The Game is Rigged, Regardless of Who’s in Charge

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Photo Credit: TownHallThere’s too much money in politics, right? Lawrence Lessig has a new plan to solve an old problem. He wants to end money’s outsize influence on the political process, which subverts democracy and drowns out the masses to do the bidding of the well-to-do few. Most people are taking issue with his method of attack, which is (and I am not making this up) injecting more money from rich old white guys to drown out the money from the other old rich white guys.

But rather than take issue with his solution, let’s talk about what he gets right. A Princeton study has confirmed our suspicions that “rich people and organizations representing business interests have a powerful grip on U.S. government policy.”

Perhaps not shockingly, the wealthy hold different policy positions than the poor. But whereas rich people regularly find their policy preferences enacted into law, poor people do not. “Indeed, the opinions of lower-income groups, and the interest groups that represent them, appear to have little or no independent impact on policy.” Your vote matters. Unless you’re poor, in which case, not so much.

Enter campaign finance reform. The theory goes like this. First, rich people fund political campaigns. Generally the better funded campaign ends up winning. So money buys elections and rich people get what they want. We’re good on the first part. But the theory falls apart when it says that money always wins. It sounds right, but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

Read more from this story HERE.

For the First Time Ever, a Computer Passed Turing Test for Artificial Intelligence

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / GLEB GARANICH
Yesterday, at the University of Reading in London, a computer convinced human judges that it was actually a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy. By convincing one-third of the judging panel of its humanity, it became the computer ever to pass the famous Turing Test.

The Turing Test is a controversial test invented by Alan Turing in 1950. Turing believed that if thirty percent of humans could not distinguish a human from a machine in conversation, that would mean the machine is capable of “thinking.” Until yesterday, a machine was never capable of convincing enough humans to be deemed artificially intelligent, though others have tried.

At the University of Reading, the test was a five-minute keyboard conversation with someone or something on the other side. The questions are a free-for-all — no script is applied and there are no topics assigned in advance. It’s meant to simulate a conversation with a complete stranger. The judges then determine if they believe they have been speaking to a machine or a human. As long as one-third of judges believe its human, the machine passes the test.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul: Mr. President, Instead of 5 Taliban, Let’s Trade 5 Democrats (+video)

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“Mr. President, let’s set up a new trade. Instead of 5 Taliban, let’s trade 5 Democrats!” #RPTCon14 — Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 6, 2014

Obama Submits To Taliban, Allows Praise For Allah, Releases ‘High Risk’ Terror Suspects

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Photo Credit: AFP / Getty Images / Jim WatsonBy Neil Munro.

President Barack Obama apparently traded five jailed jihadis held in Guantanamo for one American soldier, despite federal law, which requires Congress to be notified before prisoners are transferred.

Obama used a Rose Garden press event to tout the surprise trade — which he won by making critical, last-minute concessions — while the parents of the freed soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, stood alongside.

At the end of brief event, the soldier’s father, Bob Bergdahl, recited the most frequent phrase in the Koran — “Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim” —which means “In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Compassionate.”

After Bergdahl finished his statement and his praise for Allah, Obama hugged him.

The Taliban echoed Bergdahl, saying the trade happened “due to the benevolence of Allah Almighty and the sacrifices of the heroic and courageous Mujahidin of the Islamic Emirate.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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CNN’s Candy Crowley Grills Susan Rice: ‘Point Blank, Did The US Negotiate With Terrorists?’

By Brendan Bordelon.

CNN host Candy Crowley pressed White House national security adviser Susan Rice on the Taliban prisoner swap conducted Saturday, asking “point blank, did the US negotiate with terrorists” in violation of its long-held policy?

Crowley spoke with Rice on Sunday about the exchange of five high-ranking Taliban detainees — two of which are accused of the mass murder of religious minorities in Afghanistan — for Army Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl, whom many claim was captured after deserting his post and walking into the Afghan wilderness in 2009.

Berghdahl was captured by the Haqqani network, a close ally of the Taliban and an acknowledged terrorist organization according to the State Department.

Read more from this story HERE.

Son of Kermit Gosnell Shot Multiple Times After Robbing a Home

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Photo Credit: LifeNews You know the name Kermit Gosnell as the gruesome late-term abortion practitioner convicted on multiple counts of murder. But you probably don’t know 22-year-old Barron Alexander.

Alexander is Gosnell’s son, who legally changed his name two years ago because he was having trouble getting a job due to the fact that his last name was Gosnell in a city where the abortionists name was shameful.

Now the young man is in trouble with the law himself and has been shot multiple times following an attempted robbery at a Philadelphia-area home. This is the sad legacy of a young man whose father killed people in the abortion industry for decades and whose mother is also behind bars for her role.

Read more from this story HERE.

Why Exactly Was Lt. Colonel AWOL at Last Week’s Debate?

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Photo Credit: Facebook Political Page There are strange things done in the midnight sun indeed. Rumors have surfaced that Dan Sullivan’s campaign was contacted repeatedly about participating in the United for Liberty-Alaska/Conservative Patriots Group Senate debate last week. Yet, he was a no-show.

On last Friday’s version of the Glen Biegel show he was absolved after claiming he “had a conflict . . . something my campaign had been working on for quite some time.”

Interesting, especially when one considers the fact that said event was created on Facebook about three hours before it was to occur, and four and a half hours before the UFL/CPG debate was to begin. Just seven people responded that they would be there.

So, his campaign had been working on the event “for quite some time,” and didn’t get around to advertising the event until less than four hours before show time?

Maybe the would-be senator from Alaska needs a new staff. Come out of the shadows, and talk about the important issues facing our state and nation. This self-proclaimed “fighter” ran from our state’s first real debate between the candidates. If he can’t squarely face the electorate now, why should they have any confidence he will stand up to the Party bosses and political insideres in Washington, DC?

We don’t need any more of those kind of “fighters” in the United States Senate. Can you say “Surrender Caucus?”

POW Bergdahl: ‘I Am Ashamed To Be An American’…

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Photo Credit: EPA; AP; ReutersThe bizarre tale of America’s last known POW

By Michael Gartland.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last known American POW, was freed after five years in captivity — an ordeal that began and ended in Afghanistan under a shroud of mystery.

The Taliban turned over Bergdahl Saturday morning to US special forces in exchange for five notorious Islamic militants who had been held at Guantanamo Bay and will be sent to Qatar, where they will stay for a year under the terms of the trade.

At least one of the prisoners, ranking Taliban leader Khairullah Khairkhwa, had direct ties to Osama bin Laden.

Bergdahl was picked up by helicopter in western Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.

After climbing aboard, the 28-year-old Idahoan, trying to communicate with his rescuers over the roar of the rotors, scrawled “SF?” on a paper plate — asking his rescuers whether they were special forces.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Amidst celebrations for Bergdahl’s release, some unsettling questions

By Allen West.

Everyone is celebrating the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, and we’re glad he’ll be home with his family in Idaho soon.

However, there are questions that must be answered – like, why did the young Soldier walk off his Forward Operating Base (FOB) back in 2009? It’s not the modus operandi for Islamic terrorists to detain American troops when captured, as we reported previously. Our troops are brutally, ritually, and savagely murdered — to include American security contractors (remember the Fallujah bridge) — not held for five years.

And to have this “deal” brokered in Qatar (supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood) calls for even more questions.

What we do know are the identities of the five Afghan Taliban who were released.

According to a report in the Weekly Standard, they are five of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in U.S. custody. The Taliban has long demanded that the “Gitmo 5” be released in order for peace talks to begin in earnest. The Obama administration has desperately sought to engage the Taliban as American forces are drawn down in Afghanistan, but those talks have gone nowhere to this point.

Read more from this story HERE.

Harry Reid Threatens Private Property in America

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Photo Credit: TownHall The Commerce Department reports that first quarter GDP contracted by one percent. The Wall Street Journal notes that a contraction of GDP during a time not in recession is rare.

So we continue in the slowest economic recovery since the end of World War II, with unemployment, in the 6th year of the Obama regime, at 6.3 percent, still well above its historic average.

According to a recent Gallup poll, the economy is the number issue on the minds of Americans. Ninety one percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats say it is the most important issue facing the nation.

So how is Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 49 of his Democrat colleagues spending their time?

Writing to National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell asking that the NFL pressure Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the name of his team.

Read more from this story HERE.

1K Immigrant Children to Be Sent to Arizona Over Weekend

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Photo Credit: AP / Rick ScuteriHundreds of unaccompanied minors who entered the United States illegally through Texas are being shipped to Nogales, Ariz., creating a problem there so serious the federal government is sending relief supplies and asking the state for vaccines, an aide to Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday.

Andrew Wilder, the governor’s communications chief, said federal officials told Brewer’s office they were moving 432 children into Arizona late Friday, with another 367 expected today and an identical number the following day. And that said Wilder, is apparently just the beginning.

“More unaccompanied minors will continue to Arizona,” he said.

Wilder said they are being taken to a detention center in on West La Quinta Road in Nogales for at least preliminary processing. He said state officials were told they would stay there for about three days before being shipped out to detention facilities in San Antonio, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, or Ventura, California.

That center in Nogales was recently opened to handle the large influx after being closed for several years. It has no indoor plumbing.

Read more from this story HERE.

Vermont Firearms Dealer To Lay Off 41 Because of Obama Executive Action

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Photo Credit: APBy Chuck Ross.

A Vermont firearms dealer says the Obama administration is responsible for him having to lay off 41 of its workers in a “last minute” move that has even angered some of the state’s liberal politicians.

Century International Arms had a $30 million contract in place to import World War II era M1 Garand Rifles from the South Korean government. The U.S. State Department had given preliminary approval to the deal, and the State, Justice and Defense departments had cleared the transaction.

But an executive action announced last year by President Obama ultimately blocked the plan, according to the gun seller, despite pleas from Sen. Patrick Leahy and Gov. Peter Shumlin, both Democrats.

“All the normal approvals were in place to obtain the import permits for this sale from ATF,” the company wrote in a statement on Thursday.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: IJ Review Finally, A Mandate Liberals Will Oppose: Colorado Town Requires Citizens to Own Guns

By Kevin Boyd.

The town of Nucla, Colorado (population 750 or so) has become the first town in the state of Colorado to mandate that all of its residents own guns. The town board passed the ordinance with only one vote opposed.

The Denver Post has the story:

The Venus Stylin’ beauty salon is one of the few businesses in this town where the heads of hunted animals don’t stare glassy-eyed from the walls. But that doesn’t mean that this is a zone free of the gun-rights fervor that grips Nucla.

“We should all have guns, lots of them,” opined stylist Traciena Johannsen as she painted highlights on the hair of a client who spoke up from beneath the tent of foil on her head to say she has two guns. In fact, she shot a wild turkey with one of them last week.

Read more from this story HERE.