13,753 Government Requests for Google E-Mail Data in 2012, Most Without a Warrant
[CNSNews.com]
Posted: February 23, 2013
By Matt Cover
Federal law says that opened email stored remotely – not on a computer’s hard drive – can be accessed without a warrant. (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – American government agencies – state, local, and federal — made a record 13,753 requests to read emails or gather other information sent through Google’s Gmail and other services in 2012, more than half without warrants, according to statistics released by Google.
The total number of users about whom government agencies wanted information also set a record at 31,072, up from 23,300 in 2011, the first year Google began reporting the data. The discrepancy comes because government agencies request information on multiple users or accounts at the same time.
Most of these 13,753 requests, 6,542 of 8,438 in the latter half of 2012 alone, were done without a search warrant, Google data show. Google did not make available any detailed data prior to June 2012, nor did it make available which requests came from the federal government and which came from state or local law enforcement agencies, when asked by CNSNews.com.
Google spokesman Chris Gaither said the company only started tracking which type of legal authority – subpoena, court order, or search warrant – was used in the latter half of 2012. Google issues biannual reports on the requests for user data it receives from government agencies from around the world, including ones in the U.S.
Obama’s DOJ Grants ATF New Gun Grab Authority
[FreedomOutpost.com]
by Tim Brown
September 12, 2012
The Obama administration via the Department of Justice has given authority to the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in controlled-substance abuses.” This means now that people who are not dealing illegal drugs, just using them and anyone who might associate with them in the same residence or be in a vehicle can have their God-given right of keeping and bearing arms revoked by the government god. In fact, no conviction is even required in these instances.
Ryan on tap to deliver ‘hard truths’ in VP nomination speech
[FoxNews.com]
Published August 29, 2012
If Chris Christie lit a fire under Republicans last night, it’s now up to Paul Ryan to provide the fuel to keep it burning for what promises to be a hard-fought two-month battle to win the White House.
The Republican vice presidential candidate is teed up Wednesday to deliver the “hard truths” Christie talked about in his rousing keynote address on opening night. While Christie is known as the GOP fighter, Ryan is the point-man for budget-balancing solutions the party claims to represent.
The Wisconsin congressman has been quietly preparing his speech for days. Members of Ryan’s staff contacted by Fox News earlier this week said they couldn’t say precisely how long it would be, but that he has “teased” some of the ideas in it before.
Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is best known for his controversial plans to overhaul Medicare and the tax system. They are likely the kinds of “hard truths” Christie raised Tuesday night, as the New Jersey governor claimed Mitt Romney and Ryan would lead a “new era of truth-telling” in Washington.
TSA hasn’t yet complied with order to start public discussion on body scanners
[DailyCaller.com]
July 17, 2012
It’s been one year since a federal court ordered the Transportation Security Administration to open up its new body scanner system to a process that includes taking comments from the public and justifying the policy, yet the TSA has not yet followed through with the order yet.
Because the agency hasn’t complied, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) organization plans to file a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday to ask the court to enforce it.
Ginger McCall, a director at EPIC, confirmed to The Daily Caller on Monday that the group is planning to file the motion Tuesday about the failure of TSA to comply with the court’s notice-and-comment rulemaking order.
(more…)
Years later, Ground Zero workers battle bureaucracy, health problems
[FoxNews.com]
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published June 01, 2012
The attacks on the World Trade center on Sept. 11 2001 released toxic particles in the air around the site causing many first responders to develop a variety of serious illness including respiratory ailments and cancer. (AP2001)
Workers who suffered health problems long after the rescue and cleanup at the Ground Zero “pile” following the 9/11 attacks say they are frustrated by a “complex” claims process that is hindering their access a $4.3 billion fund set up for them – prompting officials to promise they’ll streamline the application process.
The fund, created under the 2011 James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, is earmarked for workers and volunteers whose symptoms remained dormant for years. So far, none of the money has been disbursed, as claimants struggle to prove their presence at the toxic site in the days and weeks following the attacks, which released a toxic stew of deadly chemicals. Successful applicants can get compensation for health care expenses and lost wages.
Feds Clearing Way for Drones over Your House
[WND.com]
“YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK” [Right to Privacy?]
Krauthammer predicts ‘rifles aimed at the sky all across America’
Posted: May 16, 2012
Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after spending nearly three decades writing on a wide range of issues for several Upper Midwest newspapers and the Associated Press. Sports, tornadoes, homicidal survivalists, and legislative battles all fell within his bailiwick. His scenic photography has been used commercially, and he sometimes plays in a church worship band. More ↓
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The federal government is moving quickly to open the skies over America to drones – both for commercial and government purposes – and respected Washington Post and Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer is forecasting “rifles aimed at the sky all across America.”
The comments from Krauthammer, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1987 after serving as a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale and then beginning his journalism career at The New Republic, were on “Special Report” with Bret Baier.
“I would predict, I’m not encouraging, but I predict the first guy who uses a Second Amendment weapon to bring a drone down that’s been hovering over his house is going to be a folk hero in this country,” Krauthammer said.The conversation arose as the federal government announced it is beginning to allow public safety agencies to fly unmanned aircraft – drones – with fewer and fewer restrictions.
According to yesterday’s report from Bloomberg, police, fire and other government agencies now are being allowed to fly drones weighing as much as 25 pounds without special approvals previously needed.
CBS/NYT: Romney 46, Obama 43 Among Registered Voters
[RedState.com]
Monday, May 14th at 7:59PM EDT
No Spinning This As Good News For Obama
Posted by Dan McLaughlin (Diary)
In a long election season, it’s never wise to get too high or too low over any one poll. Presidential elections are won at the state level, but statewide polling is fairly sporadic at this stage of the race, so we’re stuck reading national polls a lot. But the latest poll is bad news for President Obama.
We all know the major issues by now to look for with individual polls: some polls are adults, and are totally useless, because only registered voters can vote. Polls of likely voters, in turn, are vastly more accurate and less Democratic-biased than polls of registered voters, many of whom also don’t show up to vote. Most polls are also reported after weighting to achieve some guesstimate of the partisan breakdown of the general electorate among Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Even polls that don’t feature egregious hackery are an inexact science, because they rest on the pollster’s current assumptions about the D/R/I split and the ‘screen’ they use to decide who is a likely voter. If the shape of the electorate is not as projected, the poll will be wrong.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OPENS FBI TRAINING MATERIALS TO U.S. MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD-LINKED GROUPS TO REVIEW MATERIALS USED IN FBI ANTI-TERRORIST TRAINING
[LibertyNewsOnline.com]
April 30, 2012 – JihadWatch.org
Total capitulation. First came the complete purge of all truth-telling about Islam and jihad from FBI training materials, and now this: the complete surrender of oversight over agent training to groups linked to those who wish in their own words to work toward “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.” In a sane world, those responsible for this would be removed from office, if not tried for treason.
FBI officials say they are willing to consider a proposal from a coalition of Muslim and interfaith groups to establish a committee of experts to review materials used in FBI anti-terrorism training.
The coalition raised the idea during a Feb 8 meeting with FBI Director Robert Mueller, who met with the groups to discuss pamphlets, videos and other anti-terrorism training materials that critics say are either Islamophobic or factually incorrect.
So apparently material that is “Islamophobic” but factually correct is likewise verboten: in other words, truth and accuracy do not appear to be relevant criteria.
George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting [How the mainsteam media got it wrong]
[Reuters.com]
April 26, 2012
The first time the dog ran free and cornered Shellie in their gated community in Sanford, Florida, George called the owner to complain. The second time, Big Boi frightened his mother-in-law’s dog. Zimmerman called Seminole County Animal Services and bought pepper spray. The third time he saw the dog on the loose, he called again. An officer came to the house, county records show.
“Don’t use pepper spray,” he told the Zimmermans, according to a friend. “It’ll take two or three seconds to take effect, but a quarter second for the dog to jump you,” he said.
“Get a gun.”
That November, the Zimmermans completed firearms training at a local lodge and received concealed-weapons gun permits. In early December, another source close to them told Reuters, the couple bought a pair of guns. George picked a Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun, a popular, lightweight weapon.
Family Misses Flight after TSA Gives Pat-Down to 7-Year-Old — with Cerebral Palsy!
[PatriotUpdate.com]
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Transportation Security Administration is once again the subject of national scrutiny, this time after aggressively screening a 7-year-old female passenger with cerebral palsy which caused her family to miss their flight.
The girl, identified as Dina Frank in a report by The Daily, was waiting with her family on Monday to board a flight departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York headed to Florida.
Since Dina walks with the aid of leg braces and crutches, she cannot pass through airport metal detectors, and must instead submit to a pat-down by TSA agents.
Dina, who is also reportedly developmentally disabled, is usually frightened by the procedure. Her family reportedly requests that agents on hand take the time to introduce themselves to her.
However, the agents on duty at the time began to handle her aggressively instead.
Still the Land of Dreams: 150 Million Want to Immigrate to U.S.
[CNSNews.com]
(CNSNews.com) – It has become a cliché for politicians who want to provide some sort of pathway to U.S. citizenship to the estimated 11.2 million illegal aliens living in the United States to say that these illegal aliens will need to “go to the back of the line” first.
However, there are already about 150 million adults living in countries around the world who would migrate to the United States if they could, according to a Gallup survey released on Friday.
That does not count any children these 150 million would-be immigrants might want to bring with them to the United States.
To arrive at this figure, Gallup interviewed 452,199 people at least 15 years or older in 151 countries around the world from 2009 and 2011. Gallup asked: “Ideally, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move permanently to another country, or would you prefer to continue living in this country? To which country would you like to move?”
The 150 million people whom Gallup estimated would like to come to the United States includes 22 million Chinese, 15 million Nigerians, 10 million Indians, 8 million Bangladeshis, 7 million Brazilians, 5 million Filipinos, 5 million Japanese, 5 million Mexicans, and 3 million each from Vietnam, Kenya and the United Kingdom.
In Liberia, 37 percent of all adults want to leave their homeland and move permanently to the United States of America. In Sierra Leone, it’s 30 percent. In Dominican Republic, it’s 26 percent. In Haiti, it’s 24 percent. And in Cambodia, it’s 22 percent.
By far, according to Gallup’s survey, America is still the No. 1 land of dreams for would be immigrants.
No other countries come close.
But the United Kingdom and Canada rank No. 2 and No. 3 after the U.S.—with 45 million people wanting to migrate to the U.K. and 42 million wanting to migrate to Canada. Like the U.S., both the U.K. and Canada are English-speaking nations that have representative governments and relatively free economies.
In 2010, meanwhile, according to a report published in March by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the United States granted Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status to only about 1,042,625 people–of whom 66.3 percent were relatives of people already in the United States.
Additionally, a majority—54.3 percent—of the foreign nationals who were granted LPR status were already inside the United States and merely had their status “adjusted.” In fact, of the approximately 1,042,625 million people granted LPR status in the United States in 2010, about 566,576 were already inside the United States. Only about 476,049 were allowed to come to the United States as legal immigrants from somewhere outside our borders.
And those who were allowed to immigrate here legally from outside the U.S. borders fit mostly into very narrow categories of legally permitted immigration.
“Four major principles underlie current U.S. policy on permanent immigration: the reunification of families, the admission of immigrants with needed skills, the protection of refugees, and the diversity of admissions by country of origin,” the CRS said in a report published in March. “These principles are embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).”
Even those who fall into the preferred categories of immigrants—such as relatives of people already in the United States—have to wait for many years to get a visa to come to this country as a legal immigrant.
According to CRS, “relatives of U.S. citizens and LPRs are waiting in backlogs for a visa to become available, with the brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens now waiting over 11 years, with even longer waits for siblings from Mexico and the Philippines.”
“Married adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens who filed petitions over 10 years ago (December 1, 2001) are now being processed for visas,” said CRS. “Prospective family-sponsored immigrants from the Philippines have the most substantial waiting times before a visa is scheduled to become available to them; consular officers are now considering the petitions of the brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens from the Philippines who filed almost 24 years ago.”
The Pew Hispanic Center published a study in February 2011 that estimated there were 11.2 million illegal aliens in the United States in 2010.
How Pro-Life Organizations Keep Abortion Legal
[Secular Morality - WordPress]
Let me begin by stating that I am, in fact, a pro-life atheist. Unfortunately I am not an experienced medical doctor and must rely on others’ research to determine whether I am for or against abortion. My lack of medical knowledge is, however, something I challenge through openness to the opinions of more qualified individuals. It is difficult to take any Pro-Life organizations opposition to abortion as a valid point when the organization identifies itself as fulfilling the work of God. Abortion should not be ruled immoral because a Deity declared it to be. If a secularist wants to be part of a pro-life organization, where does he turn? Certainly not to creationist groups, who contend that birth-control contributes to the massive amount of abortions performed in the United States every year. Perhaps you stumble upon a moving video (Graphic content) that exposes the truth about how horrific abortions can be, only to realize you cannot support their organization because they are anti-birth control.
Silencing the Right [and, THE LEFT'S DOUBLE STANDARD!]
[RedState.com]
Posted by Erick Erickson (Diary)
Tuesday, March 6th at 10:31AM EST
Last week, Rush Limbaugh suggested Sandra Fluke was a slut. The left immediately began calling for boycotts of his advertisers. He apologized on Saturday. Fluke refused to accept his apology claiming he did it under duress and the pressure has kept up.
It is organized and it has nothing to do with Limbaugh referring to Sandra Fluke as the same thing Ed Schultz referred to Laura Ingraham as. It has to do with a well executed PR strategy to frame a debate on mandating Americans subsidize the sexual habits of women as a war on women by the GOP. The media, which leans left already on social issues, would much rather focus on Rush Limbaugh than on the left’s PR strategy and Sandra Fluke’s own testimony.
What is happening here is an organized campaign by the left to shut down opposing views from the right. Much of this has to do with the right’s overall success in the past several decades. As more Americans consider themselves pro-life, even California constitutionally banned gay marriage, and most Americans agree with the right on mandates and global warming, the left has resorted to a new tactic — dialing up the outrage to shut up the right.
Sheriff Joe: ‘Probable cause’ Obama certificate a FRAUD
[WorldNetDaily.com]
March 1, 2012
Team wants investigation elevated to criminal-forgery probe – person of interest ID’d
NOTE: In case you missed the news conference of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “Cold Case Posse,” WND plans to have the entire event available in 15-minute increments beginning Friday morning at this online location.
PHOENIX – An investigative “Cold Case Posse” launched six months ago by “America’s toughest sheriff” – Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County – has concluded there is probable cause that the document released by the White House last year as President Obama’s birth certificate is a computer-generated forgery.
The investigative team has asked Arpaio, who is at a news conference in Phoenix live-streamed by WND TV that began at 3 p.m. Eastern time, to elevate the investigation to a criminal probe that will make available the resources of his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
The posse says it has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery of Obama’s birth certificate.
Arapaio, known for his strict enforcement of immigration laws, commissioned the investigative team after local citizens presented him with a petition expressing concern that Obama might not be eligible for Arizona’s presidential ballot. In addition to the live-streaming, WND is making available to the public a report distributed to media today by Arpaio’s investigators.
GET A FREE COPY OF THE ARPAIO REPORT THAT WAS DISTRIBUTED TO PRESS TODAY
Women Prefer Santorum to Romney by 10-Point Margin, Says Gallup
[CNSNews.com]
Former Sen. Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen (AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – In a week when much of the national media attention on former Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign focused on his views on contraception, the Gallup tracking poll showed Santorum’s support among women increasing by 12 points, vaulting him into a 10-point lead among women over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
In fact, Santorum’s support among women in this latest Gallup poll is stronger than his support among men.
In the week of Feb. 13-19, according to Gallup’s presidential primary tracking poll of registered Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents, Santorum led Romney 34 percent to 29 percent among men and 36 percent to 26 percent among women.
Who was behind the money to stop Keystone XL?
[HotAir.com]
posted at 4:55 pm on February 20, 2012 by Jazz Shaw
For those who were dismayed by the President’s decision to nix the Keystone XL pipeline, you may think it was an effort orchestrated primarily from the White House. While that certainly was part of it, you may have noticed a rather prominent and very public campaign taking place to stop the project showing up in advertisements, mailings and less obvious whisper campaigns across the nation. Who pays for all of that?
The Daily Caller has a lengthy investigative piece out today which sheds a bit of light on the subject. In it, we find out that they have uncovered a presentation dating back several years where some well financed groups vowed to dump significant amounts of cash into bringing development to a screeching halt. And who was behind it? The Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
CBO: Longest Period of High Unemployment Since Great Depression
[USNews.com]
CBO: U.S. enduring the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression
Posted: February 17, 2012 RSS Feed Print
After three years with unemployment topping 8 percent, the U.S. has seen the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression, the Congressional Budget Office noted in a report issued today.
[Dems Tout GOP Payroll Tax Plan as Political Victory.]
And, despite some recent good news on the economic front, the CBO is still predicting that unemployment will remain above 8 percent until 2014. The report also notes that, including those who haven’t sought work in the past four weeks and those who are working part-time but seeking full-time employment, the unemployment rate would be 15 percent.
The CBO made its comments in a report examining the long-term effects of joblessness, and possible policy options to boost employment, including unemployment insurance reforms and job training programs. The report came at the request of Democratic Michigan Rep. Sander Levin, but Republicans quickly jumped on the chance to bash President Obama’s stimulus program, which is also reaching its three-year anniversary today.
Media Matters enjoyed fundraising surge at start of Obama administration
[FoxNews.com]
Published February 15, 2012
Media Matters — Shown here is Media Matters founder David Brock.
Media Matters enjoyed a surge in fundraising after the start of the Obama administration — nearly doubling its revenues in the first two years of the president’s administration, according to tax returns obtained by The Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller found that Media Matters and its lobbying arm Media Matters Action Network raked in $14.6 million in 2010, compared with $8.1 million in 2009.
The nonprofit organization, whose tax-exempt status has been questioned by several lawmakers curious about its political activities, saw its fundraising on the rise, according to the latest available returns, even though about half of the groups earnings in 2010 came from just 21 donors, including two unidentified contributors who gave more than $1 million apiece.
Washington Post Boosts Liberal ‘Wedge Issue’ Spin on Birth Control Mandate
[Newsbusters.org]
By Matthew Balan | February 14, 2012
On Monday, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent forwarded a liberal talking point, that the Obama administration’s controversial mandate for coverage of abortifacients and contraception without a co-pay would be used as a “wedge issue” by Republicans. Sargent also highlighted a split inside the GOP over the so-called “accommodation” made by the President on Friday.
Sargent continued by highlighting that “Mitch McConnell vowed over the weekend to turn the battle against Obama’s proposal into a crusade that won’t end until the White House backs down. But as Igor Volsky notes, two GOP Senators — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — have voiced cautious support for Obama’s compromise, breaking with the idea that it’s an assault on religious liberty.” As you might expect, the Washington Post blogger didn’t point out that the two senators from Maine are among the most moderate in the Republican caucus. He also buried the detail that Volsky is the Health Care and LGBT Editorfor the left-wing website Think Progress.After excerpting from statements given by Snowe and Collins, Sargent gave his left-leaning take on how the controversy might continue as a political issue:Make no mistake: This dynamic will be crucial going forward. If more Republicans decide that Obama’s proposal is politically or substantively difficult to attack, it could encourage Dems to express greater unity behind the plan, and further marginalize opponents of it, making it tougher to continue this fight. (more…)Religious Freedom Group Files Lawsuit Against Obama Contraception Mandate
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on February 13, 2012 at 12:30pm by
Billy Hallowell
Considering the fact that the 2012 presidential election is only months away, the Obama administration‘s missteps in handling the Health and Human Services Department’s contraceptive mandate are stunning. At best, the administration failed to gauge the Catholic Church‘s full fury when considering the realization of impending women’s services requirements. Now, the rhetoric coming from those opposed the the measures has reached a boiling point, with one group already launching legal battles against the initiative.
On Friday, Obama attempted to temper the storm by releasing plans for an “accommodation” that would exempt religiously-affiliated universities and institutions from being forced to directly offer contraceptives and other controversial services. As the Blaze reported, under the “compromise,” the insurers that these faith-related groups contract with will, indeed, be forced to cover contraceptives for those employees who wish to receive them.
FBI Warns of ‘Anti-Government’ Extremists
[BigGovernment.com]
Posted Feb 8th 2012 at 8:41 am
by Wynton Hall
At a Federal Bureau of Investigation conference on Monday, FBI agents said state and local law enforcement should be on alert for people who consider themselves “sovereign citizens,” individuals who believe they are not subject to any type of government authority.
According to Reuters, these anti-government extremists “may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.”
Routine encounters with police can turn violent “at the drop of a hat,” said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
“We thought it was important to increase the visibility of the threat with state and local law enforcement,” he said.
In May 2010, two West Memphis, Arkansas, police officers were shot and killed in an argument that developed after they pulled over a “sovereign citizen” in traffic.
Komen foundation reverses decision to end Planned Parenthood grants
[FoxNews.com]
Published February 03, 2012
AP – Feb. 3, 2012: The Susan Komen For The Cure international headquarters are shown in the Dallas suburb of Addison, Texas.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced Friday it was reversing its decision to end grants to Planned Parenthood, after facing mounting pressure from pro-choice lawmakers and accusations that the breast cancer awareness organization had bowed to political influences.
“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” the group said in a statement.
Google’s New Plan: Annoy You Into Compliance
[Gizmodo.com]
Posted: January 28, 2012
Google Plus users just got a pretty horrible new feature: search your name, and instead of finding out information about yourself, you’re asked to provide it. Quite simply, Google doesn’t want to give you information until you give it information. Guh.
As Drew Olanoff of The Next Web noted today, if you are using Google’s new Search Plus your World (which is on by default) instead of giving you the results you are looking for, a Google vanity search now prompts you to fill out the remainder of your Google Plus profile. It’s a clear example of Google prioritizing Plus over Search. It’s essentially allowing a social network to hijack your Search screen until you feed it personal data. Your normal results appear below the nag, but when I tried this myself, the prompt took over the entire window of my 13″ screen. Google is increasingly acting like an overbearing second grade teacher. If you don’t share, you can’t have any for yourself.
So what happens if you do try to “complete your profile?” Mine was nearly complete, at 85 percent. I filled out my university information and added a photo to my “scrapbook” (related: what the hell is my scrapbook and who can see it?) which were the only two missing fields in the “Update your profile” window. But that only took me to 95 percent. I tried editing my profile directly from within Google Plus itself, dutifully filling out each and every field, including the really intrusive stuff like my relationship status and “who are you looking for?” (I’m just looking for myself!)
I’m still only at 95 percent. I have no idea what I need to do to get to 100. Maybe it’s some philosophical lesson that represents the fundamental loneliness of the human condition by never allowing you to reach completion. I have no idea.
Can America Turn It Around?
[PJMedia.com]
by Matt Patterson Bio
Pessimism is permeating our national atmosphere. Newsweek may as well publish an article titled “We Are All Declinists Now,” for if there is one thing the left and the right, from Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party, seem to agree on, it is that things are not going well in this country and appear to be getting worse.
This crisis of confidence is not unique to America, of course — across what was once quaintly referred to as “Western Civilization,” economies of entire nations are either suffering in stagnation or teetering near total collapse. Falling or stagnating living standards and birthrates portend a considerably older and poorer West in the not-so-distant future.
The reasons for this unfortunate state of affairs are many and varied, and not yet fully understood. But let us put aside the question of causation for a moment and ask instead: Can we in the West — and in the United States in particular — turn this boat around? Must we accept decline as inevitable?
Two phenomena in particular give cause for hope. One is applicable specifically to the United States: the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The other applies to the West as a whole — the Renaissance.
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