who shine a light to inspire kids to be themselves, the Left's rage, Wisdom is knowing what to overlook!
He was robbed! Michael Knowles and Ben Shapiro were both designated by the Southern Policy Law Center as haters, but Andrew was not mentioned. He is incensed! He urges all to let the Southern Poverty Law Center know that he hates them!
Fatherhood done right shines a light so that his kids can be themselves! Being yourself, but not making your kids imitate you! A mother is like the earth; the kids come out of her and she feeds and nurtures them. A father is like the sun; the children can see what a good man looks like. We have to be joyful in doing the right things so that our kids will want the joyful life, too!
Bad things are active: rape, murder, etc., but good is God drawing us to His love. The President is not your father; he's more like your boss.
The Left has been raging in a time of more freedom than we had under Obama, ISIS has been destroyed, we have returned to a more Constitutional government. The Left's rage is because they think the government is their dad. Trump is the government's CEO, not its dad. The rage that is coming out of Hollywood and the news media is not political; it is psychological. Rage-filled, twisted, irrelevant people!
Wisdom is knowing what to overlook! Andrew is happy with the things Trump dislikes. He dislikes globalism not keyed into American values. He understands national borders mean something, national strength means something.
Today is mailbag day and Andrew answers some really well-written letters.
We have a tendency on the right to be a little pessimistic. Seattle thought their homelessness problem would be solved by affordable housing. It should be solved by shelters and mental health care. They thought they would pay for affordable housing by taxing employers. It has already been repealed.
Trump is having an effect on the primaries.
Fatherhood done right shines a light so that his kids can be themselves! Being yourself, but not making your kids imitate you! A mother is like the earth; the kids come out of her and she feeds and nurtures them. A father is like the sun; the children can see what a good man looks like. We have to be joyful in doing the right things so that our kids will want the joyful life, too!
Bad things are active: rape, murder, etc., but good is God drawing us to His love. The President is not your father; he's more like your boss.
The Left has been raging in a time of more freedom than we had under Obama, ISIS has been destroyed, we have returned to a more Constitutional government. The Left's rage is because they think the government is their dad. Trump is the government's CEO, not its dad. The rage that is coming out of Hollywood and the news media is not political; it is psychological. Rage-filled, twisted, irrelevant people!
Wisdom is knowing what to overlook! Andrew is happy with the things Trump dislikes. He dislikes globalism not keyed into American values. He understands national borders mean something, national strength means something.
Today is mailbag day and Andrew answers some really well-written letters.
We have a tendency on the right to be a little pessimistic. Seattle thought their homelessness problem would be solved by affordable housing. It should be solved by shelters and mental health care. They thought they would pay for affordable housing by taxing employers. It has already been repealed.
Trump is having an effect on the primaries.
Splitting up California?
Will California be divided into three states? It will be on the ballot this fall.
Read the arguments for splitting it up at The Daily Wire.
Read the arguments for splitting it up at The Daily Wire.
The Beijing/Pyongyang connection
Sundance reports at The Conservative Treehouse,
In essence, President Trump may now enter into a land where the officials report exclusively to Chairman Xi, and no-one knew. This presents a possibility the larger global community might soon discover the true nature of the Beijing/Pyongyang connection.Read more here.
...Within this dynamic Chairman Kim received the scorn of the international community; but was -in reality- merely a figurehead, a false panda face – hiding the true authority behind all of the DPRK policy, and a designed strategy constructed by China.
...Under this scenario, it is adverse to the interest of China for a united, open and democratic Korean peninsula where the North and South are together again. It would be particularly adverse to Xi’s interests if the U.S., Japan and a united Korea formed any substantive international alliance.
The best play for China would be to control the outcomes of any unification and position China as the control agent for any united Korea. This would be critically important if, as I am now increasingly confident, North Korea was/is actually a proxy province of China and has been for decades under the complete -albeit hidden- rule of the Chinese authority.
He's conflicted and he's acting like it."
In National Review, Andrew McCarthy writes that Rod Rosenstein is beset by profound conflicts of interest, and he’s acting like it.Read more here.
...We learned that the FBI had not been able to verify the dossier’s claims (and that even Steele does not stand behind them), but that the Justice Department presented them to the court anyway.
We learned that the Justice Department failed to tell the FISA court that Steele’s reports were an anti-Trump opposition-research project paid for by the Clinton campaign — i.e., paid for by the political candidate endorsed by the president, paid for by the party of the incumbent administration that had applied for the FISA warrant against its political opponent.
We learned that the Justice Department failed to tell the FISA court that Steele — on whose credibility it was relying — had been discontinued by the FBI as a source because he had lied about his contacts with the media.
We learned that one of those contacts with the media (specifically, with Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News) had generated a news story that the Justice Department actually offered as corroboration for Steele — on the false theory that someone other than Steele was the source for the story.
We learned that the revelation of these facts posed no danger to national security or to methods and sources of intelligence-gathering. Instead, the Justice Department and FBI had fought tooth-and-nail against disclosure because these facts are embarrassing and indicative of an abuse of power.
And we learned that, after the initial 90-day FISA warrant was authorized in October 2016 (about three weeks before the election), it was reauthorized three times — well into the first year of the Trump administration. Meaning: The last FISA-warrant application was approved at the Justice Department by none other than Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
...Congress has not only the authority but the responsibility to conduct oversight of the operations of executive departments it has established and funds, and whose operations it defines and restricts by statute.
What would have happened if gun control activists have their way?
7 News in Miami reports on an incident in Jacksonville. Headline:
Suspected Walmart robber tries to carjack two different cars, both drivers pull out gunsRead more here
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WSVN) — Police say a man who tried to carjack two people was thwarted after the victims both pulled out guns to protect themselves.
According to Fox 30, Jacksonville police officers arrested 36-year-old Christopher Raymond Hill, charging him with strong-arm robbery, carjacking with firearm or deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and trespassing.
Detectives said the incident began when Hill robbed a Walmart liquor store, and attempted to flee in a silver Ford SUV. However, witnesses said the vehicle would not start, so he first tried to carjack Scott Reardean at knifepoint, cutting him on his arms and legs.
“I reached in between my glove box and my console, between my seats, reached down and got my weapon and brandished it for him,” Reardean told WJXT. “He was like, ‘Don’t shoot me.’ I was like, ‘Then get out of here.’”
Hill then jumped into the passenger seat of a woman’s car in a Starbucks drive-thru. Police said the woman got out of her car and grabbed a pistol from her trunk, pointing it at Hill until he ran off.
Reardean said he was glad he had his gun with him for self-defense.
“These guys can talk about banning assault rifles and banning guns, but when it comes and happens to them, they’re going to wish they had one,” Reardean told the station.
Ultimately, police found Hill inside the bathroom of a Supercuts, where he surrendered.
There's an iron first in Trump's velvet glove. "The only contents of Obama's glove was a limp wrist and a sweaty palm."
Oregon Muse offers this Morning Rant,
"So with Trump meeting with Whoa! Fat in Singapore, I'm being buried in an avalanche of whataboutism. That is, Trump haters on both sides of the aisle are squealing about how conservatives would be flipping out if Obama sat down with Kim. But this is one of those "all things being equal" false equivalencies. Because things are definitely not equal here. Trump has lots of experience negotiating deals; in fact, he actually wrote a book on the subject. Obama, on the other hand, was a feckless incompetent. Obama's idea of a deal was to suck up to the Iranian mullahs and give them truckloads of cash with which they could use to ramp up their military capacity and nuclear research. Also don't forget the Bowe Bergdahl fiasco where we gave up five big-league terrorists for one traitorous scumbag. In what universe is that a good deal? Trump, however, is negotiating from a position of strength: he's giving Li'l Kim reasonable alternatives after threatening to blow him up. There's an iron first in that velvet glove. The only contents of Obama's glove was a limp wrist and a sweaty palm."
The ageing of the dawn of Aquarius.
Do you want to understand what is happening in Europe? This column by Mark Steyn is a terrific start!
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Enough, Europe!
JJ Sefton writes at Ace of Spades,
... in the aftermath of the G-7 summit the Democrat-Left-Media complex and the Eurabians are all butthurt that PDT has insulted them and not knuckled under, like previous administrations have (for the most part) since the end of World War II. With all due respect to Europe and the Left, which is to say none at all, GFY. The President is right; we spent our blood and treasure liberating you from ideologies of your own making twice in a generation and after rebuilding your continent and economies, we've spent nearly 75 years afterwards funding your dissolute, insane, cheese-eating, wine-guzzling, adulterous lifestyles while protecting you from Russia, all to see you committing cultural suicide at our expense and then blaming us, evil Jooz, capitalism, Christianity and the 40 hour work week for the ills you brought upon yourselves, as the illusion of the European union collapses around you. Enough.Read more here.
Are we about to witness the end of Europe, or its rebirth?
"Staring at the abyss" Did Europe commit suicide? More than a million migrants poured into Europe from North Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia since 2015. Europe lost faith in itself: its beliefs, traditions, and even its very legitimacy. Guilt!
Germany let in more than one and one-half million in 2015.
Tiredness: the feeling among the elite class that the European story has played out.
Germany let in more than one and one-half million in 2015.
Tiredness: the feeling among the elite class that the European story has played out.
"You better put some ice on that!"
At PJ Media, Jeff Reynolds reports,
Juanita Broaddrick, the woman who claims that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978, has written a book about the event. Published on Amazon, Kindle and print versions of the book have sold briskly. Now, however, Amazon has halted sales of the Kindle version of the book after five months of problem-free sales, and Broaddrick is sounding the alarm.Read more here.
The book, You'd Better Put Some Ice On That: How I Survived Being Raped by Bill Clinton, gives Broaddrick's side of the story. The Amazon preview says, in part:
Now, with award-winning former investigative journalist Nick Lulli, she tells her story of survival; from the assault at the hands of the future president, to the veiled threats by a seemingly complicit presidential wannabe Hillary Rodham Clinton; Broaddrick believes now is the time to set the record straight and ensure victims everywhere are believed.
In a Facebook post on June 12, Broaddrick wrote:
Outrageous!! Was just sent this by Amazon. My book has been #1 on Kindle and selling just fine for 5 months. Formatting tool was supplied by Amazon. Publisher, Create Space, is owned by Amazon. IS AMAZON TRYING TO SILENCE MY BOOK?
Who scares you?
At Statista, Nial McCarthy provides us with a chart of Americans' perceptions of world leaders.
Almost half want out of Bay area
Onan Coca reports at The Lid,
A new poll conducted by the Bay Area Council has several significant insights on what seems to be a growing problem for San Fransisco, and to a broader extent, California.Read more here.
"Wake up Punchy!"
Greg does a superb job of explaining how Trump presented Kim with his two options: the golden off-ramp or the cliff to nowhere. This is not politics, it's persuasion! A sales presentation on freedom! Trump has him past the sale! Once you get someone envisioning driving that car, it is hard to get him out of that car!
Brian: Guess what happens next week? Bolton and Pompeo pick up where this summit left off.
Juan went on a hate-filled sarcastic belittling of the other panelists. Greg was most clearly perturbed by it. Fox, it is time for Juan to go to CNN or MSNBC, don't you think?
Juan says we have been containing the North Koreans. Everybody else on the panel disagreed.
The DNC is turning to Hollywood for help in coming up with messages for midterm voters. Greg says that is good news. Call everybody racists, deplorables, homophobes, and be sure to pay for everybody's abortion! Hillary Clinton had three pages of celebrity rallies. Did they help?
Brian reminds us that this is just the beginning. Trump has chosen people like John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley to take it from here.
Brian: Guess what happens next week? Bolton and Pompeo pick up where this summit left off.
Juan went on a hate-filled sarcastic belittling of the other panelists. Greg was most clearly perturbed by it. Fox, it is time for Juan to go to CNN or MSNBC, don't you think?
Juan says we have been containing the North Koreans. Everybody else on the panel disagreed.
The DNC is turning to Hollywood for help in coming up with messages for midterm voters. Greg says that is good news. Call everybody racists, deplorables, homophobes, and be sure to pay for everybody's abortion! Hillary Clinton had three pages of celebrity rallies. Did they help?
Brian reminds us that this is just the beginning. Trump has chosen people like John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley to take it from here.
Freedom of speech, but not on campus; Trump and the bad guys; Globalization without American values leads to Instilling racial and gender victimology;
Andrew, as most of you know, is a fiction writer. One of the things he has learned as a fiction writer is the use of bad guys. People are asking, why is Trump nicer to bad guys than he is to his friends? People are asking, "Why is he nice to Kim but he is not nice to Justin?" Then, Andrew plays video from the famous scene with Jack Nicholson explaining to Tom Cruise that Tom "can't handle the truth!" Kim Jong-un is a monster.
Trump explains, "Without Otto Wambier, this would not have happened." Meaning, his death focused the world's attention on North Korea's threat to civilization.
Globalization without western values is a scam that leads to tyranny. What we want is a global world run under American ideas. That doesn't happen at the UN, where tyrants from North Korea or Iran get just as much say about how the world is run as does the US. The US stands for freedom! Who cares? You and me! That is why we must maintain American strength!
Germany opened its borders and gave away its country. Trump likes Israel because they have borders and freedom. Trump admires Putin's resolve to defend his country and keep it strong. Andrew asserts that the bad guys know how the world works, but the good guys don't.
The Leftese dictionary. A is for Antifa. B is for budget cuts. A budget cut is when the budget increases.
Heather McDonald is Andrew's guest. Heather had a terrifying experience at Claremont McKenna College. Heather was talking about her book The War on Cops, which argues that there is enormous appreciation in black ghettoes for cops!
Because the police let the protestors take over the perimeter of the building where Heather was to speak, she gave her speech to an empty room! Finally, after students banged on plate glass windows, police escorted Heather to a police car for her safety. Several students did get suspended. This behavior by the protesters is the result of a concerted effort to instill racial and gender victimology
Bill Clinton does not do well in answering questions about his behavior.
Trump explains, "Without Otto Wambier, this would not have happened." Meaning, his death focused the world's attention on North Korea's threat to civilization.
Globalization without western values is a scam that leads to tyranny. What we want is a global world run under American ideas. That doesn't happen at the UN, where tyrants from North Korea or Iran get just as much say about how the world is run as does the US. The US stands for freedom! Who cares? You and me! That is why we must maintain American strength!
Germany opened its borders and gave away its country. Trump likes Israel because they have borders and freedom. Trump admires Putin's resolve to defend his country and keep it strong. Andrew asserts that the bad guys know how the world works, but the good guys don't.
The Leftese dictionary. A is for Antifa. B is for budget cuts. A budget cut is when the budget increases.
Heather McDonald is Andrew's guest. Heather had a terrifying experience at Claremont McKenna College. Heather was talking about her book The War on Cops, which argues that there is enormous appreciation in black ghettoes for cops!
Because the police let the protestors take over the perimeter of the building where Heather was to speak, she gave her speech to an empty room! Finally, after students banged on plate glass windows, police escorted Heather to a police car for her safety. Several students did get suspended. This behavior by the protesters is the result of a concerted effort to instill racial and gender victimology
Bill Clinton does not do well in answering questions about his behavior.
Weaponizing electricity
Satellite view of North Korea at night, with South Korea below and China at top left. (NASA)
Robert Bryce reports at National Review,
Last night, President Donald Trump had a historic meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un at Singapore’s Capella Hotel, a five-star resort with beautifully appointed suites, big-screen TVs, and recessed lights.Read more here.
While Kim was safely ensconced in well-lit luxury, his countrymen were not so fortunate. Indeed, the Kim family’s 70-year reign of terror in North Korea has been abetted by its ability to starve its own people of electricity. A staggering 18.4 million North Koreans, some 70 percent of the country’s population, do not have access to electrical power.
...In addition to their economic success, South Koreans enjoy the world’s fastest average Internet-connection speed, at about 26 megabits per second. By contrast, last year, the Transitional Justice Working Group reported that North Koreans can be executed solely for having or distributing media from South Korea. The report said that Kim’s regime routinely conducts public executions of prisoners — in schools, markets, and public parks — as a way of keeping the population in fear. By weaponizing electricity — that is, by preventing his people from having it — Kim can prevent them from accessing media, and therefore learning about what is happening in the South and the rest of the world.
Fetters
In PJ Media Bridget Johnson reports on the Singapore Summit.
"I feel really great. We’re going to have a great discussion and, I think, tremendous success. It will be tremendously successful. And it's my honor. And we will have a terrific relationship," Trump told reporters as pair sat in chairs. "I have no doubt."Read more here.
"Well, it was not easy to get here," Kim said. "The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward. But we overcame all of them, and we are here today."
Kim did not respond to several questions from media about whether he would give up his nuclear weapons.
Trump and Kim sat down for an extended bilateral meeting that included North Korean advisors and White House chief of staff John Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
"There will be challenges ahead but we will work with Trump," Kim said. "We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit and I believe that this is good for the peace."
"We will solve it... and I look forward to working on it with you," Trump said.
WASHINGTON -- President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un shared their first handshake today in front of a row of alternating six American and six DPRK flags -- a demand from Pyongyang that the two sides be presented as equal -- at the Capella Resort on Sentosa Island, Singapore.
Minutes after 9 a.m., Kim's interpreter could be heard saying, “Nice to meet you, Mr. President," according to the White House pool report.
The two then walked into the hotel together, settling down in the room where they shared their one-on-one meeting attended only by an interpreter for each side.
"I feel really great. We’re going to have a great discussion and, I think, tremendous success. It will be tremendously successful. And it's my honor. And we will have a terrific relationship," Trump told reporters as pair sat in chairs. "I have no doubt."
"Well, it was not easy to get here," Kim said. "The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward. But we overcame all of them, and we are here today."
After their 38-minute closed-door meeting, Trump and Kim walked along an upper-floor walkway and paused before reporters, where Trump said they have a “very, very good, excellent relationship.”
Kim did not respond to several questions from media about whether he would give up his nuclear weapons.
Trump and Kim sat down for an extended bilateral meeting that included North Korean advisors and White House chief of staff John Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
"There will be challenges ahead but we will work with Trump," Kim said. "We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit and I believe that this is good for the peace."
"We will solve it... and I look forward to working on it with you," Trump said.
The White House said before the meeting that North Korea's human rights atrocities would not be on the agenda.
Kudos to Country Time Lemonade and Domino's Pizza
Ryan Young reports at Competitive Enterprise Institute,
Every summer there are news stories about local authorities shutting down children’s lemonade stands over lack of licenses, permits, a lack of restaurant-grade kitchen or cleaning facilities, a zoning violation...the list is long. I wrote about this outrage back in 2011 here, and Iain Murray and I wrote a Townhall column here. Regulators are still at it, though. But now, junior entrepreneurs have gained a powerful ally.
Country Time Lemonade has offered to help pay fines and permits for young lemonade stand entrepreneurs who incur regulators’ wrath. Its Legal-Ade program will pay up to $300 to help families fight back against absurd regulations. In fact, each time this tweet is retweeted, Country Time will donate a dollar to the Legal-Aide program, up to $500,000.
Is this is a cynical, profit-driven marketing ploy? Absolutely. But so what? It will do some real good, and that’s what counts. Results are what matter, not intentions. This is not a new idea. As Bernard Mandeville pointed out in “The Fable of the Bees” way back in 1732, selfish intentions can generate altruistic results. As with bees, so with lemons.
When regulators bust children for learning work and business skills while having fun outdoors, they teach children the wrong lesson. By helping to set matters right, Country Time is helping children learn that it’s okay to show initiative, and that it’s okay to stand up to authority when you’re right and they’re wrong. Even the most hardened anti-capitalist can get behind that.
Also deserving kudos: Domino’s Pizza, for filling in potholes on its delivery routes that lazy local governments let linger. Who will build the roads? Now we know.
"Beyond all expectations!"
Not only did the two heads of state meet, but in less than one day they signed an agreement to denuclearize North Korea and release MIAs from the Korean war which never ended 68 years ago!
Mark Steyn on the beginning of the Singapore Summit
Mark Steyn: The Singapore Summit starts with just Trump and Kim in a room together with no one else but translators present. Completely the opposite of the way these things usually go. The weakness of the western world generally is that when we enter into talks we offer carrots but no sticks. Each time Kim has failed to behave, Trump has yanked the rug out from under him. The house-trained western leader is behaving as unpredictably as the third world basket case guy.
Last night Kim walked around in a functioning society. Different from when he went to boarding school in Switzerland, because much closer to his home.
Last night Kim walked around in a functioning society. Different from when he went to boarding school in Switzerland, because much closer to his home.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Charity
Guest post by
Suzann Darnall
I know this is an old topic that has been repeatedly flogged in media, social media, conversation, speeches, and across pulpits, but I feel the need to address it again today. Probably due to some recent conversations I have had with people where we touched on charity and on needs.
Enforced “charity” where the government takes from citizens and gives to other citizens is not “charity”. In my opinion, it is theft that is sanctioned and, indeed, perpetrated by the government.
There are numerous definitions of “charity”. One is, “the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need”. You will note the word “voluntary”! One synonym is “voluntary organization”. Another definition is, “an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need”. Our government was not and is not intended to be an organization to provide money for those in need, but they are trying to force all of us to be a part of their enforced charity. Some bible dictionaries define “charity” as “love”. However, my favorite definition of “charity” comes from the LDS bible dictionary definition where is is called “the pure love of Christ.”
I am quite sure that the welfare programs supported by the government’s enforced “charity” is nowhere near the pure love of Christ. Especially as so many of the programs are rife with fraud, waste, and abuse.
I think our government needs to get out of a lot of the side businesses they’ve added to governing. They really need to practice a much more limited form of governing. They are terrible at “charity” which actually improves the living situations of people. People in need should be guided towards taking care of themselves, when possible. They should not be encouraged to make a career of getting freebies. I think true “charity” comes with a hand up and not just as a handout. Our government’s form of “charity” has simply created an ever increasing welfare state.
Even worse, in many places across our nation, bureaucracies have made it impossible or difficult for actual charitable entities to help those in real need. It is almost as if government wants a monopoly on being charitable. They are even giving less and less benefits to those who participate in providing “charity” to others. But, they keep wanting to ramp up forcing taxpayers to support government-sponsored “charity”.
Anyway, this is my two cents worth on “charity”. I am in favor of “charity”. I like to give and to do for those in need. I just do not like to be forced to pay extra taxes for my government to do a less compassionate and efficient job of what they falsely call “charity”.
Sayonara,
Suzann
http://www.suziezoo.com
http://www.woolymammoth.org
Suzann Darnall
I know this is an old topic that has been repeatedly flogged in media, social media, conversation, speeches, and across pulpits, but I feel the need to address it again today. Probably due to some recent conversations I have had with people where we touched on charity and on needs.
Enforced “charity” where the government takes from citizens and gives to other citizens is not “charity”. In my opinion, it is theft that is sanctioned and, indeed, perpetrated by the government.
There are numerous definitions of “charity”. One is, “the voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need”. You will note the word “voluntary”! One synonym is “voluntary organization”. Another definition is, “an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need”. Our government was not and is not intended to be an organization to provide money for those in need, but they are trying to force all of us to be a part of their enforced charity. Some bible dictionaries define “charity” as “love”. However, my favorite definition of “charity” comes from the LDS bible dictionary definition where is is called “the pure love of Christ.”
I am quite sure that the welfare programs supported by the government’s enforced “charity” is nowhere near the pure love of Christ. Especially as so many of the programs are rife with fraud, waste, and abuse.
I think our government needs to get out of a lot of the side businesses they’ve added to governing. They really need to practice a much more limited form of governing. They are terrible at “charity” which actually improves the living situations of people. People in need should be guided towards taking care of themselves, when possible. They should not be encouraged to make a career of getting freebies. I think true “charity” comes with a hand up and not just as a handout. Our government’s form of “charity” has simply created an ever increasing welfare state.
Even worse, in many places across our nation, bureaucracies have made it impossible or difficult for actual charitable entities to help those in real need. It is almost as if government wants a monopoly on being charitable. They are even giving less and less benefits to those who participate in providing “charity” to others. But, they keep wanting to ramp up forcing taxpayers to support government-sponsored “charity”.
Anyway, this is my two cents worth on “charity”. I am in favor of “charity”. I like to give and to do for those in need. I just do not like to be forced to pay extra taxes for my government to do a less compassionate and efficient job of what they falsely call “charity”.
Sayonara,
Suzann
http://www.suziezoo.com
http://www.woolymammoth.org
What does the internet actually look like?
Business Insider has a comprehensive article here with lots of photos explaining everything you always wanted to know about the physical internet.
"He well may go down in history as one of our great foreign policy presidents."
David Goldman writes at PJ Media,
...Liberal media is aghast at the president's rough handling of Canadian boy-band frontman Justin Trudeau, and his confrontational approach overall at the Group of Seven summit. When the dust settles, though, Trump may accomplish what eluded Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama: a stabler and safer world without the need for millions of American boots on the ground. He well may go down in history as one of our great foreign policy presidents. It's not in the bag, but it is within sight.Read more here.
North Korea and Iran are decisive issues: Will America and its allies be subject to blackmail by rogue nuclear states? There is a grand compromise that might work in the case of North Korea, and the president reportedly has already put it on the table: Formal diplomatic recognition of the Pyongyang regime in return for full de-nuclearization. In the case of Iran, the president's tough stance and close coordination with our ally Israel has already pushed Iran back in Syria and put the Islamist regime under extreme stress.
Of course, Trump can't please everybody. German Chancellor Angela Merkel complains that Trump is being too nice to Russia by suggesting that it rejoin the Group of Seven. Considering that Germany spends just 1.2% of GDP on defense and can't get more than four fighters in the air at any given moment, that's chutzpah. Merkel's policy is to talk tough about sanctions against Russia while rolling over for Putin when it comes to Germany's gas supplies, which will be supplied by the just-started Nord Stream II pipeline from Russia. Germany likes to wag a finger at Russia over its depredations in Ukraine, but only 18% of Germans say they will fight to defend their country. Trump's policy is to rebuild American strength and stand up to Russia, while looking for ways to strike agreements with Russia--on American terms. That's the difference between speak softly and carry a big stick, and declaim loudly while waving a bratwurst. If the Germans don't want to spend money on defense, let alone fight, that's their business, but they shouldn't lecture us about how to handle the competition.
Just what has the Group of Seven accomplished in the last dozen years? Who can remember a single line of a single communique? And what is the group worth without Russia? "We have a world to run," Trump said, and the effort requires having Russia at the table.
Of pride, intolerance, and love
Floppy-haired cutie pie Justin (Trudeau, not Bieber): "Whatever, same difference."
Michael Knowles is Andrew's guest. They talk about gay pride. Andrew makes the point that gay people have the right to be gay because people have the right to do what they want. But if they have the right to do what they want then certainly other people have the right to disagree or dislike them or not celebrate them. By the same logic that gives them their rights, other people have the right not to approve them. Gay pride marchers pretended they were saying we want to be free, but what they were really saying is "You have had the power, now we want it!"
Who has the right to tell you what to believe? Government? Your corporation? Nobody!
Andrew believes most gay people are natural conservatives.
In his segment on the culture, Andrew talks about the two celebrity suicides of the past week. What cures depression? Love! Acting on a common heritage in the heart of God. We are all of infinite worth to God. If you act that out with another person you are expressing God's love. We are spiritual beings, not chemistry sets.
Michael Knowles is Andrew's guest. They talk about gay pride. Andrew makes the point that gay people have the right to be gay because people have the right to do what they want. But if they have the right to do what they want then certainly other people have the right to disagree or dislike them or not celebrate them. By the same logic that gives them their rights, other people have the right not to approve them. Gay pride marchers pretended they were saying we want to be free, but what they were really saying is "You have had the power, now we want it!"
Who has the right to tell you what to believe? Government? Your corporation? Nobody!
Andrew believes most gay people are natural conservatives.
In his segment on the culture, Andrew talks about the two celebrity suicides of the past week. What cures depression? Love! Acting on a common heritage in the heart of God. We are all of infinite worth to God. If you act that out with another person you are expressing God's love. We are spiritual beings, not chemistry sets.
GDP growth continues to rise
Ace of Spades writes,
Matt Vespa notes that this quarter's GDP growth rate is projected to be 3.8% to 4.6%, which would be the highest quarterly growth rate since George W. Bush, who managed one (and only one) big quarter of something like 4.8% growth.Go here to read more about the economy.
Obama's average quarterly growth rate (not the same as a single quarter number) was... 1.5%, putting him dead last of all presidents since WW2.
How the public schools are doing in California
Go here to see the percentage of California students who meet or exceed standards. It is an interactive map whereby the reader can check county by county.
Another foreign policy triumph for Trump and America
Sefton writes in part,
One thing is crystal clear; no matter the outcome, just by holding this summit as well as the strategy that brought Whoa, Fat! to meet face to face on foreign soil with the President is a foreign policy triumph for the latter. No two ways about it. It flies in the face of the abject failures and fecklessness of the past three administrations and at least brings the potential for starting us on the path of deescalating a dangerous situation and changing the status quo that frankly the globalists have kept in place for so long. Congratulations, Mr. President and good luck.Go here to read JJ Sefton's Morning Report which is chock full of links torelevant articles for us to read.
"So bow and take your applause, media. Your insane unprincipled partisanship has once again aided in bankrupting and destroying the country."
A headline in today's Ace of Spades blog:
Government Begins Dipping Into Social Security Reserve; Social Security, Medicaid to Become Insolvent Faster Than ExpectedAce writes,
This is partly Trump's fault because he rejected any idea of reforming these systems to keep them solvent.Read more here.
However, it is much more the media's fault. For 30 years, the media routinely published stories claiming the two parties' failure to address the looming crisis in entitlements proved the fundamental unseriousness of politicians.
They also routinely called for serious, courageous politicians to take the political risk of touching the third rail of American politics and putting forth a necessary, but politically dangerous, plan for reform.
Then something strange happened: In 2012, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan did, in fact, take that risk and put forth a realistic plan for reforming the system.
But the plan had two related problems: First, the serious, courageous politicians putting forth this plan happened to be from the Wrong Party, the party which can never be right, and therefore the media attacked their plan rather than praise the plan as mostly what they themselves had been demanding for 30 years.
Second, the media's political party, the Democrat Party, indulged its fundamental recklessness and unseriousness and demagogued the plan. The media completely reversed its 30 years of calling for reform to the system to demagogue the plan right alongside its Democrat Party allies.
The media thus shifted the prospect of reforming entitlements from "politically dangerous" to "outright impossible."
The idea that anyone would push entitlement reform with the Democrat Media Complex demagoguing any plan as pushing grandma off the cliff is now officially absurd.
So bow and take your applause, media. Your insane unprincipled partisanship has once again aided in bankrupting and destroying the country.
If you have something to say to President Donald Trump, say it to his face, not behind his back. Doing otherwise could cost you “bigly.”
Headline at BizPacReview today:
Trudeau trash-talks Trump after summit; POTUS finishes him on Twitter, withdraws endorsementVivek Saxena writes,
Suggestion to world leaders: If you have something to say to President Donald Trump, say it to his face, not behind his back. Doing otherwise could cost you “bigly.”Go here to read Trump's tweets.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau learned this lesson the hard way when, following Trump’s early departure from the G-7 economic summit over the weekend, he held a press conference to take a few digs at his American counterpart.
...Before the conclusion of the press conference the Canadian prime minister added that he was “happy to announce that we have released a joint communique by all seven countries.”
...Though Trump had originally backed the joint statement (or communique), that changed once he heard about his Canadian counterpart’s remarks.
In a series of scathing tweets posted Saturday evening, the president backed out of the communique and excoriated Trudeau for his backhanded behavior:
Sunday, June 10, 2018
"The chess board has changed significantly"
Commenter deepdivemaga writes at The Conservative Treehouse,
At the link, other commenters add many other countries.
I was thinking about all of the United States’ *CURRENT* allies, not just in trade. The media does not realize that the chess board has changed significantly. They still paint the EU, Canada, and Mexico as our *Trade Allies*. If they were truly our allies, they would give us fair and reciprocal trade. It’s more than obvious at this point that they are not interested in it. So with that said, let’s look at all of the countries who ARE interested in being allies to Trump’s United States in the current geopolitical climate. These countries have shown us that they want to GROW with US. MAGA can benefit other countries… Moreso than these dopes from Canada, Mexico and the EU realize. Feel free to add any I have missed:
Saudi Arabia
India
Japan
South Korea
Poland
Austria
Italy – in the works
Israel
At the link, other commenters add many other countries.
No thanks, Facebook. I will decide what to read and view.
Do you really want Facebook deciding for you what is fake news or what news stories you ought to be reading? No thanks, Facebook! Jim Jamitis writes about Facebook's proposal here.
Two transgenders blow out the girls in state championship races in Connecticut
The Daily Wire has videos of two transgenders blowing out the girls in two track races for state championships in Connecticut. Watch the videos and read more here.
Posers
In the American Thinker, Ed Straker gives us information about the agenda of the G7 meeting in Canada.
1) "Economic growth that works for everyone." What an odd thing to aspire to! In capitalism, economic growth doesn't work for everyone--namely, it doesn't work for those who don't produce things that people want to buy, it doesn't work for people who are lazy, or don't work hard, and so on. Growth works disproportionately for those who efficiently produce what people want, and those who have useful job skills. Growth that works "for everyone" sounds like liberal code for redistribution schemes.Read more here.
2) "Gender equality and women's empowerment." We have had gender equality for decades in the G-7. The place where it doesn't exist is in Muslim countries. When Trump showed up late for that meeting, do you think he was interrupting a discussion about women's rights in Saudi Arabia?
3) "Climate change and clean energy." The climate changes all the time. We observe it, but don't cause it. These are code words for more taxes, redistribution, and subsidies for cutting-edge Don Quixote-style technology.
4) "Oceans" (2 sessions!). The oceans are fine. I just checked, they're still there, and still quite wet. But what about checking out what's happening on land masses, or better yet, what's happening to people who live on them?
...You would expect a meeting of the leaders of the most important countries to be concerned about fighting terrorism, reducing taxes and regulations, and reducing trading barriers. That last issue was the one that President Trump focused on, to the dismay of the other attendees who wanted their usual painless photo op where they could virtue signal about women or the environment.
But to their surprise President Trump focused on the important things, reducing global trade barriers, even suggesting the total elimination of all tariffs in all G-7 countries. This would greatly spur economic growth, if agreed to.
What destroyed Europe?
Victor Davis Hanson writes,
...Europeans claim to be building a new democratic culture. But the governing elites of the European Union prefer fiats to plebiscites. They are terrified of popular protest movements. And they consider voters little more than members of reckless mobs that cannot be properly taught what is good for them.Read more here.
Free speech is increasingly problematic. It is more dangerous for a European citizen to publicly object to illegal immigration than for a foreigner to enter Europe illegally.
...Such problems are left to the more uncouth Americans. That unspoken dependency might explain why many Europeans quietly concede that the hated Donald Trump’s deterrent foreign policy and his economic growth protocols could prove in the long term a better deal for Europe than were the beloved Barack Obama’s lead-from-behind and redistributionist agendas.
...The European Union’s sole reason to be is to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 20th century, in which many millions of Europeans were slaughtered in world wars, death camps, and the great Communist terror in Russia.
...Contrary to politically correct dogma, Christianity, military deterrence, democracy, and veneration of a unique past did not destroy Europe.
Instead, the culprit of European decline was the very absence of such ancient values — both then and now.
Looking cool
Glenn Beaton writes in the Aspen Times,
...Marxism typically makes problems worse. So too with Marxism lite in the form of socialism, "liberalism" as Americans have corrupted the term and, more recently, "progressivism." (Have you noticed how they keep changing their brand as soon as people catch on to them?)Read more here.
Witness how Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" programs created a permanent underclass. Witness how the recent obsession with "diversity" and "inclusion" have created entire fields of monolithic political correctness such as academia, journalism and nonprofits where diverse thinkers are largely excluded, censored and even vilified.
Witness how giving free stuff to vagrants has increased vagrancy. Witness how student loan programs have encouraged kids to take on crushing debt to pay outlandish tuition at colleges where they're indoctrinated more than educated.
...Progressives are like me in 1973. They're not trying to solve problems. They're trying to look cool to the world. Failing that, they're trying to look cool to themselves; they're trying to feel good about themselves
...But now I have a different take. I now realize that spending other people's money on destructive programs for the purpose of making myself look cool is not cool, despite what the group-thinking cool kids say.
That's why I became a conservative. My aim is to solve problems, not to milk them.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us.
Erdogan talks about war between the cross and the crescent
Headline at Breitbart:
Erdogan Predicts ‘War Between the Cross and Crescent’ over Austria Mosque ClosuresSimon Kent reports,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacked Austria’s impending closure of mosques and consequent expulsion of Turkish-funded imams, saying the move is anti-Islamic while promising a response.Read more here.
“These measures taken by the Austrian prime minister are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul covered by AFP.
Is there no end?
Thomas Lipscomb reports in Real Clear Politics,
...the Obama administration itself engaged in the wholesale destruction and “loss” of tens of thousands of government records covered under the act as well as the intentional evasion of the government records recording system by engaging in private email exchanges. So far, former President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Lynch and several EPA officials have been named as offenders. The IRS suffered record “losses” as well. Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy called it “an unauthorized private communications system for official business for the patent purpose of defeating federal record-keeping and disclosure laws.”Read more here.
...in my own research, I found a detailed report of the debriefing of Nazi Deputy Reichsfuhrer Rudolf Hess by MI6 the day after he parachuted into Scotland -- a report that was not in the British Archives. It established that in May 1941, over seven months before the Wannsee Conference formalized the Nazis’ “Final Solution,” Hess had told the British: “We are exterminating the Jews.” It established as lies the Allies’ claims they only learned about the Holocaust later.
“I don’t care if you f–k an elephant on your personal time, but then you can’t cover the circus for the paper.”
Michael Goodwin writes at The New York Post,
He is writing about
Pure hatred of this president in newsrooms across America is blinding editors and reporters to basic fairness and glaring conflicts of interest.
Public trust in the media is at an all-time low, and this case illustrates a seedy link between the Washington press corps and the Washington swamp.
He is writing about
the case involving James Wolfe, the longtime security director of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Federal prosecutors charged Wolfe with three counts of lying to investigators about his contacts with reporters, one of whom is Ali Watkins, who covers federal law enforcement for the Times.Read more here.
The feds allege that Wolfe used encrypted phone apps and other tools to leak secret information. One article cited was written by Watkins on April 3, 2017, when she worked for BuzzFeed, and involved Carter Page. Part of the orgy of leaks targeting President Trump, the article says Page “met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative” in 2013.
As part of the probe into Wolfe, the government seized e-mail and phone records belonging to Watkins, although it reportedly has not accessed the contents. Nonetheless, the Times and others reacted with outrage, saying the seizure threatens a free press.
...“All leak investigations — whether they directly target reporters or not — are a grave threat to press freedom,” the Freedom of the Press Foundation said in a statement. “Whistleblowers are the lifeblood of reporting, and the Trump administration is directly attacking journalists’ rights by bringing these cases.”
I agree that any government action that chills free expression is worrisome, but the First Amendment is not a license to break the law. As such, the foundation’s condemnation is so wrong-headed that it serves only to undercut support for media freedom.
Moreover, the suggestion that Wolfe was a whistleblower is not based on known facts. There is, however, strong evidence that he was leaking secured information to reporters, including his lover, although he is charged so far only with lying.
While many details remain unknown, it is already clear that Watkins’ highly unethical conduct presents a problem for press defenders. Hers is not the hill they should volunteer to die on.
Start with the fact that Watkins admits she was sleeping with Wolfe when she covered his Senate panel for BuzzFeed and Politico.
Although sexual relationships with sources are taboo at most large news organizations, editors at BuzzFeed and Politico said they knew about Watkins’ relationship with Wolfe, but allowed her to continue covering the panel.
The admission is shocking yet not surprising given the collapse of journalism standards in the age of Trump. Pure hatred of this president in newsrooms across America is blinding editors and reporters to basic fairness and glaring conflicts of interest.
Public trust in the media is at an all-time low, and this case illustrates a seedy link between the Washington press corps and the Washington swamp.
Saturday, June 09, 2018
John Brennan's proven lack of veracity
Victor Davis Hanson never forgets! He reminds us in National Review about John Brennan's history of lies.
1) In 2011, Brennan, then the country’s chief counterterrorism adviser, had sworn to Congress that scores of drones strikes abroad had not killed a single noncombatant — at a time when both the president and the CIA were both receiving numerous reports of civilian collateral deaths.There is much more here.
2) In 2014, John Brennan, now as CIA director, lied emphatically that the CIA had not illegally accessed the computers of U.S. Senate staffers who were then exploring a CIA role in torturing detainees. Or as he told Andrea Mitchell: “As far as the allegations of the CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. . . . We wouldn’t do that. I mean, that’s just beyond the, you know, the scope of reason in terms of what we do.” Brennan’s chronic deceptions drew the ire of a number of liberal senators, some of whom echoed the Washington Post’s call for his immediate resignation. After months of prevarications, but only upon release of the CIA inspector general’s report, Brennan apologized to the senators he had deceived.
3) Brennan, in May 2017, as an ex-CIA director, again almost certainly did not tell the truth to Congress when he testified in answer to Representative Trey Gowdy’s questions that he neither knew who had commissioned the Steele dossier nor had the CIA relied on its contents for any action. Yet both the retired National Security Agency director, Michael Rogers, and the former director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, have conceded that the Steele dossier — along with the knowledge that it was a Clinton-campaign-funded product — most certainly did help shape the Obama’s intelligence communality interagency assessments and actions, often under the urging of Brennan himself. There are also numerous reports that, despite his denials about knowledge of the dossier, Brennan served as a stealthy conduit to ensure that it was disseminated widely, at least in the sense of meeting in August 2016 with Senator Harry Reid to brief the senator about its unverified contents in hopes that he would pressure the FBI to further its investigations, which Reid did in a call two days later to James Comey.
Protection
Andrew McCarthy writes at National Review,
...the press is extraordinarily attuned to its own need for protection, but scoffs at the notion that someone with greater responsibilities should have comparable protections.Read more here.
...Wolfe eventually rose to the post of security director, responsible for receiving, maintaining and managing all classified intelligence shared with the committee by U.S. spy agencies (or is it informant agencies?). So, what’s a good, upstanding, bipartisan, non-partisan Washington bureaucrat to do in such a coveted slot? Why, selectively leak classified information to favored journalists, that’s what.
In the case of Wolfe, who is 57, these journos most prominently included Ali Watkins, a 26-year-old Times reporter with whom he was romantically involved for three years — mostly while she was working her way to the Gray Lady as a national-security reporter for the Huffington Post, Politico, McClatchy, and BuzzFeed. The indictment alleges that the couple exchanged “tens of thousands of electronic communications, often including daily texts and phone calls,” as well as “encrypted cell phone applications.”
Now, sit down because I know you’ll be shocked to hear this: Wolfe’s bipartisan, non-partisan intelligence leaks from the bipartisan, non-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee had a decidedly anti-Trump flavor.
"You'll have to ask Obama about that. He is the one who let it happen!"
The Daily Caller has video of President Trump answering media questions as he prepares to leave Canada for Singapore. A Politico reporter asks him about Crimea. Trump tells him to ask Obama about that because he is the one responsible for letting it happen! Go here to watch the video!
Ryan and Gowdy the Leavers, Clapper's lies and incompetence, Carrots and sticks for Kim Jong-un
Joe Di Genova says Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy, "The Leavers," got duped and outwitted by Rod Rosenstein!
Joe also has an opinion on James Clapper: "He is a liar and he is incompetent!" Were we safe with that clown in charge?
If Trump succeeds in getting Putin in the G8, it embarrasses 30 years of elites and experts.
Trump for Kim Jong-un: Carrots and sticks, and more carrots and sticks. A combination of fear and incentives!
China wants to spy on the Singapore meetings. We are bringing in all sorts of technology to sweep for surveillance devices.
Melania's kidney operation was very serious, lasting four hours. She cannot fly for a month so she won't be in Singapore.
Joe also has an opinion on James Clapper: "He is a liar and he is incompetent!" Were we safe with that clown in charge?
If Trump succeeds in getting Putin in the G8, it embarrasses 30 years of elites and experts.
Trump for Kim Jong-un: Carrots and sticks, and more carrots and sticks. A combination of fear and incentives!
China wants to spy on the Singapore meetings. We are bringing in all sorts of technology to sweep for surveillance devices.
Melania's kidney operation was very serious, lasting four hours. She cannot fly for a month so she won't be in Singapore.
Justice for all!
Somebody has, of course, leaked information from the soon-to-be-released Inspector General's report. McCabe, Lynch, and Comey are all reported to be in trouble. Dershowitz believes it was leaked so no one can pretend it wasn't in the original transcript, which Dershowitz highly recommends the IG hang on to! Dershowitz says it proves we never needed the Special Counsel!
Rudy should stick to representing the president as his lawyer.
Can McCabe get immunity? Not unless he has something substantial to give to investigators! Dershowitz likes all the pardons Trump has given, except Sheriff Joe in Arizona. "This president has a real gut for justice!"
Rudy should stick to representing the president as his lawyer.
Can McCabe get immunity? Not unless he has something substantial to give to investigators! Dershowitz likes all the pardons Trump has given, except Sheriff Joe in Arizona. "This president has a real gut for justice!"
"It's no sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society!"
Are you, like Tucker Carlson, getting frustrated that none of the Americans who were targets of Deep State surveillance have been charged with any crime related to Russia collusion?
Should we hate Russia? We have killed hundreds of Russians in Syria. Brilliantly, Trump wants to diffuse that hostility and has asked the other members of the G7 to include Russia and make it G8 again! Tucker asks, who is a bigger threat to our country, Mexico or Russia? He argues it is the former.
Steven Hayward is a visiting professor at Berkeley. He points out that it is not news that universities have long been dominated by liberals. Now it is different. The "Progressive Left" that rules the roost nowadays at universities often turns to violence to get their way. Tucker says, "If liberalism is a concern for civil liberties, a commitment to free speech, a belief in actual diversity, then I am a proud liberal!"
Why is suicide surging in the United States? The rate rose by 25% from 1999 to 2016. 45,000 people kill themselves every year, about twice the number that are murdered! Anti-depressants are prescribed more than ever before, but they must not be working so well. Johann Hari is the author of Lost Connections.
Hari says that all human beings have natural physical needs, but we also have natural psychological needs.
You need to feel you belong. You need to feel your life has meaning and purpose. You need to feel that people see you and value you. You need to feel you've got a future that makes sense. I think Hari makes many good points.
NASA just announced it has discovered organic materials, the building blocks of life, on Mars! In other space news, A newly leaked Pentagon report says that in 2004 a US aircraft carrier was stalked for several days by a UFO! It was supersonic, could make itself invisible, and could hover in mid-air! Tucker admits this is a story that much more time should be devoted to.
Should we hate Russia? We have killed hundreds of Russians in Syria. Brilliantly, Trump wants to diffuse that hostility and has asked the other members of the G7 to include Russia and make it G8 again! Tucker asks, who is a bigger threat to our country, Mexico or Russia? He argues it is the former.
Steven Hayward is a visiting professor at Berkeley. He points out that it is not news that universities have long been dominated by liberals. Now it is different. The "Progressive Left" that rules the roost nowadays at universities often turns to violence to get their way. Tucker says, "If liberalism is a concern for civil liberties, a commitment to free speech, a belief in actual diversity, then I am a proud liberal!"
Why is suicide surging in the United States? The rate rose by 25% from 1999 to 2016. 45,000 people kill themselves every year, about twice the number that are murdered! Anti-depressants are prescribed more than ever before, but they must not be working so well. Johann Hari is the author of Lost Connections.
Hari says that all human beings have natural physical needs, but we also have natural psychological needs.
You need to feel you belong. You need to feel your life has meaning and purpose. You need to feel that people see you and value you. You need to feel you've got a future that makes sense. I think Hari makes many good points.
NASA just announced it has discovered organic materials, the building blocks of life, on Mars! In other space news, A newly leaked Pentagon report says that in 2004 a US aircraft carrier was stalked for several days by a UFO! It was supersonic, could make itself invisible, and could hover in mid-air! Tucker admits this is a story that much more time should be devoted to.
Should Trump pardon Muhammad Ali?
President Trump says he is considering pardoning Muhammad Ali. At American Thinker, Jack Cashill argues that Trump should not do it. Cashill is the author of Sucker Punch: The Hard Left Hook That Dazed Ali and Killed King's Dream. 
After reading the article, I was not convinced that Trump should avoid pardoning Ali.
After reading the article, I was not convinced that Trump should avoid pardoning Ali.
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