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Trump’s Poke at the “Climate Change Cult ” sets off a Frenzy

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December 30,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that “we could use a little bit of that good old global warming” in response to the bitter cold hitting the East Coast this week. That tweet started a furor with many who’s lively hoods are dependent on perpetuated the myth of man made “climate change”.

Even Ridgewood Water uses the climate change myth to justify its gross incompetence and push acceptance by over taxes residents of third world water restrictions .  Simple logic sheds suspicion on the entire argument .

The “global warming ” charade has been popularized by the same guy Al Gore who proudly announced he discovered the internet . Clearly the argument is a money maker for many researchers and companies  ,and a source of revenue for the government .

Gore a divinity student pushed the “climate change religion” to further his political aspirations. The Pope recently jumped on the band wagon. Using terms like “climate change deniers” , and proposing trials for anyone who challenges the lucrative agenda harks back to the days of the “Inquisition”.

Funny how the same people in the Village of Ridgewood who support the climate cult also support clear cutting trees and building turf fields ?

The same evidence used in the 1950’s to support “global cooling” was used in the 1970s to support “global warming “.  People if the weather was stagnate and never changed the Dinosaurs would still be here .

No Evidence of Dangerous Global Warming

Posted on July 10, 2016
By Bryan Leyland

Many articles in the Herald over the past few years have emphasised the dangers of man-made global warming (aka “climate change”) and warned us that extreme measures are needed to save us from this imminent climatic disaster. Almost without exception, the authors of these articles have assumed that man-made carbon dioxide causes dangerous global warming, rapid sea level rise and more floods, droughts, cyclones and so on.
But what does the evidence tell us?

Regarding world temperatures, historical records from ice cores tell us that it was warmer during the Mediaeval Warm Period, the Roman Warm Period and the Bronze Age. The Mediaeval Warm Period was experienced all over the world including Australia and New Zealand.

The oldest set of recorded temperatures comes from central England and started in the mid 1600s. They show a temperature rise of a little more than 1°C – which is not surprising as the record started in the middle of the Little Ice Age. Since 1900 – which was fairly cold – most temperature records show that the world warmed quite rapidly up until the 1940s, then the temperature declined until 1975 when it rose again at the 1930s rate until about 2000.

Since the 1970s, satellite measured temperatures which, NASA says, are the most accurate, have been available and, if the two El Nino events are ignored, show no statistically significant temperature rise for the last 18 years. By contrast, the computer-based climate models predicted temperatures about 0.5° higher than they really are and the IPCC has admitted that 97% of its temperature predictions were much higher than actual temperatures. Should we believe the evidence or the models?

What will happen next? The climate models predict rapidly increasing temperatures but people who have studied past temperature cycles, sunspot cycles and the current dearth of sunspots predict that a substantial worldwide drop in temperature is highly probable. Who is right? Only time will tell – and quite soon. The present El Nino temperature peak will be followed by an equally dramatic drop in temperature as La Nina sets in. But no one really knows what will happen after that.

Sea level rise is reasonably well documented for the last hundred plus years from tide gauge records that show that it has been at a fairly steady rate in the region of 0.14 and 0.17 m per century. This is not unexpected given that we are still coming out of the Little Ice Age. Since the 1970s, sea levels have been measured by satellites that show a rate of rise of 0.32 m per century. No one is quite sure why the disparity exists. Some people believe it is because they are biased by mid-ocean sea level rise which does not affect the situation along shorelines. Neither record shows any sign of a recent and rapid increase in sea levels.

Sadly, this does not stop academics who specialise in computer models of the climate advising the Royal Society of New Zealand that sea levels are likely to rise rapidly and reach between 0.3 m and 1 m by 2100 – more than predicted by the U.N.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Scientists with practical experience of sea level changes around New Zealand point out that the coastline is subsiding in some places and rising in others. The Royal Society advisers have ignored these movements and the slow rise in New Zealand sea levels over the last 100 years. Similar extreme predictions have been adopted by the Ministry of the Environment and are now being used by Councils to devalue coastal land and limit development near the sea. They have even predicted sea level rise in places where the land is rising from the sea!

A recent article in the Herald stated that sea levels in some Solomon Islands were rising rapidly because of global warming. It also said that the sea level at Tuvalu was rising and forcing people to flee. The reality is quite different: it is well-known that the islands in the Solomons are steadily sinking beneath the sea and the accurate tide gauges installed by the Australian government at Tuvalu in the 1990s show that there has been no significant increase in sea level.

A study by a New Zealand academic showed that the land area of Pacific atolls is increasing. If it didn’t, then all the atolls in the ocean would have been drowned when the sea level rose at 3 m per century coming out of the last ice age.

Regarding floods, droughts, cyclones and the like, there is no convincing evidence that these are increasing. The IPCC agrees. A recent scientific paper analysed the past history of these events and concluded that they were less frequent now than during most of the past 1000 years.

So, as is so often the case, the perception and reality are vastly different. In New Zealand this is not helped by a mainstream media that seldom publishes anything that examines the evidence and propounds a different view. Yet there is no doubt that the science is NOT settled and debate is needed.

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Republicans Need to Stop Wasting MLK Day

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Muhammad Ali
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”

Republicans Need to Stop Wasting MLK Day

January 19, 2015 5 Comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was alive and well today, Save Jerseyans?

I think he’d be impressed by how color blind my generation is; he’d also be disgusted by the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of the world and how they’ve profited while many of America’s black neighborhoods continued to suffer.

So we can honor Dr. King’s legacy through volunteer work, yes, but more importantly by rejecting race profiteers and voting for REAL change. Not the fluffy, fake Obama variety that comes prepackaged in a can.

“The time is always right to do what is right.” Amen!

Where to start?

Republicans can stop wasting MLK Day with platitudinal calls for “service” in our communities and utilize a unique opportunity to advocate for, again, REAL change. Like the implementation of school choice reforms. The inequality in our education system isn’t tied to funding, and it remains the last great civil rights hurdle facing America’s youth.

Why don’t more GOP’ers speak out? They don’t do it more often, I suspect, due to a lack of confidence. They’re gun shy after effectively getting hit with the race card for decades, but I believe it’s a needless fear because the country is changing.

We’re more color blind than ever. Barack Obama and his party’s economic job performance where black America is concerned is nevertheless nothing short of abysmal.

https://savejersey.com/2015/01/republican-mlk-day/

Dr. King said it best:

“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;

Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.

Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it.

Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?

Expediency ask the question, is it politic?

Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

https://savejersey.com/2015/01/republican-mlk-day/

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Thanking America’s Heroes on Veterans Day

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Rep Garrett with two vets at the Glen Rock street fair 

Dear Friend,
 
Today, our nation pauses to remember the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans—every man and woman who proudly defended our country. To a brave few, duty and service are more than words, they are a way of life. 
 
As Americans, our freedoms and liberties have been secured because of our veterans.  From the Continental Armies of the American Revolution to those returning home today from places abroad, our veterans have proven, time and again, to be among our greatest national treasures.

As President John F. Kennedy—himself an American war hero—once said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”  Today, and every day, please join me in remembering and honoring our veterans.

Sincerely,


Rep. Scott Garrett

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Republicans get what they want: A midterm election about Obama

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Republicans get what they want: A midterm election about Obama
By Justin Sink – 11/03/14 06:00 AM EST

Less than 24 hours before Election Day, Republicans have what they want: a referendum on President Obama.

GOP candidates are training their closing arguments on Obama, full of confidence that voter dissatisfaction with the White House will punch their ticket to a Senate majority.

“This is not brain surgery,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, who argued “it’s obvious Obama has become an anchor” for Democrats.

Aaska Republican Dan Sullivan, who hopes to unseat Sen. Mark Begich (D), in his final campaign ad is pledging to “stand up to Barack Obama and federal overreach.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is flooding Georgia with ads highlighting Obama’s claim that a victory by Democrat Michelle Nunn would insure Democrats keep the Senate.

In Louisiana, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is hammering Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) over a comment that suggested race was a reason for Obama’s low approval ratings in the state.

In New Hampshire, where a victory by Republican Scott Brown likely would reflect a huge night for Republicans, Brown is mocking Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) for voting with President Obama “99 percent of the time.”

Staffers at the Republican National Committee dressed as Democrats running from the president for Halloween.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/222494-gop-gets-what-it-wants-an-election-about-obama

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The 7 Scariest Uses of Your Tax Dollars in 2014

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The 7 Scariest Uses of Your Tax Dollars in 2014

Sen. Tom Coburn’s annual “Wastebook” chronicles the most outrageous government waste—spending that is so frightening that it taxpayers ought to be scared.

Halloween is upon us, so what better way to document some of the wackiest examples than with the short horror flick above. https://dailysign.al/1sMxeNT

“Only someone with too much of someone else’s money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up some of these projects,” the Oklahoma Republican said when releasing the book earlier this month.

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Steve Wynn: I’m ‘more scared’ about US than China

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Steve Wynn: I’m ‘more scared’ about US than China
Jane Wells | @janewells

To rephrase a purported Chinese proverb: Steve Wynn lives in interesting times.

The casino magnate behind Wynn Resorts makes most of his money in Macau, China, and he’s worked closely with the Chinese government for a dozen years. However, gambling revenue across Macau has softened as the government has cracked down on what it calls illegal lending practices there, and as potential new anti-smoking rules threaten to turn off gamblers. Now, new tensions are rising on the heels of massive protestsin Hong Kong by residents who oppose Beijing’s efforts to dictate the candidates they’re allowed to vote for.

‘Everyone in China is pragmatic’

Is Steve Wynn bothered?

“I’m more scared about the United States than I am about China,” Wynn told CNBC this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. The protests in Hong Kong have “become sort of a party out there.”

Wynn said he believes the situation will be resolved: “Everyone in China is pragmatic and practical.”

Wynn said Chinese officials may be willing to bend in favor of protesters who want everyone to be able to vote on Hong Kong’s chief executive, though he seemed to think it’s less likely that Beijing will stop deciding who can run and who doesn’t.

“I think the central government is willing to let everybody vote for the CEO, but they want to have some positive input on the nominations, so that whoever it is, the group of candidates, have some kind of mature, rational attitude towards the fact that it belongs to China,” Wynn said. “I don’t think (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and the central government are going to give up some level of control of their own country. It’s not part of that culture there.”

Wynn continues to praise the business climate in China compared to the United States: “The regulatory burden in China is infinitesimal compared to the crap we get in America.”

Wynn’s comments come as Western companies have come up against growing scrutiny from the Chinese government, including surprise raids, long investigations and growing fines in the name of “anti-trust” enforcement.

Wynn refused to comment on a slander lawsuit his company has filed against Jim Chanos—the suit alleges that the famous short seller intimated that Wynn has violated anti-bribing laws in order to succeed in Macau. Instead, he praised what he called “the most laissez-faire place on the planet at the moment” in China, and said Americans don’t realize how positive and aspirational the Chinese are about their own lives and their own government.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102049852

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How Obama lost friends and influence in the Brics

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How Obama lost friends and influence in the Brics
By Edward Luce

The president’s real pivot is not to Asia but to America, inspired by domestic sentiment

When Barack Obama took office, he pledged a new overture to the world’s emerging powers. Today each of the Brics – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is at loggerheads with America, or worse. Last month four of the five abstained in a UN vote condemning the fifth’s annexation of Crimea. Next month India is likely to elect as its new leader Narendra Modi, who says he has “no interest in visiting America other than to attend the UN in New York”. As the world’s largest democracy, and America’s most natural ally among the emerging powers, India’s is a troubling weathervane. How on earth did Mr Obama lose the Brics?

Some of it was unavoidable. Early in his first term Mr Obama called for a “reset” of US relations with Russia. His overture was warmly received by Dmitry Medvedev, then Russia’s president, who was considerably less anti-western than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. Unfortunately for Mr Obama, Ukraine, Pussy Riot and many others, Mr Putin repossessed the presidency. The US president can hardly be blamed for that. Things have gone downhill since then.

The trajectory of US relations with China has also been in the wrong direction. Within his first year in office, Mr Obama made his much-feted “G2” visit to China, in which he offered Beijing a global partnership to solve the world’s big problems, from climate change to financial imbalances. Alas, the Chinese did not feel ready to tackle problems on a global level that they were still struggling with at home. Mr Obama was rudely spurned by his hosts.

https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6077675c-c4c4-11e3-8dd4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2zVSW5HCG

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The Filthy Four! Democrats Who Have Been Arrested Or Raided By The FBI This Week!

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The Filthy Four! Democrats Who Have Been Arrested Or Raided By The FBI This Week!

Four Democrats have taken the “culture of corruption” and made it into a full-blown political movement this week by committing acts that made the FBI either arrest them or raid their offices and homes. Murder-for-hire, gun trafficking, corruption, illegal Chinese cigarettes, stealing money from the taxpayer, and chiropractic bribery – these are the favored crimes of the “Filthy Four” Democrats!

1) New York Assemblyman William Scarborough’s office raided over possible travel expense fraud

DEMOCRAT William Scarborough had his home and offices raided by the FBI in an attempt to investigate the claim that he had fudged his travel expenses and cheated the taxpayer out of thousands of dollars. So far this year he’s put in for $10,350 in total expenses, while last year he claimed $28,438 in reimbursements, and $33,986 in 2012!

https://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/125134-the-filthy-four-democrats-who-have-been-arrested-or-raided-by-fbi-this-week/

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Revealed: Washington gunman who murdered 12 had ‘anger issues’ after rescuing victims of 9/11 and had been kicked out of the Navy after gun charge

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Revealed: Washington gunman who murdered 12 had ‘anger issues’ after rescuing victims of 9/11 and had been kicked out of the Navy after gun charge

-Aaron Alexis, 34, named as the heavily armed gunman who opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington D.C. – killing 12 people and injuring eight others
-He is reported to have used a shotgun he brought with him and also an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and handgun he picked up from the fallen
-AR-15 was the weapon used in the Sandy Hook and Aurora mass shootings
-SWAT Teams fought a heavy gun battle with him and shot him dead
-Alexis served in the U.S. Navy for almost four years before he was discharged in 2011 for ‘misconduct’
-He was awarded two medals during his military service for serving during the War on Terror, a time of national crisis
-It has been reported he was discharged from the U.S. Navy because of an arrest for firing his own gun in 2010; a similar incident occurred in 2004
-The FBI has determined that Alexis was the only shooter, and police say a valid security pass was used to get into the Navy Yard buildings
-All of the 15 people wounded are in critical condition, authorities said
-President Obama vowed Monday to hold responsible those who carried out the ‘cowardly’ mass shooting, while calling the victims ‘patriots’

By James Nye, Louise Boyle, David Martosko In Washington, Meghan Keneally and Paul Thompson In Washington

The Washington Navy Yard gunman who killed 12 yesterday has previously claimed to be suffering from PTSD after helping rescue efforts in New York following the 9/11 terror attacks.

Gunman Aaron Alexis was shot dead by responding officers after he opened fire inside a Navy facility around 8:20 a.m. on Monday morning, killing 12 people aged 46-73.

It emerged today that he used three guns during the massacre, one of them an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle – the same weapon used in the Sandy Hook and Aurora mass shootings.

Since he was identified as the shooter, reports have revealed that it was not the first time he was involved in a shooting.

In 2004, Alexis was arrested in Seattle for shooting the tires of a construction worker’s car during what he later called an anger-fueled ‘blackout.’

‘He said that he didn’t remember pulling the trigger of his firearm until about one hour later,’ according to the Seattle police report.

Later he said that he felt the intended victim ‘disrespected’ him.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2421980/Washington-Naval-Yard-shooting-Aaron-Alexis-named-gunman-murdered-12-injured-15.html#ixzz2f9N1S4OD

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Yogi Bear and the National Park Services denies 2 million bikers to ride in DC in honor of those who died on 9/11

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Yogi Bear and the National Park Services denies 2 million bikers to ride in DC in honor of those who died on 9/11

NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE SAYS IT DENIED 2MILLION BIKERS TO DC PERMIT BECA– USE OF TRAFFIC DISRUPTION, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT From dcist.com

The conservative blogosphere has been buzzing today with news that the D.C. has denied a permit to 2 Million Bikers D.C., a group that’s planning a motorcycle rally on September 11 in response to the Million Muslim March planned for the same day.

The National Park Services confirms that it has denied the permit for the ride-only, non-stop event after looking at it in terms of disruption and resource management.

NPS spokeswoman Carol Johnson said the group’s permit application was examined like all others, using the Code of Federal Regulations. Johnson said the group had asked to ride through what’s called Memorial Core, near the Memorial Bridge, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 2,000 motorcyclists. NPS decided that the large ride would require closures of important roadways, block access to Rock Creek and George Washington Parkways and would cause a severe disruption to traffic. A police escort would also be needed.

“It’s just a case of what they asked for in the permit applications,” Johnson said.

Belinda Bee, an organizer of the event, said she participated in a conference call with Sheila Gotha-Samuels, a permit assistant at the NPS, who said the permit was denied.

“She said it’s a weekday and the residents of D.C. would not like y’all very well,” Bee said, adding that they applied for the permit so they could “get in and out of D.C. as fast as possible.”

Bee said the group will still ride without a permit, which she said they didn’t need in the first place.

Johnson, however, said that Gotha-Samuels did not speak to the group about the application, which was denied by Robbin Owen, Chief of Park Programs.

“[Gotha-Samuels] did receive a call today from someone saying they were calling her because they had talked to her before, but they had not,” Johnson said. “She told them she didn’t know what they were talking about, explained that Robbin Owen handled the application and offered to forward the call to Robbin’s voicemail since she is off today.”

Bee said she has proof of the conference call and has provided it to The Blaze.

In case you’re not a regular reader of Twitchy or The Blaze, the Million Muslim March is being organized by American Muslim Political Action Committee, a fringe group led by a 9/11 truther. The 2 Million Bikers to D.C. Ride was then planned with the following goals:

1. WE, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, WILL STAND BY OUR CONSTITUTION (AS WRITTEN, NOT AS INTERPRETED BY THE THIS OR ANY PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION), WE WILL STAND BY OUR BILL OF RIGHTS (AS WRITTEN) AND WE STAND FOR AMERICA!
2. THIS EVENT IS TO OUR HONOR AND RESPECT THOSE WHO WERE KILLED ON 9/11 AND THEIR FAMILIES! IT IS ALSO IN REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE IN ALL OUR ARMED FORCES WHO FOUGHT THOSE WHO PRECIPITATED THIS ATTACK!
3. WE STAND AGAINST ANY “FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA” BY THIS ADMINISTRATION OR ANY PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION!
4. WE WILL NOT STAND DOWN WE WILL STAND UP IF NEED BE FOR OUR LIBERTIES. ** THIS IS A PEACEFUL “RIDE”. WE ARE NOT PROMOTING NOR DO WE CONDONE VIOLENCE OF ANY KIND! WE ARE RIDING TO SHOW OUR LOVE OF AMERICA AND THE SHINING EXAMPLE OF FREEDOM THIS COUNTRY PROVIDES TO THE WORLD!**

https://dcist.com/2013/09/_ride_only_event_non.php

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Don’t Come Crying to Us, NSA; You Guys Are the Ones Who Hired This Goofball.

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Don’t Come Crying to Us, NSA; You Guys Are the Ones Who Hired This Goofball.
June 11, 2013
Jim Geraghty
To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com

Everybody’s going to have an opinion on Edward Snowden, today the world’s most famous leaker.

In the coming days, you’re going to see a lot of people talking past each other, conflating two issues: One, did he do the right thing by disclosing all these details of the vast NSA system to gather data on Americans? And two, should he be prosecuted for it?

Of course, you can do the right thing and still break the law.

John Yoo argues that the government has to pursue prosecution of Snowden, considering what they’ve done in response to much lesser leaks:

The NSA leak case will reveal if the Obama administration really means what it said about its foolish and unconstitutional pursuit of the AP and Fox News in other leak cases. Recall that the Obama Justice Department claimed that Fox News reporter James Rosen was a co-conspirator in the alleged leak of classified intelligence. If the Justice Department truly believed what it told the courts when seeking a wiretap on Rosen, then it should indict the reporters and editors for the Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers who published information on PRISM. They clearly “conspired” with Snowden to publish classified information, information that was much more harmful to the national security than in the Rosen case (on North Korea’s predictable response to sanctions). Personally, I think that the Post is protected by the First Amendment, but Holder’s Justice Department clearly doesn’t think so.

So either the Justice Department will indict not just Snowden, but also the Post and Guardian reporters, or it will have been shown to have been untruthful to the courts in the Rosen case (which I think has become clear) . . .

Yoo also points out that Snowden’s claim to noble motives is muddied quite a bit by his decision to run to Hong Kong. (By the way, the last guy to run to Hong Kong, certain that he was beyond the reach of American law enforcement and extradition treaties, was Mr. Lau, the money-keeper for the Gotham City mob. And we all remember how that turned out.) When Snowden declares, “Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People’s Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech,” we have to wonder if A) he’s already working for the Chinese or B) he’s an imbecile.

This may be a story with no heroes. A government system designed to protect the citizens starts collecting all kinds of information on people who have done nothing wrong; it gets exposed, in violation of oaths and laws, by a young man who doesn’t recognize the full ramifications of his actions. The same government that will insist he’s the villain will glide right past the question of how they came to trust a guy like him with our most sensitive secrets. Who within our national-security apparatus made the epic mistake of looking him over — completing his background check and/or psychological evaluation — and concluding, “Yup, looks like a nice kid?”

Watching the interview with Snowden, the first thing that is quite clear is that his mild-mannered demeanor inadequately masks a huge ego — one of the big motivations of spies. (Counterintelligence instructors have long offered the mnemonic MICE, for money, ideology, compromise, ego; others throw in nationalism and sex)

Snowden feels he has an understanding of what’s going on well beyond most of his colleagues:

When you’re in positions of privileged access like a systems administrator for the sort of intelligence community agencies, you’re exposed to a lot more information on a broader scale then the average employee and because of that you see things that may be disturbing but over the course of a normal person’s career you’d only see one or two of these instances. When you see everything you see them on a more frequent basis and you recognize that some of these things are actually abuses.

What’s more, he feels that no one listens to his concerns or takes them seriously:

And when you talk to people about them in a place like this where this is the normal state of business people tend not to take them very seriously and move on from them. But over time that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about. And the more you talk about the more you’re ignored. The more you’re told its not a problem until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public and not by somebody who was simply hired by the government.”

My God, he must have been an insufferable co-worker.

“Look, you guys just don’t understand, okay? You just can’t grasp the moral complexities of what I’m being asked to do here! Nobody here really gets what’s going on, or can see the big picture when you ask me to do something like that!”

“Ed, I just asked if you could put a new bottle on the water cooler when you get a chance.”

Of course, all of this is presided over by a guy who thought that civil liberties were a useful cudgel against a Republican president back when he was outside the Oval Office. John Sexton turns the wayback machine to 2005, when then-senator Obama, from the floor of the Senate, sternly declared that the PATRIOT Act “didn’t just provide law enforcement the powers it needed to keep us safe, but powers it didn’t need to invade our privacy without cause or suspicion” and added:

If someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document — through library books they’ve read and phone calls they’ve made — this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law. No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case. This is just plain wrong.

Ace of Spades: “James Rosen could not be reached for comment, but secret government surveillance into all of his phone calls and emails indicates he’s pretty pissed.”

Found this graphic on the site of Jeff Boss, one of the token Democrats running for governor in New Jersey this year:

Glenn Reynolds, in USA Today yesterday:

As for abuse, well, is it plausible to believe that a government that would abuse the powers of the IRS to attack political enemies, go after journalists who publish unflattering material or scapegoat a filmmaker in the hopes of providing political cover to an election-season claim that al-Qaeda was finished would have any qualms about misusing the massive power of government-run snooping and Big Data? What we’ve seen here is a pattern of abuse. There’s little reason to think that pattern will change, absent a change of administration — and, quite possibly, not even then. Sooner or later, power granted tends to become power abused. Then there’s the risk that information gathered might leak, of course, as recent events demonstrate.

Most Americans generally think that politicians are untrustworthy. So why trust them with so much power? The evidence to date strongly suggests that they aren’t worthy of it.

To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com

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Heritage Experts Analyze Second Presidential Debate

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Heritage Experts Analyze Second Presidential Debate
Amy Payne
October 17, 2012 at 8:40 am

https://tinyurl.com/cj2b8fz

During last night’s debate between President Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, Heritage’s policy experts were live-blogging their analysis of the ideas discussed. Below are some of the highlights of our experts’ reactions to the major points made.

Join us today at 11 a.m. ET for a Google hangout as Heritage experts discuss the debate with state and national bloggers. You can watch the hangout on our Google+ page. Submit questions—starting now—on Twitter with the hashtag #HeritageFan.

“Getting Tough on China”: The Truth About Trade

President Obama said during the debate that he signed three trade deals. Not true. Obama was left three free trade agreements on his desk when he took office. Those deals and many others were initiated, negotiated, and signed by President Bush. The one trade agreement that Obama has prioritized, the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) involving now 11 countries, was also initiated by President George W. Bush.

What Obama did was to delay passage of agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that were already completed. He did so to appease labor unions and others in his political base. During the three years of waiting for the President to submit the U.S.-Korea FTA, the U.S. lost $30 billion in exports.

The United States needs an energetic, committed trade policy. We need a TPP that is truly a free trade agreement and of sufficient scale to make a major impact on the U.S. economy. That means accommodating the world’s third largest economy and U.S. ally, Japan. In means folding in other willing free trade partners like South Korea. And it means putting TPP on a timeline that gets it completed, passed and implemented as quickly as possible.

“Getting tough on China,” something both candidates claimed to aspire to, is good—as long as what is meant by that is ensuring China abides by its international trade commitments. But this is not enough—it is not a trade policy. The U.S. needs to create opportunity with trade, not just manage bad behavior.

– Walter Lohman

Chinese Currency Manipulation and U.S. Employment

Governor Romney suggested that China’s currency manipulation was related to business activity and job creation in the U.S. However, as Heritage’s Derek Scissors showed, there is in fact little to no relationship between China’s currency policy and U.S. employment:

[T]he exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar has no direct effect on American prosperity or American jobs. It never has. Seventeen years ago, China sharply devalued the yuan against the dollar. Yet American unemployment fell for years afterward. Since 2005, the PRC has been slowly raising the value of its currency, which is what protectionists say they want. And American unemployment has soared.

There are, however, other policies the U.S. President and Congress should pursue to return America to a place where businesses want to invest and hire workers. These include pro-growth tax reform, reducing undue regulatory burdens on the economy, and enabling energy exploration and production.

– Romina Boccia

Did Someone Say Libya?

The issue was raised in the debate: What did the Administration do about security before the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and how did it respond afterward? It was the question that the President never clearly and explicitly responded to. When it comes to how the White House responded to the attack, the Administration has a lot of explaining to do. Its series of explanations was muddled and misleading.

When it comes to responding to the attack, Americans of course expect that our government will go after the perpetrators. The questions of how our government responded to the terrorist threat in Libya, however, still has to be answered.

– James Jay Carafano

Are Oil Companies Sitting on Leases?

Are oil companies sitting on leases? The short answer is no. President Obama made this statement tonight, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar routinely makes this statement. But as Kathleen Sgamma, Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, recently testified:

By looking at the statistics over time, it is evident that industry has become much more efficient over the last several decades. While we used to hold 80,000 leases and produce on 24% in 1988, we now hold just 49,000 leases and produce on 46%. Secretary Salazar’s statements that this shows industry is intentionally leaving leases idle is tired rhetoric that fails to take into account the huge obstacles the federal government places in the way of oil and natural gas producers, and the fact that not every lease has recoverable oil and gas.

Just because oil companies aren’t drilling, this does not mean that no activity is occurring on that land. Environmental review, permitting, seismic research, and exploration may be occurring. But even that fails to address the real problem: The environmental review and leasing process takes entirely too long.

Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior added three unnecessary and duplicative administrative regulations to the leasing process in 2010. Oil companies are not sitting on leases; they are simply not being issued by the DOI, or the DOI is making it more difficult to actually obtain the leases.

– Nicolas Loris

Energy Production on Federal Lands Has Fallen

While President Obama made the familiar statement that oil and gas production is the highest it has been in eight years, Governor Romney was right to point out that this was driven by production on private and state lands. Oil and gas production on federal lands is, in fact, down.

According to a recent report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), energy production decreased 13 percent on federal lands in fiscal year (FY) 2011 when compared to FY 2010. The official moratorium and de facto moratorium as a result of a molasses-like permitting process reduced planned capital and operating investments by $18.3 billion and cost the Gulf more than 162,000 jobs in just the past two years.

Federal production in the West has experienced a similar fate: The Administration’s delays on permitting oil and gas projects public lands are preventing economic activity. In Utah and Wyoming, for instance, projects held up by the National Environmental Policy Act process are preventing the creation of 64,805 jobs, $4.3 billion in wages, and $14.9 billion in economic impact every year.

– Nicolas Loris

Immigration: Finally, Debate Touches the Third Rail

For the first time in two debates, the issue of fixing our broken borders and flawed immigration system was finally addressed by the two sides that want to occupy the White House. They offered two very different approaches and a distinct choice. One approach is to change the laws to accommodate the unlawful population that is already here—an approach that will not only not fix the problem, it will just make America a magnet for more problems. The other approach is to make the laws work and create a legal system that gets employers the employees they need when they need them to grow the economy and create more jobs.

There are good answers to address these tough problems. What we need in Washington is leadership that is willing to do the job.

– James Jay Carafano

Tax Plan Details: No Taxes on Savings

Governor Romney, when giving more details on his tax plan tonight, discussed that families making $200,000 or less would face no taxes on savings. The Heritage Foundation’s New Flat Tax would deduct savings immediately from taxable personal income, and savings would remain tax exempt until spent on consumption. This would lead to greater financial security for the American middle class by providing incentives for greater personal savings.

The New Flat Tax, as outlined in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan, would replace today’s convoluted tax system with a simple, neutral, and transparent tax system that would allow America to achieve its full economic potential.

– Romina Boccia

The Auto Bailout and Bankruptcy

President Obama once more criticized Governor Romney for saying GM should go bankrupt. But Romney tonight finally cleared the record, pointing out that that is exactly what happened – GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt. But, as Obama confirmed, the administration didn’t stop there – it nationalized the firms. Taxpayers are still some $25 billion in the hole and still own a quarter of the shares of GM. Bankruptcy was the right solution; a bailout was not.

– James Gattuso

https://tinyurl.com/cj2b8fz

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U.S. Consulate in Benghazi Bombed Twice in Run-Up to 9/11 Anniversary

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U.S. Consulate in Benghazi Bombed Twice in Run-Up to 9/11 Anniversary
Oct 2, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Jihadists twice set off explosives at the consulate prior to the incident that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, and announced threats on Facebook about escalating attacks on Western targets in the run-up to the 9/11 anniversary, according to whistleblowers reaching out to House Republicans.

In the five months leading up to this year’s 9/11 anniversary, there were two bombings on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and increasing threats to and attacks on the Libyan nationals hired to provide security at the U.S. missions in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Details on these alleged incidents stem in part from the testimony of a handful of whistleblowers who approached the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the days and weeks following the attack on the Benghazi consulate. The incidents are disclosed in a letter to be sent Tuesday to Hillary Clinton from Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the oversight committee’s subcommittee that deals with national security.

The State Department did not offer comment on the record last night.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/02/u-s-consulate-in-benghazi-bombed-twice-in-run-up-to-9-11-anniversary.html

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Neighbors-helping-Neighbors attends Forum in Washington DC for job search groups

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Neighbors-helping-Neighbors attends Forum in Washington DC for job search groups
John R. Fugazzie
https://www.neighbors-helping-neighbors.com/
Spetmebre 22,2012
9:29 AM

Ridgewood NJ, Nice recap of the Washington DC meeting on Thursday morning of job search groups across the county meeting with Department of Labor Secretary Solis. Which i attended and represented Neighbors-helping-Neighbors USA, Inc.

https://netthrowers.blogspot.com/2012/09/faith-in-future.html?goback=.gde_3892534_member_166756526

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Faith in the Future

There was a whole lot of good feeling, and welcome good news, yesterday at a special forum in the White House in Washington D.C. The purpose of the gathering was to shine the spotlight on the legion of faith-filled Americans who are trying to help the unemployed get back to work.

As one of the legion who is actively involved in this mission, I was invited by Ben Seigel of The White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships to join U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis at a White House Forum titled:

Job Clubs and Career Ministries: On the Front Lines of Getting Americans Back to Work

https://netthrowers.blogspot.com/2012/09/faith-in-future.html?goback=.gde_3892534_member_166756526

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GOP report on 9/11 anniversary eve: Make TSA ‘smarter, leaner’

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GOP report on 9/11 anniversary eve: Make TSA ‘smarter, leaner’
By Keith Laing – 09/10/12 04:05 PM ET

Republicans are suggesting ways the Transportation Security Administration can be “rebuilt” into a “smarter, leaner organization” ahead of a hearing on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The House Homeland Security Committee’s Transportation Security subcommittee released a report Monday finding that TSA could be more effective by reducing its number of employees. The report also suggest TSA should consider “enlisting the private sector to modernize and, to the extent possible, automate the passenger screening process to reduce pat-downs, implementing privacy software on all [Advanced Imaging Technology] machines, and sponsoring an independent analysis of the potential health impacts of AIT machines.”

The committee will hold a hearing on the report on on Tuesday, which will mark the 11th anniversary of the hijacking of four U.S. airliners by terrorists.

https://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/tsa/248521-gop-report-on-9-11-anniversary-eve-make-tsa-smarter-leaner-