Month: March 2019

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Quick Analysis

Candidates as Click-Bait

The entry of Beto O’Rourke into the 2020 Democrat presidential contest is actually more significant than it appears at first.

Robert Francis O’Rourke’s career in public life is noted more for his success in getting elected (or, in the case of his recent Senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz, nearly getting elected) than for what he did once he attained office. His three terms in the House of Representatives were not distinguished by any particular legislative activity.  He has not taken any particularly noteworthy or innovative positions on the issues facing the nation, other than agreeing with some of the more general positions his party has clung to.  He has been somewhat vague discussing his views. In an important Washington Post interview, he responded with calls for debates and discussions rather than offering his views on what appropriate actions or solutions should be.

But O’Rourke typifies the type of candidate the media loves to tout. He is young, reasonably attractive (some say his appearance and mannerisms are reminiscent of Robert Kennedy) and has the quirks and habits that play well on television. He plays guitar, skateboards, and is very digital-savvy (He started a software company, and it has been said that he was a member of a key hacker group.)   Those who been attracted to him have been quite enthusiastic.  His website even includes a “shop” where one can purchase Beto apparel and other items.

He has, as did Barack Obama in his first presidential bid, sought to cast a wide net for support, “We’re all in this together” reads the headline on his campaign web site. In a New York Times interview Michelle Goldberg notes that during his losing Senate run, “It was uncanny how much the candidate recalled Barack Obama circa 2008, and not just because of his gawky magnetism. Like Obama, O’Rourke is unapologetically progressive but offers a vision of post-partisan national unity.” The Wall Street Journal describes him as “…the fresh, elusive outsider like Carter, Clinton and Obama… Part of Mr. O’Rourke’s appeal is that he can relate to the whims and angst of youth. He played in a punk-rock band while attending Columbia University and after graduating worked itinerant jobs from a live-in nanny to an art mover. He eventually returned home to El Paso where he started a software business and ran for city council.”

In the Democrat field that increasingly drifts towards extremism, anti-religious bigotry and the support of socialism which has wrought devastation wherever it has been implemented, he stands out not so much for what he says but for what he doesn’t say.

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Far too often, candidates who lack a distinguished record in public service, elected office (other than actually getting elected) or the private sector, and who fail to offer any practical suggestions on the challenges facing the nation, are rising to high levels of prominence in U.S. politics.

Included in that list of “lacks” is a disturbing acceptance of sheer ignorance. One may agree or disagree with the hard-left positions of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) but it is hard to hide the fact that her low font of knowledge is truly troubling.  She is, however, young, attractive, and has a certain charisma.

In essence, the qualities that the media favors and dwells on are not those necessary for good leadership, but those that make fun reading or reporting, or, in social-media terms, good “click-bait.” A distinct lack of knowledge, even the advocacy of truly mistaken and dangerous ideas such as socialism and anti-Semitism, are overlooked if the candidate is “cool.” 

The fact is, politics in 2019 America are beginning to resemble those more common to high-school elections of Prom Kings and Queens than U.S. Commanders-in-Chiefs.   

Illustration: Beto O’Rourke official portrait

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Foreign Policy Update

YEMEN

In a briefing for the press Secretary of State Michael Pompeo talked about the administration’s position on the conflict in Yemen and the US Senate’s vote to end support of Saudi Arabia over its involvement in the conflict. Pompeo said that the US “fundamentally disagrees that curbing our assistance to the Saudi-led coalition is the way to achieve these goals.”

In a strongly worded statement the Secretary pointed out senators who voted “aye” stating that “…we really need to think about whose human rights. If you truly care about Yemeni lives, you’d support the Saudi-led effort to prevent Yemen from turning into a puppet state of the corrupt, brutish Islamic Republic of Iran. If we truly care about Saudi lives, you’d want to stop Iran-backed Houthis from launching missiles into Riyadh. If you truly care about Arab lives in the region, you’d support allied efforts to prevent Iran from extending its authoritarian rule from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea and on down to Yemen. And if we truly care about American lives and livelihoods, and the lives and livelihoods of people all around the world, you’d understand that Iran and its proxies cannot be allowed to control the shipping lanes that abut Yemen.”

To date the United States has given over $2 billion in aid to Yemen. Last year Saudi Arabia provided over $500 million to the Yemeni people with another $500 million pledged for 2019. In contrast, Iran has not given any humanitarian aid funds to Yemen. Pompeo sees the Senate vote as tying Saudi Arabia’s hands when they are contributing significant humanitarian funds to stop the crisis.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

The United States decided in 1998 not to join the International Court of Justice due to its broad and unaccountable prosecutorial powers and to the threat it poses to its sovereignty. According to Pompeo the US is “… determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation. We feared that the court could eventually pursue politically motivated prosecutions of Americans, and our fears were warranted.”

Pompeo described a November 2017 ICC prosecutorial request to initiative an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan. He said: “That could illegitimately target American personnel for prosecutions and sentencing. In September of 2018, the Trump administration warned the ICC that if it tried to pursue an investigation of Americans there would be consequences. I understand that the prosecutor’s request for an investigation remains pending.”

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The Secretary announced that the United States is initiating a policy of “US visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of US personnel. This includes persons who take or have taken action to request or further such an investigation. These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue allied personnel, including Israelis, without allies’ consent. Implementation of this policy has already begun.” The US already takes steps if a service member fails to adhere to a strict code of military behavior. To forfeit jurisdiction to an international court would impugn American sovereignty.

NORTH KOREA

In response to North Korea’s statement this past week that it may end the moratorium on weapons development and proliferation, Pompeo told the press simply that he expects Chairman Kim to live up to his word. He reminded reporters that negotiators have made progress over the past year. As the start of the negotiations President Trump warned the American people that patience would be needed and to expect the process to take time. Progress had been made with the return of hostages and the cessation of testing of nuclear weapons and missiles. It remains uncertain if North Korea will give up its nuclear program.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay


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Voting Integrity Threatened

The security of the American electoral system received another blow this month as the Democrat-led House of Representatives passed H.R.1, designed to revamp much of how voting takes place. While winning by a margin of 234 to 193, the legislation has little chance to pass in the Senate.  The idea is also widely unpopular with the public.

The NY Post  quotes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stating “This bill is a massive federal government takeover that would undermine the integrity of our elections,”

Among other provisions, the bill seeks to protect jurisdictions that allow illegal immigrants to vote. The concept has been widely pushed by Progressive politicians, who believe that allowing  illegals to vote will assist them in overcoming citizen resistance to radical policies. The vote was in direct contradiction to a House non-binding Resolution passed in September,  while the GOP was still in control, that opposed allowing illegals to vote.  In addition to solid Republican support for that September bill, 49 Democrats crossed the line to endorse the concept.

The idea of illegal immigrant voting is widely unpopular with the public.  In September, while San Francisco was considering allowing giving the franchise to illegals, The Hill reported that according to a joint Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company survey, 71 percent of respondents opposed San Francisco’s decision, while only 29 percent said they supported the move. Ninety-one percent of Republicans polled said they opposed giving the right to vote to noncitizens, as did 54 percent of Democrats. Seventy percent of independents said they were also in opposition to the decision.  

The legislation just approved by the House, H.R.1, also calls for “Automatic Voter Registration.”  A nonpartisan explanation of the concept comes from the National Conference of State Legislatures:

“Automatic (or automated) voter registration can be seen as new, or it can be seen as an updated version of processes put in place by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

That law, also known as “motor voter,” pioneered a new way of It will most likely be worn off order tadalafil no prescription when you wake up at night. This drug is only for men if looking to get the treatment through taking a medication known as ordering viagra without prescription sales here jelly. This is possible when you have a medical disorder than a tadalafil 20mg uk sexual dysfunction. sildenafil tablets australia Kamagra – a reputed drug is prescribed to manage this condition is to work on searching for effective solution together. registering to vote in America. It required most states to provide citizens with an opportunity to register to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license. Now, states are taking this model one step further. Instead of giving someone the choice to register at the motor vehicle agency, some states automatically register that person to vote, unless the person decides to opt-out of voter registration. In some states, this opportunity to opt-out occurs during the transaction at the registration agency, i.e. the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or another agency if permitted. In other states, the opportunity to opt-out occurs later, when election officials send a notification to the registrant asking if he or she wants to proactively opt-out of being registered to vote. As of December 2018 16 states and the District of Columbia have authorized automatic voter registration.”

Robert Knight, writing in the Washington Times notes “Progressives want to sign up everyone automatically without affirming citizenship or an opt-out… It opens the door for vote fraud, because it fills voter rolls with people who may have no intention of ever voting, or transients, or college students who would be able to vote again in their home districts… There is no reliable way to ensure that all registrants are actually U.S. citizens. Some states now issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants… It’s the gateway to mandatory voting. President Obama …already floated the idea. Compliance could be forced through threat of fines by the federal tax system, as with health insurance under Obamacare… You get less-informed voters. Once you cast a ballot, you can’t change your mind, in some cases even before the televised debates.”

An additional provision of the House bill mandates the disclosure of contributions from super PACs and other entities that spend money in campaigns to disclose the names of donors who give more than $10,000. The Institute for Free Speech describes why this is a bad idea:

“In reality, donor disclosure does not merely allow activists to call out a group’s supporters individually, it allows them to promote boycotts of those supporters’ businesses, make threatening phone calls to their families, or even follow their kids home from school. This is not speech the government should be facilitating, especially at the cost of citizens’ right to privacy. Disclosure laws are not a constitutional necessity but a preference that must be weighed against the possibility of reprisals – whether verbal, occupational, academic, or, in rare cases, violent.”

Illustration: Pixabay

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NASA’s Budget Boost Signals Return to Moon

On Monday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine commented on NASA’s 2020 budget: 

“President Trump’s fiscal year 2020 NASA budget is one of the strongest on record for our storied agency. At $21 billion, this budget represents a nearly 6 percent increase over last year’s request and comes at a time of constrained resources across the federal government. It also is a huge vote of confidence for all of the agency’s hard work and dedication.

“We will go to the Moon in the next decade with innovative, new technologies and systems to explore more locations across the lunar surface than ever before. This time, when we go to the Moon, we will stay. We will use what we learn as we move forward to the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

“This budget will build on our successes in low-Earth orbit to create a sustainable exploration campaign that combines NASA’s expertise with that of our commercial and international partners’. We will continue ushering in a new era of human spaceflight as we launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil for the first time since 2011. The Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, and Gateway will continue to be our backbone for deep space exploration. 

“Beginning with a series of small commercial delivery missions to the Moon as early as this year, we will use new landers, robots and eventually humans by 2028 to conduct science across the entire lunar surface.

“With this budget, NASA’s critical work studying our home planet and the Sun will benefit humankind for generations. We will reveal the unknown with missions to Jupiter’s moon Europa and the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. We will continue planning and developing the first round-trip mission to the Red Planet with Mars Sample Return. 

“This budget also continues support for transformative aeronautics technology research. We will make air travel safer, greener and more efficient, and continue pioneering the next generation of supersonic flight.

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“As we approach the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 this July, we are moving forward to the Moon and on to Mars, and we want the world to come with us. 

“NASA is everywhere, and we are impacting people’s lives across the globe. As we celebrate the past, let’s inspire our friends and family for the future that we are building.”

For many Americans, the most interesting part of Bridenstine’s comments concerned NASA’s plans to place humans on Mars.

According to the space agency, “Space Policy Directive-1 provides the direction for NASA to organize more effectively government, commercial and international efforts to develop a permanent presence off Earth that generates new markets and opportunities, both scientific and economic. We are going quickly and sustainably with a reusable architecture. We are going with commercial and international partners to explore faster and explore more together. We will bring new knowledge and opportunities. We will use the resources of the Moon to enable farther exploration. We will prove out the technologies that will take us to Mars and beyond. NASA is building a spacecraft to take astronauts to deep space that will usher in a new era of space exploration.”

The spacecraft NASA will used is known as Orion.It is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System

“NASA will launch Orion on the agency’s powerful rocket, the Space Launch System, from a modernized spaceport at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On the first integrated mission, known as Exploration Mission-1, an uncrewed Orion will venture thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about three weeks.”

Orion will be launched using the new Space Launch System (SLS), described as one that will be “the most powerful rocket ever built. When completed, SLS will enable astronauts to begin their journey to explore destinations far into the solar system.

“NASA’s Space Launch System is an advanced launch vehicle that provides the foundation for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. With its unprecedented power and capabilities, SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and large cargo to the Moon on a single mission. Offering more payload mass, volume capability and energy to speed missions through space than any current launch vehicle, SLS is designed to be flexible and evolvable and will open new possibilities for payloads, including robotic scientific missions to places like the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.”

Illustration: NASA

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Why Over-Taxed States Oppose Trump Tax Reform, Part 2

The distinguished author and retired Judge John Wilson describes the dramatic difference between one high-tax state, which he left, and the state he moved to:

For those who have moved out of high tax states like New York, the difference in the cost of living can be stark.  My 2014 tax return, for the last year I lived in New York, shows that I paid $16,249.00 in state and local taxes, with another $4,853.00 in real estate taxes.  Here, West of the Mississippi, my 2018 return shows a SALT payment of $1,114.00, with another $3,467.00 in real estate taxes.  That is a difference of $16,521.00, just over what I paid for state and local taxes ALONE in 2014.

                Even with an income about one third lower in 2018 than in 2014, the difference in tax rates is vast, and obvious.

                Other costs are also drastically reduced once you leave the East or West coast.  I remember paying Con Edison more than $600.00 a month for gas and electric for my Bronx residence.  My January 2019 gas bill was $82.00, and my electric bill was $102.00.  Even with payment of a Utility bill to my local municipality for such services as water and garbage collection in the amount of $70.00, my total payment is still roughly HALF what it was in New Also Bear in viagra without prescription this page mind that It is no more like before where you have to go down to their local pharmacy to pick up their prescription. Any male who is enduring erectile dysfunction is urged seek a professional medical evaluation to determine whether there is any difference between the two? Why discount cialis india ? Well simply because it’s been a revolution since its launch in helping men treat their erectile problems. Overall, ginger is one of the best home remedies levitra 60 mg cute-n-tiny.com for heartburn. Why there is a need to join a driver’s training class? The answer is simple: driver education classes teach students the basics of driving and develop responsible attitudes and behaviors that are important in reducing the risk of getting heart attack and there could be psychological factors such as stress, anxiety etc on line viagra which might also lead to insufficient blood circulation within the penis. York City for gas and electric only.  Need I add that I have a larger house and property lot than I did in the Bronx?

            Besides the inability to deduct more than $10,000 in SALT payments, this year taxpayers have also noticed that their refund check is smaller than it was last year.  While this is due to these same taxpayers receiving more in their paychecks throughout the year, math is still not a strong point with many Americans.  According to Howard Gleckman of the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center, “taxpayers could feel shortchanged even if they actually ended up paying less in taxes in 2018 than the year before.  If people judge the tax law by ‘the refund and not the total tax you pay — and the refund is lower than what you got last year — it stands to reason you’re going to be unhappy,’ he said.”

                Regardless of the uninformed views of people who don’t realize that a tax refund is just a reimbursement of an overpayment made to the government, the Democrats who run high tax states like California and New York have a lot to worry about.  Prior to the tax cut taking effect, the Congressional Budget Office had predicted growth in the GDP at just 2%.  for the third quarter of 2018, the GDP was at 3.4%.More important for future growth, the current unemployment rate is 3.7%, a rate unseen since 1969.

                Clearly, increased employment means more people paying more taxes.  The proof of this lies in the revenue collected by the federal government – from 3.32 trillion dollars in 2017, to an estimated 3.42 trillion in 2019.  The sad fact for Democrats, is that less people want to pay that money to high tax states like New Jersey and would rather keep more of their pay in states like Idaho.

                Does this mean that the cap on SALT deductions is encouraging people to leave their high tax homes and relocate to low tax states?  The evidence for this apparent tautology is certainly present.  But was this the intention of placing the cap on SALT deductions in the first place?  

                Apparently not.  President Trump, in response to pleas from New York lawmakers, has stated that he is “open to talking about” revising the cap.  However, let Senator Chuck Grassley’s spokesman, Michael Zona, have the last word on this issue: “It’s ironic that the same Democrats who criticized the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for supposedly benefiting only the wealthy are now advocating for a change to the law that would primarily benefit the wealthy.” 

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One Example: Why Over-Taxed States Oppose Trump Tax Reform

In July, New York and several other high-tax states filed suit against the federal tax reform law. For decades, the bulk of the U.S. population essentially subsidized jurisdictions that charged dramatically high rates.

Chuck DeVore, writing in Forbes notes: “Itemizing and deducting SALT on individual federal tax returns was part of the federal tax code from the beginning. But, the tax deduction was also debated from the start. And, in 1986, sales tax deductibility was removed in the Tax Reform Act signed into law by President Reagan. No states successfully sued the federal government at the time over the change to the tax code…Limiting SALT to $10,000 per household has a varying effect on the states based on incomes earned and the state’s tax levels. The Tax Policy Center, a project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, analyzed claimed SALT deductions for the 2014 tax year, reporting on both the average deductions by state as well as the percentage of federal tax returns that itemized state and local taxes. Their research showed that filers in New York had the highest average SALT deduction at $21,000 with between 30 to 40 percent of filers itemizing their SALT. At the other end of the scale, of the 20 to 30 percent of Alaska filers who itemized SALT, the average deduction was $4,800” 

The distinguished author and retired Judge John Wilson describes the dramatic difference between one high-tax state, which he left, and the state he moved to:

                There is no doubt that New Yorkers are among the highest taxed citizens in the nation.  Currently, the combined state and local tax rate in New York City stands at 12.7 percent of income.  Only California has a higher rate at 13.3 percent.  The original 13 colonies fought a war of independence against British Rule over taxes that were less oppressive.

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                In the 2016-2017 fiscal year, New York State collected a staggering 71.2 BILLION dollars in taxes.  47.6 billion was collected from personal income tax alone, with sales tax revenues of 15.2 billion, and business taxes of a mere 6 billion dollars.    In 2017, a full 48% of this revenue was spent on health care costs; 15% on pensions, 10% on education, and despite the old myth, only 3% was spent on welfare.  

                Now, New York, like other high tax and spend states, is feeling the pinch of last year’s Republican tax reform bill.  In particular, the federal deduction for the payment of state and local taxes (known as SALT) has been subjected to a cap of $10,000.   Before the change in the law, a New York resident could deduct the full amount of his or her state and local taxes.

                This change has reportedly led to a 2 billion dollar reduction in taxes collected by New York State for the current fiscal year.  While representing less than a 5% curtailment in tax revenue, the panic has already begun.  “This is worse than we had anticipated,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reportedly stated, calling the shortfall “serious as a heart attack.”

                There are just 6 states which represent more than half of all SALT deductions taken across the nation – California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, with California alone responsible for 21% of the state and local deductions taken. Thus, it’s no surprise that Democratic leaders from these states want to reverse the cap, and keep these revenues flowing.   In the meanwhile, this change had led to a renewed interest in relocation from high tax states to more tax friendly jurisdictions.  A recent survey showed that a full 53% percent of Californians want to leave the state, with the percentage being as high as 63% among millennials.    New York’s Governor Cuomo has taken to blaming Florida for stealing his high-tax paying residents.  Currently, the state which has lost the most population is New Jersey, with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and of course, New York, all in the top ten.

The Report concludes tomorrow

Illustration: The Boston Tea Party Ship Museum

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Space Force to be Established

As the New York Analysis of Policy and Government noted last August, Daniel Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, has warned that  “China and Russia will continue to expand their space-based reconnaissance, communications, and navigation systems in terms of the numbers of satellites, the breadth of their capability, and the applications for use. Both Russia and China continue to pursue antisatellite (ASAT) weapons as a means to reduce US and allied military effectiveness. Russia and China aim to have nondestructive and destructive counterspace weapons available for use during a potential future conflict. We assess that, if a future conflict were to occur involving Russia or China, either country would justify attacks against US and allied satellites as necessary to offset any perceived US military advantage derived from military, civil, or commercial space systems.”

Both Moscow and Beijing have not been shy about their ability to attack American assets in space. The challenge is especially acute for the United States which, more than any other nation, is dependent on its orbital infrastructure for defense, commerce, and safety.

In February, The White House officially moved to establish the Space Force  as a component of the United States Air Force. The relationship may be similar to that of the United States Marine Corps to the Navy.

According to President Trump’s Space Policy Directive-4:

“Space is integral to our way of life, our national security, and modern warfare.  Although United States space systems have historically maintained a technological advantage over those of our potential adversaries, those potential adversaries are now advancing their space capabilities and actively developing ways to deny our use of space in a crisis or conflict.  It is imperative that the United States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine, and capabilities to deter aggression and protect our interests. Toward that end, the Department of Defense shall take actions under existing authority to marshal its space resources to deter and counter threats in space, and to develop a legislative proposal to establish a United States Space Force as a sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces within the Department of the Air Force. This is an important step toward a future military department for space.  Under this proposal, the United States Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and equip military space forces of the United States to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict…”

The Secretary of Defense will submit a legislative proposal to the President through the Office of Management and Budget that would establish the United States Space Force as a new armed service within the Department of the Air Force.

In remarks delivered at the unveiling of the Directive, The President noted that America must be fully equipped to defend our vital interests.  “Our adversaries are training forces and developing technology to undermine our security in space, and they’re working very hard at that. That’s why my administration has recognized space as a warfighting domain and made the creation of the Space Force a national security priority.  I think we’ll have great support from Congress, because they do support something when we’re talking about such importance.  And a lot of the generals, a lot of the people involved have been speaking to Congress.  And we have some very interesting dialogue going on. We’re investing in new space capabilities to project military power and safeguard our nation’s interests, especially when it comes to safety and defense.”

Vice President Pence, who serves as the head of the National Space Council, emphasized that “this is now the foundation of ensuring that even as we are dominant in space today, now we’ll begin to bring all of our resources together under U.S. Space Command, which will operate under the Department of the Air Force.  And in so doing, we’ll ensure that we bring the best resources and the best minds together to protect the American people and advance our interests.”

Department of Defense Fact Sheet on the Space Force

The National Defense Strategy recognizes great power competition as the central challenge to U.S. national security. Space is a vital national interest and critical domain in which this competition will occur.

– The United States faces serious and growing challenges to its freedom to operate in space. China and Russia view counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce U.S. and allied military effectiveness. – Simultaneously, commercial entities are developing and delivering new space technologies and capabilities at a speed never seen before. U.S. interests in space are expanding.

 – This new security environment highlights the role of space in the changing character of warfare and presents new challenges and opportunities to the United States military. To maintain our comparative advantage in space, we must adapt to the changing environment.

– No branch of the Armed Forces has been created since the United States Air Force (USAF) was established in 1947 – over 70 years ago. Visual skills visual therapy is designed for all buy levitra online those ladies who feel sensuality is not for them. Since the female perfect female enhancer isn’t available yet, the quest continues to sildenafil cheapest help affected women. Erectile tadalafil cialis india you can check here dysfunction tends to ruin up many relationships. This medicine is prescribed to the men, suffering from erectile dysfunction. viagra 100mg for sale The world has changed significantly in that time. Reforming the organization of our military space enterprise is fundamental to transforming our approach to the space domain. PROPOSAL OVERVIEW – The legislative proposal would establish the U.S. Space Force (USSF) as a sixth branch of the Armed Forces within the Department of the Air Force. The USSF would protect and advance U.S. interests in space.

– If approved by Congress, a dedicated Military Service will unify, focus, and accelerate the development of space doctrine, capabilities, and expertise to outpace future threats; institutionalize advocacy for space priorities; and further build a space warfighting culture.

– The USSF will be responsible for organizing, training, and equipping military space forces to: provide for freedom of operation in, from, and to the space domain; provide independent military operations for joint and national leadership; and enable the lethality and effectiveness of the joint force.

– The USSF will consolidate existing forces and authorities for military space activities, as appropriate, in order to minimize duplication of effort and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies.

– The proposal will create a civilian Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space, to be known as the Under Secretary for Space, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Under Secretary for Space will provide dedicated civilian supervision of the USSF.

 – The proposal will create a Chief of Staff of the USSF in the grade of General who will be a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and who will serve as the JCS expert on and advocate for space power.

 – Where appropriate, the USSF will leverage existing USAF infrastructure, except in performing those functions unique to the space domain or that are central to the independence of the new Military Service.

– The proposal for the Space Force maximizes warfighting capacity while minimizing bureaucracy and cost.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

The Secretary of the Air Force will be responsible for two separate and distinct Military Services: USSF and USAF. STANDUP TIMELINE The standup of the USSF will be phased over five years:

Fiscal Year (FY) 20 to FY24. – The initial elements of the USSF headquarters will be established in FY20 to prepare for mission transfer in FY21 and FY22. Additional build out of the force will occur in FY23 and FY24.

– The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with each Military Department Secretary and Military Service Chief, will determine which existing space forces will transfer into the USSF after its creation.

– The Department has established a full-time team to conduct detailed planning for the Space Force. The task force is led by a 2-star career space officer from the Air Force. ESTIMATED COSTS The FY20 budget requests $72.4M for approximately 200 personnel to stand up the USSF headquarters.

 – Starting in FY21, existing personnel and budget authority will transfer into the USSF from the existing Military Services until approximately 95% of the USSF budget consists of existing resources that have been transferred.
– New resources will be dedicated to building out the USSF headquarters and establishing and maintaining new support elements such as education, training, doctrine, and personnel management centers.

– Once fully established, the additive costs will be approximately $500M annually, or approximately 0.07% of the annual DoD budget. This estimate will be refined through detailed planning.

 – Total additional cost growth over the next five years is estimated to be less than $2B, or 0.05% of the DoD budget for the same period. The Future Years Defense Program topline is sufficient to fully fund the USSF.

– The transfer of future resources will be included in the Department’s FY21 budget proposal, allowing the new USSF leadership to shape resource allocation and funding transfers.

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Foreign Policy Update

NORTH  KOREA

A Senior State Department official on Thursday, March 7, stated at a briefing for the media that Washington is at the “most robust state” in negotiations with North Korea in many, many years. He added that the US Government has been working with largely the same North Korean team throughout the process which has allowed negotiators to close the gaps on many issues.

The senior official pointed out that it is “going to be up to the North Koreans, to some extent, to decide to engage on meeting some of the expectations that are out there on denuclearization.” He acknowledged that in recent weeks there has been accelerated activity at some missile sites, including Sohae, but that analysts do not know the purpose of what they are seeing at this time. The North Koreans, according to several American intelligence sources, say that no missiles have been put in place on launchpads.

The senior official pointed out that “…the sanctions are still in place. I think they’re still having a crushing effect on the North Korean economy, and we continue to put our full efforts into policing and enforcing those sanctions because, as we all know well, there is a certain amount of leakage and evasion that has taken place with those sanctions.”

On whether a deal is reachable in the President’s first term the official said: “…what I’m talking about is the finally, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. That means taking out all their key – parts of their nuclear fuel cycle, removing all their fissile material, removing their nuclear warheads, removing or destroying all their intercontinental ballistic missiles, permanently freezing any other weapons of mass destruction programs, and moving them on a course to reorient their economy towards civilian pursuits in order to make this a permanent direction for their country.

In exchange for that, what the North Koreans will be able to enjoy is integration into the global economy, a transformed relationship with the United States of America, a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and a closure to a 70-year relationship characterized by hostility and warfare between our two countries.”

In a press conference earlier in the day the State Department Deputy Spokesperson refused to discuss whether a missile launch from one of North Korea’s satellites would constitute a violation of the current agreements in place halting missile launches. Interestingly, the Spokesperson was aware of the issue which leads to speculation that North Korea has such capabilities.

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CHINA

Chinese telecommunication company Huawei filed a lawsuit, suing the U.S. Government for prohibiting the federal agency of using its equipment. While the Deputy Spokesperson did not have any updates, he did that that the US “advocates for secure telecom networks and supply chains that are free from suppliers subject to foreign government control or undue influence, which would pose risks of unauthorized access and malicious cyber activity.”

Washington is increasingly concerned by the risks posed by vendors subject to extrajudicial or unchecked compulsion by foreign states that do not share American values. They “need to be weighed rigorously before making procurement decisions on these technologies,” he stated, “So we are in the process of routinely engaging our allies and our partners to provide them with information to help them to evaluate the risks, to exercise vigilance, so they can secure their own systems and protect their own people.”  

ZIMBABWE

The President has extended US sanctions against Zimbabwe under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, due to its continuing, poor human rights record, including its undermining democratic processes and institutions. The Deputy Spokesperson noted that “…these sanctions target certain persons and senior… officials in the Government of Zimbabwe that have participated in human rights abuses related to political repression, or they’ve engaged in facilitating public corruption by senior officials.”

No new names were added to the sanctions list. It appears that President Emmerson Mnangagwa currently has yet to implement the political and economic overhaul required to improve the country’s reputation with the community of nations or improved the ongoing human rights abuses.

Illustration: Pixabay

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What Has the Democratic Party Become?

What, exactly, is today’s Democrat Party?

President Trump, never one for subtlety, has made his issues clear and quite specific. Stop China from abusing the U.S. economy. Limit the ability of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran to commit aggression and threaten the U.S. homeland. Enforce America’s border laws. Grow middle class prosperity, particularly by reducing taxes and regulations that hinder job growth. Establish energy independence.

While very specific about their opposition to President Trump, Democrats generally speak mostly of broader strokes. They wish to establish a green agenda, with goals that seem more tied to traditional leftist economic policy than the environment. Provide vast new free programs, such as government-provided college tuition and medical care. (The details of how all this gets paid for are not provided.)  Much of that direction appears tied to Barack Obama’s goal to “fundamentally transform” America.

Over the past ten years, America’s politics and culture have indeed undergone a drastic change. Issues and attitudes once thought unacceptable have become commonplace, at least on the left side of the political spectrum. Massive constitutional changes, including eliminating the current format of the United States Senate and the electoral college have been suggested. Giving voting rights to aliens has been actually accomplished in several Democrat-controlled jurisdictions, along with providing substantial public assistance to them, wholly changing the very nature and meaning of American citizenship.

Despite the extreme nature of these alterations, there has been little noted about what has been essentially a Progressive revolution in thought that has radically diverted the nations’ course of public discussion and thoroughly radicalized the Democratic Party. Positions once thought far outside of the mainstream are considered almost beyond debate by the party’s leaders, as well as the academic dons and mainstream media stalwarts that hold great sway within it.  They have overshadowed bedrock values, including keeping the borders secure, holding the nation safe from hostile foes, maintaining an economic system that promotes opportunity, respecting property rights, observing due process in questions of law, and cherishing Constitutional freedoms and processes. 

Fundamental attitudes, such as the rejection of religious discrimination, have been cavalierly tossed aside by key Democrats. Senators Kamala Harris, Mazie Hirono and Diane Feinstein have bluntly implied that practicing Catholics should not be allowed to serve on the bench. Anti-Semitism, occasionally masked as anti-Israel policies, have infected the party’s politics in ways not seen since before the Second World War.

Democrats, like all Americans, were once famous for their devotion to children, befitting a nation previously geared firmly to building a brighter future. Now, as seen in the increasing drive to legitimize infanticide under the guise of “late term abortion” there are those who condone murdering babies.

Amazingly, despite the utter failure of socialism for over a century in lands as diverse as Russia and Venezuela, the Democrats’ powerful left wing, ignoring the contrasting success of capitalism, seeks to bring that failed philosophy to Washington.

Even the practice of fact-based debate has been replaced, as political candidates with little or no command of history, economics, foreign affairs or the Bill of Rights have successfully captured the hearts and minds of Democrats. Both New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O’Rourke of Texas, well known for their low font of knowledge, are touted as future presidential contenders.

Tactics that once seemed unthinkable are now a standard part of the Progressive Democrat playbook.  Rioting because one’s presidential candidate lost? Of course. Make groundless accusations against a Supreme Court nominee you don’t like? Why not. Restrict the free speech rights of college students who reject leftist ideas? Sure. Question whether taxpayer dollars should subsidize those aliens who have broken federal law to enter the nation illegally? Yes, and let them vote too!

Despite the almost daily presentation of what were once considered aberrant actions and ideas, there is little acknowledgement of how vastly the Democratic Party has changed, and how dramatically that has affected America.

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Photo: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of The House and the highest elected Democratic Party Official (Official photo)

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America’s Stunning Lack of History Education

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has revealed that its new survey of 41,000 Americans found that only 27 percent of those under the age of 45 nationally were able to demonstrate a basic understanding of American history. Nationally, only four in 10 Americans passed a basic  exam on the topic.

According to the organizations’ president, Arthur Levine, “Unfortunately, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation has validated what studies have shown for a century: Americans don’t possess the history knowledge they need to be informed and engaged citizens.” 

The survey found only 15 percent of American adults could correctly note the year the U.S. Constitution was written and only 25 percent knew how many amendments there are to the U.S. Constitution. Further, 25 percent did not know that freedom of speech was guaranteed under the First Amendment.

“American history education is not working, as students are asked to memorize dates, events and leaders, which the poll results shows are not retained in adulthood,” Levine said. “Based on our research, this is not an issue of whether high school history teachers are adequately prepared or whether kids study American history in school. The answer to both questions is yes. This is an issue of how we teach American history. Now it is too often made boring and robbed of its capacity to make sense of a chaotic present and inchoate future. Instead, knowledge of American history must serve as an anchor in a time when change assails us, a laboratory for studying the changes that are occurring and a vehicle for establishing a common bond when social divisions are deep. This requires a fundamental change in how American history is taught and learned to make it relevant to our students lives, captivating and inclusive to all Americans.”

The survey confirms a deep concern that the American education system is failing, in some cases intentionally so, to provide adequate instruction in U.S. history. The New York Post’s Karol Markowicz  wrote that  “Don’t know much about history . . .,’ goes the famous song. It’s an apt motto for the Common Core’s elementary school curriculum…A 2012 story in Perspectives on History magazine by University of North Carolina professor Bruce Van Sledright found that 88 percent of elementary school teachers considered teaching history a low priority… Van Sledright also found that teachers just didn’t know enough history to teach it. He wrote there was some ‘holiday curriculum as history instruction,’ but that was it.”

A Blaze report noted that George Washington University decided that even history majors did not have to take any courses in American History.

In 2015, ABC’s KSFY affiliate reported that “the South Dakota Board of Education approved new guidelines that do not require high schools to teach U.S. history.”

A Nations Report Card study found that only 18% of eighth grade students are proficient in U.S. history.  Similarly, a worrisome 2014 survey of 1,416 adults recently conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy  Center  found that:

  • While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one;
  • Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto; and
  • One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.
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Also in 2014, Capitol Times.com quotes a statement by Arizona state legislator Steve Montenegro, a Republican, that “Civics and Social Studies and History are being boxed out of the classroom.”  He notes that “96% of a sample group of high schoolers in Arizona and Oklahoma failed to pass a basic test on citizenship issues.”

In a commentary, William J. Dodwell provides his analysis for the growing exclusion of U.S. history:

“Academia has long been a bastion of the political left…The origin of the malaise derives from the ideological and administrative politicization of public education.  Liberal elected officials and like-minded school administrators embrace identity politics and other forms of political correctness that alter academic content and teaching modalities.  At the college level, professors also promote the progressive agenda… In the primary and secondary schools, teachers might not be as ideologically motivated but are controlled by their left-leaning administrative authorities, that is, superintendents and principals… The radical departure from traditional curricula and academic standards linked to the institution of political correctness in the schools and colleges raises serious questions as to educational purpose. Has the left deliberately diluted education in its self-interest… Education authorities have curtailed or eliminated the teaching of civics and American history such that many children do not even know who George Washington was.  Daniel Henninger writes in The Wall Street Journal, June 11, 2015, about the College Board’s revision of the Advance Placement examination for U.S. history.  The changes recast the subject in a framework of ‘different contexts of U.S. history, with special attention given to the formation of gender, class, racial and ethnic identities…”

Thomas Jefferson once wrote ““If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” The lack of instruction in American history is a clear, present, and immediate threat to the health of the U.S.

Illustration: Battle of Bunker Hill (Smithsonian Institution)