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For Mon, Dec. 11, 2017
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Spread the swamp? Trump administration wants to move government offices out of Washington
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's plan to move three federal agencies out of Washington could prove a test case for the bigger federal bureaucracy relocation movement. (George Frey / Getty Images)
Amid the talk of draining swamps, restoring political might to blue-collar America and turning off the spigot of taxpayer cash that showers Washington, a familiar battle cry is ricocheting through this city: Move the bureaucrats out.
Amid the talk of draining swamps, restoring political might to blue-collar America and turning off the spigot of taxpayer cash that showers Washington, a familiar battle cry is ricocheting through this city: Move the bureaucrats out.
It has the ring of a Trumpian fantasy. Dislodge arms of the federal government from Washington and reattach them in faraway places, spreading the wealth generated by these well-paid agency workforces and forcing senior bureaucrats to face the people they affect.
But the idea has established populist roots that spread across party lines, and they are re emerging at this unique political moment.
The swaggering Interior secretary from Montana is putting the finishing touches on his plan to move the headquarters of three large public lands agencies to the West. The Stanford economist representing Silicon Valley in Congress sees opportunity to strategically seed regions of the country with pieces of the federal bureaucracy that can benefit them — and that they can benefit. The unlikely prospect of locating the Department of Transportation in Los Angeles is dangled by Republicans eager to show this crusade has bipartisan cred.
There hasn’t been so much buzz about getting “Washington” out of Washington since Franklin D. Roosevelt sent 30,000 federal workers to the Midwest after a presidential commission advised such moves would ensure the prototypical federal employee “remains one of the people in touch with the people and does not degenerate into an isolated and arrogant bureaucrat.”
“We need to find out what we can move,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Youngstown, Ohio, who is seeking to create a commission that would identify parts of the bureaucracy that could be moved to economically distressed regions like his. A fellow Ohio congressman and political rival, tea party activist Warren Davidson, has mounted a parallel bureaucracy migration push. He calls it the “Drain the Swamp Act.”
None of it is going over well with die-hard Washingtonians. Many scold that the idea will flame out the same way it did when the Clinton administration pondered and then dropped a big relocation initiative, and the Reagan administration did the same before it.
When the House Government Oversight Committee passed a “Divest D.C.” resolution earlier this year that calls on all agencies to investigate moving out, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting House representative for Washington, warned that it would cost taxpayers a fortune, spread dysfunction throughout the bureaucracy and economically devastate the region.
Her Democratic allies on the committee were not impressed by the suggestion of the measure’s sponsor, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) that maybe it could lead to the Department of Transportation moving to the traffic capital of the nation, liberal Los Angeles.
“There is a lot of wisdom outside the Beltway,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley Democrat. He wants agencies to more aggressively tap into it, as the Defense Department did when it set up a shop in Silicon Valley. Khanna, a Stanford economist, is among several in Washington’s intellectual circles who say fading factory and farm towns are well positioned to benefit from the kind of relocations envisioned in plans like Ryan’s.
There are other reasons the movement has regained steam of late. While only 15% of the federal workforce is in Washington, it is where most of the top decision makers live and work. David Fontana, a professor at George Washington University Law School who is writing a book about decentralizing the federal government, says their bubble is growing evermore insulated from reality.
“When you have this concentration of important people all in a single place, they form their own tight networks immune to other influences,” he said. Decentralizing that power away from the capital has long been a trend in other countries, Fontana said. “This is not a crazy idea.”
The Trump administration will likely put it to the test soon. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a Montanan, is aiming to move the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Reclamation out of Washington as soon as logistically possible. Western politicians like Sen. Corey Gardner (R-Colo.) are cheering him on.
“Ninety-nine percent of the nearly 250 million acres of land managed by BLM is west of the Mississippi River, and having the decision makers present in the communities they impact in Colorado or across the region will lead to better results,” Gardner wrote in an email.He wants the bureau headquartered in his state, and Colorado’s Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, has joined Gardner’s lobbying campaign.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who held a hearing Thursday to examine Zinke’s plan, said in an interview that his constituents are so distrustful of what they see as a heavy handed National Park Service that he had to abandon his plan to elevate Dinosaur National Monument to a national park, a move that he hoped would lure a world-class research center to the state and boost tourism. He’s hopeful Zinke’s blueprint would ultimately ease those tensions by bringing more public lands management out west.
Some Democrats, though, see a sham at a time Zinke has also been unabashed about his plans to shrink the Interior Department’s workforce, which includes pushing workers out by relocating them. “This reorganization is an exercise in weakening the Department of Interior by driving employees out,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). “Once they’re gone, the extractive industries will be able to check off the top item on their wish list” — getting the stewards of public land out of their way.
A lot of the broader relocation debate is familiar. And some scholars project that while a few hundred jobs might get moved here or there, the broader vision of moving large pieces of Washington officialdom hundreds or thousands of miles away will end up in the shredder, as tends to happen with outsized plans to reinvent and reimagine government. The politics are messy, the logistics are tough, and the status quo is entrenched.
“While this has perennial appeal, it is hard to pull off,” said Andrew Rudalevige, a professor of government at Bowdoin College in Maine.
There is also the danger of that it could create problems instead of solving them. Matt Lee-Ashley, a public lands expert at the liberal Center for American Progress, warns that accountability is undermined when agencies move away from the lawmakers and federal investigators who watch over them. He points to the scandal that enveloped the Minerals Management Service during the administration of George W. Bush. It had been set up in suburban Denver with a mandate to conduct the business of collecting $10 billion in royalties like a private company. It turned into a cesspool of corruption and bad behavior, according to federal investigators.
Of course, the argument that Washington is the cure for corruption and bad behavior can be a tough one to make. And the headaches and expense of shoehorning so many agency headquarters into this costly, congested town keep growing.
The projected costs of a new FBI headquarters in suburban Washington escalated until they hit close to $2 billion. The plug got pulled on the whole project over the summer amid the rising price and difficulties pulling off the land swap it was designed around.
“There is all this unused office space outside of Detroit where the FBI could build for not much money,” said Paul Kupiec, a scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. That city, unlike suburban Washington, desperately needs the economic surge such an agency would bring, he said. “Why are we spending billions of dollars on these headquarters in Washington?”
Gadsden, Alabama, is in no way linked to Wappingers Falls, N.Y., geographically, but there is now a stark historical parallel as we view a major battle raging in the national Culture War.Evangelical Christian Roy Moore's surprise victory in his home state GOP Senatorial primary produced an invasion of movers and shakers to the bible belt. They descended from points north including Washington, D.C. and as far west as California – Hollywood no less. The Washington Post started by publishing a story of an alleged sexual assault 4 decades ago on a 14-year old girl by now Judge Roy Moore back when he was in his early 30s. This was followed with similar allegations by other women.
As the nation was being deluged with sickening tales of a" movie mogul," whose lack of morals would make a pig sty look as clean as a hospital O/R, well-known Hollywood attorney Gloria Allred appeared to the local press in Alabama. She showed up with additional sexual allegations beyond those in the Washington Post against Roy Moore in these earlier years. This long-time patron to the Glitterati had one victim perfectly scripted, and her public presentation for the press was complete with tears and tissue.
Gloria Allred's "evidence" included the alleged victim's yearbook signed by Roy Moore when he worked in the District Attorney's office. It was in longhand with "Love" above the signature. The emotionally-charged story raised the obvious questions of handwriting authenticity. There were many other discrepancies, however, but the "Lawyer of the Stars" refused to allow the yearbook to be subjected to a handwriting expert for examination. Numerous other questions arose about these allegations going back 4 decades – and which had never been leveled previously in the Judge's multiple runs for political office.
Allred's motivation was readily apparent. Irrespective of the gaping time gap, Judge Roy Moore could be tarnished so severely in a national atmosphere of Media/Hollywood sexual scandals that the Republican control of the U.S. Senate would be teetering. The script was similar to that used against candidate Donald Trump back in the fall of 2016
The MSM immediately circulated the stories, as they would with allegations surrounding events of recent origin, and as though they were made by women of impeccable reputations. There was, however, real evidence of drug, alcohol and other mental problems of the alleged victims and others involved – but that was ignored. The Hollywood touch was so fine-tuned that no one issued a call for a thorough investigation of the circumstances before accepting this real character assassination of Roy Moore. Even Fox News got on board, again displaying its movement to the Left.
Fox's Judge Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingraham, and their frequent guest constitutional scholar, Jonathan Turley, were labeling the stories "highly credible." They were so in unison on these tales that there was no panelist to ask these "Foxy lawyers" if "highly credible" and the truth were synonymous. . At least Sean Hannity, after looking foolish by giving the Judge a 24-hour ultimatum to refute the accusations, backed away by accepting the obvious: Alabama voters would decide who should be the Senator representing the State of Alabama.
Beyond even the disproved Duke lacrosse team's alleged sexual assault accusations, the MSM chose to totally Ignore the Tawana Brawley story. This tale of sexual assault had national headlines back in 1987-88 much closer in time to the current accusations, which are now aimed to bring down this respected West.Point graduate and war veteran.graduate and war
Wappingers Falls, N.Y. is a small town a couple of hours north of N.Y.C., nestled in the Hudson River Valley, and it always prided itself in reflecting traditional American values. Tawana Brawley's sexual assault story shook the town and the entire nation. Many accepted it as a credible tale, as did the MSM, and it was what catapulted a man by the name of Al Sharpton on to the national stage. This street activist, who assumed the title of Reverend, took full advantage of the 15-year old's sickening story, and today's obsequious white-guilt MSM still gives him prominence.
Tawana was found stuffed in a plastic bag covered with feces with the N-word, KKK and other writing in charcoal smeared on her chest and abdomen. According to the N.Y. Times, she was so "traumatized" after this sexual assault, she had to respond to questions by blinking an answer of "yes" or "no." There was a national outcry. Over 1000 supporters of Louis Farrakhan marched in her support across the Hudson River in Newburgh, N.Y.
Tawana Brawley asserted that she had been sexually assaulted by 4 men in authority, including an Assistant D.A. and a state police officer. The charges were nauseating and elicited national outrage, leading to the convening of a Grand Jury to examine all of the evidence.
The Grand Jury found the story to be totally false. It was a hoax. Yet, multiple law enforcement authorities, on the state and local levels had already been roundly condemned.
The MSM had more than egg on its face. In reality, it had charcoal and feces. The "victim" had done the smearing (upside down, no less), and the feces turned out to be of the dog species. Forensic tests showed that there had been no evidence of any sexual assault. Repeat: There was no evidence of ANY sexual assault on the "victim."
Of course, the accusations of Tawana Brawley were "credible" – "highly credible," many would say. Yes, but were they true? No, no, no. And yet, versions of the same screenplay are what we have been seeing and hearing from Alabama today. Even Sen. Ted Cruz and AG Jeff Sessions joined the "highly credible" crowd early regarding the Moore accusations. The Senator should have known better, given the accusations leveled at his own father by the MSM. And AG Sessions just continues to disappoint, saying he "had no reason to deny the women's allegations." President Trump himself has been disappointed in the new AG, who is sounding more like a kitten, rather than the tough-minded tiger he was supposed to be. Senate President Mitch McConnell and a host of other GOP leaders responded in a similar fashion, and are only slightly behind as GOP disappointments in this new government.
Judge Roy Moore will win the election on December 12 and head to the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. to represent the State of Alabama. He has campaigned unabashedly with bible in hand, pledged to uphold the Judeo- Christian principles on which this nation has been founded. The Judge has pledged without apology to represent all of his constituents free of any bias – but based on the nation's principles of equality for all. It is his clarity which has shaken all the elements of the opposition – not the least of which is the Republican Establishment. The political swamp is still stagnant.
As happened after Nov. 8 2016, more will be revealed about these recent allegations in opposition to Judge Roy Moore. They came out of nowhere. Aside from their 4-decade vintage, they are flimsy and will crumble under sound scrutiny, showing once again the extremes to which the Secular Fundamentalists will go in the Culture War. The Judge's unswerving defense of traditional marriage, the fundamental right to life, and the Constitution without biblical principles bleached from it, will have won in a major battle.
President Donald Trump will realize he has an ally and a true conservative in pursuing the original principles that the new President has espoused, and he will have a clearer view of what now can be accomplished.
And the nation, as well as the entire world, will once again know the meaning of Divine Providence.
Tawana Brawley asserted that she had been sexually assaulted by 4 men in authority, including an Assistant D.A. and a state police officer. The charges were nauseating and elicited national outrage, leading to the convening of a Grand Jury to examine all of the evidence.
The Grand Jury found the story to be totally false. It was a hoax. Yet, multiple law enforcement authorities, on the state and local levels had already been roundly condemned.
The MSM had more than egg on its face. In reality, it had charcoal and feces. The "victim" had done the smearing (upside down, no less), and the feces turned out to be of the dog species. Forensic tests showed that there had been no evidence of any sexual assault. Repeat: There was no evidence of ANY sexual assault on the "victim."
Of course, the accusations of Tawana Brawley were "credible" – "highly credible," many would say. Yes, but were they true? No, no, no. And yet, versions of the same screenplay are what we have been seeing and hearing from Alabama today. Even Sen. Ted Cruz and AG Jeff Sessions joined the "highly credible" crowd early regarding the Moore accusations. The Senator should have known better, given the accusations leveled at his own father by the MSM. And AG Sessions just continues to disappoint, saying he "had no reason to deny the women's allegations." President Trump himself has been disappointed in the new AG, who is sounding more like a kitten, rather than the tough-minded tiger he was supposed to be. Senate President Mitch McConnell and a host of other GOP leaders responded in a similar fashion, and are only slightly behind as GOP disappointments in this new government.
Judge Roy Moore will win the election on December 12 and head to the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. to represent the State of Alabama. He has campaigned unabashedly with bible in hand, pledged to uphold the Judeo- Christian principles on which this nation has been founded. The Judge has pledged without apology to represent all of his constituents free of any bias – but based on the nation's principles of equality for all. It is his clarity which has shaken all the elements of the opposition – not the least of which is the Republican Establishment. The political swamp is still stagnant.
As happened after Nov. 8 2016, more will be revealed about these recent allegations in opposition to Judge Roy Moore. They came out of nowhere. Aside from their 4-decade vintage, they are flimsy and will crumble under sound scrutiny, showing once again the extremes to which the Secular Fundamentalists will go in the Culture War. The Judge's unswerving defense of traditional marriage, the fundamental right to life, and the Constitution without biblical principles bleached from it, will have won in a major battle.
President Donald Trump will realize he has an ally and a true conservative in pursuing the original principles that the new President has espoused, and he will have a clearer view of what now can be accomplished.
And the nation, as well as the entire world, will once again know the meaning of Divine Providence.
(The author took his marriage vows in St Mary's Church, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.)
© R.T. Neary
Reporter: Democrats ‘Were Peddling’ Salacious Trump Dossier Allegation To Journalists
CHUCK ROSS Reporter
During the presidential campaign, Democrats “were peddling” the most salacious Trump dossier allegations to news reporters, a new documentary about the dossier revealed on Friday.
“People associated with the Democrats were peddling that story,” NBC’s Ken Dilanian said in a special reportthat aired on MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s show.
Dilanian was referring to the unsubstantiated claim in the dossier that Trump used prostitutes during a trip to Moscow in 2013. According to the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele, the Kremlin had video evidence of the hotel room encounter and was using it to keep Trump in line.
“There really was no way you could prove it,” Dilanian said of the Trump gossip.
Dilanian did not provide additional insight into who the Democratic associates were who told him of the dossier’s illicit allegations so it is not known whether he was referring to the Democrats who funded the dossier or to Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm hired to investigate Trump.
WATCH:
The Clinton campaign and DNC jointly paid Fusion GPS for the project.
While Dilanian’s comment is not a complete surprise — the allegations about Trump were an open secret in Beltway journalist circles last year — it undercuts denials made both by Democrats and Fusion GPS’s founder about interactions with the media.
Clinton campaign officials have defended their funding of the dossier by arguing that the unverified report was used as a road map to look into serious allegations against Trump rather than as a piece of opposition research aimed at smearing the Republican.
No officials with the Clinton campaign and DNC have acknowledged knowing about the dossier at the time Steele was working on it. And the lawyer who hired Fusion GPS to investigate Trump has denied pitching allegations in the dossier to reporters.
Campaign chairman John Podesta has denied knowing about the dossier at all. Clinton herself also says she was not aware of the dirty document until after it was published.
Campaign manager Robby Mook has dodged questions about what he knew of the dossier. He has suggested that he signed off on the expenditure to the campaign’s law firm and received briefings on certain information.
Marc Elias, who as general counsel for the campaign and DNC hired Fusion GPS, claims he did not brief reporters on the dossier.
“While he was certainly familiar with some, but not all, of the information in it, from the research that was being done, he didn’t have and hadn’t seen the full document, nor was he involved in pitching it to reporters,” a source close to Elias recently told CNN.
Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS who directed the dossier project, has denied that he briefed reporters about the dossier. In an interview last month with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Simpson said that he did not brief reporters about the dossier until this year.
It is known that Fusion GPS directed Steele to meet with reporters while he was working on the dossier.
Steele has revealed in court papers filed in London, where he lives and where he is being sued, that Fusion GPS directed him to meet reporters at various news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The New Yorker, Yahoo! News and Mother Jones.
Reporters with Yahoo! and Mother Jones eventually published stories based on Steele’s unverified allegations.
Another surprising revelation from Maddow’s documentary is that a State Department official named Jonathan Winer discussed Steele’s Trump project with the retired spy last summer.
“At some point in Summer 2016, I heard from Mr. Steele that he had this project related to Russia which implicated contacts between Russians and people associated with…candidate Trump’s campaign,” said Finer, who served as U.S. Special Envoy for Libya until this year and previously served in the Bill Clinton State Department.
Finer said that he first met Steele in 2009 and knew that he had provided investigative materials to the State Department and FBI.
Finer would be the second government official outside of the FBI known to have met with Steele. The ex-MI6 agent briefed the FBI beginning in July 2016. He had several contacts later in the year.
It was revealed this week that Bruce Ohr, a top Justice Department official, met with Steele prior to the campaign. Ohr was stripped of his title as associate deputy attorney general reportedly because he kept his meetings with Steele a secret. He also met with Simpson shortly after the campaign.
Maddow did not mention Ohr in her documentary.
Is It Possible to Make the Sherman Act Interesting? Here, Let Me Give It a Shot…
How many times has this happened to you?You’re sitting around the dinner table and one of your kids asks, “So what do you think about the consumer welfare standard as applied to antitrust enforcement of the Sherman Act?”
Boy, if I had a dollar for every time that’s come up at our house I’d have, well, nothing. But just in case you’re ever challenged about this issue by a precocious teen, let me try to help out.
And while the issue DOES have relevance to your day-to-day life – in particular if you ever use Google, Amazon or Facebook - I might have to add some references to scandals, celebrities and space aliens to keep your interest, OK? Onward…
Last June, Alden Abbott reported in The Daily Signal that the European Commission “fined Google over $2.7 billion for a supposed violation of European antitrust law that bestowed benefits, not harm, on consumers.”
“The commission,” Abbott continued, “claims that Google favored its own comparison shopping service over others in displaying Google search results.”
Um, derp?
Doesn’t Wal-Mart favor Wal-Mart products on its shelves? Doesn’t Walgreens favor Walgreens products? Doesn’t Home Depot favor Home Depot products? Doesn’t McDonald’s serve Big Macs instead of Whoppers? I mean, isn’t this just, you know, common sense?
Now, I feel I might already be losing some of you. So did you hear about actress Jennifer Lawrence getting caught with Sen. Al Franken in a California motel room reading “Rules for Radicals” together when a Martian spaceship landed in Harvey Weinstein’s back yard up the street?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
The reason this EU antitrust fine is something to pay attention to is because there are similar efforts to cripple big tech companies right here in the U.S., with liberal critics, including Sen. Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren, claiming these companies are just “too big.”
Of course, the reason these companies are so big and dominate their markets is because they provide services that a big number of consumers want and use on a regular basis. If these big companies weren’t so good at doing what they do, such big numbers of consumers wouldn’t be using them.
So how is this a bad thing for us consumers?
It’s not. But that’s not stopping big-government liberals from trying to rain on our parade. The Bureaucrats’ Creed: Don’t just stand there; regulate something! Or as Ronald Reagan so beautifully characterized their attitude: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Consumers continue moving online to make tax-free purchases. So the government wants to tax online purchases. Consumers keep using Facebook and Google, so the government wants to regulate them. On the other hand, consumers don’t want to pay for overpriced “green” energy, so the government subsidizes it.
When the government tries to decide if a company is “too big” and needs to be reined in through the use of the Sherman Act antitrust laws, the guiding principle is supposed to be the “consumer welfare standard.”
The consumer welfare standard really isn’t complicated. As Marianela Lopez-Galdos wrote recently, “A competition system guided by the consumer welfare standard has as a goal the maximization of consumers’ benefits.”
In the cases of Google and Facebook, it’s hard to argue their services don’t maximize the consumer's’ benefits, especially since the consumers don’t, um, pay for anything. You can use Google for free. You can set up a Facebook page for free. Not sure how consumers can get a better deal than that!
And for those who say these companies prevent competitors from getting into the market, remember that’s the same thing many were saying about Wal-Mart…until Amazon came along. And the same thing they were saying about My Space…until Facebook came along. And the same thing they were saying about the taxi cartels…until Uber came along.
Seriously, the LAST thing we need when we dial up Google.com or Facebook.com or Amazon.com is a pop-up video featuring an FTC bureaucrat declaring, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
The real, true danger is from big government. If bureaucrats really want to help, just leave us the heck alone, let us make our own decisions in the free market, and shrink yourself!
OK, that’s enough for now. But if you want to continue following J-Law and Big Al’s excellent adventures with Harvey and the Martians, you can set up a Google “News Alert” for updates. Another great, free service for consumers!
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and publisher of Nevada News & Views. You can Google either to find them.
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Yes, of course it was forged.
To the surprise of no conservative, Roy Moore’s only serious accuser has finally admitted that she lied.
After weeks of denying it, false accuser Beverly Nelson conceded that she had, in fact, forged much of the yearbook inscription that her left-wing attorney Gloria Allred said Judge Moore had written, and which Allred had produced for the television cameras as “proof” that Moore had forced himself on Nelson forty years ago.
Archaeological Discovery Is Nightmare for Devout Muslims
BY BEN MARQUIS
There has been a lot of talk about Jerusalem in recent days, following President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as the true capital of Israel. This decision has reignited the debate over which major religious faith lays a true claim to the ancient city — Jews, Christians or Muslims.
Obviously those of the Judaic faith hold the longest claim to the city, followed by Christians and then Muslims. Nonetheless, many modern-day Muslims lay claim to the entirety of the city and deny any Jewish or Christian ties to the important holy sites in the area, or their own Islamic faith for that matter.
Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch has argued that the Islamic faith did not arise entirely on its own as a separate entity, but instead began as a sort of amalgamation of the various religions prominent in the Middle East in the 7th and 8th centuries — namely Judaism and Christianity — only assembling their own distinct doctrine later.
A recent archaeological find in Israel may lend some credence to that theory, or at least point to the fact that Muslims and Jews weren’t always the bitter enemies they would seem to be today.
The Jerusalem Post reported on the discovery during an archaeological dig of ancient Islamic coins dated back some 1,300 years, shortly after the dawn of the Islamic faith during the Umayyad dynasty. The coins prominently feature a rather Judaic symbol — the menorah.
“The Jewish symbol which the Muslims were using was the menorah (the gold seven-branch candelabra from the Temple), which appeared on several coins and other early Islamic artifacts,” explained archaeologist Assaf Avraham of Bar-Ilan University, who teamed up with Peretz Reuven of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“The menorah coins bear the Shahada Arabic inscription on one side: ‘There is no god but Allah,’ while the menorah appears in the center of the coin,” he continued. “The other side bears the inscription: ‘Muhammad (is the) messenger of God.’”
The archaeological duo also discovered early Islamic clay pottery and lead vessels which also bore images of the menorah.
“They are dated to the early days of the Islamic caliphate, and were in use by Muslims,” Avraham stated, and added, “We wish that many Muslims will be exposed to this knowledge, which is part of their own religious and cultural heritage.”
According to The Times of Israel, the pair of archaeologists believe these and other recent discoveries are evidence of a “dialogue” and peaceful co-existence of the Judaic and Islamic faiths in the early days of Islam — one they hope could be resumed today or in the near future.
“At the beginning of the Muslim rule, not only didn’t they object to the Jews, but they saw themselves as the continuation of the Jewish people,” Avraham explained.
As proof of his assertion that Muslims initially viewed themselves as a continuation of the Jewish people, Avraham pointed to an inscription that had been found in a 1,000-year-old mosque in the village of Nuba, which referenced the Temple of Solomon — now known as the Dome of the Rock — and spoke of the need to rebuild it.
To be sure, there are detractors who have dismissed or downplayed the suggestion that Jews and Muslims got along or at least tolerated each other in the early days, but some have admitted that a bit of tolerance was possible in some areas, particularly on the periphery of the growing Islamic caliphate.
That said, ideally these new archaeological discoveries revealing even a brief moment in history when Jews and Muslims co-existed peacefully will give rise to a new era in which peaceful coexistence and “dialogue” can resume — a sentiment President Trump touched on during his historic speech recognizing Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel.
“Jerusalem is today, and must remain, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Trump stated. “And it is time for young and moderate voices all across the Middle East to claim for themselves a bright and beautiful future.”
“So today, let us rededicate ourselves to a path of mutual understanding and respect,” he added. “Let us rethink old assumptions and open our hearts and minds to possible and possibilities.”
Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter so everyone can see that there was once a time in the past when Jews and Muslims were able to coexist in peace in the ancient city of Jerusalem.
What do you think of the discovery of Islamic coins bearing the symbol of the Jewish menorah? Scroll down to comment below!
Flabbergasted: Fox Puppet Frank Luntz Shocked As Alabamians Back Roy Moore in Vice News Focus Group
by MATTHEW BOYLE
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Frank Luntz, a GOP establishment messaging consultant, was visibly flabbergasted as every single one of his focus group participants in a Birmingham area Vice News-produced panel backed Judge Roy Moore for U.S. Senate.Titled “Why These Alabama Voters Are Sticking By Roy Moore,” Luntz’s Vice News focus group aired on Vice News Tonight on Dec. 8 on HBO.
“Are you all Christians here?” Luntz opens the seven-and-a-half-minute long segment. “Yes,” all of the focus group participants, who joined Luntz in a Birmingham area restaurant, replied.
“Is Roy Moore a good Christian?” he followed up.
“Yes,” one woman replied. “Absolutely,” another said.
“Absolutely?” Luntz followed up in disbelief. “Yes,” the woman shot back. “Without any doubt whatsoever?” Luntz asked again.
After some more back and forth, a man in the focus group spoke up. Scottie Porter, a real estate developer, said:
He’s not my choice, I’m not voting for him because I like him. I’m voting for him because I don’t want Doug Jones. But Roy Moore is entitled to the presumption of innocence in the law and in the Bible just like anybody else should be. There are only accusations. There have been no charges filed. All you have is a group of women who have come forward.
“How many? How many?” Luntz pressed Porter.
“Seven,” he replied.
“There’s really only three,” one woman yelled out.
“How many women have to come forward before you say ‘wait a minute, where there’s smoke there’s fire’?” Luntz asked the group.
Chuck Moore, a retired sales consultant, replied: “It’s about the legitimacy, not just how many. How many are not being paid? Or being coerced to do this?”
“How many of them do you think are being paid?” Luntz asked the group.
“All of them,” some replied in unison.
“By a show of hands, how many of you think all the women are being paid?” Luntz asked the full group.
Three hands in the group went up.
“Seriously?” Luntz asked in disbelief, before the camera turned to homemaker Jane Wade.
“To me, there are only two women that have a smoking gun but the women’s—their reputations are questionable at the time,” Wade said.
“Is this how you want to be treated as a woman if something were to happen to you? Do you want to be dismissed that way?” Luntz asked Gina Doran, a retired school bus driver.
“You better have proof,” Doran fired back at Luntz.
“You know, it doesn’t sound like it went beyond there were still clothes on,” Wade interjected. “It doesn’t sound like it went beyond anything, and that as soon as the girl said she wasn’t comfortable he took her home.”
“I guess my question is: You blame her?” Luntz pressed. “She’s 14.”
“I’m not blaming her,” Wade replied. “I’m blaming both of them. I didn’t say I thought he was without sin. It’s possible that he did it. But it’s possible that he could be forgiven for—I don’t think he raped her. I don’t think he—“
At that point, Porter chimed back in: “Let’s be real. It was a different world. Forty years ago in Alabama, people could get married at 13 and 14 years old.”
“Yeah,” Wade said.
“My grandmother, at 13, was married,” Porter continued. “At 15, [she] had two children and a husband and a job. If Roy Moore was guilty, if he was at the mall hitting on this 14-year-old, 40 years ago in Alabama, there’s a lot of mamas and daddies who would be thrilled that their 14-year-old was getting hit on by a district attorney.”
Rhonda Richardson, a nursing assistant, said she dated older men when she was 16-years-old.
“I dated an older man at 16,” she said. “So we don’t really—“
“How old was he?” Luntz asked.
“Thirty-one,” she responded, the same age group in which Moore was accused of engaging in this various behavior. “I’m not going to say that the 14-year-old—I don’t believe her, to be honest, the one that says she was 14, I don’t believe her. But for all of us, as a woman, I think we all have pretty much been in the situation where there’s been sexual harassment.”
Luntz, stunned, turned to Richardson and said: “Think about what you’re saying. You’re calling all nine of those women liars. Nine women. When it happened to you, did you want people to trust you?”
“I never told anybody,” she answered. “And if I was going to tell somebody, I would not have waited 38 years to tell it. I would—that’s what’s mind-boggling. Why wait until now, at an election, to come forward and say ‘oh’?”
Then the conversation turned to financial trading instructor Harry Vance, who said:
Okay, Frank, what you’re wanting to know is—we’re a bunch of conservatives here, and you want to know why we’re going to vote for Roy Moore. My wife went to high school with Roy. She said in high school, Roy was a hard worker and American success story if you will. He always aimed for higher things. However, neither she nor I have ever voted for Roy up until now. We intend to vote for Roy because of the opponent that’s running. Right now, as far as I’m concerned, we’ve probably got two miserable candidates. In my opinion, we ought to go with the conservative, we ought to go with somebody we know is going to vote conservative. And that’s what I’m looking for.”\
“Roy Moore is not a miserable man,” retired nail salon owner Peggy Montalbano said. “This man has more integrity than you can find in the entire Congress right now. Don’t fall for the George Soros assassination plan.”
Doran signaled agreement with Montalbano.
“The truth is will come out,” Montalbano said. “These women are all going to be proven [wrong]. Just like the 16 that went against President Trump, just right before the election.”
“What about the accusers of Bill Clinton?” Luntz asked her.
“The accusers of Clinton, everybody knows he’s a womanizer,” Montalbano said.
“But people think the same thing about Roy Moore,” Luntz said.
“But with Bill Clinton, they went to the courthouse and they filed papers,” Porter answered for the group. “They didn’t wait 40 years to do it. That’s a huge difference than just going to the media only just six weeks before an election.”
Washington Monument
LAUS DEO: A little history lesson you may enjoy.I thought that you and others may like to see this.! One detail that is not mentioned, in DC, is that there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument.
With all the up! roar about removing the ten commandments, etc... This is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this historical information.
On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, are displayed two words: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there and for that matter, probably couldn't care less.
Once you know Laus Deo's history, you will want to share this with everyone you know. But these words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America.
Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, un-noticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.
So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say "Praise be to God!"
Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States, it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation, Laus Deo ...........Praise be to God!"
From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant...a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the north. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west.
A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.
Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message. On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore; on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians; on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!
When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy .."One Nation, Under God."
I am awed by Washington's prayer for America. Have you never read it? Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on!
"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
Laus Deo!
When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look. You may forget the width and height of "Laus Deo", its location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." (Psalm 127: 1)
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G’ day…Ciao…
Helen and Moe Lauzier
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