NYT Gives Democrats Marching Orders On El Paso Shooting

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It is to be expected that Democrats will coldly attempt to score political points from the tragic shootings in Texas and Ohio. Integrity-free politicians will do anything to get elected or stay in office.

The combined shootings over the same weekend will predictably create a call for more gun laws that would do nothing to reduce violence or even gun violence in the United States, as is painfully clear in our ongoing lab testing between states and cities with strict gun laws and those with very few.

But the El Paso shooting will get most of the attention, because it combines the left’s loathing of guns with its reflexive use of the word-weapon “racism” all the time. El Paso is a springboard for blaming all Republicans for guns and blaming President Trump for creating a violent anti-immigrant atmosphere.

And inconveniently, the shooter in Ohio was a known supporter of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. His Twitter biography reads, “he/him / anime fan / metalhead / leftist / i’m going to hell and i’m not coming back.” And he supported strict guns laws! All of which means this will be forgotten as quickly as the shooter who shot up the Republican softball team and was a rabid Bernie Sanders supporter.

Ever the opportunist, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke jumped on this immediately on Face the Nation Sunday. “I’m saying that President Trump has a lot to do with what happened in El Paso yesterday,” he said. Trump “sows the kind of fear, the kind of reaction that we saw in El Paso yesterday.”

But the New York Times, which all leftists and Democrat political leaders read and take cues from, essentially wrote the party talking points for them, right from the “news analysis” lead:

At campaign rallies before last year’s midterm elections, President Trump repeatedly warned that America was under attack by immigrants heading for the border. “You look at what is marching up, that is an invasion!” he declared at one rally. “That is an invasion!”

Nine months later, a 21-year-old white man is accused of opening fire in a Walmart in El Paso, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more after writing a manifesto railing against immigration and announcing that “this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

There you go, Democrats. It’s spelled out with citations for you by your allies at the New York Times.

Talking Point: Trump used the word “invasion” and the shooter used the word “invasion.”

President Trump said Sunday after the shootings: “Hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it.” On Monday, he tweeted:

“We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying…this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”

But here’s how the New York Times summed it up for readers:

“Hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it,” the president said, declining to elaborate but promising to speak more on Monday morning. He made no mention of white supremacy or the El Paso manifesto, but instead focused on what he called “a mental illness problem.”

This is a beautiful example of why Trump needs Twitter and every Republican needs communications outlets that bypass the Democrat media establishment. Does anyone even doubt that in 2019, with zero culture of white supremacy, that anyone who believes in such garbage has mental issues? And just because President Obama would dive in with very few facts doesn’t mean Trump should.

Talking Point: Trump refuses to acknowledge his role in whipping up hate. 

What’s really interesting is that in the shooter’s manifesto, he states clearly that his views on immigration “predate Trump,” because even a deranged mass murderer knows what the media and Democrats are going to do with his evil act.

The Times acknowledges the “predate Trump” statement but dismisses it. “But if Mr. Trump did not originally inspire the gunman, he has brought into the mainstream polarizing ideas and people once consigned to the fringes of American society.”

Perhaps the Times has forgotten, but immigration has been one of the most polarizing debates we’ve had for many years. The Times stopped covering it much — and nothing on kids in cages at the border — during President Obama’s eight years, but it turns out that reality still happens even if the Times does not report it. Illegal immigration has been divisive for decades and tens of millions of Americans’ frustration had reached a boiling point long before Trump. It’s part of what got him elected.

But here’s the summary, which you can expect to hear coming out of Democrats’ mouths.

“While other leaders have expressed concern about border security and the costs of illegal immigration, Mr. Trump has filled his public speeches and Twitter feed with sometimes false, fear-stoking language even as he welcomed to the White House a corps of hard-liners, demonizers and conspiracy theorists shunned by past presidents of both parties. Because of this, Mr. Trump is ill equipped to provide the kind of unifying, healing force that other presidents projected in times of national tragedy.”

The Times conveniently forgets how President Obama stoked racial animus after Ferguson, after Baltimore and after Trayvon Martin. Trump may be ill-equipped, but Obama proved repeatedly he was. The Times is silent on that point, because the actual point of their coverage is to set the stage for Democrats to attack Trump and all Republicans.

But this: “he welcomed to the White House a corps of hard-liners, demonizers and conspiracy theorists shunned by past presidents of both parties.” The Times does not name these people, nor point out the haters previous presidents have invited because of political alliances.But it’s a politically useful salvo.

Talking Point: Trump has even invited racist anti-immigration hard-liners to the White House.

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo got it right when, after CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly tried to get him to link the shooting with Trump’s language: “I’m focusing on El Paso. There’s evil in this world and it’s unfortunate.”

Don’t expect to get that reality check from the Democrats or their media.

RELATED ARTICLE: Five outrageous reactions to Dayton and El Paso tragedies from Democrats and mainstream media

RELATED VIDEO: President Trump’s remarks on the weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio.

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Why Florida’s ‘Red Tide Task Force’ is doomed to fail and waste taxpayer’s money

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When ever there is a naturally occurring problem, like red tide, the first impulse by politicians is to create a task force to look at the naturally occurring problem.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced in a press release on August 2nd, 2019:

[T]he appointments of 11 expert researchers and leading scientists to the recently re-organized Red Tide Task Force. The Governor was joined by Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Noah Valenstein and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Executive Director Eric Sutton. For over 15 years, this Task Force had been inactive and without funding until it’s re-organization by FWC today at the direction of Governor DeSantis. Governor DeSantis originally called for the re-organization of the task force on his second day in office via Executive Order 19-12.

“The Red Tide Task Force will focus on the causes of Red Tide and will be supported by FWC’s Center for Red Tide Research, which received $4.8 million in the budget,” said Governor DeSantis. “My administration will continue to press forward to find solutions and empower our brightest minds to help protect our environment. The issues of Red Tide are complex, but with the appointments of these leading scientists and researchers, we hope to make a difference.” [Emphasis added]

Read the full press release.

How Government Gets Red Tide (Karenia brevis) Wrong

If you go to the Center for Disease Control fact sheet on red tide (Karenia brevis or K-brevis) you will find this information:

Algae are vitally important to marine ecosystems, and most species of algae are not harmful. However, under certain environmental conditions, microscopic marine algae called Karenia brevis (K. brevis) grow
quickly, creating blooms that can make the ocean appear red or brown. People often call these blooms “red tide.”

K. brevis produces powerful toxins called brevetoxins, which have killed millions of fish and other marine organisms. Red tides have damaged the fishing industry, shoreline quality, and local economies in states such as Texas and Florida. Because K. brevis blooms move based on winds and tides, pinpointing a red tide at any given moment is difficult.

Red tides occur throughout the world, affecting marine ecosystems in Scandinavia, Japan, the Caribbean,and the South Pacific. Scientists first documented a red tide along Florida’s Gulf Coast in fall 1947, when residents of Venice, Florida, reported thousands of dead fish and a “stinging gas” in the air, according to Mote Marine Laboratory. However, Florida residents have reported similar events since the mid-1800s. [Emphasis added]

The first report of red tide was by Angelo Heilprin, an American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist in 1886. Heilprin visited the Manatee River and Little Sarasota Bay and found, “thousands upon thousands of carcasses [of dead fish] heaped up in continuous banks” killed by “red tide.” Heilprin wrote about red tide in his May, 1887 book Explorations on the West Coast of Florida.

For 133 years the world, and Florida in particular, has known about red tide and a fix is not in the offing.

“Red Tide Task Force” is Doomed

Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website only shows predictions and areas currently impacted by red tide. The Commission’s website states, “FWC reports on the current status of Karenia brevis blooms using tables, static maps, and interactive Google Earth maps. Archived status maps can be found in our Flickr gallery.”

So does anyone have a solution to red tide?

Surf Rider Foundation’s Mara Dias, Holly Parker note:

Red tides are naturally occurring, but there is ample evidence that shows nutrient pollution can fuel blooms, making them larger and longer lasting. Learn more about this here. Worse still, warming waters associated with climate change appear to be helping these blooms thrive in areas that haven’t been affected by algae blooms historically.

The nutrient pollution that fuels algal blooms comes from many different sources- runoff from agriculture and landscaping fertilizers, leaky septic tanks and aging sewage infrastructure, and stormwater and urban runoff.

Note how Dias and Parker try connecting red tide to “climate change” to create a boogeyman effect. Actually according to NASA the climate is cooling as we are experiencing a solar minimum (few or no sunspots), which makes the oceans cooler.

Conclusion

Sid Perkins of the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences of the United States of America reports:

Red tide blooms are natural events, not manmade, notes Robert Weisberg, a physical oceanographer at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, FL, who has been studying red tides in the Gulf of Mexico for decades. The blooms have been known to strike the Florida coasts since the 1500s when Spanish explorers mentioned warnings from Native Americans not to eat fish caught in discolored waters, he adds. [Emphasis added]

So what needs to happen to reduce, but not eliminate the “naturally occurring” red tide blooms is to stop fertilizing, repair leaky septic tanks, fix our sewage systems and stop urban runoff?

But this won’t stop red tide blooms. Why? Because they are naturally occurring.

Florida scientists like Weisberg have been studying red tide for decades to no avail. Spending $4.8 million dollars won’t stop the “naturally occurring” red tide blooms today, tomorrow or in the foreseeable future. Stopping us from fertalizing will only harm Florida’s farming and tourist industries. No one comes to Disney World to see dead plants that have haven’t been properly fertilized, right?

Floridians must understand that like “naturally occurring” hurricanes, red tide blooms are with us forever. We just need to prepare for them both.

© All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: We Already Have the World’s Most Efficient Carbon Capture Technology

El Paso: The Real Root Causes of Mass Shootings

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In the El Paso shooting’s wake, evident is the same wash-rinse-repeat pattern. There are the inevitable calls for gun control by demagogues concerned only about people control, those who put the onus on whites when most mass shooters are non-white, and propagandists who blame the “Right” when most violence originates with the “Left.” It’s quite tiresome, really. In truth, the main underlying cause of increased mass-murder events — and so much evil in general — is a severe philosophical/spiritual malaise besetting our nation.

Were gun control the remedy here, mass shootings would be rare.

Not only were there fewer firearm laws many decades ago, but in 1940s and ‘50s New York City, boys would often take guns on the subway because they had rifle clubs at school. So is access to firearms really the problem’s root cause?

As for the El Paso shooter’s motivation, our immigrationism combined with left-wing environmental concerns, there are people who will do evil in a cause’s name regardless of its nobility or ignobility. The real question here is, boiled down: Why are we seeing so much more evil in America now than in bygone days?

Many people find it ironic that the El Paso shooter’s father is a mental-health therapist. I find it unsurprising. I used to work with children, and “social scientists” often had horribly behaved kids (in fact, a psychologist’s young son was involved in the theft of $300 at the business where I worked).

These anecdotes absolutely relate to a much wider phenomenon. Psychologists have done much to shape modern parenting habits — and thinking in general — in today’s society, and, of course, they tend to epitomize what they peddle.

“Psychology” is a Greek word meaning “study of the soul,” ironic since today the field is soulless. While once part of philosophy, psychology was divorced from it in the 19th century in an effort to make it a science. This was a grave mistake.

Science confines its study to the material world, to what can be observed and measured within it. This means that, from a scientific standpoint, man can only be a physical being, an organic robot comprising chemicals and water.

In this vein and very much to the point, morality — properly understood as something transcending man — cannot exist, by science’s lights. Can you see a principle in a Petri dish or a moral under a microscope?

This idea was reflected in a man I know of who once said, “Murder’s not wrong; it’s just that society says it is.” How can the wholly scientific — that is to say, the wholly atheistic — argue with him?

A person of faith could say, “No, that’s not true because God exists, and divine law dictates homicide’s wrongness.” Of course, that murder-winking man could dispute this theist’s “data” (i.e., that God and His law exist), but he cannot dispute his logic; it’s airtight.

(Note here that logic is not an answer, but simply a method by which answers are found. Thus, the answers will only be as good as the data fed into the system.)

But what can the atheist say? His data is exactly the same as the murder-winking man’s. Under his world view, society is all there is to say that murder is wrong — because society is all there is to say anything. It then all boils down to Greek philosopher Protagoras’ belief, “Man is the measure of all things.”

This engenders what’s often called moral relativism, the notion that what we call morality changes with the time, place and people. In reality, though, it essentially is moral nihilism. For if man’s “values,” which really are just people’s preferences, are all there is, then morality doesn’t actually exist.

This idea has swept society, as evidenced by a Barna Group research company study I often cite. It found that, in 2002 already, a minority of Americans and only six percent of teens believed in Truth (absolute by definition), with a majority saying, quite oxymoronically, “Truth is relative.”

Forget Protagoras, the problem with this is that it also boils down to occultist Aleister Crowley’s maxim, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Moral relativism/nihilism is the ultimate justification. Rape, kill, steal — commit mass murder? Who’s to say it’s wrong? Don’t impose your values on me, dude.

This moral relativism/nihilism — along, of course, with the godlessness of which it’s a corollary — is our deep cultural malaise. It has been encouraged by modern psychology and so many other things; it is why, while we once viewed misbehavior and criminality as moral problems, we now too often consider them psychological problems. In other words, the organic robot is malfunctioning, a result of a defect in its hardware (genetics) or software (programming).

Translation: Forget that mythical thing called morality; we need to find out what kind of chemical intervention or programming alteration (or future gene therapy) can correct the machine’s operation.

This cultural malaise is devastating. Stop believing in something (i.e., morality) and you’ll cease learning about it; this is why most today can’t explain what virtues (“good moral habits”) are, let alone enumerate any great number of them (charity, diligence, chastity, honesty, prudence, etc.).

Moreover, if you neither believe in nor understand something, it follows that you’ll have neither the inclination nor capacity to teach it. Is it any surprise, then, that moderns are doing such a poor job imparting morality to children?

Returning for a moment to the El Paso shooter, do you want to bet that he and his father aren’t part of the morally relativistic/nihilistic majority? How likely is it that dad provided old-fashioned discipline and inculcated his son with virtue?

Interestingly, I’ve long pointed out that when people can no longer reference Truth when making moral decisions, the only yardstick they have left is emotion. Ergo, the modern credo, “If it feels good, do it.” Barna’s study vindicated this, mind you, finding that most Americans now “base their moral choices on feelings.”

Contributing Factors in Our Moral Decay

Given that emotion is holding sway, we should ask: What’s shaping feelings today? Entertainment is, largely, and it does much to stoke man’s animal nature. Just consider, for instance, the mindless, gratuitous violence; prurient content; and morally nihilistic messages in modern movies and television programs.

Note something else also, and this is where I get pushback even from conservatives and (especially) libertarians, as it slaughters many people’s sacred entertainment cows and, they fear, may imply censorship’s necessity. Studies have shown that 15 years after television’s introduction — and this is true the world over — crime increased precipitously. (I explored this in-depth here.) Now consider that the Internet is TV10.

Video games are a factor as well (and this is where I really get pushback). Lt. Col. David Grossman, one of the world’s foremost experts on what he calls “killology,” contends that simulated video-game participatory violence (and the extreme violence on TV) amount to the kind of conditioning/desensitization used to inure soldiers to killing.

Then, of course, with mass shootings there’s also the psychotropic-medication factor and the copycat phenomenon. As to the latter, in a morally relativistic/nihilistic world where all is vanity, mass murder can be an alluring ticket to fame for those wallowing in meaninglessness.

Yet it all comes down to morality, or to a lack of morality — or, even more precisely, to a lack of belief in it. Note here that the six percent of 2002 teens who believed in Truth simply reflect a pattern, as each succeeding generation is more relativistic/nihilistic than the last. This also corresponds to the generational increase in wickedness. It’s as strong a correlation as you’ll find anywhere.

Say what you will about TV, the Internet, video games, violence or mass murder, it can’t be right or wrong if there is no right or wrong. It’s the ultimate self-evident reality: How can you build a moral society when its shades-of-gray people don’t even believe in morality?

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Gab (preferably) or Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com

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Ohio gunman described himself as pro-Satan ‘leftist’ who supported Elizabeth Warren and Antifa

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Posted by Eeyore:

Washington Times, Aug. 4 2019

The Ohio gunman described himself on social media as a pro-Satan “leftist” who wanted Joe Biden’s generation to die off, hated President Trump and law enforcement, and hoped to vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, rifle-wielding Connor Betts rampaged through a Dayton entertainment district, killing his sister and eight other people and leaving dozens of others wounded before police killed him.

“I want socialism, and i’ll not wait for the idiots to finally come round to understanding,” he wrote in one tweet, according to Heavy.com.

Please read the rest here.

EDITORS UPDATE August 5, 2019: In the New York Post column Dayton shooter Connor Betts was in a ‘pornogrind’ metal band: report Chris Perez reports:

Dayton mass shooter Connor Betts was reportedly the lead singer of a misogynistic “pornogrind” metal band called Menstrual Munchies — which released songs about rape, murder, necrophilia and other gruesome acts against women.

Read more here.

EDITORS UPDATE August 6, 2019: Paul P. Murphy, Konstantin Toropin, Drew Griffin and Scott Bronstein from CNN report:

A Twitter account that appears to belong to Dayton mass shooter Connor Betts retweeted extreme left-wing and anti-police posts, as well as tweets supporting Antifa, or anti-fascist, protesters.

The most recent tweet on the @iamthespookster account was on August 3, the day of the shooting, when he retweeted a post saying, “Millenials have a message for the Joe Biden generation: hurry up and die.” He also retweeted messages supporting Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Read more here.

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Qatar Kills Bin Laden’s Son

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A Saudi guest on Sarah Damdhawi’s tafa’alkom program aired on al-Arabia TV on 04 August 2019 said that:

“Qatar killed Hamza bin Usama bin Laden as a gift to the U.S.”

A little background is in order here.  Hamza, the son of Usama bin Laden was the future of al-Qaeda.  He was the sole figure on this planet whose pedigree and family background could have made it possible to unite all terrorist groups, Sunni and Shi’a, into one “terrorist superpower.”

As a result of Hamza’s potential as a terrorism Fuhrer (and Hamza’s personal threat to avenge his father’s death at the hands of the U.S.), the U.S. had placed a one million dollar reward on his head.

At this point one might ask, why would Qatar, one of the world’s top three state sponsors of terrorism, snuff out one of their key assets as a gift to the Trump administration?

The answer can be found in last week’s arms deal between Trump and the Emir of Qatar.  That was part of the price that Trump asked for in exchange for modern weapons.  The rest of the price was, of course, the billions of dollars that will go into U.S. companies and the payrolls of U.S. workers.

A nice pre-election package.  Money, and the elimination of Hamza bin Usama bin Laden.  A win win for Trump and the U.S. Right?

Not so fast.

Qatar has been playing this game for decades.  With one hand they pretend to be helping in the war on terror, while their other hand supports terrorism.  This is a prime example because their execution of Hamza bin Laden and their acceptance of U.S. weapons will not whet their appetite for terrorist mischief elsewhere.  Just ask Syria, Somalia, Libya, Mali, and the rest of North Africa.

But the real victory that Qatar won is much more profound.  They were willing to eliminate an asset like Hamza bin Usama bin Laden not just as a door through which they could obtain U.S. weapons, but because performing such a sacrifice will continue to keep the U.S. and the rest of the West totally blind to Qatar’s long term goals.

These long term goals are much more dangerous and much more permanent that anything Hamza bin Usama Bin Laden and his rag a tag band of jihadis could ever muster.

Qatar is in this for the long haul.  Taking a single rook off the chess board while setting up a check-mate of your opponent’s king is a small price to pay.

This dangerous long-term game Qatar is playing will be revealed in tomorrow’s Mideast intel update.

VIDEO: Why Welfare Hasn’t Cured Poverty

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More than five decades, several welfare programs, and $25 trillion later, the welfare system has utterly failed the poor.

The poverty rate remains mostly unchanged, and tens of millions of Americans are dependent on government assistance.

Currently, the United States spends about a trillion dollars a year on 80 different federal, state, and local welfare programs.

About 40 million Americans are considered poor. If we divided that $1 trillion among those 40 million people, we could give each person approximately $25,000 a year, or $100,000 a year for a family of four.

We’re clearly spending a lot of money, so why have we not ended poverty?

Our welfare system discourages work. It discourages families from staying together. And it encourages dependence on government.

In other words, welfare keeps the poor poor.

In many cases, welfare has harmed the very people it was supposed to help, especially children.

Why has this happened?

As welfare benefits grew over the years, they increasingly served as a substitute for a working parent.

As the taxpayer became the family breadwinner, that encouraged many men to stop upholding their responsibilities, leaving more and more women as heads of single-parent households.

On the other side of the coin, single mothers were discouraged from marrying the fathers of their children because that reduced their benefits.

Sadly, the cycle continues today as many children who grow up on welfare eventually follow in their parents’ footsteps when they have families of their own.

So, what do we do?

First, we have to understand that the problem with the current system is that it discourages work. Work is the fastest and most effective way to get out of poverty and become prosperous.

Welfare programs should be designed to offer temporary help while encouraging able-bodied recipients to find work and become self-reliant.

In states that have implemented time limits and welfare-to-work requirements, recipients have received job training, found jobs, and increased their incomes dramatically. They’ve also dropped off the welfare rolls.

Second, we must continue to create the jobs that help recipients transition to work.

As we’ve seen in just the past few years, cutting taxes on individuals and businesses and cutting regulations that hinder business growth are the keys to massive new job creation, high levels of employment, and increased wages for workers.

Most Americans want a social safety net that helps those who can’t help themselves and they want to help the poor find meaningful work.

We’ve learned through decades of experience that throwing more money at poverty doesn’t end it. Temporary assistance, jobs training, growing the economy, and promoting self-sufficiency do.

As we wage the war against poverty for the next generation, let’s fight smarter.

COMMENTARY BY

Portrait of Genevieve Wood

Genevieve Wood

Genevieve Wood advances policy priorities of The Heritage Foundation as senior contributor to The Daily Signal. Send an email to Genevieve. Twitter: .

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Baltimore Blues

Dear Readers:

With the recent conservative victories related to tax cuts, the Supreme Court, and other major issues, it is easy to become complacent.

However, the liberal Left is not backing down. They are rallying supporters to advance their agenda, moving this nation further from the vision of our founding fathers.

If we are to continue to bring this nation back to our founding principles of limited government and fiscal conservatism, we need to come together as a group of likeminded conservatives.

This is the mission of The Heritage Foundation. We want to continue to develop and present conservative solutions to the nation’s toughest problems. And we cannot do this alone.

We are looking for a select few conservatives to become a Heritage Foundation member. With your membership, you’ll qualify for all associated benefits and you’ll help keep our nation great for future generations.

ACTIVATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column with video is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.

Muslim Brothers Shut Out Critics

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The email announcing the Eventbrite refund of my ticket for Washington, DC’s July 23-24 Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy conference clearly indicated to me a depressingly familiar tactic of controlled public relations. Once again, defenders of Islam such as the Hamas-derived Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had excluded the inquisitive eyes and ears of a known critic like me from participation in a purportedly public event.

Numerous past and present CAIR officials filled the conference schedule, including CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, Abbas Barzegar, Zahra Billoo, Robert McCaw, and Corey Saylor, while CAIR had promoted the conference online. CAIR’s radical political allies such as the past and present Congress members Keith Ellison, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib also appeared in the conference lineup. New York City Muslim-American political activist Debbie Almontaser and the nationally known Gold Star father Khizr Khan also continued their long history of event appearances with CAIR.

Such CAIR involvement gave this author a foreboding feeling when he purchased a conference ticket. CAIR’s longstanding practice of strictly scrutinizing event attendees does not allow entry for anyone who would question CAIR’s pro-jihad/sharia affiliations. CAIR has accordingly refused this author admittance to CAIR’s gala dinner, as well as CAIR Capitol Hill and National Press Club briefings.

CAIR’s aversion to prying eyes reflects a broader pattern among its likeminded Islamist allies. Georgetown University Professor Jonathan Brown once ejected this author from a lecture, before outrageously proclaiming that Islamic doctrine precluded condemnation of slavery and sex slavery. Brown later similarly revoked this author’s invitation to a conference co-hosted by Georgetown’s Saudi-established Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), which Brown directs.

Representative Omar’s own personal behavior at the conference continued this see, hear, and speak no evil maxim. As with a past refused request to condemn publicly Al Qaeda, she responded testily to a request to denounce Muslim practices of female genital mutilation (FGM) made by a fellow panelist, Muslims for Progressive Values President Ani Zonneveld. Omar claimed that such questions directed at Muslims were offensive and rejected commenting upon FGM, a horror that 98 percent of females suffer in Omar’s ancestral Somalia, the highest rate globally.

Contrary to Omar’s no-comment policy, the conference’s very agenda raises disturbing questions that questioning reporters should raise. Her fellow panelist Khan rose to prominence on the basis of rebuking presidential candidate Donald Trump with the heartbreaking sacrifice of Khan’s son, an army captain killed during the Iraq war. Yet the CAIR official and conference participant Billoo has scandalously shown contempt for America’s war dead.

Even more disturbingly, Khan shared a conference panel with Omar and gushed over this radical’s role in supposedly strengthening a diverse America. The names of her and others “will be written with golden letters on the pages of history,” he stated. In contrast, other Americans will more remember how she slandered American military personnel as indiscriminate killers during the 1993 international relief operation in Somalia.

Given the modern American Muslims’ heavily Democratic-leaning political proclivities, conference organizers had invited the Democratic 2020 presidential candidates to attend. That only Senator Elizabeth Warren agreed to make a livestream address disappointed the organizers.

Leading Democrats may have stayed away from CAIR and its allies at the conference for now, but Americans as a whole should demand closer scrutiny of these groups. In particular, Democrat public figures attending such future events must face difficult questions about who does and does not attend according to gatekeepers guarding against “Islamophobia.” A free public has a right to know what these self-identified Muslim conclaves mean for the wider body politic.

COLUMN BY

Andrew E. Harrod

Andrew E. Harrod, PhD, JD, Esq. is the author of over 150 articles online and in print concerning various political, religious, and international relations topics. This article first appeared in Sharia TipSheet.

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

Ilhan Omar and the Door of No Return

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Freshman Minnesota Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar, in an apparent bid to keep a Twitter feud alive with President Trump, tweeted a photo of herself posing with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the “Door of No Return” on the coast of Ghana.

Part of a 15-member Congressional Black Caucus junket (funded presumably by US tax dollars), they have been in Ghana to “mark ‘The Year of Return’ and the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Jamestown Virginia,” according to Pelosi. The Door of No Return, a part of the Cape Coast Castle, stands as a reminder of the evils of slavery — it marks the exit from dungeons under the castle where African slaves were held in merciless conditions until marched through that door to be packed on ships and transported to Europe and the Americas. Estimates are that 11 million African slaves ended up in the Americas; of those only roughly 400,000 came to the British colonies and subsequent United States. The vast bulk (10 million plus) were sold to buyers in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

European slave traders have rightly been pilloried for their central role in the transport and sale of other human beings for profit, and for their inhuman treatment of those they considered less than human. And, of course, Americans of the 17th through 19th Centuries have been condemned for being an avid market for the purchase of slaves and maintenance of slavery as an acceptable institution of society.

Little, of course, has been said concerning the fact that until modern times slavery had always been part and parcel of life in every civilization of the world — the powerful enslaved the weak; the conquerors subjugated their victims; empires imposed their culture on client states and conscripted “non-citizens” to forced labor. That was the way of the world. To the victor go the spoils.

Even less has been said of the fact that though the American colonists enslaved over 400,000 Africans, a blight on our national history, that accounts for only about 4% of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Where is the clamor for the guilty nation-states of Central and South America and the West Indies to acknowledge their huge part in this evil and to offer their mea culpas? Or is the United States to be held to a different standard than nations elsewhere?

But there is one fact concerning African slave trade that is even more obscure in Western media than this. There could be no slaves to transport from Africa to the West were it not for those willing to raid villages and capture innocent men, women and children and then march them bound the the slave markets they created at port cities in western Africa where the European slave ship captains could purchase them “wholesale.” The villainy of the white traders and slaveholders is often publicized, but who was the principal group that enthralled Africans in the first place to sell them to others? It turns out that the primary creators of the slave trade in Africa were Arab Muslims, going back all the way to the time of Muhammad.

Since Muhammad, the “excellent example” whom Muslims are enjoined by the Qur’an to emulate, owned slaves for himself, and bought and sold and gifted slaves in regular transactions, and mandated through Allah’s commands that those captured in jihad raids and battles became the property of the jihadis to keep for themselves or sell in slave markets, Islam has always determined slavery to be a legal and proper institution, with the one caveat that Muslims are never to enslave fellow Muslims. Unbelievers (the “kuffar”) have no rights to freedom and self-determination but are free game for Muslims able to take them captive.

As Arab Muslims invaded North Africa and colonized it, they quickly took slaves and began to send them back to the centers of their growing empire in the Middle East and Asia. With their growth in power and lust for conquest, they pushed south into sub-Saharan Africa and down both eastern and western coasts, subjugating tribes and assimilating some while enslaving others. Up until the Atlantic slave trade opened up in the 1600s, the bulk of African slaves were shipped east to the growing Muslim empires in Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Reasonable estimates suggest that some 14 million African slaves were sent east to Muslim overlords in the rapidly expanding Islamic territories. Once the transatlantic corridor opened, another 11 million were sold by the Muslim slave traders in Africa to be sent west.

Since Islam in its theology sees nothing morally wrong with the enslavement of non-Muslims, it should not come as a surprise to discover that in its 1400 years of existence Islam as a religious-politico-supremacist movement has been responsible for more human slavery than any other movement in history. Its lead role in African slavery is only one horrific chapter in a tome that includes southern Europe, the Middle East, much of Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Even today, much of the unreported slavery that exists is to be found in Muslim-majority countries where it is masked in the form of expatriate Third World employees “hired” as housekeepers and private servants.

Ilhan Omar, in her “send her back” squabble with the President, wants to play off her African roots and America’s guilty psyche over its past sins by implying that she too and her ancestors were victims of the transatlantic slave trade and that “Donald Trump and other white racists” are seeking to continue to victimize her.

This, however, is farcical on two levels. First, Omar takes pride in presenting herself as a practicing Muslim and yet has nothing to say concerning the massive evils of slavery perpetrated worldwide by Islam over 1400 years. Instead, she wants to focus on the relatively small evils (by comparison) already admitted by the USA in its retrospective on American history. While as a nation we have repented of and outlawed slavery and are working to eradicate racism, Islam has made no strides in this direction except what was required of countries for United Nations’ membership. Omar is quick to calumniate the USA for past sins, but stands silent in the face of the greatest perpetrator of the evils she finds so reprehensible, presumably because she is prohibited by Islam from denigrating the religion that Allah perfected and delivered to the world through Muhammad (Qur’an 5:3). Well could the words spoken by a famous Jewish rabbi to the hypocrites of his day be applied to Ilhan Omar: “You blind guide! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Second, Omar’s presence as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus creates the implication that she stands with other Black Americans as a victim of America’s pre-Emancipation and Jim Crow eras. But nothing could be further from the truth. Omar’s heritage is Somali, and her family fled thence to Kenya. We have no way of knowing whether any of her ancestors were taken as slaves by the Arab Muslim slavers of Africa, but one thing is certain — if they were, they would have been shipped from the East coast of the continent, and thus would have lived out their days in the Middle East, central Asia or India. None of them would have undergone forced transport to the Americas.

So how did Omar and her family end up in the USA? It was through the grace and mercy of the US government, and the sponsorship of an American church. After having fled the savage brutality of life in Somalia, Omar survived as a child with her family in an overtaxed refugee camp in Kenya, from which after several years they immigrated as refugees to the United States in 1992, when she was ten, and were granted asylum in 1995. Her life since arriving has been a remarkable success story, learning English, gaining her US citizenship in 2000 at the age of seventeen, graduating high school and then college in 2011. Rising through the ranks of local and state politics, Omar successfully ran for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives and took up that role in January 2017. A year and a half later, she filed to run for the United States House of Representatives to fill Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District seat, won that election in November 2018 and has occupied that post since January of this year, earning a salary (not including perks) of $174,000. A hefty sum here in the United States, in Somalia that would be a fortune beyond the dreams of avarice.

One might think that having been rescued from the ravages of her native country, and from the tribulation and futility of a fragile existence in an overcrowded refugee camp, Omar would be singing the praises of a country that has allowed her to rise from desperate poverty to formerly undreamed of heights of success, power, fame and fortune. But apparently not.

Instead, Omar rides on the updrafts of victim politics, seeing any criticisms of her positions as personal attacks on her as a woman, a minority or a Muslim, or better yet, all three. In this case, however, standing with Nancy Pelosi at the Door of No Return in Ghana, her hypocrisy is crystal clear.

One could almost wish that in her “return to Mother Africa” the portal in question would live up to its name, and she would walk through it from West to East. Perhaps a long-term refresher on life in Africa would stir some gratitude in her heart for all advantages she has enjoyed during her time in America as an immigrant turned citizen and member of Congress.

Instead of railing at those who have spitefully chanted “Send her back!” against her, perhaps Ilhan Omar would do better to speak gratefully of the country which has “sent her forward.” Such a stance would go a long way to earning the right to be heard by fellow citizens, and to working constructively with those across the political aisle for the benefit of all Americans.

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

VIDEO: The Vortex — Demolition/Restoration. An HQ for the counter-revolution.

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TRANSCRIPT

We’re standing out in front of the beginning of the physical plant expansion here at St. Michael’s Media, which got underway just a couple of days ago. More on that later, but on a very related note, what we are doing here is what needs to happen all over the Church — certainly in the United States — a demolition of bad structures and protocols that are designed to support not the mission, but simply the existing structure.

The current state of affairs in the Church, as exemplified by the likes of Cdl. Blase Cupich, reveal the problem in its simplest terms.

Men like Cupich have taken the structure and abused it, turning it into an edifice to corrupt the Faith, not focus on the mission of saving souls.

Listen to just a brief comment he made earlier this year at a talk to a liberal think tank in Cambridge, England, pushing for revolution and a “paradigm shift.”

That a prince of the Church would feel such ease and comfort in blurting out words like “revolution” in a divinely established institution sounds eerily to previous clerics like Martin Luther. He too brought “revolution” and paradigm shifts under the guise of spirituality and so forth.

And herein lies the problem: Cupich and company are able to get away with this because they can abuse the current structures — no accountability, a gross lack of transparency, absolutely zero fidelity to the faithful or the Magisterium.

An archdiocese’s expenses, for example, are rarely revealed. That practice isn’t under divine guidance.

The selection of generally young men to be seminarians rarely has any input from faithful laity. Rarely are laity selected to take part in decisions to close and sell off parishes.

What laity are involved in “management” decisions are usually preselected individuals who are picked precisely because the bishop knows they will agree with him.

The Church is in shambles, and the reason it is is partially because the way earthly business is currently conducted in the Church. The structures of the Church are set up ultimately so leaders can carry out their divinely appointed mission of announcing salvation to the world.

But when those man-made structures are used by wicked men and turned to the purpose of evil, then the man-made structures need to be demolished and a new way of doing business built up.

As long as there exists in the Church today this level of evil, then there is a need for exposure of it.

Too many bishops and their staffs deal in a clandestine fashion, harming numerous people materially and spiritually, and they get away with it because people don’t know.

But people need to know; they need to know how business is conducted, how their money is spent, how decisions are made about hiring chancery personnel who do not accept all the teachings of the Church and so forth.

This is the driving force behind our expansion here at our Ferndale studio. There must be in the Church today a media outfit that deals honestly and forthrightly with all this corruption and exposes it.

As a reminder, it was only exposure in the secular media that brought the whole evil of homosexual predation among clergy to everyone’s attention.

Had that exposure not happened, McCarrick and the boys club would still be running the corrupt dog and pony show and altar boys would still be being sexually assaulted.

It doesn’t matter if the corruption is spiritual, financial, moral, doctrinal or liturgical, it’s all fruit from the same tree, and this tree must be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

So Church Militant is responding to the crisis, which men like Donald Wuerl lied through their teeth about, by marshaling our resources through your ongoing generosity.

Right out here, we will be adding an extension which will house our new chapel, which will alleviate the massively cramped conditions we are in now. Some of the staff currently have to stand in the hallway because inside is too small.

With the chapel moved into the extension, the entire inside will be able to be gutted and rebuilt, which is going on now. Walls knocked down — that should make the Vatican socialists happy: no walls.

In this space which is being cleared out even now as you can see will be our Church Militant Media Pit.

That pit will house all our internal workings for everything we produce — Vortex, Headlines, Download, our special reports and investigative efforts, our Church Militant Action Arm, our news articles — everything situated in the same space.

If you watch it or read it at Church Militant, it will all come out of this space. And that’s exciting because it will greatly increase our efficiency, our internal work, what we call the “sausage-making,” which most of the time, people don’t want to see.

All the tips and whistleblower information we get, all the news that comes in, will all pour into this same room and be able to be treated much more quickly and turned around to you much faster.

Our Expansion Campaign, while mostly visible in all this demolition and construction, isn’t the end of it though. Some stuff is not visible. For the past few months, we have been beefing up our website considerably, making it faster and stronger and more secure.

That fine work has been done by our web partner, Petros, who has developed the most sophisticated website in the Catholic media world.

It’s all backend stuff that you don’t see, but it makes your time on the homepage much more efficient. You just don’t realize; it’s completely transparent to you.

Also, the beefed-up website means we are now able to roll out our all-new Church Militant app for mobile devices.

The test version will be delivered to us later today, and we will begin the testing internally and with a select group of Church Militant supporters, and once any bugs are worked out, we will be rolling it out for everyone.

Exciting times here at Church Militant, not just because there’s some new studios and all that and a new vibe, but because this is exactly what needs to be put into action to help reclaim the Church from this evil which has engulfed it — a media source, completely independent, free to expose the evil and talk about the needed changes and restoration.

None of this would be possible without the support of tens and tens of thousands of faithful Catholics who want back their Church, who are heartbroken over the current state of affairs.

Their families have been ravaged, their friends and loved ones thrown to the wolves, crimes and immoralities covered up.

It’s time for a powerful assault, an offensive against all this. That’s what all this smashing and banging and building is all-out about.

Demolition will be done in a few days, and then the construction begins in earnest. We need to fight the so-called “paradigm shift,” the self-styled revolution.

The counter-revolution needs a headquarters. Welcome to HQ.

Mario Lopez on the Chopping Block — And What About Us? [Video]

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Just last week, longtime celebrity Mario Lopez went on The Candace Owens show where he made a statement on transgender kids that shouldn’t have been controversial.

Lopez questioned the ability of a three-year-old to make definitive determinations about switching genders. He said it was “dangerous” for parents to support children that young who identify as transgender. Lopez immediately faced a “public” backlash (read: Leftist media) for what was called out as a “controversial” and “insensitive” statement.

His career as a host for the television show “Access Hollywood” now hangs in the balance. Under such pressure, Mario Lopez made an immediate public apology. Apparently, divergence from “groupthink” is not allowed.

Watch the interview with Mario Lopez (the conversation in question begins at 11 minutes):

Conversations around politics and culture have so polarized that, taken together with increased tech censorship and political correctness, American voices are being silenced.

For the political Left, the conversation has shifted from wanting to find real policy solutions to strictly taking an anti-Trump position. The border crisis, for example, is evidence of that.

Serious human rights and security issues surrounding the southern U.S. border are no longer about how we help asylum seekers while maintaining U.S. sovereignty.

Instead, the conversation has become so polarized that, in “resistance against Trump” and “the wall,” members of Congress are actually helping traffic people illegally across the border as a political statement (or stunt) to counter President Trump’s policies.

For example, Senator Cory Booker recently went into Mexico to escort five female asylum seekers into the United States. He’s also a 2020 presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.

What we don’t hear in these stunts is the voice of the American people. It’s becoming more difficult to isolate authentic opinion versus media hype, especially when people who hold opinions against groupthink are not only harassed but can also lose their livelihood because of them.

Just this week, I was kicked out of a Secular Muslim Women’s Group page on Facebook after one member objected to me for a post I made in support of President Trump.

While I’ve been on that page for years with little ill effect and my political opinions are not secret, the volatility around thinkers who deviate from the approved Leftist script is now swift and evident.

We are not only not being tolerated; we are being silenced. While I’m grateful to have my own platforms which I’ve worked hard to build and are bigger than that Facebook page, not every person who wants to speak out about today’s issues has such a platform.

The more our voices are regulated, the more Americans are inching toward being silenced. Mario Lopez found that out the hard way.

COLUMN BY

Shireen Qudosi

Shireen Qudosi is Clarion Project’s National Correspondent.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Clarion Project column with video is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

VIDEO: Candace Owens interview with Steve Bannon

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Candace Owens interviews Steve Bannon. They are down on our Southern border illuminating the realities of the immigration crisis, the border wall, the logistics, the economics, Trump’s efforts, private efforts, the people who live there, etc.

Please watch:

Give the Law Enforcement Officer’s the teeth to stop ANTIFA in their tracks!

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As an American who believes in the goodness of our Constitution, I grew concerned about Canada attempting to legislate “Islamophobia” as hate speech.  For this reason I connected with PEGIDA Canada which is a Pro-Canada entity. I went and gave speeches, met with Canadian patriots who love Canada and was educated on the differences between Canadian government vs. America’s government.

Antifa was there my first time speaking. Things were okay until they started to put on masks. This was in London, Ontario where the Mayor called PEGIDA white nationalists. I found this label amusing since natives, whites and people of different races were part of  PEGIDA Canada.

They only want to promote Canadian values over shariah. PEGIDA Canada actually prays in public for the Muslims who are attacked, bombed, maimed, etc. by Islamists who love shariah! But Canada had a law against wearing masks in public, BUT most of the cops knew nothing about that in London.

After the masks came on an Antifa member punched a 70 year old man. I was there. I saw it. Every time I have been there Antifa puts on their masks and then attacks! The last time I saw them put on their masks and race ahead of us. They tried to stop us from going towards our cars. The Toronto police intervened! Antifa formed a practiced line holding flag poles. The police formed a practiced line on their bikes and pushed them back. One Antifa hit a cop in the head with a flagpole and the dogpile was on! I was profusely thankful for their work that day keeping us safe from the fascist commies.  Even the Toronto Police would tell Antifa they were the commies. In fact Toronto police protected Antifa that day in Nathan Phillips Park, telling them they could not bring their commie signs because the Vietnamese were celebrating being free of Communism for 50 years! That action saved Antifa from getting their clocks cleaned.

For this reason a number of patriots in Canada and the USA have gotten together to promote sanity and make law enforcement’s job easier! We decided we need to enable the police to do preventative things to make people safer. The best preventative measure a local cop can do is insist no one wears masks. This is not so some Big Brother device can record your face! It is so the criminal element does not feel free to do something criminal. Think about this! Laws are made for the criminals, period!

As a Special Education Teacher, I believe simple things are often the best solutions to complex problems! So, we must enable the police to stop the small things, which is a big part of community policing.

No masks, then no one feels free to attack because they can be seen AND IDENTIFIED! Who wears masks in a bank? Bank robbers! Who wears masks in a store? Robbers! Who wears masks in public? Why do people go in government buildings or get on public transportation while wearing masks. So, they can rob or beat someone without a camera recording their identity! Isn’t it better to think ahead and stop something before it happens?

The following idea for a proposed law in each state was brought forward and developed off of a law in Virginia. Their statute is tweaked giving the local law enforcement officer more teeth! Virginia does not know what it means to be cold, so this New Yorker added in the cold weather exception.

Substitute your state or province for the print in red and get your state senator or Canadian government official in your province to work on this! Let’s help the police protect us by giving them the teeth to do the job!

Prohibition of wearing of masks in public and private places; exceptions

Purpose: to increase security in all public places covered under the jurisdiction of NEW YORK STATE, and promote civil harmony and assimilation in a climate of increasing public safety issues.

  1. It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his/her identity, wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in NEW YORK STATE without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing. Persons who do not meet the exceptions listed below will be charged with a Class B Misdemeanor.
  2. It shall not be lawful for a person over the age of 16 to conceal his/her identity, wear any mask, hood, or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, on any form of public transportation or within any government building in the STATE OF NEW YORK. Persons who do not meet the exceptions listed below will be charged with a Class B Misdemeanor.
  3. It shall not be lawful for a person over the age of 16 to conceal his/her identity, wear any mask, hood, or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, at any political gathering or protest. Persons who do not meet the exceptions listed below will be charged with a class E Felony.

However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons

  • wearing traditional holiday costumes;
  • engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons;
  • engaged in any bona fide theatrical production or masquerade ball; or
  • weather is determinedly cold and the event is OUTSIDE where it is colder than 10 degrees Fahrenheit and facial coverings are deemed necessary and protective; or wearing
  • a mask, hood or other device for bona fide medical reasons upon

(a) the advice of a licensed physician or osteopath and carrying on his person an affidavit from the physician or osteopath specifying the medical necessity for wearing the device and the date on which the wearing of the device will no longer be necessary and providing a brief description of the device, or

(b) the declaration of a disaster or state of emergency by the Governor in response to a public health emergency where the emergency declaration expressly waives this section, defines the mask appropriate for the emergency, and provides for the duration of the waiver.

How Republicans will take back the House, keep the Senate and re-elect Donald J. Trump

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“When most people think about the Democratic party, they think of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). That may be a good thing for AOC, but it’s terrible news for the DNC. Heading into 2020, the worst scenario for Donald Trump’s opponents is to be defined by a 29-year-old socialist with half-baked, radical views, light years away from heartland America. But according to a pile of new surveys from Axios to Heritage Action, that’s a gamble too many liberals are willing to take.” – Family Research Council, 2020: It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got Those Swings.

While the 2020 presidential primaries are just getting started with a large field of Democrats vying for the nomination, there are key indicators that it’s the Republicans who are in control on policy issues.

Political advisor to former President Obama David Axelrod said on CNN after the first round of debates:

It does seem as if you’re running for president that you ought to take into consideration what the country wants.

What Does America Want?

Heritage Action for America released the results of three opinion polls conducted across the nation in 2019. Each poll built upon the results of the previous to provide a targeted look at what animates voters in strategic areas across the country.

Here are items that Americans want:

  1. Voters want the border crisis fixed. Heritage found 53% nationally and 63% in swing states, including 62% of independent voters,  believe “The migration problem at the U.S. border is a national emergency.”
  2. Voters want to keep their private healthcare insurance. In Congressional Battleground states 76% reject a single-payer system, including 66% of Independent voters. This includes 65% of swing-state voters and 68% of Independents.
  3. Voters want to save babies who survive an abortion. When asked “Do you support or oppose requiring doctors to provide medical care to infants who survive an abortion?” 76% of voters and 76% of independents said yes.

NOTE: On the issue of immigration the following questions were asked,

“When it comes to illegal immigration, which of the following do you think is the biggest challenge illegal immigrants pose to America?” Voters answered: 37% Overuse Social Services, 7% Take Jobs Away, 7% Undermine Culture, 4% Commit Violent Crimes and 13% All of the Above.

“If more legal immigrants are admitted to the United States, should priority be given to immigrants based on their skills totals or should family members in our country?” Voters answered: 51% Skills and 29% Family.

What America Does Not Want.

  1. Socialism. Heritage found nationally 61% of voters and 57% of independents and 65% in swing states plus 68% of Independents believe that, “Socialism is a bad economic system that leads to bigger government, less freedom, worse economic conditions, and more welfare dependency.”
  2. Political Correctness. When asked, “Do you think that political correctness is a major problem, minor problem, or no problem at all?” 73% of voters nationally and 50% of Independents answered “yes” it is a problem.
  3. Outsourcing and automation. The survey statement was, “There are a significant number of jobs and careers that will not exist in America in 10 years due to automation and outsourcing.” In swing states 83% of voters and independents agreed with the statement. In Congressional Battleground states 82% of voters and independents agreed with the statement.

NOTE: On education the following question was asked:

” In general, do you think a four-year college degree is worth the price of college tuition today? Voters answered: 72% No and 20% Yes.

Read the full Heritage Action for America report by clicking here.

In the Wealth Management column 5 Reasons Trump Will Be Reelected (And What Wealth Managers Must Know) Scott Martin wrote:

Between the electoral map and a friendly Fed, Democratic contenders are going to have a hard time simply keeping out of each other’s way. 

Bad polling numbers and a stagnant approval rating are one thing. When push comes to shove, voters have historically gone with the candidate they believe will boost their finances the best.

After all, “it’s the economy, stupid.” Right now, with GDP growth tracking above 2%, interest rates falling, tax cuts and full employment, the economy points to four more years.

Otherwise, the Democrats have got to make a compelling case for why a vote against Trump isn’t ultimately a quixotic gesture built more on sentiment than self interest.

Right now it looks like he’s going to win.

Martin lists 5 key factors:

  1. A relaxed Fed is the incumbent’s friend.
  2. The electoral map swings red.
  3. Too many Democrats, not enough messaging.
  4. Too many Democrats, not enough fund raising.
  5. Nobody cares about the future.

The only candidate for President of the United States who understands what America wants, and doesn’t want, is Donald J. Trump. His strength is in his policies and the visible outcomes of his policies. As former President Bill Clinton said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

As Mr. Martin notes, “Too many votes in California and New York don’t matter if Florida swings and the Rust Belt votes like it did in 2016. Trump could lose the popular election by 5 million votes and still stay in the White House.”

Democrats are increasingly in la, la land with their socialist rhetoric. Watch as Bill Maher roots for recession to get Trump out of office:

While their fringe base is with them that will not keep their House majority, change the Senate majority or take the White House.

© All rights reserved.

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2020: It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got Those Swings

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When most people think about the Democratic party, they think of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). That may be a good thing for AOC, but it’s terrible news for the DNC. Heading into 2020, the worst scenario for Donald Trump’s opponents is to be defined by a 29-year-old socialist with half-baked, radical views, light years away from heartland America. But according to a pile of new surveys from Axios to Heritage Action, that’s a gamble too many liberals are willing to take.

In a country that can’t name a single Supreme Court justice, Ocasio-Cortez’s name recognition is impressive: 74 percent know her. But, according to polling, only 22 percent like her. That sums up the problem for Democrats, who’ve spent the last several months hitching their wagons — and their presidential dreams — to the most extreme branch on the party tree. On one hand, strategists like stoking the base. On the other, they know the general election will be won right of center — a place the Democrats’ agendas has rarely ventured.

With all eyes on the 15-20 percent of American pollsters say is “getable,” some high-profile liberals are worried the party’s lurch to the Left might be their 2020 undoing. Even Rahm Emanuel, former Obama White House Chief of Staff, pulled the fire alarm over their far-out policies, warning Democrats, “There’s a reason Trump gleefully tweeted ‘That’s the end of that race!’ during the first debate: Too often, you succumbed to chasing plaudits on Twitter, which closed the door on swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.” If “you win the nomination in a way that forecloses a path to victory in the general election, we will lose…” Emanuel insisted.

Health care for illegal immigrants? That’s “a position not even Ted Kennedy took,” Rahm argued. And “before we start worrying about whether the Boston Marathon bomber can vote,” he scolded, “let’s stop states that are actively trying to curtail voting rights of citizens.” The bottom line, he insisted, is “When you’re looking into the camera at the coming debate, imagine you’re speaking to a voter in Grand Rapids or Green Bay… Her vote is how you win the nomination and the White House. Everything else is secondary.”

There’s a reason Rahm and the rest of party headquarters are sweating it. Based on new survey data from Heritage Action, the general electorate is completely unnerved by the Left’s field of Green New Deal-infanticide-open borders-socialists. In the puzzle of purple states that one party will need to win, Democrats are making the job a whole lot harder for themselves by chasing wildly unpopular priorities like taxpayer-funded gender transitions.

In communities still reeling from the debates over killing newborn babies and hosting drag queens at public libraries, the culture is — not surprisingly — one of the top four strongest messaging points for voters, Heritage Action found. “There’s definitely a national sentiment that the Left is pushing way too far,” the group’s Nate Rogers explained. Liberals are “finding themselves in a difficult situation, where a majority of their bases are really supporting policies that are just out of step and out of touch with the American people at large, or at least the voters we surveyed.”

In a mayday stat for the DNC, 57 percent of the general electorate think national Democrats have become “culturally extreme,” a number almost certainly explained by the party’s race to the extremes on “hot-button social issues.” Case in point, Heritage Action’s Tim Chapman explains: “House and Senate Democrats recently blocked a proposal requiring doctors to provide medical care to infants who survive abortion — and every Democratic presidential candidate has toed the party line in opposing such care. Yet even while we found that more Americans identified as pro-choice instead of pro-life (48 percent, versus 45 percent), 76 percent of respondents– including huge majorities of Republicans, independents and even pro-choice Democrats — overwhelmingly support the policy Democrats blocked.”

And abortion isn’t the only area where conservatives can distinguish themselves. Immigration, privacy, gender, and religious liberty are no friend of the social zealots on the Left. The GOP has its best opportunity in ages to distinguish itself with common-sense values that the majority of Americans still care about.

“Republicans have defaulted to defense on culture over the past decade-plus,” Chapman told Politico, “often due to pressure from big business and the libertarian wing of the party. Yet the GOP now has an opportunity to play offense. By undertaking a concerted effort to contrast its positions with those of the Democrats, Republicans can unify their base and bring in those independents and moderates who are concerned by the Left’s growing cultural extremism.”

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC Action senior writers.

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EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Another Budget, Another Load Of Boulders On Our Children’s Backs

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We should not be sleeping well at night, but not for the reasons you are thinking.

Yes, there is the threat of socialism and open borders and unnecessarily fanned racial strife amongst other general insanities. But there is the reality that every single year we are binding our children as indentured servants. Right now. It’s happening. And it is shameful.

You may not have seen it, but D.C. is entering into another irresponsible and immoral budget agreement where the politicians, the bureaucrats and the D.C. establishment get what they want — and future Americans get the shaft.

I warned that “draining the swamp” was going to be far, far bigger than a single president or a single election. It will take a change of who we send to Washington on an ongoing basis, which means that Americans need to think differently than we’ve been trending. That’s a tall order and it’s a challenge to be optimistic about it.

Even after promising last year to never again bust the budget in a compromise agreement that piles on the debt, President Trump appears ready to do just that with the support of both Republicans and Democrats. When everyone agrees on spending, you know that the American taxpayer is about to get nailed — or more specifically, future taxpayers. But hey, it’s for two years, which pushes it past the next election as per the normal arrangement, so the hacks get to skate on the issue.

Yet it appears that by all polls, the national debt barely ever even shows up even at the bottom, and probably the number of views this article will likely get, that no one really gives a rat’s hiney about the budget and the debt. It’s just not all sexy and loud and Us versus Them. Too bad. Because eventually it’s fatal. And it’s immediately immoral.

I keep using that word. It does mean what I think it means.

In 2018, the per capita debt for Americans was $65,600 — about 50 percent more the national average income for a year. So if you took all of everyone’s income for an entire year, you wouldn’t come close to erasing the debt — plus you wouldn’t fund the government that year. And everyone would die.

But worse, it was $62,100 in 2017. For every trillion-dollar annual deficit, the per capita debt load increases about $3,400 per year. That actually does come due, and it won’t be Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell paying it. So by the end of this budget deal, the debt per capita will be $72,400 — $10,000 more per person than in 2017.

Yes. That’s immoral.

Of course this comes about because of the decades of irresponsible spending and spending and spending, and the constant brinkmanship of the Continuing Resolutions that allow for larded up pork projects and no cuts because of the threat of a government shutdown. The GOP should have figured out by now that the shutdown issue is a media creation that virtually no Americans outside of some government employees and contractors notice even with the incessant media coverage.

And there is the deadline for the U.S. missing debt payments in September because of the spending cap, which is obviously not worth the piece of paper it was scribbled on in crayon as they just lift it every year, or in this case, every other year. The budget is not about spending or taxing, it’s about whether we use the “crisis” of a government shutdown or the “crisis” of not making a debt payment that requires whatever spending free-for-all we have to swallow.

Here’s the gist of yet another horrible deal.

The spending increase that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin agreed to would raise current budget caps by $320 billion over two years. The increase is a paltry $30 billion less than Democrats sought. They got 90 percent of what they wanted.

Further, Noah Rothman wrote on Bloomberg:

“If split evenly over two years, that would equal a $17 billion increase for defense and $17 billion increase for domestic programs in 2020 over 2019 levels, giving Democrats the parity they sought for increases in both categories of spending.”

The Trump team wanted to partially offset the increases with savings from entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid that are not subject to annual budget caps. But of course, that did not happen. And don’t be fooled by the $320 billion number. That is the budget cap issue. The deficit is expected to be about $1 trillion each year. Because the Swamp always wins.

So the Democrats got essentially everything they wanted. This is what I meant when saying that one election of one president could not change the corruption level of the D.C. establishment.

But whatever — just another trillion dollars dumped on our children and grandchildren while we debate the really big issues of rats in Baltimore, Trump’s tweets and who had the best sound bite at the Democrat debates.

A few lonely Republicans have remained opposed to the irresponsible spending.

“I paid off a third of the state debt when I was governor of Florida,” Sen. Rick Scott said on CNBC Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s vote. “There’s no focus up here on the debt. We can’t have $22 trillion worth of debt and growing a trillion dollars a year and it not have a consequence at some point.”

That’s right. But obviously we’re doing it anyway. The vote was 67-28. Scott went on.

“We’ve got to have a legitimate conversation about how do we spend our money up here, let’s stop the waste, let’s live within our means, we do it at the state level,” he said. “I paid off $10 billion worth of debt and cut $10 billion worth of taxes. We cut 20 percent of our regulations. And we added 1.7 million jobs. This is all doable, but you’ve got to make choices. Up here what happens is everyone gets everything, so there’s no tough choices made.”

But even Scott, when pushed gently, would not name the big dogs in the debt — the ever-growing entitlement trifecta of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. We can eliminate entire agencies and squeeze out waste, fraud and abuse, but it won’t close the trillion-dollar annual gap. The Swamp knows what needs to be done, and has no intention of doing it.

No, we should not be sleeping well at night. We are loading up our offspring to pay off debts they did not incur.

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