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Quick Analysis

Progressives Disdain Differing Ideas and Free Speech

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln famously stated that “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  In 2016, one side of the political spectrum, the progressive left (which dominates the Democrat Party) has declared a decidedly uncivil war on the majority of the nation’s citizenry.

The most recent incident is Hillary Clinton’s stunning comment that half of rival Donald Trump’s supporters belonged in a “basket of deplorables.” She went on to claim that those who favor the GOP nominee were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”

This was certainly not the first time a leftist candidate has made unfounded, untrue and inappropriate comments about well over half the nation’s voters. In 2011, President Obama, speaking in California, described those who with differed with him as people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

In the 2016 presidential primaries, several progressive groups sought to physically block access to Trump rallies.

The actions of those in positions of legal authority are frightening. Attorney General Loretta Lynch openly speculated about the possibility of prosecuting those who differed with the President Obama’s perspectives on climate change. A number of state attorneys generals engaged in unethical acts of harassment against think tanks that merely produced data and discussion that contradicted the Progressive mantra on climate change.

New York’s Senator Charles Schumer astoundingly introduced legislation to limit the application of the First Amendment in regards to paid political speech.

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A study in the Washington University Political Review   notes:

“…a controversy erupted at Wesleyan University surrounding the college newspaper, The Argus. Students were in an uproar, demanding that the paper’s funding be retracted. The editors issued an apology on the front page of the next edition, agreeing to many of the protestor’s demands, but that still was not enough for the protesters. Calls for The Argus to lose its funding continued. The newspaper’s crime? Having the temerity to publish an editorial critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. The great conservative intellectual William F. Buckley once said, “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” Any politically active college student should be familiar with this sentiment. Liberals preach inclusivity and diversity of all kinds, but not the diversity of thought.”

The strident demonization of those who do not kowtow to Progressive orthodoxy goes far beyond mere hysterical rhetoric. Not unlike the extreme socialist regimes whose economic systems they prefer, many progressives seek to actively and forcefully silence and criminalize those with different ideas and beliefs. The examples are profound and significant.

Throughout the Obama Administration, numerous attempts have been made to control free speech. His representatives on the Federal Communications Commission sought to embed “monitors” in newsrooms. Reporters who criticize the Administration have been penalized in various ways.

Now, defeated in his domestic attempts to control contrary opinions, the President has engineered the international control of the internet, an end run around the First Amendment. As this article was being prepared, the U.S. Senate was preparing to convene an urgent meeting to block the surrender of internet control. As reported in the Wall Street Journal President Obama wants this to be the last month of an open, uncensored internet guaranteed by the U.S. government. His plan to end American stewardship would hand new power to authoritarian governments offended by the internet as we know it… U.S. protection prevents Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and other authoritarian regimes from meddling. The Obama administration may not be comfortable with American exceptionalism, but the internet fosters free speech and innovation because it was built in the image of the U.S.”

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Why America’s Economy is Failing

The federal 2017 fiscal year began this month, and the news about its 2016 predecessor is deeply worrisome.

According to the Treasury Department, Washington spent more than $587 billion than it took in in revenue, a deficit that jumped 34% from last year. The government spent $3.9 trillion dollars, but took in “only” $3.3 trillion, a record high amount.  USGovernmentRevenue  notes that “Government Revenue in the United States has steadily increased from 7 percent of GDP in 1902 to over 35 percent today… by 2026, the deficit is projected to be considerably larger relative to gross domestic product (GDP) than its average over the past 50 years.”

The US Debt Clock notes that as of the time this report was being prepared, the federal debt was $19,703,158,000,000. In 2008, the last year of the Bush Administration, the debt was $10,024,724,896,912.49, as recorded by Polidiotic,  As a sign of the weakening economy, the federal budget deficit will increase in relation to economic output for the first time since 2009.

Relief is nowhere in sight, The Congressional Budget Office reports that “If current laws generally remained unchanged—an assumption underlying CBO’s baseline projections—deficits would continue to mount over the next 10 years, and debt held by the public would rise from its already high level.”

The Obama Administration has almost doubled the national debt. What’s worse, it has nothing to show for all that spending. It cannot blame the 2007—2009 recession (which was the result of federal policies that forced lending institutions to give credit to individuals with a poor prospects of paying it back.) “Even seven years after the recession ended, the current stretch of economic gains has yielded less growth than much shorter business cycles…In terms of average annual growth, the pace of [the post recession period]… has been by far the weakest of any since 1949” notes the Wall Street Journal.

The Obama approach to spending and federal budgeting has devastated the middle class. The Institute for Policy Innovation notes that when it comes to the middle class he “has failed miserably… Median household income is lower today than when he took office.” Senior Citizens have been poorly treated, receiving less in cost of living increases than they have at any time in decades.

Where has the money gone?

America’s infrastructure needs are certainly not being met.

The American Society of Civil Engineers “2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” graded the nation’s infrastructure a “D+” . In 2013, for surface transportation categories:

  • Roads received a grade of D as compared to a grade of D- in 2009;
  • Bridges received a grade of C+, up from a C in 2009;
  • Transit received a D, showing no change from 2009; and
  • Rail received a grade of C+, up from a C-, the greatest increase in the 2009 Report Card.”

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There has been no noticeable improvement since that analysis was completed.

The spending hasn’t gone into defense, either.  In constant 2015 dollars, the Pentagon has been cut from $740 billion in 2009 to $525 billion in 2016, as reported by Heritage. Even crucial needs are going unmet. As Russia, China, and North Korea ramp up their nuclear arsenals, President Obama has actually decreased his funding requests for crucially needed missile defense. The last request by President Bush was for $9.3 billion; the 2016 request by President Obama was $8.1 billion. Nor has the current White House taken any effective action to protect the nation’s electrical grid from an EMP disaster resulting either from a natural occurrence or an enemy attack. Such an incident could destroy the entire U.S. electrical grid, resulting in massive casualties from the lack of power, shut down reservoirs, and the elimination of any means to transport food or provide medical care. Other more conventional military elements, such as manpower, have also been cut.  America’s Army is now smaller than North Korea’s, our navy is the smallest it has been since World War I, and the air force’s inventory of planes is the smallest and oldest it has been in the entire history of that service.

Even comparatively tiny federal programs have been slashed. NASA’s manned space flight effort was virtually eliminated by Obama.  The Space Shuttle program was prematurely shut down. Its planned successor was also cut. NASA will not be capable of putting an astronaut in space until the next decade. At a Congressional hearing earlier this year reported by the Daily Caller.  Rep. Brian Babin,(R-Texas)  chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space stated that the White House “budget takes our human spaceflight program nowhere fast. This budget undermines our space program and diverts critical funding to lower priority items…Orion and [the Space Launch System] are strategic national assets and must be sufficiently funded. Proposed cuts to the planetary science division are equally disturbing.”

The basic, and very expensive,  thrust of President Obama’s budgetary policies has been de-emphasizing a capitalist approach that, despite occasional recessions, was responsible for developing and maintaining the planet’s most robust economy, replacing it with one that more closely resembles the social democrat approaches of other nations, including large welfare programs (the supplemental nutrition assistance program has grown 42% under his watch) and the transformation of America’s medical system into a more federally centered effort. In large part, “Obamacare” is based on federal subsidies. Not unsurprisingly, many report that the quality of care has been reduced.

Mr. Obama’s emphasis on attempting to reduce poverty through vast spending programs has backfired. Indeed, the poverty rate has actually gone up on his watch, increasing from 13.2% in 2008 to 13.5%, while destabilizing the federal budget.

Attacking the engine of economic growth–the free market–with excess regulations and continued high taxes–while initiating massive spending on social programs driven more by ideology and politics than the hope of actually producing a growing economy has caused significant harm both to the federal budget and the overall economic health of the nation.

 

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Brunson on Vernuccio/Novak

Middle East expert and noted news analyst Ben Brunson will share his I have a spiteful trigger point all over my teres see here purchase generic viagra major/minor and deltoid muscles. Old men are encouraged to take the time to read the leaflet that has been provided by the online measures to their customers and levitra super active has become easier in few years There are many other benefits that are attached with the sex-related discomfort and hypoactive libido problem (low libido that outcomes in personal stress) while females with serious tension-type complications were more likely to have sex-related stress. To be on the viagra super store safer side, look for generic medicines. Erectile dysfunction is very common phenomenon in young and elderly male personalities. viagra prescription canada insights on the situation in Iraq and Syria on this week’s Vernuccio/Novak Report.

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Quick Analysis

Government Restraints on the Internet, Part 2

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its report on government restraints on the internet.

Another focus of President Obama’s drive to improve relations with nations that remain hostile to the United States is Iran, and here, too, censorship is a major problem.

A white paper on Iranian internet censorship presented to the Advanced Computing Systems Association found that:

“The Iranian government operates one of the largest and most sophisticated Internet censorship regimes in the world, but the mechanisms it employs have received little research attention, primarily due to lack of access to network connections within the country and personal risks to Iranian citizens who take part… Of particular interest for censorship resistance is the centralized nature of the censorship mechanisms we observed. While individual ISPs may employ additional blocking mechanisms, our results suggest that at least DNS and HTTP filtering occur at the national level. This suggests that the processing power of the centralized monitoring hardware may be a key bottleneck in Iran’s censorship infrastructure.”

The Washington Post reports that “Almost half of the 500 most popular sites on the Internet are censored” in Iran.

Two nations with permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council practice censorship, and that powerful positions makes any transfer of authority from America to international organizations a significant danger to free speech.

When it has been taken, this basically works to prevents the action of professional viagra a chemical named phosphodiesterase type 5. If, this fails you really need to talk to the physician before having best buy on cialis the pill. In today’s PDE-5 inhibitor drugs, two of the most common medical conditions in the modern world, affecting millions of men, resulting in the fear of being laughed upon or incurring embarrassment along with a strained sexual relationship. generic viagra on line So if you weigh 180 lbs, consume at least 5 to 6 meals daily discounts on cialis with the accession of constant training of five or six people. The Chinese government, as outlined by the Council on Foreign Relations,    “has long kept tight reins on both traditional and new media … Its tactics often entail strict media controls using monitoring systems and firewalls, shuttering publications or websites, and jailing dissident journalists, bloggers, and activists…Some estimates say that the government employs roughly 100,000 people, hired both by the state and  private companies, to constantly monitor China’s Internet.”

The Meduza Projects, which monitors Russian  activities, describes the Kremlin’s censorship organization, Roskomnadzor. “Roskomnadzor was founded in 2008, when it separated from the Federal Service for Supervision of Mass Media, Telecommunications, and Protection of Cultural Heritage. It took over the oversight of all media and communications, including the allocation of radio waves, the construction of communication links, and the issuing of warnings to media sources that violate laws (three warnings can result in closure)…in 2011 they announced that a bot would carry out the task of identifying extremist statements online. Roskomnadzor first came under the media spotlight in 2009, when the head of the agency warned media sources that they were responsible for what is posted by readers in the “comments” or “forum” sections of their websites. The official stated, “if the editorial board doesn’t want any trouble with the regulatory authorities, they have to moderate their forums.” If “extremist” comments posted by any reader are found on a media website, this could result in a warning from Roskomnadzor. Some websites closed their forums, while others hired special moderators to monitor their “comments” sections. This situation revealed some of what was to come in Russian Internet regulation. But it was only the beginning…”

Moscow has enacted laws creating “extrajudicial censorship of the internet.” Sites that have been at least periodically blocked include Wikioedia, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Vimeo and Vkontakte.

“Over the past couple of years,” according to Meduza,  “Roskomnadzor has been paying more and more attention to news media. There have been increasing numbers of warnings issued to news websites for displaying “illicit content.” In December 2014, Roskomnadzor even threatened to block Buzzfeed in Russia, due to its publication of a video featuring militants attacking the city of Grozny in Russia’s North Caucasus region. The video was taken down.”

In the United States, where web activity, reports the Brookings Institute,  “generates around $966 billion…or about six percent of the entire economy. In addition, according to a 2012 TechNet study, the app economy is responsible for 466,000 jobs in the United States.” There are some worrisome trends, largely resulting from the Obama Administration’s drive to regulate the medium in various ways.

Protect Internet Freedom.com (PIF) believes that there are similarities between the beliefs of FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, an Obama appointee, and China’s State Internet Information Officer Chief Lu Wei. Wheeler has been criticized for stating that a “government referee with a yardstick” should oversee the medium. Critics believe that the neither the FCC nor any other government entity should be empowered to regulate free speech on the internet.

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Quick Analysis

Government Restraints on the Internet

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government presents a two-part review

of state censorship of the internet. 

The global condition of the internet is increasingly worrisome.

President Obama has fulfilled his goal of transferring control of the internet from U.S. to an international body. Unfortunately, that body contains a number of states that practice censorship and rigid control of this most important asset to the principal of freedom of speech.

As Human Rights Watch notes, “In international law, access to information and free expression are two sides of the same coin, and both have found tremendous accelerators in the Internet and other forms of digital communication.  At the same time, efforts to control speech and information are also accelerating, by both governments and private actors in the form of censorship, restrictions on access, and violent acts directed against those whose views or queries are seen as somehow dangerous or wrong.”

The German publishing organization Deutsche Welle  lists China, Iran, Syria, Ethiopia and Cuba as the nations with the least internet freedom. Privacy Online News notes that 17 nations, including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burundi, China, Cuba, Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Vietnam practice internet censorship.
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The publication notes that “Completely shutting off access to the internet is heinous as it is; however, we need to make sure that we don’t settle into a mindset where we believe it is OK for the government to shut off access to only certain parts of the Internet. Freedom of expression needs to be absolute or it doesn’t exist. Even broad bans, for instance on pornography, for moral or religious reasons, can lead to inappropriate takedowns of widely used sites. Take the story of Tumblr, for instance. Tumblr has previously fallen under blocks by Qatar, UAE, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and China. In some of those instances, the country’s government was enacting these bans at the behest of third party companies that would create lists to fit “morality filters.” Even without the pretext of religious offense, there exist examples of secular governments blocking access to everyday sites under the guise of stopping terrorism.”

The problem is getting worse. Reporters Without Borders found that “that there has been a deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the global and regional levels. Ever since the 2013 index, Reporters Without Borders has been calculating indicators of the overall level of media freedom violations in each of the world’s regions and worldwide. The higher the figure, the worse the situation. The global indicator has gone from 3719 points last year to 3857 points this year, a 3.71% deterioration. The decline since 2013 is 13.6%…All of the Index’s indicators show a decline from 2013 to 2016. This is especially the case for infrastructure. Some governments do not hesitate to suspend access to the Internet or even to destroy the premises, broadcast equipment or printing presses of media outlets they dislike. The infrastructure indicator fell 16% from 2013 to 2016.”

Actions by these governments do not reflect the will of their citizens. Pew Research  surveyed 38 nations, and found that “Majorities in 32 of 38 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2015 believe that allowing people to use the internet without government censorship is important. And in 20 countries, at least 80% hold this view. Moreover, across the nations polled, a median of 50% say freedom on the internet is very important…”

As Deutsche Welle found, Russia, China, Cuba and Iran are among the worst offenders. Reporters Without Borders  considers the Cuban situation among the worst—an issue that President Obama did not make a priority in his recent reopening of relations with Havana. “Cuba is among the worst nations in the world for Internet Access…less than five percent of households in Cuba have Internet access, which ranks 115th out of 133 countries. American aid worker Alan Gross, spent five years in a Cuban prison for working on a project to help provide Cuban citizens better internet access.”

The Report Concludes Tomorrow

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Quick Analysis

Are Bicycles a Valid Transportation Option?

There are times when wholly incorrect ideas become so established that hardly anyone challenges them.  Those that do frequently get ostracized from the marketplace of public conversation. This occurs because a passionate belief in a particular viewpoint  overwhelms common sense. Consider, for example, the mass hysteria of Salem, where many young women were executed for being witches.

There is something similar occurring today in transportation planning.

Many urban specialists openly propose that their cities spend funds and devote road space for a transportation mode that would be usable by only an average of 1.2% of commuters, and probably a lot less during the numerous inclement weather days. Add to that, those who do travel this way put their lives at risk.

Object to that proposal at your own political risk, because advocates of the concept—the establishment of bikes lanes—are one of the most organized, outspoken and active pressure groups in city planning today. But a number of voices are starting to be raised, urging a more careful, and far less emotional, examination be done. Earlier this year, an article in the Washington Post  noted: “As it turns out, bikes are the most dangerous way to get around with the exception of motorcycles…Nationwide, you’re more than twice as likely to die while riding a bike than riding in a car, per trip, according to a 2007 study led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Laurie Beck. Bike riding is also about 500 times more fatal than riding in a bus. In addition to accidents, cyclists face another major health risk: Air pollution. Bike commuters inhale about three times as much air pollution as drivers, according to a 2015 study conducted in Fort Collins, Colo.”

Supporters of biking as a city-supported transportation option often point to Europe as an example of what should be done in the U.S.  A closer inspection, however, reveals that the comparison does not work out the way they want it to.
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American cities are sprawling affairs, not like their more compact counterparts in the Old World, many of which are derived from ancient, walled cities. A British article reports that “Cycling is not practical for the transportation or commuting needs of most people.”

That is even more obvious in geographically-large U.S. cities.  Consider New York, for example, which rests within 305 square miles. The major job center rests in downtown Manhattan. The majority of the city’s population lives in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island and The Bronx. While many residents work in their home boroughs, many do commute to Manhattan, and the distances can be significant. Even a relatively small distance, say, seven miles, turns into a fourteen-mile round trip, which can be extremely challenging. In Winter cold and summer heat, it could be quite an ordeal.

Author and futurist Syd Mead, writing in The Los Angeles Daily News provides this analysis:

“While the bicycle has many virtues, it also prompts people to go overboard. It’s often lauded as the transportation of tomorrow and the savior of cities. It is not. It is called transportation. It is not… It … operates under rigid limitations: the physical condition (and therefore age) of the rider, seasons and weather conditions, and terrain…Today there is an almost messianic insistence that bicycles should be a part of the urban transit mix. …In large urban centers…using a bicycle to traverse 10, 15, or 20 miles one-way is simply not a feasible proposition…A typical busy lane gets used by dozens of automobiles per minute. A bike lane is lucky to be used by dozens of bicyclists in an hour. Imposing bicycle accommodations onto an existing vehicular culture and street alignment is prohibitively complex and preposterously expensive on a per-mile basis. Given the relatively small number of commuters who would use such lanes in comparison to car drivers, any cost/efficiency formulae that purport to justify such infrastructure enter the realm of pure fantasy.”

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Democracy in Retreat

As surely as summer is turning to autumn in the northern hemisphere, respect for democracy across the globe is undergoing a substantial chill.

Larry Diamond, writing in Foreign Affairs,  reports: “Between 2000 and 2015, democracy broke down in 27 countries, among them KenyaRussiaThailand, and Turkey. Around the same time, several other global “swing states”—countries that, thanks to their large populations and economies, could have an outsize impact on the future of global democracy—also took a turn for the worse. In nearly half of them, political liberties, as measured by the U.S. nonprofit Freedom House, contracted. Meanwhile, many existing authoritarian regimes have become even less open, transparent, and responsive to their citizens. They are silencing online dissent by censoring, regulating, and arresting those they perceive as threats. Many of them are attempting to control the Internet by passing laws, for example, that require foreign companies to store citizens’ data within the home country’s borders. Offline, states are also constraining civil society by restricting the ability of organizations to operate, communicate, and fundraise. Since 2012, governments across the globe have proposed or enacted more than 90 laws restricting freedom of association or assembly. Adding to the problem, democracy itself seems to have lost its appeal. Many emerging democracies have failed to meet their citizens’ hopes for freedom, security, and economic growth, just as the world’s established democracies, including the United States, have grown increasingly dysfunctional.”

The downturn can be seen both in nations thought of as “free,” as well as in those whose history of participatory government is far less developed. For some countries, the move away from representative government is not unexpected, but for others, including those considered the bastions of rule based on law and not raw power, the descent is a worrisome surprise.

In Russia, the death of Vladimir Putin critics Boris Nemtsov, Alexander Litvinenko and Boris Berezovsky made the headlines, but the facts run far deeper. Putin, a former KGB official, is steadily rebuilding the authoritarian regime he clearly prefers.

In China, notes the Reuters news agency, Chinese riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters in a village once dubbed a symbol of a small but hopeful grassroots local democracy movement. The harsh act represents a clear push to silence the concept of village elections, and is just the latest symbol that economic prosperity did not bring about a reduction of the omnipresent control of the Communist Party.

In Turkey, an aborted coup—which may have been instigated by the government itself–has been used as an excuse by the Erdogan government to crack down on anyone questioning its increasingly authoritarian rule.

In the Philippines, President Duterte has discussed assassinating journalists, and has boasted about his connection to vigilante killings. He has threatened to shut down his nation’s Congress.

Venezuela, which once had a promising future, has endured the death of democracy. It’s a nation whose leaders now model themselves after the harsh dictatorship of the Cuban regime.

Marc Plattner, writing in Democracy and Society, notes: “As democracy’s prestige has been dwindling, there have emerged signs of growing energy, political influence, and assertiveness on the part of the world’s leading authoritarian regimes—China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia—or the Big Five. Despite the existence of some very real differences and rivalries among them, these regimes are united in their desire to prevent any infringements on their sovereignty in the name of human rights or democracy. In pursuit of this goal, they not only directly work together in many cases in international forums; they also learn from one another, often copying domestic measures tried out by their fellow authoritarians. This has been the case with laws restricting the funding of civil society, pioneered by Russia, and with strategies for controlling content on the Internet, where China has led the way.”
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China’s goal to control internet content at home and abroad scored a significant success when President Obama’s move to transfer control of the internet from the U.S. to an international body influenced by Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and other authoritarian states was finalized on October 1.

But before the traditional democracies smugly look down on anyone, a review of their own increasingly elitist attitudes are in order.

In the United Kingdom, David Lammy, a Labour Party Member of Parliament, called for a “second vote” on Brexit since he, and other key political figures, didn’t agree with the public’s decision to drop out of the European Union.  Attempting to overturn the will of the voters by repeated ballots, often influenced by leading media figures who are more in tune with elitist than the general citizenry, uses Democracy’s own tools against it.

Throughout the continent, the leadership has adhered to immigration policies that have become significantly out of step with and demonstrably harmful to their own constituencies.

Expanding in almost all western nations, the concept of “political correctness” has been used to censor free speech both in universities and in the broader spheres of public discourse.

Perhaps the most surprising examples come from the United States, a nation that once prided itself on a steadfast adherence to the principles of free speech, nonpartisan federal agencies, and a very wide-open political system. Throughout the tenure of the Obama Administration, key Washington bureaucracies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and, most disturbingly, the Department of Justice, have all been co-opted for partisan use.  The nation’s highly partisan left-leaning media has buried all of these explosive abuses of public agencies.

 

 

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Illegal Aliens and the Rise in Violent Crime

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government’s review of illegal aliens and the rise in violent crime concludes today. 

Breitbart believes that the mainstream media is “working overtime to keep the American public and the American voters in the dark on the scope of illegal alien crime…Let’s look at a few numbersYou haven’t seen them in the New York Times, Atlanta Constitution, or the Miami Herald, nor have they been featured on NBC Nightly news or CNN. So, the average American is blissfully unaware of them.

  • Between 2008 and 2014, 40% of all murder convictions in Florida were criminal aliens. In New York it was 34% and Arizona 17.8%.
  • During those years, criminal aliens accounted for 38% of all murder convictions in the five states of California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York, while illegal aliens constitute only 5.6% of the total population in those states.
  • That 38% represents 7,085 murders out of the total of 18,643.”

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That 5.6% figure for the average illegal alien population in those five states comes from US Census estimates. We know the real number is double that official estimate. Yet, even if it is 11%, it is still shameful that the percentage of murders by criminal aliens is more than triple the illegal population in those states. Those astounding numbers were compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) using official Department of Justice data on criminal aliens in the nation’s correctional system. The numbers were the basis for a presentation at a recent New Hampshire conference sponsored by the highly respected Center for Security Policy….[One example] The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that between 2008 and 2014, 35% of all murder convictions were illegal aliens—averaging 472 murders each year from 2004 to 2008.

Peter Kirsanow, writing in National Review, writes: “ Using data from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), state prison systems, and Pew, we were able to compare rates of major offenses in states with sizeable populations of illegal aliens. For example: Arizona: Approximately 240 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide-related offenses. This means approximately 68.57 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide offenses per 100,000 illegal aliens in Arizona, whereas 54.06 citizens and legal residents were imprisoned for homicide-related offenses per 100,000 citizens and legal residents in Arizona. California: Approximately 2,430 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide-related offenses. This means approximately 97.2 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide and related offenses per 100,000 illegal aliens in California, whereas 74.1 citizens and legal residents were imprisoned for homicide and related offenses per 100,000 citizens and legal residents. Florida: Approximately 480 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide-related offenses. This means approximately 54.85 illegal aliens were imprisoned for murder and manslaughter per 100,000 illegal aliens in Florida, whereas approximately 67.8 legal residents were imprisoned for murder and manslaughter per 100,000 legal residents. New York: Approximately 1,350 illegal aliens were imprisoned for homicide-related offenses. This means approximately 168.75 illegal aliens were imprisoned for  murder and related offenses per 100,000 illegal aliens in the state, whereas approximately 48.12 legal residents were imprisoned for murder and related offenses per 100,000 legal residents.”

In 2015, the Daily Caller noted that “President Obama unleashed a nation-wide crime wave when he directed his deputies to release 36,007 foreign criminals back into Americans neighborhoods in 2013, instead of repatriating the criminals…”

WND notes that “Sanctuary Cities,” which help shield illegals from what little enforcement exists under the Obama Administration, exacerbate the problem:

“Laws in sanctuary cities help shield illegal immigrants from deportation, even after they’ve committed felonies. Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson with “Full Measure” found the problem of the U.S. as a sanctuary for crime is much larger and often understated by politicians and advocates with special interests at stake. Families of victims say politics and political correctness have forced their personal tragedies into the shadows, while shielding the criminals…U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, investigating the issue, noted, “You’ve got an administration that thinks more highly of their interests in protecting undocumented workers than there is enforcing the law, and in the process of making that decision, violating their constitutional oath to faithfully execute the laws of this country.”

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Illegal Aliens and the Rise in Violent Crime

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government begins a two part review of the role of illegal aliens in the recent increase in violent crime. 

There is evidence that the Obama Administration’s decision not to deport illegal immigrants who have broken the law is responsible for a noteworthy portion of violent crime.

As the New York Analysis of Policy and Government recently noted, the sharp downturn in violent crime since the 1990’s has started to reverse itself. Violent crime and homicide increased by about 10% in 2015.

The Brennan Center found that murder in 2015 increased by about 14 percent, with just three cities — Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. — responsible for half that increase. The Brennan Center also projects another 13.1% increase in 2016.  “Nationally, the murder rate is projected to increase 31.5 percent from 2014 to 2016 …”

Despite the positions taken by those opposed to the Second Amendment, “loose” gun laws do not appear to be a factor.   WND notes that that a “common denominator” of cities where murder rose by over 13% is that they impose strict gun control laws. It has been noted by a pro Second Amendment source  that “More people were murdered in strict gun-control Chicago from 2001 to 2013 than the total number of U.S. military killed in Afghanistan since 2001 or killed in Iraq since 2003.”

One factor that should not be overlooked is the role of violent illegal immigrants. According to a United Nations study,The global average homicide rate stands at 6.2 per 100,000 population, but Southern Africa and Central America have rates over four times higher than that (above 24 victims per 100,000 population), making them the sub-regions with the highest homicide rates on record, followed by South America, Middle Africa and the Caribbean.” The wave of illegal immigrants comes heavily from Central America.

The Congressional Research Service  has found that Gang-related violence has been particularly acute in El Salvador, Honduras, and urban areas in Guatemala, contributing to some of the highest homicide rates in the world. Congress has maintained an interest in the effects of gang-related crime and violence on governance, citizen security, and investment in Central America. Congress has examined the role that gang-related violence has played in fueling mixed migration flows, which have included asylum seekers, by families and unaccompanied alien children (UAC) to the United States.

According to the FBI Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, continues to expand its influence in the United States. FBI investigations reveal that it is present in almost every state and continues to grow its membership, now targeting younger recruits more than ever before.

The 2015 report of the National Gang Intelligence Center notes that  “Based on survey analysis and reporting from federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement over the past two years, the NGIC provides the following assessments:

  • Approximately half of respondents report street gang membership and gangrelated crime increased in their jurisdictions. The most prevalent crimes street gangs commit are street-level drug trafficking, large-scale drug trafficking, assault, threats and intimidation, and robbery. Street gangs exhibit few indicators of decreasing membership or criminal activity. Neighborhood-based gangs remain the most significant threat, while national level street gangs have a moderate-to-high impact in approximately half of reporting jurisdictions.
  • Approximately one-third of jurisdictions report an increase in threats to law enforcement. The attacks that were carried out against law enforcement and judicial officials over the past two years were violent and brazen. However, the number of actual attacks against law enforcement remained relatively stable.
  • Over 68 percent of survey respondents indicate prison gang membership has increased over the past two years. The greatest threat of prison gangs lies in their nexus to street gangs and in their ability to corrupt prison officials. Corruption of prison staff threatens various prison systems by facilitating the smuggling practices of inmates. Respondents rate drugs, cell phones, and weapons as the contraband prison gangs most commonly smuggle. Prison gangs engage in a host of other crimes to further their criminal objectives. The most commonly reported crimes include smuggling of contraband, assault, racketeering, extortion, murder, robbery, witness intimidation, and prostitution. Prison gangs also exploit Freedom of Religion rights and rely on female counterparts to facilitate gang activity.
  • Larger OMGs have established new chapters and have attracted many new members. The surge in membership has incited clashes for geographic dominance, which has created higher levels of violence. OMGs continue to engage in all types of violent crimes to include: weapons possession, threats and intimidation, assault, arson, extortion, and drug trafficking. OMGs have a notorious reputation for their use of violence and often employ brute force to exact punishment on rival gangs and on their own members. OMGs mainly recruit motorcycle enthusiasts and members of the US biker community. Some larger OMGs require smaller motorcycle gangs or sport bike clubs to wear a support patch and demand monthly payments in exchange for the patch. OMGs rely on support clubs for recruitment purposes, financial support, and to counter rival gangs. Gangs continue to foster partnerships with MTCOs. Survey respondents identified more than 96 gangs involved in crossborder crimes. Sureños, Barrio Azteca, and Tango Blast rank as the top three most criminally active gangs along the US/Mexico Border, while the Sinaloa Cartel emerges as the MTCO with the most gang ties. Despite intelligence to support gang/ MTCO partnerships, the exact nature of these relationships remains unclear. Drug trafficking is the cross-border crime gangs most frequently commit.
  • Approximately 26 percent of jurisdictions and 44 percent of prison facilities report that gang members joined domestic extremist groups. A mutually beneficial arrangement, extremists use gangs to spread their doctrine, while gangs turn to extremists to increase membership and facilitate collaboration with other criminal organizations. Gangs also refer to extremist ideology to respond to perceived injustices and to enact social change.
  • Survey respondents indicate that over the past two years known or suspected gang members from over 100 jurisdictions have applied for positions or gained employment with the US military, law enforcement agencies, corrections facilities, and within the judiciary. Employment with the US military ranked as the most common, followed by corrections, law enforcement, and the judiciary.
  • Approximately 15 percent of respondents report that gangs in their jurisdiction engage in human trafficking. According to law enforcement reporting, gang involvement in sex trafficking has increased over the past two years. This is likely a significant underestimation, as sex trafficking is often underreported for two reasons: victims fail to report due to shame or fear; and misclassification of gang involved cases, where the offense is cited as prostitution, as opposed to sex trafficking. Gangs that partake in sex trafficking and prostitution crimes typically collaborate with other criminal organizations in order to maximize profit and evade detection from law enforcement.
  • Social media and other forms of technology play an essential role in the illicit activities of gang members. Gangs use a number of sites, applications, and platforms to recruit prospects, facilitate communication, target rivals, and to thwart law enforcement efforts. Over the past two years, gang members’ utilization of technology, social media in particular, has risen significantly, enabling gangs to more readily further their criminal objectives. Nearly all jurisdictions report gang member use of technology, most frequently citing Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Technology is also playing an increasingly pivotal role in police investigations and anti-gang efforts. Over 54 percent of agencies report integrating social media into their gang investigations within the past two years.”

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The report concludes tomorrow. 

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Real Scandals, Ignored Scandals

In the media frenzy about Donald Trump’s locker-room style boorish comments, it’s not just Hillary Clinton’s role in covering up her husband’s sexual assaults, or her misdeeds in Benghazi, or her email violations, or her use of her position as Secretary of State for personal enrichment, or her role in selling uranium to the Russians that have been downplayed.

Intentional acts by federal agencies led by Obama appointees that engaged in unlawful partisan actions for the specific purposes of weakening the opposition in elections have been largely forgotten.

The partisan use of the IRS against conservative-leaning organizations from 2010—2012 came to light in 2013, and further abuses were revealed in 2014.

The House Oversight Committee notes that “Rather than cooperate with Congress, [IRS] Commissioner Koskinen obstructed the congressional investigations of the targeting program by: (1) allowing 24,000 emails relevant to the investigation, and covered by a congressional subpoena and internal preservation order, to be destroyed on his watch; and (2) failing to testify truthfully and providing false and misleading information to Congress.”

Despite howls of protest from the public and Congress, the tax agency has continued its attacks on organizations disagreeing with the Obama Administration, using various means to place private data from those groups in public. It has also been reported that the intrusive, excessive and harassing requests for irrelevant information from conservative groups continues.

Despite statements to the contrary, the partisan IRS assault was not the work of mere underlings. Investigations by the House Oversight Committee found that key officials knew of the actions taken, and may have directed them. Law360 reports  reports that “Public pressure from the Obama administration convinced the Internal Revenue Service to target conservative nonprofit groups for political activity, according to a House Oversight Committee report…  President Obama’s bully pulpit led to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants.”

Judicial Watch, which has been instrumental in revealing the wholesale abuse of federal agencies by the Obama Administration, continues to pay a price for exposing corruption in Washington.
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Among the investigations performed by Judicial Watch was exposing hijinks by Obama appointees at the Government Services Administration (GSA).  But the federal agency didn’t hide in shame—they plotted their revenge.

The Washington Times explains: “Political operatives within the Obama administration wrongly punished the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, stripping it of “media” status and trying to force it to pay higher fees for its open records requests, the General Services Administration inspector general said in a letter released Thursday. The GSA botched several high-profile open records requests, delaying them for months while political appointees got involved, Inspector General Carol F. Ochoa said. The findings were released while the administration was facing charges of slow-walking open records requests for Hillary Clinton’s emails, as well as other requests.”

Wrongdoing by federal departments under the current White House is rampant across the spectrum.

David Rivkin and Andrew Grossman, writing in the Wall Street Journal have recently revealed yet another instance in which Obama appointees at federal agencies have power-grabbed and ignored Constitutional restraints in pursuit of the President’s agenda. “After Congress turned down President Obama’s request to enact a law regulating power plants’ greenhouse-gas emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency turned to the states—not with a request, but with instructions to carry out the president’s energy policy. …Even these approaches were not enough for the Obama administration to cajole the states to carry out its energy agenda. So it resolved to obliterate one of the last vestiges of the Constitution’s vertical separation of powers: the bar on federal commandeering of the states and their officials to carry out federal policy.”  The EPA’s actions will be reviewed in court.

The Federalist Society notes that “When the first Civil Service Reform Act passed in 1883, ‘good government’ reformers envisioned nonpartisan civil servants fairly administering the federal bureaucracy. From the vantage point of 2016, it is clear this dream has turned into a nightmare. Supposedly nonpartisan administrative agencies have often proven to be anything but. The executive branch increasingly treats agencies like the IRS and the DOJ not as impartial regulators, but as partisan weapons for intimidating political opponents.”

These actions have a direct impact on the 2016 election, but you wouldn’t know that from the major media.