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Labor Statistics Chief: Jobs Numbers Misleading

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black-unemploymentThink the economy is bouncing back quickly? Think again, says the former top number-cruncher in charge of the Washington Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Keith Hall tells the New York Post Thursday that the BLS, White House and media are wasting time focusing on an edited set of data and using it to paint an incorrect picture of the American jobs market on the mend. The current U.S. unemployment level is reported to be around 7.6 percent.

“Right now [it’s] misleadingly low,” Hall told the New York paper.

Hall, like many other economists, believes that the more accurate reading of Americans who want a job but can’t find one is north of 10 percent.

Hall is now a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

He says the jobless rate that grabs the most headlines — called the U-3 — doesn’t factor in people who have stopped looking for work, but does count employed people who have clocked in as little as an hour of work during the prior month.

Hall says another more accurate indicator of the country’s economic health is in the U-6 number, which factors in the underemployed. That number, he said, jumped in June to 14.3 percent from 13.8 percent the month before.

“This has been a very slow, very bad recovery,” he said. “And I think the numbers have really struggled as a result. In fact, I’ve been very disappointed in the coverage of the numbers.”

The July monthly jobs report is scheduled to be released Aug. 2.

FoxNews.com

IRS Lawyer Implicates Higher-Ups

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Darrell-IssaHouse Republicans plan to ratchet up scrutiny of the IRS during a hearing Thursday morning where agency workers are expected to discuss the involvement of high-level officials in slowing down applications from Tea Party groups.

For the first time, the House oversight committee has invited two key agency officials to testify. Republican leaders of the committee claimed Wednesday that one of them recently revealed that the IRS chief counsel’s office — led by a political appointee — played a role, along with embattled IRS official Lois Lerner, in scrutinizing conservative groups.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the committee, told Fox News that agency officials in Cincinnati were taking their orders from Washington, and that the investigation needs to look next at both Lerner and the counsel’s office.

“As a part of this ongoing investigation, the committees have learned that the IRS Chief Counsel’s office in Washington, D.C. has been closely involved in some of the applications,” Issa and other Republicans wrote in a  letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel.

They cited accounts given by Carter Hull, a recently retired IRS tax law specialist. Hull had previously come under scrutiny based on claims that he was closely involved in screening conservative groups’ applications for tax-exempt status — but Hull apparently claims that he, too, was taking his orders from above.

According to Republicans, Hull revealed that he tried to move forward with approving or denying applications, but Lerner ruled that the applications should go through a multi-layer review including the chief counsel’s office and Lerner’s senior adviser. According to Republicans, Hull indicated it was the first time in a nearly 50-year career that he had to send applications to Lerner’s senior adviser.

The hearing on Thursday is also expected to include testimony from Elizabeth Hofacre, a revenue agent who had previously complained about intervention from the higher-ups at the IRS.

According to transcripts of interviews reviewed by Fox News, Hofacre in June disputed the notion that this operation was the work of “rogue agents” in Cincinnati. When Lerner first acknowledged the scandal and blamed it on the Ohio office, Hofacre described it as a “nuclear strike on us.”

Lerner has so far refused to testify. She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights at one hearing, but Republicans later voted that she had in fact waived those rights by delivering a statement.

“We intend to have her back,” Issa told Fox News.

There could be fireworks at Thursday’s hearing, as Democrats also intend to use the forum to press their claims that Inspector General J. Russell George is suppressing details about other non-Tea Party groups being targeted. Democrats on Wednesday trumpeted comments from Werfel that George contacted him to object to documents being released that supposedly pertained to other categories of groups experiencing delays.

Some Democrats have argued that liberal groups received similar treatment, though George has generally denied that they were targeted like conservative groups were.

FoxNews.com / George has also been called to testify on Thursday.

DOJ Trolling For Tips on Zimmerman

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eric-holderMore than a year after an FBI report indicated there was no evidence of racial bias in George Zimmerman’s history, the Justice Department is trolling for email tips on the former neighborhood watch volunteer as it weighs a possible federal civil rights case against him.

Amid pressure from the NAACP and several Democratic lawmakers to pursue Zimmerman, the department has set up a public email address asking for any tips or information regarding the case. The move appears to mark an expansion of the probe, after Attorney General Eric Holder said in an address Tuesday to the NAACP that his department would “consider all available information” before deciding whether to move forward.

The department also held a conference call with civil rights leaders on Monday.

The conference call included DOJ officials, along with representatives from the FBI and federal prosecutors. They spoke to civil rights leaders from Sanford, Fla., as well as others from around the country.

The call was convened by Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

A Justice official told Fox News that both the conference call and the email address asking for tips and information are fairly standard procedure when dealing with a high-profile investigation such as this one. The department has used such tip lines in the past, including in a probe last year of the Albuquerque, N.M., police department.

Some attorneys and analysts have cautioned that Holder would have a difficult time bringing a civil rights case against Zimmerman, particularly since the investigation so far is thought to have turned up no evidence or claims that Zimmerman exhibited racial bias. Martin was black.

But other lawmakers appear to have already made up their mind.

“We do know that Mr. Martin’s civil rights have been violated,” Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., said, as other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voiced similar views.

Holder has meanwhile gone beyond pursuing the investigation in the wake of the acquittal. On Tuesday, he also criticized “stand-your-ground” laws, which allow individuals to use lethal force when they believe their lives are in danger — even if they have the option of fleeing.

The NRA criticized Holder for the comments, saying self-defense is a “fundamental human right.”

Holder also, in his address to the NAACP, recounted his own past experiences with racial profiling.

Jimmy Carter Agrees Zimmerman Acquittal Was ‘The Right Decision’

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carter_zimmermanFormer President Jimmy Carter broke with many liberal commentators yesterday when he told an NBC television affiliate that the jury’s acquittal of George Zimmerman was “the right decision.”

“I think the jury made the right decision based in the evidence presented. It’s not a moral question, it’s a legal question and the American law requires that the jury listens to the evidence presented.”

When asked if race was at the root of the shooting or of the jury’s decision, Carter elected to speak about the facts of the case, not a private interpretation. He explained that placing current racial tension in historical context, Americans are making good progress in the civil rights arena.

PUBLIUS

 

DOJ Not Satisfied With Jury, Going After Zimmerman

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obama-holder-hillaryThe Justice Department was running into immediate hurdles Monday in its investigation of possible civil rights violations by George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin — namely, that after examining the case for more than a year, the evidence has not changed.

Though the department announced after Zimmerman’s acquittal that it would consider a possible federal case, previously filed FBI documents show agents have not turned up any accounts that Zimmerman, before the February 2012 shooting, exhibited racial bias. Sanford police detective Chris Serino also told FBI agents last year that he considered Zimmerman as having “a little hero complex, but not as a racist.”

Attorney General Eric Holder, in his first post-verdict comments, confirmed Monday during a speech in Washington, D.C., that his department continues to investigate while signaling concern for the position of the Martin family and those — such as the NAACP — pressuring the DOJ. He said the department is “mindful of the pain felt by our nation” over the “tragic, unnecessary shooting death” of Martin.

“The Justice Department shares your concern — I share your concern,” Holder said.

He added that the shooting provides an opportunity to speak “honestly” about the charged issues involved in the case, and that “we must not … let this opportunity pass.” Holder even appeared to suggest the possibility of bias in this case, saying it’s important to address “underlying attitudes, mistaken beliefs and stereotypes that serve as the basis for these too common incidents.”

Still, the attorney general said his department would act in a “manner that is consistent with the facts and the law.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney indicated that President Obama would keep his distance from the consideration, adding that the merits of the case will be “evaluated by the professionals at the Department of Justice.”

But Florida defense attorney Brian Tannebaum told FoxNews.com that the “number one challenge” for DOJ is the evidence, or lack thereof.

“There’s been an acquittal. The evidence has not changed. It’s not like the feds are going to go in and find more evidence,” he said.

Tannebaum said he understands the Justice Department was responding to intense public sentiment, but “I don’t foresee it becoming a federal case.”

The question of racial bias is key because if the Justice Department were to pursue a federal case against Zimmerman, federal hate-crimes law is one of the few tools the department would have.

The statute itself bars “willfully” causing injury to someone else “because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person.”

The department has used federal civil rights law before to pursue defendants who had been acquitted at the state level. But in what is perhaps the most famous such case — the Rodney King beating — the circumstances were different.

First, there was a highly publicized video of the King beating. No such video of the Martin shooting is known to exist.

Second, the two officers ultimately convicted on federal charges in that case were charged with using or permitting unreasonable force under “color of law” — this applies only to law enforcement.

The separate federal hate-crimes law applies to both law enforcement and civilians. But it’s not clear how the Justice Department could prove racial bias.

Serino, the Sanford detective, told FBI agents last year that after examining the case, it appeared Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin because of his “attire, the total circumstances of the encounter and the previous burglary suspects in the community.”

Serino told the FBI that there had been several burglaries in the area, and that gang members in the community “typically dressed in black and wore hoodies.”

“When Zimmerman saw Martin in a hoody, Zimmerman took it upon himself to view Martin as acting suspicious,” Serino said, while describing Zimmerman as “overzealous.” The FBI document was posted on the Smoking Gun website.

McClatchy also has reported on another set of documents that show FBI agents interviewed a dozens of people in the course of probing possible racial bias but nobody would say Zimmerman showed such bias before the shooting.

Still, the Justice Department agreed to requests from NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous and several lawmakers to keep investigating the defendant.

“The Department of Justice’s Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial,” the Justice Department said in a statement Sunday.  “Experienced federal prosecutors will [now] determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the Department’s policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial.”

The department may find itself in a vulnerable spot, not only because of prior interviews which found no evidence of bias.

Last week, a conservative watchdog accused an obscure agency within the DOJ of helping support the “pressure campaign” against Zimmerman in the wake of the shooting last year. Judicial Watch claimed documents and public accounts showed “extraordinary intervention” by the department in the campaign that eventually led to Zimmerman’s prosecution.

The department, however, claims that it dispatched agency representatives to reduce tensions in the community – not to take sides.

The department is under heavy pressure from some groups to pursue the case further.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and other House Democrats called a press conference on Monday to urge the Justice Department to “conduct an immediate and thorough investigation.”

The NAACP started the drive to pressure the DOJ to continue its probe by posting a petition Sunday morning on the website MoveOn.org.

“The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin,” the group wrote.

Attorney General Eric Holder plans to speak at the NAACP convention on Tuesday.

FoxNews.com / FoxNews.com’s Judson Berger contributed to this report.

In 513 Days Between Trayvon Shooting and Zimmerman Verdict, 11,106 Blacks Murdered by OTHER BLACKS

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gangs_blacksWith all of the outrage from the black ‘leadership’ in the nation about Trayvon Martin being killed in the act of attacking a neighborhood watch person, the fact remains that 93% of African-American murders are committed by other African-Americans.

In fact, nearly 9,000 African-Americans are murdered each year; 93% of them by other blacks–nearly 8,000–and that doesn’t account for the 1 million black babies that are aborted by ‘pro-black, pro-women’ groups each year.

So where are the black leaders on any given day, when 22 young blacks have been murdered by another young black?

As we reported in our article Zimmerman: The Subtext, July 8, 2013:

The truth is that liberals in America refuse to accept any part of the truth that blacks commit most of the crime in this country. Like Trayvon Martin, many young thugs wearing hoodies and pants below butt cracks terrorize whites and others, at will, threatening and attacking anyone who challenges their criminal or suspicious behavior. Their neighborhoods are virtual war zones, where bullets fly to enforce criminals territories.

Remember, blacks only account for 12% of our population, and young black men account for only about 4% of the US population. According to a report released by the New Century Foundation, The Color of Crime:

  • Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
  • When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
  • Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.
  • The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of the population that is black and Hispanic.
  • Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.
  • Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Forty-five percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are black, and 10 percent are Hispanic. When whites commit violent crime, only three percent of their victims are black.
  • Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a white than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.

These statistics evidence a very serious problem in our country–one that turning a blind eye won’t resolve–that many young black men are violent criminals. If this statement offends you–answer the question, who in America feels safe walking through a predominantly black neighborhood after dark? Do our African-American brothers and sisters feel safe walking though their own neighborhoods at night?

martin-phone-picturesIn fact, the entitlement policies of the left have bred a generation of criminals, and our black brothers and sisters are drowning in a sea of apathy and neglect. (See our article Dems Hurting Minorities, June 8, 2013) The same policies that have created the problem are being escalated annually, and the resulting difficulties of young black men have increased exponentially–nearly to the point where the majority of them have a better chance of going to prison than to college. The only thing that has prevented the escalation of crime rates in America is the abortion policies of the left, which are aimed directly at reducing the black population. (See our article Should GOP Rethink Abortion Policy?, Nov. 29, 2012)

George Zimmerman has given America a wake up call. He refused to turn a blind eye to the truth that skulking young blacks in hoodies and low-rider pants are suspicious in a middle-class neighborhood–a fact that every American knows, but the left has made a social crime to speak out loud. It is our hope that black “leaders” will redirect their feigned outrage to the real issues facing their constituents (the number of blacks that died at the hands of blacks in Chicago over the recent holiday should spark true outrage), and enlist the help of responsible politicians and citizens to begin the arduous process of rehabilitating an entire generation of lost black Americans.

PUBLIUS

Whistle-blowing State Official Fired After Testimony in Zimmerman Trial

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Ben KruidbosThe special prosecutor appointed to the George Zimmerman case has sacked a whistle-blowing colleague who testified at the trial that the state attorney’s office failed to comply with the rules of discovery.

Ben Kruidbos, the state attorney’s office IT director, was reportedly fired in the wake of rendering testimony during a June 6 hearing that was potentially damaging to the prosecution regarding cell phone photos and text messages discovered on Trayvon Martin’s phone that were not  furnished to defense attorneys.

The Orlando Sentinel reports Kruidbos received a scathing letter from State Attorney Angela Corey’s office Friday morning, calling him untrustworthy and adding he “can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

trayvon_martinHowever, the Associated Press reports that Kruidbos received the pink slip Thursday, which accused him of misconduct and “violating numerous state attorney’s office policies and procedures.” Specifically, the letter reportedly accused him of disclosing confidential information, sabotage of property or equipment, and misuse of equipment.

martin-phone-picturesThe cell phone photos reportedly depict, among other things, a clump of jewelry on a bed, underage nude females, marijuana plants, as well as a hand menacingly holding a semiautomatic pistol.

Zimmerman’s attorneys were reportedly seeking sanctions against the state for not properly turning over the evidence from Martin’s phone. Judge Debra Nelson said she would revisit the matter at the trial’s end.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Britain: “Rape Jihad” Against Children

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muslim-rapeA court in London has sentenced seven members of a Muslim child grooming gang based in Oxford to at least 95 years in prison for raping, torturing and trafficking British girls as young as 11.

The high-profile trial was the latest in a rapidly growing list of grooming cases that are forcing politically correct Britons to confront the previously taboo subject of endemic sexual abuse of children by predatory Muslim paedophile gangs.

The 18-week trial drew unwelcome attention to the sordid reality that police, social workers, teachers, neighbors, politicians and the media have for decades downplayed the severity of the crimes perpetrated against British children because they were afraid of being accused of “Islamophobia” or racism.

The seven members of the Oxford child grooming gang who were found guilty (clockwise from top left): Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Assad Hussain, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, and Zeeshan Ahmed.

 

According to government estimates that are believed to be “just the tip of the iceberg,” at least 2,500 British children have so far been confirmed to be victims of grooming gangs, and another 20,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation. At least 27 police forces are currently investigating 54 alleged child grooming gangs across England and Wales.

“As one police officer said to me, ‘There isn’t a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.’ We should start from the assumption that children are being sexually exploited right the way across the country.” — Sue Berelowitz, Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England

Judge Peter Rook, who presided over the trial that ended on June 27 at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (aka the Old Bailey), sentenced five of the men to life in prison and ordered them to serve a minimum of between 12 and 20 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Rook said the severity of the jail terms — which are longer than those in other high-profile grooming cases such as those in Rochdale, Derby and Telford — were meant to send a message to abusers that they would be targeted and brought to justice.

After reading the sentence, Rook said the men — who are from Pakistan and Eritrea (see profiles here) — had committed “a series of sexual crimes of the utmost depravity” and had targeted “young girls because they were vulnerable, underage and out of control.”

The ringleaders of the gang, brothers Akhtar Dogar, 32, and Anjum Dogar, 31, were given life sentences and were told by the judge that they had been found guilty of “exceptionally grave crimes.” They are to remain in prison for a minimum of 17 years before becoming eligible for parole.

A second pair of brothers, Bassam Karrar, 33, and Mohammed Karrar, 38, were also given life sentences. Mohammed Karrar was given a minimum sentence of 20 years for the “dreadful offenses” he committed against the girls, including one child whom he branded with the letter “M” for Mohammed. He began pimping the girl when she was only 11, and forced her to have a backstreet abortion when she was 12.

In graphic testimony, one of the victims told the court that Mohammed Karrar would charge men £500 ($750) to have sex with her. They would take her to homes in High Wycombe where she would be subjected to gang rapes, incidents that she described as “torture sex.” The men would tie her up and gag her mouth with a ball to stop her cries from being heard. The men would play out abuse fantasies; sometimes she was left bleeding for days afterwards.

In one of her few acts of defiance, she threatened Mohammed Karrar with his own lock knife as he was preparing to rape her; he knocked her out with a metal baseball bat.

Mohammed’s younger brother, Bassam Karrar, who was found guilty of brutally raping and attacking a 14-year-old girl while he was high on cocaine, was ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years.

Kamar Jamil, 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years. Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, 28, were both jailed for seven years.

islamic_rape_jihadThe six victims who gave evidence were aged between 11 and 15 when the abuse took place. They were plied with drugs and alcohol, repeatedly raped, sold and trafficked as prostitutes, all at a time during which when they were supposedly in the safekeeping of local authorities.

The trial — details of which were so disturbing that jury members were excused from ever having to sit on a jury again — exposed years of failings by Thames Valley police and Oxford social services. The court heard that the girls were abused between 2004 and 2012 and that police were told about the crimes as early as 2006, that they were contacted at least six times by victims, but failed to act.

The mother of Girl “A” said the police and social services had failed to protect the girls and made her and other family members feel as if they were overreacting. She said: “I can recall countless incidents when I have been upset and frustrated by various professional bodies.”

The mother of Girl “C” told the British newspaper The Guardian that she had begged social services staff to rescue her daughter from the rape gang. She said that her daughter’s abusers had threatened to cut the girl’s face off and promised to slit the throats of her family members. She said that they had been forced to leave their home after the men had threatened to decapitate family members.

Despite irrefutable evidence that the girls were being sexually abused, no one — according to a report published by the House of Commons on June 5 — acted to draw all the facts together, apparently due to fears by police and social workers that they would be accused of racism against Muslims.

The report, “Child Sexual Exploitation and the Response to Localized Grooming,” states: “Evidence presented to us suggests that there is a model of localized grooming of Pakistani-heritage men targeting young White girls. This must be acknowledged by official agencies, who we were concerned to hear in some areas of particular community tension, had reportedly been slow to draw attention to the issue for fear of affecting community cohesion. The condemnation from those communities of this vile crime should demonstrate that there is no excuse for tip-toeing around this issue. It is important that police, social workers and others be able to raise their concerns freely, without fear of being labelled racist.”

These allegations have been confirmed by the imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, Taj Hargey, who says race and religion are inextricably linked to the spate of grooming rings in which Muslim men are targeting under-age white girls.

Writing in the Daily Mail on May 15, Hargey states: “Apart from its sheer depravity, what also depresses me about this case is the widespread refusal to face up to its hard realities. The fact is that the vicious activities of the Oxford ring are bound up with religion and race: religion, because all the perpetrators, though they had different nationalities, were Muslim; and race, because they deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as ‘easy meat’, to use one of their revealing, racist phrases.”

“But as so often in fearful, politically correct modern Britain,” Hargey continues, “there is a craven unwillingness to face up to this reality. Commentators and politicians tip-toe around it, hiding behind weasel words. … Part of the reason this scandal happened at all is precisely because of such politically correct thinking. All the agencies of the state, including the police, the social services and the care system, seemed eager to ignore the sickening exploitation that was happening before their eyes. Terrified of accusations of racism, desperate not to undermine the official creed of cultural diversity, they took no action against obvious abuse.”

According to Hargey, “Another sign of the cowardly approach to these horrors is the constant reference to the criminals as ‘Asians’ rather than as ‘Muslims.’ In this context, Asian is a completely meaningless term. The men were not from China, or India or Sri Lanka or even Bangladesh. They were all from either Pakistan or Eritrea, which is, in fact, in East Africa rather than Asia.”

He also says the grooming rings in Britain are actually being promoted by imams who encourage followers to believe that white women deserve to be “punished.” He writes that Muslims in Britain “have been drip-fed for years [with] a far less uplifting doctrine, one that denigrates all women, but treats whites with particular contempt. In the misguided orthodoxy that now prevails in many mosques, including several of those in Oxford, men are unfortunately taught that women are second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority.”

Hargey points to a telling incident in the trial when it was revealed that Mohammed Karrar branded one of the girls with an “M,” as if she were a cow. He writes, “‘Now, if you have sex with someone else, he’ll know that you belong to me,’ said this criminal, highlighting an attitude where women are seen as nothing more than personal property. The view of some Islamic preachers towards white women can be appalling. They encourage their followers to believe that these women are habitually promiscuous, decadent and sleazy — sins which are made all the worse by the fact that they are kaffurs or non-believers. Their dress code, from mini-skirts to sleeveless tops, is deemed to reflect their impure and immoral outlook. According to this mentality, these white women deserve to be punished for their behavior by being exploited and degraded.”

According to the British Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton, “We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg now. For too long it was something of a taboo issue in this country, little spoken about, little appreciated, little acknowledged or dealt with.” He also said the grooming cases raise “very troubling questions about the attitude of the perpetrators, all but one of whom were from Pakistani backgrounds, towards white girls. Nothing is gained by shying away from that.”

During a recent House of Commons hearing on “Child Sexual Exploitation and the Response to Localized Grooming” the Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, Sue Berelowitz, said: “What I am uncovering is that sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country. As one police officer who was the lead in a very big investigation in a very lovely, leafy, rural part of the country said to me: ‘There isn’t a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited.’ The evidence that has come to the fore during the course of my inquiry is that that, unfortunately, appears to be the case.”

Berelowitz continued: “We should start from the assumption that children are being sexually exploited right the way across the country. In urban, rural and metropolitan areas, I have hard evidence of children being sexually exploited. That is part of what is going on in some parts of our country. It is very sadistic. It is very violent. It is very ugly.”

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook.

‘Crackers,’ a ‘Teenage Mammy’ — the Sorry Truth about Race and Zimmerman Trial

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Juan_WilliamsBy Juan Williams. “White Hispanics,” “Creepy-Ass Crackers,” “Teenage Mammies,” and “Suspicious A–holes who always get away” — that is the vernacular of the George Zimmerman trial.

George Zimmerman faces life in jail as a jury considers second-degree murder charges against him for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But thanks to the media he is already sentenced to life in the American public’s mind as a racist.

NBC edited a tape of Zimmerman’s call to police as he was following Martin to make him appear to be focused on Martin’s race.

The New York Times has referred to him in unique racial terms as a “white Hispanic.” The terminology was necessary to have the story fit into a well-worn news narrative throughout American history from the Scottsboro Boys to Emmett Till to Rodney King – the black victim of white racism. Hispanic people can be as racist as black or white people in a country with a deep history of racism. But, apparently for the Times, Zimmerman’s whiteness was important. It fit their good versus evil tale of a white racist killing an innocent black man.

The media is clearly guilty of playing on the most primitive racial divisions in our society to fuel racial animosity and boost ratings.

In June, before the trial started, a CNN poll asked Americans if they believed the murder charges against Zimmerman were true or false. Without any courtroom testimony or evidence, but based on the racially charged media coverage, 62 percent of Americans said the charges were “probably true” or “definitely true.”

My bet is that poll would have different results today. The trial has failed to prove Zimmerman acted with a “depraved mind” – as required for a second-degree murder conviction – or even with a racist mind. He certainly killed Martin. And the jury may decide he is guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter. But what we heard in the courtroom fits with an FBI report that found race was not a factor in Martin’s shooting death.

The strong public judgment of Zimmerman’s guilt in the poll reflected a racially weighted media telling of the story. Photos of a bloodied Zimmerman after the incident, Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense and the police decision not to charge Zimmerman all got a dismissive glance from the press and contributed to public assumptions about Zimmerman before the trial.

Liberal and conservative news TV and radio have played to the racial theme, too. The left, notably Rev. Al Sharpton, have made the case a crusade for racial justice. The right-wing media, especially talk radio, has responded by making Zimmerman a hero. In fact, Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, created an online site that attracted more than $145,000 from people who somehow made Zimmerman into their champion, possibly their great white hero.

The national focus on race in this case hit a high point when Rachel Jeantel, a 19-year-old student, testified that she spoke with Martin just before he was killed. Jeantel, Martin’s friend, told the court that Martin complained that a “man was just watching him.” And Martin described this man, Jeantel said, as a “creepy, white, excuse my language, cracker — creepy-ass cracker.”

Jeantel’s testimony set off a stupid debate, requiring total ignorance of slavery and legal segregation, about the equivalence of blacks using “cracker” to describe whites, versus whites using the word “nigger” to describe blacks.

And Jeantel’s physical appearance, as a dark, heavyset young woman, speaking with a Southern dialect as she gave the lawyers a lot of attitude with her curt answers, contributed to the racial view of the case.

She became the “teenage mammy,” in the words of a sociology professor quoted in the New York Times, caricatured for “not being smart and using these racial slurs and not being the best witness.”

And now the media, especially some conservative talk radio outlets, are fixated on the possibility of race riots if Zimmerman is acquitted. Meanwhile, Twitter and other social media sites are full of threats from angry black people to kill Zimmerman if he is not held accountable by a jury for killing Martin.

Martin, the 17-year-old, is dead. But he has not escaped the racial slander attached to this case. Zimmerman’s backers note that Martin had smoked marijuana – as if that is unusual among American teenagers. They seem delighted to find online messages in which he took on a rapper, street-thug persona and posed as a tough guy.

These are all caricatures of two real people caught in a tragedy.

Zimmerman should have listened to the 911 emergency dispatch operator who told him to stop following Martin.

Why did he have a gun if he was simply part of a neighborhood watch program?

He had no basis to suspect Martin of any crime. So why does he describe Martin as “suspicious” to police?

Why does he apparently lump Martin with people he describes as “these a–holes, they always get away.”

Why didn’t Martin just walk away from Zimmerman?

But Martin is dead. He can’t speak for himself and get beyond the box of racial stereotypes the media built for him.

Zimmerman is alive. He has chosen not to speak at his trial, and although the prosecution played an interview he did with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, it is still no match for skipping an ideal chance to tell his story when everyone is listening in the courtroom and on television.

Now, no matter what the verdict, he is going to carry his box of racial stereotypes around until his death. His identity will always be as a want-to-be cop who trailed a black kid who was not doing anything wrong, got in a fight with him, pulled out a gun and killed him.

Ultimately, it is the job of the media to give straight, objective coverage of any story.

Whatever the final verdict on Zimmerman, the media is clearly guilty of playing on the most primitive racial divisions in our society to fuel racial animosity and boost ratings.

There are no winners here.

Published July 11, 2013 / FoxNews.com Juan Williams is a Fox News political analyst. He is the author of several books including “Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America–and What We Can Do About It” and “Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate.”

 

GOP House Can Undo Obama Damage With Purse Strings

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boehnerWith the 2012 elections in the  books, the result is that there has been no change in the makeup of America’s government. The Democrats won major advances in 2008, but were rebuked in the 2010 elections with the loss of the House of Representatives.

Now, the status quo prevails, and the government is growing larger and intruding evermore into the lives of Americans and burdening their businesses to the point of closing their doors.

As we look forward to the next 3.5 years of Obama governance, our state of the nation is extremely precarious, as real unemployment rates skyrocket, especially for young minorities, and as we head for the brink of a deadly fiscal and social cliff.

During Obama’s first term Republicans in the House were loathe to exercise the power the Constitution affords the House of Representatives. Now, following disclosures of monumental abuses by the IRS and NSA, House Republicans are finally threatening to cut budgets.

Indeed, the time to step up and enforce the Constitution is long past due, and we call upon House Speaker John Boehner to abandon his tepid leadership practices of the past and begin doing what the American people and Constitution sent him to do–govern.

In fact, not one penny gets spent in this nation without the GOP controlled House consenting to it. This fact gives Boehner and the GOP all power. They don’t have to compromise.

They are the kid with the ball, who is able to take it home and end the game any time the other kids fail to play by the rules. The Democrats stopped playing by the rules of the Constitution generations ago, and their hell-bent march to the left has rendered them enemies of the Constitution.

Obamacare, deficits, spying on citizens, targeting conservative groups, military cuts . . . these are all titillating fantasies of the left, but need not become our reality if the GOP will just exercise its Constitutional mandates and cut the budgets to offending agencies tasked with implementing unconstitutional policies.

Regarding the budget in general, the GOP must simply send a balanced budget with spending appropriated for Constitutionally mandated items to the Senate with instructions: “Pass this budget and send it to the president for signing, because it is the only budget you will get from us.” If they do that, then go to the golf course; GAME OVER.

Will the Democrats in the Senate and White House whine and scream? Yes. Will it do them any good? No. Why? Because without the consent of the House, the government cannot spend any money. Not one thin dime. Not a penny. Not a peso.

Can the Dems do an end run around the House and appropriate money for their programs? No. Will offending government agencies shut down? Perhaps. Is that bad? No.

Will this plan work? YES! It is time for the GOP to show the American people that they are doing the job they were elected to do–govern within a balanced budget and provide the basic services mandated by the Constitution.

PUBLIUS

House Republicans Push to Slash IRS Budget by 24 Percent

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Lerner_IRS_FifthHouse Republicans want the IRS to pay for targeting political groups and are pushing legislation that would cut the tax collecting agency’s budget by $3 billion — nearly a quarter of what it received last fiscal year.

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to start “marking up” the spending bill Wednesday.

While it’s unlikely that such a severe cut will pass both congressional chambers, it does give lawmakers another opportunity to verbally punish the agency for unfairly scrutinizing conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

The bill would place additional restrictions on spending at the IRS and prohibit employees from implementing the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act – commonly referred to as ObamaCare. It also bans conferences, the production of videos and curbs what lawmakers see as a number of abuses at the IRS.

The fiscal 2014 spending bill figures were released Tuesday by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers. The legislation would give $9 billion to the IRS – $4 billion less than what President Obama requested and $3 billion less than what House Republicans gave last year. In fiscal 2013, the agency’s budget was around $12 billion.

The cuts aren’t sitting well with the National Treasury Employees Union which represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.

President Colleen Kelley says that the 24 percent cut in funding would take the agency’s budget back to the level it was more than a decade ago.

“In terms of the ability of the IRS to meet its mission on behalf of the American people, such a budget would absolutely devastate the agency,” Kelley said in a written statement.
Kelley also argues that the tax agency should not be penalized because a May 14 audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration “found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing or political motivation on the part of IRS employees in the tax-exempt division.”

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady isn’t buying it.

“I can’t think of a federal agency in a weaker position than the IRS,” he said. “The IRS should resign itself to not getting more money.”

Separately, acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told workers in an email that he is canceling annual bonuses for managers because of sequestration cuts. The union’s collective bargaining agreement calls for about $70 million in performance bonuses this year, but there is a clause that could enable the IRS to renegotiate.

FoxNews.com / Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Temp Agency is America’s Second-largest Employer

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unemployedWhile the Obama Administration insists that the June jobs report is good news for the economy, some of the indicators tell another story. As noted yesterday, part-time jobs surged to a record high last month and full-time employment dropped, a sign that some say could be blamed on ObamaCare.

Another startling data point, as reported by Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner, is that America’s second-largest employer is Kelly Services, a temp agency:

Behind Wal-Mart, the second-largest employer in America is Kelly Services, a temporary work provider.

Friday’s disappointing jobs report showed that part-time jobs are at anall-time high, with 28 million Americans now working part-time. The report also showed another disturbing fact: There are now a record number of Americans with temporary jobs.

Approximately 2.7 million, in fact. And the trend has been growing.

Why is this so concerning? Marina Fang of ThinkProgress, a Leftist blog owned by the Center for American Progress, notes that “[t]here is a negative correlation between an increase in temp jobs and overall economic growth.” Pointing to a study by EMSI, Fang explained, “[C]ities that have recovered fastest from the recession are those with the lowest growth in temp jobs.”

“For example, Washington D.C. has added 117,238 jobs since 2009, and only 2 percent of those jobs were in the temporary help sector. Similarly, San Francisco added 125,134 jobs with only 4 percent constituting temp jobs. Austin, Houston, Seattle, and Boston also experienced fairly sizable increases in jobs but coupled with low proportions of temp jobs,” she added. “By comparison, in Philadelphia, where 41 percent of jobs are temporary, the economy has added only 19,752 jobs overall since 2009.”

The Associated Press has also chimed in, surmising that the growth in temporary jobs could be a “permanent fixture” in the United States.

Many employers have been reluctant to hire because of ObamaCare. In fact, many have either suspended hiring or have scaled back their operations because of the law. A Gallup poll released just last month found that 41% of businesses have frozen hiring and another 19% have eliminated jobs specifically due to the uncertainty over ObamaCare.

The poll also showed that 55% of small business owners believe that ObamaCare will cause their health insurance costs to rise, while 52% believe that they can expect lower quality care because of the law.

This is the Obama economy, folks.

By Jason Pye

‘PRIVACY BREACH’: IRS Publishes Social Security Numbers on Web

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irs_troubleThe IRS mistakenly posted the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of Americans on a government website, the agency confirmed Monday night. One estimate put the figure as high as 100,000 names.

The numbers were posted to an IRS database for tax-exempt political groups known as 527s and first discovered by the group Public.Resource.org.

The California-based group said it learned of the “privacy breach” while working on an unrelated audit of an “improperly vetted shipment” of IRS data on DVDs and promptly informed the agency, which shut down the site the next day. The group said the Social Security numbers were largely those of donors, though some were also from people who prepared tax returns to furnish to the IRS.

An IRS spokesman told FoxNews.com on Monday the agency was alerted about a “substantial number” of Social Security numbers posted on the site and removed web access to the information “out of an abundance of caution.” The spokesman also said the IRS is now “assessing the situation and exploring available options.”

A message on the agency’s 527 homepage asks visitors to check back Monday, but the site was still down Monday evening.

Public.Resource.org. founder Carl Malamud told FoxNews.com on Monday night that roughly 100,000 Social Security numbers were exposed.

Malamud said in a statement on the group’s website that it hopes the Obama administration will act to restore access to the agency’s nonprofit database and resolve its concerns over what it described as a “serious violation of federal law.”

“It is time now for the administration to send a tiger team over to the [IRS] to help fix their information management practices,” Malamud said.

FoxNews.com

Zimmerman: The Subtext

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ZimmermanWith the prosecutors floundering so dramatically in their case against George Zimmerman, who is on trial for the ‘murder’ of Trayvon Martin, one wonders why the case was even brought in the first place. Indeed, the decision by prosecutors was not a matter of law, but a matter of politics.

The ‘black community’ was boisterous in its outcries against the “white” George Zimmerman, who is plainly Hispanic . . . although that inconvenient fact doesn’t stop the misrepresentation, who shot the hoodie-wearing, pot smoking young black man in a middle-class gated community in Florida. As a matter of responding to that public outcry, a special prosecutor was appointed to take on the clear case of self-defense, and punish it as a hate crime.

Facts of the case:

Mr. Martin seemed clearly out of place in a neighborhood that had suffered its share of crimes in recent years, and Mr. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch person, whose sense of public duty instructed him to keep a keen eye out for suspicious people.

Mr. Zimmerman telephoned police when he saw Mr. Martin walking through the neighborhood, looking suspicious. Mr. Martin confronted Mr. Zimmerman, and attacked him, ending up on top of him slugging him in the face and pounding his head into the concrete, telling him he was going to die. Mr. Zimmerman received a broken nose and split scalp at the hands of Mr. Martin.

Feeling he was in imminent danger of serious injury, Mr. Zimmerman took out his handgun and shot Mr. Martin, who was still on top of him giving him a beating, and who died at the scene.

This is a classic textbook case of self-defense.

The truth is that liberals in America refuse to accept any part of the truth that blacks commit most of the crime in this country. Like Trayvon Martin, many young thugs wearing hoodies and pants below butt cracks terrorize whites and others, at will, threatening and attacking anyone who challenges their criminal or suspicious behavior.

Remember, blacks only account for 12% of our population, and young black men account for only about 4% of the US population. According to a report released by the New Century Foundation, The Color of Crime:

  • Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
  • When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
  • Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.
  • The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of the population that is black and Hispanic.
  • Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.
  • Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Forty-five percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are black, and 10 percent are Hispanic. When whites commit violent crime, only three percent of their victims are black.
  • Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a white than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.

These statistics evidence a very serious problem in our country–one that turning a blind eye won’t resolve–that many young black men are violent criminals. If this statement offends you–answer the question, who in America feels safe walking through a predominantly black neighborhood after dark?

In fact, the entitlement policies of the left have bred a generation of criminals, and our black brothers are drowning in a sea of apathy and neglect. (See our article Dems Hurting Minorities, June 8, 2013) The same policies that have created the problem are being escalated annually, and the problems of young black men have increased exponentially–nearly to the point where the majority of them have a better chance of going to prison than to college. The only thing that has prevented the escalation of crime rates in America is the abortion policies of the left, which are aimed directly at reducing the black population. (See our article Should GOP Rethink Abortion Policy?, Nov. 29, 2012)

George Zimmerman has given America a wake up call. He refused to turn a blind eye to the truth that skulking young blacks in hoodies and low-rider pants are suspicious in a middle-class neighborhood–a fact that every American knows, but the left has made a social crime to speak out loud. It is our hope that black “leaders” will redirect their feigned outrage to the real issues facing their constituents (the number of blacks that died at the hands of blacks in Chicago over the recent holiday should spark true outrage), and enlist the help of responsible politicians and citizens to begin the arduous process of rehabilitating an entire generation of lost black Americans.

PUBLIUS

Gay Activists Demand Capital One Drops Alec Baldwin

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA coalition of leading gay and straight activists are calling for Capital One to part ways with spokesman Alec Baldwin following his homophobic Twitter rant directed at a reporter.

“We urge all Americans to ask themselves, ‘What’s in your wallet?’ We hope they will reject Alec Baldwin’s homophobia by cutting up those Capital One cards in their wallets,” Jimmy LaSalvia, gay conservative strategist and GOProud co-founder, told Breitbart.com.

Baldwin has apologized for the tweets directed at reporter George Stark who wrote a story claiming the actor’s wife, Hilaria Thomas, was tweeting during the funeral of Soprano’s star James Gandolfini.

“My ill-advised attack…had absolutely nothing to do with issues of anyone’s sexual orientation,” Baldwin said in a statement sent to the gay rights group GLAAD on Friday. “As someone who fights against homophobia, I apologize.”

But an apology from the actor is not enough according to John Hawkins, who works with LaSalvia at RightWingNews.com.

“It’s still a free country and Alec Baldwin can do as much gay bashing as he likes on Twitter, but it’s hard to understand why Capital One would choose to publicly condone his homophobia by keeping Baldwin on as its spokesman,” Hawkins told Breitbart.com. “If Capital One is not going to do the right then, then Capital One doesn’t deserve our business.”

The company, so far, has refused to comment or respond to multiple calls and emails from FOX411 to several press representatives.

Baldwin’s controversial tweets read, “[I’d] put my foot up your f**king ass, George Stark, but I’m sure you’d dig it too much,” and “I’m gonna find you George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I’m gonna f**k you…up.”

The 55-year-old actor sent out the messages from his @ABFoundation Twitter account, according to screen grabs published online. Baldwin disabled the account following the rant but it has since been restored – minus the offensive tweets – and it seems business, for Baldwin is back to normal.

“Liberals and conservatives may not agree on much, but we should certainly be able to agree that Alec Baldwin’s comments were way over-the-line and completely inappropriate,” Hawkins told Brietbart.com.

Some have pointed out that while Baldwin’s homophobic slurs were similar to TV chef Paula Deen’s racial slurs (she admitted to using the N-word 30 years ago), the fallout is not. The 66-year-old chef was dropped by all of her major business partners, including Target, Walmart, the Food Network and Sears, while so far Baldwin seems to be getting off scot free.

“Companies know the media won’t beat them up for keeping Baldwin on board, despite his violent threat and homophobic comments,” explained Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at Media Research Center. “Why? Because he’s liberal and the same rules don’t apply.”

Gainor predicted Baldwin likely won’t see any repercussions.

A non-scientific poll taken by Sodahead.com  asked users if they believed Baldwin should lose his endorsement deals following the tweets. More than 80 percent of respondents said yes.
Baldwin’s rep did not immediately return FOX411’s request for additional comment.

FoxNews.com

Facebook Talk: Meritocracy vs. Socialism

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woman-obama-phoneIt’s been an interesting day. Last night, just before bed I was cruising blogs and came across a reposted article about how much more difficult it is to work your way through college these days, if no other reason than that college is so much more expensive now than in the past. There was also an assertion that greedy baby boomers (especially the wealthy) don’t subsidize education as it was done in the past. Based on the comments already left by two other respondents (names changed) to the posting, I wrote:

@Amy . Who gets to decide what’s fair?

@Carol . I’m not retired. I probably will never retire. My choice. And, I agree with your comments about the Boomers. After 40 years of Democratic control of the House, voted in by the Boomers, I couldn’t wait for the Republicans to take over. What a joke they have turned out to be.

All of it goes to show why the Founding Fathers had no intention of having but a very few (enumerated) items controlled by the federal government. People make mistakes. Generations of people make generational mistakes and the governments of those people are nothing more than a reflection of those voters. That being said, like minded people should be able to gather together in one state or another and live the way they choose. Californians should not set the agenda for residents of Colorado. Floridians should not have an influence, let alone a vote, on how people should live in Washington State. If you don’t like the mindset of your neighbors, then move to a place that caters to people who think as you think. Therefore, the federal government should not be so big, so bloated and so powerful that they are able to socially engineer us into being, doing and having the exact same thing no matter where you live in the country. That plan has never worked anywhere in the history of the world! And, it’s been tried countless times.

So yeah, I get a little cranky when I hear about anyone whining about what somebody else got and how they didn’t get theirs. If you don’t like what you’re getting from those who control your taxes, your educational opportunities, your jobs, your health care, your environment, your fuel/energy prices and everything else in your life, then DUMP ALL FEDERAL PROGRAMS, SPENDING AND CONTROL beyond the very few things enumerated in the Constitution and start gathering as like minded people in one corner of the country or the other under a state, county and municipal system that reflects the mindset of you and those with whom you have chosen to associate. But don’t keep voting for the same idiots or their protégés who do nothing more than perpetuate the “status quo”.

By the way, if you are not willing to do any of the above until someone else does it for you or until someone else funds it or until someone else, through federal support, guarantees food, housing, health care, day care, transportation or a job with a guaranteed salary that you can’t get fired from for lack of performance, then you should probably move to some other country where those things are guaranteed. Clearly you lack the American Spirit of self reliance, hard work, courage, risk, reward, pioneering and problem solving.

A friend of mine has an answering machine message that says, ” If you’re part of the problem, hang up and don’t call back. If you’re part of the solution, leave a message.”  That seems like an appropriate sign off here.

Carols responded: “Amen to states rights”

Amy responded (unedited) :

“America definitely wasn’t founded on self reliance, courage, risk, and reward etc.. Lets not forget all of the slaves, natives, women and immigrants who were treated like shit (irish, jews, italians, japanese, chinese, etc) who actually did the leg work. America was built on their blood sweat and tears and our forefathers just reaped the benefit because they were aristocratic christian land owning white males… History is a hell of an indicator of present behavior in politicians. There are so many other factors at play in determining the haves and have nots in this country and most of isn’t because of meritocracy thats a myth and an illusion.  See the glass ceiling and the 20% rule etc etc”

My first thought was, “Boy oh boy is the country in big trouble”. However, my immediate quip was, “Where did you go to school?”, followed by:

“You, making a list of the atrocities, injustices and bigotries of the past and trying to pass that off as a fair representation of the history of this country is like me making a list of all of yesterdays driving infractions and concluding that ALL drivers broke the law yesterday. Though undoubtedly every driving law on the books was broken yesterday, the vast majority of drivers didn’t break any law. In fact, not even all those who did violate traffic law yesterday, break the law everyday. Drill down a little further and you will discover that not even all of those caught speeding (for example), would be found guilty of such in court, for the simple reason that some of the speeding took place under the extraordinary circumstances of an emergency. It’s called the greater good defense and considered a justifiable action.

Despite what you’re being taught in our schools these days, this is a great country with great opportunity for ANYONE who is willing to pay the price. Granted, it is becoming more and more difficult due to more and more taxation and regulation. But far more injurious to your future than that, is what you apparently believe about the past. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, or that it’s too late or that you’re not the right kind, color, gender or creed to make your dreams come true. Those who want you to believe such things are trying to convince you of something that will disadvantage you, usually for their own benefit. Don’t let them. Don’t believe for a minute that the prosperity of your future will be derived from the redistribution of someone else’s accumulation. Politicians who want you to give them the power to take from others so that they can give to you will eventually take it all for themselves and leave you with even less than you had before. Even a cursory review of history with the slightest degree intellectual integrity will evidence that.

One more thing; I’m tempted to encourage you look at the glass of history as half full instead of half empty. But that would be dishonest. The truth is that compared to today, the glass of history is 94% full. It is accurate to say that there were indeed injustices of all kinds back in the day. But by any “fair” observation, there was more good than bad, more good actors than bad actors in nearly every case. But remember also that there were different standards. It could be said that their glasses held a quart, our glasses hold a liter. If you pour 100% of their quart into our liter it will only fill our container up to 94% full. In other words, we have different standards today than did our ancestors. Even their best would fall short by todays expectations. The real question is, what is our capacity? How close are we coming to completely filling our glass of achievement given our greater opportunities and capacity? Don’t let anyone make the false comparison of historical vs. present day (using a different standard) and convince you that you got shorted and now somebody owes you. Self reliance and faith in God is what made this country great, not government/institutional reliance. Don’t trust anyone who tells you different.”

 

Dependence Day – The Return of King George

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With the level of the federal deficit approaching $17,000,000,000 (trillions), the interest on which costs Americans the first $1,300,000,000 (billion) they make every day, and the recent explosion of federal power over the citizens and the states as handed to U.S. socialists by the Supreme Court and the prolific pen of the Executive Order, the independence from government rule and tyranny sought by our Founders is all but neutralized. We and our children are indebted and imprisoned by design of a leftist attack on our country, and an Orwellian federal government spies on patriotic citizens and treats them like enemies while Islamic terrorists are welcomed into the White House.

A polarization has occurred in the nation—as the left has chipped away at personal liberty and individual sovereignty over the past several decades, those who cherish freedom have finally begun to become more vocal in their resistance. But is it too little, too late?

The left has made tremendous inroads in their quest to replace King George with its own elitist panels, commissions and czars, and within the past year its inches of ground winning have become feet.

. . . even an overtaxed economy like ours has rendered our own 99% the 1% of the world.

In the name of laborer parity and elevating the ethnically or socially disadvantaged, the socialists and communists of the past century have robbed the people of the world of their birthright, established by the labor and sacrifice of their 18th and19th Century Forbearers. In the name of pretended “fairness” leftist forces have lowered the wealth and opportunities of everyone rather than elevate the status of the less fortunate.

Look at any country where socialism and liberalism have penetrated the veil of liberty. Not one of them has improved the quality of life of their working people.

Where do we find the bottom half of earners in America? With all of the talk of the 1% and the 99% in this country, and the mindless chants of brain-dead occupiers in the streets, even an overtaxed economy like ours has rendered our own 99% the 1% of the world. Nearly all of our poor live in good housing, have clean water and food aplenty (many suffer from obesity), a computer of some kind, and cell phones and cable television. They live better than the wealthy of many of the earth’s nations.

Additionally, the tremendous generosity and military might of Americans has been the salvation of billions of people around the world, whose leftist economies have left them with nothing but squalor, want and exposure to dictators and war lords (usually leftists).

big_brother_watchingWe hear of the Tea Party these days, and the name is spoken with disdain by over half of the country, and almost all of the mainstream media. Does any of them actually recall where the term originated? Do they remember how an oppressive monarch imposed taxes that were hard to bear and intruded into the personal liberties of a hardworking people, and that those people finally decided that they would take no more and rose up in rebellion, starting with throwing British tea into the harbor?

No, sadly enough, most young adults these days are the products of a dumbing-down campaign launched by the left and its educational arm, the National Education Association. They have mush for brains and their education consists of nothing more than pop culture and global warming propaganda.

We have nearly come full circle. We have hundreds of millions dependent on government and its handouts, a White House dedicated to the overthrow of the Constitution, and a Supreme Court that has decreed that the people are to be taxed even for services they DO NOT purchase at the government’s command.

King George is back, liberty has been strangled to near enslavement, and this time it will take more than a few muskets to rid us of the burgeoning oppression. America has not seen such dark times since the Civil War. I say the Civil War, because in all other wars the enemy was external. If we fail to immediately change our course, we will be irretrievably carried back under the oppression of dictatorship. We invite all liberty loving Americans to join the revolution, and to regain our independence from oppressive, centralized government.

PUBLIUS

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Leader Arrested

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Muslim_Leader_ArrestedEgyptian security officials said Thursday that they have arrested the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, after the military ousted Brotherhood-aligned President Mohammed Morsi and replaced him with the supreme justice of the Constitutional Court.

The officials said Mohammed Badie was arrested Wednesday night in a resort village in Marsa Matrouh, a Mediterranean coastal city west of Cairo not far from the Libyan border. He had been staying in a villa owned by a businessman with Brotherhood links.

The officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

He was flown to Cairo on a military helicopter, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The prosecutor’s office, a day after the overthrow, ordered Badie’s arrest, and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, sources told Reuters. The two were reportedly wanted for inciting the killing of protesters in front of the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo’s southern neighborhood called Mokattam, the AFP reported.

“This is the first time in the history of the Brotherhood that it is the people and not the regime that are acting against the movement”- Ibrahim al-Hudaibi, a prominent former member of the group

Al Ahram, a major state newspaper, reported that eight protesters were killed while attacking the headquarters, The New York Times reported.

Publicly, the Brotherhood urged members to avoid violence during the most recent upheaval.

In addition to the two high-ranking leaders, Al-Ahram reported that arrest warrants were issued for 300 other members of the Brotherhood, Reuters reported.

Badie and el-Shater were widely believed by the opposition to be the real power in Egypt during Morsi’s tenure. As of Wednesday night, Badie was last known to be holed up at a tourist resort on the Mediterranean coast near the Libyan border, with security forces surrounding the building.

The leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm — Freedom and Justice Party — and another of Badie’s deputies have been detained.

The arrests and warrants against Brotherhood leaders signal a crackdown by the military against Islamists who have dominated the political scene in Egypt since the ouster in 2011 of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a state-run newspaper that Morsi’s fall means the end of “political Islam.”

The Brotherhood’s television station, Misr 25, has been taken off the air along with several TV networks run by Islamists. Morsi’s critics have long accused the stations of sowing divisions among Egyptians and inciting against secularists, liberals, Christians and Shiite Muslims with their hard-line rhetoric.

Adi Mansour, Egypt’s interim leader, made overtures to the Brotherhood in his inauguration.

“The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed,” he said, according to Reuters.

Still, Morsi’s ouster is seen by many as a blow to the Brotherhood’s push for influence in North Africa just two years after the fall of Mubarak. The Wall Street Journal reports that the change of tides may push some Islamists to take a pass on democracy and turn to violence.

The Brotherhood has hemorrhaged support. Under Brotherhood rule, crime has spiked, the economy has tanked and the country’s politics have grown dangerously polarized, the Journal’s report said. The popular swell of discontent with the Brotherhood and the movement’s governing shortcomings has been acknowledged even by the movement’s most defiant leaders.

“This is the first time in the history of the Brotherhood that it is the people and not the regime that are acting against the movement,” said Ibrahim al-Hudaibi, a prominent former member of the group, told the paper.

Morsi was ousted in what was described by the presidential palace as a “complete military coup.” The White House has not labeled Morsi ouster a coup. Doing so would have U.S. aid implications.

Ahmed Aref, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood party, told Reuters both Morsi and an aide were being held but he didn’t know their location. A security official said they were at a military intelligence facility, Reuters reported.

Morsi said on his presidential Facebook page that the military’s action “presents a military coup and it is unacceptable.”

At least 14 people were killed in clashes between Morsi’s supporters and opponents following the announcement, Reuters said, citing the state news agency MENA. Egyptian troops, including commandos in full combat gear, were deployed across much of Cairo, including at key facilities, on bridges over the Nile River and at major intersections

Eight of the dead were reported to be in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh, with three killed and at least 50 wounded in Alexandria. Another three were killed in the southern city of Minya.

A U.S. official said nonessential diplomats and embassy families had been ordered to leave Egypt amid the unrest. The State Department issued a warning urging U.S. citizens in the country to leave.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Morsi Ousted

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morsi_ousted_egyptEgypt’s top military commander says the army is now in full control of the country and President Mohammed Morsi has been replaced by the chief justice of the constitutional court as the interim head of state.

He made the announcements in a Wednesday night speech — the latest twist in an all-out power struggle inside Egypt that Morsi’s national security adviser is describing as a military coup.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said the country’s constitution has been temporarily suspended and Morsi has failed to meet the demands of Egypt’s people.

Fireworks and cheers erupted from the millions gathered in Tahrir Square after the announcement was made.

Earlier in the day, an army deadline for Morsi to resolve Egypt’s political crisis expired.

Top military officials and opposition leaders met Wednesday and agreed on a political roadmap for the country’s future, calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections, el-Sissi said. A new presidential cabinet will be formed as well as a national reconciliation committee, which will include youth movements that have been behind anti-Morsi demonstrations.

Morsi’s response was not immediately known, but an aide says he has been moved to an undisclosed location.

El-Sissi said the military will deal “decisively” with any violence sparked by the announcements.

Before el-Sissi’s address, Egyptian troops, including commandos in full combat gear, were deployed across much of Cairo, including at key facilities, on bridges over the Nile River and at major intersections.

The military vowed Wednesday to defend its people “against any terrorist, radical or fool.”

But one of Morsi’s advisers called their actions a “coup.”

“For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup,” the Morsi adviser, Essam al-Haddad, said on his Facebook page.

An aide told Reuters that Morsi had spent the day working at a presidential office in a compound of the Republican Guard in Cairo, but it was unclear if he would be able to return later to his palace.

Witnesses told Reuters that the army was erected barbed wire and barriers around the compound, and moved in vehicles and troops to prevent supporters from getting to his palace.

A travel ban was put on Morsi and the head of his Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, as well as Badie’s deputy Khairat el-Shater, officials told the Associated Press.

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) — the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood — has denied that Morsi was placed under house arrest.

Minutes before the military’s deadline for Morsi to resolve the nation’s political crisis passed Wednesday afternoon, the embattled leader called for “national reconciliation,” but vowed he would never step down.

Millions were in the main squares of major cities nationwide Wednesday, demanding Morsi’s removal, in the fourth day of the biggest anti-government rallies the country has seen, surpassing even those in the uprising that ousted against his autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak. Critics say Morsi has set the nation on a path toward Islamic rule.

“The presidency renews its own roadmap and invites all national forces for dialogue,” Morsi said in a statement on his Facebook page, adding that his vision is to hold a coalition government that will run upcoming parliamentary elections. Morsi also said he was looking to “form an independent committee for constitutional amendments to be presented to the coming parliament.”

He described electoral legitimacy as the only safeguard against violence and instability.

Khaled Daoud, spokesman of the main opposition National Salvation Front, which pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei leads, said that ElBaradei, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, were part of the Wednesday meetings with military leaders.

Political sources told Reuters that two members of a rebel youth group that is leading the anti-Morsi protests and members of the hardline Muslim fundamentalist al-Nour Party also attended.

A Defense Ministry official said Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi held another emergency meeting with his top commanders Wednesday, hours before the deadline expired. The official, who gave no further details, spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, the Associated Press reports.

The army also asked the FJP to meet with el-Sissi, but the invite was rejected.

“We have a president and that is it,” Waleed al-Haddad, a senior leader of the party, told Reuters.

The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper — which also seemed to be following a military line — reported that the military had placed several leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood under surveillance.

Before the deadline expired at 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), employees at Egypt’s state TV station said military officers were present in the newsroom monitoring its output, but not interfering with their work.

The military also beefed up the presence of troops inside the building, the employees told the Associated Press, though they were not visible outside. Even before the crisis, a small army contingent usually guards the state TV headquarters.

In his emotional 46-minute speech late Tuesday, Morsi vowed not to step down and pledged to defend his legitimacy with his life in the face of three days of massive street demonstrations calling for his ouster. The Islamist leader accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.

“There is no substitute for legitimacy,” said Morsi, at times angrily raising his voice, thrusting his fist in the air and pounding the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy “is the only guarantee against violence.”

The statements showed that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood were prepared to run the risk of challenging the army. It also entrenches the lines of confrontation between his Islamist supporters and Egyptians angry over what they see as his efforts to impose control through the Brotherhood and his failures to deal with the country’s multiple problems.

At the main pro-Morsi rally in Cairo, thousands of his Islamist supporters chanted, “Wake up el-Sissi, Morsi is my president.”

“We will not bring back the military rule,” they chanted outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque. “Will not happen, will not happen,” they shouted.

After the army’s deadline passed, a military helicopter circled over the crowds in Tahrir Square, which was transformed into a sea of furiously waving Egyptian flags. “Leave, leave,” they chanted to Morsi, electrified as they waited to hear of an army move.After nightfall, fireworks went off and green lasers flashed over the crowd.

On Tuesday, clashes in Cairo and elsewhere in the country that left at least 23 people dead, most in a single incident near the main Cairo University campus. The latest deaths take to 39 the number of people killed since Sunday in violence between opponents and supporters of Morsi, who took office in June last year as Egypt’s first freely elected leader.

The bloodshed, coupled with Morsi’s defiant speeches, contributed the sense that both sides were ready to fight to the end. The president’s supporters also moved out in increased marches in Cairo Tuesday and other cities, and stepped up warnings that it will take bloodshed to dislodge him.

On Monday, the military gave Morsi the ultimatum to meet the protesters’ demands within 48 hours. If not, the generals’ plan would suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve the Islamist-dominated legislature and set up an interim administration headed by the country’s chief justice, the state news agency reported.

The leaking of the military’s so-called political “road map” appeared aimed at adding pressure on Morsi by showing the public and the international community that the military has a plan that does not involve a coup.

Fearing that Washington’s most important Arab ally would descend into chaos, U.S. officials said they are urging Morsi to take immediate steps to address opposition grievances, telling the protesters to remain peaceful and reminding the army that a coup could have consequences for the massive American military aid package it receives. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

At the U.S. State Department media briefing Wednesday, spokeswoman Jen Psaki restated the administration’s priority on the democratic process.

“It’s never been about one individual,” she told reporters. “It’s been about hearing and allowing the voices of the Egyptian people to be heard.”

Pentagon Spokesman George Little says there has been no change in terms of the U.S. military prepositioning assets in and around Egypt in the event they are called upon to assist the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obama Delays ObamaCare Until After Elections

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obama_irsPresident Obama’s decision to push back key provisions of his signature healthcare law amid growing concerns it isn’t ready for prime time could take a key issue away from Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.

The announcement Tuesday night that the mandate for many small businesses to provide health insurance to employees will be delayed by one year was hailed by business leaders and seemed to acknowledge Republican claims the plan would hurt – or at least confuse – business. But it also likely undercuts Republican plans to make ObamaCare the centerpiece of their midterm elections strategy.

Democrats are defending 21 Senate seats to the Republicans’ 14. The GOP had already started to excoriate Senate Democrats who had voted for the health law in 2009. And the House has voted more than 35 times since taking control of the chamber in 2011 to repeal or at least defund all or parts of ObamaCare, most recently in May.

“The president’s health care law is already raising costs and costing jobs,” House Speaker John Boehner said. “This announcement means even the Obama administration knows the ‘train wreck’ will only get worse. … And it underscores the need to repeal the law and replace it with effective, patient-centered reforms.”

The announcement was made late Tuesday by the Treasury Department, at the beginning of the holiday week while Congress was on recess. It came amid reports that the administration is running into roadblocks as it prepares to implement ObamaCare.

The change in the employer mandate also is arguably the most significant concession the administration has made to date to critics of the plan.

“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Treasury Assistant Secretary Mark Mazur said in a blog post. “We have listened to your feedback and we are taking action.”

Randy Johnson, senior vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits at the Chamber of Commerce, told Fox News the administration’s decision shows it has “finally recognized the obvious.”

“Employers need more time and clarification of the rules of the road before implementing the employer mandate,” he said. “We will continue to work to alleviate this and other problems with ObamaCare.”

Neil Trautwein, a vice president of the National Retail Federation, said: “We commend the administration’s wise move.”

He also said the change “will provide employers and businesses more time to update their health care coverage without threat of arbitrary punishment.”

But the delay could also undermine the law’s main goal of covering the nearly 50 million Americans without health insurance. Already, Republican resistance in the states will deny access to a planned Medicaid expansion — at least for next year — to millions of low-income people.

Under the health law, companies with 50 or more workers must provide affordable coverage to their full-time employees or risk a series of escalating tax penalties if just one worker ends up getting government-subsidized insurance. Originally, that requirement was supposed to take effect Jan. 1. It will now be delayed to 2015.

Most medium-sized and large businesses already offer health insurance and the requirement was expected to have the biggest consequences for major chain hotels, restaurants and retail stores that employ many low-wage workers. Some had threatened to cut workers’ hours, and others said they were putting off hiring.

Business groups complained since the law passed that the provision was too complicated. For instance, the law created a new definition of full-time workers, those putting in 30 hours or more. It also included two separate requirements, one to provide coverage and another that coverage be deemed “affordable” under the law. Violations of either one exposed employers to fines. But such complaints until now seemed to be going unheeded.

There is no coverage mandate — or penalty — for smaller businesses. Also, for businesses of any size, there is no penalty if their workers are poor enough to be eligible for Medicaid.

The delay in the employer requirement does not affect the law’s requirement that individuals carry health insurance starting next year or face fines. That so-called individual mandate was challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled last year that the individual requirement was constitutional, since the penalty would be collected by the Internal Revenue Service and amounted to a tax.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a critic of the law, seized on the delay as a “clear admission” that the law is “unaffordable, unworkable and unpopular,” but conceded delaying implementation could help Democrats.

“It’s also a cynical political ploy to delay the coming train wreck associated with ObamaCare until after the 2014 elections,” he said.

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