DEAR DEMOCRATS: America Ain’t Denmark

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At a recent Democrat presidential debate, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said we “should look to countries like Denmark…and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people.” The good senator should either rephrase his statement, or look more closely at the data. Democratic-socialism may work in some places in Europe, but was never intended, nor can it work, in the United States of America.

Another of Sanders’ erroneous statements regarding Denmark was when he claimed that Denmark’s economic model “provides extraordinary security and opportunity.” It does provide security, but little opportunity, economic or otherwise.

Democratic socialism is a political ideology which juxtaposes a democratic political system, (popular elections), with a socialist economic system. As such, it involves a combination of political democracy (usually multi-party democracy) with “social ownership of the means of production.” Consequently, it can be somewhat characterized as a less tyrannical and totalitarian form of socialism, since the masses are voting for the cadre that will separate them from the fruits of their labors. And while it may not abolish private property ownership, as its more draconian sibling, communism does, it taxes income, and inflates prices sufficiently, that private property ownership is severely regulated.

The sheer economies of scale make a comparison between the Scandinavian country and the U.S. impracticable. Denmark, with a landmass of 16,562 square miles, is roughly the size of Maryland, and with a population of 5.6 million, has about 1.5% of the U.S. population. Compound that with America’s propensity toward a kakistocracy, as evidenced by the last two presidential election cycles, and democratic-socialism would likely destroy the economy, and the republic.

Danish author, Mikkel Clair Nissen, has published his own response to Americans who think Denmark’s democratic-socialism is so appealing. “I am a school teacher from Denmark making about $61,000 a year. We get free education. You don’t have to pay for the doctor, the hospital, and students even get paid to study. It all sounds so great…right? However, I forgot to mention that nothing is ever free. The lowest personal income tax in Denmark is minimum 40 percent. Also, we pay a sales tax of 25 percent, and on top of sales tax the government applies further (generally hidden) duties and fees, applied to almost everything, making it really hard for lower class people to get by, causing them to be deeply dependent on government handouts,” she says.

When Senator Sanders refers to “working people,” he likely is referring to the middle class, since that’s the most productive and economically viable demographic. Just as most of the fiscal initiatives of the past seven years have most adversely affected the American middle class, European democratic-socialism virtually plunders theirs. The middle-class in Denmark is taxed at a 60% rate, and that’s just the income tax rate. Yet to pay that rate, all one has to make is $55,000 per year. That means those who, by American standards, are earning a respectable middle-class income of $55k per year, only keep $22,000 of their earnings. That’s a relatively paltry $1,833 per month.

Nissen continues, “A gallon of gas is about 10 dollars. Tax on a car is 180 percent, which brings a car valued a bit over $20,000 dollars in the United States (e.g. Honda Accord) up to an astounding $50,000 dollars in Denmark.” No wonder 65% of the travel in the country is by mass transit and bicycle. And not surprisingly, cost of energy is extremely expensive, as most electricity is produced by “green” sources. The cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity is $.42, compared with an average of $.12 in the United States.

Nissen further explains, because of “excessive taxation, Danes also have the highest private debt in the world. Only few will ever own a car or a house here; banks generally do – hypocritically, the very same banks that the collectivists despise. Anyone who makes over $80,000 annually pays a personal tax of 68 percent. This means that almost all people with higher earnings have either found ways to evade taxes, or have left the country, often bringing their companies with them, making employment scarcely low.”

According to Eurostat, the European Union’s official data reporting service, real unemployment is double what the official figures indicate. By their calculations, Denmark’s real unemployment rate is 14%.

And Nissen provides more insights. “Denmark’s suicide rate has averaged 20.8 per 100,000 during the last five decades, with its highest level of 32. The American suicide rate averaged only 11.1 during the last five decades, and has never exceeded 12.7. Danes are deeply deprived, driven by severe narcissism, and so more than 11 percent of adult Danes – the supposed happiest people in the world – are on antidepressants. Well, of course, Danes are happy; they are medicated to be!”

If Danes are so happy to be economically socialized, why do they take their own lives at three times the American rate, and their anti-depressant dependency exceed America’s by 40%? Could it be that the cost of freedom is much greater than we assume?

Nissen concludes his missive, “Everyone wants the American dream. In Denmark’s neo-communism, no one will ever own or accomplish anything.”

America was founded on classical-liberal ideals of maximum freedom to facilitate virtually unlimited potential. Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety.” And that’s precisely what socialism, in all its iterations, does. It sacrifices individual freedom at the altar of security and egalitarianism

One of the most critical concepts of liberty upon which America was founded, is economic freedom. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton championed economic freedom as the foundation for all other liberties. True liberty mandates that private property, and the ability to reap and freely expend the fruits of our labors, is sacrosanct. Nobel economic laureate Milton Friedman declared that property rights are “the most basic of human rights and an essential foundation for other human rights.” Without economic freedom, all else is severely vitiated.

There might be some things America can learn from the Danish economic model, but only if we deny what America was founded and intended to be — the land of the free, dedicated to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (For more from the author of “DEAR DEMOCRATS: America Ain’t Denmark” please click HERE)

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Woman Shopper Surprised to Learn Large Department Store Joins Target in Transgender Bathroom Policy

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A Texas woman was surprised and disappointed to learn another major retail chain has apparently joined Target in allowing transgender men in its female dressing room area.

“I was in the dressing room, when we heard a man’s voice,” said Lisa Stickles, who says she quickly told a manager of the Ross department store in Mesquite, Texas, near Dallas.

“She went inside the dressing room, came right back out and called me to the side and told me … he was representing himself as a woman today,” Sickles told CBS DFW.

“He was in no way dressed as a woman,” Sickles said. “He had on jeans, a t-shirt, 5 o’clock shadow, very deep voice. He was a man.”

The manager told the woman that if she felt uncomfortable in the dressing room with the man there, she could wait until he was finished.

“What about me? Or my feelings?” Sickles told CBS DFW.

The CEO of Target, offered the essentially the same answer when asked about the retailer’s new transgender bathroom and dressing room policy. Brian Cornell stated if customers were uncomfortable using the restrooms knowing people of the opposite biological gender may be in them, they could use the “family restroom,” which is currently available in most of their stores and will soon be in all, he announced.

Presumably, regarding the dressing rooms, Target would offer the same answer as the Ross customer received: if you have an problem with a person of the opposite sex being next to you, wait.

Over 1.2 million people have signed a petition pledging not to boycott Target until its transgender bathroom and dressing room policy is changed. On Wednesday, the company reported missing its sales projections for the year through April, causing the stock to plummet.

As of trading on Wednesday, the stock had dropped 20 percent since the announcement of its new bathroom policy on April, 19. (For more from the author of “Woman Shopper Surprised to Learn Large Department Store Joins Target in Transgender Bathroom Policy” please click HERE)

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3 Things Texas Is Doing to ‘Defy’ Obama’s Transgender Directive

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The Obama administration’s directive that public schools give transgender students access to the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice will not stand in Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.

“We are going to look at every pathway to resist the federal government,” Patrick, a Republican, said in a Wednesday interview with The Daily Signal. “At the end of the day, I believe, first we can get the administration to back off.”

Shortly after a school superintendent in Forth Worth, Texas, unilaterally imposed rules involving transgender students in his district, the U.S. Justice and Education departments rolled out a similar directive for schools around the country.

Patrick said his state will not be “blackmailed” by President Barack Obama, and the directive is “a poke in the eye at the values of the American family.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bans discrimination based on sex in any education program receiving federal taxpayer dollars.The Obama administration’s directive treats a student’s gender identity as equivalent to his biological sex.

“The president says in his policy it’s a guideline; but if you don’t follow that guideline, we could sue you or withhold federal funds,” Patrick said. He added:

In the Texas budget, we’re the 12th largest economy in the world. Our two-year budget was $209 billion. Of that, about $10 billion over two years comes from the federal government for education. Of that budget, nearly half of it is from the nutrition program that provides free lunch and free breakfast. Over 50 percent of the students in Texas, like most states, are considered economically disadvantaged and qualify for free lunch and free breakfast.

If the president would follow through on his threat to punish a school district by taking away their funds, he would be taking food off the plate, literally, of the poorest of the poor. So does the president really want to withhold funds and take away the free lunch and free breakfast program? I don’t think so.

“If they do follow through and if they do withhold funding,” Patrick said, “we will figure out a way to take care of the kids in Texas. This is not going to stand. We are not going to yield to this initiative. Period.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a press briefing last week that the guidelines on transgender students are “specific, tangible, real-world advice and suggestions to school administrators across the country about exactly [how] they can do that.” Earnest added:

The guidance does not add additional requirements to the applicable law. The guidance does not require any student to use shared facilities when schools make alternate arrangements. But what the framework does provide is advice for how school administrators can protect the dignity and safety of every student under their charge.

“The people of Texas and the legislature will work together to fill the gap and make sure students aren’t punished by losing their lunch and their breakfast,” Patrick said.

Patrick said Texas will stand up to the transgender student guidelines in three ways:

By preparing to take legal action. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sent a letter to the Justice and Education departments about the guidelines.

“Once again, the Obama administration has overstepped its constitutional bounds to meddle in the affairs of state and local government,” Paxton said in a statement last Friday. “Today’s announcement seeking to unilaterally redefine and expand federal law must be challenged. If President Obama thinks he can bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms, he better prepare for yet another legal fight.”

After joining Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in sending the letter to the Obama administration, Paxton said in a statement this week:

The so-called ‘significant guidance’ issued by the Obama administration raises more questions than it answers, just as it creates concerns among anyone who believes sex is a biological fact and not a personal preference. As billions of dollars appear to be at stake based upon schools’ compliance with this guidance, the Obama administration must be extremely clear about what is and isn’t allowed, and explain how their actions do not add requirements to the law, as their letter claims.

By passing legislation that keeps men out of women’s restrooms. In November, Houston residents voted down a measure, the so-called “bathroom ordinance,” that would have created legal protections for sexual orientation and gender identity and opened up sex-specific restrooms and locker rooms to individuals of another biological gender.

Critics of the Houston bill said the ordinance would have threatened the religious freedom of those who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Patrick said they will have to look as what to do next in school districts.

“I’ve asked the school districts already to stand down, superintendents not to react, not to initiate policy. There are only a couple of weeks left in school,” Patrick said. “Let’s work through this in the summer. I’m going to continue to encourage school districts to defy the president. This is not law.”

By working with other Republican lieutenant governors. The goal: to urge more resistance to Obama’s directive.

“As we build toward the legislature next session, we’ll be working with both common-sense principles with the superintendent, working from the legal side with the attorney general, and then looking at what legislation we would pass,” Patrick said, adding:

My position is clear. We don’t want their dirty money. They don’t buy our kids at any price in Texas. We will work through this. We’ll just say no to the money at the end of the day.

“I’m going to urge that there is a total resistance state by state,” Patrick said.

“There’s another part of the story that I’ve started hearing from women,” the lieutenant governor said.

He said Obama and the Fort Worth superintendent would create “a new victim” — any girl or woman who has been abused, “who have had to go through their life overcoming this issue.”

For such a girl or woman “to walk into a bathroom and have to be confronted by a man standing there,” he said, “would be something that many of us just could not handle.”

“No one talks about this,” Patrick said. “Obviously, I’m not a woman, so I have not walked in those shoes, but I can only imagine the trauma that would recreate for them.” He added:

The transgender [access] issue opens the ladies’ bathroom door to every sex offender, Peeping Tom, flasher, pervert, any man who wants to say he’s a girl or a woman in the bathroom. Because there’s nothing you could do to stop them, except after the fact.

(For more from the author of “3 Things Texas Is Doing to ‘Defy’ Obama’s Transgender Directive” please click HERE)

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Trump Drops ‘Rape’ Bombshell on Bill Clinton

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Donald Trump may have out-Trumped his own reputation for politically incorrect, tough talk when he called out former President Bill Clinton Wednesday night during an hour-long interview with Sean Hannity. . .

The Hannity interview came on the heels of a weekend New York Times story on Trump’s treatment of women titled “Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private.”

According to the Times, “more than 50 interviews were conducted over the course of six weeks, … [with] dozens of women who had worked with or for Mr. Trump over the past four decades, in the worlds of real estate, modeling and pageants; women who had dated him or interacted with him socially; and women and men who had closely observed his conduct since his adolescence.”

[Hannity then asked Trump,] “I looked at the New York Times. Are they going to interview Juanita Broaddrick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?”

[Hannity continued,] “In one case, it’s about exposure. In another case, it’s about groping and fondling and touching against a woman’s will.” [Trump then interrupted,] “And rape.” (Read more from “Trump Drops ‘Rape’ Bombshell on Bill Clinton” HERE)

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Stunner! Obama Names Transgender to Faith Post

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President Obama has appointed a transgender man to a prominent faith advisory position, sparking a flood of outrage from conservatives.

His recent announcement named Barbara Satin to be a member of the president’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a choice commentator Tim Brown at Freedom Outpost scorched as a “mentally sick transgender man” . . .

Obama had described Satin, along with others on a list of appointees, as “fine public servants [who] bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them.”

Obama’s statement said Satin was the assistant faith work director for the National LGBTQ Task Force.

“She is an active member of the United Church of Christ and served on the denomination’s executive council as its first openly transgender member. Ms. Satin recently worked on the development of Spirit on Lake, a LGBTQ senior housing project in Minneapolis. She served on the board of directors for OutFront Minnesota from 2001 to 2008 and has served as chair of GLBT Generations since 1999. She has also served on the board of directors of PFund Foundation, a regional LGBTQ community foundation advancing social justice in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, since 2013,” Obama’s statement said. (Read more from “Stunner! Obama Names Transgender to Faith Post” HERE)

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Franklin Graham on What Christians Must Do Before They Vote

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Evangelist Franklin Graham is urging Christians to vote this election year, even if “it’s for the lesser of two evils.”

Graham spoke to a crowd on the steps of the capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was the 24th stop, nearly the halfway mark of his 50-capitol Decision America Tour.

“I have no hope for the Democrat Party…I have no hope for the Republican Party,” Graham told the more than 3,000 people at the event, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. “The only hope for our nation today is Almighty God. The most important thing we can do as Christians is pray. It is our only hope.”

Graham says believers should vote for candidates who at least consider their concerns. He says bringing God back into politics is an absolute necessity.

Between 1,000 and 8,000 people have met Graham at each stop on the tour, whose purpose is to encourage Christians to pray and stand up for their faith. (Read more from “Franklin Graham on What Christians Must Do Before They Vote” HERE)

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Stacey Dash Shares Picture of Herself and Trump That Is Generating Buzz

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Actress and Fox News contributor Stacey Dash posted a picture of herself with Donald Trump on Friday, and it is generating a lot of interest online.

The picture–posted to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram–appears to have been taken at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention, which is taking place in Louisville, Ky., Friday through Sunday.

In the post, Dash announces her endorsement of Trump, as did the NRA on Friday.

Dash has had complimentary things to say about Trump during various appearances as a co-host on Fox News’ Outnumbered during the campaign season.

She also defended him in a blog post in March after violent protesters caused the candidate to cancel a Chicago campaign rally. “There’s a lot of talk about Donald Trump being violent, condoning it, or at least inciting it,” Dash wrote. But, she said, “he’s not violent, he’s just ‘street.’”

“But there is something about growing up in New York, a certain toughness instilled, a certain level of ‘street’ that can’t be ignored,” she added. “That’s why Americans LOVE him. They are tired of being pushed around. They want someone who will not put up with non-sense.”

Dash has a book coming out June 6 chronicling her political journey, entitled, There Goes My Social Life: From Clueless to Conservative. (Her breakthrough film role was in the 1995 comedy “Clueless.”)

She told Western Journalism that she hopes her book will be a vehicle to help people discover that they are conservatives too. She believes there are many currently disenfranchised people who, when presented with the facts, will have that epiphany.

“They are for the Second Amendment, they just don’t know it. They are constitutionalists, they just don’t know it. They are capitalists, they just don’t know it. Those are all conservative principles, they just don’t know it,” Dash said. (For more from the author of “Stacey Dash Shares Picture of Herself and Trump That Is Generating Buzz” please click HERE)

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UPDATE: College Boots Ex-Delta Force Hero After Complaint From LGBT Activists

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Gen. Boykin will not be returning to the classroom this fall. That’s because he tells me he’s been fired.

The man who was one of the original members of Delta Force and once commanded all of the U.S. Army’s Green Berets – the man who served his nation with honor and distinction for more than 36 years – was ousted because of political correctness.

In March, Gen. Boykin delivered a speech to conservatives and he referenced the national uproar over transgendered people using the ladies room.

He cracked a joke: “The first man who goes into the restroom with my daughter will not have to worry about surgery” . . .

Boykin, who also serves as an executive vice president of the Family Research Council, tells me as many as 150 activists signed a letter written to the college [Hampden-Sydney College] demanding that he be fired. (Read more from “College Boots Ex-Delta Force Hero After Complaint From LGBT Activists” HERE)

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UPDATE: College Reverses Decision

[T]he college [has] reversed its decision and offered the retired general a one-year contract.

“Hampden-Sydney College is a fine school with a proud history of young men who have led our country, and I am honored to be a part of shaping the next generation of leaders,” Boykin told me. “I would like to thank the leadership of Hampden-Sydney College for the courage they have demonstrated in reversing their decision and allowing me to remain a part of the Hampden-Sydney community.”

The LGBT activists had wanted Hampden-Sydney to fire Boykin over a joke he made to a gathering of conservatives. They accused him of advocating for violence against gays and transgender people. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Black Lives Matter Leader Charged With Pimping a 17-Year-Old Girl

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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)

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Science Proves God Is an Art Lover

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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)

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