What’s interesting in the news today?
Open Thread
1. Caving to the whiny minority.
From TheAP “The South Carolina House approved a bill removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds, a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.
The move early Thursday came after more than 13 hours of passionate and contentious debate, and just weeks after the fatal shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston.
“South Carolina can remove the stain from our lives,” said 64-year-old Rep. Joe Neal, a black Democrat first elected in 1992. “I never thought in my lifetime I would see this.”
The House approved the Senate bill by a two-thirds margin, and the bill now goes to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk. She supports the measure, which calls for the banner to come down within 24 hours of her signature. It’s not clear exactly when that will be.”
The majority of Americans disagree.
From TheHill “Most Americans continue to think of the Confederate flag as emblematic of Southern pride and not inherently racist, according to a new Gallup poll, though views are divided along party lines.
Some 54 percent of Americans say the flag represents not racism but Southern heritage, but Democratic support for the Confederate battle banner has dropped precipitously, according to the survey.
About a third of Democrats, 32 percent, view the flag as symbolic of Southern pride, almost half of the 61 percent who held that view when surveyed in 1992.
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2. Trump’s only in trouble for speaking the truth.
From MRCTV “Donald Trump has been under fire for remarks he made on illegal immigrants during the announcement of his candidacy. “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” He said. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
While the remarks are certainly blunt, they’re not inherently wrong. Border Patrol seized just under $3.5M worth of marijuana from Mexican nationals in Arizona this past Thursday alone. There’s also been 40 cases of sex abuse by illegal aliens this year, and that’s just from what Border Patrol has posted as media releases on their website. A staggering amount of those cases involve children and minors.”
There’s a long list of offenders at the link.
Here’s more. From TheWashingtonExaminer “Of the more than 2,200 people who received federal sentences for drug possession in fiscal year 2014, almost three-quarters of them were illegal immigrants, according to new data from the United States Sentencing Commission.
Illegal immigrants also made up more than one-third of all federal sentences, that data said.
The commission’s data showed a slight decline in the total number of illegal alien sentences from 2013 to 2014, but still showed that the illegal population is a major contributor to federal crimes in America.
In 2013, illegal immigrants were responsible for 38.6 percent of all federal sentencing, and that dropped to 36.7 percent in 2014.
But the sentencing of illegal immigrants for drug possession jumped significantly. In 2013, 1,123 illegal immigrants were sentenced on convictions of simple possession, and made up 55.8 percent of those cases.
In 2014, 1,681 illegal aliens were sentenced, and they made up 74.1 percent of the total. Illegal immigrants were also 16.9 percent of all federal drug trafficking sentences.”
And 63% of polled voters agree with Trump.
From Rasmussen “During his announcement that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump called for tougher border control, saying Mexico and Central America are not sending their best people here but are exporting a lot of criminals instead. In surveys dating back to 2008, as many as 69% of voters have agreed with the billionaire businessman that gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of those who are here illegally. In seven years, that number has never dipped below 53%, and in April it hit a four-year high of 63%.
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Wandering Views 
They’re talking about naming FT Bragg, here in CA, because it was named for Braxton Bragg who served there in 1854 but went on to be a general in the CSA.
I’ve only lived in NorCal for 20 years. I had no idea who it was named for.
Looking for molehills to turn into mountains.
My gggranddaughter was a colonel in the CSA and owned slaves–all of whom took his last name when emancipated.
Am I a criminal?
But his second cousin was Abraham Lincoln, then US president. When do my “crimes” balance out against my kinfolk?
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All of this, folks, is reminiscent of USSR, China and Cambodia when old governments were toppled.
If anyone bothered to read anymore, they would recognize the signs.
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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-the-south-skews-america-119725.html#.VZ6KRfm6eM8
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Kim, I saw that article the other day.
The South will be made to pay.
I suspect California feels left out of the national cleansing ritual now underway and is frantically looking for things it can rename.
What an odd period we’re suddenly in. 😦 Deleted, your comparisons to other countries are spot on I’m afraid. I don’t know that most people see or care, though.
You wonder where this is all heading.
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And how weak and vulnerable we must now appear to our enemies, cyber or otherwise (because we are weak and vulnerable). Is it an overreaction to say that the U.S. seems to be imploding ? … 😦 😦
Maybe I’m just feeling fed up with it all, Trump (sorry) included. 😉 What a mess we’re in.
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One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.
Golda Meir
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/golda_meir.html#MqyuDbeuit9GK2Ae.99
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This all just makes me want to go watch the banned reruns of Dukes of Hazzard — a show I’ve never in my life even seen once
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You didn’t miss much which is why it is so funny that they had to ban it.
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Kim, I didn’t know all those things about you guys. Now that I know, I’ll have to be on my guard against anything you say. At least I got out of there before I got (too) corrupted!
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Donna, the best thing about the show was that the guys were cute.
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The South will not pay quietly. 🙂
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Are we better off now? Just something to think about …
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Despite the complaints from the left (and from some on the right) that the Bush foreign policy had been a disaster, the facts are that his security policy was a success, and he left Iraq on a fairly sound footing and in the process of evolving into an imperfect democracy. (If you don’t believe that, see what the Democrats were saying circa 2010-2012, or just prior to our leaving that country.) The last two are facts, based on what did and what failed to happen, and the assessments made at the time, and not later in retrospect. On the contrary, the complaints made by critics—that the invasion of Iraq was unwise and unwarranted, and that the world would have been better off had Saddam stayed in power—are based on conjecture, and the creation of alternative outcomes in projected scenarios that have no basis in fact.
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/are-we-better-now_978567.html
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I believe the disastrous condition concerning national security is by design.
We aren’t finished disarming. Another 40,000 are scheduled to be released from the military.
If I were running as a Republican this time, I would publicize that every person dismissed without cause between now and my inauguration would be recalled and retrained at present rank.
I would modernize and increase our nuclear capabilities.
I would establish a cyber security division. (They may already have one. this is not something you publicize.)
I would reconsider the production of fancy new weapons. e.g. I would modernize with modern avionics and reproduce the “A-10 and B-52.
Among other things.
No women in combat, BTW. However, I like the idea of the video I once saw of af woman in Nevada knocking out a Taliban truck with a drone..
I can invasion this woman killing a bunch of Taliban fighters, then rushing off to get some cerial and baby food.
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Chas for president. I believe you are younger than Hillary. Am I right?
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While I think the Confederate flag cleansing is stupid, so is this, to be honest. Can we all just move on already?
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/07/a-bonehead-move-by-republicans-on-the-confederate-flag.php
” … This is crazy. All Confederates were Democrats. The Southern states seceded because a Republican had been elected president, and Republicans led the effort that defeated the Confederacy and abolished slavery. Yet, through sheer stupidity, as best I can tell, Republicans in Congress are on the verge of making the GOP, in the public’s eyes, the party of the Confederacy and slavery. ..
” … Sadly, there is a lot of truth to the conventional view that Democrats are evil, and Republicans are stupid. Could our elected representatives in Congress seriously not see this coming? If so, we need to elect someone else. Someone smarter.”
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And after posting that, I realized it could be seen as anti-South — that wasn’t my feeling or intent.
It’s just that now I think this whole thing (like it or not) has taken on a certain symbolism and the left is using it now (effectively, apparently) as a political trap.
Let’s not take the bait. It’s time to move on from arguing over the flag. For now it’s a losing battle, no pun intended.
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