The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Proving Nietzsche correct
Jonah Goldberg
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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DEMS CONFRONT PAST FAILURES ON GUN CONTROL
“When I ran in 2008, I in fact did not say I would fix it. I said we could fix it.” –President nObama at a Beverly Hills fundraiser discussing the mass murder at a Charleston, S.C. church.
The only really clear mandate after President nObama’s 2012 re-election was to not be Mitt Romney. nObama had won more in spite of his policies than because of them, but had successfully convinced voters that Romney was too risky a pick.
After the grindingest grind of an election in presidential political history, nObama had won another term of what, exactly? Endless battles with the GOP House on taxes and spending? Foreign policy headaches? More scorched earth fights protecting nObamaCare? Blech.
But at that very moment, a meteor crashed into American public life: The senseless slaughter of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut elementary school less than two weeks before Christmas. A fatherless, mentally ill 20-year-old had killed his mother, stolen her guns and laid waste to a group of students at a nearby school, all aged 6 and 7.
nObama wept in private and shed tears in public, as most parents must have. He also found new purpose for the second term of his presidency. Two days after the murders, nObama would make a mighty vow: “In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens … in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.”
As an orthodox liberal, nObama had always been a proponent of gun control. But it had hardly been a top-drawer concern. For example, when a gunman killed 13 people at an immigration center in Binghamton, N.Y. in April of 2009, nObama called it “senseless violence,” but did not demand that the Democratic-controlled Congress push through gun control.
The Connecticut killings, different in nature and coming as they did when nObama was looking to do more than just defend his legacy, spurred him headlong into the divided Congress with demands for the most sweeping gun control legislation since the Clinton era. Even though the legislation wouldn’t have prevented the shooting had it been in place, gun violence became the animating issue for the Democratic Party.
The legislation was cued up and public pressure was enormous. The daily shouts from television, social media and elsewhere were for action, action, action. But before too long, Democrats lost their nerve. Then-Senate Majority Leader dinky Harry Reid ended up killing even a compromise package that would have required background checks at gun shows and for private sales. All the thunder came to naught.
And here we are again.
This time it is nine Christians at worship at a historic church in Charleston, S.C. The place that once heard the exultant cries of freed slaves heard the anguished ones of murder victims.
It would be wholly unfair to say that the legislation proposed by the president would have in any way prevented the killings. But one wonders why a party and a president who believed that more gun regulations would save lives gave up so easily.
“Can government save you? Can government be the be-all end-all? The reason I ask is that I meet with pastors, and they're looking at government for the answers. I look back at them and I say, 'I'm looking at you for help.'" – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at a meeting of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“I hope we, the American people, can come to the understanding that we are not each other’s enemies. The enemies are those who are stoking the flames of division, trying to divide us into every category and weakening us as a society.” –Ben Carson on “The Kelly File” -Fox News
“When I ran in 2008, I in fact did not say I would fix it. I said we could fix it.” –President nObama at a Beverly Hills fundraiser discussing the mass murder at a Charleston, S.C. church.
The only really clear mandate after President nObama’s 2012 re-election was to not be Mitt Romney. nObama had won more in spite of his policies than because of them, but had successfully convinced voters that Romney was too risky a pick.
After the grindingest grind of an election in presidential political history, nObama had won another term of what, exactly? Endless battles with the GOP House on taxes and spending? Foreign policy headaches? More scorched earth fights protecting nObamaCare? Blech.
But at that very moment, a meteor crashed into American public life: The senseless slaughter of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut elementary school less than two weeks before Christmas. A fatherless, mentally ill 20-year-old had killed his mother, stolen her guns and laid waste to a group of students at a nearby school, all aged 6 and 7.
nObama wept in private and shed tears in public, as most parents must have. He also found new purpose for the second term of his presidency. Two days after the murders, nObama would make a mighty vow: “In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens … in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this.”
As an orthodox liberal, nObama had always been a proponent of gun control. But it had hardly been a top-drawer concern. For example, when a gunman killed 13 people at an immigration center in Binghamton, N.Y. in April of 2009, nObama called it “senseless violence,” but did not demand that the Democratic-controlled Congress push through gun control.
The Connecticut killings, different in nature and coming as they did when nObama was looking to do more than just defend his legacy, spurred him headlong into the divided Congress with demands for the most sweeping gun control legislation since the Clinton era. Even though the legislation wouldn’t have prevented the shooting had it been in place, gun violence became the animating issue for the Democratic Party.
The legislation was cued up and public pressure was enormous. The daily shouts from television, social media and elsewhere were for action, action, action. But before too long, Democrats lost their nerve. Then-Senate Majority Leader dinky Harry Reid ended up killing even a compromise package that would have required background checks at gun shows and for private sales. All the thunder came to naught.
And here we are again.
This time it is nine Christians at worship at a historic church in Charleston, S.C. The place that once heard the exultant cries of freed slaves heard the anguished ones of murder victims.
It would be wholly unfair to say that the legislation proposed by the president would have in any way prevented the killings. But one wonders why a party and a president who believed that more gun regulations would save lives gave up so easily.
“Can government save you? Can government be the be-all end-all? The reason I ask is that I meet with pastors, and they're looking at government for the answers. I look back at them and I say, 'I'm looking at you for help.'" – Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at a meeting of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“I hope we, the American people, can come to the understanding that we are not each other’s enemies. The enemies are those who are stoking the flames of division, trying to divide us into every category and weakening us as a society.” –Ben Carson on “The Kelly File” -Fox News
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‘CLINTON INC.’ PAID EVEN BIGGER BUCKS TO BLUMENTHAL
Fox News: “Clinton confidant [Sidney Blumenthal] under scrutiny on Capitol Hill over detailed Libya memos he sent to then-Secretary of State Hilly Clinton told lawmakers earlier this week he has been pulling in $200,000 a year from Clinton ally David Brock’s media operation, congressional sources tell FoxNews.com.….The money was in addition to the $10,000 a month he was getting for work with the Clinton Foundation. ‘He was getting, from Clinton, Inc., $320,000 a year,’ one source told FoxNews.com…. The source said Blumenthal has been working with Media Matters, American Bridge and Correct the Record…. Though it's unclear exactly what Blumenthal was paid to do, Politico reported his work entailed giving high-level strategy and messaging guidance, and the Benghazi debate was likely part of that. The groups above have busily defended then-Secretary of State Hilly Clinton from GOP broadsides.” -Fox News
Fox News: “Clinton confidant [Sidney Blumenthal] under scrutiny on Capitol Hill over detailed Libya memos he sent to then-Secretary of State Hilly Clinton told lawmakers earlier this week he has been pulling in $200,000 a year from Clinton ally David Brock’s media operation, congressional sources tell FoxNews.com.….The money was in addition to the $10,000 a month he was getting for work with the Clinton Foundation. ‘He was getting, from Clinton, Inc., $320,000 a year,’ one source told FoxNews.com…. The source said Blumenthal has been working with Media Matters, American Bridge and Correct the Record…. Though it's unclear exactly what Blumenthal was paid to do, Politico reported his work entailed giving high-level strategy and messaging guidance, and the Benghazi debate was likely part of that. The groups above have busily defended then-Secretary of State Hilly Clinton from GOP broadsides.” -Fox News
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Clinton doubles down on executive amnesty – USA TODAY: “SpeakingThursday before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Clinton [said]… she would fight for comprehensive immigration reform that includes ‘a real path to citizenship’ for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants who have settled in the United States…oppose any move to deport the young immigrants known as ’Dreamers’ or to undo President nObama’s executive actions that are shielding millions of immigrants from enforcement action. And that if Congress continues to balk at acting on immigration reform, ‘as president I will do everything possible under the law to go even further than what President nObama has attempted to achieve,’ she said.” -Fox News
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Billionaire Dem donor tweaks Hilly - Nat Journal: “[D]eep-pocketed Democratic donor [Tom Steyer] who has pushed President nObama and Hilly Clinton on environmental issues took advantage of Pope Francis's climate-change encyclical to call on the next president to act on global warming. And he effusively praised Martin O’Malley for taking the lead. Steyer thanked O'Malley, the long-shot Democratic 2016 contender, for urging the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline and spelling out a detailed plan of action to confront Earth's rising temperatures.”
No drought for nObama’s golf - WashEx: “President nObama is expected to spend the weekend golfing in the lush environs of Southern California's verdant desert resorts near Palm Springs — resorts that are among the state's top guzzlers of water. -Fox News
No drought for nObama’s golf - WashEx: “President nObama is expected to spend the weekend golfing in the lush environs of Southern California's verdant desert resorts near Palm Springs — resorts that are among the state's top guzzlers of water. -Fox News
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(Bob Unruh) ~ A series of events that has been described as a “troubling turn” has been found to have taken place at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the justices’ looming decision on marriage – whether they will affirm the millennia old standard of one man and one woman or whether they will create a right to homosexual “marriage.”... The report is from the law firm of William J. Olson, P.C., the workplace of Olson, who served in several positions for the Reagan administration, and Herb Titus, a longtime constitutional law professor. The organization has issued a series of reports on the issue of marriage, under funding from the United States Justice Foundation.
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PENTAGON CONFIRMS ISIS 'DIRTY BOMB' CLAIMS
(F. Michael Maloof) ~ The Pentagon has confirmed to WND that the Islamic State has seized enough radioactive materials from captured Iraqi facilities to develop “dirty bombs,” just as ISIS’ recent English-language magazine, Dabiq, claimed... The ISIS claim had alarmed the Australian intelligence service, which initially revealed the prospect that ISIS fighters have seized sufficient radioactive and biological materials from research centers and hospitals – which previously were under Iraqi government control. Such seizures were first revealed at a meeting of the Australia Group in Perth, Australia, at which Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop expressed the deep concern of members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and regional partners over the potential use by ISIS of the seized materials.
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Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah
Anatomy of an nObamacare 'death spiral'
(Robert King) ~ The court is expected to rule soon on King v. Burwell, a case that challenges the federal government's authority to provide subsidies for 34 states that did not set up their own healthcare exchanges... More than 6 million people could lose subsidies if the court rules in favor of King. If such a ruling occurs and no action by Congress is taken, there is a "100 percent chance" of a death spiral for the insurance marketplaces in those states, said Gary Claxton, vice president of the left-leaning Kaiser Family Foundation. A death spiral occurs when an insurance market is no longer sustainable. It commonly starts when there are too many sick people in the insurance pool and insurers are forced to raise prices to pay for their care. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/anatomy-of-an-obamacare-death-spiral/article/2566684
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Toby Keith Has a BRUTAL MESSAGE for Barack nObama
(hepoliticalinsider.com) ~ Famous country singer Toby Keith is a patriot and proud American. He has been an unapologetic defender of our military, with songs about the invasion of Iraq and the struggles veterans face when they return home... Keith is tired of President nObama’s pathetic leadership on foreign policy… But after seeing nObama’s response to the church shooting in South Carolina by 21-year old Dylann Roof, he spoke out in a huge way! As the Associated Press reported, Toby Keith was asked at the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala if he agrees with nObama’s push for stricter gun control in the wake of this racially motivated tragedy. Keith didn’t hesitate when explaining how criminals don’t follow gun laws anyway: http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/famous-country-singer-toby-keith-has-a-brutal-message-for-barack-obama-about-south-carolina-murders-must-read/
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Justice Frank Murphy
The progressive roots of NSA's privacy violations
(conservativehq.com) ~ Conservatives are becoming more attuned to how the Fourth Amendment protects the security of quintessential personal and property rights from lawless, Orwellian big government... Today CHQ contributor Mark Fitzgibbons has an op/ed at Washington Examiner that helps explain why the NSA’s controversial, warrantless collection of metadata of all Americans is not only a radical expansion beyond previous Fourth Amendment interpretation, but has roots in progressive New Deal ideology. That progressive ideology is hostile to property and individual rights that have made America exceptional. In "The progressive roots of NSA's privacy violations," Fitzgibbons writes: “A 1946 (New Deal) opinion in Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling . . . upheld judge-less “administrative subpoenas” issued by bureaucrats. One justice dissented. Citing the Declaration of Independence and even hinting that judge-less administrative subpoenas approved in that case were the stuff that had previously contributed to "successful revolt," liberal Democrat Justice Frank Murphy’s dissent warned his Democrat-appointed brethren about the consequences of their dangerous direction.” http://www.conservativehq.com/node/20500
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Wave Of Terror Hits Israel After It Gives In To nObama’s Demand
(gopthedailydose.com) ~ As is typical during the Muslim fast, Ramadan, Israel is witnessing a surge in Palestinian terror attacks... Last Friday, a Palestinian terrorist gunned down two Israeli men near the Israeli settlement of Dolev in Samaria (Northern West Bank). Danny Gonen, 25, an electrical engineering student from Lod and the eldest of five siblings, was shot several times at point blank range and was killed. His friend, Netanel Hadad, was moderately injured. The lone gunman flagged down their car, asking for assistance as they drove slowly on a gravel path from the Ein Buvin spring where they had been swimming. When they got out of the car to help him, the Palestinian pulled out a gun and murdered Gonen in cold blood before wounding his friend. http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/06/22/wave-of-terror-hits-israel-after-it-gives-in-to-obamas-demand-for-trust-building-measures-with-palestinians/
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(Onan Coca) ~ This past week a special celebration took place in New York City. The award for “Father of the Year” was given to a very famous ex-President. Former President George W. Bush was named the Father of the Year on June 18th and his daughter Barbara was on hand to present him with the award... During the ceremony he let the crowd have a inside glimpse at his life, reading from a book that he wrote about his father, George H.W. Bush, he said; “I also learned of unconditional love. It’s one of the greatest gifts a dad can give a child, which leads me to a fitting reading I’m about to do and a practical one. Fitting because I’m about to read from the book that I wrote about my dad. Practical because I’m retired and I hope people buy it. It may be a little confusing for some up here to know that not only can I read, I can write.” http://lastresistance.com/12322/george-w-bush-wins-father-of-the-year-following-in-ronald-reagans-footsteps/
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How Did Valerie Jarrett Pass A Background Check
(Denise Simon) ~ Now this also begs the question, what did nObama know, did he approve and what is he going to do now?... FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie Jarrett’s Family. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files obtained by Judicial Watch reveal that the dad, maternal grandpa and father-in-law of President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, were hardcore Communists under investigation by the U.S. government. Jarrett’s dad, pathologist and geneticist Dr. James Bowman, had extensive ties to Communist associations and individuals, his lengthy FBI file shows. In 1950 Bowman was in communication with a paid Soviet agent named Alfred Stern, who fled to Prague after getting charged with espionage. Bowman was also a member of a Communist-sympathizing group called the Association of Internes and Medical Students. After his discharge from the Army Medical Corps in 1955, Bowman moved to Iran to work, the FBI records show.
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Frivolous Feminism and the $10 Bill
(totalconservative.com) ~ In one of the most obvious bits of pandering we’ve seen from this administration, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced this week that there will soon be a woman gracing the front of our $10 bills... That the federal government is taking action on this now speaks to the effectiveness of the feminist movement to put a woman on the $20. Apparently by going with the ten-spot instead, nObama believes he can avoid looking like he bends whichever way the wind blows. Mission, ah, failed. Now, clearly there’s nothing wrong with putting a woman on the currency. It’s probably long overdue. But one has to wonder why it matters at all. Is this really moving forward women’s equality in the world? If nObama gives women the $10, will women agree not to vote for Hilly Clinton? Let’s have a little give and take here. The feminists can have Harriet Tubman or whoever on the money, and we’ll put another man in the White House in 2016. Fair? Everyone in agreement? Good, let’s move on.
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nObama Says “N” Word In Describing Race Relations
(rickwells.us) ~ In the midst of one of his lecturing philosophical “Know It All” dissertations, Hussein nObama did what for any white president would have been political suicide. He used the “N” word... It wasn’t a slip, he made no apology at the time, and he said what he meant to say. nObama always preaches one thing and does another, and this is no different. His Marxist equality for all presidents regardless of skin color doesn’t apply to their words. Just as the law doesn’t apply to him and his underlings, neither does good taste or proper presidential etiquette. It’s understandable; he’s not a proper president. Why should he be expected to speak like one? http://rickwells.us/obama-says-n-word-in-describing-race-relations-leftist-do-as-i-say-dont-say-as-i-do/
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Proving Nietzsche correct
Jonah Goldberg
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(jewishworldreview.com) ~ "G0D," Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared, "is dead.".
G0D, it has been noted, made a similar yet more lasting pronouncement about Nietzsche.
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But before the German philosopher departed this mortal coil, he had some interesting things to say. Nietzsche argued that one of the most powerful forces in society was "ressentiment." Similar to the everyday word "resentment," ressentiment lay at the heart of new kinds of morality. In ancient times, nobility was associated with power. The downtrodden, the poor, the weak, the enslaved were ignoble.
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The masses of have-nots, to use a more modern language, resented their plight for understandable reasons. But they were too weak to launch a real, armed revolution. Instead, the powerless resorted to a moral revolution, assaulting the concepts of nobility, goodness and morality and rendering them evil in the popular imagination.
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Wrote Nietzsche in his "Genealogy of Morals": "It was the Jews who, with awe-inspiring consistency, dared to invert the aristocratic value-equation (good = noble = powerful = beautiful = happy = beloved of G0D) and to hang on to the inversion with their teeth ..., saying 'the wretched alone are the good; the poor, impotent, lowly alone are the good; the suffering, deprived, sick, ugly alone are pious, alone are blessed by G0D ...'"
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Nietzsche wasn't a historian, but a literary philosopher. He didn't rely on many primary sources -- and it wouldn't have occurred to him to cite actual data of any kind. And he certainly had the devil's gift for quoting scripture. So one needn't agree with all he said, never mind take it as authoritative, to see that he was on to something about the cycles of civilizations. One can reject his writings completely while still acknowledging his impact on our society.
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In 2015, our society is shot through with Nietzschean ressentiment. Today it is a great sin on college campuses -- and elsewhere! -- to make anyone other than the "privileged" feel uncomfortable, challenged or otherwise psychologically threatened by the use of the wrong words or concepts.
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The University of California recently issued a set of guidelines about the terrible danger of "micro-aggressions" -- small, usually unintended slights that allegedly hurt the feelings of the newly anointed classes of victims. One must no longer say that America is a "melting pot," for to do so is to suggest that minorities should "assimilate to the dominant culture," according to the new moralists at the University of California.
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And one mustn't say anything that advances "the Myth of Meritocracy." Saying "America is the land of opportunity" or "everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough" is now a form of bigotry.
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Of course, the surest way to guarantee that America is not a meritocracy is to teach young people not only that it isn't one, but that it's evil to say it is, or should be, one.
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Ressentiment is first and foremost the psychology of blame. It surveys the social landscape and blames the failures and hardships of the alleged have-nots on the successes of the haves. It is more than envy, which is a timeless human emotion -- and one of the seven deadly sins. It is a theory of morality that says the success of the successful is proof of their wickedness.
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Such is the allure of ressentiment today that it produces creatures like Rachel Dolezal, the blue-eyed white woman who had to invent an entire narrative around her stolen fictional identity as an oppressed black woman.
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Such is the political power of ressentiment that Hilly Clinton, who earns in a one-hour speech five times what the average American makes in a year, feels compelled to campaign as a "champion" for all those who feel micro- (or macro-) aggressed by a system rigged by the very same institutions she is happy to shake down for donations. (When asked to explain the contradiction on "Fox News Sunday," a Clinton spokeswoman pointed to the fact that Clinton's mother had been downtrodden in her youth.)
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When Nietzsche said "G0D is dead," he meant that there was no longer an ideal outside of ourselves to which we're all answerable. Everything was a contest of power and will. America isn't there yet, thank G0D. But it surely seems like that is where we are heading.
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