January 3rd open thread: Ace of Spades
Here is the open thread for Sunday, January 3rd. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we covered 9 stories, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
In addition to subscribing you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. But you will get more than that for I often post links to articles I probably will not be writing about so it is a great way to keep up with what is happening.
The Twitter widget in the sidebar is fully interactive. This widget updates my tweets in real time and allows you to respond to or retweet my tweets right from the blog. It also allows you to tweet me right from America’s Watchtower. How cool is that! If you do not have a Twitter account what better reason do you need to sign up for one!
Heavy metal music lost an icon last week when Lemmy Kilmister passed away at the age of 70, just two days after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Lemmy rocked right up until the end having played his last show about two weeks before his death, and although he preferred Motorhead to be labeled as a rock and roll band and not a heavy metal band take a listen to this song and decide how you would classify them.
Here is Motorhead performing “Ace of Spades” live in 2004:
You know I’m born to lose and gambling’s for fools
But that’s the way I like it, baby
I don’t wanna live for ever
And who could forget this scene from the movie Airheads?
It turns out Lemmy wasn’t God after all.
frui diem
As the regular readers of America’s Watchtower know, I am a supporter of Rand Paul because I believe he is the only candidate running for President who is a true Constitutionalist. So many conservatives and Republicans claim to be Constitutionalists that it has baffled me that the Senator from Kentucky has not fared better in the polls.
I honestly believed that the NSA’s data-mining program was a winning issue for Rand Paul and I thought it would actually convince the younger voters, who would be concerned with internet privacy, to actually consider casting a vote which would protect their Fourth Amendment right. But I was wrong and this article probably goes a long way in explaining why Rand Paul has not garnered the support I hoped he would.
According to a new poll most Americans support warrantless internet surveillance, there are just too many damn selective-Consitutionalists, here is more:
According to this article from the left-leaning Politico website more than 1,200 emails Hillary Clinton received on her personal email server during her time as Secretary of State have now been deemed classified.
Here is more:
More than 1,200 emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server during her time at the State Department have now been deemed classified, after the agency publicly released its eighth batch of the messages late Thursday.
The agency released roughly 5,500 more pages of emails from the private email account that Clinton exclusively used during her four years at Foggy Bottom, with an additional 275 messages now upgraded to classified, bringing the total number of retroactively classified emails that moved through Clinton’s unsecured server to 1,274.
While most of those were elevated to the “confidential” level, according to a State Department official, two in the most recent batch were upgraded to the “Secret” level, a more sensitive classification for issues that affect national security.
Democrats claim Trey Gowdy should step down from the Benghazi Committee because he endorsed Marco Rubio
Trey Gowdy has come under a little bit of fire in the conservative blogosphere for endorsing the Republican establishment’s Plan B candidate Marco Rubio. I was fairly hard on him myself and in this post I questioned whether or not this proves that his Benghazi hearing was nothing more than an extension of the Issa/Boehner dog and pony show. By this I mean that the Republican establishment is putting on what amounts to nothing more than a show trial in order to convince the base that they are trying to do something while in fact they are doing nothing and this is being done for political gain only.
Now some Democrats are using Trey Gowdy’s endorsement to claim that he should step down from the Benghazi Committee, here is more:
“We knew Trey Gowdy was abusing his power as chair of the Benghazi Committee to attack Hillary Clinton. What’s now clear is that he was doing so in order to help Marco Rubio run for president,” Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), former head of House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement to POLITICO. “His actions in Congress and on the campaign trail are nothing more than to further his partisan political agenda.”
“Trey Gowdy said this was an impartial investigation about the facts. … Now Gowdy is openly campaigning in the 2016 race, against the very person he is supposed to be judging impartially,” said David Brock of Correct the Record, a group created to defend Clinton. “Gowdy’s political interests are clear. He should step down from his chairmanship if he wishes to maintain what little credibility his supposedly nonpartisan investigation may have left.”
Happy New Year everybody
Tonight is New Year’s Eve and this is a time to both reflect on the last year and look forward to better things to come in the new year.
I can honestly say that I am looking forward to saying goodbye to 2015 and looking forward to starting 2016 anew, it was a tough year personally for me.
As you all know I suffered silently for many months after getting the news in May that I needed to have brain surgery before I finally sought the help that I needed. During my recovery my family lost the finest and most honest, caring, gentle, and giving person I have ever known when my step-father Bob passed away in November. I still miss him and will miss him forever.
However, I cannot say that 2015 was a total loss because in addition to having the best and most supportive family a man could ask for, there was one other bright spot, and it is a big one. My illness led me to find the God that I had been struggling to find for so many years. I struggled with my faith for so long and when I look back on 2015 I cannot help but think that God sent me a little wake up message.
Psalm 81:7 states: “in your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud.” I cannot adequately describe to you the inner turmoil I was going through during the months between May and September until I accepted Jesus into my heart. He put my mind at ease and on the morning of my surgery, a day in which I thought I would be in full panic mode, I was calm and collected as I repeated to myself Mark 5:36: don’t be afraid; just believe.
I believed and I was given a second chance, when I think back on it I am awestruck at how powerful it is! It is because of my new found faith that I have hope for the upcoming year: regardless of what happens politically this year (you didn’t think I would ignore politics, did you?) I now understand that all will be okay if I trust in the Lord because this life is but one step in the journey. I might get upset at what is happening in Washington but I will no longer let it get the best of me.
Well, enough about me, happy New Year everybody! Here is Dropkick Murphy’s singing “Auld Lang Syne.”
frui diem
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: ‘2016: Into the Fog’
Bill Whittle is out with his newest Afterburner video entitled “2016: Into the Fog.” In this video Mr. Whittle declines to make predictions about the new year because it is just too foggy out there, however he does have several questions. My favorite part is when he states America is no longer a nation of laws because if it were Hillary Clinton would not be running for office but instead running for Mexico. He, like myself, also has questions about Donald Trump. He does end on a positive note however.
It has been awhile since we have had an Afterburner video but it was worth the wait.
Enjoy:
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
The EPA claims holiday leftovers contribute to global warming
With more and more scientists beginning to throw cold water (pardon the pun) on the global warming agenda, and with more people realizing the deception NOAA and NASA have been perpetrating on the American people by changing historical temperature data and using compromised temperature stations, the global warming alarmists are getting, well, alarmed…
(And by the way NASA recently admitted that burning fossil fuels cools the planet, in case you missed it.)
In fact they are becoming so alarmed that they are looking at more and more ways to frighten the American people into supporting an agenda which is rapidly falling apart and the latest example of this is the EPA’s recent holiday warning. The agency is now claiming that holiday leftovers contribute to the destruction of the planet.
Here is more:
New poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat
Some of Donald Trump’s primary opponents, most notably Jeb Bush, have tried to make the claim that the billionaire businessman should not be the Republican nominee because there is no way he can beat Hillary Clinton in the general election, however a new Rasmussen poll shows otherwise. This latest poll has Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a virtual tie.
Here is more:
Presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain all tied up in a hypothetical matchup heading into 2016.
If the 2016 presidential election was held today, 37% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for Clinton, while 36% would vote for Trump. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that a sizable 22% would choose some other candidate, while five percent (5%) are undecided.
ZoNation: Good God! There is so much Evil in the World!
Last week I shared with you a ZoNation video in which Zo took on the atheists who question why there is so much evil in the world if God truly exists. He explained that God does not allow evil to exist but rather man, because of his separation from God through the gift of free will, is responsible for what is happening in the world today.
This week Zo has expanded on last week’s video in his new video, “Good God! There is so Much Evil in the World.” If you did not see the first video I recommend you check it out here before you watch this one.
Here is the latest ZoNation:
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
America's Watchtower 