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Mark Caserta: Americans must listen to politicians carefully

20 Aug

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Mark Caserta:  Free State Patriot Editor

Aug. 20, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

Esteemed words from politicians with a flair for oratory have played a significant role in molding U.S. history. Leveraging an inspirational quote from a beloved representative of the people has been quite common in capturing the vibrancy of the American spirit throughout the years.

Unfortunately, over time, nefarious elected officials have scarred the public’s ability to take politicians’ words at face value. And certainly, Bill and Hillary Clinton have helped changed the lingual face of politics as we’ve come to know it.

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About 17 years ago, after being caught in an inappropriate relationship with 24-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton famously told the nation, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” In a videotaped testimony before a federal grand jury, Clinton proposed the type of “activities” in which he and Monica engaged were not “sexual relations” as he understood it.

But as secretly recorded tapes began to emerge along with word of a “blue dress” that may have conclusive DNA evidence confirming the president’s affair, Clinton’s stance began to soften. During his carefully worded testimony, he argued, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is'” is in regards to the truthfulness of his statement that “there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship.”

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Clinton’s parsing of words didn’t fly with independent counsel Ken Starr or the federal grand jury and he became only the second president in American history impeached by the House of Representatives. While a Senate trial failed to remove him from office, Clinton’s impeachment remains an embarrassing stain on his legacy.

Not to be outdone by her hubby, Hillary Clinton has begun incorporating a similar form of explication regarding her use of her personal email server while Secretary of State.

Following the revelation that Hillary had set up her own unsecure server, the question arose as to whether she had committed a felony by using her server for classified communications. While initially fielding questions about her actions during a March press conference, Clinton declared, “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email.”

But Hillary dodged the fact that she had received classified email on her server, in violation of 18 USC 1924, which makes it a crime to have classified information at an “unauthorized location.” Last week, upon learning that Intelligence officials had uncovered at least two emails containing classified State Department information, Hillary “adjusted” her initial response to include she had never sent or received any emails that were “marked” classified.

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“Most importantly I never sent classified material on my email and I never received any that was marked classified,” Clinton said during a press conference at the Iowa State Fair.

But since Hillary’s emails never made it to an authorized server, how could officials properly classify them?

Such is the new political patter or the abuse of the literal interpretation of a statement, which Americans must now be unceasingly aware.

Thanks for propagating the dialectal dishonesty, Bill and Hillary.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Next president must meet these criteria

13 Aug

mark

MARK CASERTA: FREE STATE PATRIOT EDITOR

Aug. 13, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

So, which candidate do you like for president in 2016?

Usually, as the presidential election debate season begins, friends and family will begin asking me questions akin to the one above. Most of the time I’ll accommodate them with whom I believe possesses the best qualifications for the job, but this year is different. With so many qualified GOP candidates, it’s just too early to say.

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But from a conservative’s perspective, any candidate on stage last week at the GOP debate in Cleveland would be better than the “community organizer” we have now. As we all should be doing, I’ll simply be watching and listening the next few months to the platforms of the candidates so I’ll be prepared to make the best choice.

However, I waste no time sharing who we don’t want in office. The best the Democrats have to offer so far is a scandal-ridden Hillary Clinton and the self-declared socialist senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who’s gaining on Hillary in some polls.

But I don’t believe the Democrat Party’s eventual nominee has yet emerged. I believe someone will have to step up to salvage the party’s 2016 chances. Perhaps, the “king of gaffe,” Joe Biden, or the great “flip flopper” John Kerry will be the one. But right now, Democrats are quaking in their boots at the thought of challenging a highfalutin Clinton for the presidency. It is, after all, her turn.

Our nation has been on a slippery slope for over 6 years. It’s imperative we choose the right candidate for our next president, for the next president surely will have hands full redressing America from Barack Obama’s “fundamental change.” These are some inherent qualifications we must demand.

Our next president must have integrity. I’m amazed at the lies we’ve been told by President Obama, yet his own party never calls him out. Remember the “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan” promise? We must demand the next president be truthful with the American people at all times!

Our next commander-in-chief must be savvy in military and foreign affairs. We must regain the respect around the globe that our inept “diplomatic” policies have destroyed. Currently, our enemies don’t fear us – and our allies don’t trust us. We should adopt Ronald Reagan’s policy of “peace through strength,” not peace through appeasement.

Jobs and the economy must be a priority. Our next president must understand business and economics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 46 million people or 15 percent of the population are living in poverty. And the labor force participation rate is the lowest it’s been since 1978. Yet, Democrats continue to leverage deceptive numbers regarding both the economy and the unemployment rate. It doesn’t matter that good-paying jobs are becoming exceedingly scarce and families are hurting.

Finally, the next president for whom you vote must be a God-fearing man. Progressives are tenaciously attacking anything that remotely resembles morality and God’s Word.

They must understand it will take more than a man to return America to greatness.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Obama’s war on coal has a cost

6 Aug

And is based on mythical “man-made” global warming.

mark

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

Aug. 06, 2015 @ 12:01 AM
FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2015 file photo, a plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, will unveil the final version of his unprecedented regulations clamping down on carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants. The Obama administration first proposed the rule last year. Opponents plan to sue immediately to stop the rule's implementation. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

FILE – In this Jan. 20, 2015 file photo, a plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, will unveil the final version of his unprecedented regulations clamping down on carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants. The Obama administration first proposed the rule last year. Opponents plan to sue immediately to stop the rule’s implementation. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

Liberals hate fossil fuels and have no plans to incorporate them into any sort of an “all of the above” energy strategy. And as the U.S. coal industry faces increased regulatory pressures from President Obama and his EPA minions, our state as well as others will continue to feel the economic crunch.

U.S. coal is used to generate about 40 percent of our nation’s electricity. As the Environmental Protection Agency, under Obama’s direction, intensifies regulations on the coal industry, expect electricity prices as well as associated costs to rise accordingly. Obama revealed this as part of his environmental plan early in his presidential campaign.

In a 2008 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, Obama explained that under his plan of cap-and-trade, it was incumbent that our electricity prices should increase. The president’s progressive strategy obviously includes forcing the nation into pursuing green energy alternatives to avoid the mythical damages of carbon dioxide emissions.

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“Under my plan of cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” Obama told the Chronicle. “Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”

Every time I hear a liberal decry carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) as destroying our planet, I can’t help but wonder if they’ve ever taken a biology course. Literally thousands of laboratory and field experiments have conclusively demonstrated that enriching the air with CO2 stimulates the growth and development of nearly all plants. But apparently facts aren’t important to progressives when it comes to defending climate change.

Just this week, Barack Obama unveiled the final version of his unprecedented plan to clamp down on CO2 emissions from existing U.S. power plants in an effort to cripple the industry.

In the president’s proposal, he’s calling for even steeper cuts on greenhouse emissions than previously expected. Calling it the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming, he plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Obama cites decades of data that he insists proposes we are facing more extreme weather and escalating health problems without tough action.

Opponents of Obama’s actions vow to sue immediately, and plan to ask the courts to put the rule on hold while legal challenges play out. Many states have already threatened not to comply.

Understand that as the price of electricity increases, every industry that relies on this utility will have to cover their losses by either raising their prices or reducing costs. In other words, there will be higher prices and fewer jobs for the American people.

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It’s fundamental economics, which this president simply cannot grasp.

This is yet another attempt by an autocratic, egotistical president to force his progressive ideology upon the American people with total disregard as to the ultimate price we’ll pay.

But, the cost to Americans and our nation has never prevented Barack Obama from his pursuit of fundamental change.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Obama to mandate steeper emissions cuts from US power plants

2 Aug

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2015 file photo, a plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, will unveil the final version of his unprecedented regulations clamping down on carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants. The Obama administration first proposed the rule last year. Opponents plan to sue immediately to stop the rule's implementation. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

 In this Jan. 20, 2015 file photo, a plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, will unveil the final version of his unprecedented regulations clamping down on carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants. The Obama administration first proposed the rule last year. Opponents plan to sue immediately to stop the rule’s implementation. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

Aug 2, 5:01 AM (ET) By JOSH LEDERMANNEW YORK (AP)

President Barack Obama will impose even steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants than previously expected, senior administration officials said Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming.

A year after proposing unprecedented carbon dioxide limits, Obama was poised to finalize the rule at a White House event on Monday. In a video posted to Facebook, Obama said the limits were backed up by decades of data showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating health problems like asthma.

“Climate change is not a problem for another generation,” Obama said. “Not anymore.”

Opponents vowed to sue immediately, and planned to ask the courts to put the rule on hold while legal challenges play out. Many states have threatened not to comply.

In his initial proposal, Obama had mandated a 30 percent nationwide cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. The final version will require a 32 percent cut instead, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.

The final rule also gives states an additional two years — until 2022 — to comply, officials said, yielding to complaints that the original deadline was too soon. States will also have until 2018 instead of 2017 to submit their plans for how they’ll meet their targets.

But the administration will attempt to incentivize states to take action earlier by offering credits to states that boost renewable sources like wind and solar in 2020 and 2021, officials said.

The focus on renewables marks a significant shift from the earlier version that sought to accelerate the ongoing transition from coal-fired power to natural gas plants, which emit far less carbon dioxide. The revised rule aims to keep the share of natural gas in the nation’s power mix at current levels.

The stricter limits in the final plan were certain to incense energy industry advocates who had already balked at the more lenient limits in the proposed plan. But the Obama administration said its tweaks would cut energy costs and address concerns about power grid reliability.

The Obama administration previously predicted the emissions limits will cost up to $8.8 billion annually by 2030, although it said those costs would be far outweighed by health savings from fewer asthma attacks and other benefits. The actual price won’t be clear until states decide how they’ll reach their targets.

America’s largest source of greenhouse gases, power plants account for roughly one-third of all U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming. Obama’s rule assigns customized targets to each state, then leaves it up to the state to determine how to meet them.

In the works for years, the power plant rule forms the cornerstone of Obama’s plan to curb U.S. emissions and keep global temperatures from climbing, and its success is pivotal to the legacy Obama hopes to leave on climate change. Never before has the U.S. sought to restrict carbon dioxide from existing power plants.

By clamping down on power plant emissions, Obama is also working to increase his leverage and credibility with other nations whose commitments he’s seeking for a global climate treaty to be finalized later this year in Paris. As its contribution to that treaty, the U.S. has pledged to cut overall emissions 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025, compared to 2005.

Even before the rule was finalized, more than a dozen states announced plans to fight it. At the urging of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, some Republican governors have declared they simply won’t comply, setting up a certain confrontation with the Environmental Protection Agency, which by law can force its own plan on states that fail to submit implementation plans.

Yet even in many of those states, power companies and local utility authorities have started preparing to meet the targets. New, more efficient plants that are replacing older and dirtier ones have already pushed emissions down nearly 13 percent since 2005, putting them about halfway to meeting Obama’s goal.

In Congress, lawmakers have sought to use legislation to stop Obama’s regulation. McConnell has also tried previously to use an obscure, rarely successful maneuver to allow Congress to vote it down.

The more serious threat to Obama’s rule will likely come in the courts. The Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which represents energy companies, said 20 to 30 states were poised to join with industry in suing over the rule. The Obama administration has a mixed track record in fending off legal challenges to its climate rules.

—

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

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Mark Caserta: Abortion has become big business in the US

30 Jul

Frankenstein ethics?

mark

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

Jul. 30, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

In 2011, more than 730,000 legal induced abortions were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 49 reporting areas. The actual number is probably more since states aren’t required by law to report these murders as part of the CDC’s Abortion Surveillance Report.

However, using the CDC’s statistics, the ratio of abortions to live births is around 219 per 1,000 births.

Planned Parenthood, an organization partially funded by your tax dollars, is the nation’s largest single provider of abortions in the United States. And it is indeed, fulfilling the vision of its founder, Margaret Sanger. Sanger, while lauded by some as a woman of “valor” (including Hillary Clinton) had some very unsavory opinions about race, birth control and abortion.

As a eugenicist, Sanger encouraged the sterilization of individuals whom she felt had “less desirable qualities.” Her disdain for blacks, minorities, the diseased and the disabled birthed an abortion business that’s afforded our nation a convenient way to “eliminate” an unwanted child.

One of Sanger’s infamous quotes epitomizes her racist’s convictions.

“[We should] apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”

In a column written by Susan A. Cohen for the Guttmacher Institute, the former pro-abortion research division of Planned Parenthood, she shares a disturbing statistic involving the impact of abortion in our inner cities and how it is indeed fulfilling Sanger’s aberrant vision.

In the piece, Cohen reports the abortion rate for black women in the United States is nearly five times that for white women. And despite anti-abortion efforts to wage a campaign against abortion around this fact, aggressive marketing by abortion providers continues in minority communities.

Planned Parenthood clinics are strategically planted in minority communities targeting blacks and impoverished minority groups, and reportedly, is the leading cause of death for the black community.

But it even gets more despicable.

In two recently released stunning undercover videos, a national leader of Planned Parenthood is filmed admitting that the abortion provider uses the illegal partial birth abortion procedure to protect and sell “intact” fetal body parts.

In the videos, produced by the Center for Medical Progress, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood, admits that in order to ensure the baby’s body parts are in “good condition” and not damaged during the gruesome abortion procedure, some of the abortionists will deliver the baby “breech” or feet first, and then suck out the brains, killing the child.

Planned Parenthood Vice President of Communications Eric Ferrero released a response to the videos calling them “heavily edited” and released by “activists who have been widely discredited.”

If there is anything more reprehensible than profiting from the death of an unborn child, I’m not sure what it is.

Under the guise of civil liberty, liberals have succeeded in desensitizing many Americans to abortion. But Planned Parenthood is helping make it big business.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Mark Caserta: Lone wolf attacks in US will escalate

23 Jul

We’re giving the enemy no reason to be afraid

mark

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

Jul. 23, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

Last Thursday, five members of our military were viciously attacked by yet another Islamic extremist, this time on American soil. It should never have been allowed to happen.

The death toll climbed to five on Saturday as the Navy announced Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, 24, died from his injuries. Smith was one of three people injured when Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military recruitment centers, also killing four marines. Abdulazeez was later shot and killed by police.

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Remarkably, considering the times in which we live, none of these men was permitted to carry a firearm. But as the attack raises fresh concerns about vulnerability in “soft target” areas, the governors of several states could soon be arming military personnel in National Guard facilities to protect themselves and civilians if they are targeted.

And more Americans will be targeted. President Obama’s lack of will to acknowledge the enemy and respond with extreme prejudice has been duly noted by the Islamic State.

Yes, our walls have been scaled and the gates lowered.

I’m incensed at how this administration consistently has downplayed the threat of Islamic terrorism around the globe. In doing so, it has emboldened the Islamic State in the recruitment of lone wolf terrorists within the U.S. Obama’s methodology of telegraphing his impotent punches, migrant deadlines and lily-livered military strategies ostensively have changed the way America is viewed around the world.

Our enemies no longer fear us; our allies no longer trust us.

It’s indefensible that President Obama, our “commander-in-chief,” stood idly by and watched terrorist activity re-engage throughout the Mideast without surmising its ultimate impact on the U.S. The fact that he still doesn’t have a strategy to defeat ISIS is exacerbated by his “promise” to our enemies that he will never put American boots on the ground.

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Barack Obama’s notion that he could apologize and appease our enemies into “liking us” is naive beyond words. And his negotiation incompetence has conceded positions of strength that are prerequisite to success. Any negotiator will tell you that you must be willing to walk away from the table – perhaps many times. But Obama keeps bartering with movable lines in the sand and perpetually changing deadlines to the point no true leader, foreign or domestic, will ever take him seriously.

Now, as America wavers in the winds of liberal ideology, young, impressionable individuals are falling prey to the sinister tenets of radical Islam. While President Obama, whom I believe is sympathetic to the Muslim religion, refuses to concede the fact that we are engaged in a holy war, these evil, inspirited individuals will seek to bring America to her knees by spreading fear in the streets of U.S. cities.

There’s something uncommonly ominous about U.S. military being gunned down on American soil. It reeks of vulnerability anomalous to our country. And as this president propagates the narrative that these are random acts of domestic violence, we will most assuredly see more.

As Obama continues to protect his legacy, Americans are dying.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Report: 2.5 million illegal immigrants under Obama, 400,000 yearly

20 Jul

 

 By Paul Bedard • 7/20/15 5:02 AM

 

Up to 400K Children Born To Illegal Immigrants in U.S. Annually, One In 10 Births
Approximately 350,000 to 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the U.S. each year. Due to current policy, all automatically become U.S. citizens, Center for Immigration Studies legal policy analyst Jon Feere testified before a House panel Wednesday. ?To put this in perspective this means that one out of 10 births in the U.S. is to an illegal immigrant mother,? Freere said at a House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security hearing titled ?Birthright Citizenship: Is It The Right Policy For America He explained that, regardless of the foreign allegiance and/or illegal status of the parents, their children, if born on U.S. soil, are automatically afforded the benefits of U.S. citizenship, including a Social Security Number and U.S. passports.
Inform
Up to 400K Children Born To Illegal Immigrants in U.S. Annually, One In 10 Births
Approximately 350,000 to 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the U.S. each year. Due to current policy, all automatically become U.S. citizens, Center for Immigration Studies legal policy analyst Jon Feere testified before a House panel Wednesday. ?To put this in perspective this means that one out of 10 births in the U.S. is to an illegal immigrant mother,? Freere said at a House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security hearing titled ?Birthright Citizenship: Is It The Right Policy For America He explained that, regardless of the foreign allegiance and/or illegal status of the parents, their children, if born on U.S. soil, are automatically afforded the benefits of U.S. citizenship, including a Social Security Number and U.S. passports.
Inform
Up to 400K Children Born To Illegal Immigrants in U.S. Annually, One In 10 Births
Approximately 350,000 to 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the U.S. each year. Due to current policy, all automatically become U.S. citizens, Center for Immigration Studies legal policy analyst Jon Feere testified before a House panel Wednesday. ?To put this in perspective this means that one out of 10 births in the U.S. is to an illegal immigrant mother,? Freere said at a House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security hearing titled ?Birthright Citizenship: Is It The Right Policy For America He explained that, regardless of the foreign allegiance and/or illegal status of the parents, their children, if born on U.S. soil, are automatically afforded the benefits of U.S. citizenship, including a Social Security Number and U.S. passports.
Inform

Some 2.5 million illegal immigrants have flowed into the United States under President Obama, with 790,000 rushing in since 2013, according to a new analysis.

Calculations from the Center for Migration Studies and the Pew Research Center indicate 1.5 to 1.7 million aliens joined the illegal population from 2009 to 2013 — either overstaying a temporary visa or sneaking into the country, according to a Center for Immigration Studies report out Monday morning.

The immigration watchdog’s analysis of Census Bureau data also showed that an additional 790,000 illegals entered from the middle of 2013 to May of 2015, for a total of 2.5 million new illegal immigrants since Obama took office in January of 2009. That is a rate of 300,000 to 400,000 a year.

RELATED: Federal Reserve blames immigrant kids for robbing jobs from ‘native’ U.S. teens

Illegal immigrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. AP Photo

The issue has become explosive under Obama, especially in the last year when tens of thousands of children and young adults joined the regular flow of illegals from Latin America.

It has also embroiled the GOP presidential contest, with Donald Trump blasting Mexico and party leaders worrying about image of Republicans.

But the CIS report written by Steven A. Camarota, director of research, found that illegal immigration was higher under former President George W. Bush, potentially undermining the GOP’s bid to sound tough on the issue. Under Bush, 500,000-600,000 illegals surged in a year.

RELATED: On immigrant surge, White House story falls apart

Also, the report found that the overall population of illegals has remained “roughly constant,” indicating that the surge in of immigrants is balanced by those going home or getting legal status.

Immigration has become a presidential campaign issue. AP Photo

Other points in the CIS report released Monday:

— Had the United States not allowed so many new illegal immigrants to settle in the country since 2009, the total number of illegal immigrants would have fallen by 2.5 million. But the arrival of so many new illegal immigrants offset this attrition in the illegal population.

— While the level of new illegal immigration is lower than a decade ago, the enormous ongoing scale of illegal immigration is a clear indication that the United States has not come close to controlling it.

— Prior research indicates that roughly half a million illegal immigrants return home on their own each year, are deported, die, or get permanent residence. Those who get legal status each year are not beneficiaries of the president’s administrative amnesty known as DACA — which does not give permanent residence, but does provide Social Security numbers, work authorization, and identity documents. Rather it has been long-standing policy to allow those who violate immigration laws to still get green cards (permanent residency) if they qualify in one of the legal immigration categories such as marrying a U.S. citizen.

RELATED: Avoiding the immigration distraction

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.

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Mark Caserta: Leadership can make the US strong again

20 Jul

mark

Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot Editor

Apr. 10, 2014 @ 12:00 AM

Liberals are strikingly one-dimensional in their thinking about how other nations perceive America’s strength.

There are many ways the U.S. can become stronger domestically and internationally, non-militarily.

Progressives fail to understand that perception is reality in foreign affairs, and that “reality” can be the premise from which wars begin.

There is no doubt in the world theater that the United States is a dominating military power capable of monumental destruction. But, understand it isn’t what the U.S. is capable of doing that dictates the actions of world leaders; it’s what other countries perceive our government is “willing” to do that bridles international activity.

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Given the potential impact of the United States on various international fronts, every nation of consequence is constantly monitoring the most current level of fortitude and “forthrightness” displayed by our leadership. And for liberals not to incorporate this reality into our political cogitation is extremely reckless and naïve.

Currently, the United States has been accurately assessed by friend and foe as being passive, indecisive, appeasing and less than deliberate in protecting its distinction as the beacon of democracy for the world.

Words without a disposition of determination are meaningless and, indeed, harmful to the safety of a nation. When the president of the United States openly draws a “red line” as Obama did for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons and then fails to keep his word, the entire world takes note.

And this administration is clueless in the rudimentary technique of negotiating from a position of strength — not good intentions. They seemingly have no concept of the conservative principle that the best military is one you “never have to use.”

Of the many U.S. contingencies assessed by foreign countries, beyond the plausibility of our leadership, are our assets and resources required to engage and sustain actions militarily or by sanction if necessary. Wars begin over land determined strategically important not only for military viability but also based on its available energy resources.

International perception of America’s strength has not only been compromised by inept leadership, but also by other nation’s discernment of America’s willingness to forego energy independence simply to protect the liberal ideology of man-made climate change.

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America should immediately pursue an “all of the above” energy strategy rather than an “anything but fossil fuels” approach. The Keystone Pipeline is a no-brainer. Progressives have placed our nation on an unlevel energy playing field based upon a liberal ideology to which other nations are unwilling to conform.

Other strengthening measures must include tearing down the wall of government overreach preventing entrepreneurs from building businesses, hiring people and turning a profit.

This administration must also eliminate its divide-and-conquer class-warfare strategy and pursue policies that unite — not divide — Americans.

Obamacare must be repealed and replaced so America can begin to repair its healthcare system and economy.

And finally, our country needs a commander-in-chief who will patriotically work to protect the sovereignty of the United States and defend democracy.

America can become strong once again. All we need is leadership.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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Obama collecting personal data for a secret race database

19 Jul

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  By Paul Sperry – New York Post

Published: July 18, 2015 | 4:00pm

A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”

Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites.

This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already is using to make “disparate impact” cases against: banks that don’t make enough prime loans to minorities; schools that suspend too many blacks; cities that don’t offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities; and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds.

Big Brother Barack wants the databases operational before he leaves office, and much of the data in them will be posted online.

So civil-rights attorneys and urban activist groups will be able to exploit them to show patterns of “racial disparities” and “segregation,” even if no other evidence of discrimination exists.

Obama is presiding over the largest consolidation of personal data in US history.

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Housing database

The granddaddy of them all is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing database, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development rolled out earlier this month to racially balance the nation, ZIP code by ZIP code. It will map every US neighborhood by four racial groups — white, Asian, black or African-American, and Hispanic/Latino — and publish “geospatial data” pinpointing racial imbalances.

The agency proposes using nonwhite populations of 50% or higher as the threshold for classifying segregated areas.

Federally funded cities deemed overly segregated will be pressured to change their zoning laws to allow construction of more subsidized housing in affluent areas in the suburbs, and relocate inner-city minorities to those predominantly white areas. HUD’s maps, which use dots to show the racial distribution or density in residential areas, will be used to select affordable-housing sites.

HUD plans to drill down to an even more granular level, detailing the proximity of black residents to transportation sites, good schools, parks and even supermarkets. If the agency’s social engineers rule the distance between blacks and these suburban “amenities” is too far, municipalities must find ways to close the gap or forfeit federal grant money and face possible lawsuits for housing discrimination.

Civil-rights groups will have access to the agency’s sophisticated mapping software, and will participate in city plans to re-engineer neighborhoods under new community outreach requirements.

“By opening this data to everybody, everyone in a community can weigh in,” Obama said. “If you want affordable housing nearby, now you’ll have the data you need to make your case.”

Mortgage database

Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, headed by former Congressional Black Caucus leader Mel Watt, is building its own database for racially balancing home loans. The so-called National Mortgage Database Project will compile 16 years of lending data, broken down by race, and hold everything from individual credit scores and employment records.

Mortgage contracts won’t be the only financial records vacuumed up by the database. According to federal documents, the repository will include “all credit lines,” from credit cards to student loans to car loans — anything reported to credit bureaus. This is even more information than the IRS collects.

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The FHFA will also pry into your personal assets and debts and whether you have any bankruptcies. The agency even wants to know the square footage and lot size of your home, as well as your interest rate.

FHFA will share the info with Obama’s brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which acts more like a civil-rights agency, aggressively investigating lenders for racial bias.

The FHFA has offered no clear explanation as to why the government wants to sweep up so much sensitive information on Americans, other than stating it’s for “research” and “policymaking.”

However, CFPB Director Richard Cordray was more forthcoming, explaining in a recent talk to the radical California-based Greenlining Institute: “We will be better able to identify possible discriminatory lending patterns.”

Credit database

CFPB is separately amassing a database to monitor ordinary citizens’ credit-card transactions. It hopes to vacuum up some 900 million credit-card accounts — all sorted by race — representing roughly 85% of the US credit-card market. Why? To sniff out “disparities” in interest rates, charge-offs and collections.

Employment database

CFPB also just finalized a rule requiring all regulated banks to report data on minority hiring to an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. It will collect reams of employment data, broken down by race, to police diversity on Wall Street as part of yet another fishing expedition.

School database

Through its mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection project, the Education Department is gathering information on student suspensions and expulsions, by race, from every public school district in the country. Districts that show disparities in discipline will be targeted for reform.

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Those that don’t comply will be punished. Several already have been forced to revise their discipline policies, which has led to violent disruptions in classrooms.

Obama’s educrats want to know how many blacks versus whites are enrolled in gifted-and-talented and advanced placement classes.

Schools that show blacks and Latinos under-enrolled in such curricula, to an undefined “statistically significant degree,” could open themselves up to investigation and lawsuits by the department’s Civil Rights Office.

Count on a flood of private lawsuits to piggyback federal discrimination claims, as civil-rights lawyers use the new federal discipline data in their legal strategies against the supposedly racist US school system.

Even if no one has complained about discrimination, even if there is no other evidence of racism, the numbers themselves will “prove” that things are unfair.

Such databases have never before existed. Obama is presiding over the largest consolidation of personal data in US history. He is creating a diversity police state where government race cops and civil-rights lawyers will micromanage demographic outcomes in virtually every aspect of society.

The first black president, quite brilliantly, has built a quasi-reparations infrastructure perpetually fed by racial data that will outlast his administration.

Paul Sperry is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of “The Great American Bank Robbery,” which exposes the racial politics behind the mortgage bust.

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Mark Caserta: Sanctuary cities aren’t above the law

16 Jul

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Mark Caserta: Free State Patriot editor

Jul. 16, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

Why would our government permit any U.S. city to knowingly and willingly harbor illegal aliens?

Cities around the country, known as “sanctuary cities,” are literally incentivizing illegal immigration by adopting policies which essentially nullify federal immigration law. And it’s no surprise that these are some of the most liberal cities in the United States.

So are these cities within their right to circumvent federal law and endanger the sovereignty of our nation, aid in crippling our economy, and put innocent lives at risk? How does one justify such an abominable progressive policy?

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Liberals justify the need for creating sanctuary policies under the guise of “protecting immigrant rights.” But clearly these are not immigrants, but illegal aliens who should be subject to deportation under federal law.

Sanctuary policies are generally passed by a local governing body in the form of a resolution, ordinance or administrative action. They usually instruct city employees not to notify the federal government of the presence of illegal aliens living in their communities. Since there is vague distinction between legal and illegal aliens, these individuals typically benefit from taxpayer-funded government services and programs.

In protecting these illegals, many with criminal backgrounds are allowed to remain in the country. While policies differ, if an illegal is arrested for a crime in a sanctuary city, they may serve jail time, but will not be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation. Many are repeat offenders and when released, lurk as an ongoing danger to a community.

According to a July column written by Jessica Vaughn for the Center for Immigration Studies, 276 jurisdictions, both state and local, have caused the release of more than 8,000 criminal alien offenders across the country over an eight-month period. Vaughn cites ICE records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.

According to the records, 63 percent of the individuals freed by local authorities had prior criminal histories or were labeled a “public safety concern.” Nearly 1,900 of the released offenders subsequently were arrested for another crime within the eight-month period.

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One such offender was Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal alien who had been deported five times and had racked up seven felony convictions. While in the midst of yet another deportation, the city of San Francisco asked for custody of Sanchez to pursue prior drug charges. Unremarkably, these charges were dropped, but in accordance to the city’s long standing sanctuary policies, Sanchez was not returned to ICE for deportation. Less than three months later, Sanchez was accused of shooting and killing Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old out for an evening stroll with her father along the waterfront.

Progressive policies like this are destroying our nation, not flags, guns or otherwise. But while liberal Democrats continue down this debilitating road, the GOP continues to lack the intestinal fortitude to address politically volatile issues.

It’s time for impotent politicians to make way for patriots willing to stand up and be heard.

When it comes to illegal immigration, no city is above the law.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.

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