Europe : What Has Failed and What Might Work to Gain Control of Jihadists Already There

The EU migrant crisis was caused by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The post-World War II immigration of Turkish workers also started in Germany. So, Germany fittingly leads the EU counterattack. In a February ZDF-TV interview, Hans-Georg Maathen, Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV) head, warned that ISIS is hiding jihadists among refugees flowing into Europe : "The terror risk is very high." Maathen said BfV has received more than 100 warnings that ISIS fighters are among refugees now living in Germany, some using fake or stolen passports. He also revealed that BfV knows of 230 attempts by Salafists (Wahhabis) to canvass German refugee shelters seeking new recruits. BfV estimates the number of Salafists in Germany at 7,900, up from 3,800 in 2011. Salafists are a small fraction of the six million Moslems living in Germany, but intell officials warn they are young and willing to carry out terrorist acts in the name of Salafism, which BfV says is the "most dynamic islamist movement in Germany....The absolutist nature of Salafism contradicts significant parts of the German constitutional order." Maathen warns : "Salafists want to establish an Islamic state in Germany." ~~~~~ As reported in an earlier blog, Merkel set out to "bribe" Turkey into solving her migrant dilemma. The bribe is now in place. The EU will pay Turkey €6 billion over the next two years to be spent on Syrian refugees already in Turkey. And by June, 80 million Turkish citizens will have visa-free access to the EU, which has also agreed to "re-energize" Turkey's EU accession process. Turkey promised that all new "irregular migrants" -- Greece is burdened with vetting them -- crossing from Turkey into Greek islands will be returned to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU – up to 72,000 Syrians. Merkel and the EU accepted what amounts to Turkish President Erdogan's blackmail for visa-free EU entry -- how many jihadists will that drop into Europe? And, the deal will not stop migrants from taking other overland routes or stop smugglers from avoiding Turkey in their sea routes -- going to Italy if Greece is unavailable. ~~~~~ EU's hope of halting migrant smugglers is in vain. So is the leftist foolishness of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who posted : "I believe the only sustainable way to fight back against those who seek to divide us is to create a world where understanding and empathy can spread faster than hate, and where every single person in every country feels connected and cared for and loved. That's the world we can and must build together." This is similar to Pope Francis's "throw open the doors to migrants" solution, as if any such effort would change the character of islamic jihad. ~~~~~ A few suggestions for Europe's security threat, unique and pressing, with border security and intelligence-sharing under severe stress. If it is not too late -- statistics show an irreversible Moslem ascendancy in the EU by 2050 -- the EU could better stop the islamic jihadist invasion by strengthening its external border controls. It could create an EU-wide intelligence agency, linked to NATO intell, to collect and share all intelligence with every member state. Every EU state could control Saudi and Qatari funders of schools and mosques and expel all radical imams, to prevent Wahhabi/Salafist/Moslem Brotherhood indoctrination of Moslems in the EU. Europe's most difficult but useful change would be to get rid of its leftist-socialist mindset that Moslems are victims of "European society," therefore with no responsibility to become part of their new EU countries. Europe, rather than thinking it hasn't done enough to "reach out," could enforce state schooling, local language competency, job training and work. Finally, the EU could follow Britain's advice -- vet all asylum requests in the Middle East, not after migrants arrive in Europe. ~~~~~ Dear readers, America could learn much from Europe's migrant failures -- before it's almost too late in the US, too. That's tomorrow's Saturday Politics.

Europe Has Been Targeted by Islamic Jihadists for Many Years

Time is not on Europe's side. Moslems are 26% of Brussels’ population, with an average age of 32, compared to 42 for Belgian Christians, so the cohort under 18 will be majority Moslem in less than ten years. It's difficult to see how Belgian or European democracy can survive. ~~~~~ In the 1960s booming post-World War II economy, Europe began importing millions of guest workers from Turkey and the Maghreb. Governments assumed they'd go home in a few years, so no effort was made to integrate and assimilate them. Simultaneously, greatly enriched by the 1973 oil embargo, Saudi Arabia began a massive $4 billion per year program to export its radical Wahhabi, often called Salafist, version of Islam to the West, working with the Moslem Brotherhood, which is grounded on the teachings of islamist ideologue Sayyid Qutb, author of "Milestones" and the 30-volume "In the Shade of the Koran." Qutb transformed radical Islam in the mid-20th century, creating totalitarian political islamism with absolute obedience to sharia, which he saw as the foundation of Islam, declaring Moslem rulers who do not impose sharia apostates to be killed, and elevating Jews and the West to the status of existential threats to Islam. ~~~~~ These three radical theories were key innovations not widely preached by Islam before Qutb. Sharia was not the only law anywhere until the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932. A 2013 Pew Foundation report showed overwhelming public support for sharia as the only law in many Moslem majority countries -- Morocco 83%, Pakistan 84%, Malaysia 86%, Iraq 91% and Afghanistan 99%. Qutb's virulent Jew-hatred doctrine was taken from European anti-Semitism in the 1930s and during World War II, when some Moslems actively supported and fought for Hitler. To allow hundreds of thousands of such economic migrants into Europe was very shortsighted, and the EU now faces the generation that grew up under this islamist doctrine that dominates European Moslem enclaves. It has been taught all over Europe in Moslem schools funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. ~~~~~ The Qatari Emir, long presented as a pro-Western modernizer, in 2012 vowed to "spare no effort" to spread the radical teachings of Wahhabi Islam across "the whole world." Wahhabism opposes Moslem integration in the West and actively encourages jihad against non-Moslems. Its spread further radicalizes Moslem immigrants in France, for example, where Qatar is very active, targeting suburban slums, where more than a million mostly jobless young Moslem immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East are exploited by islamist imams from Qatar, Morocco and Turkey, who use the social marginalization of Moslems in France as the excuse to create "separate islamic societies" under sharia. A recent major study on the rise of Islam in France -- "Banlieue de la République" (Suburbs of the Republic) by influential French think tank L'Institut Montaigne and directed by Gilles Kepel, a well-known Moslem specialist -- describes how France's 7 million Moslem immigrants, the largest Moslem population in the EU, increasingly reject French values and identity with Islam, how sharia is rapidly displacing French civil law in parts of suburban Paris, and how France faces a major social crisis because of the failure/refusal of Moslems to integrate into French society. The study says Moslem religious institutions and practices in mosques, Koranic schools and prayer rooms radicalize undereducated low-income immigrants who depend on financial support from countries like Morocco, Turkey and Qatar. France isn't alone : 60% of Italy's mosques are under the Moslem Brotherhood, funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In Ireland, Qatar gave €800,000 to build a mosque in Cork. Ireland's Moslem population has grown tenfold in 20 years, making Islam the fastest-growing religion. The Irish Times says the Moslem Brotherhood is one of Ireland's strongest Islam influences. ~~~~~ Dear readers, there is little hope that Western society can coexist with an islamism that will not reform itself. What can be done? That's tomorrow's topic.

Islamists Are Overwhelming Europe and Leftist Politicians Are Colluding

While the West tries to combat ISIS and the wave of islamic jihadist attacks in Europe, on Tuesday the Guardian offered a local perspective : "Young men in Molenbeek and other districts in Brussels were sent messages over the weekend calling on them to 'make the right choice' and 'fight the westerners.'" The texts, sent Sunday from a prepaid untraceable non-repliable account, were reinforced by a Facebook video, now removed, apparently showing local youths celebrating the Brussels attacks. The French text message, which the Guardian says it has seen, says : “My brother, why not fight the westerners? Make the right choice in your life.” Recipient phone numbers were probably obtained, say community activists, because ISIS handlers download all contacts from the phones of new recruits and follow up through young men of north African origin. Jamal Ikazban, the local Socialist Party MP, told the Guardian : “These people are trying to take our youth by storm. It is like having a big-time drug dealer outside the school gates....They have to be taken off the streets. They are predators and our youths are the victims.” Jamal Zaria, the imam at Molenbeek’s Arafat mosque, said fears among parents in the area’s Belgo-Moroccan community are growing : “They are being exposed to something like a cancer....spreading very quickly. We have to race against time to develop an immune system for the children in our community so that they reject the message of Daesh [ISIS].” Ikazban said political and security authorities did not react to his past warnings. A mother whose two sons went to fight in Syria told the Guardian one of them was subjected to a barrage of messages before his departure : “In the 10 days before he left home, his recruiter called him 140 times.” She said police refused to intervene when warned her son was about to depart for Istanbul. Molenbeek is one of Belgium’s most deprived districts with high levels of poverty and a youth jobless rate of 50%. Youths say some employers won't hire anyone with a Molenbeek postcode. Ikazban says : "Joining Daesh is a form of suicide. They understand there is a despair here which could be used to indoctrinate and recruit these people. I’m very angry that we have not done enough about that." ~~~~~ This warm, cuddly leftist report combines the threads used to explain ISIS and the islamic jihadist situation in Europe -- terrorist attacks, occasional celebration of attacks in Moslem neighborhoods, ISIS recruitment of young Moslems in poor enclaves, police refusal (sometimes out of fear) to intervene to stop recruitment or prevent young people from traveling to Istanbul to go on to Syria training camps. ~~~~~ But, the Guardian ignores one important fact seen in Molenbeek -- the presence of a large and rapidly growing radical islamic community in the heart of Europe, motivated by a hateful islamo-fascist ideology that to date has sent 5,000 radical jihadists for terrorist training in Syria. The ideology rejects Western civilization and democratic values and is openly trying to destroy them. The nonsense that radical Islam does not exist flies in the face of reality. Another fact never discussed, but playing a major role in the islamization of Molenbeek and Europe in the past two decades, is the alliance of radical Islam and the European Left. In Molenbeek, a hard-left, anti-Semitic Socialist, Philippe Moureaux, was re-elected mayor for 20 years by the Moslem vote and he allowed Molenbeek to become what it is. And residents, even today, won't help their sons by pointing out radical imams and leaders they fear and protect. Moureaux said on France 2 TV last Friday : "Perhaps I was too lax about social assimilation." The head of a French mothers group told him : "You used all the cards, racism, discrimination. You played with fire and were burned. Now it is mothers who pay." ~~~~~ Dear readers, Moureaux is not an exception. Socialist-islamist collusion is a fact of life in Europe today and likely will become worse, putting more of Europe in ISIS's hands. How did it happen? That is tomorrow's topic.

Brussels : Symptom of a Europe on the Brink of Losing Control

A week ago AP reported that ISIS has trained 400 to 600 fighters to target Europe in waves, deploying interlocking terror cells like those that hit Brussels and Paris. This mobile, semi-autonomous network of cells indicates the depth of ISIS European infiltration, even while it's losing territory in Syria and Iraq. EU and Iraqi intell officials and a French lawmaker described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet Union where units of fighters who will be sent back to Europe are trained in battleground strategies, explosives, surveillance techniques and counter surveillance. The dead leader of the November 13 Paris attacks had claimed he entered Europe in a multinational group of 90 fighters, who dispersed "everywhere." And, the arrest of Salah Abdeslam didn't stop the two attacks four days later in Brussel's airport and metro that killed 35. Fleeing Paris the day after the November attacks, Abdeslam built a new network and planned attacks from in his childhood neighborhood, Molenbeek, long known as a haven for jihadists, according to the Belgian Foreign Minister. French Senator Nathalie Goulet, co-head of a commission tracking jihadist networks, told AP Abdeslam's arrest was a reason for the rapid Brussels attack : "...[the Brussels attacks] was a response : So what if he was arrested? 'We'll show you that it doesn't change a thing'....The reality is that if we knew exactly how many there were, it wouldn't be happening." ~~~~~ Two of the Brussels suicide bombers, brothers, had no known jihadist links until an apartment one of them rented was traced to Abdeslam. An Algerian killed in that apartment on March 15 had nothing but a petty theft record in Sweden -- but he had signed up as an ISIS suicide bomber in 2014, returning to Europe as part of the November 13 plot. The cells were confirmed by the EU police agency, Europol, in a January report revealing that intelligence officials believe ISIS has "developed an external action command trained for special forces-style attacks." An unnamed EU security official told AP that French speakers with links to North Africa, France and Belgium are chosen as unit leaders responsible for developing attack strategies using fighters including Moslems and Moslem converts from across Europe : "The difference is that in 2014, some of these ISIS fighters were only being given a couple weeks of training. Now the strategy has changed. Special units have been set up. The training is longer. And the objective appears to no longer be killing as many people as possible but rather to have as many terror operations as possible, so the enemy is forced to spend more money or more in manpower. It's more about the rhythm of terror operations now." These "external operation" units are now also trained to be their own operators -- not needing to wait for specific orders from ISIS Raqqa headquarters, Syria or elsewhere. ~~~~~ Security and Intell experts now believe the Brussels attacks were moved forward because of Abdeslam's arrest. Magnus Ranstorp, a Swedish security analyst says : "I see the link to the environments either in France or in Belgium. Whether they're logistically linked...they're probably part of the same batch of extremists that have come out of Syria." Security officials say there is evidence to suggest most of the training is taking place in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the empty spaces in North Africa. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the question intelligence and security officials ask is how many fighters are trained and in the EU ready to attack. A senior Iraqi intell official says members of the cell that carried out the Paris attacks are scattered across Germany, Britain, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. Intell and security will do their job, but to succeed, they need EU political leaders to help keep their citizens safe. Politically, how can jihadist ghettos like Molenbeek be prevented from forming? What can be done about them once they exist? EU politicians must find answers or Europe will be headed toward bloodshed unseen since World War II. More on this tomorrow.

Happy Easter to a Leaderless World

I wish everyone a joyful Easter, for it reminds us of the greatest "Good News" of all time : "He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6. ~~~~~ But, in these perilous times, every day counts and so I want to share what I watched on TV Sunday afternoon, taking place at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels. People went there, despite leaders asking them not to do it so that police would not have to be diverted from searching for jihadists. People gathered outside the Bourse and the media reported it, not as an act of civil disobedience but as a "peaceful gathering" with flowers, showing solidarity, chanting "we are all children of immigrants," which, by the way, is demonstrably untrue of ethnic Christian Europeans. Then, a group of right of center marchers arrived chanting "this is our home." The media immediately labeled them "neo-nazi right wing football hooligans." Riot police separated them -- keep in mind they were peaceful and caused no trouble. Next, the police brought in water cannons and fired them on the "militant nationalists." The media reported that the "far right militants" then left. Who wouldn't? Freedom of speech was raised by one BBC journalist. French, Belgian and CNN commentators talked about the "neo-nazis." ~~~~~ I am firmly opposed to football hooliganism and European neo-nazi skinheads. But, watching the left run roughshod over any idea or anyone who isn't as far to the left as they are -- who has something different to say about a given situation -- is hard to watch. These leftist journalists negate personal liberties without, I suspect, even fully understanding the impact of their words on democratic institutions and values -- on freedom, if they care about the hard-earned freedoms of those who oppose their progressive leftist views -- freedoms hard-earned for them, as well, we might add. ~~~~~ It's easy to understand why Americans and Europeans view their political leaders with contempt. Americans now see the anti-Christian nature of the threats. They are also focused on questionable international organizations for which the US bears a large part of the financial burden -- an indecisive European NATO and an anti-American Israel-bashing UN. And, while America subsidizes NATO to protect Europe from external dangers, Europe spends its own money on social welfare programs instead of defense and continues a demographic disaster by welcoming, without vetting and not assimilating, millions of people, some of whom are determined to kill Europeans and destroy their culture ~~~~~ As if that weren't enough, as details of the Brussels islamic jihadist attack emerged, Americans also had to endure an anti-American President posing before Cuba’s feared Ministry of Interior, in front of a huge sculpture honoring the racist butcher Che Guevara. Then, Obama tangoed in Buenos Aires. By his every action, Obama proves that he believes terrorism is unimportant and that he does not stand with America and the West. Speaking to reporters in Havana, Obama said, “hopefully” the US can learn from Cuba’s record on improving basic, human rights : "Our starting point is that we have two different systems....The goal of the human rights dialogue is not for the United States to dictate to Cuba how to govern themselves. Hopefully, we can learn from each other.” Learn what, Mr. President? -- how to torture, eliminate absolutely all personal liberties, drive citizens into abject poverty? And chief Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett tweeted : "Cuba has an extraordinary resource -- a system of education which values every boy and every girl." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the old political systems are committing suicide. Slovenians marched this week against EU immigration policies, shouting “Trump! Trump!" European multiculturalism and political correctness prevent any effort to stop terrorist attacks, except when security police and Intell ignore them. The Brussels horror, a rebuke to a spiritually lost Europe, is at America's door. Will Easter fortify us to battle ISIS and our politicians?

Saturday Politics : Obama -- Shameful, Tone-deaf, Frivolous

Saturday politics is sometimes about a failed American President. ~~~~~ Tuesday, Americans awoke to the news of horrific carnage in Belgium. ISIS jihadists using suicide bombs had killed 31 and wounded 330 in the deadliest terrorist attacks in Europe since November's Paris ISIS terrorist attacks killed 129 and wounded hundreds. ISIS issued a statement saying the Belgium attacks are the result of its participation "in the international coalition against the Islamic State," and threatening, "What will be coming is worse." ~~~~~ Western leaders expressed solidarity, promising to fight against Islamic terrorism. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called it "a dark time for our country....I call on everybody to show calm, but also solidarity." Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said : "This is a cowardly attack...on our values and on our open societies. Terrorism will not defeat democracy and take away our freedoms." French President Francois Hollande tweeted, "I express my solidarity with the Belgian people. Through the Brussels attacks, the whole of Europe has been hit." ~~~~~ President Obama? He was glad-handing with Communist Cuba dictator Raoul Castro, but found 51 seconds to say : "This is yet another reminder that the world must unite. We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism" -- 51 seconds -- less time than he spent doing the wave with Castro while watching the Cuban national baseball team on Tuesday after the Brussels attacks. And, the Brussels crisis didn't prevent Obama and his entourage from going on to Argentina, where he danced a tango -- no doubt while praying for the Brussels dead and maimed. The American President gave not so much as a nod to the possibility of American victims. Two were killed. ~~~~~ America's response was swift. Obama said he would not cut short his Cuba visit -- to show that "ordinary" life goes on. He then spent the afternoon grinning and waving at baseball spectators with strongman Raoul Castro. Senator John McCain said : "The fact is that if he came back, very little would change...it's very clear that the President does not view this threat with any seriousness....This is a result of the failed policy of this President who wanted to get out of all wars and either didn't realize or didn't care that wars don't stop when you get out." GOP strategist Anna Navarro said : "It reminded me of when he went golfing after James Foley's head was cut off....It's inexcusable that when the entire world is standing in solidarity with Brussels...the President of the United States is in Cuba sitting next to a dictator....going to the baseball game like he was at Walt Disney World....It was a shameful, shameful disappointing moment for President Obama. I was disappointed. I was not surprised." Former presidential advisor David Gergen said : "people are looking for more forceful action to actually drive back ISIS....we're not winning...I would tell the President...you only gave a few seconds to Brussels, you brushed it off. When you go to a baseball game it looks frivolous. Dancing like that....Restraint does not equal leadership when you are under attack." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the Cuba dictatorship has done nothing to accommodate America, just as North Korea and Iran do nothing : "All of them treat Obama with contempt because...he allows them to take advantage of him....Hillary Clinton...will be no better....after the Brussels bombing she said we shouldn't really be afraid....I know she's had Secret Service since 1992, but the fact is the rest of us don't...we have every reason to be afraid." Obama's former senior advisor David Axelrod called him "tone-deaf." Charles Krauthammer wrote that ISIS "has grown from JV team to worldwide threat.... .it may be poised for a continent-wide guerrilla campaign. In the face of this, Obama remains inert, unmoved, displaying a neglect...that borders on denial." ~~~~~ Dear readers, is there no one who can stop this self-deluded fool of a President from destroying the world?

National Medal of Honor Day 2016

Christians worldwide are observing Good Friday in recognition of Jesus Christ's eternal sacrifice. And, this year, the most somber day of the Christian calendar coincides with the day honoring the extraordinary service and sacrifice of men -- National Medal of Honor Day -- the anniversary marking March 25, 1863, when the first Medals were awarded. The six recipients of those first Medals of Honor were members of "Andrews' Raiders," whose valorous acts were immortalized in print and film as "The Great Locomotive Chase." The chase started in Big Shanty, Georgia, on April 12, 1862, and ended south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Almost a year later, Private Jacob Parrott was the first Raider to receive his Medal from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Since then, there have been 3,497 recipients, including 19 double recipients, the most recent being Navy SEAL Team Six member Edward Byers. There are just 78 living recipients today. ~~~~~ The Medal of Honor has its origins in two Revolutionary War awards -- the Fidelity Medallion and the Badge of Military Merit. The extraordinary valor associated with those earliest awards, and all since, is reflected in six fundamental character traits: Courage, Commitment, Citizenship, Sacrifice, Integrity and Patriotism. ~~~~~ In 1944, as World War II was turning in favor of the Allies, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, echoing America's Medal of Honor tradition, observed : "The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward." But, it was early in the War when, alone against Nazi Germany, Churchill uttered these immortal words : "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat....You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs -- Victory in spite of all terrors -- Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.” After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor drew America into the War, we can almost physically feel Churchill's relief when he realized America's fighting forces would stand with him : "To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.” Churchill had said early on, while the world was still willing to appease Hitler and British Prime Minister Chamberlain went home to Britain having signed the infamous Munich Pact : "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.” That describes American President Obama, dancing -- after watching baseball with a blood-drenched Cuban dictator -- while the world is mourning Europeans blown apart by ISIS suicide bombers. Thank God America's soldiers understand the necessity of defending liberty, even if their President mocks it with his puny appeasement of terrorists. ~~~~~ Dear readers, among those Americans who have served their country with honor as patriot soldiers -- who have fought to secure and protect the Constitution's "Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" -- are those who have received the Medal of Honor for their sacrificial service to their fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen. On March 25, the day set aside to recognize them, please join me in honoring their sacrifice and the legacy they have left for the next generation of Americans. And let us also honor the unnumbered patriot heros, American soldiers, who have selflessly and silently given their youth, their bodies, their spirit, and so often their lives, to protect and preserve the United States of America and the world. May God bless each of them and the Nation they serve.

To Obama and American Moslems : If You Are with Us, Help Us

One day before the Brussels ISIS terrorist attacks, Bill Clinton gave a prophetic analysis during a speech supporting Hillary's presidential candidacy. Clinton blamed an influx of refugees from the Middle East for causing "terrible stress" in Europe. He described the disaster caused by the massive surge of migrants into Europe, saying : "Things are going better in America, the European Union is under terrible stress because of all those migrants...many [Europeans] are moving to the right and becoming much more afraid of diversity even as we embrace it." Bill was expressing the Progressive view that Europe and the US should not fear Middle East Moslem migrants, but take as many as possible into western countries. Hillary has been calling for a global effort to do more to aid and welcome these refugees. And then the Brussels attacks turned the Progressive Clinton argument on its ear. ~~~~~ From the American religious leader, the Reverend Franklin Graham, came a renewed call Tuesday for halting Moslems coming into the US until proper vetting procedures are in place. Reverend Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said : "our country is trouble....We have a void in leadership...Islamists have told us we will see more of these attacks and we have to take their threats seriously. I have long supported a temporary halt to immigration, especially for those coming from Moslem countries, until we have a vetting program that works and we can know who these people are. If we can't get an accurate background check, they don't come in. It's as simple as that. What happened in Brussels...will happen again inside our borders unless something changes, because the current administration has lowered the standards and our President even refuses to acknowledge this as Islamic terrorism." ~~~~~ After the Brussels attacks, GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz adopted Donald Trump's long-held position. On Wednesday, Cruz repeated his Tuesday call for increased surveillance on America's Moslem neighborhoods. Appearing on TV, Cruz said : "What I'm talking about is focusing law enforcement and national security resources on areas, on locations, where there is a higher incidence of radical Islamic terrorism." ~~~~~ Cruz's call for increased surveillance was roundly criticized by Moslem Americans and civil rights groups, who call Cruz's proposal unconstitutional and counterproductive. General Michael Hayden, former CIA Director, said the US has a "cultural bent" toward assimiliation that is a strategic and operational advantage that makes America safer than Europe. American Moslems continue to say they share the same values as other Americans. They reject the idea of surveillance of Moslem community neighborhoods, arguing it will send a message that Moslem Americans are not a part of American society. The question is : are they patriots? ~~~~~ Dear readers, President Obama on Wednesday sharply rebuked Senator Cruz for his call to enhance US Moslem community surveillance because of the Brussels attacks. In an Argentina press conference, Obama called it “wrong and un-American,” saying it would undermine the US campaign against Islamic extremist groups. But, candidates of both parties are calling for tougher security in the US and demanding a more aggressive Obama stance in fighting ISIS. Obama said he would not make significant changes to his anti-ISIS strategy, "simply because it's political season." US journalist icon Tom Brokaw got it right : "The reality is that we did have that attack....It was unnerving to us, it was devastating in Europe. But...the symbolism is that the President stayed at the baseball game all day long where you would have thought he would have said, 'Look, we've got more business that I have to deal with, I wish you well'....There's a real urgency about it, and he has got to convey that, not just to the American people but to the world." It is high time for patriotic American Moslems and Obama to take heed. If you are with us, help us.

Condolences and Solidarity with Brussels, Belgium and Europe

ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks on the Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train at a station near a European Union administrative complex in the Belgian capital on Tuesday morning. The attacks killed 34. More than 200 were injured, some with severe burns and leg injuries. Brussels remains on the highest terror alert level, in near lockdown status. All public transportation is shut down. Employees at the EU complex were told to stay home. The Brussels airport will remain closed at least through Wednesday. The US Belgian Embassy has advised Americans in Brussels to stay indoors. Belgian authorities asked citizens not to use overloaded telephone networks. Extra troops are deployed in Brussels. The Belgian Crisis Centre, worried about another incident, appealed to people : "Stay where you are." Non-essential staff at Belgian nuclear plants Doel and Tihange were sent home at the request of Belgian authorities. A spokesman told Reuters key staff remain on site to operate the facilities. For the foreseeable future, Belgium's nuclear plants will operate at weekend-like staff levels to ensure that no unauthorized personnel gain access to the plants. Security has been heightened at all Belgium nuclear sites, including an increased military presence. ~~~~~ A witness said he heard shouts in Arabic and shots shortly before thevtwo blasts hit a crowded Brussels airport departure lounge. Federal prosecutors said one explosion was probably triggered by a suicide bomber. The AMAQ news agency -- part of the ISIS propaganda machine -- announced responsibility : "Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the center of the Belgian capital Brussels." An airport security camera photo of three black-haired young men pushing laden luggage trolleys has been circulated by police, who suspect they are the attackers. They say two may have detonated suicide bombs. Police are hunting the third. An unused explosive belt was also found in the area, according to Belgian public media. ~~~~~ US President Barack Obama phoned to support Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Obama told a news conference in Cuba : "We must be together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism." Michel told a Brussels news briefing Tuesday was a "black moment" for Belgium : "What we had feared has come to pass," he said, referring to the fact that the blasts occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of a suspected participant in the November Paris jihadist attacks that killed 130 people. Belgian police and combat troops on the streets had been on alert for reprisals but the attacks took place in crowded areas where people and luggage were everywhere. Public broadcaster VRT said police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle next to the body of an airport attacker. Kalashnikovs have become a trademark of ISIS attacks in Europe, especially in Belgium and France. ~~~~~ The coordinated assault triggered security alerts across Europe, where security services have been on high alert, fearing militant attacks backed by ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attack. Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece and Finland, alert for spillover from the Syrian civil war, were among countries announcing extra security measures. The main international rail stations in Brussels are closed. Train service on the channel tunnel from London to Brussels is suspended. Security is tightened at the Dutch-Belgium border. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said : “We are at war and we have been subjected to acts of war in Europe for the last many months." French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has deployed 1,600 additional police and gendarmes across France, as well as 400 more in Paris. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Europe's open borderless society is under seige. The EU is in ISIS' crosshairs. All fairytales must end. But, our hearts and prayers go out to the Brussels victims, their families, Belgium and Europe.

Donald Trump and Israel

In a recent debate, Donald Trump said of the Israel-Palestine problem : “Let me be sort of a neutral guy.” Marco Rubio attacked Trump for saying he would be neutral in negotiating a peace agreement : “There is no such thing as an honest broker in that.” Earlier, Rubio attacked Trump for saying Israel might have to make sacrifices to secure a peace agreement. But, Trump’s position is actually realistic. His statement about being neutral was his effort to present himself as a deal-maker, not wanting to give details about who was at fault for what, not taking a public position that would make future negotiations more difficult. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a bias in favor of one side or the other. It's clear from his comments about the Iran nuclear deal and other issues that he is just as “pro-Israel” as any other candidate. ~~~~~ An "honest broker," Senator Rubio? This has been the policy of every US President since 1967 -- the US hasn’t been an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians since President Eisenhower's stance in the 1950s. Anyone who has paid the slightest attention will know that the US has always favored Israel. But, optimistic outsider that he is, Trump is at least willing to consider securing a peace settlement, something everybody else in the world has long since abandoned. And, negotiator par excellence that he is, Trump knows that any attempt at forging an Israel-Palestine peace will require that he occasionally be the honest broker. Trump said at the same debate that it would be the most difficult negotiation ever undertaken and that he could not promise success. ~~~~~ The Palestine Papers -- a controversial collection of confidential documents from the office of main PLO negotiator, Sa’eb Erekat, about the Israeli--Palestinian peace process -- were leaked by Al Jazeera in January 2011. The Papers, authenticated by Israel, reveal that the Palestinians believed the US acted more like Israel's lawyer than an honest broker. In 2009, Erekat informed US Middle East envoy George Mitchell that Mahmoud Abbas would step down as Palestinian Authority leader because he saw no way forward in the peace process. He was persuaded to change his mind. But, the revelations in the Palestine Papers dashed everyone's hopes that President Obama was somehow different, and that the United States under Obama would be the honest broker needed for peace. ~~~~~ A 2015 poll of Jewish Americans shows that 49% disapprove of the way President Obama is handling US-Israel relations, 45% disapprove of the way Obama is handling the threat posed by global terrorism, and half disapprove of the Iran deal and have no confidence that it will prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But, the most surprising poll from the 2016 campaign, taken in Israel, shows that 25% of Israeli Jews would vote for Donald Trump, who was by far Israelis' favorite GOP candidate. A plurality even thought he would be best at “representing Israel’s interests,” better than Hillary Clinton, with her decades of advocacy at the highest levels of government. Yet, the big question looming over this week’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee convention is what effect Trump’s speech to the delegates will have long term, because Israeli Jews are far more appreciative of Trump's tough foreign policy positions than American Jews appear to be. This presents a problem for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has successfully aligned Israel with the GOP. Trump is rejected by the GOP establishment, such as Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who are Netanyahu’s “base” in Washington. Netanyahu's job, if Trump is elected, will be to balance the GOP’s pro-Israel foreign policy elite with the Republican electorate. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Anti-Defamation League's CEO wrote in Time that it will redirect money Trump donated previously to anti-discrimination education programs toward “anti-bias education programs that address exactly the kind of stereotyping and scapegoating he has injected into this political season." Grow up, ADL. Trump is your friend.

The Progressive Machine Lies to America

How's it working out in America under the Progressive Obama regime? Here are some examples. ~~~~~ Obama has secured the southern border. WHAT !! you say. Yep. Hillary Clinton just told Phoenix Arizona KTAR radio the southwest border is "secure." She said improvements, including hundreds of miles of fencing, have cut net illegal immigration from Mexico to zero : "I think it’s time to turn our attention to comprehensive immigration reform." That's Progressive-Speak for legalizing the 11 million illegal immigrants now in the US. GOP candidates cite the unsecured border, noting increased drug seizures and a new surge of Central American illegal immigrants. Clinton said they’re ignoring how bad it was during her husband’s administration (she actually said that) : "I think we’ve done a really good job securing the border...those that say we haven’t are not paying attention to everything that was done...under both President Bush and President Obama...immigration from Mexico has dropped..." THAT is a Progressive-Speak lie. Yes, border arrests are up and net immigration from Mexico is down, BUT the number of Central Americans trying to enter the US illegally has surged. Border Patrol agents say the new illegal immigrants see the chance to take advantage of lax enforcement of US immigration laws that lets them disappear inside America. Border agents support Trump for his strong stand against illegal immigration. The largest US Border Patrol union local says : "Mr. Trump is the only candidate that has publicly expressed his support of our mission and our agents. He has been an outspoken candidate on the need for a secure border and for this we are grateful." That's from Art Del Cueto, president of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council. He represents 18,000 agents. Before falling for Hillary's Progressive-Speak, watch "Cartel Land," a documentary film about the real situation on the Arizona-Mexico border. ~~~~~ Open border Progressives will tell Americans that a brutal attack by illegal immigrants in Framingham, Massachusetts, is an isolated incident and that we shouldn't judge all illegals based on what these criminals did. Four illegals from Guatamala attacked a young couple, raping the woman and beating her boyfriend until he feared death. The reaction of authorities is as lax as we've come to expect from the Obama regime. The Boston Herald reported : "Two of the illegals had previously been deported to Guatemala." Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Shawn Neudauer confirmed that, telling the Herald the agency is "closely monitoring the cases and has placed detainers on all four" illegal immigrants. The boyfriend's account is terrifying : "I thought we were going to die....And I didn’t care if I died as long as I could save her and get her out of there, that’s all I cared about....The worst part was I felt like I couldn’t do anything." All four suspects have pleaded not guilty and are being held pending "dangerousness" hearings. DANGEROUSNESS??? Progressive-Speak for coddling illegal rapists. ~~~~~ The Progressive Obama regime and its mainline media also lied about the latest incident of "violence at a Trump rally." Saturday at a Tucson Trump rally, a protestor wore a KKK hood. He ran up against an African American Trump supporter angered by the hood, who stomped on the KKK hood-wearing protester and was arrested for his effort. Progressives always blame Trump for leftist violence at his rallies. What, then, can the Progressive media do when the tables are completely turned? They report "a protestor was assaulted at a Trump rally" and leave out the details. Most Americans see using the KKK hood as a provocative act, and the existence of a Black Trump supporter contradicts every lie told by the anti-Trump Progressive media. So the media simply chose to hide this news. ~~~~~ Dear readers, Progressive-Speak media call it 'the Obama administration.' We should call it 'the Obama regime' because it operates outside the rule of law and the Constitution. That makes it a regime. Regimes have no place in America.

Saturday Politics : "America Is Dead; Long Live America !"

Saturday Politics is sometimes a pause to consider where we are. "America is dead, long live America!" has nothing to do with kings. It is, rather, the two Americas battling each other for the nation's soul. ~~~~~ If you're in the half of America happy about the nearly- completed elimination of the Christian, constitutional nation carried out by Obama and his socialist Progressives these last eight years -- if you identify with gender blurring, legalized marijuana, uncontrolled immigration, police bashing in order to grant unearned status to clamoring African American minority groups, the destruction of the healthcare system, and lawless presidential government meant to undermine the constitutional role of Congress and voters in the name of the Progressive agenda -- then you voted twice for Barack Obama, who is a symptom, as much as a cause, of the chaos that is 21st-century America. And you will vote for Hillary Clinton because she will continue racing toward non-American European marxist socialism. ~~~~~ If you don't agree with my description of you, it's because you have a different perspective on America than I do. But, it is foolhardy for either half of America to refuse to recognize that the other half holds a totally opposing view. The Progressive half is composed of people who believe everything is “relative.” This has led America to the 2016 crisis point because there is no possibility in a relativist society to agree on fundamental ideas -- ideas that hold a society and culture together. The leaders elected by the Progressive half of America have led the country to a no-mans' land of racial, ethnic, ideological, and spiritual collapse in which conservatives, liberals, libertarians, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Moslems, and atheists are in a constant war. Other competing ideas also split America -- nationalists vs internationalists, feminists vs post-feminists, multi-culturalists vs traditionalists, patriots vs a fifth column, activists vs followers, marxists vs free-marketers. When Americans cannot agree on a definition of marriage or acceptable sexual activities, when they cannot agree on the difference between a petrie dish of tissue and a baby or even what boys and girls are, then we must admit that the basic problems run deeper than illegal immigrants, trade deals or jobs, even though these things are important. And no Supreme Court Justice can save one half from the other forever. ~~~~~ For traditional Americans, the fundamental solution requires reversing the fifty-year total remaking of US media, academia, politics and entertainment in order to stop them from brainwashing Americans, especially youngsters, with anti-American, anti-Christian, multiculturalist, socialist lies about what a 'good' America should be. If you agree, then you voted for Reagan and/or will vote for the outsider in 2016, whether it's Cruz or Trump. Your vote will be a vote for ending legal immigration for a protracted time because accepting massive numbers of third world residents is changing America into a non-Christian non-Western society where constitutional rule of law is meaningless because it is not part of the immigrants' home cultures, so it forces America into an ever deeper reliance on the relativist axiom -- “truth is always relative to the person and their situation” -- because that is the only common basis for decision-making. ~~~~~ Dear readers, I believe Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the half of America that resists the Progressive agenda -- and that seeks a return to constitutional rule of law in which the ethics of the nation are not relativist but founded on judeo-Christian principles -- not because he is Republican or conservative, or a marketing genius or brash. He is winning because he is strong. His business success and money ooze strength. So does his control of the media. Traditional Americans know they need a strong leader to defeat Progressives. They know only a strong President who owes nothing to anyone has a chance of flexing the political muscle needed to save America and the Constitution.

ISIS, Iran, Obama and Genocide

The Obama administration finally publicly stated the obvious. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym : "Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions. In my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and shiite Moslems." US officials say Obama's genocide decision does not create a US legal obligation to do more, and will not change US military strategy. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said : "Acknowledging that genocide or crimes against humanity have taken place in another country would not necessarily result in any particular legal obligation for the United States." But, US officials noted they began air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq in August 2014 to save the Yazidi minority group from targeted attack. ISIS videos depict the violent deaths of people who disagree with it -- beheadings, mass shootings, being blown up with fuses attached to their necks, drowned in cages in swimming pools, with underwater cameras capturing their agony. Earlier, Kerry had accused ISIS of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. ~~~~~ It is stated whenever Islamic jihadists commit massacres in the West that ISIS does not speak for Islam. After the San Bernardino terror attack that left 14 dead, President Obama, who insists that ISIS “is not Islamic,” said : "ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death....Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Moslem." Similar sentiments were expressed after the Paris attacks. Such arguments separate Islam from violence by suggesting that real Moslems don't kill other Moslems in the name of jihad. This adds confusion to the question of who the true victims of Islamic terrorism are : Why talk about the Moslem slaughter of non-Moslems -- Westerners in Paris or California, or Christian minorities under Islam -- when it is Moslems who are the primary victims? There are several problems with this argument. Sunni ISIS doesn't view its victims as Moslems. Sunni Islam -- approximately 85% of Islam -- views all non-sunnis as false Moslems and heretics who must submit to “true Islam.” This is largely how sunnis and shiites view each other. It results in perennial war. Because Westerners tend to lump them together as "Moslems," it is easy to erroneously decide that ISIS is not Islamic because it kills 'fellow Moslems.' So, when sunni ISIS jihadists slaughter shiites, they are applying the same logic they use when they slaughter Christians, Europeans, Americans and Israelis. All are infidels who must either embrace the true faith, be subjugated, or die. ~~~~~ For sunni jihadists -- ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas -- all non-sunni peoples are infidels and thus targets. Fellow sunnis, if they die accidentally, are martyrs, and if fellow sunnis intentionally get in the way, they are denounced as infidels and killed. Moslems have been slaughtering Moslems who are not 'Islamic' from early on. Soon after the Prophet's death in 632, Islam split over who his successor should be. Bloody wars followed and continue. ~~~~~ Dear readers, currently -- from the 1979 Iran Revolution to 2015 -- shiite groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, supported by Iran have won key political victories that have increased shiite Iran’s regional influence. Iran proxies -- Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraq shiite militias, al-Assad Syrian Alawites, and Yemeni Houthi -- have viciously attacked sunni Saudi Arabia and its followers. One might ask why sunni ISIS is accused of genocide while shiite slaughter, although perhaps not as barbaric -- there is little published detail about this -- is not even called ethnic cleansing. It may be because Hussein is one of the most common shiite names. Barack Hussein Obama has always said that the sunni ISIS is not part of Islam.

Europe's Migrant Chaos Should Be a Warning for America

Europe faces several migrant-related situations. First, the International Rescue Committee, founded in 1933 on the advice of Albert Einstein, said Wednesday Europe should agree to take in half a million refugees from the Middle East over the next five years as a legal resettlement program in order to curb massive illegal migration. The New York-based IRC said it was "a fair and achievable minimum target" for the EU to resettle 108,000 refugees a year, half from Syria. EU leaders are discussing a plan to take in one legal Syrian refugee from Turkey for each illegal Syrian asylum seeker the Turks take back from Greek islands. The aim is to ruin people-smugglers' business and give refugees an incentive to stay in Turkey. EU officials say the one-for-one resettlement goal can be met initially with member states' existing commitments, which will mean taking in a maximum of 72,000 more people. "Europe can and must do more," said IRC president, former British foreign minister David Miliband : "The choice for Europe is not between having refugees and having no refugees," Miliband told Reuters, "It is whether refugees come in a legal, orderly, managed way or in an illegal, disorderly, smuggler-enriching way." The IRC proposal assumes that the number of Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe will keep on growing. Miliband says the EU one-for-one scheme will create reverse incentives for Turkey, since it could only send Syrians to Europe legally if it first let them cross to Greece illegally. Asked whether it was realistic to expect EU countries facing protests against migrants to create a resettlement program for 500,00 people, Milbank said the scheme had to be large enough to give refugees in the region hope. Creating a "legal pipeline for resettlement" is the best way to move from a chaotic to an orderly system that could reassure EU populations, he said. ~~~~~ While the naive IRC was trying to convince the EU to take in even more migrants, a gunman was shot dead on Tuesday in Brussels following a raid linked to investigations into the November Paris attacks. Mohamed Belkaid, a 35-year-old Algerian, was living illegally in Belgium, Belgian federal prosecutors said. They are also holding two men, one who is in hospital with a broken leg, and are still assessing whether they were connected to the shooting. A police sniper shot dead the Algerian, who had an assault rifle, after four officers were wounded on Tuesday during what investigators had expected to be a routine search of an apartment in the Belgian capital. Brussels, which is EU and NATO headquarters, was entirely locked down for days after the Paris attacks and has maintained a high state of security alert since then, with regular military patrols. Belgium has a Moslem population of about 5% of its 11 million people, and has Europe's highest rate of citizens joining Islamist militants in Syria. ~~~~~ French police arrested four people in Paris Wednesday, in raids also related to the Paris sttacks, but French authorities are also tearing down half the illegal migrant Calais camp known as the "Jungle" that houses thousands of migrants who fled war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. They are intent on crossing the English Channel to seek asylum in the UK. At least 500 are unaccompanied children and France's top minors' rights watchdog has urged the French government not to leave children live unsupervised in the Calais slum without proper shelter. Most try to climb onto trucks or trains crossing the Channel Tunnel in hope of getting into Britain, their favored destination, with its plentiful jobs and family connections. Police forces are deployed permanently in the area. Calais regional government is being pressured to build a shelter for the unaccompanied children. British policy is to take war refugees only from Middle East refugee camps, to discourage migration. ~~~~~ Dear readers, similar news items appear daily in Europe. The EU has taken in more than a million unvetted migrants, including terrorists who attack. It should be a warning to America.

Tuesday, March 15 -- Trump or Cruz Will Be the GOP Nominee

The GOP battle for delegates heated up Tuesday. An ABC News Mini Super Tuesday Republican Exit Poll analysis shows what motivated GOP voters who turned out for the Tuesday GOP primaries. (1). When asked about satisfaction, just over half the voting Republicans say they’d be satisfied with Trump as the nominee, with about four in 10 say they’d seriously consider a third-party candidate, but 6 in 10 non-Trump supporters say they would seriously consider a third party if he became the GOP nominee. (2). Asked who they would vote for in the general election, slightly more than half of GOP primary voters say they’d definitely vote for Trump; two in 10 say they’d "probably" support him, and about a quarter of primary GOP voters say they would not vote for him. (3). Ratings about “honest and trustworthy” show no state where a majority of voters sees Trump as honest, including in the critical state of Ohio. That said, neither Cruz nor Rubio are especially strong on this measure, either. By contrast, it’s a strong suit for Kasich – two-thirds in Missouri and three-quarters in Illinois say he’s trustworthy. (4). Across all five March 15 primaries, a little more than 50% of voters are looking for an outsider rather than someone with political experience, including in Ohio and Florida. (6). Again across all five states, two-thirds favor a temporary ban on Moslems entering the United States, peaking at three-quarters in Missouri. (7). In the five states voting on March 15, 40% of Republican primary voters overall support deporting undocumented immigrants rather than offering them a chance to apply for legal status – including 40% in Ohio, 33% in Florida, and highs of more than 40% in Illinois and Missouri. (8). GOP primary voters are angry with the way the federal government is working, averaging 40% across the five states voting on March 15. The range is from 33% in Illinois to more than 40% in Missouri. (9). Nearly 40% of voters in March 15 states are stressing shared values, consistent across all five states. (10). In March 15 data, strong conservatives account for a third of GOP voters overall, ranging from about 30% in Florida and Illinois, to more than 40% in Missouri. (11). Evangelicals account for 67% in North Carolina and 60% in Missouri, dropping to 50% in Ohio and less than half in Florida and Illinois. (12). Slightly more than 40% of March 15 voters made up their minds more than a month ago, while more than half of voters decided within the last month. (13). 20% of Republican voters across March 15 states say they’re falling behind financially; and 67% say they’re very worried about the economy’s condition. ~~~~~ In addition, CNN exit polls of Republicans voting in Ohio and North Carolina on March 15 show they feel betrayed by the Republican Party and that they would rather have an outsider in the White House than an experienced candidate. When asked if they feel betrayed by the GOP -- North Carolinians said Yes 56% and No 40%; and Ohioans said Yes 57% and No: 38%. When asked if they would rather have an experienced GOP candidate or outsider in the White House -- North Carolinians Outsider 54% and Experienced candidate 38%; and Ohioans said Outsider 50% and Experienced 43%. ~~~~~ With these opinion polls as background, we can considet the actual results. FLORIDA -- Donald Trump won in Florida with 45.7%, beating Rubio at 27%, followed by Cruz 17.1% and Kasich at 6.8%. Marco Rubio announced after the primary that he is suspending his campaign for President. NORTH CAROLINA -- Trump beat Cruz, 40.4% to 36.4%, followed by Kasich st 12.7% and Rubio at 8.1%. OHIO -- Kasich beat Trump, 44.3% to 36.3%, with Cruz at 15.3% and Rubio at 2.7%. ILLINOIS -- Trump beat Cruz, 40.1% to 27.9%, with Kasich at 20.5% and Rubio at 9.1%. MISSOURI -- not decided yet, but Trump leads at 42.8% followed by Cruz at 40.7%, Kasich at 8.1% and Rubio at 5.6%. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it is now clear that either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz will be the 2016 Republican presidential candidate. Will they combine? It would create a Convention that unifies the GOP.

MoveOn and Soros Goons Are Stalking Trump and the GOP : Part 2

MoveOn is reportedly a front for wealthy Democrats who channel Progressive political funding through it. In addition to George Soros, Linda Pritzker of the Hyatt hotel family gave MoveOn a start-up push of $4 million. But, many of the Democrat and Progressive candidates supported by MoveOn have failed to be elected, so it seems that because of its ballot box failures, MoveOn is turning to violence, beginning with the violent demonstration at the Chicago Trump rally on Friday, where many of the protesters shouted “Bernie!” and held placards announcing their support for the socialist Democrat. MoveOn is trying to “shut down” its political enemies with violence and elect Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. ~~~~~ The left has always used violence and the threat of violence to maintain itself in power. The academically-indoctrinated post-Vietnam generations of American establishment elites -- politicians, judges, lawyers, journalists, teachers, bureaucrats, entertainers, and social-justice groupies -- say they seek “universal egalitarianism” but in reality they are plundering traditional America to benefit themselves, those dependent on welfare who vote for them, and the Wall-Street wolves and crony capitalists who fund them. Economic Marxism is dead - killed by Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John-Paul II. "Universal egalitarianism” is simply the new Marxist fight for supremacy using social, religious and cultural means, and it has infiltrated American academia, politics and churches by appealing to Americans' belief in equality and fair play. The Marxists, led by Soros and his army, mean to destroy America. And they are being helped by millions of Americans who have no idea for whom they are working. ~~~~~ This is what makes last weekend's attacks by other GOP presidential candidates on Donald Trump, blaming him for the rally violence, so utterly wrong. **Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said Sunday rival Donald Trump has created a "toxic environment....This is not making us proud....We are Americans before we are Republicans and Democrats.” **Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Sunday the protesters at rival Donald Trump's rallies are behaving "abusively and wrong," but added that "it doesn't help when the GOP front-runner encourages violence....At the end of the day in any campaign, responsibility starts at the top....We ought to have a President who brings us together, who doesn't seek to divide us." **Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Sunday accused Trump of drastically changing national discourse for the worse : "All the gates of civility have been blown apart....We don’t know what’s going to happen next...He has turned the most important election in a generation into a circus. It’s a carnival." They are spouting Progressive propaganda. ~~~~~ Dear readers, we know that neither Ted Cruz nor John Kasich nor Marco Rubio are Progressives or Marxists. But they are Wrong. Like most Americans, they have been browbeaten into submitting to political correctness -- PC -- which is nothing less than the Marxist threat of political and social disgrace used to make us and our GOP leaders publicly agree with ideas we profoundly reject privately. We have become the workers universally surveilled to prevent our saying anything that is not Newspeak. We have become the starving farm animals looking through the dining room window to watch our pig elite dine sumptuously. 1984 and Animal Farm are upon us. Only Donald Trump is fearless enough to call it what it is -- self-serving Progressive Marxist lies meant to destroy our democratic constitutional system. Trump is undoubtedly America's last best hope. We must shut out the PC Progressive Marxist Soros-funded bombardment on our common sense and vote for Donald Trump.

MoveOn and Soros Goons Are Stalking Trump and the GOP : Part 1

Friday's Trump Chicago Rally was cancelled because, as Trump said : "I don't want to see people hurt," after violent clashes erupted when protesters disrupted the rally. Trump postponed the rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago after meeting with police, who said they lacked sufficient personnel to handle the crowd. ~~~~~ Trump told Fox News that poor economic conditions cause the protests -- not his campaign rhetoric : "I don't use hate speech. There is tremendous division in our country. I have seen it, I have been watching it. I'm witness to it. And something has to be done....because we're losing our jobs and losing our manufacturing...there is tremendous anger out there on both sides." Trump also said the protesters violated his supporters' and his First Amendment rights, but safety concerns were paramount. In a later interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Trump said : "These were very, very bad protesters. These were tough guys. They did a lot of damage before they were taken out." ~~~~~ News reports say many of the protesters were supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and the Black Lives Matter movement that is supported by George Soros. MoveOn, also a Soros-supported organization, led the Chicago protest. George Soros gave $1.46 million in 2004 to get MoveOn.org -- which began as a petition site in 1998 -- geared up to be a leader in bigtime Soros politics. And while Bernie Sanders denied his organization had anything to do with the Chicago protest, the pre-printed protester signs were made by the same company that makes Sanders' posters. In addition, the organizers' words proved that Sanders and Progressives, not Trump supporters, were responsible for the Chicago mayhem. They were well-organized and intended to shut down Trump, whose political views they oppose. Here is a post on People for Bernie : "People For Bernie@people4Bernie : Remember the ‪#TrumpRally wasn't just luck. It took organizers from dozens of organizations and thousands of people to pull off. Great work." Even Bill Ayers, Obama friend and admitted terrorist Weatherman, was there cheering the mayhem on : "We shut Trump down! Beautiful gathering of anti racist youth. pic.twitter.com/uYOFXMvKhX Bill Ayers (@WilliamAyers) March 12, 2016." ~~~~~ Sanders held a rally of his own in Chicago, bragging that he was bringing people together, not dividing them. President Obama, who has stirred up serious racial division by, among other things, supporting Black Lives Matter and repeating its leaders' lies about Trayvon Martin and Ferguson, Missouri, lied about Chicago, too : "What’s happening in this primary is just a distillation of what’s been happening in their party for more than a decade." As always, Obama blames Republicans while pursuing his own divisive agenda. Systematically ignored by mainstream media is the fact that Trump protests have from the start been organized by Progressive professionals to provoke confrontations and fights that the media turns into anti-Trump, anti-GOP propaganda. Their goal is to make people believe that Trump is a racist -- he is not -- to scare off supporters and drive Blacks and Hispanics to vote for his Democratic opponent. MoveOn has raised millions of dollars for Democrat candidates, including the 2008 Obama campaign. In January, MoveOn endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. ~~~~~ MoveOn first hit the news when the Anti-Defamation League and many others criticized it for posting a member's ad equating President George W. Bush and Hitler. The ad had been submitted to its online ad contest "Bush in 30 Seconds." The advertisement was quickly pulled off the website. ~~~~~ Dear readers, MoveOn and George Soros goons are stalking Trump. The Soros-funded MoveOn website states : “Mr. Trump and the Republican leaders who support him and his hate-filled rhetoric should be on notice after tonight’s events. To all of those who took to the streets of Chicago, we say thank you for standing up and saying enough is enough. To Donald Trump, the GOP, we say, welcome to the general election.” ~~~ Tomorrow, the GOP response.

Saturday Politics -- The Golden Age of Nancy and Ronald Reagan : a Personal Remembrance

Saturday politics is sometimes memories of a vanished Golden Age. Nancy Reagan was laid to rest Friday beside her beloved husband, President Ronald Reagan. She always called him Ronnie. It fit the unbreakable bond of their relationship. ~~~~~ I was a political appointee in the Reagan administration and so I met Mrs. Reagan at several receptions. She was a small woman, not in height but in size. She seemed shorter than she really was because she was so often photographed close beside the much taller President. The Nancy Reagan I met was perfectly coiffed without her hair being cast in concrete. Her makeup was natural. Her jewelry was important without being flashy. Her long-sleeved cocktail dress was...red. We shook hands and she continued to hold my hand between her two hands as we spoke. But what made Mrs. Reagan special for me was her complete focus on me while we talked. I've met two people who had that same concentration of focus -- Nancy Reagan and Mother Theresa, whom I had the great honor to meet and speak with privately at her motherhouse in Kolkota. Both women had an aura around them and when they drew you into their private circle of space, you could feel their strength and love, even though they spoke quietly. I'm not saying that Nancy Reagan was a saint, but, as Mother Theresa, she had a force around her that was exceptional. And she listened and carried on a conversation instead of offering stock pleasantries. She was a First Lady and a woman to reckon with and to admire. ~~~~~ Ronald Reagan, whom I met in occasional White House meetings, was bigger than one would expect, even from his TV images. The first time he spoke with me, I looked into the most sparkling friendly eyes I have ever seen. They smiled at me, as did his weather-lined tanned face. Like his wife, President Reagan focused on the person he was speaking with, but the aura was one of quiet assurance. If I would want to be with Nancy to take on life, I would choose to be with President Reagan in times of trouble -- to unburden myself on his big square shoulders, loving eyes and soft voice. When he spoke in meetings, he was brief. When his head tilted slightly and he said "Well," we knew his wishes would follow and everyone wanted to carry them out -- because he was right and because it was natural to want to please him. He expected hard work and success from us, as he did from himself, but he didn't demand. He suggested. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it was truly the Golden Age of conservative America. We worked hard to honor the Constitution and to leave nobody behind as we worked to create that "shining city on the hill." It was a singular honor to be part of the Reagan years -- to work for a President who loved America and saw its potential better than any President has since. The low-keyed intensity of his vision, the elegance and style of their White House, the joy their love spread over all of us -- it was a Golden Age. I often compare it to the words that Shakespeare wrote for his play Henry V -- so that King Henry V could rally his soldiers as they went into the crucial battle at Agincourt in 1415. The English were outnumbered by the French but the King's St. Crispin Day speech and the determination of the English won the day. All of us who worked for Ronald Reagan can identify with the words of Henry V : "From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remembered- / We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition; / And gentlemen in England now-a-bed / Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, / And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks / That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. (Henry V, William Shakespeare.). Thank you, Mrs. Reagan. Thank you, President Reagan. May we not disappoint you.

Time Is Running Out for Merkel to Solve the Migrant Crisis

How bad is the migrant crisis in Europe? Almost 500,000 migrants arrived in Greece in the 4th quarter of 2015. Most moved north through the Balkans, according to data that EU border agency Frontex released Thursday. Frontex, which collects data on irregular border crossings, recorded 484,000 of them on the Eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece in October--December, and 466,000 on the Western Balkan overland route, where migrants enter the EU at the Croatian border from non-EU Serbia. So, the total number of illegal EU border crossings was 978,300 in the 2015 4th quarter, a record since Frontex began collecting data in 2007. Of those arriving in Greece by boat from Turkey, 46% were Syrian and 28% Afghan. Frontex recorded fewer arrivals in Italy from Libya but noted a big increase in arrivals in Spain from Morocco, with 2,800 illegal crossings in the 4th quarter, a seasonal record that doubled from the 4th quarter of 2014. ~~~~~ In Italy, police arrested a 22-year-old Somali imam and asylum seeker on Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack in Rome. He was detained at a migrant reception center, a police statement said : "We have clear technical evidence about the possibility that he was organizing an attack in Rome." The chief prosecutor released wiretap transcripts where the unnamed man discussed possible violence. A friend also told police the imam said : "Let's start from Italy, let's go to Rome and start with the station....equip oneself and blow oneself up." Italian police said he used his role as imam to promote ISIS and Somali al Shabaab and encouraged Moslems to take up jihad. The police said he had tried to recruit migrants to travel to Syria for training and he wanted to go there for training, too. ~~~~~ The EU refugee crisis is dangerous for the heavily indebted Greek economy. Greece needs substantial help to deal with the migrant influx, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday. Greece already struggles to meet the terms of the bailout that's keeping it afloat. But, it is also the main EU gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants. After OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, he told reporters : "The refugee crisis creates significant problems for the Greek economy and growth. Greece needs to receive substantial support to deal with this new challenge. No single country can address this challenge on its own." Tsipras has said he doesn't want to link the migrant crisis with negotiations on bailout targets and debt relief, but he warns that the EU migrant crisis could have a fiscal impact, with 41,000 migrants trapped in Greece because borders farther north in the Balkans are blocked. ~~~~~ The EU began a new €700 million aid program for member states last week that resembles EU disaster relief. Greece has asked for emergency funding and supplies, including tents, blankets, sleeping bags and ambulances, for the migrants. EU leaders are also negotiating a migrant deal with Turkey, but difficult legal details have to be worked out in order to sign off on it at a March 17-18 summit. EU officials know that stopping such desperate people will be difficult - and deporting them back to Turkey will be tough. One official said : "I don't know how to do it. It could get very ugly."~~~~~ And, dear readers, Chancellor Merkel has serious problems at home. Polls show anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) set to enter three state parliaments by winning up to 18% in Sunday's regional elections. This would be a big setback for Merkel and her open-door refugee policy. The elections are the first in Germany since the refugee crisis began and voters will be able to deliver a message to parties about the influx of 1.1 million migrants last year. The AfD will take seats from older parties and hope to make it harder for Merkel to form a coalition government, but there is no indication that Sunday will harm her conservative/center-left coalition. But the clock is ticking and Merkel must find an acceptable solution soon.

The Worldwide Fallout from Obama's Lead-from-Behind Policy

As much as anyone, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been caught up in Obama's lead-from-behind lassitude. She has led Europe alone, with no clear guiding US foreign policy. It worked until Putin, emboldened by Obama's disinterest, took back the Crimea and asserted Russian interests in Ukraine and the Baltics. Merkel tried to stiffen Socialist French President Hollande's resolve to no avail. NATO has backed up Merkel, also without visible increased US military support until very recently. ~~~ After Obama's abandonment of Syria created millions of displaced people who headed for Europe, Merkel unilaterally told EU states to take in over a million Syrian refugees. She didn't consult EU leaders, who opposed her open door. This led to such a political, social, criminal and terrorist mess that Merkel is now gambling on a deal with Turkey to stop the migrants. Whether the deal -- cobbled together a week before German regional elections her party will likely lose -- will be a master stroke or a time bomb for her is not yet clear. In Germany, reaction to her Turkish gamble is mixed. Top-selling Bild newspaper welcomed it, but some of her own conservative lawmakers object to giving Turks visa-free travel in exchange. German officials say Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu surprised everyone by arriving in Brussels on Sunday night with a bold plan offering to take back all migrants who cross into Europe in return for political and economic rewards. Merkel realized the deal could "change the whole dynamic," a German official said, that the gains would far outweigh EU concessions. Davutoglu demanded a doubling of EU money to keep Syrian refugees in Turkey, faster visa liberalization for Turks and accelerated EU membership talks for Turkey. EU officials were amazed by the proposal presented at a Monday summit, but some were angry, saying they were kept in the dark. "Ask Mrs Merkel," one said when asked if sending back all migrants, including Syrian refugees, to Turkey was illegal under international law. European Council President Donald Tusk spent two days in Turkey last week meeting Davutoglu and President Erdogan on a different deal, with little idea about what was coming. Neither Tusk nor European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was invited to the Sunday night pre-meeting, nor was France, Germany's closest EU partner. So, left to mop up the refugee crisis dumped on Europe's doorstep by Obama's inaction in Syria, Merkel is risking her role as EU's indispensable leader by embracing Turkey -- hugely unpopular in the EU -- in exchange for Turkey taking the refugees off her hands. ~~~~~ In an Obama lead-from-behind fallout that threatens Israel, Iran's Revolutionary Guards test-fired ballistic missiles Wednesday designed to reach Israel, defying US criticism of earlier tests. Iran state TV showed two Qadr missiles being launched from northern Iran and said to have hit targets 1,400 km away. The tests drew a threat of new US sanctions. Iranian Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said : "The reason we designed missiles with a range of 2,000 km is to be able to hit our enemy the Zionist regime from a safe distance." The point in Iran closest to Israel is 1,000 km from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said : "Instead of forcefully condemning Iran's dangerous missile tests, the White House is twisting itself into pretzels to explain how they don't violate the President's deeply flawed nuclear deal." ~~~~~ And, dear readers, the latest blow to Obama's lead-from-behind disaster comes from Cuba. In a long editorial in the Communist Party newspaper, Cuba said it will welcome President Obama in March, but has no intention of changing policies to achieve normal US relations, saying the US must stop meddling in its internal affairs and helping dissidents. The editorial noted Obama's effort but attacked "the existence of other regulations and intimidation caused by the blockade...in force for more than 50 years." The White House brushed off the piece. Cuba sounds like the Iran bully, doesn't it ?

The Great Revolution of 2016 -- Trump and Cruz

Another primary Tuesday. The small-town Rust Belt Michigan voters, blood brothers and sisters of the Pennsylvania voters President Obama mocked when running for President in 2008, have cast their ballots. Obama's cynically condescending remark should have cost him the 2008 election : "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." But, the Obama attacks continue -- his denigrating delegitimization of every concern shared by small-town and rural Americans, stereotyping them as ignorant rednecks -- and the attacks will cost the Democratic Party the 2016 election. Obama's leadership has pushed the Democrat Party so far left into Progressive Socialism that even the socialist ex-Communist sympathizer Bernie Sanders is welcome. ~~~~~ Americans are rightly outraged about uncontrolled immigration, job loss because of free trade and outsourcing, military decline, unprecedented racial tensions, attacks on Christianity, and deteriorating schools and communities. Since 2008, Obama and his Democrats have called conservative Americans ignorant, racist, violent gun slingers. Small-town and rural Americans, and other groups despised by the elite of both the Democrat and Republican parties, were only angry in 2008. Now, they are are enraged about the destruction of American constitutional government. They are determined to turn it around. They seek revenge on everyone who has sold them and their country down the river. It is the Great Revolution of 2016. ~~~~~ Democrats and mainstream media are thrilled to see the GOP in agony. GOP elites are panicked at the thought of their possible loss of power. Republican voters are legitimately in angry revolt about Obama policies and a GOP Congress that allows him to advance his goal of destroying America. But, do conservatives in revolt really want to destroy their own party and conservatism at the very moment when they're on the verge of a peaceful revolution that could set the Nation -- the Union -- on a conservative path for generations? Conservatives have worked since the late 1980s to regain both Houses and the presidency for the GOP. This is what they want. But the Republican apparatchiks and elites are boxing them into a corner -- pitting the two conservatives (Trump and Cruz) against each other so as to eliminate both and replace them with a maleable politics-as-usual candidate like Rubio, Kasich or Ryan, or the deceitful Romney. And conservatives are about to fall into the trap and do just this -- choose an unelectable Republican candidate who will guarantee victory to the un-American socialist Democrat Progressives -- perhaps forever. How ironic. ~~~~~ Dear readers, this does not have to be the end of the conservative vision of America enshrined in the Constitution. Nor does it have to be the end of the Republican Party. I urge the leaders of every conservative grassroots group, all conservative religious leaders, conservative political leaders and officeholders to unite. Be wise, calm, and rational voices. Bring Donald Trump and Ted Cruz together as a GOP bloc or ticket -- they were winners Tuesday in Michigan and Mississippi. The Republican elites, as well as Obama, Progressives, Hillary and Bernie, will become irrelevant. It will complete the Great Revolution of 2016. Real conservatives must step up and save America. There will not be a second chance. There is no logic to voting for somebody merely because they might have the best chance of winning and not because they are the best choice to represent conservative principles -- especially in these 2016 primaries.

The Week That Was : Benghazi Emails and Immunity, Sanders vs Warren, and Nancy Reagan

We missed some things last week because the GOP establishment's panic over Donald Trump's presidential run that was so great that insiders even quasi-embraced the arch-outsider Ted Cruz. I'm still waiting for the Trump-Cruz ticket to put a lid on the Romney-led tantrum. ~~~~~ Here are some of the important news items, low-keyed by mainstream media. ~~~ (1). The State Department released the final batch of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server emails, including an email proving that Clinton was well aware of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and did nothing to prevent the tragedy. On April 10, 2011, Ambassador Chris Stevens’ aide sent an email to Clinton staff saying the Ambassador was seriously considering leaving the country because of a rapidly escalating civil war. That was 17 months before the deadly Benghazi attacks in which Islamic militants stormed the US consulate and killed Stevens. His safety concerns were sent to the Clinton inner circle, including key aide Huma Abedin and now-top foreign policy advisor to Clinton's campaign, Jake Sullivan. They forwarded the email directly to Clinton -- it tells of Stevens considering departure from Libya, and of heavy shelling and sniper fire. But, Clinton it seems did nothing about it. The Benghazi email, rumored to exist for months, was confirmed in the final release of 3,800 document stored on Clinton’s private server. ~~~ (2). Fox News reported that the FBI is investigating whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top aides shared computer passwords. This is part of its probe into how classified information on separate secure systems made the jump into Clinton's unsecured private email server. Fox quoted an intelligence source familiar with the probe : "if [Clinton] was allowing other people to use her passwords, that is a big problem," since sharing of passwords is prohibited by The Foreign Service Officers Manual. ~~~ (3). The password report came on the heels of news that immunity was granted to Bryan Pagliano, the State Department employee who set up Clinton's server. He had previously invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, leading many to think he has information damaging to Clinton. Former federal prosecutor Bob Ray told The Hill : "If prosecutors confer immunity in a case, in general it means that they at least have some intention of pursuing the matter to a grand jury....Prosecutors are in the business of making cases -- you don't hand out immunity unless the hope is it gets you additional evidence that you would not be able to get, and that [the] evidence leads towards being able to perfect a charge." Security experts think Pagliano might know a lot, since he worked on the server alone. He would know what security measures were put in place and would have discussed what the server would be used for. ~~~ (4). Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders supporters are angry with Progressive leader and Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren for staying neutral in Democratic primaries. Sanders fans are upset that Warren didn't help Sanders in her home state of Massachusetts, where Hillary Clinton gained an important win on last Tuesday. Warren’s social media is full of Sanders backers' pleas and recriminations over her refusal to endorse Sanders. Warren is also the only woman in the Senate who hasn’t endorsed Clinton. Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America that endorsed Sanders, says Warren’s decision not to endorse Clinton is an implicit endorsement of Sanders. ~~~~~ And, dear readers, I want to share with you the warmest of all the tributes to Nancy Reagan. Former President George W. Bush's statement said : "Her influence on the White House was complete and lasting. During her time as First Lady and since, she raised awareness about drug abuse and breast cancer. When we moved into the White House, we benefited from her work to make those historic rooms beautiful. Laura and I are grateful for the life of Nancy Reagan, and we send our condolences to the entire Reagan family."

Nancy Reagan and Angela Merkel : Political Success and Failure

Nancy Reagan died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94. As First Lady, she was a defining figure of the 1980s. During the eight years when her husband, Ronald Reagan, one of the most popular Presidents in modern history, was leader of the free world, Nancy Reagan had profound behind-the-scenes influence on the course of modern history. They were a unique couple, and their legendary devotion helped define Ronald Reagan’s presidency. ~~~~~ On the same day we lost Nancy Reagan, another woman made news in Europe by meddling in US election politics. German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel called US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a "threat to peace and prosperity," while Chancellor Angela Merkel said it has always been a pleasure to work with Democrat Hillary Clinton. Gabriel, German vice chancellor and leader of the Social Democrats, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published Sunday : "Whether Donald Trump, Marine le Pen or Geert Wilders -- all these right-wing populists -- are not only a threat to peace and social cohesion, but also to economic development." Gabriel said Trump is promising voters "a way back into a fairytale world" in which economic activity only happens within national borders but that history has shown such isolated economies had no future : "We have to make the effort to explain how we want to shape globalization in a fair way." Perhaps Gabriel should consider the EU 10% unemployment rate and projected 0.3% growth rate for 2016 before he explains anything to the US, which has a 4.9% unemployment rate and 2.2% growth rate. Trump has described Merkel's policy towards refugees as "insane" and predicted it would cause rioting in Germany. Well, there are riots, including a thousand suspect fires at refugee centers and shelters in Germany. Trump has also said he could work with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has shaken Europe since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea two years ago. Merkel criticized Trump for saying this about Putin while she is trying to do exactly the same thing in order to end Russian encroachment into eastern EU countries. Despite her criticisms, Merkel told Bild am Sonntag she doesn't know Trump personally. But, she faces tough elections next year and a new anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has emerged as a threat to Merkel's conservatives, demanding that Germany shut its border to migrants and repel them with force, if necessary. Attacking Trump may help her win socialist votes. ~~~~~ On Sunday, Merkel also urged the EU to help Greece in the migrant crisis. Concerning her unilateral open border policy that has created the worst ever crisis in the EU, and especially Greece, she defends her 2015 decision to allow migrants in without limits, saying she has no "Plan B." She insists Germany can handle the influx and has a humanitarian duty toward war refugees. But her stance has been strongly criticised by EU countries and also some politicians in her ruling conservative CDU-CSU bloc. The Dutch government said there are 30 war crimes suspects among migrants who claimed asylum in the Netherlands in 2015 - 10 from Syria and 20 from Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Georgia. In Slovakia, Robert Fico, a leftist whose anti-immigration and socially conservative views are in line with neighboring Poland and Hungary, took 28.3% of the presidential vote, far ahead of others, and will try to form a government. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it is impossible not to compare Angela Merkel and Nancy Reagan today. Merkel is presiding over a collapse of the EU. Mrs. Reagan convinced senior advisors that her husband should publicly apologize for the secret arms sales to Iran, a scandal that shook his presidency. She defeated White House advisors in achieving the improved relations with the Soviet Union that led to its collapse. Her "Just Say No" campaign had a long-term impact on drug use. She raised millions of dollars for Alzheimer's research. We will miss Nancy Reagan. She was a great lady and with her death, the glorious Reagan era ends. Let us rebuild it.

Saturday Politics : Trump and Cruz Should Form a Ticket Now to Stop the GOP Civil War

Saturday politics is sometimes a mix of long-held thoughts and deeply-felt beliefs set against a present day that jumbles both. ~~~~~ My DNA is Republican. It was validated by my great grandmother's biblical explanations of its values before I ever set foot in a kindergarden classroom. And since she was born on July 3, 1863, the day the Union forces won the Battle of Gettysburg, and she became a sought-after preacher many decades before I was born, still wearing her long high-collared white dress while speaking to me of that great War and of Mr. Lincoln as if he were the last Disciple, I was formed by her unbending love of political liberty, justice and equality under God. That was for me the Republican Party. It still is. ~~~~~ Why is this important now? Because American conservatives are facing a belief-wrenching decision about the future of their Republican Party. Should they embrace Donald Trump's amateurish but winning presidential bid, or resort to every political sleight-of-hand to try to prevent him from seizing the nomination, and the Grand Old Party with it -- because that will be the result. I think it's the brash, honestly personal expression of Trump's political beliefs and goals that panics GOP leaders and operatives when they consider a Nominee or President Trump. The ugly Republican insider effort to halt Trump in reality threatens to rupture the GOP more than Trump himself does. Republican 2012 nominee Mitt Romney brought the ugliness to a boiling point Thursday when he said : "Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud....playing the American public for suckers." ~~~~~ At the annual Conservative Political Action Committee convention near Washington this week, there are many enthusiastic Trump supporters, as well as those who have decided to vote for him because they think he's a winner. Former Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the crowd not to launch all-out war on Trump : "My experience with the anti-efforts is that they aren't particularly effective." Republican analyst Alex Castellanos told the Washington Post : "There is a fantasy effort to stop Trump, like a fantasy campaign to stop yesterday, but it exists only as the denial stage of grief." Yet, party leaders are busy at the convention scheming how to keep Trump from winning by somehow block-voting against him in primaries and then ganging up on him at the GOP Convention in Cleveland. ~~~~~ And that is the "political liberty, justice and equality" dilemma facing the Republican Party. If Trump is blocked from becoming the nominee, it will be seen as a cynical disregard for Republican voters and democratic principles. While anti-Trump efforts range from a new super-PAC to draft Speaker Paul Ryan to Romney not saying firmly that he will not become a blocking candidate, other Republicans urge party leaders to respect the will of the voters. Trump spokesman Sam Clovis told CNN it's dangerous for GOP leaders to call Trump voters stupid : "You have record turnout in every state....[Trump is] tapping into what is going on in this country like no one else has in a long, long time. I haven't seen anything like this since Ronald Reagan." But, columnist Peggy Noonan, the gifted Reagan speechwriter, expressed a different view in her Wall Street Journal column Friday : "I think we are seeing a great political party shatter before our eyes...we are witnessing history. Something important is ending....No one knows where this goes. The top of the party and the bottom have split." ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Republican Party is not dead. But, it needs help. Its leaders need to come to their senses. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump should combine now as a President-Vice President ticket. Cruz is young enough to yield and back up Trump, lending his political know-how and conservative depth to Trump's ability to enlarge the GOP base and energize voters. Now is the time for these two good men to save their party -- Lincoln's Republican Party -- Our Grand Old Party.

Shame on You, Mr. Romney - GOP Voters Understand but You Don't

QUESTIONS FOR MITT ROMNEY : (1). Where were you in 2014 and 2015 when we, the Republican Party, begged you not once but three times to run in 2016? You refused -- pleading your wife and family's wishes not to go through another campaign, saying there were lots of good candidates available. Do not now tell us, your former loyal supporters, that we are chosing wrong. It is you who chose wrong. You may quote John Adams on the fragility of democracy all day -- but you should consider the enormous personal sacrifices John and Abigail Adams and their children made in their undying fervor to create our nation. You should also consider George Washington and his family. Washington spent three...count them...three days at home with his family from 1776 to 1783 -- a personal sacrifice that won the Revolutionary War and made us Americans. The Founders did not abandon us. You did. Do not quote the Founders to us -- today, you became dust under their graves. (2). What do you bring to the 2016 presidential race? You represent the GOP insider establishment -- the past with its neat boxes and docile citizens. That time is over because the GOP establishment has for 20 years badly misused the trust given to it by its voters. Today, you inferred that every Republican who votes for Donald Trump has no judgment, is not sufficiently intelligent to choose the best candidate to represent GOP principles and goals, and is refusing to listen to the "elders," who know what's best for everyone -- votes cast be damned; forget the sacrifices of 250 years of American patriots. What we need now is not nostalgia. What we need is a thorough housecleaning and renovation. 'Renovation' means renewal, and as Mr. Lincoln 'renovated' the Whigs into Republicans, it is now time to 'renovate' the Washington chapter of the GOP into real Republicans. (3). Why, when you referred to the long line of American Presidents who "did what they thought was best for America," did you make no effort to exclude President Obama, arguably the worst, most divisive, most mean-spirited President in American history. To bundle the current sorry excuse of a President together with John Adams and Ronald Reagan is the very epitome of the political correctness that got America into its current critical state. Speak the truth -- Donald Trump does. If you and the GOP establishment can't even put aside PC, how do you expect Republican voters to trust or follow you. ~~~~~ Dear readers, on Thursday we saw a fading star in a burnt-out GOP insider constellation. Their high-handed amassing of power at the expense of Republican voters has finally over-reached. I heard a Canadian say today on the BBC : "Americans don't joke. When they see a job that needs to be done, they roll up their sleeves and do it." This is what the Republican rank-and-file are now doing. And the Grand Old Party will emerge stronger, modern, and even more relevant. This revolt is not only about putting the GOP establishment back into its role of "servants of the people." It is also about putting out-of-control elected officials and bureaucrats back into the Founders' constitutional framework. Consider this thought from John Adams : "A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.…Cities may be rebuilt, and a People reduced to Poverty may acquire fresh Property : But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored." Step aside, Mr. Romney. The great work of American voters in 2016 is to save their Constitution and their Freedom.