MS-13 /Stephen Paddock Connection?

A very good friend of mine just stumbled upon a coincidence that may explain what happened in Las Vegas last night. Note Paddock's neck-- there is a "13" tattooed on his neck. This is also a known tattoo for MS-13 gangs. Note also, as my friend does, that his girlfriend is Filipino, and that the MS-13 gang has a high profile in the Philippines.

This is, of course, conjecture, but it could explain his connections with regard to how he obtained automatic weapons and logistical support, and also the fact that Trump has long wanted to decimate MS-13, which could explain possible motives.

My friend notes,

"I never know what to believe from any news source but I did read that the shooter "was a multi-millionaire." Apparently from real estate investment, but he is a retired accountant. I don't see much written about real estate investments. But I did read that there are "millionaire MS 13 members." The St. George police told me that the MS 13 members here are a combination of hispanic and asian gang members who joined together.

"The MS 13, also sometimes seen just as MS or 13, is a symbol of the Mara Salvatrucha gang from El Salvador. Typically these tattoos can be found anywhere on the body, but are most often found in highly visible places like the face, hands or neck.Jan 8, 2016 Business Insider"

**EDIT:  'girlfriend' pictured is reportedly of Malaysian descent, not Filipino

****Edit 10-3-2017:
"She is a native of the Philippines and an Australian citizen, according to Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, which reported she lived on the Gold Coast for 20 years before coming to America."

She is, indeed, of Filipino descent. And Paddock wired $100k to her last week-- in the Philippines. 

The original assertion stands, 

Correction: The woman pictured is reportedly of Malaysian descent. 
EDIT:  I stand corrected--the woman in the photo is reportedly of Malaysian descient. 

CNN: ALL White People are Supremacists.

OK, CNN–so we’re all ‘white supremacists’ now, are we?  

Yep– according to CNN, all ‘ordinary’ white people share the original sin not just of slavery, but we are just born white supremacists.  We just can’t help it.

Well, then, let’s take a closer look at the concept of ‘white supremacy,’ shall we?
Contrary to the conservative mindset, which is set in the belief that all people are inherently good and capable of self-determination, regardless of race, it has long been the white liberal/progressive mindset that minorities are hapless and incompetent, and would barely have the pleasure of existence save for the oversight of their progressive intellectual betters.

In the mind of the progressive, minorities cannot independently rise above their station in life without progressive policies and the government programs that stem from them. Hell, in the mind of the progressive, minorities can’t even be counted on to be resourceful enough to do something simple, such as to obtain a driver’s license or an identification card to vote (unless a progressive government program were in place to assist them).

In other words, progressive policies have at their very core the premise that minorities are unable to fend for themselves, save for the good graces and ‘caring’ of those on the White Limousine Liberal plantation.

In summary, CNN, let me respond to your assertions by saying that IF there are any ‘natural’ supremacist sentiments and tendencies, it resides not in so-called ‘ordinary people.’ Rather, from Woodrow Wilson, to Margaret Sanger, to William Fulbright, history has demonstrated time and again that white supremacist tendencies lie squarely in the heart of the white limousine liberal progressive.

This latest accusation is nothing more than another stellar example of white liberal projection.

(h/t PJ Media)

Regarding "The Donald."

To my good conservative friends- especially those who support "The Donald." 

In these days of milquetoast (or worse) defenses of conservatism by elected leaders, especially the 'establishment' GOP leadership, it is easy to get excited over a seemingly unapologetic firebrand who finally articulates much of what you and I have wanted to scream from the mountaintops.

I get that. 

But remember what was happening 8 years ago. Many on the left and 'center-left' rallied behind a charismatic, well-spoken candidate who nobody really knew much about.

Not that there wasn't information available. There was information galore about Barack Obama-- from his associations with known domestic terrorists, to his belonging to a communist party in Chicago; from his 20-year association with a preacher who preached hate about the United States, to his being mentored by an avowed communist in his earliest days. The information was available to any who wished to do even a cursory internet search.

Many (myself included) tried to warn people about Barack Obama, how he wasn't the man whom he portrayed himself to be.

But people would have none of it. They looked upon Obama as an open canvas; they looked upon him and projected upon him their greatest hopes, and ignored the reality of his checkered past. They didn't see a guy raised by communists and people who hated America. They saw a guy descending from Greek columns. They saw 'the One"--their own personal messiah the one who would finally deliver them to the "Promised Land" and make the sea levels lower and the earth heal. They scoffed at reports of his past, thinking, "Well, even if he did cut his teeth on communism and Islam, he wouldn't *govern* like one. He would certainly out of a sense of duty and responsibility carry out America's most time-honored traditions." And they elected him anyway. The 'cult of personality' took over. There was no reasoning with people who refused to be reasoned with.

And we all know how that has turned out.

Now, back to Trump.

Donald Trump does an awfully good job at selling himself. He can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. He is very good at portraying himself as larger than life.

He is very good at 'portraying' himself as an unapologetic conservative.

But understand, people. Donald Trump is NO conservative. He has a very long record of taking very progressive stances on everything from border security to abortion to tax policy. He has engaged in crony capitalism, and has been part of the problem all along.

Are we to believe that he REALLY took a 180 on all these issues, just in time for the Republican primary?

Again-- I understand how Donald Trump can be appealing. He is charismatic and unapologetic--something we wish more of our elected leaders would be. But let's leave our passions behind and look at things realistically:

1. Given his long track record of being a crony capitalist and a big-government, pro-abortion progressive, can we reliably count on Donald Trump to actually govern as a conservative?

2. Even if Donald Trump were to attempt to keep his promises (which I have sincere doubts), can he accomplish all that he proposes in a system of checks and balances? Or will he govern with a 'phone and a pen' like our current dictator-in-chief?

Let's not let our passions get in the way of our good judgment. We have an embarrassment of riches in fine candidates such as Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, and Ben Carson who, while admittedly not as charismatic, have long track records of conservative stances and successfully advancing the conservative agenda with reasonable chances that they will govern accordingly.

No more cults of personality, please.

Never Again?

I was watching "Band of Brothers" last week--the episode where the Nazi death camp is discovered.

They (the Nazis) were massacring tens of thousands of people, in a camp located right near their community, right under the noses of those in the community--and they did NOTHING.

After they liberated the camp, the 101st Airborne conscripted the nearby townsfolk to carry all the bodies out of the death camp and to bury them. The people were aghast as they carried out their grisly duty; unaware that such atrocities could occur, right under their noses. They had no answer when interrogated as to why they continued to allow those atrocities to occur.

At some of those death camps, there were even bizarre experiments in dismemberment, disfugurement, and other forms of torture conducted, sometimes on live prisoners.

After WWII, the solemn pledge that arose was the phrase, "NEVER AGAIN!"

NEVER AGAIN! would the world allow such atrocities to occur against a defenseless group of people.

NEVER AGAIN! would the world stand by and do nothing in the face of what is surely evil.

And now, eighty years have passed, and there are now 'death camps' scattered all over America, centered mostly in minority urban centers--these death camps are massacring hundreds of thousands of babies every year. These death camps are also known as 'abortion 'clinics,' most commonly known as "Planned Parenthood" clinics. At a goodly portion of these death camps, bizarre and horrific dismemberment and disfigurement of their victims take place for later experimentation and other uses, sometimes perpetrated on born-alive victims.

These atrocities take place right under our noses. And the powers that be do nothing. People literally whistle past the graveyard. Even our own United States Senate, charged with the Constitutional Duty to protect the Right to Life, today refused to remove the mechanism through which these atrocities are funded and are allowed to continue. Even after the atrocities, thanks to the Center for Medical Progress, had been documented on film ad nauseum, the abject cowards in the United States Senate refused to lift a finger to keep these atrocities from continuing.

We who individually and collectively refuse to defend the defenseless can no longer lay claim to live in a blessed nation. I cannot fathom a Creator who would continue to bless his creation for disrespecting and wantonly desecrating that which was made in His own image, and that we were charged to protect.

A moment of Judgment is no doubt coming... one in which our Creator will force US to view and to confront the horrors which we have wrought, and one in which which we will singularly and collectively have to answer the question, "What did YOU do to defend the defiling of My creation?"

I'm afraid my answer will be, "Not enough Lord...not enough."

Never again?

An Open Letter to Representative Tama Theis

Dear Representative Theis: 

As you hopefully have noticed by now, the Federal government is out of control. The tentacles of their overreach are firmly entrenched in our businesses, our lives, even our religion. There is no sign of pulling back, only moving forward with the stranglehold that they have on the individual and economic liberties of the American people. 

There doesn't seem to be a way to decrease the size, scope and intrusiveness of government. They are too drunk with power to release any of their influence, and seem hellbent on increasing it even more. No matter who is elected to Congress, from no matter which party, the status quo continues and the tentacles of government continue to grow and to tighten their stranglehold on the American people. 

You've got to recognize it, too, Tama. Stop what you're doing and take a look around at what is happening. The loss of our liberties and the decay of our society is happening at breakneck speed, with no sign of slowing down. There is no way that the power-hungry apparatus in Washington D.C. will relinquish any of their power, no matter who is elected, UNLESS the several States take action. 

I call on you, Tama, to put forth a resolution that Minnesota join the 29 other states who have called for a Constitutional Convention to wrest back control from the Federal Government and give it back to the States and to the People respectively.

Things are out of control, Tama. You know it and I know it. 

It's up to the Minnesota legislator and We the People to do something about it. 

Remember Ronald Reagan's quote, (paraphrased), "I don't want to live in the generation that has to explain to their grandchildren what it was like to be free." 

All the exit ramps on the Federal Government Highway to Hell expressway to a brick wall have been passed, with no sign of slowing down, but rather myriad signs of exponentially-increasing breakneck speed. 

I implore you, Representative Theis, to put forth an Article V resolution and join other State legislatures who are calling for a Constitutional Convention. 

Sincerely, 

Leo Pusateri
St. Cloud, MN

BREAKING NEWS: Hillary Clinton Comes out as a Mime

Hillary Clinton Comes Out as Mime 

May 18, 2015 -Washington, D.C.

Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disclosed via an interpreter today that she actually has been responding to media questions, but that she has discovered herself to actually be a mime. 

"She said that in her heart of hearts she always knew herself to be a mime, and she now feels that it is an appropriate time in her life to come out as to who she really is," said Susyn Smyth-Morey-Elders, a spokesperson for the International Sisterhood of Womyn Mimes Local 537, and a certified mime interpreter for the Democratic Presidential hopeful. "She is currently working on developing a system of communicating that is consistent with her new-found identity."

During a follow-up conference, when asked about the unsavory characters from oppressive middle-east countries who contributed to the Clinton Foundation, Mrs. Clinton pretended to be in a box, at which point she pantomimed grabbing dollar bills out of the air.

Mrs. Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, said that he supports his wife's decision. "I can't tell you how absolutely peaceful it's been at home lately. I can actually hear myself think now." Said Mr. Clinton.

Those Nasty Facts! And What To Do About Them!

Did your guest contradict everything you hold dear about Dear Leader?

Did your guest wreck your buzz with an incontrovertible argument that you couldn't possibly answer?

Not to worry, Mr. "journo-list" because you have Edit-Be-Gone!

Yes, Edit-Be-Gone takes those nasty, inconvenient facts and hides them where nobody could see them-- on the cutting room floor!

Your brain-dead viewers will never know the difference!

Try Edit-Be-Gone, today!

Available at a J-School near you!

See Side-By-Side Shots of Sneaky CBS Editing of Ted Cruz Interview | NewsBusters

newsbusters.org

The assumption that the Sunday news shows might be live and unedited certainly unraveled with Sunday's discovery that CBS opportunistica

A Primer on The Minimum Wage that Even Liberals Can (hopefully) Understand

A little primer regarding the 'minimum wage.'

Understand exactly what a hike in the 'minimum wage' entails. 

A compulsory hike in the minimum wage means that the price of productivity will increase. 

This means that the level of what one used to purchase per dollar is less; therefore, one will be required to spend more to get the same amount of productivity. 

What a set amount of money bought before the hike in the minimum wage, can no longer be bought for the same amount of money. After the hike, more money must be spent, to get the same level of productivity. 

Money, is then, by definition, devalued. When money is devalued, the amount of it required to purchase a given good or service increases.

This increase is called INFLATION. 

One of two things MUST happen in order to regain equilibrium between resources spent and goods produced or purchased:

1. Pass along the increased price (inflation) of goods or services to the customer; or

2. Make sure the money you spend on the manufacturing/service end results in more productivity. 

Option number one results in inflation in the marketplace (rise in prices to purchase goods or services) passed on to all. This means that the money earned after the minimum wage hike has less purchasing power than the money earned prior to the minimum wage hike. This effectively negates the purchasing power experienced via any raise in pay to the worker as a result of hiking the minimum wage. 

Option Number Two results in fewer workers doing more work per hour for the increased pay they get. Instead of seven people on a shift, to keep the same productivity without passing increased costs to the consumer, there may be only five people required to do the work that seven people once did. This effectively results in a reduction in the present work force at worst, or in preventing the company from hiring additional workers after attrition, at best. 

This, of course, results in higher unemployment and/or lower labor participation rates, as there are now fewer jobs to be had. 

In other words, contrary to all the magical thinking going on in the White House and in the war rooms of the DNC, and yes, among the democrat party faithful, there are no sustainable benefits to a *compulsory* increase in the minimum wage.

As If...

Dear Speaker Boehner:

There is nothing I'd like better than to keep the United States House of Representatives in *conservative* hands. 

Regarding that issue, we wholeheartedly agree.

In that spirit, could you kindly resign your tenure as Speaker of the House?

Under your leadership, Obamacare is still the law of the land. Those responsible for allowing four Americans to be murdered in Benghazi are yet to be held accountable. The Constitutional abuses of the IRS scandal, the "Fast & Furious" federal gun-running scandal, and NSA scandals continue to go un-investigated, and Obama continues to be held unaccountable. Under your 'leadership,' the Republicans in the House of Representatives have done nothing to hold the Obama administration accountable for their overreach and malfeasance and assaults on our Constitutional liberties. You supposedly practiced brinkmanship when Obama forced a government shutdown, but then acted like you owned it, and ran with your tail between your legs. It's been "go along to get along" ever since.

And now you want to cave and give special treatment to those scofflaws who ignore our immigration laws.

Your team put up a nice graphic on Facebook today in response to President Obama's "I have a pen" comment, to which you replied, "We have the Constitution."

However, as much as you hold up the Constitution and parade it around like a golden calf, you have displayed no real intention of upholding it. As your actions and inaction have clearly demonstrated, to you, the Constitution is nothing more than window-dressing in a photo-op.

Speaker Boehner, you have on many occasions taken a solemn oath and promise to uphold the Constitution.

After taking those solemn oaths, on multiple occasions, you have demonstrated that your promises are as empty as must be your conscience.

If you really believe that the Constitution must be kept in conservative hands, I call upon you to resign your office as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Whether or not your constituency in the 8th District of Ohio continues to re-elect you to as their representative in Congress is their business.

The office you hold as Speaker, however, is *our* business. You have lost the trust and confidence of those of us in the Republican Party.

You have lost the trust of the nation.

Time for you to resign, Mr. Speaker.

Sincerely,

Leo Pusateri.

Burger Flipper Economics 101

Exploitation?
Really???

These people say they “deserve” $15 per hour. They are ENTITLED to it.

Contrary to what the populist Chairman Obamao bloviates, it’s not about what people “deserve.” It’s about what value people bring to the market– what set of skills they bring to the table and how marketable and valuable that skill set is.

People who can flip burgers or keep a menu straight are a dime a dozen. That doesn’t make them bad or inferior as people, it’s just that there are many, many people with that skill set who can fill that position.

If someone is terminated or quits a burger flipper position, the pool of people who possess and/or can be easily trained for that skill set is enormous. That position can be easily filled.

People who can successfully manage and run a restaurant and its finances have a different skill set. Though they are still ubiquitous in number, they are fewer in number than the burger flippers. They get paid a little higher, because people with the more specialized skill set are higher in demand.

People who can do neurosurgery, or for that matter who can play ball at the major league level, are very few in number–they bring an esoteric skill set– they are very few in number, and very, very few people can fill their shoes if they leave.

A higher wage is commanded by such people, because of the value they bring, like rare, fine diamonds– they are higher in price because they aren’t found everywhere. The market screams for such talent, yet such talent is so rare, that the talent must be compensated well in order to keep that talent.

It’s basic market economics, people!

QUESTION: How many of you think fast food workers “deserve” 15 dollars an hour????

White House is Staging a Bloodless Coup

OK, folks--here's the deal- I don't think too many people are realizing this:

1. We currently gather TEN TIMES the amount of revenue required to service our debt, EVERY MONTH.

2. The 14th Amendment states that WE MUST honor and service our debts; meaning that paying and servicing debt MUST COME FIRST. 

3. Barack Obama has been threatening that we WILL DEFAULT on our debt if the debt ceiling is not raised in two days. 

4. The ONLY way this can happen, is if Barack Obama IGNORES the 14th Amendment and REFUSES to service the debt. This means that Barack Obama MUST OPENLY DEFY the Constitution to bring about what he threatens will happen. 

5. Understand also that I believe that Barack Obama FULLY INTENDS to carry out his threat. I believe that Barack Obama MEANS, in direct opposition to the 14th Amendment, to ALLOW the United States to go into default. Like a terrorist with his finger on the button of his suicide vest, he is threatening to DESTROY THE FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF THE UNITED STATES, placing our economy in RUIN, unless Congress meets his every demand.

6. In effect, Barack Obama is staging what amounts to nothing less than a COUP-- a complete usurpation of the power of the purse that IS EXCLUSIVELY THE PURVIEW of the duly and locally elected United States House of Representatives. 

7. In completely and WILLFULLY ignoring his Constitutional responsibilities with respect to the 14th Amendment, Barack Obama has effectually denounced the primacy of the U.S. Constitution. He is effectively governing by EXECUTIVE FIAT.

In other words, Barack Obama HAS THROWN AWAY THE CONSTITUTION and is in effect GOVERNING AS A DICTATOR! 

UNDERSTAND THIS, PEOPLE--THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE!

An Open Letter to Al Franken

I received an email from Senator Franken. Among his accomplishments touted was supposedly keeping college affordable for Minnesotans, accomplishing this by keeping student loan rates low, and trying to expand the issuance of Pell grants and other sources of financial aid. 

This was my response to the Senator:

Dear Senator Franken 
While I appreciate your wanting to keep the cost of education affordable for all Minnesotans, your solutions appear to be centered on only one side of the equation. 

While I applaud your efforts to keep interest on student loans low, and to expand the availability of Pell grants and other sources of financial aid, I must wonder what is being done on the other side of the equation-- to keep college costs down? 

What is happening in colleges seems to be highly analogous with what is happening in health care. In health care, raises in prices are passed on to health insurance companies, who in turn merely charge higher premiums to their users. There is no competition nor pressure brought to bear on medically-related institutions to hold the line on costs, as they simply pass the costs, almost whimsically, back to the consumer. 

In the same manner, as colleges raise their tuition rates with impunity, government responds not by holding educational institutions accountable for their costs, but by increasing the levels of debt on the part of students and/or cost to the taxpayer in terms of financial aid subsidies. This necessarily keeps tax burdens on individuals and businesses elevated, and necessarily increases the already insurmountable mountain of debt incurred by students. 

What is the threshold under which government will put a ceiling on financial aid? 

If government places such a ceiling on the level of financial aid given to students, colleges will necessarily need to adjust tuition and other associated costs or face severely declining enrollment. 

In other words, competition and market-driven forces will bring pressure to keep the costs of college at affordable levels. 

And, incidentally and likewise, competition and market-driven forces will force health care providers to keep their costs at affordable levels (I present the lowering costs and higher quality and availability of laser eye surgery as a shining example of this concept). 

Senator Franken, at the beginning of this screed, I didn't think about tying these concepts, health care and higher education, together. But now that I am typing this, I have come to the conclusion (and I hope that you can follow me) that what it comes down to is this: what is missing from Higher Education and what is missing in health care--including Obamacare--is the very thing that will alleviate issues in both of these problematic areas-- the introduction of market forces to bring costs down to affordable levels. 

Sir, I have little hope that you will take this to heart, as no doubt your partisan blinders will prevent you from seeing the inherent similarities between these two out-of-control aspects of our society, and that these two sectors share a nearly identical solution (market-driven forces); but then again, one can certainly dream. 

Sincerely, 

Leo Pusateri

Regarding "Hate" Crimes.

I don't believe in the concept of "hate crimes."

There are precious few crimes, especially murders, that are "love criimes."

In my opinion, the psychological intent or the mind state of the person committing the murder is already summed up in degrees (first degree, second degree, manslaughter, etc).

The reasons for premeditation are immaterial. If the person intended with forethought to visit bodily harm resulting in the death of an innocent person for reasons not related to self defense, that perpetrator committed murder. Period. It is immaterial whether the perp is a racist or whether the perp is Mother Teresa.

To assign an instance of the wanton deprivation of another's life as more or less severe simply because the perp was a racist or did it out of racial spite is superfluous. Premeditated murder is premeditated murder.

When society assigns the gravity of premeditated murder as dependent on the mind state of the perpetrator, you are now jumping into the realm of THOUGHT CRIMES.

Do we really want to go there?

Unfortunately, there are many on the left who do.

As the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case clearly illustrated, those on the left are more than happy to fall all over themselves in immediately assigning motives of racism and "hate crime" (read: THOUGHT CRIME) status when a fellow-traveller is on the receiving end and a white person (even a ginned-up "White Hispanic" person) is on the giving end.

When one or more of their own is on the giving end, however, not so much. Rare indeed is the case when black on white violence ends up being prosecuted as a "hate crime."

Which leads me to believe that to a critical mass of our population (not at all exclusively black, mind you, but exclusively "progressive" at any rate), the whole concept of "hate crime" is not borne out of a thirst for blind justice; rather, the concept of "hate crime" seems to serve as a tool to exact revenge on those progressives identify as enemies of their ideology at worst, or as tools to advance their sense of ideology and/or personal political agendae at best.

Delbert Belton Murder Suspect Makes First Court Appearance

www.khq.com

The courtroom was packed Monday for the first appearance of 16-year-old Demetrius Glenn with friends and family of both Delbert Belton and Demetrius Glenn. There are a lot of emotions on both sides of

Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Arm of the DFL..

From the get-go this has been nothing but blatant political payback for Big Unions from the DFL:

Gary Gross has the details.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Their "Good Intentions."

Tell Governor Dayton that this is the first question we should ask of sulfide mining proposals - http://miningtruth.org/

These people want to create a luddite lifestyle--they drive their cars, talk on their cell phones, forgetting that petroleum is required to drive those cars and create the plastic used in those phones. 

They may feel smug and self-righteous driving their electric cars, forgetting all the while that it is much-maligned coal that is providing the electricity to charge those battery cells.

They supposedly decry poverty and say that it is those in corporate America who keep the little guy down-- yet they thwart every effort to create jobs by creating pressure to impart onerous regulations and at every turn block progress that would create sustainable employment with endless frivolous lawsuits, and in the process they perpetuate and/or even create unending cycles of poverty in already-economically depressed areas (such as the Iron Range).

Instead, they demand taxpayer subsidization on unsustainable "green energy" initiatives that aren't 'green' at all, and in reality create more pollution either in the production end or the consumer end than they purport to eradicate. They say we need more wind energy, and then in the same breath block wind energy initiatives in their own backyard (such as was done off of Martha's Vineyard), and in places that they do put up windfarms (that don't pollute their own precious scenery) those turbines consume hundreds of thousands (if not millions of dollars) per year in costly maintenance, and decimate species of migratory birds (and even eagles) who fly into them on a daily basis.

They operate in the name of preventing pollution, yet their 'good intentions' do nothing substantive to solve any problem, real or invented, and more often than not create many more problems in their wake than they ever could 'solve' in a lifetime.

It's about time that people start calling organizations such as this to the carpet and start demanding from them solutions that consist of more substance than mere 'good intentions' on REAL, not imagined or invented problems, before they are translated to costly public policy, unsusatainable save for the auspices of the hard working taxpayers, whose demands on their labors are continuously straining to the point where the economy can no longer sustain those demands.

Someone has to have the gonads to start declaring that these organizations have no clothes, and not be browbeated into submission for fear of what they may be called for calling them out.

Time has proven that paying homage to and humoring these malcontents has resulted in billions, if not trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars, and I dare say that our economy would have avoided these past several recessions had these enviro-bozos been shown the door.