The Front Page Cover
2016 The turth is the gold of today
Featuring:
The three-cornered fight for the
soul of the GOP
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
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Iowan Votes Matter!
It's Iowa Caucus Day! Finally, after months of talk, donations, debates and ads, the corn meets the harvester when Iowans cast their votes — or in terms of the Democrat caucuses, stand by their candidates. Iowa delegates make up only 1% of the total available delegates nationwide, but because the Hawkeye State holds its caucus first, it's the state that often sets the tone for the rest of the election. While the returns will start rolling in at 8:30 p.m. EST, the forecasts predict that Hilly Clinton will end up victorious, though if Bernie Sanders comes from behind for a win, it could handicap Clinton. The GOP race is mainly a competition between Ted Cruz and Donald slump-Trump, with slump-Trump favored with a 46% chance of winning, according to polling website FiveThirtyEight.
This means the race may come down to whoever can run a better get-out-to-vote campaign. Cruz is burning the shoe leather in a get-out-to-vote campaign that features 12,000 volunteers going door to door. Meanwhile, slump-Trump is relying on the energy generated through his rallies to get his supporters — many potential first-time caucus-goers — out to their precincts tonight. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, currently the GOP's third-place candidate, has seen a bump in the polls. Rubio really needs a stronger-than-expected finish to propel him forward to wins in future battleground states. Regardless of what happens, tonight is when the presidential race really gets its start. -The Patriot Post
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You Will Know Them By Their Fruits
In this most unconventional election cycle, there have been a few things that have remained constant. One of them is the effort on the campaign trail to appeal to Christians. Call them by whatever name of the era — the "Moral Majority," the "Religious Right" and now "evangelicals" — those who generally affiliate with the Republican Party due to non-negotiable issues of their faith comprise a large number of voters. That's especially true in early contest states like Iowa and South Carolina.
In the 2012 Iowa Caucus, those who self-identified as "evangelical" or born-again Christians in an entrance poll by Edison Research numbered 57% of all participants. The value of this group of voters is undisputed; yet winning the hearts and minds of these voters seems to be awkward for many campaigns, which, alone, should convey a message. Evoking surprise from some candidates and their Beltway consultants, these voters are driven by their faith in the civic arena to pursue obedience in Christ's command to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light to the world." These same values voters aren't looking for a preacher but are sure quick to spot the inconsistencies of pandering politicians who fall back on props and catch phrases.
A few weeks back when Donald slump-Trump took the platform at Liberty University, the audience of the Christian school, founded by evangelical stalwart and pastor Jerry Falwell, caught the real-estate tycoon making reference to a Bible verse in a manner that exposed his unfamiliarity with Scripture. Instead of quoting "Second Corinthians," slump-Trump referenced "Two Corinthians."
Gaffe of the century? Hardly, but his cavalier dismissal of questions about his faith made it something to ponder. -The Patriot Post
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IOWA’S REAL JOB
Every four years, Iowa bashing is style, especially for the supporters of candidates bound to lose. Why should Iowa go first? Why not a big state, or a more diverse state or a state that likes your candidate? The simplest answer is that barring the development of some new system, some state will have to be the first one and Iowa has done a very good job over the past 40 years.Iowa has a special role to play in the presidential nominating process. While Iowans don’t always pick their parties’ nominees, they do cull the fields.
Every four years, Iowa bashing is style, especially for the supporters of candidates bound to lose. Why should Iowa go first? Why not a big state, or a more diverse state or a state that likes your candidate? The simplest answer is that barring the development of some new system, some state will have to be the first one and Iowa has done a very good job over the past 40 years.Iowa has a special role to play in the presidential nominating process. While Iowans don’t always pick their parties’ nominees, they do cull the fields.
After tonight, struggling campaigns will enter a death-watch phase, and some will even quit outright. And for a Republican field that has been as bloated as an omnibus spending bill passed at midnight on a voice vote, Iowa has never been more essential. -Fox News
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Americans Deserve America-First
Immigration Policies, Candidates
Rick Wells.
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Super Bowl 50 jihad threat
Robert Spencer
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Trio Of Traitors – nObama McCon-nell And Ryano To Scheme In WH Tuesday
Rick Wells.
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Insider warns elites heading toward
'one-world solutions'
PAUL BREMMER.
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Generals Fear Benghazi 2 in Libya
F. MICHAEL MALOOF.
The late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
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{wnd.com} ~ As Washington prepares to take “decisive military action” in Libya against the alarming growth of ISIS, retired generals have told G2 Bulletin they are concerned that the United States may go it alone, according to a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin... They ask which allies, if any, will join a coalition and attempt to work with a Libyan government that barely exists. At a news conference last week, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. said the U.S. is “looking to take decisive military action” against ISIS in Libya and that a decision would be coming “in weeks” but “not hours.” “It’s fair to say that we’re looking to take decisive military action against ISIS in conjunction with the political process” in Libya, Dunford said. “The president has made clear that we have the authority to use military force.”.
LA Police Warn Residents to Arm Themselves
Because of Long Response Times
Philip Hodges
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stump-Trump Slams Evangelical Leader
Vander Plaats on Twitter
Greg Richter
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How Many Times Has Hilly Lied
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Navy Successfully Tests Common Control System On Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
Megan Eckstein
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A surrogate Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV) is submerged in the water in preparation for a test to demonstrate the capability of the Navy’s Common Control System (CCS) at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport in Puget Sound, Wash. in December 2015.
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{news.usni.org} ~ The director of unmanned warfare systems (OPNAV N99) will keep a particularly close eye on the Common Control System as it continues through development, after a demonstration last month proved that the system that was first tested on an unmanned air vehicle could also control an underwater vehicle, the director said Friday... Rear Adm. Robert Girrier said at an event co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and Center for Strategic and International Studies that the Common Control System will be important to the Navy’s future portfolio of unmanned vehicles – in addition to avoiding the cost of developing unique command and control capabilities for each new unmanned system that comes along, CCS will provide a common user interface and the ability to match up new combinations of unmanned vehicles and payloads. N99’s role for most unmanned technologies will be to take requirements from around the fleet, find technologies to guide through the precarious advanced development and prototyping phase, and then turn the successful technologies over to resource sponsors – the the surface warfare directorate or air warfare directorate, for example – to buy and field..
New Government Rule Could Make It
Harder for You to Buy Furniture
Norbert Michel.
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The three-cornered fight for the
soul of the GOP
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
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The Dems would be risking a November electoral disaster of historic dimensions. Yet there is no denying how far Sanders has pulled his party to the left — and how hard the establishment candidate, Hilly Clinton, has been racing to catch up.
The Dems would be risking a November electoral disaster of historic dimensions. Yet there is no denying how far Sanders has pulled his party to the left — and how hard the establishment candidate, Hilly Clinton, has been racing to catch up.
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The Republicans, on the other hand, are dealing with a full-scale riot. The temptation they face is trading in a century of conservatism for Trumpism.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are dealing with a full-scale riot. The temptation they face is trading in a century of conservatism for Trumpism.
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The 2016 presidential race has turned into an epic contest between the ethno-nationalist populism of Donald Trump and traditional conservatism, though in two varieties: the scorched-earth fundamentalist version of Ted Cruz, and a reformist version represented by Marco Rubio and several so-called establishment candidates — and articulated most fully by non-candidate Paul Ryan and a cluster of highly productive thinkers and policy wonks dubbed “reformicons.”
The 2016 presidential race has turned into an epic contest between the ethno-nationalist populism of Donald Trump and traditional conservatism, though in two varieties: the scorched-earth fundamentalist version of Ted Cruz, and a reformist version represented by Marco Rubio and several so-called establishment candidates — and articulated most fully by non-candidate Paul Ryan and a cluster of highly productive thinkers and policy wonks dubbed “reformicons.”
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Trump insists that he’s a conservative, but in his pronouncements and policies, conservatism seems more of a rental — a three-story penthouse rental with Central Park-view, to be sure — than an ideological home. Trump protests that Ronald Reagan, too, migrated from left to right. True, but Reagan’s transformation occurred in his 40s — not, as with Trump, in his 60s.
Trump insists that he’s a conservative, but in his pronouncements and policies, conservatism seems more of a rental — a three-story penthouse rental with Central Park-view, to be sure — than an ideological home. Trump protests that Ronald Reagan, too, migrated from left to right. True, but Reagan’s transformation occurred in his 40s — not, as with Trump, in his 60s.
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In radically different ways, Trump and Sanders are addressing the deep anxiety stemming from the secular stagnation in wages and living standards that has squeezed the middle and working classes for a generation. Sanders locates the villainy in a billionaire class that has rigged both the economic and political system. Trump blames foreigners, most prominently those cunning Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese and Saudis who’ve been taking merciless advantage of us, in concert with America’s own leaders who are, alternatively, stupid and incompetent or bought and corrupt.
In radically different ways, Trump and Sanders are addressing the deep anxiety stemming from the secular stagnation in wages and living standards that has squeezed the middle and working classes for a generation. Sanders locates the villainy in a billionaire class that has rigged both the economic and political system. Trump blames foreigners, most prominently those cunning Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese and Saudis who’ve been taking merciless advantage of us, in concert with America’s own leaders who are, alternatively, stupid and incompetent or bought and corrupt.
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Hence Trump’s most famous policy recommendations: anti-immigrant, including the forced deportation of 11 million people; anti-trade, with a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods and a 35 percent tariff on U.S. manufacturing moved to Mexico; and anti-Muslim, most notoriously a complete ban on entry into the U.S. Temporarily only, we are assured, except that the ban applies “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” — a standard so indeterminate as to be meaningless.
Hence Trump’s most famous policy recommendations: anti-immigrant, including the forced deportation of 11 million people; anti-trade, with a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods and a 35 percent tariff on U.S. manufacturing moved to Mexico; and anti-Muslim, most notoriously a complete ban on entry into the U.S. Temporarily only, we are assured, except that the ban applies “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” — a standard so indeterminate as to be meaningless.
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Trump has limited concern for the central tenet of American conservatism and most especially of the tea party movement — limited government. The most telling example is his wholehearted support for “eminent domain,” i.e. the forcible appropriation by government of private property. Trump called it “wonderful.”
Trump has limited concern for the central tenet of American conservatism and most especially of the tea party movement — limited government. The most telling example is his wholehearted support for “eminent domain,” i.e. the forcible appropriation by government of private property. Trump called it “wonderful.”
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Trump has not yet called Vladimir Putin wonderful but he has taken a shine to the swaggering mini-czar who seems to run his trains on time. When informed that Putin kills opponents and journalists, Trump’s initial reaction was, “Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, also,” the kind of moronic what-about-the-Crusades moral equivalence that conservatives have railed against for decades. Although, to be fair, after some prompting, Trump did come out against the killing of journalists.
Trump has not yet called Vladimir Putin wonderful but he has taken a shine to the swaggering mini-czar who seems to run his trains on time. When informed that Putin kills opponents and journalists, Trump’s initial reaction was, “Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, also,” the kind of moronic what-about-the-Crusades moral equivalence that conservatives have railed against for decades. Although, to be fair, after some prompting, Trump did come out against the killing of journalists.
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Cruz is often lumped with Trump in the “anti-establishment” camp. That suited Cruz tactically for a while, but it’s fairly meaningless, given that “establishment” can mean anything these days. And given the huge gulf between the political philosophies of the two men. Cruz is a genuine conservative — austere, indeed radical, so much so that he considers mainstream congressional conservatives apostates. And finds Trump not conservative at all, as he is now furiously, belatedly insisting.
Cruz is often lumped with Trump in the “anti-establishment” camp. That suited Cruz tactically for a while, but it’s fairly meaningless, given that “establishment” can mean anything these days. And given the huge gulf between the political philosophies of the two men. Cruz is a genuine conservative — austere, indeed radical, so much so that he considers mainstream congressional conservatives apostates. And finds Trump not conservative at all, as he is now furiously, belatedly insisting.
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My personal preference is for the third ideological alternative, the reform conservatism that locates the source of our problems not in heartless billionaires or crafty foreigners, but in our superannuated, increasingly sclerotic 20th-century welfare-state structures. Their desperate need for reform has been overshadowed by the new populism, but will make its appearance this year in Congress in Speaker Ryan’s promised agenda — boring stuff like welfare reform, health care reform, tax reform and institutional congressional reforms such as the return to “regular order.”
My personal preference is for the third ideological alternative, the reform conservatism that locates the source of our problems not in heartless billionaires or crafty foreigners, but in our superannuated, increasingly sclerotic 20th-century welfare-state structures. Their desperate need for reform has been overshadowed by the new populism, but will make its appearance this year in Congress in Speaker Ryan’s promised agenda — boring stuff like welfare reform, health care reform, tax reform and institutional congressional reforms such as the return to “regular order.”
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Paired with a President like Rubio or Chris Christie or Carly Fiorina, to go long-shot, such an agenda would give conservatism its best opportunity since Reagan to become the country’s governing philosophy.
Paired with a President like Rubio or Chris Christie or Carly Fiorina, to go long-shot, such an agenda would give conservatism its best opportunity since Reagan to become the country’s governing philosophy.
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Unless the GOP takes the populist leap. In which case, a conservative restoration will be a long time coming.
Unless the GOP takes the populist leap. In which case, a conservative restoration will be a long time coming.
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