Lt. Clint Lorance could be any one of us

Lt. Clint Lorance could be any one of us - Opinion - Stripes
"...The hardest lesson I learned was that in a combat situation, sheer uncertainty stalks you constantly.
Amid that uncertainty, you’re forced to make instantaneous decisions with incomplete information, surrounded by chaos and under unimaginable stress.
A wrong call can result in tragedy.

To grasp the price of that uncertainty, consider the case of Clint Lorance — a 29-year-old U.S. Army lieutenant sentenced to military prison for ordering his men to fire upon Afghan nationals he believed were a threat.
The facts suggest the punishment rendered to Lorance is a stark injustice — and is a chilling example to all who have had to make tough decisions in complex combat situations.

Here’s what we know:
In July 2012, Lorance was a new platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne Division on patrol in Kandahar province with his platoon.
Three Afghan men approached the platoon on a motorcycle.
Believing the men to be a threat, Lorance ordered his troops to open fire, killing two of the men (the third escaped).
In a war zone, such stories are common.

What’s unusual is what happened next....."

How Student Debt Harms the Economy

Mitchell E. Daniels: How Student Debt Harms the Economy - WSJ:
"To the growing catalog of damage caused by the decades-long run-up in the cost of higher education, we may have to add another casualty.
On top of the harm high tuition and other charges are inflicting on young people, and the way their struggles are holding back today’s economy, we must add the worry that tomorrow’s economy will suffer, too.
Ever-escalating tuitions, especially in the past dozen years, have produced an explosion of associated debt, as students and their families resorted to borrowing to cover college prices that are the only major expense item in the economy that is growing faster than health care. 
According to the Federal Reserve, educational debt has shot past every other category—credit cards, auto loans, refinancings—except home mortgages, reaching some $1.3 trillion this year.
Analyses in The Wall Street Journal and by Experian in 2014 show that 40 million people, roughly 70% of recent graduates, are now borrowers.
In the class of 2014, the average borrower left with an average load of $33,000."

America's "unbiased" media-----CNN Host Kisses De Blasio Before Interview

CNN Host Kisses De Blasio Before Interview | The Weekly Standard:
On CNN this morning, the host kissed Mayor Bill de Blasio before she interviewed him, and handed him a cup of hot chocolate:

The other host, Chris Cuomo, complained that he'd been waiting for an hour and a half for his hot cocoa to arrive.

"The mayor comes and the hot cocoa comes," Cuomo complained as his co-host arrived on set in the middle of his interview with de Blasio. "The hot cocoa comes. I've been asking for it for an hour and a half."

De Blasio admitted the storm wasn't nearly as had been predicted. But, he argued, if it had been worse, New York City would've been prepared.

‘You Don’t Think the Taliban Is a Terrorist Group?’ Listen Closely to White House Spokesman’s Answer | Video | TheBlaze.com

‘You Don’t Think the Taliban Is a Terrorist Group?’ Listen Closely to White House Spokesman’s Answer | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"A White House spokesman had a difficult time answering whether the Taliban was a terrorist organization. The answer, it turned out, is no."

Conservative Political Cartoons Daily shared

(16) Conservative Political Cartoons Daily shared... - Conservative Political Cartoons Daily

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET

History for January 29

History for January 29 - On-This-Day.com
Thomas Paine 1737, William McKinley (U.S.) 1843, W.C. Fields 1880 


Katherine Ross 1942, Tom Selleck 1945, Oprah Winfrey 1954 


1820 - Britain's King George III died insane at Windsor Castle. 


1845 - Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" was published for the first time in the "New York Evening Mirror." 


1850 - Henry Clay introduced in the Senate a compromise bill on slavery that included the admission of California into the Union as a free state. 


1856 - Britain's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross, was founded by Queen Victoria. 


1886 - The first successful petrol-driven motorcar, built by Karl Benz, was patented. 


1924 - R. Taylor patented the ice cream cone rolling machine. 


1987 - "Physician’s Weekly" announced that the smile on the face of Leonardo DeVinci's Mona Lisa was caused by a "...facial paralysis resulting from a swollen nerve behind the ear." 


1990 - Joseph Hazelwood, the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, went on trial in Anchorage, AK, on charges that stemmed from America's worst oil spill. Hazelwood was later acquitted of all the major charges and was convicted of a misdemeanor. 


1999 - The U.S. Senate delivered subpoenas for Monica Lewinsky and two presidential advisers for private, videotaped testimony in the impeachment trial. 

LIBERTY REVIEW

LIBERTY REVIEW:

http://www.libertyreview76.blogspot.com/2015/01/godcountry-and-family-bytammy-derouin.html

God, Country and Family

By Tammy Derouin

I walked into the theatre anticipating a mental struggle.  I was aware of the Chris Kyle story so watching American Sniper would be difficult.   Scenes of brutality and the reality of the real war being waged on America was about to be plastered on the big screen. 

Getting through movies with difficult scenes is easier to shake when you know the story is fictional.  Hollywood works its magic but in the end, it was all make believe.  I watched several previews as I waited.  Special effects are amazing but when they overshadow and become larger than the original storyline and replace human reality, the substance and integrity of the message are lost.

The true special effects in American Sniper weren’t the results of actions; the human reality was the special effect.  War is hell.  People suffer and die violent deaths.  What each of our soldiers must endure on the battlefield, what he witnesses and is sometimes helpless to prevent, will have a deep and lasting effect on him.

Wait Until You See How Obama is Trying to Undermine Bibi Netanyahu’s Re-election

Wait Until You See How Obama is Trying to Undermine Bibi Netanyahu’s Re-election:

"In fact, Obama has said he will not meet with the Israeli Prime Minister while he is in D.C.

The excuse given has been because Obama did not want to be seen as interfering with Israeli elections. Well, what would he call this?

Obama has often been accused of siding against Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East, in favor of Muslim organizations and countries.  It has also been asserted in the past that Obama does not like Netanyahu. Sending his campaign team to assist anti-Netanyahu forces in their quest to defeat him will add even more fuel to that fire."

Is the world reliving Churchill’s history of the run-up to WWII? These 12 passages suggest we might be. | TheBlaze.com

Is the world reliving Churchill’s history of the run-up to WWII? These 12 passages suggest we might be. | TheBlaze.com:

"Below are 12 passages from Churchill’s Volume I of “The Gathering Storm,” that look awfully eerie in light of the rising totalitarian, anti-Western, often anti-Semitic and savage, jihadist, Communist and fascist forces rising in the world today.

1. “We are not the same country we used to be when we are an island, only twenty years ago.”

Secret planting of up to 75,000 Syrian Muslims begins in U.S.

Secret planting of up to 75,000 Syrian Muslims begins in U.S.:

"Up to 10,000 Syrian refugees, most of them Muslims, will be resettled in cities throughout the U.S. in 2015, with that figure expected to surge to near 75,000 over the next five years.

While some of the planned destinations for these refugees are starting to leak out, the big question is: where will they be going?

The U.S. State Department does not announce where it plans to send foreign refugees for resettlement within the United States, although the locations do eventually show up in a government database some weeks after they arrive in their host cities. Word of their anticipated arrivals will sometimes surface earlier in local media reports.

And that’s already happening in North Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington."

Mark Levin Lowers the Boom: Obama ‘Has All the Signals of an Anti-Semite’

Mark Levin Lowers the Boom: Obama ‘Has All the Signals of an Anti-Semite’:

"Levin blasted Obama for his pro-Islamist, anti-Israel policies, actions and statements during his January 23 broadcast, boldly labeling Obama with a term that many have thought but are not willing to admit. 

“This man [Obama] has all the signals of an anti-Semite,” Levin said without reservation, admitting that his charge may make some uncomfortable. “And I’m not going to take that word back. I believe this in my heart and my soul. It’s not about Israel, it’s about what’s in Israel [Jews],” he said."

THIS CHART Tells a Story... America's Middle Class Thrived After WWII and Died Under Obama

THIS CHART Tells a Story... America's Middle Class Thrived After WWII and Died Under Obama

The United States of America Was Founded As, and Historically Has Been, a Christian Nation - Eagle Rising

The United States of America Was Founded As, and Historically Has Been, a Christian Nation - Eagle Rising:

"Heated controversy and debate, filled with deep division between the political right and left, rages across America, over many issues.   One of the contentious issues is the claim on one side of the deep divide, adamantly claiming that America is not, nor ever was, a Christian nation.   On the opposite side of that great divide, is the declaration that America is, and has always been, a Christian nation.   To this writer it is obvious that we Americans are a Christian nation, because the evidence is as clear as water from a mountain spring.   Millions of words could be devoted to provide proof of this, but in perhaps a thousand words we can examine America’s Christian heritage and her exceptionalism through the lens of history and some irrefutable facts."

Obama Raises Questions About His Religious Faith While Speaking In India

Obama Raises Questions About His Religious Faith While Speaking In India:

"This is one of those odd Obama moments the mainstream media is almost certain to ignore — a moment that some in the Obama-supporting press will see as trivial, while others might consider it too hot to touch.

The Washington Times reports that during a speech in New Delhi, India, President Obama himself — without any questioning or prompting — raised the issue of whether he is secretly a Muslim and not a Christian."

New Bombshell Report Reveals How Much Obamacare Costs Per Taxpayer; It’s Astonishing

New Bombshell Report Reveals How Much Obamacare Costs Per Taxpayer; It’s Astonishing:

"During a speech in 2009, Obama pledged that not only would his signature legislation of Obamacare cost ‘only’ $900 billion, or $30,000 per person insured, but also promised that it would not add one dime to the deficit.

Both of these claims have been revealed in a new CBO report to be lies.

The Daily Mail broke down the report that demonstrates just how much of a negative economic impact Obamacare will have on the American taxpayer. At the same time, it also shows that Obama and the Democrats lied to the people as they were passing this monstrosity along party lines."

Phone Company ‘Outraged’ By Fraud, Abuse In ‘Obamaphone’ Program

Phone Company ‘Outraged’ By Fraud, Abuse In ‘Obamaphone’ Program « CBS Denver:
"DENVER (CBS4) – A nationwide cellphone company distributing phones and cellphone plans in Denver as part of a massive government program says it is “outraged by the unacceptable actions” uncovered by a CBS4 undercover investigation.
The response from Total Call Mobile comes nearly three months after an undercover CBS4 investigation revealed multiple examples of fraud and cheating in the phone distribution program.
The Lifeline program is aimed at providing free cellphone service to the poor and needy.
It handed out more than 13 million free cellphone plans in the first six months of 2014. 
In Colorado, the program handed out more than 117,000 free cellphone plans in the first half of 2014 or about 20,000 cellphones every month.
If you own a cellphone, you pay for the free phones and their wireless plans via a monthly tax on your cellphone called the Universal Service Tax.
Although the Lifeline wireless program has been around since 2005 and started under President George W. Bush, it ballooned under President Obama and the phones are often referred to as Obamaphones.
To qualify for one of the cellphone plans, you have to be low income — on food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance or some other government program.
But multiple times a CBS4 producer and reporter found phone agents in Denver circumventing strict government rules to ensure that only the truly needy get the free phones. 
Vendors, like Total Call, receive massive government subsidies to hand out the phones and the accompanying monthly plans."

Gamma-ray Bursts May Explain Fermi's Paradox

Gamma-ray Bursts May Explain Fermi's Paradox - Slashdot

A new study confirms the potential hazard of nearby gamma-ray bursts. It quantifies the probability of an event near Earth, and more generally in the Milky Way and other galaxies over time: "[Evolved] life as it exists on Earth could not take place in almost any galaxy that formed earlier than about five billion years after the Big Bang." This could explain the Fermi's paradox, or why we don't see billion-year-old civilizations all around us.

This is how they "think". And lie!--------N.Y. Times' Charles Blow said nothing about cop who arrested his son being black

N.Y. Times' Charles Blow said nothing about cop who arrested his son being black | WashingtonExaminer.com:
"A Yale campus police officer who detained the son of black New York Times columnist Charles Blow is also black, according to a campus-wide email sent out by Yale officials.
On Saturday, Blow wrote on Twitter that he was “fuming” over a call he received from his son, a third-year student at Yale.
He wrote that his son was “accosted” and held up at gunpoint by a Yale policeman because he fit the description of a suspect.
Blow’s son, Tahj Blow, is an ecology and evolutionary biology major, according to the Yale Daily News.
In followup tweets related to the incident, Blow said, “This is exactly why I have no patience for people trying to convince me that the fear these young black men feel isn’t real.” 
He also tweeted the phrases “I can’t breathe” and “Black lives matter,” both of which are associated with two unarmed black men killed by white police officers in separate incidents in Missouri and New York.
Blow published a Times column on Monday with his thoughts on the matter.
"I am reminded,” he wrote, "of what I have always known, but what some would choose to deny: that there is no way to work your way out — earn your way out — of this sort of crisis. 
In these moments, what you’ve done matters less than how you look.”
The race of the officer who detained Blow’s son is not mentioned in Blow’s column.
"The officer, who himself is African American, was responding to a specific description relayed by individuals who had reported a crime in progress,” said a Monday email to Yale’s campus community.
The email was first noticed by The Root, a black-centric news website.
"What happened on Cross Campus on Saturday is not a replay of what happened in Ferguson; Staten Island; Cleveland; or so many other places in our time and over time in the United States,” the email said.
The email is signed by Yale President Steve Salovey, Dean of Yale College Jonathan Halloway and Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins.
Higgins is also black.
Blow did not return a request for comment on why he omitted the race of the officer in his column or whether the race of the officer matters."

Anti-Gun Advocates Routinely Ask Why Anyone Would Ever Need More Than 10 Bullets — Texas Man Now Has a Good Reason

Anti-Gun Advocates Routinely Ask Why Anyone Would Ever Need More Than 10 Bullets — Texas Man Now Has a Good Reason | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"A man in Tomball, Texas, was startled out of his sleep by the sound of someone kicking in his front door on Monday night.
He quickly retrieved his firearm, ready defend his life and property — though he likely didn’t anticipate the intense firefight that would occur.
Two suspects and homeowner traded more than 30 shots during the aggressive home invasion,

Promises, promises------Super Bowl host city still reeling over sports deals

Super Bowl host city still reeling over sports deals - Yahoo News:
"Glendale bet big on professional sports in the last 15 years, spending millions of dollars on a hockey arena for the Arizona Coyotes and investing heavily in a spring training ballpark for the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Then the economy tanked, and the hockey team went through bankruptcy, with several different owners in recent years.
The city has found stronger financial footing since then and its bond rating has improved markedly, but not without having to raise taxes, trim 25 percent of the municipal workforce, cut back on paving projects, and reduce hours at municipal swimming pools and libraries.
The 9.2 percent sales tax that shoppers and diners pay in Glendale is among the highest in the state.
To fiscal conservatives, Glendale serves as a cautionary tale for suburban cities across the United States that want to throw public money at professional sports projects.
"Overall, it's a bad move for cities," said Kurt Altman, general counsel for the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute, which fought Glendale over its enticements to the hockey team.
"As much as they say it's going to make the city a destination, it just doesn't."
...Glendale is far from alone.
...As he navigates the financial situation, Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers returns to a maxim he has repeated many times in his life: "I'm not living in the past. I'm just paying for it."
In the case of the Super Bowl, he believes the city is paying dearly. 

He said Glendale will actually lose a "couple million dollars" by hosting the event.
It's spending huge amounts of money on overtime and police and public safety costs for the Super Bowl but not getting much back.
Super Bowl visitors are mostly staying in Phoenix and Scottsdale and only showing up in Glendale on game day, meaning the city won't see much of a boost in tax revenue.
And the city was hoping the state would reimburse Glendale for its police overtime costs, but lawmakers have scoffed at the idea.
Weiers said it pains him that the city had to cut services and lay off workers, but the moves were necessary to ensure financial solvency.
He said the outlook has improved in the last year, a far cry from a couple years ago when Glendale was in jeopardy of joining the likes of Detroit in the category of municipal bankruptcies.
"I have to believe that if '1' is perfect as things could be and '10' was bankruptcy, I'd say we were a strong '8,'" Weiers said.
"We never had to go there, and I strongly believe we won't have to go there."

Dem Congresswoman Doesn’t Go PC When Asked Why Obama Admin. Refuses to Say the Words ‘Islamic Extremism’ | Video | TheBlaze.com

Dem Congresswoman Doesn’t Go PC When Asked Why Obama Admin. Refuses to Say the Words ‘Islamic Extremism’ | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"The Obama administration’s refusal to acknowledge radical Islam is a “real problem” for the country, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) told Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday night.

When she was asked why the White House will not say “Islamic extremism,” Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, replied:"

These Answers to Basic History Questions Will Make You Cringe

These Answers to Basic History Questions Will Make You Cringe:
"Bill O’Reilly sent Jesse Watters on a mission to Aspen, Colo., for the X Games, where Watters asked some standard history questions and got very unlikely answers.
When was George Washington president? Watters heard answers that ranged from 1776 to 1983 to “way before I was born.”
What countries did America fight in World War II?
Not Spain, France, or Russia, like some respondents thought.
Who bombed Pearl Harbor?
Well, it wasn’t China or Korea.
Hear the cringe-worthy answers to these questions and more in the link
below."
http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/01/26/watch-watters-gets-cringe-worthy-answers-basic-history-questions-x-games

History for January 28

History for January 28 - On-This-Day.com:
Sir Henry Morton Stanley 1841, Jackson Pollock 1912, Alan Alda 1936 


1788 - The first British penal settlement was founded at Botany Bay. 


1871 - France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War. 


1878 - The first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, CT. 


1909 - The United States ended direct control over Cuba.

1915 - The Coast Guard was created by an act of the U.S. Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea. 


1922 - The National Football League (NFL) franchise in Decatur, IL, transferred to Chicago. The team took the name Chicago Bears. 


1938 - The first ski tow started operation in Vermont. 


1965 - General Motors reported the biggest profit of any U.S. company in history. 


1973 - CBS-TV debuted "Barnaby Jones." 


1980 - Six Americans who had fled the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran. 


1986 - The U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff. All seven of its crew members were killed. 


1999 - Ford Motor Company announced the purchase of Sweden's Volvo AB for $6.45 billion. 

Megyn Kelly Grills Jen Psaki After Yemeni Rebels Take Over Government And Chant 'Death To America'

Megyn Kelly Grills Jen Psaki After Yemeni Rebels Take Over Government And Chant 'Death To America':

"Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the United States Department of State, joined Megyn Kelly on Fox News Monday to discuss Yemen’s governmental takeover by radicals who chanted “Death to America, Death to Israel, Victory to Islam.” She suggested we now trust this group because they recently stated that what they said in their chants is no longer “their intention.”

“So … you’re taking them at their word that they no longer mean the chants?” Kelly asked with a chuckle."