This vote was a foregone conclusion, since Iraq has had a weak Shi’ite government dominated by the Islamic Republic of Iran ever since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. And the MPs are right: we should leave Iraq and everywhere our troops are without any defined mission or goal.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2020-01-06 04:39:452020-01-06 04:46:32Iraq: MPs scream “Allahu akbar” after voting to expel US forces from the country
Private colleges are in financial straits, induced by their own progressive policies.
Private colleges are in serious financial trouble. According to Bloomberg, they may have to merge with others or close their doors. The seeds planted by the “homeless, tempest-tossed” academics from Frankfurt, Germany, 84 years ago, are now bearing fruit.
The private colleges are yet another casualty of the plot against American values and exceptionalism initiated by those outcasts from the Frankfurt School of Social Theory who arrived in New York, in 1935. The theorists began their “long march through the Institutions,” including higher education, changing the system that was among the best in the world, and poisoning the wells as they advanced. Whether fools or rogues, they soon realized that the Judeo-Christian West’s superiority could only be destroyed from within, by having their operatives join the machinery of the old institutions, and by collaborating with Third World liberation movements and other dissident minority. It would take some generations, but the prize of the most envied capitalist country in the world – America and the Free West — was worth their patience.
The learned academics within the private colleges readily complied with the new Common Core curricula, textbooks, teaching films and scripts, recognizing the Frankfurt stamp of approval. They introduced identity politics, which now requires a six-figure professional to help the children cope with the resultant tribalism and victimhood – sorely needed funds down the drain.
They welcomed new professors who spew antisemitism and anti-Americanism and stood mutely by while guest speakers with opposing opinions were jeered out of the lecture halls. The students are emerging as leftists, socialists, communists, and Islamists, decidedly ignorant in every discipline, but eagerly engaged in social justice courses, community organizing, political protests, and deadly violence to destroy the spirit of freedom and the soul of our nation. Critical Theory has taught the younger generation to break down fences before they understand why they were erected.
These are the rebels with a thousand empty causes, the socialists who will not support their universities, but who will expect compassion. Unsurprisingly, this is affecting the coffers of Academe; the alarms have been sounded.
The business of destroying American education from within is gatheringmomentum. As Walter E. Williams explained in Fraud in Higher Education, only 37% of white college students test as college-ready, but 70% are admitted, and only 17% of black high school graduates test as college-ready, but 58% are admitted, withmost unable to read, write, and do math at 12th grade level. Forty percent of college students require developmental math and English classes at an annual cost of ~$7 billion. Only 25 percent of students who took the ACT in 2012 met the readiness benchmarks in English, reading, math and science. Students are advanced by their race, not by achievement, showing no significant improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore year. Education Secretary Betsy deVos just confirmed, “The country is in a student achievement crisis.”
Ronald Reagan famously said, ”Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” Every generation must uphold the legacy of freedom and to do so, it must understand the origins of democracy, our government structure, rights and responsibilities, and methods of public engagement. But the work of the so-called Progressives (ultra Regressives) has brought the knowledge of civics and government to an all-time low. Some young people are even learning tolerance and social justice from books supplied by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an FBI-recognized global and domestic terrorism-inspiring hate group, a perfect example of the bedfellows recommended by the Frankfurt outcasts.
National pride and patriotism are slated for destruction, corroborated by history classes that use Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” which focuses on the communist’s views of America’s historic injustice, with its dubious evidence and conclusions. America is shown as colonialist oppressor of the poor and disenfranchised, with no reference to our 13th amendment to the Constitution that abolished slavery here. The students are intentionally dumbed down about America’s history, and taught to accept a whitewashed Islam and Communism. Their violence against the monuments is denial of our history and extends to disrespect and breakdown of our laws and law enforcement.
Progressives vilify our national pride and corrupt public trust so as to destroy our society and reconstruct it into another – hideous – image, with the morale or soul of the generation siphoned out. Therefore, the bulk of high-quality fiction, poetry, theater and other imaginative and inspiring texts are replaced by informational prose, newspaper and social media stories – dry topics of social studies designed to enervate the individual and discourage reading. Instead of topics that encourage and inspire, young teens read of emotional difficulties and social justice issues – topics such as teen angst, bullying and sexual harassment, underage drinking, sexual molestation, complex relationships in dysfunctional families, and suicide. These depressing social issues, irrespective of the students’ emotional maturity, may well have a direct correlation to their increased suicide rate, doubled for boys and tripled for girls. Our thirty million illiterate adults are a step toward the illiteracy of despotic regimes.
The intellectual depletion shows our 15-year-olds to be lagging behind in math at 39th of their peers in 69 other countries. These are not “cultural differences,” as math is the most concrete and easiest way to judge across cultures. Common Core math offers a “one size fits all” approach that holds the children back and thwarts autonomy. DeVos reported that eighth graders failed to meet the low standard of the ‘90s, sinking below their predecessors from two years earlier.
In an unexpected twist, Progressives have found some inspiration in Islam and the two are now cooperating to destroy and restructure the society that has nourished them. Common Core includes the study of LGBTQ history for a full year, with transgender organizations, activists, and websites abetting gender confusion, encouraging life-altering “treatments” that damage their bodies and mental health. This is sold as “inclusivity,” but is a step toward fully accepting and imitating the Islamic family unit of one man with four wives as young as age 7, and the approval of pedophilia. The Islamic family unit is a hotbed of dysfunction, complete with rivalry, tension, childhood rape, stealth homosexuality, blame, shame, and extreme violence.
The closer we come to emulating Islam, the further we fall from grace, from the morality of Judaism and Christianity, until we become no better than lower species. Quotes from Islam’s most famous spokesman, Ayatollah Kohomeini, provided only partially here, may be found on the Internet: Sex and Islam.
Pedophilia and Bestiality in Islam, by Jennifer King, stipulates that all Muslims are ordered to imitate Muhammad’s perfect example in thought, word and deed. The Prophet engaged in bestiality; it is not forbidden, but bathing instructions must be followed.
The traditional family, based on fidelity, is the surest bastion against the collective-hive society that is being planned for us. For this reason, schools are increasing sexualization even in Kindergarten, encouraging masturbation, sexual intimacy and intercourse. The comparison with Islamic practice is inescapable: the man has no need to develop self-control and the woman is responsible only to him, invisible, covered from head to toe and obedient under the threat of rape or death. The Progressive is coalescing with the Islamic mindset to shape the future agenda. The schools have replaced our Judeo-Christian values with a shared commitment to social causes – racism, supremacism, climate change, America’s evils, boycotting Israel, gun control, unlimited abortion, and more.
David Coleman was the architect of the Common Core standards. It was developed by a leftist-Washington-based think tank, Achieve, and funded with millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress, and others, allies of the left and George Soros groups. Coleman’s vision was profoundly flawed, and parents were not consulted.
Secretary of Education Betsy deVos admitted, “The results are, frankly, devastating.” Literacy and civics must be made a national priority and it is time to denounce what socialism is doing to our children. This is America’s wake-up call.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Tabitha Korolhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngTabitha Korol2020-01-05 09:51:052020-01-05 09:51:05The Demise of the Private Colleges
“Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani.” – President Donald J. Trump on January 3, 2020.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” – Robert K. Hudnut, A Sensitive Man and the Christ, 1971
It has become clear there are those in the Democrat Party, the media and in Hollywood who take exception to the termination of Iranian al Quds General Qasem Soleimani. Some members of Congress, like Nancy Pelosi, are upset that they were not notified prior to the termination of this “number-one terrorist.” Others have shouted that this termination is tantamount to an act of war against Iran.
It seems like the Democrats are tripping over themselves to undermine our national security.
Let’s look at a few Twitter posts to understand how the enemies of America are the Democrats best friends forever.
First Rose McGowen, NYT bestselling author of #BRAVE Amazon.
Dear #Iran, The USA has disrespected your country, your flag, your people. 52% of us humbly apologize. We want peace with your nation. We are being held hostage by a terrorist regime. We do not know how to escape. Please do not kill us. #Soleimanipic.twitter.com/YE54CqGCdr
Here is Max Blumenthal the Editor, the @GrayzoneProject, , Co-host of Moderate Rebels, @moderate_rebels Author, The Management of Savagery. Note Blumenthal is at the White House standing shoulder to shoulder with Code Pink, Answer Coalition and Pop Resistance.
This Saturday, be in front of the White House at 12 PM to protest the Trump administration's absolutely catastrophic push for war with Iran with @codepink@answercoalition and @PopResistance
The big lie from Susan Rice on speaking to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC stating that during the entire eight years of the Obama administration wasn’t “presented an opportunity” to terminate Soleimani.
Susan Rice: "The Obama administration was not presented with an opportunity by our intelligence community or by the U.S. military to strike Qassem Soleimani." pic.twitter.com/y0CrcnfLvw
The new Quds force Commander Ismael Qaani: “We say to everyone, just be a little patient to see the dead bodies of the Americans all over the Middle East” pic.twitter.com/XfiUhaD7yl
It’s odd how the political left cheers America’s shortcomings and mourns its victories.
[ … ]
Weirdly, the people who use the word “justice” most often saw no justice in the death of a man who’s been killing innocent people for their whole lives. Ilhan Omar reacted the way someone would when their childhood hero passes away, then tried to fundraise off of it because anti-Americanism translates into cash on the left.
Rashida Tlaib warned about a “lawless President recklessly moves us closer to yet another unnecessary war that puts innocent lives at risk.” She expressed no concerns for the innocent lives Soleimani had taken over his career.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whined that “the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.”
Democrats and their supporters support Iran. They have, since President Trump withdrew from the Iranian Nuclear Deal, tried to undermine him and his foreign policy in the Middle East.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2020-01-05 09:14:232020-01-13 07:33:20DECADENT DEMOCRATS: The Enemies of America are Our Best Friends Forever
Is it true that the AR-15, a popular firearm owned by millions of Americans, is a unique threat to public safety?
From Parkland, Florida, to San Bernardino, California, the semi-automatic AR-15 rifle and its variants have seemingly become the weapons of choice for mass shooters in the United States.
Many people simply cannot believe that regular civilians should be able to legally own so-called “weapons of war,” which they believe should only be in the hands of the military.
According to Pew Research, for example, 81 percent of Democrats and even 50 percent of Republicans believe the federal government should ban “assault-style rifles” like the AR-15. Given the massive amount of carnage AR-15s and similar rifles have caused, it makes sense that the civilian population simply cannot be trusted to own such weapons, right?
Perhaps, but is it really true that the AR-15, a popular firearm owned by millions of Americans, is a unique threat to public safety, so dangerous that it deserves to be banned or even confiscated by the federal government?
It cannot be emphasized enough that any homicide is a tragedy, but in order to get a sense of how dangerous to public safety “assault-style” rifles are, it’s useful to compare their usage in homicide to other methods.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the CDC reports “produce more accurate homicide trends at the national level” because they capture less under-reporting than the FBI statistics.
However, the homicide data recorded by the CDC includes all homicides committed by civilians regardless of criminal intent. The FBI data instead focuses on intentional homicides (i.e murder) known to law enforcement and excludes non-negligent homicide (i.e manslaughter.)
According to the BJS, the FBI data is “better suited for understanding the circumstances surrounding homicide incidents.” This is especially true given that the FBI, but not the CDC, records the type of firearm used in a given homicide. For the purposes of this analysis, the data from the FBI will be used.
There are two further limitations of FBI data worth noting.
Firstly, the FBI reports do not look at “assault-style” rifles specifically, but rather, murders involving all types of rifles, whether they are committed with an AR-15 or a hunting rifle.
Secondly, each year there are a few thousand homicide cases where the type of firearm used goes unreported to the FBI. This means that some murders listed under “unknown firearm” may, in fact, be rifle murders.
To account for this under-reporting, we will extrapolate from rifles’ share of firearm murders where the type of weapon is known in order to estimate the number of “unknown” firearms that were in actuality rifle homicides.
How many murders involve rifles like the AR-15?
If we take the time to look at the raw data provided by the FBI, we find that all rifles, not just “assault-style rifles,” constitute on average 340 homicides per year from 2007 through 2017 (see Figure 1.). When we adjust these numbers to take under-reporting into account, that number rises to an average of 439 per year.
Figure 2 compares rifle homicides to homicides with other non-firearm weapons. Believe it or not, between 2007 and 2017, nearly 1,700 people were murdered with a knife or sharp object per year. That’s almost four times the number of people murdered by an assailant with any sort of rifle.
In any given year, for every person murdered with a rifle, there are 15 murdered with handguns, 1.7 with hands or fists, and 1.2 with blunt instruments. In fact, homicides with any sort of rifle represent a mere 3.2 percent of all homicides on average over the past decade.
Given that the FBI statistics pertain to all rifles, the homicide frequency of “assault-style” rifles like the AR-15 is necessarily lesser still, as such firearms compose a fraction of all the rifles used in crime.
According to a New York Timesanalysis, since 2007, at least “173 people have been killed in mass shootings in the United States involving AR-15s.”
That’s 173 over a span of a decade, with an average of 17 homicides per year. To put this in perspective, consider that at this rate it would take almost one-hundred years of mass shootings with AR-15s to produce the same number of homicide victims that knives and sharp objects produce in one year.
With an average of 13,657 homicides per year during the 2007-2017 timeframe, about one-tenth of one percent of homicides were produced by mass shootings involving AR-15s.
Conclusion
Mass shootings involving rifles like the AR-15 can produce dozens of victims at one time, and combined with extensive media coverage of these events, many people have been led to believe that such rifles pose a significant threat to public safety.
However, such shootings are extremely rare, and a look at the FBI data informs us that homicide with these types of rifles represents an extremely small fraction of overall homicide violence. Banning or confiscating such firearms from the civilian population would likely produce little to no reduction in violent crime rates in America.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2020-01-05 08:23:272020-01-06 06:58:34Are AR-15 Rifles a Public Safety Threat? Here’s What the Data Say.
Despite what you may read in the newspapers or see on TV, humans continue to reach new heights of prosperity.
Another decade is over. With the 2020s upon us, now is the perfect time to reflect on the immense technological advancements that humanity has made since the dawn of the new millennium.
This article explores, in no particular order, 20 of the most significant technological advancements we have made in the last 20 years.
Smartphones: Mobile phones existed before the 21st century. However, in the past 20 years, their capabilities have improved enormously. In June 2007, Apple released the iPhone, the first touchscreen smartphone with mass-market appeal. Many other companies took inspiration from the iPhone. As a consequence, smartphones have become an integral part of day-to-day life for billions of people around the world. Today, we take pictures, navigate without maps, order food, play games, message friends, listen to music, etc. all on our smartphones. Oh, and you can also use them to call people.
Flash Drives: First sold by IBM in 2000, the USB flash drive allows you to easily store files, photos or videos with a storage capacity so large that it would be unfathomable just a few decades ago. Today, a 128GB flash drive, available for less than $20 on Amazon, has more than 80,000 times the storage capacity of a 1.44MB floppy disk, which was the most popular type of storage disk in the 1990s.
Skype: Launched in August 2003, Skype transformed the way that people communicate across borders. Before Skype, calling friends or family abroad cost huge amounts of money. Today, speaking to people on the other side of the world, or even video calling with them, is practically free.
Google: Google’s search engine actually premiered in the late 1990s, but the company went public in 2004, leading to its colossal growth. Google revolutionized the way that people search for information online. Every hour there are more than 228 million Google searches. Today Google is part of Alphabet Inc., a company that offers dozens of services such as translations, Gmail, Docs, Chrome web browser, and more.
Google Maps: In February 2005, Google launched its mapping service, which changed the way that many people travel. With the app available on virtually all smartphones, Google Maps has made getting lost virtually impossible. It’s easy to forget that just two decades ago, most travel involved extensive route planning, with paper maps nearly always necessary when venturing to unfamiliar places.
Human Genome Project: In April 2003, scientists successfully sequenced the entire human genome. Through the sequencing of our roughly 23,000 genes, the project shed light on many different scientific fields, including disease treatment, human migration, evolution, and molecular medicine.
YouTube: In May 2005, the first video was uploaded to what today is the world’s most popular video-sharing website. From Harvard University lectures on quantum mechanics and favorite T.V. episodes to “how-to” tutorials and funny cat videos, billions of pieces of content can be streamed on YouTube for free.
Graphene: In 2004, researchers at the University of Manchester became the first scientists to isolate graphene. Graphene is an atom-thin carbon allotrope that can be isolated from graphite, the soft, flaky material used in pencil lead. Although humans have been using graphite since the Neolithic era, isolating graphene was previously impossible. With its unique conductive, transparent, and flexible properties, graphene has enormous potential to create more efficient solar panels, water filtration systems, and even defenses against mosquitos.
Bluetooth: While Bluetooth technology was officially unveiled in 1999, it was only in the early 2000s that manufacturers began to adopt Bluetooth for use in computers and mobile phones. Today, Bluetooth is featured in a wide range of devices and has become an integral part of many people’s day-to-day lives.
Facebook: First developed in 2004, Facebook was not the first social media website. Due to its simplicity to use, however, Facebook quickly overtook existing social networking sites like Friendster and Myspace. With 2.41 billion active users per month (almost a third of the world’s population), Facebook has transformed the way billions of people share news and personal experiences with one another.
Curiosity, the Mars Rover: First launched in November 2011, Curiosity is looking for signs of habitability on Mars. In 2014, the rover uncovered one of the biggest space discoveries of this millennium when it found water under the surface of the red planet. Curiosity’s work could help humans become an interplanetary species in just a few decades’ time.
Electric Cars: Although electric cars are not a 21st-century invention, it wasn’t until the 2000s that these vehicles were built on a large scale. Commercially available electric cars, such as the Tesla Roadster or the Nissan Leaf, can be plugged into any electrical socket to charge. They do not require fossil fuels to run. Although still considered a fad by some, electric cars are becoming ever more popular, with more than 1.5 million units sold in 2018.
Driverless Cars: In August 2012, Google announced that its automated vehicles had completed over 300,000 miles of driving, accident-free. Although Google’s self-driving cars are the most popular at the moment, almost all car manufacturers have created or are planning to develop automated cars. Currently, these cars are in testing stages, but provided that the technology is not hindered by overzealous regulations, automated cars will likely be commercially available in the next few years.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC): With its first test run in 2013, the LHC became the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It’s also the world’s largest single machine. The LHC allows scientists to run experiments on some of the most complex theories in physics. Its most important finding so far is the Higgs-Boson particle. The discovery of this particle lends strong support to the “standard model of particle physics,” which describes most of the fundamental forces in the universe.
AbioCor Artificial Heart: In 2001, the AbioCor artificial heart, which was created by the Massachusetts-based company AbioMed, became the first artificial heart to successfully replace a human heart in heart transplant procedures. The AbioCor artificial heart powers itself. Unlike previous artificial hearts, it doesn’t need intrusive wires that heighten the likelihood of infection and death.
3D Printing: Although 3D printers as we know them today began in the 1980s, the development of cheaper manufacturing methods and open-source software contributed to a 3D printing revolution over the last two decades. Today, 3D printers are being used to print spare parts, whole houses, medicines, bionic limbs, and even entire human organs.
Amazon Kindle: In November 2007, Amazon released the Kindle. Since then, a plethora of e-readers has changed the way millions of people read. Thanks to e-readers, people don’t need to carry around heavy stacks of books, and independent authors can get their books to an audience of millions of people without going through a publisher.
Stem Cell Research: Previously the stuff of science fiction, stem cells (i.e., basic cells that can become almost any type of cell in the body) are being used to grow, among other things, kidney, lung, brain, and heart tissue. This technology will likely save millions of lives in the coming decades as it means that patients will no longer have to wait for donor organs or take harsh medicines to treat their ailments.
Multi-Use Rockets: In November and December of 2015, two separate private companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX, successfully landed reusable rockets. This development greatly cheapens the cost of getting to space and brings commercial space travel one step closer to reality.
Gene Editing: In 2012, researchers from Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Broad Institute each independently discovered that a bacterial immune system known as CRISPR could be used as a gene-editing tool to change an organism’s DNA. By cutting out pieces of harmful DNA, gene-editing technology will likely change the future of medicine and could eventually eradicate some major diseases.
However you choose to celebrate this new year, take a moment to think about the immense technological advancements of the last 20 years, and remember that despite what you may read in the newspapers or see on TV, humans continue to reach new heights of prosperity.
Alexander C. R. Hammond is a researcher at a Washington D.C. think tank and Senior Fellow for African Liberty. He is also a Young Voices contributor and frequently writes about economic freedom, African development, and globalization.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2020-01-05 08:12:572020-01-05 08:12:57The 20 Biggest Advances in Tech Over the Last 20 Years
Over the Christmas holiday, Mary and I drove from West Virginia to visited her widow birth mother who lives in Baltimore. I’ll call her Ruth. Mary and I grew up in the Baltimore area.
Wow! What a striking decline in our beloved hometown, once renowned as Charm City. We saw countless blocks of empty trashed row-houses.
Baltimore is also known for great neighborhoods; Fells Point, Little Italy and so on. We drove through Highland town, pronounced, “Hollin” town by locals. I was shocked to see so many Highland town businesses which once thrived were gone, boarded up. They should have grown rather than failed.
Upon our arrival, Ruth excitedly greeted us with a hug.
Ruth has lived in her Dundalk home for 39 years, a block from the city line. Her companion is Corky, her old fat hound dog. She said thugs from the city have begun spilling over into her neighborhood. There is a party house a few doors down from her with loud music filled with expletives. She called the police a few times but nothing has changed.
We were told that the East Point Mall which was once a hub of family activity has become a place to avoid, infected with drugs and criminals.
Ruth said her old female friend barely escaped being carjacked in Baltimore in broad daylight by locking her doors before thugs could open them. Ruth does not venture into Baltimore unless it is absolutely necessary. Baltimore hit a new record high for homicides over the holidays.
Because Ruth is white and I am black, I sensed Ruth’s discomfort expressing how horrible Baltimore’s black female mayor has been. Ruth said, “I heard her say the police should allow rioters to destroy businesses to get out their frustrations.” I told Ruth that she heard correctly. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We also gave those who wish to destroy space to do that as well…”
Democrat controlled cities are insanely obsessed with pandering to criminals and illegals against the safety, best interest and rights of law abiding citizens. NYC Mayor de Blasio’s latest soft-on-crime initiative includes giving freed inmates gift cards and cell phones. The gift cards are ending up at liquor stores. Democrat presidential candidates boldly proclaim that if elected, they will declare war on law enforcement which includes ICE and police.
Ruth served Mary and I delicious cake she baked from scratch. She moved to Baltimore as a child with her mother and baby brother. The word in West Virginia was those folks in Baltimore don’t want to work. Ruth’s mom moved to Baltimore for a job. Her mother was never without a job. Ruth’s dad stayed in West Virginia working in the coalmine.
Ruth shared a horrible story about a relative who got too close to the fireplace. Her robe caught fire. She pushed her two children outside the house but could not save herself. Grandparents raised the two children.
Hearing Ruth share about the lives of her and her family, Mary and I later discussed how clearly Ruth’s generation was not whiners. They simply kept moving forward doing whatever they needed to do to survive. They were not snowflakes.
Mary and I made sure to get-outta-Dodge (Baltimore) before dark. It is truly tragic what 50 years of Democrat control has done to a once great American city.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Lloyd Marcushttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLloyd Marcus2020-01-05 08:03:452020-01-05 08:03:45A Sad Baltimore Tale
Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened the United States with ‘jihad’ after an American drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
“All Enemies should know that the jihad of resistance will continue with a doubled motivation, and a definite victory awaits the fighters in the holy war,” Khamenei said in a televised statement.
In his Friday’s sermon, Khamenei vowed revenge for the slain terrorist, saying, “this is the time to clear the region from these insidious beasts.” The chants of “Death to America” followed the weekly Islamic prayer.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran-backed terrorist group Hizbollah, which operates in Lebanon, also joined in the Iranian call to jihad, urging “all resistance fighters worldwide” to avenge the killing of the top Iranian commander.
Soleimani, considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the Iranian regime, was the chief architect of Iran’s network of terrorist groups across the Middle East. The head of Quds Force, the elite wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was responsible for the killing of hundreds of American servicemen and women in Iraq, the U.S. Defense Department confirmed. At the time of the attack, he was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the Pentagon disclosed.
Soleimani’s Quds Force is tasked with carrying out terrorist operations beyond Iran’s borders, propping up pro-Iran regimes, and building proxy terrorist militia. For two decades, he was in charge of Iran’s foreign intelligence and terrorist operations. “The killing of Qassim Soleimani is one of the biggest developments in the Middle East for decades – it far eclipses the deaths of Bin Laden or Baghdadi in terms of strategic significance and implications,” the UK newspaper Telegraphnoted.
Iran’s allies, Russian and China, condemned the U.S. anti-terror operation, calling all sides to exercise restraint, “especially the United States.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry offered glowing praise for the slain terrorist: “Soleimani served the cause of protecting Iran’s national interests with devotion. We express our sincere condolences to the Iranian people.” His killing “was an adventurist step that will increase tensions throughout the region,” the Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS reported citing Foreign Ministry sources.
The response from the EU and European leaders was muted, with Germany and France calling for “easing” of the tensions and “deescalating” the situation.
The French TV channel EuroNewsreported the European response the U.S. counter-terrorism strike:
The first European country to react to the killing of Soleimani is France. The country’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amelie de Montchalin said on RTL radio, “we are waking up to a more dangerous world. Military escalations are always dangerous.” She added that “escalation is underway.”
Montchalin indicated that urgent reconciliation efforts are being launched behind the scenes. French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister were reaching out to “all the actors in the region,” she said.
The British government is urging caution, saying “further conflict is in none of our interests.””
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated that the UK has “always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force led by Qasem Soleimani.“
The statement does not explicitly endorse or condemn the actions of the U.S., a major British ally.
Germany says the situation in the Middle East has reached ” “a dangerous escalation point” and that conflicts in the region can only be resolved diplomatically.
German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer characterised the U.S. move as “a reaction to a “whole series of military provocations for which Iran bears responsibility,” pointing to attacks on tankers and a Saudi oil facility.
The drone strike that killed Soleimani also took out Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the commander of Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. The terrorist group was behind the storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Sunday. The terror outfit also carried out a recent rocket attack at a U.S. military base in northern Iraq, killing one American civilian contractor and injuring several soldiers.
Hours after the strike, Iran was busy regrouping its terrorist network in the region. Iranian leader Khamenei appointed Esmail Qaani (Ghaani) as commander of Quds force to replace the slain terrorist.
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry isn’t a prude. In fact, he used to roll his eyes at his Christian friends, who he thought were exaggerating the dangers of pornography. Not anymore.
This Frenchman, who believes eroticism “is one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind,” no longer scoffs the feminists’ warnings or puritan concerns. “I have become deadly serious,” he says now. “The damage is real, and it’s profound.” And no one can walk away from his article thinking otherwise.
Debate the morality all you want, Gobry insists, but the science is absolute. People who say porn is as addictive as smoking aren’t even doing it justice. These images are as addictive as smoking, yes, “except that what smoking does to your lungs, porn does to your brain.” And the earlier you consume it, the more lethal the damage can be. We’re talking about a complete rewiring of the brain—where the body actually builds new nerve pathways just to drive a person back for more.
But pornography isn’t like cocaine. It’s much easier to binge. “Even decadent Roman emperors, Turkish sultans, and 1970s rock stars never had 24/7, one-click-away-access to infinitely many, infinitely novel sexual partners,” Gobry points out.
“The possibility of immediate, infinite novelty—which, again, was not a feature of porn until 2006—means that a user can now keep his dopamine levels much higher, and for much longer periods of time, than we can possibly hope our brains to handle without real and lasting damage.”
Suddenly, it gets tougher to feel the “high.” “You need more and more of your drug to get less and less of a kick; this is the cycle which makes addiction so destructive.
Fine—so people are addicted, you might say. “But does that mean we need to freak out? After all, smoking and heroin will kill you, serious cannabis addiction will melt your brain, alcohol addiction will wreak havoc in your life—compared to that, how bad can porn addiction be? The answer, it turns out, is: pretty bad.”
Porn trains your mind to need porn to be aroused—not another human being. The Family Research Council’s Travis Weber and I talked about this on “Washington Watch” last week.
There are literally thousands of stories of young men now who are coming of age after watching hundreds of hours of pornography. And their stories all share the same gut-wrenching theme: they’re so hooked on porn that by the time they have girlfriends, they can’t function sexually without it.
“Which is why,” Gobry warns, “we are witnessing a phenomenon which, as best as anyone can tell, is totally unprecedented in all of human history: an epidemic of chronic erectile dysfunction (ED) among men under 40. The evidence is earth-shattering.” We’ve gone from less than 1% of ED in young men to as much as 37% today.
Pornography isn’t just killing sex—it’s killing love. “A majority of women in one study described the discovery that their man uses porn as ‘traumatic;’ they not only felt less desirable, they reported feelings of lower self-worth.”
And in a world where 88% of pornography is violent, more young women are being asked to do things that abuse and brutalize them.
To kick up the high, addicts need something more taboo. They’re watching women “being caned and whipped until they are bruised and red … When the films have a storyline, it can usually be summed up with one word: rape. Or two words: brutal rape. It’s one thing to be aroused by a sadomasochistic scene where the [woman] is shown visibly enjoying the treatment; it’s quite another to be aroused by watching a woman scream in agony and despair as she is held down and violently raped.”
Now, imagine children watching this—because they are. Either by accident or intentionally, kids are being exposed to these things believing that “the acts they see—like anal and group sex—are typical among their peers.”
Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, a mom in the Dallas area, wrote a horrifying column called “When Sixth Graders Can Access Rape Porn on Their Smart Phones, School Becomes Toxic.” In a letter to the principal, she talked about the boys in her daughter’s class laughing at violent porn and joking about attacking the girls in the parking lot. “No 11-year-old should have to deal with, or even know, about things like this.”
As a parent, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to take this issue seriously. Yes, it’s an uncomfortable topic. But it’s a lot less uncomfortable than dealing with the sexual abuse, addictions, disease, and broken relationships that follow. If you don’t know what to say, start here or here.
If you’re an adult trying to escape this online world, it isn’t easy. But it’s also not impossible. Josh McDowell has a tremendous message of freedom for anyone struggling with this addiction that you can watch here.
In fact, one of the reasons the Family Research Council started its Stand Courageous conferences is because we believe this is one of the biggest issues keeping men from being the spiritual head of their homes. Consider signing up for one our 2020 events in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Florida. Above all, pray. Pray for protection—for your children, your marriages, our culture.
Gobry’s warnings are dire, but they may be exactly what parents and pastors need to hear.
EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2020-01-04 07:41:302020-01-05 09:55:06How Porn Changes Your Brain
Editor: I don’t like to cross-post between my two blogs (I fear it looks lazy!), but it is very important that what Tucker Carlson reported last night gets the widest distribution possible. (I don’t know how many of you read RRW.)
Much of what is discussed in Carlson’s piece is that the Christian federal contractors pushing for more refugees are not truly ‘religious’ charities when they are paid by taxpayers for their supposed good works—so the topic is apropos for ‘Frauds and Crooks.’
In just a little over 5 minutes last night Tucker Carlson in a segment on the US Refugee Admissions Program and the President’s efforts to reform it, explains exactly what we have been saying for weeks in dozens of posts.
Especially interesting is the focus on phony Christian charity as Carlson’s millions of viewers learn that it is federal contractors masquerading as charitable religious groups that have successfully lobbied Republican governors—18 so far—to thumb their noses at Trump and ask for more refugees for their states!
It is vitally important that you send this far and wide.Hat tip: Brenda.
The segment begins here:
Don’t miss my post yesterdayabout CAIR sending wet kisses to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan when he became the 18th governor to say his state welcomes more poverty from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2020-01-04 07:28:432020-01-04 07:28:43VIDEO: Tucker Carlson Nails It! All You Need to Know About GOP Governors Who Turned on Trump!
To fully grasp Iran’s current situation, we need to be reminded of the Islamic revolution of 1979. Many Iranians have compared the 1979 Islamic revolution to the Arab-Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD when Arab conquerors forced the Persians to convert to Islam and started to demolish Zoroastrian temples. Those who refused to convert, a special tax was imposed known as jizya (poll tax), and acquired the status of dhimmis.
Ibn Kathir (Commenting on Quran 2:256 in the unabridged version of his tafsir) – “Therefore all people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay the jizya, they should be fought till they are killed.”
The 1979 Islamic revolution was a plague upon the Iranian people. Most people are under the impression that Iranians voluntarily chose an Islamic government. Nothing could be further from the truth. On March 30, 1979, the new and unstable Islamic leadership conducted a referendum asking all Iranians over the age of 16 a simple yes or no question: should Iran be an Islamic republic? Michael Axworthy states “there may have been some irregularities in the referendum.” According to many people, it was a complete sham. Those who marked no, faced severe consequences.
To give legitimacy to the illegitimate government they closely monitored the voting process. For forty years, the Iranian people have tolerated this brutal regime. They gradually developed Stockholm syndrome. If Iran were to hold a referendum on the Islamic Republic today, over 80% would clearly oppose it—The 1979 brief post-revolutionary excitement and sense of freedom quickly gave way to the new rulers’ systemic Islamization of state and society.
Since the beginning of the Islamic revolution, the regime has used coercion, co-optation, and persuasion to try to change the cultural values of the Iranian people. They purged all traces of the Persian monarchy and renamed every street in Iran. They closed universities for three years (1980–1983) and after reopening, banned many books and purged thousands of students and lecturers from the schools. In the end, it failed miserably.
From 1981 until 1985, almost 8,000 people were executed, and similar numbers were killed during the so-called “great massacre” in the final year of the 1980–88 war with Iraq. The Islamic Republic became one of the most oppressive regimes in the world and presently holds the world’s highest execution rate.
Since the 2009 Green Revolution, the situation in Iran has become more tense and unstable. Sporadic protests have intensified. Within 48 hours, protests were trembling at least 80 cities, and the refrains of the demonstrators had catapulted from economic grievances to explicit denunciations of the system and the entirety of its leadership. In fact, it directly aimed at the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei who called the crackdown a justified response to a plot by Iran’s enemies at home and abroad and towards Velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the Islamic jurist).
The recent uprising by millions of people throughout Iran is a clear indication that the Islamic theocracy is in irreversible collapse. The overwhelming majority of the people are determined to establish a fully secular democracy with complete separation of mosque and state. Iranians want nothing less than regime change.
The supreme leader Ali Khamenei is in a state of panic. He has ordered his security forces to do whatever it takes to crack down on the protesters. The regime realizes the current protests are much different and much larger than the 2009 Green Movement. The recent protests show the working class and lower middle class Iranians in small towns and medium-sized cities across Iran calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Many have chanted in support of exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi. For many demonstrators, the miserable state of the Iranian economy and corruption provided the perfect vehicle for pent-up expressions of Persian nationalism.
The call of the opposition has been resoundingly answered by President Trump and some of his cabinet members. Iranian leaders are despised by all segments of the Iranian population. It is just a matter of time for the regime to fall. The main concern however now is how to ensure a smooth transition from a theocracy to a secular democracy and to ensure Iran’s territorial integrity.
In short: The people of Iran wish nothing less than a complete regime change through the democratic process of a free referendum. They believe it is the surest, safest and the fastest way to achieve a democratic Iran and end the world’s nightmare of nuclear holocaust that is currently confronting us all.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Amil Imanihttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAmil Imani2020-01-04 07:06:452020-01-04 07:06:45Iran at the Flash Point
Global News published the below video and commentary on the Evangelicals for Trump rally:
U.S. President Donald Trump attended an “Evangelicals for Trump” rally in West Kendall, Florida a day after authorizing the targeting killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
Trump stated that Soleimani was “plotting attacks against Americans” and that his execution was a “warning to terrorists.” The overnight attack was a dramatic escalation in a “shadow war” in the Middle East between Iran and the United States and its allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“The American People will come first once again. My plan will begin with safety at home – which means safe neighborhoods, secure borders, and protection from terrorism. There can be no prosperity without law and order.” – Donald J. Trump
“To defeat Islamic extremist terrorism, we must put them on defense. If they are at war against us – which they have declared – we must commit ourselves to unconditional victory against them.” – Rudy Giuliani
“Every year, the State Department declares Iran to be the world’s primary supporter of terror. And within the government, within the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, you have practically eliminated any training or any use of the term ‘radical Islam.’ That’s what we’re facing.” – Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn (RET)
“But there’s one thing we must all be clear about: terrorism is not the pursuit of legitimate goals by some sort of illegitimate means. Whatever the murderers may be trying to achieve, creating a better world certainly isn’t one of their goals. Instead they are out to murder innocent people.” – Salman Rushdie
In his book, Field of Fight, Lt. General Michael T. Flynn stated, “We’re in a world war, but very few Americans recognize it, and fewer still have any idea how to win. I’ve been fighting for more than thirty-three years, much of the time at the top levels of U.S. military intelligence. I have some strong feelings about the war, about our ‘field of fight.’ The three-word title comes from the ancient Greek epic poet Homer, writing in The Iliad about a battle involving both men and gods. Our most fanatical contemporary enemies think they are in a similar battle with us. Most of them believe their cause is blessed and supported by the Almighty. We must prove them wrong.”
Oh, that this brilliant Army intelligence officer who gave 33 years in service to our country was still President Donald J. Trump’s National Security Advisor. I’d feel so much safer. Our President has learned so much from his first National Security Advisor, and he ordered our military to eliminate two leaders of Islamic terrorism who desired America’s destruction.
Islamic Terrorists
If it’s ISIS, you take out global terrorist and Islamic State leader al-Baghdadi; if it’s Iran, you take out the top military terrorist commander, Qasem Soleimani. President Trump ordered both hits and our military carried them out with precision.
Within 24 hours of the attack on our Iraq embassy, the number two Iranian, was eliminated. Soleimani had been planning further attacks on American diplomats and military personnel and had approved the attacks on the American embassy in Baghdad on New Year’s Eve.
The Pentagon on January 2, 2020 confirmed a strike killed Soleimani, who as head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force became the architect of Tehran’s proxy conflicts in the Middle East. The IRGC is an arm of the Iranian government, and the Quds Force conducts clandestine and overt military operations outside of Iran on its behalf. It has been a designated terror group since 2007, and is estimated to be 20,000 strong. Considered one of the most powerful men in Iran, Soleimani routinely was referred to as its “shadow commander” or “spymaster.”
Hours after the attack was announced, President Trump tweeted a simple image of the American flag.
In April 2019, the State Department announced Iran was responsible for killing 608 U.S. troops during the Iraq War. Soleimani was the head of the Iranian and Iranian-backed forces carrying out those operations killing American troops. According to the State Department, 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 were orchestrated by Soleimani.
In this short video, President Trump speaks to America about the attack on Soleimani.
Soleimani was the military mastermind whom Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had deemed equally as dangerous as Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In October 2019, Baghdadi killed himself during a U.S. raid on a compound in northwest Syria, seven months after the so-called ISIS “caliphate” crumbled as the terrorist group lost its final swath of Syrian territory in March of 2019.
Baghdadi led the genocide of more than 10,000 Yazidis because of their ethnic, racial, and religious identities. (The Yazīdī religion includes elements of ancient Iranian religions as well as elements of Judaism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam.) He blew up playgrounds full of children. He and his organization ordered and/or praised the slaughter of LGBTQ individuals, including those in a Florida nightclub. Other human rights atrocities directly linked to Baghdadi include widespread sex slavery, gang rape, executions, beheadings, floggings, and brutal premeditated terrorist attacks. Link
Baghdadi repeatedly raped and tortured American Kayla Mueller, a young woman held by Baghdadi for her Christian faith and refusal to denounce Jesus Christ. Her parents praised President Trump for pulling off the daring raid that killed al-Baghdadi.
Congress and Media Angered
Despite all this, much of the mainstream national press turned Baghdadi’s death into a story of Trump declining to inform Democratic leaders in Congress about the planned attack. They downplayed the significance of Baghdadi’s death, looking for angles to disparage Trump’s foreign policy and the relevance of Baghdadi.
The Washington Post called Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi an “austere religious scholar” in an initial headline for his obituary. He was never a talented celebrity. He was a vicious, racist, murderous thug. As mainstream media downplayed his death, they further alienated grassroots Americans and proved the point of Trump’s most ardent fans.
Trump has learned to tell the Democratic controlled house absolutely nothing. They leak like sieves to the enemy, to their colleagues and allies in mainstream media. Their desire is the destruction of this President who longs to return America to her greatness and to protect her citizens from both foreign and domestic enemies, many of whom are in our Congress.
With the exception of Israel, world leaders who publicly reacted to the killing of Soleimani called on the United States to show “restraint” with many calling the U.S. actions cowardly, destabilizing, and provoking. Our own Democratic socialists have vilified the attack on Soleimani stating it is a march to war with Iran, but it is just the opposite. President Trump warned Iran and he is not a neo-con war monger like former National Security Advisor, John Bolton.
President Trump’s Resolve
The President and his staff remain firm in their resolve to defend American interests and the American people.
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are at the center of driving the Global Islamic Movement. All are parties to the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) which is the largest voting bloc in the United Nations and is made up of 57 member states, including the Head of State of every Muslim nation on earth.
The OIC officially states they relate to the non-Muslim world only through the lens of “Allah’s divine law”/sharia. All authoritatively published sharia mandates total war against the non-Muslim world (“jihad”) until sharia is the law of the land over every person on the planet.
The Muslim armies can only stop waging jihad when they are incapable of doing so. For those engaged in war with the Islamic powers, this means they need to feel utterly defeated in order to cease waging jihad.
President Trump demonstrated a willingness to do what no other President in recent history has done – do what it takes to defeat the enemy and win this war.
To actually do this, however, will require a strategy that includes defeating Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, as well as waging economic warfare – and possibly military war – against Qatar which funds Al Qaeda, Islamic State, et al.
It will also mean dismantling and destroying the U.S. jihadi network which includes the most prominent Islamic organizations in America – USCMO, CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, Muslim Advocates, MPAC, MAS, MSA, et al – whose objective is the same as Iran, Al Qaeda, Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic State.
To do this, the U.S. government must dismantle the U.S. Marxist Counter-State which is driving/supporting the U.S. Islamic Counter-State.
Can Mr. Trump lead his cabinet members through this war and do what needs to be done?
I believe he can and will, especially if we regain the House from the Democratic Socialists.
Conclusion
We have seen the results of Islamic hatred against Jews, Christians and Kafirs/infidels. Jews in France must have armed guards over their synagogues and homes. Simon Wiesenthal warned Jews about the dangers of travel to Paris, France over three decades ago. Germany is much the same, and now even Spain, England and Italy are feeling the barbaric hatred of Islamists against Jews and Christians.
America is now seeing the growth of hatred against our Jewish brethren, attacks on synagogues, rabbi’s homes, and Jewish folks in the streets of New York and across America. President Trump knows the dangers and he is working to protect all of us.
Anti-communist Archbishop Fulton Sheen was a venerable servant of God and he loved all of God’s people. In a novena by the Bishop, he stated these words,
Protestants, Jews and Catholics have God, morality, and religion in common. In the name of God, let us – Jews, Protestants, and Catholics – do two things: 1. Realize that an attack upon one is an attack upon all, since we are all one in God; it is not tolerance we need, but charity; not forbearance but love. 2. Begin doing something about religion, and the least we can do is say our prayers; to implore God’s blessings upon the world and our country; to thank Him for His blessings; and to become illumined in the fullness of His truth.
Pray for our President, his family and administration. He loves this country, and wants to keep all of us safe from harm.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Kelleigh Nelsonhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngKelleigh Nelson2020-01-04 06:33:042020-01-04 06:34:30President Trump Ordered Military Hits on Islamic Terrorists to Deter Further Aggression
The killing of Iranian terror-meister Qassem Suleymani in a targeted U.S. air strike in Baghdad on Thursday will have a dramatic impact on Iran’s ability to conduct oversea terrorist operations and the stability of the Iranian regime.
But the real impact, one can legitimately wager, will be quite different from what you’ve been hearing so far from most of the U.S. and international media.
Rather than engendering some massive Iranian “retaliation,” as many talking heads have been warning, I believe this strike will throw the Iranian regime back on its heels, as wannabe successors contemplate their careers vaporizing in a U.S. drone strike and Iran’s civilian leaders fret that they have been exposed as emperors without clothes.
Put simply, the aura of the Iranian regime’s invincibility is over.
They have pushed us and our allies repeatedly, and have been encouraged by the modest response from U.S. political and military leaders until now.
But with this strike, the gloves are off. And the leadership in Tehran – and more importantly, the people of Iran – can see it.
Suleymani was not some run-of-the-mill terrorist. He was worst of the worst; a man with more blood on his hands than even Osama bin Laden. Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, 9/11, Benghazi: all of them were his doing.
But he was also the most respected and the only charismatic military leader to have emerged since the 1979 Islamist revolution in Iran.
No other leader in Iran today even comes close to Suleymani for sheer star power.
This is a huge loss for the Tehran regime; bigger, indeed, than if the Supreme Leader himself (who actually is a nobody) died or was killed.
I’ve been watching the Iranian regime for 40 years. The only military leader who even comes close to Suleymani was the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezai.
Rezai was respected because he was a man of the troops. He respected his men. He refused to throw them into combat for purely political purposes, as his political masters repeatedly demanded during the bloody eight-year Iran-Iraq war.
And because of his loyalty to the troops, many of his troops and commanders remain loyal to him even today, more than twenty years after he resigned as IRGC commander.
But Rezai failed miserably when he entered the political arena as a presidential contender, failing in three attempts to break ten percent. He never had the star power that Suleymani engendered – not from lack of trying.
We have two historical parallels to compare to Thursday’s events: Operation Praying Mantis in April 1988, when U.S. naval forces sank 1/3 of the Iranian navy in a matter of hours after repeatedly catching them dispersing naval mines against international oil tankers in the Persian Gulf; and the presumed Israeli assassination of Iranian-Lebanese terrorist Imad Mugniyeh in Damascus in February 2008.
In both cases, we were told Iran and their proxies were going to counter-attack with devastating lethality. Hundreds of Americans and Israelis were going to die. Thousands! The entire region was going to explode.
In the end what happened? Absolutely nothing.
That’s what I predict here as well.
The Iranians have been lulled into thinking they can act with impunity in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Finally, the United States has drawn a firm hard line on their bad behavior.
This is exactly what we needed to do.
I believe the Iranian people will draw the obvious conclusion that this once powerful regime has feet of clay. Expect bigger anti-regime protests inside Iran in the coming weeks, and popular revolts against Iranian interference in Lebanon and Iraq as well.
To me, the biggest question remains: is President Trump ready for the revolution he has unleashed? With this single act, the United States has set in motion big historical forces for positive change. Are we prepared to help the forces of freedom against tyranny and oppression?
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Kenneth R. Timmermanhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngKenneth R. Timmerman2020-01-04 06:13:182020-01-04 06:13:18Bye Bye Suleymani — Trump takes out Iran’s terror-meister.
One of the most important things we can do in this election year is continue to force states and counties across the nation to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
And we are. We have sent notice-of-violation letters to 19 large counties in five states that we intend to sue unless they take steps to comply with the law and remove ineligible voter registrations within 90 days. Section 8 of the act requires jurisdictions to take reasonable efforts to remove ineligible registrations from their rolls.
Despite our successful litigation to bring counties and states into compliance with the NVRA, voter registration lists across the country remain significantly out of date. According to our analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) this year, 378 counties nationwide have more voter registrations than citizens old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%.
These 378 counties combined had about 2.5 million registrations over the 100%-registered mark, which is a drop of about one million from our previous analysis of voter registration data. Although San Diego County removed 500,000 inactive names from voter rolls following our settlement with Los Angeles County, San Diego still has a registration rate of 117% and has one of the highest registration rates in the county.
Judicial Watch Attorney Robert Popper is the director of our Election Integrity initiative. In the latest round of warning letters, we explain that implausibly high registration rates raise legal concerns:
An unusually high registration rate suggests that a jurisdiction is not removing voters who have died or who have moved elsewhere, as required by [federal law].
Judicial Watch also considers how many registrations were ultimately removed from the voter rolls because a registrant [had moved]. If few or no voters were removed…the jurisdiction is obviously failing to comply . . . States must report the number of such removals to the EAC.
We found major voting list issues in California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, and Colorado. The following counties have excessive registration rates or have failed to cancel sufficient numbers of ineligible registrations:
Colorado
Jefferson County
California
Imperial County
Monterey County
Orange County
Riverside County
San Diego County
San Francisco County
San Mateo County
Santa Clara County
Solano County
Stanislaus County
Yolo County
North Carolina
Guilford County
Mecklenburg County
Virginia
Fairfax County
Pennsylvania
Allegheny County
Bucks County
Chester County
Delaware County
We are the national leader in enforcing the NVRA, which requires states to take reasonable steps to clean their rolls.
In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld a massive voter roll clean up that resulted from our settlement of a federal lawsuit with Ohio. California also settled a similar lawsuit with us that last year began the process of removing up to 1.5 million “inactive” names from Los Angeles County voting rolls. Kentucky also began a cleanup of up to 250,00 names last year after it entered into a consent decree to end another Judicial Watch lawsuit.
Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections and we will insist, in court if necessary, that states follow federal law to clean up their voting rolls. Our previous lawsuits have already led to major cleanups in California, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio – but more needs to be done. It is common sense that voters who die or move away be removed from the voting rolls.
A Glance Back as We Move Forward
“Study the past if you would define the future,” Confucius said.
How fitting that we begin 2020 with a stark reminder of one of the most shameful episodes in American history: the former president of the United States and his secretary of state, with mourning family members present, staring into TV cameras and lying to the American people about the slaughter at Benghazi.
We were reminded of that amoral embarrassment as President Trump, without hesitation, reacted by first immediately deploying troops to protect our embassy in Baghdad and then by ordering the attack that eliminated the leading terrorist leader for Iran and several other terror leaders. What a contrast!
I called attention to his action this week on Twitter, reminding people of all that Judicial Watch has uncovered about Benghazi. Our lawsuit on Clinton’s handling of Benghazi led directly to the discovery of her illicit email system. Thanks to your support, we exposed this scandal, which precipitated successive scandals involving a corrupt FBI and DOJ that refused to investigate her seriously.
We are now awaiting a judge’s permission to depose Hillary Clinton personally and under oath.
As we look forward to 2020, it is worth recalling our successes in 2019. You can get a quick review of them here on my Twitter account or here on Judicial Watch’s Twitter or Facebook accounts. And here is a series of “best of” video and press release links from throughout the year.
This work gives me confidence for the future!
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Judicial Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJudicial Watch2020-01-04 06:01:132020-01-04 06:01:13VIDEO: Judicial Watch Finds 2.5 Million ‘Extra’ Registrants on Voting Rolls
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP ON THE KILLING OF QASEM SOLEIMANI
Mar-a-Lago
Palm Beach, Florida
January 3, 2020
3:13 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:
Hello, everybody. Well, thank you very much. And good afternoon.
As President, my highest and most solemn duty is the defense of our nation and its citizens.
Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number-one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him.
Under my leadership, America’s policy is unambiguous: To terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American, we will find you; we will eliminate you. We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans, and our allies.
For years, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its ruthless Quds Force — under Soleimani’s leadership — has targeted, injured, and murdered hundreds of American civilians and servicemen.
The recent attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq, including rocket strikes that killed an American and injured four American servicemen very badly, as well as a violent assault on our embassy in Baghdad, were carried out at the direction of Soleimani.
Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London.
Today we remember and honor the victims of Soleimani’s many atrocities, and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over.
Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years. What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. A lot of lives would have been saved.
Just recently, Soleimani led the brutal repression of protestors in Iran, where more than a thousand innocent civilians were tortured and killed by their own government.
We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.
I have deep respect for the Iranian people. They are a remarkable people, with an incredible heritage and unlimited potential. We do not seek regime change. However, the Iranian regime’s aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors, must end, and it must end now.
The future belongs to the people of Iran — those who seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation — not the terrorist warlords who plunder their nation to finance bloodshed abroad.
The United States has the best military by far, anywhere in the world. We have best intelligence in the world. If Americans anywhere are threatened, we have all of those targets already fully identified, and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary. And that, in particular, refers to Iran.
Under my leadership, we have destroyed the ISIS territorial caliphate, and recently, American Special Operations Forces killed the terrorist leader known as al-Baghdadi. The world is a safer place without these monsters.
America will always pursue the interests of good people, great people, great souls, while seeking peace, harmony, and friendship with all of the nations of the world.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless our great military. And God bless the United States of America.
