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July 2018

A Profile in Courage By Spencer Abraham

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/book-review-lead-yourself-first-raymond-kethledge-courage-a-judge-needs/

A review of Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, by Raymond M. Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin.

Judges used to be rugged, because they had to be: Back when Supreme Court justices “rode circuit,” they traveled to far-flung parts of the country to hear cases. Justice Field — wearing a coat with pockets big enough for two pistols — would sail to Panama, cross the country by burro, and then sail up the coast to San Francisco. Nowadays, the more popular image of a judge might be that of a soft-handed Ivy League establishment type: Someone who grew up with elites, went to school with elites, got his ideas from elites, and eventually rejoined his kind inside the Beltway. President Trump himself famously has “one overarching question” when evaluating judicial nominees: “He’s not weak, is he?” Are there any judges left of the old mold?

I can think of at least one. I don’t know if Judge Raymond Kethledge has ever ridden a burro (or gone to San Francisco), but I do know that he has tracked game through the Michigan wilderness, pulled salmon out of the St. Mary’s River, and battled swells in his aluminum fishing boat on Lake Huron. Although not formally part of his job description as a federal judge (his own “circuit riding” takes him south to Cincinnati rather than north to upper Michigan), these rugged pursuits nonetheless illustrate the way Kethledge approaches his job. He is well-renowned for not mincing words. His decisions (which he writes himself, from outline to published opinion) are refreshingly concise, especially compared to the doorstops routinely churned out by other chambers. He holds fast to the text of statutes and the Constitution (i.e., the law) and rebukes those litigants (often federal agencies) who do not. His rigorous thinking mirrors his rigorous living.

Judge Kethledge, along with coauthor Michael Erwin, has now given us a book, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, about other leaders who have found clarity, creativity, balance, and courage through a process of rigorous thought and focused reflection. Think of General Ulysses S. Grant, holed up in the cabin of his ship until he composed a daring plan to get his troops through Vicksburg. Or General James Mattis, the “Warrior Monk” (and now the secretary of defense) who in 2011 assumed command of American military operations in the Middle East, and who took his copious library with him wherever he went.

Several others have already glowingly reviewed Lead Yourself First, but none have explained what it tells us about the man who co-wrote it. I recognize in these pages the Raymond Kethledge I’ve known since he worked for me as a young staffer more than 20 years ago, a man who has displayed the same vital leadership qualities — intelligence, creativity, balance, and, above all, courage — that he identifies in the book.

House Republicans Grill Rosenstein over Trump-Russia By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/trump-russia-probe-house-republicans-grill-rod-rosenstein/

The political branches are designed to scrap with each other, not dictate to each other.

‘You’re the boss.”

That was Representative Jim Jordan’s terse rejoinder during a feisty exchange with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing on Thursday. The Ohio Republican was blasting Rosenstein over information Republicans say Justice Department officials have concealed from Congress for a year.

As the jaw-boning continued, Rosenstein fended off claims that he had personally withheld files, redacted key portions of documents, and counseled a controversial witness, FBI agent Peter Strzok, to refuse to answer questions at a closed-door congressional interview.

These calls were made by subordinates, Rosenstein DAG-splained.

“They work for you,” Jordan bluntly replied.

And so it went. Rosenstein pointed out that, yes, 115,000 people work for him. Translation: He cannot possibly know what each of them is doing the moment they are doing it. When condescension failed, he tried earnestness: He’ll intercede with underlings if the committee brings any errors to his attention. Tin-eared, he emphasized that he had already done this several times . . . oblivious to the committee’s exasperation that it has several times been necessary to do.

Two discordant notes clanged throughout the joust. First, if Rosenstein is not actively instructing his charges to withhold information, he needs to work on his management skills, since they clearly assume this stonewall is a top-down enterprise. Has anyone been disciplined for hiding from Congress Strzok’s explosive text promising to “stop” Donald Trump from being elected? And that’s hardly an atypical concealment. If Rosenstein isn’t encouraging this nonsense, how come nobody’s walking the plank over it?

Second, while House Republicans revel in reminding anyone who will listen that DOJ’s intransigent middle managers work for Rosenstein, they never quite get around to mentioning that Rosenstein works for President Trump. The president is better positioned than the DAG to order more transparency. And if the “witch hunt” narrative is valid, the president would be the chief beneficiary of more transparency. Yet, for all his Twitter bombast, Trump abstains . . . and then House Republicans dutifully target their ire at Rosenstein.

There’s lots of “deep state” rhetoric in the air, but Thursday looked more like a quagmire: Everybody dug in, everybody more vulnerable than their bravado suggests.

The information at issue relates, in part, to the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — and specifically when and why the Obama administration monitored the Trump campaign on suspicion of “coordination” in the Kremlin’s perfidy. Also on demand are documents pertinent to the Hillary Clinton emails investigation.

Rosenstein and Wray Squirm on the Hill By Emerald Robinson

https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/01/rosenstein-and-wray-squirm

Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray went up to Capitol Hill on Thursday to tell the House Intelligence Committee that neither one of them had noticed anything wrong with Robert Mueller’s special probe or with the anti-Trump bias of its staff.

No matter what Congress and the public had read in the massive inspector general’s report recently, they wanted everyone to know that the deputy attorney general and the FBI director had the Bureau under control now, and that Rosenstein had Wray and Mueller under control, too. Everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Couldn’t Congress just leave them alone? Here were two men metaphorically standing outside their houses now burnt to the ground, and asking the firemen inside for coffee. Should we pity them or lock them up as madmen?

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) pointed out that Rosenstein had conflicts everywhere you turned. How could he oversee the Mueller probe when he had written the memo to President Trump recommending former FBI Director James Comey be fired in the first place? If reports were true that Mueller was investigating the president for “obstruction” related to firing Comey, then hadn’t Rosenstein set up a loop to investigate himself? Wasn’t he the origin point of the whole mess?

“Congressman, I can assure you that if it were appropriate for me to recuse, I would be more than happy to do so,” Rosenstein said. “But it’s my responsibility to do it.” Apparently, he felt comfortable being the responsible party for the whole mess. That air of supreme confidence would not last long.

Then Rosenstein assured Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), “There is no one more committed to rooting out abuse and misconduct than I. We look to find any credible evidence, and we give it to Chairman Nunes.” That was a soothing answer, except for the fact it was untrue. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has told the world repeatedly that Rosenstein is obstructing his investigation. Nunes had even appeared on Sean Hannity’s show to tell the public that his staff felt threatened by Rosenstein.

They’re coming to America By Victor Sharpe

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/sharpe/180629

Neil Diamond’s acclaimed hit song, “They’re Coming to America,” was his patriotic interpretation of historic and legal immigration into the United States. The powerful melody ends with an interpolation of the traditional and patriotic song, “My Country, Tis of Thee.”

But now we have illegal aliens infiltrating our 1,989-mile-long southern border, and many are coming to the sound of a very different and horribly discordant melody, one often tinged with Islamic and Arabic overtones.

According to released data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency as far back as 2014, an estimated 5,063 individuals from nations that harbor Islamic terrorists were arrested in that year alone trying to cross into America from Mexico. None of these were Mexicans, Guatemalans, or Hondurans; they were citizens from far-away nations consumed by militant Islam. It has been going on for many years and here are some of the figures from five years ago:

Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are still battling the Taliban, was the home of 70 people arrested at the southern frontier in 2013 alone.

Syria, birthplace of ISIS and a civil war ravaged nation, with some 400,000 dead, saw 72 of its nationals captured at our southern border.

Sudan, designated by the State Department as an official “state sponsor of terrorism,” where Christians in the south have been the subject of massive genocide by the Arab Muslim north, was the starting point for 168 individuals who were stopped heading to the U.S.A.

Israel ranks 11th in UN Happiness Report Amb.(Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

1. According to the UN 2018 World Happiness Report (based on Gallup World Poll survey), Israel ranks 11th, as it was ranked in 2017, trailing Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia. The ranking is based on life expectancy, income, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, 89.8% of Israeli Jews and 80.7% of Israeli Arabs – age 20 and above – are satisfied/happy, while 85% of Israeli Jews and 89% of Israeli Arabs feel safe (The Marker, June 29, 2018).

2. Warren Buffett, the Chairman, President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway: “I’ve lived through Israel’s entire 70-year history and I believe it is one of the most remarkable countries in the world…. It is a good thing for Israel that there is an America, and it is a good thing for America that there is an Israel…. (Jerusalem Post, June 14).”

3. The Germany-based Skion GmbH private investment bank led – along with Germany’s Altana – a $300MN round of investment in Israel’s Landa Digital (nanography) Printing. Both investors are owned by the $25BN net worth Susanne Klatten, Germany’s wealthiest woman. (Globes Business Daily, June 28).

4. The Dutch healthcare technology giant, Philips, acquired Israel’s cardiac imaging EPD Medical (image-guided procedures for heart rhythm disorders) for $292MN in cash in addition to $245MN in deferred milestone payments (Globes, June 7).

5. The Mountain View, California-based (FinTech) Intuit is expanding its Israel operation, hiring a few hundred more employees over the next three years, which will require $50MN annually. Intuit launched its Israel operation in 2014 upon acquiring Check for $360MN and then cyber technology Porticor for $10MN. Currently, Intuit explores the acquisition of a young artificial-intelligence Israeli company (Globes, June 27).

LINDA GOUDSMIT: NATIONALISM IS NOT A DIRTY WORD

http://goudsmit.pundicity.com/21337/nationalism-is-not-a-dirty-word
http://goudsmit.pundicity.com
http://lindagoudsmit.com

When did American nationalism become a dirty word? Under Obama of course! Obama’s leftist war against America is a war against American nationalism. America emerged from WWII as the most powerful economic nation on earth and invincible militarily. Enemies of the United States domestically and internationally would need a different strategy to defeat her.

Aesop’s 6th century B.C. fable “The Four Oxen and the Lion” offers that strategy.

“A lion used to prowl about a field in which four oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four. United we stand, divided we fall.”

American nationalism is the common denominator that unifies America which is why the war against America specifically targets American nationalism. Obama’s leftist strategy is one of creating divisiveness within America because divided we fall. This is how it works.

The great conflict in the world today is between nationalism and internationalism. Nationalism supports the national sovereignty of independent countries trading fairly in the global marketplace. Internationalism supports globalism – a globalized one world nation, one world economy, one world language, one world currency, one world flag, one world educational curriculum, one world police force, one world army, and most significantly one world government.

The New World Order of one world government is deceitfully marketed by globalist elites as the universal system for social justice and income equality. The problem, of course, is that the “New” World Order is a return to the very old world feudal system of masters and slaves. There is nothing new about a binary socio-political system having the few elite rulers at the top of the social pyramid and the enslaved masses at the base. Obama’s leftist lemmings are useful idiots participating in their own destruction and do not realize they will end up as slaves in the new world order.

Ohio Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Protect Kids from Transgender Mafia at School By Megan Fox

https://pjmedia.com/parenting/ohio-lawmaker-introduces-bill-to-protect-kids-from-transgender-mafia-at-school/

Parents have the right to say no to dangerous hormone therapies and disfiguring surgery.

In a recent court decision, Sylvia Sieve Hendon, an Ohio juvenile court judge, awarded custody of a gender-confused minor to the grandparents so he could defy his parents’ wishes and get hormone therapy. The decision alarmed lawmakers and parents in the state so much that new legislation is being considered to stop it from happening again.

Ohio House Bill 658 sets out clear guidelines regarding parental rights when children face the mental disorder of gender dysphoria. The bill ensures that parents have the final say on how to treat their children who are experiencing gender confusion and makes it illegal for anyone else to do so (like teachers or school therapists) without parental consent. The law also would make it illegal for a judge to remove a minor from his parents’ custody for refusing to treat gender dysphoria with irreversible, dangerous drugs that can cause sterility and disrupt natural development. Further, the law would require any adult with authority over a child to inform the parents if the child is considering gender “therapy.”

Transgender activists are intent on demonizing this law. From the gay publication Them, Mary Emily O’Hara writes,

Ohio House Bill 658 would turn school employees, psychologists, and social workers into spies of a sort; the legislation mandates that they disclose to parents if a minor approaches them with questions about gender identity or seeks mental health care for gender dysphoria. And if they don’t inform the child’s parents — regardless of concern for the safety or wellbeing of the child — they would face felony charges.

In every school across this nation, teachers and counselors are prohibited from giving a minor Tylenol without parental consent, yet activists want them to be able to refer kids for body mutilation without telling their parents? Parents must give consent to send kids on field trips, watch movies, and even eat a hot lunch. Why is it offensive to inform parents when their minor child is having an identity crisis? What kind of educators would want to hide such a serious thing from the people who love the child the most? Parents in this nation are held responsible financially and otherwise for the well-being of their children. They take on all the risks and burdens of parenting and are responsible for anything their minor child does (and sometimes can even go to jail for it). Shouldn’t parents get the benefit of making major decisions concerning those minors when it comes to something as life-altering as gender reassignment surgery or “therapy”?

If state legislatures don’t do something to protect parents’ rights soon, the Gaystappo will be forcing parents to not only agree to poisonous hormone “therapy,” but making them pay for it too! Already in several states the gay rights activists have pushed through legislation that bars parents from seeking Christian counseling for their children suffering from gender or sexual confusion.

Convinced she’s Churchill, Hillary Clinton is ready for her comeback By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/06/convinced_shes_churchill_hillary_clinton_is_ready_for_her_comeback.html

Hillary Clinton is convinced she’s Winston Churchill.

Get a load of what her adoring media say, from Front Page Magazine, quoting the Guardian:

Hillary Clinton, in an interview with a British newspaper this week, appeared to compare herself to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill while responding to a question about being a polarizing figure.

“I’m sure they said that about Churchill between the wars, didn’t they?” she told The Guardian when asked if she should withdraw from public life to help heal divisions in the U.S., given her reputation.

What a pathetic picture: a washed up presidential candidate who was convinced she had it in the bag and who up until now has been otherwise blaming everyone but herself for it (as President Trump has noticed), now delving into the history books in search of delusions of grandeur. “Between the wars”? Like, out in the political wilderness, you know, before the big comeback?

For a while there, the séances were all about channeling Eleanor Roosevelt (why didn’t that ever become a campaign issue?), but now, it looks as though she’s moved on, moved to a bigger league, moved to channel Churchill. Must be some séances…

It must make sense from her point of view. Aren’t President Trump’s “deplorables” really just Nazis? That’s the word from the denizens of the left. So of course they are, too, in her leftist mind…Nazis, Churchill…it all clicks together.

Beyond Churchill himself, there’s also the Churchill narrative, and there it must make even more sense. Churchill warned about Nazis, got thrown out of power, and then the U.K. ended up with Neville Chamberlain, who tried to cut deals with Hitler at Munich. The result of that mess was that the U.K. went right back and brought him in again.

No Lib Outrage for Andrew Tahmooressi By Daniel John Sobieski

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/no_lib_outrage_for_andrew_tahmooressi.html

It depends on whose ox is being gored, the saying goes, or maybe it depends on whose border is being crossed for those now outraged over U.S. border policy were silent when Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), languished in a Mexican prison in 2014 for the crime of making a wrong turn and wandering into Mexico with legal U.S. firearms in his vehicle.

Tahmooressi, a 25-year-old combat veteran, was jailed in late March 2014, after he missed a freeway exit near San Ysidro, Calif. and drove into Tijuana. The active U.S. Marine reservist, who served two combat tours in Afghanistan, was moving to San Diego to be close to his treatment center for his PTSD at the time of his arrest.

In his trunk, Mexican authorities found three guns legally owned in the United States. Tahmooressi was incarcerated in La Mesa Prison in Tijuana. After Mexican authorities said he allegedly attempted to escape and suffered a self-inflicted stab wound, he was at one point placed in a jail infirmary with his arms and legs restrained. That April, Tahmooressi even attempted to take his own life.

If you want to consider the alleged harshness of U.S. immigration policy, consider Mexico’s treatment of Tahmoressi and the callous indifference of President Obama to his plight, as Obama was really putting illegal alien children in cages after separating them from their families:

We tolerate armed incursions by Mexican authorities and a flood of unaccompanied minors and other illegal aliens but are quite content to let a Marine with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder who made a wrong turn on his way to San Diego twist in the breeze of the Mexican judicial system.