Robert Royal on the political manipulation of history. People suffering from cultural amnesia and self-deceived about their own moral purity cannot be allowed to set the terms of debate.
Almost exactly a quarter-century ago, James A. Clifton, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, called me after seeing an article I had written in First Things, entitled “1492 and All That” (which later became a full-length-book). We were then in a swirl of anti-Western and anti-Christian public emotion over the 500th anniversary (1492-1992) of Columbus’ voyages to the New World, and his alleged role in later mistreatment of Native Americans, slavery, and Christian imperialism.
I expected venom; he offered support. He had written a still fascinating book, The Invented Indian, that sought to distinguish the real achievements of Native Americans from guilt-driven idealizations. For his pains in service to truth, he reaped resentment and threats. In fact, one day someone dressed as an Indian – well, wearing a ridiculous jumble of articles of clothing from very different tribes – came to his front door with a gun. Professor Clifton laughed and turned away, saying: come back when you know something about Indians.
Some things never change. Especially the largely ignorant, suicidal rage that is now a regular recurrence in American culture, and which is spreading to other Western countries. Quite apart from the vile clash the other day between alt-right and alt-left in Charlottesville (which, as usual, also brought injury to innocents), we seem to have lost the Christian – and human – truth that we’re all imperfect beings. And that without a capacity for tolerating one another’s foibles and ultimately a chance at forgiveness, it’s simply impossible for us to live together.
Puritanical absolutism used to be the hallmark of extremist religious and political groups; now it’s come to infest the very places that should be most aware of differences and contexts, namely our universities and the media.
I learned my lesson about this back when I was trying to form a clear picture of the Age of Discovery. There were and are good historians, amateur and academic, of such matters. Broad-brush condemnations, however, which blur essential moral distinctions, get the airtime.
The great Dominican “defender of the Indians,” Bartolomé de las Casas – for example – described the “sweetness and benignity” of Columbus – in contrast to other Spanish explorers. Cortez could be brutal, though he ended in a monastery doing penance for his sins. Pizzaro was a psychopath. Period. Columbus was something else; despite the unprecedented difficulties he faced in the new cultures he encountered, there were few instances of his mistreating anyone. He was more typically uncertain about how to proceed, as we ourselves often are. Las Casas said of him, “Truly. I would not dare blame the admiral’s intentions for I knew him well and I knew his intentions were good.” Yet he became a cultural whipping boy.
“Canada is presented as the best way out of this complicated situation” – Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of African Immigrant Services (MN)
This story is more along the lines of what we reported here two days ago.
I was delighted to learn that the Trump Administration is seriously considering letting Temporary Protected Statuslapse for countries other than Haiti.
Readers should know that TPS is a farce.
Once granted, the US simply continues to extend it and extend it—Salvadorans, for example, have had the right to live and work here for decades as TPS would be renewed every couple of years (no matter who was in the White House!).
But, things have changed and those “temporary” legal (and some illegal) migrants are now eyeing Canada!
And there, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made ‘welcoming the stranger’ a primary hallmark of his leadership.
OTTAWA — Manitoba could face hundreds more African asylum seekers crossing from the United States as that country winds down a temporary-stay program. It’s unclear whether Ottawa is doing anything to stem the flow.
“Canada is presented as the best way out of this complicated situation,” Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of African Immigrant Services — a Minnesota-based non-profit organization — said.
Since 1990, the U.S. has granted temporary protected status (TPS) to citizens of countries people can’t return to due to war, pandemic or natural disasters. In recent years, the U.S. has offered citizens of 13 countries short-term work permits and shielded them — unless they have criminal convictions — from deportation due to problems in their home countries.
But the U.S. seems to be winding that program down.
Meanwhile, thousands of people are crossing irregularly into Canada. They avoid border stations that can send them back to the U.S. and instead wander into Canada through fields — something that would be normally be illegal, but is allowed under international law for people claiming asylum.
[….]
“A good number of people have said that Canada is one option, perhaps the best option,” Kiatamba said, adding he knows about 10 people who have crossed into Manitoba.
[….]
Earlier this week, Reuters news service reported unnamed government sources said the Liberals are worried about an onslaught of Central Americans claiming asylum next fall if the U.S. drops them off the TPS list.
The report did not say which provinces the government would expect people to enter and claim asylum.
It claimed Ottawa is particularly worried about an uptick in arrivals a year before the 2019 federal election.
I bet it is! Hey, we could call it Trump’s revenge!
Continue reading here. There is a good discussion about various temporary ‘refugees’ from TPS-designated countries and when we (the US) might cut them loose.
I’ve written about TPS over the years, go here to learn more. One time when George W. Bush extended TPS for Salvadorans I found an article about why he did that—it was about remittances and how Salvadorans in the U.S. send money “home” and thus prop up the economy there with dollars lost to the U.S. economy.
I am sending the current swamp report card for your review.
Swamp Creature Report Card:
Navy Admiral James “Ace” Lyons shocked the nation with his candid remarks at the Center for Security Policy “Defeat Jihad Summit” held in January, 2015. Admiral Lyons calmly and plainly stated that Obama was deliberately and unilaterally disarming the military. The Admiral further warned that the Muslim Brotherhood has already penetrated every one of our national security security agencies including our intelligence agencies.
Instead of heeding this dire warning Mr. President, your government continues to be informed and advised by Obama legacy staffers who remain in government advancing Obama’s anti-American, pro-Islamic, pro-Iranian, and pro-Muslim Brotherhood agenda. Whether uninformed, misinformed, or disinformed the Obama leftovers threaten our national security with their skewed information because those are the people who are briefing you daily. Islam is not a religion like any other. Islam is a comprehensive socio-political ideology with military (jihadi), educational (mosques/cultural centers), and religious (imams) wings. Islam is an expansionist movement seeking world dominion. There is no separation of church and state in Islam. Islam is a comprehensive ideology governed by supremacist religious sharia law. Islam seeks conquest and submission. Islam is spread through population jihad, educational jihad, religious jihad, military jihad including terrorism, and stealth jihad that relies on taqiyyah – lying in the service of Islam.
Mr. President you were exactly correct when you said that open borders is a Trojan Horse – it is the vehicle for population jihad against the host country. Identifying your friends and identifying your enemies in your administration, the military, and among national security staffers is an urgent matter. It does not matter if they are uninformed, misinformed, or disinformed. Any advisor or staffer who refuses to utter the words radical Islamic terror does not belong in your administration. If staffers embrace sharia law, promote Islam, are apologists for Islam, are members of the Muslim Brotherhood or CAIR and support Obama’s purging of materials that implicate Islam, they are your enemies and must be removed. You are being surrounded by Obama leftovers who will continue to disinform you so that your decisions will tilt toward Obama’s failed globalist policies. Mr. President you are being dragged into the swamp you were elected to drain.
McMaster was recommended for the position of National Security Advisor (NSA) director by #2 swamp creature John McCain. Under McMaster’s leadership the people who have the courage to speak out and expose the existential danger of Islam are being purged from the military and from the national security staff. Those who have the courage to support the initiatives of your America-first candidacy are being eliminated while the Obama globalist leftovers remain.
Trump loyalists Michael Flynn, K.T. McFarland, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, Rich Higgins, Adam Lovinger, Steve Bannon, and Sebastian Gorka are all gone. Obama loyalists Dina Habib-Powell, Allison Hooker, Fernando Cutz, Andrea Hall, Rear Admiral David Kriete, Jessica Cox, Stephanie Morrison, Heather King, and Robert Wilson all remain. McMaster’s indefensible defense of Obama loyalist Susan Rice allowed her to retain her security clearance. McMaster claimed Rice did nothing wrong unmasking the identities of Trump transition aides and leaking the transcripts of Mr. Trump’s phone conversations with foreign leaders. REALLY?
McMaster being a member of International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) for eleven years 2006-2017 is problematic. IISS is an English think tank funded by profiteer George Soros that promotes globalism. In 2010 the Bahraini royal family began secretly donating funds to IISS – $31.6 million – approximately one third of its revenues. Huge sums of money are not donated without the expectation of influence. McMaster’s association for eleven years with IISS explains his globalism and opposition to your commitment to American sovereignty. McMaster should never have been chosen to serve in your administration because he is ideologically opposed to your vision even if he served with distinction in Afghanistan.
McMaster’s association with a think tank that publicly endorsed and defends the anti-American Iran deal is even more problematic. Iran is the single greatest fomenter of terrorism in the middle east and Obama’s deceitful Iran deal enriched and resupplied an ailing Iran that was suffering under Saudi pressure.
Our National security was turned upside down after 9/11. Most Americans had never thought about Saudi Arabia except as an oil provider – they did not think about Islam and if they did they assumed it was a religion like any other. Americans were not familiar with Islam, Islamic supremacist sharia law, or Islamic supremacist aspirations to re-establish the caliphate worldwide. Americans most certainly were not aware that “peace” for a Muslim meant when the entire world is Muslim. Sixteen years later there is no excuse for illiteracy regarding Islam yet the national security voices are still trying to deny the connection between Islam and terrorism.
And now former FBI director Robert Mueller is investigating you?? Mueller is another leftover whose past foretells his future. Mueller has been part of the intricate cover-up protecting the Muslim Brotherhood for years. Judicial Watch has uncovered stunning documentary evidence that Robert Mueller worked with Islamist groups to purge anti-terrorism materials offensive to Muslims while he was FBI director. Offensive to Muslims? Is this the metric for our national security? Candidate Trump promised to reverse Obama’s suicidal policies – President Trump has hired personnel who continue to advance them.
Mr. President, your bipartisan enemies in Washington exist between the ideological globalist puppets and the globalist elite puppeteers. The Washington swamp creatures are the greedy corrupt Democrat and Republican politicians hiding behind the idealism of the puppets and the strings of the puppeteers. To survive the political blitz of the swamp creatures it is necessary for you to distinguish between the uninformed, misinformed, and disinformed puppets and their insidious puppeteers.
You and your America-first policies pose an existential threat to the globalist elite and that is why they are determined to destroy you and eliminate any Trump administration personnel who share your vision. H.R. McMaster is part of the insidious swamp battling against you. He is part of the reheated Obama leftovers who are hazardous to your presidency. Candidate Trump’s courageous Americanism and bold America-first policies require President Trump to find fresh ingredients – throw out the leftovers. H.R.McMaster and his gang need to hear “You’re fired!”
The last and most difficult message I have for you is a personal one. Your daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner are loyal loving members of your family and your administration but you must never forget that they have been educated toward globalism by the prevailing re-education curriculum in American schools. You can be proud of their extraordinary achievements but must never forget that their prism is not your prism. They were raised on John Lennon’s “Imagine.” You were raised on the “Star Spangled Banner” – the difference is HUGE.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/temple-mount-al-aqsa-islam-terror-770x430-e1503832132630.png357640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-08-27 07:09:142017-08-27 07:09:14VIDEO: Jewish Sovereignty over the Temple Mount
James Toner contends that our response to the barbarity around us is often one of moral stupefaction.
A callus, the dictionary informs us, is “a thickened and hardened part of the skin or soft tissue, especially in an area that has been subjected to friction.” There we have a description of our contemporary moral condition. We have been subjected for so long to the “friction” of so much moral mayhem that we have been stupefied by it.
A few years ago, I gave a homily about abortion. After Mass, the visiting priest chastised me, “Jim, you seemed downright angry during that homily. You can’t preach if you’re angry!” I was compelled to disagree, “Father, we’ve had many millions of abortions in our country. Isn’t that something to be righteously angry about?” (See Eph 4:26.)
We are no longer righteously angry at the evil swirling about us. One is reminded of Bishop Fulton Sheen’s admonition: “A mind that is never stern or indignant is either without love, or else is dead to the distinction between right and wrong.”
Why should we be indignant when society permits, indeed applauds, the killing of babies inside and, even after birth, outside the womb; the growing acceptance of legalized “mercy killing”; the presence of a homosexual lifestyle that is cheered even on Catholic campuses; the accompanying desecration of marriage; and the ubiquitous use of contraception – despite Pope Paul’s dark prophecies (Cf. Humanae Vitae, #17), which were altogether tragically fulfilled this last half century?
Transgendered people; work in progress toward blending humans with animals, machines, or plants; three-parent embryos; development of servant-class apes; cloning and cryogenics – we live in a veritable playground for Dr. Frankenstein. Small wonder that Father Schall has written: “Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic ‘enhancement,’ for wholesale redesign.”
There’s a new Grand Inquisitor, but he has a scalpel in his hand, and he looks just like Kermit Gosnell. We grow ever closer to our own Island of Dr. Moreau, where chimeras and cyborgs beckon. The New Tower of Babel is a research hospital. Coming soon: human bodies without brains, our own human body-parts stores. The supposed fruits of genetic manipulation are the new Holy Grail.
Deacon James H. Toner, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Ethics at the U.S. Air War College, and author of Morals Under the Gun and other books. He has also taught at Notre Dame, Norwich, Auburn, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Holy Apostles College & Seminary.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/barbarism.jpg360640The Catholic Thinghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Catholic Thing2017-08-27 06:39:162017-08-27 06:45:29Callused Consciences: Accepting Barbarism as the New Normal
“On Tuesday evening, ESPN (AKA MSNBC with footballs) went full-on parody when they pulled an announcer named Robert Lee, an Asian man, from a game at the University of Virginia because the network thought his name, apparently too close to dead Confederate general Robert E. Lee, might offend their viewers,” writes The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo.
2ndVote’s research shows ESPN’s political activities are certainly out of touch with conservatives. Parent company Disney supports liberal environmental groups like Ceres and The Nature Conservancy, radical LGBT advocacy organizations like GLAAD, and leftist organizations that lobby for sanctuary city policies like LULAC and UnidosUS.
That may be why Fox News’s Todd Starnes calls the decision makers at ESPN “perpetually-offended snowflakes” in his latest column. Of the removal of announcer Robert Lee from the upcoming broadcast, Starnes writes:
It’s only an issue because the politically-correct pinheads at ESPN made it an issue.
This latest example of ESPN’s inability to get beyond politics and stick with sports coverage is likely to cost more viewers as the networks’ ratings continue to spiral, especially as more and more viewers decide to “cut the cord” with cable. And what are the additional benefits of cancelling cable for conservatives? 2ndVote Members who are informed consumers know it means fewer dollars for the liberal agendas funded by the likes of CNN, MSNBC, Comcast, AT&T, TimeWarner, and more.
A report by “CBSN: On Assignment” earlier this week illustrates the sad bleakness of Planned Parenthood’s abortion agenda.
National Review draws attention to the potential confusion from the second half of CBS’s “casually worded” headline, which reads, “Inside the country where Down syndrome disappearing” as if one might assume “Iceland has developed an innovative treatment for the chromosomal disorder.” [article continues below]
However, the report exposes a dark reality: in Iceland, nearly 100% of babies testing positive for Down syndrome in prenatal screenings are aborted. For comparison, an estimated 67% of pregnancies with a diagnosis for Down syndrome in the United States end in abortion.
Geneticist Kari Stefansson explained why Iceland’s incidence of abortion in these cases is nearly universal:
It reflects a relatively heavy-handed genetic counseling. And I don’t think that heavy-handed genetic counseling is desirable. … You’re having impact on decisions that are not medical, in a way.
The depravity of this heavy-handed counseling is not lost on Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Nance who said:
Iceland sounds like they are proud of the fact that they’ve killed nearly all unborn babies that had an in-utero diagnosis of Down syndrome. This is not a medical advancement. This is eugenics and barbarianism at best. These individuals have no less worth than anyone else.
What is the next headline going to be? That a certain country has eradicated all females. Oh wait, China has already been down that road. There is no limit to this train of thought of devaluing human life.
We would add that Planned Parenthood would be proud of the very same thing.
In 2016, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, with the help of the ACLU, sued the State of Indiana to prevent the implementation of House Enrolled Act 1337, a law that prohibited abortions for genetic abnormalities including Down syndrome. HEA 1337 also mandated the remains of an aborted fetus could only be disposed of through burial or cremation, a measure that would possibly limit Planned Parenthood’s practice of selling body parts for profit.
According to Live Action, a pro-life organization, “Planned Parenthood does not object to abortion on the basis of the child’s sex or disability.” Live Action has also conducted investigations into Planned Parenthood’s promotion of sex-selective abortion which can be viewed here.
Indeed, Planned Parenthood’s record of preventing the prohibition of abortion on the basis of disability and sex is troubling. However, the fact that many corporations use our shopping dollars to fund these appalling practices is even more troubling, and it is important for conservatives and all who value life to hold these companies accountable.
Visit our Planned Parenthood Resource Page to see which companies have a direct financial relationship with the country’s largest abortion provider and contact them through their scorepages.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/planned_parenthood_logo-black1.jpg3566312ndvote .comhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png2ndvote .com2017-08-27 06:03:432017-08-29 06:42:34Planned Parenthood Would Support Iceland’s Cold Solution for Eliminating Down Syndrome Births
D. James Kennedy Ministries has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) over the reckless and politically motivated use of the “hate group” tag.
It’s completely disingenuous to tag D. James Kennedy Ministries as a hate group alongside the KKK and neo-Nazis. We desire all people, with no exceptions, to receive the love of Christ and his forgiveness and healing. We unequivocally condemn violence, and we hate no one.
It’s ridiculous for the SPLC to falsely tag evangelical Christian ministries as “hate groups” simply for upholding the 2,000-year-old Christian consensus on marriage and sexuality. It’s nothing more than an attempt to bulldoze over those who disagree with them, and it has a chilling effect on the free exercise of religion in a nation built on that. We decided not to let their falsehoods stand.
SPLC’s so-called “hate map” has been linked to violent attacks against conservatives in the past. In 2012, a gunman wounded a Family Research Council (FRC) employee when he attempted to gain access to the organization’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. The suspect would later tell FBI investigators he targeted FRC because it was listed as an “anti-gay group” by SPLC and “planned to kill as many people as possible and then to smear [Chick-fil-A] sandwiches on their faces as a political statement.”
SPLC was also linked to the recent attack on the Republican Congressional baseball team practice when U.S. Representative Steve Scalise wounded by a gunman who was reported fan of SPLC’s Facebook page, in addition to other leftist groups.
Other conservative organizations labeled as “hate groups” by SPLC merely for their conservative principles and Judeo-Christian beliefs include Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, organizations opposing illegal immigration, and many more.
The Kennedy Ministries lawsuit is a serious matter because SPLC sits on top of a massive warchest–an endowment of over $300 million–to finance it’s legal battles and political attacks. The Washington Times reports SPLC’s rating was downgraded last year from a “C+” to an “F” for having an inordinate amount of reserve assets compared to annual operating costs. William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection suggests “SPLC’s bad habit sensationalizing and politicizing ‘hate’ ” is designed “to generate even more money for its already bloated coffers.”
Unfortunately, ‘sensationalizing hate’ appears to work for liberal corporations eager to help fund SPLC’s agenda. Both Apple ($1 million) and JPMorgan Chase ($500,000) have pledged to massive donations of corporate dollars in recent days. Apple has also launched a platform to solicit donations to SPLC through it’s iTunes store. Incidentally, the Hollywood liberal icon George Clooney he would be donating $1 million through his foundation as well.
Apple and JPMorgan Chase aren’t the only companies supporting SPLC’s defamation and targeting of conservatives. We’ve compiled a list of sixteen other corporations that directly enable SPLC’s politically motivated attacks. Our SPLC resource page documents the financial relationships between companies like Charles Schwab, Kraft Heinz, Newman’s Own, Verizon, and more and this radical group whose misleading information has helped inspire true violence.
The lawsuit brought by Kennedy Ministries is a first step to defunding SPLC, but conservatives can support that goal every day through informed shopping decisions.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/antifa-burning-document-e1503827117457.jpg3596402ndvote .comhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png2ndvote .com2017-08-27 05:45:412017-08-27 12:36:46Meet the Corporations Supporting the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Assault on Christians and Conservatives
Wednesday, August 23, 2017, was the first day of Zhu–l-Hijjat, the Muslim month in which two important events take place: The pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the most central of the five Islamic commandments, and the Holiday of the Offering, Id al-Adha, with which it comes to an end.
This month is notable in the Muslim world as a result of its religious content, but also due to the political aspects that accompany that content. It is well known that in Islam there can be no separation between religion and state, between religious factors, public issues and politics.
The Hajj ceremonies in Mecca and its environs last for nine days, from the first to the ninth of the month, with each day having its own specific rituals. The tenth day marks the start of Id al-Adha, the holiday of the offering, which lasts for four days, until the 13th. The House of Saud appointed itself “guardian of the holy places” in 1925 when it took over the Hajj. It manages the Hajj with a powerful hand, making sure that all pilgrims observe the rituals in the traditional Islamic manner as interpreted by the Saudi monarchy. This fact is of great significance, because it proves that the Saudi ruler, and no one else, is the most important figure in the Islamic world.
The decision about when the month of the Hajj begins is an example of this power. The first day of each of the months making up the Islamic year is set by the Sharia court in each country, using the testimony of witnesses who see the new moon with their own eyes and testify to the court. That naturally leads to the months and the 30 day Ramadan fast beginning on different days in various countries, because if it is cloudy and the moon cannot be seen in a specific country, the month is 30 days long, while somewhere else it might be of only 29 days duration. That is why Ramadan, which begins on the first day of the ninth Hajjidic month, does not start on the same day everywhere in the Islamic world.
In addition, there are cities, such as Bagdad, where there are both Sunni and Shiite residents with separate courts. Sometimes the Sunnis begin a new month while it is the last day of the previous month for the Shiites living in the same city and sometimes it is the other way around due to the different decisions of their separate courts. This is most conspicuous during Ramadan, when one sect begins to fast while the other is still eating; then at the end of the month when the Eid al Fitr holiday begins, the first group celebrates with food and drink while the second is still fasting.
The month of Hajj differs from other months because the entire Islamic world takes part in the pilgrimage and has to accept the Saudi calendar in order to participate in the date-dependent ceremonies. This includes the Shiites, who refuse to recognize Sunni hegemony over holy Islamic sites, but have no choice but to accept Saudi dictation. The Saudis take advantage of their power and stress the unity of Islam achieved during the period of their control. There were years when the Shiites, mainly Iranians, refused to accept Saudi rule and carried out rituals foreign to Sunni tradition, leading to riots and the death of a large number of pilgrims.
The rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia as a result of their major conflicts over Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, caused Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah ali Khamenei to fear a bloodbath at the Hajj of 2016. He accordingly moved the pilgrimage site to Karbala, Iraq, where in 680 C.E. Mohammed’s grandson Hussein ben Ali was beheaded by the Sunni Caliph Yazid ben Mu’awiya’s army. One million Iranian pilgrims arrived in Karbala and celebrated the holiday in memory of Hussein ben Ali.
Sunni elders, including Egyptian Sheikh Alazar publicized opinions criticizing the Iranian move, accusing Khameini of deepening the schism in Islam. Other Sunnis, mostly Saudi, said that Shiites followed the devil, not Allah, in moving the Hajj from Mecca.
The import of this remark is that it implies that the Shiites are not part of Islam and their blood can be spilled with impunity Last year’s dispute poured oil on the fire of inter-Islamic hate and on the wars between Saudi Arabia, representing the Sunnis, and Iran, representing the Shiites.
What can we look forward to this year when the Hajj to Mecca approaches? I do not know, but I will not be surprised if the political tension between the Saudis and Iran, particularly after the Sunni ISIS defeats, Shiite Hezbollah victories and Iran’s moving into Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, finds an outlet during the Hajj. It could be in the form of a Shiite boycott of Mecca or Saudi violence against any Shiites who attempt the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In June, Jerusalem became the site of the struggle (“Ribat”) between Islam, the religion that expects to take the place of Judaism and Christianity, and Judaism, which is in the midst of a return to its former status as a living, worthy religion. The background of the struggle is the renewal of Jewish sovereignty on the Temple Mount. During the short period of Muslim demonstrations for the right to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque without “Jewish” security checks, Saudi Arabia’s voice was conspicuously absent.
The reason for the Saudi silence was the fear that the Muslim Brotherhood and those over whom they hold sway would raise the Al Aqsa Mosque to a level of importance that could contest the centrality of Mecca in Islam.
This plan was heard in Muslim Brotherhood media pronouncements. In 2012, for example, Safwat Higazi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s chief spokesman in Egypt, said that the capital of the Islamic Caliphate that can unite all the Arab nations “is not Mecca, not Medina, not Cairo, but Jerusalem.”
A similar pronouncement was made in 2014, at a demonstration in Jerusalem, by Kamal Khatib, Deputy head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, headed by Sheikh Raad Salah,
Sheikh Raad Salah himself declared that he intends to bring water from the Zamzam spring in Mecca to pour into the cistern on the Temple Mount in order to sanctify the Al Aqsa Mosque with the holiness of Mecca. The Saudis see this as unacceptable competition and did not permit Salah to attend the Hajj in Mecca. Jerusalem’s challenge to Mecca is also evident in the boycott the Saudis declared on Qatar, a country which publicly supports the Muslim Brotherhood’s offshoots, such as Hamas, for whom the struggle for Jerusalem and Falestin – which they call Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis – the sectors of Jerusalem – is the raison d’etre.
Qatar has even set aside half a billion dollars for the purpose of removing Jerusalem from within Israel’s boundaries. It is using them to buy the media, political figures and organizations like UNESCO.
Turkey’s Erdogan is playing a role in the struggle for Islamic hegemony by working ceaselessly to strengthen his status as the all-powerful Sultan bringing Turkey back to its status prior to WWI. Erdogan’s hegemonic aspirations clash with the Saudis on points of Muslim memory, because they know full well that for 400 years, Turkey ruled the Hijaz, the territory that included Mecca and Medina, until defeated by the Christian heretics – that is, the British. The victors promptly handed over Islam’s holy land, the Hijaz (Iraq and historic Palestine which includes today’s Jordan) to the Arab friends who had cooperated with them, stabbing the Turks in the back. Today, unsurprisingly, Erdogan supports Qatar, the country the Saudis are trying to bring to its knees.
Saudi sensitivity to the Hijaz stems from the fact that the ruling Al-Saud family is not originally from the part of the Hijaz in the western Arabian peninsula, but from the centrally located Najd Heights. The fact that they conquered the area in 1925 from the Sharif’s Notables who claim to be direct descendants of Mohammed, casts a shadow on the Saud family’s legitimacy. This is the reason the Saudi king calls himself “Protector of the holy sites,” intending for that title to grant him “kosher” Islamic status. However, many people in the Sunni world do not buy that and do not entirely accept the Saud family’s right to rule and force their Wahabee Islamic traditions to be the norm at sites that are holy to all Muslims.
The Sauds invest large sums of money to maintain the sites so as to gain legitimacy for ruling over Mecca and Medina, building roads, bridges, railways and amenities that make it easier for the two million Muslims whose annual pilgrimages they allow, to be comfortable and secure. Saudi Arabia imports hundreds of thousands of sheep, mainly from Australia, handing them out to the pilgrims for the holiday celebrated on the tenth of the Hajj month.
Next month, the Hajj is likely to bring the tensions over Islamic hegemony to a boil, when the internal Islamic rifts described above threaten to destabilize the present situation during the Hajj and due to the Hajj: The ethnic Sunni-Shiite rift parallels the Saudi-Iranian political rift, the Wahabee-Muslim Brotherhood ideological rift, and the historic rift between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Hopefully, these deep differences will not lead once again to dead and wounded pilgrims, most of whom come only in order to be close to Allah, keep the fundamental commandments connected to the Hajj and obtain forgiveness for their transgressions. They are not interested in all the ethnic, political, ideological and historical considerations involved; all they desire is to come closer to the heavens, keep Allah’s commandments and do Allah’s will.
I wish the pilgrims to Mecca: Haj mabroor wa-saiy mashkoor wa-dhanb maghfoor – a pure holiday, hearts full of gratitude and forgiven sins. May they return safely to their homes.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/islamic-nations.png369640Dr. Mordechai Kedarhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Mordechai Kedar2017-08-27 05:30:242017-08-27 05:54:42The pilgrimage and the struggle for Islamic Hegemony
My wife Mary and I moved from Florida to West Virginia to be closer to our elderly parents. Its a tiny town, population 500. Because internet will not be installed at our home until later this month, I was at the local small library working on my computer.
Despite Mary and I burying our heads into our computers, the librarian approached our table insistent on conversing. He kept asking probing questions. Out of nowhere, he began trashing and calling Trump a racist. Because I am black, he probably assumed I agreed.
He was genuinely shocked and amazed by my defense of Trump. “You’re a black man telling me, a 76 year old white man, that Trump is not racist.” The librarian could not tell me one thing Trump has done to prove him racist. And yet, the librarian acted as though Trump being a racist was as obvious as the Pope being Catholic. Clearly, this 76 year old white man was totally infected with fake news media’s Leftist zombie-ism.
With the airways filled with people pandering to racists demanding the removal of historical monuments, I had very little patience for this idiot parroting fake news media’s bogus crap about Trump.
I ranted to the librarian about how blacks are murdering each other in record numbers every weekend in Democrat controlled cities like Chicago and Baltimore which cannot be blamed on Trump, historical monuments or white Americans. Ninety percent of issues devastating the black community are due to an abandonment of morals and liberal Democrats’ destruction of the black family. And yet, every time anyone compassionately suggests how blacks can help themselves, they are attacked, called a racist white or an Uncle Tom black.
I told the librarian that America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it. He agreed that America does offer opportunities, but not for minorities. I asked him to explain why blacks are quitting high school which is free and how is that the fault of white America? The librarian’s only retort was to tell me to calm down.
For decades, I have been encouraging fellow blacks to forgot victim crap Leftists have filled their heads with and simply go for their dreams. Education, hard work and right choices always lead to success. I explained to the librarian that as a black American, I have been extremely successful throughout my life; much of my support coming from white teachers, businessmen and employers. My formula for success was simple. I performed my job well which profited my employers and I was well rewarded. The Bible celebrates my chosen path to success in the parable of the talents.
The librarian praised Obama and lamented how poorly he was treated as president. He had no idea that cowardly Republicans treated Obama with kid gloves for 8 years. Fearful of the press calling them racists, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans would not impeach Obama no matter what illegal act he committed. Obama exploited Republicans giving him free reign to behave as king, becoming the most lawless president in U.S. history.
Again, the librarian cautioned me to lower my voice. Folks, I was a bit POed. I was not in the mood to be lectured by a man filled with Leftists’ poison; hate and lies. Leftists arrogantly spout their holier than thou brain dead arguments while ignoring facts and truth. They claim the moral high ground while their ideas and policies usually harm people. Minorities are so much better off when they stop sleeping with their Leftist enemies and join the rest of us decent, God-fearing, hard working and patriotic Americans.
Folks, facts did not matter to the librarian. This guy was a fake news media anti-Trump zombie. Finally, the librarian said, “Well, you’re in the right town. Folks around here will agree with you!” Then, he turned and hastened away.
Good! I was free to resume my work.
The librarian was a prime example of what we are up against folks. Despite zero evidence, this guy is totally convinced that Trump and his agenda to make America great again is racist and evil.
Trump standing up for America, making her great again has not been pretty. Like making sausage, the process is ugly, but the result is delicious. Powerful forces on both sides of the political isle are doing everything in their power to stop Trump. Democrats and Republicans seek to continue the status quo.
Trump needs us folks. Please stand firm in your support and defense of our president. I’m kind of looking forward to another political sparing session with the librarian. Prayerfully, another dose of truth might penetrate his Leftist zombie-ism.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/library-1-e1503824916525.jpg385640Lloyd Marcushttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLloyd Marcus2017-08-27 05:08:452017-08-27 05:08:45My First Political Fight in West Virginia with a Librarian
A friend sent us this commentary that appeared in the Naples Daily News. We thought you would find it interesting because it puts into perspective what it means for those who wish to control history.
Controlling History
Thank goodness that [the] Confederate flag has been removed from the South Carolina capitol. And now they are at last removing the monuments in New Orleans.
It’s comforting to know that racism will finally be ended by pulling down the flag and removing the Confederate monuments. Blacks will now be free to live the American dream, free to keep their families together, free to value education, free to support their own children, free to stop murdering each other, free to graduate from high school, free to get married before having babies, free to stop crime in their neighborhoods.
Now we will all rest easier knowing that those problems have ceased to exist. About 6 percent of people in the South owned slaves. Was the [Civil] war about slavery or states’ rights? It appears that 13 percent of our population is in control of history.
Jim Reece, Naples
George Orwell in his dystopian novel “1984” wrote:
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
The White House announced that President Trump has pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The White House said 85-year-old Arpaio was a “worthy candidate” for the pardon, citing his “life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.” Trump granted the pardon less than a month after Arpaio was found guilty of a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge.
Then Sheriff Arpaio was held in contempt of court by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, a Clinton appointee.
On Wednesday, July 28, 2010, Bolton issued a ruling blocking small portions of SB 1070, writing that “requiring police to check the immigration status of those they arrest or whom they stop and suspect are in the country illegally would overwhelm the federal government’s ability to respond, and could mean legal immigrants are wrongly arrested.” Judge Bolton wrote: “Federal resources will be taxed and diverted from federal enforcement priorities as a result of the increase in requests for immigration status determination that will flow from Arizona.”
On September 5, 2012, Judge Bolton cleared the way for police to carry out the 2010 law’s requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, may question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. This part of the law has been called the “show me your papers” provision.
On July 31, 2017, Judge Bolton filed her “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” holding former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio in criminal contempt of court for violating an injunction. President Trump pardoned Arpiao [sic] on August 25 2017.
President Trump’s action sends a strong message to all members of law enforcement that if you do your job, under the law, you do not need to fear that your career will be put in jeopardy.
Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio in an email writes:
I just received some incredibly good news! President Trump has just issued a pardon on my behalf.
Honestly, I could not be more thankful to President Trump for seeing my bogus conviction for what it was: a political witch hunt by hold overs from the Obama justice department.
I am certain that President Trump was able to see the TRUTH so clearly because he too has been the victim of a character assassination by the liberal media and Democrat establishment on many occasions
Immediately after this Presidential pardon, the first of the Trump administration, the pro-illegal alien cartel came out in full force to condemn freeing the 85-year old Arpaio from jail time.
ABC, CBS, USA Today, CNN and Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake condemned President Trump’s action.
EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio outside the Maricopa County 4th Avenue Jail facility in Phoenix. The new vans which are used for transporting prisoners and illegal workers to the jail are painted with huge signs and a 800 number requesting the public’s help with reporting Illegal worker / resident/ aliens/ migrant workers. The big doors lead into the jail prisoner booking area. Photo by A.T. Willett of A.T. Willett Fine Art.
For decades the United States has professed to have an official policy of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology.
In the 1950’s the Rosenbergs were executed for spying and passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, today more than 500,000 foreign students are enrolled in universities in the United States to study the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curricula.
While not all of these students are studying disciplines that have a direct nexus to nuclear technology, many disciplines do intersect with aerospace and nuclear technology.
Foreign students are permitted to engage in Optional Practical Training to put their education to use and learn how to apply what they have learned in the classrooms and university laboratories in the “real world.”
Sometimes these students work for companies that engage in military-related work.
Today we should be as concerned that China’s acquisition of U.S. technology through its students in the United States poses an increasing threat to our nation.
The U.S. Navy’s underwater drones seem to have drawn particular interest by China’s military that has constructed an artificial island in the South China Sea. On April 22, 2016 Newsweek reported, “Chines Spy in Florida Sent Drone Parts to China for Military.”
Furthermore China provides technology to North Korea’s tyrannical and bellicose leader Kim Jong-Un who continues to order his military stockpile nuclear weapons and perfect ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) that could reach the continental United States.
On August 20, 2017 Newsweek reported, North Korea ‘Nuclear War’ Warning Ahead of Joint U.S./South Korea Military Exercises.
According to current statistics provided by the DHS, the greatest number of STEM students are citizens of India (173,258) while the second largest contingent of students are from China (152,002) and the number of Saudi Arabian students (25,125) is the third largest.
For clarification, SEVP is an acronym for Student and Exchange Visitor Program and SEVIS is an acronym for Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
The news release included the following:
According to the latest report, there are 1.18 million F and M students studying in the United States, a two percent increase since May 2016. There are also approximately 194,600 J-1 exchange visitors in the United States.
Of the 1.18 million F and M students attending school in the United States:
76 percent are enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programs.
77 percent are from Asia.
43 percent are pursuing programs of study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
35 percent study in California, New York or Texas.
The report also notes that there are currently 8,774 SEVP-certified schools in the United States.
On April 30, 2009 Alan Greenspan, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, testified before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee at a hearing chaired by Senator Chuck Schumer (one of the “Gang of Eight” that pushed for Comprehensive Immigration Reform). The topic of the hearing was: “Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2009: Can We Do It and How?”
During his prepared testimony Greenspan addressed the supposed “benefit” of importing many more foreign highly skilled workers to drive down their wages by outrageously saying, in part:
“…Greatly expanding our quotas for the highly skilled would lower wage premiums of skilled over lesser skilled. Skill shortages in America exist because we are shielding our skilled labor force from world competition. Quotas have been substituted for the wage pricing mechanism. In the process, we have created privileged elite whose incomes are being supported at noncompetitively high levels by immigration quotas on skilled professionals. Eliminating such restrictions would reduce at least some of our income inequality.”
The notion of flooding America with increasing numbers of foreign high-tech students and foreign high-tech workers is a “Lose/Lose” for America and Americans.
American students must attend those universities to secure their futures and consequently secure America’s future.
EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared CAPSWeb.org.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/never-allow-your-enemies-to-educate-your-kids-malcolm-x.jpg360640Michael Cutlerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngMichael Cutler2017-08-26 07:33:552017-08-28 07:01:23America Undermines Its National Security By Educating Its Adversaries
An attractive young woman sitting at an outdoor cafe appears on the screen. The camera pans left as a heavily accented French male voice-over seductively introduces America to Melanie. Melanie is French and her three lovers sitting together with her at the small cafe table are also French. We are told that Melanie’s lovers will wait for Melanie while she savors the taste of her French yogurt Oui because French girls take their time. The 30 second commercial ends with the Yoplait tagline “Say Oui (yes) to pleasure.” The unequivocal message in this yogurt commercial is Melanie says yes to sexual pleasure with three different men.
So what exactly is Yoplait selling in this commercial? Promiscuity? Group sex? Yogurt? All three?
The advertising industry is notorious for using sex to sell products – but three lovers at one time? This vulgar commercial is a stunning assault on established American cultural norms. The psychological dynamics involved are extremely manipulative in two insidious ways. First, the advertisers are deliberately shocking American viewers to produce cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful tool of mass psychological social engineering deliberately used to confuse, manipulate, and destabilize an unsuspecting public.
Cognitive dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change. The anxiety and tension created by having inconsistent thoughts is so disturbing that it mobilizes people to either change their thoughts or change their behavior in an attempt to regain equilibrium. Cognitive dissonance is being used by Yoplait to manipulate the American public and effect seismic shifts in public opinion. Television commercials and print ads in Teen Vogue associating promiscuity with healthy yogurt produce coercive cognitive dissonance that is deliberately designed to break down existing American cultural norms.
The second psychological dynamic exploited by Yoplait is that repetition and familiarity produce acceptability. Television (any screen) is the single greatest vehicle for mass social engineering ever invented. So, what is initially shocking becomes increasingly ordinary and accepted if it is repeated often enough. This manipulative yogurt commercial is telling young American women that sex with three different lovers is not only pleasurable – it is acceptable. Young American women are being told that there are no moral restrictions on young French women. The message is that Melanie is sophisticated, worldly, and free to have sex with three different men. Traditional American cultural norms defining promiscuity are being rebranded and marketed as feminist French freedom.
Yoplait’s original yogurt is as different from the new Oui version of their product being promoted sexually on television as traditional morality is from promiscuity.
Consider the ingredients in Yoplait’s original strawberry yogurt: cultured pasteurized grade a low fat milk, sugar, strawberries, modified corn starch, nonfat milk, kosher gelatin, citric acid, tricalcium phosphate, colored with carmine, natural flavor, pectin, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3.
According to the brand, Yoplait’s new French-style Oui yogurt features non-GMO ingredients such as whole milk, cane sugar, fruit, yogurt cultures, no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors, and no colors from artificial sources.
By comparison the original Yoplait fruit yogurt is unhealthy and soaked with chemicals. So Oui, the healthy new French alternative intentionally identified with promiscuity in the commercial, is inferring that the promiscuous alternative is the healthy choice. The message is “Say Yes to promiscuous sex.” The cognitive dissonance this staggering inconsistency generates in America is deeply troubling because it overturns the existing American cultural norm that says promiscuous sex is dangerous and immoral.
Repetitive images in print media and commercial messages on television are being used to deliberately break down American cultural norms. Why?
General Mills, owner of Yoplait, is the tenth largest food consumer products company in the United States. It did 15 billion dollars worldwide in sales in 2017. The globalist elites who own the media outlets and the international corporations and conglomerates producing the yogurt, selling the yogurt, distributing the yogurt, and advertising the yogurt all seek an unrestricted global marketplace for their goods.
What interest does a food producing conglomerate like General Mills have in American cultural norms? What does the destruction of established American morality have to do with them? The answer is surprising – everything.
Global trade is the legitimate buying and selling of goods and services worldwide. Global trade must not be confused with Globalism. Globalism is the political structure of a
new world order. It is the restructuring of the world of sovereign nations into one world nation with no independent countries. The problem, of course, is who will rule the one world nation? Who will make the rules and enforce them? What will the rules be? The globalist elite have envisioned a new world order to replace the existing world order that THEY themselves will rule. The Leftist ideologues who support globalism have been duped into believing globalism is the romanticized John Lennon song “Imagine” that will bring social justice and income equality to the world. The left-wing liberal leaders and their sycophants are too arrogant to understand that they are the useful idiots of the self-seeking globalist elite.
In order to establish the new world order the sovereign nations of the world must first be structured with centralized governments that have complete control over their populations. Democracy with its individual rights and freedoms must be destroyed and replaced with socialism or communism to achieve the required government control. The American Left has been very active in this effort under the banner of “resistance.” The European Union is trying to control an internationalized Europe from Brussels with the help of their left-wing liberal European leaders. The United States and Israel remain two unapologetic oppositional democracies with leaders staunchly determined to preserve their democracies and national sovereignty. This makes President Trump in the United States and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel the existential enemy of globalism and the globalists are determined to destroy them both.
Here is the problem. The globalist elite leaders are not Beatles fans – they do not “Imagine” the same endgame as the Leftists foolishly singing John Lennon’s song. The one-world government ruled by the globalist elite has a feudal structure. There is no social justice, no income equality, no individual freedoms, no upward mobility, no political ideologues, no political agitators of any kind in their one-world governance. There are only the globalist elite masters and the enslaved population who serve them.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/yoplait-melanie-e1503746539960.jpg360640Linda Goudsmithttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLinda Goudsmit2017-08-26 07:22:292017-08-26 07:23:47VIDEO: Destroying American Cultural Norms One 30-Second Commercial at a Time
Matthew Hanleyargues that tolerance of Islam can only go so far, and the limit must be Islam’s active anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism. Cold War anti-communist measures may guide us.
Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto by Paolo Veronese, 1572 [Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice]
What is to be done about the influx of Islam into the West – besides accepting carnage (most recently in Barcelona) as the “new normal”? Some prominent voices pin their hopes on “reform” of one stripe or another. For them, some aspects of Islam should be embraced with the proviso that certain others are to be excluded. Make it a matter of emphasis rather than a wholesale evaluation regarding the question of compatibility between Islam and the West.
I understand the appeal, but am not alone in thinking that this is too rosy a view. And unrealistic. Reform doesn’t seem a high priority within the Muslim world, nor where Muslims have taken up residence en masse in the West. In the final analysis, to “reform” Islam on Western principles is to sound its death knell; if you take away the rice, try making a reformed risotto.
St. Paul knew that a professing Christian would be pitiable if the Resurrection had not actually happened. For Muslims, everything hinges on the belief that Mohammed is the ultimate model for human conduct. You can’t disentangle that from the outbursts of malevolence that conform to his example.
A more prudent approach, it seems, would be to heed the rule of numbers. Violence, agitation, and demands for sharia compliance are quite rare at first, but steadily increase as the concentration of Muslims expands. Where enclaves are vanishingly scarce, so too are incidents; that’s why residents of Poland and Hungary can rest much easier than those of France, the U.K., and Sweden. This – astonishingly – seems lost on those who imagine the solution lies simply with heightened magnanimity, understood as boundless accommodation.
Once the scales tip too far, you wind up with fewer, and much less pleasant options. Majorities disinclined to violence may well populate certain enclaves, but they function nonetheless as harbors for the jihadi armada.
Matthew Hanley is senior fellow with the National Catholic Bioethics Center. With Jokin de Irala, M.D., he is the author of Affirming Love, Avoiding AIDS: What Africa Can Teach the West, which recently won a best-book award from the Catholic Press Association. The opinions expressed here are Mr. Hanley’s and not those of the NCBC.
Some things never change. Especially the largely ignorant, suicidal rage that is now a regular recurrence in American culture, and which is spreading to other Western countries. Quite apart from the vile clash the other day between alt-right and alt-left in Charlottesville (which, as usual, also brought injury to innocents), we seem to have lost the Christian – and human – truth that we’re all imperfect beings. And that without a capacity for tolerating one another’s foibles and ultimately a chance at forgiveness, it’s simply impossible for us to live together.
