Monday, April 23, 2018
Blogs With Rule 5 Links
These Blogs Provide Links To Rule 5 Sites:
The Other McCain has: Rule 5 Sunday: Tammie Jo Shults
Proof Positive has: Best Of Web Link Around
The Woodsterman has: Rule 5 Woodsterman Style
The Right Way has: Rule 5 Saturday LinkORama
The Pirate's Cove has: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup
Trump Is Right: A ‘Pakistani Mystery Man’ Has Documents Wasserman Schultz Didn’t Want Prosecutors To See
On Friday, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Just heard the Campaign was sued by the Obstructionist Democrats. This can be good news in that we will now counter for the DNC Server that they refused to give to the FBI, the Debbie Wasserman Schultz Servers and Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man and Clinton Emails.”
- Lawyers for Pakistani-born Imran Awan currently have a copy of the contents of a laptop with the username RepDWS
- Wasserman Schultz wanted to block prosecutors from seeing what was on it
- Imran’s lawyers have attempted to set up a situation where it is up to Imran whether prosecutors can see the laptop, claiming “attorney client privilege”
- Other analysts say the laptop should be fair game for review
Each twist has increased the intrigue:
Why President Trump Should Recognize The Armenian Genocide
Every year on April 24 there are memorial services, marches, and media reminders of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The beginning of the massacres is marked on that date in 1915, when hundreds of Armenian community leaders, merchants, and intellectuals were rounded up and killed in Constantinople.
That horrific incident was followed by the sorts of activities you’d expect of a government intent on mass slaughter of an ethnic group: propaganda campaigns intended to vilify Armenians in the eyes of their Turkish neighbors; conscription of all Armenian men ages 20-45 to deprive their families of their protection; gun confiscation programs; the release of violent criminals from prisons in order to form “chetes” or killing squads targeting Armenians; mass deportations and death marches into the Syrian desert with little to no food or water; and much more. I’ve written in detailabout the genocide for The Federalist.
As the granddaughter of genocide survivors, I’ve always been well aware of those atrocities and hardships suffered a century ago. But most Americans are completely unaware, and the ignorance is growing. This is especially the case as our education establishment treats any serious study of history as, well, a thing of the past.
Official U.S. Recognition of This Genocide Has Been Thorny
For the United States, where many Armenian refugees settled, official government recognition of the genocide has never been a simple matter of acknowledging the historical record. Several American presidents in recent history issued commemorative proclamations that mourn the massacres and the tragedy of the killings, but—with the notable exception of Reagan—do not call it a genocide.
Turkey has been a key U.S. ally, and it is deeply offended by any mention of the genocide, which has long been a taboo subject in that nation. This is in stark contrast to Germany’s reckoning with its Nazi past and responsibility for the Holocaust shortly after World War II. But despite the passage of a century, the Turkish government seems to have grown ever more resistant to hearing that its Ottoman forebears had...
The Connection Between Russia and 2 Green Groups Fighting Fracking in US
Natural gas development of the celebrated Marcellus Shale deposits has spurred jobs and other economic growth in neighboring Pennsylvania. But not in New York, which nearly 10 years ago banned the process of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, to produce natural gas.
Two environmental advocacy groups that successfully lobbied against fracking in New York each received more than $10 million in grants from a foundation in California that got financial support from a Bermuda company congressional investigators linked to the Russians, public documents show.
The environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club Foundation received millions of dollars in grants from the San Francisco-based Sea Change Foundation.
“Follow the money trail, and this [New York] ban on fracking could be viewed as an example of successful Russian espionage,” Ken Stiles, a CIA veteran of 29 years who now teaches at Virginia Tech, told The Daily Signal.
To Stiles and other knowledgeable observers, this looks like an actual case of knowing or unknowing collusion with Russia.
Both Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club Foundation also accepted tens of millions from...
Waffle House shooter had history of delusions, believed Taylor Swift was stalking him
One of the first documented encounters Illinois authorities had with the alleged 29-year-old gunman was in May 2016, when loved ones worried he would hurt himself over the stalking claims and called police.
Those relatives said he had “been having these delusions” since 2014.
When confronted by cops in a parking lot near Peoria, Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office deputies said Reinking was convinced the singer — who launched her country music career in Nashville, Tenn. — was following him and urging him to meet at a nearby Dairy Queen.
He tried meeting Swift at the fast food joint but she yelled at him from across the street and bolted, according to his version of events. He gave chase “in an attempt to get her to stop harassing him,” the police report read.
“Taylor climbed up the side of a building and Travis followed. However, when he reached the rooftop, Taylor was gone,” according to the report.
He was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation but contended “it was against his will.”
Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston released five...
NATALIYA VASILYEVA, The Russian lawyer questions why Mueller hasn’t contacted her
In an interview with The Associated Press, Natalia Veselnitskaya also detailed her recent meeting in Berlin with investigators from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. Like Mueller, the committee is investigating allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Veselnitskaya met in June 2016 with then-candidate Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort, his campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, after Trump Jr. was told the Russian lawyer had potentially incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.
Mueller, a former FBI director, is leading a federal probe of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. He has filed charges against multiple former Trump campaign aides.
Veselnitskaya alleged in her interview with the AP in downtown Moscow that if Mueller’s team never questions her, it would mean that it “is not working to discover the truth.”
Veselnitskaya is a well-connected Moscow lawyer who has worked with a company called Prevezon Holdings Ltd. The company’s owner is the son of a former Russian government official and a fierce advocate for rolling back U.S. sanctions on Russia.
At the time of her 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, she was defending Prevezon against charges it had engaged in money laundering from a $230 million Russian tax fraud scheme.
Trump Jr. and others in attendance have downplayed the meeting, saying nothing came of it. Trump has denied that he or his campaign coordinated with any Russian attempts to interfere in the election.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has expressed interest in determining whether Veselnitskaya’s appointment with Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort was part of a Russian government effort to help President Donald Trump’s campaign for the White House. It was described that way in emails to Trump Jr. before it took place.
Several congressional committees are looking into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election and whether there were collusion by Trump’s campaign. The House Intelligence Committee has finished its investigation and said it found no evidence of collusion or coordination with Russians.
The Senate Intelligence Committee approached Veselnitskaya earlier this year, but she refused to go the United States, saying she feared for her safety. The lawyer and the committee’s investigators instead met in a Berlin hotel on March 26 and talked for three hours.
“That was essentially a monologue. They were not interrupting me,” Veselnitskaya said. “They listened very carefully...Their questions were very sharp, pin-pointed.”
The investigators mainly wanted to know about Trump Tower meeting, she said. Veselnitskaya said she repeated her previous statements about it, insisting that she was not linked to the Russian government and merely wanted to discuss sanctions against Russia.
Veselnitskaya’s said the Berlin interview also focused on information in memos compiled by a former British spy whose work was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign. The dossier contains numerous allegations of Russian ties to Trump, his associates and the Trump campaign.
Veselnitskaya dismissed the dossier as “absolute nonsense.” She insisted that Glenn Simpson, whose firm Fusion GPS was...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #235
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Romney Handed Shock Defeat by Own State’s GOP
After finishing second in votes at the state GOP convention, Romney will now face a primary in his run for the Senate seat being vacated by Orrin Hatch, Fox News reported.
At the convention in West Valley City on Saturday, Romney polled just behind state lawmaker Mike Kennedy.
Kennedy captured 50.18 percent of the delegate vote compared to Romney’s 49.12 percent.
That means the two will face off in a primary on June 26 to determine who will represent the GOP this fall.
Romney, the first Mormon to head a major party ticket, is considered an extremely popular figure in Utah and was widely expected to have an easy path to the upper chamber.
In a hypothetical matchup with Democrat Jenny Wilson, at least one poll showed Romney up by 46 percent. That’s, uh, slightly more than the margin of error.
However, among party loyalists, Romney isn’t exactly viewed with unalloyed fondness.
The 2012 presidential nominee was always known for being decidedly moderate, particularly on issues of immigration and global trade. There was also the fact that he ran a campaign so bumbling that it almost made Michael Dukakis look good.
And then there was Romney’s war of words with Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, which likely led many to perceive he secretly wished Hillary Clinton would take the Oval Office.
Trump would later...
Gorka Call to Arms: Grassroots, ‘You Have a Job To Do’
The Middle Resolution hosted Gorka for the Richmond, Virginia event where the former deputy assistant to the President gave the crowd a look behind the veil of Trump as well as encouragement to get behind 2018 candidates and be part of the solution.
“It’s compassion that drives this President because he didn’t do it for the money. Nor did he run for President for fame,” Gorka told the crowd. “There’s no public persona and then a private persona,” he continued, “just the two of you in the Oval Office is exactly the same as he is on the campaign trail.”
Gorka recounted the November 8 election, the transition, and his first day of work for the administration on January 21, 2017. He identified January 21 as the date of “the most leveraged hostile takeover in world history,” backing up his claim by noting that the federal government is the largest employer in the world with several million employees. “And then we come in and we are what? We are the antibodies to the swamp,” said Gorka.
“Donald J. Trump won the presidency to become the most powerful man in the world despite the GOP, not because of the GOP,” explained Gorka. “This is something the GOP needs to understand, especially before November.”
“Donald Trump is a reaction to the failure of both parties,” said Gorka, who evidenced this by recounting a trip on Air Force One to Youngstown, Ohio last summer. On the twenty minute drive from the airport to the rally stadium, the motorcade passed disused steel plants, mills, and factories on one side of the road for miles. On the other side of the road stood men and women waving their “stars and stripes.” Candidate Trump and wife Melania saw a stadium teeming with many former Democrats “erupt” in cheers as the couple took the stage. “USA, USA, drain the swamp” they chanted, according to Gorka.
“Donald J. Trump has broken the political rulebook,” Dr. Gorka told the crowd gathered Tuesday night. “He took the political rulebook, he shredded it, burnt it, buried it, and then jumped up and down on it,” he added, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
“One thing I wish you to take home—have faith, be patient” he petitioned the crowd. He reassured the audience not to worry about issues surrounding Attorney General Jeff Sessions or Syria. “The President will never give up on us,” he said.
Speaking of the President’s abundant stores of energy, Gorka said he never saw the President yawn, even on three hours sleep. “The guy is a Mack Truck. He is unstoppable.”
He called the President’s accomplishments in the first year of his presidency “stunning,” even in the midst of relentless attacks on Trump and his family. Gorka listed a few of those accomplishments:
FLASHBACK: Earth Day Co-Founder Killed, Composted His Girlfriend
Environmental activist and self-proclaimed Earth Day co-founder Ira Einhorn had a dark side. Einhorn was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend and stuffing her “composted” body inside a trunk, NBC News reported in 2011.
After five years of being together, Helen Maddux broke up with Einhorn. Enraged, he threatened to throw Maddux’s belongings onto the street if she didn’t come by to get them. She went to Einhorn’s apartment to retrieve them on Sept. 9, 1977, but was never seen again.
Maddux went missing after going out to the neighborhood co-op to buy tofu and sprouts, Einhorn told police several weeks later. However, 18 months later, authorities searched his apartment after neighbors complained that a “reddish-brown, foul-smelling liquid was leaking from the ceiling directly below Einhorn’s bedroom closet,” NBC News reported.
In the closet, police found Maddux’s “beaten and partially mummified body stuffed into a trunk that had also been packed with Styrofoam, air fresheners and newspapers,” according to NBC News.
Einhorn jumped bail and spent 23 years evading authorities and hiding out all over Europe. Finally, he was caught and extradited to the U.S. from France, where he was put on trial and convicted of murder. He is currently serving a life sentence.
“Taking the stand in his own defense, Einhorn claimed that his ex-girlfriend had been killed by CIA agents who framed him for the crime because he knew too much about the agency’s paranormal military research.” NBC News reported.
Earth Day was created in the spring of 1970 to raise awareness of and take action on the pressing environmental issues of the time. Einhorn was master of ceremonies at the first Earth Day celebration at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. The holiday was Einhorn’s idea and he was responsible for...
13 WORST PREDICTIONS FROM EARTH DAY 1970!
The 1970s were a lousy decade. Embarrassing movies, dreadful music and downright terrifying clothes reflected the national mood following an unpopular war, endless political scandals and a faltering economy.
Popular culture was consumed with decline, especially Hollywood. The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Damnation Alley and countless other dystopian films showed a planet wrecked by war, pollution and neglect. In large part, the entertainment industry was reflecting the culture at large.
In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.
Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:
"Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." — Harvard biologist George Wald
"We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
"Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." — New York Times editorial
"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
"Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [By 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich
"It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
"Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa.
By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….
By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter
"In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine
"At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
"Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich
"By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
"[One] theory assumes that the earth's cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun's heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." — Newsweek magazine
"The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." — Kenneth Watt
Popular culture was consumed with decline, especially Hollywood. The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Damnation Alley and countless other dystopian films showed a planet wrecked by war, pollution and neglect. In large part, the entertainment industry was reflecting the culture at large.
In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.
Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:
"Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." — Harvard biologist George Wald
"We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
"Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." — New York Times editorial
"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
"Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [By 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich
"It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
"Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa.
By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….
By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter
"In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine
"At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
"Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich
"By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
"[One] theory assumes that the earth's cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun's heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." — Newsweek magazine
"The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." — Kenneth Watt
The Strange Case of the Enfield Horror
The southern part of Illinois was already long steeped in the bizarre well before the mysterious intruder came to terrorize the area. Native Americans and early settlers often told of experiencing a wide range of strange phenomena here, including seeing strange orbs of light, shadowy phantoms or frightening entities stalking the forests, and hearing bizarre howls, shrieks, or screams in the night. The Natives tribes of the area believed this land to be a cursed place prowled by evil spirits, and the region gained the intimidating nickname the Devil’s Kitchen. It was a place that has long been permeated with paranormal phenomena, and both settlers and Native Americans mostly avoided it. It was to this mysterious cursed land of specters, phantoms, and high strangeness that a sinister entity would emerge to maraud across a small town and earn its place among the most bizarre mystery monsters of cryptozoological lore.
What would go on to be called the Enfield Horror first made its appearance in the small community of Enfield, Illinois, located in the southeastern corner of the state. On the evening of April 25, 1973, 10-year old Greg Garrett was out playing in the backyard of his rural home as his parents watched TV inside. The boy’s parents were startled when their son purportedly suddenly burst in through the back door, crying hysterically and with a terrifying story to tell. Greg claimed that as he had been playing out in the yard, a hideous, misshapen beast had emerged from the darkness to attack him. According to the boy, the creature was an otherworldly abomination around 5 feet tall, with three legs, short stumpy arms tipped with taloned hands, gray skin covered with slime, and disproportionately large, red eyes. The malicious beast had then stepped forward and actually stomped on the boy’s feet, ripping his shoes with its claws in the process, before he had retreated to his house in terror. Police who arrived at the scene could find no trace of the entity the boy had described.
A mere half an hour later, the creature would make another appearance, this time in the yard of the Garrett’s neighbor, a Henry McDaniel. It started when McDaniel’s children claimed to hear something scratching at the outside of the house, and when he went to investigate he too heard the odd scratching noises. McDaniel at first thought it must have been some sort of animal, perhaps a stray dog or cat, and he went out to confront whatever it was. When he opened the door, what he saw was no dog. There looming over the front porch was a bizarre monstrosity which would prove to exactly match the description of what little Greg Garrett had seen just half an hour before. McDaniel would later describe it to authorities thus:
It had three legs on it, a short body, two little short arms coming out of its breast area and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half feet tall and was grayish-colored… it was trying to get into the house!
Fearing for his life, McDaniel slammed the door shut and rushed off to retrieve a pistol he kept in the house for home defense. When he went back to open the door, the monster was still there scratching away, and reportedly hissed at the man “like a wildcat.” McDaniel then frantically fired several shots at the beast, hitting it dead on, after which it...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #234
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Report: Memos Show Comey Himself Used Dossier to Set Up Trump
Buried this week in the avalanche of details contained in the former FBI director’s memos about his personal meetings with Donald Trump is one line that indicates Comey and his cronies in the highest echelons of American government were setting up Trump for failure from the beginning.
And it’s Comey’s own words that hold the clue.
In an analysis published Friday by The Federalist, senior editor Molly Hemingway points out that one memo in particular indicates Comey and his circle could well have orchestrated one of the most important media leaks of Trump’s presidency.
In the memo, Comey recounted a Jan. 6, 2017 meeting with Trump in which he warns the then-president-elect that many media outlets were aware of the existence of the so-called “Trump dossier,” with its allegations of corruption and tawdry tales of Trump’s alleged romps with Russian prostitutes.
“I said media like CNN had them and were looking for a news hook,” he wrote.
Talk about a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Not a week passed before CNN — the very news outlet Comey cautioned about – was using the very meeting Comey attended with the incoming president to blare the scurrilous allegations contained in the dossier even before Trump put his hand on the Bible for the oath of office.
As CNN reported at the time:
“Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.” (Emphasis added.)
OK, allowing Comey the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t pick up the phone and call CNN about his own meeting with Trump (there’s really no reason to give him that benefit, but being charitable never hurts), the memo Comey wrote was dated Jan. 7, 2017.
It was written to Comey’s Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, then-FBI General Counsel James Baker, and Comey’s Chief of Staff James Rybicki.
Any one of those men — particularly McCabe, whose penchant for leaking cost him his FBI pension — could well have been the source for CNN’s report.
Hemingway suggests another potential source, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who Comey wrote originally suggested his meeting with Trump. This might come as a shock, but Clapper is now a national security analyst for none other than CNN.
But there were others, too. According to The Daily Caller, officials who knew about the meeting and could have leaked it to CNN are then-CIA Director John Brennan — a known leaker, a vociferous Trump critic and...
Lying, Cheating, Communist Leaning Democrats Get Get Called Out For Their Serious One Dimensional Chess Play...
Deputies to hold no-confidence vote on Sheriff Scott Israel after Florida school massacre
The Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association is conducting a poll of its members about their confidence in Sheriff Scott Israel, who strongly denounced the vote as a union tactic to get pay raises. The electronic poll ends Thursday night.
President Jeff Bell said Friday that Israel's handling of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 14 students and three staff members is a major component of the no-confidence campaign, saying he should not have put the full blame on Deputy Scot Peterson, the school's resource officer.
Video shows Peterson remained outside after investigators say former student Nikolas Cruz opened fire Feb. 14 inside the three-story freshman building with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Israel said shortly after the shooting that Peterson should have rushed into the building to confront and kill Cruz. Peterson retired rather than accept an unpaid suspension.
Bell also has criticized Peterson, but said Israel should not have publicly singled the deputy and should have placed him on paid leave until an investigation into his conduct was completed. He said only deputies accused of crimes are placed on unpaid leave and Peterson has never been charged.
Israel issued a statement Friday saying it is "unfortunate and appalling" that Bell is using the school shooting "as a bargaining tactic to extort a 6.5 percent pay raise" for the union's members. The 3-year-old union represents the ...
A Muslim Slave Owner And Slave Trader Named Mansa Musa Of Mali Is Probably The Richest Person In History
Imagine how much money the richest person in history would have. Now add a couple hundred billion, and you’ve probably gotten closer to how much wealth Mansa Musa had circa 1324 A.D.
Economists have determined that the West African emperor’s vast wealth most likely positions him as the richest person in history. But just how much money did he have? And what did he do with it?
Mansa Musa’s Start
Emperor Mansa Musa I came to reign over the Malian Empire through somewhat strange means.
Before embarking on a long and somewhat arduous pilgrimage to Mecca (called a Hajj in the Muslim religion), then-emperor Abubakari II deputized Musa to temporarily assume his role. An “on-call” emperor was a common feature throughout the history of the empire. It’s somewhat comparable to the modern-day role of a vice president.
This arrangement worked out fine until Abubakari set out to explore the far side of the Atlantic Ocean and never returned. Musa, then, inherited the throne since he had been deputized. But Musa wasn’t a nobody: His great-uncle was Sundiata Keita, who founded the Malian Empire.
Interesting fact: Slavery in Mali exists today, with as many as 200,000 people held in direct servitude to a master.
As many a late night infomercial will tell you, there are lots of ways to attain wealth. Musa got his primarily through trading gold and salt, which were found in abundance in West Africa at the time. He also used the money to strengthen the country’s cultural centers, particularly Timbuktu, which he annexed in 1324.
It was when Musa made his Hajj to Mecca — an important part of the Muslim religion, which was very widespread in the region at this point in history — that the rest of the world became aware of the extent of his wealth.
Because he had so much to spend, his caravan throughout Cairo, Medina, and finally to Mecca had a procession of more than 60,000, including 12,000 slaves, dozens of animals, and plenty of gold. In fact, as they traveled, Musa and his entourage gave gold away to people in the streets.
They also bought lots of stuff — so much stuff, in fact, that they actually messed up the global economy for a while: The gold he spent circulated, and there was so much of it, that the value actually went down.
The disruption eventually evened out, in part because Mansa Musa began borrowing from lenders in Cairo (despite the high interest rate) and essentially single-handedly controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean.
The Lasting Contributions Of Mansa Musa’s Wealth
So what did Mansa Musa do with all the money, aside from giving away bricks to random people in the street and using it to buy souvenirs?
He actually ended up using most of it to build a great number of mosques (legend says he built one every Friday of his reign), the most famous of which is the Djinguereber Mosque. He also commissioned many universities throughout the kingdom — many of which, along with the mosques, are still standing today, some 700 years later.
Musa quite literally put himself, and his empire, on the map when he made this journey — maps from Italian cartographers during his reign had artists add his likeness, holding a nugget of gold of course. He extended the reach of his trade ports and became one of the most powerful rulers of his time — if not in all of history.
Musa ruled for about 25 years according to historian’s best estimates: they believe he died in 1332, at which time his son inherited the throne.
In the spirit of other extremely wealthy people who ultimately become philanthropists, you might wonder how he stacks up against some contemporary billionaires, like Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller, or Warren Buffett.
When adjusted for inflation, Mansa Musa’s wealth is believed to have been around $400 billion. The only person who comes close to Musa’s wealth is John D. Rockefeller, whom economists believe amassed a worth of around...
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