02/8/16

Forum: Is There A Refugee Crisis? If So, How Would You Solve It?

The Watcher’s Council

Refugees

Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum with short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture or daily living. This week’s question: Is There A Refugee Crisis? If So, How Would You Solve It?

The Razor: I would argue that there isn’t a refugee crisis, there is a European identity crisis and that’s what is causing all the trouble.

The end of World War 2 and resulting institutions in Western Europe like the EEC built a myth of a European identity. This myth papered over the differences between the Germans and the French, and tried to portray Europe as one entity. The European Union was the culmination of this myth. Like all myths it contained a seed of Truth: there are commonalities between the EU countries. But it ignored the deep cultural, social, economic and historical differences between nations. As the citizen of a relatively young country like the US I’m a bit amazed that countries that are a millennia and a half older such as France and Germany sought unity, completely ignoring their unique characters.

The root of this error, I believe, is the pernicious fallacy that “people are people” and the assumption that everyone is just like us, they just look different, speak a different language or worship a different god. It is a fallacy based on ignorance, and worse, is rooted in elitism whereby the believer assumes s/he knows enough to make an accurate judgment with only a cursory understanding of the facts.

This viewpoint built the EU and is now witnessing its slow unraveling as the differences between the nations assert themselves, tearing it apart. It was also applied to the refugees fleeing the Middle East and North Africa. German Chancellor Merkel is a leading proponent of this view, and failed to appreciate the significant differences between the Syrians and her own people. She now faces a Pandora’s box whereby Germany must force its refugee population to assimilate German values (a politically correct no-go), deport the refugees back to where they came from (which would result in a significant hit to Germany’s international standing) or to assimilate the values of the refugees (force women to cover up, avoid travel alone). So far Merkel has followed the last course which will only lead to the eventual deportation of the refugees and the collapse of her government.

JoshuaPundit: There’s a crisis all right, but it has nothing to do with ‘refugees.’ The truth is quite a bit darker. And while the reasons for what’s going on are somewhat different in Europe and America, they stem from similar sources.

What’s being imported to the EU under the banner of ‘refugees’ are predominantly young men of military age rather than helpless families, and many of these people already had safe havens in places like Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and even parts of Syria. The vast majority are coming for one reason – the extremely generous welfare benefits they can get.

Europe’s elites are seeking to import vast amount of young Muslim men for one primary reason. Many old and famous nations have simply stopped having children in anything like replacement numbers, something quite common in socialist countries. The Germans, the Scots, the Italians, the Greeks, the Spaniards and others could simply disappear in a couple of generations. Europe’s native population is rapidly graying, and someone has to stoke Germany’s export driven economy and pay the taxes to support the huge welfare state infrastructure the Germans and other countries have come to take for granted to keep the EU afloat. To add to the turmoil, the Germans actually did this before in a much more moderate fashion by bringing in Kurds, Turks and Iranians into Germany as guest workers. That was largely successful, but Muslims from these groups have a vastly different culture than the ones coming in now, there are a lot more of them and the ones coming in now have no intention of assimilating.  That matters less to the  EU’s elites since  many of these ‘refugees’ can also  be expected to vote for the existing Socialist political order. Hollande and the Socialists were elected in France in no small part because of a bloc Muslim vote. It’s an open bet which is going to prevail in Europe and in which countries, the manipulation and repression by the EU’s cynical czars and czarinas or the nativist parties seeking to preserve their historic culture.

In America, the situation is somewhat different. Our own birth rate in America is at historic lows, but still at replacement rates and is also augmented by somewhat higher birthrates among Latinos, South Asian and East Asian who are  legal migrants.

The illegal migrants are a whole different situation. We now effectively have open borders by diktat of our president, and even gang members are not being stopped  from crossing… not to mention potential terrorists from countries in the Middle East.

President Obama has two reasons for doing this, and both are ideological. If you look at how the Obama Regime has attacked America’s institutions, you will see that two methods have been used…lawfare, and simply changing the demographics. Let’s dispose of the wholesale importation of illegal migrants by saying that President Obama and his party want to create a permanent far left Democrat majority by inundating red and battle ground states with them, after which the cry can go out to fast track them to citizenship. This also suits the well connected elites in both parties who seek to continue the flow of cheap labor and H1B recipients who can be hired at lower rates to keep American wages down.

But it’s the second reason that has the most to do with our question at hand. Since he entered office, President Obama has brought almost a million Muslims into America using refugee programs and diversity visas, mostly from the countries like Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, ‘Palestine,’ and the Sudan. More will undoubtedly be allowed entry thanks to our very liberal family unification programs. By some estimates 90% of these refugees are on welfare, and not only are they mostly not interested in assimilating but hold views actually antithetical to America’s Constitution and its culture.  And he now wants to bring in many more, again by executive order.

President Obama may or may not be a Muslim, and I frankly don’t care. But it is a fact that a common thread that runs through his foreign policy and many of his domestic ones is the empowerment and enhancement of Islamists, a number of whom have low profile but influential positions in administration in a way that will smell familiar to those familiar with the Soviet infiltration of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. He has even gone out of his way to protect Islamists guilty of material aid to terrorism.  And to aggressively to use his Justice Department to force communities to violate their own zoning laws to allow the construction of foreign funded, Muslim Brotherhood run ‘mega mosques’  far larger than needed to service any existing Muslims  in the area.

Even the Islamic Society of Baltimore, which the president chose as the first mosque in America that he’s ever visited, and where he made an outspoken speech on the subject of Islamophobia is a Muslim Brotherhood controlled mosque. It’s run by the Islamist front group The Islamist Society of North America (ISNA) and  has a long history of involvement with radical Islamists. Given that, our president’s remarks sent a very different message than the one most of the media picked up.

That’s the  crisis in both Europe and America involving ‘refugees.’  It’s one is one of cynical, destructive leadership.

The Glittering Eye: Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon have a refugee problem. The OECD countries, e.g. Germany, France, the UK, US, etc. don’t. We have a migration problem.

For the last thirty years or so the United States has maintained a policy of low wages fostered by mass immigration. As a consequence of that policy Hispanic population has grown from 4% of the total to 17%.

Migrants aren’t just workers; they’re people and like all people for good or ill they bring with them their social, political, and religious views. Our recent migrants, mostly from Mexico but increasingly from India and China, have brought their social, political, and religious views with them, it’s affecting our society, and the non-migrant population here is starting to push back.

For some reason or other Germany’s elites have decided to follow the US’s lead, fostering mass immigration from the Middle East. The attitudes of the new immigrants are incompatible with those of the native Germans but the native Germans, highly predisposed to rely on the judgment and good will of their authorities, are not yet pushing back against the new migrants. They will either need to surrender their own preferences or fight back against the new migrants. They don’t seem to have reached that point yet.

Turkey has decided to mitigate the consequences of their refugee problem by passing them on to Europe. So far the Europeans have gone along with the gag. My preferred solution is for the Europeans to start paying the Turks to maintain their refugee populations but so far the Europeans haven’t realized just how serious their situation has become.

The migration problem is lot bigger than just Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan refugees and it’s a lot bigger than the Middle East. There are tens or even hundreds of millions of people who would happily leave their native countries mostly in Asia and Africa but also in Latin America to move to Europe or North America, a prospect which has become much cheaper and easier than in the past due to modern communications and transportation technology. Nowadays you don’t abandon the Old Country when you migrate. Mom and dad, your best friend, and your uncle are just a phone call away.

Frankly, no country in the world, not the United States or the United Kingdom or France or Germany can stand up against that sort of mass migration without domestic social upheaval and, just as frankly, none of those countries has much use for unskilled, non-skilled, or semi-skilled workers who don’t speak the language. Sweden’s experience with its Middle Eastern immigrants has been that twenty years later the majority are still unemployed and living off the country’s generous welfare.

I don’t have a handy solution for the migration problem. IMO many of the problems that are driving mass migration are caused by bad government and we’re importing the new migrants’ bad views on government right along with the migrants themselves.

My only advice is put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry! It’s going to be a difficult century.

The Right Planet: I certainly think there is a manufactured refugee crisis, especially in Western Europe and the United States. Perhaps it would be easier to explain my position by using an analogy—something that hits closer to home, so to speak. If I were a person who left the doors to my home unlocked, and came home to find a family had set up shop in my own home, without my permission, would that not be “problematic”—to borrow one of the favored terms from the “social justice warriors” (SJWs)? And what if this family who had decided to make my home theirs started making demands? For example, demanding I provide cash assistance, or providing food fare that is more to their liking. And what if this family that has decided to make my home theirs decided to make the part of my home where they’ve set up shop “off-limits” to me and my family? Does that sound reasonable or acceptable? It’s one thing if I had agreed to allow a family to live in my home. But under such an arrangement conditions would apply. And, at the end of the day, I make the rules, not the other way around.

Or let’s just flip this around a bit. Let’s say Americans were emigrating from the United States en masse. And let’s just say I decided to take my family to Mexico by crossing the Mexican border illegally. If Mexican authorities caught me crossing their border without permission, and I ended up being deported, whose fault would that be? Would it be the fault of the Mexican government for having strict immigration laws, or would it be my fault for ignoring their laws? Naturally, by ignoring their laws and getting deported, it would certainly cause a significant amount of stress and consternation on me and my family. But whose fault is that? How would I solve this crisis? Well, here’s a novel idea: I could respect and obey their laws concerning immigration.

One of the enumerated powers given to Congress under our Constitution is to control immigration. We have every right, as Americans, to preserve our way of life and culture; just as a homeowner has every right to decide who can and cannot live under their roof. Since 1965, the number of immigrants has skyrocketed from about 10 million to over 50 million. Consumption of welfare in immigrant households is nearly double that of American citizens. These welfare programs include Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Women Infants and Children food program (WIC), free or subsidized school lunches, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, i.e. food stamps), and public housing or rent subsidies, etc. The total expenditure for federal welfare programs, in 2012, amounted to around a half a trillion dollars! The States have spent around a $180 billion in Medicaid alone. The people who are benefiting from all this largess, on the whole, are paying little to no income tax—if they even report their income. A third of the population of Mexico is now living in the United States. And it is the American taxpayer who is footing the bill. And they have no choice in the matter. It’s being shoved right down their throats. And if Americans dare voice their legitimate concerns and anger over being forced to finance the immigration boondoggle, they are simply shouted down as racists, xenophobes and Nazis by the “Open Borders” apparatchiks and SJWs.

I have a number of good friends who have emigrated legally to the United States. They love this country, and love being American citizens. And they are just as concerned as I am, if not more so, by the huge influx and cost of assimilating entire populations of illegal immigrants and refugees on the taxpayers’ dime. This is unsustainable. One of the main responsibilities of the president of the United States is to enforce the laws that Congress has written. And yet, we see a president and a duplicitous Congress that has decided to ignore federal immigration laws by giving the green light to so-called “sanctuary cities.”

How how would I solve all this? It’s not easily solved now that millions have become dependent on the government dole. But I’d start by enforcing the laws and securing the borders. If we have no defensible borders, then we are no longer a nation. The goal of communism has always been to create a “borderless, classless world” where the state reigns supreme. But if the federal government has the ability and wherewithal to ship millions into this country illegally, they also have the ability to ship them back. I would also look closely at the legal immigration process, and whether the process needs to be streamlined and made more efficient, which I’m sure it does.

And as far as the current “refugee crisis” is concerned, I would like to know why it is that the United States and Europe are always expected to welcome, with open arms, entire populations from across the globe. I don’t see Russia, China, Middle Eastern countries, etc. rolling out the welcome mat for immigrants and refugees. Why is that? Hmmmm? Spare me all the talk about equality and fairness. This is about as unequal and unfair as it gets.

Laura Rambeau Lee, Right Reason: Refugees fleeing from violence in Syria have reached a crisis for countries in the European Union. The increasing harassment, violence, rapes, and murders of citizens have created a backlash of protests in these countries. They are being asked to accept refugees who will never assimilate into Western culture. These refugees bring a culture of adherence to shari’ah and intolerance of non-Muslims. It is a culture of barbarism and misogyny the West has not seen in centuries and it is being forced on the people by their governments. We also must not forget these countries have strict gun control laws, so they have no way to defend themselves against violent attacks.

In an effort to protect themselves we are seeing borders being reestablished to prevent refugees from entering. United Nations Representative Peter Sutherland recently spoke out against the appearance of razor-wire fences. “The recreation of borders challenges the whole integration of the European Union,” he said. “More particularly, it challenges the moral responsibility of states to help refugees to provide asylum.” We need to ask the question: Why is it the “moral” responsibility for countries of the E.U. to take in these refugees. What is the moral responsibility of the Arab countries in this crisis?

We do not have a refugee crisis here in America yet, but President Obama wants to bring tens of thousands or more refugees here and resettle them in states all over the country. Many of us see what is happening in Europe and do not want this brought into our country. We have already seen enough violence occur here in the name of radical Islam. We should not even consider bringing them here, especially since our government can give us no assurances that any of the refugees can or will be properly vetted to make certain they do not mean us harm. President Obama tells us our opposition to his plans to resettle refugees here is “not who we are.” He has no idea who we are, but by now every American should understand who he is. He promised to fundamentally transform our country and he has nearly succeeded. We must insist our representatives in Congress stop all plans by the Obama Administration to bring these refugees to America. It is government’s primary duty to assure that its citizens are protected and our laws followed. We must hold them to their sworn duty.

The civil war in Syria is horrific and those fleeing should be helped. But if resettlement is the answer the refugees should be welcomed by neighboring Arab countries where they share the same religion and culture. This is not our fight and we should not get involved.

Well, there you have it!

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02/8/16

Unclaimed Prizes

Lottery TicketsBY: T.F. STERN | The Moral Liberal

There was quite a bit of chatter going on this past week about the possibility a $63 Million Dollar lottery prize would go unclaimed.  My daughter in law wondered out loud, “Can you imagine finding out you had the winning ticket only to be told you waited too long to claim your winnings.  That would be awful; just think about how you’d feel.”

The idea of missing out on something that big would upset most folks; but then I got to thinking about it from a different angle.  What if you never found out?  The winning numbers were picked; but you never bothered to see if they matched the ticket you purchased; how bad would you feel since you never knew how much money you missed out on?  For all you knew the only money you lost was the two dollars spent on the ticket.

Life is like that for most folks; but this has nothing to do with purchasing a lottery ticket.

Mortality is the ticket we purchased to prove ourselves, to make ourselves eligible for all that God has.  Interestingly, each ticket purchased is a winner; the only losers are those that are not claimed.

Admittedly there are some qualifiers in order to claim your prizes; but rest assured, you did purchase a winning ticket the moment you accepted the Great Plan of Salvation.

C S Lewis on Children of God posterSome folks don’t even know who they are as they go through the challenges of life.  Oh, they might know their parents, grandparents and even a long list of ancestors going back hundreds of years; but do they really know they are children of our Heavenly Father?  Do they understand their royal lineage makes possible an inheritance beyond our ability to grasp?

We are created in His image and, in due time, we’re expected to figure out how to behave according to the commandments and other instructions given via the scriptures and servants of the Lord.  Upon successful completion of our probationary period we are promised all that he has; if that’s not greater than any lottery prize then I don’t know what would impress you.

Once you’ve figured out you’re holding the winning ticket; will it alter the way you approach life?  I would certainly hope so.


T.F. SternThe Moral Lib­eral’s Senior Edi­tor, T.F. Stern,is a retired City of Hous­ton police offi­cer, self-employed lock­smith, and gifted polit­i­cal and social com­men­ta­tor. His pop­u­lar and insight­ful blog, T.F. Sterns Rant­i­ngs, has been up and at it since Jan­u­ary of 2005.

02/8/16

And the Progressives Laughed

By: Frank Salvato

Progressives Laugh

Whether you believe that there were nefarious motives behind the advancement of inaccurate information about the Carson campaign by Cruz ground operatives in Iowa or not, one thing is certain, true and undeniable. The leading candidates for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States are feeding on each other. By doing so, they have effectively created an “emotional division” between the voters of the Right. To prove this out all one has to do is spend some time on social media threads related to the topic. Phrases like “Cruz haters,” “Carson’s a whiner” and “Trump is an idiot” are myriad. So, too, is the Conservative rank-and-file’s sudden acceptance of CNN as a credible, non-biased news source.

This election cycle the best that the Democrats can offer is a throwback hippie Socialist and the most disingenuous and opportunistic politician in recent history. The prospects of one of these improbably political creatures reaching the White House relies exclusively on the Republicans finding a way to shoot themselves in the foot; damaging each other so extensively in the primaries that the bleeding continues into the General Election. On the heels of eight years of Progressive rule and their disastrous policies for our economy and national security; in light of myriad scandals and a possible indictment hounding the DNC frontrunner, Republicans should have been able to nominate a potato chip and won in November.

Enter the politics of division. Enter opportunistic political tactics ala the Chicago machine. Enter the type of politics that each and every one of the Republican candidates says they abhor; that each says they will excommunicate from the lexicon of American politics should they be elected to the presidency.

And the Progressives and Democrats, their jaws on the ground, laughed in astonishment. Republicans and Conservatives fell for it again.

There was a reason that Ronald Reagan advanced the idea of the “Eleventh Commandment.” This political edict, originally attributed to California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson, stated: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

This is what is so incredibly frustrating for aware rank-and-file Republicans. For all the homage that Republicans – candidates, operative and voters – pay to the Reagan Legacy, one point they routinely ignore, and perhaps the most important, especially in presidential primary politics – is the Eleventh Commandment.

Today, as I write this, the top four candidates for the Republican nomination are not talking about their policies, ideologies or agendas; they are talking about personalities, intra-party political tactics and playing the victim/blame game while dividing the electorate on the Right side of the aisle. As Bernie Sanders continues to make inroads with intellectually vacuous voters, and Hillary Clinton continues to spin in an attempt to escape her self-imposed death spiral, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson are ensnared in the media web, finding themselves fodder for the “pundocracy” and the “all hail the ratings” 24/7 news cycle. It conjures up images of the tribute talk show in The Hunger Games.

And the Progressives and Democrats are looking at each other, scratching their heads, and asking, “Are they really doing this?”

Today, as I write this, supporters of Cruz, Trump, Rubio and Carson, are engaged in heated debates – some caustically overt – with their Conservative brethren. While Carson supporters seek validation in their complaint that assumptive information was issued by CNN and then super-charged and advanced by political operatives unfriendly to the Carson campaign, Cruz supporters abdicate any and all responsibility for their camp’s actions, instead citing the original CNN report as the culprit. Trump and his followers are screaming “fraud” and Rubio supporters – the flames fanned by Karl Rove – are wondering if the numbers would have been different if the episode never would have occurred. In the end, all of this has fomented discontent and created a divide among the Conservative and Republican electorate.

Additionally, and perhaps most disturbing, is that all of this is occurring over a report from CNN, not the most friendly to Conservatives and Republicans, and certainly a news outlet which has been embarrassed by inaccurate reporting in the past. From the Boston bombing to previous presidential elections, CNN isn’t the benchmark for breaking news accuracy. Yet today’s driving forces in Conservative and Republican politics run with CNN’s reporting without verifying the information as fact? Really? Any credible (read: successful) political campaign establishes backchannel communications with opposition campaigns to verify just such things. It’s “Politics 101.”

Meanwhile the Progressives and Democrats sit back in amazement at how fickle Republicans and Conservatives are; that they would dispose of Reagan’s edict to wallow in mire that is the cable news rating game; that rank-and-file Republicans and Conservatives would turn on each other like jackals to insist they their version of events it the truth and the only truth and anything else is a lie.

Here are two facts that cannot be denied; facts that will serve to reunite the Right after this embarrassing turn of events:

  • Both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were elected to the Senate as TEA Party nominees. They are both constitutional conservatives and they both believe in limited government and the many necessary reforms.
  • Ben Carson, not too long ago, was courted by the entirety of the Right to run for office because he had the intestinal fortitude to standup to Pres. Obama in public and to his face.

It is time that each candidate comes clean to the public about their trip-up into status quo politics; that they rededicate themselves to the idea that “business as usual” politics is bad for the country. It is also time for each candidate’s supporters to stop demonizing those who don’t agree with them – especially on this issue – as “haters” and “whiners” (we are, after all, on the same side in the end).

It is time to start talking about the issues, policies and agendas each candidate will bring to a presidency. It is time to start running against the DNC’s prospective nominees – one a Socialist and one on the verge of indictment. It is time to verify facts before we espouse them as truths.

It is time to save our country from ruin. And we can’t do that if we are at each other’s throats.

Frank Salvato is the Executive Director of BasicsProject.org a grassroots, non-partisan, research and education initiative focusing on Constitutional Literacy, and internal and external threats facing Western Civilization. His writing has been recognized by the US House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention. His opinion and analysis have been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The Washington Times, The Jewish World Review, Accuracy in Media, Human Events, Townhall.com and are syndicated nationally. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel, and is the author of six books examining Islamofascism and Progressivism, including “Understanding the Threat of Radical Islam”. Mr. Salvato’s personal writing can be found at FrankJSalvato.com.

02/8/16

Weekly Featured Profile – Ray Siqueiros

KeyWiki.org

Ray Siqueiros

Ray Siqueiros is a Tuscon, Arizona activist and a high school social studies teacher. He is active in the American Federation of Teachers and is a long time member of theCommunist Party USA.

Ray Siqueiros wrote on the death of Communist Party USAleader George Edwards in 2012.

I am so glad I got to meet George 27 years ago. I had just joined the Party and moved to New York where I was able to attend many national Party events. I especially enjoyed the National Labor Committee events, where I could really fathom the idea of Industrial Concentration by rubbing shoulders with the likes of George Edwards, Hosea Hudson, Gus Hall, Henry Winston, and many other greats too long to list here. These heroes of our working class USA modeled confidence, humility, approachability, and plain honesty! I hope to continue in any way-great or small-their stunning example.

Siqueiros runs a branch of the radical Marxist/separatist group MEChA with his high school students and actively encourages them to protest for illegal immigrants.

In Tucson on March 29, 2006, hundreds of students walked out of their high schools with a message of “hear me” or at least “see me.”

Sunnyside High School students parade around the Sunnyside neighborhood with flags and loudspeakers.

At Sunnyside High School, administrators and student organizers were able to shepherd about 600 students into the auditorium to discuss the purpose of the protest and march.

Asked how the students organized so quickly, Ray Siqueiros, a Sunnyside social studies teacher, said, “It’s called technology. It’s called text messaging. It’s called myspace.com.”

Siqueiros, of Sí Se Puede, a group that organizes the annual Cesar Chavez rally, was pleased at the peaceful nature of the day and was optimistic the community would rally behind the students.

“Leave it to our kids to show us how it’s done,” he said. “It’s in tradition with Cesar Chavez. His spirit is alive and well in Tucson. The community, the parents and the school should be very proud of the students…”

Roly.PNG

In June of 2015, Ray Siqueirosreceived an award for his teaching services from local Rep.Raul Grijalva, himself a longtime ally of the Tuscon Communist Party.

(Ray Siqueiros|more…)

02/8/16

To maintain credibility, CNN must apologize publicly to Ted Cruz

By: Renee Nal | New Zeal

Carson press release on caucus night

Carson press release on caucus night

In case you have not yet figured it out yet, CNN gave the distinct impression that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending his campaign on the night of the Iowa caucus. This information was used by the Ted Cruz campaign, who deciminated the information to precinct captains.

This information was also used by anyone who happened to check the news with their mobile phone during the Iowa Caucus.

It is absurd to consider that media types like Michael Smerconish, Business Insider, Buzzfeed and others were fooled by overly ambitious Ted Cruz precinct captains who were cherry picking information from a CNN report, as alleged by CNN correspondent Chris Moody.

This is how it started:

Which led to this:

Which ultimately led to this:

The Cruz apology was not that the CNN report was used, it was that staff did not follow up with updated reports.

Dr. Ben Carson’s staff absolutely must take accountability for putting fuzzy information in the hands of CNN (namely, Chris “tick tock” Moody) in the first place, and also for not providing clarity during the caucus. If Ted Cruz supporters were able to convey media reports (as did Trump, Rubio and Paul supporters) Carson staff certainly should have been able to dispute those reports.

Oddly, this is not the first time that it had to clarified that Dr. Ben Carson was actually staying in the race.

The most shocking thing about this entire mess is how so many have seized upon it to attack Ted Cruz, who is the only one to accept any responsibility.

Why doesn’t Ben Carson demand an apology from CNN?

Alleged Carson Mailer

02/8/16

Cruz Once Again Proves Himself Presidential

Ted Cruz Religious Rally

As the New Hampshire primary fast approaches, I wish to remind voters that our next Commander-in-Chief must be of the highest character; cut from the rare cloth of our founders.

Sometimes God gives us great gifts in ugly packages. Recent attacks on Ted Cruz from both the Trump and Dr Carson campaigns gifted Cruz an opportunity to show his character and presidential instincts. Cruz was hit from all sides when a staffer used a CNN report that Dr Carson might leave the race.

Cruz did not pull a Hillary, claiming ignorance while throwing the staffer under the bus. Cruz took full responsibility and apologized. Do not take Cruz’s apology lightly folks. The MSM views GOP apologies as blood-in-the-water, igniting a feeding frenzy of attempts to destroy the apologetic GOP politician. But Cruz walked tall, providing a window into how the man will respond in tough times in the WH.

In the thick of the campaign battle, desire and desperation to win can cause candidates to lose themselves; saying and doing things out of character. Pressure and deep desire also has a way of exposing who one really is inside. Unlike a few of his contenders, Cruz has remained true to who he is, refraining from grabbing onto trivial non-issues to slime his opponents.

Mary, my beautiful awesome wife of over 30 years is my second. My first wife and I married at ages 19 and 21. Before we divorced, we sought marriage counseling. Unfortunately, my young bride and I had crossed a line. We said cutting painful things to each other that we could not “un-hear”; could not take back.

I caution our GOP presidential wannabes not to take their rhetoric too far. Do not start sounding like Democrats in your attacks on fellow GOP contenders. The stakes are far too high. The heart and soul of America as envisioned by our founding fathers is at risk.

After the nomination process, we must all come together. We have a general election to win and a country to save. With levelheadedness, wisdom and character, Ted Cruz is our guy.

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American
Chairman: The Conservative Campaign Committee
LloydMarcus.com

02/8/16

Dodging Bullets in Dearbornistan

By: Merrill McCarthy

“If I Can’t Do Jihad in the Middle East,
I Would Do My Jihad Over Here.”
Dearborn

We have a troubling story over here in Dearborn Heights, Michigan about a young man who planned to wage violent jihad against a church close to his work in Detroit.

Dearborn1

He thought the church would be a good choice because it was a gun-free zone and target-rich with capacity for 6,000 congregants. The would-be-shooter’s plot was not carried out because his father found and confiscated the jihad kit in his car consisting of a gun, ammo and a mask. Thwarted in his initial plan to terrorize the citizens of Michigan and the world, he told an FBI undercover agent about wanting to use a knife or a sword to achieve his “dream of beheading someone”.

For months, twenty-one-year-old Khalil Abu-Rayyan, self-proclaimed Palestinian Muslim, has been peppering social media with violent and hateful speech, threatening jihad. The FBI tuned in and an undercover agent learned of the violence contemplated by this young man who wanted to go “Sahwat” hunting, a term for an Iraqi who opposes ISIL. An arrest was made before he was able to put his plans into action and he is currently in detention.

An audio clip of the arraignment reveals a well-spoken young man with no trace of a foreign accent. He was probably born here or has lived here most of his life. And yet, it appears his allegiance is not with the USA, but with an Islamist terrorist organization based in the Middle East.

Think about the lack of assimilation and what it means. This young man of fighting age could not make it overseas to wage jihad so he settled for doing it here:

“If I can’t do jihad in the Middle East, I would do my jihad over here.”

He settled for a proxy target; a church having no ties to his enemies in the Middle East.

While we have many unanswered questions, the two that seem to be at the forefront are:

1) Why would someone who has lived in the USA for a lifetime, like the San Bernardino shooter, or this young man take up arms against innocent countrymen who have no ties to ISIL?

2) Why would the parents of an obviously dangerous young man fail to turn him over to the authorities when they had first-hand knowledge of intended criminal acts, much like the blind eyes turned to the bomb factory in San Bernardino?

Maybe there is something about the culture of these enclaved communities that do not resemble the America we know.

Dearborn2

Places like Dearborn could be picked up and set down in the Middle East without skipping a beat. The signs on the stores are in Arabic, the food is Arabic and the language is Arabic. The ideology on-the-street is largely Sharia. (51% of US Muslims want the option of living here under Sharia)

Dearborn3

A few months ago a man having a business breakfast in Dearborn overheard a quartet of retiree age men at a nearby table discussing world affairs. Since this man speaks Arabic, he understood the whole conversation and it was not pro-American. In fact, one of the men at the table went as far as saying that he wished he had the courage to strap on a suicide vest himself, and that perhaps if he were ever given a terminal cancer diagnosis he might just do it. Incredible! These are suicidal and murderous ideations. If a psychiatrist had heard them he would have been required to notify authorities about the outward threat and then would have to admit the man to a residential treatment hospital for protection because of suicidal thoughts.

And yet, this is coffee shop conversation in an enclaved city where Sharia Law is observed in many ways and Christians are stoned for sharing the gospel on a public sidewalk.

Dearborn4

In Dearborn, a father can find a gun, ammo and a mask in his son’s car and think that taking the items away from him will solve the problem, or a family in San Bernardino can overlook a bomb-making operation in their son’s kitchen and a neighbor can decide reporting very suspicious behavior would be riskier that having people possibly injured as a result of that suspicious behavior.

These “lone wolf” attackers, inspired by social media seem to be on the rise. Pretty soon we will run out of enough FBI agents to monitor what is going on. More attacks will not be a surprise. We might as well expect them. We need to have better ways to identify and defuse them. Thanks to the FBI, we have dodged bullets on this one, but maybe the next time we will not be so lucky.

We need more help from the families and the communities of these young jihadi “wannabes” because the signs are always there. It is not enough to take away the weapons when you find them. The authorities must be notified and if not, the culpable families may need to assume civil and criminal responsibility for looking the other way when tragedy could have been prevented.

The community needs to step up as well. These “lone wolf” attackers are always presented as a shock to their neighbors, although that message is changing. In the San Bernardino shooting, as well as this one that was nipped in the bud, the initial public statements have been made by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Trial, the biggest terrorism financing prosecution in American history. CAIR has been identified as a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood which has been condemned as a terrorist organization by the UK and several Middle Eastern countries.

So far, the message from CAIR on this case is that “we should not rush to judgment,” but actually their early appearance on the scene is a dog whistle to anyone else who may be contacted for a quote to defer to the CAIR spokesperson who will have the official spin – beware of Islamophobia.

Dearborn5

Dawud Walid – Executive Director, CAIR Michigan

CAIR is not interested in the truth. If an imam is radicalizing young men in Dearborn or elsewhere, we will not hear about it from CAIR. What we will hear is CAIR on the offense with claims of Islamophobia if people start asking too many questions or veer off the politically correct pathway. CAIR will not assist in getting to the truth and in the past have urged people to not cooperate with the FBI unless absolutely necessary.

The greater question here is about our flawed immigration policy, especially the Refugee Resettlement program. Why continue to bring people here who do not want to assimilate and are instead bringing the Middle East conflict here to be fought on our soil? The church full of worshippers Abu-Rayyan wanted to shoot-up was not his enemy, just an unfortunate casualty of his misguided ideological world view and the policy of flooding America with people who hate us.

It is correct for us to be concerned about bringing in unvettable Syrians or others who may be terrorists with fake passports. But we must also start finding ways to vet people who we have already brought in to our country. We must understand the ideology that guides their actions and recognize that they may be no more than economic migrants who have no allegiance to the USA at all, or worse, Islamists pursuing a world without non-Muslims.

We must be more realistic about projecting our patriotic values. We cannot assume we all share the same world view. Every day we learn more to prove we don’t.

02/8/16

WATCH: CNN correspondents lose it over Ted Cruz: ‘Liar!’ ‘BS!’ (video)

By: Renee Nal | New Zeal

thou doth protest too much CNN

CNN Correspondent Tom Foreman, who has bizarrely written 1,460 letters to President Obama, said that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz “flat out lied” during the GOP debate on Saturday night.

The online article strongly condemns:

“Sen. Ted Cruz knowingly misstated CNN’s reporting during Saturday’s Republican primary debate, despite the fact that CNN’s reporting was correct all along.”

In addition, TheHill reported that CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin “said Ted Cruz’s blaming of a CNN report for the rumor that primary rival Ben Carson was dropping out of the race was ‘BS.'”

Watch:

On Sunday, Chris Moody, who started this mess, vastly downplayed (some would say “flat out lied”) his role in the “rumor” that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending his campaign.

Thou doth protest too much, CNN.

  • This is CNN’s article making the case that they are innocent of misleading people about the status of Ben Carson’s campaign.
  • This is the article posted at TrevorLoudon.com that clearly illustrates that the reporting was at best, fuzzy and importantly, that many others had the same impression that Carson was suspending his campaign.

Anyone with a hint of intellectual honesty can, at the very least, concede:

  • CNN’s reporting gave a distinct impression that Ben Carson’s campaign was in trouble.
  • Others, including CNN’s own Michael Smerconish, Buzzfeed and Business Insider also had the impression that Carson was suspending his campaign.
  • Based on various sources, people affiliated with the campaigns of Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Donald Trump also sought to use the information to their advantage. None of those candidates apologized.

CNN’s reporting, at the very least, gave a distinct impression that Ben Carson’s campaign was in trouble

The following “BREAKING” tweet delivered on caucus night does not say: “Ben Carson is briefly going to Florida before going back on the campaign trail.”

Why is a simple stop home “BREAKING” news?

See more on CNN’s fuzzy reporting here.

See entire transcript of initial news report below.

Others, including (but not limited to) CNN’s own Michael Smerconish, Buzzfeed and Business Insider also had the clear impression that Carson was suspending his campaign.

  • During the Iowa caucus, Michael Smerconish of CNN tweeted:

  • In an article posted at Buzzfeed on Caucus night titled “Ben Carson Isn’t Quitting His Campaign — He’s Just Going To Florida To Do Laundry,” Carson Adviser Armstrong Williams claimed “that the rumors of Carson’s campaign demise are being fueled by Cruz and Paul supporters.” The article notes that there have been “conflicting reports over past hours about why Carson — whose stock has plummeted in recent months as a candidate, and whose campaign has burned through millions of dollars as top officials have quit — was leaving Iowa.”
  • Business Insider also picked up on the weirdness. The permalink reflects that the article originally stated that Carson’s campaign was suspended.
Ben Carson suspension 'rumor' started in the media

Ben Carson suspension ‘rumor’ started in the media

Based on various sources, people affiliated with the campaigns of Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Donald Trump also sought to use the information to their advantage.

None of those candidates apologized.

Conrad Close Tweet 1

“And NEWSFLASH, the Cruz campaigners weren’t the only ones using this information. Trump supporters were using it as well as Rubio supporters. The difference? Apparently the Cruz campaign is better organized and was able to also disseminate the information via app and email notification directly to volunteers on the ground.”

Media Bias Much?

In contrast, CNN correspondent Chris Cuomo, son of former New York governor Mario Cuomo and brother of incumbent New York governor Andrew Cuomo, actually kissed Hillary Clinton before a Democratic Town Hall in January.

In an article titled ‘CNN Stages Town Hall to Boost Clinton Candidacy,’ Roger Aronoff of Accuracy in Media referred to the “town hall” this way:

“So CNN arranged easy questions for Hillary Clinton? What type, exactly, of town hall was this? This was, in reality, a stage-managed and produced love-in for Mrs. Clinton.”

Hillary Clinton kissed by CNN coorespondant Chris Cuomo before January Town Hall

Could anyone imagine Ted Cruz getting the same treatment by CNN?

The Carson campaign suspension “rumor” came at the worst possible time – right before the Iowa caucus – when campaigns were at the peak of frenzied activity.

This author suspects that a news correspondent referring to a presidential candidate as a liar may be unprecedented.

An additional question nobody seems to be asking:

  1. Where were Carson’s people to immediately put a stop to this rumor during the caucus?

Here is the transcript of the original news report:

Tapper: Thanks, Wolf. Well, CNN has learned some news about the man who, at least according to polls, is in fourth place here in Iowa. Now, Dana, a week from tomorrow, we’re all going to be doing this again for the New Hampshire primary. So almost every single candidate is going to be going directly from here to New Hampshire to campaign–except for the man in fourth place, who a few months ago was in first place here, Dr. Ben Carson. What have we learned?

Bash: That’s right. We should say that our Chris Moody is breaking this news, that Ben Carson is going to go back to Florida, to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in Iowa. He’s going to go there for several days. And then afterwards, he’s not going to go to South Carolina. He’s not going to go to New Hampshire. He’s going to come to Washington, D.C., and he’s going to do that because the National Prayer Breakfast is on Thursday. And people who have been following Ben Carson’s career know that that’s really where he got himself on the political map, attending that prayer breakfast, and really giving it to President Obama at the time. And he became kind of a hero among conservatives, among evangelicals especially.

Tapper: But it’s very unusual–

Bash: Very unusual.

Tapper: –to be announcing that you’re going to go home to rest for a few days, not going on to the next site. Plus, he’s already announced that he’s going to be coming out and speaking at 9:15 local and 10:15 Eastern, no matter whether or not we know the results, because he wants to get home and get ahead of the storm.

Bash: Look, if you want to be President of the United States, you don’t go home to Florida. I mean, that’s bottom line. That’s the end of the story. If you want to signal to your supporters that you want it, that you’re hungry for it, that you want them to get out and and campaign, you’ve got to be out there doing it too. And he’s not doing it. it’s very unusual.

Tapper: Very unusual news that CNN has just learned. CNN’s Chris Moody breaking the story. Wolf, back to you in Washington.

Blitzer: Very significant news indeed, guys, thanks very much.

02/8/16

WATCH: CNN’s Chris Moody flat out lies about initial Ben Carson report (video)

By: Renee Nal | New Zeal

Chris Moody (top center) on CNN

Chris Moody (top center) on CNN

A condescending and defiant Chris Moody appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter Sunday to finally address the origins of the “BREAKING” news story that Ben Carson was heading to Florida instead of New Hampshire.

During the segment, Moody completely downplayed CNN’s clear role in the confusion, and in fact, strongly implied that the initial reporting included information that Ben Carson was going to New Hampshire, which was not the case.

Additionally, Moody said that according to “two sources, on the record” from Carson’s campaign, Carson was going to Florida “to take just a short, brief, rest” before heading to D.C. During his initial report, Jake Tapper specifically stated that Carson was “going to go home to rest for a few days” which, during a fast-paced presidential campaign, is much more than “just a short, brief, rest.” Dana Bash said Carson was going home for “for several days” and undoubtedly fueled speculation when she added,

“Look, if you want to be President of the United States, you don’t go home to Florida. I mean, that’s bottom line. That’s the end of the story. If you want to signal to your supporters that you want it, that you’re hungry for it, that you want them to get out and and campaign, you’ve got to be out there doing it too. And he’s not doing it. it’s very unusual.”

As an aside, why have the two sources from Carson’s camp not been identified if they were “on the record?”

Chris Moody further accused Ted Cruz’s campaign of cherry picking the information from the news reports and lamented:

“…either Ted Cruz’s campaign stopped reading or as others have said, it was intentionally misleading.”

Breaking it down:

The “BREAKING” news story by CNN’s Chris Moody gave many people the impression that Dr. Ben Carson was calling it quits from his presidential campaign.  Moody initially indicated that Carson was going to Florida, and then to D.C. He did not say a peep about New Hampshire, aside from saying “Carson won’t go to NH/SC.”

See tweet:

In the wake of his “BREAKING” story, Dana Bash said (entire transcript below):

“…Ben Carson is going to go back to Florida, to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in Iowa. He’s going to go there for several days. And then afterwards, he’s not going to go to South Carolina. He’s not going to go to New Hampshire. He’s going to come to Washington, D.C., and he’s going to do that because the National Prayer Breakfast is on Thursday.”

Further, Jake Tapper tweeted:

Moody did not indicate that Carson would be going back to New Hampshire or South Carolina, nor did CNN Correspondents Dana Bash or Jake Tapper (see below for entire transcript).

Moody came back to clarify that Carson “plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa…” but this was not mentioned during the CNN broadcast.

With this in mind, consider the latest testimony by Chris Moody. 

Here is the transcript of Moody’s comments:

“Yeah Brian [Stelter]. Let me give you a tick tock about what happened that night. I was assigned to cover Carson’s victory party in West Des Moines, in Iowa. His campaign – two sources, on the record – told me that instead of going straight to New Hampshire or straight to South Carolina as most candidates do, he’s going to take just a short, brief, rest. They described it as ‘deep breath’ by going home to Florida, getting his affairs in order and then, head to Washington, D.C. for the National Prayer Breakfast and then, after that, head to New Hampshire for the debate.

And so, I reported that all of those things, in order: He’s going to Florida, He’s – and then I said ‘[H]e’s not dropping out.’ Ted Cruz’s campaign cherry picked part of that information – not only sent that information to precinct captain [sic] on email, but also called and said he’s [Carson] suspending campaigning which is something I or no one else at CNN ever said. We also had a story at CNNPolitics.com with all of that information so either Ted Cruz’s campaign stopped reading or as others have said, it was intentionally misleading.”

Here is the transcript of the original news report, as provided by Breitbart:

Tapper: Thanks, Wolf. Well, CNN has learned some news about the man who, at least according to polls, is in fourth place here in Iowa. Now, Dana, a week from tomorrow, we’re all going to be doing this again for the New Hampshire primary. So almost every single candidate is going to be going directly from here to New Hampshire to campaign–except for the man in fourth place, who a few months ago was in first place here, Dr. Ben Carson. What have we learned?

Bash: That’s right. We should say that our Chris Moody is breaking this news, that Ben Carson is going to go back to Florida, to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in Iowa. He’s going to go there for several days. And then afterwards, he’s not going to go to South Carolina. He’s not going to go to New Hampshire. He’s going to come to Washington, D.C., and he’s going to do that because the National Prayer Breakfast is on Thursday. And people who have been following Ben Carson’s career know that that’s really where he got himself on the political map, attending that prayer breakfast, and really giving it to President Obama at the time. And he became kind of a hero among conservatives, among evangelicals especially.

Tapper: But it’s very unusual–

Bash: Very unusual.

Tapper: –to be announcing that you’re going to go home to rest for a few days, not going on to the next site. Plus, he’s already announced that he’s going to be coming out and speaking at 9:15 local and 10:15 Eastern, no matter whether or not we know the results, because he wants to get home and get ahead of the storm.

Bash: Look, if you want to be President of the United States, you don’t go home to Florida. I mean, that’s bottom line. That’s the end of the story. If you want to signal to your supporters that you want it, that you’re hungry for it, that you want them to get out and and campaign, you’ve got to be out there doing it too. And he’s not doing it. it’s very unusual.

Tapper: Very unusual news that CNN has just learned. CNN’s Chris Moody breaking the story. Wolf, back to you in Washington.

Blitzer: Very significant news indeed, guys, thanks very much.

Ted Cruz apologized, publicly, twice.

But while Carson and CNN have repeatedly bashed Ted Cruz, nobody mentions that this all happened during a frenzied Iowa caucus. Where were Ben Carson’s people on the ground to clarify CNN’s misleading report?

It seems to this author that CNN and Ben Carson’s staff are largely to blame for this massive gaffe.