Russians undergo nuclear survival drills as Cold War gets hotter

During the Cold War, American school kids were taught to get under their desks when the air raid siren sounded. The teacher would shout: "Take cover" and we scrambled to the floor.

The desks would protect us from the nuclear blast, the shock wave, flying glass and falling debris. In our minds, we believed our desks could have been used to fight the Nazi tank commander, Rommel, because they were so strong and protective.

But it wasn't the Nazis we were preparing for--it was the Russians.

Now the Russians have stepped up nuclear survival measures as they see us as the possible threat and they are getting their old Soviet-era civil defense plans out of mothballs and upgrading bomb shelters ith their biggest cities.

As far as the Kremlin's Ministry of Emergency Situations is concerned, the Cold War has taken a curtain call. Russia has recently held its biggest civil defense drills since the U.S.S.R. had collapsed. About 40 million people all across Russia were involved with rehearsing a four-day response to chemical and nuclear threats.

Television stations aired videos of emergency workers in hazmat suits and other officials checking ventilation in bomb shelters. Students tried on gas masks and placed dummies on stretchers.

Commentators on state-run airwaves spoke in the strongest anti-American rhetoric in years. "Russia is sick of America's arrogant lies," Dmitry Kiselyov said a month after the Syrian peace plan fell apart. Kiselyov is a well-known and influential Russian.

Ironically, there isn't much coverage on what should be a growing concern over peace in the future. Does Russia know something we don't? Do they know something that our leaders are not telling us? 

Should we worry, or should we continue to cut our military strength?



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WikiLeaks emails show Clinton's allies unaware over 'insane' private server

It's good to know that some of Hillary Clinton's top advisers weren't aware that she was using a private [illegal] server as secretary of state. It gives one hope that if she becomes POTUS (heaven forfend) that one or two of her top aides may actually be concerned over national security, not that it will change the open borders that Clinton wants.

Some of her top advisers had no clue as to the depth and scope of her email system when the scandal broke in March 2015. Even her current campaign manager had no idea about the bathroom server according to the Thursday WikiLeaks release of emails.

A close ally ('You go girlfriend') of Hillary's, Neera Tanden, the head of the Center for American Progress, was still p'd off months after the scandal broke. She pressed John Podesta over who gave Hillary permission to use the private system.

"Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email? And has that person been drawn and quartered?" Tanden wrote in July. "Like whole thing is f***ing insane."

But some of Clinton's closest aides, especially those who worked with her at the State Department (like Cheryl Mills and Huma Weiner Abedin) were very likely aware and on board with the illegal email setup, while others were in the dark.

On March 2nd, Podesta wrote to campaign manager Robby Mook asking if he had "any idea of the depth of this story?"

March 3rd, 1:32 a. m. Mook wrote back: "Nope. We brought up the existence of emails in research this summer but were told that everything was taken care of."

March 2nd, John Podesta also wrote to Tanden about his worries the day the email scandal broke. "Speaking of transparency, our friends [attorney David] Kendall, Cheryl and Phillipe [Reines] sure weren't forthcoming on the facts here."

Tanden's reply implied that keeping the [illegal] email setup a secret was probably Cheryl Mills' doing: "This is a Cheryl special," she wrote. "Know you love her, but this stuff is like her Achilles heel. Or kryptonite. She just can't say no to this s**t. Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy. I guess I know the answer they wanted to get away with it."

Six months afterward, Tanden was still angry, and in a September 4th interview said Clinton still owed the American people an apology.

Actually, the American people are owed more than an apology. We are owed an FBI director who upholds the law and is apolitical. We are owed an Attorney General who wears the blindfold of fairness and justice. 

We are owed true transparency, not just words.

And we are owed a prison sentence for Hillary Clinton who clearly broke the law simply by having a private server and a real investigation into the Clinton Foundation with questionable practices.

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SecDef Carter suspends Pentagon's demand of bonuses to soldiers

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is going to allow the thousands of soldiers who were given bonuses to re-enlist ten years ago to keep the money the Pentagon wanted back. The public outrage was just too much to allow the government to pull a "fast one" on our troops in the California Army National Guard.

About 2,000 soldiers were told they had to repay the cash bonuses that amounted to around $10,000 and in some cases up to $15,000.

This call by the Pentagon is perhaps the dumbest decision they ever made.

Soldiers generally live paycheck to paycheck. Imagine being told that if you re-enlisted, the Army will pay you $10,000, then ten years later, after you put it all on the line for your country, the government tells you that they want the money back with interest!

Seriously.

Carter didn't mention any timeframe for the suspension, but said it would remain in place until he was "satisfied that our process is working effectively."

An investigation in 2010 found thousands of bonuses and student loan payments were improperly given out to California Guard soldiers. About 9,700 current and retired soldiers were notified they had to repay some or all of their bonus money and so far, $22 million has been recovered.

Most soldiers felt betrayed by their Uncle Sam.

"These bonuses were used to keep people in," Chris Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain said. Van Meter served in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart. "People like me just got screwed."

Van Meter refinanced his home mortgage to repay $25,000 in re-enlistment bonuses and $21,000 in student loan repayments that the military said was improperly given to him.

The California Guard said their hands were tied--they had to follow the law and collect the money. "At the end of the day," began Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, a fan of cliche, "the soldiers ended up paying the largest price. We'd be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just can't do it. We'd be breaking the law."

And let's face it, nobody in government would ever break the law . . . unless their name rhymes with 'schminton.'



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Students claim dress code perpetuates rape culture but burqas don't

Female students at Boston Latin School, a middle and high school, were upset with the enforcement of the long-standing dress code requiring them to wear the hems of skirts and dresses no higher than 4 inches above the knees, forbids gang-related colors, shirt-shoulder straps narrower than 3 fingers, and leggings worn as pants.

In a Change.org petition the students claimed the dress code sends the message that "we still live in a patriarchal society where men can decide whether a female's clothing is appropriate or inappropriate." It also claimed the dress code creates "a sense of shame towards girls bodies" and reinforces the notion that "yes, it is our fault when girls get raped because they should have covered up and avoided the situation by dressing in a way that does not attract another person."

After the petition went out, school administrators went back on part of the policy and now decided that leggings worn as pants will be permitted unless they are "sheer or see-through." The remainder of the dress code will remain and take effect on November 1st.

In January of this year, two students posted a YouTube video calling on classmates to discuss racial incidents that occurred to them at Boston Latin School. The activism by the students ultimately led to the resignation of the headmaster and another top school official due to claims that the school had not appropriately discipline white students who used racial slurs.

Fortunately for the students, there are no females in attendance at Boston Latin School who are required to wear burqas, hijabs or niqabs by their fathers' insistence because if that were the case, it really would be the video that caused the violence.

But I doubt the students would actually protest that dress code.


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Trump will not stump for funds now

When a person is nominated to represent his or her party in the run for president, it is customary for the nominee to help the party with fundraising efforts. Except when the nominee is Donald Trump.

Trump has no fundraising events planned for the remainder of his campaign, which is a serious kick in the butt to the GOP's get-out-the-vote operation before Election Day. Traditionally, the Democrats have been better at this task, but now there should be no question that they are going to be hurting because it appears that somebody's ego is hurt. In part, that's understandable--they all took the pledge to support the nominee, and some, like Paul Ryan, isn't living up to his end of the deal.

Steve Mnuchin, the Trump national finance chairman, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee between the party and campaign, held its last formal fundraiser on October 19th. That was a luncheon in Vegas, baby, on the day of the last presidential debate.

"We've kind of wound down," Mnuchin said. "But the online fundraising continues to be strong."

In contrast to the Trump move (or lack thereof) Hillary Clinton is having her last fundraiser Tuesday night in Miami, but her campaign has scheduled 41 more events between now and November 3rd. The events will feature such surrogates as Hillary's running mate, Tim "The Interrupter" Kaine, Chelsea "Howdy Doody" Clinton and Cher, who cannot remember her last name.

Although Trump's campaign will still bring in donations to help the party, the lack of formal fundraising effectively closes the taps of the money flow to the RNC., which relies on money to help pay for hundreds of field staffers across this great nation of ours. These staffers work on a ground operation to turn out voters to support the entire Republican ticket.

Reince Priebus and other top RNC leaders continue to bring in money for the party, and New York financier Lew Eisenberg , the top RNC fundraiser and chairman of Trump Victory, said he's working "in a united effort" with Mnuchin to raise money via phone calls and impromptu events.

The Trump campaign decided to spend the final two weeks before the election to stay focused on taking his message to the voters: 

Hillary sucks, the elections and media are rigged, he doesn't know any of those 11 women and will sue them, he gets huge crowds at his rallies, Obama is a failure and the worst president the country has ever had, ObamaCare is a disaster, make America great again, build the wall and Mexico will pay for it, and Hillary sucks.

"We have minimized his fundraising schedule over the last month to emphasize his focus on political [events]," Mnuchin said. "Unlike Hillary, who has been fundraising and not out and about, he has constantly been out and about."

Mnuchin said Donald doesn't need high-dollar fundraisers because his campaign gets a lot of their funds online, which are on track to hitting a record in October.

The RNC only gets 20 oercent of the money that Trump raises online in conjunction with the party, and the big donations that go to Trump Victory are routed to the party.

As of September 30, Trump's campaign has raised $219 million while Clinton's raised $499 million. 

Clinton also appeared to use her advertising wisely, doing ads during the high view times of the Olympic games, while Trump did no ads at all during the games. But Trump out-tweeted Clinton 47 to 1, and has "lots of followers, folks."

And although Trump promised to put $100 million of his own money into the campaign, he only gave $56 million, according to the financial records. Mnuchin went silent when asked if Trump intended to put in the remaining $44 million, but he did say that "He has been very supportive of the campaign with his contributions."

Well, that was his campaign pledge and his talking point at the start. 

In spite of the fact that Clinton is leading in the polls, Trump believes that he is leading in the race. Unfortunately, the way it seems to be going, Trump is lagging substantially in the projection of electoral votes.

But with Trump, you never know. I do not count him out and will not be surprised if he pulls it off. It's just that it doesn't seem that he will. 

That being said, please go out and vote.


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MI Township says "no" to Syrian refugees

Oakland County, Michigan -- Waterford Township trustees unanimously passed a resolution Monday telling the feds not to send any Syrian refugees their way until the vetting program "has been significantly reformed."

The resolution stated: "[T]he Charter Township of Waterford will not actively participate in the Refugee Resettlement Program until the Program has been significantly reformed, and until ht has been demonstrated that the Townships of Oakland County have the capacity to absorb refugees without diverting funds from needy residents or exposing their residents to unwarranted security risks."

For more on this problem, read my last blog entry here. 

Waterford Township's population of 72,000 is located in the geographic center of Oakland County, which has a population of 1.2 million.

The resolution passed just prior to the Thomas More Law Center announced that it has been selected to represent Tennessee in its suit against the federal government on Tenth Amendment grounds over the operation of the refugee resettlement program by the feds in Tennessee.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said he intends to sue the federal government for resettling refugees in the county but failing to comply with the "consultation clause" in the Refugee Act of 1980 requiring the feds and the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to consult with state and local government officials prior to the placement of refugees within their jurisdictions.

Syrian refugee women shortage

"The resolution, which has been pushed by the Oakland County Association of Township Supervisors, states that the federal Refugee Resettlement Program creates significant financial burdens for communities to mee the needs of the refugees, WWJ, the CBS (local of Detroit) reported.

One Watership Township resident complained, "We've got so many people who need jobs in Waterford, what are you gonna do with the refugees that come in here? You're gonna feed them? You're gonna clothe them? You're gonna house them? We can't afford that; we've got veterans that need help."

Another resident, possibly a low-information liberal who doesn't see the potential problems said, "I've lived here my entire life. I've never been embarrassed to be a Waterford citizen until I saw this resolution." 

However, he did not offer to take in any of the refugees into his own home or have any live next door to him.



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Liberal's refugee vetting process can get us killed

Al Jayab

A pair of Iraqi refugees were able to lie to immigration officials and get admitted into the U.S. where they continued their terrorist acts. This is just the latest bone-headed example of our screening system of immigrants from known terrorist countries (which, by the way, happen to be of the Islamic persuasion).

Our screening system is so stupidly naive, we might as well be asking a suicide bomber as he's about to board a plane, "Did you pack your bags yourself?"

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab is a 23-year-old who came to the U.S. in 2012 and had returned to the Middle East on two occasions to fight for Al Nusra. He was alleged to have been recorded by the FBI bragging about executing Syrian Army soldiers and their Russian allies. Wiretaps were made while he moved from Arizona to Wisconsin then to California and recorded him saying that he wanted to return to Syria because he was "eager to see blood."

In Al-Jayab's  U.S. Customs and Immigration Services interview, he neglected to mention that tidbit of information and his current intentions and as far as the officials were concerned, he was good to go. Now he is being held on charges in California for lying to investigators about living in Syria.

Another terrorist, Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, is a Palestinian born in Iraq, lived in refugee camps in Iraq and Jordan. He moved to Houston in 2009. Al Hardan is the nephew of a famous Al Qaeda bomb maker.

Last week Al Hardan pleaded guilty to plotting and training to bomb and shoot up two Houston malls. In his Monday hearing, the 24-year-old admitted to attempting to assist the Islamic State terrorists two years ago.

Al Hardan currently faces up to 20 years in federal prison and will be sentenced this January. He also lied to U.S. Customs and Immigration Services when seeking asylum in 2009 and permanent residency in 2011.

"These latest cases of refugees who turned out to be terrorists confirm that it is simply impossible for our screening system to detect all those who are a threat," Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. "These two men should never have been admitted."

That's because they probably answered "No" to the question: 'Are you a member of a terrorist organization?' on form 420.

"They were interested and involved in terrorism before they came here, and our so-called great vetting system, that obviously isn't as great as the Obama administration claims, did not pick up on it," she added.

Al Hardan

Aaron Rodriguez, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and avid Obama supporter said the security vetting for refugees is "extraordinarily thorough and comprehensive."

"It is the most robust screening process for any category of individuals seeking admission into the United States," Rodriguez lied, "The process is multi-layered and intensive, involving multiple law enforcement, national security, and intelligence agencies across the federal government."

What Rodriguez did not say was that with little knowledge or documentation on potential refugees, nothing can really get verified and the intelligence we receive is low information. He and the rest of Obama's mouthpieces can say whatever they want, but the facts are just too stubborn to change the truth. The Islamic State (among other Islamic terrorist organizations) has said that they will infiltrate our refugee program and wreak havoc in the future.

Claude Arnold, a retired U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, said that hundreds of war criminals have entered the US as refugees pretending to be victims rather than the perpetrators. He said the stakes are much higher now, than they were historically, with terrorists trying to use our refugee program to do us harm.

"Our intelligence from Iraq is much greater than in Syria because we had a military presence there for so long," Arnold said. "We had biometrics, fingerprints, and documentary evidence to identify bad actors. But cases like these show this vetting process is not foolproof."

Al Gore

Vaughan said that the two men recently caught are only a couple of examples of others who have come here under the refugee program with plans to do us harm. A recent Senate report states that there are "dozens" of refugees convicted of terror-related crimes, such as Mohanad Shareef Hammadi and Waad Ramadan Alwan, Iraqi refugees in Bowling Green, KY whose prints were found on unexploded IEDs in Iraq, and both had a history of using IEDs against our soldiers in Iraq.

Alwan pleaded guilty to a slew of terror-related charges and got 40 years in prison. Hammadi is serving a life sentence on similar charges.

Anyone who believes Hillary Clinton will make our country safer than Donald Trump over the refugee situation is dangerously naive. 


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Donna Brazile pulled "a Hillary"

Donna Brazile, formerly of CNN (Clinton News Network) and now the Democratic Party leader, claimed to the world that emails showing her apparently giving Hillary Clinton questions at a March town hall were "doctored." 

In order to check out the veracity of her claim, tech forensic experts went to work, and they are now saying that they've found proof the emails were authentic, which proves Brazile did "a Hillary" with the truth.

On a TV interview with Fox News, Megyn Kelly questioned Brazile about an email that surfaced from Campaign Chairman John Podesta's email account and attributed to Brazile which was posted on WikiLeaks, an internet website headed by Julian Assange (who Hillary Clinton wanted to "drone"). 

The email was passed on to campaign adviser Jennifer Palmieri about the death penalty, under the subject line: "From time to time I get questions in advance."

Soon after the email was sent, the March town hall was hosted by CNN and TV One. A similar question was asked by Roland Martin, but Brazile vehemently denied receiving questions from CNN. "I have seen so many doctored emails. I have seen things that come from me at 2 in the morning that I don't even send," she said. "I will not sit here and be persecuted, because your information is totally false."

But of course it was not false--Donna Brazile's indignation was false.

Tech blog Errata Security quickly found the email in question could be verified by using an ordinary verification program.

DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a system verification system used by many email servers, among them is HillaryClinton.com. It is used to avoid spam filters whereby the system sends a DKIM "key" to the receiver to verify the sender and confirm the email hasn't been tampered with.

Bloggers ran the DKIM keys that were included with this and other emails through the verification software and it validated the Palmieri email as both real and undoctored.

Cybersecurity expert Robert Graham presented his results and showed that if the emails had been in any way altered, the software would have declared the emails unverified. The whole procedure took about five minutes, he told Fox News.

So it's obvious Brazile lied.

When asked if it was possible that WikiLeaks could have been hacked too, Graham said that it was very unlikely because to do so, the hacker would have needed access to the HillaryClinton.com server.

Graham is so confident in his finding that he posted a $600 BitCoin challenge for anyone who can alter an email and still have it come up as verified after being run through DKIM software.

So far, no takers.

It seems that Donald Trump has a good case to make about the election and media being rigged. This is not the America I grew up in--this America is becoming like a Third World nation and it saddens me.




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