by Cal Thomas
{ townhall.com } ~ To what shall North Korea's latest pronouncement to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for certain "security" guarantees be compared?
Choose from one of the following familiar promises: Of course I'll respect you in the morning; I promise to pay you back; I'm from the government and I'm here to help. There are more but you get the idea.
It has always been this way with North Korea. It reaches an agreement and then breaks it when it suits, only to use the period when the agreement is in force to violate it and then create a false pretext to nullify it, all the while continuing to build a nuclear arsenal. North Korea then reaches another agreement, which, again, it violates and the cycle continues.
If North Korea were applying for a loan, no bank would lend it a dime because of its deplorable credit rating, yet the West, which often appears to bank more on hope than reality, continues to dole out food and other aid hoping good intentions change Pyongyang's behavior.
The Arms Control Association (ACA), "a national nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies," has compiled a list of North Korea's broken promises and behavior that includes selling missile and nuclear technology to Iran and other enemies of the United States. The list runs 37 pages.
"Following the collapse of this agreement in 2002, North Korea claimed that it had withdrawn from the NPT in January 2003 and once again began operating its nuclear facilities."
The pattern repeated again in 2003, the ACA found, during the Six-Party Talks involving the U.S., North Korea, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. After two years of stalemate and one crisis after another, North Korea pledged in 2005 to abandon "all nuclear weapons and existing weapons programs" and promised to return to the NPT agreement.
By 2009, after what by then had become familiar disagreements over inspections leading to verification that North Korea was living up to its promises, Pyongyang violated the 2005 agreement by launching missiles and vowing never to return to talks, a pledge it repeated until this latest reported promise to hold new talks about abandoning its nuclear weapons.
Last November, President Trump properly returned North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Pyongyang had been there before, but was removed from the list in 2008. Not that it had stopped sponsoring terrorism, but the West does these sorts of things from time to time, falsely believing that what free people do affects the behavior of tyrants and dictators. Apparently, we have forgotten that communists lie as a matter of policy and they aren't the only ones, as we have seen with Islamic fundamentalist regimes.
Assuming North Korea is now serious about talks following Kim Jong-un's promise to never abandon his nukes (that promise is more credible), what is likely to come of it? If history proves anything -- and it does -- the answer is nothing that will benefit South Korea, the rest of Asia and most especially the United States. But it will make us feel good for "trying." Kim knows this. It's probably why he will lead us down this dark road again, only to get mugged at the end of it.
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by Ann Coulter
{ freedomsback.com } ~ President liar-nObama did a lot of bad things, but pound for pound, one of the worst was the January 2014 “Dear Colleague” letter sent jointly by his Education and Justice Departments to all public schools threatening lawsuits over racial discrimination in student discipline. The letter came after years of his administration browbeating schools for their failure to discipline every race of student at the same rate.
As the Huffington Post put it: “American Schools Are STILL Racist, Government Report Finds.” The evidence? “Five percent of white students were suspended annually, compared with 16 percent of black students, according to the report.” Q.E.D.
According to theory, there’s NO WAY blacks and Hispanics are doing things that require more school discipline than whites or Asians. So if more black students are expelled than Asians, well, gentlemen, we have our proof of racism. To comply, schools would have to stop suspending black kids for breaking a teacher’s jaw, but suspend Asians for dropping an eraser.
Using the same logic, I could close the achievement gap between blacks and Asians in a single day by going to every principal’s office in the country and burning the transcripts. Liberals are saying, “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”
The “school-to-prison pipeline” argument for racial quotas in discipline was hatched in education schools and black studies departments. What I want to know is: How did they test the idea?
To validate the theory that recording students’ criminal behavior produces students with criminal records, we divided students into two groups. Group A we continued to suspend when they acted up; Group B we would not suspend no matter what — even when they engaged in their little mischief, like cracking heads with crowbars, dropping teachers off buildings, using a switchblade to cut other students’ eyes out.
RESULT: At the end of the year, Group B had better records.
Were the researchers really in suspense about how the experiment was going to turn out? I could have told them at the beginning that their odds of success were tremendous — unless they forgot halfway through and began accidentally suspending students in Group B.
But the liar-nObama administration said: Wow! That’s amazing. Do you think other schools could replicate those results?
One of the administration’s models was Broward County, Florida. Which is kind of important, now that we know that it was Broward’s official policy to make it impossible to arrest students like Nikolas Cruz, thus allowing him to amass a cache of firearms, walk into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and murder 17 people.
The “school-to-prison pipeline” nonsense may not be the explanation for every school shooting, but it is absolutely the explanation for THIS school shooting. No matter what Cruz did, no matter how many times his crimes were reported to the sheriff or school officials, there was no way a lad with a name like “Nikolas Cruz” was ever going to leave school with a record.
Broward County’s innovative idea of eliminating school discipline captivated liar-nObama’s Department of Education. It was expressly cited by the department’s Civil Rights Division with the notation: “New model for other jurisdictions?”
Last October — nearly a year into the Trump administration — Broward Schools Superintendent Robert W. Runcie humbly noted that the district was receiving “invitations from around the country, including from The White House and Federal Office of Civil Rights, to share details about the historic reforms” on school discipline.
Either: Liberals truly believe that all races commit crimes at exactly the same level, frequency and intensity; or they are willing to have people die for their political agenda.
Conservatives didn’t pick this school shooting as the test case for gun control. It was liberals who were going to ride the Parkland shooting all the way to the midterms. They thought they had a beautiful story about the evil NRA.
Not the mass shooting in Orlando — because of the obvious immigration angle. Not San Bernardino — for the same reason. Not Las Vegas — probably for the same reason, but we’ll never know because law enforcement has issued only lies and nonsense about that shooting.
The media did all the hard work of making sure Parkland was the only topic on anyone’s mind, with everyone demanding that we “do something!”
And then we got the facts. Cruz’s criminal acts were intentionally ignored by law enforcement on account of Broward’s much-celebrated “school-to-prison pipeline” reforms.
Thank God for the internet, or we’d never have known the truth.
Admittedly, most of the harm done by the policy that enabled Cruz is not usually a mass shooting. The main damage done by the “school-to-prison pipeline” idiocy is: broken bones, smashed teeth, traumatized students, making it impossible for other students to learn, having a bad influence on marginal students and teachers sinking into depression.
Check at your local school for the full results. Thanks to the liar-nObama administration, this crackpot theory is sweeping school districts across the nation!
The next time Democrats control Congress and the presidency, we will have racial quotas for prisons, too. When that happens, you better hope the government hasn’t taken your guns.
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by David Limbaugh
{ townhall.com } ~ If liberals would quit acting so crazy, maybe they would have a chance of making significant gains in Congress in the upcoming midterm elections and achieve their goal of eroding support for President Donald Trump. But it's not gonna happen.
Liberals' extremism and outrageousness and conservatives' failure to stop them created the conditions leading to Trump's election. Now the left's unrepentant persistence is sustaining and even increasing Trump's support. Please let liberals' learning disability continue.
They freak out over everything Trump does, apparently not realizing that their over-the-top reactions are way more unreasonable than anything Trump is doing. At a party fundraiser this past weekend, Trump quipped that Chinese President Xi Jinping is "now president for life. President for life. No, he's great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday."
You can imagine the monolithic liberal media beta males congregating at their watercoolers and whispering, "I know he's joking, but he does have authoritarian tendencies. Creepy."
Some even raced to their bullhorns and made fools of themselves publicly with the specious claim. CNN's Chris Cillizza penned an opinion piece under the title "This may be the scariest thing Donald Trump has said as president."
Wow. Do you think Cillizza seriously believes that this is scarier than Trump's promise to cut taxes, which has already led to an economic boom that jeopardizes the beleaguered Democrats' upcoming electoral prospects? What about his promise to appoint judges who genuinely care about the Constitution and the rule of law? Those things are indeed frightening for Cillizza's ilk, so he must have agonized over giving the nod to Trump's dictator joke.
In his quasi-hysterical piece, Cillizza wrote: "It's not totally clear to me whether Trump was half-joking or not. Trump's speech was behind closed doors." Well, it's not clear to me whether Cillizza is in possession of a humor molecule. His memory is also apparently on the blink, for he didn't mention former President Barack liar-nObama's reported lament that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. liar-nObama was complaining about the constitutional restraints that kept him from just dictating policy on certain issues. But his statement would have been much easier to take seriously than Trump's because he actually did trample the Constitution every time he could get away with it. Yet his liberal media enablers stood silent.
Liberals' hyperventilation over Trump's tongue-in-cheek throwaways is a mild example of their venom and fruitcakery. When columnist Bethany Mandel published an op-ed in The New York Times relating her experience in buying a gun to protect her family, gun control activist Shannon Watts accused her on Twitter of having fear, paranoia and white privilege. Watts tweeted that Mandel's white skin makes her less likely to be at risk as a gun owner, regardless of her hardscrabble background. "I guess you don't believe in racism," Watts tweeted to Mandel.
Leave it to an identity politics-obsessed leftist to invoke racism to attack a white Jewish wife and mother of three for purchasing a weapon to defend herself and her family in the face of actual threats made against her. I would say you can't make this stuff up, but it's better to say you don't have to make this stuff up, because leftist nastiness and nuttiness are a gift that keeps on giving.
Speaking of which, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly criticized Libby Schaaf -- the mayor of Oakland, California -- for warning immigrants who are here illegally about upcoming raids, she fired back that Sessions has racist motives. "How dare you distort the reality about declining violent crime in a diverse sanctuary city like Oakland, California, to advance your racist agenda?" she said. California Gov. Jerry Brown accused the federal government of launching a "reign of terror." "This is basically going to war against the state of California," Brown said.
It's hard for me to understand how even leftists have the audacity to publicly admit that they think there is nothing illegal or immoral about a city official's giving a heads-up to law violators that federal law enforcement officers are on the way.
OK, it's not really that hard. Last year, California state Sen. Kevin de Leon claimed that the Trump administration's law enforcement policies were based on principles of white supremacy rather than American values. And only about a month ago, House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi shrieked that the Republicans' immigration plan was designed to "make America white again."
For all the Democrats' stated concerns over Trump's alleged excesses, he doesn't hold a candle to their daily behavior even on his worst day. Recent polls show that Trump's re-election prospects are looking pretty good. The game of politics is fluid and unpredictable, so these polls say little about what will happen in 2020. But they do tell us how these tired Democratic tactics are going over today.
As a Republican, I can only hope they continue.
Apparently, Google execs have yet another issue with Lionel Nations talking about the "birther" issue by refusing to allow any forum discussion. It's going to be time soon to regulate these giant social-media forums.
{ fixthisnation.com } ~ In a ruling on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the San Diego Unified School District to turn over all correspondence it has had with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)... regarding a bullying initiative aimed at curing area schools of Islamophobia. Responding to a request by the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, the judge found there was enough evidence in the record to suggest that the school district has continued its communications with CAIR after assuring the court that it was severing ties with the controversial organization. The FCDF is hoping that the revelation of such correspondence will compel the court to take further action to keep CAIR’s Islamist propaganda out of San Diego schools. “There are no programs promoting ‘Jewish culture,’ the FCDF told the court in their request for an injunction. “There are no lectures from priests on how to accommodate Catholic students during Lent. And there are no partnerships with Evangelical Christian activists. In short, the San Diego Unified School District has placed their power, prestige, and purse behind a single religion: Islam”... http://www.fixthisnation.com/conservative-breaking-news/this-islamist-group-has-no-business-anywhere-near-our-schoolchildren/
The Elimination of Higher Education
Unfortunately for the high school Class of 2019, whose students are just now beginning to determine where they’ll go to college, there’s a different sort of elimination going on, with much higher stakes. A long-term downturn in enrollment, along with a decline in the number of Americans who believe a college education is worth the money, is beginning to affect many schools’ bottom line. While this won’t immediately affect a state-supported public university or Ivy League schools with their multi-billion dollar endowments, those who’d prefer a smaller campus and more intimate setting may find that many small colleges are the first to fold.
As an example, based on a Wall Street Journal ranking of more than 1,000 schools accounting for a number of factors, one observer painted a bleak picture for schools near the bottom of the list. “You’re going to see, over the next five years, a real increase in the number of schools in serious trouble,” said Ohio University’s Richard Vedder, who heads the school’s Center for College Affordability and Productivity. “A degree from one of these lower schools doesn’t mean much of anything.” These closings will also expand the so-called “education deserts” that are defined in part as areas outside a convenient radius from four-year colleges.
Truth be told, though, the “desert” seems to be on campus, and it’s a desert where independent thought and ideological diversity are all but impossible to find. We joke about the “snowflakes” who can’t seem to cope when events don’t turn out as they hope, but the information silo being created by these schools is no laughing matter. When left-wing professors outnumber their right-leaning colleagues by more than 10 to 1 — leaving their unemployable graduates with useless degrees and student loan debt for which taxpayers will ultimately be on the hook — more and more concerned parents and prospective students are looking elsewhere.
“An increasing percentage of high school graduates are moving directly into job-prep education,” writes Peter Heck at The Resurgent. “Either offered by a business itself, or channeled through a trade school or online academy, these innovative programs give students direct training in the field they want to work in rather than forcing them to fill 90% of their course schedule with classes that don’t pertain to their desired field.”
Why spend well over $100,000, they reason, when there are good-paying jobs that don’t require a degree or, if a more traditional degree is desired, online institutions that provide a good, basic education to “nontraditional students” for a fraction of the cost?
Over the last 75 years, college has evolved from a place where only the best and brightest went to pursue higher education to its current marketing as a basic necessity. However, while students, parents and (mostly) taxpayers have “invested” billions to make state-supported public schools a luxurious interim experience for those soon to join the “real world” beyond campus, the model and mode of education has changed. Today, thousands have gained their degrees without ever setting foot on a campus, while still others are making the companies that sponsored and provided their post-high-school education more successful as they apply the skills and knowledge they were taught in these programs.
While none of these schools and institutes for training will ever make the field of 68 for “March Madness,” they provide the key for stopping the madness of spiraling student debt and useless but politically correct degrees. And have we mentioned that the world needs skilled tradespeople and entrepreneurs that do well without setting foot on a college campus? Yes, we have. But it bears repeating. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54646-the-elimination-of-higher-education
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54683-monday-top-headlines
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{ foxnews.com } ~ U.N. war crimes investigators said Tuesday that a Russian plane was apparently behind an airstrike in November in Syria's Idlib province... that killed 84 people at a marketplace, an attack which could amount to a war crime. The findings, reported by the U.N.'s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, were the first time the group has pinned responsibility for civilian deaths in Syria directly on Russia. According to the report, "all available information" indicates that a Russian plane carried out the Nov. 13 airstrike that hit a market, surrounding houses and a police station run by Western-backed Syrian rebels in the town of Atarib, in northern Idlib. At least 84 people were killed and about another 150 were wounded in the attack... http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/03/06/un-probe-russia-behind-deadly-airstrike-in-syrias-idlib.html
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A Florida Deputy Failed; Responding SWAT Members Punished
We’ve chronicled the deplorable actions of the initial responding officers whose inclination was to wait outside the school. Well, it got worse. News last night was that Broward Deputy Scot Peterson, the on-campus security guard, knew and informed other officers over the radio that gunfire was happening “inside” the building — despite his later insistence that he wasn’t sure whether shots were fired outside. “Do not approach the 12 or 1300 building, stay at least 500 feet away,” Peterson said over the radio. So he remained outside and instructed others to do likewise.
But then there was Sgt. Jeff Heinrich, an officer with the Coral Springs Police Department. He and his family are deeply involved with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But even though the fate of his wife and son was unknown during the rampage, Sgt. Heinrich — who at the time of the shooting was off duty but happened to be on school property — nevertheless did what the other officers refused to do: He entered the school in an effort to engage the shooter.
This week we learned that Sgt. Heinrich’s impulse to selflessly and independently enter the danger zone was shared by Detectives Jeffrey Gilbert and Carl Schlosser. Both of them are Miramar Police Department SWAT members. Upon hearing news of an active shooter, the on-duty detectives reflexively made their way toward the high school. Unfortunately, their valor is being met with reprisal.
According to The Hill, Gilbert and Schlosser “have been suspended from duty over their decision to respond without permission to the shooting at a high school that killed 17 students and faculty last month. … Following their suspension, the two were ordered to turn in their SWAT-issued rifles, but they remain on active duty for other assignments, according to the newspaper.”
Police Benevolent Association President Jeff Marano responded: “While it may have been a violation of policy to not notify their supervisors that they were going there, their intentions were brave and heroic, I think.” Indeed.
Admittedly, the policy isn’t without merit. The Sun Sentinel recalls last year’s ordeal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in which “over 2,000 cops responded to the original report of gunfire and false reports of additional shots fired.” The Sentinel explains that a “crowd of arriving law enforcement can jam roads that ambulances need to use, overwhelm radios and in general, add to the confusion of the police response.”
Fair enough. But the Parkland ordeal is very upsetting for numerous reasons. Not only did authorities fail to heed dozens of warning signs well before the attack, but the response by Broward County sheriff’s deputies — rather, the nonresponse — created a dilemma. Yet the brave souls who were willing to engage the shooter are being punished for it.
At the very least, their supervisors could exercise some discretion — and some decency.
~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54628-a-florida-deputy-failed-responding-swat-members-punished
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For decades, the United States has sent aid to countries around the world with the noble intention of helping those unable to access the basic necessities of life such as medicine, running water and shelter. But some Third World countries never break the cycle of poverty, and this often has more to do with their corrupt political leaders than a lack of work ethic, resources or a desire to improve. When these corrupt regimes are flush with American cash, it’s no wonder that so many poor nations fail to prosper.
The best way for people to escape poverty is to implement a free-market economy, support individual freedom and business expansion and fight political corruption. The reason tyrannical and corrupt regimes don’t follow this advice is self-evident.
The data show that free nations are more prosperous than those whose political systems aim for equality at all costs. The Heritage Foundation’s 2018 Index of Economic Freedom ranks 180 nations based on their level of economic freedom and the corresponding level of poverty. Some economic studies send mixed messages, but not this one. The numbers are irrefutable: As economic freedom increases, poverty decreases.
As Patrick Tyrrell writes at The Daily Signal, “This finding should not be overlooked when organizations like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank plan aid for developing countries. Such aid too often ignores economic freedom violations by despots, dictators, and autocrats.”
There seems to be little thought given to where the aid goes when it leaves places like the IMF or World Bank, or how the money is spent if it actually makes it past an entrenched autocracy. But should we expect anything different from organizations that habitually overlook corruption in countries receiving aid?
Tyrrell adds, “Strongmen who disregard property rights or the rule of law to remain in power have been rewarded with billions of dollars in foreign aid from rich countries for decades. Despots and dictators have often used this aid to solidify their grips on power, such as by withholding food aid from groups that do not support them.”
So that’s why decades of American and international aid hasn’t even made a dent in the problem.
Not surprisingly, the political Left is often the driving force behind these global relief programs, and government aid isn’t the only problem. More often than not, so-called progressive aid organizations are plagued by malfeasance while the people in need to continue to suffer. We only need to look at what the loar-Clinton Global Initiative did with contributions from wealthy, progressive donors. Remember the millions that were sent the liar-Clintons’ way in order to help the Haitian people recover from the 2010 earthquake? Haiti still hasn’t recovered, yet the liar-Clintons have rolled in cash.
Another segment of our society pushing for more global assistance is progressive Christians, who use their faith as justification for pouring billions of dollars of government aid into poverty-stricken countries. Once a donation drops into the collection basket, the assumption is that a hungry mouth will be fed and medicines will be delivered.
Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. As The Resurgent’s Peter Heck suggests, “Christians who see their brother in need personally should give generously from their own resources, bank accounts, and wealth to care for them. Christians who see their brothers in need in other parts of the world should support charitable organizations that work to rebuild their lives through missions and relief efforts.”
This sounds reasonable considering that Americans are the most generous people in the world. “Americans out-donate Britain and Canada two-to-one and nations like Italy and Germany 20-to-one,” The Almanac of American Philanthropy reported in 2016. “What’s more, more than half of every single income class except those earning less than $25,000, give to charity. The much maligned top 1% in the U.S. economy fork over one-third of all donations made.”
But Heck adds, “Christians who are interested in results more than political posturing, should encourage and urge their government to spread a doctrine of economic freedom to the impoverished world. That, far more than confiscation and redistribution of wealth, achieves the results we desire.”
The problem with sending money overseas is that it doesn’t get to the needy, and it therefore has a minimal impact on people’s long-term living conditions. Princeton University economist Angus Deaton, who worked for decades at the World Bank, asserts that rich do-gooders may be exacerbating the problem of corruption in the Third World, given that there’s been so little to show for $135 billion in global aid.
What Deaton and other economists discovered was that countries receiving aid actually found their economic situation growing worse because the relationship between the governments and their people changed. This makes sense. A country is less likely to be accountable to its people if the government can rely on a steady stream of international aid.
The U.S. should lead the way toward reform. This includes ensuring that nations receiving aid are working toward implementing policies that expand the economic and political rights of their people, and working directly with aid organizations rather than funneling money through politicians and despots.
We can also apply these standards to our own cities, by promoting entrepreneurship and supporting business-friendly policies that help the downtrodden build independence and wealth. Like Third World despots, Democrat mayors across the country have largely squandered hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars since the “Great Society.”
Only when we battle poverty at its root cause will we break the cycle of political corruption and poverty. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54648-foreign-aid-often-hurts-more-than-helps
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China Extends NoKo Nuke Olive Branch
There has been quite a bit of Leftmedia consternation over the implications of Trump’s acceptance. Many have questioned if Trump fully appreciates the dangers. U.S. policy has long resisted offering any validation to the rogue regime — validation it could then leverage geopolitically. As has been repeatedly noted by the MSM, this face-to-face meeting would be a first for a sitting U.S. president.
However, what has been missed by much of the MSM coverage is the region’s biggest player, China. The Kim regime’s long-running control of North Korea could not have existed without significant support from the communists in Beijing. In fact, North Korea is a puppet of the Chinese.
It is interesting to note that the day Trump announced his plan for tariffs on steel, North Korean officials reached out to officials in the South requesting a meeting. Undoubtedly, Kim has felt the sting of Trump’s economic sanctions, but more than Kim, it is the Chinese who have the most to lose economically, especially if war were to break out on the Korean peninsula. Trump’s announcement of a tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum may have finally been the straw that broke the camel’s back. If China is willing to truly end the nuclear threat posed by its North Korean puppet, then maybe it can get concessions from Trump on tariffs.
The fact of the matter is that the U.S. is China’s largest single trade partner and second largest regional partner behind only the European Union, accounting for over $521 billion in trade annually. Meanwhile, the North Korean economy is almost entirely dependent on China, which accounts for over 90% of its imports and over 85% of its exports. Quite literally, China is North Korea’s lifeline. Thus, as we have noted previously, China is the key to effectively dealing with North Korea.
Trump has indicated that he has no plans to withdraw any sanctions until there are actual results, and talks don’t equate to results. Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee argued for a cautious approach, saying, “We can pursue more diplomacy as we keep applying pressure ounce by ounce.” He added, “Remember, North Korean regimes have repeatedly used talks and empty promises to extract concessions and buy time. North Korea uses this to advance its nuclear and missile programs. We’ve got to break this cycle.”
Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action, said, “North Korea is putting virtually all topics of concerns on the table. Trump now has the opportunity to achieve what no president has been able to achieve in seven decades of U.S.-North Korea relations: make real strides towards lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.” Is it North Korea or is it China that is putting denuclearization on the table? Either way, it is sincerely hoped that a nuclear North Korea comes to an end. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54651-china-extends-noko-nuke-olive-branch
Man of Steel Tariffs
The economics of his tariffs, as we argued last week, are a mixed bag. While obviously the steel and aluminum industries will benefit — indeed, companies are already announcing expansion and jobs — industries dependent on steel and aluminum will suffer, jobs will be lost and many products will become more expensive.
But those aren’t Trump’s only considerations. During his televised signing ceremony, he declared, “Today I’m defending America’s national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum.” Aside from any real national security concerns, there are two reasons for his focus. First, in order to act without Congress, he must justify it on national security grounds. Were the tariffs only for economic reasons, he’d be stuck waiting. Second, the same justification avoids World Trade Organization sanctions.
From a strategic perspective, Trump’s tariffs are 90% “art of the deal” and 10% bluster — a shot over the bow of NAFTA nations as well as China (see North Korea for why that’s true). Trump is a dealmaker first and foremost, and he arguably knows more about business than any previous president in history — and most definitely more than many of the talkingheads churning the news-cycle rant loop about tariffs. He’s using that knowledge for the purposes of foreign policy.
As for all the Republican blowback, it’s largely about necessary political cover in an election year. The targeted tariffs play well with Trump’s America First blue-collar base across the nation (formerly the Democrats’ base), and particularly in a few hard-hit industrial states.
Unfortunately, as we noted Wednesday, EU officials have shrewdly targeted Harley Davidson, based in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, bourbon made in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, and orange juice from Florida, the perennial swing state. That punishes Trump’s allies and voters.
At the same time, the U.S. economy is an enormous chunk of the world economy and most of our trade partner beneficiaries will tread carefully in terms of retaliation. On balance, we’d say tariffs are a net drag on the economy, as the vehement opposition signifies, but Trump has an uncanny way of turning this kind of chaos to his advantage. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54649-man-of-steel-tariffs
Slouching Towards Anti-Semitism
Clarifying is more like it. “The California Democratic Party adopted a resolution at their annual convention on Sunday to oppose federal bills intended to thwart the movement to boycott Israel,” The Forward reported on Feb. 28.
In 1977, Congress passed legislation prohibiting Americans from complying with foreign government-imposed boycotts against nations friendly to the United States. It was supported by the Business Roundtable, American Jewish organizations and Jimmy Carter’s administration. In 2017, Congress sought to update that law with the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, adding international organizations like the United Nations or the EU that might also be inclined to pressure businesses to boycott the Jewish State.
This effort was aimed at defusing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has been the radical Left’s favorite pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel platform, with all the attendant assertions of Israeli “occupation” of Palestinian territories included.
“Radical” is a key word here. In 2016, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 2844. The anti-discrimination law made it clear that California’s government would bar companies that engage in discrimination against any sovereign nation from doing business with the state. Sec. 2. (c) of the law specifically barred discrimination against “the nation and people of Israel.” The State Senate approved the bill by a vote of 34 to 1, and the State Assembly approved it by a vote of 69 to 1.
Eighteen months later, these same Democrats opposed federal legislation similar to the bill they had passed almost unanimously. Thus, what used to be “radical” leftist politics is now mainstream Democrats Party politics in the Golden State — all the attendant anti-Semitic implications included.
Is it just Golden State Democrats? The ACLU branded versions of the act making its way through both chambers of Congress as anti-First Amendment, despite the reality that nothing prevents anyone from expressing any opinion about Israel. Yet that was all the necessary cover for Democrats fearful of their increasingly leftist, pro-BDS base. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand withdrew her support for the bill, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth dinky-Warren hedged, insisting, “The boycott is wrong, but I think outlawing protected free speech activity violates our basic Constitution.” Democrat Senators Chris Murphy (CT) and Tammy Duckworth (IL) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (MA) were also vacillating with regard to the legislation.
And not just that legislation. Last August, Senate Minority Leader Chuck clown-Schumer (D-NY) announced he’d co-sponsor the Taylor Force Act, named after Army veteran Taylor Force, who was murdered by a Palestinian while touring Israel. The act would stop American taxpayers from subsidizing the Palestinian Authority (PA) until it ended its reprehensible habit of providing terrorists freed from prison with a government job and a salary — one that is higher if their crime is more heinous.
The consummate no-brainer? Four Democrat senators, Chris Murphy (CT), Tom Udall (NM), Jeff Merkley (OR) and Corey Booker (NJ), voted to kill it in committee. And while the bill passed overwhelmingly in the House, it has yet to be voted on in the Senate.
Why are many Democrats embracing such hostility toward Israel? According to a poll conducted by Nielsen Scarborough, 56% of their constituents back economic sanctions and other get-tough measures against Israel, and 72% believe America unfairly favors Israel over the Palestinians.
Moreover, a Pew poll released in January reveals that since 2001, the share of Democrats sympathizing more with Israel has declined 11 points, from 38% to 27%. The decline among Democrat Millennials is even more pronounced: Approximately 27% of Millennials now say they are more sympathetic to the Palestinians than Israel, compared to only 9% in 2006.
The party’s schism is best revealed by the split between supporters of liar-Hillary Clinton and commie-Bernie Sanders. liar-Clinton’s supporters favored Israel over the Palestinians, 47% to 27%. commie-Sanders supporters favored the Palestinians over Israel, 39% to 33%.
Since commie-Sanders supporters tend to be younger, Democrat politicians are apparently becoming more attuned to their social justice warrior sensibilities. Sensibilities increasingly aligned with the contemptuous notion that Israel is an apartheid state engaged in Palestinian genocide.
Yet Israel is only part of the dynamic, or perhaps better described as a useful distraction for the increasing levels of progressive-supported anti-Semitism per se. Nothing speaks to this reality better than leftist support for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who once called Judaism a “gutter religion.”
In a major speech on Feb. 25, Farrakhan remained true to his worldview, asserting that Jews were “the mother and father of apartheid,” and declaring that “when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper sidestepped a media-imposed blackout and covered the speech, noting that despite the “inherent” anti-Semitism and anti-homosexual comments expressed by Farrakhan, “several leaders of the Women’s March are supporters of Farrakhan and have not condemned him.” He also leveled the same accusation against members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The proverbial shoe fits. One of Women’s March organizers was Linda Sarsour, who has long supported Farrakhan. She once insisted “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” and justified terrorism as a response to a “racist, supremacist, violent [Israeli] regime” that views Palestinians as “less than human.”
Another organizer, Tamika Mallory, criticized by Tapper for attending Farrakhan’s rant, was “defended” by Bronx rapper and political activist Mysonne — who insisted Farrakhan was right to blame Jews for the “violence, control, pain and destruction” they have imposed on black people.
Mallory herself, who received a shout-out from Farrakhan at the rally, posted a number of tweets insisting she was the victim of “bullying.”
The Congressional Black Caucus? At least seven Democrats — Reps. mad-Maxine Waters (CA), Barbara Lee (CA), Danny Davis (IL), Andre Carson (IN), scum-Keith Ellison (MN), Gregory Meeks (NY) and and Al Green (TX) — have attended meetings with Farrakhan.
The same Congressional Black Caucus that buried a 2005 photo of Farrakhan with Barack liar-nObama.
Thus, the paper asserts, the Democrat Party’s “reliable support for Israel looks to be a thing of the past.”
Columnist Dennis Prager is even more assertive, declaring, “The day America abandons Israel will be the beginning of the end of America as we know it.” Not America, Mr. Prager. The Democrat Party. One on the verge of a moral meltdown fueled by identity politics, in all their tribalist — and burgeoning anti-Semitic — glory. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/5461 9-slouching-towards-anti-semitism
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{ judicialwatch.org } ~ The head of a U.S.-funded global commission operating under the famously corrupt United Nations (UN) is in Washington D.C. today to promote his leftist agenda in Central America...The Colombian attorney and former judge, Ivan Velásquez, runs the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a controversial body known to utilize measures that threaten the impoverished Central American nation’s sovereignty. Officially, the CICIG claims to strengthen the rule of law. Like many leftwing global organizations, its stated purpose is to protect “the right to life and to personal integrity” of citizens from vigilante groups that “commit illegal acts” — those linked to “agents of the State or with the capacity to generate impunity for their illegal actions.” The reality is that Velásquez appears to be part of a broader effort launched under Barack liar-nObama—and apparently supported by the Trump administration—to destabilize moderate and conservative governments abroad. Judicial Watch uncovered details of a similar initiative in Macedonia, where the liar-nObama administration spent millions of taxpayer dollars to destabilize the democratically elected, center-right government by colluding with leftwing billionaire philanthropist George scum-Soros. In Guatemala, the liar-nObama administration meddled to protect guerrillas backed by communist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Secretary of State liar-Hillary Clinton helped oust an attorney general that was replaced by a sympathizer of the guerrillas, Claudia Paz y Paz... https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2018/03/u-s-funded-un-commissioner-d-c-promote-leftwing-agenda-guatemala/?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=on+watch&utm_term=members&utm_content=20180309192710
Mueller's Unending Investigation
Judge Andrew Napolitano stated this week, “I believe he’s gearing up and the president remains in his crosshairs.” In fact, Napolitano noted, “There are actually three sets of legal crosshairs, so to speak. One seeks to determine whether the Trump campaign received ‘anything of value’ from any foreign national or foreign government, and whether Trump personally approved of it — a felony. Another inquiry seeks to determine whether the president himself attempted to obstruct the work of the Mueller grand juries by firing then-FBI Director James Comey for a corrupt reason, one that is self-serving and lacking a bona fide governmental purpose — also a felony. The third inquiry seeks to examine whether Trump misused or misrepresented corporate funds or bank loans in his pre-presidential life — another felony. On this last point, he has already been accused by Nunberg, and the grand jury no doubt will hear about it.”
Finally, Napolitano says, Mueller’s grand juries “could go to the end of Trump’s term.” So it’s looking more likely that the country and Trump will have to endure many more months, even years, of a continued cloud over this presidency.
Gary Bauer observes, “Every day since the election, the Trump administration has been hobbled and hounded by a hostile media and a resistance movement fueled by the fantasy that Trump will be impeached because of collusion with Russia. Every day that Mueller continues his investigation — continues distracting the administration and dividing our country — is a victory for [Vladimir] Putin’s strategy.” Which is just what the Democrats ordered. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54616-muellers-unending-investigation
by Michelle Malkin
{ townhall.com } ~ Will the VA scandal never end?
While the Department of Veterans Affairs secretary lives high on the hog and his lying chief of staff resigns in disgrace while escaping any punishment, legions of vets every day in this country are denied the medical care they earned.
President Trump was supposed to drain the swamp. But at the historically fraud-ridden and profligate VA, the alligators continue feasting on the public dime.
Trump's VA secretary, David Shulkin, is an liar-nObama holdover. His main agenda is to block any real reforms for veterans, which includes expanding their ability to obtain care from private doctors and hospitals. His daughter, Jennifer, is a Harvard law student and loudmouth Huffington Post contributor who used her Twitter account recently to defend her dad against "right-winged, pro-privatization Trump appointees."
Two weeks ago, Shulkin launched a purge of what he calls "subversive" employees that he accuses of trying to undermine him. It's the same tactic liar-nObama VA officials used to silence whistleblowers who exposed secret waiting lists to nowhere that cost untold thousands of patients across at least seven states their lives.
This latest witch hunt for dissenters comes in the wake of a scathing inspector general's report last month on Shulkin's 10-day junket to Europe last summer. The VA secretary spent a grand total of three and a half days on supposed business meetings in Copenhagen and London. For the rest of the time, Shulkin directed a VA underling to act as his personal travel agent -- on your dime -- to plan sightseeing for him and his wife, including:
--Touring Amalienborg Palace for the changing of the guard and visiting Christiansborg Palace, Rosenborg Castle and Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark.
--Boating and dining in Copenhagen and dining in Malmo, Sweden.
--Trekking to the Churchill War Rooms, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Westminster Abbey, Thames River, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe, the London Eye and Windsor Castle.
The inspector general discovered that Shulkin also improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets from a British socialite. To evade ethics guidelines, Shulkin claimed the socialite was his wife's "friend," but the socialite couldn't even remember Shulkin's wife's name when questioned by investigators.
Nice family vacay if you can get it -- and you can get it subsidized, if your underlings lie.
Shulkin's chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, admitted doctoring an email in order to get Shulkin's wife's airfare paid for by the public. Wright Simpson misled an ethics officer into believing that Shulkin was receiving an award at a dinner and that his wife therefore qualified as an "invitational traveler." It was a big fat fabrication. Shulkin received no award. His wife was not eligible for the travel reimbursements for her whopping $4,000 plane tickets.
Nevertheless, Wright Simpson -- a career bureaucrat who started at the VA in 1998 and ascended during the liar-nObama administration -- was allowed to retire with full benefits. No punishment.
Shulkin remains unrepentant and baselessly blamed a computer "hack" for his top aide's email shenanigans. The IG found no evidence of his backside-covering claim. The ghost of Anthony Weiner lives.
And just wait, another shoe of corruption is about to drop. According to The Daily Beast, another IG report involving Shulkin's "use of his security detail to run personal errands" may be released in the next week. Shulkin's response? Underlings are reporting that he is in the throes of "paranoia," ordering an "armed guard" to stand watch outside his office and banning employees he suspects of "disloyalty."
The VA's culture of fear and reprisals against whistleblowers is endemic. Accountability is rarer than a Siamese unicorn. Fiscally responsible vets seeking coverage for emergency room bills are punished for not seeing VA doctors enough. The administrators responsible for blowing a billion-dollar hole in the budget of the Aurora, Colorado, VA boondoggle have escaped any consequences.
The last thing this corrupted bureaucracy needs is a Captain Queeg-meets-Leona Helmsley at the helm.
As Colorado GOP Rep. Mike Coffman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee wrote in a letter to the White House last week: "Mr. President, you promised the American people that you would end the culture of corruption and bureaucratic incompetence that for far too long has defined the leadership of the VA. Unfortunately, Secretary Shulkin, by his conduct, lacks the moral authority to achieve your goals of a transparent, accountable VA."
President Trump, your corrupt VA secretary is hostile to you, to the truth and to the taxpayers. He needs to hear those famous words from you:
"You're fired."
by Michelle Malkin
{ townhall.com } ~ Will the VA scandal never end?
While the Department of Veterans Affairs secretary lives high on the hog and his lying chief of staff resigns in disgrace while escaping any punishment, legions of vets every day in this country are denied the medical care they earned.
President Trump was supposed to drain the swamp. But at the historically fraud-ridden and profligate VA, the alligators continue feasting on the public dime.
Trump's VA secretary, David Shulkin, is an liar-nObama holdover. His main agenda is to block any real reforms for veterans, which includes expanding their ability to obtain care from private doctors and hospitals. His daughter, Jennifer, is a Harvard law student and loudmouth Huffington Post contributor who used her Twitter account recently to defend her dad against "right-winged, pro-privatization Trump appointees."
Two weeks ago, Shulkin launched a purge of what he calls "subversive" employees that he accuses of trying to undermine him. It's the same tactic liar-nObama VA officials used to silence whistleblowers who exposed secret waiting lists to nowhere that cost untold thousands of patients across at least seven states their lives.
This latest witch hunt for dissenters comes in the wake of a scathing inspector general's report last month on Shulkin's 10-day junket to Europe last summer. The VA secretary spent a grand total of three and a half days on supposed business meetings in Copenhagen and London. For the rest of the time, Shulkin directed a VA underling to act as his personal travel agent -- on your dime -- to plan sightseeing for him and his wife, including:
--Touring Amalienborg Palace for the changing of the guard and visiting Christiansborg Palace, Rosenborg Castle and Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark.
--Boating and dining in Copenhagen and dining in Malmo, Sweden.
--Trekking to the Churchill War Rooms, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Westminster Abbey, Thames River, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe, the London Eye and Windsor Castle.
The inspector general discovered that Shulkin also improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets from a British socialite. To evade ethics guidelines, Shulkin claimed the socialite was his wife's "friend," but the socialite couldn't even remember Shulkin's wife's name when questioned by investigators.
Nice family vacay if you can get it -- and you can get it subsidized, if your underlings lie.
Shulkin's chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, admitted doctoring an email in order to get Shulkin's wife's airfare paid for by the public. Wright Simpson misled an ethics officer into believing that Shulkin was receiving an award at a dinner and that his wife therefore qualified as an "invitational traveler." It was a big fat fabrication. Shulkin received no award. His wife was not eligible for the travel reimbursements for her whopping $4,000 plane tickets.
Nevertheless, Wright Simpson -- a career bureaucrat who started at the VA in 1998 and ascended during the liar-nObama administration -- was allowed to retire with full benefits. No punishment.
Shulkin remains unrepentant and baselessly blamed a computer "hack" for his top aide's email shenanigans. The IG found no evidence of his backside-covering claim. The ghost of Anthony Weiner lives.
And just wait, another shoe of corruption is about to drop. According to The Daily Beast, another IG report involving Shulkin's "use of his security detail to run personal errands" may be released in the next week. Shulkin's response? Underlings are reporting that he is in the throes of "paranoia," ordering an "armed guard" to stand watch outside his office and banning employees he suspects of "disloyalty."
The VA's culture of fear and reprisals against whistleblowers is endemic. Accountability is rarer than a Siamese unicorn. Fiscally responsible vets seeking coverage for emergency room bills are punished for not seeing VA doctors enough. The administrators responsible for blowing a billion-dollar hole in the budget of the Aurora, Colorado, VA boondoggle have escaped any consequences.
The last thing this corrupted bureaucracy needs is a Captain Queeg-meets-Leona Helmsley at the helm.
As Colorado GOP Rep. Mike Coffman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee wrote in a letter to the White House last week: "Mr. President, you promised the American people that you would end the culture of corruption and bureaucratic incompetence that for far too long has defined the leadership of the VA. Unfortunately, Secretary Shulkin, by his conduct, lacks the moral authority to achieve your goals of a transparent, accountable VA."
President Trump, your corrupt VA secretary is hostile to you, to the truth and to the taxpayers. He needs to hear those famous words from you:
"You're fired."
Pruitt's $1 Billion Rollback at the EPA
by Business Review Board: On Feb. 17, 2017, Scott Pruitt — formerly a conservative lawmaker and attorney general in Oklahoma — succeeded in becoming the new face of the EPA. Democrats didn’t take his ascension very well. In fact, Pruitt was forced to reinforce his security detail last autumn because of numerous death threats from ecofascists. The Left’s adversarial attitude toward Pruitt is better understood when you consider just how pivotal of a role he has in the Trump administration.
The EPA just revealed that Pruitt’s deregulatory endeavor has yielded $1 billion in cost savings after just one year. This was the direct outcome of nearly two dozen deregulations. More importantly, it’s also only a taste of what’s coming down the pipeline. The Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule are just two of the 44 additional deregulations that are currently on the agency’s docket. It’s estimated that the elimination of the Clean Power Plan could single-handedly save the economy upwards of $33 billion. With results like these, no wonder leftists loathe Pruitt with such tenacity.
Of course, this also speaks to the enormous influence of Pruitt’s predecessor, Gina McCarthy. Much of the current administration’s work is geared toward fixing what she broke and the billions of dollars with which she unnecessarily burdened the economy. Pruitt’s progress could be even further along had he not had to first put out a massive inferno of McCarthy’s making. Even still, he is making significant headway, and that will give the economy more and more breathing room. It’s also a reminder that no government agency should ever have so much control over a free-market economy. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54595-pruitts-1-dollars-billion-rollback-at-the-epa
Pruitt's $1 Billion Rollback at the EPA
The EPA just revealed that Pruitt’s deregulatory endeavor has yielded $1 billion in cost savings after just one year. This was the direct outcome of nearly two dozen deregulations. More importantly, it’s also only a taste of what’s coming down the pipeline. The Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Rule are just two of the 44 additional deregulations that are currently on the agency’s docket. It’s estimated that the elimination of the Clean Power Plan could single-handedly save the economy upwards of $33 billion. With results like these, no wonder leftists loathe Pruitt with such tenacity.
Of course, this also speaks to the enormous influence of Pruitt’s predecessor, Gina McCarthy. Much of the current administration’s work is geared toward fixing what she broke and the billions of dollars with which she unnecessarily burdened the economy. Pruitt’s progress could be even further along had he not had to first put out a massive inferno of McCarthy’s making. Even still, he is making significant headway, and that will give the economy more and more breathing room. It’s also a reminder that no government agency should ever have so much control over a free-market economy. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54595-pruitts-1-dollars-billion-rollback-at-the-epa
{ foxnews.com } ~ South Korea is expected to announce Thursday night that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is extending an invitation to meet with President Trump... a senior U.S. official revealed to Fox News. South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong will also announce an upcoming meeting between South Korean president Moon Jae-in and the North Korean leader, Fox News has learned. There currently are no plans to change U.S.-South Korea military exercises nor is their a commitment by Kim Jong Un to stop his nuclear testing. Earlier Thursday, President Trump announced that South Korea would be making a “major statement” about North Korea at 7 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, Fox News confirmed... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/08/kim-jong-un-extending-invitation-to-meet-with-trump-official-says.html.
Is the Country Music Industry Turning Left?
In his letter of resignation Huckabee expressed his hurt over being mischaracterized and bemoaned the “intolerance” expressed by those who were critical of his appointment. Writing to the CMA Foundation, Huckabee said, “I have no expectation that it will change the irrational vitriol directed toward you or me for my religious or political views that necessitated my abrupt departure. I want you to know what you would never know by reading intolerant and vicious statements on the internet about who I am or what led me to want to be a part of your efforts to empower kids with the gift of music.” He adds, “Music changed my life. I was never good enough to make a full-time living at music, but the confidence I gained by playing, being in front of people, and competing against myself and the low expectations I grew up with was transformative.”
Huckabee then called out what has become increasingly prevalent within much of the mainstream media culture today — leftist intolerance. He wrote, “If the industry doesn’t want people of faith or who hold conservative and traditional political views to buy tickets and music, they should be forthcoming and say it.” The fact of the matter is that when artistic expression is relegated to only one political and social worldview, it quickly loses its genuine artistry and devolves into mere ideological propaganda. And it loses audience appeal.
Perhaps that’s because this is yet another case of a loud minority of gender confused people dictating policy for a larger group. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54563-is-the-country-music-industry-turning-left
{ foxnews.com } ~ Kristian Saucier, the former U.S. Navy sailor who served one year in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear submarine, has been pardoned, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/09/trump-pardons-former-navy-sailor-imprisoned-for-taking-photos-on-nuclear-submarine-white-house-says.html
{ the-american-interest.com } ~ If there is any dynamism within Palestinian politics today, it’s in the discussion about who will eventually replace the aging Mahmoud Abbas... the octogenarian President who has reigned for over a decade. That discussion reached a fever pitch recently after Abbas stayed overnight at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, a visit his advisers attempted to portray as routine. Yet nothing is routine in predicting what will happen once Abbas departs the stage, and behind the scenes, the various aspirants to the Palestinian presidency jockey to replace their 82-year-old leader in a constantly changing arena. The dynamic in the West Bank is one of intense palace politics. Public speculation vacillates between those figures who are popular the imprisoned Marwan Barghouti, those who have loyal security forces Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub and Abbas’s intelligence chief Majed Faraj, and those who have money and regional favor the exiled Muhammad Dahlan. Amid this political maneuvering—or perhaps because of it—Abbas introduced another name to the succession discussion earlier last year by making Mahmoud al-Aloul the first-ever vice president of his Fatah party... https://www.the-american-interest.com/2018/03/07/next-palestinian-president/
The Real Tariff Gambit
Trump doesn’t mind or believe the opposition. “You know, when we’re behind on every single country, trade wars aren’t so bad,” he argued. “You understand what I mean by that? When we’re down by $30 billion, $40 billion, $60 billion, $100 billion, the trade war hurts them. It doesn’t hurt us, so we’ll see what happens.”
It should not come as much of a surprise that Trump would raise tariffs. One of his major issues on the campaign trail in 2016 was the bad deal the U.S. was getting on trade agreements like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. His protectionist rhetoric won over voters in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and helped secure him the White House.
Trump has already made good on his word by pulling America out of the TPP, and now he has NAFTA in his sights. NAFTA is currently being renegotiated, and Trump has made no secret that he is perfectly willing to walk away from the agreement altogether if disparities in manufacturing and technology that negatively impact American workers are not addressed. While everyone around Trump is getting a case of the vapors about him starting a worldwide trade war, it is Canada and Mexico who may be the real targets of the impending steel and aluminum tariffs.
As our Nate Jackson said last week, “Trump often uses policies and rhetoric as negotiating ploys. Much as he’s verbally assaulted NAFTA, Trump may be merely setting a bargaining position, to be undone when he feels America’s position is stronger.”
Lo and behold, citing the trade deficits that the U.S. has with Canada and Mexico, Trump indicated via Twitter this week that he would be willing to make exceptions on the new tariffs with the NAFTA partners, but only if a new trade agreement is signed that is satisfactory to U.S. economic interests.
The GOP leadership gave voice to the biggest concern about where Trump’s actions will lead. “We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” Paul Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong said. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains.”
The case has also been made that if the tariffs are meant to punish China, then they will miss the mark. “Hitting China and Canada with the same tariff doesn’t penalize China relative to anyone else,” says Dan Ikenson of the Cato Institute. “That doesn’t, and shouldn’t, sit well with exporters from countries that have done nothing wrong.” This includes allies such as Japan, South Korea and the European Union, who have already voiced their plans for retaliation.
EU officials have politically targeted Harley Davidson, based in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, bourbon made in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, and orange juice from Florida, the perennial swing state.
Raising tariffs is certainly tricky business in our multi-layered global economy. It is almost impossible to avoid collateral damage in other sectors of the economy, as these retaliatory threats prove. But it is worth remembering that the U.S. is already subjected to unfair tariffs from Europe, where American agricultural products are virtually frozen out of the market, and Asia, where manufactured goods and technology have a hard time finding buyers because of high tariffs.
If other nations can use tariffs to protect their economies and workers, then surely America has a right to do the same. Charles Payne of Fox Business News points out that the EU is offended by America’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum, but levies 10% tariffs on all U.S. car imports.
Pat Buchanan likewise challenged the assumption that trade protectionism is a surefire recipe for disaster. He writes, “Under protectionist policies from 1865 to 1900, U.S. debt was cut by two-thirds. Customs duties provided 58 percent of revenue. Commodity prices fell 58 percent. Real wages, despite a doubling of the population, rose 53 percent. Growth in GDP averaged over 4 percent a year. Industrial production rose almost 5 percent a year.”
The new NAFTA deal is supposed to be reached by the end of March, so we may know in a few weeks if Trump’s plan works or not. In the meantime, the broader argument about the wisdom of higher tariffs will continue to play out. And, who knows? If Trump has his way, it may lead to some more trade deals with other countries.
~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54567-the-real-tariff-gambit
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54655-friday-top-headlines
This is a game the world has seen — and fallen for — too many times. The provoking nation invites the world’s ire and subsequent sanctions, only to then signal a desire to negotiate and willingness to change its provocative ways. Soon it obtains sanctions relief, only to later renege on its promised changes while leveling blame on the other negotiating parties for supposedly failing to uphold their end of the bargain. Kim Jong-un is attempting to play this gambit — the same one both his father and grandfather successfully exploited.
So what is Kim really after here? It appears that his objective is two-fold, and his dangling the carrot of “denuclearization” is merely a ruse that he will quickly pull back as soon as his demands are met. Recall his stated belief that his nuclear arsenal is his “treasured sword.” Kim’s first objective is gaining concessions from South Korea, the UN and possibly the U.S. for sanctions relief. Note the significant effort employed by the rogue regime to promote a feel-good, positive image of North Korea to the world during the recent Winter Olympics — a propaganda effort aided happily by the American Leftmedia.
Second, Kim is aiming to drive a wedge between South Korea and the U.S. with the ultimate goal of pushing all U.S. military presence out of the South. Kim keenly is exploiting a sentiment that has long been expressed by liberals in South Korea who tend to hold a negative view of the U.S.‘s long-running military presence in their country. Kim is also astutely aware of the fact that the South Korean president is a member of the liberal party, which holds a more dovish policy stance toward their northern neighbors and is the same party Kim Jong-il successfully exploited via the “Sunshine policy.”
From North Korea’s sudden desire to negotiate we are learning that President Donald Trump’s policy of severe sanctions is having a significant and desired impact. This also indicates that China has begun to pull back some of its support from its rogue puppet, as the last thing the Chinese want is a war on their doorstep.
The U.S. will need to be cautious, hold the line and not fall for the same old dangling-carrot trick the North Korean regime has played time and again. If Kim is truly willing to denuclearize, then he must do so before any sanctions relief is implemented. Anything less plays right into his hands. But Trump is no dummy when it comes to negotiations, and he seems well aware of the cards in play. He tweeted on Wednesday, “Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!”
Unfortunately, we’re betting that Kim is bluffing. As The Wall Street Journal notes, “[North Korea’s former leaders] also extracted concessions in return for talking and broke every promise they made.” ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54590-is-north-korea-really-willing-to-denuclearize-nope
{ foxnews.com } ~ President Trump will accept an invitation by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to meet... the White House confirmed Thursday night, in a dramatic development after months of sabre-rattling between the two world leaders. Kim extended an invitation to meet with Trump and the president agreed that the two would meet by May, South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong announced at the White House. "President Trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the South Korean delegation and President Moon," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. "He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong Un at a place and time to be determined. We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain."... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/08/trump-will-accept-kim-jong-uns-invitation-to-meet-white-house-says.html
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Unconstitutional No-Fly, No-Buy Won't Prevent Mass Murder
During this inquisition, whenever Rubio or Loesch attempted to introduce facts or reason into the gun debate, a howling mob screamed and shouted them down. The mindless outrage, refusing to allow a different opinion to even be spoken, was reminiscent of the “Two Minutes Hate” in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 — every citizen screaming hate and fury for exactly two minutes each day while watching a film depicting the state’s enemies.
This is what public debate has been reduced to, with one side demanding the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens be stripped without due process, and accusing any dissenters of the most malevolent motivations and a desire to see children die gruesome deaths. It leads to a sort of security theater where “solutions” are proposed that do nothing to address the actual problem.
And while this is being mostly driven by Democrats (who, as Justice Clarence Thomas notes in his concurrence in the McDonald v. Chicago case, originally passed gun control laws in order to leave blacks defenseless against KKK mobs), even a few Republicans have joined in, most notably Arizona’s retiring Sen. rino-Jeff Flake.
rino-Flake introduced a bill that recycles a 2016 bill dubbed “No-Fly, No-Buy,” which would prohibit anyone on the federal government’s no-fly list from exercising his or her Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
As The Federalist’s David Harsanyi notes,“One day Sen. rino-Jeff Flake is warning America about rising Stalinism and the next he's supporting a bill that strips the rights of citizens who’ve been arbitrarily placed on secret government lists without any probable cause or due process.”
Indeed, rino-Flake’s bill represents an egregious infringement of the citizens’ First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, giving often incompetent and/or abusively partisan bureaucrats the power to prohibit both travel and self-defense based on an inaccurate, extrajudicial government list.
Both the NRA and the ACLU, which agree on very little, nevertheless concur that the “No-Fly, No-Buy” bill is bad legislation, and even leftist rags like The New York Times and Los Angeles Times published editorials in 2014 arguing that such a ban is unconstitutional.
Why? The no-fly list is arbitrary; hundreds of thousands of Americans placed on the list have not only committed no crime but are not even suspected of committing a crime. By the government’s own admission, 40% of those on the watchlist have “no affiliation with recognized terrorism groups.”
The Washington Examiner’s Philip Wegmann reports, “According to congressional testimony from 2014, the FBI estimates that those lists ‘currently stands at about 800,000 identities.’ Those names aren’t public though, and neither is the selection criteria. There is only one way to find out if your name is in that database: try boarding a plane.”
The watchlist is so riddled with errors that Congressmen Tom McClintock (R-CA) and John Lewis (D-GA), as well as the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) found themselves on it. Despite their connections, it took months to get them removed. Granted, Kennedy probably should not have been allowed to drive a car, but that was no reason to keep him from flying. Regardless, if it took a U.S. senator and a congressman months to get off the list, what chance does the average citizen have of righting this injustice?
Though Democrats are pushing the bill, minorities will be hurt most, especially those of Middle Eastern descent with names similar to actual terrorists. That may seem ironic — until we consider the effect of most Democrat policies. Still, one would think Lewis, who gained fame for bravely defying racist Democrats while crossing Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 and who was beaten with nightsticks by state troopers, would understand the right to defend oneself from violent criminals and tyrannical government alike is not a right to be lightly infringed upon. Alas, he does not.
While in the aftermath of this horrific tragedy it’s understandable that many feel a desire to do something, anything, to fix the problem immediately, the reality is that the solution will not be found in the law but in the culture; and an angry, screaming mob mentality that sacrifices Liberty for political expediency and a false sense of security is unworthy of the highest traditions of the American founding.
We wonder how quickly Democrats would change their tune if the proposed law prohibited these “potential terrorists” from voting or having abortions (after all, at least one innocent child is killed in every one of the 900,000 abortions performed annually in the U.S.).
Strange indeed that Democrats still call for the closing of the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring it a moral evil to imprison foreign enemy combatants without due process, even demanding constitutional rights for them. Yet these same Democrats (and, evidently, some Republicans) are all too eager to deprive actual American citizens, who have NOT been caught engaging in a violent act and who have NOT been accused (much less convicted) of a crime, of their own right to self-defense and free travel.
Guns are the tools of these mass shootings, not the cause. The cause is a society that no longer respects the sanctity of human life. The cause is a society that actively erodes the traditional family bonds that create good and decent citizens. The cause is a society that immerses itself in graphic depictions of violence while pretending it has no impact on our collective psyche.
It’s time to address the cause of these tragedies, while leaving our sacred rights intact. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54588-unconstitutional-no-fly-no-buy-wont-prevent-mass-murder
DOJ Sues California Over Immigration Obstruction
Laws meant to protect the lawless are ironic, indeed. “The Department of Justice and the Trump Administration are going to fight these unjust, unfair and unconstitutional policies,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Last year, the Justice Department also moved to defund sanctuary cities, which is being challenged in court.
California is a key battleground because an estimated 2.5 million illegals reside there. That number will no doubt increase. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is named in the DOJ suit, insists California will continue to “keep our communities safe.” In fact, he argues, “We believe we are in full compliance with the federal Constitution and federal law.” Democrats sure have a funny way of defining those terms.
In some cases, the state is doing even more than claiming supremacy of state law over federal law, in violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2). One example is the recent case of Oakland’s Democrat mayor, Libby Schaaf, publicly warning illegals of upcoming ICE raids, saving an estimated 800 illegals from arrest. It’s one thing to leave enforcement of federal law to the feds and another to actively obstruct that enforcement. Such is the way of today’s Democrat Party. ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/54583-doj-sues-california-over-immigration-obstruction