Lt. Gen. Silveria: Racists 'Need to Get Out' - Slurs Left For Air Force Cadet Candidates

Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the U.S.A.F. Academy,
addresses racial slurs found at the Academy Prep.School
with Academy cadets, staff and faculty on Sept. 28 2017.
(U.S. Air Force Academy cropped photo)

by Bridget Johnson: The head of the Air Force Academy told racists in the ranks to "get out" after racial slurs were found written on the message boards on the doors of the dorm rooms of five African-American cadet candidates this week.

One of the cadet candidates's mothers posted a photo on Facebook of the write-on, wipe-off board on which her son found the message "go home n---er."

“These young people are supposed to bond and protect each other and the country," the mother wrote, according to Air Force Times. "Who would my son have to watch out for? The enemy or the enemy?”

“The word has zero power in my house,” the young man's father told the paper. “Zero power. The word is not going to yield a reaction. My initial advice to him was, respond with intelligence, do not react, do not get upset. You don‘t have to defend intelligence, you don’t have to defend common sense, you don’t have to defend confidence. He’s fine.”

“The real victim here is that individual [who wrote the slurs], because that individual is going to lose a promising career in the military,” the father added. “That individual is going to go home disgraced. Him or her is the real victim, because they were raised with that kind of vitriol and that kind of hate. My son is not a victim, I don’t view him as a victim.”

Stars and Stripes reported that a single individual is suspected to be behind all incidents because of the handwriting match. The official investigation by Air Force Academy Security is ongoing; the perpetrator could face charges of violating orders and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Air Force Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria addressed all cadets, faculty, staff and cadet candidates on Thursday. “If you’re outraged by those words, then you’re in the right place,” he said. “That kind of behavior has no place at the Prep School, has no place at USAFA and has no place in the United States Air Force.”

The school held a forum for cadets to talk about race issues after the August white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.; Silveria noted that leaders received "outstanding feedback" from that session.

“It’s the power that we come from all walks of life, that we come from all parts of this country, that we come from all races, that we come from all backgrounds, gender, all make-up, all upbringing,” he said. “The power of that diversity comes together and makes us that much more powerful.”

Silveria told the academy: “If you can’t treat someone from another race or different color skin with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.”

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Thursday that the Air Force "needs to investigate this incident thoroughly and take appropriate action."

"There is no place in the military for these kinds of acts," Smith said. "Incidents like these, even if they are performed by a single individual, offend our moral sensibilities and they can undermine the morale of service members and cadets. It is a bedrock principle that everyone in the U.S. military should be treated with dignity and respect.”
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Bridget Johnson is a veteran journalist whose news articles and opinion columns have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe. Bridget first came to Washington to be online editor at The Hill. She is the Washington Editor for PJ Media.

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Money Can’t Buy Me Love – Or Votes

by Tom Balek, Contributing Author: The recent Republican primary runoff victory by Judge Roy Moore over Luther Strange in the race for Jeff Sessions’ Alabama senate seat is just the latest in a string of expensive losses for the Swampers. Nearly a full year after American voters turned the pollsters and pundits upside down, the DC good-ole-boys are still in full Trump Denial.

Here are some of the Swampers’ embarrassing defeats:

• Breitbart News reports Strange lost the runoff election by 20%, spending an estimated $30 million ($137 per vote) compared to Moore’s $2 million ($7 per vote). This is after Moore pounded Strange in the first primary despite being outspent 25 to 1. Strange was heavily funded by Mitch McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund and the NRA.
• Issue One claims Democrats blew $32 million in a failing effort to push Jon Ossoff past Republican Karen Handel for the Georgia congressional seat vacated by Tom Price, who has already resigned his administrative office. Issue One says Handel spent $23 million, but other analysts claim Handle was outspent 8 to 1 – the truth is probably somewhere in-between.
• Hillary Clinton spent about $15 per vote, three times the amount Donald Trump invested on the presidency in 2016.

The first shot over the DC Establishment bow was fired by Dave Brat in 2014, when he sacked Eric Cantor, Republican house majority leader, in the Virginia congressional primary race. Cantor had the backing of the entire swamp, including the Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, and the National Association of Realtors. All of the Republican money and every loose dollar on K Street was bet on Cantor – $5.5 million in all. Brat had a measly $200,000 and a warm smile from the Tea Party. It’s fitting that Brat’s first name is David, as Goliath (Cantor) fell in a large, thunderous heap. Brat has since been a stellar Freedom Caucus member.

My Congressman, Ralph Norman (R-SC), spent a little bit more than his opponent, Archie Parnell, seeking the seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney a few months ago. And most of that spending was his own money. “I don’t want to owe favors to anybody,” he told me early in the race. And he has stayed true to his word, already taking strong positions against the powerful, big-money lobbyists. Norman is also on the Freedom Caucus.

Maybe the Swampers will finally “get it” and stop trying to buy political offices against the will of the people, who are tired of business as usual on Capitol Hill.

Nah, it won’t happen. The DC Establishment Swampers will continue to do what Swampers do – spend other peoples’ money. They can’t help themselves.
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Tom Balek is a fellow conservative activist, blogger, musician and contributes to the ARRA News Service. Tom resides in South Carolina and seeks to educate those too busy with their work and families to notice how close to the precipice our economy has come. He blogs at Rockin' On the Right Side

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Thank You Green Bay, I Want Justice Too, Day of Atonement

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:   Thank you, Green Bay!   After last weekend's fiasco on professional football fields across the country, Middle America recovered the NFL's fumble last night in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  All Packers and Bears players stood last night for the national anthem.

Prior to the game, Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers said his team would stand and link arms as a statement in favor of "equality, unity and love."

The team issued its own statement about "justice for those who have been unjustly treated, discriminated against or otherwise treated unfairly."  It urged all fans in the stadium to link arms too.

Rogers is a revered figure in Wisconsin.  But as revered as Rogers is, I doubt if many fans have any idea what this "social justice" thing is that many players have been taking a knee for.  Very few fans linked arms last night.

Tens of thousands of people were belting out the national anthem, standing with their hands over their hearts or saluting. When the anthem was over, chants of "USA! USA!" echoed throughout the stadium.

Once again, through an ad-lib remark made one week ago, Donald Trump showed just how in touch he is with the American people and just how hopelessly out of touch America's chattering class is.  That might have something to do with why Trump was the first GOP presidential candidate to win Wisconsin in 32 years.

That doesn't mean that everyone celebrating America last night in Green Bay voted for him.  What it does mean is that millions of Americans are sick and tired of seeing everything they hold dear being trashed by the left and our so-called "elites."

That sentiment crosses racial lines.  Fox did many interviews with tailgaters at last night's game.  A black veteran said, "I took three shots for this country.  I still stand for the flag."  A black woman said, "I kneel for the Lord, and I stand for the flag."

This battle is not over.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met yesterday with team owners and selected players to figure out how to get themselves out of this mess that they willingly jumped into.  Ratings are down and ticket sales are plummeting.  They know if this continues the NFL will come to stand for "No Fans Left."

My hope and prayer is that more owners will find their courage.  This is not a "free speech" issue.  (Here and here.)

I also hope that fans will try to out compete each other, just as the teams do, on who most loves this country and most respects our veterans and police officers.  That would be a great sight to see!

I Want Justice Too -   When Aaron Rogers and others start spouting off about "social justice," I often wonder if they could explain exactly what that means.

Remember, this protest movement started over the idea that there was an epidemic of white police officers gunning down innocent black men.  That narrative is completely false

As columnist Jason Riley explained, federal data shows that "the rate at which police kill blacks has fallen by 70% since the late 1960s."  Nearly 80% of police shootings involved criminals armed with a weapon -- either a knife, a gun or a car -- threatening the officer or someone else.

What is going up, particularly since Ferguson, is the shooting of black civilians by other black civilians.  Violent crime is going up.  According to one scholar, nearly 7,900 blacks were killed last year.  Of that number, 233 were killed by police.

I want social justice for inner city communities too.  But I want to get the thugs off the streets.

I think it is a social injustice that minority children in our big cities are often afraid to go to school because of drug gangs that infest their neighborhoods and schools.  The solution is more law enforcement, not less.

This week, the Trump Administration arrested nearly 500 illegal immigrants in a number of so-called "sanctuary cities."  Nearly two-thirds had criminal convictions.  This will make our cities safer.  But the left opposes what Trump is doing.

I think it is a deep social injustice that minority children are often stuck in failing schools.  The conservative solution is vouchers, which would allow families to send their children to any school they would prefer.  But when it comes to social justice for these children, the left sides with big teachers unions and oppose almost any form of school choice.

I think it is a social tragedy that more than 70% of black children are being raised in homes without fathers.  We are the first society in recorded human history to experiment with raising children without fathers.  It's not going very well.

Feminists have told women that men are not necessary.  The sexual revolution told men that they could have whatever they wanted without marriage.  The abortion movement said you can get pregnant with no consequences.

In New York City, more black pregnancies end in abortion than birth.  Black Lives Matter should be protesting Planned Parenthood.  Here's an idea:  Let's all link arms in the NFL to stop the killing of black babies!

Of course, there are single-parent families that beat the odds.  There are two-parent families that fail.  But the research is clear:  Children of all races, raised without a father, are more at risk of every social dysfunction.  Families matter!

The passage of the civil rights laws in the 1960s and 1970s ended legal discrimination in housing, employment, etc.  These are great accomplishments.  Many colleges adopted affirmative action programs to accelerate minority achievement in higher education and career development.

But there are fewer black boys and girls with fathers today than there were in the 1960s and 1970s.  And that fact may be negating any gains made by our civil rights laws.  Martin Luther King, Jr. would be weeping if he could see what has happened to the black family today.

By the way, one of the contributors to this breakdown of the family has been the loss of manufacturing jobs in big cities, caused by terrible trade deals.  Massive illegal immigration has also taken its toll on the black community.  If a man can't make a living wage to provide for his family, he often won't marry. President Trump is trying to reverse this, but progressives fight him every step of the way.

Day Of Atonement - Jews throughout the world will begin observing Yom Kippur at sunset today. This is the holiest day of the Jewish year and it is a solemn day. It is known as the Day of Atonement because it marks God's forgiveness of His chosen people for the sin of the golden calf.

Many Israelis remember the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Arab armies took advantage of the holiday to launch a surprise attack against Israel. After intense fighting throughout the month of October, Israel ultimately prevailed.

On this solemn day, please join Carol and me in praying for the peace of Jerusalem and for a peaceful Yom Kippur for our Jewish friends.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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The Second Coming of Christic . . . .

. . . Crackpot leftist conspiracy commandeers the big screen.

Lloyd Billingsley: Run an internet search for American Made, which opens Friday, and this summary pops up:

“Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.”

So the Medellin cartel, and by extension the cocaine trade, was a creation of the United States, which used the profits to fight communism. That is the “true story” behind the new film, which has been rebadged.

The project started as Mena, the Arkansas airfield where the CIA supposedly dropped off the drugs, and Ron Howard signed on to direct and Tom Cruise to star. Producers changed the title to American Made and brought in director Doug Liman, who teamed with Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow.

The true back story of American Made stars the Christic Institute, a “nonprofit, interfaith center for law and national policy in the public interest” launched in the early 1980s. President Daniel Sheehan, a Harvard-trained lawyer, made his name defending nuclear martyr Karen Silkwood.

In the Christic vision, U.S. policy from the late 1950s was a massive anti-communist plot, funded by profits from drug dealing. Sheehan and Christic executive director Sara Nelson believed that Marxist dictatorships could liberate their peoples and establish social justice. They reinforced Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista junta by attacking those who supported the resistance forces, dubbed “Contras.” Nelson called them fascists and Nazis, a pack of murderers hiding behind the friendly face of Ronald Reagan.

The Christics’ prime target was U.S. Gen. John Singlaub, who actually fought Nazis in World War II and helped supply the French Resistance. The decorated hero of three wars found himself under attack in the American legal system.

In May, 1986, Sheehan filed a RICO lawsuit charging that a “secret team” of former military and CIA officers, Singlaub among them, was running U.S. foreign policy. The same omnipresent secret team, the Christics charged, was helping the Nicaraguan Contras and financing its dirty work by trafficking in cocaine.

Sheehan hit the talk-show circuit and quickly became a national figure courted by liberal Democrats such as Sen. John Kerry. Besides their Washington headquarters, the Christics boasted regional offices in Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and North Carolina. The lawsuit and the conspiracy theory played well in Hollywood.

Sheehan hung out with Ed Asner, Mike Farrell, Martin Sheen, Darryl Hannah, Jane Fonda and others, who helped him stuff his war chest with an estimated $3 million – much of it raised at a $100-a-plate fundraisers and benefit concerts with Kris Kristofferson, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, and Jackson Browne. The Harvard lawyer even packaged some deals.

The Christic conspiracy provided the story for episodes of Miami Vice and Wiseguy, and was also discussed on an episode of Cagney and Lacey. Taxpayer-funded Pacifica radio stations broadcast a weekly Christic report, and public broadcasting icon and former presidential aide Bill Moyers championed the Christic cause in The Secret Government, a PBS special later turned into a book the Christics peddled for $9.95 as a resource in their “Tools for Truth” catalogue.

On June 23, 1988, U.S. District Court Judge James King dismissed the Christics’ suit and all charges. Besides their deceptive affidavits and fabricated testimony, the Christics had advanced no direct evidence or material facts to back their allegations. The Institute soon found itself under fire.

The liberal Boston Globe described it as a “far-left, celebrity fueled conspiracy boutique” and even the Nation and Mother Jones saw fit to unload on Sheehan. Likewise, a congressional subcommittee concluded that there was no evidence that the CIA participated in the cocaine trade.

On January 13, 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Christic Institute had to pay more than $1 million in compensation to the victims of their bogus lawsuit. Even so, the Christics’ crackpot theory became the basis for Gary Webb’s 1996 “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose Mercury News, charging that the CIA was behind the flow of crack cocaine into the inner cities.

Maxine Waters was the fable’s most shrill promoter. The California Democrat even wrote a foreword to the book version of Dark Alliance.

Now comes American Made, packed with star power and based on one of the most thoroughly discredited stories of all time. With assets like that, this flick is sure bet to win many awards. The Christic Institute, meanwhile, managed a second coming of its own.

The Romero Institute, headed by Daniel Sheehan and Sara Nelson, touts “justice by sacred means.” As the Santa Cruz-based Institute explains, “The Christic Institute inspired all of us with their dedication and unrelenting pursuit for the truth. . . Exposing the structural sources of injustice, bringing the candle light of truth deep into the dark shadows of the National Security State Structure.”
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Lloyd Billingsley is an author at the David Horowitz Freedom Center's FronPage Mag and author of Bill of Writes: Dispatches from the Political Correctness Battlefield and Hollywood Party: Stalinist Adventures in the American Film Industry.

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Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. Taxpayers a Stunning $134.9 Billion a Year

Judicial Watch: Illegal immigration costs American taxpayers a mind-boggling $134.9 billion annually, according to a detailed analysis of federal, state and local programs that include education, medical, law enforcement and welfare. Conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a Washington D.C. nonprofit dedicated to studying immigration issues, the in-depth probe reveals that state and local taxpayers get stuck with an overwhelming chunk—$116 billion—of the burden.

State and local expenditures for services provided to illegal aliens total $88.9 billion and federal expenditures $45.8 billion, the analysis found. For those who claim illegal immigrants contribute by paying taxes, government figures show that only $19 billion was recouped by Uncle Sam.

“A continually growing population of illegal aliens, along with the federal government’s ineffective efforts to secure our borders, present significant national security and public safety threats to the United States,” the FAIR report states. “They also have a severely negative impact on the nation’s taxpayers at the local, state, and national levels.

"Illegal immigration costs Americans billions of dollars each year. Illegal aliens are net consumers of taxpayer-funded services and the limited taxes paid by some segments of the illegal alien population are, in no way, significant enough to offset the growing financial burdens imposed on U.S. taxpayers by massive numbers of uninvited guests.” This defies a myth, long promoted by influential open border groups, that illegal aliens pay their fair share of taxes.

More than 12.5 million illegal immigrants and their estimated 4.2 million citizen children benefit from the U.S. government’s generosity. The biggest expenditure ($17.14 billion) on the federal level is for medical services, which include uncompensated hospital costs, Medicaid births, Medicaid fraud and Medicaid benefits for U.S.-born children (anchor babies) of illegal immigrants.

The second-largest federal expenditure is law enforcement and justice ($13.15 billion), which includes incarceration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and an alien assistance program.

The feds spend $8 billion on general government programs and $5.85 billion on welfare, which consists of free school meals, food stamps, a supplemental nutrition program known as Women Infants and Children (WIC) and temporary assistance for needy families. FAIR points out the profound impact that illegal immigration has on programs intended to provide services exclusively to low-income Americans.

For state and local governments education is by far the largest expense, an eye-popping $44.4 billion that goes mostly to K-12 public schools nationwide, though over a billion of it is spent on college tuition assistance.

General public services, described as expenses associated with garbage collection, fire departments and other locally-funded services total $18.5 billion for illegal aliens, the analysis found.

Medical expenses came in third ($12.1 billion) for state and local governments and law enforcement ($10.8 billion) in fourth.

FAIR researchers determined that a large percentage of illegal aliens work in the underground economy and frequently avoid paying income tax, leaving law-abiding, taxpaying Americans to foot the exorbitant tab for public services. The report also breaks down expenditures by state, with the top four spenders to provide illegal alien benefits California ($23 billion), Texas ($10.9 billion), New York ($7.5 billion) and Florida ($6.3 billion).

Over the years Judicial Watch has reported on a variety of studies and assessments involving the huge cost of supporting illegal immigrants, but this appears to be the most thorough and alarming in recent memory. The breakdown by category, state and federal services offers an incredibly detailed account of a major crisis perpetuated by a famously porous southern border.

As FAIR writes in its report, it’s not just about money though the cost of supporting illegal immigrants should outrage every legal U.S. resident and American citizen. “A continually growing population of illegal aliens, along with the federal government’s ineffective efforts to secure our borders, present significant national security and public safety threats to the United States,” FAIR writes.

Judicial Watch has also extensively covered the dire national security crisis along the Mexican border, including an investigative series documenting how Islamic terrorists have joined forces with Mexican drug cartels to infiltrate—and attack—the United States.
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Judicial Watch authors Corruption Chronicles

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Texas’ Anti-Sanctuary City Law Can Be Enforced, Appeals Court Rules

by Bob Price: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas and overturned the lower court’s ruling on the State’s new anti-sanctuary city law. The unanimous decision by the court will allow the State of Texas to move forward with enforcing key provisions of the law including the duty of law enforcement agencies to detain illegal aliens wanted by immigration officials.

“We are pleased today’s 5th Circuit ruling will allow Texas to strengthen public safety by implementing the key components of Senate Bill 4,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “Enforcing immigration law helps prevent dangerous criminals from being released into Texas communities.”

The State will now move forward with its appeal of the ruling by a federal judge in Corpus Christi, Orlando L. Garcia. The judge was appointed to the bench by then-President Bill Clinton.

Garcia issued a preliminary injunction blocking key provisions of SB4 shortly before it was scheduled to go into effect. Namely, the injunction blocked the State’s ability to force law enforcement officials to honor detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Garcia’s ruling left in place, the provision allowing police officers to make inquiries about the immigration/citizenship status of individuals they legally detain, Breitbart Texas reported.

“I am confident Senate Bill 4 will be found constitutional and ultimately upheld,” Paxton continued.

The 5th Circuit found that the provision forcing local governments to comply with immigration detainers should take effect, the Texas AG reported.

In its opinion, the appellate court also stated that some of the law’s provisions “materially limiting” cooperation with immigration officials were too vague, the Texas Tribune reported.

The judges left in place, the lower courts ruling prohibiting local governments from endorsing policies prohibiting or limiting the enforcement of immigration laws. The judges said that provision could be too broadly interpreted.

SB4 makes failing to comply with immigration detainers a Class A misdemeanor for local law enforcement officials. It also provides a process for non-complying sheriffs and police chiefs to be removed from office.

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart Texas following his signing of SB4 into law, Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed his confidence in the constitutionality of the new law. He said, “The so-called controversial part of this law is what some label as the “show your papers” component,” the Texas governor explained. “And what everyone seems to get wrong is they think that that provision was stricken down in the Arizona law. To the contrary, the provision in the Arizona law is stricter than the Texas law. The Arizona law required that law enforcement ASK for papers. The Texas law does not require it, it allows it so there is that one difference.”

Judge Garcia appeared to agree with Governor Abbott, writing in his ruling, “In sum, SB 4 gives local officers discretion to inquire and share information but it does not provide them with discretion to act upon the information that they may obtain.”

Following the 5th Circuit’s ruling, Abbott said, “Today’s decision is a victory for the Rule of Law and will help keep our communities safe by removing dangerous criminals from our streets. I am confident that moving forward, this law will continue to be upheld as constitutional.”
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Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team.

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Dr Seuss: Racist, Thomas The Tank Engine: Sexist

by Daniel Greenfield: Everything is racist or sexism. Or homophobic and transphobic. Or some sort of hate crime.

On the heels of a librarian denouncing a donation of Dr. Seuss books because they're racist, we have an extensive essay denouncing Thomas the Tank Engine.conducted a critical race analysis of 50 children’s books by Seuss and found that 98 percent of the human characters were white, and only two percent were people of color.And then we have this social justice essay denouncing Thomas the Tank Engine in the New Yorker...When I watched “Shining Time Station,” I was too young and too absorbed by the fever-dream visual textures to take in anything that was actually happening. But through the dedicated and comprehensive Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia, as well as a smattering of critical assessments and message-board threads from dedicated viewers, I have become a little obsessed with the show’s repressive, authoritarian soul.Yes, that's a New Yorker essay attacking a children's show that quotes "message-board threads from dedicated viewers".

This is professional journalism. None of that amateur blogger stuff. This is what David Remnick thinks is quality stuff.

There are citations of YouTube comments...“I guess the lesson is that if someone is bullying you, kill them?” a YouTube commenter writes.

"one Tumblr thread holds that Thomas and friends have other motivations."So this is what the New Yorker does now. It cites anonymous YouTube comments. And Tumblr. To attack a children's TV show.(More information on the class and gender hierarchy of Thomas the Tank Engine can be found in “A Very Useful Engine: The Politics of Thomas and Friends,” a 2009 article by Shauna Wilton, a professor at the University of Alberta.)For more information on abolishing an increasingly useless system of higher education, consult this essay.
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Daniel Greenfield, FrontPage Mag, Daniel Greenfield is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. David Horowitz is a Contributing Author of the ARRA News Service

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Tags: librarian, denouncing, Dr. Seuss, racist, Thomas The Tank Engine, sexist To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Tax Reform: ‘Getting America Going Again & Growing Again’

Senate GOP: ‘The Reason We Want This Tax Code Changed Is To Put People Back To Work And To Change Lives Here In America’
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “It’s time to take more money out of Washington’s pockets, and put more of it in the pockets of Americans.” (Sen. McConnell, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

• SEN. McCONNELL: “To summarize what this is about, it is about getting America going again and growing again. Providing jobs and opportunity here rather than overseas. Providing middle class tax relief for hardworking American families so they can get ahead. Put another way, taking money out of Washington and putting it in the pockets of our citizens.” (Sen. McConnell, Press Conference, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): “Our country needs a simpler, fairer tax code that will keep more money in the pockets of hardworking families. America needs a strong and healthy economy. We are losing the race to keep businesses from leaving the country because our corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world. We want to keep jobs here at home, and grow our economy. Tax relief and simplifying taxes means more jobs and higher wages for families in Wyoming and across the nation.” (Sen. Barrasso, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): “We need lower taxes. We need better jobs…. Most new job creation is created by small businesses. We ought to be sure that no matter what we do in the Tax Code, we do it in a way that allows small business to compete with big business in an effective way.” (Sen. Blunt, Congressional Record, S. 6172, 9/27/2017)

SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): “One of my top priorities is to help President Trump reform our country’s broken tax code and ensure that Mississippi families keep more of what they earn. This particular proposal has the potential to make the economy roar, help job creators, spur innovation, and renew the spirit of the American Dream. This is a watershed moment that we cannot afford to miss.” (Sen. Wicker, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-CO): “Too many Colorado families have felt like they can’t get ahead over the last few years, and providing tax relief for hardworking families will jump-start the economy and put more money in their pockets. The outline released today will serve as a blueprint for the House and Senate as they begin their bipartisan hearings on how we can best fix our confusing and oversized tax code. As talks continue, I’ll make sure that the priorities and interests of Coloradans are front and center.” (Sen. Gardner, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): “You don’t need to be an accountant to know that our tax code is way too complicated, takes too many dollars away from Tennesseans and makes it harder to create good-paying jobs for Tennessee families. I welcome the president’s leadership in outlining his plans for tax reform and will continue to work with him and my Senate and House colleagues to create a simpler system that will keep more money in Tennesseans’ pockets and help create and grow jobs.” (Sen. Alexander, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): “I’m encouraged that the Senate Finance Committee has already held three hearings on tax reform with more on the horizon. The committee also plans to hold a full mark-up of the bill, during which senators will have the opportunity to debate the merits of the legislation and offer amendments…. I'm confident that by moving through the normal legislative process, we can produce a bill that reforms our tax system, boosts our economy, and improves the lives of the people we serve.” (Sen. McCain, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R-ID): “We must address each one of the problems with the current tax code with an emphasis on lower rates, broadening the base, reducing complexity, and eliminating anti-competitive provisions… Tax policy should not be so complex that it requires such strain and expense on Americans.” (Sen. Crapo, @MikeCrapo, Twitter, 9/27/2017)

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): “For the first time in decades, we have an opportunity to advance tax reforms that will transform our economy, put more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans, create good-paying jobs, and empower small businesses to grow and expand. States like West Virginia have been hit hard by a struggling economy and stagnant wages, but this framework lays out the path to a brighter future. Comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform will help deliver the relief so many families and communities in our state desperately need and create new opportunities for our children and grandchildren. This is our chance to foster a new age of American prosperity.” (Sen. Capito, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): “Our loophole-ridden and outdated tax code is a prime example of how government inefficiency can negatively impact Iowans and their businesses. At 35 percent, our corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world. For our small businesses — which make up 97 percent of all employers in Iowa — the marginal tax rate can reach as high as 44.6 percent. On top of that, business owners spend untold amounts of money and hours attempting to comply with our nonsensical tax code. We must ensure that this mission to reform our broken tax code focuses on relieving the burden the complicated federal tax system has placed on Iowa’s families, individuals, and small businesses. Such reform is essential to reinvigorating America’s economy.” (Sen. Ernst, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JOHN BOOZMAN (R-AR): “My colleagues and I are optimistic that the tax reform framework will allow us to ensure that all Americans can keep more of their hard-earned dollars in their pockets, rather than Uncle Sam’s. As I visit with Arkansans about tax reform, I consistently hear they want a tax code that is fair and simple. This framework lays the groundwork for us to meet that goal, while at the same time making America more competitive in today’s global economy.” (Sen. Boozman, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): “[W]e have to change this Tax Code to put people back to work, to get our economy going again, and to become competitive with the rest of the world…. The reason we want this Tax Code changed is to put people back to work and to change lives here in America.” (Sen. Perdue, Congressional Record, S. 6174, 9/27/2017)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): “We have to have Members who have the courage to do tax reform that helps working families, that creates jobs … I believe this Congress, this Senate, over the course of a few months, if we focus on it and with the support of the President and in collaboration with the House, can get this done. (Sen. Tillis, Congressional Record, S. 6175, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): “My first goal in Tax Reform is helping middle-class families. I believe that this starts with doubling the standard deduction.” (Sen. Kennedy, @SenJohnKennedy, Twitter, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): “We haven’t had meaningful tax reform since the 80s. It's past time to update & simplify our complicated code to reflect the 21st century. Very encouraged by direction of tax reform talks to alleviate some of the tax burden on both hardworking American families & job creators.” (Sen. Lankford, @SenatorLankford, Twitter, 9/27/2017)SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): “I think that the principles that should govern tax reform are growth, fairness, and simplicity… You’ve got to have a real tax cut on small businesses, on job producers, on working families. That’s how we unleash the economy.” (Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” 9/27/2017)

SENS. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL) and MIKE LEE (R-UT): “It is clear from the release of the Big Six framework today that an enhanced child tax credit remains the best way to provide meaningful tax relief for working American families. We are very encouraged by the plan’s priority for a ‘significantly increased’ child credit as its vehicle for this relief, and applaud the tax writers for this choice …. Tax reform should focus on addressing the present-day challenges facing working families. We look forward to working with the administration and tax writing committees to ensure that these families are first in line for tax relief.” (Sen. Rubio, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. JERRY MORAN (R-KS): “It has been more than 30 years since President Reagan signed the 1986 Tax Reform Act – the economy was entirely different and the way we do business across the world has changed drastically. Americans can no longer afford the status quo of an outdated and complicated tax system. Today’s tax reform framework is a first step toward growing our economy, boosting small businesses, creating new jobs and keeping good jobs here at home. Creating a fairer and simpler tax code means better days for working families and higher paying jobs in Kansas and across the country. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration on this tax reform framework.” (Sen. Moran, Press Release, 9/27/2017)

SEN. TODD YOUNG (R-IN): “President Trump made a convincing case today that this tax reform package will boost the economy and increase the take-home pay of every Hoosier. For the first time in 30 years, the prospects for a simpler tax code that lowers taxes for the working class and provides relief for small business owners look good. Let’s seize this opportunity and deliver on our promises to the American people.” (Sen. Young, Press Release, 9/27/2017):TEXT

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Judge Moore & God’s Law

by Patrick Buchanan: When elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000, Judge Roy Moore installed in his courthouse a monument with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai carved into it.

Told by a federal court his monument violated the separation of church and state, Moore refused to remove it and was suspended — to become famous as “The Ten Commandments Judge.”

Roy Moore is now the Republican candidate for the Senate from Alabama, having routed Sen. Luther Strange, whom President Trump endorsed and campaigned for.

Moore’s primary win is a fire bell in the night for GOP senators in 2018. And should he defeat his Democratic opponent, the judge will be coming to Capitol Hill, gunning for Mitch McConnell.

Yet it is the moral convictions of the candidate that make this an interesting race for all Americans. For Moore is a social conservative of a species that is almost extinct in Washington.

He believes that man-made law must conform to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” as written in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

If a law contradicts God’s law, it is invalid, nonbinding. In some cases, civil disobedience, deliberate violation of such a law, may be the moral duty of a Christian.

Moore believes God’s Law is even above the Constitution, at least as interpreted by recent Supreme Courts.

Homosexuality, an abomination in the Old Testament, Moore sees as “an inherent evil.” When the high court, in Obergefell v. Hodges, discovered a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Moore, back on the Alabama court, defied the decision, was suspended again, and resigned.

Postmodern America may see the judge as a refugee from the Neolithic period. Yet, his convictions, and how he has stood by them, are going to attract folks beyond Alabama. And the judge’s views on God, man and law are not without a distinguished paternity.

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King wrote: “(T)here are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all

“A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law.”

In his Declaration, Jefferson wrote that all men are endowed by their “Creator” with inalienable rights, and among these is the right to life.

Many Christians believe that what the Supreme Court did in Roe v. Wade — declare an unborn child’s right to life contingent upon whether its mother wishes to end it — violates God’s law, “Thou shalt not kill.”

Throughout our history, people acting upon such beliefs have defied laws, and are today celebrated for it.

Abolitionists, in violation of laws they believed immoral, set up the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape to freedom. King believed that laws imposing racial segregation violated the American “creed” that “all men are created equal” and acted on that belief.

Thomas Moore is considered by Catholics to be a saint and moral hero for defying Henry VIII’s demand, among others, that he endorse a lie, that the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was not adultery.

Early Christians accepted martyrdom rather than obey laws of the Caesars and burn incense to the gods of Rome.

After Hitler took power in 1933, he authorized the eradication of “useless eaters” in the Third Reich. Those who condemned these laws as violations of God’s law, and even attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1944, are today regarded as moral heroes.

Moore, should he win, is going to become an object of fascination in The Secular City. Yet his questions and concerns are those of the silent millions on the losing side of America’s culture war.

Is the USA still a good and Godly country when 55 million abortions have been performed with the sanction of law in 45 years?

Do court decisions that force Christians to act against their religious beliefs have to be obeyed? What is the duty of Christians in a paganized and perverted society?

What is taking place today is a growing alienation of one-half of the country from the other, a growing belief of millions of Americans that our society has become morally sick.

Christianity and the moral truths it has taught for 2,000 years have been deposed from the pre-eminent position they held until after World War II, and are now rejected as a source of law. They have been replaced by the tenets of a secular humanism that is the prevailing orthodoxy of our new cultural, social and intellectual elites.

If elected, Judge Moore, one imagines, will not be rendering respectfully unto the new Caesar.
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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.

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Fleeing or Flocking?

by Bill Bergman: United Van Lines has published an annual interstate migration study for decades. Looking at that study, along with state government financial conditions and related factors, you typically see that states in bad financial shape also tend to have lower trust in state government, and in turn, higher out-migration in recent years.

In addition to states’ migration trends, United Van Lines recently began publishing an analysis of cities. Using a slightly different method, the moving company reported the 10 cities with the highest net in-migration as well as out-migration.

We took a look at those cities to see how they fare in Truth in Accounting’s latest analysis of financial conditions of the nation’s 50 largest cities. Of the 50 largest municipalities, the average Taxpayer Burden calculated for the nine cities with the highest in-migration is one-fourth as high as the average for cities with the highest out-migration. Four of the cities with the highest out-migration rates were New York, Chicago, Boston and San Diego, according to United Van Lines.

Here’s another way to look at it -- the average Taxpayer Burden for the six states that have the 10 cities with the highest net out-migration runs five times as high as the average of the Taxpayer Burden for the nine states that are home to the top 10 cities for in-migration.

Illinois, New York and New Jersey account for five of the 10 cities with high net out-migration rates in the United Van Lines study. You can see the lists of the cities United Van Lines ranked here.

We will be releasing an updated report on the finances of the 50 largest cities in the US in January 2018.
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Bill Bergman is Director of Research at Truth in Accounting. He is responsible for identifying, collecting and managing State Data Lab's database. This database provides healthy context for understanding state and local government financial conditions. Bergman has over twenty years of financial market experience, including thirteen years as an economist and policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

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Americans in Debt

by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: Not only is the U.S. government in debt, but many of its citizens are in significant debt as well. Economists announced that credit card debt for Americans has now reached a new height of $1.02 trillion.

Matt Schultz is a senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com. He says, “This record should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to focus on their credit card debt.” He adds, “Even if you feel your debt is manageable right now, know that you could be one unexpected emergency away from real trouble.”

While I am talking about credit card debt, let me also talk about other debts that Americans currently hold. The New York Federal Reserve recently released a report that estimated the collective U.S. household debt at about $12.73 trillion. Once again this is a record and surpasses the previous amount back in 2008 during the recession.

The report also provides some context to American debt. Housing-related debt is down nearly $1 trillion since the 2008 peak. However, auto loan balances are $367 billion higher, and student loans are $671 billion higher.

In the past, we have talked about the growing problem of student loan debt, so let me focus a moment on auto loan debt. Americans struggle with this form of debt, especially because there are often higher interest rates. Millions of these loans are in delinquency and many people report taking out a loan with a repayment period longer than the time they planned to own the vehicle.

In my book, Making the Most of Your Money in Tough Times, I talk about the dangers of debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a servant to the lender. So many Americans are enslaved by debt.
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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

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O That Wacky Gerrymandering

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: Hillary Clinton: always wrong.

Oh, I’m sure that when she tells the maid “We need milk,” she’s accurate enough. Otherwise — forget it.

Her latest howlers pertain to the movement to convene a Convention of States. If two thirds of the states call for the convention, it “will be” convened, per the U.S. Constitution. If 38 states approve a convention-proposed amendment, it will be added to the Constitution.

Different pro-convention groups support different amendments, on everything from a balanced budget to spending limits to term limits. U.S. Term Limits is promoting a Term Limits Convention to propose an amendment for congressional term limits.

A great idea.

Clinton, though, sees calamity: “The right wing, aided and funded by the Mercers, Koch brothers, etc. [sic], is very serious about calling a constitutional convention,” she warned recently.

“Part of their gerrymandering is to control state legislatures, elect Republican governors, and to call a constitutional convention [no, a convention of states] and,” the author of What Happened elaborates, “if you really get deep into what they are advocating, limits on the First Amendment, no limits on the Second Amendment, limits on criminal justice . . . [A] very insidious right-wing agenda.”

Gee, the old multiple-fallacies-and-vague-ominous-assertions-per-second trick!

First, how to “gerrymander” statewide gubernatorial elections?

Or “gerrymander” the enthusiasm of millions for restraints on government?

Or apply the districting concept to the Founders’ constitutional provision for end-running Congress?

As for the political issues she blunderingly raises, Clinton seems to regard any political disagreement whatever with herself as proof of billionaire-funded “right-wing conspiracy.”

Well, left-wing conspirators always say such things.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacob 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.

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Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Wacky Gerrymandering, Hillary Clinton, Convention of States To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Economic Growth Is Dependent On Fixing The Tax Code

Editorial Cartoon by AF Branco

by Natalia Castro: Republicans have finally released their tax proposal. While many are pleased, the devil will clearly be in the details for many who are still unsure if they should support the bill. A more modest approach has been taken from what the President originally entertained, but whether moderate Republicans and even some Democrats will be swayed enough is still unclear. As Republicans pivot toward taxes, many are hoping this long-awaited reform will be Congress’s first major legislative achievement.

The proposal centers around lowering tax rates for individuals and families and simplifying the code from seven tax brackets to three — at 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent, with the potential for an additional top rate for the highest income taxpayers.

While the tax plan’s specific details have yet to be released, the Republicans target had been something on the order of $5 trillion in tax cuts. Analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has found the real number is closer to $2.2 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years or $220 billion a year. While this appears less than conservative hopes, it is still 1.1 percent of GDP, making this tax cut second only in size to the 1981 Reagan cuts which fell at 2.89 percent of GDP over a four-year period post-enactment.

The conservative House Freedom Caucus was quick to back the framework of the bill, arguing it fulfills several Republican goals such as simplifying the tax code, allowing Americans to keep more of their money, and ending benefits to special interests that hinder competition. The statement said, “President Trump has delivered a forward looking tax reform framework that will let hard working Americans keep more of their money, simplify our system, end carve outs for special interests, and will help make our businesses competitive abroad. The Freedom Caucus looks forward to sending a final bill based on this framework to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible.”

Conservative groups echo this approval while remaining cautious that the cuts will be enough to stimulate the economy. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning explains, “The unfortunate fact is that our nation’s economy today has been stuck in neutral for more than a decade, not growing above 4 percent since 2000 and not above 3 percent since 2005. 3 percent GDP growth is now considered a fantasy when not too long ago it was the bare baseline expectation for U.S. growth. To get out of this permanent, stagnant, new normal of slow growth, flat wages and increasing economic despair, Congress needs to be bold in passing as large of a net tax cut as possible.”

However, without a single major legislative achievement this year, it is clear that conservative backing alone is not enough.

Senator John McCain has argued he will not support any legislation that is not approved on a bipartisan basis. Learning his lesson from the failed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump has been quick to make this a goal as well, reaching across the aisle to Democrats to get on board with the tax reform strategy.

Trump has targeted Democrats seeking reelection in 2018. Trump singled out Indiana Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly this week, claiming, “If Senator Donnelly doesn’t approve it — because you know he’s on the other side — we will come here and we will campaign against him like you wouldn’t believe.” Trump continued to remind the crowd that the tax reforms invoked by his predecessors Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, to simplify the tax code were never considered a partisan issue.

The President is also working with reelection ready Democrats, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia to garner bipartisan support.

Heitkamp traveled with President Trump to North Dakota and even appeared alongside him at an event on tax reform. She has yet to voice support for the tax plan but neither has she rejected it; rather than she has optimistically claimed she is eager to read into the details. Solidarity between the Heitkamp and Trump could signal a partnership that propels tax reform to passage.

If Republicans no longer have to rely on a party-line vote, they would have significant leeway in case moderate Republicans such as McCain, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) choose to vote against the Republican agenda as they did on healthcare.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reaffirmed the importance of coming together on this issue. His Sept. 27, 2017, statement notes, “This is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally rethink our tax code. We can unleash the economy — promoting growth, attracting jobs, and improving American competitiveness in the global market. Instead of sending jobs overseas, we can modernize our tax code to help bring strong investment and good-paying jobs home and keep them here… Many of our Democratic colleagues have voiced support for overhauling our tax code. And throughout this process, I hope they will choose to work with us in a serious way. A fundamental overhaul of our tax code is a daunting task, and we have a lot of work ahead, but America deserves it.”

While the full details, along with exact numbers still need to be released, it is clear this tax overhaul could be the turning point for a Congress unable to pass significant reforms. With Republicans and some Democrats alike vying for a simpler tax system, the Republican plan could offer the moderation liberals want while stimulating the economy enough to change years of stagnant performance. The devil will be in the details which could induce support or destroy it.
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Natalia Castro is a contributing editor for Americans for Limited Government.

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Tags: Natalia Castro, Americans for Limited Government,Tax Code, Natalia Castro, Americans for Limited Government  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Trump’s Opportunity to Oust Those Who Covered Up Benghazi Missteps

by Helle Dale: It’s been five years since terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, leaving four Americans dead.

Now, Libya’s interim government is considering opening up Benghazi to foreign consulates again. But it’s hard to imagine foreign governments rushing to return to Benghazi. By 2013, when law and order in the city collapsed completely, no foreign diplomats remained.

While five years have passed, the legal repercussions of the attack and the cover-up are far from over.

The jury selection in the trial of Ahmed Abu Khattala, the only terrorist ever arrested for the attack, is just now getting under way in a Washington, D.C., federal court.

Meanwhile, recent interviews have revealed how ill-judged the Obama administration’s Libya policy was and how absolutely irresponsible Hillary Clinton’s State Department was to place its personnel at such mortal risk.

Earlier this month, Brad Owens and Jerry Torres of Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions came forward with allegations that a Clinton State Department official told them after the Sept. 11, 2012, attack to keep silent with information they had regarding the security situation in Benghazi.

The company had been approached in August 2012 to remedy the clearly inadequate protection for staff working in Benghazi as al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups were fanning out all over the city.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens in an email in July 2012 described the deteriorating situation and asked for a minimum of 13 armed guards, which the State Department turned down.

Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions provides security for U.S. embassies around the world. In the case of Benghazi, it had been outbid by 4 percent by a tiny British company, Blue Mountain Group, based in Wales.

Blue Mountain failed miserably to take care of the job, and did not even provide guards with weapons.

By the time Torres was called in, it was too late. According to Owens and Torres, in the days after the Sept. 11 attack, the two were summoned by State Department contracting officer Jan Visintainer and told to keep silent about what they knew.

Even after the tragic events in Benghazi, she asked them to endorse a policy of keeping embassy guards unarmed.

Fearing for their other contracts, Owens and Torres kept quiet about what they knew until now.

But with the Trump administration now in place and with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson working to reform the State Department, there is now at least a chance to clean out the personnel who implemented Clinton’s disastrous miscalculations in Benghazi and covered up the State Department’s horrendous mistakes.
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Helle C. Dale (@Helledale)is the Heritage Foundation's senior fellow in public diplomacy. Her work focuses on the U.S. government’s institutions and programs for strategic outreach to the public of foreign countries, as well as more traditional diplomacy.

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GOP Must Turn the Tax Framework Into Tax Cut Legislation

by Newt Gingrich: The tax cut framework Republican leaders and President Trump announced Wednesday is a crucial first step toward increased job creation, economic growth, and real prosperity in the United States.

It provides Congress with a clear, concise outline from which to write significant, popular tax cut legislation that could help America break out of the dependency model of big government which has proliferated since the Lyndon B. Johnson era.

Cutting taxes for the middle class – and especially small business owners – will also break our country out of the cycle of slow economic growth that has been the hallmark of the past decade of Democratic leadership in Washington.

If small businesses – which employ nearly half of our private sector workforce – are able to keep more of their hard-earned money, they will be able to expand their businesses, hire more people, and increase wages.

Reducing the 35 percent federal corporate income tax rate down to 20 percent will help America compete with other countries to attract new businesses to our shores. This is incredibly important. With state taxes included, the United States currently has the fourth highest business tax in the world. In contrast, the world average business tax rate is 22.96 percent, according to a Tax Foundation study of 202 tax jurisdictions.

Moving the United States to a territorial tax system – in which multinational businesses would not be penalized for bringing foreign earnings to America – will lead to trillions of dollars coming back to America. We are one of only six major countries that has a worldwide system that taxes earnings companies make in other countries. Those earnings could be invested in American factories, American jobs, and American wages.
Undoubtedly, Democrats are going to claim Republicans are trying to cut taxes for the rich. Senator Chuck Schumer has already made this claim.

Republicans can defeat this attack with a few simple truths.

First, under the Republican tax cut plan, the standard deduction would double, so people who make less than $12,000 a year (or married couples filing jointly who make less than $24,000) would pay zero federal income taxes. Those in the lowest income bracket would see their tax burden reduced by $12,000 or $24,000. The current standard federal deduction is $6,350. This represents an enormous tax break for America’s lowest income earners and the middle class.

Second, the GOP plan calls for increasing the $1,000-per-child tax credit – and increasing the income cap for earning this credit. This is not a tax deduction that decreases overall taxable income. It’s a dollar-for-dollar credit on taxes owed. This will be tremendously helpful for American families who are struggling to provide for their children. This framework also effectively eliminates the perverse incentive to keep parents seeking this tax credit from marrying.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of the GOP framework is the small business tax cut. Small businesses make up 99 percent of the employers in our country. Despite what Schumer and the Left will try to allege, 71 percent of small business owners report adjusted incomes that are less than $100,000 a year. These business owners are squarely the American middle class – not the 1 percent. The Republican plan reduces the top tax rate on small businesses the lowest level in 80 years.

Republicans must get these messages out to the public – and they must do so constantly until this legislation is signed into law.

If the American people know the truth about this tax cut plan, it will be so popular that Democrats – especially those up for re-election – will have to support it. Already, Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, a Democrat, joined President Trump in Indianapolis for Wednesday’s announcement.

This speaks to my last point: Turning this tax cut framework into real tax cuts – and doing so by Thanksgiving – is the key to ensuring Republicans keep and grow our governing majority in 2018 and beyond.

If the GOP can actually sign into law these tax cuts, the prosperity created by these pro-job, pro-growth, pro-America tax cuts will provide the momentum Republicans need to continue draining the swamp, reigning in the bureaucracy, and making America great again.
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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.

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