March 31, 2015

Atlantic City, NJ May Petition For Bankruptcy




[From article]
Atlantic City owes creditors at least $845 million: $270 million in outstanding bonded debt, $350 million in pension debt (per Moody’s), and $225 million in other “off balance sheet” obligations, mostly related to reimbursements to casinos after overcharging them on property tax bills.
[. . .]
Federal law requires that a municipality must have entered into “good faith” negotiations with its creditors prior to filing for bankruptcy. Those negotiations have not yet begun in earnest. The city’s counterparties will be the state government, on behalf of itself and the city’s retirees, casinos, bondholders, and bond insurance companies.
[. . .]
Atlantic City does not suffer from Detroit-level incompetence or corruption. None of the recent reports that have taken stock of the city’s challenges have ventured major criticisms of basic operations or municipal services. Clearly, Mayor Don Guardian is no Kwame Kilpatrick.
[. . .]
The more details that emerge about its budget, balance sheet, and municipal operations, the more Atlantic City’s crisis seems like the isolated cases of fiscal distress than the structural cases such as Detroit. And in that respect, bankruptcy may actually make more sense for Atlantic City than it did for Detroit.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0329se.html

STEPHEN EIDE
Sucker Bet
Bankruptcy is looking more likely for Atlantic City.
March 29, 2015

After White Boston, MA Policeman Shot in Face, Harvard Law Student Baits Black Police Supervisor Using Profanity




[From article]
In one video, officers who are trying to expand the crime scene perimeter and move back a small, but vocal, crowd are met with a barrage of epithets.
“Hands up … hands up, don’t shoot!” one woman keeps yelling. Meanwhile, the cop holding the crime scene tape keeps asking the crowd to “please move back, please move back,” as several people shout, “What the (expletive) are you doing? You gonna shoot me, too?”


TENSE SCENE: Tension erupts between residents and police Friday night in Roxbury after a shootout left a suspect dead and a police officer in critical condition.

There were no guns. No helmets. No night sticks. No mace. No dogs. Just a few cops who absorbed torrents of insults as they asked people to “please move back,” politely but firmly. And, yes, even as the crowd howled, they moved back.
It was painfully, if not laughably, obvious that the folks who decided to raise a ruckus at Humboldt Avenue on Friday night were playing to the cellphone cameras.
The amazing thing about the video was that it only emphasized the remarkable restraint of the police in the face of the empty posturing of folks who were trying with all their might to turn the incident into something it wasn’t.
ut it’s the second video that is even more shameful — and at the same time more revealing — than the first.
It shows Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross, second in command of the BPD and proud son of Dorchester, walking right up to police tape to engage the loudmouths with far more respect and class than they deserved.
But more than that, Willie Gross’ willingness to talk with people who only wanted to scream for the cameras, only served to reveal the glaring difference between how far Boston’s police force has come, as opposed to how far the police force in Ferguson, Mo., has to go.
“Respectfully,” was the word Willie Gross kept repeating over and over as he tried to explain what had happened on Humboldt, how one of his officers had been shot without provocation in what amounted to an assassination attempt.



He endured racial epithets by people of the same race, one of whom kept saying he was at Harvard Law School.
Willie Gross just smiled, kept his composure and revealed them for the fools they were.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/peter_gelzinis/2015/03/gelzinis_mob_posturing_to_cameras_tries_to_make

Gelzinis: Mob posturing to cameras tries to make Boston Ferguson
Sunday, March 29, 2015
By: Peter Gelzinis
Boston Herald

Edward Kennedy Institute Opens In Boston



U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy

[From article]
In September 1972, in the Oval Office, Henry Kissinger told President Nixon a story about Cristina Ford, Henry Ford’s wife, being stalked by Teddy in Manhattan. Finally Mrs. Ford locked herself in her suite at the Carlyle Hotel, where FBI reports in 1965 said Teddy had been engaging in wild “sex parties,” like his older brothers before him, with Marilyn Monroe.
Kissinger: “(He) practically beat her door down … She finally told him, ‘What if the newspapers get this?’ He said, ‘No newspapers are going to print anything about me. I’ve got that covered.’ ”
Nixon: “Jesus Christ! That’s pretty arrogant.”
What I take from that story is Ted’s framed mementos will not include the famous FBI report from Dec. 28, 1961, which described how during his visit to Santiago, Chile, he “made arrangements to ‘rent’ a brothel … for the night.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/howie_carr/2015/03/carr_editing_ted_kennedy_world_some_facts_didn_t_make

Carr: Editing Ted Kennedy World: Some facts didn’t make ‘Institute’ cut
Sunday, March 29, 2015
By: Howie Carr
Boston Herald

Hollywood Mogul Questioned By Police About Alleged Groping of Italian Model



Italian Model, Ambra Battilana, Alleged Groping Victim
Photo: Splash News

[From article]
A 22-year-old woman who works for a top modeling agency told cops that movie producer Harvey Weinstein molested her during a meeting in Tribeca over the weekend, sources said Monday.
The woman told police that the famed producer grabbed her breasts and touched her thigh around 6 p.m. Friday at the Tribeca Film Center, sources said.
“He asked if they [her breasts] were real,” a police source said of the woman’s complaint.
The woman said that Weinstein grabbed her breast, and she said “no,” to make him stop, the source said. Afterward, she walked into the 1st Precinct to file a complaint.

http://pagesix.com/2015/03/30/harvey-weinstein-accused-of-groping-woman/?_ga=1.129917775.212440808.1402078759

Harvey Weinstein accused of groping woman
By Mara Siegler, Shawn Cohen and Danika Fears
New York Post
March 30, 2015 | 12:14pm

Boston, MA Man Found Dead, Woman Injured




[From article]
One man was found shot dead and a woman injured in Dorchester today after police and fire responded to a three-decker home in Dorchester, police said.
Police said the woman was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital following the 11:26 a.m. call after she greeted police at the door when they responded.
Police Commissioner William Evans said investigators are still trying to determine if the fire at the house on Harvard Street was set or not.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/herald_bulldog/2015/03/man_shot_dead_woman_injured_in_dorchester

Man shot dead, woman injured in Dorchester
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
By: Erica Moura, Jack Encarnacao and Joe Dwinell
Boston Herald

Man In Women's Clothes Shot Dead at NSA




[From article]
An NSA officer gunned down the unidentified pair after they crashed the Ford Escape into the entrance and then opened fire just before 9 am, according to NBC ’s Washington affiliate .
Federal officials said that both men were wearing women’s clothes and wigs at the time of the assault. Drugs and at least one gun were found inside the SUV, which the pair had stolen.
One of the gate-crashers died on the scene and the other was rushed to Baltimore’s Shock Trauma unit with potentially fatal injuries, authorities said.
An NSA officer was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
[. . .]
While there is currently no explanation of what motivated the attack, the FBI says the shooting is not believed to be related to terrorism. The incident was being treated as a “local criminal matter,” according to federal officials.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/30/shots-fired-after-suv-rams-gates-at-nsa-headquarters/

Man in drag killed after plowing into gates at NSA headquarters
By Chris Perez
New York Post
March 30, 2015 | 10:20am

* * *

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FORT_MEADE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-03-31-12-14-07

Mar 31, 4:58 PM EDT
FBI IDENTIFIES MAN KILLED IN NSA SHOOTING
BY MEREDITH SOMERS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Propaganda Blurs Line Between Truth And Lies




Can propaganda be a lie? If "responsible" media, R.W. (winner of Neiman Foundation award) Apple's term, publishes it, can it be a lie? When a politically correct "victim" makes a statement can it be a lie? If the goal is "justice" (undefined), or "fairness" (undefined), or fighting "racism" (undefined), does it matter if it is a lie? Heh, heh.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/3/30/warren-center-speech-ferguson/

Speaker Calls Ferguson ‘Failure of the Humanities'
By ELIZABETH C. KETO, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Harvard Crimson
March 30, 2015

Iran Maintains Its Goal of Destroying Israel




[From article]
The commander of the Basij militia of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable,” according to an Israel Radio report Tuesday
Militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatened Saudi Arabia, saying that the offensive it is leading in Yemen “will have a fate like the fate of Saddam Hussein.”
[. . .]
In 2014, Naqdi said Iran was stepping up efforts to arm West Bank Palestinians for battle against Israel, adding the move would lead to Israel’s annihilation, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
“Arming the West Bank has started and weapons will be supplied to the people of this region,” Naqdi said.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-militia-chief-destroying-israel-nonnegotiable/

Iran militia chief: Destroying Israel is ‘nonnegotiable’
Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi also threatens Saudis, saying their fate will be like that of Saddam Hussein
BY LAZAR BERMAN March 31, 2015, 4:03 pm

Report Charges Facebook With Intense Surveillance Contrary to Notice




[From article]
A new report claims that Facebook secretly installs tracking cookies on users’ computers, allowing them to follow users around the internet even after they’ve left the website, deleted their account and requested to be no longer followed.
Academic researchers said that the report showed that the company was breaking European law with its tracking policies. The law requires that users are told if their computers are receiving cookies except for specific circumstances.
[. . .]
But Facebook’s tracking policy allows it to track users if they have simply been to a page on the company’s domain, even if they weren’t logged in. That includes pages for brands or events, which users can see whether or not they have an account.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-accused-of-tracking-all-users-even-if-they-delete-accounts-ask-never-to-be-followed-10146631.html

Facebook accused of tracking all users even if they delete accounts, ask never to be followed
ANDREW GRIFFIN
Tuesday 31 March 2015

British Soldier From Scotland Found Dead in Miami, Florida



Private Shaun Cole, 22, from Edinburgh

[From article]
A Scottish soldier has been found dead in a pool of blood in Miami, after attending a music festival.
Private Shaun Cole, from Edinburgh, was said to have been attending the Ultra Music Festival in Florida with friends.
The 22-year-old was on holiday when it is thought he suffered a trauma to his head, caused by a blunt instrument.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Pte Cole, who served in the 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1Scots).
[. . .]
Pte Cole had recently returned from Sierra Leone where soldiers have been involved in the Ebola aid effort, and the 22-year-old also served inAfghanistan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11505540/British-soldier-found-dead-on-Miami-street.html

British soldier found dead on Miami street
Pte Shaun Cole, 22, from Edinburgh, was attending the Ultra Music festival in Miami with two friends when he was found by a shopper in a pool of blood
By Agencies
11:55PM BST 30 Mar 2015

Harassing Citizens, While Ignoring Illegal Aliens




This is typical of misguided White House policies. Law abiding American citizens are stopped, questioned, harassed and jailed for being in their own country. At the same time illegal aliens who entered the country contrary to law are not being stopped, not being questioned, and if they are found in violation of law are let free. It is obvious that criminals run the US government. Has a foreign power taken control to expel and imprison citizens? 

[From article]
Some Americans are refusing to answer questions at Border Patrol checkpoints set up many miles away from U.S. borders, believing the questions posed by Border Patrol agents are unacceptable for law abiding citizens.
Many of these protestors are also using their dashboard cameras to record their encounters with agents, some of whom have resorted to breaking windows, dragging motorists from their vehicles and detaining them, according to The Houston Chronicle.
The newspaper reports “these travelers are among the latest to join what appears to be an informal alliance of people, possibly into the hundreds, recording their encounters at Border Patrol checkpoints,” and that “some of the travelers appear to be making a stand for what they say are their rights and contend that the government, which has long drawn support for doing whatever is needed to protect the nation's borders, is going too far.”
These checkpoints are not at international points of entry to the U.S. nor necessarily within close proximity to the U.S. border, but farther inland, within a 100-mile distance of U.S. borders and coasts. It has been estimated that between 34 and 170 such checkpoints exist inland from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Dash-cam footage showed agents smashing the car window of Navy veteran Thomas Sauer, 26, then forcibly yanking him from his car after he chose to “opt out” of discussing his citizenship. The agents read him his rights, including that he had the “right to remain silent,” which Sauer found ironic.
“I did it because I don't agree with the premise of questioning citizens without suspicion,” Sauer told the Chronicle. “Those type of interactions should be left at the border.”

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/citizens-growing-protests-against-border-patrol-checkpoints-inside-the-us-150331?news=856109

Citizens’ Growing Protests against Border Patrol Checkpoints Inside the U.S.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Not Enough Race Hustlers In The US, Comedy Central Imports Them





[From article]
On Monday, Comedy Central announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would be replacing Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show. To get a feel for Noah's brand of humor, one could simply watch his debut on the fake news show in December of 2014, when he jokingly declared that present-day America had worse race relations than Apartheid South Africa. After introducing Noah as the show's newest contributor at the time, Stewart noted: "And I know that you flew in, I guess, yesterday from South Africa." Noah replied: "Yeah, I just flew in and boy are my arms tired....No, no, seriously, I've been holding my arms like this since I got here." He made the completely discredited "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" gesture with his hands and added: "I never thought I'd be more afraid of police in America than in South Africa. It kind of makes me a little nostalgic for the old days back home."
[. . .]
Later in the exchange, Stewart wondered: "But you're not saying that things in Africa are better than they are in America, are you?" Noah responded: "No, no, no, I'm not saying that – you guys are saying that."
[. . .]
With Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore having already taken over Stephen Colbert's time slot, the addition of Noah may give Comedy Central a full hour of late-night race-baiting.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2015/03/30/new-daily-show-host-joked-us-worse-apartheid-south-africa

New Daily Show Host Joked U.S. Worse Than Apartheid South Africa
By Kyle Drennen
March 30, 2015 | 4:53 PM EDT

* * *


Anti Semitic Host of TV Show From South Africa

[From article]
Yesterday, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency appeared to be the first media outlet to notice a disturbing tweet from Comedy Central’s new hire Trevor Noah, who is pegged to replace Jon Stewart as host of the Daily Show:
South Africans know how to recycle like israel knows how to be peaceful.
Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) June 2, 2010

Late this evening, author and former Conservative MP Louise Mensch found several more:

Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man. #BeatsByDreidel
— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) May 7, 2012

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/03/30/does-jon-stewarts-replacement-trevor-noah-have-a-jewish-problem/

Does Jon Stewart’s Replacement, Trevor Noah, Have a Jewish Problem?
Comedy Central has a PR problem after tweets surface from their "bold" choice.
by David Steinberg
March 30, 2015 - 9:03 pm

* * *

[From article]
South African comedian Trevor Noah was announced as Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" successor on Monday, but on Tuesday there was a growing backlash over Noah's Twitter account, which is filled with anti-Semitism and misogyny, critics said.

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/trevor-noah-backlash-anti-semitic-misogynist/2015/03/31/id/635502/?Dkt_nbr=13E39-1&nmx_source=Boston_Herald&nmx_medium=widget&nmx_content=317&nmx_campaign=widgetphase2

Trevor Noah Backlash Grows as Anti-Semitic, Misogynist Posts by New 'Daily Show' Host Surface
Tuesday, 31 Mar 2015 10:47 AM
By Nick Sanchez

Hypocrisy Among Homosexuals Rears Its Ugly Head





The extremist alarmists about religious beliefs, demanding that homosexuals and lesbians be treated equally, ignore the disgusting way they obliterate the rights of people to believe as they choose. Religious beliefs are guaranteed by the US Constitution. The same document does not guarantee homosexuals a right to practice homosexual sex. One more example of common sense being a punishment, not a gift. You have to live with people who do not have it.  

[From article]
Like Shariah Law, liberalism imposes its values upon nonbelievers and punishes noncompliance.
Says Mayor Edwin Lee, who has banned city-funded trips to Indiana, “We stand united as San Franciscans to condemn Indiana’s new discriminatory law, and will work together to protect the civil rights of all Americans.”
[. . .]
The mayor may not like how people exercise their freedom. Does his dislike justify depriving them of that freedom?
The gay rights community seems to have advanced from asking for tolerance of their lifestyles — to demanding punishment for those who refuse to accept its moral equality.
[. . .]
What the Indiana issue is really all about is the replacement of Christian values with secular values as the operating premises of society.
And the hallmark of our new society is intolerance of those who reject the revolution. It is ever so with revolutions.
[. . .]
As the Jack Nicholson character George Hanson said in “Easy Rider,”
“You know, this used to be a helluva good country.” It surely was.

http://buchanan.org/blog/stand-up-for-indiana-15798

Stand Up for Indiana!
Tuesday - March 31, 2015 at 12:41 am
By Patrick J. Buchanan

March 30, 2015

Making The Easy Difficult, Rube Goldberg's Law



Rube Goldberg

[From article]
“The Inventions of Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts” first appeared in the January 26, 1929, issue of Collier’s. “In my cartoons,” Rube noted, “Professor Butts invented elaborate machines to accomplish such Herculean tasks as shining shoes, opening screen doors, keeping moths out of clothes closets, retrieving soap in the bathtub and other innocuous problems. Only, instead of using the scientific elements of the laboratory, I added acrobatic monkeys, dancing mice, chattering false teeth, electric eels, whirling dervishes and other incongruous elements.”
[. . .]
These oblong-shaped satires took on a life of their own. Dr. Seuss acknowledged his colleague’s influence in a cartoon signed “Rube Goldbrick.” In the early 1930s, “Rube Goldberg” entered the Merriam-Webster dictionary as an adjective defined as “accomplishing something simple through complicated means.” Engineering majors in colleges across the country began to sketch their own “Rube Goldberg” inventions.
[. . .]



a 1970 retrospective of Goldbergiana at the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibit, titled Do It the Hard Way, featured drawings, sculpture, writings, and memorabilia, as well as a documentary film about a career that spanned the century.
[. . .]
The New York Timeseditorialized that Goldberg’s “message is a lasting one: Beware of the all-knowing computers, supersonic gadgets and the rest of the hardware. Beware, too, of the proponents who aim to dominate the human element in life.” The Chicago Sun-Times stated that Goldberg’s “fantastically complicated devices to achieve ludicrously simple ends are today more profound commentaries on our times than they were when his mischievous mind first conceived them several generations ago.” Other papers joined the chorus, and then the cartoonists had their say. Karl Hubenthal was typical. In the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, he pictured Goldberg at heaven’s gate. Saint Peter operates it by means of a contraption involving a rabbit, a pistol, a sailboat, a candle, a boiling kettle, a spool, and a length of string.
[. . .]



Theta Tau, the oldest and largest professional engineering fraternity in the U.S., initiated the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in 1989. According to the rules, said machine must be constructed of real materials and use at least 20 steps to accomplish its task within two minutes. Past winners include Screw a Light Bulb into a Socket; Toast a Slice of Bread; and Select, Mark, and Cast an Election Ballot. In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 32-cent stamp, “Rube Goldberg’s Inventions,” featuring the Automatic Napkin Machine, first drawn in 1931.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_1_urb-rube-goldberg.html

STEFAN KANFER
The Alphabet of Satire
Rube Goldberg was a laugh machine for seven decades.
Winter 2015

White House Ignores Churchill-like Warnings About Iran



Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran

[From article]
Against ferocious opposition at home and abroad, [the White House] is about to repeat the grievous mistake of appeasing Iran that Carter made over three decades ago and do even more geopolitical damage than [Carter] wreaked in 1979.
[. . .]



On February 1, 1979, two weeks after the cancer-ridden Shah of Iran left his country in the hands of a caretaker as he wandered the world in search of treatment, his fanatical opponent, Islamist cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, returned from his 14-year Parisian exile and within a week had engineered the overthrow of the shah’s feeble substitute and installed his own puppet regime. Not only did Iran’s Islamists hail the ayatollah’s return; Carter’s United Nations ambassador, the painfully naïve Andrew Young, lauding Islam as “a vibrant cultural force in today’s world,” prophesied that the ayatollah himself—with ferocious indignation flashing from his eyes and bristling from his beard under his sharia-chic turban—would prove “somewhat of a saint.” On February 15, the saintly imam began murdering Iran’s officer corps, and on April Fool’s Day, which he called “the first day of a government of God,” he declared his nation an Islamic republic. In mid-May, the U.S. Senate condemned Iran’s systematic slaughter of its officers, a rebuke Iran met by recalling its ambassador from Washington. By July, mullahs began publicly taking control of the government.
[. . .]



on November 4, a mob of “students” invaded and seized the American embassy in Tehran and took its 68 employees hostage, though they soon released the 15 women and African-Americans, and later set free another hostage suffering from multiple sclerosis. The other 52 Americans endured 444 days of captivity.
[. . .]
What the president should have done, as was clear even then, was simple and traditional. He should have told the mullahs that they had 48 hours to release our citizens unharmed, or else we would leave not one stone standing on another in the “holy” city of Qom. We then should have leafleted the city with warnings to the population to flee. And, were the hostages not released, we should have done what we threatened to do. And were they not released at that point, we should have made the same threat against Tehran.
[. . .]



Being a world leader, however, sometimes requires making such harrowing choices. To prevent the powerful French fleet in Algeria from falling into Nazi hands after the 1940 Vichy surrender to Germany, British prime minister Winston Churchill ordered the Royal Navy to seize or sink it, if its commanders did not get it out of Nazi reach, thus protecting Britain’s vital mastery of the seas. A single pigheaded French admiral failed to choose any of the three honorable options Churchill offered. As a result, 1,297 innocent French sailors went to their watery graves after the British fleet opened fire on July 3, with 977 dying in the first 15 minutes. Also as a result, skeptical Americans finally came to believe that Churchill wasn’t kidding when he said that the British would never surrender, and the U. S. government took a giant step closer to joining the war. As sociologist Max Weber warned, anyone who wants to keep his hands clean should stay out of politics, because politics ultimately rests on the force and violence necessary to repel force and violence against one’s countrymen. And force and violence, however legitimate and productive of ultimate good, also produce evil in the process.
[. . .]
the mullahs have been avid supporters of Islamic terrorism, and with their enthusiastic backing of Hezbollah, they have become state sponsors of terrorism, as well.
[. . .]



So now President Obama wants to make an agreement that will ensure that Iran can produce an atom bomb essentially overnight. He has not seen fit to explain his reasoning to the American people, and it is hard to imagine what it might be. But all I can think of is Churchill’s rebuke to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he returned from his infamous appeasement of Hitler in Munch in 1938. “You were given the choice between war and dishonor,” Churchill thundered in Parliament. “You chose dishonor, and you will have war.” Certainly President Obama is choosing dishonor. What kind of war he might unleash, the world watches with dread.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0322mm.html

MYRON MAGNET
Iran and the Lessons of History
With the pending nuclear deal, Obama courts dishonor—and possibly war.
March 22, 2015

V.S. Naipaul: ISIS, Great Threat To Civilization, Must Be Destroyed



Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul has warned that Islamic State are the most potent threat to the world since the Nazis.


[From article]
Picture queues of helpless men and women being marched by zealous executioners who nail them to wooden crosses and crucify them, howling and bleeding to death as crowds watch.
Then picture thousands of girls and women, their arms tied, being marched by hooded and armed captors into sexual slavery. And then, if that is not enough, picture men being thrown off cliffs to their deaths because they are accused of being gay.[. . .]
Yes, all these scenes could have taken place in several continents in the medieval world, but they were captured on camera and broadcast to anyone with access to the internet. These are scenes, of yesterday, today and tomorrow in our own world.
[. . .]
the word ‘fundamentalism’ has taken on new meanings.
As the word suggests, it means going back to the groundings, to the foundations and perhaps to first principles. It is used to characterise the interpretation given to passages of the Koran, to the Hadith, which is a collection of the acts in the life of the Prophet Mohammed and to an interpretation of sharia law. [. . .]
This fundamentalism denies the value and even the existence of civilisations that preceded the revelations of the Koran.
It was an article of 6th and 7th Century Arab faith that everything before it was wrong, heretical. There was no room for the pre-Islamic past.
So an idea of history was born that was fundamentally different from the ideas of history that the rest of the world has evolved.
In the centuries following, the world moved on. Ideas of civilisation, of other faiths, of art, of governance of law and of science and invention grew and flourished. [. . .]
The idea that faith abolishes history has been revived as the central creed of the Islamists and of Isis.
Their determination to deny, eliminate and erase the past manifests itself in the destruction of the art, artefacts and archaeological sites of the great empires, the Persian, the Assyrian and Roman that constitute the histories of Mesopotamia and Syria. [. . .]
Isis is dedicated to a contemporary holocaust. It has pledged itself to the murder of Shias, Jews, Christians, Copts, Yazidis and anyone it can, however fancifully, accuse of being a spy. It has wiped out the civilian populations of whole regions and towns.
[. . .]
Like the Nazis, Isis fanatics are anti-semitic, with a belief in their own racial superiority. They are anti-democratic: the Islamic State is a totalitarian state, absolute in its authority. There is even the same self-regarding love of symbolism, presentation and propaganda; terror is spread to millions through films and videos created to professional standards of which Goebbels would have been proud.
[. . .]
Isis destroys everything that arises from the human impulse to beauty.
[. . .]
The Arab lands, relatively stable under the Ottoman Empire, were divided up by the British and French victors of the First World War into the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Jordan at the Cairo Conference of 1920. Borders were drawn in straight lines and the sons of the Mufti of Mecca imposed on the newly carved territories as kings.
Winston Churchill was advised at the Cairo conference by T. E. Lawrence and by Gertrude Bell, who should have known that the Shia would not readily welcome or acknowledge a Sunni king and vice versa.
After upheavals, rebellions and military coups, the region settled down under dictatorships in the 1950s and 1960s.
[Saddam Hussein]
was the cat that kept the rats of Islamism at bay. His invasion of Kuwait, another artificial sheikdom, poor in territory at the knee of Iraq but rich in oil, triggered the international reaction against him. The Bush-Blair alliance invaded Iraq and the puppet regime they set up executed Saddam. In the absence of the cat, the rats ran riot.
And so it has proved throughout the region. The Libyans, with the assistance of a European alliance, overthrew Gaddafi. The country is now at the mercy of Islamic militants.[. . . ]
The politicians of Europe and America, including David Cameron, Barack Obama and Francois Hollande, after every Islamicist outrage insist on describing them as a lunatic fringe.
[. . .]
Isis has to be seen as the most potent threat to the world since the Third Reich.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3005882/A-grotesque-love-propaganda-Unspeakable-barbarity-loathing-Jews-hunger-world-domination-stunning-intervention-literary-colossus-V-S-NAIPAUL-says-ISIS-Fourth-Reich.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

A grotesque love of propaganda. Unspeakable barbarity. The loathing of Jews - and a hunger for world domination. In this stunning intervention, literary colossus V.S. NAIPAUL says ISIS is now the Fourth Reich
By V.S. NAIPAUL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 19:10 EST, 21 March 2015 | UPDATED: 08:25 EST, 22 March 2015

Extremist Leftist Homosexual Democrats Oppose Religious Freedom In The Name of Homosexual Privileges




Right now, Gov. Mike Pence is the only Republican politician defending this bill. He is looking for a new law to clarify the bill’s intent, as Indiana faces a wave of hostility from powerful corporations that is sick to see, based as it is on a lie. The NCAA weighed in with “concern” about how it affects student athletes and employees. Angie’s List CEO is putting Indianapolis expansion plans on hold to punish the citizens of Indiana.
But on the core message, Pence is speaking truth to a gathering storm of powerful forces. Gov. Pence said, “This is not about legalizing discrimination, it is about restricting the government’s ability to intrude on the religious liberty of our citizens.”
[. . .]



What about religious liberty don’t they like any more?
[. . .]
the future of religious liberty in America will depend in part on whether there is at least one political party willing to defend it.

March 29, 2015

Lee Kwan Yew, Founder of Singapore, Dies at 91, Obituary



Lee Kwan Yew (1923–2015)

[From obituary]
Lee Kwan Yew had no problems with elitism, provided it brought about an elite of intelligence and ability (not always quite the same thing); the fashionable theories of liberal educationists had no attraction for him. No politician has ever defended more fiercely than Lee Kwan Yew the importance for a society of fostering high intelligence.
[. . .]
Observing that it was difficult to look either kindly or intelligent while chewing gum, and that gum-chewers more often than not disposed of their gum on the pavement of the streets, he simply turned the chewing of gum into a crime. He gave even shorter shrift to drug-traffickers.
[. . .]
The achievements of Singapore under Lee Kwan Yew are incontestable. Almost alone of all the countries in the word, it has developed a first-rate medical system that it can actually afford. The Singaporeans are among the healthiest people in the world. It has economic reserves that would be enviable for countries many times its size. All this is largely thanks to Lee Kwan Yew, who knew how to harness the energies of his people for their own good.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0323td.html

THEODORE DALRYMPLE
The Man Who Made Singapore
Lee Kwan Yew willed a well-ordered and disciplined society into existence.
March 23, 2015

NGOs Misguided Policies May Bring On New Cold War




[From article]
Reportedly, [US Department of] State funneled $350,000 to an American NGO called OneVoice, which has an Israeli subsidiary, Victory 15, that collaborated with U.S. operatives to bring Bibi down.
If we are now secretly pumping cash into the free elections of friendly countries, to dump leaders President Obama dislikes, Americans have a right to know why we are using Cold War tactics against democracies.
[. . .]
Hopefully, after looking into OneVoice and V15, the Senate will expand its investigation into a larger question: Is the U.S. using NGOs to subvert regimes around the world? And, if so, who decides which regimes may be subverted?
[. . .]
And if we are now using NGOs as fronts for secret operations to dump over regimes, we are putting all NGOs abroad under suspicion and at risk.
Not in our lifetimes has America been more distrusted and disliked. And among the reasons is that we are seen as constantly carping at governments that do not measure up to our standards of democracy, and endlessly interfering in the internal affairs of nations that do not threaten us.
[. . .]
Nor is it Moscow alone that is angered over U.S. interference in its internal affairs and those of its neighbor nations.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt has expelled members of U.S. NGOs. Beijing believes U.S. NGOs were behind the Occupy-Wall-Street-style street blockages in Hong Kong.

http://buchanan.org/blog/are-ngos-agents-of-subversion-15774

Are NGOs Agents of Subversion?
Tuesday - March 24, 2015 at 1:39 am
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Hilarious Misguided US Official Warns Watchdog Journalist




Best story of the month. Ms. Teasley joins teachers, politicians, and other misguided officials who lack common sense. Proving once again having common sense is not a gift but a punishment, because you have to live with people who do not have it. The email exchange is hilarious.



[From article]
Following our investigative series about a bizarre government lending program, the Small Business Administration threatened Watchdog.org with Department of Justice legal action — for misuse of the SBA logo.



“By federal law, the official seal of a federal agency cannot be used in a news publication, online or in print. Neither can our SBA logo be replicated,” June Teasley, the SBA’s communications director in Kansas City, Missouri, said Thursday in an email to Watchdog.org. “Please remove the seal from your website. This happens frequently enough that we usually just email when an infraction is noticed, rather than turning cases over to the Department of Justice. Most offending companies comply.”
Watchdog.org reporters have revealed that so-called small-business loans in several states – including Vermont, Mississippi, Virginia, Wisconsin – went to large financial institutions, luxury golf courses and major hotel chains, and that all were hidden from public inspection.



http://watchdog.org/207465/small-business-administration-2/

Hands off our logo, Small Business Administration says
By Will Swaim
March 20, 2015

Pharrell Williams, Appropriate Successor To Al Gore



Parrell Williams arrives on his private jet

[From article]
CBSNews refers to Pharrell as “the new climate change czar,” but Al Gore needn’t worry at the moment, because global warming hasn’t yet caused a shortage of private jets. It has, unfortunately, created a shortage of self-awareness on the part of jet-set celebs and apparently parents and teachers capable of instructing kids on how to spot hypocritical BS:


Pharrell Williams' Yacht

http://michellemalkin.com/2015/03/22/heir-apparent-to-al-gore-proves-hes-totally-up-to-the-challenge/


Pharrell Williams alone on his private jet


Heir apparent to Al Gore proves he’s totally up to the challenge
By Doug Powers
March 22, 2015 09:32 AM

Catholic Church Fires NJ Teacher, Denies It Did So




[From article]
Yesterday, Patricia Jannuzzi’s lawyer finally spoke to the press in response to this statement, and what he said is not pretty for the diocese: “At every point in our discussions the diocesan lawyers told us repeatedly there was no way that Patricia Jannuzzi would ever come back to the Immaculata classroom under any possible scenario,” Oakley told MyCentralJersey.com. “On Thursday by phone, the diocesan lawyers told me clearly and finally that Patricia Jannuzzi would be terminated as of the end of August, end of discussion.” “Something is baffling here, clearly, but not why the Jannuzzi family believed Patricia Jannuzzi had been fired,” Oakley added. It is not enough, apparently to fire a Catholic school teacher for defending the faith. The diocese has to sully her good name by pretending it has never done any of those things, and implying she’s a liar. This gets worse and worse.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/415897/diocese-metuchen-attacks-jannuzzi-family-maggie-gallagher

The Diocese of Metuchen Attacks the Jannuzzi Family 
by MAGGIE GALLAGHER
March 24, 2015 1:22 PM
National Review

FBI Under Direction of the NAACP, Wasting Taxpayer Funds




The same privileges for prominent black professors exist at Harvard University where campus police harass and arrest people based on black racist priorities. Yet misguided useful idiot journalists continue to promote obvious propaganda that black people are always victims of white oppressors and white privilege. The FBI humiliates itself as it obscenely wastes taxpayer funds.  

[From article]
The US Attorney's Manual makes it quite clear that there are a few hoops and hurdles to overcome before FBI agents are deployed to a potential civil rights case, let alone 30 of them within hours.
And nothing in that manual or the FBI guidelines authorizes rushing to local crime scenes before further investigative determinations have been made.
No, in this case there wasn't an allegation as much as a request from the FBI's "partner," the NAACP.
So it begs this question - Why is a supposed apolitical non-profit organization able to frivolously waste taxpayer money by initiating FBI investigations with little to no evidence of bias crimes?
[. . .]
Americans are entitled to fair and impartial justice. Yet it appears that we are now faced with agenda driven federal law enforcement guided by racial politics and political correctness.
That combination is a compromise of both public safety and national security.

http://www.johncardillo.com/home/has-the-relationship-between-the-naacp-fbi-doj-grown-too-close-for-comfort

Has The Relationship Between The NAACP, FBI, & DOJ Grown Too Close For Comfort?
3/23/2015
John Cardillo

White House Immigration Plan Includes Unassimilated Enclaves of Illegal Aliens




[From article]
The “Task Force of New Americans” and the “Receiving Communities” are part of a plan by the Obama administration to develop a “country within a country” which will eventually form a new, and instantly fundamentally transformed United States.
The conference calls and meetings surrounding the task force made it clear Barack Obama is planning to legalize and protect 13 to 15 million illegal immigrants who will then be moved onto citizenship.
When these “new Americans” come out of the shadows, the communities in which they’ve been placed will be designated as “receiving communities.”
The “new Americans” are considered “seedlings” by the White House and the “receiving communities” are the “fertile ground” to nurture them, according to comments made during the meetings.
Citizens will then be pushed into the shadows as the “New Americans” come out of the shadows.
One member of the task force said they will be forming a “country within a country”.
At the meetings, it was said that “immigrants need to be aware of benefits they are entitled to”.
The participants in the meeting also discussed the fact that these immigrants would not be interested in assimilating. They would “navigate not assimilate”.
Obama’s plan is to treat the “new Americans” as refugees as soon as amnesty is pushed through.
Refugees are given an allowance, housing, food, medical care, education, and an immediate pathway to citizenship.
The meeting participants also discussed the need to convince state and local officials to give no interest loans to the “refugees.” This way we can fund our own destruction.
Listen to this shocking and frightening interview:

http://www.independentsentinel.com/breaking-wh-plans-to-develop-a-country-within-a-country-of-15-million-new-americans/

Breaking…WH Plans to Develop a “Country Within a Country” of 15 Million “New Americans”
by Sara Noble • February 28, 2015
Citizens Will Be Cast Into The Shadows
Updates at the end
h/t Patrick Brown

Published on Feb 28, 2015
Radio interview conducted by Mark Levin with Sue Payne of WCBM, Baltimore, MD. The clip sheds light on the White House strategy with regards to "amnesty" and introduces terms like "White House Task Force on New Americans", "Receiving Communities" and "Emerging Immigrant Communities".

March 28, 2015

Updated: White Boston MA Policeman Shot, Black Suspect Killed


Posted March 27, 2015 8:48 PM ET; Last Updated March 28, 2015 5:30 PM ET


Angelo West
Photo: Boston Police Department
[From article]
A 41-year-old Hyde Park man opened fire on Boston police officers who stopped his car in Roxbury last night in an "unprovoked" attack, hitting a decorated officer and Army veteran in the face, Boston police officials said this morning at a press conference.
The officer, 41-year-old John Moynihan, remains in critical condition at Boston Medical Center, said police Commissioner William Evans.
"Officer John Moynihan is still in critical condition, we were down there this morning visiting him, he is still very much sedated," Evans said. "The bullet is currently lodged behind his right ear."
Evans identified the suspect, who was shot dead by police, as Angelo West. Evans said West had a violent criminal past with several gun convictions.
The gunfire erupted on Humboldt Avenue and Ruthven Street at about 6:40 p.m. last night when six officers in two cars stopped a vehicle. The officers were in the area because of gunfire earlier in the night.
[. . .]
Moynihan is a 34-year-old former Army Ranger, who was honored at the White House for his role in rescuing Transit Police officer Dic Donahue in Watertown after the Boston Marathon Bombings.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/03/hyde_park_man_shot_cop_in_unprovoked_attack_top_cop_says

Hyde Park man shot cop in 'unprovoked' attack, top cop says
Saturday, March 28, 2015
By: Fiona Molloy, Jordan Graham
Boston Herald



* * *



[From article]
The officer was shot under the right eye and brought to Boston Medical Center. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans says the officer is in critical condition.
The suspect was shot and killed on Humboldt Ave.
Evans says the officer was shot after a traffic stop.
McGuire says several other people were brought to hospitals with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries. It’s not clear whether they were shot.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/03/27/boston-police-officer-shot-in-roxbury/

Police Officer, Suspect Shot In Roxbury
March 27, 2015 8:20 PM
CBS News Boston  MA

Updated: Pilot Who Crashed GermanWings Plane in Alps Likely Was Taking (Or Stopped Taking) Psychiatric Drugs, Known Cause of Suicide and Murder


Posted March 27, 2015 5:10 PM ET; Last updated March 28, 2015 5:24 PM ET



List of 38 incidents where the shooter was taking or stopped taking psychiatric drugs, is included in article.




[From article]
"The 27-year-old has been treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists," it quoted an unidentified high-ranking investigator as saying, in excerpts released ahead of Sunday's edition.
[. . .]
It added that the Germanwings co-pilot was suffering from being overstressed and was severely depressive, according to personal notes found.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/europe/story/germanwings-flight-4u9525-crash-medicine-psychological-illness-found-co-pilo

Germanwings Flight 4U9525 crash: Medicine for psychological illness found at co-pilot's home -report
AFP
March 28, 2015

* * *



[From article]
Reports this morning suggested the pilot may have been badly affected by a "relationship crisis" and was struggling to cope following a break-up with his girlfriend - who he was due to marry next year.
He is said to have shared an apartment in Dusseldorf - the destination of the doomed plane - with a woman whose surname is Goldbach.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/566518/Germanwings-co-pilot-recognised-as-top-US-flyer

Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz had just been DUMPED by fiancée before he murdered 149
THE co-pilot who deliberately crashed the doomed Germanwings plane into an Alps mountainside was receiving counselling after splitting from his 'fiancée', it has emerged.
By LEVI WINCHESTER
PUBLISHED: 08:48, Fri, Mar 27, 2015

* * *

[From article]
Our hearts and prayers go out to all those lost in this horrible tragedy, yet we must also ask: Could this have been prevented? Was it caused by mind-altering prescription medications?
[. . .]
The reported behavior of Andrea Lubitz is eerily similar to SSRI-drug-induced school shooters who carried out mass murders in the United States (see detailed list below). In case after case, school shooters have been found to either be on prescription antidepressant drugs or recently taken off them, causing withdrawal side effects.
What U.S. school shootings and the Germanwings mass murder have in common is a dissociation from reality where individuals often think they are "playing a video game" and don't realize their actions are literally harming other people in the real world.
[. . .]
Antidepressants literally alter brain chemistry and cause people to think and act in ways they would not normally exhibit.
[. . . ]
At the same time, I've also seen other pilots in simulators intentionally fly aircraft into mountains as a way to end the current scenario with a surge of excitement. Again, this is undoubtedly frowned upon in the commercial aviation industry, but I've seen it happen with my own eyes. I've never done this myself, it turns out, but plenty of other pilots have.
In a simulator, of course, it's perfectly safe to fly your airplane into a mountain. What if Lubitz thought he was in a flight simulator? Could antidepressant drugs have caused him to confuse reality vs. simulation? It's speculation, of course, but it's consistent with other SSRI-related mass murders we've seen over the years.
[. . .]
Antidepressant drugs are so dangerous that the FAA bans U.S. pilots from taking them. They are considered a danger to the pilot and passengers. I'm not certain whether antidepressants are illegal for pilots to consume in various European countries, but it wouldn't be difficult for someone to be acquiring them and taking them covertly, even if it were illegal.

http://www.naturalnews.com/049137_Germanwings_depression_antidepressant_drugs.html

Germanwings jetliner catastrophe: The first antidepressant drug-induced mass murder of the skies?
Thursday, March 26, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Italian High Court Declares Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Innocent



Raffaele Sollecito leaves Italy’s highest court building in Rome.
Photo: AP
[From article]
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, Arline Kercher, reacted with shock.
Her daughter had been found partially nude, sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in the Perugia cottage she shared with Knox back in November 2007.
“They have been convicted twice, so it’s a bit odd that it should change now,” the mother said.
Knox had repeatedly insisted that she was innocent in the roomie’s brutal death.
[. . .]
Within weeks, another man, Rudy Guede, was linked to the bloody crime scene by DNA. Guede is serving a 16-year sentence for the death.
Other DNA evidence — now discredited — linked Knox and her boyfriend to a kitchen knife found in the boyfriend’s apartment, where both insisted they spent the night of the murder having sex and smoking marijuana.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/27/italy-overturns-amanda-knox-murder-conviction/

Italy acquits Amanda Knox of murder
By Laura Italiano
New York Post
March 27, 2015 | 5:51pm

Cheating Scandal At Stanford University




One book about the widespread cheating in contemporary society is Cheating Culture by David Callahan.

[From article]
Among "a smattering of concerns from a number of winter courses," he said, one faculty member reported allegations that may involve as many as 20 percent of the students enrolled in one of Stanford's large introductory courses.
The allegations follow incidents of academic cheating at other top-ranked U.S. colleges.
[. . .]
Last fall, a story in the Stanford Daily reported that a professor of statistics conducted an experiment to find out how many of his students had cheated while at Stanford. The result showed that roughly 40 percent of 86 students who responded had done so.
[. . .]
Last fall, up to 64 Dartmouth College students -- including some athletes -- faced suspension or other disciplinary action for cheating in a sports ethics class.
At the same time, University of North Carolina employees were found to have participated in an 18-year cheating scandal to help 3,100 students make good grades with little work.
In 2012, Harvard University investigated 125 students in what it called "the most widespread cheating scandal" in campus history.

http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_27799963/stanford-university-reports-allegations-cheating-by-students

Stanford University looks into allegations of cheating by students
By Tracy Seipel
tseipel (at) mercurynews.com
POSTED: 03/27/2015 01:22:01 PM PDT

Can't Tell The Middle East Players Without A Program




[From article]
The forces that do not want a U.S. nuclear deal with Iran, nor any U.S. detente with Iran, are impressive.
Among them are the Israelis and their powerful lobby AIPAC, the Saudis and their Sunni allies on the Persian Gulf, a near unanimity of Republicans and a plurality of Democrats in Congress.
[. . .]
First, the alternative to a truce — breaking off of negotiations, doubling down on demands Iran dismantle all nuclear facilities, tougher sanctions — inevitably leads to war. And we all know it.
[. . .]
Why Iran wants to avoid war is obvious. Given U.S. air, missile and naval power, and cyberwarfare capabilities, a war with the United States would do to Iran what we did to Iraq, smash it up, set it back decades, perhaps break up the country.
Some mullahs may be fanatics, but Iran is not run by fools.
[. . .]
In the war to expel the Islamic State from Iraq, we and Iran are on the same side.
[. . .]
Consider Yemen.
This week, the Saudis sent their air force against the Houthi rebels who had seized the capital of Sanaa, driven out the president, and have now driven south to Aden to take over half of the country.
Why is the Saudi air force attacking the Houthis?
The Houthis belong to a sect close to the Shiite and are supported by Iran.

http://buchanan.org/blog/the-enemy-of-my-enemy-15787

The Enemy of My Enemy
Friday - March 27, 2015 at 1:32 am
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Four Black Policemen Killed In One Week, Journalists Remain Quiet




[From article]
Last year, according to the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers died in the line of duty in 2014 -- although some deaths were attributed to health problems or traffic accidents. Fifty officers were killed by firearms, 15 of them in ambush attacks.
The memorial fund says that shootings against officers increased 50 percent in 2014. This total includes two NYPD officers killed in December in an ambush. The suspect, killed by police, had posted Internet messages that accused police of racism, threatened to kill officers and urged others to do the same.
Despite the widely publicized recent cases where cops killed blacks, new studies show cops -- black and white -- more reluctant to shoot a black suspect compared to a white suspect. Reasons are unclear, but fear of additional scrutiny -- whether fair or not -- might be a factor.
Suspects who kill cops, however, appear colorblind.

http://www.elderstatement.com/2015/03/four-black-cops-killed-in-seven-days.html

Four (Black) Cops Killed in Seven Days --Where's the Outrage?
By Larry Elder
Mar. 26, 2015

Our Kids, Robert Putnam's Latest Tome, Book Review




Book Review
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
by Robert Putnam
(Simon & Schuster, 400 pp., $28)



[From review]
Our Kids relies on both a series of contrasting interviews with affluent and lower income-children about their families, their schools, and their communities, and an impressive collection of charts giving numerical heft to the differences that emerge from their tales. Adding to the breadth of the book is its geographical range: from Orange County, California to Port Clinton, Ohio, the author’s hometown and from Atlanta, Georgia to Bend, Oregon,
[. . .]
Skeptics may be most convinced by Putnam’s graphs and figures. In example after example, Putnam shows the “scissoring” of class-based children’s experiences since 1970 as conditions improved for rich kids and declined for the poor and working class.
[. . .]
The quality of family life, schools, and communities are mutually reinforcing, leading to success for rich kids and struggle for the poor. The gap, Putnam concludes, is bad for kids, bad for the economy, and—especially given the lack of trust and civic engagement among low-income families—bad for democracy.
[. . .]
Had Putnam ended there, he would have had a powerful book. But in the final chapter—“What is to Be Done?”—the social scientist yields the floor to the missionary in two notable ways. First, quoting Proverbs, Isaiah, and Pope Francis, among others, he reminds us that unequal opportunity “violates our deepest religious and moral values” and rues that we are “ignoring the plight of poor kids.”
[. . .]
School spending at all levels has gone from 4 percent of GDP in 1984 to 6.1 percent in 2010. Robert Moffitt of Johns Hopkins University estimates the per-capita government spending on means-tested programs has increased by 74 percent between 1975 and 2007. The federal government spends over $800 billion on 92 such programs. Of course, that doesn’t include the billions doled out to nonprofit groups by grant officers at the country’s thousands of philanthropies. And, all along, inequality has risen.
It’s still possible that the money and effort are not sufficient to the scope of the problem. It’s also possible that while government efforts may have helped to keep people out of poverty, erasing the opportunity gap is beyond the reach of conventional public policy.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/bc0327kh.html

KAY S. HYMOWITZ
Robert Putnam’s Mission
The Bowling Alone author’s prescriptions for closing the opportunity gap have been tried—and found wanting.
March 27, 2015