What You Can (and Can’t) Say in Europe Today

The decline of free speech in Europe today pits blasphemy laws and political correctness against freedom of expression.

Chalk Up a Victory for Violent Islamists

The editor of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo announced the magazine will no longer publish cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Six months earlier, IslamistA victim of the Charlie Hebdo attack (Photo: © Reuters) A victim of the Charlie Hebdo attack (Photo: © Reuters) gunmen slaughtered 12 people in the magazine’s offices, including the magazine’s editor, senior staff and cartoonists.

The magazine’s most prominent cartoonist, Rénald “Luz” Luzier, said earlier he would no longer draw the Prophet Mohammed since it “no longer interests me.” He quit the magazine altogether.

Denmark Drags Out Its Blasphemy Laws to Prosecute Speech Against Islam

Unlike Norway and Iceland, Denmark decided to not to cancel old laws against blasphemy, despite the fact the European Union published guidelines protecting freedom of religion and belief. The guidelines state the “right to freedom of religion or belief, as enshrined in relevant international standards, does not include the right to have a religion or a belief that is free from criticism or ridicule.”

A year after the February 14-15, 2015 shooting attacks in Copenhagen by Islamists — one at an event called “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression” — the Danish government convicted and fined Danish citizen Flemming Nielsen, for a November 2013 Facebook post critical of Islam.

The Gates of Vienna Investigating “Denigration of Religion”

Geert WildersGeert Wilders Controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders in under investigation by Austrian authorities for a speech he made in Vienna recently that compared the Quran with Hitler’s Mein Kampf and suggesting the former be banned as is the later.

Wilders, whose party is has been at the top or nearly at the top of the polls in Netherlands for many years, made the comments in the context of arguing that members of parliaments of a nation that are accepting immigrants should have a say in the immigration policies.

In 2007, Wilders was acquitted of an accusation of hate speech for remarks he made that were critical of Islam.

 A “Grossly Offensive Message”

James-McConnell-InsideIn Ireland, evangelical Pastor James McConnell, 78, is being prosecuted for a sermon he gave Pastor James McConnell criticizing Islam. McConnell has been charged on two counts: improper use of a public electronic communications network (the sermon was live-streamed on the internet) and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network.

His lawyers have argued the sermon was legal under the statues of freedom of expression. The judge declined to throw the case out of court saying that he was not convinced there were not any circumstances under which the pastor could be found guilty.

Sharia Patrol? Germany Gov’t Says It’s “Halal

A German court decided that nine Salafist Muslims who were arrested in Germany for setting up asharia patrol will not be prosecuted. The group wasThe sharia patrol of WuppertalThe sharia patrol of Wuppertal patrolling the streets of Wuppertal in western Germany telling passersby that the area was a “Sharia-Controlled Zone,” which meant alcohol, drugs, gambling, music and concerts, pornography and prostitution were prohibited. Despite the fact that the group was dressed in in bright orange vests labelled “Sharia Patrol” and intimidating the public, the court announced that the group had not violated any German law.

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Europe’s Climate of Denial: Sexual Assaults and Vigilante Groups

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Billboard removed when Catholic Charities complains

Here is the news from the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday (just as the Pope was doing his publicity stunt on the Texas border).

The local Catholic Charities in St. Cloud complained that the sign was inaccurate because their particular branch of CC didn’t actually place Somali Muslims in St. Cloud (that is the job of Lutheran Social Services).  The sign company agreed to remove the sign.

However….

It is accurate that Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis do resettle Somali Muslims (a shocking number of their ‘youths’ have gone on to become international jihadists), so for the whole state of Minnesota the sign’s message is accurate.  We told you as early as 2011 that Catholic Charities was one of three phony non-profits (federal contractors) that first brought Somali Muslims to Minnesota beginning in the 1980s.

Go here to see one of dozens and dozens of posts about the ‘Somali youths’ who received the benefits of US citizenship, welfare as they grew up, and some even obtained college educations and still went on to become (or attempted to become) Islamic terrorists.

Minneapolis Star Tribune story begins:

A billboard that targeted Catholic Charities for resettling Muslim refugees was taken down Wednesday, just days after it was installed in St. Joseph Township in Stearns County.

The sign, which read “Catholic Charities Resettles Islamists: EVIL or INSANITY?” was apparently paid for by an individual who hired Franklin Outdoor Advertising to post it along a highway a few miles west of St. Cloud, where Somali immigrants have been targeted by anti-Muslim groups.

A spokesman for Catholic Charities in St. Cloud said the office reached out to the advertising firm after an employee spotted the billboard to notify the firm that the office isn’t involved with refugee resettlements. Franklin Outdoor agreed to remove the sign due to the inaccuracy, said Steve Bresnahan, the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud.  [Again, it is not inaccurate for the entire state!—ed]

Continue reading here. The St. Paul/Minneapolis Catholic Charities admits it resettles Somali Muslims.

Chuckling!  How many passersby saw this sign in Stearns County before it was removed compared to how many will see it now that Catholic Charities forced its removal… help get this story out far and wide!

Go here for a huge archive on St. Cloud (a pocket of resistance)!  Go here to see which other towns in Minnesota ‘welcomed’ Somalis over a ten year period.  And, don’t miss this recent post where we reported that over 43,000 Somalis have been admitted to the U.S. just since Obama took office. Minnesota is destination #1 for Somali colonization.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Scotland: Man arrested for “Islamophobic” Facebook comments about Syrian refugees

Pope’s publicity stunt at Texas border timed to influence U.S. election

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image was taken by Jason Wachter at MN Star Tribune.

PODCAST: Interview with Dr. Raji Srouji from Nazareth, Israel

Dr. Raji SroujiDr. Raji Srouji works at the Nazareth Municipality as the Sports Department Director.  He is a Board member of the Nazareth Fund, and member at the Nazareth Academic Institute (NAI).

Dr. Srouji (pictured right) is a prominent figure in the local government in Nazareth, the capital and the largest city in the Northern District in Israel.  Nazareth is known as “the Arab capital of Israel.” The population is made up of predominantly Israeli Arabs, most of whom are Muslim (69%), and also Christians (31%).

Topics of Discussion:

  • Relations between Israeli Arabs and Israel
  • Relations between Christian Israeli Arabs and Israel
  • Relations between Muslim Israeli Arabs and Israel
  • Potential areas of possible improvement(s)
  • Problems faced by Israeli Christian Arabs

And more . . .

You may listen to USA Transnational Report live on JJ McCartney’s Nightside Radio Studios.

You may also listen on Red State Talk Radio, Studio A!

Call-in number: 855-853-5227

Missed an episode or an interview? Visit the USA Transnational Report Show Archives to catch up! Including:

Interview with Charles Ortel
Interview with Kevin D. Freeman
Campaign 2016 Kicks Off
Interview with Dr. Mordechai Kedar
Interview with Ludovic Lopez
Interview with Matthew Bracken
Interview with Counter-terrorism Expert Henry Morgenstern
Interview with PA Constable Marcus Kohan
Special Post-Paris Terrorism Update
Interview with Trevor Loudon
Interview with Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney
Interview with Congressman Pete Hoekstra
Interview with Major General Paul E. Vallely (Ret.)
Interview with Tom Trento of The United West

Justice Scalia Had Secret Texas Meeting With Obama Just Hours Before His Death

The EU Times reports:

A stunning report prepared for the Office of the President (OP) by the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) examining the letter sent to President Putin by American billionaire Donald Trump last week that appeared to predict the murder of US Supreme Court JusticeAntonin Scalia suggests that just hours before this esteemed jurists death he had held a secret meeting with President Barack Obama aboard a US Air Force plane heading to a secluded Texas ranch owned by a close personal friend and top campaign donor of America’s leader.

According to this report, SVR “assests” reported that on 11 February both President Obama and Justice Scalia were at Joint Base Andrews (JBA) scheduled for two separate US Air Force flights from Andrews Field—the first taking President Obama to Los Angeles, and the second taking Justice Scalia to Marfa Municipal Airport (KMRF) located in the southwestern region of Texas near the Mexican border.

While President Obama was scheduled to depart on one of the US Air Force’s two Boeing VC-25 aircraft (commonly referred to as Air Force One), this report continues, Justice Scalia’s flight was scheduled aboard a Gulfstream C-37A—which is the US Air Force’s designation for their fleet of the popular Gulfstream V private jet aircraft.

Just prior to these two US Air Force aircraft departing from Andrews Field, this report notes, SVR “assests” assigned to monitoring top American political and military figures noted a “discrepancy from normal protocol” when Justice Scalia’s three US Marshal Services Judicial Security Division (JSD) “protectors/defenders” left the airbase with the “personal protection” of this noted jurist being transferred to the US Secret Service (SS).

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLE: Republicans on Judiciary Committee Slam Door on Any Obama Supreme Court Nominee

Why Rubio Faltered: TEA Party Treason

According to Jack Oliver, legislative director of Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, Senate Bill 744 would have given work permits and legalization to over 11 million illegal aliens, doubled authorized immigration to 22 million over the next decade, and added millions to welfare and entitlement rolls.  Oliver called it “amnesty first and a promise for enforcement later.” He contended that the bill never would have gotten through the Senate without Rubio acting as the immigrant “poster child” of the sponsoring “Gang of Eight.” The immigration bill would change demographics forever, with Democrats fast-tracking the newly legalized immigrants to citizenship and voting rolls.

Going into the Republican debate of February 13 there was much speculation about whether Senator Marco Rubio could recover from his faltering at Chris Christie’s cross-examination about immigration during the debate in New Hampshire. The punditry ascribed Rubio’s “robotic” performance, the repetition of the line that Obama “knows exactly what he’s doing,” to having a “bad night.”  Rubio’s campaign used the same spin, as a day-after fundraising email indicated, by claiming he had “dropped the ball,” that it would “never happen again.”  He also claimed to know about “tough times,” based on his father’s life story.  He used the example of having to move to Las Vegas when his father lost his job as an apartment manager, but then had to start over as a busboy before he went on to become a bartender again.

But it does not appear that Marco Rubio ever had to compete with an illegal alien for a job such as busboy or construction laborer. Little was said about the substance of the questions that unnerved Rubio so much in New Hampshire.

Moments after the February 13 debate, Rubio supporters skirted the immigration debate again.  Congressman Trey Gowdy told Fox News that Rubio had had the “courage” to change his mind about immigration, which is what Rubio had tried to say once when Christie pressed him about not pushing his own bill, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013,” Senate Bill 744.  Rubio had claimed that he did not back the immigration bill once he learned that the “American people” did not like it.  Actually, if Rubio were walking back his immigration position, he would be going back to his original position, if we could believe what he told Florida tea party members as he sought their support for his bid for Senate in 2010.

Perhaps the reason Rubio faltered so badly under Christie’s cross-examination was because he heard the sound of “traitor” ringing in his ears, the shouts of these fellow Floridians, whose hands he had shaken as he promised to stand firm on immigration.

The occasion was the Americans for Prosperity Foundation conference, on Labor Day weekend, 2013, in Orlando.  As the shouts of “traitor” came from the audience of 2,000, Rubio continued on with his speech, but became visibly flustered and faltered.

I was at that event in 2013 and wrote about it.  I talked to one of the protestors in the hallway wearing bright pink t-shirts emblazoned with “Pink Slip Rubio.com,” Jack Oliver, legislative director of Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, who felt betrayed by Rubio, who had shaken his hand and promised that he would never support comprehensive reform, legalization, or the Dream Act.

Oliver began his career in construction as a plasterer laborer in 1968, a time when such a trade could support a family, but saw his wages drop 30 percent under George W. Bush’s lax immigration policies. As a field superintendant he saw that construction workers were making less in actual dollars than what they had been making in the 1980s.  The black community had been especially hard hit as construction labor jobs were taken over by illegal aliens.

According to Oliver, Senate Bill 744 would have given work permits and legalization to over 11 million illegal aliens, doubled authorized immigration to 22 million over the next decade, and added millions to welfare and entitlement rolls.  Oliver called it “amnesty first and a promise for enforcement later.” He contended that the bill never would have gotten through the Senate without Rubio acting as the immigrant “poster child” of the sponsoring “Gang of Eight.” The immigration bill would change demographics forever, with Democrats fast-tracking the newly legalized immigrants to citizenship and voting rolls.

And lest anyone dismiss these opinions as those of a mere tea party activist/construction worker, Emory political science professor Alan Abramowitz, said the same thing in Atlanta the previous year as he predicted a Democratic victory due to changed demographics.  The importation of Democratic voters helped in Obama’s reelection as did the fact that disgusted white middle class voters simply did not vote.  Similarly, conservative Hispanics do not vote for those who adopt the policies of the left.

Yes, as Rubio says, Obama knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to “transforming” this nation.  Obama promised to do that when he campaigned.  A large part of that transformation is coming from opening the borders to illegal aliens.  Entire neighborhoods have been transformed and not for the better as I saw as I drove through Florida in 2013.  For the most part, these illegals do not resemble the legal immigrants of earlier generations. Schools have decayed.  Welfare rolls have exploded.  Crime has risen.

Those who helped put Rubio in the Senate were not in the debate room on Saturday night and could not shout “traitor” at him again.  Nor are they privy to backroom deals or to what Rubio tells other Spanish speakers.  On February 13, when Ted Cruz attacked Rubio for his “Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan” and for going on Univision and speaking in Spanish, Rubio mocked Cruz by implying he couldn’t speak Spanish.  It was a telling moment.

Unfortunately, Cruz fell for it, and said something in Spanish that hundreds of millions of Americans couldn’t understand.  Among these millions are those who have lost their jobs to illegal aliens and to new positions that require bilingual speakers.  They are fed up with Obama’s executive orders that bypass the laws and allow in “undocumented” aliens who bring with them criminal records, diseases, and illiteracy. They are disgusted when Obama tells them to learn Spanish.  They are fed up with having to “press one for English” and watching illegal aliens shouting protest slogans in front of state capitols.  That is why Donald Trump’s message has been resonating.

Cruz would do himself a favor by reminding Rubio of the manners that generations of immigrants learned: one does not exclude certain people by having a side conversation in his native language.

To do so, to similarly go to foreign-language media as a senator, might make voters think that you have something to hide.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on the Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research website. The feature image is of Jorge Ramos of UNIVISION interviewing Senator Marco Rubio

Taxpayer Brings Lawsuit Against Governor Nikki Haley Over Muslim Refugee Plan

Walter “Brian” Bilbro, a husband and father of two, has filed a Lawsuit naming Governor Nikki Haley, The South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS), Lutheran Services and World Relief of Spartanburg as Co-Defendants. The allegations in the lawsuit seek equitable and other relief to stop the State 2016 Refugee Resettlement Plan.

Simply put, he wants to prevent the state from settling any more refugees or asylees until a full accounting of the Federal, State, and County monies being allocated for this program are fully investigated.

He alleges in pleadings filed by Attorney Lauren Martel on February 12 case #2016-CP-40- 00918, that the Defendants are placing he and his family in imminent risk, personally and economically. The placement of refugees and asylees into Richland County where he has vested interests, and in other areas in South Carolina are concerning. Those concerns are supported through documentation from several expert witnesses that give credence to Bilbro’s decisive move to bring legal action against his own Governor, State Agency, and the non-profits involved.

In addition he seeks to stop the use of Family Court being used by asylum seekers as a way to circumvent the vetting process as it encourages border smuggling of children and further criminal acts. According to an expert witness in the case, Jessica Vaughn, Center For Immigration studies, Affidavit, Page 2, states,

“Federal sources, including Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) indicate that the majority of new illegal arrival from Central America, including the unaccompanied minors, are not coming to seek safe haven from persecution or civil war (the legal definition of a refugee) but to join friends and family already here in the United States (usually without legal status).

It is widely acknowledged that the families of most, if not all, of these minors have contracted with smuggling organizations to bring minors to the United States. The smuggling organizations understand that the minors will be taken into Federal government custody and then delivered safely to their destination by federally-funded resettlement contractors. The minors are coached on what to say to U.S. authorities and how the process works.”

Vaughn continues,

“The government and its contractors do not conduct background checks on the individuals who volunteer to serve as sponsors for the minors. Claims of family or non-family relationships rarely are authenticated with verifiable documentation, such as original birth certificates, DNA testing, or other means. The establishment of relationships is essentially done through the honor system.”

What is chiefly being used to verify the migrants is the honor system. This vetting process for the unaccompanied minors sounds eerily similar to the one applied to refugees from Syria and other terrorist nations who will be admitted in the thousands this year, according to many legislators who are asking anywhere from 65,000 to 100,000 within the next few years.

Interestingly, Gov. Haley was quoted in August 2015, as to her reasoning behind not wanting GITMO detainees in SC. She said,

“We are absolutely drawing a line that we are not going to allow any terrorists to come into South Carolina. We are not going to allow that kind of threat. We’re not going to allow that kind of character to come in…This is a slap in the face to the people in South Carolina who have sacrificed so much for this country… To turn around and say that you are going (to) put these terrorists in our backyards.”

In my opinion, this is in essence what the Refugee Resettlement Program does. If the highest intelligence officers in the country, FBI director Coomey, and Defense Intelligence Agency director Stewart say that the Syrian refugees cannot be vetted, and that ISIS will attempt direct attacks in 2016, respectively, prudence would demand a halt to the program that settles immigrants from a country riddled with terrorists.

In addition, the refugee and asylee program of SCDSS not only potentially involves child smuggling, drug smuggling connections, and national security risks, but is unsustainable economically according to expert Paul Sutliff, author and researcher. Sutliff states in Affidavit-Sutliff, page 5,

“The South Carolina Plan does not address who pays for those who after 12 months have had their status mandatorily adjusted to Permanent Resident Alien. This cost is necessarily passed off to the South Carolina taxpayer.”

Mr. Bilbro, in my thinking, is doing the only thing left for him to do when faced with legislators who do not listen or vote in ways that would protect American citizens. In fact, after reading this lawsuit, I conclude that any legislator or elected official who isn’t actively seeking to stop the Refugee Resettlement program fails in their Constitutional duty to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for their constituents.

To see the clear and present danger it presents, as well as the economic burden placed on the backs of hard-working citizens and to continue leading Americans into harms way is grounds for a lawsuit.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Nebraska bill would place financial responsibility on refugee resettlement contractors

The Cologne Attacks: A Look at Europe’s Future

Understanding the Caliphate Curve

U.S. Attorney prosecuting the Bundy’s was fired by President Bush in 2007

U.S. attorney Daniel G. Bogden

U.S. attorney Daniel G. Bogden

The U.S. Constitution does not permit the federal government to own state land unless for commercial activity around ports, for military bases under the forts doctrine, post offices and ten square miles around Washington D.C.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has no constitutional authority to exist and must be defunded by the Congress of the United States. Ref: Article 1, section 8, clause 17. The federal government can only control land within the states but only with permission of the state legislature.

The U.S. Attorney currently prosecuting the ranchers from Nevada, the Bundy’s, (Ammon and Cliven) and others for their refusal to comply with unconstitutional laws, by trying to force them to pay for grazing licenses (on state land illegally occupied by the federal government) was originally fired by President Bush.

On December 7, 2006 – Justice Department official Michael Battle informed seven U.S. Attorneys with poor evaluations in the Bush Department of Justice (DOJ), including Daniel G. Bogden the attorney from Nevada prosecuting the Bundy’s, that they were being summarily dismissed.

U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of the United States District Court in the District of Nevada was then officially fired by President Bush from his position in the Department of Justice on February 28th, 2007 after failing to perfume his said duties as required, for poor performance evaluations and for lack of loyalty to the President of the United States and the U.S. Constitution.

This is the same man now leading the charge to prosecute ranchers in Nevada for trying to make a peaceful living operating within the confines of the U.S. Constitution who protected their personal property from unlawful rustling by said BLM agents.

Ranchers who then protected their families under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when BLM agents assaulted family members including the tasering of a pregnant woman.

The Obama administration and his DOJ team do not seem to want to follow the U.S. Constitution and are now using a former attorney fired by President Bush in 2007 to take out a family who are trying to bring attention to the unlawful and unconstitutional assault on state land and ranchers by the BLM.

How did this U.S. attorney Daniel G. Bogden get back into a position of authority to lead this unconstitutional assault on these American ranchers, with many now facing indictment and prosecution including the possible execution of a peaceful rancher by authorities in Oregon named Robert “LaVoy” Finicum ?.

He was rehired by the President Barack Obama on July 31st, 2009.

Wake up America. Your land your life and your liberty could be next.

I call upon Mr. Trump the next president of the United States to investigate, prosecute and punish any and all federal employees who could be unlawfully trying to violate the constitutional rights of the Bundy’s the Hammond’s and all ranchers in the western states and across this nation.

The BLM must be defunded and dismantled and all land currently occupied by federal forces returned back to state control.

The Hammond’s and the Bundy’s are now political prisoners of the Obama administration. They must be released immediately and damages must be paid to these families including the wife and foster children of Mr. Finicum.

Socialism/Communism: A Paradox of Incompetence

Knowledge of Socialism/Communism is the key issue in the elections of 2016. And this was the exact reason I began this series with the presentation of both to show their nefarious influence in America for the last 50-60 years. I planned to title this column “A Paradox of Incompetence”, then I change my mind. Yet, I was not the first one to warn America of the danger of infiltration of the Socialism/Communism ideology on our soil. The following law was enacted 60 years ago:

The Communist Control Act (68 Stat. 775, 50 U.S.C. 841-844) is a piece of United States federal legislation, signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on 24 August 1954, which outlawed the Communist Party of the United States and criminalized membership in, or support for the Party or “Communist-action” organizations and defined evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the activities, planning, actions, objectives, or purposes of such organizations.

An Act to outlaw the Communist Party, to prohibit members of Communist organizations from serving in certain representative capacities, and for other purposes.CCA
Acronyms (colloquial)

The question is whether our political class have the fortitude to execute the law or not. The events during the last decade definitely present the negative answer—they did not defend free market capitalism. The Democrats have even gone so far as to legitimize the notion of Soviet Socialism, which is a fraud and in doing so they open the door for our enemies to undermine our political system. The Republicans did not fight like Newt Gingrich in the 1990s— they didn’t stop the aggressive posture of Socialism in America. The last decade was a decade of paralyzed opposition.

Teaching in two largest universities in New York City, I had a close ties with young people at the end of the 20th century. I knew that they had been seduced by the fake positive appearance of Socialism and I tried to educate them by bringing them the truth about the creations of Marxist theory. For my efforts I was fired from both universities—the Socialist professors prevailed and you can realize the impact of that today in the election of 2016–an army of indoctrinated and deceived youth. Today young people naively assume that they will continue to enjoy liberty and private property under Socialism.

If our youth is indoctrinated, deceived and fascinated with a new-for-them term Socialism, the Republican establishment is just incompetent and timid for not arguing against Socialism and praising Capitalism. During the Republican candidates’ debate on February 6, 2016, just two days before the New Hampshire primary, Rubio drew mockery for repeating a rehearsed line four times and most analysts predicted his defeat that would to give new life to the struggling candidacies of the Republican establishment governors: Christie, Bush, and Kasich.  I saw the event in a completely opposite way.

For me, the Rubio rehearsed phrase (though he could’ve changed the wording) was the main point of our entire election—Obama intentionally harming our country. What Rubio repeated four times, I have been writing about for years. From childhood to the present Obama has clung to the same mantra—American capitalism is the guilty party for all the unfairness, grievances, and inequality in the world.  It is Obama’s core Socialist principles learned from Saul Alinsky and Marshal Davis. That is why Rubio was right to repeat the axiom. His critics paid attention to the form and none of them mentioned the substance.

A result for the main accuser Governor Christie was suicidal—he withdrew from the race for presidency. That was one example of paradox of incompetence—aspects of the official establishment of the GOP are incompetent, they missed the opportunity to expose Socialist Agents of Influence “working” for decades on our American soil. Unfortunately, incompetence has a lot of company in 2016 America—they all underestimated the incredibly smart people of America and their deep love for their country.

The GOP has never misses the opportunity to miss an opportunity. We saw it when the icon of conservatism the National Review tried to discredit Republican front-runner Trump. “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism…”

There is no “ideological consensus,” in the party. I was a member of the Conservative Party in New York City in the 1980s. That experience taught me the difficulty of finding consensus. Besides, the party itself was a microscopic one, let alone the age of the people there. I left it. I remember disagreements between social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and a huge paradigm of different types of conservatives seeking consensus. I am still a conservative, writing about Stalin’s Soviet Fascism that is destroying America today, yet nationally recognized conservatives are not talking about or calling a spade a spade. Where are the conservatives who know that Putin again praising Stalin, using his image and his tricks in Russia to prop up the human spirit there by creating an outside enemy— America? This knowledge will serve all conservatives the best–national security should be the issue around which we find our consensus, real consensus.

The National Review openly agitated the voters: Don’t vote for Trump, he is an existential threat to the party. This was a kick below the belt, a knife in the back of the Republican Party and its future. The words “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist” is a mere offence of a front-runner at a time when we are entering the point of no return due to the Democrats adherence to the ideology of socialism, I called Soviet fascism. This is another paradox of incompetence that forces me to return to the ideology of socialism.

Look at Bernie Sanders; he called himself a Democratic-Socialist. Respecting his age, I won’t use rude words, but Democratic-Socialist is an oxymoron.  Why isn’t the National Review addressing the most important issue of our days, the ideology of Socialism? It is currently being accepted as a valid political philosophy in America, seducing an army of young people to vote for Sanders, who is clueless about real socialism. Don’t the people of the National Review see the upcoming catastrophe, created by the Socialists masquerading as Democrats, led by Obama?

A 74 year Democrat’s candidate for the US presidency Sanders displays a spectacular ignorance in talking about the Scandinavian countries: there are no Democrat-Socialists in their leadership, they are Social-Democrats. Sanders does not recognize the difference. The terms Social and Socialist are different words carrying different notions. Socialism ultimately results in dictatorship, represented by a one-party system; Europe has among other parties Social-Democratic Party, some members of which are in the leadership of the country. Go to Greece and see what is going on there, when Communists and Socialists are in power.

The term Socialism is an abstract notion for the vast majority of Americans.  Discussing the nature of Socialism would be very beneficial for Americans. It would expose Stalin’s tricks and how they are being used by his devoted disciples in the Democrat Party of America. Do you remember the collapse of the Soviet Union? Socialism had never worked anywhere—Socialism had produced Chernobyl. That is the real socialism. The Stalinist model is a waste of time, waste of money, waste of human energy, and very importantly, being openly implemented by Obama in his transformation of America. Those who are familiar with my writings know that. We are the witnesses of how Hillary, Sanders and Obama are using Stalin’s Political Correctness to deceive the voters by false hopes today.

Hillary, Sanders and Obama are operating off the same page and theatrics from the KGB’s play-book, written by Stalin. They are using political correctness to deceive and fool YOU. Do you remember Stalin’s formula or model, substituting the result with the process? All three are doing just that—they can’t keep their promises, and like Stalin’s promises, they will never be delivered. Yet, I will go further, because today Obama represents the Democrat Party and both candidates Hillary and Sanders—will continue Stalinism, they are his devoted disciples in America.

Sometimes the methods or activities of the candidates indicate their ideology. Reportedly, Sanders is using bussing to bring young people from the different towns in Iowa. This is a Red Flag! Obama provided money for the Democrats to use this method in the election 2012 in America and later in Israel to bus Arabs to the voting pricings to vote against Netanyahu in 2015. Do you know the origin of the method? It came from Russia, Putin uses young people by bussing them to different precincts to vote for his United Russia Party. The method is called carousel (roundabout).What is Happening to America? Xlibris, 2012, pp.191-192.

.Look at the current event presented by Accuracy in Media: Did Putin Strike in the Heart of Washington, D.C.? Cliff Kincaid — January 21, 2016 3 Comments   |   Printer Friendly  “ With the release of the British report into the role of the Russian government in the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, some attention is returning to how President Vladimir Putin murders his perceived enemies…  Last November…the Russian creator of the propaganda channel, Russia Today (RT), Mikhail Lesin, was found dead in a Washington D.C. hotel room. Former FBI agent John Whiteside, who handled Russian espionage cases, told me in an interview that it wouldn’t surprise him if Putin had engineered the death of Lesin. ‘Putin is a KGB guy through and through,’ …The speculation in the media is that Lesin was in Washington, D.C. to cooperate with the FBI, and expose corruption and other misdeeds by the Putin regime.”

As you can see Stalinist Socialism, his tricks and methods are alive and well in the 21st century. Instead of discussing the principal philosophy of Socialism, which has definitely entered our soil, the National Review attacks and damages Trump, who is up to now a front-runner for the Republicans. Moreover, just wait for the real actions of Russia and Iran against Donald J. Trump. The usual arsenal of the KGB’s dirty tricks will be unleashed, including assassinations, to prevent Trump from winning the election in America. Trump is an existential threat to the worldwide Soviet Mafia I have been writing about for the last twenty years. Be prepared for those dirty tricks in America.

My warning has been echoing in Europe:

“Today our civilization is still in danger, as a matter of fact worse than ever before. We are facing an existential threat. You can see it everywhere, in all Western European countries. Our borders have been opened to Islamic mass immigration. And the consequences are terrible. The costs are gigantic, the attacks horrible and the threat of terrorism has never been higher. So we need to act.” – Statement by Geert Wilders Press conference Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) Milano, 29 January, 2016

Often history repeats itself as a farce. The Russian Socialist Revolution in 1917, had been a tragedy for the country and the world. Some historians called Russian revolution a coup de etas.  The centennial of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia is coming in 2017. Since its inception, it has caused untold misery, wars, starvation and millions of deaths, and now the entire planet is on fire.  It seems, we are witnessing an attempt to repeat the same dirty scheme playing in the America soil hundred years later. Sanders is not only a Socialist, he even uses a typical Stalin’s lexicon—“the working class.” America doesn’t have class divisions, but Russia did. Sanders also calls for “transformation of America,” aren’t we in a stage of Obama’s transformation now?

Don’t be surprised by Bernie Sanders’ speeches resonating with the army of millennials. The youth are the main targets of socialism. The incremental transformation is taking place as Obama passes the torch to Sanders. The attempt to infiltrate our elections by the KGB has been going on since McGovern—now, an open Socialist Sanders confirms it in the 21st century. Do you know who is behind the man? Have you heard about “Trojan Horse?” We have already met two.

There is another paradox of incompetence.  Website Wikipedia gives us information on Sanders and on some of his “relatives who remained in Poland were killed in the Holocaust.” It is perhaps the greatest irony of his political career, in spite of knowing the evil that was perpetuated by the National Socialist Party in Germany, Sanders has embraced socialism his entire life. Once in the United States Congress, Sanders founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus. For your information Nazi is an acronym of National Socialist Party of Fascist Germany. You can now see an extricable chain-connection in the history between fascism and socialism and begin to grasp our political predicament in the 21st century.

According to David Horowitz’s FrontPageMag.com website: “Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) are undoubtedly socialists, though most shy away from the label. The CPC has long had ties to the far-left Institute for Policy Studies, Democratic Socialists of America (the largest Marxist group in the country), and the Communist Party USA.” David Horowitz is right, the source of the current socialist movement in America goes back to the fraudulent Marxist Theory, exposed by this exact series titled Soviet Fascism in the 21st Century.

Now you can see a logical ideological connection of the 20s century to the reality in the events in the 21st century—Soviet Socialism is in fact Soviet Fascism. It has become a legitimate model implemented in America by the Democrat Party and its leader President Obama. There is another paradox of incompetence– the ideology of Soviet Fascism emanates from the fraudulent Marxist Theory … See more at www.simonapipko1.com.

Yet, I will go further, because today Obama represents the Democrat Party and both candidates Hillary and Sanders.

RELATED ARTICLE: Obama Administration Once Again Concedes to Putin in Syria

‘Welcoming’ churches getting shaky over the Muslim migrant invasion

Invasion of Europe news….

When do the numbers get so high that even the religious do-gooders start to worry?  I guess we are seeing their limit now after a million migrants have invaded Germany.

How many is too many?

Next time you get into an argument with an Open Borders ‘humanitarian’ here in America (or anywhere actually) ask them what is their limit.  What is the number that would be too many for even them?  I bet you get a deer-in-the-headlights look!  If they say there should be no limits and no borders you know you are dealing with an anarchist and not a humanitarian!

So now we are beginning to see the extent of the German “welcome.”  They are coming to their senses, but of course the big question is:  Is it too late?

We told you about the German Catholic Bishop (Marx) here recently, now the Lutherans are getting worried.

From Religion News Service:

PARIS (RNS) Germany’s Christian churches, long the most positive voices greeting waves of Middle Eastern refugees pouring into the country in recent months, have begun to admit the need to limit the flow now that public opinion towards the newcomers has turned from welcoming to wary.

Catholic and Protestant church leaders fully backed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s original open-door policy announced on Sept. 4, framing it as wealthy Germany’s Christian duty to offer refuge to all Syrians and others fleeing civil war in their home countries.

They continued preaching this through Christmas and New Year, saying Germany could not set an upper limit to its hospitality, even though Merkel gave in to rising criticism and falling poll ratings in mid-December to say that she would “noticeably reduce the number of refugees.”

Then came the New Years Eve sex attacks.

After a few weeks’ delay, the heads of both the Catholic and Protestant churches have shifted their focus and begun to speak about controlling the number of arrivals.

[….]

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Bavaria’s Lutheran bishop and head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, said it was “clear that we have to want” a reduction in refugees. He warned against debates about which immigration policy was more moral.

It is unclear to me what Bedford-Strohm means here about not debating the morality of immigration policy, but maybe he is getting at the idea of reality (German practicality!) trumping humanitarian zeal.

See our entire ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive here, and go here for much much more on dear old Deutschland.

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Trump: Yes, I could look Syrian kids in the face and say they can’t come here!

A bearded man at a town-hall meeting in NH asked Donald Trump if he could look Syrian kids in the face and tell them they can’t come to America. Trump said, yes, he absolutely could do that.

Trump then went on to say, we don’t know who they are.  He said that the Gulf States should help build safe zones in Syria where refugees could be cared for until the conflict is over.  He also said that most of them want to go home anyway.  All of that is true.

He also predicted a coming revolution in Germany and said, “Wait until you see what they do to Merkel!”

The bearded man was obviously a plant.  He said he came from Greenwich, CT and that Greenwich was going to get Syrian refugees. Trump quipped that he must be rich to live in Greenwich.

Can you identify the bearded man?  We know that one of the driving forces behind more resettlement of Muslims to Connecticut is CAIR Connecticut (being helped by Senator Richard Blumenthal).

Who is the bearded man? Can you help identify him?

Watch the clip here (hat tip Walid Shoebat):

By the way, of the 841 Syrians admitted to the U.S. in FY 2016, 833 are Muslims.  We are not saving Syrian Christians.

Update!  Thanks to readers who found that the bearded man is Darren Ornitz who lives in Brooklyn, NY. He may have earlier lived in Greenwich, CT.  He is a Reuters freelance photographer and is “leaning toward” supporting Bernie Sanders.  Once you know his name the rest falls into place. Here is one report on him.

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Pittsburgh: Jewish agency and Islamic Center working together to bring more Syrians to the city

Angry Turkish Prez: We will open our gates and let them go through to Europe

Greenwich, CT not getting refugees anytime soon (so they think!)

DNI Clapper on Hill today: ISIS will attack US;refugee flow infiltrated

Lutheran refugee contractor convinces SD legislator to withdraw bill

Fourth Annual Black Republican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon Anounced

Washington, DCBlack Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF) announces its Fourth Annual “Black Republican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon™” to be held at The Willard Intercontinental Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on Sunday, February 14, 2016 at     12 Noon.

This year’s celebration includes an entertainment-filled VIP Reception on Saturday, February 13, 2016 as well as the Black Republican Trailblazer Awards Luncheon that will recognize and honor a great list of individuals who have truly made a significant impact within America and the Republican Party.

This year’s entertainment includes a performance by local recording artist and District of Columbia native BriaMarie and graduate of the prestigious Atlanta School of the Performing Arts Algebra Blessett who recorded the 2013 hit “Nobody But You.”

The Black Republican Trailblazer Awardees for 2016 include:

  • Jennifer Carroll – Former Florida Lieutenant Governor
  • Ambassador Harold E. Doley, Jr. – Trailblazing financier
  • James “Jimmy” Jones – Legendary ABA/NBA Basketball Player
  • Fred D. McClure – CEO of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library
  • Allegra McCullough – Professor, Webster University Graduate School
  • Robert L. Woodson, Sr. – Founder & President, Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

Several of this year’s honorees have personal stories to share about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that have never been told publicly; one of the honorees has built a career on working around danger; another one of the honorees is a true Southern Bell, while another is a true Caribbean queen.

“Black Americans for a Better Future” is a 527 Political Action Committee (PAC) founded by longtime Republican political operative, syndicated newspaper columnist and author Raynard Jackson.  This PAC is the first and only 527 dedicated to attracting African-Americans to the Republican Party.  It’s immediate focus however, is primarily on the African-American entrepreneur.

The goal of this PAC will be to counter those liberal organizations that receive an inordinate amount of media attention and to present a counter narrative to messages given by organizations such as; The People for the American Way, National Council of La Raza, and the Center for American Progress.

This event is paid for by Black Americans for a Better Future and not authorized by any candidate’s committee.

No, Women Are Not Obliged to Vote for Hillary by Sarah Skwire

“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”

It’s one of Madeline Albright’s most famous lines, and she’s brought it out on any number of occasions. Starbucks even put it on a coffee cup. I understand why. It’s eminently quotable and suggests a kind of tough-minded sisterhood that can be appealing. I can see its ready application, for example, when helping a drunk friend get home safely from a party or when holding another mom’s infant so she can use the restroom in peace.

But Albright should have been a lot more careful before she applied her signature line to what she sees as an obligation for women to vote for Hillary Clinton in the democratic primaries. Because the minute that you take her line out of the context of relationships among people and move it to the political context it loses whatever tough-minded charm it has, and it becomes a bullying, sexist, prescriptivist piece of obnoxious nonsense.

I don’t believe in hell, so threatening me with it has never had much purchase. But to the best of my understanding, for religions that do believe in hell, the things that get people sent there are sins against God or against other people. Taking a political action that someone doesn’t agree with (voting for someone other than Hillary Clinton) doesn’t seem to fit that bill in any way. Suggesting that it does mingles church and state in ways that sit uncomfortably with long American traditions.

And even if voting in a way that Albright thinks is wrong is a sin that leads to damnation, if Albright really is a believer in eternal torment and hellfire, she should probably be led by the many New Testament verses that counsel believers to use gentle correction and instruction toward those who have gone astray.

If Albright isn’t a believer in eternal torment and hellfire, she might be well advised to keep theology out of her politics entirely.

But even if we leave aside the myriad objections that arise when a bullying and inaccurate theology is dragged into the political realm, Albright’s insistence that women have a duty to vote for Clinton because she is also a woman remains moronic.

It is sexism of the oldest and most annoying type. With one comment, Albright managed to suggest the following:

  1. Women should shut up and vote the way they are told to vote.
  2. All women should vote the same way.
  3. All women have the same interests and objectives.
  4. Women who have made choices others disagree with have chosen incorrectly and must be brought back into line.
  5. Women cannot be trusted to recognize (and vote in favor of) their best interests.

Women have, over the centuries, gotten quite practiced at responding to these particular bits of idiocy. So while it’s disconcerting, at best, to hear this tosh from a woman of Albright’s stature and experience, it’s not particularly challenging to formulate an intelligent response. In fact, one thing that makes Albright’s comment so maddening is that, to many women, it seems so incredibly retrograde when applied to politics. It ignores the very real progress made by 21st century feminist thinkers in recognizing the different kinds of lives lived by different kinds of women — from different classes, of different colors, with different religions, of different sexualities, and in different bodies. By shouting right over that kind of nuance, Albright’s comment sounds like it’s stuck in the feminism of the 1960s.

But it’s worse than that. In its gender essentialism — its insistence that women are all women and therefore all alike — Albright’s comment could have been ripped right out of the first years of the 20th century. Or the 19th century. Or the 18th.

Happily, we have had Mary Wollstonecraft around for the past nearly 225 years to respond to that kind of nonsense. Albright would do better if, like Wollstonecraft, she would “consider women in the grand light of human creatures, who, in common with men, are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties.”

Telling a woman how she should vote because she is a woman is no less insulting than telling her that she shouldn’t vote because she is a woman. Both approaches deny an individual the opportunity to unfold her unique faculties as she sees fit. Both approaches reduce a complex individual to a single characteristic. Politics routinely does this to all sorts of groups — women, people of color, people of faith, gun owners — and it is in every case an insult to the dignity of the individual.

But Albright’s comment does something even worse. Or perhaps, for our purposes, it does something even better. Albright’s comment reveals the truth about politics. And that truth is that Clinton’s run for the White House, like Sanders’s run, or Trump’s, or Bush’s, or Cruz’s, or anyone’s, is not about serving the people.

We are told to vote for Clinton because we have a special duty to help other women. But Albright and Clinton do not mean that we have a special duty to the women standing next to us in line at the grocery store, or to the women who are suffering from poverty, or out of work, or abused by their spouses, or harassed by their bosses. They mean that we have a special duty to one woman: Hillary Clinton. It is our duty, as women, to help her to a spot in the White House, because no woman has done that before. Seeing her up there proves … something. And it will make us all feel … something.

That’s pretty weak tea, Albright.

But it is, at least, weak tea that exposes the fundamental truth about politics. It’s not about helping women. Or men. Or people of color. Or the unemployed. Or whomever we are told it is about helping.

It’s about helping the politician.

And I’ll be damned if I’m going to do that.

Sarah SkwireSarah Skwire

Sarah Skwire is the poetry editor of the Freeman and a senior fellow at Liberty Fund, Inc. She is a poet and author of the writing textbook Writing with a Thesis. She is a member of the FEE Faculty Network.

Council for American Islamic Relations Intertwines with Terror-Linked Fuqra Group

Clarion Project’s Ryan Mauro presents a detailed explanation of the links between them and explains why Americans should be concerned.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its “moderate” image is suffering from a self-inflicted wound now it has become intertwined with the Muslims of the Americas, a radical anti-Semitic front for the Jamaat ul-Fuqra terrorist group.

CAIR’s Massachusetts chapter now shares an official with MOA and two CAIR officials spoke at MOA’s International Islamophobia Conference.

The Massachusetts chapter of CAIR recently chose MOA’s general counsel, Tahirah Amatul Wadud, as a board member. CAIR, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity banned for its own terror links in the UAE, wisely omitted mention of MOA. It described her generically as a “general counsel for a New York Muslim congregation.”

Wadud reportedly posted an article by MOA’s Pakistan-based leader, Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, on her Facebook claiming the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is a puppet of the British government and a Jewish conspiracy perpetrated the attacks on Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001. The Clarion Project was the first to report on the inflammatory article.

“There was no need for America to go to war against Hitler. Hitler was not the enemy of America or the American people. There was a mutual animosity between Hitler and the Jews. So, the American people paid a very heavy price for fighting someone else’s war,” Gilani wrote.

Two CAIR officials spoke at MOA’s International Islamophobia Conference, which included a poster featuring the faces of the “American Taliban” that included Clarion Project national security analyst Ryan Mauro. They were CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid and CAIR-Arizona Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi. Walid was one of the CAIR officials who have questioned whether Muslims should honor fallen U.S. servicemen on Memorial Day, sparking a backlash from Muslims who appreciate the U.S. military.

Jamaat ul-Fuqra is led by Gilani. It is best known for a series of terrorist attacks and plots in the 1980s and early 1990s and for setting up “Islamic villages” across the country, including at least two that were shut down by the authorities. These “villages” are known to have been used for guerilla warfare training. Fuqra now goes primarily by the name of Muslims of the Americas (MOA), among other names. The group says it has 22 such “villages” in the U.S.

The Clarion Project obtained video of female members receiving basic paramilitary instruction in military fatigue at its “Islamberg” headquarters in New York. The date of the footage is cut off, only stating “Jan. 28 20,” presumably meaning it was made in 2000 or after. The best explanation MOA members have come up with is that it was a “self-defense class.”

View the video here:

The Clarion Project identified a Fuqra “village” in Texas in 2014 and retrieved an FBI intelligence report from 2007 that stated MOA “possess an infrastructure capable of planning and mounting terrorist campaigns overseas and within the U.S.” and “the documented propensity for violence by this organization supports the belief the leadership of the MOA extols membership to pursue a policy of jihad or holy war against individuals or groups it considers enemies of Islam, which includes the U.S. Government.”

The FBI also said “members of the MOA are encouraged to travel to Pakistan to receive religious and military/terrorist training from Gilani.” In 2001, ATF Special Agent Thomas P. Gallagher testified in court that “individuals from the organization are trained in Hancock, N.Y., and if they pass the training in Hancock, N.Y., are then sent to Pakistan for training in paramilitary and survivalist training by Mr. Gilani.”

After Clarion Project identified the Texas site and published the FBI report, a dozen Muslim groups have signed a statement calling for Fuqra’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Of course, CAIR isn’t one of them. CAIR actually came to Fuqra/MOA’s defense. And now CAIR and Fuqra have shared leadership through CAIR-Massachusetts and hold events together.

MOA’s International Islamophobia Conference took place at the Muslim Community Center of the Capital District in Schenectady, New York. CAIR-Arizona Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi is listed as a member of the Board of Directors, indicating he played more than a speaking role in setting the MOA event up.

The MOA’s event featured delegates representing the U.S., Canada, Pakistan, Senegal, India, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Egypt. Siddiqi was the delegate representing India. MOA flyers also list headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela and Las Lomas, Trinidad & Tobago. The MOA claims it had nearly 300 attendees and thousands watched online. It announced it would start a new political coalition named the “International United Muslim Forum.”

Ironically, MOA has tried to excuse itself from its terrorist and criminal history by claiming that it was infiltrated by Wahhabist/Muslim Brotherhood operatives who were sent to undermine Sheikh Gilani. It even claims that one operative was a shape-shifter who could go “through physical changes before speaking to people as if he were Sheikh Gilani.”

And now MOA is collaborating with a known Muslim Brotherhood entity. You can read our documented profiles of CAIR and MOA here and here.

ABOUT RYAN MAURO

Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s national security analyst, a fellow with Clarion Project and an adjunct professor of homeland security. Mauro is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio. Read more, contact or arrange a speaking 

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TrustTheVote™ Project Launched

WASHINGTON, D.C. /PRNewswire/ — 2016 NASS Conference – The non-profit technology research institute Open Source Election Technology (OSET) Foundation today announced that it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) on the Foundation’s TrustTheVote Project.  The project is an open source initiative that makes the software used to run elections free to the States and counties managing elections. OSET and AWS are working together on thought leadership and outreach to champion the cause with decision-makers and researchers also working to improve elections. The cloud-driven open source approach means that anyone can adopt and adapt OSETs existing apps for voter services, like online registration and results reporting, and launch these apps and services faster and more cost effectively.  With the open source nature of the tools, modification and improvement is possible by anyone.

Finding ways to innovate the critical infrastructure of elections administration is imperative. In 2014 the US had 178,636 election precincts and over 114,000 physical polling places spread out over 7000 Election Jurisdictions in all 50 states and 3,143 Counties. Elections occur every week, including primaries, ballot initiatives, and voter referenda. American University estimated that there were 519,682 elected officials United States in 2012. A study released in September 2015 by the Brennan Center for Justice revealed that the vast majority of the nation is relying on archaic voting technology with severely limited budgets to make any improvements to either elections administration tools or voting machinery.

OSET launched the TrustTheVote Project to foster innovation in elections technology, which is outdated, difficult to maintain, and in the case of voting machinery, relies on proprietary software that’s difficult to inspect or audit.  The administration tools project is run on AWS’s GovCloud (US), because it offers a cost effective, secure, compliant, and scalable solution that doesn’t require buying hardware, and can be delivered easily anywhere in the country. OSET’s TrustTheVote Project so far includes software for handling voter registration services, ballot generation, and election results reporting.

The OSET Foundation’s goal is to improve the critical infrastructure that makes fair and verifiable elections possible and help revitalize an industry that needs innovation.  “Cloud technology combined with open data, open standards, and open source development has the potential to be a game-changer in election administration,” said Teresa Carlson, VP, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “The OSET Foundation is taking advantage of the cloud’s ability to help lower costs, while increasing innovation in voter registration services, creating ballots, and reporting election results.”  Gregory Miller, Chief Development Officer for the OSET Foundation explained, “There are several aspects of managing elections that can be innovated. There is enormous opportunity to innovate the many aspects of managing election processes.”

AWS is supporting OSET with cloud computing credits, and elections administration software will be available on AWS Marketplace, and helping with outreach to elections officials. “Now on the AWS GovCloud (US), the TrustTheVote Project technology can be developed, demonstrated, and proven for any State or county looking to rapidly deploy election administration services, while gaining the agility, cost savings, compliance, and scalability offered by the AWS Cloud,” said John Sebes, Chief Technology Officer for the OSET Foundation.

For example, the TrustTheVote Project offers open source online voter registration and services portal software for any State or county to use for a fraction of the cost of building such web services from the ground up.  “We are thrilled to host this technology on the AWS Cloud to further our open source efforts to innovate election administration in the digital age for the benefit of the public,” added Miller.  “Cloud-based voter registration, ballot design, and elections results reporting is an ideal start to lowering costs and improving the public trust in our democracy. I anticipate this is the beginning of a unique collaboration to help develop new elections technology for the public benefit.”

About the OSET Foundation

The Open Source Election Technology (“OSET”) Foundation is a 9-year old tax-exempt 501.c.3 non-profit technology research and development institute located in the heart of the Silicon Valley focused on electoral innovation.  OSET is led by a team of social entrepreneurs comprised of seasoned technologists with extensive hardware, software, and systems design experience from leading Tech Sector companies including Apple, Netscape, Facebook, and Sun Microsystems.  OSET is focused on making voting systems more verifiable, accurate, secure, and transparent using open source principles to treat this technology as “critical democracy infrastructure.”  The OSET mission is to reinvent voting technology using open data, open standards, and open source in order to increase confidence in elections and their outcomes, and improve voter participation.  The outcome of that mission will deliver lower cost higher quality publicly owned election technology and rejuvenate the commercial industry to deliver, deploy, service, and support resulting democratic voting systems globally.

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Florida first state in America to call for a Term Limits Convention

Florida is officially the first state in America to call for the Term Limits Convention. The Florida Senate passed HM 417 today by an overwhelming voice vote, and in doing so sent a powerful message to the Washington, D.C. elite: “Enough is Enough!”

The Term Limits Convention will be triggered when two-thirds of the states (34 total) have made this commitment. It will have the ability to propose a constitutional amendment to term limit Congress once and for all.

As the bill made its committee stops in the Florida, state legislators constantly remarked on the high volume of calls and emails they had received about it. Translation: your energy and activism had a huge impact.

It couldn’t have been done without active support from the citizens of Florida and around the country.

This campaign is more than one state, though. It is a nationwide grassroots movement to take back our Congress from career politicians. This momentum coming out of Florida will help propel the bills proposed in Alabama, Alaska, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee. We expect to have Convention bills filed over the next few weeks in Colorado, Georgia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Michigan, and Utah.

We know we can count on you as we go forward with this to deliver congressional term limits to the American people.

TLC_FLUPDATE: In the end, it was nearly unanimous. With no ‘nay’ votes in the House at the end of January and perhaps three in the Senate yesterday, the Florida legislature approved the Term Limits Convention application with voice votes.

With this bipartisan vote, Florida became the first state to officially request an amendment convention limited to the issue of Congressional term limits under Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

Under Article V, if two-thirds of the states request such a convention, Congress ‘shall’ call it. States will send delegates to craft the amendment and then it would be sent to the states for ratification by three-quarters of them, or 38.

The victory in Florida was a boost to the 12 other states with active Term Limits Convention campaigns under way. These are Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Louisiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

Special thanks to Florida Rep. Larry Metz and Sen. Aaron Bean for taking the lead as sponsors on these bills, attending to the committee battles and bringing them to successful final votes.

Get involved! Sign up at www.termlimitsconvention.com.