TRUMP GOES ALINSKY: USES THE TACTICS OF THE LEFT TO ATTACK HILLARY CLINTON...

One Citizen Speaking...

---

• TRUMP GOES ALINSKY: USES THE TACTICS OF THE LEFT TO ATTACK HILLARY CLINTON
• SALT LAKE CITY GOP DEBATE CANCELED: TRUMP AFRAID TO GO HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH TED CRUZ?
• GOP TYING TO STEAL ELECTION 
• TRUMP, KASICH AND THE ESTABLISHMENT SPIN ...

TRUMP GOES ALINSKY: USES THE TACTICS OF THE LEFT TO ATTACK HILLARY CLINTON Posted: 16 Mar 2016 12:34 PM PDT It appears that Donald Trump has taken a lesson from the Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and used Rule #5 (“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.) to ridicule Hillary Clinton …   Is this what we want for a President? by @realdonaldtrump

SALT LAKE CITY GOP DEBATE CANCELED: TRUMP AFRAID TO GO HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH TED CRUZ? Posted: 16 Mar 2016 12:55 PM PDT The March 21st GOP debate in Salt Lake City has been canceled … In a stunning show of cowardice, Trump has proven he is not ready for the presidency and is afraid of Ted Cruz.  Donald Trump announced that he would not participate, followed by John Kasich, leaving event sponsors, Fox News, to cancel the debate. “I thought the last debate on CNN was the last debate, that was going to be it. Nobody told me there were going to be more debates” the billionaire said. “I think we’ve had enough debates.” GOP presidential debate in SLC canceled Monday's GOP presidential debate scheduled here in Utah has been canceled, FOX 13 News has confirmed. The decision to cancel the debate followed Donald Trump's announcement on "FOX & Friends" that he would not be appearing. Instead, he said he would be appearing at a pro-Israel group's event on Monday night. Trump dropping out led John Kasich to indicate he would not be appearing at Monday's debate. Following phone conferences between FOX News Channel and the Republican National Committee, the event was canceled, representatives for the Salt Palace confirmed. Utah Republican Party officials told FOX 13 it was Kasich's decision to back out of Monday's debate that killed it. Ted Cruz would have been the only candidate on stage. Source: GOP presidential debate in SLC canceled | fox13now.com

GOP TYING TO STEAL ELECTION  Posted: 16 Mar 2016 10:43 AM PDT Something stinks in the GOP as the establishment leadership plot to thwart the will of “We the People” and to disenfranchise the Trump an Cruz voters because both men are wild cards when it comes to continuing crony capitalism and leaving Washington’s dung heap intact.  The devil is in the details … A convention rule adopted in the 2012 convention at the behest of Mitt Romney who feared delegate dilution by populist libertarian Ron Paul specifies that to be a viable selection, a candidate must win the majority of delegates in eight states or territories. Of course, pre-convention maneuvering or floor actions preceding any candidate name being entered can affect how business is done.   We choose the nominee, not the voters: Senior GOP official Curly Haugland, RNC Rules Committee, and Gary Emineth, former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, talk about Republican convention rules and why it could lead to a contested convention.  Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.  "The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That's the conflict here," Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.  Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don't hold primaries or caucuses.  Source: We choose the nominee, not the voters: Senior GOP official John Boehner, the country club crybaby who typifies the establishment elaborates … Boehner backs Paul Ryan for president Former Speaker John Boehner said Paul Ryan should be the Republican nominee for president if the party fails to choose a candidate on the first ballot. "If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above," Boehner said at the Futures Industry Association conference here. "They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee."  Source: Boehner backs Paul Ryan for president - POLITICO Now is the time for John Kasich to step aside … While any candidate should be free to compete until the bitter end, common decency and love of country should prevail. John Kasich who has zero mathematical probability for a path to a first-vote nomination should gracefully bow out – even to the extent of not participating in the March 21, 2016 presidential debate sponsored by the unfair and unbalanced Fox News, the “Trump Network.” The idea that Trump dominates the news cycle by manipulating the news with outrageous statements should be moderated.  Trump needs 591 delegates to take the first ballot. (1,237 – 646)  Cruz needs 841 delegates to take the first ballot (1,237 – 396)  Rubio needs 1,068 delegates to take the first ballot (1,237 – 169)  Kasich needs 1,095 delegates to take the first ballot (1,237 – 142)  There are an estimated 2,472 delegates available (Source) and Trump, Cruz, and Rubio have 1,211, leaving 1,261 delegates open. Of which Kasich would need approximately 89% of the remaining delegates to reach a first ballot victory. An impossible scenario.  Since anyone can apparently be nominated by the party’s leaders after the first ballot, there is no downside for Kasich stepping aside at this point in time.  Bottom line … Politics is a dirty game of power, money, and pure arm-twisting. We are so screwed when our party’s leaders and candidates put themselves ahead of our national interests. At this point in time we need a constitutional conservative in office; not a free-spending crony capitalist establishment candidate pandering to the special interests and usual suspects. Ted Cruz has proven he can beat Trump, he certainly can beat Hillary Clinton, and he is the right man at the right time in our nation’s history. -- steve

TRUMP, KASICH AND THE ESTABLISHMENT SPIN ... Posted: 15 Mar 2016 10:03 PM PDT If you listen to the lamestream media, or even Fox News, billionaire bully boy Donald Trump has a clear ascendancy path to the GOP nomination. Unfortunately, unless John Kasich will put his country before his personal ambition, there might be a contested convention and the “status quo” establishment will prevail. Giving us four more years of crony capitalism and waste, fraud, and abuse – or a direct line to progressive socialism/communism. Are the progressive socialist democrats are using Donald Trump as a stalking horse to hijack the GOP?  Trump is no conservative, he is a lucky billionaire buffoon at the right place at the right time. In fact he admits to being more a progressive socialist democrat than a republican … Trump in '04: 'I probably identify more as Democrat' Before Donald Trump was a front-running Republican presidential candidate, the real estate mogul believed that the nation's economy ran better when Democrats were in control and that Hillary Clinton would be a strong negotiator with foreign nations. "In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat," Trump told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a 2004 interview. "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans." <Source: CNN News> The truth is that Donald Trump is a New York Liberal and Kasich is an establishment spoiler … New York Liberals …  Bottom line … Remember it is not about the number of states that are won, it is all about the number of delegates and who can get to 1,237 first. If nobody gets 1,237, you go to a contested convention. There should only be two people standing on the Fox Stage and only two candidates left in the race: Donald Trump representing establishment authoritarian crony capitalism and Ted Cruz representing constitutional conservatism. If Trump loses to a pre-indictment Hillary, we are screwed. If Trump wins, we are screwed. And, if Hillary wins and is indicted, we get her Vice President as the new Barack Obama, and we are screwed. The deck is stacked unless Ted Cruz has a breakout. -- steve

Borderland Beat has covered the violence and chaos that erupted in Reynosa this past weekend that was precipitated by a government operation to "take down" an alleged drug kingpin. That individual, Cheoflas Martinez, is not exactly a major organized crime figure...

Borderland Beat

---

Looking For Answers; Reynosa  Posted: 16 Mar 2016 04:56 PM PDT Posted by DD. Republished from Silver or Lead Borderland Beat has covered the violence and chaos that erupted in Reynosa this past weekend that was precipitated by a government operation to "take down" an alleged drug kingpin.  That individual, Cheoflas Martinez, is not exactly a major organized crime figure.   Alejandro Hope* (see resume following the story), a well respected and leading analyst and thinker on Mexican politics and the Mexican drug wars, has given BB permission to  republish  today's issue of Silver and Lead wherein he asks the question WHY all this violence occurred and gives his views    WHY?  Silver or Lead. A newsletter by Alejandro Hope. View this email in your browser Fire on the border. This weekend, a furious and prolonged shootout erupted in the border city of Reynosa, leaving at least nine people dead. The cause: an operation to capture a kingpin, who, of all places, was watching horse races in Mexico City while the battle raged (he was detained in the nation’s capital the next day). This individual, Cleofas Martínez, is not exactly a major organized crime figure. He is the head of a faction of what was once the Gulf Cartel (CDG) and his crew has been fighting other similar gangs for control of drug routes and extortion rights in Reynosa. Yet an attempt to detain him was enough to produce chaos in a city of 600 thousand inhabitants. Why? The authorities are stuck on the kingpin strategy. The successor gangs of the CDG or the Zetas are small enough to try to dismantle them whole in one fell swoop, not just cut their head. But that requires a more patient and intelligence-heavy approach than a straight kingpin takedown. Since the capabilities of Mexican agencies are not quite there, they do what they have learned to do (capturing individual capos), even if that creates battle scenes in urban areas. Mexican agencies should know by now that trying to take down a kingpin in Tamaulipas leads to a) prolonged shootouts and b) blockades. The same thing has happened time and time again. But still there were no visible preventive measures (such as readying tow trucks to quickly remove blockades). Somehow there is very little institutional learning in Mexican security agencies. Tamaulipas has not developed law enforcement institutions that can provide a modicum of peace and order. So the job falls on the armed forces, who tend to be heavy-handed in their dealings with organized crime. Fragmentation has yet to run its course in Tamaulipas. No single gang is dominant in the state and no one seems able to impose some order in the criminal underworld. That creates an opening for hyper violent local criminals with very short time horizons.  Bottom line. This is not the first time that gun battles have erupted in the border towns of Tamaulipas. It will certainly not be the last time either. Expect disorder to continue in that troubled state for a long time to come.         This and that  Tapping the pipelines. One would have thought that low oil prices would have created a disincentive for fuel theft. One would be wrong. Details here. The interactive section You have some security-related information you want to share with us? Send it to ahope@eldailypost.com Things to look for Not much today. Sorry.  Copyright © El Daily Post, 2015 All rights reserved. unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences *Alejandro Hope is on the Board of Directors of Insight Crime and Director of Security at the Instituto Mexicano para La Competitividad (IMCO). Prior to his current position, Hope served various management positions at the Center for Investigation and National Security (CISEN) between 2008 and 2011. Between 2001 and 2008, he worked as a consulting partner at Group of Economists and Associates (GEA), a consulting firm specializing in economic and political analysis. He has a degree in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Ph.D. candidate in the same subject.

Russia reportedly withdrew approximately fifteen of its airframes from the Bassel al Assad International Airport in Latakia Province from March 15 - 16, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a drawdown on March 14...

Russian Airstrikes in Syria:  February 29 - March 15, 2016 By Genevieve Casagrande Russia reportedly withdrew approximately fifteen of its airframes from the Bassel al Assad International Airport in Latakia Province from March 15 - 16, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a drawdown on March 14. Five Russian Su-34 bombers, four Su-25s, five Su-24s, and at least one Su-30 had left the airbase to return to Russia as of March 16, according to a Reuters investigation of Russian state media. Russian officials asserted that Russia would nonetheless continue its counter-terrorism efforts, a term Russia has previously used to obfuscate its air campaign in support of President Bashar al Assad against mainstream elements of the Syrian opposition. Russia has yet to withdraw many of its other aircraft from the base, including numerous short- and medium-range bombers. Putin has messaged his determination to defend both the airfield at Bassel al Assad and Russia's naval basing in Tartous as well as his intent to retain the S-400 air defense system in Latakia. Russia has therefore gained significant capabilities along the Eastern Mediterranean that it intends to secure. Russia will therefore continue to be able to rapidly deploy long- and medium-range air assets into the theater through its airbase in Latakia. As Russia's air campaign had operated at decreased levels since the cessation of hostilities agreement on February 27 and had lowered its rate of airstrikes even further from March 14 - 15, Russia may be removing excess airframes from the base.  Russian airstrikes in Syria have notably decreased since Putin's announcement and partial drawdown. ISW was only able to confirm strikes in the vicinity of the ISIS-held town of Palmyra in central Homs Province with both high and low confidence from March 14 - 15. Pro-regime forces launched a renewed campaign to seize Palmyra in early March, backed heavily by Russian and regime fixed and rotary wing strikes. Russia will likely continue its air operations in support of the regime ground offensive against Palmyra, despite the drawdown. The combination of Russian airpower and likely Iranian reinforcement has brought Assad's forces within four kilometers of Palmyra as of March 16. The current "cessation of hostilities," which does not apply to ISIS targets and which has reduced overall levels of violence has likely allowed the regime to refocus efforts on clearing ISIS's presence in central Homs. Russia will also use its air operations against ISIS as a means to further project itself as a provider of international security and to legitimize its continued presence inside Syria. Russia's airstrikes against ISIS, however, come at a cost. Alleged videos and photos from Palmyra show the damage caused by the intensity of Russia's air campaign in the area, while local sources continue to report civilian casualties, highlighting the continued indiscriminate nature of Russian airstrikes. The Russian air campaign and recovery of Palmyra may on the surface seem to support U.S. objectives against ISIS, but over the long term may exacerbate grievances and insurgency. The following graphic depicts ISW's assessment of Russian airstrike locations based on reports from local Syrian activist networks, Syrian state-run media, and statements by Russian and Western officials. This map represents locations targeted by Russia's air campaign, rather than the number of individual strikes or sorties.   High-Confidence reporting. ISW places high confidence in reports corroborated both by official government statements reported through credible channels and documentation from rebel factions or activist networks on the ground in Syria deemed to be credible. Low-Confidence reporting. ISW places low confidence in secondary sources that have not been confirmed or sources deemed likely to contain disinformation.

Another Climate Scientist Indicted for Financial Fraud Analysis on hysteria about February global temperature rise NASA’s chief climate scientist admits warm temps due to El Nino...

Another Climate Scientist Indicted for Financial Fraud

---

• Another Climate Scientist Indicted for Financial Fraud
• Analysis on hysteria about February global temperature rise
• NASA’s chief climate scientist admits warm temps due to El Nino
• Obama to Energy Producers: Drop Dead – Rejects Multi-Billion Dollar Jordan Cove Gas Export Plan
• Coal company’s stocks plunge after Clinton says she will shutter mines
• Top GOP Lawmaker Is Worried NOAA’s Keeping ‘Global Warming’ Emails From Congress

Another Climate Scientist Indicted for Financial Fraud Posted: 17 Mar 2016 11:24 AM PDT

Analysis on hysteria about February global temperature rise Posted: 17 Mar 2016 11:23 AM PDT The shrill article below is panicking over February temperatures so I suppose I should point out a few obvious things. I have really dealt with this nonsense before but a few comments anyway. For a start, hanging anything on the figures for one month is dumb. You can have unusually hot months in a year [...]

NASA’s chief climate scientist admits warm temps due to El Nino Posted: 17 Mar 2016 11:19 AM PDT

Obama to Energy Producers: Drop Dead – Rejects Multi-Billion Dollar Jordan Cove Gas Export Plan Posted: 16 Mar 2016 05:52 PM PDT http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/03/obama-to-energy-producers-drop-dead.php

Coal company’s stocks plunge after Clinton says she will shutter mines Posted: 16 Mar 2016 01:33 PM PDT http://www.speroforum.com/a/UAAIGWWUZK7/77509-Coal-companys-stocks-plunge-after-Clinton-says-she-will-shutter-mines?utm_medium=speronewsco&utm_campaign=&utm_content=77509&utm_source=&utm_term=Coal-companys-stocks-plunge-after-Clinton-says-she-will-shutter-mines#.VunCtvkpC1E America’s biggest coal producer is warning that it is hurtling towards bankruptcy. Shares of Peabody Energy Corp. dropped this week to $4.72 on March 14, and dropped again to $4.00 by close of business on March 15. Today, the price dropped to $2.14 as the trading day opened, falling to as low as $2.03 [...]

Top GOP Lawmaker Is Worried NOAA’s Keeping ‘Global Warming’ Emails From Congress Posted: 16 Mar 2016 12:55 PM PDT Top GOP Lawmaker Is Worried NOAA’s Keeping ‘Global Warming’ Emails From Congress http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/16/top-gop-lawmaker-is-worried-noaas-keeping-global-warming-emails-from-congress/ ‘NOAA is not permitted to self-limit the scope of this Committee’s investigation’ — gReader Pro

This report assesses the most powerful Syrian armed opposition groups on the battlefield as of March 16, 2016 and details key aspects of each group, including the group's leadership and perspective on Jabhat al-Nusra, that will need to inform American strategies in Syria...

Syrian Armed Opposition Powerbrokers By Jennifer Cafarella and Genevieve Casagrande This report assesses the most powerful Syrian armed opposition groups on the battlefield as of March 16, 2016 and details key aspects of each group, including the group's leadership and perspective on Jabhat al-Nusra, that will need to inform American strategies in Syria. The armed groups examined in this report include groups that currently receive American support, groups that are potential American allies, and groups allied to al Qaeda in Syria that stand to gain additional power in the next year. This report updates part of the assessment of the armed opposition that ISW released in October 2015, titled "Syrian Opposition Guide," which detailed all prominent armed opposition groups in Syria at the time. The report also lays the foundation for an upcoming report that outlines the requirements to produce a Sunni partner in Syria as a component of any course of action to destroy ISIS and al Qaeda in Syria. Jabhat al Nusra is poised to capitalize on further Sunni alienation in Syria, increasing the threat it poses to the American homeland. Jabhat al Nusra is a strong and capable battlefield force, whose contributions to the war against the Assad regime have allowed it to build a complex network of relationships with Syrian armed groups. It uses this prestige to isolate and eliminate, when possible, groups that receive American support or refuse to tolerate its own ideology. It openly opposes the negotiations and has accused the opposition delegation of treason. It is capable of spoiling a political agreement through spectacular attacks or other forms of escalation, and likely will do so. ISIS is also capable of acting as a spoiler, and likely will seek to exploit Sunni alienation to cement its control over populations in eastern Syria. Creating a partner from Syria's armed opposition will be difficult, however. This opposition remains diverse and fractious in the sixth year of the war. Opposition groups frequently merge and disassociate, producing a dynamic churn that makes understanding the opposition challenging and developing policies to support the opposition difficult. The opposition is highly unlikely to cohere into a stable, unified structure in the near future without significant outside support and leadership. Ongoing meetings between major armed factions in Turkey to create a unified opposition body show some promise, but failures to do so in the past indicate that we should be hesitant to trust newly declared structures, which are often penetrated by Jabhat al Nusra and similar elements. Developing a strategy to defeat Salafi Jihadi groups in Syria will almost certainly continue to face the challenge that no one armed actor speaks for even a plurality of the Syrian Sunni population that opposes the Assad regime. Nevertheless, there are identifiable powerful groups that shape general trends within the armed opposition and play leading roles in military operations and governance. Some of these groups offer the U.S. an opportunity to build an indigenous Sunni partner to defeat ISIS and al Qaeda in Syria, but only if the U.S. applies leadership, works smartly, and allocates sufficient resources.

Islam—Facts or Dreams?

February 2016 • Volume 45, Number 2 Islam—Facts or Dreams? Andrew C. McCarthy National Review Institute Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute. A graduate of Columbia College, he received his J.D. at New York Law School. For 18 years, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and from 1993-95 he led the terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. Following the 9/11 attacks, he supervised the Justice Department’s command post near Ground Zero. He has also served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and an adjunct professor at Fordham University’s School of Law and New York Law School. He writes widely for newspapers and journals including National Review, PJ Media, and The New Criterion, and is the author of several books, including Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad and Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotages America.  The following is adapted from a speech delivered on February 24, 2016, at Hillsdale College’s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series.   In 1993 I was a seasoned federal prosecutor, but I only knew as much about Islam as the average American with a reasonably good education—which is to say, not much. Consequently, when I was assigned to lead the prosecution of a terrorist cell that had bombed the World Trade Center and was plotting an even more devastating strike—simultaneous attacks on the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the United Nations complex on the East River, and the FBI’s lower Manhattan headquarters—I had no trouble believing what our government was saying: that we should read nothing into the fact that all the men in this terrorist cell were Muslims; that their actions were not representative of any religion or belief system; and that to the extent they were explaining their atrocities by citing Islamic scripture, they were twisting and perverting one of the world’s great religions, a religion that encourages peace. . . . continue reading

Lake Okeechobee and the Northern Estuaries: The High Cost of High Water...

Share this message.     Audubon Florida Lake Okeechobee Watershed View on the Web Lake Okeechobee and the Northern Estuaries: The High Cost of High Water Audubon recommends actions to ending harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. Click to download fact sheet.  There is an ecological crisis in the Lake Okeechobee watershed. Large quantities of water with high levels of nutrient pollution from Lake Okeechobee and local basins are being discharged through the fragile St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.  The discharges have caused algae blooms to form, which negatively impacts native vegetation, fish, and coastal birds. Florida’s famously‐clear coastal waters have turned dark brown and green, driving away tourists, harming local businesses, and reducing home values. Scientists have also detected harmful bacteria in some areas, making the water dangerous for human contact. There is no quick fix to solve this problem. Protecting the health of Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries requires long-term solutions that hold water in the right places at the right time to more closely replicate the balance of water levels in the historic Everglades. Learn more about this issue and Audubon's recommendations for comprehensive solutions by downloading our latest fact sheet. Please feel free to share online or distribute at your next Audubon Chapter meeting or community gathering.