LEVIN: 'Conservatism hasn’t been tried since Reagan’...'This is Tyranny'

Obama didn't inherit a bad economy, as Levin straightened out for Hillary Clinton on Monday evening, "Let me tell you something, lady, what Obama inherited: the Greatest Country on the face of the earth!"

"Let me tell you something else, lady, what Obama inherited: the American People, who work hard, who can overcome almost every obstacle, except YOU, and your ideology, and your party, and centralized government."

“The status quo ante--the circumstances of our government and the way it treats us, the way it treats liberty, the way it treats states, the way it treats the economy, the way it treats businesses--particularly small businesses--the way it treats citizenry. The status quo in this respect is them.

What’s happening in immigration isn’t what we want, it’s what they want. What’s happening with the debt isn’t what we want, it’s what they’ve done. And I can go right down the list. What’s happening to our foreign policy is them, not us.

Conservatives and conservatism hasn’t been tried since Ronald Reagan. They’re the status quo--Hillary, Obama, the Democrat Party, the Republican RINOs. They’re the status quo, and they act like they’re rebelling, they act like they’re revolutionaries.

'You know, look what we inherited. Look what we inherited and, you know, if I had been elected, I would have inherited the same thing: this deep hole.'"

H/t: CNS

They're not rebels, they're not revolutionaries...they're tyrants bringing about tyranny. And they're out-of-the-closet promoting it, politically, judicially, culturally, tearing down our civil society bit by bit... 

It's high time to heed the warnings throughout the wisdom of history...

"By this unprincipled facility of changing the state as often, and as much, and in as many ways, as there are floating fancies or fashions, the whole chain and continuity of the commonwealth would be broken. No one generation could link with the other. Men would become little better than the flies of a summer." ~ Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution, 1790

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.” ~ Frederic Bastiat, The Law, 1850

“The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” ~ Frederic Bastiat

“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?” ~ Frederic Bastiat, The Law, 1850

"I saw that the New Deal was only superficially a reform movement. I had to acknowledge the truth of what it’s more forthright protagonists, sometimes unwarily, sometimes defiantly, averred: the New Deal was a genuine revolution, whose deepest purpose was not simply reform from within existing traditions, but a basic change in the social, and above all, the power relationships within the nation. It was not a revolution by violence. It was a revolution by bookkeeping and lawmaking. In so far as it was successful, the power of politics had replaced the power of business. This is the basic power shift of all the revolutions of our time. This shift was the revolution. It was only of incidental interest that the revolution was not complete, that it was made not by tanks and machine guns, but by acts of Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, or that many of the revolutionists did not know what they were or denied it. But revolution is always an affair of force, whatever forms the force disguises itself in. Whether the revolutionists prefer to call themselves Fabians, who seek power by the inevitability of gradualism, or Bolsheviks, who seek power by the dictatorship of the proletariat, the struggle is for power." ~ Whittaker Chambers, Witness, 1952

This is what has happened, and is happening, to this Greatest Country on the face of the earth, as Levin affirms. Centralized government has become all powerful. The federal Leviathan is smothering the civil society. Ameritopia is here.

"They have rejected all of them [Chambers, Bastiat, Burke, Locke, Montesquieu, the Enlightenment, the Framers] for what? For the tyranny of power, centralized power...social engineering, social experimentation, bullying, coercing, subsidizing, threatening. Is that not what our government has become? Is that not the tactics our government uses? Is this not now the true manifesto of the Democrat Party? Is it not the true manifesto of the Democrat Party to eliminate all remaining vestiges of the United States? ... This isn't even an attack on the country, this is an attack on YOU.

It's an amazing spectacle how you and I, we the American citizen are to be managed, are to be engineered, are to be parts of these grand social experiments by a handful of masterminds in both parties using an army of bureaucrats to impose their will on us. It's an amazing spectacle that we need to be transformed. But anybody who crawls across the border, who overstays a visa, or is given birth in this country who's not a citizen, well that's held up as virtue when it's not.

People are stunned today. They're saying look what's happened to the country. The majority of people support socialism. Well, when you keep importing people into a country that do not understand the nation's history, do not respect the nation's history, and they listen to a media and academia and politicians who do not respect America's history, they are not Americanized, they are not assimilated into a culture, in fact, the culture's under attack, what do you expect?!

The nation's changing, the libs are applauding! Look at the grand experiment that they're involved in. The destruction of the United States! The destruction of our Constitution and our governing system! The destruction of American culture and society! And they're to be celebrated! And I have to watch knuckleheads on tv, and listen to some on radio, applauding our progress, telling us we have to pander to this and reach out to this!

Who is going to stand up for this country? I didn't say the government! Who is going to stand up for this country? Who's going to stand up for the American people? Who's going to stand up for the American culture, the American society? Apparently nobody in power today, or very few."

LEVIN: "If we can't win this time around, I don't think we're ever going to win"

These have been genuine concerns of mine over the past several months, particular the number of Republican candidates as we see more and more pile on...

HANNITY: What does that Republican candidate need to win in Mark Levin's view?

LEVIN: Well, the guy who ran the table was the most conservative Republican nominated for President in modern American history, maybe in history period. That's what we need to do.

I'm not happy with all these candidates. There's just too damn many of them. But that said, I can't control that, and neither can anybody else. But I do think we conservatives are going to have to rally behind one or two or three relatively quickly, or the RINOs are going to pick us off, as they did with McCain and Romney and hope to do with Jeb Bush, among others.

Now on the Democrat side, this is an amazing thing to me. I don't know how Hillary Clinton hasn't at least served some time in prison, given her background and what she's done. Now they've set up this front group to launder money through so the sources of the money wouldn't be known that Bill Clinton receives. There's so much graft and corruption and sleaze in this family and what they do. And yet, apparently, that's the definition of the Democrat party. She is, right now, unless you take the goofball from Vermont, she's right now the only so-called serious candidate the Democrats have.

HANNITY: Last question. If you were running against Hillary, they've gotten away with so much in the past. Do you focus on the scandals? Or do you focus on how to get 93 million Americans back in the labor force, 50 million Americans off food stamps and out of poverty? Do you focus on the debt and deficit? Do you focus on securing the borders? Do you focus on energy? You've got to have a positive agenda. You've got to tell people how you're going to get them back to work. You've got to tell them how you're going to stop robbing their kids, right?

LEVIN: I agree with you. Well, you need to do both. I don't think the candidate, him or herself, should get into e-mails and what an email said on May 12th, 2014. You can leave that to surrogates and others.

I think the key here is to have a principle conservative message to connect with the blue collar and other collar democrats, to keep the base, to connect with the American people, and to have a positive, strong, conservative, principled message, because now is the time to promote our position and to contrast it with the left. The Obama economy, let alone the foreign policy, they've been a complete and utter disaster. And the Democrats want to do more of the same: tax, debt, illegal immigration, kill the currency, leave our allies on their own, stand back and watch genocide. I mean, this is a record.

If we can't win this time around, I don't think we're ever going to win.

Personally, I think one of two would suffice...and the first two major candidates to throw their hats in the ring should give readers an indication of my favored. All the rest need to recede.

H/t: RCP

ADDENDUM: And just to prove the time has never been riper...

• Hillary Clinton unfavorable numbers highest in 14 years
• Poll: New speed bumps for Clinton
• Poll: Hillary Clinton Weakens on Trustworthiness While Jeb Bush Slides Into GOP Free-For-All
• George W. Bush outpolls Barack Obama
• More Americans hold favorable view of George W. Bush than Barack Obama

Americans are searching for something more principled than the Left or the Establishment...of course, the lib media is doing all they can to NOT assist the People in such a quest, which is why conservative stalwarts, like Levin, are so vital.

PATRIOT Act expires, but debate continues...

News came last night for the return of some of our liberties while I also happened to be enthralled in a most excellent episode of Game of Thrones...

AmericanSpectator: I would have written this last night except that I was engrossed in a horde of ice zombies attacking a bunch of escaping villagers (until I realized I had switched over from CSPAN and was actually watching Game of Thrones and not the Establishment GOP and the Obama Administration wailing and gnashing their teeth over the temporarily lost power to infringe on the rights of American citizens in the name of national security).

The Senate gave up on being able to reach a deal on the PATRIOT Act extension covering Section 215, and at midnight last night, the bill's authority expired. The National Security Agency has shut down most of their metadata collection programs (they began quietly shutting it down around 8pm last night) and the largest and most controversial of their metadata collection programs, the one that collects and keeps Americans' phone records for at least five years, has been halted, though pending investigations will continue for some time. For the time being, law enforcement will be required to get warrants for individual devices, if they want to continue to wiretap suspects across all forms of digital and analog media, and they will now have to have probable cause to investigate so-called "lone wolf" terror suspects, who do not have any demonstrated connection to a larger terrorist organization but have drawn the ire of authorities anyway. Meanwhile, discussion and debate on the PATRIOT Act provisions will continue. And while the Senate has passed the USA Freedom Act, which reforms the NSA data collection process, that may still take a few days to pass through the President's hands.

Rand's contention is, of course, that even the USA Freedom Act doesn't go far enough to address all of the overreach in the PATRIOT Act, a bill that was hastily passed in the wake of a terrorist attack and, while useful in some measures, contains many programs that have, in practice, been used more often in the War on Drugs than in the War on Terror — including many programs law enforcement had been asking for but which were denied by Congress as being too intrusive prior to 9/11. While much of the PATRIOT Act has done well to keep us safe, a full assessment of the need and impact is warranted, especially when it comes to the programs that have been infringing on Constitutional rights without proper consideration by other branches of government, including, but not limited to, the judicial branch. Remember, you can't sue for a violation of your rights unless you know you're a target. And the way the NSA's programs are structured, it's quite difficult to ascertain any targets at all, correct or incorrect.

The Senate will attempt to rectify the delays this week, but there may have been one ray of sunshine in Mitch McConnell's decision to let the PATRIOT Act hinge on a late vote, thus paving the way for Rand Paul's floor show: the PATRIOT Act was delayed so that the Senate could debate the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that publicly divided Democrats. So while the Republicans are falling on two separate sides of an issue today, they can rest easy in knowing that they both put Democrats on the defensive on privacy — a topic Barack Obama campaigned on and most Democrats openly accused the Bush Administration of running roughshod over (Obama has, reportedly, increased the NSA's authority by more than 60% over spying at the height of the Bush Administration) — and they allowed people like Elizabeth Warren to openly challenge the President on progressive issues. The White House can't be happy with that.

Related link: Will Rand Paul End the PATRIOT Act?
Sen. Ted Cruz talks Patriot Act

ADDENDUM: Via Monday's Mark Levin Show...

It's amazing how many Conservatives have bought into the idea of endless data collection and surveillance "just in case." Rand Paul is being attacked for standing up and raising questions about our federal government just like how Ted Cruz was attacked in 2013 for standing up against Obamacare. NSA surveillance won't save anyone while our borders remain open and we don't deport anyone. ... Our immigration system is not broken; it's not being enforced while people are violating it every day.

Folks, the NSA remains intact, just like every other executive branch department. They can continue to secure the nation without the loss of citizens' liberties just through adequate ENFORCEMENT (if this administration, both sides of the aisle, believed in an adherence to the Rule of Law) instead of playing politics and growing the federal Leviathan.

Related link: Mark Levin: Why are we TRASHING Rand Paul for raising honest questions about the federal government?

Commemorating the Trinity

"ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee, that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end." ~ The Collect for Trinity Sunday

Trinity Sunday commemorates and honors not an event, but a reality of that great mystery: the Holy Trinity.

ChurchPOP: One of the greatest articulations of the doctrine of the Trinity is the Athanasian Creed. Though named after the great 4th century defender of Trinitarian orthodoxy and hero of the faith St. Athanasius, most scholars today believe the creed was written a few centuries after his death. But regardless of who wrote it, it is a clear and thorough profession of the faith approved and used by the Church for more than a millenium.

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is before, or after other; none is greater, or less than another;
But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved is must think thus of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood;
Who, although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Unity in Trinity...Trinity in Unity! Amen.

Related link: Dear Priests: The Top 5 Heresies to Avoid This Trinity Sunday

Source: TO BE A CHRISTIAN: An Anglican Catechism

Wrapping your head around all the trade talks...and why the GOP is buying into it

“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations...entangling alliances with none” ~ Thomas Jefferson

TPA, TPP...there's even a TTIP and a TISA. What does it all mean? In a nutshell, it means more globalization and less sovereignty...but many politicians, even the ones we like, think at least some of this is a good idea.

RedState: [Thursday], the Senate granted TPA (trade promotion authority, also known as “fast-track”) to President Obama in order to negotiate the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership).

The TPP has been dubbed in conservative circles as “ObamaTrade,” due to the nature of how the final deal will come about. The parameters of the deal have been secret so far. Maybe there are provisions they don’t want the public to see?

When fast-track authority is given to the President, once he submits the deal to Congress only an up-or-down vote may be held. Congress may not amend the bill nor can they filibuster the bill. The very purpose of fast-tracking is to ensure a deal can bypass parliamentary procedure.

We can almost be certain that the final version of the TPP will be very bad for America. However, with President Obama, Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker Boehner, and powerful lobbyists all supporting it, we cannot be certain that Congress would vote down the deal.

Who in their right mind would put the nation in such a precarious position? There is no upside with fast-tracking the TPP, but there is the very probable downside that it gets approved.

With all of this said, here is how each Senator voted on the TPA:

YEAs ---62
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Bennet (D-CO) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Cantwell (D-WA) Capito (R-WV) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Cassidy (R-LA) Coats (R-IN) Cochran (R-MS) Coons (D-DE) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Daines (R-MT)	Ernst (R-IA) Feinstein (D-CA) Fischer (R-NE) Flake (R-AZ) Gardner (R-CO) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Heitkamp (D-ND) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (R-WI) Kaine (D-VA) Kirk (R-IL) Lankford (R-OK) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS)	Murkowski (R-AK) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Perdue (R-GA) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rounds (R-SD) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Shaheen (D-NH) Sullivan (R-AK) Thune (R-SD) Tillis (R-NC) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---37
Baldwin (D-WI) Blumenthal (D-CT) Booker (D-NJ) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Casey (D-PA) Collins (R-ME) Donnelly (D-IN) Durbin (D-IL) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY) Heinrich (D-NM) Hirono (D-HI)	King (I-ME) Klobuchar (D-MN) Leahy (D-VT) Lee (R-UT) Manchin (D-WV) Markey (D-MA) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murphy (D-CT) Paul (R-KY) Peters (D-MI) Reed (D-RI)	Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schatz (D-HI) Schumer (D-NY) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-NM) Warren (D-MA) Whitehouse (D-RI)

Not Voting - 1

Enzi (R-WY)

But that's not exactly the entire picture. The US Senate passed Trade Promotion Authority, the 'fast-tracking bill,' by a 65-33 margin on May 14th BEFORE last Thursday evening's 62-38 vote to bring the debate on TPA to a close. And you see more than a few notable Republican names not only within the YEAs, but also shifting around between the two separate votes:

YEAs ---65
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Bennet (D-CO) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Cantwell (D-WA) Capito (R-WV) Carper (D-DE) Coats (R-IN) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Coons (D-DE) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Daines (R-MT) Enzi (R-WY) Ernst (R-IA)	Feinstein (D-CA) Fischer (R-NE) Flake (R-AZ) Gardner (R-CO) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Heitkamp (D-ND) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (R-WI) Kaine (D-VA) Kirk (R-IL) Lankford (R-OK) Lee (R-UT) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Moran (R-KS) Murkowski (R-AK)	Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Paul (R-KY) Perdue (R-GA) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rounds (R-SD) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shaheen (D-NH) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Tillis (R-NC) Toomey (R-PA) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---33
Baldwin (D-WI) Blumenthal (D-CT) Booker (D-NJ) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cardin (D-MD) Casey (D-PA) Donnelly (D-IN) Durbin (D-IL) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY)	Heinrich (D-NM) Hirono (D-HI) King (I-ME) Klobuchar (D-MN) Leahy (D-VT) Manchin (D-WV) Markey (D-MA) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murphy (D-CT)	Peters (D-MI) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schatz (D-HI) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-NM) Warren (D-MA) Whitehouse (D-RI)

Not Voting - 2
Cassidy (R-LA)	Sullivan (R-AK)

Back in April, Ryan and Cruz made the case in a WSJ op-ed that fast-tracking puts Congress in charge of trade, giving lawmakers more say over agreements that are vital for economic growth, but what's Congress' record thus far in holding this imperial Executive and his out-of-control administration accountable? Moreover, what about congressional accountability to the American people in acting on our behalf instead of the corporatists? (Also, that op-ed contained more 'fair deal', 'fair chance', 'level the playing field' speak coming from the opposition to our despotic president than I prefer to hear.)

For Rand Paul, the TPA is said to be a problem, sorta...

“I still might vote for the trade agreement, but I hate giving up power. We give up so much power from Congress to the presidency, and with them being so secretive on the treaty, it just concerns me what’s in the treaty,” Paul said, explaining his ‘no’ vote on fast tracking the TPP.

Voting against it last Thursday after he voted for it on the 14th...but he still might vote for the TPP? Trying to have his cake and eat it too?

So why are so many Republicans, including the most conservative among them, signing on to this when their conservative constituency says NO? Follow the money...

TheGuardian: A decade in the making, the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is reaching its climax and as Congress hotly debates the biggest trade deal in a generation, its backers have turned on the cash spigot in the hopes of getting it passed. ...

[Thursday's] vote, to give Barack Obama the authority to speed the bill through Congress, comes as the president’s own supporters, senior economists and a host of activists have lobbied against a pact they argue will favor big business but harm US jobs, fail to secure better conditions for workers overseas and undermine free speech online.

Those critics are unlikely to be silenced by an analysis of the sudden flood of money it took to push the pact over its latest hurdle.

Fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments, was only possible after lots of corporate money exchanged hands with senators. ...

Those impressive majorities follow months of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing by the world’s most well-heeled multinational corporations with just a handful of holdouts.

The piece goes on to name names in exploring the payouts from pro-TPP corporations, while fast-tracking was being debated in the Senate! In summary, out of the total $1,148,971 given, an average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 YEAs, with the average Republican member receiving $19,673.28 and the average Democrat receiving $9,689.23, both from the same corporate TPP-supporting crony capitalists (the amounts rise dramatically for those senators running for re-election).

Over at AEI, an interesting point to end on is made in comparison to Sen. Sessions' concerns over fast-tracking such trade deals in conjuction with our sovereign law...

Senator Sessions believes, “Conservativism is to proceed with caution, guided by the results of history, with a willingness to adjust one’s position based on real-world results.”

Another version of conservatism is to embrace freedom and competition as fully as possible, guided by the overwhelming evidence from real-world results today and throughout history that freedom and competition bring prosperity. Take your pick.

Take your pick in throwing caution to the wind? All for a supposed embrace? Trading liberty for security? A particular utterance comes to mind: "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." None of this encompasses a conservative approach. Yet, far too many Republicans and conservatives seem convinced otherwise.

Related links: This Is The Difference Between TPP And TPA (Hint: They Are Not The Same Thing)
Paul and Cruz Disagree Over TPP, Here’s Why…
This is How a Sellout Politician Votes
How the Media Misrepresent ‘Fast Track,’ TPP, & TTIP
Is It Really All Our Fault?
Right and Left Globalism
Globalism is liberalism

How the Obama admin allows the enemy to overrun Iraq

Or as entitled at the top of Obama's syllabus: How to Lose a War 101. So disgraceful.

This goes hand-in-hand with a related piece in yesterday's Memorial Day message (also where I pulled the 'Lions led by Donkeys' description, which is extremely accurate!).

In the compassionate elitist desire to redefine (like everything else) war as the HELL that it is, we've lost the ability to ever win against any enemy for fear of harming a single civilian. Meanwhile, WE, American civilians, Israeli civilians, Christian and Jewish non-combatants, and yes, even Muslim non-combatants, are ALL targets of these Islamists' murderous goals. Fighting battles with hands tied...not very effective...

NYTimes: American intelligence analysts have identified seven buildings in downtown Raqqa in eastern Syria as the main headquarters of the Islamic State. But the buildings have gone untouched during the 10-month allied air campaign.

And just last week, convoys of heavily armed Islamic State fighters paraded triumphantly through the streets of the provincial capital Ramadi in western Iraq after forcing Iraqi troops to flee. They rolled on unscathed by coalition fighter-bombers.

American and allied warplanes are equipped with the most precise aerial arsenal ever fielded. But American officials say they are not striking significant, and obvious, Islamic State targets out of fear that the attacks will accidentally kill civilians. Killing such innocents could hand the militants a major propaganda coup and alienate the local Sunni tribesmen, whose support is critical to ousting the militants, and Sunni Arab countries that are part of the fragile American-led coalition.

But many Iraqi commanders and some American officers say that exercising such prudence with airstrikes is a major reason the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or Daesh, has been able to seize vast territory in recent months in Iraq and Syria. That caution — coupled with President Obama’s reluctance to commit significant American firepower to a war the White House declared over in 2011, when the last United States combat troops withdrew from Iraq — has led to persistent complaints from Iraqi officials that the United States has been too cautious in its air campaign. Iraqi officials say the limited American airstrikes have allowed columns of Islamic State fighters essentially free movement on the battlefield.

It's not enough to take out a few here, a few there. This entire barbaric society must be ripped out by its roots...and we've got plenty of heavy bombers to accommodate, if only our allied forces were permitted by the political hands that bind them.

Eisenhower? FDR? Nixon? TRUMAN?! Any of these come to mind anymore?

Related links: How ISIS Expands
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Judges deliver another blow to Obama's amnesty

DENIED! Still not thrilled that this is taking the courts to root through what should be halted by Congress (if we had one with any semblance of a collective spine). Nonetheless, we'll take this: another score for the Constitution!

WT: A federal appeals court refused to lift an injunction against President Obama’s deportation amnesty in a ruling Tuesday that delivers a second major legal setback to the administration and keeps millions of illegal immigrants on hold.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with a lower court that ruled Mr. Obama probably broke the law in taking unilateral action last year to grant an amnesty from deportation. The three-judge panel, ruling 2-1, shot down Mr. Obama’s hopes of quickly restarting the amnesty, and make it likely he’ll have to go to the Supreme Court to try to win his case.

The majority, Judges Jerry E. Smith and Jennifer Elrod, said the president’s new program, known as Deferred Action for Parental Accountability or DAPA, is a binding policy that should have gone through the usual public notice and comment period, instead of being announced unilaterally by Mr. Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson late last year.

“We live in a nation governed by a system of checks and balances, and the president’s attempt to bypass the will of the American people was successfully checked again today,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who as his state’s attorney general last year began the lawsuit challenging the new amnesty.

Twenty-five states joined Texas in suing to halt the amnesty, arguing they would bear new costs in having to issue driver’s licenses to the illegal immigrants and provide health care and other services to them. The states said the president’s actions were unconstitutional or, at the very least, illegal.

How 'bout unconstitional AND illegal!

The Great One opened his program this evening with the news...

TRS: Mark Levin opened his show today explaining the decision by a federal appeals court not to stay the ruling of a federal court, which continues the hold on Obama’s illegal amnesty until it gets worked out in the court system. Levin unpacks it as only he can.

Related links: DENIED!! JUDGE SLAPS DOWN OBAMA’S AMNESTY REQUEST!!
Appellate court opinion upholding district court & stopping Obama's unconstitutional amnesty, for now (PDF)

A Memorial Day message

"What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal...” ~ Albert Pine

A special Memorial Day message from Ssgt. John Eric Mejia...

CampHope: As we gather today at barbeques, parks, and beaches, I would ask that we all take a moment to remember why it is that we have this day? Let us not do so somberly, but proudly. Let us honor all our Veterans, dead and living. What this day and all the memorial parks around the nation do is not to let us forget the Veterans who sacrificed to give us our freedom, but rather gives us a day and a place to honor their memory.

This day pays tribute to our Fallen Veterans' contributions to American Freedom, it should remind all who hear the phrase "Freedom isn't Free" that those are not just words, they are a value, a belief in the way of life that puts service for others above self. The American people cannot and should not ever forget what these Heroes did for us. We as a nation must keep faith with all our fallen Heroes and our Veterans. This then begs the question, "How do we honor those who've sacrificed for us and our country?”

I would ask you to search yourself for the answer. What is the measure of my resolve to give thanks for the freedoms that I have and that my family has been blessed with? What am I willing to do on my part to show thanks for these Freedoms that at times I take for granted, and that so many in the world long for? Search your heart for the answer.

We need to remember the sacrifice and the courage of our fallen Heroes. Whenever there was a time our nation or the world asked ordinary men and women to do extraordinary things, our Veterans heeded the call unselfishly. From the frozen defenses of Bastogne and the Chosen Reservoir, the deserts of North Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, the sweltering jungles of the Pacific and Vietnam, the European battlefields and all the battles at Sea and the Air Duels above foreign skies...any and all places our Veterans did their part to ensure freedom and peace.

Our honored Veterans and fallen gave up their futures so we can all have a brighter future with peace and freedom. ...

It can be said that the way we as a nation remember our Veterans and our war dead is a mark of our Nations character...and a measure of its heart and soul. All our Fallen Heroes and Veterans deserve our gratitude. They all deserve it for what they gave and deserve more than we can give for our peace and freedom. Ladies and Gentleman, never think that a handful of committed people cannot change the world...in fact it's the only thing that ever has! British Statesman and Philosopher, Edmund Burke once said "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing!"

Let us go forth and prove to our Veterans and Fallen Heroes, that we are worthy of the sacrifices borne by so few for so many.

God bless all our Fallen Heroes and their families...and God bless the United States of America.

Regardless of the deficiencies of our political classes, who've made it all too clear that our soldiers are 'Lions led by Donkeys,' we nonetheless remember their selfless sacrifice to secure the safety of our nation, the liberty of its people, and the preservation of both by facing any and all enemies both here and abroad.

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In Time of War and Tumults.

ALMIGHTY God, the supreme Governor of all things, whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to those who truly repent; Save and deliver us, we humbly beseech thee, from the hands of our enemies; that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify thee, who art the only giver of all victory; through the merits of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Army.

O LORD God of Hosts, stretch forth, we pray thee, thine almighty arm to strengthen and protect the soldiers of our country; Support them in the day of battle, and in the time of peace keep them safe from all evil; endue them with courage and loyalty; and grant that in all things they may serve without reproach; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Navy.

O ETERNAL Lord God, who alone spreadest out the heavens, and rulest the raging of the sea; Vouchsafe to take into thy almighty and most gracious protection our country’s Navy, and all who serve therein. Preserve them from the dangers of the sea, and from the violence of the enemy; that they may be a safeguard unto the United States of America, and a security for such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions; that the inhabitants of our land may in peace and quietness serve thee our God, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Memorial Days.

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

Source: 1928 BCP

The birth of the Church: Celebrating Pentecost

Today is Pentecost. Following the Ascension of the Son, this extraordinary event was brought about by the coming of the Holy Spirit to Christ's many disciples. We learn of these Acts through the Apostles, and Peter's first sermon brought about the fellowship of believers, one in the body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:27), and thus gave birth to the Christian Church...

Acts 2: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

"Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Fitting that this precedes Memorial Day. Let us all remember the plight and sacrifice of our first Christian Soldiers and be not afraid to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, while spreading the message of Christ afar (which could be right next door).

Related links: The Pentecost: We still need the fire
What is Pentecost? Why Does It Matter?

Coming down the pike: Levin's 'Plunder and Deceit'

Levin's next book to rival Liberty & Tyranny. Synopsis is out...

Amazon: In each of his astounding #1 New York Times bestsellers, Mark R. Levin’s overlying patriotic mission has been to avert a devastating tragedy: The loss of the greatest republic known to mankind. But who stands to lose the most?

In modern America, the civil society is being steadily devoured by a ubiquitous federal government. But as the government grows into an increasingly authoritarian and centralized federal Leviathan, many parents continue to tolerate, if not enthusiastically champion, grievous public policies that threaten their children and successive generations with a grim future at the hands of a brazenly expanding and imploding entitlement state poised to burden them with massive debt, mediocre education, waves of immigration, and a deteriorating national defense.

Yet tyranny is not inevitable. In Federalist 51, James Madison explained with cautionary insight the essential balance between the civil society and governmental restraint: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

This essential new book is, against all odds, a likeminded appeal to reason and audacity—one intended for all Americans but particularly the rising generation. Younger people must find the personal strength and will to break through the cycle of statist manipulation, unrelenting emotional overtures, and the pressure of groupthink, which are humbling, dispiriting, and absorbing them; to stand up against the heavy hand of centralized government, which if left unabated will assuredly condemn them to economic and societal calamity.

Levin calls for a new civil rights movement, one that will foster liberty and prosperity and cease the exploitation of young people by statist masterminds. He challenges the rising generation of younger Americans to awaken to the cause of their own salvation, asking: will you acquiesce to a government that overwhelmingly acts without constitutional foundation—or will you stand in your own defense so that yours and future generations can live in freedom?

Well, America? Out August 4th.

Related link: Radio Mag hails Mark Levin as true radio heavyweight with one of the largest audiences in America