Kept me on the strait and narrow!

Kept me on the strait and narrow!
by Jm Moran

2018-11-30T12:48:43.000Z
from Facebook
via IFTTTfrom Facebook
via IFTTT

#1👍

#1👍
by Jm Moran

2018-12-03T13:42:14.000Z
from Facebook
via IFTTTfrom Facebook
via IFTTT

LA: Welcome to Little Tijuana...

LOS ANGELES: WELCOME TO LITTLE TIJUANA StreetVendor Once again, the Los Angeles City Council disadvantages those who have fixed establishments, pay taxes, and have significant costs in favor of the street merchants who are mostly illegal aliens. After years of debate, L.A. legalizes sidewalk vending: ‘This means freedom’ Capping years of protests and debate, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday passed an ordinance legalizing and regulating vending on city sidewalks. In Los Angeles, they have long been a familiar sight: the vendors who hawk ice cream from pushcarts in Echo Park, sell bottled water to sweaty tourists strolling in Hollywood, and show off their wares under rainbow-y umbrellas in the Fashion District. Now, after years of protests and packed hearings at City Hall, Los Angeles leaders have passed a law to legalize and regulate vending on its sidewalks. The decision Wednesday was the culmination of a long and persistent campaign by vendors, many of them immigrants and Spanish speakers, who erupted in cheers and applause after the unanimous vote at City Hall. Tens of thousands of vendors are estimated to sell food and goods on L.A. sidewalks, a practice that has been illegal yet all but ubiquitous. “This means freedom,” said Aureliano Santiago, who sells ice cream and hot dogs in MacArthur Park. “The police won’t pester us anymore. They’ll go after delinquents instead.” Vendor5 Bottom line… There is little or no doubt in my mind that those who march under foreign flags (instead of American flags) here in Los Angeles have no plans to assimilate or adopt American culture – but to merely re-create their homeland on American soil. I wonder where the City and County health department is going to get the personnel to inspect the food and delivery systems to ensure against disease and other problems with home-processed food made under dubious conditions? I wonder if street merchants will be organized and controlled by street gangs like they do with prostitutes and drugs? Not to mention fights over the best locations? I wonder about the contraband that might be sold by these “mobile” merchants? Congestion? Trash? And, most of all, I wonder about the “magnet effect” of drawing more illegal aliens to our country by making it easier to get a job without verification and proper credentials – especially since the Los Angeles Police Department is prohibited from asking about the immigration status of those they might encounter? Face it, Los Angeles is now dominated by those who are pandering to the illegal aliens for political purposes. We are so screwed. -- steve

Provoking New Crimes Rather than Uncovering Past Crimes: Mueller's Modus Operandi by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 30, 2018 at 5:00am Even if Mueller could prove that members of the Trump team had colluded with Julian Assange to use material that Assange had unlawfully obtained, that, too, would not be a crime. Merely using the product of an already committed theft of information is not a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and other newspapers that used material illegally obtained by Assange with full knowledge that it was illegally obtained. In the end, Mueller should be judged by how successful he has been in satisfying his central mission. Judged by that standard and based on what we now know, he seems to be an abysmal failure. Special Counsel Robert Mueller does not have a roving commission to ferret out political sin, to provoke new crimes, or to publish non-criminal conclusions that may be embarrassing to the President. His mandate, like that of every other prosecutor, is to uncover past crimes. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) The recent guilty plea of Michael Cohen of lying represents the dominant trend in Mueller's approach to prosecution. The vast majority of indictments and guilty pleas obtained against Americans by Mueller have not been for substantive crimes relating to his mandate: namely, to uncover crimes involving illegal contacts with Russia. They have involved indictments and guilty pleas either for lying, or for financial crimes by individuals unrelated to the Russia probe. If this remains true after the filing of the Mueller report, it would represent a significant failure on Mueller's part. Continue Reading Article

Provoking New Crimes Rather than Uncovering Past Crimes: Mueller's Modus Operandi by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 30, 2018 at 5:00am Even if Mueller could prove that members of the Trump team had colluded with Julian Assange to use material that Assange had unlawfully obtained, that, too, would not be a crime. Merely using the product of an already committed theft of information is not a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and other newspapers that used material illegally obtained by Assange with full knowledge that it was illegally obtained. In the end, Mueller should be judged by how successful he has been in satisfying his central mission. Judged by that standard and based on what we now know, he seems to be an abysmal failure. Special Counsel Robert Mueller does not have a roving commission to ferret out political sin, to provoke new crimes, or to publish non-criminal conclusions that may be embarrassing to the President. His mandate, like that of every other prosecutor, is to uncover past crimes. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) The recent guilty plea of Michael Cohen of lying represents the dominant trend in Mueller's approach to prosecution. The vast majority of indictments and guilty pleas obtained against Americans by Mueller have not been for substantive crimes relating to his mandate: namely, to uncover crimes involving illegal contacts with Russia. They have involved indictments and guilty pleas either for lying, or for financial crimes by individuals unrelated to the Russia probe. If this remains true after the filing of the Mueller report, it would represent a significant failure on Mueller's part. Continue Reading Article
by Jm Moran

2018-11-30T12:46:48.000Z
from Facebook
via IFTTTfrom Facebook
via IFTTT

THE RIGHT TO REMAIN UNMOLESTED BY RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS!

THE RIGHT TO REMAIN UNMOLESTED BY RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS dnd With all the talk about the constitutional protection of religion, perhaps we should be reminded of the human right to remain unmolested by religious zealots regardless of how friendly and sincere they might be. I am not speaking about the Mormons on a mission, the Jehovah's Witnesses with their bible tracts, the orthodox Jewish Lubavitchers, the Scientologists with their “personality tests,” or even the malignant Islamicists who want you to convert or die. Not even the idiots who risk their lives to infiltrate places like North Korea to spread “The Word.” I am speaking of those who believe it is their “duty” to enter “forbidden” primitive areas to bring their brand of religion to the indigenous people. In particular, John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old “missionary” from Vancouver, Washington State, paid a group of local fisherman to take him and his Bible to India’s North Sentinel Island to “share the gospel” with islanders are openly hostile to visitors and live in the manner of their ancestors. It is no wonder that Chau was killed by a flight of arrows from an angered, and possibly afraid, culture. It annoys me that many faith-based organizations regard Chau as a “martyr” for the cause. Perhaps, he should be viewed in the context of a potential “existential” threat to a people and culture who do not seek contact with the outside work and want to be left alone. There are historical references to a number of Islanders who were forcibly kidnapped from the Island where the adults died in captivity – perhaps from unknown diseases introduced by the captors – and the children were returned to the Island. Since this happened in the late 19th century, maybe it became the foundation for fearing outside contact? Perhaps this was expressed best in a Science Magazine article, “How Europeans brought sickness to the New World” with the opening paragraph, “In the Americas, the arrival of Europeans brought disease, war, and slavery to many indigenous peoples. Can some of the world’s last isolated groups avoid those fates as they make contact in the 21st century?” Bottom line… Perhaps the best advice comes from the fictional United Federation of Planets and is known as the Prime Directive or Starfleet General Order 1 – “As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Starfleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Starfleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations and carries with it the highest moral obligation. As might be expected, there are many moral and ethical lessons that may be learned from speculative/science fiction where ideas can be expressed within the non-judgmental, non-political context of other worlds and other peoples. -- steve

Today’s Stoic: If You Want the World to be Better, Improve Yourself...

Tolstoy believed his most essential work was not his novels but his daily read, A Calendar of Wisdom. Like in The Daily Stoic, each day in that book is a meditation on a theme of ancient wisdom which provides insights for self-improvement. In a June entry (published in the early 20th century, but clearly both timeless and very timely), Tolstoy speaks about how to fight evil and improve society. It doesn’t start with ambitious plans to remake the order of things or with the passing of laws to ban this behavior or that one. On the contrary. “There can be only one way to fight the general evil of life,” he writes. “It is in the moral, religious, and spiritual perfection of your own life.” The Stoics would have agreed with this, that a more virtuous society begins at home—at our home. If you want the world to be better, improve yourself, for this is entirely in your circle of control. To paraphrase Marcus Aurelius: Don’t talk about what a good person should be like. Be that person. Again, because this is in your control. But also because it is the most compelling argument and the best way to prod others to change. How can you possibly have the gravitas necessary to convince others to be better when you clearly haven’t convinced yourself? How can you fight evil or sin or bad habits in the world when you’re losing the battle at home? Of course, this is not an excuse to not be politically or charitably active, but it should inform your priorities. Get your life in order. Do the work you need to do. Because it will make the biggest difference and it will give you the platform—the moral high ground—necessary to make a difference for the world

The POTUS V Little A Schitt, for brains 🧠...

PRESIDENT TRUMP VERSUS LITTLE ADAM SCHITT You have to love President Trump who says out loud what others are thinking, not so coincidently the underlying theme of One Citizen Speaking… Consider the craziness, chaos, confusion and outright lies coming from Representative Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the intelligence committee who loudly and consistently provides his view of an alternative reality. Especially when he claims that the truth can be found in a document’s classified details and open;y calls for the declassification of the document. And when it appears that the document may be declassified by the President, Schiff immediately declares that such declassification would severely impact national security. All of this against background analysis that there is nothing unknown of import in the document, including the names of key players and bad actors. Democrats negotiating with FBI on classified info in memo (February 14, 2018) The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that he is continuing to negotiate with the FBI over the release of a memo packed with classified information from secret surveillance applications, but remains unsure if the White House will attempt to block its release. Democrats argue their memo, with as yet undisclosed details used to win court approval to listen in on a former adviser to the campaign of President Donald Trump, would rebut a Republican memo released two weeks ago. Trump has said the GOP memo proves his campaign was the target of a politically motivated spying operation. Democrats have argued the memo would prove that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant approved for Carter Page used credible evidence, and not just allegations contained in the “Steele Dossier,” which was bankrolled in part by a lawyer working for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. Schiff noted Wednesday that the memo includes classified details from four FISA applications on Page — the original request filed in October 2016, and three subsequent renewals. [Source] Adam Schiff: 'Clear abuse of power’ for Trump to have Russia-related documents declassified (September 17, 2018) Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called President Trump’s decision Monday to order the declassification of documents concerning the federal Russia investigation a “clear abuse of power.” “President Trump, in a clear abuse of power, has decided to intervene in a pending law enforcement investigation by ordering the selective release of materials he believes are helpful to his defense team and thinks will advance a false narrative,” Schiff said in a statement. “With respect to some of these materials, I have been previously informed by the FBI and Justice Department that they would consider their release a red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods,” Schiff added. “This is evidently of no consequence to a President who cares about nothing about the country and everything about his narrow self-interest.” [Source] President Trump nails it… ADAM-SCHIFF-TURMP-TWEET Bottom line… ADAM-SCHITT We are so screwed when Adam Schiff becomes the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. -- steve