It's Time to Scrap Property Taxes

American Thinker   . . . "Property taxes, conversely, are applied simply because a person owns something. Under virtually all modern property tax schemes, it doesn’t matter how long you own property, how much you paid when you purchased the property, or the fact that you already paid taxes (in the form of sales taxes and other levies) when you first acquired the property. The government taxes you simply because you have something that is perceived to be valuable.
. . .
"What claim over property, however, does an individual truly have if he or she must pay the government for the right to keep the property? Although no private property belongs to the government, the government does, through property taxes, have such substantial power over property to effectively render ownership rights as nothing more than a mere privilege.

"Not only do property taxes fundamentally limit owners’ rights, they are often unfairly applied and unjust, because many property owners will end up paying as much or more in taxes than they do for the property itself." . . . 
Read more

Is James O'Keefe About To Smoke CNN? Tells Hannity He's Set To Release "Hundreds of Hours" Of Newsroom Footage "Wikileaks Style"

ZeroPointNow   "James O'Keefe of Project Veritas is set to unleash holy hell Thursday on #FakeNews network CNN. Well, he didn't exactly say it was CNN, but it was heavily implied. "Apparently the network has a mole...

"O'Keefe is known for undercover sting operations which have led to such bombshells as the DNC's paid agitator network [4], the outing of "DisruptJ20" / Antifa organizers which took place at comet ping pong - and netted three arrests (including a suspected pedophile [5]), and most recently New Hampshire election fraud [6].
"Today O'Keefe was interviewed on Sean Hannity's radio show where he revealed that a major network has been "stung"

O'Keefe: In the next 48 hours, Project Veritas, like Wikileaks, will be releasing hundreds of hours of tape from within the establishment media. Our next target is in fact, the media.

Hannity: How long have you been working on this?

O'Keefe: We've had people on the inside come to us. Just like Julian Assange has people come to him, we've had people, sources come to us and give us information, and we're going to be releasing it "Wikileaks Style" this week.

. . .
"In other words, a closeted Trump supporter working deep inside hyper-liberal CNN just gave O'Keefe a ton of behind the scenes footage of "The Most Trusted Name In News." My guess is we're about to hear a bunch of establishment media puppets revealing their extreme hatred for the sitting President of the United States.
"Remember that time CNN employees were laughing about Trump's plane crashing? If O'Keefe's release is anything along these lines, popcorn sales are about to go through the roof...:

Leaky John Brennan; will the former CIA director be hoist by his own petard?

The American Spectator

Will the former CIA director be hoist by his own petard?

"Out of hatred for McGovernite liberals, a Republican president in the 1970s broke the law. Now those aging radicals break the law out of hatred for a Republican president.

"Nested within intelligence agencies, they have fed a series of criminal leaks to a press corps that functions like an anti-Trump dirty tricks operation.

"Donald Trump has publicly speculated that former CIA director John Brennan is one of the criminal leakers. In January, he tweeted out, “Was this the leaker of Fake News?” Trump has now charged the Justice Department with investigating “low-life leakers” in the government.

"Former CIA analyst Tony Shaffer also suspects Brennan as one of the leakers. He said on Fox Business Network that the leaks which forced Michael Flynn out can be laid “squarely at the feet of” Brennan, among other embittered Obama aides." . . .

Progressive movement is about power and authoritarianism

Weasel Zippers

Great Falls Tribune  "The left-wing progressives have had a tough time with President Trump’s election. In addition to the generalized weeping and gnashing of teeth, secessionist movements have begun in California, Oregon and Washington (Although strangely, they are not ridiculed by the mainstream press like Texas was after President Obama won…?). Mayors of so-called “Sanctuary Cities” are panicking at the thought that the federal government might withhold funds for their refusal to follow federal laws, and just the other day the media blamed the Trump administration for unlawfully detaining a Muslim Olympian, even though the detention occurred in December 2016, under the Obama Administration.

"Students and others at Berkeley rioted and attacked property at the mere thought that someone who disagrees with them might be allowed to speak in public." . . .

Former Gitmo Detainee Fighting For ISIS Blows Himself Up In Mosul –

Weasel Zippers

(BBC) – A British IS fighter who died in a suicide bomb attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, the BBC understands.
"The self-styled Islamic State group said two days ago that Abu-Zakariya al-Britani detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base in Tal Gaysum, south-west of Mosul.
"He is believed to have been originally known as Ronald Fiddler.
"Fiddler, 50 and from Manchester, was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2002.
"IS has now published a photograph of Fiddler, who was also known as Jamul-Uddin al-Harith before taking the nom-du-guerre Abu-Zakariya al-Britani.
"He had been seized by US forces in Pakistan in 2001, before being sent to Guantanamo.
"US interrogators found he provided useful information to them about the Taliban’s methods, and he was released after two years.
"The Daily Mail reported Fiddler received a million pounds in compensation from the government when he came back to the UK." . . .

More here.

Trump's New Executive Order on Immigration: What You Need to Know

Katie Pavlich

"President Donald Trump and his team at the White House are working on a new and improved executive order barring refugees from terror hot spots around the world and bolstering enforcement of current immigration laws. 

"As explained by Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, a rewriting of the order is a more effective and less time consuming way for the President to reach his goal of keeping the country safe. It also nullifies a ruling handed down by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the order. 

"What the new order will do: "

-Temporarily ban refugees from the same previously selected countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya. The selection of these countries comes from an Obama administration recommendation.
-Allow green card holders from the seven selected countries to travel in and out of the United States
-Those in transit on visas at the time when the new order is signed will not be detained at the airport and sent home
-Refugees citing religious persecution, such as Christians under genocide in the countries listed, will not receive special consideration

How is it different than his first executive order?

-The first executive order issued in January did not exempt green card holders from being barred entry in to the U.S.
-The first executive order allowed refugees being persecuted on the basis of religious to receive special consideration for entry 

"The new executive order is expected by the end of the week. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday the administration is confident the new executive order will pass legal muster."

Students, staff celebrate after school drops Michelle O lunch rules

Education Action Group Foundation  "HARRISON CITY, Pa. – Lunch is a drastically different experience now that Penn-Trafford High School is no longer bound by federal food regulations.

"District officials removed the high school from the National School Lunch Program after years of struggling to comply with federal regulations that drove down student lunch participation and cafeteria revenues, the Tribune-Review reports.
The freedom from the strict restrictions on calories, fat, sugar, salt and other elements, came at the expense of federal funding to help cover free- and reduced-priced lunches for some students, but district business manager Brett Lago said the decision is already paying off in year one.

“ 'We’ve lost, to date, about $40,000 worth of reimbursement, but our sales are up about $50,000 over last year,” he said. “Participation has gone from about 25 percent to 45 percent, and we’re still providing free lunches to all those students who would have been eligible under the school lunch program.' ” . . .

Iran Tells U.S. Chess Champion To Wear A Hijab – Here’s How She Responds

Weasel Zippers

Carlos Garcia; The Blaze  "Nazi Paikidze is the reigning U.S. chess champion, but when the Iranian government told her she had to wear a hijab, the Muslim head veil, and restrict contact with men in order to compete in the world competition hosted by Iran this year, she refused. The “morality laws” were supported by FIDE, the international organization that coordinates the world chess championship event.

“ 'By participating, I would be forced to submit to forms of oppression designed specifically for women,” Paikidze told Marie Clare magazine. “It sets the wrong example, particularly for young girls interested in chess.”

"Paikidze further explained her decision in a post on Instagram in September.

This is a post for those who don’t understand why I am boycotting FIDE’s decision. I think it’s unacceptable to host a WOMEN’S World Championship in a place where women do not have basic fundamental rights and are treated as second-class citizens. For those saying that I don’t know anything about Iran: I have received the most support and gratitude from the people of Iran, who are facing this situation every day.

. . .


Via Weasel Zippers.  As is this photo:

Seven Days in February; Trumps’ critics, left and right, aim to bring about the cataclysm they predicted.

Clearly in empirical terms, nothing that Trump in his first month in office has done seems to have justified calls for violence against his person or his removal from office. What then accounts for the unprecedented venom?

Victor Davis Hanson  "A 1964 political melodrama, Seven Days in May, envisioned a futuristic (1970s) failed military cabal that sought to sideline the president of the United States over his proposed nuclear-disarmament treaty with the Soviets.

"Something far less dramatic but perhaps as disturbing as Hollywood fiction played out this February.

"The Teeth-Gnashing of Deep Government
"Currently, the political and media opponents of Donald Trump are seeking to subvert his presidency in a manner unprecedented in the recent history of American politics. The so-called resistance among EPA federal employees is trying to disrupt Trump administration reform; immigration activists promise to flood the judiciary to render executive orders inoperative.

"Intelligence agencies had earlier leaked fake news briefings about the purported escapades of President-elect Trump in Moscow — stories that were quickly exposed as politically driven concoctions. Nearly one-third of House Democrats boycotted the Inauguration. Celebrities such as Ashley Judd and Madonna shouted obscenities to crowds of protesters; Madonna voiced her dreams of Trump’s death by saying she’d been thinking a lot about blowing up the White House.  

"But all that pushback was merely the clownish preliminary to the full-fledged assault in mid February." . . .

What has become of lovely Sweden?

Stockholm riots leave Sweden's dreams of perfect society up in smoke
"A week of disturbances in Sweden's capital has tested the Scandinavian nation's reputation for tolerance, reports Colin Freeman."

Then this:

"Police were investigating three cases of violent rioting, assaulting a police officer, two assaults, vandalism and aggravated thefts, he said."

It looks like China has finally gotten sick of North Korea… for now

Hot Air  "After the assassination of Kim Jong-nam by the “LOL girl” and her partner, Ed Morrissey asked whether or not such a blatant and provocative move might finally wake up China. It didn’t take terribly long for us to find out the answer. Traditionally, the Chinese have paid little more than lip service to sanctions and other disciplinary measures taken by the international community against the reclusive dictatorship in North Korea. But this episode of murder in broad daylight playing out for all to see in the international media seems to have been a bridge too far at long last for China. In a rare and potentially crippling move, effective today the Chinese are suspending all imports of coal from Kim Jong-un ‘s empire. (Washington Post)"

The ban on imported coal is supposed to run through the end of this year. Assuming they actually implement this policy and stick with it, this is a major blow against North Korea. Coal is their primary export and the Chinese are among the only nations who will do any business with North Korea these days. A move like this will really hit Kim Jong-un in the wallet and that is perhaps the only sort of rebuke the diminutive dictator would take to heart.

Whatever has happened to political discourse?

The Rise of the TEAR Parties   . . "Unlike the TEA parties, whose participants addressed substantive issues from positions of knowledge and reason, these new protesters do nothing but decry Republicans and disrupt communication. You might say that they are a Tantrum at Every Action of Republicans (TEAR) party. Pronounce it whichever way you want, for they exist to cry and divide." . . .

College teaches American grammar is 'racist'  "The University of Washington at Tacoma writing school has found a unique way to make a statement about "social justice."

According to poster displayed in the writing center. American grammar is "racist" and an "unjust language structure." The center promises to prioritize rhetoric over "grammatical correctness." . . .  Rick Moran