Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson had never planned to support presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but now he will do whatever it takes to help Trump defeat likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I was forced onto the Trump train, but I am happily volunteering my services for Mr. Trump, mainly because the Republican Party has spoken,” said Robertson, who supported Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the Republican primaries. “The people have said we want Mr. Trump. So Mr. Cruz goes down — I love him — but now I’m on the Trump train and I’ll do everything I can to help him.”
During his appearance Wednesday on Fox & Friends, Robertson had a very clear idea of how he could assist Trump.
Robertson has said that he will remain loyal to the Republican Party.
“I’ll go with the platform that I discovered when I was 28. I looked at the Democrats and the Republicans, and at least the Republicans aren’t for killing their children or for perversion, so I’m a Republican. So I’ll back old Donald,” he told The Hollywood Reporter recently.
As for Clinton, “Her record is long, and she’s already proven herself,” he said then.
“I know which way we’ll go with her, but I’m not sure with Donald. And remember, I’m a hunter. We shoot squirrels and ducks and eat ’em, and she says she’ll take our guns. All we’re doing is shooting targets, and alligators and cottonmouth snakes, and she wants to take that away from us,” he said.
Robertson consistently calls for political leaders to turn to God.
“Why don’t we vet our thinking through the word of God, love God and love each other?” he said on Fox & Friends Wednesday. “Why don’t we try that for a while? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
He explained to the Hollywood Reporter why following God’s teaching is important to America.
“When you remove the God of the Bible and suppress the truth and allow men and women to determine right and wrong, historically speaking, it always ends in carnage and murder — Hitler, the Caesars of Rome, the French Revolution, ISIS. Man, there has been a slaughterhouse on planet Earth, and the common denominator is the removal of God,” he said. (For more from the author of “Duck Dynasty Star Offers to Take Important Role to Help Trump” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/14837761109_c752b0a6b0_b.jpg6811024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 23:28:422016-05-19 23:28:42Duck Dynasty Star Offers to Take Important Role to Help Trump
Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, and current leading Libertarian candidate for president is set to name William (Bill) Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, as his running mate today. While Weld certainly has some fiscal conservative bona fides from his time as governor, he also has a statist streak, which should give libertarians, especially those who are delegates to the Libertarian convention, pause.
James Antle summed up whether or not Weld is a libertarian best, in a 2005 profile at the American Spectator. Antle wrote “does the strange combination of thorough economic conservatism and social liberalism make Weld a libertarian? Not unless libertarians also support expansive environmental regulations, gun control, and affirmative action.”
Here are five statist positions of Bill Weld that should give libertarians pause.
Gun Control
Weld is a gun grabber. He gave his support to gun control measures in Massachusetts. As the New York Times reported at the time:
With voters growing increasingly fearful of gunfire on the streets, Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts reversed course this week and proposed some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country.
Mr. Weld, a Republican who will run for re-election next year, called for a statewide ban on assault weapons — a proposal he opposed during his 1990 campaign — as well as a waiting period for buying handguns and a prohibition on handgun ownership by anyone under 21. His proposed legislation would also limit the number of handguns an individual could buy and would impose tough penalties for illegal gun sales and gun-related crimes.
“The purpose of this common sense legislation is to remove deadly guns from our streets and to take weapons out of the hands of many teens who themselves are becoming deadly killers,” the Governor said.
Eminent Domain
Like Donald Trump, Bill Weld believes in the power of the state to take land for private developers. When running for governor of New York, the patrician Weld explained when he would use the power of eminent domain to seize private property for the good of a select few. The New York Sun reported:
At a Crain’s Business Breakfast in Midtown, Mr. Weld said he would support the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, as well as in cases of building affordable housing in certain neighborhoods, depending on “the character of the neighborhood you were razing.”
The benefit to the public created by such private projects would justify the use of eminent domain, he said.
During a Manhattan Institute breakfast on March 1, Mr. Weld said a recent Supreme Court decision that permitted eminent domain to spur economic development “has put alleged collective needs ahead of individual liberty and property rights, and increased tax revenue ahead of the pursuit of individual happiness. It’s a decision I would expect in Communist China.”
The proposed Atlantic Yards project, which would include affordable housing and a new basketball stadium for the Nets, “is clearly okay,” he said yesterday, because “that whole project is imbued with public interest… A major public asset is involved there and it’s not simply an effort to increase the tax base.”
Affirmative Action
When debates swirled around ending many federal affirmative action programs during the 1990s, then Governor Weld stood firmly with the statists who wanted to keep them. The Washington Post reported:
Further complicating the affirmative action issue is that some of the nation’s most prominent moderate Republicans have spoken out against efforts to eliminate it. Retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Ohio Gov. George V. Voinovich, Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld and Gov. John Engler of Michigan are among those who support many affirmative action programs.
Environmental Regulations
Weld was a supporter of stricter environmental regulations being promulgated by the EPA. In 1997 he joined Governor Whitman of New Jersey in pushing the EPA to establish “stricter limits on smog.”
In 1994 Weld led his administration in pushing for the EPA to require an electric car mandate. The New York Times reported:
In Massachusetts, the Environmental Affairs Secretary, Trudy Coxe, said that the state Legislature adopted the California plan and that the measure was signed by then — Gov. Michael S. Dukakis. Gov. William F. Weld, a Republican, supports the program, she said.
Among the stipulations that New York and Massachusetts agreed to is a requirement that 2 percent of the cars offered for sale in the 1998 model year be electric.
Full Throated Endorsement of Barack Obama
Only a statist would have ever endorsed Barack Obama over John McCain, who was hardly an orthodox conservative in 2008. Obama was already known to be a radical leftist in 2008, when Weld endorsed him. There is nothing remotely libertarian about Barack Obama.
Here’s Weld’s full-throated 2008 endorsement.
Long story short. Bill Weld is not a libertarian; he’s a liberal Republican from the Northeast. There is a big difference. (For more from the author of “5 Statist Positions That Should Make Libertarians Run From Bill Weld” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/4456052320_e693acc9d5_b.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 22:30:282016-05-19 22:30:285 Statist Positions That Should Make Libertarians Run From Bill Weld
Fear of low wages seems to be a driving force behind many a government intervention in the market these days. All three major presidential candidates want to isolate the United States from international trade to allegedly protect American jobs and high wages. President Obama is extending overtime pay eligibility to millions of workers. The Left’s support for coercing workers into joining labor unions is supposedly about maintaining high wages. Minimum wage hikes are popping up all over the country. And the mythical gender wage gap remains a hot topic for misguided faux-feminists everywhere.
But if these Democratic politicians and pundits are really so concerned about wages, why do they do everything in their power to stifle the one factor that we know is tied directly to higher wages? Productivity.
When you get paid a wage, it’s because you’re able to produce something that others value. The more other people value it, or the more quickly you are able to produce it, the higher your wage can be. Professional actors don’t earn millions of dollars because what they do is particularly difficult or labor intensive, it’s because they are providing a service to a large number of viewers simultaneously, and those viewers are willing to pay to see them. Film actors make more than stage actors, simply because their audience is bigger. Their labor is more productive, meaning it provides more value to a greater number of people.
Because business owners don’t like to lose money, no one is going to voluntarily pay you more than the value of what you can produce. Otherwise, they could simply save money by firing you, and that’s what they would do.
This simple truth seems to have eluded many on the political Left who believe you can mandate wages irrespective of productivity. Instead of passing new laws and regulations on employers, anyone truly interested in promoting higher wages should be focused on making people more productive, so that they can earn more for doing the same amount of work.
How can we do that? There are a couple of ways. First, we can allow people to become more productive by increasing their skills and education. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has crushed the life out of primary and secondary education through policies like Common Core and an opposition to meaningful school choice.
And while the president would no doubt tout his support of “higher education for all” as a step towards increasing productivity, what he has in fact done is steered students away from technical and vocational schools, despite a widespread demand for jobs like welders, plumbers, and electricians. Due to the increasing scarcity of these skills, it is possible to make six figures with a two-year degree, but you’d never know it from listening to the elites trying to funnel more and more students into liberal arts colleges, where they will have to take out expensive student loans to earn a degree few employers value all that much.
Another way to improve productivity is to embrace technological advances. Yet, like Luddites terrified of change and advancement, we have seen progressives systematically try to destroy not only the opportunities for innovation, but even the new technologies that already exist. From the Internet sales tax, to the FDA dragging its feet on approving new medical devices, to increased regulations on Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and other disruptive technologies, the government does everything it can to prevent improvements in the way of doing business.
This is bad for productivity. These innovations allow workers to produce more value with less effort, in less time, which in turn will allow them to earn more money. Instead of cracking down on these new technologies, we should get government out of the way and allow human invention to flourish.
So the next time a progressive tells you they’re concerned about low wages, don’t believe them. What they’re really concerned about is protecting the interests of certain groups — labor unions, green energy companies, well-connected incumbents — at the expense of everyone else. (For more from the author of “Here’s Why Progressives’ Wage Pandering Is a Load of B.S.” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/New_McDonalds_restaurant_in_Mount_Pleasant_Iowa-1.jpg7441024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 22:12:392016-05-19 22:12:39Here’s Why Progressives’ Wage Pandering Is a Load of B.S.
Earlier this week, President Obama conducted an interview with BuzzFeed News and continued his campaign to put in the place what The New York Times says would be the most liberal Supreme Court in 50 years.
The campaign up to this point can only be described as a colossal failure. So far, conservative groups have dramatically outspent liberal counterparts, taking the case directly to the American people that the President cannot be allowed to fundamentally transform the nation’s highest court in the waning months of his administration.
In addition to their failed paid advertising campaign, President Obama and his allies have tried to make their argument in media appearances with no avail. Julie Pace of The Associated Press reported that focus groups she observed were “completely uninterested” in this debate and that it would not impact voters’ decisions this fall.
Despite the fact that this effort has not yielded anything in terms of results, it’s not surprising that President Obama keeps trying to repeat the same message. It’s clear that he wants another reliable justice on the Supreme Court that will cement his failed liberal agenda. Fortunately, Republicans are doing the right thing in their unwavering commitment to prevent his politically motivated power grab. (For more from the author of “SURPRISE! Obama Continues Partisan Push to Cement His Failed Presidency” please click HERE)
By Kate Irby. The floor of the U.S. House of Representatives descended into brief chaos Thursday morning following the defeat of an amendment on religious freedom.
Republicans switched their votes from yea to nay after the clock ran out on time to vote, and it’s unclear why the votes were allowed to switch. If the amendment had been declared approved or defeated right after the clock ran out, it would’ve been approved by a vote of 217-206.
The amendment, proposed by Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY), would have prohibited the use of federal funds to enforce a provision that was part of the Defense Authorization Act, passed by the House Wednesday night . . .
When the clock ran out, votes stood at 217-206, with 35 Republicans joining Democrats to approve the amendment. But then one by one, five Republicans switched their votes to nay.
People started booing, chanting “shame” and saying various other things such as, “Make the order,” “votes are done,” and “let’s go!” Making the order refers to proclaiming the amendment defeated or approved, based on the current votes. (Read more from “In Chaotic Scene, Democrats Chant ‘Shame’ on House Floor After Switched Votes” HERE)
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Here’s What the Failed Amendment Was All About
By Cristina Marcos and Mike Lillis. The failed amendment would have effectively nullified a provision in the defense authorization that the House passed late Wednesday night. The language embedded in the defense bill states that religious corporations, associations and institutions that receive federal contracts can’t be discriminated against on the basis of religion.
Democrats warn that such a provision could potentially allow discrimination against the LGBT community in the name of religious freedom. Maloney’s amendment specifically would prohibit funds to implement contracts with any company that doesn’t comply with President Obama’s executive orderbanning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/111th_US_Senate_class_photo.jpg9141400Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 20:05:192016-05-20 13:47:04Watch: In Chaotic Scene, Democrats Chant ‘Shame’ on House Floor After Switched Votes
A Black Lives Matter activist who operates a social justice charity was arrested last month on charges of sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl.
Charles Wade co-founded Operation Help or Hush in the aftermath of the August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. The group claims it helps raise funds for the needy and provide food and shelter for activists.
But according to a police report obtained by TheDC, the 33-year-old Wade was raising money in more explicit ways.
He was arrested on April 25 at a motel where he resided in College Park, Md. Police say he was using the motel room to pimp a 17-year-old girl.
He’s charged with seven counts, including felonies for human trafficking. The charges carry sentences of up to 25 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Wade posted $25,000 bond and left jail on April 27. (Read more from “Black Lives Matter Leader Charged With Pimping a 17-Year-Old Girl” HERE)
As White House hopefuls Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton pivot their campaigns toward the general election, polling continues to indicate the winner of the expected presidential contest is likely to be whichever candidate can convince voters that the other is more unlikable.
When Fox News released the results of a wide-ranging poll conducted this month, it became clear how steep the negatives against both the presumptive Republican nominee and likely Democratic nominee have become. The cable news network determined that voters see both Trump and Clinton as “deeply flawed candidates.”
Nationwide, a hypothetical contest between the two candidates shows Trump with the upper hand — but barely. The former reality television personality received a nod from 45 percent of those polled, while Clinton was the choice of 42 percent.
While the statistical difference is within the poll’s margin of error, the results show a precipitous decline in support for Clinton over the past month. The same poll conducted in April showed Clinton with a seven-point lead over her potential rival.
As in previous polls, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders performed better against Trump than Clinton. The Democratic candidate maintained a 46-42 percent lead over the billionaire, though that advantage was smaller than Sanders’ 14-point lead last month.
Meanwhile, 11 percent of Sanders’ supporters told pollsters that they would vote for Trump instead of Clinton should the general election ballot contain those two names.
Breaking down the results by demographics, it is clear which is Clinton’s most loyal voting bloc. The former first lady has a cavernous 81-point lead over Trump among blacks. Trump performed best among whites, with whom he has a 55-31 percent lead over Clinton. (For more from the author of “Fox News Poll Reveals Who Comes out on Top in Hypothetical Presidential Race” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/24311159914_57ab433195_o.jpg10801920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 02:10:212016-05-19 02:10:44Fox News Poll Reveals Who Comes out on Top in Hypothetical Presidential Race
By Mirror.co.uk. Almost 100 schoolchildren are thought to have been ‘possessed’ by the devil – and see visions of a man in black trying to kill them.
In what has been described as a mass case of demonic possession, the pupils in Peru are experiencing seizures alongside their horrifying halluncinations.
Experts have struggled to explain the strange goings-on, which also include widespread convulsions and fainting at the school , reportedly built on a Mafia graveyard.
According to local reports, as many as 80 students at the Elsa Perea Flores School in northern Peru’s Tarapoto have been experiencing the supposedly contagious ‘condition’ since last month.
Children aged between 11 and 14 are reportedly fainting and having strong muscular convulsions. (Read more from “Nearly 100 Schoolchildren ‘Possessed by the Devil’ Have ‘Contagious Visions’ of Man in Black Trying to Kill Them” HERE)
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How Is Our Culture Contributing to the Rise in Satanic and Occult Activities?
By Susan E. Wills. Father Gary Thomas, exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose (CA) — whose 2005 training in the rite of exorcism in Rome led to Matt Baglio’s 2010 book, “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist” and the 2011 movie, “The Rite,” starring Anthony Hopkins — likes to quote Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: “As faith diminishes, superstition increases.”
So when we’re looking for cultural factors that have fostered increasing interest in, and practice of, Satanism and other occult activities, we have to begin with the decline in Christian belief in the West.
Fr. Jeffrey Grob, exorcist for the Archdiocese of Chicago, described this to me in a recent telephone interview as a “disenchantment with organized religion.” Americans are impatient people and “even Catholics,” he explained, “may go to healers or botanicas” or dabble in Santeria, “seeking alternatives to God for an instant fix.”
Msgr. Patrick Brankin, exorcist for the Diocese of Tulsa, agrees that the decline in Christian faith and concomitant rise in secularism is fostering demonic activity: “‘in the last few years, we’re seeing more demonic activity,’ he said, a trend he attributes to an increasingly secular society that has turned to Ouija boards, witchcraft, astrology, fortune telling and other occult practices that ‘open the door to the demonic.’”
All three exorcists believe that there has been a marked rise in the number of people who are dabbling in the occult — whether Satanism, paganism, idolatry or something else — compared to 25-30 years ago. (Read more from “How Is Our Culture Contributing to the Rise in Satanic and Occult Activities?” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/2990202662_2e0dd20558_b.jpg7671024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 02:08:132016-05-19 02:18:34Nearly 100 Schoolchildren ‘Possessed by the Devil’ Have ‘Contagious Visions’ of Man in Black Trying to Kill Them
As Christians believe man is made in God’s image, it follows that the human brain should contain at least a few revelations of divine personality and traits. One of these appears to be a deep appreciation of art.
Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine in 2011 announced that our brains are innately and almost universally wired to enjoy art. Hard data and research backs up their assertions.
Emory scientists observed that a part of the brain (ventral striatum) becomes extremely active while viewing visual art, but not with similar images of other types, including photographs. This brain region is integral to reward and decision-making and also is involved with cognition, motivation, risk and novelty. This is significant stuff, and a blow to those who feel art is only a cultural crutch for people with too much time on their hands.
Participants viewed sundry images from celebrated artists, including Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh and Klee, as well as unknown artists they had never seen before. Photographers matched these paintings with very similar scenes from real life-human, landscapes and abstracts. (I’d love to see the Picasso; it would have been a challenge to recreate). While viewing these, brain activities and blood flow were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To avoid study bias, researchers asked no opinions about the art from participants.
Results showed a stunning (biological) preference for art over other images of all types, across the board. Apparently we are wired in various, interrelated parts of our brains to react positively to art as a whole. Emory’s team found this was true even when viewers disliked the art itself. This buoyed their hypothesis that the “appeal of visual art involves activation of reward circuitry based on artistic status alone and independently of its hedonic value.” (Read more from “Science Proves God Is an Art Lover” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Creación_de_Adán_Miguel_Ángel.jpg7751707Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 02:00:332016-05-19 02:00:33Science Proves God Is an Art Lover
Donald Trump on Wednesday released a list of 11 judges he would consider nominating to the Supreme Court, a step intended to reassure Republicans of his conservative bona fides.
The list includes several judges often found on conservative wish lists, including Diane Sykes, William Pryor and Joan Larsen. Several of the judges were appointed by President George W. Bush, and many serve on state supreme courts.
In what some interpreted as a snub, the list does not include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Trump’s bitter foe during the presidential primary race, or Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who endorsed Cruz. Both lawmakers had been floated in Washington as potential nominees . . .
Appellate judges Sykes and Pryor, two names previously floated by Trump as model jurists, are both on the list. So is Utah Supreme Court Judge Thomas Lee, the brother of Sen. Mike Lee and the son of Rex Lee, a former U.S. solicitor general during the Reagan administration.
Other judges mentioned include Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, David Stras of Minnesota, Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. (Read more from “Donald Trump Releases List of Judges He Will Choose From to Put on Supreme Court” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/5440385457_52d372e1d0_b-1.jpg6831024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-05-19 01:46:182016-05-19 01:46:18Donald Trump Releases List of Judges He Will Choose From to Put on Supreme Court
