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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

More Clinton Shenanigans in Haiti Emails show the State Department and the Clinton Foundation collaborated on policy. By Mary Anastasia O’Grady

On Jan. 27, 2011, Clinton Foundation Chief Operating Officer Laura Graham sent an email to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills, voicing concern about a rumor. Ms. Graham had heard that Foggy Bottom was thinking about revoking the U.S. visa of Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive. “Wjc will be v unhappy if that’s the case,” Ms. Graham warned Ms. Mills, using the initials of the former president.

Ms. Graham, who was also chief of staff to Mr. Clinton at the foundation, had other reasons to worry: “I’m also staying at [Mr. Bellerive’s] house fyi so exposure in general and this weekend in particular for wjc on this.”

So Clinton Foundation staff was hobnobbing with a powerful Haitian politician and using connections at the State Department to try to influence U.S. policy decisions involving that same politician. That’s unethical and it is also contrary to what Mrs. Clinton promised when she went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January 2009 as president-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of state nominee.

Back then she boasted that the foundation and the incoming administration “decided to go beyond what the law and the ethics rules call for to address even the appearance of conflict” of interest with a “memorandum of understanding” to “address potential concerns” and ensure transparency.

Now a string of State Department emails from January 2011—made public through a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request by Citizens United—demonstrates that Mrs. Clinton’s State Department did not separate itself from the Clinton Foundation but instead collaborated with it.

In her Jan. 27 email Ms. Graham also offered advice: “Nor do I think u need remove his visa. Not sure what it gets u. Remove elizabeth’s and prevals people,” she wrote, referring to the wife of Haitian President Rene Preval and his staff.

The next publicly available email from Ms. Mills to Ms. Graham reads, “You also should consider the message it sends to others that you stay at his house.” Ms. Graham shot back that she had “discussed staying at his house w both u and wjc long ago and was told good strategic value.” CONTINUE AT SITE

A Safe Space for Unsafe Spaces Restoring free speech to campus will take resolve, but Chicago shows the way. By L. Gordon Crovitz

A University of Chicago letter welcoming freshmen with the warning they would arrive at a campus committed to “freedom of inquiry and expression” prompted a national debate on restoring free speech on campuses. The most interesting lesson is why it will be so hard for other universities to follow Chicago’s lead.

The letter rejected today’s higher-education fads: “We do not support so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.” Rigorous but civilized debate “may challenge you and even cause discomfort.”

A few university heads tried to defend their safe spaces and trigger warnings. The president of Wesleyan dismissed the Chicago letter as a publicity stunt. Northwestern’s president wrote that his students need “spaces where members of each [racial or other identity] group feel safe.”

But now that liberal administrators and professors are increasingly becoming targets of political correctness, many would like to restore free speech. Brown University was widely mocked last year for setting up a safe space for students “with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies.” This year Brown’s president, Christina Paxson, declared in her convocation address: “Suppressing ideas at a university is akin to turning off the power at a factory.”

Liberal professors are terrified they will be set upon for an inadvertent offense, as happened last year at Yale when a professor was forced out for suggesting students could pick their own Halloween costumes without instructions from the administration. Recent surveys find most university students resent having to censor themselves out of fear of offending someone else’s beliefs.

Yet restoring free speech is easier said than done. Along with the letter, the incoming Chicago students got a book titled “Academic Freedom and the Modern University.” It recounts in detail the history of freewheeling debate at Chicago since its founding in the 1890s.

One factor that sets Chicago apart from other campuses is that it can rely only on serious academics for its reputation. President Robert Hutchins abolished the football team in 1939—despite many Big 10 championships—in order to focus on the life of the mind. Hutchins justified having communists speak on campus by arguing the way to rebut objectionable ideas “lies through open discussion rather than through prohibition.” CONTINUE AT SITE

Trump’s School-Choice Fight His plan to let money follow the child is a moral and political winner.

If Donald Trump knew that promoting school choice would cause such a ruckus on the left, maybe he’d have weighed in sooner. The Republican nominee has found a winning issue by pitching a plan to “provide school choice to every disadvantaged student in America.” Amen.

During a visit to the Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy, Mr. Trump proposed a $20 billion block grant for states by redirecting federal education money to support charter schools and vouchers. He also endorsed merit pay for teachers and said he’d support local candidates who champion school choice.

Most of the $50 billion or so that the federal government spends on K-12 education is targeted to particular programs like teacher training, and rural and STEM education. About $14 billion in Title I funds are earmarked for disadvantaged students. However, this money doesn’t follow kids to private schools, and states often shortchange charter schools.

Mr. Trump wants to let states use federal funds to boost voucher awards, so parents rather than governments get to choose where the money goes. As he noted in Cleveland, “there is no failed policy more in need of urgent change than our government-run education monopoly.” Judging by the panicky reaction on the left, you’d think he’d proposed eliminating public education.

Hillary Clinton said his block-grant plan would “decimate public schools across America.” Yet $20 billion is merely 3% of what states spend on K-12 education each year and less than the increase in school spending in California since 2012. By the way, charters are public schools—freed of union control. CONTINUE AT SITE

Meat Cleaver Muslim Who Hacked NYPD Cops Threatened Synagogue Screaming “ALLAHU AKBAR”, Prior Knife Arrests see note please

From e-pal and friend David P.S……

This man was previously caught outside a Brooklyn Synagogue brandishing a knife and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” — or “God is great” in Arabic.

That is not what “Allah Akbar” means. It means Allah is great. It is easy for the mainstream media to sanitize this phrase to de-Islamize it, but this reporter, who knows what it actually means much, much better should say so.

We need to understand our enemy and saying that he is referring to “God,” when he is specifically referring to the Islamic God makes a world of difference in what the average reader will take away from the story.

The other thing very much worth worth noting in this piece is the tendency now to say that the attacker is mentally deranged so as to deflect the otherwise inevitable conclusion that these are religiously driven attacks.

The only missing, obvious conclusion is that, if they really are mental deranged ,and the suspect is truly found to be nuts and dangerous – and they clearly said he is both – why on earth is he being released into the general population again??

If it was you or me, we’d find ourself locked up in Bellevue awaiting the interminable process of having health/psychiatric officials decide if we are a danger to ourselves or others before we were permitted to be released. And if the finding was that we remained a danger, we would not be released. Or to put it more starkly, were the police to have found a Christian or Jewish guy outside a mosque shouting threats and brandishing a weapon, does anyone think the case would have been dropped and the record sealed? And does anyone think that the media wouldn’t have been all over this as a case proving that there is rampant islamophobia infecting the American people?

So what???

Muslim nuts get a free pass to be dangerous and, even while facing deportation, they are part of a law enforcement catch and release program. That’s for fisherman, not for police with potential killers in custody.

Speaking of fish, something stinks here. Fish rot from the head and you can be certain that the cop who was slashed by this guy who was wielding a meat cleaver, did not vote to release him. But the Queens DA dropped the charges and had the record of the whole matter sealed. Why? To protect the guy’s record of yoga classes and plans for his daughter’s wedding? DPS http://www.dcclothesline.com/2016/09/18/meat-cleaver-muslim-who-hacked-nypd-cops-threatened-synagogue-screaming-allahu-akbar-prior-knife-arrests/

*************************************The face of Islam in America.

Obama plans to import 250,000 of these savages.

Jihad Joudeh had a record of possessing and menacing with knives — including a bust for waving a blade and threatening to kill a 24-year-old store employee in Queens. The DA dropped the charge – the records are sealed? Why wasn’t he prosecuted? Did Obama’s DoJ interfere and have the DA drop the charge? Why aren’t any reporters asking these questions?

screen-shot-2016-09-17-at-1-01-38-pm

We now know more about the Muslim who attacked three cops with a meat cleaver on Wednesday. The meat cleaver Muslim who hacked an NYPD cop is a “Palestinian” busted two months ago while screaming in Arabic outside a Brooklyn synagogue.

Joudeh, 32, here on a Jordanian passport had at least three arrests involving knives, sources told The Post. His latest arrest, on July 27, came after he allegedly parked outside a Brooklyn synagogue with two knives behind the passenger seat.
He got out of the car and started shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

Brooklyn prosecutors declined to prosecute Joudeh, one source said, despite his record of possessing and menacing with knives — including a 2010 bust for allegedly waving a blade and threatening to kill a 24-year-old store employee in Queens.

Why wasn’t he prosecuted? Did the DA fear they would be labeled islamophobic? Did Obama’s DoJ interfere and have the DA drop the charge?

“The NYPD went back to the DA and said ‘You guys are out of your mind,’ ” the source told The Post.

Officials are investigating Minnesota mall stabbing as potential act of terrorism By Kristine Guerra and Jessica Contrera

Authorities are investigating the stabbing of nine people inside a Minnesota mall on Saturday night as a potential act of terrorism after a news agency linked to the Islamic State militant group claimed that the attacker was “a soldier of the Islamic State.”

The suspect was identified by community leaders as Dahir Aden, a student at St. Cloud State University and a private security guard at Electrolux, a home appliance store located near the mall. Abdul Kulane, of the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization, said he was contacted by Aden’s parents, who did not know what their son’s motive was for the attack.

[Terror dragnet sweeps up Somali American’s sons: ‘Now everything is broken.’]

Aden moved to the United States from Kenya at age 2, Kulane said. He grew up in St. Cloud and graduated from Apollo High School. His parents described him as smart, quiet, and interested in soccer. Kulane said he does not believe Aden has taken any recent trips overseas, and his family and his community are in shock.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said the attacker lunged at Jason Falconer, a part-time police officer in Avon, Minn., west of St. Cloud. Falconer then fired shots at the stabber, who fell but got up three times before he died.

Falconer “clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life,” Kleis said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. “His heroic actions are exemplary.”

Falconer, who was off duty at the time, is also a former police chief in Albany, Minn.

[‘We saw these guys just dripping with blood’: A quiet night at the mall turns to panic]

The attacker, who was wearing a private security uniform, made at least one reference to Allah during the attack and asked at least one person whether they were Muslim before attacking them, according to the St. Cloud Police Department.

In a statement Sunday, the Amaq news agency — linked to the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS — said the attacker “carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”

Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in Minneapolis, said during the news conference that the stabbings are being investigated as a “potential” act of terrorism, but the suspect’s motive remains unknown.

Michigan school district calls ‘Betsy Ross’ flag a ‘symbol of hate’ By Rick Moran

The superintendent of a Michigan school district has apologized for allowing the display of what is erroneously referred to as “America’s first flag” because it is a “symbol of exclusion and hate.”

Forest Hills School District school superintendent Dan Behm apologized for the “incident,” which occurred during a high shool football game between a predominantly white school and a predominantly black school.

Washington Post:

Some Forest Hills students were parading around not only with the first flag but with a Trump banner, in addition to chanting “Go green” and “Go white,” which are the school colors.

The combination offended, among others, Matthew Patulski, a white parent of two students enrolled in Grand Rapids public schools — the Trump banner because Donald Trump is “a candidate known for his tacit support of racist ideologies,” as Patulski wrote in an open letter on his Facebook page, and the “Betsy Ross flag” because it’s “a piece of history co-opted by white supremacists who see it as a symbol of a time in our nation’s history when slavery was legal.”

#NotTheOnion MI HS Superintendent: 13Star Betsy Ross Flag Injects Hostility’ & ‘Hate @MichCapCon https://t.co/4auffXsYFK
— Chris #Bossy McCoy (@ChrisYMcCoy) September 14, 2016

Admittedly, I am not up to speed on what is fashionable among white supremecists. But this is the first I’ve heard of what is commonly referred to as the “Betsy Ross flag” being adopted by the racists. If they did, they’re almost as dumb as the school authorities.

The army that fought under that flag was integrated – freedmen and freed slaves made up about one quarter of the Continental Army, according to some sources. Others put the number at about 9,000 blacks fighting for the Continentals, state militias, and in the American navy.

The army was not integrated again until after World War II, but many black regiments fought during the Civil War and the Spanish American War.

The patriots accepted just about anyone who wanted to fight for them. How this translates into “exclusion and hate” is a mystery.

I strongly suspect that the Trump sign had far more to do with this “apology” than the flag.

At first, Forest Hills’s Behm told MLive that the Forest Hills students were participating in a “red, white and blue” theme night. “The theme for each game changes, but students have generally had the ‘red, white and blue’ theme each year around the Sept. 11 anniversary,” MLive reported.

Obama, the original birther enabler By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Did you know that it was actually Mr. Obama who first told us he was Kenyan?
I am happy that this birther movement has finally passed away. I never bought into it, and I felt that it gave Democrat-friendly reporters something else to ask the GOP about.

After all, it’s better to ask about birthers and about David Duke – a man, by the way, whose name I’ve never heard mentioned in countless of GOP meetings. This is certainly a lot better than to ask about black youth unemployment, the lousy inner-city public schools that a lot of Democrat leaders like the Obamas and Clintons do not send their kids to, the total and complete mess in the Middle East, and a GDP that has not been anywhere near 3% since President Obama came into office.

So goodbye, birthers! At the same time, let’s remember a couple of things about this birther movement that are not often mentioned in the media in the tank for Hillary Clinton.

First, it was actually Mr. Obama who told us he was Kenyan. It happened when his literary agent said so. Later it was corrected, as I understand. Did Mr. Obama know that? Was it a mistake? Maybe so.

Let me add this: I am not a famous author like Mr. Obama, but I would have lost a lot of credibility if someone had mentioned in a press release that I was born in Sweden and then wrote a story about a Cuban kid going to Wisconsin. I would have gone out of my way to correct the mistake. Obama didn’t, and that’s weird. Maybe he was just too busy being a community organizer in Chicago!

Second, it was the Clinton ’08 team that put this whole issue on the front pages. Patti Doyle of Clinton ’08 admitted that it was the work of a “rogue” staffer. I guess someone in the Clinton ’08 staff wanted to start a rumor that Mr. Obama is not American. Imagine that! How deplorable! Then Sid Blumenthal got into the act, as he always does when the Clintons need an assassin.

So goodbye, birther movement. Now maybe the media will finally start talking about issues and stop asking about David Duke!

Countdown to burqas on fashion show runways By Carol Brown

The world of fashion means little to me. But the steady encroachment of Islamic norms in our culture does. It seems no place is safe from sharia’s creep into every aspect of our society. Most recently it popped up on the fashion runway when Indonesian Muslima Anniesa Hasibuan had her clothing designs featured at New York’s Fashion Week.

(Hasibaun swaddled in high-end Muslima attire.)

All the models wore hijabs as they strode the catwalk.

Here’s one model being readied for her hijab. Oh, it’s so exciting! (sarc off)

A hijab is not a fashion statement. It’s not an accessory like a hat or a scarf. It’s a statement about Islam and sharia. These models (none of whom, I speculate, is Muslim) had no business wearing hijabs. In so doing, they normalized them and made them seem innocuous when they’re anything but. What next? Will they have to recite the shahada before strutting their stuff on the runway? (See here for an excellent discussion of what a hijab means, presented by Bill Warner.)

As for the audience at fashion show, after the sharia-on-the-runway display, they went wild with excitement. CNN reports:

The show concluded with a standing ovation from audience members.

Lori Riviere, the press manager for the event, said: “I have been doing this for a really long time and I have never seen a standing ovation at the end of a show. We all had goose bumps.”

Why a standing ovation? Oh, that’s right. That’s what dhimmis do. Muslims are a special class as Islamophilia spreads like wildfire across the West.

Meanwhile, no event like this would be complete without the now predictable reference to “making history,” as reported in Teen Vogue:

A designer just made history at NYFW in the most inclusive and inspiring way. Designer Anniesa Hasibuan marched an army of gorgeous girls down the catwalk, all in full hijab. While the collection boasted intricately embroidered gowns, metallic brocade tops, and lust-worthy jewelry, it was the headwear that stole the show.

Yeah, you heard that right: “teen.” Let’s get our girls ready to don their hijabs and brainwash them to perceive Islamic garb as normal and not indicative of anything problematic.

Teen Vogue wasn’t the only place to breathlessly push the “historic” hype. CNN, the BBC, and other media outlets were all on board (here, here, and here).

I’ll tell you what would be historic at this point. Let’s stop embracing all things Islamic. Let’s stop going to bat for Islam. Let’s stop lying and try speaking the truth about Islamic law and how Islamic cultural norms run counter to American values.

Let’s stop legitimizing, glamorizing, and elevating Islamic expression in the West. Let’s stop buying into the meme that Islam is not at all different from any other religion. Let’s stop peddling the lie that Muslims are victims and that the slightest of slight accomplishments (even faux ones like Clock Boy’s non-invention) must be met with gushing recognition and praise.

Here’s a novel idea: let’s stand for America and American values and let those who embrace values diametrically opposed to our own live elsewhere instead of infiltrating and colonizing the greatest nation that ever was – a nation that will fail to be if we continue down this insane path, from our aversion to naming the enemy to models on NYC runways wrapped up in hijabs and everything in between.

University Warns Students Against Thoughtcrime Expressing genuine surprise can be an aggressive act of marginalization. By Josh Gelernter

American universities have crossed a new threshold in the progressive war on independent thought: Clark University has told its students that “showing surprise” can now constitute an act of aggression against another student.

Last week, the New York Times ran a piece titled “Campuses Cautiously Train Freshmen against Subtle Insults.” It opens by recounting a question-and-answer session with Clark’s microaggressions czar, chief diversity officer Sheree Marlowe. A student — who begins by saying she’s “really scared to ask this” — asks Miss Marlowe if, when she’s in her car, or with a group of white friends, its “okay” to sing along with music that uses the “N word.”

Miss Marlowe’s answer, says the New York Times, is an “unequivocal ‘no.’”

Also verboten: asking Asians students whom “you don’t know” for help with math homework; asking a black student if he plays basketball; asking a student whose race you’re unsure of about his race. This is all pretty standard stuff on the modern campus. But Clark has entered new territory by expanding the category of forbidden aggressions to include thought crimes: “Showing surprise when a ‘feminine’ woman says she is a lesbian” is, according to Clark, an aggressive act.

There’s a famous scene in Quentin Tarantino’s magnum opus Pulp Fiction in which two characters are getting to know each other:

“Actually, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you about, but you seem like a nice person, and I didn’t want to offend you,” says Vincent Vega to his boss’s new wife, Mia.

“Oh,” says Mia, “this doesn’t sound like mindless, boring, getting-to-know-you chit-chat. This sounds like you actually have something to say.”

“Only if you promise not to get offended,” says Vega.

EXPLOSION IN NEW YORK

New York (CNN)An explosion ripped through the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City Saturday night injuring dozens and a second device with wiring was found blocks away, authorities say.
Police officers and federal agents were scouring the streets with flashlights, robots and dogs to ensure there were no other devices in the area.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters early indications are that the explosion at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan that injured 29 “was an intentional act.” Investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive device in or near a dumpster, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Police have video from businesses on the street where the explosion occurred, which could yield key details about the hours before the attack. Investigators are looking at surveillance video appearing to show a person near where the explosion at the 23rd street location occurred, according to a local and federal law enforcement official. Investigators are trying to determine if that individual is connected to the explosion.
De Blasio says “there is no evidence at this point of a terror connection” and there is no “credible and specific threat” to New York City. Police have increased security across the five boroughs as
Ambulances arriving at some local hospitals were being checked by armed guards.
24 people were taken to the hospital after the explosion, but “none of those injured are likely to die,” the mayor says.
De Blasio says they also believe there is no specific connection to an earlier incident in New Jersey, where an explosion went off in a garbage can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run.
A second device blocks away New York explosion leaves dozens injured in Chelsea – CNN.com
A device at a second location in Chelsea appears to be a pressure cooker, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials.
As first responders converged on the explosion site and began blocking off streets in the Chelsea neighborhood, attention soon turned to a second device.
Blocks away from the first explosion, what appears to be a pressure cooker with dark colored wiring coming out of the top center of the device was found, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials.
The device is connected by silver duct tape to a small dark colored device attached to the outside of the pressure cooker, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials.
None of the officials would say at this point what was inside the pressure cooker.
CNN has viewed an image of the device verifying the description.
Some residents in the area say they were told to stay away from windows when police were searching the area.
Police combed the second location with flashlights, looking under cars, looking in trash cans and looking in doorways, CNN’s Richard Quest reports.