"===
More humor:
LOOK WHO IS SINGING AND WHO IS APPLAUDING...................
So much for California Gun Control.He also found his thrill on Blueberry hill. Guess who?
Apparently mosques are not only where you go to pray but also where you make connections to kill.(See 1 below.)
What is so interesting is how much we learn after the fact about what we knew before the act which validates what I often say: "verba non acta."
===
Will the next terror attack on our land occur while Obama is in Hawaii and ruin his golf holiday? (See 2 below.)
===
Being a "Leftist" must be a lonely place because they are seldom " right." (See 3 below.)
===.
Why extreme right wingers beat up on Netanyahu for meeting with Trump reflects on them because BIBI should be able to meet with anyone in furtherance of foreign relationships but Trump demonstrated some dignity and sensitivity; http://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-cancels-israel-trip-will-meet-pm-after-i-become-president/
===
This True Perspective meeting should prove very interesting
SIRC TRUE PSERSPECTIVE
We have scheduled our first TP of 2016 on January 28. Our guest speaker will be Lee Smith, Chatham County Manager, and he will discuss the on going discussions of the merged police department.
Very timely with major emphasis on crime. Please mark you calendar.
===
The Middle Class has been slipping for years. Obama just accelerated the pace. (See 4 below.)
===
This may not get your blood to boil because it just presents some talk and common sense which even radical climate change adherents can understand. "short video (< 5 min.) very informative.
CLICK HERE to watch. "
===
SO WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MATTER. GITMO HAS BECOME AN R AND R FOR TERRORISTS. (SEE 5 and 5a BELLOW.)
===
Finally, let's see what those who hate Trump are saying. (See 6 below.)
The next cartoons I am posting would suggest I have not yet gotten into the Holiday Spirit but I am getting there so be patient. At 82 I move slowly and think even more so.
Finally, let's see what those who hate Trump are saying. (See 6 below.)
===
And then, as I noted, I had a colonoscopy yesterday. Get the connection?
===
Dick
Dick
1)
Neighbor of SB jihadis attended same mosque, got them military-grade rifles
SanBernardino-AP
“Both San Bernardino attackers pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, officials say,” by Missy Ryan, Adam Goldman, Abby Phillip and Julie Tate, Washington Post, December 8, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
…The FBI remains keenly interested in a former neighbor who provided the military-grade rifles used by Syed Rizwan Farook, the 28-year-old county health inspector, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, during the massacre that killed 14 people and injured 21 others.
The neighbor, Enrique Marquez, legally purchased the rifles — semiautomatic AR-15s manufactured by DPMS and Smith & Wesson — in California, officials say. The FBI is still investigating whether Marquez sold these rifles to Farook, his former neighbor, according to the officials.
Reports on Monday suggested that Marquez and Farook might have other connections in addition to being neighbors. An official with the Islamic Center of Corona-Norco, in Corona, Calif., the mosque Syed Farook’s brother Raheel regularly attended, said he believed that Marquez had periodically attended the center. Yousuf Bhaghani, a senior official at the center, said in an interview Tuesday that he had not interacted with Marquez but that other members he had spoken with said they recalled him occasionally praying at the mosque four or five years ago. Those who interacted with Marquez described him as a “decent person,” Bhaghani said. “They didn’t see anything which caused alarm.”
Marquez was also married to a woman who appears to be a relative of Tatiana Farook, the wife of Syed’s brother Raheel, according to county records. Both Marquez and the bride, Russian-born Mariya Chernykh, list the same home address as Raheel Farook, and Raheel and Tatiana Farook were witnesses to the couple’s marriage. The Corona mosque is listed as the couple’s religious center. The family connection was first reported by Reuters.
Marquez, who works as a security guard at Walmart and had lived next door to the Farook family for years, could become a subject of the investigation depending on what the FBI learns, one official said.
Farook and Marquez were friends who shared a love of automobiles, according to neighbors interviewed this week, who said Marquez and Farook could sometimes be seen working on cars together in the neighborhood.
Marquez checked himself into a mental health facility Friday. Authorities said he has since checked out and been questioned by the FBI, which is interested in learning about the guns he provided as well as whether he had any knowledge of the plot. The FBI is also investigating whether Marquez and Farook had talked about getting into “badness,” said another of the officials.
The FBI says it believes that Malik and Farook, the husband-and-wife killers, were radicalized, but they have not determined yet whether had been drawn into violent extremism by someone they knew or whether they had developed those beliefs on their own.
“Both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time,” David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a news conference Monday. “How did that happen and by whom and where did that happen? I will tell you right now, we don’t know those answers at this point.”
As part of the investigation, authorities are looking at the financial records of the attackers. The FBI is looking at suspicious financial transactions, including a $28,500 cash loan from an online bank prior to the massacre, an official said.
Fox News first reported that the $28,500 was deposited into Farook’s bank account last month, about two weeks before the shooting.
The FBI was working Monday to confirm reports that Malik, who was born in Pakistan, had ties to Islamabad’s Red Mosque, which is notorious for its connections to Islamic fundamentalism, an FBI official said. Mosque officials have denied any association with her. One of the law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said the FBI was trying to “firm up” her history in Pakistan.
The evidence gathered so far shows that Farook had expressed extreme and radical sentiments well before the shooting, another of the law enforcement officials said. But the official would not say what has been recovered yet from Farook’s computer or other electronic devices, some of which were found smashed into pieces after the attack. Another official said they found evidence that Malik had dabbled online looking at jihadist propaganda.
The FBI was still exploring whether the bombs left behind at the Inland Regional Center after the shooting were meant to target police officers and other first responders in the aftermath of the massacre, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said. These bombs were “potentially viable,” the official said.
Whatever the roots of their beliefs, the couple had prepared carefully for the attack, Bowdich said during the news conference Monday, visiting local shooting ranges to practice their aim as recently as a few days before the massacre.
John Galletta, a shooting instructor the Riverside Magnum Range, said that Farook had come to the range with an AR-15 rifle on the Sunday and Monday before the attacks took place.
Galletta did not personally see Farook, who came alone, but other staff at the range did.
“It was very brief,” Galletta said. “He was there; he shot his gun.”
Staff at the range did not recall having seen Farook before that, Galletta said. Riverside Magnum is small shooting range in a strip mall just off a freeway. The range allows both pistols and rifles, however, rifle shooting — of the likes Farook had — is for members of the range only.
Galletta said the range gave authorities the security footage.
“We had no idea he was there until they came,” he said, referring to the FBI.
The Dec. 2 shooting was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. The attack has renewed debate over the nation’s gun laws and sparked criticism of President Obama’s campaign against militant groups.
Bowdich said the federal investigation into the shooting is “massive in scale.” So far, authorities have interviewed more than 400 people and collected more than 300 pieces of evidence.
But critical questions remain. Officials have yet to uncover any indication that the attack was plotted with help from overseas, Bowdich said. Nor do they know whether anyone in this country other than Farook and Malik took part in the planning. The couple died in a shootout with police four hours after they opened fire at a conference center in San Bernardino.
Bowdich also clarified that authorities recovered 19 pipes that could be used to assemble homemade bombs during a search of the couple’s home in nearby Redlands, Calif., along with thousands of rounds of ammunition. Authorities had earlier said that 12 pipe bombs were found.
As the probe expands to sites where Malik lived overseas, friends and family in the United States struggled to piece together clues about what may have led the couple to the violence.
The Illinois-born Farook was described as a bright student during his childhood in California. As an adult, those who knew him said, he was a devout Muslim, quiet and private.
Farook brought Malik to the United States on a fiancee visa in July 2014. But friends said they knew little about Farook’s wife. Many weren’t even aware that the couple had welcomed their first child in May 2015, a baby daughter who was placed in the custody of child protective services after the attack.
“At this time I feel like he had a double life,” Saira Khan, Farook’s sister, said in an interview with ABC News. “I feel like he was very good at concealing everything from all of us. The guy that we know, all his co-workers, everybody that knew him at the mosque, they’re all commenting just like we [are]. . . . Nobody knew him any different than how we knew him.”
Much less is known about Malik, who was born in Pakistan but spent at least some time in Saudi Arabia, where her father relocated more than two decades ago. It remains unclear how much time she spent in Saudi Arabia, but she is known to have studied in Pakistan to become a pharmacist.
After arriving in the United States, Malik appeared to have interacted with very few people. Even male relatives said they had never seen her face, which was typically covered by a niqab, or face veil, used by some Muslim women.
Around the time of the attacks, Malik went on Facebook to post the pledge of loyalty to the leader of the Islamic State, which has urged followers to launch attacks wherever they may be as the militant group seeks to expand its reach beyond Iraq and Syria.
The group has called Syed and Malik followers. But it has not linked itself as clearly to the shooting as it has to a recent series of attacks in Paris….
=================================================================================
On November 12, President Obama said ISIS had been “contained.” The next day, ISIS launched a deadly terrorist attack in Paris that left 130 people dead. Guy has written about what appears to be a developing scandal within our intelligence community, specifically the suppression–or disregard–of intelligence about ISIS’s rise that didn’t necessarily fit the view of the Obama administration. Now, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism released a rather disconcerting report showing “unprecedented” “ISIS-related mobilization” in the United States:
Seventy-one individuals have been charged with ISIS-related activities since March 2014. Fifty-six have been arrested in 2015 alone, a record number of terrorism-related arrests for any year since 9/11.
[…]
The profiles of individuals involved in ISIS-related activities in the U.S. differ widely in race, age, social class, education, and family background. Their motivations are equally diverse and defy easy analysis.
[…]
ISIS-related radicalization is by no means limited to social media. While instances of purely web-driven, individual radicalization are numerous, in several cases U.S.-based individuals initially cultivated and later strengthened their interest in ISIS’s narrative through face-to-face relationships. In most cases online and offline dynamics complement one another.
The spectrum of U.S.-based sympathizers’ actual involvement with ISIS varies significantly, ranging from those who are merely inspired by its message to those few who reached mid-level leadership positions within the group.
[…]
The 71 indictments are merely the tip of the iceberg, as U.S. authorities estimate that the number of individuals linked to ISIS is much larger. Our researchers identified a few dozen individuals with reported ISIS links who have not been charged. Similar to those in the legal system, the “At-Large” cohort have no common profile.
Among them, for example, are three teenage girls from the suburbs of Denver, two Somali-American sisters aged 15 and 17, and their 16-year-old friend of Sudanese descent. The trio lived a normal and comfortable life among their unsuspecting families and peers.
Leah wrote yesterday about ISIS planning on having Sirte, Libya as their fallback capital, given that al-Raqqa, Syria, their current base of operations, is being pummeled by Russia and France. Libya was destabilized when the Obama administration decided to assist rebel forces in their effort to oust Muammar Gaddafi, which was ultimately successful in 2011; another testament to the success* of smart power.
ISIS being “contained?” We probably better add that to the long list in which the president has been wrong, beginning when he mocked Gov. Mitt Romney that Russia isn’t our biggest geopolitical foe during the 2012 election. Romney was right–Russia has been allowed to invade Ukraine, annex Crimea, and intervene in the Middle East, where the U.S. has made it a priority to keep them out of this region for the past 50 years. As former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton noted in October, our decision to even entertain de-confliction talks regarding our air forces in Syria legitimizes their presence there.
What is this administration going to do if 150,000 Russian troops enter the region? Russian president Vladimir Putin signed legislation conscripting 150,000 troops in October. While Putin’s office noted that this decree is signed every two years, it comes at a time when Russian airstrikes have intensified. Moreover, this administration’s effete efforts on the Ukraine crisis, among other things, pretty much assured the rest of the world that the lights were on, but no one is home at the Obama White House.
Regarding the taking in of Syrian refugees, the president has mocked Republicans’ rational concern that this could allow terrorists into the country. The FBI has admitted that they cannot screen all of the refugees that are projected to enter the country. We’ve currently accepted 10,000, of which over 2,000 have been resettled. Thirty-one governors have said they will reject Syrian relocation, though the State Department noted that they might not have much choice. Nevertheless, a lack of participation could make things more difficult.
As Kevin Drum of the left-leaning Mother Jones wrote, this mockery of a legitimate issue has the potential of biting Democrats next year by coming off as out of touch and looking un-serious on national security issues. No one wants to look that way, but it’s a criticism that is mostly affiliated with Democrats–hence why the House’s refugee bill passed with a veto-proof majority despite opposition (and a veto threat) from the Obama White House.
*Of course, I'm being sarcastic
==============================================================================
3)
CNN host equates Jewish terror with Islamic terror
By Carol Brown
CNN host Ashleigh Banfield equated Jewish terrorists with Islamic terrorists. On air. With a straight face.
Her guest was Jeffrey Lord, who had the patience of a saint. Banfield repeatedly interrupted him in order to make her case, as if having a guest was secondary to the main point of the host being heard. And she spoke to him in an incredibly patronizing way, managing to sound like a child who knows more than and better than someone as intelligent and distinguished as Lord.
Here’s how part of the exchange went down. (Of note, right from the get-go, you knew it was going to be a set-up, whereby Banfield would play the role of the innocent, whilst she had unearthed some obscure information to be brought forth at just the right, “Ah-ha, you see!” moment. And, indeed, that is how it unfolded.)
AB: You know, I gotta ask you. Someone was so clever this morning, Jeffrey. If you supplant the word “Jews” for “Muslims” in a lot of the rhetoric that that we’ve had this morning, I think people would find it sort of cringe-worthy and reminiscent of a really ugly time in our history. Imagine a customs and border patrol agent, Jeffrey, asking someone “Are you a Jew?” How would that go over?
Banfield is unaware or pretending to be unaware that jihadists frequently question the religion of their targets, releasing Muslims and then slaughtering Christians and Jews. “Are you a Jew?” is understood every day around the world, and particularly in Israel. An answer in the affirmative will get you killed.
JL: Well, Ashley, look, first of all, there are no Jews that are coming in here to destroy America. They’re coming in here to get away from these people.
AB: Okaaay.
AB: I mean, we have a problem, and saying that we don’t have a problem is suicidal. It brought death to these Americans in California.
Drum roll. Prepare for Banfield’s revelation of what she was champing at the bit to talk about all along.
AB: Yeah. I gotta, I gotta. You know what? I’m going to tell ya’ something. There’s a guy named John Pistole, who just recently was running the TSA. Uh, real venerable guy. He, before that was with the FBI. He was an executive assistant director for counter terror and counter intelligence and he sat before Congress in 2004 and he testified – and this is to your point about there are no Jews coming to hurt Americans – he testified about, from a period of 1980 to 1985 there were 18 terrorist attacks in the United States committed by Jews. Fifteen of them by members of the Jewish Defense League. The head of the Jewish Defense League was in jail awaiting trial on charges of trying to bomb a mosque in Culver City, trying to bomb Darrell Issa’s office, an Arab American. What are you talking about?! There have been Jewish terrorist attacks! Should we therefore ask no Jews to please apply for a visa?
JL: Ashley, are you really saying to me that there is an international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world? I mean, which, radical --
AB: I’m telling you (holds up piece of paper with highlighted information about Jewish terrorism) that there have been that many terrorist attacks committed by Jews and no one’s suggesting for a minute that all Jews should be wiped out of this country from visiting. (Bizarre, disingenuous, grin accompanied by a childish and patronizing tone of voice.) It’s the same thing.
JL: (After repeated attempts to interrupt her seemingly endless ridiculous rant.) No it is not the same thing, Ashley. The motive here is to set up a caliphate to remake the entire world in the image of radical Islam. That’s what’s going on --
AB: The crazies, yes! Not the Muslims! The crazies!
JL: (Attempts to speak, but is talked over.)
AB: There are 1.5 or 1.6 billion Muslims and the majority are not crazy like that. The majority are like everybody.
And on it went.
There is so much one could say about that exchange. None of it good. Most of it speaks for itself.
I will simply address Banfield’s final assertion (that she plucked out of thin air) by sharing this video by Ben Shapiro called “The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority.”
It’s amazing how much madness leftists can be packed into less than 3 minutes.
Hat tip: The Right Scoop
CNN host Ashleigh Banfield equated Jewish terrorists with Islamic terrorists. On air. With a straight face.
Her guest was Jeffrey Lord, who had the patience of a saint. Banfield repeatedly interrupted him in order to make her case, as if having a guest was secondary to the main point of the host being heard. And she spoke to him in an incredibly patronizing way, managing to sound like a child who knows more than and better than someone as intelligent and distinguished as Lord.
Here’s how part of the exchange went down. (Of note, right from the get-go, you knew it was going to be a set-up, whereby Banfield would play the role of the innocent, whilst she had unearthed some obscure information to be brought forth at just the right, “Ah-ha, you see!” moment. And, indeed, that is how it unfolded.)
AB: You know, I gotta ask you. Someone was so clever this morning, Jeffrey. If you supplant the word “Jews” for “Muslims” in a lot of the rhetoric that that we’ve had this morning, I think people would find it sort of cringe-worthy and reminiscent of a really ugly time in our history. Imagine a customs and border patrol agent, Jeffrey, asking someone “Are you a Jew?” How would that go over?
Banfield is unaware or pretending to be unaware that jihadists frequently question the religion of their targets, releasing Muslims and then slaughtering Christians and Jews. “Are you a Jew?” is understood every day around the world, and particularly in Israel. An answer in the affirmative will get you killed.
JL: Well, Ashley, look, first of all, there are no Jews that are coming in here to destroy America. They’re coming in here to get away from these people.
AB: Okaaay.
AB: I mean, we have a problem, and saying that we don’t have a problem is suicidal. It brought death to these Americans in California.
Drum roll. Prepare for Banfield’s revelation of what she was champing at the bit to talk about all along.
AB: Yeah. I gotta, I gotta. You know what? I’m going to tell ya’ something. There’s a guy named John Pistole, who just recently was running the TSA. Uh, real venerable guy. He, before that was with the FBI. He was an executive assistant director for counter terror and counter intelligence and he sat before Congress in 2004 and he testified – and this is to your point about there are no Jews coming to hurt Americans – he testified about, from a period of 1980 to 1985 there were 18 terrorist attacks in the United States committed by Jews. Fifteen of them by members of the Jewish Defense League. The head of the Jewish Defense League was in jail awaiting trial on charges of trying to bomb a mosque in Culver City, trying to bomb Darrell Issa’s office, an Arab American. What are you talking about?! There have been Jewish terrorist attacks! Should we therefore ask no Jews to please apply for a visa?
JL: Ashley, are you really saying to me that there is an international Jewish conspiracy to take over the world? I mean, which, radical --
AB: I’m telling you (holds up piece of paper with highlighted information about Jewish terrorism) that there have been that many terrorist attacks committed by Jews and no one’s suggesting for a minute that all Jews should be wiped out of this country from visiting. (Bizarre, disingenuous, grin accompanied by a childish and patronizing tone of voice.) It’s the same thing.
JL: (After repeated attempts to interrupt her seemingly endless ridiculous rant.) No it is not the same thing, Ashley. The motive here is to set up a caliphate to remake the entire world in the image of radical Islam. That’s what’s going on --
AB: The crazies, yes! Not the Muslims! The crazies!
JL: (Attempts to speak, but is talked over.)
AB: There are 1.5 or 1.6 billion Muslims and the majority are not crazy like that. The majority are like everybody.
And on it went.
There is so much one could say about that exchange. None of it good. Most of it speaks for itself.
I will simply address Banfield’s final assertion (that she plucked out of thin air) by sharing this video by Ben Shapiro called “The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority.”
It’s amazing how much madness leftists can be packed into less than 3 minutes.
=================================================================================
4) Pew: The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground Under Obama
The nation's working middle class, commonly seen as the economic backbone of the nation, is now less than half of the U.S. population and continues to financially struggle under President Barack Obama, a new report warns.
The middle class “is declining and no longer constitutes a majority under President Barack Obama,” Breitbart News reported, citing a Pew Research Center study, which found that “after more than four decades of serving as the nation’s economic majority, the American middle class is now matched in number by those in the economic tiers above and below it.”
Middle class Americans now comprise less than half, or 49.9%, of the nation’s population, down from 61% in 1971, according to the Pew report. “The share living in the upper-income tier rose from 14% to 21% over the same period. Meanwhile, the share in the lower-income tier increased from 25% to 29%,” Breitbart reported.
For Pew, middle class Americans live in households earning between two-thirds to two times the nation’s median income. In 2014, that ranged from $41,900 to $125,600 for a three-person household.
Some 120.8 million adult Americans lived in middle-class households this year, according to Pew. That’s slightly less than the combined number of upper-income adults (51 million) and those at the lower tier (70.3 million).
While households across the spectrum have seen higher earnings over the past several decades, upper-income households have seen their pay rise the most, Bloomberg reported.
The median income of those families was $174,625 in 2014, up 47 percent since 1970, Pew data show. That compares with a 34 percent gain for the middle class and a 28 percent increase for the poorest households.
The "state of the American middle class is at the heart of the economic platforms of many presidential candidates ahead of the 2016 election," Pew researchers Rakesh Kochhar and Richard Fry wrote in their report. Meanwhile "a flurry of new research points to the potential of a larger middle class to provide the economic boost sought by many advanced economies."
And middle-income Americans have fallen further behind financially in the new century.
In 2014, the median income of these households was 4% less than in 2000. Moreover, because of the housing market crisis and the Great Recession of 2007-09, their median wealth (assets minus debts) fell by 28% from 2001 to 2013, Pew reported.
The middle class holds 43 percent of U.S. aggregate income, the smallest share in Pew’s data back to 1970.
Almost half of aggregate earnings in the U.S. is now commanded by the wealthiest families, who are "are on the verge of holding more in total income than all other households combined," Kochhar and Fry wrote. "This shift is partly because upper-income households constitute a rising share of the population and partly because their incomes are increasing more rapidly than those of other tiers."
The steady decline of the middle class is yet another sign of economic polarization, said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director of research at Pew. Not only are more Americans shifting into the upper and lower classes, but they are moving into the higher range of the upper class and the lower range of the lower class.
“There are fewer opportunities that place people in the middle of the income distribution,” Kochhar said.
To be sure, being a member of the middle-class has long been treated as an American badge of honor.
“For decades, the middle class had been the core of the country. A healthy middle class kept America strong,” experts and politicians told CNN Wire. “But more recently, these residents have struggled under stagnating wages and soaring costs. Presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle are campaigning on ways to bolster the nation’s middle class and increase opportunities to climb the economic ladder,” CNN Wire reported.
Most Americans have traditionally identified themselves as middle class, even those at the top and bottom, reflecting a kind of cultural heritage tied to the American dream of self-reliance, The Sacramento Bee explained. “But the Great Recession and subsequent slow recovery have shaken that image.”
A recent Gallup poll showed that just 51 percent of U.S. adults considered themselves middle or upper middle class, with 48 percent saying they are part of the lower or working class.
Patrick Egan, a politics professor at New York University, says the Pew findings and the Gallup surveys suggest that the public may be more open to policies of redistribution.
"Americans are always kind of reluctant to embrace open-class warfare," Egan said. But "if more Americans are under the idea of placing themselves at the bottom, you'll see politicians follow," he told Tribune.
While households across the spectrum have seen higher earnings over the past several decades, upper-income households have seen their pay rise the most, Bloomberg reported.
The median income of those families was $174,625 in 2014, up 47 percent since 1970, Pew data show. That compares with a 34 percent gain for the middle class and a 28 percent increase for the poorest households.
The "state of the American middle class is at the heart of the economic platforms of many presidential candidates ahead of the 2016 election," Pew researchers Rakesh Kochhar and Richard Fry wrote in their report. Meanwhile "a flurry of new research points to the potential of a larger middle class to provide the economic boost sought by many advanced economies."
And middle-income Americans have fallen further behind financially in the new century.
In 2014, the median income of these households was 4% less than in 2000. Moreover, because of the housing market crisis and the Great Recession of 2007-09, their median wealth (assets minus debts) fell by 28% from 2001 to 2013, Pew reported.
The middle class holds 43 percent of U.S. aggregate income, the smallest share in Pew’s data back to 1970.
Almost half of aggregate earnings in the U.S. is now commanded by the wealthiest families, who are "are on the verge of holding more in total income than all other households combined," Kochhar and Fry wrote. "This shift is partly because upper-income households constitute a rising share of the population and partly because their incomes are increasing more rapidly than those of other tiers."
The steady decline of the middle class is yet another sign of economic polarization, said Rakesh Kochhar, associate director of research at Pew. Not only are more Americans shifting into the upper and lower classes, but they are moving into the higher range of the upper class and the lower range of the lower class.
“There are fewer opportunities that place people in the middle of the income distribution,” Kochhar said.
To be sure, being a member of the middle-class has long been treated as an American badge of honor.
“For decades, the middle class had been the core of the country. A healthy middle class kept America strong,” experts and politicians told CNN Wire. “But more recently, these residents have struggled under stagnating wages and soaring costs. Presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle are campaigning on ways to bolster the nation’s middle class and increase opportunities to climb the economic ladder,” CNN Wire reported.
Most Americans have traditionally identified themselves as middle class, even those at the top and bottom, reflecting a kind of cultural heritage tied to the American dream of self-reliance, The Sacramento Bee explained. “But the Great Recession and subsequent slow recovery have shaken that image.”
A recent Gallup poll showed that just 51 percent of U.S. adults considered themselves middle or upper middle class, with 48 percent saying they are part of the lower or working class.
Patrick Egan, a politics professor at New York University, says the Pew findings and the Gallup surveys suggest that the public may be more open to policies of redistribution.
"Americans are always kind of reluctant to embrace open-class warfare," Egan said. But "if more Americans are under the idea of placing themselves at the bottom, you'll see politicians follow," he told Tribune.
=======================================================================
5)
Yemen, you may recall, is a glittering Smart Power success story according to our president -- whose fixation with emptying and closing the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility has placed political posturing above national security prudence. The latest, via Thomas Joscelyn's Long War Journal:
You read that right: Qosi was a loyalist and personal associate of Osama Bin Laden, and we cut him loose in 2012 as part of a plea deal. After his release to his native Sudan, Qosi traveled to Yemen, where he enlisted as a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula (AQAP), one of the terrorist group's most active and malignant strains. Who could have seen this coming? Oh:
He was released and promptly returned to jihad, as predicted by our analysts. Recidivism among ex-Gitmo detainees is an ongoing, bipartisan problem. It was revealed that one of the suspected Benghazi attack ringleaderswas once held at the US military facility in Cuba. He was freed by the Bush administration. (To this day, only one Benghazi attacker has been taken into American custody; he's being tried as a civilian). Having been repeatedly thwarted by strong Congressional majorities -- from the Reid/Pelosi era, all the way up through last month -- the Obama administration is reportedly still mulling options to disregard both Congress' will and the law by closing Gitmo down anyway. The American people have adamantly and consistently opposed Obama's reckless, obsessive "I'm not Bush" legacy project:
In order to grease the skids for this potential last-minute, lame duck gambit, the Obama administration has transferred and released dozens of detainees across the world -- including several men US officials have deemed to be recidivism risks. This includes the so-called 'Taliban Five,' who were traded for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, an illegal episode in which the Obama administration negotiated with terrorists. I'll leave you with some better news from our never-endinglethal game of jihadi whack-a-mole:
House Armed Services Committee: Obama Violated Federal Law with Bergdahl Exchange
A House Armed Services Committee report set to be released Thursday accuses the Obama administration of misleading Congress and violating federal law during a controversial prisoner exchange.
The report compiled by the GOP majority charges that the administration did so when it bypassed Congress in negotiating the exchange of five Taliban prisoners for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was being held in Afghanistan. They suggested that the White House had put politics and expediency ahead of proper procedure in making the deal.
This is the same administration that put politics and expediency ahead of common sense when "ending" the war in Iraq, so this is really no surprise. This president puts politics ahead of everything. If the Republicans are against it, national security be damned. The quickest way to get rid of Obamacare may be to have every Republican in Congress embrace it.
As this entire weird story played out, it always did seem that the administration's interest in Bergdahl was motivated solely by a need to stick it to Republicans. The timing and the rush to get it done never made sense. It was almost as if the president got bored.
Anyway, there's no reason to worry, right? After all, nothing bad ever comes of those poor souls released from Gitmo, after all.
5A)
Surprise: Released Gitmo Detainee Now an Al Qaeda Leader in Yemen
By Guy BensonYemen, you may recall, is a glittering Smart Power success story according to our president -- whose fixation with emptying and closing the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility has placed political posturing above national security prudence. The latest, via Thomas Joscelyn's Long War Journal:
BREAKING: Guantanamo detainee released July 2012 now a leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/… @thomasjoscelyn
You read that right: Qosi was a loyalist and personal associate of Osama Bin Laden, and we cut him loose in 2012 as part of a plea deal. After his release to his native Sudan, Qosi traveled to Yemen, where he enlisted as a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penninsula (AQAP), one of the terrorist group's most active and malignant strains. Who could have seen this coming? Oh:
He was released and promptly returned to jihad, as predicted by our analysts. Recidivism among ex-Gitmo detainees is an ongoing, bipartisan problem. It was revealed that one of the suspected Benghazi attack ringleaderswas once held at the US military facility in Cuba. He was freed by the Bush administration. (To this day, only one Benghazi attacker has been taken into American custody; he's being tried as a civilian). Having been repeatedly thwarted by strong Congressional majorities -- from the Reid/Pelosi era, all the way up through last month -- the Obama administration is reportedly still mulling options to disregard both Congress' will and the law by closing Gitmo down anyway. The American people have adamantly and consistently opposed Obama's reckless, obsessive "I'm not Bush" legacy project:
In order to grease the skids for this potential last-minute, lame duck gambit, the Obama administration has transferred and released dozens of detainees across the world -- including several men US officials have deemed to be recidivism risks. This includes the so-called 'Taliban Five,' who were traded for deserter Bowe Bergdahl, an illegal episode in which the Obama administration negotiated with terrorists. I'll leave you with some better news from our never-endinglethal game of jihadi whack-a-mole:
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The celebrity candidate at the top of the Republican presidential polls has earned the near universal condemnations he has received from responsible public figures, Democrats and Republicans alike. AsWall Street Journal opinion writer Bret Stephens observed presciently, however, “It takes the demos to make the demagogue.” The sanctimony the left, in particular, has deployed in the process of denouncing Donald Trump’s illiberal, xenophobic instincts reveals an exasperating lack of introspection concerning his appeal. They tell themselves that the nation’s conservative entertainment complex, about the only figures still apologizing for Trump, is the font from which Trump supporters spring. But the candidate could not exist if the conditions that gave rise to his candidacy — the degradation of the international security environment and the public’s eroding sense of security at home — were not as grave as they are. The left’s monumental lack of humility could not be better exemplified than by its collective determination to scold the American people for responding predictably to the circumstances for which they’ve long advocated.
Virtually every one of the 13 other GOP candidates running for the party’s presidential nomination and a variety of local Republican Party chairmen have attacked Donald Trump for his latest asinine, irresponsible, counterproductive suggestion that all Muslim transit into the United States must be curtailed on a temporary yet indefinite basis. For one-quarter to one-third of Republican primary voters, Trump’s logic is especially compelling. They have lost faith in the Republican Party and its groomed candidates just as they have in the nation’s political and governing institutions. All of these, they believe, have failed to meet the challenges of the moment. Drastic measures are now necessary. While the means that Trump supporters have determined might address their righteous grievance is irredeemably flawed, they have every reason to fear for the future.
The international threat environment that the next president will inherit from Barack Obama is objectively a far more dangerous one than that bequeathed to him by George W. Bush. Europe is again at war, and the first cross-border invasion and annexation of territory by another state since 1945 is only a harbinger of things to come. The People’s Republic of China is like never before challenging American sovereignty, both through threat of conventional arms and in the digital theater. The wars that Barack Obama had declared virtually won in his first term now appear to be failures that will continue to embarrass the United States long after he has vacated the Oval Office.
Barack Obama had every opportunity to engage and mitigate the jihadist threat incubating in the vacuum left behind when Bashar al-Assad’s forces were swept from eastern Syria. Instead, Obama’s supporters winced when the president set for himself a “red line” for action in Syria that they knew he would ignore if crossed. That’s precisely what he did. Today, the Syrian crisis has finally drawn in American soldiers, but it is now a conflict characterized by the use of chemical weapons by both Assad’s forces and those of the Islamic State. In Syria, Russian air forces and those of the NATO alliance are coming into conspicuously close contact. This dangerous development even resulted in air combat deaths when a Russian warplane was downed by an American-made air-to-air missile. Democrats would dare to suggest that the public’s rising concerns over these conditions are misguided?
The conflict in Syria that the president allowed to metastasize eventually spilled over the border into Iraq. It was not long afterward that the ISIS plague spread across the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa. The ISIS threat has been allowed to evolve for so long that it is now fully capable of exporting terrorism into Europe and North America. Inside the United States, radical Islamist terrorist incidents have proliferated during the Obama presidency. Numerous small-scale incidents of Islamist violence are easy to overlook when tallying the toll exacted in spectacular attacks like those that took place in Fort Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, and San Bernardino. None of these events match the bloodshed that Paris saw last month, but an attack of that scale could only have been achieved with financial and operational links to terrorist safe havens in Syria and Iraq.
The populist, protectionist movement in the United States is a pale shadow of similar movements on the rise in Europe, and both of those phenomena are directly related to the millions of refugees fleeing the nightmares in the Middle East. America does not yet have to endure the kind of refugee crisis that is plaguing Europe. It is a crisis typified by a gruesome and foreboding harvest that includes but is not limited to the bodies of dead children routinely washing up on Mediterranean beaches, the end of the era of borderless travel in Europe, and the rise of ethnoreligious animosities that have a habit of paving the way for genocides. The left is correct to look on these products and recoil in horror, but they are the fruits of their refusal to address crises when they might have been contained.
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