We're not too broke to help out the Muslim Brotherhood it seems

KERRY SAYS US RELEASING MILLIONS IN AID TO EGYPT

CAIRO (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the Obama administration is rewarding the Egyptian government with financial aid because of Cairo's promises of economic and political reforms.

Kerry says the U.S. is providing $190 million immediately as part of a larger pledge of $450 million over time.

Kerry says the money reflects Egypt's "extreme needs" and President Mohammed Morsi's commitment to satisfying conditions to close a $4.8 billion package of International Monetary Fund loans.

Kerry also says that a separate $60 million is for a new fund to provide direct support to Egyptian entrepreneurs and young people.

The announcement of the aid came after Kerry's meeting Sunday with Morsi.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egypt's president Sunday, wrapping up a visit to the deeply divided country with an appeal for unity and reform.

A day after warning the country's bickering politicians that they must overcome differences to get Egypt's faltering economy back on track and maintain its leadership role in the volatile Middle East, Kerry conveyed a similar message to President Mohammed Morsi and his defense minister and intelligence chief.

During their two-hour plus meeting, Kerry and Morsi talked about Mideast peace, Syria and Iran, as well as the economic, political and human rights situation in Egypt, according to a U.S. State Department official who was not authorized to discuss the private session and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. is deeply concerned that continued instability in Egypt will have broader consequences in a region already rocked by unrest.

U.S. officials said earlier that Kerry planned to stress the importance of upholding Egypt's peace agreement with Israel, cracking down on weapons smuggling to extremists in the Gaza Strip and policing the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula while continuing to play a positive role in Syria's civil war.

Yet, with parliamentary elections approaching, his call for harmonizing domestic Egyptian politics is just as important, they said.

Liberal and secular opponents of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood say they will boycott upcoming elections, and violent clashes between protesters and security forces have created an environment of insecurity, complicating Egyptian efforts to secure vital international aid.

After Kerry's meeting with Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the defense minister, Egypt's state news agency reported they discussed "means to support military cooperation between the two countries in light of the depth of Egyptian-American relations."

El-Sissi was reported to have expressed his `aspiration for more such cooperation to build and develop the fighting capabilities of the Egyptian armed forces to support security and peace in the region."

In meetings with Egypt's foreign minister and opposition politicians on Saturday, Kerry said reaching agreement on economic reforms to seal $4.8 billion in International Monetary Fund loans was particularly critical. Closing the IMF deal also will unlock significant U.S. assistance promised by President Barack Obama last year.

But the impact of his message of unity to the opposition was likely blunted as only six of the 11 guests invited by the U.S. Embassy turned up and three of those six said they still intended to boycott the April parliamentary election, according to participants.

Kerry said that the U.S. would not pick sides in Egypt, and he appealed to all sides to come together around human rights, freedom and speech and religious tolerance. Equally essential, he said, is uniting to undertake the reforms necessary to qualify for the IMF package. Those include increasing tax collections and curbing energy subsidies.

However, while expressing sympathy with the passion he heard from the opposition, Kerry suggested U.S. frustration with their tactics even as he maintained that "we're not here to interfere, but to listen."

"The best way to ensure human rights and strong political checks and balances ... is through the broadest possible political and economic participation," Kerry said after meeting Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamel Amr. "We believe that being active, engaging in peaceful participation is essential to building strong communities and healthy democracies."

In an apparent nod to the current stalemate in Washington over the U.S. federal budget, Kerry acknowledged that compromise is difficult yet imperative.

"I say with both humility and with a great deal of respect that getting there requires a genuine give-and-take among Egypt's political leaders and civil society groups just as we are continuing to struggle with that in our own country," he said. `There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to all of the Egyptian people."

The opposition accuses Morsi and the Brotherhood of following in the footsteps of toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, failing to carry out reforms and trying to install a more religiously conservative system.

Morsi's administration and the Brotherhood say their foes, who have trailed significantly behind Islamists in all elections since the uprising against Mubarak, are running away from the challenge of the ballot box and are trying to overturn democratic gains.

Egypt's polarization was underscored as Kerry arrived from Turkey on Saturday on the sixth of nine stops in his first official overseas visit as secretary of state. Activists in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura said a 35-year-old protester was killed when an armored police vehicle crushed him to death during anti-Morsi protests Saturday. And, in the restive Suez Canal city of Port Said, a police vehicle ran over five people after marching protesters refused to allow the car through.

Months of such turmoil have scared away tourists and foreign investors, eroding Egypt's foreign reserves by nearly two-thirds of what it was before the uprising. Those reserves, which stand at less than $14 billion, are needed to pay for subsidies that millions of poor Egyptians rely on for survival.

"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy gets stronger, gets back on its feet and it's very clear that there is a circle of connections in how that can happen," Kerry told business leaders shortly after his arrival. "To attract capital, to bring money back here, to give business the confidence to move forward, there has to be sense of security, there has to be a sense of political and economic viability."

After concluding his meetings in Egypt on Sunday, Kerry will head to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where his focus is expected to be the crisis in Syria that dominated his earlier stops in Britain, Germany, France and Turkey, along with concerns about Iran's nuclear program and growing Iranian assertiveness in the Persian Gulf. Kerry is set to return to Washington on Wednesday.

He says we're not taking sides and then bolsters the Muslim Brotherhood. This after providing them with fighter jets and tanks. Obscene.

Lie first for effect then correct the narrative...what a bunch of slimballs

Sperling Admits Obama Misled in Debate: The President Did Propose the Sequester

BY DANIEL HALPER

White House economic adviser Gene Sperling admits that, yes, in fact, the sequestration was President Obama's plan:

"We put forth the design of" the sequestration, Sperling finally admits after a long back-and-forth.

Crony capitalism, insider trading and Obama

China Deal Benefits Obama Donors

Administration-approved takeover by Chinese oil company provides Obama backers windfall

BY: Andrew Evans
March 2, 2013 4:59 am

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch is suing the Treasury Department for records pertaining to the department’s decision to grant a Chinese government-backed company access to oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that will benefit Obama donors.
The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) reached a “definitive agreement” with Nexen, Inc., a Canadian energy company, announced on July 23, 2012, to buy all of the company’s outstanding public shares. Nexen has holdings in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada, giving the Chinese government access to millions of barrels of Keystone XL and Gulf reserve oil.
Nexen’s holdings in the Gulf, coupled with the Chinese government’s ownership of CNOOC, meant the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States had to approve the takeover, which it did on Feb. 12.
The secretaries of several major executive departments—including treasury, state, defense, and homeland security—sit on the committee.
Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the deal in November, but the Treasury Department did not reply within the mandatory 20 days. Judicial Watch then filed suit on Feb. 14 to get access to the documents.
Judicial Watch noted that several prominent fundraisers and donors to President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign stood to make a windfall profit from the Chinese corporation’s expansion in their press release announcing the suit.
David Shaw founded D.E. Shaw and Co., which massively increased its shares in Nexen in the third quarter of 2012, according to its SEC reports. Nexen’s stock rose almost 50 percent the week of the announcement, which was early in the third quarter.
Shaw bundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for the Obama campaign in 2012. He also sits on a presidential advisory council, Judicial Watch noted. D.E. Shaw and Company did not return a request for comment.
Frank Brosens is another prominent Democratic supporter who stood to gain significantly from the merger. His firm Taconic Capital bought at least 6 million shares in Nexen in the third quarter of 2012 but sold all of them by the end of the year. Taconic did not return a request for comment on their investment strategy.
Brosens, like Shaw, has close ties to the current administration. He was reportedly Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s first choice to run the bailout program in 2009, and was a major donor to the Democratic National Committee in the 2012 cycle. He alsobundled between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s campaign in 2012.
Judicial Watch also pointed out several other organizations with close ties to the administration stood to gain from the merger.
The lawsuit comes as the president’s campaign-apparatus-turned-dark-money-advocacy group has come under scrutiny for providing donors access to the president.
“With one ill-chosen action, the Obama administration has managed to undermine our strategic interests and reward its corporate cronies,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, in the released statement.
The Treasury Department did not return a request for comment.

The Road to Serfdom.

Tax Proposed Now they want our jewellery, paintings and furniture London, England-A new wealth tax is being proposed by the leftist wing (The Liberal Democrats) of our coalition government that will come with unprecedented powers to enter our homes and root through our personal possessions to value rings, necklaces, paintings and furniture, anything that might raise more taxes. If we refuse to be inspected or get our own valuations wrong, we would be facing fines, maybe even a jail sentence. This brainchild was conceived by the Lib Dems for their next election manifesto and is part of a series of measures planned to tax the better off.  Taxpayers would be required to ‘self assess’ their net worth, which would be checked by inspectors under the auspices of HM Revenue and Customs. Currently this government department has no power to enter a person’s home. This is already being done in France where a person’s ‘global assets’ – everything from his car to his mother’s antique silver fork was taxed at .25% when introduced, and inspectors there have the right to enter private homes. Once a tax is levied, it’s only a matter of time before politicians start to tinker with it to squeeze yet more from their victims. That is exactly what new socialist president Francis Hollande did when he raised the tax to .55%. And if the rioting and austerity protests don’t abate, he’ll probably raise it again. My neighbour has family property in France and noted the week before the tax came into force, those who could piled all their paintings and antiques into their cars and drove them over to the UK. He said the ferries were bulging with cars crammed with treasures.  If this idea takes hold, they will have to load up the truck and move to ... Switzerland or Lichtenstein where wealth is welcomed and appreciated, along with the cash-poor Brit that inherited a Piaget and mink coat from a relative. France has just passed a Robin Hood tax on all financial transactions But that’s not all. France has just passed a Robin Hood tax on all financial transactions. Americans take note. If you own shares in a French company, you will be taxed 0.2% every time you trade them. So if you hold $100K worth of shares in a French company and you sell, you owe the French government $200. And if you holiday in France and want to exchange $1000 into Euros, that’ll cost you $2. Not to worry though, it’s all going to a good cause in supporting developing countries, where France wants more influence. It’s only a matter time before the Brits pick up on this one. Being just a proposal at this stage, the UK jewellery tax can and is being pooh-poohed as ridiculous and unenforceable. But that doesn’t stop British liberals. One of our Lib Dem MPs, Tessa Munt said that the jewellery tax was ‘an interesting idea’. As long as one of them thinks this is a good plan, they will not rest until it gathers enough momentum to try and get it passed into law. Mansion tax Take the so-called mansion tax. This was an idea put forward, again by the Lib Dems and they wanted to introduce a new tax on privately owned real estate valued at more than £2million. Initially it was £1million, but after an outcry from people who were cash poor, but who had a family home that had accumulated value over the generations, was re-thought to a higher level.  It doesn’t matter that people who buy these homes are likely to be buying their property after having paid 40% income tax on their earnings, or that their properties are already subject to higher council taxes, or that the owners will have paid a hefty stamp duty tax just to buy the darn thing in the first place. That is simply not enough blood, in an era of wealth envy and redistribution politics. The idea was so tempting that the main opposition party - Labour - has picked up on it and will put it into their manifesto. Seeing as there is a real chance they may get into power in two years time, this tax will become law. And just like the French, the numbers will be raised to the point where no one will want to buy a house anymore and before you can say, ‘Happy Anniversary Darling’, that necklace you bought will be next on the list. Liberals lead such unhappy lives. They aspire to nothing more than plotting against other people and their aspirations. Even if they have piles of money themselves, which they guard jealously, it is still not enough. Nothing can assuage the perceived injustices they see in the world. It is as though if they stopped trying to redistribute, they would have no reason to exit. They are screwed from two angles. One, redistribution never works, no matter how high you raise the ante, so they are permanently frustrated, and second, envy of what you don’t have rots the soul, so they are permanently frustrated there as well. People who strive and build, making money out of the process, choosing to use it as they wish, generally lead happy lives. They don’t eye the other guy with disgust and loathing. If they eye him at all it is with a thought as to how to make a better product or improve a service. The liberal on the other hand wallows in envy. Catholics have a good take on this in the idea of capital vices or cardinal sins- greed, lust, pride, wrath, gluttony, sloth and envy. It is often joked that the last of these, has the least kick or thrill. With all the others you get, if only briefly, a surge of pleasure or a sense of vindication. But with envy, no one gets a thrill. The envier never feels satisfied and the envied has this dark, joyless shadow of the other’s envy on him. The only real joy in life is the act of giving. Of oneself, of one’s time and one’s property. This is the Christian way and the only caveat is that it is done freely. This is at the heart of where joy lies. When a third party like the state forces the giving, it robs the relationship between the two people in the charitable act, the one giving and the one receiving and the genuine happiness that both receive. The great American economist Walter E Williams puts the argument like this, and I am paraphrasing, ‘ If I come and point a gun at you and force you to give me your money, which I then give to the homeless person down the street – have I committed a crime? Now if I am the government and force you to give me money on the threat of jail and I give it to homeless person, have I committed a crime? ‘If you are a liberal you would have answered no to both, because the end always justifies the means, even if the means are evil in nature. But practice an evil act like this for long enough and you won’t’ know where to stop.  This kind of means cannot justify the ends. This is where leftist politicians lose their way. Once they start a tax or a system of money extraction, it can never stop and even the ends become disengaged from reality.  The worthy cause becomes indiscriminately confused with the unworthy. Alongside the wealth tax headlines, we also have the story of Heather Frost, an unemployed mother of 11 children by several different men, who lives on state benefits and is having a large £400,000 eco house built for her at taxpayer expense.  Frost already has two council houses which are connected together via a door, but alas there is not enough room for the kids AND the menagerie of a wheezy horse (and the attendant vet bills), the £1,000 Macaw, and various other pets. The outrage has been considerable, especially in the light of the downgrading of our AAA UK credit rating by Moody’s. Although this has not been understood by the local politicians who think they are performing a good deed. Well that’s fine. If this is considered a worthy cause, get a charity together and pay the woman’s bills. One or two might even be willing to sell their jewels to finance it. That would be the free thing to do. Those preferring to spend their money on those with unavoidable need, or those that have to restrict the number of children they have because they know they cannot afford more, then that would be the free choice to make. Taxation takes away our freedom, but more importantly it takes away our humanity. I am not advocating we don’t pay toward the basic infrastructure of society, but we must rediscover what it means to be human which, of course means sharing, but it also means preserving and creating beauty. We are the only creature on this earth that creates beautiful things. Beauty is what brings us close to our creator. It is that capacity that also brings joy to the human spirit. Tax our treasures to the point where they are not worth having and you end up like a cold war Soviet Union, everyone dressed in grey suits, living in ugly concrete blocks and drinking gallons of vodka to eradicate the bleakness that surrounds.  Live in this long enough and one even loses the inclination to aspiration – to create beauty, wealth, or anything other than eking out your existence until the next payment from those that would steal from others to give to you. Given the old adage that you get less of what you tax and more of what you subsidise, we are heading straight for a soulless, ugly world.  The only way out is to be more productive, tax less and let people live their own lives. The budget in March 2013 is most likely the last opportunity the Conservative Party will have to take a bold step and reduce taxes in order to stimulate the economy and increase tax revenues, but based on their inept performance to date I’m not holding my breath. Maybe I’ll even take up drinking vodka.

The dangers of the Cloud

Evernote says security has been breached by hackers

Just another lie for the cause

Capitol official: Obama wrong about janitors By: Kate Nocera

The Superintendent of Capitol tried to assure staff on Friday that employees will not receive a cut in pay as a result of sequestration, despite President Barack Obama’s claims to the contrary. In a news conference earlier in the day, Obama warned that starting on Saturday “the folks who are cleaning the floors at the Capitol” and “the janitors, the security guards” would face a pay cut. But in a letter to supervisors and building staff, obtained by POLITICO, superintendent Carlos Elias said “the current sequestration plan does NOT include ‘Reductions in Force’ or Furloughs. The pay and benefits of employees WILL NOT be impacted as per out current plan.” (Also on POLITICO: White House stuck on next sequester step) Referring to the president as a “high ranking official,” Elias was adamant that staff wouldn’t see smaller paychecks and to not listen to media reports. He wrote: “There was a specific mention in the news today by a high ranking official that said ‘The employees that clean and maintain the US Capitol will receive a cut in pay’ (not a specific quote but close to it). This is NOT true. Therefore, I request that you please notify all our employees about the importance of ignoring media reports.”

© 2013 POLITICO LLC

Chicago: Tough gun laws do not make for safety.

72-year-old man headed to medical appointment robbed, shot to death outside homeCHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -

A 72-year-old man who was about to board a bus to go to a medical appointment was shot to death outside his Roseland neighborhood home early Saturday during an apparent robbery attempt, police said.

"He was 72 years old, his birthday was just Sunday, last weekend, Sunday, he just turned 72," said William Strickland's son-in-law.

And now just days after celebrating life, Strickland's family members are planning his funeral after he was fatally shot steps away from his front door.

Fox 32 News has learned the 72 year old was on his way to dialysis treatment early Saturday morning when he was ambushed and ultimately struck by multiple bullets in his back, stomach and head in an apparent robbery.

Theolene Shears was home next door when the attack happened.

"Very shocking because we haven't had anything like this happen to us… Now traffic is motor traffic, pedestrians very few… No definitely not normal," said Shears.

And Shears would know.

She's lived in her home on the far south side for nearly five decades and describes the father, husband and friend who loss his life.

"He was a wonderful person, now that I can say. I can really honestly say he was very nice," said Shears.

"They must have been scoping him out for somebody to be out at 3:00 in the morning, yeah. So it's sad," said Deedra Shepard.

The shooting happened across the street from Chicago State University where Fox 32 News noticed a lone state police car patrolling the area Saturday afternoon. Police say they're searching for two suspects and believe Strickland was the target of an apparent robbery though it's a mystery what, if anything was taken.

What the criminals know is that if caught they will bargain down to get a vastly reduced sentence and then some liberal lawyer will try to get them out based on any one of a dozen bleeding heart reasons. Don't you wonder how many murder cases in Chicago are classified as open by the police.

Do you think China will get a strongly worded letter from the UN? Nah.

Seized Chinese Weapons Raise Concerns on Iran

By ROBERT F. WORTH and C. J. CHIVERS

An Iranian dhow seized off the Yemeni coast was carrying sophisticated Chinese antiaircraft missiles, a development that could signal an escalation of Iran’s support to its Middle Eastern proxies, alarming other countries in the region and renewing a diplomatic challenge to the United States.

Among the items aboard the dhow, according to a review of factory markings on weapons and their packing crates, were 10 Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles, most of them manufactured in 2005.

The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by the state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.

The Chinese missiles were part of a larger shipment interdicted by American and Yemeni forces in January, which American and Yemeni officials say was intended for the Houthi rebels in northwestern Yemen. But the presence of the missiles in the seized contraband complicates an already politically delicate case.

The shipment, which officials portray as an attempt to introduce sophisticated new antiaircraft systems into the Arabian Peninsula, has raised concerns in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen, as the weapons would have posed escalated risks to civilian and military aircraft alike.

And it has presented the Obama administration with a fresh example of Iran’s apparent transfer of modern missiles from China to insurgents in the larger regional contest between Sunni-led and Shiite-led states, in which the American military has often been entwined.

The United States has previously accused Iran, a Shiite-led theocracy, of sending weapons to the Houthis, who follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Saudi Arabia, an American ally, is considered the leading Sunni power in the region. Both sides have aided and equipped groups or governments they deem aligned with their interests, helping to fuel violence in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Sudan and elsewhere.

Iran has rejected the allegations as “baseless and absurd.” Neither the Iranian government nor the Chinese firm that markets QW missiles answered written requests for comment.

The government of Yemen has asked the United Nations to investigate the shipment and report the findings to the Security Council. Yemeni news media reported that United Nations experts were in Yemen last week.

The analysis of the weapons’ markings and origins was based on photographs taken when Yemeni officials briefly displayed the weapons to journalists.

Concerns over sophisticated Chinese missiles reaching Iran’s proxies have considerable regional history. They are part of both the larger worries over antiaircraft weapons set loose by conflicts across the Middle East in the past decade and the lingering frustration in Washington over China’s military aid to Iran.

In 2008, late in the Bush administration, the United States complained to China about two similar antiaircraft missiles that were recovered from Shiite militants in Iraq, according a diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks.

“We have demarched China repeatedly on its conventional arms transfers to Iran, urging Beijing to stop,” the cable noted.

The cable said the QW-1 missiles recovered in Iraq had been manufactured in China in 2003.

Like the American-made Stinger, China’s QW series is part of a class of weapons known as man-portable air-defense systems, or manpads. The cable instructed American diplomats to warn China of the “unacceptably high risk that any military equipment sold to Iran, especially weapons like manpads, that are highly sought-after by terrorists, will be diverted to nonstate actors who threaten U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as civilians across the region.”

The latest discovery of Chinese manpads came after the United States Navy detected the dhow, the Jeehan 1, as it took on cargo in an Iranian military-controlled port. The vessel then embarked on a high-seas smuggling run, according to accounts by Yemeni and American officials.

The vessel tied off on a pier in the harbor on Lesser Tunb Island, a tiny spit of land just west of the Strait of Hormuz that is claimed by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates, officials familiar with its voyage said. The island is occupied by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

After passing eastward through the strait and heading south along the Arabian Peninsula, the dhow was stopped on Jan. 23 by the American destroyer Farragut and a Yemeni boarding team off the coast of Al Ghaydah.

The dhow’s Iranian crew initially insisted the vessel was Panamanian-flagged and carried only fuel, an American official said. The military cargo, which included many ammunition crates that had been painted over with white or black paint, was found in hidden compartments, American officials said.

That cargo also included 316,000 cartridges for Kalashnikov rifles, nearly 63,000 cartridges for PK machine guns or the Dragunov series of sniper rifles, more than 12,000 cartridges for 12.7-millimeter DShK machine guns and 95 RPG-7 launchers.

The rifle cartridges were packaged in crates strongly resembling packaging used by Iran’s Defense Industries Organization, another firm under American sanction, according to James Bevan, director of Conflict Armament Research, a private arms-tracking firm that has documented the spread of Iranian ammunition in East and West Africa.

The vessel also carried 10 SA-7 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles with two gripstocks for firing them, nearly 17,000 blocks of Iranian-made C-4 plastic explosives, 48 Russian PN-14K night vision goggles, and 10 LH80A laser range finders made, according to their placards, by the state-run Iran Electronics Industries, also under American sanction.

The original provenance of the SA-7s was not clear, though the crates they were in had stenciling in Bulgarian.

The captain and crew of the Jeehan 1 remain in Yemeni detention, and the dhow has been impounded under Yemeni custody, a Yememi official said.

An American official called the shipment “deeply disturbing” and said it “clearly appeared to violate” Security Council resolutions prohibiting Iran from exporting arms.

Two independent arms-trafficking researchers who have reviewed photographs and written a summary of the markings on the missiles and crates said the weapons appeared to be of Chinese origin.

Matthew Schroeder, an analyst for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington and the Small Arms Survey in Geneva, said that this was the first time to his knowledge that the QW-1M had left state control.

“If so, and these missiles were indeed bound for insurgents, this shipment is extremely worrisome, both from a regional security and a global counterterrorism perspective,” he said.

Unlike many older shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles seen in insurgent hands around the world, the QW-1M is believed by analysts to have a seeker head more resistant to countermeasures intended to deceive it.

You shall hold no other beliefs than ours!

Harvard Crimson president defends editorial urging some conservatives not to enroll [VIDEO]

Posted By Jeff Poor 

On CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report,” host Larry Kudlow criticized Harvard Crimson president Bobby Samuels for an editorial the paper published urging some conservatives not to apply to the university, but Samuels stuck to his guns.
“You know, I think the main point of the editorial was not that we’re trying to limit free speech at all,” Samuels said. “In fact, I think one of the tenets of any journalist organization — and certainly of the Crimson — is to foster free speech and foster debate. The main point we were making though is that there’s a certain dissonance or a certain hypocrisy,almost, in coming to a school and utilizing its educational resources and then turning around a few years later and criticizing the school in sort of a blanket way.” (RELATED — Harvard paper to scheming conservatives: Don’t apply)
Samuels specifically called out Harvard alumnus Mitt Romney for his criticizing President Barack Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign for spending too much time at Harvard — even though Romney had actually been enrolled at the Ivy League institution for even longer than the president.
“The position is more that there’s an inconsistency with using sort of these hypocritical arguments for political gain,” Samuels said. “I think that’s the important point. I think the Mitt Romney point is an important one, and an interesting one, that he said Obama spent too much time at Harvard, when he himself spent more time. So he was leveraging Harvard in a political way.”

I do believe that Romney paid his own way and Obama did not. Is it not becoming clear that we are moving towards a tyranny Kafka foresaw.

Meet the new Europe, just like the old Europe from the last century

Dangerous Times: How Euro-socialism Set off a Fascist Bomb

By James Lewis and Justine Aristea

In the terrible economic crisis of 1922 Benito Mussolini got 25% of the vote in Italy. Two years later he had more than a majority.
You know the rest.
In the economic crisis of 2013, Beppe Grillo received 24% of the vote (see last week's analysis of Grillo's political beliefs). This week he blocked a government from forming. Grillo now controls the Senate, but he is going for a majority in both houses in the upcoming vote in June.
That's in Italy, but in Greece the Golden Dawn party is following the same path. So is the new Hungarian fascist resurgence. In Germany it's called the "Pirate Party."
 Europe's political class is shocked and panicked. They are pretending Grillo is just a "populist" and a "reformer" -- but he also wants to "process" all the Jews in the world, who are responsible for all the evil. Grillo wants to nationalize the banks and abolish interest rates, "just like the Islamic Development Bank."
To understand the new upsurge of European fascism, you have to imagine what it's like to live in Rome.
Imagine the US government being sunk in red ink. The United Nations suspends the US Constitution and compels us to adopt a new UN currency called the UNO, designed to favor other countries. The United States no longer runs its own currency. Our economy tanks and our deficit keeps getting worse.
Therefore the UN unilaterally appoints a caretaker president for the US named Monti, who imposes radical budget cuts on our dependent welfare state.
1. Social Security is cut by half. People have to live on 700 euros per month.
2. ObamaCare is cut by half. Two hospitals in Rome do not pay their medical staffs for six months.
3. Taxes on income and sales are raised to an average of 50%.
4. Small business taxes are increased -- but big businesses taxes are lowered, "because big business is more efficient." (Meaning it has bigger unions).
5. Politicians and bureaucrats get major pay raises. The figurehead President of the US doubles his salary.
Government at all levels is corrupt. It's the only way people can survive. Everybody is playing double games. People are doing two jobs and running their own businesses out of government offices. Everybody cheats on taxes. The mafia controls half the country. Survival depends on the black market, the black economy. The currency is kept artificially high, so exports crash.
It's happened to Italy under the European Union. Don't think it can't happen here. Obama is a Euro socialist, representing faculty lounge socialism in America, so completely arrogant and cocksure that Paul Krugman just knows how to run the trillion-dollar US economy. Nobody else can figure it out, but Krugman knows that he knows. Our new rulers are control freaks, just as free market economists have said since Adam Smith. They are six year olds steering the family car and thinking they are in control until...
... until it all blows up.
This week Europe blew up. The media haven't caught up yet, because they are what they are. But the markets are catching up fast.
This is a huge event for the United States, because our political elite is bound and determined to turn us into Europe. Hasn't the EU found the answer to war and peace and prosperity forever?
Our Democrats believe it. Europe is their model. Every batty new idea they have is copied from the glorious European Union. Twenty years ago they still celebrated the Soviet Union, until that house of cards crumbled. Now they have shifted their fantasy paradise to Europe.
Over there, fifty years of increasingly centralized control have made it impossible for voters to be heard. The political parties are stuck in GroupThink. Only the fascist "protest" parties agitate for reform. The ruling class doesn't listen. They don't have to -- they don't have to run for election.
So European voters fled to the fascists to express their rage and despair. Imagine one out of four US voters going for Lincoln Rockwell, and you get the idea.
In Italy, Beppe Grillo the Clown just received 24% of the vote, the biggest percentage a single party has received since Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, in 1922, another economic crisis year.
 The Italian vote gives the Clown control of the Senate, and the biggest voice in the lower house. The Grillini now speak for the capital city of Rome. Since fascism is illegal in Italy, the Five Star Party pretends not to be fascist; but scratch the surface and that old grinning ghost stares back at you.)
The EU and US media are still in denial, but Italian party politicians instantly flew to Berlin to talk with Angela Merkel, and came back to build a common front against Grillo the Clown. But the Joker refused to play. He wants another election in June.
Currency markets are signaling panic. Don't believe the media. Believe the markets.
Europe is our future. It's Obama style of Chicago "governance," and as long as the people were inundated by EU propaganda they believed that Europe had discovered the secret of peace and welfare forever. Talk to any European and that's what you hear. They keep wondering why we don't follow them to Never-Neverland. If you tell question them they turn a deaf ear. They're mentally stuck.
As long as America defends Europe, they will keep hating us and pretending they are running the ocean liner, like kids with plastic steering wheels.
 The key to the whole farce is Europe's "democracy deficit," which means that the people can vote for the European Parliament -- but it has no legislative powers at all. The Parliament is a Potemkin front. It has no power to pass binding laws.
On the other hand, the unelected ruling class has centralized more and more power in "Commissions" -- which is what the word "Soviets" used to mean. But the EU has no electoral legitimacy. Nobody votes for the people who really run the place. That means the EU receives no feedback about the impact of its cult-like policy fantasies. When the people wanted a public referendum on the EU, the political class arrogantly told them to go... yes.
 In France, the Grand Corps of the State ("Enarques") run the government. Germany and Britain are similar. Together they appoint the European ruling elite. This is the EU socialist Apparat, the Political Machine that controls everything. And yes, there are capitalists, but they work hand-in-glove with the Apparat. It's Crony Social Capitalism (technically the same as fascism).
As a result normal people feel totally powerless. As long as the Ponzi scheme lasts, the victims loved it. The media churned out neo-imperialist propaganda about how Europe had finally discovered peace and welfare forever, and everybody wantedto believe.
Today, southern and eastern Europe are running into a brick wall, designed by Europe's ruling class in its delusional way. The north blames the south, and vice versa. Nobody can stop the ruling class from its mad rush to destruction, so we are seeing a 'protest vote" in Germany, Poland, eastern Europe, and the PIIGS -- the Mediterranean coastal countries plus Ireland.
The only protest party people can vote for are barely disguised fascists: The Five Star party in Italy, Golden Dawn in Greece, Pirate Party in Germany, and fascist insurgents in Hungary.
Here's how it's done. In Italy Beppe Grillo ran as a sly comedian, spinning off conspiracy theories about 'chemtrails" (jet contrails) that poison the Italian people, the Rockefellers, Rothschilds and Illuminati who run the world to oppress the poor, and all the usual paranoid fantasies. But he also attacked massive corruption (which is true) and self-serving politicians (also true), and the euro currency that killed Italian exports (also true). Grillo voiced criticisms that other politicians avoided. Everybody knows about massive corruption, for example. Grillo said it.
Now the Clown has his own sources of money and ideology, which lead straight to Tehran, as we have pointed out. The Clown hates the Jews, and his website mentions "Jews" 2,500 times, and "Iran" 2,500 times. The Islamic Development Bank doesn't charge interest, the Clown tells us. This is pure Islamic fascist propaganda. Banks that loan free money don't exist in the real world, because they can't survive. But demagogues tell sucker lies, and this is a good one. Beppe tells his followers that he will nationalize the banks (like Il Duce) and give away free loans. It's like Obama phones, straight from Obama's stash. The suckers love it.
The Jews run the world by charging "usury" (this is an old, old story in Europe). In Beppe's Fantasyland money comes free, exactly what Islamist propaganda says. Beppe tells the world that "Everything I know about the Middle East I've learned from my father-in-law" Parvin Tajik, who runs a major construction business in Tehran, and therefore has to be in cahoots with the super-corrupt mullahs.
Guess who plays the scapegoat in this age-old drama? Yup.
People laughed at old Beppe the Clown for fifteen years.
Today the joke's on them.

Everyday we get a little closer to an unaccountable government

Senators complain after getting 'worthless' redacted version of Benghazi talking points

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Senators investigating the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya and the administration's version of events in the aftermath were livid when the White House initially sent them documents so heavily redacted they were "worthless," a source told Fox News.

The so-called Benghazi talking points were requested by the Senate Intelligence Committee, but were so heavily redacted lawmakers sent them back and demanded another set, a source told Fox News. Lawmakers sought the papers in order to find out why the administration repeatedly claimed the attack, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, a State Department employee and two former Navy SEALs, was sparked by a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video.

But the first batch of documents contained hundreds of pages that were of no use, the source said.

“It was so redacted that there was no information whatsoever,” said the source, who spoke to Fox on the condition they not be identified. “There were some documents that were 100 pages with every word on the page redacted. They were worthless.”

A second set of documents were delivered to Capitol Hill Thursday night which had only minimal redactions.  

The source speculated that the administration had two sets of documents ready to go: one that was redacted and another that didn’t. Senators have asked to see the documents as a part of their inquiry into the attack on Benghazi. Senators also wanted the documents before they were willing to vote on John Brennan to be Director of Central Intelligence.

A committee vote on Brennan’s nomination is set for Tuesday.

The documents reveal various email traffic about the “talking points” which were passed through a litany of Washington power centers: The White House, the FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department. The source questions why it took the Obama administration months to deliver the information when all of these agencies had dealt with the email traffic.

Sources said the emails revealed heavy editing by then-CIA Director David Petraeus. The talking points evolved as they were passed around various intelligence and security hubs, and scrubbed of language referring to “al Qa’ida.” They also seemed to indicate an effort to paint the Sept. 11 attack as a demonstration and not a planned attack, the source said.

“The word ‘attacks’ was changed to ‘demonstration,’” the source said.

In the wake of the attack, the White House sent UN Ambassador Susan Rice on several Sunday news shows to explain the incident as a spontaneous event spurred by a 13-minute trailer for the low-budget film "The Innocence of Muslims" which had been posted online.

Never letting a crisis go to waste

DHS freed over 2,000 immigrants since February. By ALICIA A. CALDWELL Associated Press Charles Dharapak, File / AP Photo FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2103 file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano briefs reporters at the White House in Washington. The Homeland Security Department released more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation from immigration jails in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned. The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned.The newly disclosed figures, cited in internal budget documents reviewed by the AP, are significantly higher than the "few hundred" illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process. The government documents show that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement released roughly 1,000 illegal immigrants from its jails around the U.S. each week since at least Feb. 15. The agency's field offices have reported more than 2,000 immigrants released before intense criticism this week led to a temporary shutdown of the plan, according to the documents. The states where immigrants were released include Arizona, California, Georgia and Texas. The White House has said it was not consulted about the releases, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has acknowledged they occurred in a manner she regrets. White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday said the government had released "a few hundred" of the roughly 30,000 illegal immigrants held in federal detention pending deportation proceedings. Carney said the immigrants released were "low-risk, noncriminal detainees," and the decision was made by career ICE officials. As of last week, the agency held an average daily population of 30,733 in its jails. The internal budget documents reviewed by the AP show the Obama administration had intended to reduce those figures to 25,748 by March 31. The White House did not comment immediately Friday on the higher number of immigrants released. ICE spokesman Brian Hale said Friday the numbers of immigration detainees fluctuate daily, but he reiterated only several hundred illegal immigrants had been released. "Beyond that normal movement, and as fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICE's current budget and placed several hundred individuals on methods of supervision less costly than detention," Hale said in a statement. "At this point, we don't anticipate additional releases, but that could change." The immigrants who were released still eventually face deportation and are required to appear for upcoming court hearings. But they are no longer confined in immigration jails, where advocacy experts say they cost about $164 per day per person. Immigrants who are granted supervised release - with conditions that can include mandatory check-ins, home visits and GPS devices - cost the government from 30 cents to $14 a day, according to the National Immigration Forum, a group that advocates on behalf of immigrants. The release of thousands from immigration jails is consistent with Napolitano's early warnings on Monday - hours before anyone knew publicly that any illegal immigrants had been released - that the pending, automatic budget cuts known as the sequester would limit the government's ability to maintain enough detention center beds for at least 34,000 immigrants. "We're doing our very best to minimize the impacts of sequester, but there's only so much I can do," Napolitano said Monday. "You know, I'm supposed to have 34,000 detention beds for immigration. How do I pay for those?" Late Thursday, after intense criticism over what the administration acknowledged was the release this week of several hundred immigrants, Napolitano told ABC News that she had been surprised to learn about the action. "Detainee populations and how that is managed back and forth is really handled by career officials in the field," Napolitano told ABC. "Do I wish that this all hadn't been done all of a sudden and so that people weren't surprised by it? Of course." The announcement that a few hundred illegal immigrants were being released was among the most significant and direct implications described so far by the automatic budget cuts. Republicans in Congress quickly criticized the decision and pressed the Homeland Security Department for details, including the number of illegal immigrants released and the nature of any criminal charges they were facing as part of the deportation process. "Simply blaming budget reductions as a means to turn a blind eye toward the national security of the American people is a dangerous plan, and one that calls into question the department's preparations for sequestration," wrote two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who sits on the Senate panel that oversees the Department of Homeland Security, harshly criticized the administration for downplaying the number of immigrants released, adding the revelation "makes it less and less possible for lawmakers to have productive negotiations with the White House over a comprehensive immigration bill." The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement to his staff on Tuesday, the same day the administration first openly confirmed the release of what it called several hundred immigrants. The executive associate director over ICE enforcement and removal operations, Gary Mead, told his staff he was leaving his job with mixed emotions. A career law enforcement officer, Mead will leave at the end of April. After AP reported on Mead's retirement, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said his decision was not related to criticism over the jail releases and said Mead had notified the agency's senior leaders "several weeks ago" that he intended to leave. She also called AP's reporting about Mead's departure "inaccurate and misleading." On Thursday, ICE corrected her statement to say that Mead has notified his bosses "more than a week ago," not several weeks ago. The later government statement also criticized AP's reporting as "ill-informed, inaccurate information" and complained that AP had failed to contact the agency before publishing what it called a "misguided headline," although the AP had noted its unsuccessful efforts to contact Mead directly by telephone and email.

They want ALL of your guns

Popular Standard Shotgun Could Be Banned Under Proposed Bill

DENVER (CBS4) – A popular hunting shotgun could be banned under one of the bills moving through the state Capitol.

A pump or semi-automatic shotgun is the gun most hunters in Colorado use. It’s a gun state Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, says could be banned under a bill that’s already passed the House and Gov. John Hickenlooper says he’ll sign.

“They’re coming after the standard shotgun,” Brophy told CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd.

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Everything is aimed at growing government

Obama's Sequester Math: $300 Billion In New Revenues Called 'Spending Cuts'

Budget: When President Obama put out his "balanced" plan to avoid the automatic sequester cuts, no one noticed. Which is probably just as well for Obama, given how embarrassingly unbalanced it is.

Last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about how Obama "hasn't actually come up with a proposal to avert sequestration, let alone one that is politically plausible."

Turns out, Obama did have one, although Brooks can be excused for not knowing it, since the administration hasn't exactly been promoting this so-called plan.

That, too, is understandable, since it isn't a plan at all, just a list of numbers with little to back them up.

There are no details, for example, about the $200 billion in cuts to defense and domestic discretionary programs, other than that Obama wants them split evenly.

And while he offers $400 billion in "health savings," 30% are lumped in a bucket labeled "other."

Worse, Obama's "balanced" plan actually counts hundreds of billions of new revenues from taxes, fees and rebates as "spending reductions." Examples:

• His plan to "strengthen" unemployment insurance is labeled as a cut, but it's really a $50 billion tax hike.

• The $35 billion from the federal worker retirement programs involves boosting worker contributions.

• Most of the $35 billion in Medicare savings comes from charging wealthy seniors more.

• The $140 billion in "reduced payments to drug companies" are in fact rebates Obama wants drugmakers to pay Uncle Sam for selling drugs to poor seniors.

• Then there's the $45 billion in spectrum fees and asset sales that Obama lists as spending reductions.

Viewed correctly, it turns out that more than $300 billion — about a third — of Obama's proposed "spending cuts" are actually revenue increases.

As a result, instead of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts called for by the sequester over the next decade, Obama would add more than $1 trillion in revenues, while cutting outlays only about $600 billion. And much of those aren't real cuts, but tiny reductions in projected spending growth over the next decade.

And in the end, his plan, such as it is, will do nothing to forestall the nation's oncoming debt crisis.

After four years, Obama's unseriousness as a president continues to surprise us.