CCTPP 2018 Ballot Recommendations

Federal Elections

3rd Congressional District

  • Walter Jones

State Elections

NC Senate:

  • Senator Norman Sanderson

NC House of Rep

  • Representative Pat McElraft

County Elections

  • Clerk of Court: Ken Raper
  • Register of Deeds: Karen S. Hardesty
  • Sheriff: Asa Buck

County Commissioners

  • District 1: Robin V. Comer
  • District 2: Bill Smith
  • District 3: Mark Mansfield
  • District 6: Jonathan Robinson

County Board of Education

  • District 1: John (Bubba) McLean, Jr.
  • District 3: Robert Clark Jenkins
  • District 5: Brittany H. Wheatly
  • District 6: Kathryn Smith Chadwick

Judicial Races

  • Supreme Court Election: Justice Barbara Jackson (the only conservative candidate)

NC Court of Appeals

  • NC Court of Appeals Judge Chuck Kitchen
  • NC Court of Appeals: Judge Jefferson Griffin
  • NC Court of Appeals : Judge Andrew Heath

Second Division of the NC Superior Court

  • Paul Quinn
  • John E. Nobles, Jr.

 

Constitutional Amendments: Vote FOR all six

NC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jackson Sinister Opponents

This is a link to a short video that demonstrates the sinister plan the NC Democrats have schemed to beat the sitting conservative NC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jackson. The Democrats are running a Democrat candidate who changed parties at the eleventh hour to split the vote between himself and Justice Jackson in hopes of electing Justice Jackson’s Democrat opponent.

Please take a few minutes to review the video.

http://buncombegop.org/2018/07/youre-going-to-love-this-quick-video-on-ncs-justice-race/

 

November 2018 Voter Information

Election Day is the first Tuesday in November 2018 is November 6, 2018. An email detailing dates for submitting absentee ballots, One Stop voting (Early Voting), and poll schedules on Election Day will be forthcoming.

Off-year elections are often ignored. Please do not ignore this off-year election. There are very important elections and issues on the ballot that effect Carteret County and the State of North Carolina.

Locally, Carteret County has it first partisan School Board Elections in over 25 years. There are many reasons this is important. First, partisan elections provide information as to the candidates core beliefs that impact what your children and grandchildren are taught in Carteret County Schools. From sex education to how our government works. Go to the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Citizens-Against-Non-Partisan-School-Board-Elections-177307653074348/ for more informations on why it is important to know more about your school board candidates.

Also, in Carteret County, we will be electing several County Commissioners to office. In spite of the many Letters to the Editor submitted to the local newspaper attacking the current County Commissioners with distorted information and out right lies from Democrat opposition candidates, Carteret County is being managed at a high level of efficiency. Did you know that Carteret County has the lowest tax rate in North Carolina? Did you know that Carteret County schools are in the top ten in the State? Nearly every Democrat opponent in the Carteret County commissioner race has proposed increasing our taxes; they have supported unfettered illegal immigration and refugees into the county; they have pled for our Commissioners to support unisex bathrooms and showers in our schools; they have opposed partisan school board elections; and many more extreme Progressive Liberal policies.

At the State level, Democrats are challenging our incredibly successful NC House and NC Senate candidates who have been admirable in their support for Carteret County conservative values.

But most egregiously, the NC Democrats have pulled an extremely dirty trick to unseat the conservative NC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jackson. Just a week before filling for office closed, a Democrat changed parties (to Republican) to run against Justice Jackson with the expressed intent to split the Republican vote so that another Democrat running against Justice Jackson would have a better chance to defeat Justice Jackson. Here’s a link to Justice Jackson’s Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/reelectjusticejackson/  Justice Jackson needs your help with donations and your vote.

There are also six ballot initiatives on the ballot in November 2018 (although Governor Cooper and the NAACP are trying to have the courts remove them). Here is a link to read more about each of the initiatives to change the NC Constitution including Voter ID, https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/ballots-will-have-amendments-not-just-candidates-in-november/

If you are able, you can help Crystal Coast Tea Party promote conservative candidates in NC by donating to TEA NC PAC. Reply to this email if you want more information on how to donate.

November 2018 Ballots Will Have Six Amendments to Vote For or Against

Here is a list and explanations of the six ballot amendments on the November 2018 ballots. This is an honest description of each of the initiatives. The Progressive Left in NC is working hard to deceive voters as to the actual purpose of each of these initiatives. In fact, Governor Roy Cooper and the NAACP are suing in court trying to have the initiatives removed from the ballots. Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriots thinks the people of NC have the right to vote for or against these initiatives instead of letting the Progressive Left overrule the peoples right to decide.

 

https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/ballots-will-have-amendments-not-just-candidates-in-november/

 

Click on the link to get an honest description of the NC ballot initiatives.

Teacher Appreciation Week by NC Representative Pat McElraft

TO THE EDITOR:

Last week was Teacher Appreciation week and I thank our teachers past and present in Carteret and Jones counties and around the state. I thank them for their dedication to educating our children and for the many sacrifices they endure along the way.

We all have fond memories of teachers who have made an impact on our lives. Our teachers today have an especially difficult job because so much more is required of them than ever before.

I especially thank our teachers here in Carteret and Jones counties who are not leaving their classroom responsibilities to protest in Raleigh Wednesday. Thank you for caring more about your students than yourself. I am saddened that schools in Wake County, Winston-Salem and Durham are closing so teachers can protest. Parents are having to find babysitters or miss work and lose a day of pay so that their teachers can protest. Our teachers and school personnel have put children and families first by not closing. Thank you for that selfless action.

Under Republican leadership we have not only talked the talk but we have walked the walk to show our appreciation to our teachers and school personnel. Here are some facts sent to me by our leadership:

North Carolina ranked #1 in the U.S. for fastest rising teacher pay in 2017 according to the National Education Association, and according to the NEA North Carolina ranked #2 in the U.S. for fastest rising teacher pay in 2018.

In 2018, North Carolina teachers will receive their fifth consecutive raise from Republican leaders in the state General Assembly.

The average raise for our teachers from 2017-19 will be $4,412. The average raise for North Carolina teachers over the last five years is $8,600, a 19.1% increase.

Due to this string of salary increases, a 6th year North Carolina teacher will earn $9,200 more in the 2018-2019 school year than in their first year of teaching in 2013, a 29.9% increase.

In 2018, a fifth consecutive pay raise will be provided to North Carolina teachers.

A teacher with five years of experience will earn $9,200 more in 2018-19 than the same teacher in 2013-14, from $30,800 to $40,000, a 29.9% increase.

A teacher with 12 years of experience will earn $15,330 more in 2018-19 than that teacher did in 2013-14, from $31,670 to $47,000, a 48% increase.

A teacher with 16 years of experience will earn $11,840 more in 2018-19 than the same teacher did in 2013-14, from $38,160 to $50,000, a 31% increase.

A teacher with 25 years of experience will earn $9,040 more in 2018-19 than they did in 2013-14, from $42,260 to $51,300, a 21.4% increase.

Other bonus programs and compensation incentives for North Carolina teachers:

• Teacher Assistant Tuition Reimbursement

• Initial Teacher Licensing Fee Reimbursement

• Future Teachers of North Carolina

• Supplements for Highly Qualified Graduates

• Advanced Teaching Roles Pilot Program

• New Teacher Support Program

• Highly qualified Teacher Salary Supplements

• 3rd Grade Reading Bonuses

• AP/IB/CTE Bonuses

• 4th-8th Reading/Math Bonuses

• Veteran teacher bonuses

• New Teaching Fellows Program

The average teacher pay in North Carolina is now $50,000, well over the state’s average income, and starting teacher pay is now $35,000.

Consider that Democrats froze teacher pay in 2009 and called for furloughs of teachers and other state employees.

These facts should drive the conversation about properly compensating teachers for their immeasurable contribution to educating the future of North Carolina.

Under Republican leadership, the N.C. General Assembly has committed to a teacher appreciation agenda that delivered five consecutive pay raise to teachers and led the nation in salary growth the last two years.

Teachers are taxpayers too and we have reduced personal income taxes an average of 20% — more money in their pockets.

We still have work to do with senior teachers’ pay, principals’ pay and keeping up with inflation for all our teachers, but we are making education a priority.

Please take the time to say thank you to every teacher you come in contact with all year long.

My sincere appreciation to all teachers and school personnel. Thank you so very much.

Rep. PAT McELRAFT

N.C. House District 13 Jones and Carteret Counties

2018 Primary Election Results & Recommendations

CCTPP Primary Election Night Results

US House of Representatives, 3rd District
Scott Dacey and Phil Law (tie vote; both will appear on recommended list)

NC Senate, District 2
Norman Sanderson

NC House of Representatives
Pat McElraft

Clerk of Superior Court
Ken Raper

Board of Education, District 3
Robert Clark Jenkins

 

CCTPP also recommends supporting candidates who support Partisan School Board Elections. Partisan School Board Elections provide valuable insight to the voter about candidates values and principles. Contrary to what some want you to believe, members of the school board DO NOT leave their politics at the door when they enter the boardroom to make decisions on school issues and policies. Visit the Facebook Page to learn more and see examples, https://www.facebook.com/Citizens-Against-Non-Partisan-School-Board-Elections-177307653074348/

2016 TEA Party Ballot including Conservative Judges

Here is the TEA Party Ballot for the 2016 election. The list includes the all important list of Conservative Judges.

Of particular note in the judge races is the re-election of Bob Edmunds to the NC Supreme Court and Josh Willey to the 3rd District Superior Court. Of course, all of the judicial races are important.

In Carteret County, we need your help at the Early Voting polls and on Election Day to pass out the TEA Party ballots. You can contact us via the contact page on this site to volunteer.

IMPORTANT DATES: Registration Deadline is October 14, 2016;  Early voting begins October 20 at 5 locations in Carteret County; and Election Day is November 8.

If you have any questions, contact us using the contact form on this site.

 

Re-Elect Conservative NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Bob Edmunds

CRITICAL ELECTION ALERT – JUNE 7, 2016

Re-elect Conservative Associate NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds.

Justice Edmunds is up for election to retain his seat on the NC Supreme Court. He is the only conservative justice running on June 7, 2016. The other three candidates are liberal Democrats that support Roy Cooper’s liberal agenda of gay marriage and pedophile access to ladies bathrooms and girls locker rooms and showers in high school. In fact, one of the candidates, Sabre Faires filed suit against the NC Retention Bill passed by the NC Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. This law would have had NC Supreme Court Justices retained by the voters based on their record instead of running for re-election. Faires won the case, then filed along with two other liberal Democrats to run against conservative Justice Bob Edmunds. Read more here -> http://www.newsobserver.com/…/state-po…/article61148607.html

Please help get out the vote to re-elect conservative Justice Bob Edmunds and maintain a conservative majority on the NC Supreme Court, and if at all possible volunteer to work the polls during Early Voting on on Election Day.

Early Voting is from May 26 to June 3, excluding May 30, 2016. Early voting is only available at the Board of Elections in Beaufort during this period. Please volunteer for any amount of time to support Justice Bob Edmunds.

On election day, June 7th, all Carteret County precincts will be open for voting. Volunteers at these precincts are also needed.

Note: If you voted in the May 2016 Primary and you thought you voted for the 3rd District Congressional candidates, you did not! None of those votes were compiled by the Board of Elections and you will need to vote again for 3rd District Congressional candidates either during early voting or on election day.

VOTER ALERT – CARTERET COUNTY – VOTER ALERT

Forces within the Carteret County Republican Party are marshaling efforts to mislead voters on the records of two incumbent County Commissioners running for re-election in contested primary races. Those supporting these incumbents are worried that the conservative challengers will impair their influence in county politics if the challengers win the primary election. Much like the elite, establishment Republicans in Washington, DC, these local Republican officials are more interested in their power than in serving the people of Carteret County. These party officials may in fact be violating the Carteret County Republican Party’s Plan of Organization by taking sides in a primary election.

These same party officials are misrepresenting the record of these two incumbents by claiming that they have held the line on county taxes, when the truth is that if the votes of these two incumbents had carried the day (ie. passed the commissioner’s vote) their votes would have resulted in significant tax increases for county residents.

Further, the two incumbents have served on committees and panels that have failed to bring meaningful new businesses to Carteret County and failed to reach agreement on a health insurance agreement between Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Carteret Health Care. These two incumbents have failed the citizens of Carteret County.

If you want our County Commissioners to hold the line on spending, and bring new jobs into Carteret County, it is imperative that you get out to vote for two conservatives running for Districts 3 and 5; vote for Bob Cavanaugh and Eddie Bo Wheatly the conservative choice for Carteret County.

TEA NC PAC

The TEA NC PAC is a political action committee established to promote conservative candidates in Carteret County and NC who adhere to TEA Party principles of Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility, and Free Markets.

TEA NC PAC uses donations during Primary and General elections to print newspaper ads and palm cards to inform voters in Carteret County of candidates vetted by the TEA Party and have been determined to best meet the TEA Party principles described above. There are absolutely NO ADMINISTRATIVE costs; every cent is spent on printing ads and palm cards that are passed out at the polls for Primary and General elections. The cost of providing this service is approximately $2,000 each election year.

You can use the contact form on this page to get more information on how to contribute to the TEA NC PAC and to ask any questions about the PAC.

One-Stop (Early) Voting in Carteret County

One-Stop (Early) Voting in Carteret County starts on March 3 and ends March 12, 2016 at selected polling locations. Use this link to find locations and times, Early Voting Locations

 

Crystal Coast Tea Party needs your help to pass out voter recommendations at the early voting poll locations, especially in Commissioner Districts 3 and 5 polling locations.

Commissioner District 3 Voting Precincts are Morehead #2, Morehead #3, Morehead #4, Wildwood, Portion of Broad Creek, Portion of Morehead #1.

Commissioner District #4 Voting Precincts are Atlantic Beach, Indian Beach/Salter Path, Pine Knoll Shores, Emerald Isle, and Portion of Morehead #1.

While all Early Voting locations are open for all voters in Carteret County, CCTPP volunteers especially needed for these locations: Carteret County Board of Elections in Beaufort, Fort Benjamin Park in Newport, and Morehead City Parks and Rec. in Morehead City.

 

Use Contact Form on this site to volunteer, or just show up at one of the poll locations.

TEA Party Recommended 2016 Primary Candidates

President …………………………… Ted Cruz

U. S. Senate …………………………Greg Brannon

NC Governor ……………………….. Pat McCrory

NC Attorney General ………………..Buck Newton

NC Commissioner of Agriculture …..Steve Troxler

NC Commissioner of Insurance ………Mike Causey

NC Secretary of State  …………….A. J. Daoud

NC Superintendent of Public Instruction..Rosemary Stein

Commissioner, District 3 ……………….Bob Cavanaugh

Commissioner, District 5 ……………George E. (Eddie Bo) Wheatly

Board of Education, District 2 ……….. J. Marty Shirley

Board of Education, District 3 …………Melissa Ehlers

Board of Education, District 4 …………Travis Day

Connect NC Public Improvement Bond – Against

Latest Crystal Coast Tea Party News and Views

Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriot groups:   

MOREHEAD CITY GROUP, Weekly Meeting:   Every Tuesday @ 6 PM, Golden Corral in Morehead City, NC, on Arendell Street.

WEST CARTERET GROUP, Semi-monthly Meeting:   On the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays @ 6:30 PM, Ribeye’s Restaurant, Cape Carteret, NC.

( Everyone is cordially invited to any of our meetings.  If you can, come an hour or so early to eat, chat, and get acquainted! ).

 

John Bolton weighs in on Netanyahu’s Invitation

There has been much ado about the supposed audacious over-reach by House Speaker John Boehner in inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint meeting of Congress.  My view is to favor the speech, because we will not hear the truth from President Obama on the full extent of the bind we have put Israel in.

However, here’s some thoughts from former UN Ambassador John Bolton as expressed in his recent op-ed published in the Pittsburh Tribune:

The stakes are as high as they come.  But Obama cannot be candid about the terms of the ongoing discussions, especially now.  The inevitable consequences of his dangerous position already are provoking widespread bipartisan disapproval in America.

The White House most fears the effect Netanyahu will have on congressional consideration of further Iran sanctions if no deal is reached.  Obama is worried with good reason.  Although Iran and the West have been negotiating since 2003, only Obama has made the massive concessions to Tehran that have brought a deal close at hand.  And it is not just what Netanyahu will say in Washington but also his timing that set off Obama and his acolytes.

In fact, Netanyahu previously addressed a joint session of Congress on May 24, 2011, demonstrating, among other things, his gaping differences with Obama regarding Israel’s ultimate borders, under negotiation with the Palestinians.  The New York Times reported that “Mr. Netanyahu received so many standing ovations that at times it appeared that the lawmakers were listening to his speech standing up.”  Even worse, from Obama’s perspective, The Times said Netanyahu’s “speech had many of the trappings of a presidential State of the Union address.”

Ironically, Obama touched off the current controversy when he persuaded or allowed British Prime Minister David Cameron to lobby members of Congress against the pending Iran sanctions proposals.  At a joint Obama-Cameron news conference in Washington, the British leader answered forthrightly that he had spoken with senators and would likely speak to more, to convey “the opinion of the United Kingdom” that sanctions legislation would impair the ongoing negotiations.

Although publicly admitting Cameron’s lobbying effort was highly unusual, they [Senators] were hardly shocked in a day when foreign countries hire Washington lobbying firms to influence Congress, the executive branch and even U.S. public opinion.  And even less shockingly, we do the same to foreign governments.

What likely irritated Obama more was that Netanyahu’s star power will almost certainly eclipse Cameron’s and that the arguments in favor of sanctions legislation are more persuasive than the Obama-Cameron view has been thus far.  Moreover, British parliamentary elections are set for May 7, so Cameron’s timing obviously does not differ in principle from Netanyahu’s.

For the full article, click HERE.

Turnabout

UPDATE

Today in the U.S. Senate, the Democratic minority filibustered the House-approved DHS funding bill to keep it from even coming to the floor for a vote.  They did this to thwart the Republican-led attempt to remove from the bill any funding for President Obama’s illegal actions on immigration.  This sets up a new confrontation, and soon, because the appropriations to fund ongoing operations at DHS will run out at the end of February.

ORIGINAL POST

In a well-written piece at National Journal, reporter Daniel Newhauser is calling attention to the very public way in which House Speaker John Boehner is urging the Senate, and specifically Senators Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions, to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk”.

Here’s an excerpt from Newhauser’s article:

“It’s time for Senator Cruz and Senator Sessions, and Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats to stand together with the American people and block the president’s actions,” Boehner told reporters Tuesday morning.

The peculiarity of Boehner name-checking Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions cannot be overlooked.  Both have railed against Boehner and his team, particularly on immigration issues, calling on them to bring more conservative bills to the floor.  Sessions helped scuttle a border-security bill Boehner hoped to bring to the House floor last week, holding that it did not do enough to secure the border or deal with interior enforcement.  Cruz, meanwhile, was instrumental in pushing House Republicans to shut down the government in 2013 over demands that any funding legislation block implementation of Obama’s health care law.

But now the tables have been turned.  Boehner’s subtle jab at the two senators betrays an increasing frustration among House Republicans with GOP senators pushing the House to pass legislation they do not have the votes to pass in the Senate.  And if, as expected, the Senate cannot pass the House version of the DHS bill, expect House Republicans to blame Senate Republicans, now in the majority, as much as their Democratic counterparts.

“The fight is now in the Senate.  It will be won or lost there,” said a source familiar with Boehner’s thinking.  “Senators like Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions need to show the American people how we succeed in the Senate.  What’s their plan to get ‘yes’ votes from senators like [Claire] McCaskill and [Joe] Donnelly, who’ve expressed concerns, and ultimately what’s their plan to get this passed in the Senate?”

I agree with Boehner on this one.  Ted Cruz is sometimes long on talk and short on action.  Let’s see if he can gain passage in the Senate of this vital bill.

Newhauser’s complete article is HERE.

Obama: Oh, those “clawback” penalties? Just kidding!

Megan McArdle is writing at Bloomberg about yet another waiver from the ObamaCare Law, this one to the provision requiring penalties be paid to the IRS of any excess in federal tax credits that an insured person may have received as health insurance subsidies, if the taxpayer does not pay the excess back by April 15th.

McArdle says this about the waiver of the “clawback” penalties:

It’s not relieving you of the obligation to repay; it’s just saying that you won’t be liable for a penalty if you don’t repay by the deadline.  Interest will continue to accrue, but the interest rates that the IRS charges are actually pretty reasonable (and probably much better than what your credit card company charges).  It’s the failure-to-pay penalties it layers on top — half a percentage point a month, with even stiffer penalties for failing to file — that really make your tax bill add up fast.

The full article is HERE.

Is it too late for the Keystone XL Pipeline?

The stated purpose of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline is to transport crude oil taken from the oil sands in Canada’s Alberta province southward to the refining facilities located in the United States mid-South region of Oklahoma and along the Gulf Of Mexico coastline.  When those oil sands were viable as a source of crude oil, the project made infinite sense, but a major hitch has developed.

I wrote previously, HERE, about the jeopardy into which falling crude oil prices have put crude oil extracted in the US through the use of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.  Crude oil extracted from oil tar sands have in common with fracking the vulnerability of high extraction costs when compared with traditional methodologies used with traditional oil deposits.

Today, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil (the common U.S. standard) stands at less than $47 a 42-gallon barrel, and it will almost certainly go lower.  The Saudi’s have publicly stated that they will not curtail production in their Saudi Arabian oil fields, even if WTI crude goes down to $10 a barrel.  The death of King Abdullah may cause a twitch or two in the markets, but no long-term change in the trend.

Although the newly elected Congress seems bent on sending to the President’s desk a bill mandating the construction of the pipeline, it may be time to think about whether or not the project still makes economic sense, especially in light of President Obama’s vow to veto such a bill.

Maybe the best approach is to wait for a new occupant of the White House, one that will surely be more objective in evaluating the project on its merits.

Has Wayne Goodwin made a New Year’s Resolution?

If I had a “when pigs fly” posting category on this blog, this news might be allotted to it.  The Greensboro News-Record reported last month, HERE, that NC Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin had WayneGoodwindisapproved the insurance industry’s request for a 26% overall increase in the rates for homeowner’s insurance rates statewide, rates that were due to take effect in June.  In an even more surprising turn of events, Commissioner Goodwin ordered reductions in the rates for coastal counties, a reversal of the trend in recent decades.

Although the newspaper article makes no mention of it, I assume the insurance companies may have recourse to the courts.  No word so far, however, that they intend to sue, so like so many of you, I will hope for a lower homeowner’s insurance bill later this year.

Havana, a Potemkin Village in the Caribbean

Almost one year ago I wrote HERE about writer Michael J. Totten’s  ventures into Cuba, and to introduce readers to the two pieces he had written to date on the subject of what he found there.  This past spring, Totten published a third piece at City-Journal, this one entitled “The Last Communist City”.  As usual, his piece is well-written and immensely informative.  Here’s an enticing excerpt:

… In the United States, we have a minimum wage; Cuba has a maximum wage—$20 a month for almost every job in the country.  (Professionals such as doctors and lawyers can make a whopping $10 extra a month.)  Sure, Cubans get “free” health care and education, but as Cuban exile and Yale historian Carlos Eire says, “All slave owners need to keep their slaves healthy and ensure that they have the skills to perform their tasks.”

Even employees inside the quasi-capitalist bubble don’t get paid more.  The government contracts with Spanish companies such as Meliá International to manage Havana’s hotels. Before accepting its contract, Meliá said that it wanted to pay workers a decent wage.  The Cuban government said fine, so the company pays $8–$10 an hour.  But Meliá doesn’t pay its employees directly.  Instead, the firm gives the compensation to the government, which then pays the workers—but only after pocketing most of the money.  I asked several Cubans in my hotel if that arrangement is really true.  All confirmed that it is.  The workers don’t get $8–$10 an hour; they get 67 cents a day—a child’s allowance.

Read the whole thing, HERE.

The Vote for Speaker of the House

The tempest in the teapot has subsided, and the members of the U.S. House of Representatives have elected a speaker for the upcoming term.

HOR_SpeakerVoteAt right is a breakdown of the vote.  Although there were a few more than usual kicking out of the traces, the heavy favorite, Representative John Boehner of Ohio, was handily re-elected to serve his third term.

The vote total came to only 408, so not all members cast a vote.  And yes, some idiot did cast a write-in vote for former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

With that out of the way, and with Senator Mitch McConnell the winner in the Senate election, Congress is now set to accomplish great things, right?

Warthogs to the Rescue in the Caliphate

I’ve written twice before (HERE and HERE) about the misguided attempts by the military to retire the A-10 from their inventory of combat aircraft on the grounds that the Warthog is increasingly outmoded and obsolete.  But now, it appears that the military is having second thoughts, at least for the time being.  James Dunnigan is reporting at StrategyPage that:

Despite renewed U.S. Air Force efforts to retire the much loved (by their pilots and the ground troops who depend on it) A-10C ground attack aircraft, at least ten of them from a reserve unit have been quietly sent to the Middle East to join in the air operations against ISIL (Islamic State in A10_WarthogIraq and the Levant) in Iraq and Syria.  Many older ISIL members (who fought in Iraq before the A-10s were withdrawn) are not happy with this news while the soldiers and militiamen fighting ISIL are much encouraged.

This was kept quiet because earlier in 2014 the U.S. Air Force insisted it had to retire all of its A-10 ground support aircraft (to deal with a shrinking budget) and this time it was going to happen.  That statement had been heard several times before since the Cold War ended in 1991.  Many politicians do not agree with the generals and it appeared the air force would be forced to keep at least some of the A-10s.  There is little doubt that the A-10s will again make themselves useful.  That will slow down but not stop air force efforts to eliminate this popular (except among senior commanders) warplane.

A-10s were designed during the Cold War for combat against Russian ground forces in Europe.  That war never happened and the last American A-10 attack aircraft left Europe in mid-2013.  After that some politicians believed the A-10 might be needed back in Europe to help confront an increasingly aggressive Russia.  Meanwhile the A-10 proved to be a formidable combat aircraft in post-Cold War conflicts, first in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and later in Afghanistan and Iraq.  During the last decade the most requested ground support aircraft in Afghanistan has been the A-10.  There was similar A-10 affection in Iraq.  Troops from all nations quickly came to appreciate the unique abilities of this 1970s era aircraft that the U.S. Air Force is constantly trying to get rid of.  In 2011 the air force did announce that it was retiring 102 A-10s, leaving 243 in service.  At the same time the air force accelerated the upgrading of the remaining A-10s to the A-10C standard.

Read the full article, HERE.

Hanoi Jane turns Seventy-Seven

In a post on December 21st at her vanity website, Jane Fonda declares that, to combat a recent episode of ennui, she has decided to build a shrine to herself.  The decision was made on her birthday, during her one-hour meditation period.

The shrine is to be nothing especially monumental she says, just “a small place where I can put things that remind me, conjure up in me, the qualities that represent my best self.  I will spend the new year collecting objects and symbols that will do that.  One will be from my 4th grade school report.  Things that remind me that I’m brave.  I’ve been forgetting that.  I will put a special candle on the shrine and burn sandalwood and put some special Native American artifacts that I’ve treasured over the years in honor of the Mohawk Nation where my Fonda ancestors built their homestead.”

Since Fonda now seems to have developed the patina of a national JaneFonda_Gunsighttreasure, with an impressive resume as an actress, political agitator, Black Panthers supporter, aerobics guru, broadcaster for Hanoi Radio, Palestinian supporter, and all-around American traitor, we should all help to restore her self-esteem if we can.  For my part, I have mailed her a memento from her past, something she may still believe is representative of her “best self”, and something which perfectly illustrates her bravery.  It is a 1972 photograph, above at right, of her sitting on and looking through the gunsight of a piece of North Vietnamese anti-aircraft artillery, the same type that mortally wounded so many U.S. aircraft over the North’s capital city.  If they survived the shootdown, of course, the pilots went into the North Vietnamese prisoner of war system, exemplified by the infamous Hanoi Hilton.

Happy birthday, Janey.

Denunciation then and now: Korematsu and CIA Torture

Just over a week ago the Pew Research Center published the results of their poll on the American public’s reaction to the content of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “CIA Torture Report”, the huge report released PewPoll_CIAtortureby outgoing Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” during the months immediately after the September 11, 2011 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

A table showing the detailed results is at right, but it can be summed up by saying that the public seems to be much more understanding of the exigencies of the time than the left wing media would prefer them to be.  While I don’t think that sleep deprivation and waterboarding can be appropriately defined as torture, they certainly are practices better left to the regimes of South American dictators than to the repertoire of the United States government.  Still, the judgment cannot be intelligently made without an understanding and consideration of the circumstances.

In considering this national guilt spasm initiated by Senator Feinstein’s questionable release of the report, I am reminded of the condemnations that took place in the decades after World War II over the U.S. government’s internment of the Japanese in the months after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.  Indeed, the condemnations are even now not so far removed, as conservative author Michelle Malkin found when she wrote a heavily criticized book just ten years ago entitled “In Defense of Internment”.  In her book, Malkin argues that, in hindsight, the internment may have been unwarranted, but at the time the fear of sabotage by the Japanese living along the west coast was plausible and very real, and that fear cannot simply be dismissed from the arguments.

Today, in the minds of many, the issues surrounding the Japanese internment are encapsulated in Korematsu versus United States, a landmark case in which SCOTUS upheld President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1942 Executive Order #9066, which directed all Japanese Americans to report for internment in a series of camps established at various points around the lower 48 states.  Here’s an excerpt from the WikiPedia page on the case:

In a 6–3 decision, the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional.  Six of eight Roosevelt appointees sided with Roosevelt.  The lone Republican appointee, Owen Roberts, dissented.  The opinion, written by Supreme Court justice Hugo Black, held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu’s individual rights, and the rights of Americans of Japanese descent.  (The Court limited its decision to the validity of the exclusion orders, adding, “The provisions of other orders requiring persons of Japanese ancestry to report to assembly centers and providing for the detention of such persons in assembly and relocation centers were separate, and their validity is not in issue in this proceeding.”)  During the case, Solicitor General Charles Fahy is alleged to have suppressed evidence by keeping from the Court a report from the Office of Naval Intelligence indicating that there was no evidence that Japanese Americans were acting as spies or sending signals to enemy submarines.

The decision in Korematsu v. United States has been very controversial.  Korematsu’s conviction for evading internment was overturned on November 10, 1983, after Korematsu challenged the earlier decision by filing for a writ of coram nobis.  In a ruling by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted the writ (that is, it voided Korematsu’s original conviction) because in Korematsu’s original case, the government had knowingly submitted false information to the Supreme Court that had a material effect on the Supreme Court’s decision.

Even the Obama administration has gotten into the act.  Judge Patel’s ruling notwithstanding, SCOTUS has never explicitly overturned their decision in Korematsu v. United States.  However, in 2011 Eric Holder’s Department of Justice filed an official notice stipulating that the decision was in error, thus erasing the case’s value as precedent for interning citizens.

For more information on Fred Korematsu, who died in 1985, click his WikiPedia page, HERE.  Likewise, for more information on Korematsu versus United States, that WikiPedia page is HERE.

Animated Views of the Venerable Colt Army M1911

The word venerable seems made to order for the M1911, Colt’s 1911 model semi-automatic pistol originally designed in 1911 by John ColtArmy1911Browning as a 45-caliber sidearm for the U.S. military.  It remained so for seventy-four years, until 1985, when it was replaced as the official military sidearm by the Beretta M9, my personal preference for a large-frame pistol.  Counting the examples manufactured for civilian use, for law enforcement, and for foreign governments, there have been around three million M1911 models produced.

What better example is there, then, for a high-quality animation illustrating all the inner workings of a semi-automatic pistol in operation?  None, I think, and after viewing the animation, you’ll agree.  Check it out, HERE, and for more on the M1911, the WikiPedia page is HERE.

The Malmedy Massacre at Three Score & Ten

This month marks the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, the last major combat encounter in the European theater of World War II, and today marks the seventieth anniversary of one of the more heinous acts of the war, the Malmedy Massacre.

During the Battle, on the second day of the breakout by German troops through the Ardennes Forest, American soldiers of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were captured by the German First SS Panzer Division near the town of Malmedy in Belgium.  The German offensive was begun during a period of weather so bad that all Allied aircraft were grounded, and the Germans were desperate to move quickly toward, and to recapture, the Belgian port of Antwerp while the Americans were without the close air support that could quickly destroy the German tanks.  They could therefore afford no delays in their advance, and POW’s are a hindrance on the battlefield.

There are several excellent accounts of the Malmedy Massacre, and the following is taken from the one maintained HERE at the History Place:

On the second day of the ‘Battle of the Bulge,’ a truck convoy of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion was intercepted southeast of Malmedy by a regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division of the Leibstandarte-SS, under the command of 29 year old SS Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper.  His troops had earned the nickname “Blowtorch Battalion” after burning their way across Russia and had also been responsible for slaughtering civilians in two separate villages.

Upon sighting the trucks, the Panzer tanks opened fire and destroyed the lead vehicles.  This brought the [American] convoy to a halt while the deadly accurate tank fire continued.  The outgunned Americans abandoned their vehicles and surrendered.

The captured U.S. soldiers were herded into a nearby field.  An SS tank commander then ordered an SS private to shoot into the prisoners, setting off a wild killing spree as the SS opened fire with machine guns and pistols on the unarmed, terrified POWs.

Survivors were killed by a pistol shot to the head, in some cases by English speaking SS who walked among the victims asking if anyone was injured or needed help.  Those who responded were shot.  A total of 81 Americans were killed in the single worst atrocity against U.S. troops during World War II in Europe.

After the SS troops moved on, three survivors encountered a U.S. Army Colonel stationed at Malmedy and reported the massacre.  News quickly spread among U.S. troops that “Germans are shooting POWs.”  As a result, the troops became determined to hold the lines against the German advance until reinforcements could arrive.  Gen. Eisenhower was informed of the massacre.  War correspondents in the area also spread the news.

And from the U.S. Army archives, HERE, this excerpt from the account of a survivor, Ted Paluch of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Having dismounted the vehicles and taking cover in ditches alongside the road, Paluch recognized the troops as members of the vaunted SS by the distinctive skull and crossbones and lightning insignia on their collars.  They represented the advance units of the 1st SS Panzer Division, known as Kampfgruppe (Attack Group) Peiper, after their leader, SS Lt. Col. Joachim Peiper, a highly decorated veteran of campaigns in France and Russia.

“There were three of them behind the tank; they came down, and we were in the ditch, a ditch that is up to my neck,” he related.  They pulled down the road here and lowered the tank gun on us, and what could you do?  We had carbines, so we just surrendered.”

Paluch related that the initial treatment at the hands of the SS gave no clues about what lay in store for the prisoners, and even offered an amusing recollection.  “They marched us up here to the crossroads, they searched us, they took anything of value, cigarettes, watches, and I had a pair of socks and they even took those,” he exclaimed incredulously.

Along with members of his unit and others caught off-guard at the crossroads, the group of prisoners was herded into a field at the crossroads to await their fate.  They had no warning of what would transpire next.

“Then one command car came up and took a couple shots, and every tank and halftrack that came around the corner shot into the group,” he said.  “I was real lucky, as I was in the front end and only got hit slightly, but I think when they came around they fired into the center of the group.”

Pausing to catch his breath, he glanced over his shoulder and hesitated, almost as if reliving the moment in slow motion, before beginning again.

“This was their front line over here at one of these houses, and then anyone that moaned, they came around and they shot.  I played dead and just lay there,” he said.

The Germans murdered eighty-one Americans that day.  After the war, the commander of the German First SS Panzer Division, SS Lieutenant Colonel Jochen Peiper, was caught along with most of his close subordinates.  They were tried and found guilty of war crimes by a military tribunal, but sadly, they were all released in the end. There was no justice for those eighty-one American soldiers, so the least we can do today is to remember.

CROmnibus Cliffnotes

With the 1,800 pages of the combination Continuing Resolution and Omnibus budget bill now passed by both houses of Congress and on President Obama’s desk for signing, it’s time to see what’s in it.  Conservative columnist Betsy McCaughey does an excellent job of boiling it down, HERE.  A taste:

Cromnibus is a monster to read.  Almost no one did.  They had no time.  Speaker Boehner broke his promise to give members at least 72 hours notice before voting, instead of ramming it down their throats, as he criticized his predecessor Nancy Pelosi for doing.  Taxpayers lost out in the rush.  It’s likely that the $1.1 trillion spending level negotiated last week is costlier than what the more conservative Congress taking charge in January would have agreed to.

Read the whole thing.

Will the V-280 be the V-22’s Little Brother?

Back in October, at the military blog DefenseTech, Kris Osborn reported that:

Bell Helicopter is beginning to manufacture parts for its new V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft, a next-generation helicopter being developed as part of the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator, or JMR TD program.  The program is an Army-led joint program designed to replace the Army’s current fleet of helicopters.

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Slated to fly by 2017, the V-280 is engineered to reach speed of 280 knots, achieve a combat range up to 800 nautical miles and perform in what’s called “high-hot” conditions — described as 95-degrees Fahrenheit and 6,000-feet.

The full article, HERE, includes much more information as well as an artist’s rendering of the aircraft.

The Consequences of Falling Oil Prices

The website that tracks the daily prices for the two main types of crude oil consumed in the United States is saying that the price of WTI is now at $59.95 per barrel.  As many readers will know, crude oil is priced in terms of 42-gallon barrels, and the main domestic price standard is for West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a type otherwise known as “light, sweet” crude oil.  An alternate standard is known as Brent Crude, which is the average price of oil pumped out of the fifteen oil fields in the North Sea.  The price of Brent Crude is typically a bit higher than WTI, as the price of extraction is higher for undersea deposits.

I posted before, HERE, about the problems that falling crude oil prices pose for fracking producers, and on the day of the post (October 10th) the WTI price was about $87/barrel.  At today’s $59.95/barrel, the per-gallon price of WTI crude is $1.43, and we’re now seeing $2.53 at the pump.  There are almost no fracking operations in the United States that can produce crude for $60/barrel, not even close.

The ramifications of this price drop will be many, and worldwide.  Some are writing that the implications for revenue to the Russian government may imperil the Putin regime.

Keith Naughton joins the fray with a piece at the Daily Caller about the effects on the already-wobbly Venezuelan government.  Writes Naughton:

For over 15 years Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro have pursued absurd socialist economic policies liberally mixed with heavy-handed repression, and an anti-American foreign policy.  Private property has been expropriated.  Political opponents have been harassed and jailed.  The crime rate is soared.  Essential items have disappeared from store shelves.  Maduro himself flat-out stole the last presidential election (of course the leftist leaders in Latin America just shrugged it off — showing yet again that the left only likes democracy when they win).

Now Venezuela is at the end of its financial rope.  Tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue have been wasted away and now that the price of oil has cratered, the country’s fiscal deficit is unsustainable.  Maduro is cutting spending, unloading debt at cut-rate prices, and arresting his political opponents.  Tension is rising between the armed forces and the Maduro’s Chavista paramilitary thugs.

The article goes on to list five ways in which a collapse of the Venezuelan economy and government would impact the United States and its allies.  Read the full article, HERE, to get the details of the five ways, and what the Obama administration is planning to do about the potential crisis.