Resurgence Of Graffiti Seen In Several NYC Communities

Resurgence Of Graffiti Seen In Several NYC Communities « CBS New York
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Graffiti was an infamous symbol of the decline and decay of New York City in the 1970s and ’80s, and some now say it appears to be making a comeback.
As CBS2’s Scott Rapoport reported Monday, residents have noticed and they want it gone.
Bold graffiti lines parts of walls, ramps and pavement at the Forest Hills Long Island Rail Road station in Queens.
“It’s awful,” one man said.
“Most of the time it’s ignored,” said City Councilmember Karen Koslowitz (D-29th).
Koslowitz said the graffiti has been there since the summer, and she said she has been in touch repeatedly with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to get rid of it. But she said in the ensuing months, things got worse.
“I’ve seen a lot more graffiti then I’ve seen in a long time,” she said.
And it is not an isolated occurrence. Citywide, some say graffiti appears to be more and more prevalent.
According to the NYPD, the number of graffiti complaints citywide in 2015 is up 15 percent from last year. Meanwhile, arrests for graffiti are down 10 percent compared with last year.
And while a far cry from the out-of-control graffiti craze some 40 years ago, the current graffiti is getting noticed.
“This is just scribble and nonsense,” said David Clanton of the West Village. “And it’s ugly.”
CBS2 asked Mayor Bill de Blasio about the graffiti situation.
“We take graffiti very, very seriously...."
Bla, bla, bla.....

This great!-----A Little Girl Gives Coins To A Street Musician And Gets The Best Surprise.

Noon-toon

Sheriff Says It’s Time for Law Enforcement to ‘Drop the Hammer’ With Gun Control — by Enforcing Laws on the Books | TheBlaze.com

Sheriff Says It’s Time for Law Enforcement to ‘Drop the Hammer’ With Gun Control — by Enforcing Laws on the Books | TheBlaze.com:

"After a convicted felon in South Carolina was once again arrested on charges ranging from drug possession to possession of a firearm by a felon, a sheriff in South Carolina is calling for stricter gun control — but not for law-abiding gun owners."

Tis the Season to be Offended

Articles: Tis the Season to be Offended

This is the time of year when news of people being offended by Christian symbols reaches a high point. Progressives view complaints about a “war on Christmas” as manufactured. Barack Obama commented on this in 2006:

This notion that's peddled by the religious right -- that they are oppressed -- is not true. Sometimes it's a cynical ploy to move their agenda ahead. The classic example being that somehow secularists are trying to eliminate Christmas, which strikes me as some kind of manufactured controversy.

Most of these “manufactured” offenses take place in schools, the media, the military, and government bureaucracies. 

When some of its more extreme examples are exposed to the public the first reaction is to deny they happened. It appears that the government is attempting to eradicate all mention of Christianity without drawing excessive attention to their program. 

Professor James Hitchcock has written, “Far from being neutral, the American government is now in the position of favoring unbelief over belief and irreligion over religion.” 

When there is media attention to their efforts and a strong reaction they tend to deny that they were establishing a new policy.

There are countless examples of government efforts to remove any reference to the Christian religion. 

A military diversity training officer instructed a group of U.S. soldiers at Camp Shelby, Miss., not to use the word "Christmas." 

This officer told the troops she was affirming Army rules...

The Veterans Administration has also stepped into the fray. 

When a group of children made homemade Christmas cards for patients in a Dallas VA hospital they were informed by a hospital spokesperson “We're thrilled to have them, except the only thing is, we can't accept anything that says ‘Merry Christmas' or ‘God bless you' or any scriptural references because of all the red tape.” 

A VA spokesperson quoted the Veterans Health Administration handbook:

"In order to be respectful of our veterans' religious beliefs, all donated holiday cards are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team of staff led by chaplaincy services and determined if they are appropriate (non-religious) to freely distribute to patients. We regret this process was not fully explained to this group and apologize for any misunderstanding."

The Augusta VA hospital has banned some Christmas carols. 

Hospital spokesman Brian Rothwell announced, "VA policy is welcoming but respectful of all faiths and the protection of each veteran's right to religious freedom and protection from unwelcomed religious material, to their individual beliefs." 

Therefore, high school students from Augusta's Alleluia Community School were prohibited from singing such songs as "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful". 

Even instrumental versions of religious music has been banned. 

A school superintendent banned an instrumental version of "Ave Maria" at a public school graduation. 

The chief of staff of Walter Reed National Medical Center banned family members from bringing Bibles to the facility. 

Col. Chuck Callahan’s memo stated, “No religious items (i.e., Bibles, reading materials and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.” 

After the memo became public the hospital released a statement saying that it was worded “improperly” and, “We apologize for any confusion the policy may have caused.” 

A memo from the Salem VA Medical Center states:

…Public areas may only be decorated in a manner that is celebratory of the winter season. Displays must not promote any religion. Please note that trees (regardless of the types of ornaments used) have been deemed to promote the Christian religion and will not be permitted in any public areas this year.

Efforts to suppress religious observations are not restricted to the holiday season. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs director of the Houston National Cemetery, Arleen Ocasio, banned saying God or Jesus at funerals..."

And on and on.

Read on.

How to Manufacture an Anti-Muslim Hate-Crime 'Epidemic'

How to Manufacture an Anti-Muslim Hate-Crime 'Epidemic' - Michelle Malkin - Page full
"Step one: Find an expert with an impressive-sounding academic title to legitimize shoddy advocacy propaganda.
Meet Brian Levin.
He's the one-man band behind something called the "Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism" at California State University, San Bernardino.
The "center" (that is: Levin) claims to be "nonpartisan" and "objective."
But he is a former top staffer of the militant, conservative-smearing Southern Poverty Law Center, which was forced to apologize earlier this year after including famed black neurosurgeon and GOP 2016 candidate Ben Carson on its "extremist watch list" of hate groups.
At SPLC, Levin infamously posited that the 2002 Beltway jihad snipers were Angry White Men, a fatal error echoed by politically correct law enforcement officials whose wild-goose chase needlessly cost lives.
A decade later, the SPLC's target map and list of social conservative groups were used by convicted left-wing domestic terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins to shoot up the Washington, D.C., office of the Family Research Council.
The radical left-wing SPLC, whose annual "hate and extremism" report spawned Levin's sham "center," brazenly declared that its mission is to "destroy" its political opponents.
Harper's Magazine writer Ken Silverstein called the SPLC and its work "essentially a fraud" that "shuts down debate, stifles free speech, and most of all, raises a pile of money, very little of which is used on behalf of poor people."
Step two: Enlist gullible, lazy, biased, and complicit journalists who recycle the "expert's" sweeping pronouncements as proven facts, backed up by other ideologically vested advocacy group spokespeople.
NBC News, The New York Times, the Daily Mail and Slate all quoted Levin over the past week hyping his new "study" (published in esteemed academic journal The Huffington Post) on an alleged "increase," "surge" and "spike" in "crimes against Muslims and mosques" this year.
Levin's "methods" of "analysis"? Stringing together "apparent hate crimes reported in the media and by civil rights groups across the United States." Most prominent among his sources: the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose jihad-apologizing frontman Ibrahim Hooper was quoted by both NBC and The New York Times backing Levin's "research" (which were, of course, based on several of CAIR's grievance-grifting claims). Cozy, huh?
"We're seeing so many of these things happening that it's unbelievable," Hooper told the Times.
Indeed, it is.
In his list of "Suspected Hate Crimes Directed at Actual or Perceived Muslim Institutions or Individuals Since Paris Attacks," Levin cites a Nov. 26 incident in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, noting, "Cab driver shot. Attempted Murder."
The rest of the story: The suspect is 26-year-old Anthony Mohamed, whose father is Muslim. Authorities have so far refused to press hate crimes charges despite CAIR's demands. At a hearing this week, the cab driver denied in court that he had been subjected to negative comments about his religion before Mohamed allegedly shot him in the back. Court filings fail to mention any evidence of anti-Muslim bias in the case.
Or take a look at Levin's No. 23: "12/6 Buena Park, CA. Sikh Temple. Vandalism, Crim. Mischief." CAIR's Los Angeles office publicized vandalism at an Orange County Sikh temple, immediately condemning a "tiny minority of bigots who violate our nation's longstanding principles of religious tolerance and inclusion."
The rest of the story: Authorities arrested a local, 20-year-old Brodie Durazo, after he admitted spray-painting the temple, a tractor trailer and other property in the gang-infested neighborhood. "I have lived alongside this temple for many years of my life and have never once seen you as anything but a peaceful people," he told the temple-goers in a personal apology at the house of worship. "I just hope that you will see by my presence that all I want is for peace as well."
Not a menacing "bigot." Just a bored punk.
Or consider Levin's No. 33: "12/10 Tampa, FL. Rocks/shots at 2 Muslim drivers. Assault, Threat leaving relig. service in hijab."
Both women are unidentified. Their unvetted stories were immediately publicized by, you guessed it, CAIR. "Both incidents were investigated by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies," according to local Florida media, "though investigators said neither case involved definitive proof of a hate crime." In one case, the sheriff's office spokeswoman said, "It could have been road rage or just a misunderstanding." In the second case involving alleged shots fired at a vehicle, investigators said the woman "was not sure where or when" a bullet hole found on the car was made.
Step three: Attack the messenger. After I published a lengthy post on my blog outlining an epidemic of Muslim hate-crime hoaxes at colleges, mosques and businesses dating back to 2001, Levin took to Twitter to accuse me of "smears." The facts, which the rest of the media failed to inform readers about while hyping Levin's work this week, speak for themselves (see michellemalkin.com).
Step four: Classify this article as "hate" and any media outlet that publishes it as a "hate group" so that other journalists shun the truth and continue perpetuating the hoax.

A repost-Read it all and warm your heart-----Walmart is a Holy Land

Walmart is a Holy Land | BossCook:

Walmart is a Holy Land

“May I buy your groceries?”

Rather than buy ourselves and our young adult children gifts this Christmas, we decided to walk the walk.  You know.  That walk where you stop indulging yourself with increasingly frivolous items and actually reach out to help others not as fortunate.

We bought several Walmart gift cards with funds we would have used to buy our gifts for one another and our kids.   Then our daughter and daughter-in-law (who is pregnant with twins, our 10th and 11th grandchildren, so yes, we have more than enough blessings in our life), Mr. Wilkinson  and I went to our local Walmart yesterday, a beautiful Sunday morning.  Not quite knowing how to do what we wanted to do, just praying we’d get it right and not embarrass anyone or get arrested.  Our girls decided on an approach, took the gift cards, and my husband and I stood at a distance, ready to help if needed.

The girls walked along and watched the check-out lines, and when they felt a tug at their kind hearts, they went up to people ready to check out and asked,

“May I buy your groceries?”

The initial responses were ones of shock and disbelief.  No one was rude, or dismissive.  They just wanted to know why.  The girls answered that they were part of a family who decided this was the way they wanted to celebrate Christmas.  Then a few asked if they were with a church or an organization.  No, the girls said, we are just a regular family and this is our gift to you!  No strings attached!  From us!  

Then the miracles came.

The first one, a young Mom, with a cart of food and just a couple of tiny presents for her little son, broke down in sobs, confiding that she “didn’t know how I could afford any of this”.  Her hugs and her tears washed away all the nervousness our girls felt at first.  They helped her bag her groceries and they all held one another for a long time, before this young woman left the store, trying hard not to sob.

The girls then quickly went to an obviously worn-out and defeated looking Dad, with 4 young sons.  Beat down and broke, you can bet.  In the check-out line, counting the bills in his wallet, nervously.  “May I buy everything in your cart, sir?” they said.   Again, the disbelief, the tears, the hugs, and the sincere, very heartfelt gratitude. That seismic shock you felt at 10:47 am yesterday?  That was a huge crack opening in my cynical heart as I watched this.

Two elderly ladies, with one cart between them, barely full with just the most very basic things.  A 2 pack of toilet paper.  A small package of ham.   A little pumpkin pie with red bow on top.  Cans of cheap cat food.  I doubt they had cats.  They were the most unbelieving of all  – they were literally paralyzed with shock.  One had dementia and couldn’t really understand what was going on, but the other couldn’t believe “anyone cared about us” and “no one has been this kind to me in 75 years”.   

There were people who smiled and merely told our girls, “No thank you!  We are very blessed and in a good place, so please help someone who needs it!”  Pay it forward without getting a thing.  I like it.  

The disabled veteran in a wheelchair, the lonely, unhappy looking girl, the young family with formula and diapers, the older lady who reminded our daughter of her beloved, departed grandma.  Their surprise, their joy, their relief, their gratitude.  All of them giving us more than we could ever give them.

It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced

 And then there was the guy with the tattoos and the swagger and the backward ball cap.  My husband saw our daughter approach him and started to get upset because he thought this guy didn’t look “needy”.  But it turned out, he was one of the most appreciative and gracious people she interacted with.  He couldn’t believe anyone would do this for “Me?  You’re doing this for ME?”.  A misfit, maybe.  Who cares?  Jesus didn’t.  And either did our daughter.  I saw him transformed by our daughter, who was smiling as big as I have ever seen.   As he left, he keep stopping and looking back at her, shaking his head with disbelief, waving, and smiling.  His gift was far more than a gift card.

This heaven on earth continued and each time, the glow from our girls got brighter and brighter.

Who was giving who what?

Me and Mr. Wilkinson?  We just wept and tried to hold it together.  And tried to stay anonymous.  I did speak with a few lovely people, who noticed me watching (I guess I’m not as subtle as I thought…it was probably the wailing)  and came up to me with such open and raw emotion, I could hardly speak.  One woman, standing there holding my husband’s hand and telling him she lost her husband that very day, a few years ago.  And my husband’s face as he remembered he lost his own father on that every same day.  

The cashiers with their Santa hats wept, we wept, people we will never see again, wept, hugged, believing that, at least for a little while, people cared about them.  We gave the cashiers the last of the gift cards and they promptly gave them back to their customers.  How.  Completely.  Awesome.  

I was one of those people who made fun of the “people of Walmart”.  And I’m an idiot.  I don’t know anyone’s story, their background, their pain or their journey in this world.  I judge the badly dressed, the overweight, the sloppy, the ignorant, the ill-mannered.  The same ones, yesterday, who cried when someone offered them a small kindness.  The ones who, when they figured out what my husband and I were doing hiding in the jewelry section across from the check-out lanes, came running over, looked us right in the eye, thanked us and complimented on our wonderful girls.  There’s MY gift, right there.  I haven’t gotten anything as precious as that.  

So, I ask again – who was giving who what??

I absolutely did not want to share this story.  There seemed to be no way to tell it without it reeking of self-satisfaction and self-congratulation.  Ugh.  I was encouraged (forced) by a very close friend, whom I did share it with, to go ahead and write about it.  So I’m sharing it with the hope and prayer that other people can find their own Holy Land, and make a pilgrimage there to honor the birth of Jesus Christ by actually living His sacred message of sharing and sacrifice for others.  

It starts with a question.  Ask it first.   Let it be answered.  “Ask and you shall receive”

And boy, did we receive.

“May I buy your groceries?”

****Update:  I cannot express my profound gratitude for all the good people who have welcomed my post and made such kind and supportive comments.  Thank you and Merry, Blessed Christmas to you and your families.  And for the record, I DO shop at Walmart…all the time.  My comments about the “people of Walmart” is  directed at my shameful judgment of ALL people everywhere.  I AM a person of Walmart.

Obama Goes Golfing After Terrorist Attack In Afghanistan Kills Six American Soldiers - Breitbart

Obama Goes Golfing After Terrorist Attack In Afghanistan Kills Six American Soldiers - Breitbart:

"The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle outside a U.S. military base, the largest loss of life of American troops in Afghanistan this year. The Taliban claim responsibility.

But the sobering news didn’t stop Obama from heading to the golf course, a tradition for the president as he enjoys the Hawaii climate during the holidays."

The Powerful Messages of Christmas Carols

The Powerful Messages of Christmas Carols | Intellectual Takeout
"...A more profound discussion can arise from the lyrics in the first verse of Silent Night: “Round yon virgin, mother and child.”
By one interpretation these words could refer to two people—“mother and child” – but on a deeper level they can also be seen as a description of Mary and the divine nature of Jesus’ conception:  Mary herself was both “mother and child.”
Christmas carols also often contain sentiments that reveal their historical context.
For example, O Holy Night was written in 1847 as the abolitionist movement was growing, and in the third verse proclaims: “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.”
Other carols are biographical in nature.
Good King Wenceslas is based upon a historical figure that ruled Bohemia in the tenth century and conveys how this virtuous ruler risked a bitter winter storm to rescue an impoverished peasant.
The king was accompanied on his mission by a young servant who begins to succumb to the elements:  “Sire, the night is darker now/and the wind blows stronger./Fails, my heart, I know not how, I can go no longer.”
The good king tells his servant to proceed in the snowy ground by stepping into his footsteps:  “Mark my footsteps, my good page;/tread thou in them boldly./Thou shalt find the winter’s rage/ freeze thy blood less coldly.”
The imagery is clear:  
The king is lifting his servant’s burden by breaking a path for him.
On one hand, the carol presents a lesson on caring for the poor; however, on a higher plane it hearkens to another King who will help us on life’s journey if we tread in His footsteps.
Another carol influenced by biographical events is I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
After losing his wife in a tragic accident in 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow fell into a deep despair.
His journal entries on Christmas Day that year and the next expressed his profound sadness: “How inexplicably sad are all holidays,” and “A ‘merry Christmas’ say the children, but there is no more for me.”
Then in 1863, Longfellow’s son was seriously wounded during a Civil War battle.
That year, his journal is altogether silent on Christmas day.
However, on December 24, 1864, Longfellow wrote a poem that stirs the heart.
Set to music in 1872, his words describe the intense despondency that had consumed him for years:  “And in despair I bowed my head./There is no ‘peace on earth’ I said./For hate is storm and mocks the song/of peace on earth, goodwill to men...”

History for December 24

History for December 24 - On-This-Day.com
Benjamin Rush 1745, Kit Carson 1809, James Joule 1818 


Howard Hughes 1905, Ava Gardner 1922, Lee Dorsey 1924 


1814 - The War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. 


1818 - Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for "Silent Night" to words written by Josef Mohr. 


1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan. 


1914 - In World War I, the first air raid on Britain was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on the grounds of a rectory in Dover. 


1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord. 


1968 - Three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon. 


1979 - Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country's Marxist government. 


1990 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married. 

Climate change shock: Burning fossil fuels COOLS planet, says NASA

Climate change shock: Burning fossil fuels COOLS planet, says NASA | UK | News | Daily Express

BURNING fossil fuels and cutting down trees causes global COOLING, a shock new NASA study has found.
Major theories about what causes temperatures to rise have been thrown into doubt after NASA found the Earth has cooled in areas of heavy industrialisation where more trees have been lost and more fossil fuel burning takes place.
Environmentalists have long argued the burning of fossil fuels in power stations and for other uses is responsible for global warming and predicted temperature increases because of the high levels of carbon dioxide produced - which causes the global greenhouse effect.
While the findings did not dispute the effects of carbon dioxide on global warming, they found aerosols - also given off by burning fossil fuels - actually cool the local environment, at least temporarily.
The research was carried out to see if current climate change models for calculating future temperatures were taking into account all factors and were accurate..."

Lakeisha Holloway Suspect in Deadly Las Vegas Crash - GAVE POLICE EXPLANATION But They Won't Disclose!

Lakeisha Holloway Suspect in Deadly Las Vegas Crash - GAVE POLICE EXPLANATION But They Won't Disclose! - The Gateway Pundit:
Lakeisha Holloway Suspect in Deadly Las Vegas Crash – GAVE POLICE EXPLANATION But They Won’t Disclose!
Lakeisha Holloway was identified today as the crazed driver who intentionally plowed through pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night.
Her three year-old child was in the backseat.
** She parked the car and advised the valet to call 911.
** Victims from Canada, Oregon, California, Florida… etc.
** People came up and banged on her windows but she kept on driving.
Police said she was “stoic” when she was arrested and she told them why she committed the deadly crime but that they will not disclose her intentions(?)
Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Holloway offered an explanation for the attacks when she was arrested:
“She made statements on the scene at the point of arrest.
As I mentioned the investigation is ongoing.
But we haven’t determined to an exact fact what the motive was.
We believe she has some disassociation with the father of her child in events prior to the event. Her being in Las Vegas approximately a week and homeless and residing in her vehicle…
She did (offer and explanation for the attacks) and I’m not comfortable disclosing that at this point because it is an ongoing investigation. 
I can’t go any further into that comment..."

Migrants exploiting 'passport loophole' jetting into UK - and there's NOTHING we can do

Migrants exploiting 'passport loophole' jetting into UK - and there's NOTHING we can do | UK | News | Daily Express:
COUNTLESS Moldovan migrants have been flown into the UK by a budget airline since October due to a passport loophole - and there's NOTHING the EU can do.
Moldova is not in the EU, but any citizen who can get hold of a passport from neighbouring member state Romania is free to travel and work in the UK. 
It is very easy for Moldovans to gain Romanian citizenship due to the historical social links between the two countries, with family ties going back generations.
In fact, a sole great-grandparent from Romania is enough for a Moldovan to gain citizenship and free entry to the UK.
Three flights a week packed with Moldovan migrants using Romanian passports have been running between the capital Chisinau and Luton Airport since October.
There are now nearly 140,000 Romanians living in the UK, with many thought to be Moldovan nationals exploiting the loophole.
Up to 10,000 Moldovans are applying for Romanian citizenship EVERY MONTH, with a total of half a million now holding Romanian passports.
Many are attracted to the high minimum wages in Britain, with the proposed national living wage set to draw even more migrants to the country. 
Andy Wigmore, from the Leave.EU campaign group, said: “With the average salary in Moldova being around £60 a week, our minimum wage and access to free healthcare will continue to be a huge pull for those from poorer countries.”
He said: “Everyone has a relative or friend that is planning to go abroad to study or work.
"Most of the people from Moldova doing this are using a Romanian passport."
However, a spokesperson for Wizz Air argued that there was nothing wrong with the practice.
They said: "There has been no indication from the UK Border Agency that there are any issues with our passengers from Moldova at the point of entry into the UK."

Planned ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest forces school to cancel mall choir concert

Planned ‘Black Lives Matter’ protest forces school to cancel mall choir concert | EAGnews.org:
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – A planned Black Lives Matter protest at the Mall of America means students in the eighth-grade choir at Minnetonka Middle School can forget about performing their Christmas program.
Instead of Jingle Bells and Silent Night, there will be racist yells and possibly arrests on site.
Last year, thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters descended on the mall to disrupt holiday shopping and draw attention to police shootings of black criminals in New York and Missouri.
The melee forced numerous stores to shut down and dozens of people were arrested.
A judge just last month dismissed trespassing charges against 11 of the protest organizers, but other charges are not yet resolved, according to the Associated Press.
Now, the local Black Lives Matter crowd is apparently looking to rack up more arrests with another protest at the Mall of America scheduled for Wednesday, at the same rotunda Minnetonka middle schoolers were set to sing Christmas carols to shoppers.
“Minnetonka Middle School West’s eighth grade choir concert was scheduled to take place Dec. 23 at the mall’s east rotunda.
The protest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the same rotunda, according to a Facebook event created by Black Lives Matter Minneapolis,” KSTP reports.
“The school district said the school’s principal and other school administrators made the decision to cancel the concert, adding that kids singing holiday songs while protesters have a serious message to convey would not be a good idea.”..."

December 23, 1776

December 23, 1776:

THE CRISIS INDEX

NEXT

December 23, 1776

THESE are the times that try men's souls. 
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. 
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. 
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. 
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. 
Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. 
Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. 
We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. 
However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own [NOTE]; we have none to blame but ourselves. 
But no great deal is lost yet. 
All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.
Read on and thank God for those brave men and women.

Lunch video-----Star Wars Conspiracy - Is Star Wars About The Holocaust?

Noon-toon

Moron alert!-----Clinton: 'I Wouldn't Keep Any School Open That Wasn't Doing A Better Than Average Job'

Clinton: 'I Wouldn't Keep Any School Open That Wasn't Doing A Better Than Average Job' | The Weekly Standard:
"Hillary Clinton may be planning to close a lot of schools.
At a town hall event today in Keota, Iowa, Clinton said she would keep open "better than average" schools:
"This school district and these schools throughout Iowa are doing a better than average job," Clinton told the crowd.
"Now, I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing a better than average job. 
If a school's not doing a good job, then you know it may not be good for the kids.
"But when you have a district that's doing a good job it seems kind of counterproductive to impose financial burdens on it.""

Moderate muslims....right-----Britain First attacked by violent, aggressive Islamists in Derby

Published on Dec 13, 2015

Recently, Britain First held a recruitment stall activity in Derby, in the Midlands, and our activists were attacked by scruffy leftwing thugs.
In response, Britain First turned up with around 35 activists and distributed around 1,500 newspapers several weeks after.
The leftwing unwashed were absent, but our activists were attacked by a group of aggressive Muslim extremists who made death threats and physically intimidated several of our female activists.
Only the cool professionalism of our security volunteers kept the peace despite disgusting displays of racism and intolerance from the Muslims.

What’s Really Going On With the Earth’s Climate

What’s Really Going On With the Earth’s Climate | Power Line
The Earth’s climate is changing, as it has for millions of years.
Recent changes, however, are mild and benign, as opposed–for example–to being plunged into another ice age.
The most accurate record we have of modern temperatures comes from satellites. 
Their readings are, in fact, the only transparent, uncorrupted temperature records in existence. Surface temperature records are unreliable because of siting issues, poor coverage of the oceans, failure to recognize the urban heat island effect, and deliberate falsification by alarmist climate scientists, who constantly revise temperatures recorded decades ago to make the past look cooler.
The problem with satellite temperature data, of course, is that it only goes back to 1978.
That said, we now have 37 years of satellite data.
What trends to those records reveal?
Anthony Watts provides an excellent summary:
The average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere has warmed just over four tenths of a degree Celsius (almost three fourths of a degree Fahrenheit) during the past 37 years, with the greatest warming over the Arctic Ocean and Australia, said Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Microwave sounding units on board NOAA and NASA satellites completed 37 complete years of collecting temperature data in November, giving us nearly global coverage of climate change during that time.
If that trend was to continue for another 63 years, the composite warming for the globe would be 1.1 C (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) for the century, Christy said.
That would put the average global temperature change over 100 years well under the 2.0 C (3.6 degrees F) goal set recently at the climate change summit in Paris.
Are the alarmists trying to set a low bar that will be achieved regardless of any changes in CO2 emissions, and then claim credit for saving the planet?
Watts notes that a “1.2 C or 2.2 degrees F rise over 100 years would be roughly equal to the warming seen most spring days between 10 a.m. and noon.”
Interestingly, however, the warming over the last 37 years has not been uniform.
The North Pole and Australia have warmed the most, while other regions, like Antarctica, have cooled..." 

THERE'S A REASON WE MOSTLY HEAR ABOUT WHITE 'MICRO–AGGRESSIONS'

Ann Coulter - June 24, 2015 - THERE'S A REASON WE MOSTLY HEAR ABOUT WHITE 'MICRO–AGGRESSIONS'
The massacre of black churchgoers in Charleston by an evil psycho is a hideous thing.
The case is especially sickening because the victims were chosen specifically because of their race. Thank God it's extremely rare for whites to target black people for attack.
And yet the public is being told by The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC and Salon that the Charleston massacre is proof that we live in a country packed with marauding racist murderers. 
It's like saying we have an epidemic of men flying gyrocopters onto Capitol Hill.
Yes, there's that one time, but I notice you keep citing the same case.
In The Washington Post, for example, columnist Lonnae O'Neal blamed the Charleston attack on "white supremacy," claiming that "racial sickness is all around us." 
(I guess the one upside of the horror in South Carolina is that we can FINALLY have a national conversation about race.)
The media's WHITES ARE TERRORIZING BLACKS campaign reflects reality as accurately as the media's other campaign, WHITE MALE COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE RAPING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!
In a country of more than 300 million people, everything will happen eventually.
That doesn't make it a trend.
Go up to any ordinary, sentient person and ask: Which race assaults the other race more?
Remember the "knockout game" -- or as its devotees called it, "polar bear hunting"?
Black teenagers would go looking for white people to knock unconscious with a single punch, videotape the attacks and post them online.
The knockout game was a real trend -- which the media denied was a trend.
Just last month, we saw videos of white reporters from the Daily Caller being mugged by black men in Baltimore.
Ask around.
You might be surprised at how many whites you know have been physically attacked by a black person at least once in their lives..."
Read on.

VIDEO: Students Sign Petition to Ban 'Racist' Song 'White Christmas' from Radio

VIDEO: Students Sign Petition to Ban 'Racist' Song 'White Christmas' from Radio | MRCTV
"Last week, I presented some college students with a petition urging radio stations to stop playing the holiday classic "White Christmas" because the song only focuses on "White" Christmases. 
This clearly makes it racially insensitive, since it completely ignores Christmases of other colors.
Students were all too willing to check their privilege and take a stand against Bing Crosby's racially charged micro-aggression.
Just watch."

Doctors Refusing to Write Note Required for Gun Permits in Hawaii

Doctors Refusing to Write Note Required for Gun Permits in Hawaii:
Residents of Hawaii who want to get a gun permit are stuck in an endless circle of bureaucracy that stems from the medical profession refusing to get involved in the gun permit process.
The Honolulu Police Department is requiring a doctor’s note in order to give out a gun permit. 
But both doctors and health insurance providers are refusing to comply, punting the matter back to the police department.
According to Hawaiinewsanow.com,
“There was no advance warning from anybody.
Kaiser, the gun stores, HPD — nobody.
You find out when you actually go to apply,” the West O’ahu man said.
He asked Hawaii News Now not use his name or image.
“I’ve been a legal gun owner since ’91. Rifles, shotguns, pistols. I even own an AR-15. No problemo. All of a sudden, problem,” he said.
HPD officers are now handing out a memo to gun permit applicants that states a doctor must sign a note on official letterhead stating the individual “shall own, possess, or control any firearm or ammunition and has been medically documented to be no longer adversely affected by the addiction, abuse, dependence, mental disease, disorder or defect”.
“It’s some kind of new legal mumbo jumbo about I have to admit that I was treated for mental or drug abuse which I have never done, so that would be a lie.
Kaiser says they won’t do it so you have to seek an outside doctor.
I did so, and they did not accept that doctor’s letter,” he said.
And if you think this is bad just wait until President Obama wields his executive powers to make sure Obamacare offers the same kind of stumbling blocks to those who wish to buy a gun or obtain a concealed carry permit..."

History for December 23

History for December 23 - On-This-Day.com:
Joseph Smith 1805, Harry Guardino 1925, Frederic Forrest 1936 


Susan Lucci 1946, Eddie Vedder 1964 - Musician, singer (Pearl Jam), Corey Haim 1971 - Actor 


1823 - The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore (" 'Twas the night before Christmas...") was published. 


1888 - Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe. 


1913 - The Federal Reserve Bill was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The act established 12 Federal Reserve Banks. 

1941 - During World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese. 


1947 - John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley invented the transistor. 


1948 - Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo. They had been found guilty of crimes against humanity. 


1968 - The crew of the U.S. Navy ship, Pueblo, was released by North Korea. The Captain of the Pueblo, Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, and 82 of his crew were held for 11 months after the ship was seized by North Korea because of suspected spying by the Americans. 



1970 - In New York, the topping out ceremony for original One World Trade Center (North Tower) took place. The South Tower's ceremony took place on July 19, 1971.