Happy Independence Day--and congratulations to our British cousins on the same!

‘Independence Day’ (original) 2-Sentence Micro Review

mentalfloss.com

‘Independence Day’ (original) 2-Sentence Micro Review

     Typical brave brilliant sensitive selfless high-principled bodybuilder environmentalist romantic Jewish scientist teams up with typical brave brilliant sensitive selfless athletic charming daring funny romantic Black aspiring astronaut, with nominal help from likable laid-back liberal family man White President, a vet with flying and speechifying skills, but seemingly temporary place-holding leader for shrinking White majority, to save planet Earth. State-of-the-art CGI fun as survival hijinks ensue against implacable smelly resource-sucking space aliens. –tma

New York Times [Far-Left's Paper of Record]: Obama Will Need His Oratory Powers to Sell Globalization - "dubious assertion that the losses to the American economy from these deals are greater than the benefits" - Right, "dubious," almost hopelessly in debt, entire industries gutted. --tma

WASHINGTON — When President Obama travels to North Carolina and Europe this week, he will press an argument that could define foreign policy in the last six months of his presidency: that Americans and Europeans must not forsake their open, interconnected societies for the nativism and nationalism preached by Donald J. Trump or Britain’s Brexiteers.

Few presidents have put more faith than Mr. Obama in the power of words to persuade audiences to accept a complex idea, whether it is the morality of a just war or the imperfect nature of American society. Yet countering the anti-immigration and anti-free-trade slogans in this election year will require all of his oratorical skills.

Mr. Obama road-tested his pitch over the last two weeks in two friendly venues: Silicon Valley and Canada. This week, he will take the case to North Carolina, a swing state that has been hard hit by the forces of globalization, and to a NATO meeting in Poland, where the alliance members will grapple with the effects of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, known as Brexit.

In Warsaw, Mr. Obama will sit next to Britain’s lame-duck prime minister, David Cameron, whose political career was ended by his miscalculation over holding the referendum on European Union membership. But first, in Charlotte, N.C., he will campaign with Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who reversed her position on Mr. Obama’s Asian trade deal, formally called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after many in her party turned sharply against free trade.

“President Obama has made a valiant attempt to build support for freer trade,” said Eswar S. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University. “But the arguments in favor of free trade lack rhetorical and political resonance, especially amidst a heated political campaign.”

The case for ambitious trade deals, Dr. Prasad said, is that they allow the United States to set the rules for its dealings with other countries, and to wield greater geopolitical influence. Yet those arguments are easily overshadowed by the simple, if dubious, assertion that the losses to the American economy from these deals are greater than the benefits. ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/world/europe/obama-will-need-his-oratory-powers-to-sell-globalization.html

AP: Deadliest attack in a year kills 115 in central Baghdad - The blast struck during the holy month of Ramadan - Seems an odd way to observe it. --tma

BAGHDAD (AP) — A devastating truck bombing on a bustling commercial street in downtown Baghdad killed 115 people early Sunday, brutally underscoring the Islamic State group's ability to strike the capital despite a string of battlefield losses elsewhere in the country.

It was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq in a year and one of the worst single bombings in more than a decade of war and insurgency, and it fueled anger toward Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

When al-Abadi visited the site of the suicide blast in the city's Karada district, a furious mob surrounded his convoy, yelling expletives, hurling rocks and shoes and calling him a "thief."

Many Iraqis blame their political leadership for lapses in security in Baghdad that have allowed large amounts of explosives to make their way past multiple checkpoints and into neighborhoods packed with civilians.

Karada, a mostly Shiite section, is lined with clothing and jewelry stores, restaurants and cafes. The blast struck during the holy month of Ramadan, with the streets and sidewalks filled with young people and families after they had broken their daylight fast. ...

Eleven people were missing and 187 were wounded, authorities said. Many of the victims were women and children who were inside a multi-story shopping and amusement mall. Dozens burned to death or suffocated, a police officer said. ...

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/62b113a9cf764acfa907a65506805e42/iraqi-officials-death-toll-claimed-car-bombing-iraqi

AP: Man, Mahin Khan, Accused of Planning Terrorist Acts in Phoenix, Tucson

nostalgia.esmartkid.com

PHOENIX (AP) -- A Tucson man has been arrested by the FBI and the Arizona Attorney General's Office for threatening to commit acts of terrorism on Arizona government buildings.

The Attorney General's Office says 18-year-old Mahin Khan appeared before a Phoenix judge Saturday morning.

He was ordered held without bond in Maricopa County Jail.

Khan faces two counts of conspiracy to commit terrorism and terrorism.

Arizona Attorney General spokeswoman Mia Garcia says Khan is accused of conspiring to carry out terrorism acts on government buildings in Phoenix and Tucson. ...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TERRORISM_THREATS_ARREST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-07-02-20-16-54

RR Watch: Rutland Aldermen to vote on allowing refugee referendum on ballot - Alderman Matt Bloomer says letting taxpayers vote wouldn't be "welcoming." - Corrupt, crazy or as dumb as a stump? --tma

Posted by Ann Corcoran on July 3, 2016

The citizens of Rutland, VT who have expressed anger at their mayor for secretly working with a federal refugee resettlement contractor to bring 100 Syrians to the small city, have been busy.  They garnered enough signatures on a petition to put the issue on the ballot, but the Mayor and Board of Alderman will have the final say (this Tuesday) on whether it can be put before the voters.

(Of course the feds can shove the refugees down their throats anyway, but that is besides the point!)

Rutland City Alderman Matt Bloomer frets in an op-ed about the really tough decision he has to make on Tuesday. Oh well, isn’t that what leaders have to do—make tough decisions!

Not unlike the issue surrounding resettlement of refugees in Twin Falls, Idaho where the controversy has been swirling for years (by the way, it is the same federal contractor making $$$ on a per head basis in Vermont and Idaho—US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants), the citizens in both places are demanding full public debate on the “plans” for the new (Rutland) or continued (Twin Falls) resettlement of third worlders to their communities.

But, therein lies the rub, the feds and their contractors have no plans as such. In Athens, GA in 2014 the Democratic Mayor said give me a plan—-where will the refugees work, and live?  Does Athens have adequate subsidized housing, can our schools handle large numbers of illiterate children?  How about our health department, is it ready for communicable diseases and parasites not often seen in American cities?

In other words, she was asking for the feds and the contractor to essentially prepare an economic and social impact statement before giving a green light to the arrival of refugees.

I don’t know if things have changed since I learned this past April that Athens still has no resettlement office. Why? My guess is that the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement(in HHS) don’t want to set a precedent and prepare a plan (with public hearings etc.) because secrecy has worked so well for the last 30 plus years to slip refugees into unsuspecting towns, why change anything now!

Sorry to go on so long. To catch up on Rutland, go here  and here. Don’t forget our previous post on Tuberculosis in Vermont.  Our previous posts on Rutland are here.

A vote on refugees would screw-up the “positive narrative about our county.”

Then see where one Alderman (Matt Bloomer a Rutland Young Professional) says he plans to vote against placing a referendum on the ballot, here.  His biggest fear isn’t who might come into Rutland, what poverty or diseases they might bring in, whether the town could afford the costs necessary to educate the refugee children, whether there are security worries or increased crime, etc.

He is worried that, by simply voting, Rutland might get a bad reputation!

Bloomer:

People from around the state and country will be left with the perception that we are a closed and unfeeling community, rather than the welcoming and compassionate community that we actually are.

These misconceptions would be spread at a time when many dedicated people have worked hard to build positive momentum for our community. They would be spread at a time when we’ve recognized the need to proactively recruit people and businesses in order to sustain the size of our community and the quality of life we enjoy. Rutland County legislators from both sides of the aisle have told us that these misconceptions would set back their successful efforts in creating a positive narrative in Montpelier about our county.

Readers ask me all the time what can they do to stop this.  You can be sure Washington isn’t going to help you. Besides what you are already doing—demanding transparency and thoughtful deliberation—I’ve come to the conclusion that as much as you don’t want to do it, you will have to change your local elected officials, maybe run for public office yourself.  Even if you can’t win the first time, you will help raise the issue before voters.

Endnote: Has USCRI ever given the Mayor and Aldermen the R & P Abstract which they surely prepared for the US State Department?  Just wondering! (See the one they prepared for Reno, here. There is one for Rutland!).

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/rutland-board-of-aldermen-to-vote-tuesday-on-allowing-refugee-referendum-on-ballot/

Eurasia Review - Mastermind Of Istanbul Terror Attack Was ‘Refugee’ Protected By EU In Austria - Now we see why Austria is pulling away from Mad Mama Merkel. --tma

home.bt.com

Following Tuesday’s horrific attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, which resulted in 44 death at the hands of three suicide bombers, Turkey was quick to blame the Islamic State for the terrorist act. And while that may be accurate, something surprising has emerged about the alleged ringleader of the group of three men who have been since identified as Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals. As Russia’s Kommersant and Turkish media report, a Chechen national suspected of being the mastermind behind the deadly Istanbul airport terrorist attack, had previously received refugee status in Austria, which helped him to repeatedly avoid extradition to Russia on terror charges.

As the complete picture of the latest terrorist attack in Turkey comes together, it has emerged that the attack was allegedly organized by Ahmed Chataev, a Russian citizen of Chechen origin, who joined the Islamic State in 2015 and now fights in Syria, Turkish media report, citing police sources.

Chataev was assigned a leading role in training extremists that would then commit terrorist attacks in both Russia and Western Europe, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Andrey Przhezdomsky said, adding that, in Syria, Chataev also commands a unit consisting “primarily of immigrants from the North Caucasus.” ...

http://www.eurasiareview.com/02072016-mastermind-of-istanbul-terror-attack-was-refugee-protected-by-eu-oped/