Mitt Romney

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News/Politics 3-4-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, with a few from me to start off.

1. Why Russia no longer fears the US.

From Politico  “The West is blinking in disbelief – Vladimir Putin just invaded Ukraine. German diplomats, French Eurocrats and American pundits are all stunned. Why has Russia chosen to gamble its trillion-dollar ties with the West?

 Western leaders are stunned because they haven’t realized Russia’s owners no longer respect Europeans the way they once did after the Cold War. Russia thinks the West is no longer a crusading alliance. Russia thinks the West is now all about the money.

Putin’s henchmen know this personally. Russia’s rulers have been buying up Europe for years. They have mansions and luxury flats from London’s West End to France’s Cote d’Azure. Their children are safe at British boarding and Swiss finishing schools. And their money is squirrelled away in Austrian banks and British tax havens.

Putin’s inner circle no longer fear the European establishment. They once imagined them all in MI6. Now they know better. They have seen firsthand how obsequious Western aristocrats and corporate tycoons suddenly turn when their billions come into play. They now view them as hypocrites—the same European elites who help them hide their fortunes.”

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2. 8 steps Obama must take to punish Russia.

From Politico  “Russia’s illegal military incursion in the Crimea region in Ukraine is a grave violation of a nation’s sovereignty and cannot go unpunished.

 First, President Obama should speak unequivocally and call this what it is: a military invasion. The Obama administration must publicly acknowledge that its “reset” with Russia is dead. The president must now accept that the only way to deal with tyrants like Vladimir Putin is with a clear understanding that they can’t be trusted and that only decisive action will deter their provocative moves.

Second, President Obama should dispatch Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Kiev to show U.S. support for Ukraine’s transitional government, and urge our allies in the European Union and NATO to send representatives there as well. The United States should convene an emergency meeting of NATO to develop a strong united response from the trans-Atlantic alliance. And we should send high-level delegations to our allies in Central and Eastern Europe to reinforce the fact that we are standing by them. As part of this work with our allies, we should develop a series of economic and security assurance measures to help the transitional government in Kiev remain stable and carry out a democratic transition.”

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3. The WaPo editorial board is pointing out the fact that President Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy.

From TheWashingtonPost  “FOR FIVE YEARS, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. It was a world in which “the tide of war is receding” and the United States could, without much risk, radically reduce the size of its armed forces. Other leaders, in this vision, would behave rationally and in the interest of their people and the world. Invasions, brute force, great-power games and shifting alliances — these were things of the past. Secretary of State John F. Kerry displayed this mindset on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday when he said, of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, “It’s a 19th century act in the 21st century.”

That’s a nice thought, and we all know what he means. A country’s standing is no longer measured in throw-weight or battalions. The world is too interconnected to break into blocs. A small country that plugs into cyberspace can deliver more prosperity to its people (think Singapore or Estonia) than a giant with natural resources and standing armies.

Unfortunately, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not received the memo on 21st-century behavior. Neither has China’s president, Xi Jinping, who is engaging in gunboat diplomacy against Japan and the weaker nations of Southeast Asia. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is waging a very 20th-century war against his own people, sending helicopters to drop exploding barrels full of screws, nails and other shrapnel onto apartment buildings where families cower in basements. These men will not be deterred by the disapproval of their peers, the weight of world opinion or even disinvestment by Silicon Valley companies. They are concerned primarily with maintaining their holds on power.”

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4. Next, some video reminders, and healthy dose of “I told you so.”

Apparently Putin didn’t get the memo.

From HotAir  “Now seems like a reasonable moment to recall these zingers, which Democrats and the media thought were terribly clever in 2012. Mitt Romney’s clear-eyed assessment of Vladimir Putin’s Russia is looking more spot-on accurate than ever, yet it was greeted at the time with widespread ridicule.”

“Who’s laughing now?”

There’s also more video of the DNC propaganda network explaining how wrong Romney was. Except he wasn’t, they were.

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5. Finally……. About time someone points out the obvious. This is just another of the President’s foreign policy fantasies.

From TheJerusalemPost  “Prime MinisterBinyamin Netanyahu met with US President Barack Obama in theOval Office on Monday, pushing back against pressure from the White House to swiftly cut a deal with the Palestinians as the president warned time was running out for peace.

“Israel has been doing its part, and I regret to say that the Palestinians haven’t,” Netanyahu said to Obama, in front of the press. “The people of Israel know that it’s the case.”

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6. Birds of a feather and all.

From TheDailyCaller  “Progressive billionaire George Soros and the Obama administration help fund the Chicago nonprofit that set up Obamacare enrollment programs for prison inmates.

Chicago-based Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) helped establish Obamacare enrollment programs for prisoners at Chicago’s Cook County Jail. Cook County is one of at least six states and counties enrolling prisoners to help shift inmate medical costs to federal taxpayers.

“A lot of states will come to this, because state corrections budgets are huge and county jail budgets are huge,” said TASC spokesperson Maureen McDonnell.”

All this does is shift the burden from the local/state level to the federal level. But don’t hold your breathe looking for a tax rebate on the local level. They need the extra cash to fund their pension/legacy costs.

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7. Is yelling the new spanking?

From Today  “You love them like crazy, but they can also drive you crazy, so no matter how well-behaved your children are, there comes a time when you need to get tough.

For lots of parents, that means yelling – something many feel awful about afterwards.”

“She’s also an opponent of spanking. In fact, some experts speculate that many families – apparently taking to heart research that indicates spanking can make kids more aggressive, angry and lead to problems later in life — are instead turning to yelling as a way to control their children.

 “Yelling is the new spanking. It’s sort of the go-to strategy for parents… I think (this) definitely is a generation of yellers,” said Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions and a TODAY Moms contributor. Many families tell her it’s the number one issue they want to change.“

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News/Politics 1-27-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Pres. Obama says income inequality is holding kids back. A new Harvard study says it’s something else. 

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “A new study from Harvard University on the ability of low-income children to achieve social mobility found that the largest hindrance to moving up the income ladder is being raised by a single parent. “The strongest and most robust predictor [of social mobility] is the fraction of children with single parents,” the study said.

Further, the study found that “[children] of married parents also have higher rates of upward mobility if they live in communities with fewer single parents.”

Now, obviously there are cases of successful children who were raised by single parents, but the study suggests that it is more likely for a child to climb the income ladder if they are living with both parents in a community of married parents.

The study found the prevalence of single parents to be a much larger factor in determining social mobility than income inequality — something President Obama and Democrats speak of ad nauseum.”

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2. The Obama admin loves to reward failure.

From TheBlaze  “Charlene Lamb, cited for failures in leadership from the Department of State’s own Accountability Review Board report, has been promoted to Regional Security Officer. We’ve heard rumor that she’s slated for international duty in Canada. She started the security officer training last week, much to the dismay of many within the State Department.

For those not keeping track, Charlene Lamb was in charge of the office that denied extra security personnel to the U.S. Ambassador in Libya before the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.”

“This is a gift, State (State Department) is going out of its way to take care of her. They initially wanted to send her to the Hauge but the rumor was out and they thought better because she would have lived in a castle. In addition RSO (Regional Security Officer) Hague is a sensitive position with NATO etc, and our allies would not have approved.”

Just like with the IRS, and Fast and Furious, she gets rewarded for keeping her mouth shut.

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3. Speaking of Fast and Furious……

They just never learn.

From OregonLive  “The 25-year-old meth addict stepped into Squid’s Smoke Shop toting a wadded sweatshirt concealing a pistol.

She was intent on trading with “Squid,” the long-haired man behind the Gresham smoke shop’s counter, or his crew. They paid her $520 in cash and two cartons of Marlboros for the Makarov semi-automatic pistol.

Roughly a month later, in March 2011, she learned Squid was no underworld buyer of guns and drugs. He was a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

He and his team ended their elaborate eight-month undercover sting in March 2011 by arresting 48 people who sold drugs and guns to Squid’s.  But now the $150,000 operation — which recovered only 10 stolen guns, none traced to a crime — is itself being investigated for its methods, including targeting mentally impaired individuals.”

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4. Ouch. That’s gotta sting, especially since it’s so obviously true.

From TheNYPost  “Mitt Romney thinks Vladimir Putin is better at being president than Barack Obama.

Romney, who lost the presidential race to Obama, told NBC that the Russian leader “outperformed” the president “time and time again on the world stage.”

The former GOP nominee called the US and Russia “geopolitical adversaries,” blamed Putin for giving cover to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and said fugitive leaker Edward Snowden’s asylum in Russia was a “bit of a stick in the eye of America.”

“I think most observers of the international political scene suggest that Russia has elevated itself in stature and America has been diminished,” Romney said.”

I seem to recall Democrats ridiculing Romney for saying Russia should be our biggest concern. Maybe they should have listened because Putin’ been eating Obama’s lunch.

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5. This one bothers me. They seem more concerned with aiding a child molester than they are with his poor victim.

From TheDailyMail  “Law enforcement officials in Rochester New York say colleagues of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio were uncooperative during the investigation. LoMaglio, 37, an elementary school gym teacher, was convicted last month of sexually molesting an eight-year-old boy between 2006 and 2007.

Many teachers and administrators who had worked with LoMaglio, who was sentenced last week to four years prison for second degree sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child, refused to speak to investigators.”

“According to EAG News, 22 of LoMaglio’s co-workers wrote to the judge in support of the teacher during the case, some of whom said they would trust him with their own children and others who said they considered him a good role model for kids. “

“‘Some of the people [on the school staff] who were cooperative told us there was talk at school, sort of like ‘Are you for the teacher or for the student,’” Kyle Rossi, the assistant district attorney who tried the case against LoMaglio, told EAGnews. ‘It was very disappointing to make contact with teachers who wouldn’t give us the time of day until they were instructed to.”

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6. An ObamaCare alternative from the GOP? So repeal has now become replace?

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by

News/Politics 10-22-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always. Here’s a few to start off with.

This first one is a couple of weeks old, but we will start off with it because it’s where the story begins.

From TampaBay.com  “This had been his idea. He’d heard something about God helping people who help themselves. So here he was, on a Sunday in September, surrounded by strangers, taking his future into his sweaty hands.”

“Davion always longed for a family. His caseworker took him to picnics, put his portrait in the Heart Gallery. But he had thrown chairs, blown his grades, pushed people away.

When he learned his birth mother was dead, everything changed. He had to let go of the hope that she would come get him. Abandon his anger. Now he didn’t have anyone else to blame.

“He decided he wanted to control his behavior and show everyone who he could be,” Going said. So someone would want him.

“I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”

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Well I’m happy to say it looks like this young man will get his wish. 🙂

From Yahoo/GMA  “A Florida orphan whose church plea for a family to “love me until I die” has received about 10,000 requests from people asking to adopt him and will “without a doubt” be getting a family, his caseworker said today in an appearance with him on ABC’s “The View.”

Davion Only, 15, took the opportunity of being on national TV today to thank the group homes and foster homes that have “taken good care of me.” He also apologized for being a “butthead” to some of them when he was younger.

Only has been in foster care his whole life, but has never had a family. On a recent Sunday, he stood in front of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., and made a public plea for a family.”

“”Without a doubt, Davion will have a family,” his caseworker Connie Going said on “The View” today.”

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I wish the young man the best. After reading his story though, I read another story on adoption which shows this young teenager is smarter than some adults. It seems some would deny Davion his wish simply for the prospective parent’s political views. How truly sad. They need to grow up and consider the children instead. They should take these words from Davion to heart.

“I’ll take anyone,” Davion said. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.”

From Rare.us  “Last week, I wrote about a strange phenomenon we experienced firsthand after adopting our daughter from Ethiopia: Liberals think adoption is great, unless white, Christian, Republicans are the ones doing it. It was odd and sad to have strangers questioning and criticizing our family composition. The same crowd who emphasizes that there are all kinds of families — gay, lesbian, straight, divorced — suddenly got the vapors when they saw my black child on my hip at a GOP convention.

Apparently, according to the comments on my blog, many people believe conservatives have no business adopting a black child.  The New York Times has occasionally jumped in the fray, questioning whether black kids might be better off without parents at all if their only option is of the white variety.”

“I got many comments from liberals accusing me of exaggeration, claiming I’d created a straw-man argument, and that my “persecution complex was showing.”  Then, as if on cue, Ann Romney tweeted out a photo of their newest grandchild, adopted by their son Ben and his wife Andelyne:

“The response from the liberal Twitterverse was swift, predictable and damning. Here is a selection of the responses:”

And then it gets as bad as you would expect.

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Next up a reminder that voter fraud is a myth.

From TheHill  “A former chief of staff to Rep. Joe Garcia  (D-Fla.) is heading to jail for his role in organizing an online absentee  ballot-request scheme in the 2012 elections. 

Jeffrey  Garcia, 41, who isn’t related to the congressman, will spend about three months  in jail as part of a plea deal reached with the Miami-Dade state attorney’s  office, the Miami  Herald newspaper reported Sunday.”

“Prosecutors found Jeffrey Garcia had requested hundreds of ballots without  voters’ permission, the Herald said. None of them, however, were mailed, forged  or cast.  

Florida law prohibits anyone but voters or their immediate family members from  requesting ballots online.”

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Since the ObamaCare website is so riddled with errors and problems, the President decided to tell folks about the 800 number to call where you could get help with problems.  

And that doesn’t work either…….. 🙄

From NationalReview  “President Obama emerged on Monday to assure Americans that the “kinks” surrounding the federal and state health-care exchanges are improving and urged consumers to call the exchange hotline if they continue to encounter problems online. Shortly after he made the suggestion, Twitter lit up with reporters and others who attempted to do so but failed to get through to a navigator as promised. After dialing the number, some callers got a busy signal, others received an automated message, and yet others were referred back to Healthcare.gov.”

You couldn’t make this stuff up even if you were trying to write a tragic comedy. I shouldn’t be laughing when it’s such a serious thing, and yet I can’t help myself.

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