COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, December 09, 2017

UN and the globalist elites are pushing for a one world government with open borders and under UN rule _ Trump Says NO!

The UN Propaganda Film:




The Reality of Mass Migration:

Trump Touts Rejection of U.N. Plan to Force Mass Third World Immigration





Mass Migration
Scott Eisen/Getty Images

At his speech in Pensacola, Florida Friday, President Donald Trump celebrated his decision to take America out of negotiations for the so-called “Global Compact on Migration.”

“I recently withdrew the United States from the United Nations plan for global governance of immigration and refugee policy,” Trump told the raucous crowd, calling the Global Compact a “no borders plan.”

“I heard about this recently … no borders, everyone can come in! If you don’t mind, I rejected that plan, is that OK?” Trump continued.

The plan Trump referenced was the United Nations’ (U.N.) “Global Compact on Migration,” to which the Obama administration pledged the United States participation last year. Talks began this week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on the massive United Nations (U.N.) plan to create “safe, regular and orderly migration,” from the third whole to wealthy countries in Europe and North America. On the eve of those talks, however, Trump reversed Obama’s decision and pulled U.S. negotiators.

“I told them, not only do we not want ‘no borders,’ we want the strongest borders you’ve ever seen,” Trump boasted. “America is a sovereign country. We set our immigration rules. We don’t listen to foreign bureaucrats.”


A Boat Load of Bright Young Students and Engineers:



The details of the of the Global Compact are yet to be hammered out, but the outline to which the Obama administration signed on, called the “New York Declaration for Refugee and Migrants,” presents a nightmare scenario for immigration restrictionists and border security advocates.

The declaration stipulates that participating countries should drop laws criminalizing illegal entry and stop detaining illegal immigrants that are caught. Paragraph 33 “reaffirms:”
[T]hat all individuals who have crossed or are seeking to cross international borders are entitled to due process in the assessment of their legal status, entry and stay, we will consider reviewing policies that criminalize crossborder movements. We will also pursue alternatives to detention while these assessments are under way.
And later, the declaration calls for the end of all deportations, “encouraging” that “migrants who do not have permission to stay in the country of destination” leave “preferably on a voluntary basis.”

Perhaps most disturbingly to a country with as robust a tradition of free speech as the United States, the New York Declaration casts resistance to mass migration as racism, xenophobia, and illegal under international law. Paragraph 13 reads:
We recall that our obligations under international law prohibit discrimination of any kind on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Yet in many parts of the world we are witnessing, with great concern, increasingly xenophobic and racist responses to refugees and migrants.
Paragraph 14 then calls for so called “hate speech” laws to be mandatory:
Demonizing refugees or migrants offends profoundly against the values of dignity and equality for every human being … We will take a range of steps to counter such attitudes and behavior, in particular with regard to hate crimes, hate speech and racial violence.
In contrast, Trump offered an unapologetic populist-nationalist vision of national sovereignty and local governance. “America is more than a place on a map, it’s a nation, it’s a family,” he told the crowd. “Our agenda is pro-family, pro-police, pro-workers and 100% pro-American.”

44 comments:

  1. Let those people who crapped up their own lands stay where they belong and fix them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The number of potential migrants worldwide tops 700 million. I think that is wildly understated. In sub-Sahara Africa, over 30% desire to migrate. In Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, all the numbers are increasing.

    Some examples:

    Jamaica 43%
    Haiti 53%
    Dominican Republic 49%
    El Salvador 34%

    Polling shows that at least 147 million want to come to the United States.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pledged to take one with a Ph.D in Brain Information Flows Science if she can get the visa. She's in Poland right now. She's promised me to do her best helping Quirk, says Jack has no hope.

      Delete
  3. The level of US public concern back to where it was before 2006. From 2001 through 2005, an average of 58% of Americans worried a great deal or a fair amount about illegal immigration; since 2012, it has been 59%. Between 2006 and 2011, an average of 68% of Americans were worried about the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BELIEVE YOUR LYING EYES OR BELIEVE OBAMA


    Migrant unemployment continues to be a major problem with the district of Salzlandkreis seeing only 56 out of 1,530 migrants registered at the jobcentre able to find full-time work.
    While the number is up from last year, when 24 migrants were in full-time positions, the total percentage of the total migrant workforce on work is only 3.6 per cent, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reports.

    “The refugee target group still presents a special challenge,” head of the district employment agency Thomas Holz said. Mr. Holz said the main issues are the language barrier and the recognition of qualifications and academic degrees from overseas.

    Saxony-Anhalt, where the district is located, had a total of 13,600 migrants with asylum status out of work according to a report from the middle of the year.

    While the district is looking for more skilled workers, Holz said he was not optimistic that Syrian and Afghan migrants would be able to fill the various positions due to the difficulty of the language barrier, noting that some migrants had been in the country for years and still struggled to learn German.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't recall Mr Obama ever discussing Salzlandkreis or Saxony-Anhalt.

      Maybe I just missed it.

      But I don't understand why he would have, or why it matters to me what they do with regards immigration in Germany

      Delete
    2. Probably just missed it.

      You've missed a lot in your life.

      Most of it, actually.

      Delete
    3. You were just sleeping again.

      Delete
    4. .

      Maybe. Perhaps you can provide a link.

      .

      Delete
    5. I'll ask Doug if he has a Live Web Cam for you so we can all watch you sleep.

      Delete
    6. Next I'm with Quirkie for an over nighter I'll set one up !

      When I've exhausted him, which takes some real doing, he sleeps like an old exhausted boar !

      Fun to watch !

      And sharing is my fav thing during the Holidays !!

      Delete
    7. Jack HawkinsSat Dec 09, 07:06:00 PM EST
      I don't recall Mr Obama ever discussing Salzlandkreis or Saxony-Anhalt.

      Maybe I just missed it.

      But I don't understand why he would have, or why it matters to me what they do with regards immigration in Germany


      Allow me to explain the relevance. Look at the video produced by the UN. Look at Obama's quotation on "bright students" and "engineers". Recall the idiotic comments of all these talented , ambitious engineers loaded cheek to jowl in improvised landing craft going to help pay for all the poor old white people's pensions. Now, with that thought in mind, see if that remotely compares to the 56 out of 1,530 migrants registered at the jobcentre able to find full-time work. in Germany.

      Let me know which part still befuddles you.

      Delete
    8. BOTTOM LINE

      Democrats and leftists will sacrifice the safety and security of genuine American citizens in order to create a permanent dependent underclass, assuring a permanent Democratic majority, eliminating all the mean white man parts of the US Constitution and traditional US culture.

      Delete
  5. Figures show 75 per cent of German migrants face long-term unemployment
    It said 484,000 of the refugees are looking for work, up from 322,000 last July — an increase of 50 per cent.

    Of those, 178,500 are officially unemployed, meaning they not only have no work but are not enrolled in any training programmes or language courses — up 27 per cent on last July.

    ReplyDelete
  6. .

    Your Tax Dollars at Work

    Exclusive: Taxpayers Paid $220K to Settle Case Involving Rep. Alcee Hastings

    Florida Rep. Alcee L. Hastings was accused of sexual misconduct by a former staff member of the Helsinki Commission. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo) The Treasury Department paid $220,000 in a previously undisclosed agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment that involved Florida Democrat Alcee L. Hastings, according to documents obtained by Roll Call.

    Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked.

    Hastings has called Packer’s charges “ludicrous” and in documents said he never sexually harassed her. “Until this evening, I had not seen the settlement agreement between the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Ms. Packer,” the congressman said in a statement Friday night. “This matter was handled solely by the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. At no time was I consulted, nor did I know until after the fact that such a settlement was made.

    ”Hastings said that the lawsuit that Packer filed against him and an investigation by the House Ethics Committee were ultimately dismissed.“I am outraged that any taxpayer dollars were needlessly paid to Ms. Packer,” he said.

    The 2014 payment to settle the case involving Hastings was not apparently included in a breakdown of payouts to settle discrimination complaints against House lawmakers from the past five years released last month by the Office of Compliance, which approves the payouts. That total included only one payment to resolve a sexual harassment claim — $84,000 paid to settle a complaint against Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold. The Senate hasn’t released similar numbers...


    .

    ReplyDelete
  7. Am I Crazy or Spiritually Transforming ? Beyond the Differentiation of Psychiatric and Spiritually Transformative Experiences

    Janet Eizlabeth Colli, Ph.D

    from the just arrived Journal of Near-Death Experinces

    Ah, got some good reading for tonight !

    Also Letter To The Editor by Willian D. Coffey, MPA
    and
    Editor's Foreword by Janice Miner Holder, Ed.D

    ReplyDelete
  8. BULLSHIT

    Florida man gets 15 years prison for breaking windows and leaving bacon at a mosque
    By Robert Spencer on Dec 08, 2017 08:30 am
    Florida man gets 15 years prison for breaking windows and leaving bacon at a mosque
    Fifteen years? For vandalism? He smashed lights, cameras, and windows at a mosque, and left some bacon by the front door. The vandalism is inexcusable and the bacon obnoxious, but fifteen years? The sentence, says AP, “had a hate crime enhancement.” In other words, he is being made an example of. Because he did this […]
    Read in browser »


    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/12/florida-man-gets-15-years-prison-for-breaking-windows-and-leaving-bacon-at-a-mosque

    A COLD BLOODED KILLER COP walks free - posted about it yesterday - and this poor sap gets 15 years.

    We need a system of trained, legally literate, professional jurors on some cases, as is often well done in England.

    Our failing education system simply isn't up to the task of creating intelligent jurors these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A first offense ?

      30 days in the county jail, restitution, plus $500 fine, 5 years probation....

      Delete
  9. Put this on your Christmas gift give list -

    Andrew McCarthy on Robert Spencer’s Confessions of an Islamophobe: “Learned, clever, compellingly posited”
    By Robert Spencer on Dec 08, 2017 09:09 am
    Andrew McCarthy on Robert Spencer’s Confessions of an Islamophobe: “Learned, clever, compellingly posited”
    Andrew C. McCarthy is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center jihad bombing. He has reviewed my new book, Confessions of an Islamopbobe, in the latest issue of the New […]
    Read in browser »


    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/12/andrew-mccarthy-on-robert-spencers-confessions-of-an-islamophobe-learned-clever-compellingly-posited

    Someone get a copy to Ash and Quirk.

    Jack can't read so it would be a waste of money with him.

    ReplyDelete
  10. OOHHH....oooooo !

    On John Milton's birthday, let's talk about the devil - 12/9/17

    Is Satan's appeal to Eve not unlike modern advertising?

    Be careful. More

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/12/on_john_miltons_birthday_lets_talk_about_the_devil.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For a contrary opinion, go to:

      OneLitteQappleBiteAdvertsing. com advertising out of the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan.

      Delete
    2. As we celebrate John Milton's 409th birthday, Paradise Lost still has much to say to us today – particularly when it comes to our consumer culture. The way Milton depicts Satan's temptation of Eve sounds exactly like the ads on our TV. In the poet's skilled rendering of his deceit, the father of lies uses the language and logic that advertisers still use to sell us beer and shampoo.

      Delete
    3. And the money changes hands.....

      Satan saves his best deception for last. He claims that Eve can become more than human – will even become a goddess – by eating the fruit. He promises that "by putting off / Human, to put on gods," Eve will rise above her created state. "For what are gods," he asks, "that man may not become / As they, participating godlike food?"

      And at the end of the day, isn't this what advertising essentially promises? That with the right bank, the right bourbon, the right haircut or hemorrhoid cream, we'll escape the aches and pains and worries and limitations of our frail mortality? Ultimately, we all suffer and die. It's what we do with that fact, and not what we buy, that will shape our human happiness – and for Milton, our eternal destination.

      Satan sells Eve a bill of goods, and she willingly and freely buys it:

      ... her rash hand in evil hour
      Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate:
      Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat
      Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe,
      That all was lost.


      Delete
  11. To hell with the UN - what's needed is a new League of the True Democracies -

    Second Temple coin at the UN Security Council
    By Pamela Geller - on December 9, 2017
    "PALESTINIAN": JIHAD AGAINST JEWS


    “I have here a replica of an ancient coin found on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is dated from the year 67 A.D. during the time of the second Jewish Temple. The words ‘Jerusalem the Holy’ are written on it.”

    Israeli Ambassador Danon is shouting into the abyss. They know. The world knows Jerusalem is the Jewish holy city for millennia. They know denying Jerusalem to the Jewish people is the same as denying Judaism, which is an Islamic imperative. They know. The same hate for Israel is the same hate the Nazis and their allies had for Jews.

    Why such hatred? The hatred of the good for being the good.

    “Seventy years ago, the Jewish people came home to Jerusalem,” he said, calling on “all the nations of the world to join us this year in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel.”


    He is talking to a wall of evil. UN Security Council nations denounce Trump’s Jerusalem decision. The 14 nations, aside from the United States, on the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council condemned President Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital this week. It’s a failed org pursing an Islamic supremacist agenda. It, too, will go the way of the League of Nations when all hell breaks loose.


    SECOND TEMPLE COIN AT THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
    Israeli Ambassador Danon tells IN Security Council, ‘All the nations of the world should join us this year in Jerusalem.’

    Editor, Arutz Sheva Staff, December 9, 2017:


    Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon addressed a special session of the Security Council convened to discuss US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem.

    Israel Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon thanked President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley by saying that “we are grateful to the United States for its courageous decision.”

    Addressing to the Council members, Danon held up a replica of a first-century coin.

    “I have here a replica of an ancient coin found on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is dated from the year 67 A.D. during the time of the second Jewish Temple. The words ‘Jerusalem the Holy’ are written on it,” Danon said.

    “Only three years later, in the year 70 A.D., would our holy temple be destroyed and the Jewish people sent into exile for 2,000 years.”

    Ambassador Danon concluded his remarks by reminding the Council of the Jewish prayer “next year in Jerusalem.”

    “Seventy years ago, the Jewish people came home to Jerusalem,” he said, calling on “all the nations of the world to join us this year in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel.”

    https://pamelageller.com/2017/12/2nd-temple-coin-un.html/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Well, that's the story...

      Under the law, the Hague and Geneva Conventions of which both the US and Israel are signatories, Jerusalem is currently an 'occupied' territory. Israel's claim to ownership of Jerusalem violates international law.

      Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Occupying Forces

      By recognizing Israel's claims on Jerusalem, Trump is enabling and approving of the violation of international law. Is there any wonder why the other nations on the Security Council might oppose him?

      .

      Delete
    2. All Trump has said is we are going to site our Embassy there.

      Delete
    3. .

      No, that is not all he has said.

      Try and keep up, Bob.

      .

      Delete
  12. December 10, 2017
    Is Jeff Sessions being blackmailed?
    By Robert Arvay

    Let's begin with some accusations. They are well founded and as credible as any against Roy Moore – perhaps more so.

    The FBI's first director, J. Edgar Hoover, was reputed to have compiled incriminating dossiers on just about every top office-holder in Washington, D.C., up to and including the presidents, under several of whose tenures Hoover served. Whenever there was talk of firing him, Hoover reportedly met with the contemporary chief of state and persuaded him to retain him (Hoover) in his post. Regarding President Kennedy, there was surely a great deal in the dossier, especially as concerned his scandalous relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Kennedy, who had been rumored to be planning to replace Hoover, quickly changed his mind after one of those meetings.


    So much for the accusations. Let's talk current events.

    Jeff Sessions, as senator, had a long history of being a staunch conservative. As such, he favors small government, strict accountability, and unwavering obedience to the law. Prior to his appointment as attorney general of the United States, no one would have thought he would ever refuse to comply with subpoenas issued by the oversight committees of Congress. Yet, in recent months, he seems uncharacteristically timid in the face of obvious corrupt practices in both the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, both of which are under his authority. He has shown no aggression in cooperating with congressional inquiries.

    What could possibly explain this?

    One possibility is that behind the scenes, General Sessions is a ferocious bulldog, rooting out the evidence on his two predecessors who illegally manipulated the law to undermine the Second Amendment (Project Gunrunner) and who conspired to rig the investigation of Hillary Clinton's email scandal (the infamous meeting on the tarmac). Possibly, Sessions is building an airtight case that will be used to successfully prosecute Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Hillary Clinton, and her acolytes. Possibly, one bright morning, we will awaken to the news of several indictments against the criminal enterprise that, but for the unexpected election of President Trump, would have made of our government an entrenched thugocracy.

    If so, then yes, I will purchase your title to the Brooklyn Bridge.

    Unfortunately, my money is probably safe. The other possibility is that Jeff Sessions has had that meeting – the one Kennedy had.

    Yes, this sounds improbably conspiratorial, and I desperately hope my dark suspicions are the ranting of a fool. But how else can one explain the seemingly total disinterest in the DoJ of deposing, under oath, the prime suspects in the vast corruption that was the Obama administration?

    General Sessions, whatever it is in your background that you fear being exposed, I forgive you in advance. This is your time to be a profile in courage and do the right thing.

    Profiles in Courage. Who wrote that book?

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/12/is_jeff_sessions_being_blackmailed.html#ixzz50qCg0u4v

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Yes, this sounds improbably conspiratorial, and I desperately hope my dark suspicions are the ranting of a fool.


      Your wish is granted and you are forgiven. Go in peace, my son.

      .

      Delete
  13. Of course, they have something on Sessions, but that begs the issue. Sessions is not doing his job. He is the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bulgarian Parliament moves to criminalize “radical Islam” and promotion of Sharia and the caliphate

    DEC 9, 2017 9:58 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

    The Bulgarian parliament has moved to criminalise the promotion of radical Islam, including advocating a caliphate, religious violence, and sharia law.

    Kudos to Bulgaria for tackling political Islam head on and making the important point that the “change in law was not aimed at targeting a religion but a dangerous ideology.”

    As stated by UP Member of Parliament Boris Yachev:

    Radical Islam is a particularly aggressive and dangerous ideology that justifies violence and the murder of [infidels]

    The article goes on to say that Yachev was “insisting it also excused ‘slavery and genocide’ as a ‘systemic policy.’”

    Yachev’s words are not difficult to grasp, but many will refer to such truths as “Islamophobic.” The only notable issue in the quote is that Yachev is not “insisting” anything of his own accord. What he describes is in plain black and white in the Quran and Sunnah. Of course not all Muslims live in accordance with such texts, but those texts are there, and adhered to by enough Muslims to require Western governments to take action to protect their culture and citizens against those who adhere to them.

    Promoting any ideology of violence or one threatening the law and constitution of the nation could be punishable with one to five years in jail and a fine of around £2,000, the Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik reports.

    Bulgaria should be congratulated, and should serve as a model nation in its recognition of the Islamic ideology. That ideology is indeed invoked by those committing jihad attacks, as well as by those practicing female genital mutilation, sex slavery, the persecution of infidels and apostates, the murder of gays and the like. Let’s also hope that Bulgaria researches and take a further step to outlaw stealth jihad groups that are found to have ties to recognized terrorist organizations (such as unindicted co-conspirators to terrorism). For example, even the United Arab Emirates deemed the “unindicted co-conspirator” CAIR to be a terrorist entity. These stealth organizations also shield jihadists by means of their incessant victimology narrative and promotion of the word “Islamophobia” to beat down legitimate criticism of Islam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. “The Bulgarian parliament has moved to criminalise the promotion of radical Islam, including advocating a caliphate, religious violence, and sharia law”, by Liam Deacon, Breitbart, December 7, 2017:

      The Bulgarian parliament has moved to criminalise the promotion of radical Islam, including advocating a caliphate, religious violence, and sharia law.

      The legislature adopted the amendments to the nation’s criminal code aimed at tackling radical Islam on their first reading this Wednesday.

      They were proposed by a nationalist electoral alliance called the United Patriots (UP).

      Promoting any ideology of violence or one threatening the law and constitution of the nation could be punishable with one to five years in jail and a fine of around £2,000, the Bulgarian newspaper Dnevnik reports.

      UP Member of Parliament Boris Yachev told the paper that the change in law was not aimed at targeting a religion but a dangerous ideology.

      “Radical Islam is a particularly aggressive and dangerous ideology that justifies violence and the murder of [infidels],” he said, insisting it also excused “slavery and genocide” as a “systemic policy”.

      His party proposed a legal definition of radical Islam, which, according to the law’s parliamentary reading, includes “when a person is agitating for the creation of an Islamic State [or caliphate]”.

      Other tenets are promoting religious law over secular law, the “forcible application of religious principles”, advocating violence including “sacred war against non-Muslims [jihad]”, and recruiting people into Islamist terrorism.

      In June 2016, the Bulgarian parliament voted with a large majority to become the third European nation to ban the Islamic full-face veil, or burqa, finalising the law in September with a fine of around £90.

      As a legacy of almost 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule, Bulgaria has one of the biggest Muslim minorities in Europe at about 12 per cent of its 7.1 million population, Reuters reports.

      Speaking in October of this year, Deputy Prime Minister Krasimir Karakachanov said: “It turns out that problems [with radical Islam] we see in a number of European countries already exist in Bulgaria.”

      He claimed that “extremely liberal” laws were allowing the spread of more radical strains of Islam in education and training.

      “It is mostly the… financing by private structures of religious communities that attempt to realise political influence in the country,”….

      https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/12/bulgarian-parliament-moves-to-criminalize-radical-islam-and-promotion-of-sharia-and-the-caliphate

      Good for the Bulgarians !

      Delete
  15. The Chtistians of Egypt want nothing to do with the Trump Administration.

    They are standing, shoulder to shoulder with ...
    The MUZZIES ...
    against US

    Egypt's Coptic Church has declined to meet with Vice President Pence during his upcoming trip to the region this month, citing President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, according to Reuters.

    The MENA state news agency reported Saturday that the church had "excused itself from hosting Mike Pence," saying Trump's decision came "at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people."



    The Donald ...The US is losing the respect of Christians wwith each new political move he makes.

    ReplyDelete
  16. 'Growing up in Philly, it's a blessing just to see 18'

    ...The lessons stuck as the younger Ward made a list of his own goals:

    Finish college. Start a business. Travel. Don’t become a statistic.

    At the dining room table the other day, Ward talked wistfully of a school trip to the Grand Canyon when he was 12, where for the first time he saw a sky full of stars unencumbered by the city’s lights.

    “It was just a life-changing feeling,” he said. “A reminder that there’s more to life than what you see on a regular basis.”

    Among the top of his accomplishments – growing up.

    “Growing up in Philly,” he said, “it’s a blessing just to see 18.”

    I’m not sure why those words landed especially hard that day. I’ve heard other young men express the same sentiment. In a city with daily shootings, where 26 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 have been killed this year, this isn’t just hyperbole.

    It’s reality.

    This young man, with his irrepressible smile and energy and his cheering section of family and friends and now, at least one columnist, reminded me of all the potential every kid in this city has, everything we should grieve over when another young person dies in the city and we barely blink.

    When I confided in Ward’s dad about my prayer, he didn’t miss a beat.

    “I pray for him every day.”

    I left Ward feeling something there doesn’t seem to be enough of these days: hope.

    A few streets over from his house, I found myself driving behind a car with a RIP sticker on its back window. It was a memorial for a young man who had died recently. One street later I passed by a mural made for another young man who was killed in 2014.

    Both were dead before they were 20.

    Updated: NOVEMBER 16, 2017 — 7:19 AM EST

    ReplyDelete
  17. About 65% of the US is in an underclass. Why would we import more?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .


      Heck, someone has to pay for all those tax cuts for the rich.


      .

      Delete
  18. .

    Where's Waldo...er, I mean, Where's Roy!

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Near the end of a press conference for Roy Moore Thursday, a reporter asked a question: Where was Roy Moore?

    “He’s campaigning,” said Ben DuPre, a longtime Moore associate and spokesman for the campaign. “He’s campaigning hard.”

    If Moore is doing that, he's keeping it a secret.

    In the last few days before the Dec. 12 election for Alabama’s junior U.S. Senate seat, the Republican candidate has all but vanished from the public, continuing a pattern of absence that took hold after allegations of abuse, assault, harassment and misconduct with nine women surfaced against Moore in early November.

    “I think it’s extremely odd that for the better part of that campaign, we have seen his spokespeople, his campaign manager and his surrogates,” said Angi Horn Stalnaker, a Republican consultant who has run races against Moore in the past.

    Moore has a rally scheduled Monday night in Dale County in the Wiregrass — a region key to his chances — with former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas. But the Republican candidate has held no public events since a rally in Fairhope on Tuesday, leaving appearances to staff and surrogates. Moore has made fewer than 10 public appearances in the past month...


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any candidate that doesn't campaign ought be thought a Blessing.

      Delete
  19. .

    18 Questions CNN Needs to Answer After Getting Busted for Fake News


    The 18 questions listed are good ones and CNN should be forced to answer them.

    I suspect they won't.

    .

    ReplyDelete