[Townhall] Liberal commentator Sally Kohn and several left-wing groups called for Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to step down Monday after new allegations surfaced that Franken had groped a second woman in 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair. Franken was accused last week of groping and forcibly kissing Leeann Tweeden who released a photo of Franken groping her while she slept.
"Time for Al Franken to go," Kohn tweeted. "Wrong is wrong. And the Democrats need to show they strongly AND CONSISTENTLY stand for women’s rights."
#2
He'll never resign. Mugabe is the right comparison. Power is too important to him, he's long felt that he is a super important person, and now that he's got it he'll never give it up.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 ||
11/21/2017 3:41 Comments ||
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#3
"And the Democrats need to show they strongly AND CONSISTENTLY stand for women’s rights."
Ya know, I couldn't agree more. Hillary Clinton is awfully quiet about her lady friends in Saudi Arabia. She's awfully quiet about Bill's lady friends as well.
Folks that age know when speaking outside their 'meme' they sound diminished. Hilarity clings to her unelection, my mother-in-law pounds the table about 'false or symbolic narrative'.
#5
After another news cycle or two this will all be forgotten. Franken understands this. He'll lay low until then and hold onto his Senate seat. He will not relinquish his power.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/21/2017 10:57 Comments ||
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#6
#5 He will not relinquish his power.
If the donks really want him gone, they'll primary him. But don't hold your breath.
#10
Yep, having 5+ years of his term left is a problem. An alternative strategy would be to make him an unperson, i.e. strip him (aaaagh! my eyes!)) of all duties and committee assignments. Again, don't hold your breath.
[Free Beacon] States with lower taxes on businesses and personal income have higher economic growth, according to an economist at the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Jonathan Williams, an economist at the council, spoke at an event on the Hill Monday and used two states, Kansas and North Carolina, to illustrate how raising and cutting taxes can affect the local state economy in either a positive or negative way.
Williams explained that while many try to suggest Kansas's economic difficulty has been due to tax cuts they have implemented in the past, the data suggest otherwise.
"Based on our ranking of rich states, poor states of economic competitiveness, Kansas started out about 10 years ago at 29th in America," Williams explained. "After tax reform, about 2013, it bolted up to number 11."
Additionally, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis find that from 2012 to 2015 Kansas had annualized job growth of 1.3 percent per 10,000 residents.
"Kansas trailed the national averages in economic growth for years before the 2012 reforms," Williams said. "That was one of the primary drivers for tax reform in the first place."
But since this time, Kansas has implemented more tax increases and has since fallen from 11th place.
"After subsequent tax increases they've fallen ... way down to 26 now in terms of economic outlook," Williams said. "So you see a see-saw effect based on taxes and refusal to cut spending."
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said the left tries to use Kansas as a case study for why taxes should not be cut. Instead, he says, the states with no income tax and the states with the highest taxes should be compared.
[ARABNEWS] The four-decade alliance between Iraqi Kurds and Shiites was thrown into doubt on Monday as Baghdad moved to further consolidate its grip on northern Iraq.
The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the controversial referendum in September, in which more than 90 percent of Kurds voted for independence, was unconstitutional, and canceled the results.
Kurdish leaders said they respected the decision, but senior Shiite figures noted that the Kurds had not agreed to be bound by it ‐ and they told Arab News that relations between the two groups could not return to where they were before the referendum.
The Shiites considered the referendum a "stab in the back" by the Kurds, and a betrayal of all the charters and agreements between the two parties since the 1970s.
"We have been suffering from verbal manipulation by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Today they said the court’s decision was unilateral and they respected it but they did not say they were bound by it," Abdullah al-Zaidi, who is responsible for Shiite-Kurdish relations in the ruling Shiite National Alliance, told Arab News.
"The KRG must take a forward step and say it is bound by the court’s decisions, rather than saying it respects the court’s decisions."
Leading Shiites, federal officials and members of Parliament told Arab News that talks between the Kurds and the federal government would be based only on the Iraqi constitution.
In addition, the situation on the ground in disputed areas and the steps taken by the federal government to impose its control of regional airports and border crossings would not change, and Baghdad would exert more pressure to impose fully constitutional federal authority in and around the region.
"Baghdad is continuing to implement the constitution and the imposition of federal authority within the region and in the disputed areas, with no return to the situation prior to Sept. 25," al-Zaidi said.
"Kurdish leaders wrote the constitution with us and they know what it contains."
Habib al-Turfi, a senior Shiite MP, told Arab News: "Whether they accept it or not, it the referendum is over and a new page is supposed to be opened."
"They have no choice, but to accept the decision of the court and work based on it. The region has been given much more than its right, but now things have to go back to normal."
The Kurdistan regional prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, said: "The government of the region confirms its commitment to all articles of the Iraqi constitution and demands the application of all of it. The lack of application of the constitution is what led the Kurdistan Region to hold the referendum."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2017 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Iraq today has an elected Parliament, and 90 years ago it also had an elected Parliament; one of the oldest countries in the world to exercise modern democracy.
In theory, community awareness should develop over time, but this is not always the case.
Iraq’s parliamentarians are considering amending the Personal Status Law to allow for several pieces of legislation, including permitting girls as young as 9 to marry, and allowing tribal customs between clans and others.
It is almost not too far from the thoughts and practices of ISIS, the terrorist group!
The problem of democratization in "simple" societies (less developed and less aware) has been repeated.
The Parliament reflects the state of society and its culture. Parliamentarians deal with democracy in its basic concepts by applying what the people want, by pleasing their constituents and by meeting their demands.
The prevalence of culture and awareness in Iraqi society is similar to that in most Arab societies ‐ simple and limited, dominated by old rural customs and traditions, although Iraq is a country of great ancient civilizations and a country that has been associated with new civilization since the beginning of the last century.
Egypt, too, is a country of ancient civilizations and the first Middle Eastern country to respond to and assimilate modern industrial civilization, but it suffers the same situation as Iraq.
After the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , an outcome of the "Arab Spring," there was a debate among the victors about the concepts of democracy and liberalism associated with it.
When the Moslem Brüderbund group came to power, by election, represented in the party of President Mohammed Morsi, they tried to write a new constitution in line with the rest of the Egyptian political forces.
Because they won, the Islamist group thought they had the right to dictate their views in the proposed constitution on the ground that they had won the most votes.
Their vision of the constitution would be written at the expense of minorities such as the Copts and women, and the marginalization of the principle of separation of powers by domination over the judiciary. This is a distorted concept of democracy.
Iraqis are overpowered by conservative, religious and tribal social forces; the constitution allows those forces to practice political action without setting limits on their power to use their influence in elections, and on parliamentary or government action.
Religious forces, in particular, exploit this to attack their rivals or strengthen their influence by raising money in the name of religion to form armed militias, claiming that it is their religious duty.
Because the central authority is weak and cannot confront these militias to avoid internal sedition, all it has done is prevent armed religious political forces from contesting elections. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... these forces can maneuver through the appointment of those who won the backing of the armed militias to run in the elections.
But the state cannot deny religious workers, as it prevents the military, from entering politics, because more than half of Iraq’s politicians today belong to religious organizations as well as tribal groups.
The supreme judicial authority cannot intervene to prevent Parliament from imposing legislation that violates the principles of democracy and the basic rights of Iraqis, whether ethnic or religious minorities, women, or others.
Democracy suffers in backward societies, and the elite’s relative awareness fails to impose itself; although segments of society are well aware and educated, they remain a minority.
Extremists can override democracy by voting for the same ends that the snuffies failed to achieve by force of arms!
The irony is that if Parliament votes to amend the Personal Status Law and allows the marriage of female children, then Iraq will be placed on the list of countries that violate human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... ; but at the same time it will remain classed as one of the democratic countries in the world because of its government and its legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Quaint Tribal Customs™ Where would humanity be today without them? Oh, sorry I asked...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/21/2017 21:31 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. is a natural reaction of anyone, who has a sense of dignity and self esteem, is forced to accept his continued presence in a team that threatens his ministers with arms and extortion and supports a sectarian system with no purpose other than to destabilize the region and indulges in money laundering, drug trafficking and militia financing.
Hezbollah is undeniably and unmistakably a terrorist organization that does not deserve to live in a respectful and honorable manner, and therefore it has no place to continue officially in Lebanese political life even if some Lebanese decide to accept this criminal group and "beautify it" by giving it funny titles such as the resistance movement or the opposition axis.
This criminal group is accused of killing former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and dozens of other political and media figures. It is also accused of financing terrorism and supporting militias in different places around the world.
This gang is led by Hassan Nasrallah, a terrorist par excellence, who in the garb of religion and resistance in fact indulges in criminal activities which have nothing to do with Israel. As a matter of fact the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah was never subjected to any liquidation attempt by Israel.
A stark reality
This is a stark reality that must be recognized by all. The terrorist organization serves as a link and a great starting point for the Iranian project of exporting the sectarian revolution in the region. Iran has used these Lebanese tools and means for years for its nefarious design.
The Arab world remained quiet until Iran and its tools, led by Hezbollah, the terrorist organization, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah joined hands with sectarian Khamenei, who has been spearheading his vicious and divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... agenda in the region from Qom for a long time.
The nefarious and diabolic design took its toll on of Leb, resulting in the rise of sectarian rift, social strife and political upheaval. It also gave rise to the financial corruption, as it is evident that the Lebanese banking system is facing serious because of Hezbollah's terrorism.
There can be no more evidence of Hezbollah’s terrorism than the evidence of its involvement in the "Abdali cell" in Kuwait, which was explicitly seeking to overthrow the regime, just as in Bahrain through its terrorist intervention.
The same is said about what happened in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Leb is kidnapped, occupied and threatened by an organization with no honor, no morals, and no loyalty but to Iran. If Leb is led by a group that is absent and chooses to be absent, the Arab world does not have to cope with this nonsense and political hypocrisy.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2017 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] The Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is ratcheting up his criticism of President Hassan Rouhani, echoed by Iran’s state-owned media.
Some scholars and policy analysts are interpreting Khamenei’s opposition to Rouhani as a manifestation of Iran’s dynamic, democratic and inclusive political system. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... looking closely at the history of the Iranian regime and Khamenei’s nearly three-decade rule, it becomes evident that this argument is simplistic and fails to demonstrate the complexity of the regime’s apparatuses.
Since Khamenei became supreme leader in June 1989, he has distanced himself from his presidents, especially in their second presidential term; he has done this with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjnai, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and now Rouhani. For example, Khamenei’s criticism of Ahmadinejad in his second term was evident, although the regime’s leader strongly endorsed Ahmadinejad at the beginning of his term and promoted him later.
So why would Khamenei criticize his presidents in public? First of all, he knows that they cannot fulfill people’s economic demands because the nation’s revenues are directed to the treasury of the Office of the Supreme Leader and spent on Khamenei’s gilded circle of cronies, proxies and military advisers. Khamenei has made it clear in his speeches that Rouhani has failed to improve the Iranian people’s economic life or fulfill any of his economic promises.
Khamenei is distancing himself from the president’s failures. He is evading responsibility and accountability. He is attempting to manipulate the disaffected population, who are suffering from unemployment and poverty, by telling them simply that Rouhani is the one to blame, and your supreme leader sympathizes with you. Khamenei is deluding the people into believing that, like the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people, he too is opposed to the government in the shape of the presidential office.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/21/2017 00:00 ||
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[Daily Caller] Much of the world’s conflict can be attributed to illegal immigration, which spreads terrorism and instability, Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi said in a speech on Monday.
Speaking to European and Asian leaders gathered in Myanmar’s capital, Suu Kyi said the world is in a new period of unrest partly because of "illegal immigration’s spread of terrorism and violent extremism," according to the Associated Press. She also cited "social disharmony and even the threat of nuclear war."
Suu Kyi’s remarks at the annual EU-Asian foreign ministers conference come as Myanmar is embroiled in a humanitarian crisis over the forced exodus of Rohingya Muslims from the country’s western Rakhine state. Although she did not mention the Rohingya situation in her speech, Suu Kyi’s reference to illegal immigration echoed the widespread view among Myanmar’s majority Buddhist population that the Rohingya are illegal interlopers and responsible for terrorist attacks.
#1
It would follow that illegal acts such as illegal immigration would be likely to be precursors to further illegal acts. Seldom does a successful bank robber stop and then get out--success in an endeavor is reinforcing despite the endeavor being illegal.
[NoPasaran] Initially promising freedom, like all revolutions, it has entered something like its Reign of Terror phase and is devouring its own children. As with other revolutions, it is not because the revolutionaries enjoy broad popular support; it is because civic and religious leaders are confused, divided, and cowed into silence. Those whom one expects to impose some order on all this‐conservative politicians, religious leaders, civil libertarians, journalists, scholars‐are either hiding under the table or signaling their virtue by themselves fanning the flames of a hysteria that they show no interest in trying to understand.
Even as one hysteria‐the campus "rape epidemic"‐is finally exposed as a hoax by the common sense of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, another breaks out over Harvey Weinstein and others (and still others) emerge almost daily. The commentariat from the left to the right is either diffident or so intoxicated with sanctimony that they are unable to write about it critically. Yet once we strip away the obfuscating jargon and ideology, it becomes very clear what is going on.
For there is nothing new about the sordid behavior. All that is new‐and all that makes it newsworthy‐is that it has been politicized.
To begin with, there is not, and never has been, any epidemic of "sexual harassment," "sexual assault," "domestic violence," or the rest. It is not that deeds associated with these terms do not happen; the terms themselves are ideological constructions designed to create hysteria and mean nothing. There are, and always have been, criminal statutes in place to protect women (along with everyone else) from violent crime. There have also long been civil provisions to protect them from sexual pressure from superiors in the workplace. Anyone experiencing either of these offenses can readily file charges or complaints. And no, there is certainly no longer any "stigma" against doing so, if there ever was.
What we do have‐as many long ago warned we would have‐is a highly sexualized culture controlled by men and women who have succeeded in changing the terms of sexuality because they have both ideological and pecuniary interests in using sex as a financial tool and a political weapon. Privileged men and women have thrown off virtually all controls on sexual indulgence, which they can use not only for personal self-gratification but also‐and quite predictably‐as the means to advance their careers, accumulate wealth, eliminate rivals, punish opponents, extort money, and generally acquire political power. These practices are especially rampant in the commanding heights of our culture: the media, universities, Hollywood, television, and the fashion industry, all of which by their nature are dedicated to profiteering off sexual appeal and which bestow high rewards on people who provide it. Because most of us are consumers of these industries, few of us can completely wash our hands of responsibility. 1938
#1
"rape epidemic" - cause it was on going within the Left. It was all Freudian Projection on others. Their core rationale was 'yeah, we're bad, but they are worse' except they aren't. They want everyone else to pay for their sins.
#4
The Campus Rape epidemic probably started because Liberals control the university system and they know that pretty much everything they control has a rape epidemic before long. They just assumed...
BLUF:
[Townhall] This indulgence of the self leads nowhere good. As Goethe observed, "All eras in a state of decline and dissolution are subjective; on the other hand, all progressive eras have an objective tendency." A nation cannot long endure when "every man [does] what is right in his own eyes." When truth and virtue become subject to "what works for me," societal decline cannot but follow.
Americans tend to take their future prosperity for granted, believing that the United States will reign as the world’s greatest power for many decades to come. But superpowers have fallen before. And not necessarily because of war. Internal rot has just as often been the culprit. Should we not worry?
On this 75th anniversary of "Casablanca," let us emulate Rick Blaine. Let us once again commit ourselves to the pursuit of honor and virtue. Let us aim to oblige, not ourselves, but the right and the good ‐ no matter the cost.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Townhall] Liberal commentator Sally Kohn and several left-wing groups called for Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to step down Monday after new allegations surfaced that Franken had groped a second woman in 2010 at the Minnesota State Fair. Franken was accused last week of groping and forcibly kissing Leeann Tweeden who released a photo of Franken groping her while she slept.
[Free Beacon] States with lower taxes on businesses and personal income have higher economic growth, according to an economist at the American Legislative Exchange Council.
[ARABNEWS] Iraq today has an elected Parliament, and 90 years ago it also had an elected Parliament; one of the oldest countries in the world to exercise modern democracy.
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
[Daily Caller] Much of the world’s conflict can be attributed to illegal immigration, which spreads terrorism and instability, Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi said in a speech on Monday.
