The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Thoughts on the Cruz non-endorsement
by Tom
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Elizabeth Warren to Airbnb: No Sleep for You!
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and two other Democrat senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking that it "study and quantify" popular short-term lodging companies, specifically Airbnb. Democrats' claim their purpose for sending this request is that they are "concerned that short-term rentals may be exacerbating housing shortages and driving up the cost of housing in our communities." The letter continues by citing concerns over potential safety and health violations and mentions reports of — what else? — "widespread discrimination against African-American guests."
This may sound similar to all the wrangling the past couple of years over the driver network program Uber and other similar ride-share companies. And in many ways it is. As with the complaints about Uber, all the huffing and puffing about safety violations, discrimination and "exacerbation of the housing market" are merely a smoke screen for the real agenda — government revenue and the union racket. Commercial enterprises such as the large hotel industry provide a higher tax revenue to both local and federal coffers than does little Aunt Margaret who rents out her spare bedroom a few times a year. And wouldn't you know, the hotel industry has also jumped on board the anti-Airbnb bandwagon. Competition is leading to loss of revenue, so the unions are calling in the big dogs to sit on the scales.
Warren and her fellow leftist travelers believe that the only good government is a big controlling one, and statists' primary means to accomplish this aim is through onerous regulations and taxes. Free market capitalism rests on greater individual freedom leading toward greater innovation and individual wealth and a robust economy, as has been proven time and time again. Socialism on the other hand tends toward suppression of individual freedoms, resulting in lack of innovation and growth and large governments whose control and over-regulation leads to a deflated economy. Just ask Venezuela. -The Patriot Post
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America's Biggest Scandal
Arnold Ahlert: On Monday night, liar-Hillary Clinton attacked GOP vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, calling him "one of the most hostile politicians in America when it comes to public education." Give liar-Clinton credit for one thing: She clearly recognizes the single greatest threat to progressive hegemony is well-educated Americans. That's exactly why the Democrat-educrat alliance will attack anything that threatens their de facto monopoly control of public schools.
The alliance is unquestionable. So far in the 2016 election cycle — just as it has been in every election cycle — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have directed millions of dollars in campaign contributions almost solely to Democrats, at 100% and 98%, respectively.
The results of the Democrat-run education industrial complex have been nothing short of catastrophic. "Twelve million poor children, mainly black and Hispanic, are trapped in failing government schools that are teaching them nothing," David Horowitz explained in 2014. "As a result, they will never get a chance at a middle-class life. Virtually every school board and every administration in inner city districts is controlled by Democrats, and has been for over fifty years. Everything that is wrong with inner city schools that policy can fix, Democrats are responsible for."
Even worse, the "fix" as they say is in, and even the reliably leftist New York Times was capable of smelling the stench. In December 2015, the paper revealed that while "the number of students earning high school diplomas has risen to historic peaks ... academic readiness for college or jobs are much lower." How much lower? "The most recent evaluation of 12th graders on a national test of reading and math found that fewer than 40 percent were ready for college level work," the Times revealed. "College remediation and dropout rates remain stubbornly high, particularly at two-year institutions, where fewer than a third who enroll complete a degree even within three years."
How is this possible? "Grade inflation is rampant in New York City's (NYC) public schools, reports a new study by StudentsFirstNY," columnist Heather Kays reveals, further noting that in schools "where fewer than 10 percent of students pass state tests, 85 percent of students were passing their school's coursework."
New York is hardly an outlier. Public schools all over the nation have been steadily inflating grades since 1990. The 2007 National Household Education Survey revealed an astounding 81% of students got mostly As and Bs in high school.
Moreover, many school districts are abandoning anything resembling real standards to facilitate the process. California, South Carolina and Tennessee recently eliminated a requirement that students pass exit exams to qualify for a diploma, and Alaska, California, Wisconsin and Wyoming lowered the number of credit requirements needed to graduate. In Connecticut, social promotion is all that matters. "Promotion and graduation require no actual learning," writes Chris Powell, managing editor of the Journal Inquirer. "Rather, only simple attendance is required. Promotion and graduation are left to the discretion of local school boards, which have lost the nerve to enforce standards that measure learning."
Other school districts are making 50 out of 100 the lowest grade a teacher can give a student, provided the student a makes a "reasonable attempt" or "good faith effort" to do the work. Many are also embracing "standards-based grading," a term designed to obscure the reality such "standards" allow students to turn in work late, retake exams, and limit the percentage homework can count in the calculation of one's overall grade.
Theresa Mitchell Dudley, president of the Prince George's County Educators' Association, explains the transparent flaws: "You can't go to an employer and say, 'Here's my work, it's two weeks late,' and expect that your boss is not going to fire you."
Perhaps not. But you can certainly cultivate a sense of utterly misplaced indignation in millions of weak-thinking students who will be subsequently drawn to a Democrat Party that assures them they are victims of an inherently unfair society that only the ministrations of benevolent government — controlled by those same Democrats — can ameliorate.
None of this is remotely possible absent a virtual monopolistic system that requires children to attend schools in assigned districts, even if those schools are failing, or pay tuition many Americans can't afford to attend private alternatives. liar-Clinton attacked Pence because he favors school choice, charter schools, career and technical education, and merit-based raises for teachers — every one of which are wholly anathema to Democrats and their union allies who want absolute control, absent a shred of accountability.
Make no mistake: Education is the primary arena in the battle for the nation's soul. Every problem we currently endure, from cultural pollution to endemic political corruption, and all things in between, can be traced back to the decline in standards and the ongoing indoctrination afflicting America's schools and colleges. "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted," promised Marxist champion Vladimir Lenin.
Four years has become 12-16 years of institutionally sanctioned dumbing-down, courtesy of a Democrat-educrat alliance that is arguably the biggest scandal in the history of the nation.
And it's about time Americans deeply concerned about the future of our country started treating it that way. -The Patriot Post
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The jihadis in France, the Islamists in Turkey
by Clifford D. May
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ Streets ran red with blood in both France and Turkey last week. A terrorist atrocity and an attempted coup are quite different events. But underlying both is this question... How are the most dynamic forces within the Islamic world shaping the 21st century? Jihadism is, as should be obvious, one of those forces. Those fighting what they call a holy war — al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Islamic Republic of Iran among them — regard “others” as enemies who must submit or be conquered or be killed. Their goal, and they’re candid about this, is to establish Islamic domination anywhere they can and, eventually, everywhere they can. To call such behavior radical or extreme is ahistorical. They are doing what tribes, nations and empires have done since time immemorial. It is we in the West who have deviated from the norm by insisting that it has somehow suddenly become natural for peoples to peacefully coexist, to celebrate their differences, and to accept compromises rather than pursue victories... http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/may-clifford-d-the-jihadis-in-france-the-islamists-in-turkey/
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Defusing the Iran Deal’s Ticking Time Bomb
by John Hannah
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ As it was in the beginning, so it remains one year on: The overriding danger of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal, is its provisions for automatically lifting the most important restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program by 2030... All the deal’s other shortcomings — of which there are many — largely pale in comparison. Plausible arguments can be made that those reflect difficult but necessary compromises, calculated risks that can be effectively mitigated by aggressive enforcement efforts and U.S. determination to confront Iranian aggression more broadly. Much harder to defend is a sunset clause that paves the way for an unreconstructed Iran to become a nuclear weapons threshold state in a mere 15 — wait, make that 14 — years. That’s not a calculated risk. That’s a formula for strategic disaster. Under the JCPOA, by 2030 Iran will be permitted to build an industrial-size nuclear industry. It will be able to operate an unlimited number of advanced centrifuges and accumulate as large a stockpile of fissile material as it desires. That, in theory, includes weapons-grade uranium. At that point, it would be weeks, maybe even days, away from having the fuel for a small arsenal of nuclear weapons. All of this legitimized by the United States and the rest of what passes for the international community...The stupidity of nObama.
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Iran Preparing to
Reopen Prohibited Nuclear Sites
by Adam Kredo
Ali Larijani
{freebeacon.com} ~ Top Iranian leaders have instructed the country’s atomic energy organization to prepare for the reopening of multiple nuclear sites that had been shuttered as part of last summer’s nuclear agreement... Ali Larijani, the leader of Iran’s parliament, requested this week that the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization prepare a plan to reopen nuclear enrichment facilitates that had been shutdown as part of the effort to limit Tehran’s research into nuclear weapons technology, according to comments carried in Iran’s state-controlled media. Iranian leaders are displeased with a recent United Nations report chastising the Islamic Republic for violating international agreements prohibiting the country’s work on ballistic missiles...And nObama will do nothing.
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Germany: The Terrifying
Power of Muslim Interpreters
by Stefan Frank
by Stefan Frank
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ Alexander Stevens is a lawyer at a Munich law firm specializing in sexual offenses. In his recent book, Sex in Court, he describes some of his strangest and most shocking cases... One such case raises the question: What do you do when interpreters working for the police and courts lie and manipulate? As no one monitors translators, it is likely that in many instances, the dishonesty of interpreters goes undetected -- Stevens' book chronicles the devastating effects one dishonest interpreter had on a case. The parents of a Syrian girl, "Sali," had promised their daughter to a man named Hassan, who, at the time, was still living in Syria. The arrangement was seen as mutually beneficial: Sali's parents would receive money and Hassan would be allowed to enter Germany. Sali would never willingly have married a man 34 years her senior, but the family's honor required it. However, Sali did not receive any benefits from this arrangement. Hassan's interest in Sali was apparently confined to her body. He forced Sali to perform all kinds of sexual practices several times a day, and brutally abused the girl in the process. Sali was unable to hide the fact that she took no pleasure in these rapes and she became ill, so Hassan reproached her and "openly threatened to demand a large compensation payment from her family, for the cost of the wedding reception and lost pleasures of love." Sali sought help from a women's shelter, where an employee took her to a lawyer: Stevens. At the shelter, Sali described her misfortune, but was careful repeatedly to come to her husband's defense. She was more worried about her family's honor, should Hassan decided to divorce her, than about herself... http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8391/germany-muslim-interpreters
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Civilization Jihad on Full Display
at Vernon Hills Illinois High School
by Bethany Blankley
{constitution.com} ~ In case anyone missed it, earlier this year in Vernon Hills, Illinois, what is known as the second phase of Civilization Jihad was on full display at the town’s public high school... American teenage girls were taught how to wear the Islamic head dress known as the “hijab”– in their public high school– by six girls who are members of the school’s Muslim Student Association. If there is a Christian Student Organization, it’s highly unlikely that Vernon Hills High School would allow Christians to talk about Jesus, display crosses, or pray as a group on school property– or teach anyone else in a classroom about anything related to Christianity. Same goes for Jews or Satanists. Actually– Christians are already prohibited from displaying any act or sign of their faith in public schools. The question is why aren’t the same standards applied to Muslim students?...
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Gowdy Nails Lynch:
We Have a Two-Tier Justice System
{rightwise.com} ~ Trey Gowdy didn’t earn his reputation as a ‘Pit Bull’ for being meek and mild when it comes to pointing out injustice and corruption... Take the recent hearing in D.C. where he faced Attorney General Loretta Lynch and asked her a string of questions designed to get at the heart of what was behind her baffling decision to take a private meeting with President Bill liar-Clinton just days before announcing that she would accept the FBI’s recommendation concerning liar-Hillary Clinton’s investigation. Gowdy declared that questioning Lynch was a waste of time, that Lynch was too preoccupied with protecting her presidential candidate to be bothered with the truth. Or even doing her job... http://rightwise.com/news/gowdy-nails-lynch-two-tier-justice-system/
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Judicial Watch Goes to Court
On liar-Clinton Testimony
{judicialwatch.org} ~ liar-Hillary Clinton sent three lawyers to federal court this past Monday in an effort to convince a judge that she shouldn’t have to provide testimony under oath to your Judicial Watch... about why she set up and used a non-state.gov email account to conduct official business as secretary of state. As you will recall, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had granted “discovery” to Judicial Watch into former Secretary of State liar-Hillary Clinton’s email system. Sullivan had noted at the time that “based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. liar-Clinton may be necessary.” The discovery arises in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to liar-Clinton. The lawsuit, which seeks records regarding the authorization for Abedin to engage in outside employment while employed by the Department of State, was reopened because of revelations about the liar-clintonemail.com system (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)). JW sought liar-Hillary Clinton’s testimony a few weeks ago after my attorney colleagues deposed seven former liar-Clinton top aides and current State Department officials, including top liar-Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin. Judicial Watch’s legal team also took the testimony of IT official Brian Pagliano, who asserted his Fifth Amendment right not to testify during the Judicial Watch deposition... http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/judicial-watch-goes-to-court-on-clinton-testimony/
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Virginia Supreme Court kills
McAuliffe's felon-voting scheme
by wnd.com
{wnd.com} ~ A huge vote bump expected by the liar-Hillary Clinton campaign in the state of Virginia just vanished, thanks to that state’s Supreme Court, which Friday struck down the controversial executive order by Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe allowing hundreds of thousands of convicted felons to vote in November... Approximately 206,000 Virginia felons were affected by his April 22 order. But McAuliffe’s order is unconstitutional, the court ruled 4-3, ordering that the Virginia Department of Elections “cancel the registration of all felons who have been invalidly registered” since McAuliffe issued his order. Aug. 25 is the deadline for cancelling all of the unconstitutional felon voter registrations, the majority ruled. Before the high court’s decision, some 11,662 felons had registered to vote following McAuliffe’s executive order, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch... http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/virginia-supreme-court-kills-mcauliffes-felon-voting-scheme/
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nObama Admits His Treason,
War On US Sovereignty, Our Constitution
by Rick Wells
{rickwells.us} ~ There are important aspects to Hussein nObama’s “Can’t Stop Globalization” statement on Friday that might go unnoticed to those still expecting a “pro-American” position from this America-hating subversive actively working to destroy our country... He tells us it’s too late to save our country, that globalization is inevitable, irreversible and beyond our control. His Friday statement with Mexican President Nieto included the following. “Globalization is a fact because of technology, because of an integrated global supply chain, because of changes in transportation, and we’re not going to be able to build a wall around that.” He said, “What we can do is to shape how that process of global integration proceeds so that it increases opportunities for ordinary people, so it’s creating better jobs, so we are strengthening protections for workers, so we are addressing some of the environmental challenges that come with rapid growth.”...He is lying. Just like he lied about nObamacare and on other issues, Iran. http://rickwells.us/obama-admits-treason-war-constitution/
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Catch-22: Guns, violence and race in America
by John Myers
{personalliberty.com} ~ The progressives are ignoring two grave risks to Americans; domestic violence and Islamic terror. At the same time they want to make us more vulnerable by taking away our guns... And who will be there to protect us? The police? Not likely, as President Barack nObama and his political allies in government are busy re-engineering American society, including eviscerating our police forces as was again made tragically evident on Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In harm’s way are American citizens kept ignorant by the propagandists in the media who report ad nauseam on a perceived growing violence between police and African Americans, as millions of black people, in permanent poverty and living in the growing ghettos, are becoming enraged... http://personalliberty.com/catch-22-guns-violence-race-america/
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Thoughts on the Cruz non-endorsement
by Tom
{trevorloudon.com} ~ There is much huffing and puffing regarding Ted Cruz’s refusal to specifically endorse Donald Trump.
The criticism of Cruz might be valid, and it might not be. It depends upon what were his motivations.
If motivated by electoral / 2020 viability calculations, the criticism is amply warranted. If by personal motivation, it gets more complicated.
Let us not forget that Trump spent the primaries impugning his character “Lyin’ Ted.
Trump insulted Cruz’s wife.
Trump then went on to impugn Cruz’s father with the implication that he was involved with the Kennedy assassination.
Done throughout the primaries with tweets that in tone and verbiage more befitting an adolescent middle-schooler than a candidate for President of the United States of America.
Trump never apologized for any of that. Draw your own conclusions regarding what the original behavior and subsequent failure to apologize says about Trump.
While such impugning would be appropriate against liar-Hillary especially since that would be fact-based, it is not when both untrue and directed against a competitor in your own party.
If I were Cruz, I’d be hard-pressed to “endorse” any man who’d behaved that way to me and my family. In fact, I’d question the character, integrity and backbone of any man who did not seethe with outrage over such conduct to his family. Indeed, had Cruz gone on to endorse Trump, I’d start to question Cruz’s character as he’d be showing a willingness to throw his personal and family reputation aside merely for meeting some political expectations that he forget it all and endorse, as if nothing ever happened.
Cruz did tell people not to stay home and to vote their conscience for candidates who would defend the Constitution — while not an endorsement of Trump, it was also in effect “freeing” his supporters from “Never Trump.” Somewhat the point Newt Gingrich made later when he spoke. Given the circumstances, that could be considered a significant concession to Trump and the GOP.
I’m not sure anyone could have asked or expected more from Cruz. In a sense, Donald Trump has reaped what he sowed.
The criticism of Cruz might be valid, and it might not be. It depends upon what were his motivations.
If motivated by electoral / 2020 viability calculations, the criticism is amply warranted. If by personal motivation, it gets more complicated.
Let us not forget that Trump spent the primaries impugning his character “Lyin’ Ted.
Trump insulted Cruz’s wife.
Trump then went on to impugn Cruz’s father with the implication that he was involved with the Kennedy assassination.
Done throughout the primaries with tweets that in tone and verbiage more befitting an adolescent middle-schooler than a candidate for President of the United States of America.
Trump never apologized for any of that. Draw your own conclusions regarding what the original behavior and subsequent failure to apologize says about Trump.
While such impugning would be appropriate against liar-Hillary especially since that would be fact-based, it is not when both untrue and directed against a competitor in your own party.
If I were Cruz, I’d be hard-pressed to “endorse” any man who’d behaved that way to me and my family. In fact, I’d question the character, integrity and backbone of any man who did not seethe with outrage over such conduct to his family. Indeed, had Cruz gone on to endorse Trump, I’d start to question Cruz’s character as he’d be showing a willingness to throw his personal and family reputation aside merely for meeting some political expectations that he forget it all and endorse, as if nothing ever happened.
Cruz did tell people not to stay home and to vote their conscience for candidates who would defend the Constitution — while not an endorsement of Trump, it was also in effect “freeing” his supporters from “Never Trump.” Somewhat the point Newt Gingrich made later when he spoke. Given the circumstances, that could be considered a significant concession to Trump and the GOP.
I’m not sure anyone could have asked or expected more from Cruz. In a sense, Donald Trump has reaped what he sowed.
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