Month: April 2017

Bruce Springsteen: ‘I Was a Stone-Cold Draft Dodger’

Bruce Springsteen says writing and performing “Born in the U.S.A.” helped him reconcile the mixed feelings he has about decisions he made during the Vietnam War era. “I had some friends, very close friends of mine… guys who came home in wheelchairs and, then, I didn’t go. I was a stone-cold draft dodger,” the New Jersey rocker said at a Tribeca Film Festival conversation with Tom Hanks at the Beacon Theatre in New York Friday. “I pulled the whole ‘Alice’s Restaurant.’ ‘I’m sorry, sir. I don’t understand what you are saying because I am high on LSD.’ I did everything in the draft-dodger’s text book,” Springsteen recalled. “So, perhaps, I felt guilty about that later on. I had friends who went. I had friends who went and died. I had friends later on who were seriously hurt. And whether it was that or whether it was just the fact it was an event that defined a generation and if you were going to write about the world, if you were going to write about who we are at this this particular moment, if you were going to write about your place, if you were going to try to seize your little moment in history, which were all things I wanted to deliver to my audience, it was something that needed to be reckoned with. … And, so, it was something that I felt I had to come to terms with myself and I needed to sing about.”

Feel better about it now, Bruce?  And this is the self-righteous, sanctimonious, America-hating, extreme-liberal, socialist that Obama gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom for…probably because Obama also hates America, and respects Bruce’s cowardice.  Losers..

Democrats Reel from DNC Chair’s Announcement That Party Will Exclude Pro-Life Candidates

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez’s announcement that pro-lifers are not welcome in his party has planted the seeds of rebellion among some Democrats and sharpened the view that the party is now primarily defined by its embrace of abortion on demand. “Every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health,” Perez said, as the HuffPost reported. “That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.” Perez’s comments came after the DNC decided to support Heath Mello in the Omaha, Nebraska, mayoral race. Mello, it was discovered, had previously voted in the state legislature consistent with his personal pro-life views. Abortion lobbying group NARAL Pro-Choice America immediately slammed the DNC for its embrace of Mello. “The actions today by the DNC to embrace and support a candidate for office who will strip women — one of the most critical constituencies for the party — of our basic rights and freedom is not only disappointing, it is politically stupid,” fumed NARAL’s president, Ilyse Hogue. Perez responded to the scathing bashing with the compliant statement that he “fundamentally disagree[s] with Heath Mello’s personal beliefs about women’s reproductive health,” adding that “every candidate who runs as a Democrat should do the same.” Democrats’ decision to dig their hole even deeper regarding commitment to abortion on demand has many wondering how the party will survive since suffering significant unexpected losses in the 2016 elections. According to the Atlantic, Democrats are now “newly divided … as they attempt to decide who they will welcome, and who they will exclude, amid soul searching over how the party should rebuild after its 2016 loss.” The party has attempted to portray itself as built upon morally upright virtues – such as diversity and inclusiveness – yet Perez’s statement clearly demands the opposite.

Indeed…

SpaceX postpones classified US military launch

SpaceX on Sunday postponed for 24 hours the launch of a secretive US government payload, known only as NROL-76, due to a “sensor issue” with the rocket, a spokesman said. “Out of an abundance of caution we have decided to scrub today’s launch,” a SpaceX spokesman said, describing the issue as relating to the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Another opportunity for launch opens Monday at 7:00 am (1100 GMT). The payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States, will be the first military launch for the California-based aerospace company headed by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk. “As a matter of policy and because of classification, NRO does not provide information about our contracts,” a spokeswoman told AFP. Until now, the US military has spent billions per year exclusively with United Launch Alliance, a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites. SpaceX in 2014 protested the US Air Force’s practice of using only ULA, saying it unfairly awarded billions of dollars to a single company for national security launches. SpaceX was selected to launch NROL-76 “after a competition,” said the NRO spokeswoman. She said she did not know when the contract was awarded. It was first announced last year. SpaceX regularly launches unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station, and is working on a crew capsule that could carry humans into orbit as early as next year.

Waffle House founders die less than 2 months apart

Thomas Francis Forkner Sr., who jumped from selling real estate to the restaurant business when he co-founded Waffle House in the 1950s, has died less than two months after the death of his business partner who recruited him to help launch the famous Southern diner chain. Waffle House said in a statement that Forkner died Wednesday at age 98. He grew up in DeKalb County just outside Atlanta, the company said, and returned there to sell real estate after serving as an Army intelligence officer during World War II. Forkner sold a house to his neighbor, Joe Rogers Sr., who worked for the Toddle House restaurant chain. Rogers persuaded Forkner to join him in starting a restaurant of their own. They opened the first 24-hour Waffle House in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates on Labor Day in 1955. They opened a second location two years later, and they kept building the business over the next two decades. Under Forkner and Rogers, the Waffle House chain grew to 400 restaurants by the time they sold the business in the late 1970s. Rogers died March 3, just seven weeks before Forkner. The company said Forkner’s wife of 71 years, Martha Forkner, died March 4. The Atlanta-based company now has more than 1,500 locations. Forkner was known to drop by the company headquarters regularly, up until a few weeks before his death. He would often drive there to have lunch with new manager trainees, said Waffle House Chairman Joe Rogers Jr., whose father started the company with Forkner. “Tom and my father had a handshake deal, and their partnership and friendship continued for more than 60 years,” Joe Rogers said in a statement. “Tom and Joe were great partners_Tom working the real estate side of the business and my father operating the restaurants.” Forkner also was an accomplished golfer, the company said, and won enough senior championships to warrant his induction into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

What a great story!  I love their Toddle House ham & cheese omelets..   Thank you Tom and Joe for sharing your truly American story, and your great breakfasts, with us.  R.I.P.

Donald Trump Appoints Dr. Charmaine Yoest as Assistant Secretary of HHS for Public Affairs

President Donald Trump has appointed the pro-life advocate and former president of Americans United for Life (AUL), Dr. Charmaine Yoest, to be assistant secretary of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). National pro-life leader and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser responded to the announcement of Yoest’s appointment with the following statement: ” Charmaine Yoest is one of the pro-life movement’s most articulate and powerful communicators. As the former president and CEO of Americans United for Life, she led groundbreaking efforts to advance pro-life, pro-woman legislation at the state level. She is perfectly suited to take on this role at HHS and it is no surprise to see President Trump once again appoint a strong, pro-life woman to his team. The fact that Yoest will be replacing Kevin Griffis, who now works for Planned Parenthood, is another indication of the dramatic change we’ve seen in Washington since the election of President Trump. This is a new era for the pro-life movement and our fight to protect unborn children and their mothers from the horror of abortion.” Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions, reacted to Yoest’s appointment with a tweet expressing its disapproval: “As president of AUL, Yoest worked to emphasize the negative consequences of abortion for both women and their unborn babies and to require young girls to obtain the consent of their parents prior to obtaining abortions.” Yoest has been a senior fellow at American Values in Washington, DC. She served in the White House under President Ronald Reagan in the Office of Presidential Personnel. Additionally, she served as a Trump for President surrogate and a senior adviser to the 2008 Huckabee for President campaign.

Dr. Yoest sounds eminently qualified despite the left’s fixation on the fact that she’s pro-life…like that’s somehow a bad thing.  If the only “negative” thing Planned Parenthood can say about her is the fact that she has advocated for the idea that underage/young girls get parental permission for an abortion, then she should be confirmed (if the position requires that process).  Besides, it sounds like common sense to me.  An abortion is a very serious medical procedure that oftentimes comes with major medical side effects.  If kids are required to get consent forms signed for little things like get vaccinations, then it only makes sense they should get such written for a major surgical operation, right?  But, we digress..  We have every faith that Dr. Yoest will be a fine assistant secretary at HHS for public affairs, and represent the Trump administration with distinction.  We wish her all the best in her new position!

Opinion/Analysis: Bill Nye’s View of Humanity Is Repulsive

Bill Nye has some detestable ideas about humanity. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Many environmental doomsdayers share his totalitarian impulses (he has toyed with the idea of criminalizing speech he dislikes) and soft spot for eugenics. In his Netflix series, Bill Nye Saves the World, the former children’s-television host supplies viewers with various trendy notions to adorn his ideological positions with the sheen of science. In the final episode, Nye and his guests contemplate a thorny “scientific” question: How can the state stop people from having “extra kids”? All of this was pretty familiar to me, and not only because the panel sounded like a ChiCom planning meeting. The Nye segment, it turns out, was just a repetition of a 2016 NPR article on overpopulation featuring Travis Rieder. “Should we have policies that penalize people for having extra kids in the developed world?” asked Reider and others who were pondering the “ethics of procreation.” The article is titled “Should We Be Having Kids in the Age of Climate Change?” In it, Rieder, a philosopher with the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, scaremongers a class of college students about The End of Days and the immorality of having children. NPR describes: “The room is quiet. No one fidgets. Later, a few students say they had no idea the situation was so bad.” (It’s not.) “Here’s a provocative thought,” Rieder says. “Maybe we should protect our kids by not having them.” This is provocative in the way a stoner wondering why airplanes don’t run on hemp is provocative. That’s because the entire case for capping the number of children rests on assumptions entirely devoid of scientific or historical basis. In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.” At that point, there were maybe a billion humans on Earth, so we might forgive him for worrying. In 1800, the life expectancy of the average British citizen — Britain then being the leading light of the world — was 39 years. Most humans lived in pitiless poverty that is increasingly rare in most parts of the contemporary world. Now, had Nye been around in the early 19th century, he’d almost surely have been smearing anyone skeptical of the miasma theory of disease. The problem is he lacks imagination; he’s unable to understand that science is here to help humanity adapt and overcome, not constrict it. Anyway, 7-plus billion people later, extreme poverty was projected to fall below 10 percent for the first time ever in 2015. Most of those gains have been made in the midst of the world’s largest population explosion. Additionally, it is reported that, because of trade, technological advances, and plentiful fossil fuels, fewer people are hungry than ever; fewer die in conflicts over resources; and deaths owing to extreme weather have been dramatically declining for a century. Over the past 40 years, our water and air have become cleaner, despite a huge spike in population growth. Some of the Earth’s richest people live in some of its densest cities. It’s worth remembering not only that early progressivism was steeped in eugenics, but also that early-’70s abortion politics was played out in the shadow of Paul Ehrlich’s population-bomb theory. Former vice president Al Gore has already broached the idea of “fertility management.” Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, a few years ago: “Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” You thought right. Today, abortion is used as a means of exterminating a class of humans deemed unworthy of life — those with Down syndrome. We live in a world where Ehrlich protégé John Holdren — who, like his mentor, made a career of offering memorably erroneous predictions (not out of the ordinary for alarmists) — was able to become a science czar in the Obama administration. Holdren co-authored a book in the late 1970s called “Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment,” which waded into theoretical talk about mass sterilizations and forced abortions in an effort to save hundreds of millions from sure death. Nye is a fellow denier of one of the most irrefutable facts about mankind: Human ingenuity overcomes demand. Now, the fact that something hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future. But the evidence against Malthusianism is stronger now than it has ever been. And, of course, not everything about human existence can be quantified. This is the point. Talking about humans as if they were a malady that needs to be cured is, at its core, immoral. And listening to a man who has three residences lecture potential parents about their responsibilities to Mother Earth is particularly galling. Although many thousands of incredibly smart and talented people engage in real scientific inquiry and discovery, “science” is often used as a cudgel to browbeat people into accepting progressive policies. Just look at the coverage of the March for Science last week. The biggest clue that it was nothing more than another political event is that Nye was a speaker. “We are marching today to remind people everywhere, our lawmakers especially,” he told the crowd, “of the significance of science for our health and prosperity.” Fortunately, our health and prosperity have blossomed despite the work of Nye and his ideological ancestors.

No kidding!!  That outstanding op/ed was written by author David Harsanyi.  Bill Nye (who is NOT a real “science” guy) is just a liberal activist who puts himself out there as some science authority.  He got his BS in Mechanical Engineering.  Big deal.  My dad got his from West Point, and then his Masters…and so on.  Nye is a fraud and a fool.  Kudos to David for calling him out like this.  Excellent!!   🙂

Trump signs executive order aimed at expanding drilling in Arctic, Atlantic oceans

President Trump signed an executive order Friday that could lead to the expansion of drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, saying it will reverse his predecessor’s Arctic leasing ban and create “great jobs and great wealth” for the country. Trump said the executive order, titled “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy,” will direct a “review of the locations available for off-shore oil and gas exploration” and related regulations. “Today we’re unleashing American energy and clearing the way for thousands and thousands of high-paying American energy jobs,” Trump said in his announcement. “Our country is blessed with incredible natural resources, including abundant offshore oil and natural gas reserves,” he said. “But the federal government has kept 94 percent of these offshore areas closed for exploration and production.” “This deprives our country of potentially thousands and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in wealth,” Trump said. Trump, with the order, is directing his interior secretary to review an Obama-era plan that dictates which locations are open to offshore drilling, with the goal of the new administration to expand operations. The announcement Friday is part of Trump’s promise to unleash the nation’s energy reserves in an effort to reduce reliance on foreign oil and to spur jobs, regardless of fierce opposition from environmental activists who say offshore drilling harms whales, walruses and other wildlife and exacerbates global warming. The executive order will reverse part of a December effort by President Obama to deem the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic as indefinitely off limits to oil and gas leasing. It will also direct Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to conduct a review of the locations available for offshore drilling under a five-year plan signed by Obama in November. The plan blocked new oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It also blocked the planned sale of new oil and gas drilling rights in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska, but allowed drilling to go forward in Alaska’s Cook Inlet southwest of Anchorage. Trump’s order could open to oil and gas exploration areas off Virginia and North and South Carolina, where drilling has been blocked for decades. “This executive order starts the process of opening offshore areas to job creating energy exploration,” Trump said. “It reverses the previous administration’s Arctic leasing ban and directs Secretary Zinke to allow responsible development of offshore areas that will bring revenue to our Treasury and jobs to our workers.” The president also said it will allow for Zinke to reconsider “burdensome regulations” that Trump said “slow job creation.”

Yes!!!  This is great news!!  🙂

British military interested in ‘Iron Man’ flying suit

Flying soldiers have been historically confined to science fiction or comic books, but a British inventor may be about to change the course of warfare. Richard Browning, who has been dubbed the ‘Iron Man’ of Wiltshire, has constructed a personal flight suit and amazed delegates at this year’s TED Conference when he lifted off from the short of Vancouver Harbour. Mr Browning, a Royal marine reserve, said a member the British military had already displayed interest in the suit, and had told him that the Ministry of Defense had given up on the idea of flying soldiers until they saw his design. Although the MoD told the Telegraph they were unaware of the conversation, they said they are currently looking for ‘innovative military solutions’..

Indeed..  Actually, the Brits aren’t the only ones developing “Iron Man” type suits.  The U.S. military has something up their sleeve as well..  Anyway, to see some photo’s of Mr. Browning’s suit, and read the rest of this article, click on the text above.

Rand: Congress ‘Should Think About’ Whether It Should Send Money to Universities ‘That Only Have One Set of Speech’

On Thursday’s broadcast of “The Laura Ingraham Show,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said, “I think that Congress, and the people who appropriate the money, we should think about whether or not we should be sending money to universities that only have one set of speech.” When asked if he thought the “federal government, Donald Trump” could “impound” funds that would go a place like UC-Berkeley, Rand answered, “I think if it were a liberal president, and they were shutting down speech, they could probably do it. I don’t think that — I don’t think impounding funds is probably going to pass muster, but I think that Congress, and the people who appropriate the money, we should think about whether or not we should be sending money to universities that only have one set of speech.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is right to raise the question.  And, we oftentimes agree with the libertarian Republican Senator..   But, he’s such a wuss!  When challenged, as he was here by Laura, he backs off and starts to do the Texas two-step.  But, then again that’s one of the downsides to libertarian-ism..  They really don’t stand for anything or have any real core beliefs.  They just hate government.  Well, we can appreciate that…and agree that government is WAY out of control and bloated.  BUT..  That in and of itself isn’t a belief system or a solution.  It’s just two-dimensional, knee-jerk reaction to three and four dimensional problems.  I’m sure Sen. Paul (who IS an MD) is a heck of a doctor.  But, he’s not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and doesn’t have much backbone.  Of COURSE we should be denying federal funding to colleges and universities who refuse to enforce the first amendment rights of ALL students and allow for free speech of ALL varieties…including those of conservatives.  That’s a no-brainer.  The fact that a legislator (and ostensibly a Republican one at that!) is dancing around that kind of common sense is offensive.

Trump supporters headline free speech rally at University of California, Berkeley

Trump supporters descended upon the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday to reaffirm the principles of free speech and robust debate after the school canceled a scheduled lecture by conservative author Ann Coulter. Canadian contrarians Gavin McInnes and Lauren Southern headlined a free speech rally at MLK Park and read an excerpt from Ms. Coulter’s planned speech in her stead. “They may be able to stop us from speaking on the campus, they may be able to throw punches, to spray pepper spray, throw bricks at us, but they can’t stop an idea,” Ms. Southern said. “They can’t stop the history of this nation and the determination to defend free speech and protect God-given rights.” Berkeley officials canceled Ms. Coulter’s speech last week citing security concerns and the possibility of violence, but quickly reversed course after a backlash ensued. Despite the university’s assurance that she was welcome, Ms. Coulter said she had to cancel the speech Wednesday after losing the backing of the student group that invited her, Young Americans for Freedom. The free speech rally was mostly peaceful, with protesters and hecklers only sparsely populated in the surrounding area. Among the hundreds of attendees were representatives from Oath Keepers and Bikers for Trump, who said they were there to ensure the event remained peaceful. Many of the participants were clad in black and wore motorcycle helmets. The excerpt from Ms. Coulter’s speech argued against accepting Muslim immigrants and those in need of government assistance. “When Trump merely proposed we stop importing people whose religion teaches them to kill us, the media called him a racist,” Mr. McInnes read. “Republicans said that’s not who we are. They know us so well. There are 7 billion people in the world; we don’t have to take any of them. There’s no constitutional right for the rest of the world to move here. “Immigrants are showing up with a lot of needs and a lot of grievances,” he continued. “Why do we owe them? If you have grievances, go home and address the perpetrators. We owe you nothing. By my reckoning, they owe us.”

Exactly!!!  No foreign national has a U.S. constitutional right to come to America.  It is a privilege!!  And these snotty, entitlement-minded, liberal, tender snowflakes who shout down the likes of Ann Coulter and others who have the nerve to say such basic common sense truths are the real fascists.  Kudos to Gavin and Lauren for picking up the baton for Ann and carrying it forward.