NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Rubio’s Excellent Energy Policy The Florida senator understands that vigorous development and competition will make America stronger, more prosperous, freer, and more secure. By Robert Zubrin

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

A war for the future of the world is going on right now. It includes some regular military action, but the outcome is going to be settled by control over the global supply of fuel and funds. That is why there can be no more important issue facing our next commander in chief than energy policy.

The Democrats are worse than hopeless in this respect, and unfortunately, many of the GOP campaigns have been mired in atmospherics and irrelevancies. But at least one of the Republican aspirants has risen to the challenge: Marco Rubio.

In a word, Rubio’s energy policy is excellent. It consists of three major thrusts; optimize America’s resources, minimize government bureaucracy, and maximize private innovation. I discuss each of these in turn.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Five for Freedom Bringing government spending under control. By Ted Cruz

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

At the last Republican presidential debate, I presented the Simple Flat Tax — which, for a family of four, exempts the first $36,000 from all income tax, and above that amount collects one low rate of 10 percent for all Americans. It eliminates the death tax, the payroll tax, the corporate income tax, and the Obamacare taxes; ends the corporate carve-outs and loopholes; and requires every business to pay the same simple business flat tax of 16 percent. That plan will unleash unprecedented growth, create millions of new jobs, raise after-tax incomes for all income levels by double-digit percentages — and abolish the IRS as we know it.

But eliminating the IRS is only the first step in my plan to break apart the federal leviathan that has ruled Washington and crept into our lives. We can’t stop there. In addition to eliminating the IRS, a Cruz administration will abolish four cabinet agencies. And we will sharply reduce the alphabet soup of government entities, beginning with the ABCs that should not exist in the first place: The Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, and other programs that are constitutionally illegitimate and harmful to American households and businesses. It’s time to return to a federal government that abides by our constitutional framework and strips power from unelected bureaucrats.

POLITICS Comments turned off

What I Learned at Tuesday’s Debate by Roger L Simon

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

Here’s what I learned at Tuesday night’s Fox Business Republican debate.

1. If John Kasich is elected president, I will sell my television set. I’ve already seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame at least a dozen times.

2. Carly Fiorina is a good debater. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are even better debaters.

3. I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with Rand Paul.

4. The biggest spendthrifts in America are Jeb Bush bundlers.

5. Ben Carson talks slowly.

6. Donald Trump likes to hang out in green rooms.

In other words, nothing much new. Still it was entertaining. Moderators Neil Cavuto, Maria Bartiromo and Gerard Baker did a fine job, devoid of self-promotion and thus far superior to their predecessors at the other networks. It wasn’t their fault it wasn’t all that substantive in the end. It never is. It’s the nature of the format. Eight is still too many people. How about four or five next time?

Who won? The New York Times said Rand Paul, which means he didn’t. Frank Luntz’s focus group of actual New Hampshire Republican voters gave it to Rubio in a walk. I tend to agree, with Cruz a close second. Marc Thiessen said on The Kelly File that Rubio would be the strongest GOP candidate in the general because he would seem like JFK debating Hillary’s Nixon. Actually, I think Hilary’s worse than Nixon, but he’s got a point.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Peter Smith: Warmism’s Six Degrees of Separation

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

How, in the midst of alarmists’ tireless headline-grabbing, can common folk form a considered view? The truth is that we can’t. We are all in the hands and at the mercy of the political elite. That should make us all feel safe in our beds
I find it taxing to discuss the climate with those who are unabashed global warmists (GWs). I don’t mind disagreements per se but, I am sorry, most GWs are muddled-headed wombats when the matter proceeds beyond the notion that the planet is warming to what should be done about it, the practicalities and the cost. I want to help.

Categorisation is a helpful tool to make sense of complicated situations. In this case it might help to set down a broad classification of beliefs. Now any broad classification involves a fair degree of fudging. Bear that in mind.

I will go in just six steps; from the extreme GWs to the sceptics. Attributions are indicated in brackets.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Signs emerge FBI investigation of Hillary emails has moved to a new, more serious stage By Thomas Lifson

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

Momentum is a concept that applies to criminal investigations almost as much as it does to sports teams. And from the signs available, it looks as if the probe into potential criminality in the Hillary email scandal has got the Big Mo.

Despite the FBI’s efforts to remain tight-lipped over the ongoing investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server, it looks as though substantial resources are being devoted, so that a political kill of the query would be difficult to justify if push comes to shove. Politico has been interviewing as many people as it can, both on and off the record, to get a sense of where theinvestigation is leading, and the indications are that Hillary should be worried. Rachel Bade writes:

The FBI’s recent moves suggest that its inquiry could have evolved from the preliminary fact-finding stage that the agency launches when it receives a credible referral, according to former FBI and DOJ officials inteviewed [sic] by POLITICO.

“This sounds to me like it’s more than a preliminary inquiry; it sounds like a full-blown investigation,” said Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI. “When you have this amount of resources going into it …. I think it’s at the investigative level.”

POLITICS Comments turned off

Ted Cruz proposes eliminating Energy, HUD, Commerce, Education, IRS By Ed Straker

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

It’s sad watching most Republican candidates promise to make cuts in federal spending without ever actually telling us where the cuts would occur. They mention some big number and then promise us that over eight or ten years it would be cut. But their claims have about as much credibility as Carly Fiorina’s vague tax plan, which is mysteriously floating somewhere on YouTube.

All that changed last night, however, when Ted Cruz called for the elimination of the Departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Commerce, and Education, as well as the IRS. The liberal media will be focusing on the fact that he mentioned eliminating Commerce twice. I prefer to focus on the merits of what he has announced.

The Department of Energy. We have a Department of Energy that generates no energy. Instead, the DOE distributes nearly $30 billion (as of 2012) to research “clean” energy. In other words, it’s a slush fund for Democratic cronies like Solyndra who want taxpayer funding for windmills and solar panel technology that is hopelessly uneconomical. Here’s an idea: let the private sector research energy alternatives. They did a fine job of it long before the DOE came along. Cruz is right to call for its elimination.

BOOKS Comments turned off

American Jews’ New Obsession: Transgender Rights By Lauri B. Regan (Huh????)

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

On my way back from David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend in Charleston, I opened up the Post and Courier newspaper to Section D, entitled “Faith & Values.” What struck me was an article on the second page reporting that the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) had adopted a resolution supporting transgender rights. The resolution calls for congregations and camps to have gender-neutral bathrooms, use gender-neutral language, and train religious school staff on gender issues.

I have no idea what any of this gender identity noise really means, but I have concluded that this whole movement (together with the delegitimization of Israel, the legalization of marijuana, demonizing those who are offended by Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue trade, push for single-payer health care, and prosecution of those who question the scientific basis of man-caused global warming) is just one giant progressive wave to further supplant Judeo-Christian values and alter the moral fabric of our society.

Jews are being stabbed, run over, and shot on streets across Israel on a daily basis; they are fleeing Europe en masse as anti-Semitic attacks have become common place; and BDS (the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement) is flourishing across the globe as the number of hate groups continues to grow and their influence continues to be peddled. The streets of American cities are becoming unsafe, as Jews become victims of attacks with Molotov cocktails and knives, our college campuses have become anti-Semitic centers of pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas hate including violence and intimidation by members of Muslim hate groups, and liberal American Jews, including mainstream Jewish establishments, welcome anti-Israel groups into their open tents.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Indonesian Jihad on Christian Churches by Raymond Ibrahim

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

“We will not stop hunting Christians and burning churches. Christians are Allah’s enemies!” – Islamic leaders, Aceh region.

In other parts of Indonesia, where Islamic law, or Sharia, is not enforced, churches, even fully registered ones, are also under attack

On Dec. 25, 2012, with all required paperwork in place, when the congregation assembled on empty land to celebrate Christmas, hundreds of Muslims threw rocks, rotten eggs, and bags filled with excrement at the Christians. Police stood by and watched.

For Indonesia, the country once hailed as the face of “moderate Islam,” the “extremist” behavior one would expect of the Islamic State, or ISIS, has apparently become the norm.

In compliance with Islamic demands, Indonesian authorities in the Aceh region have started to tear down Christian churches. Their move comes after Muslim mobs rampaged and attacked churches. At least one person was killed; thousands of Christians were displaced.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Sex Trafficking: The Abuse of Our Time by George Phillips

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

The State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report estimates that more than 44,000 trafficking victims have identified throughout the world, out of which the Department of Justice has gained convictions in just 184 cases.

Compare this to the International Labor Organization 2012 estimate of a total of 20.9 million trafficked victims in the world and hundreds of thousands in the United States.

The media usually pays scant attention to their plight.

Esperanza was a sixteen year old girl when she was brutally raped by a man named Rey. He forced her to become a sex slave, and eventually brought her to New York, where she was raped, beaten and threatened in brothels day after day

Like so many other trafficking victims, Esperanza could not speak English. A man who saw the bruises on her body connected her with Safe Horizon, a program that specializes in helping trafficking victims; they helped to rescue her.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Joined by blood: A bone marrow donor meets the man whose life she saved….See note please

Posted By on November 11th, 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/joined-by-blood–a-bone-marrow-donor-meets-the-man-whose-life-she-saved-031404592.html

This is an incredibly moving story. The young lady is a friend of my daughter and granddaughter….rsk

Every day for a year, Avi Ruderman, 54, of Tel Aviv, Israel, wondered, Who saved my life? Every day for a year, Molly Allanoff, 24, a medical student in Philadelphia, wondered, Who got my stem cells, and is he OK?
Molly’s own father had received a bone marrow transplant — but didn’t survive a year. Maybe now she had saved a life, sparing some other daughter the agony of losing her father.

But the bone marrow registry requires a recipient survive a year before he can contact his donor.

So both waited.

***

At age 50, Avi, who runs convalescent homes with 1,200 beds and 1,000 employees, got non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells. After unsuccessful treatment with conventional chemotherapy, his only hope was a bone marrow transplant. This involves high-dose chemotherapy to destroy the patient’s diseased bone marrow, then replacing it with healthy stem cells from a compatible donor. If the transplant succeeds, the patient recovers and his bone marrow begins making healthy blood cells.

But only 4 in 10 people who need a bone marrow transplant ever get one, partly because finding a match is so difficult. There are 10 markers in the blood of donor and recipient that must match, and each marker has thousands of variations. With 26 million people listed on all bone marrow registries worldwide, Avi had only one perfect match: Molly Allanoff, a medical student at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

When he received his transplant, on Oct. 15, 2014, Avi was told only that his donor was a 23-year-old American woman. He would dream about meeting her. He had four daughters. In his mind, she was now his fifth.