Update
Spread the words:
Little Free Libraries find global following
Excerpt: Maybe "little" isn't such an apt
description anymore of those book houses people put up in their yards. Five
years after Todd Bol put up the first Little Free Library in front of his house
in Hudson, Wis., the grassroots book lending program has popped up everywhere
from Iceland to Tasmania. There are about 25,000 Little Free Libraries around
the globe today and it's growing faster than ever. "We're going to pass
McDonald's by Thanksgiving," Bol said. "There's going to be more
Little Free Libraries than McDonald's, which is great." More than he
thinks. We didn't register ours to save the $40. ~Bob)
Another lovely day, high near 70. We were out and about, so
shorter post today. ~Bob
General News and Comment
Another hit: Dane County GOP
Excerpt: The Republican
Party of Dane County is calling on Wisconsin Supreme Court
Justice Ann
Walsh Bradley to “respect the law” amid an ethics scandal involving
a campaign advertisement with Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney. The party’s
statement comes just days before the April Supreme Court election pitting
Bradley, a member of the court’s liberal wing seeking her third 10-year term on
the bench, and Rock County Circuit Court Judge James Daley, a
conservative. “Leading up to Election Day Justice Bradley, in the face of
ongoing ethics complaints, continues to keep a photo on her (campaign) Facebook
page that shows a shameful lack of integrity on her part,” the Dane County GOP
states. (Channel 47 in Madison
called my Thursday for background, so I think they are going to cover it. ~Bob)
Obama Administration cleared by Obama Administration--Again!
DOJ: No contempt charges for former IRS
official Lois Lerner. She is still under investigation for a separate tea party
targeting matter. By John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/lois-lerner-no-contempt-charges-justice-department-116577.html
Excerpt: The Justice Department will not seek criminal
contempt charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner, the central figure in
a scandal that erupted over whether the tax agency improperly targeted
conservative political groups. Ronald Machen, the former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia , told House Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a seven-page letter this week that he would not bring
a criminal case to a grand jury over Lerner’s refusal to testify before the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March 2014. The House
approved a criminal contempt resolution against Lerner in May 2014, and
Machen’s office has been reviewing the issue since then. (Anyone who thinks
Obama wants the full facts of the IRA targeting scandal known is cognitively
impaired. ~Bob)
Corruption charges against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
cleared a federal grand jury Wednesday, which itself smacks of political
corruption inside the Department of Revenge Justice. According to the
DOJ's allegations, Menendez accepted bribes from a Florida eye doctor. Menendez said it was
only a friendship. Former federal prosecutor Adam Lurie told The Wall Street Journal, "I think the
government's real challenge here is going to be overcoming the friendship
evidence. Doing something for a friend is not a crime, and doing something
because you also have a real policy concern about something is not a crime. And
I think the government is going to have to deal with both of those issues
here." Attacking Menendez could solidify the Democrat Party behind Obama,
as the senator was a vocal opponent of the Obama administration's diplomatic
actions with Iran and Cuba .
Meanwhile, former IRS official Lois Lerner, who helped Obama win re-election by
targeting conservative groups, will not be charged with contempt of Congress.
According to The Hill, a DOJ attorney said it would be
"inappropriate." Indeed, Obama doesn't send the DOJ after his
friends.
Excerpt: Lawmakers in Arkansas
and Indiana
passed legislation Thursday that they hoped would quiet the national uproar
over new religious objections laws that opponents say are designed to offer a
legal defense for anti-gay discrimination.
The Arkansas House voted 76-17 to pass a revised bill after
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson asked for changes in the wake of mounting
criticism. Hutchinson
signed it only moments after the vote, saying the new version recognizes that
"we have a diverse workforce and a diverse culture." A parallel
process played out at the Indiana Capitol as the House and Senate passed
changes to a law signed last week by GOP Gov. Mike Pence, who quickly approved
the revisions.
A Row Boat Is A Boat
Rowed With Oars - And It's More; A Lot More. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Closing in on a half
century ago during spring and into the summer - measuring; remeasuring; sawing;
shaping; bending; gluing; clamping; screwing; sanding; caulking; and painting -
Harry and Ken built a wood boat. It was a one-man row boat. (I add my recommendation for this book. It has some
interesting history abour Hitler and our country in the 30s. --Don)
Excerpt: The very first quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
and decorated war hero has passed away at the age of 85. Edward
"Eddie" LeBaron Jr., a member of the College Football Hall of Fame,
war hero, NFL football star and successful attorney,
died Wednesday in Stockton ,
California Korea for nine months and was
wounded twice. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroism and
later taught at the Marine Base in Quantico
until his discharge in 1952.
Worth Reading
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416307/war-private-mind-kevin-d-williamson
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416307/war-private-mind-kevin-d-williamson
Excerpt: There are three problems
with rewarding those who use accusations of bigotry as a political cudgel.
First, those who seek to protect religious liberties are not bigots, and going
along with false accusations that they are makes one a party to a lie. Second,
it is an excellent way to lose political contests, since there is almost
nothing — up to and including requiring algebra classes — that the Left will
not denounce as bigotry. Third, and related, it encourages those who
cynically deploy accusations of bigotry for their own political ends. ... Adlai
Stevenson famously offered this definition: “A free society is a society where
it is safe to be unpopular.” We do not live in that society.
Hands Up, Don't
Discriminate Against Gays! by Ann Coulter
Excerpt: "Believing there’s a monster under the bed is
cute. Falsely accusing cops of murder, men of rape and an entire state of homophobia
is not. . . The definition of “liberal” is quickly becoming: people who believe
their fantasies should be facts."
Democrats See Mexico As Better Ally Than Israel
Excerpt: Americans continue to view Canada and Great
Britain as our best friends, but Israel has
tumbled down the list. Democrats by a 10-point margin now see Mexico as a
better ally than the Jewish state. (Of course, when has Israel sent us
billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs, or tens of thousands of illegal
immigrants wanting to be Democrats? Ask a Democrat if he would support the US having the same immigration and voting laws
as our ally Mexico .
Ha. ~Bob)
Obama administration’s innovation score hit new low in last
worker survey. By Josh Hicks
Excerpt: The Obama administration earned its
worst marks to date for innovation last year in an annual survey of
the federal workforce. The Partnership for Public Service said in a report on Wednesday that the government’s overall
innovation score in 2014 dropped to 58.9 points out of 100, representing the
fourth consecutive year of decline and the lowest total since the index started
in 2010.
Six More Women
Qualify For Army’s Elite Ranger School
Excerpt: A dozen women have now qualified for the
Army’s Ranger School
Gun News
Chris Christie Pardons Woman Who Accidentally Broke NJ Gun
Law. By Christine
Rousselle
Excerpt: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) has pardoned Shaneen
Allen, the woman who made
the news in 2013 after she was arrested for bringing a gun into New Jersey . Allen was a
legal gun owner in Pennsylvania ,
and had no prior legal record. She was not aware of New Jersey 's strict gun control laws until
she was arrested following a traffic violation.
Man shot in attempted
home invasion in North Braddock
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/8088078-74/story#axzz3W50xC2N2
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/8088078-74/story#axzz3W50xC2N2
Excerpt: The wounded man, who apparently was shot by someone
living in the home, was taken by his companions to a hospital in Monroeville where they dropped him off at the emergency
room for treatment, officers said.
Race Card News
In Confessions
of a Peppermint Pattie, a ‘Whiteblack’ Girl Asks if She’s Black Enough.
By Hope Wabuke http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/03/confessions_of_a_whiteblack_peppermint_pattie_new_book_by_donna_davis.html
Excerpt: When Barack Obama arrived on the national political
stage and emerged as a presidential contender, more than one observer asked
whether the young, biracial, Ivy League-educated U.S. senator was black enough to be
the first African-American president. And this kind of authenticity challenge
isn’t new: Many other black Americans—upwardly mobile and highly educated—are
sometimes seen as “not black enough.” There’s a sense that to be black, one
must fit into a narrow box of stereotypes rather than embrace the many-faceted
experiences and identities of black people. So what does it mean to be
black—and to be black enough? (I came across this article by chance, and
found it really interesting. It seems like for at least some Americans with any
level of African skin tones, really getting into some kind of balance in
deciding who/what you are can be a very difficult problem. If you speak good
English all the time, some others will look at you askance, you aren't
"genuine" Black by their standards. If you speak with some level of
what might be called "Black accent", Whites may look at you as being
part of some kind of racially sensitive lower class. How you dress, what you
might say about any politician, how you might comment on various news events,
all of these can make other people put you into a certain box, as if they know
a lot about who you really are... even though they don't really have enough
exposure to you to have any solid idea of who you really are. Identity is
complex enough as it is, just by gender, by background, ethnic heritage,
religious beliefs, and more. If you have to define yourself to others in a
series of simple terms, what are the ones you pick? What should come first of
all the possible terms I might use, like White, male, Catholic, Italian
descent, Del Vecchio heritage, Yankee, heterosexual, American, old Marine,
veteran, Jesuit educated, etc? For me, White wouldn't really come high in the
list, if it were there at all, but you can say that's a luxury that others
don't have because of where and when I was born. I think that the terms I'd
favor would be Christian, American, male, first, and I'm not sure about what
would come after those. Certainly something of my family heritage, and also the
experience of the Corps and the war. And being a husband and father, which are
the most important roles of life for me. And do you have to be Black enough for
some people, but not too Black for others? How do you find what is really
natural for you, how do you decide how much you need to tune your life and way
of speaking or living for others and their biases? It seems to me this can be
kind of a no-win situation for a person. You absolutely won't make everyone
admire and accept you as you are, maybe the best you can do is to have both
some Blacks and some Whites look at you as being a little off, and most of the
rest willing to accept you as a decent person they can respect. And it's really
unfair to the person, the real person who just happens to wear that skin, to
end up having to think about how to fit in OK with others who just look at you
and expect or even demand some kind of behavior from you because of that skin. In
the ideal world, all of us should be looked at first just as another human
being, with skin color no more important than eye color. I can only feel
sympathy for the people who find themselves trying to get on that balance beam
in the sight of others, especially when it's a lot of others, like both the
people whose skin is more like yours and the people whose skins is less so. The
only color that should mater is red, which is the color all we humans bleed.
--Del. Crystal Wright, an excellent black conservative writer, is often
challenged on Twitter as not being black enough. ~Bob)
Unmasking Black Gay Privilege. John Fitzgerald
Gates, Ph.D.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-fitzgerald-gates-phd/unmasking-black-gay-privilege_b_6978224.html
Excerpt: Whereas "white male privilege" is widely
debated, a study by Princeton
University
"You're Greener than Gore" News
Excerpt: The Obama administration reaffirmed a 2008
government auction of Arctic drilling rights on Tuesday, delivering a major
victory to Shell Oil Co. as it aims to resume exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea Arctic “is an important component of the administration’s
national energy strategy.”
Religion of Peace News
Peace in our time: Negotiators Announce Plan For
10-Year Iranian Nuclear Restrictions
Excerpt: peaking in Switzerland
Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union foreign
policy chief Federica Mogherini announced a basis for finalizing the status of Iran ’s nuclear
program. Formally, the agreement constitutes “an agreed basis for the final
text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action.” In other words, the parties
have begun drafting a deal whose final draft will be issued on or before June
30. (Anyone want to bet me the Iranians won't violate the terms of the deal,
such as it is? Anyone? ~Bob)
Buying Time: Iran
Excerpt: Some in the media will call this a
"deal." It's not. It's a face-saving, time-buying charade -- an
implicit admission that years of repeatedly-extended negotiations have resulted
in nothing concrete, with yet another deadline disappearing in the rearview
mirror. Consider this tortured
verbiage provided to the Associated Press: "Iran and six world powers have agreed on
the outlines of an understanding to limit Iran 's nuclear programs, officials
told The Associated Press Thursday. Negotiations continued on a dispute
over how much of it to make public."
Excerpt: The Western capitulation to Adolf Hitler in the
1938 Munich Agreement is cited as classic appeasement that destroyed Czechoslovakia , backfired on France and Britain , and led to World War II.
All of that is true. But there was much more that caused the Munich debacle than simple Western naiveté.
The full tragedy of that ill-fated agreement should warn us on the eve of the
Obama’s administration’s gullible agreement with Iran on nuclear proliferation.
Fable one is the idea that most people saw right through the Munich folly. True, Europeans knew that
Hitler had never once told the truth and was already murdering German citizens
who were Jews, communists or homosexuals. But Europeans did not care all that
much.
Netanyahu: “Evidently
giving Iran
Excerpt: Netanyahu makes the wonderful observation that
while Iran has just reiterated that the destruction of Israel is “non-negotiable,” “evidently giving Iran ’s
murderous regime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable.” He also says, quite
rightly, that Obama’s deal would endanger Israel ,
the Middle East , and the peace of the world.
Iranian Foreign Minister ‘All Smiles.’ Zarif demands less
‘pressure’ from Western side. By Adam Kredo
http://freebeacon.com/issues/iranian-foreign-minister-all-smiles/
http://freebeacon.com/issues/iranian-foreign-minister-all-smiles/
Excerpt: Javad Zarif , Iran ’s foreign minister, said late Wednesday
that he is “all smiles” as talks with Western powers over the country’s nuclear
weapons program run past a self-imposed deadline and Tehran
pushes the United States
to make more concessions.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Imagine a world in which a young man is locked in a
cage, has petrol showered over him and is set alight to be burnt alive. Imagine
the triumphant jeering of an audience that has gathered to witness this.
Imagine, also, a 12-year-old child with elated determination on his features
shooting at close range a kneeling man with his arms tied behind his back. Then
picture the spectacle of a hundred beheadings of victim after victim in
humiliating uniforms, their hands and feet bound, kneeling with their backs to
their black-robed executioners who wield knives to cut their throats as though
they were sacrificial lambs. Picture queues of helpless men and women being
marched by zealous executioners who nail them to wooden crosses and crucify
them, howling and bleeding to death as crowds watch. Then picture thousands of
girls and women, their arms tied, being marched by hooded and armed captors
into sexual slavery. And then, if that is not enough, picture men being thrown
off cliffs to their deaths because they are accused of being gay. Yes, all
these scenes could have taken place in several continents in the medieval world,
but they were captured on camera and broadcast to anyone with access to the
internet. These are scenes, of yesterday, today and tomorrow in our own world.
147 killed, hundreds
rescued in attack on Kenyan university by al-Shabab
Excerpt: Masked al-Shabab militants stormed dormitories at a
university in northeastern Kenya
early Thursday, killing at least 147 people in the worst terror attack on
Kenyan soil in nearly two decades, officials said. More than 500 students were
rescued after the Islamist militants attacked the campus of Garissa University
College Kenya ’s
National Disaster Operation
Center
Gunmen kill 15
soldiers, two civilians in Egypt's Sinai
Excerpt: Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades
attacked several military checkpoints in Egypt 's Sinai on Thursday, killing
15 soldiers and two civilians, security sources said, defying one of the
toughest security crackdowns in the country's history.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attack but militants who support Islamic State, the ultra-hardline group that
controls parts of Iraq and Syria , have carried out similar operations in
the Sinai Peninsula .
Over 25,000 foreign
jihadis have joined the Islamic State and al-Qaeda
Excerpt: The number of fighters leaving home to join
al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in Iraq , Syria and other
countries has spiked to more than 25,000 from over 100 nations, according to a
new U.N. report.
2 Queens Women
Accused of Plotting to Plant Bombs in U.S.
Excerpt: Two women accused of plotting to plant bombs in the
United States, one of whom allegedly called Osama bin Laden her hero and
praised the World Trade Center attacks, were arrested on terror charges in
Queens by the Joint Terrorism Task Force early Thursday, federal officials
familiar with the investigation tell NBC 4 New York. The women, identified in
court papers as 28-year-old Noelle Velentzas and 31-year-old Asia Siddiqui, are
accused of conspiring to detonate an explosive device somewhere within the United States . (Amateurs.
The Pros are waiting until they get the Iranian Bomb. ~Bob)
*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five
terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s
eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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