Category: Politics

Republican Fascism And Raaaaacism

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by Smitty

Yet another superb Bill Whittle outing:

Now that you have a clear idea of the historical basis for ‘fascism’, here goes Larry Johnson:

The core of conservatism is the belief in the inalienable rights of the individual and the limits imposed on Federal power in order to protect and preserve those rights. But none of the Republicans, with the exception of Ron Paul, believe in the limited power of government. To the contrary.
All willingly embrace the claim, first by the Bush Administration and now by Obama, that the Federal Government can declare a person a “terrorist” or a “terrorist supporter” and hold that person indefinitely without recourse to a court. If you are younger than 38 years old you probably do not remember much of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and Communist China. But there was a time when the United States resolutely opposed and fought against those authoritarian regimes. Yes, fascists and communists. Those governments insisted they could declare someone an enemy of the state and, by virtue of their declaration, do whatever they wanted to that person.

Johnson’s theory seems to be that the United States Constitution was somehow ratified everywhere, and that the rights of our citizens apply universally. The nearest I can come to agreeing with Johnson is saying that, yeah, the notion of the Laws of War is firmly rooted somewhere in the past, probably in the roaring ’20s, before they got around to outlawing war in the early ’30s, and proceeded to gear up for WWII.

Yes, one can largely agree with the complaints about Senate Bill 1867, especially where it seems to blow by posse comitatus. Or at least the some Congressmen can explain the missing nuance here:

Racism was another topic in Whittle’s essay. On that topic, Stogie over at Saberpoint actually has links to Ron Paul’s (in)famous newsletters, which end up being kind of ho-hum, for a bit of light perusal:

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am not a supporter of Ron Paul. Paul is a paleolibertarian, and as such, holds foreign policy views that seem similar to those on the far left. For that reason, I cannot support him as a candidate. However, truth is truth and fair is fair. Ron Paul’s views on race are often tactless and unhelpful, but not necessarily wrong.

Rick Santorum Iowa Schedule Dec. 16-20

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Press release from Santorum campaign HQ:

***MEDIA ADVISORY***
SANTORUM PUBLIC SCHEDULE
DECEMBER 16 – 20

Urbandale, IA – Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum will continue his campaign swing through to Iowa. Open press events are noted below, all times are local.

Friday, December 16:

7:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will be the featured guest of a house party hosted by The Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition at the home of David & Linda Holub in Sioux City, IA.
Location: Home of David & Linda Holub
1218 46th Street, Sioux City, IA

Saturday, December 17:

8:00am CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Onawa, IA.
Location: Onawa Public Library
707 Iowa Avenue, Onawa, IA

1:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Carroll, IA.
Location: Pizza Ranch
425 West Highway 30, Carroll, IA

3:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Denison, IA.
Location: Cronk’s Café
812 4th Avenue South, Denison, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will be a featured guest at the Harrison County, IA Republican Christmas Party in Logan, IA.
Location: Home of Ross and Lee Hieb
524 West 4th Street, Logan, IA

Sunday, December 18:

11:00am CT: Senator Santorum will have brunch with supporters at the HyVee Instore in Council Bluffs, IA.
Location: Treynor State Bank
HyVee Instore, 1745 Madison Avenue, Suite 1002, Council Bluffs, IA

2:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Red Oak, IA.
Location: Pizza Ranch
1511 North Broadway Street, Red Oak, IA

5:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Atlantic, IA.
Location: Farmers Kitchen Restaurant
319 Walnut Street, Atlantic, IA

Monday, December 19:

7:30am CT: Senator Santorum will host a breakfast meet-and-greet in Creston, IA.
Location: Windrow Restaurant
102 West Taylor Street, Creston, IA

12:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Osceola, IA.
Location: Redman’s Pizza & Steak
123 South Main Street, Osceola, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will keynote the Warren County GOP Dinner in Indianola, IA.
Location: Indianola Christian Union Church
707 East Euclid Avenue, Indianola, IA

Tuesday, December 20:

9:00am CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Pella, IA.
Location: Monarch Restaurant, Royal Amsterdam Hotel
705 East 1st Street, Pella, IA

12:30pm CT: Senator Santorum will host a “Faith, Family and Freedom” Town Hall in Mt. Pleasant, IA.
Location: Mt. Pleasant Public Library
307 East Monroe Street, Suite 101
Mt. Pleasant, IA

4:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will participate in the Genesis Health Care Forum in Davenport, IA.
Location: Genesis Medical Center
1227 East Rusholme Street, Davenport, IA

6:00pm CT: Senator Santorum will attend a house party to benefit the congressional campaign of John Archer in Bettendorf, IA.
Location: Home of John & Andrea Archer
3195 Westminster, Bettendorf, IA

* * * * * *

Meanwhile, in other Neutral Objective Campaign News:

Iowans heard the last debate last night, but they will be bombarded with direct mail, TV ads and earned media for the next few weeks. Rick Santorum, despite the ranking in the polls, is certainly getting his message out.
Politico reports: “A Super PAC backing Rick Santorum is spending some real money — $200,000 — to boost the hardest working man in lesser candidacy, making the straightforward case to conservatives that he’s the one they can trust.” His campaign is dropping a ton of direct mail, hyping nice comments made about him by Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee.
Anecdotal evidence has also been positive. Craig Robinson of the Iowa Republican e-mailed me about a Santorum event Wednesday night in Holstein: “I think he is now convinced that all of his hard work in Iowa is about to pay off. It might not show up in the polls, but I think it will be there on caucus day. By the way, at 2:30 in the afternoon 35 to 40 people showed up to see him. That’s a good crowd in a town of 1400. I don’t think any other candidates have been to Holstein either.” If you put together a lot of small towns, the numbers do add up. Moreover, Santorum generally helps himself at these appearances. “The response to him was good. People signed up and one couple brought a check. Another couple that I saw at a Rick Perry event the night before in Denison stopped to tell me that Santorum was their candidate. Last night they were deciding between [Rep. Michele] Bachmann, Perry and Santorum.”

This is it, you see: The long-awaited Santorum Surge that everybody thought would never come has, at long last, begun in earnest.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB

–


Because I’m Libertarian Like That

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An unfortunate incident:

A barricade situation adjacent to the Northern Virginia Community College campus is over, according to Fairfax County police. The situation ended just before 10 p.m. Thursday.
The incident took place on the eigth floor of the Skyline Terrace Apartments in the south tower of the two building high rise complex … in the 3700 block of George Mason Dr in Alexandria
A man with a gun was threatening to kill himself. Officers were able to talk the man out of his apartment and took him into custody. …
The incident prompted the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College to cancel classes this evening.

This was an unfortunate incident in more ways that one. Wombat is a student at NVCC and was trapped on campus during the lockdown, which caused him to be three hours late with this morning’s “Live at Five” headline roundup. He sent an e-mail to apologize, explaining that a “suicidal a–hole” was the problem. Before I knew how the stand-off ended, I e-mailed Wombat this reply:

1. Did the suicidal a–hole kill himself?
2. Was he an Obama supporter?
Because I can understand why a–holes who support Obama would be despondent. And while I don’t approve suicide, I wouldn’t want to “impose my values” on others.
— RSM

We are grateful that police were able to take this poor demented man into custody, and only regret that more Obama-supporting a–holes don’t seek therapeutic treatment for their psychotic delusions before it’s too late.

You See, Mr. Paul, History Does Not Support Scientific Experiments

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by Smitty

The Australian reports that

RUSSIA seized today a consignment of the radioactive isotope Sodium-22 at a Moscow airport from a passenger who was to travel on a flight to Tehran, the customs service said.
“Tests showed that the Sodium-22 could only have been obtained as the result of the work of a nuclear reactor,” it said in a statement. “A criminal inquiry has been opened and the materials transferred to prosecutors.”

Sodium 22 is not recommended as a dietary supplement:

22Na is a positron-emitting isotope with a remarkably long half-life. It is used to create test-objects and point-sources for Positron emission tomography.

So the argument may be that Iran has legitimate medical interest. Yet, back to The Australian:

Moscow has echoed Western concerns about the nature of the Iranian nuclear program but stopped short of publicly accusing Tehran of seeking atomic weapons and always said that the standoff should be solved by diplomacy.
Experts have long called for tight controls against nuclear smuggling so that Iran cannot get ahold of materials it is barred from obtaining under UN Security Council sanctions.

The point of the sanctions is to put peaceful international pressure on Iran to be a nicer kid on the international playground. Maybe, Mr. Paul, if you understand that Tehran plays the bully in the Middle East the way the Federal Reserve pushes everyone around with respect to the currency, you might grasp that political liberty is as crucial as economic liberty. Yet you’re stuck in Neville Chamberlain mode, sadly. Even though what you say about the overall peacefulness of the Iranian people is very probably true, that assertion does not seem to hold for the Iranian leadership.

Here’s the 2012 rub, Ron: if it was a laboratory setting, it might be of interest to see if your approach would work, where Chamberlain and Jimmy Carter failed, failed, failed. But it’s not. History is a one shot deal. And you can go all Sermon on the Mount in your personal life, where I truly appreciate the foundations of your ideas. Yet, the Almighty constrains neither free will, nor the capacity for evil implied by that free will.

  • Nobody wants to see a dirty bomb employed.
  • Nobody wants the stress of dealing with the threat of a dirty bomb employment.
  • Crucially, the majority of Americans are going to vote against your strange comfort level with the previous two points.

Update: American Power think Paul is unserious.

Update II: A thorough Paul review at The Pirate’s Cove.

via Zero Hedge

Santorum Iowa Ad: ‘Join the Fight’

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Last night’s final debate in Sioux City was probably the best yet for Rick Santorum, says Bryan Preston of PJ Media, noting that the former Pennsylvania senator “showed very solid instincts on a range of issues” — as he has all along. There has been no “drama,” no flip-flopping from Santorum, and he has gotten relatively little media attention while carrying his “consistent conservative” message to all 99 Iowa counties. Now at long last, his fundraising boosted by praise from Sarah Palin and others, Santorum has released his first Iowa TV ad:

ABC News reports:

The voice over narrates over quotes from Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Mike Huckabee praising Santorum and even a quote from rival Newt Gingrich lauding Santorum’s Iran policy.
On Wednesday, the former Pennsylvania senator bragged that he was running the leanest of the GOP presidential campaign. . . .
Santorum has been barnstorming the state for months hoping hard work will pay off on Jan. 3, but going on the air will undoubtedly help.

Santorum campaign press release has the transcript:

He’s Rick Santorum.
A loving husband, a devoted father, homeschooler and a man of deep faith.
He wrote the law that banned partial birth abortions.
Overhauled America’s welfare system.
And no one has done more to protect America from Iran’s growing threat than Rick Santorum.
It’s no wonder Palin, Beck and Huckabee are singing his praises.
Now it’s your turn to join the fight.

Meanwhile, a new pro-Santorum “Super PAC” — the Red, White and Blue Fund — has spent a reported $200,000 to air this ad in Iowa:

We all agree Obama’s reckless agenda must be stopped.
But who is the true conservative you can really trust?
Rick Santorum.
He’s fought for conservative values his whole life.
Father, husband a champion for life.
A visionary that saw and understands the threat of radical Islam.
And a proven reformer who took on Washington and won.
Rick Santorum.
Finally a true conservative we can trust.

Permit a necessary digression here: A donnybrook has erupted among some conservatives, typified by Rush Limbaugh’s remarks yesterday about “establishment Republicans [who] are dumping all over Newt Gingrich.” If you read that, you’ll note that El Rushbo also takes on the unexpectedly strong showing by “wacko nut job” Ron Paul. And Limbaugh takes on National Review, which also got a sharp retort from another leading conservative:

Brent Bozell, the nephew of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., who founded National Review magazine in 1955, and whose father, Leo Brent Bozell, collaborated with Buckley for many years at NR, today dismissed the magazine as having lost the identity forged for it by its founder.
“National Review’s endorsement of Romney & Huntsman proves only that this is no longer the magazine of William F. Buckley Jr.”

But while “movement conservatives” like Limbaugh and Bozell fight the NR punks who have declared war on Gingrich, everyone seems to be united in their opposition to the Ron Paul surge. A conservative friend yesterday e-mailed me a link to an American Spectator item yesterday in which Jeffrey Lord brought up the controversy about the old Ron Paul newsletters and what Lord calls “the and-oh-by-the-way-pay-no-attention-to-all that-anti-Semitic-stuff that trails the Paul candidacy like the little cloud of dirt that used to follow the Peanuts cartoon character Pigpen around.”

Also, Ace notes en passant, Ron Paul is endorsed by Andrew Sullivan.

Need we say more? While I have lamented the anti-Paul crusade, arguing for an effort “to engage the more decent and rational Paulistas” on behalf of a united front against Democratic Party liberalism, I lack the influence necessary to broker such a peace. (For example, having long ago called for Rich Lowry’s ouster from National Review, I could never be published there until Jonah Goldberg finally decides to lead the uprising against the decadent Lowry regime, a long-overdue revolution.) So the internecine war rages on and the question must be asked:

Why not Rick Santorum?

Look, if you’re a “movement conservative” who hates Ron Paul, who is more diametrically opposed to Paulism than Santorum? He’s the pro-Israel neocon warmonger your mother (if your mother is a Paulista) warned you about. By comparison to Santorum, Bibi Netanyahu is a dhimmi pacifist.

OK, he sometimes seems a bit of a scold on the social issues. One of my friends has used the word “sanctimonious” to describe Santorum’s mien in previous debates. But while other Republicans can be accused of unprincipled and insincere pandering to social conservatives, Santorum is a man who argues for the pro-life, pro-family agenda out of sincere religious conviction. He’s a cradle Catholic, a father of seven, married to the same woman for 21 years and (unlike a certain other candidate whom we need not name) there has never been a hint of scandal attached to Santorum’s name. Tina Korbe at Hot Air expresses the mystery:

The Santorum phenomenon is a perplexing one. For, as the ad suggests, Santorum has betrayed conservatism on far fewer occasions than either of the two current frontrunners. . . .
I have to admit, a surprisingly stellar finish in Iowa from Santorum would sit far better with me than, say, a win from Ron Paul and probably Newt Gingrich, too.

The only reason why some leading conservative spokesmen have not backed Santorum, I would suggest, is that they’re afraid to back an underdog. They look at the poll numbers and say to themselves, “Well, I don’t want to embarrass myself by backing a loser.” This is an argument to which I have already made my own reply, borrowing a youthful oration from the future Senator Joseph Blutarsky:

Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! … And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… The tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go! …
What the f— happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my a– from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this.

“Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh?”

You may say it’s hopeless, that a candidate running a low-budget campaign with single-digit poll numbers cannot, with just 18 days to go before the Jan. 3 caucuses, suddenly surge ahead to win Iowa. And why not? Because “we’re afraid to go with you Bluto.”

All it would take is a few minutes of careful praise from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin — maybe they could contact the Santorum campaign and do on-air interviews with the candidate — to light the fuse on a powder keg that could explode all the predictions of the pundits and pollsters in Iowa.

You, the ordinary “civilian” reader of this blog, are probably saying to yourself: “But that’s not going to happen.”

And why not? Because “we’re afraid to go with you Bluto.”

Can’t you e-mail this post to Rush, Sean and Mark? Can’t you post it on Facebook, send it out on Twitter, circulate it by e-mail to your friends? Yes — yes, you could do that.

As I said during the 2009 Doug Hoffman campaign, the key thing is this: “Stop asking what you can do, and start doing what you can.”

You can “join the fight” for Rick Santorum right now.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB

 
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Jeffrey Lord vs. the Paulistas

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Driving back today from picking up my twin sons at college — today was the last day of final exams in their first semester — I heard my American Spectator colleague Jeffrey Lord on Sean Hannity’s radio show talking about his war against Ron Paul’s supporters.

It makes my head hurt to think about it, stirring unfortunate memories of internecine feuds between paleocons and neocons stretching back at least 30 years.

My own nuanced take on the situation: Beginning with the Bush 41 administration, the neocons began insisting not merely on their own dominance within the Republican Party, but started demanding that their paleocon adversaries be utterly purged from the ranks. (David Frum, among others, so insisted.) And so it was that, by the time of the Bush 43 administration, there was no one inside the “Big Tent” disposed to say a discouraging word about the prospects for a bloodless conquest of Mesopotamia while also, incidentally, using U.S. armed forces as the necessary means to introduce Pashtun tribesmen to the wonders of Western democracy, including women’s suffrage.

“Hey, Chief, can we have a brief discussion about the concept of ‘imperial overreach’ here?”

You don’t have to think Ron Paul is The Only Hope of the Republic, or be a devout disciple of Lew Rockwell, to say that maybe it would have been helpful if, circa 2002-03, some non-interventionists had been in a position to influence the decision-making process at the White House.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m all in favor of kicking jihadi butt. And I’m not one of these kooks who sits around brooding about the “military-industrial complex,” “international bankers,” et cetera. But isn’t it fair to ask, three years into the Obama Age, if GOP foreign policy got a wee bit hubristic during Bush 43’s presidency?

Mine is a modest criticism, then, of neoconservative influence in U.S. foreign policy, as distinct from the all-out crusade that Jeffrey Lord seems to be pursuing against Ron Paul and the Paulistas. I’m not sure how this started, but here are some recent items by Lord at the Spectator:

Sean Hannity’s interview with Jeffrey Lord — and I only heard a few minutes of it — reminded me of all the reasons why I sometimes hate Sean Hannity, who has a tendency toward a Manichean worldview in which there are always exactly two sides to any argument:

  1. Hannity’s side, and
  2. UN-AMERICAN LEFT-WING RADICAL EVIL!

Having been occasionally accused of “simplistic” politics, I would assert that I am an enigmatic tapestry of layered complexity by comparison to Hanntiy’s accustomed mode of discourse.

Stipulate that Ron Paul’s supporters include legions of monomaniacal fanatics and a certain number of outright Jew-haters. Is it not possible to engage the more decent and rational Paulistas in a discourse leading toward a principled and honorable compromise, so that their energy (and profound opposition to the Welfare State) can be harnessed within a broad-based coalition aimed at defeating the common enemy, Democratic PartyLiberalism?

UPDATE: Speaking of Manichean worldviews — MSNBC compares Mitt Romney to the Ku Klux Klan.

Of course, the KKK never flip-flopped but . . . Never mind.

Christine O’Donnell Endorses Mitt Romney; Des Moines City Council Member Endorses Rick Santorum

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A friend whom I won’t name sent me an e-mail suggesting the headline, “Witches and Mormons, Oh, My!”

Christine O’Donnell, the former Republican Senate candidate and a tea party favorite during the 2010 election, has officially endorsed Mitt Romney for president. . . .
O’Donnell made clear that the Romney campaign did not “come to her,” and that she went to the campaign. She said she would be willing to go out and campaign for Romney.
In a written statement, Romney welcomed the endorsement.
“Christine has been a leader in the conservative movement for many years,” Romney said. “Christine recognizes that excessive government threatens us now and threatens future generations, and I am pleased to have her on my team.”

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Rick Santorum’s hard work paid off with a valuable endorsement:

Des Moines City Councilman
Halley Griess Joins The Fight!
Urbandale, IA – Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum announced that he has received the endorsement of Des Moines, IA City Councilman Halley Griess.
Councilman Griess said, “Rick Santorum has worked harder than any other candidate in garnering the support of the voters I represent. In visiting all 99 counties, and appearing in Iowa more frequently than any other candidate, it is clear that Rick Santorum cares about the individual voters and is willing to invest in the issues they care about. He has clearly demonstrated that he will head to Washington with our families and small business owners in mind. Rick Santorum best reflects the values of Iowa voters and I am honored today to give my support to him.”
Senator Santorum said: “Iowans can’t be bought by TV ads, Iowa votes must be earned. Councilman Griess knows this from his direct work with his constituents in Des Moines. Councilman Griess is a true public servant and I am thrilled to receive his endorsement today. I look forward to working with Halley as we continue our momentum statewide and in Polk County.”
Des Moines, IA City Councilman Halley Griess was elected to the Des Moines City Council in 2009, as the youngest serving Councilman in Des Moines’ history at age 23. He is the son of a self-employed, small business owner and a graduate of Drake University Law School.

(Hat-tip: Lisa Graas) By the way, we got three contributions last night via our Rick Santorum “No Surrender” Money Bomb link, for a total of $80 — that’s 20% of our $400 goal for this three-day event that continues through Friday. The link takes you to a Fundly.com page, which is just a system for tracking which site the contributions came through. The money all goes straight to the Santorum campaign, and here’s a neutral objective fact: They need every dollar you can spare.

In other campaign news, on a conference call with the Santorum campaign’s grassroots supporters last night, their Iowa political director said that the senator’s teenage son John Santorum was in the Urbandale campaign office yesterday stuffing envelopes to send out to undecided Republican voters. The senator’s daughter Elizabeth has also been working in the Urbandale office this week.

The Santorum campaign has a solid “ground game” organization in Iowa, and has already signed up more than 450 “caucus captains,” who are the volunteer leaders at each caucus location. If you’re not in Iowa, you can still help the Santorum campaign in Iowa: Sign up as a volunteer at their Web site and take part in their “phone from home” operation.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB

 
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Rick Santorum: Beer Gourmet?

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NBC News highlights an aspect of the Republican presidential candidate’s personality that had previously gone unnoticed:

AMANA, Iowa — In case you were wondering what sort of beers the former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum drinks, reporters trailing him Sunday now have a complete list.
“It’s the stouts, the bocks, and then the white ales — and wheats,” Santorum told a small group of media. He added later: “I don’t do wine tastings. I do beer tastings.”
The GOP hopeful was sidled up to the tasting bar at Millstream Brewery, a local microbrewery in a historic landmark town lined with colonial-style houses and storefronts. The bartender served a small glass of the brewery’s prizewinner, a dark and frothy beer called Back Road Stout.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Will this hurt Santorum with the teetotalers? Or will he lose votes with Joe Six-Pack for drinking “fancy” beers? I dunno.

But it certainly helps lighten up his image — hey, Rick likes beer! — and adds momentum to the Santorum Surge.

RICK SANTORUM
‘NO SURRENDER’
MONEY BOMB