The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
VA Reform: Another nObama “Success Story”
Michelle Malkin
"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
~~~lll~~~
Will Boston Bomber Get Death Penalty?
There never was a question of guilt. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense admitted as much on the first day of trial. Yesterday, the Boston jury handed down its decision: The 22-year-old who helped his brother plant pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013 is guilty on all 30 counts. Seventeen of those charges are punishable by the death penalty. Now, the most important part of the trial begins — deciding whether Tsarnaev will get life in a federal prison or be executed. "This [bombing] reminds us, once again, that this is not ordinary crime, it's not even [an] ordinary enemy; these are people who are irredeemable," political analyst Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News. "Nonetheless, I personally generally oppose the death penalty with some exceptions. I would rather not make him a martyr. Let him serve all his life and contemplate his deeds for decades." For conservatives, it boils down to one question. Should jurors consider the effect Tsarnaev's death would have on radical Islamists looking for martyrdom, or should the punishment match the crime?
Footnote: Tsarnaev's mother said, "America is the real terrorist and everyone knows that," adding, "My boys are the best of the best." That explains some things. -The Patriot Post 
SC Police Officer Charged With Murder Thanks to Video
Thanks to a citizen who filmed an altercation between a South Carolina police officer and a motorist, Rule of Law is being upheld in the death of Walter Scott. On Saturday, Officer Michael Slager of the North Charleston Police Department stopped Scott because of a broken taillight. According to the initial police account, Scott grabbed the officer's Taser, and in the ensuing struggle Slager feared for his life and shot in self-defense. Officers then administered CPR, according to the police. But a video of the event that emerged earlier this week shows a vastly different story. Unlike the altercation in Ferguson between Officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown, Scott turned and ran from the officer with what appeared to be the wires of the Taser trailing behind. Slager drew his gun, aimed at the fleeing man, and fired eight times. It appears the officer then planted the Taser next to Scott, and when other officers arrived on the scene, CPR was never given to him. North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said at a news conference, "When you're wrong, you're wrong. If you make a bad decision, don't care if you're behind the shield or just a citizen on the street, you have to live by that decision." Slager was charged with murder and fired, which might not have happened without the video. Seems like a good case for body cameras. More... -The Patriot Post
With Iran Deal Crumbling, Pulosi Defends Negotiations
Well that was fast. Before Barack nObama could finish his victory lap around the Rose Garden, Iran announced a couple red lines that could derail the whole nuclear deal crazy train. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said inspectors would not be allowed to photograph or film the country's nuclear sites, because it would endanger nuclear scientists. Then the country's Defense Minister, Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, said there were certain nuclear sites inspectors would be forbidden from entering. He said, "No such agreement has been made; principally speaking, visit to military centers is among our redlines and no such visit will be accepted." Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate alike are skeptical of Team nObama's negotiating prowess, as they are pushing a bill that says Congress must approve the Iran deal. But House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi stands in their way. She insists the "legislation undermines these international negotiations and represents an unnecessary hurdle to achieving a strong, final agreement." Constitutionally, the Senate works with the president to make international treaties. What Congress does with the Iran deal isn't Pulosi's business.
-The Patriot Post
U.S. Ships Arms to Yemen, nObama's Foreign Policy Success Story
It's plan B for the nObama administration after the government of Yemen dissolved in the face of warring groups in the nation. A few months ago, al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula was decimated. This week, the nObama administration's strategy is to mitigate threats. Ashton Carter told an audience in Tokyo, "AQAP has seized the opportunity of the disorder there and the collapse of the central government. … Obviously it's always easier to conduct counterterrorism when there's a stable government in place. That circumstance obviously doesn't exist in Yemen." Now, the United States is sidelined, sending precision-guided munitions to the Saudi Arabian-led coalition that is fighting the Houthi rebels. In a twist of fate, Saudi Arabia was targeting U.S. arms in Yemen during its bombing runs because it feared those weapons would fall in the hands of the enemy. Whoever said war was economical? More...
-The Patriot Post
If loose lips Biden Thinks He Makes Too Much, He Should Donate
It's funny how the meaning of $200,000 differs from one politician to the next. For the Clintons, $200K is a pittance, a discounted speaking gig for Hilly. But for loose lips Joe Biden, that amount is almost too much, probably because he's echoing his boss' mantra about "middle-class economics." During an appearance at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, loose lips Biden said, "I make a lot of money now as vice president — I make a lot of money. When the president was thanking everyone for the sacrifices they made when they got us all in the Blair House — after he took office — and the financial sacrifices they made, he looked at me and said, 'Except for loose lips Joe, he's getting a pay raise.'" loose lips Biden needs it. According to the Washington Free Beacon, loose lips Biden doesn't have a savings account. He never invested in stocks. His mismanagement of finances is a good reason no one should take financial advice from him. But when he leaves office and its $230,700-a-year salary, loose lips Biden will receive a pension of about $200,000 a year for life. If he thinks that's too much, maybe he could do a bit better than the $369 annual average he gave to charity over a decade. More...
-The Patriot Post
1.
nObama taken for fool by classic Muslim ploy
(Leo Hohmann) - The president’s secular Marxist mindset, which tends to downplay the importance of religion in all aspects of politics, may have left him easy pickings for an Iranian team skilled in the art of Islamic deception...says Joel Richardson, author of the New York Times-best seller “The Islamic Antichrist” followed by “Mideast Beast,” looks at the preliminary nuclear deal between Iran and the U.S. with five other world powers and sees the markings of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. “If one wishes to have even a basic understanding of the underlying principles involved in Middle East politics, then one must first understand the history and implications of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah,” Richardson told WND. He believes nObama committed a “brazenly amateur” gaffe by failing to understand who he was dealing with – an Iranian regime steeped in Islamic law. http://www.wnd.com/2015/04/obama-taken-for-fool-by-classic-muslim-ploy/
2.
Part of Yarmouk, near Damascus, after being damaged by fighting.
Why Palestinians in Yarmouk Are Unlucky
(Khaled Abu Toameh) - As Palestinians were being killed and beheaded by Islamic State terrorists in the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus over the past week, Palestinian leaders once again proved that delegitimizing and isolating Israel is more important than caring about their people...After seven days of fighting, Islamic State is now in control of nearly 90% of the camp, which once used to be home to more than 150,000 Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that since the beginning of the civil war in Syria four years ago, the population of Yarmouk has dropped to 18,000. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5527/palestinians-yarmouk-Syria
3.
President Barack nObama (C) talks with Chile's President Sebastian Pinera (L) and Guatemala's President Otto Perez (R) as Mexico's President Felipe Calderon (L, upper row) and Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli (R, upper row) stand near before a group photo at the Americas Summit in Cartagena
Can nObama rescue his failing Latin America policy? (Roger F. Noriega) - U.S. President Barack nObama has clearly noticed that many in Latin America and the Caribbean have an uncanny affinity for the myth of the Cuban revolution. What he has yet to realize...however, is that the vast majority of the region’s citizens would rather live in the Chile built by Augusto Pinochet than in the Cuba destroyed by Fidel Castro. As nObama travels to Panama this week for his third Summit of the Americas, he encounters a region that has lost stability and prosperity since the president first attended the summit in 2009. Although he hoped to harvest accolades for his rapprochement with Havana, nObama will instead be greeted by a coterie of hostile counterparts, led by Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and abetted by Castro, who are determined to sever Washington’s remaining influence in a hemisphere critical to U.S. prosperity and security. http://www.aei.org/publication/can-obama-rescue-his-failing-latin-america-policy/?utm_source=paramount&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AEITODAY&utm_campaign=041015
4.
Post-Zionism: Calling for the Destruction of the Jewish State
(Matan Peleg) - Marcia Freedman is not well known. Yet she is a former Member of Knesset for the Ratz party (predecessor to the Meretz party), and one of the few Members of Knesset who emigrated from Israel following her Knesset term and returned to her country of birth – the United States...During the recent J Street conference Freedman successfully and succinctly expressed the classic post-Zionist approach that calls into question the existence of the state of Israel as a Zionist state – meaning, a Jewish and democratic state. Freedman’s words express the complete and total denial of reality contained within the post-Zionist approach; a denial of history and a denial of politics. First, let’s look at her denial of history: Freedman is just plain wrong. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/matan-peleg/j-street-new-israel-fund-post-zionism-calling-for-the-destruction-of-the-jewish-state/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0f52797d4a-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-0f52797d4a-156509103
5.
Iran, the Nuclear Deal and ‘The Gathering Storm’
(Francis P. Sempa) - Historical analogies should always be used with care. Events of many years ago involving different statesmen and countries contending with different issues and circumstances can, at best, shed some light on current events...That being said, the current push for a Nuclear Deal with Iran bears an eerie and troubling resemblance to the Western powers’ efforts in the 1920s and 1930s to ignore and then to accommodate German rearmament. What better place to shed some light on this circumstance than volume one of Winston Churchill’s history of the Second World War, The Gathering Storm. The theme of The Gathering Storm was “How the English-speaking peoples through their unwisdom, carelessness, and good nature allowed the wicked to rearm.” Churchill recounted how well-meaning statesmen, with a genuine and understandable fear of war and its destructiveness, pursued popular arms control policies designed to maintain peace, but which instead helped create the conditions that led to war. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/francis-p-sempa/iran-the-nuclear-deal-and-the-gathering-storm/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0f52797d4a-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-0f52797d4a-156509103
6.
Patrick Murphy and His Radical Muslim Friends
(Joe Kaufman) - Patrick Murphy, United States Representative from Florida, has announced his intention to run for United States Senate. If recent history provides any indication of what to expect, Murphy will elicit help from radical Muslims to do so. But will he sell his votes for the help?...This was indeed seen as a huge victory for Emerge, as the group considered Allen West an adversary to organizations such as itself, organizations with ties to terrorism and Islamic extremism. In its 2012 annual report, Emerge explicitly took credit for West’s loss: “EMERGE USA PAC rallied our communities to defeat the radical former Congressman Allen West.” If Emerge is part of Patrick Murphy’s team, then Patrick Murphy’s team is dangerous. Emerge USA is not the patriotic group its name allows it to pretend to be. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/joe-kaufman/patrick-murphy-and-his-radical-muslim-friends/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0f52797d4a-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-0f52797d4a-156509103
7.
‘If the Law Matters,’ Courts Will Side With States
(Josh Siegel) - As a federal appeals court considers whether to keep or rescind a hold on nObama’s immigration program, the attorney general of the state leading the charge against the president’s executive actions “is very confident” the plaintiffs will win out... “All I can tell you is, based on the law, I feel very confident,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in an interview with The Daily Signal. “I am very confident we are right on the law. And if the law matters, we will do very well.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 17 about whether to uphold or remove an injunction on nObama’s 2014 immigration actions. http://dailysignal.com/2015/04/09/texas-attorney-general-if-the-law-matters-courts-will-side-with-states-in-fight-over-obama-immigration-policy/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuqrKZKXonjHpfsX56%2BQpWqS%2BlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4GTsNnI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D
8.
California Universities Are A Hot Bed For Terrorism Support
(Jeff Dunetz) - Over the years this site has published many posts about anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda and events in California's colleges. Now thanks to the latest James O'Keefe/Project Veritas video we know why...California's schools are a breeding ground for support of terrorist groups like ISIS, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Today’s video reveals a multitude of professors, administrations, and students at numerous California state universities signing a petition pledging financial support to ISIS, Hamas and Hezbollah. Professor Bruce Burnam of California State University, Northridge had no problem signing the petition pledging economic support to ISIS, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Nor did, Jon Masciana, Director of Admissions at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine who gladly signed the pro-terror petition. http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2015/04/must-watch-video-california.html?utm_source=The+Lid+List&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1d7495c0f1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_597b72c01c-1d7495c0f1-291705165&goal=0_597b72c01c-1d7495c0f1-291705165
9.
Turkey's "Sun of the Age"
(Burak Bekdil) - Turkey is probably one of the best social laboratories in the world to prove why Islamist ideology cannot be compatible with a culture of humor, dissent and protest...It also offers a unique experience that shows how Islamists can even violate one of their religion's most fundamental teachings for the sake of worshipping a leader's cult of personality. At a parliamentary session in February, Turkish deputies gathered to debate a controversial security bill. Instead of debate, a brawl broke out. The session ended after five MPs were taken to the hospital. That bill, sponsored by the government but fiercely rebuked by the opposition, has just taken effect, adding to fears that Turkey is fast becoming a police state. http://www.meforum.org/5167/erdogan-sun-of-age
10.
Dangers to Democracy in the Prosecution of Senator Menendez
(Alan M. Dershowitz) - Whenever a prominent political figure is indicted on charges of alleged corruption, serious questions arise. Is the prosecution part of a growing and dangerous trend toward criminalizing policy differences?...Does it endanger the free speech rights of contributors? Will it constrain the legislative branch from serving as a check and balance on the executive? These questions are now being raised in the context of the prosecution of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, as they previously were in several other ill-advised prosecutions including those of former agriculture secretary Mike Espy, former presidential candidate John Edwards, the late Senator Ted Stevens, former Congressman Tom Delay and former Texas governor Rick Perry. The reason these questions arise is not because there is no corruption in government. It is because the laws distinguishing between constitutionally protected political activities and illegal payments to office holders are vague and indeterminate. These laws give prosecutors enormous discretion to determine whether to prosecute questionable transactions. And the courts refuse to second guess prosecutorial decisions even in cases where selective prosecution based on improper considerations seems evident. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5532/dangers-to-democracy-in-the-prosecution
VA Reform: Another nObama “Success Story”
Michelle Malkin
(freedomsback.com) - Eight months ago, President nObama put on a grand show for the troops. Surrounded by new Secretary of Veterans Affairs Bob McDonald, assorted politicians, military leaders and a bevy of TV cameras, the commander in chief signed the “Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act.” He’s good at inking things.
nObama condemned the “inexcusable conduct” at VA hospitals across the country (and under his own watch).
He vowed to “do right by all who served under our proud flag.” He promised America’s veterans new “reform,” “resources,” “timely care” and an end to the disgraceful disability backlog.
The bill he signed, in case you’d forgotten, included $10 billion in emergency funding to pay for veterans to go outside the chronically dysfunctional VA system if they are facing long wait times or live 40 miles or more from a VA facility, plus another $6.3 billion to set up 27 new clinics and hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff.
So, how’s it all working out? About as well as every other “success story” nObama has signed his name to: abysmally, ineffectually and incompetently.
Take nObama’s hyped plan to expand health care access to those who live far from a VA facility. Obtuse federal bureaucrats interpreted “40 miles” in the narrowest way possible, applied an “as the crow flies” distance rule inconsistently, and excluded untold numbers of vets. It took more than a year — and concerted pressure from veterans groups and GOP lawmakers — for the administration to “clarify” its confused eligibility standards just two weeks ago.
What about “accountability”? nObama bragged last August that “we’ve already taken the first steps to change the way the VA does business. We’ve held people accountable for misconduct. … We should have zero tolerance for that.” Looks like the VA bosses in Shreveport, La., didn’t get the memo. As Tori Richards of Watchdog.org reported last month, a mental health services worker who exposed use of a secret appointment waiting list there was ignored for a year. Instead of accountability for the wrongdoers, the VA employee who blew the whistle, Army vet Shea Wilkes, became the subject of a criminal investigation.
And how’s that new facility construction campaign going? The VA’s atrocious complex has been a problem for decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Nothing’s changed under the era of hope and change.
Here in Colorado, the new Aurora VA hospital has become another in a long line of government spending cesspools. The $600-million 184-bed facility is now estimated to cost at least $1.7 billion after a reckless parade of design changes, cost overruns and mismanagement — and may not be ready until 2017. “Accountability”? Pfffft. The head of the VA’s Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction responsible for the waste was allowed to resign with a full federal pension and retention of nearly $60,000 in bonuses earned during the fiasco.
In Colorado Springs, a sparkling new “cutting edge” VA outpatient clinic opened last year on the promise of reducing wait times. But according to the Colorado Springs Gazette, “11.5 percent of veteran appointments for care in Colorado Springs are delayed by 30 days or more,” which is “up from 7 percent” before the $10-million facility opened.What’s next? You know the drill: more congressional hearings, more grandstanding, another “reform” campaign, more posturing in front of cameras, and more screwed-over vets.
Throwing more money and platitudes at the VA to cover up its deadly scandals is a bipartisan Beltway recipe for failure. Recently retired Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., one of the few to object to last year’s kabuki “VA reform,” was right. “The culture is one of looking good, protecting those in the VA and not protecting our veterans,” he said at the time. “You have to have a bill that fixes that. I don’t believe this is going to do it.”
Mission not accomplished.
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