#NeverForget #9-11-01 #AccessAndRespondAgain #ChangedMyMindOnPatriotAct

It wasn't the bureaucracy of our .gov that was attacked on September 11, 2001. The 19 Jihadists' attack was an attempt by tyrannical people to overthrow the American Way of Life. An attempt, through the creation of mass fear, to cower us into submission. The Islamic Zealots were betting that they would punch into the soft underbelly of our decadent culture and we'd beg forgiveness. They were wrong. While some parts of our culture reacted that way (this is our fault...we're Islamophobic...), most ordinary Americans didn't. Most Americans Love Our Country, and respond the appropriate way when attacked: We Fight Back, we assess and respond and ensure that our people are secured in their God Given Freedoms.

I've shifted my view of some of our national responses to this treachery since then. In an attempt to prevent a future attack, we expanded the federal bureaucracy's surveillance and police state powers, via the Patriot Act and more, so they could sniff out and put down future plots before they happen. What we didn't expect is that those new powers would be used, not primarily to surveil suspected Islamic Terrorists, but rather American Citizens who don't tow the line of what the intelligence apparatuses and Rich Men North of Richmond say. In this way, we are now Less Free than we were the moment those planes were abducted and used as weapons against the American People and American Way of Life.

Like the fight against a foreign adversary who means to end you, when a threat is revealed to us, we respond and take action. When Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned out the 9-11-01 attacks, they played the long-game, recruiting and training and doing Cy-Ops against their targets. It was an effective campaign and took great effort to thwart. The folks who are now using the apparatus of state to separate Americans, and put their thumbs on the scales of justice, and claw away God-given freedoms from the smelly Wal-Mart deplorables, those bitter Americans clinging to their guns and religion, are also playing the long game. And I'd say their campaign has been very effective.

Now that some of their cards in their hand have been exposed, it's time to do what Free People do: Assess and Respond, to ensure that our people are secured in their God Given Freedoms!

#NeverForget
#DoggedDetermination
#FreedomIsBetter

American's Do Not Leave Our People Behind #AfghanistanWithdrawalDebacle

A core part of the American ethos is that we do not leave our people behind. Join us Tuesday (Tomorrow), August 31, at 3:29 pm, as the SWLA Veterans Assn holds a short Rally and Press Conference to give us their views on the manner of our withdrawal from Afghanistan. Do they think we have left Americans behind, or any Afghan's who supported us in our fight against terrorists? We know that we left behind vast supplies of American military equipment, including 16,035 sets of night vision goggles, 358,530 rifles, hundreds of armored vehicles and more. We'll hear their opinion on that as well. See you there. #NeverLeaveYourPeopleBehind

Press Coverage: Lake Charles American Press, KPLCTV

Sing it with me now! #StarSpangledBanner #LandoftheFree #HomeoftheBrave

#SingItWithMeNow "...Oh say does that Start Spangled Banner yet wave, O're the land of the free, and the home of the brave?" My answer: A Resounding YES!

America pioneered the formation of a nation around ideals, rather than ethnicites, tribes or geography. Our foundation of Freedom has a built in capacity to grow in justice and thus be a beacon of Freedom throughout the world for centuries now. The reason so many want to come here is because these Shared Ideals work. Be Proud to be a part of this great nation! 
And on this Glorious Veterans Day, with a deep well of gratitude for the blood and sacrifice of our Armed Forces, I join with all your voices with my rendition of our National Anthem, sung on the shores of the Atlantic ocean only a day ago, with my shirt, emblazoned with both our Flag and the edifice of General George Washington, the first Commander of the Continental Army of the United States waving in agreement: 
#LandoftheFree#HomeoftheBrave #GodBlessAmerica #VeteransDay

#NeverForget #911 #WeRemember

America is and has been a world-changing force for good, for freedom and for the rights of people. Our foundation as a nation was a spark that changed the world: Your human dignity is given from God, not from kings or governments, that #FreedomIsBetter and it must be declared as our foundation as a self-governing people, and defended with all the moral fortitude we can muster. We did not start perfect, but the start was good and gave us the tools to correct our then tolerated evils (slavery), and the trajectory toward Freedom has gotten better and better, through pain, blood and death.

In this age, it's in vogue in Hollywood & entertainment, in academia, in the media, and other places to equivocate "both sides" and tear down America. I reject that. Some cultures & groups don't like our Freedom, so they make war upon us. Islamic Radicalism & Jihad declared war upon the West some 4+ decades ago. Last November, we visited New York and the #911Memorial. It was the love of friend, neighbor and country that sent those firemen into burning buildings to save the trapped. Free men and women can make that brave decision, and receive the victors crown as a result! Valor and sacrifice like that is not easily forgotten. When the left tells you it's America's fault for #911, you remind them that #FreedomIsBetter than the world the Islamic Radicals seek, where barbaric treatment of women, for example, shows what's within their evil ideology, and that they are wrong!

I am proud to be an American. Proud to honor the fallen, whose lives and future on this earth was stolen by soldiers from an evil army. Those 19 Islamic terrorists had their moment. My belief this that they are regretting it now.

#FreedomIsBetter
#iLoveAmerica
#NeverForget
#911

What are the Clintons selling to earn 344 times the Average American? #theClintonMultiple

In an interview with Dianne Sawyer in 2014, Hillary Clinton expressed the difficulty she and her husband faced when leaving the White House in 2001.

"You have no reason to remember, but we came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt," Clinton said. "We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea's education. It was not easy. Bill has worked really hard. And it's been amazing to me. He's worked very hard."

As I noted in a related article, the tax returns for the Clinton’s are available for all their political life. I pulled them up and, using our friend Excel, did a little comparison of the income of Bill and Hillary Clinton to the Median Income earned by Americans.

As President, Bill Clinton had net income of $4,111,626 for the 9 years from 1992 – 2000, for an annual average of $456,847. The Median Income in America for those same years was an average of $35,163. So the Clinton’s earned 13 times more income than the Median, or middle, American family.

Mrs. Clinton was accurate to note that the Clinton’s left the White House with some financial woes. But she failed to detail that 100% of their financial negatives were the legal bills they incurred in defending against the multiple corruption and sexual assault allegations against them. Mrs. Clinton listed the issues of mortgages and houses and their daughter’s education. But they lived in the White House and didn’t need a mortgage. While in office, they had taxable income of 13 times the average American, yet she complained about the struggle of paying for their child’s school?

Let’s turn to Chapter 2 in the financial life of the Clintons. In the years following their first White House experience, the Clintons had personal taxable net income of $229,314,701 for the years 2001 – 2014.  That’s an average of $16,379,622 per year. During that same period, the Median income for an American family averaged $47,655. The #ClintonMultiple jumped from a nice 13 times the American average while President, to 344 times the American average (Median) in their years after the White House.

When the topic of the Clintons’ high income has come up during the campaign, I have often overheard this type of reply, “Well, Donald Trump is rich, too. Rich people are all corrupt in one way or another, and do the same things.”

The reason I started this series of articles on the differences between Public and Private life is so we could remember the necessary distinction between them: People who choose the honor and sacrifice of a Public Life must live up to the high standard required, because they are now serving the Public Interest, not simply their own. They are responsible for other people’s money, not their own. They are called to use their position and influence for the good of others, the good of the country, not their own.

In Private life, and private business, you are free to use your time and money and business to serve your own desires. What’s incredible America is how a free and moral people use their private life and money to serve others because they want to, not because they are forced to. America consistently ranks at the top of most charitable countries in the world in private charitable giving.

How is it that the Clintons can earn 344 times what the Median American family earns and do so without owning any businesses? In comparing their income to other business people, remember that the Clintons’ don’t own a chain of car dealerships like the uber-popular John Elway did when he retired at the top as quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Nope. They don’t own part of baseball team or an interest in an energy company, like President Bush did before he was elected. No sir. The Clintons fly around the world and give talks.  As a bonus to them, it appears that President Clinton nearly always flies on the luxury jet of one of his benefactors. And from what I understand, that’s not included in his taxable income, either.

This reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin’s line from the current popular series, Once Upon a Time. When someone comes to Rumple wanting him to use his magic to help them, he always warns them, “Remember Dearie, All Magic Comes at a Price!”

The Clintons have been cashing-in on their fame and more pointedly, their enormous political influence, helping help people and companies at home and abroad get what they want done in Washington. Just like with Rumpelstiltskin, there’s no magical freebies here: the Clinton’s earned their tremendous fortune not by generating value from a product or service, but for selling their political influence. When politicians put their thumb on the scale on behalf of one party, it always costs another party that same amount.

Why would so many people pay the Clinton’s so much? Because the Clintons future decisions were going to pay off to them! There’s no magic here, just plain ole’ #Pay4Play Corruption.

P.S. If you are now curious and want specific examples, just dig around. And I’ll be listing a few pointed ones in another article very soon. You could also check out the video of Peter Schweizer’s book, Clinton Cash. Advance to the 5 minute mark, and you’ll here a summary of the Clintons’ interactions with Rwandan “President” Paul Kagame. Then with Lukas Lundin who cut deals with warlords in the Congo and made huge profits, and donated $100 million to the Clinton Foundation. At 12:12, the story turns to Nigeria, resource rich but maybe the most corrupt country in the world. Nigeria was facing a loss of foreign aid if the Secretary of State didn’t grant a waiver for corruption transparency. Then Bill Clinton got paid $1.4 million for 2 speeches in Nigeria about that same time…and Nigeria received that waiver. At 16:40, the story of the Clintons’ involvement in the Haiti recovery begins. (I’ll update the other major mile markers in the documentary later tonight.)

What business are the Clinton’s in? $229 million in direct taxable income since 2001. #theClintonWay

I was a commercial loan officer for most of my 16 years as a banker. I enjoyed the work and learned a ton. I spent most of my time trying to make commercial loans, and in the process I looked at hundreds and hundreds of business loan requests. This usually involved someone wanting to buy a location, a new piece of equipment, or finance larger amounts of inventory to help them grow their sales. Some requests were for new businesses, large and small, and others were for existing enterprises.

When you see a similar situation happen over and over, as I did looking at hundreds of loan requests from all types of borrowers and industries (we called that deal flow), you start to see trends emerge. That deal flow helped me develop a way to look at a business and assess its potential. So here is Paul’s quick method of evaluating a business opportunity.

When I start to explain this to someone, I instinctively put my left hand up, and start by pointing my index finger up and out, then extend my 2nd and 3rd fingers as I quickly go over the first three elements, and it starts something like this:

“Business happens when People, Ideas and Capital…”

By this time, I’ve rolled out my first three fingers on my left hand, and they are sort of hanging there, waiting on the real punchline to get into the story, a;

                “…Meet Opportunity.”

When I say “meet opportunity,” my right hand instinctively wraps around those 3 extended fingers, symbolizing that opportunity is the kingpin of the elements.

Business happens when people, ideas and capital meet opportunity.

I often go on to explain that the first three elements can be shifted about in many cases. If you are short on capital but have good doses of people and ideas, you can often give it a go. The real deal stopper, every time, no matter what, is opportunity. If you have great people with skills and talent, plenty of money (capital), and a nifty idea, but the opportunity, that is, the demand from willing buyers, is lacking, then only heartache and frustration await you if you pursue this business.

When President Bill Clinton left office in January 2001, he and Hillary did what other Presidents have done. Wrote a book and gave some talks, earning a tidy sum in the process.

For example, the President who came after Clinton, George W. Bush, did similarly when he left in 2008. The Center for Public Integrity estimated (in 2012) that President George W. Bush has made $15 million giving speeches since he left office. Another critic of Pres. Bush estimates that he has made 200 speeches at rates of between $100,000 to $175,000 each, which would total $20 to $35 million. He also received a $7 million advance on his first book out of office. That’s a hefty income, something between $27 to $42 million giving speeches and writing books. We don’t know exactly what President Bush has earned, since he is out of office and does not need to provide any financial disclosures. Maybe he did some of those talks for less or more. But even his critics estimate his post-presidency income in this range.

What about the Clinton’s? Well, since Mrs. Clinton has run for and been a Senator and run for President twice, their tax returns from 1992 to 2014 are all available for you and me to review. I pulled up all of them and compiled their income sources for the 23 years from 1992 to 2014, with a summary of the years after the White House (2001-2014) below. During those 14 years, the Clinton’s made net taxable income of $229,426,701. That’s an average of $16.4 million per year, with 2014 their peak year, $28.3 million! Their speaking fees and book advances/royalties have totaled a staggering $201,040,971. That’s about 10 times more than President Bush earned from speaking/writing. Another interesting component is that $32,519,872 of the Clinton’s speaking income is from foreign payors. Additionally, since leaving office, Bill Clinton has received consulting income of $50,534,450. This includes $16 million from a for-profit college, Laureate Education, over five years, and $6 million from an education entity from Dubai, GEMS Education, during that same period.

Let’s go back to my little method for evaluating a business enterprise: Business happens when people, ideas and capital meet opportunity. Let’s break each of the elements down, briefly.

People. The Clinton’s are famous. A former US President lends credibility beyond words to any gathering. President Clinton, when he is in his zone, has an incredible way of connecting with people. His, “I feel your pain,” talks helped get him elected then re-elected, even amidst scandal. So the Clinton’s are good on this element.

Ideas. The Clinton’s are career Democrat Party politicians and are articulate the policies of their party. I’ll give them an okay on this one too.

Capital. It doesn’t take much money to write books, fly around, and give talks, so they are fine on Capital for the speaking and writing business

So, we are good on the first three elements.

Opportunity. Here I start to scratch my head. Yes, former Presidents are very interesting. And former First Ladies/Former Senator/Former Secretary of States are as well. But the scope of their fees are just staggering. It’s one thing to have the novelty of a former President speak at your event, and it’s another thing for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of groups to pay the former president several hundred thousand dollars a pop for a talk for over a decade.

Why are so many groups doing this? It is for the novelty? Are President Clinton and Secretary Clinton’s talks so compelling that groups will invest hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 45-minute talk? Are these groups getting that kind of motivational/inspiration to get a return on investment on those speaking fees?

Let me ask you, have you ever gone on YouTube and watched a Hillary Clinton speech because it was so compelling? Have you overhead people sharing a quote from a Bill or Hillary book or speech, other than “It takes a village?” In just two years, 2013 and 2014, the years just after she left Pres. Obama’s cabinet, Secretary Clinton was paid over $20 million to give talks.  Much attention has been paid to the $675,000 she was paid for three speeches to Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street Investment Bank.

Why would a financial firm pay such a huge fee for a politician to come speak to their group? Is it to hear her wisdom on how to run an investment bank?

It seems to me that their speaking fees are much more than their celebrity power alone would yield. That is evident on the trend in Bill Clinton’s per speech fee as his wife moved in and out of her position as Senator and Secretary of State. In the year she was neither of these, 2007, his speaking income fell by half.

What is the opportunity that people/companies/foreign countries are buying when they hire the Clinton’s to speak or consult with them?

There’s a fun country expression I heard a lot when coming up, “If something walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has feathers like a duck…it’s a duck.” This explains my view perfectly. These corporations and foreign states and NGO’s want to get on the Clinton’s good side, to influence the Clinton’s decisions. A couple hundred million dollars of direct, personal income* is Exhibit A that the Clinton’s business isn’t just giving talks and writing books, it is the sale of their future policy decisions and vast political influence.

* FYI, that couple hundred million is over-and-above gifts to the Clinton Foundation, to Hillary’s multiple campaigns for office, nor to the Democrat party or PAC’s.

We will look into some specific Clinton clients, and the role of the Clinton Foundation in an upcoming article.

What is Public Corruption? What's the impact of Others People's Money? And Why does it Matter? Part 2

When Public Life Leaders use their position and influence to benefit themselves or their supporters, the cost is born by all the taxpayers. I did a quick search and landed on the Internal Revenue Service’s page listing examples of such money corruption, Examples of Public Corruption Investigations - Fiscal Year 2015[1].

Department of Justice officials announce the conviction of Veterans Administration official who skimmed $1.2 million on $6.0 million in construction contracts in New Jersey. 

Public Corruption 101. Say you are an Engineering Supervisor for the Veterans Administration in New Jersey in 2008. You and three friends set up construction companies to do construction work for the VA. You use your position at the VA to direct over $6 million in construction work to these companies. In return, you get $1,277,205 in kickbacks siphoned off this work between 2008 and 2013. That means the Federal Government paid $1,277,205 EXTRA for these projects so the Public Life Leader could pocket the money. Nice work if you can get it. If you are into being a criminal. Welcome to the life of Jarod Machinga, of Hopewell, New Jersey!

Stacey Jackson, former head of the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership, convicted of skimming $424,000 in from Hurricane Katrina recovery money.

Public Corruption 201. Say you are the Executive Director of New Orleans Affordable Homeownership (NOAH), a city agency and non-profit corporation, and say you received money from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address blight within the city and to remediate homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. As the Executive Director of NOAH, you can determine how much each contractor would be paid, and you arranged to overpay certain contractors, instructing them to kickback portions of the overpayments to you and to do renovation work on property you own, to the tune of $424,000. When you get investigated, you provide fraudulent documents to a contractor in an effort to mislead the federal grand jury investigation into the fraud. That’s the actual story of Stacey Jackson.

These are some of the public corruption stories we know about, because they were caught, the investigations went forward and uncovered the facts, and they were both convicted to multi-year jail terms for using their Public Life leadership authority to steal money.

Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzi, according to WikiLeaks, gave a "Heads Up" to Hillary Clinton's Campaign Chair, John Podesta, about FBI and Congressional investigations.

Political Corruption 301. Political corruption can be about more than just money, however. If Public Life leaders use their power, information, and influence to help the people they like to get or stay elected, that is public corruption on maybe a more insidious scale.  This happens regularly but seems to be prosecuted less often than money corruption. Maybe the reason is we have become fatigued with the regularity of what I will call here Pubic Life Political Corruption. Examples happen every day. Here is one from today. I am typing this at 6:15 am, November 3, 2016, and as I look at my phone the first tweet I see is from Breitbart: Emails revealed by WikiLeaks show that Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik shared information about congressional investigation of Hillary Clinton with his friend John Podesta, Chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Campaign. Here is the email:  

Fwd: Heads up

From:john.podesta@gmail.com

To: jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com, bfallon@hillaryclinton.com, cheryl.mills@gmail.com, hsamuelson@cdmillsgroup.com, kschake@hillaryclinton.com, nmerrill@hillaryclinton.com

Date: 2015-05-19 11:12

Subject: Fwd: Heads up

Additional chances for mischief.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: *Peter Kadzik* <peterkadzik@gmail.com>

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Subject: Heads up

To: John Podesta <john.podesta@gmail.com>

There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division

will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another

filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that

indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the

emails.

Did you catch that? A top FBI official (Kadzik) sent a warning to Hillary’s campaign chief (Podesta) that Congress was about to bring up the Emails, that FBI agents would testify, and that a Freedom of Information Act request to release emails wasn’t going to be fulfilled until next year. Then, the Hillary campaign chief, Podesta, forwards the intel to six Clinton campaign leaders with the added comment, “Additional chances for mischief.”

If a person accepts a role in “Public Life,” then they are accepting the requirement for making the public good their goal, rather than their own good. Mr. Kradzik is a senior official at the Department of Justice, the ones who would prosecute , where I feel certain he is under strict standards about sharing information on cases, and here is an email, sent on his gmail.com account not his justice.gov one, where he shares inside information from the FBI about the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server to Hillary’s Campaign Chair! 

Former Secretary of State and current Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton and her 2016 Campaign Chair and longtime adviser, John Podesta, who received a "Heads Up" email in May 2015 from his long-time friend and Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik about Congressional and FBI investigations into Clinton's private email server.

We don’t go see heroic movies about the dirty politician Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall life in Chicago, where politicians were are on the take, making themselves rich at the expense of the taxpayers. Why? Because Political Corruption is slimy.

#FreedomIsBetter, and it requires that we hold our leaders to the standards of Public Life.

[1] https://www.irs.gov/uac/examples-of-public-corruption-investigations-fiscal-year-201

What is Public Corruption? What's the impact of Others People's Money? And Why does it Matter? Part 1

We regularly hear politicians reference their experience in, “Public Life,” or “Public Service.” This is meant to display a willingness to sacrifice self for the good of the public. Are there different standards for leaders in “Public Life?”

 The short answer is that Public Servants have a higher burden of leadership and ethics, since the organizations they lead use Other People’s Money, rather than their own. Contrast that with leaders in Private Enterprise, who have a direct financial state in the organizations they run – where there is no opportunity for the owner to “skim” funds, since the funds involved are already theirs.

An illustration to compare/contrast will help us here.

For several years now, I have owned a business. As the owner, I hold the responsibility to do the work or hire others to do the work. I am responsible to set the policies, to hire and fire, and to decide what products/services will be attractive to our customers and at what price. I am responsible to decide what assets we should buy (equipment, inventory, buildings, etc.) from which vendors, and to either invest my own saved money to purchase them, arrange for the financing from a lender, or recruit a partner. If my business is successful and I earn a profit above the cost of hiring all these people, paying the vendors and purchasing all these assets, then I alone get to reap the joy of my income (after taxes, of course). If my business fails, I alone must bear the cost, both financial, losing all I invested in this business and maybe losing other savings or going bankrupt, and otherwise (business failure has a huge emotional cost). We will call this, “Private Enterprise.”

Compare that to “Public Life.” In Public Life, an individual wins an election, is appointed to a political position, or is otherwise hired and placed in authority over a government department. That puts them in the same decision making position as business owners in Private Enterprise. The Public Life leader does the work or hires others do to the work there. The Public Life leader sets the policies (sometimes in conjunction with a legislative body, sometimes on their own), hires and fires, and decides what products/services will be provided to the customers (the public) and at what price. The Public Life Leader is responsible to decide what assets should be purchased by the government entity from which vendors, and either spends current tax receipts collected from the citizens or borrows money that the government entity must repay at a later date.

Now comes The Difference. With Private Enterprise, business owners have a built-in incentive to make the best decisions possible to build a bigger customer base and do so in such a way that they make a profit at the end of the day. People in Private Enterprise can make wrong decisions as to how to do that, and they surely do make such decisions, which is why many businesses fail and the owners lose the money and time they had invested. However, their Incentive is always to run their business to earn a profit, and those profits flow to the business owner to do as they see fit.

In Public Life, that built-in incentive is not there. If the Public Life Leader runs the government organization with excellence, ensuring by his superb decision making that his organization is efficient, that the employees are happy and productive, that the government entity serves its customers with innovation and tireless energy, the Public Life Leader earns no more money than if he did an average or a below-average job. It’s my opinion that most Public Life Leaders WANT to run their organizations well. But if the organization is not well-run, or if it is well run but on a wild-goose-chase mission, that does not negatively impact the leader’s financial future directly.

So, since there is no built-in link between the mission of a government organization and the financial benefit of the Public Life Leader, some other things must be put in its place, to keep the Public Leader accountable. Those other things are ethics rules, anti-corruption laws, a skeptical and rigorous independent press, and an informed citizenry come re-election time.

Do Public Life Leaders ever use their position for money or political corrupt ends? The plot thickens as we will find out in Part 2 of this article.

Dramatic Events Bring Clarity about Ultimate Values: Benghazi Hero in Lake Charles Tomorrow

BENGHAZI HERO in Lake Charles TOMORROW, Sunday, at Civic Center Rally 2-4 pm. 

Dramatic events can clarify what previously seemed murky. Sept. 11, 2012 our Diplomatic Compound in Benghazi. The only help came from 6 military contractors in a nearby CIA Annex. No help came from our massive air assets, nor from our military bases all around the Mediterranean Sea. For 13 HOURS these brave patriots and the other couple dozen honorable Americans fought for their lives, ultimately leaving 4 dead, including Ambassador Stevens. The Jihadists who carried out the planned attack drug his body through the streets, taking pictures to humiliate mighty America. (I'll post a picture of it in the comments; it's too much to put in the main post for those who don't know what they are about to see.)

If you haven't seen the Movie, 13 Hours, WATCH IT TONIGHT!! And I'll see YOU Tomorrow at the Civic Center Amphitheater Pavilion. The Republican Rally is from 2-4 pm, and Republican candidates for office will be there. Come and listen to Mark "Oz" Geist, Heroic Defender of Benghazi.

Let's refresh our memories on a couple of salient facts. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and her State Department fabricated a known lie, blaming the attack on spontaneous riots against an Anti-Islamic video. That very night, as the firefight raged in Benghazi and Zero American outside support was supplied, Sec. Hillary Clinton emailed her daughter saying that in the attacks "two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an al-Qaeda like group" before laying her head down on her pillow to sleep. The following day she emailed Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, "we know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest." That's not what the loved ones of the dead from of the attack heard from Sec. Clinton at the Airport.

And may God have mercy on the timid souls who did nothing to defend besieged Americans under attack for 13 hours. Was the foot-dragging due to never-ending political analysis that lead to paralysis, resulting in leaving our Americans out there to fend for themselves? President Obama's bid for re-election was only a couple of months away. For God's sake, 13 hours is enough time to fly Soldiers from Ft. Polk over to Libya!

Inaction while calculating the possible political damage is not what makes America an exceptional nation. Courage. Honor. Valor. Love of country. Love of LIBERTY! And a willingness to do what is right, even if it costs me everything.

I love America. Because we stand for Liberty.

See you tomorrow as we honor and hear from Mark "Oz" Geist, and ask God to remind our hearts with clarity about what is right.

Everyone "Negociates a settlement" with a gun drawn

I'm embarrassed for Matt Lauer, who has pretended to be a journalist for years. 

Let's summarize: As I understand it, four US Swimmers, after their competition was over, went out drinking in the famous party city of Rio. As is common when out drinking in a party city, they went to pee at a gas station. But the bathroom was locked. Frustrated, Ryan Lochte hit an advertisement in a metal frame, which fell to the ground. A couple of the other swimmers peed in the bushes behind the a gas station. Then 2 security guards, brandishing guns and speaking Portuguese, confronted them and had the swimmers sit down in the ground. The guards then demanded money, gun in hand. The swimmers surrendered money, and were let go. Lochte & Co. then told the story of being held at gunpoint, and apparently exaggerated parts of it. The Today show went to the gas station to look for the damage...and found none. 

Today NBC showed an exclusive interview to get the humbled Lochte's reaction. Here is Matt Lauer talking down to Lochte, "And the version we're hearing now is much more about a negotiated settlement to cover up some dumb behavior." In response, Lochte says, "All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money." Lauer thinks this is just normal settlement procedures, have people sit on the floor and point a gun their way and draw up the particulars of a settlement that way. Right...everyone "negotiates" settlements with a drawn gun at them. 

Picture this in your mind: Matt Lauer interviewing a BLM protester who had vandalized a gas station. The owner of the gas station confronts the protester in the act. The owner is brandishing a gun, makes the protester/vandal sit on the floor and "negotiates a settlement to cover up some dumb behavior." In the interview setup, Lauer has the protester sitting, hat in hand, while Lauer has legs crossed and sits, leaning back, so proud of his moral preening, and chastises the protester for claiming victim hood. Nope, I can't imagine that either. 

I've had people vandalize small things in my store, in frustration, right in front of me. I did not pull out the gun in my pocket and make them pay for the small thing they just broke. Why not? Because such a response is over-the-top, and causes escalation of tensions. I'm not prepared to kill someone because they knocked an advertisement off the wall. That's thug behavior. Lauer knows this, of course. He could have easily led Lochte in an interview like this: "How did you feel, on the floor, with an agitated man waving a gun in front of you? You are in a foreign country, you don't understand the language, and you just broke a small fixture in a store, worth a couple of bucks, maybe, and now the guard is threatening to kill you because of it? How did you feel? Do you feel the Brazilians were discriminating against you because you were white?" Ok, I may have stretched it a bit in that last sentence, but I think you see the point: Lauer was reveling in holding Lochte's head held under the water, shaming him. 

Ryan Lochte has accomplished some tremendous things. He's the 2nd most decorated Olympic Swimmer in history. To be sure, Lochte should not have punched the sign, should not have exaggerated the story, and he should be embarrassed for making all of this more complicated as a result, distracting from the fantastic accomplishments USA Swimming has achieved. 

And Matt Lauer shouldn't jump on any opportunity to cover for the thug behavior of Brazilian security guards...not to mention the thug behavior of "protesters" who burn down gas stations here in the US. 

Maybe Matt Lauer's apparent comfort with negotiations done with one party having a gun in their hand and the other party sitting on the floor defenseless, is because he and #BigMedia are absolutely used to being in total control of the narrative they inject into news stories to point them in the direction they prefer. 

SHAME ON NBC and #BigMedia altogether for being such America-hating hacks. However, I don't think Lauer & Co. have much capacity for embarrassment, as they are never wrong. 

Captain's Log, Supplemental: One of my friends commented on my Facebook post of this article how Locthe is to be held to account for his bad behavior. Absolutely: To be sure, Lochte deserves criticism and consequences for his poor behavior, particularly for hiding the parts that were embarrassing for him when he retold the story the following days. We are all tempted to embellish or omit certain facts, and we all bear a cost when the facts come to light. Locthe is facing those consequences now, with his image tarnished and his endorsement contracts vanishing. Locthe's consequences are all visible. I'm raising this angle to make visible the embedded bias of the Left displayed by Lauer in this interview with the star athlete. Ask yourself: Would Lauer have asked Lochte those same questions with the same aggressive style if he were black? If not, why? I don't think it's reverse-racism by Lauer. Rather, than black/white, the motivation for Lauer and #BigMedia is about promoting their left-leaning worldview.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/ryan-lochte-rio-incident-i-over-exaggerated-story-n635191

Budweiser's marketing knows more about America than...

I love America.

Not just because I own iReallyLoveAmerica.com, and not just because I was born here. Not because we are wealthy, which makes everyday life so much easier, and certainly not because of the fascination with national self-loathing practiced by our entertainment-media-academia-complex  And not because America has a spotless history, because She doesn't.

It's because America is the World-Wide Beacon for Freedom. And #FreedomIsBetter

Our largest beer brand, Budweiser, gets this, even if the left-side of the political world does not. 

The Olympics started this week. I really enjoy watching and participating with my family, cheering on the American athletes in their quest for doing their best and bringing home Gold for their country. Oh, and because my beautiful bride Loves Watching the Olympics!

We just came back from Vacation, and when I made a quick run to the store to stock up on essentials after a 10 day trip, I stopped, mid-stride, at the beauty of this Case of Beer, and the more I looked, the more I loved it!

What I saw first in the cooler was the side of the packaging: Red and White Stripes as background for Lady Liberty to hold up her Flame, similar to the Olympic flame. In America's case, the flame is the light of Liberty for us to enjoy. I stopped in my tracks. And looked in, mesmerized.

On the end of the case I saw the familiar shapes and script font of the Budweiser can, but something was different. The first words I read on can printed on this bold, blue end, just below the large blue script were these light silver block letters :

E PLURIBUS UNUM

Which is Latin for "Out of Many, One", the motto of the United States of America. 

I choked up a bit, right there in the isle of Albertsons. And I opened the cooler door and peered in further. It took me a minute to figure out that instead of the word "Budweiser' in blue script, they wrote "America." And, I Love America!

I investigated further, comparing the cases with this styling to the other ones, pulled out a 12 pack and headed home, even more pumped to be an American and have an Olympic Team to cheer that night.

When I got home and pulled out a can, it just kept getting better. The next phrase I noticed was 

Indivisible            Since 1776

240 years of Freedom! Budweiser, or at least their marketing and packaging peeps, is blowing me away! 

I set up the can to take some pictures, both that first night and into a 2nd one. (I opened the 12 pack to get out a can, not noticing I opened the end with the straighter alignment on the packaging, so the 2nd Night I went back and sifted through the cases and brought home an 18 pack, all aligned and pretty.) With every picture, I noticed more and more about the Freedom Story pictured on this can of beer.

A seal adorned the epicenter of the can, with "US" in beautiful bold, encircled in a seal by the words
"The United States of America"

US. That means you and me. Us. We. Together. One. We, my fellow American's, are an Us. And our Us is due to shared values, not shared ethnicity, nor any other other tribal affiliations. Shared values, like Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Possessing shared values and culture as Americans is the only way that Out of Many, we can be One. E PLURIBUS UNUM.

It wasn't until halfway through getting my eldest daughter to help me take the pictures that I noticed the iconic lines from our National Anthem to the left and right of the seal:

                Land of                                                                                    Home of
               The Free                                                                                    The Brave

Freedom and Bravery are co-dependent. Normally, as my counselor best-bud would advise me, co-dependency is super-bad. In this case, these two traits are part of those Shared Values that do their magic by allowing our American "Many" to become "One." Freedom is not for the faint-of-heart. She requires the Brave to defend and remind and uphold her.

After we took some great pictures, I finally noticed the Lyrics from Woody Guthrie's 1940 folk song, "This Land is Your Land" at the bottom of the white portion of the can's face:

                        "From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream
                          Waters, This Lake Was Made for You and Me."

America is big. Our geography is diverse, as my family experienced as we drove from the Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains in just the last few days. And it's those wonderful Shared Values that allow us to enjoy the Freedom and Providence of being given such a land. If we didn't have these Shared Values, then our factions and differences would empower our tribal tendencies and we would instead create "Many, Out of One." 

Try doing that in your family. Sit down for dinner one night and everyone there emphasize all your differences. Demand that everyone be hyper-vigilant to ensure that no one offends anyone else's sensibilities, and that everyone strictly adheres to everyone else's preferences. And everyone bring up the resentments you have with everyone else, current or past. Loudly! It doesn't take very long before the words are pitched in angered tone, and the needle on the Grievanceometer is pegged in the red zone, about to burst.  

You don't get to stay an "US" very long by practicing "Many, Out of One." That's a shared value of folks us are now former friends, not one of a free and enduring nation. Let's stick with the original motto: Out of Many, One.

This is why the practice of Identity Politics is so unhealthy and divisive. It separates, even if the person practicing them says they are for unity: Even if the speaker is sincere in their desire for unity, the practice of Identity Politics will result will in division, not unity. 

Back to my adventure on this can. Oh the subtlety and technique of the Packager and Design Artist. I finally noticed the sliver block letters on the bottom strip of can, with the ending tagline from our Pledge of Allegiance:

LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL

Freedom has survived these 240 years in America because we have striven and fought for these words, these Shared Values, to be true and truer still in America: Liberty & Justice for All! And they are. 

I'm proud of Budweiser for getting this so right! (Oh, and Budweiser isn't even owned by an American company anymore, but they are still an American-loving bunch with this can!)1

#FreedomIsBetter  #EPluribusUnum

240 Year Ago, our Founders Declared that Freedom Is Better!

Do you recall the last time you read the Declaration of Independence? If it's been a while, then I invite you to join me on a little journey on this 4th of July. 

My family loves watching epic movies. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Chronicles of Narnia, Marvel/Avengers, the list goes on. These are the top movie and book brands of all time.* (*FYI: For books, the Bible is #1 all time by a huge margin.) Why do these stories have such broad and enduring appeal? 

Well, they take us on a journey. One where the fate of many is in peril, a reluctant hero becomes aware of the desperate need, and faces a decision: who will stand up and fight?

Risk. What's the fun in watching a rigged game, where the players are paid to ensure a certain outcome? None! The characters in the epic's did not know the outcome. What they did know, with all their strength of conviction, is what was right and necessary. And what would pursuing the right cost them? Some their lives, some their fortunes, and all of them the pain and toil of pursuing what is noble and just no matter the odds or who comes with you. 

America's founders had a lot to loose. These men were established and prosperous, with land and business and family. To Declare Independence from the Crown of England was to put a price on one's head, a price paid by one of the perennial Kingdoms of the day with collective might greater than our own. 

Why would the Founders risk so much against a more powerful opponent?

Because the cause of Freedom is Worthy! 

The Founders were raised in Western culture and its Judaeo/Christian underpinning, and as such, their American Revolution didn't depose one King/Despot/Ruling Oligarchy and put in its place another. That kind of revolution happens rather frequently. Bloody and wasteful, dictator-for-dictator revolutions don't advance Freedom, nor her children of healthy culture, free-enterprise and innovation. 

The Founders were men, with the frailties and failing that are common to men. The most glaring of these was the surge of slavery of black Africans. What the Founders did put in place, that would ultimately put an end to the stench of slavery, was a framework in our Constitution whereby rights would, after the bloodiest of our wars, and 350,000 white and 40,000 black Union Soldiers dead, be fully vested in the former slaves as free and equal people. The Founders would be pleased that the Nation they started has achieved so much for the cause of Liberty and Justice for All! 

So, today, on the 240th Anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, engage full-on in the Journey of American Freedom, shall we? Join with me in our National Celebration of Independence by adding these items to your day:

• Print Copies of The Declaration of Independence and sharing one with all who gather at the party/cookout you will be at today. (Hi Res Image of the handwritten here. Text for printing and reading here.)
• Read the first two paragraphs aloud to your crew before your meal.
• During your hangout time today, talk over the list of the grievances that the Colonists had against the King from the printed transcript. What do these have in common/contrast with issues in our day?
• With your whole crew, Recite as a Prayer the Last Sentence of our Declaration before you shoot off your fireworks: 

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

July 4, 1776
240 Years ago today
Our Founders Declared That
Freedom is Better!

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Militant Islamic Terrorists are Enemies of Western Democracies

Omar Mateen wanted there to be no doubt that he is an ISIS fighter, and that Islamic Militants, of which he is a part, are at war with the West. He and his brand of Islam are for conversion by force, or death. They view homosexuality as wrong, and worthy of death as a result.

Compare that to Western Freedom and Christianity, where human life is valued, and violence to force your opinion is rightly decried as barbaric, wrong and to be immediately punished. Those in the gay bar in Orlando were precious to God, as are all human beings. While Jesus-followers like me believe the Scripture teaches that sex is a gift from God, given to be enjoyed between a husband and wife, me and my peeps are never bringing violence to homosexuals, nor anger nor derision. (I've been to the local gay bar, cooking meals to share in the parking lot after midnight, sharing water and having conversations about Jesus with those who are interested. I'll share more on that another time.)

Radical Islam is making war on its enemies, which includes all us Westerners, political left and political right. If you are a hard political left person and think that Islamic Militants will stop wanting to kill you because you agree with them that America is the root cause of the world's problems, you are mistaken. They want you dead.

Last week, ISIS in Mosul, Iraq burned to death 19 Yazidi girls that they abducted from Northern Irag. Their crime? They refused to be sex-slaves to the ISIS fighters.

Last year, Islamic Militants in Libya videotaped the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians. They killed them because they are Christians.

Don't fool yourself that we can negotiate our way to Radical Islamic Fighters liking us. Nor that we can screen for such a worldview when people immigrate here.

Freedom Is Better. And it Must Be Defended.

America's Future - A Free People Get to Choose

I took my twin 13 year old daughters to the Avenue of Flags yesterday. The Sons of the American Revolution organize the display of 970 Casket Flags of Veterans who have passed from this life to the next. I think is the largest such display in the United States. 

It is breathtaking.

And I am seldom at a loss for words. I went to share with experience on Periscope, and as I started the introduction, a breath of wind broke in sending the flags-a-waving, and I could only think of Francis Scott Key's Star Spangled Banner, and began to sing it!

We walked, talked, and I took pictures. And thanked the volunteers. (I've helped put them up and take them down other times.)

My favorite pictures are the ones where the Sunshine is peering through the flag, as in the picture at the top of the post. You can see the Sunshine breaking over the edge as Old Glory waves with grace and honor in the wind. This is how it is in a Free Country. We the People hold the reigns, and as we move, as our character and honor ebb and flow, the Sunlight is either Obscured, OR it Shines Forth, covering the land with Freedom and Her children, hope, joy, prosperity, liberty and sacrifice, love and compassion. #FreedomIsBetter

P.S. Some moments yesterday and today, I'm just gripped with the compelling nature of Freedom. We get to choose a path. It can go either way. The trajectory of America is a force for good, for bringing justice eventually, even when we didn't do it to begin with (slavery).#FreedomIsBetter

Avenue Of Flags

Entry from my first time to volunteer at the Avenue of Flags Display in Lake Charles, LA, in 2007.

Today is Memorial Day, where we honor the fallen Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Marines who died fighting for the United States of America, the Greatest Country on Earth!

Last year, I was introduced to the Avenue of Flags in my hometown. It was started 25 years ago by the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

In an old cemetery here we have the largest display in the country of casket flags of deceased veterans. Over 800 flags! The inner circle contains about a dozen flags from the AMERICAN REVOLUTION! There are a number of flags from the 1800's as well. We are getting new ones each year. Volunteers, including a bunch of Boy Scouts, hang these 800 flags (each is 6 foot by 9 foot!) throughout this beautiful old cemetery. In the morning there is a Memorial Day event. People drive and walk through the display all day. Then the volunteers retire the flags in the late afternoon. We do this each Memorial and Veterans day.

If I haven't mentioned it yet, I Love America!

Here we have this cool experiment in Freedom. But, as you know, Freedom is not free. It costs blood and treasure. Freedom in America is a gift from God, and the sacrifices of the courageous before us. Men like George Washington, Patrick Henry, William Marion, Ronald Reagan.

Men like my brother-in-law who is flying helicopters for the Marine Corps in Iraq today.

There was a beautiful ceremony honoring a WWII vet who died recently. This gentleman survived the Bataan Death March. He, and those who served with him, is a Hero. Following the proceedings, the soldiers present performed a 21 gun salute. I cried.

I'm tired from putting up and taking down those flags. I'm happy that I'm tired. I am so grateful to live in the United States of America.

Though my citizenship is in Heaven, the Bible says, I love the country God has allowed me to live in. Thank you, Veterans.

All for His Fame, Paul