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Sun. Oct.8, 2017
~All Gave Some~Some Gave All~God Bless America
Again...Crash… Today London
“The Chicago Police Department has replaced all sirens with the National Anthem to force suspects to stop running and take a knee.” - Unknown
BREAKING: Bad News About Mueller’s Investigation
Luis Miguel
Former FBI director and current Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been unrelenting in his investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
But Tom Fitton, President of the government accountability organization Judicial Watch, questions the legality of the Special Counsel itself. According to a video message Judicial Watch posted to Facebook, Fitton argues that the office of the Special Counsel is unconstitutional because it holds the authority of a US attorney without the accountability that comes with being appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
For Fitton, the proper course for the Trump administration would be to dissolve the Special Counsel and begin anew, although he acknowledges that would be a “politically uncomfortable” move owing to immense media scrutiny.
Fitton explains: “Mueller was appointed under these regulations the Justice Department promulgated under [former Attorney General Janet] Reno’s term … and the Special Counsel is appointed by the Attorney General, or in this case the Deputy Attorney General …
“And he’s appointed, given a charge, to investigate X, Y, or Z, and then the responsible official washes his hands. Well, under our constitutional system that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Under the regulations, Mueller has all the powers of a US attorney, but none of the accountability.”
Fitton continues, saying the current Special Counsel process lacks a “lawful delegation of authority” because Mueller and his team are not supervised “day-to-day” by appropriate Justice Department officials.
As a result, Fitton concludes that Mueller “doesn’t really have the authority under our Constitution to do the work he’s supposedly wanting to do. … It’s not about Mueller at this point, it’s about the Office of the Special Counsel.”
Fitton’s recommendation: “If I were them, I’d go back to square one, no matter how politically uncomfortable it is, to make sure that that office is lawful and lawfully run.”
Fitton goes on to question what he considers “the suspicious circumstances under which Muller was appointed.” He recounts how former FBI Director James Comey testified to leaking memos of his conversations with the President in order to provoke the creation of a Special Counsel. Interestingly, the individual ultimately selected by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to lead the Special Counsel was Mueller, with whom Comey has a friendly “mentor-protege” relationship.
If Mueller knew what Comey was planning, Fitton says he should have recused himself from the investigation due to being “conflicted.” Fitton emphasizes that “obstruction” charges against President Trump are unfounded because he was within his authority to dismiss Comey from the FBI for any reason he deemed appropriate. Fitton said, “The President isn’t above the law. But he’s not beneath the law.”
If Mueller knew what Comey was planning, Fitton says he should have recused himself from the investigation due to being “conflicted.” Fitton emphasizes that “obstruction” charges against President Trump are unfounded because he was within his authority to dismiss Comey from the FBI for any reason he deemed appropriate. Fitton said, “The President isn’t above the law. But he’s not beneath the law.”
Judicial Watch argues that the office of the special counsel is unconstitutional because it holds the authority of a US attorney without the accountability that comes with being appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Do you agree?
Mueller’s Special Counsel has taken a strange turn of events. As Christian News Alerts reports, Mueller is preparing a case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, ostensibly in the hope of getting to Trump.
Newsweek notes that the Special Counsel is now investigating the infamous Buzzfeed dossier containing salacious, debunked allegations about Trump. And Bloomberg reports Mueller is having his team research the extent of the President’s pardon power to determine whether Trump could pre-emptively pardon aides under the Special Counsel’s scrutiny.
Mueller is operating with immense latitude. If Fitton is correct that the Special Counsel — as it’s currently operating — violates the Constitution, this investigation can have long-term ramifications for accountability in government.
Mike Rowe Issues Post-Vegas Massacre Response Everyone Needs to Read
BY TIFFANI GREY
When a fan asked former “Dirty Jobs” host and down-to-earth celebrity Mike Rowe for a comforting word after the Las Vegas massacre, he was at a loss. However, what he did manage to say are some of the truest words ever spoken after a tragedy. This is a must-read.
A fan, Molly Carr, wrote Rowe on Facebook saying, “Mike – I live in Las Vegas, and I’ve seen you here often. Once, in the lobby at Mandalay Bay. We’re all shattered here, obviously. A comforting word from you would go a long way…”
The mass murder at the Route 91 Music Festival has left the whole country in a state of shock after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 people. His evil actions left at least 59 people dead, and over 527 wounded. However, Rowe sought to lend Carr some perspective — and other readers comfort in the wake of this national tragedy.
“I’m not surprised you saw me at the Mandalay. I cleaned their shark tank back in 2006, and I’ve stayed there at least thirty times since. Maybe that’s why my initial thoughts about this latest tragedy were so random and strange,” Rowe began his post adding. “Even before I imagined myself in the thick of the chaos, (as I always do,) and even before I thanked God that I wasn’t, (as I don’t do enough,) I found myself wondering if I had used the same elevator as the killer. Isn’t that odd?”
Rowe then went deeper into the thoughts that filled his head after the fateful news broke. “As people were being murdered in the most cowardly way imaginable, by a creature I can barely think of as human, I lay in my bed at home, stunned and horrified – wondering if I had stood in the same box and pushed the same buttons as the man now destroying countless lives and families. Since I’ve ridden all the elevators at Mandalay, I determined that the answer was yes.
“I then wondered if the killer and I had shared the same barstool in the lobby? Had we swam in the same pool, or chatted up the same bellman, or played a hand of blackjack at the same table? Had we slept in the same bed?”
“It’s not a stretch. I’ve stayed on the 32nd floor of Mandalay before,” the same floor authorities reported finding Paddock and his weapons. “I remember looking down at the sprawling, empty space 300 feet below my window – the same sprawling space that was recently filled with thousands of people having a good time, right up until they weren’t, courtesy of a monster.
“Yesterday, I was struck by how unknowingly we rub elbows with evil. How we share the highways and byways with hollowed-out men and craven women whose capacity for wickedness knows no bounds. It would be convenient if such people all looked the same, but alas, they don’t. They look just like us. And so we dine with them in restaurants, unknowingly. We walk by them in shopping malls, sit next to them in theaters, and maybe even hold the door for them as they smile and nod in thanks.
“I’m sorry, Molly. I know these are not comforting words. The world is as uncertain as the people in it, and we share this rock with some very uncertain folks. But we also share it with living proof that hope will never die,” Rowe wrote.
“Take comfort in men who threw themselves over other people’s children. They are no less real than the killer, and they are still with us.”
Take comfort in the woman who loaded wounded strangers into her car and drove them out of harm’s way. Take comfort in the hundreds of first responders who risk their lives every day, and the hundreds of anonymous citizens who stood in line to give their blood. Take comfort in the fact all good people are shattered, and that you are not alone,” Rowe wrote.
“There are no words, Molly, at least in my vocabulary, to bring you the comfort you seek. But there are people among us who restore my faith in the species, even as others seek to rob me of it.”
Then Rowe said that that is what he tries to highlight every week on his Facebook page.
“I can introduce you to those people. That’s what I’ve tried to do with my little slice of cyberspace, and that’s what I can do today. The same thing I do every Tuesday. This is Momma Ginger. Momma and her fellow Soup Ladies spend their lives waiting for disaster and tragedy to strike. When the unthinkable happens, they drive to the scene with a trailer filled with homemade soup, and feed the first-responders,” he wrote linking to a Returning the Favor featuring Momma Ginger.
“It sounds like a small thing. It isn’t. When it comes to kindness, there are no small things. And when it comes to keeping hope alive, our first responders are the best example there is. This is the woman who takes care of them. In fact, she’s on her way to your city right now.
“Take comfort in her.”
What a beautiful and relatable sentiment.
A fan, Molly Carr, wrote Rowe on Facebook saying, “Mike – I live in Las Vegas, and I’ve seen you here often. Once, in the lobby at Mandalay Bay. We’re all shattered here, obviously. A comforting word from you would go a long way…”
The mass murder at the Route 91 Music Festival has left the whole country in a state of shock after gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 people. His evil actions left at least 59 people dead, and over 527 wounded. However, Rowe sought to lend Carr some perspective — and other readers comfort in the wake of this national tragedy.
“I’m not surprised you saw me at the Mandalay. I cleaned their shark tank back in 2006, and I’ve stayed there at least thirty times since. Maybe that’s why my initial thoughts about this latest tragedy were so random and strange,” Rowe began his post adding. “Even before I imagined myself in the thick of the chaos, (as I always do,) and even before I thanked God that I wasn’t, (as I don’t do enough,) I found myself wondering if I had used the same elevator as the killer. Isn’t that odd?”
Rowe then went deeper into the thoughts that filled his head after the fateful news broke. “As people were being murdered in the most cowardly way imaginable, by a creature I can barely think of as human, I lay in my bed at home, stunned and horrified – wondering if I had stood in the same box and pushed the same buttons as the man now destroying countless lives and families. Since I’ve ridden all the elevators at Mandalay, I determined that the answer was yes.
“I then wondered if the killer and I had shared the same barstool in the lobby? Had we swam in the same pool, or chatted up the same bellman, or played a hand of blackjack at the same table? Had we slept in the same bed?”
“It’s not a stretch. I’ve stayed on the 32nd floor of Mandalay before,” the same floor authorities reported finding Paddock and his weapons. “I remember looking down at the sprawling, empty space 300 feet below my window – the same sprawling space that was recently filled with thousands of people having a good time, right up until they weren’t, courtesy of a monster.
“Yesterday, I was struck by how unknowingly we rub elbows with evil. How we share the highways and byways with hollowed-out men and craven women whose capacity for wickedness knows no bounds. It would be convenient if such people all looked the same, but alas, they don’t. They look just like us. And so we dine with them in restaurants, unknowingly. We walk by them in shopping malls, sit next to them in theaters, and maybe even hold the door for them as they smile and nod in thanks.
“I’m sorry, Molly. I know these are not comforting words. The world is as uncertain as the people in it, and we share this rock with some very uncertain folks. But we also share it with living proof that hope will never die,” Rowe wrote.
“Take comfort in men who threw themselves over other people’s children. They are no less real than the killer, and they are still with us.”
Take comfort in the woman who loaded wounded strangers into her car and drove them out of harm’s way. Take comfort in the hundreds of first responders who risk their lives every day, and the hundreds of anonymous citizens who stood in line to give their blood. Take comfort in the fact all good people are shattered, and that you are not alone,” Rowe wrote.
“There are no words, Molly, at least in my vocabulary, to bring you the comfort you seek. But there are people among us who restore my faith in the species, even as others seek to rob me of it.”
Then Rowe said that that is what he tries to highlight every week on his Facebook page.
“I can introduce you to those people. That’s what I’ve tried to do with my little slice of cyberspace, and that’s what I can do today. The same thing I do every Tuesday. This is Momma Ginger. Momma and her fellow Soup Ladies spend their lives waiting for disaster and tragedy to strike. When the unthinkable happens, they drive to the scene with a trailer filled with homemade soup, and feed the first-responders,” he wrote linking to a Returning the Favor featuring Momma Ginger.
“It sounds like a small thing. It isn’t. When it comes to kindness, there are no small things. And when it comes to keeping hope alive, our first responders are the best example there is. This is the woman who takes care of them. In fact, she’s on her way to your city right now.
“Take comfort in her.”
What a beautiful and relatable sentiment.
Expert: DACA amnesty to increase illegal population to 14 million, cost billions
by Paul Bedard
Amnesty for 700,000 illegal immigrants in the DACA program would open the door for 1.4 million more of their parents and relatives to enter the U.S., tripling their population and adding substantial costs to taxpayers, according to an immigration expert.
Added to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens already in the U.S., the amnesty program favored in Congress would boost that to over 14 million.
"According to the most reliable research, recent immigrants have sponsored an average of 3.45 additional relatives," said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.
"I estimate that if 700,000 DACA beneficiaries receive lawful permanent residency status under an amnesty, then they can be expected to sponsor at least an additional 1.4 million relatives over time," she told Congress this week.
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she added, "In this scenario, the award of LPR status would result in a second, de facto amnesty for the parents of DACA beneficiaries — the very individuals who brought their children to settle here illegally, creating this policy dilemma. Ultimately, an amnesty for DACA beneficiaries likely would produce more than two million new LPRs over 20 years."
President Trump recently ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that gave younger illegal immigrants a temporary amnesty. Congress and Trump appear ready to grant some type of amnesty or freedom to many of those in the program.
Vaughan instead suggested an outline that limited how many those in DACA could legally bring into the U.S. She suggested a lottery:
The way to avoid the chain migration increases and to help mitigate the inevitable fiscal costs of a DACA amnesty is to downsize the family migration categories and terminate the annual visa lottery. The family visa downsizing is best accomplished by terminating the categories for married adult sons and daughters and siblings of U.S. citizens (the family third and fourth preference categories) and by imposing a numerical limit on the admission of parents of U.S. citizens. These are chain migration categories that benefit immigrants' relatives who not nuclear family members, but are grown adults, presumably with independent, established lives in their home countries. It is difficult to justify preserving these categories if a large amnesty for DACA beneficiaries is to be enacted. Likewise, the visa lottery admits immigrants randomly, who generally have no ties to this country and who are not required to demonstrate any significant level of education or skills.
Adopting these changes would gradually offset the increase in immigration from the DACA amnesty over a 10-year period, which is when the majority of the chain migration resulting from an amnesty would occur. The reductions from cutting the chain migration and lottery categories would be about 200,000 green cards granted per year, amounting to two million fewer green cards over 10 years. As discussed above, a DACA amnesty would create about 700,000 new green cards right away, adding potentially the same number of green cards for spouses and parents after five to 10 years -- the admission of the parents presumably would be slowed by the imposition of a numerical limit.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com
Trump Carves Out More Religious Exemptions in Obama's Contraceptive Mandate
Cortney O'Brien
The Trump administration has rolled back another Obama-era regulation. No longer will employers be forced to provide contraception coverage under their health plans, freeing them from violating their religious consciences. The Department of Health and Human Services issued the new rules Friday.
The rules would let a broad range of employers -- including nonprofits, private firms and publicly traded companies -- stop offering free contraceptives through their health insurance plans if they have a "sincerely held religious or moral objection," senior agency officials said on a call about the implementation and enforcement of the new rules.
This could apply to the roughly 200 entities that have participated in about 50 lawsuits over birth control coverage, according to the agency, which said that "99.9% of women" who currently receive birth control through the contraceptive mandate would not be affected. At the time of the call, it was unclear how the administration arrived at this data point.
This could apply to the roughly 200 entities that have participated in about 50 lawsuits over birth control coverage, according to the agency, which said that "99.9% of women" who currently receive birth control through the contraceptive mandate would not be affected. At the time of the call, it was unclear how the administration arrived at this data point.
Under President Obama, birth control was considered preventive care and had to be included on employees' health plans. The administration offered partial exemptions for religious nonprofit groups, but Trump's HHS has vastly broadened the opt out option.
Religious freedom advocates and pro-life groups are cheering Trump's announcement.
"Americans United for Life applauds the actions of the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the right of conscientious employers and employees not to participate in or provide abortion-causing drugs is protected in law," AUL President and CEO Catherine Glenn Foster said in a statement. "Millions of Americans want no part of an insurance system that subsidizes the destruction of innocent human life, and HHS’s new interim regulation respects that principled stand.”
The Catholic Association applauded Trump for protecting Americans from an overbearing government.
"Today’s action is more than regulatory relief for people of faith, it is a ray of sunshine signaling to faithful Americans that they need not fear government bullying like that endured by the Little Sisters of the Poor," the group said.
Little Sisters of the Poor, you'll remember, took the Obama administration to court over the law that would have violated their beliefs. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, as expected, feminist groups are decrying the decision and are accusing Trump of "turning back the clock."
Religious freedom advocates and pro-life groups are cheering Trump's announcement.
"Americans United for Life applauds the actions of the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the right of conscientious employers and employees not to participate in or provide abortion-causing drugs is protected in law," AUL President and CEO Catherine Glenn Foster said in a statement. "Millions of Americans want no part of an insurance system that subsidizes the destruction of innocent human life, and HHS’s new interim regulation respects that principled stand.”
The Catholic Association applauded Trump for protecting Americans from an overbearing government.
"Today’s action is more than regulatory relief for people of faith, it is a ray of sunshine signaling to faithful Americans that they need not fear government bullying like that endured by the Little Sisters of the Poor," the group said.
Little Sisters of the Poor, you'll remember, took the Obama administration to court over the law that would have violated their beliefs. Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, as expected, feminist groups are decrying the decision and are accusing Trump of "turning back the clock."
The End of Columbus Day is the End of America
By : Daniel Greenfield
By : Daniel Greenfield
Columbus may have outfoxed the Spanish court and his rivals, but he is falling victim to the court of political correctness. The explorer who discovered America has become controversial because the very idea of America has become controversial.
There are counter-historical claims put forward by Muslim and Chinese scholars claiming that they discovered America first. And there are mobs of fake indigenous activists on every campus to whom the old Italian is as much of a villain as the bearded Uncle Sam.
Columbus Day parades are met with protests and some have been minimized or eliminated.
There are counter-historical claims put forward by Muslim and Chinese scholars claiming that they discovered America first. And there are mobs of fake indigenous activists on every campus to whom the old Italian is as much of a villain as the bearded Uncle Sam.
Columbus Day parades are met with protests and some have been minimized or eliminated.
In Seattle, Columbus Day became Indigenous People’s Day, which sounds like a Marxist terrorist group’s holiday.
The shift from celebrating Columbus’ arrival in America to commemorating it as an American Nakba by focusing on the Indians, rather than the Americans, is a profound form of historical revisionism that hacks away at the origins of this country.
No American state has followed Venezuela’s lead in renaming it Día de la Resistencia Indígena, or Day of Indigenous Resistance, which actually is a Marxist terrorist group’s holiday, the whole notion of celebrating the discovery of America has come to be seen as somehow shameful and worst of all, politically incorrect.
Anti-Columbus Day protests are mounted by La Raza, whose members, despite their indigenous posturing, are actually mostly descended from Spanish colonists, but who know that most American liberals are too confused to rationally frame an objection to a protest by any minority group.
About the only thing sillier than a group of people emphasizing their collective identity as a Spanish speaking people, and denouncing Columbus as an imperialist exploiter is Ward Churchill, a fake Indian, who compared Columbus to Heinrich Himmler. Ward Churchill’s scholarship consists of comparing Americans in past history and current events to random Nazis. If he hasn’t yet compared Amerigo Vespucci or Daniel Boone to Ernst Röhm; it’s only a matter of time.
The absurdity of these attacks is only deepened by the linguistic and cultural ties between the Italian Columbus Day marchers and the Latino Anti-Columbus Day protesters with the latter set cynically exploiting white guilt to pretend that being the descendants of Southern European colonists makes them a minority.
If being descended from Southern Europeans makes you a minority, then Columbus, the parade marchers, the Greek restaurant owner nearby and even Rush Limbaugh are all “people of color.”
Italian-Americans are the only bulwark against political correctness still keeping Columbus on the calendar, and that has made mayors and governors in cities and states with large Italian-American communities wary of tossing the great explorer completely overboard. But while Ferdinand and Isabella may have brought Columbus back in chains, modern day political correctness has banished him to the darkened dungeon of non-personhood, erasing him from history and replacing him with a note reading, “I’m Sorry We Ever Landed Here.”
But this is about more than one single 15th century Genoan with a complicated life who was neither a monster nor a saint. It is about whether America really has any right to exist at all. Is there any argument against celebrating Columbus Day, that cannot similarly be applied to the Fourth of July?
If Columbus is to be stricken from the history books in favor of ideological thugs like Malcolm X or Caesar Chavez, then America must soon follow. Columbus’ crime is that he enabled European settlement of the continent.
If the settlement of non-Indians in North America is illegitimate, then any national state they created is also illegitimate.
It is easier to hack away at a nation’s history by beginning with the lower branches.
Columbus is an easier target than America itself, though La Raza considers both colonialist vermin. Americans are less likely to protest over the banishment of Columbus to the politically correct Gulag than over the banishing America itself, which was named after another one of those colonialist explorers, Amerigo Vespucci. First they came for Columbus Day and then for the Fourth of July.
The battles being fought over Columbus Day foreshadow the battles to be fought over the Fourth of July. As Columbus Day joins the list of banned holidays in more cities, one day there may not be a Fourth of July, just a day of Native Resistance to remember the atrocities of the colonists with PBS documentaries comparing George Washington to Hitler.
These documentaries already exist, they just haven’t gone mainstream. Yet.
We celebrate Columbus Day and the Fourth of July because history is written by the winners. Had the Aztecs, the Mayans or the Iroquois Confederation developed the necessary technology and skills to cross the Atlantic and begin colonizing Europe, the fate of its native inhabitants would have been far uglier.
The different perspectives on history often depend on which side you happen to be on.
To Americans, the Alamo is a shining moment of heroism. To the Mexicans who are the heirs of a colonialist empire far more ruthless than anything to be found north of the Rio Grande, the war was a plot to conquer Mexican territory. And neither side is altogether wrong, but choosing which version of history to go by is the difference between being an American or a Mexican.
A nation’s mythology, its paragons and heroes, its founding legends and great deeds, are its soul. To replace them with another culture’s perspective on its history is to kill that soul.
That is the ultimate goal of political correctness, to kill America’s soul. To stick George Washington, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, James Bowie, Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and all the rest on a shelf in a back room somewhere, and replace them with timelier liberal heroes. Move over Washington, Caesar Chavez needs this space. No more American heroes need apply.
Followed of course by no more America.
This is how it begins. And that is how it ends. Nations are not destroyed by atomic bombs or economic catastrophes; they are lost when they lose any reason to go on living. When they no longer have enough pride to go on fighting to survive.
The final note of politically correct lunacy comes from a headline in the Columbus Dispatch about the Columbus Day festival in the city of Columbus, Ohio. “Italian Festival honors controversial explorer with its own Columbus Day parade”.
Once the great discover of America, Columbus is now dubbed “controversial” by a newspaper named after him, in a city named after him. And if he is controversial, how can naming a city after him and a newspaper after the city not be equally controversial?
Can the day when USA Today has a headline reading, “Some cities still plan controversial 4th of July celebration of American independence” be far behind?
The shift from celebrating Columbus’ arrival in America to commemorating it as an American Nakba by focusing on the Indians, rather than the Americans, is a profound form of historical revisionism that hacks away at the origins of this country.
No American state has followed Venezuela’s lead in renaming it Día de la Resistencia Indígena, or Day of Indigenous Resistance, which actually is a Marxist terrorist group’s holiday, the whole notion of celebrating the discovery of America has come to be seen as somehow shameful and worst of all, politically incorrect.
Anti-Columbus Day protests are mounted by La Raza, whose members, despite their indigenous posturing, are actually mostly descended from Spanish colonists, but who know that most American liberals are too confused to rationally frame an objection to a protest by any minority group.
About the only thing sillier than a group of people emphasizing their collective identity as a Spanish speaking people, and denouncing Columbus as an imperialist exploiter is Ward Churchill, a fake Indian, who compared Columbus to Heinrich Himmler. Ward Churchill’s scholarship consists of comparing Americans in past history and current events to random Nazis. If he hasn’t yet compared Amerigo Vespucci or Daniel Boone to Ernst Röhm; it’s only a matter of time.
The absurdity of these attacks is only deepened by the linguistic and cultural ties between the Italian Columbus Day marchers and the Latino Anti-Columbus Day protesters with the latter set cynically exploiting white guilt to pretend that being the descendants of Southern European colonists makes them a minority.
If being descended from Southern Europeans makes you a minority, then Columbus, the parade marchers, the Greek restaurant owner nearby and even Rush Limbaugh are all “people of color.”
Italian-Americans are the only bulwark against political correctness still keeping Columbus on the calendar, and that has made mayors and governors in cities and states with large Italian-American communities wary of tossing the great explorer completely overboard. But while Ferdinand and Isabella may have brought Columbus back in chains, modern day political correctness has banished him to the darkened dungeon of non-personhood, erasing him from history and replacing him with a note reading, “I’m Sorry We Ever Landed Here.”
But this is about more than one single 15th century Genoan with a complicated life who was neither a monster nor a saint. It is about whether America really has any right to exist at all. Is there any argument against celebrating Columbus Day, that cannot similarly be applied to the Fourth of July?
If Columbus is to be stricken from the history books in favor of ideological thugs like Malcolm X or Caesar Chavez, then America must soon follow. Columbus’ crime is that he enabled European settlement of the continent.
If the settlement of non-Indians in North America is illegitimate, then any national state they created is also illegitimate.
It is easier to hack away at a nation’s history by beginning with the lower branches.
Columbus is an easier target than America itself, though La Raza considers both colonialist vermin. Americans are less likely to protest over the banishment of Columbus to the politically correct Gulag than over the banishing America itself, which was named after another one of those colonialist explorers, Amerigo Vespucci. First they came for Columbus Day and then for the Fourth of July.
The battles being fought over Columbus Day foreshadow the battles to be fought over the Fourth of July. As Columbus Day joins the list of banned holidays in more cities, one day there may not be a Fourth of July, just a day of Native Resistance to remember the atrocities of the colonists with PBS documentaries comparing George Washington to Hitler.
These documentaries already exist, they just haven’t gone mainstream. Yet.
We celebrate Columbus Day and the Fourth of July because history is written by the winners. Had the Aztecs, the Mayans or the Iroquois Confederation developed the necessary technology and skills to cross the Atlantic and begin colonizing Europe, the fate of its native inhabitants would have been far uglier.
The different perspectives on history often depend on which side you happen to be on.
To Americans, the Alamo is a shining moment of heroism. To the Mexicans who are the heirs of a colonialist empire far more ruthless than anything to be found north of the Rio Grande, the war was a plot to conquer Mexican territory. And neither side is altogether wrong, but choosing which version of history to go by is the difference between being an American or a Mexican.
A nation’s mythology, its paragons and heroes, its founding legends and great deeds, are its soul. To replace them with another culture’s perspective on its history is to kill that soul.
That is the ultimate goal of political correctness, to kill America’s soul. To stick George Washington, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, James Bowie, Paul Revere, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and all the rest on a shelf in a back room somewhere, and replace them with timelier liberal heroes. Move over Washington, Caesar Chavez needs this space. No more American heroes need apply.
Followed of course by no more America.
This is how it begins. And that is how it ends. Nations are not destroyed by atomic bombs or economic catastrophes; they are lost when they lose any reason to go on living. When they no longer have enough pride to go on fighting to survive.
The final note of politically correct lunacy comes from a headline in the Columbus Dispatch about the Columbus Day festival in the city of Columbus, Ohio. “Italian Festival honors controversial explorer with its own Columbus Day parade”.
Once the great discover of America, Columbus is now dubbed “controversial” by a newspaper named after him, in a city named after him. And if he is controversial, how can naming a city after him and a newspaper after the city not be equally controversial?
Can the day when USA Today has a headline reading, “Some cities still plan controversial 4th of July celebration of American independence” be far behind?
L.A., Now California: This just in
Investigation into claims of semen-tainted flutes roils schools across Southern California
A program aimed at delivering flutes and personal messages to underprivileged children has become the center of an investigation as police try to determine if the instruments were contaminated with semen. (Fountain Valley School District)
For years, hundreds of children in the Fullerton School District have taken part in a seemingly heartwarming program called “Flutes Across The World.”
The initiative aims to connect young students in Southern California with underprivileged counterparts in the Philippines through a simple round of arts and crafts, according to Robert Pletka, the school district’s superintendent.
During the classes, students were shown how to make colorful flutes out of PVC pipe, Pletka said. Then they would write personal notes to students half a world away that would be folded inside the instruments.
But in the past 10 days, the program — which is said to have collaborated with schools throughout Southern California and large national charity organizations — became ensnared in a grotesque scandal that has left parents and educators horrified.
Late last week, the U.S. Postal Service and the California Department of Justice launched an investigation to determine if some of the flutes that were delivered to schools earlier this year had been contaminated with semen, leaving parents panicked and school officials struggling to determine how many students may have come in contact with the instruments.
In recent days, officials issued warnings to parents in the Los Angeles Unified, Saugus Union, Capistrano Unified, Fountain Valley, Newport-Mesa and Fullerton school districts, according to statements released by school officials. In those warnings, school officials said they had been contacted by federal and state investigators who were trying to determine if a “music specialist” had provided contaminated flutes during presentations given to young students within their districts.
The person did not work for any of the affected school districts, and was described as an outside contractor and music performer in several school district news releases.
No children have been sickened as a result of the nauseating discovery, and it remains unclear if any of the possibly contaminated instruments actually wound up in the possession of students, according to school officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Public health officials have said it is highly unlikely that a sexually transmitted disease or other illness could be contracted by touching dried semen.
News of the possibly contaminated flutes left parents in several school districts shaken and disturbed this week.
“It’s disgusting and it’s horrible,” said Tracey Taber, whose children attend classes at Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa. “And it’s heartbreaking, across the board.”
Stacia Crane, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, said Friday that no one has been arrested in the case, but declined to comment further because of the active investigation. She also declined to identify the music performer described in the letters issued by school officials.
Local police have asked parents whose children received flutes from the program to place them in a sealed brown paper bag and bring them to the nearest police or sheriff’s station.
“Flutes Across The World” has collaborated with a number of large national charity organizations — including the American Cancer Society and the Ronald McDonald House — as well as performing arts centers in Orange County and child advocacy groups in the Philippines and Haiti, according to a website detailing its origins.
The program also offered camp and retreat workshops for students, according to the website, and aimed to promote “flute and wind music of indigenous cultures and people around the globe.”
A spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society in Los Angeles said Friday that the organization has no record of ever working with “Flutes Across The World.” An e-mail sent to a spokeswoman for the Ronald McDonald House was not returned.
Calls and e-mails to the chief executive of the organization were not immediately returned. “Flutes Across The World” was registered as a domestic nonprofit organization based in Ojai in 2013, public records show. Attempts to contact other people listed in the company’s incorporation documents were unsuccessful.
School officials have also said they have had trouble determining if, and when, the organization provided lessons in their district.
“It was difficult for our district to try to pin down what exactly are we looking for as far as this individual,” said Ryan Burris, the chief communications officer for the Capistrano Unified School District.
Late Thursday, Capistrano Unified School officials said they had confirmed that the flute program had not been held in the district in recent months.
In Fullerton, Pletka said nearly 130 students 11 to 12 may have been involved with the program at Rolling Hills Elementary School this year, though it is unclear if they came in contact with possibly contaminated flutes.
In a statement, the Saugus Union school district said the person under investigation had either taught students to build flutes or had delivered other presentations to roughly two dozen classes since 2013.
The other affected schools include Courregus Elementary School in Fountain Valley and Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa, school officials said. LAUSD officials said one school may have been involved in the flute program, but did not name the facility.
Pletka said the person who made the presentations in the Fullerton School District came highly recommended from members of the Orange County arts community and “was associated with some pretty reputable organizations who also do background checks on their people.”
Democrats rush to cut ties with Harvey Weinstein
BY JONATHAN EASLEY
Democrats are rushing to distance themselves from film producer Harvey Weinstein after a bombshell New York Times story revealed allegations that the mega-donor spent decades sexually harassing the women he worked with.Nearly a dozen Democratic senators — including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and several potential 2020 presidential contenders — are pledging to donate the contributions they’ve received from Weinstein over the years to nonprofit groups advocating for women who have been the victims of sexual abuse.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will give the money it received from Weinstein in the most recent campaign cycle to a trio of women’s groups. However, the DNC quickly came under fire for only donating a fraction of what it had received from Weinstein over the years, and for giving the money to political organizations rather than those that support victimized women.
Meanwhile, the Democratic campaign committees in Washington are working with lawmakers and their campaigns to assess how much Weinstein — whose donations date back to the early 1990s — might have given to their candidates and organizations.
Weinstein’s association with the Democratic Party runs deep. He has long been one of the most prominent figures on the donor circuit that runs through Hollywood.
Many Democrats expressed disgust that Weinstein would open the party up to the same attacks they’ve levied against President Trump, whose “Access Hollywood” tape broke almost a year ago.
“The difference between Trump, Bill Cosby and Weinstein — none,” said Bob Mulholland, a Democratic National Committee member from California.
The Democratic disavowal of Weinstein began quickly after the publication of the Times story.
Schumer said he would give $14,200 received over the course of several campaign cycles to women’s groups, his office told The Hill.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will donate the $5,000 she got from Weinstein to a Boston nonprofit group called Casa Myrna, which aids victims of domestic violence. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will give $7,800 to the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is returning the most money — $19,600 given to both his campaign and a supporting super PAC — to the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center. And Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is giving $11,800 — none of which was received in the most recent cycle — to RAINN, the nation’s largest group assisting victims of sexual violence.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bob Casey(D-Pa.), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are among other lawmakers donating Weinstein’s contributions to women’s groups.
The amount of money the lawmakers received from Weinstein pales in comparison to what he has given to the DNC and the Democratic Senate and House campaign arms.
Weinstein has given about a quarter of a million dollars to the DNC over the years, with about $30,000 of that coming in the latest cycle. The DNC is giving the $30,000 to EMILY’s List, which supports women candidates that support abortion rights, Emerge America, which recruits and trains
Democratic women for office, and Higher Heights, which supports black women running for office.
“The allegations in the New York Times report are deeply troubling,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa told The Hill. “The Democratic Party condemns all forms of sexual harassment and assault. We hope that Republicans will do the same as we mark one year since the release of a tape showing President Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women followed by more than a dozen women who came forward to detail similar experiences of assault and harassment.”
Republicans slammed the DNC for not giving away what it had received from Weinstein in earlier election cycles, and for donating the money to groups that support Democratic candidates.
Other groups were grappling with what to do about money they’d received years earlier.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has received about $200,000 from Weinstein, but none of that was given in the last 15 years. Donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee totaled over $20,000, with the most recent cash coming in 2013. Neither group commented to The Hill about their plans for that money.
But Weinstein’s influence went beyond his wallet. He was a top draw at Democratic fundraisers for former President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, where tickets could run upwards of $35,000.
In 2015, Weinstein and his wife, Georgina Chapman, a fashion designer, hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in New York City, along with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
Weinstein had also teamed up with Wintour for at least two fundraisers for Obama in 2012, where a top-flight roster of liberal donors paid $35,800 to co-host and individuals paid $10,000 each to get in.
Spokespeople for Obama and Clinton did not respond to requests for comment.
Republicans hammered Democrats for the Weinstein connection, eagerly highlighting those who have yet to return funds he’s given dating back to 1993.
"During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars,” said Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer."
Democrats were in no mood to hear that from Republicans, pointing to Trump’s own controversies and those at Fox News, where former chairman Roger Ailes and former anchor Bill O’Reilly were forced out amid sexual harassment accusations.
“The entire Republican Party, from the grassroots to the establishment, stayed with Donald Trump after they’d been made aware about what he said on the “Access Hollywood” tape,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic consultant. “They all went on Bill O’Reilly and kissed Roger Ailes’ ring. I don’t want to hear from Republicans because they don’t have a leg to stand on here.”
Still, Democrats were doing their own soul searching about whether they had turned a blind eye toward Weinstein’s behavior, which was long the subject of rumors in Hollywood.
“There’s no question that for a long time Harvey was a mover and shaker and presence around fundraising structure of the party at a high level, he brought star wattage,” said one Democratic strategist.
“When the rumors are out there, whether about Harvey or someone else, all too many times they’ve turned out to be true. We need to do a better job of being true to our values and looking at the full picture, not just what someone can do for our movement.”
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) will give the money it received from Weinstein in the most recent campaign cycle to a trio of women’s groups. However, the DNC quickly came under fire for only donating a fraction of what it had received from Weinstein over the years, and for giving the money to political organizations rather than those that support victimized women.
Meanwhile, the Democratic campaign committees in Washington are working with lawmakers and their campaigns to assess how much Weinstein — whose donations date back to the early 1990s — might have given to their candidates and organizations.
Weinstein’s association with the Democratic Party runs deep. He has long been one of the most prominent figures on the donor circuit that runs through Hollywood.
Many Democrats expressed disgust that Weinstein would open the party up to the same attacks they’ve levied against President Trump, whose “Access Hollywood” tape broke almost a year ago.
“The difference between Trump, Bill Cosby and Weinstein — none,” said Bob Mulholland, a Democratic National Committee member from California.
The Democratic disavowal of Weinstein began quickly after the publication of the Times story.
Schumer said he would give $14,200 received over the course of several campaign cycles to women’s groups, his office told The Hill.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will donate the $5,000 she got from Weinstein to a Boston nonprofit group called Casa Myrna, which aids victims of domestic violence. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will give $7,800 to the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is returning the most money — $19,600 given to both his campaign and a supporting super PAC — to the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center. And Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is giving $11,800 — none of which was received in the most recent cycle — to RAINN, the nation’s largest group assisting victims of sexual violence.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bob Casey(D-Pa.), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are among other lawmakers donating Weinstein’s contributions to women’s groups.
The amount of money the lawmakers received from Weinstein pales in comparison to what he has given to the DNC and the Democratic Senate and House campaign arms.
Weinstein has given about a quarter of a million dollars to the DNC over the years, with about $30,000 of that coming in the latest cycle. The DNC is giving the $30,000 to EMILY’s List, which supports women candidates that support abortion rights, Emerge America, which recruits and trains
Democratic women for office, and Higher Heights, which supports black women running for office.
“The allegations in the New York Times report are deeply troubling,” DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa told The Hill. “The Democratic Party condemns all forms of sexual harassment and assault. We hope that Republicans will do the same as we mark one year since the release of a tape showing President Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women followed by more than a dozen women who came forward to detail similar experiences of assault and harassment.”
Republicans slammed the DNC for not giving away what it had received from Weinstein in earlier election cycles, and for donating the money to groups that support Democratic candidates.
Other groups were grappling with what to do about money they’d received years earlier.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has received about $200,000 from Weinstein, but none of that was given in the last 15 years. Donations to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee totaled over $20,000, with the most recent cash coming in 2013. Neither group commented to The Hill about their plans for that money.
But Weinstein’s influence went beyond his wallet. He was a top draw at Democratic fundraisers for former President Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, where tickets could run upwards of $35,000.
In 2015, Weinstein and his wife, Georgina Chapman, a fashion designer, hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in New York City, along with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
Weinstein had also teamed up with Wintour for at least two fundraisers for Obama in 2012, where a top-flight roster of liberal donors paid $35,800 to co-host and individuals paid $10,000 each to get in.
Spokespeople for Obama and Clinton did not respond to requests for comment.
Republicans hammered Democrats for the Weinstein connection, eagerly highlighting those who have yet to return funds he’s given dating back to 1993.
"During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars,” said Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer."
Democrats were in no mood to hear that from Republicans, pointing to Trump’s own controversies and those at Fox News, where former chairman Roger Ailes and former anchor Bill O’Reilly were forced out amid sexual harassment accusations.
“The entire Republican Party, from the grassroots to the establishment, stayed with Donald Trump after they’d been made aware about what he said on the “Access Hollywood” tape,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic consultant. “They all went on Bill O’Reilly and kissed Roger Ailes’ ring. I don’t want to hear from Republicans because they don’t have a leg to stand on here.”
Still, Democrats were doing their own soul searching about whether they had turned a blind eye toward Weinstein’s behavior, which was long the subject of rumors in Hollywood.
“There’s no question that for a long time Harvey was a mover and shaker and presence around fundraising structure of the party at a high level, he brought star wattage,” said one Democratic strategist.
“When the rumors are out there, whether about Harvey or someone else, all too many times they’ve turned out to be true. We need to do a better job of being true to our values and looking at the full picture, not just what someone can do for our movement.”
G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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