by Brian Freeman
{news.usni.org} ~ A U.S. guided missile destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of a contested Chinese artificial island in the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea on Tuesday, U.S. officials told USNI News on Tuesday morning... USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110) conducted a freedom of navigation operation past the Chinese installation on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Island chain, according to a U.S. Defense Department statement. The FON op was conducted to, “challenge excessive maritime claims by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea. This operation challenged attempts by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam to restrict navigation rights around the features they claim, specifically that these three claimants purport to require prior permission or notification of transits through the territorial sea, contrary to international law,” Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Bill Urban told USNI News. “These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all States are entitled to exercise. No claimants were notified prior to the transit, which is consistent with our normal process and international law.”... https://news.usni.org/2016/05/10/u-s-destroyer-passes-near-chinese-artificial-island-in-south-china-sea-freedom-of-navigation-operation?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=fe10e7e6af-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-fe10e7e6af-231491269&mc_cid=fe10e7e6af&mc_eid=3999f1876
by PATRICK GOODENOUGH
by Kevin Hassett
.
{weeklystandard.com} ~ N.GREGORY MANKIW, the delightfully nerdy chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, has experienced a noteworthy public lashing in recent weeks... First he was caught up in the outsourcing spectacle, then a furor ignited when Paul Krugman of the New York Times began a crusade against his jobs forecast. The forecast was, Krugman wrote, "the signature of a corrupted policy process in which political propaganda takes the place of professional analysis." The ensuing uproar discouraged even administration officials, who have publicly distanced themselves from the council chairman and his forecasts. Mankiw is one of the brightest and most successful economists of our time. It is interesting to pause and ask how it could be that such a man could find himself embroiled in controversy. The answer provides a troubling lesson to those who hope to participate in productive public policy debate. Mankiw was gobbled up by a character-assassination machine that increasingly is trying to turn Democrats and Republicans into Serbs and Croats or Hutus and Tutsis. If the "shock pundits" are not stopped by public disapproval, they may well succeed.The jobs story is instructive. To indict Mankiw, the New York Times ran a graph headed "Wishful Thinking on Jobs," which we reproduce at right. The graph depicts the administration's jobs forecast for each of the past three years... http://www.weeklystandard.com/a-corruped-punditry/article/5268?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JVL+05_10_16
![]()
.
Mike Huckabee just told millions of good Republicans not backing liar-Trump they should leave the party. "You're either on the team, or you're not on the team," he said. Giving 15,933,645 people the boot is a bit edgy I'd say, considering RedState.com reports that of the 26,651,002 votes cast, liar-Trump only received 10,717,357 or 40.2 percent of the votes - even with Democrats' help. I'm sorry I can't oblige him, but it may console him to know I already burned up my GOP membership card, sometime between President nObama's reelection and John backstabber-Boehner's golf dates with the president.
And now there's all those irrational theories flying around that a non-vote for liar-Trump, or a write-in vote puts the woman who really should be donning an orange jumpsuit in the White House. Not so. If liar-Trump does not receive a person's vote, liar-Hilly does not magically receive a vote, unless you are using Common Core math or voting in Florida.
Or, the accusations hurled at non liar-Trump evangelicals, suggesting they'll be the cause for socialism and unchecked debt -- if liar-Trump doesn't win. As if socialism hasn't been creeping through the crevices and debt hasn't been on the rise for years now. Even still, it's the evangelicals' fault. Frankly, blaming Christians and Jews for everything under the Sun is getting rather old, considering it's been happening since the days Jesus walked the Earth.
I'm tiring of those who just woke up from their naps to realize there's a problem in America, and then have the audacity to say that this constitutional conservative who leans libertarian is part of "the establishment." Sure. Of course, it matters not that I've been sounding the alarm that the Titanic's been sinking since 2007. They are finally awake, now that the water's flooding their deck. And somehow I'm part of a problem which wouldn't have risen to this level, had they wakened from their slumber, and joined me years back. But that's water under the bridge, now that we are all dog paddling together in uncharted waters to keep ourselves afloat. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing..."
None of this matters anyhow. As I told a group of friends recently, if Constitutional conservatives and believers are feeling a bit misplaced in the GOP, it's okay. We must understand that we live in a post-Christian country that practices post-truth politics, so it's best to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable because it's pretty much downhill from here. We are called to represent truth, conviction and honor in a world that willingly exchanges those things for political power and winning the White House at any cost. We have no reason to be dismayed, so we should look up, as the old song goes, "This world is not our home."
So, knock yourselves out over this election, folks. I don't have the appetite to participate in your food fight, so I'm washing my hands of it all. I'll vote my conscience both locally and nationally come November, and I'll have plenty to write about both sides in the meantime. I'll support, respect and pray for whoever wins. If the GOP didn't nominate the right candidate to beat liar-Hilly or if Democrats don't have a strong enough candidate to beat liar-Trump, that's not the problem of those of us who did not support them in the first place. As Huckabee said, we're not part of the "team."
So, like the old song goes: "So-long, GOP, farewell, Auf Weidersehen, goodbye... I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie..."
Signing off to do more important things, like serving others and sharing the light of the One whose hope still shines brightly -- even in this dark and miserable world. Enjoy your food fights. See you next week.



