Old Letters to the editor

Old Letters to the editor
Letters from before 2008.

EARTHQUAKE SWARM IN YNP CONTINUES

An earthquake swarm that began in Yellowstone on June 12th is still rumbling on.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations is monitoring the swarm, which is currently active on the western edge of Yellowstone National Park. The swarm so far has consisted of 1,284 events with the largest magnitude of a 4.4. There have been 7 earthquakes in the magnitude 3 range and just over 100 earthquakes in the magnitude 2 range. Researchers say 125 people reported feeling the magnitude 4.4 event on June 16th.—More…

FUSION REFUSAL: Co-founder of firm behind Trump-Russia dossier to plead the Fifth

Glenn Simpson, whose Fusion GPS firm has been tied to anti-Trump efforts and Russian lobbying, will not talk to lawmakers in response to a subpoena, his lawyer said Friday—More…

Canadian military aircraft have not flown in Syria for weeks: commander

OTTAWA — Canadian military aircraft involved in the fight against Islamic State militants have not flown in Syria for the past few weeks.

While the aircraft have flown dozens of missions over Syria this year, the mission’s commander, Brig.-Gen. Daniel MacIsaac, says operations have lately been limited to Iraq.—More…

The New Republic going full-commie

I’m old enough to remember when Fred Barnes wrote for The New Republic. Of course, back then Barnes wasn’t as conservative as he is now, but TNR was also a much more liberal-moderate magazine. It was far from the silly leftist rag that it has become.

Now it is on the verge of going full communist. The above showed up in my email box the other day.

This is the sort of advertisement you generally see on the websites of radical lefty groups where “travelling to Cuba” is a euphemism for a pilgrimage to pay homage to Fidel and Che.

Sen. McCaskill’s family foundation pays the Russians

As if Washington didn’t have enough Russian scandals, or supposed scandals, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has provided another one. The Washington Free Beacon’s Brent Scher recently reported that Sen. McCaskill used a philanthropic foundation that she and her husband, Joseph Shepard, created in 2013—the Shepard Family Foundation in St. Louis—”to pay for a dinner she attended at Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s Washington, D.C., residence” in honor of a Missouri congressman in 2015.

The Shepard Family Foundation supports many nonprofit organizations, most of them in Missouri.  But in 2015 it also paid $873 to the American-Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation, Scher reports, where Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak is honorary chairman of the board.

Muslim Leaders Criticize Israel’s Metal Detectors at the Temple Mount

Last Friday, three Arabs killed two Israeli police officers who were guarding an entrance to Jerusalem’s holy compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The police officers were shot with arms that had evidently been smuggled into the compound and stashed there. This latest attack was another in an unending series of terrorist murders of Israelis, but this time the attack took place at Old Jerusalem’s sacred site itself. It also may have been orchestrated by a Hezbollah-run cell, acting on orders from Iran, according to a Debkafile report based on its intelligence and counterterrorism sources. 

“The pro-Iranian terror group has long been suspected of recruiting networks in some Israeli Arab communities,” the Debkafile report stated. “By striking Temple Mount, Iran and Hizballah targeted both Israel and Jordan, which claims religious custodianship of its mosques.”

Flip California, says Travis Allen, Candidate for Governor

California Governor Jerry Brown’s heir-apparent, extremely progressive left-wing Gavin Newsom, may not be a shoe-in, after all, when it comes to California’s 2018 race for Governor.  While Democrats say Gavin Newsom is a sure thing, we must remember they thought the same of Hillary Clinton.  Newsom has competition in Travis Allen, an energizing figure cut from a cloth similar to the one Donald Trump came from. . . at least in terms of attitude and fortitude.

In Southern California, major political candidates often forget about the Inland Empire, an area that is comprised largely of the heavily populated San Bernardino and Riverside metropolitan areas.  They instead tend to focus on Los Angeles, San Diego, a number of coastal communities, the Bay Area, and Sacramento.  Travis Allen, who has announced he’s running for Governor of the State of California, broke that tendency, and came out to Riverside on Thursday Night to address the area’s politically active movers and shakers at the Riverside County Republican Party Central Committee Meeting.

State Department Says No One Cares Anymore About Hillary’s Stupid Emails

Nate Silver undertook an interesting what-if project this week with a story on what would things be like if Hillary Clinton had been elected president.

Merrick Garland is on the Supreme Court, and Neil Gorsuch is not. Brian Fallon is the press secretary, and Sean Spicer is not. It is Hillary Clinton under investigation for ties to Russia, and not Donald Trump. Huma Abedin is the White House chief of staff.

Hillary feuds with the press. Her approval numbers at the six-month mark are lower than any president since the 1930s. She is more a caretaker than an implementer of bold new ideas. Congress went Republican, so her agenda goes nowhere. Most of what could be done through executive action was done by Barack Obama. And the press continues to hound her to show progress on something … anything.

ARMED CITIZEN NUMBERS EXPAND NATIONWIDE, SAYS CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – A new report on concealed carry in the United States, with an updated estimate of more than 16.3 million legally licensed armed citizens, shows that a growing number of Americans are taking responsibility for their own safety, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The 61-page report – “Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United States: 2017” – was released by the Crime Prevention Research Center this week. It was authored by CPRC founder John Lott, who will be speaking at the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Dallas Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

“John’s report comes at a critical moment when Congress should be discussing national concealed carry reciprocity legislation that was introduced in January,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “We’re impressed with the numbers as the report suggests that interest in personal protection has continued to grow this year.

NJ Bill Enforces LGBT Agenda in Public Schools

TRENTON, NJ —A bill that directs the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to review and modify public school guidelines to accommodate and promote the rights of “transgender” students, in accordance with current State or federal laws and regulations, has passed the Senate and the Assembly and goes to the Governor for consideration. Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Governor Chris Christie encouraging him to veto the bill.

Palestinian Muslims Rebel Against Temple Mount Security

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Following a deadly attack last Friday in which two Israel police officers were murdered and a third was seriously wounded, Israel temporarily closed the Temple Mount because they found that weapons had been smuggled into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located, was reopened Sunday with metal detectors installed. The Waqf, which Israel has allowed to control the Temple Mount, urged Muslims to refuse to go through the metal detectors and has called for protests and rage against Israel. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has now asked the White House to pressure Israel to remove the metal detectors.

Did Officer Mohamed Noor get his job just because he’s Somali?

If he did, it would not be the first time.

Christina Benson was a civilian employee of the Ottawa Police Service and her job was to conduct background checks on those applying to become police officers with the Ottawa police. Last summer she conducted checks on 19 new recruits. Benson found 18 of the 19 applicants passed the check while one failed. She forwarded her findings to Charles Bordeleau, Chief of the Ottawa police. The chief has the final say on who gets hired and who does not. The man Benson determined not to have passed her background check was a Somali.

On July 24, 2016, Abdirahman Abdi, a 37-year-old Somali Canadian, became involved in a confrontation with Ottawa police after officers received information about a groping. During this confrontation, Abdi suffered a medical episode and died in hospital the next day. There was outrage as there always is when a black suspect dies at the hands of police.

The Humanitarian Hoax of Climate Change: Killing America With Kindness

The Humanitarian Hoax is a deliberate and deceitful tactic of presenting a destructive policy as altruistic. The humanitarian huckster presents himself as a compassionate advocate when in fact he is the disguised enemy.

Obama, the humanitarian huckster-in-chief, weakened and politicized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for eight years by presenting his crippling policies as altruistic when in fact they were designed for destruction. His legacy, the Leftist Democratic Party with its “resistance” movement, is the party of the Humanitarian Hoax attempting to destroy American democracy and replace it with socialism.

MUELLER EXPANDS HIS PROBE AGAIN

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III is yet again expanding the scope of his off-the-rails investigation into the Left’s wacky Russian electoral collusion conspiracy theory by examining financial transactions even vaguely related to Russia involving President Trump’s businesses and those of his associates, Bloomberg News reports.

Honest observers recognize that with the election of Donald Trump, the longtime Russophiles of the morally flexible Left flipped on their traditional friends in Moscow faster than you can say Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or Operation Barbarossa. Ignoring its own history of rampant seditious collaboration with Russia, the Left has now managed to convince many that any past or present connection a Republican has or had to Russia, however trivial, is somehow now retroactively evidence of treason against the United States.

Trump should fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Swamp draining is not genteel work. And Jeff Sessions, the consummate gentlemen, has not yet displayed the grit required for that work.

As Senator Sessions from Alabama, he was a model of decorum, dignity and collegial demeanor in the U.S. Senate.  He was, and remains, loyal to his state, to his family, and to his oath of office—a good and honorable man.

His confirmation hearing—when friends and former colleagues from across the aisle directly, or indirectly, accused him of being a racist—should have been his wake-up call that political life inside the Trump administration would bring confrontations with ravenous D.C. Swamp creatures. But, if he took that wake-up call, he does not appear to have taken it to heart.

The Walmart Guy vs Anti-Capitalism Millennials

Though we have never met, I smiled recently seeing my favorite Walmart employee. For over ten years, I witnessed him gathering shopping carts in the parking lot. He is a white millennial who only has the use of one arm, walks with a severe limp and appears slightly mentally challenged. I once saw him leaving work driving a new looking compact car. My wife Mary prepared his taxes when she worked for a tax preparation company. I thought,“Hey, this brother has got it goin’ on—doin’ his thing.”

The Walmart guy could easily qualify for disability; sit home on his butt allowing taxpayers to take care of him. Far too many able-bodied millennials feel entitled, believing government should provide them free everything.

Rep. Maxine Waters will run for President. ...If millennials demand it

As every political junkie knows, the New Hampshire visit is traditionally seen as an early sign of an impending presidential run.  This weekend, for reasons no one seems completely able to fathom, Maxine Waters is heading to New Hampshire. This, of course, has tongues wagging. Everyone wants to know - is Maxine Waters, your favorite left coast crackpot, readying herself for a White House bid?

...Because that would be hilarious.

Unfortunately, we shouldn’t get our hopes up just yet. The Daily Caller asked Waters if she was planning to seek higher office, and she said “no.” ...Unless the hip, cool, youth culture of America wants her to.

Militant left-wing leader arrested for allegedly inciting violence at 2016 Sacramento melee

The prominent leader of a militant left-wing group was arrested earlier this week on charges stemming from a violent brawl last year between white nationalist groups and counter-protesters.

Yvette Felarca, 47, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on Tuesday on charges of inciting and participating in a riot, and assault likely to cause great bodily injury, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. The charges come after an eight-month investigation. —More…

Three Killed, Over 200 Wounded As Muslim Rioters Rage Over Temple Mount

JERUSALEM — Three Palestinians were reported killed and over 200 were wounded in clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem and the West Bank as Palestinian leaders urged a day of protest purportedly against Israel’s decision to put metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount.

Protest leaders, including top Palestinian officials, claim the metal detectors are part of an Israeli conspiracy to hamper Muslim worship at the Mount, the holiest site in Judaism and a site considered holy in Islam.  —More…