Month: May 2015
News/Politics 5-12-15
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
1. The problem with “hate speech” laws is that sooner or later, people you disagree with will be the ones deciding what is and isn’t “hate speech.” Why don’t liberals get that?
From HotAir “Wonderful news. Not the charges themselves; those are terrible. What’s wonderful is that, hopefully, the more the American left finds its own pet causes targeted as “hate speech” abroad, the less eager they’ll be to encourage an awful European-style hate-speech legal regime at home. They’re going to learn a hard lesson here about what can happen when the state gains the power to criminalize “hate.”
In January, Canada’s then foreign affairs minister, John Baird, signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem, pledging to combat BDS. It described the movement as “the new face of anti-Semitism.”…
[I]n response to specific questions about what “zero tolerance” of BDS means, and how it will be enforced, [Public Safety Minister Steven] Blaney aide Josee Sirois gave CBC News a much clearer picture of the government’s intent.
She highlighted what she termed “hate propaganda” provisions in the Criminal Code criminalizing the promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, and further noted that “identifiable group” now includes any section of the public distinguished by “among other characteristics, religion or national or ethnic origin.”
Encouraging a boycott of Saudi-owned businesses because you object to how the Kingdom treats religious minorities would presumably also be criminal “hate” based on national origin. I wonder how Canadian law would treat a boycott of a Christian-owned business organized by gay-rights activists if the proprietor refused to cater a gay wedding. Is the business owner guilty of discrimination or are the boycotters guilty of “hate” based on religion, another “identifiable group” protected by Canadian law? Or both?”
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2. Democrats on the FEC commission are seeking to limit conservative websites and super PACs. Like the story above, they seek to limit the free speech of their political enemies. And they’re mad that the opposition won’t play along.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “Bristling at claims that GOP opposition has made the Federal Election Commission “worse than dysfunctional” in the eyes of the Democratic chairwoman, Republicans counter-charge that the left is frustrated because it hasn’t succeeded in regulating conservative Internet sites, media and right-leaning super PACs.
In an escalating fight on the politically-divided FEC, the former Republican chairman on Monday charged his Democratic replacement with playing politics and trying to belittle foes to get her way.
“In Washington, people have a way of vilifying anything they disagree with in the most unflattering labels,” wrote Republican Commissioner Lee E. Goodman in a column for Politico. It was in response to claims by Democratic Chair Ann Ravel that the GOP is thwarting her bid to clean up politics.
“Commissioner Ravel believes that there are too many instances where the commissioners have evenly divided their votes, and that the bipartisan safeguards that prevent one party from politicizing or misusing the agency to punish political enemies stand in the way of meaningful enforcement,” wrote Goodman.”
“But Goodman provided figures which dismissed that charge. Under his chairmanship, he said, the commission acted in a bipartisan manner 93 percent of the time, including several votes with the GOP by Ravel. However on key issues like Democratic targeting of conservative media, possibly including conservative websites like the Drudge Report, the sides deadlocked.”
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3. Cop killings in the US have nearly doubled in the last year. I can’t help but think the current administration’s policies and approach to anti-police groups have something to do with it.
From TheNYPost “The number of cops killed in the line of duty during violent acts has almost doubled in the past year, the FBI said.
In 2014, 51 cops were killed in a felony crime — up from just 27 the year before, which marked a 35-year low,according to preliminary data released Monday by the FBI.
By region, eight cops were killed during the commission of a crime in the Northeast, 17 in the South, 14 in the West, eight in the Midwest and four in Puerto Rico.
An average of 64 officers were killed per year nationwide from 1980 to 2014 in felony cases, the FBI said.
The data come amid spiking tensions between law enforcement and minority communities after deaths of unarmed black men and boys at the hands of cops in Baltimore, Staten Island and Ferguson, Mo.”
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4. How sad for these young women, and especially their children.
From CNSNews “Forty-five percent of American mothers in their twenties have never been married, according to data that the Census Bureau released leading into the Mother’s Day weekend.
As of June 2014, according to the Census Bureau, there were 8,118,000 American women who were mothers and were from 20 to 29 years of age. Of these 8,118,000 American mothers in their twenties, 3,689,000 had never been married. That is 45.4 percent.
“In comparison with all mothers, young mothers are more likely to have had their first birth when they were neither married nor cohabiting,” states the Census. “Among young mothers who had their first birth between 2005 and June of 2012, 38 percent were neither married nor cohabiting at the time of the first birth.”
While the percentage of babies who are born to unmarried mothers is increasing, the average number of babies born per woman is declining.”
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Our Daily Thread 5-11-15
Good Morning!
The header and the pics below are from a nest-building couple I watched on Saturday. It was pretty cool. They worked fast weaving the stuff in and then flew right off for more.
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On this day in 0330 Constantinople, previously the town of Byzantium, was founded.
In 1812 British prime Minster Spencer Perceval was shot by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons.
In 1816 The American Bible Society was formed in New York City.
And in 1947 the creation of the tubeless tire was announced by the B.F. Goodrich Company.
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Quote of the Day
“There’s no business like show business.”
Irving Berlin
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Today is Irving’s birthday.
This seems very appropriate for a Monday morning. 🙂
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 5-11-15
Anyone have something they’d like to share?
Psalm 138
¹I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.
8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
News/Politics 5-11-15
What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
1. The Obama admin continues it’s amnesty program, despite a court order not to. Laws are for the commoners.
From TheWashingtonTimes “President Obama’s lawyers admitted to a federal judge late Thursday that they had broken the court’s injunction halting the administration’s new deportation amnesty, issuing thousands of work permits even after Judge Andrew S. Hanen had ordered the program stopped.
The stunning admission, filed just before midnight in Texas, where the case is being heard, is the latest misstep for the administration’s lawyers, who are facing possible sanctions by Judge Hanen for their continued problems in arguing the case.
The Justice Department lawyers said Homeland Security, which is the defendant in the case, told them Wednesday that an immigration agency had approved about 2,000 applications for three-year work permits, which was part of Mr. Obama’s new amnesty, even after Judge Hanen issued his Feb. 16 injunction halting the entire program.
Top Obama officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, had repeatedly assured Congress they had fully halted the program and were complying with the order.”
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2. Shockingly, the Obama admin continues to stonewall on the Benghazi probe.
From RollCall “The Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Friday defended the pace of his panel’s year-old investigation into the 2012 terror attack and announced plans to interview three top aides to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., in a 15-page “Interim Progress Update” released on the one-year-anniversary of the committee’s creation, blamed the Obama administration for delays in the panel’s probe.
“It is difficult to conduct a fact-centric congressional investigation when the Administration impedes the Committee’s progress by repeatedly failing to answer the Committee’s requests or to provide information in a timely manner,” wrote the South Carolina Republican.
“The largest impediment to being able to write the final, definitive accounting of what happened before, during and after the terrorist attacks in Benghazi is the Executive Branch itself.”
But Gowdy, who also has asked Clinton to appear before his panel, credits his committee with uncovering thousands of new emails and documents related to the administration’s handling of the attack that left four Americans dead.
Gowdy also said the panel wants to interview at least 60 more current and former officials, including Clinton, Susan Rice, Patrick Kennedy and three of Clinton’s top aides during her tenure as secretary of State: Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin.”
Good. Subpoena them and put ’em under oath.
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3. The Clinton Foundation – the more we know, the worse it gets.
From Breitbart “Shocking revelations show that at least four Clinton Foundation board of directors have either been charged or convicted of financial crimes, including bribery and fraud.
This newest, startling revelation is just one more of many in Peter Schweizer’s bombshell book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, the book that has sent the Hillary Clinton campaign and the media scrambling.
The book shows that there are many problems with the Clinton charity. In fact, the Clinton Foundation is so unlike a real charity that even charity watchdog group Charity Navigatorrefuses to rate the Clinton Foundation because of its “atypical business model.”
One of those problems is the fact that the Clintons put big donors and close pals on the board for reasons that are hard to fathom. In fact, at least four of these “board members” have either been charged or convicted of serious financial irregularities, crimes including bribery and fraud.”
Hey, if you’re gonna run a scam foundation of this magnitude, you need experienced people who can hide the fraud best, right?
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Our Daily Thread 5-10-15
Happy Mother’s Day!
Our Daily Thread 5-9-15
Good Morning!
Welcome to the weekend.
Today’s header photo is from Cheryl.
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On this day in 1671 Thomas “Captain” Blood stole the crown jewels from the Tower of London.
In 1941 the German submarine U-110 was captured at sea by Britain’s Royal navy.
In 1961 Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.
And in 1962 a laser beam was successfully bounced off Moon for the first time.
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Quote of the Day
“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
Theodore Hesburgh
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Today is Hank Snow’s birthday.
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Wandering Views 