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News/Politics 5-5-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

I’ll start things off…..

1. First, a good news story. 

From TheIndependent  “A teenager has been hailed as “the most beautiful student in China” after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesn’t have to miss a class.

The story of 18-year-old Xie Xu, who volunteered to look after his 19-year-old classmate Zhang Chi, has been shared widely on Chinese social media and received widespread local media coverage.

Guo Chunxi, the deputy headmaster at Daxu High School in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, where the friends have studied together for the past three years, described the story as “so inspiring and touching”.

He said Xie had led by example in helping Zhang, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, a condition that gradually weakens skeletal muscle.”

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2. The terrorist attack in Texas is raising some questions about the 1st Amendment. And of course, some on the left want to use it as an excuse to limit free speech they find offensive. 

From McClatchy  “The two gunmen who opened fire with assault weapons outside the exhibit on Sunday were killed by a police officer. They have been identified by law enforcement as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, both of Phoenix. They appear, from social media posts, to have been motivated by a desire to become mujahedeen, or holy warriors.

The attack highlights the tensions between protecting Americans’ treasured right to freedom of expression and preserving public safety, and it raises questions about when – if ever – government should intervene.

There are two exceptions from the constitutional right to free speech – defamation and the doctrine of “fighting words” or “incitement,” said John Szmer, an associate professor of political science and a constitutional law expert at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“Fighting words is the idea that you are saying something that is so offensive that it will lead to an immediate breach of the peace,” Szmer explained. “In other words, you are saying something and you should expect a violent reaction by other people.”

The exhibit of cartoons in Texas might have crossed the line, Szmer said.

“I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect what they were doing would incite a violent reaction,” he said.”

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3. As much as I dislike Ms. Geller’s methods, to say they had it coming is a bit much to swallow. 

From HotAir  “When political commentators note that there is no justification for sexual violence, they aren’t adhering to doctrinal feminism but the tenets of civilized Western thought. No woman, a responsible citizen would say, invites violence merely because their assailant was uncontrollably stimulated by their victim’s choice of attire. This is such a bedrock principle of human decency that it barely needs to be said. Only the most brutish and crude among us would contend otherwise. Why then does it appear vogue to imply that a terrorist attack on a Texas American Freedom Defense Initiative event organized by the group’s president, Pamela Geller, was the inevitable result of provocation on the part of the victims?

Yes, the event that was targeted by Islamist militants in Texas was specifically designed to provoke an inflamed response. The AFDI event promised a $10,000 reward for the attendee who drew the best caricature of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed – an offense that inspired the massacre of editors and cartoonists at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Far from being spontaneous, this act of violence was preceded on Twitter by users praising the attackers as “mujahideen” and approving of their decision to martyr themselves for the cause of radical Islam.”

“To suggest that by attacking the censorious sensibilities of Islamist fanatics with this display of protest is absurd and dispiritingly defeatist. Nevertheless, that’s what so many of the usual suspects have done today.”

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4. Some Democrats are saying the problems in Baltimore could be solved with more money. Of course they always say that. But how much is enough? And why hasn’t that worked in the past?

From TheWashingtonPost/MSN  “Along the street where Freddie Gray was arrested, abandoned houses are gashed with gaping holes. The roof on an old red-brick building is collapsed. A storm drain is clogged with concrete.

Sandtown-Winchester is crumbling, and there is little to suggest that two decades ago visionary developer James Rouse and city officials injected more than $130 million into the community in a failed effort to transform it. Instead there are block after block of boarded-up houses and too many people with little hope.

“It’s frustrating,” said Stefanie DeLuca, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist who has studied the neighborhood. “How much money would it take? It certainly seems on an instinctual level that $100 million should have made some difference.”

But for much of Sandtown, life remains bleak. Once home to Thurgood Marshall, Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway, the West Baltimore neighborhood has suffered from unemployment, crime and poverty rates well above the city’s average, census and other data show. The state spends nearly $17 million just to incarcerate its former residents. Life expectancy is 10 years below the national average.”

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And when is it time to say enough is enough? If the past is any indication, the problems are not gonna be fixed by throwing more cash at them.

From TheFreeBeacon  “The city of Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention.

President Obama claimed last Tuesday that if the Republican-controlled Congress would implement his policies to make “massive investments in urban communities,” they could “make a difference right now” in the city, currently in upheaval following the death of Freddie Gray.

However, a Washington Free Beacon analysis found that the Obama administration and Democratically-controlled Congress did make a “massive” investment into Baltimore, appropriating $1,831,768,487 though the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly known as the stimulus.

According to Recovery.gov, one of Baltimore’s central ZIP codes, 21201, received the most stimulus funding in the city, a total of $837,955,866. The amount included funding for 276 awards, and the website reports that the spending had created 290 jobs in the fourth quarter in 2013.

Of this amount, $467.1 million went to education; $206.1 million to the environment; $24 million to “family”; $16.1 million to infrastructure; $15.2 million to transportation; $11.9 million to housing; and $3.1 million to job training.

ZIP code 21202 received $425,170,937, including a $136 million grant to “improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards.” Twenty-nine other ZIP codes listed in Baltimore city received a total of $568,641,684.”

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by

News/Politics 4-30-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

Here’s a couple to start things off. 

1. We will not obey.

From FoxNews  “That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.

“We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,” read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. “We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.” 

“While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross,” the pledge states.

The signees are a who’s who of religious leaders including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, National Religious Broadcasters president Jerry Johnson, Pastor John Hagee, and Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.

 The pledge was co-drafted by Deacon Keith Fournier, a Catholic deacon, and Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel. Also involved in the document were Rick Scarborough, the president of Vision America Action and James Dobson, the founder of Family Talk Radio.”

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2. More abuse of the H-1B visa program, and of course, at the expense of American workers. 

From ComputerWorld  “At the end of October, IT employees at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts were called, one-by-one, into conference rooms to receive notice of their layoffs. Multiple conference rooms had been set aside for this purpose, and in each room an executive read from a script informing the worker that their last day would be Jan. 30, 2015.

Some workers left the rooms crying; others appeared shocked. This went on all day. As each employee received a call to go to a conference room, others in the office looked up sometimes with pained expressions. One IT worker recalls a co-worker mouthing “no” as he walked by on the way to a conference room.”

“Disney CEO Bob Iger is one of eight co-chairs of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a leading group advocating for an increase in the H-1B visa cap. Last Friday, this partnership was a sponsor of an H-1B briefing at the U.S. Capitol for congressional staffers. The briefing was closed to the press.

One of the briefing documents handed out at the congressional forum made this claim: “H-1B workers complement – instead of displace – U.S. Workers.” It explains that as employers use foreign workers to fill “more technical and low-level jobs, firms are able to expand” and allow U.S. workers “to assume managerial and leadership positions.”

“From the perspective of five laid-off Disney IT workers, all of whom agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, Disney cut well-paid and longtime staff members, some who had been previously singled out for excellence, as it shifted work to contractors. These contractors used foreign labor, mostly from India. The laid-off workers believe the primary motivation behind Disney’s action was cost-cutting. “Some of these folks were literally flown in the day before to take over the exact same job I was doing,” said one of the IT workers who lost his job. He trained his replacement and is angry over the fact he had to train someone from India “on site, in our country.””

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by

News/Politics 4-28-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

I’m posting this early due to breaking news. 

This news from Baltimore will be the obvious lead story tomorrow anyway. 

From MSN/Reuters  “Hundreds of rioters looted businesses and set buildings on fire in Baltimore on Monday in widespread violence that injured at least 15 police officers following the funeral of a 25-year-old black man who died after he was injured in police custody.

The disturbances broke out just a few blocks from the funeral of Freddie Gray and then spread through parts of Baltimore in the most violent U.S. demonstrations since looting in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard as firefighters battled blazes set by looters. Rioters with baseball bats smashed windows of cars in different areas of town.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the rioters “thugs” and instituted a citywide curfew for all adults and minors beginning Tuesday night. The only exceptions are work and medical emergencies.”

Schools are closed, trains and businesses are shut down. and the O’s were canceled too. 

More of the ugly details here, from TheDailyMail  

And here, from WeaselZippers

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by

News/Politics 4-27-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

Here’s a few to start things off.

1. It appears that Hillary’s payola scheme violates the constitution.

From TheFederalist  “The Washington Post reported last week that the tax-exempt foundation run by Bill and Hillary Clinton accepted money from seven foreign governments while Hillary served as U.S. Secretary of State (it’s unclear how much foreign money the organization accepted while Hillary was a U.S. Senator). Super shady, right? It’s worse than that, though, becauseArticle I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution actually bans foreign payola for U.S. officials.

The constitutional ban on foreign cash payments to U.S. officials is known as the Emoluments Clause and originated from Article VI of the Articles of Confederation. The purpose of the clause was to prevent foreign governments from buying influence in the U.S. by paying off U.S. government officials. Here’s the text of the clause:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Various statutes and rules have been promulgated to effect the constitutional ban on foreign cash. The U.S. House of Representatives bans cash payments from foreign governments. The U.S. Senate, of which Hillary was a member from 2001 to 2009, bans cash payments from foreign governments. And the U.S. State Department bans cash payments from foreign governments. Let’s take a look at the specific language from the State Dept.:

Executive branch employees are subject to restrictions on the gifts that they may accept from sources outside the Government. Unless an exception applies, executive branch employees may not accept gifts that are given because of their official positions or that come from certain interested sources (“prohibited sources”).”

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2. Dissent will not be tolerated. 

From TheDailySignal  “An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000.

“[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order.

Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa located in Gresham, Ore., say the fine is enough to potentially bankrupt their family of seven.

The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron denied Rachel Cryer a wedding cake after learning there would be two brides in her wedding.

Aaron and his wife Melissa are both Christians and believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

Rachel and her partner Laurel Bowman-Cryer, who are now married, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries under the state’spublic accommodation law, which bans discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.”

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3. The “safe space” movement is yet another attempt by liberals to attack the freedoms of those who dare disagree with them. 

From TheWeek  “One of the more contentious ideas to recently emerge from the culture war is that of “safe spaces.” We are said to be at risk of social dangers. Sometimes these dangers are labeled denialism (in which someone’s identity isn’t recognized) or triggering speech (speech that sets off traumatic responses in unwitting listeners). The way some students at elite colleges combat these social dangers is to create, or demand the creation of, safe spaces. And just as often, students demand that their entire campus become a safe space.

Hence the wrong kind of speech is re-labeled as violence. The space only becomes safe when certain ideas (and the people expositing them) are banished. We’re trying to build a supportive community, don’t you know?

Why worry about the exotic (and sometimes silly) life of a college campus? Well, it matters because future elites — who will set the norms and tone of our institutions of power — are coming of age in this intellectual stew. At top colleges we already see the nepotistic acceptance of incurious mediocrity, the shirking of citizenship’s duties, and a liberation from old constraints, all of which tell us about the future of our nation’s social and political life.

Here’s my prediction: Safe spaces will continue to spread across campuses. And from there, the colonization project will really begin in earnest. Public institutions, schools, and even the home. And colonization is the right word, because the logic of a “safe space” is entirely alien to traditional notions of liberty.

How can you even object? Are you pro-trauma? Pro-denialism? You think kids should have their identities denied and be traumatized in the home?”

Their stupidity is traumatizing me. I think their thin skin and cry baby whining is triggering it. 🙄

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by

News/Politics 4-24-15

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread

1. Hillary had a rough day yesterday. The dirt on her is everywhere now. It appears our State Dept. was for sale under her leadership. 

From TheNYTimes  “But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.

At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.

Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.”

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2. Give Hillary and Bill some money, and they’ll steer some money your way too. 

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Twenty-two of the 37 corporations nominated for a prestigious State Department award — and six of the eight ultimate winners — while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State were also donors to the Clinton family foundation.

The published donor records of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation don’t give exact dates or amounts of its contributors, but it is possible to create a general timeline for when many of the corporations donated and when they were either nominated or selected for the award.

Silicon Valley giant Cisco was the biggest foundation contributor nominated in 2009, giving the Clinton charity between $1 million and $5 million. The company then won the award in 2010 when eight of the 12 finalists and two of the three winners had donated to the foundation.

The other Clinton contributor to win that year, candy-maker Mars, Inc., had given between $25,000 and $50,000. Coca-Cola was the most generous foundation donor to be honored as a finalist in 2010, giving a $5-10 million donation.

TOM’s Shoes, a 2009 winner for its work in Argentina, donated between $100,000 and $250,000. The other 2009 winner, Trilogy International Partners, gave between $50,000 and $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Overall,seven of the 10 finalists in 2009 were foundation donors.”

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3. GE is refusing to assist in retrieving Hillary’s “lost” emails. Most likely because they might expose that his company was benefiting as well. 

From TheDailyCaller  “General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt said Wednesday that he will not release the emails that GE exchanged with Hillary Clinton’s State Department during the period in which GE was donating to the Clinton Foundation.

“Again, I think that’s not something we would do. Right?” Immelt said at GE’s shareholder meeting in Oklahoma City, OK in response to a question from Justin Danhof of the National Center For Public Policy Research, who pressed the CEO to release written communications with the State Department.

Secretary of State Clinton lobbied the Algerian president in 2012 to pick GE as a contractor for Algerian power plants. GE got the Algeria deal and quickly thereafter donated to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton also lobbied on behalf of Clinton Foundation donors including Boeing and Chevron.”

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4. And tax issues too. Looks like they found a creative way to hide the donations while she was Sec. of State. 

From Reuters  “Hillary Clinton’s family’s charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors.

The foundation and its list of donors have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Republican critics say the foundation makes Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, vulnerable to undue influence. Her campaign team calls these claims “absurd conspiracy theories.””

“For three years in a row beginning in 2010, the Clinton Foundation reported to the IRS that it received zero in funds from foreign and U.S. governments, a dramatic fall-off from the tens of millions of dollars in foreign government contributions reported in preceding years.

Those entries were errors, according to the foundation: several foreign governments continued to give tens of millions of dollars toward the foundation’s work on climate change and economic development through this three-year period. Those governments were identified on the foundation’s annually updated donor list, along with broad indications of how much each had cumulatively given since they began donating.”

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