E = R3WCG

From World Mag.com (Aug. 21):

E=mc2 is a simple equation compared to the mystery of what goes into good education. But I’ll [Marvin Olasky] take a shot at proposing an education equation.

(1) Start with the three Rs, reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic.

(2) Move quickly to the opening line of a great John Newton hymn repopularized by Jars of Clay: “Let us love and sing and wonder.” If children don’t develop a sense of wonder about this astounding, God-created world, they’ll miss a lifetime of excitement. Music, art, history, science, foreign languages, and more should all make school wonder-full.

Our new testing regime doesn’t leave much time for wonder, and educators pay attention to the W only if they answer accurately a basic question: Who are my students? Are they animals with above-average intelligence (compared to horses and caterpillars, but maybe not dolphins)? Are they low-grade computers with below-average memory and above-average weight (compared to a MacBook Air)? Or are they human beings created in the image of a God of wonder?

(3) Add a C for specifically Christian education, for only in Christ do all things hold together. If students don’t understand that God created us, they are likely to become practical atheists. If they don’t understand that God gives history meaning, they are likely to become nihilists. Schools cannot give kids faith in Christ—only God can—but they can help students recognize their need, yearn for meaning, and not be content with wasting their lives. [read more]

The ‘G’ stands for grit by the way. I like his idea but secular progs fanatics will object to the Christian part. Muslims might object too although they have their Madrasas.

This is something that probably isn’t part of Common Core but part of (or should be) of all Christian private schools.

The Contract the Islamic State Group Is Forcing Christians to Sign in Syria

From The Blaze.com (Sept. 6):

These were the 11 articles of the contract, as translated by Middle East Media Research Institute:

1. Christians may not build churches, monasteries, or hermitages in the city or in the surrounding areas.
2. They may not show the cross or any of their books in the Muslims’ streets or markets, and may not use amplifiers when worshiping or during prayer.
3. They may not make Muslims hear the reciting of their books or the sounds of church bells, which must be rung only inside their churches.
4. They may not make Muslims hear the reciting of their books or the sounds of church bells, which must be rung only inside their churches.
5. They must not perform religious rituals in public.
6. They must respect Muslims and not criticize their religion.
7. Wealthy Christians must pay an annual jizya of four gold dinars; middle-class Christians must pay two gold dinars, and the poor must pay one. Christians must disclose their income, and may split the jizya into two payments.
8. They may not own guns.
9. They may not engage in commercial activity involving pigs or alcohol with Muslims or in Muslim markets, and may not drink alcohol in public.
10. They may maintain their own cemeteries.
11. They must abide by ISIS dress code and commerce guidelines.

[read more]

That’s pretty fascist I’d say. Just like the Soviet Union, the Islamic State thugs don’t allow other religions to practice either. Even though the articles refer to Christians they could apply to other non-Muslim religions too.

If the reader notices, most of the articles are “may not” or “must not.” Only three are “must”—well, they’re restrictive too. Only one “may”—# 10.  Kind of an odd one.

The Left would like articles 7 and 8. Article seven sounds like a progressive tax system.

Self-Repairing Material Could Prevent Spaceship Catastrophes

From acs.org (Aug. 26):

For astronauts living in space with objects zooming around them at 22,000 miles per hour like rogue super-bullets, it’s good to have a backup plan. Although shields and fancy maneuvers could help protect space structures, scientists have to prepare for the possibility that debris could pierce a vessel. In the journal ACS [American Chemical Society] Macro Letters, one team reports on a new material that heals itself within seconds and could prevent structural penetration from being catastrophic.

The researchers made a new kind of self-healing material by sandwiching a reactive liquid in between two layers of a solid polymer. When they shot a bullet through it, the liquid quickly reacted with oxygen from the air to form a solid plug in under a second. The researchers say the technology could also apply to other more earthly structures including automobiles. [read more]

Cool. Hope it works as planned.

Goldman Sachs Analyst’s Unsettling Conclusion About This ‘Scary’ Chart

From The Blaze.com (Aug. 31):

When the VIX — an “index of volatility” in the S&P 500 stocks — hits “levels in the high-twenties to low-thirties” for extended periods of time, it’s usually an indicator that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession, according to a Goldman Sachs analyst.

Goldman Sachs released the graph below to put this issue into perspective — and as you can see, the index is currently at “scary” levels.

“VIX levels go back to January 1990. Since that time there have been three recessions. Average VIX levels in the first two recessions (1990-1991, 2001) were 25 and 26 respectively,” Goldman Sachs analyst Krag Gregory said. “The worst of the worst was of course the Great Financial Crisis. Average VIX levels in the 2008-2009 recession were 34.”

After a dramatic spike during last week’s turbulent period, the VIX landed at 26 at the end of the week. [read more]

Well, it looks like Congress and Administrator Obama have beaten the Islamic State in destroying the economy. Is this what Obama meant by the ‘new normal?’ Well, I guess it is better than a depression.

Scientists Finally Discover How To Turn Cancer Cells Into Normal Cells

From Elite Daily.com (Aug. 26):

Scientists possibly discovered the key to “turning off” cancer by reverting malignant cells back to their previous states.

Cells constantly divide to maintain their populations, and molecules called microRNAs stop cells from dividing by producing PLEKHA7 proteins.

When a cell turns cancerous, however, this protein production does not occur and the cells’ bonds continue to divide, according to The Telegraph.

But scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida found restoring PLEKHA7 levels in cancer cells turned those cancerous cells back into normal cells.

The team likened the reversal process to activating the brakes on a car.

[read more]

Well, that’s great to hear even though the success was in lab-grown cells, but still hopeful.

Islamic State Plotting ‘Second Blow’ to U.S. Financial System in Bid to ‘Purify the Earth of Corruption’

From The Blaze.com (Aug. 30):

The Islamic State group revealed over the weekend that at the centerpiece of its goal to bring down America is a concerted effort to weaken the U.S. dollar and replace it with gold currency.

A video posted Saturday warned of the “dawning of a new age” in which replacing the dollar with gold would deliver “the second blow to America’s capitalist financial system of enslavement … casting into ruins their fraudulent dollar note.”

The first blow, it said, was the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

The English-language video included archival footage from U.S. news channels, including a 2007 clip of Ron Paul sounding the alarm over the vulnerability of the dollar.

Produced by the Islamic State’s Al Hayat Media, the extremist Sunni group positioned itself as leading the fight against fiat currency by minting caliphate gold, silver and bronze coins. It named them after historical Islamic caliphate coins: the gold dinar, the silver dirham and the bronze fals (or the plural fulus).

Its dedication to gold – and opposition to paper notes – was grounded in the Quran, excerpts of which appeared onscreen in the video. [read more]

I wonder if this is what China is trying to do. Then again they are communists and really don’t embrace the free enterprise system. Well, Iranian gov’t and probably Russian gov’t wouldn’t mind the Islamic State thugs doing this. It would save them the trouble.

Yea, America shouldn’t have gone off the gold standard but we really can’t go back. What America needs is Congress that has self-control when it comes to spending and a strong president that has a back-bone and not appeasing our enemies. You know one that believes in American exceptionalism.

My Take on The Donald

Basically the above cartoons sums up my take.

Donald Trump says during an interview now he is not for universal health care because it wouldn’t work in America.  He should be against it because it is anti-freedom and never will work anywhere. Just ask any Canadian who actually has to use it.

He said he became pro-life on relationships with close personal friends who had children. Their pregnancy experiences, Trump maintains, allowed him to mature on the abortion issue to the point of now opposing abortion. So, he didn’t become pro-life when any of this children was born? Interesting. Then he won’t defund Planned Parenthood unless they abort babies.

Mr. Trump said he was for in the gov’t in the past a wealth tax and a balanced budget amendment to get the national debt down. Now, he is against that idea because the debt is too high and won’t matter anymore. Well, the balanced budget amendment is a good idea, but the former part is what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would recommend. And if he becomes president and gets the debt down lower will Mr. Trump then decide a wealth tax is a good idea? He said during the interview with Sean Hannity that a wealth tax is a conservative idea. I beg your pardon. No it is not. The debt isn’t huge because there isn’t enough money coming in, it’s huge because the president and congress has out-of-control spending. No discipline. That’s the problem.

He said in the past he was a democrat but like Ronald Reagan he evolved. The problem with that statement is Ronald Reagan changed over time—that’s what evolution is. Donald Trump seemed to change when he is running for president. Also, President Reagan talked about conservative ideas and how great America is. I don’t hear Donald Trump say those things. He talks about making America great again. America is great. It’s just not realizing its potential. For those of you who remember (like me) Ronald Reagan running for president, the country was in a downturn when Jimmy Carter was in office. But you sensed Reagan’s patriotism. I am not getting that from Donald Trump that much. Not saying Donald Trump isn’t patriotic but he’s always talking about himself and how great he is. Not that everyone running for president should be Ronald Reagan but he did create the template.

Also, when Donald Trump says he is no different from any other businesses man who pays for influence with politicians. Let’s call it for what it is: bribery. If politicians were officers of the court—businessmen would go to jail. But since Congress makes the rules—it’s legal because they benefit from the system too. Trump says this is the way the system works. Well, the system is corrupt. And he has a choice like other business leaders not to play the system. Glenn Beck says he doesn’t play the system and there is pressure put on him to play it. Good for him. I wonder if Mr. Trump, if he ever becomes president, to put a bill before Congress to ban political bribes. Or will he just keep the system in place so he can use it again when he leaves office. The bill might not pass but it would be nice if that was on his platform.

Now, his immigration reform position and my comments:

1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border. True, and I agree a wall is a good idea.
2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced. Pretty much common sense.
3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans. Again nothing earth shaking.
4. Make Mexico Pay For The Wall. [I]mpound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards – of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options].  We will not be taken advantage of anymore. Sounds good but I wonder if all that will be enough to pay for the wall.
5. Triple the number of ICE officers. Good idea. But you have to give them the power to do their job.
6. Nationwide e-verify. This has been suggested by others. Not a bad idea.
7. Mandatory return of all criminal aliens. It will take a while since there is about 76,000 illegal aliens with criminal records.

The immigration reform plan is not a bad plan. The reader can look at more of it at his website. The most controversial part is ending birthright citizenship since that has to be upheld by the Supreme Court.

If this essay sounds like an attack on Donald Trump. It is not. I am just asking questions. Like is he really a conservative? Does he understand the connection between private property and liberty? Does he understand that political power ought to be kept in the hands of private persons and local institutions? Does he understand the role of the Constitution? Or does he thinks it is a obstacle like Obama and the rest of the Left? Does he get American exceptionalism? I know your rich Mr. Trump. Nothing wrong with that, but you don’t need to mention it every time. It’s getting old.

I believe those who support Donald Trump for president are those who like his passion and bluntness. Those qualities by themselves are not necessary bad. But if a candidate for office doesn’t have good decent principles to start off with then those other qualities don’t mean much. Voters need to look deeper. It’s their future and their children’s future. Not just him but for every candidate running for office. Maybe a candidate that has humility would be a good change for once.

I don’t know. Bill O’Reilly said Donald Trump isn’t a republican but a Trumplican. He could be right. But I think he is more of a populist.

Head of EPA Admits Climate Regulations Will Hit Low-Income Minority Families Hardest

From The Daily Signal.com (Aug. 19):

The chief environmental regulator in the United States had some blunt words of reality regarding the administration’s climate change regulations.

The Clean Power Plan that will require drastic cuts in 47 states’ carbon dioxide emissions – consequently shifting America’s energy economy away from affordable, reliable coal – will adversely impact poor, minority families the most.

When speaking about the higher energy prices caused by the administration’s climate regulations on power plants, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said, “We know that low-income minority communities would be hardest hit.”

McCarthy downplayed that fact by saying any minimal higher prices would be offset by implementing energy efficiency measures that would save consumers money in the long run. [read more]

This is just another example of the war on the poor. But does the Left care? No because the global warming worship is more important than people. Then again maybe this is all part of the top-down, bottom-up, inside-out chaos that Van Jones was talking about. And Obama wanted to radically transform America. Hillary is no different.

As for saving consumers money in the long run—we’ll see. But I doubt it.

New Video Shows Hillary Meet With Black Lives Matter Activists — and Things Briefly Get Tense

From The Blaze.com (Aug. 17):

Newly-released video shows Hillary Clinton’s meeting with the Boston chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this month after the activists were initially denied entry to a campaign event.

The video shows Clinton meet backstage in New Hampshire with what appears to be a group of three activists. One of the activists compares the prison system in the U.S. to the plantation system.

“America’s first drug is free black labor. And turning black bodies into profit,” the activist tells Clinton as she nods her head, seemingly agreeing. “The mass incarceration system mirrors an awful lot like the prison. The prison plantation system. It’s a similar thread. And until someone takes that message and speaks that truth to white people in this country, so that we can actually take on anti-blackness as a founding problem in this problem.”

The activist suggested that the mass incarceration of individuals is motivated by money before asking Clinton a question about “what in your heart has changed that is going to change the direction of this country?”

“What in you, not your platform, not what you’re supposed to say, how do you actually feel that is different than you did before?” the activist asked.

Clinton said that it was a “very thoughtful question” that deserved a “thoughtful answer.”

“I can only tell you that I feel very committed to and responsible for doing whatever I can,” she said, before noting she has spent much of her career focused on kids.

. . . .

In a separate clip published online, things briefly got tense after the activist tells Clinton that this has always been a “white problem of violence.”

“There’s not much that we can do to stop the violence against us,” he told Clinton.

The Democratic frontrunner pushed back.

“Respectfully, if that is your position, then I will only talk to white people about how we are going to deal with these very real problems,” she shot back.

“That’s not what I mean,” the activist replied. “But, what you just said was a form of victim blaming. You were saying what the Black Lives Matter movement needs to do to change white hearts is to—.”

Clinton said that she doesn’t believe in changing all hearts, but instead changing laws and allocation of resources. [my emphasis]

“You change the way systems operate,” she said.   [read more]

Hillary Clinton “doesn’t believe in change all hearts, but instead changing laws and allocation of resources”? Hmm. Let’s analyze that statement. Basically what she is saying is she doesn’t have time to persuade people to her beliefs so she is going to bully them to her belief system. It’s just takes too much effort to persuade people to her beliefs so she is going to bully them to her system. After all she (and most of the Left) believes she knows what best for than the common man and so why go through the trouble and try to explain her position. In other words the Left’s elite are shepherds and the rest of the people are sheeple. So, just get in line you sheep and behave! Well, first the Elites will try to trick, bribe and coerce before they force the commoner to their will.

As for the “allocation of resources” part well that sounds like wealth redistribution. Then again I could be wrong.

In other related news, Governor Jeb Bush ended his town hall early when the Black Lives Matter (BLM) thugs activists interrupted his speech. If the gov cannot take confrontation from professional agitators (they are supported by uber rich Leftist George Soros) how is he going to deal with the Islamic State thugs and other Leftist agitators like the BLM group when he is president? When you are president you have groups that will cause you stress and yes, hate you. Just ask your brother W. You have to deal with them and not run away from them.

To be fair, a democratic runner Martin O'Malley was confronted by this group when he said “all lives matter.” They started shouting ‘black lives matter.’ Then he apologized. What?! All lives do matter. What a weenie. Socialist Bernie Sanders was also confronted by this group too. In both cases the group should have been escorted out by the police.

Then again BLM is like most of the Left: They are obsessed with race, gender, income, etc. They see people as part of a group not as an individuals which makes it easier to treat people as sheep.

Shocking New Iranian Video Imagines Islamic Takeover of Jerusalem, Destruction of Israel

From algemeiner.com (Aug. 17):

A newly revealed video produced under the auspices of the Iranian regime in early August threatens and visualizes the destruction of Israel at the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian Middle East proxies, The Investigative Project on Terrorism reported on Monday.

The animated video, produced by the Islamic Revolution Design House, depicts soldiers preparing for battle. One dons the IRGC insignia on his left arm, another the emblem of the Iran-backed Iraqi Shia Badr Organization. Yet a third dons a headband bearing the Lebanese Hezbollah logo, and a fourth is seen clad in Hamas’ characteristic balaclava and the Qassam Brigades green headband.

Each brandishes a weapon, a helmet and a keffiyeh. They are shown poised on a hill overlooking the Israeli capital of Jerusalem, prepared for battle.

The video then pans out showing an ever-growing number of soldiers, presumably all members of Iran’s loyal proxies, like the fighters portrayed at the beginning of the footage.

The clip then transitions to a black screen with Persian script that says “Israel must be obliterated,” or literally, “erased from the annals of history,” a command first issued by Iran’s late Ayatollah Khomeini and famously repeated by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as leaders of Iran’s proxies such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. [read more]

And the Obama regime is making a “treaty” with Iran. Really? I know this video shows Iranian soldiers invading Israel not America but two points to consider:

1. Israel is and probably will always be America’s friend. They have consistently voted with us more than any other nation in the UN. Therefore they should always get our support. You don’t turn your back on your loyal friends.
2. According to Iran’s leaders, America is the big Satan and Israel is the little Satan. So, eventually they will attack America unless they get a democratic peaceful regime again. At least one that doesn’t want to cause another holocaust.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 36

• I wonder if the medical examiner said “Elvis has left his body” when declaring Elvis Presley dead. Probably not.
• Why do teachers need unions? I mean who is oppressing them? The students? The parents?
• If you are running for POTUS and won’t give your plan, your agenda, or your platform for the country because you are concerned that an opponent will steal your ideas then you are only thinking of yourself and not of the well-being of the country. What’s more important? Your ego or the country?
• For the Left insanity loves company.
• For OCBs measure 10X cut once.
• A salad a day keeps constipation at bay.
• I think there is inverse relationship between ego and intelligence. The higher your ego, the more you think you know-it-all and thus you stop learning.
• Evil thrives on social chaos.
• Maybe Congressional leaderships should be voted on every two years by members of the respective party. The incumbent can re-run if he/she wants to.
• What Donald Trump should have said about John McCain is that yes, he is a war hero but it didn’t matter to the voter. He still lost the presidential election.

Obama collecting personal data for a secret race database

From NYPost.com (July 18):

A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”

Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites.

This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already is using to make “disparate impact” cases against: banks that don’t make enough prime loans to minorities; schools that suspend too many blacks; cities that don’t offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities; and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds.

Big Brother Barack wants the databases operational before he leaves office, and much of the data in them will be posted online.  [read more]

Great more databases that hackers can break into. You know those databases won’t be secure. If you didn’t catch it, I said databases. According to the article, there are five collection of databases all related to race: Housing, mortgage, credit-card transactions, employment and finally school. Yes, that’s right big brother wants to know about your kids.

What? No database about guns? I guess the regime doesn’t care if minorities have guns or not. Notice that the databases don’t include stats about gender. Hmm…

These databases just like any created bureaucracy will still be in existence long after the Emperor is out of office.

Obama’s Newest Gun Control Scheme Involves Social Security Benefits

From The LaTimes.com (July 18):

Seeking tighter controls over firearm purchases, the Obama administration is pushing to ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, a move that could affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others.

The push is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws regulating who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which is used to prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the country illegally and others.

A potentially large group within Social Security are people who, in the language of federal gun laws, are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease."  [read more]

Well, Congress can’t manage the financial affairs of the country (they can’t control their spending), and Obama can’t manage foreign affairs maybe they shouldn't be allowed to own guns either. This is just a war on the disabled and veterans.

The Safety Truck Could Revolutionize Road Safety

From global.Samsungtomorrow.com (June 18):

Have you ever found yourself driving behind a semi-trailer truck? If you’re on a single-lane highway or road, it can be a nightmare. Even though the truck is driving relatively slowly, you cannot overtake it due to its size, and because you cannot see what is happening in front of the truck.

However, Samsung has developed a solution that may make this problem a thing of the past.

How Does it Work?

The Safety Truck consists of a wireless camera attached to the front of the truck, which is connected to a video wall made out of four exterior monitors located on the back of the truck. The monitors give drivers behind the truck a view of what is going on ahead, even in the dark of night.  [read more]

Cool. Hope it does prevent accidents. But how would the truck driver open up the back of the truck without breaking the monitors unless they are really durable. Probably made of some tough plastic material.

'Mini ice age' coming in next fifteen years

From Independent.co.UK (July 12):

There will be a "mini ice age" in 2030, solar scientists have said.

We are now able to predict solar cycles with far greater accuracy than ever before thanks to a new model which shows irregularities in the sun’s 11-year heartbeat.

The model shows that solar activity will fall by 60 per cent between 2030 and 2040 causing a "mini ice age".

The conditions predicted have not been experienced since the last "mini ice age" which lasted from 1645 to 1715, called the Maunder Minimum. [read more]

What happened to global warming or its new name ‘climate change?’ Oh, that’s right. It’s a hoax. I mean if climate change computer models never use the sun as a factor to calculate global temperature something is not right. I mean the sun is the main factor in the equation! Or it should be. Look at the dwarf (shouldn’t that be little person?) planet Pluto. Since it is farthest from the sun it can be as cold as -387 degrees Fahrenheit. The warmest it can be is -369 degrees Fahrenheit when it’s closest to the sun. Oh by the way, Pluto has methane (a green-house gas) in its atmosphere. Someone tell Al Gore so he can lecture the Plutonians about creating Plutonian-made climate change.

So, a ten year range is now considered ‘mini?’ That’s seems more like major or semi-major to me. And the Left will still find a way to blame people using too much green-house gases for the ice age.

I always thought the sun has a role in any global climate. It just makes sense.

The New Totalitarians Are Here

From The Federalist.com (July 6):

There’s a basic difference in the traditions of political science between “authoritarians” and “totalitarians.” People throw both of these words around, but as is so often the case, they’re using words they may not always understand. They have real meaning, however, and the difference between them is important.

Simply put, authoritarians merely want obedience, while totalitarians, whose rule is rooted in an ideology, want obedience and conversion. Authoritarians are a dime a dozen; totalitarians are rare.  The authoritarians are the guys in charge who want to stay in charge, and don’t much care about you, or what you’re doing, so long as you stay out of their way. They are the jefe and his thugs in a brutal regime that want you to shut up, go to work, and look the other way when your loudmouthed neighbor gets his lights punched out by goons in black jackets. Live or die. It’s all the same to the regime.

Totalitarians are a different breed. These are the people who have a plan, who think they see the future more clearly than you or who are convinced they grasp reality in a way that you do not. They don’t serve themselves—or, they don’t serve themselves exclusively—they serve History, or The People, or The Idea, or some other ideological totem that justifies their actions. [read more]

In the past the totalitarians, were the Communists, the Fascists,and the Nazis. Kings and emperors were for the most part authoritarians.

Now, you have the far Left ideology and Muslim theocracies like Iran. Although the Ottoman Empire was a Muslim theocracy in the past. It’s basically what ISIS wants to recreate.

Socialists have always been around.

Cults are totalitarians in principle.

The big difference between authoritarians and totalitarians is the latter have manifestos to spell out their grand vision and philosophy of life. Marx, Mao, and Hitler had manifestos. Cult leaders have manifestos. Jim Jones was a Communist. The Progressives manifesto is the Humanist Manifesto. It’s the manifesto that the totalitarians want people to believe with their hearts and minds. In certain totalitarian societies the leader wants to be omnipotent and omniscience. In other words, God-like.

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function

From Science Alert.com (Mar. 18):

Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques - structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.

If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions - amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.

Neurofibrillary tangles are found inside the neurons of the brain, and they’re caused by defective tau proteins that clump up into a thick, insoluble mass. This causes tiny filaments called microtubules to get all twisted, which disrupts the transportation of essential materials such as nutrients and organelles along them, just like when you twist up the vacuum cleaner tube. [read more]

Sounds promising. The article states that of the mice that received the treatment, 75 percent got their memory function back. That’s quite a bit.

Progressive Educational Philosophy

For John Dewey, there are three aspects to human nature: instinct, habit, and intelligence.

John Dewey believed that education is the deliberate process by which human beings take responsibility for their future.

John Dewey argued that it is not possible for principles or ideals to attain eternal and unchanging authority.

In the Progressive educational program, the social and political ideal is both cause and effect of what takes place in the classroom.

Historicism posits that any understanding of the true and the good is a product of prevailing circumstances.

Dr. Fennell notes that in the Progressive school, teachers leave education to chance.

The success of the Progressive school consists explicitly in the extinction of the conservative [my emphasis] mind.

William Kilpatrick, a protégé of John Dewey, believed that mathematics education should focus on direct practical value.

According to Dr. Treloar, the new math movement never grounded itself in concrete mathematics at an early grade.

Grammar is considered impractical according to the Progressive philosophy of education.

One problem with grammar instruction today is that grammar is taught implicitly and quickly.

Modern education policy views the study of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as a pathway to jobs for the 21st century.

Source: A Proper Understanding of K-12 Education: Theory and Practice online course from Hillsdale College.

Classical Education Philosophy

Reading instruction begins as soon as a child is born.

Cursive writing instruction is beneficial to the student in that it improves fine motor skills, increases writing speed, and gives the student a chance to create something beautiful.

Dr. Coupland notes that if a child has had a wonderful language-rich experience, they should be ready to learn how to read by the time they get to kindergarten.

Dr. Calvert argues that, first and foremost, parents should be teaching students the stories of the past.

Classical education values knowledge for its own sake.

The study of science should be placed in historical context because it's a human endeavor.

Learning about science is part of what elevates students to self-government.

When science is studied properly, students begin to see that the universe is orderly, complicated, and intelligible.

Since antiquity, grammar has been viewed as one of the foundational liberal arts.

Dr. Jackson notes that teaching literature properly will shape a student’s habit of mind.

When students open a great book and study it seriously, they will grapple with philosophical ideas, learn something about themselves, encounter theological ideas.

In order to teach literature well, teachers must dedicate themselves to reading the texts along with their students.

To read well, students must be able to employ both listening and contemplation.

The fundamentals of writing include logic, organization, and focus.

After returning graded papers, teachers should help guide students in reflecting on grading comments.

To improve writing, teachers should help students find a crux for their papers.

Teachers should remember that the main goal of writing education is to get students to undertake the writing process.

Dr. Garnjobst notes that the chief reason for studying Latin is to engage in a conversation with the great thinkers of the Western tradition.

Source: A Proper Understanding of K–12 Education: Theory and Practice online course by Hillsdale College.

Happy Birthday, America!

So, then, to every man his chance -- to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining golden opportunity -- to every man his right to live, to work, to be himself, to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to make him -- this, seeker, is the promise of America.
        - Thomas Wolfe

The American Trinity by Dennis Prager. The American Trinity is: E Pluribus Unum, In God We Trust, and Liberty.

Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum. – Samuel Adams

May the foundation of our new constitution, be justice, Truth and Righteousness. Like the wise Mans house may it be founded upon those Rocks and then neither storms or tempests will overthrow it. – Abigail Adams

I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost. - Frederick Douglass

The happy union of these states is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world.  - James Madison

Scientists Develop Self-Healing Airplane Wing

From IFLScience.com (June 25):

We’ve already had self-healing concrete, now welcome to the world of self-healing airplane wings. After having worked quietly on the project for the past three years, a team of British scientists has now announced a new carbon fiber technology that, when damaged, can fix itself.

Drawing inspiration from how the body heals wounds, the idea started as all good ones do: as a doodle on the back on an envelope. Since then, the team of researchers at the University of Bristol has been working with aerospace engineers to develop the material. The product they've come up with is able to patch over small, almost undetectable cracks in the wings of planes. The new technology represents an important step in self-healing products becoming more commonplace, with possible uses in bike frames, sports equipment, and even cracked smartphone screens.

It works in a similar way to the aforementioned concrete, with the carbon fiber material being infused with microbeads so small they look like dust to the human eye. But rather than filling the spheres with microbes, they contain a liquid healing agent which, when released during damage, reacts with a catalyst and consequently hardens. How long the setting process takes, however, depends on temperature. So cracks in the wing of a plane in Dubai might harden in hours compared to one in Reykjavik that could take days, according to the researchers.  [read more]

Interesting. If scientists can do this on airplanes why not cars? If a car gets scratched then it can make the scratch go away. Maybe even make small dents disappear too.

Didn’t evil androids on the Terminator movie have this ability?

Supreme Court: Marriage is between ‘two persons’

From WorldMag.com (June 26):

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court today legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in a sweeping, moralizing opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. He delivered the ruling softly and without much expression, but outside the courtroom, huge crowds swarmed the Supreme Court plaza in celebration, singing the national anthem.

As anticipated since the high court first took up the case, the ruling was 5-4, with Kennedy joining the court’s liberals: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. The dissenters—Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito—each penned separate dissents, an expression of profound frustration. Scalia opened his apoplectic dissent, concurring with Roberts’ dissent, by saying, “I write separately to call attention to this court’s threat to American democracy.”

“Just who do we think we are?” Roberts asked in the courtroom. “This is a court, not a legislature.”  [read more]

Is this what Obama meant by radically transforming the country?

Here are a couple more questions I have:

Do all religions institutions (like Islam) have to marry gay couples if it is against their religious beliefs? Or is this only for Christian churches?

What about group marriage, triads, polygamy (which devote Muslims like), and polyandry? If you redefine what marriage is then basically any kind of adult relationship can be made legal. The Supreme Court didn’t exempt any of the above groups. I wouldn’t be surprised if the above groups don’t start making their case. After all triads just love each other too and want to be happy.  And if you don’t believe in these alternative forms of marriage then you are a bigot.

If this age where a white woman can identify as a black woman and be considered normal why don’t one of the gay partners identify as a member of the opposite sex. Problem solved. The gay couple then can identify as a male-female marriage. Okay, that was a joke.

Will your self-driving car be programmed to kill you if it means saving more strangers?

From ScienceDaily.com (June 15):

Imagine you are in charge of the switch on a trolley track. The express is due any minute; but as you glance down the line you see a school bus, filled with children, stalled at the level crossing. No problem; that's why you have this switch. But on the alternate track there's more trouble: Your child, who has come to work with you, has fallen down on the rails and can't get up. That switch can save your child or a bus-full of others, but not both. What do you do?

Death in the driver's seat

So should your self-driving car be programmed to kill you in order to save others? There are two philosophical approaches to this type of question, Barghi says. "Utilitarianism tells us that we should always do what will produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people," he explained. In other words, if it comes down to a choice between sending you into a concrete wall or swerving into the path of an oncoming bus, your car should be programmed to do the former.

Deontology, on the other hand, argues that "some values are simply categorically always true," Barghi continued. "For example, murder is always wrong, and we should never do it." Going back to the trolley problem, "even if shifting the trolley will save five lives, we shouldn't do it because we would be actively killing one," Barghi said. And, despite the odds, a self-driving car shouldn't be programmed to choose to sacrifice its driver to keep others out of harm's way.

Every variation of the trolley problem -- and there are many: What if the one person is your child? Your only child? What if the five people are murderers? -- simply "asks the user to pick whether he has chosen to stick with deontology or utilitarianism," Barghi continued. If the answer is utilitarianism, then there is another decision to be made, Barghi adds: rule or act utilitarianism.  [read more]

Something to think about. Keep in mind with self-driving cars the “driver” (I put driver in quotes because is he/she actually driving if the car is self-autonomous? Isn’t the person actually a passenger? Anyway…) isn’t making the decisions. It’s the programmer who wrote the code who works for the car manufacturer that makes the decisions. It’s his/her ethics the car will follow. And if the programmer has to follow gov’t regulations from National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. then who knows what will happen.

6 things you need to know about virtual reality (from the guy who’s doing it right)

From Ideas.Ted.com (June 12):

For all the hoo-hah and fanfare around next-generation technologies like Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, it’s still early days for virtual reality. Sure, we’ve come a long way from clunky simulators (even ones with wind machines that blew back your hair), but the field is still pretty much open for all comers. Filmmaker Chris Milk (TED Talk: How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine) is bullish about the possibilities. Here, the man who melted the Internet with “have you seen it yet?” projects blending technology and music for the likes of Arcade Fire and Johnny Cash mulls the possibilities of the medium he’s betting on in a big way.

The key to VR? It’s the sound. When you think of virtual reality, you probably picture it: a 360-degree environment full of immersive vistas. But it’s the sound that makes it real, Milk says. He first grasped this while watching Hunger in Los Angeles, an early VR film by Nonny de la Peña, which places the audience in the middle of a street scene. It grabbed him immediately, but not for the reasons he expected: “The visuals were not photorealistic; she’d recreated the scene with blocky CGI characters,” he says. “But what really affected me the most was the audio, because it was real. Basically, she’d recorded a food bank line where somebody had a diabetic seizure and everybody was talking. You could walk around the characters and the scene, and it was really affecting.”

The old rules don’t apply. Like many VR pioneers, Milk has brought years of filmmaking experience to his work inside the goggles — and now he’s setting it all aside. “As a director, the main tools I use are framing, performance and editing,” Milk explains. “Through framing I show you exactly what I want you to see in the screen; I capture the performances using different angles of framing, and then I edit it all together into something. Those tools go completely out the window with virtual reality.” One by one, all the long-held rules of filmmaking fall away. “Everything’s a total experiment,” he says.  [read more]

Interesting article.

The New Congressional Plan to Repeal and Replace Obamacare

From Daily Signal.com (June 5):

A group of House Republicans unveiled a 192-page health care plan that fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with “patient-centered reforms” and “free-market solutions.”

Lawmakers released the plan Thursday as the GOP-led Congress prepares to attack the Affordable Care Act. Both houses of Congress have already signaled their intentions to repeal Obamacare by a simple majority vote using the reconciliation process—just as the law was passed in 2010.

The new GOP plan, American Health Care Reform Act, was written by Reps. Phil Roe of Tennessee and Austin Scott of Georgia. It has the backing of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus made up of nearly 170 members of the House of Representatives.

The American Health Care Reform Act covers four broad areas:

1. Encouraging Competition in the Health Care Market. The proposed legislation addresses this issue by allowing Americans to purchase health insurance products across state lines. Small businesses also are permitted to merge together to coordinate better rates.
2. Improving Access for Vulnerable Americans. Under the bill, premiums would be capped at 200 percent of the state’s premium average. Additionally, those with pre-existing conditions can alternate between health insurance markets, provided they maintain “continuous coverage.”
3. Supporting Medical Breakthroughs. The bill provides funding for an eight-year, $15 billion Medical Breakthrough Fund at the National Institutes of Health to develop cures for the top five causes of death in the United States: heart disease, cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. These conditions kill more than 1.5 million people each year.
4. Reforming Medical Liability Laws. Solutions include requiring review by an independent panel prior to malpractice discovery and a “voluntary right of removal to federal court so long as there is a federal payer or a federal statute.” Barr said that this reform increases the quality of care by establishing national guidelines for physicians to follow and helps reduce “frivolous lawsuits.”

[read more]

Well, it’s a good start. The lawmakers could add that if a person wants he/she can pay out-of-pocket their medical bills. Especially if the patient is rich, then they don’t need to or even want to purchase insurance. 

Buy why 192 pages? That’s still less than the 1,000 page boondoggle knows as Obamacare. Couldn’t the lawmakers get it down to 20 – 50 pages?

The question is if the bill passes Congress will Obama veto it? Probably. Obamacare is his baby and he doesn’t want his baby to go away. That’s why we really need a president that will sign into law this bill or a bill similar to it.

By the way, the pdf  link on the Daily Signal website is just a 9-page summary of the bill. The pdf link on this page is the full text.

The Coming of the Islamic State was Foretold 10 Years Ago. And No One Listened.

From The Blaze.com (June 8):

Although the birth of the Islamic State and the herald of the caliphate are often regarded as some of 2014’s “big shockers,” they were foretold in striking detail and with an accurate timeline by an Al Qaeda insider nearly one decade ago.

On August 12, 2005, Spiegel Online International published an article titled “The Future of Terrorism: What Al Qaeda Really Wants.” Written by Yassin Musharbash, the article was essentially a review of a book written by Fouad Hussein, a Jordanian journalist with close access to Al Qaeda and its affiliates, including the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who pioneered the videotaping of beheadings “to strike terror into the hearts” of infidels (Koran 3:151).

As Hussein explained in the introduction of his book “Al Zarqawi: Al Qaeda’s Second Generation”: “I interviewed a whole range of Al Qaeda members with different ideologies to get an idea of how the war between the terrorists and Washington would develop in the future.”

In what follows, I [Raymond Ibrahim] reproduce the seven phases of Al Qaeda’s master plan as presented in Musharbash’s nearly 10-year-old article, (emphasis added in bold) with my commentary interspersed for context. Phases four and five are of particular importance as they describe the goals for recent times, much of which have come to fruition according to plan.

The First Phase. Known as “the awakening”—this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the U.S. into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby “awakening” Muslims. “The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaeda as very successful,” writes Hussein. “The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target.” The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard “everywhere.”

The Second Phase. “Opening Eyes” is, according to Hussein’s definition, the period we are now in [writing in 2005] and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the “Islamic community.” Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaeda wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an “army” set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.

The Third Phase. This is described as “Arising and Standing Up” and should last from 2007 to 2010. “There will be a focus on Syria,” prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and—even more explosive— in Israel are predicted. Al Qaeda’s masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.

The Fourth Phase. Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that Al Qaeda will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that “the creeping loss of the regimes’ power will lead to a steady growth in strength within Al Qaeda.” At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism.

The Fifth Phase. This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al Qaeda hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order. [read more]

Yea, all of the stages are pretty prophetic. The last two stages doesn’t get any better.

ISIS and the Sykes-Picot Agreement

From Glenn Beck.com (Sept. 9, 2014):

“I think this hour will change your perspective. It will also help you understand what’s really happening with ISIS and ISIL… What is the real objective,” Glenn said. “Out of all of the peace accords and the cease-fires and the nonviolent pledges, none of them ever get to the root of the problem, and that is the ‘why.’ Until the why is addressed, the cycle of violence and hate is just going to continue.”

So how do get to the root of the why? Glenn started with a timeline that many have probably seen before. It included the 2014 Israeli/Hamas conflict, the 2012 Gaza conflict, the Second Intifada (2000), the First Intifada, the 1968 Six Day War, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. While most timelines documented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would end there, Glenn took it a step further – all the way to the beginning of World War I.

“The world is at war for the first time, and it is divided,” Glenn said. “You have the Allied Powers… and then you have in the purple the Central Powers. The Allies: U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Serbia. And then the Central Powers, the bad guys, if you will, of World War I: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.”

“This is the last time the Arab world had a united Islamic state led by a religious leader, the Ottoman Empire, the caliphate,” he explained. “The Allies knew the Ottoman Empire could shut down key shipping routes effectively and then cripple Britain’s economy, France. So they knew the Ottoman Empire was going to be a problem. They had to neutralize it.”

Neutralizing the power of the Ottoman Empire was at the center of western strategy at this point in time. Great Britain sent an army officer by the name of T.E. Lawrence to the Middle East to convince Arab leaders to fight against the Ottomans.  [read more]

Lawrence promised the Arab leaders the moon and the stars including rule over a new united Arab kingdom of Greater Syria.

But Lawrence never kept his promise. He never intended to keep it.  Then enter the Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain, France and Russia which divided up the area. Ever heard the strategy divide-and-conquer? That’s exactly what this agreement did that the Arabs agreed to.

Here the key points when considering the history of the conflict:

1. The Sykes-Picot agreement
2. The desire for a united Arab kingdom
3. The western desire to maintain economic control of the Middle East
4. The quest to regain control of ‘Greater Syria’
5. The Jewish and Palestinian people are nothing more than pawns in this larger game

The Arab leaders new the only way to consolidate power (read: caliphate) once again was to unite around a common enemy, and that enemy was the Jews.

And to kill off the leaders of the countries in the region and have a Islamic revolution is also part of the strategy. Which is what ISIS is trying to do.  They know about the promise even if Americans including Obama don’t

So, what is President Obama doing about this crisis? Nothing. And what’s worse he admits he doesn’t have a strategy. Which is what he said back in 2014. He is either incompetent or doesn’t care. Maybe both.

In other news: Islamic State Working to Develop Chemical Weapons.

So, we have ISIS committing acts against humanity. And there is Russia acting aggressive. Can you say WWIII? Add China into the mix…

Russia’s Internet Research Agency

From The New York Times.com (June 2):

Around 8 :30 a.m. on Sept. 11 last year, Duval Arthur, director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, got a call from a resident who had just received a disturbing text message. “Toxic fume hazard warning in this area until 1:30 PM,” the message read. “Take Shelter. Check Local Media and columbiachemical.com.”

St. Mary Parish is home to many processing plants for chemicals and natural gas, and keeping track of dangerous accidents at those plants is Arthur’s job. But he hadn’t heard of any chemical release that morning. In fact, he hadn’t even heard of Columbia Chemical. St. Mary Parish had a Columbian Chemicals plant, which made carbon black, a petroleum product used in rubber and plastics. But he’d heard nothing from them that morning, either. Soon, two other residents called and reported the same text message. Arthur was worried: Had one of his employees sent out an alert without telling him?

If Arthur had checked Twitter, he might have become much more worried. Hundreds of Twitter accounts were documenting a disaster right down the road. “A powerful explosion heard from miles away happened at a chemical plant in Centerville, Louisiana #ColumbianChemicals,” a man named Jon Merritt tweeted. The #ColumbianChemicals hashtag was full of eyewitness accounts of the horror in Centerville. @AnnRussela shared an image of flames engulfing the plant. @Ksarah12 posted a video of surveillance footage from a local gas station, capturing the flash of the explosion. Others shared a video in which thick black smoke rose in the distance.  [read more]

To cut to the chase all of what you just read was a hoax perpetrated by Russia. Specifically, by their Internet Research Agency to try to destabilize America. To try to make anyone who uses the internet not to trust what they read.

What did you expect? Putin is ex-KGB. What this agency is doing is similar to what the KGB has done in the past.

Immigration Interview for America

Maybe America should have an immigration interview similar to job interviews. For instance these questions could be asked for all potential citizens:

• Why do you (the immigrant) want to come to this country? 
• What value can you can add to the country?
• What do you think of capitalism?
• What do you think of the concept of liberty?

When an employer interviews a job applicant one of the things the person is looking for how is the potential employee is going to fit into the culture of the company. Maybe we should look at how immigrants can fit into America. Like following the laws of the land. Not being anti-American.

According to Discover The Networks.org Mexico has similar guidelines for its country:

• Foreigners are admitted into Mexico "according to their possibilities of contributing to national progress."
• Immigration officials must "ensure" that immigrants will not only be useful additions to Mexico, but that they have the necessary funds to sustain themselves and their dependents.
• Foreigners may be barred from the country if their presence upsets "the equilibrium of the national demographics"; if they are deemed to be detrimental to "economic or national interests"; if they have broken Mexican laws; and if they are not found to be “physically or mentally healthy."

Evidently the Mexican gov’t  is not for open borders.

Under Canadian immigration laws if a person wants to be a permanent citizen he/she under what’s called the Independent class. The class is defined as a  “professional class or skilled worker class and the application is assessed based on a point system. An individual should make an application under this class if he/she wishes to come to Canada based on his/her qualification, work experience and knowledge of English or French language.” There is also the Entrepreneur class, investor class or self employed class if a person wants to start a business in Canada or just wants to invest in Canada without starting a business in Canada. Finally, there is the Family class where a person can immigrant if he/she has a close relative in Canada.

The immigration forms asked about your knowledge of English and French. Your education and jobs you have in the past 10 years. It even asks about your spouses employment history. The form also asks about net worth and any debt. Evidently Canada only wants the wealthy to come. Hmmm.

United Kingdom has similar classes but they call them “tiers.” “ Tier 1 (General) Migrant, a Tier 1 (Investor) Migrant, a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrant, a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) Migrant, a highly skilled migrant, a Businessperson, an Innovator, an Investor, a self-employed lawyer or a writer, composer or artist, the applicant must have been employed in the UK continuously throughout the five years…” Tier 1 is the highest tier. It’s what UK calls the “high value immigrants.” No kidding. It’s interesting that they had to go into such detail about the Exceptional Talent. Was composer or artist really necessary?

Under UK’s point system you get more points: if you have a Ph. D., make a lot of money previously, and are under the age of 28. So, UK’s motto is: give us your intelligent, your rich and your young. Interesting.

Here’s France’s immigration policy: “[F]oreign-born persons may request to be naturalized if such persons have resided continuously in France for five years prior to filing of the request. French nationality in this case is given in the discretion of the French High Administrative Authority (Conseil d'Etat) if the French speaking person can show that his acts in France have been meritorious and contributing to French prosperity. The above-mentioned five-year period may be reduced to two years if the foreign-born person successfully performed two years of higher education in France. “

A Sample of The Savage Manifesto

Here is a sample of his manifesto I found interesting:

1. Make English the official language of the U.S.
2. Use illegal aliens to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, and then, repatriate them. Pay them a one-time worker fee.
3. Pull the troops out of Germany and S. Korea and put them on our southern border.
4. Mexico should pay one barrel of oil per month per illegal alien that sneaks into our country.
5. Strike down the anchor babies law.
6. Export jailed illegal aliens.
7. Use profiling to prevent terror attacks.
8. 10% pay raise for the military personnel.
9. Deny Ahmadinejad to enter our country. Implement strong sanctions against this rogue nation.
10. Impose tariffs on China.
11. Institute a flat tax.
12. Keep the estate tax at zero.
13. Reduce pay and premiums for civil servants.
14. Defend the defense of marriage act.
15. Create a marriage incentive through lower taxes for married heterosexual couples and a tax credit for each child conceived and carried to birth. Increase the subsidies for each year the couple remains married.
16. Make abortions illegal.
17. Require a gov’t-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license at the ballot box when voting.
18. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act.
19. End the practice of short selling.
20. Privatize the regulation of Wall Street.

Source: Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security (2010) by Michael Savage

Pretty good ideas and most are specific. The most original ones are 3, 4, 15, & 20. Not sure if 15 is a good idea. I am kind of against any kind of subsidy at all especially when the country is in debt.

Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance

From Judicial Watch.com (May 18):

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts.  The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria.  The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

The documents were released in response to a court order in accordance with a May 15, 2014, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against both the DOD and State Department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders “on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the U.S. government at the Special Mission Compound and/or classified annex in Benghazi.”

Spelling and punctuation is duplicated in this release without corrections.

A Defense Department document from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), dated September 12, 2012, the day after the Benghazi attack, details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by the BOCAR terrorist group “to kill as many Americans as possible.”  The document was sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Obama White House National Security Council.  The heavily redacted Defense Department “information report” says that the attack on the Benghazi facility “was planned and executed by The Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman (BCOAR).”  The group subscribes to “AQ ideologies:”

The attack was planned ten or more days prior on approximately 01 September 2012. The intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many Americans as possible to seek revenge for U.S. killing of Aboyahiye ((ALALIBY)) in Pakistan and in memorial of the 11 September 2001 atacks on the World Trade Center buildings.

“A violent radical,” the DIA report says, is “the leader of BCOAR is Abdul Baset ((AZUZ)), AZUZ was sent by ((ZAWARI)) to set up Al Qaeda (AQ) bases in Libya.”  The group’s headquarters was set up with the approval of a “member of the Muslim brother hood movement…where they have large caches of weapons.  Some of these caches are disguised by feeding troughs for livestock.  They have SA-7 and SA-23/4 MANPADS…they train almost every day focusing on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihadist ideology.” [read more]

Ten days is plenty of time to beef up security for the embassy or even to evacuate the people in it. So, why didn’t the Obama administration do either choice? Well, either Obama didn’t care about the people’s safety in the embassy and cared only for his re-election, Obama didn’t believe the report (after all Obama is loved by the terrorists and they only hated Bush—or so Obama and most on the far-Left believes), or he is just plain incompetent. The reader can choose.

Another question is since Hillary knew about the threat will she be questioned about the report by the press that adores her? I think I just answered my own question.

Self-Driving Cars Are Already Getting Into Accidents

From Chicago Tribune.com (May 11):

Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars now rolling around California have gotten into accidents since September, when the state began issuing permits for companies to test them on public roads.

Two accidents happened while the cars were in control; in the other two, the person who still must be behind the wheel was driving, a person familiar with the accident reports told The Associated Press.

Three involved Lexus SUVs that Google Inc. outfitted with sensors and computing power in its aggressive effort to develop "autonomous driving," a goal the tech giant shares with traditional automakers. The parts supplier Delphi Automotive had the other accident with one of its two test vehicles.

Google and Delphi said their cars were not at fault in any accidents, which the companies said were minor.

Since September, any accident must be reported to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The agency said there have been four, but would not comment about fault or anything else, citing California law that collision reports are confidential.

The person familiar with the accident reports said the cars were in self-driving mode in two of the four accidents, all of which involved speeds of less than 10 mph. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the reports publicly. [read more]

Unless the self-driving cars have virtually no accidents a driver should still be able to control of the car if he/she needs to.

NASA Working on Something Straight Out of ‘Star Trek’

From The Blaze.com (May 1):

In March, NASA said the concept of “warp drive” was “impossible,” but news is swirling that it hasn’t stopped engineers from conducting tests that could someday allow for faster-than-the-speed-of-light travel.

Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center tested an electromagnetic propulsion drive in a vacuum, according to NASASpaceFlight.com, an industry news website with a forum that it says is frequented by NASA and space industry professionals.

Nancy Smith Kilkenny with SGT Inc., an engineering firm with contracts for federal agencies, wrote on NASA’s website in March though that “warp drive” is currently “at the level of speculation.”

“The bulk of scientific knowledge concludes that it’s impossible, especially when considering Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,” she said. “There are certainly some credible concepts in scientific literature, however it’s too soon to know if they are viable.”

She said that NASA was working on ion propulsion for deep space missions, which she said was the “fastest and most efficient to date.”

“There are many ‘absurd’ theories that have become reality over the years of scientific research. But for the near future, warp drive remains a dream,” Kilkenny said. [read more]

Cool. If mankind is ever to travel the universe it will need near light speed velocity for its spaceships. Once that technology is tested and working NASA can next work on transporter devices like in Star Trek. One can only dream.

9 Reasons To Reject Hillary

From Dick Morris.com (Apr. 15):

Here are nine reasons why electing Hillary Clinton as president would be a mistake.

1. She is a hawk who will get us into another war.
2. She tends to follow certain advisers slavishly, almost to the exclusion of her own views.
3. She has no knowledge of economics, nor much interest in it. Economics has always been Bill Clinton’s turf.
4. She has no deep sense of who she is. Hillary Clinton is endlessly adaptable.
5. Her worldview is shaped by her grudges.
6. Her fundraising has totally compromised her freedom of action.
7. She is paranoid and suspicious.
8. She approved NSA wiretapping of foreign leaders.
9. Her contempt for the press is legendary and will lead to more and more secrets.

[read more]

Not a very good portrait of her but Dick Morris was with the Clinton admin. the last four years. The 2nd reason is particularly disturbing. A perfect cult follower. Reason seven is not better. That sounds like Nixon which the Left doesn’t want to hear. 

Report: ISIS camp just a stone's throw from U.S. border

From One News Now.com (April 16):

A public-interest group is very concerned about what's going on at a terrorist camp just inside Mexico, not far from a major U.S. Army installation. 

High-level sources in Mexico have confirmed to Judicial Watch that ISIS is operating a camp about eight miles from El Paso, Texas, which sits on the U.S.-Mexico border. The camp is located in an area (known as "Anapra") dominated by a drug cartel, making it an extremely dangerous and hostile operating environment for the Mexican Army and Federal Police operations.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, tells OneNewsNow this ISIS cell represents a clear threat to the United States.

"We're very much concerned obviously about what's going on," he shares. "Our understanding also is the 'coyotes' – those engaged in human smuggling – have helped move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border in New Mexico." [read more]

It’s bad enough America has drug gangs wanted to cross the border now it looks like terrorists are threatening America’s border. The border really needs to be secured.

The Progressive Income Tax

Since today being tax day, I would like to share a Prager University video about the Progressive Income Tax:

Dick Morris did a video about how prohibition caused the income tax.

President Lincoln created the first progressive income tax during the Civil War. The Revenue Act of 1862 was created to fund the war. The two-tier system highest tax rate was 5% (which the Left now days calls too low). If you made less than $600 you were exempted from the tax. According to Wikipedia, the tax didn’t fulfill its purpose. Most progressive taxes don’t.

It’s kind of a shame Lincoln had to create such a tax system because the progressive tax system (especially a heavy progressive tax system) is a Marxist idea. Although, he wasn’t the first person to reference it. The early Romans had progressive income tax. The tax rate under normal circumstances was 1% of property value, and could sometimes climb as high as 3% in situations such as war.

If America had a flat tax rate with no income exemptions then Congress would be less likely to raise it and keep the tax rate low otherwise they would be sticking it to the poor and not just the rich. Then again that would make the poor keep more of their own money (as well as every other tax payer). This would mean that the poor could someday become independent from the progressive politicians and not keep them in power. We can’t have that can we?

Talking about low tax rates here an interesting and informative video about the Laffer Curve.

How America’s Next President Can Lead on Foreign Policy

From Daily Signal.com (April 5):

Talent matters. That holds true in foreign policy, as well as in sports. So there should be no surprise when a mediocre national-security squad suffers a string of foreign-policy setbacks. Top-rank talent may not guarantee any administration an unbroken winning streak in foreign policy, but it sure improves the odds.

So what should the nation’s next president be looking for when assembling his or her national-security team?

Start with Talent, Not Programs

Managing complicated foreign-policy conundrums requires talented people with insight and wisdom. They need to be skilled decision makers and effective leaders. Such people can be found in government. Unfortunately, government rarely empowers the right people at the right time.

If a president seeks to improve foreign-policy outcomes, simply rearranging the rusty chains that bind our national-security apparatus together does little to help. Jimmy Carter was one president who learned this lesson the hard way.

One of Carter’s campaign promises was that he would exercise better oversight of our foreign-policy machinery. In “Jimmy Carter: In Search of the Great White House“ (1980), Betty Glad documents Carter’s belief that the National Security Council Staff was out of control—an all-powerful cabal undercutting leadership from the top, but at the same time bureaucratic, burdensome and slow moving. Once in the Oval Office, he scrapped existing NSC processes, reorganized and downsized.

For all the rearranging, the Carter “system” didn’t produce better policy outcomes. A string of foreign-affairs debacles, like the botched decision to withdraw U.S. forces from South Korea, raised questions about the soundness of the president and his national-security team.

To manage mayhem, the first and most critical task for a new president is to pick the right people for his team.

The qualifications for any job are a mix of skills, knowledge and attributes. Being an effective strategic leader requires three core characteristics: character, competence and critical thinking. [read more]

So, true. Too bad Obama doesn’t have any of the core characteristics. Interesting essay.

How Self-Driving Cars Could Make You Sick

From The Blaze.com (April 10):

As self-driving cars become a more tangible reality for the future of road travel, their ability to let riders do something other than pay attention to the road is one of the main draws. But one detail might have been slightly overlooked on this front and that’s the factor of motion sickness, a new study says.

Anyone who has been a passenger on a road trip and has tried to read while riding has probably experienced some level of queasiness.

Researchers at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute surveyed more than 3,200 adults from six countries, including the U.S., about the types of activities they would do instead of driving in an autonomous car. More than a third said they would do things like read, text, watch movies, play games and work, a news release about the study stated. [read more]

Basically when cars drive themselves the driver becomes a passenger which allow him to look around and site see and not pay attention to the road. I am not sure it is a good idea to have the car totally autonomous though. Since self-driving cars are made by people and people are imperfect then self-driving cars will be too. A human should still be able to take control of the car if the cars goes out of control. What about ice, snow or even a downpour of rain? The car could hydroplane. I suppose a builder can put in sensors to handle that.  And what about driving around mountain roads? Can an owner trust a self-driving car to do that safely?

Then there is the issue of some malicious computer person hacking into the car’s program.  And then there are viruses and worms. The car owner would definitely want to keep your car’s software up to date.  If the car is going to use some sort of speech-to-text software to tell it its destination it better be really accurate or have someway for the user to input the destination.

Finally, Glenn Beck on his radio show brought up an interesting point. If self-driving cars become the norm will driver’s ed still be taught? And will the gov’t outlaw non-self-driving cars because they think self-driving cars are safer on the road? Surely race cars and demolition derby cars won’t be self-driving because that would be really boring.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 35

• America went off the gold standard. Hope we don’t go off the God standard.
• Obama said “No religion is responsible for violence and terrorism.” I beg to differ. The Aztecs, Satanists, and other pagan religions offer human sacrifices to their gods. He should have said peaceful religions don’t commit violence.
• A movie that should never be made: Indiana Jones and the Lost Golden Accordion.
• Someone should invent a computer mouse that goes to sleep when the computer turns off. That way the battery in the mouse is conserved.
• Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s three powers of willpower (I will, I won't, and I want) sound like Freud’s three parts of the psyche (ego, super-ego, and id).
• You can be a rich sob. You can be a poor sob. It doesn’t matter what your financial situation is—you’re still a sob. The only thing that matter in the end is your character and how you treat your fellow man. In the end that’s what really matters to God.
• Instead of chanting “no justice, no peace” maybe Al Sharpton and his henchmen should be chanting “no truth, no justice.” After all isn’t that why witnesses take an oath to tell truth during a trial? Then again the truth doesn’t matter to the far Left.
• If minorities according to the Left are always tolerant then what does that say about a Muslim baker not making a wedding cake for a gay couple getting married? Both are minorities. That actually happened. The lame-stream press yawned.
• The real reason why the Left didn’t trust the Tea-Party getting together was because it was spontaneous. It wasn’t planned by a community organizer. They don’t trust anything that isn’t planned.
• A prediction: Bill O’Reilly’s next book will be called Killing MLK or Killing King.

20 Reasons Why Hillary Would Wipe Her Server Clean

From The Hillary Daily.com:

Hillary is a hoarder. So is Bill. So if she actually removed everything from her server, she had to be convinced that it would be more dangerous to keep the emails than to ride through a scandal, no matter how rough.

This scandal isn’t about Hillary’s privacy, it’s about her self-preservation. So here’s what would make her do it:

1. The emails contained damaging information about Benghazi that conflicted with her testimony and statements.

2. The emails — and those of her closest aides — showed her improper use of her position to benefit the Clinton Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, Teneo, and herself.

3. If she gave the Benghazi Committee electronic access to the emails, they could easily determine whether any had been edited or altered. It would have been extremely difficult to delete just some of the information in the emails. If she tried to doctor them, the system would likely show when it was last edited. Any edits after she left the State Department would be highly suspicious and the earlier versions could probably be retrieved anyway. So, it would be much easier to give out only hard copies, which can be easily doctored without detection and which would be difficult to search electronically.

4. The emails would show the improper coordination with the Clinton Global Initiative and U.S. corporations. Huma Abedin worked for the State Department as Clinton’s right hand person, Teneo, and the Clinton Global Initiative all at once. She used one of Hillary’s private email accounts on Hillary’s server. Were her emails deleted too? [read more]

Can you imagine Richard Nixon erasing all of his tapes? What are you hiding Hillary? God help this country if she ever gets elected president. I guess she is just following Obama’s lead by not being transparent.