I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Help your friends and relatives stay informed by passing the digest on.
The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
Info about my book. All royalties go to wounded veterans. Please forward and post where possible. If you have contacts with writers or media commentators who might review the book, please let me know. The biggest hurdle in getting attention is that people just don’t believe a collapse is possible. History teaches differently. No political system lasts forever. But I’m sure the citizens of the Roman Republic, Byzantine, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, the “Thousand-Year Reich” and the USSR though they were permanent fixtures of the international scene, and couldn’t imagine their end, even as it bore down on them..
Best older posts for new blog readers
Back to the Pre-American World
We will be very lucky if we have a fairly gentle decline like Britain, which had the US to take up the slack in the world. As I say in my book, there are far worse possibilities. ~Bob. Excerpt: In other words, the post-American world could look a lot like the rather terrifying pre-American version of seven decades past. Why in the world would we wish to return to it? The declinists insist we have no choice. Globalization has spread power. America has depleted its resources, both natural and financial. And our prior leadership abroad is something worthy of apology rather than pride anyway. Think of receding postcolonial Britain around 1946 as our model, not the confident, rising postwar United States of Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law
Stunning. Who would have guessed that a judge whose son is a former union organized and left-wing activist would strike down a law trying to prevent Wisconsin to be drawn into the abyss that California, Illinois and other disaster states are headed for. ~Bob. Excerpt: Wisconsin's law taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most public workers was struck down Thursday by a circuit court judge but the ruling will not be the final say in the union fight that brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol earlier this year. The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for June 6 to decide whether it will take the case and Republicans who control the Legislature could also pass the law a second time to avoid the open meeting violations that led to the judge's voiding the law Thursday.
Defense Attorneys Challenge Headley's Credibility
Excerpt: Defense attorneys called into question star prosecution witness David Headley's credibility Wednesday in the trial of a Pakistan-born businessman charged with aiding the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Headley has testified that defendant Tahawwur Rana let him use Rana's immigration business in India as a cover while Headley scouted targets for the attacks, which killed more than 160 people, including six Americans. Headley pleaded guilty to his role in the attack and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators. The Mumbai attack was carried out by the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, and Headley claims it was facilitated by Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI.
Open markets, new jobs by Sen. Scott Brown
Unfortunately, Obama is more interested in union support than growing the economy. ~Bob. Excerpt: First, Congress should pass the pending trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. The future of these agreements has been uncertain for far too long. I was encouraged to recently hear that President Obama will send them to Congress for a vote early this summer. Massachusetts has benefited tremendously from exports, and eliminating the barriers in overseas markets will create well-paying jobs at home. In fact, jobs that depend on trade with other countries typically pay about 15 percent better than the average U.S. wage. For example, if we pass the Korea trade agreement, Massachusetts workers will immediately have new opportunities to export goods and services into Korea’s $1 trillion economy. The U.S. International Trade Commission recently estimated that full implementation of the Korea agreement would generate approximately 2,640 new jobs in Massachusetts and about 280,000 jobs across the country.
MSNBC suspends Schultz over Ingraham remark
The civility of the Misogynist Left. He only said “slut” because he knew the “C” word was verboten on air. Probably will help MSNBC’s dismal ratings. ~Bob. Excerpt: Left-leaning Ed Schultz has been suspended from MSNBC for referring to fellow host Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut" and "talk slut" on his syndicated show Tuesday. In a statement released Wednesday, the cable channel said: "MSNBC management met with Ed Schultz this afternoon and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave for the remarks he made yesterday on his radio program. Ed will address these remarks on his show tonight, and immediately following begin his leave. Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Cool Hand Harry (Reid)
Excerpt: Paul Newman's famous line after bluffing his way to a big poker pot in "Cool Hand Luke" was: "Sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand." That's as good a description as any of the Senate Democratic strategy for attacking the $14.3 trillion federal debt. Do nothing. Lest voters forget, Democrats still run the Senate, or at least they do when they want to filibuster House Republican reform bills. When it comes to their core responsibility under the law of passing a budget resolution, they are A.W.O.L. Budget Chairman Kent Conrad can't get a bill through his own committee, much less onto the Senate floor. Mr. Conrad says he wants to "defer" to the negotiations between the White House and Republicans. The truth is that his troops don't want to go on record voting for the tax increases that are the Democratic default for every fiscal problem. The contrast between Senate Democrats and House Republicans on the budget could hardly be sharper.
With New Arizona Home, Palin Can Skip the Tanning Bed
Excerpt: A series of recent moves by Ms. Palin, coupled with the decision by several of her fellow Republicans not to run for president, have amped up speculation—and hope in some circles—that she is preparing for a White House bid. In recent days, she rehired two logistics aides, Jason Recher and Doug McMarlin, that she had dismissed, a Palin aide said Wednesday. She is planning to increase her public exposure. In addition, a full-length feature film focused largely on her time as governor is in the final stages of editing by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon.
Sen. Bingaman eyes committee vote on clean-energy agency
What to do about energy? Hey, I know. Create another federal agency. ~Bob. Excerpt: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is planning a committee vote before Memorial Day on legislation that would create a federal “Clean Energy Deployment Administration” to jump-start the commercialization of green technologies.
Spacewalking astronaut gets stinging soap in eye
Excerpt: A spacewalking astronaut got soap in his eye and almost had to retreat into the safety of the International Space Station on Wednesday. Andrew Feustel said it stung "like crazy." But several minutes later, he said he was feeling better and the third spacewalk of shuttle Endeavour's final voyage continued as planned for about seven hours. (…) Feustel managed to rub his eye against a foam block in his helmet — normally used for clearing ears — and said that helped. The spacewalkers noted that tears in space "don't fall off of your eye ... they kind of stay there."
The Air Travel 'Sin' Tax
They tax your company when it earns the money to pay you, so they have to pay you less. Then they tax your income when you earn it. And then they tax you when you spend it. ~Bob. Excerpt: The tax bite on a typical domestic ticket has nearly tripled to $61 from $22 in 1972. The United States has a 35% federal corporate tax rate, the second-highest in the world behind Japan. But not all businesses are created equal when it comes to taxation. There are a few industries—and their customers—that pay more than their fair share: alcohol, tobacco, gambling and airlines. Yes, airlines. Most Americans have no idea that their air travel is taxed at the same excessive level as products and services that are taxed to discourage their use.
PM Netanyahu's Remarks upon his Return from Washington
Excerpt: "The visit was important. We found broad American support for Israel's fundamental claims especially the recognition of Israel as the national state of the Jewish People, and the need for secure borders and the complete repudiation of Hamas. The great majority of people in Israel are united around the broad diplomatic outline that I proposed in the US. The time has come for the Zionist parties to unite around these principles. The time has also come for the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel's just claims."
Courts High Court Upholds Arizona Law Penalizing Employers Over Illegal Immigrant Workers
Excerpt: The Supreme Court has sustained Arizona's law that penalizes businesses for hiring workers who are in the United States illegally, rejecting arguments that states have no role in immigration matters. By a 5-3 vote, the court said Thursday that federal immigration law gives states the authority to impose sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized workers. The decision upholding the validity of the 2007 law comes as the state is appealing a ruling that blocked key components of a second, more controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law. Thursday's decision applies only to business licenses and does not signal how the high court might rule if the other law comes before it. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a majority made up of Republican-appointed justices, said the Arizona's employer sanctions law "falls well within the confines of the authority Congress chose to leave to the states."
It’s a Two-Way Street
Hard to know how this guy feels! ~Bob
The Bin Laden Operation: Tapping Human Intelligence
Excerpt: Since May 2, when U.S. special operations forces crossed the Afghan-Pakistani border and killed Osama bin Laden, international media have covered the raid from virtually every angle. The United States and Pakistan have also squared off over the U.S. violation of Pakistan’s sovereign territory and Pakistan’s possible complicity in hiding the al Qaeda leader. All this surface-level discussion, however, largely ignores almost 10 years of intelligence development in the hunt for bin Laden. While the cross-border nighttime raid deep into Pakistan was a daring and daunting operation, the work to find the target — one person out of 180 million in a country full of insurgent groups and a population hostile to American activities on its soil — was a far greater challenge. For the other side, the challenge of hiding the world’s most wanted man from the world’s most funded intelligence apparatus created a clandestine shell game that probably involved current or former Pakistani intelligence officers as well as competing intelligence services. The details of this struggle will likely remain classified for decades.
IAEA: Syria site bombed by Israel 'was likely nuclear'
Excerpt: A Syrian site bombed by Israeli jets in 2007 was "very likely" a nuclear reactor, the UN's atomic watchdog says. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been investigating US claims that Syria was building a secret nuclear reactor with North Korean help. The strongest IAEA report yet on Syria came after several years of blocked investigations, and is likely to increase the pressure on Damascus. Israel bombed the remote desert site of the alleged reactor in September 2007. Syria says the site - near Deir Alzour in the country's remote north-east - was an unused military facility under construction. It also denied having any nuclear links to North Korea, which has itself denied transferring nuclear technology to Syria.
Where Dreams Die (California)
Excerpt: You see, here is the situation in California. Tens of thousands of prisoners are scheduled by a U.S. Supreme Court order to be released. But why this inability to house our criminals when we pay among the highest sales, income, and gas taxes in the nation? Too many criminals? Too few new prisons? Too high costs per prisoner? Too many non-violent crimes that warrant incarceration? God help us when they are released. We know what crime is like now; what will it be like if thousands are let go? I doubt they will end up in the yards of the justices who let them out. (It is so terrible here. Only people who live here understand what this is. - Kate in LA. Well, it’s a lot better than it will be in five years. ~Bob.)
Mark Steyn on Victor Davis Hanson: Betting the Farm
Excerpt: First, you get some oddly determined visitors and attendant burglaries. Then, the intimidation gets ratcheted up. Your farmhands get beaten. The local authorities take down the details and do nothing. Then you or your wife and kids get beaten, or shot. You sell your land for a fraction of what you would have got a few years earlier. And, if you don’t, you get driven off it anyway. Or killed. White Rhodesians were the planet’s favorite pariahs for a long time, so nobody cares what happens to them. But it’s strange to see the same scenario starting to play out in the Golden State – and in parts of Arizona, too. Where next? Texas? Border immigration on the scale of the south-west is not about people moving but about borders moving. Less enlightened regions of the world understand this as they understand the sun rising in the morning, but it all seems too complicated for Californian sophisticates. (Yes. - Kate in LA.)
British Press Pans Obama’s Empty TelePrompter Speech to Parliament
Excerpt: The pictures were better than the words…Perhaps Mr Obama was smothered also by his audience, which remained stubbornly unresponsive. For most of the time the President had nothing to bounce off: no applause and certainly no shouts of praise or blame as might be heard in an American church or at an American political rally. The presidential text sounded as if it had been worked on so hard and conscientiously by a vast team of helpers that it had lost all savour, and been reduced to a series of orotund banalities, of the sort which can be heard at every tedious Anglo-American conference: “Profound challenges stretch out before us…the time for our leadership is now…Our alliance will remain indispensable.” It did not help to hear Mr Obama assert, after only a minute or two, that “fortunately it’s been smooth sailing” between Britain and the United States “ever since” 1812, when we burned down the White House. Everyone present will have been able to think of occasions when this was not so. Suez did not seem like plain sailing.
France's Christine LaGarde Makes it Formal: She Wants to Head the IMF
Excerpt: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde launched her formal bid to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday as an opposition group of countries attacked Europe's "obsolete" grip on the position. Lagarde, who has the backing of the European Union and its key members Britain, Germany and France, threw her hat in the ring after what she described as "mature reflection" and having consulted with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
'Narco Tank' is latest find in cartel's armored vehicles
As our fiscal ability to field police crumbles before the deficits, expect to see these things here. ~Bob. Excerpt: The "narco tank," reportedly a 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty truck, was radically altered, with plates of armor and a gun turret. From the website PickupTrucks.com: As you can see, it's a one-of-a-kind armored up-fit. The front bumper has a folding battering ram -- which we call the "man-ram" -- and sloping metal plates have been welded to almost every surface. The cargo box is fully enclosed with gun ports and a protected turret that can rotate to spot rival drug cartels or Mexican government troops.
Spanish Revolution of 2011 Explained
Demanding jobs from the Spanish welfare state. Might as well demand eternal life. ~Bob. Excerpt: In the end, what started with a few ideas and different initiatives on the web has become a huge movement on the streets all over Spain and in many other countries. As I already mentioned, most of the initiators didn't know each other at the beginning and only met in person a couple of weeks before the 15M [15 May] event. The main platforms enabling them to join forces were social networks like Facebook and Tuenti, and of course platforms like Twitter and hundreds (or even thousands) of blogs that supported the movements and spread the word. The sit-in at Plaza del Sol even has its own TV channel, with a mind-blowing 11 million accumulated views so far. Around 45 million people live in Spain.
Australia: Soon We'll Have No Bananas
Excerpt: The major supermarket chains have already raised their prices to $12.98 [US $13.74] a kilogram [2.2 pounds] for Cavendish bananas and some independent fruit shops are selling the fruit for nearly $17/kg. Mr Eccles said bananas were selling at wholesale for $10/kg but would probably rise to $12/kg at the height of the shortage. Sydney Market Reporting Service fruit surveyor Chris Cope said the markets usually received up to 160,000 cartons of bananas weekly at this time of year. He said currently it was fewer than 20,000 cartons. "In the next couple of weeks, we'll see an extreme shortage," Mr Cope said.
Hip Hop Republican: Obama's Black Agenda?
Blacks educational problems are not based on race, but culture. And the PC desire to keep thugs in school to drag down the decent kids. ~Bob. Excerpt: I’d be especially perturbed as a black Obama voter the president launched an Educational Excellence for Hispanics Advisory Commission. Blacks have had the lowest educational outcomes for decades, where is their commission? Obama figures he can keep dismissing problems facing blacks and still carry the “black vote” but Hispanics are the fastest growing minority so he wants to throw them a bone for their vote in 2012 and throw blacks under the bus. Where is the outrage from the Congressional Black Caucus and black advocacy groups like the NAACP, who are supposed to hold the president accountable for implementing policies that help their black constituents? It appears these groups are letting Obama off the hook because he is the country’s first Black president but if it was President George W. Bush or any other white president, the outrage would never cease. All we hear is silence from our “so called” black leaders. (Ever notice how whites don’t have “white leaders” but blacks are always lumped into one monolithic group.) At least [Princeton] Professor [Cornel] West had the guts to tell the truth.
Woman: ‘I shot him as much as I could'
Leftists would prefer she not had a gun, so we could read about her funeral instead. ~Bob. Excerpt: The crying woman told a 911 operator she “shot him as much as I could” and moments later police found her would-be attacker dead in the back yard of her Gwinnett County home. The woman was getting out of the shower when 34-year-old Israel Perez Puentes, armed with a knife, dragged her to the bedroom where he planned to rape her, police said. Her fear was evident in the recording of her call for help – obtained by AM 750 and now 95.5FM News/Talk WSB. “I was in the shower and the lights cut out in my house,” the sobbing woman said moments after she shot and killed Puentes on May 11.“This man came at me with a hood on. And he had a knife in his hand.” He forced her into her bedroom, she later told police, and that is where she retrieved her gun. “I shot him as much as I could,” said the woman. “I shot him with a .22 but he just kept running. "He was going to rape me, kill me.
Shelby Steele: Obama's Unspoken Re-election Edge
Excerpt: There have really always been two Barack Obamas: the mortal man and the cultural icon. If the actual man is distinctly ordinary, even a little flat and humorless, the cultural icon is quite extraordinary. The problem for Republicans is that they must run against both the man and the myth. In 2008, few knew the man and Republicans were walloped by the myth. Today the man is much clearer, and yet the myth remains compelling. (Is this Shelby Steele's way of saying, 'Go West'? Allen West if far more compelling than Obama will ever be. --Kate)
Our Muslim Troubles: Lessons from Northern Ireland
Excerpt: Long-time readers are familiar with the writings of El Inglés. His lucid analyses of the self-destructive trajectory of the 21st-century West — particularly Britain — have been appearing in this space for almost four years. His most controversial essay to date, “Surrender, Genocide… or What?”, was posted here a little over three years ago. Along with the LGF Wars several months prior to that, El Inglés’ masterwork was one of the major causes of our conversion to what I call “hard-eyed realism”. Pajamas Media had an attack of the Screaming Nazi Heeber-Jeebers over the essay, and terminated our contract as a result. The shock helped purge us of any lingering fears about what might happen to us. There was nothing to be afraid of any longer — now we knew the worst that could befall us. We had been reviled and shunned, called “neo-Nazis”, “white supremacists”, and “bigots”, and were finally abandoned by our advertisers. After that we had nothing left to lose. We were free.
CIA to search bin Laden compound
After the ISI has finished with it. Like so much today, this should not be in the news. ~Bob. Excerpt: Pakistan has agreed to allow the CIA to send a forensics team to examine the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, giving the agency permission to use sophisticated equipment in a search for al-Qaeda materials that might have been hidden inside walls or buried at the site, U.S. officials said. The arrangement would allow the CIA for the first time to enter a complex that it had previously scrutinized only from a distance, using satellites, stealth drones and spies operating from a nearby safe house that was shuttered when bin Laden was killed. U.S. officials said a CIA team is expected to arrive at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, within days, and that the objective is to scrub the site for items that were not recovered by American commandos during the raid or Pakistani security forces who secured the facility in the aftermath.
Pro-Palestinian-in-Chief: Obama’s hard-Left tilt is real.
Excerpt: It’s time to revisit the issue of President Obama’s Palestinian ties. During his time in the Illinois state senate, Obama forged close alliances with the most prominent Palestinian political leaders in America. Substantial evidence also indicates that during his pre-Washington years, Obama was both supportive of the Palestinian cause and critical of America’s stance toward Israel. Although Obama began to voice undifferentiated support for Israel around 2004 (as he ran for U.S. Senate and his national visibility rose), critics and even some backers have long suspected that his pro-Palestinian inclinations survive. The continuing influence of Obama’s pro-Palestinian sentiments is the best way to make sense of the president’s recent tilt away from Israel. This is why supporters of Israel should fear Obama’s reelection. In 2013, with his political vulnerability a thing of the past, Obama’s pro-Palestinian sympathies would be released from hibernation, leaving Israel without support from its indispensable American defender.
Excerpt: In every way that really matters, Israel’s war is our war, and our war is Israel’s war. In meetings — along with my ACLJ colleagues — with members of the Knesset, former IDF officers, and other government officials, that fundamental reality has been driven home again and again. Serving a year in Iraq’s Diayala Province with the 2d Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, I was exposed to our jihadist enemy at close range. I saw their tactics, I learned their mindset, and we all experienced their absolute depravity. In conversations with Israelis who’ve been on the front lines of their own fight with Hamas and Hezbollah, the same themes and tactics emerge. “We would track them and as they ran, they’d grab children by the arms and pull them along for protection.” “They traveled in ambulances, and fired out the back.” “Their weapons are hidden in mosques and they put missiles in the courtyards of schools.” And, most haunting of all: “My friends died protecting Palestinian civilians, while their whole purpose is to kill our women and children.”
Help Allen West by Clicking on to His Facebook Page
Excerpt: (It is a contest the Republicans are sponsoring for their freshman congressmen. They are trying to encourage their freshmen to use explore and expand the possibilities of the internet, ie ,YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., so Allen West will look good to the GOP if he gets lots of clicks on his facebook page. It is very easy to sign up for Facebook, and easy to deactivate your account. -- Kate.)
Galloway Meets With Another Terrorist Group
Excerpt: George Galloway, the leader and founder of the UK-based group Viva Palestina, met with leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad while in Beirut, Lebanon this week, according to an article that ran in Arabic in the news outlet Palestine Today on Tuesday. Galloway, a former member of parliament, flew to Beirut to accept the TAKREEM Award for Exceptional Contribution to Arab Society. The Investigative Project on Terrorism's translation of the Arabic article reveals that Galloway visited the office of Abu Imad Rifai, the representative of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Lebanon. Three others accompanied Galloway, including Viva Palestina leader Kevin Ovenden, and Rov Hoveman, a Viva Palestina spokesman and former assistant to Galloway when he served as a British MP. Several other leaders of PIJ in Lebanon received Galloway and his delegation.
Jose Guerena Killed: Arizona Cops Shoot Former Marine In Botched Pot Raid
Excerpt: As the SWAT team forced its way into his home, Guerena, a former Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, armed himself with his AR-15 rifle and told his wife and son to hide in a closet. As the officers entered, Guerena confronted them from the far end of a long, dark hallway. The police opened fire, releasing more than 70 rounds in about 7 seconds, at least 60 of which struck Guerena. He was pronounced dead a little over an hour later. The Pima County Sheriff's Department initially claimed (PDF) Guerena fired his weapon at the SWAT team. They now acknowledge that not only did he not fire, the safety on his gun was still activated when he was killed. Guerena had no prior criminal record, and the police found nothing illegal in his home. After ushering out his wife and son, the police refused to allow paramedics to access Guerena for more than hour, leaving the young father to bleed to death, alone, in his own home.
All 7 NATO troops killed in Afghanistan explosion were Americans, U.S. official says
Republican Proposes Legislation to Terminate Military Intervention in Libya
Excerpt: Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) told CNSNews.com Wednesday that Congress should “exercise” its power to cut off funds for the U.S. military operation in Libya that President Barack Obama initiated without seeking congressional authorization. “I think that we’ve gotten to the point, almost, of no return because we’ve gone over the legal term of 60 days," said Rooney told CNSNews.com after testifying before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs about legislation he has proposed. The 60-day threshold refers to the War Powers Act, which became law back in the 1970s, and was designed to limit how long the president could take military action overseas without prior congressional approval. (When I first saw the headline, I assumed it would be proposed by Ron Paul. Surprise. If we have no clearly military mission in Libya, our presence makes little sense, but I hate the message this would send to potential adversaries: Hang on 90 days and the Americans will get tired and quit. On the other hand, maybe Obama will be smart enough to simply ask for congressional authorization, which he would probably get. Once the guns start to fire, it’s much harder to silence them. Had our intervention begun 3 or 4 weeks earlier.... Ron P.)
Former Moon Astronaut and Senator: U.S. Should Settle Moon and Mars
Excerpt: Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, a former U.S. senator who as a crew member of Apollo 17 was the last human being to step foot on the moon, says that the U.S. government should phase out NASA and create a new agency focused on exploring deep space and establishing American settlements on the moon and ultimately Mars. (Everybody has his pet dream; space travel is mine. Briefly in the late 60s, I’d hoped to retire to the Moon. Clearly, that won’t happen for me, but it could for our grandchildren. The resources are out there. All we have to do is go out and get them. If we hope to survive as a species, we’ll have to do it at some point. (“Earth is too small a basket for Man to keep all his eggs in.” ~Robert Heinlein) Why not start now? Ron P.)
Dutch Prosecuter Says: Find Geert Wilders Not Guilty
Excerpt: The decision to call on judges to find Wilders not guilty follows on from fact the department did not want to take the PVV leader to court in the first place.
Failed State Colonization - The Greatest Threat of Our Time
Excerpt: Let's compare two countries side by side. Country A has a sizable middle class and economy, social welfare benefits and a low birth rate. Country B is a failed state where thugs run amok in the street, a few families control the economy and the birth rate is off the charts. Country A's citizens are taught that nationalism is evil and that everyone should get along. Country B's citizens are taught that they are the greatest people that ever lived and would be running the world if not for Country A. But despite all this, Country B's citizens all want to move to Country A. And Country A wants to let them. Because Country A needs new workers to subsidize its welfare state and voters who will vote for pro-social welfare parties.
Out of Business
Excerpt: The last few years as an executive in a manufacturing company gave me a frighteningly close look at the inner workings of regulators in our government. Maybe I'm just naïve, but what I discovered was shocking. In the past, I realized our leaders were disingenuous when they spoke about "creating jobs" and "improving the economy." Now, I have a slightly different take. After my experiences this year, and after giving this a lot of thought, I am adamant that our leaders have no business in the first place "creating jobs," or "improving the economy," or even claiming they have the ability to do so. In fact, I have witnessed the loss of jobs as a direct result of regulations by unnamed and unelected bureaucrats, who are backed up by threats of prosecution from the government. Our government is stifling job creation.
Officials: More than 100 [Illegal Aliens] found in west Phoenix drophouse
Excerpt: Federal immigration agents on Wednesday discovered 108 illegal-immigration suspects crammed inside a drophouse in west Phoenix, the largest drophouse bust in more than three years and the second-largest since 2006. Such large numbers have become rare as smugglers change tactics to avoid increased immigration enforcement and suspicion from neighbors. But one of the telltale details of immigrant smuggling - vehicles entering a garage, closing the door, then quickly exiting - drew the attention and suspicion of neighbors in this case.
Fremont's lawyer hails ruling
Excerpt: An attorney for the Nebraska city of Fremont is hailing a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding an Arizona law that penalizes businesses for hiring workers who are in the United States illegally. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says the court decision “vindicates Fremont’s position” on its own ordinance governing illegal immigrants. Kobach is representing Fremont in a challenge filed over the 2010 law that bans hiring or renting to illegal immigrants. A trial is set for April.
No Democrat votes for any budget proposal
Excerpt: Four budgets were being considered before the U.S. Senate today, and not a single Democrat voted for a single plan. Most notably, zero Democrats voted for President Obama's budget, which was defeated 0 to 97. Senate Democrats give the excuse that Obama has since revised his budget. But that's a cop out. All Obama did was give a speech last month, he did not release a specific plan. Thus, the only actual budget he produced is the February plan that Democrats just voted against unanimously. Tonight made abundantly clear that Democrats have decided on the strategy of isolating and attacking Rep. Paul Ryan's plan, rather than presenting any of their own proposals that could prompt counter attacks. The party is in a bind when it comes to releasing a budget -- if they cut too much in an attempt to match Ryan's savings, they'll alienate their base and allow Republicans to muddy the waters when it comes to contentious budget cuts. The only way to achieve Ryan's deficit reduction otherwise would be to dramatically raise taxes, which would also open them up to attacks. So the only other alternatives are to release a budget that reduces deficits significantly less than Ryan's, and thus look un-serious, or to not get behind any proposal at all. Thus far, they've chosen the latter approach.
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Robert A. Hall
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