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50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

Trump and the judge – It’s not about race, but the rule of law By Brian C. Joondeph

Watch any cable new show panel discussing Donald Trump, including MSNBC this week, and quite predictably you will hear that Trump is a racist. The latest flap is over the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit. The judge is of Mexican heritage and Trump raised concerns as to whether the judge can be impartial based on Trump’s hard line stance against illegal immigration from Mexico.

“I’m building a wall. I’m trying to keep business out of Mexico.” Trump said. “He’s of Mexican heritage, and he’s very proud of it, as I am of where I come from.”

Is this about race? Or judicial fairness?

Regarding race, “Mexican” is not a race. In actuality, the federal government maintains five racial groupings – white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian/Hawaiian, completely divorced from any anthropological or scientific understanding of race. Mexican is counted by the feds as part of the Hispanic racial group, as are most residents of Central and South America, even though Mexicans racially are 60% Mestizo (mixed Amerindian/Spanish), 30% Amerindian, and 9% European in racial makeup. Trump made no mention of the judge being Hispanic or of any of the racial groups making up Mexico’s population, instead only of his Mexican ancestry. Perhaps a fine distinction, but a difference nonetheless.

Trump’s concern is instead about judicial impartiality. The judge in question, Gonzalo Curiel, is a member of the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a group that claims it is not affiliated with the National Council of La Raza, but which lists that group, strongly opposed to the Trump candidacy, on its website as part of its “community.” Even the US Supreme Court acknowledges selective justice based on race. The recently upended the death sentence of a black Georgia man convicted by an all-white jury. Meaning that race or ethnicity might prevent judicial fairness.

To be sure, Donald Trump could have spoken more carefully and clearly, instead of initially referring to Judge Curiel, born in the USA, as Mexican, and relying on his affiliations and his serving on a scholarship selection committee that chose an illegal alien to receive funding to attend law school. So why wouldn’t Donald Trump be concerned about the rule of law being applied fairly?

Because it often is not.

Angela Davis and Radical Chic 2016 Acquitted of murder, tenured in academia, feted by the mayor’s wife in a ritzy setting made possible by the system she loathes. Roger Kimball

Saturday marked the 44th anniversary of Angela Davis’s acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. Remember Angela Davis? I asked several of my younger colleagues: No one under 35 had heard of her. But the former Black Panther, recipient of the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize, and two-time vice-presidential candidate on the Communist Party ticket with Gus Hall, was once a household name. That was enough for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, which last Thursday bestowed on Ms. Davis the 2016 Sackler Center First Award, “honoring women who are first in their fields.”

Previous honorees include the novelist Toni Morrison, Miss Piggy and Anita Hill—pioneers all, no question. Ms. Davis is surely the first person to have parlayed an appearance on the FBI’s 10 most-wanted list into a tenured professorship at the University of California.

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum was packed to overflowing for the ceremony. It began with a songfest. A couple dozen children from the Manhattan Country School, a boutique “progressive” institution, sang what seemed like 40 or 50 verses of “We Shall Overcome.” Elizabeth A. Sackler, chairwoman of the Brooklyn Museum and scion of Alfred M. Sackler, who made a large part of his considerable fortune marketing the painkiller OxyContin, introduced the evening. She noted proudly that she had grandchildren attending the school where singing “We Shall Overcome” is a daily ritual.

The evening also featured a welcome by Chirlane McCray, wife of Warren Wilhelm Jr., known to most New Yorkers as Mayor Bill de Blasio. The bulk of the evening was taken up with rituals of self-congratulation and a screening of a mercifully abridged “educational” version of “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners,” a 2012 documentary about the signal event in Ms. Davis’s career as a radical: her arrest, prosecution and exoneration. There followed a brief conversation between Ms. Davis and the prima donna Ms. of all Ms.’s, Gloria Steinem. Kathy Boudin, the former member of the Weather Underground who was convicted of murder in 1981, was also in attendance. It was old-home week for wizened radical chic. CONTINUE AT SITE

Will the Media Also Examine the Clinton For-Profit Education Scandal?by Roger Aronoff

Is the race for the White House really coming down to which presidential candidate was tied to the less scandal-plagued for-profit school? Not if the media have anything to say about it. They only want you to know about one of them.

We have seen an endless run of articles and TV segments focusing on Trump University. How does it look? Well, a former sales director there said that “…Trump University was only interested in selling every person the most expensive seminars they possibly could.”

Trump claims that “98% of those people liked the school,” and gave it great report cards, according toCNN. There are currently three lawsuits focusing onTrump University, including one by the New York State Attorney General. Trump has pointed to U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage as a likely factor in the treatment he has received from the class action lawsuits—treatment which he calls unfair. You can read plenty on that issue elsewhere and decide for yourself.

While many Republicans who have reluctantly endorsed Trump view his comments about Judge Curiel as a costly, unforced error that makes it harder for them to publicly defend him, one fact that could play to his advantage is that the law firm behind one of the class action lawsuits has paid the Clintons $675,000 in speaking fees since 2009, which is more than they’ve collected from any other law firm. Politics obviously plays a big part in this saga.

And that’s just the beginning. The real story deals with Laureate Education, whose connection to the Clintons was revealed in Peter Schweizer’s book Clinton Cash. More than $16 million was paid to Bill Clinton through a shell corporation, after which more than $55 million American taxpayer dollars flowed out of Hillary Clinton’s State Department to a non-profit run by Laureate CEO Douglas Becker.

Obama on Ramadan: Reject ‘Voices That Seek to Limit Our Religious Freedom’ By Bridget Johnson

President Obama ushered in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan today by stressing that the United States is “blessed with Muslim communities as diverse as our nation itself.”

“For many, this month is an opportunity to focus on reflection and spiritual growth, forgiveness, patience and resilience, compassion for those less fortunate, and unity across communities. Each lesson is profound on its own, and taken together forms a harmonious whole,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

“As Muslim Americans celebrate the holy month, I am reminded that we are one American family. I stand firmly with Muslim American communities in rejection of the voices that seek to divide us or limit our religious freedoms or civil rights,” he said. “I stand committed to safeguarding the civil rights of all Americans no matter their religion or appearance. I stand in celebration of our common humanity and dedication to peace and justice for all.”

The president added that “far too many Muslims may not be able to observe Ramadan from the comfort of their own homes this year or afford to celebrate Eid with their children.”

“We must continue working together to alleviate the suffering of these individuals. This sacred time reminds us of our common obligations to uphold the dignity of every human being,” Obama said. “We will continue to welcome immigrants and refugees into our nation, including those who are Muslim.”

The return of tuberculosis to the United States By Thomas Lifson

Another aspect of President Obama’s “fundamental transformation” appears to be the return of tuberculosis to the United States, adding one more dimension of third world status to our new way of life. A highly communicable and fatal disease, TB is spread by coughing, making its spread in crowded environments – theatres, subways, schools, you name it — particularly likely.

One of the epic battles in the history of public health in the United States was the (until now) successful effort to contain it. I vividly remember returning to the United States from Tokyo in 1968 on a flight that had many Filipinos connecting from Manila. They were required at that time to bring dated chest x-rays certifying that they did not carry TB, and the line of them at the health screening desk at JFK airport was long and slow.

Those days are gone, and our federal government is actively bringing TB Carriers into the United States and dispersing them among our polulation. Consider just two stories today. Michael Parker Leahy at Brietbart:

Two workers at Mercy Hospital and Abbot Northwestern Hospital, both located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and owned by Allina Health, have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB).

“I can confirm that one hospital worker at Mercy Hospital and one hospital worker at Abbott Northwestern Hospital were diagnosed with active TB,” Allina Health Vice President of Marketing and Communications David Kanihan tells Breitbart News. (snip)

The open ended nature of the Allina Health statement released on Friday — “In late May, Allina Health began notifying 141 people who had been patients at either Abbott Northwestern Hospital or Mercy Hospital earlier this year that they may have been exposed to tuberculosis (TB). At each location, we learned that a worker who helped deliver care had TB.” (emphasis added) — raises more questions than it answers.

It is not clear when in 2016 the active TB cases in these two Allina Health workers were diagnosed, or when Allina Health first began communicating with the Minnesota Department of Health about these cases.

Cuomo Counters Boycotts of Israel Governor signs order to divest state funds from businesses supporting a boycott against Israel By Zolan Kanno-Youngs

‘If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.’
—New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order Sunday to divest state funds from businesses supporting a boycott against Israel.

Mr. Cuomo said the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement “is in many ways more frightening” than tunnels Hamas constructed to infiltrate Israel.

“We are against the BDS movement and it’s very simple,” Mr. Cuomo said in remarks at the Harvard club in Midtown before marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade on the Upper East Side. “If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.”

The order would prevent state agencies and departments from investing in companies boycotting Israel. The state Office of General Services will develop a list of those institutions and companies and post it online within 180 days. The office will notify the businesses before adding them to the list and give them 90 days to show proof they aren’t supporting the boycott.

The movement against Israel began about a decade ago. The Palestinian BDS National Committee, which coordinates the initiative, didn’t return a request for comment. The committee’s website describes the movement as “a strategy that allows people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice.”

‘If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you.’
—New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Mr. Cuomo said New York was the first state to issue such an such an order.

A Republican-sponsored bill with similar aims as Mr. Cuomo’s order passed the state Senate in January. Senate majority leader John J. Flanagan, a Long Island Republican, applauded the order.

“The governor sends a strong message to the entire country—New York will continue to stand with the state of Israel and the Jewish people,” Mr. Flanagan said.

In a statement provided through a spokesman, Donna Lieberman, executive director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the group would be looking “very closely at this executive order.”

MICHAEL CUTLER MOMENT: GANGS AND HEROIN ADDICTION SKYROCKETING IN THE USA

This special edition of The Glazov Gang presents The Michael Cutler Moment with Michael Cutler, a former Senior INS Special Agent.

Mr. Cutler discussed Gangs and Heroin Addiction Skyrocketing in the USA, unveiling how Obama’s policies are crippling and poisoning America.

Don’t miss it!

And make sure to watch The Michael Cutler Moment: Obama’s Pathway to the “Borderless World,” in which Mr. Cutler unveiled how the Radical-in-Chief is opening America to Islamic terrorists and transnational criminals.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and to Jamie Glazov Productions. Also LIKE us on Facebook and LIKE Jamie’s FB Fan Page.http://jamieglazov.com/2016/06/05/michael-cutler-moment-gangs-and-heroin-addiction-skyrocketing-in-the-usa/

Holder’s Dangerous Ignorance About Snowden : Fred Fleitz

Many regard Eric Holder as one of the most incompetent and partisan men to serve as attorney general in U.S. history.

Holder’s record as attorney general included proposing to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Manhattan court room, failing to seriously investigate IRS targeting of tea party and other conservative groups, monitoring American journalists and the “Fast and Furious” operation cover-up.

Congress held Holder in contempt of Congress in June 2012 for refusing to hand over documents on the Fast and Furious operation. Senator Ted Cruz called for Holder to be impeached for the way he handled IRS targeting of conservative groups.

Holder’s recent comment about Edward Snowden adds to his record of ineptitude.

Last weekend, Holder said former NSA technician Edward Snowden, who stole over 1.7 million highly classified documents, leaked many of them to the news media and sought refuge in Russia, performed a “public service” by triggering a debate over surveillance techniques by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Holder also said: “Now I would say that doing what he did – and the way he did it – was inappropriate and illegal” and conceded that Snowden damaged U.S. national security.

Holder added: “He harmed American interests. I know there are ways in which certain of our agents were put at risk, relationships with other countries were harmed, our ability to keep the American people safe was compromised.

“There were all kinds of re-dos that had to be put in place as a result of what he did, and while those things were being done we were blind in certain really critical areas. So what he did was not without consequence.”

New York City proclaims a man who thinks he’s a woman is a ‘real woman’ By Rick Moran

A “factsheet” issued by the New York City Commission on Human Rights makes some astonishing claims about biology and gender identity.

They claim that it’s a “myth” that biological men are not “real women.”

The commission published a “myths vs. facts” document on gender identity and expression after receiving a flurry of criticism over its transgender guidance that forces businesses to accommodate 31 different gender identities.

One of the “myths” listed is that “Transgender women are not ‘real’ women, and transgender men are not ‘real’ men.”

Next to that myth, the commission asserts the correct “fact”: “Gender identity is not based on one’s sex assigned at birth.” The implication is that one’s self-determined “gender identity” — rather than one’s biological makeup — is what makes a woman a woman.

Underneath the “myth” and “fact,” the commission offers an explanation of the issue.

“If someone’s gender identity is female, then that person is a woman – regardless of what her birth sex was – and she should be treated as a woman,” the document states. “Similarly, if someone’s gender identity is male, then that person is a man, and he should be treated as a man.”

The document also states that it’s a “myth” that, “The New York City Human Rights Law allows men to enter the women’s bathroom and vice versa.” The “fact” the commission offers to disprove that “myth” is “If an individual identifies as a man, he is not permitted to use the women’s room.”

The document explains this by stating: “The NYCHRL allows individuals to use the bathroom that is consistent with their gender identity.”

What’s Killing Jobs and Stalling the Economy A toxic regulatory brew, from Dodd-Frank to state licensing laws, has poisoned the formation of new firms that drive growth. By Marie-Joseé Kravis

An economy that has struggled for growth for seven years showed fresh signs of trouble Friday with a sobering jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls climbed by a mere 38,000 in May—the fewest since September 2010. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that a record 94,708,000 Americans were not in the labor force last month, as the labor-force participation rate fell to 62.6%, from 63% two months earlier.

When thinking about what has stymied the U.S. economy, I sometimes recall a biology lesson about the role that cell death plays in explaining embryonic development and normal growth of adult tissue. In economics, as far back as Joseph Schumpeter, or even Karl Marx, we have known that the flow of business deaths and births affects the dynamism and growth of a country’s economy. Business deaths unlock resources that can be allocated to more productive use and business formation can boost innovation and economic and social mobility.

For much of the nation’s history, this process of what Schumpeter called “creative destruction” has spread prosperity throughout the U.S. and the world. Over the past 30 years, however, with the exception of the mid-1980s and the 2002-05 period, this dynamism has been waning. There has been a steady decline in business formation while the rate of business deaths has been more or less constant. Business deaths outnumber births for the first time since measurement of these indicators began.

Equally troubling, the latest analysis of Census Bureau data by the Economic Innovation Group points to the increasing concentration of new business formation in a smaller number of U.S. counties. The findings show that 20 counties account for half of new businesses and that most counties had fewer business establishments in 2014 than in 2010. Even accounting for so-called dynamic counties, the total number of firms in the U.S. remains lower than it was in 2004.

As the Economic Innovation Group shows, the 1990 recovery registered a net increase of over 420,000 business establishments, or a 6.7% increase. The numbers for the 2000 recovery were 400,000 and 5.6%. Since 2010, the number of new business establishments has grown by only 166,000 or 2.3%.

One explanation for this subpar new business formation is the overall pallid U.S. recovery. Today’s new-normal 2%-growth economy doesn’t inspire vigor or confidence. Likewise the collapse, until very recently, of real-estate values, and the imposition of tougher standards on personal credit cards, have constrained traditional sources of credit for startups. Banks have tightened lending criteria and many regional and community banks have disappeared. CONTINUE AT SITE