The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
Iraq's Coming Apocalypse
Daniel Pipes
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Why Is Kasich Still Running?
While Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz attacked each other and Donald slump-Trump rose on a wave of populism, Ohio Gov. John Kasich slipped up to third place in the Republican presidential primary. When he first announced his campaign in July 2015, we expected it would be short-lived. "He's a long shot, and deservedly so," we wrote. That "long shot" estimation is as true now as it was then, even if his campaign wasn't actually short-lived.
Kasich survived despite tepid standing in the polls and obscurity on the debate stage. He stretched his resources by only focusing on key states, like New Hampshire and Ohio, where his moderate stances could gain traction. Now he's the last candidate in the race with legislative and executive experience — governor of the swing state of Ohio, and former congressman who headed the House Budget Committee and reformed federal spending in the '90s. And he's the establishment's last holdout. He calls himself the "prince of light and hope" and yet comes off as abrasive and unscripted as slump-Trump. He recently told an 11-year-old boy who asked him about the Islamic State to imagine a woman he loved being beaten "to a living pulp."
Kasich's experience is tempered by his social policies. He muscled an nObamaCare expansion in his state based on a misunderstanding of Christian charity, and he proposed turning Voice of America into a propaganda tool to promote Judeo-Christian values. These stances — possibly driven by his Anglican faith — make the candidate a big-government advocate, and not a true champion of limited government.
Kasich's only path to the nomination is through a contested convention. But his more likely play is to become slump-Trump's running mate — a way for the establishment to absorb slump-Trump and save the GOP. Either way, Kasich plays a role. -The Patriot Post
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Restoring Our Republic
Reality may be painful, but the first step toward mitigation is to confront the source. If there is anything the current election season has demonstrated beyond a doubt, it is that Americans have irreconcilable differences. The political Left and Right are worlds apart, and it appears that nothing — not even an existential threat to our way of life, be it terror, unrestrained illegal immigration, economic catastrophe or cultural disintegration — will elicit anything resembling a broad-based coalition to address the problem. Thus the nation is at a crossroad during a time when our leaders appear fundamentally incapable of bridging the ideological divide. Yet none of them ask the essential question: Why is it even necessary to do so?
We begin with the source of the division. One sentence from Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address says it all: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." No one is naive enough to advocate the complete elimination of government. Yet there is government and there is big government. The most infuriating government is the sprawling, incompetent, ever-expanding bureaucratic sinkhole that emanates from Washington, DC.
The reason for this condition is simple: Americans have countenanced the evolution of an all-consuming federal leviathan, so removed from the original constraints of the Constitution that it has become unrecognizable.
It wasn't always that way in America, yet it's no secret that a huge portion of the nation likes this pernicious evolution because, unlike Ronald Reagan, they do believe government is the solution to all of our problems. Moreover, they have become so determined to continue down this path that they now vilify and/or censor anyone who stands against it.
Any diminution of the federal government's power is utterly anathema to the American Left, because without the coercive effects of that top-down, one-size-fits-all federal bureaucracy, their power would be severely diminished. -The Patriot Post
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Ben Shapiro: "For years, conservatives have told themselves the pretty bedtime story that they represent a silent majority in America — that most Americans want smaller government, individual rights and personal responsibility. We've suggested that if only we nominated precisely the right guy who says the right words — some illegally grown Ronald Reagan clone, perhaps — we'd win. Donald slump-Trump's impending nomination puts all of that to bed. ... In order to rebuild, conservatives must recognize that they think individually; leftists think institutionally. While the left took over the universities — now bastions of pantywaist fascism hell-bent on destroying free speech — the right slept. While the left took over the public education system wholesale, the right fled to private schools and homeschooling. While the left utilized popular culture as a weapon, conservatives supposedly withdrew and turned off their televisions. Withdrawal, it turns out, wasn't the best option. Fighting back on all fronts is. Republicans need to worry less about the next election and significantly more about building a movement of informed Americans who actually understand American values. That movement must start with outreach to parents, and it must extend to the takeover of local institutions or defunding of government institutions outright. The left has bred a generation of Americans who do not recognize the American ideals of the Founding Fathers. Pretending otherwise means flailing uselessly as demagogues like slump-Trump become faux-conservative standard-bearers." -The Patriot Post
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President nObama’s Record of
Dismantling Immigration Enforcement
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The problem is socialism -- say it!
Erik Rush. {wnd.com} ~ The speed with which socialism can take an economy or government from viability to ruin is nothing short of astounding. When socialist regimes have widespread support or a mandate or perceive that they have one or both... they enjoy the latitude to bring about this destruction even more quickly. Last weekend, around 3.6 million Brazilians took to the streets to demand that socialist President Dilma Rousseff resign or face impeachment. Both Rousseff and Brazil’s former president – Lula da Silva, another socialist – have been implicated in a $3 billion ripoff of public funds engineered through Petrobras, the state-run oil company. In Venezuela, another South American socialist paradise, the specter of corruption looms closer to home, with the everyday nightmare of grocery shopping making international headlines on a fairly regular basis these days. Between falling oil prices hobbling the oil-rich nation’s economy and the fact that socialists don’t know how to run anything other than into the ground, Venezuela’s supermarkets are usually empty, or have such long lines that patrons can literally spend an entire day shopping for food. http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/the-problem-is-socialism-say-it/
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The ACLU’s Hypocrisy on Religious Liberty
Tory McClintock
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Clinton tried to change rules to use BlackBerry in
secure facility for classified information
Catherine Herridge & Pamela K. Browne
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{foxnews.com} ~ Less than a month after becoming secretary of state, and registering the personal email domain that she would use exclusively for government business... Hilly Clinton’s team aggressively pursued changes to existing State Department security protocols so she could use her BlackBerry in secure facilities for classified information, according to new documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. “Anyone who has any appreciation at all of security, you don’t ask a question like that,” cyber security analyst Morgan Wright told Fox News. “It is contempt for the system, contempt for the rules that are designed to protect the exact kind of information that was exposed through this email set up.“ Current and former intelligence officials grimaced when asked by Fox News about the use of wireless communications devices, such as a BlackBerry, in a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) emphasizing its use would defeat the purpose of the secure facility, and it is standard practice to leave all electronics outside. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/16/clinton-tried-to-change-rules-to-use-blackberry-in-secure-facility-for-classified-information.html.
Israel Disappears from US Visa Service List of Countries
Mark Tapson
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Hilly Endorsed by KKK Leader,
Media Look the Other Way
Mark Tapson
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Will Quigg
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ACU Slams SCOTUS Pick
Brian Lilley
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The American Conservative Union
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Bordertown USA and… the Cubans are coming
Sharyl Attkisson
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On the border with Border Patrol agent Art Del Cueto
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Don’t Be Distracted by the Election,
This Is Your Main Danger
Dave Hodges
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{thecommonsenseshow.com} ~ UWEX 16 will dominate our headlines come mid-November, at the latest. To some extent, the GOP Primary, as important as it is, is serving as a distraction for a much serious situation that is unfolding in Texas... It involves preparations for mass FEMA camp incarcerations, the use of slave labor in the camps and the engagement of rogue American military units identified as hostile by this current administration. Very Few Are Paying Attention. This is the story that will get no traction. Last fall, I wrote about Jade Helm 16 and how it was going to be a more dire continuation of Jade Helm 15. In late January/early February of 2016, I wrote with great specificity regarding emerging details of Jade Helm 16, now known as Unconventional Warfare Exercise 16 (UWEX 16)-(aka Jade Helm 16). Very few took notice. In the first week of February, I published several documents pertaining to UWEX 16, including the following advertisement for “role players” in this “drill”: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/03/17/dont-be-distracted-by-the-election-this-is-your-main-danger/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dont-be-distracted-by-the-election-this-is-your-main-danger .
nObamacare Insurers Could Get Billions From
Controversial Government Fund
Melissa Quinn
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Iraq's Coming Apocalypse
Daniel Pipes
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{danielpipes.org} ~ No, it's not ISIS or rampaging Shi'i militias. It's the Mosul Dam, Iraq's largest, and its possible collapse, perhaps leading to millions of deaths. Those in the know worry catastrophe could strike this spring, as snows melt and build an uncontrollable water pressure..
The Mosul Dam from the air
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Hastily built in wartime for the dictator Saddam Hussein by a German-Italian consortium, the Mosul Dam was located where it is because one of Hussein's cronies came from the area and used his pull, despite the fact that engineers knew from the start that its porous gypsum base could not sustain such a huge structure..
What was then called the Saddam Dam opened in 1984 and within two years needed constant grouting, that is, day and night infusions of microfine cement, lots of it – 200 million pounds over the decades – to keep it from collapsing. The grouting keeps the foundational problem from worsening but does not solve it.
What was then called the Saddam Dam opened in 1984 and within two years needed constant grouting, that is, day and night infusions of microfine cement, lots of it – 200 million pounds over the decades – to keep it from collapsing. The grouting keeps the foundational problem from worsening but does not solve it.
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Employees at work to strengthen the Mosul Dam
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The years went by; fortunately, there was no disaster on the American watch. Then, during a fateful ten-day period, August 7-17, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) seized control of the dam. While the group neither sabotaged nor blew up the structure, grouting stopped for six weeks and the whole repair regime – especially the skilled workers and the supply of cement – henceforth became less consistent..
As a result, the dam has steadily weakened over the past 19 months, to the point that experts worry that a surge of spring waters will overwhelm it and cause its collapse. That the dam's two emergency floodgates are broken and cannot be opened to relieve intense pressure renders the situation the more fraught.
As a result, the dam has steadily weakened over the past 19 months, to the point that experts worry that a surge of spring waters will overwhelm it and cause its collapse. That the dam's two emergency floodgates are broken and cannot be opened to relieve intense pressure renders the situation the more fraught.
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The consequences of a collapse are terrifying: A wall of water 45-70 feet high would reach Mosul, a city of some one million inhabitants, in about four hours. Then the flood wave would roll down the Tigris River valley to other cities, including the capital Baghdad, before dispersing in a wide flood. A huge number of immediate casualties would be followed by drought, disease, lack of electricity, chaos, and crime, ensuring biblical-level miseries and fatalities.
The consequences of a collapse are terrifying: A wall of water 45-70 feet high would reach Mosul, a city of some one million inhabitants, in about four hours. Then the flood wave would roll down the Tigris River valley to other cities, including the capital Baghdad, before dispersing in a wide flood. A huge number of immediate casualties would be followed by drought, disease, lack of electricity, chaos, and crime, ensuring biblical-level miseries and fatalities.
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For years, quiet grouting and blithe assurances kept the precariousness of the Mosul Dam obscure. But heightened alarms coming from the U.S. government since the start of 2016, relying primarily on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates, appear finally to have awakened Iraqis to the dangers they face. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad has even issued a highly unusual "Mosul Dam Preparedness Fact Sheet" with advice in English, alas on evacuation steps, educational needs, and relief efforts.
For years, quiet grouting and blithe assurances kept the precariousness of the Mosul Dam obscure. But heightened alarms coming from the U.S. government since the start of 2016, relying primarily on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates, appear finally to have awakened Iraqis to the dangers they face. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad has even issued a highly unusual "Mosul Dam Preparedness Fact Sheet" with advice in English, alas on evacuation steps, educational needs, and relief efforts.
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In contrast, the Iraqi government issues a stream of dishonest assurances that there's no problem. Mohsen al-Shimari, Iraq's minister for Water Resources and official in charge of the dam, says "The danger is not imminent, it's far off. The danger is 1 in 1,000" itself, an unacceptable risk. Or he insists that Mosul Dam is in "no greater" danger than other dams. At other times he actually claims "there is no problem in the dam that may lead to its collapse." Note the inconsistency, itself a sign of duplicity.
In contrast, the Iraqi government issues a stream of dishonest assurances that there's no problem. Mohsen al-Shimari, Iraq's minister for Water Resources and official in charge of the dam, says "The danger is not imminent, it's far off. The danger is 1 in 1,000" itself, an unacceptable risk. Or he insists that Mosul Dam is in "no greater" danger than other dams. At other times he actually claims "there is no problem in the dam that may lead to its collapse." Note the inconsistency, itself a sign of duplicity.
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In keeping with this irresponsible, even criminal nonchalance, Iraqi authorities have done next to nothing to prepare for a possible collapse. Yes, they claim that a contingency plan exists, but no one has seen it, much less learned its details, so what use can it have in time of crisis? Yes, they signed a $300 million deal with Trevi, an Italian company, to repair and maintain the Dam, but this is a Band-Aid fix, not a long-term solution.
In keeping with this irresponsible, even criminal nonchalance, Iraqi authorities have done next to nothing to prepare for a possible collapse. Yes, they claim that a contingency plan exists, but no one has seen it, much less learned its details, so what use can it have in time of crisis? Yes, they signed a $300 million deal with Trevi, an Italian company, to repair and maintain the Dam, but this is a Band-Aid fix, not a long-term solution.
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To make matters worse, the dam's most vulnerable city, Mosul, labors under the rule of the apocalyptic Islamic State, whose disregard for human life and extreme hostility toward the outside world negates both crisis planning and international assistance. But there is a silver lining here; ISIS' monstrous rule has caused Mosul's population to decline from 2½ million two years ago to about 1 million now, thereby reducing the number of potential casualties there.
To make matters worse, the dam's most vulnerable city, Mosul, labors under the rule of the apocalyptic Islamic State, whose disregard for human life and extreme hostility toward the outside world negates both crisis planning and international assistance. But there is a silver lining here; ISIS' monstrous rule has caused Mosul's population to decline from 2½ million two years ago to about 1 million now, thereby reducing the number of potential casualties there.
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Assuming the dam survives this year's snow melt, only one long-term solution exists: to complete the Badush Dam downstream from the Mosul Dam that would mitigate the consequences of a collapse. Started soon after the grouting began in 1986 but halted in 1990, this ancillary dam will cost US $10 billion that the Iraqi government cannot afford. But it must be the country's highest priority.
Assuming the dam survives this year's snow melt, only one long-term solution exists: to complete the Badush Dam downstream from the Mosul Dam that would mitigate the consequences of a collapse. Started soon after the grouting began in 1986 but halted in 1990, this ancillary dam will cost US $10 billion that the Iraqi government cannot afford. But it must be the country's highest priority.
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Comments
Archie
I would put something else on the left.
Put a round in the Left!