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The Bahrain Conference: Failure Foretold

May 30, 2019/in Elections, National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by Dr. Martin Sherman

The endeavor to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by economic means not only shows a grave defect in understanding its underlying causes, but inverts the causal relationship that generates & sustains it.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions – An aphorism thought to have originated with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1150).

When senior representatives of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt woke up this morning in Israel (May 30, 2019), it was to a totally different political reality to that which they expected to encounter only a few days previously.

New elections instead of new government

Indeed, instead of having to present what is being billed as the “Deal of the Century” for the innovative resolution of the seemingly intractable conflict between Jews and Arabs over control of the Holy Land, to a newly installed government, supported by a firm majority of 65 Knesset members, they are faced with political pandemonium, and new elections in little more than three months’ time.

It is yet too early to determine how the sudden uncertainty, into which the Israeli political system has been plunged, will affect the timetable for the public launch of the “Deal of the Century”, currently scheduled for a June 25-26 conference in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. There is, however, every reason to believe that the political developments in Israel will impede, rather than expedite, its unveiling. After all, the whole point of selecting June for the Bahrain conference was the hope that a newly elected Israeli government would be in office, with the legitimate authority to make the necessary decisions regarding the purportedly historic proposal.

Slim chances of success

However, the delay in moving forward with the “Deal of the Century” may well be a fortuitous turn of events. For, if the rumors that have recently appeared in the media are indeed correct, the chances of its success—or even the chance that there will be a realistic attempt to implement it—are slim indeed.

The major reason for this gloomy prognosis is, of course, the obdurate apriori rejection by the Palestinian Authority of any initiative from the Trump administration—irrespective of its substantive content—including “the Deal”.

However, Palestinian rejectionism aside, there are other valid reasons for skepticism.

For, at least in the manner in which it is portrayed in the media, there appear to be substantial structural flaws in “the Deal”, which expose a fundamental misunderstanding not only of the essence of the conflict, but also the basic methodology required for its resolution.

According to statements from the Trump administration, “the Deal” will focus on the formulation of an ambitious economic program for the development of the areas currently under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, but will avoid dealing with the political aspects of the conflict.

And therein lies its greatest defect!

Political economy 101

After all, virtually any basic 101 course in Political Economy begins with an explanation of why all functioning economic systems require a functioning political system for its existence—i.e. a system of governance that can determine, regulate and protect the property rights of buyers and sellers in the market place. Indeed, without such determination, regulation and protection, market transactions would be meaningless—and hence there would be little, indeed, no point in concluding them.

Thus, without specifying who will have sovereign authority to establish the system of laws that stipulate and regulate the legal environment in which the economic enterprises, which the Bahrain conference is supposed to promote, are to function, there is no way to assess their commercial feasibility.

The same is true for the legal regime, under which the array of infrastructures required to provide essential services to these envisaged enterprises, is to operate—such as production and conveyance of electric power, supply of water, sewage treatment, and pollution disposal to name but a few.

Similar questions arise as to taxation—efficacy of tax collection and pervasion of tax evasion—labor laws and welfare payments for workers.

Sovereignty issue unavoidable

All these elements have a crucial impact on the profitability—indeed, the very viability—of the economic vision the Trump administration reportedly intends to present at the conference. Indeed, given the abysmal record—to understate the case—of the Palestinian administration (whether in Gaza or Judea-Samaria) in managing its economic affairs, it is difficult to be optimistic about the future of the economic venture to be presented in Bahrain.

Clearly, the reliability of the infrastructure services, the prevalence of corruption, the cost and productivity of labor will all be radically impacted by the identity of the sovereign, under whose authority the envisioned economic initiative will be built and run. Consequently, no sound, well-informed economic decision can be made without this knowledge.

But the dispute over sovereignty is a quintessential political issue, at the very heart of the conflict and any attempt to skirt or by-pass it is doomed to failure.

Inverting causality

Moreover, the endeavor to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by means of economic development and financial aid shows not only a grave lacuna in the comprehension of its underlying causes, but in fact inverts the causal relationship that generates and perpetuates it.

After all, the reason for Arab hostility in general, and of the Palestinian-Arabs in particular, is not rooted in economic deprivation. (Indeed, the Palestinian-Arabs have been the recipients of the most generous per capita aid on the planet.) Quite the opposite! The economic deprivation of the Palestinian-Arabs is, in great measure, the result of their anti-Israel hostility, which creates hugely wasteful allocation of resources, grave distortion in their use and facilitates the continued rule of a despotic regime, whose continued hold on the reins of power depends on sustaining the animosity towards the Jewish state.

Accordingly, focusing on the economic aspects alone will not contribute one iota to resolving the conflict or to reducing the Palestinian-Arabs’ enmity against Israel.

At the very most it will transform them from being hostile and poor to being… hostile and affluent. What could possibly go wrong?

PODCAST: What’s Going On (with the Democrats that is)?

May 30, 2019/in Commentary, Elections, News, Policy, Politics/by Tim Bryce

Over the last few months, I have written a series of political essays attempting to explain how the Democrats see the world today. Now I want to put it all together to demonstrate how the party has changed. It is no longer the home of moderates as it has turned to the far-left. In the process, many have abandoned the party, either to join the Republicans or vote independently.

Let’s consider what we know today:

First, in January, the Gallup organization determined 51% of the Democrat Party now consider themselves to be liberal. This is a significant figure as this is the first time Gallup’s polls showed the party was now in the hands of the far-left.

According to the study, here is how DEMOCRATS view themselves:

51% – Liberal
34% – Moderate
13% – Conservative

This also means control of the party is being wrestled away from moderates.

Even though the party is currently gravitating to former VP Joe Biden, who has positioned himself as a moderate presidential candidate, the race is far from over as the far-left desperately wants a more radical candidate. Of the 24 Democrat candidates currently running for president, everyone but Mr. Biden can be described as either a socialist or progressive. In other words, it’s a long time before the presidential candidacy is secured, and the former VP will likely face stiff opposition from his own party.

To this end, there currently appears to be a movement to purge the party of moderates. To illustrate, if you are a Democrat and pro-life, the far-left wants you to either change your mind (and fall in line), or get out of the party completely.

What’s next?

If you don’t believe in open borders, should you leave the party? What if you don’t believe in entitlements, gun control, or a redistribution of the wealth? Essentially, they are trying to get their troops in lockstep.

Also from the Gallup poll, conservatives still outnumber liberals by 35% to 26%, and, not surprising, 76% of Republicans consider themselves conservative.

Next, the far-left has been making some outrageous leftist demands, things moderates have deliberately avoided over the years as it was considered political suicide. For example, presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders in a recent CNN Town Hall meeting, insists convicted prisoners and terrorists, like the Boston Marathon bomber, should have the right to vote from prison.

In the beginning of our Republic, only land owners could vote in elections. The premise here was that only RESPONSIBLE people should vote as they would do what was best for the country overall. This has evolved over the years to include others, such as women, former slaves, and young people, all of whom were assumed to vote RESPONSIBLY. The fact prisoners and terrorists are incarcerated means THEY ARE A DANGER TO SOCIETY and, as such, forfeits their rights, such as freedom, owning a gun, and, Yes, voting.

From my perspective, we already have too many IRRESPONSIBLE voters, people who couldn’t pass a simple civics test if their life depended on it. I am still convinced people should pass such a test to be allowed to vote.

This was followed recently by Sen. Sanders declaring abortion is a “constitutional right,” an apparent response to the recent state abortion bans just passed. There is, of course, nothing in the Constitution regarding abortion, yet the far-left would have people think otherwise.

Taking it a step further, another presidential hopeful, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently said today’s anti-abortion laws are “against Christian faith.” In other words, she believes it is Christian to abort a fetus just before birth.

Not to be outdone, presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) recently raised eye-brows by calling for a federal ban on “Right-To-Work” (RTW) laws in the United States, an obvious pandering to American unions to support her candidacy. Other Democrat candidates will likely follow suit.

As we discussed in an earlier column, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, ties financial success in state governments to RTW (and political parties), whereby the Top Ten states all have RTW laws and are run by Republicans, and the Bottom Ten do not have RTW and are run by Democrats (with the exception of Kentucky which just adopted RTW legislation in 2017).

Democrats currently support reparations for former slaves, including Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Former Secretary of HUD Julian Castro, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), and Sen. Cory Booker (NJ), all well known liberal candidates.

As I indicated earlier, why do they want reparations from Americans only and not the Africans who sold them into slavery to begin with? And what about the northerners who fought to free the slaves; why should they be forced to pay for it, or any Republican for that matter as they were the party of Lincoln, aka The Abolitionists? Come to think of it, the Democrats should be footing the bill as they represented Southern interests and were the slave owners (and introduced Jim Crow laws to thwart Reconstruction).

This is being done in an attempt to keep African-Americans in the Democrat’s corner, as they are very much concerned of the recent economic prosperity triggered by President Trump.

Next, we come to gun control, where Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) is proposing a gun licensing program and a ban on assault rifles. Likewise, Sen. Kamala Harris said, if elected, she would sign an executive order mandating background checks and more stringent regulations of gun manufacturers.

Finally, we come to the issue of God and organized religion. Gallup recently released an interesting report discussing the erosion of attendance and membership in organized religion.

They claim membership in churches, synagogues, and mosques has reached a new low, 50%. From 1938 to 1999, membership averaged 70%, but since then it has steadily declined to its current level.

Republicans show a modest 8 point decline in terms of membership, dropping from 77% to 69%. However, Democrats showed a more dramatic decline, going from 71% to 48%, that’s a 23 point drop.

There are other indicators of lack of support for God from the Democrats:

Elimination of “So Help Me God” in swearing-in ceremonies from House committee meetings.
Elimination of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America,” and calling into question the integrity of famed singer, Kate Smith.

The anomalies to common sense seems to be endless.

THE 4-C’s

It is perfectly obvious the Democrats are rebelling against the 4-C’s of Republicanism:

1. Christianity – Democrats are not only abandoning church, they are working to subvert it because of the moral values involved. In short, they have become the anti-God party.

2. Capitalism – Democrats are trying to replace it with Socialism in order to expand government control and create dependencies (aka, “Master/Slave” relationship). Democrats have abandoned the concept of “earning a living,” preferring entitlements instead. Again, this is training people to accept a Master/Slave relationship.

Today, you hear the expression, “Democratic Socialism”—this is nothing more than an attempt to implement Socialism under the Constitution. The problem is, capitalism requires freedom to work as expressed in the Constitution, Socialism does not, requiring control instead, thereby putting our governing document in peril.

And let us not forget, they do not understand the concept of Democracy. The fact remains, we live in a constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. The Democrats themselves do not operate as a Democracy, but rather as a Republic. I defy them to show me one country in the world that operates as a true Democracy. They are either Republics, a Monarchy, or Dictatorship.

3. Constitution – The Democrats have made numerous attempts to undermine our governing document, as it is perceived as an antiquated encumbrance against the Democrat agenda. This is why they wish to eliminate the Electoral College, change the makeup of the Supreme Court, implement gun control, and other changes to our Bill of Rights. It’s all about control, not freedom.

4. Conservative values – These are values developed over the country’s history and include such things as love of country (patriotism), citizenship, reverence for family, belief in deity, being a good neighbor, lending a helping hand, etc.

Consider, for example, the Democrat controlled House of Representatives voted recently 236-173 in favor of the “Equality Act,” which would require schools to include male athletes who identify as transgender girls on female sports teams.

The fact remains, the Democrats have developed a set of moral values diametrically opposed to conservatives in an attempt to redefine history, government, freedoms and rights.

According to Gallop polls in 2017 and 2018, liberal positions have led to a sharp decline in morality in the country as we know it today. This is greatly assisted by the entertainment and news media who no longer feel restrained from promoting liberal values and demeaning those of conservatives.

Not surprising, Democrats are beginning to panic about the anti-abortion bills as put forth by states such as Missouri, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia, which will inevitably lead to a challenge of Roe vs. Wade.

They are also scared of what will be uncovered by AG Bill Barr’s investigation of the origins of the Russia probe. This is one reason why they are desperately insisting on the impeachment of the president, even though it will not pass the senate and will ultimately cost them the 2020 election.

One last note in this regard, when was the last time you heard a Democrat publicly say, “I love this country”? The truth is, today’s Democrats, as represented by the far-left, do not.

SO, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

No, this is not your father’s Democrat party. It has shifted to the radical left. If the party nominates former VP Joe Biden as their candidate for president, look for a new socialist party to emerge. They will fight him tooth-and-nail, and keep him away from the party platform.
As we should all know by now, they will do anything to win, including cheating. Why? Because they are morally corrupt. We saw this in Florida during the midterm elections where they tried to steal votes on more than one occasion. We must remain vigilant against the Democrat threat.
Education is the key to combat Democrats. They are counting on an ignorant and gullible public to swallow their tripe. Republicans have to teach youth the differences between Capitalism VS Socialism, Democracy versus Republic, Freedom versus Entitlements and slavery. We need to reclaim civics and American History in public education, and above all else, teach the Constitution of the United States.

It frightens me to realize I knew more about civics and history by 5th Grade, than today’s High School graduates.

The differences between yesterday’s and today’s Democrats are so pronounced, one has to wonder if mental health problems have reached pandemic proportions. It appears to have started under the Clintons, and propagated by the Obamas. Maybe there is something in the water after all.

So, “what’s going on?” An overthrow of the American government. Not since the period before the American Civil War has the country been so sharply divided. Only one interpretation of the “American Dream” can remain. It will either be based on the Constitution and the values of our past, or a new radically different society will emerge.

Friends, we can ill-afford to rest on our laurels; complacency got us in the mess, now we have to recover for the sake of the country. It is now time to get to work.

Keep the Faith!

EDITORS NOTE: This Bryce is Right column is republished with permission. All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Revoke Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Marriage Fraud Immunity Card

May 30, 2019/in Commentary, Courts & Law, Immigration, News, Policy, Politics, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Daily Signal

If you are not a member of the Democrats’ protected class of bitter loudmouths who hate America, you can be investigated and prosecuted for marriage fraud. The headlines have been filled with recent crackdowns.

In Texas last week, 96 people were indicted on federal charges of conspiring to defraud our immigration system by arranging phony unions between American citizens and sham spouses in Vietnam.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, three men pleaded guilty to participating in fraudulent marriages with noncitizens and sponsoring them for green cards under false pretenses.

At Fort Bragg in North Carolina last month, two soldiers and two African immigrants were indicted by a grand jury related to a scheme involving an entire ring of service members who attempted to match female soldiers with foreigners from Ghana and Nigeria. They each face between 15-35 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines each.

In Alabama, an Indian national pleaded guilty to arranging 80 fake marriages using U.S. citizen recruits to bail out Indian foreign nationals who had overstayed their visas or Student Exchange Visitor Program requirements.

You wouldn’t know it from the radio silence of Democratic leaders regarding radioactive Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s long-festering and bizarre bigamy scheme (which she still refuses to address), but marriage fraud is a federal felony. As the Department of Homeland Security makes clear, it is a serious crime—not a victimless, harmless infraction—that “weakens our nation’s security and makes us less safe.”

No kidding. I have long documented the national security consequences of marriage fraud by deadly jihadists:

Eight Mideastern men who plotted to bomb New York landmarks in 1993 all obtained green cards and permanent legal residence by marrying U.S. citizens.

El Sayyid A. Nosair put a ring on American Karen Ann Mills Sweeney’s finger to avoid deportation for overstaying his visa. He acquired U.S. citizenship, allowing him to remain in the country, and was later convicted for conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that claimed six lives.

Top Osama bin Laden aide Ali Mohamed became a U.S. citizen after marrying a woman he met on a plane trip from Egypt to New York. He was convicted for his role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa that killed 12 Americans and more than 200 others.

A year after 9/11, Homeland Security officials cracked a vast Middle Eastern marriage fraud ring for illegal immigrants in “Operation Broken Vows” that stretched from Boston to South Carolina to California.

Faisal Shahzad, the 2010 Times Square bomb plotter, married an American woman, Huma Mian, in 2008 after spending a decade in the country on foreign student and employment visas.

Anyone capable of and willing to lie to federal officials in face-to-face interviews, falsify government forms under penalty of perjury, and conspire to undermine the integrity of our immigration system is a threat to our country.

Terrorism is not the only concern. Other complex criminal organizations are often involved. Even nations governed by open borders loons like Canada’s Justin Trudeau take marriage fraud seriously. Last week, the government moved to strip a Chinese national of his fraudulently acquired Canadian citizenship after paying a woman $5,000 to enter a sham marriage.

We have enough native-born scam artists and fraudsters without having to import more from around the world. But you know what’s even more of an insult than an ordinary foreign marriage faker? An entitled, arrogant, and unrepentant marriage faker hiding behind the “Islamophobia” and “sexism” cards. Yes, I’m looking at you, Omar.

Investigations dating back to 2016 by blogger Scott Johnson of Power Line (which recently celebrated 15 years in the blogosphere), David North of the Center for Immigration Studies, Alpha News reporter Preya Samsundar, and PJMedia.com reporter David Steinberg have determined that the outspoken Somalian Muslim refugee likely married her own brother named Ahmed Elmi in 2009 for some unknown ill-gotten gain while still informally married to the man she calls her husband and father of her three children, Ahmed Hirsi.

After a Somalian website floated questions about the marriage arrangement with Elmi and Johnson’s initial reporting broke into the local news, Omar sought to divorce Elmi. Her use of $6,000 in state campaign funds, some of which went to pay a personal divorce lawyer, is currently under state investigation.

Social media posts, photographic evidence, and publicly available biographical data strongly suggest that Elmi (now living in London) and Omar are siblings with the same father.

Many of the pair’s Instagram and Facebook comments to each other have been deleted.

Omar’s staff and lawyer have rebuked questions about the arrangement as “categorically ridiculous and false” and suggested that truth-seekers in the matter are “people who do not want an East African, Muslim woman elected to office.”

For good measure, Omar has decried “Trump-style misogyny, racism, anti-immigration rhetoric and Islamophobic division.”

Hey, I’m not the one who bragged last week that Omar, a naturalized American citizen, brought “the perspective of a foreigner” to her role on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. That was Omar.

Perhaps she’ll share her “foreign perspective” on how any other sane nation would handle an elected official who won’t answer questions about possible felony immigration fraud while sitting on a sensitive legislative panel. I’m all ears.

COMMENTARY BY

Michelle Malkin

Michelle Malkin is a columnist for The Daily Signal, senior editor at Conservative Review, a best-selling author, and Fox News contributor. Twitter: @michellemalkin.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission.

San Francisco: New American [Manuel Amador] Arrested for Kidnapping and Rape of Senior Citizen

May 30, 2019/in Immigration, Must Read, National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by Ann Corcoran

Here we go again, another vulnerable elderly American woman suffers violent attack.

This time in Nancy Pelosi’s back yard.

Manuel Jesus Amador was arraigned on May 23rd. He required an interpreter even as his attorney said he had been in the US for 20 years!

Only a few years ago Nancy Pelosi and her other Democrat fellow members of the House were promoting an ad that depicts a mean Paul Ryan pushing granny off a cliff by taking away her healthcare.

Well, where the hell are they now as immigrants (legal/illegal!) are literally raping and killing grannies? (See my ‘Violent Crime’ category.)

Thanks again to Cristina for bringing another horrible crime to my attention.

From Fox affiliate KTVU,

(At the time of this news account the woman had already been in the hospital for nearly two weeks!)

San Francisco police arrest man who allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted 74-year-old

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) – A 74-year-old woman remains hospitalized nearly two weeks after authorities said she was kidnapped and raped inside of a home in San Francisco.

According to court documents, the 74-year-old a woman was walking to a friend’s house on May 10 when she was kidnapped off the sidewalk around 8:00 a.m. on Prague and Curtis Streets near McLaren Park. Police said the victim reported that she was forced into a house and sexually assaulted over a period of four to five hours.

Police have arrested 47-year-old Manuel Amador of San Francisco after serving a search warrant at his home on May 17. Court documents said Amador is accused of dragging the elderly woman down his driveway to a side door near the garage. A pit bull belonging to Amador’s roommate reportedly bit the woman multiple times on her feet, her ankle, and her left hip before she was forced into a room and pushed on the bed.

The woman tried to fight off her attacker, but was unable to get away, according to the court documents. They also state the woman recalls being strangled, raped, and sexually assaulted multiple times. Amador reportedly admitted to the rape and told investigators the woman lost consciousness for about 30 minutes. Amador is also accused of dressing the woman and dragging her back outside where he reportedly left her on the sidewalk without a cell phone, keys, or shoes.

Continue reading here.

The photo is from a subsequent San Francisco Chronicle story, see here. It is that article that says he has been here for two decades.

You can bet there is more to this story—Amador supposedly here for 20 years, speaks no English and has no criminal record. I don’t believe it.

Where is Nancy?

Why doesn’t she care about seniors now—elderly women like herself viciously attacked by men who shouldn’t be in America in the first place—not fictitious grandmothers suffering at the hands of fictitious mean Republicans.

RELATED ARTICLES:

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Does the Constitution Mandate Universal Birthright Citizenship? Here’s the Answer

Update: Kenyan Killer Overstayed a Tourist Visa, Married an American

EDITORS NOTE: This Frauds, Crooks and Criminals column is republished with permission.

Canada: Christians Muzzled While Islamists Get Funding

May 29, 2019/in Culture War, Must Read, News, Policy, Politics, Religion, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Clarion Project

A proposed law in Canada will result in Christians muzzled. Meanwhile Islamists (including those tied to terrorists) get government funding.

These days we wake up every day to disturbing news in both the U.S. and Canada.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recently released a report titled: Hijacked by Hate: American Philanthropy and the Islamophobia Network in which it claims “hate groups” have used American charities to propagate a message of anti-Muslim bigotry.

According to this report, any critique of Islamism and Islamist activities is deemed racism and bigotry (i.e., “Islamophobic”). This includes any and all legitimate criticism of extremism, terrorism and jihad. According to CAIR, it’s all racism.

Meanwhile in Canada, MP Iqra Khalid — the architect of the divisive M103, the anti-“Islamophobia” motion — announced less than a year ago that the Trudeau Government (due in part to her hard work) would invest $23 million into a multiculturalism program.

The catch: What is this “multiculturalism program?” Much to our horror, the two groups who are among the recipients of the program’s money are:

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), the new name of the Canadian branch of CAIR. CAIR was named in 2008 as an unindicted co-conspirator in the “largest terror-funding trial in U.S. history.”
Islamic Relief Worldwide, an organization which has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries and which Germany says is joined at the hips to the Muslim Brotherhood.

If the two above pieces of news were not disturbing enough, there is more troubling news: Legislation has been proposed in the Canadian province of Ontario that would criminalize public displays by Christians deemed hateful to Muslims, the LGBT community and other victim groups designated by the Left.

The bill, Prohibiting Hate-Promoting Demonstrations at Queen’s Park Act, 2019, bans any demonstration, rally or other activity on the grounds of the Ontario Legislative Building that is deemed hateful by the Speaker. The word “hateful” is not defined.

What does this mean in practical terms? Islamists can get a free pass to celebrate a hate fest called Al-Quds Day in a public space, while Christians, who are the most persecuted faith in the world today, are muzzled. There is horrendous persecution of Christians and their places of worship in many parts of the Muslim world, yet if this bill passes, it will be illegal to address this publicly in Ontario.

I have seen ethnic groups get special status, but it amazes me and boggles the mind that one faith always receives special accommodation. And I thought coming to Canada was about freedom of speech and expression.

Have we not learned anything from Europe? The European Court of Human Rights recently became the enforcer of sharia blasphemy laws. The court declared in a ruling that defaming the Islamic prophet Mohammed was prohibited and exceeds the permissible limits of free speech in Europe. (This is in contrast to a ruling by the same court which allowed the insulting of Christianity in 2012.)

If we don’t want to end up with Europe’s level of “free speech,” we must challenge these divide-and-conquer policies to ensure they will not reach their objectives.

This will only happen when Americans and Canadians stand up together and speak out against these tactics.

Canadian PM Blasts CAIR-Canada for Ties to Hamas

Joined at the Hips: Islamic Relief and Muslim Brotherhood

VIDEO: Steve Bannon Responds to Merkel’s Lies and the Pope’s Fantasies

May 29, 2019/in Culture War, News, Policy, Politics, Religion, Video/by Vlad Tepes Blog

Below, a former retired head of Mossad on the AfD, from a man considered a legend in Israel.

Judge Orders Antifa Activist Yvette Felarca to Pay Judicial Watch Legal Fees for Her ‘Entirely Frivolous’ Lawsuit

May 28, 2019/in Courts & Law, Must Read, News, Policy, Politics/by Judicial Watch

(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced that a U.S. District Judge in California awarded Judicial Watch $22,000 in legal fees in a case filed by an Antifa organizer in an effort to block Judicial Watch from obtaining information about her activities.

Yvette Felarca, a middle school teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), and two co-plaintiffs were ordered to pay Judicial Watch $22,000 in attorney’s fees and $4,000 in litigation costs. Felarca had sued the BUSD in federal court to keep the school district from fulfilling its legal obligation to provide Judicial Watch with records of their communications mentioning: Felarca, Antifa, and/or BAMN. Judicial Watch also asked for Felarca’s personnel file.

Felarca is a prominent figure in By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a group founded by the Marxist Revolutionary Workers League that protests conservative speaking engagements. In 2016, Felarca and two of her allies were arrested and charged with several crimes, including felony assault, for inciting a riot in Sacramento. Earlier this year, Felarca was ordered to stand trial for assault.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, Northern District of California, who had previously ruled that Felarca’s lawsuit was “entirely frivolous,” wrote in his ruling awarding legal fees to Judicial Watch that Felarca and her co-plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims were “premised on the obviously baseless assumption” that the First Amendment condemns the speech of some while condoning the ideological missions of others.

Judge Chhabria added that “The plaintiffs also mischaracterized the documents under review” and that the plaintiffs “failed to grapple with the role Ms. Felarca played in making herself a topic of public discourse through her physical conduct at public rallies and her voluntary appearance on Fox News.”

Judge Chhabria’s order also states that “a significant portion of the documents the plaintiffs initially sued to protect from disclosure had been publicly disclosed months earlier in another suit brought by Ms. Felarca against BUSD, where she was represented by the same counsel. (See generally Felarca v. Berkeley Unified School District, No. 3:16-cv-06184-RS). The plaintiffs, therefore, had no reasonable argument to protect those documents from disclosure.”

Along with Felarca’s $20,000 payment, co-plaintiffs Lori Nixon and Larry Stefl were ordered by Judge Chhabria to pay Judicial Watch $1,000 each (Yvette Felarca, et al., v. Berekely Unified School District, et al. (No. 3:17-cv-06282-VC)).

“Judicial Watch is entitled to attorney’s fees because the plaintiffs’ lawsuit was frivolous, and their litigation conduct was unreasonable,” Judge Chhabria wrote in his order.

Additionally, Judge Chhabria’s order holds the plaintiffs “jointly and severally liable” to pay Judicial Watch $4,000 in litigation expenses.

In 2017, Judicial Watch filed a California Public Records Act (CPRA) request seeking public records information about Felarca’s Antifa activism and its effect within the Berkeley Unified School District. In her lawsuit aimed at keeping the Berkeley school district from furnishing the records, Felarca alleged that Judicial Watch was misusing the law for political means and the district should refuse to provide the information.

In January 2018, a separate judge ordered Felarca to pay more than $11,000 in attorney and court fees for her frivolous attempt to get a restraining order against Troy Worden, the former head of the University of California (UC) Berkeley College Republicans.

“This is a huge victory for Judicial Watch against Antifa and the violent left,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Ms. Felarca attacked Judicial Watch without basis and the court was right to reject her ploy to deny our ‘right to know’ because we don’t share her violent left views.”

EXPLAINED: Why Democrats Are Generationally Blind To The Spectacular Failure of Socialism

May 28, 2019/in Commentary, Culture War, News, Policy, Politics, Taxes, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by Rod Thomson

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher

In full deference to the Iron Lady, that’s not the only problem. That is a functional reality of socialism’s practical doom. But at its core, socialism is a violation of elemental human nature that desires to build, innovate, expand and improve life — the same nature that drives parents to be always working towards a better future for their children.

Socialism denies that elemental nature and so not only dooms itself to eventual self-destruction, but creates enormous misery en route. This has been demonstrated in every country where it has been substantially put in place, from the Soviet Union to Cuba to Vietnam to Cambodia to Angola to Venezuela.

Yet for many — from college campuses to Reddit fever swamps to now much of the Democratic Party’s leadership — socialism still holds a dreamy-eyed allure. They passionately to angrily believe the world would be dramatically better if socialism supplanted capitalism. This defies not only human nature, but also all historical experience. And yet it persists at amazing and growing levels.

The reason: Democrats don’t work on an operational assumption of immutable human nature, or even increasingly in the reality of science. They operate in an arena that combines emotional Utopianism (socialism) with just flat emotional make-believe (there are 112 genders.)

Communism, the maturity of socialism, officially rejects God, because the supreme deity is the State. It is hard to against the idea that the leadership of the Democratic Party gives some lip-service to God and church, but philosophically has jettisoned anything remotely tethered to the Christianity of the Bible. Kill God and then create a new “reality” based in what feels good.

This is a continual trend on the philosophical left.

So let’s start with defining socialism, no small task really because part of the current Democratic/media task is to redefine socialism as having nothing to do with every social failure that has existed in history — which is every attempt at socialism in history.

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” — Winston Churchill

Socialist ideology defined

Wikipedia has a fair if somewhat dry definition of socialism, summarized as being a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership and control of every aspect of production. Social ownership includes public, collective, or cooperative ownership.

Means of production is the key. The means of production is essentially anything that is not human that is part of an economy. In socialism, the means of producing everything are in the hands of the “everyone.” There are no individual property rights, there is no individual ownership. Everything is owned by the collective, the hive, an economic Star Trek Borg 100 percent antithetical to the founders and the Constitution.

Socialism grew out of pre-Marxist ideologies that saw the inherent problems with feudalism. But it’s popularity exploded with Karl Marx and others as the industrial revolution took hold in the 1800s and abuses of the low-end labor pool grew exponentially at the same time wealth did. Socialism was a response to that by upending the entire system.

People power. But not person power.

Merriam-Webster defines socialism as “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” Google defines socialism as “a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.” Alexis de Tocqueville

What it looks like in reality

The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the largest experiment in socialism. The doey-eyed utopianism of Trotsky led to the authoritarianism of Lenin which led to the brutal tyranny of Stalin and the soul-crushing Communist Soviet Union.

That story is pretty well known but also a well-worn path for every socialist experiment, albeit it was on maybe the largest scale.

Cuba was the people’s revolution heralding in a communistic state that was ruled with an iron fist by Fidel Castro, just as Stalin, Khrushchev and the rest did in the Soviet Union. That was a thriving little island economically, but it was not hugely free and it was not a democracy. The income disparities and relative poverty in large swaths fueled Castro’s form of socialism and people followed him.

Venezuela is the most recent example. Due to its oil wealth, Venezuela had the highest per capita GDP in South America in 2005. It had not been well run and was fairly corrupt and incompetent at the government level. But it was still the best and richest in South America — a continent known for corruption and incompetence in government.

In 2005, President Hugo Chavez took the country in a deep socialist direction. He began nationalizing industries such as oil companies and the media — natural steps for socialism — and started transferring large sums to the poor. The results are truly epic. Venezuela now has a totally collapsed economy with starvation and the lack of basic infrastructure becoming more common. A failure on an amazing level.

In an explanation of Venezuela’s collapse, Bloomberg noted: “The last years of Chavez — he died of cancer in 2013 — and the first under his handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro have been a time of unparalleled fiscal profligacy.”

But that is always the case in socialism. Massive government debt driven by a declining economy — a common side effect of socialism — and huge welfare spending generated hyper-inflation has made the country the poorest in South America. In eight years it went from the richest to the poorest by pivoting sharply to socialism.

“Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don’t need it and hell where they already have it.” Ronald Reagan

Capitalism’s inequality “problem”

Capitalism is duty-bound to create inequality in wealth. Some people are just great at making money. Some are great at making things. Some are clever and some are lucky (think Mark Zuckerberg.) Those generally do very well in capitalism. Many others are simply hard workers and they often do well, though in more of a middle class sort of way — which in America is beyond kingly from just 150 years ago.

Other people are bad at making money and worse at money management. Others are not clever and some are unlucky. Some are just lazy. These all do relatively poorly in capitalism.

Relatively.

The question is whether inequalities are bad if all or most boats are being lifted, just some lifted higher than others. In the United States, the poorest 10 percent of people are better off than the richest 10 percent in any third world or developing nation. But Forbes points out an Economist chart that shows that America’s poor are better off than most of Europe’s poor, including better off than in far more socialist countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy.

This is worth noting because those are considered social democratic nations by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But they are actually capitalistic countries with free markets, but a heavy overlay of social welfare programs.

While they are often heralded as examples for America to follow, it seems like the trade-off of inequality is worth it for the rising quality of life of the poor — unless envy trumps quality of life, which is what socialist-espousing politicians play on. It’s why class warfare must precede socialism, as it did with Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, so it does with many in the Democratic Party.

China is the largest socialist/communist country and struggled with universal poverty for decades after its revolution. But as it instituted capitalism’s free market reforms beginning in the 1980s — while retaining its authoritarianism, and socialist structure in name anyway — China’s economy began booming and is now second only to the United States. Capitalism did that. But it also created the inevitable inequalities.

Vietnam became socialist/communist after the Vietnam War. The country was already a disaster from the long war, but socialism provided no means for pulling it out. In recent years, the leadership has instituted more capitalist-based market reforms, a la China. That has begun creating more wealth for the country, but it is mostly flowing into a few hands — starting with those most connected to government leadership.

So capitalism works everywhere to generate more wealth. But it will always be unequal. Socialism equalizes, but does so by making everyone but those in charge poorer.

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.” Thomas Sowell

What it might look like in America

What happened in Venezuela is instructive, because it is similar to Cuba and even the Soviet Union, although every situation will have its unique dynamics.

In a vision of what the first steps toward socialism would look like in the United States, Democrats are running variously on platforms of free government-run single-payer healthcare, free college, expanded Social Security and more. Of course, the beginning, as a bad as that would be for the American middle class, is never the ending with socialism.

To pay for it — and this is where Thatcher is just so right — Democrats would dramatically increase taxes by trillions of dollars. In fact, they frequently speak of tax increases alone to pay for all of the nationalized healthcare. That’s just taking other people’s money on a more massive scale, and would due to the math require a giant middle class tax increase.

These proposals were only a small step toward full-blown Utopian socialism. A totally predictable outcome would be that the high taxes would start slowing the economy, necessitating more tax increases, which would further slow the economy. You see the spiral.

The tax increases would never keep up with the expenses being run up in national healthcare, free college, expanded Social Security and the host of further steps that would ultimately be taken. The United States would not be immune to the immutable laws of economics and human nature. Eventually, we would succumb — as has every other nation.

Socialism is a siren song to the idealistic, the frustrated and the naive. But it is a fool’s errand. It requires ignoring known reality and supplanting it with a make-believe Utopianism — which is the precise groundwork being laid by the 2019 Democratic Party in line with leftists for the past 150 years. Presumably, if right-thinking Americans prevail again in this battle, it will erupt again in 30 years or so.

Socialism’s end is the proverbial pack of wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner. There is a new sheep member each dinner until there are no more sheep, and the remaining wolves starve.

And you have Venezuela. Or Cuba. Or Vietnam. Or the Soviet Union.

(This is a vastly updated version of an article was first published at The Revolutionary Act on May 15, 2017)

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission.

INTEL REPORT: Sudan, Libya, Turkey, Algeria, France

May 28, 2019/in National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by Barry Webb

SUDAN

The vice president of the military junta now controlling Sudan, General Muhammad Hamdan was recently interviewed by a correspondent from Egypt’s al-ahram newspaper. During the interview General Hamdan thanked Egypt for its role in terms of siding with the “revolution.”

Based on this interview, and a host of other news items that have come in regarding the Sudan situation, the background to this is that the former dictator al-Basheer, in addition to being a clowning thug, was also pushing the Islamist/Muslim Brotherhood/Erdogan agenda in Sudan. There is no way that Egypt could sit by and watch Turkey gain an ever stronger foothold in its southern neighbor. So, I suspect that Egypt had a lot to do with stirring up, and supporting, the demonstrations that brought al-Basheer down.

Other news reports have shown that leading junta members have also indicated they want positive relations with Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., key allies of Egypt and important sources of funds for reconstruction.

However, the Junta has also notified Turkey that they can keep its holdings on Sudan’s Suakin Island. The island once hosted an Ottoman naval base, and supporting entities. Erdogan considers these installations to be a “museum” of Ottoman history. An agreement was signed last December to allow Turkey to restore the naval base and pertinent buildings so as to make it a “tourist” destination. However, there are accounts that Turkey plans to dock naval ships there as well as civilian vessels. That could become an issue given the Sudanese Junta’s open attempts to forge ties with Egypt and its Gulf allies.

During his al-ahram interview, Gen. Hamdan noted that there are divisions within the “freedom and change” protest movement. In this regard he indicated that “foreign” elements are meddling with certain factions in the movement.

Other reporting out of Egypt points the finger at Turkey for smuggling weapons into Sudan to support its factions there, and at Qatar for providing “money laundering” services for the pro-Brotherhood/Erdogan factions.

Gen. Hamdan stated in his al-ahram interview that he is a “target” of the “deep state.” Yes, he actually used that uniquely Trumpian term, the Arabic of which is “ad-dawlah al-‘ameeqah.” He supported this contention by pointing out that since al-Basheer had ruled for thirty years, he had plenty of time to make sure his cronies were well entrenched in the military and all branches of the civilian government.

‘Abd al-Ghufar Shaker, also writing in al-ahram, claims that the “deep state” is also embeded in the 10-member ruling military council and that it is trying to so divisions within the protest movement to pave the way for bringing back the dictatorship to restore law and order. Mr. Shaker also noted additional challenges facing Sudan in the aftermath of al-Basheer’s removal, and foremost of these include the tribal nature of the country and its huge geographic size, being the largest single geographic entity on the African continent. He would not be surprised if some of the regions broke off like the primarily Christian Southern portion already has done.

He blamed the al-Basheer regime for having cultivated and promoted ethnic difference among the people, which has led to forms of discrimination.

LIBYA

The Saudi-owned al-arabiyya TV channel has reported that Turkey recently shipped 40 armored vehicles to the Islamist-supported Sirraaj government in Tripoli, for use against the Gen. Haftar forces. This Turkish shipment docked at the harbor in Masrattah, to the east of Tripoli. Militia from Marattah have also joined in the fight against the Haftar forces besieging Tripoli.

The Turkish arms shipments represent a flagrant violation of the UN “embargo” against any weapons shipments going to either side in this dispute. Unfortunately, no one in the international community seems to give a hoot what Turkey does.

Another report from al-ahram this week quotes a “Gallup” poll showing that people in the Middle East region believe that the ongoing civil war in Libya will spill over into the neighboring countries (which would include Tunisia, Algeria, Chad, Niger, Sudan, and Egypt, all of which share a border with Libya).

The pro-MB al-jazeera TV station is claiming that two Russian-built IL-76 transport aircraft registered to Khazakhistan, but owned by an Emirati company are making regular flights bouncing around between Egypt, Israel, and Jordon allegedly to deliver arms and/or troops to the Haftar forces besieging Libya. If true, this report would add Israel, Jordan, Khazakhistan, and possibly Russia to the ever growing list of countries getting involved in one way or another in the Libya quagmire.

MORE TURKEY

Al-arabiyya TV has also reported that the oil rig Turkey has set up off the coast of Cyprus, in Cypriot-claimed waters has already begun drilling. This is another flagrant violation of international norms committed by Turkey, but ignored by the international community. Cyprus’s allies of Egypt and Israel are now too distracted with hot wars in their own backyards to want to take on Turkey, and Cyprus’s big brother Greece certainly can’t do it alone.

This is yet another example of NATO member Greece being left to cry in the wind alone when fellow NATO member Turkey tramples its rights.

ALGERIA

After weeks of surprisingly well-disciplined, peaceful demonstrations against the “establishment” ruling regime–demonstrations that have continued long after the aging former President Boutiflika stepped down–al-Jazeera TV has reported that violence between the police and the demonstrators has broken out. The demonstrators are demanding that all vestiges of the “establishment” be ousted. Yet, they are also demanding that “democratic” elections be held immediately without offering any mechanism for those elections to be sponsored, conducted, and voted counted afterwards.

COMMENT: The Algerian situation is developing into a recipe for the “wrong” elements in the protest movement to take over (i.e. the pro-Turkey Islamist).

Sudan is looking more and more like a recipe for dismemberment with Turkey, Chad, Egypt and its allies each carving out their own niches based on tribal divisions.

The Libyan Civil war sees no quick ending, and will likely spill over into its neighboring countries as mentioned above.

The greater Middle East conflagration that everyone hopes won’t happen, may already be happening under our noses. Add to the Libyan situation the worsening developments in Algeria, Sudan, and the potential for spillover into Libya’s other neighbors, plus Egypt’s ongoing war against Islamist in the Sinai, the full scale war in Yemen which is now affecting Saudi and Emirati cities and installations, the on-going civil war in Syria, with the outside powers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey intervening with often opposing objectives, then throw in the resurgence of ISIS in Iraq, as well as Syria . . . stir, and then add Turkey’s infringement on Cypriot waters for oil production . . . looks like we’re already there. And, that’s even without talking about the Iran vs. U.S. scenario.

LYONS, FRANCE

The Lyons, France bomber has been identified by French authorities as a computer student from Algeria. He had been in the country only a few months.

HEZBOLLAH SLEEPER AGENT CONVICTED OF PLOTTING U.S. TERROR ATTACKS: Lebanese-born terrorist was a naturalized U.S. citizen.

May 28, 2019/in Courts & Law, Culture War, National Security, News, Policy, Politics, Religion/by Michael Cutler

Tensions and hostilities between the United States and Iran have been ramping up and while the news media focuses on how Iran has been operating throughout the Middle East threatening our allies including Israel, the media has ignored that operatives of Hezbollah have, for many years, been operating widely throughout Latin America in conjunction with drug cartels that engage in the smuggling of huge quantities of narcotics into the United States as well as huge numbers of aliens.

This not only provides a major source of revenue for Iran to fund its wide-ranging terrorist operations but to provide Iran with opportunities to move sleeper agents into the United States.

Of course “Sleeper Agents” not unlike aliens in general don’t just enter the United States illegally by running our borders but also enter the U.S. by various other methods, including by being admitted legally at ports of entry.

The issue of “Sleeper Agents” is not a new threat but one that has been of great concern for many years.

On March 21, 2012 the House Committee on Homeland Security that was then chaired by New York Congressman Peter King, conducted a hearing on the topic, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland. The Huffington Post published a report on the hearing, Peter King: Iran May Have ‘Hundreds’ Of Hezbollah Agents In U.S.

I have written a number of previous articles about this clear and immediate threat that Iran poses to U.S. national security and public safety. One of my recent articles was entitled, Iran Threatens U.S. And Its Allies With “Drugs, Refugees, Bombs And Assassination.”

My commentary today, however, is predicated on a May 17, 2019 Justice Department press release that announced:

Ali Kourani Convicted in Manhattan Federal Court for Covert Terrorist Activities on Behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization

Ali Kourani Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component and Gathered Intelligence in New York City in Support of Attack-Planning Efforts

That press release began with this statement that noted he also committed immigration law violations:

Yesterday, a jury returned a guilty verdict against Ali Kourani, a.k.a. “Ali Mohamad Kourani,” a.k.a. “Jacob Lewis,” a.k.a. “Daniel,” on all eight counts in the Indictment, which charged him with terrorism, sanctions and immigration offenses for his illicit work as an operative for Hizballah’s external attack-planning component. Kourani is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 27, 2019…

It further stated:

“While living in the United States, Kourani served as an operative of Hizballah in order to help the foreign terrorist organization prepare for potential future attacks against the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. “The evidence at trial showed that Kourani searched for suppliers who could provide weapons for such attacks, identified people who could be recruited or targeted for violence, and gathered information about and conducted surveillance of potential targets within our country. Such covert activities conducted on U.S. soil are a clear threat to our national security and I applaud the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this investigation and prosecution.”

“Ali Kourani was recruited, trained and deployed by Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of terrorism in the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Berman. “Kourani’s chilling mission was to help procure weapons and gather intelligence about potential targets in the U.S. for future Hizballah terrorist attacks. Some of the targets Kourani surveilled included JFK Airport and law enforcement facilities in New York City, including the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Today, Kourani has fittingly been convicted for his crimes in a courthouse that stands in the shadow of one of his potential targets.”

I originally wrote about the arrest of Ali Kourani and his alleged cohort, Samer el Debek in my article, Two Alleged Hezbollah Jihadists Arrested In U.S.

I noted in that article that immigration (naturalization) was the key to their terrorist activities. In point of fact, both men had become naturalized United States citizens before they were tasked by their Hezbollah handlers.

The New York Times reported on this case in the article, Bronx Man Accused of Casing J.F.K. Airport for Potential Hezbollah Attack that included this paragraph:

The man, Ali Kourani, a 32-year-old naturalized citizen from Lebanon, told the F.B.I. in a series of interviews that he believed he had been recruited to join Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization as part of an effort to develop “sleepers” who lived ostensibly normal lives but could be “activated and tasked” with conducting operations, the complaint said.

The article went on to note:

Mr. Kourani said he had been recruited to join the organization in 2008, in light of his education and because he lived in the United States, the authorities said in the complaint. They said that he had told the authorities that one of his first instructions from his “handler” in Lebanon, a man called Fadi, was to obtain American citizenship as soon as possible, which he did in 2009.

On May 16, 2019 U.S. News and World Report published an article, New Yorker Convicted of Giving Material Support to Hezbollah that included this excerpt:

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Kourani surveilled terrorism targets in New York City, including Kennedy International Airport and law enforcement facilities including the building housing the FBI.

“Ali Kourani was recruited, trained, and deployed by Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of terrorism in the United States. Kourani’s chilling mission was to help procure weapons and gather intelligence about potential targets in the U.S. for future Hezbollah terrorist attacks,” Berman said in a release.

Authorities said the Lebanon-born Kourani received sophisticated military training overseas at least twice, including in 2000 at age 16. They said he was trained in the use of a rocket propelled grenade.

Authorities said he came to the U.S. legally in 2003, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering in 2009 and a master’s degree in business administration in 2013.

Kourani received the sort of high-tech education, in the U.S., that could certainly assist him in launching terror attacks on American soil.

What has not been reported is an alien who becomes a naturalized citizen my change his/her name at the time that they acquire U.S. citizenship and their U.S. passport will only reflect their new name. In essence we are permitting aliens to create their own “witness protection program” that provides them with the opportunity to use their new identities to potentially enter countries around the world that may not have admitted them under their original identities. Furthermore, by having two different passports under two different nationalities and names, they can alternate the passports that they use to acquire airline tickets and gain entry into different countries while successfully covering their tracks not unlike the way that a smuggler may drag a branch behind him in the desert to cover his tracks in the sand.

I have addressed this major vulnerability when I have testified before Congress but it has never been addressed.

Indeed, politicians from both parties are eager to provide pathways to U.S. citizenship to unknown millions of illegal aliens to “solve” the immigration crisis.

As I noted some time ago, Terrorists Value U.S. Citizenshp More Than Our Politicians Do.

EDITORS NOTE: This FrontPage Magazine column is republished with permission.

EU elections: Significant populist gains show will of the people to stand against Islamization

May 28, 2019/in Culture War, Elections, Immigration, Must Read, National Security, News, Policy, Politics/by Jihad Watch

The most “controversial” so-called ‘populist’ leaders experienced notable wins in EU elections, giving renewed hope that the EU has a sizable force of “Eurosceptic” populists to contend with–those who will continue to stymie globalist ambitions of open-door immigration which will weaken the sovereignty of Judeo-Christian democracies, and re-shape the EU through Islamization.

In France, in a fairly close vote, Marine Le Pen declared victory over globalist Emmanuel Macron. “Previously, Le Pen had called the European elections a referendum on the presidency of Macron and called on him to resign from office if his party were not able to win.” The voice of the people in France has spoken, despite being condemned as “far right”….

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reacted to the exit poll predictions saying, “The far right is consolidating its positions, this message is strong and we have received it.”

Another notable and expected win: Hungary’s Viktor Orban who long vowed to “shake up the EU” in the face of EU demands and bullying on migrant quotas. As promised, Orban is delivering. After declaring a big victory, he reaffirmed his goals…..

“Prime Minister Viktor Orban told supporters of his Fidesz party that he would cooperate with everyone in Europe who wanted to halt immigration. ‘The election victory means that … Hungarians gave us the task of … stopping immigration all across Europe,’ Orban told cheering fans in Budapest. Hungarians wanted Fidesz to ‘protect Christian culture in Europe‘ he said.

Italy’s Matteo Salvini won a majority and declares “a new Europe is born“.

In the UK, the Brexit party humiliated the Conservative and Labour Parties in a sweeping victory.

In Germany: Angela Merkel’s Union “suffered heavy losses” but not enough unfortunately. “Technically”, the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union received the largest share of votes “but the environmental party experienced the biggest surge.” Merkel’s Union dropped by about seven percent compared to the last election in 2014 when they took a 35.3 percent share of the vote.” Given results, there is still hope that the public will wake up to Merkel’s disastrous leadership and their country’s islamization advancement in 2021 general elections.

“Le Pen Triumphs Over Macron in EU Election Exit Poll, Calls for Fresh National Elections”, by Chris Tomlinson, Breitbart, May 26, 2019:

Populist leader Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement National (National Rally, or RN) have triumphed over sitting French president Emmanuel Macron in the European Parliament elections, according to exit polls.

Ms Le Pen declared victory following exit polls showing the RN winning around 24 per cent of the vote, compared to Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (LREM) who, according to projections, has come in second with 22.5 percent of the vote, French newspaper Le Figaro reports.

Declaring victory, the RN leader said, “The trust we have been given by the French in designating us as the first party in France but especially as that of the future alternation is an immense honour.”

She went on to call for Macron to dissolve the French parliament, saying “it is up to the President of the Republic to draw the consequences” and calling for fresh elections, stating that Macron put his own presidency on the line in the vote.

“The winners and losers: Six things to know about the EU elections in Germany”, by Rachel Loxton, The Local, May 27, 2019:

The results of the European Parliamentary elections are in and Germany has spoken. Here’s what it all means.
Who won in Germany?

The Greens. Okay, that’s not true. Technically, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) received the largest share of votes (28.7 percent) but the environmental party experienced the biggest surge.

The Union suffered heavy losses – their support dropped by about seven percent compared to the last election in 2014 when they took a 35.3 percent share of the vote. It was even worse for the centre-left SPD, who took 15.6 percent of the vote on Sunday, a drop of 12 percent compared to five years ago.

Crucially, the Green party, which won more than 20 percent of the vote in Germany, increasing by about 10 percent from 2014, took more than a million votes both from the SPD, led by Andrea Nahles, as well as from the CDU, which is led by Angela Merkel’s successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer….

“Big win for Orban’s party in Hungary EU vote”, France 24, May 27, 2019:

The Fidesz party of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban scored a big win in European parliament elections, according to results published by Hungarian media on Sunday.

With 98 percent of the vote counted, Fidesz has won 52 percent according to the Magyar Nemzet newspaper, up from the 51 percent it won in 2014.

The left-wing Democratic Coalition (DK) is far behind in second place with 16.3 percent and the small liberal Momentum party is set to break into the European parliament for the first time with 9.7 percent.

The Socialists (MSZP) are on 6.6 percent, just ahead of the far-right Jobbik party which has suffered a dramatic drop from 15 percent in 2014 to just 6.5 percent.

The environmentalist LMP party is expected to lose its single MEP seat, out of 21 allocated to Hungary.

This election has also seen record turnout for a European election in Hungary, standing at 41.7 percent half an hour before polls closed….

RELATED ARTICLES:

UK Brexit party sweeps to victory, humiliates Conservative and Labour parties

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission.

Abortion Debate Shows How Media Deploys Language Gymnastics to Serve Left-Wing Goals

May 28, 2019/in Culture War, Featured, Healthcare, News, Policy, Politics, Religion, Science, Waste, Fraud and Abuse/by The Daily Signal

“Pregnancy Kills. Abortion Saves Lives.”

That was the headline on an absurd opinion article in The New York Times, deploying Orwellian language to turn the abortion debate on pro-lifers and comfort those who support abortion on demand.

While the conversation over Alabama’s new abortion law has drawn out some wild arguments from the left, it’s easy to miss the less obvious ways the media reinforce the pro-abortion side.

The media, cleverly and often subtly, use rhetorical adjustments to reinforce left-wing ideas under the guise of objectivity.

It’s not just on the abortion issue that the media kowtow to the left in the terminology they use in charged public debates.

For instance, The Guardian, a British outlet, recently updated its style guide to reinforce the idea that challenging prevailing left-wing ideas about man-made climate change is fundamentally illegitimate.

Few topics, however, draw out media bias like abortion, where the concerns of pro-life Americans are left on the back page or uncovered, and a magnifying glass is put on anyone who challenges pro-abortion orthodoxy.

Ultimately, media bias regarding abortion is nothing new.

Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times columnist, wrote in 2012:

Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant, and its blinders impenetrable. In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as the equivalent of, well, the Komen foundation: an apolitical, high-minded and humanitarian institution whose work no rational person—and certainly no self-respecting woman—could possibly question or oppose.

This is certainly the case today.

Not only is coverage of abortion highly skewed, but it’s clear that the language used to describe it is made to soften the reality of what the practice is, while diminishing the concerns of those who believe fundamental rights are being violated.

NPR, which is of course publicly funded, recently updated its language guidelines for reporters.

Here are some of the terms now off-limits for NPR journalists: pro-life, late-term abortion, fetal heartbeat, partial birth.

Instead they are to use terms such as “intact dilation and extraction” (to describe a partial-birth abortion) and “medical or health clinics that perform abortions” (instead of simply “abortion clinics”).

The phrase “abortion doctor” also would drop off the list of acceptable phrases. Instead, NPR reporters are instructed to list the doctor’s name and write that he “operated a clinic where abortions are performed.”

If anything, the attempt to use more scientific language to describe abortions,such as “intact dilation and extraction” in the place of “partial birth abortion,” at best merely confuses readers as to what actually is being performed.

This point was well made by National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis, who wrote in a thread on Twitter.

Of course, NPR has also set strict guidelines about how to treat the words “unborn” and “baby,” making sure that reporters never describe, well, unborn babies in anything other than technical language to remove thorny debates about personhood or humanity. NPR instructs its reporters:

The term ‘unborn’ implies that there is a baby inside a pregnant woman, not a fetus. Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re fetuses. Incorrectly calling a fetus a ‘baby’ or ‘the unborn’ is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion.

Media bias on this issue will become only more pronounced as the “positive good” school of thought about abortion becomes more pronounced on the left than the “safe, legal, and rare” camp.

Regardless of where one stands on the issue of abortion, attempts to dance around prickly questions about life and humanity are unlikely to solve the division.

The media, as is so common today, distinctly reveals its biases and lets slip the mask of objectivity that’s becoming increasingly difficult for Americans to believe.

COMMENTARY BY

Jarrett Stepman

Jarrett Stepman is an editor and commentary writer for The Daily Signal and co-host of “The Right Side of History” podcast.Send an email to Jarrett. Twitter: @JarrettStepman.