Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hamas says three top commanders killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza


Hamas said that an Israel airstrike in Gaza killed three of its senior military leaders early Thursday. 
The Palestinian militant group claimed that the men -- identified as Mohammed Abu Shamaleh, Mohammed Barhoum and Raed al-Attar -- were killed along with three other people in a strike on a four-story building near Rafah, a town in the southern part of the coastal territory. 
The Israeli security agency Shin Bet confirmed the deaths of Shamaleh and al-Attar in an email, but did not mention Barhoum. The three Hamas leaders are considered to be at the senior levels of its military leadership and were involved in a number of high profile attacks on Israeli targets.
"The strike was the result of intelligence and operational activities, which led to the detection and attack on two central operatives from the heart of Hamas’s military leadership," Shin Bet said in a statement. 
The strike, one of 20 the Israeli military said it carried out early Thursday, came one day after another strike in Gaza City aimed at Hamas' senior military leader, Mohammad Dief. Israeli intelligence sources have told Fox News that they believe that Dief was killed in that operation, but Hamas has claimed that he survived. 
Israel says the airstrikes are in response to a resumption of Hamas rocket fire that on Tuesday scuttled a six-day cease-fire. The military says that only one rocket launch was registered since midnight, compared to more than 210 over the previous 30 hours.
In a nationally televised address Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed little willingness to return to the negotiating table after six weeks of war with Hamas.
"We are determined to continue the campaign with all means and as is needed," he said, his defense minister by his side. "We will not stop until we guarantee full security and quiet for the residents of the south and all citizens of Israel."
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed "deep regret" over the breaking of the cease-fire. It said in a statement Wednesday that it "continues bilateral contacts" with both sides aimed at restoring calm and securing a lasting truce that "serves the interest of the Palestinian people, especially in relation to the opening of the crossings and reconstruction."
An Egyptian compromise proposal calls for easing the Gaza blockade but not lifting it altogether or opening the territory's air and seaports, as Hamas has demanded.
While the plan does not require Hamas to give up its weapons, it would give Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were ousted by Hamas, a foothold back in Gaza running border crossings and overseeing internationally backed reconstruction.
The Gaza blockade has greatly limited the movement of Palestinians in and out of the territory of 1.8 million people, restricted the flow of goods into Gaza and blocked virtually all exports.
Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas and other militant groups from getting weapons. Critics say the measures amount to collective punishment.

Islamic State militants threatened journalist's death in email to family, CEO says


In the days before journalist James Foley was brutally beheaded by a member of the Islamic State militant group, an e-mail sent to Foley's family threatened his execution in "vitriolic" terms, the CEO of the international news service Foley had worked for said Wednesday. 
Philip Balboni told a news conference that the e-mail, which was received sometime last week, did not contain any demands, in contrast with previous missives dating back to last fall. Balboni said the company had hired an international firm shortly after Foley disappeared in November 2012, and the New Hampshire native was located in September 2013. Balboni added that Foley was always kept in Syria, though his captors moved him around often.
Foley was abducted in northern Syria while covering that country's civil war and had not been heard from since. On Tuesday, Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS, released a video showing a militant beheading Foley in apparent response to U.S. airstrikes against militant positions in Iraq. At the end of the video, the militant is shown threatening to behead another missing American journalist, Steven Sotloff.  
Citing a representative of Foley's family and a former hostage, the New York Times reported that ISIS militants had pressed the U.S. to pay a multi-million dollar ransom in exchange for Foley's release. That demand was refused. The Times also reported that ISIS is holding at least three other Americans hostage, including Sotloff, and has threatened to kill all of them if their demands are not met. 
In addition to money, the militants' demands also reportedly include prisoner swaps. One prisoner specifically named in the Times report is Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist with ties to Al Qaeda who has been imprisoned in Texas since 2010 after a conviction for attacking U.S. agents in Afghanistan. 
In a rare move Wednesday, the Pentagon revealed that U.S. special forces had attempted to rescue hostages held by Islamic State, including Foley, earlier this summer. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement that the mission had targeted a "captor network" inside the militant group, and included air and ground elements, but was unable to locate the hostages. 
Meanwhile, new details were being reported in the British press about the identity of the militant who beheaded Foley in the video. American and British intelligence officials were working to firmly identify the man, who speaks in the video with a distinct British accent and is believed to be from London or southeast England. 
A former hostage told The Guardian that the man was the head of a group of three British militants whose main job is to guard foreign captives in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, an ISIS stronghold. The hostage said the man called himself "John" and described him as intelligent, educated, and devoted to radical Islamic teachings. The hostage said that his fellow captives referred to their three British overlords as "The Beatles." 
The Guardian also reported that "John" is a point man for hostage negotiations and has had discussions about possible ransoms with families of several foreign nationals via Skype. 
The British government has estimated that up to 500 citizens of that country have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join up with ISIS and other militant groups since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011. British intelligence officials also reportedly believe that those nationals have developed into particularly dangerous fighters, willing to carry out suicide attacks and, as in the case of Foley's death, beheadings. According to The Daily Telegraph, approximately half of those 500 have returned to the United Kingdom.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Teacher omits God from Pledge of Allegiance


Jessica Andrews could not believe her eyes.
“It was like an ‘Oh my gosh’ type of feeling,” the mother of six from Aiken, South Carolina told me.
The item that caused her angst came from her daughter’s school. It was a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance. But the school’s version of the pledge was just a few words short – two to be exact.
“It didn’t have ‘under God’,” she said.
Jessica’s daughter is a fourth grader at Chukker Creek Elementary School. She said Aiken is a very religious community and they are a religious family. So you can imagine her surprise when she realized the school’s version of the pledge did not include a shout-out to the Almighty.
“It’s outrageous, to be honest,” she told me. “It seems like the government is doing everything they can to take God out of everything.”
Jessica pointed out that our forefathers believed in God – so why can’t the youngsters acknowledge we are a nation under God?
“We are so quick to change our religion to accommodate everyone else,” she said. “It seems like Christianity is getting taken out of everything.”
So how did the Almighty end up getting cut from the pledge?
I alerted the school early Tuesday morning – and by midday Principal Amy Gregory determined Jessica had a legitimate beef.
In this particular case, the omission was not the nefarious work of a godless educator. The principal said it was an honest-to-goodness mistake.
“This was a single mistake by a very embarrassed and apologetic teacher,” the principal told me in written correspondence.
“In order to assist her new students with our morning announcements, a teacher made copies of the pledge and national anthem for her class,” she told me. “She cut and pasted these from a website and in doing so, this line was omitted.”
Ah yes – the old “cut and paste” will get you every time.
“The teacher failed to proof the paper,” the principal wrote.
As we all know – the most important part of the editorial process is the proof-reading. That’s why God made copy editors. Before I go off chasing another squirrel, let’s get back to the issue at hand – the pledge.
The principal said as soon as the teacher learned her mistake, she sent a corrected version to parents – along with an apology.
“I do apologize,” the teacher wrote. “Please forgive me. I respect our country and what it was founded on.”
Principal Gregory said the boys and girls at Chukker Creek recite the pledge every day. And in case you’re wondering, she said the words ‘under God’ are included.
Jessica told me she used the incident as a life lesson for her little girl.
“I told her the government and a lot of people don’t like God,” she said. “Some people are offended by Christianity. I try to be as real with my kids about their faith as I can be. I don’t want to sugarcoat everything.”
We need more moms like Jessica Andrews. Thanks to her eagle eye she was able to facilitate change at Chukker Creek Elementary School.
We also need more educators like Principal Gregory. She acknowledged the mistake, took swift action and righted a glaring wrong.
Gold stars for everyone!

US working to verify video purportedly showing beheading of American journalist


The Obama administration was working early Wednesday to confirm whether a video released by Islamic militants purportedly showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley was authentic.
However, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press Tuesday that they believed the video showed Foley's death. A statement by Foley's mother, Diane, posted on the "Find James Foley" Facebook page requested privacy "as we mourn and cherish Jim."
"We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people," the message said. "We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world."
Earlier Tuesday, a red-eyed but gracious Diane Foley said the family would not have an immediate statement when approached at her Rochester, N.H. home by an Associated Press reporter. A priest arrived at the home several hours later.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the administration has seen the video. She said that if it's deemed genuine by the intelligence community, the U.S. would be "appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist."
President Obama was briefed on the video Tuesday night by Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Air Force One, Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said.
Fox News has learned that the video, which is being taken seriously by U.S. officials, is being analyzed by a special group within the US intelligence community that specializes in media exploitation. The group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is believed to have other Americans in their custody.
At the end of the video, a militant shows a second man, who was identified as another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and warns that he could be next captive killed. Sotloff was kidnapped near the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2013 and freelanced for Time, the National Interest and MediaLine.
The release of the video allegedly showing his death comes amid a U.S. airstrike campaign against Islamic State targets in Iraq. ISIS has declared an Islamic state in the territory it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
Foley, 40, a freelance journalist, vanished in Syria in November 2012 while covering the Syrian civil war for GlobalPost. The car he was riding in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control. He had not been heard from since.
The publication "mounted an extensive international investigation" for his whereabouts, with the search extending throughout the Middle East, along the Syria-Turkish border, in Lebanon, Jordan and other locations, GlobalPost wrote on its site Tuesday.
In 2011, Foley was among a small group of journalists held captive for six weeks by the government in Libya and was released after receiving a one-year suspended sentence on charges of illegally entering the country. In a May 2011 interview about his experience, he recounted watching a fellow journalist being killed in a firefight and said he would regret that day for the rest of his life. At the time, Foley said he would "would love to go back" to Libya to report on the conflict and spoke of his enduring commitment to the profession of journalism.
"Journalism is journalism," Foley said during the AP interview, which was held in GlobalPost's office in Boston. "If I had a choice to do Nashua (New Hampshire) zoning meetings or give up journalism, I'll do it. I love writing and reporting."
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned what it called a "barbaric murder. The organization estimated Tuesday that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria, and has not released their nationalities. In its annual report last November, CPJ concluded that the missing journalists are either being held and threatened with death by extremists, or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom. The group's report described the widespread seizure of journalists as unprecedented and largely unreported by news organizations in the hope that keeping the kidnappings out of public view may help in the captives' release.
Marquette University, Foley's alma mater, said it was "deeply saddened" by the news of Foley's purported death. The Milwaukee university said he had a heart for social justice and used his talents to tell stories in the hopes they might make a difference.
"We extend our heartfelt prayers and wishes for healing to James' family and friends during this very difficult time," it said in a statement.
Earlier Tuesday, GlobalPost CEO and co-founder Philip Balboni in a statement asked "for your prayers for Jim and his family." AFP chairman Emmanuel Hoog said the French news agency was "horrified" by the video and called Foley "a brave, independent and impartial journalist."

Gaza truce talks break down as Israel, militants trade rocket fire


Talks being held in Cairo for a long-term Gaza cease-fire broke down Tuesday as Israel recalled its delegation hours after Palestinian militants broke an earlier truce by launching volleys of rockets.
An Israeli official told The Associated Press that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators at cease-fire talks to return home.
The Israeli military said a total of 10 rockets had fallen Tuesday, including one that damaged a coffee shop in southern Israel.
Israel responded to the rockets by launching their own airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian officials in Gaza reported more than two dozen Israeli airstrikes. At least 21 people, including 14 women and children, were wounded in a strike that hit a building housing the offices of Hamas' Al Aqsa TV station in Gaza City.
Israel's civil defense authority, the Home Front Command, ordered authorities to reopen public bomb shelters within a 25-mile range of Gaza.
The Israeli moves, coupled with the outbreak of violence, threw Egyptian efforts to arrange a long-term cease-fire into jeopardy.
The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists, said the Egyptian-hosted talks with Hamas militants are based on the "premise" that there will be no violence. The talks face a midnight deadline.
There was no immediate Egyptian comment, but a Hamas official declared the talks over.
In Cairo, the head of the Palestinian delegation, which is comprised of various factions, said no progress had been made in Tuesday's talks, but expressed hope they could still succeed.
"We gave the Egyptians our final position. We are waiting for them to come back with a response," said Azzam al-Ahmed, a close aide to President Mahmoud Abbas.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s military said three rockets launched from Gaza City landed in open fields near the southern city of Beersheba.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But shortly before the launch, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum hinted of more rocket fire, saying: "If Netanyahu doesn't understand ... the language of politics in Cairo, we know how to make him understand."
In a statement Tuesday, Israel’s military accused Palestinian militants of violating a cease-fire and said it maintains "both defense and striking capabilities in order to address the renewed aggression."
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev called the rocket attack “a grave and direction violation of the cease-fire.”
Wide gaps remain on key issues in the cease-fire talks, including Israel's blockade of Gaza, its demands for disarmament of Hamas and Palestinian demands for a Gaza seaport and an airport.
In an apparent attempt to pressure Hamas, Egypt said early Monday it would co-host an international fundraising conference for Gaza — but only if a deal is reached first.
That appears to play into the hands of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which is seeking to regain a Gaza foothold, seven years after Hamas ousted it from power in the densely populated coastal strip.
Hamas, whose officials are part of the Palestinian delegation in the Cairo talks, has emerged weaker from the month-long Gaza war.
The militant group finds itself pressured by both Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to accept a less than perfect deal with Israel, but needs to show the people of Gaza that the enormous sacrifices they endured in the fighting were not in vain.
A member of the Palestinian delegation said that Israel was offering to ease the Gaza blockade by opening border crossings to some goods and people, but was insisting that it retain the right to limit the imports of material like cement, and chemical and metal products, which Israel says can be used for weapons manufacturing.
Hamas fears the arrangement would allow Israel to retain the right to close the crossings whenever it wished and is pushing for more Palestinian input into such decisions.
The Palestinian official also told The Associated Press that Israel wants to put off for an unspecified date any discussion on the opening of a Gaza seaport and airport and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The Palestinians, however, say they will only agree to postpone discussing the seaport and airport for "a month after a ceasefire agreement, with other issues like .... the prisoners," the official said. He spoke condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss negotiations with the media.
He also said that Israel agrees to extend the maritime territory in which Gaza fisherman can venture out from three to six miles and eventually to 12 miles from the shore, but that it was standing firm against Hamas' demand for unsupervised exports from the strip.
The Gaza blockade, imposed after Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, has greatly limited the movement of Palestinians in and out of the territory of 1.8 million people, restricted the flow of goods into Gaza and blocked virtually all exports.
Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent arms smuggling, but critics say the measures have amounted to collective punishment.
Jamal Shobaky, the Palestinian ambassador in Cairo voiced disappointment with the Israeli stance, particularly on the question of the blockade. "What the Israelis have offered so far in the talks is not removing the blockade but rather easing it," he said.
The latest round of Gaza fighting was precipitated by massive Israeli arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank in the aftermath of the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in June. Their deaths were followed by the slaying of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem in what was a likely revenge attack.
Since the war started with an Israeli air campaign on July 8, followed by the introduction of troops on the ground nine days later, many of the strip's structures have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people remain huddled in U.N. shelters.
Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra said Monday the death toll from the fighting had jumped to over 2,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, while U.N. officials, who often take more time to verify figures, put the number at 1,976. Israel lost 67 people, all but three of them soldiers.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Hug Out Cartoon


Obama takes break from vacation for high-level White House meetings on undisclosed topics


President Obama took a break from his summer vacation to return to Washington early Monday for series of high-level, but unspecified, White House meetings.
Obama left his first family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard and will meet with Vice President Joe Biden and other top-ranking officials later Monday, according to White House staffers. But they have not disclosed what officials will discuss -- amid a list of international problems that include fighting in Iraq, Israel and Ukraine and the humanitarian-immigration crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Obama’s decision to return to Washington appears to be in part a response to criticism about him spending two weeks on a resort island amid so many foreign and domestic crises.
However, the president’s first week on the Massachusetts island, in which he played several rounds of golf, included on-camera statements on U.S. military action in Iraq and the clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Mo. And he called foreign leaders to discuss the tensions between Ukraine and Russia, as well as between Israel and Hamas.
"I think it's fair to say there are, of course, ongoing complicated situations in the world, and that's why you've seen the president stay engaged," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Officials disclosed Sunday that Attorney General Eric Holder will brief Obama on Monday about the situation in Missouri, where the Aug. 9 police shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown has sparked rioting.
Political observers have speculated that Obama might be returning to take executive action to help fix the country’s broken immigration system -- perhaps broadening a 2012 order that delayed deportation for some young illegal immigrants to include as many as 5 million people now living illegally in the United States.
However, White House officials have said the president won’t take such action until after summer and after receiving full reports on the issue from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
Obama is scheduled to return to Martha's Vineyard on Tuesday and stay through next weekend.
Though work has occupied much of Obama's first week on vacation, he also found time to go to the beach with his family and out to dinner with first lady Michelle Obama. He hit the golf course one more time Sunday ahead of his departure, joining two aides and former NBA player Alonzo Mourning for an afternoon round.
Earlier in the week, Obama attended a birthday party for Democratic adviser Vernon Jordan's wife, where he spent time with former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
That get-together between the former rivals-turned-partners added another complicated dynamic to Obama's vacation. Just as Obama was arriving on Martha's Vineyard, an interview with the former secretary of state was published in which she levied some of her sharpest criticism of Obama's foreign policy.
Clinton later promised she and Obama would "hug it out" when they saw each other at Jordan's party. No reporters were allowed in, so it's not clear whether there was any hugging, but the White House said the president danced to nearly every song.

Gov. Perry indicted: Everything's big in Texas, even this B.S.


Remember Barack Obama telling his followers to always "bring a gun to a knife fight"? Like good subjects do, his supporters in Texas obeyed. Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted on two counts of abuse of power. 
This ridiculous politically motivated “indictment” of Governor Rick Perry stems from the ugly thug tactics of the "politics of personal destruction" that the left is known for. They draw blood and leave scars on conservatives who threaten their political power, hoping the threat retreats and hoping his or her base of support remains silent in fear of becoming collateral damage.
Thankfully, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and those of us with scars to prove it can help others learn from things like this Texas-sized political drama.
This ridiculous politically motivated “indictment” of Governor Rick Perry stems from the ugly thug tactics of the "politics of personal destruction" that the left is known for.
First and foremost, today's liberals have no shame. Case in point: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.
Lehmberg was busted for drunk driving with an open bottle of vodka in her car after a 911 call reported her endangering others while swerving erratically on the road. The D.A. was smashed -- three times over the legal limit. 
She was a nut job while in custody, disgracefully threatening law enforcement officials and lashing out violently. The D.A. had to be physically restrained. It was all caught on tape. The extent of the D.A.'s serious drinking problem was uncovered, evidence included her purchase of 72 bottles of vodka in just one store alone, in just over a year. It's reasonable to believe she imbibed elsewhere, too.
The appropriate and honorable thing for this powerful D.A. to do -- note, she's the county's chief law enforcement officer and her job is to decide which law-breaking Texans she wants to put in jail - is resign. Governor Perry asked her to do so, which any good governor would do. But because this D.A. is a hardcore Democrat in a hardcore-Democrat county, and Governor Perry is a Republican, Democrats rallied around her and she refused to resign.

Lehmberg's D.A.’s office runs the state’s Public Integrity Unit which prosecutes public crimes like government corruption. Texans were baffled that this clearly unfit official was running a unit with huge statewide importance and they lost confidence in this government oversight unit.

Governor Perry used appropriate tools under the Texas Constitution to urge Lehmberg to do the right thing, using line item veto power to defund the Public Integrity Unit until it could actually serve the public with integrity, under a leader who had integrity. 

According to reports, he reached out to alleviate the Democrats’ fears about her replacement by promising to select her right hand man for the post – essentially giving liberals their desired replacement. All he wanted was for this unfit public official to step aside.
The governor was doing his job in looking out for the people, but Democrats only care about Democrats, and drunk or sober, Lehmberg was one of them. 

Her liberal supporters filed an ethics complaint against Perry, defying commonsense and common practice by claiming he abused power when he publicly announced his intention to veto.
The Travis County D.A.'s Office, still under Lehmberg, convened a grand jury, and – surprise, surprise! – Perry was “indicted.” Remember, a grand jury indictment is not a criminal conviction. It’s the result of a one-sided preliminary hearing run by the prosecution.
I don't worry about Perry, personally, in all this because he'll have a microphone plus millions in people and dollars to mount a strong defense at the courthouse and in the court of public opinion. But what we should all worry about is that the left doesn’t care about the end result, they only care about immediate headlines in their strategy to destroy a person.
Most Americans will only read that glaring headline orchestrated on a Friday night to minimize rebuttals: “Rick Perry Indicted On Felony Corruption Charges!” Once that bell is rung, it’s impossible to un-ring it.
I'm a believer that everything happens for a reason, so in hindsight I can value my own experience as a conservative governor dealing with leftwing activists who would stop at nothing to take out a successful Republican.

I was riddled with countless frivolous ethics complaints and lawsuits after being nominated as the GOP vice presidential candidate, all in an attempt to derail my governorship and personally bankrupt my family.
One by one these complaints were tossed out on the basis of their frivolity, but the activists got what they wanted via the complicit liberal media's consistent headline: “Palin Charged With Ethic Complaints!”
It didn’t matter that the “complaint” was for something as absurd as wearing an old snow machine jacket with my husband's logo on it, or answering reporters' questions inside my state office, or giving a pro bono speech for a pro-life charity; again in hindsight the ridiculousness of the constant charges -- that cost millions to defend and halted all progress in my administration -- would seem hilarious if they'd not been so unfair to the public.

The media breathlessly reported on every one of the liberal's complaints with bold font, front page coverage. But when each one was overturned, most times we never even saw one mention about our vindication.

I have no doubt that Rick Perry will weather this storm because he's better prepared for this kind of B.S. than we were up here in Texas's big sister state, when the politics of personal destruction ramped up to unimaginable levels.

Rick won't have to worry about the Republican establishment piling on, either. He's more ingratiated with the political machine than someone considered still an unknown who'd go rogue on GOP kingmakers when they acted unethically, so he's fortunate to only face a firing squad from one side.
All over the country people are facing challenges. Some are unfairly charged with wrongdoing and they may feel defenseless and are absolutely slack jawed at the injustice it seems their detractors get away with. But like Rick Perry will do, Americans must all keep the faith that justice will be done, and whether it's a personal or political battle, know that if we lose that faith, there's no hope for America.
We come out of the battle with more scars, but look at those as reminders of what it takes to overcome. The scars toughen your skin to prepare you for something perhaps tougher up ahead, but surely for something greater.   
In today's political ring, these leftwing Chicago-type tactics of personal destruction are a corruption of our democratic process. It's a slap in the face of the American way of affecting change. We see the same “take no prisoners” tactics at play in the scandalous Democrat-run IRS – as officials with liberal sympathies brazenly harass conservatives to shut us up and shut us down.

We see the same cruel and unfair tactics at play in the liberal-run press that chooses to ignore the liberal president's threats against Congress with his "pen and phone," and his threats against any who question his failed policies when instructing his supporters to meet us with a gun in the proverbial knife fight that is today's politics. All of this prevents good people from even wanting to get involved in politics.
This will only stop when We the People wise up and buck up enough to demand better, and to fight back with a warning to liberals to pull in their horns because we'll never fall for their sick game again.
Don’t fall for those "Another Corrupt Conservative Governor; This Time in Texas!" screaming headlines. It's true that everything's big in Texas, including this pile of B.S. thrown at their governor that may be bigger than usual.
An indictment is serious business, and if found to be baseless it gives a big black eye to every watchdog group and every D.A.'s decision, so let's expose these thug tactics for what they are: the corrupt power plays of an embarrassingly failed Democratic Party lacking integrity and honor.
Rick Perry and conscientious citizens will expose this on a national level in coming days, mark my words, because you don't mess with Texas nor do you poke the rest of us independent Americans fed up with hell rousers turning the bad guy into the hero while demonizing the good.
Sarah Palin first made history on December 4, 2006, when she was sworn in as the first female and youngest governor of Alaska. In August 2008, Senator John McCain tapped Palin to serve as his vice-presidential running mate in his presidential campaign, making her the first woman to run on the Republican Party's presidential ticket. She is a contributor for Fox News where she offers her political commentary and analysis across all Fox News platforms.

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