Saturday, August 10, 2013
Weekend Newsbites: Sat. & Sun., August 10 & 11, 2013
Well, folks, allow me to begin by directing your attention to a correction I've posted at the bottom of a previous posting - "With a Third of Americans on Food Aid..." - originally posted on Wednesday, August 7, 2013.
I should have caught the error earlier; I didn't; I apologize.
Rest assured, my friends, I truly believe in the concept of "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" in my postings and you'll find no harsher critic of me than myself when the occasion warrants.
I'll never knowingly - deliberately - pass along false information or even out of context facts in order to buttress a point. I firmly believe that if one has to lie in order to defend one's position... well... then chances are there are some pretty big problems with that particular position!
Not patting myself on the back here... but I truly believe in concepts like honor and integrity. Readers may not always agree with me, and facts can be disputed and countered with other facts, but one thing you can trust is that I believe everything I say and write. And on occasion... if I find I've made an error... if I change my mind on something... I'll freely admit it and explain how the error was made and/or why I've changed my position.
Anyway... if you do bother to follow the link to find what I've corrected and why, you'll note that in a sense what I'm correcting is a "distinction without a difference." I originally wrote "With a Third of Americans on Food Stamps" - which is incorrect (the true figure is 47.6 million... nearly 1 in 6 Americans... over 15% of our population ) - when what I "meant" to write was that when one throws in school breakfast, lunch, and dinner programs and other direct food delivery/distribution and subsidies, "A Third of Americans Receive Food Aid."
(And, folks... that too is the true figure! The true "all-inclusive" figure!)
But... in any case... mea culpa.
Now.... on to this weekend's newsbites!
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http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23101374/2013/08/10/loophole-people-being-told-to-use-key-words-to-cross-border
A loophole is allowing hundreds of immigrants across the Mexico border in to the United States.
* NO. STUPIDITY - AND A DELIBERATE DECISION TO UTILIZE SAID "LOOPHOLE" IS ALLOWING HUNDREDS (THOUSANDS...???) OF MEXICANS TO CROSS OUR BORDER AND SEEK "REFUGE."
Immigrants are being taught to use "key words and phrases" to be allowed to enter and stay in the country.
Just this past Monday, Border Patrol agents say about 200 people came through the Otay Crossing (San Diego) claiming a quote: "credible fear" of the drug cartels.
* LET MEXICANS SAVE MEXICO! WE ARE NOT THEIR SAFE HAVEN! LET THE MEXICAN PEOPLE REFORM THEIR OWN COUNTRY FROM WITHIN!
So many were doing this that they had to close down the processing center and move the overflow by vans to another station.
* JUST... SAY... NO...!!!
"They are being told if they come across the border, when they come up to the border and they say certain words, they will be allowed into the country," said a person who did not want to be identified on camera. "We are being overwhelmed."
Pete Nunez, former U.S. Attorney and immigration expert says, "This will swamp the system."
"To make our system even more ridiculous than it has been in the past," he adds. "There are no detention facilities for families, so the family would have to be split up. We don't want to split families up, so we end up releasing people out into the community on bond, on bail."
* GEEZUS...
Nunez says, "It's a huge loophole."
"There has to be a policy change, something implemented, an emergency implementation that will stop this, or otherwise we will have thousands coming in."
Immigrants are telling the Port Enforcement Team - or P.E.T. - that the cartels are ripping apart their state.
* SO JOIN THE MEXICAN ARMY! JOIN THE MEXICAN POLICE! TRY TO SAVE YOUR OWN COUNTRY RATHER THAN FLEEING LIKE COWARDS!
There's no word on whether this same loophole is being used in Arizona.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2013/august/11/why-are-we-at-war-in-yemen.aspx
* BY DR. RON PAUL
Most Americans are probably unaware that over the past two weeks the U.S. has launched at least eight drone attacks in Yemen, in which dozens have been killed.
It is the largest U.S. escalation of attacks on Yemen in more than a decade.
The [Obama administration] claims that everyone killed was a “suspected militant,” but Yemeni citizens have for a long time been outraged over the number of civilians killed in such strikes. (The media has reported that of all those killed in these recent U.S. strikes, only one of the dead was on the terrorist “most wanted” list.)
This significant escalation of U.S. attacks on Yemen coincides with Yemeni President Hadi’s meeting with President Obama in Washington earlier this month. Hadi was installed into power with the help of the U.S. government after a 2011 coup against its long-time ruler, President Saleh. It is in his interest to have the U.S. behind him, as his popularity is very low in Yemen and he faces the constant threat of another coup.
* REMEMBER HOW YOU WERE TAUGHT AS A CHILD THAT THE U.S. WAS DIFFERENT... THAT WE WERE NEVER A TRUE "IMPERIALIST" POWER?
In Washington, President Obama praised the cooperation of President Hadi in fighting the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This was just before the Administration announced that a huge unspecified threat was forcing the closure of nearly two dozen embassies in the area, including in Yemen. According to the Administration, the embassy closings were prompted by an NSA-intercepted conference call at which some 20 al-Qaeda leaders discussed attacking the West. Many remain skeptical about this dramatic claim, which was made just as some in Congress were urging greater scrutiny of NSA domestic spying programs.
* ME... TOO...
The U.S. has been involved in Yemen for some time, and the U.S. presence in Yemen is much greater than we are led to believe.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
As the Wall Street Journal reported last week: “At the heart of the U.S.-Yemeni cooperation is a joint command center in Yemen, where officials from the two countries evaluate intelligence gathered by America and other allies, such as Saudi Arabia, say U.S. and Yemeni officials. There, they decide when and how to launch missile strikes against the highly secretive list of alleged al Qaeda operatives approved by the White House for targeted killing, these people say.”
* HOW... MUCH... "COLLATORAL DAMAGE...???" (HOW MANY DEAD INNOCENTS?)
Far from solving the problem of extremists in Yemen, however, this U.S. presence in the country seems to be creating more extremism. According to professor Gregory Johnson of Princeton University, an expert on Yemen, the civilian “collateral damage” from U.S. drone strikes on al-Qaeda members actually attracts more al-Qaeda recruits: “There are strikes that kill civilians. There are strikes that kill women and children. And when you kill people in Yemen, these are people who have families. They have clans. And they have tribes. And what we're seeing is that the United States might target a particular individual because they see him as a member of al-Qaeda. But what's happening on the ground is that he's being defended as a tribesman.”
* FOLKS... WHAT ARE WE DOING...?!?! EVEN THE "BAD GUYS" WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING... HOW MANY WOULD BE ENEMIES OF OURS IF WE WEREN'T... WELL... AN IMPERIALIST POWER...???
The U.S. government is clearly at war in Yemen.
* AS USUAL WITH NO DECLARATION... NO CLEAR STRATEGY OF "WINNING" IN THE SENSE WE WON WW-2.
It is claimed [we] are fighting al-Qaeda, but the drone strikes are creating as many or more al-Qaeda members as they are eliminating.
* FOLKS... I KNOW IT'S HARD... BUT JUST IMAGINE IF THE SHOE WERE ON THE OTHER FOOT!
Resentment over civilian casualties is building up the danger of blowback, which is a legitimate threat to us that is unfortunately largely ignored.
* IGNORED BY THOSE WHO ENJOY 24-HR. SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES...
Also, the U.S. is sending mixed signals by attacking al-Qaeda in Yemen while supporting al-Qaeda linked rebels fighting in Syria.
* GOD-DAMNED RIGHT...!!! (FOLKS... THINK ABOUT THAT...!!! THAT'S WHAT OBAMA IS DOING...! IN OUR NAME...!!!)
This cycle of intervention producing problems that require more intervention to “solve” impoverishes us and makes us more, not less, vulnerable.
* I CONCUR.
Can anyone claim this old approach is successful? Has it produced one bit of stability in the region? Does it have one success story?
* I CAN'T. CAN ANY OF YOU?
There is an alternative. It is called non-interventionism. We should try it.
First step would be pulling out of Yemen.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/sarah-palin-slams-chris-christie-im-on-team-rand
Former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Saturday she sided with Rand Paul in the on-going feud between the Kentucky Senator and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
* AND I'M WITH PALIN... AND PAUL.
“I’m on team Rand. Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of don’t tread on me government. Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go-along-to-get along in so many respects,” Palin said.
* I HATE JOHN MCCAIN. (BEAR WITH ME!) I HATE THAT PALIN TO THIS DAY REFUSES TO "TURN" ON THE JOHN MCCAIN WHO SO EASILY TURNED UPON HER, BUT AT LEAST IT SHOWS A STREAK OF LOYALTY ON PALIN'S PART THAT ONE CAN ADMIRE. OTHER THAN MCCAIN, THOUGH, HOW MANY RINOs HAS PALIN SUPPORTED vs. THROWING HER SUPPORT TO TEA PARTY CANDIDATES AND ELECTED OFFICIALS? NOT MANY! CHRISTIE ON THE OTHER HAND... (*SHRUG*)... PRO-ROMNEY. FOR ALL HIS OWN FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, CHRISTIE SEEMS TO BE CLEARLY WITHIN THE "GOP ESTABLISHMENT" CAMP.
Palin added that many of the New Jersey governor’s classic moments were in fact set-up with what the former governor called a “YouTube videographer.” “And ya’ know, some people look at him as ‘ah man, he’s a governor who goes rogue.’ No, ya’ know he’s got a shtick going there where he’s got a YouTube videographer following him around, kind of these set up situations sometimes so he can be seen as perhaps going rogue,” said Palin.
* AFTER A QUICK GOOGLING I DIDN'T FIND ANYTHING ABOUT CHRISTIE HAVING A "YOUTUBE VIDEOGRAPHER," BUT NEITHER HAS CHRISTIE DENIED THE CHARGE. SO... EITHER IT'S TRUE AND IT'S THE KINDA "INSIDE BASEBALL" TACTIC THAT INSIDERS KNEW ABOUT BUT THAT WASN'T PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE... OR... PALIN'S WRONG. (MEANING EITHER SHE WAS SIMPLY BLUFFING OR HAD GOTTEN BAD INFO; EITHER WAY IT WOULD BE BAD FOR HER.)
“But Chris Christie’s for more government and his record proves that, whereas Rand Paul with that healthy libertarian streak that we need more of, in our politicians, team Rand Paul.”
* FRANKLY, I KNOW FAR MORE ABOUT RAND PAUL'S ACTUAL RECORD THAN I DO ABOUT CHRIS CHRISTIE'S. I AM INDEED A RAND PAUL FAN. I'D HAVE TO "GO OVER THE BOOKS" OF NEW JERSEY'S FISCAL SITUATION AS IT HAS DEVELOPED THROUGHOUT THE CHRISTIE YEARS, BUT MY "GUT" TELLS ME THAT PALIN IS MORE RIGHT THAN WRONG WHEN SHE IMPLIES THAT CHRISTIE IS MORE OF A GOP ESTABLISHMENT FIGURE THAN SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY GIVES HIS CITIZENS SMALLER GOVERNMENT.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Christie and Paul’s feud began when, at a forum in Colorado, Christie cautioned against the increasing influence of libertarianism in the Republican party. “As a former prosecutor who was appointed by President George W. Bush on Sept. 10, 2001, I just want us to be really cautious, because this strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties right now and making big headlines, I think, is a very dangerous thought,” Christie said.
* WHAT "STRAIN?" (WHEN I ORIGINALLY READ THE ARTICLE I THOUGHT CHRISTIE HAD SAID "STAIN.") IS CHRISTIE SAYING THAT LEANING LIBERTARIAN IS BAD? IF SO... HE AND I ARE ON DIFFERENT SIDES. PERFECTLY CONSISTANT "ABSOLUTE" LIBERTARIANISM IS A BRIDGE TOO FAR FOR ME... BUT SO TOO IS IT A BRIDGE TOO FAR FOR RAND PAUL, TED CRUZ, MIKE LEE, CERTAINLY SARAH PALIN... AND SO ON AND SO FORTH. BUT TO NOT HAVE A "STRAIN" OF LIBERTARIAN WITHIN ONESELF... THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING TO FEAR!
* THE FOUNDERS LEANED STRONGLY TOWARDS LIBERTARIANISM. I DO AS WELL. PAUL DOES. PALIN DOES. APPARENTLY CHRISTIE DOES NOT. THIS GIVES ME GREAT PAUSE AND SO TOO SHOULD IT RATTLE THOSE OF YOU READING THIS NEWSBITE.
Paul fired back at Christie, saying politicians like Christie are “precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme — give me all my Sandy money now.’ Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.”
* AGAIN... I'D HAVE TO SEE THE BOOKS... GO OVER THE NUMBERS... PROBABLY WITH THE HELP OF A FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT.
(*SNORT*)
In an interview on on Fox News’ online show Power Play, senator and potential 2016 Republican primary contender Ted Cruz said he stood with Rand Paul as well in late July.
* IF YOU LOVED MITT ROMNEY THEN CHRISTIE IS YOUR GUY. IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A REAGANITE... A CONSTITUTIONIST... A CONSERVATIVE WHO LEANS LIBERTARIAN... CRUZ, PALIN, AND PAUL ARE YOUR ALLIES. (CHRIS CHRISTIE... TIME WILL TELL...)
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