The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Dry Rot in Academia
by Thomas Sowell
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The Great Republican Summit of 2016
Thursday's liar-Trump-Ryano summit in Washington didn't completely heal the rift between the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and the party's leadership, but it certainly drew a lot of media attention. It also at least paved the way for a détente — even if it is only a façade. Or, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, a "sham marriage."
Donald liar-Trump, who used insults, bombast, poor form and just about every negative political tactic in the book to take the Republican nomination, now has to settle into general election mode. He may find the broader electorate not as susceptible to his "charms" as Republican primary voters, and despite his rhetoric, he'll need the support of the Republican establishment if he wants to win. How so? liar-Trump's campaign will need data support, a solid grassroots ground game, and lots of money if he hopes to defeat the liar-Hilly Clinton juggernaut in November.
The flip side of that coin is that this very same RNC and GOP leadership now needs liar-Trump if they want to reclaim the White House. And they know full well how difficult it will be to follow eight years of Barack nObama with four or eight years of liar-Hilly Clinton.
For months, liar-Trump seemed like a joke, and throughout the debates and the early primaries, pundits on the Left and Right seemed to agree that his chances of winning the White House were like those of a snowball's chance in ... a campfire.
Well, like it or not, and a good number of Republicans don't, liar-Trump will almost certainly now be the standard bearer for the GOP in November. As such, his head-to-head polling numbers have improved to the point that liar-Clinton must be getting nervous.
liar-Trump's trip to Washington on Thursday to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryano and other members of the Republican leadership was a step toward unifying a party that liar-Trump has thus far been intent on blowing up for his own purposes.
Ryano remains undazzled by The liar-Donald, saying after their meeting only that he would continue to look for common ground on policy issues. In their joint statement, they promised to keep the dialogue open and find a way to overcome their differences:
The United States cannot afford another four years of the nObama White House, which is what liar-Hilly Clinton represents. That is why it's critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal. We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party's history. This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification. At this stage, that is probably all anyone could have hoped for.
As liar-Trump begins to collect endorsements from some Republicans on Capitol Hill, others are offering only grudging support. But Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who endorsed liar-Trump earlier this year, asserted, "Donald liar-Trump is unifying the party already. The party is the people who vote."
Others are motivated to support liar-Trump by the mere thought of a liar-Clinton presidency. "As a conservative I cannot trust Donald liar-Trump to do the right thing," said Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, "but I can deeply trust liar-Hilly Clinton to do the wrong thing every time."
liar-Trump also met with Reince Priebus of the RNC and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon-nell and other members of the Senate leadership, but it was the time spent with Ryano that was the principle focus of attention.
The big takeaways were that Republicans wanted liar-Trump to tone down his negative rhetoric and spend more time focusing on the stagnant nObama economy. Whether liar-Trump concedes to a change in tone is another matter. "You win the pennant and now you're in the World Series — you gonna change?" he wondered. "People like the way I'm doing. ... I think I have a mandate from the people." Indeed, don't underestimate his support.
The lackluster economy and the growing entitlement problem can be winning issues for Republicans in the coming election. Unfortunately, liar-Trump has been all over the map on these and other topics of concern, so he may be just as vulnerable as liar-Clinton when it comes to debating the issues.
liar-Trump's erratic and outrageous behavior on the campaign trail was supposed to doom him. Instead it actually enhanced his profile and made him more popular. Whether he can tack more to the right, or even the center, remains to be seen. His unusual (and that's a kind word) campaign style has worked well for him so far, so in some respects he's right not to change now.
But can liar-Trump see the wisdom of being more of a team player for the general election? Does he even want to? What will happen to the support he's received from people who were attracted to his damn-the-torpedoes strategy when he starts working more closely with the dreaded Washington establishment?
There are still a lot of questions about what liar-Trump, Ryano and the rest of the Republican leadership will do in the coming weeks leading up to the Cleveland convention. We must all hope that differences can be minimized, and the better characteristics of all concerned will rise to the top. It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the country depends on it. -The Patriot Post
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Jonah Goldberg: "The Soviet Union and its various cousins did much to discredit 'scientific socialism,' what with all the killing and totalitarianism. The fact that it didn't seem to make people richer also undermined its appeal. 'Scientifically,' people didn't want to be bullied, oppressed or impoverished. The unrealism of socialism spelled its undoing — for a time. The dilemma is that there is a reality underneath the fraud of scientific socialism. The first socialists were not economists or technocrats. They were romantics and nostalgists. They loathed the relentless logic of the market and its reward of merit and efficiency as judged by the marketplace. They wanted to return to the imagined Eden of the noble savage and the state of nature. They wanted to live in a world of tribal brotherhood and mutual love. Long before the math of 'scientific socialism' there were the emotions of socialism, both light and dark: egalitarianism and envy. Young people understandably are drawn by the promise of 'being together.' But they think the federal government can make it happen. If government planners can't even provide goods and services efficiently, how will they ever provide togetherness?"
-The Patriot Post
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You Know Those Missing liar-Hilly Emails? Russia
Might Leak 20,000 of Them
by Claire Bernish
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{theantimedia.org} ~ liar-Hilly Clinton sits at the center of a raging firestorm concerning her arrangement of a private email account and server set up in her home — from which top secret information may have been deleted... But despite Bernie Sanders’ apparent annoyance with the “damn emails,” the scandal just exponentially intensified, when Judge Andrew Napolitano revealed on Monday that Russia has possession of around 20,000 of liar-Clinton’s emails — leaving open the possibility her deletions might not have been permanent after all. “There’s a debate going on in the Kremlin between the Foreign Ministry and the Intelligence Services about whether they should release the 20,000 of Mrs. liar-Clinton’s emails that they have hacked into,” Napolitano told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly in an interview for The Kelly File... http://theantimedia.org/russia-leak-hillary-emails/
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Sharia Law Defense Ban Dies in South Carolina
by Tim Brown
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{freedomoutpost.com} ~ A bill that was before the South Carolina Statehouse that would have made it illegal for Muslims to use Sharia law in defense of crimes they commit in South Carolina against our laws was narrowly defeated in the Senate on Wednesday... The bill is in essence killed for at least one year before it can be brought back up again. According to Sen. Ronnie Sabb (D-Williamsburg), who was one of the committee members who helped defeat the bill, "I couldn't, in good conscience, support what it represents. A law like this sends us backwards." Backwards? How is that? Isn't allowing unlawful appeals to foreign gods and foreign laws going backwards? I'm talking the apostasy kind of backwards here... http://freedomoutpost.com/sharia-law-defense-ban-dies-in-south-carolina/
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'America's prophet' says revival nation's only hope
by Bob Unruh
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Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn
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{wnd.com} ~ Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, whose “The Harbinger” book racked up months on the New York Times best-sellers list, is warning that America, through its Supreme Court and White House, has defied the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the only answer now is a revival... “We stand here at this critical hour between two altars, and two gods. The voice of the Lord cries out, ‘Choose you this day whom you shall serve,'” he said at the recent 2016 National Day of Prayer event in Washington. “Our choice is not between one candidate and another; it is between God and Baal.” Cahn, who at the recent “Washington: A Man of Prayer” event in Statuary Hall demanded from the U.S. Supreme Court justices to know where they got the authority to overrule God on marriage, noted, “70 years ago, the chaplain of the U.S. Senate said, ‘If the Lord is God then serve Him, but if Baal, then serve him and go to hell.”... http://www.wnd.com/2016/05/americas-prophet-says-revival-nations-only-hope/
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Now We Know Who Will Be Hypocrite
liar-Trump’s Puppet Master ... For a Mind-Blowing Sum
by Caleb Howe
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{redstate.com} ~ We all know already that the most thorough and complete betrayal of his base that liar-Trump could ever commit has already committed. It’s about money, of course, and is the perfect example of the lies he told... and how quickly and utterly he will fail to practice what he’s preached. I said last week that liar-Trump has decided to become the puppet. Now we know who will be pulling the strings: Sheldon Adelson. This is the most Adelson’s ever committed to a campaign and, it should go without saying, far exceeds any amount of money from a single source taken in by any other GOP candidate during the primary. That matters because those much lesser sums were apparently enough for liar-Trump and his voters to be absolutely certain that those other candidates could not be trusted, being that they were therefore puppets of their donors. It’s his reasoning. In any case, from now on, do feel free to call him a liar-Trumpuppet. It certainly fits. You know, according to the rules Trump outlined for us for the last year or so...
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The essential guide to
liar-Hilly's high crimes, misdemeanors
by wnd.com
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{wnd.com} ~ It’s time to arm yourself with the facts about liar-Hilly Clinton, says WND founder and editor Joseph Farah, who has been investigating what he calls “the liar-Clinton crime family” since 1992... If America gets it wrong in November, he says, say goodbye to America’s liberty and prosperity for a generation. Farah has worked hard directing his news team to conduct some of the biggest exposés of liar-Hilly’s lies, obfuscation, corruption, character flaws, history and plans for the future on WND and in book form. Now he has assembled what he characterizes as “the essential guide to liar-Hilly’s high crimes and misdemeanors” for those who want the resources to fight back by sharing them with their friends and family members before it’s too late. Starting with the latest – hot off the presses... http://www.wnd.com/2016/05/the-essential-guide-to-hillarys-high-crimes-misdemeanors/
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Germany: Christian Refugees Persecuted by Muslims
by Soeren Kern
by Soeren Kern
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NGO, a press conference to present the Open Doors report
"Religiously Motivated Attacks on Christian Refugees in Germany
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{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ Thousands of Christians in German refugee shelters are being persecuted by Muslims, sometimes even by their security guards, according to a new report, which asserts that in most cases German authorities have done nothing to protect the victims... The study alleges that German authorities and police have deliberately downplayed and even covered up the "taboo issue" of Muslim attacks on Christian refugees, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments. The study — which confirms a Gatestone Institute analysis about Muslim-Christian violence in German refugee shelters — documents more than 300 incidents in which Christian refugees in Germany have been physically and sexually assaulted, and even threatened with death, because of their faith...
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liar-Hilly Clinton is not the only Democrat facing legal problems this cycle
by Ashe Schow
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ liar-Hilly Clinton's email probe and Donald liar-Trump's university trial might be getting more coverage, but another candidate faces her own legal problems this election cycle... Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., will face a civil trial during the campaign season for allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers during her service as head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. A judge just set a tentative trial date for August. Duckworth's campaign has called the lawsuit "politically motivated," but the case is actually seven years old, and was originally brought by a state civil servant with more than two decades on the job at a time when Duckworth was not running for office. State attorneys representing Duckworth and the agency have argued that Duckworth fired Christine Butler, who had worked for the state for 22 years, because of "insubordination," and not as punishment for complaining about a supervisor who was violating procedure. Duckworth was told she needed to follow disciplinary procedures in order to fire someone, so she reprimanded Butler and suspended her with pay...
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Bribing Tehran
by Gary Bauer
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{washingtonexaminer.com} ~ Late last month, the nObama administration announced its intention to purchase 32 tons of Iranian heavy water for $8.6 million... The justification provided for the purchase is that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) mandates Tehran only hold a certain amount of heavy water in its possession, and Iran has stockpiled more, so the excess has to be sold. In the days following the announcement, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., proposed an amendment to a $37.5 billion energy and water-oriented spending bill restricting the US from future purchases of Iranian heavy water. The reaction to Cotton's proposal was astounding. At first, Senate Democrats derailed the entire spending bill. Eventually, the minority party agreed to allow a vote on Cotton's amendment, but only if Republicans agreed to require a 60-vote threshold for passage. The amendment failed after receiving 57 votes in support. Parroting nObama administration talking points, the New York Times editorial board explained its view of the controversy, "Cotton's measure would have blocked the administration from purchasing heavy water used in Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran has to get rid of the water to comply with the deal. By denying Iran an American market, Mr. Cotton and other Republicans hoped to undermine the deal, which they hate."... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bribing-tehran/article/2591228?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20PMI%20-%2005/13/16&utm_medium=email
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American Islamic Reformer:
Crucial to Provide Third Path for Palestinians...
by Ruthie Blum
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Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
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{algemeiner.com} ~ “We have to tap into Muslims’ consciences and to tell them that they have an Islamic responsibility to protect the land that they live in, by countering the ideas that radicalize and hate the West... Among the Palestinians in Israel, It’s that much more important to empower reformists, because they have two extremes – Fatah and Hamas – each fascist in many ways, and there is no third pathway for rejecting both,” a prominent American Muslim said on Thursday. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and author of A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot’s Fight to Save His Faith, made these comments while addressing a gathering of the Gatestone Institute, a New York-based think tank specializing in strategy and defense issues. To hit his point home, Jasser said, “Contrast the Palestinians with the Kurds,” he said. “Why have the Kurds not been radicalized? Because the Kurdish identity has provided a secular fuel for comfort, which has never given space to the Islamist identity. The Palestinian identity has been hijacked by the Islamist radicals, which is why Palestinians living in Israel I’ve spoken to say they much prefer to live in Israel than in Hamas-controlled Gaza and the areas of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. And why is that? Because there has been no effective Muslim counter-information offensive in those areas to tell Palestinians: ‘It is your fault, not the Israelis’, that you are in your current situation.’”... http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/05/15/american-islamic-reformer-crucial-to-provide-third-path-for-palestinians-faced-with-fascist-fatah-and-hamas/
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nObama’s Fed Screwing Senior & Middle Class Savers
by James Soviero
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{independentsentinel.com} ~ For almost 8 years, President nObama’s Fed has kept savings account interest rates either at or well below 1%. Can anyone recall an extended period of time when a similar policy blatantly penalized... especially senior and middle class folks, with such a miserable return on their longer term bank deposits? While miniscule rates drive money into what many see as another stock market bubble, Certificate of Deposit investors, either made cautious by the pre-nObama meltdown, or who’ve never embraced what can be a manic S&P, have collectively, effectively, lost massive amounts of money since 2009. Putting a number on the losses, New York Post’s intrepid John Crudele wrote in December of 2015, “The near-zero rate policy of the past seven years has been a disaster. It has robbed savers of trillions of dollars, causing those good citizens to pull back spending so much that the US economy may never be the same.”... http://www.independentsentinel.com/obamas-fed-screwing-senior-middle-class-savers/
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Dry Rot in Academia
by Thomas Sowell
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{townhall.com} ~ Jason Riley has now joined the long and distinguished list of people invited -- and then disinvited -- to give a talk on a college campus, in this case Virginia Tech.
Mr. Riley is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and, perhaps most relevantly, author of a very insightful book titled "Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed."
In short, Jason Riley's views on race are different from the views that prevail on most college campuses. At one time, 50 years ago or earlier, exposing students to a different viewpoint was considered to be a valuable part of their education. But that was before academia -- and the education system in general -- became virtually a monopoly of the political left.
Today one can literally go from kindergarten to becoming a graduate student seeking a Ph.D., without ever hearing a vision of the world that conflicts with the vision of the left.
Conservative critics who object on grounds that the views of the left are wrong miss the point. Regardless of whose views become a monopoly, education suffers. John Stuart Mill understood this back in the middle of the 19th century.
As a young Marxist in college during the 1950s heyday of the anti-Communist crusade led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, I had more freedom to express my views in class, without fear of retaliation, than conservative students have on many campuses today.
After being invited by conservative students to give talks at various colleges, Jason Riley has then been surprised at how little those conservative students have said during the question and answer periods after these talks. But a Wellesley student explained: "You get to leave when you're done. We have to live with these people until we graduate."
Even liberal professors can be adversely affected by the narrow groupthink that prevails. Without an opposition to keep them on their toes, they can develop sloppy habits of dismissing or even demonizing differing viewpoints, instead of practicing and teaching their students how to come to grips with opposing beliefs.
A well-known Harvard professor, for example, recently referred to Justice Clarence Thomas by remarking: "He'll say he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. I say I was in the right place at the right time."
It so happens that I first met Clarence Thomas back in 1978, when he was a young lawyer in Missouri. In all these years, I have never heard him say anything even resembling what has been blithely attributed to him by this Harvard professor.
On the contrary, Justice Thomas has attributed his good fortune to his grandfather who raised him, especially in his autobiography, "My Grandfather's Son."
When he was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court, he brought the nuns who had taught him in school, down in Georgia, to the ceremony in Washington, at his own expense, to let them know that what they had done for him was appreciated, and had not been in vain.
There is no reason why our Harvard professor has to agree with Justice Thomas' judicial philosophy or his social views. But, as the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan once put it: "You're entitled to your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts."
It was much the same story when a faculty member at the University of California at Santa Barbara referred to economist Walter Williams as someone "committed to the welfare of the top few."
It so happens that I have known Walter Williams since 1969. In all those years, I have never once known him to express the slightest concern for the welfare of rich people. But what I have seen repeatedly has been his expressing his concern for people who are poor, both in words and in deeds.
As an economist, Professor Williams knows that high tax rates on investors chase investments -- and American jobs -- overseas, where American working people cannot get those jobs. But, whether the academic in Santa Barbara agrees or disagrees with that analysis, it is no good for him, or for his students, to dismiss opposing views by misrepresenting them.
These are just a few samples of the intellectual and moral dry rot on the many campuses across the country where the groupthink of the left substitutes for education.
Mr. Riley is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and, perhaps most relevantly, author of a very insightful book titled "Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed."
In short, Jason Riley's views on race are different from the views that prevail on most college campuses. At one time, 50 years ago or earlier, exposing students to a different viewpoint was considered to be a valuable part of their education. But that was before academia -- and the education system in general -- became virtually a monopoly of the political left.
Today one can literally go from kindergarten to becoming a graduate student seeking a Ph.D., without ever hearing a vision of the world that conflicts with the vision of the left.
Conservative critics who object on grounds that the views of the left are wrong miss the point. Regardless of whose views become a monopoly, education suffers. John Stuart Mill understood this back in the middle of the 19th century.
As a young Marxist in college during the 1950s heyday of the anti-Communist crusade led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, I had more freedom to express my views in class, without fear of retaliation, than conservative students have on many campuses today.
After being invited by conservative students to give talks at various colleges, Jason Riley has then been surprised at how little those conservative students have said during the question and answer periods after these talks. But a Wellesley student explained: "You get to leave when you're done. We have to live with these people until we graduate."
Even liberal professors can be adversely affected by the narrow groupthink that prevails. Without an opposition to keep them on their toes, they can develop sloppy habits of dismissing or even demonizing differing viewpoints, instead of practicing and teaching their students how to come to grips with opposing beliefs.
A well-known Harvard professor, for example, recently referred to Justice Clarence Thomas by remarking: "He'll say he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps. I say I was in the right place at the right time."
It so happens that I first met Clarence Thomas back in 1978, when he was a young lawyer in Missouri. In all these years, I have never heard him say anything even resembling what has been blithely attributed to him by this Harvard professor.
On the contrary, Justice Thomas has attributed his good fortune to his grandfather who raised him, especially in his autobiography, "My Grandfather's Son."
When he was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court, he brought the nuns who had taught him in school, down in Georgia, to the ceremony in Washington, at his own expense, to let them know that what they had done for him was appreciated, and had not been in vain.
There is no reason why our Harvard professor has to agree with Justice Thomas' judicial philosophy or his social views. But, as the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan once put it: "You're entitled to your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts."
It was much the same story when a faculty member at the University of California at Santa Barbara referred to economist Walter Williams as someone "committed to the welfare of the top few."
It so happens that I have known Walter Williams since 1969. In all those years, I have never once known him to express the slightest concern for the welfare of rich people. But what I have seen repeatedly has been his expressing his concern for people who are poor, both in words and in deeds.
As an economist, Professor Williams knows that high tax rates on investors chase investments -- and American jobs -- overseas, where American working people cannot get those jobs. But, whether the academic in Santa Barbara agrees or disagrees with that analysis, it is no good for him, or for his students, to dismiss opposing views by misrepresenting them.
These are just a few samples of the intellectual and moral dry rot on the many campuses across the country where the groupthink of the left substitutes for education.
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