The day after the shooting by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida we learn that Cruz was reported to the FBI by a YouTube blogger.
Question: Did Google, who owns YouTube, report this posting to the FBI? If not, why not?
FBI agents were warned about Nikolas Cruz’s plans to become a “professional school shooter” months ago, according to a YouTube vlogger who noticed a sick comment on one of his videos.
Ben Bennight, a bail bondsman in Mississippi who goes by the name Ben the Bondsman, said that he received a terrifying comment from a user called Nikolas Cruz under a video in September.
“This comment said ‘I’m going to be a professional school shooter” and I knew that I couldn’t just ignore that,” he said.
Bennight said that he flagged the comment to YouTube and also sent a screenshot to the FBI, who visited him briefly in September and asked him whether he knew the poster.
Here is a video Ben Bennight posted on YouTube:
The Miami Herald reported, “[T]he FBI special agent in charge for South Florida told reporters that agents — after ‘reviews and checks’ — could not identify the user behind the YouTube comment.”
On social media, Nikolas Cruz did not appear to be a peaceful man. He made quite clear his desire to perpetrate the exact type of violence of which he now stands accused.
Before he allegedly committed one of the worst mass shootings in US history at a Parkland, Florida, high school on Wednesday, police officials say Cruz wrote social media posts so threatening he was twice reported to the FBI.
He hurled slurs at blacks and Muslims, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, had ties to white supremacists.He said he would shoot people with his AR-15 and singled out police and anti-fascist protesters as deserving of his vengeance. Just five months ago, he stated his aspiration to become a “professional school shooter.”
If five months ago the South Florida office of the FBI had simply Googled the name Nikolas Cruz, checked the national data base on gun purchases in Florida or searched lists of expelled students for the named Nikolas Cruz they would have hit pay-dirt.
It just doesn’t make sense that with the resources available to law enforcement at every level and the algorithms available to Google and YouTube that Nikolas Cruz was never found.
This failure to see the obvious reminds us of July 18th, 2016 when Judicial Watch obtained documents revealing FBI that declared the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen not to be a terrorist 3 years before the slaughter.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/bloody-google-page.jpg360640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2018-02-15 17:07:232018-03-04 06:02:30VIDEO: Do Google, and its subsidiary YouTube, have blood on their hands for the Florida slaughter?
“We’ve never seen a cut of this size and also a cut of this impact.” – Hans Van de Weerd an executive at the International Rescue Committee.
The slated closures, which are being reviewed by the State Department for final approval, follow President Donald Trump’s decision to dramatically reduce the number of refugees that will be allowed into the United States in 2018.
Warning!Although this is news you will find valuable, especially if you live near one of the soon-to-be-closed resettlement sites, remember that this is temporary and when Trump is no longer in the White House, the refugee industry will go in to high gear to make up for what they will call the lost Trump years!
In order for that not to happen, CONGRESS must dump or reform the Refugee Act of 1980!
Reutersis reporting the impending closure of 20 offices.
Demonstrating that elections have consequences, it was only in 2016 that the State Department was on a high attempting to add about 47 offices to their roster of resettlement towns and cities. Now this….
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Refugee resettlement agencies*** are preparing to shutter more than 20 offices across the United States and cut back operations in more than 40 others after the State Department told them to pare their operations, according to plans seen by Reuters.
It should come as no surprise to you that refugee contractor employees like Hans here also support illegal aliens getting amnesty. It isn’t about humanitarian concern for refugees, but is about flooding America with immigrants, like Hans himself.
The State Department has said the drop in refugee numbers, from the 110,000 ceiling set by the Obama administration to 45,000 for 2018, means the country no longer needs all of the 324 resettlement offices that were operating at the end of 2017. This year’s cap on refugees is the lowest since 1980.
The offices, run by private non-profit agencies that contract with the U.S. government, provide a range of services to refugees, from assisting them in finding housing and jobs, to helping them navigate banking, medical care, school enrollment and other complexities of life in America. [Complexities=getting their welfare!—ed]
Opponents of the resettlement program say it is more costly to resettle refugees in the United States than it is to give aid to displaced people overseas.
“The changes will consolidate smaller affiliates, reduce costs and simplify management structures to help the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program run in a way that is fiscally responsible and sustainable in the long term,” State Department spokeswoman Cheryl Harris said in an email.
[….]
“We’ve never seen a cut of this size and also a cut of this impact,” said Hans Van de Weerd an executive at the International Rescue Committee, one of the nine resettlement agencies. [Why isn’t newshound Miliband quoted?—ed]
While the size of the U.S. refugee program has fluctuated over the years, it has never seen an across-the-board cut to dozens of offices in such a short period of time, he said.
Van de Weerd said the cuts could make it difficult for the United States to ramp up refugee numbers in the future. “It took years to build up this capacity,” he said. “Once you break it down it’s not easy to build it up again.”
Below is a screenshot of a portion of a very useful graphic Reutershas prepared. Click here to see the entire page.
***These are the nine federal contractors which refer to themselves as VOLAGs (Voluntary agencies, Ha! Ha!) which will lose some of their subcontractor offices (see list here before it is revised). The number in parenthesis is the percentage of federal funding each gets to place refugees in your towns.
They are paid by the refugee head thus the focus on Trump’s admission numbers.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/trump-refugees-e1479038433927.jpg378640Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2018-02-15 11:25:342018-02-15 11:25:34As President Trump shrinks refugee program, 20 resettlement offices are closing in CA, FL, NY, TX and Massachusetts
On Valentines Day 2018 Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year old, decided to enter his former high school and began slaughtering students and faculty. Does this scenario sound familiar? It should because we knew, as a society, this was going to happen over and over again. We did not listen to those sounding the alarm bells. We turned a blind eye, and because we did there is blood flowing in our public schools and worse. We blamed everything and everyone but ourselves for this blood shed.
How did this happen? Answer: God was taken out of our schools.
God was taken out of public schools by United States Supreme Court on June 25th, 1962. In 1989 researcher David Barton published a book titled “America, to pray or not to pray?”
Barton asked:
It is impossible to know how many of the 39 million children were involved in daily verbal prayers, but most accounts indicate that a clear majority of the students voluntarily participated in daily school prayer.
Is it possible that the prayers that were being offered by these children and their teachers across the nation actually had any measurable, tangible effect?
The editorial staff of The Forerunner in 2008 published an op-ed titled “What Happened When the Praying Stopped.” The editorial staff looked at David Barton’s book and wrote about what Barton found in six areas:
Figure 1: SAT Total Scores. Basic data from the College Entrance Exam Board
Figure 1: The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is an academic test that measures the developed verbal and math reasoning of a student exiting from high school or some similar type of learning facility. The results of these tests are commonly used by colleges and universities to indicate the strength of a student’s academic preparation and his potential for success on the college level.
Figure 1 shows how drastically the actual knowledge of high school students began to drop at an accelerating rate after 1962. Barton notes in his report that the upturn in SAT scores since 1981 is due to the increase in private Christian educational facilities which began to flourish at that time. Statistics have proven that students from private Christian schools showed higher academic achievement and higher test scores.
Figure 2: Percentage of U.S. Teenage Girls Who Have Had Pre-Marital Intercourse.
Figure 2: This graph shows the increase in sexual activity in unmarried teen-age girls after the 1962 Supreme Court decision. It is evident from the figures provided that in the years previous to the removal of prayer the rates remained stable and relatively unchanged. In the post- prayer years the numbers immediately began to soar. The sudden increase on the graph appears as if a great restraining force had suddenly been removed.
Figure 3: Unwed women 15-19 years of age showed a phenomenal increase in the rate of pregnancies after the School Prayer decision. Note that the figure jumps drastically after the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision which made abortion legal in the U.S. The United States now has the highest incidence of teen-age motherhood in any Western country.
Figure 5: SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLDS. Female Head, No Spouse Present
Figure 4: For the 15-19 and 20-24 age group, the rates of youth suicide remained relatively unchanged during the years from 1946 to the School Prayer decision in 1962. But in the years since, suicides among the same group have increased 253 percent, or an average of 10.5 percent per year.
Figure 5: Stability in the family has also been affected since the 1962 decision. Divorce, single parent families, couples living together but not married, and adultery are areas of family breakdown which have experienced radical growth in recent years. In the graph above, the increase in single parent families (households with only a mother and children) are detailed. Note the dotted line at the bottom, which shows the rate of growth prior to the 1962 decision.
Figure 6: VIOLENT CRIME: Number of Offenses.
Figure 6: Crime, productivity, and national morality had been on a fairly stable level prior to the 1962 decision, but that is no longer the case. It is obvious that such a quantity of students praying for their nation had a very positive effect on the course that this nation had taken. The rate of violent crime, as shown above, has risen over 330 percent.
“One can argue, and some have, that the decision by the Supreme Court – in a series of three decisions back in 1962 and 1963 – to remove Bible and prayer from our public schools, may be the most spiritually significant event in our nation’s history over the course of the last 55 years,” Jeynes said.
[ … ]
Since 1963, Jeynes said there have been five negative developments in the nation’s public schools:
Academic achievement has plummeted, including SAT scores.
Increased rate of out-of-wedlock births
Increase in illegal drug use
Increase in juvenile crime
Deterioration of school behavior
Dr. Jeynes noted, “So we need to realize that these actions do have consequences. When we remove that moral fiber — that moral emphasis – this is what can result.”
Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision the top five complaints of teachers from 1940-1962 were talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls and getting out of turn in line. Since 1963 the greater concerns are rape, robbery, assault, burglary and arson.
EDITORS NOTE: Nikolas Cruz has been identified as the alleged killer of 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, FL. Cruz was “expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for unspecified disciplinary reasons.” Cruz was adopted by Lynda Cruz, a widow. Postings under the name Nikolas Cruz included threatening comments under videos on YouTube and other sites, including “I whana shoot people with my AR-15” (sic), “I wanna die Fighting killing s**t ton of people” and “I am going to kill law enforcement one day they go after the good people.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/god-1.jpg387640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2018-02-15 07:56:512018-02-21 15:14:27What is fundamentally wrong with our schools? Let us count the ways…
Not for nothing, but the latest fruits of the sexual revolution are even more bizarre than most of us imagined.
We knew things would get a little freaky, but maybe we didn’t know it would involve an upswing in polygamy, amorous activities with plastic women, or cuddling sessions with electric candelabra.
But that is the state of affairs as we approach Valentine’s Day this year.
We shouldn’t be surprised. When a society deifies sexual expression, it deifies a jealous god who will not be satisfied until every biological, social, and moral norm is overturned.
Consider the upswing in open marriages. In a recent edition of The Chronicle Review, Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins, a British-Canadian philosopher, argues that polygamy should be normalized. Jenkins practices polygamy (which she calls “polyamory”) with her husband, Jonathan Jenkins Ichikawa, and her boyfriend, Ray Hsu.
Jenkins and her husband have been open about their polygamy since July 2011, shortly after their wedding. Jenkins notes that people are judgmental, “lecturing” her for taking part in something they consider unnatural and immoral.
But Jenkins responds that polygamy is quite natural and moral.
She argues that polygamy is the most natural relationship of all, as can be seen in the fact that very few animal species are monogamous. “Not even swans are monogamous,” she says. Not even swans.
She argues that polygamy is a moral way of life, with open marriages consisting of nothing more than ethical individuals being faithful to their multiple true loves.
Or, consider the emergence of sexual love with multiple sex dolls. Recently, The Guardian ran a story on James, a 58-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia. James, it turns out, is married to a human woman, Tine, but is also the owner of four life-size silicon sweethearts.
Two years ago, James’ wife left the home briefly to care for her ailing mother. Months later, she returned to find her husband surrounded by four new “ladies,” remarkable for their physical dimensions and their willingness to remain silent.
In short order, she learned that James had been “dating” the robots—taking them for picnics, watching television together, and engaging in, er, nocturnal activities with them.
James’ plastic princesses are the fruit of an emerging industry of animatronic, AI-enabled silicon sexbots. These sexbots are custom-made, complete with silicon body parts, heating and lubrication systems, and changing facial expressions.
The idea of sex robots is not new. In 2007, futurist David Levy published “Love and Sex with Robots,” in which he argued that robotic love would soon be embraced in the West.
In a recent interview, Levy argued that robotic love has many merits, as it could make prostitution obsolete, teach humans a greater variety of lovemaking positions, and provide pedophiles an outlet for their desire.
“Look. One has to accept that sexual mores advance with time, and morality with it,” Levy said in a recent interview. “Nothing can be ruled out.”
Finally, consider the curious case of erotic love with multiple light fixtures.
Recently, Inside Edition ran a story on Amanda Liberty, 33, of Leeds, England, who “married” her favorite chandelier. Liberty, who identifies as objectum sexual, says she just “knew” she would marry “Lumiere” the moment she first saw “her” on eBay last year.
In spite of the marriage, Liberty remains in an open relationship with her collection of more than 20 other lighting fixtures:
None of my chandeliers are jealous of each other. They understand that I love them all for their different personalities. For example, I love kissing and cuddling Lumiere, but I sleep with Jewel every night, as she is portable and very nice to cuddle.
Relentlessly true to the inner logic of the sexual revolution, polygamy, sexbots, and object-sex are part of the relentless drive to redefine marriage, sex, and romantic love. We are hard-wired for sex, according to this logic, but society must not cast judgment on our choice of sexual union.
But make no mistake. These latest iterations of the sexual revolution are unnatural and immoral. Their public emergence might tell us what “is” happening culturally, but it cannot tell us what we “ought” to do.
For the “ought,” we must turn, as our Founding Fathers did, to the Judeo-Christian view of humanity and sexuality. From it, we learn that God created human beings in his image and likeness, providing us with spiritual and moral guidance so that we could flourish and experience life’s goodness.
Central to this moral guidance is the truth that marriage and family are the core social units of society. Together they form the most important context in which children are shaped to understand themselves and their relationship with the world.
So, on Valentine’s Day this year, let’s make clear to our children and to society that marriage is between one man and one woman, and that any departure from that norm will leave us empty and pitiful in our attempts at sexual fulfillment.
Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.
Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.
The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.
Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.
Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.
You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.
EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is by igor_kell/Getty Images.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Polyamory-1250x650-e1518655192656.jpg380640The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2018-02-14 19:40:382018-02-14 19:51:38Polygamy, Robot Sex Are Consequences of the Sexual Revolution
After much speculation pertaining to the Trump administration’s official policy on transgender restroom policies, a White House spokeswoman indicated that the U.S. Department of Education won’t investigate any complaints regarding transgender restroom policies.
Spokeswoman Liz Hill told BuzzFeed News that specific kinds of transgender complaints may be investigated, but no bathroom complaints will garner the Department of Education’s scrutiny.
“Long-standing regulations provide that separating facilities on the basis of sex is not a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX,” Hill said, explaining that the department will continue investigating sex-based stereotypes and sex discrimination against transgender individuals, but will not devote resources to the slew of transgender bathroom cases.
“Until now, the official position of the department has been that Title IX protects all students and that they were evaluating how that protection applies to the issue of bathroom access,” said the chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Catherine Lhamon, who disagrees with Hill’s statement that the DOE isn’t required to include transgender restroom policies under Title IX.
“This new categorical bar of civil rights protection for transgender children required to attend schools every day ignores the text of the law, courts’ interpretation of the law, the stated position of the department to date, and human decency,” Lhamon said, according to BuzzFeed News. “That interpretation represents an appalling abdication of federal enforcement responsibility, inconsistent with the law and with courts’ interpretation of the law, and totally lacking in human compassion for children in school, whom the department is charged to protect.”
The Education Department’s announcement comes after the Trump administration revoked a vague Obama administration order that forced taxpayer-funded schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.
“This is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government,” then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters in February 2017.
Montana is considering adopting a measure requiring people to use the bathroom and locker room of their biological sex. The Locker Room Privacy Act says Montana residents must use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their birth gender rather than their gender identity, according to the Missoulian.
Maryland schools adopted a new policy in November, however, allowing transgenders to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice, according to The Washington Post.
A transgender student also won $800,000 from her Wisconsin high school in January after reaching a settlement in a lawsuit alleging staff had monitored her trips to the boys’ bathroom.
Ash Whitaker, who identifies as male, filed a lawsuit claiming that teachers had accompanied her to the boys’ bathroom and forced her to wear an identifying bracelet to single her out from other students. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, school board voted 5-2 to grant the $800,000 settlement.
EDITORS NOTE: Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. The featured image is by Ciud/Getty Images.
One of the most insidious impacts of the “progressive” movement of the last 20 years is the way the voices of the liberal left have imposed politically correct language on the American public by creating new meanings for old words.
For example, in an attempt to quash reasoned dialogue on important cultural and moral issues, the misuse of the word “hate” has worked very well for the left against conservative Christians. Most Americans – especially Christians – recoil at the idea of hating people. Rightfully so. Therefore, if one can establish hate as the motive for opposing a particular issue or behavior, it sabotages any real debate. End of discussion.
The progressive parade is crowded with societal movers and shakers. They control much of our culture – media, education, entertainment, business, and government. The legions are led by a fervent few, religious zealots in their own right.
Their religion is called secular humanism. For them, man is god, and there is no higher power to answer to. They reject Christianity and the morality of the Bible unless they can co-opt and twist it to further their own agenda. Their goal? To crush Christianity and rob it of its historical and traditional impact on our nation.
And it is working within and without the church.
Let’s look at how progressives use the concept of hate against Christians. Think about this for a moment. The idea of hate has no meaningful context outside a biblical one. In other words, if God doesn’t exist to reward and punish, what difference does it make if I hate someone? Why is it wrong? It’s wrong because there is a God, and He defines love and hate.
In fact, God has charged His followers to spread the word that He loves all people and calls them to turn away from their sin and seek Him. When we do this, however, we almost always run into conflict with the progressives’ rejection of God and His standards.
For example, when it comes to human sexuality, progressives have done a masterful job of seemingly turning Christianity against Christians. How? By convincing the general public – and even many Christians – that to speak against homosexuality or transgenderism is in fact hateful. Thus, Christians must be haters, even though their Bible and their creeds teach love. It’s akin to saying that because Christians believe drunkenness is a sin, we, therefore, hate the person who is drunk. The teaching of “hate the sin but love the sinner” is not allowed by the progressives.
One illustration of this is North Carolina’s HB 2, which simply states that on government property, one must use the restrooms, showers, and changing areas that match one’s biological sex. Progressives immediately denounced and declared it a hate bill. End of debate.
Then there are many stories of businesses owned by Christians being told they must participate in homosexual wedding ceremonies or be closed down. Those Christian business owners were motivated by hate, said the progressives. End of discussion.
In Mississippi, where I live, the legislature passed, and the governor signed, a law protecting people of faith from being forced to participate in homosexual weddings. That law, according to the progressives, is a sign of hatred toward lesbians and gays.
It’s hard to fight back against a barrage of lies when they’re repeated 24/7 by the liberal media, and when well-funded LGBTQ activist groups pound on the doors of politicians and corporate executives demanding support and promising punishment if they dare side with those hate-filled Christians.
Unfortunately, many weak-kneed Christians quickly fold on this issue. They either distance themselves from their fellow Christians or they go silent. In either case, it’s shameful and cowardly.
The Bible is clear that the act of homosexuality is a sin. That has been the teaching of the church for 2,000 years. But subscribing to this teaching today, according to progressives, is unacceptable in this new world they are attempting to create. A world without the Christian God, but rather man, as supreme.
The truth: Christians do not hate lesbians, gays, or transgendered people. And without Christians, America would be a much meaner, much uglier place to live. American Family Association has never advocated hate for anyone, nor have we ever said anything but that God loves sinners and calls us all to repentance.
But we refuse to call right wrong or wrong right, and we will continue to stand on the Word of God and proclaim the truth therein.
End of debate.
P.S. If you love our nation, let me challenge you to get The Progressive Threat to the American Republic booklet and companion DVD to arm yourself with a knowledge and understanding of the attempted humanist overthrow of our constitutional republic.
Written by AFA executive vice president Ed Vitagliano, The Progressive Threat to the American Republic reveals the forces that have brought America to the brink of losing our freedoms, and why it is our greatest civic duty to work to restore an understanding of America’s founding principles.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/man-with-bull-horn-e1518623995517.jpg393640American Family Associationhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAmerican Family Association2018-02-14 11:00:102018-02-14 11:01:40How the Loud Left Hijacked Hate
Like all Presidents, Barrack Obama unveiled his presidential portrait Monday, February 12th, 2018. Normally presidential portraits are grand depictions of a president in a traditional style. President Obama decided to go along a different path. Obama commissioned Kehinde Wiley to do the portrait. His choice reflects his world view and his book “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” in which Obama wrote:
“My identity might begin with the fact of my race, but it didn’t, couldn’t end there. At least that’s what I would choose to believe.”
Obama’s father’s dreams are the reason he choose this artist to do his portrait.
He sees himself as a reflection of everything Wiley has painted like Wiley’s 2012 portrait of black women holding a knife and the severed head of a young blond white girl. This painting reminded me of photos of Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, 36, and sons Zarqawi, 11, and Abdullah, 12, who joined ISIS and were once pictured holding a severed head. It also brought to mind the photo of former comedian Kathy Griffin holding the severed head of President Trump.
Obama also views himself as a king rather than a president with limited executive powers as depicted in the below painting by Wiley done in 2005 titled “Ice T” copied from the painting of “Napoleon on his Imperial throne” (1806) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
The artist who painted former President Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian has a history of including depictions of sperm in his work, and has been described as “predatory” and “perverse” by The Village Voice.
Kehinde Wiley is well-known for recreating famous paintings, but replacing the featured white person – often a noble or general – with a young black man. Wiley often met the men on the street, brought them into his studio, and had them pick a work to be painted into, the famously left-wing Village Voice reported in March 2015.
Wiley “lures young men into his studio with the promise of power and glamour,” writer and art critic Jessica Dawson wrote. She called the behavior “predatory” and “perverse.”
Wiley painting “St. Andrew” showing a black man with his crotch against a wooden cross with free floating spermatozoa.
Dawson also points out the sexuality in several of his pieces and highlights that they often include sperm. Wiley’s rendition of “St. Andrew,” [above] for example, shows a black man grinding “his crotch against a wooden cross” with “free-floating spermatozoa” painted on the canvas, Dawson wrote.
In a soaring studio on the outskirts of Beijing, where Kehinde Wiley came in 2006 to set up the first of his several global production outposts, the 35-year-old painter is showing off his women.
[ … ]
Producing work in China cuts costs, but not as much as it used to, Wiley says. These days in Beijing he employs anywhere from four to ten workers, depending on the urgency, plus a studio manager, the American artist Ain Cocke. The Beijing studio began as a lark: After visiting an artist friend there and liking what he saw, he and a couple of his New York staffers flew out, rented some space, and started painting, “sort of like a retreat,” he says. One thing led to another—“another” being a five-year relationship with a Chinese D.J.—and eventually the Beijing studio became the main production hub as well as his second home. He recently bought an apartment overlooking Chaoyang Park, complete with a live-in maid and two miniature greyhounds, Xiaohui, or “Little Gray,” and Celie, named after the character in The Color Purple.
The official portrait of former President Barack. (Kehinde Wiley)
Obama Presidential Portrait: Well folks he hired an anti-white racist as his artist. The media ignored that fact other than Fox. Think of it this way: Had Trump hired an artist to create a portrait, and that artist was known for works depicting the severed heads of blacks by white people, we would not hear the end of it for many many months. Think about that as yet another indication of the racism of the left and media. With that in mind – you can’t make what our side found out about the portrait.
You see Wiley’s works are just copies, shadows, of painting by the great masters of Western civilization.
Obama’s legacy is, like his life and Wiley’s portrait, a copy of the great leaders of Western civilization. Obama never achieved what the great leaders of America have. He never had any willingness to make America great. He never had any desire to make America safe. Obama never had any intention to make America united as one people, one culture under God.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/kehinde-wiley-obama-portrait.png360640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2018-02-14 07:51:162018-02-14 11:07:56Obama’s Perfect Presidential Portrait: Black-Supremacist, Predatory, Perverse and Made in China
SEOUL, South Korea—In an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk shows scars that he suffered from torture inside a North Korean prison camp.
Shin was born in a North Korean prison in 1982 and made a daring escape in 2005. He allowed The Daily Signal to film his back and buttocks, which were burned when he was hung above a charcoal fire.
“As the fire started rising up toward my back,” Shin said, “I could feel that it was scorching hot, and I could even smell my own flesh burning.”
This week, the U.N. Security Council met in New York, and Shin is hoping the international community will recognize what’s happening in North Korea.
“If the U.N. or anyone in the international community cares about the human rights issue in North Korea … if you have any worries or concerns at all for the North Koreans who are suffering and dying right now, I strongly plead for some sort of direct action to be taken for them,” Shin said.
Shin also spoke about his escape from the North Korean prison camp in a separate video The Daily Signal will release next week.
Over the past 20 years, Ed Frank has worked in communications roles on Capitol Hill, in the Bush administration and for free-market organizations. He’s currently president of Frank Strategies. He recently visited Botswana on behalf of The Daily Signal. Twitter: @frankstrategies.
A Note for our Readers:
Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.
Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.
The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.
Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.
Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.
You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Shin-Dong-hyuk.jpg370640The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2018-02-14 07:04:412018-02-14 07:04:41VIDEO: He Escaped From a North Korean Prison Camp. Now He’s Showing the World His Torture Scars.
The Trump administration unveiled a new plan to revamp how people are receiving food stamps, suggesting that the government give them boxes of nonperishable food instead.
The new suggestion, written in the 2019 budget proposal, would take half of the money people get from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and instead send families a box of hand-picked, nonperishable items called “America’s Harvest Box,” reports Politico.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called the suggestion similar to the Blue Apron business, which sends prepared food and recipes to people’s doorsteps, adding that the government would be able to save billions of dollars on the America’s Harvest Box initiative.
“[The Department of Agriculture’s] America’s Harvest Box is a bold, innovative approach to providing nutritious food to people who need assistance feeding themselves and their families—and all of it is homegrown by American farmers and producers,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. “It maintains the same level of food value as SNAP participants currently receive, provides states flexibility in administering the program, and is responsible to the taxpayers.”
According to White House calculations, the government would save roughly $129 billion over the course of 10 years, though it appears states would be responsible for having to ship and get the food boxes to the SNAP recipients.
“The projected savings does not include shipping door-to-door for all recipients,” USDA spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
Some groups dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty have come out against the plan, expressing concern that the plan is “radical and risky,” while others said it could potentially “stigmatize” those on welfare.
“It could be something that [SNAP recipients] don’t even know how to make,” Miguelina Diaz, a member of Hunger Free America, told NPR. “We deal with different people of different backgrounds. Limiting them by providing them a staple box would limit the choices of food they can prepare for their families.”
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A pro-family student organization at Georgetown University has received its donations back after an investigation of faculty and others who the group accused of misappropriating funds contributed to it.
The group, Love Saxa, said that Georgetown officials had taken private donations intended for it and deposited them into other student organizations’ accounts.
The organizations who received those funds hold views contrary to the Love Saxa mission. The money was reportedly deposited into LGBT-affiliated student groups’ accounts.
During the fall 2017 semester, some students at Georgetown were angered by Love Saxa’s pro-family messaging and called on the university to withdraw recognition of the group as an affiliate of the school.
After a thorough vetting of the club and its leaders by the university, Love Saxa remains an officially recognized student organization on campus.
Love Saxa’s views on marriage and family align with official Catholic teachings, and Georgetown has long been recognized as one of the most prestigious Catholic and Jesuit universities in the United States.
Proponents of the club agree that a student organization on a Catholic campus should be able to support Christian views on marriage without being threatened with having its organizational recognition revoked.
The group’s unusual name stems from Georgetown’s college chant “Hoya Saxa,” which translates as “what rocks.” Love Saxa means “love rocks.”
In a letter addressed to Georgetown’s president, John J. DeGioia, Love Saxa and its legal advocate, the Alliance Defending Freedom, called on the university to investigate the funding misappropriation matter, restore the donations, and hold the individuals responsible accountable.
There were three specific incidences of misappropriations of funds cited in the letter, written by Tyson Langhofer, director of the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Academic Freedom. The Alliance Defending Freedom is a nonprofit focused on advocating, training, and funding on the issues of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
One example, from November 2017, cited an individual who sent a check for $50 to Love Saxa. The president of the student organization, Amelia Irvine, deposited the check with Georgetown officials. Yet, Love Saxa never received the funds.
To the contrary, the donor received a receipt from Georgetown showing that the donation had been credited to the LGBTQ Resource Center reserve.
The other two examples of misappropriations of funds showed the money being appropriated to similar LGBTQ resources and organizations.
“In light of the sustained mistreatment of Love Saxa throughout this academic year, now is the time for transparency and accountability,” Langhofer wrote. “While we desire to resolve this matter amicably, Georgetown needs to demonstrate its commitment to integrity through its actions.”
Asked about the matter, a Georgetown university spokesperson sent the following statement to the Daily Signal:
All gifts to Love Saxa have been identified and deposited to Love Saxa’s account. When the university receives a gift designated by a donor for a student group with access to benefits, the gifts are allocated with a designated worktag that ensures they reach the intended recipient.
Because a fall 2017 gift was the first donation of its kind to Love Saxa, no established path existed.
As always in these cases, we corrected the mistakes, have developed a path to ensure that funds are routed properly in the future, and have communicated to the student group and the donors that the gifts have been properly allocated.
Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.
Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.
The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.
Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.
Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.
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Most Americans have probably never heard of Beloit, Ohio. But this month, they’re starting to hear from them. It may a small town (less than 1,000 people at most), but it’s mighty. And in the face of the bullies at the Freedom from Religious Foundation (FFRF), that’s all that matters.
As usual, the anti-Christian activists are always on the prowl for rural areas, where they think locals can be easily intimidated on issues of faith. But the atheists at FFRF made a mistake when it picked on Beloit. As usual, the Wisconsin group is terrified of the prayers of a few believers, so it fired off a letter to the superintendent of West Branch ordering the school to stop praying before sporting events — or else. School officials were upset at the thought of ending a tradition that had gone on for years, but they agreed, admitting they couldn’t afford a lawsuit.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. The community has started rallying to the side of the students, who are fighting back by selling more than 4,000 “Prayer Matters” shirts (in a town of 900 people)! “They don’t know us, have never attended a West Branch sporting event, or even stepped foot in our community,” one mom said. “Yet they believe they can tell us to stop [praying]. That just doesn’t seem right.
At Friday’s home basketball game, fans everywhere could be seen wearing the message that atheists so desperately wants to silence. “Everybody’s really coming together in support of the prayer issue,” local pastor John Ryser told Fox News’s Caleb Parke. “[Now], we’re having more conversations about prayer and about the gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ, than we’ve ever had before.” As for the prayers, students took over, asking fans to have a moment of silence after the National Anthem.
What activists meant for evil, God meant for good. As we speak, our friends at First Liberty Institute are on the ground, investigating. If there’s a way to restore the religious freedom of these students, their attorneys will find it. For now, we’re cheering on the hundreds of families across that small, northeast town who know that no earthly power can stop God’s people — not from taking a stand and certainly not from praying!
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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It’s been more than 120 years since his death, but abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass is still relevant to this day, experts say.
“One reason Douglass is relevant today is because he teaches us what classical liberalism has to offer to racial minorities,” said Timothy Sandefur, author of “Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man.”
The title is a reference to Douglass’ most popular lecture “Self-Made Men.” In it, Douglass wrote, “Self-made men … are the men who owe little or nothing to birth, relationship, friendly surroundings; to wealth inherited or to early approved means of education; who are what they are, without the aid of any of the favoring conditions by which other men usually rise in the world and achieve great results.”
Sandefur made his remarks at a panel discussion Thursday at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington.
Douglass was a classical liberal, or what some would refer to as “libertarian,” in today’s terms, Sandefur said. He was an advocate for individualism, the right to bear arms, and economic freedom. The black abolitionist embraced the Constitution like few others and argued that it was an anti-slavery document.
According to Sandefur, Douglass believed that black Americans would succeed through their own efforts and once said, “If you will only untie their hands, I think they will live.”
Fox News contributor Juan Williams said black Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas both overcame great odds to achieve success and that their lives fit the story that Douglass was trying to tell.
Douglass’ legacy of abolition and his fight against human trafficking prompted Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., to name a human-trafficking prevention bill after the historic figure.
The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017 aims to combat human trafficking, including forced labor and illegal commercial sex trafficking.
Kyle Perisec is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
A Note for our Readers:
Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.
Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.
The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.
Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.
Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.
You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.
As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee believed that her country was the best on the planet.
She believed that Americans were evil, South Koreans were starving to death and North Koreans were better off than everybody else. Every North Korean believes this.
As Lee explains, propagandized since birth, the people of North Korea know nothing of what life is like outside their own borders. The brutal dictatorships of Kim Jong-un and his predecessors Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung have socially engineered a system void of any freedoms whatsoever, and have positioned themselves as the sole source of information in the country.
“Three generations of Kim regime leadership brutally repressed the people, to the point where the North Korean people don’t even realize that there is something beyond North Korea,” said Olivia Enos, research associate in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation. “And it’s not getting better.”
There is a complete lack of freedom of thought and belief in the North Korea Lee grew up in: no freedom of the press, no freedom of movement and no freedom of speech. Nights are pitch-black due to power outages or lack of electricity, neighbors and friends are encouraged to spy on one another and becoming pregnant by a Chinese man is punishable by death.
Life gets infinitely worse for anyone who speaks out against the regime in any way. These perceived traitors can be tortured, thrown into secret prison camps called kwanliso or publicly executed. Their families are also punished.
“Guilt by association in North Korea means that if you commit a crime, not only will you be punished, but also three generations of your family will be punished. Your parents, your grandparents, your grandchildren,” explained Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch.
A satellite photo of the Korean Peninsula that shows the bright lights of South Korea and China compared to the blackness of North Korea at night. (Photo: Flickr)
“Even if you are a North Korean that doesn’t find themselves in a prison camp situation and you’re living a normal North Korean life—to say that ordinary North Korean people are enduring unbelievable repression of freedom is accurate,” Enos said.
The crimes against humanity in North Korea include extermination; murder; enslavement; torture; imprisonment; rape; forced abortions and other sexual violence; persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds; the forcible transfer of populations; the enforced disappearance of persons; and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.
The U.N. inquiry further details nearly 400 pages of horror stories, ranging from government officials confiscating food from those in need to women in the kwanliso prison camps who were tragically forced to drown their own babies.
“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” according to the report. In fact, the U.N. Human Rights Council goes so far as to point out “many parallels” between North Korea and Nazi Germany.
Unlike with Nazi Germany, though, the international community cannot claim ignorance as an excuse for not intervening to stop the human rights abuses.
“Now is the time for action. We can’t say we don’t know anymore. The suffering and tears of the people of North Korea demand action,” Michael Kirby, the chairman of the U.N. inquiry, pleaded in the report. “Our generation must tackle this issue urgently and collectively, and indeed the world will judge us by our response.”
It raises the question: How should the world respond?
The Global Response
One of the recommendations made by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry was to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court, where Kim Jong-un and his officials would be held accountable for committing crimes against humanity.
Here in the United States, Congress can take measures as well. In early February, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) introduced the bipartisan North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act. Unlike prior legislation, this bill has an important human rights focus that came about as a response to the U.N. inquiry.
This legislation would make it so that the U.S. directly sanctions North Korea—not just for its nuclear weapons proliferation, but also for the regime’s ongoing human rights abuses, according to Enos.
This would ensure that the sanctions impact not the suffering North Koreans, but rather the regime itself.
In terms of human rights, the legislation involves studying the possibility of bringing cellular and internet communications to the people of North Korea, the State Department investigating and shedding more light on the political prison camps, and the State Department identifying severe human rights abusers in North Korea.
“It is past time to hold Pyongyang’s elites responsible for their actions,” Engel said in a press release. “This bipartisan legislation would strengthen U.S. sanctions and close loopholes used by the Kim regime to profit from illicit activities.”
Lee has some ideas of her own for policy changes that could benefit North Koreans.
As it stands now, Chinese policy is to forcibly repatriate any North Korean defectors they catch, releasing the refugees back into the hands of the aggressor nation. Upon returning, the defectors face harsh punishment in the kwanliso—torture, starvation, execution—as do their families. This is the biggest problem for defectors, Lee explained.
China is the only path to South Korea, where defectors are granted automatic citizenship due to their asylum status. Throughout their escape journey to South Korea, North Koreans fear for their safety in China, the possibility of being sent back to a wretched life always looming.
“Please don’t catch them,” Lee pleaded to the Chinese government while speaking at an event Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation.
“They don’t want to stay in China; they want to come to South Korea for asylum. I don’t ask for [China] to give ID cards or citizenship, it’s too much for them. At least stop trying to catch them,” she begged.
No matter how the world chooses to combat this humanitarian crisis, North Korean defectors and policy experts alike advocate for an urgent and effective response from the international community.
Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow on Northeast Asia in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, urged the world to stand up to the Kim regime in an issue brief last year, writing that there “should be widespread international outrage against the horrors systemically perpetuated on the North Korean people by their leaders.”
“Time is running out for the North Korean people, but too many have already perished as the world turned its back,” Klingner warned.
Trust in the mainstream media is at a historic low—and rightfully so given the behavior of many journalists in Washington, D.C.
Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, it is painfully clear that the mainstream media covers liberals glowingly and conservatives critically.
Now journalists spread false, negative rumors about President Trump before any evidence is even produced.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. That’s why The Daily Signal exists.
The Daily Signal’s mission is to give Americans the real, unvarnished truth about what is happening in Washington and what must be done to save our country.
Our dedicated team of more than 100 journalists and policy experts rely on the financial support of patriots like you.
Your donation helps us fight for access to our nation’s leaders and report the facts.
You deserve the truth about what’s going on in Washington.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/hyeonseo-lee-feature-edit-1250x650-e1518520892627.jpg366640The Daily Signalhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Signal2018-02-13 06:23:072018-02-14 06:57:37VIDEO: What Is Life Really Like in North Korea? One Woman’s Story
So much of what has come to pass for “common knowledge” is actually an example of how the principle of “The Big Lie” can alter the public’s understanding of critical issues. Immigration has proven to be particularly vulnerable to this tactic.
Under that principle, officials intentionally concoct falsehoods and repeat them at every possible opportunity to convince the masses that the lies are the truth. This principle was adopted by Nazi Germany in order to con the German populace into accepting the unfathomable depravity of the Third Reich.
Because humans think with words, control of language ultimately results in control of thought. This was the underlying principle of my recent article, Language Wars, The Road to Tyranny is Paved With Language Censorship.
Today the attention span of most Americans can be measured in minutes, if not seconds, further exacerbating the susceptibility of folks to fall victim to language manipulation tactics. The tactics employed by the open-borders/immigration anarchists to further their cause are so easy to disprove that even a child could see through their warped logic.
First off, consider the game of “Musical Chairs,” which most children are familiar with. In this game, as music plays,’ kids circle a line of chairs that alternate in the way that the chairs are facing. When the music stops each child scrambles to sit in one of the chairs. What makes the game challenging is that there is one fewer chair than the number of kids playing. Consequently, one child is unable to find a chair and is removed from the game along with one chair. Once again there is one chair fewer than the number of participating children. The music starts again and the kids circle the remaining chairs until the music stops. Each time one chair and one child are removed until the contest comes down to two kids and one chair. Whichever kid manages to sit is declared the winner of the game.
If you wonder what this has to do with immigration, imagine that during the game one of the adults supervising the game opens a door and allows many more children to flood into the room, however, the number of chairs is not increased. This way the odds of the children already playing the game will succeed in grabbing a seat has just been decreased due to the number of new players introduced into the game.
It should be expected that the children will scream that what has just happened is unfair and of course they would be right.
Now let’s imagine that we are not talking about a childhood game and that the chairs are available jobs and the children are adult workers who are desperate to find a job. The “doors” that have been flung open are America’s borders and those entering the room (labor pool) are many foreign workers, deleteriously impacting jobs and wages across a wide spectrum of industries and skill levels.
Incredibly, many Americans cannot figure out the parallel between these two situations. The Democrats who refused to stand for the State of the Union Address when President Trump noted how unemployment levels for American blacks and Latinos were at the lowest point in years were clearly unhappy. Could it be that they have been depending on making Americans more dependent on the “crumbs” that they offer? I use the term “crumbs” because this was the very word used by Nancy Pelosi to describe the thousand-dollar bonuses a number of companies provided to their employees because of the Trump tax cuts.
Next let’s think back to the days of “Hide and Seek” where one child covers his/her eyes and counts to ten and then attempts to find another child who went hiding when the first child closed his eyes.
Today that game is being played by illegal aliens with great success because the number of ICE agents, and the number of INS agents that preceded the creation of ICE, has always been insignificant when compared with the huge number of illegal aliens who have entered the United States without inspection or violating the terms of their lawful admissions.
Sanctuary city policies make it ever more difficult for the overwhelmed ICE agents to track down and apprehend illegal aliens, even when those aliens are engaged in criminal or terror-related activities.
Of course, the mayors of sanctuary cities and governors of sanctuary states hypocritically draw parallels between their actions and the actions of leaders of the Civil Rights movement who put their lives on the line to right the wrongs of slavery, racism, segregation and discrimination.
Although this parallel is an enormous falsehood, it has been repeated in the news media and by a long list of immigration anarchists and consequently many have fallen for this outrageous analogy. Illegal aliens are certainly protected by due process when they are charged with a crime. But due process is not the same as Civil Rights. The entire point to Civil Rights laws is to guarantee all Americans, particularly American blacks, equal opportunities to be successful in America and be full participants in American society. Elements of this include access to quality in education, job opportunities and housing.
Illegal aliens are not supposed to work, and knowingly providing shelter for illegal aliens can be construed as harboring and shielding, elements of a felony under federal law, Title 8 U.S. Code § 1324.
Where aliens and jobs are concerned, even many categories of nonimmigrant aliens (temporary visitors) including aliens who lawfully enter under the Visa Waiver Program or with tourist visas may not work in the United States and immediately become subject to removal (deportation) if they seek gainful employment.
Prior to WWII the Labor Department was in charge of immigration. The greatest concern, back then, was to shield American workers from foreign competition. This is how the middle class was nurtured and grew to become the envy of the world and came to be known as the “American Dream.”
Incredibly when President Trump, in his State of the Union Address proclaimed, “American are dreamers too” the members of the Democratic Party reacted with sheer hostility, not only towards the President, but hostility and contempt for Americans.
Awhile back I wrote an article about the veiled attack on the middle class. In that article I reported on how on April 30, 2009, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, testified at a hearing advocating the passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation, conducted by Chuck Schumer, then Chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee.
Greenspan was “all in” on legalizing illegal aliens, creating a guest worker program for aliens and for hugely increasing the number of H-1B visas as Bill Gates, whom he quoted, recommended.
As for the impact on American workers and American cities where illegal alien workers were concerned, Greenspan said:
Some evidence suggests that unskilled illegal immigrants (almost all from Latin America) marginally suppress wage levels of native-born Americans without a high school diploma, and impose significant costs on some state and local governments.
That “marginal suppression of wages” for America’s working poor is likely a significant cause of unemployment of Americans and a record levels of homelessness of Americans.
Greenspan’s advocacy for greatly increasing the number of H-1B foreign worker included this justification:
The second bonus would address the increasing concentration of income in this country. Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created a privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at noncompetitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.
Greenspan actually had the unmitigated chutzpah to refer to high-tech American workers as the “privileged elite” who are being shielded from foreign competition. As an economist Greenspan understand “supply and demand” and seeks to greatly increase the supply of compliant and exploitable foreign workers in the labor pool to drive down everyone’s wages.
The Democrats frequently equate providing a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour or $15.00 per hour with “wage equality.” This is clearly not about wage equality but about establishing a “standard wage” which would eradicate the middle class.
The “reforming” of our immigration laws for Greenspan and his globalist cohorts is an effort to actually re-form our immigration system to speed the destruction of the middle class.
Since that hearing Greenspan has persisted in his calls for re-forming the immigration system.
Hypocrisy is usually a clear indicator of a con job. Schumer has called for creating a federal law with a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for those who trespass on critical infrastructure or national landmarks. Yet Schumer demands that aliens who trespass on America be granted United States citizenship.
For years, we heard that the LGBT agenda wouldn’t affect you. Now, it’s not only affecting you — it’s affecting your church.
When the pastor of Metro City Church in Michigan reached out to help teenagers struggling with their sexuality, he never dreamed the workshop would be a story on the national news. After all, he was just doing what a spiritual leader should: ministering to the hurting. But no sooner had Pastor Jeremy Schossau launched the six-week program and the harassment began. Death threats started streaming into the church office — on Facebook, Twitter, and Metro City’s phone lines. Angry activists threatened to burn the church down or shoot members of the staff all because one congregation dared to offer healing, wholeness, and hope.
The series, called “Unashamed Identity Workshop,” was advertised as a girls-only outreach for kids 12-16 years old, who struggle with thoughts that they should identify as transgender, bisexual, or gay. “Through thoughtful, relevant, and biblical counsel, we will help your girl be unashamed of her true sexual identity given to her by God at birth.” Maybe, Pastor Jeremy says in this video response to the protests (which reached a mob of hundreds outside the church over the weekend), people don’t understand what the church is doing.
“A lot of people are calling this conversion therapy,” he says. “And if you think conversion therapy is grabbing somebody and forcing them into a pastor’s office and beating them with a Bible and condemning them and spitting on them and judging them, that is wrong. We oppose that in every single way. What we are about is conversation — not conversion. We are about conversation, not condemnation… [But] we find it incredibly odd that a community that has been so vocal about tolerance… about freedom, about choice… is seemingly very anti-choice when it comes to sexuality.”
But amazingly, nothing the church says seems to matter. State legislators are so incensed at the idea that people would willingly seek help that they’re calling for an investigation into the church! “It is wildly inappropriate to offer conversation therapy classes in our communities,” state Rep Adam Zemke (D) told local reporters, despite the fact that the church offers no such therapy! “I am proud,” Zemke went on, “to sponsor a bill to prohibit these practices in Michigan.” Until then, he’s calling on state Attorney General Bill Schuette to launch an official probe under the Consumer Protection Act.
This is astonishing call — even for the Left. For liberals to attack an event at a local church (instead of a therapist’s practice or counseling nonprofit) is a radical step into totalitarianism. What’s more, it shows the raw hostility they have for any sort of religious accommodation on social issues like sexuality. A church should be the freest and most logical place to engage in these conversations. Now, the Left is trying to change even that.
“Liberals have shown their contempt for religious liberty,” FRC’s Peter Sprigg pointed out, “suing and driving out of business a Jewish ministry that helped adults achieve the same goal. If they succeed in this attack on a local church, it’s only a matter of time before they try to outlaw even the verbal expression of the truth that a person’s sexual identity can change. Even people with no personal interest in sexual orientation or gender identity counseling should be alarmed at these growing attacks on religious liberty and free speech.”
FRC’s Travis Weber agreed, warning every church that it’s only a matter of time until the Left comes for them. “This should be a wakeup call for any Christian across our country who holds to historic biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality. Those who think they can stay out of the fray and avoid conflict by publicly staying silent on this issue are mistaken. Maybe not today, but at some point, you will have to take a stand for what you believe.”
Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.
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As Lee explains, propagandized since birth, the people of North Korea know nothing of what life is like outside their own borders. The brutal dictatorships of Kim Jong-un and his predecessors Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung have socially engineered a system void of any freedoms whatsoever, and have positioned themselves as the sole source of information in the country.
