Seniors Carl Schmidt and Brendon Mendelson were in yoga class at Arapahoe High when the shooting began. Their teacher hurried them promptly away from the door and into a closet. (link)

Seriously ? What type of schools have accredited Yoga Classes?

https://twitter.com/toddstarnes/status/411722030975692800

A classmate said Karl Pierson got a bit of a kick out of the fact that his first name was spelled the same way as Karl Marx. #ArapahoeHigh

— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) December 14, 2013

We’re learning more about the gunman, too. A student who had econ with him called him opinionated, outspoken, a little odd, a socialist.
— Sadie Gurman (@sgurman) December 14, 2013

Denver Post – […]  Pierson’s parents  divorced in late 2011, according to court records. The  divorce was finalized in August 2012.
Thomas Conrad, who had an economics class with Pierson, described him as   very opinionated.
[…]  In one Facebook post, Pierson attacks the philosophies of economist Adam Smith who through his invisible hand theory pushed the notion that the free market was self-regulating. In another post, he describes himself as “Keynesian.” (more…)

Amnesty Legislation – Mitch McConnell supports it,  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports it, The Republican Party Supports it, every single Democrat supports it, and you are going to get it whether you want it or not.
WASHINGTON DC – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she spoke with Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday and asked when an overhaul to immigration laws could be considered in the House.
“He told me yes, we have to wait until next year,” Pelosi told reporters on Wednesday morning.
Democrats have been pushing House Republicans to hold a vote on a landmark immigration reform bill that was passed in June, or try to work on their own immigration legislation. But Republicans have been apprehensive, with the most conservative members opposed to anything that could provide a pathway to citizenship or legalization for undocumented immigrants.  (continue reading)

They have a literary agent?   Out of an abundance of caution, and under the advice of physicians, I will refrain from commentary.  FOR NOW.   However, I would like to know your thoughts on what their book should be titled.

(NEW YORK) The parents of Trayvon Martin met with publishers this week to shop a book about their son, the unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed in Florida in 2012.

According to two publishing executives who participated in meetings, Mr. Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, said they intended to write a book that gives the full picture of their son while tracing their own experience of shock and sorrow.
The meetings were described as somber and moving by publishers who were present. Ms. Fulton and Mr. Martin were accompanied by Jan Miller, their Dallas-based literary agent. (more…)

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi had a curious reaction to the budget deal made with Republicans.  Prior to the vote she instructed her fellow Democratic leaders to “embrace the suck.”
Jake Tapper questioned her about it:

The cross has been in place since 1954.   Figures it would be the activist Ninth Circuit…
CALIFORNIA – A cross atop Mount Soledad in California is an unconstitutional religious display on government land and must come down, a federal judge in San Diego ruled late Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ordered the cross, which honors veterans, must be removed within 90 days — a decision that could result in the case being sent back to the U.S. Supreme Court. Burns immediately stayed his order pending an expected appeal.
(more…)

We’ve been anticipating an increasing frequency of illegal immigration stories in the media headlines.   Examples specifically selected by the media to highlight a narrative portraying illegal aliens as “innocent victims”.    Consider it “The Dreamers 2.0” – only, on steroids.
We fully expect this narrative will be seeded through the upper echelon of leftist news outlets.   Upper tier media conglomerates, individual executive boards, owners and Hollywood working together with political connections to position storylines favorable to illegal alien sympathy.   
[We shall call this “Operation Brown Dream“] 
The “Brown Dream” strategy is intended to build momentum toward the upcoming State of The Union speech where President Obama will demand a comprehensive immigration reform agenda, including amnesty, for 2014.    The politics are strategically aligned to aid in the November mid-terms, but also to act as a distraction to Obamacare.   The Amnesty Bill will create anxiety and divide ranks – this allows the process to move forward and create a Win/Win.    Here’s one example: (more…)

… […] Look, at every level, every number that you get on this is either inflated or deceptive. As we just heard from Steve [Hayes], the number of enrollees are not enrollees. It’s people who put stuff in their shopping cart. Amazon would never call it a sale until you get a sale. And they don’t know how many have made the sale. And that’s because what they call euphemistically, the back-end, which is the cash register of the whole system, is not working. 
The idea that you have to hand-match people who paid a premium with the insurers isn’t 20th century technology — it is 19th century technology. An insurer has to find the person, call them up, go over all of the details on the form and then adjust them, which of course is impossible to do in any substantial number.  (more…)

MICHIGAN –  Michigan union invoked the provision of the state constitution that bans slavery in their argument against right-to-work, court documents show.

Teamsters Local No. 214  stated Dec. 6 that right-to-work was “a violation of the prohibitions against involuntary servitude” because members of the union had to work against their will on behalf of non-union members. The union then referred to Article I, Section 9 of the state constitution, which states:

“Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state.”

(more…)

CHINA – A man jumped to his death after a furious row  with his girlfriend who insisted they go into another clothes  shop.   CCTV shows Tao Hsiao, 38, escorting his  girlfriend around a shopping mall in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province,  east China.
After five hours Tao finally had enough and  demanded to go home.
Eyewitnesses say he could be  heard saying they already had more bags than they could carry, but she insisted  on going into one more shop where the was a special offer on shoes.
An eyewitness said: ‘He told her she already  had enough shoes, more shoes that she could wear in a lifetime  and it was pointless buying any more.
‘She started shouting at him accusing him of  being a skinflint and of spoiling Christmas, it was a really heated  argument.’
The shouting match ended when the man chucked  the bags on the floor and jumped over the balcony, smashing  into Christmas decorations on his way down before hitting the floor seven  stories below causing shocked shoppers to  flee in panic.  (read more)

Allow me to establish from the outset that what Rand Paul is trying is valiant, admirable, and needed.   However, simultaneously he is up against a massive institutional complex which has designed the architecture of dependency and need it to remain.

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system.
For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”  (link)

Some may dismiss what Rand Paul is actually trying to promote, I do not.
Beyond policy is something more important – engagement.
The greatest consideration a person or enterprise can give is the gift of understanding. As much as Rand Paul is offering policy suggestions to improve inner cities, he is engaged and listening.
However, one of the unfortunate realities he faces, which actually establishes the slope of the climb he is attempting, is the reality of dependency.
(more…)