Saturday, April 29, 2017

Understanding Why President Trump Has Not Received Any Legislative Action From Congress

conservative treehouse


There are many new commentators at CTH, and even more new people taking notice of politics for perhaps the first time in their lives. There is also some confusion noticed between two distinct groups who appear to be talking above and around each other. Two groups trying to communicate from two entirely divergent sets of understanding.

Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.




Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.

There is not a single congress person who writes legislation or laws.

In 2017 not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.

Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works.

Outside groups often called “special interest groups” are entities that represent their interests in legislative constructs. These groups are often corporations, banks, financial groups or businesses; or smaller groups of people with a similar business connection who come together and form a larger group under an umbrella of interest specific to their like-minded affiliation.

Sometimes the groups are social interest groups; activists like climate groups, environmental interests etc. The social interest groups are usually non-profit constructs who depend on the expenditures of government to sustain their cause or need.

The for-profit groups (mostly business) have a purpose in Washington DC to shape policy, legislation and laws favorable to their interests. They have fully staffed offices just like any business would – only their business is getting legislation for their unique interests.

These groups are filled with highly-paid lawyers who represent the interests of the entity and actually write laws and legislation briefs. In the modern era this is actually the origination of the laws that we eventually see passed by congress. Within the walls of these buildings within Washington DC is where the ‘sausage’ is actually made.


Again, no elected official is usually part of this law origination process.



Once the corporation or representative organizational entity has written the law they want to see passed they hand it off to the lobbyists. The lobbyists are people who have deep contacts within the political bodies of the legislative branch, usually former House/Senate staff or former House/Senate politicians themselves.

The lobbyist takes the written brief, the legislative construct, and it’s their job to go to congress and sell it.

“Selling it” means finding politicians who will accept the brief, sponsor their bill and eventually get it to a vote and passage. The lobbyist does this by visiting the politician in their office, or, most currently familiar, by inviting the politician to an event they are hosting. The event is called a junket when it involves travel.

Often the lobbying “event” might be a weekend trip to a ski resort, or a “conference” that takes place at a resort. The actual sales pitch for the bill is usually not too long and the majority of the time is just like a mini vacation etc.

The size of the indulgences within the event, the amount of money the lobbyist is spending, is customarily related to the scale of the bill the sponsoring business entity needs to get support for. If the sponsoring business or interest group can gain a lot of financial benefit for the legislation they spend a lot on the indulgences.



Recap: Corporations (special interest group) writes the law. Lobbyists take the law and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.

Within every step of the process there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary way-points to generate/leverage a successful outcome.

But the important part to remember is that the origination of the entire system is EXTERNAL to congress.

Congress does not write laws or legislation, special interest groups do. Lobbyists are paid, some very well paid, to get politicians to go along with the need of the legislative group.

When you are voting for a Congressional Rep or a U.S. Senator you are not voting for a person who will write laws. Your rep only votes on legislation to approve or disapprove of constructs that are written by outside groups and sold to them through lobbyists who work for those outside groups.

While all of this is happening the same outside groups who write the laws are providing money for the campaigns of the politicians they need to pass them. This construct sets up the quid-pro-quo of influence, although much of it is fraught with plausible deniability.

This is the way legislation is created.

If your frame of reference is not established in this basic understanding you can often fall into the trap of viewing a politician, or political vote, through a false prism. The modern origin of all legislative constructs is not within congress.


“we’ll have to pass the bill to, well, find out what is in the bill” etc. ~ Nancy Pelosi 2009

“We rely upon the stupidity of the American voter” ~ Johnathan Gruber 2011, 2012

Now, think about this reality against the backdrop of the 2016 Presidential Election. The entire system within DC was not structurally set-up to receive a Donald Trump presidency.

If Hillary Clinton had won the election, her Oval Office desk would be filled with legislation passed by congress which she would be signing. Heck, she’d have writer’s cramp from all of the special interest legislation that would be flowing to her desk.

Why? Simply because the authors of the legislation, the special interest and lobbying groups, were spending millions to fund her campaign. President Hillary Clinton would be signing K-Street constructed special interest legislation to repay all of those donors/investors. Congress would be fast-tracking the passage because the same interest groups also fund the members of congress.

President Donald Trump winning the election threw a monkey wrench into the entire DC system…. The modern legislative machine is frozen in place.

The “America First” policies represented by candidate Donald Trump are not within the legislative constructs coming from the authors of the legislation. Congress has no bills to advance because all of the myriad of bills and briefs written are not in line with President Trump policy.

That’s why congress has not passed any legislation for President Trump to sign.

There’s no entity within DC writing legislation that is in-line with President Trump’s economic and foreign policy agenda. Exactly the opposite is true. All of the DC legislative briefs and constructs are antithetical to Trump policy.

There are hundreds of file boxes filled with thousands of legislative constructs that became worthless when Donald Trump won the election.

Those legislative constructs (briefs) representing tens of millions of dollars worth of time and influence and are now just sitting there piled up in boxes under desks and in closets amid K-Street and the congressional offices.

Any current legislation must be in-line with an entire new political perspective, and there’s no-one, no special interest or lobbying group, currently occupying DC office space with any interest in synergy with Trump policy.

Think about the larger ramifications within that truism.

That is also why there’s so much opposition.

No legislation by outside interests means no work for lobbyists who sell it. No work means no money. No money means no expense accounts. No expenses means politicians paying for their own indulgences etc.




However, no K-Street expenditures -because of the futility of it- also means more money available for opposition and activist activity.

Lastly, when you understand this reality you begin to see the difference between legislation with a traditional purpose and faux-legislation with a political agenda.

Remember, politicians don’t write laws – outside groups do.

If you asked a DC Senator or House Member to actually write a law they’d look back at you like a cow just licked them on the forehead. The politician would have no clue what you are asking them to do, and would immediately look to their staff as their closest reference point (the go-betweens) for outside lobbyist assistance.

This helps to understand when Senator Rand Paul, Mike Lee or Ted Cruz are “pitching” a “bill they’ve written”, it’s a gimmick – a ruse – a pure fundraising ploy. Nothing more. That’s why the bills they talk about (ie. El Chappo, Clean Repeal etc.) never actually materialize…. they are raising money, not legislation.

And that’s why Trump’s legislative inbox is empty.



Staffers with nothing to do…

 

Thank You Sundance and CT.

Trump Dumps Obama Offshore Drilling Limits: 'We're Opening It Up'

Long overdue.


Do we have any bottlenecks at the refinery capacity level? If so, they gotta go too.

weaselzippers

Production and revenues from federal onshore and offshore leases fell dramatically during Obama’s 8 year assault on the energy industry. Trump is putting an end to that war and opening up federal lands to drilling. Drill, baby, drill.

Via Washington Times:


Reversing yet another of his predecessor’s actions on energy and the environment, President Trump on Friday signed an executive order that paves the way for a massive increase in offshore oil-and-gas drilling.

In brief remarks at the White House, Mr. Trump said the order — which is likely to result in new energy exploration in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans, as well as in the Gulf of Mexico — will boost the nation’s economy and directly create jobs. The order undoes former President Obama’s ban on new offshore drilling leases in the Atlantic and Arctic, which was put in place during the final weeks of his term.

It also directs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to conduct a more thorough review of the nation’s entire offshore drilling policy.

“We’re opening it up,” the president said. “Today we’re unleashing American energy and clearing the way for thousands and thousands of high-paying American energy jobs. Our country is blessed with incredible natural resources, including abundant offshore oil and natural gas reserves … This executive order starts the process of opening offshore areas to job-creating energy exploration. It reverses the previous administration’s Arctic leasing ban, so hear that — it reverses the previous administration’s Arctic leasing ban, and directs Secretary Zinke to allow responsible development of offshore areas that will bring revenue to our treasury and jobs to our workers.”

Keep reading…


Thank You Wash Times, Huck Funn, and Mr President.





And the anti Fossil Fuel response?




Psychologists, perhaps, Ideates, definately.

Friday, April 28, 2017

University of California Has Been Hiding $175 Million Surplus From The Public, Says Audit

thecollegefix


We need this money for sexual assault

Even if California manages to secede from the union, it still might face the wrath of taxpayers for its shady ways.
A state audit blasted the University of California System for keeping secret $175 million in “budget reserve funds” – from not only the public and the Legislature but its own board of regents.
That’s only one among many findings of bad behavior by the Office of the President – that would be Janet Napolitano, the former secretary of homeland security:
In each of the four years we reviewed, the Office of the President spent significantly less than it budgeted for and it asked the regents for increases in future funding based on its previous years’ over-estimated budgets rather than its actual expenditures. Consequently, it accumulated significant annual budget surpluses, which it maintains in two reserves: restricted and discretionary. Furthermore, it not only failed to disclose the existence of these reserves to the regents, but it also failed to inform them of the annual undisclosed budget it created to spend the reserves. This undisclosed budget ranged from $77 million to $114 million in the four years we reviewed.
It is actively withholding money from individual campuses – “$32 million in unspent funds it received from an annual charge levied on the campuses,” which could have instead been spent on students.
Employees in Napolitano’s office also make “significantly higher” salaries than comparable state employees and they got “at least” $21.6 million in perks that are “atypical” for the public sector.



Both her office and campus administrative “budget and staffing levels” are higher than comparable public universities, said the audit, which alleges malfeasance:
The Office of the President has failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on systemwide initiatives, and it does not evaluate these programs’ continued priority or cost. …
Auditing standards prohibited us from drawing conclusions from some of our work because the Office of the President intentionally interfered with our audit process.
It inappropriately screened the campuses’ survey responses before campuses submitted the surveys to us.
The audit said the original campus statements intended for delivery to the state auditor’s office were “initially critical” of Napolitano’s office but were “revised” and “quality ratings shifted to be more positive.”
It called for “significant reforms” to her office and recommended the UC System develop a new reserve policy that decides how large they can be and for what purpose they can be used, and then reallocate everything above that back to the campuses.
The Daily Californian reports that the administration has flatly denied it has such a giant surplus, pegging the actual figure at $38 million:
“(This) amount is … a prudent and reasonable amount for unexpected expenses such as cybersecurity threat response and emerging issues like increased support for undocumented students and efforts to prevent sexual violence and sexual harassment,” the press release stated.
In response, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for the reversal of a tuition hike scheduled for the next academic year, approved by the regents in January:

“The audit must serve as a wake-up call for the Board of Regents, as a catalyst for serious soul-searching within the U.C.’s administration, and demands a reboot of the relationship between the system and its governing body,” Newsom said in his statement.

Read the audit report and Daily Cal story.
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IMAGES: Paolo Schorli/Shutterstock, Senate HELP Committee screenshot

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Global Anti-Semitism Drops 12% But Surges By 45% On American College Campuses

weaselzippers



Academia needs an enema.

Via JPost:

While violent incidents of antisemitism dropped 12% worldwide in 2016, US campuses saw a surge of 45% in antisemitism, according to data released Sunday.

The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University in collaboration with the European Jewish Congress released its Annual Report on Antisemitism for 2016 during a press conference held at the university.

According to the report, a total of 361 anti-Semitic violent incidents were reported worldwide, down from 410 in 2015.

The decrease in the number of all types of anti-Semitic incidents put together, as monitored by communities and governmental agencies, is most evident in France, where the Interior Minister announced a 61% decrease in all forms of antisemitism as well as in Belgium which witnessed a 60% decline.

The report credited the reason for this drop to increased security measures and the heavy presence of soldiers and police surrounding Jewish institutions as well as the fact that an increasing number of Jews avoid appearing in public spaces with identifying attributes, such as a Kippah.

In contrast, English speaking countries saw a rise in antisemitic incidents: The UK saw an increase of 11%, though the rate of violent incidents decreased by 13% while antisemitic incidents in Australia increased by 10% this past year.

One of the most startling findings is a 45% increase in antisemitism on US campuses, which the report stated have become a hot-bed for antisemitism, often under the guise of anti-Zionism and due to increased pro-Palestinian movements, such as BDS on campuses.

Keep reading…


Thank You JPost and Dapandico, 

Pelosi: "We Would Totally Have A Budget Agreement In Place If Trump Wasn't Involved"

Speaks volumes of the people who keep electing her.

weaselzippers



Hey, it’s not like he’s the President.


WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., delivered a message to President Trump on Monday morning about Congress’ sensitive negotiations over a spending bill that must pass by Friday.

That message: Butt out.

“It’s my view that if the president stepped out of it, we could get a budget done by Friday,” Schumer said on a conference call with reporters.

“Totally agree,” Pelosi said. “We were on the path to get it done until he did intervene.”

The government will run out of funding Friday night unless Congress comes to an agreement on a series of spending bills. The major sticking points are the billions of dollars the president has demanded to begin building a wall on the southern border, as well as Democrats’ demands for at least some of the billions of dollars Congress owes insurance companies under Obamacare.



Thank You Yahoo and Zip. 


The Duchess of Toontown.




How loopy is Nan?



Dem Senator Richard Blumenthal Asks Fellow Senate Dems To Help Fund His Lawsuit Against Trump

Democrats/Socialists . . . "What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine."

weaselzippers



Blumenthal can afford to fund it himself, he’s worth more than $66 million.

Via Hartford Courant:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal is asking his fellow Democrats to help fund a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, charging that his international business dealings violate the constitution, one of his colleagues said this week.

“Right now, Sen. Blumenthal is leading an effort asking each one of us to contribute an amount of money for a court case,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told the crowd at a town hall meeting in San Francisco. “The hope is that there will be 41 of us that will be on that court case,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Blumenthal said Senate Democrats were looking at a variety of actions related to Trump’s “unprecedented conflicts of interest.”

“There are ongoing conversations between members of the Senate and constitutional and ethics experts about how best to do that if the administration continues to fail to provide transparency and comply with the nation’s laws,” said Maria McElwain, Blumenthal’s communications director.

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Blumenthal is a member, said her staff was “looking very closely” at the emoluments clause of the constitution, a provision that prevents the president from receiving gifts from foreign leaders.

Keep reading…


Thank You Hartford Courant and Zip.

Tunisian Doctoral Student Refutes Einstein Et All To Prove The Earth Is Flat. Why? Because It's In The Koran


weaselzippers



Why? Because the Koran says so.

Via World Crunch:

In our age of endless debates and alternative facts, at least we thought this question was long settled. Everyone from Ferdinand Magellan to Apollo astronauts had provided the proof that our world — messy as it might be — is round. Not flat. Right?

Well, at the highest levels of Tunisian academia, one doctoral student has reopened the question. Since 2011, the aspiring PhD at the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Sfax has been working on a thesis in geology entitled: “The flat, Geocentric Model of the Earth, Arguments and Impact of Climate and Paleoclimactic Studies.”

In short, her thesis was that the Earth is flat. She has gone to great lengths to refute the theories of Newton, Kepler and Einstein, whose work apparently had serious flaws that others have failed to see over the past several centuries. The doctoral student puts forth a new vision of kinetics that, instead, conforms to the verses of the Koran.

Keep reading…



One of the world's "Great Religions." 

Story says this person is a she.

Maybe it's got something to do with having to wear a bag over her head. 

She can't see too well.

Thanks Zip.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Jazz Break, Allan Holdsworth: Road Games

Testing an hypothesis here.


We ran Bill Bruford's LP One Of A Kind.

Allan Holdsworth played guitar on it. 

Stats have almost a thousand page views on it. 

We ran a notice WITHOUT the term Jazz Break on the news of Allan's untimely passing. 

In it, the EP Road Games was embedded. 

So far, 44 page views. 

So it's not that his music is un-accessible to non musicians. 

Does it need a Jazz Headline to be viewed?

Socialist Venezuela Has Only $10 Billion In Reserve To Fund The Government

 "Making the rich pay their fair share"

weaselzippers


They are in deep trouble…

Via Fox 40:

Amid all of Venezuela’s problems, the country is running out of time and money.

Venezuela only has $10 billion in reserves — the cash that’s intended to keep an economy stable and weather tough times.

What’s worse: most of those reserves aren’t in hard cash. About $7 billion is in gold bars, which doesn’t make it easy to make payments.

And Venezuela has a lot of bills to pay soon. It owes $6 billion in debt payments for the rest of this year. There’s also no sign that the country’s lone source of revenue — oil exports — will be able to pay down those debts.

At the end of the day, Venezuela is running the risk of defaulting on its debt this year, meaning it wouldn’t be able to get more loans to pay for basics like food and medicine, which are in scarce supply.

In 2011, Venezuela had $30 billion in the bank. As recently as 2015, it had $20 billion.

The worsening financial picture underscores Venezuela’s problems. Violent, anti-government protests killed three people Wednesday, and more protests are scheduled for the weekend. Armed forces met protesters with tear gas and shots.

Also on Wednesday, General Motors said Venezuelan authorities seized its assembly plant. Authorities later denied it was seized, saying it’s embargoed until a long-running court case is resolved, but that distinction didn’t matter to GM: it shut down operations due to the government intervention.

The IMF predicted on Tuesday that inflation in Venezuela would skyrocket 720% while unemployment would shoot up over 25%. This year will likely mark the fourth straight year of recession — entirely under socialist president Nicolas Maduro, who blames the U.S. and political opponents for the country’s problems.

Keep reading…



Thank You Fox and Zip. 



It can't be pointed out often enough that Corporate Tax Breaks are not an evil to be castigated.

Corporations, when hit with Government, across the boards mandates to pay up, don't Pay those Taxes.

They pass them through to the Little People who patronize those indispensable Corporations.

If Corporations paid those taxes out of their own own bottom lines instead of Raising the end price of whatever they're selling to cover them, the Investors would pull their money out and re-invest it in another sector which the Government hasn't declared a Tax War on, . . . yet.

It really is that simple.

It's the consumer who gets hit with those taxes, not the Corporation or the Investors.

This is a 1955 Ford Thunderbird.


In 1955 it retailed for $3,800.

You can thank the Tax-ocracy, not Ford, for what a new one costs today.

Obama Released People Who Were Threats and Covered It Up As Part Of The Iran Deal

weaselzippers



I don’t generally say wow or easily use the words treason, because it has very specific parameters. But it could fit here. And kudos to Politico for the effort behind the story…

Via Politico:


When President Barack Obama announced the “one-time gesture” of releasing Iranian-born prisoners who “were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses” last year, his administration presented the move as a modest trade-off for the greater good of the Iran nuclear agreement and Tehran’s pledge to free five Americans.

“Iran had a significantly higher number of individuals, of course, at the beginning of this negotiation that they would have liked to have seen released,” one senior Obama administration official told reporters in a background briefing arranged by the White House, adding that “we were able to winnow that down to these seven individuals, six of whom are Iranian-Americans.”

But Obama, the senior official and other administration representatives weren’t telling the whole story on Jan. 17, 2016, in their highly choreographed rollout of the prisoner swap and simultaneous implementation of the six-party nuclear deal, according to a POLITICO investigation.

In his Sunday morning address to the American people, Obama portrayed the seven men he freed as “civilians.” The senior official described them as businessmen convicted of or awaiting trial for mere “sanctions-related offenses, violations of the trade embargo.”

Keep reading…



Thank You Nick and Politico.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Allan Holdsworth Passes At Age 70, R.I.P. Mr Holdsworth




This tribute doesn't begin to address Allan's contribution.

What he created was not a difference of degree, but of specie.

It's going to be decades analyzing and assessing his real value.


R.I.P. Mr Holdsworth, and thank you.

Here's another brief and early sample.


 

We'll be posting more.

Putin Sends Troops To Russia's Border With North Korea

weaselzippers



North Korea has a population of 25 million people. If Li’l Kim is driven from power by a confrontation with the U.S., most of those people will be trying to escape Fat Boy’s utopia. China and Russia are re-enforcing their borders with NK in order to cope with a possible Nork mass migration.

Via Daily Mail:


Vladimir Putin is sending troops and equipment to Russia’s border with North Korea over fears the US is preparing to attack Kim Jong-un.

The Russian President fears there will be a huge exodus of North Korean refugees if his American counterpart, Donald Trump, launches military action against Pyongyang.

It comes days after it emerged that China is also sending 150,000 soldiers to its southern frontier to cope with the tidal wave of North Koreans Beijing fears would flee across the border if war breaks out.

This morning, footage emerged appearing to show how Putin is reinforcing his 11-mile border with North Korea by relocating troops and equipment.

A video purports to show one of three trains loaded with military equipment moving towards the 11 mile-long land frontier between Russia and the repressive state.

Another evidently highlights military helicopter movements towards the North Korean border and manoeuvres across rough terrain by army combat vehicles.

Other reports suggest there have been military moves by road as well.

There have been concerns that if a conflict breaks out Russia could face a humanitarian exodus from North Korea.

But Putin has been warned, too, that in the event of a US strike on Kim Jong-un’s nuclear facilities, contamination could swiftly reach Russia.

‘Railway trains loaded with military equipment moving towards Primorsky region via Khabarovsk have been noticed by locals,’ reported primemedia.ru in the Russian far East – linking the development to the North Korean crisis.

‘The movement of military equipment by different means of transport to southern areas is being observed across Primorsky region over the past week,’ said military veteran Stanislva Sinitsyn.

Keep reading…


Thank You Daily Mail and Huck Funn. 


But according to the Democrats Trump is Putin's, . . . whatever.

So Now Who's Nutz? Report: Harvard Tells Students Gender Identity Can Change "Day To Day"

And where is it, again, that Psychiatric/Psychological OPINIONS of thoughts, moods, and behaviors being Incurable medical diseases germinate?

weaselzippers


Trying to determine one’s gender from day to day must be a real challenge… especially for those brainiacs at Hahvad.

Via The Washington Times:

A Harvard University office devoted to LGBT issues reportedly has issued a flier telling students that gender identity can change as frequently as “day to day.”

The flier from the Ivy League schools BLGTQ Student Life office, headlined “Get the facts about gender diversity,” informs readers that “Sex assigned at birth and gender identity are not necessarily the same,” Campus Reform reported Thursday.


The flyer adds that “gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, and/or how one is perceived in daily life.”

The document also seems to categorize speech that challenges or disagrees with transgenderism as “violence.”

“Transphobic misinformation is a form of systemic violence,” read the document, which included examples of the alleged verbal violence: “Fixed binaries and biological essentialism, manifest in gendered language, misgendering someone, and the policing of trans bodies, threaten the lives of trans people.”

The reference to “fixed binaries” appears to have in view the notion that a person’s gender identity is dependent on an unalterable binary — male or female — scheme.

According to the Oxford Reference website, “biological essentialism” is “The belief that ‘human nature’, an individual’s personality, or some specific quality (such as intelligence, creativity, homosexuality, masculinity, femininity, or a male propensity to aggression) is an innate and natural ‘essence’ (rather than a product of circumstances, upbringing, and culture).”

Keep reading…


Thank You Wash Times and Huck Funn.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Muslim Screaming 'Allahu Akbar' Murders Three In Fresno

frontpagemag

As usual, authorities aren’t sure whether or not it’s terrorism.




On Tuesday morning around 10:45AM, a Muslim named Kori Ali Muhammad walked through Fresno, California, shooting three men dead at random, including one in the parking lot of Catholic Charities. When he was arrested, he screamed “Allahu akbar.” According to the local ABC station, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer “indicated it was ‘still too early’ to know if the shootings were an act of terrorism.”

Of course. And for those who refuse to acknowledge the nature or magnitude of the Islamic jihad against the West, it will always be too early, even if Kori Ali Muhammad presents Dyer with an ISIS membership card and a letter signed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi commanding him to carry out this attack. In this case, the familiar dance of denial by non-Muslim authorities intent on absolving Islam of all responsibility for the crimes done in its name and in accord with its teachings is not the central lesson of the attack – that sad charade has played out all too often in the past, and will many more times in the future, and there is nothing new to say about it.

The key story in the murders committed by Kori Ali Muhammad is that they constitute a jihad attack carried out by an apparent member of the Nation of Islam, the racist black supremacist pseudo-Islamic group headed by Louis Farrakhan. According to the Los Angeles Times, “a Facebook profile page for a Kori Ali Muhammad from Fresno paid homage to black pride and black nationalism, with images of the red, green and black Pan-African flag and images of a raised fist. The page listed him as a ‘warrior’ for RBG Nation, referencing red, black and green.”

What’s more, “in recent days, he repeatedly posted images to his frenetic Facebook page with the hashtag #LETBLACKPEOPLEGO. He referenced ‘white devils’ and praised melanoma skin cancer. In a post Monday, he wrote in all caps: ‘MY KILL RATE INCREASES TREMENDOUSLY ON THE OTHER SIDE ASÈ ALLAH U AKBAR.’ Shortly before that, he posted: ‘BLACK WARRIORS MOUNT UP AND RIDE OUT *ASÈ* #LETBLACKPEOPLEGO.’” Ase, according to the Times, “is a term from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, referencing a concept that there is power in our spirituality, words and feelings.” Muhammad also referred to “white devils” and the Nation of Islam’s mythical evil figure who created white people, Mr. Yakub.

If Muhammad is indeed a member of the Nation of Islam, he demonstrates yet again how members of the Nation of Islam, even though orthodox Sunni and Shia Muslims consider the Nation a heretical sect, can identify with the global jihad, and place themselves in its service. The most notorious example of this is the Beltway Sniper, John Allen Muhammad, who along with his accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, murdered seventeen people in sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C. area in October 2002. Muhammad had joined the Nation of Islam in 1987; Malvo was discovered to have kept notebooks in which he drew portraits of Osama bin Laden and other jihadis and declared his determination to wage jihad himself.

When Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan spoke at the Nation’s annual gathering in Detroit last February, attendees greeted him with thunderous cries of “Allahu akbar” and listened raptly as Farrakhan railed against not against the Nation’s bogey, white people, but against the Jews: “I want to disabuse the Jews today of the false claim that you are the chosen of God — that Israel or Palestine belongs to you. I want to disabuse you of that. I’m going to tell you about your future. You that think you have power to frighten and dominate the peoples of the world. I’m here to announce the end of your time.”

He has, of course, spoken this way many times before. That Farrakhan would so often use the platform of his racist cult to attack the Jews suggests that he is interested in currying favor with mainstream Muslims who are well aware of how deeply embedded anti-Semitism is in the Qur’an. Orthodox Islam does not blame the evils of the world on white people, but the Nation’s Jew-hatred is certainly mainstream Islam, and an indication of how the Nation is often a way station: African-American men convert to it and then pass from it into orthodox Sunni groups, or turn to jihad even without doing so. Kori Ali Muhammad is just the latest example of this.

If authorities ever decide that the random shooting of three non-Muslims by a Muslim screaming “Allahu akbar” might possibly be terrorism, they might begin investigations that would make all this clear to them and help them prevent it from happening in the future. But nothing seems much less likely. 



Thank You Mr Spencer and FPM.

Jazz Break: Bruford: Gradually Going Tornado

Apocalyptic Progressivism

townhall
Victor Davis Hanson



Shortly after the 2008 election, President Obama's soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, infamously declared, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste."

He elaborated: "What I mean by that (is) it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

Disasters, such as the September 2008 financial crisis, were thus seen as opportunities. Out of the chaos, a shell-shocked public might at last be ready to accept more state regulation of the economy and far greater deficit spending. Indeed, the national debt doubled in the eight years following the 2008 crisis.

During the 2008 campaign, gas prices at one point averaged over $4 a gallon. Then-candidate Obama reacted by pushing a green agenda -- as if the cash-strapped but skeptical public could be pushed into alternative energy agendas.

Obama mocked then-Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's prescient advice to "drill, baby, drill" -- as if Palin's endorsement of new technologies such as fracking and horizontal drilling could never ensure consumers plentiful fuel.

Instead, in September 2008, Steven Chu, who would go on to become Obama's secretary of energy, told the Wall Street Journal that, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."

In other words, if gas prices were to reach $9 or $10 a gallon, angry Americans would at last be forced to seek alternatives to their gas-powered cars, such as taking the bus or using even higher-priced alternative fuels.



CARTOONS | Glenn McCoy
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When up for re-election in 2012, President Obama doubled down on his belief that gas was destined to get costlier: "And you know we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices."

Yet even as Obama spoke, U.S. frackers were upping the supply and reducing the cost of gas -- despite efforts by the Obama administration to deny new oil drilling permits on federal lands.

U.S oil production roughly doubled from 2008 to 2015. And by 2017, the old bogeyman of "peak oil" production had been put to rest, as the U.S. became nearly self-sufficient in fossil fuel production.

Viewing the world in apocalyptic terms was also useful during the California drought.

In March 2016, even as the four-year drought was over and California precipitation had returned to normal, Gov. Jerry Brown was still harping on the connection between "climate change" and near-permanent drought.

"We are running out of time because it's not raining," Brown melodramatically warned. "This is a serious matter we're experiencing in California, as kind of a foretaste."

Foretaste to what, exactly?

In 2017, it rained and snowed even more than it had during a normal year of precipitation in 2016.

Currently, a drenched California's challenge is not theoretical global warming, but the more mundane issue of long-neglected dam maintenance that threatens to undermine overfull reservoirs.



Brown had seen the drought as a means of achieving the aim of regimenting Californians to readjust their lifestyles in ways deemed environmentally correct. The state refused to begin work on new reservoirs, aqueducts and canals to be ready for the inevitable end of the drought, even though in its some 120 years of accurate record keeping California had likely never experienced more than a four-year continuous drought.

And it did not this time around either.

Instead, state officials saw the drought as useful to implement permanent water rationing, to idle farm acreage, and to divert irrigation water to environmental agendas.

Well before this year's full spring snowmelt, over 50 million acre-feet of water has already cascaded out to sea ("liberated," in green terms). The lost freshwater was greater than the capacity of all existing (and now nearly full) man-made reservoirs in the state, and its loss will make it harder to deal with the next inevitable drought

No matter: Progressive narratives insisted that man-caused carbon releases prompted not only record heat and drought, but within a few subsequent months also record coolness and precipitation.



And in Alice in Wonderland fashion, just as drilling was supposedly no cure for oil shortages, building reservoirs was no remedy for water scarcity.

In the same manner, neglecting the maintenance and building of roads in California created a transportation crisis. Until recently, the preferred solution to the state's road mayhem and gridlock wasn't more freeway construction but instead high-speed rail -- as if substandard streets and highways would force millions of frustrated drivers to use expensive state-owned mass transit.

These days, shortages of credit, water, oil or adequate roads are no longer seen as age-old challenges to a tragic human existence. Instead of overcoming them with courage, ingenuity, technology and scientific breakthroughs, they are seen as existential "teachable moments."

In other words, crises are not all bad -- if they lead the public to more progressive government.



Thank You Townhall and Professor Hanson.

ISIS Starves Civilians To Force Them Into Fighting For The Caliphate

weaselzippers



Sadly, this is one of the least worst things they do.

Via Daily Caller:

The Islamic State is withholding food and water from citizens in Mosul in an effort to force them into joining the terrorist organization, according to an Iraqi non-profit.

The beleaguered terrorist organization has suffered personnel and territory losses since the U.S.-backed Iraqi Security Forces began operations to retake Mosul in October. Combat operations in Mosul have led to intense, street-to-street fighting in the city’s western area. ISIS is now forcibly conscripting the thousands of locals who remain by withholding food and water, according to a report by the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights.

“An infant and its sister [have] died last week in Uruba neighborhood due to lack of food,” the report stated. “Now their mother is facing the same fate as she is in a very bad health condition.”

Some local civilians have given into ISIS to survive.

Keep reading…

Thank You DC and Zip. 



And yet there are still people who have a problem with other people who have a problem with this.

GM Halts Operations In Venezuela After Factory Seized

weaselzippers



Venezuela is a case study in the failure of socialism.

Via The Detroit News:

Detroit — General Motors has stopped doing business in Venezuela after authorities took control of its only factory there in what GM called an illegal judicial seizure of its assets.

The plant was confiscated on Wednesday as anti-government protesters clashed with authorities in a country that is roiling in economic troubles such as food shortages and triple-digit inflation.

The Detroit automaker said in a statement Thursday that other assets such as vehicles were taken from the plant, causing irreparable damage to the company.

GM says the plant was taken in disregard of its right to due process. The company says it will defend itself legally and that it’s confident that justice eventually will prevail.

GM has about 2,700 workers in the troubled country, where it’s been the market leader for over 35 years. It also has 79 dealers that employ 3,900 people, and its parts suppliers make up more than half of Venezuela’s auto parts market, the company said.

If the government permits it, workers will get separation benefits “arising from the termination of employment relationships due to causes beyond the parties’ control,” the GM statement said.

Dealers will continue to service vehicles and provide parts, the company said.

GM’s Venezuelan operations have been a drag on earnings for several years. In the second quarter of 2015, the company took a $720 million charge for currency devaluation and asset valuation write-downs as the economy faltered.

South American operations, which include Venezuela, account for a relatively small portion of GM’s earnings and sales. Last year the company lost $400 million before taxes in South America, but as a whole the company made a pretax profit of $12.5 billion. GM sold just over 583,000 vehicles in the region last year, but that was only about 6 percent of its total sales.

Keep reading…


Thank You Huck Funn and Detroit News.

And to this very day, we are Still hearing from Coffee House Marxists that the reason Socialism has never worked, ever, everywhere it's been implemented, is because 'The Movement Was Hijacked By Capitalists.'


But it will work this time, because we're Finally going to get 'Our People' in. The Good Totalitarians.

Oh Dear Gawd.

LePen Vows To Stamp Out 'Poison' of Islamism In Final Rally Before French Election

weaselzippers


If Le Pen wins, the EU is toast and France will reclaim its borders and sovereignty. The election is on April 23rd and if no candidate receives a 50 percent majority, there will be a May 7 runoff between the top 2 candidates.

Via Breitbart:

PARIS (AP) — Right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen vowed on Wednesday to end the fear of terrorism in France and stamp out the “poison” of Islamic radicals, holding her final rally in the southern port city of Marseille, where police arrested two men a day earlier on suspicion of plotting an attack around this weekend’s vote.

Independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, who was at the top of a recent poll, reached out to the Muslim community for solutions.

With four days until Sunday’s first round of the presidential election, candidates blanketed the country ahead of the nail-biting election. Tight security was the order of the day for Le Pen and other top candidates.

The populist Le Pen, a leading candidate, called for a “national insurrection, peaceful and democratic … to give France back to its people.”

Police scuffled with ultra-left and anti-Le Pen protesters heading to her rally.

Gaspard Flamant, 26, said he feared Le Pen could win. “We saw (President Donald) Trump, we saw Brexit … so I’m mistrustful,” he said.

Le Pen has in the past expressed hope that the anti-system momentum would rub off on her. However, she has recently lost the leader’s edge in polls.

Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon promised that if he won France’s presidency he would give asylum to Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who has taken refuge in Moscow since revealing details of secret U.S. government eavesdropping programs in 2013.

Keep reading…

Thank You Breitbart and Huck Funn. 


Eurabia: 50 Million Muslims In Europe And 80% Are Living On Welfare.

Good Luck to our friends in France.

Shooting Attack In Paris: 2 Police Officers Shot: 2 Attackers: Previously Identified as 'Extremist'

weaselzippers





Update:
Via NY Post:
A police officer was killed and another wounded in a wild shooting on Paris’ busiest street, according to reports.
The cops were stopped at a red light on the Champs Elysee — a bustling boulevard popular with tourists and famed for its luxury stores and eateries — when the gunman drove by at around 9 pm, the police union told the Express.
At least two people were involved in the shooting — one of them was also killed while the other is on the lam, the paper reports.
A government spokesman thinks the officers may have been deliberately targeted, Reuters reports.
The shooting comes just days before the country’s presidential elections, and less than two years after the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in the French capital.
“It looks like another terrorist attack. What can you say? It never ends,” President Trump said during an unrelated press conference.
Update:

Gee, who would have guessed? This is now a commonality of many of these attacks. “He was known to the authorities.”

Thank You Nick, CBS, Reuters, NY Post, and Breaking 911.