Truth Serum Today

Monday, August 8, 2016

Live From a Trump Rally in Daytona Beach

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Daytona Beach Trump Rally

A local Trump campaign coordinator and longtime friend, Tony Ledbetter, called to offer me VIP tickets to the Trump rally at the Ocean Convention Center in Daytona Beach, FL. Tony's follow up email gave directions to the designated VIP parking lot. His email also said the doors opened at 9am for the 3pm rally.

I thought, Mary and I will arrive around 2pm. Boy, was that a mistake. Folks, I have not seen anything like it. Streets leading to the convention center's numerous parking lots were blocked-off with orange cones and orange vested personnel instructing cars to move on.

Mary and I finally found a place to park five blocks away. As we walked back to the convention center in the sunny humid over 90 degrees Florida heat, we saw mobs of people with Trump signs doing the same, coming from all directions.

Hundreds, maybe even a thousand disappointed supporters were not permitted into the convention center. It was full. Still, the orderly, yet electric, crowd cheered when Trump's motorcade arrived an hour late, led by several motorcycle cops. Police were everywhere. Was Obama in town? No, Donald Trump.

There were protesters, around 7 of them; totally ignored by the masses of Trump supporters.

What struck me most was the extremely broad range of Trump supporters; from young people covered head-to-toe with piercings and tattoos to distinguished well-dressed seniors – and every demographic in between. Clearly, these people were super excited about seeing and hearing Trump.

More and more of my Florida Tea Party homeys are jumping aboard the Trump Train. Here is a simple reason why.

Republican PACs raised millions promising their donors (tea party consumers) that they would defend conservative principles and push back against Obama ignoring the Constitution, thus behaving as king. Instead, the GOP ignored their power of the purse and funded everything Obama wanted against the will of We the People.

Behaving like reasonable consumers, the Tea Party rejected their old ineffective product (professional politicians) and rallied behind a new product (Donald Trump). Even if Trump does not give them everything they want, Tea Party Americans believe Trump will give them at least some of what they want. They also realize that Hillary is the devil. That's it in a nutshell folks.

Exposing themselves for who they truly are, some Republicans say they will financially support and vote for Hillary. That is outrageous!

Mary shot this short video of me outside the Daytona Beach Trump rally.

Doug Balch, another longtime friend, put together a fun campy music video of my Trump Train song. Please check it out. Feel free to post, share and spread far and wide.

Oh, did I mention that Mary and I were not granted entry into the Trump rally? The convention center was filled to capacity.

We told the guard at the VIP entrance, “I'm Lloyd Marcus and we have VIP passes.” He replied, “Sorry sir, we are full.”

With my ego deflated, Mary and I went to the Hibachi Buffet. I over ate.

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Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American
Chairman: The Conservative Campaign Committee

The UK Guardian declared prolific writer, singer and songwriter Lloyd Marcus the Tea Party Movement's most prominent African American, seen on Fox News, CNN and more.

Rejecting hyphenating, Marcus is renowned for proclaiming, "I am NOT an African-American! I am Lloyd Marcus AMERICAN."
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Robot Buses and Lord of the Rings

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From The Whole Shebang (mostly) by Michael Shannon

Featured at The Whole Shebang (mostly)

A reporter at the Dailydot.com writes “We’re one step closer to the automated bus future of our dreams,” which tells you something about the content of nerd fantasies.

Mercedes Benz is currently testing its “Future Bus” that’s described as “an autonomous, self-driving bus that can navigate complicated routes without the aid of a human being.” The most recent test took the bus from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam 12 miles down the road to Haarlem.

The Benz bus successfully negotiated stoplights and a tunnel while avoiding bicycles and marijuana peddlers. Naturally Dailydot types can hardly wait for the auto–bus to roll out worldwide, but I’m not so sure. Tech nerds think swapping human control for silicon control is a great idea.

While I’m picturing a 42,000–pound robot battering ram.

Just picture Grond — the battering ram used on the gates of Minas Tirith in “Return of the King” — hurtling your way because the software mistook your dark gray car for a particularly lumpy stretch of asphalt.

Sure the law requires a human driver be present at all times, just like the Tesla autopilot setting warns drivers to continue paying attention to the road while the Model S hums along. The designer’s childlike optimism in human nature expects someone who paid $70,000 for a car to sit glued to the windshield watching The Highway Channel, without even a commercial to break the tedium.

Test observations show the first thing the driver does after engaging the autopilot is to take his eyes off the road and leave the driving to Musk. The Benz bus “driver” will be using his cellphone, sending text messages and surfing the web, just like Metro drivers do everyday on Washington, DC’s no–tech busses.

I’m not certain what goal the robot bus is designed to achieve, other than increasing the boredom quotient found in unskilled labor. Replacing a human driver with no social skills with a robot with no social skills is hardly going to cause a rebirth in wheeled mass transportation.

Happenin’ people don’t think it’s cool to ride buses. Mental associations triggered by thinking of bus rides include being trapped with bullies on the way to school, prison transport and taking seniors to church. In my recollection the only instance where buses were cool was during the brief interval The Who’s “Magic Bus” was on the Top 40 charts and that was 46 years ago.

Heretofore the closest most US drivers came to auto automation was when they engaged the cruise control, although for a surprising number of “undocumented” motorists, it’s when they breathe into the ignition interlock.

Cruise control eliminated the number one cause of stress behind the wheel: Speeding tickets. Before the invention of cruise, keeping it under the limit was so exhausting I could barely stay awake. Now I’m Reddy Kilowatt behind the wheel.

Ford tried to “enhance” the cruise experience with something called “adaptive cruise control.” This additional automation is like putting your mother in the back seat. All it does is give you motion sickness as the adaptor cuts your speed each time someone cuts you off in traffic.

There are also sinister implications to self–driving vehicles that news coverage ignores.

Most systems involve linking the car to a nationwide network, which makes it very easy for Big Brother or Big Hillary to monitor where and when you go.

Speaking of sinister, China is currently working on a self–driving car, too. Their model will take dissidents to the concentration camp at the touch of a button, without tying up valuable personnel during transport. Security officers can be breaking up the next Falun Gong meeting while the first class enemy is still enjoying his ride.

The civilian model is rumored to have an optional feature that automatically rolls the window down when passengers turn their heads to spit.

Reuters puts a nice spin on living in a totalitarian state when it says China has “regulatory structure that could put it ahead in the popular adoption of autonomous cars on its highways and city streets.”

Persuading Chinese consumers to buy or even ride in a car with no way to open the doors from the inside may require some patriotic exhortation. Or a few visits to a self–criticism session.

Still Li Yusheng, head of the autonomous auto program at Chongqing Changan, remains optimistic, “If we can convince the government that every company, every car on the road must use this (single standard) ... then there is a chance China can beat the rest of the world”

And if they can just lure Mercedes into building a plant in China they can steal the blueprints in no time.

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Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher (for the League of American Voters), and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor and available on Amazon.com)."
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Who is unfit for the presidency?

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Get Your Dose of Humor and Reality from Dan Youra at Utoons.com

Dan Youra is one of the outstanding conservative cartoonists in the trade today who follows in the footsteps of the great political cartoon masters, whose quotes inspire a new generation of followers.

"Outside of basic intelligence, there is nothing more important to a good political cartoonist than ill will." ~ Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist.

"Too many of today's artists regard editorial cartooning as a trade instead of a profession. They try not to be too offensive. The hell with that. We need more stirrer-uppers." ~ Bill Mauldin.

Youra was one of the first recipients of a Fulbright Scholarship and worked in Latin America. He served as an editor of Current Thought on Peace and War at the United Nations in New York.

"As long as there are politicians who continue to try and fool the voters, there is no chance of ever running out of material to work with because they create it themselves and about themselves," says Dan Youra.

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Dan is the small business owner and operator of the Youra Studios located in the State of Washington. Visit the Youra Studios at Utoons.com
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Donald Trump - Middle Class Growth Candidate

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Click Here to Visit Larry Kudlow at Kudlow and Company

Middle-income wage earners should not be fooled by Hillary Clinton’s tax-the-rich rhetoric by Lawrence Kudlow

Did Hillary Clinton actually propose raising middle-income taxes in a recent speech? The audio suggests she said “we are going to raise taxes on the middle class,” although the prepared remarks indicate she meant “we aren’t.” Well, these things happen.

But the fact remains that Hillary Clinton’s proposals to raise taxes on so-called rich people, rich corporations, Wall Street, investors (capital gains, dividends, and financial transactions), and estates will greatly harm middle-income wage earners who have essentially not had a pay raise since the year 2000.

Donald Trump is set to give a major economic speech in Detroit on Monday. In general terms he will be lowering marginal tax rates on both large and small businesses and on all income classes. He also will propose a hike in the standard deduction for families and special deductions for childcare and the elderly.

All of these polices will help the middle class. Trump’s plan will generate substantial new investment, business formation, jobs, and growth -- and hence higher wages.

Trump is the pro-growth candidate in this race. Hillary Clinton is the anti-growth candidate. Trump wants to expand national income and the economic pie. Clinton wants to redistribute income and shrink the pie.

In past writings I have equated Trump’s tax-reduction plan to the JFK and Ronald Reagan tax cuts, which generated economic booms of roughly 5 percent growth per year. President Obama, by comparison, has raised taxes, spending, and regulations, producing the worst recovery since World War II. And Clinton intends to follow in Obama’s footsteps with a Bernie Sanders-like, left-wing policy mix. She is the Democrats’ anti-JFK. What a pity.

I want to draw on some academic work to validate how Trump is the pro-growth, pro-middle-class candidate.

Let me begin with AEI economists Aparna Mathur and Kevin Hassett. They have written extensively on the adverse effects of high corporate taxes on worker wages. They argue that high taxes drive capital out of the high-tax country, like the U.S., which leads to lower domestic investment. That in turn reduces the productivity of the worker, who will lack the latest advances in technology and machinery. And since there is a tight link between worker productivity and pay, lower wages result.

Mathur and Hassett cite famous University of Chicago economist Arnold Harberger to explain that when taxes are raised on corporations, wages are lowered not only for the workers in those firms, but for all workers in the economy. So, a $1 corporate income tax leads to a $1 loss in wages for a firm’s workers. But that tax could lead to more than a $1 loss overall when we look at all wages for all workers.

President Obama and Mrs. Clinton wrongly believe that the corporate income tax is a tax on the rich. The reality is that rich corporations don’t pay taxes -- workers do.

Another erroneous claim from Obama and Clinton is that the rich don’t pay their fair share. But a new CBO study shows that the so-called rich pay the lion’s share of federal taxes. The CBO reveals that the top 1 percent of households pays an average of 34 percent of income in federal taxes, while the middle 20 percent of households pays only 12.8 percent. This is confirmed by a recent Tax Foundation report.

And taxes for the top 1 percent have been going up. Between 2008 and 2012, the top 1 percent paid an average tax rate of 28.8 percent. But in 2013 that rate spiked to 34 percent as a result of tax increases and the Affordable Care Act. This data is summarized by Mark J. Perry of the University of Michigan and AEI.

It’s also worth noting that the so-called rich haven’t had it so great lately. Recent studies by Manhattan Institute economist Scott Winship and Cato Institute economist Alan Reynolds show that during the Great Recession, the top 1 percent lost 36 percent of its income, while income for the bottom 90 percent was 12 percent lower.

As of 2014, the top 1 percent was still poorer by 18 percent than it was in 2007, compared with a 9 percent decline for the bottom 90 percent. Reynolds also notes that middle-incomes fell only 1 percent in the 2007-09 recession, after counting tax cuts and government benefits.

These facts and figures slay a lot of left-wing urban legends. Highly divisive urban legends, I might add.

What matters most for all Americans is economic growth. As Arthur Laffer frequently reminds us: Tax something more, get less of it. Tax something less, get more of it.

Mr. Trump’s big-bang economic speech on Monday will outline policies to tax growth less and restore American prosperity.

Mrs. Clinton, on the other hand, has nothing but prosperity killers up her sleeve.
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Trump vs the world

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The Real Donald Trump

The presidential race has now become Donald Trump versus the world. The outsider businessman is facing a vast array of opponents that is unprecedented in American politics.

The attacks against Trump have worked perfectly to assist Hillary Clinton, his ethically challenged opponent. She refuses to hold news conferences or answer truthfully about her email scandal, foundation fundraising or Benghazi, but is now leading by a comfortable margin.

It will only get worse for Trump over the next three months. While he overcame unfair media treatment in the primaries and dispatched the party establishment and 16 entrenched candidates to win the nomination, the level of resistance he will face in the general election will be much greater. This tsunami of opposition will be designed to deny Trump the White House.

Of course, Trump must deal with Hillary Clinton and her corrupt political machine. This is the same campaign that used DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to rig the nomination process and thwart the chances of insurgent candidate Bernie Sanders. As the WikiLeaks email disclosures proved, Clinton was guaranteed the nomination no matter how well Sanders did.

In the general election, Clinton will attempt to derail Trump, a political newcomer, by taking advantage of her usual dirty tricks and decades of political experience. She will also have the complete loyalty and support of the mainstream news media.

Every day, Clinton is given a steady stream of positive media coverage, while Trump is constantly savaged. The latest analysis from the Media Research Center shows the mainstream news media gave the Democratic National Convention more attention and much more positive coverage than the Republican National Convention.

In the last few days, the media has been going crazy giving non-stop positive coverage to Khizr Khan, who lost a son in the Iraq War. Khan and his wife were featured at the Democratic National Convention and have been giving interviews responding to the supposed “attacks” from Donald Trump.

In fact, the only “attack” from Trump was a question about whether Mrs. Khan, a Muslim, was allowed to speak at the convention. It is indisputable that women are treated as second class citizens in many Muslim nations, but this painful reality has been ignored by the media in their obsession to condemn Trump.

While Mr. and Mrs. Khan has been given tremendous attention, Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, who was killed in Benghazi, has been practically ignored by the media. She has been speaking out for almost four years, blaming her son's death on the inaction of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Ms. Smith also claims that Clinton attributed her son's death to an Internet video, thus lying to her about why Sean Smith was killed. Even though she is both compelling and genuine, Ms. Smith has been rarely, if ever, given an opportunity to tell her important story.

According to the Media Research Center, the Khans received 50 times more media coverage from the major broadcast networks than Ms. Smith after her speech at the Republican National Convention. This is just another indication that media bias is real and a very useful tool for Hillary Clinton in her campaign against Trump.

The Donald also has to deal with the usual array of special interest groups, from unions to Hollywood stars, who always support the Democrat Party. However, in this election, Trump faces internal opposition that most Republican nominees do not have to face.

Trump is opposed by the Republican Party establishment, represented by commentators such as Bill Kristol and politicians such as the Bush family and Mitt Romney. Trump also is opposed by wealthy donors like the Koch brothers, who refuse to support him in this election, in effect, providing a major assist to Hillary Clinton.

There are also the “Never Trump” Republicans, such as Senator Ted Cruz and his conservative purist supporters, who somehow believe that the nation can survive four years of Hillary Clinton and another GOP nominee can save the country in 2020. Unfortunately, after several Clinton Supreme Court nominations, it will be too late for America in 2020. The inescapable truth is that this election is our last chance to save the country.

Finally, Trump is taking on the globalists and the foreign interests who have benefited from decades of support from our country. Trump believes in “America First” and this is a direct threat to many foreign leaders who do not want to pay for their own defense costs and who profit by taking jobs from Americans and selling cheap exports to our country.

This week in a news conference Barack Obama expressed the globalist view perfectly when he labeled Trump as someone who “doesn't have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world.”

Of course, Barack Obama was elected President after serving less than one term as U.S. Senator and had no experience on the world stage. Obama was a community organizer for years, not an ideal training ground for the presidency.

In contrast, Trump has been an international businessman and has spent decades building a worldwide empire. His lack of experience as a politician is exactly why so many people are attracted to his campaign.

In the remainder of the campaign, the unrelenting attacks from all sides will continue. If Trump is going to prevail, he must go over the heads of his many critics and directly adders the American people on the vital issues which are at stake in this election.

He needs to continue to emphasize safety, jobs, law and order, secure borders and his “America First” agenda.

If he can cut through the noise and focus on this agenda, he can win, but he must not get sidetracked by his innumerable opponents who want to talk about everything but the real issues that are impacting millions of Americans.

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To order a copy of Jeff Crouere’s new book, “America’s Last Chance,”

visit www.JeffCrouere.com

Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 10:00 p.m. Sunday on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore.

For more information, visit Jeff's web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com or email him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
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Thursday, August 4, 2016

Congressman Palazzo calls it a King's Ransom

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Click Here to Contact Congressman Palazzo

American Hostages in Iran

Meet Congressman Palazzo (R-Miss.)

It has recently come to light that the Obama Administration secretly airlifted $400 million to Iran on January 17, the same day American hostages were released. Although, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest claims the exchange was coincidentally on the same day and not a ransom payment, the rest of America is left to wonder why we were kept in the dark.

It is American policy to not pay ransom for hostages. This exchange followed a terrible nuclear agreement the United States made with Iran, one which I strongly opposed. We cannot afford Iran to be a dominating force in the Middle East, and we certainly cannot let them gain access to nuclear weapons.

I have openly been against Obama’s willingness to deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran from the beginning. Unfortunately, this Administration is less concerned with American interests abroad than pandering to those who have pledged themselves to our destruction.

Neshoba County Fair

Last week I was able to attend the 127th Neshoba County Fair. Donald Trump Jr. was there and spoke of how Donald Trump will Make America Great Again. As the younger Trump said, “this is no longer a campaign, it is a movement.”

As your Representative, it is so wonderful to see the state of Mississippi standing strong behind the Republican presidential candidate. Trump plans to defend our constitutional rights because he knows what America needs.

The Neshoba County Fair is always full of great music, animals, speakers and of course the finest Mississippi cuisine. I look forward to attending the Neshoba County Fair in the future to continue this fantastic long-standing Mississippi tradition.

American Catfish

I am fighting alongside the rest of the Mississippi Congressional delegation to keep the USDA in charge of inspecting our catfish.

There is currently legislation attempting to give control of catfish inspections back to the Federal Drug Administration. The task of inspecting catfish now resides with the USDA because the FDA failed to do their job the first time.

The USDA already tests our poultry, beef, and pork. And they are doing a better job -- already two Asian deliveries of catfish turned around rather than have their low-quality fish be inspected.

Our farmers are already so restricted in how they operate, it would be close to impossible to compete with foreign catfish that is filled with cancer-causing substances and banned chemicals that would cause harm to Americans. I am fighting to keep the USDA in control and ensure that the FDA does not risk American lives.

Besides, Mississippi catfish tastes better anyways.

Your comments are always welcome and you can contact Congressman Palazzo on facebook, twitter or by visiting his website.
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Shelby on the Obama Sentence Commutations

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Meet Senator Richard Shelby

Alabama's U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS), today released a statement following President Obama’s announcement that he granted sentence commutations to 214 individuals:

“President Obama granted sentence commutations to the highest number of individuals in more than 100 years today, 48 of whom were convicted of firearm-related convictions.

This decision is completely contrary to the Administration’s claim that it is committed to making our communities safer and reducing violent gun crime.

On one hand, the Obama Administration is attempting to limit law-abiding Americans from exercising their Second Amendment right and protecting themselves from harm.

On the other hand, the President will let criminals with firearm-related offenses off easy.

I am deeply concerned by today’s announcement, and I will continue to press the Administration and Attorney General Lynch on the misguided decision to put criminals, particularly those convicted of a crime involving a gun, back on the streets.”

Senator Shelby always welcomes your comments. Contact him at this link.

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Together - Yes They Can

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Click Here - Grab That Morning Coffee and Check Out Branco Online

Okay, I’m hyperventilating. Tony combines beautiful drawings with biting politically incorrect wit and laugh out loud humor.” – Larry Elder – TV and Radio personality at at Fox News and KRLM AM 870

Lighten things up! Political discussions and debates don’t always have to be deep and long-winded arguments with points and counter points. Sometimes we just need to take a step back from it all and have a good laugh. With so many discouraging things happening in our country lately, that’s the only thing we can do to keep from crying.

Conservative artist Antonio Branco is a master at encapsulating deep and complex issues in a simple comic.

He has written his first book in a series and takes on a wide array of issues, from food stamps to global warming to foreign policy, Antonio isn’t afraid to say what he thinks.

Presented in a coffee table book style, this is the perfect conversation starter with friends and family that pick it up and start glancing through it’s pages.

Who knows, that liberal aunt of yours just might come over to the right side because of this book!

This 80 pages, hardcover comic measures 8″ x 10".

ORDER HERE ORDER NOW – also autographed editions available

Read more from A.F. (Tony) Branco at this link.

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Palestinian athletes deserve more than Rajoub

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Palestine Olympic Committee chairman Jibril Rajoub

"The goal of Olympism," proclaims the Olympic Charter, "is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity."

Well, that's one approach. Jibril Rajoub takes a somewhat different view.

Rajoub, a longtime senior official of Fatah, the militant Palestinian faction founded by Yasser Arafat, harshly condemns efforts to promote good will through athletics, at least when the athletes include Israelis. "Any activity of normalization in sports with the Zionist enemy," he declares, "is a crime against humanity."

When the Peres Center for Peace hosted a soccer match between Palestinian and Israeli kids in 2014, the children enjoyed themselves immensely — "I love it when we play together like this," 11-year-old Qusay, a Palestinian boy, told an AFP reporter. But Rajoub was furious. It was "a disgrace to use sports for this purpose," he thundered, and issued a "demand that all individuals and institutions distance themselves from such activities."

He was equally implacable when the president of the Barcelona Football Club, during a good-will tour of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, proposed a match between the renowned Spanish team and a squad of Israeli and Palestinian players.

"Impossible, impossible!" exclaimed Rajoub in a Palestinian TV interview. "Impossible that there be any sport-related contact with the Israeli side, in any situation."

Rajoub's unsleeping hostility toward Israel comes as no surprise — the man is a notorious PLO chieftain with a long record of extolling terror. Alas, he is also the chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee. And he has consistently exploited his position within the Olympic movement to glorify violence and to prevent attempts to connect Israelis and Palestinians through sports.

Such behavior isn't only hateful and immoral. It's also an egregious violation of International Olympic Committee rules.

The IOC's detailed Code of Ethics requires Olympic personnel to respect at all times the movement's principle of "universality and political neutrality" and to affirm "the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play." Rajoub brazenly flouts those requirements, invoking his status as chairman of a national Olympic committee as he debases Olympic ideals.

In a new report, Palestinian Media Watch, a private media watchdog, has documented multiple examples of Rajoub's praise for terrorism and incitement to murder. The report shows that Rajoub has not simply glorified Palestinian "martyrs" (suicide bombers or gunmen killed during attacks on Israelis), but has done so explicitly in his capacity as an Olympic official.

Rajoub is so toxic with hatred that he attended a
Palestinian sporting match named in honor of
Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the masterminds
of the 1972 massacre at Munich Olympics

In November 2015, for example, Rajoub named a table-tennis tournament in honor of Muhannad Halabi, who had murdered two civilians and wounded two others in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem a month earlier. A poster advertising the tournament featured two images of Halabi; in large lettering it trumpeted the "patronage of the leader Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestine Olympic Committee."

In its 24-page dossier, the watchdog group compiles numerous such cases of Rajoub honoring terrorists, with official Palestinian media identifying him again and again as the chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee. Especially appalling was his attendance at a boxing match named in honor of Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the masterminds of Black September, the Fatah terror subgroup that slaughtered 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

Like most ideals, the Olympic mission — the promotion of peace and dignity through sport — is an aspiration not yet achieved. The Olympic Games do not resolve international conflicts. The Olympic charter hasn't deterred tyrants from abusing human rights. Nothing the International Olympic Committee does or doesn't do will establish peace in the Middle East.

But Palestinian athletes deserve a better leader than Rajoub, a man so toxic with hatred that he applauds terror attacks and denounces games that bring Arab and Jewish kids together. At the opening ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro this week, the Olympic Hymn will be sung:

'Let all the flags of every land
In brotherhood unfold'

Maybe the IOC cannot produce universal brotherhood. But can't it at least insist on a decent chairman for the Palestine Olympic Committee?

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Palestinian athletes deserve better than Jibril Rajoub by Jeff Jacoby at The Boston Globe

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Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The devil in disguise

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Get Your Daily Dose of Humor and Reality from Dan Youra at Utoons.com

"Outside of basic intelligence, there is nothing more important to a good political cartoonist than ill will." ~ Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist.

"Too many of today's artists regard editorial cartooning as a trade instead of a profession. They try not to be too offensive. The hell with that. We need more stirrer-uppers." ~ Bill Mauldin.

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Dan is the small business owner and operator of the Youra Studios located in the State of Washington. Visit the Youra Studios at Utoons.com
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How to end radical Islam

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Islam needs its own Council of Nicea, or its internal forces of darkness could control its destiny by Scot Faulkner

It is time for moderate, forward looking Muslims to regain control of their religion. They need to take historic steps to bring Islam into the Twenty-First Century, returning it to an honored place among the world’s great religions.

Slaughter in an Orlando Nightclub, slaughter on the streets of Nice, slaughter in Paris and in a Normandy church, slaughter at airports in Brussels and Istanbul, slaughter at a San Bernardino picnic, slaughter at Fort Hood, slaughter at the Boston Marathon, attacks on trains in France and Germany, the list is endless. The weapons used were diverse – guns, trucks, pressure cookers, axes, knives and bombs. Only the motivation remained constant: jihad for Allah.

The threat and the fight are global. Terror can now arrive anywhere, anytime, in any form. Some already label this World War III. The problem is that increased drone strikes, bombing ISIS’ capital in Raqqa, Syria, or expanding intelligence gathering will not end the threat. This is because every day millions of young boys attend radical Madrassas and learn how to hate, kill, and die.

In the mid-1970s Saudi Arabia used the flood of oil revenue to become the “McDonalds of Madrassas.” Religious schools and new mosques popped up throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This building boom had nothing to do with education and everything to do with spreading the cult of Wahhabism.

The Saudi Royal Family owes its rise to power to Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792). He envisioned a “pure” form of Islam that purged most worldly practices (heresies), oppressed women, and endorsed violence against nonbelievers (infidels), including Muslims who differed from his sect.

This extremely conservative and violent form of Islam might have died out in the sands of central Arabia were in not for a timely alliance with a local tribal leader, Muhammad bin Saud.

The House of Saud was just another minor tribe, until the two Muhammads realized the power of merging Sunni fanaticism with armed warriors. Wahhab’s daughter married Saud’s son, merging their two blood lines to this day. The House of Saud and its warriors rapidly expanded throughout the Arabia Peninsula and collided with Shi’ite and more secular Sunni powers.

Saudi forces were defeated but rose again, fueled by Wahhabi fanaticism. These various conflicts always included destruction of holy sites of rival sects and tribes. While done in the name of “purification,” the result was erasing the physical touchstones of rival cultures and governments.

In the early Twentieth Century, Saudi leader ibn Saud expertly exploited the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and alliances with European Powers, to consolidate his permanent hold over the Arabian Peninsula. Control of Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest sites, gave the House of Saud the power to promote Wahhabism as the dominant interpretation of Sunni Islam.

This included internally contradictory components of calling for eradicating infidels while growing rich from Christian consumption of oil, and pursuing lavish hedonism when not in public view.

Unless Wahhabism is eliminated or moderated, the West is fighting a losing battle.

The decline in oil revenue gives the West rare economic leverage. It is time to convince the Saud family to convene an Islamic version of the Council of Nicaea.

In 325, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great convened a religious council in Nicaea (near modern Istanbul) to resolve various differences within Christianity. This included consolidating and codifying beliefs, rituals, and the calendar of holy days and rites. Over three hundred church officials and theologians attended.

While the Council of Nicaea did not resolve everything, it did establish a culture of dialogue and collaboration within Catholicism. Christianity had its own wars and schisms, notably the Reformation, which was more about geopolitics than faith, and the Thirty Years War. Isolated fanaticism and superstition led to abuses, from the persecution of Galileo to the Salem witch trials.

However, the framework and mindset was permanently in place for Western religions to move with the times and adapt as knowledge and culture advanced. These forces of moderation and reason assure the continuous rise of civilization to this day and the marginalization and isolation of extremists.

In his famous work “The True Believer,” philosopher Eric Hoffer asserted, “the character and destiny of a group are often determined by its inferior elements.”

Reasonable people, spanning religion and ideology, are hoping Islam finds a way to isolate and diminish their forces of darkness. It can only be done from within.

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Scot Faulkner served as the first Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and on Ronald Reagan’s White House Staff. As Deputy Associate Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), he coordinated the Administration’s response to the Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing. Mr. Faulkner has advised corporations and governments throughout the Middle East since 2002.
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More Hillary emails expected to drop

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Meet Michele Hickford

Donald Trump lit the media’s hair on fire when he sarcastically implored Russia to see if they could dig up the 30,000 emails felon Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton deleted from her personal server.

Well it turns out it might not be that difficult to find those emails after all.

In what might be a game-changer, a former top NSA official claimed on Sunday that the agency has “all” of Hillary’s emails and the FBI could get their mitts on them if they really wanted to.

Binney was an architect of the NSA’s surveillance program. He became a famed whistleblower when he resigned on October 31, 2001, after spending more than 30 years with the agency.

He was speaking on the “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM.

Binney referenced testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2011 by then-FBI Director Robert S. Mueller in which Meuller spoke of the FBI’s ability to access various secretive databases “to track down known and suspected terrorists.”

Stated Binney:

“Now what he (Mueller) is talking about is going into the NSA database, which is shown of course in the (Edward) Snowden material released, which shows a direct access into the NSA database by the FBI and the CIA. Which there is no oversight of by the way. So that means that NSA and a number of agencies in the U.S. government also have those emails.”

“So if the FBI really wanted them they can go into that database and get them right now,” he stated of Clinton’s emails as well as DNC emails.

Asked point blank if he believed the NSA has copies of “all” of Clinton’s emails, including the deleted correspondence, Binney replied in the affirmative.

“Yes,” he responded. “That would be my point. They have them all and the FBI can get them right there.”

Binney surmised that the hack of the DNC could have been coordinated by someone inside the U.S. intelligence community angry over Clinton’s compromise of national security data with her email use.

As he stated on Aaron Klein’s radio show:

And the other point is that Hillary, according to an article published by the Observer in March of this year, has a problem with NSA because she compromised Gamma (extraordinarily sensitive) material.

Now that is the most sensitive material at NSA. And so there were a number of NSA officials complaining to the press or to the people who wrote the article that she did that. She lifted the material that was in her emails directly out of Gamma reporting. That is a direct compromise of the most sensitive material at the NSA. So she’s got a real problem there. So there are many people who have problems with what she has done in the past.

So I don’t necessarily look at the Russians as the only one(s) who got into those emails. Whoa! Stay tuned for the Revenge of the Nerds, coming to a computer screen near you!

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has already said his next leak will lead to Hillary’s arrest. While that still seems optimistic, a few giant speed bumps on her campaign trail would be most welcome.

[Note: This article was written by Michele Hickford at Allen B. West.com]

Click Here to Read More at Allen B. West.com

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Obama gives Iran $400 million

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The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward.

Wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were flown into Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, according to these officials. The U.S. procured the money from the central banks of the Netherlands and Switzerland, they said.

The money represented the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran to resolve a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal signed just before the 1979 fall of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The settlement, which resolved claims before an international tribunal in The Hague, also coincided with the formal implementation that same weekend of the landmark nuclear agreement reached between Tehran, the U.S. and other global powers the summer before.

“With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well,” President Barack Obama said at the White House on Jan. 17 — without disclosing the $400 million cash payment.

Senior U.S. officials denied any link between the payment and the prisoner exchange. They say the way the various strands came together simultaneously was coincidental, not the result of any quid pro quo.

“As we’ve made clear, the negotiations over the settlement of an outstanding claim…were completely separate from the discussions about returning our American citizens home,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “Not only were the two negotiations separate, they were conducted by different teams on each side, including, in the case of The Hague claims, by technical experts involved in these negotiations for many years.”

But U.S. officials also acknowledge that Iranian negotiators on the prisoner exchange said they wanted the cash to show they had gained something tangible. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and a fierce foe of the Iran nuclear deal, accused President Barack Obama of paying “a $1.7 billion ransom to the ayatollahs for U.S. hostages.”

“This break with longstanding U.S. policy [not to] put a price on the head of Americans, and has led Iran to continue its illegal seizures” of Americans, he said.

Since the cash shipment, the intelligence arm of the Revolutionary Guard has arrested two more Iranian-Americans. Tehran has also detained dual-nationals from France, Canada and the U.K. in recent months.

Appearing on MarketWatch

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