The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Last Call for Ethanol
> Debra J. Saunders .
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
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WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE
On this day in 1934, Bolshevik hero and military leader Sergey Kirov was assassinated in his office on orders from Joseph Stalin. The already paranoid Stalin saw Kirov’s rise to leader of the Communist Party in Leningrad as a new provocation, despite Kirov’s long support for Stalin. Historians also believe that Kirov’s hedonistic lifestyle was an embarrassment to Stalin’s push for ascetic conformity in the new workers’ paradise. Stalin was publicly supportive of his old comrade, proffering – and then deferring – promotions to high office in Moscow. But all the while, Stalin was plotting. With the help of one of Kirov’s security deputies, Stalin found an assassin to take out his could-be rival. Of the millions Stalin killed, Kirov’s death still stands out. The murder was the pretext that Stalin would use to launch the next and most dramatic round of the purge of his enemies from within Soviet government and life. The enemies of the revolution, Stalin said, were responsible for Kirov’s murder and needed to be rooted out. How right he was…
On this day in 1934, Bolshevik hero and military leader Sergey Kirov was assassinated in his office on orders from Joseph Stalin. The already paranoid Stalin saw Kirov’s rise to leader of the Communist Party in Leningrad as a new provocation, despite Kirov’s long support for Stalin. Historians also believe that Kirov’s hedonistic lifestyle was an embarrassment to Stalin’s push for ascetic conformity in the new workers’ paradise. Stalin was publicly supportive of his old comrade, proffering – and then deferring – promotions to high office in Moscow. But all the while, Stalin was plotting. With the help of one of Kirov’s security deputies, Stalin found an assassin to take out his could-be rival. Of the millions Stalin killed, Kirov’s death still stands out. The murder was the pretext that Stalin would use to launch the next and most dramatic round of the purge of his enemies from within Soviet government and life. The enemies of the revolution, Stalin said, were responsible for Kirov’s murder and needed to be rooted out. How right he was…
-Fox News
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BLACK PASTORS CONTRADICT TRUMP’S ACCOUNT OF MEETING
NYT: “During the meeting on Monday, black ministers challenged [Donald] Trump over his record, and suggested he apologize for his incendiary language, according to those who attended. In an interview afterward, Mr. Trump described ‘great love in the room’ and a wide-ranging, two-hour discussion of black unemployment, police shootings and deficiencies of urban education. ‘They liked me, and I liked them,’ he said.” -Fox News
NYT: “During the meeting on Monday, black ministers challenged [Donald] Trump over his record, and suggested he apologize for his incendiary language, according to those who attended. In an interview afterward, Mr. Trump described ‘great love in the room’ and a wide-ranging, two-hour discussion of black unemployment, police shootings and deficiencies of urban education. ‘They liked me, and I liked them,’ he said.” -Fox News
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Smack talked - Ahead of his appearance at a Donald Trump rally in Georgia, onetime 2012 GOP frontrunner Herman Cain took to his website to respond to onetime 2016 frontrunner Jeb Bush’s barbs about Cain’s failed bid: “If you want to say I had a ‘fall,’ go ahead, I guess. You can’t fall when you’ve never gotten any higher than the floor in the first place, and that’s the state of the Jeb Bush campaign. A guy with his name, his money and the team behind him should be one of the top-tier contenders, and he should certainly not be letting Donald Trump wipe the floor with him if Trump is as unserious and unqualified as Bush would have you believe.”
[Bush has a new ad out in the New Hampshire and Boston television markets featuring Medal of Honor recipients.] -Fox News
[Bush has a new ad out in the New Hampshire and Boston television markets featuring Medal of Honor recipients.] -Fox News
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RAKING IN THAT CHEDDAR
Hamilton Spectator: “A Niagara Regional Police officer has been sentenced to a total of four months in custody after being convicted of three of six charges related to a cheese smuggling operation. Const. Scott Heron was charged in September 2012 following an investigation into an operation involving the purchasing cases of cheese in bulk from south of the border and bringing it into Fort Erie without declaring the cheese or paying duty. Once in Canada, the cheese was sorted and prepared for distribution to a variety of restaurants in the region. At the time of the arrest, the NRP said there was significant money to be made from the operation. Police say about $200,000 worth of cheese was smuggled in, generating a profit of about $165,000.”
Hamilton Spectator: “A Niagara Regional Police officer has been sentenced to a total of four months in custody after being convicted of three of six charges related to a cheese smuggling operation. Const. Scott Heron was charged in September 2012 following an investigation into an operation involving the purchasing cases of cheese in bulk from south of the border and bringing it into Fort Erie without declaring the cheese or paying duty. Once in Canada, the cheese was sorted and prepared for distribution to a variety of restaurants in the region. At the time of the arrest, the NRP said there was significant money to be made from the operation. Police say about $200,000 worth of cheese was smuggled in, generating a profit of about $165,000.”
-Fox News
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Spending Bill: nObama Will be ‘Allow’ To Bring 10,000 Syrians...
{MATTHEW BOYLE} ~ As currently written, this year’s appropriations bills – which will be combined into a catch-all ‘omnibus’ by December 11th – amount to a blank check for the President to carry out his refugee resettlement plans... Not only will the President be allowed to bring in the 85,000 refugees he has announced on top of current record immigration levels, but this will include at least 10,000 refugees from Syria who will subsequently be able to bring in their foreign relatives. All refugees are eligible for lifetime government benefits and Social Security and Medicare access, and are on a fast-track to becoming voting U.S. citizens. More than 90 percent of recent Middle Eastern refugees are on welfare. Technically, the bill hasn’t yet been released–likely, it won’t be released until mere hours before the vote–but it’s pretty clear at this point, from the public statements of the GOP leadership, that the plan in Congress is to pave the way for nObama. Sessions is also raising concerns about Muslim immigration to the United States, saying he’s worried about the lack of enough law enforcement resources to ensure that they’re not terrorists. .
FBI Chief James Comey Pivotal Figure for Clinton
{Loren Gutentag} ~ While Hilly Clinton is the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, The Hill notes that a pivotal figure in the 2016 presidential race is FBI Director James Comey... who is continuing the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she served as secretary of state. After an 11-hour hearing in October by the GOP-created Benghazi Committee, political pundits and leaders on both ends of the spectrum believe that the hearing failed to produce anything newsworthy and in turn, the FBI will have the final say in whether Clinton's actions were unethical or not. The Hill notes that as FBI Chief Comey has taken over the investigation, both parties will have to accept the verdict because Comey is, in many ways, "untouchable." BS she lied once again and you believed her..
New Report: There’s ‘Unprecedented’ ISIS Mobilization In The U.S.
{Matt Vespa} ~ On November 12, President nObama said ISIS had been “contained.” The next day, ISIS launched a deadly terrorist attack in Paris that left 130 people dead... Guy has written about what appears to be a developing scandal within our intelligence community, specifically the suppression–or disregard–of intelligence about ISIS’s rise that didn’t necessarily fit the view of the nObama administration. Now, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism released a rather disconcerting report showing “unprecedented” “ISIS-related mobilization” in the United States: Seventy-one individuals have been charged with ISIS-related activities since March 2014. Fifty-six have been arrested in 2015 alone, a record number of terrorism-related arrests for any year since 9/11. The profiles of individuals involved in ISIS-related activities in the U.S. differ widely in race, age, social class, education, and family background. Their motivations are equally diverse and defy easy analysis..
Israel Seeking to Extend Cooperation With Russia in Syria...
{David Daoud} ~ The Israeli defense establishment has conveyed messages to Russian officials in an effort to establish coordination of ground based operations in Syria, and to bolster the aerial, naval and electromagnetic cooperation already underway... Israeli news website Walla reported on Tuesday. The request, which was neither confirmed nor denied by defense officials — comes amid reported Israeli efforts to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria. According to Walla, after Russia began its military operations in Syria against anti-Assad-regime rebels and terrorist groups, Israeli officials traveled to Moscow to spell out their country’s red lines on the transfer of “game-changing weapons” to Hezbollah, and assert that there would be no compromises on the matter. Jerusalem and Moscow then established a joint mechanism to coordinate the activities of their respective air forces in Syria, to prevent accidental clashes. http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/01/report-israel-requests-russian-ground-cooperation-in-syria/.
Media Hall of Shame: Reuters' Repeated Anti-Israel Bias
{Trey Sanchez} ~ Since October, Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens has been a constant occurrence that has included multiple stabbings, shootings, and using vehicles as weapons... And in many, if not most, cases, the Palestinian threat is neutralized by an Israeli defense officer. But Reuters is having a very difficult time reporting on who the aggressor actually is. And if it's not headlines transferring the offense from Palestinians to Israelis, it's a photo showing knife-wielding jihadists holding the Koran with captions that say they are taking part in a "rally." The terrorist attacks against Jews is belittled by Reuters preference of calling the violence, "Palestinians confronting Israelis." An October 27 report included a map of all of the stabbings, shootings, and rammings that whitewashed them as simply "street violence." http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/media-hall-shame-reuters-repeated-anti-israel-bias.
Clinton's Weasel Word Emails on Benghazi
{Brian Lilley} ~ A top aide to Hilly Clinton tried to assure the then-Secretary of State that she had not overplayed her hand in blaming a terrorist attack at the American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya as being the fault of a video posted to YouTube... In a newly released batch of emails, it has been revealed that Jake Sullivan, Clinton's one-time Deputy Chief of Staff and her current foreign policy advisor on her campaign, emailed his boss to tell her everything she had said about the attacks and the video was just fine: Clinton and several nObama administration officials blamed the Benghazi attacks that left four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens dead on a YouTube video that was critical of Islam. That claim was made despite it being known as the attack was happening that the perpetrators were tied to an al Qaida-linked group..
The “Post Truth” News Media
{Sharyl Attkisson} ~ As some reporters unequivocally declare Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to be “wrong” when he claimed thousands in New Jersey celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 Islamic extremist terrorist attacks, I observe with more than a passing interest... My interest isn’t in the presidential candidates; it’s in the news media’s conduct. One news outlet dubbed Trump “the post truth 2016 candidate,” lifting a propaganda phrase passed along by the usual suspects. If one didn’t know better, one might think Hilly Clinton’s supporters among propagandists, astroturfers and the news media know she polls weakest when it comes to honesty, so they’re on a mission to reduce her strongest Republican competition to equal footing. If voters can be convinced that Trump and Ben Carson are liars, then those candidates are less likely to attack Clinton’s own dubious relationship with the truth….
Without Congress’ support, nObama’s deal making powers are limited
{John R. Bolton and John Yoo} ~ As more than 190 nations meet this week to negotiate an agreement to limit greenhouse gases, President nObama finds himself in a terrible bind... On one side is international pressure to vest any climate deal with what international law considers to be binding legal force. On the other is the political difficulty, even the impossibility, of approving a climate treaty under our Constitution because of the need for approval by two-thirds of the Senate. To realize the purported benefits of limiting greenhouse gases, nations must undergo the economic pain of reducing carbon-based fuels. Because all nations benefit from any reduction, individual countries have an incentive to keep polluting and just free-ride on others’ efforts. Nations want a reliable commitment in order to forestall cheating. In November, French President Francois Hollande declared that if a Paris agreement “is not legally binding, there is no agreement.” (Of course, in international law, there is no way to compel compliance, judicially or otherwise, which is what makes such law an amorphous concept.).
Freedom Center pressures universities on support for pro-terror
{David Horowitz} ~ Recent news reports of racial extortion and attacks on free speech on some of our elite college campuses have raised questions about the value of higher education in America today... Less discussed but more prevalent is an even more disturbing issue—the dominating presence in our universities of activist groups acting as mouthpieces for Islamist terrorism. The David Horowitz Freedom Center recently concluded an intensively researched, carefully documented report on The Top Ten U.S. Colleges Most Friendly to Terrorists. They are (in alphabetical order) Brandeis University; Columbia University; Harvard University; Rutgers University (New Brunswick); San Francisco State University; University of California, Irvine; University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, San Diego, University of Michigan, and University of New Mexico. The ten case histories in this report present a disturbing picture of campus communities—among them some of the most prestigious colleges in the country—where groups parroting the violent propaganda of Hamas and other terror organizations promote a hate filled agenda aimed at the destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jewish people. This nationally coordinated effort, which is spearheaded by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Students Association (MSA), both of which were planted in the U.S. by members of a terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not only tolerated but supported and funded by administrators at these schools who rigorously restrain other hate groups through codes of conduct that in this case are ignored..
The New French "Résistance"
{Guy Millière} ~ Several weeks have passed since Islamist attackers bloodied Paris. France's President François Hollande is describing the killers as just "a horde of murderers" acting in the name of a "mad cause."... He adds that "France has no enemy." He never uses the word "terrorism." He no longer says the word "war." France never was, in fact, at war. Police were deployed on the streets. Special Forces had to "intervene" a few days later in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. That was it. French forces did bomb positions of the Islamic State in Syria; and Hollande traveled the world to find coalition, but could not. Now he says he wants to turn a page. The French public seems to want to turn a page, too. From the beginning, pacifism and appeasement filled the air. A German pianist came to play John Lennon's Imagine in front of the Bataclan Theater; since then, other pianists have come. On the Place de la République, people assemble every evening to sing more songs by the Beatles: All You Need Is Love; Love Me Do. Candles are lit, and banners deployed, calling for "universal brotherhood." http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6994/new-french-resistance.
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Last Call for Ethanol
Debra J. Saunders.
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When President George W. Bush signed legislation to expand a federal requirement to blend gasoline with ethanol in 2007, he could claim with some credibility that he was pushing a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, on which Americans were so dependent. Yes, there were skeptics. I was one of them. But the Bush Renewable Fuel Standard flowed with the mainstream of American politics. In the 2008 presidential election, Sen. Barack nObama, D-Ill., was a big booster of the ethanol mandate.
When President George W. Bush signed legislation to expand a federal requirement to blend gasoline with ethanol in 2007, he could claim with some credibility that he was pushing a renewable alternative to fossil fuels, on which Americans were so dependent. Yes, there were skeptics. I was one of them. But the Bush Renewable Fuel Standard flowed with the mainstream of American politics. In the 2008 presidential election, Sen. Barack nObama, D-Ill., was a big booster of the ethanol mandate.
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Every year since then, ethanol has been harder to defend. A 2008 study published in Science magazine found that corn-based ethanol increases greenhouse gas emissions instead of reducing them. A 2009 study concluded that plowing fields to grow corn for ethanol could release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ethanol offsets.
Every year since then, ethanol has been harder to defend. A 2008 study published in Science magazine found that corn-based ethanol increases greenhouse gas emissions instead of reducing them. A 2009 study concluded that plowing fields to grow corn for ethanol could release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ethanol offsets.
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FactCheck.org looked at ethanol and found U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored research that concluded that ethanol reduces greenhouse gases. But it's hard to believe that the ethanol mandate is good for the environment when the Sierra Club, the Environmental Working Group and Friends of the Earth oppose the federal program. The Sierra Club describes claims that ethanol reduces carbon input as "extremely dubious."
FactCheck.org looked at ethanol and found U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored research that concluded that ethanol reduces greenhouse gases. But it's hard to believe that the ethanol mandate is good for the environment when the Sierra Club, the Environmental Working Group and Friends of the Earth oppose the federal program. The Sierra Club describes claims that ethanol reduces carbon input as "extremely dubious."
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Ethanol has fallen out of favor largely because it eats up so much of the corn supply. Some 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop goes into gas tanks, not stomachs. As demand for corn has risen, so have food prices. As the cost of feed has risen, so have beef prices. ActionAid USA and other anti-poverty groups also oppose ethanol supports.
Ethanol has fallen out of favor largely because it eats up so much of the corn supply. Some 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop goes into gas tanks, not stomachs. As demand for corn has risen, so have food prices. As the cost of feed has risen, so have beef prices. ActionAid USA and other anti-poverty groups also oppose ethanol supports.
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has worked across the aisle to end ethanol supports, in part to spur the production of biofuels with smaller environmental footprints. This year, to her undying credit, she joined with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to sponsor the Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2015.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has worked across the aisle to end ethanol supports, in part to spur the production of biofuels with smaller environmental footprints. This year, to her undying credit, she joined with Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to sponsor the Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2015.
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Matt Dempsey, a former staffer for Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., of climate skepticism fame, has watched the left and right come together against ethanol for a decade. Now in public relations for the pro-business Center for Regulatory Solutions, Dempsey has been busy alerting states about the high cost folks outside Iowa pay for ethanol. Ethanol gets fewer miles to the gallon than gasoline. Thus, his group estimates that since 2005, the renewable standard has cost Californians an extra $13 billion at the pump.
Matt Dempsey, a former staffer for Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., of climate skepticism fame, has watched the left and right come together against ethanol for a decade. Now in public relations for the pro-business Center for Regulatory Solutions, Dempsey has been busy alerting states about the high cost folks outside Iowa pay for ethanol. Ethanol gets fewer miles to the gallon than gasoline. Thus, his group estimates that since 2005, the renewable standard has cost Californians an extra $13 billion at the pump.
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With such a political heavyweight as Feinstein leading the opposition, you would expect California Democrats to support an effort that helps families keep groceries on the table. It says something about the political heft of the ethanol lobby, however, that House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi co-signed a letter with fellow Democrats that urged the nObama administration to "keep in mind the need to reduce carbon pollution" as the president heads to the United Nations climate conference in Paris. The Environmental Protection Agency must release three-year ethanol standards by the end of the month, and Pulosi supports "a robust renewable fuels rule."
With such a political heavyweight as Feinstein leading the opposition, you would expect California Democrats to support an effort that helps families keep groceries on the table. It says something about the political heft of the ethanol lobby, however, that House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi co-signed a letter with fellow Democrats that urged the nObama administration to "keep in mind the need to reduce carbon pollution" as the president heads to the United Nations climate conference in Paris. The Environmental Protection Agency must release three-year ethanol standards by the end of the month, and Pulosi supports "a robust renewable fuels rule."
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Dempsey described the Pulosi letter as "a head-scratcher." He said, "It really stands out as one of the more bizarre moments for Pulosi." The only way it makes sense, Dempsey added, is if Pulosi wants to provide cover for the nObama administration to uphold a mandate that bites into everyone's wallet but, it seems, does not decrease greenhouse gases. Pulosi has to know how bad nObama would look touting ethanol as a tool to combat climate change. To pull off that stunt, nObama should avoid the City of Light and instead head for Iowa.
Dempsey described the Pulosi letter as "a head-scratcher." He said, "It really stands out as one of the more bizarre moments for Pulosi." The only way it makes sense, Dempsey added, is if Pulosi wants to provide cover for the nObama administration to uphold a mandate that bites into everyone's wallet but, it seems, does not decrease greenhouse gases. Pulosi has to know how bad nObama would look touting ethanol as a tool to combat climate change. To pull off that stunt, nObama should avoid the City of Light and instead head for Iowa.
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