Friday, January 31, 2014

GOP’s “Immigration Principles” are the Same Old Mass Amnesty/Immigration Acceleration Scam the Gang of Eight Peddled: Sen. Jeff Sessions

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Sessions Remarks on

House Leaders’

“Immigration Principles”


Thursday, January 30, 2014


WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following remarks this evening after House GOP Leaders released a set of immigration ‘principles’ / talking points:

“Once again, we have the same recycled talking points—crafted, it would appear, with the help of the same consultants and special interests. Each time, the talking points are followed by legislation that fails to match the promises—legislation that, at bottom, ensures only the amnesty and not the enforcement. The leadership talking points look like an attempted repackaging of the tired Gang-of-Eight-style formula that has been proposed, rejected, and re-proposed for years. It is no surprise then that Senator Schumer and former Speaker Pelosi are so encouraged by these developments. But while Democrat leaders and interest groups appear satisfied, this document was not voted upon by the GOP conference and clearly does not represent the consensus of Republican members. Is it not time we pushed aside the stale proposals stitched together in concert with the same lobbyists, and asked what is in the best interests of the hardworking American citizen—and the nation?

In three fundamental respects, the House leaders’ emerging immigration proposal appears to resemble the Senate plan: it provides the initial grant of amnesty before enforcement; it would surge the already unprecedented level of legal lesser-skilled immigration to the U.S. that is reducing wages and increasing unemployment; and it would offer eventual citizenship to a large number of illegal immigrants and visa overstays.

Rank-and-file House Republicans are the last line of defense for working Americans. Now is the time for rank-and-file House Republicans to claim the leadership mantle and to say, firmly: our goal is to transition millions of struggling Americans from welfare and joblessness to work and rising wages. The President has not only dismantled enforcement but has delivered for a small group of special interests and CEOs by forcing through the Senate legislation that drastically surges the future flow of new immigrant workers competing against unemployed Americans. There is a reason why these increases are never mentioned in the slick TV ads and radio spots: the American people reject them. Americans earning under $30,000 prefer a reduction to an increase in current record immigration levels by a 3-1 margin. Republicans have the chance to be the one party giving voice to the real-world concerns of the everyday worker whose wages have been flat or falling for more than 10 years.

House leaders should support—not ignore—the immigration officers pleading for help. They should stand with—not against—unemployed American workers. And they should expose—not join—the President’s campaign to pass an immigration plan that will hollow out our shrinking middle class.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions: Obama Says He Wants to Help Alleviate Poverty, but His SOTU Program, Especially Mass Amnesty for Illegal Aliens and Immigration Acceleration, Would Do the Opposite

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

[Previously, at WEJB/NSU:

“Obama’s State of the Union Address: I Will Rule as a Dictator, Kicking Congress to the Curb, Illegally Amnesty Tens of Millions of Alien Invaders, and Improve Economic Mobility for Blacks, Hispanics, and Aliens, ALL AT WHITES’ EXPENSE (Transcript and Video).”]

Sessions Comments on

State of the Union

Address




Tuesday, January 28, 2014


WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement this evening regarding President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“President Obama says he is concerned about low wages and chronic unemployment for American workers. Yet his signature second-term legislative item is an immigration bill that would immediately and permanently double the flow of new immigrant workers competing against unemployed Americans—reducing wages, increasing unemployment, and further shrinking the middle class. Experts tell us that the current, very high immigration flow is already a factor in declining wages.

His other policy proposals—more government spending, public assistance, and wage controls—are a continued attempt to deal with the symptoms of an economy that is failing and stagnant, rather than with the causes. This agenda will not only do little for those it is designed to assist in the short run, but will actually do harm to many in the long run.

With a record 1 in 5 households on food stamps, and with 92 million Americans outside the work force, it is clear what we must do: a focused national effort to help transition millions of Americans off of welfare, off of unemployment, and into good-paying jobs. This must be done without adding to the debt. Such an effort would include more American energy; better trade and immigration enforcement; welfare and tax reform; a leaner, more productive government; the elimination of regulations that destroy jobs; and the growth and confidence created by balancing the federal budget.”

“Puppy Love”: Budweiser’s 2014 Super Bowl Ad (One-Minute Version)

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Obviously, a different team created this, than created the dull-as-dishwater Bud Light commercials in the previous post.

 

 

2014 Super Bowl Ads

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

The first four commercials, which run about 1:22, are all for Bud Light, and are all nothing. But then the Doritos ads start, which are funny. I guess one ad agency did the crappy Bud Light account, and a much better agency had the Doritos account.
 


 

Starving Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg Made $3.2B in One Day, but Desperately Needs Open Borders and Unlimited Cheap, Foreign Labor! That’s Why You Must Support “Immigration Reform”: Amnesty of Over 40 Million Illegal Aliens, and Immigration Acceleration! Let There be a Billion "Americans" by 2050!

 

Starving Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg
 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

“He has more wealth than anybody could ever hope to use in a lifetime,” but he’ll never be satisfied. He wants more, more, more, and yet, he can’t enjoy his wealth, unless he knows that he is simultaneously impoverishing hundreds of millions of people.

It looks like Zuckerberg is playing the philanthropy card, which gets him praise from the pro-plutocrat press.
 

Zuckerberg Gains

$3.2 Billion as

Facebook Soars on

Mobile

David De Jong
Jan 30, 2014 6:47 P.M. ET
Bloomberg Business News
59 Comments

Facebook Inc.’s three billionaire co-founders added $4.5 billion to their collective net worth yesterday after the world’s largest social-networking company closed at a record.

Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 29-year-old chief executive officer, gained $3.2 billion, elevating his fortune to $27.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He added $12.4 billion to his net worth in 2013.

“He has more wealth than anybody could ever hope to use in a lifetime,” James Cody, a managing director of estate, trust and philanthropy services at Harris myCFO Inc., said in a phone interview from his office in Palo Alto, California. “What he has done with his wealth so far speaks to the fact that he’ll do more good for charitable purposes.”

Facebook rose 14.1 percent to $61.08 in New York. The rise followed quarterly results in which revenue rose 63 percent to $2.59 billion, the Menlo Park, California-based company said in a statement Jan. 29. Analysts on average had projected sales of $2.35 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Zuckerberg, who donated $1 billion to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation last month, spent the last year adding more ways for advertisers to reach consumers as users spend more time on wireless devices. Mobile promotions accounted for $1.25 billion in the latest quarter, representing 53 percent of ad sales, up from 49 percent in the prior period.
 


Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, 29, gained $940 million. He's the youngest billionaire on Earth. (Photographer: Noah Berger/Bloomberg)


Harvard Billionaires

Dustin Moskovitz, the 29-year-old who started Facebook with Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes at Harvard University a decade ago, gained $940 million. He’s the youngest billionaire on Earth and is eight days younger than Zuckerberg.

Saverin, 31, gained $400 million, and controls a $3.3 billion fortune. The Brazil-born investor renounced his U.S. citizenship before the company’s 2012 initial public offering and resides in Singapore.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s 44-year-old chief operating officer, became one of the world’s youngest female billionaires last week. She owns about 12 million shares valued at $735 million and has collected more than $300 million selling shares since the company’s IPO.

“She can do the same thing as a young male executive could do,” Cody said. “It doesn’t differ in terms of gender. It is a question of what the individual’s priorities are in using that wealth and using it for the common good.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David De Jong in New York at ddejong3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Newcomb at pnewcomb2@bloomberg.net

Pat Buchanan: When the GOP Chose Wall Street Over Main Street, It Sealed Its Fate

Excerpted by Nicholas Stix

Immigration: How the GOP Lost Middle America
By Patrick J. Buchanan
January 30, 2014 at 6:17 p.m.
VDARE

Out of the Republican retreat on Maryland's Eastern shore comes word that the House leadership is raising the white flag of surrender on immigration.

The GOP will agree to halt the deportation of 12 million illegal aliens, and sign on to a blanket amnesty. It only asks that the 12 million not be put on a path to citizenship.

Sorry, but losers do not dictate terms. Rich Trumka of the AFL-CIO says amnesty is no longer enough. Illegal aliens must be put on a path to citizenship and given green cards to work—and join unions.

Rep. Paul Ryan and the Wall Street Journal are for throwing in the towel. Legalize them all and start them on the path to citizenship.

A full and final capitulation. Let's get it over with….

[Read the whole thing here.]

The Life of a Journalist: A Memoir in Two Tweets

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

• Jamie Satterfield ‏@jamiescoop 6h

3 weeks of grandma killing, lesbian menage a` trois killing and gangbanger shootout, my body is assaulting me with fatigue, sneezing fit

• Jamie Satterfield ‏@jamiescoop 6h

Still, it's way cooler than working at Mickey D's
 

Jamie Satterfield is a reporter at the Knoxville News Sentinel, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She has been covering crime for approximately… forever—she must have started working the crime beat when she was about eight years old—and describes herself as “the queen of crime writing.” She is the only journalist who has written more on the Knoxville Horror than I have.

“Free at Last, Free at Last, Thank God Almighty, I’m Free at Last!” The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

 
lfrqzclubsouth818177
 

By Nicholas Stix

Countenance blog, where I found this, has much more.

Prince George's County, MD: 7-Year-Old Black Girl Beaten Unconscious by at Least Four Boys in Thomas Claggett Elementary School in District Heights

 

The face of violent crime in America: Chicago Tribune Editor Gerould W. Kern
 




Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
Expanded at 1:44 a.m.

I thank the Prince George's County exile reader who sent me this article, writing,

District Heights is the 'hood.

How do I know this?

Because I attended high school in District Heights.
P.S.: According to Great Schools, Thomas Claggett Elementary School is 89 percent black, eight percent Hispanic, two percent white and 1 percent two or more races. Thus, the odds that the four attackers were black is over 90 percent. (That’s because there is a zero percent chance that any of them were white.)

Great Schools’ rating of Claggett was only one out of a possible ten.

Chaperoning note: At the bottom of the page, you will see a mug shot of a bizarre-looking white man, possibly a "juggalo," i.e., follower of the Insane Clown Posse white rap duo. If you hit the link to the story, you will see a link to an older, ordinary-looking white man. MSM sites engage in the practice of “chaperoning,” best known via Editor Gerould W. Kern at the Chicago Tribune. The simple idea behind chaperoning is to turn reality upside down, and thereby deceive readers into thinking that the face of violent crime is white. Thus, when a media outlet publishes a story about a violent crime committed by blacks, who indeed commit the majority of violent crimes in this country, despite being only 13.1 percent of the population, publish the mug shot of a white suspect from an unrelated arrest in a different jurisdiction, usually for a misdemeanor, and try to publish no picture of a black suspect.
 

PHOTOS: Girl Beaten Unconscious by Classmates

Girl, 7, beaten unconscious by classmates at Md. elementary school
By Maureen Umeh, @MaureenUmehTV
Posted: Jan 29, 2014 12:57 A.M. EST; updated: Jan 29, 2014 2:55 P.M. EST
FoxDC

DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. -
A 7-year-old girl at Thomas Claggett Elementary School in District Heights, Md., was beaten unconscious by at least four classmates Tuesday morning.

It happened during recess in the school’s gymnasium.

The little girl’s parents say their daughter was taken by ambulance to Children's Hospital in D.C. She was diagnosed with a mild concussion.

Her mother, Phersephone Holland, says she can't believe it happened at school.

"That's my baby. I bring her to school and that's the least thing I expect is a phone call informing me that my daughter is unconscious,” she says.

Holland says she is wondering where all the adults were during the attack. So is the victim's father, Rodney Smyers. He says this isn't the first time his daughter has been bullied and hit at school.

"One incident, she came home, she had a split in her lip," he says.

"It's an ongoing problem,” he adds.

Smyers says he has spoken to officials about it and thought something was being done.

FOX 5 has learned during the attack on Tuesday, there were about 75 kids crammed into the gymnasium and only about five teachers supervising. None of the teachers apparently saw the incident.

Smyers and Holland are concerned about what not only seems to be a lack of supervision, but the fact that school officials haven't disciplined the boys involved or informed other parents of what happened.

"Notice needs to be sent out because next time it could be a little pocket knife or a gun to school,” says Holland.

She says her daughter will likely not be coming back to Claggett Elementary School. She says both she and Smyers believe their daughter’s life at the school is in danger.

"It's serious,” she says. “A child was unconscious today. It could have been worse than that. She could have died."

Prince George’s County Public Schools spokesperson Max Pugh says they are investigating and that a letter about the incident will be sent home to parents on Wednesday.


Link to Slideshow:

Wednesday, January 29, 2014 2:55 PM EST
By Maureen Umeh, @MaureenUmehTV
bio

To start off the new year, here are the latest offenders that have made it to our FOX 5 mugshot photo gallery. These mugshots were supplied to us by law enforcement.

Guilty or not, these strange mug shots are worth a look. This information was supplied by law enforcement and describes recent arrests and charges. All defendants are presumed innocent.Guilty or not, these strange mug shots are worth a look. This information was supplied by law enforcement and describes recent arrests and charges. All defendants are presumed innocent.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Super Bowl Family Values

 
img23855650


Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Countenance Blog has the story.

General Mills, Saatchi & Saatchi, MSM Plan Racial Incident for Super Bowl

By Nicholas Stix
 

Cheerios 2014 Super Bowl Game Day Ad | "Gracie"
 


 

Last year, General Mills staged a racial incident, by airing a Cheerios ad featuring a fictional, interracial family—a black dad (of course), white mom, and mulatto daughter.

Some people complained via social media, andf so the MSM vilified them for “racism,” which meant “white racism,” since the MSM never vilifies blacks foe racism.

Never mind that blacks are the biggest racists in this country, followed closely by Hispanics, and them by Indians and Moslems.

Back during the 1990s, the New York Daily News ran a feature story in which black supremacist reporter Denene Millner, who is opposed to interracial relationships, interviewed black woman who shared her prejudice, and presented them in a positive light. Not only was the “reporter” not destroyed, she got a book deal!

That would be the same Daily News that seeks to drive educator Frank Borzilieri to suicide.

Most whites will be indifferent to the ad, but millions of blacks will be outraged. But when blacks voice their racist rage on social media, the MSM will depict them as white supremacists, vilify them, and General Mills will have yet another publicity bonanza, as the MSM depicts it as an “enlightened,” “progressive” company. An “enlightened,” “progressive” company, whose executives protect their kids form the diversity they promote.

 

Cheerios Brings Back

Interracial Family for Its

First Ever Super Bowl Ad





Jan. 28, 2014, 9:19 PM

Cheerios' first ever Super Bowl ad will star the same interracial family that sparked an online firestorm when the cereal brand included it in an ad this past May.

The ad, released Tuesday evening on Cheerios' YouTube channel, depicts a mixed-race girl eating breakfast with her father, who informs her that a brother is on the way:


The ad features the same black father and white mother from Cheerios' "Just Checking" ad, which received an outburst of hateful comments from those opposed to interracial marriage, and an equally forceful response from those happy to see such a family depicted in a major brand's ad campaign.

The new ad, entitled "Gracie," will run during the first unscheduled time out of Super Bowl XLVIII, which takes place this Sunday at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. The commercial was made by Saatchi & Saatchi New York, the ad agency that also made "Just Checking."

Ann Coulter: Stunning Phyllis Schlafly Report Details How Immigration is Wrecking the Country, and Killing Off the GOP

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

GOP CRAFTS PLAN TO WRECK THE COUNTRY, LOSE VOTERS

By Ann Coulter
January 29, 2014
Townhall.com

As House Republicans prepare to sell out the country on immigration this week, Phyllis Schlafly has produced a stunning report on how immigration is changing the country. The report is still embargoed, but someone slipped me a copy, and it's too important to wait.

Leave aside the harm cheap labor being dumped on the country does to the millions of unemployed Americans. What does it mean for the Republican Party?

Citing surveys from the Pew Research Center, the Pew Hispanic Center, Gallup, NBC News, Harris polling, the Annenberg Policy Center, Latino Decisions, the Center for Immigration Studies and the Hudson Institute, Schlafly's report overwhelmingly demonstrates that merely continuing our current immigration policies spells doom for the Republican Party.

Immigrants -- all immigrants -- have always been the bulwark of the Democratic Party. For one thing, recent arrivals tend to be poor and in need of government assistance. Also, they're coming from societies that are far more left-wing than our own. History shows that, rather than fleeing those policies, they bring their cultures with them. (Look at what New Yorkers did to Vermont.)

This is not a secret. For at least a century, there's never been a period when a majority of immigrants weren't Democrats.

At the current accelerated rate of immigration -- 1.1 million new immigrants every year -- Republicans will be a fringe party in about a decade.

Thanks to endless polling, we have a pretty good idea of what most immigrants believe.

According to a Harris poll, 81 percent of native-born citizens think the schools should teach students to be proud of being American. Only 50 percent of naturalized U.S. citizens do.

While 67 percent of native-born Americans believe our Constitution is a higher legal authority than international law, only 37 percent of naturalized citizens agree.

No wonder they vote 2-1 for the Democrats.

The two largest immigrant groups, Hispanics and Asians, have little in common economically, culturally or historically. But they both overwhelmingly support big government, Obamacare, affirmative action and gun control.

According the 2012 National Asian American Survey, as well as a Kaiser Foundation poll, only 40 percent of the general public holds a favorable opinion of Obamacare, 42 percent unfavorable. Meanwhile, 51 percent of Asians have a favorable opinion of Obamacare, 18 percent an unfavorable one. Even Koreans support Obamacare by 57 percent to 17 percent.

Overall, 69 percent of immigrants like Obamacare, according to a 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study.

That same survey showed that only 35 percent of native-born Americans support affirmative action, compared to 58 percent of immigrants, including -- amazingly -- 64 percent of Asians (suggesting they may not be as smart as everyone thinks).

Also surprising, a Pew Research Center poll of all Hispanics, immigrant and citizen alike, found that Hispanics take a dimmer view of capitalism than even people who describe themselves as "liberal Democrats." While 47 percent of self-described "liberal Democrats" hold a negative view of capitalism, 55 percent of Hispanics do.

Pew also found that only 27 percent of Hispanics support gun rights, compared to 57 percent of non-Hispanic whites. According to Latino Decisions, large majorities of Hispanics favor a national database of gun owners, limiting the capacity of magazines and a ban on semiautomatic weapons.

Seventy-five percent of Hispanic immigrants and 55 percent of Asian immigrants support bigger government -- also according to Pew. Even after three generations in America, Hispanics still support bigger government 55 percent to 36 percent, compared to the general public, which opposes bigger government 48 percent to 41 percent.

How are Republicans going to square that circle? It's not their position on amnesty that immigrants don't like; it's Republicans' support for small government, gun rights, patriotism, the Constitution and capitalism.

Reading these statistics, does anyone wonder why Democrats think vastly increasing immigration should be the nation's No. 1 priority?

It would be one thing if the people with these views already lived here. Republicans would have no right to say, "You can't vote." But why on Earth are they bringing in people sworn to their political destruction?

Republicans have no obligation to assist the Democrats as they change the country in a way that favors them electorally, particularly when it does great harm to the people already here.

Yes, it's great for the most powerful Americans to have lots of cheap, unskilled labor. Immigration definitely solves the rich's "servant problem."

(Approximately 5 million times a day, MSNBC expresses bewilderment that any Republicans oppose amnesty when it's supported by the Chamber of Commerce. Wow! So even people who profit by flooding the country with cheap labor are in favor of flooding the country with cheap labor!)

It's terrific for ethnic lobbyists whose political clout will skyrocket the more foreign-born Americans we have.

And it's fantastic for the Democrats, who are well on their way to a permanent majority, so they can completely destroy the last remnants of what was once known as "the land of the free."

The only ones opposed to our current immigration policies are the people.

But are they going to give John Boehner a job when he's no longer House speaker, as some big business lobbyist will?

Will they help Marco Rubio run for president on the claim that, as a Cuban, he can appeal to Hispanics? (Fat chance.)

Will they bundle contributions for Eric Cantor's re-election, as well-heeled donors will?

Will they be enough to re-elect Kevin McCarthy to Congress so he can keep his gold-plated government health insurance?

Will they be the ones writing Darrell Issa's flattering New York Times obituary?

Sorry, Americans. You lose.


The New York Daily News Continues Its Racist Vendetta Against Educator Frank Borzillieri; Tabloid Has Sworn to Hunt Him Forever, for Refusing to Bow Down at the Altar of “Diversity” and Martin Luther King Jr.

By Nicholas Stix

A tip ‘o the hate to my VDARE colleague, John Derbyshire.


Never let a “liberal” get away with telling you that he opposes the death penalty. These mooks enthusiastically support the death penalty, only not for black and Hispanic murderers. They support it for whites who contradict their lies about race, sex, and sexuality.

The New York Daily News has hunted acclaimed educator Frank Borzillieri for at least three years. The newspaper got him fired from his job as a Catholic school principal in the Bronx, and whitelisted from his profession. They when he went to the trouble of changing his name, the News hunted him down at his new name, and destroyed his life anew.

Who was it, who acclaimed him as an educator, you ask? His black and Hispanic Bronx students and their parents.

This is worse even than what Hans Jürgen Eysenck (1916-1997) went through. Eysenck was a German psychologist—he was born a Jew, but didn’t find out until many years later—who fled to France, and then England, where he became one of the world’s leading psychometricians, i.e., scholars of mental testing. IQ-denying Communists terrorized him so, that they even abused his children in “public” school (what we call private school). Ultimately, Eysenck had to change his children’s names, and move them to a different school. Once they had grown up, they reportedly changed their names back.

Please buy Frank Borzillieri’s books:

Don't Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies; and

Lynched: A Conservative's Life on a New York City School Board.
 

Bronx

Ex-Bronx principal fired from Pennsylvania Catholic school after identity revealed

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School’s former leader Frank Borzellieri — who considered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “anti-American” and warned against rising black and Hispanic populations — got the boot Friday after his new bosses at the Diocese of Erie, Pa., found out he lied on his application.



By Edgar Sandoval and Corky Siemaszko
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 2:21 P.M.
Updated: Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 5:44 PM

Comments (37)

While using the name Mario Bella, Frank Borzellieri, second person from right, was welcomed in December to the DuBois Area Catholic School in Pennsylvania in an official letter, far right, and by clerics who didn’t know of his bigotry-espousing past.

Frank Borzellieri (r.) – who used the name Mario Bella – is welcomed to Pennsylvania school in official letter (l.) and by clerics who didn’t know of his bigotry-espousing past, detailed in The News.

DuBois Area Catholic School via Facebook

While using the name Mario Bella, Frank Borzellieri, second person from right, was welcomed in December to the DuBois Area Catholic School in Pennsylvania in an official letter, far right, and by clerics who didn’t know of his bigotry-espousing past.

Related Stories

A Bronx principal who was canned after being exposed as a bigot has been fired from another Catholic school in Pennsylvania after he was unmasked as a liar.

Frank Borzellieri, the former head of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, got the boot Friday after his new bosses at the Diocese of Erie, Pa., found out who he really was.

“It came to our attention that it wasn't his real name, and the reason he was let go in New York was based on false information," Bishop Lawrence Persico told the Daily News. “He no longer works at the school, effective immediately.”

On July 31, 2011, the Daily News reported on racist Bronx principal Frank Borzellieri.
New York Daily News

On July 31, 2011, the Daily News reported on racist Bronx principal Frank Borzellieri.

Borzellieri, whose inflammatory writings were exposed by The News in 2011, used the name Mario Bella when he was hired in December to run the DuBois Area Catholic School, a kindergarten through 12th grade institution about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

RELATED: SCHOOL HIRES NON-WHITE SUPREMACIST PRINCIPAL

Persico said the diocese conducted state and FBI background checks on a “Mario Bella” and that he came up clean.


Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News

Frank Borzellieri tried to hide his past as a disgraced former Bronx principal by calling himself Mario Bella and getting a job running a school in Pennsylvania.

“He must have had an official name change,” Persico said. “The issue at hand here is there were some things missing in his employment history.”

On the school’s Facebook page, this Bella was described as having 20 years of experience in New York City Catholic schools, including a St. Bonaventure School that doesn’t appear to exist.

There is, however, a web page for a school with that name, but it is closed and directs all inquiries to a Michael Musante.



In his book Don't Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies, former Bronx principal Frank Borzellieri — who was recently fired from a similar job in Pennsylvania that he obtained under an assumed name — says that diversity is a weakness.

RELATED: PRINCIPAL FIRED OVER RACIST WRITINGS

That happens to be the name of the former principal of St. Barnabas High School in The Bronx who defended Borzellieri when the News exposed him.

Musante did not return calls made to the phone number on the site or to his home.



Later, hater: DuBois Area Catholic School in DuBois, Pa., has said goodbye to principal 'Mario Bella' — real name Frank Borzellieri, a former Bronx principal who had been fired in 2011 for his bigoted writings.

Borzellieri also could not be immediately reached for comment. Until his true identity was revealed, he had been living as Mario Bella in the rectory at the St. Catherine of Siena parish in Dubois.

“He has moved out,” parish secretary Mary Ann Nicholls said. “I have no idea where he is now.”

RELATED: 'RACIST' BRONX PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATED



The Diocese of Erie, Pa., which runs the DuBois Area Catholic School, had conducted background checks on new principal 'Mario Bella,' Bishop Lawrence Persico said. After the diocese learned Bella was really racist ex-Bronx principal Frank Borzellieri, the man was 'let go,' the bishop said.

Borzellieri remains a presence of [sic] the web. He even has a Wikipedia page on which he is described, among other things, as “an American author, professor of journalism, political columnist.”

The News reported that as a Queens school board member from 1993 to 2002, Borzellieri tried to ban from the school library what he considered "anti-American" literature, including a biography of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

And in 2004, Borzellieri wrote the book "Don't Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies," in which he declared "diversity is a weakness."


Michael Schwartz for New York Daily News

While he was principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in the Bronx, Frank Borzellieri's inflammatory remarks on race were revealed in 2011.

Borzellieri also claimed rising black and Hispanic populations in America would lead to the "New Dark Age."

RELATED: 'RACIST' PRINCIPAL GETS JEERS

He was also revealed to have frequently written for American Renaissance, a white supremacist [sic] publication.

Parents at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which is located in the Fordham section and where the students are mostly black and Hispanic, were shocked Borzellieri was teaching again in another Catholic school.

“You don’t want someone who is prejudiced educating our children,” said Jose Rodriguez, 45, who has three kids at the Bronx school. “I remember when we found out here, it shook the whole school. He wasn't someone with different ideas. He was really involved with racist organizations."

Paul Koulsar, 38, who also has three children at the school, said “you don’t need someone like that in a school.”

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Post a Comment »

Herbert Smulls, Black Who Murdered White Jeweler in Chesterfield and Thought He’d Also Killed Man’s Wife, is Executed

 
Stephen Honickman

Updated at 10:45 p.m.

BONNE TERRE • Herbert Smulls has been executed for fatally shooting a jeweler during a 1991 robbery in Chesterfield, marking the state's third lethal injection in as many months.

Smulls was executed late Wednesday night at the state prison in Bonne Terre and pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court had granted a temporary stay late Tuesday, which halted Smull's scheduled 12:01 a.m. execution. The high court eventually cleared all delays late Wednesday evening.

Smulls' attorneys had filed several appeals, mostly challenging the state's refusal to disclose the name of the compounding pharmacy that supplies its execution drug.

Smulls was convicted of killing Stephen Honickman during a robbery at his jewelry shop on July 27, 1991. Honickman's wife was badly injured but survived.

Earlier story:

BONNE TERRE • The U.S. Supreme Court has denied last-minute requests to halt the execution of a Missouri man convicted of killing a local jeweler two decades ago.

The high court issued a temporary stay less than three hours before Herbert Smulls was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

But the court lifted the stay without explanation late Wednesday afternoon, however a stay issued by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals remains in force, according to the Missouri Attorney General's Office.

Smulls' attorneys were challenging among other things the state's refusal to disclose where it obtained its lethal injection drug. The state says the name of the compounding pharmacy isn't public record, because it's considered part of the execution team.

The 56-year-old Smulls was sentenced to death for killing Stephen Honickman and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery of their suburban St. Louis store.

Smulls' execution was stayed Tuesday night with an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito. Smulls’ lawyers had made last-minute pleas to stop the execution, giving the high court time to investigate errors by lower courts. The lawyers had focused on an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling refusing to allow Smulls’ attorneys to learn more about a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that produces Missouri’s execution drug.

Smulls’ lawyers said the appeals court ruling made it impossible for them to investigate whether Missouri’s execution protocol could put him at risk violating his 8thAmendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

After the stay on Tuesday night, the state said it would reconvene the execution team at noon today. Smulls, 56, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a St. Louis County jeweler and badly injuring his wife during a 1991 robbery.

St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said talk about the drug is a smoke screen aimed at sparing the life of a cold-blooded killer. He noted that several courts have already ruled against Smulls, including the U.S. District Court in Kansas City and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Gov. Jay Nixon denied clemency Tuesday evening.

Smulls had already served prison time for robbery when, on July 27, 1991, he went to F&M Crown Jewels in Chesterfield and told the owners, Stephen and Florence Honickman, that he wanted to buy a diamond for his fiancee. He took 15-year-old Norman Brown with him.

Once in the shop, Smulls began shooting. The robbers took rings and watches, including those that Florence Honickman was wearing.

She was shot in the side and the arm, and feigned death while lying in a pool of her own blood but survived. Her 51-year-old husband died.

Police stopped Smulls 15 minutes later, and they found stolen jewelry and weapons in his car. Florence Honickman identified the assailants. Brown was convicted in 1993 of first-degree murder and other charges, and sentenced to life without parole. Smulls got the death penalty.

Missouri had used a three-drug execution process since 1989, until the drug makers stopped selling those drugs for executions. Missouri eventually switched late last year to pentobarbital. Pentobarbital was used to execute two Missouri inmates late last year, and neither showed visible signs of distress.

Compounding pharmacies custom-mix drugs for clients and are not subject to oversight by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, though they are regulated by states.

On Tuesday, Pilate said previous testimony from a prison official indicates that the state stores the drug at room temperatures, which could taint the drug and potentially cause it to lose its effectiveness.

Pilate also said she and her defense team used information obtained through open records requests and publicly available documents to determine that the compounding pharmacy is The Apothecary Shoppe, based in Tulsa, Okla. In a statement, The Apothecary Shoppe would neither confirm nor deny that it makes the Missouri execution drug.

Also on Tuesday, Missouri Senate Democratic Leader Jolie Justus introduced legislation that would create an 11-member commission responsible for setting the state's execution procedure. She said ongoing lawsuits and secrecy about the state's current lethal injection method should drive a change in protocol.

Jeremy Kohler of the Post-Dispatch and Associated Press writers Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla., and Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo., contributed to this report.

A Colossus Awakens: Top of the Page at Drudge is All Immigration!

 

Buchanan: Push for Immigration Reform Will Spell End of Boehner's Speakership... Audio...

Ryan plan includes citizenship for illegals...

Priebus: We need 'something big'...

Business execs pressure GOP to pass bill...

Sessions: Should not cater to the whims of CEOs...
 

Boehner Sombrero
 

COULTER: REPUBLICANS ON SUICIDE WATCH



Drudge, Limbaugh, and Immigration: Good News from Countenance Blog!

By Nicholas Stix

In the last few minutes, the two tweets below came from the Countenance Blogmeister.

• Countenance Blog ‏@countenanceblog 4m
Drudge is the conveyor belt for talk radio, which means talk radio will be all immigration all the time tomorrow.

• Countenance Blog ‏@countenanceblog 6m
Good freakin job, RINOs. The top of Drudge is now all about immigration.

The Talk: The Liberal Version (Classic Ramzpaul Video)

 


 

ramzpaul

A tip ‘o the hate to Bob_Lablaw.

What is the “Dark Enlightenment”?

By Nicholas Stix

Ex-Army Libertarian Nationalist has put together a very ambitious blog item trying to answer that question.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Ode to Jöy: A Detroit Symphony Orchestra IKEA Flashmob (Video)

 


 
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

I thank the friend who sent me this, who wrote,

If you watch closely [about 2:51], a black couple flees the scene. Beethoven should be broadcast everywhere!
I watched this lovely video with a melancholy smile. The DSO, which was once one of the world’s great symphony orchestras, in one of the world’s great cities, performs a “flash mob” in the suburbs, away from the blacks of Detroit, for appreciative whites and Asians, while the only blacks present flee. Meanwhile, the MSM have deliberately destroyed the meaning of “flash mob,” in order to give cover for ultraviolent, black supremacists. And soon, there won’t even be a DSO anymore.

That, in a microcosm, is what the rulers of Jim Snow have done, and continue to do, to all American institutions, to the English language, and of course, to the American people.

Obama’s State of the Union Address: I Will Rule as a Dictator, Kicking Congress to the Curb, Illegally Amnesty Tens of Millions of Alien Invaders, and Improve Economic Mobility for Blacks, Hispanics, and Aliens, ALL AT WHITES’ EXPENSE (Transcript and Video)

 

Illegal President Barack “Obama” gives his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 28, 2014.
(Forbes)
 



“Obama’s” introduction, by John Boehner (who is probably the legal president), is at about 18:40. The speech begins immediately thereafter.

Upload by the New York Times.


Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

CBS News

January 28, 2014, 9: 20 P.M.

Obama's 2014 State of the

Union address: Full text

As Prepared for Delivery –

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it, and did her part to lift America’s graduation rate to its highest level in more than three decades.

An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup, and did her part to add to the more than eight million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years.

An autoworker fine-tuned some of the best, most fuel-efficient cars in the world, and did his part to help America wean itself off foreign oil.

A farmer prepared for the spring after the strongest five-year stretch of farm exports in our history. A rural doctor gave a young child the first prescription to treat asthma that his mother could afford. A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired but dreaming big dreams for his son. And in tight-knit communities across America, fathers and mothers will tuck in their kids, put an arm around their spouse, remember fallen comrades, and give thanks for being home from a war that, after twelve long years, is finally coming to an end.

Tonight, this chamber speaks with one voice to the people we represent: it is you, our citizens, who make the state of our union strong.

Here are the results of your efforts: The lowest unemployment rate in over five years. A rebounding housing market. A manufacturing sector that’s adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. More oil produced at home than we buy from the rest of the world – the first time that’s happened in nearly twenty years. Our deficits – cut by more than half. And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world’s number one place to invest; America is.

That’s why I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America. After five years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better-positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth.

The question for everyone in this chamber, running through every decision we make this year, is whether we are going to help or hinder this progress. For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It’s an important debate – one that dates back to our very founding. But when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy – when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States – then we are not doing right by the American people.

As President, I’m committed to making Washington work better, and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here. I believe most of you are, too. Last month, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, this Congress finally produced a budget that undoes some of last year’s severe cuts to priorities like education. Nobody got everything they wanted, and we can still do more to invest in this country’s future while bringing down our deficit in a balanced way. But the budget compromise should leave us freer to focus on creating new jobs, not creating new crises.

In the coming months, let’s see where else we can make progress together. Let’s make this a year of action. That’s what most Americans want – for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations. And what I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all – the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.

Let’s face it: that belief has suffered some serious blows. Over more than three decades, even before the Great Recession hit, massive shifts in technology and global competition had eliminated a lot of good, middle-class jobs, and weakened the economic foundations that families depend on.

Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by – let alone get ahead. And too many still aren’t working at all.

Our job is to reverse these trends. It won’t happen right away, and we won’t agree on everything. But what I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class. Some require Congressional action, and I’m eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still – and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.

As usual, our First Lady sets a good example. Michelle’s Let’s Move partnership with schools, businesses, and local leaders has helped bring down childhood obesity rates for the first time in thirty years – an achievement that will improve lives and reduce health care costs for decades to come. The Joining Forces alliance that Michelle and Jill Biden launched has already encouraged employers to hire or train nearly 400,000 veterans and military spouses. Taking a page from that playbook, the White House just organized a College Opportunity Summit where already, 150 universities, businesses, and nonprofits have made concrete commitments to reduce inequality in access to higher education – and help every hardworking kid go to college and succeed when they get to campus. Across the country, we’re partnering with mayors, governors, and state legislatures on issues from homelessness to marriage equality.

The point is, there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments, and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams. That’s what drew our forebears here. It’s how the daughter of a factory worker is CEO of America’s largest automaker; how the son of a barkeeper is Speaker of the House; how the son of a single mom can be President of the greatest nation on Earth.

Opportunity is who we are. And the defining project of our generation is to restore that promise.

We know where to start: the best measure of opportunity is access to a good job. With the economy picking up speed, companies say they intend to hire more people this year. And over half of big manufacturers say they’re thinking of insourcing jobs from abroad.

So let’s make that decision easier for more companies. Both Democrats and Republicans have argued that our tax code is riddled with wasteful, complicated loopholes that punish businesses investing here, and reward companies that keep profits abroad. Let’s flip that equation. Let’s work together to close those loopholes, end those incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs here at home.

Moreover, we can take the money we save with this transition to tax reform to create jobs rebuilding our roads, upgrading our ports, unclogging our commutes – because in today’s global economy, first-class jobs gravitate to first-class infrastructure. We’ll need Congress to protect more than three million jobs by finishing transportation and waterways bills this summer. But I will act on my own to slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process for key projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible.

We also have the chance, right now, to beat other countries in the race for the next wave of high-tech manufacturing jobs. My administration has launched two hubs for high-tech manufacturing in Raleigh and Youngstown, where we’ve connected businesses to research universities that can help America lead the world in advanced technologies. Tonight, I’m announcing we’ll launch six more this year. Bipartisan bills in both houses could double the number of these hubs and the jobs they create. So get those bills to my desk and put more Americans back to work.

Let’s do more to help the entrepreneurs and small business owners who create most new jobs in America. Over the past five years, my administration has made more loans to small business owners than any other. And when ninety-eight percent of our exporters are small businesses, new trade partnerships with Europe and the Asia-Pacific will help them create more jobs. We need to work together on tools like bipartisan trade promotion authority to protect our workers, protect our environment, and open new markets to new goods stamped “Made in the USA.” China and Europe aren’t standing on the sidelines. Neither should we.

We know that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow. This is an edge America cannot surrender. Federally-funded research helped lead to the ideas and inventions behind Google and smartphones. That’s why Congress should undo the damage done by last year’s cuts to basic research so we can unleash the next great American discovery – whether it’s vaccines that stay ahead of drug-resistant bacteria, or paper-thin material that’s stronger than steel. And let’s pass a patent reform bill that allows our businesses to stay focused on innovation, not costly, needless litigation.

Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades.

One of the reasons why is natural gas – if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change. Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. I’ll cut red tape to help states get those factories built, and this Congress can help by putting people to work building fueling stations that shift more cars and trucks from foreign oil to American natural gas. My administration will keep working with the industry to sustain production and job growth while strengthening protection of our air, our water, and our communities. And while we’re at it, I’ll use my authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations.

It’s not just oil and natural gas production that’s booming; we’re becoming a global leader in solar, too. Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar; every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced. Let’s continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don’t need it, so that we can invest more in fuels of the future that do.

And even as we’ve increased energy production, we’ve partnered with businesses, builders, and local communities to reduce the energy we consume. When we rescued our automakers, for example, we worked with them to set higher fuel efficiency standards for our cars. In the coming months, I’ll build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks, so we can keep driving down oil imports and what we pay at the pump.

Taken together, our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet. Over the past eight years, the United States has reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth. But we have to act with more urgency – because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought, and coastal cities dealing with floods. That’s why I directed my administration to work with states, utilities, and others to set new standards on the amount of carbon pollution our power plants are allowed to dump into the air. The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did.

Finally, if we are serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, and law enforcement – and fix our broken immigration system. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: when people come here to fulfill their dreams – to study, invent, and contribute to our culture – they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let’s get immigration reform done this year.

The ideas I’ve outlined so far can speed up growth and create more jobs. But in this rapidly-changing economy, we have to make sure that every American has the skills to fill those jobs.

The good news is, we know how to do it. Two years ago, as the auto industry came roaring back, Andra Rush opened up a manufacturing firm in Detroit. She knew that Ford needed parts for the best-selling truck in America, and she knew how to make them. She just needed the workforce. So she dialed up what we call an American Job Center – places where folks can walk in to get the help or training they need to find a new job, or better job. She was flooded with new workers. And today, Detroit Manufacturing Systems has more than 700 employees.

What Andra and her employees experienced is how it should be for every employer – and every job seeker. So tonight, I’ve asked Vice President Biden to lead an across-the-board reform of America’s training programs to make sure they have one mission: train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now. That means more on-the-job training, and more apprenticeships that set a young worker on an upward trajectory for life. It means connecting companies to community colleges that can help design training to fill their specific needs. And if Congress wants to help, you can concentrate funding on proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.

I’m also convinced we can help Americans return to the workforce faster by reforming unemployment insurance so that it’s more effective in today’s economy. But first, this Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people.

Let me tell you why.

Misty DeMars is a mother of two young boys. She’d been steadily employed since she was a teenager. She put herself through college. She’d never collected unemployment benefits. In May, she and her husband used their life savings to buy their first home. A week later, budget cuts claimed the job she loved. Last month, when their unemployment insurance was cut off, she sat down and wrote me a letter – the kind I get every day. “We are the face of the unemployment crisis,” she wrote. “I am not dependent on the government…Our country depends on people like us who build careers, contribute to society…care about our neighbors…I am confident that in time I will find a job…I will pay my taxes, and we will raise our children in their own home in the community we love. Please give us this chance.”

Congress, give these hardworking, responsible Americans that chance. They need our help, but more important, this country needs them in the game. That’s why I’ve been asking CEOs to give more long-term unemployed workers a fair shot at that new job and new chance to support their families; this week, many will come to the White House to make that commitment real. Tonight, I ask every business leader in America to join us and to do the same – because we are stronger when America fields a full team.

Of course, it’s not enough to train today’s workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow’s workforce, by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education.

Estiven Rodriguez couldn’t speak a word of English when he moved to New York City at age nine. But last month, thanks to the support of great teachers and an innovative tutoring program, he led a march of his classmates – through a crowd of cheering parents and neighbors – from their high school to the post office, where they mailed off their college applications. And this son of a factory worker just found out he’s going to college this fall.

Five years ago, we set out to change the odds for all our kids. We worked with lenders to reform student loans, and today, more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. Race to the Top, with the help of governors from both parties, has helped states raise expectations and performance. Teachers and principals in schools from Tennessee to Washington, D.C. are making big strides in preparing students with skills for the new economy – problem solving, critical thinking, science, technology, engineering, and math. Some of this change is hard. It requires everything from more challenging curriculums and more demanding parents to better support for teachers and new ways to measure how well our kids think, not how well they can fill in a bubble on a test. But it’s worth it – and it’s working.

The problem is we’re still not reaching enough kids, and we’re not reaching them in time. That has to change.

Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child’s life is high-quality early education. Last year, I asked this Congress to help states make high-quality pre-K available to every four year-old. As a parent as well as a President, I repeat that request tonight. But in the meantime, thirty states have raised pre-k funding on their own. They know we can’t wait. So just as we worked with states to reform our schools, this year, we’ll invest in new partnerships with states and communities across the country in a race to the top for our youngest children. And as Congress decides what it’s going to do, I’m going to pull together a coalition of elected officials, business leaders, and philanthropists willing to help more kids access the high-quality pre-K they need.

Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. Tonight, I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we’ve got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and twenty million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit.

We’re working to redesign high schools and partner them with colleges and employers that offer the real-world education and hands-on training that can lead directly to a job and career. We’re shaking up our system of higher education to give parents more information, and colleges more incentives to offer better value, so that no middle-class kid is priced out of a college education. We’re offering millions the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments to ten percent of their income, and I want to work with Congress to see how we can help even more Americans who feel trapped by student loan debt. And I’m reaching out to some of America’s leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing tough odds stay on track and reach their full potential.

The bottom line is, Michelle and I want every child to have the same chance this country gave us. But we know our opportunity agenda won’t be complete – and too many young people entering the workforce today will see the American Dream as an empty promise – unless we do more to make sure our economy honors the dignity of work, and hard work pays off for every single American.

Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. A woman deserves equal pay for equal work. She deserves to have a baby without sacrificing her job. A mother deserves a day off to care for a sick child or sick parent without running into hardship – and you know what, a father does, too. It’s time to do away with workplace policies that belong in a “Mad Men” episode. This year, let’s all come together – Congress, the White House, and businesses from Wall Street to Main Street – to give every woman the opportunity she deserves. Because I firmly believe when women succeed, America succeeds.

Now, women hold a majority of lower-wage jobs – but they’re not the only ones stifled by stagnant wages. Americans understand that some people will earn more than others, and we don’t resent those who, by virtue of their efforts, achieve incredible success. But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty.

In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs. Many businesses have done it on their own. Nick Chute is here tonight with his boss, John Soranno. John’s an owner of Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, and Nick helps make the dough. Only now he makes more of it: John just gave his employees a raise, to ten bucks an hour – a decision that eased their financial stress and boosted their morale.

Tonight, I ask more of America’s business leaders to follow John’s lead and do what you can to raise your employees’ wages. To every mayor, governor, and state legislator in America, I say, you don’t have to wait for Congress to act; Americans will support you if you take this on. And as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example. Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too. In the coming weeks, I will issue an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour – because if you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.

Of course, to reach millions more, Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn’t involve any new bureaucratic program. So join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise.

There are other steps we can take to help families make ends meet, and few are more effective at reducing inequality and helping families pull themselves up through hard work than the Earned Income Tax Credit. Right now, it helps about half of all parents at some point. But I agree with Republicans like Senator Rubio that it doesn’t do enough for single workers who don’t have kids. So let’s work together to strengthen the credit, reward work, and help more Americans get ahead.

Let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers don’t have a pension. A Social Security check often isn’t enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn’t help folks who don’t have 401ks. That’s why, tomorrow, I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: MyRA. It’s a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. And if this Congress wants to help, work with me to fix an upside-down tax code that gives big tax breaks to help the wealthy save, but does little to nothing for middle-class Americans. Offer every American access to an automatic IRA on the job, so they can save at work just like everyone in this chamber can. And since the most important investment many families make is their home, send me legislation that protects taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again, and keeps the dream of homeownership alive for future generations of Americans.

One last point on financial security. For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. And in case you haven’t heard, we’re in the process of fixing that.

A pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like Amanda Shelley, a physician assistant and single mom from Arizona, couldn’t get health insurance. But on January 1st, she got covered. On January 3rd, she felt a sharp pain. On January 6th, she had emergency surgery. Just one week earlier, Amanda said, that surgery would’ve meant bankruptcy.

That’s what health insurance reform is all about – the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don’t have to lose everything.

Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than three million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents’ plans.

More than nine million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.

And here’s another number: zero. Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma, back pain, or cancer. No woman can ever be charged more just because she’s a woman. And we did all this while adding years to Medicare’s finances, keeping Medicare premiums flat, and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors.

Now, I don’t expect to convince my Republican friends on the merits of this law. But I know that the American people aren’t interested in refighting old battles. So again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, and increase choice – tell America what you’d do differently. Let’s see if the numbers add up. But let’s not have another forty-something votes to repeal a law that’s already helping millions of Americans like Amanda. The first forty were plenty. We got it. We all owe it to the American people to say what we’re for, not just what we’re against.

And if you want to know the real impact this law is having, just talk to Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky, who’s here tonight. Kentucky’s not the most liberal part of the country, but he’s like a man possessed when it comes to covering his commonwealth’s families. “They are our friends and neighbors,” he said. “They are people we shop and go to church with…farmers out on the tractors…grocery clerks…they are people who go to work every morning praying they don’t get sick. No one deserves to live that way.”

Steve’s right. That’s why, tonight, I ask every American who knows someone without health insurance to help them get covered by March 31st. Moms, get on your kids to sign up. Kids, call your mom and walk her through the application. It will give her some peace of mind – plus, she’ll appreciate hearing from you.

After all, that’s the spirit that has always moved this nation forward. It’s the spirit of citizenship – the recognition that through hard work and responsibility, we can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family to make sure the next generation can pursue its dreams as well.

Citizenship means standing up for everyone’s right to vote. Last year, part of the Voting Rights Act was weakened. But conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are working together to strengthen it; and the bipartisan commission I appointed last year has offered reforms so that no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. Let’s support these efforts. It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy.

Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say “we are not afraid,” and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.

Citizenship demands a sense of common cause; participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve to our communities. And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Tonight, because of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the United States is more secure. When I took office, nearly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over.

After 2014, we will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future. If the Afghan government signs a security agreement that we have negotiated, a small force of Americans could remain in Afghanistan with NATO allies to carry out two narrow missions: training and assisting Afghan forces, and counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al Qaeda. For while our relationship with Afghanistan will change, one thing will not: our resolve that terrorists do not launch attacks against our country.

The fact is, that danger remains. While we have put al Qaeda’s core leadership on a path to defeat, the threat has evolved, as al Qaeda affiliates and other extremists take root in different parts of the world. In Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable these networks. In Syria, we’ll support the opposition that rejects the agenda of terrorist networks. Here at home, we’ll keep strengthening our defenses, and combat new threats like cyberattacks. And as we reform our defense budget, we have to keep faith with our men and women in uniform, and invest in the capabilities they need to succeed in future missions.

We have to remain vigilant. But I strongly believe our leadership and our security cannot depend on our military alone. As Commander-in-Chief, I have used force when needed to protect the American people, and I will never hesitate to do so as long as I hold this office. But I will not send our troops into harm’s way unless it’s truly necessary; nor will I allow our sons and daughters to be mired in open-ended conflicts. We must fight the battles that need to be fought, not those that terrorists prefer from us – large-scale deployments that drain our strength and may ultimately feed extremism.

So, even as we aggressively pursue terrorist networks – through more targeted efforts and by building the capacity of our foreign partners – America must move off a permanent war footing. That’s why I’ve imposed prudent limits on the use of drones – for we will not be safer if people abroad believe we strike within their countries without regard for the consequence. That’s why, working with this Congress, I will reform our surveillance programs – because the vital work of our intelligence community depends on public confidence, here and abroad, that the privacy of ordinary people is not being violated. And with the Afghan war ending, this needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay – because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action, but by remaining true to our Constitutional ideals, and setting an example for the rest of the world.

You see, in a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy. American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands, and allowed us to reduce our own reliance on Cold War stockpiles. American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria’s chemical weapons are being eliminated, and we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the Syrian people deserve – a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear. As we speak, American diplomacy is supporting Israelis and Palestinians as they engage in difficult but necessary talks to end the conflict there; to achieve dignity and an independent state for Palestinians, and lasting peace and security for the State of Israel – a Jewish state that knows America will always be at their side.

And it is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran’s nuclear program – and rolled parts of that program back – for the very first time in a decade. As we gather here tonight, Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium. It is not installing advanced centrifuges. Unprecedented inspections help the world verify, every day, that Iran is not building a bomb. And with our allies and partners, we’re engaged in negotiations to see if we can peacefully achieve a goal we all share: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

These negotiations will be difficult. They may not succeed. We are clear-eyed about Iran’s support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which threaten our allies; and the mistrust between our nations cannot be wished away. But these negotiations do not rely on trust; any long-term deal we agree to must be based on verifiable action that convinces us and the international community that Iran is not building a nuclear bomb. If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.

The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible. But let me be clear: if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it. For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed. If Iran’s leaders do not seize this opportunity, then I will be the first to call for more sanctions, and stand ready to exercise all options to make sure Iran does not build a nuclear weapon. But if Iran’s leaders do seize the chance, then Iran could take an important step to rejoin the community of nations, and we will have resolved one of the leading security challenges of our time without the risks of war.

Finally, let’s remember that our leadership is defined not just by our defense against threats, but by the enormous opportunities to do good and promote understanding around the globe – to forge greater cooperation, to expand new markets, to free people from fear and want. And no one is better positioned to take advantage of those opportunities than America.

Our alliance with Europe remains the strongest the world has ever known. From Tunisia to Burma, we’re supporting those who are willing to do the hard work of building democracy. In Ukraine, we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and peacefully, and have a say in their country’s future. Across Africa, we’re bringing together businesses and governments to double access to electricity and help end extreme poverty. In the Americas, we are building new ties of commerce, but we’re also expanding cultural and educational exchanges among young people. And we will continue to focus on the Asia-Pacific, where we support our allies, shape a future of greater security and prosperity, and extend a hand to those devastated by disaster – as we did in the Philippines, when our Marines and civilians rushed to aid those battered by a typhoon, and were greeted with words like, “We will never forget your kindness” and “God bless America!”

We do these things because they help promote our long-term security. And we do them because we believe in the inherent dignity and equality of every human being, regardless of race or religion, creed or sexual orientation. And next week, the world will see one expression of that commitment – when Team USA marches the red, white, and blue into the Olympic Stadium – and brings home the gold.

My fellow Americans, no other country in the world does what we do. On every issue, the world turns to us, not simply because of the size of our economy or our military might – but because of the ideals we stand for, and the burdens we bear to advance them.

No one knows this better than those who serve in uniform. As this time of war draws to a close, a new generation of heroes returns to civilian life. We’ll keep slashing that backlog so our veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned, and our wounded warriors receive the health care – including the mental health care – that they need. We’ll keep working to help all our veterans translate their skills and leadership into jobs here at home. And we all continue to join forces to honor and support our remarkable military families.

Let me tell you about one of those families I’ve come to know.

I first met Cory Remsburg, a proud Army Ranger, at Omaha Beach on the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Along with some of his fellow Rangers, he walked me through the program – a strong, impressive young man, with an easy manner, sharp as a tack. We joked around, and took pictures, and I told him to stay in touch.

A few months later, on his tenth deployment, Cory was nearly killed by a massive roadside bomb in Afghanistan. His comrades found him in a canal, face down, underwater, shrapnel in his brain.

For months, he lay in a coma. The next time I met him, in the hospital, he couldn’t speak; he could barely move. Over the years, he’s endured dozens of surgeries and procedures, and hours of grueling rehab every day.

Even now, Cory is still blind in one eye. He still struggles on his left side. But slowly, steadily, with the support of caregivers like his dad Craig, and the community around him, Cory has grown stronger. Day by day, he’s learned to speak again and stand again and walk again – and he’s working toward the day when he can serve his country again.

“My recovery has not been easy,” he says. “Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy.”

Cory is here tonight. And like the Army he loves, like the America he serves, Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg never gives up, and he does not quit.

My fellow Americans, men and women like Cory remind us that America has never come easy. Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged. But for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress – to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice, and fairness, and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen. The America we want for our kids – a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us – none of it is easy. But if we work together; if we summon what is best in us, with our feet planted firmly in today but our eyes cast towards tomorrow – I know it’s within our reach.

Believe it.

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.