On the Question of Church and State

A fifteen-year-old essay by Avery Cdl. Dulles remains pertinent today, not only addressing the 'church/state' question--which is becoming more germane as SCOTUS delivers the modern agenda--but as to the internal issue of e.g. liturgical praxis.

In the decade after Vatican II inculturation became a buzzword. Although popes have used the word only with caution, they have said on journeys to Asia and Africa that the Catholic Church in those continents ought not to be a slavish copy of the European church. As a consequence American Catholics began to conclude that Catholicism in this country should develop its own distinctive traits....

Dulles gives a brief analysis of the "American" culture which is bracingly clear, covering the Puritans, the Founders (Enlightenmentarians, so to speak), the Lockeans, and the current overlaying of technologism/consumerism on the above strains.

As to the Catholic response:

...In the Catholic literature on American culture published in the past 20 years or so, it is possible to detect four major strategies. For short they may be called traditionalism, neo-conservatism, liberalism and prophetic radicalism....

...Traditionalism is the posture of those Catholics who are highly critical of what they find in the dominant American culture, and who wish to restore the more centralized and authoritarian Catholicism of the years before World War II...The neo-conservative strategy rejects as unrealistic the restorationism of the paleoconservatives....Catholic liberals are primarily intent on showing how Americanism can help to modernize the church. They propose to reform Catholicism along the lines of participatory democracy.... While calling for the total conversion of church and society, radical Catholics seek to legitimate their positions by invoking historical precedents, both religious and civil....

That summary is as clear, concise, and accurate as any I have seen.

Dulles then compares the strengths and weaknesses of each group's position in several grafs which YOU SHOULD READ.

...The most fundamental question raised by the preceding discussion is whether the church in this country should become more countercultural, as the traditionalists and radicals would wish, or more accommodationist, as the liberals and some neo-conservatives propose. The tide since the Second Vatican Council has been running heavily toward accommodationism. Middle-aged adults constitute the last generation of Catholics raised with a strong sense of Catholic identity. Most younger Catholics look upon themselves first of all as Americans and only secondarily as Catholics. Their culture has been predominantly formed by the secular press, films, television and rock music. Catholicism is filtered to them through these screens. Catholic schools are becoming less numerous and less distinctively Catholic. Catholic colleges and universities, while in some cases expanding, have lost much of their religious character. A certain vague religiosity perdures among the young, but it is that of “communal Catholics” not strongly committed to the doctrines and structures of their church.

Under these circumstances parents and teachers, fearful of being rejected as old-fashioned, are understandably reluctant to confront the young with the challenge of official church teaching, especially in the area of sexuality. Religious educators often feel powerless in the face of the sexual revolution and the passion for affluence that possesses their students. Bishops and pastors find it increasingly difficult to shape the convictions and attitudes of the faithful. Apart from the issue of abortion, on which they are willing to risk a measure of unpopularity, the bishops increasingly shift their attention to social issues, adopting agendas that in many ways resemble those of the liberal intelligentsia, notably in their teaching on peace and on the economy. They seek to appeal to a broad public that includes non-Catholics, non-Christians, non-believers...

Dulles ends by proposing that all four of those factions work together in evangelization, not becoming hardened in their positions, but definitely not giving ground on doctrine.

Easier said than done, of course.

Cruz. 10 Reasons Why

Somebody did this very well right at PJMedia.

...He really knows economics--not the ideologically driven pablum dished out at universities, but the real battlefield of entrenched monopolies against entrepreneurial upstarts....

...He really knows foreign policy. He is a hardline defender of American interests, but wants to keep American politics out of the export business....  He is despised by NeoCons for exactly that reason.

...He really knows the political system. As Texas solicitor general, he argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won five of them....

...He's an outsider, and America needs an outsider. The public thinks that Washington is corrupt, and it IS corrupt....  In every filthy nook and cranny, and oozing from the taps.

...Trump and Carson aren't serious candidates....An egomaniac and a very smart nice guy without a clue.

...Cruz is in but not of the system....

...He's got real grit--call it fire in the belly, but Cruz wants to be president...

...He knows how to run a real campaign as opposed to a flash-in-the-pan media event....

...He's a true believer in the United States of America....

...He can beat Hillary Clinton. Not just beat her, but beat her by a landslide....He's a quarter-century younger than Mrs. Clinton, smarter, sharper, and better prepared. He's also clean as a whistle in personal life and finances, while the Clintons could reasonably be understood to constitute a criminal enterprise.

More than you need.  Marco's another BushBoy, the rest....well....they're the rest (at best).

Is Turkey Really "an Ally"?

Our Establishment types are loudly and frequently proclaiming that "Turkey is a NATO ally" of the USA, therefore, if Putin slaps Turkey again--or harder--we are obligated to defend Turkey.

Well, the NATO part is true. 

But when your "ally" is financing ISIS, are they really an "ally"?

...even as Turkey's ties to the ISIS oil trade have been hiding in plain sight for the better part of two years, the Western media largely ignores the issue (or at least the scope of it and the possible complicity of the Erdogan government) because after all, Turkey is a NATO member.  Unfortunately for Ankara, Erdogan's move to shoot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border on Tuesday prompted an angry Vladimir Putin to throw Turkey under the ISIS oil bus for the entire world to see....

Good ol' Vlad!

By the way, is it "the Western media" who ignores this little problem?  Or is it 'the Western governments' which tried to bury it?

McCarthy: The REAL Problem With Mohammedans

It ain't "terrorist connections."

...vetting only works if you vet for the right thing. Washington, in its delusional Islamophilia, vets only for ties to terrorism, which it defines as “violent extremism” in purblind denial of modern terrorism’s Islamist ideological moorings. As the deteriorating situation in Europe manifests, our actual challenge is Islamic supremacism, of which jihadist terrorism is only a subset....

 

And of course, "freedom of religion" applies to actual US citizens.  Ironically, it is emphatically denied by adherents of Mohammed.  Obama--a practiced liar in the Bill Clinton class of liars--would have you believe otherwise.

 

Fortunately, it will not be Obama's choice in the near future.  But how about those "Republicans"?

 

 

Chicago Gets What Rahm Deserves

Well, Rahm, you slimebag, you've got your crisis.

As Ticker observes, this is not about "race;" it's about cold-blooded murder one.

The Land of Sobieski III

The Poles, God bless 'em!!

...Under the last government, flags displayed at government events including press conferences were equally split between the Polish national, and the European Union. It was all change at Tuesday’s press conference with new Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who appeared at her podium with Polish flags only....--quoted at  Vox

Remember Jan III Sobieski?

The Mohammedans do  So do the Poles..

L.A.: Not All Fruits and Nuts

"....from my cold, dead, hands...."--a favorite line from Charles Heston.

Evidently, that inspired a lot of Los Angeles residents.

Sixty days after the L.A. city council passed an ordinance banning all magazines holding more than 10 rounds, you’d expect them to be turned in by the hundreds, right? Not quite.

Actual number of mags turned in?

ZERO.

Land of the free!

HT:  Grim

Obozo Seeks War With States

Apparently MomJeansPissyPants wants a war with the States.

The Obama administration on Wednesday reminded state officials across the country that states do not have legal authority to refuse to accept Syrian refugees, reports The Associated Press (AP).

He's wrong, of course, keeping his record of wrong-ness intact. States have every right to nullify Federal decisions which are un-Constitutional.

Think There's an Iran Treaty? Think Again!!

Since that "Iran Nuclear Treaty" phrase has been used endlessly, I thought there WAS an "Iran Nuclear Treaty."

Wrong.

President Obama didn’t require Iranian leaders to sign the nuclear deal that his team negotiated with the regime, and the deal is not “legally binding,” his administration acknowledged in a letter to Representative Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) --National Review quoted at RedState

 

Wait, wait!!  There's more!!

 

...Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discouraged his nation’s parliament from voting on the nuclear deal in order to avoid placing legal burdens on the regime....

 

So.  What IS the deal?

 

Short story:  Obozo allowed the UN sanctions to be lifted despite that fact.  Ergo, without a 'treaty,' Ayatollah Obozo gave away the store to the mullahs based only on the word of one Iranian Shi'ite politician.

 

And you know about the 'word' of a politician, right?

Turkey, Russia, Erdogan, Obozo: Is It the Money?

Interesting little rumor here, that President MomJeans' love for Erdogan has to do with a bit of graft, paid by ISIS to Erdogan.

Conveniently, MomJeans happens to like ISIS, too.

Of course, this may force the US to prop up Erdogan, a radical Muslim.

Chuck Todd, Establishment Lapdog

Now that Ted Cruz is gaining ground, he's the new target.  Fortunately for the (R) side of The Establishment, they do not have to do all the dirty work of smearing and sliming Cruz.

They have Chuck Todd at their back.

And yah, there's a word that rhymes with "Chuck," which fits perfectly before his name, used as an imperative verb.  Go ahead.  Use it that way.

The Donald Goes All Stupid

We're becoming convinced that the only thing The Donald has going for him is his hair.

"If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it’s an enemy of state. I would keep them away, [from gun purchases] absolutely."

If someone is "an enemy of the state," Donald, they should be arrested, charged, and tried.  IF found guilty, they lose their Constitutional right to bear arms.  (I will accept 'arrested, charged, tried, found guilty, and deported by air, being dropped into their home country without a parachute.)

See, Donald, Constitutional rights apply to every US citizen.  No convictions?  They still have rights.

We already have one jackass-in-chief.  No point electing another, Donald.

Now to lesser matters--but still Stupid Donald Tricks:

After the rally, one attendee shouted out to Trump as he was signing posters for supporters: “Mr. Trump, What do you think about ethanol?”

“I love it, I’m for it,” Trump said simply before exiting the stage.

You may--just like all the others--shove that corncob up your ass, Donald.  Not up mine.

Our Junior-League President's Stupid Decisions v. ISIS

Long essay from the Atlantic which, boiled down, tells us that Obama is a moron when he deals with ISIS.

That's not exactly a surprise, but the essay goes into excruciating detail about Pissypants's stupidity.

Pat Caddell: "It's a Revolution, Not a Revolt!"

Wow.  I saw Caddell about 30 years ago; he was in town for some (D) event.  He was right then, and he's not been wrong since (he predicted the re-election of Obozo.) 

Now he thinks that the party's over for the Establishment.  What you see here is the transcript of a video (also available at the link.)

Note this well:  Caddell insisted that the MSM--and the (R) and (D) Establishments--view US politics as binary:  two parties.  He also said that they are wrong.  This is not about "party."  (Remember the Reagan/Teamsters' alliance?)

...The Republican -- the grassroots, a few weeks ago, as they did in December -- giant majorities, over two thirds, wanted their leadership out.  They wanted Boehner gone, and they wanted McConnell gone.  They believed overwhelmingly that they were serving the Chamber of Commerce and other interests at the expense of the beliefs of the grassroots of the party, of ordinary Republicans.

And of course, they're right.  After they won in 2014, they met in December in a back room and gave Obama everything he wanted.  And they said -- oh no, this is only for this time.  We're going to have a continuing resolution, which is all the same funding going on that has been going on.  We won't change that.  But we'll do it next year, when we have an appropriations process.

The one they did in December in the back room, the one that paid off the Wall Street banks basically -- and Jamie Dimon, who was there lobbying -- all those deals done in the back room -- they've all been repeated in this latest get-together between Boehner's aides, McConnell's aides, Pelosi and the White House, for weeks.

And they went into a secret room.  They didn't pass appropriation bills.  They did on defense, but they won't -- and the President vetoed it, and now there will be some battle.  But they didn't.  They made an agreement in which spending would go up across the board, half for defense and half for the nondefense spending; and none of it addressing the dead or any other question.  It's just the same old politics....

Uh-huh.

He spends some time on the Iran treaty, which was a demi-treason.  Then he goes here:

...Another issue is religious freedom.  You saw the vote in Houston over the question of the ordinance, the one that they were telling ministers they needed to turn in their sermons to be checked about?  Right?  In a city that is 76 percent Hispanic and black, by 61-39, people said no to it.  And now we hear what a hateful city and whatever.  So I think someone should go and [review] all the blacks and Hispanics who voted against it and ask them why they are so hateful and so forth.

The same day that happened, the education department announced that the school in -- I don't want to spend a lot of time on it -- the school in Illinois, which had provided for a transgender student a special place in the locker room, in private.  The Obama Administration said that's not good enough.  They have to be able to -- even though there's anatomical differences between the people in that girls' locker room -- they have to take showers and be openly able to do it.  The privacy of the rest of the students or their parents don't matter.  And they've now announced this is for all schools.

But I want to tell you, I've done some research a little bit, again, inspired by Lee and some others.  And we had found the most amazing results -- the American people don't want a cultural war.  But as I wrote in the analysis, God help the one who starts it.  Because the American people think there's a commonsense solution.

But they will not see -- there's no reason to believe that the people who believe in religious freedom are on the losing side.  They're overwhelmingly popular.  Their positions are overwhelmingly popular....

On Trump, Clinton, Bush, and Rubio:

...the greatest number of people, when given the option -- huge numbers, as much as a fifth of the American people -- are saying they will not vote for either of these.  They don't want this choice.  And we tested Smith on a commonsense, center-right platform, as we had done two years earlier.  We found that Smith was even -- this make-believe candidate was even stronger, because that candidate could defeat -- at that time, in the summer, Bush and Clinton, with 60 percent of the vote, the same that they got with Rubio and Clinton. ...

Hmmmm.

...There is a real majority in this country, a giant majority, for a change that takes on Washington, that replaces a lot of these people, and does two things, in my opinion -- that rectifies the situation that has happened where the political class has decided they are going to manage the decline of America.  If it's not conscious, it's a subconscious belief.  And a vast majority of American people are not willing to go into that darkness of an America that's in decline, and who want a resurgence in this country -- and one is possible...

He also thinks that ObozoCare, Planned Parenthood, and Benghazi are points on which the Revolution will be fought--to the detriment of HRC (primarily) AND to the (R) Establishment, which has simply blown the coverage.

Interesting.

Will Ryan's House Bail Out Health Insurers?

Betsy McCaughey knows ObozoCare and tells us that the health-insurance megaplayers are hammering Congress for a bailout on their ObozoCare losses.

...At issue is the Affordable Care Act’s so-called “risk corridor” program. Profitable insurers are supposed to pay into a fund every year to help unprofitable insurers. But with nearly all insurers losing money on ObamaCare, there’s not enough money in the pot. Insurers requested $2.9 billion to offset their 2014 losses, and were told they would get only 13 cents on the dollar, because the pot is so empty.

That shortfall pushed several co-ops into bankruptcy, including Health Republic. UnitedHealthcare also said it was a reason for its reluctance to stay in ObamaCare. But too bad for insurers. They’re in business to take risks and either make money or lose it.

The risk-corridor program shouldn’t be used to funnel taxpayer money to insurers. But the administration is trying to weasel around it and get Congress to fill the pot with taxpayer dollars. That’s what makes it a bailout. And crony capitalism.

When Obama tried this last year, Republicans in Congress stopped it. In the coming weeks, count on Obama and congressional Democrats to try slipping insurance-bailout money into the spending bills being rushed through Congress as the year closes.

So will we have "Too Big to Fail" insurers AND banks?  Think Paul Ryan has a spine?

Stay tuned.  It's your children's money.

The Spoiled Brat of Tesla

Not content to jigger his "revenues" with Federal energy credits, Elon Musk is now waving a bloody flag at hydrogen-fueled (fuel-cell) cars.

...“Fuel cell technology requires a large degree of public (financial) support in a way that EVs will never need because the infrastructure is already available in every building and practically in every room of every building,” said O’Connell, adding that instead of fuel cell vehicles carmakers should invest in building EVs....

O'Connell is Musk's mouthpiece.

Musk has figured out that with Toyota and Hyundai betting on hydrogen, his enormous Federal-subsidized investment in a battery plant may turn to dust.

So he's taking potshots, hoping that Detroit will help him out.

Good luck, Elon.  And don't count on a Republican Administration to give you any more handouts!

Why McCain and the NeoCons Lose Wars

Brief summary of warfare modality from ancient to modern (today's) here.

Takeaway grafs:

...Fourth Generation warfare of “terrorism, guerrillas and insurgency of every kind” was developed by those unable to match the West in terms of firepower and technology.  It is a return to warfare before the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 when wars were waged by non-nations such as gangs, religions, tribes, businesses, city states, and young males for rape and pillage. He argues that America “winning” just creates failed states that then become more of a threat to us than the nation-states we destroyed.
 
Lind argues that America should change from offensive to defensive warfare and containment, as we did with communism. Offensive war is bankrupting us and only creating more enemies wanting vengeance and instigating terrorism. Instead we should try to contain, not inflame, Islamist fanaticism and let it burn itself out just as did the religious wars in Europe during the 17th century. Current American strategy, Lind argues, results in losing wars against enemies wearing bathrobes and flip flops. Lind argues that we should work with nations which are sources of order and stability. (Think China.)...

Yes, THAT China. 

BTW, Rubio is the new McCain.

Is There No End to GAB's Lying?

Long story here.  Short version:  Kennedy lies.  A lot.  And then tells his investigator, Schmitz, to lie, too.

Then he finds another investigator to sign papers--to cover up his lying.

Oh--yah--Kennedy is a Democrat.  So that's natural, I guess.

The FedGov's "Extensive Screening"

While President Pissypants blows foofoodust into the eyes of the MSM, his very own TSA shows, in blazing red colors, why absolutely nobody trusts the FedGov (except Paul Ryan, see below).

...malfeasance inside the TSA extends throughout the agency, apparently, from line workers, to top brass and even to HR. According to a report released this week, the TSA had 73 "aviation workers" on its payroll who also happened to be on the terror watchlist, something the TSA, in its extensive screening process, failed to discover....

So Paul:  call the 'reality line' in your office, eh?

Paul Ryan Must Have Secret Service Protection...

...or he wouldn't be jamming this "SAFE" act through the House.

....most Americans oppose importing thousands of Syrian refugees in particular, and more immigrants in general. 

So naturally, in his first important act as House Speaker, Paul Ryan is reported to be rushing to the floor, as early as tomorrow, a bill that will insure that President Obama gets his way on the issue. The legislation the House will vote on is called the American SAFE Act. It is a misnomer and the bill is, frankly, a fraud. It is premised on the idea that the Obama administration will be able to identify potential terrorists among Syrians who claim to be refugees, a claim that everyone knows is false....

Obama has an insurmountable lead in the Gun Salesman of the Year contest, Paul, but you're doing your damndest to make up some ground, eh?

So, Paul:  which young male Muzzie refugees will you have in your family's home for Thanksgiving?

Durbin-Grassley: Smoke, Mirrors, and BS

There will be a regular Barnum & Bailey over the Durbin-Grassley "H1-B Reform" bill.  Don't let it fool you if you're a US citizen and IT critter.  Things will be just the same, except for the wrapper--instead of Infosys, it will be IBM and Accenture.

Norm Matloff has the goods, as usual.

UN: "Kill the Catholics!!"

First, let's get this straight:  "Christians" in the Middle East are actually Catholics.  (Not necessarily Roman Rite; they are also Syriac, Maronite, Coptic, Chaldean, and Armenian.)

It appears that the UN (and the US) have decided that Catholics will be annihilated in the Middle East.

...When Christians flee as refugees they cannot go to UN-run refugee camps because there they face the same persecution and terror from which they fled. If they are not in the refugee camps they are not included in the application process for asylum. The U.S. State Department knows this, but continues to allow the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to select refugees for asylum with no regard to the endangered Christians and other religious minorities. According to statements in the Sunday Express from an ISIS defector and aid workers in the UN camps, ISIS is sending teams of trained assassins disguised as refugees to kidnap and kill Christians.

And we’ve just learned that the State Department is poised to rule that Yazidis but not Christians are likely to be designated as victims of genocide in Iraq.

The blame is not just with the United Nations and the Obama administration. U.S. organizations who resettle refuges are also to blame. This includes Christian groups that resist any focus on Christian victims of ISIS, and oppose actions by Congress to welcome not just economic migrants but also Christians and other religious minorities victimized by ISIS....

Surely Paul Ryan--a Catholic--will be working to change this!  He'll join hands with Joe Biden, another Catholic, right?

Surely.

The Stupid Party, Again

Well, Paul Ryan's House is really going to ........vote on........something......having to do with refugees.

...House GOP leadership appears to be taking a different approach. Instead, they have scheduled a vote TOMORROW on a flawed bill that will do absolutely nothing to stop or defund refugee resettlement. Authored by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), the bill merely calls for the administration to certify that any refugees brought here from Iraq and Syria are not terrorists....

Yah.  That follows on the success of House leadership in....umnnnhhhh....reducing Gummint spending, reversing ObamaCare, keeping budget "deals" of only two years ago, de-funding EPA's effort to kill coal-burning in the Upper Midwest,collecting their paychecks.

Because everyone trusts Pissypants to vet those 'refugees' thoroughly, especially in Ryan's House.

Refugee Program Realities

A very nice summary and clarification of the US refugee program is available here.

Key excerpts:

..The United States has accepted roughly 70,000 refugees over the last few years. But beginning Oct. 1, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the U.S. would accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, with at least 10,000 coming from Syria. By 2017, the Department of State announced that the number of refugees entering the country would increase to 100,000....

Well, that's likely to be a problem.  Assuming that the mechanics of the program are the ones currently written in law, it can't happen that fast.

...For refugees living abroad who seek to come to the United States, the resettlement process—the “selection and transfer” of refugees—can take between 18 and 24 months, according to the Department of State....

... the government, in conjunction with intelligence agencies, conducts background checks that include an analysis of biographical and biometric data checked against federal and international databases.
 
Once a refugee’s information has been vetted against data from the intelligence community, an officer with Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts an in-person interview with the refugee.

If the government approves his application, the refugee then undergoes a medical screening from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Once that process is completed, the federal government works with a number of private-sector voluntary agencies to resettle the refugee in the United States....

The utter lack of database material on Syrian applicants would--in a normal world--stop the process at 'conducts background checks' above.

But living in Pissypants' US is not a 'normal world.'  Erickson makes that clear:

...Nobody trusts Barack Obama to get it right, he has squandered all the good will available to him, and has so heavily engaged in partisan politics himself that partisans on the side opposite are no longer inclined to give their President the benefit of the doubt....

To that point:  Obama has done all he can to ensure the success of ISIS.  He saw to the overthrow of the Libyan government, did his best to throw Egypt under the bus, withdrew US troops stabilizing Iraq, and has callously ignored massacres perpetrated by Boko Haram, among other ISIS-affiliated groups.

In brief, Pissypants is a jackass; nobody in their right mind trusts him to do the right thing.

That's a pity for those who ARE genuine refugees from Syria, or anyplace else where "contained" ISIS operates.

Does Pissypants Have "Supremacy"? Not Really.

Wherein we find that pResident Pissypants doesn't always have the "supremacy" clause at his back (and in his particular case, rarely!)

Early in the linked essay, the author makes the point that Congress--and only Congress--has the Constitutional authority to regulate immigration, whether for 'naturalization' leading towards citizenship or for any OTHER category of immigrant, including refugees.

Then he addresses the 'supremacy' clause.

...left-wingers might argue that the states don’t have the power to determine rules of naturalization, either. True, they do not. But what the states DO have is the positive constitutional right from Article VI to nullify actions of the federal government which are not pursuant to the text of the Constitution,

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land...”

The Supremacy Clause is often thought of solely in terms of “the federal government always overrules the states.” But, if you actually read what it says, it is not saying that. Federal laws (and its questionable that executive orders even qualify for that level of dignity anywise) must be made “in pursuance thereof” to the Constitution. If they are not, then the states are free to adjudge them as unconstitutional and of no force or authority. The Supremacy Clause actually cuts both ways....

Laws, or in Pissypants' case, 'executive orders' which are NOT 'pursuant to the Constitution' are not 'supreme,' but are subject to the judgment of the various States vis-a-vis enforceability.

(And yes, that also calls into question Pissypants' re-writes of ObozoCare which are obviously not 'law' pursuant to the Constitution.)

Ooops! Shrillary Forgot $20 Million or So

It is reported that Shrillary is a bit "confused" now and then.  So forgetting where $20 million came from is...well....ya'know, she's kinda old'n'stuff.

Obama's Faculty-Lounge "Thoughts"

We're
getting to at the point where it's disastrously clear that the current occupant of the White House is in permanent faculty-lounge mode.  That is simply not a mode which fits the task of President.

"When I hear folks say that maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who is feeling from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefitted from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful. That’s not American. That’s not who we are."  --quoted at Breitbart

Actual thinkers will be revolted by this sophistry.  One, a Pope named Ratzinger, distinguished Islam from Christianity very clearly:  the difference is Logos, which is to say "reason."  Reason is not a component of Islam.  That is a distinction which makes a very big difference.

But in the faculty-lounge, reason is usually subjugated by emotion, which is evident in the above words of President Pissypants.

Obama is not alone.  The MSM (another mindless bunch) was enthralled by some piano-player who played Lennon's "Imagine" on the blood-filled street in Paris.  The title of the song is perfectly fitting, as was the treacly rendition.

In fact, "Imagine" should be emblazoned on the door to the Oval Office.  Reality need not knock on that door.

Rubio v. Cruz on Immigration: Rubio Loses

No matter how he tries to wiggle out of it, Marco Rubio was a member of the Gang of Eight.

And no matter how Marco spins it, Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions were dead against his bill.

Cruz even went to the trouble of introducing "friendly" amendments to the Go8 bill--which were designed to prove that Marco & Co. were not at all serious about a wall, enforcement, or even H-1B reductions.

And Sessions will back Cruz' story on the affair.

So Marco resorts to lying about the matter.  How utterly........political........of him, eh?

Sorry, Marco.  You lose on the issue.  But feel free to run as the "pro-amnesty" candidate.

(Why don't you include a lot more "refugees" from Syria, Iraq, and Somalia while you're at it??)

Obozo-Moron in Speech

Quoted by Steyn:

Obama described tonight's events as "an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share".

Note that he does not mention "Muslims."

And note this well:  they are not "values."  They are "MORALS".

Which raises the question:  what morals inform Islam? 

Final note:  this is what Obozo means by 'we have contained ISIS'?

So, Paris. How About More Syrian "Refugees"??

Muslim terrorists--at this report--have killed around 160 civilians in Paris.

Meantime, Obozo thinks we should take in 100,000 "refugees" from Syria (or wherever they're actually coming from).  And nobody--but nobody--knows who these "refugees" really are.

Bush, Rubio, and Kasich agree that the US should take in lotsa these people.

That was last week.  Maybe Bush, Rubio, and Kasich will change their position.

The other guy--the one in the White House?  Why should HE change on the issue?

Nietzsche the Prophet

In the middle of an essay on Tom Wolfe (you MUST read his works), we find Wolfe referring to Nietzsche.

...It is the interaction of this consumer society with post-orthodox America that so fascinates Wolfe. He cites Nietzsche, who after reporting the death of God in 1882 delivered a prophesy of the next 200 years. “He predicted,” said Wolfe in 1996, “that the twentieth century would be a century of ‘wars such as have never happened on earth,’ wars catastrophic beyond all imagining.” World War I, World War II, the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction—that crazy German had a point....

And Nietzsche made a second prediction.

Nietzsche said that mankind would limp on through the twentieth century ‘on the mere pittance’ of the old decaying God-based moral codes. But then, in the twenty-first, would come a period more dreadful than the great wars, a time of ‘the total eclipse of all values’ (in The Will to Power). This would also be a frantic period of ‘revaluation,’ in which people would try to find new systems of values to replace the osteoporotic skeletons of the old. But you will fail, he warned, because you cannot believe in moral codes without simultaneously believing in a god who points at you with his fearsome forefinger and says, ‘Thou shalt’ or ‘Thou shalt not.’...

Looking at only the two most prominent 'social' decisions of SCOTUS in the last 50 years, Roe and Obergefell, it is difficult to refute Nietzsche's prediction--and looking at the Obozo Perfidy Presidency, it's clear that Nietzsche knew what he was talking about.

Hey, Peon!! Pay THIS Bill!

You thought Government is too large?

Check this factoid:

...roughly 57,000 federal employees continue to stay at home collecting a combined total of nearly three quarters of a billion dollars per year in salary alone....

Didn't miss them, did you?

So yah, the Government is too large, by at least 57,000 employees.  And if you REALLY want to get agitated, read the linked post to find out why they're sitting at home doing nada

The Debate: A Fair and Balanced Review

Right here.

Cunningham's take is very close to mine, so it's obviously fair, balanced, and well-thought out.

Tinpot Marxist Sissy: "Follow the Law!!"

The Marxist twit in the White House says we must "follow the law."

....taking him as an example??

Kasich's Silly BankBailout Chatter

John Kasich made an ass of himself with his silly flapjaw about "bailing out" JPMorganChase (inter alia) last night.  (In fairness, the others on the stage missed the super-softball target that Kasich set up for them--which says a lot about the world they live in, too.)

When the question of "bank bailouts/Too Big to Fail" arose, Kasich went raging populist, saying that he would certainly--no doubt about it--"bail out" banks, to protect the 'hardworking folks whose life savings could be lost (fill in the usual rhetorical excess here)....'

John, you blithering idiot:  have you not heard of the FDIC??

Let's back up for a minute. 

'Hard-working Americans' who have 'life savings' can be split into a few different categories.  Bottom-quintile earners have little saved, period.  4th-quintile earners may have savings, and those savings may be largely in banks, but they do not exceed $250K, which is fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  3rd-quintile people probably have savings which may exceed $250K--but most likely they are at least partially in 401(k) plans, which are diversified in bonds, stocks, and (some) bank deposits.  2nd- and 1st- quintile people are also (usually) invested in 401(k), but also in other non-bank outlets such as annuity contracts, real properties, stocks, and bonds.  They may have more than $250K in banks--but they're damn fools if they put all their cash into ONE bank.

Sum:  Kasich (and all the others) ignored FDIC.  Why?

Is Cruz Changing His Tune on H1-B?

Last night's discussion of 'the immigration issue' was--as usual--confined to low-wage/low-skilled illegals from Mexico.  But last night, Cruz' language on "immigration" was interesting, and may signal a change of his tune on S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) H1-B immigration through his mention of other (professional) immigrants flooding the job market:

..."I can tell you, for millions of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press.

"Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation...."

Well, Ted, we have a 'bunch of IT and engineering' people crossing the border--legally--and you seem to think that that's just fine and dandy.  But up to half of US-citizen S.T.E.M. grads can't find jobs in STEM fields.

That, too, is "a calamity," Ted.  Are you beginning to get the whole picture?

A Rabid (Former) Free-Trader Apologizes

Vox figured it out and remains apologetic.

...I was an ardent theoretical free trader for decades. I know the pro-free trade arguments better than you do; my father gave me Free to Choose to read when I was ten years old. But the fact is, the theoretical arguments are incorrect; the conclusions their logic predicted have turned out to be observably wrong....


His reasons for the reversal are listed in the post, along with another story of US IT workers losing their jobs.


Think Ted Cruz will notice??

Anti-Immigration? Nope. Anti-Life!

This is some of the best deep-dive research I've seen on the 'net.  Thanks, Mr. Wolf!!

...during tonight’s debate, you might well see a commercial about immigration. It will sound perfectly reasonable and feature people of all different races talking about how immigration policy isn’t about race; it’s about the numbers. It will appeal to your sensibilities about immigration and probably strike a chord with exactly how you feel about immigration in the United States. And it will be funded by a leftist Malthusian group whose philosophy was responsible for China’s adoption of its brutal one child policy....

Oh.  Like who??

...before founding FAIR and becoming a hero of the anti-amnesty movement, John Tanton was the founder of Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood and was a Sierra Club organizer. That is why, before realizing that the Democrat party was abandoning the immigration for good, NumbersUSA President Roy Beck repeatedly and openly groused about the need to embrace “population control” as an environmental issue. 

If you’re a conservative anti-amnesty activist who wants control over the border, respect for United States laws and sovereignty, but doesn’t want forced abortions, sterilizations, radical environmentalist wackoism and anti-Catholic bigotry, then NumbersUSA, FAIR, and CAPS are not your friends.

Yes, indeed.  That is a very important word to the wise.

Dear Ms. Subeck: the 2A Is Not About "Hunting"

While it is clear that to (D) politicians at every level the Constitution is scrap paper, it is useful to be reminded of their position.

...“After receiving feedback from some of our colleagues regarding the circulation of a preliminary draft banning semiautomatic assault weapons, the other authors of the bill and I have determined that we will work with the Legislative Reference Bureau to make some revisions to the draft bill to address some concerns that have been raised,” Subeck wrote. Specifically, she and the other advocates of the proposal, Representatives Chris Taylor, Terese Berceau, and Melissa Sargent, were concerned about “the potential impact of LRB 3635 on our state’s sporting heritage.”...

Subeck, Berceau, Taylor, and Sargent are still in the default (D) mode of Barbara Boxer:  let's try to scare everyone!!! with "assault weapon" terminology.  And when they're called on their sub-idiot-level proposal, they suddenly find that "hunting" is really important.

But hunting is not the reason for the Second Amendment. Neither is self-defense.  The Second Amendment was written to prevent federal and state government from over-reaching their charters, something that Ms. Subeck should seriously consider.

Why do I say "seriously consider"?  How about 6 months straight of record gun purchases?  Given the current Democrat Administration's agenda and tactics, that should serve as a Big Red Flag to Ms. Subeck.

"Fast Eddie" Flynn Missed the Biggest Clown

Eddie Flynn is the current Chief of Police in Milwaukee, and he's a dedicated lefty politician on the side.

So when he discusses Obozo's release of 8,000 federal prisoners into society, he doesn't mention Obozo.  That would be a career-killer.

Instead, he calls (R) presidential candidates 'clowns.'

We submit that the real "clown" is Obozo.  The prisoners he will release are a lot more dangerous than Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, and The Donald. 

As to Fast Eddie:  good thing that your front-line men will be picking up the pieces after those Obozo releases hit the streets.  YOU wouldn't want to be in their place, would you?

UC Merced Killer Was Muzzie Terrorist

By now it should be clear:  'the authorities' lie.

After lots of foofoodust from 'the authorities' about the UC-Merced killer, we get the truth (but NOT from the MSM, of course.)

...From the information I have gathered, the suspect was indeed not only on the FBI’s terrorist watch list but he was also on a national watch list and had been one of the topics of discussion at a recent FBI briefing to Merced County law enforcement leaders. According to recently obtained information, about 6 months ago the FBI held a terrorist/extremist briefing with Merced County law enforcement leaders. At this meeting several suspected terrorist with ISIS links were said to be here in Merced County. Names and photos were presented including one of Faisal Mohammad. Based on the FBI’s own analysis and a number of people on the terrorist watch list that are in the area they projected an attack at the UC Merced campus.--Merced County News quoted at Gateway

You recall that the Merced Sheriff said the nutbag went off because 'he was kicked out of his study-group.'

(Awaiting MSM report on this, but not holding my breath.)

Obozo v. Watertown, WI

A train loaded with crude oil derailed in Watertown, WI, yesterday.

Just a reminder:

President Barack Obama announced Friday that his administration has rejected the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, deciding that it “would not serve the national interests of the United States.”

That ensures that a derailment of oil-tankers could happen again, with even worse consequences, like the fires and explosions which happened in other cities.

Vote Democrat.  Kill off small-towns!

(R) House Doesn't Like Accountability

Despite the dethroning of John Boehner and all the other warning signs from the growing anti-establishment movement, Republican House members reject accountability.

To Ryan's credit, he tried to get Members to man up.  For the time being, he failed.  Manhood is not in vogue in Washington D.C., ya'know.

...A new approach was needed in terms of taking care of the people’s business and a good place to start would be in the budget process. One great idea which had been floated was to move away from these giant, omnibus style spending bills and begin breaking various areas of the budget out for consideration as individual spending bills. That way everyone would have a chance to read them, comment, nix items which were bad investments and trim out some of the fat. Sounds good, right? This week the new Speaker tried to begin that process by counting heads and seeing if anyone was up for tackling a financial services appropriations bill....

...A handful of lawmakers also used a closed meeting Thursday to complain about difficult votes.
But Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said that’s a reasonable price to pay for empowering rank-and-file members.

“There are going to be tough votes for me, tough votes for them. I think that’s what the speaker said all along, you asked for an open process, and that’s what that entails,” Salmon said. “That means people are going to have to take tough votes.”...HotAir quoting Politico

Not if THEY can help it, Matt.  And I intend to hold Sensenbrenner, RoJo, Ryan, and Grothmann accountable for their votes, even when they vote BOTH ways on hot topics as they are wont to do. 

Or Ryan could simply force his party members to do what is right, eh?

Streiff's Very Catholic Snark HRC's Treason

We'll get to the bigger story in a moment, but this phrase resonates:

...it is following POLITICO’s editorial policy of supporting Hillary Clinton, and all her works, and all her empty promises....

Excellent.

Moving on:

...The U.S. intelligence community has retreated from claims that two emails in Hillary Clinton’s private account contained top-secret information, a source familiar with the situation told POLITICO.... RedState quoting Politico

Well, of course!!  National security and the lives of US soldiers, sailors, diplomats, and--for that matter--unborn children, are NOT a concern to (D) power players.  Haven't been since about 1968.

So HRC is "too big to jail."  That fact was always lurking behind all the foofoodust raised by the Benghazi committee.  If you are surprised by this, you're hopelessly naive.

On the other hand, this is another reason for continuation of the massive growth of the anti-Establishment movement which exists in all of the US between the coasts.  Think "record gun sales", folks.

Surprise!! ObozoCare "Caddy Tax" on Chopping Block

Reid and Pelosi, prominent pond-scum, want to delete the "Cadillac tax" from ObozoCare.

The tax will hit most of Big Labor, not to mention Gummint employees at all levels around the country AND lots of East- and West- coast fat-cat private-sector entities.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are working behind the scenes to repeal one of the most controversial taxes in ObamaCare, multiple sources tell The Hill.

Reid and Pelosi have been talking since the spring with President Obama about repealing the “Cadillac tax” on employer healthcare benefits, a senior Democratic aide confirmed on Friday....

There is a minor problem:

...The biggest hurdle for getting rid of the tax is figuring out how to replace the $87 billion in government revenue for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)....

...but to (D) pols, increasing the national debt is not a "problem," it's an opportunity!

It will be interesting to see how Ryan plays this.  Forcing the (D) Party to live with their decision is one option, of course.  Dismantling the rest of ObozoCare is another.  Giving in to pond-scum and their allies?

We'll see.

Destroyed From WIthin by Contractors

Remember these names.

In 2008, Computer Sciences Corporation was awarded a contract from the Department of Defense to create communications software for the DoD’s Defense Information Security Agency (DISA.) The company then subcontracted part of the work to Netcracker Technology, who used Russian services in order to lower costs.

Backdoor spyware ensued.

The management of those companies should be shunned.  (That's the most polite term one can use on the 'net.  Read between the lines.)

Doh. West Point IS a Full Ride Program

Whether Carson filled out the forms is irrelevant.

West Point is a "full ride"--tuition, room, and board is paid by the US Government, 100%.

So if Gen. Westmoreland offered Carson an opportunity to get into West Point, Westmoreland was de facto offering him a "full ride scholarship."

Some 'news' people don't know that, mostly because they never asked.  After all, making one phone call and asking a question?  That's harder than taking dictation from someone, ain'a?

The Ryan-Dance on TPP Immigration Policy

One thing that Paul Ryan has become very good at:  lying through artful evasions.  I doubt that he learned that from Hillary.  She's not that good at it.  Bill, on the other hand, was noted to be 'an extraordinary liar' by his (D) acquaintances.  No matter where Paul learned it, he uses it when talking about immigration.

So we come to TPP, the until-yesterday Top Secret Treaty.

Ryan told Newsmax that 'TPP doesn't change immigration laws in the US.'

Uh-huh.  It doesn't, technically.  But note well:  Disney and So. Cal. Edison did NOT employ "immigrants" when they brought in a bunch of H1-B's and fired their American IT workers.

See, H1-B's are not "immigrants" under Federal law.  They are "nonimmigrants."

So when TPP 'enhances trade' vis-a-vis US IT workers, that 'enhancement' will be NON-immigrant H1-B workers displacing.......ah, you know the rest.

Norm has the goods, as usual.

Shock! Obozo Stiffs Keystone!

The single most anti-US-energy President in history declines to allow energy to flow through the country.

In other news, the sun rose this morning.

ISIS About to Learn a Lesson

One of bloggery's sages likes to quote his grandpa to the effect that one does not 'poke a badger' unless one wants one's testicles to be removed by said badger's teeth.  Or something like that.

'Twas exactly that, (substituting 'bear' for 'badger') that I thought yesterday as it emerged that ISIS prolly put a bomb into a Russki airplane and killed 240+ people.

Putin will be displeased.  VERY displeased. 

Which is OK, because ISIS is about to find out about poking bears and emasculation.  The hard way.

Grothman Gets DC Fever

Apparently you CAN take the conservative out of Grothman.

After last week's 180 degree flip on Welfare for Corporate Queens (Ex-Im), Grothman continues his Spend It All!! charge.

The highway bill is another bloated budget-buster.  One House member attempted to amend it so that highway dollars would NOT fund landscaping efforts.

Ooohhhh, NOOOOOOes!! wailed Glenn, as he voted to fund shrubbery, along with the usual sidewalks, bike-paths, and decorative bridge bow-ties.

This may be a record time for going DC Native, Glenn.

Next: Obozo Globo-Gummint!!

Obozo is not finished burying the US!!  He has another card to play.

...Sessions said this isn’t just a “trade agreement” or even a full-fledged treaty. It’s the creation of a new global governing structure akin to the European Union—one that cedes U.S. sovereignty to a yet-to-be-created international governing body.

“At bottom, this is not a mere trade agreement,” Sessions said. “It bears the hallmarks of a nascent European Union. It is another step towards a world where people, goods, and services can travel freely across international boundaries – and a world where those boundaries mean less and less every day.”...

Because the Senate fast-tracked this treaty, the Senate cannot amend it, nor is it subject to the Constitutional 2/3rds approval requirement.  (That was the Corker prostitution-play.)

So Sessions wants the US Senate to "un-fast-track" this piece of garbage.

Let's see how RoJo votes, eh?

How a Nooo Yawk Lawyer Will Cost You Money

Another New York lawyer, another bunch of money out of your pocket.

New York’s decision to probe climate change disclosures by Exxon Mobil Corp. marks the most aggressive state action yet on the financial effects of burning fossil fuels.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to the company on Wednesday seeking a lengthy list of documents and disclosures...

...The investigation is seeking information on whether the world’s biggest oil explorer lied to investors and the public for almost 40 years about the impact of climate change on profits,...

Uh-huh.  That's the foo-foo dust cover for the Green Weenie agenda voiced here:

...Environmental activists cheered New York’s action, calling for more agencies to join the probe.
Schneiderman “is leading the charge to further expose the hypocrisy of fossil fuel companies like Exxon Mobil and hold them accountable for denying climate change to the public and blocking necessary action for decades,” Greenpeace spokesman Rodrigo Estrada said in an e-mailed statement. “New York has taken the first step, now other attorneys general should follow suit to protect the rights of the American people against big polluters from lying to them about climate change and its impacts on our communities.”...

If you're fool enough to think that Exxon will simply absorb the costs of this New York witch-hunt, you're wrong.  You'll pay for it, and you'll pay a lot.

The Green Weenie--which makes up stories about 'climate change' on a daily basis--will not be satisfied until we are living in huts and crapping into pits again.  And New York lawyers are happy to help.

TSA: Another $8BN Down the Crapper

Not only is TSA a make-work program; it doesn't work!

A leaked classified report this summer found that as much as 95 percent of contraband, like weapons and explosives, got through during clandestine testings.  --quoted at the Ticker

So you're spending $8BN/year to go to the theater.

The Deadly Irony of Rep. Subeck

A (D) Assembly-creature has introduced legislation banning "assault weapons".

“No Wisconsin community should ever have to face such a tragedy [a shooting] at the hands of someone armed with a semiautomatic assault weapon,” declared state Rep. Lisa Subeck, a Madison-area Democrat, former state leader of the pro-abortion group NARAL, and lead sponsor of the proposed gun ban. “I can conceive of no legitimate reason that any citizen should need to own or use a semiautomatic assault weapon,” she said.

Ignore her ludicrous gratuitous assertion of 'illegitimacy', please.  Stop laughing!!

How about re-phrasing it this way, Lisa:  "No Wisconsin community should ever have to face the killing of babies and sale of their parts at the hands of someone armed with a forceps, scalpel, and suction device."

Much better question, no?

Obozo's Violence For Lies, Title IX Version

Below we highlighted Solzhenitsyn's 'lies require violence' remarks.

Here we demonstrate the truth he told.

The Obama administration is continuing its push for transgender teenagers to use facilities of the opposite sex – this time by explicitly threatening to pull federal funding from an Illinois school district and backing a transgender girl's appeal to use boys' facilities in Virginia....

Yah, well.  Houston!!!

Lies and Violence v. Truth and Beauty

Solzhenitsyn and Benedict XVI both quote Dostoevsky's "beauty will save the world" remark.  Solzhenitsyn expanded on that a bit in his 1972 Nobel lecture.

...a true work of art carries its verification within itself: Artificial and forced concepts do not survive their trial by images; both image and concept crumble and turn out feeble, pale, and unconvincing. However, works which have drawn on the truth and which have presented it to us in concentrated and vibrant form seize us, attract us to themselves powerfully, and no one ever—even centuries later—will step forth to deny them.

So perhaps the old trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is not simply the decorous and antiquated formula it seemed to us at the time of our self-confident materialistic youth. If the tops of these three trees do converge, as thinkers used to claim, and if the all too obvious and the overly straight sprouts of Truth and Goodness have been crushed, cut down, or not permitted to grow, then perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, and ever surprising shoots of Beauty will force their way through and soar up to that very spot, thereby fulfilling the task of all three.

And then no slip of the tongue but a prophecy would be contained in Dostoyevsky’s words: “Beauty will save the world.”...

There is a logic which flows from that trinity of TruthGoodnessBeauty.  Solzhenitsyn begins thus:

...We shall be [asked]: What can literature do in the face of a remorseless assault of open violence? But let us not forget that violence does not and cannot exist by itself: It is invariably intertwined with the lie. They are linked in the most intimate, most organic and profound fashion: Violence cannot conceal itself behind anything except lies, and lies have nothing to maintain them save violence....No longer does violence always and necessarily lunge straight for your throat; more often than not it demands of its subjects only that they pledge allegiance to lies, that they participate in falsehood.

This is what underlies the phrase "You will be made to care."  Roe and Obergefell are the two pre-eminent lies of this era in the US.  Political Correctness is the third.  The lies require violence that is manifested in the Government's powers of enforcement:  imprisonment and/or stripping one's assets.

To Solzhenitsyn, the remedy is Beauty--true Art.

...it is within the power of writers and artists to do much more: to defeat the lie! For in the struggle with lies art has always triumphed and shall always triumph! Visibly, irrefutably for all! Lies can prevail against much in this world, but never against art....

(And yes, that is precisely what was voiced by Christ:  "The Truth shall set you free.")

The Birth of ISIS: Bremer, Slocombe, and Feith

When a few underlings decided to flush the Iraqi Army down the porcelain tube, the eventual outcome became known as ISIS.

It's a complex narrative, filled with finger-pointing bureaucratic snakes like Bremer.  GWBush took the blame, but the decision actually went against his own orders.

So if you think that electing a President has consequences, you MAY be right.  Or wrong.

Jay Weber: Here's Why Rush Likes The Donald

This morning, Weber was ranting about the approbation of The Donald by various national pundits.

Well, there's at least ONE reason, Jay.  Maybe you should study the text here.

TRUMP: Our country has no spirit. Our country has no gravitas. Our country doesn’t feel good about itself. And the primary reason is we have no victories....Seven years ago when Obama got elected the one thing I thought that he would be a great cheerleader for the country; he’s not. He’s been a great divider for the country. He’s been one of the great dividers of all time....

RUSH: You think that doesn’t resonate with people that hear that? Every word of that has people — if not for real, euphemistically — standing up and cheering. We don’t have any victories...We’re taking it on the chin against terrorism. We are losing our culture. We are losing institution after institution that made and defined this country’s greatness. All of these things are under constant attack. It’s not that they’re rotting away or withering away. We are losing contests for them! There are people inside and outside this country who detest America, who detest American culture, who detest the founding, and they are hell-bent to change it and reform if and transform it — and they’re winning! And people opposed to that having no to cheer for....

For years, Rush has been an "American Exceptionalism" guy.  There are some problems with that--it needs a ton of definition (or qualification).  But that orientation of Rush's meshes very well with Trump's rhetoric, wrong as Trump is on some other matters.

HT:  ColdFury

Disney v. Americans

If it were only Disney!

Conservative Review recaps a (Florida) story about the Disney Dump of US IT workers in favor of cheap imported goods, and of course, Disney added insult to injury by requiring the laid-off US workers to train their replacements--or lose income.

Nice.

They're hardly the only ones in the business of labor-arbitrage via the H1-B program, but they're easier to boycott than SoCal Edison.

Rubio and Cruz are both on the Massive H1-B Importation bandwagon, perhaps out of ignorance.  But I'm not betting on "ignorance."

Too bad.

A My Sun Coast ABC News report follows the story of David Powers and Leo Perrero, two ten-year vets in Disney’s IT department recently laid off by the company for cheaper labor. - See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2015/11/disney-workers-speak-out-about-h1b-debacle#sthash.HaHqGI33.dpuf

Doh! ObozoCare Costs Money!

Surprise, surprise, as Gomer Pyle would have said.  Obozocare slams business with premium hikes.

What would have been a 4.5 percent increase in health insurance costs turned into a 9 percent increase this year for a Tempe, Ariz.-based signage company due to the Affordable Care Act’s tax on health insurers...

...To help pay for the ACA, Congress imposed a new tax on health insurance companies. Insurers, however, are passing on this tax to customers such as Blue Media in the form of higher premiums.

That’s what happens when you add a tax to a mandated product — customers end up paying it...

That's called 'spreading the wealth around' when Obozo speaks.  It's misery that's being spread, of course, along with Obozobullshit.

"Magic Dirt" and Conservative Talk Radio

Local conservative talk-radio people absolutely LOVE talking about 'bad schools.'  This mantra is actually a re-statement of the "magic dirt" theory which is the same theory by which the Left posits that immigrants will suddenly adopt the values and mores of the USA simply by being in the USA:  ergo, "magic dirt."

Derbyshire pens the dissent.

...The core idea is that one’s physical surroundings—the bricks and mortar of the building you’re in, or the actual dirt you are standing on—emit invisible vapors that can change your personality, behavior, and intelligence.

That’s why, for example, you read so much about “bad schools” or “failing schools.” The thing to be explained is that schools whose students are overwhelmingly non-Asian minorities—blacks and mestizos—get much worse results on academic tests than schools whose students are majority white and East Asian. This has been so for decades, defying even extravagantly expensive efforts to change it, like the Kansas City fiasco of the 1990s.

Parsimonious explanation: innate differences in behavior, intelligence, and personality between the races.

Magical explanation: Bad schools! The bricks and mortar of these schools, the asphalt of their playgrounds, are giving out invisible noxious vapors that enstupidate the kids!...quoted at Vox

Derbyshire's "parsimonious" explanation is reality-based, at least in part.  We have known for decades (see, e.g., Daniel Patrick Moynihan) that family structure (or lack thereof) is the single most significant determinant of academic and social success, and that, in general, "broken homes" produce more criminals and semi-literates than "intact families."

It should be embarrassing for "conservative" talk-radio people to adapt the language of the Left, even for a cause such as "choice schools."  What those radio people should be doing is talking about "dystopic 'families' and children" which is exactly what choice-school parents are fleeing.

But that would be inconvenient, I suppose.

Rubio vs. the Constitution

It appears that Marco Rubio and Obozo have something in common:  total disregard for the Constitutional legislative process vis-a-vis immigration.  Rubio granted an interview to a notorious immigration activist--partly in Spanish--and this is what emerged.

...Rubio is pledging to carry Obama’s policy: leaving the executive amnesty for DREAMers in place until Congress submits to the order by legislatively ratifying amnesty....

How very nice of him!

...In the interview, Ramos asked Rubio something that Rubio has not been asked in any of the Presidential debates thus far: “Would a President Rubio revoke Deferred Action and executive action by President Barack Obama?”

Rubio declared that he would not “immediately revoke” Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty for illegal minors [DACA]. “I’m not calling for it to be revoked tomorrow, or this week, or right away,” Rubio announced....

Here's his language:

...I think it will have to end at some point, and I hope it will end because of some reform to the immigration laws. It cannot be the permanent policy of the United States but I’m not calling for it to be revoked...

In effect, Rubio is holding Congress hostage on the issue, threatening that he'll keep the Obozo amnesty in place until Congress does what he wants.

Well, if the Constitution is a dead letter to Marco, perhaps he should re-think why any US citizen should bother with the niceties of obeying ANY Federal laws.

SCOTUS' Kennedy Compares Self to Hitler

Well, I suppose if that's what he thinks...

...Justice Kennedy actually cited Christians resigning under Hitler's regime in order to drive home his point that if one has a moral conviction against an immoral law, then that person needs to pack his or her bags and leave....

Appropriate to his level of 'thought' on his jurisprudence, eh?

ObozoCare Premiums: Way, Way, Up!!

There's an old sea-chantey, the chorus of which is "Way, way, up she rises/Way, way, up she rises/Way, way, up she rises/Early in the morning."

Well, early in the morning of 2016, ObozoCare premiums will rise by around 20%.  That's "way, way, up" by any definition.  But the Obozo Administration claims the increase will only be around 7%.

They got there by simply ignoring the price hikes on three of the four plans offered.  In any place except D.C., that would be called "lying."  But yah, well, it's D.C.--and it's Obozo.

Is "The Fix" to Kill Off Cruz In?

Interesting item here which (in brief) holds that the RNC "fixed" the primary process so that a movement Conservative such as Cruz cannot possibly win the nomination.

Even more interesting:  the beneficiary of this skulduggery was to be Jeb Bush.

Upshot?  To these essayists, the only way around "the fix" is to support The Donald--who will then pick Ted Cruz as his VP nominee.  Well, that part is ....ahhhh....somewhat speculative, no?

Anyhow.

If Bush, whose campaign is pure Zombie, simply remains a candidate--and the rest of the field:  Fiorina, Christie, Graham, Rubio, Kashic, manage to split a bunch of primary votes--then Cruz WILL lose.  He cannot win, according to these essayists.

But RNC did not foresee The Donald.