Open Thread

Weekend Open Thread – Gross Negligence Version

Cluster32 Comments

Democrats are desperately trying to paint Hillary’s server debacle as simply a partisan attack with no “there there” following Kevin McCarthy’s comment, but the FBI has another term for it – Gross Negligence, which carries a possible ten year sentence and there is no doubt that she is guilty:

Under 18 USC 793 subsection F, the information does not have to be classified to count as a violation. The intelligence source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe, said the subsection requires the “lawful possession” of national defense information by a security clearance holder who “through gross negligence,” such as the use of an unsecure computer network, permits the material to be removed or abstracted from its proper, secure location.

Through deleting emails after being notified to turn over her server, to allowing her attorney, without security clearance, to have a flash drive of those sensitive emails, Hillary has violated federal law through those two actions alone. But I think what Hillary is really trying to cover up more than anything else is her communiqué with long time friend Sydney Blumenthal who was on the ground in Libya and allegedly encouraging Hillary to push Obama to move forward and depose Gaddafi. Why? Sydney felt that he could financially benefit from working with the new government in Libya, and if proven to be true, this would be the greatest scandal in American history. At the very least, Hillary helped depose a foreign leader who posed no imminent threat and left the country in complete shambles and a vacuum of which was filled by jihadists. Judgement like that is a complete disqualifier for POTUS.

On another disturbing note, the weakness of Obama continues to make life miserable for people around the world and he could care less. Obama’s indifference to the full out assault on Israeli’s by emboldened Palestinians is shameful and lays to rest the question of whose side Obama is really on. There is no question that through his actions, Obama has turned his back on Israel and has abandoned the long established relationship we have with the Middle East’s only democracy.

These are interesting times and decent civilized people had better wake up, pay attention, and do what is needed to defeat the current assault on democracy, personal freedom, common sense, and civility. And the greatest threat resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Monday, Monday

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Things are not looking too hot in Syria:

CIA-backed rebels in Syria, who had begun to put serious pressure on President Bashar Assad’s forces, are now under Russian bombardment with little prospect of rescue by their American patrons, U.S. officials say.

Over the past week, Russia has directed parts of its air campaign against U.S.-funded groups and other moderate opposition in a concerted effort to weaken them, the officials say. The Obama administration has few options to defend those it had secretly armed and trained.

The Russians “know their targets, and they have a sophisticated capacity to understand the battlefield situation,” said Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who serves on the House Intelligence Committee and was careful not to confirm a classified program. “They are bombing in locations that are not connected to the Islamic State” group..

If they are really hitting the necessary targets – and I suspect that they are – then we can only assume that our security has been breached. This would come as no surprise as security under the Obama Administration has been notoriously slack. Syria is turning into a geo-political debacle for us.

The LA Times asks if Clinton can change the gun debate. The answer is “no”, but I’m very hopeful that she’ll make this a key element of her campaign. The American people are, if anything, more in favor of the individual right to bear arms than at any time in our nation’s past. I can’t think of anything better for us on the political front than Hillary, desperate to shore up leftwing support, going on a gun control rampage.

Just to set the record straight for any Trump supporters out there – if Trump does emerge as the nominee, then I’ll vote for him. But Trump is flat wrong on eminent domain.

The Libertarian Moment is stated to be over. I’ll state that it never began. I respect my Libertarian-minded fellow conservatives. I fully understand where they are coming from. I agree with them on a lot of issues. But the United States will never be Libertarian – and any desire for it, if pressed too hard, will just backfire. Better to just get with the right balance – the maximum freedom possible consistent with orderly government.

The Carson campaign finds some uses for Hillary’s Hard Choices.

Wednesday Open Thread

Mark Noonan2 Comments

Been working on a long new article and the thing I use for a brain just isn’t cooperating. So, I’ll just throw up a few links for now.

There’s a company called Glencore. Apparently our crack-jack financial industry has just noticed they have piled up $100 billion in debt which they might not be able to pay. Does the word “Lehman” ring any bells, folks?

Gallup won’t poll during the primaries, and may not poll during the general. Just getting too hard to accurately poll, I guess. Keep that in mind while you watch the polls.

Speaking of which, in swing States 60% think Hillary is untrustworthy – which indicates that as many as 40% of swing State people just haven’t been paying attention.

Ted Cruz neatly rips the Sierra Club to shreds.

We keep hearing about the GOP’s demographic problem – well, the Democrats have one, too.

Out and About on a Sunday

Mark Noonan20 Comments

Sources say female troops were given special treatment to pass Ranger School. The thing is no enemy of the United States is going to cut us any slack. Any woman who wants to be in a combat unit should have to meet the exact same standards as the men – and no lowering of standards. In fact, I’d like to see the standards raised for all military services – perhaps even a smaller overall Army and Marines, but each soldier and Marine trained up to Special Forces quality. 250,000 such soldiers and Marines could make mincemeat of most global military forces.

Bill Clinton has identified the culprit in the Hillary e mail scandal: the Republicans.

Trump is claiming that his GOP rivals want to start World War Three over Syria. This is an exaggeration, of course – but that is Trump in a nutshell. But it must be kept in mind that unless we decide we want to back the Assad regime (and there is a case to be made for this – I’d set our price at the removal of Hezbollah from Lebanon), there is a risk of war with Iran and Russia, who are backing Assad (so, if we decide to fight Assad, they might decide to fight us). Careful thought is necessary in the Syrian mine field.

Hey, fellow Conservatives, just because it is a defense program doesn’t mean it isn’t a boondoggle. I’m pretty sure that about 1 in 3 dollars spent by Uncle Sam is waste, fraud or abuse. And that goes for military spending, as well. British Admiral Jacky Fisher in the early 20th century managed to reduce Naval spending while also providing Britain with a vastly more powerful Navy – big spending doesn’t necessarily translate into a strong military. I bet we can actually cut defense spending and get a more powerful military – and as we set about trying to get rid of regressive, anti-human social spending, we’ll need to find some military cuts so that our proposed reforms don’t come out as “cut welfare and spend on military”. Politics is an art – and you’ve got to play the game to win.

Corporations are selling each other corporate bonds in order to buy back their own stocks. I’m sure this will end well…

A lot of my fellow conservatives have taken strong issue with some statements by Pope Francis. Well, here’s something he said which will make you happy:

In this place which is symbolic of the American way, I would like to reflect with you on the right to religious freedom. It is a fundamental right which shapes the way we interact socially and personally with our neighbors whose religious views differ from our own. Religious freedom certainly means the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences dictate. But religious liberty, by its nature, transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families.

In other words, liberals, religious liberty means we’re allowed to act upon our religious beliefs even in the public square.

Pope Francis Open Thread

Mark Noonan25 Comments

He does seem to be the subject of conversation, doesn’t he?

First off, Hillary is thrilled that the Pope is in town – it was the perfect time for her to announce her opposition to the Keystone pipeline. Document Dumps – they are a Clinton specialty.

Bernie Sanders is going to join a group of DC workers out on strike while the Pope is in town.

Democrats celebrate the arrival of the head of the Catholic Church in classic Democrat style – blocking a ban on late-term abortions.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz will join in various events surrounding the Papal visit.

Arguably the smartest man in the United States, Thomas Sowell, has a critique of Pope Francis:

…As distinguished economic historian David S. Landes put it, “The world has never been a level playing field.” But which has a better track record of helping the less fortunate — fighting for a bigger slice of the economic pie, or producing a bigger pie?

In 1900, only 3 percent of American homes had electric lights but more than 99 percent had them before the end of the century. Infant mortality rates were 165 per thousand in 1900 and 7 per thousand by 1997. By 2001, most Americans living below the official poverty line had central air conditioning, a motor vehicle, cable television with multiple TV sets, and other amenities.

A scholar specializing in the study of Latin America said that the official poverty level in the United States is the upper middle class in Mexico. The much criticized market economy of the United States has done far more for the poor than the ideology of the left.

Pope Francis’ own native Argentina was once among the leading economies of the world, before it was ruined by the kind of ideological notions he is now promoting around the world.

If you’re going to criticize the Pope, at least do it with the grace, wisdom and deep, historical knowledge of Thomas Sowell. That said, I will point out that George Soros is a capitalist. But even laying aside people like Soros (who pile up the cash while claiming to be for social justice), we do need to look at the whole picture, as I’m sure Mr. Sowell would agree. It is good that America’s poor are relatively rich, compared to past measures and, indeed, in comparison with the poor in other nations. But tens of millions of them don’t work: they live on government hand-outs. It is financially “good” that we can use sweated Chinese labor to produce I-crap so cheap that we can afford to give it to our poor…but I don’t believe this is morally good for our poor, the Chinese workers or any of us. We can do better, folks – and that is all Pope Francis is really saying on matters economic.

It isn’t just me – there are other conservative voices in favor of the Pope:

…Pope Francis has also drawn our attention to issues such as income inequality, the plight of immigrants, or the degradation of the environment. At times, he has gotten quite specific. But here is the clincher that people just don’t seem to get. When it comes to how to tackle these complex and difficult topics, the church steps back and leaves it to policymakers to debate and discuss. Even more important, Pope Francis, true to his Jesuit roots, is inviting debate, disagreement and — what was the word? — differences. Difference of opinion on these issues, termed by the church as prudential policy matters, is welcomed by the church and considered healthy and important by Pope Francis. Even when it means disagreeing with the pope…

The Pope will be driven around in a little Fiat. I think every aspirant to the White House should be asked why he or she should be driven around in anything upscale from that.

Weekend Open Thread

Mark Noonan13 Comments

The rumors are starting to fly thick and fast about a Biden run. My view: he’ll get in…but it might be a lot later than people think. Could even be after the New Hampshire primary. It has happened before – specifically, in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy entered the race after New Hampshire revealed the weakness of Johnson.

A few liberal fascists are urging Uncle Sam to bring RICO charges against global warming doubters – nothing says “science” like using the heavy club of government to stifle debate.

More and more people are coming to the understanding that our inaction in Syria is because we don’t want to upset our new friends in Tehran. The Syrian people are being thrown to the wolves in the name of this new policy – much as the Poles were thrown to Stalin in service to FDR’s idea that Stalin would be a nifty post-War partner for us. I suspect our Syrian policy will work out as well as our Polish policy did.

Turns out, The View sucks. But you already knew that.

No one at the EPA has been fired over the EPA’s poisoning of a river. Government is just a word for things we do together – and it’s ok that all of us dumped pollution. It’s only bad if a private company does it, you see?

Out and About on a Weekend

Mark Noonan8 Comments

The University of California has decided to make non-Progressive speech illegal on campus. Oh, they don’t say it like that – but the bottom line is that no centrist or conservative would ever complain about what someone says, so their new policy of banning words which are “hateful” will only work one way – precious snowflake SJW Progs will use the new rules to hound anyone non-Progressive into silence, or off campus, entirely. This is a taxpayer funded system, by the way…you know, in case anyone in the GOP leadership wants a campaign issue which will have 80% backing among the American people: we can threaten to cut off federal funds unless they cool it, ya see? I won’t hold my breath, of course, waiting for the GOP leadership to pick up on this…

We don’t have proof that the illegal aliens in “sanctuary cities” are causing high crime – but San Francisco, a sanctuary city, sure has seen a boom in violent crime since they became a sanctuary city.

The British Labour Party has decided that the Tories should win the next election in a landslide of epic proportions. Labour voters, by a huge margin, just made ultra-leftist Jeremy Corbyn their party leader. Seriously – this guy makes Tony Blair look like Margaret Thatcher. As far as I can tell, there isn’t a single fashionable Progressive position this guy isn’t enthusiastically in favor of. Think of a far out, way off base Progressive cause – it is almost a certainty he’s a “yes” on it. Prime Minister Cameron could not be reached for comment as he was laughing hysterically.

Dan Rather’s opinion on the new Redford flick about Rather: “fake but accurate”.

The Ruling Class in Europe – like the Ruling Class in the United States – likes mass immigration. The people of Europe, however, aren’t so pleased about the idea.

Lawrence Krauss opines that all scientists should be militant atheists. Since Father Georges Lemaitre, originator of the Big Bang Theory, could not be reached for comment, Kevin Williamson at NRO steps in.

Sunday Open Thread

Cluster13 Comments

I am looking forward to the Fall and the 2016 Campaign battle, and trust me, it will be a battle. The fascist Progressives who currently control the Democrat Party will lie, cheat, steal and personally attack anyone who threatens their hold on power and conservatives had better be prepared to be just as vicious. To hell with political correctness. Conservatives need to understand that we are not dealing with honorable people. This from the American Thinker:

We’re not fighting with honorable men but with people who believe they are better than the rest of us. We are in an ideological conflict with liberals who are at heart monarchists or oligarchists. Liberals reject the rule of law because they believe that they are right and that we should all be forced to live as liberals wish us to live.

Take for example Kim Davis in KY. Here is a city official who refused to uphold a federal law because it violated her conscience and as a result, a gay couple was unable to obtain a marriage license. However in SF, city officials refused to uphold federal law that violated their “collective” conscience, and as a result a young innocent woman was murdered. Guess which occurrence received the most outrage and media attention? I am one conservative who does support gay marriage but wish that the issue would have evolved through the political process and not through a tyrannical edict from Supreme beings. That is what fascism is, and that is who Democrats have become. Democrats are incapable of living in a messy democracy where people are free to be offended and held accountable for their actions, preferring instead to create “safety zones” and “welfare cocoons”. Democrats attack conservatives much more viciously than they attack ISIS, or Putin, or China and because of that, Democrats pose a much bigger threat to our country than any current outside threat. It is time to blow up the political class on both sides of the aisle, hold people accountable, call out the liars, call out the grifters, and tell people like Jorge Ramos to shut up and sit down.

A Rather Depressing Day

Mark Noonan16 Comments

Not for me, personally. I had a good day. While not a hunter, I have a friend of mine who was heading out to do some dove hunting and I decided to join him for the day…it was nice just being out there for a few hours, away from the idiocy which is the modern world. But, still, what a lot of depressing news out there:

McConnell says he doesn’t have the votes to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Yes, you do, Mitch. All you have to do is kill the filibuster. It’s not like any future Democrat Senate majority will keep it two seconds longer than it is useful to them. This is the modern world, Senator – the old, “dear colleague” rules don’t apply. They haven’t actually applied since the 1950’s, of course, when Democrats decided that power is more important than anything else. They’ve just played a game of it – and played the GOP for suckers. If you had an ounce of backbone, McConnell, you’d just kill the filibuster, pass the de-fund and send it on to Obama, so he can veto it and we’ll have yet another good issue to run on in 2016. Change the rules so we can pass whatever we want and then let Obama and the Democrats sit there in the fryer trying to explain why they oppose the will of the people.

The Dow shed nearly 3% today – so, we’ve tried printing money. We’ve tried lending it to rich people at zero percent. We tried boondoggle spending programs. The Chinese have added to this by first telling people not to sell, then using Chinese taxpayer money to buy stocks, then arresting people who comment negatively on the Chinese stock market. Nothing seems to work. I’m all out of ideas, guys – I don’t know how they keep this bubble afloat.

Canada, which mostly avoided the economic downturn of the past 7 years, has slipped into recession.

Another police officer shot.

Yet more worn out, has-been political hacks seek a comeback.

Some GOPers apparently believe that Mitt Romney is our best bet in 2016.

There. All depressed? Hope not, but if you are then I offer this:

“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” – C. S. Lewis

Out and About on a Thursday

Mark Noonan18 Comments

The Chinese government is buying stocks, so the economy is all better now – please resume your regular Kardashian news viewing.

Kasich viewed as a bigger threat to Bush than Trump is. Uh; well…ok. But being a threat to Bush is akin to being a threat to nothing…Bush hasn’t got a chance at being nominated.

Hillary Clinton is viewed as being dishonest and untrustworthy. This surprises precisely no one. Meanwhile, Joe appears to be Biden is time before he jumps in…

Boehner reportedly calls Cruz a “jackass”…this will, I’m sure, make Cruz more than willing to work with Boehner, assuming Cruz becomes President. If this story is true, then it is time to get another Speaker.

Read that Rubio doesn’t think Trump will win the nomination because we’re not an angry nation. Which is true. We passed “angry” in 2010. By now, we’re a scorching furious nation.

Charges have been dropped against a man for playing the Star Spangled Banner on the Fourth of July. Yes, this is still officially the United States of America. Sorta.

There are 141 counties with more registered voters than living people. And that does appear to be more voters than living people – not more voters than adult citizens. So, voter fraud isn’t a problem.