NYT: Obama and Hillary Gave Asylum to Foreign Democrat Donors

The New York Times has found records indicating that a wealthy (and criminal) Ecuadorian family made huge donations to the Democratic Party in exchange for family members being allowed to stay in the US.

Roberto and William Isaias live in Miami. They are originally from Ecuador, where they ran a bank...ran a bank straight into the ground. An Ecuadorian court convicted the pair of using fake balance sheets to they could cash in on bailout funds. The Obama Administration knows this, and will not extradite them to Ecuador. Some have questioned the fairness of the trial in Ecuador, but no one - besides the Isaias family - seems to be saying that the brothers are completely innocent.


Roberto's daughter, Estefania, has a history of committing immigration fraud in the US. The Obama Administration, and Hillary's State Department, knew this. Estefania was banned from entering the country. Yet the family pressed, through Senator Menendez (D-NJ), to have the ban reversed. Estefania's mother donated $40,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, and Senator Menendez emailed travel ban on Estafania was reversed the very next day. Estefania's visa sponsor was Alfredo Balsera, who claimed that she would be working for his company - Balsera Communications. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Alfredo Balsera raised a half million dollars for Obama's re-election campaign, and is also supporting Hillary in 2016.

Now back in the US, it looks like Estefania may be committing immigration fraud again. She is required, by the terms of her visa, to be employed by her sponsor for three years (or else request a change of sponsor or a change of immigration status - she has done neither of these). Balsera Communications doesn't seem to have any record of her working for the company - not a bio, not on social media, nowhere. One person at the company - which employs only 12 people - said he had never heard of her.

The immigration story looks fishy, and so do the donations - given that the federal government has investigated the Isaias family for money laundering. The family is quite vocal about their long history of political donations. They've donated to over two dozen members of Congress, including Menendez - but also, weirdly enough, Marco Rubio. Major donations have gone to Obama-affiliated organizations that support Democratic candidates.

As this story unravels further, it may be yet another Obama scandal to add to the list. For Hillary - this makes her look 1) corruptible, 2) corruptible by foreign money, and 3) complicit - or at least complacent - about letting an immigration fraudster into the country.

Looking for Good News

With the Sydney Siege, the Sony hacker threats, and now the horrific terrorist attack in Peshawar, Pakistan - this week's news is already impossibly sad. I can't really read it anymore. That is not to say that these events should be ignored - far from it. As more answers come out over the next days and weeks, I'll be as curious as anyone to know what prompted these events, and what can be done to prevent such things from happening again. But in the meantime, there is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said. What I can do is this: find the good stuff.

Good things don't stop happening just because bad things have taken over the headlines. Here are some of those good things:

• A doctor who has restored the sight of over 100,000 people. Dr. Sanduk Ruit, originally from Nepal, has mastered a 5-minute procedure that changes lives. He's even taught other doctors how to do the surgery. 
• Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade will welcome a group of openly gay marchers for the first time in 2015.  OutVets is a group of LGBTQ military veterans.
• A mother in California got to hear her baby for the first time, thanks to donated hearing aids from a local business.
• Mr. Farrer, a Canadian teacher, assigns his students to write a 10-page letter to themselves. He stores them for 20 years, and then tracks down his students - all over the world - and sends them the letters they wrote to themselves as kids.
• This isn't news, but it fits the feel-good bill: Buzzfeed's 2014 Unsung Heroes of Cute. Check out the URL...I see what you did there, Buzzfeed!

Sydney Hostage Situation

Thinking about those affected by the hostage situation in Sydney, Australia.

ABC News has a live feed for news on the situation. It will be airing Prime Minister Tony Abbott's press conference when he arrives.

The Sydney Opera House has been evacuated, as has the US Consulate in Sydney.

In the meantime, please say a prayer for the hostages and their families, and for the law enforcement officers working tirelessly to reach a peaceful end to the situation.

- (Koala) Bear

======================================================
Update (9:01 PM Eastern):

I'm seeing varying reports on the number of hostages - as high as 50+ or as low as 12.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's press conference was brief, calm, and clear. He encouraged Australians to go about their business as usual.

Abbott did not mention terrorism. That's a cautious move on his part - because even if the people behind this are Australians, The Bear would say that this is still an act of terror.

Abbott did say that the purpose of crimes like this one is to scare people - and, by expressing his confidence in the New South Wales law enforcement agencies, he is leading by example in staying calm.
======================================================
Update (9:13 PM Eastern):

This image from the Telegraph (UK) is as striking as it is heartbreaking. The flag the women are holding is believed to be from Al-Nusra, a Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate.

The New South Wales law enforcement will hold a press conference in 20 minutes.

President Obama has been briefed on the situation.

Please do NOT tweet, post, or share any images of the scene or information about police activity. Terrorists do use social media.

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Still waiting on police press conference. That's not a complaint - take your time, guys!

In the meantime, reports are saying that Uber has surge pricing in Sydney now. A ride will cost you $100 minimum. Some people are bristling at this, and while I understand their complaints, I also understand how the free market works. The free market is like liquid eyeliner: it WORKS, even if its application can be uncomfortable at times.

====================================================

NSW Premier reiterates PM Abbott's call for people to go about their daily lives. Martin Place is still evacuated.

NSW Police Commissioner says that this is currently an isolated incident, with no other connected incidents in the city. Calls for a peaceful outcome.

Says this "would be consistent with a terrorist event," but will not give it that label. Also says "not ruling that out" at this point.

====================================================

Okay, team, there has been no new information in the past hour or so regarding the hostage situation. It's about time for The Bear to hibernate for a bit, but before then, I hope you'll join me in praying for all those affected by this awful event. I hope that, by the time we wake up tomorrow, this will all have been resolved peacefully.

====================================================
Update (10:34 AM Eastern):

It's over.
Five or six hostages escaped just a few minutes ago, and the police rushed in. Eyewitnesses reported gunshots and loud noises (possibly grenades).
The gunman is down.
Four hostages have been taken out of the building on stretchers.

====================================================
Overnight, we learned that the terrorist behind this is a radical Muslim named Man Haron Monis. Monis, originally from Iran, is known for sending hate mail to the families of deceased Australian soldiers. He has been charged with organizing a murder (November 2013), seven counts of sexual assault, and 40 other sexual offenses.

I don't want to "Coexist" with this...whatever this is.

He lists his occupation as a "spiritual healer."
===================================================

More on Man Haron Monis organizing a murder:

He got his current wife to stab his ex-wife to death and light her on fire. (Source)

How was this guy not in prison?

==================================================

Multiple Australian news outlets are reporting that the terrorist is dead.

#ICantBreathe

What little we know about Eric Garner paints a very American picture. He saw a market failure in his community - people who wanted to buy cigarettes, but couldn't afford a whole pack - and found a way to make money by serving that market. He figured out that if he sold cigarettes one or two at a time, people could afford them, and he could make a little money. This is a creative and entrepreneurial solution, implemented by a guy who was willing to do the work to improve his own financial situation.

Eric Garner was buying something at a lower price and selling it at a higher price. And because New York City has so criminalized this most basic act of commerce, Eric Garner is dead.

Big government created this situation. Faceless bureaucrats have created so much red tape and required so many permits for business owners that Garner could not run his basic business within the law. The average person who wants to make some money cannot possibly understand all the rules, let alone scrape together the money required to buy the permits and follow the laws. Liberalism creates barriers to legally entering the market. Start-ups are now only for the already wealthy.

 

Big government is unwieldy and uneven. the force used on Eric Garner is nowhere to be found at the US-Mexico border. Had such force been applied there - where a real crime is taking place - the job market would be better, especially for unskilled workers, and Eric Garner probably wouldn't have had to stand on a street corner hustling cigarettes.

This has created the #ICantBreathe movement, made up mostly of liberals who historically voted for increasingly larger government. Today they are in the street, calling for freedom from exactly what they once demanded: a web of rules to control other peoples lives.

Just before he was killed, Eric Garner told the police: "Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today...I'm minding my business, officer, I'm minding my business. Please just leave me alone." That is a plea for a very simple freedom. It is tragic for Eric Garner, and for all of us, that such simple freedom is completely disregarded by current government bureaucracies.

The government demanded in to power by the very people now marching, scares them. It spies on them. It limits their potential. It reads their email. It listens to thier phone calls. It confiscates their income-or worse-provides their income. It watches video of their protests and brings charges long after the act. They are outraged that they are caught in their own web. Government power was meant to "jail the bankers." Social demands were meant to "eat the rich." These people, who demanded uneven enforcement of the laws, are now livid that such uneven enforcement targeted the little guy first.

#ICantBreathe is starting to sound an awful lot like "Don't Tread On Me."

It is unlikely you would find much support for the Tea Party or for Libertarians at a march in New York City or in Berkeley. But the marchers should see a kindred spirit in those who want less government and more fresh air.  We are living in a watershed moment when historical political opposites now want the same thing: freedom.

Both groups understand that if you are involved in a government system, you are not being helped - you are being controlled. Welfare can trap. Cops can shoot. Regulations will restrict. Public schools can under-educate. Government does spy. And each does it unevenly. 

So now both the Democrats and Republicans have groups unhappy with their government. Republicans have the Tea Party demanding "Don't Tread on Me,"  and the traditional GOP leadership is under siege. The Democrats have the #ICantBreathe movement, made up of thousands of people who are questioning what they have been voting for, for all these years.

Both want a world where people like Eric Garner - people with yankee ingenuity - are free to buy and sell and profit. 

Big government values a few dollars in tax revenue less than it values a human life. 

Small government gets out of the way of entrepreneurs, and lets them thrive on their own.
Big government chokes them to death on a sidewalk.

Pantone's Color of the Year is...

Marsala.

Earthy, warm, and totally not what I expected.

I was hoping for a deep navy, a rich forest green, something Pantone hasn't done in a few years - especially after 2014's peppy "Radiant Orchid."

 

"Radiant Orchid" was EVERYWHERE this year. In the Sephora window displays, in clothing, in furniture and bedding, and so on. I even have a purple-ish eyeliner in this vivid hue (which I totally recommend, especially for green eyes!)

Naturally, I expect "Marsala" to be everywhere as well. I think it looks so much better as a metallic - the center of the image, with the shiny version, looks so much more appealing than the matte version in the bottom right corner. The glossy, even slightly glittered version takes this shade from a rusty "meh" to a warm bronze. 

Pantone has done us a big favor in these banner images - it's shown us that "Marsala" plays well with a pale blue and off-white cream. I bet we'll be seeing those color combos a lot next Spring and Summer."Marsala" seems like a pretty nail polish color, and an unexpected, fresh choice for decorating a house.

What do you think of 2015's Color of the Year?

When your prof reduces your 10-page assignment to a 6-pager...

Fierce.

Happy finals week, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Kennesaw's Mosque Non-troversy

The City Council of Kennesaw, Georgia, recently denied an application to put a place of religious worship in a local shopping center, because zoning laws require that the space in question be used specifically for retail.

There is no scandal in that sentence.

But because the place of worship in question is a mosque - and the petitioners, Muslims - the media machine is trying to chew this up and spit it out as a tale of backwards rednecks discriminating against The Religion of Peace (TM).

The Marietta Daily Journal quotes Kennesaw's zoning administrator, Darryl Simmons: "The Jiles Road center where the mosque is applying to go is classified as 'highway general business,' which means a restaurant, a pub, a dance hall or a nightclub can take up shop in the center." Funny thing about places of worship, though - they are not restaurants, pubs, dance halls, or nightclubs. So, they're not allowed under the zoning law.

ThinkProgress was all too eager to say that an application for a church to use shopping center space had been approved by the City Council last July. That is the point of having an application process: Some will be approved, some will be denied. 

The church situation was different for practical reasons: A church creates traffic once a week; a mosque would create traffic five times a day. The mosque would have been in a strip mall - and competing for parking spaces - with twenty other businesses; the church was adjacent to only one local business. Not to mention that the space used for the church is under a zoning category entirely different from the one which applies to the space the mosque is seeking.

The City Council is firmly within its rights to decide, after looking at all the evidence, that the mosque's proposed location would have a negative effect on the community. Again, the purpose of the City Council is to make decisions like this one! This is why you pay them your tax dolla dolla bills, y'all! 

The group advocating for the mosque did a parking study showing that the place has very little traffic. However, this study did not win over the City Council...maybe because it was conveniently conducted during the week of Thanksgiving, when everyone and their mother is out of town? Just a thought.

The pro-mosque group is claiming that, unless they get their mosque, it will be really inconvenient to go somewhere else to pray. But a quick search on Yelp turned up two other mosques with a 10-minute drive from the proposed location, not to mention the giant Al-Farooq Masjid in Atlanta.

The mosque's proponents and their lawyer are claiming that Kennesaw is infringing on their 1st Amendment rights. But nowhere in the 1st Amendment does it say that citizens have the right to declare a house of worship anywhere they choose - it just says that you have the right to practice your religion freely. You couldn't hold a church service in the middle of the road just because you feel like it. You couldn't sacrifice a goat in the middle of a Kohl's just because you walked in and decided "Yep, this my house of worship, right here next to the Keurigs."

Another sticking point of the pro-mosque group is the protestors at the City Council meeting. There were a whopping...ten of them, and they were outside the meeting room. And you know what else is in the 1st Amendment, y'all? The right to free speech and assembly, in places like, you know, City Council meetings.

Nothing about the City Council decision infringes upon these people's right to be Muslims. The Muslim community has the same rights as everyone else to conduct group worship where they please, within reasonable constraints set by zoning laws. The City Council is working as it should. The law is working as it should.

Sources:
Reuters
Marietta Daily Journal
Marietta Daily Journal
ThinkProgress