Sunday, February 22, 2015

Imprimis: Race Relations and Law Enforcement

Via Sister Anne

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 2014-15 Hillsdale College Women's Basketball Roster

Thomas Sowell once said that some books you write for pleasure, and others you write out of a sense of duty, because there are things to be said—and other people have better sense than to say them. My new book, Please Stop Helping Us, falls into that latter category. When I started out as a journalist 20 years ago, I had no expectation of focusing on race-related topics. People like Sowell and Shelby Steele and Walter Williams and a few other independent black thinkers, to my mind at least, had already said what needed to be said, had been saying it for decades, and had been saying it more eloquently than I ever could.

But over the years, and with some prodding from those guys, it occurred to me that not enough younger blacks were following in their footsteps. It also occurred to me that many public policies aimed at the black underclass were just as wrongheaded as ever. The fight wasn’t over. A new generation of black thinkers needed to explain what’s working and what isn’t, and why, to a new generation of readers. And the result is this book, which I hope will help to bring more light than heat to the discussion of race.

Hypothermia and cold injuries

Via WRSA

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As of this writing, if you are living in the eastern half of these United States, chances are you are smack in the middle of the Siberian Express cold spell that has temperatures 20, 30, and even 40 degrees cooler than normal.

The winter wonderland it has brought us is bracing, refreshing, and deadly if you are not careful. Let’s take a quick look at hypothermia.

Hypothermia is a reduction in core body temperature below 95°F as measured by a rectal thermometer placed six inches into the rectum. The best way to avoid a thermometer six inches into your rectum is to not get hypothermia. The best way to not get hypothermia is to not do dumb stuff. Let’s look at some prevention before we look at fixing injuries.

Be aware of the macro environment. Watch the weather report and see how cold, wet, and windy it is going to get. If you don’t have the ability to listen to the weather report, consider where you are in the country and what can happen during the specific time of year. February in Miami and February in Vermont would require very different packing lists.

Dress for the worst.

More @ Hogwarts

President Obama: Do you really love America?

Via LH


Tweet Of The Day: James O’Keefe Has Story, “I’m Afraid For My Life On This One”

Via comment by Anonymous on 76% agree with Mayor Giuliani


 
We have a story we’re going to release this coming week and I've never thought about this before but I am afraid for my life on this one.

Hong Le Webb: From Vung Tau to Virginia

Via Carl

Image result for Hong Le Webb: From Vung Tau to Virginia

Dated.

1) You were born in Vietnam. Can you tell us when and how you came to America, what brought you here, and whether you still have family in Vietnam?

I left Vietnam immediately after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, along with my paternal grandmother, my parents, my only brother and three of my five sisters. We left my home town of Vung Tau in the middle of the night on a fishing boat. My other two sisters, who were married before I was born, left on different boats with their families around the same time. All of my immediate family are in the U.S. (surviving my parents are seven children, 31 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren). I still have distant relatives in Vietnam today, with whom my older siblings keep in touch. 

The 1975 departure was the second one for my parents. My parents and both sets of my grandparents were farmers in the north of Vietnam before 1954. My maternal grandparents were assassinated by the communists during the French War, and when the country split, my parents went to Vung Tau with my paternal grandparents and my three oldest siblings. As practicing, devout Catholics, my parents didn't believe that they and their family would have survived in the the north after 1954 nor in the south after 1975.

More @ Daily Kos

NC: Doc McKenzie & The Hi-Lites, "Hold On"


The Teutoburg Forest Massacre: Political Intrigue and Sinister Plans

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 Arminius Bids Farewell to Thusnelda

Part 2 of a Series

Mike Scruggs

 In the late summer of 9 AD, Arminius, a young chieftain of the Cherusci, was secretly plotting with the chieftains of five other Germanic tribes and his most trusted political allies among the Cherusci, including officers of his own Roman auxiliary cavalry cohort, to destroy the three Roman legions commanded by Governor Quinctilius Varus. Varus had a well deserved reputation for imposing heavy tax burdens and ruthlessly enforcing them in Roman provinces. While Governor of Syria and Judea, he had crucified over 2,000 Jews for rebellion against Roman rule. At this point in history, Germanic culture frowned upon autocratic rule. They had the idea that the laws they had embraced by cultural consensus superseded the will of any leader. In fact, it could be said of them that they had strong egalitarian tendencies, and leadership was often ad hoc. Before their recent defeat by Roman armies under Tiberius, they considered submission to Roman Law worthy of the death penalty.  Only the Roman heel on their neck prevented them from enforcing it. For many German leaders the new Roman tax imposition was the last straw before renewed rebellion against Rome and its governor.  Not all agreed. Some thought resistance to Rome was futile and subordinated their culture to Rome.

Many considered Arminius’s plan unlikely to succeed. He could not expect to match half the Roman manpower or their superior weapons and awesome discipline, but he planned to lure the Roman legions into the Teutoburg Forest and concentrate his forces where they could overwhelm small segments of the exhausted and confused Roman columns and destroy them in detail. Roman commanders usually knew better than to march large forces through dense forests or marshes.

Arminius, however, had studied Roman warfare as he soldiered for them in the Balkans. He had also spent part of his boyhood as a hostage in Rome. Moreover, he had studied Varus and knew his weaknesses. The plan had to be kept within a tight circle until the time was right and then communicated throughout the rebel forces.

Secret rebellion was brewing among the Germans, but Arminius’s first step was to fabricate rumors of active rebellion to the north that required urgent attention. The next step was to convince Varus that the rumors were true and that quick and decisive action was absolutely necessary to quell the revolt before it became a raging fire. Varus’s legions were camped on the Weser River in Cherusci territory for the summer but were preparing to march to quarters on the Rhine, where they could easily be supplied during winter. Their route west would hold just north of the Lippe River and pass just south of the rugged low hills of the Teutoburg Forest.

In addition to three legions, the 17th, 18th, and 19th, Varus’s force included an elite cavalry wing for each legion and six auxiliary cohorts, which were mixtures of infantry and cavalry. Roman auxiliary cohorts were predominantly manned by non-citizens, both professional and local mercenaries.

Auxiliary leadership tended to be about half Roman and half foreign, either promoted from the ranks or through political appointments rewarding provincial loyalty.  A Roman legion consisted of about 5,500 infantry with engineering, artillery, and archery support. An elite cavalry wing of about 500 brought the total to 6,000. The Auxiliary cohorts were usually about 500 in strength. Thus the military force with Varus consisted of 18,000 in the legions and 3,000 in the auxiliary cohorts for a total of 21,000; In addition, they were followed by at least 1,000 camp followers with their baggage.

On the night before their march, Segestes, a Cherusci noble and the father-in-law of Arminius, informed Varus that Arminius was planning a rebellion and intended to betray the Roman leader.

Segestes had opposed the marriage to his daughter, Thusnelda, to Arminius, and this had been the source of on-going feud between the two men. Varus was probably aware of this, and therefore rejected Segestes’s accusation. He trusted Arminius and valued him as a key advantage to his own triumphant success in Germania. 

The Romans had built watch towers on the forest side of their march along the north bank of the Lippe.  Each was probably manned by an eight-man squad. On the first day of their march along the Lippe, a small rebel force of auxiliaries, probably cavalry, approached the first tower. The auxiliary troops were wearing the standard Roman breast-plates and uniforms, so the tower guards assumed they were friendly forces protecting Varus’s right flank or bringing some news. They were mistaken.

On reaching the tower, the rebel force promptly murdered the tower guards and set fire to the tower. Their main objective was that Varus and his officers would see the smoke in the distance and believe Arminius’s account of the rebellion north of the Teutoburg Forest. Other rebel forces, probably auxiliary cavalry, burned other towers and murdered their guards. They also murdered small detachments of Roman soldiers who had been dispatched to handle reported crimes against the Empire.

According to British historian Edward Creasy, the burning towers were “represented to Varus as an occasion which required his prompt attention” in putting down a serious rebellion breaking out north of the Teutoburg Forest. He was kept unaware that a real multi-tribal rebellion was positioning forces in the forest, and its supporters were, in fact, all around him. Arminius convinced Varus that by far the most expeditious route to squelch and punish his fabricated rebellion was through the forest, and of course, offered himself and his key officers as expert guides. Indeed, Arminius had already planned the route, which included numerous opportunities for German ambush.

The next morning, a Roman force of more than 22,000 was led northwest into the Teutoburg Forest by Arminius and one of his cavalry detachments.  Arminius quickly made the excuse to leave with his remaining cavalry to protect the Roman right flank and gather allied tribal forces. A long, winding column of three Roman legions and auxiliary troops stretched through the forest for 9 to 12 miles.  To be continued.

The Teutoburg Forest Massacre: Political Lessons for American Survival

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 Part 1 of a Series  

Mike Scruggs

The Teutoburg Forest lies in northwestern Germany east of the Rhine River.  It is an area of dense deciduous forest and rugged terrain ranging from 1,000-1,500 feet in elevation. In September of 9 AD, it was the scene of a massacre of three Roman legions—nearly 22,000 men including their cavalry. Many historians agree that the Teutoburg massacre was the greatest defeat ever inflicted upon the Roman Army—resulting in the near annihilation of ten percent of its 30 Legion force in just three days at the hands just six small, loosely allied Germanic tribes. 

The renowned Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (56-117 AD), who had never actually been in Germania, described it as having a horrid climate and consisting of treacherous forests and stinking bogs. He saw the more than 50 independent Germanic tribes as an ethnic unit of noble savages who preserved a culture much more egalitarian than Rome, where leadership was more informal and based on merit rather than inherited authority. He noted that the Germans governed themselves by councils and judges and gave especially high values to loyalty and family. They also had an unusual fondness for battle, and their folklore celebrated courage and honor in battle. Perhaps because of the Teutoburg disaster, he noted that they were extremely crafty. Otherwise, prior to the Teutoburg slaughter, the fierce and stubbornly independent warrior bands of the Germanic tribes were thought no match for the well organized and disciplined Roman legions.

Prior to the Teutoburg disaster, Roman legions easily defeated Germanic resistance to Roman rule. Around 6 AD, the first Roman Emperor Augustus (63 BC-14 AD) decided to consolidate and expand Roman control of Germanic tribal lands east of the Rhine River. This task he gave to Publius Quinctilius Varus, the husband of his grand-niece, Vipsania. Varus was not a soldier; he was a lawyer and administrator. His family was of aristocratic heritage but had declined in importance because of financial and political reverses. Nevertheless, with his connections to Augustus, he began to rise quickly in Roman government. In 8-7 BC, he governed the province of Africa. In late 7 BC, he was given four Roman legions to govern the province of Syria, which included Judea. There he gained a reputation for harsh rule, greed, and high taxes. The Jewish historian Josephus recounts his quick reaction in putting down the revolt following the death of Rome’s client King, Herod the Great in 4 BC. After occupying Jerusalem, he crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels, further advancing his reputation for ruthless cruelty and exacerbating Jewish resentment of Roman rule. A few years later, Varus returned to Rome. By 7 AD, he commanded three Roman legions (the 17th, 18th, and 19th), three cavalry cohorts, and six foreign auxiliary cohorts headquartered near Mainz on the Rhine River and charged with consolidating and expanding Roman control east of the Rhine.

Varus quickly began implementing the same high taxes and harsh authoritarian rule that characterized his governing of Syria and Judea. The Germans at first pretended to accept his rule. They remembered the easy Roman defeat of the Cherusci tribe by Tiberius in 6 AD and considered resistance to superior Roman numbers, weapons, and discipline futile for the small bands of part-time warriors that could be raised against the awesome might of Rome.

After the Roman Republic had been replaced by the Roman Empire, however, Roman rule had become more and more dependent on foreign mercenaries—35 percent under Augustus and  surpassing 50 percent under Nero. The auxiliary cohorts and cavalry were predominantly non-citizens. These mercenaries came especially from the Celtic and Germanic peoples of Western, Central, and Northern Europe.One of these was a 25-year-old chieftain of the Cherusci tribe, who had distinguished himself during the extensive Roman campaign in the Balkans and had became commander of a cavalry unit—probably a cohort of up to 500 men. He was called Arminius, probably a Latin rendering of the Germanic name, Hermann, and was the son of Segimer, the ruling chieftain of the Cherusci.

Vellerius Paterculus (20 BC-30 AD), a Roman officer and historian, who wrote a report of the Battle of Teutoburg based on first-hand accounts, and who personally knew many of the personalities involved, described Arminius in these words:

“Thereupon appeared a young man of noble birth, brave in action and alert in mind, possessing intelligence quite beyond the ordinary barbarian, namely Arminius… and he showed in his countenance and in his eyes the fire of the mind within. He had been associated with us constantly on private campaigns, and had even attained the dignity of noble rank.”

Arminius had also been made a Roman citizen, an envied honor by which even the Apostle Paul claimed a legal right to be heard by Roman courts and civil authorities. In addition, because of his outstanding military record in the Roman Army, his high-level connections among the Cherusci, and his astute intellect, Arminius won the confidence of Varus and his officers. In fact, Arminius may have commanded one of Varus’s auxiliary cavalry cohorts consisting mainly of Germanic mercenaries. 

Arminius, however, harbored a strong resentment of Roman rule and the cultural degradation and harsh treatment endured by the Cherusci and other Germanic tribes. Therefore, he secretly made an alliance combining the forces of the Cherusci, Chatti, Marsi, Bructeri, Chausi, and Sicambri to overthrow Roman rule east of the Rhine. (Later in history, these small tribes would  be absorbed into the Franks, Saxons, and Alemanni.) Arminius had a secret plan based on Varus’s personal and military weaknesses and the meager experience in forest environments and warfare of most Roman troops. The Romans feared the vast Germanic forests, but the Germans knew the Teutoburg Forest well.

 But no sensible and experienced Roman commander would try to march three legions with cavalry and baggage trains, a force of 22,000 soldiers and civilian followers, through a vast tract of rugged, dense forest lands. How would Arminius cause Varus to order such a difficult and dangerous movement of men, horses, and wagons? To be continued.

Islamist Group Calls for Attack on US Shopping Malls

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The U.S. homeland security chief said on Sunday he takes seriously a threat made by Somali-based Islamist militants against shopping malls, including the Mall of America in Minnesota, and urged people going there to be careful.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was reacting to a video released by al-Shabaab appearing to call for attacks on Western shopping areas, specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and London's Oxford Street.

"This latest statement from al-Shabaab reflects the new phase we've evolved to in the global terrorist threat, in that you have groups such as al-Shabaab and ISIL publicly calling for independent actors in their homelands to carry out attacks," Johnson told CNN, using an acronym for the militant group Islamic State.

"We're beyond the phase now where these groups would send foreign operatives into countries after being trained some place," Johnson said.

More @ Newsmax

U.S. advisers chasing 'health care for all' ... in Kenya

Via Joe

Kenya crowd

A new round of advisers is being sent to Kenya on behalf of the Obama administration, which plans to deploy individual private contractors to assist in the simultaneous expansion of health-care services and the ongoing decentralization of the national government.

Indeed, one of Obama’s long-term goals “is to establish a social health insurance system to enable equitable provision of health care to all Kenyan citizens,” one of the adviser-recruitment documents explicitly declares.

Specific to the delivery of health care and related services such as family planning, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is recruiting a senior health-systems strengthening adviser to help manage “a complex $260 million program, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa and seventh largest in the world,” according to a contractor solicitation.

More @ WND

Committee of Safety related videos and audio books

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Boyd White, of Texas, has taken the time to gather a collection of videos and audio books that tell the story of Committees of Safety and/or the Revolutionary era.  Some of them are excellent instructional for younger people, such as Johnny Tremain, based upon Esther Forbes' book of the same title.  Though historical fiction, the spirit of the era is amply portrayed.

These have all been uploaded and are currently available for viewing or downloading.

The Committee of Safety webpage does not, yet, have an index of these additions, though the links below ill take you to them.

Feel free to share this information with anybody who might be interested.

Committee of Safety related videos and audio books
Videos

America, by D W Griffith

Spit and Vinegar Yelling match between Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin

Sobering Portrayal of Just How Dismal life was in Colonial Times...though even a movie falls short of the hardness.

Shows the reality of frontier life in period leading up to the American Revolution. The importance of the Militia and living in imminent danger.
These are the people the Committees of Correspondence and Committees of Safety in the outlying towns were comprised of. Serious bloody folk.
Bonus: How to treat hysterical women.

Unconquered, Cecil B. DeMille

Audio Books


An American, without apology;
and one who can think of no other time and place, in history, that I would rather be alive.

76% agree with Mayor Giuliani

 

This past week at a private event in which many members of the GOP were in attendance former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, said something that a vast majority of Americans have felt for several months. Many of them coming to that conclusion late in the life of the current administration, and some--far fewer--have felt Giuliani's observations for more like the duration of Obama's time in office.

More @ Townhall

Find the ‘Countering Violent Extremism Summit’ at the Intersection of Islamists and Leftists

Via Kearney

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You may understandably think of it as an ISIS jobs fair, but the ongoing confab in Washington is officially known as President Obama’s “summit” on “Countering Violent Extremism.” That being the case, many Americans seem surprised at the appearance of Salam al-Marayati, leader of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). After all, the White House is having a public hissy fit over the upcoming speech to Congress by Obama’s bête noire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 
 
An odd time, one might think, for the POTUS to be so chummy with a Muslim activist best know for theorizing, right after the 9/11 attacks, that “we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list.” But National Review readers will not be surprised. Marayati and MPAC figured in my 2010 book on the Muslim Brotherhood’s U.S. operations – The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America (“grand jihad” and “sabotage” are lifted verbatim from an internal Brotherhood memo that describes the Islamists’ objective to infiltrate and destroy our country). And three years ago, I profiled Marayati and MPAC in this NRO column.

There is a reason why Obama’s summit is striking all the wrong chords with the public: strangely sympathetic to Islamist sensibilities and grievances at the very time when rampaging jihadists, while quoting Islamic scripture, are barbarically slaughtering their enemies and conducting a pogrom against Christians (there being no Jews left to mass-murder in Syria, Iraq and Libya).
 

Obama kept reform Muslims out of summit on extremism

Via Joe


The White House excluded members of a prominent group of reformist Muslims from its terror summit this week, apparently because President Obama rejects their argument that such groups as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are actually motivated by Islam.

A group of 23 prominent Muslim reformers signed a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times on Jan. 11 asking "What can Muslims do to reclaim their 'beautiful religion'?"
 
But Obama and officials throughout his administration deny any connection between Islam and the terrorists beheading and burning their victims in a reign of terror in the Middle East.

Muslim reformers say the administration is ignoring them because they disagree with Obama's refusal to acknowledge the Islamic roots of the extremists' ideology.

NHRA Asks Racers To Withdraw from Street Outlaws


Gee, I've never done anything like this..........

The outrage could be heard around the world as NHRA-sanctioned and sponsors racers began to receive requests from the NHRA to cease their participation in the Discovery’s Street Outlaws reality show or risk a suspended race license or denial of that NHRA license.  Auto and racing outlets have been reporting on the issue pretty solidly for the past few days, showcasing the letters that participants have received.

The letters highlight the NHRA’s history: “The NHRA was founded in 1951 by Wally Parks in an effort to provide an alternative for drag racing enthusiasts who were, at that time, racing illegally on public streets.”

Immigration Has Outpaced Job Creation


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The number of immigrants who arrived in the United States since 2000, both legally and illegally, is nearly twice the number of new jobs created over that period.

A report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), based on Census Bureau data, discloses that 18 million immigrants arrived in the U.S. since 2000 but just 9.8 million jobs were added over those 14 years.

The CIS released the report as Congress is considering legislation to boost legal immigration to deal with what some allege are labor shortages.

"It is a mistake to think every job taken by an immigrant is a job lost by a native, but it is equally wrong to think that adding this huge number of immigrants has no implications for American workers," said Steven Camarota, co-author of the report and the director of research at the CIS.
The CIS reported that 89 percent of those 18 million immigrants are potential workers who are at least 16 years old.

In addition to the 18 million immigrants, the native-born population of working-age adults grew by 16.5 million since 2000.

But long-term job growth has not come close to matching the increases in immigrants and native-born workers, and as a result the labor force participation rate of native-born Americans aged 16 to 65 has been in decline. The rate was 77 percent in December 2000 and 72 percent in December 2014.

Meanwhile the number of working-age natives not in the labor force — neither working nor looking for work — rose by 13 million from December 2000 to last December.

"The key question for policymakers is whether it makes sense to allow in this number of legal immigrants and tolerate this level of illegal immigration when long-term job growth has not come close to matching these numbers," the CIS stated in the report.

"Unfortunately, policymakers have given little thought to the absorption capacity of the U.S. labor market when formulating immigration policy."