tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38958958331884045712024-03-05T22:31:51.989-05:00ODYSSEUS ON THE ROCKSChronicling the decline of the west and the emergence of all that stuff that floats to the top of dead systems. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.comBlogger579125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-30379218087888924132019-11-12T13:35:00.000-05:002019-11-12T14:06:11.542-05:00BERLIN WALLCSPAN's anniversary coverage of the Berlin Wall collapse last night was very interesting. Mary Alice Williams was interviewing the US-West German ambassador and other notables. What struck me was Williams approach to this monumental event. Williams bombarded the West German ambassador was bombarded with questions about how this influx of Germans would be a problem for Germany.<br />
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Leave it to a liberal American journalist to see the collapse of East German as a cornucopia of problems for all the other Germans.<br />
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Ample imagery of the walls erection and the attendant shootings were aired, but the issue of just why people faced death in order to exit the German Democratic Republic was never aired. Was it because they couldn't wait ten years for a Trabant? Was the beer that much better in the west? Or, just perhaps it was the soul crushing tyranny of the Socialist DDR.<br />
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Mary Alice Williams is still working in journalism. She is the Anchor of NJTV, a state owned station in the people's republic of New Jersey. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-35520661876611231802019-10-25T16:35:00.001-04:002019-10-28T14:50:14.845-04:00TURKS, KURDS AND ARMENIANS. OH DEAR!This, overheard on CSPAN a few days ago. One Congress critter among the bipartisan scolds lamenting our withdrawal from Syria said words to the effect; <u>I'm outraged and will reintroduce Arminian Genocide remembrance legislation as soon as I can.</u><br />
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This is to slap Turkey for its famous historical crime against the Armenians.<br />
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Those among us with a bit of historical awareness will recall that Kurds within the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire were among the most enthusiastic murderers of the Armenians. They also enslaved and force-converted Arminian Christian girls in the manner of ISIS.<br />
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Too much to hope for erudition from members of Congress, but couldn't they hire staffers with a bit more knowledge they have? It couldn't be hard.Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-87876744489678194942019-10-22T17:16:00.002-04:002019-10-22T18:53:30.117-04:00ARE WE ALL EUROPEANS NOW?President Trump now finds himself in a European conundrum where winning office is only a probationary status pending establishment legal proceedings in countries like Italy and France.<br />
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Assassination by lawyer using every jot and tittle of the law and legal procedure is not completely new in the USA, but it now seems to have taken hold. We need to take note of this departure from American norms. Americans in the past were not tolerant of legal niggling after elections. Neither was the legal community. There was a recognition that aspects of American governance, like the Electoral College, Congressional redistricting and the like, were properly political. Within a system designed by the founders for men and not angels, some leeway was to be expected. Wheeling and dealing are to some extent inevitable in governance. If this rises to high crimes and misdemeanors, investigation and prosecution are warranted. Below that level, there is always the next election. Certainly, sub-rosa investigations of corruption and other wrongdoing were expected. But such investigations were for the purpose of gathering ammunition for the next election. We now have organized scalp hunting of elected officials as a permanent coup. Trump finds himself in company with Silvio Berlusconi, Jacques Chirac and too many Israeli worthies to count.<br />
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If all this justice-seeking were a reflection of some genuine and even-handed love of virtue among its practitioners, that would be respectable if tiresome. But it is not. It reflects the reduction of law into mere tactics. It's simply political war levied against election winners by agents of the administrative state and the left. I see no reason to believe they will ever stop until they get a President they are prepared to accept. <br />
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A good rule in human affairs is, never back your opponent into a corner. By launching assaults on elected leaders for corrupt practices no worse than your own, you convince large segments of the population that voting for candidates who represent them is pointless. Convincing millions that the system is rigged, is asking for alternative means of public action. Petty corruption has been and is part of public life. Everyone knows this. If every election from now on is the starting gun for a race to indict, we will soon be beyond the realm of electoral politics altogether. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-616928047866360282019-07-19T22:04:00.000-04:002019-07-19T22:04:08.888-04:00I AM BACK AGAINAfter a long break, I am back online. I have moved to a new location and am writing again. looking forward to sharing and your responses. Who knows, some of you might even hit the contribution button. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-63144481634024203572018-12-30T15:32:00.000-05:002018-12-30T15:32:08.713-05:00GOODBYE SYRIACan we really be withdrawing our forces from Syria? Could anything so wise be happening? It seems so. President Trump, that tragically flawed messenger for sensible policy is pulling the plug on Obama's, or perhaps I should say, Hillary's pathetic adventure in Middle East warmongering. So what has been achieved?<br />
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The Kurds have yet again been set up for failure in their quest for a state of their own. No surprise here, as they have always paid the price for association with us. After all our bombing and blustering and advising, they still sit between Assad's Syria and Erdogan's Turkey. Neither are disposed to make nice. We have used the Kurds shamelessly for many decades and just as often washed our hands of them. We are their only hope for assistance so they make the same forlorn calculation over and over.<br />
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It's hard not to sympathize, but surely the question that must be asked is, why is their fate an American interest? Do the Kurds offer us a means to defend an American interest? Wouldn't a free Kurdistan under our protection be another Israel; a permanent impediment to good relations in the region and beyond?<br />
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-37315468244802342032018-09-15T19:20:00.000-04:002018-09-16T01:54:57.487-04:00HOOVERING UP THAT SCIENCE STUFF<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Margeret Hoover is at it again, with her debased version of Bill Buckley's old Firing Line show. This time her guest was Neal deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is the latest in a line of bores lecturing the rest of us in the name of science as though he is qualified to speak on matters far beyond his specialty. Unlike Bill Nye, he is an actual scientist so there is that at least. He was an early acolyte of the Canadien Marxist science popularizer Carl Sagan thus establishing a pedigree of sorts.<br />
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Tyson doesn't actually teach science so much as harangue humanity at large for clinging to religious or philosophical or other points of view that he himself doesn't like. He is on record as rejecting philosophy out of hand and he is a ferocious enemy of religion, particularly Christianity. Thus Tyson is right out of central casting for the role of Science Savant. He is a minority creature of the establishment preaching against the remnants of an older order. <br />
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The hoards of self-important ninnies who keep PBS alive need to think of themselves as a cognitive elite. They need their prejudices confirmed about what they know without going to the trouble of submitting to the discipline of finding out truths on their own. This is why PBS and NPR are so crammed with generalists and explainers spoon-feeding bogus "consensus" science, sociological and economic "Facts," to all the government workers, school teachers, and other drones dependant on public media for their self-respect. <br />
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Tyson flatters his viewers' self-regard by making snide attacks on flat-earthers, Bible believers and of course climate change deniers. Precisely how these beliefs harm our civilization or undermine material progress is left unsaid. He seems to assume that as long as any percentage of the public holds unorthodox views, these views will corrupt the decisionmaking of national leaders. History is not Tyson's strength. Since when has general ignorance deterred the powerful from pressing ahead with discovery? Did general illiteracy silence the Rennaisance? <br />
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It's noteworthy that Tyson "....never advises political leaders," and never debates anyone. If he did, he would be on record, hence linked with a course of action that might fail. If he debated, he might lose.<br />
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It's telling that for all his verbiage about scientific results, he never seems to address the one thing absolutely necessary for a public understanding of those results, Logic. Why is this? As a science popularizer, one would think that the application of logical reasoning to evaluate the torrent of scientific information would be a passion of his. Perhaps he considers logic, as a branch of Philosophy out of bounds?<br />
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Let's be honest, Tyson and Nye and Sagan before them are in the business of making the aging Baby Boomers feel good about matters they don't really understand.<br />
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<br />Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-76189013613261733582018-09-07T21:22:00.001-04:002018-09-07T21:22:16.969-04:00CONSERVATIVES NEED A POPE <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxA6ooZLWpWTWnG7FCryb0TLdTnW06HOvnXToMqfAttJMlYCg0mkI8nSt583u3uF5WNL220H5W2_mTiRSTSMZt_oaL6fNZCAwERsWpNLd07lKiC481XfO0fqfuy-hlZLFwi1oi0E2CQF0/s1600/hoover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="226" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxA6ooZLWpWTWnG7FCryb0TLdTnW06HOvnXToMqfAttJMlYCg0mkI8nSt583u3uF5WNL220H5W2_mTiRSTSMZt_oaL6fNZCAwERsWpNLd07lKiC481XfO0fqfuy-hlZLFwi1oi0E2CQF0/s320/hoover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just caught Herbert Hoover's granddaughter on PBS interviewing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J.D. Greer, head of the Southern Baptist Convention.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It was the kind of interview given to UFO believers or other dubious cranks. So what's happening here? Now that the memory of Bill Buckley is receding from memory, the little pink people at PBS decided to resurrect his old show <i>Firing Line</i>. Only this time, they substitute Hoover's fatuous GOP establishment geisha for Buckley's acerbic provocateur. One needn't know Hoover's history or the original show to see immediately just how bogus any conservative connection is. Hoover, who is a "Gay rights activist" and "Feminist"* and need I say, a former Bush II White House drone. She put one tendentious question after another to Pastor Greer as though the Baptists are some disreputable new cult whose bizarre beliefs need to be challenged before they catch on. I think CNN has their own click-bate pseudo conservative hottie working the same patch called, C.C. Cupp. She looks much better than Hoover as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember, this is PBS's "Conservative" show. It runs on Friday evening so one can catch it right after you take in the wisdom of another house "Conservative" pundit David Brooks. Brooks is one of the New York Times' house conservatives, meaning he is no conservative at all. He is also a neocon Never Trumper and all around crypto-Israeli. Yet he identifies as a conservative because he works for the Times and the only organized "Conservatives" are non-conservative Neo's with their own ties and alien allegiances.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPlegDaReSEkNtGfbPRSkRe6IoGdWduxwaSmiEG8PwXbe4WsUXwdtSfynUuggjwVJeMmdEKDvKAc_8tdTaNtWT3p49-920cyp0P8tgQN_9GH2DbBWBO7nEx9yaddUcDh58_OOKarggi4/s1600/Brooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPlegDaReSEkNtGfbPRSkRe6IoGdWduxwaSmiEG8PwXbe4WsUXwdtSfynUuggjwVJeMmdEKDvKAc_8tdTaNtWT3p49-920cyp0P8tgQN_9GH2DbBWBO7nEx9yaddUcDh58_OOKarggi4/s1600/Brooks.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We actual conservatives let this happen. We don't build, fund and support our own institutions. We offend the Capitalists we defend so much they won't give us a dime. So our enemies and imposters can actually impersonate us in our own country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, we need a Pope! Well, OK, not an actual pope, but is it beyond the wit of man to at least call out the phonies getting rich impersonating us?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* Simple Google search. She lays it all out there. </span><br />
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<br />Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-60614676087243588902018-08-16T19:29:00.004-04:002018-08-17T02:31:09.672-04:00OH OMAROSA, WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Memory can be a semi-reliable faculty at best. For days now I have been looking for a half-remembered Omarosa Manigault -Trenton NJ connection. I could swear there was one but alas, neither I or anyone I know could find it.<br />
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That led me to other questions. Omarosa's bathetic career of invitations to high-level employment, bad behavior and ejections are now before the public in high detail. First, she was a Vice Presidential staffer with Gore, then a White House aide and finally a Commerce Department employee. Her falling in with President Trump's lowlife reality TV ensemble cast is too well known to include here.<br />
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Googling Omarosa brings up numerous treatments sounding like they all came from the same source. Gore's former staff are not shy about her intractable, disruptive behavior. She comes across as the dysfunctional schemer she so transparently is on first sight. Like much in the public eye, this is reported as the obvious masquerading as deep insight.<br />
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So far as I can discover, no one asked or answered the following question, how the hell did she get a job on Al Gore's staff? How did this neurotic virago advance to the Vice Presidents Office? In New York Police parlance, "Who was her Rabbi?" Who did the Clinton Campaign feel obligated to? Or, was there some personal trait or service she rendered?<br />
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We'll never know unless a news source with sources of its own drills down a bit. Omarosa doesn't appear to have been able to deliver the two indispensable political necessities, money or votes. She was from Ohio and perhaps she had a connection able to deliver black votes in this swing state. It would be nice to know just what that connection was.<br />
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My own theory is this. Both parties expect little in the way of either competence or team play from blacks. As an old elected boss of mine confided " They (Black Republicans) always have their hand out (for money) every time I meet them." In my experience, the level of mutual cynicism between blacks and politicians is so steep that looking for honest players among either would be like looking for albinos at the beach. That said, our current reality demands black faces in every group picture. With the worst of Blacks to choose from, Omarosas are to be found everywhere. I've had to work with them in state government. A Division Director who fell asleep at his own staff meetings, A Deputy Director caught driving voters to the polls in his state car, (complete with state markings), budget staff who could not comprehend their mission, etc., I've worked through them all.<br />
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Of course, no one can or will admit this is the case. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-76684888569561275742018-07-19T20:14:00.001-04:002018-07-19T20:14:50.773-04:00<div style="text-align: center;">
OVER THE EDGE</div>
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I am not easily shocked. Congressmen declaring an elected President illegitimate does it. Can they mean us to take them seriously? If so they are declaring civil war. The same goes for declaring that the sitting President is a knowing agent of a foreign power. <br />
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What this proves to my mind is that both the hostile elites and their colleagues in the establishment press have simply given up on rational argument. Proof is no longer necessary when you can just calumniate enemies with conspiracy fantasies. Holding such fantasies is embarrassing, pretending they are solid news while perpetuating them without proof is an offense. Simply put, this is political warfare. <br />
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The establishment press has always had its own biases. The passing of the last old New Deal journalists, their replacement by lefty Baby Boomer hacks and now their transmission of control to spoiled ignorant activists got us here. I can't help loathing and pitying these smirking, self-assured JSchool empty suits. They are cutting off the branch upon which they sit. They are bringing forth a journalism sans rational, logical testing. And what is journalism without some reflective modesty? Such "Journalism" is mere propaganda. As we can see every night on CNN and MSNBC etc., you don't need to be smart or talented to do it.<br />
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It would be entertaining to see them fall in the collapse they are causing except that they may fall on MY head.<br />
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The delusional, irresponsible verbiage we hear from The Congress comes most from the minority Democrats who have never been held to account by their party for their enormities of both corruption and inanity. Now there are too many of them to deny or correct. Like the false journalists, they are too stupid to understand that by turning a branch of government into their publicly funded racket, they destroy the only thing that gives them any stature. When they push the nation into crisis, who do they think will protect them? <br />
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<br />Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-4297738253054486222018-04-19T17:09:00.002-04:002018-04-19T17:09:59.143-04:00MY LATEST ON VDARE.COM - STARBUCKS RACIAL HYPOCRISY <br /><div style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
People who enter commercial establishments but refuse to engage in commercial activity do so at the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/04/18/starbucks-philadelphia-arrests-raise-question-ever-ok-kick-someone-out-your-store-sometimes-but-race/521750002/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">sufferance</a> of the establishment. That us, <a href="https://www.vdare.com/articles/the-fulford-file-profiling-is-wrong-no-matter-how-right-it-is-as-ex-drug-dealer-and-thug-ja" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">unless they are magic people</a>, people for whom <a href="https://www.vdare.com/articles/will-beyonces-bullying-baseball-bat-brigade-get-a-civility-lecture-from-obama" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">normal expectations don’t apply.</a> Black Americans <a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/i-dont-think-black-people-really-understand-how-tired-everyone-else-is-of-hearing-how-hard-it-is-to-be-black" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">are such people</a> and show their awareness of their <a href="http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/013736.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">exalted status</a> at every turn. Ask <a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/more-on-racism-and-henry-louis-gates" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">any peace officer</a> in any city in America.</div>
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So what made this situation in Philadelphia <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=starbucks+philadelphia&client=firefox-b-1&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjezqW_p8XaAhUTBHwKHYzrDQsQ_AUICygC&biw=1216&bih=622" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">national news?</a> Black layabouts were arrested for refusing to leave a Starbucks, the holy of holies of post-America.</div>
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“Hi, I have two gentlemen in my café that are refusing to make a purchase or leave,” the manager says. “I’m at the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce.”</div>
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<a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Starbucks-Manager-911-Call-Controversial-Arrest-2-Black-Men-Philadelphia-Store-Dispatch-Police-480038123.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Listen: Manager’s 911 Call Before Arrest of 2 Black Men at Philly Starbucks</a></div>
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By NBC10 Staff, April 17, 2018</div>
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Watch it happen below:</div>
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<a class="PrettyLink profile customisable h-card" data-mentioned-user-id="30973" data-scribe="element:mention" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/Starbucks" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2b7bb9; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><span class="PrettyLink-prefix">@</span><span class="PrettyLink-value">Starbucks</span></a> The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing.</div>
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<a class="u-linkBlend u-url customisable-highlight long-permalink" data-datetime="2018-04-12T21:12:14+0000" data-scribe="element:full_timestamp" href="https://twitter.com/missydepino/status/984539713016094721" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;">5:12 PM - Apr 12, 2018</a></div>
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And Starbucks has reacted as a guilty thing, cringing and apologizing for maintaining order in its own shop. How did this amazing farrago happen?</div>
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Starbucks <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/14/the-first-starbucks-coffee-shop-seattle-a-history-of-cities-in-50-buildings-day-36" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">started life</a> in the <a href="https://www.vdare.com/articles/whitopia-it-used-to-be-called-america" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">whitopian</a> Pacific Northwest as a seller of coffee equipment serving the nascent wave of <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">haut</em> coffee venders. The three <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks#Founding" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">founders</a> were friends from San Francisco College—one was a history teacher–driven by a sincere love of coffee. They got into roasting the beans and serving coffee in <a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/seattle-times-why-have-seven-decades-of-gap-closing-failed-in-seattle-schools" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</a>, San Francisco and other locations.</div>
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<a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/starbucks-wants-a-conversation-about-race-but-speaking-the-truth-would-get-a-barista-fired" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><img align="right" alt="" src="https://www.vdare.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/howardshultz-1024x715.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="225" /></a>Then a driven marketing guy named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Howard_Schultz&oldid=836994041" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Howard Schultz</a> bought them out. Starbucks went from a<a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/immigrant-students-soccer-field-grab-stomps-baseball-field-of-dreams" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> “Field of Dreams”</a> story to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Makes_Sammy_Run%3F" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">“What makes Sammy run”</a> story. Schultz saw Starbucks as an easily-exportable lifestyle venue—a place where students and housewives and office workers could enjoy<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Starbucks&oldid=837129012#Coffee_quality" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> awful burnt coffee</a> while feeling part of the new, hip, post-American America. From that point on, Starbucks was a <a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/starbucks-wants-a-conversation-about-race-but-speaking-the-truth-would-get-a-barista-fired" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">major marketer of lefty pretension</a> fueled by expensive coffee.</div>
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As a youth I used to go into <a href="https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/the-lost-village-mystique-of-le-figaro-cafe/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwich Village</a> in hopes of experiencing some <a href="http://allthatsinteresting.com/beatniks-photographs-new-york" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">beatnik culture.</a> I remember my first <a href="https://roadtrippers.com/stories/beatnik-coffee-houses" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Espresso</a>, and how bravely I finished it while hoping that the bitter stuff wouldn’t burn my uvula away. It was the same with my first cheap Chianti and hard-as-a-rock baguette.</div>
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Starbucks serves a similar purpose. No one really <a href="https://www.eater.com/2018/3/8/17087152/starbucks-third-wave-coffee-snobs" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">likes</a> the coffee, but it is a place for lonely nerds to peck away at their tablets as though they were all doing something together. For many, it’s as close as they ever get.</div>
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In order to drive the mystique of hipness without substance, Schultz made Starbucks a player in many social causes <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">du jour</em>. First it was Starbucks as champion of environmentally-sensitive business practices; then it was Fair Trade for coffee beans to keep the peasant farmhands happy. Later it was<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/26/news/companies/starbucks-gay-marriage/index.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">gay marriage</a> and anti-Trump pro-illegal alien agitation. [<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/starbucks-hire-10000-refugees-response-trump-immigration-ban-549994" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Starbucks to Hire 10,000 Refugees in Response to Trump Immigration Ban</a>, By Conor Gaffey, Newsweek, January 30, 2017 ]</div>
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Schultz marketed safe, comforting cocoons for NPR listeners, and unemployed educational consultants to gather. In a Starbucks, they could pretend to embody a more sensitive and knowing state of mind.</div>
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Perhaps this is why Starbucks decor has the bland aspect of the study hall. I suspect that for many patrons college is/was where life was really good.</div>
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So why is Starbucks so craven in its immediate sacking of the manager who called the police? [<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/16/starbucks-manager-who-called-police-on-two-black-men-has-left-the-company-.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Starbucks manager who called police on two black men has left the company,</a></em> by Sarah Whitten, April 16,2018] Updated 2:2] Why did they <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/16/starbucks-ceo-johnson-stops-short-of-calling-arrests-racial-profiling.html" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">apologize so deeply</a> and so soon for an attempt to maintain the integrity of their premises? Why are they closing all their shops for a whole day of mandatory race re-education?</div>
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The reason is obvious. While both Starbucks and Starbucks patrons value diversity, a glance at any map showing Starbucks locations shows just how diversity-averse they actually both are.</div>
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<a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><img align="right" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-137732" sizes="(max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly.jpg" srcset="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly.jpg 451w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly-140x150.jpg 140w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly-280x300.jpg 280w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/18223213/philly-347x372.jpg 347w" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="225" /></a>The nearest large city to me is <a href="https://www.google.com/search?ei=hv3XWviVFY-O_wSd7Jog&q=site%3Avdare.com+Philadelphia&oq=site%3Avdare.com+Philadelphia&gs_l=psy-ab.3...207590.210044.0.210264.12.12.0.0.0.0.210.1734.0j9j1.10.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..2.0.0....0.HvPz3xvJIMk" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Philadelphia</a>. A Google Maps <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/starbucks+in+philadelphia/@39.9152798,-75.2131729,12z" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">search</a> shows that Starbucks clusters its sites around Center City and the civilized outer neighborhoods. Not a single one is in North Philadelphia’s black ghetto. In fact, most of them are located cheek-by-jowl to universities and hospitals.</div>
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In my own county of Bucks, just north of Philadelphia, all Starbucks are located in toney high-income towns like my own or in large shopping centers near highways. I invite the readers to check their own Starbucks demographic distribution.</div>
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Starbucks’ business model then, is to place coffee shops where middle class white people predominate—because high-trust European-descended people unquestionably accept the give and take of commercial life. They feel a need to pay for taking up room. By placing their shops in whiteopias, Starbucks is guaranteed a self-policing clientele. Place the<a href="https://www.vdare.com/posts/multiracial-fails-bulletproof-glass-in-philadelphia" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> same shop in a black neighborhood</a> and the system breaks down immediately.</div>
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My guess is that Starbucks décor and music are also chosen with an eye to discouraging the more funky-minded patron.</div>
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So we can enjoy Starbucks’ delicious dilemma. Both Starbucks and Starbucks patrons are engaged in a mutually re-enforcing fiction. Both adhere to a pose of utter equality that they must know on some level is unsupportable in reality. It’s easy to live the NPR life in NPR surroundings, but the first person to exercise common sense or just healthy instinct breaks the spell.</div>
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So the manager must be fired to keep the delusion satisfying. That is why Starbucks new President is so amenable to the concept of “implicit bias.” It draws attention away from the explicit stratagems that Starbucks employs to avoid black people.</div>
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Starbucks knows that once black men start marking their turf in their establishments, more non-paying blacks will congregate. Starbuck’s diversity-loving patrons prefer the diversity of Asians, interesting foreign students and the accommodating Latinos manning the coffee machines. Hulking black guys sans coffee or computer make them nervous.</div>
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And not being able to verbalize their unease makes them even more nervous. The cognitive strain of facing your own natural fear while holding delusional ideals is simply too much.</div>
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<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #993300; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomas O. Meehan </em><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(</em></span><a href="mailto:Meethomas@gmail.com" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">email</em></a><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #993300; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> him) is a free-lance writer and former government Senior Research Analyst and Inspector. A refugee from the People’s Republic of New Jersey, he now lives in Bucks County PA. He blogs from</em></span> <a href="http://odysseusontherocks.blogspot.com/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Odysseus On The Rocks.</a></div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-33110389438549481672018-04-10T01:12:00.001-04:002018-04-10T01:14:28.195-04:00SYRIA GAS YET AGAINTHIS IS MY LATEST IN THE QUARTERLY REVIEW<br />
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; color: magenta; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Manipulator’s Dilemma</span></strong></h1>
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<strong style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by Thomas Meehan</strong></h3>
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There is much talk about influence in media. We are warned to be on our guard against hard to detect suggestions delivered from all sides, as in “fake news.” Fair enough, but what happens when a campaign of influence is on the verge of failure? What are the manipulators to do?</div>
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We are about to see, perhaps in a matter of hours, as President Trump appears to have swallowed the latest Syrian gas attack allegations. So, on the verge of Assad’s victory over his various foes, one set of influencers treat us to yet another dubious, unverifiable account of his use of chemical weapons. Subtlety is out the window. This will be the last chance for the influencers to call forth what they want. It seems that they want to keep the civil war going.</div>
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The Assad-Russian-Iranian alliance is in control now. There are other questions, such as what becomes of the Kurdish areas and the status of the Eastern zone. The Assad regime, along with the Russians and Iranians will be making those decisions now. There is no way to change this reality around the edges. Any attempt to do so would make things even worse for the Syrian people.</div>
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Back to the “gas attack.” Let us suppose that it is true. Let us suppose that the Syrians, with the help of the Russians, decided to deploy illegal assets to kill several dozen people in a neighborhood of a city, Douma, in open rebellion against the Syrian government. Let us further suppose that they decide to do this on the cusp of victory when the population and land in question will soon be at their disposal. Would we not also have to infer that they are mad? And if they are mad, how did they manage to win the civil war?</div>
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The same people reporting in depth about an alleged deadly Russian nerve agent, Sarin, in the Skripal case assert that the Syrians are reduced to using WWI era agents now, namely Chlorine gas. But Chlorine is ubiquitous, even in undeveloped counties. From household cleansers to swimming pool water treatment, we all use Chlorine every day. People in the US are regularly killed by Chlorine tanker car upsets along our railway lines. The release of Chlorine under bombing conditions is, therefore, to be expected.</div>
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Will President Trump allow the influencers’ macabre imagery to overwhelm his judgment? We will know shortly. But this we must remember. The Syrian bloodbath, now winding down, is in large part the responsibility of those influencers who are now baying for further US and NATO action. Blood stains the hands of all those who took sides and kept the war going. Neo-cons and Neo-liberals, the Israelis and the Turks, are all happy to meddle in Syria’s agony until the last Syrian dies. None of them give a fig about the welfare of the Syrian people, for all their posturing about democracy and human rights. They are all engaged in the great game to control the Middle East. Yet if our military follies over the last two decades teach us anything, it is that no one can control the Middle East and that it is pointless to even try. Let the Russian-Syrian-Iranian Axis commence! If the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Israelis want to contend for this war-torn region, by all means let them.</div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-51103691666924001312018-03-26T20:14:00.000-04:002018-03-26T21:35:53.951-04:00REMINGTON AND PRESS, BOTH BANKRUPT<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqd9ABZ6t6MdPb3JwKi1s0QbuUrsMnjFcj5JivKUDEzIKiWlcRL53hKBQdtPmf3j3kpScpJerXdvr1Ls4Epp9dMTmd64jriXIv0ul7bEB7y0IFQC6m9_vlbpBYMbF0QZPXRRd0KFGap0/s1600/remington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="185" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqd9ABZ6t6MdPb3JwKi1s0QbuUrsMnjFcj5JivKUDEzIKiWlcRL53hKBQdtPmf3j3kpScpJerXdvr1Ls4Epp9dMTmd64jriXIv0ul7bEB7y0IFQC6m9_vlbpBYMbF0QZPXRRd0KFGap0/s320/remington.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Expecting even a superficial knowledge of subject matter by this generation of journalists is naive. Reporting on Remington firearms' bankruptcy today is a case in point. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the New York Times to FOX news, Remington's fall is universally attributed to public reaction over various school shootings, some carried out with AR15 rifles. Remington is one of a number of companies making AR15s. The only proof of this claim is a fall off of Remington sales after school shootings. No causal connection is established. Why is this so?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Only Bloomberg came close while missing the underlying dynamic. Here is their view.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <b><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: , "georgia" , "cambria" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 18px;">"The bankruptcy is a blow to the private-equity mogul Stephen Feinberg, who has been a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump. Feinberg’s firm, </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/137482Z:US" itemprop="StoryLink" itemscope="itemscope" rel="nofollow noopener" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(40, 0, 215); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Company Overview">Cerberus Capital Management</a><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: , "georgia" , "cambria" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 18px;">, acquired Remington </span><a class="terminal-news-story" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/JG1LFB1A74E9" itemprop="StoryLink" itemscope="itemscope" rel="nofollow noopener" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(40, 0, 215); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: TiemposTextWeb-Regular, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Remington to Be Bought by Cerberus for $118 Million (Update6)">in 2007</a><span style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: , "georgia" , "cambria" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 18px;"> and subsequently saddled it with almost $1 billion in debt. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will let Remington stay in business while it works out a plan to turn around the company and pay its creditors."</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-12/cerberus-s-remington-will-cede-control-to-lenders-in-bankruptcy"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If the talking heads on TV had done a minimum examination, they would have known that Remington has been a troubled company for some time. Troubles by the way, entirely self-inflicted. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remington's problems are well known among the shooting fraternity and have been for some time. I'll cite a few off the top of my head.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1. Remington introduced a new automatic pistol to the large and burgeoning market of pistols suitable for concealed carry. It was a disaster. Even those pistols supplied for review to the shooting press were pathetically unreliable. This forced Remington to do something rare in the firearms industry. They issued a recall. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">2. Under Remington's leadership, both Marlin and H@R firearms saw a steep decline in quality and popularity. This was particularly sad in the case of Marlin, which was/is an extremely popular moderately priced dear rifle that stood the test of time. Harrington and Richardson produced good quality firearms for modest budgets and had a following. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3. Remington's premier bolt action hunting rifle was found to have a serious safety defect. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4. Among shooters/purchasers, Remington developed a reputation for producing poor quality firearms, especially compared to its previous high-level products.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5. Remington Isn't even an independent company. It's was acquired by Cerberus Equity Management, the same hedge fund hipster outfit that ran Chrysler into the ground. Remington was merged with Harrington and Richardson, and Marlin; both fine old American gun makers. Models were dropped, quality plummeted and shooters, who pay acute attention to the mechanics of products that have the capacity to kill, noticed and talked to each other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The so-called journalists covering the bankruptcy might have known more if they bothered to make a call or two to legitimate firearms writers or even checked out a few firearms forums. All they had to do was Google, "Remington + Quality Control Problems," and they could have reviewed some of the <i>two hundred and eighty thousands</i> hits!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I strongly suspect that the constituent parts of Remington will be broken up and will reappear as free-standing companies selling good quality arms to the American public and others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why would anyone believe hysteria over school shootings would depress AR15 sales at Remington while other companies sales continue apace? Would people open to the idea of buying a so-called assault weapon balk at buying a Remmington one while buying one from Ruger? Plenty did. Only an idiot or a modern journalist would believe that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">NOTE:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After writing the above I came to consider another reason for the lazy deceptive coverage. Cerberus is the creation of Stephen Feinberg who is identified as a big contributor to both Donald Trump's Presidential campaign and the GOP in general. He even has former Vice President Dan Quayle on the board. So perhaps this adds to the left's glee at Remington's bad news. Note to Stephen. Next time, invest in something you know about.</span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-73376385404868384452018-03-19T17:42:00.002-04:002018-03-19T17:51:45.527-04:00HOLY MARY!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Police on Long Island report a statue of The Blessed Virgin was beheaded over the weekend. Surprisingly, the locals are dealing with this as a hate crime. The usual course taken in these desecrations of Christian images is a sleepy round up of the usual teenage vandals, followed by not much. </span><br />
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http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/03/19/mary-statue-beheaded-port-jefferson-station/<br />
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"A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.</div>
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Anyone with information is asked to call Suffolk County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. You can also text “SCPD” and your message to “CRIMES” (274637) or submit a tip by email by <a href="http://tipsubmit.com/" rel="noopener" style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #2457a7; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">clicking here</a>."</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such attacks are not uncommon. Local officials treating them seriously is even less common. So, bravo Port Jefferson NY Police. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You will not need much help in identifying those determined to destroy religious images. But a hint is in order. It wasn't the Mormons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I remember an account of an individual attacking the statuary in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark NJ not so very long ago. No description was posted in the press but he was quoted as saying that the statues were "Against my religion," as he was carted off. I was never able to find any follow up reporting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like many reactionaries, I have deep qualms about Hate Crime Legislation. Ideally, there should be no such legal category. If we are all equal under the same law, the concept of special laws for any one particular group cannot help elevate one group over others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's good to see hate crime law applied to actions against the majority for a change. </span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-14069286220239992702018-02-23T15:50:00.003-05:002018-02-23T15:50:51.922-05:00GUNGA JESUS?According to the Sun Newspaper, (UK) this is what Our Lord looked like.<br />
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https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5649779/jesus-christ-look-like-face-revealed-skin-book/<br />
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I suppose we are all supposed to be shocked that he looks jewish. Well, of course he looked like a Jew! He was a Jew! Is this supposed to news? Why the artist left his mouth open or why his Jesus is looking down his nose at us is a question I shan't bother to ask. <br />
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I recall a very similar stunt a few years ago; only in that iteration the artist made Jesus look like the late Harry Jaffe as Gunga Din. <br />
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That one also had Jesus sporting negroid pigmentation. Jesus did walk in the bright sun a lot. He was not a Jamaican though. <br />
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The Sun reports that the artist depicts Jesus as muscular. Fair enough. He was after all, a carpenter. I like the idea of a physically imposing savior. That reminds me of the manly priests of my youth, before the sissies took over. <br />
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We must expect this revelation that Our Lord didn't look much like Max von Sydow to come along every now and then as a condescending snub to Christians; as though our faith in Him is as shallow as their's is in whatever they believe this week. <br />
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OFF TOPIC: I notice that Max von Sydow is listed as a French Actor, or as a Swedish/French Actor in web references. My guess is that like other Swedish artists of his generation, he became a tax exile to avoid having his income raped by the Swedish tax system. Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-58385814998848743342018-02-11T19:40:00.001-05:002018-02-11T19:40:20.902-05:00A UNIQUE NEWS OPPORTUNITY - RADIO FREE AMERICA?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I woke at the crack of noon as usual, as it takes a while for me to reach Homo Sapien level of sentience, I turned on the television. This was a mistake. Even my primitive ape-brain of the moment recoiled from what it saw and heard. Everyone was still obsessively covering the same non-story they have been covering for the past year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, every station was obsessing over all things Russian, scandalous and Trump, and Trump-like ass-grabbers in the workplace. How can the media of the greatest power on earth be so monomaniacal? It's true that I have a visceral, almost a pavlovian abreaction to pointless repetition. If trapped in the company of a tedious repeater, I can turn nasty on a dime. It actually feels like the repeater is assaulting me. So what to do? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was an avenue of escape. France24 is carried on my cable service. It broadcasts the same idiotic worldview as American's left stations. They hate President Trump and anything of traditional American norms. But, and this is the crucial difference, they also report on other thinks going on around the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, thanks to France24, I learned that a Russian airliner went down. I learned that the Egyptian Army claims to have killed sixteen radical insurgents in the Sinai peninsula. This was interesting as the Egyptians claim to have killed thousands of these bad guys in operations that have been going on for some time. The scope and duration of this mini-war was hardly covered on US news. The Olympic scores were covered with much lamentation over poor French performance, especially in the Biathlon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">France 24 is not the only foreign broadcaster available to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deutsche Welle (DW) is also available but only seems to cover four topics; the awfulness of Trump, the need to be kind to refugees no matter how they behave, the awfulness of any populist or nationalist impulse among Germans, Swiss or Austrians and finally, quirky stories covering science or technology. These last can be engaging. Exhibitions of Masochism however, are distasteful to me and it's high-time that Germans stop whipping themselves in public. So off I go down the TV dial. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BBC and BBC America are available but I find them unwatchable. All their reporting about my country follows the Democratic (Party) National Committee's press releases. They seem not to know what actual Americans are like so their reporting is like what you get from primitive, backwaters. It's all about what internationalist moochers in the capitol city have to say. BBC coverage of the rest of the world is so captive to hard luck stories about the wretched of the earth that it's really depressing. This is especially so in the BBC's obsessive coverage of Syria, a country demolished in no small part by the interference of do-gooders like the BBC and it's NGO bedmates. And why does the BBC inflict such scary looking female reporters on us? What happened to ugly men reporters?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RT Russian TV was on until recently but it was pulled. I gather there was a drive to get it off the air across America but I haven't bothered to check out the local situation. There are a lot of Russian expats in my greater broadcast area. How they felt about this is a mystery. A lot of them are refusenik types. They keep my area supplied with go go girls and insurance fraudsters so perhaps they had little time for television. In any event, RT was such poorly done propaganda circus that I doubt they had much impact. It was unintentionally funny though and some of the newsgirls were pretty. The temptation to get factual news from RT never entered my head and now I'm no worse off for having them gone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The very entertaining and well produced Japanese NHK used to be available but was booted for the local cable networks for some reason. NHK fielded the most lovely and original nature programming I've ever seen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So What is the Unique News Opportunity? Could not some civilized country produce a news network with actual news for broadcast to America? Surely I'm not the only American with some curiosity about what is happening in the world. Our public broadcasting corporation might even host it as anything foreign get a pass from them. Imagine a news service that just reported facts without all the idealogical humbug? Could some Swiss outfit pull it off? </span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-78396929229425070952018-02-02T18:39:00.000-05:002018-02-02T18:54:24.957-05:00NBC NOTICES.....OR DOES IT?<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to NBC, the Super Bowl which is to be held this Sunday in Minneapolis, needs more than the usual security measures. Because.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Super Bowl city was home to dozens of <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: inherit;">ISIS</span>, other terror suspects</span></h1>
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<span class="byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #595959; margin-right: 0.375em; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="lowercase" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: lowercase;">by</span> <span class="byline_author" style="box-sizing: inherit;">TOM WINTER</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">MINNEAPOLIS — A city that’s spawned a surprising number of terror suspects is hosting this year’s <a class=" vilynx_listened" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/flu-concerns-among-super-bowl-crowds-1151671363621" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #4372b8; text-decoration-line: none;">Super Bow</a>l, but local law enforcement officials say they're ready to protect Sunday’s big game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has been home to the third highest number of terror prosecutions in the U.S. since 9/11, behind only the much larger metropolitan regions of New York and Washington, D.C. Twelve Twin Cities residents have been charged with providing support to ISIS and 20 have been arrested for alleged support of the Somali terror group al Shabab in the past nine years. Between 2011 and 2014, 13 locals died fighting for al Shabab and ISIS, according to U.S intelligence officials.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ISIS has continually called for attacks on large-scale events and the possibility of someone hearing those calls is not lost on the FBI’s Joe Rivers, who’s in charge of terrorism investigations in Minneapolis."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01rem;">Isn't this the same National Broadcasting Company that insists that diversity is our strength? Minneapolis is "home" to lots of unassimilable Somalis championed by the likes of NBC. By wiki count, there are about 25,000 in the greater </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.16px;">Minneapolis</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01rem;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01rem;">The contradictions of our liberal internationalist overseers is astounding. Refugees are our obligation and our enrichment. They just might blow up the Super Bowl however, so we must bear the full burden of keeping ourselves safe from the savages we welcome with open arms. </span></span></div>
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/super-bowl-city-was-home-dozens-isis-other-terror-suspects-n844066<br />
<br />Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-18086207279902471272018-01-28T21:51:00.000-05:002018-01-28T22:16:43.584-05:00LATELY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was delighted to be invited to this years VDARE.com Christmas party. It was my first. I cannot share any photos or personal reminiscences as everyone who attends these things does so at some risk from t what Steve Sailor calls the Volunteer Auxilary Thought Police. People who write for VDARE are of course the exception to this rule as they are already beyond the PC pale. How sweet it is to be among them! It's like being a member of a secret society. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An amusing thing did happen. As I worked the room meeting people and introducing myself, I found that almost all of these worthy contributors had no idea who I was or that I write for the organization they support. I'm not one of the brightest lights in the VDARE firmament but I have written quite a few pieces. I took my obscurity in good spirit as it occurred to me that these people supported the <i>mission</i> of VDARE, and are too busy to follow the doings of scribblers like me. I have tended to write expose's of foreigners behaving badly, which is to be frank, hardly news. SO.......give to VDARE and try actually reading the posts. You might want to hit my tip cup once a year or so as well. Every bit helps. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">John Derbyshire and his delightful wife was there as was Ann Counter, who is exactly as she is on TV; best approached in full armor. Enough said. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In other matters, I imagine few of my readers know that I am on AM radio once a month. A fun radio symposium runs on the last Tuesday of every month on little WBCB radio, Bucks County PA. The show is called <i>The Bucks County Philosophical and Lager Appreciation Societ</i>y and It's a panel of local cracker barrel pundits like myself ranting about the issues of the day. Those with a hankering to hear my voice are welcome to try picking it out of the scrum. Be advised, I am not the only Tom. No idea what the listenership is but it is fun. No pay, but free beer for all during taping. Shows are broadcast the next day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Traducing both right and left is my game on the show. Many of the GOP panelists are of the FOX TV school and fancy themselves conservatives. The Democrats are pretty much their left dopplegangers. They have no Marx, Dewey, Gramsci or anyone else beyond Mother Jones and MSNBC. A</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">part from my hijinks, there a some actually knowledgable people on the show. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-16295000713209431172017-12-21T23:03:00.001-05:002017-12-21T23:07:08.789-05:00BACK AGAIN<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I haven't published anything in a while and a kindly reader commented after my status and asked what I thought of "The Election." I imagine this refers to the Alabama election. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So here goes. Derb speaking on his latest radio podcast probably has this down cold. Moore scared the silver haired lady contingent. They do a fair amount of GOP unglamorous work keeping the party going. Scare them, and they quietly withdraw muttering their disapproval. I know several surviving New Jersey Congressmen of both who survive on the sufferance of affluent widows with time on their hands. These, along with political wives and politicians with homosexual children are a constant force deforming Republican social policy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Consider the multiple cases of oh so presentable, sissy congress critters on the evening news. We are in the midst of final stage matriarchy. With the summary execution of a generation of lefty media assgrabbers, the only acceptable males will be chorus boys. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That said, As Derb noted, wouldn't it be refreshing to have leaders who speak comprehendible English and refrain from brandishing tiny revolvers at public events? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-41562755105927296542017-08-21T23:28:00.002-04:002017-08-22T17:00:13.338-04:00THE INSTITUTE FOR THE SHEKELS OF WAR<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I can't say that I am surprised at the president's collapse of resolve tonight. His campaign pronouncements about cutting out of useless wars had little hope against the combined weight of the GOP neocon war cabal was just too much for him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">FOX News waivers when it comes to the President's pronouncements, but not tonight. The President walks away from his own voters and analysis and who does FOX have making this failure of nerve look like wisdom? Retired General Jack Keane. Keane is now Chairman of the Board of the Institute for the Study of War. The Founder of that Institute used to appear for her organization but Keane is always trotted out now. Why?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because the Institute is such an obvious nest of warmongering Israel lobby manipulators that they had to find a plausible non-Jewish face or give the game away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is Jack Keane. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is his President, Founder and paymaster at The Institute for the Study of War...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kimberly Kagan hopped rides into all George W's war zones and hung out at HQ's grooming herself as an expert on all matters of war, strategy and Middle East war matters. She has a degree in Military History and she taught all about it at West Point. The commanders she was cultivating have such degrees themselves but she is married to this guy....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Who is Fred Kagan, premiere Neocon war provocateur and son of this guy at the American Enterprise Institute....a wholy owned tool of the Israel Lobby....</span></div>
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Who is also the Father of this guy......</div>
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Robert Kagan. Also a Neocon keyboard warrior and founder, along with Bill Kristol of the war mongering Project for the New American Century. After riding the Bush years to good effect he switched to the Democrats. He now discribes himself as a "Liberal Internationalist." He married.... </div>
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Victoria Nuland. She is the delightful lady diplomate and Hilary pal who fomented a revolution in Ukraine and was recorded saying ''Fuck the EU." She embodies the Neocon Democrate wing.</div>
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The takaway here is that Fox invites a front man for a clan of warmongering crypto-Israelis and no one has the gumption to notice. At least someone could alert the President's speechwriter not to use the war shekel's briefing papers exact language. Trump spoke using the exact memes and phases as Keane! These people make money and gain influence whenever some idiot president sends young Americans to die in far off Muslim places. </div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-19065720335075535652017-08-18T21:36:00.000-04:002017-08-18T21:36:22.472-04:00DREHER TO LEAVE TAC?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is a constituency for denunciations of Rod Dreher among my readers and I do appreciate it. Still, how many times can one point out the obvious! </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dreher announced that he was fractionally African American a few months ago. He ruined his underpants over the Charlottesville fiasco. He now denounces </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Pat Buchanan as</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> a white supremacist for writing a rational and tradition minded column about who we are as a nation. Is anyone shocked, perhaps only those who never read his tripe before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To Dreher Pat Buchanan committed the ultimate evil by reacquainting readers with the knowledge that the founders of our country, the European explorers and conquerors of the New World and indeed pretty much every one of the propagators of Western Civilization were convinced of the superiority of their own Blood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As always it's hard to separate Rod the cunning knave from Rod the historical ignoramus. I think the knave wins here. He knows that he loses nothing in siding with the likes of Mona Charen, Neocon wisewoman. He quotes her in his column as a way of separating himself from all the nastiness of actual conservatism. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dreher writes, "With that, Buchanan repudiates not only the founding principle of our constitutional order, but also a core teaching of our Christian faith, which holds that all men are created in the image of God. It is fine to disbelieve in egalitarianism as a basis for policy. Most conservatives do, and most conservatives rightly reject the idea that all cultures are equally good. And it is reasonable to argue against the puritan iconoclasts who destroy monuments and historical memory in the name of a mindless, ideological dogmatism."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"But that's not what this is. Buchanan is not <i>meditating</i> on the tragic nature of history, an any conservative worth the name must do. No, Buchanan is defending white supremacy, straight up."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the pivot point to understanding Dreher and all his scribblings. Buchanan's real sin is a frightening association with the affairs of men and the inevitable compromises this entails. Buchanan not only "Meditates" he involves himself in the history of our time. To spineless specimens like Dreher the purpose of the writer is to make a living "Meditating" on the decline all around without getting dirty hands. And this is what Dreher does. He meditates on the world from his position of bogus moral fastidiousness. He can't cope but insists on judging those who can. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It has been obvious for some time that Dreher is a weak, opportunistic inadequate, hiding in a backwater he retreated to when the world of big city journalism got to much for him. He lives by issuing his prescious sermons to the rest of us as though he had any idea what it takes to make anything happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But there is a way for him to change this perception of him. Dreher can have the courage of his dubious convictions and refuse to allow his name to appear in the rag that Pat and a few other naughty Conservatives created in The American Conservative. For a writer who changes his church every time he detects a fault, continuing to write for TAC is straight up wrong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-23152683275975951582017-07-30T18:22:00.003-04:002017-07-30T18:22:36.003-04:00THE RHINO'S LAST THROES?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We should all heed the old hunter's advice about approaching a wounded animal. Having written that no one should take pleasure in Senator McCain's possibly fatal brain malignancy, he gives us all a reminder of just why so many people hate him so much.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1o4Ljz9MFJ0XPkVT0KKdcVgir-KDDg3AKfbT2elIbDm4Sk3wwbxnUVJT6x2TOj8D-hG9NozYfssiHyQlT5_gRcFKoYPvhZPI8a-YhKz9YR8dRAfBD5Xggft7_dehEQufSRJDhlX3nmY/s1600/mccain_rino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="381" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1o4Ljz9MFJ0XPkVT0KKdcVgir-KDDg3AKfbT2elIbDm4Sk3wwbxnUVJT6x2TOj8D-hG9NozYfssiHyQlT5_gRcFKoYPvhZPI8a-YhKz9YR8dRAfBD5Xggft7_dehEQufSRJDhlX3nmY/s400/mccain_rino.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an interesting historical moment. The senior congressional leadership of the GOP is now revealed to be what some of us of said for a long while. They are posturing, careerist poltroons who mean not a word they say. It's particularly poignant that McCain complains about the populist radio ranters like Limbaugh. Sure they're idiots, but they represent millions of formerly trusting GOP voters that the McCains, Grahams, and other GOP establishment types have been gulling for time out of mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was inevitable that at some point all those endlessly deceived voters would turn to an outsider. Enter Trump. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">McCain and company find themselves exposed as the enemy of the very things they claimed to deliver. It remains to be seen if they are willing to make a stab at making their lies into truths, or if they prefer to maintain control of a party that no longer has a purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still won't root for the cancer, not because we need any more of McCain, no, it's just out of common Christian charity. </span>Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-76923681284627413062017-07-20T23:59:00.000-04:002017-07-21T15:17:22.567-04:00MY LATEST ON VDARE.COM<div class="entry-meta left-side-content" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.920000076293945px; margin: 6px 0px 0px 19.32065200805664px; outline: none; padding: 0px 12.8804349899292px 0px 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 83.76358795166016px;">
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July 20, 2017, 10:46 pm <br />
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Attorney General <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Jeff%20Sessions%20+site:vdare.com" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Jeff Sessions </a>and HHS Secretary Tom Price announced indictments of 412 Medicare/Medicare cheats across 41 federal districts on July 13 [<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-july-13-2017-national-health-care-fraud-takedown-press-conference" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Documents and resources from the July 13, 2017 National Health Care Fraud Takedown Press Conference</em></a><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, Department of Justice, </em>July 13, 2017]. And this doesn’t represent all Federal Districts so there will be more to come.</div>
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It’s a significant step in draining the <a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/scammer-lebanese-doctor-is-accused-of-deaths-and-medicare-fraud" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">swamp </a>of Medicare leeches, and as <a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/miami-cubans-escape-to-dear-homeland-after-medicare-fraud" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">VDARE readers may expect,</a> many of these leeches are immigrants.</div>
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Recently, Ann Coulter gave us <a href="http://www.vdare.com/letters/a-reader-points-out-that-the-detroit-doctors-charged-in-medicare-fraud-are-almost-all-arabs" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">a glimpse at the immigrant names</a> among accused Medicare fraudsters in the Detroit area.</div>
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VDARE.com has <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/why-does-america-tolerate-indian-american-medical-fraud" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">covered</a> the nexus between crooked medical minorities/ immigrants and the <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/diversity-is-strength-its-alsodegraded-hiring-standards-and-indian-professional-ethics" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">collapse of professional standards</a> over the past few years. Here I will take a deeper dive into the Florida and some of the New York City cases. Who is involved in this and how does this happen?</div>
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The demographics of the defendants and local immigrant populations<a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/top-medicare-ripoff-doc-is-dominican" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> mirror each other,</a> as we would expect. Based on the names in the list of indictments in the Southern District of Florida (i.e. <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/tom-tancredo-vs-third-world-miami-capital-of-latin-america" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Miami</a> and environs) in the list provided by the Department of Justice, the list of 28 defendants contains only two non-Hispanics. In contrast, <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/tom-tancredo-vs-third-world-miami-capital-of-latin-america" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Middle Florida </a>rendered just 5 defendants, all appear to be white.</div>
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Meanwhile, the Eastern District of New York, which contains parts of New York City, produced six defendants, including one Indian, one Chinese person, and, from the last names, apparently four Russian Jews. (Someone is jus<a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/russian-mafia-comes-to-upstate-new-york" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">t not looking hard enough there,</a> but it’s a start.)</div>
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The amounts stolen are not trivial. Here’s back of the envelope tally of claimed fraud amounts for the NYC defendants.</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bhambhani – $3,725,995 between 2010 and 2017 (Page 8 – <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981936/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Indictment</a>)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Meliksetyan – NA</li>
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shargordskya – Over $5 million (Page 8 – <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981921/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Indictment</a>)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alexseyev – $6 million (Page 8 – <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981926/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Indictment</a>)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bakry – $11-12 Million (Page 11 – <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981931/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Indictment</a>)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zhang – $7,126,342 (Page 8 – <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981911/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Indictment</a>)</li>
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The Department of Justice estimates 1.3 Billion in fraud in total for all 412 cases [<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-charges-against-over-412-individuals-responsible" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results In Charges Against Over 412 Individuals Responsible for $1.3 Billion in Fraud Losses</em></a><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, Department of Justice, </em>July 13, 2017].</div>
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How did this get so out of control? One graphic tells the story [<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/980921/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2017 Health Care Fraud Takedown: Daily Stat Breakdown</em></a><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, Department of Justice, </em>July 12, 2017.</div>
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<img alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-117861" height="426" sizes="(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20220422/immigranthealthfraud.jpg" srcset="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20220422/immigranthealthfraud.jpg 552w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20220422/immigranthealthfraud-150x116.jpg 150w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20220422/immigranthealthfraud-300x232.jpg 300w, https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/vdare-live/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/20220422/immigranthealthfraud-482x372.jpg 482w" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 10px; max-width: 100%; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="" width="552" /></div>
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The <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/18/exclusive-huge-medicare-fraud-tied-to-top-obama-appointees-old-firm/" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Obama Administration </a>only <a href="https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-26-prosecution-benefits-fraud_n.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">prosecuted </a>89 Medicare fraudsters nationwide in the fiscal year 2013. In 2014, it was only 90. The fiscal years 2015 and 2016 saw increases to 243 and 301 respectively.</div>
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That sounds like they were responding to a growing problem–until you consider that the Trump Administration has already indicted 412 in six months. At that rate, this Administration will bring charges against more people in one year than the total charges brought by Obama in four years—at 824 (my estimate) it will be twice Obama’s cumulative total of 723.</div>
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Quite obviously, the Obama Administration was not keen on riding herd, especially when doing so might mean confronting the myth of virtuous hard-working minority immigrants making it in America.[<a href="https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-26-prosecution-benefits-fraud_n.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fewer prosecuted in benefits program fraud,</em></a> By Brad Heath, USA TODAY, June 28, 2011.]After all, Obama once <a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/obama-im-a-desi-but-are-desis-american" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">proudly proclaimed himself a Desi</a>.</div>
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They don’t need to work all that hard, though. Medicare is like a safe made from balsa wood. It is so weak it invites pilferage.</div>
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Medicare is a federally-funded program administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide medical services to the infirm, elderly and poor. It does this by providing payment for health care services. It provides no services itself. Instead, the money passes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which also provides no actual services. Instead, it administers the program.</div>
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For example, if one was dealing with treatment for those confined to their home, CMS would contract with various Home Health Agencies (HHAs). These are bound to CMS by regulations, codes and payment methodologies so CMS can supposedly track what’s being provided and to whom.</div>
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The HHAs in turn contract with lesser providers like nursing services, equipment vendors, etc. This is where the lion’s share of the cheating goes on, as crooked agencies can use vendors to inflate payments and hide the money trail.</div>
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Since this is pretty complicated, CMS regularly contracts with Benefit Administrators who provide oversight of everyday spending and practices. They are supposed to be gatekeepers and quality control monitors.</div>
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Yet this is an imperfect system. Medicare is like a great bag of coins with a hole in the bottom. Everyone catches some while passing the overflow down to the next level. The owner of the bag can only hope that the<a href="http://www.vdare.com/letters/a-reader-points-to-foreign-doctors-and-pharmacists-charged-with-medicare-fraud-drug-crimes-i" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> coins at the bottom are well spent.</a></div>
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Reading the complaints filed by DOJ, it seems obvious little is being done at the provider level to establish even the existence of patients or services. The ratio of paper pushers and paper creators to inspectors is weighted toward the thieves. There are not enough undercover inspections and not enough operational auditing.</div>
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Also, if Benefit Coordinators were on the job, how could the scams go on for multiple years? They either aren’t doing the job or are in on the take. It’s difficult to see another plausible answer. This is an ideal scenario for <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/racial-reality-and-the-new-orleans-nightmare" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">low-trust</a> foreigners with audacity and a bit of creativity.</div>
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The financial status of the fraudsters doesn’t seem to be investigated with any rigor. There are more red flags in the operating procedures of these defendants than at an old Red Square May Day parade.</div>
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Indictments are loaded with dummy companies, and money laundering operations. I’ve seen multiple instances of<a href="http://www.vdare.com/letters/a-reader-points-to-foreign-doctors-and-pharmacists-charged-with-medicare-fraud-drug-crimes-i" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> immigrant fraudsters </a>with connections to <a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/mexican-americans-vs-mexican-tackiness" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">check-cashing businesses.</a> Why would a physician have connections<a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/immigrant-fraudsters-and-eitc-the-16-billion-tax-credit-black-hole" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> with an obvious money laundering scenario?</a></div>
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For instance, in the Eastern District of New York, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/981911/download" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Dr. Xiailiang Zhang</a> seems to have walked away with over $7 million, billing the taxpayers for back rubs and hot packs. That’s according to a cooperating witness and an undercover Inspector General Investigator as cited in the complaint. He piled up this fortune over a period of three years. How carefully are these providers monitored if they can get away with this for years at a time?</div>
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Why are so many immigrants involved? My experience tells me there are two reasons:</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">First, there is a critical mass of poorly or non-assimilated foreigners from low-trust societies in such places.</li>
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This helps in recruiting confederates and <a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/indian-immigrant-steals-10-million-from-911-fund" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">in manning schemes. </a>Everyone gets a cut and <a href="http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-english-lexicon/words/297" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">landsmen</em></a> are less likely to turn on one another. There are also many local criminals who will eagerly participate for a few bucks.</div>
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<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The bottom of the American food chain also populates places like these. It’s easy to run a Medicare scam in an area full of disability parasites, addicts, and down and outs.</li>
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All manner of welfare and insurance fraud already goes on where foreign MD’s deploy their “services.” A small kickback or gift is enough to get a meth-head to enroll as your phantom patient. (Try finding him to testify, by the way).</div>
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Those praying on these losers in the American lottery are often not even Americans. But Americans are still the ones paying for it, both in terms of our tax dollars and in the collapse of our formerly First World society.</div>
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And until we can come to grips with this problem, fixing health care will remain an impossibility.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: #993300; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomas O. Meehan (</em></span><a href="mailto:Meethomas@gmail.com" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">email</em></a><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em><span style="border: 0px; color: #993300; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">him) is a free-lance writer and former government Senior Research Analyst and Inspector. A refugee from the People’s Republic of New Jersey, he now lives in Bucks County PA. He blogs from</em></span> <a href="http://odysseusontherocks.blogspot.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Odysseus On The Rocks.</a></div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-56959838753193445112017-07-20T18:01:00.001-04:002017-07-20T18:01:48.144-04:00PITY THE RHINO <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In some sort of cosmic convergence, news of the last three White Rhinos imminent extinction and John McCain's possible extinction from brain cancer came at a single news cycle. Ghoulish expressions of glee broke out immediately, especially by obscure internet sites previously unknown to me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pardon me for not joining in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The US Senate will be a better place for John McCains absence. The United States or humanity at large will not be, if cancer destroys the person, John McCain.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever McCain is, he is not a monster. When I say monster I mean someone like Lenin, who oversaw the murder of millions and took glee in doing so. It is fair comment to wish that the young woman who shot Lenin in the head had better aim or a bigger revolver. That would be, in old time police parlance a, "Community service homicide." Some criminals are such a scourge to society, particularly their own immediate community, that it is impossible to ignore the good of their extinction in light of the provocations bringing it about and the subsequent peace and quiet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John McCain is an elected official in our still somewhat free republic and rooting for a cancer taking his life is deranged. He stands against a lot of what I believe in and is a scourge and a stumbling block to patriotic immigration activism. But rooting for the cancer eating his brain shows a savage, low mindset. Wishing your political opponents dead by any at all means is the very stuff of totalitarianism and is indicative of the mentality of those we wish to keep off our shores. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I write a lot of uncharitable stuff about what I see as bad people and bad causes. I enjoy pricking the humbug bubble of political correctness in the spirit of Auberon Waugh and others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I sincerely hope that I will never slip into mindless destructive glee. It's beneath me and I hope, us. </span><br />
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<br />Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-49758473167221426322017-07-13T22:25:00.002-04:002017-07-13T22:25:41.070-04:00DOJ GET'S REVENGER ON HOBBY LOBBY <h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #f4390b; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; line-height: 38px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 15px 0px 20px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 483.2608947753906px;">
The Deep State Gets Even With Hobby Lobby</h1>
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July 13, 2017, 7:18 pm <br />
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The Deep State in the form of the US Department of Justice just got even with Hobby Lobby for <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hobby-lobby-wins-contraceptive-ruling-supreme-court/story?id=24364311" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">winning </a>a Supreme Court <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_v._Hobby_Lobby_Stores,_Inc." style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">decision</a>. It seems that <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/thank-you-hobby-lobby" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Hobby Lobby </a>is building a museum in Washington dedicated to increasing understanding and veneration of the Bible. As part of this effort they purchase many artifacts from the Middle East.</div>
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Shady dealing is a norm in that part of the world. There are also lots of purloined artifacts on the market thanks to our destruction of the place. There are lots of purloined artifacts on the market in general. The government spent years trying to prove that Hobby Lobby bought some of these items.</div>
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So in an investigation begun while the Hobby Lobby case was wending it’s way up the federal court system, Hobby Lobby has been coerced into to handing over everything it purchased and pay a 3 million dollar fine. According for the DOJ:</div>
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“The government also filed a stipulation of settlement with Hobby Lobby, in which Hobby Lobby consented to the forfeiture of the artifacts in the complaint, approximately 144 cylinder seals and an additional sum of $3 million, resolving the civil action,”</div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/united-states-files-civil-action-forfeit-thousands-ancient-iraqi-artifacts-imported" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">United States Files Civil Action To Forfeit Thousands Of Ancient Iraqi Artifacts Imported By Hobby Lobby</a></em> July 5, 2017</div>
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Hobby Lobby got suckered by a UAE, and an Israeli dealer into buying some ancient clay tablets that the government doesn’t even claim to have cultural academic significance. But then the law is the law and we must all follow it. As one Special Agent in Charge Melendez said in the Government release”</div>
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“The protection of cultural heritage is a mission the (CBP) take very seriously as we recognize that while some may put a price on these artifacts, the people of Iraq consider them priceless.”</div>
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Well, some of them may, but others consider all such reminders of pre-Islamic life so much garbage.</div>
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For his part, Mr. Green, President of Hobby Lobby <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/nyregion/hobby-lobby-artifacts-smuggle-iraq.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">said</a> Hobby Lobby ….”was new to the world of acquiring these objects, and did not fully appreciate the complexities of the acquisitions process.”</div>
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The Government was at pains to fault Hobby Lobby for not being careful enough in the process of buying from shifty Middle Easterners but when a journalist for The Daily Beast got too close to blaming Hobby Lobby for deliberate deception, The Beast was forced to <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-feds-investigate-hobby-lobby-boss-for-illicit-artifacts" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">publish the following correction:</a></div>
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Correction: This story has been edited to make clear that Hobby Lobby received falsely labeled artifacts from a supplier, according to the Department of Justice. The UAE-based dealers involved in the transactions falsely labeled the artifacts as “ceramics” and “samples” and illegally shipped them to Hobby Lobby stores and corporate affiliates in the United States, the DOJ said.”</div>
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Given this, why a three million dollar fine? That’s far more than the value of the items, items that have never been described as historically meaningful. People familiar with the Federal Justice system are not surprised at this heavy scrutiny and selective enforcement of politically unflavored citizens. Does anyone think that the three million dollars will go to a good cause?</div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895895833188404571.post-65529171376289788112017-07-05T00:26:00.000-04:002017-07-05T00:29:45.741-04:00FROM VDARE.COM I FOLLOW UP ON OBAMA'S PARDONS<div style="border: 0px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.400001525878906px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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MY LATEST (BLOGPOST) AT VDARE.COM<br />
As expected, the black beneficiaries of Obama’s mass pardon/commutations are already returning to whence they came. As reported by myself and others over the last few years here on VDARE.COM, Obama commuted the sentences of a whopping 1715 federal inmates and outright pardoned another 212. These pardons were <a href="http://www.vdare.com/articles/what-the-latest-round-of-commutations-tells-us-about-obamas-version-of-justice" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">heavily weighted </a>to black drug offenders. The<a href="http://www.vdare.com/posts/obamas-latest-commutations-include-more-whites-do-the-obama-bots-read-vdare-com" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;"> reason he gave</a> was a belief that the justice system was rigged against his fellow African-Americans.</div>
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It seems that Carole Denise Richardson (above right) one of his fellows who needed a second chance, is back in custody for theft and according to authorities, “Richardson violated five separate terms of her release including failing to report that she was arrested, that she’d been terminated from a job for failing to show up and that she had changed her address.” [<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Woman-granted-clemency-by-Obama-ordered-back-to-11205690.php#photo-12970773" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Texas woman granted clemency by Obama ordered back to federal prison for multiple violations</a></em>, by Gabrielle Banks, <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Houston Chronicle,</em> June 8, 2017]</div>
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She had an extensive rap sheet before her initial sentencing <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-City-woman-to-serve-life-for-drug-conspiracy-1849554.php" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">to life in prison in 2006</a>. Clearly, she was not a good risk for clemency but she was the right color.</div>
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This story has been making the rounds but one must ask, how many more are returning to the system? What’s the track record?</div>
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The place to look is the <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=1" style="border: 0px; color: #3b5998; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.33, 0.66, 0.66, 1); vertical-align: baseline;">Bureau of Justice Statistics,</a> particularly recidivism studies. Alas, these are old and bear heavily on state rather than federal offenders. Some studies I’ve seen are obvious attempts to justify the former president’s pardon binge.</div>
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As Obama left office with this legacy of unleashed drug felons, is it too much to ask Attorney General Sessions to start keeping a running count of clemency/pardon failures? I think he would do this, especially if prompted to by Congressmen and we patriots.</div>
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Let’s turn up the heat.</div>
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Thomas O. Meehanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16387289879023508471noreply@blogger.com0