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Combat isn’t black and white -- I know, I’ve lived it. When it was announced over the weekend by the New York Times that President Trump is preparing to pardon multiple veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been wrongfully convicted or charged with war crimes, a firestorm of opinions and accusations began to fly. Salon described President Trump’s decision to pardon veterans as taking “imperial overreach to a new level;” The Washington Post’s Editorial Board said “such pardons would send a message of disrespect for the laws of war;” and The New Yorker published an interview with Yale Philosophy Professor Scott Shapiro who argued that pardoning military veterans...

TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and we have Chinquapin Hunting by the Rocky Face Ramblers (2019). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Keith Payne was born at Ingham, Queensland, on 30 August 1933. He attended Ingham State School and afterwards became an apprentice cabinet-maker. During this time he also served with the 31st Australian Infantry Battalion in the Citizens’ Military Force. Seeking greater opportunities, Payne joined the Australian Regular Army in August 1951 and after his basic and initial employment training was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) in December 1951. Payne was transferred to the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) in July 1952 and later that month was sent to Japan as an infantry reinforcement. In...

The actor Jeff Daniels is now the toast of Broadway for his leading role in the Southern civil rights tale "To Kill a Mockingbird," adapted for the stage by leftist screed-writer Aaron Sorkin. Harper Lee's book has been recalibrated for the Trump era. Time magazine explains it's allegedly less about racism than about white liberals and black people assembled against a resentful Southern power structure. Daniels imagines the tale differently. He told Time that Attorney General William Barr's press conference on the Mueller report is somehow "exactly" what the play is about now. "It's about, where's goodness and decency? It's...

After a stroke felled Woodrow Wilson during his national tour to save his League of Nations, an old rival, Sen. Albert Fall, went to the White House to tell the president, "I have been praying for you, Sir." To which Wilson is said to have replied, "Which way, Senator?" Historians are in dispute as to whether Wilson actually said it. But the acid retort came to mind on hearing that Nancy Pelosi, hours after accusing President Donald Trump of "engaging in a cover-up," a felony, piously volunteered, "I pray for the president of the United States." For, by now, the...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's praying for the president. Well, so am I, the difference being that I really am, whereas she's cynically pretending to, to show her mock concern over his mental state. Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the rest of the congressional Democratic cabal have treated President Trump abominably, and it's getting old. Do they assume Americans have endless patience for their ongoing investigation charade? Consider the latest brouhaha between Trump and the Democratic leaders. They were scheduled to meet at the White House on a $2 trillion infrastructure plan when Pelosi decided to poison...

Prime minister to leave on 7 June, drawing three-year tenure to a close Theresa May has bowed to intense pressure from her own party and named 7 June as the day she will step aside as Conservative leader, drawing her turbulent three-year premiership to a close. Speaking in Downing Street, May said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as Britain’s second female prime minister. Her voice breaking, she said she would leave “with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love”. The prime minister...

Abortion supporters regularly perpetuate the lie that the pro-life movement only cares about children before they are born. But one tweet – and the viral response to it – is proving them wrong.On May 15, Sarah Tuttle-Singer, an editor for the Times of Israel, dared pro-lifers to tell her on Twitter how they “personally” have aided mothers in need. Her tweet reacted to the pro-life support of Alabama’s new law that considers abortion a felony offense in most cases.“Dear Pro-Life friends: what have you *personally* done to support lower-income single mothers?” she asked on Twitter. “I’ll wait.”But she didn’t need to wait...

Breaking News: The Twitter account of the "For Britain" Party in the UK suspeneded early Friday morning UK time. The page had linked to a video of the speech by For Britain leader Anne Marie Waters in support of Tommy Robinson.... A superseding federal indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange Thursday for violating the Espionage Act. 17 new charges involving receiving classified information and publishing it..... In Portland, Oregon US District Judge Anna J. Brown ordering one of the Oregon Standoff protesters of 2016 to get a federal ID and file a federal income tax form.... The US State Department...

The Houston Police Department has wrapped up its investigation into a deadly January drug bust and turned a final report over to the Harris County District Attorney's office, authorities said Wednesday. The development moves the case one step closer to possible criminal charges against one or more of the officers involved in the bungled raid, which left a Pecan Park couple dead and blossomed into a broader scandal amid questions about the narcotics team's handling of the bust. The Houston Police Department has completed the criminal investigation and the officer-involved shooting investigation regarding the incident at 7815 Harding Street on...

HOUSTON — Advocates demanded $100 million in damages Thursday on behalf of the family of a 20-year-old Guatemalan woman who was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent last year.

Students from the Bergen County Arts & Science Charter School -- a public school that rents space from Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Hackensack -- say they were forced to tone-down a mural with LGBTQ components. A rainbow heart was painted all red on a pillar inside the school. But it was interlocking male symbols, inspired by artist Keith Haring’s work, that drew the real protest from the landlords, the Archdiocese said. Kelly Bedrosian, 23, of Clifton, who was in the final graduating class at Holy Trinity, had her first job with the parish and taught Sunday school there,...

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The acting head of the Department of Homeland Security is disputing accusations that U.S. authorities are continuing to separate children from their families. "First of all, that is not happening. We're separating children in maybe one case a day out of the 3,000 families arriving," Kevin McAleenan said Thursday in an exclusive interview on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."... ...McAleenan also discussed his recent appearances on Capitol Hill asking for funding, including a hearing where Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., asked him about the effects of separating children from their families at the border. She closed by claiming that children in...

Today’s Cryptogram RXAM, IESJ IJ EW FWQKALIJWK XZ KBV NJEDJ. HBJAJ KBJAJ FQ BEKAJM, RJK IJ QXH RXPJ.---QK. ZAEWDFQ XZ EQQFQF No CG on Sunday as I’ll be in Naples, FL You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Tom Norton, a former village president in Kent County and member of the Army National Guard, is making a run for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District... ...another Republican — second-term state Rep. Jim Lower, of Greenville — also stepped up to challenge the congressman in the 2020 primary.

FULL TITLE: ‘Stay with me!’ Police's desperate battle to save Justine Damond after she was fatally shot by a US cop - as bodycam shows Mohamed Noor with his head in his hands moments after opening fire Footage of police desperately trying to save the life of Australian woman Justine Ruszczyk Damond after she was shot by a US cop has been released. Ms Damond was fatally shot by Mohamed Noor outside her home in Minneapolis that she shared with her American fiancé, Don, and his son on July 15, 2017. She had called 911 earlier that night to report...

...Although he avoided being a potential victim of the attack by just days, Pence has never forgotten it. Today, he is introducing legislation to help American terror victims and their families satisfy financial judgments against Iran in connection to the Beirut bombing. In the 36 years since the attack, families of the U.S. victims have won several court judgments authorizing the seizure of Iranian funds as restitution for the attack. Currently, these families seek to enforce these judgments against Clearstream S.A., a financial institution that launders money for the Iranian regime. According to Pence’s office, the bill amends the Iran...

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#StopTheBans Protester: Pro-Lifers Should Be Shot Violence towards people with an anti-abortion viewpoint has been on the rise for quite some time. In video captured yesterday at a #StopTheBans rally, a protester demonstrates exactly the mentality behind such viewpoints. He is at least consistent in his views that people should be allowed to murder other people. ***VIDEO IS LESS THAN 3 MINUTES LONG*WARNING LANGUAGE*