‘Great Recession’ Gives Way to ‘Grand Illusion’

 

Despite a $1 trillion expansion of America’s money supply and the “most stimulative fiscal policy” in history, the U.S. economy has actually continued to decline over the last three years, according to U.S. News & World Report chief Mortimer Zuckerman.

“The Great Recession is an apt name for America's current stagnation, but the present phase might also be called the Grand Illusion — because the happy talk and statistics that go with it, especially regarding jobs, give a rosier picture than the facts justify,” penned Zuckerman, in an article published Monday in The Wall Street Journal.

After 2.4 percent annual growth rates in gross domestic product both in 2010 and 2011, the economy slowed to 1.5 percent growth in 2012, said Zuckernman, who noted that the cumulative growth for the past 12 quarters was just 6.3 percent, which amounts to the slowest of all 11 recessions since World War II.

“The country isn't really advancing, By comparison with earlier recessions, it is going backward,” said Zuckerman.

More @ Newsmax

CBS Poll: Support for Tougher Gun Control Slips

 

Backing for new gun-control laws is slipping as more time elapses following the Newtown, Conn., shootings in December, according to a new CBS News poll.

The survey of 1,181 adults, conducted March 20-24, shows that 47 percent of Americans think gun laws should be more strict, 11 percent say they should be loosened, and 39 percent say they should be left as they are.

The 47 percent who favor tougher laws represents a 10-point drop from the 57 percent who said the same thing in the days just after the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School left 20 children and six educators dead.

 More @ Newsmax

Pro-immigration organizations spending $1.5 billion to push for amnesty and more legal immigration

Via Matthew

 

With Congress once again slouching toward immigration reform, it makes sense to look for who is lobbying lawmakers to shape the coming legislation.

As it turns out, while Americans remain divided on immigration, the lobbyists are not.

The Sunlight Foundation, a do-gooder government transparency and accountability outfit formed in 2006, on Monday released "Untangling the Webs of immigration Lobbying," a report examining the organizations that have led the charge for changing the rules on immigration to the United States.

Sunlight dug through 8,000 lobbying reports filed since the last big push for immigration reform in 2007. Six-thousand seven-hundred and twelve of those involved immigration lobbying. More than $1.5 billion was spent on this immense lobbying push.

The report lists which business sectors were the most active lobbyists. The chart here lists the sector, the total of immigration related bills lobbied upon, and the top two issues. Click here for more explanation of the chart from Sunlight.

More @ CNBC

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.): Probe ‘rat’s nest’ in DOJ civil rights shop

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Monday called for an outside independent panel to investigate the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Wolf, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, said a recent inspector general report raised numerous troubling instances of internal mismanagement that he said indicate the division “has become a rat’s nest of unacceptable and unprofessional actions.”

“One cannot read the report without concluding that the division has suffered systemic mismanagement,” said Wolf in his letter sent Monday. “It has become a rat’s nest of unacceptable and unprofessional actions, and even outright threats against career attorneys and systemic mismanagement.”

The DOJ’s inspector general found numerous examples of harassment in the department's voting rights division, but determined it did not prioritize cases in a partisan manner under President Obama or former President George W. Bush. 

The lengthy report found that the often divisive nature of the voting rights section’s work — including reviews of redistricting cases, voter ID laws and voter registration issues — resulted in instances of harassment within DOJ.

More @ The Hill

Rand Paul and Ted Cruz threaten filibuster on guns

 

Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office on Tuesday.

“We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,” the three conservatives wrote in a copy of the signed letter obtained by
POLITICO.

 More @ Politico

Gun Store Rescinds Giffords’ Husband, Mark Kelly’s Gun Purchase of Firearms

Via Viewpoints of a Sagittarian

Less than 24 hours ago, the gun store where astronaut, Mark Kelly,  husband to former Congressional Rep, Gabby Giffords, purchased two firearms on March 5^th canceled the purchase refunding Kelly his money via express mail.

 

Al Sharpton's MSNBC show sponsored by company who makes 'Big, Brutal' Rifles

Via Billy

Al Sharpton has been an out spoken critic of 2nd Amendment advocates on numerous occasions, so when he began his show knocking the NRA and Karl Rove no one was surprised. However, when they went to a break the ad that played might have caught some off guard. The ad was an advertisement for a gun company called "Henry Repeating Rifles", and their advertisement emphasizes "big, brutal,and beautiful" guns.

 

More @ Instant Analysis

Al Sharpton has been an out spoken critic of 2nd Amendment advocates on numerous occasions, so when he began his show knocking the NRA and Karl Rove no one was surprised.  However, when they went to a break the ad that played might have caught some off guard.  The ad was an advertisement for a gun company called "Henry Repeating Rifles", and their advertisement emphasizes "big, brutal,and beautiful" guns.
Take a look at this video provided by Media Research Center.
- See more at: http://instantanalysis.net/afa-blogs/2013/03/26/al-sharptons-msnbc-show-sponsored-by-by-company-who-makes-big,-brutal-rifles#sthash.spT7dU6R.dpuf

Al Sharpton has been an out spoken critic of 2nd Amendment advocates on numerous occasions, so when he began his show knocking the NRA and Karl Rove no one was surprised.  However, when they went to a break the ad that played might have caught some off guard.  The ad was an advertisement for a gun company called "Henry Repeating Rifles", and their advertisement emphasizes "big, brutal,and beautiful" guns.
Take a look at this video provided by Media Research Center.
- See more at: http://instantanalysis.net/afa-blogs/2013/03/26/al-sharptons-msnbc-show-sponsored-by-by-company-who-makes-big,-brutal-rifles#sthash.spT7dU6R.dpuf

Administration moves $500M in Palestinian aid, as agencies scramble to delay furloughs

Via Cousin Bill

 

As federal agencies scramble to avert or delay sequester-tied furloughs, the Obama administration continues to spend millions of dollars on foreign aid to the Palestinians – and seek millions more, despite past efforts by Congress to freeze the money.

The State Department confirmed this month the administration has moved forward with $500 million in aid, and is trying to secure another $200 million from Congress. Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says the aid is important, because an “economically viable Palestinian Authority” would help regional peace and security.

The administration confirmed the transfers as President Obama, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, toured the Middle East last week. Obama met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as top Israeli officials.

But lawmakers have heavily scrutinized a number of foreign aid transactions, given the fiscal crunch facing Washington. The capital was awash last week with memos and updates from federal agencies scrambling to manage sequester cuts and cushion their staff from the impact of furloughs.

More @ Fox

Tor and all electronic privacy tool warning

 

One of the reasons I started the Charles Carroll Society was to get the word out as I see it.  I have submitted this information to various websites but again the warning was not published.  Recently some additional information has come to my attention and I wanted to share it and warn you about trusting any online privacy products and especially Tor. Many liberty websites suggest using Tor. 

“Tor, in case you don’t keep up with internet security and obscurity, is a network of nodes that randomize your path through the internet, making it harder to track what sites and services you use. ” Tor is a method of hiding your IP address while browsing the Internet.  It is supposedly design to give you some privacy while communicating and reading on the Internet.

 I have some information for people who use the Tor Over-net system.  Tor was a DAPRA project.  DAPRA is one of the Department of Defense (DOD) research arms.  It is where they come up with great ideas to … make the DOD and intelligence communities better.  One of the primary agencies who worked with DAPRA to create Tor was the Office of Naval Research (ONR).  There is some suggestions that the entire Tor system is an  Intel honey-trap, even if it is not, it might be less secure than just browsing and here is why.

One of the most difficult things to do for the people who feel they have the right to listen to every conversation, is to figure out which conversation (on the Internet) to listen too.  There is so much traffic they don’t know which blogs to follow, and which information is “important.”  The large blogs, like Survivalblog.com are of course tracked, but the Charles Carroll Society?  Maybe not, why not?  Because they may not know about it (yet).  How can the Shadow community easily find the information they should focus on?  Well, let’s get users to self-identify information we want to track.

More @ Charles Carroll Society

A little girl's upgrade

Last Year, she Started out with a single shot Crickett , now she's Ready for a 10-22 Tactical .

 

In Today's Market, the Box in her left Hand Might be Worth Nearly as much as the Rifle.

More @ Oleg Volk