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‘A dozen witnesses’ say Ferguson teen attacked cop before shooting

‘A dozen witnesses’ say Ferguson teen attacked cop before shooting

Multiple witnesses in riot-torn Ferguson, Mo., said that the unarmed black teen killed by a white cop attacked the officer in his patrol car before the teen was shot, according to a new report.

“Police sources tell me more than a dozen witnesses have corroborated cop’s version of events in shooting,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch crime reporter Christine Byers tweeted, without elaborating.

Officer Darren Wilson has not spoken publicly about the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown shortly after Brown and a pal allegedly stole a $50 box of cigars in a strong-arm robbery at a convenience store.

But two friends have come forward to defend him — with one describing his version of events leading up to the killing.

A man who said he played hockey with the 28-year cop said on “Good Morning America” Tuesday that Wilson was a “really quiet, well-mannered, respectful guy” who showed no signs of violence.

“‘I can tell that this is really hard on him,” said the man, who said he had exchanged texts with Wilson since the shooting, which sparked nights of violence on the streets of Ferguson, prompting the governor to call in the National Guard.

Earlier, another friend who identified herself only as Josie called “The Dana Show” on radio station KFTK to say that Wilson told her the tall, burly Brown, 18, had “bum-rushed“ him before the shooting.

Josie — who said she heard the version from Wilson’s girlfriend — said the cop encountered Brown and his pal Dorian Johnson walking down the middle of a street, pulled up and ordered them onto the sidewalk.

Wilson then noticed the pair were carrying cigars, and had heard the report of the robbery and recognized the pair as possible suspects.

“And he’s looking at them and they got something in their hands and it looks like it could be what, you know, those cigars or whatever. So he goes in reverse back to them,” Josie said.

Wilson, she said, “tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And then he opened the car again. He tried to get out. He stands up.

“And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car. Punches him in the face and then Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away. And the gun goes off,” Josie said.

“Well, then Michael takes off and gets to be about 35 feet away. And Darren’s first protocol is to pursue. So he stands up and yells, ‘Freeze!’ Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him … And then all the sudden he just started bum-rushing him. He just started coming at him full speed,” she told the station.

“So [Wilson] really thinks [Brown] was on something, because he just kept coming. It was unbelievable. And so he finally ended up, the final shot was in the forehead, and then he fell about two to three feet in front of the officer,” she said.

An autopsy performed by the St. Louis County medical examiner determined Brown had marijuana in his system when he was shot.

Meanwhile, police said 31 people were arrested overnight Monday into Tuesday as rioting continued unabated despite the National Guard’s presence.

But NBC News reported that 78 people had been taken into custody, citing arrest records.

State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson said at least one person from New York and another from California were among those busted, though cops on Tuesday provided no further details.

Two people were shot, though police were not involved.

“Our officers came under heavy fire. Not a single bullet was fired by officers,” Johnson during a news conference at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

But cops did fire multiple canisters of tear gas to disperse the rioters and prevent further looting.

“This nation is watching each and every one of us,” said Johnson, who was clearly angry during the news conference, The Post-Dispatch reported. “I am not going to let the criminals that have come here from across this country, or live in this neighborhood, define this community.”

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Thunderstorms kill 1, submerge cars in San Bernardino County – LA Times

Thunderstorms kill 1, submerge cars in San Bernardino County – LA Times.

Thunderstorms kill 1, submerge cars in San Bernardino County

Floods and Flooding
Thunderstorms wreak havoc in the mountains and desert of San Bernardino County
Storms clog key access roads with rocks and mud, submerging cars and prompting ‘shelter in place’ orders
County resources are stretched thin by the storm

Thunderstorms wreaked havoc in portions of the mountains and desert of San Bernardino County on Sunday, killing one person, clogging key access roads with rocks and mud, submerging cars and prompting “shelter in place” orders for at least 3,000 people.

One person was killed in the Bear Creek community, near Mt. Baldy, when debris swept a car off a roadway and into a swollen creek, authorities said.

Separately, several people rescued from fast-flowing water were treated for hypothermia, officials said.

One man in the Forest Falls mountain community was forced to escape a debris flow by climbing a tree. Most vehicles that were submerged in streams or floods were searched and found empty, authorities said.

County resources were stretched thin by the storm. Scores of swift-water rescue teams and fire engines had been dispatched to far-flung reaches of the county, said county Fire Capt. Josh Wilkins.

“Every rescue unit we have, every fire engine we have in San Bernardino County” had been sent out, Wilkins said. “We are literally approaching the maximum right now in terms of our call volume.”

The storms showed little sign of easing up. Typically, weather patterns in the area calm down at night. But by about 7 p.m., some of the more significant weather cells appeared to be circulating back toward the Forest Falls area after pummeling the San Bernardino Mountains and stretches of the Angeles National Forest.

“The whole thing could be repeating itself,” Wilkins said. The county was considering putting out a call for assistance to neighboring communities.

The first days of August have been surprisingly wet in Southern California, with unusual humidity and showers throughout the region. The troubles in San Bernardino County appear to have started with a thunderstorm that began in the Claremont area Sunday and spun off like pinwheels into the mountains and the desert.

In Bear Creek, several hikers were lost in bad weather and were rescued. Heavy flooding was reported.

In the Mt. Baldy area, debris flows were heading toward homes. Creeks swelled into rivers, submerging cars, Wilkins said. Authorities issued an order telling residents to shelter in place. One group rescued by emergency crews had been trapped in a home that was threatened by flooding and moving debris.

There were also reports of exploding propane tanks. Rescue teams were planning to search mountain cabins one by one.

The primary roads leading to Mt. Baldy were effectively blocked by rocks, mud and other debris. Rescue crews from the county, the city of Rancho Cucamonga and Los Angeles County fanned out in the area.

The community of Forest Falls was particularly hard-hit. Valley of the Falls Drive was also blocked by debris, and a bridge was washed out — and it’s “one road in, one road out,” Wilkins said.

Flooding was reported throughout the mountain community, which was teeming with both residents and campers and other recreational visitors.

“The rest of the town is still cut off,” said public information officer Ryan Beckers.

At one point, more than 500 people were headed to a one-day conference in the area, and their convoy of cars was trapped in a debris flow. All have been accounted for, Wilkins said. It was unclear what sort of conference had been scheduled.

Two people were rescued from fast-moving water and were not injured, and a shelter had been established at a community center.

Between Mt. Baldy and Forest Falls, about 3,000 people had been ordered to remain where they were until the weather cleared.

Also, a swift-water rescue team had been dispatched to a remote area along California 62, where two parallel flash floods had trapped eight to 10 cars. Compounding the problem, at least 150 people had stopped to watch the rescue operation from the edge of the water, which “creates even more concern for us because they could become victims too,” Wilkins said.

Authorities also reported flooding in Fontana, Mentone and Crestline.

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ISIS militants outline chilling five-year plan for global domination | Mail Online

ISIS militants outline chilling five-year plan for global domination | Mail Online.

The ISIS map of the world: Militants outline chilling five-year plan for global domination as they declare formation of caliphate – and change their name to the Islamic State

  • Sunni militants have announced formation of Islamic state in Middle East
  • They demand Muslims around the world swear allegiance to the caliphate
  • Claim leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi now has authority over all Muslims
  • Group has also now changed its name from ISIS to just the Islamic State

By JOHN HALL

 

ISIS has formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the vast stretches of the Middle East that have fallen under its control, and has outlined plans to expand into Europe and beyond.

Upon declaring a caliphate, the Sunni militants – whose brutality in attempting to establish control in Iraq and Syria has been branded too extreme even by Al Qaeda – demanded allegiance from Muslims around the world.

With brutal efficiency, ISIS has carved out a large chunk of territory that has effectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria and laid the foundations of its proto-state.

Scroll down for video

Caliphate: A map purportedly showing the areas ISIS plans to have under its control within five years has been widely shared online. It includes Spain, the Balkan states, the Middle East, North Africa and large areas of Asia

Caliphate: A map purportedly showing the areas ISIS plans to have under its control within five years has been widely shared online. It includes Spain, the Balkan states, the Middle East, North Africa and large areas of Asia

Announcement: ISIS militants (pictured) have formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the vast stretches of the Middle East that have fallen under its control

Announcement: ISIS militants (pictured) have formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the vast stretches of the Middle East that have fallen under its control

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Leader: ISIS declared the group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured left and right), the head of the new caliphate under the name Caliph Ibrahim and called on all Muslims around the world to swear loyalty to him

Extremist: A gun-brandishing Islamist  loyal to ISIS celebrates the announcement of the Islamic State by waving an Islamic flag in the Syrian city of Raqqa yesterday. The area is considered ISIS' main operational base

Extremist: A gun-brandishing Islamist loyal to ISIS celebrates the announcement of the Islamic State by waving an Islamic flag in the Syrian city of Raqqa yesterday. The area is considered ISIS’ main operational base

The announcement, made on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, could trigger a wave of infighting among Sunni extremist factions that have until now formed a loose rebel alliance.

A spokesman for ISIS declared the group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the leader of the new caliphate, or Islamic state, and called on Muslims everywhere, not just those in areas under the organization’s control, to swear loyalty to him.

‘The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph’s authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas,’ said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani.

‘Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day,’ he added in an audio statement posted online.

Al-Adnani loosely defined the state territory as running from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala – a vast stretch of land straddling the border that is already largely under ISIS control. 

He also said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to just the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq, Sham and the Levant.

Muslim extremists have long dreamed of recreating the Islamic state, or caliphate, that ruled over the Middle East, North Africa and beyond in various forms over the course of Islam’s 1,400-year history.

 

ISIS declares itself a caliphate as unrest continues in Iraq

Support: Following ISIS' demands that Muslims around the world declare their allegiance to the caliphate, some already appear to be doing so. This photograph, apparently taken in the Netherlands, has been share online by ISIS supporters

Support: Following ISIS’ demands that Muslims around the world declare their allegiance to the caliphate, some already appear to be doing so. This photograph, apparently taken in the Netherlands, has been share online by ISIS supporters

Execution: With brutal efficiency, ISIS has carved out a large chunk of territory that has effectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria and laid the foundations of its proto-state

Execution: With brutal efficiency, ISIS has carved out a large chunk of territory that has effectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria and laid the foundations of its proto-state

IN DECLARING A CALIPHATE, ISIS NOW CLAIMS TO LEAD ALL MUSLIMS

A caliphate is an Islamic state ruled by a ‘caliph’ – in this case Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – who is seen as the successor to Prophet Mohammed by those swearing allegiance.

In much the same way as the Pope is considered the head of the Catholic church, a caliph would consider themselves leader of the world’s Muslims.

They would hold themselves responsible for establishing policy – based strictly on the Quran – for all Muslims and territories.

One of the first things ISIS did after announcing a caliphate was to declare all emirates and sultanates illegal.

Therefore anybody swearing oath to the new Islamic state would simultaneously be declaring that they no longer recognise either the borders, laws or authority of current Muslim-led states.

On announcing the Islamic state, the militants repeatedly described it as being ‘restored’.

This is a reference to the last widely-acknowledged caliphate – which existed under the Ottoman Empire and effectively ended with the founding of Turkey in 1923.

Many Islamists – including ISIS – blame this collapse on the geographical carving-up of the Ottoman Empire by Allied Forces after the First World War.

In declaring a caliphate, ISIS now claims to partly ‘corrected’ the century-old dispute.

It was unclear what immediate impact the declaration would have on the ground in Syria and Iraq, though experts predicted it could herald infighting among Sunni militants who have joined forces with the Islamic State in its fight against Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shiite-led government.

‘Now the insurgents in Iraq have no excuse for working with ISIS if they were hoping to share power with ISIS,’ said Aymenn al-Tamimi, an analyst who specializes in Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. ‘The prospect of infighting in Iraq is increased for sure,’ he added.

The greatest impact, however, could be on the broader international jihadist movement, in particular on the future of Al Qaeda.

Founded by Osama Bin Laden, the group that carried out the September 11 attacks on the U.S. has long carried the mantle of the international jihadi cause.

But the Islamic State has managed to do in Syria and Iraq what Al Qaeda never has – carve out a large swath of territory in the heart of the Arab world and control it.

‘This announcement poses a huge threat to al-Qaida and its long-time position of leadership of the international jihadist cause,’ said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.

‘Taken globally, the younger generation of the jihadist community is becoming more and more supportive of [ISIS] largely out of fealty to its slick and proven capacity for attaining rapid results through brutality,’ he added.

Al-Baghdadi, an ambitious Iraqi militant who has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, took the reins of ISIS in 2010 when it was still an Al Qaeda affiliate based in Iraq.

Brazen: An ISIS fighter holds a jihadist flag in one hand and an assault rifle in the other in a public square in the Iraqi city of Mosul last week

Brazen: An ISIS fighter holds a jihadist flag in one hand and an assault rifle in the other in a public square in the Iraqi city of Mosul last week

Protests: The group has called for Muslims around the world to swear their allegiance to the Islamic state. In Shi'ite-dominated Iran, however, there have been widespread demonstrations against the Islamist militants

Protests: The group has called for Muslims around the world to swear their allegiance to the Islamic state. In Shi’ite-dominated Iran, however, there have been widespread demonstrations against the Islamist militants

Fighting back: Members of Kurdish security forces sit in a vehicle as they keep guard during clashes with ISIS militants in the village of Basheer in Iraq yesterday

Fighting back: Members of Kurdish security forces sit in a vehicle as they keep guard during clashes with ISIS militants in the village of Basheer in Iraq yesterday

Since then, he has transformed what had been an umbrella organization focused mainly on Iraq into a transnational military force.

Al-Baghdadi has long been at odds with Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, and the two had a very public falling out after al-Baghdadi ignored al-Zawahiri’s demands that the Islamic State leave Syria.

Fed up with al-Baghdadi and unable to control him, al-Zawahiri formally disavowed ISIS in February.

But al-Baghdadi’s stature has only grown since then, as his fighters strengthened their grip on much of Syria, and have now overrun large swathes of Iraq.

The Islamic State’s declaration comes as the Iraqi government tries to wrest back some of the territory it has lost to the jihadi group and its Sunni militant allies in recent weeks.

On Sunday, Iraqi helicopter gunships struck suspected insurgent positions for a second consecutive day in Tikrit – the predominantly Sunni hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi military launched its push to wrest back Tikrit – a hotbed of antipathy toward Iraq’s Shiite-led government – on Saturday with a multi-pronged assault spearheaded by ground troops backed by tanks and helicopters.

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#SanAntonio #Texas Learn about your White Man Hating Marxist Mayor and his Brother

TwitLonger — When you talk too much for Twitter.

By

Rebel Cause

@RebelCause2013 (twitter suspended account at time of posting)

 Julian Castro & brother Joaquin (in congress) fed their political affiliations by their mother Rosie.


Mother Rosie founded radical, anti-white, socialist Chicano party called La Raza Unida (literally “The Race United”) that sought to create a separate country—Aztlan—in the Southwest. 

Today she helps manage her sons’ political careers, after a storied career of her own as a community activist and a stint as San Antonio Housing Authority ombudsman.

Castro wrote fondly of those early days at Stanford and basked in the slogans of the day. “‘Viva La Raza!’ ‘Black and Brown United!’ ‘Accept me for who I am—Chicano.’ These and many other powerful slogans rang in my ears like war cries.” These war cries, Castro believes, advanced the interests of their political community. He sees her rabble-rousing as the cause for Latino successes, not the individual successes of those hard-working men and women who persevered despite some wrinkles in the American meritocracy. 

Rosie named her first son, Julian, for his father whom she never married, and her second, who arrived a minute later, for the character in the 1967 Chicano anti-gringo movement poem, “I Am Joaquin.” She is particularly proud that they were born on Mexico’s Independence Day. And she was a fan of the Aztlan aspirations of La Raza Unida. Those aspirations were deeply radical. “As far as we got was simply to take over control in those [Texas] communities where we were the majority,” one of its founders, Jose Angel Gutierrez, told the Toronto paper. “We did think of carving out a geographic territory where we could have our own weight, and our own leverage could then be felt nation-wide.” 

A bit on Jose Angel Gutierrez – 
Jose Angel Gutierrez, professor, University of Texas, Arlington; founder of La Raza Unida political party; and beneficiary of American generosity: “We have an aging white America. . . . They are dying. . . . They are ******** in their pants with fear! I love it!” “We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him.”

http://www.mayorno.com/villar.html

Removing all doubt, Gutierrez repeated himself often. “What we hoped to do back then was to create a nation within a nation,” he told the Denver Post in 2001. Gutierrez bemoaned the loss of that separatist vision among activists, but predicted that Latinos will “soon take over politically.” (“Brothers in Chicano Movement to Reunite,” Denver Post, August 16, 2001).

Gutierrez made clear his hatred for “the gringo” when he led the Mexican-American Youth Organization, the precursor to La Raza Unida. According to the Houston Chronicle, he “was denounced by many elected officials as militant and un-American.” And anti-American he was. “We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to worst, we have got to kill him,” Gutierrez told a San Antonio audience in 1969. At around that time, Rosie Castro eagerly joined his cause, becoming the first chairwoman of the Bexar County Raza Unida Party. There’s no evidence of her distancing herself from Gutierrez’s comments, even today. Gutierrez even dedicated a chapter in one of his books to Ms. Castro.

One of La Raza’s most powerful leaders, Frank Shaffer-Corona, an at-large member of the Washington, D.C. school board, even visited communist Cuba for a conference on Yankee imperialism and conferred with Marxists in Mexico. He was prone to conspiracy theories, decrying the “pervasive influence of the Central Intelligence Agency on American politics and what he says is a conspiracy of the multinational corporations against all minorities and the people of Latin America,” in the words of the Washington Post. (“His Pitch: Populism, and Very Latino; Shaffer-Corona Unruffled After Trip to Cuba,” Washington Post, August 28, 1978). The radical organization’s second most successful candidate, Texas gubernatorial aspirant Ramsey Muñiz, remains in prison on drug charges. La Raza Unida members periodically call for him to be pardoned, saying without evidence that the corrupt Muñiz is a “political prisoner.”) 

Now the interesting thing is that Saudi Oil backed Citibank is a major donor to “La Raza” and their influence is HIGH in Mexico to the wealthy Latinos.

Carlos Pelayo, another founder of La Raza Unida, clung to communism even after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, telling a San Diego paper that “the desire of people for social justice will never end.” “If it doesn’t work [the Soviet Union’s] way, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work,” he said. “So we capitalists have 20 different cereals and Nike shoes. Over there [in the Soviet Union], they have free education, free medical care.” (“Fall of Communism Fails to Deter Local Communists,” San Diego Union Tribune, September 14, 1991)

Is Ms. Castro repentant in the slightest over her involvement with La Raza Unida? Not in the least. She sees the rise of her sons’ political fortune as the fulfillment of her promise—some say threat—in 1971 when she lost her bid for San Antonio city council: “We’ll be back.” “When Julian was installed, it was just such an incredible thing to be there because for years we [the Chicano activists and La Raza Unida] had been struggling to be there,” she told Texas Monthly in 2002. “There was so much hurt associated with being on the outside. And I don’t mean personal hurt, but a whole group of people [the activists] being on the outside—the educational, social, political, economic outside.” Now she has not just one, but two men on the inside—her sons.

Castro’s speech below:

My fellow Democrats, my fellow Texans, my fellow Americans: I stand before you tonight as a young American, a proud American, of a generation born as the Cold War receded, shaped by the tragedy of 9/11, connected by the digital revolution and determined to re-elect the man who will make the 21st century another American century — President Barack Obama.

The unlikely journey that brought me here tonight began many miles from this podium. My brother Joaquin and I grew up with my mother Rosie and my grandmother Victoria. My grandmother was an orphan. As a young girl, she had to leave her home in Mexico and move to San Antonio, where some relatives had agreed to take her in. She never made it past the fourth grade. She had to drop out and start working to help her family. My grandmother spent her whole life working as a maid, a cook and a babysitter, barely scraping by, but still working hard to give my mother, her only child, a chance in life, so that my mother could give my brother and me an even better one.

As my grandmother got older, she begged my mother to give her grandchildren. She prayed to God for just one grandbaby before she died. You can imagine her excitement when she found out her prayers would be answered — twice over. She was so excited that the day before Joaquin and I were born she entered a menudo cook-off, and she won $300! That’s how she paid our hospital bill.

By the time my brother and I came along, this incredible woman had taught herself to read and write in both Spanish and English. I can still see her in the room that Joaquin and I shared with her, reading her Agatha Christie novels late into the night. And I can still remember her, every morning as Joaquin and I walked out the door to school, making the sign of the cross behind us, saying, “Que dios los bendiga.” “May God bless you.”

My grandmother didn’t live to see us begin our lives in public service. But she probably would have thought it extraordinary that just two generations after she arrived in San Antonio, one grandson would be the mayor and the other would be on his way — the good people of San Antonio willing — to the United States Congress.

My family’s story isn’t special. What’s special is the America that makes our story possible. Ours is a nation like no other, a place where great journeys can be made in a single generation. No matter who you are or where you come from, the path is always forward.

America didn’t become the land of opportunity by accident. My grandmother’s generation and generations before always saw beyond the horizons of their own lives and their own circumstances. They believed that opportunity created today would lead to prosperity tomorrow. That’s the country they envisioned, and that’s the country they helped build. The roads and bridges they built, the schools and universities they created, the rights they fought for and won — these opened the doors to a decent job, a secure retirement, the chance for your children to do better than you did.

And that’s the middle class– the engine of our economic growth. With hard work, everybody ought to be able to get there. And with hard work, everybody ought to be able to stay there — and go beyond. The dream of raising a family in a place where hard work is rewarded is not unique to Americans. It’s a human dream, one that calls across oceans and borders. The dream is universal, but America makes it possible. And our investment in opportunity makes it a reality.

Now, in Texas, we believe in the rugged individual. Texas may be the one place where people actually still have bootstraps, and we expect folks to pull themselves up by them. But we also recognize there are some things we can’t do alone. We have to come together and invest in opportunity today for prosperity tomorrow.

And it starts with education. Twenty years ago, Joaquin and I left home for college and then for law school. In those classrooms, we met some of the brightest folks in the world. But at the end of our days there, I couldn’t help but to think back to my classmates at Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio. They had the same talent, the same brains, the same dreams as the folks we sat with at Stanford and Harvard. I realized the difference wasn’t one of intelligence or drive. The difference was opportunity.

In my city of San Antonio, we get that. So we’re working to ensure that more four-year-olds have access to pre-K. We opened Cafe College, where students get help with everything from test prep to financial aid paperwork. We know that you can’t be pro-business unless you’re pro-education. We know that pre-K and student loans aren’t charity. They’re a smart investment in a workforce that can fill and create the jobs of tomorrow. We’re investing in our young minds today to be competitive in the global economy tomorrow.

And it’s paying off. Last year the Milken Institute ranked San Antonio as the nation’s top performing local economy. And we’re only getting started. Opportunity today, prosperity tomorrow.

Now, like many of you, I watched last week’s Republican convention. They told a few stories of individual success. We all celebrate individual success. But the question is, how do we multiply that success? The answer is President Barack Obama.

Mitt Romney, quite simply, doesn’t get it. A few months ago he visited a university in Ohio and gave the students there a little entrepreneurial advice. “Start a business,” he said. But how? “Borrow money if you have to from your parents,” he told them. Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Some people are lucky enough to borrow money from their parents, but that shouldn’t determine whether you can pursue your dreams. I don’t think Gov. Romney meant any harm. I think he’s a good guy. He just has no idea how good he’s had it.

We know that in our free market economy some will prosper more than others. What we don’t accept is the idea that some folks won’t even get a chance. And the thing is, Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are perfectly comfortable with that America. In fact, that’s exactly what they’re promising us.

The Romney-Ryan budget doesn’t just cut public education, cut Medicare, cut transportation and cut job training.

It doesn’t just pummel the middle class — it dismantles it. It dismantles what generations before have built to ensure that everybody can enter and stay in the middle class. When it comes to getting the middle class back to work, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to respecting women’s rights, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to letting people marry whomever they love, Mitt Romney says, “No.” When it comes to expanding access to good health care, Mitt Romney says, “No.”

Actually, Mitt Romney said, “Yes,” and now he says, “No.” Gov. Romney has undergone an extreme makeover, and it ain’t pretty. So here’s what we’re going to say to Mitt Romney. We’re going to say, “No.”

Of all the fictions we heard last week in Tampa, the one I find most troubling is this: If we all just go our own way, our nation will be stronger for it. Because if we sever the threads that connect us, the only people who will go far are those who are already ahead. We all understand that freedom isn’t free. What Romney and Ryan don’t understand is that neither is opportunity. We have to invest in it.

Republicans tell us that if the most prosperous among us do even better, that somehow the rest of us will too. Folks, we’ve heard that before. First they called it “trickle-down.” Then “supply-side.” Now it’s “Romney-Ryan.” Or is it “Ryan-Romney”? Either way, their theory has been tested. It failed. Our economy failed. The middle class paid the price. Your family paid the price.

Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it. But Barack Obama gets it. He understands that when we invest in people we’re investing in our shared prosperity. And when we neglect that responsibility, we risk our promise as a nation. Just a few years ago, families that had never asked for anything found themselves at risk of losing everything. And the dream my grandmother held, that work would be rewarded, that the middle class would be there, if not for her, then for her children — that dream was being crushed.

But then President Obama took office — and he took action. When Detroit was in trouble, President Obama saved the auto industry and saved a million jobs. Seven presidents before him — Democrats and Republicans — tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done. He made a historic investment to lift our nation’s public schools and expanded Pell grants so that more young people can afford college. And because he knows that we don’t have an ounce of talent to waste, the president took action to lift the shadow of deportation from a generation of young, law-abiding immigrants called dreamers.

I believe in you. Barack Obama believes in you. Now it’s time for Congress to enshrine in law their right to pursue their dreams in the only place they’ve ever called home: America.

Four years ago, America stood on the brink of a depression. Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action, and now we’ve seen 4.5 million new jobs. He knows better than anyone that there’s more hard work to do, but we’re making progress. And now we need to make a choice.

It’s a choice between a country where the middle class pays more so that millionaires can pay less — or a country where everybody pays their fair share, so we can reduce the deficit and create the jobs of the future. It’s a choice between a nation that slashes funding for our schools and guts Pell grants — or a nation that invests more in education. It’s a choice between a politician who rewards companies that ship American jobs overseas — or a leader who brings jobs back home.

This is the choice before us. And to me, to my generation and for all the generations to come, our choice is clear. Our choice is a man who’s always chosen us. A man who already is our president: Barack Obama.

In the end, the American dream is not a sprint, or even a marathon, but a relay. Our families don’t always cross the finish line in the span of one generation. But each generation passes on to the next the fruits of their labor. My grandmother never owned a house. She cleaned other people’s houses so she could afford to rent her own. But she saw her daughter become the first in her family to graduate from college. And my mother fought hard for civil rights so that instead of a mop, I could hold this microphone.

And while she may be proud of me tonight, I’ve got to tell you, mom, I’m even more proud of you. Thank you, mom. Today, my beautiful wife Erica and I are the proud parents of a three-year-old little girl, Carina Victoria, named after my grandmother.

A couple of Mondays ago was her first day of pre-K. As we dropped her off, we walked out of the classroom, and I found myself whispering to her, as was once whispered to me, “Que dios te bendiga.” “May God bless you.” She’s still young, and her dreams are far off yet, but I hope she’ll reach them. As a dad, I’m going to do my part, and I know she’ll do hers. But our responsibility as a nation is to come together and do our part, as one community, one United States of America, to ensure opportunity for all of our children.

The days we live in are not easy ones, but we have seen days like this before, and America prevailed. With the wisdom of our founders and the values of our families, America prevailed. With each generation going further than the last, America prevailed. And with the opportunity we build today for a shared prosperity tomorrow, America will prevail.

It begins with re-electing Barack Obama. It begins with you. It begins now. Que dios los bendiga. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.

How the ObamaCare Tax Penalty (fee) Works

 

Your tax penalty (shared responsibility fee) for not having insurance is paid on your federal income taxes at the end of the year. If your taxable income is below 133% of the federal poverty level you are exempt from this tax.

2014 = $95 per person per year or 1% of your Income
2015 = $325 per person per year or 2% of your Income
2016 = $695 per person per year or 2.5% of your Income
2017 = Tax Penalty will increase by the rate of inflation going forward, or 2.5% of your Income

• If you’re uninsured for just part of the year, 1/12 of the yearly penalty applies to each month you’re uninsured.

• The penalty is based on modified adjusted gross income and is paid on your federal income taxes.

• The total penalty for the taxable year cannot exceed the national average of the annual premiums of a bronze-level health insurance plan offered through the health insurance marketplaces.

• The maximum penalty per family is capped at no more than 300% of the minimum penalty (e.g. $695 x 300% = $2,085).

• Children under 18 are assessed at 50% of the minimum penalty.

• The penalty is pro-rated for the number of months you are without health insurance, though there is no penalty for a single gap in coverage of less than 3 months in a year.

• Health insurance plans will provide proof of coverage for their customers so as long as you have health insurance you don’t have to worry about the details.

 

http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-individual-mandate.php

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About Dr. Coyne

About Dr. Coyne.

 

THOMAS JOSEPH COYNE, MBA, Ph.D. – tom@coyne-assoc.com

(Financial Economist, Professor of Finance – tenured, inactive)

Candidate of U.S. Senate (L. WV.)

 

Financial economist Thomas Joseph Coyne is a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, a graduate of Central Catholic High School.

 

Thomas Joseph Coyne earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree at Case Western Reserve University (Economics/Finance), his Master of Business Administration degree (MBA) from Kent State University (Management/Finance), his Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA) from Marshall University (Accounting/Economics). He completed his postgraduate work at the University of Chicago (Monetary Theory/Price Theory) and the University of Michigan (Computers).

 

As a full-time undergraduate student at Marshall University, Dr. Coyne worked full-time as a brakeman on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, graduating in three years time. He worked full time as industrial credit manager for The B. F. Goodrich Company while a graduate student at Kent State University, graduating in two years time. Coyne taught at Case and John Carroll and Kent State and Akron Universities while studying finance and economics at Case. While attending high school, Coyne rose from stock boy to floor manager and buyer at the J. C. Penney Company. Using his experience, age, education, and background, Coyne has contributed to solution of labor and management problems for decades. After writing his Master’s thesis: “Railroad Proposals for the Alleviation of their Financial Crisis” and receipt of his MBA, Tom worked with Cyrus Eaton at the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway as it acquired the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, (the combined railroad today is called CSX). Tom appeared before the Interstate Commerce Commission dealing with per diem rate cases of railroad cars. Tom is a licensed pilot. After writing his Ph.D. dissertation, receipt of the degree and having it published by the Legislative Services Committee and distributed by the Committee to each member of the House and Senate and administrative persons in West Virginia, entitled “Banking Structure in West Virginia,” branch banking was adopted by the state of West Virginia. Prior to distribution of the Coyne dissertation West Virginia was the only unit banking state (NO branches allowed) in the nation.

 

Professor Coyne spent the bulk of his professional career teaching graduate and undergraduate courses (MBA) as a tenured full professor of finance and/or business economics at fully accredited (AACSB) universities. He has traveled extensively throughout Russia, Western Europe, and the United States, lecturing and presenting papers in finance and economics. He has negotiated countless multi-million dollar contracts for scores of American Boards of Education, has created and served as executive director of several foundations in the United States and Europe. Coyne grew financial and real assets for one group from only eleven dollars to $6.0 million before leaving.

 

Tom has been an active member in his church, in church institutions, and has published at least ten books or monographs, plus about one hundred peer-reviewed articles to be found in many academic & professional journals. His Arbitration Awards are published. Many written contributions have appeared in newspapers and online. Coyne is an arbitrator, serving from the lists of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He completed the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon for Cancer Research (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006), and had a weekly one hour 50,000 watt call-in talk radio show broadcast simultaneously in Cleveland, and Youngstown, Ohio. Tom is an honorably discharged U.S. Army combat infantry veteran, having served with L Company, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, Sandbag Castle, Korea, receiving the Korean Service Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), the Good Conduct Medal, a Letter of Appreciation signed by Kim Dae-jung, President of the Republic of Korea, and The President Syugman Rhee Memorial Association 60th Anniversary Korean War 1950-2010 Medallion.

 

Tom sought the U.S. Senate seat Ohio (I) being vacated by Howard Metzenbaum, 1994. Ohio Secretary of State denied Coyne placement of the Coyne name on the ballot claiming inability to read 11,000 (approx.) properly prepared signed and printed petition signatures).

 

Tom sought the Office of Governor West Virginia (I), 2004. WV Secretary of State refused to provide Coyne with appropriate petition forms subsequent to which in Wheeling Federal District Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. declared from his bench WV violated previous (2 years prior) Federal District Court orders of Judge Kelley requiring WV to provide proper petition forms, that WV should have provided Coyne with proper petition forms, but in his written Award Stamp found in favor of WV. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist was at his residence outside Washington, D.C. studying Coyne’s appeal of the Judge Stamp “award” the night Rehnquist died.

 

Thomas Joseph Coyne, Ph.D., was formerly married to Patricia Anne Smith, R.N., of Huntington and together they proudly raised their five children, all of whom are college-educated. Tom and Pat have twelve grandchildren. Tom plans to take the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jay Rockefeller (D.WV) in the election of November 4, 2014.

 

Professor Coyne maintains a home in Bath, Ohio, USA.

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The century’s most blatant force of satanic utopianism is communism.

In William F. Buckley’s 1955 mission statement, he wrote,

The most alarming single danger to the American political system lies in the fact that an identifiable team of Fabian operators is bent on controlling both our major political parties(under the sanction of such fatuous and unreasoned slogans as “national unity,” “middle-of-the-road,” “progressivism,” and “bipartisanship.”) Clever intriguers are reshaping both parties in the image of Babbitt, gone Social-Democrat.

 

Conservatives in this country — at least those who have not made their peace with the New Deal, and there is serious question whether there are others — are non-licensed nonconformists; and this is dangerous business in a Liberal world, as every editor of this magazine can readily show by pointing to his scars. Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutilated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity.

 

Among our convictions:

  1. It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens’ lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress. The growth of government(the dominant social feature of this century) must be fought relentlessly. In this great social conflict of the era, we are, without reservations, on the libertarian side. 
  2. The profound crisis of our era is, in essence, the conflict between the Social Engineers, who seek to adjust mankind to conform with scientific utopias, and the disciples of Truth, who defend the organic moral order. We believe that truth is neither arrived at nor illuminated by monitoring election results, binding though these are for other purposes, but by other means, including a study of human experience. On this point we are, without reservations, on the conservative side. 
  3. The century’s most blatant force of satanic utopianism is communism. We consider “coexistence” with communism neither desirable nor possible, nor honorable; we find ourselves irrevocably at war with communism and shall oppose any substitute for victory. 
  4. The largest cultural menace in America is the conformity of the intellectual cliques which, in education as well as the arts, are out to impose upon the nation their modish fads and fallacies, and have nearly succeeded in doing so. In this cultural issue, we are, without reservations, on the side of excellence (rather than “newness”) and of honest intellectual combat (rather than conformity). 
  5. The most alarming single danger to the American political system lies in the fact that an identifiable team of Fabian operators is bent on controlling both our major political parties(under the sanction of such fatuous and unreasoned slogans as “national unity,” “middle-of-the-road,” “progressivism,” and “bipartisanship.”) Clever intriguers are reshaping both parties in the image of Babbitt, gone Social-Democrat. When and where this political issue arises, we are, without reservations, on the side of the traditional two-party system that fights its feuds in public and honestly; and we shall advocate the restoration of the two-party system at all costs. 
  6. The competitive price system is indispensable to liberty and material progress. It is threatened not only by the growth of Big Brother government, but by the pressure of monopolies(including union monopolies. What is more, some labor unions have clearly identified themselves with doctrinaire socialist objectives. The characteristic problems of harassed business have gone unreported for years, with the result that the public has been taught to assume(almost instinctively) that conflicts between labor and management are generally traceable to greed and intransigence on the part of management. Sometimes they are; often they are not. NATIONAL REVIEW will explore and oppose the inroads upon the market economy caused by monopolies in general, and politically oriented unionism in particular; and it will tell the violated businessman’s side of the story. 
  7. No superstition has more effectively bewitched America’s Liberal elite than the fashionable concepts of world government, the United Nations, internationalism, international atomic pools, etc. Perhaps the most important and readily demonstrable lesson of history is that freedom goes hand in hand with a state of political decentralization, that remote government is irresponsible government. It would make greater sense to grant independence to each of our 50 states than to surrender U.S. sovereignty to a world organization.
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