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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Friday, June 16, 2017
President Trump on the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba
ARRA News Service: At Manuel Artime Theater, Miami, Florida, Vice President Mike Pence introduced President Donald Trump who then addressed the Policy of the United States Towards Cuba at Manuel Artime Theater, Miami, Florida. Below are a video and the text of President Trump's speech.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Great honor. And thank you to my truly great friend, Vice President Mike Pence -- he’s terrific. (Applause.) And thank you to Miami. We love Miami.
Let me start by saying that I’m glad Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and I, along with a very talented team, were able to get Otto Warmbier back with his parents. (Applause.) What’s happened to him is a truly terrible thing, but at least the ones who love him so much can now take care of him and be with him.
Also, my dear friend, Steve Scalise, took a bullet for all of us. And because of him, and the tremendous pain and suffering he’s now enduring -- he’s having a hard time, far worse than anybody thought -- our country will perhaps become closer, more unified. So important.
So we all owe Steve a big, big thank you. And let’s keep the Warmbier family, and the Scalise family, and all of the victims of the congressional shooting, in our hearts and prayers. And it was quite a day and our police officers were incredible, weren’t they? They did a great job. (Applause.)
And let us all pray for a future of peace, unity and safety for all of our people. (Applause.) Thank you. And for Cuba.
I am so thrilled to be back here with all of my friends in Little Havana. (Applause.) I love it. I love this city.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.
This is an amazing community, the Cuban-American community -- so much love. I saw that immediately.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, darling. Oh do I love you, too. (Applause.)
What you have built here -- a vibrant culture, a thriving neighborhood, the spirit of adventure -- is a testament to what a free Cuba could be. And with God’s help, a free Cuba is what we will soon achieve. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: And I don’t even mind that it is 110 degrees up here. (Laughter.) This room is packed. You know, it wasn’t designed for this. I would like to thank the fire department. (Laughter.)
We are delighted to be joined by so many friends and leaders of our great community. I want to express our deep gratitude to a man who has really become a friend of mine -- and I want to tell you, he is one tough competitor -- Senator Marco Rubio. (Applause.) Great guy. (Applause.) He is tough, man. He is tough and he’s good, and he loves you. He loves you.
And I listened to another friend of mine, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart -- (applause) -- and I’ll tell you, I loved what he said, and I appreciate it. Mario, I appreciated what you said so much. In fact I was looking for Mario. I wanted to find him -- they said he was onstage. I almost dragged him off the stage to thank him, but now I’m thanking you anyway. Thank you, Mario. That was great. Really appreciate it.
And I also want to thank my good friend, and just a man who was of tremendous support in the state of Florida, for being with us -- Governor Rick Scott. (Applause.) Great job. He’s doing a great job. I hope he runs for the Senate. I know I’m not supposed to say that. I hope he runs for the Senate. Rick, are you running? (Applause.) I don’t know. Marco, let’s go, come on. We got to get him to -- I hope he runs for the Senate.
We are deeply honored to be joined by amazing Veterans of the Bay of Pigs. (Applause.) These are great people, amazing people. (Applause.)
I have wonderful memories from our visit during the campaign. That was some visit. That was right before the election. I guess it worked, right? Boy, Florida, as a whole, and this community supported us by tremendous margins. We appreciate it.
But including one of the big honors, and that was the honor of getting the Bay of Pigs award just before the election, and it’s great to be gathered in a place named for a true hero of the Cuban people. And you know what that means. (Applause.)
I was also looking forward to welcoming today two people who are not present -- José Daniel Ferrer and Berta Soler -- (applause) -- were both prevented from leaving Cuba for this event. So we acknowledge them. They’re great friends -- great help. And although they could not be with us, we are with them 100 percent. (Applause.) We are with them. Right?
Finally, I want to recognize everyone in the audience who has their own painful but important story to tell about the true and brutal nature of the Castro regime. Brutal. We thank the dissidents, the exiles, and the children of Operation Peter Pan -- you know what that means -- (applause) -- and all who gather in the cafes, churches, and the streets in this incredible area and city to speak the truth and to stand for justice. (Applause.)
And we want to thank you all for being a voice for the voiceless. There are people –- it’s voiceless, but you are making up the difference, and we all want to thank you. This group is amazing. Just an incredible –- you are an incredible group of talented, passionate people. Thank you. Incredible group of people.
Many of you witnessed terrible crimes committed in service of a depraved ideology. You saw the dreams of generations held by captive, and just, literally, you look at what happened and what communism has done. You knew faces that disappeared, innocents locked in prisons, and believers persecuted for preaching the word of God. You watched the Women in White bruised, bloodied, and captured on their way from Mass. You have heard the chilling cries of loved ones, or the cracks of firing squads piercing through the ocean breeze. Not a good sound.
Among the courageous Cuban dissidents with us onstage here today are Cary Roque, who was imprisoned by the Castro regime 15 years ago. (Applause.) She looks awfully good.
MS. ROQUE: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you, Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart. Thank you to all the men and the Cubans who fight no matter what -- for the Cuban liberty. Mr. President, on behalf of the Cuban people, the people inside my eyes, my homeland, thank you. Thank you, and we appreciate your love. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Wow. That's pretty good. She didn't know she was going to do that either, I will tell you. Thank you very much.
Antunez, imprisoned for 17 years. Where is he? (Applause.) I love that name. Antunez -- I love that name --and Angel De Fana, imprisoned for over 20 years. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Very brave people.
The exiles and dissidents here today have witnessed communism destroy a nation, just as communism has destroyed every single nation where it has ever been tried. (Applause.) But we will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer. You have seen the truth, you have spoken the truth, and the truth has now called us -- this group -- called us to action. Thank you.
Last year, I promised to be a voice against repression in our region -- remember, tremendous oppression -- and a voice for the freedom of the Cuban people. You heard that pledge. You exercised the right you have to vote. You went out and you voted. And here I am like I promised -- like I promised. (Applause.)
I promised you -- I keep my promises. Sometimes in politics, they take a little bit longer, but we get there. We get there. Don't we get there? You better believe it, Mike. We get there. (Laughter.) Thank you. Thank you. No, we keep our promise.
And now that I am your President, America will expose the crimes of the Castro regime and stand with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom. Because we know it is best for America to have freedom in our hemisphere, whether in Cuba or Venezuela, and to have a future where the people of each country can live out their own dreams. (Applause.)
For nearly six decades, the Cuban people have suffered under communist domination. To this day, Cuba is ruled by the same people who killed tens of thousands of their own citizens, who sought to spread their repressive and failed ideology throughout our hemisphere, and who once tried to host enemy nuclear weapons 90 miles from our shores.
The Castro regime has shipped arms to North Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela. While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored cop killers, hijackers, and terrorists. It has supported human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation all around the globe. This is the simple truth of the Castro regime. (Applause.)
My administration will not hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it. And we will never, ever be blind to it. We know what's going on and we remember what happened. (Applause.)
On my recent trip overseas, I said the United States is adopting a principled realism, rooted in our values, shared interests, and common sense. I also said countries should take greater responsibility for creating stability in their own regions. It's hard to think of a policy that makes less sense than the prior administration’s terrible and misguided deal with the Castro regime. (Applause.) Well, you have to say, the Iran deal was pretty bad also. Let's not forget that beauty.
They made a deal with a government that spreads violence and instability in the region and nothing they got -- think of it -- nothing they got -- they fought for everything and we just didn’t fight hard enough. But now those days are over. Now we hold the cards. We now hold the cards. (Applause.)
The previous administration’s easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people -- they only enrich the Cuban regime. (Applause.) The profits from investment and tourism flow directly to the military. The regime takes the money and owns the industry. The outcome of the last administration’s executive action has been only more repression and a move to crush the peaceful, democratic movement.
Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Trump! Trump! Trump!
THE PRESIDENT: I am announcing today a new policy, just as I promised during the campaign, and I will be signing that contract right at that table in just a moment. (Applause.)
Our policy will seek a much better deal for the Cuban people and for the United States of America. We do not want U.S. dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba.
Our new policy begins with strictly enforcing U.S. law. (Applause.) We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalized, and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled. Elections. (Applause.)
We will very strongly restrict American dollars flowing to the military, security and intelligence services that are the core of Castro regime. They will be restricted. We will enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo. We will take concrete steps to ensure that investments flow directly to the people, so they can open private businesses and begin to build their country’s great, great future -- a country of great potential. (Applause.)
My action today bypasses the military and the government, to help the Cuban people themselves form businesses and pursue much better lives. We will keep in place the safeguards to prevent Cubans from risking their lives to unlawful travel to the United States. They are in such danger the way they have to come to this country, and we are going to be safeguarding those people. We have to. We have no choice. We have to. (Applause.)
And we will work for the day when a new generation of leaders brings this long reign of suffering to an end. And I do believe that end is in the very near future. (Applause.)
We challenge Cuba to come to the table with a new agreement that is in the best interests of both their people and our people and also of Cuban Americans.
To the Cuban government, I say: Put an end to the abuse of dissidents. Release the political prisoners. Stop jailing innocent people. Open yourselves to political and economic freedoms. Return the fugitives from American justice -- including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard. (Applause.)
And finally, hand over the Cuban military criminals who shot down and killed four brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in unarmed, small, slow civilian planes. (Applause.)
Those victims included Mario de la Pena, Jr., and Carlos Costa. We are honored to be joined by Mario’s parents, Miriam and Mario, and Carlos’s sister, Mirta. Where are you? (Applause.) Those are great, great parents who love their children so much. What they've done is just an incredible, incredible thing -- what they represent -- they did not die in vain -- what they represent to everybody, and especially to the Cuban people. So your children did not die in vain, believe me. (Applause.)
So to the Castro regime, I repeat: The harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end. (Applause.)
Any changes to the relationship between the United States and Cuba will depend on real progress toward these and the other goals, many of which I’ve described. When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come to the table to negotiate that much better deal for Cubans, for Americans. Much better deal and a deal that's fair. A deal that's fair and a deal that makes sense.
Our embassy remains open in the hope that our countries can forge a much stronger and better path. America believes that free, independent, and sovereign nations are the best vehicle for human happiness, for health, for education, for safety, for everything. We all accept that all nations have the right to chart their own paths -- and I’m certainly a very big believer in that -- so we will respect Cuban sovereignty. But we will never turn our backs on the Cuban people. That will not happen. (Applause.)
Over the years, a special sympathy has grown between this land of the free, and the beautiful people of that island, so close to our shores and so deeply woven into the history of our region. America has rejected the Cuban people’s oppressors. They are rejected. Officially today, they are rejected. (Applause.) And to those people, America has become a source of strength, and our flag a symbol of hope.
I know that is exactly what America is to you and what it represents to you. It represents the same to me. It represents the same to all of us. And that is what it was to a little boy, Luis Haza. You ever hear of Luis? He became very famous, great talent -- just eight years old when Fidel Castro seized power. At the time, Luis’s father was the police chief in Santiago de Cuba. You know Santiago? Yeah? Oh, they know Santiago. Just days after Fidel took control, his father was one of 71 Cubans executed by firing squad near San Juan Hill at the hands of the Castro regime.
Luis buried his grief in his great love of music. He began playing the violin so brilliantly and so beautifully. Soon the regime saw his incredible gift and wanted to use him for propaganda purposes. When he was 12, they organized a national television special and demanded he play a solo for Raul Castro -- who by the way is leaving now. I wonder why.
They sent an official to fetch Luis from his home. But Luis refused to go. And a few days later, Castro’s soldiers barged into his orchestra practice area, guns blazing. They told him to play for them. Terrified, Luis began to play. And the entire room was stunned by what they heard. Ringing out from the trembling boy’s violin was a tune they all recognized. This young Cuban boy was playing “The Star Spangled Banner.” (Applause.) Luis played the American National Anthem all the way through, and when he finished, the room was dead silent.
When we say that America stands as a symbol to the world -- a symbol of freedom, and a symbol of hope -- that is what Luis meant, and that is what Luis displayed that day. It was a big day. It was a great day. And that is what we will all remain. That was a very important moment, just like this is now, for Cuba. A very important moment. (Applause.) America will always stand for liberty, and America will always pray and cheer for the freedom of the Cuban people.
Now, that little boy, whose story I just told you, the one who played that violin so beautifully so many years ago, is here with us today in our very, very packed and extremely warm auditorium. (Laughter.) Of course, he is no longer a little boy, but a world-renowned violinist and conductor -- one of the greats. And today he will once again play his violin and fill the hearts of all who love and cherish Cuba, the United States, and freedom. (Applause.)
I would like to now invite Luis to the stage.
Luis. (Applause.)
(Luis Haza plays The Star-Spangled Banner on the violin.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Luis. I just said, so where were you more nervous? Today or then? He said, honestly, I think today. That's pretty -- (laughter.) Thank you, Luis, that was beautiful.
So I want to thank Miami. I want to thank Little Havana. Havana, we love. Do we love it? Would you move anywhere else? You wouldn't move to Palm Beach, would you? No. No way. Little Havana.
And I want to thank all of our great friends here today. You've been amazing, loyal, beautiful people. And thank you. Don't remind me. Actually, I was telling Mike, so it was two days -- on my birthday -- until a big day, which turned out to be tomorrow -- the 16th. That was the day I came down with Melania on the escalator at Trump Tower. That's tomorrow. (Applause.) So it's exactly tomorrow -- two years since we announced. And it worked out okay. Worked out okay. (Applause.) It's a great honor. Believe me, it's a great honor. Right?
AUDIENCE: (Sings Happy Birthday.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much.
I just want to end by saying may God bless everyone searching for freedom. May God bless Cuba. May God bless the United States of America. And God bless you all. Thank you. Now I'm going to sign. Thank you.
(The President participates in a signing.)
So this says, "strengthening the policy of the United States toward Cuba." And I can add, "strengthening a lot." (Laughter.) So this is very important, and you watch what's going to happen. Going to be a great day for Cuba.
Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Tags:President Trump, United States, policy, Cuba, Manuel Artime Theater, Miami, Florida, PBS News Hour, Video, White House, Press OfficeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Newt Gingrich: When Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified this week, he gave a textbook example of how to define a position and then defend it brilliantly while under partisan attack.
He was clearly well prepared and had thought through the tone and toughness with which he would defend his record, his reputation, and his honor.
He began with a firm clear statement: "Let me state this clearly, colleagues. I have never met with or had any conversation with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United States. Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign. I was your colleague in this body for 20 years, at least some of you. And the suggestion that I participated in any collusion that I was aware of, any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country which I have served with honor for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process is an appalling and detestable lie."Note the use of "appalling and detestable lie" delivered forcefully.
As I watched the Attorney General calmly and firmly stand his ground and then, when appropriate, counterattack with intensity and passion, it occurred to me that we were watching a remarkable moment.
Sessions set the tone of righteous defense early on: "I recused myself from any investigation into the campaign for president, but I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against false allegations.
"At all times throughout the course of the campaign, the confirmation process, and since becoming Attorney General, I have dedicated myself to the highest standards. I have earned a reputation for that. At home and in this body, I believe. Over decades of performance...... These false attacks and innuendos and the leaks, you can be sure, will not intimidate me. These events have only strengthened my resolve to fulfill my duty."Every Republican, including the President and the Vice President, should study the video of the Sessions’s testimony.
Part of what made it so exceptional was his militant refusal to let the Left define the terms of the debate. When one Senator asked him about unsubstantiated rumors, he pushed it right back in the Senator’s lap. He insisted that the Senator define what he was talking about. When the questioner simply could not produce any substance, it was clear that it was now Sessions who was on offense and his questioners who were on defense.
Consider this exchange: "WYDEN: Respectfully, you're not answering the question.
"SESSIONS: What is the question?
"WYDEN: The question is, Mr. Comey said there were matters with respect to the recusal that were problematic, and he couldn't talk about them. What are they?
"SESSIONS: Why don't you tell me? There are none, Senator Wyden. There are none. I can tell you that for absolute certainty. This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don't appreciate it."Is there any doubt who grew and who shrank in that exchange?
Republicans should also study the disciplined passion with which Sessions defended himself and condemned those who attempted to smear what he said was 35 years of honorable service to the country.
All too often Republicans fall into a trap where they seek to be calm and reasonable, while allowing the Left to speak with passion. The result is an imbalance in body language, which can lead the audience to believe that those with passion are right, even when wrong, and those who remain quiet and reasonable are wrong, even when right.
Sessions dominated the Democrats in his disciplined intensity. He used strong words and showed strong emotion, when appropriate. Yet he was so disciplined and modulated that he never seemed overly emotional or out of control.
Sessions’s testimony was truly a profile in courage. His determination to insist on the truth and to defend himself against every lie and aspersion is the gold standard for which Republicans should strive.
--------------- Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions. Tags:Newt Gingrich, commentary, Jeff Sessions, Profile in CourageTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Todd Starnes: The Army has begun mandatory transgender sensitivity training for soldiers. The training covers everything from “transfemale” soldiers to transgender shower etiquette to dealing with a male soldier who becomes pregnant.
Yes, good readers. Within the ranks of the greatest fighting force known to mankind – the baby’s daddy could also be the baby’s momma.
“That pregnancy scenario is beyond words,” Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty executive director Ron Crews told me. “This is an example of how this social policy can be used simply to promote personal agendas at the expense of taxpayers with no regard for being what the military is all about.”
The matter of male soldiers with child is tucked away inside the Army’s “Policy on the Military Service of Transgender Soldiers Training Module, Tier 2: Commanders and Leaders.”
One of my readers serving in the Armed Forces was kind enough to send me a copy of the training briefing – mandated during the Obama Administration.
“The training module specifically outlines key roles and responsibilities of commanders, transgender soldiers, military medical providers and administrative management organizations,” Lt. Col. Jennifer Johnson told USA Today. “This training is mandatory for all uniformed members, as well as Department of the Army civilians.”
The briefing materials cover all sorts of scenarios – from shower stall etiquette to “transfemale” soldiers deployed to anti-LGBT countries.
“This situation is unique in that close proximity with women and men in foreign countries may be more complicated than in the U.S.,” the training module states.
Female soldiers must also come to terms with taking a shower alongside men who identify as women – even if the transgender soldier did not undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
“Soldiers must accept living and working conditions that are often austere, primitive, and characterized by little or no privacy,” the module states. “All soldiers will use billeting, bathroom and shower facilities associated with their gender marker.”
The Army guidelines mandate facilities will not be designed, modified or constructed to make transgender-only areas.
“Accommodations cannot isolate or stigmatize the TG soldier,” the guidelines state.
“As these training materials proclaim, there will be ‘mixed genitalia’ in military showers and sleeping quarters,” Crews said. “Moms and dads in America need to know this before they send their sons and daughters to military service.”
As I mentioned earlier, the policy also covers “what to do” vignette for commanders should they encounter an expectant transgender male soldier.
“The soldier did not have sex-reassignment surgery, and recently stopped taking male hormones in order to try and start a family. Today, the Soldier approached his commanding officer to discuss his newly confirmed pregnancy.”
The Army’s response to a transgender male pregnancy?
“Transgender Soldiers with a medical condition, including pregnancy, will be treated the same as any other Soldier with that condition,” the module states.
Ron Crews, the executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty was dumbfounded by the pregnancy module.
“That pregnancy scenario is beyond words,” Crews told me. “This is an example of how this social policy can be used simply to promote personal agendas at the expense of taxpayers with no regard for being what the military is all about.”
Crews called on Defense Secretary James Mattis to put a stop to what he called this “nonsense.”
“Millions of dollars and training hours have been consumed with lectures on how to deploy transgender personnel in a war zone that has laws against that behavior,” Crews said. “Military commanders should be focused on fighting wars, not on how to deal with transgender personnel.”
----------------------- Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America." Tags:Todd Starnes, Army Transgender Policy, Addresses, Male PregnancyTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
The Game, More Left-wing Violence, Welcome Home, Good News
Prayer at 2017 Congressional Baseball Game for Rep. Steve Scalia
by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: The Game - The annual Congressional Baseball Game, a tradition dating back to 1909, went on as planned last night. A record crowd turned out and raised more than $1 million for charity. According to CNN, Ivanka Trump presented a $50,000 check from "Friends in the Trump Administration."
President Trump delivered a powerful message of unity to the crowd. Watch it here. Democrats trounced the GOP team 11-to-2. And in a sign of unity, they gave the trophy to the GOP team and asked that it be kept in Rep. Steve Scalise's office.
Before the game, Democrat and Republican members of Congress joined each other on their knees in prayer. It was an encouraging scene. Those of us who work in Washington know there are quite a few believers in both parties and there are frequent Bible studies.
But the scene was also a reality check, especially given Sen. Bernie Sanders' bigoted and disgraceful attack against one public servant's faith last week.
If legislation makes it to the House or Senate floor guaranteeing that religious institutions don't have to pay for abortions or contraception under Obamacare, many of the Democrat Christians kneeling last night would likely vote against it. The reason comity is so hard is that the things dividing the two sides are not minor matters.
Religious liberty. Secure borders. The Second Amendment. Whether cities can violate federal law. The sanctity of life. On some issues, compromise is extremely difficult.
There are deep divides between left and right over what America stands for, what it means, how to confront the threat of radical Islam and the role of religious liberty in our society. As I have said and written many times before, we are in the midst of a great culture war over the values we will pass on to our children and grandchildren, and only one side can prevail.
More Left-wing Violence - Shots were fired at a truck yesterday in Indianapolis. This wasn't road rage, but left-wing political rage. The truck was flying two flags -- an American flag and a "Make America Great Again" flag.
Hours after Rep. Steve Scalise was shot, a Democrat operative in Union County, New Jersey, tweeted, "We are in a war with selfish, foolish & narcissistic rich people. Why is it a shock when things turn violent? #HuntRepublicanCongressmen."
A top official in the Nebraska Democrat Party posted on social media that the trauma Republican congressmen experienced during Scalise's shooting was "so funny" to watch. She's refusing to resign.
Time Warner, which owns CNN, is standing by its sponsorship of a disgusting play depicting Donald Trump's assassination. Would Time Warner sponsor a play showing Barack Obama's assassination? I think we all know the answer.
I am glad that the stands were full at the Congressional Baseball Game, but I wish the seats were empty in Central Park. Sadly, Fox News host Martha McCallum said that the crowd at Wednesday night's showing was packed -- the very day of Rep. Scalise's shooting.
Here's a column featuring quotes of 20 liberals calling for violence against conservatives. Here's a list of recent left-wing attacks against conservatives.
The "tyrants of tolerance" are intolerant of normal American values and they are becoming increasingly violent as they attempt to impose their values on the rest of society. Sadly, it seems that the brief moment of unity we experienced Wednesday afternoon is unlikely to last.
I urge the Trump Administration, which is committed to law and order, to immediately form a task force at the Justice Department to investigate violent political extremism on the left.
How strong are the links between the Black Lives Matter movement and radical Islamic groups?
Use the RICO statutes against groups fomenting violence. Smash them like we smashed the mob.
Welcome Home, Otto - Lost in the wake of Wednesday's shooting was the news that Otto Warmbier had returned home to his family in Ohio. Warmbier, as you may recall, was seized by North Korea in 2015 for attempting to steal a propaganda poster. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor. Unfortunately, he sustained a severe brain injury while in captivity.
Yesterday, Otto's father, Fred Warmbier, spoke to reporters about his son's condition and the family's ordeal. He blasted the Obama Administration and praised President Trump for bringing his son home.
Not surprisingly, Warmbier had harsh words for the Stalinist North Korean regime, calling it "brutal" and "terroristic." But when news of his son's arrest broke, he said the Obama Administration advised the family "to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release."
Warmbier said that they were told "it was important that you don't upset the North Koreans. We followed that logic." He added, "We did so, without result."
Referring to the efforts of the Trump Administration, Warmbier said, "They have our thanks for bringing Otto home. . . I think the results speak for themselves."
Good News - Just a few hours ago, President Trump, Vice President Pence, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart addressed a raucous crowd in Miami, Florida. All the speakers, but especially President Trump, issued compelling indictments against the oppression of the Cuban people by the Castro family.
Today, President Trump rolled back Obama's "one-sided deal with Cuba" and vowed to "expose the crimes of the Castro regime." Ronald Reagan would have been proud of Trump's speech.
Piece by piece, President Trump is repealing and replacing Obama's legacy. Here's more good news.
In spite of everything the left and its media allies have thrown at him in recent days, President Trump's approval rating has increased to 50%.
The Trump Administration continues its crackdown against violent illegal immigrant gangs. More than 40 gang members, including many MS-13 members, were arrested in New York City this week.
President Trump signed an executive order dramatically expanding apprenticeships in order to get more Americans back to work.
The Trump Administration formally repealed one of Barack Obama's unconstitutional executive orders granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.
The House of Representatives voted to ensure that illegal immigrants cannot receive Obamacare tax credits. (Only seven House Democrats voted for the bill.)
The Senate this week voted 98-to-2 to impose new sanctions against Iran for its ballistic missile program and support for terrorism. (Senators Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul voted against the sanctions.)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation preventing the use of foreign law in state courts.
The Trump Administration is battling wasteful government bureaucracy. For example, the president ordered the government to stop reporting on its various efforts to combat the Y2K bug -- you know, the non-event that happened 17 years ago!
------------------- Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families Tags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, The Game, More Left-wing Violence, Welcome Home, Good News, CubaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Mueller Pursues Obstruction Case Against Trump . . .
. . . The collusion claim didn’t work, so the special prosecutor shifts gears.
Robert S. Mueller III
by Matthew Vadum: Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III is expanding his investigation into the Left’s Russian electoral collusion conspiracy theory by examining whether President Trump tried to obstruct justice in the probe, according to the hyper-partisan leak-stenographers at the Washington Post.
It is all nonsense.
Democrats and Never Trump Republicans are setting up perjury traps just as Democrats did during Watergate and countless other investigations. But Donald Trump is no Richard Nixon. There is no evidence Trump covered up a crime, or even that there was an underlying crime to be covered up. But the longer the investigation goes on, the greater the likelihood that someone will innocently contradict himself in a deposition, giving evidence that doesn’t mesh with what was originally said to an FBI investigator. And voila! Someone who wasn’t a criminal goes to prison without forming any bad intent.
The obstruction allegation stems from statements made by former FBI Director James B. Comey who claims President Trump ordered him to end an investigation into former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s ties to Russia. Trump denies it even though he has the authority under the Constitution to fire Comey for any reason or no reason at all. Comey himself admitted he served at the pleasure of the president.
If the news report is accurate, it means that the president is under investigation now even though he apparently wasn’t as of May 9, the day he fired Comey, who has since outed himself as a leaker of information about Trump. The notes he took during discussions with Trump are considered his work product and therefore property of the U.S. government that he has a duty to surrender to investigators. Additionally, Comey have committed a crime when he leaked the notes.
“The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal,” said Mark Corallo, on behalf of Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s personal attorney.
Now that the likelihood of Trump or any of his associates being found to have colluded with Russia to rig the last election has dropped to approximately zero for want of evidence, this Deep State-sponsored political theater is moving on to the next best thing: obstruction of justice, a perennial crowd pleaser in the snake pit that is Washington.
And the Left now has an added incentive to push the obstruction narrative because they don't want to talk about how one of their own, unemployed Trump-hating Bernie Sanders supporter James T. Hodgkinson, late of a white cargo van parked on the streets of Alexandria, Va., came close to assassinating House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) at a baseball practice on Wednesday morning.
President Trump, who turned 71 Wednesday, called out the Washington establishment for the all-too-convenient narrative shift.
"They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice[,]" Trump tweeted yesterday at 6:55 a.m.
An hour later he followed up with: “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA[.]”
This move toward possible obstruction charges by Mueller “marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation, which until recently focused on Russian meddling during the presidential campaign and on whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin,” wrote reporters at the Post. “Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.”
The article acknowledges that then-FBI Director Comey had been privately reassuring Trump since January that he personally was not the subject of an investigation.
“Officials say that changed shortly after Comey’s firing,” the newspaper report adds ominously.
Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael S. Rogers, and recently retired NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett have reportedly agreed to talk to Mueller’s investigators.
As the saga continues to unfold, questions are being raised about Mueller’s apparent conflicts of interest that could disqualify him from continuing to serve as special counsel.
Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom said this week to radio host Laura Ingraham that Mueller’s 15-year friendship with Comey is “a huge conflict of interest.”
Because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made the decision to appoint Mueller.
“Quite frankly, I was really, really surprised and disappointed with the deputy attorney general, who first-off appointed a special counsel when there was no articulation of any crime whatsoever,” Kallstrom said. “And the statute actually calls for that, so that was ignored.”
Mueller and Comey “are close, close friends and the conflict of interest is so apparent," Kallstrom said. "I mean, did the deputy attorney general not have access to Google? I mean, you know, check these things out? It's just unbelievable. It's off the charts."
"What crime are they going to be investigating? There's not even an articulated crime. In fact, from the words of a wide variety of people on both sides of the politics, there is no crime," Kallstrom said. "The whole thing is a farce in my view. It's just crazy, and I don't know what this guy was thinking, this deputy attorney general."
Meanwhile, in a publicity stunt, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered political asylum to Comey.
“If Comey will be under the threat of political persecution, we are ready to accept him here,” Putin said, comparing Comey leaking notes on conversations with Trump to traitor Edward Snowden whom Russia granted asylum.
“This is strange,” Putin said. “How then is the director of the FBI any different from Snowden? He is not a head of the special services, but a human rights activist.”
Sen. Mike Lee, author: You didn’t log on to the internet or switch on cable television in 1788 Boston to obtain breaking news of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
You hiked to the nearest tavern or coffeehouse to pick up a copy of the latest newspaper to learn what—in those days of rudimentary communication—passed for the latest news.
When the latest missive on the new Constitution came out in 1788, Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern would have been buzzing.
“Did you see this?” one Bostonian, a pro-Constitution Federalist, demanded as he waved a freshly printed pamphlet to catch the attention of a friend at the next table, who nearly spilled his mug of ale.
“‘Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions,’ they call it, and it’s just outrageous. It dares to claim we need something called a ‘bill of rights’ in our new Constitution! More confounded delays! Hang it all—we must adopt our new Constitution now! Blasted idlers! Pernicious! Pernicious!”
The other Federalists in the tavern murmured their assent. But none among them knew the identity of the author behind “Observations on the New Constitution.” All they knew was the pseudonym under which it had been printed: “A Columbian Patriot.”
Because Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts had emerged as one of just three delegates who refused to sign the proposed Constitution, many logically assumed Gerry was the author.
They were wrong. Mercy Otis Warren’s mighty pen had struck again. (Not until 140 years later, through the research of one of her descendants, the legal scholar Charles Warren, was her authorship discovered.)
Mercy Otis Warren
Her “Observations” attacked the proposed new Constitution left and right, giving voice to concerns that a new, strong, and distant federal government could trample the rights both of the individual states and of the people.
A “many-headed monster,” she called it, “of such motley mixture, that its enemies cannot trace a feature of democratic or republican extract; nor have its friends the courage to denominate it a monarchy, an aristocracy, or an oligarchy.”
Among her observations:There are no well defined limits of the judiciary powers, they seem to be left as a boundless ocean, that has broken over the chart of the Supreme Lawgiver, “thus far shalt thou go and no further,” and as they cannot be comprehended by the clearest capacity, or the most sagacious mind, it would be an Herculean labor to attempt to describe the dangers with which they are replete…
… The executive and the legislative are so dangerously blended as to give just cause of alarm, and everything relative thereto, is couched in such ambiguous terms—in such vague and indefinite expression, as is a sufficient ground without any objection, for the reprobation of a system, that the authors dare not hazard to a clear investigation …
… There is no provision for a rotation, nor anything to prevent the perpetuity of office in the same hands for life; which by a little well-timed bribery, will probably be done, to the exclusion of men of the best abilities from their share in the offices of government—By this neglect we lose the advantages of that check to the overbearing insolence of office, which by rendering him ineligible at certain periods, keeps the mind of man in equilibrio, and teaches him the feelings of the governed, and better qualifies him to govern in his turn.An overreaching judiciary. Executive orders. A permanent governing class. “Insolence of office.” Her concerns may sound familiar to us even today.
Some of her strongest rhetoric emerged when she discovered the lack of protections from unlawful searches and seizures:I cannot pass over in silence the insecurity in which we are left with regard to warrants unsupported by evidence … such a detestable instrument of arbitrary power, to subject ourselves to the insolence of any petty revenue officer to enter our houses, search, insult, and seize at pleasure.What was there in this new Constitution that would prevent officials of the new American government from overstepping the same boundaries as their British predecessors? What was the point of a revolution against the old regime if the new one had the potential to be just as bad?
To that end, she concluded: “There is no provision by a bill of rights to guard against the dangerous encroachments of power in too many instances to be named.”
She had developed the invaluable skill of losing a battle but winning a war. Warren and her “Observations” failed to convince her own state of Massachusetts to reject the Constitution, but Bay State delegates hardly rejected all her arguments.
Massachusetts’ February 1788 vote on ratification was very close (187–168), and it succeeded only because Gov. John Hancock (himself a delegate) proposed that ratification be accompanied by clarifying amendments, including a bill of rights.
Other states voted in the wake of Massachusetts’ narrow, qualified decision. New York was a key to ratification. If it rejected the Constitution, the new nation would be geographically cut in half. The whole experiment might still fail.
Anti-Federalists, others like Mercy opposed to a strong central government, shipped 1,600 copies of her “Observations on the New Constitution” for distribution around the battleground state. In April 1788, the New York Journal published her arguments.
In the end, New York voted for ratification—but repeated the Bay State’s call for inserting highly specific guarantees of liberty into the Constitution.
New York’s memorandum supporting ratification (the longest by far of any state) echoed much of what was found in Mercy’s “Observations,” particularly her antipathy to broad-brush searches and seizures.
New York’s ratification convention declared:That every freeman has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his papers, or his property; and therefore, that all warrants to search suspected places, or seize any freeman, his papers, or property, without information, upon oath or affirmation, of sufficient cause, are grievous and oppressive; and that all general warrants (or such in which the place or person suspected are not particularly designated) are dangerous, and ought not to be granted.Three other states supported Massachusetts’ and New York’s demands, ratifying the new compact but strongly suggesting a bill of rights. The idea came to be called the Massachusetts Compromise, after the state that first proposed it, having been influenced by Warren’s passionate plea.
That compromise—based on Warren’s work—helps guarantee our civil liberties to this day.
---------------- H/T The Daily Signal which shared Sen. Mike Lee's book excerpt. Tags:Senator, Mike Lee, book excerpt, Written Out of History, Mercy Otis Warren, Bill of RightsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Sen. Schumer: ‘[W]e’re Not Going To Sit Down In A Room With Them Once They Repeal And Say Let’s Figure Out A Joint Plan’
Dueling Democrats & Republicans
SENATE DEMOCRATS TODAY: “Republicans and Democrats need to come together to find solutions to America’s challenges.”(Sen. Schumer, Letter to Sen. McConnell, 6/15/2017)
President Obama’s Marching Orders To Democrats: ‘“Don't Rescue” Republicans On Obamacare’
“President Barack Obama delivered a mandate to Democrats on Wednesday: ‘Don't rescue’ Republicans on Obamacare…. Less than three weeks out from leaving the White House, Obama visited Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill with a mission to save his signature healthcare reform law …In the closed-door meeting, the President urged fellow Democrats to not ‘rescue’ Republicans by helping them pass replacement measures, according to sources in the room.”(“Obama Tells Democrats: ‘Don’t Rescue’ Republicans On ‘Trumpcare,’” CNN, 1/05/2017)
Democrats’ Overheated Rhetoric
“Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says Republicans want to ‘Make America Sick Again’ by trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act…. He also maintained that Democrats won’t ‘save their butts’ if the Republicans ‘screw it up.’(“Schumer: GOP wants to ‘Make America Sick Again,’” The Hill, 1/04/2017)
Democrats’ Left-Wing Base Calling For ‘Shock Tactics’
“One newly formed progressive super PAC is planning to cart caskets to Republican lawmakers' districts and hold mock funerals for their constituents. Another activist is encouraging protesters to ship their own ashes … to GOP lawmakers. And other progressive groups are planning graphic ‘die-in’ protests as they work to derail GOP plans to repeal Obamacare.”(“Left Adopts Shock Tactics In Obamacare Repeal Fight,” Politico, 5/09/2017)
“Obamacare's most ardent backers are calling for a withering campaign to weaken Republicans … ‘I hope the ads run against the Republicans who vote for Trumpcare are the most brutal we've ever seen in politics,’ tweeted Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, on the eve of the House vote to back the bill.” (“Left Adopts Shock Tactics In Obamacare Repeal Fight,” Politico, 5/09/2017)
Tags:Does All-Out War, Sound Bipartisan, Obamacare, Democrats, RepublicanTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: In a speech at Hillsdale College, Andrew McCarthy told the story of leading the prosecution in 1993 of the terrorist cell that bombed the World Trade Center. At the time, other government officials told him that he “should read nothing into the fact that all the men in this terrorist cell were Muslims.” These officials explained that the terrorist actions weren’t representative of Islam, because it is religion that encourages peace.
The government also portrayed the leader of the terrorist cell (Omar Abdel Rahman) as a wanton killer and an unbalanced lunatic. Andrew McCarthy discovered he was anything but. He was a globally renowned scholar with a doctorate in Islamic jurisprudence from a major university in Egypt.
That presented a problem. Andrew McCarthy needed to know enough about Islamic interpretation to press the case. He hoped to find inconsistencies between what the Qur’an teaches and what the leader of the terrorist cell taught. What he found was alarming. Every time Omar Abdel Rahman quoted the Qur’an or other Islamic sources, he quoted them accurately.
“When he said the scriptures command Muslims to strike terror into the hearts of Islam’s enemies, the scriptures backed him up. When he said Allah enjoined all Muslims to wage war until Islamic law was established throughout the world, the scriptures backed him up.”
Andrew McCarthy discovered the flaw in the oft-repeated argument that Muslim terrorists are perverting the religion of Islam. They are accurately quotes verses from the Qur’an. That doesn’t mean that all Muslims will be terrorists. Many do not know of these passages or have been able to contextualize them. But it does illustrate why we cannot continually argue that radical Muslims who are calling for jihad are teaching something that is contrary to Islam.
-------------- Kerby Anderson is a radio talk show host heard on numerous stations via the Point of View Network endorsed by Dr. Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service Tags:Terrorist Interpretation, Kerby Anderson, Contributing AuthorTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Patrick Buchanan: James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, who aspired to end his life as a mass murderer of Republican Congressmen, was a Donald Trump hater and a Bernie Sanders backer.
Like many before him, Hodgkinson was a malevolent man of the hating and hard left.
His planned atrocity failed because two Capitol Hill cops were at that Alexandria baseball field, providing security for House Whip Steve Scalise. Had those cops not been there, a massacre would have ensued with many more dead than the gunman.
Recall. There were no armed citizens at that Tucson grocery in 2011, when six were murdered and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was gravely wounded along with a dozen others. The nutcase doing the shooting was only wrestled to the ground when he dropped a clip trying to reload.
The Alexandria attack brings back memories of long ago.
A day before my 12th birthday, when I was in Children’s Hospital with a broken leg, my parents brought me the news that Puerto Rican terrorists had just attempted to assassinate Harry Truman at Blair House. A heroic cop, Leslie Coffelt, died stopping them.
In my second year in high school, blocks from the Capitol, Puerto Rican nationalists entered the visitor’s gallery of the House and began firing semiautomatic pistols. Five Congressmen were wounded.
Democratic politics has often proven a dangerous calling.
Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and JFK — one in every 10 of all our presidents — were assassinated.
Attending a service for a South Carolina Congressman in the Capitol in 1835, President Jackson survived twin misfires of two pistols. Old Hickory used his cane to attack his assailant, who was collared by Congressman Davy Crockett of Tennessee.
As a third-party candidate for president in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest. “It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose,” Teddy scoffed, and finished his speech.
In February 1933, President-elect FDR, in Miami, was the target of would-be assassin Giuseppe Zangara, whose arm was jostled at the moment of firing. The bullet killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.
Between the assassination of JFK in 1963 and near-mortal wounding of President Reagan by John Hinckley in 1981, Martin Luther King was murdered in Memphis in April 1968, and Sen. Robert Kennedy, two months later, in Los Angeles.
Presidential candidate George Wallace, campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, was shot five times in May 1972 by Arthur Bremer, who had spent weeks stalking President Nixon. President Ford was the target of two attempts on his life in 1975, the first by a Manson Family hanger-on Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the second by radical leftist Sara Jane Moore.
What drove the assassins?
In the early 20th century, it was anarchism. McKinley was killed by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York.
In 1919, Carlo Valdinoci tried to assassinate Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer with a bomb on his porch at 2132 R Street. Valdinoci tripped on a wicket and his dynamite bomb exploded prematurely, blasting Carlo’s body parts all over the neighborhood.
Palmer’s neighbor across the street, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, rushed over to help.
Palmer ordered a roundup of anarchists in what came to be known as “Palmer Raids,” and put in charge of field operations a 24-year-old lawyer and D.C. law-enforcement prodigy by the name of John Edgar Hoover.
Hoover’s career flourished. But the career of America’s most famous anarchist, Emma Goldman, faded. She and ex-lover Alexander Berkman, who had tried to kill Carnegie Steel’s Henry Clay Frick during the violent Homestead Strike of 1892, were rounded up and deported in 1920 with hundreds of anarchists to the new Russia of Lenin and Trotsky in a ship the press dubbed “the Red Ark.”
A. Mitchell Palmer did not get the 1920 presidential nomination he was seeking. But neighbor FDR did make it onto the ticket.
As radical anarchists were the principal terrorists of the first quarter of the 20th century, and Puerto Rican nationalist-terrorists dominated the 1950s, the 1960s and early 1970s were marked by the seemingly endless violence of the hard left, beginning with the Communist Oswald, who had tried to shoot Gen. Edwin Walker in Dallas before killing JFK.
The campus violence and urban riots of the decade, from Harlem to Watts to Newark and Detroit, to Washington, D.C., and 100 cities after Dr. King’s death, were not the work of the Goldwater right.
Those were the days of the Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society, Weatherman and the Symbionese Liberation Army. It was America’s radical left shooting cops and burning down ROTC buildings. Leftist violence propelled the political careers of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
As for James Hodgkinson, he was a Trump-hating left-wing terrorist.
And those who incite sick minds with images of a bloodstained decapitated head of the president, and cheer Central Park productions of “Julius Caesar” with the assassinated Roman Consul made up to look like the president, cannot evade moral culpability.
-------------------- Patrick Buchanan is currently a conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior advisor to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000. He blogs at the Patrick J. Buchanan. Tags:Patrick Buchanan, conservative, commentary, Long History, Leftist HatredTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Tags:The Blunt Truth, shooter, James Hodkinson, rhetoric, fake news, liberal bia, mainstream media, AF Branco, editorial cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Last year, California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill No. 1570, which concerns collectibles, particularly signed-by-author or artist books. But it doesn’t mention books, and is confusingly written. What a mess.
Who asked for it?
It certainly wasn’t the struggling booksellers who have come to depend on signed authors’ copies. In the Age of Amazon.com, book vendors need to add value to stay afloat.* Author-signed copies help.
The law says that for signed-by-creator collectibles sold for more than $5 — yes, a mere five smackers — sellers must provide customers a Certificate of Authentication. The law specifies nine “helpful” directions for said certificates. So imagine an edition of Brian Doherty’s Radicals for Capitalism, signed by the author at, say, a non-profit dinner, or at a bookstore signing, or even a late-night bar —discounted to not much over five bucks.** The bookseller must not only provide a certificate, but list the book’s provenance. Talk about an added cost of doing business.
I mention Mr. Doherty not merely because of his excellent book, but because he has not unreasonably confessed that “my own interests could be harmed by any attempt to actually enforce the letter of this law.”
This week on EconTalk, economist Mike Munger mentioned the market’s built-in regulatory features — reputation being the most obvious — for helping consumers avoid getting ripped off buying books . . . and paintings . . . and anything else improved by creator signature.
But, really, can’t we make do with a little caveat emptor as well as caveat lector? Better than regulations this dense.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* The number of independent bookstores plummeted (down a thousand) around the country between 2000 and 2007. But there seems to be an increase since then, despite (or because of?) Abebooks and Alibris and other dot coms.
** I found a signed copy of Doherty’s history at Abebooks for $10.
------------------ Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service. Tags:Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Signature Nonsense, California Governor, Jerry Brown To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Special Prosecutors : Out of Control Raging Beasts
by Don Todd: When is the last time you heard somebody say in a policy discussion, “I have not made my mind up about that and before I do I want to find out what Hollywood celebrities think?”
Why would anyone care about the political opinions of someone who memorizes and repeats words others have written and makes faces for a living?
General Michael Flynn was an appointed and confirmed member of the Obama Administration for 12 months. He was a member of the Trump Administration for 24 days.
We do not know if General Flynn has violated any laws but we do understand why he is asking for immunity for any Congressional testimony. One need only look at what happened to Scooter Libby. Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed by James Comey to look into who leaked the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. Mr. Fitzgerald knew from day one that Libby was not the source. He nevertheless pursued Mr. Libby in an attempt to take down Vice President Cheney. He convicted Libby of a process crime and destroyed him when Libby declined to make things up about Cheney.
Special prosecutors seem to believe that unless they convict somebody of something they have failed.
To paraphrase the Gipper corporations do not pay taxes they collect them. Every penny they are forced to give the government is reflected in the prices they charge for their products.
In 1962 and again in 1963 a group on lawyers costumed as priests on the Supreme Court drove God from the public classroom. Predictably and now obviously the Devil has moved in to fill the vacuum.
Education without morals is a beast on the loose.
The Washington Post should be renamed as the Bezos Blog.
Telework is when federal employees tell people they are working.
With health care, tax reform and many other important issues hanging in the balance Congress has transformed itself into 535 Inspector Clouseau’s chasing phantom conspiracies.
Who tried to influence our last nation election more, the Russians or the Media?
-------------- Don Todd is the President of Americans for Limited Government Foundation. Tags:Don Todd, We Pause to Remark, special prosecutorsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
by Rob Gordon: Does the Environmental Protection Agency care more about its image than it does about the environment?
Its behavior in response to the massive 2015 Gold King Mine disaster in Colorado would suggest a very clear “yes.”
The Environmental Protection Agency is hiding its incredible recklessness in the affair by giving official accounts that are clearly contradicted by ample evidence in the government’s possession.
As the new EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt has an opportunity to drain a bit of the swamp by exposing the EPA’s cover-up.
An Environmental Disaster
In August 2015, an EPA crew inexplicably dug out the rock and rubble “plug” to the long abandoned Gold King Mine, triggering a massive blowout that flooded the Animas River with 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage and, according to the EPA, over 550 tons of metals.
Had the EPA actually been doing what it claims it did, the disaster would never have happened. However, it seems the EPA could not allow its reputation to be tarnished with the truth.
The EPA has put forth the fiction that its crew had simply removed backfill that was blocking access to a mine tunnel, but did not disturb the natural plug that had formed in the tunnel’s opening that was holding back a sea of acid mine drainage.
The EPA claims its crew planned to wait for experts who would address the plug. It says its team was just further cleaning up the site when, through some inexplicable bad luck, the plug eroded, causing a blowout that turned the Animas River bright orange.
In essence, the agency wants us to believe that this was an accident that could have happened to anybody.
The truth the EPA is concealing is that its team did not stop after excavating to the tunnel’s opening, and never had any intention of stopping.
The EPA crew began removing the plug as it had planned, even though it anticipated acid mine drainage would flow out and that the drainage could be pressurized.
The EPA’s actions could be likened to poking a balloon with a pin to let out just a little air. At best, the EPA’s actions were incredibly reckless.
Numerous federal officials in and outside the EPA turned a blind eye to the truth, and never challenged the fiction that the EPA maintains to this day and that was just repeated Monday by the EPA’s inspector general.
For an agency more concerned about its own welfare than its environmental mission, the almost unfathomable incompetence is sufficient motive to cover up what really happened.
There are other reasons as well. Some grossly negligent acts can be criminally prosecuted under provisions the Clean Water Act—a measure the EPA has used against private parties in the past. Additionally, New Mexico has already brought a lawsuit seeking damages.
Further, the EPA’s dishonest actions after the fact likely provide even more impetus to continue the deception.
Given the contradictory assertions they have made in public and the bogus reports they have produced for public and congressional consumption, it is difficult to imagine how the EPA officials involved could have possibly been honest with the inspector general investigators.
Pruitt’s team has inherited a tangle of half-truths, misdirection, and deceit. Like the Gold King Mine disaster itself, this is a mess the agency needs to clean up.
A Prelude to Disaster
Years before the Gold King Mine disaster occurred, there had been a collapse within a tunnel (an adit) used to access, ventilate, and drain the mine’s inner content.
Water can naturally accumulate within mines, and if there has been a collapse, fine solid matter like clay can eventually fill all the spaces between the collapsed rock, forming a natural plug. Eventually a pool of water forms behind the plug, and with enough time there can be so much water that it becomes pressurized.
In 2009, after this collapse, a pipe had been inserted into the mine in an attempt to prevent the accumulation of water. Then, the old structure at the entrance to the adit (posts and timbers supporting a roof to protect from debris sliding down from the slope above) was demolished, and the area in front of the mine opening was backfilled, burying all except the end of the drainage pipe.
Subsequently, water flowing from the mine had slowed to a trickle, a possible indicator that the mine was plugged.
When the EPA crew came to the mine in 2015, it came specifically to address the concern about conditions that could lead to a blowout.
The crew, however, was operating under outlandish assumptions that the agency had made one year before, which are covered in greater detail by a congressional committee report.
In brief, based on almost no evidence, the EPA had concluded during a visit in 2014 that the floor of the mine was 6 feet lower than the ground immediately outside the mine.
It assumed that water in the mine would have to be over 6 feet deep before it would flow out of the pipe. Seeing little flow out, it conjectured the backfilled mine was only half-full and not pressurized.
This conclusion was contrary to available old photographs, documents from the Colorado’s Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, and the basic fact that the tunnel was designed in part to drain the mine—so recessing the floor 6 feet would make no sense.
The ground immediately outside the mine was made of the waste rock removed to create the tunnel. Why and how would a tunnel be dug so it couldn’t drain or be accessed?
An additional clue should have been clear to the crew: During a 2014 visit, the EPA removed a stinger—a pipe that is used to drive through a collapse to drain impounded water.
This is especially true given that when the crew yanked the stinger from the rubble, it found the front section mangled, indicating there had possibly been an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate a blockage.
In any case, whether the mine was full or not could have been determined by drilling to test for hydrostatic pressure. However, because drilling was difficult and expensive, the EPA chose to rely on faulty assumptions rather than data.
In 2015, the EPA crew set about removing unconsolidated backfill (material that was not holding back water) to reach the plugged tunnel opening cut into the mountain’s rock face. This was accomplished the first day of digging.
The crew’s outlandish assumptions were proven to be just that when it reached the tunnel’s opening. It had exposed the entire plug from the bottom to the top of the tunnel, not just the upper half.
With the tunnel not recessed as anticipated, the crew should have realized, and likely did, that the basis of its assumption that the mine was not full of water had evaporated.
In what appears to have been a hopeless effort to account for this, the following day, the EPA crew reburied all but the very top portion of the plug. It built a large mound of earth (a berm) in front of the tunnel opening and constructed a makeshift channel to the side.
The crew apparently anticipated that when it dug a hole into the top of the plug, any water that came out would calmly flow through the channel and to a pre-existing ditch that ran down the mountain to settling ponds.
Hope springs eternal.
Although the EPA fails to mention the reburying of the plug in any of its reports, several executive branch reports, along with an EPA inspector general report released this week, described what supposedly happened next.
All these reports are wrong, and most, if not all, are intentionally deceitful.
Rewriting History
First, the EPA produced a report that asserted its crew was just digging to clear the bedrock face, but not touching the plug. Then, somehow, the lower bedrock crumbled and the mine just blew out.
The Department of the Interior produced the next report, a bureaucratic treatise that says the EPA crew discussed a plan, but then ambiguously states “the contractor continued to excavate.”
Exactly what the crew was excavating—the dirt above the tunnel opening (which in fact had already been removed) or the plug itself—is left unsaid. The report asserts that the EPA crew planned to insert another stinger through the now-exposed plug to drain the mine.
The crucial fact omitted by the report is that the EPA did not have a stinger. So, the plan was pure fiction.
In fact, the Department of Interior report was so short on details that an Army Corps of Engineers peer-reviewer made his signature conditional on including additional text in the executive summary.
He included the line:The report discusses field observations by EPA (and why they continued digging), but does not describe why a change in EPA field coordinators caused the urgency to start digging out the plug rather than wait for [Bureau of Reclamation] technical input as prescribed by the EPA project leader.Unlike the Corps reviewer’s comments, the remainder of the Interior report is nebulous.
Then, the night before a congressional hearing on the Interior report, the EPA issued an addendum to its first report, stating that the report was based on an unrecorded, untranscribed, simultaneous interview of the two EPA on-scene coordinators in charge of the site.
According to the addendum, the on-scene coordinator who was on vacation at the time of the blowout had handed supervision off to the other, along with an emailed list of instructions.
Curiously, this critically important email was not mentioned in the narrative of the two earlier reports. The email provides explicit instructions on steps to take to remove the upper portion of the plug.
The EPA’s midnight addendum also asserts that its crew was following these instructions with one exception. Without any supporting evidence whatsoever, the report claims that after he sent the email, the on-scene coordinator who would be on vacation told his replacement not to remove the plug, something inconsistent with his instructions.
Even if this supposed “clear verbal direction” was ever given, it definitely wasn’t followed.
The report goes on to repeat the fiction that the EPA crew was digging high above the tunnel opening and preparing the site for when the experts would arrive when, somehow, the mine inexplicably burst open.
Finally, the EPA Inspector General’s Office released its report this Monday that at best demonstrates an inability to uncover the truth by repeating the fiction.
After omitting any serious discussion of the outlandish assumptions from the EPA’s 2014 site visit, the EPA inspector general repeats the official EPA line, stating that:According to the [on-scene coordinator] on-site, the team stopped excavation in front of the blockage on Aug. 4, 2015, after they reached material that was compacted, well consolidated, and considered by the [on-scene coordinator] on-site to be the blockage.The EPA inspector general goes on to state that the next day, “[t]he excavator operator built a ramp to enable reaching higher.” This was reportedly done so the excavator operator could “scratch” above the mine entrance where the plug was.
Like the other reports, the inspector general omits any mention that the plug that had been unearthed the day before was reburied—as is demonstrated in this series of photos — and that the rock face had already been “scratched” clean before the blowout, as demonstrated in this series of photos.
Time for Truth and Accountability
All these reports are clearly refuted by an email from the Department of Interior recently released by the House Committee on Natural Resources, which states:On 8/5/2015, the EPA was attempting to relieve hydrologic pressure behind a naturally collapsed adit/portal of the Gold King Mine. The EPA’s plan was to slowly drain and treat enough mine water in order to access the inner mine working and assess options for controlling its discharge. While removing small portions of the natural plug, the material catastrophically gave-way and released the mine water.This document, site photographs, and other information clearly contradict the fiction that the EPA has spun. The cover-up is so bold it fits the old saying, “Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”
While the EPA crew did not snap a photo of the excavator bucket that was digging the last fateful scoop of the plug, it might as well have.
There are enough people inside the agencies that know the truth, and a trail of pictures and papers show that they know it.
It is time the cover-up be uncovered, and the EPA be exposed for caring more about its own institutional interests than protecting the quality of the environment.
------------------- Rob Gordon is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and has researched, testified, and written on endangered species, property rights, the federal estate, and other environmental issues. He previously served as staff director for the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Tags:Exposing, EPA. Gold King Mine. Cover-Up, Rob Gordon, The Heritage Foundation, The Daily SignalTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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