Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Which Foreign Leader do you admire?

Gary Johnson Struggles To Name A Foreign Leader He Admires The Libertarian presidential nominee said he was having an “Aleppo moment.”  09/28/2016 08:38 pm ET Mollie Reilly   Deputy Politics Editor, The Huffington Post Bloomberg via Getty Images C’mon, Gary. Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Wednesday again stumbled over a straightforward question on foreign policy, this time struggling to name a single foreign leader he admires. During an MSNBC town hall, moderator Chris Matthews asked the former New Mexico governor: “Name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to. Anybody.” Johnson appeared stumped by the question, but running mate Bill Weld jumped in with an answer of his own. “Mine was Shimon Peres,” said Weld. Peres, the former president of Israel, died Tuesday. “I’m talking about living,” replied Matthews. “You gotta do this. Anywhere. Any continent. Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there, Asia, South America, Africa, name a foreign leader that you respect.” “I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment,” Johnson said, a reference to his failure to recognize the name of the northern Syrian city earlier this month. Johnson finally did land on a leader he admires ― but couldn’t remember his name. “The former president of Mexico,” he said. “I’m having a brain freeze.” With a little help from Weld, Johnson eventually got the name he was looking for ― Vicente Fox. “Fox, he was terrific,” Johnson said. After his Aleppo mishap, Johnson predicted he would flub up again before the campaign ends, but argued such mistakes don’t reflect his leadership abilities. “I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign,” he said in a statement. “As Governor, there were many things I didn’t know off the top of my head. But I succeeded by surrounding myself with the right people, getting to the bottom of important issues, and making principled decisions. It worked.” Kenneth Stepp can't think of any foreign leader that I admire. I guess I'm in the same boat ae Gary Johnson. Who should we admire in the overseas territory? Maybe the readers should email in some names of foreign leaders that we should admire. Kenneth Stepp.

UN Panel: U.S. Should Pay Black People Reparations Due To History Of 'Racial Terrorism'

UN Panel: U.S. Should Pay Black People Reparations Due To History Of 'Racial Terrorism' Matt Vespa United Nations UN Panel: U.S. Should Pay Black People Reparations Due To History Of 'Racial Terrorism' Matt Vespa Matt Vespa | Posted: Sep 28, 2016 1:30 PM  UN Panel: U.S. Should Pay Black People Reparations Due To History Of 'Racial Terrorism' "A United Nations-affiliated panel has said that the United States owes reparations to its black population for a history of “racial terrorism.” As Ishaan Tharoor wrote for The Washington Post, the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent came to these nonbinding conclusions in their report released from Geneva, with reparations coming in the form of financial payments, debt cancellation, increased opportunities in education, health initiatives, and a formal apology. Oh, and they also touched upon the string of police-involved shooting deaths as well: "The group of experts, which includes leading human rights lawyers from around the world, presented its findings to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, pointing to the continuing link between present injustices and the dark chapters of American history. "In particular, the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the United States remains a serious challenge, as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent," the report stated. "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching." "Citing the past year's spate of police officers killing unarmed African American men, the panel warned against "impunity for state violence," which has created, in its words, a "human rights crisis" that "must be addressed as a matter of urgency." "Despite substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domination of one group over another, continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today," it said in a statement. "The dangerous ideology of white supremacy inhibits social cohesion amongst the US population." "Are these experts or a bunch of overly educated urban-based elites with doctorates in social justice warrior studies? White supremacy is the glue that keeps our nation together? That’s unadulterated crap. Our values, our Constitution, our belief in the defined system of rights that we felt so deeply as to rebel against to British rule is what keeps us together and makes us Americans—or at least that’s what I thought. Our country was founded on these unalienable rights, not around kings or ethnic groups as other nations in the past. Second, and most importantly, if this is some ridiculous way to foster a racial healing, it’s not going to work. In fact, most likely it will exacerbate the already abysmal race relations we have now. We’re blaming a racial group who had zero stakes in slavery. No white person today is to blame for slavery or racial terrorism. No white person today is responsible for the past actions of their racial group; people they didn’t event know. And have we forgotten that the abolitionist movement was comprised of…religious, church-going white folk? Who soaked the battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam, and other battlefield of the American Civil War with blood to end slavery? Oh, that was mostly white people too. It remains our bloodiest war our country has ever fought, with over 600,000 dead, but it was one where the heart and soul of our country was on the line. In the end, slavery was forever abolished. "Yes, more works needs to be done. Yes, Jim Crow, the lynchings, and other forms of discrimination today are not pleasant, but we, ourselves, are destined to fix these problems, not some UN board in Geneva. This is just a mass exercise of guilt by association that will not mend any fences or heal wounds. It will merely reopen them, with both groups being even further apart. Blessedly, these recommendations, like most UN actions, lack teeth. They’re non-binding—and they should be ignored. At the same time, I’m sure more than a few social justice warriors will cite this report in various articles and blog posts. "What is it with the UN and their inability to realistically execute the function of conflict resolution? They’re utter failures at it. Kenneth Stepp has patiently followed the antics of the United Nations. Sure, my great great grandfather Fadilla McRuel Stepp in the Civil War wore the Gray uniform as he was a member of a North Carolina regiment and North Carolina considered itself to be a Southern State, but I don't feel that I owe anyone any money for that. Sure, my great great granduncle Silas Stepp wore the Gray Uniform in America's Civil War, was imprisoned as a prisoner of war with his brother Fadilla McRuel Stepp in the Federal Prisoner of War Camp in Elmira, New York and he died there, but I don't believe that I owe anyone any money for that. The United Nations and the advocates of political correctness are trying the patience of ordinary Americans. Why should we vote to fund the United Nations? What has the United Nations accomplished in the past seventy years? How has the United Nations benefited the ordinary Americans? I'm not advocating a particular policy toward the United Nations, but I am merely requesting answers to these questions. Kenneth Stepp