RUTHFULLY YOURS

WASHINGTON — President Obama emerged in the White House briefing room today to note that he said five days ago at the Dallas police officers’ memorial service that the shooter there “would not be the last person who tries to make us turn on each other.”

“Nor will today’s killer,” he said. “It remains up to us to make sure that they fail.”

“As of right now, we don’t know the motive of the killer. We don’t know whether the killer set out to target police officers, or whether he gunned them down as they responded to a call,” Obama said. “Regardless of motive, the death of these three brave officers underscores the danger that police across the country confront every single day. And we as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement.”

“Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible.”

“This has happened far too often. And I’ve spent a lot of time with law enforcement this past week. I’m surrounded by the best of the best every single day. And I know whenever this happens, wherever this happens, you feel it. Your families feel it. But what I want you to know today is the respect and the gratitude of the American people for everything that you do for us,” Obama said.

“…We have our divisions, and they are not new. Around-the-clock news cycles and social media sometimes amplify these divisions, and I know we’re about to enter a couple of weeks of conventions where our political rhetoric tends to be more overheated than usual.”

The president called on everyone, “regardless of race or political party or profession,” to “right now focus on words and actions that can unite this country rather than divide it further.”

“We don’t need inflammatory rhetoric. We don’t need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or to advance an agenda. We need to temper our words and open our hearts — all of us,” Obama said. “…My fellow Americans, only we can prove, through words and through deeds, that we will not be divided.”

“Only we can prove that we have the grace and the character and the common humanity to end this kind of senseless violence, to reduce fear and mistrust within the American family, to set an example for our children,” he continued. “That’s who we are, and that’s who we always have the capacity to be. And that’s the best way for us to honor the sacrifice of the brave police officers who were taken from us this morning.”

Obama did not take questions from the media. READ MORE AT SITE

The summer of horrific attacks on police continued on Sunday, with what appeared to be a morning ambush in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Three officers died and another three were wounded as they were fired upon as they answered a call about a man with an assault rifle.

The alleged gunman, who was killed by police, was identified as 29-year-old Gavin Long. His motive wasn’t known as we went to press, but he was reported to belong to the anti-government New Freedom Group. Two others were detained for questioning in the incident, police told reporters.

The shooting is eerily like the one in Dallas two weeks ago when five police officers were killed when they were ambushed during a peaceful protest against the deaths of two young black men in police custody. There was no such protest on Sunday, but Baton Rouge has been the scene of recent standoffs between police and demonstrators following the death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling in a scuffle with police on July 5.

The Dallas shooter was a disturbed malcontent, and this one may be too. But the incidents demonstrate once again the ugly forces that can be unleashed when police are demonized. Baton Rouge police have acted with admirable restraint amid the protests, but all it takes is a single gunman to stage an ambush.

The Dallas and Baton Rouge incidents have put police on alert around the country, even in places where police relations with the community have been relatively good. New York is now having its officers patrol in pairs, as are Chicago and Boston. The more police fear they are targets the greater chance for a violent incident if they are challenged in response to a call.

President Obama issued a statement condemning the attack and asking everyone to tone down the rhetoric. That’s good counsel but we’d go further and say it’s time for everyone in public leadership roles to deplore those who portray the police as the source of urban violence. They are part of the solution.

Caving to pressure from 800 alumni of Ramaz, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, retired principal of the prestigious New York yeshiva, canceled his agreement to deliver a prayer at the Republican National Convention. Many questions arise from both the alumni petition and the rabbi’s decision to withdraw.

Considering that we are living in the most potentially dangerous moment of Israel’s existence, that anti-semitism is rampant throughout Europe, the Middle East and significant institutions in the U.S., and that the Democrat administration has spearheaded a deal with a country openly committed to obliterating Israel, one can only gasp at the lack of concern for these vital issues in the alumni petition. Instead, the former students are primarily incensed at Trump for being racist, misogynistic and daring to suggest that some citizens in this country are “less than others.” For starters, one would hope that any intelligent high school graduate would agree that we should all consider convicted criminals and terrorists as less than others. The language of the petition is as woefully trite as its cliched sentiments: “Rabbi Lookstein, all the good work you’ve done in your life – everything you’ve done for your community, for the plight of Soviet Jews – will be flushed down the toilet for 10 minutes on stage in Cleveland.” Is this the best that the alumni of an outstanding school could pen?

And make sure to watch the special edition of The Glazov Gang that was joined by BattleCat, a pro-American activist whose videos can be seen on her YouTube Channel BattleCat Avenger.

BattleCat came on the show to discuss Obama’s Islamic and Racist Agenda. She called out the Radical-in-Chief on the malice behind his efforts to flood the U.S. with Muslim refugees without any screening, to pour fuel on the fire of racial tensions, and to aid and abet the myriad enemies of American freedom and security.http://jamieglazov.com/2016/07/17/why-black-lives-dont-really-matter-to-the-left-on-the-glazov-gang/

Foreward: Merely a week after addressing the murderous attack on police officers in Dallas, Tx. President Obama was condemning a similar killing in Baton Rouge, La. The attacks on the police In both instances were unprovoked and pre-mediated. Today, Obama said, “We don’t need inflammatory rhetoric. We don’t need careless accusations thrown around to score political points or to advance an agenda. We need to temper our words…” Too bad he didn’t temper his rhetoric after the killing in Dallas. Instead, he used the opportunity to advance his agenda on “gun control” and “racial disparities in our criminal justice system.”

The President calls for unity and for finding solutions to the tension between the black community, which he helped fuel, but offers none.

William B. Scott, a former flight test engineer and Aviation Week editor, who is a Fellow at the ACD, proposes the following:

“The horrific murder of five Dallas police officers and the wounding of another seven last week triggered a profound sense of deja vu. Three years ago, I predicted this would happen, if cops continued to shoot and kill “civilians.”

Since 1 May 2013, police officers have killed at least 3,702 people. As of July 10th, they’d killed 610 so far in 2016—and the total climbs every year.

[H]ere’s the issue that makes this a national security concern… If all these factors come together under the right circumstance—something as abominable as Steele’s execution—all hell will break loose, and uncontrollable violence will spread across the country. …We’d have a full-blown revolution on our hands. Whole cities would be torched, and we’d incur thousands of casualties. The stock market would crater, people would be afraid to go to work…. Hell, son, America as we know it would cease…to…be!” From Chapter 10, pg. 181-182 of my novel, “The Permit”:

We’re not there yet, but we’re close.

I do NOT condone the targeting and killing of police officers! But I damn sure understand why it’s happening. As our nation mourns the five officers killed in Dallas, let’s not lose sight of the fact that cops are killing an average of 3.3 people per day, every day of the year—and getting away with it 99 percent of the time.

The whole world is watching videos of two men recently killed by cops. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen black men killed almost simultaneously — but not by police — remain virtually anonymous.

Police officers fatally shot Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in, respectively, Baton Rouge and near Minneapolis. While extenuating circumstances may exonerate officers Blaine Salamoni and Howie Lake of Louisiana and Jeronimo Yanez of Minnesota, the ubiquitous videos of their deaths make Sterling and Castile look like the victims of dreadful police training, trigger-happiness, toxic over-reaction, racism, or perhaps an amalgam of these elements. While facts ultimately may prove otherwise, for now, both incidents seemingly went very wrong. If so, justice should prevail, and these officers should be punished.

But on July 5 and 6 — as these tragedies unfolded — at least 21 other black men were murdered across America. Their killers were not cops. Several were fellow black men. One was a Hispanic teenager. The others could have been white, but that’s unlikely.

While news outlets from California to Calcutta have discussed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the names of these dead men barely have been whispered since their funerals:

From left: Taekwon Commodore with his two children; Domonic Norton; Gerard Foster

Jamal Brown, 20, allegedly shot and killed Taekwon “Tee Kay” Commodore, 28, on July 5 in Brownsville, Pa. Police say that these two black men and others argued about a robbery, and then Brown began shooting into the air. When the crowd scattered, Brown allegedly shot at those who ran and fatally hit Commodore.

“His personality, smile and happiness were infectious to us all,” Commodore’s loved ones wrote on a GoFundMe.com appeal to cover his funeral expenses. (So far, donors have met $340 of the $4,000 goal.) “And his laugh. . . . you can never forget his laugh,” it continues. “He leaves behind his amazing music and realistic lyrics, but more importantly, he leaves two beautiful baby boys behind. Two baby boys left without a father. That’s all his loved ones have left of him.”

Police are seeking a black man named Davon Burden, 27, in connection with the shooting death of Domonic J. Norton, 28, on July 5 in Fort Wayne, Ind. Burden was convicted in 2010 of possessing a gun with obliterated identification marks.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) said the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. consulates do not communicate with each other about individuals who have overstayed their visas.

“A big problem in my district is visa overstays. I mean, it is rampant,” Marchant told PJM during an interview on Capitol Hill.

Marchant also told PJM people are staying in the U.S. on many different types of expired visas.

“They’re enrolling in college for one semester, paying the tuition and they’re gone,” he said. “So, we found out that there is actually no communication between Homeland Security and each of the consulates that issue the visas. We don’t know who is overstaying their visas.”

Marchant said the U.S. consulates that issue the visas to foreigners should be required to report visa data to DHS.

“Just a list. Here’s how many people we gave visas to, here’s how many came back, here’s the people that never came back,” he said, explaining the kind of information the consulates should provide.

“Now that presents a problem — now where are you going to go? Are you going to round them up? I don’t know but we should at least know who they are,” he added.

Marchant, a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said some people visit his district office with expired visas and ask his staff for help.

“They just boldly walk in the front door — demand and say, ‘my visa is expired, I need you to write a letter for hardship.’ Our staff is trying to say we are obligated by law to report you to the INS because you are here illegally and we are not going to help you. If you want to pursue this further and open a case we are going to have to report you to the INS,” Marchant said, referring to the Immigration and Naturalization Service that was split into three agencies under the Bush administration: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“I’m all for legal immigration – most of the immigrants in my district are legal, but visa overstays are a huge problem,” he added.

WASHINGTON – The American Petroleum Institute is warning the public that the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2017 renewable fuel standard could lead to higher gas prices for consumers and cause engine damage to many cars on the road without action from Congress.

“The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate continues to increase ethanol volumes in our fuel mix and could lead to higher gas prices and potentially cause engine damage to many cars on the road today,” Frank Macchiarola, group director of downstream and industry operations at the American Petroleum Institute, said on a conference call Monday.

“Instead of providing relief to consumers, EPA’s biofuel proposal for 2017 moves us closer to breaching the blend wall,” he added.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the blend wall is “the maximum quantity of ethanol that can be sold each year given legal or practical constraints on how much can be blended into each gallon of motor fuel.”

The RFA has argued that oil companies failed to plan ahead for ethanol blend changes that were in the works years ago.

According to the RFA, “The intent of the RFS was always to push beyond the blend wall and increase the share of renewable fuels in our nation’s fuel supply.”

In May, the EPA released the 2017 renewable fuel standard proposal. The agency is accepting comments on the rules from stakeholders through July 11.

“The proposed standards are expected to continue driving the market to overcome constraints in renewable fuel distribution infrastructure, which in turn is expected to lead to substantial growth over time in the production and use of renewable fuels,” the EPA proposal read. CONTINUE AT SITE

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a political bull often on the lookout for a politically correct china shop, has rattled the orthodoxy of political correctness once again, saying that those who follow Sharia law can’t also be loyal to the U.S., Constitution and the Western values it represents and either shouldn’t be allowed to enter the U.S. or should be deported from it. This didn’t sit well with President Barack Hussein Obama. As the Daily Caller reports:

On Friday, Barack Obama called Newt Gingrich’s plan to deport sharia-adhering Muslims in America “repugnant and an affront to everything that we stand for as Americans.”

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Nice, France, Gingrich said, “We should, frankly, test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization.”

Gingrich is right. Everything we stand for as Americans, free speech, freedom of religion, equal rights for women, all are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Sharia law is incompatible with our values and our democracy. So says Syrian Islamic scholar Abd Al-Karim Bakkar who said in 2009 that democracy and Oslam are like matter and anti-matter in physics:

Democracy runs counter to Islam on several issues….

In democracy, legislation is the prerogative of the people. It is the people who draw up the constitution, and they have the authority to amend it as well. On this issue we differ.

Agreeing with Gingrich is former rival presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson. Speaking on NBC’s Meet The Press during the primary campaign, Dr. Ben Carson was asked if a President’s religious beliefs mattered. He said they did, and, when pressed on the issue, said no Muslim should be President of the United States (insert Obama joke here) and that in fact Islam is in conflict with the U.S. Constitution:

Why do Americans keep getting killed in terrorist attacks by individuals already known to and investigated by the FBI?

That’s the question that the Senate Intelligence Committee will look at over the next six months in the wake of the largest terror attack on American soil since 9/11 that killed 49 and wounded 53 more, where the Orlando killer had already been investigated twice before by the FBI.

As I’ve reported here at PJ Media for nearly two years, the “Known Wolf” terrorism problem has extended to virtually every Islamic terrorist attack inside the U.S. occurring during the Obama administration.

The New York Post reports:

A US Senate committee has launched a multi-pronged probe delving into the failures of U.S. Intelligence agencies under the Obama Administration to prevent ISIS-linked domestic and international acts of terror, The Post has learned.

Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford, who works on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is spearheading the six-month probe primarily focused on terror attacks committed by individuals who have been investigated or interviewed in the past, officials said.

Lankford noted that the FBI was unable to prevent the terror attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., Orlando, Fla. and Boston – and the American public is now keeping tabs on the country’s top law enforcement agency

[…]

Domestically, the official said, the Senate Intelligence Committee is looking into why “these bad guys” are interviewed and placed on watch lists, and then wind up committing terrorist attacks in the U.S. CONTINUE AT